Leilani and I created blogs so we can each be each other followers, this was about three weeks ago, not even maybe even a month ago! But I've barely [now] taken the time to have an entry. It's just the idea of having a blog is fun, but when it comes down to actually writing, I get helllaaa lazy. But the longer I put it off, the more I have to say and the more I have to say that means the more I have to write and the more I have to write the lazier I get and then I put off blogging even more. And so a day becomes a week and then a week becomes a month, and here I am with a blog with no entries. I never win. But an end is an end! So here's to my first entry...
November 4, 2008: Truly a historical moment in time. The first elected black president. There was a huge demographic shift with young voters [first time voter!] and communities of color turning out to vote, definitely demonstrating that we are ready for a change. The announcement came around 8 and my roommates sat there stunned that a winner was predicted so early. That night was truly EPIC. I cannot find a better word to describe it After the announcement, Berkeley had this HUGE parade, thousands of students, POURED out into the streets to go all around the city and campus. My friends and I along with the rest of the campus walked and cheered, chanted and cried for a good 3+ hours. Even though I did not know the person in front of me or behind me when we marched around the streets of Berkeley, I could not help but feel a sense of unity and bond with each and everyone on the streets. I was so grateful to be in Berkeley during this time. It was great to see solidarity among the community and to witness and PARTICIPATE on something momentous like this.
But as we celebrated Obama's victory, many of us were still anxious about the results of many of the props, in particular Prop 8. The next morning was bittersweet. The passing of Prop 8 was a huge contradiction to what happened the night before. It was as though California took one step forward, but two HUGE steps back. I couldn't and still CAN'T fathom the fact that we are living in a society where we have allowed the creation of second class citizens [again]. On Friday[11/9], my friends and I went to a rally in SF in protest of proposition 8. As we walked from the Civic Center to Dolores Parks, I was overcome with emotion knowing that this type of injustice was approved by the majority of Californians. But the number of people that turned out showed me that even through times of trouble, love can and will conquer all.
And to further on continue with this lack of acceptance, what the fuck is going on with the situation of the Thai temple? This Sunday, I went to the Thai Temple in Berkeley for Sunday Brunch. As my friend and I walked towards the temple I saw people leaving with mounds of food and desserts. YUMMY! Walking to the back, we were greeted the sweet smell of pad Thai and sweet sticky rice deserts. People were mingling and enjoying their meals. The food I had was delicious and well worth the donation. The food was for a lack of a better word, AMAZING, the place was clean, and the noise level was moderate [really they were just sounds of laughter and chit chat]. Lately I've heard about the complaints made against the Thai Temple. Neighbors have complained that the "food smells," there's too much trash and it is too noisy. I did not see any of that when I went this Sunday. What I saw was a social gathering for friends to catch up with friends, for small children to run in the small garden in the back, for people to just enjoy the delicacies of Thai food, for families to reconnect on a Sunday after their busy schedules. These claims are ridiculous! To me, Berkeley is an infusion of cultures and the shutting down of Thai temple, I feel, is extremely detrimental to the community because it shows that we promote this lack of acceptance and diversity. I mean its 2008, we have come a long way from discrimination and if anything I feel that we have enter a time and age where we no longer criticize and fear what is different but rather learn from it and embrace different ideas and lifestyles. It is a shame because the only thing Thai Temple does is promote community something that most of us really need to learn the meaning of.
I think that complaints towards the Thai Temple really hit home to me only because I remember when I was younger I was HELLLAAA embarrassed to have my friends come over in fear of them smelling my mom's cooking. You know that fish sauce, that soy sauce. And to hear that one of the reasons why they want to close down Thai temple was because IT SMELLS BAD, was like a slap to the face. It brought me back to when I was afraid of what my friends would think of me. "Your place smells like fish this shit smells it smells too Asian"
The FUCK
I fucking miss the smell of nuoc mam, because I'm not going to lie, to me that smell is not equivalent to the smell of fish, but it is the smell of sweetness, it is a reminder of times when my mom cooked after working 7-7 to feed a family of 4 who rarely spoke to each other in the first place and dinner was the only time that allowed us to come together as a family. and FOR you to fucking come up in my home and insult me by criticizing what my mom has done due to the lack of refinement of your senses well...
FUCK YOU
as I became older I no longer was ashamed of what my mom cooked, I inhaled and embraced it. I realize that here is nothing to be ashamed of and what I was feeling when I was younger should have never been felt. This was really another step to accepting me.
nuoc mam is the smell of my home.
The biggest insult to me that anyone can make is attacking another culture's food. Because food is not just food, it is history, it is love, it is time, it is identity, and an attack on my mother's cuisine is an attack on me
-mindy
