Blog #4

Disability was a term in which my family has feared over many generations. That is because both my mother’s family and my father’s family have suffered from genetic depression that has cause fatal mental disabilities of many kinds. Because my family has suffered so much with the disease, most of my family members are in complete denial and refuse getting help because they do not want other people to know that they are living with a disability. But this story is of the exact opposite, this man has been wearing his disability on the outside and as had to learn to cope with it as best as he can. I was shocked when James O’Neal’s story came out into the public and made him a local super start. I have known him since I was very young because the Kingsgate Safeway was where my family did all of our grocery shopping. He was always very kind, and gave me and my sisters little candies every time we came to his cash register line.
James has always wanted to get rid of his tumors but never forced upon the situation. He attended school like any normal student and didn’t care whether or not kids accepted him or not. “I’ve always done whatever I wanted, not matter what. That’s just the way I felt. Everybody’s born different whether it shows or it doesn’t show.”
James O’Neal has suffered from neurofibromatosis ever since he was born. It is a genetic condition that makes the left side of his face swell by large tumors. This disease has left his face completely distorted and to many a face which is unrecognizable and scary. He has had previous surgeries before to remove the growing tumor, but after the age of 18 he was no longer able to afford treatment. A local shopper named Katie Knopf became very interested in his story and decided to help him in any way she could. She created a video with James and was planning on sending it out to Oprah Winfrey so that he could get immediate help with his very costly surgery. But no answer ever came and Katie decided to take a more personal an alternate route. “It finally hit me that I didn’t want Oprah to swoop in and save the day.” Said Knopf, of Bothell. I wanted it to be this community because he means so much.” The community raised over $110,000 dollars not including the donation Safeway made and other major companies who wanted to help.
Money is still being raised for James due to the costs of surgery and recovery, if you would like more information on the fundraising there is a link provided underneath he photo on the seattletimes.com web page I provided with information on how you can help James.
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2008016011_jamesoneal24m.html

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Blog #3

I went to the Sefair Indian Days Pow Wow this weekend and learned firsthand the clash between culture acceptance and stereotypes. I have learned a lot about our local Native Americans and had a good idea of what to expect when I came into Discovery Park. I also have a very close friend whose stepfather was a Native American from New-Mexico. The smell of smoked salmon and the sound of music were very strong and could be smelt and heard from a very far distance. But I was easily distracted when I started to see young children dressed up in store bought headdresses, red painted faces, plastic axes handing around brown belts and running around stopping the ground making the stereotypical noise by yelling and slapping their mouths “awowowow!” I was shocked to see such behavior because this stereotypical image was created from old American cowboy films in which Indians were seen as “red savages” and not as interesting and very diverse/traditional culture. I kept looking at the children’s parents thinking why they would let their kids act like this in front of a culture who has struggled for hundreds of years in keeping their lands, traditions, and dealing with being a threatened minority group. More shocking was that as the Native Americans were mingling with the visitors and the crowds instead of criticing the child and the parents about the improper display of stereotyping, they would show them a dance move, teach them a word/sound that they would be using during the actual Pow Wow dance and direct them to a booth where they could get real traditional markings painted on their faces. Neither the parents nor the Native Americans were threatened by this action. Instead of thrashing out at someone because they were being prejudice or stereotypical, the Native Americans hosting the event decided to take this as an opportunity to correct the negative image of “Indians” and express it by showing their traditions, food, living style, and celebrating life in which we all do in our own ways. (341)

Race and Ethnicity

Viva La France!
Since high school, I was always very excited for Bastille Day, which is France’s National Holiday celebrating the “storming of the Bastille on July 14 1789, because there was a teacher in my school who was part French and loved his heritage so much in fact that he would wear a beret, carry a huge French flag and a big bag of freshly baked baguettes. During passing period he would run around campus screaming “viva la France” Throwing baguettes at everyone. I was never fascinated with the France and the French culture because I often hear rumors of the French being vey nationalistic, rude and disliking Americans in general. But coming from and having an Ethnic background of German, I was more open to the culture. On Sunday July 13, I attended the Bastille Festival at the Seattle Center and was able to experience the French culture without having to actually go to France (which is in fact my dream to do so one day). The festival was created to try and get the French population of Seattle to come out, mingle, and celebrate their ethnicity. After a couple of years of private celebrating, the French-American Chamber of Commerce (Pacific Norwest) decided to branch out and create a festival in which those who could not afford or cannot go to France a taste of French ethnicity. The festival had cooking demonstration from some of the top French Chef’s in Seattle; like Chef Thierry Rautureau , born and raised on the French countryside, demonstrated how to make a simple but delicious French style salad with summer vegetables, avocado, with lemon olive oil dressing. He partially demonstrated how to make Ratatouille which is now a famous dish thanks to the Disney Movie “Ratatouille.” There was so much to taste, look at and listen to. There was a band called La Famille Leger Which was family band in which they preformed traditional French Eastern with a Canadian sound using fiddles, accordions, guitars and the piano. It made me feel as if I was strolling down the little boutiques in Paris watching the moon on a clear blue night. It is easy to see that the French really take in their ethnicity and are proud to tell and show people how they live and who they are. The rumors were definitely wrong, the French were hospitable, friendly and very encouraging when it came to wanting to taste a little bit of France.
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