Author: k.wang1

David Remnick’s article “Obama Reckons with a Trump Presidency” displays the reaction within the White House before and after the Election of 2016. Remnick begins the article with a scene of the aftermath of the election. The display of defeat to the Democratic party left not only the White House staff but numerous Americans. Remnick ends the introductory paragraph by illustrating how Obama seeks to still the storm that brewed after Trump was elected President. Remnick introduces Obama who projects the idea that it isn’t the end of the world.

Through the repeated use of Obama’s quotes and scholarly articles detailing philosophies, Remnick tells the story of Obama’s perspective and his thoughts on everything that has occurred. White House staff are utilized in and out with their personal accounts on the matters that the country will face after the election.

The article is written in the past tense. The sections are separated with the account of the beginning, the middle and the end. The beginning starts with Obama’s recollection of Trump being introduced to the political scene in 2008. Remnick details the forthcoming of Trump’s win through a passage of a philosopher that said change was imminent. The middle tells the accounts of Obama and the White House staff in the election of 2016. Displays the high hopes for Hilary Clinton to win the Presidency with the current democratic President by her side. Details and circumstances surrounding the election build. The end details the comments of Obama after Trump won the election. The scene of a reality unfamiliar to Americans as Trump and Obama sat side by side. Looking forward, Obama sets his sight on helping the nation remain strong with providing thoughts of hope in the end.

The nutgraf appears in the third paragraph. The account of Trump wining the presidency and the residing disheartened Americans display the past compared to the present.

The writer weaves in quotes from Obama on specific timeframes. He also utilizes the expert quote of Matt Lauer, a journalist of the Today Show and David Simas, Obama’s political director in the middle of the passage with situations surrounding the Election of 2016. The use of experts strengthen Obama’s image of a America that needs to stand together now more than ever. Accounts of reactionary comments from White House staff weigh in on the circumstances surrounding the White House from the beginning of the article to the middle.

The narrative does come full circle in the end. Remnick began the article with Obama’s encouragement to the citizens of America to remain hopeful. Despair laid in the hearts of many Americans believing it could be the end of the world but Obama emphasized otherwise. Through recounts of Obama’s legacy, Remnick ends the article by reemphasizing that the world is not ending. The article ends with a quote that was said when Obama was first elected as President: “If there is anyone out there who still doubts that America is a place where all things are possible,” he said, “tonight is your answer.” The full circle of past to present reference and the end of the Obama legacy details the hope Obama rests in the citizens to look forward to the future.

I am writing about social media’s impact in relationship on a day-to-day basis. Basically, how the rise of social media has revealed a breaking point in relationships to make individuals check their self esteem through likes and texts. When the screen on your phone lights up, the immediate reaction is to check and see what it is. Social media presence has shifted from mere fun and games. It has taken on the shape of being an addiction. One interview with a couple went like this: they fought over a like on someone else’s page. In rage, the boyfriend goes out with his friends and his friends post pictures of him with them. The girlfriend sees the picture and decides this is the end of the relationship. In one night, a relationship that was once thriving and healthy has turned into a crumbling relationship built with toothpicks.

I am also going to interview couples and single people alike.With interviews from Baruch communication professors, Denise Patrick & Elisabeth Gareis, I plan to reference them through their studies of intercultural and interpersonal communication. The professors will weigh in on the cultural standpoints as well as a communicative structural standpoint.

My dream publication to write for is ESPN Magazine. They publish feature articles about athletes. Here is an example of one. The longform stories they write detail the life and upbringing of the athlete. They intend to target sports lovers but their stories apply to all. When a sports player goes through an incredible streak or a pivotal moment happens in their life, ESPN covers it.

Kevin Wang

Imagine this: The doors open. Hours and hours of waiting has finally reached its pivotal point. You pile in like the rest of the movie watchers. The excitement is unbearable because you waited so long for an adaptation of your favorite anime, Ghost in the Shell, the classic Japanese animated film adapted from Japanese manga. You can’t wait to see what beautiful Asian actor they cast for Motoko Kusanagi, the Asian law enforcement officer who has gone through technological updates to combat crime. As the curtains part, the screen brightens. Everyone is clapping and cheering as the movie is starting.

Motoko Kusanhagi is introduced in the first scene of the movie except there is something wrong as Scarlett Johansson takes the stage and introduces herself as Motoko Kusanhagi, the Asian law enforcement officer. Whitewashing is the myth that has become the reality of most Asians and Asian-Americans.

“An Asian star can only shine so bright among Caucasian stars,” says Huei Chang, an Asian immigrant from Taiwan with a passion for film and movies.

Whitewashing is a term coined to be Hollywood’s spinoff of actor casting. Hollywood has received tremendous controversy for the portrayal of roles in movies to be predominantly white actors and actresses even if the role was to be of another ethnicity. For example, the Academy Awards has gone under fire with the idea from the public that only white people can win an Academy Award. There has been a hashtag contributed to the cause, #OscarsSoWhite. The fact of the matter is that the films nominated for an Academy Award are voted on by white individuals. Speculations arise that racial bias is at play. In the day and age of social movements and change, it is hard to imagine America, the land of opportunity, is the land that only offers opportunity to a specific race.

Huei Chang,71, and several other Asian Americans including Wei Chang, 30 and Li Huei Ming, 45, sit in a Buddhist temple reflecting the influence of American culture into their culture after their weekly prayer and movie. The idea that the emergence of whitewash has eliminated any opportunities for Asian Americans bottled their minds.

“It’s tough to know that your culture is slowly being sucked out of your own mind,” says Wei Chang, an avid film watcher. “So many people I’ve encountered, friends and family have started to latch onto the white culture such as Asian girls dying their hair blonde. They try to fit in but in reality they should be standing out.”

Asian Americans have gone through the phases of Hollywood’s extension of an opportunity. The shows that are created and aired such as “Fresh Off the Boat” and “Dr. Ken” by ABC stereotype the typical Asian household undergoing the difficulties of being an immigrant.

Even in the new and highly anticipated movie, “Dr. Strange”, a male monk that is of Asian descent and otherwise known as the Ancient One, was played by Tilda Swinton, a Caucasian female. According to Cinemablend’s interview with Marvel Studies President Kevin Feige, the explanation was that the movie came up to be the chance to play with gender roles in movies.

Now, this isn’t the first time a film has adapted its Chinese orientated stars to be white and it certainly won’t be the last. Last year, Sony released “Aloha,” a film about a quarter-Chinese, quarter Native Hawaiian fighter pilot named Allison Ng. The actress that played the part, none other than the green-eyed, blond-haired Emma Stone.

It’s bad enough that Hollywood takes pivotal roles from Asians and replace them with white actors. Fox News’ “The Bill O’Reilly Factor” features a segment called Watters’ World. Jesse Watters, a soon to be hopefully fired commentator of the segment, goes around asking individuals questions about current events. Since the show claimed the word China was mentioned 23 times, they thought it was best to do a segment of politics in Chinatown.

Not only did Watters make a complete fool out of himself, he bit into every stereotypical idea of Asians and made it a segment. Watters would interview non-native English speakers on purpose with brief scenes of movies ridiculing the individual.

At the end of the segment, O’Reily just laments about the letters he’s going to receive about this segment knowing full well of the fire that it would start, Fox News still gave it the permission to air on national television.

“The Bill O’Reilly Factor” much like the casting directors of Hollywood films need to find the same fate: unemployed.

Fact of the matter is; Caucasian movie stars have been guaranteed to have a blockbuster hit in the box office scores. The water is safe once the movie dives into the pool of theatres with a Caucasian. With an Asian movie star, the likeliness of drowning is sure fire.

The question now comes of how to break the myth of this reality. Looking forward, a 2015 Hollywood Diversity Report: Flipping the Script, detailed that a diverse cast and crew would actually lead to higher investments and greater success.

Action must be taken to ensure the equality of opportunity America once so proudly stood for. Petitions must be written and signed. There is to be no racial bias, only talent-based cast. The time for being stripped of opportunities has come and gone. Social equality is the message; opportunity for all is the goal.

 

She yelled, “I know what I want to write about!”

“Online gaming is basically a really fast and growing industry,” said Anita Zheng. “There are so many competitions.”

Males gamers asked, “Why are you playing this game if you’re a girl?”

Zheng says, “There are a lot of stereotypes. It’s really a male dominated industries while a lot of my girlfriends play games a lot.”

“Girls have ideas about different designs for video games,” Zheng said.

 

 

The Undecided Voter

Kevin Wang

It’s September 26th, 2016, and Ray Liang sits on his couch in disgust at what he’s seeing in the first 2016 Presidential Debate on his 48-inch Vizio television. A cool breeze fills the room on a windy night. Liang takes the final sip of his Corona as he listens to Republican nominee Donald Trump speak about his immigration policies. Liang throws his remote in anger at the floor, breaking the remote into two pieces.

“To have to choose between one of these candidates right now, we might as well blindfold ourselves at the voting booth and hope for the best,” says Liang.

Liang, a 27-year old graduate student at Mount Sinai and the eldest child of two immigrant parents, never found a need to tune into an election before. In Liang’s pursuit for a PhD in biomedical research, politics were rarely in any of his studies. Although Liang registered to vote when he was 18, he never made it a goal to go to the voting booths and select a candidate. He’s never truly agreed with the ideals of the Republicans but has never been satisfied with the accomplishments of the Democrats to give them his vote. Liang is an undecided voter.

Undecided voters have the attention of political candidates because of the ability to sway the election results. In American history, two political parties were created to promote democracy. Over time, third political parties would emerge but retain only a small percentage of support. In recent years, undecided voters impacted the election to boost one specific presidential candidate to presidency.

The impact of undecided voters changed from 2012 to 2016. As opposed to the 2012 election, Nate Silver, an American statistician, reported the amount of undecided voters in a FiveThirtyEight election update. “Both candidates, in other words, are slowly gaining votes from undecided voters and from third-party candidates. Emphasis on “slowly,” because there are still a lot of these voters up for grabs. About 15 percent of the electorate isn’t yet committed to Clinton or Trump, as compared to just 5 percent who weren’t committed to President Obama or Mitt Romney at this point in 2012.”

Recently, the FiveThirtyEight election projects the forecast shifted to Hilary Clinton retaining 49.5%, Donald Trump as 43.5% while 7.1% remain undecided or for a third party candidate.

Liang indicates he feels the pressure to vote now more than ever. The impact of his vote will determine the presidential candidate in the end.

“Voting has always been a luxury to us and yet I always stood on the sidelines. The qualification of the candidates can’t be seen through the debates. They don’t justify a damn thing. Their rhetoric is just to avoid the question at hand. What’s going to happen when one is president and a crucial life or death question is asked, then what? We flip a coin?” says Liang.

In an interview with CNN, Cook Political Report national editor Amy Walter answered the mystery of undecided voters: “Walter said for the first time that she can remember, she’s having trouble trusting the data that’s coming from the campaign trail, and that undecided voters are struggling to choose between the lesser of two evils.”

“What I hear from these groups, is just this idea of like ‘You know, I don’t know if I trust Hillary Clinton,'” she said. “One woman said, ‘I don’t trust Hillary Clinton on terrorism’ — to sort of get to your point of instability in the world — ‘but Donald Trump is going to get us into World War III.’ So, that’s why people are like ‘I’d rather cut my arm off than have this election, because that’s what you’re making me choose from.”

Liang’s uncertainty in voting for Clinton, the Democratic Party Nomination or Trump reflects a growing population of undecided voters since the Presidential Debates.

Silver commentated election projections after the Presidential debate by saying: “If undecided and marginal voters were willing to shrug off Trump’s performance, then perhaps they really are in the mood for the sort of change that Trump represents, his faults be damned. Clinton doesn’t seem to have as much of an edge on her opponents in the daily free-for-all of the campaign. So if Trump and his advisors don’t like the post-debate storylines, they may try to create a distraction or two — something they’re uniquely skilled at doing.”

In a Times article published from a focus group consisting of undecided voters watching the debate, the surveyors were convinced Clinton was the victor. The focus group gathered and raised their hand in an angry response when they were asked if they were disappointed with this year’s election.

“I have voted in every election since I was 18 years old. This is the first one I’m going to sit out,” said a Republican in the front row. He was one of ten in the group who initially said if nothing major changed their mind, they would not vote for president in November.

During the debate between two candidates that one voter framed as the choice between “a heart attack and a stroke,” the voters largely agreed that they were hoping to see substance from both candidates, especially from Trump, who they felt had more to prove.

With the conclusion of the third and final Presidential Debate, FiveThirtyEight’s poll suggest Clinton has the advantage of winning the election at 85% while Trump is projected to receive 14.9% of the votes. November 8th, 2016 is the date slated for voting.

“At one side, Trump will give us the next Hunger Games, says Liang when asked about who he’d vote for. “Clinton isn’t trustworthy so I might as well start planning my move to Canada.”

For my op-ed pitch, I am going to write about the uproar of protest after the Jesse Watters segment in Chinatown. Jesse Watters, a Bill O’Reilly commentator that has his own segment called “Watters World”, ventured to Chinatown after Bill O Reilly claimed the word utilized the most in the second Presidential debate was China. O Reilly sent Watters to investigate the political awareness of residents in Chinatown.

Not only did Watters mix up the segment with movie clips from The Karate Kid and Chinatown, he indulged into asian stereotypes by asking a vendor “is that watch hot” as well as going around practicing karate, receiving a message and putting subtitles on the bottom of the individuals that he interviewed.

The people that stopped to do his interview on political awareness in the Election were either English speakers with an accent or individuals that didn’t speak English at all. The scenes that provoked most Asian Americans were the interviews of the old man and woman. The interviews were separate but had the same content. Both interviewees didn’t know English and it was evident with their silence. Instead of cutting that out of national television, they decided to have a “lighthearted segment” of silence with an additional clip of a woman shouting “Speak!” and sounds of grasshoppers.

I am going to contact Mr. Wellington Chen of CPLDC (Chinatown Partnership Local Development Corporation) and schedule a meeting with him, because he has a lot of initiatives and ideas pertaining the whole situation that developed.

NY Times Article

The audience is primed for the op-ed with the Presidential campaign of Donald Trump. The author of the article, Charles M. Blow, makes it very clear just by the title of the article that Donald Trump is the worst thing to ever happen in America. Through the sequence of events from running for President to groping whichever women he desires, the author makes his opinion present with his comments and adjectives. The author’s objective is clear and concise in that he wants to denounce Trump for everything that revolved around him in the news. Charles tells of how Donald Trump came about and his presence in America as well as Trump’s rise through the Republican party. Charles writes about the Republican Party with great hatred and denounces all credibility of the Republican party to be taken seriously.

Quotes:

“He looks pathetic.

He is a ball of contradictions that together form a bully, a man who has built a menacing wall around the hollow of his self. He is brash to mask his fragility.”

“He has dispensed with all semblances of wanting to appear presidential and embraced what seems to be most natural to him: acting like a pig.”

The Undecided Voter

On September 26^th, 2016, Ray Liang sits on his couch in disgust of what he’s seeing in the first 2016 Presidential Debate between Hilary Clinton and Donald Trump on his 48-inch Vizio television. A cool breeze fills the room on a windy night, Liang takes the final sip of his Corona as he listens to Trump, the Republican nomination for President speak. Trump finishes his remarks about his immigration policies if he were to be elected and Liang throws his remote in anger at the floor dissembling the remote into two pieces.

“To have to choose between one of these candidates right now, we might as well blindfold ourselves at the voting booth and hope for the best, said Liang.”

Liang, a 27-year old graduate student in Mount Sinai and eldest child of two immigrant parents, never found a need to tune into the election. In Liang’s pursuit for a PhD in biomedical research, politics were rarely in any of his studies. Although Liang registered to vote when he was 18, he never made it a goal to go to the voting booths and select a candidate. Throughout the years of 18-27, Liang identified himself as an undecided voter. He never truly agreed with the ideals of the Republicans but was never satisfied with the accomplishments of the Democrats to give them his vote.

According to the June CNBC All-America Economic Survey, a large chunk of the voting public remains undecided. The poll of 801 registered voters conducted June 11-14 shows Clinton with a 40 percent to 35 percent lead, but the poll’s margin of error is plus or minus 3.5 percentage points. Pollsters for CNBC say the survey shows a tight race with 25 percent undecided, including 14 percent who right now choose “neither” candidate.

Liang’s uncertainty in voting for Clinton, the Democratic Party Nomination or Trump reflects a growing population of undecided voters. Some voters choose to not vote as a sign of social movement while others can’t distinguish which candidate would be their ideal candidate even though voters must identify as either a Democratic or Republican.

 

While Liang reflects a student pursuing a PhD, Carina Santana, a 20-year old undergraduate Baruch College student, remains in the category of the undecided voter. Santana comes with a Mexican immigrant background and national identity. Therefore, the immigration policies of Trump disgust Santana.

 

“To take away someone’s rights, their way of living here for the past couple of year is just inhumane, said Santana.” “My parents came into this country as immigrants pursuing the “American Dream” of a nice house, car and a beautiful/handsome significant other. Now all of that hangs in the balance, I wonder who will stand up and call Trump out on everything that he’s saying and getting away with.”

 

Liang and Santana share a common trait. Due to their parent’s backgrounds coming from an immigrant standpoint, the lenience in immigration policies have centered that of pardoning immigrants for overstaying their visas. The uncertainty in their cast of votes renders the nation that stands for democracy and freedom in uncertainty.

 

“It seems almost as if we’re too biased but in all reality, everyone has got to realize that if Trump were to actually be President of the United States, we might not get a chance to leave on our own free will, said Liang.” “Trump has indicated time after time that he would force immigrants as well as the second generations of children and babies that were born in the U.S. from immigrants out of their homes. Meanwhile Clinton isn’t building a strong case either with her sneakiness of her e-mails.”

 

Both Presidential candidates Clinton and Trump have faced scandalous circumstances surrounding their campaign. Trump refuses to reveal his tax forms and was recently exposed on sexually assaulting women on a daily basis while Clinton’s health concerns grow along with the pressure from the Trump campaign to unveil the secrets behind her e-mails of which were rumored to have confidential information detailing a military operation.

 

With the Second Presidential Debate, the Town Hall of undecided voters asks the presidential candidates their questions. The moment where a man with a red sweater named Ken Bone stood up to ask a question, the Internet started trending with the name of Ken Bone in social media. The excitement in the Presidential Debate escalated. Suddenly, the undecided voters had a leader/figurehead to look to for guidance.

 

With an insurmountable amount of fame and publicity came a consequence, the niceness and leadership of Ken Bone soon turned to dust as the internet that once made him extremely famous was the source that exposed Ken Bone’s true opinions in matters such as Trayvon Martin and George Zimmerman. The undecided voters remain conflicted.

 

In an interview with CNN, Cook Political Report national editor Amy Walter answered the mystery of undecided voters: “Walter said for the first time that she can remember, she’s having trouble trusting the data that’s coming from the campaign trail, and that undecided voters are struggling to choose between the lesser of two evils.” “What I hear from these groups, is just this idea of like ‘You know, I don’t know if I trust Hillary Clinton,'” she said. “One woman said, ‘I don’t trust Hillary Clinton on terrorism’ — to sort of get to your point of instability in the world — ‘but Donald Trump is going to get us into World War III.’ So, that’s why people are like ‘I’d rather cut my arm off than have this election, because that’s what you’re making me choose from.”

 

With the third and final Presidential Debate, undecided voters hope to see a shift in the styles of both Clinton and Trump to justify a clear decision to the voters on who to vote for in November.

 

“At one side, Trump will give us the next Hunger Games, said Liang. “Clinton isn’t trustworthy so I might as well start planning my move to Canada.”

 

 

Jeremy Lin, the only Chinese-American NBA player plays for yet another team. But this time, he returns to the state that gave him all the fame in the first place: New York. The article details his comeback story and how this time around in the Brooklyn Nets organization, it means something completely different for Lin. Linsanity caught fire in New York and as mentioned in the article Lin doesn’t just bring a persona of any basketball player. Lin unites the asian community all around the boroughs in his underdog story and uprising of an Chinese-American NBA player. The identity of an Chinese-American player sets the scene for future generations to be inspired to follow in his footsteps. The effectiveness of this article is through the promotion of his name only. The buzz he generates causes more ticket sales and opportunities for basketball to be prominent in the Asian community. Jeremy Lin transcends the stereotypes and revolutionizes the pursuit to discover one’s identity.

News Peg: Jeremy Lin joining the Brooklyn Nets.

Story angle: Jeremy Lin, redefining the stereotypical Asian. Even though he attended Harvard, Lin revolutionized the Asian community through basketball. His global presence offers identity to Asian generations that doubt their pursuit to play basketball. Jeremy Lin is an icon of the Asian community, especially in Taiwan.

This quote defines it all: As the only Chinese-American in the N.B.A., Mr. Lin represents a new “model minority,” said Peter Kwong, a professor of urban affairs at Hunter College.

Read the article here.