First, I actually decided on victim blaming as my main topic. However, later I noticed PTSD while researching about victim blame. These two issues are closely related and I decided to do both and developing them together in my plan. I decided to do victim blame and PTSD because of social media posts and news videos that has comments that’s actually very uncomfortable, which are the judgements that’s being put on the victims and causing them to pressure when they already experienced something really bad. I believe the first step of solving a problem is to make the problem seen by the public and getting people aware. Attention raising is an important call to the solution. I learned my experience from how my attention are caught when I was walking outside and brainstormed how actions can be taken to drawn more sights to the issue.

Some strategies that could be used for the issues of victim blame and PTSD to be seen by more people in the society are posters, volunteer organizations, the avoidance of sensitive wordcases online to prevent people sending hate comments,etc. The use of posters can be able to grab the attention of people that walk nearby. It could be stuck on the walls of different public areas such as schools, business centers, train/ bus stations, hospitals, etc. If the color of the poster is more vivid, then it is easier to catch the eye of passers-by, and the volume of the poster should be large enough to be eye-catching as well. Another strategy, volunteer organizations can also be very useful to educate more people with victim blame and PTSD. Usually teenagers in high school have the requirement of fulfilling a certain amount of volunteer hours and they would be very willing to participate in volunteer organizations. While teenagers are part of the population in the volunteer organization, people that have time and are willing to step into victim blaming and PTSD resolutions can also participate. The volunteers can help create the posters and find public areas or social media to put it. For example, for students, when one person creates a poster, they can receive 1 hour of volunteer time. This can lead to more people willing to participate in volunteer organizations because there are benefits for them which acts as more motivation. When victims and survivors have words to share out and to be heard, the volunteer organization can host a meeting for them and be nice listeners to support them. Workshops and campaigns can also be hosted to educate the community about the impacts of victim blame and PTSD. If possible, they can arrive at schools during student lunch periods to hold conversation and a small lesson with them about the issue. There were usually bully prevention lessons and drug prevention lessons held in middle schools, which can be considered a good idea to imitate.

Before you start following the procedures to make a pot of tomatoes and sliced beef noodles, remember to gather all the ingredients so you don’t stop in the middle of cooking to go to the grocery store!

Ingredients

• An ounce of olive oil
• Three tomatoes
• 700g of Sliced beef
• 1 pack of enoki
• Two bags of noodles (any kind you prefer)
• 10 grams of garlic
• A quart of water
• 1 teaspoon of oyster sauce
• 2 teaspoon of light soy sauce
• 2 teaspoon of vinegar (black vinegar is most recommended)
• ½ teaspoon of salt
• 10 grams of green onion 
• 10 grams of cilantro
• 5 grams of chicken essence

Even though the ingredients list is pretty specific on the amounts, you don’t have to follow it exactly. For example, if you are a “sour” person, just add more vinegar and if you don’t like cilantro, don’t use it. This recipe is just for reference and is not telling anyone to use a scale or measure everything like they’re doing a scientific lab.

After you gather all the ingredients, wash your hands and wash all the vegetables to protect your stomach from aching. Then, use a knife to slice the tomatoes and chop the garlic in a fit size. In this case, my mom usually presses and pounds the garlic using a knife’s surface to mince it into small pieces. This is not recommended to beginner cooks like me. Then, you fairly cut the green onion and cilantro to your desired amount. Now, preheat your pot and add oil. Wait for the oil to be heated and start adding in the sliced tomatoes, garlic and green onion pieces. Stir fry the tomatoes until you see the juice of it. Next, add water, oyster sauce, and the light soy sauce in the pot. Boil it for a few minutes and put in the enoki. To tell a fun fact, in my culture, enoki is given a slang phrase called “see you tomorrow” because it contains dietary fiber and is hard to digest. Sorry if my words smell. Now back to the right track and put in the noodles. Wait for like ten to fifteen minutes depending on your expectations with the noodles’ chewiness, and put the beef slices in. Finally add every other ingredient that is not used yet, such as salt, vinegar, chicken essence, and cilantro. And it’s ready to be served.

Tomatoes and beef slices of porridge are always cooked in my house. However, I’m not really sure which province of China it originated from. I searched online and people said it’s possibly the southern side of China. I feel it’s similar to Hot Pot, which is also a famous cuisine in my culture. For example, it includes different broth flavors and one of them is tomatoes. We add raw vegetables, meat, and seafood inside the hot pot. Basically, eating and cooking is done simultaneously. Since beef slices, enoki and noodles are all famous ingredients to prepare for a hot pot, I think maybe tomatoes and beef slices noodles is a dish that got its ideas from hot pot. 

My personal relationship with tomatoes and beef slices noodles is that I enjoy eating sour, sweets and noodles. This dish fulfilled my appetite very well. Even though there are many ingredients, it’s actually a very easy-cooked dish that can be done in half an hour because you only need to put every ingredient inside and look at the time. It’s convenient and healthy. My mom always cooked the porridge for me before she goes out to work and I just need to boil it again and add noodles in as I come back home from school. When I was little, my mom did not know how to cook for a bit and it’s my dad who is the home chef. However, during the COVID-19 Pandemic, my mom learned how to cook during the quarantine and I guarantee that tomatoes and sliced beef noodles are the best taste from my mom’s kitchen. Sometimes when I think about the future, as it becomes closer for me each year, I notice busy lifes and fast paced living environments as an adult. I imagined coming back home in stress one day and my mom making me tomatoes and sliced beef noodles, I would definitely feel less pressured. Things get more valuable over time and this simple dish right now is what I realized to hold many memories and connections.