FINAL REFLECTION

What do I think of when I think of the word "wobble"???

"About to fall off"

I have never been good at writing good essays or reading wordy books. I'm the kind of person who likes to get things done the way I want it. I like Math because it's constant. I feel like writing and reading is easier for people who grows up around people who uses good use of language. It don't matter how hard I try to write an essay, it's still not a good paper compared to others. I look around myself in my English classroom and I see different students, and it seems like they were born around good language. Sometimes I hesitate to participate in class because I feel like my comments either aren't understandable, professional, or useful.

I once read a story in my English class called "Mother Tongue" by Amy Tan. I can relate my life to hers in so many way. Like her parents, my parents are from a different country so their english is broken. Growing up in a house with my parents mostly speaking Khmer, a language in Cambodia, well spoken english was something I never really felt comfortable english. As a kid, I grew up with family and friends who have always talked with broken english.

Growing up, I listened to a lot of rap, r&b, and hip-hop. I liked hearing rappers rap with such slang and bad words. I never realize that most of the rappers I listen to had such bad grammar. Most of my classmates in school liked that kind of stuff. In middle school I witnessed things that influenced me, such as fights, COOLNESS, and of course BROKEN LANGUAGE.

It wasn't until my senior year in high school that I finally realize what good english is. Good english to me is being able to talk english CLEARLY with intelligence. Going into my first college English class, I was nervous at first. But after mid way through the quarter, I then realize that I have to keep trying and never giving up on my english.

Literacy Narrative Reflective: Lake's Natural Blood

I believe it all begun when Lacy wanted each individual in the class to think about a story we can reveal literacy in. I felt like if I was to go creative I should make my literacy look real. For example, sensory details are such a factor. I want to write about something important in my life. To give off the exact atmosphere of when it happened on text. My focus on this literacy narrative was not to force myself to write, but to enjoy writing about something I loved. I was sitting in the library narrowing my choices down and it came down to one. "My experience at Lake Wylie"

I knew that this was what I was looking for all along. I love camping. I love smelling the scent of the forest. And most important, I love it when the lake is so peaceful. I actually wish one day I can own my own lake house. It would be so superb and unreal.

As I was writing, I begin to imagine how it was at the lake recently. I put myself in a memory where I was at Lake Wylie one weekend over the recent summer. I wrote down everything as much as possible,  trying to grasp that moment. Every second of it counted. I wrote and wrote and wrote until I couldn't think of anything else to reminisce. The hardest part about thinking about the whole moment is distinctively small things, such as exactly where I was.

Although I finished about three pages of my first draft, I felt like something was missing. Earlier in the semester, I remember hearing two stories in my english class. One was called "Mother Tongue", by Amy Tan. The other was a video by Ira Glass with him explaining the use of an anecdote. Both of these stories were two amazing piece of art that I admired so much so I wanted to use their ideas in my story. This required me to write a second draft for my literacy narrative. Amy Tan inspired me so much because in "Mother Tongue", she tells a story about part her life and showed that no matter how different things may be, right or wrong, just reach for the stars. I begin to do that as I write, seeing what was most valuable and less valuable of my memory at Lake Wylie and turning it into something as a piece of artwork. To do that, I wanted to use a anecdote, who Ira Glass explains to well about. An anecdote was going to help me have different catalogues. It was actually going to help me be at Lake Wylie. How does the air smell? How does the ground feel? It was coming to me.

I sent both my first draft and second draft to my english teacher, Lacy Manship. She commented on both of my pieces, and I knew what I had to do. I then combined my first draft with my second, putting it together and making sure things were aligned. It was harder to re-write these pieces together than it was to write two drafts, because I had to connect one moment to another, and that took time. I finished up writing the final draft in the school library, and a victory shout was in my head.

This project wasn't bad at all because I actually was able to create such a vivid imagination of an important memory and put it on text. I usually don't write much either. It felt so awesome writing this piece of art, something I can consider a real art from me. I felt that this assignment probably gave me more to search for when I'm at the lake next time.

Ethnography Project Reflection: FOOD

Man, this was tuff stuff. It took time and focus to actually put this project into place. It seem to first start off when my English teacher, Lacy Manship, assigned her students to pick a place on campus that reveals underlife. I had so many options, including the Atkins Library, East Deck 2, and even the trail by the green house. Though it was hard to pick, my general question to myself was "where do I usually  hang out on campus?" and that narrowed my choices to one. CONE Building. Nearly every day at school my friends and I eat at CONES. It has television, music, performances, fast food restaurants, and just a cool environment to be around. Plus, it is closer to the library and closer to most of my classes. I picked this place because it's where I generally eat at, and so FOOD or EATING was one hell of a choice.

It was time to work with others in the class. My teammates on this FOOD Project were Deshaun Smith, Rabee Khan, and Drew Wall. All individuals were great to work with because we enjoyed each other's company. One of our favorite mission in this project was going out to eat! We usually try to observe how others choose their food and what eat, but at the same time, we observed how we ate. There was a time in Atkins Library where we four were all kind of tired since it was 8am on a friday, and it was coming to the point where the final project must be executed. Overall, working with these guys went well. We each had a different perspective on FOOD so it gave the project more to talk about.

Revision was constant. We had to make sure we observed all that can be observed when others are eating, or else we would had to come back observe again. Editing the video took most of the day to complete. Interviews needed to coincide. As a team, we revised our teamwork ethnics, video, and our thoughts. We first wanted to find the underlife to EATING, identifying an individual, but that couldn't produce a message. So we thought hard in class, and it finally came down to us with the help of Lacy of course. We wanted to send a message, and there were so many. Deshaun then spoke and said "You should be open-minded to other's disposition." This caught every group member's attention because it can be said to anybody in the world. We were thinking about hunger, the poor, obesity, and anorexic.

Creating this video was such concentration. With one computer to do it all, we had to make sure we agreed as a team as what we want on the video. As I said earlier, it took nearly a day to finish up this video, mainly due to the editing and different opinions on how the video should be made. At the end of the day, it was a work of art!

We enjoyed each other's company so much. This project got my group and I thinking more outside the box and how much creative we could get.

Click here to see our Ethnography Project: FOOD (Video)

A Red Stamp

"If lilies are lily white if they exhaust noise and distance and even dust, if they dusty will dirt a surface that has no extreme grace, if they do this and it is not necessary it is not at all necessary if they do this they need a catalogue."

                                  -From Objects in Tender Buttons by Gertrude Steiner

It was a week ago when I received this abnormal story in class from my english teacher, Lacy. I was suppose to seek the meaning of one of the story in Tender Buttons. Quickly I skimmed through each of the eight stories listed on the paper since I was rushed to pick one as soon as possible. I couldn't really understand the first seven stories, but the last story listed I felt confident into looking at. It was called "The Red Stamp." Although I was not a hundred percent in comprehension, I was looking very hard at the words. Sometimes I would even scratch my head to help me dig in. The beginning of the phrase, "If lily are lily..." caught my attention because somehow this writer questions the identity of a lily. The very last part of the story, "if they do this and it is not necessary it is not at all necessary if they do this they need a catalogue," tells me that something needs to be changed in order to make things back to normal. It took me a while to figure it out, but there was not a right or wrong. I knew I had to be creative so I played around with the story and I finally agreed with my mind what this piece meant to me.

Overall Message:  If I am not who I am, or if I act like somebody I'm not, I need to stop imitating and start being original. 

Wilfrid Gordon Mcdonald Partridge

I believe I've heard this story on November 3rd, from my English 1101 teacher, Lacy Manship. It was an early morning, at around eight o'clock when class started. Lacy read to my class a story called Wilfrid Gordon Mcdonald Partridge. This book wasn't any ordinary book, it was a child's book, so I began to wonder about this book. As Lacy was reading, she held the book high, facing the pages of pictures toward us. Suddenly I was in a different atmosphere.

I felt like I was in kindergarten for a minute. I mean, my mind sort of flipped. I was in a flashback. I remember the sounds of the pages flipping, the easy simple terms used to talk to children, the picture being larger than the words on the pages, and the slow pace of story telling.

Being able to grasp in my childhood's vision during story telling showed me how easy it was to be excited when hearing a story.

This is something I wrote in my journal for the Writing Into the Day, and this is my version of Wilfrid Gordon Mcdonald Partridge


"Something warm. My bed is as warm as a hot shower. My parents are as warm as the sun touching upon the earth. My friends are as warm as the inner core of the earth. My food should be warm. My school is a warm place inside. My clothes are as warm as me. Being warm is awesome!"

Annotated Bibliography

San, Randy. Rob's Eating Underlife Interview. 28 October 2012. wmv file.

In this cite, my ethnography group and I interviewed a college student at UNCC. We asked him some questions, some including why do he eat what he eat and who do he eat with? Some of Rob's response was "I like eating southern fried chicken" and "I usually eat with a group of individuals." This interview gave us a general conclusion that he is a very southern guy and he's actively social. My group concluded lots of things from Rob. It was the straight answers that we were looking for, it was the underlife behind the answers that we we interested in. We could tell what kind of guy Rob is, where he's from, what he likes, ect.




Eating in UNCC Crown Dining Hall, University of Charlotte. 28 October 2012. Public photograph by Drew. JPEG file.

In this cite, my ethnography group and I decided to have the experience of an average college student's eating habits by going to Crowns Dining Hall. Honestly my two group members, Drew and Rabee, usually eats here except for me. It was my first time! I wanted to not only experience a typical eating place for a resident college student here, but to see if I can find what type of people eat here. I was starving so as soon as my group and I arrived to Crown, I grabbed lots of food. I ate lots of junk food, including burgers, fries, pizza, and hot dogs. I began to ask a question to myself, are some students here not watching the kind of food they eat and not aware on how this food can affect them in the rare future? This was the underlife of eating how much of whatever you can eat. There are people out there who will eat disorderly and who will eat healthy, this can also show what kind of person these people are.




UNCC Crown Dining Hall Map, University of Charlotte. 28 October 2012. Public photograph by Randy San. JPEG file.

In this cite, my group drew a map of the whole Crown Dining Hall. In this map, we showed more than just people and objects. For example, we labeled where most of the students were eating. Why is that? Maybe because there are more seats available at that area or maybe because of the kind of people already there. We spotted where the mini groups, single individuals, and large groups sat at. Lots of groups were separated by race. I could tell that most african americans like to sit near other african american groups as to whites. Some group at the same kind of food as some ate different kinds of food. This told me that certain groups hangs out because of their likes. I was able to see the WHY to where people were sitting. It's easily said that people sit somewhere because it's a place to eat, but location and setting affects people choices, giving away that person's identity.

Ethnography Project: Fieldwork Assignment @ Crown

Eating @ Crown Eating Hall

For my ethnography project, my group and I are finding the literacy underlife of the map of eating. 

So for this particular assignment, we had to meet up.  When we met up (Drew, Rabee, and I), we decided to observe the way students eat. This will give us not only a generalization of their eating choices, but we will find a meaning to who these students are based on these questions: 

-Who are eating with who?
-What are these student eating?
-Why are these students eating this kind of food?
-When do certain students eat?
-Where do these student eat?
-How are they eating?

It was beginning to get dark, maybe around 6:00pm. My group met up at crown. As soon as we got there, since we were observing students eating, we decided to be part of our own observation and started to eat as well! 

We took pics of our food.















A friend of Drew, name Rob, is a student here a UNCC. We did a interview on him to see what he eat to make him who he is.

The underlife of what people are eating can define an individual. His/her personalities, likes/dislikes, philosophies, social life, ect. Where is he/she from? What type of person is he/she? Morning/Day/Night? 

Mapping UNCC Mini Assignment

          CONE Eating Building

In making this map that serves underlife in any kind of way, I saw a great opportunity to grasp underlife in Cone's diner. I'm here with a group of friends and we're just having a lunch together on a Tuesday at 11:00am. I look around (not to be nosey) and notices differences in people. I start to ask myself some questions
                            -Why did people choose this place to eat at?
                            -What is so attractive about this place?
                            -Who really are these people?
                            
I notice two huge kind of literacy here:
                                                                     -Embodied 
                                                                     -Sonic

One significant embodied literacy I found was the different groups of people at tables. I figured that most of the groups in here hang with each other based on identity, including: Language, Dialect, Food, and Maturity. I felt like the underlife in these groups put them in a group where they are more comfortable with each other. 

In the sonic literacy, I tried not to get in other people's business, but I notice different CONVERSATIONS between groups. Some of the conversations included: Drama, Politics, Sports, and Music. I also felt like the underlife in these groups put them together. 

But what makes this place so attractive to the current people eating here?
-Capacity: Number of tables, Size of room.
-Entertainment: TV, Relationships, Stage.
-Design: Yellow Walls, Windows showing balcony and campus, Shape of tables, Pictures.

The underlining message I'm trying to point out is that making the decision to eat here at Cone is more than picking a place to eat at, being more convenient, instead it shows the description of your personalities, weather you are eating with someone or alone; it shows where your family comes from, based on what you eat; and it can show your time management, being how fast of an eater you are.
                                                   

Mother Tongue

So I've cruised around my journal for English class and realize that there was a story that I always wanted to post. I never really got the chance to do this one because I was distracted by other amusing literatures. This article was called "Mother Tongue" by Amy Tan. The reason this article attracts me because I can relate Amy's life to mine. I felt like Amy Tan was in my shoes, describing my life. It's bazar? I was sucked into a whole new atmosphere, not realizing someone out there in the world can give such a story that relates to my story. One things Amy talks about in her life is Broken English. How does Broken English impacts a person's life?

According to Amy, "A person's developing language skills are more influenced by peers" is something I've been noticing all my life. I use to wonder what makes my way of talking so much different from others? Sometimes I'm in a discussion with other people in college and I ask myself, "Why can't I laugh with them the way I laugh with my other friends?" Maybe because I'm introduced to a new language.


Amy shares moments in her life where she use to talk for her mom on the phone because it was more convenient and some people who are very good at speaking english takes advantage of those who have bad english, which is something I see all the time!
        -For example, every time my father goes shopping, I make sure I go with him because some good english workers talk to my father like he had the unadvantage and I'm there to be my father's good english which I'm grateful of.

(I am so into this right now, I can't stop typing.)

On page 1, Amy says "....yet, some of my friends tell me they understand."
       -I use to talk in a way where sometimes when I meet new people, they don't understand me. One time when my best friend was with me when I was talking with this other person; that person didn't clearly get my message, but my best friend got my message BOLD and CLEAR! WTH!

(I've notice I've moved on to a more clearer kind of english over the years, maybe because I've been focusing on building my communication with others a lot more.)

Amy states that "Math is precise,.... English tests were always a judgement call."
          -Why is this so important to me? Because IT'S THE SAME WAY I FEEL!

On an English exam, Analogies have been a struggle of Amy's. PLUS RANDY'S. It always comes down to two choices that makes sense.

Amy quotes "If I ever wrote a book, I want it to be understandable to people who read with a great english language and to those who don't use great english."


          -I use to be on the other side of the river, and it's still difficult sometimes for me to cross, but I notice that I should stop trying too hard to be on the other side of the river, instead I should be in the river. 

Downtown REFLECTION

Have you ever walked around a lot of building and wonder why the reflections of the buildings amazes you so much? Why are you starring at the building? Is is the beauty? Or do you just like looking at the reflections? What's attractive about it?

I was downtown earlier today with some of my colleagues, and discovered the hidden messages beyond the barrier of the building's reflection. We took many photo shots of buildings, and that's when it occurred to me. No one can't help to look at one's reflection. No one can't help to look up and stare at the tall building. But I realize the the tall buildings with shiny reflections are just more than a beautiful building, it's ART with MEANINGS. 

When I look at a building's reflection, I see me and others walking behind me. When I see others, I see how they look, but that don't give me the right to judge them. I look at myself, a short, brown skin, happy fellow, and only see an image. What makes me and the others around me special? Look at the reflection. The reflection is like a drawing. It' simply a shadow. What makes us so special is realizing who we are behind our reflections. 

These reflection got me thinking about who I am as a person. Everything I've accomplished and every mistake I've learned from in life has been a value to my personality. The real friends I've gained and the family I with is a value to my personality. The morals of nature affects my personality. Almost everything I've experienced or observed affects who I am inside, not outside. So I ask myself this question, 

Why are there still people out there who judges (either mentally or unknowingly) others based on who they truly are?

English 1101 Midterm Assignment: Finding "Reading & Writing"

In my english class, Lacy had given my group and I a mid-term assignment that required us to find a text and document our adventure in Atkins Library. Ok, so this is exactly how it went down.

6:30pm had hit the clock! Wildly enough, Randy had just arrived at least a minute or two late. Here we were, standing around the information desk beside the book shelf. And yes, all of us had this very curious face because we all didn't really understand the overall concept of our midterm assignment. So basically we came into a mission that we weren't quite ready for. As we were just standing there looking like we were lost, people around us glanced at us at times. I saw this one kid's eyeballs who was wondering when we were going to settle. HAHA, I wanted to say "what are you looking at" but I had to focus on my mission. We had to do something so we began the first act.

One of our members, Tyler, decided to use the computer as a start. So we used a computer near us, with Tyler logging in the 49ers computer. The first thing we wanted to do that could put our group's head back in place was to go over the midterm syllabus TOGETHER. So as we are skimming and reading the directions for the midterms, we found out that there wasn't a right or wrong, so that gave us a chance to do things our way that would probably get the job done. We needed help finding some text that could possibly be the anchor to our work, so we decided to ask the librarian at the front desk for help.

The librarian was nice enough to research some books that related to narrative literature. She looked like a graduate student. I forgot to ask for her name, but the funny thing was that she couldn't define a narrative literature so she looked it up. While the librarian was trying to help us out, another librarian, an older looking women, came down to help us also. So here we are asking and answering questions to the librarian; For example,some of the things we said was "Do you by a chance have a book relating to narrative literature?"  and "I don't know, any text is useful right now."The older looking librarian quickly found a book that we could use as a source. It was called "Reading and Writing: A Personal Account" by V.S. Naipaul. Everyone in the group seemed collective about it. The bad thing about finding this book was FINDING THE BOOK!

Sixth floor, here we come! It didn't seem that intensive but we managed have an eager sight for the book. Going up the elevator was pretty quiet, not to mention the elevator was kind of condensed. We finally reached the sixth floor, but it was still a long way to go! Shelf after shelf after shelf! Before we even began looking, our faces were as dead as a swatted fly. Each of the tree of us looked in the PR N32 section. It was taking FOREVER to find that one book, so I decided to look for another book on that floor that could possible help. Searching deep in section PN56, it seemed quiet. I thought I was deserted and it was that kind of feeling of where someone could get killed. While I was still searching, I  hardly heard my group calling my name, as if they were looking for me.

FINALLY we found the book! Reading and Writing: A Personal Account by V.S. Naipaul. The book had a plain black hard cover and looked old. We opened it up to see some info in it. It was about a man who tells a from first person a story about how he engaged in writing as he grows up. Growing up, Naipaul questioned so much about his parent's homeland, the culture, and the country he resides.

After my group and I finished the mission, we split our own ways. The elevator took us down, and we went our separated ways, finishing the midterm on our own computers.

Digging Up a Persimmon Tree

Easy as it looks, it was the opposite. This does not look that big! Plus, we're just digging it out of the ground? Right?

I was watching a video by Ira Glass in one of my classes the other day and he explained the use of a Anecdote. This seemed interesting so I'm deciding to use it.

I get out of the car and it feels hot! It's about one o' clock so me and my family have enough time to dig out this fruit tree. Besides, it was just a fruit tree. How much harm can it make?

This wasn't an ordinary fruit tree. It is a persimmon tree, producing persimmons that are beyond tasteful. These orange fruits are sweet, rich, and also healthy. Every time I take a bite out of it, the crunchiness sound doesn't bother me at all. It sweetens inside my mouth and keeps my mind fresh.

I walk to the backyard, following my dad. To the far edge of the fence I've found the persimmon tree. It wasn't too big, but it wasn't that small either. I predict this activity may take about thirty minutes. My dad and I grabbed some shovels and started to dig.

Digging, digging, and digging forever! This small looking tree can't be that hard to dig up. We have already dug up a steep hole around the tree and it still would not come out! My shirt started to get dirty. The orange-brown dirt is getting harder the deeper we dig. We tried hard not to pull out the main roots or else the tree would automatically become dead. Sometimes I could hear some small roots crack as I was digging. It sounded as if someone's neck had been cracked. It is too hot for this! It was time for plan B.

In the yard where the the persimmon tree was at there was a couple of strong planks. My dad and I used the plank as way of trying to pull the tree out from underneath. On one side we put a plank underneath the tree hole. We used every inch of our muscles pulling down on the plank, lifting one side of the tree up. It was working! Then we did the same on the other side and finally! It came off. It didn't come off the way I hoped it to, like a hedgehog coming out of its hole, but it came out.

MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!

An Image of Writing Assignment

The Image of Me Writing

          I can't believe all the things I do sometimes when I write. On Wednesday morning, I was on a mission to complete an assignment for my English class. This particular assignment demanded me to record a document of me while I write. This video was about 15 minutes ( it didn't seem long when I was writing, but it looked long as I was watching). The things that I do! Mann!

Before I wrote, it took me a while to think about what should be on the paper. I was literally looking into outer space. Then, I adjusted my paper, picked up my pencil, and began to write. 

Sometimes I would just go all in and write like a monster, or sometimes I would take a long ugly pause to think. What I mean by ugly is that my eyes were looking into into many different places. My face would look either mad, ugly, or even lost at times. Ha! 

A sip of water keeps my tongue from being dry. 

I do all sorts of things to my face when I was reading:
           -Touch my ear
           -Scratch my head
           -Fix my hair
           -Hold my head

At the end of the assignment I would always proofread. 

9/11

9/11 2012

So many things happened on September 9th, 2012. The headline that trended all over the country was the memorial of 9/11. Unfortunately, that didn't really affect my day. Matter of fact, something felt different after my day at school was over.

At about seven o'clock pm I begin to leave UNCC campus. On the way to my car, something felt odd. It wasn't even odd, it was more even. As I was leaving the campus, I felt like nothing was on my shoulder. My classes were over and done. I ate lunch and drunk a cup a frappe. I had a good exercise walking throughout the day. My homework and studying was completed. Nothing was wrong at that point, so I just took my time walking slow. It wasn't too hot; I could feel that good breeze of air touching against my face and messing up my hair.

All I could think about was going home and being able relax while being with my family. It was no worries on my shoulders. I also had this song stuck in my head that really eased me through the walk to my car. haha!

I knew tomorrow was going to be another busy day, but I'm getting used to this schedule. I wish I don't have to worry about anything at the end of day every day, but sometimes things happen.

This was just something I really enjoyed and wanted to write down; And I eventually got to my car! Long, long walk!

My Timeline for Class

TIMELINE

Lake Wylie (July 4th, 2006)

I camped at the lake and had maybe the best time of my life! As I rode on my boat, I can feel the air rushing past my scouts. When I rode on the jet ski, the only thing i wanted to do is fall off! It was just a fun experience.

A Song for a Girl (14 years old)

I use write songs and produce songs with a group of friends. I remember writing a song for a special girl called "Super Girl". After the song was made, I received lots of feedback. 

Compelled by Love 5k (17 years old)

There is a problem in India dealing with sex slavery, so I decided to write about a document on how I lead and directed a group of friends to do something about the sex slavey in India. We took part of a fundraiser for an organization that could help free prostitutes. 

Little Peachling Monologue (17 years old)

In my theatre class I was required to write my own version of a folktale in a monologue version. I did a very fabulous job and it was the most thrilling project I've done in that class. Of course I had to act it out. HA!

My Father (Current Progress)

Everyday I think about what my father has done for me and my family. I have been writing about my dad for a very long time and still hope to continue to write, if not, cherish his accomplishments. 

Someone I always looked up to...

So on the first day in class I couldn't think about what to write about in my new writing diary until it came to me when everyone were half-way done. I wanted to write about someone who plays a very important part of my life, maybe the most, who know?

I never realized how much this man has done for me and maybe I may not get the chance to really see all that he has done for me, but what I do know is that he is my father.

People may say that their father has always been there for them, or they may also say that there father can go to hell. Everyone looks up to somebody, may be a pro-football player, a CEO, their mom, themselves, and that is what drives someone in life.

I remember as a kid I use to complain a lot, and my dad gave me what I wanted until one day he couldn't take it no more. Man, my dad use to beat the living crap out of me! I remember when he held me like a dead chicken by its legs and use a tool to whip me. haha!

I think that at the age of 16 was when I realize my dad was everything to me. He taught me what school couldn't teach me. He raised me to become man, someone who can provide and take care of himself and others.

I got a chance to work with my dad over the summer and man! I could't work like that! I wonder how my dad put up with it?

My dad is not only a father, he is the best father in the whole world. What always got to me is the fact that he made something out of nothing.