Another Day, Another Microaggression

It was a normal Saturday: horrible weather combined with the typical stress versus relaxation warfare occurring in my brain. My life was finally turning for the better because all the stress from March was almost gone, and I survived an eight-day power outage (although this accomplishment would seem a little pretentious to people living in developing nations who lack electricity, clean drinking water, and other common luxuries I take advantage of). Today was the day to celebrate my birthday, which was actually on March 12th but I had too much going on that weekend.

Fast forward to going inside the restaurant, and my family and I are about to face an experience already commonplace for us. As we opened the door, the waitress’s face immediately changed from one that was warm and friendly to one that was cold. We stood there for a few seconds before she decided to acknowledge our presence and ask grumpily, “how many?” We replied accordingly to which she simply rolled her eyes and grabbed the menus. She eventually led us to this booth that was extremely gross—not only was it very dimly lit, but it also had visible crumbs all over it. We immediately asked if we could go to another booth, preferably one by the windows. This infuriated the waitress who spoke into her microphone to another waitress saying loudly, “they want to sit at a table near a window… do we even have any available?” Eventually she led us to a new table and left the three menus there and quickly left.

At first I did not think much about it. What if the waitress was just having a bad day? We all have those days where we do not feel like doing anything. However, this was not the case. My mom was the first to notice. When greeting a white family, she obliged to their every request. She did not even offer the horrible table to them. When we paid the bill and left, an African-American family was just getting seated in which they were offered the deplorable table that we were offered before. It is as if they reserved that set area just to torment anyone of a different race.

This microaggression we faced is only one of many we have faced in our lives. As Dr. Sue said, “microaggressions for people of color are constant, continual, and cumulative. They occur to people of color from the moment of birth to when they die.” The ones that have occurred to me the most are: where are you actually from? Where are you from from? So if you’re Asian, you’re supposed to be good at math right? Why can’t you solve this math problem, you’re Asian? However, there is some sense of hope. These microaggressions are definitely less frequent today than when my parents first came to America. It is a continuous process to change people’s perception to solve these racial issues.

The Ultimate Paradox

Sorry for being political again, but the essence of Environmental Science is its interdisciplinary nature. You cannot just focus on the science; you have to encompass social, economic, political, scientific, etc. aspects. According to Trump’s new Office of Management and Budget proposal, the government plans to cut the Environmental Protection Agency’s budget by more than 25%. Although this could lead to an increase in economic growth, but in the long term, no growth can occur without a sustainable environment. It is the ultimate paradox. The public is blindly focusing on the economic success and not enough on the environment—the ultimate basis of all organisms living on Earth.

“The concept of global warming was created by and for the Chinese in order to make U.S. manufacturing non-competitive”

This type of mentality only serves to belittle years of scientific evidence of global warming. Environmentalists’ “beliefs are opinions only” (Williams 936). Although Trump is right in that Chinese has higher emission levels, he fails to notice the extended efforts to decrease emissions. In reality, China is leading in alternative energy to provide sustainable energy without environmental damage. The Three Gorges Dam, for example, generates massive quantities of hydroelectric power. However, more research needs to be done because the original construction of the dam displaced many people and killed many animals, decreasing biodiversity.

Three Gorges Dam in China

The world needs to lose its obsession of looking solely in the short term. Sure “financial loss is a serious matter,” but a destroyed environmental will lead to the inevitable “financial loss” (Williams 936). Plus, everyone at Troy High School should take AP Environmental Science with Mr. Zynda because its an amazing class!

There Is No Unmarked Person

The Black Swan: a psychological thriller-horror film in which Natalie Portman transforms into the innocent, professional ballerina Nina. Throughout the movie, Nina goes through a metamorphosis from fragile to “damaged” to achieve the perfection—the black swan—that she desires so much, leading to her imminent death. On both sides, the white and black swan, Nina becomes marked.

The white swan represents the innocence and perfection that Nina already holds. Up until now, she has never experienced the “adult” things—lust, lying, and addiction—that are supposed to bring out the opposite nature that she holds. The pink room and her name serve to trap her into the grip of her scrupulous mother, bent on coddling her through adulthood while also restraining her from growing up because of her jealousy of seeing Nina become the professional ballerina that she never was. Thomas, the director, constantly criticizes her need to follow everything exactly and never letting go. As with all children, Nina is marked by her innocence; she is seen as babyish and neurotic. This torment forces all children to grow up and transform into a damaged version of themselves to achieve the carefree, effortless, and imprecise personality.

The black swan represents the greed, thievery, resentment, blame, and vengeance that comes with growing up and facing the evils of reality. Nina subjects herself to having sex, lying to her mother, and taking ecstasy to succumb to the black swan that she desperately wishes to become. It is in the final scene where Nina allows her inner darkness to shine by stabbing Lily, the backup dancer that has already achieved the black swan. However, in reality, Nina only stabbed herself which metaphorically allowed her to shed the outer perfection and engulf herself with evil. Despite achieving this status, Nina has inadvertently marked herself. Beth, the dying swan who was replaced by Nina for the role of the swan queen, represents the tarnished nature of growing up. Even though Beth has subjected herself to the horrors of the world, she is rejected by Thomas because of her old age and corruption. Becoming the black swan means marking oneself as dirty and corrupted—addicted to sex, drugs, and loose morals.

Similarly, children who subject themselves to this cycle of abuse are marked by society as deplorable; they become rejected by everyone, which leads to internal torment. Even without growing up to the extreme parts of society, children mark themselves in that they should be more responsible and a role model for other younger children. This unachievable balance between the white and black swan leads people, especially Nina, to internal torment and self-harm. The innocence that society values yet despises and the corruption and growth that society values yet despises creates no alternatives: “there is no unmarked [person]” (Tannen 556).

*Ms. Valentino: we should watch The Black Swan after the AP because there are so many symbols, motifs, and deeper meanings within the movie that we can discuss!