...The drama “Trying to find Chinatown” by David Henry Hwang, the short story “Brownies” by Z. Z. Parker and the poem “I, Too” by Langston Hughes all deal with stereotypes and how the characters in each work deal with them. While differently illustrated by each author, the theme is the same: overcoming the obstacle of stereotypes. In “Trying to find Chinatown”, the main character, Benjamin, is trying to find his roots and feel a sense of belonging. On his way he stops and talks to Ronnie a street musician of Asian descent to ask for directions. Interestingly, Ronnie greets Benjamin with less than stellar enthusiasm because he calls Ronnie’s instrument a fiddle instead of a violin. Ronnie blasts Benjamin with, “If this was a fiddle, I’d be sitting here with a cob pipe, stomping my cowboy boots and kicking up hay.” (page 1825). The anger evoked in this line is strong and little does Ronnie know that he and Benjamin share similar heritages. Benjamin is not only faced with dealing with an ignorant stereotypical slur but ironically so by the very heritage he has come to embrace and is looking to find solace in. Benjamin calls down Ronnie and tells him that “it’s very stereotypical to think that all Asian skin tones conform to a single hue”. (page 1827) Despite being told he doesn’t fit the mold of an Asian American, Benjamin goes on to find his place in Chinatown and “felt immediately…a world where all things were finally familiar” (page1829). Similarly, “Brownies” deals with...
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...annoying); their arguments, though oppositional, equally viable; and, in the end, no single viewpoint is privileged. Their debate about how best to represent oneself as an Asian American ends not in a victory but in a draw. Benjamin Wong is blue eyed and blond haired. His midwestern drawl is the sound of a Kansas childhood, and his ethnic pride rants reflect his liberal education at the University of Wisconsin in Madison, where he majored in Asian American studies. Benjamin’s last name and his ethnic identity are products of his adoption as an infant into an Asian American family. Benjamin’s visit to New York City, his first, is a pilgrimage to pay homage to his recently deceased father. He wants to visit his father’s birth house in Chinatown, but first he needs directions, which he hopes to wrestle from Ronnie, who, Asian in appearance, looks like he might know. Ronnie is a violinist of credible ability whose range covers classical to jazz, but not the country-western that is music to Benjamin’s ears. When Benjamin mistakenly identifies Ronnie’s instrument as a fiddle, tempers flare. Ronnie’s hurled invective “hick” is misplaced, however, as Benjamin points out, “you can’t judge my race by my genetic heritage alone.” Asian in skin tone and facial features, Ronnie knows little about the history of his culture, and it is a lesson in...
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...The Play named “Trying to find Chinatown” deals with how race is perceived, and in this case the asian community is the primary focus of the story line. The Main Characters are Ronnie and Benjamin. Both start their relationship as a unexpected consensual encounter when Ronnie a Chinese American Male in his mid Twenties dressed in retro 60s with a slight look of the 90s when it came to his Requisite mutilation of the outfit. He was playing his electric violin on a street corner on the Lower east side of New York city. The time frame seemed late in the afternoon. Life seemed to take a tole on Ronnie because times were tough for him as living in the Big apple is very expensive as we should all know. Then enters a “White” blond haired blue...
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...My other struggles on the flip side is having your friends trying to understand what Chinese culture is about and why you can’t go to their home and play and why I need to go back home straight after school and why we don’t participate in extracurricular activities and that had a lot to do with our parents not understanding what American school system is about. Participating in stuff like that was not something that they grew up with so we didn’t grow up participating with school stuff. Other struggles were trying to make friends that is not particularly your race. You just kinda more comfortable having friends that look like you talk like you and have similar family background. So i would say part of the struggle is not having a wide circle of friends that are diversified and different. CT: Have you ever had to grow up with discrimination and racism and if so can you give an example? JK: Oh yeah um. When we were living in Chinatown you didn’t feel the discrimination as much because predominantly Chinese people. However once me moved outside of Chinatown you do face discrimination. We grew up in Visitacion Valley so there were many different cultures over there Hispanics, Filipinos, and African Americans, and Chinese. It was a whole gamut of nationalities. It was very often you were called “chinamen”...
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...disease known as the plague, but one fascinating story that really catches the eye was Chasing Secrets, a book written by Gennifer Choldenko. This amazing novel takes place in San Francisco in the 1900’s and the main character, Lizzie, was on the way home from assisting her father, who is a doctor, with treating his patients. On the way home she discovers Chinatown was under quarantine. A few days later she discovered that Jing ,her beloved servant, was mysteriously missing. Later that night she hears noises coming from the room that abuts their maid Maggie's room and finds Jing’s son hiding in her house and he warns her that Jing is trapped in the quarantine. So with some of Noah's help, they try and help jing escape the quarantine....
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...OVERSEAS CHINESE TABLE INTRODUCTION: Defining overseas Chinese 4 UNDERSTANDING OVERSEAS CHINESE A. History and cultural background 1. Southeast Asia 2. North America 3. Europe 4. Chinatowns B. The reasons for immigrating abroad 1. Political reasons 2. Economic and social reasons C. Current status 1. Population distribution 2. Southeast Asia a. The overseas Chinese’s paradox b. The Indonesian case 3. The United States 4. Europe BUSINESS WORLD OF CHINESE A. Rise of Global Chinese Companies & Huaqiao B. Regional Analysis 1. Asia 2. The United States 3. Europe C. Size of Chinese Capital Worldwide SUCCESS OF OVERSEAS CHINESE A. The Business Style B. The Downside of their Business Style THE CHANGES IN THE OVERSEAS CHINSESE SOCIETY A. Old and New Generation: How are they Different? B. The New Business of the New Generation C. The New Trend in the Chinese Immigration CONCLUSION A. Future Outlook of the Hua Qiao B. The opportunity to work with Overseas Chinese: WCEC 2005 in Seoul Introduction Defining overseas Chinese Overseas Chinese are ethnic Chinese people who live outside of China. China, in this usage, may refer to Greater China including territory currently administered by the rival governments of the People's Republic of China and the Republic of China as per traditional definitions of the term prior to the Chinese civil war, or only to the People's Republic of China by some quarters. In addition, the government of the Republic of China granted residents...
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...preferring to attend a party in her red shoes. Once she begins dancing, she can't stop. The shoes take over. She cannot control them and they are stuck to her feet. The shoes continue to dance, through fields and meadows, rain or shine, night and day. She can't even attend her adoptive mother's funeral. An angel appears to her, condemning her to dance even after she dies, as a warning to vain children everywhere. Karen finds an executioner and asks him to chop off...
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...answer that it is worth to fertilize the soul of themselves through a growing knowledge. Some people may insist that they gain more material things from learning such as that it is useful to prepare them for a job. However, students have been blinded by those visible material things and they neglect the transformation of the human characters. While to an extent "seeing is believing", quite often it is what you don’t see that makes the difference. Receiving liberal art education, students are able to have many kinds of perspectives and use them appropriately. For these reasons, I believe learning just like Tangram which is a square divided into seven pieces that can be arranged in many ways. People hold on consistently and persistently to find the possibility of the world and themselves. This journey is permanent and people should enjoy it and embrace it. And students should see invisible changing when they are learning. Fortunately, at Drew University, I did see students were eager to embrace the process of learning from my observation of Chinese classes. In the class I observed, I found my notion of freedom, a key to embrace learning, was confirmed. More interestingly, there were plenty of ways for the pursuit of freedom. When I observed Chinese class, I saw the classroom had blue wall which differs from the yellow chairs in other class and evoked tranquility, freedom and esteem. To my surprise, the placing of tables and...
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...initial dependent human longing for protection and love in the presence of a mother. As the mother is everything a child needs when it is born, the mother also only needs the child in that moment. That bond is more precious than anything in the world, which is why every mother tries to have her children as close to her as she can. Every mother loves her child. They can argue, discuss intensely, the can even fight, but at the end of the day, a mother will always love her child. Because of the love, a mother has for her child; it is hard for her to let go. Some will tell their children how they feel, and some will just what do they think is the right thing for the child and hope that the child will understand. Motherly love is a topic we find in the short story “Where the Gods Fly”, written in 2012 by Jean Kwok. The short story is from the anthology “The Shortlist” which was one of the short stories that won The Sunday Times EFG Private Bank Short Story Award in 2012. Briefly, the short story is about a mother: fearful that she may be losing touch with her, and that she may be losing all that is inherent in her culture. A Chinese mother takes the drastic step of removing her daughter from ballet school. This paper contains an analysis and interpretation where part of the paper focuses on the structure of the story and the use of contrasts. The mother in the short story narrates the story, which means, the point of view in the short story is a limited omniscient first person...
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...“Shun-Wai” by Taien Ng is a short story in which the author recounts her childhood memory of her visit to her grandparents’ place in Hong Kong when she was thirteen. Taien Ng was born in 1970 in Vancouver. Being a first-generation Canadian-born Chinese, Taien Ng did not always understand or come to appreciate her Chinese heritage. However, she still found her mother’s attitudes towards traditional Chinese practice hypocritical: while her mother constantly reminded her of her Chinese heritage, at the same time her mother is overly critical of traditional Chinese practices when they’re in conflict with her own religious beliefs, even to the point of demanding the author’s grandparents to take apart something they hold dear - the Shun-Wai. The...
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...Big Board, the company we choose to interview, is a restaurant/bar which they are known for not only for the delicious gourmet burgers, but also for its success and location. The business was established by three brothers, Mark, Eric, Doyle Flannery, and, long time friend, Dave had an opportunity to have their dream. Big Board is located where the community is becoming stronger as the neighborhood is reventating on H Street which increases their potential opportunity to increase their customers. As for H Street’s history, there is a community within other businesses on the street, they have a liaison where they stand strong together by supporting each other. These are just a few of the many factors that lead Big Board to choose H street as its home. With that being said, Big Board are not afraid of their growing competition. The purpose of this community, Big Board doesn't view his “neighbors” as direct competition. Instead all the businesses helped each other by supporting each other and leaving a huge range of advantages over the “outside” restaurants in other locations. The availability for the space and the expectation of having a trolley that will be available during the summer that should increase the community. Not only being limited to H Street, but they also support local business by choosing their suppliers. Mr. Flannery has emphasize that most of his products are obtain from Maryland, Virginia, and District of Columbia area. “These companies are small and only...
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...JAKARTA 101 FOR EPs ICX GCDP in AIESEC UI Jakarta, Indonesia! Jakarta in a Glimpse Jakarta is the Indonesia’s economic, cultural and political center. It is the most populous city in Indonesia and in Southeast Asia, and is the tenth-largest city in the world. It is seldom viewed as a center for tourism other than the old part of the city, which is a popular tourist destination. However the Jakarta authority saw the opportunity to develop the city's reputation as a service and tourism city. There are many new tourism infrastructures, entertainment centers, and international-class hotels and restaurants being built in Jakarta. Jakarta also possesses many historical places and cultural heritage. Chaotic, crowded, and cosmopolitan, Jakarta, the capital of Indonesia, is a city of contrasts. Home to millions of people from around the world, the city is a mixture of languages and cultures, poverty and wealth. The city boasts some of the best nightlife in Asia and some of the worst traffic. 1. Weather in Jakarta The weather in Jakarta is tropical with high humidity and lots of rainfall. Jakarta weather really only has two seasons, with a rainy season (November to June) and a dry season (July to October). Even during the dry season there are some rainy days. Wet season From November till June Jakarta experiences wet season. January is the wettest month of the year when it receives around 400 mm of precipitation. Moreover, the month witnesses only...
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...Final Film Critique – LA Confidential Adam Ehinger Ashford University: ENG225 Instructor Michael O'Donnell 1/31/2015 Sometimes a movie makes a lasting impression on you as an individual, sometimes you'll come back to this movie time and time again. LA Confidential (1997) is a combination of a star studded cast and a scintillating detective story set in the 50's. The movie combines all aspects of movie making, from acting, directing, writing, mise en scene and all sorts of film techniques to make one of the most entertaining noir's you'll ever see. LA Confidential (1997) is directed by Curtis Hanson, he doesn't have this prolific history of stunning movies like some other directing heavy weights but he handles an a-list cast and directing duties admirably here. While most of the big names in the cast weren't technically BIG names yet they must have still had personalities or needed work to get the job done. Notably at least to me is Kim Basinger, someone who usually I do not enjoy, usually a weak point in movies for me, but in this she is perfectly fine, nothing to much, but not noticeable like usual, a feat in directing to me. The cast is name after name, Russel Crowe as the ham fisted Officer Bud White, Kevin Spacey playing the mercurial Detective Jack Vincennes, Guy Pearce in my eyes as his break out performance playing the golden child Ed Exley. You have a plethora of famous character actors to back these boys up, David Strathairn as...
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...University of Phoenix Material Appendix D Part I Define the following terms: |Term |Definition | |Ethnic group |A group set apart from others because of its national origin or distinctive cultural patterns. | |Anti-Semitism |Hostility toward or discrimination against Jews as a religious, ethnic, or racial group. | |Islamophobia |Fear or hatred of Muslims, their culture, or their politics. | |Xenophobia |Fear or hatred of strangers or foreigners or of anything that is strange or foreign. | |Persecution |The act or practice of persecuting, harassing, or annoying those who differ in origin, religion, or | | |social outlook. | |Religious group |A collection of individuals who share a unified system of sacred beliefs and practices that encompass | | |elements beyond everyday life that inspire awe, respect, and even fear. | Part II Select at least 1 religious and 1 ethnic/racial group not your own from the list below. • Religious groups (based on http://religions.pewforum.org/pdf/affiliations-all-traditions.pdf) ...
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...In the short story In The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan shows us how Jing-Mei develops, interacts with other characters, and advances throughout the course of the text. Out of the four families Jing-Mei learned valuable lessons from her mother. Her and her mother experienced many thing from her mother leaving her baby sisters, to her trying to become a prodigy, from her learning things that would help her later, and meeting her sisters even though her mother was not able to. The main character Jing-Mei learns important lesson and gradually changes from being confused like she just thought she couldn’t be nothing better than the way she already was so she didn’t try very hard to developing into trying and doing things that would help her like...
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