Sunday, October 27, 2019

Week 10 Degree Engagement

Introduction 

Core classes, electives, credit hours, those terms used to confuse me until this week in FYE when we discussed Degree Engagement  as well as our Values.


Class Discussions


On Monday, we talked about Degree Engagement and the requirements we have to get to earn a degree. Furthermore we discussed the Major Requirements Catalog and other useful resources to keep us on the right track with our degree. Afterwards, we were given a paper. On it, was  a table with a myriad of words- some similar in meaning while others were vastly different in meaning. Out of 161 words, we had to circle 15 which are important to us. That was really difficult since a lot of the words are similar in meaning. Some of my classmates struggled with this task (which is understandable) . Afterwards, we had to underline ten of those and then put a star next to five of the ten. The five that I chose were:Faith, Relaxation, Efficiency, Family and Wealth. These choices reflect my present and future. I chose faith as in media, religion, science ,technology and the things that everybody else has. If I ever lose my faith in any of those things, there'd be no purpose in my life.  I chose family because (I know this sounds cliché) I wouldn't be where I am if it weren't for them. I chose relaxation and efficiency because presently they help me live a peaceful life. I chose wealth because I desire wealth (material and non-material) to enjoy life. For the rest of Monday's class, we talked about each other's choices with respect to their popularity and reflection of the past or future. 
Screenshot taken from Maurice Ashley's Ted-Ed video.
In Wednesday's class we watched a Ted-Ed video (1) of a Chess Grandmaster, Maurice Ashley, who showed us the concept of working a problem backwards to solve it. Some of those examples were mind-blowing. We were then split up into groups to discuss the video and we can apply it to our goals as well as the five values we chose from Monday's class. I was assigned to be in a group with Rachel and Livia. If I remember correctly, Rachel's goal is to get into forensics and Livia's goal is to be voice/speech therapist. We discussed how were planning to reach those goals. Dra. McGrath briefly showed us a table comparing US Values with other countries. Some of the things being compared are abstract or complex but after some thought, I would say my county's values are similar to that of the US.

Personal Reflection

In the book, Make Your Home Among Strangers, Lizet chose to pursue a major in Biology because a lot of students at her University chose to do Biology. It doesn't really seem like a good way to choose a major but who am I to judge. She should have chosen something that she genuinely wants to do. For me to criticize her would be very hypocritical.

3)
Growing up, I never had a strong passion for any career path nor did I knew what I wanted to do. In year 3 of highschool, I had to choose subjects that I wanted to do for O-Levels. I chose to do Maths, Sciences (Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Geography) and Spanish. I only chose those subjects because all my friends were planning to do those subjects (which wasn't a good reason). After year 5, I had to choose what subjects I wanted to do for A-Levels. This time, I chose Maths, Physics and Chemistry because I enjoyed those subjects and was good at them. Before Year 7,my final year, I had to think of a career path to go into after graduating. In my school, we(the students) associated Biology and Chemistry with Medicine and Maths, Physics and Chemistry with Engineering. With that mindframe, I chose to do Engineering. More specifically, I chose Aerospace Engineering as my career path. I only chose it because it sounded cool and would impress my friends and family. I took a gap year to apply to Universities. In that time I switched my desired area of study to Mechanical Engineering because my academic advisor said that I shouldn't specialize so early in my career path which was a good decision because Mechanical Engineering is a broader field. 

Last week, I had my Major Advisement and Honors Advisement. They both guided me on what I should do during my time at GSU. They both talked about research, co-op and internships.My Honors Advisor said that I should do internships and Co-ops then Research in my Junior and Senior years. This week on Wednesday , I went to an information session about research opportunities for Mechanical Engineers. Although I'm a freshman (academically sophomore), most of the research were suited for older students but I was still happy to learn what Research was going on and which Professors were doing research. From the information session, I wish to get involved with research on Wind Energy and renewable energy. I chose them in order to help the Planet and because they would be in greater demand in the future (I hope that's a good reason).
2)

Final Thoughts
Some of my goals in life are to travel the world and  to make enough money to retire early whilst finding a good source of passive income. Does the reasons why I chose my Major bother me? Not really. I don't care. Regardless, I'll still put it in the hard work because I have to. I'm on top of my classes. This is a walk in the park compared to highschool. All of my classes are really fun and interesting. Maybe I will never be all the things that I'd like to be. I do feel that I'm in a better state of mind for my career path compared to any other point in my life. I think this week's classes combined with the School's resources really helped me to envision what I need to do in order to get my degree and further advance down my career path.

Sources and Useful Links


Video Mentioned

1.) Working Backward to solve problems- Maurice Ashley

Photo Credits

2.)Terzic/iStock 




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Saturday, October 19, 2019

Week 9 : Moving Forward

Introduction
Book Burning. White Privilege. Jennine Crucet's Lecture(1). Minorities. The media. These are some of the things that have lingered on our minds from last week. This blog is going to be about all of this, as well as moving forward together in understanding each other's differences so that we can grow together in an improved environment. 

Class Discussions

(2)

 Before Monday's class, I was excited to hear what everyone had to say but also worried that the class discussion would consist of all us 'venting' our opinions in a disorganized manner. That wasn't the case. Instead, we were asked to fill out an anonymous quiz on Crucet's Lecture and Book Burning in which we wrote our opinions about thoes topics. Afterwards, we discussed Crucet's Lecture and the effects it had on the audience. We talked about how some of the white people, after the lecture, were crying with guilt: those people felt sad because they didn't ask to be white nor did they want to put other races at a disadvantage. We all came to general consensus in class that Crucet's tone was not suitable in an academic setting. We were handed a sheet containing excerpts taken from Crucet's Lecture , and we spent the rest of the class talking about it.

 For Wednesday's class, I was initially upset that we still had to continue talking about the incidents  of the prior week. I was wrong. I thoroughly enjoyed Wednesday's class because I got a new perspective on white privilege as well as, a lesson about society's negative perceptions and beliefs about other races. We also read a list about the way white Americans avoid talking about race which illustrates the fragility of some people. Dra. McGrath made it easier for us to understand white privilege by equating the struggles of an African-American with the differences in men and women's thought process when doing an action such as walking alone in the dark night with headphones in your ears. Because of the news and the internet, I had some knowledge about racial profiling and unfairness. But, to hear these examples described in class is really depressing. Black people can't wear their hoodies up, they can't wear bandannas, there hands must be out their pockets, they need to keep some distance away from white people in order to not scare the white person or be seen as a threat, etc. This made me realize that white privilege does not provide much additional benefits, but they don't have to think and live in fear like other races.

Unfairness

Coming back from a 1956 trip photographing South Carolina’s segregated beaches for Jet magazine, Cecil J. Williams stops at a filling station, closed at the time, and drinks from a “WHITE ONLY” water fountain.
(3)
You would think after the ending of segregation and the abolition of slavery, everyone would be treated as equals. As much as I wished that were true; that isn't the case because many people are being treated unfairly based on their race.
Some of the systematic inequality can be seen in the difficulty for black people and minorities to to move to the suburbs or get a housing loan application because of the effects of red lining and  former Levittown homes' Policies. This video (4) offers a brief explanation on the issue.
Another systematic inequality was caused by the "War on Drugs" (5) and the "Just Say No"  campaigns which resulted in mass incarceration of African Americans for simply owning a minute quantity of drugs. Some believe that this was done to target black people.
Another systematic inequality is the justice system in dealing with cases of racial profiling, police brutality and hate crimes. Ever since the Trayvon Martin - George Zimmerman case, I have seen countless other stories of innocent African American kids getting shot, killed or arrested because the officer thought whatever object the kid was holding in their hand was a weapon. As a result,many black people live in fear of the same thing happening to them or a loved one.

 The next example is a bit shocking and contains explicit language. I wanted to share this one with you because of how it illustrates the effects of race on criminal justice and sentencing. It's about Mark Wahlberg( the actor).
Mark Wahlberg
Mark Wahlberg (6)

 "In June 1986, Wahlberg and three friends chased after three black children while yelling "Kill the nigger, kill the nigger" and throwing rocks at them.The next day, Wahlberg and others followed a group of schoolchildren taking a field trip on a beach, yelled racial epithets at them, threw rocks at them, and "summoned other white males who joined" in the harassment.In August 1986, civil action was filed against Wahlberg for violating the civil rights of his victims, and the case was settled the next month.

 In April 1988, Wahlberg assaulted a middle-aged Vietnamese man on the street, calling him a "Vietnam fucking shit" and knocking him unconscious with a large wooden stick. Wahlberg attacked a second Vietnamese man later the same day, punching him in the eye. When Wahlberg was arrested and returned to the scene of the first assault, he told police officers: "I'll tell you now that's the mother-fucker whose head I split open." Investigators also noted that Wahlberg "made numerous unsolicited racial statements about 'gooks' and 'slant-eyed gooks'". Wahlberg was charged with attempted murder, pleaded guilty to felony assault, and was sentenced to two years in jail, but served only 45 days of his sentence." (7)

 The fact that he wasn't severely punished for racist hate crimes while black people get sent to jail for petty crimes says a lot about racial discrimination. I would also like to note that Mark Wahlberg had sought a Pardon and forgiveness from his victims in 2016. Another interesting case is the Philadelphia Police Bombings (8) which is worth checking out. I could go on and on about this unfairness and not provide any solutions or treatments to this unjust society.

Final thoughts

Image may contain: text
(9)

 There is no political solution to stop systematic inequality and society's negative perceptions of other races. I believe that we, together, can change our attitudes and behaviors on the individual level to stop this. We can simply research examples of the struggles other races experience and talk with people of different races about the struggles they face because of their race. If we get a better understanding of each other, we can move forward together in harmony. That is why I placed some examples of the unjust treatment of African-Americans in this post in order to educate the viewer on this issue. I acknowledge that many other minorities feel the same way in America and that most of my examples were centered around African-Americans. After rereading, my classmates anonymous answers, I gained a better understanding of these issues faced. Furthermore, even though some of their answers varied, they contained a reasonable explanation to it. Overall this week really changed my method of dealing with these issues faced by my peers.



Sources and Useful Links

Articles Mentioned

7) Mark Wahlberg
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Wahlberg#Arrests_and_felony_assault_conviction

11 ways white America avoids taking responsibility for its racism
https://www.salon.com/2015/06/16/11_ways_white_america_avoids_taking_responsibility_for_its_racism_partner/?fbclid=IwAR0PE5-X29XsXX2TKQECfxwcp7iM_CRRDXRwnEwtPUyFsTWHjGSzsyuaLK0

Videos

1) Jenine Crucet's Lecture 

4) Adam Ruins Everything - The Disturbing History of the Suburbs | truTV 

5)War on Drugs 

8) Philadelphia Police Bombing 

Things Black Men Are Tired Of Hearing 

SGA Diversity Forum Highlights 

Photo Credits



6) Mark Wahlberg Photo by Kevork Djansezian - © 2011 Getty Images 




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Saturday, October 12, 2019

Week 8: Make Your Home Among Strangers

Introduction

Make Your Home Among Strangers book cover (1)


Well, this week went a bit different🙃. We finally got to discuss the common read, "Make Your Home Among Strangers", assigned to all those who had FYE classes. On Wednesday, we didn't have an FYE class so that we can go to Jennine Crucet's Lecture at the Performing Arts Centre which turned out to be entertaining for me😂.

Class Discussion

Donato Dalrymple holds 6-year-old Elián González on April 22, 2000, as federal agents recover the boy from the home of his relatives in Miami (2)



Prior to our class on Monday, we had to read up to Chapter 18. We were handed an article from 2001 which recounts the Story of Gaspar Leiva who came to the U.S. from Cuba on a boat/raft with his kids, he's currently a Professor at Georgia Southern University. I'm really impressed that he managed to survive the journey with his kids. In class, we focused on some of the real life events that were reflected in the book- Elián González who is portrayed as Ariel Hernández in the book. I was the only one of my classmates who had knowledge of Elián's story, but what I didn't know was the manner in which he was taken. Dra. McGrath showed us some news footage (3) of the raid to capture Elián and deport him back to Cuba. If I were Elían, I would be traumatized😨. While there were many other kids who faced the same immigration issues as Elían, his immigration status was a national concern in the U.S. Maybe he was chosen by the Cuban-Americans to be their icon on Cuban migration to U.S. Similarly, he was also chosen to be Cuba's icon when he returned. My Caribbean Studies teacher in high school told my class that he would be at the front of Cuban parades and would be raised so everyone would see him. This boy's deportation also changed the outcome of the U.S. 2000 Presidential Elections. To me, it's sad that Elían was forced into being a puppet for the Cubans and Cuban-Americans in order to push their agenda. 
In class we also talked about how Cuba was taught in schools- Cuba was painted in a negative light by American Schools whilst in my High School, we had a somewhat balanced view of Cuba. All in all, Monday's class discussion educated me on U.S.- Cuban relations.

Make Your Home Among Strangers

Author, Jennine Capó Crucet, holding her book (4)


This book reminds me of a generic Wattpad© story that was written by a teenage girl (and not in a good way). The book may also pose a difficulty to some readers for two reasons. Firstly, the dialogue isn't placed between apostrophes which makes it hard to distinguish who's speaking. Secondly, if you don't know simple Spanish then you wouldn't be able to understand the Spanish dialogue that some of the characters speak in. Luckily, I learnt Spanish in highschool, so I was able to understand most of the Spanish dialogue. However, the only well-written parts of the book were the parts that were unnecessary to the plot; I don't need to know what Lizet and Omar did in the backseat of his car, the floor, the couch ,bed and even the doorstep😐.

This is probably what I imagine Omar's car to look like (I won't advise you to sit in the back seat because it smells weird and has sticky stains.) (5)
The story is overly dramatic and ridiculous. The majority of Lizet's problems were caused by herself. She was the key reason why her parents divorced. She wasted her hard-earned money on a flight ticket to visit her ungrateful family for only two days during Thanksgiving. She attended a mandatory diversity ice-cream social where she was given handouts and pamphlets on tutoring and academic writing, yet she chose to ignore that and failed most of her courses and had a Hearing for Plagiarism in one of her writing papers🤦. Her boyfriend, Omar, doesn't understand her problems that well, but she continued to be in an unstable relationship with him for purely physical reasons until they eventually broke up. Lizet also lacks effective communication skills where she can't express her problems and feelings in a clear and concise manner. As a result, she destroyed her friendship with Ethan. Lizet is a person who gets easily upset and throws tantrums. Despite her academic achievements, Lizet is an utter pillock. She's a really unlikeable character. What I did enjoy in this book, were the themes and issues discussed - going to a new school, being a freshman, different values and beliefs, and imposter syndrome. I also liked the references and details to illustrate that the story is set in 1999-2000: Ariel Hernández, frequent use of TV, physical mail instead of email,inefficient flat irons, and the recounting of votes in Florida during the presidential elections between Bush and Al Gore. One theme that interested me was the Cuban Diaspora. In highschool, I learnt that a diaspora refers to a group of people who share common beliefs and cultures. A more simple explanation can be found in the movie, Thor: Ragnarok , where Odin says,"Asgard is not a place. It's a people". In the book, we learn some things about the Cuban Diaspora in America such as food, drinks, dances and Nochebuena. We learn that Lizet doesn't consider herself as a Cuban for most of the story until Ariel's issue. She practices a culture influenced by Cuban culture such as her meals, dancing in nightclubs in Miami and listening to Reggaeton. This part of the story made me reflect on myself; I don't consider myself to be a true Indian because my ancestors left India in the 1800's and I don't know that much about their culture despite my country's culture being influenced by India's. The only issue I have with the Cuban Diaspora's portrayal in the book, is the accuracy of the portrayal and does it truly reflect Cuban-American's values because readers will make general assumptions about Cuban-Americans based off of this book.

Jennine Crucet's Lecture at the Perfoming Arts Centre


Jennine Capó Crucet during the Q & A session of her lecture. 


I guess this is probably one of the highlights of my week. The Performing Arts Centre (PAC) was so packed that some of us had to watch a projection of the livestream in another room. As the norm with most featured speakers, they usually tell their boring life story to the audience. After telling us her life story,she began to talk about representation on campus in terms of race and white privilege. She says this because she went to Cornell University where there was only one Latino Professor and the majority of students on campus were white and wealthy-she said many of their parents were lawyers. 
Then it was time for the Q and A session where the drama began😂. Basically, a whole debate about white privilege was sparked by a girl asking Crucet about her authority and qualifications to talk about white privilege. There were lots of uproar and laughter. 
I felt that she spoke with a condescending tone towards the white audience , especially when making generalizations about them in regards to white privilege. I do believe that white privilege exists through systematic inequality and common beliefs, but white privilege does  not exist to the extent that she described , because some white people live in trailer parks, work minimum wage jobs and live in a cycle of poverty-their privilege isn't significant.  
I also don't agree with the belief that a University should reserve teaching jobs for people solely on their race. If it were based on race and qualifications, then I would agree. I don't take much consideration to my professor's race. Out of the six professors that I currently have, five are white Americans while one is Chinese. I currently have no professors that are of Indian descent. The only friends of Indian descent that I have on Campus are two girls who are also from my country. That information doesn't bother me. Despite being a minority, I don't feel depressed or face negative effects. I can't relate to Crucet's or Lizet's experiences as a minority in College. Maybe I'm also privileged or ignorant of social stratification in America in order  to relate Crucet's beliefs.
The aftermath of the Q and A was somewhat chaotic. Some frustrated students felt the need to burn the book ( that they paid for) because of the author's belief. Obviously, a simple one on one discussion with the author would have resolved the issue. Ironically, by burning the book and facing no repercussions/punishment, demonstrated that they have white privilege 💁‍♀️. 
What was really shocking and heartbreaking to me was that the Crucet had to be moved to a different hotel after people were threatening her at the hotel she was staying in. It's sad that she had to experience this incident which doesn't reflect Georgia Southern's way of dealing with different viewpoints.

Final Thoughts

Just a few Articles from a Google search about the whole incident.


The book aimed to help every freshman relate to moving to college as well as understanding how some minorities feel. The Q and A session was a wasted opportunity for students who have to analyse the book, and would have wanted Cupet's input for their analysis of her book. The book burning made its way into  a lot of news articles. Any kind of publicity is good publicity 😎. At the end of the day, she made around $51,000 USD from our School while the upset individuals gained ashes and hatred in their hearts. I guess some people forgot why this book was chosen for the common read , as well as why the author came to talk about the book and her beliefs. I do appreciate that Cupet was able to come and talk about her book.

Sources 

Video Mentioned


Photo Credits

1. Picador

2. Alan Diaz / AP

4. Jennine Capó Crucet





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Saturday, October 5, 2019

Week 7: Diversity & Inclusion III - Instructions Not Included

Introduction

In preparation for the week's FYE classes, we watched another film called "Instructions not Included" and discussed the themes and issues presented in the movie. This film was released in 2013 and featured Eugenio Derbez who also directed it, and was one of the writers. 

Eugenio Derbez  (It's hard to believe that he's actually 58😲) (1)


Movie Review

Movie Poster (2)

I'm probably one of the few people who found the entire movie ( with the exception of the ending 😢) to be hilarious. Some of my favourite jokes in the film were the Angelina Jolie adoption idea or when Valentín says,"I think Julie gave me something but I got rid of it with penicillin"  and of course, Johnny Depp's cameos on the film stage and courtroom. All of the actors gave a wonderful performance to bring their characters to life. I love the symbolism of fear being equated to wolves. Valentín's soliloquy was really impactful to me, because it effectively summarized his views of his life experiences. This is also the first blockbuster film in Spanish that I've watched. I just hope that there was no significant change in the dialogue's meaning when it was translated from English to Spanish, but there are some scenes that featured American characters who spoke English. There was no difficulty in understanding the film because of the subtitles. This may sound weird, but I watch videos that are in English with English subtitles on  as opposed to without subtitles.

Spanish Title for the film (3)


Annlee Ellingson of Los Angeles Times, wrote a review (4) about the film  which held similar views to mine. I also believe that the movie is "a sweet, funny and poignant comedy" . She also provides interesting points such as her belief that the Spanish Title , "No Refunds Accepted" , is "a much more appropriate description of this story about a daughter no one wants". Ellingson thinks the film "speaks to universal themes about love, fear, parenthood and death in the context of a quintessential L.A. story in which immigration is touched on, if not significantly engaged". 

However, there are some parts of her review which I don't agree with - when she says that the film is "aimed squarely at a Latino Audience. Almost anyone can enjoy the movie because the majority of the jokes aren't specific to Latinos. Furthermore, the issues and themes presented in this movie aren't exclusive to one region since parenting, crime, poverty, immigration,etc. are worldwide issues. 

Overall, it's a really funny film that you can both laugh and cry. My only concern with the film's plot and logic is why did Julie give Maggie to Valentín if he wasn't the father. Furthermore, the movie made it look easy for Valentín to hitchhike to Los Angeles with his baby.

Class Discussions

In class this week, we discussed some of the themes in the film and their relation to real life. The first topic we discussed was the stereotypes in the movie such as the role of women as caregivers, busy movie directors who don't pay attention to their surroundings, Mexicans trying to cross the border illegally in a trailer, transgendered women who have deep voices,greedy landlords and the belief that all American girls are pale,tall and have blonde hair and blue eyes. We focused more on the transgender stereotype and Dra. McGrath explained to us that the truck driver,Lupe, has a Latina girl's name which is a joke we wouldn't have caught on. We also talked about the unexpected ending 😭 - Maggie dies in Valentíne's lap next to Julie.
Valentín and Maggie (5)
 No one saw it coming, because we all thought that  Valentín was terminally ill. The majority of the class said that scene spoke to them the most. I love the simple reflection by Valentín when he says that his father taught him how to prepare to face life while Maggie taught him how to face the unexpected things in life. 

Loreto Peralta (Maggie) is way older now (6)


Another important issue we discussed was the custody case of Maggie- Valentín won the case against Julie until he failed his paternity test. My classmate who worked in a law firm, Emma, said that women win custody of their kids most of the time as long as they pass a drug test. Dra. McGrath clarified that there are some States that favour women and some that favour men for the custody of their child. My classmate Bry-Anna told us that her biological mother has custody of her, but her biological father is the one who actually takes care of her. The custody case brought up the systemic inequality in the justice system.

In the next class, we explored the ethical dilemmas of when to tell a child the truth that they're adopted as well as how to as well as what Valentín did was the right thing to do. The topic changed to whether being biologically related to family is important or not. Some of my classmates said that their grandfather wasn't biologically related to them. My classmate, Toni, said that both of her parents were adopted and that her mom cares about her ancestry while her father doesn't care too much. We also briefly went over cognitive bias. Cognitive Bias is about our brains having a thinking bias where our brains have to deal with too much information that has little meaning in very little time. This a struggle that we all face to a certain extent.

Final Thoughts 

The wolves known as "fear" (7)
All in all, “Instructions not Included” is a really fun but heartbreaking film to watch. It brought light to the issues of parenting, unplanned pregnancies, custodial cases, telling lies and hiding the truth.From the movie, I've learnt that the longer you hesitate about something, the harder it is to do it.  We have to learn to not be afraid of the wolves know as “fear”. You have to get up and go; take a chance and be strong, or you could spend your whole life holding on. 

Sources

Article Mentioned

Photo Credits

1. Photo by Oscar Ponce
5. Photo by Marcia Perskie - © 2013 - Pantelion Films https://www.imdb.com/name/nm5160381/mediaviewer/rm56089344


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Friday, September 27, 2019

Week 6: Diversity & Inclusion II - Documented and White People

Introduction


In this week's FYE classes we were asked to watch two documentaries "Undocumented" and "White People" and discussed the situation of undocumented immigrants in America as well as the key issues highlighted in each documentary, website or article.

Jose Antonio Vargas

Jose Antonio Vargas (1)

In the first class for this week, we were handed a paper about that film. I genuinely thought it was about the previous documentary "Which way Home" and got really confused. It's only when someone said the word "Philippines" , my brain had clicked. I knew exactly who they were talking about - for my Composition I class, we had an assignment in our textbook about Jose Antonio Vargas's New York Times essay, "My life as an undocumented immigrant" (2). I contributed to the class discussion by saying that Jose left the Philippines when has 12 to live with his grandparents in America. In class, we talked about his situation growing up in America and how he became a well-known journalist in America. Dra. McGrath   showed us some video clips of Jose who visited Georgia Southern back in 2016 to discuss his views on the ethics and legality of immigration.

Documented

Documented Cover Art (3)


"Documented" is a self-produced documentary (released in 2013) about Jose Antonio Vargas and his efforts for immigration reform. As previously mentioned, I read his New York Times article (published 2011) which meant that I had prior knowledge about him before watching the film. For me, it was fascinating to learn about his life in greater detail as well as what he'd done for the two years after 2011. 
June 25, 2012 cover of TIME Magazine (4)

I believe the message of the film is about understanding that there's millions of undocumented immigrants in America who pursue the same dream of a better life and want to contribute to the American economy and market but live in fear of deportation and harassment. Furthermore,  there are many hardworking individuals who will never be U.S. Citizens because they don't have the papers . No matter how hard you work and what you contribute to America , you'll never be an American without the proper documentation. The only omitted message omitted that I think the Documentary avoids, is whether America has sufficient resources to support everyone if the immigrant population were to increase drastically due to more relaxed Immigration Policies.

Jose is sending this message across because he wants his American audience to be aware that the U.S. Immigration process is ineffective. He wants to appeal to our humanity in that there are plenty of undocumented immigrants who want to live the "American Dream" but can't due to their documentation status. Jose advocates for immigration reform to allow for an easier immigration process and path to citizenship.
Jose with is mother in the Philippines(5) 


Jose managed to attract my attention to the message through the use of chronological sequencing by providing his story about his life in the Philippines before coming to America as well as his school and work life. Furthermore, the interviews with his family members, friends and co-workers provided more insight to Jose's life. His grandmother , Lola, was critical in telling Jose's life in America while his Mother described the Filipino life and her relationship with her son. This dysfunctional relationship is highlighted throughout the film. It's effective in showing that because of U.S. immigration laws, many Undocumented immigrants are separated from their families and will never be able to visit one another unless they had enough money to get a Visa or Green card. When I read Jose's article, the relationship with his mother is what really grabbed my attention so, to finally see that he talked to her for the first time in 2013 since 1997 was really satisfying to see the two mend their relationship and reconnect.  

Other people may have different feelings towards the message - undocumented immigrants would see this video as a symbol of hope ( especially with the Dream Act) because of what Jose was able to accomplish as an undocumented immigrant whilst other people may see this film as a deterrent to migrate to the U.S. because of how lengthy and classist the process is to do it legally. Furthermore, it would make people rethink whether it's worth it to become separated with family by going to the U.S.

 This film may not have the shock value or is not as depressing as Which Way Home , but it still has a deep impact on the audience and shows another way in which people illegally migrate to the U.S. Unlike Kevin, Jose lives with his grandparents in America and accomplishes most of his goals instead of being held in  Washington like Kevin. It also shows us that not all immigrants are Hispanic or Latino.

Overall, this film tells a unique, unexpected story to the audience about a 12 year old leaving his old life forever.

Define American

Define American Logo(6)

In Documented, we see Jose purchase the domain for this website (7) which is used by the organization of the same name in which undocumented immigrants can tell their stories about what it means to be American. 
Sydrah Al-Saegh (8)

One of the stories that  interested me was about Sydrah Al-Saegh(9) who's from the Middle East. She believes that being American is whether you call America your home and also whether you contribute the same as everyone else. I choose her story because she has similar beliefs as Jose which shows that majority of immigrants want to contribute to America. There's also many videos on the website which discuss immigrant's views and stories. I chose the video "The Good Immigrant"(10) which features both documented and documented immigrants. The majority of them discuss that Good Immigrants are those that pursue tertiary education and work hard. Some also talked about that ones occupation isn't a criterion for  being classified as good because there are farmers who contribute significantly to the US economy. They also express their views that not all immigrants are Mexicans and that just because someone looks different doesn't mean that they should be treated any differently. All in all, the website is a good resource as platform to speak but also to listen and to read about people's experiences as an Immigrant in America.

White People

White People Cover Art (11)

The title itself, of the documentary is pretty weird ( Imagine how ridiculous it sounds when telling your friend , "I can't go out tonight - I'm busy watching and analyzing White People "). White People, a film for the MTV's “Look Different” campaign, focuses on young, white students and teachers who who live in areas that are predominantly white or the complete opposite. The documentary shows that some people who have little interactions with African-Americans, have some perceived negative  views or actions towards them such as walking on the other side of the street if an African-American is on the same side. Some scenes are pretty awkward - when a girl cries over the use of the word "Ghetto" in front of her white friend's family or when another girl felt like the statistics were attacking her. The documentary also focuses on how people feel about talking about race - some think it's better to stop talking or acknowledging other people's race while others feel uncomfortable talking about race. 
One major aspect that is focused on in the film, is about the belief that white people are being denied less scholarships than other races solely because they're white whilst in actuality, white people are more likely to gain scholarships than other races. This is because of a lot of socio-economic factors that determine who gets a scholarship. Whether American Universities have  race quotas to meet is unknown but some questions on the CommonApp are pretty bizarre - there's a single question dedicated to ask whether you are of Hispanic/Latino descent. Outside of class, one of my white friends thinks that it's okay for Universities to have a racial preference for admission or scholarship under the condition that the other person has the same or better qualifications than him. I think that race would not be the only factor since the University will also have to see you and your parent's bank statements in order to see whether you need the financial aid or not. Furthermore, did you know that international students pay a lot more money  for  tuition ( $17,140)  as compared to the instate  ($2,185.56) and out of state tuition fees ($7,712.76) for 12 credit hours semester right here in Georgia Southern University - imagine the bigger difference at higher credit hours. This doesn't only happen in America,  but in other first-world countries such as Canada and the U.K. The University of Toronto,which I had gotten accepted into,  has the biggest gap that I know of - domestic(Can$14,180) and international fees (Can$58,680). It really begs the question of why should someone pay more money just because they weren't born in a certain place. 

In essence, I think that scholarships and admissions don't focus too much on race. It is okay to feel uncomfortable to talk about race since you didn't chose to be a specific race and that your views don't reflect your ancestors own -  what you need to do instead is dismantle the systematic oppression that prevents others from reaching the same goals. Some people are ignorant of racial inequality because they grew up in a  neighbourhood where one race is predominant, but in the age of technology and information, the Internet would have made people more aware over these issues. There's this YouTube video (12) , which is satirical and filled with dark humour ,that offers an insight to the struggles African-Americans face which I watched a while ago.

Final Thoughts


This week was really interesting because I got to discuss about my culture, heritage and ethnicity (Indo-Trindadian) with my class, along with my classmate Enysa (who is Jamaican-American-Polish)  which most people wouldn't think of at first glance when they look at us. We also discussed that some words have different meanings to different people - pickney (child in Jamaican English Creole) and black (which refers to anyone of African or Indian descent in my country).  A lot of time was spent in the second class to discuss how I speak and what languages do I know(British Standard English and English Creole). Some words have drastic changes in pronunciation such as "Jaguar" and my favourite - "capillary" which I pronounce as "kuh·pi·luh·ree" while Americans pronounce it as "ka·puh·leh·ree". That part of the class discussion reminded of this video that I watched on Youtube(13).  
 I believe that everyone has a unique culture to showcase on the global stage - if you were to travel to any other country ,you'll see how unique and different your culture is to theirs. I'm happy to learn about what happened to Jose Antonio Vargas after his New York Times article together with his advocacy for immigration reform and the common belief shared among immigrants - immigrants just want to work hard to support themselves and their family. White People provides interesting views of descendants of immigrants , white people that grew up in predominantly white communities and Native Americans on the whole topic of race in America. In summary, these topics and class discussions helped us gain a better mutual understanding of each other as well as the present issues that Immigrants face and Americans face in America. 


 Sources and Useful Links

Article and Website  Mentioned

7. Define American - https://defineamerican.com/

Videos Mentioned

12. Key & Peele - Negrotown - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rg58d8opQKA
13. Top Gear - Jeremy Clarkson's American Accent - https://youtu.be/bzpPVbdRR74?t=17

Photo Credits 

1. Jose Antonio Vargas to Visit Georgia Southern University - https://cah.georgiasouthern.edu/vargas/
3.  Documented Cover Art - https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3057836/
6. Define American Logo - https://defineamerican.com/about/
8. Sydrah Al-Saegh  image still take from -  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8xobEYtVC98
11. White People Cover Art - https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4846132/





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Saturday, September 21, 2019

Week 5: Diversity & Inclusion I - Which Way Home & International Migration

Introduction

This week's topic is about diversity and inclusion in which we delved into the hot topic of international migration and watched an eye-opening film: 'Which Way Home'. Some parts of this Blog Post are probably going to be quite morbidly heartbreaking. 

International Migration


Migrant route through Mexico to the U.S. that many Central American immigrants take(1)

When I hear the phrase 'International Migration', I think of a permanent change of residence across international borders. I've been assigned to watch some videos and articles about this issue. International Migration (2) is a well-balanced objective video which shows the advantages (diversity and replacement for workforce of an aging population)  and disadvantages ( some people believe it puts a strain on the economy and the immigrants would destroy the heritage). 
The Price of Immigration (3) is a YouTube video that focuses on the struggle of illegal Hispanic immigrants whose schedule revolved around work and sleep and sending remittances back to their homelands. The majority of those Hispanic Immigrants work "3D jobs" - Dirty , Dangerous and Demeaning - which are the jobs that average U.S. citizen wouldn't want to do. Dr. James Johnson (distinguished professor at Kenan Flagler Business School ) argues that the economic benefits of Hispanic immigrants outweigh the cost of taking care of them in which he quotes "The Arizona economy would shrink by $48.8 billion, or 20 percent, if all undocumented workers left the state" (Immigration Policy Center, March 2011) and "Hispanic immigrants contributed $9.2 billion to the North Carolina economy in 2006 and created 89,000 spinoff jobs" (UNC-Chapel Hill's Kenan Flagler Business School, Jan. 2006) . 
Uttarakhand's Migration Woes (4) illustrates the push factors that cause some people of the Uttarakhand internally migrate in India. The video shows that some migrants are well-educated and simply want to have a more qualified job instead of facing under-employment in their hometown. This is also a similar issue in my country of Trinidad and Tobago (except that it takes place over international boundaries) whereby people, usually teenagers and young adults, pursue tertiary education in Canada, U.K. or U.S.A. and intend to live there afterwards. This is because my country's job market is over saturated and results in underemployment (a person with a Bachelor's Degree in Psychology is working at an entry-level job in a bank ) and unemployment (engineers and doctors haven't got job in 4 years after graduating from University). The video doesn't focus on the negative affects of migration .In Uttarakhand and my country, the negative effects caused by these highly educated individuals leaving (human capital flight) is called "brain drain" where the country or region's workforce loses its highly skilled and educated individuals.
Venezuelan Activist Yesenia Gonzales to a police officer outside the Parliament Builing of Trinidad and Tobago during a  protest by Venezuelan Asylum seekers(5)
In our first FYE Class for this week, we had to write down anything we've recently read about the controversial topic of immigration and how it affects you. I choose an article by the BBC (6) which is about Venezuelan immigrants who travel to my island called Trinidad. The  article shows that we have a unique immigrant where we have large number of immigrants (40,000) relative to the country's population of around 1.3 million. A large portion of my country's population are very xenophobic to Venezuelans through anti-immigrant protests or verbal abuse. To me, I think it's very hypocritical because many Trinidadians have the desire to migrate to other first world countries to escape poverty and work the same minimum wage jobs as other immigrants. Furthermore, my country is a plural society that consists of  Africans( descendants of central-west African slaves) and East Indians (who migrated to Trinidad as indentured labourers to replace the slaves after slavery was abolished) whose heritage and culture mixed to create a new, rich and unique culture. In addition, Trinidad was a former Spanish Colony until it was overthrown by the British, which means that many cities and towns have Spanish names ( San Fernando, Port of Spain, Rio Seco) as well in our food, music and English Creole Language. The cultural impact of Venezuelans would not be too drastic except that more people world be fluent in Spanish. On the other hand, many people fear that the Venezuelans will take their jobs which isn't the case as the article shows a Venezuelan Judge who now works as a security guard at Gulf City Mall in Trinidad. To be honest , I'm not sure whether my country (which is one of the richest islands in the Caribbean) has the resources to support them. If we do support them, our welfare ( such as free healthcare, free education and textbooks and school-feeding programmes may be gone or reduced). However, some humanitarian groups and charitable organizations have provided food and water to them. Furthermore, land would have to be cleared to accommodate them causing deforestation. I think the problem is how do we integrate them into our system and society. I would use them to diversify the economy through other fields such as agriculture because we don't have that much resources in that area. All in all, I believe if the numbers of immigrants were smaller, we would be able to effectively help the Venezuelans who suffer under an authoritative totalitarian government as well as US trade embargoes which results in basic necessities being scarce- some Venezuelans eat their own pets because of the food shortage and there's black markets for everyday commodities such as toilet paper. Honestly, I feel great sympathy to those who are suffering.


Film - Which Way Home


  Migrants travel on top of a train in Tenosique, Mexico (7)



This is the part of the blog that gets really depressing. Even talking about this film with my classmates was really difficult for me because I was so close to tears when I finish watched it. When I watched the first 15 minutes and 17 seconds of it in class, I was shocked. Also, I initially thought it was a reenactment until Dra. McGrath told us it was a documentary when class had finished. The shock value is present throughout the film ; in the first 15 minutes we saw a dead body being pulled out of a river and one of the featured kids in the documentary picking up a used cigarette to smoke. In essence, the film primarily focuses on Central-American kids and teenagers who illegally migrate to the U.S. on top trains. The film provides the unique perspective of the immigrants which is something the audience is unfamiliar with. Furthermore, I actually used to think that they would simply walk to the U.S. I believe that the purpose of the film was to clear the world's ignorance on the U.S. immigrant issue because there's so much new and horrifying pieces on information that you learn. Firstly, the age alone should be really shocking- I don't think I would have the will power and mental capacity to leave home and climb on top of trains heading North by myself. Furthermore,  the kids face and see horrible things that no one should ever experience. For example, Kevin saw two women(mother and daughter) who were raped by 15 men in another boxcar on the train. He said that it was unpleasant to see women suffering. The group of boys in the documentary were assaulted and robbed by cops then kicked off the train in Mexico. 

The film shows humanitarian groups like Grupo Beta and Santa Faustina House of Migrants that provide food, water , shelter and information to migrants heading to the U.S.

The kids also tell us why they left- mostly to escape poverty , abusive households, money for education and support for their family. It's really heartbreaking to see them talk about why they left. In addition , it's really shocking to see where they grew up and how Kevin's Stepfather calmly expresses his hate for his stepson. Honestly, I wish the film would also focus on what exactly are these kids escaping from, so that I can gain a better understanding of them. 

The film also shows those who don't make it and their parent's reactions. It shows how happy some of  the parent's are to be reunited with their kids after they got deported back to their country. On the other hand, it shows the pain and grief of families who lost their kids such as Eloy and Rosario who were found separately dead in the dessert. To see the families break down and cry when their kid arrives in a wooden casket is really painful to watch. Also, the documentary also focuses on Maria, a double leg amputee who  has three kids, and could possibly work embroider 

The other shocking aspect of the film are the beautiful lies that the kids believe about the U.S. For example, Freddy and Olga think the U.S. is snowy while Kevin thinks it's only big cities filled with skyscrapers.

The film also teaches us that parents spend hundreds or thousands of dollar on a smuggler to get their kid to the U.S. when in reality these smugglers do drugs and abuse, rape and abandon the boys and girls.
Filming of Which Way Home (8)

This is really an eye-opening documentary and I love that the kids recall what happened as opposed to simply filming them throughout their journey. The target audience is aimed to Americans and to a larger extent, the rest of the world in order to see what these kids go through just to have a better life.
The process of filming also intrigues me because the interviewer and people holding the camera and microphone have to keep a plain face and remain objective as possible. I don't think I could film something like this without helping the kids.
Rebecca Cammisa (9)


This film was made by Rebecca Cammisa who is an American Filmmaker. She got a grant from Sundance Documentary Fund in 2003 which was sufficient until she switched to HBO in 2004 in order to get investors and she finally got a Fullbright Fellowship to Mexico for Filming in 2006. It is truly amazing what Cammisa and her team did. Ten Years Later, this film is still relevant now and as it was back then. This documentary should have one the 2010 Academy Award for the Best Feature Documentary instead of a nomination. In essence this a good film to spark a discussion on Immigration and educate the viewers about it.


Final Thoughts

Reading these articles and watching the film made me realize how privileged I am. For instance, I've never had the desire to migrate to the U.S.  yet these kids are so desperate to reach there whilst thinking it's fun, snow and cities. The thoughts of those kids have dwelled on my mind because I worry about their situation in 2009. Out of all the Kids, only Kevin was shown to gain successful entry into the U.S. On the other hand, I was worried about Olga and Freddy who were nine years old and whereabouts have gone missing at the ending of the film while Yurico lives on the street as a drug addict. The only good news is that Olga and Freddy are both alive because I thought they were dead.
In the movie Thor: Ragnarok , Thor says "I choose to run toward my problems and not away from them because that's what heroes do." We have to start tackling the problems of countries which have lots of migrants instead of avoiding them.
 I honestly think we should have a greater focus on the push factors which cause people to migrate out of their countries. In Venezuela and those Central-American countries, these people live in abject poverty because of their corrupt Governments that practise nepotism and cronyism. If it were up to me, these countries all need a constitutional reform in which they are supervised by a body or their former colony in order to maximize transparency and reestablish a democracy. In the era of Globalization, trade embargoes need to be lifted and richer countries need trade more with the poorer ones in order for the poorer country to flourish since they need foreign exchange for development.
All in all, this week's topic made me more aware of the economic and cultural impact of immigration.

Sources

Article Mentioned

Videos Mentioned

2.International Migration - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lOZmqIwqur4
3.The Price of Immigration - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2s03JdyD4ds
4. Uttarakhand's Migration Woes - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U8tTYvLNzQc

Photo Credits


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Week 15: Final Reflection

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