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Zoomy Muhammad

Literature Chinese American Museum Field Trip

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by Daniel Amador

As some of you may know, on the 5th of February the Literature Bridge Class went on a field trip to the Chinese-American Museum in Chinatown as a wrap-up to the book Red Scarf Girl by Ji-Li Jiang. The book is about a girl and her family during the cultural revolution of 1966 who had to endure many struggles and conflicts due to their dead grandfather who had been a landlord. This is important because landlords were despised and hated by communists. We thought it would be fun to see what the life of a Chinese person living in China was like and to learn about the Chinese-American culture. 
It started out with us arriving group by group and waiting until everyone had arrived (15 people in total) and then the tour began. The tour guide talked about how lots of people find old stuff in their attics and give them to museums and she explained that many people in the area give some of their old Chinese or Chinese-American attic treasures to the Chinese-American Museum. The first part of the tour started on the first floor. The first floor of the museum was mainly about what you would find in a typical Chinese house, the different parts of the floor were different rooms in a house.

After the guide finished talking about attic treasures, she showed us the next part of the first floor, which was the living room. In it, there were chairs, rugs, and other living room decorations. Then she showed us the kitchen. She talked about different kinds of pots and pans and thermoses and even a gas-powered iron! Once we had finished with the living room of the Chinese home we moved on to another room. The room that she showed us was called “Grandparent’s Room”. In that room there were old antiques like vases and paintings. She explained that these things were mostly attic treasures. Once we had left that room, she showed us the kid’s room where there were toys like dolls and instruments.

Next, she talked about religions of China such as Buddhism and Christianity. Some of the things on display were little religious relics and there was even a little shrine! There were also some signs from past businesses in the area.
 Next, a different tour guide took us through the entrance and up some stairs to the second floor, which focused  on Chinese-American history. The first thing we did on the 2nd floor was to watch a film where Chinese-Americans talked about why they moved to America and how they were able to have the same culture and customs.

They also talked about what their families’ jobs and occupations were. After that, the guide took us to another part of the 2nd floor where there were two world maps on display. He explained that the reason for so many Chinese people moving to America was because of the California gold rush. He also explained that instead of the Americas being on the west side of an American map, Europe, Asia, Africa and Australia are on the west side of a Chinese map, due to so many Chinese moving east to California. Then we were allowed to look at some more displays. He took us to a part of the 2nd floor where he showed us some solidified eggs (fake, of course), jarred fungi and mushrooms, and other herbs and plants. He explained that these were some of the kinds of things Chinese people brought from China to sell and use as medicine.

Following that, he took us to the last part of the 2nd floor where there was a display-counter of a laundry business, a giant colorful paper dragon, and photographs of an orphan, adopted Chinese girls and Chinese Girl Scouts. He talked about a Chinese family and their laundry business, and the Chinese New Year and the New Year parades. He then explained that many Chinese families in China were only allowed to have one child, so many families decided to choose their male child since he would be able to carry on the family name. Many had to disown their females, so they were put to adoption. Then we were able to walk around and look at all the displays again, and that ended our tour. 

After the tour, we went back downstairs to the entrance, looked around the gift shop, then left. 

We drove to a plaza and walked until we came to a restaurant tucked behind some buildings. We came to a restaurant called  Joy Yee, then we sat down, and took our orders. They gave us our food and we ate noodles, soup, wraps, chicken, rice, and more(by the way, those servings are huge)! After we finished eating, we went back to the plaza where we looked around in some stores. Finally, we walked back out of the plaza and drove back home. Our field trip was over, but it was very enlightening, fun (and delicious), I learned a lot. I would recommend something like that to anyone!      

What Is the Mandela Effect?

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Have you ever felt like your mind was playing tricks on you? That you may not be remembering something the way it really was? You’re not crazy, you’ve just had a taste of the Mandela Effect.

Nelson Mandela, activist, political leader, and former president of South Africa. He was arrested and spent 27 years in prison in the 1980’s, as the swell of support for his cause grew across the world. After his release, he was president of South Africa from 1990 to 1994. He died in 2013, a hero to many. Or did he die in prison in the 1980’s? Many people distinctly remember this being the case. Of course, it’s easy to misremember dates and events, but when misremembering happens on a massive scale, it is called the Mandela effect. 

I feel like this needs a bit more explanation. The Mandela effect is a phenomenon of collective misremembering that sees people recalling events and details differently than they really were. What makes the Mandela effect interesting is that it affects hundreds or even thousands of people who all recall similar details or lack thereof. These misrememberings can range from details as simple as the order of the colors on a stoplight to the placement of an entire country! 

Aside from Nelson Mandela’s death, there are many other notable examples. 

  • Looney Toons is actually spelled Looney Tunes and has been since its beginning.
  • Pikachu does not have a black-tipped tail. It’s just yellow. 
  • In the spirit of the many Star Wars related articles you’ve seen all over the site, the famous quote “Luke, I am your father” is actually “No, I am your father.” You’ve probably heard this one, but there is another interesting layer to it. James Earl Jones, the voice for Darth Vader,  remembers the line as “Luke, I am your father” despite having said the line in the original movie. Additionally, C-3PO has had a silver leg since the first movie.  
  • One of the most famous examples is The Berenstein Bears. It is actually Berenstain Bears. 
  • What color is Chartreuse? Many people remember it being a hot pinkish color when in reality, it is a shade of green.
  • Neil Armstrong died in 2012. Many people, including myself, believed he was still alive. 
  • Another famous one. In Snow White, the Wicked Witch says “Magic mirror on the wall…” not “Mirror mirror on the wall…”

Those are just a few examples. There are many more I discovered while researching that made me question my reality. Some of them were as simple as switching words like “that” and “this” to whether New Zealand is northeast or southeast to Australia. Spoilers, it’s southeast. Also, there are 50 states in the U.S, not 51 or 52. But why do people make these seemingly small mental mistakes? For many, it’s simply that it’s just always been that way. This begs the question, are these simply human errors, or is something much bigger at play? There are many theories as to how and why the Mandela effect occurs. I’m sure you’re wondering how something like this happens, and there are a few theories. These theories range from a simple human error to the nature of quantum mechanics. 

“False memory refers to cases in which people remember events differently from the way they happened or, in the most dramatic case, remember events that never happened at all” -Scholarpedia 

If you take a more scientific approach to things, this is your best answer. False memories are a fairly common occurrence. As amazing as the brain is, it makes a lot of weird mistakes that could make us look less than intelligent, like mistakenly believing that there are 51 states. People claim to have distinct memories of learning about Mendela’s “death” in 1980. For instance, the Sunday Times gives us these two accounts of people with memories of Nelson Mandela’s death in 1980. 

Robert Crowder said he learned of Mandela’s death in the mid-80s in his geography class. “I was in high school in the mid-80s and I remember that we discussed Mandela’s death in my geography and economics classes.”

Another, Danielle, said, “I remember in Grade 4 in 1997 when I learned Nelson Mandela was dead. It was black history month. My confusion later in life when I heard about him in the news, I was baffled that I believed for so long and so surely that he had died.”

Along with these accounts, people also remember seeing new coverage of Mandela’s death and Fione Broome, the woman who conducted the survey and coined the term Mandela effect said she even remembered Nelson Mandela’s widow giving a speech after his death. Of course, no such thing had happened at the time. False memories like this happen a lot. When someone is convinced an event occurred, their brain will fabricate memories of that event, despite it never happening. Because false memories are so common, it’s easy to explain away instances of the Mandela effect as just people misremembering things. The false memory explanation also explains how many examples of the Mandela effect are fairly small, easily mistaken details. But how do so many people have the same misconception? It’s simple sociology. If enough people believe that the quote is “Luke, I am your father”, then the mistake doesn’t get corrected.

Humans have a group mentality, which means you might think “Everyone else says the line is this, so it must be correct”.  And so, millions of people remember the line as “Luke, I am your father” rather than what it really is. This is the logical, scientific theory, but what if you aren’t satisfied with that answer? Then the second theory is for you. 

Among conspiracy theorists, there is a theory that the Mandela effect is caused by the collision, merging, or interaction of parallel universes . Before you click away, let me explain. 

We are all familiar with the theory of the multiverse. The MCU and comics are where we see this concept the most and it has become a widely popular concept these last few years. Well, this theory states that the reason some people believe that Nelson Mandela died in prison is because he did die in prison in an alternate universe. This universe then interacted with ours in some way, leading to some people having the memory where he died in prison, a memory from a different universe. If you follow this theory, that also means that there is a universe where there are 51 states, the quote is “Luke, I am your father”, and Chartreuse is pink and not green.  

Fione Broome was a paranormal researcher, and this was her explanation for the Mandela effect. If you couldn’t tell, this theory is a little bit out there. Anything involving a multiverse falls more into the realm of pseudoscience rather than proven, tested science. There’s no scientific proof for the existence of the multiverse or multiple realities and most things involving quantum theory are just that, theories. However, it’s a fun theory nonetheless. 
Now if you ever catch yourself thinking, “Am I remembering that right?” you know that it’s because two parallel universes collided, warping reality and giving you a false memory of something that didn’t happen. That is, if you believe this sort of thing. 

Billie Eilish: Queen of the 2020 Grammy Awards

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At the 62nd annual Grammy Awards, Billie Eilish sweeped the charts, broke records, and was nominated for the Big Four of the Grammy Awards. 

January 26th was the 62nd grammy awards. There were many interesting performances. From  Aerosmith and Dmc doing a fusion performance together, to Demi Lovato’s beautiful piano ballet, even to the most questionable Ariana Grande performance. Along with the performances, something very shocking happened that night. We all know Billie Eilish. She is the singer, songwriter who has recently become immensely popular these last two years .  She has gained more attention over these last few months but this year was her time to break out. She is in the prime of her career and only 18. What makes it even more astounding that she won 5 Grammys! Not only that, but she is the first woman and the first person in 36 years to take home the Big Four: Album of the Year, Song of the Year, Record of the Year, and Best New Artist. Her hit song “Bad Guy” won her both Record and Song of the Year. 

She won five different grammys, just after announcing that she will be on the new James Bond soundtrack. Talk about luck. Her performance was also very heart warming as she  did a ballet with her brother, songwriter,musician, and recording artist Finneas Eilish. She also sang her latest hit”When the Party’s Over.” Billie was nominated for 6 awards and won 5 of those nominations. She won Record of the Year, Best New Artist, Song of the Year, and Album of the year. If you didn’t think she had won enough awards, she also won Best Pop Vocal Album for “When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go?”. 

Billie has been making music for a while now, but only her recent music has been gaining widespread media attention. Her brother Finneas helps her with her songwriting and has helped create some of her hits. Her debut Album was March 29,2019. It’s been number one on the charts of multiple countries including, the U.K , U.S,  Australia, and Canada.

After receiving her awards she had this to say; 

“…all the artists that were nominated deserved it, i’m so sorry…” and “…can I just say that Ariana Grande deserves this award…” 

as the camera turns back to Ariana, who is reassuring Billie that she deserves the award.

Out of all of the winners of the 2020 Grammy Awards, Billie Eilish stood out by far. Breaking the most records this year and becoming one of the most influential music icons of the past dec

Why You Should Watch Netflix’s Christmas Original Klaus (A spoiler free review)

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If you’re tired of watching the same old Christmas specials every year allow me to introduce you to Klaus, a Netflix original that is sure to capture your heart. 

Klaus was released on Netflix in August of 2019. As a Netflix original movie, you may not have very high hopes that this movie will interest you, and I don’t blame you. After all, Netflix originals are notorious for being controversial, mediocre or just plain bad. But Klaus is not only a well written, uniquely animated movie, it’s also an interesting new take on the lore of Christmas. So, what is Klaus about?

The story of Klaus follows Jesper, the spoiled, entitled son of a wealthy postmaster who owns a very successful postal service. Jespers father sends Jesper to the miserable town of Smeerenburg with the goal of delivering 6,000 letters in a year. If he fails, he will be cut off from the family fortune. Populating the town are two rival families, the boisterous Ellingboes and the dark Krums, who have a cartoonish hatred towards each other. He soon meets Klaus, a reclusive man with an enormous stock of toys, and Alva, a dejected school teacher turned fish merchant. From here, Jesper must meet his goal of 6,000 letters while surviving the towns crazy inhabitants.

That’s the basic plot of Klaus, but what makes the movie so unique? Why should you watch it?

Well, if you’ve seen the trailer or clips of the movie, the first thing you take note of is the interesting style of animation. Does it look familiar? If it does, it is because Klaus is done in traditional 2D animation. The same animation style seen back in the 70’s and 80’s with Disney classics, that ultimately died back in the 90’s with the rise of computer animation. The nostalgia of the animation is combined with 3D rendering, giving the movie its unique look and animation style. I bring this up because of how laborious this style of animation is. It is frame by frame animation. Not only that, but the animators behind Klaus did a remarkable job at creating gorgeous backgrounds and fluid animation in a style not seen anywhere else. So, if your looking for a visually stunning movie, Klaus is for you. I put this first because while the animation is nice, it is nothing compared to the writing, story, and characters in the movie. 

More than anything else, Klaus is a fantastic family movie. It checks all of the boxes for an enjoyable holiday classic for kids and adults. If you didn’t know, Sergio Pablos, the director of Despicable Me, wrote and directed Klaus. So you know that this movie will be full of fun gags and laugh out loud moments. The slapstick in this movie are some of the funniest I’ve ever watched and the jokes are hilarious and appeal to all age groups. However, like how the movie can be funny when it wants to, it can also pull on your heartstrings when the time comes. 

As I said in the beginning, Klaus tackles the lore of many of our Christmas traditions and beliefs.

 From why Santa comes down the Chimney, to the elves, to why Santa delivers toys on a sleigh led by flying reindeer. What you need to remember is that the movie shows why we think these things, when in the movies reality, they happen for completely different reasons. It’s fun to watch Klaus unravel our Christmas traditions and lore in increasingly interesting and clever ways. 

The characters are what is most enjoyable about this movie. They’re all charming and interesting in their own way, even from the start. The character development is done really well and it is satisfying to watch the characters grow. I can’t talk about character development much without entering spoiler territory, but it’s heartwarming to watch the characters and even the townsfolk break away from their miserable lives and become happier people. 

 Klaus is much more than another Netflix original, It is a heartwarming Christmas tale with wonderful characters, clever moments, and moments that get you right in the feels. It is a subversive take on Christmas lore.  I would absolutely recommend you watch Klaus and add it to your list of Must Watch specials for the holiday. 


What You Need to Know About Australia’s Wildfires

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Fires have been raging across Australia since November of 2019 and it has garnered international attention. What else is there to know about these fires, and how can we help?

Going into 2020 there has been a lot of things going on. The possibility of war, rising tensions, and the wildfires in Australia. Australia has always had bushfires, but this is the worst fire on record. These fires have been all over Australia but now its hitting New South Wales and Victoria the most. It has affected many animals, with fires destroying the habitats of animals endangered or unique to Australia. The people of Australia are doing their part to help save the wildlife so unique to their home. Even firefighters from the U.S have traveled to Australia to help fight the blaze. 

The fire is spreading rapidly and is burning bushland, wooded areas, and is even injuring and killing people. 28 people have so far been confirmed dead due to this wildfire and an estimated 1 billion animals have perished. Many of Australia’s already endangered animals are close to functional extinction thanks to these fires. The koala, in particular, is closer to extinction now than it has ever been. Before the fires, it was estimated as few as 100,000 koalas were alive on the planet. Now, it is estimated that 25,000 koalas have died due to the fire. Since the fire first started on November 11th, 2019, over 15.6  million acres have been burned or are currently on fire. As of writing this, there are 100 fires currently going. 

With most of Australia burning and people and animals dying or being forced from their homes, things look very dire, but there is still hope. People all around the world are donating to help save Australia. The Australian fires have also been trending on almost every social media site, bringing awareness to struggle. People are making sure this known to everyone around the world. The international response to the fires has been massive. Many countries including the U.S, UN, France, Canada, and many more have been sending aid to Australia. Countries have been offering supplies, firefighters, and shelter to affected areas. Prominent celebrities, politicians, and regular people are donating to the cause. 

You can help the cause by raising awareness of the fires in Australia. If you want to go the extra mile, you can donate to the official government site, but not without a parent’s permission first. With your help, we can beat Australia’s wildfires.