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My minor feelings

Cathy Park Hong, the author of Minor Feelings, is unabashed. Throughout her essays, she delves into confronting identity through the lens of her own lived experience without subtlety, exploring the complexities of what it means to be Asian and American, both wholly at the same time.  While debriefing the first essay, the one consensus that my book club group came to unanimously was the feeling of discomfort, an indescribable sense of uneasiness. Afterward, I wondered- what made us so uncomfortable? Why was our reaction toward the conversations about race and identity so unsettling? As a daughter of Korean immigrant parents like Park Hong, it was easy for me to draw parallels between her internalized feelings and my own. As for my entire book club group, though I cannot speak for them, we had all chosen this book knowing its topic matter. Even if not by intention, we all still implicitly understood how personal it could reach.  Mostly, I think, we were stunned by the bluntness of Park H
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Cynthia, the cautionary tale

 In the era of NAFTA, manufacturers relocated production to Mexico, where they could instill much lower wages with their much lower standards- leaving workers like those of "Sweat" displaced and despondent, waiting desperately on their tarnished American Dream.  The SCOTUS ruled in Janus v. AFSCME (2018) that government workers who choose not to join unions may not be required to help pay for collective bargaining, meaning that non-union workers were no longer obligated to pay "agency fees" to public sector unions even while receiving implicit benefits from their progress for workers for all. The impact of this at large has been predicted to cost unions tens of millions of dollars.  The weakening of unions would align with  it being more common to see that less voice is given to the people, while simultaneously vilifying them- as seen by Cynthia’s character. Cynthia risks her managerial position to provide inside information from the higher-ups to her friends still
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Is America "America" today?

“Let America Be America Again” was written during the Great Depression, amidst an era of great disillusionment- by Langston Hughes, a central figure in the Harlem Renaissance who endured rampant racism during his time living as a black man in the Jim Crow era of American history. Yet still, Hughes holds optimism in "Let America Be America Again", a certain patriotic belief that the America of his dreams can exist. The American Dream is bruised, he concurs, but he maintains an argument that through everything, it can be possible. Nearly a century after the poem was written, has Hughes’ hopes for America been fulfilled? Or is Langston Hughes’ dream of America too idyllic? Is it impossible? I think both are true, but more the latter. The "American Dream" that Hughes continually refers to has stayed the national ethos of America; the indoctrinated idea and pillar of American pride that in our country, success and hard work are proportionate.  But the hyper-relevance of
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Gatsby and Daisy: The Notebook

This blog is fanfiction of Gatsby and Daisy, but if they were Noah and Allie in The Notebook. And also if Allie did not choose Noah back.  It begins one late summer night, and both Gatsby and Daisy are 17. Gatsby's been working as a lumber mill worker, and Daisy's in town with her parents for the summer in their vacation house. He's invited her over to his barn, just like he has been doing the entire summer.  Gatsby is sitting in the living room, twiddling with an old clock when Daisy arrives. She's radiant. He stands up, handing her a small bouquet of orchids. Gatsby: Come on. I want to show you something.  They leave to take Henry Gatz's truck, which cranks as it moves along a dirt road. "Young and Beautiful" is playing on the radio. There is something special in the way that Daisy looks at Gatsby.  Henry Gatz's truck stops in front of an old abandoned house on a glittering waterfront.  Gatsby: Wait here.  Gatsby moves inside the house, and Daisy loo
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The American Illusion

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In The Great Gatsby, the eponymous protagonist achieves great wealth and fortune, displayed through extravagant descriptions of his colossal mansion and grandiose parties. However, all of the worldly success is not his ultimate goal; throughout the novel, Gatsby chases Daisy- or at least, his idea of her.  In Chapter 5, Gatsby reunites with Daisy after five years. At this moment, everything he's ever worked for and wanted is realized- the money, the house, the girl... yet still, Nick notices in Gatsby's face that "a faint doubt had occurred to him as to the quality of his present happiness." (Fitzgerald 95) Over the course of the five years without her, Gatsby had created this image of her that eventually, she became unreal, a mere embodiment of his idealistic fantasies.  Nick notices that this dream has swallowed Gatsby's consciousness, distorting his sense of reality- and his imagination "had gone beyond her, beyond everything" (Fitzgerald 95)- Gatsby
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Letter to my imaginary children

My letter is from the perspective of a parent writing to their young but conscious child, after reading the article under the fourth subheading: mental illness and violent images. Dear mini-me, When your friend gets the flu, you say you're thinking of them. If it's bad, we say that we're praying for them. These words of kindness are supposed to make someone like your friend feel better- since hopefully, she will know that we're rooting for them. But sometimes (and pretty often), "thoughts and prayers" aren't enough. Because when your friend gets sick, it was probably no one's fault- it's allergy season, it was really cold outside the other day, and she decided to go for a run... But when your friend gets hurt unfairly and intentionally, solely because of the color of her skin, then how are we supposed to react? To sympathize? It's a terrible feeling. But firstly, I want you to realize, and accept, that you will never fully understand. We as Asi
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The racialization of music

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     The social construct of race has permeated into society by developing certain reputations and stereotypes that are both misconstrued and damaging. "A biological reality" delved into this concept as it pertained to athletic ability- how the changing racial competition of tennis "big four"  American urban cities corresponds to the evolution of sports and their compositions. The effects are felt even in our own comfortable Troy, in which facilities for sports such as tennis and swim are accommodated for. But if we drive just half an hour to urban Detroit, in place of swim clubs and golf courses are basketball courts- some with hoops but no nets, all mostly run-down and unused. When these sports go pro, you can see a clear distinction: while tennis is predominated by white Europeans (insinuated by the Laver Cup on the ATP tour, which pits "Team Europe" against "Team World"), basketball is a primarily black sport (73.5% of the NBA are black play
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