Informal Writing Assignment #5

After reading and watching about the zoot suits, it reminded me of myself when I was a freshman in high school. 9 years ago, I was a rebel who wanted to do anything in my hand to go against what my parents and relatives told me to do. Because of that, I committed a crime knowing that I wasn't the typical asian that my families told me to be. Maybe it was because of where my high school was located. Maybe it was because of my insufficient funds. I just can't simply give an answer for the way I was dressing, but from what I could remember, I grew up with this fashion, and I went through many ups and downs because of it.

If I could say one thing that I learned in high school is to adapt to changes. From eighth grade to freshmen in high school, it self was a huge change. However, leaving all my middle school friends to go to a different high school is a bigger change. On top of that, when I found out that I was basically the only asian kid in school, besides the two math teachers Mr. Kim and Mrs. Kim, I knew I was in trouble. From Los Angeles, I moved to San Bernardino county due to my family issues. When I got to school, I quickly learned that I would have to get along with people at school or else, my high school life wouldn't be easy. My high school consisted about 75% Mexican, 20% African American, 4% Caucasian, and 1% Asian. This stat might be wrong however, my point is that the majority of people in San Bernardino were Mexicans and Blacks. Living and growing with Mexicans and Blacks, I grew up dressing like them, acting like them, and becoming like them unconsciously. My white tall t-shirts, baggy pants/jeans, basketball shoes, and baseball caps were my daily appearance in San Bernardino. Unusual for an asian to dress like that since our parents want us to look educated, wealthy, and normal in their eyes: a shirt that fits, pants that aren't too tight nor too loose, any cheap tennis shoes, and clean hair cuts. These are the typical asians' look when asked to other ethnicity other than asians. So when I started dressing like them, it was different in Mexicans and Blacks eyes. However, they accepted me and I quickly made friends. They even gave me a nickname that I still carry on, "Oh Chino (Oh's my last name and chino means chinese [although I'm not chinese but it didn't matter])".

With that said, I encountered with many problems due to the way I dressed. My family and relatives didn't like the clothes I was wearing because they thought I wasn't representing my family too well. There were many times they tried to buy me different clothes and shoes. But by then, it was too late. I felt that I needed to wear these clothes. For example, When we would have a holiday parties or family gatherings, we would have more than twenty people coming. With such a large crowd, it was matter of time for my mom to yell and scream at me, wanting for me to change my clothes. Of course, I refused. As a consequence, I would listen to all the elders talking about the way I dressed jokingly, which I knew it wasn't a joke, more like a sarcasm. Through that, they would treat me like I committed a crime. However I continued to keep my fashion. I felt that I had to keep my fashion alive order for me to stay alive. It was like Ramirez and their zoot suits. Those Mexicans who were rebellious, wore zoot suits. They were identified as people who were bad and obnoxious in their community. Not only those who wore the zoot suits, but even their families. Because that one individual wore a zoot suit, others assumed that even his or her family was the same. Thus, my family didn't want me to represent myself and my family through the way I dressed. In my mind, I didn't think that I was representing them any differently. If anything, I thought I was breaking the asian stereotypes: smart, nerdy, weak, and thick accent.

Family was just a small problem, when I would get stopped by cops on the way back from school. This happened so many times that it became a daily event. It was as if they assumed that I brought nothing but trouble upon them. When I started to drive in my junior year in high school, it was just matter of time for me to notice that my fashion had everything to do with my "Daily Pull Over". It was around 5pm when I was approached by a cop in his car. He pulled me over and raised his gun as he walked out of his car. He asked me to stay in the car with my hands on the steering wheel. He came next to me and first thing he said was, "What's up with the hat?" At that time, I was wearing a blue LA baseball cap, which was my favorite baseball team. He seemed to not care whether I was innocent or not, and he quickly asked me to come out of my car. As I stepped out, he asked if I had any drugs or weapons on me, as if I looked like someone who had them. When I told him no, he handcuffed me and told me to get inside of his car and wait. I waited and watched him search my car repeatedly. Of course, I had nothing on me but that only got the officer mad. He came back to his car and checked my background on his computer. With my record as clean as a brand new car, he pulled me out of the car and continue to ask me if I was in a gang or sold drugs. I remember looking at him so pissed off that he yanked against the car. I was able to tell that he was very frustrated because he knew he had the wrong guy. In the end, he lectured me not to wear my sunglasses and my blue baseball caps. After that night, my anger towards the cops grew much bigger, and I realized that it had everything to do with my appearance. My incident in the past is very similar to Ramirez's story with zoot suits. Cops seem to have a list of dress codes that they follow, to help them find criminals. I understand that, that could be helpful and all, however in this case, I was a victim. Like myself, there are many people who could only afford these clothes that are available in Swap Meets/Flee Markets. Like myself, there are many people who dress the way they do, not only because they want to but they have to. Yes, because people believed that all asians were all smart, innocent, and weak that, that could've helped me when I was in those incidents. However, it seems very unfair to know that cops generalized who's a criminal and who's not through their appearances. Back in the days, Mexicans in Los Angeles wore zoot suits to stand out and to gain respect from other ethnicity. Therefore, my intention of wearing the clothes that I wore were similar to the reason why Mexicans were zoot suits.

Some say that your appearance says who you are, but I disagree to the fullest. If we were to look at people the way they dress, then we have no idea what's behind its cover. Let's not judge a book by it's cover, but actually find out what's behind the cover.

Informative Writing Assignment #4

As part of my informal assignment, I chose the artist who is very unique in style and different when it comes to expressing her thoughts, Leslie Hall. She first caught my attention with her awkward image that includes herself wearing these very bright pink sweat suits. With her larger size, you wouldn’t expect her to wear some of the stuff that she had on, in front page of her website: Hairstyle that’s awkwardly slicked backed on top, but down on the side. Glasses that look like goggles that you would wear in a chemistry class, to protect your eyes. Lipstick color so bright, that it prominently shows her pale skin tone. Pink Sweat suits that fit awkwardly on a larger woman like herself. Also, so tight that her hands don’t even go inside of her pants. Lastly, a gold belt that would go well with a dress, instead of the pink sweat suits. Hilariously, this was my first image of Leslie Hall. As I went on a tour in her website to find out what she was all about, my perspective of her and her arts was highly interesting.

First art that I visited was her video called, “Tight Pants/Body Rolls”. The song itself was very catchy and fun to listen to. Music video was a little disruptive but funny as well. As I was watching the video, I was trying to find out what her perspective was for the assignment. With her tight yellow jump suits that awkwardly fitted her larger body, I tried to think if there’s any celebrity who’s similar to Leslie Hall. I couldn’t think of anyone. However, what I noticed was that her back dancers were small through using our latest technology. Therefore, I realized that she was trying to make herself much bigger than the dancers and her normal self. Through that, I think that her perspective was that, the music industry and the media don’t accept larger women. Not only music industry and the media, but also even those who religiously watch this so called television, don’t accept neither. With the help of her lyrics, I was able to fully believe that her perspective was what I believed to be. Her lyrics were mostly about her oversized body. For example, part of her lyrics she says, “My legs in those pants are dream, when I would move I scream, WATCH OUT FOR MY BODY ROLL, WATCH OUT FOR MY BODY ROLL, HIGH KICK, HIGH KICK, THIS IS HOW WE DO IT!” Another example, part of her lyrics she says, “When I place my legs in the cage of spandex, I dance like hell to release my madness…” Not only she physically gave the viewers clues of what her perspective was, she was stated them through her lyrics. Although it might sound as if she is just trying to be funny and resisting from our society, it is clear that her perspective is true. I believe that not only media but everywhere we go, we tend to identify those who are oversized as someone different or stay away from. Most of us watch televisions and computers and we believe what we see unconsciously. Therefore, when the media is neglecting oversized women, then it is possible that the viewers could learn to think the same. Overall, we shouldn’t be identifying larger women any different than skinnier women because in the end, we are all equal.

Second art that I visited was her video called, “Gravel in my shoes”. This song wasn’t as interesting as her previous video, “Tight Pants/Body Rolls”. However it had a different perspective to it. This video, she identified herself as a very poor countrywomen who lived with her husband, who treated her as if she was his slave. He was oversized and lazy who never got his own drinks. It was different than our normal views on our television. We never really watch an artist who likes to express their miserable life or how bad of a husband that they have. Instead, our media and society want to hear and see who has the most money, cars, drugs, and even girls, who they refer to as hoes. I believe that her perspective through this video is that our society/media want us to forget about the reality and struggles that many of us experience. As most of us know that what we see in the music videos and TV shows are as real as celebrities’ noses, jaws, and chins. But if we continue to believe what the media is trying to make us believe, then it’s almost sad to say that we’re simply ignorant and arrogant. Like I stated earlier based on Leslie Hall’s arts, we’re all equal and we should be accepting the reality instead of living in our dreams. We live when we wake up from our dream, but we don’t have to stop dreaming to live.