There were alot of things in the article by Robert G. Lee that related to things we have talked about in class this semester. The first thing that I found interesting was how he talked about Mr. Lee praised the work that the director did in Better Luck Tomorrow . One thing he says is ” a film mostly populated by Asian American actors that isn’t about Asian Americans(337).” I think that is an important impact in the community because in history Asian were played by white actors and it was based about their Asian way of life. Another important quote that I found was “Cobles public proclamation about both the benevolence and necessity of the interment of Japanese Americans during World War 2 provoked deep cultural anger as it reawakened old wounds in Asian American communities (338).”  I think it reminded Asians of their past and why they are still not equal in society still, even through their struggles.  It was weird to me how they stereotyped Asian males as ““White people believe all Asians got little dicks. You think when an Asian chick sees your pecker, she’s gonna think it’s Mount St. Helen’s. It’s true! And then you look at the tiny hands on most Asian chicks, and think your weenie is going to look like a sewer pipe in her fist (343).” I feel like that statement is not true and it kinda makes me think why people would say that. I agree with the part in the article when Lee talks about the different words, symbols and pictures on T-shirts that offend the Asian American culture but. I think there are alot of other t-shirts out there that discriminate, and harrass different cultures. This article was hard for me to understand but I did see some similarities from the other topics we have talked about.

In the beginning of the movie I could tell it was going to be a flashback movie because they found the dead body. I thought it was going to be Stephanie in the beginning because Steve seemed like the type of guy to get jealous and then it would lead to him killing her. So i was really shocked when it was Steve that was killed but I could see why alot of people didnt like him. He was cocky, rich and got everything he wanted. Ben and his bestfriend Virgil can basically get away with anything because they are smart and respected by so many people. Ben wants to get a perfect score on the SAT’s so he repeats a vocabulary word each day so that he won’t forget it. Ben talks about all these different things that will look good on his college applications for example being on the basketball team and the decathalon. When Ben made the basketball team he was at first a benchwarmer but Steve who works for the newspaper published an article about him which causes people to protest at the games. Ben, Virgil, Han and Derek form a group where they give people cheat sheets, scams and eventually begin dealing drugs as well. I think Ben just wants to be a bad kid image with drugs, alcohol, parties and scams but after a while he wants out of the group because he realizeas that he doesnt need that. After they kill Steve the group is changed because Virgil shoots himself in the head because he cant take knowing that he helped kill someone. I think this movie is very powerful and shows what can happen if someone is teased for to long. I feel like Ben wouldn’t have beat Steve with the baseball bat if he didn’t think if friends were in jeporady or if he hadnt been teased by him.

I thought the Peter Feng article had some pretty interesting points but was very dull at times. The main point of the article I believe is that Asian films have not yet made it to were non-asian films are. The only Asain movie that I have even really watched or heard about is Rush Hour which stares Jackie Chan. The article talks about rush hour a little and how its the one of the biggest movies from the Asian American community. The article was about creating a sense of community for the Asian American film makers and viewers but states that “maybe the film world isn’t ready for community – and that may not bode well for Asian American filmmakers…” (Feng, 24).  I kinda agree with this article because the Asian community has a lot of problems because America isnt ready for it. People still dont understand the culture nor do they try too. If an Asian is casted in the movie it is considered an “asian film”. I dont think that is right to do because its only one person not the whole cast.  I found it interesting when Feng writes that Asian Americans are continually asked to choose either an Asian or an American identity – so Asian filmmakers have either disguarded their Asian identities to make white American films or they have added Asian ‘flavor’ to the film (Feng, 21).  I believe that is a problem for the asian society. They don’t know what identity to pick because they don’t know where they would fit better. It is what we talk about alot in class and it relates to Native speaker and Asian American Dreams. This article taught me alot about how Asians face problems in the movie industry as well as the rest of their life.

“Stand up Comedian”

I thought she was very good at what she was doing and made everyone laugh about the jokes shes has for the Korean culture.

Episode 4: IToTIW

• father departed so grandfather took over and was the father figure to her.
• all american girl was the television show that she was in, it showed an asian family and its lifestyles.
• talks about the Klu Klux Klan
• Mash show has Korean in the background unloading trucks
• producer says shes fat so they get her a trainer and nutritionist

Episode 5A-IToTIW

• kidney failure because of her diet
• boyfriend breaks up with her because she pee’s blood
• talks about nurse Gwen
• first time in life it was a acceptance: never had acceptance anywhere not from family or kids on the playground. Never untill now did she feel real and she was not invisible.
• mother didn’t want her to be a comedian because of all the racism she experienced.

Episode 6-ITOTIW

• publically embarrasses family and learned to never do it again
• so consumd with fitting in became addicted to diet pills (lost weight but media still make fun of her body)
• interviewed and was asked if she was told to loose weight for the t.v. show

Episode 7- ITOTIW

• the media said she wasnt Asian enough
• producers hire an Asian consultant to teach her to be more Asian
• the consultant tells her that Asians dont were shoes in the house
• Mom doesn’t want her to marry a white man
• Says she deals with the something racial everyday: one thing is “Me So Horny”

“The Cho Show”: it is when maragret shows her life to the fans and the media. Her parents are very conservative and cultural. She is living in Los Angelos during the making of it.

Episode 1

• She wins Korean of the year
• Dad wants he to cover up her tattoos when she goes to the award ceremony
• she is at odds with the Korean community doesnt really want to accept the award but knows it will make her parents happy.
• the korean community use to say that she was the worst thing that happened to the korean community.

Episode 2:

• traditional chinese dress for the ceremony
• paint it on her so she really is naked
• her parents are shocked when they first see it worrying about what others will think

Episode 3:

• Assistant and mother go shopping for an outfit for the assistant
• parents buy an outfit a korean one for when Margaret and has children
• they want her to have children say if she doesnt she wont be complete

Episode 4:

• shes nervous because she didnt want to mess up in front of all the koreans there
• alot of people didnt like the comment she said about Virgina Tech but then they warm up to her performance
• she felt accepted by the community by making them laugh
• one of her fans confronts her and says how she is so happy in how she expresses the Korean community

The first thing that I wanted to talk about was how shocked I was by what happened at the end of the book Native Speaker. I wasnt sure how John Kwang was going to turn out but at the end I find out he was not a very nice person. I think it wasn’t right for him to kill Eduardo who has been there to help him with alot of things. Then Kwang doesn’t stop having an affair with the woman and he drives drunk which ends up not good.

    I felt like in the beginning of the book he seemed liked a very liked man, well known and very powerful. Now i see him as a traitor, liar and unhonest person to others and especially his wife. During the end of the book it shows how he really treats his wife, if i were her i would leave him. I wounder what he would do next if the story kept on going.

   I feel like after reading this book it showed me alot more about what racism is still really out there in the world. I watched a movie the other day American History X and it talked about the Latasha Harlins case, Rodney King and names that Asian Americans are called. Since reading these novels in class it has opened up my eyes alot to how society really is. I feel like racism is my susecptible for me too see because of this class.

     Overall the book didn’t end like i thought it was going too and it kind of disappointed me in that way.

I thought that this part of the book his related alot of it back to when he was younger and to his father. A part of Native Speaker that related back to Asian American Dreams was the Latasha Harlins case when the young girl was shot by a korean store keeper. I thought it was interesting how he changed the her name to Saranda Harlans. ” Saranda Harlans is dead, shot in the back by a Korean shopkeeper (pg 151).” I think that John Kwang is an unusal character. He has all this power with the gangs and the politicans that i think something bad is going to happen to him. Maybe Henry kills him or one of the gangs kills him because he does something bad. The part when Henry says the things that he did for Lelia like cleaned, cooked, made money and all the other things to provide for her. I think he is really heart broken but he is not showing his emotions yet but i think they will catch up with him. I am sorta excited to see what happens next in the story. Does John Kwang die or become friends with Henry? Do Lelia and Henry get back together or do they get divorced? What will happen with Henrys job? There are some many questions that i hope will be answered.

I think it was interesting how Henry pretty much said his dad wouldn’t agree with the profession he was in but since he has passed away he did it despite of what he new. His dad died after having two strokes and his mother has died from liver cancer but she never smoked or drank. The question of how Mitt died is finally answered because Henry says that he died at his 7th birthday at his grandfathers house. It was Mitts own party, when the children were playing a game they piled on top of him which therefore killed him. I think he had a love hate relationship with his dad and didn’t believe in alot of the things that he did. Even when his dad was on his death bed he wanted to be mean but there was something inside of him that stopped it. One thing his dad states is “it’s even hard to stay Korean (p.51).” I think this talks about how the geeh club that he was once in fell apart because of the American society.  All of the families would get together and the men called it the geeh club but after people started making money, and people died it began to deteriote.

        I thought it was interesting when they talked about the Asian building burning down and how Henrys dad was beaten in his own store. It reminds me alot about the Asian American Dreams book by Helen Zia because she talks alot about those events. I think by reading this book its going to show me alot more of what the Asian American culture was faced with.

The protaginist Henry is a Korean man who life is sorting falling apart. He falls in love with an American women named Lelia, they had a son together but he died. His wife Lelia worked as a speech therapist for children in public schools teaching them the English language. All of the sudden pretty much out of know where his wife decides that she wants to travel all over the world to explore and learn new things. When she leaves she leaves henry with a list that sums up how she doesn’t want to be with him anymore and he is a bad person. Some things she says are that he’s a “B+ student, illegal alien, anti-romantic and a spy (pg 5)”. She ends up coming back from the trip and is staying at a friends house because she doesn’t want to stay in the large apartment with him anymore. I think during the relationship Lelia was the one who wore the pants and took charge of everything and anything. Henry is working as some kind of spy and then when he reports the information to another source the person he was spying on using gets hurt or dies. I think he trys to get out of his job because he is tired of seeing people get her but his boss Mr. Hoagland calls him back for once last job which is on a guy named Jack.

         My opinions on this book is i can relate some of it back to Asian American Dreams by Helen Zia when they talk about Asians in a certain context. For example: “A friend in middle school taught me about Korean names, how Park and KIm were always Korean, the other names like Ching and Cho and Lee maybe Korean maybe Chinese. Never Japanese( p.10).” I feel like that is a racist comment to make about how all Asian names are grouped into categories. At this point in the book I think its a little confusing but after I read some more, I will like it.

I have learned a lot about creating a wiki during this project. I didn’t really realize how big the L.A Riots were until I heard the groups presentation. I didn’t know that their was so many songs, poems and lyrics that were focused about the hate against a certain group of people. Some songs also talked about the riots before they occurred and after it happened. I think Helen ZIa touched on all the topics very little compared to all the information that the groups found. When Helen Zia talks about the New York City Tazi Boycott she only mentions what was happening and why. I believe she didn’t touch on much on the Taxi Alliance at all.  I had never heard of the taxi boycott until I read Chapter 9 of Zia’s book, I asked my parents if they remember anything and they said yes. I feel like it only affected the people in the city so other people didn’t pay as much attention.  I also realize how hard it is for people to have a same sex marraige because alot of people ar still not excepting it. I have a friend and her and her partner face alot of critcism so I kind of see what it is like to be in their shoes. I feel like people should just let them be happy. I learned alot about the different topics in Helen Zia’s book from the presentations. I am excited to see the last two be presented on monday.

Research: I have done a wiki before but it was much different than what I am doing for this wiki. While looking for research I am having a hard time finding anything that will be useful. It is also hard for me to tell if its a reliable website or if I can use it. I understand that you have to type in creative common when your searching pictures on google because it will only keep you the pictures that are okay to use. I have found it is easier to research if you pull out some key term. Usually I just type the topic in but I have learned that it doesn’t always work in certain cases. I think it was a good idea that the librarian came into our classroom and showed us new tools that I never new existed. I learned that there are a lot of different online databases were you can find journals.

Technology: I have learned many new things that you can use while making a wiki. I know how to upload pictures, and photos onto the wiki. I havee found that you can’t just copy and paste a source into the wiki, you have to do it a special way in order have it on there. I like how my group members use different fonts becuase its easier to see who posted what.

Collaboration: I feel like my group members are struggling to find information including me, but overall we are working together well. I am glad that we broke up what we need on the wiki into different sections it makes it easier for me to know what everyone is doing. I believe that everyone in my group has done an equal share of research and finding information. It is hard to communicate with group members since but we have left each other comments on the wiki, exchanged email adresses so i think we will work everything out. I am glad we got to meet into our groups on wednesday because i felt I new what we were looking for and it was a little easier to find and organize.