Ozeki – Family

I think that family and familial relationships are huge. In Nao’s family, the mother is rarely seen, she’s very absent. Nao’s father, though still physically present, is mentally absent. He no longer lives within the family mindset and seeks various methods of suicide. Though we are shown, through Oliver, that he tried to be a good father to Nao and purchase her panties to prevent anyone else from deriving a sick pleasure from them. I think that Nao realized her father isn’t alright, but does nothing to help him, though she does push him to try not to fail suicide again. Nao, tries to appease her mother and be a good daughter, but whether this is sarcasm or genuine, the result seems mixed. Jiko’s mere presence is enough to elicit real and deep emotions from Nao’s father. Jiko becomes an important part of Nao’s life, inspiring her to find her supapowa.  Jiko becomes a nun because of her son’s death. His love of life for all, and her love for him, kept her from giving in a committing suicide.

Ruth’s mother, is no longer with her. Ruth’s father isn’t mentioned. Ruth’s husband Oliver is what brings her to the island, which she hates. Oliver becomes pushed aside and even a bit bullied by Ruth as she journeys through the diary.

Ozeki – Identity

I think that Nao’s diary is huge for Ruth to find herself, more-so than for Nao. Ruth, the struggling writer, is sent on this journey of the teen mindset. She learns about herself on the way, finding that there are some situations entirely out of her control. No matter how much she wants to save Nao, and help fix her family, when she realizes that the diary may have been written long before it was in her possession, she is flooded with hopelessness and looses the desire to read on.

Nao’s journal is a way for Nao to show others who she is. She’s a teenage girl thrown into a tumultuous situation, it’s a time of high emotions and stresses. Since none of her schoolmates like her, she can’t be real with them. None of her other acquaintances want to genuinely know her, only use her for their purposes. Her family is so uninterested in who she really is. There is a moment where she takes charge of her life and shaves her head and finds a bit of peace within herself.

-Ozeki Last

Reading

Truthfully, so far I just read by part IV. One reason why I choose this word is because I’m frustrated that I can’t read all of them by time limit. All books in this quarter were difficult to read for me, I don’t want to say the excuse but this is because there were many academic words. However, I did my best and I could learn many things from all books. Especially, this book is a Japanese American popular culture book, so I’ m really enjoying to read it and I am into Nao’s life. Today, not only Nao but also many people seek their identities between Japanese and America. I know one of my friends whose identity is in between Japan and America. She is half Japanese and half American. Most of her life is in Japan. However, because of her look, everyone think she is a foreigner and keep ask her “Why can you speak Japanese?” “Is your mother really Japanese?” and so on. These question made her identity cooperated. She is the opposite side of Nao.

Second reason why I choose this theme is because reading make us forget the time. I mean that many people regardless of generation read the same books. Like Ruth didn’t care how old Nao is before Oliver mentioned it. She is in the time with Nao with forgetting they are in different time. I’m really interested in this scene, because I also feel like that I am in the same time.

“We Want Slurpees”

7055688This week for my Rock category I decided to see what was in the news since I ran out of Asian American’s in the NBA (which is sad). I also thought it ran with the class since we have talked about Indian-American’s and bullying. I found a video of a young high school basketball player being targeted by racial slurs while he shoots a free throw. This article came out in January but it is news to me and probably many of you.

A young man was shouting out “We want Slurpees” at a basketball game while an Indian-American player shot his free-throws. Of course this leader thought it was funny because stereotypes say that Indian-Americans own 7 Elevens. This happened in New York city. Happy to say the boy who started all of this did get kicked out of the game and wasn’t aloud to be the leader of the fan club. Its sad to see that people can’t play a sport without being racially targeted. Not only was it bad enough that this boy was being bullied while playing basketball but the comments people have left on the website is horrible. Hopefully one day…..

http://deadspin.com/high-school-students-chant-we-want-slurpees-at-indian-1511159652

Ozeki Communication

For this reading I choose the theme Communication.

There are many forms of communication throughout the book.

-When the Tsunami happened in Japan, Ruth was using her computer searching all over the internet about what’s going on Japan.

-She was also watching the television, specifically the news to get updates and to see actual video of the destruction.

-She also used her cell phone to get in touch with other family members over in Japan to make sure that they are safe. On the topic of cell phones as communication, people in Japan used their cellular devices to record video, to take pictures, and the obvious to make phone calls.

-Nao had a blog [with that..a computer] to observe and record her time in Japan and to communicate that with herself and the world. However she soon realized that the blog would be a waste of time due to her living circumstances.

-Nao also used email as a form of communication. Nao and her online friend Kayla correspond back and forth… and as Nao would put it..”stupid school girl things”.

-Nao obviously uses communication through her diary, to eventually communicate with Ruth, who finds her diary.

Week 8 Obsessions: the Oscars

Tumblr right now is mess of Oscars posts. I think this might be the first time I’ve ever really paid attention to award shows and that’s mostly because I was taking advantage of having no reading last night [Sunday] while people were live blogging about what was going on.  Bu the main reason I’ve chosen the influence of Oscars over Tumblr as opposed to the small number of other blogs not posting about Sunday’s festivities is because of one pretty giant thing…

The major lack of Asian American winners. As in like, none.

Now, I would argue that film is a pretty big part of American pop culture. I’d also argue that celebrities and their lifestyles play a role too (pun intended). So, when “no acting Oscar has gone to a Latin@, Asian American, or Native Nation person in a decade” I’d call that a pretty MAJOR erasure from pop culture representation. It also plants the seed that there are no award-worthy actors/actresses who are Latin@, Asian American, and/or Native Nation.

And while this post does not name an Asian Americans I think it definitely contributes to a part of our modern day culture that needs to be addressed. But, as to not leave it on a completely terrible note:

Here is an article on “The Changing Color of the Oscars: ’12 Years A Slave’ Makes History“.
And here is an article on director Alfonso Cuaron as First Latino to win Best Director.

 

we made our own computer out of macaroni pieces

Mississippi Masala

While I loved Meena and Demetrius’s story in this movie, I felt a sadder story in the existence of Meena’s father, Jay. While Meena’s story was one of struggle with race and family, she was able to overcome it and stay with the person she loved, even if it meant going against the wishes of her family. Even if it was a temporary moment for them, Meena and Demetrius were able to have a happy ending.

Meanwhile, Jay was forced from his home country by his own brother. That isn’t to say that Jay was anywhere near being the right – he had many flaws, and he was guilty of a number of things, including being apparently more well-off in his home country than many of the other people that were there. The sad part is how bitter it eventually made him. He spends years after this trying to be allowed to return, only to be ignored or turned down at every attempt, and because of this he is unable to accept the love his daughter has for a black man, because even though Jay himself was African (and black), he was never really able to reconcile that part of himself. I feel like he was the opposite of a few of the movies that we’ve seen so far. His ending in the film was a happy one as well to some extent, but it was also disheartening because I felt there wasn’t a great deal of growth for Jay’s character. I think in the future he might prove a big obstacle in the happiness of his own daughter.

we made our own computer out of macaroni pieces

Mississippi Masala

While I loved Meena and Demetrius’s story in this movie, I felt a sadder story in the existence of Meena’s father, Jay. While Meena’s story was one of struggle with race and family, she was able to overcome it and stay with the person she loved, even if it meant going against the wishes of her family. Even if it was a temporary moment for them, Meena and Demetrius were able to have a happy ending.

Meanwhile, Jay was forced from his home country by his own brother. That isn’t to say that Jay was anywhere near being the right – he had many flaws, and he was guilty of a number of things, including being apparently more well-off in his home country than many of the other people that were there. The sad part is how bitter it eventually made him. He spends years after this trying to be allowed to return, only to be ignored or turned down at every attempt, and because of this he is unable to accept the love his daughter has for a black man, because even though Jay himself was African (and black), he was never really able to reconcile that part of himself. I feel like he was the opposite of a few of the movies that we’ve seen so far. His ending in the film was a happy one as well to some extent, but it was also disheartening because I felt there wasn’t a great deal of growth for Jay’s character. I think in the future he might prove a big obstacle in the happiness of his own daughter.

Environment

Invasive species are a major threat to our environment because they (1) can change habitats and alter ecosystem function and ecosystem services, (2) crowd out or replace native species, and (3) damage human activities, costing the economy millions of dollars.

 

The above definition could be molded and changed to fit a Tale for the Time Being as a being that causes a disruption in their environment and the people/humans around them. The Japanese jungle crow possibly came over on some drift. In its first appearance it’s a disruptive force, and continues to make its presence known in the second part of the story. Like Nao it is displaced, causes a disruption within the local community, and yet it’s there.

Another invasive species in the story are the trees that Oliver attempts to plant. It’s against the clause that he agreed with not allowing invasive species, and yet it’s a species that can trace its ancestry back to that island. What does it mean to be an invasive species when it lived there hundreds of years ago? It may have been displaced over the years, but is there really a cut off in ancestry when a person, animal, plant or object goes from being a native to being invasive?

A Tale For The Time Being

“There’s no way of knowing”

So many unanswered questions by the end of the book. Ruth has to remember that her time is now and Nao’s time was in the past. Ruth got so caught up in trying to find the unknown answers that it was making her mad. I think that we all get too caught up in finding the unknown that we look for it and worry about it too much. Ruth tries to find out what would have happened if…  Oliver tells her “if World War II wouldn’t have happened then you and I would never have meet.” I always believe that everything happens for a reason. She found that book for a reason, being able to tell Nao’s story to many other people and being able to connect to a teenager that had many horrible things happen to her. She was able to read Nao’s grandmothers stories. We as readers were able to learn more information but in a fictional stand point.