Blog#11-IMHO

What is going on with California these days? According to the Yahoo! News, Daniel Chong, a 23-year-old university college student was forgotten in a holding cell for four days without any food, water, and without a bathroom, so he had to drink his urine to survive. This shouldn’t have happened because he was never arrested, never charged and should have been released. I feel like if I were this student, it would be scary and I wouldn’t be okay without eating food or drinking liquids because food and liquids is what we have to survive. I also would not like to go without a bathroom either. Where would I go in a cell? In the corner? I don’t think so. I would have nightmares after I am released though. I would not like to go through that experience. “I ripped the walls and waited for the room to flood for some reason,” said the 23-year-old University of California, San Diego, student, three days after he left the hospital where he was treated for dehydration and kidney failure. “I can’t explain my hallucinations too well because none of them make sense.” Poor guy.

It must have been a sickening thought for his roommates to not know where he was. I know I’d be sick to my stomach if my roommate wasn’t found right away. I would call the cops and file a missing person’s report, which is what Chong’s roommates did. Without water, “people can die from dehydration in as little as three to seven days, depending on body mass and the temperature of the environment” <http://news.yahoo.com/student-left-4-days-recalls-hallucinations>.

How could people leave another person a holding cell and forget about them? It doesn’t make any sense to me. I don’t get it. “The DEA’s answer to this is: Oh, we forgot about him. I’m sorry,” said his lawyer, Iredale. Why did they do that? Chong was like an animal locked up in a cage, except animals have food and water. The top DEA agent in San Diego, William R. Sherman, said in a news release that he was “deeply troubled” by what happened to Chong. “I extend my deepest apologies (to) the young man,” he said. I am extremely shocked by this. I’m still scratching my head.

Then in the holding cell where Chong was being held for no reason, the lights went out. “He sat and scooted along the floor, bound in darkness for the final two days. He said his hallucinations deepened: The blanket transformed into a person, then two people. He could no longer urinate. He said he screamed for agents to have mercy on him and just give him a quick death.” <http://news.yahoo.com/student-left-4-days-recalls-hallucinations>.

Chong said no one has contacted him personally to apologize. They really should though, just saying.

Similes and Metaphors

Similes:

1. The bright yellow flowers were as yellow as the sun beaming in the sky.

2. The green leaves on the trees were as green as the grass that is on the lawn.

Metaphors:

1. He has a heart of gold.

2. Life has a tendency to come back and bite you.

Blog #8-Japanese Internment Memorial Essay

When people look at the Japanese Internment Camp Memorial located at the Federal Building here in San Jose, Calif., what do they see? How do they feel? Do their eyes fill up with tears when they see soldiers telling a Japanese family some bad news? Do they see guards in watch towers looking out for enemies? Do they see the barbed wire that covers the memorial? What do people notice and feel on the memorial? What color is the memorial? People might wonder, “Who made this memorial?” This is a story that is worth telling.

One of the famous artists, Ruth Asawa, made a special memorial to the Japanese Internment camps. Ruth was born in Norwalk, California. She was born in a Japanese-American family out of seven children. Her father owned and operated a farm for trucks until World War II and the Japanese Internment camp. Then the war relocated the family to Arkansas. Later in life, Asawa married an architect named Albert Lanier in July of 1949. The couple then had six children.

When Professor Fernald took the Mass Communication 100w class to the Japanese Memorial plaque, I didn’t know that it would be a large plaque. I thought it would be bigger and separated into different parts, like spreaded out more. I thought people could touch it, but I guess they could touch it through their eyes. I thought it would be like in a garden with flowers and trees surrounding it. I had no idea that it was in front of the Federal Building.

One of the pictures that I took and that stood out to me was a picture of a solider telling a Japanese family some bad news. If I looked closely enough, I could see the woman crying, so I could tell it was something bad. I wondered what the solider was telling the family. Maybe it was some news of their son or daughter who went missing or got killed in the war. Whatever the news was, it looked sad. Right next to the family, there was a guard standing and looking out on a watch tower, so it looked like the guard was going to shoot the family and the solider. That scene was powerful and also very upsetting. I know I got tears in my eyes just looking at the memorial. All around the plaque was barbed wire. The barbed wire reminded me of the Holocaust when the 6,000 million Jews and other people couldn’t get out of their concentration camps and didn’t make it.

What I don’t understand is why do people put others into camps such as internment camps and concentration camps? Why do they want to erase the memory and the faith that were in these souls? It doesn’t make sense to me and to those of other faiths. But that is another story. Overall, the trip was a success and I want to go back to the memorial. If I had one wish, my wish would be to stop the camps from happening. I don’t think it could happen again, but only time will tell. May all of the Japanese people’s souls be a blessing. Amen.

Blog #10-Fish Out Of Water

Ever been an outsider at something or someone’s house? I know I have. In my personal experience, it felt really odd to be an outsider at a Chinese restaurant in Richmond, California and being the only white female there made me feel uncomfortable. It seemed like everyone was staring at me and I felt really weird to be there. It’s like going to a foreign country and staying there for a couple of weeks and eating their food which is what I have done. I don’t know how other people from foreign countries enjoy a strange country like the United States, but once they get comfortable and used to the warm sun, the cool air by the bay and the time difference, they can relax. Once I eat the food and try not to notice the other people, I can enjoy the food and the atmosphere that the restaurant has to offer.

I also have to factor in if the restaurant is wheelchair accessible or not. It usually is, but I have to check sometimes. Most Asian restaurants are wheelchair accessible because that’s what the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) says to do. Asian people sometimes don’t understand English so I have to repeat myself too. Or I point at what I want to eat. I always feel strange when I enter a Asian restaurant because I feel like they are coming to get me and take me to their country, when in reality, they aren’t. It is an interesting feeling that I get in my stomach, but I guess it is nervousness. Chinese food is really good and amazing when you get it. I feel like a stranger eat their food and that’s what they might think I am when I am at their domain.

It might be my wheelchair that they are staring at, but I am staring right at them too. They are probably wondering, “Can she eat on her own?” or “Why does she have those weird body movements? Is she having a seizure?” or “What’s her disability?” and “Why is she in a wheelchair?”

I once had a bad nightmare about my service dog in an Asian restaurant. The restaurant was one of those hot pot places where you can cook your meat and veggies on your own. My dog was sleeping peaceful underneath the table and when I was busy eat my own food and not paying any attention to her and my surroundings, one of the workers took her to the back of the restaurant and into the kitchen where they did the unthinkable: they started to chop her up and use her as meat for human consumption! The last thing I remember from the bad dream was crying out: HOLLY! When I woke up, it was super scary and my parents came rushing in my room and asking me what’s wrong and such. I told them and they said that it was just a dream. Some Asian cultures do eat dog for meat though. It is pretty gross.

Word of the Week #10 (last one!)

1. Sequenom test.

2. From the Time magazine.

3. “I don’t think it’s all search and destroy,” Canick says in defense of the Sequenom test. “That is an awful way of looking at this.”

4. The dictionary’s definition of this word is: “Sequenom (NASDAQ: SQNM) is a manufacturer of DNA massarrays, based in San Diego, California. The MassARRAY platform is used for SNP genotyping, methylation detection and quantitative gene expression analysis. Sequenom also manufactures clinical tests, such as SEQureDx, a noninvasive prenatal test formerly under development for Down syndrome.” <www.dictionary.com>.

5. If I have a child who is born with Down Syndrome, I would have to get him/her tested with the Sequenom test.

 

 

 

Word of the Week #8

1. Probationary

2. From the novel, The Help.

3. “Furthermore, please withhold from volunteering for any nonmember activities in the future, as your name has been placed on a probationary list.”

4. probationary

noun

1. the act of testing.

2. the testing or trial of a person’s conduct, character,qualifications, or the like.

3. the state or period of such testing or trial.

4. Law. a. a method of dealing with offenders, especially young persons guilty of minor crimes or first offenses, by allowing them to go at large under supervision of a probation officer. b. the state of having been conditionally released.

5. Education . a trial period or condition of students in certain educational institutions who are being permitted to redeem failures, misconduct, etc.

5.  When Lindsay Lohan went to jail then got released, she was on a probationary list from her probation officer.

Word of the Week #8

1. grantsmanship

2. From a book called, Local Politics: A Practical Guide to Governing at the Grassroots by Terry Christensen and Tom Hogen-Esch.

3. “Small and middle-sized cities also have grumbled about grantsmanship, the way grants seem to go to big cities that play the game best because they have more representatives and effective lobbyists in Washington.”

4. Dictionary definition:

grants·man·ship [grants-muhn-ship, grahnts-]

noun

skill in securing grants,  as for research, from federal agencies, foundations, or the like.

5. Many banks in the U.S. have grantsmanship.