- Mr. Lee and Mrs. Fitzgerald: for making this postsession possible in the first place, and also for taking us to new places (and familiar ones), and getting us to think critically about our enviornment. Oh, and for taking us to eat at places we would never even think of trying.
- Mr. Lee: for lending me a dollar for the bus yesterday.
- Beatriz: for offereing a piece of her sandwhich to me, even though I couldn't eat it because I was sick, and also for asking people if they could give us an interview when she was in my group in Chinatown.
- All the group Interviewers: they probably all said that they were never going to be the interviewer as well, but they did it anyway.
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
WHY?s Up: The Last Day (Unofficial WHY?s Up Post)
Friday, June 6, 2008
WHY?s Up: Alameda
Square Bear is Taking the SAT
Thursday, June 5, 2008
WHY?s Up: Personal Growth (Part 1)
Wednesday, June 4, 2008
WHY?s Up: The Castro (San Fransisco)
Tuesday, June 3, 2008
WHY?s Up: Lake Shore (Oakland)
Anyway, before we did any of our interviewing, we had lunch. My friend and I went to Yougurt Deluxe. Bad experience for me. They use Dryer's ice cream... and it sucks. I got a green tea ice cream milk shake, and it did not taste good. It tasted kind of sour actually (but maybe that came from the fresh milk that they use; I've never had fresh milk before, so I don't know how it tastes). Their green tea shake has nothing on the one that I can get at Lord's Ice Cream in Castro Valley (now they make their own ice cream).
(Rock Sculpture by Rick Botto)
.:*Squirrel*:.
(Aw!!)
P.S.-All pictures were taken by yours truely
Monday, June 2, 2008
WHY?s Up: Farmer's Market and Peddle Boating (Oakland)
While we were over there, my friends and I went to this sushi place; and it's too bad that I don't remember the name, because the sushi was freakin' awesome! Well priced too (depending on what kind of sushi you get of course).
Also, Friday was our "Fun day", so the teachers took us peddle boating in Lake Merritt. It was super special awesome! In the boat, it was Delilah, Mr. Lee, and myself (of course). Delilah and I were peddling our little vessel along, while Mr. Lee was "sterring" (if you can even call it that) and taking video and pictures. Otherwise, he only helped out with the peddling when we felt like going "Turbo". It was uber fun. I even told my mom that we should do it together (espcially since she practically lives in Lake Merritt; she's always walking around the lake). :D
Friday, May 30, 2008
WHY?s Up: Rockridge (North Side Oakland)
It was definately a lot cleaner in Rockridge than in Fruitvale, I'll give them that. There are also a lot of stores and restaurants (my favorite was the bakery; they give free samples...too bad I don't remember the name. Oh well, we have it on video). It seemed very quiet over there, too. However, a friend of mine did say she saw some kids slappin' some music hela loud, so...yeah, it wasn't that unsettiling over there, like Walnut Creek was (I felt really out of place there, and I'm white!).
It was cool, though. We interviewed this one guy; Asian and realy cute. I love Asian guys, but I digress. He had this cast oon his leg, so naturally, I asked him about. He and his friends were "wall running"' (don't ask me what that is, I don't know. I only know that it's some martial art's thing), and he fell on his leg wrong. Super. Special. Awesome. If only he was a little younger...*sigh* (-_-)
Wednesday, May 28, 2008
Me and My Family
("No," my parents do NOT look like giant apples)
My parents are very...interesting people. And I don't mean "intereseting" in the good way. It's obvious that they hate each other; I just wish that they would get a divorce and be done with each other. We're all almost eight-teen anyway...
The Oldest:
(My brother being ... himself)
My brother and I get along the best, hands down, out of everyone in my family. Our personalities differ greatly, but we're both the same in that we have an abstract way of thinking; we even have our own vocabulary (though most is attributed to Jim Rome...you know, from Sports Center. He's freakin' hillarious). He's an uber sports fanatic (his first love will always be baseball, though), but he absolutley HATES college basketball. He can also kick my patootie in all things Pokemon (T.T)...he loves to rub that in my face... jerk.
The Middle/Black Sheep (Baa):
(I was feeling weird when I took this picture...but then again, when aren't i?)
Yes, my good people, I am the middle child; I am the Black Sheep of the family. Though it's not true that all middle children turn out to be the Black Sheep, it's true in my case; my mom even said so (and it's funny because I was born in the Year of the Sheep. Coincidence? I think not) There's not really much that I can say about my self; I feel that you can only understand a person once you met them; you never know when someone's lying to you about how they are.
The Youngest/The Evil One/Brat/Baby/Spoiled Child:
(on the bootom it says, "'Angel' my evergreen grass!" They won't let me use bad words)
I think that the title says it. I've always had to give everything nice (like my PDA) to her. We have NEVER gotten along, and the only time that we are ever in the same room is when we're alseep (Do you know how bad I want my own room?). You would think that since we're only 14 months apart that we'd be the closer of the siblings.
WHY?s Up: My Trip to Chinatown
(An ethinic enclave full of wonder sights, smells, and sounds)
Initially, my perceptions about Chinatown were very simple ones, like "There's Chinese people there," and things like that. But really Chinatown is just more about the kind of people that live there; there's so much cultural and energy there that you can't help but be swept up in it (or maybe that's just me since I have a thing for everything Asian). Chinatown, for me, is like a Christmas present; there's so much anticipation to open it up and find out all it's mysteries. I really wish we could have stayed there longer (and I really wish that I had brought some extra spending money; there's so much cute stuff over there \(*^o^*)/)
As far as surprises go, we saw a lot of different kinds of food that others might think is pretty disgusting. But when you think about it, we all eat things that others would think are slightly strange or disgusting (my favorite kind of meat just happens to be cow tongue...mmm yummy!). Also, I found out that Oakland has an Asian Center. That really surprised me; and a lot of the other students as well. I'll have to go back there soon. (Yay, personal field trip!)
For me, the only difference between Fruitvale and Chinatown was the ethinicity between the people: Fuitvale is full of Latinos and Chinatown is full of Asian (mostly Chinese) people. Which also means that the cultural bachground in each place is different; but to me, they really aren't. The people who live in these places now, came there because their ancestors wanted to have a community in the United States where they were around others with the same kind of background. So yeah, to me I don't really see that much of a difference (but that's just me I guess; I see everyone connected in some way or another).
Tuesday, May 27, 2008
WHY?s Up: Garbage on the Fruitvale Streets
Saturday, May 24, 2008
Square Bear Rants #1: Text Messaging
- "That" to "dat"
- "The" to "da"
- "E" to "3"
- "A" to "@"
- "Me" to "meeh" (And I thought the whole point was to type less letters!)
- "Your" to "ur"
- "You" to "u"
- "Cool" to "kool" or "koo"
- "S" to "$"
Friday, May 23, 2008
Life Academy's Mini Triathlon (April 26, 2008)
If the video doesn't come out, can find it on the side bar of this page under "My YouTube Videos"
Thursday, May 22, 2008
WHY?s Up: Differences in Interviewing
There are a lot of positive things about Fruitvale, which unfortunately gets covered up by all of the negative aspects of things like gangs and drugs. But where else can I get a bag of fresh fruit on almost every street corner? Where else am I going see chickens in someone's backyard? Where else can I use the word "hella" and not get weird looks that seem to say, "Umm...what does that mean?" You really have to come and experience Fruitvale to understand what it's all about. You can't have someone tell you what it's like here; you need to feel the pulse that is Fruitvale in order to understand it.
But I'm not going to lie; Fruitvale has its bad parts. Which neighborhood doesn't? All the tagging* on the sides of buildings and houses; the prostitutes walking down the street in broad daylight; drug dealers on the corners; drive by shootings; robberies. All of these things make Fruitvale a very unattractive place for a lot of people. That makes me really sad because there's a lot of bright and educated minds that can help change the way the community operates in order to change how we live. Unfortunately, they are constantly being beat down by a system that prefers to keep the people ignorant about their own intelligence.
Now, relating to my topic on which I was interviewing people in both Walnut Creek and Fruitvale, which was: Economics. Basically everyone in Walnut Creek is EXTREMELY financially stable and everyone in Fruitvale is not. Okay, so that's not technically true. Every place has its upper, middle, and lower classes...there just happens to be more of a gap between the middle and lower classes in Fruitvale than in Walnut Creek. I swear, every person we interviewed in Walnut Creek owned their own home...some even owned their own businesses. I mean, we even saw a woman who owned 2 Bentleys and a Mercedes. Another guy we interviewed owns a Porsche. Do you have any idea how bad I want a yellow 911 Porsche Turbo? But I digress. In Fruitvale, people are struggling a lot more to make it. We met this one guy, and he told us that after his job as a painter was over, he needed to find another job. Now he's selling ice cream with his cart on the side walk. How sad is that? When I see that, it just really pisses me off. America: where immigrants can be great ice cream sellers. That's not super special awesome...
*tagging: writing profane or unnecessary language on objects that serves no purpose to beautify the neighborhood; graffiti without any artistic value. This is my definition of tagging, which is a lot different than graffiti.