POP! - Producing Our Power

On Monday night, every section of ETHS 210 came together at Brava Theater for POP! and put on a show to showcase what we learned and gained from class about Asian American culture. Each performance/video was entertaining, and I truly enjoyed every single one. With the little amount of time we all had to prepare, I felt that each class was able to put out quality work. POP! was a great way to end the semester and effectively demonstrate our understanding of Asian American culture in a way an exam would not be able to do.

All four teachers and their TAs on stage.

Here are some pictures I took of the performances by Valerie Soe's class:

Ming Ming Potter and Cho Chang


Ming Ming receives a visit from the evil Voldemort.


Ming Ming is now white!


Dumbledore gives Ming Ming a pep talk & persuades him to become Asian again.


Soe U Think U Can Dance (Tinikling)


Four at once!


"Who Am I" skit - Rejected by the Asian group


Rejected also by the American group.


Bonding over their mutual love for Pokémon.


"This Is I" - spoken word performances

And from Isabelle Thuy Pelaud's class, the hula group dances to Adeaze's "How Deep is Your Love":


My camera ran out of battery just before the succeeding skit, so no pictures of the rest of the performances, sorry!

POP! Producing Our Power Final

P.O.P!, which stands for Producing Our Power, was the final for all of the ETHS 210 classes. The four classes taught by Irene Duller, Valerie Soe, Allyson Tintiangco-Cubales, and Isabelle Thuy Pelaud all came together and put on a four piece show that showcased what was learned throughout the semester. It was a night of performances by way of video, dance, spoken word, skit, and music. The show was held at the Brava Theater at 2781 24th Street and York in the Mission district of San Francisco.

Our class split into six groups and all came up with different ways to commemorate the events that we did in class this semester. We had a News Video that was about our midterm and how we commemorated the 1968 Strike at SFSU. Then we had a skit group that dealt with Asian American stereotypes and a dance group that did three different dances. Next was another skit group that did a reading and improv performance through blogging. That was followed by a poetry skit that was about the Korean resistance of Japanese soldiers. The last part was a music representation where two of our peers rapped and talked about Asians making it in the music industry. We concluded our show with a commemoration video of our class, which had pictures of our class groups, our wonderful professor Irene, and our TA Lawrence.

Although we only had about a week to put together our showcase, I think our final performance went very well. I was a little bummed that we didn’t get to watch what our class had put together, but I am sure it rocked. Since the group I was in went second to last, we got to watch the end of our show and it was a wonderful wrap up to the class; props and thanks to the video group for making the commemoration video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=esNNubKu4cg

I thought that POP was a really great way to end the semester and sum up our class. Usually teachers give a test to see what their students have learned, but this performance was by far a better way to test our knowledge and abilities. Also, tests are not always the best choice for certain subjects, especially culture. Just as you can’t fully learn about culture through books but rather through experience, you cannot test about culture by way of an essay or exam. It is best to actually get up and show what you know about culture and to let your voice and opinion be heard. This was my absolute favorite class that I have taken at SFSU, and I think this final shows why – it is fun, different, and definitely impacting.

Where the sushi at?

My favorite food is by far Japanese food and I am always going out to eat sushi and what not with friends and family, so I have tried quite a lot of restaurants in the area. Here are what I think of the main ones that I go to:

For sushi:
Sakana Bune
5701 Geary Blvd(between 21st Ave & 22nd Ave)San Francisco, CA 94121
(415) 387-8561

If you want to go to a sushi boat restaurant totally hit up this place in the outer Richmond district of San Francisco. The price range is alright and I think the sushi is pretty good. They also have good udon and Unagi (barbecue eel) bowl. My favorite roll to get is the Sakana house tempura roll, which has crab meat and unagi rolled in rice and seaweed a, deep fried and drizzled with teriyaki sauce. DELICIOUS!

For noodles:
Hotei Restaurant
1290 9th Avenue(between Irving St & Lincoln Way)San Francisco, CA 94122
(415) 753-6045
http://www.yelp.com/redir?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.hoteisf.com&src_bizid=ahbIrrZSm2gC1DP6nQ2Dew

This Japanese restaurant specializes in Japanese noodle dishes. I must say that their udon and soba are quite excellent and delicious. The atmosphere inside is very pretty and the presentation of the dishes are nice as well. I would definitely recommend the Tsukimi Udon and the Tempura Soba.

For bento box or entrée dishes:
Traval Okazu Ya
1735 Taraval Street(between 27th Ave & 28th Ave)San Francisco, CA 94116
(415) 759-6850

There are a few Okazu Ya restaurants in the sunset, but I like this one best because they have a large variety of items to choose from and the service is great. Though the place looks small, there is actually a lot of seating because there is a whole room in the back. I like getting one of the pre set dinner combo bento boxes, like one that comes with tuna sashimi, chicken teriyaki, and tempura with rice, miso soup, and tsunemono.

For sushi and bento box:
Sushi Boat
389 Geary St(between Mason St & Powell St)San Francisco, CA 94102
(415) 781-5111

I always eat lunch here with my mom whenever we’re downtown because it is convenient and the food is pretty good. This is also another sushi boat establishment (hence the name) and you can just pick what you want right off the boats as they float by. We usually always get a two item combo bento box to share and just grab a few plates of sushi for lunch and we’re full.

** I think sushi boat restaurants are my favorite because if you don’t know what you want, you can just wait for something to catch your eye and grab it and enjoy. So if you have never been to a sushi boat type of Japanese restaurants then definitely try one out and I’m sure you’ll love it. Like I took my cousins from Seattle and Los Angeles to one on Clement Street and they loved it because they didn’t have these back home.

There is also a yummy sushi buffet place in Davis, CA:
Fuji Sushi Boat and Buffet
213 G St Davis, CA 95616
(530) 753-3888

Every year I go drive up with friends to have a delicious sushi buffet lunch with friends and then go visit people in Davis. This restaurant is great for the amount of food that you eat for the price you pay. You only pay like $15 per person after tax and tip for as much sushi, sashimi, tempura, soft shell crab, and a few other items that you can eat.

So i hope these restaurant recommendations are helpful if you are ever at a loss for finding a Japanese restaurant to eat at. You can also feel free to look up these places on http://www.yelp.com/ to see what other people think.

The Real World: Poem Response

"The Real World" is a poem by Justin Chin from his latest book, Harmless Medicine.

There is a real world.
It exists somewhere, outside

The focal pint of my eyes,
Outside the timbre of my voice,
Way outside my pissing distance.

What is this real world?
It can be invaded

By aliens. It can close its borders.
I will find myself on the side
Of a barbed wire, thick as fingers,

Fence higher than God,
In the middle of a field

The size of a continent.
I will not know

Which side I am on,
No bearings, no markers,

Just endless field. A few trees.
Two small mammals. One marsupial.

My body spinning drunk. Pegged
In the sanctity of my deep dark blood.

Go there. Venture

To this real world.
Tell me how real it is.
Be my explorer.

Drink its murky uncharted water.
Tell me what it tastes like.

Tell me if parasites and amoebas
In its deceptively cool gulp

Will kill me, in this,
Our achingly craved real world.

Explorer is out in the real world...reporting back soon.

mMm Dessert!!!

I would have to say that my top five favorite Chinese desserts are Don Taat (egg custard tart), Nye Wong Boa (bun filled with egg custard paste), Jin Dui (deep fried sesame ball), Hung Dau Tong (red bean soup), and Hun Yun Dau Fu (almond jello).

1. Don Taat is my all time favorite, especially with a flaky crust and if they just came fresh out of the oven and are a little warm. Whenever I go out with family or friends to “yum cha” (which directly translates to drink tea, but means get dim sum), we always get these.

2. Nye Wong Boas are really yummy buns, but only taste good when they are warm or else the filling gets kind of hard. It’s funny because I used to hate them when I was little, but that all changed after my trip to Hong Kong. After one dinner, they served us some of these buns and the filling oozed out because they literally just came out of the oven. They were so delicious that I couldn't believe that I ever disliked them.

3. I love jin duis. The crunchy outside and the chewy gooey inside are just so good. When I eat them I like to lick the red bean paste out and save (what I think is) the best part for last – the crunchy chewy mochi shell.

4. Hoong Dau Tong is served as the dessert at most of the Chinese restaurants that I eat at. It is an acquired taste because there are while read beans in it and chunks of taro root. There also isn’t that much liquid in it and the tapioca with all the other ingredients makes it very thick. When I eat it I like to sift out the red beans and just get the liquid and tapioca pearls.

5. I always enjoy a nice bowl of jello, but Hun Yun Dau Fu had to be one of my top picks. It is a little more fragile, like flan, then regular Jell-O brand jello, and has a distinct taste. It tastes excellent alone, but can also be enhanced by adding a little bit of fruit cocktail to it. I also love the smell of the almond jello, and it is strange but in some bathrooms the pink soap smells the same as this. If you have never had this before I definitely recommend picking up a box of the mix and making a dish of it.

You can most likely try these items at any dim sum restaurant along with many other delicious dishes. I would recommend “S&T Hong Kong Seafood Restaurant” in SF on the corner of 33rd and Noriega in the sunset district. Though it is a little pricier than other places, the food is really really good. (But a little tip for finding the place is that the sign outside only says “Hong Kong Seafood Restaurant”.
http://www.yelp.com/biz/s-and-t-hong-kong-seafood-restaurant-san-francisco

Eths 210: Asian American Culture

Ethnic Studies 210 has got to be by far the best class I have taken in my one and a half years at state. I would definitely recommend this class to other students. In the beginning, I was questioning whether or not I would like this class. I’m not the type of student that likes to put myself out there. I rather be the student hiding in the corner. When I heard that this class was not going to be like any or our typical lecture all day classes I was kind of nervous. I remember thinking to myself, “oh man, this is going to be a long semester.” I also wasn’t to please when we were told we were going to have to form groups for group presentations. I’m not too fond of group work especially if it’s with unfamiliar faces, but because we stayed in the same groups the whole semester we got comfortable with each other and go to know one another and were able to work together as a team. As weeks went by I discovered that this wasn’t going to be so bad after all. In fact it was actually a fun class. This class was actually a great class to start off the morning. Even though class started at 8 in the morning, all the interacting and ice breakers and moving around on our feet and other activities we had to do was a great way to wake us up. I am a student who learns by see and doing and that is exactly what this class did. We learned what Asian American Culture was by going out and experiencing it ourselves. Asian American Culture is all around us we experience every day by the food we eat, the places we go, and even at home. This class also taught me that we should not be afraid to be heard. We should stand up and voice our opinion, like we experienced in our midterm the ’68 strike; we should stand up for what we believe in. Though this class is not our typical math science history classes with seem pointless at times, this class is probably the only class I actually learned something in and what I learned I will remember years from now. I learned important life lessons for this class. I’m really glad I signed up for it. So thank you Irene and class for a wonderful semester. I’m sad that it had to go by so fast. It truly was a fun class. A classroom full of energy and excitement and at times an eagerness to learn; it’s been fun. I will always remember the students united will never be defeated. We started and ended big!.. or was it we started and ended with a bang! (haha I don’t remember)

POP: Producing Our Power

POP other wise known as Producing Our Power was the final for all Eths 210 classes. On the night of Monday December 8, all four Ethnic studies 210 classes came together and put on a performance at the Brava Theater on 24th and York defining what Asian American Culture meant to them. Each class had their own way of expressing Asian American Culture many forms included expressions through music, dance, skits, poetry, and video. Each class did a fantastic job. It’s not easy performing in front of an audience I know I for one am scared to perform period. But the night turned out great.

My class divided into five different categories groups: video, skit, poetry, dance, and music. Within our groups we were asked to come up with ways to put what we learned throughout the class into a way of performance. We had about a week to put this all together and yes, we can complain and say we should have don’t this, we could have done that if we had more time to prepare, but I think with the little time we had we still put on an excellent show.

Many parts of our performance did not go the way we would have wished. We can complain all we want about how the lighting was not how we wanted it, the microphones were not loud enough, or all the technology stuff was not working for us, but if you think about it. People aren’t going to remember the things that went wrong in our performances, they’re going to remember the message we gave through our performances.

POP was an excellent way to wrap up the semester. The traditional way to see if students learned anything throughout the semester is by putting pen to paper and giving them an exam. But honestly, I feel that exams don’t prove anything at all. I am the absolute worst at taking test. I understand the material and everything but when it comes to test I just can not do it. I am just a bad test taker. That is why I really enjoyed POP. Yes, I said I don’t like performing, but I felt that this was truly a way to show what we learned and comprehended throughout the semester. This was a way to show, express, and voice our opinion and to be heard by others and that is exactly what this class thought us. This final was definitely an impacting one. I say it really left a mark for Eths 210 classes and teachers. If I wasn’t in Eths 210, I know I would be jealous of the students who were and have wished I was in it one of the classes after watching POP.