Language:
Rin, 78, Gurung 511, Chin
143, Hasan, 298, Dao 418, Ismail 338; Breakbeat (BB) Saenz, 189, Murillo
Identifying the natural/
geographic elements from a colonial/post-colonial perspective OR What is place?
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Marilyn Chin’s
Poem, “Tonight While The Stars are Shimmering”, had a few parts in it that
resonated with my own internal back and forth feelings about my family’s own
journey to America.
Both my parents are immigrants, birthing me in the United
States of America in hopes that I would have a better opportunity here, that my
life would not be in a poor village like there’s would, that I would not
struggle for food and would have toys to play with at Christmas and would have
an easy education and could follow my dreams. However we are all now coping
with the reality that this country is simply not what everyone dreams about,
that the so-called “Land of Opportunity” is only opportunity for some, and that
they risked so much to only have their children struggle as much as they did,
but in different ways, more internal, more unhappy.
“In Feudal China you would’ve
been drowned at birth/In India charred for a better dowry” (Chin, 143) I feel
that the narrator, as well as my parents, left their country to escape what
seemed like impossible circumstance, in the hope that there would be light at
the end of the tunnel, that there would be something better. It seemed like an
obvious choice at the time.
“Your coffee is bitter, your spaghetti is sad”
(Chin, 144) How many times have my family and I felt alienated here, in this
place we tried to make home, yet will never truly be? I miss the food of my
country. I wasn’t born there and yet it somehow feels like I was. I feel like I
feel my mother’s mourning for what she lost. I see what colonialism has taken
from her, and in turn, what it has taken from me, from so many of us. Of course
it’s complicated, of course sometimes there is no other choice, but that doesn’t
make it sting any less. Is America place, or home to me? It is, in some ways. But so is the country my ancestors are from, and I feel a much bigger sense of comfort and warmth there that goes deeper than my sense of place in America. I think home can have different meanings. Familiarity is one of them. You know where things are here in America if you grew up here perhaps. You know your childhood home, the foods you eat, the music they listen to. But where is your heart?
Hi Dani,
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed your blog piece this week. Thank you so much for opening up your thoughts, history, and personal story to our class. While I read your writing, the main adage that came to my mind is "the grass is not always greener on the other side." Like trading in one dark cloud for another, there's always a positive or negative to every choice we make and each place we travel to/from. My thoughts then lead to the idea of the "trade." It feels and sounds like almost everything is a trade. Everyone makes choices for different reasons and do the best they can in hopes of the best outcome, but what does that mean for the places people decide on? What about the homes left behind in shambles and the new land chosen? Like how your last question resonates in me, "where is your heart?"
Thank you again for sharing.
Best,
Tien Dang
I really enjoyed your blog post because it gave me a deeper understanding of the poem, so thank you. I think it's interesting to think about the trade-offs and choices people have to make in a post-colonial world so thank you for focusing on this poem and bringing that to my attention.
ReplyDeleteI deeply appreciate your honesty here, not only in bringing these texts home to the personal experience, but also in reminding us of the questions that often go unasked. And reading more about you through text rather in person also made me reflect on what these poets are doing here: everything that was evoked in you, the emotions that are connected to these experiences, were beautifully crafted into these poems. These poets were selective of what experience, of so many, holds the weight of these emotions. Your words made me even more impressed with the way these authors show up and evoke the very sentiments/thoughts you lifted up. Great way to deepen our conversation!
ReplyDeleteDani,
ReplyDeletethe final question is key and it seems that often where the heart is, is also the impossible place to be. If Tyranny rules, if women are erased, then the beautiful hillside is blinded by rigidity. I appreciate how you connected to the Narrative and connected it to your own.
e