Plan of Action

I have learned so much about culture, different family structures, borders, and wars throughout this class.  I have come away with a much more open mind about what is going on in our world and what people have had to suffer through that we don’t always hear about in the news.  These issues have got me thinking a lot about how I can continue my own learning of these subjects, but also expand them to others.  I am currently in the Education program and I will do my student teaching in the fall.  My plan of action includes me incorporating a cultural unit within my English or History classes that I will be teaching.  I would like my students to be more aware of what is going on within our world and have them know about things that are not always being reported in the news.  I think doing a unit on different cultures and how they live and the struggles they go through will be a great way to open their eyes to the rest of the world.  I would like to involve lessons that have students share from their own cultures, these lessons could include bringing in different types of food or recipes from their culture or it could include bringing in artifacts and showcasing the traditions that are involved within their cultures.  I would also like them to research about a culture that they are not familiar with at all and do a presentation on that culture to the class.  This would be a good way for them to understand their own culture better and to explore one that is completely foreign to them.  I would also like students to be familiar with different wars and disputes that are happening around the world.  Usually they’re only familiar with a couple that are being reported on TV, but I would also like them to be familiar with disputes that are happening in all different areas.  I learned about a lot more disputes then I had imagined in this class and it really got me thinking about what is going on in this world.  Military appreciation is important to me, so I would also like to incorporate that into our cultural lessons as well.  I would want my students to do something fun like write a letter to a soldier who is overseas.  It doesn’t have to be a soldier they know.  They can adopt a pen pal and wish them safety wherever they are stationed and this will also give them the opportunity to work on their writing skills.  I think this kind of assignment would be a creative way for them to work on their writing.  I really believe that doing these kind of lessons will broaden my student’s minds and get them thinking about what’s happening in the world.  I would like them to be aware of issues so that they can think about what side they are on when it comes to issues and they’re not naïve when they choose a side.  I want them to be able to make informed decisions about what’s going on in our world and to know more about what the media reports.

A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier

This book was incredibly powerful and moving to read.  I had a hard time reading some of this book though because I felt devastated for this young boy and knowing that this situation and sorrow has happened to so many young children in Africa.  Ishmael is a very brave young man throughout this novel and has the courage that many people never have throughout their entire life.  The culture in this novel is very intriguing, but very depressing as the book goes on.  When the book starts, it seems like Ishmael and his friends have everything they want or need.  Their lives seem to be going just fine.  I find it funny that they somehow know and listen to rap music from the U.S. and they can recite all of the lyrics to the songs and they even dance to them as well.  Unfortunately, this happiness had to come to an end with the war that was happening in their country.  One thing you can definitely tell throughout this book is that family is a very important aspect to these people and young people are always expected to respect their elders.  They find their elders to be full of power and wisdom.  When Ishmael and his brother had to start running from soldiers and burning villages, it was heartbreaking to have to think about all of these innocent people who were losing their lives and that the rebels could just kill people right on the spot and take so many lives.  Ishmael and his brother and friends were so scared at first and they had to deal with not knowing where the rest of their family was and if they were even alive.  After Ishmael had gotten separated from his brother and he thought he was going to be reunited with his family again, I was so excited for him and was trying to read the book as fast as I could because I wanted to see if he actually did get to reunite with his family.  It literally felt like my heart was ripped out when he could see the village where his family was and then the rebels burned it down and his whole family was killed.  I couldn’t imagine being so close to seeing my family again and then having that happen.  I would feel like there was nothing left to live for.  It was hard for me to read about when Ishmael became a soldier because even though the soldiers he was with were supposed to be the “good solder,” how can they be good when they are forcing young boys to join their army?  How are they good when they addict these young boys to all kinds of drugs?  How are they good when they instill the thoughts in these young boys heads that it’s fine to kill these people without remorse because they’ve killed others as well?  It’s very hard to think that these soldiers have any kind of moral compass when they are turning these innocent boys into killing machines.  I was relieved though that Ishmael was able to get back to being a boy and let a lot of these killer instincts out of his mind.  This culture also robbed Ishmael and many other boys of their youth and made monsters out of them.  They had to be saved and had to be trained to think like a civilian again which is sad.  Overall I thought this book was very interesting, but it’s devastating to know that there is an incredible amount of truth to it as well.

Revolution is not a dinner party

This book was very inspiring with the amount of courage and bravery that a young girl and her family exhibit during a cultural revolution in China.  I enjoyed this book very much and I liked how well things were going for this family during the first part of the book.  I thought they had it all since Ling’s parents had respected professions in the medical field.  Of course I knew things were going to go wrong as soon as Comrade Li had to move in with them and Ling’s parents seemed to be on pins and needles.  I find it interesting that Comrade Li was very friendly to the family at first and he even made origami for Ling, but as soon as her family didn’t exactly follow protocol in worshipping Chairman Mao, things turned sour.  I did admire some of the family dynamics within Ling’s family.  She was very close with her father and part of the reason why I enjoyed this book was because Ling and her father had a great relationship and it reminded me of the relationship between me and my dad.  Ling thought of her father as a man who could do no wrong and he was very smart and respectable.  But then there was the relationship between Ling and her mother which tended to be quite sour at times.  Her mother never seemed to be pleased or impressed with her and was always nagging her about how to do things the proper way.  I think although Ling found this to be annoying, her mother was just trying to make her a decent young lady for society.  You can tell that family and respect for your elders was a very important cultural aspect in China.  It was very hard for me to keep reading the story when conditions got bad for their family and others in China.  It’s hard to think of how followers of Chairman Mao could treat people with such hate if they didn’t share the exact same beliefs.  It was very heartbreaking when Ling’s father was taken away from their family because I couldn’t even imagine my father being taken away and not knowing what has happened to him.  But Ling remained extremely brave throughout this novel by not backing down to bullies in her school and not giving into the Chairman Mao followers.  I didn’t know much about the Cultural Revolution in China before I read this book and I wouldn’t have guessed that such horrible conditions existed during this time.  It’s very eye opening to read about how their food was rationed and their electricity was shut off all because Chairman Mao was trying to build a “better China.”  I also couldn’t imagine having to tip toe around every word I said and every action I made because it could be construed as being anti-revolutionary.  It’s as if these people are in their own personal jail just by living in China.  I could definitely understand their reasons for migration to another country such as the United States because all they want is freedom and for their families to live in peace.

North Korea/South Korea border

After the surrender of Japan at the end of World War II, Japanese rule was brought to an end. The Korean peninsula was divided into two occupied zones in 1945 along the 38th parallel, with the northern half of the peninsula occupied by the Soviet Union and the southern half by the United States.  The 38th parallel north—which divides the Korean Peninsula roughly in half—was the original boundary between the United States and Soviet brief administration areas of Korea at the end of World War II. Upon the creation of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK, informally North Korea) and the Republic of Korea (ROK, informally South Korea) in 1948, it became a de facto international border and one of the most tense fronts in the Cold War.

Initial hopes for a unified, independent Korea evaporated as the politics of the Cold War resulted in the establishment of two separate nations with diametrically opposed political, economic, and social systems.

There was sporadic unrest in the South. In September 1946, South Korean citizens had risen up against the Allied Military Government. The South declared its statehood in May 1948 and two months later the ardent anti-Communist Syngman Rhee became its ruler. The People's Republic of Korea was established in the North on 9 September 1948.

Soviet forces withdrew from the North in 1948 and most American forces withdrew from the South the following year. This dramatically weakened the Southern regime and encouraged Kim Il-sung to consider an invasion plan against the South.

Both the North and the South remained heavily dependent on their sponsor states from 1948 to the outbreak of the Korean War. The conflict, which claimed over three million lives and divided the Korean Peninsula along ideological lines, commenced on June 25, 1950, with a full-front DPRK invasion across the 38th parallel, and ended in 1953 after international intervention pushed the front of the war back to near the 38th parallel.

In the Armistice Agreement of July 27, 1953, the DMZ was created as each side agreed to move their troops back 2,000 m (2,200 yards) from the front line, creating a buffer zone 4 km (2.5 mi) wide. The Military Demarcation Line (MDL) goes down the center of the DMZ and indicates exactly where the front was when the agreement was signed.

Since the Armistice was signed, it has been monitored by members of the Neutral Nations Supervisory Commission (NNSC). Since 1953, members of the Swiss[5] and Swedish[6] Armed Forces have been members of the NNSC stationed near the DMZ.

Soldiers from both sides may patrol inside the DMZ, but they may not cross the MDL. Sporadic outbreaks of violence due to North Korean hostilities killed over 500 South Korean soldiers and 50 U.S. soldiers along the DMZ between 1953 and 1999.

After Korea was divided by the UN, the two Korean powers both tried to control the whole peninsula under their respective governments. This led to escalating border conflicts on the 38th parallel and attempts to negotiate elections for the whole of Korea.[47] These attempts ended when the military of North Korea invaded the South on 25 June 1950, leading to a full-scale civil war. With endorsement from the United Nations, countries allied with the United States intervened on behalf of South Korea.

After rapid advances in a South Korean counterattack, North-allied Chinese forces intervened on behalf of North Korea, shifting the balance of the war. Fighting ended on 27 July 1953, with an armistice that approximately restored the original boundaries between North and South Korea. More than one million civilians and soldiers were killed in the war.

How do I understand the issue of geography/borders?

I think the border between North and South Korea symbolizes many different things.  It divides two very different economies and symbolizes differences between the two countries.  The border also shows a great divide in disagreements because these two countries have been fighting over territory for quite some time and eventually they had to have a border between them because they couldn’t become one unified country.  Other countries had to intervene to help settle these conflicts and I believe that this border shows two opposite countries.  This border issue is connected to books we’ve read in class because we’ve seen issues of human sex trafficking and this actually occurs very frequently between the border of China and North Korea.  China’s alliance with North Korea affects us because we are also allies of China and so we’re currently looking to China for help in hopes of settling things between us and North Korea right now.

Sources:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Korea

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Korean_Demilitarized_Zone

Crossing the Wire

This book was very adventurous and interesting to read.  I was sitting there wondering what was going to happen next with Victor trying to cross the border and if he would ever make it.  I do have to admit that this book changed my perspective about illegal immigrants crossing into the United States.  I always had this idea that it was a little ridiculous how illegal immigrants would come and try to take jobs, but this book has completely opened my mind and made me think that I was being a little narrow-minded.  I never realized the reasons behind them wanting to come to the United States and how difficult of a journey it was for them.  I didn’t know that some of them were trying to raise money for their families back home and a lot of them had to abandon their families so that they could support them.  It’s really sad to think about it.  In a lot of ways, the journey that Victor and many others were trying to make reminded me of the Holocaust.  I drew a lot of parallels between the conditions they had to sleep in and how they were starving most of the time.  Also when Victor and Rico were with the drug mules, this part really reminded me of the Holocaust and the leaders of their drug haul were like the Nazi leaders.  They would make them haul large loads and wouldn’t give them hardly any breaks.  The mules felt like they wanted to die while carrying these loads.  It was really hard to read some of the parts of this book because I couldn’t imagine having to suffer through those conditions.  The culture of Mexico is very poor and there were hardly any jobs available which led to so many people crossing the border.  But at the same time, the culture in Mexico is that these people are very hard working and will take any jobs that people don’t want or think that they’re too good for.  These people are very grateful for any kind of job and income that they can make.  They will go through so many rough conditions, but hardly complain.  Also during the journeys across the border, after being beaten down so many times and getting so far and then having to come back, they kept trying to cross over and over because they worked hard to get what they want and to make sure they provided for their loved ones back home.  In their culture, family was a very important aspect to them and usually the man of the house would do whatever it takes to provide for his family and make sure they were taken care of. Victor was a very brave boy to do what he did and he endured many more hardships by the time he was fifteen than many of us will endure in a lifetime which is crazy to think about.  Overall, this book really opened my eyes to what illegal immigrants have to go through and that I should be more open minded to their situations.  This book made me sad to read the struggles that they have to go through, but in the end I was happy to see Victor make it to Washington and finally earn money to send back home to his family.

Sold

This book really opened my eyes about the kind of world we live in today and that there are still many tragedies and disturbing events that we don’t think about because we’re not always hearing about it.  The main character in this book is a young girl who is very brave and endures many hardships throughout this book.  There was a great culture shock for me as I read this story and I cringed quite a few times throughout this novel.  I definitely saw a great deal of different gender roles that were present throughout this book.  In the beginning, we see that women have different roles in their homes than men.  Women are expected to do all of the chores and do anything and everything they can to please their husband.  The man of the household comes first and everybody else kind of falls to the side.  In our society, there is still a notion that the man is the head of the house, but women are not expected to bow down to them and cater to their every need.  I’m sure this does happen, but it is not the norm for our society.  Women have quite a bit more power in this culture and can be seen as CEO’s of corporations.  In the book we also see that male babies are much more valuable than female babies because once again men are far more superior.  We also see a great deal of poverty throughout this book.  Lakshmi’s family struggles constantly to make ends meet and they are so grateful for even the smallest things such a sweet cake or a little bit of food.  There is a great deal of self-sacrifice in this book because the mother sacrifices her own well-being for that of her husband and children.  Then Lakshmi sacrifices herself into slavery, although she didn’t know it at the time, for the well-being of her entire family and to make sure that they could survive.  Lakshmi’s mother is very kind and gentle towards her children, but also very submissive to her husband’s needs and can’t show any objection to him gambling their money away and spending what money they do have left on frivolous things.  Unfortunately, Lakshmi has a dose of even harder reality when she is sold into slavery.  It’s amazing to me how much prostitution still occurs around the world and even in our own country.  It’s quite sickening to read about the struggles these girls have to go through and how they almost become immune to what is happening to them and they have to accept these circumstances because they’ve gotten used to them.  It’s almost as if their emotions harden because they can’t let themselves feel the sadness and grief of being in that type of place.  Lakshmi does meet people that become a part of her while she is there.  She finds small pieces of warmth and gratitude through a couple of the other girls and Harish.  These people seem to shine a small light for her in a world of darkness.  And it’s amazing to me that the people who work for Mumtaz  have no problem with the kind of business that she is running and even the law enforcement is corrupt because is able to pay off a police officer so that he doesn’t shut her down.  Corruption and greed is a huge part of this book and the culture.  But greed is a common issue all throughout the world in many cultures.  It’s important to remember the things in this world that happen behind closed doors.

Kampung Boy

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this graphic novel and this is only the second graphic novel I've read, but I'm starting to really like them.  It's fun to see the author's imagination come to life on the page and see through their perspective of what they imagined for the story.  Kampung Boy opened my perspective about the culture in Malaysia because I wasn't too aware of their cultural traditions and ideas before reading this novel. Obviously by the images, their clothing styles are much different then ours and also their mode of transportation.  They seem to rely on bikes most of the time, rather than cars.  The setting was a small village and it helped me grasp the feeling of a small community within the novel and how they only have one place for each errand they need to accomplish whereas in our culture we could find ten different groceries stores to buy our food.  Although this book is set further back in time as well, it is still interesting to see the differences in conveniences between then and now.  This culture also seemed to be a more strict culture because the dad was very harsh on his son when he would do something wrong or was disrespectful in anyway.  The dad would use physical punishment and this would definitely serve as a culture shock in the society we live in today.  This book challenged me to think openly about other cultures, I may not agree with certain traditions or ideas they have, but I can still be open to them.  Every culture lives differently and that is their choice to live they way they want.  The main character seemed to be very open to different ideas as well.  He exhibited his rebellious sides when he didn't join in with the other students in his class and when he spent so much time with the three brothers that liked to fish a lot.  His illegal gathering of tin also showed me that he wasn't afraid to bend the rules even though he got a swift beating afterwards.  I believe he just wanted to make his father proud in the end.  He appreciates all that has been given to him, but he knows he has further potential as well.  Traditions are highly valued in this culture and the main character was a little confused with the cultural traditions at first, but by the end of the novel I think he really learned to appreciate everything his culture and family had given him.  I think it teaches readers that we may not agree with certain things in our culture or we might not always understand these things, but we learn to appreciate where we came from.  Our culture is what makes us unique and helps shape us into the people that we have become and will continue to grow into throughout our lives.  Overall, this book was a delightful and interesting read and really established another culture into my brain and helped me broaden my perspective on how other countries develop and practice their traditions.  It reminded me that it is important to remember those cultures, but also embrace my own.