Farrago

Farrago Chinese food in

China and America Giving guitars to people in

other countries Culture in video games Game consoles

japan

vs.

america McDonalds

around the world

Food trucks across austin

America taking over the world

one culture at a time

Courtesy of Stephen Ritchie

6

food of two cultures American Chinese food has diverged from its roots over its long history,

22 18 14

america takes over America’s culture is spreading fast, localizing to other cultures.

culture in gaming Games are everywhere, and they are influencing how culture is seen.

instruments cross seas American music charities bring guitars to countries overseas and at home.

Taco ‘bout it

BY CADE FOSTER

Art by Cade Foster

trailer food fusion

Photos by Mingxuan Zhao

Taco trucks are spreading, and two trailers side by side can serve dishes worlds apart- or rather, continents apart. The variety of food in taco trucks and what a ‘taco’ is will continue to change as food trailers continue to spread.

Mellizoz Tacos Meillizoz brings a self proclaimed “family tradition” in tacos in classic taco truck style, but still manages a variety of choices. Pictured to the left is the “Slowrider,” a traditional braised beef and onion taco accompanied behind by the “Tempura Shrimp” containing slaw and fried shrimp. Both tacos represent a slight twist on taco classic taco truck cuisine.

Torchy’s Tacos Torchy’s brings an extensive reptoire of tacos, some classic like the simple “Beef Fajita” pictured front, others embracing the American idea of easy food: the “Trailer Park” taco consists of fried chicken with the option to be smothered in liquid queso. Their selection is portrayed in one of their slogans: “a taco for every appetite.”

4

SPRING 2015

2012 In 2006 there were 648 mobile food vendors in Travis county.

37 % 63 %

In 2012 the number had nearly doubled, accounting for 1,200 food trailers.

2006 Industry researcher IBISWorld that in 2011 mobile food venues comprised 37% of the $1.4 billion national street vending revenue, increasing 15% since 2006.

648

1200

Chi’lantro Chi’lantro serves tacos that are a blend of taco truck classics and Asian cuisine. This truck brings traditional Korean bulgogi beef and puts it in a taco with sesame seeds and soy vinaigrette salad, among other toppings. The truck also offers options of tofu and other Korean meats. Chi’lantro is also known for another fusion dish: kimchi fries.

The Peached Tortilla The Peached Tortilla also cooks “simple Southern comfort food with an Asian flare.” This Asian fusion truck brings dishes most people would expect in a bowl, “Bahn Mi” and “Pad Thai” , in a tortilla. This trailer bring uncommon ingredients and make a whole different type of taco.

SPRING 2015

5

THE FOOD O F H I S TO R Y the food of two cultures collide

By Mingxuan Zhao

N

owadays, any Chinese restaurant that you walk into will welcome you with the smell of sweet and sour stir fries and send you out with a couple fortune cookies. However, halfway around the world in the place where the food originated, many people would have no idea what you are eating. This strange new cuisine was brought by the fusion of the two cultures occurred due to the interactions between the cultures over the years. “Food is very important within a culture and reflects the history of its people,� said Chinese American Haiying Li. Li is an immigrant to the United States of 15 years from the city of Guang Zhou. With two children born and raised in America, she has seen the many differences in food first hand. With the influence from American culture, she believes that some of the impor-

6

SPRING 2015

By: Mingxuan Zhao

Panda Express, a classic example of Americanized Chinese cuisine. With many dishes including orange chicken and chow mein, Panda caters to the very diverse culture of Americans

tant history behind the food is lost. “Although adaptation is inevitable, the roots should still be preserved.”

Chinese food in has longstanding roots in America. During the Gold Rush of 1849, the cheap transportation and prospect of being rich created an influx of immigrants from the Pacific who brought their cultures with them. These immigrants came from many Asian countries across the Pacific bringing with them their food, language, art, and many other aspects of their culture. “These immigrants were poor and had no other choices left,” said Li, “They came with nothing but each other and the American Dream.”

However, theses early immigrants were not representative of all of China. Many came from the Canton region due to their proximity to open ports.

This early population set the stage for Chinese food

in America. “The food of the Canton region, chow mein, wonton soup and others, created the American view of Chinese food that is still rooted today,” said Qi Zhen, an immigrant from China and the owner of a Chinese restaurant in Austin called Szechuan River.

In 1882, a series of laws were passed in the United States making it illegal for many Chinese citizens from coming to the United States. Thus, for over a decade, Cantonese cuisine dominated the market of Chinese food. It was not until the 1960’s that a new wave of Chinese immigrants came to the United States, bringing new styles of cuisine.

The cuisine did not stay true to its roots for long, however. “Chinese food in the U.S. had to cater to American taste. Many dishes became saltier, sweeter, and emphasized meat.” says Li. Ameri-

SPRING 2015

7

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License courtest of Sebastian Mary, unedited

cans at the time wanted a cheap, fast food, requiring Chinese food to adapt into what it is today.

Modern day Chinese food is very different from its predecessors. Even the chefs train and cook in completely different styles. Diana Moncyo, an immigrant from Ecuador, currently works for Panda Express. She states “The only training that we had to receive were memorizing the recipes and learning to cut vegetables, everything we receive here is already prepared for us.”

At the Panda Express, she recieves shipments of marinated meats and sauces every day. In contrast, Zhen states “ In China every family makes their own food, cooks by themselves, so everyone just learns how to cook. You learn slowly, when you first start, you don’t really know, but when you have to cook three meals a day, you can catch on.”

These different styles of preparation and training produces products that are very different. “I feel that, in a way, it is a misrepresentation of the culture,” says Moncyo, “many cultural elements of the dish are lost.”

“It’s well known that Chinese food has a lot of “weird” stuff” says Li. Here in the United States many authentic Chinese foods are considered strange and exotic.

“However, it is important to understand the history of a country before judging its food. I believe that

Rice porridge, a classic dish consumed by many Chinese in America. It is generally consists of only rice, and not often consumed by Americans due to its pudding-like texture

and this is believed to be the cause of many of the stranger dishes. Li states, “During these times, food became scarce, and they had to eat anything they could find in order to survive, including the above

“With the modern technology that we have, people are exchanging cultures and information everyday” -Qi Zhen the core cause of the differences lay in the history of the food itself” says Li. Throughout history, China has had many famines and great wars,

8

SPRING 2015

mentioned “weird” food.” These foods were kept and adapted its way into the modern cuisine consumed by the Chinese even today.

“When I first came to America, many of my coworkers were disgusted with the food that I had, “said Li, “nowadays, my kids refuse to bring lunch because they are afraid of what their friends will say.”

The differences between cultures is a cause for conflict in the world.

Cultural diffusion is an ongoing process that continues to work today.

“With the modern technology that we have, people are exchanging cultures and information everyday,” says Zhen, “and in order to prevent conflict, it is best to understand the history of a people to understand their culture, and more importantly, their food.”

Around the world With McDonald’s McDonald’s sphere of influence encompasses the world. With over 33,000 restaurants spread over 118 countries world, it is not a surprise that many places have their own unique dishes to accommodate the local culture. Here are a few that we at Farrago found especially interesting.

By: Mingxuan Zhao

Filet o’ Shrimp

This new twist on the Filet o’ Fish is based in the country of Japan. The Filet o’ Shrimp has a patty made of fried shrimp, topped with lettuce and tomato sauce for a beautiful cross between seafood and a burger.

Photo courtesy of Refined Guy

Japan Rice Porridge

Malaysia

In the country of Malysia, Rice Porridge is a very popular dish. McDonald’s in Malaysia has it’s own variations of this common dish garnished with ginger, shallots, chilies and spring onions.

Photo courtesy of Refined Guy

10 SPRING 2015

Paneer Wrap Due to a large vegetarian influence in India, it is no suprise that there would be some of that emulated in the food.

This is a Paneer Wrap.

Instead of chicken, it has a piece of paneer inside, a very commonly used cheese in Indian dishes.

Photo courtesy of McDonalds India

Curry Bread Box Another familiar dish in India is curry, and McDonalds has its own twist on that. Placing some good old fashioned curry into a bread box, this unique dish gives us a flavorful twist on an old dish.

India

Photo courtesy of McDonalds Indiia

Pasta Bowl In the country of China, breakfast is a very important part of the day. Thus, many McDonalds in China offer a much more heartier meal for breakfast - a bowl of yummylooking pasta. Top it off with an egg and some sausage and you’ve got yourself a meal.

China

Photo courtesy of McDonalds Hong Kong

SPRING 2015 11

Japanese Pop VS. Korean Pop

By Mary Reyes J-pop and K-pop are the popular music types in Japan and Korea, respectively. The Kpop genere consits of electronic, hip hop, pop, rock and R&B. K-pop has also become a popular subcuture among teens and young adults resulting in widespread intrigue in the fashion of Korean idols. The J-pop genere is a diverse one, some bands have a cutsey tone while others have a more edgy tone, there is also R&B and funk involved. K-pop has grown more popular while J-pop has lost some of the popularity it once had, though they both have audiences around the world.

12

Spring 2015

There is little focus on eccentricity, more so on dance in their music videos.

K-Pop The boy band shown below is called Ininite it has been active since 2010 and continues to preform.

Many idols have dyed hair, but don’t often wear man wigs unlike many J-Pop idols.

A majority of K-Pop songs have one or mare English lines in the chorus or a other repeating moments. Although this does exist in J-Pop it is not as pronounced.

These training regiments are incredibly difficult and leave these idols-in-training sleep deprived and without any extra time. There is some controversy regarding these training programs the contracts have been compared to a slave contract.

By www.eatyourkimchi.com and Wikipedia.

Courtesy of Fanpop.com These idols have highly rigorous training programs for incoming artists. Training usually begins in high school and often lasts between two to seven years where idols are trained in song, dance and taught various languages in order to broaden the audience they appeal to.

This is a very popular J-pop idol whose stage name is Kyary Pamyu Pamyu

J-Pop There is a huge focus on eccentricity within the content of the music, but more so in the fashion and music videos. For instance this dress was made of chip bags.

These idols frequently dye their hair various colors.

Kyary Kyary Pamyu Pamyu, as shown here owns a multitude of wigs of various colors.

There is an emphasis on a scary yet also a cute fashion comparable a child.

The method of discovering artists in Japan is less rigorous than the Korean method and is similar to the American method of waiting for artists to present themselves.

Courtesy of Weirdestbandintheworld.com

Spring 2015

13

Photo by Cade Foster

STRINGS

ATTACHED

By Cade Foster

A

guitar rests in a box, postage stamps slapped across it. The guitar, along with twenty others, is taken from a warehouse, piled into a car, then shipped overseas. Eventually it arrives halfway around the world and finds the hands of child in Swaziland. Countless other guitars follow parallel paths, headed to others to bring music to their lives.

“Music and arts enhance the quality of life for all people and communities and are important to build the spirit and to connect people globally,” said Makila James, American Ambassador to Swaziland. James helped work to handoff the guitars to Swazi children with a charity centered around music, Guitars for Swaziland. Music charities like Guitars for Swaziland operate on the idea

that music is deeply rooted into the culture and community wherever it is present, and can improve people’s happiness and well-being. These charities have touched countless people’s lives and will improve quality of life with new and continuing projects.

Austin musician Stephen Doster founded Guitars for Swaziland after visiting Swaziland in 2012. In 2013, the Fender Music Foundation backed Guitars for Swaziland, providing twenty Fender guitars to give to orphans.

The guitars reached the children later that year. “[I] was inspired by [Mr. Doster’s] generosity to provide this much needed assistance to bring music education to Swaziland,” James said.

The music education scene in Swaziland needed the support. In the United States, 91 percent of

SPRING 2015

15

schools provide music instruction.

However, in Swaziland, free public education exists only up to grade six and very few schools offer music education. All music education comes from local, independent sources. Several Swazi musicians have created music outlets and even schools for music, but compared to American standards, music exposure has limited presence.

Guitars for Swaziland’s projects exist to boost music exposure to help make up for limitations in Swaziland with extra resources. “We would be delighted to see more donations of guitars as well as other instruments and visiting musicians to teach classes and continue building a love for music and the arts generally,” James said.

Studies show music education also helps keep students on a productive academic track, one of the values the Fender Music Foundation addresses with its charitable work. “In schools, grades improve, attendance improves, they don’t become distracted by less desirable activities that are not good for society,” said Lynn Robison, the executive director of FMF. American influence of music doesn’t exclusively happen through outreach like Guitars for Swaziland, but naturally through the introduction of American genres of music.

Swazi artists emulate American Hip Hop styles and create lyrics in the local language, Siswati. “It is a testament to how music connects us all,” James said.

With such a connection and flow between cultures, music from American culture quickly stops being purely American. The work done by music charities promotes this cultural diffusion of music and the ability for anyone to express and share culture. “Music is a language that anybody can understand worldwide.

You don’t have to speak english to understand music.” said Nancy Coplin, an active member of many music oriented charities who also organizes music in commercial organizations. Coplin has immersed herself in music for most of her life. She is an active and influential member of

“MUSIC IS A LANGUAGE ANYONE CAN UNDERSTAND.” many Austin music charities such as Guitars for Swaziland, the Health Alliance for Austin Musicians, Housing Opportunities for Musicians and Entertainers (HOME), among others, and organizes live music in Austin as well as many other cities. She has held a variety of positions within various music oriented organizations such as Public Space Music, the Austin Music Commission, the Armadillo Christmas Bazaar, and many more.

“There’s so many things that music does in the community,” Coplin said.

Photos courtesy of the Public Affairs Section of the U.S. Embassy at Mbabane, Swaziland.

Students perform with instruments provided by Guitar For Swaziland.

16

SPRING 2015

Coplin retired recently from organizing live music for the AustinBergstrom International Airport, but continues her work to spread the prominence of live music in other locations. “I’m enjoying working with other airports, helping them set up music because I believe we should have music everywhere.”

Coplin said.

Much of the population of Austin watches live music, but as Austin’s demographic continues to change as one of the fastest growing cities in the nation, the music scene in Austin changes too. “A lot of the new people that are moving here don’t really like to go out and hear music, but there’s this core group of people that do, so I guess that as long as the music is here we’ll all go out and hear it because it’s good stuff,” Coplin said. As the cultural makeup of Austin changes, the expression of music changes as well. It’s evolving music scene reflects its people in the same way Swaziland’s music, halfway around the world, is influenced by local culture.

“Music changed my life for the better. It gives me an opportunity to expand my thought process. It brings me joy.” said Coplin. This joy is the very reason music works in a charitable context. The Fender Music Foundation charity funds music projects to promote mental wellbeing and even treatment for mental health. “There’s numerous cases where the holistic healing value of making music and learning to play an instrument can really benefit people, people with autism, people with physical limitations, their self-esteem, it’s good for veterans, PTSD.” said Robison.

Robison recounted the story of a patient in a hospital in Maine who had suffered a stroke that caused global aphasia. He had relatively minor physical limitations: he could move his arms and legs, but he no longer could speak. He went through unsuccessful therapy. Depression set in and he had no progress regaining his ability to speak. He finally got across to

Photo courtesy of the Public Affairs Section of the U.S. Embassy at Mbabane, Swaziland.

In November 2013, students and governement officials gathered at the handoff of guitairs from Guitars For Swaziland.

his therapist that he played guitar.

She happened to have one so she loaned it to him and immediately his attitude changed. “He became a different person when he was playing the guitar. Over the course of a few months, he couldn’t speak yet but he sang the nurse’s name,” Robison said. The hospital reassigned the nurse to another patient and she took her guitar with her. The patient regressed and became depressed again, and so one of the other nurses reached out to the Fender Music Foundation and asked if there was anything they could do. FMF sent him a guitar and everything that he needed for it. Over the course of the next several months was able to sing all 32 nurse’s names and progress to the point where he could not just sing but speak and structure sentences again.

Another treatment provided

by FMF was for a veteran suffering from PTSD who had undergone many surgeries and was on 18 different medications. “They basically were drugging him so he could tolerate the mental state he was in and the physical state that he was in,”

Robison said. After getting access to a guitar, the veteran was able to stop taking 15 of those medications and improved radically in his ability to function. The veteran went on to work with Wounded Warriors, wsic Foundation collaborates with.

“There’s just countless examples of the benefits that music education and music therapy can have and healing human beings, so I think it’s on par with the medical side in many respects.” Robison said.

Music doesn’t just have the potential to benefit the recipients of charitable action. People involved and working in charities recount a sense of well being created by helping others and being influenced by the music within their work. “ [The Fender Music Foundation] has brought so much joy to the world and done so much in the way of healing to people in society or people with medical issues, it’s a great feeling. It’s a great feeling to be part of the industry.” Robison said.

Robison estimates that FMF only gets to support about five percent of the charitable programs it wants to. The charity continues to

grow and look for new ways to help more people. “It ultimately means that we’re going to generate the resources that we need to do a lot more work, so there’s tremendous potential for growth, which is an exciting thing to be a part of,” Robison said. With a variety of charities existing for music development not only through instrument donations but also providing services for musicians, there are infinite ways for people to support and spread music.

Music charities like Guitars for Swaziland, Fender Music Foundation, and countless others continue to use music to improve people’s lives. With growing support and volunteers, future projects will reach even more individuals, communities, and cultures. “Music feeds our soul so we can become complete human beings and contribute to our families and communities in every way,” James said.

SPRING 2015

17

Cultural Representation in Video Games

By Andrew Straus

By Andrew Straus

I

n the game “Assassin’s Creed 3,” a game based in colonial America, there exists a village of native Americans based on the real world Kahnawake tribe. The team behind the game, Ubisoft, used consultants from the Ganienkeh tribe, a group who broke off from the Kahnawake in 1974. In this article, we will discuss how these decisions may or may not affect the game, and what accuracy means when discussing games.

“People tend to talk about games as though they are inherently different from all other media.” said Adrienne Shaw, an Assistant Professor in Temple University’s Department of Media Studies and Production. She thinks that video games have as much cultural influence as any other media. Many people think that as the media continues to grow we must ask ourselves, what should representation in video games become.

When a game depicts a culture in a certain way, whether that

18

Spring 2015

may be accurate or inaccurate, that’s called cultural representation.

“I think [culture in video games] should be true to life. I don’t think people should put on silly accents and [make] fun of the culture. I think it should be people that are from

“players are feeling empowered to demand more from games.”

-Adrienne Shaw

the culture talking about how great it is and what it means to them.” said Maris Alford, a student at the Liberal Arts and Science Academy in Austin,

Texas, who has an interest in games.

She would like culture in all media, including games, to reflect the way that the people of that culture would want others to see their culture.

“I think that at least in the U.S., we have been taught to be dismissive of games. Often using that as an excuse to not deal with representation in games.” said Adrienne Shaw, an Assistant Professor in Temple University’s Department of Media Studies and Production.

Shaw feels that videogames are very good at showing how representation matters in any media.

Another recurring issue is the absence of many cultures and ethnicities in video games as a media. “There is little to no representation of the global south as anything more than a setting in the majority of games for example. Fantasy represented in games tends to draw on European myth cultures.” Shaw stresses that more diversity in characters and settings would create

a better form of representation in games. “The more diversity of a variety of ways of being in the world are represented in our media, the less any one particular character in media bears for representing an entire group.”

In many games, the game often generalizes different of cultures and ethnicities. “What happens in a lot of games, like arcade games, there are caricatures of Indian people and Middle Eastern people, where there are stereotypes of them as terrorists or Jihadists.” explained Finn Uyeki, another student of the Liberal Arts and Science Academy, and a player of video games. He stressed the point that often it isn’t the game designers and publishers intent to portray the characters this way, but actually “the developers [probably] grew up with those stereotypes and they are just passing them on in this game.”

For some developers it is important to represent the culture they come from, shaping the culture in a way that they find is accurate. “They probably [want] to make

By Andrew Straus Maris Alford plays on a Nintendo 3DS during her lunch at school. She and her friends often play games when they have free time.

a game that people could enjoy, but still [educate about the culture] so less people will stereotype [the culture],” said Maris. Shaw said that she thought that , “[representations]

By Andrew Straus

should not look like target marketing. I think there simply need to be more stories told that take into account the variety of ways humans experience the world. I think the medium and the industry will be better for that.”

Adrienne Shaw stresses, “[she] think[s] ‘accuracy’ is a problematic question. As soon as we talk about accuracy, or realism, we assume that there is one way a particular group of people experiences the world.” Adrienne Shaw believes that talking about media that offer more or less depth in their representation of particular groups better.

Adrienne Shaw said when asked what cultural representation should look like. As the video game industry evolves, people like Adrienne think that the way that games and other media represent other cultures should evolve as well, to fit the changing environment.

Students playing video games on the computer durring a break. These students are playing games made by many different developers all from different backgrounds.

Spring 2015

19

Console competition: Japan vs. usa Story and Art

by Andrew Straus

Video game consoles have become a very large part of the industry. In America, the two main contenders for supremacy comes between the PLAYSTATION 4 and the XBOX ONE, but in Japan, the numbers are very different.

Japan Sales: 1.27 million units

PS4 America Sales: 8.22 million units

Japan Sales: 0.05 million units

XBOX ONE America Sales: 7.44 million units

Japan Sales: 2.25 million units

Wii U America Sales: 4.38 million units

20

Spring 2015

“If Japan is given a choice between PS4 and Xbox One, they’ll choose Sony nearly every single time.”

-Paul Tassi Forbes Magazine

XBOX, PLAYSTATION, and Wii U Sales in America In America the numbers are a bit more even compared to Japan’s sales. The XBOX ONE does a lot better, with numbers that rival that of XBOX ONE Sales : 7.44 PS4 Sales : 8.22 the PS4. The Wii U does marginally worse in the America, with Nintendo having selling about 25% of the total consoles in the U.S. Forbes thinks that the Wii U’s poor sales could be attributed to the lack of hardcore titles on the system.

Wii U Sales : 4.38

XBOX, PLAYSTATION, and Wii U Sales in Japan XBOX ONE Sales : 0.05

PS4 Sales : 1.27

Wii U Sales : 2.25

PS4 Sales

Wii U Sales

PS4 Sales

Wii U Sales

XBOX ONE Sales

In Japan, Microsoft, which has the second highest console sales in the America, sells a very small fraction of the total console sales. Both Nintendo and Sony are Japanese companies, possibly explaining the lacking sales of the XBOX ONE, wan American console. While the Wii U may be in last place in the American console race, it accounts for nearly 2/3 of the total Japanese console sales.

meta-chart.com

XBOX ONE Sales meta-chart.com

Spring 2015

21

Cultural Imperialism OF America America is growing fast and it’s becoming a major player in cultures around the world

By Mary Reyes

22

Spring 2015

A

merican culture has gained a new view, “[America is like] a little kid, who’s trying to help their mom, and they think that they’re helping, and they really honestly do think that they’re helping, but they’re actually just creating more problems than they are helping.” Said Sarah Bowen, a high-school student in Austin, Texas currently learning about various cultures and their influences in her world geography class.

American cultural imperialism is the imposition of a foreign viewpoint or civilization on a people. Though the US is still a fairly young nation, as Bowen said “...it seems to be the most prevalent culture you see, the modern U.S. culture.” What was once a colony of Great Britain has industries in other continents dedicated to American cowboy novels, or fashion fads in Japan in which women artificially tan themselves to look like black women.

The U.S. first showed itself on the global stage when it began to portray itself as, “[A country that is] beneficent, a kind of manifest destiny a topic of uplift and humanitarian aid.” Said Janet M, Davis an associate professor at the University of Texas at Austin of American studies, history, and Women’s and Gender Studies. This view of the U.S. as being beneficent and a place of humanitarianism began after World wWar 1 and the efforts to bring aid to other countries that ensued, Davis said. Herbert Hoover the 31st president of the U.S. and the president of the American Relief Administration organized various humanitarian aid efforts to help people of other countries.

These efforts centered around feeding

those in Europe. Then the U.S. became involved in various wars, such as the Spanish-American or the PhilippineAmerican and even World War II, “A lot of nations viewed our activities as aggressive and kind of land grabbing and militaristic these events were portrayed

by American leaders who in general were uplifting the world.” Davis said.

This idea of the U.S. being beneficent grew into something that many people believed, “The World War II generation have this kind of recollection of the United States in the this was, and not everyone does of course there were people who thought of it as strategic primarily and invested in maintaining America’s power on the world stage,” Davis said.

“But the humanitarian aids of this program with generations older, now dying generations of western Europeans really took that to heart as well” The abundant natural resources helped to boost the American economy which aided its ability to present itself on the world stage.

Concerning the business aspect to the U.S.’s importance in the world, according to a list published on www. forbes.com titled The World’s biggest Public Companies, with values calculated May 2014, among the top 100 biggest companies 37 of those are from the U.S. In the artistic and entertainment areas of American imperialism, specifically, exists an entire industry dedicated to American cowboys in other countries in literature. Within Germany, Italy and other parts of Europe is a kind of popular mythology of American cowboys, as Davis said. “We have fighting native Americans on the frontier just a mythology of the American landscape and

Spring 2015

23

openness” Davis said. In Japanese fashion there is a fad in which people tan their skin to what resembles that of a black woman. Or, also in Japan, the popularity of KFC during Christmas time. There are lifesized Colonel Sanders statues wearing red and white and santa hats.

Looking into individual’s opinions on American imperialism, Zan Aslam, a 13 year old male living in Pakistan after having had spent some time living in America through middle school thinks about American culture and to what extent it affects him said, “I honestly go

both ways with the U.S putting its culture into Pakistan because the American companies which are the “new” thing raise a lot of taxes for the government and the Pakistani culture is usually only affected by the clothes and the “cool” places to eat but I don’t think it affects Pakistanis too negatively aside from it raising competition for the local businesses.” While from the perspective of Sarah Bowen, the American freshman named previously, “The U.S. just needs to learn how to leave things alone. Like everything you know has basically been

like in some way has had American influence. Like I said with the wars earlier, the U.S. is dominating, the U.S. isn’t a very old country, they’re one of the youngest countries out there” Bowen said, “They kinda just come in and it’s just automatically their business, even though it has nothing to do with them.”

This all comes back to the negative and positive aspects of the U.S. and its culture in other countries. In which case, there are arguments for both points of view, the following speaking of the positive aspect of this, “On the one hand infrastructur-

Coutesy of Edward Linley Sambourne This illustration is used to show the vast areas that the US has begun to cover since colonization.

al development, then its a good thing in terms of sanitation, and transportation, kind of building blocks to building societies especially to those that were devastated by war,” Davis said. “I mean those aspects of American kind of expansionism and their aid are incredibly, have been beneficial to the world.” Though, there is still some problems with this which are named in the following, “[The

24

Spring 2015

U.S.’s] view about the world which precluded allowing those nations to grow the way that they might be best situated for their particular cultural circumstances,” Davis said. “But instead imposing a kind of unilateral view of economic and cultural development and that, unfortunately has lead to a lot of disorder overall.”

The U.S. has become a world power over its relatively short life,

in comparison with other countries. As Aslam said, “The US is like a rose, it’s beautiful and liked by most people who visit but under the soft petals lie some thorns that you couldn’t see from the top.”

TH

LY

THE O ONE N E

Austin, Texas

JA

GU

AR B

D N A

The LBJ Jaguar Band is rich in tradition and highly respected as one of the finest bands in Texas! We are a multi-faceted organization, boasting a superb marching band, three exciting concert bands, two incredible jazz bands, a dynamic colorguard/winterguard, and a precision-driven percussion group. The band is made up of students from both LBJ and LASA high schools. This proud program has represented Texas in places as far away as New York City, Hawaii, London, Paris, and Beijing, and has won top festival awards in 6 different states.

We Are...

Andrew Straus,

Cade Foster, 15, is an amateur musician and spends his time playing basketball, tennis, and whatever else he can find to occupy his time. If he could have anything in the world, he might waste his wish on a few extra hours of sleep. His ideal pet would be a dragon, but his yellow lab is pretty great. He thinks the macarena is heavily overhyped, just like birthday cake frosting. When he’s not busy, you can find him playing with his dog or walking his brother.

16, is a novice animator and the creator of video games such as, Blue Hedgehog Run Real Fast. Andrew enjoys drawing cats, playing video games, and hanging out with friends. During the weekends you can find Andrew at home, either working hard on homework or just hanging out. Andrew’s favorite drink is a nice cup of hot tea, maybe with some lemon and a little bit of honey.

Andrew has one cat named Jasmin, and a dog named Heidi.

Ming Zhao, 15, is a fantastic Chinese American that has played piano for nearly ten years and enjoys food. He doesn’t do very many interesting things with his life, so to be completely honest there’s not much to say. He tends to spend his time eating as much food as he can in preparation of winter.

Sometimes, when he has nothing but his homework to do, he turns to the internet and catches up on T.V. shows that he has not watched since last season.

Spring 2015

26

Mary Reyes, 14, participates in color and winter guard throughout the year. In her free time she like to play guitar, read and waste time on Tumblr. She is also highly invested in art, she enjoys drawing portraits in pencil or pastel and simply doodling. She thoroughly appreciates the popular dance, the Macarena. At super fun dance parties you may find her dancing the Macarena exclusively despite the plethora of highly intricate and laborious dance moves she is entirely capable of performing.

Letter From The Editor

W

e here at the Kitchen Sink created this magazine in order to express our interests as part of a school assignment at the Liberal Arts and Science Academy.

When reading through our magazine please keep in mind that we are merely high school freshmen. We came together with the idea of writing about the many unique cultures in our great city of Austin and the vibrant cultures that keep us weird. All of the writers here grew up in Austin and each of us have our own unique interests in aspects of cultural diffusion. We hope that through this magazine, we are able to open your eyes and help you appreciate the diversity of the world that we live in today. Our stories range from histories of foreign foods to reviews of food trucks in Austin. We hope to in some way better your life and would be happy to receive any donations for our hard work. Just kidding. Don’t actually try to donate ‘cause I don’t even think that’s legal. But if it is you totally should.

Mingxuan Zhao

SPRING 2015 27