What lies ahead

Graduation is a very anticipated milestone for many of my peers, for me not so much. This isn't anything new to me, in high school while everyone was celebrating because we were finally off to college I was dreading the thought of what a drastic change that was going to be. Obviously, that is happening again. The thought of resumes, cover letters, networking, emailing, putting together a portfolio, and marketing myself automatically makes a knot in my stomach and my hands clammy. Corporate America is a very scary world and soon I too will become a part of it. In a sense, what I fear is the unknown. Today in class my anxiety was
lessened at least for the time I was there.

Every now and then our class sidetracks and we end up discussing things that aren't very relevant to ethnic reporting but they are relevant to our journalism careers. Our professor gave the class resume tips and explained what a good cover letter entails. It's tough because we have to make both those things stand out from the rest of the crowd. Employers have endless stacks of papers on their desks and we have to make it so we can grab their attention and get them to turn the page and read our resumes. Just thinking about that gives me a headache but its something I HAVE TO CONFRONT if I want a job. We all experience it, its part of growing up and getting a life.

I was a little confused when Professor Reisner was explaining something about how to register on a website that can help us manage what comes up when someone runs our name through a search engine. I didn't understand how to do that but it is on my to do list before I leave FIU. This was a very insightful class because no one really tells us how to go about making ourselves look appealing on paper or how to have career etiquette. Although we have the Career Services office available to us, they are very general. It's very refreshing to have someone from withing our field tell us what to expect and how to compile the necessary materials to make us marketable to employers.

MOST RASCIST COMMERICAL EVER

The most racist commercial ever

Getting rid of racism in the world is a near impossible feat.  It took the United States over 100 years to end slavery, segregation and give women the right to vote. Imagine trying to accomplish the same for different races in every country…I don’t see that happening any time soon. Even today, in modern day society there are still many ignorant stereotypical ideologies displayed across multiple media platforms. The commercial we watched in class today is a perfect example of it. A herbal tooth paste company in Thailand advertised their new toothpaste and attempted to convey the message of ending discrimination and failed miserably in doing so.

The commercial begins by showing an Asian little girl crying and pointing up at her yellow balloon that has flown up in an electrical tower. A black man walks into the scene and wants to help the little girl retrieve her balloon. He wraps his arms and legs around the pole, climbs to the top, grabs the balloon, and brings it to the child. Just as he approaches the Asian girl to give her the balloon her mother grabs her and scolds at the black man.  The black man then looks down in sorrow and walks home with the balloon. When he arrives to his house, he lies down in bed and suddenly with the use of digital effects he is morphed into the herbal toothpaste on the toothbrush. The herbal toothpaste is also a very dark color. After watching the herbal toothpaste commercial, I am assuming the company’s intended message was “don’t discriminate based on the color of something. Just as the herbal toothpaste is good for you even though it is a dark brown or black color, people who are black shouldn’t automatically be type casted as bad.

I understand this ad is playing against racist stereotypes and paralleling it with general misconceptions but I found this video a little upsetting especially on the black man. To me it’s the same as selling a cotton ad and having a black man picking it in the video. I mean did any one notice that the man is climbing up a pole just as monkeys climb up trees…and what’s worse is that the balloon is yellow!  HELLO?! I definitely think they could have done a better job of putting out a commercial with a meaningful message.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ua2EE6Uil40

Plastic Surgery According to Culture

Cosmetic surgery is no longer just about fitting into your adopted culture. It's about fitting into your ethnic group without regard for what mainstream America might think is attractive. According to the New York Times, while "everyone wants a flat stomach and a smooth forehead," the similarities among various immigrant groups seeking plastic surgery end there.

Doctor observations show there is a split between two goals among self-improvement-seeking immigrants. Some seek procedures to obscure ethnic physical traits and other surgeries serve to emphasize features that retain cultural capital.

In, New York, Chinese women have been undergoing eyelid surgery to obtain an almond shaped eye and nose jobs to flip down their upturned noses. Koreans have also seen surgeons to have their jaw lines slimmed.  Other women wish to enhance the physical features that their cultures praise the most. Hispanic women who wish to accentuate their curves. To more specific Dominican women have requested butt lifts to enhance their voluptuous bodies.

The piece notably lacked any observations about the preferences of African immigrants, but in a 2010 study by the American Academy of Plastic Surgeons, the most commonly requested surgical procedure among African Americans was nose reshaping, followed by breast reduction and liposuction.

Today almost nothing is far from the ordinary but we still have difficulty accepting this stigmatized topic, plastic surgery. There exist various arguments for plastic surgery that exist within a woman’s world. For some women these surgical procedures serve as a correction tool over a physical trait they cannot control.

Opposing views see plastic surgery as self mutilation to quench society’s thirst for beauty and vanity.

Unfortunately an array of male and female celebrities have abused plastic surgery looking like shriveled up rag dolls. It is multimillion dollar disasters like Joan Rivers, Michael Jackson, Jocelyn Wildenstein and Donatella Versace among many others that we tend to associate with plastic surgery and no wonder why people fear surgery aside from unlicensed surgeons.

Often some people say things like "then what?" If you are willing to do that to yourself, than what else are you willing to do? What's next? Well sometimes I forget I got plastic surgery. I don't look like someone who did it. It's easy not to think about it. I don't feel like a Joan Rivers or Michael Jackson. I guess I too am a victim to America’s calling for perfection, or so some would say. Instead, I can identify myself with the Dominican woman from the article who said “We Latinas define ourselves with our bodies. We always have curves.” The decision to obtain surgery was based on obtaining a proportional balance.

Truth is people are going to have standards to what signifies beauty. Whether its what America deems as beautiful or what our own cultures deem as beautiful a standard will always exist. The issue arises when an unhealthy relationship with a scalpel develops.

Barber Shop

The movie Barbershop takes place in Chicago's South Side, a predominantly Black community, where an all-black clientele take their chances with an uneven assortment of barbers. This movie features a variety of black archetypes who deal with each other on a daily basis. For example, there is "the hottie with an attitude" Terri Jones  who must decide whether to get rid of her two-timing boy friend once and for all. Then there is the "the ex convict who wants to turn his life around," Rick risks being framed for a theft to serve a life sentence as a 3-time loser. Of course the "wannabe,"Isaac, the shop's white barber who feels an affinity with the rest of the group because he has a black girl friend. Dinka is a Nigerian who appears clueless and asks advice on how to make it with the women. There is also the stereotypical black who is white on the inside, Jimmy is using his earnings as a barber to work his way through college and, as the most educated of the group is looked upon as patronizing.Cedric the Entertainer plays the wise Eddie who is the eldest worker at the barbershop.

Barbershop could be looked upon as a story about the tensions created within the place by people whose opinions run the gamut on different subjects such as, conventional politics, relationships with the opposite sex and the way real men think they should talk about women. For the community in which the main characters live in, the "barbershop" is the central gathering place where men could be men, as Cedric the Entertainer says during the movie.

Although the movie does not reveal anything I haven't already seen in other movies that focus on a minority group, it is interesting to see that every racial group has that one person that fits a certain stereotype. For example Eddie, would be the Sensai if it were an Asian film. Barbershop does a good job of capturing the essential character traits each of these stereotypes possess. The Barbershop itself depicts that common place that the people of a community go to find out the latest news or to just hangout. What we have discussed in class so far is extremely true, every social group has the same stereotypical character archetype. Little details vary here and there from culture to culture.

Valentine's Day at Bargain Town

Love was in the air even at Bargain Town Flea market. Floral arrangements and heart shaped balloons in pinks, reds, and white adorned the entrance of the fruit market. The apparent festive mood were actually different set of vendors selling Valentine’s Day gifts at a lower cost than the market chains. The different arrangements varied, some had teddy bears, others included chocolates and the “deluxe” packages contained an assortment of everything. The gift bags were delicately together and some contained great detail.

For a hopeless romantic on a budget looking for a “get more for less” kind of gift should definitely visit Bargain Town. This weekend it seemed as though the flea market was in love. Many of the different shops were selling some sort of Valentine’s Day item. From your most basic gift to the gift of your fantasies (no pun intended).

Walking around through the long paths, I realized many immigrants adapt to new traditions and customs in order to survive. At first I wondered if many of the people selling Valentine’s Day gifts had even celebrated it before or if they even knew it existed prior to arriving to the United States.

The first person I asked was a man on a wheelchair, Francisco Perales, who sets up his shop on daily basis with a little help from one of his employees. Perales explained that in Cuba there is no such thing. The Cuban people are so caught up trying to provide a meal for the day to feed their families that romantic gifts is the last thing on their minds. He left Cuba 5 years ago through lottery system that offers Cubans to opportunity to leave the country, El Bon Bo.

Perales said it is difficult to get hired when you are handicapped and don’t speak English. His son who attends Homestead Senior High, assists him with the shop. They sell women’s clothing, shoes, and handbags. Today, they were a dozen selling baskets containing a heart shaped chocolate box, massage oil, a teddy bear holding a heart, artificial roses, and a balloon on a stick which read “I love you.” Perales told me his wife stayed up almost all night putting these together. They bought the necessary materials at BI’s and Walmart and “VOILA!” He explained it’s a lot of hard work but it pays the bills.

Another family I spoke to had a large table outside the fruit market, they were selling floral arrangements. Mercedes Suarez, and her two daughters had been working on them for the past two weeks. “We put these together because they sell. Last year we arranged floral arrangements too and they were easy to sell and cheap to put together,“ she said. Suarez was very brief and did not want to say much. Suarez said in Mexico there are many holidays they are adopting and Valentine’s Day is one of them. Although it isn’t as popular as it is here, couples often find a way to celebrate their love outside from their anniversaries.

My visit today wasn’t long, I walked around for about two hours before having to go to work. I did see familiar faces and the awkward feeling is starting to wear down. I learned that many of us see these vendors on the streets selling random stuff and don't realize how hard they worked nights before to be able to go to the streets to sell.

Welcome to BARGAIN TOWN

 Bargain Town is my designated post for the Community Insight Project. This Homestead based flea market, sells everything from fruits, meat, fish, to clothes, shoes, accessories for the car, jewelry and many other things. Three huge flags of Mexico, Nicaragua, and Guatemala decorate the entrance to the flea market. One of the first shops any customer will encounter will be its open air fruit market.  Different Central and South American snacks and pastries are also on display at the mom and pop bakery in the fruit market. There were the rustling and bustling sounds of the employees unloading the shipment of fruits and vegetables from trucks to then be placed in crates and carried across to market to be distributed.

The majority of the people working at Bargain Town are Hispanic and particularly Mexican, said Gaby, one of the women running the bakery. She also mentioned that many Cubans have a vending space there too. Unfortunately, many of the shops were closed during my visit because it was still too early. Gaby suggested I return on their peak day, Sunday between 11a.m. and 4p.m.  I noticed the shops where located sides by side with barely any breathing space down a long walk way which looked more like an alley.

The distinct smell of a home cooked meal emerged from a food truck selling tacos, chimichangas, burritos among other things. Picnic tables were set up under a large tent right beside the food truck. It had a restaurant feel to it, sort of.

Throughout the time I was there I felt out of place and a little awkward. My attempt to dress casual failed, I still received many stares. It was the kind of looks where people are wondering “who is that and why is she here.”  After giving it some thought, I know I feel uncomfortable because I didn’t want them to think I was a United States Immigration official. When I first approached Gaby, I noticed she gave me a look of distrust. I did my best to talk to her about the flea market to make her feel comfortable. I can’t say I establish a friendship but I did become an acquaintance. She offered to me my guide the next time I return. Although I took my picture came, the pictures I wanted to take will have to wait till my next visit. It wouldn’t have been smart on my part to start taking pictures when the people around me were iffy about me, my note pad, and pencil.

Over all it was a good first experience. I am hesitant after all but it is challenge I am willing to take and a feeling I am willing to overcome. Sunday will be my next visit and I hope to talk to more people.