AAS 345 OL - Contemporary Asian American Issues
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| extra credit, The story of Vinh | |||
| (Friday, 16 May 2008) Written by sungbok lee | |||
| Sungbok Lee AAS 345 OL Dr. Ropp Extra Credit 05-14-08 “The Story of Vinh” The documentary film “The Story of Vinh” is about personal experience of Vinh, an Amerasian, in America. The film shows the difficulties that many immigrants in America might experience. Amerasian refers a person born in Asia , to a U.S. military father and an Asian mother. Amerasian commonly indicates the children of America’s Viet Nam War. Since their non-Vietnamese appearance, they are rejected by Vietnamese society and isolated by their peers as well. In Viet Nam, all most all of Amerasians is denied to have basic civil right such as to have basic education. Their life is miserable and there is no future, so they often escape to near countries. Under the Communist regime, the government considers them as “children of the enemy”, so they were badly mistreated. Considering those America’s children left behind in Vietnam, U.S. Congress passed the Homecoming Act in 1987 and many of Amerasians have moved in America and Vinh Dinh, was one of them. The documentary “The Story of Vinh” was produced by following Vinh for several years how one young man’s hope for a better life is systemically destroyed by disillusionment, poverty and crime . Since Vinh could not speak English at all he had hard time to be with foster’s family when he was placed two foster parents’ houses. He also broke the rules of a group house, and he got kick out to street. Since there was no one who supported him, he survived himself. He stolen a purse or food, and he was arrested. He was put into fail, but he said that the jail was good for him because he did not need to worry about how to live any more. Through Vinh’s experience, I learn that how the immigrants’ lives are going to be in America if they are faced identity crisis. In fact, all most all of immigrants experience identity crisis when they moved to America. For the Amerasians, perhaps, their hardships to find their true identity and social acceptance might be more than any others because of their appearance. In America, the Amerasians do not feel better than they felt in Vietnam. In Vietnam, they were Amerasians, but in America, they were Vietnamese. The same way as in Vietnam, Amerasians have no place to go in this world. As Amerasians, so Asians are considered as a forever aliens who are rejected by society. I can connect the film “The Story of Vinh” to discrimination issue that is occurring everyday in American society. In this film, I can see that Amerasians are caught between the two worlds but are excluded from both sides. They become once again wandering in a different homeland. As Ameasians, many of immigrants including have been largely ignored by American society. | |||
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| Special Spring Session | |||
| (Thursday, 08 May 2008) Written by Steven Ropp | |||
| If you liked this course, please recommend it! I'm teaching it for the upcoming Special Spring Session from May 20th through June 26th. Here's the relevant information: Subject and Catalog No.: AAS 345 OL Term: Spring Semester 2008 Session: Special Spring Session Class #: 18690, Special Spring Session Dates: May 20th - June 26th, 2008 GE Course: Fulfills F.3, Comparative Cultural Studies For more information about the new Spring Special Session or any questions about enrollment, please contanct the College of Extended Learning, Matador Bookstore Complex, Room 100, 818-677-2504. I usually don't have any problem filling up the course but this time around, wow, I need as much help as I can get. It may seem strange but you actually need to chose Spring Semester 2008 in SOLAR and then chose Special Spring Session. Most students don't know about this new "spring special session" and there was a problem with SOLAR where students couldn't register even if they wanted to, up until about 2-3 weeks ago, so if you know of ANYONE who might be interested or need this course, please pass this information along to them. Much thanks, Prof. Ropp | |||
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| Extra Credit | |||
| (Thursday, 08 May 2008) Written by Steven Ropp | |||
| I totally forgot to move this over from the old website but basically, here's my extra credit policy. Keep in mind that extra credit is not a safety net for slackers. It can however help if you did poorly on an assignment or two or if you are concerned about a borderline overall grade. There are three ways to earn extra credit, 1). Read and write a 300-500 word review of a book, article, documentary or movie related to the class, 2). Attend an Asian American related event and write a short (300-500 words) report, or 3). Volunteer (at least five hours) at an event or organization that works with directly with Asian Americans or in an area of social and racial justice. Each of these is worth 2.5 points and a maximum of 5 points can be earned. In your write up, which you can post on your blog, should answer three questions: 1) what was the event, book, etc. about? 2) what did you learn, and 3) what is the connection to the class. Send me an email to alert me that you've posted it on your blog. | |||
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