PostSecret is a website that uploads and displays anonymous postcards that are sent to the website’s headquarters in Maryland. These postcards are normally colourful, and often include images of people or objects. They also incorporate a secret, usually a secret that is brief and compelling. Some secrets are about thoughts or feelings, such as “I hate social media,” while others are about actions, such as “our teachers never gave us gold stars in school, we just made our own”. PostSecret is a form of archive that publicly exhibits and keeps many secrets sent to its headquarters. Although the PostSecret website does not hold all secrets, there is a specific Tumblr account dedicated to capturing and publicly displaying secrets that are posted on the original website. As noted by Carter, “archives are filled with voices,” which is evident in this Tumblr account, which holds thousands of voices. These voices are intentionally and anonymously speaking up. 

An issue with PostSecret is that it may not post all of the postcards that it receives. PostSecret has the power to pick and control what secrets it publicly shares, and what secrets stay hidden. By excluding voices from its archives, PostSecret is “silencing” it’s audience (Carter). If certain secrets are excluded from the archive, they will “disappear from history” and not be heard (Carter 217). I argue that PostSecret is “silencing” it’s audience’s secrets in order for secrets to fit into one of two categories: either “Sunday Secrets” or “Classic Secrets”. These two specific categories are consistently posted every Sunday, the day that PostSecret uploads new batches of postcards. Unfortunately, I am unsure of how each secret is selected, and what makes each secret unique enough to fit into either the “Sunday Secrets” category or the “Classic Secrets” category. Perhaps the “Sunday Secrets” are uncommon secrets, while the “Classic Secrets” are more relatable?

PostSecret holds the power to decide which secrets get the honour of being published on their website. Much like other archivists, PostSecret needs to make decisions of which materials to include and exclude, thus automatically silencing individuals who have made a large effort to prepare, create, and send in their secrets (Carter 219). Carter refers to a statement by Verne Harris claiming that archives preserve “a sliver or a sliver of a sliver” of the information they have access to (Carter 221). This concept may apply to PostSecret, as the website normally uploads approximately 35-45 postcards weekly, and most likely receives more in the mail.

Through this work of PostSecret as a “silencing” archive, individuals will better understand how “silencing” can be a powerful tool to tell stories through a specific lens, and how PostSecret is biased, and may not acknowledge many of its resources. This concept of the “power in silence” can be extended beyond archives and serve as a reminder that everyone is inherently biased, and that people can either exaggerate the truth or deliberately “silence” themselves (Carter 215). 

Work Cited

Carter, Rodney. “Of Things Said and Unsaid: Power, Archival Silences, and Power in Silence.” Archivaria 61, 2006. pp. 215-33.

PostSecret. WordPress, https://postsecret.com/. 9 Apr. 2018.

PostSecret Archives. Tumblr, http://psarchives.tumblr.com/. 9 Apr. 2018.

Food is not only essential for survival and life, it is essential for culture. People use food to symbolize different ethnicities, to celebrate birthdays, and to share everyday experiences. Food is also a large part of many holidays, such as Thanksgiving, where people often indulge in turkeys and pumpkin pies, and Hannukah, where people often have latkes and sufganiyot. Diamond Grill, written by Fred Wah, often includes food to symbolize culture and identity. Throughout the book, Wah incorporates many different aspects of food, such as their scents, how they taste, their colours, and some recipes. Combined, these anecdotes tell the story of Wah’s mixed identity of being a Chinese-Canadian.

Throughout Diamond Grill, it is apparent that food forms a cultural bridge for Wah and his family. In his book, Wah describes feeling a constant pull in two directions – being Chinese and Canadian. This blend of identities is symbolized through his text, by the use of a hyphen, and through the description of the Diamond Grill restaurant, by the doors to the kitchen, where the seating is largely Canadian, and the kitchen is largely Chinese. In his Afterword, Wah writes about the hyphen, and how it is “a real problem for multiculturalism… it’s frequently erased as a reminder that the parts… are not equal to the whole,” although Wah may believe that both parts are equally important to his identity (178). Wah also recounts the struggle of the “inbetweenness” that he has encountered in his life, and uses food to symbolize that in his work (179).

Mirroring Wah’s identity of “inbetweenness,” is the food that he enjoys making and eating (179). Food is often used for comfort and familiarity, and throughout Diamond Grill, Wah highlights his constant nostalgia towards food and his family’s recipes. An example of this is on page 67, where Wah emphasizes the absence of Chinese food when he leaves home, and how it is “an absence that gnaws at sensation and memory”. As food is both individual to taste and cultural, it is easy to tweak and modify to one’s liking, while keeping its original aura and character. Wah often challenges ideas of purely Chinese or purely Canadian recipes, and often adjusts them to his liking. An example of this is Wah’s Chinese recipe for Tomato Beef. Wah sentimentally describes both his and his sisters love for Tomato Beef, and reveals the cherished recipe. After stating the recipe, Wah ends with “spoon over top of rice and pick out pungent chunks of ginger and hide under bowl,” exemplifying his distaste for ginger, a crucial part of the authentic “gingery winter dish” (44). Wah also highlights his father’s offence when he does not eat the ginger in Chinese cuisine, and states that “ginger becomes the site of an implicit racial qualification” (11). Fred Sr.’s disapproval of his sons taste in traditional food may have caused Wah to feel isolated and pushed further away from his Chinese heritage and culture.

Food is an important part of cultures and traditions, and therefore an important part of the people who embodies those cultures and traditions as well. The “hyphenated” dishes serve as a reminder to Wah and his family of his mixed identity.

Work Cited

“Hanukkah Sufganiyot (Jelly Doughnuts).” Marthastewart, https://www.marthastewart.com/314744/hanukkah-sufganiyot-jelly-doughnuts.

“How to Make Crispy Perfect Latkes Every Time.” Toriavey, 18 Feb. 2018, https://toriavey.com/how-to/how-to-make-crispy-latkes/.

“Juicy Thanksgiving Turkey.” Allrecipes, https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/166160/juicy-thanksgiving-turkey/.

“Old Fashioned Pumpkin Pie.” Simplyrecipes, https://www.simplyrecipes.com/recipes/suzannes_old_fashioned_pumpkin_pie/.

Wah, Fred. Diamond Grill. Edmonton: NeWest, 2006. Print

In March 2017, an exhibit called Amazonia: The Rights of Nature was brought to the Museum of Anthropology at the University of British Columbia. This exhibit explores the lifestyles of some of the indigenous peoples living in the Amazon. The exhibit highlights the people’s ability to live a “well-adjusted life with the land,” meaning that they rely on the land for their water, food, shelter, and other necessities (Museum). Amazonia: The Rights of Nature exhibit focuses on acknowledging the threatened resources of the Amazon due to “industries such as oil and gas, mining and logging… agricultural and cattle businesses, and hydroelectric plants,” and also notes that by informing ourselves of these issues, we “can be a part of the change” (Museum). While walking through the exhibit, it was evident that there were many beautiful objects spread out around the room, including headdresses, necklaces, crowns, and ear decorations. The objects that I was automatically drawn to were the Yanomami baskets (shown below). 

The Yanomami people are a group of indigenous people who live on the border between Southern Venezuela and Northern Brazil (Yanomami). They live in scattered villages, in houses made of vines and leaves, and grow, gather, and hunt their food (Yanomami). The Yanomami baskets are woven out of palm fibres and decorated with charcoal and berries by the women (Yanomamo). There are many different kinds of baskets, but the two most used basket shapes are the flat/tray basket, usually used for the household, and “burden baskets,” which are made to carry materials and foods, and are carried using a strap that “fits around the forehead, while the basket rests on the back like a backpack,” making the basket easier to carry (Yanomamo). The exhibit holds a selection of four different Yanomami baskets, three flat baskets and one carrier basket. Each basket in the MOA exhibit also decorated with either concentric circles, curvy lines, and/or dots.

Making these baskets is a traditional task and art for the Yanomami women (Basket). The Yanomami women often take pride in the tightly woven baskets that they design and create (Basket). These women are usually proud of each other and honour each other for the hard work and effort that they put into every single one of the baskets that they weave, and often sell the baskets to produce money for their villages and families (Basket). Although women are “inferior to men” in the Yanomami culture, the feeling of contribution through performing their “household family duties” may make these women feel proud of themselves for their dedication and expertise (Perez).

In Yanomami society, the men often beat their wives (or other females in their lives) “if they do not perform their gender roles properly” and do not respect what they do or who they are (Perez). It is a crucial aspect in all societies to respect all genders. Although we, as a Western society, have achieved some gender equality goals, we still have a long way to go. It is clear that our society is starting to create changes through the Me Too Project and the hundreds of Women’s Marches around the world last year. In the beginning of 2018, women’s rights movements gained momentum with the Time’s Up Movement. There is also a Women’s March happening in Vancouver on Saturday, January 20, 2018. Please join and support women’s rights as human rights!

Sources:

“Amazonia: The Rights of Nature.” Museum of Anthropology, http://moa.ubc.ca/portfolio_page/amazonia. Accessed 18 Jan. 2018.

“Annatto.” Wikipedia, 17, Oct. 2017, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Annatto. Accessed 18 Jan. 2018.

“Me Too Project.” Facebook, www.facebook.com/themetooproject/. Accessed 18 Jan. 2018.

Museum of Anothropology, University of British Columbia, http://moa.ubc.ca/. Accessed 18 Jan. 2018.

Perez, Deanna. “The Yanomami Tribe – Group 8.” blogspot, theyanomami.blogspot.ca/2014/07/gender-issues.html. Accessed 18 Jan. 2018.

Timesupnow. 2017, www.timesupnow.com/. Accessed 18 Jan. 2018.

“Women’s March 2018 on Vancouver Official.” Facebook, //www.facebook.com/events/133329334129570/. Accessed 18 Jan. 2018.

“Yanomami.” britannica, www.britannica.com/topic/Yanomami. Accessed 18 Jan. 2018.

“Yanomami Baskets.” arte-amazonia, www.arte-amazonia.com/shop/amazon-baskets/yanomami-baskets/. Accessed 18 Jan. 2018.

“Yanomamo Indians.” indian-cultures, http://www.indian-cultures.com/cultures/yanomamo-indians. Accessed 18 Jan. 2018.

“2017 Women’s March.” Wikipedia, 18 Jan. 2018, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2017_Women%27s_March. Accessed 18 Jan. 2018.

There are currently many different forms and types of social media outlets that people use on an everyday basis, and each form of social media serves for a different purpose in people’s lives. For example, the Facebook Messenger application, WhatsApp, and the QQ app are primarily designed for long-distance instant messaging, so that people can stay in touch with coworkers, friends, and family across the globe, while Tumblr and VSCO are primarily to scroll through both your own and others’ photos. Instagram is an application, used both on mobile devices and desktops, that users use to edit and publish photos and videos with captions.

Instagram is a great platform to keep up to date with news, pop culture, celebrities, fashion bloggers, artists, friends, and family, because people constantly post new photos about their lives. It is also easy to keep up to date with people’s lives after Instagram introduced Stories, where users can share their day through photos and videos temporarily rather than permanently on their profiles. Instagram is a good way to visually express yourself through photographs and videos, and people enjoy creating a specific aesthetic on their accounts, and looking at others’ accounts. Although formatting and scrolling through these photos is entertaining, it is also often deceiving. This video, uploaded by Ditch the Label, showcases 11 different people attempting to create the “perfect” Instagram picture by faking a pleasing aesthetic or by altering reality to something that is “Instagram worthy”. The video downbar shows Ditch the Label’s definition of an “Insta lie”. They state that an Insta lie means “an intentionally false representation of real life on [Instagram]” (“Are”). People on social media platforms, especially Instagram, publish their best moments and not their bad ones, which gives the audience a perception of a “perfect” life that is full and happy.

This deception is especially harmful to kids, teens, and young adults who only see the best of the lives of their peers, friends, and celebrities, who they are greatly influenced by and look up to. According to a BBC article, Instagram was rated #1 in a “poll [that] asked 1,479 people aged 14-24 to score popular apps” based on mental health issues such as “anxiety, depression, loneliness, bullying and body image” (“Instagram”).  A Yahoo News article also addresses this poll and clarifies that this ranking is most likely to do with Instagram’s impact on lack of sleep, fear of missing out, body image issues of teens, and depression.

Due to Instagram’s false representation of life narratives, kids, teens, and young adults are misled to think that the celebrities that they look up to, their friends, and their peers’ lives are more aesthetically pleasing and happy than they are in reality, which can ultimately harm and damage their mental health.

Work Cited

“Are You Living an Insta Lie? Social Media Vs. Reality.” Youtube, uploaded by Ditch the Label, 20 Feb. 2017, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0EFHbruKEmw.

BBCNEWS. Instagram, https://www.instagram.com/bbcnews/?hl=en. 11 Nov 2017.

BUSTLE. Instagram, https://www.instagram.com/bustle/?hl=en. 11. Nov 2017.

CLAUDIASAHUQUILLO. Instagram, https://www.instagram.com/claudiasahuquillo/?hl=en. 11 Nov 2017.

KIMKARDASHIAN. Instagram, https://www.instagram.com/kimkardashian/?hl=en. 11 Nov 2017.

“Instagram Rated Worst Media for Mental Health.” Yahoo News, 18 May 2017, https://uk.news.yahoo.com/instagram-rated-worst-media-mental-health-032700830.html. Accessed 11 Nov 2017

“Instagram ‘Worst for Young Mental Health’.” BBC, 19 May 2017, http://www.bbc.com/news/health-39955295. Accessed 11 Nov 2017.

“Introducing Instagram Stories.” Instagram.blog, 2 Aug. 2016, Instagram, http://blog.instagram.com/post/148348940287/160802-stories. Accessed 11 Nov 2017.

SOMETHINGNAVY. Instagram, https://www.instagram.com/somethingnavy/?hl=en. 11 Nov 2017.

People can have many different kinds of disabilities, and they can range from being insignificant in their lives to having a very large impact on who they are and who they will or can become. According to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, a disability is a “physical, mental, cognitive, or developmental condition that impairs, interferes with, or limits a person’s ability to engage in certain tasks”. Two popular labels of disabilities are visible disabilities and invisible disabilities. Visible disabilities are disabilities that people are aware of by looking at the disabled person, while invisible disabilities are “invisible to the onlooker” and cannot be noticed easily (“How Do You Define Invisible Disability?”). Some examples of invisible disabilities are different kinds of mental illnesses, such as eating disorders and ADHD, chronic pain conditions, such as fibromyalgia, and chronic fatigue and dizziness. Sometimes, being deaf or blind can also be invisible disabilities, although this usually depends on if they have guide dogs, canes, hearing aids, and sign ASL publicly.

Another example of an invisible disability is depression. Depression is a mental illness that many people are embarrassed about, and do not show they are depressed in any way, allowing it to be an invisible disability. Some symptoms of depression include “feelings of sadness, tearfulness, emptiness or hopelessness”, having “angry outbursts”, being anxious, and having unexplainable physical issues like headaches and muscle pain (“Depression (Major Depressive Disorder)”). Janelia Mould, a self-taught photographer originally from South Africa, photographed a series called “A Girl Called Melancholy – A Story Of Depression”, showing what she, and other people with depression, constantly feel through their journey (Davidson). In Mould’s photographs in this series, the woman wearing the dress has no head, and therefore no face, and usually lacks a limb. Mould states in a blog post that she decided to publish these photographs this way to make sure that her audience, mostly those that have also dealt with depression, can identify with the woman.

Mari Andrew, an author and illustrator who is based in New York, publishes many of her small illustrations on her Instagram account, bymariandrew. Andrew bases most of her illustrations on her own life, and the experiences she has had to go through. In her post on September 17, 2017, she depicts, through an illustration, what she feels like when she is depressed. Many of Andrew’s followers find that her small illustrations, usually with a couple words or sentences, are very easy to relate to.

Both Mould and Andrew are sharing these artworks that they have created in order to spread awareness about depression, which is a very serious mental illness, and can often be dangerous because it is an invisible disability. Mould states in her blog post that the “series’ goal is to bring a voice to those who suffer from [depression]” and to shine light onto the mental illness. It is important to create awareness about disabilities, and especially invisible disabilities, so that people who identify with them do not feel alone.

Work Cited:

Andrew, Mari. bymariandrew. Instagram, 17 Sept. 2017, https://www.instagram.com/p/BZJDgqAAfi3/?taken-by=bymariandrew.

Davidson, Jordan. “Janelia Mould’s Photo Series Captures What Depression Feels Like”, The Mighty, 17 Mar. 2017, https://themighty.com/2017/03/janelia-mould-depression-photo-series-girl-called-melancholy/. Accessed 22 Oct. 2017.

“Depression (Major Depressive Disorder)”, Mayo Clinic, https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/depression/symptoms-causes/syc-20356007. Accessed 22 Oct. 2017.

“Disability.” Merriam-Webster Dictionary, merriam-webster.com, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/disability. Accessed 22 Oct. 2017.

“How Do You Define Invisible Disability?” Invisible Disabilities Association, https://invisibledisabilities.org/what-is-an-invisible-disability/. Accessed 22 Oct. 2017.

“Invisible Disabilities: List & Information” Disability World, 28 Oct. 2015, https://www.umass.edu/studentlife/sites/default/files/documents/pdf/Invisible%20Disabilities%20List%20%26%20Information.pdf. Accessed 22 Oct. 2017.

Mould-Cheeky Ingelosi, Janelia. “My Conceptual Self-Portraits Tell The Story Of Depression”, Bored Panda, Mar. 2017, https://www.boredpanda.com/a-girl-called-melancholy-the-story-of-depression-conceptual-self-portraits/

Stewart, Jessica. “Interview: Photographer Explores Own Depression with Surreal Self-Portraits”, The Modern Met, 10 Mar. 2017, http://mymodernmet.com/janelia-mould-conceptual-photography-depression/. Accessed 22 Oct. 2017.

“A picture is worth a thousand words” is the perfect idiom to describe selfies. Selfies are the most current and instant way for people to communicate where they are, what they are doing, and who they are with to their friends, family, and/or the general public through social media. There are many tips and tricks to creating the ‘best’ selfie, including: bright lighting, filters, virtual stickers and emoticons, and angles. Nevertheless, to represent yourself “perfectly” in a selfie, you need to consider the proper use of your body language.

Your body language has great potential to communicate who you are to others, without you needing to say a word, similar to the contemporary selfie. Body language is a universal, non-verbal language. According to Amy Cuddy, a professor at Harvard Business School, “our non-verbals govern how other people think and feel about us”, meaning that people’s body language is how they are judged by others, especially when they first meet (Cuddy). In her TED Talk, “Your Body Language May Shape Who You Are”, Cuddy states that if you are constantly looking down, crossing your arms and legs, or even have bad posture, people are more likely to view you as less competent, or closed minded. In contrast, if you look up, have good posture, are physically open, and “occupy space”, people will view you in a much more positive and powerful way (Cuddy). Yet, will you also view yourself in a more confident way if you create this open and positive body language? Cuddy explains that yes, in fact, we can create this confidence and empowerment in ourselves through our own body language.

Not only can people create power and confidence by being physically open, but Cuddy explains that people can also fake being confident and/or happy, and still gain a slight momentum of these feelings that they are attempting to feel (Cuddy). After researching this topic more, I came across an article that explains how the idiom “fake it ‘til you make it” works, and why our brain reacts in unique ways to specific forms of body language and facial expressions.

Selfies are a form of “self-representation”, where the subject of the selfie has an opportunity to control their own photograph and it’s outcomes (Douglas 3). Youth who take selfies in “sites of trauma” (for example: a funeral, Ground Zero, or a Holocaust memorial) sometimes have inappropriate body language and facial expressions (Douglas 2). Two examples of this are Eazy E and Katelyn Butler who took selfies in the Pearl Harbour Memorial in Oahu, Hawaii (Douglas 8-10). Perhaps people who act like this in traumatic locations have optimistic body language and smiles to lift their own cheerfulness and spirits?

Work Cited:

“A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words.” Wikipedia, 14 Sept. 2017,

           https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_picture_is_worth_a_thousand_words. Accessed 21 Sept. 2017.

Douglas, Kate. “Youth, trauma, and memorialization: The selfie as witnessing.” Memory Studies 2017,              pp. 1-16.

“Fake It ’Til You Make It.” Wikipedia, 8 Aug. 2017,

            https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fake_it_%27til_you_make_it. Accessed 21 Sept. 2017.

“Neuroscience: ‘Fake It Until You Make It’ Actually Works.” Forbes, 13 Apr. 2016,

            https://www.forbes.com/sites/quora/2016/04/13/neuroscience-fake-it-until-you-make-it-                       actually-works/#36e6d473397a

Van Edwards, Vanessa. “How to Take the Perfect Selfie.” Scienceofpeople,

            https://www.scienceofpeople.com/2015/01/take-perfect-selfie/. Accessed 21 Sept. 2017.

“Your body language may shape who you are | Amy Cuddy.” Youtube, uploaded by TED, 1 Oct. 2012,                   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ks-_Mh1QhMc.