I forgot to say something... i think that that film was one of the most eye opening films for me. It makes you realize that these people are no different from the average person they just choose to use their body in a different way and if everyone used their body in the same way the earth would be a very boring place. ok i think that that wraps it up
Cheers,
Hope everyone has a good next semester and good luck on finals

So i dont know how many blogs we are suppose to have done but i noticed that i never commented on paris is burning. I thought that the movie was really interesting, though i dont think that if i saw it in a movie store i would ever pick it up and rent it for myself but after seeing im can say im glad i have watched it. What is even more interesting is in my public health class last week a transgender came in a spoke to the class, the topic of the class was sexuality. He talked about his life as a women and his current life as a man. Though it is a little different then what we say in the film i still thought it was interesting to have a first hand account. He didnt talk about the balls or anything but he talked abou this struggles with telling his family, and friends and his stuggles that he still faces today.

Some make-ups

Maus II should have been on the curriculum to accompany Maus I. Reading only Maus I is like eating plain white bread only. Maus II the Wonderbread, the jelly, the peanut butter, the banana. There was so much more depth in the second one.

I find it weird how Vladek is racist against African American people. Like come on. You’d think that losing your family and almost dying would open his eyes or something. Perhaps it’s because of his glass eye that hinders his sight and perception. What does that mean? No idea. Well, I found an article online where Art Spiegelman reveals his inner racist. It’s quite interesting. He used to have a lot of close African American friends until he was put into the mental institution. He couldn’t control his bladder and had to keep bothering the guard, who happened to be African American, throughout the night. After a while, the guard got mad so he wouldn’t let Art out of his little cell thing. So he had to resort to uhm.. going to the bathroom in the crack at the door. He was “degraded” and called him the n-word. Then the guard came and punched him in the stomach for calling him that. After Art was released, he has friends who are African American, but he never had close relationships with them. He was affected by that event. My story telling skills are awesome. But anyways, it made me reflect upon the whole racism, prejudice thing. I wished we lived in a utopian world. Why do we have to judge people based on their looks? Why can’t we judge them based on their characters? Humans are too complex to understand. Stop Global Warming!

-Tran

Blog #2:

It could be interesting to study fairy tales in this class. See how they have changed over the course of the years. Say for instance, Sleeping Beauty. Before her tale got Disneyfied, she was actually raped by the prince. He abandoned her afterwards. In her coma, she delivered baby twins, and the magical woodland fairies came to help her. The only reason she woke up was because one of her babies was sucking on her finger, and the splinter that caused her to sleep came out. Then the evil queen wanted to eat the babies, and made Sleeping Beauty strip before cooking her. While she was demoralizing herself in front of the whole kingdom, the prince came and killed his mom for her evil deeds. Then they all realized that the babies were still alive and happily ever after. Compare that to Disney. The significance of the original Sleeping Beauty pertained to the time period in which it was written to have society learn a lesson. Pinocchio was murdered in the streets. Little Red Riding Hood shanked the wolf.

-Tran

Blog # 3:

“Love is an action.” – Bell Hooks.

I say, “Love is the movement. So move.” Actually, I didn’t come up with that. I wish I had the creativity to come up with neat little quotes. Let’s recap.

“Living as a grown up baby is difficult.”

“You killed me when you made me.”

“Happy, happy ever after.”

So speaking of writing on bathroom stalls, people have too much times on their hands. My first encounter with bathroom blogs (or should I say, bathroom clogs)was about a typical female topic: weight. Like gosh, love who you are. So the conversation went something like this:

“I’m so fat. My boyfriend doesn’t love me. I’m so ugly and unhappy.”

While there were some negative comments which I think are too vulgar to post in a blog, here is one that is appropriate for a blog.

“Well duh your boyfriend isn’t happy. Who would want to keep seeing the blob every day?”

On the other hand, there were also some inspirational ones.

“Don’t worry, just exercise and not eat.”

“When things aren’t going good, just remember Christina Aguilera’s words: You are beautiful, no matter what they say. Words can’t bring you down.”

-Tran

Blog # 4:

So…since I’m in my blogging frenzy, let’s talk about the short story that we were supposed to read in the beginning of the semester: “Sweetheart of the Song Tra Bong.” It’s really interesting. I don’t know why Talissa didn’t make us read it in the beginning. At first, I thought it was going to be a cute little story about love, a great way to start off the semester. It’s like Heart of Darkness, Frankenstein, and the Holocaust all rolled into one. I didn’t recognize “Song Tra Bong.” I actually thought it was a song, but when I realized it was about the Vietnam War, I was able to see it “through my Vietnamese eyes.” I realized it was the name of a river in Vietnam. I don’t to give the story away. So READ IT. For fun. =]

-Tran

Blog # 5:

So I’m all blogged out. Now I will say my thank yous. Thank you to everyone in this class for making this class enjoyable. Thank you Talissa for being the first instructor at Berkeley who has given me hope that I will survive here. Shaunt, every time I see a little orange thing, I will try to put the peels back together. Tony, if I ever see you, I’ll give you a smiley sticker. Patrick, thank you for being my buddy haha. Jeannie, your photographs are beautiful. I never mastered black-and-white photography. I like to sepia tone everything to hide the lint marks. Lashika, hahah “just deal with it.” Kunal, live life, and continue being awesome. Tiffany, good luck on ESPM finals. Good luck to everyone on their finals. Yay almost done with first semester. Adios ya’ll!!