IWA #5: Fashion "Crime"

    
     Back to high school years, I have two different beautiful memories, which I think I might be different from many people. The reason was because I happened to leave Vietnam for United States in the middle of my high school, which was during my sophomore year. And to let you know, high school in Vietnam is counted only sophomores, juniors, and seniors here in the United States, and freshmen here are their last year of middle school. Even it was few years ago, but the memories are still here with me and now I want to talk about the time in Vietnam. Eventually, the situation happened during my tenth grade year, and it was when I was seen as a rebel who committed a “crime” against fashion.
   When I was first in sophomores, I was ordered to dress what called Ao Dai, which is the traditional outfit of Vietnamese people. It was a long white dress from neck down to our feet with white pants. Back to that time, I didn’t like to dress Ao Dai at all because I think it wasn’t neat and convenient for me to run around, to climb the wall, and to play games with boys. However, wearing Ao Dai is the traditional that every Vietnamese girl students have to go through, and to show what a girl is different from a boy. Moreover, it showed the innocence, the neat, and the tradition of my country. Also, girl hair was more likely to be long to show the girly personality, and to keep it neat we whether tight up neatly or straighten it. However, I often went against it in physically look, I cut my hair really short exactly like boy hairstyle because I felt like it was more convenient and neat for me to move around. In addition, I always wanted to be in boy outfits and join the activities that boys do, I often ditched wearing Ao Dai and wear uniform that boys wear everyday, which was the blouse and a pair of blue pants.
    Moreover, I always wanted the rain to happen so that we didn’t need to wear Ao Dai, and those days I can dress normal uniform and be myself because wearing Ao Dai put me in a situation that I am not born for it, such as walking slowly and acting girly. Sometimes I got caught by the teachers of not dressing properly and got kick out of class. However, I felt like doing it was to be myself and to have freedom; therefore, dressing Ao Dai was always my challenge. On the other hand, my parents talked to me and advised me to wear what school made me to because they didn’t want me to get caught and kicked out of school. Also, they wanted me to act girly like other girls at the same age. Although to some people it was a “crime”, to me it’s just the way I expressed myself. People looked at me thinking that I am such a boy in a girl body, and insane at some point, by the way I dressed; however, physical look doesn’t express all of the characteristics of that person. They shouldn’t judge a person by looking at them but getting to know their inside look.

IWA #4: Leslie: Born to give the gift of jams

    “Leslie: Born to give the gift of jams” is the website of Leslie Hall, an oversize white woman wearing tight pink clothes. She’s not afraid of her size, but shows the real her for everybody to see. Moreover, she’s a singer who sings hip-hop songs and dances. She proves that people can have fun even when they own a large size body or not good looking one. They still enjoy dancing and singing. They don’t need to care about what other people think or say. Leslie here represents the large size people who just wants to dance and sing to make their lives more simple and enjoyable. Leslie is a white female who feels confident with her body when she’s dancing although other people look at her with insanity. Therefore, her purpose is showing us that we should think of doing what makes us feel happy first before think of what others think of us because “to the world you’re just somebody but to somebody you’re the world”, meaning that although there are people who don’t like what we’re doing but on the other side a lot of people love it.
    Honestly, Leslie is a model for me in particular because I although not as big as her but I don’t have a gut to stand up and dance or fight with my shyness. However, Leslie is really good at doing that. She’s showing that we can do what others can, as same as dance, she means that just stand up and dance like others. We all are human beings, so we can do what other human beings can even we’re different from the figure to the personal. 
    Leslie sings a lot of songs and has many live shows that are interested a lot of people. I have watched few video clips of her singing and dancing; however, the first video that I want to talk about is “The Tight Pants/Body Rolls”. Although she’s oversized, she’s still wearing tight pants and dancing, twisting, and moving her body like a skinny girl. In this video, she’s standing right in front of the screen with her large body without fears or shyness. She is the one who owns the biggest body in that video but she cares nobody, she shows us right on our face that her body is huge and she still can dance and be a singer, a celebrity.
    The second video is called “How We Go Out Version 2”. The title of the song already tells us part of the song’s main point; it describes how girls hang out, at the club, shopping center, etc. She’s again wearing a pair of tight pants and shiny clothes to make her more noticeable, meaning that she doesn’t cover her overweight body but vice versa make everyone easier to recognize her body. She doesn’t care what other thinks about her; she’s going to the club and a lot of skinny guys surrounded her. She wants to point out that even her body is not looking good, there are still plenty of men chasing her. Moreover, she goes to shopping center dancing and singing. She wants to make sure that that’s how people go out, shop, and go clubbing. Furthermore, going out to her is something really fun and enjoyable, so she brings up nothing but joy and entertainment.
    Overall, Leslie Hall makes us feel that life is all of joy and happiness, so don’t give prominence to others’ opinions. Here, she’s clearly showing us that even her, a white female who owns a large body, not afraid of what people will say behind her back, she still sings and dances the music genre that mostly for the younger generation. She wants to break the rule and be who she is.

IWA #3: Valley Fair Mall

           With a loop structure and a look of a Greek temple, a building locating on the border of San Jose and Santa Clara, which is named Valley Fair Mall, becomes a popular shopping center not only for San Jose community but also for Cupertino, Santa Clara, and few other cities nearby. Valley Fair is a two stories building where contains hundreds of stores, providing stuffs for young people, for older people, and for different classes of people. However, it is structured for the ideal customers who are white women in particular and that segregates other people. Hence, to be fair and not discriminating, Valley Fair Mall should be recreated to be a shopping mall where everyone is the ideal customers.
           Although the creator of Valley Fair Mall aims to build the mall for mostly white females and middle to upper classes people, it gathers all types of people such as Asian, Mexican, African American, etc. People from everywhere with every ages are present here to go shopping, buy stuffs, and enjoy their days. In fact, I never knew the fact that Valley Fair Mall is structured for certain people, so I usually go there because I like the atmosphere and the crowds there. Moreover, Valley Fair is also a safe place for people to hang out, also an interesting place for them to do the window shopping and gathering with friends and family.
          By segregating the building into two different floors, first floor is very classy which is for wealthy and older people; oppositely, second floor is usually for younger and poorer people. By showing it, he/she uses the marble at the first floor and carpet for the second floor to divide the luxury of first class people with the normal of low-middle class people. Moreover, they located stores with expensive products on the first floor such as Louis Vuitton, Bebe, and Tiffany and vice versa the less expensive and young sruffs for youth like Hollister, Abercrombie, American Eagle, and Forever XXI. Because of the income that people in San Jose get is not high, many people like to shop upstairs than downstairs. The reason is because goods there are cheaper and customer service is nicer and friendlier than other expensive stores like Tiffany and Louis Vuitton.        
           In my opinion, the creator of Valley Fair Mall shouldn't have divided up the mall into two levels, which is a segregation among classes of people. However, of course he/she rather wants the mall to be full of shoppers to buy their stuffs instead of seeing only white females. By doing that, they should have built this shopping mall for everyone with any race, gender, or classes. In addition, building the expensive stores with less expensive stores would bring people closer to each other and help people from dividing groups. As we discovered, San Jose community does not consist a lot of white females; the majority of other races is higher. Therefore, people besides white females play a huge part in keeping/making Valley Fair Mall as today. Thus, cutting the border line would help everyone getting along and Valley Fair Mall to be stronger and more diverse.   

IWA #2: The Matrix

     Honestly, what would you choose between a normal and simple life with a challenging and interesting adventure? Many people will pick a simple life, but me, I rather take a adventure to challenge myself.
    In the movie, "the Matrix" Morpheus is a person who recruits people to join the group and looking for the One, who is Neo, the only person who can figure out the way to destroy their enemies, the group of agents.
    Neo is given two options, one is blue pill and he will wake up living his normal two lives, an employee of a large company at day time and being a hacker during night time. The other option is taking the red pill and he will figure out the answer for his question "What is the Matrix?" Here, Neo has two choices, which flashback the video “the Cave” of Plato. The prisoner also has two choices, he can either be a prisoner who can’t move/enjoy the life outside the cave or be a free man who can do whatever he wants.

    Continue on with the movie, Neo chose the red pill. Likely, if I could choose between a blue pill and red pill, I would also take the red pill. The reason is because I am very curious and like to challenge myself and make my life interesting. Even though the decision of taking the red pill was so difficult and scary. It’ll be an entire new world where we know nothing and no one instead of a familiar town and a comfortable apartment. However, traveling a new journey seems interesting but dangerous, I still take the red pill since I believe in fate. Each person also has their own fate, dead or alive is already given for everyone, so choosing a red or blue pill wont change their fate.

    Choosing the red pill means changing that person's lifestyle and things around them, but can’t change their fate, meaning it can’t keep a person alive if they are meant to die or vice versa. Sometimes it's not a good idea for some people, but it makes someone else's life more meaningful. It's like traveling to another world where has wars and machines and powerful enemies all around us. That is really different compare to the lives that Neo lived. All he was doing was wake up, going to work, getting back home from work, and communicating with computers being a hacker. What a boring life that is; therefore, taking challenges will entertain his life. Moreover, it is a good way for people to forget unforgettable things and start a new life in a new world and facing the truth.

IAT Tests

     The two IAT tests that I took were Weight ('Fat-Thin' IAT) and Age ('Young-Old' IAT). At first, I took the Fat-Thin one and they asked me to pay attention to four categories: good, bad, fat people, and thin people. By using "e" key for left side and "i" button for the right side, which meant we whether chose good, fat, bad, or thin categories. At first it was separated from fat with thin or good with bad, and it was easy that way. My results for those two was better than the combinations, especially when they combine fat or good with bad or thin. I was messed up with this one the most because my mind was still processing the other way around, which was the good or thin with bad or fat. For this one, my result was strong for the first two parts and pretty good at the last parts. I believed it was because of the distractions around and the nervous feeling. After the test, they asked me about my weight, my height, my religion, race, and how I felt about fat people and thin people.
    The second IAT test that I took was the Young-Old IAT. With this test, they asked me my age and my information first, unlike the test above. I started my test exactly the same with the other one, using the "e" and "i" buttons. However, here, they changed the four categories to young, old, good, and bad. Same as the other one, I had a harder time with the part when they switched from good or young with bad or old to good or old with bad or young. In my opinion, I felt the one that combined good or young with bad or old was easier. I didn't mean to be a racist, but it was just the way my mind processed. With this test, I got a higher score compare to the first Fat-Thin test maybe because I got used to it than the first one.
    Overall, I felt like I was put in timed tests; I had to rush in order to pass the tests and have the scores. That was one of the reason that degrade my score and distracted my concentration. Although it wasn't hard or trick me at all, I just wanted to put more focus and be calm down. Thus, the results were whether high or low depends on how we controlled our concentration and our mind.

IWA #1: Examined Life

    After watching the documentary "Examined Life", I decide to talk about ethics which is money in specific, and what philosopher Peter Singer brings up in the video. In addition, I'm going to talk about how powerful money is to many people and what should people spend money on, and what should not based on what philosopher Peter Singer mentioned.
    In fact, money may not buy love or happiness; however, without money, people hardly have a perfect love and happiness. Vice versa people start stretching out because of lacking of money, and arguments start to explore. For instance, I've known a couple that always argue with each other because of the financial issue. The problem of lacking of money makes them frustrated and upset, and they start fighting and ending up with a break up. Therefore, how to spend money properly is an important way of keeping happiness. Don’t waste money on fashion and things that we don’t need, save them for later on.
    On the other hand, money to some people isn't a matter because they are too rich to care about money, but many other people don't have a buck to afford for their food or a bottle of drink. That is a reason that creates criminal life and illegal actions around the world.
    Furthermore, money is really powerful which can give many parents the power to sell their own children. Also, many girls decide to marry rich men even though they don't love each other, just because of money. This sounds painful, but it does happen in many poor countries since the poverty covers their minds.    
    As we all know, Americans in specific and some other developing countries in particular spend money on everything that they want to although those things aren't the needs. For example, they spend money on their vacations, movie theaters, casinos, and shopping malls while those money can save a lot of people who dying out there.
    Seeing what other poor people have to face with make me think of what and how I spent my money. Therefore, I encourage Americans to think twice about what they should spend money on after seeing other people/nations dying because they don't have enough money to fight with their sickness or starvation, or did not have clothes to cover themselves under a cold weather. Thus, just spend a dollar less everyday, we might save many lives by donating or helping them. In my opinion, providing old stuffs to goodwill station instead of throwing them away is another way of saving people's lives, which my mom usually does. 

My First Scavenger Hunt

Creative Minds Class Blog

A copy of James Baldwin’s The Fire Next Time

Someone who has seen Tron in 3D

 Jamba Juice Cup 

 Someone wearing Converse shoes

 Bus stop

 Someone sleeping in the library

De Anza President Brian Murphy

      Honestly, this is my first time participating in a Scavenger Hunt. I never knew it was that fun until I started to walk with my groups, literally think, and look around for the items. It was freezing outside; however, we were too busy thinking of the hunt and the weather wasn’t a problem to us anymore. We started to walk after the professor Berney counted.   
    It was really fun, but because it was my first time so I didn’t have much experience. We could have found many more items if we thought creatively. If there’s next time, my group will definitely use the computer all the way instead of walking under that freezing weather.
    At first, we headed to the library first to look for the Creative Minds Blog, following by the president Brian Murphy, the book named The Fire Next Time, and the student sleeping in the library. After finishing those items, we were thinking of the bookstore was the next place. On the way to the bookstore, we saw a guy wearing Converse shoes, and we asked him to take a picture. We continued our mission to the bookstore, and one of my group members found a cup of Jamba Juice and we took a picture. After that we walked to the store located in the bookstore to look for the Coke bottle, but there was none in our school. I thought of using a phone to open a Coke bottle picture and take a picture in the bookstore, but my group members kept walking to the bus station so I didn’t tell them. We continued taking the picture of the bus stop but forgot the Euphrat Museum of Art was right there. It was almost time and we saw only one more group walking around the campus. That decreased our effort, so we walked back to class and found a classmate who has seen Tron in 3D.
    The Scavenger Hunt really reveals about creativity. We have to be creative to be able to get all the items in time and not to walk all around the campus under a super cold weather in dark. We could have found all 14 items if we found our creativity faster. Moreover, the Scavenger Hunt showed the teamwork and the union of our group. In addition, many other groups helped us instead of compete with us.