Week 7

            I personally really enjoyed reading the Ted Ngoy article. Aside from the interesting story of Ted’s life, I particularly like the whole idea Ted had about starting a business to help immigrants just like him. I was not aware that there were so many donuts shops owned by Cambodians and how they continue to lease their donut shops to help new immigrants to make money for themselves and to help others start up their own business. I think Ted was a genius for his ability to turn the donut into his million dollar fortunes. Due to the fact that family members operated the donuts shops and donuts were relatively easy to make, the donut shops became an affordable, popular and relatively simple outlet for the Cambodian Chinese immigrants. I think that Ted is an example of an immigrant defying the odds in America, where he was able to come here with little skill and education but still able to be successful financially.

            I think Jason has an interesting topic. I definitely learned several new things about the Chinese Cambodian experience, not only through the story of the donut shops, but also through the story of the Khmer Rouge and Ted personal conflicts and struggles as an immigrant. I think Jason really thought in depth about the reasons and understanding of Ted and other Donut shop experiences and it shows in the presentation of his information and analyses in the powerpoint.

            I think Christina, Mimi, and Tri-Thien’s reading was a great choice for them. They chose a piece that they were all able to understand as Vietnamese and Southeast Asian Americans. I can relate to the issues presented in the article as well because I come from an underprivileged community where the population consisted of approximately one-third Southeast Asians, one-third Blacks, and one-third Hispanics. I observed issues in high school like racial tensions and fights between these 3 prominent racial groups. Even though I personally was not involved in the tensions, I notice that many of the students experienced being picked on and bullied by students from the other groups. I see the lack of an inclusive community and that was what may have caused the many issues presented in the article. I feel like because the students could not find similarities between themselves and students of other races, they were not able to build a community where they could understand the experiences of each individual group. One question I would ask is, “what are some possible solutions to resolving these inter-conflicts and how can they be effectively implemented?”

--Boon Khang