"It’s no coincidence that the aesthetic of 1989 is that of the Polaroid: a technology that, in its contemporary manifestation, connotes thick feelings of authenticity, immediacy, and wistful nostalgia not unlike Instagram’s own filters. Look closer, though, and the Polaroid, while tangible, is still just an overexposed image, flattering vis-à-vis its limited technological capacity to show the fullness of the moment. From far away, a Polaroid can communicate bold strokes of fun, bliss, friendship. But get closer, and you see it’s flimsy, unclear, and impossible to replicate."
July 2007, the last time I went to a Buddhist temple (my parents' faces are blacked out because they don't want to be on the Internet)
Introduction
There are two main religions in Vietnam: Catholicism and Buddhism. Catholicism is mostly found in the North, and Buddhism is mostly found in the South. However, most Vietnamese people who self-identify as Buddhist on American questionnaires aren't actually Buddhist. There are some really religious Buddhists that actually go to temple and stuff, but for the most part, Vietnamese "Buddhists" don't really know much about the religion and practice more of a folk religion composing of Buddhism, Taoism, Confucianism, ancestor worship, etc.
Praying
The "Buddhist" version of praying is offering food and incense to the Buddha and other Buddhist gods at temples or at home. Most Vietnamese Buddhists have a Buddha at home, and more often than not, it is the laughing Buddha. Buddha is vegan, so we only offer fruit, tea, and water to him. After lighting the incense, we put our hands in praying motion and motion three times, whilst reciting the prayer in our head. To take food off the altar, we also do the same. In addition to worshipping the Buddha, Vietnamese "Buddhists" also pray to their ancestors, more specifically their parents. These shrines face the front of the house so that the ancestor spirits can come through the front door. Thanks to modern technology, Vietnamese "Buddhists" can now use electric incense instead of wooden incense. Vietnamese "Buddhists" usually recognize their ancestors or the Buddha on weddings, a baby's first month (Đầy Tháng) and birthday, the Lunar New Year (Tết), funerals (đám ma), and death anniversaries (đám giỗ).
A Higher Being
Vietnamese "Buddhists" also believe in a higher being called God or trời, so when you hear people say "Trời ơi!," they're actually saying "Oh God!," a common expression used by all Vietnamese, not just "Buddhists."
Catholicism
Vietnamese "Buddhists" also think Vietnamese Catholics sound like they're rapping when they're reading the Bible.
If you were offended by my video, then you should be offended by Justin Simien's title, Dear White People.
I'm sorry for offending you, but that was never my intent at all. My video was intended as satire: Asian people really don't have anything white people don't.
I'm sorry for stereotyping you, but I'm tired of having to clarify and defend myself all the time because when I and millions of angry minorities (E.g. Azealia Banks) say "white people," we're not talking about you personally; we're talking about the white patriarchy. We know all white people aren't the same because we would find it deeply offensive if you thought the same about our people.
Now you're probably thinking: "You didn't use white people in that way in your video," and you're right, I didn't. I used white people as an "other" to Asians, the main subject matter of my video. Like I said in my director's commentary, the title is very misleading. However, I'd still like to address this issue because I feel like white people still don't get it.
Using the term "white people" to describe white patriarchy might not be politically correct, but being politically correct isn't going to end racism in America. Ending racism in America requires white people and yes, all white people, not the just the white patriarchy, to recognize that they have white privilege, inaccessible to millions of non-whites.
White privilege means "whiteness" is the norm. Anything else is different. Thus, while white stereotypes are offensive to the white individual, they aren't racist because racism is "prejudice, discrimination, or antagonism directed against someone of a different race based on the belief that one's own race is superior." White people have never been denied anything because of the color of their skin because they have defined themselves as the superior race without any opposition and by setting the norm.
Looking at the latter part of this definition, I can see why people thought I was being racist because it looked like I was saying Asian people were more superior than white people. However, I started the video by saying, "Aside from white privilege..." for a reason. With that opening statement alone, I acknowledged who the true "superior race" is, and like always, white people failed to take notice of that and made it about their feelings instead-now that's what I call a white privilege-and accused me of making a faulty argument when that wasn't even my argument to begin with.
I now realize that it was my own fault for bringing white people to the video in the first place (my point would have gotten through a lot better without the comparison), but I did want people to know about white privilege and without the controversy and anger due to this video, I would have never gotten to speak to you more on this topic, so thank you white people, for actually helping a minority today.
I went into Macy's as a way to kill time before my interview and didn't really expect to find anything until I laid eyes on this romper in the clearance section. I was drawn to it because I thought it was a little black dress and fell in love with it once I realized it was a romper. The mesh at the waist gives it a little edge, and although I'm totally not in love with the back, it was only $12, so I bought it. With an extra 20% off for applying for a credit card, I ended up paying only $10 for a piece that was originally $59! Now that's what I call a deal.
There are murmurs of
hope for the future, but right now, it is not enough for the creative young to
stay and give back: their motivations lie elsewhere, just like mine.
A year later, this statement still rings true.
The newly renovated Henry Hotel, which serve as apartments now.
While uptown, I overheard one of the storeowners mention to
a customer how things have improved in recent years, but have they really?
Because once again, I was at an uptown event aimed at
bringing customers in and saw no one in sight (There was technically people at the Farmer's Market but not at the sidewalk sale).
I didn’t want to go to this event, but my sister had this big
smile on her face when she very sweetly asked me to go with her, a rarity for
her, so I said yes.
I hadn’t left the house in more than a week, and I’d been
waking up at 2:00 p.m., so I thought it’d be nice to walk around uptown and
create a follow up essay to the one I wrote last year. I almost decided not to
go when I struggled to wake up at 10: 30 a.m., but I wanted to be a good
sister, which I would fail at later any ways, so I went.
In Charlottesville, you can find crab cakes, tacos, Cuban food, Filipino food,
etc. at the farmer's market. At the Martinsville farmer's market, they give
you a frickin' cucumber. At least it was free.
When we arrived to the Farmer’s Market uptown, we learned
that the scavenger hunt was simply going to every open vendor and asking the
vendor about his/her stand. Sounds like a good idea, right? Except, the vendors
didn’t even wait for us to ask them about their merchandise. They just started
giving us the charms—the scavenger hunt booty—and most of them didn’t even know
what was going on or why they were giving charms away.
It quickly became awkward, and my sister and I just started
asking if the vendor was part of the scavenger hunt to get the charm.
After we circled the block and my sister realized that I
wasn’t having it, we returned to our starting point for our prize (My sister actually thought they would run out of gift bags when we got there—like people were actually going to participate—LOL). We had
actually missed three spots, but I wasn't going to continue walking anymore, so
we lied when the ladies running the stand asked us if we had gone to all the spots—a
little white lie that most of the participants probably told, but we were UVa.
students, so it hurt my soul to tell that lie (So in addition to being in a horrible mood, I had also broken the honor code—although I did admit—albeit quietly—later that we had missed three spots. I am George Washington; I cannot tell a lie).
Like the city of Martinsville, we were hoping the Uptown
Sidewalk Sale and Scavenger Hunt could revitalize us.
Instead, it made us even more depressed and look for a
way out because in addition to my motivations, my life force now also lies elsewhere.
