loy·al·ty

  [loi-uhl-tee]  Show IPA

noun, plural loy·al·ties.

Hiroo Onada

January 16 2014, that is the death date for the World War II straggler.

Source: http://www.htrnews.com/viewart/20140118/MAN0101/301190179/

Orientals: Asian Americans in Popular Culture, pg 106 – 179

The Nuclear Family as Civil Defense (pg. 160)

It was interesting to read about some of the roots of homophobia in this country. How the desire to continue America in the aftermath of a nuclear war caused the the persecution of not only homosexuals but of non reproductive sexuality. The nuclear family became of the utmost importance and not conforming to this idea was a “perversion of the natural biological order” and a threat to national security (161). To think that some of laws set down by during the terror of the Cold War have impacted people for so long. It is amazing to see how stubborn and terrified people can be of change to the point that they will castrate their own sexuality. There was an immense amount of change after the Cold War and the discovery that humans were capable of making weapons of mass destruction beyond our previous comprehension. I guess in order to cope with the fear that followed this realization, and the realization that we were not safe from our own creation, Americans tried to control their home lives. They tried to find some way in which to crawl into their own homes of security and normality in hopes that they could be safe from anything. Including nuclear threat. However, the more they tried to control and restrict themselves and others, the more they found they could not. People have natural urges and desires, and they had no more control over their own lives than they did over communism and stopping a nuclear war. Thus, the idea that we could defend ourselves by only following the “natural biological order” was nothing more than a red herring (161).

So, we talked about Richard Sherman on Thursday, and about how one mistake put him in a negative spotlight.  Chico was explaining the racist remarks people were making about him.  It’s amazing how one mistake can make someone a target for so much disrespect.  People will use any excuse to talk badly about someone or to try and make them look bad; especially if they are successful.  Anyway, yesterday I was scrolling through facebook and I saw an article about Richard Sherman on Buzzfeed.  Most of the time BuzzFeed is pretty stupid and unimportant, however every now and then they post something worthwhile, and I think this is one of those times.  The article was called “23 Reasons Richard Sherman Is Actually One Of The Most Likable Players In The NFL”  The reason I really like this is because it’s so frustrating when people try to attack someone’s character based on one thing that they did.  I honestly didn’t know who Richard Sherman was before all the publicity about his interview happened.  And it’s unfortunate that most people are gonna have a bad impression of him because of all of the bad publicity.  However, it’s articles like this that are great for showing a different side of him so that people won’t just hate him based on something they don’t know.  I don’t know if this article is biased or not, and I don’t know how credible BuzzFeed is, but that fact that this article was posted is what is important.  Also, this doesn’t necessarily relate to Asian Americans, but it relates to what we talked about in class so I thought it was relevant.

Here is the article:

http://www.buzzfeed.com/mjkiebus/23-reasons-richard-sherman-is-quietly-one-of-the-most-likabl

Also, this is a video of Richard Sherman ‘punking’ some fans is number 8 on the list and it is so damn cute.  Here is the link for it:

Click here to view the embedded video.

My obsession has shifted to I guess video games, music and dragon ball z, but need some clarification on how I could possibly approach all or one of these. I need some help. Any ideas or suggestions would be greatly appreciated. I would love something. Thanks and hope y’all had a good weekend, and shout out to Randi I see you on the basketball team killing it. Just wanted to say that. Yeah, lets go Geoducks sorry for off topic just out there.

The conflict between father and son, the eternal struggle.

The son yearns for independance and appreciation, the father rejects. It’s a story as old as time – the rebellion of youth against what we are ¨supposed¨ to do or be. The Debut tackles this subject with depth, exploring not just within the context of your average high school student on the edge on adulthood, but also within the context of culture and racial stereotyping. I think everyone faces these problems throughout their life in some form or another, the choice between doing it for yourself or doing it for those all around you. I felt that this film had a lot in common with Better Luck Tomorrow, although this film ends on a much nicer note. Both films – released in 2001 and 2002, respectfully – share the theme of youth and going against the conventions that society or family place upon themselves.

I also find it interesting that both films focus on an Asian American generation that seems pretty far removed from their roots. Each of the Bens faces a similar issue, but I think I related to the Ben from this film more because of the whole father/son relationship. Another thing I liked was, and I’m not sure if this sounds weird, but I like how his ¨white buddies” weren’t really portrayed as ignorant, douche bags as I thought they were gonna be when they first showed up. Instead, they seem to actively enjoy the Filipino culture and were way more open minded than I had expected. I also love how they handled the character of Augusto because he could have just been your typical rival/adversary to Ben – instead, they chose to add more depth to his character by showing us the inner turmoil he is experiencing with his mother and her new man.

All to all, I give his film five thumbs!

RUFIO !

The Debut it about a young man that has a hard time coming to terms with his culture.

This movie stresses male roles. The grandfather doesn’t like how his son (Ben’s father)  raised Ben because Ben doesn’t know how to speak Tagalog and how to properly great his elders. Ben’s grandpa has a hard time coming to terms with the choices that Ben’s father made with his singing career. Not only does Ben’s grandfather have a hard time with his sons choices but you see Ben’s father having a hard time with Ben’s choices about going to art school instead of becoming a doctor by taking a scholarship to UCLA. Ben starts to understand that his father only wants the best for him because he had to give up his dreams to become a singer to raise his children and move to the United States.

Culture.  What does it mean to be Filipino in America? What does it mean when you start hanging around different cultures when you should be  hanging around your own kind? Does it really mean becoming a coconut when you start hanging out with different people? People think that because you are a certain race you should hangout with that race. I have been able to relate to Ben because I am mixed it was hard in high school to know and understand what group I really belonged to.  I had a hard time understanding what race I would like to identify with white, or black? Ben was having a hard time knowing that he was brown but wanting to be accepted into the world with his white friends. Ben was able to see that his family was always going to be apart of him and that he had to find the friends (which he had) that meant enough to him to be apart of his family and not judge him for being something different other then white.

So, lets have a serious rant about the N word, okay? Okay.

So I grew up not using the word. My mom hates it and my dad generally just doesn’t really swear so I just never said it. I’m 21 years old and I still feel weird saying it. It isn’t apart of my everyday slang and you’ll usually only hear me say it when a song comes on and even then it feels odd on my lips. My mom was very persistent about us knowing the origin of the word. And I might be completely biased here but if you knew the history of it then I honestly doubt anyone would say it. It has so much hate behind it.

That being said, I understand the people that want to ‘take it back’. At least, I understand their thinking behind it. Like taking a negative and making it positive. Making it something that is apart of our culture rather than something against it. I get it, I get the thinking behind it. I don’t agree but I get it.

And I wish it was that simple. That it was as simple as someone being like, “hey, I’m black and we’re taking back the N word. Okay, cool.” But it isn’t. There are so many things that are fucked up about the word that it’s impossible to just ‘take back’.

Example One: What about the black people that don’t want the damn word back? Unless every single person who identifies as black or African/American or what have you agrees then this will forever be a problem.

Example Two: By us using the word, we’re trying to take the sting out, yes? Trying to make it this positive thing. Well, when you take the power away it gives other people outside of the culture license to use it too. I mean, not really but it gives off that appeal. Like, if they’re saying it then it should be cool, right? Wrong. We have all kinds of different races walking around here throwing the N word around like they really know what its like to be called a Nigger. And then black people have the nerve to get mad. But why are they mad? I mean…they’re the ones trying to make it positive, right? Just another word for homie or friend, right?

And then we sit in class and watch these Asian/American movies and anytime there is a thug like Asian character they throw the N word around like its no big deal. And honestly, that pisses me off more than anything. And I know it isn’t exactly yellow face but shit, its taking a part of a culture that isn’t yours like it has no weight behind it.

I don’t know, maybe the word is beyond race and its a thug, gangsta culture thing. Maybe i’m over reacting. I don’t know, it was just a rant.

P.S. may I also add that I don’t see any other culture using a word that was meant to oppress them and trying to ‘turn it around’.

Clint Eastwood plays an unhappy man. After Walt’s (Clint Eastwood’s) wives death he is lift with his one and only friend Daisy his dog. You can see how lonely he is by only having Daisy to talk to. Throughout the movie you see the bad blood between his oldest son but see him getting closer and closer to the family next door which he wants to hate but can’t because they are always making effort to thank him for the little things that he does.

Sue that lives next door befriends her mean neighbor inviting him over to eat great food. We see Sue as a strong girl that isn’t afraid to stand up for herself and her brother. Sue was the heart of the movie. She was the girl that brought her family and Walt together. She wasn’t afraid to bring the next door neighbor over that everyone hated. She was never afraid to tell people how she was feeling. In a lot of movies you see women as figures that wouldn’t stand up to men or even gang members but in this movie she never backs down until she gets raped by her cousins friends.

Walt wasn’t at peace with himself throughout the movie until the very end. He understood that he wasn’t at peace when the priest pointed it out to him from the start. We start to see the foreshadowing of Walt’s death and how death brings him peace. The first sign of Walt wanting forgiveness and peace was when he called his son wanting to just talk. He wanted to talk about how his day was, how he was doing but his son still wanted nothing to do with him. He then shows a sign of peace when he asked for a hair cut that he never got before. He showed how he was grateful to the barber for giving him all those hair cuts by giving the barber a twenty dollar bill instead of giving him a ten and complaining about it.  We see how he buys his first fitted suit and doesn’t care that it would cost an arm and a leg. We finally see Walt enter the church ready to confuse and come clean about all the things that kept him from being peaceful for all those years. By the end of the movie Walt came to peace with himself and all the things that had happened in his life.

I spent all of last quarter in Chico and Frances class learning about the Japanese and Japanese/Americans. We started with a brief history of Japan before they started immigrating and ended with post WWII and the last effects. Not to say we victimized the issei or nissei in any shape or form, I think one of the most important things we learned all quarter was how strong and resilient they were. However, when you spend so long learning about he challenges and hardships of a specific group of people, you tend to sympathize with them whether you know it or not. I only bring this all up because in class on Friday, the group that spoke about Korean American spoke of how Japan had invaded them. It was strange I guess, seeing the Japanese in a completely different light.

This book has given me plenty of new perspective. In all honesty, I never thought of the impact that WWII had on other Asian minorities in the United States. It never really crossed my mind that this war would basically force people to pick an ethnicity and be bold and very specific about what and who they are.

The model minority part of the reading really interested me. I had never heard of the term before last quarter and I wish we couldn’t spent more time focusing on that alone. I guess it’s interesting to me because I’m constantly wondering how much of a ‘model minority’ I’m being. It’s an odd sensation, not wanting to conform to stereotypes but knowing you’ll be held to some sort of model minority status regardless of what you do.

Better Luck Tomorrow is a film based around Ben Manibag and some of the adventures he encounters through his high school career. The movie is based around a group of Asian-Americans who become bored and unenthused by their everyday lives of overachieving in almost everything they do. The grow of individuals forms a ‘club’ as character Virgil refers to it in the movie, this group of boys or ‘club’ takes on crimes based around a majority of the things the individuals overachieve on. Some of the crimes consist of selling answer sheets to the quizzes at their high school, breaking in and stealing computer parts from the school etc. After awhile of the group constantly making so much money they couldn’t spend it fast enough or know what to do with it they got caught up in the use of drugs and partying while maintaining their progression in over achievement to attend colleges. After awhile the group of boys beside to take a break but after a course of time a new crime is proposed to the club that ends up in the murder of one the boys involved in this specific crime. Overall I really enjoyed this movie and was able to get really into it, as well as feel like I could relate to some of the stereotypes made throughout the film. I would recommend this film to anybody just as a watch for fun or as a movie to see some of the stereotypes made to Asians on up to today.

Click here to view the embedded video.