Month: May 2017

Veda Natarajan, 6, handed her notebook she had brought in for show-and-tell to a curious classmate on the playground after school. A group of children gathered around to look at her colorful drawings of butterflies. As they turned the pages one little girl asked Veda what the sparkly silver letters at the top of the page meant.

“That’s my name in Sanskrit!” She proudly explained. The children nodded their heads as they kept turning the pages.

Veda is part of a multicultural family. Veda’s mother, Jessie Natarajan, 36, is a U.S. native, while her father, Raghav Natarajan, 40, was born and raised in India.

Today, many families in the U.S. are multicultural. According to the Pew Research group, 12 percent of newlyweds married someone of a different race in 2013 versus just 7 percent in 1980. According to the Census report, projections of the Size and Composition of the U.S. Population: 2014 to 2060, by 2020 more than half of the nation’s children are expected to be part of a minority race or ethnic group.

Immigrants at the turn of the century looked to assimilate into American culture, however, today, we see more and more people choosing to preserve their cultural ties to back home and share that with their children.

Jessie grew up in Rochester, New York, later moving to Long Island in middle school. Raised in a Protestant Christian-Italian family, she did not know much about Indian culture until meeting her husband Raghav.

“We met and we got married six months later. I think I thought I knew a lot about India because I like went to some yoga classes, but no I had no idea really, it was all completely foreign.”

Jessie was working at her dream job as a speech pathologist at Vassar Brothers Medical Center in Poughkeepsie when a mutual friend introduced the pair. Raghav was born and raised in Southern India in the city of Chennai before moving to the U.S. to attend grad school at Marist College for computer science.

“I always wanted to marry someone outside of my race. Interestingly enough, my uncle studies horoscopes and said a long time ago that it was indicated by my horoscope that I would marry a foreign born person,” Raghav said.

Although Jessie viewed herself as open-minded and was eager to travel, reality was much harsher than she prepared for. When she first journeyed 24-hours across the world to meet her husband’s parents, it was to get married. They had two weddings, one in the United States and one in India. Upon arrival she was miserable and scared.

“It actually felt so foreign that I didn’t feel like I was on earth,” Jessie said.

For more on Jessie’s first trip to India, listen here:

Jessie was shocked on her first night there to come into Raghav’s parents’ kitchen to find cockroaches all over the place. This completely disgusted her. Overheated, exhausted and suffering from dysentery from the food and water she gave her husband an ultimatum: that she would never move there and that if he wanted to be with her that he had to accept that they would always live in the United States.

It wasn’t until Jessie’s third trip that she changed her mind. She decided to accept her experiences there without comparing or trying to make it into a “western experience.” After making that conscious effort to embrace India without the shackles of ethnocentrism, she loves it there now and would like to move there or buy a second home there someday.

Veda has been to India four times and Henri, 1, celebrated his first birthday there. They all try to go as a family at least once a year for a couple of months at a time so that Veda and Henri are exposed to their cultural roots and get to spend time with their family that is there.

Here in America, the family keeps the culture alive. They cook traditional Indian food at home, which was an easy transition from Jessie’s diet prior to meeting Raghav. Although she comes from a traditional first-generation Italian family, she had personally been vegetarian. Raghav’s family had been vegetarian going back “thousands of years,” because in the Hindu religion meat, especially beef is forbidden. Jessie says that they eat a 90 percent south-Indian diet, which did take her body a while to adjust to because she was introduced to a lot of spices she had never eaten before. Jessie also practices the Indian Ayurveda, which is the wisdom of taking care of your body.

“It’s like Chinese medicine but it’s Indian medicine. So like for instance when it’s really hot they would say in my husband’s family ‘Don’t eat mango’ because it heats the body.”

Jessie and Raghav both go to and bring their children to Eastern and Western doctors here in the United States.

“For diagnostics, Western medicine may be more concrete, but for treatment we prefer diet, Ayurvedic medicine, and homeopathic medicine, which started in Germany, but is widely studied and practiced in India,” Jessie said.

Jessie also never formally converted to Hinduism, but that’s because she didn’t have to.

“What’s interesting about Hinduism is that there’s really no conversion, because they believe that anyone who identifies with the god inside of them, like if we all come from a divine source, once you recognize that, that’s the definition of being Hindu,” Jessie said.

She identifies with Hinduism more than she ever did with Christianity. It liberated her and allowed her to have a “religious and spiritual experience” in her life.

“I love the Hindu way of life and spirituality so we definitely integrate that into our lives.”

Although Jessie’s family is religious, they don’t mind her practicing something other than Christianity. They embrace these cultural differences with open arms, respect and curiosity.

“Our kids attend private Montessori school and go to the Hindu temple weekly, if possible. This is important to expose them to the religion, but also to Indian peer groups, who are typically raised in a very different way than Western school peers,” Raghav said.

Jessie and Raghav love sharing in each other’s cultures. They believe that the key to any marriage is compromise, and being a multicultural family facilitates that open communication and makes compromise much easier and more natural.

“Every relationship requires compromise,” Jessie said.

Sources:

 

https://www.census.gov/newsroom/press-releases/2015/cb15-tps16.html

 

http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2015/06/12/interracial-marriage-who-is-marrying-out/

 

http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2014/04/30/5-facts-about-the-modern-american-family/

 

 

 

 

The scaring image of a house wife in a bath robe with a green goo on her face remains in our memory as a cheap comedic scene for many of our favorite TV shows. Not much is thought of the green goo, its only purpose to make the audience laugh at the ridiculousness of the character.

However, in the past years a new kind of skin care  has taken over the internet, gaining the attention of huge fashion magazines like Vogue, Cosmopolitan and People Style. Korean skin care has taken the Western world by surprise.

“I had seen K-beauty popping up around the internet for the past couple of years but didn’t pay too much attention to it,” commented Reddit user GlycosidicBond, who is part of the ‘Asian Beauty’ community on the forums, “Ended up buying Son and Park beauty water and immediately noticed redness in my skin going down. I hadn’t looked at my skin and ever been so impressed. And down the rabbit hole I fell.”

Korean beauty is a part of what is known as the Hallyu Wave (한류) which is the name given to the phenomenon of Korean entertainment spreading throughout the world. Along with skin care, Korean makeup, music, and TV dramas are all part of the wave, and are all connected.

“With Kpop,” said user Luna_182, who was one of many whom were influenced by Kpop, “I knew about Korean makeup, that made me look for cushions on YouTube and I found Meejmuse’s channel, and with her I totally got into Korean Skincare.”

Although originating from Korea, there is more ways than just the internet to get Korean skin care products: in New York City’s Koreatown famous brands, such as Tony Moly, Nature Republic, and The Face Shop, are opening their doors to the Western public.

The trend has become such that not only are Korean originated brands are opening up: Besfren Beauty is a New York based Korean skin care and makeup store with location in both Flushing and Koreatown.

<continue on about the store, add quote about the usual costumers (are they Korean?), and include small gallery)

In April of 2017, President Trump unveiled his action plan for immigrants coming to America on an H-1B visa. H-1B visas allow immigrants with a specialized skill set, or with advanced degrees to come to America and work in that industry. Trump insists the program is susceptible to abuse since companies are using it to hire foreign workers at a cheaper salary in place of equally skilled Americans. Instead of hiring these workers and paying them a $100,000 salary under the H-1B, American employers are hiring people who aren’t as highly qualified and paying around $60,000. Or, some companies outsource jobs after getting visas for foreign workers, in lieu of American employees. According to him, this is another reason why countries like China are taking advantage of the U.S. Reforming the visa program is also an attempt to bring back jobs to the U.S. As Trump had promised during his campaign.

There are varying views as to the real cause of the job crisis in America, or the unemployment of many Americans. Some may agree with the idea that immigrants are to blame, while are told their under-qualified for certain positions. Christel Washington, 49, has been unemployed for almost 10 years. “I know people with degrees that can’t find jobs. I know people with only a high school education that have good jobs. I don’t believe Americans have more opportunities when it comes to employment. Why? Because Americans are considered to be lazy. People from other countries are looked at as harder or better workers.”

On April 3rd, 2017, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration services suspended the H-1B program. As of now, about 82% of H-1Bs issued in 2016 are held by immigrants from India and China. But will American unemployment really improve by reforming H-1B? It may help in the tech sector but what about blue collar jobs such as manufacturing? Are immigrants truly taking American jobs as Trump claims? H-1B only covers the specialized and technical sectors, so what about those who do not wish to work in the technological field?

The current unemployment rate has decreased to 4.9%, a number that sounds like it should be a cause for celebration. Some economists attribute the impressive number to the fact that baby boomers are retiring and more students are opting to stay in school longer and pursuing graduate school. A report by the Labor Department shows that 62.7% of adults are currently working or actively seeking employment.
The rate is deceptive because it makes it seem like there are more people finding jobs. Actually, there are more people who have stopped looking for work or have refused to search, therefore they cannot be counted into the labor force participation rate, making the rate of employed Americans seem impressive.

Another obstacle for job growth in America is automation. Many companies have turned to using machines and computers to replace the jobs humans used to perform. They work faster and ultimately cost less than having actual employees. In an interview with Business Insider in March 2016, the CEO of Hardee’s and Carl’s Jr., Andy Puzder, advocates the usage of automation. Puzder, who had been very vocal about his stance against raising the minimum wage, believes the government’s plan to raise the cost of labor actually reduces employment opportunities. “Does it really help if Sally makes $3 more an hour if Suzie has no job?” His solution? He wants to create a restaurant which relies solely on automation. Customers will never have to interact with a person.

Although a lot of manufacturing jobs have already been taken over by machines, President Trump has promised to create new manufacturing jobs for Americans. He has launched a Manufacturing Jobs Initiative, which consists of some of the most successful business leaders in America. The goal is to gain insight on how to achieve his ultimate dream of “Buy American, Hire American.” The President of the Alliance for Manufacturing, Scott Paul, is optimistic about the premise. He insists that the returning jobs will require a high skill set and will need skilled workers to operate the complex machines. In an interview with John Hayward on Breitbart.com, Paul discussed his enthusiasm for bringing back manufacturing jobs to the United States. “These are well-paying jobs. This is a ladder of where Americans can achieve the middle-class dream. It is very much a part of our future. Smart nations are betting on manufacturing in their future. It’s going to look a lot different than it did in the 1950s, but it’s important to have it as a centerpiece in the economy,” he said.

Ben Bernanke, an American economist and former Chairman of the Federal Reserve, doesn’t think the President’s plan for manufacturing jobs will be successful.
The lack of skilled candidates for white collar, or advanced degree jobs, is an issue that has to be fought at the student level, starting with the education of Americans. “So what we need is a whole raft of things including pre-K intervention, better schooling, internships, stronger college programs, a whole variety of things to get people better trained and give them a chance to make it up into the upper echelon.”

There are plenty of proposals and ideas being introduced by President Trump. A big portion of his votes came from people who wanted to see the employment situation improve and they are willing to wait patiently for the results. “He thinks everything will come easy,” Christel said. “He will learn- they do not.”

When Jessie Natarajan, 36, first traveled to India from the U.S. it was to get married.

[Details of wedding]

Today, many families in the U.S. are multicultural. According to the Pew Research group, 12 percent of newlyweds married someone of a different race in 2013 versus just 7 percent in 1980. According to the Census report, projections of the Size and Composition of the U.S. Population: 2014 to 2060, by 2020 more than half of the nation’s children are expected to be part of a minority race or ethnic group.

 Many immigrants looked to assimilate into American culture …. Today, we see more and more people choosing to preserve their cultural ties to back home and share that with their children.

 Jessie grew up in Rochester, New York, later moving to Long Island in middle school. Raised in a Protestant Christian-Italian family, she did not know much about Indian culture until meeting her husband Raghav.

 “We met and we got married six months later. I think I thought I knew a lot about India because I like went to some yoga classes, but no I had no idea really, it was all completely foreign.”

 Jessie was working at her dream job as a speech pathologist at Vassar Brothers Medical Center in Poughkeepsie when a mutual friend introduced the pair. Raghav was born and raised in Southern India in the city of Chennai before moving to the U.S. to attend grad school at Marist College for computer science.

 Although Jessie viewed herself as open-minded and was eager to travel, reality was much harsher than she prepared for.

 “It was so weird, like the first two times I went there I would just be like standing there and I’d be telling myself like ‘I’m on earth,’ and India’s on earth and so is America. Because it actually felt so foreign that I didn’t feel like I was on earth, it was so out there,” Jessie said.

 When she first journeyed 24-hours across the world to meet her husband’s family and to get married she was miserable and scared. Exhausted from the extensive travel, she felt her body begin to “shut down” when exposed to all these new elements.

 “The waters different, the foods different, the smells are different, the sounds are different, everything is so different that you’re body just shuts down.”

 Jessie was shocked on her first night there to come into Raghav’s parent’s kitchen to find cockroaches all over the place. This completely disgusted her. Overheated, exhausted and suffering from dysentery from the food and water she gave her husband an ultimatum: that she would never move there and that if he wanted to be with her that he has to accept that they will always live in the U.S.

 It wasn’t until Jessie’s third trip that she changed her mind. She decided to accept her experiences there without comparing or trying to make it into a “western experience.” After making that conscious effort to embrace India without the shackles of ethnocentrism, she loves it there now and would like to move there or buy a second home there someday.

 Veda, 6, has been to India four times and Henri, 1, celebrated his first birthday there. They all try to go as a family at least once a year for a couple of months at a time so that Veda and Henri are exposed to their cultural roots and get to spend time with their family that is there.

 Here in America, the family keeps the culture alive. They cook traditional Indian food at home, which was an easy transition from Jessie’s diet prior to meeting Raghav. Although she comes from a traditional first-generation Italian family, she had personally been vegetarian. Raghav’s family had been vegetarian going back “thousands of years,” because in the Hindu religion meat, especially beef is forbidden. Jessie says that they eat a 90% south-Indian diet, which did take her body a while to adjust to because she was introduced to a lot of spices she had never eaten before.

Jessie also practices Ayruveda, which is ancient system of medicine rooted in India.

 “It’s like Chinese medicine but it’s Indian medicine. So like for instance when it’s really hot they would say in my husband’s family ‘don’t eat mango’ because it heats the body. They drink a lot of milk, because the cow is the mother of all humans because they give milk, so you should never kill a cow.”

 Jessie never formally converted to Hinduism, but that’s because she didn’t have to.

“What’s interesting about Hinduism is that there’s really no conversion, because they believe that anyone who identifies with the god inside of them, like if we all come from a divine source, once you recognize that, that’s the definition of being Hindu,” Jessie said.

 She identifies with Hinduism more than she ever did with Christianity. It liberated her and allowed her to have a “religious and spiritual experience” in her life.

 “I love the Hindu way of life and spirituality so we definitely integrate that into our lives.”

Although Jessie’s family is religious, they don’t mind her practicing something other than Christianity. They embrace these cultural differences with open arms, respect and curiosity.

 

By Anne Ehart

The ongoing violence in Eastern Ukraine has given Ukrainian filmmakers a whole new field of content to tackle. Documentary and creative films alike, the last three years since the 2014 uprising have seen a wave of films about the struggle of war, both on the frontlines and for families at home.

The Ukrainian Museum in the East Village presented a film festival of independent Ukrainian films this past weekend.

“Film provides a way for people to digest and reflect, or escape the climate of conflict in Ukraine, and plays an important role in the social fabric of a country,” said curator of Friday night’s series of short films Damian Kolodiy.

“Be Back,” directed by Andriy Kyryllov, is a five minute, yet infinitely powerful monologue of a girl missing her boyfriend who is fighting in Eastern Ukraine.

There is a wealth of significance behind the short film, Kyryllov’s first as a director. Previously an actor, Kyryllov said he stopped his acting career because there was nothing but Russian influenced roles.

“When I was an actor, I can really remember the moment when Russia and Putin started putting out Russian military oriented films,” said Kyryllov. “They started to shoot in Ukraine, and every movie and serious role was 50/50 with Russia, with the money and with the actors.”

“That’s really why I stopped my acting career. There was nothing except these kinds of scripts, with Russian police or military,” said Kyryllov.

“There are certainly people who want to respond by making their own content and combat the lies that are coming out of Moscow,” said Kolodiy, speaking about Ukrainian directors creating their own films about war.

Russia has had a hold on Ukrainian media, twisting news in their favor or releasing fake news. Film is no exception to what Russia wants to influence, to portray the war with Ukraine through their eyes.

In a Q&A session Friday night after the showing of his film at the UMFF, Kyryllov spoke about Russia trying to spinning the meaning of the film after it gained traction on social media. Their interpretation was that the girl wanted the war to end and her boyfriend to come home because Ukraine should not be resisting Russia in the first place.

There is a skin care and makeup store in Korea Town in Manhattan named Besfren Beauty that has opened about a year ago. They actually have a store right next to it that sells coffee and ginger based products called Besfren Cafe. I wanted to do a type of feature in this because I found out they do not have any locations in Korea, from what I understood, only in New York. I am in the process of confirming this 100%.

Korean skin care is becoming a huge thing among beauty lovers. Although skin care in general goes hand in hand with makeup, a lot of famous youtubers are trying out Korean products specifically, some even stick to a strictly Korean product routine. I personally am a big fan of Korean skin care, but there is a huge reddit community under /asianbeauty that I want to ask about how they go into this kind of skin care.

I had a short talk with the workers at both the coffee shop and the makeup store but did not get an official interview, I plan on calling them, asking basic questions and something more indebt.

I initially wanted this to be a photo gallery but it will be too difficult because they don’t do trials or makeovers so I am going to do a written piece with a mini photography gallery.

Ecuadorian immigrants are the 1oth-largest Hispanic population living in the United States. They brought their traditions with them when they immigrate, so that way they stay in touch with home, but the one thing they remain loyal to is their food. Many Ecuadorian restaurants have been opened for years with the typical dishes in their menu. The popular dishes normally consist of, rice, potatoes, seafood, chicken, and meat. Here are some of dishes that make Ecuadorians feel like home.

Maria Velez and her husband opened their Ecuadorian restaurant ten years ago. Velez says that her motivation to open a restaurant was to be able share her passion for cooking with many. “People tell me that I cook like their mothers or grandmothers used to cook,” she says smiling proudly.

 

Morocho dulce a classic Ecuadorian sweet drink. Velez’s take on this drink is that “it’s hard to make a good morocho” because sometimes there aren’t enough ingredients available. “Also, it’s time consuming.” Morocho is a breakfast or as a evening snack drink, usually accompanied with Humitas, which are a savory steamed fresh corn cakes.

Ecuadorian chicken soup or Caldo de Gallina is a typical dish from the Sierra. A bowl of soup and a portion of rice is usually dinner. “I’m full with a bowl of soup. I don’t need more,” says Mario a customers at Milenio restaurant. He says that he eats other kinds of food too, but most of the time Ecuadorian. And when he’s out with his family, his family wouldn’t eat other kind of food.

The lightest dish is probably Ceviche de Camarom. Abel Castro the chef and the owner of Ñaño restaurants shows how to make Ceviche:https:

Castro’s restaurant is located in Manhattan. “We want to be able to share our tradition with others and the best way to do it is with food”

 

“Churrasco is one of the most popular dishes here” says Diana, a waitress who came from Ecuador six months ago.  She says that she misses her family and friends, but not the food.

Sopa Marinera (seafood soup) is probably one of most poplar dishes not only in Ecuador, but in the United States as well “because the ingredients are easy to get,” says Don Juan. Don Juan and his family work in a small family own restaurant in Queens. “People come because my wife makes good food”

Velez is well-known for her Arroz marinero. She says that people have come to treat her like their family. “Some people call me aunt, others mother.” They feel appreciated. Food connects people and that’s how Ecuadorians feel like home even when they are far away from their families.

“There always be Ecuadorian food as long as we live here,” says Velez. If ever want to try Ecuadorian dishes, there are plenty of places in New York. Generally the portions are big.