"From Assimilation" & "Heterogeneity, Hybridity, Multiplicity"

Shishir Kurup's monologue piece about the assimilation process that new immigrants in the United States go through is insightful to their state of mind and their different view of the United States coming from an outsider. From learning new slang words that they pick up while living in the United States to facing certain discriminating instances where other people tell them to go back to wherever they came from, it really allows the audience to see the world from their point of view, to see how they feel and are treated and the overall different experience that they live through compared to us Asian Americans is very humbling because it allows us to think about how it must have been for us or our parents when they first immigrated to the United States. I can only imagine the amount of trouble that my parents went through when they first immigrated to the United States, not being able to speak the language perfectly, culture shock, and long distance from the rest of their family. Immigrants, in this respect, are brave because they can persevere through these difficult situations without giving up completely.

Lisa Lowe's essay mentions the culture that is lost in between generations of Asian Americans as they assimilate more and more into the American culture and losing their own sense of ethnic culture. Growing up, my parents always spoke mandarin to me and my brother in order to keep our heritage intact and this way, we can practice our Chinese at home while practicing English at school. This was later reinforced by going to Chinese school on Saturdays and attending the events that they held that simulated what it would be like to be in either China or Taiwan, a similar experience that our parents had when they were growing up. I think that my parents' call to have me attend Chinese was a good one because it allowed me to keep my Chinese speaking, reading, and writing skills at a level where I would be able to survive if I were to be dropped off somewhere in China or Taiwan. I think that it is important for Asian Americans to pass on their cultural heritage through generations in order to keep their senses of culture alive and well and not just be filled with the assimilated culture that they get through osmosis in American school and environments.