Our ASTU class recently covered Zeitoun by Dave Eggers, a non-fiction piece which acts as a memoir to the Zeitoun and his family’s experience in Hurricane Katrina. Even though it is a non-fiction account of the events, there are elements which make it seem like fiction. For example, towards the end it states that Kathy, Zeitoun’s wife, has trouble remembering things. However, throughout the book there are many fine details which Kathy seems to recall, which the authenticity questionable.

Throughout the book, the protagonist Zeitoun is portrayed as almost perfect, through his actions as well as Kathy’s recollection. He is a selfless hero who gets wrongly arrested and mistreated by various governmental agencies due to his race and religion. Therefore, as a reader we are made to feel sympathetic towards him. Personally, after reading the account of what happened to Zeitoun during Hurricane Katrina, I felt shocked and angry that anyone would be treated in that manner, let alone by their own government.

Our ASTU professor, Dr. Luger, only revealed to the class after we finished reading the book that the protagonist Zeitoun had in fact been arrested for allegedly trying to murder his wife Kathy. After being led to believe that Zeitoun was a heroic figure who was severely mistreated, it was hard to comprehend this information. I understand that the injustices that were committed against him might have made him better and resentful towards the US government. With that being said, Zeitoun and Kathy seemed to be a perfect match and it seemed highly unlikely that anything of this sort would happen. It is definitely saddening, as I honestly believe that Zeitoun was a good person who put others before him, but was changed by what happened in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.

This leads me to question the US government and how they reacted to Hurricane Katrina. Not only did they fail to respond properly to the hurricane, but at the same time they managed to commit such atrocities to their own citizens. The story of Zeitoun and what happened to him shows us how much of an effect the injustice done can change a person’s life.

Works Cited:

Eggers, Dave. Zeitoun. Canada: Vintage Canada, 2010. Print.

In our ASTU class we recently studied This Connection of Everyone with Lungs: Poems written by Juliana Spahr. Personally, I disliked the first poem which was written straight by Spahr straight after September 9/11 happened. However, the second poem which Spahr wrote as a process poem during the 2002 invasion of Iraq  managed to spark my interest.

I found Spahr’s second poem interesting as the idea of a process poem which is written everyday is new to me. The fact that Spahr is American but lived on the island of Hawaii at the time provides connection to the war but disconnection at the same time. In the poem she describes seeing things related to the war such as naval ships, which brings the reality of what was happening in Iraq to her backyard. On the other hand, Hawaii is very isolated and distant from the rest of the world, meaning that seeing those ships was as close as Spahr would get to the war.

The theme of Spahr’s poems in This Connection of Everyone with Lungs: Poems is directly stated in the title. I was particularly intrigued by her idea that everyone on Earth breathes the same air and is connected to each other whether we like it or not. It makes me question why humans act the way they do towards each other, from violence to acts of terrorism to torture the list goes on and on. As humans we are all connected, yet we choose to focus on the differences between us such as religion or skin color.

In her poem, Spahr acts as a witness to the events happening around her during the Iraq invasion. But at the end of the day, her life was only affected so much by the war. Spahr, and people like myself, live in a privileged world where we can go about our daily life and observe conflicts such as the Iraq War from a distance. We are all witnesses until we choose to act and make a difference in this world.

Works Cited:

Spahr, Juliana. This Connection of Everyone With Lungs: Poems. California: University of California             Press, 2005. Print.

As part of our ASTU syllabus we examined Marc Falkoff’s Poems From Guantánamo, a collection of 22 poems written by 17 detainees from Guantánamo Bay. Guantánamo Bay is a military prison in Cuba run by the United States, which was opened in 2002. The difference is that the people detained in Guantánamo Bay have not been charged, therefore are being detained on the premise of being guilty until proven innocent.

Reading Poems From Guantánamo was an eye opening experience. A person’s reaction to the poems differs a lot, depending on their personal beliefs and cultural background. On one end of the spectrum there are those who believe that all of the detainees are in fact terrorists and deserve nothing better, while on the opposite end there are those who believe that the United States has stepped far out of line and violated numerous human rights by running the facility.

Personally, I found it hard to identify fully with either argument. While I do believe that there are human rights violations occurring within the facility such as force feeding, at the same time I am not in a position to judge whether the men being detained are genuinely innocent people. However I do feel that the detainees should stand trial immediately and either be charged or released, instead of being held indefinitely in Guantánamo Bay.

In my opinion most of the poems are well written, regardless of who wrote them and whether they are or a monster or a saint. The poems evoke basic human compassion and empathy, which can be confusing as the authors have been labeled as ‘terrorists’. This brings about the question of whether someone who is a ‘terrorist’ deserves to be thought of as a human and be protected by international human rights. If someone has carried out terrorist activities such as bombing and killing people, should they be given any sympathy? Or should they be treated like a monster and tortured in unimaginable ways?

Works Cited:

Falkoff, Marc. Poems from Guantánamo. Iowa: University of Iowa Press, 2007. Print.

After reading Jonathan Safran Foer’s novel Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close as well as the first chapter of Judith Butler’s novel Frames of War: When is Life Grievable? in our ASTU class, several issues resonated within my mind.

Butler raises several important issues in the first chapter of her novel. Firstly, the issue of whether some peoples lives are valued more than others definitely had an impact on me. A direct quote from Butler’s novel (36) “… we mourn for some lives but respond with coldness to the loss of others.” shows us that while all lives lost are human, the lives of the ‘enemy’ are often dehumanized therefore we are taught not to mourn for them. This is highly troublesome as the Government and the media determines who the ‘enemy’ is, and we are made to believe that our country or side is righteous. At the end of the day, every life lost in conflict is human regardless. Butler also pointed out that certain methods of killing are accepted (such as aerial bombing), while others are deemed inhumane (such as suicide bombers).

Secondly, is the issue of democracy and how the US has tried to install it upon other countries who never wanted it in the first place. “If a form of power is imposed upon a people who do not choose that form of power, then that is, by definition, an undemocratic process.” (36-37). The whole point of democracy is that it is the rule of the majority, but if democracy was never wanted in the first place then how can that be a democracy?

Thirdly, the Government always decides who is publicly grievable and who is not. As Butler points out, initial victims of AIDS were shamed as it was associated with homosexuality. It is only more recently that the victims of AIDS are openly grieved by the public. In the case of 9/11, American victims were publicly grieved while foreigners and illegal workers were not. Why are certain peoples lives valued more than others?

In conclusion, we must question what we are told before we blindly follow it. There are always two sides to everything, and neither side may actually be the right one.

Works Cited:

Butler, Judith. Frames of War: When is Life Grievable? London: Verso, 2009. Print.

Foer, Jonathan Safran. Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close. New York: Mariner, 2005. Print.

On the 18th of November 2014, we visited the Rare Books Library in the Irving K Barber Learning Center on University of British Columbia campus as part of our Arts Studies class’ study on the novel Obasan written by Joy Kogawa. This is the first time I have been to any sort of rare book library, and it was definitely a worthwhile experience. As the documents stored in the library were one of a kind originals given personally by Joy Kogawa, we had to be careful and caring when handling them. Opening each sealed box felt similar to opening presents on Christmas, the excitement of unraveling the unknown.

Each box contained a variety of different materials. The types of artifacts included newspaper articles, letters, poetry, drafts, historical source material, government documents and a lot more. Going through Joy Kogawa’s personal notes and drafts was enlightening as it is not every day that you get to delve into a writer’s mind by reading their unpublished material. Funnily enough I found it quite hard to read her handwriting and comprehend what exactly was in front of me. What I did learn was that the amount of research and planning that went into Obasan was immense, and I was surprised by the effort that Joy Kogawa undertook to make the novel as authentic as possible. In particular, I was intrigued by the amount of text that was edited and deleted, which never made it into the novel. Personally, I wonder how authors like Joy Kogawa decide which material to publish and what should be left out of the final copy. Observing the writing process of an author could be useful in terms of improving your own writing.

The hour that we spent going through the Kogawa Fonds sped by, and I only managed to skim through less than half of the artifacts available. While I would probably never had explored into this realm on my own, I honestly can say that it was eye opening and would love to re-visit sometime in the future.

After reading Joy Kogawa’s novel Obasan and discussing it in class, the issue of nationality versus heritage had a lasting impact upon me. The novel focuses on the effect World War II had upon Japanese Canadians living in Canada, and it is Kogawa’s most famous publication. Even though the genre of the novel is fiction, it is based upon real events as the author included real letters written at the time by Japanese Canadians. Obasan must have had a relatively great impact especially upon Canadian society after being published in 1981 because in 1988 a formal apology to Japanese Canadians was made by Prime Minister Mulroney on behalf of Canada which included him reading sections of the novel.

The struggle of nationality versus heritage highlighted by the novel is unpleasant as it shows that racism exists everywhere even in places which are promoted as multicultural such as Canada. The majority of characters in Obasan are Canadian citizens yet they are made to believe that they are the enemy within their own country. This is because of their Japanese heritage, and ultimately their skin color. I found it particularly disturbing that Japanese Canadians were treated far worse than German Canadians or Italian Canadians, even though each of those countries were at war with the Allies. Is it fair that German or Italian Canadians were treated better because they share the same skin color as so called ‘real’ Canadians? It would have been particularly traumatizing for young Japanese Canadian children such as Naomi or Stephen in Obasan as they were born and bred in Canada, meaning they only know what it is to be a Canadian citizen. When the place you call home designates you as an enemy or intruder, where would you turn to? This raises the question, what does it mean to be Canadian? Is it a matter of culture and traditions or rather skin color?

The controversy regarding nationality and heritage raised in Obasan translates into modern day society. Due to globalization and the spread of culture around the world, we are left to question what it means to be a citizen of a particular country. At the end of the day, if someone identifies as a certain nationality, no one should be able to deny them this even if their heritage originates from another location.

Racism is an issue that has been around in society for much too long. More specifically, race privilege is something that many people are not consciously aware of. According to Jennifer Simpson (1995) race privilege “refers to a range of advantages people receive because of skin color” which is often known as ‘white privilege’ (although this is not always the case). The main reason I chose to bring up this topic of race privilege is because it is often overlooked yet it is an issue many individuals face daily.

This recently dawned upon me due to it being a recurring theme in two of my courses at the University of British Columbia (Sociology 100C taught by Dr. Sullivan and Gender Race Sexuality and Social Justice 224A taught by Dr. Litsa). In Sociology class, a prime example of racism and race privilege we covered was the Komagata Maru incident in which a ship full of mostly Indian immigrants traveling from Hong Kong was denied entry into Canada in 1914 (SFU Library, 2011). In particular, Manjot Bain’s interview on the Komagata Maru Journey website regarding her own experiences as being an Indian in Canada really hit home as she brought up some excellent points about race privilege (specifically white privilege) and the fact that having a “policy of tolerance” to different cultures is not enough compared to having an “understanding or engagement with different cultures” (SFU Library; Media Analysis Lab, SFU School of Communication, 2011).

Race privilege does not have to be associated with being White. Hailing from Singapore where the majority of the population is of Chinese descent (being Chinese myself), never did I stop and consider the privileges associated with being a Chinese Singaporean. Living in a place where you are part of the ethnic majority, the race privileges you have are almost always taken for granted. Just because as an individual you may not be racist or prejudiced against the different minorities in your community does not mean your privilege does not exist. It is only when you step out of the majority and into the minority do you become aware of the race privileges the majority harnesses and the disadvantages experienced by the minority.

I would like to engage you as a reader of this blog post. Consider the following:

Do you live with race privilege daily without realizing it?

Have you been at a disadvantage due to other people’s race privilege?

Take time to reflect upon yourself and the society that we live in today. Even if you feel that you are not at all affected by race privilege, bear in mind that many people around you are and it is something we need to consciously and actively debunk in order to eradicate it.

As a child, an all-time favourite comic of mine was ‘Calvin and Hobbes’ written by Bill Watterson. The comic is based upon Calvin, a carefree and imaginative six year old boy and his stuffed tiger, Hobbes. The unique aspect of the comic is the fact that Hobbes is an inanimate stuffed toy to everyone except Calvin, who in his eyes is very much alive and often displays human characteristics. Set somewhere in the United States, it provides the reader with a humorous and enjoyable read about growing up captured through the eyes of a child while at the same time touching upon more serious issues such as politics and questioning the meaning of life. To my understanding, comics are supposed to be light hearted and designed to entertain. The definition of the word ‘comic’ can be seen as something “provoking laughter; humorous; funny; laughable” (http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/comic) which coincides my thought on the genre. While there are comics which do incorporate more mature themes such as satire and dark comedy, at the end of the day their job ultimately is to make the reader laugh, or at least so I believed.

After reading ‘Persepolis’ by Marjane Satrapi, it became apparent that my previous beliefs about comics were inaccurate to say the least. Although ‘Persepolis’ is considered widely as a graphic novel rather than a comic, in the end it still fits under the wider definition of the comic genre. ‘Persepolis’ is set in Iran during the Islamic Revolution in 1979, seen through the eyes of a 10 year old girl, Marji. While the premise of ‘Persepolis’ is similar to ‘Calvin and Hobbes’ as both revolve around the nature of growing up, the differences between the two comics could not be more contrasting. When reading ‘Persepolis’ I found myself doing anything but laughing, due to the serious nature of the plot’s setting, even though there are a few attempts at comic relief by the author. Issues raised in ‘Persepolis’ include imprisonment, war and torture; images I never imagined would be found in comic strips. With that being said, by portraying such explicit themes in a comic, Satrapi manages to highlight the magnitude of the situation of a child growing up in such a volatile climate to full effect. Not only has ‘Persepolis’ been an eye opener in relation to the events that happened in Iran during the Islamic Revolution, it has revolutionized the way in which I view the genre of comics. However much I enjoyed ‘Persepolis’ and believe it to be a great read, I am left contemplating a dilemma. Should comics delve into topics such as torture? Is the purpose of comics not to make people laugh?