Similarities

"You laugh at me because I'm different, I laugh at you because you're all the same.”
-Jonathan Davis   
(I just thought that quote was funny, but it doesn’t really have that much to do with my blog post... They both talk about similarites and differences, but that's about it...)

      Thinking about Sarah Vowell’s “Shooting Dad” made me think about my own similarities with my dad. Like Vowell and her father, I consider myself very different than my father; we have different tastes in music, fashion, and many other things. Also like Vowell, though, we are similar in many ways. For starters, I share the same hair color and eye color with him. We also both like eating many of the same foods (like 湯圓 or tāng yuán! Here’s a link if you don’t know what it is http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tangyuan_%28food%29 ), keeping things organized, knowing things ahead of time, and having specific instructions for things (there are more things, but I think I’ll stop here. I don’t think you guys need to know everything about me). He will also always be my father.

I think a person does not have to have many similarities with another person in order to get along with him/her. Just like the cliché saying of “opposites attract,” people can be opposites and still work well together. One person’s strength may be another’s weakness, and in that way, they make up for each other’s shortcomings and make each other stronger.

Being Asian American

In "Fish Cheeks", Amy Tan describes the difficulties of being a Chinese-American. It is easily seen that Chinese and American culture clash in her life, which creates a lot of internal conflict. Being a  Taiwanese-American (which is very similar to, but at the same time very different than a Chinese-American. If you don’t know the difference, feel free to search it up) I too am able to experience both cultures equally. Unlike Tan, though, I personally am not in conflict over which culture to follow.

   I am not ashamed of my own culture (although there may be times that I am embarrassed for some people because of the way they act). I may be the exact opposite, actually. It might be that I am actually proud of being Asian. There is no point in being ashamed of my culture because the act of being ashamed does nothing to help in the situation. Others may actually look down upon someone who is ashamed of themself.

What is there to be ashamed of? There is nothing wrong with my hair, my eyes, my nose, my mouth, my face, my body, my culture. I am who I am. We can never change who we truly are.

The Influence of Emotions

During our class discussion of Maya Angelou’s "Champion of the World", the power of emotion was brought up. We unanimously agreed that most of the chapter must have been fictional (and that it would have been impossible for Angelou to remember this event so vividly all the way down to the exact words that were spoken and the exact actions that were performed). We also agreed, though, that this event must have been extremely significant in her life. So significant that she was able to remember the emotions she felt during the time.

The discussion made me think about my own life and how emotions affect my memories so strongly.
There are many times when we are unable to recall the minutiae of a point in time, and yet we can still feel the emotions that are associated with the occurrence as a whole. 

On the first day of high school, you may have been nervous. On the day of your birthday, you may have been happy. On a snow day, you may have been feeling relieved (now you have time to do the homework you were too lazy to finish!). On… well, you get the point. 

Your feelings are essential for helping your memories exist and persist, and it is important for you to hold onto them for as long as you can.