Category Archives: scissors

News & Blues: Week 9

News:

North Korea Tests Rocket Launcher With Longer Range, South Says

To followup on last weeks post about the military exercises taking place in Korea (both North & South), Today’s New York Times reports more saber-rattling from the North.

“North Korea on Tuesday tested a new multiple-rocket launcher with a range long enough to strike major American and South Korean military bases south of Seoul, South Korean military officials said.

Four rockets were launched Tuesday afternoon from Wonsan, a coastal city east of the North Korean capital Pyongyang, flying 96 miles to the northeast before crashing into the sea between the Korean Peninsula and Japan, a South Korean Defense Ministry spokesman said.”

The NY Times also has a very interesting page tracking the Timeline on North Korea’s Nuclear Program.

Blues:

Willie Dixon, Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, James Brown Achieving Postage Stamps

The Blues has many shades; some are dark and some are light, and some Blues are happy– ” Happy indeed for the fans of these Blues and Rock legends who have been recognized by the U.S.Postal Service.

“The United States Postal Service is unveiling new stamps that will be rolled out in the next two years, According to a The Washington Post. Included in the subjects are Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, and James Brown, who’s the focus of a biopic movie entitled “Get On Up” to be released this summer. The artwork is still “in design development.”

 

 

Class Notes 2/20

  • Put something that will reflect what you’ve learned in the program so far into the lunchbox.
  • Look at those guiding questions for A Tale For the Time Being

Jeet Kun Do vs Hip Hop

  • Self expression
  • Ever-evolving, never static
  • Immigrant art forms
  • Take what is useful and improve from that

Class Notes 2/6

Manong/Manang- First born male (older brother or first generation)

Resistance vernaculars- using a native language instead of English. “I will preserve this language in order to fight colonialism”

 

Potential Rock post

  • Lolita is a lifestyle, not Cosplay
  • Kyrary Pamyu Pamyu, Kawaii Embassador

 

Miles from the 6 could refer to the 6/8 islands that make up Hawaii which people inhabit.

Class Notes Date Unknown 2

Malapropism- A term that means switching words around humorously.

Koan- Public Record

Important Players

  • Nao
  • Ruth
  • Reader

Themes

  • Time: Age, Life, Death
  • abandonment/ running away (loss)
  • communication
  • place
  • the environment

It’s our time now (or should I say Nao)

 

Class Notes Date Unknown

  • Anime that shows Asian/American connections
  • Either you present your blog or a partner’s
  • Shaolin Masters are interested in learning from their students. Bring what you know
  • Learn not to fight before you learn to fight.
  • Avoid rather than check, check rather than hurt, hurt rather than maim, main rather than kill, because all life is precious and none can be replaced.
  • Write about what animal style you would be. Tiger, Leopard, Snake, Mantis, Dragon, Crane.

Jhene Aiko

Jhene Aiko (full name Jhene Aiko Efuru Chilombo) is a mixed raced up and coming recording artist who has worked with Drake, Big Sean, Childish Gambino and several other artist. Yes, her music drew me into but I couldn’t see her name and relate it back to our pop culture class. Her mother is Japanese, Spanish and and Dominican.  Her father is African American, Yaqui, Choctaw, Cherokee, Navajo, and German Jewish.

But don’t take my word for it, listen to it yourself

API – Kamikaze Pilots’ Last Words

Kamikaze pilots’ letters to families or loved ones are trying to be recognized as UNESCO Memory of the World document. What is the trouble though? China and Korea are against the movement, saying that by doing this they are still “unrepentant of its past aggression in Asia.” Japan’s involvement in the Nanking massacre and the Imperial control of Korea have left bitter appeals still, even after 70 years of the Second World War. In my opinion, the Kamikaze pilots were heroes to their own country, a deadly threat to others, but that doesn’t mean we can’t stop acknowledging what they were doing was for their people and families. The only thing stalling this move is resentment that apparently will never go away for a long time. Guess time doesn’t heal all wounds?

Full article here.

Week 7: Friday. Ozeki and a chosen theme (part 1)

Loss. (Running away. Abandonment.)

If your whole body cannot survive the sea, maybe a piece of you can.

The reality of losing others by way you can’t control and realizing you have also lost yourself. Trying to gain clarity by writing everything down, hopefully so those thoughts will lose themselves from your brain and instead stick to pages, staining them with hurt of your father and the friendships you were told to expect. Turning what is real and intangible onto something that can be closed and put away and learning how to manipulate the letters which represent you. Finding a way to turn a situation which you did not ask for and which is out of your control into one that you can handle. Feeling angry towards those around who have abandoned you and left you alone and so deciding that you will abandon them, too.
“So right now, I’m a ronin” (page 41).

Loss of reality. Is reality what has physically happened or how it is remembered? Do you trust Ruth? Do you trust Nao? Do you trust their realities? A young girl feeling alone and writing stories the way she dreams of them happening (empowerment through knife to flesh and being the hero of her own story, because she has abandoned her once-self to recreate the way we visualize her) versus an older woman trying to make sense of her life as she experienced. Ruth as the present, Nao as the future, Jinko as the past. Or perhaps, Ruth as young girl, Ruth as herself, and Ruth as she hopes to be at some point in time. Or perhaps, Ruth as the past, I as the future, and the present: keep reading and see.

Is Nao now or are we tricking ourselves by repeating a word so many times we lose what is true?

The loss of time. Mid-life crisis. Trying to do it over or finding your “true” (alternative) purpose. Feeling neglected and so turning your attention to another being, another anxious voice outside your own bored mind, and putting new energy into their struggles. Spending hours on the internet, looking for some clues as to whether you believe her or not. A watch with a serial number as evidence. The name of a town where all the whales ran away as evidence. In sending her journal off, Nao runs away from the reality she has made permanent. Like the tagging of subway trains, we believe in Nao because she gave us evidence of her existence. But is that evidence Ruth’s outlet to run or Nao’s?

Something was here. Do not run away. This is a story of survival. Pay attention and turn the page.