My Take Away From the Class

I am very glad I took this class.  I was able to learn more about my Chinese heritage and have gained a greater awareness of the different cultures surrounding me today.  I had very little knowledge of the Asian presence in history, I knew that the Chinese had laundry businesses and took little jobs to survive, but I did not know about the extent of the hatred towards Asians in general.  I have always known the typical history of America of how the pilgrims settled here, how Lewis and Clarke fought across the country, and abolition of slavery.  Asian American Lit has shown me that Asians, too, play a huge role in the founding of America today.  I now have a greater sense of respect for my grandparents and the courage they had to come to America, but it breaks my heart to see how terrible Asians in general were treated.  Very slowly, the squeaky-clean American reputation and history I saw as a kid is becoming fading as I grow older.  As I continue to learn, I come to the understanding that perhaps the US is not the be-all, end-all.  We are as human as everyone else, and struggle with things like racism, slavery, violence and discrimination.  I still love America, but I recognize it has to be taken for all that it is, and some parts are not pretty.

I also think I've gained a greater sensitivity to hints of racism.  Now, whenever I watch or read anything, I can recognize and acknowledge traces of racism and discrimination.  This in turn has caused me to be more careful with my choice of words and more aware if something I saw might be taken as racist or discriminatory.  I've learned great life skills and historical context, Asian Lit was a wonderful learning experience.  Thanks Doug!

Respect the Family

The group presentations showed me one underlying theme throughout Asian cultures:  the importance of family.  There is a very high regard for actions (how the actions of one member speak for the whole family) and respect for elders.  I think it's safe to say that such qualities are lacking in our society today, perhaps we can take a leaf or two out of the Asian nation's book?  I think broken homes can be the source of a lot of issues caused today and I consider myself very blessed to have come out of a good family and good home.  

Sure, the Asians might do weird things like eat fertilized egg, jellyfish tentacles, and black dog.  They may marry people without seeing them and hold shrines for dead relatives, but they do have their moments to shine and I think this is one of them.  Imagine what such a society would look like where respect was given to those older than you and before deciding anything, you would make note that whatever action you choose will impact and express what the family as a whole would choose.

Something to think about...

Lieutenant Governor David Lam

I didn't mention one of my other famous family members, great-uncle David.  He was actually the 25th Lieutenant Governor of British Columbia, the second non-white to hold the position and the first Asian Canadian in that position.  Basically, the Lieutenant Governor acts roughly like what we would associate as a governor and is a direct representative of the Queen of England/Canada.  When Queen Elizabeth visits Canada and specifically British Columbia, he was on her list, and had hosted several dinners for her at the Governor's mansion.  Sadly he died about 2 years ago, but I was able to meet him a few times before then.  He had a fascinating story of immigrating to Canada after WWII and his "rags to riches" journey is remarkable.  I believe there is a biography or documentary on him.

One interesting story my dad told me about Uncle David's period as lieutenant governor was that Uncle David owned a special Lexus.  The Lexus itself was not special, but the license plates on it were.  Uncle David told my dad that these allowed him to park wherever he wanted, whenever he wanted.  And so, during a family reunion, my dad had to pick up his sister and borrowed Uncle David's Lexus to do it.  Now as we know, it's not exactly permitted for one to park in the no-parking zone in front of the terminal at the airport, but since dad had these fancy license plates, he figured he'd test the system to see if Uncle David was actually right.  So he parked right in front of the terminal.  Soon enough, the Royal Mounted Police came up behind him and an officer stepped out of his car, pen and citation book in hand.  The way dad tells it, he came around the back of the Lexus, already writing down the preliminaries, took one glance at the plate... and walked away.  Oh yes, it was good to be governor.

Fascinating man, wish I had had more time learn from him.  Here he is on the left, and below is his coat of arms, which I think is really awesome.  I need a coat or arms.

Newfound Appreciation

Initially I had my doubts about enrolling in this class.  Being an engineering major, I was thinking, "What am I doing sitting in an Asian American literature class for three hours a day?  How will this help me in pursuing my engineering degree?"  Honestly, I am quite sad that this Jan Term went as quickly as it did.  I enjoyed every minute spent in this class and found the readings very interesting.  The various plays we performed in class were a great deal of fun to watch and participate in.  It was really great to see what the first generation of Asian-Americans went through.  Whether it was Chinese, Japanese, Filipino, Korean, Indian, Vietnamese or Cambodian, each different group had its own experience unique from any other.  It is inspiring to see what these immigrants had to overcome in order to settle in America in the midst of animosity and negative feelings towards them.  It is also neat to see how far we have come as Americans.  Although there is still racism to a certain extent, it is amazing to see how much times have changed and racial tolerance has increased over the years.

Being of Japanese descent, it really opened my eyes to what my people went through in finding their home in the United States.  Of course I had a general idea of what my family went through and how they found their way to the United States,  but reading the literature and watching the films on what picture brides went through definitely helped me to find a new appreciation for the sacrifices and risks that my great-grandparents took in sailing across the Pacific Ocean to settle in what is now home for our family.  

My Chinese Roommate

         I just realized that, in all of my posts, I have yet to mention the relationship between myself and my Chinese Roommate. Over this Jan Term I have really had a chance, not only to learn about Chinese American history in class, but also to talk to my roommate and learn about her culture and traditions first hand. She is a first generation Chinese American, having come over when she was 13 years old. While she is very assimilated to American culture, her mother, who came over with her, is not. While my roommate does speak Chinese fluently having lived in China for 13 years, she also speaks English very well and behaves very much like any other American teenager. However, her mother barely speaks any English despite having lived here for quite a few years and, for the most part, she still lives as though she were in China. She cooks mainly traditional chinese meals and keeps the traditions and customs of China alive. For example, she is hosting a huge Chinese New Year celebration coming up and is making a ton of traditional foods for it. As a result of this strong Chinese influence, my roommate definitely exhibits double consciousness. She seems to feel as though she truly is stuck between two distinct cultures. She dresses like an American and talks like an American but she still eats mostly Asian foods feels strong ties to the home that she left behind to come to America. I have really enjoyed getting to know more about Chinese Americans in this class and I hope to apply the knowledge that I have gained in my experiences with my roommate so that I can learn as much as possible about her and her unique heritage and culture.

Show and Tell

         I'm starting to run out of things to talk about so I'm just going to talk about some of the literature that we have read recently. So far, I think my favorite piece of literature that we have read is Show and Tell. I liked that it was really simple and easy to understand but also had so much meaning and emotion behind it. We read in Takaki all about the wars and political conflicts in Southeast Asia but to see the effects of war on a little boy uprooted from the only home he has ever known and forced to attend school in a foreign country was really powerful to me. Reading about how Cao behaved in class, especially when he was taunted by the other students, really made the stories of the refugees more personal and more significant. I also really liked how the story showed how people from different ethnic backgrounds can resolve their differences, understand one another without a common language, and even become friends. Robert and Cao develop a sort of nonverbal communication (which, as we learned in class today, is high context) throughout the story and eventually Robert is able to tell the entire class how Cao is really just like any other kid. He grew up in a small village with his family. He attended school and had friends that he played with outside just like many of the kids in this class did. However, due to things beyond his control, namely war, Cao was forced to move away from his family and friends and become a stranger in this new land called America. This story really just made me think about how we often judge people before we really even get a chance to know them and how, if we just took the time to learn more about them before making our judgments, we might very well learn something in the process, and maybe even make a friend or two.

What do we do with them?

I have to say that I found it really surprising when I read in Takaki that the Vietnamese were forced to come to the US as a result of the Vietnam War.  Of course we were among the nations opposed to the communist regime, but there were other nations who fighting for the Southern Vietnamese too!  I assume it was no great secret to the rest of the world that America was not the greatest welcomer of ethnic groups, who determined we were the best choice in the evacuation?  Other countries fighting against the communists included Australia and South Korea, were they not closer in location and in ethnic acceptance?  Perhaps America was the one able to provide the resources for evacuation, but I wonder if taking them all the way back to the United States was in their best interest, considering they did not even want to be there.  Dropping scared, homeless people into a knowingly hostile culture hardly seems like the best solution for the Vietnamese.  What would be really interesting is to find out if the second generation Vietnamese living in America assimilated into the new culture or held that same yearning to return home...