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Blog #13

Final blog-POP performance!

The past few weeks putting together the Mean Girls skit was pretty hectic. It was hard to get everyone on the same page and knowing their roles for the play. I was nervous about how it would turn out since we only had a few rehearsals but I think it came out great! I was in the dance group and a part of the "Asian Gangsters," I haven't had to go on stage for a performance since middle school so I was anticipating the worst; but when it came time for me to perform I didn't feel the slightest bit nervous. The POP performance was a great way to end the semester, it broke us out of our groups and brought the entire class together. I loved that the grading for the class wasn't based on test scores, but more on what you actually got out of the class which was represented in the performance. I made some great friends in the class and am thankful that I was able to be a part of it! :)

-Ashley Smith

Blog #12

My experience in AAS 218 was much different than any of my other classes. I knew from the first day that this course was anything but ordinary when the professor, Irene, started off the class with her spunky personality while teaching from the back in a student desk. She explained that she was not going to be standing in front of the class lecturing us for 3 hours every monday, rather we would learn through our groups, or presentations from others or our own experiences. Typically I'm pretty shy so I was unsure how I would feel about a class that was based so heavily on presentations, however Irene made the class setting feel so relaxed and it never made me uncomfortable. I feel that this course has helped me with my presentational skills and has resulted in me being more open minded and given me great knowledge on what it means to be "Asian American" without putting a dictionary definition on it. Thank you Irene, and all of the TA's for making this class run so smoothly!!

-Ashley Smith

Blog #11

For this blog post I'm going to bring back an old favorite from American Idol 2004; William Hung, who gained his fame from singing Ricky Martins "she bangs." He was originally from Hong Kong and at the time of his American Idol performance, he was a student at CAL majoring in civil engineering. William Hung was so incredibly off tune in his audition that he gained nation wide recognition and ended up dropping out of college to pursue his music career. He appeared in various commercials and opened up for the Toronto Blue Jays singing "Take Me Out to the Ballgame." Many believe that William gained his incredible fame due to his ethnicity and for being the "stereotypical asian" who is nerdy with bucked teeth, speaks with an asian accent, and has absolutely no singing talent or rhythm. His music career officially ended in 2011, when he retired to become a technical crime analyst for Los Angeles. Attatched is a link to William Hungs most infamous "She Bangs."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0d5eP0wWLQY

-Ashley Smith

Blog #10

Black Cloud over Beijing, China

Massive air pollution has resulted in a thick black cloud over the city and the citizens have no choice but to live in this unhealthy circumstance. A study found that last year there were about 8,572 premature deaths in Shanghai, Guangzhou, Xi’an and Beijing is likely to be linked to air pollution. I was shocked to find that the living conditions are this bad in China and I wish there was some way this problem could be solved, though this black cloud is the result of Chinese air pollution problems throughout the years. Its crazy to find that something so drastic has been going on on the other side of the world and I didn't even know it. It is important to raise awareness and to put more pressure on the Chinese government in order to reduce pollution and to make the grey skies blue again. The the severity of this issue must be recognized and in order to make a real change the regional government must announce specific dates for their plans which must be highly detailed. I am hopeful that this issue will soon be treated with more urgency for the sake of the innocent citizens of the country.

-Ashley Smith

http://thediplomat.com/2013/01/black-cloud-over-beijing/

Blog #9

This is a funny video titled "Asian's Aren't Short!" The youtuber Kevjumba discusses stereotypes with NBA star Jalen Rose after playing a game of 1 on 1. Kevjumba explains that ever since Yao Ming has been the tallest player in the NBA, it is no longer a valid point to say that asians are short. After their basketball hame Kevjumba talks about the unfair height and race advantage 6'8" African American Jalen Rose had on him.

-Ashley Smith

Blog #8

I read an article on the recent study on a dating app which revealed that all women except for African American women prefer white males and men of all races prefer Asian women. I was not surprised by this study because I actually have noticed the results of the data in real life situations. The authors of the article; Kat Chow and Elise Hu show their conversation about the data which brought up some interesting topics. Elise discusses how although the article shows that all men prefer asian women, we don't see "troves of men flocking to Asian women in the offline world" and how this might reflect that people have different preferences in real life vs. online.

<p>http://www.npr.org/blogs/codeswitch/2013/11/30/247530095/are-you-interested-dating-odds-favor-white-men-asian-women</p>

-Ashley Smith

Blog #7

BOBA/BUBBLE TEA

One of my favorite drinks is Milk or Thai Tea with Boba. I recently learned that it is a Taiwanese drink invented in the 70's. When reading about what Boba is I learned there have been various health concerns due to food/chemical additives in order to reduce costs. As recently as this past May the FDA has found unapproved food additives such as maleic acid in tapioca pearls. Along with the various health concerns, I learned that each tapioca pearl has up to 17 calories!! After my research I've decided I'm going to have to find a new favorite drink!

-Ashley Smith

Blog #6

I read a blog posted on http://asianasiana.tumblr.com that really sparked my interest. It was the post about not liking asian rappers and it being strange to hear an asian person rapping about drugs and gangs. I realized that there aren't many asian rappers out there that I'm aware of and thought it might be strange to hear. But I believe this is because the rap music genre is most popular in the American culture. However, hip-hop and rap music have expanded so much and there are numerous sub genres so I don't feel I would be entirely turned off by an Asian rapper. This blog inspired me to find a successful asian rapper, I found several but the one I liked most was a rapper from Miami named Jin. I liked him because he didn't try to conform and rap about typical topics like girls or drugs. He is full Chinese and incorporates his own culture and even the Chinese language into some of his raps. He is known as the first rapper to break into the mainstream. Heres a link to one of his more popular songs titled "I Quit" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kYgtPJkPtoY

-Ashley Smith

Blog #13 POP

For my final blog post, I will be wrapping up with POP! I am very glad I got to experience Pop as a final exam. Not only did I enjoy it because it was a written exam, I had fun in the making during our last few class periods, and rehearsal.

I was in the cafeteria scene, burn book scene, classroom scene, prom scene, and dance crew. While I was a part of the dance crew, I became close with many people in my class. It was an enjoyable experience meeting up with the dance crew and learning the dances each person made up. I had fun on stage with them and I was not scared or nervous at all! (thankfully)

The message of our Pop performance was lovely. I really loved the prom scene when Damian won the crown and gave his speech because he brought up legit points in it. People should not call each other names because it wont make them any cooler or stronger than the other person. I think my AAS class did an amazing job creating a scene that was funny and enjoyable to watch, but also conveyed an important message.

-Jasmine A.

Blog #12

My second to last blog will be dedicated to Asian American Culture, AAS 218, which was one of my first five classes as a freshman here at San Francisco State University. At first I was not looking forward to having a three house class on Monday nights, but now that I look back, i'm glad I was in AAS 218 with the people who were with it with me and our fabulous teacher, Irene. I learned a lot through our conversations in class, my group, our iron chef presentations, our midterms, and in the making of our final, pop.

This class was unique compared to my others. What I liked about it was that we created our own breakdown of how we get graded and how we did not use textbooks, but rather did blogs and read online articles instead. Also, I really enjoyed that for our midterm, we were able to create groups and go out to an event rather than taking a midterm test. Same goes for our final.

Overall, I am glad I met everyone in my class and made new friends in it. I will definitely remember AAS 218, the fun class that I got to attend every Monday night.

-Jasmine A.

Blog #15 Producing Our Power (POP)

On December 9th I attended and played a part in the show of Producing Our Power (POP). It was very exciting to be a part of and to watch different class's take on things. Somehow all of us managed to make it possible, and managed to send a message as well. Attacking the issues of racism, stereotyping, expectations and the like were eye opening and at the same time humorous because it was a mixed bag of bringing the issues to light within the confines of entertainment, though there was historical background stuff that was very informative. You'd also like to think that this kind of racism has gone away, and only exists in various media, but no, that's not going to be a thing for a long while it seems. POP seemed like a way to get people thinking, or thinking in new ways, which is good, because more ideas about what to do about all this muddled mess is going to be really helpful, and even if not, there's going to be more of an awareness. There was also intersectionality, showing that things cannot be neatly categorized into separate sections. And it really did feel like we did generate more of an awareness through this. It was nice.

- Jennie H.

#JennieH218AAS

Blog #14 Racism

Ingrained racism is so very terrifying. You ask a person about why there isn't other races being represented, and their face will often just go blank. They can't explain it, and it's legitimately terrifying how their brain literally just stops. Chances are, they won't think about it, after, and will put it out of their heads so that they can't think about it. Also, why is being called racist the most offensive thing that you could do? Especially to a white person? You grow up in a society and environment that perpetuates racism and the like and you will internalize that stuff whether you were willing or not. You will also make remarks and do actions that are a little racist. You are the one with the power and with the privilege that society has bestowed upon you, so use it properly. How you react to someone calling you out says a lot about you, I find, and not a lot of people even listen to the ones calling them out. They just continue on with their lives. It's sad, and so very tiring when they deliberately close their ears to you, and you learn to choose your battles that first time, and maybe this time they'll listen for a change.

- Jennie H.

#JennieH218AAS

Blog #13 Capitalist Patriarchal Society

Why is it that those advertisements for going green never really have much representation for people of color, who have actually been biking and like for years before go green even became a thing? Oh wait. And they say racism is gone. Meanwhile, those who are poor are doing it because they have no choice, so it's not green, but when white people do it it's like saving the earth or the starving children in Africa campaigns/advertisements. At least with the healthy organic fad now benefits the individual farmers. The white knight/white savior complex that a lot of them seem to have, which is patronizing as hell by the way. If you're going to help, then help, not profit over other people's suffering without saying that you do, but oh do they ever. Capitalist society will market anything. Pink Ribbons, Inc., a 97 minute documentary on:

Who really benefits from the pink ribbon campaigns: the cause or the company? In showing the real story of breast cancer and the lives of those who fight it, this film reveals the co-opting of what marketing experts have labeled a “dream cause.”

- Jennie H.

#JennieH218AAS

Blog #12 Immigration, Choices Made

With all this discrimination against immigrants, it's reminded me of the various conversations that I've had with my parents over the years. Even if it was hard to find work without being able to speak the main language, and that they were discriminated against, and mocked for their Engrish, they still considered it better for them here, pursuing the "American Dream" that they didn't really believe in, instead of in their homelands. Even my father, son of a merchant, who was much better off than my mother's family of farmers, even if his entire family had been split through various countries on their way to immigrating to the U.S. Granted, they were also fleeing some wars (dad had to grow up in the midst of the Vietnam War, yikes), but my parents and grandma were the ones who brought the rest of their families to the States, but they only arrived after me and my brother were born. My mom's brother and sister with their families only arrived a few years ago, and she'd started the process as soon as she'd arrived. It'd taken more than a decade, and other families likely even longer to see their families again. With how strict the rules are getting in regards to immigration law, I can't imagine how much longer it would be if she'd started later than she had.

- Jennie H.

#JennieH218AAS

Evolution of Chinese Music - Calculasian [Berkeley Chinese A Cappella Group] (Blog #11)

I remember growing up with Chinese songs during festival and holiday time near constantly since my family - especially on my dad's side - loved karaoke, but almost never for the rest of the year, since they had to work. It was the rare occasion that I heard anything other than those festival songs, but the ones I did hear were often the same ones over and over, their favorites. They were well known songs, that pretty much every Chinese American kid I met had also heard those same songs, and we'd groan once they came on, but as we got older, it gave us a nostalgic kind of feeling. We'd still groan, but mostly just for show. It wasn't until our parents started breaking out the microphones that we got out of the room as fast as we could anyway, so it was a good unorthodox bonding experience. I'm very fond of them, currently. These are some of those old time songs that our parents loved, their pop culture (Teresa Teng is an especially recognizable name), and some that most of the kids I grew up around recognized right off the bat, and you get a taste at a bunch of various songs as well in this video, spanning the 1960s to 2010. Enjoy.

- Jennie H.

#JennieH218AAS

Blog #10 Organic

It's strange, that the fairly recent organic trend in things is a fad now when back when I was a kid, it was a sign of trying to save money. It will never be not funny to me that the perpetuated organic stuff is horrendously more expensive than the processed food, with an appropriately morbid and bitter tinge of humor, naturally. When fresh vegetables are a heck of a lot more expensive than fast food, it's not really that funny, especially when you have growing kids to fed, and you don't have the money for healthy stuff. When before it was cool, it was a sign of trying to survive. It's why I relate to this article so much, because I have grown up with it, and yes I was ashamed, much because of the same reasons as the author of the article, and because my family was not, or at least because I couldn't see it.

They were proud, unashamed, and just lived, but maybe they were already broken, trying to help raise their kids to be better than them and what they had. I don't really know. I do know that my life right now would probably be labeled cool, because we have a bigger garden now, and a few fruit trees in the backyard of our home, and even if there's not as much variety as the grocer, there's still plenty to help save on other grocery costs. There is always a horrendous amount of the same kind of melon/squash, because if you are going to grow a thing, you do it in enough bulk that it will take up it's own little plot. Then you have to eat so much of it once it's grown that you will get sick of it but have to eat it anyway because it will go bad if you don't and that's a waste of money. So terribly sick of the same kind of food, even with other stuff in between, because you will eat this particular vegetable for weeks and months if it'll stretch. There is a reason we grow food that grows fast or lasts, or both if we can manage it.

- Jennie H.

#JennieH218AAS

Kollaboration SF 2013 (Blog #9)

Kollaboration is an annual event produced by young and upcoming Asian and Pacific Islander (API) students and professionals who aim promote a strong API presence in entertainment and media. They are awesome and they make music and perform and compete, and came to my attention when I stumbled upon their music videos a while back. This is the one from the SF area for 2013, but there are many more from various cities around the country on their channel as well. Check them out!

- Jennie H.

#JennieH218AAS

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