You Can't Bao With Us. Or Can You?

Fresh Off the Boat by Eddie Huang describes security, diversity, and cultural themes throughout his memoir.

“To this day, I wake up at times, look in the mirror, and just stare, obsessed with the idea that the person I am in my head is something entirely different than what everyone else sees.” [1] This is relevant because Eddie was raised in an Asian American household whose Taiwanese parent's came fresh off the boat. Eddie's demeanor in his writing and his attitude makes the reader (I) believe he was ashamed of his cultural background which later led to his insecurities growing up. Eddie struggled with his identity and often explains that he got my made fun of because he was asian. His emotions channeled his behavior growing up and he would attack anyone as a self-defense mechanism. As Eddie grew older his struggle with his identity became more apparent. In high school he hung out with the wrong crowd and sold drugs because he thought he was good at it.


One of the most beautiful things about the world is the different cultures and people that make it up. "Chinese people questioned my yellowness because I was born in America. The white people questioned by identity as an American because I was yellow." [2] I noticed diversity was a common theme in Eddie's memoir because he explains that he enjoys playing basketball and listening to hip-hop music. At first glance, one would make the connection to stereotyping- playing basketball and listening to hip-hop music is supposed to only interest people of Africa-American cultures, right?  Although Eddie struggled in his own identity he embraces other cultures diversity and didn't let stereotypes define who he was as he got older. 

"There were so many gaps in my American culture understanding because we just didn't get it at home." [3] This book does a great job explaining the troubles immigrants experience growing up in another country. For example, this past summer I studied abroad in Barcelona, Spain. I spoke little to no spanish and within 24 hours of getting off the plane I had extreme culture shock. My cell-phone could only receive calls on wi-fi, water was no longer free, and I had to hang dry my clothes because dryers were considered a luxury. My circadian rhythm was now waking up earlier, taking 2-3 hour naps during the afternoon, and eating dinner at 10 p.m. After reading this memoir, I could relate to Eddie because my first week in Spain was not easy and I felt extreme homesick trying to adjust to the Spanish culture I was living in.

Personally, I enjoyed the reading and the way Eddie's story unfolded. Eddie's memoir is the definition of the American Dream. Eddie spent most of his life growing up in a dysfunctional household with no direction from his emigrated Taiwanese parent's to finishing law school and opening his own restaurant in New York. Eddie was able to take control of his life, despite where he came from, and overcome his insecurities. This story teaches us the different obstacle life can throw at you and ways to overcome the hardest struggles. I found that the ending of the book showed irony because Eddie spent most of his life finding himself when in reality his calling was right in front of him as he followed in the footsteps of his father. Eddie now owns a restaurant called "BaoHaus" in New York.

Eddie Huang, owner of "instant-success" restaurant called BaoHaus in New York

[1]Eddie Huang. Fresh Off the Boat: A Memoir. (New York, Spiegel & Grau, 2013), pg.42
[2] Huang, Fresh Off the Boat, pg. 171
[3] Huang. Fresh Off the Boat, pg.69

[

vibrant times call for vibrant colors

"Young men and women were persuaded "to turn on, tune in, and drop out." [1]

Turning the first few pages of this groovy story The Harvard Psychedelic Club, I was not expecting it to be this controversial for a book published during this time period. The book opens with an introduction introducing the main characters  Timothy Leary, Richard Alpert, Andrew Weil and Huston Smith. These men were four charistmatic pioneer visionaries that changed American culture forever. "They came together at a  time of upheavel and expirmentation, and they set the stage for the social, spiritual, sexual, and psychological revolution of 1960 ."[2] Timothy Leary was a research psychologist who found enlightment through LSD;  Richard Alpert, also known as Ram Dass, was a Harvard psychology professor who was queer in his private life; Dr. Andrew Weil, a Harvard Medical School graduate who became "the nation's best-known proponent of holistic health and natural foods." [3] Lastly, Huston Smith a MIT philosophy professor who was very well read in the world's religions and was born to follow in his fathers steps but decided teaching was his calling.

There are many political, social and economical themes throughout the reading that changed "the way we look at the mind, body, and spirit." [4] Many of these changed the counterculture in America during the 1950s and 19060s. "It was the end of the 1950s- a decade defined by conformity, consumerism, political paranoia, and the just-discovered nightmare of global nuclear annihilation. It was the beginning of the 1960s, which would see its own horrors of divisive polticis but was somehow redeemed by a new spirit of optimism, innovation, and hope." [5] We question as we were reading what was the reason that these four men came together? There was a vision behind the Harvard Psycedelic Club that wanted to change different stages of the unconscious state of mind through psychology. Leary discovered the magical world of mushrooms at the young age of a seventeen-year-old while on summer break in Mexico. He was convinced that through psychedelic drug use it would revolutionize the practice of psychology.However, leary believed "multiple realities that lead to a polytheistic view of the universe and a new time for humanist religion based on intelligent good natured pluralism and scientific paganism had arrived." [6] The enviorment of the club quickly became more than a "research project" and became a social movement in the 1960s.

A picture depicting what the mind may experience during a "psyedelic trip"

 The memebers of the Harvard Psyedelic Club positions included the seeker, the teacher, the trickster, and the healer- also known as:

Huston Smith

Tim Leary & Richard Alpert

Andrew Weil

After reading this book, it made me open my eyes to the culture during the 1950s,1960s, and 1970s. I've read in history books about the "hippie" and "free-spirited" culture but I never realized how many people did drugs recreationally to open their mind and to think outside of the box. So many people used drugs like mushrooms and LSD to experience out of body and out of mind experience to connect to oneself. I never realized how many pro's and con's there were to the use of drugs. I believe Don Lattin did a great job describing the popularity of drug use and the types of people who used drugs during this time period. I also believe the reading in this book is important because it gives us an understanding of of the drug culture during this time period when he describes the memebers of the The Harvard Psychedelic Club. It's crazy to think the drug culture still effects us today after decades of when this book took place in the 1960s.

     
Latin, Don. The Harvad Psychedelic Club: How Timothy Learly, Ram Dass, Huston Smith, and Andrew Weil Killed the Fifties and Ushered in a New Age for America (New York: HarperOne,2011).

1. Latin, The Harvard Psychedelic Club pg. 41

2. Latin, The Harvard Psychedelic Club, Kindle pg.83

3.Latin, The Harvard Psychedelic Club, Kindle pg.83

4.Latin, The Harvard Psychedelic Club, Kindle pg. 87

5.Latin, The Harvard Psychedelic Club, Kindle pg.68

6. Latin, The Harvard Psychedelic Club pg.82

Flapping our dresses in 1920

 There are many cultural themes that depict women, sex, and style in the book Flapper by Joshua Zeitz. Flapper takes place during the 1920s where younger generations were pushing aside their Victorian principals and were transforming into the Jazz age. During the 1920s and the industrial boom there were many new inventions including automobiles, telephones, radio, and medicine. Many families who grew up in the countryside were moving to big cities. The strength of America was driven by vast economic power and achieving the American dream.

       

In high school most of us read the Great Gatsby, a story about a men who achieved the American dream and was living in the West Egg outside of New York City. After reading part 1of the Flapper I began noticing similarities between the two stories. Both Jay Gatsby and Scott Fitzgerald devoted their life to keeping up their celebrity profiles. The first section of the Flapper begins with introducing us to Zelda, a 17-year old, "wild child"that has a promiscuous and rebellious character. Zelda ends up becoming the wife of F. Scott Fitzgerald, who gained fame in the early 1920s as a successful American writer.

Fitzgerald introduced us to the word "flapper" which is described as a teenage girl whose posture is "supposed to need a certain type of clothing-long, straight lines to cover her awkwardness-and stores advertised these gowns as 'flapper-dresses.'"[1] Due to Zelda's outrageous independence for her sexuality, she was dubbed the first American "Flapper" by her husband Scott. Scott's love and desire for his wife influenced the writing in his novel. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, has many underlining meaning between the relationship in the book compared to the relationship between him and Zelda. 

Before the 1920s many women dressed very conservative. The flapper changed societies outlook on women and gave women more credibility in the workforce, economy, and culture. Feminists had previously worked so hard on acquiring women’s suffrage, legal rights, income equality, and most of all, women acceptance, but they felt that “the New Woman of the 1920s was an apolitical creature interested only in romantic and sexual frivolities” [2] Women modernized America during the 1920s and redefined feminism as an act for independence which led to an upward trend in urban and industrialization.

Zeitz, Joshua. Flapper: A Madcap Story of Sex, Style, Celebrity, and the Women Who Made America Modern. New York: Crown Publishers, 2006. 

1. Zeitz, Flapper, 5

2. Zeitz, Flapper, 105 

Introduction

Hello everyone! Welcome to my blog for American Cultural History 314.

        

My name is Regan Rosenberg and I was born and raised in Chicago, IL. I am a Junior at Arizona State University and I am majoring in Entertainment broadcast with a minor in Communications. After graduation, I hope to land a job at E! News reporting on the Red Carpet or hosting award shows and 

events in Los Angeles. I currently live in Tempe, AZ.

Eating Belgian waffles in Brussels, Belgium.

This past summer I studied abroad in Barcelona, Spain, where I had the opportunity to live and travel with two of my best friends. We visited Amsterdam, Belgium, Croatia, Ibiza, London, and a few islands along the coast of Spain. I believe traveling is one of the most enriching opportunities one can experience. Barcelona is one of my favorite cities that I visited because it is full of history, art, and entertainment. One place I am itching to visit is Bali, Indonesia. Bali is an island known as the "laid back surfer hangout" and in recent years has become a  famous travel destination.

Barcelona, Spain

             
I believe the effect social media has on society is one of the most defining characteristics in American culture today. In recent years the list of users on social media sites such as Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook have sky-rocketed. Today we have social media apps at the tips of our fingers and we are constantly updated with news, pictures, and status's every minute of the day. More people are spending time staring into a small screen than conversing and interacting with the people around them.