#lynnzhang

[gwanth1002]

International Migration and Chain Migration

This photo was taken a couple weeks ago when my family threw a birthday party for my grandmother. In order from left to right is one of my aunts (middle child), my grandpa, my mother (oldest), my second aunt (youngest), and then my grandmother. This photo only captures my mother’s side of the family, and the aunt on the left is the middle child of the three sisters. She did not migrate to the United States when my mother and younger aunt did, and only recently migrated this past year. This represents chain migration which is described as population movement in which a first wave of migrants comes and then attracts relatives and friends to join them in the destination. My mother and younger aunt moved to the US first in order to further their education and hoped to be able to provide a better living situation for themselves and their future children. Soon after that, my grandparents were attracted to migrating to the US because they had two children who were prospering and could provide for them better as they grew older, as well as the health care in America was much more appealing to them than Chinese health care. In this past year, my aunt (middle child) moved to the US with her husband to bring the family together. And there are rumors circulating that my cousin, the son of the aunt who just recently moved to the US, has plans on moving the US as well. Finally, international migration, population movement across country boundaries, was perfectly described by the movement of my entire family on both my mother’s side and my father’s side of the family. As a first generation American, migration from China is at every corner, and there are plenty of stories to be told about their journeys to America.

[gwanth1002]

Museum & Art

The top photo was taken in the museum, defined as an institution that collects, preserves, interprets, and displays objects on a regular basis, below the Lincoln Memorial. Surprisingly, I have lived in the DC, Maryland, and Virginia area for 18 years only to find out about this museum yesterday by Kyle, who isn’t even local to this area. Nevertheless, as I was walking around inside and came across a room that shows the timeline of the Civil Rights Movement and all the events that happened on the steps of the memorial. What I took a photo of was a photo depicting some famous protest that occurred on the Lincoln Memorial over the years, specifically pertaining to the Civil Rights Movement. The photograph has been collected and preserved throughout our history to demonstrate the difficulties we have gone through as a country to come to the point we are at today. The museum is open as long as the memorial and park services are open, so anybody can come on a regular basis to see it.

The second photo was taken at the Renwick Gallery in what seems to be their most famous room. People will often walk in and lay down on the floor and gaze upwards at the beautiful piece of art, which is the application of imagination, skill, and style to matter, movement, and sound that goes beyond what is purely practical. This sculpture, titled 1.8, represents the 1.8 microseconds that the Earth’s day was shortened when the earthquake and tsunami that hit Japan and the Fukushima nuclear plant. The knotted netting and changing colors represent the interconnected relationships in which when even one part moves, every other part of the sculpture moves as well. Overall, it captures the elements of larger cycles of time. You could have never guessed the meaning of this sculpture without consulting the artist or the panel that explains what it represents, and that is the part of this piece that goes beyond what is purely practical. An immense amount of imagination and skill are needed to be able to create a sculpture that holds so much depth and meaning. The artist also talks about the constant moving parts to the sculpture, and that is unique to this specifically because you would never think a still life would have any movement, but in this case is depicted by the shifting colors and the air currents that flow throughout the room.

[gwanth1002]

Sign Language & Language

With permission, pictured is my friend Michelle Diaz in the basement of District House holding up a hand sign with her thumb and pinky finger sticking out. Holding hand signals up is a very well known way to communicate these days. Especially with the ever growing understanding of American Sign Language and other variations of it. This represents sign language, a form of communication that uses mainly hand movements to convey messages, in two different ways which is where language, a form of communication that is a systematic set of learned symbols and signs shared among a group and passed on from generation to generation, comes into play. It is easy to tell that this is a hand signal that represents a message. Language entails a set of symbols and signs that are shared amongst a group passed down through each generation. When seen by a Hawaiian, it has come to hold the meaning of “hang loose.” Also known as the Shaka sign, this signal means you have friendly intent, well known among Hawaiians and surf culture. But when seen by someone Chinese, it holds the meaning of the number 6. I’ve learned this from my parents as well as from the years of Chinese school I have attended. It is a deeply rooted aspect in which Chinese people count with one hand only. Both hand signals have transcended through generations of using it, although in two completely different ways. I personally have gotten into confusing conversations with people about why I hold up that particular hand signal because a lot of people do not understand that it mostly represents a number to me and I do not initially think of the “hang loose” aspect of it.

[gwanth1002]

Law & Norm

The last weekend of spring break, a group of friends and I took a trip to New York. This photo was taken on the Brooklyn Bridge as we were walking back from the city to the Airbnb we were staying at in Brooklyn. As we were walking, we noticed a bunch of locks all over the bridge. We came across this sign on a lamppost that reads “No Locks, Yes Lox, FINE $100,″ yet all around the sign were locks. This sign is the law, a binding rule created through enactment or custom that defines right and reasonable behavior and is enforceable by threat of punishment, because it is a demanding that no locks are to be placed anywhere on this bridge. In addition, it comes with an enforceable threat under a NYC administrative code if the law is not followed. I thought it was interesting to see the carefree lifestyle of all the people that put locks up. Almost as if they knew that the police could do nothing to track the lock back to the person who put it there, making the punishment null.

The second picture is the next day of the trip in New York, when we visited the 9/11 Memorial. It is a norm, a generally agreed-upon standard for how people should behave, usually unwritten and learned unconsciously, that when you step into the memorial, for the most part you have to be quiet to respect all the people who have fallen. Being in an area where there are a lot of people visiting and nobody is talking, you quickly catch on that you aren’t supposed to talk either. Although it is not written anywhere, it is assumed based on the actions of others. It was so quiet, that all I could hear was the rushing water from the waterfall. To a certain extent, you even feel bad for talking in an area near either of the two pools because it does start to feel like you are disrespecting the people who were killed and the people who died trying to help. It has a completely different feel to it than the Lincoln Memorial, where people are talking, sitting, and having a good time. But it is similar to the Vietnam War Memorial, as you walk past it, there are no voices, everybody is just silently respecting the warriors that passed.

[gwanth1002]

Social Group and Primary Group

As the definition of a social group is a cluster of people beyond the domestic unit who are usually related on grounds other than kinship, I chose the first picture to depict that because it is a photo of the Women’s Swim and Dive team here at GW. This is a team or group of people put together based on the sport, not based on blood connection. Social groups to me are people you hang out with and have memories with and this team is just that. Transitioning into college in the first two weeks would have been much more difficult if it weren’t for this group and im sure other people can say the same. Social groups help situate people and allows people to express themselves over commonalities.

The second photo is of three girls on the team, helping demonstrate primary group. As they are a part of the team as a whole, they are also some of the people I am much more in contact with. On the left is Gillian, with whom I live in the same building with, so were are constantly seeing each other. The other two, Jackie and Abbey, are in the specific group I swim in, so throughout the year I see the two of them nearly 20 hours a week in the pool and weight room. In this photo, we are sitting in study hall working, this being another place we all come in contact with each other. The women’s team as a whole are all good friends, but not everyone knows every personal detail about everyone. But within that there are people that I have connected with much more than others.

[gwanth1002]

Kinship and Family

In this photo, from left to right, is myself, my sister, and Emily. A couple of weeks ago, Emily and I had gone home for Chinese New Year. We went to my cousin’s house to celebrate, and Emily had come over to celebrate with us seeing as her mother had yet to come home.

Recently, I had watched a video about Chinese New Year and the culture it encompasses. In the video, a lonely man is invited into his neighbors home for dinner because they insisted that on Chinese New Year, everyone is family and no one should be left alone. This reminded me of the friends I have made and how they are also my family. We like to make a joke about how Emily is our actual sister, and twins with my sister Leah, my actual sister. These two events have strong ties to kinship and family. Kinship is shown through the acceptance of Emily as family, and family is the memories we have made together as three sisters.