The Big Wrap Up Part II

It's official, ETHS-210 Fall of 2008 is officially over.

It's sad to end a semester especially having one with this class. I felt it was these past few weeks that really brought all of us together more and if this class lasted a year, who knows how much there would be to experience in this class.

I was intent on doing a live blog during the class but I guess I got caught up in the activities.

Well, to continue from where I left off on "The Big Wrap Up, Part I", I remember we did a midterm attempt that didn't turn out so well. In the end, that idea was scrapped and I wonder what ever happened to that footage of me being humiliated by our "CPG/Kamikaze" protest crew.

It was a fun experience overall. Even if we messed up, our combined group picked ourselves off the ground and created something better. I was very satisfied with the result of being more organized and very thankful that the whole class had our support during the TWLF commemoration strike. It was much appreciated.

I learned so much from this class but I wish we could experience more from it in a historic sense. To be honest, not even Asian American Studies over at City College, where we learned everything from a book, taught me that lower Chinatown used to be a Manillatown. It's very difficult to even notice the existence of one because of all the skyscrapers and small random Chinese stores on Kearny. I think that is what San Francisco is truly missing, a Manillatown. We've got everything but that for some odd reason.

I thought the I Hotel story was very interesting. I actually went by there a month ago and checked out the lower floor. It was chaulk full of historic details and I'm happy that they got a new one rather than none. Good for them!

One thing I regret from class was when we learned about Treasure Island. I wish I spoke up because I actually have a granduncle who came to America and had to stop in Angel Island for interrogation. He made it in successfully even though he was a paper son. Little known fact is that he later on apologized to the city and had his last name restored. That itself alone is some interesting history that I learned over the summer. It's too bad I was pretty young when he passed away, otherwise I would've asked him some questions because that was a piece of my history that made an impact on America at some point.

I think Lawrence did a great job on his hip hop presentation but I think it lacked one important key component: Asian Americans.

It was very well informative but the only message I got was a minority struggle. I think with the limited time we have, he didn't get to it but I was hoping for that component to kick in.

After this whole class session was over, I came up with what I see Asian Americans as in the present and the future.

Asian Americans of today are currently molding up a distinguished identity. Slowly we are breaking away from the past and creating more positives that eliminate bad stereotypes.

Culture is ever changing and I can see an Asian impact in the not-too-distant future. Pretty soon it will no longer be called an InvASIAN but...InnovASIAN.