Book 2 Post 2
Reading American Like Me has really opened my eyes to what it is like to grow up in the many different cultures in America. Being American and white myself, I haven't really ever had to deal with these same challenges. Rarely do I feel like I'm the minority in any group. However, it's very interesting to see how people from different cultures experience some the same struggles growing up. For example, two of my favorite stories were from Jeremy Lin and Joy Cho. While Lin came from Taiwanese decent, Cho's parents were from Thailand. In their stories, both of them describe how growing up they never seemed to fit in and wished that they were not Asian but "American."
I also loved how in each of these stories their parents played a huge role in their lives. For Lin, his parents were his biggest supports when he was playing basketball, as they always came to all of his games. For Cho, well, she tried to parent her own parents. She wanted them to learn how to become American parents. Cho goes through all the different things she tried to get her parents to do from letting her use forks and knives instead of chopsticks to dying eggs on easter and having an easter egg hunt. In the end, both Lin and Cho were able to finally accept and embrace who they were and what they identified with.
Another story that I really enjoyed reading was Frank Waln, a Lakota hip-hop artist. Most of his story he talks about his grandmother who he claims was an alchemist that turned everything into gold. He also mentions how his people (Native Americans) were constantly attacked over the past 200+ years and how his work has tried to reverse that. Overall, I've loved how all these stories overlap and share common themes of struggle, determination, and acceptance. I would definitely recommend this book to anyone who has a short attention span and likes reading about person stories.
I also loved how in each of these stories their parents played a huge role in their lives. For Lin, his parents were his biggest supports when he was playing basketball, as they always came to all of his games. For Cho, well, she tried to parent her own parents. She wanted them to learn how to become American parents. Cho goes through all the different things she tried to get her parents to do from letting her use forks and knives instead of chopsticks to dying eggs on easter and having an easter egg hunt. In the end, both Lin and Cho were able to finally accept and embrace who they were and what they identified with.
Another story that I really enjoyed reading was Frank Waln, a Lakota hip-hop artist. Most of his story he talks about his grandmother who he claims was an alchemist that turned everything into gold. He also mentions how his people (Native Americans) were constantly attacked over the past 200+ years and how his work has tried to reverse that. Overall, I've loved how all these stories overlap and share common themes of struggle, determination, and acceptance. I would definitely recommend this book to anyone who has a short attention span and likes reading about person stories.
America Like Me was the first book I read for this class and I loved it. Weirdly, the story of Jeremy Lin was one of my favorites too. Growing up as a basketball fan he was always someone I watched especially during his time on the New York Knicks. My parents were immigrants to the US as well so they also were always parenting me the way their parents did to them in Iran, so it was different growing up and seeing the other kids around me doing things differently. Good Job!
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