The Book Sequel, Bakit Baligtad Magbasa ng Libro ang mga Pilipino? by Bob Ong

In the essay, “How to Tame a Wild Tongue,” Gloria Anzaldua uses her voice to speak about social and cultural difficulties Chicanos face. Her voice comes from many years of struggling to identify herself within society. She brings to light many issues, including sexism and racism. I think she is writing to give others a voice, who face similar challenges. Anzaldua writes about her experiences through many different voices including Spanish, White, Indian, woman, and feminist.

The Filipino people value family, religion, selflessness and a hard work ethic. The culture of the Philippines is very family orientated, and the people value their Catholic religion above anything else. For the Experimental Learning Project, I interviewed Clavel Wells and she was born in the Philippines. She was fortunate enough to have grown up in a household that did not face extreme poverty, although that did not take away from her hard work ethic. Growing up in the Phillipines, everyone worked in the household to support the family. That has transpired into her life in America, and now she regularly works hard as her role as an LPN. She ensures to respect everyone she cares for, regardless of their cultural

The Brief Wondrous Life Of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz is an enthralling novel about a young Dominican boy, named Oscar, who is growing up in a New Jersey ghetto. Oscar is an overweight nerd who is constantly getting attracted to any pretty girl he lays his eyes on. Unfortunately for him, Oscar isn’t just overweight, he’s tragically overweight. However, Oscar’s real true love is writing. He absolutely loves writing, and is always creating stories when he is not playing his “geeky” video games. Oscar’s goal is to become a famous and accomplished writer, so he dedicates most of his time to writing. The Brief Wondrous Life Of Oscar Wao follows his family’s journey from the Dominican Republic to the United States, and Oscar’s valiant attempts to find love.

The most important tone in “Piedra” by Gary Soto is blissfulness. Gary Soto’s ear drums flushed with a “roar of water” as he turns the corner to the river. He’s playing “games” while being scolded by fishermen to quiet down. As the essay comes to an end Soto is joyfully lying on grass, his body is covered by the beams of the sun, his mind is completely shut off to the world his problems have no meaning here, and he wishes he could lie under the “sunlight” forever.

Writers are people of great influence; they write for many reasons including to inform, express an emotion, or even to persuade. With skill in rhetoric, writers may have the power to convince readers to succumb to their beliefs. In the novel The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, Junot Díaz displays this great influential power of a writer and compares it with the ideas of dictatorship. Díaz uses two types of dictators in the book: a Dominican dictator named Rafael Trujillo and the narrator of the story, Yunior. Both hold a similar dictatorial power over groups of people whether they are citizens of a country or readers of a novel; writers can dictate what they wish their readers to know, just as dictators of a country can divulge or withhold any information they wish their citizens to know. The character Yunior, a friend of the de León-Cabral family, narrates the stories of the family’s lives to give an account of the effects Trujillo and the curse of the fukú had on them. Through his account of their life stories, Yunior uses his writing to counter Trujillo’s power creating his own counterspell, or zafa, to reduce the negative effects of the fukú. Yunior serves as a dictator by writing the book as a zafa through withholding information from readers and degrading Trujillo in the story, all while displaying the problems of a dictatorial voice.

There are numerous personality tests that claim they are able to determine who a person is. While taking these tests, most people feel they identify with more than one answer. However, since they can only choose one answer, people think these tests are inaccurate and pointless. The personality tests try to put people into boxes and subvert the complexity of a human being. This slight frustration people obtain from these tests is how multiethnic people feel all the time. They do not know whether they should be one ethnicity or the other, so they become lost in the stereotypes. In the American society, multiethnic people continuously struggle psychologically to determine their identity, to keep their cultural values, and to still call themselves

In popular culture and mainstream media, women are often portrayed as overtly sexual objects that are obligated to entertain the idea of patriarchy. The strong outward appearances and characteristics of women in The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz are deceiving, as they do not reveal their powerlessness against men. Throughout the entire book, women are described and seen as sexual objects through the eyes of Yunior, Oscar, and various other men. In the first chapter, Oscar and his peers treat women like they are disposable, despite their desire and need for them. This negative trend is reinforced in the next two chapters, as the narrators shamelessly describe women by emphasizing their feminine traits whilst simultaneously displaying the idea of male dominance. In addition, strong-willed women like Beli and Lola refuse to succumb to such lustful treatment, but when they are tempted with the fantasy of true love, they immediately lose their strength and surrender. In the last few chapters, these ideas are further reinforced through the sexual desire that Oscar possesses. He meets Ybon, a prostitute with a boyfriend, and immediately falls in love. Ybon is committed to her boyfriend, but because of the way she is seen in a patriarchal system, she gives in to the forbidden love that Oscar offers. No matter how strong these women were within the story, they always let the men have their way. In the end, Oscar dies because of his uncontrollable desire for love. The

Adoring Father, loving husband, and a hard working man. These are just a few words that describe Efrain Rodríguez.

On an ordinary Saturday afternoon, my sister and I made our way to 1st St. and Central Ave. from a failed attempt at another left-to-be-unnamed cultural epicenter, which was a very disappointing trip. Little Tokyo proved to be quite the opposite, as I was able to ascertain a much deeper understanding of the Japanese culture because of it, and at the same time was able to reflect on the differences and similarities of my Filipino heritage. From what I was able to gather, the Japanese and Filipino cultures have quite a few significant differences, but have more similarities than I originally anticipated.

“Being defeated is often a temporary condition. Giving up is what makes it permanent” (Marilyn vos Savant). Within the short text “How to Tame a Wild Tongue,” this idea is explored in numerous ways as the various groups of people attempt to gain more rights within their community and society as a whole. They come to the realization that the ways in which they are treated is in an unjust manner. Others treated them as if they are insignificant and powerless. Therefore, in Gloria Anzaldua’s “How to Tame a Wild Tongue,” she confronts how many Hispanic minorities, especially women, are marginalized within society by showcasing many of the difficult obstacles these groups face, and how they attempt to overcome them.

The Language of our Time Language, spoken or written, is a form of human communication consisting of the use of words in a conventional and structured way. The language of our birth, the language of everyone’s first words, creates a powerful bond and shapes an individual’s perception of the world. And yet, only few people truly understand the effects a language can have on others or the extent a language can manipulate people through their state of mind. Language can help define the identity of an individual. It shapes a person’s mind based on their past and helps people into the future.

When my step mother and I first walked into the VFW we were automatically surrounded by Filipino-American people. The party that I am attending is called an International/ Fil-Am Club party and was the Saturday before father’s day. According to Melcar they have these parties monthly for different occasions. I was excited to come not only to spend time with my stepmother and my father, but I was also excited to learn more about her culture. When we walked in I saw many small groups sitting at long tables laughing and talking with each other in a different language that I could not understand. It was around six o’clock and I was extremely hungry. The whole gymnasium smelt amazing and I made a V-line for the food area shortly after we found our seats. The tables were full of food that I have never seen before and some that I was kind of familiar with. They were very colorful, vibrant, and interesting food. Some I had seen Melcar make before, like the spring rolls for example. I have watched her take all the ingredients from scratch and mush them together with her bare hands very tightly. They form into tight perfect little rolls and she fries them in bubbling hot oil. I filled my plate full, because I was familiar with them and knew what was in them. Mel came up behind me and I started asking her about the other food. She did her best to explain to me what they were and many of them I had never heard of before. We laughed as I poked the octopus with a

This paper on Salvation is defining both objectively and subjectively from the two required reading text. The first text is written by Alistair McGrath’s “Theology: The Basics and the second is written by Dr. Yung Chul Han’s “Transforming Power: Dimension of the Gospel. I will describe how the both texts are in association as well as seeking observations, and other conclusions to gain a better understanding of salvation from both perspectives. According to (Mc.Grath, p.78), the word salvation is referred to as something that has already happened in the past, to something that will happen in the future. Spiritual transformation requires of us what is called dependent responsibility. All the moral commands and exhortations of scripture assume our responsibility. Salvation is deliverance from danger or suffering. The word salvation carries the idea of victory, health, or preservation (www.biblia.com). Salvation can be viewed as a spiritual transformation which the dependency of the Holy Spirit assist in the change of a believers past, self to a vessel of God in the present lives which exemplifies life, deliverance, peace, and a victory won through personal conviction. The victory is one that only Jesus Christ has authority save us which gives believers complete approval to have possession to enter the kingdom of heaven.

Each culture has expectations and traditions that each person is expected to follow, those who do not conform are branded as outcasts. These expectations are exhausting and cause inner conflict within society. The novel, The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Díaz, is about the pressure of adhering to the unwritten rules of cultural expectations. The novel’s themes can be compared to the lives of women in the the Middle-East and their push for equality. The documentary, He Named Me Malala by David Guggenheim, follows the story of Malala Yousafzai and her push for women’s education in Pakistan, and the suppression of the Taliban. Guggenheim’s documentary highlights Malala’s trouble with changing her culture's expectations for women and the sadness in wake of that issue. The TED Talks from Alaa Murabit, What My Religion Really Says About Women, explains her experience with loss of innocence when she moved from Canada to Libya. An article from The Guardian, Majority of men in the Middle East survey believe a woman's place is at home, exposes the truth of men’s expectations of women in the Middle East and the women’s ambition to achieve more. The constructs and rules enforced by the culture that engulfs a person causes oppression and damage to their mental health.

Filipinos love to eat and for this reason, many entrepreneurs in the Philippines ventures into food and beverage service business. Filipinos wants food, beverage and cooking choices to be fast, easy and convenient. They are also now choosing a healthier