Word of the week #10

word: tangram
definition: a Chinese puzzle consisting of a square cut into five triangles, a square, and a rhomboid, which can be combined so as to form a great variety of other figures
where I found it: overheard a person saying it
The sentence I found it in: It's a tangramm, some game I'm not even sure how to play.
New sentence: The tangram helps to improve awareness, because of the uniqueness of it's puzzle solution.

Japanese Internment Memorial

As our class approached the memorial, I expected something compltely different. I thought that we were going to go to an actual museum, or have some guided tour. So my first reaction in my head was "Thats it???". But as our professor continued on about the memorial, I got into it. I also took a couple of pictures to keep as memory, and to give a better visualization.

The Japanese Internment Camp was a forced relocation by the US. government to thousands of Japanese families. This relocation camp happened after Pearl Harbor. The internment camp was forced onto thousands of families because the US. government were trying to protect themselves from this attack to ever happen again. They captured every Japanese family they could and put them into camps, mostly in the West Coast. This was a way to keep American's safe from threats from Japanese/minorities. This included even Japanese who were already legal residents and families that were residing in the U.S.

Ruth Asawa were part of the many families that were interned in these camps. She's known for her famous sculpture we visited the other week. When she was 16, her family was forced to live in horse stalls in Santa Anita. Asawa spent many years creating this memorial found in San Jose. Her memorial has different images of what happened at these camps. Specifically theres an area in her memorial where a family is seen living in horse stalls, and that was her very own family. Asawa did a great amount of research before she even created her memorial. The internment memorial also includes the full story showing families being forced to live in this camp, losing loved ones, guards that protected the camps, and unliving conditions for each story/family.

When I arrived at the view of this memorial, one of my first thoughts was "Why San jose?? Such a random place to put a memorial". Well after a great amount of research, I found the significance of why it was here. During that time after Pearl Harbor, the city of San Jose had and still has an area called Japantown where Japanese lived and had many businesses there. At the time, the government closed every Japanese owned store possible. San jose is a part of the internment history because at the time, some Japanese were were held in San Jose State University's gym.

Looking at this memorial gives me a great appreciation of what it's like today. For Americans, we are very lucky and fortunate to being living in a country of freedom. This memorial has a great story behind it. Some of the stories are shown throughout the memorial. One specific story that captured my attention was the families holding their belongings. On the side of the memorial there's a list of rules and items not to bring. As I noticed this list, I noticed the vignette. Looking at this made me feel sad and I felt bad, that the government was racist at the time and pushed people's freedom.

Living in a great country, I believe nothing like this could ever happen again, especially in America. our country has a great amount of diversity and equality to even think about putting minorities, different genders, or different cultures in internment camps.

Word of the week #9

word: taligrade
definition: walking on the outer side of the foot
where I found it: Heard it randomly on TV.
The sentence I found it in: The animal appeared to taligrade by the side of the road.
New sentence: Many people don't walk with a taligraded movement.

blog #8 - In my honest opinion

Everyday we all hear about local, US, and world news whether it directly relates to you personally, or outside your environment. I grew up in the city of Richmond. If you’re familiar with the Bay Area you'd understand that Richmond has the least best known reputation. This city is known for violence and negative crimes. With great consideration and appreciation, my parents were lucky enough to not bring around these negative environments. But every other day, you hear in the news about teenage crimes. As the years have passed by, you would think that teen crimes would disappear, and they would finally learn that crime is honestly not the solution.
These articles all include teen crimes. These articles make me boil so much because you would think young adult would be smart enough to make better decisions. Their lives are still so young and still have so much to look forward. Unfortunately, for some teens, their lives have to be cut short, and other’s lives are wasted in time stuck in prison. Hearing about teen crimes always makes me concerned because I do have a younger brother that is 18 years old and may still be immature in certain decisions. All these teens have families and at least one person that truly care for them.
Just within the past week, I came across 3 different articles that related to teen crimes, especially in areas I grew up around. The first article I noticed was about a shooting in Oakland. Oakland is also known for its violent crimes and downtown shootings. Honestly, reading this article was no surprise. We hear about crime and violence in this city more often than you can ever imagine. This article was about a 14 year old boy who was shot down by supposedly gang members and investigators are on the look out for these suspects.
The next article also relates to another shooting. This time, this took place in the city of Hercules, just about 5 minutes away from Richmond. Hercules is known for very rare violent crimes. But recently within the past few years, as more teens have flooded the city of Hercules, more crimes have been occurring. Hercules would be last city to have a shooting, and hearing about it, made me concerned. A shooting happened at a house party that broke into a riot and 2 teens were injured, but recovered from the bullet wounds.

Lastly, this next article relates to an event that occurred last year but now 2 guys were pleaded to no contest receiving a 25 years life prison and 15 years for the other person. These 2 guys were guilty to first and second degree murder to a 16 year old boy.
If only teens understand the true meaning to life. That violence, honestly, is not worth it.

Word of the week #8

word: pejorative
definition: having a disparaging, derogatory, or belittling effect or force
where I found it: browsing around the web
The setence I found it in: Calling a Southerner a 'redneck' or a 'cracker' is a pejorative term
New sentence: It was pejorative of the man to refuse help from a foreigner.

Word of the week #7

word: pecuniary
definition: of or pertaining to money
where I found it: browsing around the web
The setence I found it in: A pecuniary legacy is a fixed sum of money.
New sentence: The pecuniary amount was less than what he could afford.

Mystery character

He graced his audience with his slick moves on the dance floor. His facial features, were odd, noticeable, but could never be hidden and was always recognizable. His voice, captured us all with his hits. He influenced people from across the world with his creativity and left a mark in this world as a legend.