Blog for 10/27

From Fang Chun: Do you think it is a good idea for the US government to compensate certain minority groups who were treated unequally in the past? Why or why not?

From Heesook Park: Why did Carlos decide to go to Imperial Valley?

From Brian Vo: Were the white men jealous of the Filipinos that married caucasian women?

From Danielle Wong: Have you ever been racially discriminated against?

Blog for 10/25, America is in the Heart

From Joseph Choe:  Why did Alfred stop Allos (Reader 67)?

From Joshua Wang: What did you think of Olivia's presentation?

From Susan Nguyen: How would you feel if you had to go door to door to find a job?

From Sarah Wong: Why did they take Estevan in (Reader 61)?

From Brian Ly: "I will never let them touch me with their filthy hands!  I will never let them make a domestic animal out of me" (Reader 63)!  What does he mean by a domestic animal?

October 13 - October 18

From Brian Truong: How do you feel about the quiz?

From James McDonald: How is Lynda Barry an Asian American author?

From Erick Tran: How does Li-Young Lee's approach in telling his poems affect your take on it?

From Patrick Pham: How would the new quiz experiment help us learn, or not learn?

"The sickness took away the strength of one of Dawb's legs, as well as her obedience. I know that high on her thigh there is a scar, a curve on her skin like the face of a silent moon--a sad, hidden moon. She played outside after dark. She stopped listening to my parents. Whenever we passed the small noodle shop on the red dirt road that cut across the camp, she would ask for food. I never asked, because I knew that if my parents bought Dawb noodles, they would buy me a bowl, too." (pg 60)

In the last sentence "I never asked, because i knew that if my parents bought Dawb noodles, they would buy me a bowl , too ." Does Kao Kalia Yang sound selfish of herself?

The Latehomecomer (continued)

From Christine Hirose:

"My father's voice, usually deep and even, sounded strange to my ears.  In English, his voice lost its strength.  The steadiness was gone; it was quiet and hesitant.  Did all Hmong voices lose the strength of their voices in English?  I hoped not.  I noticed that the people, even the women, were taller than my father.  In the camps, he had been a good height for a man.  In that hallway, he said the words again and again and the people didn't seem to notice he was speaking to them.  We stood there trying." (118)

What was your experience like speaking another language (in the USA or travels)?  How did it make you feel? (Voice)

The Latehomecomer, Parts I, II and III

From Shon Mordo:

"We are so fortunate to be young, new lives opening before us, they believed.  And yet the life in school that opened before me made me feel old in a world that was struggling to be young.  A silence grew inside of me because I couldn't say that it was sometimes sad to be Hmong, even in America." (151)

Compare Kao Kalia Yang's experiences with immigration to the US with her grandmother's experiences.

From Brian Truong, in reference to Part II, pages 84-85:

How would you feel about your father looking for another wife?

From Vivian Ng, in reference to page 36, the scene of crossing the river:

Why didn't the brothers give money to Yang's father?

From Patrick Bacungan:

"I was feeling a strong push to reinvent myself.  Without my realizing, by the time high school began, I had a feeling in the pit of my stomach that I had been on simmer for too long" (197).

Why did Kao want to suddenly reinvent herself?  What was she describing when she talked about the pit in her stomach?

From Sherwin Mendoza:

What makes education hard for Kao Kalia Yang?