WHY?s Up: My Trip to Chinatown

.:*Oakland's 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).

WHY?s Up: Garbage on the Fruitvale Streets

.:*Yummy*:.

(Unfortunately in Oakland, this kind of thing is a very common sight.)

Our school, Life Academy of Health and Bioscience, is conviently located near a Jack-In-The-Box, a Pollo Loco, and of course, a McDonald's (the King of all Greasiness! Bow down before the McDonald's almighty power...then order some fries with your unwavering loyalty to the beef patty! Muwahahaha!) Sorry, got a little carried away there. Anyway, while we were walking around the area near our school, looking for random pieces of garbage in our community (which was not that hard, considering that where ever you turn, you'll find your self knee-deep in garbage...well in most areas). We found a lot, and I mean A LOT of fast food...stuff on the streets. It's pretty pathetic if you ask me, because when you think about it, it's like were helping to advertise fast food to people.

Think about it: you're walking down the street, and you're feeling kind of hungry. "I'll just make something when I get home," you tell yourself. But then, you kick and empty McDonald's cup (which just might be the one in this picture, you never know), and then suddenly, you don't want to wait until you get home to eat something; you're hungry now. Oh, and look! McDonald's just happens to be conviently located across the street from where you are right now! "You know what? I think I'm gonna get me a BigMac. I don't care if one bite of that thing takes off ten years of my life; I'm hungry." Then you die of a heart attack at age 44, and your last dieing thought was, "I should've gotten a gym club membership."

The End.

("Muwahahaha!" - McDonald's Cooperation)

WHY?s Up: Differences in Interviewing

.:*Walnut Creek*:.

.:*Fruitvale*:.

It was definitely easier to interview people in Fruitvale than it was in Walnut Creek, because you can make connections with people who live in the same kind of community as you; you have things in common that you can talk about. We had around the same percentage of rejection rates, though, but we were able to get a lot more interviews (though that might be because we used voice recorders instead of video cameras, but whatever...).

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.