Counter Narrative

My counter narrative will basically be a classic Cinderella story...but with the settings reversed. I don't think every girl dreams of living in a castle with a prince, going from rags to riches. My story will be about a girl who is already living in a castle with her family (will probably include two stepsisters and spoiled pets) who always nags her to be more excited about her royal position. Cindy, however, would rather be living outside the castle, especially when she meets the kind chef in the village. Also, I absolutely adore eating, so Cindy will LOVE LOVE LOVE eating (hence the Chef). I want her to have a hearty appetite...none of this picking at lettuce leaves and nibbling on carrots. Cindy will end up running away from the castle to be with the Chef and her family will be left searching for her. When she is packing up all her stuff, though, one of her shoes falls out of her bag. Her family uses this shoe to try and find her. Seeing her family distressed and searching, she finally goes and puts on the shoe. In the end, her family is understanding and allows her to continue her life with the Chef. Not all happy endings have to end with a girl becoming a princess/living in a castle/marrying a prince.

Research in the Community

One of my favorite places to be is a bookstore. No matter where or what store, I could spend hours and hours just going through the shelves of books. So when I went to Barnes & Noble, I could practically find the children’s section in my sleep since I spend so much time there. It was interesting though, because there were so many things I noticed this time versus all the other times I have been there. First off, the children’s section is somewhat blocked off from the rest of the store by tall bookshelves with a gap in the middle for people to walk through. However, the first thing I noticed was the type of books displayed on these outer shelves which are meant to attract the most attention and interest. I saw lots of books for young teens…most of which had covers showing young girls in skimpy clothing or being scandalous with boys. Either that or Twilight or Harry Potter. It was really rather depressing to see that these are the types of books that attract the most people now. Walking further in, I was comforted by the sight of books from my own childhood, like Magic Tree House, Animorphs, and The Berenstein Bears. However, when I looked through the shelves, I noticed that a majority of the books I read as a young child had primarily Caucasian characters. The books for children now tend to have a larger variety of people. Another observation I had was the books on special display. When you walk into the children’s section, there is a wall with children’s books displayed for everyone to see (the display is out of reach, but copies of the book are on the shelves under the display). At least half, possibly more, of these special display books were about animals rather than people. I guess kids really love animals!

Three times a week, I tutor a 5^th grader in Bethesda, and on the way I pass a small local library which is also next to an elementary school.  I actually really enjoyed going to this library because it reminded me of one that is near my house back in Texas. It is small and most of the books looked old and somewhat worn. While it did include newer/more recently published books, I was glad to see older books (just like in the bookstore!). This is rather random, but I think the main reason I like books more than TV is that books just last longer. While new books are always coming out, the old ones do not lose value. But with TV, once new shows come out, the old shows stop playing and people forget about them. Anyways, the one thing I disliked was the lack of diversity. Diversity seemed to be based around Caucasian and African American. There was a lack of cultural diversity as well as many other social issues.

For representations in the media, I actually looked online for advertisements. I found someone else’s blog post about health ads using fairy tales and I thought they were really interesting. The usage of fairy tales to advertise health-related issues like smoking and immunizations makes sense to me…because everyone wants a happy ending, right? So the usage of happy-ending-fairytales is logical. Here’s an example from the blog and the link to the blog with all the other ones.

http://alanagkelly.blogspot.com/2009/11/health-ads-that-use-fairy-tales.html

http://bookstore.globalfundforchildren.org/index.php?gclid=CO7o3Y6GmqUCFRhO5QodozgwHA&vmcchk=1&option=com_virtuemart&Itemid=41
I liked this online bookstore website because it has a large focus on global books that tell children about cultures from all over the world. Not to be biased toward my own culture (:D) but I love books about Asian culture, whether it is Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Thai, or any other Asian culture. It makes sense that my favorite version of Cinderella is Yeh-Shen, right?

Banned Books

I think our discussion about banned books shows that people prefer to stay in their comfort zones. If there is a topic that may be uncomfortable to bring up in conversation, then they just get rid of it altogether. Avoidance has become the preferred solution. However, avoidance is one of the worst solutions. These banned books bring up conversations that students should be exposed to and a discussion in the classroom may be the perfect location.

It was often surprising to see what books were on the list of banned/challenged books. Many of the banned books were the ones that I grew up reading and still consider as some of my favorite books. It actually makes me sad to see these books banned.

Critical Analysis Podcast Assignment Brainstorming

I am not entirely sure which book I would like to use for this assignment, but the book I am interested in right now is Almond Cookies and Dragon Well Tea by Cynthia Chin-Lee. The aspect that sparked my interest in this book was the relation it had to my own life. The book is about two girls, one who is Asian and one who is European. When the European girl visits the Asian girl's home, the two girls discover how sharing their cultures is a wonderful concept, because neither has anything to be ashamed about.

So the social issue I would focus on is cross-cultural acceptance. In order to do my podcast, I believe I will have to go ask for assistance from the media resources people (not entirely sure what their real name is!) because I have never tried recording a podcast before. I am excited to learn how to make one though.

Quotable Quotes!

"A woman sat in the passenger seat, staring straight ahead. The girl knew what the woman was staring at. She was staring at nothing."

To me this quote represents the dismal prospects that everyone in the train felt. Even a young girl could look around and realize that. She describes numerous people on the train with her, but this description really affected me more than the others because of how distinctly it describes their situation. They were all just uprooted, leaving their everything for nothing.

"In the beginning the boy thought he saw his father everywhere. Outside the latrines. Underneath the showers. Leaning against barrack doorways. Playing go with the other men in their floppy straw hats on the narrow wooden benches after lunch."

Sometimes reading historical documents of events like these camps during the war do not have the biggest effect on people. When just reading information on it, it seems like just that...information. But to see it from the perspective of someone who was actually there and experiencing it evokes an entirely different reaction. Especially through the eyes of a little boy. It is heart wrenching to see how having his father then his home taken away from him is affecting him.

Hi! My names are...

• Jen Yeu Chai/Yeu Jen Chai
• Jen Chai
• Chai Pie
• Shorty
• Asian Friend
• You!

Jen Yeu Chai/Yeu Jen Chai: This is my legal name. Now, you are probably wondering why I have it arranged two different ways...that's because my legal documents do not match. It is something I believe I should get fixed, but just have not done yet. On my birth certificate and drivers license it says "Yeu Jen Chai", but on my school documents and passport, it says "Jen Yeu Chai". Yeah...I am not entirely sure where things got mixed up, but so far it has not caused huge issues. Maybe I'll just go through life with two names.  I love my name though, mainly because it originated from my Chinese name. Sorry if this is confusing, but basically, my English name is my Chinese name backwards- Chai Yeu Jen. Even though I am an American-born Chinese, I love that my parents still gave me a Chinese name. It makes me laugh that people think "Jen" is an English name, but really it is my parents' translation of my Chinese name. 

Jen: This is just what most acquaintances call me...probably because I typically introduce myself with "Hi! My name is Jen!". It is also the name I use at work, so it makes me feel very professional and boring, to be honest.

Jen Chai: Most of my closer friends call me by Jen Chai. According to them, they are incapable of JUST calling me "Jen" and "Jen Chai" is just fun to say. I do not know how true this is, but it makes me love my name all the more because my friends love it. It also makes me feel kind of like Jackie Chan. 

Chai Pie: I love and adore food enormously. This nickname came from my ability to eat enormous amounts of pumpkin pie. I like it because some of my closer friends use it and it makes me feel lighthearted and cheery, because who isn't lighthearted and cheery around pie??? But this just highlights one attribute of me...my love for eating.

Shorty: I am very attached to this name because it brings me back to the time of high school team tennis. Shorty was my coach's nickname for me, and it eventually became the team's nickname for me. Whenever I went to tournaments, my teammates would always call me Shorty and my opponent always underestimated me because of my height. It gave me an advantage, because then I could take them by surprise (hopefully!). However, being short is not always advantageous...it makes life rather difficult at times.

Asian Friend: This nickname has two settings- in my dorm and in math class. For awhile last year, I was the only full Asian on my floor, so one of my friends took up calling me his Asian friend, which I did not mind at all! But the other setting is an entirely different situation. It sticks me into the stereotype that Asians are always good at math. I hate how people automatically assume I am good at math just because I am Asian. What if I am terrible at math?? I do not appreciate being labeled by people who do not know me at all.

My names are NOT...

• Jenny
• Jennifer

Jenny: I hate the name Jenny, I really do. It just bothers me...it makes me feel like a little kid. And it just does not fit me at all. I think part of it might be how feminine it sounds. If there were such a thing as a girl-scale, with girly-girl and tomboy on either end, my scale would tip significantly to the tomboy side. Jenny makes me feel like I am at a tea party.

Jennifer: Every year, I always have at least one teacher who assumes my name is Jennifer the first time they call roll. For some reason, they think my name must have been shortened by mistake and it must be Jennifer. Then, when I tell them my name is just Jen, they do not believe me and continue to call me Jennifer. I do not have anything against the name Jennifer...but it is not my name.

Researching the Self: The Magic Tree House

Ever since I learned how to read, I have loved books. While my brothers spent my parent's money on toys and games, my room was overstuffed with the books I bought from the bookstore and checked out from the library. Out of all the books I read, my favorites were always the series books. I loved the concept of how each book was a continuation of all the ones before it and also, how I could always look forward to the release of the next book (unless the entire series is already out). Some of my favorites were Dear America, Redwall, and the Little House on the Prairie books. However, the one that stands out is the Magic Tree House series, and if I had to pick just one it would be Dinosaurs Before Dark.

The book is about Jack and Annie, two ordinary kids, playing outside before having to go in for dinner. As they explore, they discover a tree house nearby with hundreds of books inside. Completely oblivious to the tree house and the books' magical ability to transport them to any destination within the books, Jack and Annie accidentally send themselves to the time of the Dinosaurs and spend the rest of the afternoon trying to figure out how to get home without becoming a dinosaur's dinner.

I found this book during a landmark point in my life. It was the same year that my dad passed away due to cancer, so it provided me with an escape from feeling sad. I would pretend to join Jack and Annie and travel away to distant and exotic places in the tree house. My room would transform into a nest of dinosaur eggs or a knight's castle, depending on the book. Frequently, I would stay in my room for hours, exploring and going on adventures in my imaginary world.

Dinosaurs Before Dark not only gave me a coping method, but also made my imagination flourish. I began to create my own adventures, imagining these extravagant lands that could only exist in the imagination. This eventually led to signing up for Destination Imagination, a creative problem solving competition. Destination Imagination ended up becoming one of my greatest joys in life, and it all came from Dinosaurs Before Dark.