#free topic

Masquerade.

Week 11 — Free Topic: Asian-American representation in film

2018-2019 were good years for Asian-American representation in media. Now sure, before then, Asians were in films, but they were reduced to a side character or simply: a villain. It was practically unheard of for an Asian to be the lead(s) of a movie. 

Asian-American actors were criticized for many years because of their “expressionless” faces; which is why many did not believe they could play romantic leads or have the ability to be a main character.

On week-end in Athlone there is not so much things to do, so we find often an excuse to travel around. Last week-end we chose to go to London with my friend Jules, who is in Erasmus in Galway (1h30 of Athlone by car). London is not really far away from Dublin so we can spend only a week-end there, and it is cheap with Ryanair ( about 40€ to go and back).

During this week-end, we walked 40 kilometers, and visited all the most famous places in London: Buckingham Palace and his Changing of the Guard, Notting Hill, Oxford Street, Piccadilly Circus, Big Ben, Westminster, Marble Arch, Camden Town, Covent Garden, London Eye... My favorite place is Camden Town. You can find lots of strange thing witch doesn’t exist somewhere else. You travel around the world in one hour thanks to all the different food trucks became from all the world. 

Time to holidays equal time to go to Iceland for me, meet my lovely friends, Ines and Gaëlle who came from the same university as me in France, the ESDES Lyon Business School. 

First of all, I decided to spend one week of my Irish holidays in another country instead of back to France. I choose Iceland to have an opportunity to discover this country by another way, with my friends. 

I would like try to explain how amazing was my trip with these girls in this incredible country, but you couldn’t understand. It is a kind of thing that you have to live to understand. Plus, people are extremely open minded and ready to help you.

We spent two days in the Iceland’s capital: Reykjavik, to visit the Blue Lagoon, the Harpa Conference Centre, the Hallgrimskirkja Church, all the city and many coffee bars with the food speciality: soup of lamb. This city look likes a small mountain village with this colorful houses, oceanfront contrasted by some mountains. Iceland fighting against the globalisation, so there is not big international compagnies as McDonald's. And the living cost is more expensive, it is around two times the price in France: for example, a hot chocolate cost 6 euros. 

Then we left Reykjavik to Birfrost, my friend’s city. There is almost nothing between the both. The nature was conserved, no human’s track. That is why every landscape is beautiful, amazing. They change every day with lighting. Every day is a new show. 

Over the course of the last few weeks I have been keeping up with the different news stories that have been going on. There are one you see on the mainstream news like the Muslim ban and the under qualified spots being filled by the trump administration to the stories you don't see on the news like China declaring war on the US, North Korea firing off another missile, but slighting falling short in Japan waters, and even the “Slaughterhouse” prison in Syria. I’ve realized just how obviously corrupt and racist everything is.

Of course things are obvious when the outside is looking in, but when you are the “in” factor it becomes a whole different story. I have a tendency to break down the different ways a  person responds like facial expression, tone, and the wording and watching how people who are suppose to be protecting us is only looking out for themselves. How everything they do is systematically built to destroy what has been made, so people can learn to come together. People who believe in what the Trump administration baffle me. I can get behind certain ideas like concentrating on fixing our country before trying to fix others, but when you target a specific religion or race, or pull out of agreements that have existed for the betterment of our economy is where I draw the line.

Trump pulled out of NAFTA, working on getting out of the U.N, he’s trying to reduce the endangered species list, so they can expand business, he has incited hate toward people of color, net neutrality is in danger. It hasn't even, been a month since he was in office and the world is already turning into civilization that is only meant to cater to the rich, screw the middle class, and keep the poor in check. Did you know Arizona ran a $1.7 million drug test on welfare recipients and only got one person. ONE PERSON. Things like Flint, Michigan are still happening where they have lead in their water supply. This has been an ongoing threat for over 3 years. Instead of fixing the problems at hand that are hurting American citizens, money grubbing business men decide its easier to ignore it and continue as if nothing is happening.

There isn’t enough things going for me to say that I like America. All I can do is make sure I survive in a word that is out to keep with my head down. Not only as a Black Man, but also as an American Citizen