Transforumer

Swing City!

Estelle Tran — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 03:30:00 GMT

I must be asleep.

Because I feel most awake, most alive when I'm dancing. Trying a new type of dance is like tasting a new dessert, and last night, I had the triple chocolate cake.

Walking onto the dance floor at Swing City in Squirrel Hill, I could not stop smiling. The music, people and dance moves seemed so familiar. I wished I had a polka dot dress, red lipstick and pearls. But I didn't feel awkward in my black skinny jeans and charcoal top - at least I was wearing my dancing shoes. The atmosphere was very casual. Some people dressed in vintage dresses and collared shirts while others wore Penguins shirts and poncho pants.

I went with the intention of observing for the first hour or so. This was not only because I plan on writing a story about Swing City for my newspaper 2 class but also because I had no idea how to swing dance. I cursed myself for not showing up to the free lesson beforehand.

After about 15 minutes of coaxing from friendly men who did not want to see a girl sitting down, my favorite dancing buddy, Molly, and I took to the dance floor. All of our dance partners were so helpful, counting to eight and reminding us of the slow-slow-quick-quick pattern. The way people crossed the room for each other reminded me of how Maria and Tony connected during the crowded dance in West Side Story. The kicking girls and twisting guys snapping their fingers helped too.

Dr. Zoot played the bouncing themes I expected as well as some polka and waltz. When they needed a break, the dance gods put on The Foundation's "Build Me Up Buttercup." The long trumpet skirts twirled and men got down on one knee with arms out, letting their girls parade around them. Amidst all of the swinging hips and dipping girls, there was an older couple in the middle of the room holding each other tight and spinning slowly.

The diverse crowd ranged from mid-teens to senior citizens, and everyone was having fun. Swing dancing is a lifelong activity, like tennis or golf, but I don't see love in peoples' eyes when they're golfing. Though tennis and golf clothes are pretty snazzy, there's just something about fedoras and chiffon scarves that's oh so fly.

You can bet that poodle skirt that I'll be back next Saturday and for many Saturdays after.

Swing City's Web site: http://www.swingpgh.com/index.html

Pitt Riots for Steelers Sixth Super Bowl Victory

Estelle Tran — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 04:31:00 GMT

Even before the Steelers had the chance to hoist the Vince Lombardi trophy, Pitt students stormed the street of Oakland to celebrate the Steelers' sixth Super Bowl victory. The Steelers, who were favored to win by six and a half points, won the game as expected, beating the Cardinals 27-23. And thousands of students rioted, as expected.

The Pitt, city of Pittsburgh and county police weaved through the crowds arresting people climbing traffic poles, destroying street signs, twisting a traffic light, lighting couches on fire, shooting off fireworks and flipping cars. Celebrators flipped a car on Oakland Avenue that had to be towed away. Some students attempted to burn tall cylinders where students staple fliers. At the Forbes Avenue and Bigelow Boulevard intersection, students used newspapers to set newspaper boxes ablaze.

County police brought horses blocking South Bouquet Street. Police around the intersection of Forbes Avenue and South Bouquet Street confiscated damaged or burned property, including a Post Gazette box.

Some individuals uprooted street signs and tried to smash parking meters.

People also lit couches and several dumpsters on fire. Fire fighters put out two dumpster fires around the intersection of Atwood Street and Cable Place. Police kept people away from two large dumpster fires on Forbes Avenue as well.

Later on celebrators kicked in windows on the ground level of Hillman Library.

Here are some pictures from the celebrations.

Celebrators gather outside of Hillman Library after the Steelers victory

Rioters try to burn a cylinder where students staple fliers for events. It is surprisingly fire retardant.

Police arrest an individual on Bigelow Boulevard who was kicking down a sign from a traffic pole

People climb a traffic pole at the intersection of Forbes Avenue and Bigelow Boulevard

Girls take advantage of a fallen mailbox to get a better view

Police mounted on horses stand ready on South Bouquet Street

An overturned car on Oakland Avenue

A broken window at Bruegger's Bagels

Police stand in line at Caribou Coffee on Forbes Avenue, anticipating a long night

Smoking remnants of a burned couch on Atwood Street

Dumpster on Atwood Street

Kanye and I Don't See Eye to Eye

Estelle Tran — Mon, 19 Jan 2009 06:27:00 GMT

It's difficult to realize what will be the great fashion faux pas of 2009 when you're still living in it. However, I am going to cast my vote for "shutter shades."

These eyeglasses work against the very purpose of eyeglasses: to improve vision. Shutter shades are cheap plastic glasses that have bars that run across the eyes, obstructing one's vision.

Take a peak:


                                                                                              I shudder at shutter shades.

As a popular item among concert attendees and party-goers, shutter shades add to an already tipsy-turvy-tilt-a-whirly atmosphere. But at what cost? It's like putting lines of bumper stickers on the rear window of a car, obstructing the half of the view.

Like the grillz and pimp goblets before them, shutter shades began as an onstage trend. With a little time and exposure, young people made a ruling on shutter shades; they passed with flying colors.

Many colors. Even some that glow in the dark.

The shades invaded common retailers, like Rue 21. They are also cluttering up pictures on Facebook and other social networking Web sites.

Here I find myself puzzled. Kanye West is such an intelligent recording artist. He must have foreseen a (half)blinded youth. Perhaps it's an experiment to see how far people will go to emulate celebrities. Even though I'm 99 percent sure it's not, I choose to believe Kanye has a grand plan for us.

---
To be fair, Kanye was not the first one to violate the sanctity of sight for fashion. Here are two other examples of musicians who would rather be seen than see. Here they exhibit the rare "fly eyes" style, which thankfully, has not gained popularity among the masses.

Britney Spears in her video for "Toxic," 2003



Avril Lavigne



---
Special thanks to Mr. Leemhuis for helping me with the pictures of Ms. Spears and Ms. Lavigne.

Asians are not the "Model Minority"

Estelle Tran — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 05:14:00 GMT

I intended for this article to run in Mochi Magazine, a fledgling Internet magazine for young Asian and Asian-American women, in ealy August, but because it was never posted*, I decided to post it on my blog. This was my first shot at a softer, magazine-style voice, and I decided that it would be unfair to my interviewees and to myself if I let this article go unpublished.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

You’re Asian. So you must be good at math, right?

“Not necessarily,” said New York University Professor Robert T. Teranishi. For over three years, Teranishi and other experts in education and Asian affairs have been examining what trials Asian-American students face in higher education.

Teranishi started the National Commission of Asian-American and Pacific Islander Research in Education (CARE), to examine issues affecting Asians in the United States. In June, CARE partnered up with the College Board to publish a report that seeks to dispell the perceptions that Asians are the “model minority”—a term that became popular during the Civil Rights Movement that deemed black people as “the problem” and Asians a hardworking “model minority,” according to the CARE report.

Catherine Diep, 16, from Muskogee, Okla. knew nothing about this comparison, but she still feels the effects of this perception.

“Most of the other Asians in my school do exceptionally well, whereas I'm at barely above average level. And most of the other Asian families own their own businesses and my family is just recovering from some employment problems,” Diep said.

Teranishi said that factors such as a person’s birthplace, first language, socioeconomic status, neighborhood and reason for immigrating to the U.S. affect the success of Asians in American higher education. He noted that there are 48 different ethnic categories of Asians-Americans. Asians in the U.S. have a wide range of backgrounds and cannot be held to stereotypes, for example “All Asians are good at math.”

Diep, like Teranishi, wanted to make people aware of the counter productiveness of Asian stereotypes. That’s why she founded a group called “All Asians are NOT the same” on Facebook, which had 6, 594 members at the time of publication. In the description on the group’s page, Diep posted a list of negative and “positive” labels that she had heard in her public school. She pointed out that not all Asians speak the same language and that none of them comprehend find meaning when someone says “ching chong.” Diep also said that not all Asians are short, skinny, bad driving Communists who are fresh off the boat and excel in school.

Vice President of the College Board, James Montoya said that this “positive stereotype” that all Asians are intelligent and hardworking is hurting many students.

“The fact is that there are many Asian students that fit this framework of the ‘model minority.’ The point of the study is to show there are many Asian students who don’t.” Montoya said. “It is helpful knowing they’re not alone.”

According to the report, in 2003, 26.1 percent of all bachelor degrees awarded to Asian-Americans were in social science and humanities fields, not math, medicine or engineering. This was more than the national average of degrees awarded in those fields, which stood at 19.5 percent. In addition, 28.8 percent of bachelor degrees earned by Asian-Americans were for business or management, in contrast to the national average of 33.7 percent.

The report addresses three main inaccuracies: Asian-American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) students are “taking over” U.S. Higher Education, AAPIs are concentrated only in selective four-year universities and AAPIs are a homogeneous racial group with uniformity in education and financial attainment, culture, religion and histories.

What’s contributing to the stereotype that Asians are extremely high achieving is the high number of international students who attend college in the U.S. These Asians may be contributing to the perception of an Asian “take over” in higher education and why students have made up alternate meanings for acronyms, such as “made in Taiwan” for the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). He said that these international students tend to be exceptional in their fields and on average have higher SAT verbal and math scores than Asian-Americans who attended high school in the U.S.

“The group of students applying to the United States from abroad are among the best prepared students in the world. It is not surprising that their scores are higher compared to the high number of students in the U.S. and the diverse students in the U.S.,” Montoya said.

Another reason why people might perceive there is an Asian invasion on the collegiate level is because Asians tend to live in clusters. The report says that nearly half of all AAPI students attend college in Calif., N.Y. and Texas. Also, two-thirds of AAPI students attending college enroll in 200 institutions. In addition, more than three times the number of AAPI students attending private four-year institutions attended public two year colleges in 2000, debunking the notion that most Asians attend selective colleges.

The report makes the distinction between Asians who arrived to the U.S. via employment preferences and those who came as refugees. Generally, immigrants admitted to the country with employment preferences were from Taiwan, China and Korea; whereas refugees came from Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam.

Ramona Kywe, 24, a theater major at Columbia College, believes that the idea of a “model minority” applies to the more affluent East Asian countries. Kywe, said that she felt the most pressure to fit the mold of a studious Asian from Chinese students with whom she attended high school.

“They’re so used to being lumped together,” Kywe said. “I’m ethnically part Chinese, but culturally, I consider myself Burmese. So, I don’t know much about being Chinese. When it comes to ethnicity and culture, people expect them to be intertwined but sometimes they’re not.”

NYU professor Teranishi emphasized that a major goal of the CARE report is not only to correct misconceptions about Asian-American students but also to encourage more specific research on Asian-Americans in higher education. Much of the information on which the CARE report was based was outdated or incomplete.

"It's an issue of relativity. While some data was more reliable, I wouldn't say it was completely reliable," Teranishi said. "Our point is that it is almost impossible to tell with the data that exists now. It's especially difficult with the Asian population because it's such a large, diverse population."

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

*Four days after I posted this article on my blog, Mochi Magazine published the article on its Web site.

The Model Minority Myth

Defying economics: Woot!

Estelle Tran — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 01:49:00 GMT

Woot! is an awesome Web site that sells electronics that will get you itching for your wallet . This Web site features one deal each day, and the prices are some of the best online. While the main Woot! features a new gadget each day, there is also a wine Woot! and a t-shirt Woot! with shirts that cost $10 after shipping.

Really, the operation is perfect. There are consumer comments so you know what other users think of the product, a product description, buying statistics that track how many items users buy and what states these buyer are from, and the shipping prices are fair. Everday the Web site showcases a new product, and when Woot! runs out of that item, there's no rain check. Sometimes Woot! has mystery bags too. The Web site is an impulse shopper's nightmare.

And Woot! knows that. Today I received an enlightening email from the Woot! team. They emailed users and told them not to spend recklessly this holiday season. Amazing. Here's part of the email I received:

"When we go over a cliff, it's because of our own poor judgment, not someone else's. That's been our credo since about five minutes ago, when we first thought of it. And we've stayed true to it ever since.

That's why we're encouraging you and your fellow wooters to save this holiday season. Save your money! Save until you pull a saving muscle. Horde your money until you are literally choking on it. Save until maybe, like, mid-February or so, when the market will be a-glut with great deals for the taking every day."

It's just so beautiful. This goes against everything I learned in economics class, but saving is a lesson that has to be learned by countless people who already live beyond their means. When the economy is in recession, companies give more incentives for people to spend, not discourage it.

One could argue that the Woot! creators just wrote this email as a stunt to get the Web site more attention, and if that's true, they succeeded. Still, I have hope that they really want people to weather this economic whirlwind, as I'm sure the Web site will. Hopefully, I didn't create more Woot! addicts with this blog, but I wish upon a star that readers will heed the words of the Web site's creators while they browse this wonderful Web site and go about their holiday shopping.

For Feburary:
http://www.woot.com/

Hooray for Hasbro: What to do about missing board game pieces

Estelle Tran — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 05:30:00 GMT

I discovered today that I only have 53, not 54, Jenga blocks. This made me sad because I pride myself on keeping my games in tip top shape. At first, I thought of two ways to resolve this:

1. Eliminate two more blocks so that the row would be level.

2. Buy a new Jenga game--This seems to be the American way. I find that Americans are eager to buy new products instead of trying to fix old ones.

Then, stingy Estelle thought to see if there were any lonely Jenga blocks up for sale on eBay.

The old games tempted me, I must say. There are games available for as little as $0.43 (with about $5 in shipping and handling).

Then I thought, why not go to the source? In a last ditch effort, I scoured the Hasbro Web site. Under the customer service tab, I found that Hasbro sends replacement parts for games (some of which are hard to find now) when you send a request in the mail! The form is easy, and the prices are reasonable. For example, individual Jenga blocks are $0.25! Oh the possibilities! This could save countless games from landfills or cellar obscurity. Haha! No longer shall makeshift parts and pieces occupy the squares of our beloved childhood games. Hooray for Hasbro!

Save your childhood and click on the link below.

http://www.hasbro.com/customer-service/replacement_parts.cfm

Comcast Markets to Kollege Kidz. That's Killer!

Estelle Tran — Sun, 03 Aug 2008 02:37:00 GMT

Killer! That's how someone from Comcast tried to sell me on a cable package. Notice in the picture below that a person wrote killer twice on the flier that was slipped under my door. It makes me wonder how out of touch is the who person marked this offer. The slang term "killer" is synonymous with cool, awesome, and impressive, according to an entry on The Online Slang Dictionary in 1998. It's also synonymous with "dope."

It is as if the marketing representative believes a flier needs to be hip, or even dumbed down, in order to appeal to young adults.

Since Comcast is killer, I can only expect for Verizon FiOS to be da bomb!

Senator John McCain on war

Estelle Tran — Sun, 08 Jun 2008 17:47:00 GMT

Sen. John McCain's recent TV ad declares that he is an anti-war presidential candidate. His basis for this statement is his experience in the Vietnam War, in which he served as a pilot. When a North Vietnamese missile struck McCain's plane during a mission in 1967, he suffered two broken arms and a broken leg.  For five years after, the North Vietnamese kept him as a prisoner of war. This first-hand experience gives McCain understanding of the personal impact of war unlike that of Sen. Barack Obama.

    With the presidential election in sight, it seems as though McCain is reexamining the candidates' differences. McCain acknowledges issues with climate change and health care. However, McCain's recent public stance as an anti-war politician contradicts his reputation as a hawk on defense and in Iraq. This is the aforementioned TV ad which brings to light McCain's anti-war beliefs (and the right side of his face--you'll see).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J1OUxBvlLr0

    However, some of McCain's actions contradict this anti-war stance. Here is a video of McCain saying that he'd be fine with the United States occupying Iraq for another 100 years.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VFknKVjuyNk

    McCain seemed to refine his speeches since he became the Republican presidential candidate. Still, his earlier blunders haunt him through the Internet and Youtube.com. In this video, McCain delivers a canned joke after Congressman Ron Paul speaks at the Fox News debate in South Carolina. About 1:45 into the video, McCain talks about burkas and one-way tickets.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=00qUqEuA86Q

    To a smaller audience on his "Straight Talk" tour, McCain delivered another pre-packaged witticism. This time, he sang "bomb, bomb, bomb. bomb, bomb Iran" to the tune of the Beach Boys's Barbara Ann. The question that preceded the musical outburst was "When do we send them an airmail message to Tehran?"
    According to Time magazine's list of top 10 campaign gaffes (this incident ranked number four), McCain did not say he supported invading Iran. Here's the original article and video of the incident.

http://www.time.com/time/specials/2007/top10/article/0,30583,1686204_1690170_1690799,00.html

    In the months before the presidential election, the American people will see how McCain and Obama plan to handle current and impending conflicts. McCain, in particular, will have to decide whether to align with his most prominent endorser, President George W. Bush, or to shy away from the war hawkish tendencies of his party.

Ron Paul in his hometown

Estelle Tran — Sat, 05 Apr 2008 04:17:00 GMT

Congressman Ron Paul spoke at the University of Pittsburgh yesterday at nine p.m. This was too late or not a newsworthy enough event for the local newspapers (minus The Pitt News) and TV reporters to cover. Despite the fact that his main reason for campaigning is to raise awareness of the federal government's drift from constitutionalism, he may have benefited from the more personal setting.

There was no American flag behind him. There were no screaming supporters behind the podium either. It was just Ron Paul, some lawn signs, and his message.

He sported a yellow (gold perhaps?) shirt and a black suit. I wonder if he wore black and gold to entertain the crowd of Pittsburgh sports fans. He made no mention of it.

Paul supporters filled the Bellefield Auditorium easily (capacity 676) despite the popular yearly drag show happening a couple blocks away. Paul talked about everything from the war in Iraq to the war on drugs.

Remarking about the war in Iraq, Paul said, "We just marched in without a just march out." He talked about how the president declared war without Congress's approval. Paul said that the Constitution was put in place by our founding fathers to restrain the government, not the people. The crowd met this statement with booming applause.

Paul is most known for his strict constitutionalism, desire for the United States to stop "policing the world," and for his desire to return to the gold standard. That night, Paul admitted that bimetallism is not the best policy, but he considers it's a good launch point for restoring faith in American currency.

He said that he voted against the bill to give $41 billion to Africa to treat diseases such as AIDS because the United States does not have the money to give. To give the money, he said that the U.S. would have to print more money and cause inflation to increase. My understanding is that as money is printed, money is shredded. This is why people can buy jars or pens full of shredded money at U.S. mints. If the United States does not have the money to send to Africa, it would more likely borrow money from other nations (like China).

The fiscally conservative congressman also does not stand for spending billions of dollars funding the war on drugs. He talked about medical marijuana use and lifetime prison sentences for third time drug offenders in his case. Discussion of the war on drugs and the idea of removing the Social Security system received less applause than more popular issues such as the economy.

Paul's speech was possibly the most specific speech that I've heard during this election--including Gov. Bill Richardson, Sen. Hillary Clinton, and Michelle Obama--touching on issues such as a freer Cuba and detest for the North American Union (the theoretical EU of North America).

Ron Paul said that growing up in Green Tree taught him about hard work. Both he and his wife grew up in the greater Pittsburgh area and attended Dormont High School.

Rallies: Michelle Obama vs. Sen. Hillary Clinton

Estelle Tran — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 05:53:00 GMT

"She is an American girl."

Well, actually, they both are. At the Sen. Hillary Clinton rally, I noticed a lot of feel good, girl-rock music playing as the the crowd anticipated Clinton's arrival at Pittsburgh's Soldiers and Sailors Museum and Memorial on March 15, 2008. In addition, some country inspired/folksy songs (such as KT Tunstall's "Suddenly I See") helped energize the crowd before Clinton took the stage (from the time I took my seat to the time I left, I listened to "Suddenly I See" and the rest of the mix three times. If Clinton and her staff are using CDs for these mixes, they are under-utilizing the 80 minute capacity). After Clinton concluded her speech and said her thank yous, a very recognizable tune came over the speakers, "American girl" by Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers.

Interestingly enough, this is the song that played after Michelle Obama's rally at Carnegie Mellon University on April 2, 2008 (after Stevie Wonder's "Signed Sealed Delivered" of course). I chuckled at the thought of Mrs. Obama and Sen. Obama getting their mixed CDs crossed. Minus "American girl," the tracks on both their playlists are very similar. Sen. Obama is known for playing "Signed Sealed Delivered."

However, on the campaign trail, it seems like U2 is the artist du jour. As Mrs. Obama took the stage at CMU, "City of Blinding Lights" by U2 played. Clinton is also known to play "City of Blinding Lights" as well as "Beautiful Day."

I also made some other observations at the rallies. Neither Clinton nor Mrs. Obama tested the buildings' capacities at which they spoke. Any indication that Clinton filled the auditorium is false. However, she did come to the University of Pittsburgh during spring break, when many students were home or on vacation. Mrs. Obama filled the bleachers of CMU's Skibo Gymnasium, but there was plenty of standing room.

The Clinton rally was my first real political rally. I noticed that people brought their own homemade signs (The press release for Mrs. Obama's rally urged people not to bring signs for security reasons. I am not sure if Clinton asked this of her supporters). However, Clinton staffers handed about 10 handmade signs to the crowd of approximately 100 people sitting behind Clinton. I even noticed a friend of mine whom I know is unable to vote in the primary and general election holding a Hillary 2008 sign.

At Mrs. Obama's rally, Teresa Heinz Kerry introduced Mrs. Obama. She said that over the last few months they became friends, mostly over their BlackBerries because they're so busy. Also at that rally, there was a man dressed like President Abraham Lincoln. He could possibly be a descendant of the former president according to an interesting video short by the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

A group of senior citizens sat in a section right of the stage where Mrs. Obama delivered her speech. A woman conveyed Mrs. Obama's words in sign language to the group, but they were not all deaf. The group was led to sit in that section that happened to reside in front of a booming loudspeaker. While music played before the rally, I noticed a woman covering her ears and a man stuffed tissues in his ears.

Here are the stories:
Michelle Obama article

Sen. Hillary Clinton article