Listener Lyric

The Listener Lyric Unit in English was steered towards present a new perspective/experience the greatly differs from our own life. By combining elements of memoir, poetry, and research writing, and research writing, this essay structure is where one writes about the experience of another while also adding their interpretation of the situation/experience.

My subject for this project was a friend of mine that I have know ever since my freshman year of high school, they grew up in a Filipino/American family. My subject had struggled with stereotypes back in middle school and a little bit in high school but it was more apparent in middle school. It was interesting to see the difference between my middle school experience and theirs.

 

New School, New Class, 6th Grade 

Day 1

It’s the first day and you’re joining choir. You’re really excited. 

You’re a little bit nervous because it’s a new school, new people. Thankfully you know some people in the class. It’s cold in the classroom, but you don’t mind. Your teacher comes in. 

You get more and more excited. 

You learn a new song, meet new people, and play some games.

 

Day 2

You’re even more excited than the first day. 

Everything runs smoothly, you are loving this class! 

 

Day 3 

Something 

seems 

off 

You notice something about the atmosphere of the class but you can’t put your finger on it. You brush it off and go along with your day. 

 

Day 4 

The pressure of the environment weighs you down like an anvil.  

You notice more and more differences between you and others. 

Tune of the song

You don’t think anything of it because you are used to this. 

 

Day 5 

You feel distant from the rest of the class like they are the finish line that you will never reach. . 

Your friends still hang out with you but you can’t say the same about others

Distance.

 

Day 6 

You now clearly determine the reason behind the weight of the atmosphere 

You begin to feel awkward around the others

You tend to stay with your friends more and more.

Distance.

 

Day 7 

On the outside, the class seems to be going well 

Everyone is getting along 

Singing along with the tune of the song, in perfect harmony

Except on the inside you know that something is 

      off 

An off tune note. 

 

You are used to this feeling because you know the stereotypes associated with you and know how others will look at you even though nothing is truly different. 

You have 

learned to ignore it, 

learned to not think anything of it, 

learned to accept it because there is nothing you can do. 

But it still gets to you sometimes – you may not show it, but it is there. 

 

Day 8

You go about your day like you have every other day, 

Singing along with the tune of the song, in perfect harmony.

 

Process

 

What words, definitions, or ideas do you associate with the word “citizen”? And How do these associations line up with your experience as you identifying as Filipino/Asian?

“Oh wow this is hard, I think like just living in America is enough to … hmm, Yea I think just living in America”

Can you tell me a story about a time you felt pre-judged or discriminated against for being a Filipino/Asian? Have there been any other experiences like that that you’ve experienced or witnessed? 

“Hm I think in middle school when I was in choir, because Filipinos are very into music and like a lot of them are really good singers. I would say that i am ok at signing and then people were surprised that someone who isn’t white was good at signing … so yeah I mean that was middle school of course people would judge because they have that mindset but like it was kinda hard because I knew when I moved here that it would be hard because I was different and I was obviously darker than most people. When you are more self aware and you are more aware of the environment and the people around you, it’s even hard especially when, when you take in that judgment and you beat yourself up with it, it’s really hard to just like overcome it.” 

Zora Neale Hurston once wrote, “I feel most colored when I am thrown against a sharp white background.” Does this statement feel true to your own experience in some way? Can you rephrase this statement to express your own experience more accurately?

Hmm, like you can tell the obvious difference as in color when you are with a group of white people. That’s The most basic I can get. Hmm. . . ok it’s really similar but connecting it the middle school choir thing um it’s like if you are with people that all look the same and they are very similar and your with them you stand out more because you see the obvious difference. And also i don’t know if I was gonna say like , I don’t want to say that I was better than them at singing but like our choir got better when I joined and I was gonna say like maybe they felt threatened and it made an even more divided class/environment in choir.”

In the book Citizen, author Claudia Rankine uses many narratives of “microaggressions,” or individual acts of racism that collectively form the crushing experience of racism in America. Have you ever experienced or witnessed microaggressions directed at [insert identity]? Can you describe one or two specific instances? 

I feel like this could be tied into migrants,I’ve had this one instance … so one about me I don’t remember when this happened I think like freshman year, we were having a potluck in Japanese oh not in freshman year in sophomore year, and then we didn’t even have rice so I was like where’s the rice and someone was like “do you always need rice” I don’t know it doesn’t really sound mean but like just because we eat rice doesn’t mean it’s like breakfast, lunch, dinner every day 7 days a week. I think a lot of people when they hear asian they think oh chopsticks, oh noodles, rice. The eye thing. I think we were just learning about the Spanish American war and like one of the cartoons were uncle sam holding a baby, a filipino baby and it was like super dark, but yea it’s just oh my god ok so this is like towards black people and Filipinos, but this person was like asking us a question an I didn’t know who they were, I don’t think my friends knew them either. But they were like “if you are wearing black you get hot in the sun right? So if you’re dark you you always get hotter in the sun?” So I was like “I don’t think thats how it works” but yea i don’t know I wouldn’t say its weird to see Filipinos look as dark as black people because you know color ranges and there are like some mixed Filipinos some mixed black people who have a different color of what the general should be or is. I think when I first started getting them or noticing them I was slightly annoyed but then ass I got older I started to realize that people are just like, people are just rude in general and like it’ll happen once in awhile it’s inevitable yea so you just gotta learn to deal with it and just ignore it it’s just comes with life”

Do you feel pressured in school, do you feel like you need to show them that you are doing well in a way or like cause you said that they are living through you so do you feel like you have to be good at school to make them proud? 

“I feel like, so like the thing where the parents live through the child is just like a general thing based on the stereotype but like my parents are like easy on me and they just want me to pass my classes but I like still feel like ok I still have to do better than just passing so it’s kinda just my perspective”