Six-Word Memoirs, Five days a week taking the transit, Four courses, Three months, Two phases, and one semester.This is not a summary of what happened throughout my first semester at UBC (just for fun).

The first semester at UBC is the starting point, the transition from high school to university. In terms of adjusting to University life, everything seems to fall into place at ease. The choice to do the Coordinated Arts  Program (CAP) under the stream of Global Citizens further helped the transition (as I was told that it would). However, the expectations I had in terms of academics differed, and the transition of the first semester helped provide a basic foundation of what to expect for the next term.

In ASTU class we read scholarly articles and  extracted the “gist” of it out, summarized it, learned to research and use it to orchestrate voices to conduct literature reviews. Explored different types of life narratives: Persepolis, a graphic narrative, God Grew Tired of Us, a film documentary, What is the What, a novel and autobiography. Contemporary online forms of life narratives as well from blogs (Salam Pax and Riverbend) to Six-Word Memoirs to PostSecret. The style of life narrative was only one aspect that we looked at in each individual texts, it was for me, the content that mattered. I felt that through each piece of text I got the chance to time travel to places that I never though I would be able to go to; see life through the eyes of each individual of the texts. To say that I went through the first semester of ASTU or any of my other courses without being changed physically and mentally would be a TOTAL LIE. University, for all us is life changing, we are all in our mind writing our own life narrative while we live through it.

At the beginning of the semester, reading the scholarly articles, there was a particular style of writing that I thought at that time I would not be able to possibly do. But through ASTU class, we acquired the scholarly method of using reporting expressions, abstraction, big issues, levels of detail, etc. to construct introductions and conclusions that fit the scholarly method. All of these techniques not only help with university writing in the long-run but it makes me a better writer. First semester though in acquiring the scholarly method felt like trial and error. But one particular goal that I was able to somewhat achieve was refining my topic, ideas, claims and coming up with a definite argument. It was through aspects of the scholarly method (reminding myself what is the SO WHAT?), constructive criticism from my peers, T.A`s and professors that enabled the progress I have made in writing papers. I am glad that the first semester was where I realized and progressed so that in the future years to come of my university career, I will be able to focus on other aspects of writing. So in the next term, I`ll continue to tackle papers with specificity; being concise, coherent and relevant (all because of ASTU).

Lastly, I constantly remind myself that everything happens for a reason and that I will not take everything for granted. I believe that everything I learn in the past, the first semester of university, and what there is to learn in the future shapes who I will eventually become. Therefore, even though the first semester is over (almost, after the exams), I cannot wait until what next semester has to offer! For now, we must study hard for exams then relax and chill out through the holiday season, so that in the new year of 2014 we`ll be refreshed to tackle everything that has yet to come.

We live in this realm of consumption that continuously progress overtime and perhaps one day in the future consumption will based entirely online. Although, I don’t think that it will be anytime soon since I for one enjoy the physical act of shopping compared to online shopping. Even though we consume at least something  everyday of our lives, it doesn’t become apparent until the designated days for shopping  comes trailing in.  A time where sales and deals offering some sort of bargain  jump right into our faces. The fact that Black Friday and Boxing Day are follow ups to holidays like Thanksgiving and Christmas respectively. This idea of consumption right after such meaningful holidays  somewhat confuses me, especially right after Thanksgiving day. I know that shoppers tend to use Black Day deals for early Christmas gift shopping (not necessary for every shopper), which is great. But going from a day of being thankful for what we have to the next day of shopping spree looking for what we don’t, contradicts the mood of the holiday with the two actions on opposing sides of a scale.

Besides looking at the consumer aspect of these two holidays, it is also interesting to analyze the intentions behind retail/department stores  of large corporations. Up to Black Friday and Boxing Day, the amount of marketing that companies spend to promote their products and deals to potential customers is massive in quantity, especially in the realm of media (print and online: websites). All this hype about Black Friday and later on Boxing Day, shows the culture embodied by our society. Without specifically doing research on these days, to see thoroughly what goes on and the extent people would do just to get a bargain, it is hard to see that these significant shopping days are nothing but unglamorous. We must critically see these phenomenon past the fact that it provides great deals and sales, instead it makes us feel powerless under the realm of consumption.

The competition between retail stores in Canada and the U.S. on Black Friday deals shows that consumers have choice. Canadian consumers through comparing deals make the decision of whether or not to stay and shop locally or go South, across the border to the U.S. for better deals. I truly believe that these competition is great for the consumers to purchase at great bargains, and the economy but because Canada and the U.S. are developed nations, it is no longer about consumption. It is more of us entering the stage of overconsumption, which in the long-turn will severely damage the global economy. The disparity between rich and poor nations will continue to increase because of our so-called consumption culture. For retail corporations, bargains attract customers, the price they make off each product does not necessarily matter since it is the amount of sales they can make, to clear inventory before the year ends. Starting early can guarantee retail store the advantage to do so, while for Canadian customers in particular, the chances of encountering great deals are now doubled with Black Friday (end of November) and Boxing Day (end of December).

From a cultural perspective, Americanization continues to become a reality, whether it is on a continental basis or on the international level, American culture dominates. However, we can ask the question of whether the idea of Black Friday, a new consumer culture sensation a positive or negative influence in the relationship between Canadians and Americans? The conflict seems to exist in terms of the economy, and as well as space, the overcrowding that occurs on Black Fridays in the retail stores of the U.S. and with the additional flow of Canadian into the U.S., conflicts seem inevitable. Thus, basic ideas of Black Friday (promising bargains) has extended farther as issues such as overconsumption and nation-state conflicts are at stake as well.

Before physically seeing the headlines of newspapers, social networks has already alerted the received news of the Typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines. On facebook and twitter, people had updated their status to “praying for those in the Philippines”. These statuses acknowledge that people are still struggling to survive despite the horrors that they have no place to live, lack of food and water, but most importantly the loss of family members- GRIEF.

“Typhoon Haiyan death toll tops 10,000: police”

When newspaper headlines or articles use numbers (like above and within the article) to represent the harm caused by the disaster as reality of what happened is a misrepresentation of the actual event. The article itself repetitively throw around numbers trying to translate some sort of meaning to the audience trying to imagine the situation:

“there were about 10,000 deaths on the island, mostly by drowning and from collapsed buildings.”; “The national government and disaster agency have not confirmed the figure, a sharp increase from initial estimates on Saturday of at least 1,000 deaths”; “We had a meeting last night with the governor and the other officials. The governor said based on their estimate, 10,000 died,” Soria told Reuters.

By simply attaching a number to explain the consequences of a disaster somewhat dehumanizes those who lost their lives. Each of the dead are associated to several friends and family members, yet from a worldwide audience`s perspective they are nothing but a number contributing to the amount of deaths. This current disaster happening right now as Filipino survivors struggle to recover and more importantly survive resemble the attitude “The Boys of Sudan” had during their walks, as outlined by Valentino Achak Deng in What is the What. Though the situation differs, it nonetheless shows how defeated the human race can be when faced with life threatening disasters. When family and friends are lost or dead, homes are destroyed, and memorable possession are gone, the only thing worth having is life, another day, hour, minute, or second to exist.

Nevertheless, numbers or quantitative facts can be helpful in terms of highlighting the severe  consequences that affect the general population; it garners attention and awareness if the numbers do indeed mean something to the audience it is being directed to. Sure enough the numbers captured my attention, but what mattered the most was what people are going through at this very moment and to be honest it could happen to anywhere at anytime. Most importantly  it is an environmental factor and not directly caused by the human race (although with climate change) but the real emphasis is that natural disaster are unpredictable, especially in terms of the damage it can have on people. That is why the disaster caused by the typhoon is not only the concern of the Philippines but the global community because we never know when it will be our turn to be the helpless survivors depending on global  humanitarian aid from other nations.

In addition to quantitative  types of reporting disasters, there were also particular Individuals who got the opportunity to speak or be reported. I found this article: Typhoon Haiyan survivor: ‘I was not prepared for the devastation’. The survivor Lynette Lim, was a survivor that fits under the category of privileged survivor being the “Asia Communication Manager of Save the Children”. Her account of the experience may not have been as severe as many of the other survivors because of her position in the global society and associated with a NGO. However her privilege background makes her experience more realistic to the privileged audience. Nonetheless, she is a survivor and a witness to the disaster, as she describes how “people were taking flat-screen TVs. People were looting fashion outlets and taking high-heeled shoes – anything they could get. It was hard to tell whether it was opportunistic or desperate” after the storm. In the end, the world and life that they use to know is no longer the same one; so it makes sense that the process to recovery will be a constant struggle. From situations like this, I can`t help but ask: What would I do if this happens here in my own backyard?

On the other hand, I found a local news article about a Vancouver couple‘s decision to provide humanitarian help in the Philippines. The “couple took it upon themselves to help the victims in the Philippines. Jenn and Nils planned a vacation to the Philippines months ago. However, in light of the recent disaster, they decided to go anyways; except as volunteers”. This not only makes me proud to be a Canadian but to quote Valentino Achak Deng:”belief in humanity” (What is the What “Preface” xv) is empowering. From this, I imagine that they are not the only ones who have decided to take action from their awareness of the disaster. Although, they are featured in the media, it does not mean that people have to be in the spotlight to help people out. I bet that there are people who rather go in quietly on their own without being under the spotlight of media. Therefore, contribution to the cause big or small does not necessarily matter, it is the effort that goes in that really matter.

How does it feel like to wake up every morning and know exactly everything that’s going to happen? At times, I feel that my fate is pre-determined, that no matter what I do, there is already a planned agenda or destination waiting for me to get to. Yet, there are so many other factors to consider and can affect the course of what happens next. That is why I have no idea what’s going to happen next and I don’t plan to because every day is a new adventure. Television shows, films and novels have that kind of affect on audiences, ending with a cliff-hanger or the phrase ” to be continued “; this kind of anticipation and unpredictability motivates us to continue. When reading What is the What, the autobiography of Valentino Achak Deng, and the novel by Dave Eggers, anticipation was at the flip of each page. Sure enough, the fact that he survives is made pretty clear but the experience and journey that he took was not. As well as the people he meets and interact with, there fates are unpredictable and unknown to the readers unless we continue to flip through the pages, for example: Maria

“It was from one fot the new arrivals that I heard about Maria. Shortly after I saw her that night, when she urged me not to leave, she had attempted to take her own life. She swallowed a mixture of cleaning solution and aspirin, and would have died had it not been for her caretaker…her story ends well” (Eggers p.527)

When I read the part about how Maria chose to suicide, I, as the empathetic reader understood it through the first-world teenager’s idea of suicide (situational,depending on the person). Through this idea of suicide, I made connections to what I know, relating it teenagers` who decide to suicide because of they are under situations such as bullying. One particular example was the Amanda Todd incident, which went viral and was discussed intensely online (in particular facebook). In the case of Maria, Valentino continues by explaining that the fate of Maria’s was depended on her decision to suicide. She ended up at the hospital and “met a Ugandan doctor, a woman who listened to her story and took it upon herself to guarantee that Maria would not return to the man who wanted to gain from her the best bride price” (527). Instead, Maria was presented with the opportunity to leave Kakuma for education in Kenya and eventually London (527). This unpredictable success to not only leave Kakuma but to also receive education, is perhaps, one can argue luck. However, from a reader’s perspective, I like to interpret it differently and say that Maria’s good deed of helping Valentino deserves to get a chance to turn her life around. The fictional aspect of What is the What, definitely helped with the contextualization and visualization of situations that Valentino experiece and the people he encountered throughout his journey. As a reader, I felt that because Valentino`s story was written as a novel it helped with my imagination to feel empathetic towards the situation faced by the “Lost Boys and Girls of Sudan” and acknowledge their existence as humans instead of characters in a typical fictional novel.

Furthermore success (meaning varies in context) seem to be in the hands of audiences if applied to life narratives as noted by Schaffer and Smith that “stories are received and interpreted in unpredictable ways by the audiences” (Conjunctions: Life Narratives in the Field of Human Rights 15). Relating back to “The Lost Boys of Sudan”  and their walk for survival to a better location was probably unintentional to garner global awareness (Western attention primarily) since their prime intention was based on survival. However, it is arguable to say that how is it possible that thousands of boys (unaccompanied minors) who walked in order to get to Ethiopia and later on Kenya to avoid the Sudanese Civil War would not attract the attention of the global community. Yet, at the same time this more or less depended on the so-called Western audience and their response/action to this issue.

A simple and everyday gesture of holding the door for someone behind or an expression of smiling to acknowledge someone’s existence can have its impact on you and that individual. Communities are formed by our willingness to interact with one another. By simply living in isolation, survival is questionable, more importantly, progress within communities can’t be made. Student-run clubs are an example made possible because individuals are willing to contribute their efforts to give others a space to feel a part of. Clubs were prominent in high school, each representing a specific type of community and this is no different here at the UBC campus, with its variety of clubs available to students. I remember walking through the Student Union Building during clubs week, where each club had representatives and posters encouraging students to become a member of their specific community. As a first-year student, I felt it was crucial to get to know what clubs are out there, each one holds the possibility of meeting new people and opportunities. The first step however was to interact with these friendly strangers and ask questions. In a sense, we meet and interact with these friendly strangers everyday, and we ourselves are also friendly strangers trying to make an impression, to show prove our existence in the eyes of strangers. It’s also amazing that the speed of interaction with a stranger can quickly lead into an unpredictable friendship.

In class we watched God Grew Tired of Us, a documentary film that followed the journey of three Lost Boys of Sudan, from their experience during their walk to living in the refugee camp in Kakuma to establishing their lives in the United States. The cultural differences made the adjustment to their new lives difficult, especially in terms of interaction. They reflected that there was more freedom to interact with one another in Sudan/Kakuma compared to the U.S. Growing up and living in a Western society, I was pretty sure that “freedom” was the many benefits that we get in Canada. But after watching the documentary film, I realized how restricted we feel around strangers and how any form of interaction with the person standing beside you at the bus stop would some be offensive. At the same time, I remember that as a child my parents told me not to talk to strangers, but eventually we reach a certain age where we are encouraged to step out of our comfort zones and meet new people. In a sense, we can`t get to one another if we don`t get past the stage of being complete strangers.

Another scenario of being friendly strangers occurs when we volunteer. Throughout high school, I volunteered from several organizations either one-time events or long-term/weekly activities. It was at those one-time volunteering events that I felt the need to be a friendly stranger when interacting with the people there. In a broader perspective, I believe that we are all friendly strangers with no other intention, except to garner the acceptance of others, which is needed to form communities in this social-oriented world. However, throughout my volunteer experiences I am not always sure what my intentions are because the purpose behind the act of volunteering is questionable, particularly for high school students who need volunteer hours as a requirement for graduation. In that aspect, the true act of volunteering seems to disappear because it was for our own purposes and this can be applied to humanitarian aid as well. The positivity of having these experience seem to be very useful in terms of self-interest, especially if these experiences are used or featured on one`s resume. Contrastingly, we can argue that we all do good things because it has a feel-good factor to it.Yet, it almost seems that no matter what the good things we do are, it may be entirely based on our selfish nature as human beings. However, even though this may be true, it is always great to know that the person or stranger you helped would see in the near future to take on that role of a friendly stranger and help someone else.

Lastly, with the invention of social networks (facebook, twitter, etc.) we are further encouraged to be friendly strangers on either sides of a piece of technology to help each other out. One popular example of this is in terms of education, were students create course/class groups online on facebook to communicate with each other about homework, tests, and even the formation of study groups, organized online but meet up physically. This however, it more friendly classmates based, but certain organizations set up a twitter or facebook account to receive questions that customers may have in terms service or product and would reply via tweet or post (example: Canada`s TD Bank). However, this type of interaction can occur offline as well such as reading What is the What or any type of life narrative (it can be done online via ebooks), we are simply friendly strangers that are willing to spend time to read about the life of a particular stranger. But it is through the act of reading that we get to know Valentino Achak Deng as a person. His experiences as described in the novel makes his existence more of a reality to us even though there was no physical interaction, which further creates this disconnection of how we are physically distant from one another but through the bond of the book we are connected together as strangers with shared knowledge. In the book`s preface, Valentino writes “I want the world to know the truth of my existence… I wanted to reach out to a wider audience by telling the story of my life in book form”. To him we are friendly stranger because of our contribution as readers to acknowledge his existence and seek truth in his story. However, in the context of the novel, to simply acknowledge or gain awareness is no longer enough, what matters is what we do with this knowledge and whether physical action is one of them?