Brief 2

Week 5

This is my analysis of the poem:

The poem “I’m not sorry any more” written by Kali Vatoko and Albert Leomala is about the inequality being portrayed between white and black.

The use of language in the poem is powerful but powerless at the same time. Kali Vatoko was trying to express the grievances through the poem. When Kali Vatoko used “You wait whiteman” and “I’ll kick your arse” to directly given vent to his/her anger. This is the way to show Kali’s powerful voice but the powerless voice also been portrayed when Kali says “I bow in sorrow” and “I haven’t got a chance”. This is the way to show that Kali did not have the power but Kali wanted the power to be treated as equal as white at that time. This is possibly why the poem seems to be more aggressive due to the fear and the hate of white, also the hate of being powerless black and had no strength to fight back.

The use of “So what” in the second stanza is really intriguing when the questions come to “who owns the New Hebrides or Nouvelles Hebrides” and “Who is black or white” does not matter to Kali Vatoko. Because it is equal to Kali, people should not fight over for it. In the last stanza, Kali, later on, explains it again about he belongs to the land and how Kali equally loves the New Hebrides and the Nouvelles Hebrides. It is like Kali will not reject the New Hebrides because he/she is from Nouvelles Hebrides. Same to the white, they should not treat black as slaves just simply because they are born as white. Again, everyone should be treated properly and equally.

My creative response:

I am the boss

I am the boss

That's right

You are the servant

You ain't doing things right

I ain't going to pay

If you want money

You got do what I ask

I ain't care what color you got

I ain't care anything about you

You ain't going anyway

Because I say so

You ain't saying anything

Because I say so

You listen

I am the boss

I am paying you

You want to catch me

Go ahead

You want to kick me

Go ahead

But why not now

Oh right

You ain't the boss

You got to do what I ask

Because I am the boss

And I will always be

Reflection:

My creative response is basic on the poem by Kali Vatoko and Albert Leomala. I can totally relate to this poem, not only because of the racism but also the inequality in the job position. I can feel author's anger and I am angry as well. My poem is not to aim at the author or anyone. It is just I want people to think. Are you doing the right things? Can you treat people differently because of their skin color? Can you treat employees badly because you are the boss? Because you are paying them, it does not mean you can disrespect them. I feel like people should be more genuine and generous to people who have a different color or lower position in the job. Everyone deserves better. In the begging, I was going to write my creative response to some kind of prose instead of a poem. But I think the poem can be more related and I can more easily to portray my message. I was going to write my response as like what the author did, maybe to write it as like I am the black. But after few times writing, I thought it will be more meaningful if I write it as I am the white. Because readers tend to take the aggressive message out. The poem by Kali Vatoko and Albert Leomala is really powerful and aggressive, but the readers are more likely to feel sorry for the black. I don't want readers to feel sorry for the boss, that is why I wrote my poem as the boss's point of view. I want the readers to take the boss's role in the poem instead of the victim. In this case, people will read it more carefully and they will think about the human rights of the employee. Employers are not supposed to do whatever they want to the employees such as sexual harassment, this actually happened to me once. I wanted people to take it seriously.

References: Albert, W (1980). A Pacific Anthology. Ed.

Week 6

This is my analysis of the reading:

The Unfinished Fence by Vilsoni Hereniko is a short prose about a Fiji named Jimi. He works in New Zealand temporarily with his three months tourist visa.

Jimi is alone in New Zealand while his wife and kids away from him in Fiji. He is not likely to take transport to work because of people in the bus are strange and indifferent. It makes him more lonely so that is why he prefers to walk to work even, it is a long way to walk through. As in the text, Jimi “thought it is better to work in a factory, at least there would be people to come and talk to. He was thinking about the people in the village who always worked in groups. Work was fun.” He compares the life in Fiji and the life in New Zealand as far how lonely he felt and how tedious the job he has. This is to demonstrate how he cannot fit into New Zealand and how Jimi cannot connect to the society as well as the people who live there. Moreover, people who live in New Zealand treat him as like inferior instead of tourists or locals. For example, the police see Jimi and ask him: “We are the po-lice. Where are you go-ing?” syllables here seems like trying to talk slowly on purpose. They assume Jimi does not understand English because of the impression of brown or dark color people. This is one way of showing their racism. Secondly, the police stop Jimi due to his outlook as being a pacific islander. They are assuming people like Jimi could be illegal entitled to work. This is another way of showing their racism. Apart from that, I can accept how people treat Jimi as an outsider but the way his employer treats him is really unfair. Jimi’s employer does not care about Jimi at all. As in the text, Mrs. Davidson (Jimi’s employer) shares the same sense of lonely and excluded. Jimi is excluded by the people surrounding him in New Zealand while Mrs. Davidson is excluded by her child or friends. Mrs. Davidson pays Jimi to work for her as a gardener and doing some house chores. At the last line in the prose, when Mrs. Davidson finds out Jimi did not return then she went to get the letters herself. I felt this is just way too unfair to treat Jimi, Mrs. Davidson did not even want to call Jimi and ask what happened to him. Because Jimi is a punctual guy as in the first paragraph says how he got to work on time and make sure Mrs. Davidson has her letters. Because Jimi likes to see Mrs. Davidson’s expression when she reads the letters and he felt he is under the responsibility of that happiness. Jimi treats Mrs. Davidson as like a friend but Mrs. Davidson does not. I think if Jimi is a local who works for her, she will be more care about why he did not show up in work. This is can be another racism of showing how Pacific Islander does not comply with their jobs.

I also feel the gender inequality in career, when Jimi mentions that his wife will laugh about his job because his job is made for woman and he also used the word “a lewa” to describe it. This is about showing different perspectives in Fiji and New Zealand. In Fiji, a man should work in the factory and woman needs to work as what Jimi does in Mrs. Davidson’s house. In New Zealand, you have more options on what to work and you will not be judged.

After reading Vilsoni Hereniko’s prose, I can totally relate to it. There are always some people in New Zealand who are racists. I actually feel lonely and excluded all the time, even though I am right here for two years now. I would like to walk instead of taking the transport as well. I am afraid of how people look at me differently sometimes because I am Asian and it does happen to me multiple times. I have been told I need to emerge from New Zealand and I have been told I need to stay away from them. What I felt most alone is how strangers can talk to each other like friends even though they just first met. See if it is because they are locals and they do speak fluent English but I cannot? Or they just do not like me? Even I just sit next to them and tried to make conversations, but still, they look at me differently and they act like we have nothing in common.

My creative response:

Meeting with Jimi began at eight o’clock and ended at five, Mondays to Fridays. Mrs. Davidson doesn’t know why she hired Jimi. The moment when she saw Jimi for the interview, she hired him immediately.

The job Mrs. Davidson offered to Jimi was a gardener, she liked to see Jimi spent weeding under the apple trees, planting flowers and trimming the hedge. Mrs. Davidson’s life always filled with a clean and tidy environment. One thing she liked the most was to watch her employees clean her house. Woman around her age appeared to be ostentatious, of course, Mrs. Davidson was a part of them. Mrs. Davidson’s husband died in the navy, and she’s all alone now. The loneliness made her vainer. She dressed up and sat outside the house to wait for the neighbors to compliment her. She found it thrilled when people compliment her on how nice the house was and how beautiful she was. She genuinely knew that the only reason they praise her is that she's loaded. But she was always happy about it. She always threw a tea party in her garden, and everyone is welcomed. The garden filled with exquisite light refreshments and it was all free to everyone who took part in the party. Mrs. Davidson was too old for having fun, but she did enjoy people having fun with her. She thought she would not feel alone if there were enough people to be with her.

Mrs. Davidson realized the only reason she hired Jimi is that of his skin color. She does feel sympathy for Jimi, but more importantly, she wanted everyone to know she has a charitable soul. People like Jimi were not that welcomed in New Zealand, because of their not so good spoken English and not so pleasant outlook. Mrs. Davidson sometimes invites Jimi to have the afternoon tea with her inside the house. She always talked a lot about her life. But she never asked a single question about Jimi. Mrs. Davidson was happy to find a listener, but she was not so sure if Jimi caught any of what she said.

Jimi was responsible for getting the letters for Mrs. Davidson, and Mrs. Davidson loved to read the letters from her families. She liked to share some letters with Jimi, and she felt merrier when someone’s listening. But one day something happened that changed their routine. Jimi promised Mrs. Davidson to get her letters, but he never showed up. Mrs. Davidson felt strange but got the mails by herself. “Shouldn’t hire Fiji in the first place”, Mrs. Davidson says.

References:

Vilsoni, H. (n,d). The Unfinished Fence.

Reflection:

For this week, I wrote a short prose based on The Unfinished Fence. This is another Pacific literature that I am interested.

The main character in the original work is Jimi; however, Mrs. Davidson is the main character in my writing. When I read The Unfinished Fence, I felt the way people treated Jimi were terrible and insulting. The police treated Jimi as he doesn’t speak and understand English. People don’t seem to like Jimi because of his skin color. Mrs. Davidson was the only one who feels sympathy for Jimi, but she didn’t care and call Jimi when Jimi didn’t show up for work. This is the reason why I pathetically portray Mrs. Davidson. Mrs. Davidson didn’t even ask why Jimi didn’t show up and jumped to the wrong conclusions of “Jimi as well as Fiji weren't that much responsible for their job”. Mrs. Davidson hired Jimi because of his skin color, and she judged Jimi’s personality of his skin of color.

I want the readers to think does every people of color being treated equally? I have watched many TV shows; some white people only hang out with black people due to their skin color. They wanted attention from people, and they wanted people to believe that they are nice white people. This is similar to some college and company; they accept individuals who have a darker skin color in priority. They may think they are helpful to the people who have darker skin color, but I don’t consider people with darker skin of color will be too happy about it. I think everyone wants to be accepted because of their abilities instead of the skin of color, especially the people with power. Mrs. Davidson is one typical type who hired Jimi because of his skin of color instead of skills.

Week 7

The original poem:

This is my analysis of the reading:

The poem “Cross” is about Christianization in Pacific. The poem is directly referring the hate of cross and complaining about it. The first stanza, “You are killing me, you are destroying my traditions” is direct to express that Christianity has been affecting the poet’s traditions. The destroyed traditions should be indigenous traditions being replaced by Christianity’s traditions. As the poet mentioned in the stanza, “You thought I was ignorant…I was primitive…My traditions were disgusting”. The Cross think their traditions were the only one that all people should adapt and if someone did not approve then means they were ignorant and primitive. In the final stanza, “Cross run away from me…take your ideas and your civilization and go back to where you belong”. The Cross is strongly affecting the people who do not believe in Christianity. The colonizers brought the new traditions, and they think indigenous traditions are ignorant and primitive. In a way, I think they want to replace the indigenous traditions to their own.

I think the poem is really powerful to portray the hate of cross. I cannot really relate to it because I am not religious. What I can relate is the hate of something negatively affects me. If you do not approve me, then do not judge me. This is like I am not Christianity, then you call me as ignorant and primitive. This is kind of insulting me as a person and my religion. People should respect each other as who they are and what they believe in. This is just like some people think they will go to hell or heaven when they died. However, someone jumped in and said: “You are ignorant, there is no such thing as heaven or hell”.

My creative response:

School

School I thank you

You are saving me

You are improving

My cognitive competence

I thank you school

Because you never take credit for dedication

And you never giving up on me

And accepts me as your child

You thought

I was talented

You thought

I was independent

You thought

My achievements

Were dependable

You thought

You were just accomplish your mission

But you never thought

Of your accomplishment

School I admire you

I bless you

I thank you

Save your modesty

And your unselfishness

And never give up

On where you belong

Reflection:

In this week, I have written a short poem based on “Cross” written by Albert Leomala. The original poem is compelling to portray the hate of cross. It contains with abundant direct depressive hate. I can’t receive the hate from the original poetry; it was too strong for me. The “hate” of cross inspires me to write something to appreciate. School became my priority to feel grateful, there was too much stuff to appreciate, but I want to start with my school. I hated some of the school I used to go, but I still want to thank them for having me. They provided many that I don’t have and they helped me to be a better human being. I think people should feel more grateful for everything that helped them to learn and improve. In the world, you shall have tribulation, but success is what usually comes after tribulation.

Week 8

My analysis of the poem:

This week, the poem “Kidnapped” written by Ruperake Petaia has captured my attention.

In the first stanza of the poem. “I was six…Mama was careless…she sent me to school…alone”. This sentence easily portrayed the lonely life of Petaia when he was six and how his mother does not care about him enough as he thought she would be. I think the loneliness not only came from school but also came from himself. As mentioned in the third stanza, “Mama and Papa loved their son and ransom fees…Mama and Papa grew poorer and poorer...Kidnappers grew richer and richer…I grew whiter and whiter”. He felt lonely maybe because he hated to see his parent’s struggle to pay the huge amount of tuition and he lost his identity cumulatively. I think there’s a possibility that he’s sad because he had to grow whiter and whiter because the education is the tool for the society. The huge amount of ransom money only earns a certificate. On the other hand, I think maybe he does not approve it because he does not want to colonist countries lost their identity in the British educational system as well.

According to the name of the poem “Kidnapped”, I thought the poem is about how the poet is being kidnapped by the kidnapper. However, the “kidnapper” is just a metaphor referring to the colonial education system. I found the poem really interesting of how the poet is using a different angle to approach the depth. For example, the poet used ransom fees to refer the tuition. This is really interesting about how we know ransom fees are to refer something that we pay to release the hostage. The hostage will possibly die if we do not pay the ransom fees to the kidnappers. The poet made this British education system a big deal and scary as like a kidnapper. I personally think I can appeal to it at some point. Because I have been through it when I was a child in school. Education is always being an important role in my life, my parents barely have time to spend with me because they need to work and earn the tuition for me. I study whatever my teacher told me to and I have no time to do anything else. I feel like I am like a robot without emotions. I was being kidnapped by the school. I need to learn so many subjects that I do not like and my parents need to pay so much money for those subjects, especially after school. Because what I learned in school is apparently not enough to pass the exam, I need a tutor to reinforce my learning.

My creative response:

Abandoned

I was eight when

Parents were apart

They dropped me to school

Alone

Without regards

and phone calls

I was told

‘we are orphans’

I was abandoned by parents

and my beliefs

and my wishes

I was guided by a philosopher

Many being placed in

One small classroom

Within crowded

And scorching atmosphere

Listening and writing

Without stop

Without rest

Exhausting and enjoying

Assignments were needed

At school

After school

Family visited when names

Were on the reward board

Family were getting

further and further away

My D-Day approached

Closer and Closer

I grew wiser and wiser

Speech on the stage

The claps and hurrahs

Earned from stage

The diplomas

were hold by the principal

Each one was handed

Each time was excited

Reflection:

In this week, I wrote one poetry bases on Kidnapped by Ruperake Petaia. The original poem is to mock the British educational system, but my poem was actually to enjoy the educational system. I picked a different angle to write my poem; my parents were not much loving person to care about me, all they did is to make me study. I initially hated the educational system made such big deal to make every child feel obligated to obtain the high degrees. When I realized, only the academic achievements can attract my parent’s attention; I never tried hard to achieve my goals. When I grew, I started to like and appreciate the educational system. It made me be wiser and better person. I think many don't find education interesting and usually failed to approach it. I think Ruperake was unwilling to approach the education is mainly because it was British education. I couldn’t agree more about how different educational system can ruin the local culture. What I wrote is what I felt about education, I like to learn new things although it is challenging and much more to approach. I can appeal how different educational can ruin the culture because of the language. But now it is different because people can learn more but not to lose from various culture as well as education.

References:

Ruperake, P (1980), A Pacific Anthology. Ed. Albert Wenbt.

Week 9

The original text:

My analysis:

In this week, I have substantial interests to develop more about the poem ‘Fast talking Pi’ created by Selina Marsh.

Fast talking PI is one poetry contains with poet’s community, ancestry, influences, and history. This is the first poem I know that in the first singular and it is musical as well as confident. I must say I was shocked when I first listened to Selina’s poetry on YouTube. It was awe-inspiring that the way Selina engaged with the sound and the beat of the poetry. It is different when I read the textual version of the Fast talking PI, but I do know how to read her poetry in her way as like how to demonstrate the pronunciation, pause, and the beat. Selina’s Fast talking PI does sound like a rap with all the patterns in rap mode, but it was smooth and encouraging unlike most of the rap is aggressive.

Fast talking PI is powerful to convey Selina’s identities and abilities, her use of descriptive vocabulary is sensuously strong, imagery, catchy and rhyming. There are too many examples of rhyming and catchy words such as “I’m a fast talkin’ PI” and “I’m a power walkin’ PI” as well as “I’m a fa’alavelave loving’ giving’ living’ PI” etc. On the other hand, it is brilliant how Selina addressed the readers. For example, ‘I’m a royal PI, I’m a commoner PI, I’m a coup-supported, you and you and you, deported PI.' This is to interact with the readers or audience to make them feel related, needed and welcomed. She also mentioned, “I’m a vegan PI, a rainbow warrior PI, I’m a protest sign against the rising waters PI.” This is another way to address the readers who are vegan, LGBT individuals or for LGBT and people who against rising waters. Faster talking PI also tends to break the stereotype of Pacific Islander and tells the PI can be capable of multiple positions. It also supports different identities such as rainbow warrior stands for LGBT community as I mentioned.

Reading and listening to Fast talking PI encourage me to feel powerful and to be proud of my own identities. I also discovered how much power and talents that female can be engaged. I’m proud of Selina, and I think she speaks up what Pacific Islanders are unconfident and afraid of, everyone should be proud of themselves and their identities. Also, Pacific Islanders are much powerful than what you think.

My creative response:

Creative Writing AC

I’m a creative writing AC

I’m a wordy talking AC

I’m a goody math science learning AC

I’m a depend AC

I’m a tomorrow independent AC

I’m a BA still learning AC

I’m a non-stop learning AC

I’m a meat lover AC

A vege lover AC

I’m a non-smoking AC

A non-drags AC

A non-alcoholic AC

I’m a warrior against violence AC

I’m a loving AC

I’m a friendly AC

I’m a non-weird AC

I’m a no eating haslets AC

I’m a saving pets AC

I’m a saving plants AC

I’m a hater against hypocrites AC

I’m a fashion AC

I’m a designing AC

I’m a working, selling, making money AC

I’m a cooking, baking, saving money AC

I’m a poetic AC

I’m a dramatic AC

I’m a dancing, acting, long hair AC

I’m a yellow AC

I’m a white AC

I’m a cross culture AC

I’m a half bi, half gay AC

I’m a rainbow admirer AC

I’m a long term writing AC

I’m a long term reading AC

I’m a long term speaking AC

I’m a trying creative writer AC

I’m a worrier AC

I’m an impatient AC

I’m an aggressive AC

I’m an ingenious, slow thinking, tongue-shy talking AC

I’m a long thinking creative writing AC

I’m a last minute creative writing AC

I’m a creative writing AC

Reflection:

In this week, I have written one short poem based on Selina Marsh's Fast Talking PI. PI stands for Pacific Islander. I wrote mine as Creative Writing AC, AC stands for Asian Chinese. I found Fast Talking PI powerful, and it sounds like rap. I only cited one page of Fast Talking PI, because it’s a long poem consisted of 5 pages. (If you haven’t heard or read her Fast Talking PI before, I recommend you to do so. Just google Fast Talking PI). It is incredibly catchy and compelling to address her Pacific Islander’s identity. Her poetry inspires me to write my own, especially when I wrote it, I felt nothing stressed, It is more like a fun writing. My creative response it is more about myself and my Chinese identity. Some think Chinese are good at math or science; some think Chinese don’t have a sense of fashion, some even think Chinese are wealthy and squander their money. My poetry is straightforward, but it does break down the stereotypes of Chinese.

Week 10

The original text:

My analysis:

The poem ‘Wild dogs under my skirt’ by Tuisata Avia is a powerful poem to emphasize her Samoan’s identity. The theme of the poem is to tattoo her thighs under her skirt, but the tattoo she wants stands for her identity and culture. As we know, the tattoo is more likely to be a permanent token and hardly to be washed. There are many teenagers or gangs tattoo themselves for just fun and to show their personalities as being “cool” or “authoritative.” Some just tattoo themselves for symbols of permanent love in the relationship. Tuisaka used the word “want” multiple times to demonstrate her desires and prides to show her identity as an appearance of the tattoo.

In the first stanza, “I want to tattoo my legs, not blue or green, but black.” The color of black is an importance of showing her identity of Samoan.

In the second stanza, “I want to sit opposite the tufuga and know he means pain”. ‘Tufuga’ is a Samoan word stands for a builder, I believe here it should mean the person who’s doing her tattoo. She knew the pain of tattoo but insist on doing it is another way to show her desires to show her identity and to show her loyalty.

In the later stanzas, Tuisata mentioned how she wants her legs to be wild Samoan dog’s teeth, black octopus, and black centipedes. Those three things are all strong to show her ambitions and desires to be a strong and powerful Samoan female. The tattoos actually could be a guide to reminder her and people about her culture and identity. The tattoos also can be the power inside her and to fear the enemies.

As an unpowerful person, I don’t have any tattoos, and I’m terrified of the pain. I also don't dare to have one on my body. I can actually relate to it in a different way, every time when I met someone who’s bullying me, I just let them. Because I’m too weak to fight them back, this is just like I’m too weak to have the tattoo. I think people who have the tattoo, usually tend to be brave and strong just like the gangs. I found this poem very interesting and powerful. I can feel the power of Tuisata; I wanted to have the power once I read it.

Dark skin under me

I want to dye my hair

A golden white

Or a dark brown

I want to tan up my skin

A dark brown

Or a light black

I want to sit in front of the color technician

Let him play with my hair

Let him use hair bleach

With his magical hands

The pain bestrew my scalp

The black bleached to gold

The pain in my head

brought the beauty in my hair

I look much better now

I want to tan up my skin

Like a mocha

Like a hazelnut

I tanned my skin to brown

A light brown

I look much better now

Like a brown PI

Like a brown Latino

I went shopping to a PI store

I bought a whole outfit

I wore them on me

On my dark skin

I look much better PI now

Reflection:

In this week, I wrote one short poetry bases on Wild dogs under my skirt. The original text is somehow powerful to refer author's Pacific identity. The tattoos she had is to show her power in her culture and how much she wants people to know her identity and her culture. We know people are doing tattoos for just fun or they think it is a symbol of "being cool." My poetry is a completely different story about how I want to change my identity to Pacific identity by tan up the skin and dye the hair. Some are dyeing their hair or tan up their skin for fashion reasons, but my goal is for people seeing me as a Pacific Islander instead of other identities. Being a local undoubtedly earns much more respects than foreigners, the purpose is to show my despairs about how I felt uncomfortable or unconfident to be a foreigner. I tend to let the readers think what's my real purpose, is it because I was born in Pacific islands, but I don't look like any of them, or it is because I'm a foreigner and I want to fit into the Pacific community.

Week 11

The original text:

My analysis:

A book and a pen by Vaine Rasmussen is a poem about the Pacific islanders immersing themselves in Western education instead of their own Pacific island’s school. Due to the change of education system, they lost their culture, and this is to show how Westerner colonized them.

The poem is straightforward to refer the Western education and how it affects Pacific people. This is unlike the other Pacific poetry “Kidnapped” indirectly addresses the western education and the influences to the Pacific people.

The poem begins with the author’s younger experience with western education and the author successfully graduated with a piece of paper called “Academically qualified to matriculate at any university”.

At the second stanza, the author was successfully graduated from university with another piece of paper called “BA” (Bachelor of Arts).

At the third stanza, the author was being afforded with a job to use “books and pens, letterheads and folders to fill up with trash” and she cashed her pay packets at Tamure or Tumunu. The use of “trash” sounds negative, it shows she wasn’t satisfied with her job, and she considered it as “trash.”

At the last stanza, the author grew old, and author received a “pe’e, a legend, a song and a language to master.” This sounds like the author was doing a good job with the western education, but she lost her “dying culture” at the meantime, she started to feel unworthy and regretful for spending too much time on western culture instead of her own.

The poem used multiple times “They gave me…” instead of “I chose,” this is to refer to the author did not have any choices to choose what she was interested. It is like she was being forced to play with “a set-rule and a calculator” and to experiment with “Test tubes and Bunsen burners.” It is like she was being forced to learn “Marx’s theories and Solzhenitsyn’s literature”. Even in her career, she was doing something that people offered her, and she considered it as “trash.” She felt regretful and sad with what she did in her entire life without noticing she missed many.

After reading this poem, I felt like I am doing the same thing just like the author. Sometimes when I talk to my family, I forgot how to say certain specific words in Mandarin, and I only know these words in English. I somehow need to translate the English words into Mandarin and then tell them what I wanted to say. Living in a foreign country does sometimes make me feel like I am losing my language.

My creative response:

When the days came

When the days came

I wasn’t prepared

I wasn’t scared

I was handed with a book and a pen

To take notes

To write knowledges

To be a learner

Within the wisdom

When the days came

I was excited

I was worried

I was handed with a paper

With congratulations

I passed the phase one

And there’s another waiting

When the days came

I was handed with a paper

With course choices

I had a choice made

To learn

To exercise

To success

I was handed with another paper

With another congrats

With my graduation

When the days came

When the dream came true

With endeavor

With reputation

When the days came

When I lost myself

But with achievements

It’s worth

Reflection:

I have written a short poetry bases on Vaine Rasmussen’s poetry named A book and a Pen. It is similar to what I have written in week 7 and week 8, they are all about education. Many Pacific literature are related to Western education, apparently the British education affects them and they felt they have lost their identity and culture because the different education system. I have to say different education system does change people, that’s why I wrote “when the days came”. Education somehow became my most important part in my life, I may lost myself because of the stress of study and the environment. But I think it’s worth it, because you can’t have it all.

Week 12

The original poem:

My analysis:

Being Afakasi by Grace Taylor is a strong spoken word poem, and I find it interesting. When I first listened to her spoken word, I actually didn’t know what Afakasi is, I went on google and found Afakasi is used to describe people who have one Samoan parent and one Palagi parent. Grace Taylor was born in a half Palagi and half Samoan family.

In Grace’s spoken word, she mentioned she was made by “English roses snow blooded lines, Samoan tattoo coco blooded lines intertwined,” she used metaphors of “English roses” and “Samoan tattoo” to describe her parents. I think this is very interesting to use specific metaphors to define her family and culture.

Grace also mentioned she couldn't fit into the brown community because of her white skin, “This white skin nurtured in a brown community, struggling to find unity, within me.” She felt she’s excluded because she’s mixed and she doesn’t have the brown skin as many do. I think she felt the loneliness mostly from her family because her family made fun of her white skin as well. “Even within my own family, RACISM, spoken from the mouths of my own blood, saying it as a joke? Saying it with love? No! Don’t be so naive to think I don’t know it’s about me you speak.” Grace’s family made some jokes about her, and they think Grace won’t be able to understand their jokes about her skin tone. That’s why she felt she’s “whiter and whiter.”

Grace also cited few conversations about her from others, they were talking about Grace’s identity, first they thought Grace is palagi but Grace’s mum is Samoan, this made her an Afakasi.

“Ummm teine palangi”, “I hear her mum is sar-mo-win?” “Who? Grace? She’s afakasi man, hamo hard.”

Grace is a strong woman to speak up about her identity; she talked about “I’m a half Samoan, say it loud, say it proud, Feeling I gotta be a little louder, Speak a little browner.” This is to show that she’s upset with the racism and she wants to be more accepted. That’s why she needs to speak louder and browner, because it’s the only way she can be heard and accepted. She talked about, “What I gotta do to prove I’m just as Samoan as you?” Many don't believe she’s a Samoan and they need her to prove she’s a Samoan.

She later talked about “Your blood flows the same as mine, I’m still learning my culture and identity, but I feel what you feel.” This is to interact with the brown community and tell them she’s one of the community.

Grace’s poem is powerful to interact with the people who have lack of confidence in their identity, and it told people not to identify people by looking at their skin tone. I think it’s unfair to the people who are not fully blooded to their kind such as Afakasi because they must feel much sadness to not look like much Samoan and other fully blooded brown people keep reminding them that they are not hundred percent Samoan. Because of two different family backgrounds combing together would make people hard to identify themselves. For example, Samoan might think Grace as a white instead of Samoan; White people might not believe Grace as a white. Strangely, Grace considers herself as a Samoan instead of Palagi. I have a friend; she’s half Chinese and half Korean because she grew up in China then she identifies herself much more Chinese instead of Korean. I think Grace is the same; maybe she grew up in Samoa then she considers herself much more Samoan.

My creative response:

Being who you are

Undefiled rice

derived from paddy

Wooden chopstick

taught by daddy

The mutual colours

and mutual horizons

of the two

made me

The yellow tan color

Under my skin

Appreciated by the yellow community

Depreciated by the white community

Flowing from one to another

Learning new history to fit in

Struggling with the approval

Fighting with the misunderstanding

When with my family

Fool

Follow the masses?

Follow the cultures?

No!

Stop being a fool to even think

They will ever accept

“Ni yao duo gen wai guo ren yiqi”

Saying that I need to follow the white community?

“Ni hai bu gou nuli”

Saying that I am not trying hard enough?

I’m a pure Chinese

Say it loud

Say it proud

I’m who I am

I accept who you are

I admire who you are

I respect who you are

I support who you are

I appreciate who you are

Say it loud

Say it proud

We are who we are

We ain’t lose my culture

We ain’t follow the masses with despite

I like folks and table-knives

I like cereals and sandwiches

I like potatoes and tomatoes

But I love rice and chopsticks

Integrating what I have

And what I don’t

Appreciating what I have

And what I don’t

Yes, we need approval

But what if we never were approved?

Confidence!

Walk like a lion

Run like a wolf

Fly like a dragon

Its confidence made us

Its identity made us

Its life made us

It’s you made you

Being who you are

Love yourself

Enhance yourself

Like a lion

Like a wolf

Like a dragon

Reflection:

In the final week, I have chosen Grace Taylor's spoken word for my creative writing response. I have used two sentences of Chinese in my poetry. Because Taylor had used some Samoan language in her poem, it made her poetry extremely powerful. I have never used Chinese in any of my poetry because I know most of the readers won’t understand what it meant. Because this is the last poetry that reflected Pacific literature, I tried my language to emphasize my thoughts. The primary reason of why I used my language is because my family always forced me to fit in a society with foreigners, they refused me to hang out with my kind. I think it is important to hang out with both. I tried to encourage the readers to be proud of who they are and to be confident and to be strong, like lion or wolf or dragon. “Being who you are” is a simple poetry that emphasized identity but I tried to courage people who had not yet fit in the society to accept who they are and to accept different people. It does not mean if you are a westerner, you can’t explore Asian’s culture. You could have it all if you want.