The undertone of my skin is yellow, and always has been. I have not been a person to look deeper, to let my natural skin color speak. It wasn’t until later in life that I learned to understand, to look on other levels. I grew up in a suburban Southern state in America.
The elevator doors opened and I stepped out in anticipation. I was about to meet the elusive “Korean guy” that few people in the group had met. I felt a small spark of excitement, as I had never before befriended a Korean guy. I was hoping that this was my chance.
She referred to him as the ‘evil pope.’ I didn’t like it. Others didn’t either. She created a poem declaring ‘the evil pope has died.’ I told her she can remove herself from the group (a tribute site for the pope) but she didn’t. She prided herself in that she was an atheist and mankind was going downhill because they believed in God.
As a person of mixed descent, I understand what it’s like not being able to reach both sides of my heritage. There are always those few sentences that relatives tell you when they haven’t seen you in awhile, from, “Oh, you look just like your mother!” to “Ah, you are shaping up just like your father.”
I’ve tried to write this review of Chanwook Park’s Oldboy several times already. (You can ask my editor about how long it took me to finally hand this in.) But no matter what I talk about I can’t seem to get at the core of the movie’s appeal. I can’t seem to say exactly what I want to say.
Minutes before the curtains went up, I was standing backstage telling the band, “Once in a lifetime opportunity is right here. Let’s have fun. Let’s rock!” On that note, the whole band screamed in approval. It was our chance at that moment. We heard the people on the other side of the curtains. I was nervous, almost shaking. I was sure my band members were feeling the same way.
“Once you’ve seen one pagoda, you’ve seen them all,” said one Polish backpacker I met outside the walls of the Forbidden City in Beijing.
The San Francisco Cherry Blossom Festival began in 1967 as a community reaction to the city’s urban redevelopment in the 1960’s. What started out as a means to keep the Japanese-American community connected to its motherland has grown into one of Northern California’s most colorful and renowned celebrations of Asian culture.
Of all minority groups in the United States, Asians have the unenviable distinction of having the least amount of political clout, though we are often viewed as the “model” minority. What this means is that Asians are the ideal minorities; they generally get good grades in school, they work hard and most importantly, they don’t make a large outcry in the face of discrimination.
