The Unpronounceable Word

I didn’t realize how close CAP Con was to the end of the year until we got to CAP Con today.

I want to firstly congratulate Vinson, Tara, Yael, and Jeff for having presented in one of the first panels of the conference!! I was unfortunately not able to stay for more of the presentations but I was not disappointed from seeing their presentation on their website of The Street Newspaper.  The theme of the panel was Circulation, Surveillance and consumption and it was wonderful to see how the confluence of the different streams in this panel alone.

What’s funny to me is, that through the research we’ve done over the year, we’re really presenting what we believe and are, in essence, presenting a part of our own self narrative.  In the case of Vinson, Tara, Yael and Jeff, from my observations from their presentation, I can see that they’ve developed a passion for the subject and demonstrated that by being proud enough to present their piece.  Another student on the panel by the name of Joey Chan also seemed to share this passion with their work.  There was extensive work done on the issues of internet censorship and privacy and it was possible to hear the amount of frustration in her voice when she was talking about collective or individual privacy.  Whether it be addressing issues of homelessness or state intrusions on the internet, these projects have been able to provide students with their own voices to speak out against these subjects as the issues become slowly integrated into their ways of thinking.

Although I was unable to stay at CAP Con for too long, I was able to do a bit of presenting on the website that Adèle, Jenn and Naomi had created as a collection of the recipes that were presented in Diamond Grill.  It was great having had the opportunity to showcase a piece that I held great pride in with my teammates.  In the same vein as the panels, I felt that I was able to display parts of my passions through the site.  Diamond Grill has become an integral part of learning more of the culinary experience but also about my own family.  I had never been able to connect with an idea quite as well than with the idea of living on the hyphen as, after having read Diamond Grill I had finally found a term to describe the in between life I feel with my imediate family or extended family.  I am neither form HongKong, nor am I fully Canadian.  The hyphen has even made its way into my final art project for VISA 183. (ooohhh)

It’s been a fun ride this past year i think im getting emoshunal

This probably the first post I plan on making without a joke in the title because of the importance of the matter to me.

During the study of Diamond Grill by Fred Wah in ASTU class, I brought up an art exhibition that I had attended during the week called (TRANSGRESSION/CANTOSPHERE).  It is a piece dedicated to the gentrification of Chinatown as well as the blind eye that the rest of the community turns towards the destruction of historic Chinatown.  In the exhibit, they read a list of phrases with a variety of tones as a vehicle for diversity.  The use of tones is crucial to the Cantonese Language and could be described to be an exploration of the continuous shaping of the identity of Chinatown.

In sociology, we were given the chance to watch the production of a project called Where are We in the World Now?  that talks about the basis that Vancouver was founded on.  Those that are interviewed begin by talking about the nostalgia they felt for living in Chinatown.  However, it also highlights the marginalization that nearly all Chinese endured which led to the production of Chinatown.  By allowing for the gentrification of Chinatown, we are allowing for destruction of the cultural sacrifices that needed to be done for Chinatown to be what it is today.  We neglect all the individuals who were living on the hyphen, trying to assimilate but never quite belonging, and silencing their stories through the destruction of their time.  We are entering a time in which the global city is beginning to be homogenized with the rest of the cities, but it is important to never forget the array of identities that brought together what we had once seen, and hopefully will continue to see, as Chinatown.

– Kid living on the hyphen

I’m diverging from my usual topic from the kitchen and bringing you the latest on something that’s held my interest for the past few weeks.

Net neutrality has been one of those hot topics online and can be defined through the struggle that net users are facing with their companies in whether the companies will be given the power to regulate what gets greater access to the consumers or not. In essence the large internet providers are trying to find ways to control internet usage in the homes of consumers and the consumers are not happy about it: But here’s some more context.

The impact ASTU has left with me has led me to question the future of the internet, but it has also left me to think of how limiting the internet can impact the ways in which individuals can express themselves immediately through a global media.  In this moment I keep bloggers like: Salam Pax  and bloggers like him.  The power that these companies have on flow of information would not only inhibit small companies from being able to access consumers, but also have the potential in inhibiting access from underground bloggers as a primary resource of international situations.  Should the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) allow for the large internet providers to take action, not only would that be an inconvenience to consumers, but we would be taking steps back from the progress of expressing ourselves in a carefree manner.

Knowing this, I was extremely encouraged to find out this morning that the chairman of the FCC, Tom Wheeler, has voted in favour of Net Neutrality and will be working towards fighting towards a free internet as stated on his Twitter.  Stating that “Today, I’m proposing rules to keep the Internet fair, fast and open and grounded in #TitleII authority.”  It is important to recognize how a sovereign power would impact the structure of the internet and how a governing ruler would negatively affect how the stories of many individuals would never reach the surface of the internet.

I hope the internet will always be a free and open space in which we can express ourselves without meeting roadblocks.

After a much needed winter break, the time came for classes to come back in session and for children all around to agglomerate in the middle of nowhere once again: at UBC.

The break was an excellent opportunity to reflect upon: what am I really working towards?

In reading Diamond Grill by Fred Wah, I realized through his lens at the Chinese diner that there may be more to the culinary world than what I had already been examining.  At this point I turn to questions that Fred Wah describes within the book, he mentions that he would never stay in the business forever.  Could this be inspiration towards a greater other?  Is Fred Wah’s point of view on the perception of the culinary world really as terrible as he described it even as an environment that may have evolved over time?

In the 2015 Michelin guides, known to be one of the most prestigious Food-travel guides, that had been released this year, of the one I was looking at (the UK guide) there was only one 3-starred restaurant that was led by a woman; being that of the brave soul of Clare Smyth: (http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2012/oct/03/clare-smyth-woman-kitchen-men-behave)  It hadn’t occurred to me until recently just how great the difference in ratio of women to men was in the kitchen.  To put it into perspective, there are almost 30,000 restaurants in the United Kingdom that are Michelin.  What makes it a fairly depressing story, is that Smyth is leading the kitchen which is under the brand name of the infamous Gordon Ramsay: (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WwjUfM54ehE).  Meaning that although Smyth is heading the kitchen, the restaurant is still defined by the image of a male chef.  Which… is unfortunate to say the least, talk about chances of breaking the glass ceiling.

There is hope though, that through interviews and narratives: (http://www.elitetraveler.com/features/the-rise-of-the-female-michelin-star-chef) provided by women who are breaking through the glass ceiling, like Smyth, are helping to shed light upon a flawed part of the system, encouraging other women to not be intimidated by a profession that is stereotyped as being feminine.

It had come to a bit of a shock to me when I looked at the feedback that was provided alongside the Lit review that was assigned for ASTU 100.  As it turns out, I had made a very silly mistake in mixing up my scholars which lead to a lot of confusion and frustration over the weekend.  But I digress.  I’ve been wondering, through studying life narratives in our ASTU 100 class, what the true fascination was with life narratives.  Why were so many people enthralled in the lives of others?  After some reflection of what had happened with that ASTU paper, I’ve come to the conclusion that readers enjoy the content provided in life narratives, not only for the adventures; but also for the lessons that can be learned.

In trying to comfort myself, I looked towards the analysis of making mistakes.  I’ve found out that even doctors worry about when they make mistakes (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iUbfRzxNy20).  Dr. Brian Goldman introduces two forms of guilt: one good, one bad.  The good kind of guilt is a guilt in which you understand that you’ve made a mistake and you make amends and promise to never do something like that ever again.  Whereas, the bad kind of guilt is shown to make you feel like you are your mistake.  Is there truly a need to become perfect? I was watching a video by a youtuber by the username: CGPGrey: (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Pq-S557XQU)  In my dread, I was hoping that maybe someday a robot or a drone could take over my work so that I could live carelessly on an island.  (Though this is highly idealist.)  CGPGrey expresses that soon, all of the jobs on the market will be taken over shortly so long as technology is increasing; the robots don’t need to be perfect either, they just need to be better than us.  No matter if you work in a white collar job or a blue collar job.  However, what I’ve come to understand from Dr. Goldman’s talk was that it’s more important to learn from your mistakes than to let the idea of being totally perfect to haunt you.  Mistakes happen.

So should we really be overly scared of the implications of mistakes?

Perhaps.

And that, kids, is the conclusion to blog posts until the new year

Being bedridden and realizing that you still have a blog due by midnight is definitely not a great feeling. It does however, leave a lot of time to think about what people who are truly bedridden do in these sorts of time.

As I lay in bed, I recall NASA’s call for people to stay in  Thankfully, Nasa’s got my back and someone has decided to document their journey of having been bedridden for 3 months.  (http://www.vice.com/read/nasa-patient-8179-100) He explains that during the first couple days, his body was already experiencing difficulties with sleeping and removing excrements due to the lack of gravity.  Helping to show that staying in bed for too long, can truly become detrimental to your health rather than becoming relaxing.  Although NASA’s researchers had been trying to get Andrew Iwanicki  to keep up with his physical abilities, being on your back for 3 months is definitely an unnatural change to be making as opposed to being on your feet.  At the same time, I was wondering how important it must have been to document his journey through what he thought was a gift, but turned out to be worse than he could have imagined.

It’s come to my attention that blogging about your ailments has actually become somewhat of a trend where bloggers, for example: http://dailylifewithchronicillness.tumblr.com/ would document how many illnesses they had accumulated.  I was led to an entire community of people who were blogging their journeys through their illnesses.  People were sharing their everyday lives, as with any form of blogging, but were specific in providing details of their progress or checkups at the clinic.  Researchers such as Anthony McCosker, (http://journal.media-culture.org.au/index.php/mcjournal/article/view%20Article/104/0) could explain the significance of having a blog to document their journey as being crucial for creating a new identity for oneself in a time in which their lives may have been completely changed.

I’ve been resisting the urge to post on Facebook and other social media (excluding this) but have you felt the need to tweet, update your friends on Facebook about how sick you’ve been feeling?

-Kacey Ng

As the terms progresses, I feel that my post quality is going to drop substantially as a consequence of compiling stress, but here’s goes nothing.

I’ve been doing some thinking regarding Hillary Chute’s thoughts on Marjane Satrapi’s approach towards life narratives in Persepolis, an article we’ve been studying in our ASTU 100 class.  Chute Mentions that Satrapi’s choice of using comics as a medium of expanding on her graphic narrative is a feat in breaking typical conventions in portraying a life narrative.

When I was reading through the article, the restaurant El Bulli (http://www.elbulli.info/review.htm) was engrained in my thoughts.  Led by head chef Ferran Adria, he encouraged the implementation of two elements that would typically not be seen together; chemistry and gastronomy.  Although there has always been a fascination towards the components of food and their buildup, there has been very little mix between the two.  By putting these two elements together, he is able to create new dishes never seen before, creating new textures, shapes and layering.  One of the first successful experiments that were released to the public was the spherical olive (http://www.ashkeling.com/07spainmor/bulli1.htm) in which the taster would be given the taste of the olive, however altering the texture of the olive by using an olive puree, adding agar agar and submerging in sodium alginate.  A process that sounds like it would kill in the blink of an eye, but the alteration in shape and form revolutionized the perceptions of how people could possibly perceive foods as they were.

Adria has influenced many people to follow in his footsteps; encouraging works that would otherwise be impossible in the home kitchen to be performed at a whole new level and created raising the standards for critics such as those of the Michelin guide.  Not everyone has been able to revolutionize the world, but everyone will be able to provide an impact by breaking away from their natural conventions.

Expand your thoughts, embrace the new!

Works Cited:

Chute, Hillary. “The Texture of Retracing in Marjane Satrapi’s Persepolis.”Women’s Studies Quarterly 36.1&2 (Spring/Summer 2008): 92-110.

I have recently taken up a job at a restaurant in step one in the process of working towards becoming a recognized chef. In the process, I’ve considered that it is necessary that my I take on a better-rounded outlook of the world as it is. As I understand it, in order to become a great chef, it is important to travel the world in order to learn secrets to the culinary world that the part of the world which you come from may not have understood. Holidays for gluttony are slowly approaching, and this, to me, is the most important time to reflect on the food we’re eating and why we have what we have.
I’ve been thinking a lot about the subject of Food travel lately and how many forget that it really is just a forgotten form of forced self-narrative. In (http://youtu.be/cicCuAYkLjA?t=3m) celebrity chef & writer Anthony Bourdain expresses that if the show were left up to his discretion, that the show would be focused a lot less on his face, but more so the contents of the food and the culture that the team has to try to capture. Examples such as Bourdain are used as symbols in order for the audience to be able to gain a connection for the food and therefore feel more attached with the show and its contents. Food can often be seen as a medium of transferring cultural practices and ideals and therefore, through watching someone from a different country create a vast variety of dishes, it becomes a lot easier to be able to connect with those who are creating.

Lately, many of the best restaurants in the world have also come to recognize the importance of learning from other cultures and going global through residency exchanges. An example of such would be through Coppenhagen’s NOMA restaurant recently did an exchange with restaurants in Nihonbashi’s neighbourhood. (http://www.foodrepublic.com/2014/10/06/entire-staff-noma-learning-japanese-right-now-why) Although they’ve been nominated to be one of the world’s greatest restaurants, they understand that if they want to become even greater, that they need to expand towards different countries in order to learn from their history and culture. By expanding their horizons towards a variety of cultures, they are able to add elements to the menu as a reflection of the personal narrative of the restaurant. Restaurants like NOMA have come to realize the potential of bringing home the perennial plate and infusing their own touches to traditional dishes, creating something of their own.

I’ve been thinking about what I had written in regards to last week’s post about the hidden community that resides among many university students in terms of following your dreams.  I realized that I hadn’t considered as much of how individuals would find their way towards their dreams, but mainly that the problem was present.  This post is more of a follow up on the previous post, in order to add clarity, but also to ask more questions.

Much of my consideration regarding the definition of the self has been sparked by Youtuber ZeFrank1’s video: (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fLLz7O9Lf6k) in which he identifies the problem with the phrase: “be yourself”.   Often times, people don’t have the required resources they might need in order to be who they really want to be, unless they are intended to be something else.  He illustrates that a large problem with trying to “be yourself” is due to the fact that many times you’re not told what you’re supposed to be, but rather what you’re not supposed to be.  I can personally attest to this idea, my parents were never quite sure what I was capable of in terms of heading towards a stable career, however, they were sure that what I was good at, was something that would be too risky to pursue.  People like Dianna David (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wLxMbzWm5Es) share their story of having strayed from the traditional path of conformity of a stable path and chose to strip the narrow boundaries created by not only her parents, but societal expectations of recognized as successful.

Zefrank’s video concludes with responses he had received when he asked subscribers what they thought in regards to the phrase “be yourself”: and the response that he chose was truly inspiring towards pursuing your dreams and keeping them in track.  They had written that a person will always be themselves, however, it is important to be the best to which they can be:  (https://twitter.com/bowlercaptain/status/208592797668876288)

My question towards the void is: Are you letting yourself define your own self? Or are you letting others do it for you?