I am an Asian American who identifies as a lesbian. I am pretty open about my sexuality. I came out seven years ago to my friends and family except to my mother. I never had a choice between both of my identities and have certainly struggled with the hardships between the two very frequently in my life. Growing up with a mother from China, Eastern Asian culture restricts her to the tradition values that she embedded within me from that day I was born. Sexual identity (straight or gay) is a very taboo behavior and is expressed only in a private setting within my culture. Asian American women were often mistaken as asexual for their lack of sexual being. The topic of homosexuality would not even appeal as a mere concern for my mother’s strict and traditional values that she raised me in. If I ever came out as a lesbian, she would be in great denial for a very long time just to protect the family name. Sexual identification or self-expression is rarely ever seen within East Asian cultures being that it is a very sensitive subject. Asian women are often depicted in a very “fetishized” way (China Doll and Geisha). They are frequently portrayed in films to be very passive in composure and act almost as servants to men. The stereotypes of being Asian American and a lesbian are two heavily separated identities that I wish I could simply collide together and rename as one. Whenever I see my mother, it is a tired routine of dressing in tighter clothes, letting my hair down, and acting in the feminine Asian manner she brought me up in. Engaging in any act of shamefulness will embarrass the family and disgrace our name as a whole. As for my sexual identity, I have turned my back to the conservative Eastern Asian culture and developed my own persona. Being born in New York City has given me the liberal approval to come out of the closet as a lesbian. The American culture can often be very harsh and linear, but on the brighter side, society can also be very open-minded. While our generation has been more accepting of homosexuality, I wonder how it will be like in another 10 years. Growing up in America and going to a public school had taught me self-expression and individuality. Now that I have faced becoming a minority in both sexuality and culture, I feel that both these entities have built me into an even stronger person. It has been the hardest struggle in my life finding a place to fit my identities into a society of both extremely diverging paths. I hope I can find that place someday. I am Asian American. I am gay. I am human.

I have to say that I actually took a lot away from last Tuesday’s lecture. Sam did a great job on talking about fear and cynicism within our society. It really showed that we are all sucked into a world of such negativity when clearly living life with a glass half full would be a better way of living. I think he had really drawn out a point when asking us the clicker question of how many kids are abducted in America within a year. Everyone expected 10,000, but no one expected only the least of 100. The simple answer showed that we do live in a life of fear on a daily basis. I think that the negativity that we are so consumed in translates into the prejudices and discrimination we have in our society, especially against racial, gender, and sexual minorities. I thought that the video shown in class of Mr. Happy Man illustrated a powerful point that many people would take for granted every day. It is crazy to our society that any one person would wake up in the morning, stand on the side of a road through any weather, just to wave hi and tell drivers he loves them. Why? Because we are not use to such kindness in this world that we live in, that when such an action is occurring, we tend to think something is wrong. For example, in my discussion group on Monday, we discussed why elevator rides have to be so awkward, and why people don’t randomly start conversations with someone they frequently see either on the bus, class, or residential hall. Why are we so hesitant to do such random acts of kindness? I think we create this world around us, and instill fear in people throughout a lifetime based solely on what we know and hear. For instance, I think the media exaggerates a lot of the issues we have happening in society and in turn, our perception changes. The news frequently uses level agenda setting to dictate what news is salient to the public. We know first hand what that is like being a Penn State student during the Sandusky scandal. Everyone out of state and those that don’t attend our university are quick to point fingers and assume we’re all bad people who riot and tip vans. I would have to say that the news and television shows are a main cause to the corruption and negativity we see in this world. Overall, I appreciate the lecture that Sam has led on Tuesday. I feel that living life and seeing everything with the glass half full is better than always having to watch your back through life.

I felt that the lecture about ethnocentrism on Tuesday had really opened my eyes to a new perspective. At first, the clip from “Skit Guys” kicked off the conversation almost instantly when put into terms that us Americans understand, which is our football culture, versus the idol worshipper of the other culture that we are not familiar with. It really put into perspective that we can be completely foreign to things that we are not use to, especially culture and how people from different parts of the world live their lives. Sam had told us to put ourselves in other people’s shoes. Even before SOC 119, I try to live my life in other people’s shoes, because there is so much meaning outside of the small world I live in. The video of the black kids from Sudan made it even clearer to me. I thought it was really interesting how the class had all made a sound in disgust almost unison when one of the Sudanese boys had at the whole piece of butter on the airplane. For the Sudanese boys, they really had no clue the right or wrong way to eat something. I think as Americans, we have this whole society made up for us to follow in this American culture that everyone believe to be the norm. When pushed outside of our own culture, we are scared or even unwilling to participate with the ways of living that we are not familiar with. When the Sudanese boys were walking the streets in America, they did not think our people were friendly at all. They had explained that in their country people often go to neighbors or strangers just to simply say hello to one another and exchange a few words. I feel that as Americans, we take a lot of things for granted. I feel that this whole idea of ethnocentrism is really just a bubble we form in a lifetime and choose to live in, but when we put down our blinders, we allow ourselves to see outside of our own culture that we are so use to. I could not imagine living in a place with no electricity or any real shower or tub to bath in daily. Things like a smart phone have our American people depending on technology to get us through the day. Overall, I really enjoyed this lecture because I felt that it had embodied everything we know and judge about others. It teaches us to live outside of our own perspectives and step in the shoes of someone else. I think that is a really valuable asset that everyone should keep an open mind to and live in such a way. Thank you Sam.

I felt that the way the white guy had presented his opinion in class sounded a bit harsher as he thought it would have been. He had said that it was comical when people try to speak English when they have an accent but at the same time I have to disagree. What if he were put in that situation and no one could understand him? Would he be laughing at himself? I also want to add that I was not comfortable with the way the Asian guy had said he thought it was funny as well, but he was obviously more Americanized. If he were to have trouble speaking English, or if he emigrated from China, he would not be saying the same thing. When the Korean girl who had spoke out afterwards with a very thick accent, she had obviously felt uncomfortable with it, and it had hit a very sensitive spot for me. Although I speak English fluently and was born in America, it takes me into a bitter place of this society when reminded of how hard of a language it must be for international Asian students to learn. I am also reminded that there have been many situations where I myself was very naive. At my younger age, I remember dreading to go on grocery shopping trips with my mother in fear that people would make fun of her when she tried to communicate in English. As I grew older, I realized that I jumped at the second my mother had wanted to go out anywhere. I guess I had really grown and realized that I would defend her any chance someone like a cashier was to lose patience or speak slower and louder to her. I am not sure what the intentions of that fox news segment was about, but it obviously targeted Asian international students that did not know much about the football culture at USC. Even if the school is big on football, not necessarily all international students need to know the ins and outs about their school football history; they obviously go to the school for greater academic reasons. I’m not sure the demographics of USC, but I do know that many Asian students do go there. Who’s to say that Fox didn’t interview a bunch of Asians who spoke fluent English and edited them out? I felt that they had made an over generalizing opinion and that it wasn’t professional especially coming from a reliable news source that many Americans tune into. If it were on comedy central per say, I would understand a bit more of their intentions to make an acceptable yet true stereotype of a joke. Overall, even my own perceptions against my own race had changed completely when dealing with their efforts to speaking the English language. I commend them on taking a very bold move and coming from Asian countries to American colleges in hopes for equal opportunity.

As a Chinese American born in New York City, I saw no race when I was growing up between the ages of 5-12. I’m not sure if being brought up in such a diverse city made it easier and apparent that I didn’t care what color skin my friends had, but it never mattered. I was made aware of my culture growing up with both my mother and father. I especially loved when Chinese New Year rolled around so I had the opportunity to get free money from the elders. It wasn’t until my parents got divorced that our heritage was rarely celebrated; Chinese cooked meals decreased dramatically, and I never questioned my mother’s hard work as a single parent. Entering high school became a different world for me. Although there were people of all races in my school of thousands, it was apparent that cliques of races slowly formed and began to take over the lunch tables at the school cafeteria. I found my niche in every group, black, white, south Asian Indians, Hispanics, all but Asians. I did not want to be put in the stereotypical box of being an Asian. Everything from being good in mathematics and sciences to being a black belt in karate, I wanted nothing to do with. Coming into Penn State, I quickly realized that nothing had changed. Asians still all tend to stick together, especially the international students that spoke only Chinese. Every other race seemed to have blended except for my own. Within my first two years of college, I deeply disliked that stereotype and avoided groups of Asians. I made it known to my friends and acquaintances that I am far from those stereotypes, and felt insecure in my own skin. Finally taking SOC 119 this semester opened me up into understanding why I felt that way. It wasn’t that I was “racist” to my own kind. I just didn’t understand why Asians all tended to “flock together” on campus. It is clear to me that people want to fit into their own kind and be comfortable with those who understand them, specifically through culture. I personally couldn’t find myself in any of the stages that we learned in lecture. I can only continue to learn more about race and myself through classes such as this one. I have opened my mind up and allowed myself to finally understand. Even when the “Linsanity” phenomena began, I slowly began to feel apart of something I belong to. I understand that for once, being an Asian American shed limelight on the minority we once were. SOC 119 and my discussion groups have definitely opened me up. Most of all, I am continuing to learn more about myself and hope to use this in the real world.

First off, I really enjoyed the lecture we had on Thursday. I felt that it was a complete eye-opener for those of us with open minds that were willing to step outside our own comfort zones. I never stepped outside of my own shoes into the lives of people living in Iraq on an every day basis. Challenging myself to do that on Thursday was beyond mind blowing for me. The lecture had really opened up my mind to a very new perspective of war. If we were forced into living these lives, all the hatred we have built inside of us, as Americans, would be diminished. If we allowed ourselves to simply understand the life of an insurgent and why they fight, is the same reason and cause our American soldiers are defending our country. Taking the role as an Arab Muslim, I would do the same thing they are doing. If it were my country being invaded, I would do the same exact thing to join the insurgency, and fight against American soldiers. It is difficult for Americans to think outside our own red, white, and blue skins and understand our enemies. I really feel that Fyodor Dostoevsky’s quote, “while nothing is easier than to denounce the evildoers, nothing is more difficult than to understand them,” fully embodies the pre conceived notion of war we have in America. I agreed with Sam’s presentation of taking ourselves outside of our own tiny little world and looking into someone else’s life. As a regular citizen, I cannot say I fully know what is going on overseas. I do, however, understand that my friends that have been deployed know the truth about what goes on in Iraq. What they see on a daily basis is nothing compared to what I think it is in my mind. It was very powerful to hear from the three veterans in class that had explained the Iraqi people blowing kisses to them. I did not agree with the one Army soldier who drove the tank over a civilian’s taxicab. It blows my mind that one American soldier who did that can dictate the minds of how Iraq people view us all as a whole. Same situation with 9-11; those 12 Muslims that acted on terrorism against America had tarnished our views of Arab Muslims as a whole. So I ask myself, why are we so quick to judge the other team? We are the bad guys to the people of Iraq; meanwhile, we look at ourselves as the good guys. Overall, my perspective on war has really changed and been refreshed. All it takes was one simple lecture as Sam had presented to us on Thursday, to be able to open our minds up and simply understand.

I am really glad that this question is posted as a blog question because it has been 2 hours since I last left SOC 119, and something someone last said really struck me and stuck with me since. During our open discussion in class today, a boy had questioned that if white people think that all Asians look the same, do Asian people think all white people look the same. First off, I’d like to answer the second part by saying that not ALL Asians think that all white people look the same. I am from New York City and coming from a very diverse place such as that, I definitely do not think all white people look the same. I have a lot of white and black friends that I clearly can differentiate by and they can even stand out to say Asians do not all look alike from having a friendship with me. Even the international girl who spoke out from Korea, and has lived in America for three years had said not all white people look the same. Therefore, he had made a generalizing statement that I felt was very ignorant. Secondly, I think the white people who think all Asians look the same is because we have the same physical features that set us apart from white and black people, such as the way our eyes are shaped and the dark hair we have. I feel that the white people who think all Asians are Chinese, Japanese or Korean, and that it is all the same thing, should educate themselves further. It obviously isn’t, because there are way more than just three subcategories of Asians and we don’t all come from one place. I would also like to add that his comment was rather ignorant because whoever assumes that all Asians are the same, obviously has no Asian friends or else they would be able to say they can differentiate between other Asians. Personally, I completely break all the stereotypes of being an Asian. I am terrible at math and there is no way you can find me in a crowd with other Asians on campus speaking their own language. I refuse to hang out with other Asians because I feel that they should all integrate with other races besides their own Asian counterparts. Also, I myself am ostracized because I am more Americanized than the international students that come from Asia. I do; however, feel very strongly when people put all Asians under the same category as if to say they are all labeled and identified in the same box. It is very often that I hear white people just assume Chinese is interchangeable to Asian, they are clearly not synonyms, but Chinese is a category under the box of being Asian, just like being Korean, Japanese, etc. Lastly, before anyone makes a generalizing statement that all Asians look the same, therefore Asian people think all white people look the same, should consider making friends with one before making uneducated comments such as that.

The story of Jeremy Lin has truly been an interesting and inspiring story to say the least. Speaking personally for myself, I’m a Chinese American much similar to Lin, and I myself, have felt the pride lifting off even my own shoulders. Now, if you know me, I’m definitely not the usual Asian who abides by the stereotypes that many are so use to binding us to. I am terrible at mathematics and sciences, I refuse to hang in groups of Asians, and I do not take my shoes off before entering my house. Lin has risen as an underdog to becoming the face of every sports media, social networking, and twitter hash-tag possible. I liked the term “overlooked” in the blog article because it really insinuates the perfect definition of Asians. As an athlete, Jeremy Lin has been drafted and traded off between three different NBA teams before actually serving as a benchwarmer to the New York Knicks; even then he was ‘overlooked’. I’m sure coaches didn’t acknowledge his ability to play until they actually needed him on the court against the Toronto Raptors, a few weeks back when “LINsanity” had originated. The fact Lin has really made a solid impression to all sports fans and being a minority in doing so, sets the bar that much higher for my representation of Asian culture. For once we break the stereotypical boundaries that Lin has set apart for us, in this white and black world of athletics. I feel that stereotypes really keep us from our full potential of things we’re not used to being categorized under in. We stand out in categories of academics, but now we’re even acknowledged in the sports world. Lin outshining his peers in being an Asian American just makes the fame and glory that much sweeter. I feel that when he is on the court, he represents all Asians that have ever had the feeling of being overlooked, or even taking the role as an underdog. I feel that even being born in America, because of my physical Chinese features, I am identified as not “American” enough. All of a sudden we have Lin rise out from the benches, and dominating in the black and white we only see, and he serves as the very shade of gray. We’re staring America in the face and saying, “Hey, we’re capable of doing the same things white and black Americans do, and we’re able to excel in it too”. I strongly agree with the blog article that Asians have to break our own butts to try even harder to prove our ability in a multitude of things, or else we are overlooked. We are not all the same, and Lin has really proved that to the world. As a result, I could not have said it better than L.A. actor Peter Kim, “He’s not just an athlete playing for a team. He’s playing for a whole culture and our representation to the rest of the world.”

I find it interesting how easy it is for Americans to point out which races dominate what sports. As Sam raised the question in class, I feel that the socioeconomic perspective has a lot to do with why certain racial groups dominate certain sports. Being from New York City, and raised in Queens and Brooklyn, a lot of the spare time us city kids had after school was to play outside. You can easily find a playground with a jungle gym and a basketball court on every other block you walk down on. Although there were barely any hoops with actual nets on them, it was simple to bring our own basketball or even start up and join a game with random people. Many neighborhoods in Brooklyn are dominated by blacks and from a socioeconomic standpoint, there is no money needed to play ball. However, straying away from the urban areas, it is obvious that whites from rural and suburban areas are able to afford more of the sports that require equipment or an arena (hockey, baseball, swimming, etc). I also feel that the label of these racial groups dominating a sport is socially constructed. Although these social constructs are proven true, and black players do dominate the NBA, I do not feel their ability or skills are better than any other race. Taking Jeremy Lin for example, the “Linsanity,” that all the hype is about is that an Asian American is excelling just as well as all his black player counterparts. The hype is solely brought to attention because of his race that is so different from what the NBA knew as a black dominated sport. Also, the fact that he is a Harvard graduate that chose to play pro ball instead of pursuing his career in economics, has even heightened the hype to another level. Also, I feel that football tends to be an arguable sport to which race dominates it because both white and black players contribute to a fair amount or equally close ratio amount of players on a team. I’ve also drawn the conclusion that many quarterbacks are predominately white, while the running backs are usually black. I feel that is because we give into proving stereotypes are true by placing certain races in particular positions of playing skills. Stereotypically, I can see people perceiving whites to be more intelligently inclined in the position of a quarterback, and blacks to be more aggressive. If race-dominating sports weren’t socially constructed, then we wouldn’t be so bound to putting certain labels of races in the boxes of different sports. Most importantly, I think what society tends to forget is that the assets of skill are not determined by their race or the color of their skin.

In the aspect of white people “shying away” from the topic of race, I almost feel that it depends on their set surroundings, to whom they’re conversing with, and what is actually being talked about. I feel that saying all white people avoid the topic would be a complete generalized statement. In all facets of race, I think the topic as a whole makes people uncomfortable and unsettling, especially for white people. After learning about white supremacy in Sam’s class, it makes us all question how we, as a whole, view and interact about race with one another. It only made perfect sense that when Sam asked a white girl to pick out the darkest black person in the room, everyone felt the tension dramatically. If it is just skin color, why does it matter? Why do we feel a sense of wrong doing by pointing out the color of someone’s skin? As many of my peers have brought up within their blogs, I would have to agree that it brings us back to the times when white supremacy was at its all-time high way before any of us were born. White people may feel a sense of burden or shamefulness and shy away from the topic of race because the feeling of supremacy weighs heavily right on their shoulders. I think that because of this overarching mental pressure that “white privilege” exists, they take into account this feeling and tend to stray far away from the oppressing topics of race. If a white person were to stand out in a crowd of multiracial individuals, and speak out about race, he or she would automatically be shunned and called on as an ignorant person. It has nothing to do with being ignorant, but because they are white, people of color believe their race have gone through harder times than any white folk has. This is because white people rarely ever experience the feeling of racial discrimination and have lived their lives without even a single acknowledgement that this is a white, heterosexual privileged world. We as a society; this melting pot of America, are so afraid to take a look outside of each other’s skin color, that instead, we quickly place judgment on someone based solely on their race. Again, this can also be people of color placing the quick and ignorant label on white people for voicing their opinions about race and claiming them as a racist. I feel that white supremacy plays a big role at the start of history to how it has shaped our society today. I genuinely feel that white privilege plays an even bigger role to why white people may stray away from the topic of race. White people have no issues with experiencing racial discrimination so instead of appearing ignorant to others; they shy away from race as a whole.