Our Inspiration/Our Daily Work
Book Club Book (No-No Boy)I read No-No Boy by John Okada. It is an exceptional piece that I truly loved to read.
It takes place during the aftermath of Japanese internment during World War. It follows a young man named Ichiro, a no-no boy, who refused to be drafted into the war and was jailed for it. When he comes home to Seattle, he faces ostracism from the Japanese society and struggles with his parents views as well as his own self identity. Ichiro's interactions and experiences with the people around him stood out to me the most because there are a lot of similarities between his experience and mine. As a second generation immigrant, I can connect to Ichiro's feeling of not belonging in Japanese or American community. At home, my parents speak in Newari while I usually reply in English just like how Ichiro replies in English to his parents' Japanese. Plus, his parents' reason for coming to the United States was, unsurprisingly, quite similar to many immigrants that I know. For my critical lens essay (scroll down) I viewed No-No Boy through the lens of Critical Race Theory. This one was an easy one to work with because there are very obvious racial themes throughout the book. There's the internment of the Japanese and their treatment from the hands of other Japanese. Then there's also the discrimination Ichiro faces from Japanese-Americans for being a no-no boy. |
Our storyteller, Sara, in season one follows the story of Hae Min Lee, a high school senior who was murdered in Baltimore 1999, and Adnan Syed, her ex-boyfriend who went to jail for it.
Jay's (the prosecution's star witness) testimonies had a lot of holes in it and they were all inconsistent. There were several witnesses that weren't followed up with. The entire case had many holes and things that weren't adding up. Should it have even gone to court before all the holes were filled? And then there's speculation that Adnan's defense attorney threw the case. People lie and the truth is twisted to fit each side's needs. Is this a problem with the American Justice System? The podcast is about Adnan's story told but it's told through Sarah's lens. So the question becomes, when does it become her story? Does it ever become her story? Sarah does a good job keeping it Adnan's story with threads of herself woven it. She sticks to facts and gives the audience an overview of everything. It would become her story if she made personal connections to it or purposely directed listeners to a conclusion. Our entire class listened to the podcast. The case was divisive. Is Adnan guilty or not? There seems to be too many holes and inconsistencies in the case to solidly say he's the murderer but at the same time, there's something really fishy with this. According to Jay, Adnan is guilty completely. Who do you believe? And when you're the one to decide who's guilty...that's hard. |
Stereotypes and Lenses
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How you view and interact with the world is unique to you and your experiences, beliefs, values, society, and the influence of others. This is what we call your lens. It is important to understand that each person sees the world through a different lens. You can not assume that someone will see something the same way you do. Jokes might be funny to some, but harmful to others. What you value may not be the same as someone else. We explored how each one of us viewed the world in comparison to our peers through our identity maps and "Unfair Project"
In addition, we also learned about literary theories and seeing the world/literature through them. We each picked one literary theory and applied it to our book club book. |
Critical Race Theory examines race and how it plays out in society as well as the way it is expressed. An insight of CRT is that racism is a normal everyday part of society. This is reflected throughout the entirety of No-No Boy.
Postcolonial Theory evaluates the effects left on a culture and society after being colonized. While, the Japanese people were never colonized, Japanese-Americans lived in a colonized country where they were the minority and considered to be alien and "less than" in No-No Boy. Feminist Theory looks at the ways women are oppressed and marginalized. No-No Boy doesn't have many female characters but there are definitely connections to be made to feminist theory. For example, men go off to war while women are left behind to wait. |
Psychoanalysis analyzes how characters behave based on their subconscious and consciousness. For instance, after Ichiro comes home in No-No Boy he blames his mother for making him feel as if he were Japanese instead of American which resulted in him refusing the draft. Now, this causes him to feel as if he doesn't belong to Japanese society or American society.
Queer Theory explores sexuality and gender identity. One of the aspects is the idea that gender (how we normally see percieve woman and man not biology related) is an act that we perform. You can see this in No-No Boy, the idea that masculinity is something that is performed. Reader Response is my favorite. It looks at how the reader reacted and connected to the text. What did the reader get out of it? |
Readings and Discussions
We read pieces from people such as James Baldwin and Gloria Anzaldua and held discussions about each piece. The purpose of this was to better understand intersectionality and other people's perspectives. I learned that you really can't understand a person until you walk a mile in their shoes. Each person is multi-faceted and complex. They don't fit into one identity, they're a mush of many. Just like people, issues such as gender inequality and racism are complicated and multi-layered. The experience for women living in a patriarchal society aren't all the same. It's different if you're a certain race or sexuality.
Writing Process
Imaginative Non-Fiction
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We conducted empathy interviews with members of our communities. I interviewed Puspa, who's from Nepal, and Heidi, a daughter of immigrants of the Philippines.This was mainly just to learn more about different perspectives. It was really interesting seeing the similarities and drastic differences in their experiences.
We then used our interviews as a basis for our stories. My story follows an alien who's visiting the sites of their previous incarnations in order to find home again. It took several drafts, lots of peer critique, and edits to make it amazing. Here it is to the left. Interspersed throughout the story are "nuggets" from the interviews I conducted. Some of these are obvious, some are not. For instance, Puspa was born in a village very similar to the one that World One takes place in. Another example, is the character's artistry in World Two which is based off of Heidi's own interest in art. However instead of retelling their stories I took these nuggets and made it my own creation. |
Critical Lens Essay
We explored six different literary theories: Feminist Theory, Queer Theory, Critical Race Theory, Postcolonialism, Reader Response, Psychoanalysis. We each asked ourselves how each one applied to the books we read and based on that, we decided which one we wanted to write about.
As a writer, I need to get better at sitting down and just writing something. It's very hard to get over writer's block and it's harder if you don't believe you have something to say. Another goal I have is to make my paragraphs flow and connect to each other in clear ways. That's something I'm struggling with in my critical lens essay.
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To the left is a draft of my essay. The final essay is below.
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Reflection
This was a project that I enjoyed a lot. Learning about intersectionality and "lenses" is extremely important, not just for young adults but, for everyone. You don't know what's going on in other people's lives and you can't truly understand the way they see the world. It's important to understand that because it can be harmful to assume that others see something the say way you do. So when someone says "Hey, that's not ok, stop it." Listen to them. Just because you think it's a joke doesn't mean that they do. That was just embedded into my mentality a little more because of this project.
I'm writing this at the very tail end of junior year. Looking back on this school year, I think I completed all my goals. I took the SAT and several Subject Tests. I have been complimented for my leadership skills on my robotics team. I've started a somewhat final list of colleges I want to go to. I've taken all the honors classes offered. And I've balanced everything remarkably well. For senior year, I know there's going to be a lot more to balance. College apps, the robotics team (I'm the director), school and honors, and other extracurriculars. I'm just planning to take it one step at a time.
I'm writing this at the very tail end of junior year. Looking back on this school year, I think I completed all my goals. I took the SAT and several Subject Tests. I have been complimented for my leadership skills on my robotics team. I've started a somewhat final list of colleges I want to go to. I've taken all the honors classes offered. And I've balanced everything remarkably well. For senior year, I know there's going to be a lot more to balance. College apps, the robotics team (I'm the director), school and honors, and other extracurriculars. I'm just planning to take it one step at a time.