[Eva Morales]

One of the things that I found fascinating is the concept that the family is the root of all evil. I found this fascinating, because all my life I’ve been taught that the opposite is true. As a latina from a family of Mexican descendent, I was taught to be respectful to my elders and that family is everything similar to the families in East Asia. Even though to be honest I found this problematic. I express myself in this way, because sometimes my relatives would be cruel to other members of the family, and still expect to be respected. I believe more in the concept of you get what you give, but I know this thought is also problematic, because I don’t have it in me to disrespect people who disrespect me. I just choose to walk away. I have found that sometimes you can’t reason with people who have been programmed to think a certain way for decades. Going back to the idea of family being the root of the problem, I don’t believe that’s the case. I think the problem is not the people, I believe the problem the ideology that people expect something from others. It’s like I helped you, therefore you owe me something. I gave birth to you, therefore you must do as I say. I find this problematic, because setting these expectations you are only setting yourself up for disappointment. I have found that people who don’t choose their path are unhappy. They worry about making sure other people's expectations of themselves are fulfilled, but they don’t focus on their individual needs. Many times, there are cycles of behavior that need to be broken to move forward in the healthy direction. Therefore, I find that people’s ideology/expectations of what a family should be are flawed.

[Eva Morales]

I found the work of Sun Buer fascinating, because she “advocates for concentrating one’s heart/mind on Laozi’s concept of emptiness and quietness.” Her work was explained in terms of the role that women played in Daoism, but it can also be taken out of that context and applied in people’s current life. During my credential the concept of mindfulness was introduced, and due to the high turnover rate of teachers.This is due to the high levels of stress teachers experience with creating lesson plans and dealing with classroom management. Mindfulness emphasizes the importance of self-care, through doing activities we enjoy as well as through meditation. Meditation is similar to Laozi’s concept of emptiness and quietness. Meditation emphasizes the importance of self-awareness through learning how to breathe to de escalate the levels of stress or emotions. Meditation aims to put the mind at ease, which emphasizes emptiness in thought and quietness of one’s mind. I practice meditation daily and it has changed my life. Meditating daily has helped me be a better version of me, for myself and to service others.

[Eva Morales]

Yes, I felt like the statements created binaries in saying men are one way and women are the opposite. This same idea exists in terms of the Latinx culture. In regards to my family, the men provide for the family and the women stay at home. My uncles work in construction. They may have between two and seven children, and like the Chinese culture the mother are responsible for the education of their children. In contrast, the first generation Mexican-Americans follow different paths, from getting pregnant and married at a young age to go to college and financially supporting themselves. With this next generation, I feel we are somewhat breaking the cycles of oppression. In my perspective having these binaries are oppressive, because it does not allow people to be who they want to be.

I also agree with the statement you made about self-awareness and meeting our own needs without external validation. I feel that we don't need others to validate our existence. We are enough as a single person. Our value does not come from others, but we are taught that it does. Everyday, I strive to teach my students that value comes from within and not from others. Society has taught them that they need others to "complete" them, but that is not true. I believe that by showing my students that I travel and I am living life on my own terms will give them a different perspective of how life can be. Ultimately, students need to be shown different perspectives of life, so they can choose what they want for their lives.

[Eva Morales]

I agree with "Folding Beijing" being a good book to read in class. I think students would benefit by seeing the inequities and injustice from this perspective. I think that students would be able to have a deep conversation with each other about this issue and how it relates to in society. I think this would be suitable for any class to read. I could translate it and teach it to my Spanish classes.  I think they would find this topic as fascinating as we do.

[Eva Morales]

I enjoyed reading the story of “Pets.” I, like You Jin, think that it’s important to build a connection with students in order to have class management go well. I think that all teachers need to read this book, because it showed how even a child that doesn’t have the interest to engage in something academic, he or she might have the desire to do something else. Like Wen Li, sometimes students want to matter to adults, because they might not be getting that at home. I know that our job is to teach, but sometimes we need to wear other hats to be able to connect with the students. This way we are able to establish that we do care for them and that they matter.

[Eva Morales]

From the video clips, I saw that women had the opportunity to be on their own and make a decent living. In contrast to my mother’s story, she did not have support to pursue a middle school or even high school education. My grandfather thought that a woman's role was to be a homemaker, she was not able to go to school past the sixth grade. I tell my students the story and they laugh that first, but when I explain the reasoning behind it they ask questions. I tell them these stories so that they are able to appreciate the opportunities they have, and so they can understand that people in other countries don’t have the same opportunities that we do now. My mother’s story happened in the nineties, but I also tell them about my young 19 year old cousin who has not been able to go away do to the same ideology. 

 

[Eva Morales]

I found that the reading went in depth in regards to the analysis the video clips that were shown in class. I found interesting that Noriko was easily influenced by her family and that one friend to get married. I feel like this differs in the way that people look at marriage in the US. At my age 26 in the US, I don’t feel like I have pressure to get married. Although three years ago, when I went to my parents’ hometown Union de Tula, Jalisco, Mexico, I did feel some pressure. When I went to a fonda with my father and the ladies asked for my age and if I was in a relationship or married. I told them that I was 23 and that I had a boyfriend. I did clarify that in the US, women had the opportunity to go to college and pursue their purpose. They said, “Well good thing you have a boyfriend, and that you are able to go to school.”  They felt that they could ask me these questions, because my father went to the fonda often. Additionally, everyone knows each other in the small town.

 

 

[Eva Morales]

Another thing that stuck out from the lecture was the fact that if Koreans were liberal, groups considered them communists. This is similar to what happens in history and in current times. If you see conservative news outlets or even corporate news outlets, one can see how they accuse new generation outspoken people of color with having “radical ideas,” but this is only because it goes against the status quo. Although if you look at history, radical ideas are not radical it is just something that people never really thought about. Abolishing slavery was radical. Desegregation was radical. Women’s rights were radical. This reminded me of the film Walkout, which emphasizes the lack of equal education that existed in LA, by comparing the low-socio-economic status schools to middle-class schools. They fought for equal education, but at one point in the film they compare the concept of equal education leading to communism. Anyways, Walkout is a great film to show in any class that pertains to the concept of what is a radical idea in reality.

[Eva Morales]

I find it interesting yet shocking that Japanese men are still threatened by the spread of the message about the lack of justice of the systematic rape towards women that existed and continue to exist in society. I would think that it wouldn’t matter nowadays. Although, I do see how it could make the Japanese men uneasy, because they might think that it would seem that Japanese men even nowadays are violent, or even silent about the issue. In regards to comparing this to issues to the current time, you do see some men marching along side of women for women’s rights in the US.

[Eva Morales]

The idea of familism is prevalent in Spanish-speaking countries. I think I could use this in my class during the family unit. I can have students analyze the family unit in a spanish-speaking film, and compare it to their own families to bring to light their personal stories. I would start by sharing the dynamics in my family and they could share their response as an exit ticket. The next day, we could have a discussion about their families for the students who feel comfortable sharing.

[Eva Morales]

I enjoyed listening to the fact that Haikus were written in vernacular. In academia and formal social settings, people frown upon others who don’t speak standard English. I can identify with this, because growing up in a spanish speaking household I struggled with retaining proper Enlgish, because for a fourth of the day I was influenced by teachers and adults to speak a certain way. Whereas with my friends, I spoke vernacular English or Spanish. At home, I had to speak Spanish. Therefore, in high school and the first couple of years in college I spoke with a heavy accent. When I moved away from home, I spoke English the majority of the time. As a result, I worked towards being able to articulate a formal conversation to take up space in formal settings. Ultimately, I still like speaking in a non-formal way to reject the status quo and conserve my individuality. Going back to the lecture, I admire the rebellious nature of the writers. I can identify with going against the status quo.

[Eva Morales]

I found the whole lecture fascinating. What really drew my attention was the fact that the gender-differentiated spheres. I didn’t know that women had to wear 24 layers of clothing. I knew that women needed to be modest, but this seems excessive. The whole walking on their knees for the sake of being able to go from one place to the other with their garments seems excessive. Another thing that drew my attention was that women were very sheltered. I can’t even imagine not being able to go out for walks or go hiking. Women were in a way prisoners of their homes.

[Eva Morales]

Pan Chao conveys how women should act and what virtues they need to have in order to serve their husband and others well. It inculcates selflessness, respect, familial and domestic duties, silence, submissiveness, hygiene, and obedience. It was produced to control women and to tell them to accept the social norms. This practice has been effective, because these “acceptable” man-made concepts were taught to women, therefore women continued to project the only concepts they were taught. It isn’t the women’s fault that they have been conditioned to think this way, but it is their job to acknowledge the fact that spreading that “ideal woman” ideology is problematic (because they aren’t able to be their own person) and it is their job to acknowledge that they are part of the problem. They can redeem themselves by realizing that the purpose of this ideology is to control them (women). Then they must to bring awareness to the lack of equality that exists between both genders and fight for equal existence.

 

I am unfamiliar with a book telling men how to behave, then I don’t see why women should abide by this man-made construct.

 

[Eva Morales]

Neo-Familism 

I connected to this reading and lecture, because as a Latina from Mexican descent I grew up also with the familism or collective ideology. I have memory of an event that tangibly showed the idea that together we are stronger in terms of a family unit. I was shown a stick and I was told to break it. So I did then, I was asked if I found it was easy, and I said "Yes." Then, I was shown a 10 sticks and was told to break them. I struggled at first, but I still broken them. Moral of the story together we stand stronger than divided. This had to be explained to me in this way, because I was a child. This is one of those experiences that sticks with one. This is a concept that exists in most cultures, except in Western society.

 

[Eva Morales]

I see how you could find these concepts of the inferiorty to be shocking. I found that she was shaped by the only thing that she had ever learned which was the ancient male perspective. I think she just internalized the message that she always heard from men. I don't believe she analyzed the reason behind why women had to be told how to behave, but there were no instructions on how men should behave. I was also disturbed by the fact that female babies were kept underground to symbolize that they were less. In regards, to the comment of men opposing gender equality that did not shock me, because I believe we are still expected to live in a system that was made by men for men. I believe that even the current American system is threaten by women. I do not if anyone has seen that after the Democratic debates, Tulsi Gabbard was the most Googled person of the debate but Google censored her message, because it goes against the traditional capitalist way of thinking. She is currently suing Google for censoring her message. 

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