WHY?s Up: The Last Day (Unofficial WHY?s Up Post)

.:*So Sad...*:.

(...about the last day)

So today is the offcial last day (well, hour really) of the WHY?s Up Oakland postsession; it's a very bittersweet ending. Sweet in that Summer Break is finally here; bitter in that we're not going anywhere tomorrow! Aww... but it's not the end of this blog! I'll still be posting about random stuff, and you can count on the Square Bear Rants to continue.

So in saying that I would like to say a few of thank you's:

• 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.

Yeah, that's it. Did if forget anyone?

WHY?s Up: Alameda

Alameda was pretty boring, in my opinion. There really wasn't that much to do, and I nearly went insane because of it. I only became excited when I saw this HUGE dog (the owner said she was a Bosnian sheep dog or something)! She was so pretty. It made me want to get a dog just like her.

We also went to the Alameda beach...yeah, I don't like the water. So you know what I did? I dug a hole. No, I dug TWO holes. That's how bored I was. The only fun part was when Olivia and Yesenia fell in the water, then it was not fun anymore.

Then I found out we were near a Borders (I practically live there, no joke). But here's the thing: NO ONE TOLD ME UNTIL WE WERE ABOUT TO LEAVE!!! I could have gone there, and then I would have had something nice to write about! But nooooooooooo! Let's all tourture Jackie!

*%$#@!

WHY?s Up: Personal Growth (Part 1)

.:*Square Bear*:.

(Grr)

During this entire postsession, everyone has had to go beyond their comfort zone, one way or another. Myself included. When I found out that we were going to have to interview people, my immediate response was, "I'm never going to be the interviewer in which ever group I'm in." As of this moment, I've been the interviewer at least 3 times already (I don't know why I make promises to myself that I don't keep). But it's more than just going up to people; it's gaining confidence in yourself.

But it's not only the confidence building that's happened; you're becoming a more well rounded person by maybe trying new foods, or going into a community that makes you feel uncomfortable (and trying not to show it). Like for me, the Walnut Creek trip totally freaked me out because I wasn't used to that sort of enviornment, but I know next time what to expect and can feel somewhat more at ease than I was before. Maybe.

Anyway, now I don't feel as awkward as I did before going up to people and asking if I can interview them (though when it comes to the actual questioning, I still can't get the robot out of me...(T.T)). But feel a lot better about this postsession than when it first started...so yeah. YAY!

WHY?s Up: The Castro (San Fransisco)

So for those of you who don't know, the Castro area of San Fransisco is considered the gay capital of the world. With that being said, let's get on with this post.

Right, so the WHY?s Up crew went to the Castro yesterday to consuct more interviews. Needless to say, for most people (including myself) it was a very...interesting experience. For me, it was just really nice to see so many people unafraid to love who ever they wanted without being judged. For a lot of the girls, I don't think it was that big of a deal for them since there were mostly gay men (it surprised us all actually; we ecpected more lesbians to be out and about...hmmm). For the boys, well...they're slightly homophobic, so...yeah. Enough said, right?

We saw a lot of interesting things while we were over there. For Example, Hot Cookie, which is a cookie/ice cream shop have their own underwear that you can buy. They even have a chocolate covered banana in the shape of a man's penis. That was really interesting, since I didn't think it was possible to make a banana look like that. Yeah...I don't believe minors are allowed to get those though...

WHY?s Up: Farmer's Market and Peddle Boating (Oakland)

.:*Lake Merritt*:.

(Lake Merritt at night)

So on Friday the WHY?s crew went to Old Oakland (which is in the downtown area) to go to the Farmer's Market that is held there every Friday (since I've only been to the one on Fruitvale, I was expecting a HUGE crowd, but it wasn't as congested; don't get me wrong though, there were a lot of people). There was a lot of produce, music, clothes, food, and jewlery stands. My favorite was the one where they were selling these giant (okay, not giant) cookies; one bag, which contains 3 cookies is $3, but then they give you an extra bag of cookies (well, at least they did to me), so they cookies end up being 50 cents each! "Yay!" for bargins!

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

WHY?s Up: Rockridge (North Side Oakland)

.:*Map Thing (YAY!)*:.

(It's on here somewhere)

Okay, so if I'm being honest here I really thought that Rockridge was going to look like...well, Fruitvale really. I didn't even know that Rockridge was right next to Berkley until the day of the trip! When I first got there I thought, "...We're back in Walnut Creek." But after spending sometime, you start to see a lot of the "ghetto-ness"; so it's more like a combination between Fruitvale and Walnut Creek. There are a lot of white people, but you saw a lot of minorites there too (40% minority and 60% white...I'm guessing).

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* (-_-)

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.