Author: yamelldls

Yamell’s Artist statement

Kamala’s character really relates to my own because, all my life I’ve been dealing with trouble fitting in (and even now I still do). I suffered low self esteem and self-hatred and grew up thinking everything was my fault. This was the reason why I specifically wanted to this project on the topic of fitting in. I didn’t want to do this final project about race or anything like that. I wanted to just tell you about a small part of my life, I don’t really tell others about. I know my drawing wasn’t the best but I don’t want to be graded on the quality of my art but the actual meaning behind it.

My audience would be anyone that relates to our (Kamala and I) problem. Anyone out there that is getting bullied, anyone that thinks they aren’t worth anything. Any group of people that are having a hard time in life because they aren’t easily accepted in society.

The only thing I would want others to take from this is that you aren’t alone, there is always that someone who cares. Things do get better afterwards. You shouldn’t try to fit into these high standards because it’s really not worth it. One day you will look back on these kids and be like “Wow, those kids were really stupid”.

I think my audience will be able to learn from what I have done because it’s pretty straightforward, and a lot of people relate to these problems. What I learned from reading and analyzing this comic is that it’s just like analyzing a book. There are just as many symbols and meanings hidden in a comic as much as there are in a storybook. Comics are also fun to read and I might as well start reading some, myself.

If I had another week, perhaps my drawings would be a lot better and my artist statement would be longer and make more sense. Maybe my project itself would probably be better as well. And I wouldn’t be loosing as much sleep as I am right now.

The expectation, I sent it to you by email. The rough draft, I sent it to Nawal by email.

I am Kamala Khan

In this picture, I drew Kamala in her Ms. Marvel outfit and she’s supposed to be a giant(embiggened) shouting ” I am Kamala Khan!”, with her hands on her hips, all tall and proud. As you can see, there are people at the bottom of her feet cheering her on. In the background, those( in brown) are supposed to be lockers, which means this takes place in a school setting.

I chose to draw this piece because I wanted to talk about her lack of confidence and desire to fit in with others. We know in the comic, Kamala wants to fit in but struggles to, due to her culture, religion, and the complete ignorance of others. She complains in the scene before sneaking off to the party about her being the one who gets signed out of health class, the one with the weird holidays, and everyone else being normal. She even complains about her not having an ordinary name. One of the most popular feelings teenagers in high school experience is feeling they need to fit in with others or they are an outcast. Kamala seems to demonstrate going through this phase because of her desperately wanting to be at parties where there are other people her age, and getting upset when her father says “no”.

Kamala Khan’s family originates from Karachi, Pakistan and in many of those countries like in Pakistan, they have certain values and customs to follow such as loyalty to the family comes first before any other social relationships, having a higher education is valued, and bringing family honor. In Ms. Marvel, you can see some of the customs being practiced such as Kamala’s father suggesting her to stay at home(of course, with her family, instead of going to the party), invite her friend Nakia over and do activities such as HW and watch movies, reminding her what a great student and hard worker her friend Bruno is, where her father grounds and tells her that from now on her life is only school and home (the words school and home are bold in the comic), and probably the best example: When her mother tells her she’s ruining the family, after Kamala is caught sneaking out. Most importantly, in her Islamic religion (and in basically any religion) going out alone with boys (as a young girl), drinking alcohol, and going to such parties is considered sinful. Another reason that is giving Kamala a hard time in society is anyone that is not familiar with the culture. Zoe is portrayed as the stereotypical white girl who keeps on commenting pretty silly things about eastern culture. For example: She refers to the hijab as a headscarf and asks Nakia if she’s being forced to wear it or else she’ll get honor killed. It’s going to be pretty hard to fit in if there are going to be people who keep commenting and treating you as if you don’t belong in this planet.

In this illustration, I purposefully drew Ms. Marvel saying “I am Kamala Khan!” in her embiggened state because to me this depicts her as confident, which is something she lacks and wished she had. I think it would make more sense if she was in her Ms. Marvel costume and as a giant because it would create a better understanding of the confidence I referring to in the drawing. At the bottom, those hands represent her schoolmates. They are shouting encouraging things at her. They see her as something big and amazing. They are looking up to her which is something she wants from them. Based on what I see in the comic, people tease her because of the fact she can’t do the things they get to do and she wishes instead of them looking down on her, they looked at her as cool. I decided to take the setting to her high school. In your high school years, those are the years where you feel peer pressure and a necessity to be like the rest. Unfortunately, you’ll experience exclusion and isolation if you aren’t like the rest. Many grow to hate themselves for not fitting in and lose confidence. Kamala definitely has no love and confidence in herself because not only does she complain about certain things but she tells Carol Danvers how she wants to be awesome and buttkicking her when she encounters the superheros, the night she discovers her powers. She wants to be her.

Pre-draft for assignment 3

What I learned on Monday has actually had such a great impact on me that I actually started planning and sketching my own comic. It’s just a comic I’m doing for fun. I learned that there are different types of genres you can write, whether it’s superhero based, a mystery, or a story based on the author’s life (like I did). I also learned there are many ways you can start writing comics, whether it’s by writing the script or drawing the characters first. Another thing is that writing comics is difficult for me because I sometimes I have no clue what do write or draw, so I get inspiration from my life. For the third assignment, I’m actually thinking of drawing a comic of my favorite scene and describing it. The unique part about this is that when you draw something you will always find a bunch of meanings in the picture, so maybe looking at the picture alone will allow me to see something and learn from it. I’m just really excited about showing a side of me that I don’t really show often to others because I never get the chance to. Hopefully, I’ll get a good grade on this assignment.

It’s not always the student’s fault…

Stress is a typical complaint you hear within college students today. College is the time of lot’s of decision making, responsibilities, and best of all–hard classes. Typically, college classes give a lot of assignments with too little time to turn them in. Many students have terrible time management skills and leave things for the last minute resulting in distress(Robotham,2008). Or some students may just not have time at all(some students have jobs!) and end up even missing out on sleep which can reduce their ability to deal with an increase of stress. Students are often pressured into getting very good grades, or else they won’t get into a good graduate program! And this is where the fear of failure comes into play, it becomes so scary that it causes unnecessary emotional and physical distress(Robotham,2008). Another great factor to stress is the transitioning to college. Many will leaving home, be forced to have their own responsibilities (which some may believe they aren’t ready to take on), leave important people which can lead to social and personal issues (Robotham, 2008). Last but not least, the problem most college students face–financial issues. Students take part time jobs to be able to keep paying tuition. Some colleges are very expensive and some students have to work harder than others, depending on their family status in order to stay in college. Stress as a whole can have it’s good effects because, stress enables you to act effectively in an emergency but it mostly has it’s negative effects: Students with stress often feel negative feelings such as guilt, anger, anxiety, worry, they can lose or gain weight, they can harm themselves or others, and even turn to things like smoking or alcohol.

Alcohol absolutely has a big impact on stress because some tend to increase their consumption of alcohol as an outcome (Robotham, 2008). In a survey, it concluded that nearly one fourth of the students reported that they did poorly on a test/project due to alcohol and drugs. Another interesting study shows a correlation between drinks per week and grades: Those that drink about 3 drinks per week are “A” students, those that drink about 5, are typically “B” students, those that drink about 6 are “C” students and the more that is consumed the more the grades seem to drop even more (Journal of college counseling, 2002).

In Intersections, Alex seems to have an alcohol addiction. At the beginning of the play, he is described to be working on HW and drinking a beer. Alex then begins to tell his sister (Louisa) about his struggles in school, that taking six classes is overwhelming for him. Alex wants Louisa to understand that this is not what he wants to do but Louisa insists he finishes the semester because his family has been paying tuition for him in order for him to finish and help the family out financially. They seem to be a struggling Hispanic family (Alex and Louisa say a couple of Spanish terms which indicates they are Spanish speakers) that is making their children work and go to school to bring stability to the family. Majority of hispanic immigrants come into this country struggling and looking for jobs in order to live a better life than they did in their native country. Louisa proceeds to complain about Alex drinking everyday and that’s when he admits he drinks because he’s not happy, he says he’s stressed. Just like it’s been said before, some students turn to things such as Alcohol abuse when they are stressed out and Alex seems to be one of them. Alex is struggling in school which could be a combination stress and alcohol consumption.

Citations used:
Robotham, David. Stress among higher education students: towards a research agenda. Vol. 56, Springer Science+business Media B.V., 2008, pp. 737-41, file:///Users/a/Downloads/Stress_among_higher_education.PDF. Accessed 7 May 2017.

Sullivan, Michael, and Ed Risler. Understanding college alcohol abuse and academic performance: selecting appropriate intervention strategies. Vol. 5.2 , Journal of College counseling, 2002. Accessed 7 May 2017.

I emailed you the expectation and the people that I peer reviewed were Moe, Naja, and Nawal.

My audience reading this are mainly college students and possibly some who drink and do drugs because of stress. One thing I would want them to know before reading this is I didn’t mean this towards all college students, I understand not all of them drink and do drugs. Also, I do understand that it’s not always the student’s fault if they do bad in school, it just could be they are dealing with a bigger problem that’s affecting their studies and they often have trouble finding anyone that can help out. To anyone who is dealing with drug abuse, alcohol abuse or just stress, the only thing I would want you to know is that you are not alone, many people out there are dealing with the same issue. Stress is difficult and the only thing I would like you to get out of this essay is to get help if you need it. Speak up about it because there is nothing to be ashamed about; Stress is a logical reason to why you would turn to these things, I understand the pressure to do well and be at the top of your class is great, and I also have a hard time trusting people when I tell them about these issues. You can turn to resources such as your school’s wellness center or any community counseling that helps you with addiction, if you don’t feel comfortable telling anyone. I’m sure anyone can see where I’m getting at because every time you see an addiction commercial or TV show that had an episode based on this you would expect a message after the credits that goes something like this: Do you know someone that has an addiction? call this number at 1(800)-Addiction Hotline Anyone would probably make an inference that the person writing this would want them to get at least some help. This essay was pretty self-explanatory so I think everything I put on here, anyone else writing about this same topic probably has down on their paper. There was this one part where I incorporated this study that if you drink about 3 cups a week you are most likely an A student… I mean, I did not know this and probably a lot of people don’t know his either so it’s probably the most unique I have gone.

I learned that stress can affect you a lot in school performance and the more you drink the worst your grades can get. One thing that helped me to write this essay was the comments of my peers and professor, and seeing other people’s POV in their essays. The only I can say about this research was that, this wasn’t so bad and the articles weren’t boring this time. If I had another week to work on this paper, I would have tied it in even more to the play. I would have talked more about the play. The last thing I would like to tell my audience before they dive into the play is I hope you can understand to where I’m getting at.

Assignment draft #2

Stress is a typical complaint you hear from college students. College is a time of lots of decision making, responsibilities, and the best one of all–hard classes. Causes being these hard classes give too little time to turn in assignments, transitioning to colleges, financial issues, etc. Stress is a tough feeling and of course, has its effects such as slacking, memory problems, or even more serious: Anxiety, depression, insomnia, autoimmunity diseases. Approximately every college has some sort of wellness center in which students can come in and speak to someone and get tips on how to overcome it. There are many great strategies and therapies to turn to if you are stressed, unfortunately, many turn to drugs and alcohol which is pretty harmful to the body. Addiction can also cause relationship problems within friends, family, and relationships. In the play Intersections Alex appears to have an alcohol addiction.

Louisa: Pursuing an art degree is never going to make any money around here. You know what. You agreed to this. Are you thinking clearly? With this cerveza? Every night? Cabron, eres un borracho asqueroso

Alex: I’m not a drunk

Louisa: You drink it every day…every day

Alex: Whatever

Louisa: I understand maybe on the weekends but every day?

Alex: I’m stressed out! Ok? I’m not happy. I don’t want to waste my time anymore. This is NOT what I want to do.

Louisa speaks to Alex about his alcohol addiction. She reminds him he drinks beer every night and finishes up by calling him a disgusting drunk. He later admits it’s because of stress. Alex is currently stressed out about school, he feels a lot of pressure from his family to finish college and do something he doesn’t want to do. In one part he also says he is taking 6 classes, which any college student would say is overwhelming.

Alex : I’m taking six classes. It’s a lot.

Just like it has been said before, lots of students turn to alcohol and drugs to cope with stress and Alex seems to be one of them.

I’m obviously not finished with this yet but here is the article I’ve used for this:

Robotham, David. “Stress among Higher Education Students: Towards a Research Agenda.” Higher Education, vol. 56, no. 6, 2008, pp. 735–746., www.jstor.org/stable/40269100.Copy
APA

My questions are:
1- Does this make sense so far?
2-What could I change in this?
3-Is it boring to read?
4- Any topic I could write about instead?
5-Any other suggestion/things I left out?

Pre-draft for assignment 2

The research that I think was used for the play Intersections was probably real life examples from the writers who wrote this play. Ever since I got a copy of the play, I automatically assumed this play was based off the lives of the actors and the writers put together, plus the things you hear on the news these days. Researching will only help you discover new things, so, researching topics relevant to Intersections will lead me to find out more about the meaning of the play. Maybe this would help reveal any hidden symbols in the play,as well? Since this is a play that pertains to real life, very recent, current America, you may want to look at news articles, listen to political speeches, read books about today’s society issues, or simply ask any struggling family about their experiences in America. The only thing I can say about Intersections, is that none of what’s happening there are new to me. Everything on intersections you would hear on the news or hear from a friend. Maybe you are going through what one of the characters are going through. Research to me means reading tons of boring articles, having an argument and defending them with quotes from what you have read, using MLA format. You are also learning from this task. This should be guided by questions you come up with and an understanding of the topic(which already motivates me).

Problems of being a mixed kid

“You’re too dark”, “I don’t feel safe next to you on an airplane”, “You need to get back to the other side of the border, you drug dealer…” are phrases we still hear today. America has progressed drastically in the last 60 years. However, the issue of race and ethnicity is evidently visible in our society. Racial tension remains alive and well even there being anti-prejudice laws. Now, it’s not only about one particular group; We have a total of 196 countries in today’s world and hundreds of distinct ethnic groups, which means in certain countries, certain races don’t get along with one another. For example, my Bengali friend informed me that Pakistan and India don’t get along with one another because of the issue with Kashmir, and there being a lot of racism and stereotypes of each other. Religion also plays a role in tension between countries. Racial tension is still a sensitive topic to touch upon, and America is still working on ways to bring peace and equality for everyone. Another problem related to racism would be the struggles of being mixed race. I do not identify as bi-racial, but from listening to other’s experiences, I at least have an idea of what it’s like to be mixed. Two major problems bi-racial people have is, they don’t know what they are and feel like they belong nowhere. According to many studies, mixed people have a high risk of suffering from mental health problems because they are unhappy with being mixed. An example of a work of literature that is relevant to identifying with 2 or more races is “Brown boy, White boy” recited by Jonathan Mendoza. Mendoza describes his state of being privileged and non-privileged at the same time.

“Brown Boy, White Boy” is a spoken word piece recited by Jonathan Mendoza. Mendoza tells us about his feelings about being White and Mexican at the same time and it being a struggle because he doesn’t know what he is. He doesn’t want to speak up for one side nor does he want to remain quiet for the other, he feels like he should identify with what he looks on the outside but doesn’t want to erase what else is in his blood, he’s is confused, and seems to be in the middle of an identity crisis. He is left feeling confused about whether he should speak up for his brown side or prevent his white side from taking his brown side’s spotlight. He explains this in the third stanza where he says “White boy does not want to infiltrate safe space for people of color brown boy does not want to keep white people from having honest constructive dialogue”. What he is trying to ask us is, should he stand up for his brown unprivileged side or remain quiet because he doesn’t want his privileged white self to take away the rights of his colored side? He wants to help his brown side gain more privilege but also stay true to his opinions about his white side. Mendoza feels confused a lot of the times about who he is, which goes back to what was said earlier about one of the problems mixed people have with being mixed. He states “Biracial boy does not know what he recalls is posting a survey on facebook in middle school asking how people categorized him that will determine his clothes his music how he spoke…” Mendoza doesn’t know what he is or who to identify with. One of the problems multiethnic people have is they do not know how to identify and people try to identify for them, based on what they look like on the outside. I feel like what he said about posting a survey on facebook was his way of seeking others to help him identify who he is, based on his interests. Perhaps, that would give him more comfort about being a mix.

Earlier, it is mentioned that mixed people not only feel like they can’t identify with any of their sides but also, they feel like they don’t belong anywhere. Mendoza tells us that he cannot join an affinity group because he can’t defend his brown side because he would be infiltrating safe space for the colored. He feels too white to be in Mexico with his family. He says “White boy represents family in Mexico realizes he’s the whitest intruder since the conquistadores”. Another place where we can see that he feels like he does not belong anywhere is in the next line where he says “bi-racial boy is not welcomed everywhere”, which is self-explanatory. Mixed people don’t feel appreciated by others. They are either too this to be with this race, or too that to be with the other, so often they feel they should be isolated from others. He feels he’s in a constant tug of war, trying to fit in with both races.

Throughout the poem, I can tell Mendoza is not feeling happy about being mixed because he not only does it show through words, but he shows it through his facial expressions, tone of voice and body language. Mendoza, first off, doesn’t smile once while reciting the poem. There is nothing funny about being confused about what to identify with. He is serious the whole time and if you study his face, he demonstrates a lot of strong facial expressions( it could be from talking loud but it can also be from him emphasizing his feelings about being mixed race), but mostly you see the confusion. You can read a puzzled look on his face almost always, especially, when he’s comparing both sides of his family and referencing back to “Bi-racial boy,” there is also a sense of helplessness all over his face towards the end where he says “…Bi-racial boy cannot hold himself together and is being divided into two different cells because it’s the world that made him this way”. What about his body language? He is centered in the middle majority of the time, but when he is talking about one side, he shifts/faces either side. If you mute the poem while playing it, you can almost tell who he is talking about whether it’s white boy, brown boy, or bi-racial boy. When he is talking about “white boy” he seems to be speaking more confident, opposed to his “brown boy” who pipes down a bit when talking. Bi-racial on the other hand, he stands in the middle while doing this balance motion with both hands, he shrugs, he points to both directions one at a time, and he makes this tug-of-war motion with the hands towards the fifth to last sentence. His voice also tells us a lot about what he feels in “Brown boy, White boy”. Mendoza is practically yelling in hopelessness and frustration in the middle of the poem and on. I am not bi-racial but the emotions that he portrayed helped me understand a lot more, his pain of being someone of mixed race.

Reflection:
1- What I learned while doing this project is while researching information for the project is there are 196 contries in this world and that Taiwan is not considered one by many, narrowing it down to 195, I learned a bit about the Kashmir conflict between Pakistan and India. The things I learned were all things I’ve researched for this essay.
2- There wasn’t really anything about this poem that I didn’t learn nor when I was researching but one question I would have for the person who recited this poem would be.
3-I can use what I learned in future references when I do something that has to do with racism.
4-The format helps bring out your opinion and help analyze the work better than anything else.
5-Maybe if I had more time, I would have organized this essay better, and looked for ways to narrow this essay down to 600 words because I know I went past the limit.

The people I reviewed their works are Amina and Adrien’s. And expectation was emailed. And the articles I used to say that mixed people have a higher risk of suffering mental health issues
– http://whitegenocideproject.com/study-mixed-race-people-have-identity-problems/
-https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1448064/

Rough draft for assignment 1

“You’re too dark”, “I don’t feel safe next to you on an airplane”, “you need to get back to the other side of the border, you drug dealer…” Are words and phrases we hear even today. Race and Ethnicity is a topic that is still alive and well in the 21st century; even with anti-prejudice laws, racial tension is still trending. There is no way to escape it because it’s everywhere; it’s not only about one group, there’s also racial tension in the middle east, there is tension that has to do with religion. Also in today’s culture, if you’re not a certain shade of skin tone, if your eyes aren’t light, they aren’t “pretty”. Straight hair is considered “good hair”. Today, the races seem to be separated from each other and even today we are still seeking peace within us. Another subject that is related to race is that some people don’t know what to identify with. Some people feel like they don’t belong anywhere, they are either too *insert race* to be with blank or too this to be with another group of people which is why they feel left out. In “Brown boy, White boy” performed by Jonathan Mendoza, he goes into detail describing the struggles of being a biracial boy; Someone who is caught in the middle of being a privileged white boy and being a brown boy who is not as privileged. One would assume at one point, he hated either one or both his roots because one root sort of ends up canceling on the other, just like at one point he says that he could speak up but doesn’t want to because he understands being half white, he has all the privilege Meanwhile he also feels like he can’t speak up because his brown side is not as privileged. Also, he can’t join any white or colored group because he would feel like if joining the whites, he’s infiltrating safe space for people of color. Mendoza describes his white privilege by being able to go to Arizona and feel safe, identify with his white side so he wouldn’t go through struggles as a person of color. He describes his colored side as a less privileged, the “I have to help this side of me that doesn’t have as much as a voice” type of tone to it. He’s feeling like he’s caught up in a game of tug-of-war and people try to identify him by his interests and how he dresses.

In the poem, “Brown boy, White boy”, Jonathan Mendoza demonstrates a lot of emotion while reciting it, which got his audience on the right page as him, he tends to use imagery to get us a better description of what he is saying. Even though I don’t know what it’s like to be mixed, he was able to get me feeling what a biracial feels on a daily basis. I was able to understand a little what it feels like to have to be stuck in the middle, have others try to identify who I am and feel guilty for being privileged and unprivileged, at the same time.

My questions are: 1- Does this make sense? 2- Am I too detailed, especially in the intro? 3- Should I use more real life examples or imagery? 4-Was my essay boring to read?(If it was, what can I do to fix that?) 5- Do you think I should stick to the idea of doing an essay for this?(If not, what other suggestion do you have?)

Assignment 1 Pre-draft

When you think of writing an essay, you usually think of stating your opinion and views on a subject. I think writing a simple essay will allow you not only to write your views on something but you’re also relating it to something that happened in your lifetime, which can give us an even clearer understanding on what the poem is trying to say. The only thing I believe is unique about the format I’m using is that I will be incorporating my opinion(my own and no one else’s) and experiences relating to the spoken work poem that I have chosen to work on and to me I feel like if you can connect it to a personal story, that means you dug deep into the poem and learned a good amount about what the poem is telling you. Asking yourself more and more questions while writing your essay will allow you to learn more about the poem.

I’ve said before that one of the things I enjoy about writing is that I love expressing myself because I usually have a lot to say. I love writing my views and sharing stories that are relevant to the topic, so if anything, I’m more excited about working on this project than being concerned about it. The poem I am planning on doing for assignment 1 will be “Dear Mum” because that’s really the poem I relate to the most. The only questions I have about it are, What was the writer thinking/feeling when writing this poem? Did his mother pass away and was this poem dedicated to her? I would just like to analyze the relationship between the mother and son, was their relationship good or bad?