dear bones that bang in funny ways

I know this is coming late on the blog, and I already had my little thank you speech during section last week. But I want to take this moment, once again, to remind all of you how much you really touch me. It's an inspiration when I come in each week to hear your voices, strong and passionate, ready to be vulnerable and trusting of strangers. It's surprising how much we've all grown throughout this semester with each other, every week, as we pull out more and more stories that we thought we'd never share. Or at least, that's how I felt. I am truly thankful for having you all in section, because I love the feeling of community, free of judgment and full of support. You know you've got some awesome folks around when they can make you (without even trying) take your heart out and throw it to ground saying "here it is, torn and tainted, tattered and fucked," and then tell you they accept you for who you are anyway. That's exactly what you all made me do through my poetry. I love coming in every week, catching myself smiling at the sight of every person. And one of my favorite things is catching myself smiling unexpectedly. So I thank you for that a thousand times over.(:

let your heart
hang at your sleeve
when you walk into
section
each week
ready to shake hearts
like mine
with words
of bravery
another side
to you
because my eyes
cannot see
pass the skin
underneath bones
that protect
your secrets
connect me

to your struggle

bang your funny bone

with mine

and whisper

what you thought

you could never write

for that,

thank you.

Love,

em

I really had trouble trying to come up with ways to express myself on the idea of "mixed race" until I read Nyri's blog.

Like Nyri's family, mine are not really supportive of dating outside of my ethnicity. Growing up, my parents always told me I could only date a Vietnamese. The older I got, the more I began to understand why my parents wanted this; a huge problem was the language barrier that they would have if I were to bring home someone who couldn't speak Vietnamese. I've seen this problem occur when I brought home friends in which my parents would have to work hard in trying to communicate with them.

And when I started dating a guy who was "mixed race," my parents stirred up a storm. Because our family is very religious as well, I tried to come up with a way to convince him that he was a good guy, despite his nationality that was "not good enough" for them. My argument with them was this: being a certain nationality is not a choice. But he was catholic, and that was a choice. He was also a hard working student, which was also his choice.

It brought my mom, at least, to see things in a new light. But after this "debate" I had with them, it really stuck with me, because it made me realize how ridiculous it is that race plays such a huge factor in society, especially when being a certain "color" is not a choice we were born with. It determines how you are treated and seen, despite the way you were raised. For example, being Asian, I am expected to fall into the stereotype of being extra smart in math, yet I struggle with it and had to go to tutoring classes in order to keep up with the rigorous coursework we were given in high school. Another thing would be the expectation of knowing my language, yet I struggle everyday to formulate my thoughts in Vietnamese in order to express myself fully around those who have trouble understanding English.

Race, overall, has become this unnecessary "thing" (lack of a better word) that influences the way society thinks immensely. Your comfort zone lies, in my opinion, with people who understand you better, which is often times those who know about your culture, which is often times those who also grew up with the same culture. That is why I have come to be very supportive of the "step out of your comfort zone" concept; I try to do that in order for others to do it too.

I don't know exactly where I'm going at with this, but that's just my thoughts on the perception of race. More specifically, mixed race is a whole different story, because those who identify with more than one race are caught in trying to find balance between the two (or three, or four, etc.). What tends to happen, though, is that the person begins to identify more with one "identity" than the other, and in all honesty, it just goes back to how you were raised. Sometimes, one does not even need to "be" a certain ethnicity/nationality/race, in order to identify with it.

For example, I have a friend who goes to Berkeley. He's half Vietnamese and half White, but is heavily involved in the Filipino community on campus simply because he finds his own identity there. What's wrong with that, right?

In the end, I don't think it matters what you "start out with," but rather, it's what you decide to do with what you have. Okay, now I'm just going everywhere, and the reason why is perhaps because this topic of "mixed race" is so broad; when someone talks about being mixed race, I always question if they identify with one more than the other, and the answer is usually yes. It all goes back to how one was brought up, I guess. (:

my borderlands

I'M HELLA LATE ON THIS, BUT BLOGSPOT WASN'T WORKING YESTERDAY. ):

living in the borderlands between

individuality and

family means

negotiating the space between

shiny steel jewelry/inked body and

traditional vietnamese ao dai dresses

clashing together values

but finding balance

between being my own person

and being a part of a family

living in the borderlands means compromise

Bangin' Funny Bones love love love!

Hey my favorite section in the whole wide world! I wanted to let ya'll know that you all have made this one of my favorite semesters. I look forward to class every Wednesday because of you all. Everyone is so amazing, and I really appreciate the safe space that we've created for everyone. Thank you for all the support, smiles, laughter, honesty, and love! I'm going to miss you all very much so please keep in touch! Stay amazing, everyone!

Words connect us like a jigsaw puzzle,
different sizes,
different backgrounds,
different stories,
but
each piece
integral
to the whole.

Each of us
planted firmly on the ground,
watered with love every week,
blossoming into flowers,
to share our pollen of poetry
with the world.

Love y'all!

Hello hello! I want to really emphasize again how much I appreciate all of you. I actually feel like I'm leaving this class with some pretty good friends :) All of your abilities to be so honest and willing to share has inspired me to be more of an open person and to take those chances. Thanks everyone!

Here is a cliche poem gone P4P....

Roses are red.

Their petals molded precisely to hug the folds of my heart,

Their extract giving life to my veins

Rushing through my body to make me feel

Alive

The sting of Pain

The rush of Adrenaline

The pounding of Fear.

You gave me a Rose.

Violets are blue.

Their petals mimicking the fluff of clouds

Light and often

Over-looked.

The comfort of falling

Hard

onto a Soft pillow

Spiky cool grass

Tangles and tangles of cool Sheets.

You gave me a Violet.

Roses are Red

Violets are Blue

You gave me one of each

I could never forget you.

Unfortunately it wasn't Paridise

Sooo i forgot to do this post. Mainly because i didn't really get a lot of his poetry, but i did like the sound of it. It seemed so different and interesting i just didn't understand it. I did understand that he was in pain from the loss of his homeland as he knew it. Rolled and bull dozed into something he can no longer recognize, but thats about as far as i get. The one that i enjoyed the most was "the hoopoe", it was on the longer side, but i like how he would define word with the word, or describe a word with the same word. For instance, "seek Him to find Him in Himself. He is within himself," or "in the city you didn't find the city". He also continue to bright up the theme and title of the hoopoe which is a beautiful looking bird with interested color pastern and has a crownlike feather collection on its head. He described the bird and then his people as birds, but unable to fly. It made me think of a caged bird and its longing to spread its wings. Stylistically it was distinctly different and it was also longer than the other poems.

In his other poem, "in this hymn" it merely 14 lines long where as the other was like 14 pages. He keeps the theme of the book about his and his people's longing for home as they knew it. I feel like in his poems their are too many references to things that are too unfamiliar and unknown to me. For instance, "What will the invaders say? We conquered the cloud speaking in august" This leaves me confused, but i feel like its referring to a past event. Like maybe Israel took a significant chunk of Palestinian land and had a speech about it in august. I don't know. He also talks about having a key to the last door and being victorious, but only in dreams, which is a little more understandable. He is home and victorious only in his sleep. So overall i did like this poem, but there was too much that i didn't understand to really enjoy the book.

Dearest of the Dear the End is Near

Hey Funny Bone Bangers. I know that i'm really going to miss you all. Thank you for all your love and support, I really appreciate the safe place that you all created so that i was able to share and realize things that i didn't even know myself. I loved getting to know you and I know that next semester i'm going to really wish i had place, a shared space, where i can hear you all express yourself and i can express myself.

Connie- Thank you for all the amazing insight into our selves and poetry itself that you have given us. You made our section what it is... The best! you rock
Josephine- Thank you for your awesome insight, between you and connie you are what made our section what it is... the best! Thank you
Durwin- thank you for your awesome and creative poems, presented with your amazing storytelling voice
Julliana- thank you for your beautiful poems and that would paint these pictures of places we've never seen with your different perspective
Wendy- The seasoned poet, thank you for bringing your experience and wisdom. I loved your poems and your bright happy quirkyness
Emily- thank you for your different perspectives, and your sharing. Your poems were awe inspiring.
Isabelle- Thank you for the environmental dynamic that you brought, and the different styles you brought. Also thank you for helping me not be the only stoned one on 4/20 haha : )
Chase- Thank you for the simplicity and cheer that you brought in your poems. Hearing about hippies or trees and the forest, they were always good and lightened the mood. And when you wrote about something dark it always awesome.
Nyri- "the narly amazing and beautiful" thanks for dreaming up all the amazing scenes and imagery you did for us. I loved your poetry

To be real I loved all your poetry and all your poems, thanks for the lovely semester master poets!

with love,
Scott