Being Asian-American Research Paper
Angela Laocharoen
Dr. Laura Howard
ENGL 1101
January 25th, 2017
Growing up as a child of immigrants, I felt trapped between two worlds. I was often referred to as a ‘Twinkie’ (yellow on the outside and white on the inside). It never really bothered me up until recent, and I’ll tell you why. Being Asian-American had always been a confusing part of me. I was born on American soil, but raised in a strict Thai household. I’ve always been proud of my heritage, but I had a hard time feeling as if I belonged somewhere.
The earlier years of my life, I basically lived colorblind. I’ve always known that I was Thai, but that meant very little to me. Our weekly trips to the Asian market on Buford Highway (or as my brother would call it, ‘Brown Town’ because of the mixture of primarily Oriental and Hispanic establishments), the Buddhist temple, and our fluency in the Thai language have never influenced my way of thought. I had never fully realized my rich heritage which made me unique in my own way, but I would learn much later on in life. It began when I was in the 3rd grade, I was put in the ESL (English as a Second Language) class at …show more content…
Thailand was a new place where everyone actually ‘looked like me’, but even there they did not accept me as fully Thai. They could tell I wasn’t local just by looking at me. Even my extended relatives joked about my American accent or lack of cultural respect. I’m Thai, but I’m not. I felt so lost in my own skin. So for a brief time in middle school I worked hard (and maybe even a little TOO hard) to embrace my full on “Asian-ness”. I hung out with mostly Asian friends, watched anime, threw up peace signs in all my photos, and the stereotypical list goes on. That quickly ended when I realized the façade of it all. I felt like I was playing a role of someone else, it wasn’t me. Ethnically I’m Asian, but culturally I’m not….
Dr. Laura Howard
ENGL 1101
January 25th, 2017
Growing up as a child of immigrants, I felt trapped between two worlds. I was often referred to as a ‘Twinkie’ (yellow on the outside and white on the inside). It never really bothered me up until recent, and I’ll tell you why. Being Asian-American had always been a confusing part of me. I was born on American soil, but raised in a strict Thai household. I’ve always been proud of my heritage, but I had a hard time feeling as if I belonged somewhere.
The earlier years of my life, I basically lived colorblind. I’ve always known that I was Thai, but that meant very little to me. Our weekly trips to the Asian market on Buford Highway (or as my brother would call it, ‘Brown Town’ because of the mixture of primarily Oriental and Hispanic establishments), the Buddhist temple, and our fluency in the Thai language have never influenced my way of thought. I had never fully realized my rich heritage which made me unique in my own way, but I would learn much later on in life. It began when I was in the 3rd grade, I was put in the ESL (English as a Second Language) class at …show more content…
Thailand was a new place where everyone actually ‘looked like me’, but even there they did not accept me as fully Thai. They could tell I wasn’t local just by looking at me. Even my extended relatives joked about my American accent or lack of cultural respect. I’m Thai, but I’m not. I felt so lost in my own skin. So for a brief time in middle school I worked hard (and maybe even a little TOO hard) to embrace my full on “Asian-ness”. I hung out with mostly Asian friends, watched anime, threw up peace signs in all my photos, and the stereotypical list goes on. That quickly ended when I realized the façade of it all. I felt like I was playing a role of someone else, it wasn’t me. Ethnically I’m Asian, but culturally I’m not….