Good parenting

Today, on my way back from interviewing for a babysitting job, I gave up a seat in the bus to an elderly man, to which he responded, "You have good parents." My first thought was, "Yes, indeed I do!" My second thought was, "Has society come to the point where you're complimented for the most basic acts of courtesy? Sheesh." The "interview" that I had had mostly entailed of me talking to the mom, and interacting with the baby (17 months old, so adorable). From the 2 hours that I was there, I was also able to observe how she interacted with him, and you could see just how much she loved him, but also wasn't patronizing (can you be patronizing to a baby?), and treated him and talked to him like a normal person (e.g. "Ben, you know we don't stand on the chairs"). This baby was pretty smart for his age, and could say several words and understand what you were saying, and you could see that it was because she exposed him to so many different "real world" things. For example, the automobile section of yahoo.com and the Times, and the fact that he would ask for it was quite impressive. Another thing that was rather striking was the fact that he was so affectionate. Again, it was clear that it was because she lavished him with hugs and kisses, and encouraged his "DAs" (displays of affection) towards his animals. Evidence of how your upbringing really defines who you are? Perhaps.

I had read an article in the Times on how today, speech is developing later and later in babies, and this is due to the fact that parents neglect interacting with their babies in lieu of talking on their phones, or listening to music. I think that this is true (though the author has gotten some flak for her article). And this experience was the perfect evidence in favor of this argument. The mom followed him essentially anywhere he went (mostly to make sure he didn't get hurt), and it was clear to me that she was the type of mom who would point out the surroundings to him while taking a walk in the stroller, or pointing at and labeling the different types of vehicles outside his window (apparently, a favorite pastime). Definitely supports the nurture argument in the nature vs. nurture debate.

I've been stressing about parenting (as much as I'd like to be a parent someday, I think it's hard to see myself as a parent)...I feel like there's so much error with kids... sadness.

Taking offense

Recently, I've realized that I've been offended by many borderline racist incidents. Not to say that I ever condoned such incidents in the past. I suppose I just haven't been affected, or really felt strongly enough to the point that I need to express my disapproval. The point of realization came when an individual sent out a link to our club's listserv, which is clearly an ignorant non-Asian trying to poke fun at the Asian accent, which got me all riled up and upset for several reasons. First of all, seldom do you hear people making fun of European accents-if anything, there are jokes about Italian accents. But that still doesn't make it okay. The video is also an unfortunate reflection on the ignorance of some people of the West (with regard to the East). The accent is very non-representative of any East Asian language. I've been told that it is trying to imitate Cantonese...though even that is really far-fetched. I don't think it's cute, or hilarious. It's obnoxious. I always believed that, not to make a huge generalization or stereotype and be hypocritical, in their interactions with non-Asians, Asians usually keep to themselves. Therefore, why are we singled out and portrayed so negatively? But I don't seem to be offended by comedians such as Russel Peters. Then again, he is surely not as..for lack of better terminology, ignorant as the caller in the link.

I was thinking about this as I was driving last night, which really sent my mood over the edge. I realized that it was strange that I was this upset over the link-it's not like I haven't been exposed to such things before, so why now? Conclusion: during my high school years, I had become jaded to it, and was even singled out by my friends (who weren't even random white people...but actually the most diverse people of my grade) as that "over-achieving Asian". The way that I coped with this was by laughing along, brushing such labels as "just another stereotype". But having come to Barnard/Columbia, as my sister likes to tell people, I really jumped into the Asian circle. And though I'm mostly active in the cultural clubs, I've been made more aware of certain issues, such as Asian American identity, and what it means to be Asian. And it most certainly doesn't entail anything like that link implies. Also, I started this blog partly in attempt to express myself better and more (part of my efforts to be less passive-aggressive), clearly something I'm still working on.

This post in a nutshell? I take offense to the ignorant attempts at jokes.