And if those parts were to disappear?

So, who is Gene Luen Yang really speaking too? Is it a message about how Asian Americans are treated or is it a message about not losing your history? Is it a depiction of racism or of turning your back on who you are? For all intents and purposes I will be focusing on the aspect of how American Born Chinese reflects on how your history is key to the person you become. The primary source of this comes from the Herbalist’s wife and her message. Earlier in the book she had asked Jin what he wanted to be when he gre up. He wanted to be a transformer. She told him you can become anything as long as you are willing to sacrifice your soul. Later, the night when Jin is undergoing his transformation he dreams of the Herbalist’s wife. She says to him, “So little friend, you’ve done it.” In the morning Jin wakes up a very stereotypical, teenage American boy. Jin has become the transformer from his childhood. Only he gave up his “soul” in order to do so. I believe that his soul is representative of his history. The fact that both of his parents were from China, he seemed to have grown up with much contact to the Chinese culture. Jin, however, wants to reject it. He wants to rid himself of the ancestry that keeps him from being the “normal American boy”. Jin want to forget where he came from, the traditions in which he was raised, the native tongue of his parents. Jin wants it to disappear. But what Jin does not understand is that if those parts disappear than so does he. In this way, Yang is saying your past is reflective of you. If you forget that or decide to throw it away than you have “transformed” or lost yourself to the world.

American Born Chinese

American Born Chinese, is three stories in one. A story about a monkey king trying to be taken seriously. He wants to reject his monkey identity as he thinks it shameful. The second is about a teenage American of Chinese descent who starts a new school and is an outcast for his ancestry. Jin Wang is introduced to a new kid from Korea, Wei-Chen Sun, who he is reluctant to start a friendship with. The third story is about another American teenager who has a cousin from Asia who comes to visit. Danny, is embarrassed by his cousin’s flamboyant and non-typical behavior. In each of the stories the characters are trying to overcome something they are ashamed about. They want to reject a part of their lives that does not fit in with the social greats of their societies.

I have never read a comic before. Or I guess this would be called a graphic novel. It is interesting, to say the least, but I do not think that I am a fan. I find the pictures to be more a distraction than anything, really. To flip from words to pictures, from words to pictures is something that comes difficult. Switching my train of thought into focusing on another depiction of the story I find as an interruption. I also found it hard to use the “mind’s eye”, so to speak. The thing that I love most about reading is the ability to create my own characters, how I see them, how I think they should look like and act. I thought the comic took away from that, giving less room for the imagination of the reader. On the other to be able to create and write a comic, must take loads of creativity dumped right onto the page. It is an art, no doubt. But one that I particularly enjoy is another story.

The Non-Absolute Definition of You

“You’re a writer.”  I think this was the moment. The moment when Jackie officially became Jacqueline to herself. She had finally achieved what she has been pursuing for a long time. Always in her sister’s shadow, her intelligence was under appreciated. Her mind was taken for granted. Was she a liar or a storyteller? Was she brilliant or not? People kept trying to categorize her, put her in a place where she knew that she did not belong. I think that is why she had such a good relationship with her grandpa. She was like him. He understood her to an extent that nobody else could. In one part of the book he says something along the lines of, he cannot believe in a God that wouldn’t let him smoke his cigarettes or drink his beer. Yet, his wife, an upright faithful follower of the Jehovah practice, thought different. Jacqueline’s grandfather had to discover that about himself. Just as Jacqueline came to her conclusion of who she was and what she wanted to do with her life.

In the poem, what I believe, she summarizes all of her youth. She is every single experience she had ever had. She is every journey, every laugh, tear, and adventure. In each world, she says she is Jackie and Jacqueline. She is the child born in Ohio, that ran barefoot through the reddish dirt of South Carolina. She is the child that sat on the porch with her grandpa and the same one that shared her plate of food with Maria. She is not just one thing, but a collective of things. She is everything she thought and everything she thinks now. In a world where you must become one thing or the other, JacquelineWoodson’s Brown Girl Dreaming reveals the non-absolute definition of you.

Both are Human

Jackie was born in 1963. My father was born in 1963. Jackie was born in Ohio. My was father born in Michigan. Jackie is brown. My father is white. These are two very similar beginnings but two very different stories. My dad’s stories center around life on the farm, growing up in the rural town of Springport, and playing outside with his brothers. He was never burdened with the stigmas of race. His parents never had to instill in him that he was of value, for he was white and already had it. In those days that was all you needed to be above the ground level of society. He was never followed around in stores. He never had to sit at the back of the bus. And he should always look a white man in the eyes.

Jackie’s story seems to be a near opposite. Although, her story depicts much of the same childhood essence of playing in a rural town with her siblings, Jackie was burdened with the color of her skin. She was followed in stores. She was told to look at the ground whenever there was a white person around. Her parents had to whisper in her ear that she was just as good as those white folks. She was told they had to fight for what the white man had already been given. They had to fight for what was already rightfully theirs just for being a part of the human species. She was exposed to the brutal nature of the human race before she could even understand it.

Jackie and Todd. One is brown, one is white. Both are human. 

Yaqui is Still a Bully

I have mixed feeling about the end to Yaqui Delgado Wants to Kick Your Ass. Although, the bullying situation was stopped I did not feel like it was addressed in the right manner. Meaning I feel like Yaqui still won. She got exactly what she wanted. One, to kick Piddy’s ass, and two, Piddy leaving school. Yaqui is just going to move onto another poor soul who dares to hit puberty and walk with a swishy behind. The people in charge were looking for suspension with hopes of her getting expelled. Is it just me or is this really messed up? Yaqui assaults someone, brutally, films it and posts it all over social media. And this isn’t grounds for being automatically expelled? For the school being a “Bully Free Zone” the zero-tolerance policy seems to be more like mid-tolerance policy. With bullies having nearly free reign to terrorize who they please.

When Yaqui’s suspension is up what will she do then when she comes back to school? Do they think that the suspension would give Yaqui a change of heart and that she wouldn’t hurt anybody anymore? I highly doubt it. Yaqui has some very severe issues. She needs counseling. She needs help. By just treating the side effects it does not actually treat the underlying cause. A person who has depression can take anti-depressants to manage their symptoms but it still doesn’t change the fact that they are depressed. The depression is still there. The problem is still present. Yaqui is still a bully. Yaqui will still bully, the symptoms of her bullying have just been managed for the time being. In this way, the bullying situation is being ineffectively handled. Unfortunately

, this is probably the sad truth for most schools. Kids never really get the help they need.

Youth Lens on Eleanor and Park

I am taking the youth lens and applying it to the book Eleanor and Park. In the book, there are several stereotypes made about youth. For example, when Park and Eleanor go upstairs the first time together and listen to music. Park’s dad yells out, “Don’t get anyone pregnant!” In this way, Park’s dad is assuming that the only reason they are going upstairs is to “get jiggy with it”, so to speak. They are presumed to be those teenagers that are exploring their new found sexual nature. They are wanting to be alone. So, when Park and Eleanor do end up alone at his house, they do some of that exploration that they were accused of earlier. This reflects the stereotype of unsupervised teens getting into inappropriate situations for their age. There is another moment when they are allowed to take the car and be alone together. Again, they dive into sexual nature. Consumed by their raging hormones.

The adults are holding the superiority here. They dictate when and to what extent the teens are to be left alone. Park can have girls in his room but the door must be open. It would leave too much to chance to leave them in a room alone with a bed. Here his actions and behavior towards Eleanor are dictated by his parent’s rules and expectations of him. It seems to be reflective of their age as Park’s parents seem to openly express their physical attraction for each other. Park talks of how it’s gross when his parents make out when his dad gets home from work. This is saying that it is okay for adults to express this level of sexuality but definitely not teenagers.

However the stereotype may not be completely misplaced.. “The adolescent brain: Beyond raging hormones”

"How Hormones Affect Teenage Behavior"

Would Having a Father Make the Difference?

This book, Yaqui Delgado Wants to Kick Your Ass, brings together the issue of poverty and bullying. Piddy Sanchez is the daughter of single mother, who knows nothing about her father. She feels abandoned. Always day dreaming about what her father would be like. She even imagines other men as her own father. She feels unwanted. She cannot relate to her mother very well. Her mother seems bitter about the past. Even though she loves Piddy, very much so, she is resentful of Piddy’s father and their current situation. She always talks about the sacrifices she has had to make for Piddy. This making Piddy feel even more like a burden. She is unwanted by her father and burdensome to her mother.

Unfortunately, this is a sad truth for many youth today. With the struggles of poverty parents are under extremes amount of stress to provide for their children. For a family with two parents and two incomes it is a struggle, let alone a single parent with one income. I wonder if Piddy would have handled her bullying situation differently if she would have had a positive father figure in her life. Each parent plays a significant role in the development of a child. I wonder if her self-worth would have been elevated with a father in her life? Her mother would no longer hold the burden alone of being a single parent trying to provide for her and her daughter. This may have helped her mother withhold her verbal acknowledgment of the struggles of parenthood to her daughter. This in turn would probably boost Piddy as she is no longer being told that she is burdensome. Her father, in turn, would hopefully have been a strong moral figure for her to look upon. It would have been another support system for her. An additional person that loved and cared for her. This may have also helped Piddy in her bullying situation.

"Why Would You Settle for Less?"

With obesity as an epidemic in this country there is a health craze happening. Many are wanting to eat healthier. This is a valid cause, wanting to be healthier. Our society has created a whole market off those that want to be healthy. We have fancy brands of clothes to work out in and fancy organic food that holds the promise to achieving that goal of good health. But what does it mean to really be healthy? Many would answer eating right and exercise on the reg. I’m here to focus on the eating right part of that. I’m not a nutritionist but have taken several biology and chemistry classes. Our society has made tons of money off marketing “organic” and “natural” foods. What does it really mean to be organic?

“Simply stated, organic produce and other ingredients are grown without the use of pesticides, synthetic fertilizers, sewage sludge, genetically modified organisms, or ionizing radiation. Animals that produce meat, poultry, eggs, and dairy products do not take antibiotics or growth hormones.” (www.organic.org/home/faq)

But are they really? There is a gene in bacteria, the Bt gene, that releases a toxin that is poisonous to insects. That gene was taken from the bacteria and put in corn so that instead of spraying pesticides on the corn the corn creates its own. This is approved as an organic pesticide. Yet I thought corn was supposed to be GMO free?

So, what does it really mean to be natural?

“FDA has not developed a definition for

use of the term natural or its derivatives. However, the agency has not objected to the use of the term if the food does not contain added color, artificial flavors, or synthetic substances.” (http://www.fda.gov/AboutFDA/Transparency/Basics/ucm214868.htm)

In summary, natural is no added colors, flavors or preservatives. However, cyanide is a naturally occurring substance. Cyanide is found in bitter almonds. It takes .36g to kill a 160lb. person in 2-6 hours. This amount "occupies a smaller volume then the volume ofsalt that most people put on an order of French Fries."Is cyanide good because it is natural? Natural does not mean healthy or better.

This is not a rant to complain about companies and how they label their products. The purpose of this post is to show that natural or organic is not better. They are not really different from "regular" food. It is merely a marketing ploy that tricks consumers into spending extra money on products that claim to be better for you.