The AAYA! Blog

Privileged

Okay, so I admit that today’s SLI discussion left my brain totally fried to the point where I could hardly think.  But as we did the Walk of Privilege today, one statement struck me in particular.  It was something along the lines of [excuse my horrible memory], “If your religious holiday is observed on the American calendar, take 1 [2?] steps forward.”

Why isn’t Lunar New Year recognized as much?  Sure, it might be on the calendar, but why don’t we get a day off?  Does this mean that people value religion over ethnicity/race/culture?

When there is a Christian/Catholic holiday to be celebrated, many people go to church to celebrate the death/birth of Jesus.  It is the same for Jewish people, who celebrate Chanukah to commemorate the Temple of Jerusalem.  To be honest, I really don’t know.  But I’m guessing people come together to honor a certain person or event.  But when people come together on Lunar New Year, it is to honor family.  It is a holiday in which families cleanse their homes to prepare for a day of festivities with family.  Our families are one of the closest things to us, and in the same way, Jesus or God are close to many people of faith.  If they are given a day where the general public respects their right to honor this, why don’t we have a day to honor family? 

I never really thought of this as a privilege.  To me, it just seemed unfair.  But now I see that many times, religious people have a lot of power.  In the debate over stem cells, or over gay marriage, it is these people calling the shots.  They deem these deeds wrong, but according to who?  The Bible?  Not everyone follows the Bible.  If the Bible had never been introduced into their lives, would they think differently?

-lily k.

Food For Thought

I was reading a Cracked.com article about sexist stereotypes which science says are true, and one of them is “Women are wimps.”  It was really interesting because it is actually true according to science.  Women have a lower pain threshold than men.  Women and men actually feel pain in different ways, and when men feel pain, they feel much less of it than women do.  Scientists believe it’s due to a protein called GIRK2, which probably has a higher presence in men.  It affects the pain threshold as well as how painkillers work to block pain. 

This really struck me because there has been a sudden burst in sexist jokes and puns regarding women making sandwiches, women not being able to drive and women just being downright wrong. 

The “women should always remain in the kitchen” stereotype led me to think why some food is classified as man’s food.  Hamburgers, steak, etc. are all considered to be food for men.  Does this have something to do with another stereotype, that men are naturally slobs?  If you were to walk into a well-known steakhouse, you would see mostly men eating there.  My dad’s pharmaceutical company sometimes offers to treat him to dinner and on one of these occasions they chose Sparks Steak House, a relatively well-known steakhouse.  I wanted to go simply because I really enjoy eating steak, but my mom said, “It’s a man’s restaurant!” 

Why does it really matter?  Food is food to me.

-lily k.

Say What?

Colloquialisms occupy a lot of the space in a teenager’s vernacular.  I was just thinking about it the other day and a lot of our colloquialisms come from the other people.  The way we speak is influenced by phrases that other people pick up and start speaking with in daily life, and consequently, we sometimes begin thinking in colloquialisms too.  It’s a whole cycle of hearing new things, using them, passing them on to other people, who pass them on to yet more people.  Phrases like, “You tight,” “LOL,” etc. have become really common.  But what part of our vernacular is ours?  What part of the things we say each day are created by us?  Maybe it’s the fact that we make a conscious choice to use these popular phrases that makes it so unique to us.  Perhaps what makes our speech so different is the arrangement and choosing of these different phrases to compose our vernacular. 

Sometimes I think in phrases I don’t normally use everyday.  In my mind, if I’m thinking about being angry, I might say to myself, “I would be so tight if…”  But I almost never say that out loud.  At what point do we make that decision to move from words in thought to words in mouth?  Do these phrases always pass through the mind first before coming out in everyday speech?  Maybe it’s just me.

As a friend of mine would say, “We out!”

-lily k.

Who’s Who?

My friend and I were talking about the other day how we can tell Chinese from Koreans, Koreans from Japanese and Chinese from Japanese.  Is there something distinctive about Oriental Asian culture that allows us to be able to distinguish?  My parents and most of the Asian people I’ve met can differentiate between the ethnicities.  What’s strange, however, is that both my friend and I can’t really tell the difference between Filipinos, Singaporeans, Vietnamese.

Furthermore, a lot of non-Asian people can’t differentiate between Asians.  Oftentimes, they ask me, “How can you tell?”  Well, how can we tell?  What makes it so that we can say someone is Korean because of their cheeks or their face shape, or that someone is Chinese based on their nose, but that others who are not Asian can’t?  Is it something that we are born with, or can it be acquired?

-lily k.

Wonderings

Sometimes I wonder what it would be like to be of a different ethnicity.  I don’t dislike being Chinese or Asian in any way.  I just find it strange how I think about how I really enjoy French culture and want to learn more about it, but I don’t have that same desire to immerse myself in my own Chinese or Asian culture.

I feel like, being Asian, there are just so many Asians that I can surround myself in.  I can fall into step with other Asians because we share similar situations at home, at school or in mindset.  It’s easy to relate.  I wonder if people whose ethnicity is a minority feel like they relate to others less, because there are fewer people who share their background and heritage.  A lot of people bond through relating to each other’s culture.  It’s easy for me to say to another Asian friend, “Oh, my parents are so Asian,” because they will completely understand, having come from the same background.  But what about the people who don’t have anyone to share their culture with?  It’s hard to imagine what everyday life would be like if nobody understood where you came from.  What if you had this heritage and culture that was completely crazy and so radical that it was considered absurd even by today’s society (which, especially in New York, is more accepting)?  Wouldn’t you feel lonely?

-lily k.