A Perspective Outside of My Own

displacement

identity

hope empathy

dreams

This week the multi-modal text set that I read through included the stories of Dreamers by Yuyi Morales, Freedom Over Me: Eleven Slaves, Their Lives and Dreams Brought to Life by Ashley Bryan, and Adrift at Sea: A Vietnamese Boy's Story of Survival by Marsha Forchuck Skrypuch with Tuan Ho Art by Brian Deines.

Each of these stories deals with the ideas and thoughts about people groups who had to flee their homelands in order to reach safety, security, and peace, or dealt with the history of American slavery in the 19th century. As I read or listened to/watched each of these stories, I attempted to put myself in the main character's shoes, no matter how deep the story led.

During the movie, Freedom Over Me: Eleven Slaves, Their Lives and Dreams Brought to Life by Ashley Bryan, I really listened to each of the slave's stories. I saw how the author, Bryan, was able to turn each of their work into their pre-slavery loves and joys or into their coping mechanisms to endure the inexplicable conditions as an enslaved person. I appreciate how she really gave each person an age, loves, dreams, hopes, and fears. Each of these elements helps us to see these people as human beings, on a deeper and more intimate level.

In the story Adrift at Sea: A Vietnamese Boy's Story of Survival by Marsha Forchuck Skrypuch with Tuan Ho Art by Brian Deines, I couldn't imagine what the main character, Tuan is escaping post-war Vietnam with his mother and some other family members. In this story, his mother, aunt and cousins are stranded at sea for almost a week, waiting for a rescue. When reading this story, watching the interviews with other, grown, Vietnamese, refugee/escapee children, I thought about the experience I had during my first job, in a nail salon back home. Each nail tech was Vietnamese and I feel it gave me a whole different perspective about these people's lives. Most of them had parents who had traveled to America during post-Vietnam war times -- which had never crossed my mind. They worked so hard, every day, because they came to build a better life. To escape the travesty of what was their land.

One of the men who worked in the salon was working towards achieving his American citizenship and would consistently asking me about certain words in the English language. Him and his wife were always so sweet to me at work and I really am thankful to have had the experience of working alongside these people. This experience really helped me tear down ignorance that had subconsciously built up throughout my life and given me a fresh perspective.

Dreamers by Yuyi Morales is the realistic fictional story of Morales herself as the mother to a young child, migrating from her homeland of Mexico to Texas with her child's father. What spoke volumes to me in this story is the fact that Morales found a home within the public libraries that surrounded her new house/living space. Morales and her son would spend hours on end in the library, flipping through picture books, discovering a new language, and finding a safe place to call their own -- in stories.

This book fascinates me because I had never thought about how safe books can be for those who are considered outsiders and immigrants. It was comforting for me to know that others can find as much joy and hope in books as I can within my own homeland. It just reminded me that books and stories have a way of bringing people together, allowing people to share a space that might not normally be acceptable or welcomed.

For my post this week, I have created both a watercolor painting (attached up top) and a persona poem (below).

My inspiration for the painting, for this mini multimodal text set, actually came from other sources as well. I had a dream last night that was extremely detailed and actually included a marginalized group here in America. (I would like to keep this a little vague, as I myself am still processing this dream) This group of women were hiding behind fires, which I had put out due to my concern for their safety! But after I had seen their expressionless faces, and was told to relight the fires, I knew, these women were seeking safety in hiding behind the fires. I also have just finished reading The Night Diary by Veera Hiranandani, the intense story of a Hindu family migrating on foot, across the desert to "the New India."

In this painting, the background colors embody those of fire -- red and yellow. They consume the entire page because moving and migrating across the desert is hot, and it also keeps us safe and warm at night, it can shield us from predators at times. Then I included deep purple/red and green obstacles along the journey, randomly placed because we never know what we might endure on our dangerous journeys. I added a small section for water because when traveling across the desert you must bring water, for it is scarce and it is precious. I included black dashes and dots to represent the path one travels: long, winding, seemingly never-ending; and including areas for rest. Some of the dots are smeared and faint, providing an aspect of frustration or families traveling also in the distance. My final touch on this piece included that of the word, "where." I wanted to include this word because I felt it embodied a lot of questions about a journey on foot or even a journey within, over one's identity. From, "where are we going?" to "where have I come from?"

My Persona Poem is from the Perspective of Tuan from Adrift at Sea.

More information about the large-scale immigration from Vietnam to the United States post-war can be found here!