https://sammilooi1227.wixsite.com/victimsofagento

I will draw a picture on the range of birth defects that come with Agent Orange or create a website that highlights the struggle for the victims of Agent Orange.

The teenagers shown in the video live underground due to poverty. They are isolated from the rest of Ukrainian society and are trying to survive by staying together. These underground homes are full of diseases and food is scarce to them. Some of these teenagers are runaways, where others were abandoned/disowned by their families. They are forced to go through various methods to get food and water. These teenagers are heavily displaced from society due to their physical conditions and their homeless statuses; instead of going to school or work, they have to find food to feed themselves and stay alive.

Agent Orange is a mixture of dangerous chemicals used in the Vietnam War to clear the forest and destroy plantlife for American soldiers to maneuver around the foreign land. However, the consequences of dropping the toxic fumes still affect many lives today. Not only did it affect many Vietnam soldiers after they breathed in the toxins, but it also affected their future children and their wives. Birth defects and deformities are common in those exposed to Agent Orange and are passed onto future generations. The soil that is used to grow crops and the water they use to drink/bathe is directly affected by the poison and the United States is not taking responsibility for it.

Agent Orange is not taught in American schools. No one really knows that it happened. I came across this video a year ago and was saddened after seeing the tragic after-effects; I didn’t know about Agent Orange before until I came across this documentary. The children affected by Agent Orange are heavily displaced in society because of their deformities and nothing major is being done to assist them. In the video, ‘The Peace Village’ is the place they are dropped off in and stay for the rest of their lives. Many of these children have life-threatening deformities and have different needs that have to be accommodated for, in order for them to survive. There are still places that are contaminated by Agent Orange; however, there is nothing being done to prevent the spread to future generations. Victims are not receiving the proper attention and help that they need.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rZ1TjA-2vXw

In this small clip, we see that Dre [Jaden Smith] is being bullied by a group of Chinese kids for being “different” in terms of skin color and power level. Dre is trying to be friends with the violin girl, in which she is open to, but ends up being pushed around by the other boys. At the end of the scene, we see Dre laying on the floor alone, after his defeat. This relates to displacement because no one tries to help him as he is being bullied. In the end, no one helps him back on his feet and leaves him there.

Mr. Kapasi, an interpreter and tour guide, meets a family with a lot more secrets than he had expected. He explains his other occupation to Mr. and Mrs. Das in the car, and how he worked in a doctor’s office to serve as a translator between both parties. Although he does not see much in himself or anything special with the job, he is delighted when Mrs. Das calls it ‘romantic’ – a word that he has never heard anyone describe the occupation with, especially from his own wife who finds it distasteful. Throughout the text, the reader can tell that Mr. Kapasi begins to fall for Mrs. Das. Not just from her lovely appearance but her interest in his patient stories and him as a person. Around the end of the text, Mrs. Das reveals that Bobby was not actually Mr. Das’s child and exclaims that she did not tell anyone for eight years. She asks Mr. Kapasi for an answer to her pain because of his occupation as an interpreter and expects him to provide her with a solution to ease her suffering.

I believe that the scene where Bobby being attacked by monkeys is an analogy to Mrs. Das’s truth being exposed and is facing the consequences of them. Instead of telling her husband to save Bobby, she yells at Mr. Kapasi to – a stranger, who was simply supposed to drive them to the Sun Temple but gets caught in the ties of this family. The rice that she left a trail of symbolizes her mistakes that she caused and the carelessness that affects those around her.  Bobby, the child who is surrounded by lies, is the one who is the most damaged from the actions of his family. Mr. Das sees the world through his camera, refusing to let it go even as Bobby is being attacked by animals and instead snaps a picture of it. He was slightly more aggressive when Mrs. Das refuses to get out of the car to take a picture. This made me think that he is trying to ‘bring’ his family together and only sees the world through pictures, rather than facing reality through his own eyes. I believe that this text illuminates the harsh reality with some families and not everything can be seen just from being seen together.

1. Moving out of my old home in Brooklyn and into Queens.
2. Speaking two languages at home and sometimes combining them into one “language”.
3. Being in ESL, and could not see the difference between certain verbs/ why the sentence structures are different in English compared to Chinese.

1. As Straus Park was being demolished by a group of workers, the author felt as if his home was being taken away forcibly. Despite the negatives, the dirty wooden benches and the decaying pavements, he still finds some sort of an emotional attachment to it. Is there a place where you are/were affixed to than your actual home?
2. How would this article relate to the topic of ‘displacement’?
3. What is the significance of the title “Shadow Cities”?

-Sammi Looi