When eating organic was totally uncool

  "When eating organic was totally uncool" by Pha Lo, illustrates when eating organic was not a luxury but the only option available to survive. The author grew up in a Hmong refugee community and because they were so poor, they ate organic. They lived in Del Paso Heights California, and grew organic food in their backyard with fear of being punish for it. In the essay Pha Lo stated " they farmed in the city for two necessities: food and a wishful connection to the old ways of life." The only way to support the family was though agriculture, even if it was not practice by others. His family grew up food anywhere they was soil, even between parking lots. The food in the market was so expensive that it was hard to lived by without growing your own food. They grew their food in constant fear, of being reported to, to the authorities.  Even though the author hated it, his family was to poor to simply changed their lifestyle. In modern times, people grow their own food as if it is a fashion. What was once the only option for a refugee family to survive, it's now celebrated as a luxurious fashion.

A Small Place

   After reading "A Small Place"by Jamaica Kincaid, I realize something that I didn't give much thought prior to the reading. When you are a tourist you don't really realize the actual economic and social standards the local are facing, only what you are allowed to see. While you are enjoying your vacation, the locals are struggling to even survive. You are oblivious to your surroundings, and the only things you know is limited by the resort or hotel you are staying in. What attracts a tourist to the place of vacation is the same factor that makes life so much difficult for the locals. For instance, Kincaid points out that the dry and sunny weather of Antigua is what brings tourist to the island but also those dry conditions bring droughts as well. Tourist also find fascinating the simple lifestyle the local lived by, without realizing that its not a choice but the only option. After reading the essay, I started thinking of things differently in respective to tourism. It also help me realize that its the same things for many other country or island who's main source of income is tourism. The places where the tourist stay are kept in the best condition, giving the tourist the idea that its the same throughout the whole country. It's an illusion created by the corrupt government to make the country look stable when in reality its in a horrible state. If the purpose of the essay was to open the reader mine to a different perspective related to tourism then Jamaica Kincaid was definitely successful in doing so.

Dutiful Hijas

  I found the ideas presented in "Dutiful Hijas" by Erica Gonzalez Martinez very interesting because these are ideas I know personally from my own culture. Martinez spoke about her burden to her family, one that was predetermined by her culture long before she was born. the idea of taking care of one's mother comes from a older tradition were the youngest daughter was deprived of many privileges and force to cared for her parents until death. Even if this was not completely the cased for Martinez, it was still a huge burden to carried. There was a sense of guilt force upon her that controlled certain decisions in her life. If she did anything her parents didn't approved of, she would be consider a bad daughter by her whole family and that would really hurt her personally. The author mother would depend on her even for the most trivial task, the author felt like the mother instead of the child. After her parents divorce, Martinez mother didn't only depend on her emotionally but economically as well. The dependency along with the guilt were the factors that maintained the author under such cultural tradition. Even though she was trying to help her mother become independent, she felt bad of the thought of not being there for her. What was interesting of this tradition was that it only apply to females, males had nothing to worry about. The parents didn't expect much from the males and they were free to do whatever they wanted. I grew up in a culture were they was a greater number of expectations from the females compare to the males, so i know what is like. The way a female was supposed to conduct herself and behaved was totally different from what was expected of a male. This tradition is actually globally, everywhere around the world we are able to see a sort of difference of what is expected based on gender. I think its a form of disadvantages. we are all humans beings, why are there different privileges base on genders?

It's Not an Oxymoron: The Search for an Arab Feminism

  I think its great when a literary piece is able to show you the other side of an specific subject you were never exposed to, it broadens your perspective and change the way you think about such subject. This was  my experience with "It's Not an Oxymoron" by Susan Muaddi Darraj. In the U.S and many others technological advance countries, most of the information its citizens are able to obtain is control by the media and it limits such information to a single story. By reading " It's Not an Oxymoron" I was able to pull what I consider the other side of a single story. Darraj, explains from her own perspective what it is to be a feminist and an Arab women at the same time. In the search for her own type of feminist, one that spoke to her culturally and didn't divided her from her family, the author gained a sense of self awareness that she was able to maintain for the rest of her life. What I personally like about the essay was the misconception the media creates about Arab women and the way the author explain these misconception so that the reader is exposed to more than just what the media created. The author goes into great deeps to analyze why these stories are bias and misleading. she also analyze ideas that transcend cultures and we are able to find them in all type of cultures around the world. Never limit yourself to a single story. If you truly wish to understand something, get to know all aspects of such subject. Don't only take what is giving to you, find out more on your own. We can't ever be truly united if we don't understand each others cultures and backgrounds.

The Color Complex

  The book starts, like many others, with an historical perspective of how we arrived to the problem associated with modern colorism we are so familiar with today. I like when ideas are presented from its very beginning, its fundamental core leading to its outstretch roots, that is the problem itself. That is something the book or at least its first chapter is able to do really well on. So basically, after slave trade would commence in the Americas and different human races began to coexist together, the problem of color complex would result. The first chapter play a huge emphasis on colorism( discrimination base on color) and its impact in society. Even though the origin of the color complex probably dates back to 500 years or even more it is still plays a major restriction on individual in modern days. The chances of even finding a job or a love partner for that matter can be influence by your skin color or backgrounds. In the US and many other places in the world, you are most likely to land a job if you had a lighter skin and have a "white" name. I like to think of this problem as to being more influence by society and the media rather than individual themselves. To be honest i think it limit us as human beings and as "intelligent" beings. A persons qualities should never be define by the color of their skin but by their actions and perhaps even their inaction toward certain things. Seeing as this problem is really old and unlikely to change from one day to another, it will be something we continue to live with and possibly our posterity as well.

Gary Shteyngart: Little Failure

  Little Failure was definitively a very interesting memoir, one i was personally skeptical at first but soon found myself consumed by every single page of it. The book itself is very fascinating, jumping from a very funny event on one sentence to a super sad one on the following. Basically the story revolves around Gary's life, from his youngest days to his adulthood, leading to the famed author he is today. One thing that i really like about this particular memoir, is that the author is willing to shared any events despite how embarrassing or scary they would be. For a person to potentially shared their whole life to the public, even the darkest of secrets, it takes a lot of courage and determination. Prior to arriving to the United States Gary's life was perhaps more "normal" or in a sense it was a life he was very familiar with. After getting to the US, the author has tons of limitations that he has to overcome especially the language barrier. This is something i can personally related to the author since it was a process i had to overcome myself. Speaking from experienced it is not a easy one especially in the beginning. As time goes by and we get better assimilated into the new culture, well it becomes easier or in the very least bearable. Back to the actual memoir, i think its a very alluring one. Even if a person is familiar with most concepts, it is still someone else life experience and worth looking into to. what really connected me to the book was not the actual story but the events that lead to it, that is to say the hilarious/super sad events that lead to it.