#immigrant story

[spiderwing-nightman]

It's fascinating that Superman is being accused of bringing destruction and invading a place he is trying to help when he's (most likely) the one fleeing the very things people think he brings.

[lostinmac]

Riceboy Sleeps (2022)

Dir. Anthony Shim

[gregor-samsung]

Past Lives (Celine Song, 2023)

[itstremmy]

Past Lives (2023) Director: Celine Song

[filmgamer]

I Took My 4-Year Old Nephew to see Pixar's 'Elemental'

The RomCom cartoon contains all of Pixar’s heart, but none of its envelope-pushing style. Directed by Peter Sohn (The Good Dinosaur) Written by John Hoberg & Kat Likkel, and Brenda Hsueh A Pixar Animation Studios Film (#27) Budget $200 million   Review When I was 3 years old, my family and I went to the theatre: Famous Players on Princess St. (now defunct). My Father and 3 brothers went to see…

[justalittleobsessedhere]

Bear with me, this is going to be a little long.

Just got off the phone with my mom who told me this story about my dad that makes me so angry.

My parents got some summer property in Michigan to take a break from the summer heat of Louisiana. My dad is super liberal and likes to challenge the conservative thinking of the other guys at the morning coffee klatch (some weird word for chatting and coffee). He likes to point out the factual errors they hear on their conservative media. He’s usually really laid back and the right kind of person to talk to these kind of guys.

Well, apparently he hit a nerve and they couldn’t fight back with actual logic or facts so they told my dad to go back where he came from.

My dad is a naturalized US citizen. He has been for over twenty years. And before that he was a legal permanent resident for another 20-something years. He’s from the Middle East and finally got his citizenship after September 11th when it became much harder to travel back to see his family.

My dad is foreign looking and has a weird accent (weird because it’s his in normal accent mixed with a local Louisiana accent). But back in Louisiana, he’s considered part of the community. Everyone knows who he is and loves him. I swear he could run for office and win with his very foreign name.

My dad never planned on staying. He was going to go to college and go back home. Instead, he met my mom (born and raised Louisiana girl) and married her. They literally got married after knowing each other two months. Both their families cut them off for getting married to this person from a completely different culture. (Both eventually reestablished ties.) It was a random set of circumstances that had him settle in the tiny, middle-of-nowhere town for over 40 years.

But he loves this adopted country. He is more informed about the history and current events than most people born here. He ingrained a strong sense of patriotism in me. He saw the value of this democratic republic where you have the constitutional right to say what you want about the government and not be arrested for it. Where votes actually matter. That’s why he gets so angry about claiming elections are rigged because in his home country, they literally are.

On my 18th birthday, I walked in to register to vote and I have never missed an election no matter where I lived. I have always voted even if I had to send in my ballot from overseas. He instilled that commitment in me.

I tell you all this to set up how shocked he was to hear that. He yelled back at this guy and pointed out that he CHOSE to be an American. He considers “where he comes from” to be Louisiana. He’s spent more time there than the county he was born in. He didn’t luck into this citizenship. He never takes it for granted.

He didn’t go back for a couple of days. But he did today. Because he wasn’t going to let that guy win. He told him why what he said was insulting and bigoted, and now that guy has to look at my dad every day and live with the fact that he was a small-minded jerk.

I’m proud of my dad. For this small act of rebellion in this conservative crowd and the overall life he chooses to live.

I have no great purpose in telling you this, but I just wanted to put this out in the world.

TL;DR: my immigrant dad got told he go back where he came from and my dad stood up to that small-minded jerk.

[jesncin]

"Who Is Superman? A Private Interview with Lois Lane" a fancomic about hope and connection. I've had this story in mind for so long and I'm very excited to be able to share it at last. Thank you for reading, and happy Lunar New Year!

[ogaborus]

Perhaps love is always aching

An aching love

[rachel-sylvan-author]

"The Manicurist's Daughter" by Susan Lieu

Thank you @katie_b_is_reading for the wonderful read! It's one of my new favorites! ❤️

[hojungwrites]

Where I Learn to Deal with Failure (or I just copy and paste choice parts of a really nice email from a former professor)

Originally featured on Korean American Story.

Beginning each morning by writing a to-do list, I feel immense satisfaction whenever I cross things off. It signals that I finished this, that I made something of my day. This compulsion for constant productivity, I am sure it stems from the way I was raised. Famously coined by legal scholar and writer Amy Chua, the term “tiger mom” refers to a parental figure with an incredibly authoritative child-rearing style—in other words, my parents. Like many other Korean parents, my mother and father were tiger parents for sure. Never accepting anything less than the best (my best was not enough, for I had to be the best out of everyone else as well), I strived to live up to their expectations.

I hold a memory from my early childhood, perhaps in the first or second grade, sitting around in a semicircle with the other school children. Having just read us a story, the teacher scribbled some questions onto the whiteboard with her thick black Expo marker. My mother happened to be in the classroom that day, along with the other parents. Her presence made my hands quite clammy, and each breath I took was so frustratingly unrefreshing. While the other kids excitedly raised their hands to answer our teacher’s questions, I sat idly by.

Under my mother’s watchful eye, I imagined the possible scenarios that could play out. If I answered a question correctly, I could earn a smile perhaps. But I also imagined what could happen if I said the wrong thing, and my mouth remained shut. I kept waiting for a question I could comfortably answer. I’ll just wait for the next one. No, not this one. The next. The one after this. The thing is, for every single question, I correctly predicted the answer before the teacher chimed in. My silence wasn’t a result of ignorance; I just hadn’t trusted in myself enough to speak up.

At the end of the school day, my mother and I walked to the car. As I watched her slim fingers turn the key in the ignition, a thick silence grew between us. Looking straight ahead, barely audible over the rumbling of the engine, my mother asked me, “Why didn’t you answer any of the questions?” But umma, I knew all the right answers, I wanted to say. Yet I was rendered mute by stinging nerves, and once again, I said nothing at all.

According to the Implicit Theory of Intelligence (Dweck & Leggett 1988), people hold one of two mindsets—growth or fixed. Following this theory, those with a growth mindset believe their intelligence can grow over time, while those with a fixed mindset believe there is a natural limit to their abilities. What I find interesting is this theory’s implications on failure. Seeing it as an opportunity to grow, those with growth mindsets react positively to failure. In comparison, people with fixed mindsets will apparently fall into the depths of despair.

To shape a growth mindset in a child, the theory stresses the importance of praising effort and not the outcome. For me, growing up in a Korean household, the outcome was all that mattered. In that classroom, in front of the whiteboard, in front of my teacher, and especially in front of my mother—what did it matter if I knew the correct answers if other people had no idea I knew them?

Fortunately, or perhaps, unfortunately, out of sheer willpower (or spite) I did meet these expectations for the majority of my childhood and teenage years. Several afternoons and evenings of my life were devoted to after-school tutoring sessions to ensure I would perform slightly better than my peers. I felt compelled to attend a high school I was not zoned for, with a bus stop at 5:15 am, to participate in their “academically rigorous” International Baccalaureate program (which is complete bull, by the way. If any high schoolers are reading this, just take AP.) I even joined the mathletes, although anything above basic algebra easily brings me to tears. I wanted all these special certificates, diplomas, and various badges of honor to my name to prove that my efforts meant something.

My tiger parents taught me that when successful, I could reap intense satisfaction. Because they reacted so well to my achievements, I ended up placing so much of my self-worth in academic validation. However, my parents skipped the lessons on how to deal with failure. Instead of an opportunity to grow, a failure was simply a failure, nothing more. It was something to brush aside and hide away, in the hopes that a greater accomplishment could mask it. As a result, achieving something felt really, really good. But failure led to equally high, possibly higher, levels of distress.

Because I based my entire identity on being the “smart one,” I had no idea what to do with myself when this label was seemingly taken away from me. Since the end of my school career, I have failed many, many times over. I failed to get a high-paying job at a consulting firm like many of my friends, I failed to get into graduate school my first time applying, and I failed to reach any of the milestones I arbitrarily decided were necessary to feel like an actual adult. Truthfully, I felt—still feel—incredibly behind. My younger self imagined I would have accomplished much more by my mid-twenties. I think I am very good at giving the appearance of being okay, but in reality, I am frantically flailing underneath the water’s calm surface.

I think the toughest lesson life taught me is that putting your best effort into something will not guarantee success. X does not ensure Y, because there are a million factors Z completely out of my control. This lesson highlights the problem with tying up self-worth in something external because I had no idea what to do once this external validation disappeared. As a postgraduate, to squeeze a few years into one short sentence—I was rather nihilistic for a while. I became so tired of trying anything at all because I was so tired of failing.

I love being Korean American. Sincerely, I do. Nonetheless, as I psychoanalyze myself, I am made increasingly aware of how certain aspects of my cultural background have, perhaps, in terms of mental health, screwed me over. It is so easy to be a victim, stay a victim, and relish in feeling bad for myself. But then what?

Not trusting myself to find the answer to my question, I reached out to many others to figure out what to do next. There was one message in particular that stuck out to me. According to my old statistics professor, Dan Player, “It’s an endless treadmill [to chase after success]. It’s really remarkable to talk to people who have achieved amazing things. Some of them are still chasing the proof that they’re successful because no matter what they do, someone else has done something better… I’m telling you, you can’t win at that “proving yourself” game.”

To “succeed” in life, I have to let go of this notion of success entirely. I have to let go of this obsession to prove to other people that I have value. I am learning and growing and (hopefully) becoming a better person, and it does not matter if other people cannot see it. All that matters is that I see it. As Dan says, I am Hojung, a “filmmaker/artist/author/scholar/general fascinating human being,” and I am fine just the way I already am.

My life has been full of so many disappointments, yes, but it is also a record full of acts of kindness, moments of grace, and dreams for myself. It is full of warm kisses, hugs full of longing, the laughter of friends, and eyes that met to share a brief moment of connection. This is my life, a life that is worth living simply because it is mine. My self-worth is something I give to myself, so it cannot be taken away, even if I never achieve something momentous or do not leave behind a huge impact on this earth once my time has passed. It is enough that for a moment, I was here. I existed. This is my Korean American story.

Extra Reading: (1) Chua, A. (2011). Battle Hymn of the tiger mother. Penguin Books. (2) Dweck, S. C., & Leggett, E. L. (1988). A social-cognitive approach to motivation and personality. Psychological Review, 95, 256–273

[readersmagnet]

Hannah by Ruthanne Nopson

Transport yourself to the enchanting late summer of 1900 with “Hannah,” a novel by Ruthanne Nopson. Join the Zimmer family as they migrate from Germany to New York for a new life. While Jacob dreams of opening a bakery, Mama and the children face challenges adjusting to a new country.

Visit www.ruthannebooksforchildren.com for more books by Ruthanne Nopson and Little Peggy Lou stories for children.

[teleportationmagic]

"You weakened me!" By Ambessa is not a declaration of apathy! It is not her blaming Mel! It is when Mel finally learns that her mother isn't apathetic to her, that she isn't disinterested in her fate or disappointing in her, but instead she loved her too much and too deeply. That Mel threatened Ambessa with ruination, because the only way Ambessa has ever known to survive is by embracing brutality and sacrificing a peaceful death, while all Mel has ever wanted is peace. That a peaceful death would have literally meant the death of her child, back when she was still pregnant with one of them!

And Mel's disapproval of her meant that Ambessa could feel herself tumbling into a path of peace. Into a better path, maybe, but a path that for Ambessa has only ever meant death. If she could be more hardhearted, maybe she could have kept both - her family's survival, and her daughter - but alas. Her sending Mel away is not a failure on Mel's part, but in fact a failure on Ambessa's - because she could not withstand the arrows of her disapproval, now she needs to come to Piltover to collect her before whatever older enemies she has catch up with them both. She comes to Piltover to correct that mistake, to show Mel a harder heart, and yet! It's doeesn't work! Because Mel still demands of her vulnerability and she cannot help giving it to her!

Is there no greater expression of love, for her? To even contemplate opening herself up to that which is deadly, for the sake of the life and soul of her daughter? Is there nothing so undoing?

[sketchp00ch]

The Whole Son Family is HERE!!

I honestly missed this What If / AU I thought about two years back…

I just wish I wasn’t still feeling some burnout from art school 🙄 😒

But I will do my best to indulge more into this AU!

For now— I did write a prologue and three chapters of this AU on AO3 if y’all are interested 👀 👀 👀

You can read them down here 👇🏻👇🏻👇🏻

Prologue:

Main Story:

[greenarrow-core]

Sanctuary, One of the Best Green Arrow stories ever

Sanctuary(Detective Comics #551-552)

Just coming of a disappointment that Billie Jean wouldn't show up again, a banger story came. And it just gets better as you go on.

So Dinah and Ollie were hanging out in a diner. Then:

Ollie doesn't give a shit, punches the fucking cop.

I'll mention something here, that will turn out to be irrelevant later on. Ollie only stood up to protect the legal immigrant here. Just because it's something that would get slightly in people's heads, the idea of the hero limiting themselves to the law, but this is Green Arrow, wait for it.

The illegal ones were arrested. The kid that Ollie protected, Guillermo, tells him how although he's legal, his brother is illegal.

Ollie then goes out to visit Guillermo's brother, Francisco who's hiding in a church with other illegal immigrants, to help him somehow.

The INS barges in the church and arrests everyone, the immigrants, Ollie and the priest. All of them are taken to the detention center.

The warden(I guess) says a bunch of nonsense and Ollie shows his disdain for the law.

Dinah shows up in the detention center as Ollie's lawyer. (Is this just a cover or does she really have a degree?)

She brings some stuff so Ollie can break out of the prison.

He breaks out with Francisco and his family.

Love Ollie calling it underground railroad

And then...

Yeah, Let's fucking free everyone.

Continuing talking about the underground railroad.

And he does all that very charmingly and chaotic. A silly goose.

So, let's review what he did, he punched the INS cop standing up for an immigrant and standing up against racism.

Broke out every immigrant held in an INS prison. He also just left free and didn't get any formal release. He just broke out.

And if you haven't grasped, this isn't even a "these INS are corrupt INS guys". They are just the INS. There's no corruption or anything. This is one of Ollie's biggest middle fingers to the law.

For other story involving Ollie standing up for illegal immigrants, check World's Finest #275, the full story is 274-*278.