tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-55704337880246858412024-02-20T04:11:24.685-08:00Shared Stories of the Asian American ExperienceEllen Labitzkehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08490412755969735840noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5570433788024685841.post-49317199770658373662011-05-29T20:26:00.000-07:002011-05-29T20:27:10.140-07:00Identity is More<div style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">A few months ago we got grades back for some assignment that wasn’t actually important.</div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">My score was good, as it often is, but</div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">That of the girl sitting next to me wasn’t.</div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">“It’s just because you’re Asian,” she said,</div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">Mocking me,</div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">As if all credit went to my heritage</div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">Instead of my brain.</div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">As if I didn’t do that assignment, but rather</div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">My ancestors did. </div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">As if effort wasn’t put into this project, and</div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">I drew the A-grade idea out of my bloodline.</div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">And it wasn’t worth my time to combat it, so</div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">I laughed it off. Just once.</div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><br />
</div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">A few weeks ago I got invited to a party by people I didn’t actually care about.</div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">The host said I should carpool some people to his place, but</div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">I told him that I couldn’t drive.</div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">“It’s just because you’re Asian,” he said,</div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">Mocking me,</div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">As if the DMV wouldn’t let me operate a car because of my almond eyes</div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">Instead of my heart condition.</div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">As if the reason why I couldn’t drive was not that I was unable to reach the office, but rather</div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">That I was unable to reach the pedals.</div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">As if my inability to drive came from my race, and</div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">I was bound to fail since my conception.</div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">And it wasn’t worth my time to combat it, so</div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">I laughed it off. Just once.</div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><br />
</div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">But once turned into a hundred times and</div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">I couldn’t stand it anymore, so</div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">I contested it. Just once.</div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">But then once turned into a thousand times and</div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">I grew weary of fighting, so</div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">I ignored it. Forever.</div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><br />
</div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">A few days ago I was talking to people about something I don’t actually remember.</div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">I may have giggled in a high-pitched voice, or put up a peace sign in a picture, or nothing at all, but</div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">One of them just had to pick out a characteristic and use it.</div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">“It’s just because you’re Asian,” they said,</div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">Mocking me,</div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">As if I grew up as the little Japanese girl with bangs cut straight that studied all day,</div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">Instead of as a half-Filipino and half-Caucasian girl with my hair looking as crazy as I acted.</div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">As if I’m not an emerging woman trying to establish her identity as an adult, but rather</div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">That I am only entering my second decade and am already trying to seem five years younger.</div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">As if I would become a “porcelain doll” submissive wife who marries a man for his money, and</div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">I would never be confident and successful and marry for love.</div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">And I realized that it was worth <strong>all the time in the world </strong>to combat it, so</div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">I spoke up. For the first time, but not the last.</div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><br />
</div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">Because once turns into a hundred times and</div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">Even though you can’t stand it anymore,</div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">You can’t stop fighting.</div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">Because one race <strong>doesn’t</strong> constitute a thousand stereotypes and</div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">Even though you may fit one or two,</div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><strong>Your identity is more than your ethnicity.</strong></div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><strong><br />
</strong></div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">- </span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #1c2a47; line-height: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Lauren A. Peña, George Fox University</span></span></div>Ellen Labitzkehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08490412755969735840noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5570433788024685841.post-8410973842128423312011-05-23T18:13:00.000-07:002011-05-23T18:14:25.779-07:00Life of an Immigrant<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/DtZs9-Eb1ms?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
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</div><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="text-align: left;">- Submitted by Kamal Kaur, UC Davis</div></div>Ellen Labitzkehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08490412755969735840noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5570433788024685841.post-18760416879031142622011-05-23T17:46:00.000-07:002011-05-23T17:46:27.763-07:00History<!--StartFragment--> <br />
<div class="MsoNormal">There’s an empty space in my history</div><div class="MsoNormal">Where the textbooks seem to turn away</div><div class="MsoNormal">From a vacant place where the truth should be</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">From eastern countries, immigrants would flee</div><div class="MsoNormal">To escape their governments’ false ways</div><div class="MsoNormal">And find hope in a land that was said to be free</div><div class="MsoNormal">(There’s an empty space in my history)</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Here, farmers fought an unfair hierarchy</div><div class="MsoNormal">And laborers struggled for better pay</div><div class="MsoNormal">And should-be citizens stood before juries</div><div class="MsoNormal">Whose hum of bias drowned out every plea</div><div class="MsoNormal">(In the vacant place where the truth should be)</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Still, fairness would win out, and finally</div><div class="MsoNormal">Our laws could let those slighted have their say</div><div class="MsoNormal">Then bombs fell from the air and suddenly</div><div class="MsoNormal">They shattered feelings of security</div><div class="MsoNormal">And fell upon countless families’ dreams</div><div class="MsoNormal">To express their pride in being Japanese</div><div class="MsoNormal">(There’s an empty space in my history)</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">But our students often fail to see</div><div class="MsoNormal">Their classrooms brush past these events each day</div><div class="MsoNormal">Claiming that, simply</div><div class="MsoNormal">They’re just too busy</div><div class="MsoNormal">(To fill the place where the truth should be)</div><div class="MsoNormal">And I wonder, how could we</div><div class="MsoNormal">Try to fit so many</div><div class="MsoNormal">Into one single story?</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">There’s an empty space in my history</div><div class="MsoNormal">It’s a family album cast away</div><div class="MsoNormal">It’s a people who won’t ever be</div><div class="MsoNormal">Invisible or lost to me</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Let words cover this place where the truth will be.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">- Ellen Labitzke</div><!--EndFragment-->Ellen Labitzkehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08490412755969735840noreply@blogger.com3