Hinojos 1

To be, or not to be, That is the real question,

Except for this situation, In this situation its more like What are you, and what do you want to be

A.K.a Stuff written By a Mestizo guy

Ray Hinojos per. 3A

Hinojos 2

Asian food: Is it all really the same?

When you hear the word food, what do you think of? Do you think of, maybe, something your mother cooked when you were young? Or maybe even anything on the Dollar Menu at McDonalds? Well no matter what you may think of when the thought of food hits your mind, chances are that when you think of Asian or Chinese food you probably place them all in one homogenous blend of plates and bowls of dishes you cant pronounce and that all seem comprised of the same noodles, sauce, and weirdly textured meat that you hope, but never really expect, to be chicken. And if you do, dont worry, youre not racist. However, you are following

stereotypes, and thats just as bad. But dont worry, Im not mad at you, because the reality is that almost all Asian food is the same, or at least similar. It just all depends on what region or culture the food is taken from. The Filipino eggroll, called lumpia, although it is just another eggroll, is in fact from a different region from the Chinese miniature chimichanga, and therefore bears some distinct

Hinojos 3 differences. For instance, if one is not familiar with the different types of Asian culture of even style of food, they probably wont even see the difference between a Filipino lumpia and a Vietnamese cha gio, or even the Chinese eggroll, for that matter. Only one out of three of them would be the real-deal lumpia, but the subtle differences between them might go unnoticed by the untrained taste bud. I dont only say this because I am a Filipino, but also because of the

distinct way the lumpia tastes, looks, and even smells. Its only once youve had a chance to taste the sweet delicacy that is a lumpia that you can truly appreciate the differences between it and its lookalikes from other nations. (Kind of like the first time you sip a real Pepsi after drinking

Stars and Stripes brand all your life.) Once youve had a taste of what lumpia really is, you can never go back to the kind of slightly chewy, slightly crunchy cha gio. Nor would you want to, once youve tasted that perfectly seasoned beef or turkey (or whatever type exotic meat you might like, no judgment here), perfect amount of vegetables, and delicious Thai sauce, you can never truly go back. My next and last example would be with the Filipino soup like dish adobo and the Vietnamese soup like dish pho. One of the main differences between the two is that with adobo, it is mainly comprised of just meat and a broth that is made of soy sauce, oil, vinegar, and various other spices, and is also known to be served with other condiments such as vegetables or rice. However, pho is typically just serve by itself and contains both noodles and vegetables and is served in a homemade broth that usually contains fish sauce, garlic, sugar, and other various

Hinojos 4 other spices (recipes for pho broth are different every here you go, and will most likely never be the same unless you make it yourself or go to a restaurant chain that specializes in pho). So next time when you go out to eat any kind of asian food just remember that not everything is the same as what it looks like. And if that doesnt help just remember this quote Dont judge a book by its cover, especially if that book is a food, and even more especially is

that food is Asian food. Word Count 593

Hinojos 5

Asians: We may look alike on the outside, but we are no where the same on the inside.

Asians, we may all know at least one of them, but do we really know at least one of them. What I mean by this is that even though we may all know at least or more Asians in our life, (whether friends or not), we may not really even know much about them or who they really are on the inside. Instead we just brand them as Asian for the rest of their life and assume that they are stereotypical. I, myself, a mexi-pino understand half-way what it feels like: the constant missnaming, every one thinking that I am smarter than them, almost always being shorter than most people that I know, every one thinking that I know karate or some other form of martial art, and especially being confused for another fellow Asian or being asked if Im related to Jackie Chan or Bruce Lee. Although I actually do fit most of those stereotypes, I am still constantly confused for multiple other races and ethnicities, such as being called just Mexican, or just Spaniard, and even sometimes being called Chinese, Japanese, or even Korean. It almost seems like if people are just purposely calling me everything except for what I actually am. However, my main point and purpose isnt to complain about the complications of being Asian, its about the amount of people who confuse Asians with other Asians and their cultures and why it is annoying to be called to be mistaken for another race or ethnicity, especially when your culture is so vastly different then other cultures.

Hinojos 6 One example of how the side of me, the Filipino side, is vastly different from any other Asian cultures is with our food. One of the ways to show how Filipino food is different from other Asian foods is with how it is prepared, for this example I will be using the typical Filipino style of cooking food called adobo (adobo is also the name of a Filipino cooking style, it is not only a name of a soup-like dish) and the Japanese cooking style stir fry. Adobo is a typical, simple, and commonly used form of Filipino cuisine that consist of cooking or frying either pork or chicken in (or with) vinegar, oil, garlic, or soy sauce, which also just so happens to make up a majority of Filipino cuisine. On the other hand, with stir fry, food is cooked using large spherical pans, called woks, over a blazing hot fire and is cooked using both chao and bao techniques. Already you can see some of the obvious differences and are probably begging to wonder how anyone can confuse the two. Another way to how the Filipino culture is different from any other Asian culture, in this case the Thai culture, is with fighting styles or their native martial arts. The Filipino martial known as Eskrima, is a form of knife-fighting/hand-to-hand combat and can also be used as self defense. Today it is commonly taught using bamboo sticks instead of large knives that look like machetes. And with the Thai fighting style Muay Thai, just as you guessed it, is vastly different from the Filipino martial art. In Muay Thai you only focused on hand-to-hand combat and defense but instead of using large knives to fight off foes you use your own hands, legs, knees, and elbows. As you can see the two are majorly different and both focus in different things, as with Muay Thai, it focuses on more of a offensive approach, and with Eskrima, it focuses more on a defensive approach and instead of only hand-to-hand combat it uses a stick or a knife to fend of yourself and occasionally uses your hands to disarm or defend.

Hinojos 7 Finally the last example that I have, and in my opinion the most important one, is with the roots of the Filipino culture, to me this is the most important one because it clearly shows the Filipino culture came to be and how it different it is from other Asian cultures. Believe it or not but the Philippines all started back in about 67,000 years ago but wasnt recorded as discovered until 1521. However once it was discovered in 1521 it was found to be already inhabited by tribes called the Aetas (A.K.A Negritos that were forced onto that land by neighboring countries), hence the usual Filipino complexion (no racial, sorry if that offended you somehow). The Philippines also got to where its at today because of generous help and trading between other neighboring countries such as Malaysia and Indonesia. Now as some people may or may not know, the Japanese culture use to pride itself in being different from all other Asian cultures such as the Chinese (or at least in the times when Bruce Lee was alive and still a movie star). However them saying that they are unlike any other Asian cultures is like saying that money doesnt buy everything, its just a big lie. In fact they are almost exactly like their neighboring countries that helped them, mainly because they are the ones who helped them become what they are, similar to the Philippines, despite the fact that the Japanese have always inhabited their land and that the early Filipinos, the Aetas, were forced there. In conclusion despite all of our differences we are still one big giant race of people, but that still doesnt mean that we are the same or that we dont have our own individual differences or similarities. However whether youre Filipino, Korean, Chinese, Japanese, or some other kind of Asian that I dont know about youre still an Asian and thats all that really matters, and no matter how many mistaken identities you have or get, just remember We may look alike on the outside, but we are no where the same on the inside.

Hinojos 8 Word Count 976

The Big Decision Decisions decisions where ever you in life there we always be decisions for you to make, whether for or maybe even if you have to make a decision for someone else, you still make decisions every day. Making decisions can be as simple as deciding whether or not to turn in your work on time, such as maybe turning in a late essay collection that your teacher has been bugging you about for the past week and a half, or it could be an even more serious decision like deciding whether or not to apply for a college scholarship after someone has told you that you may or may not end up going to college. Either way, those are just one of the many decisions that you may or may not have to answer or do in the future. One decision that I had to make (besides to two already listed above) involved a stranger on the bus (who in which Ive only met once and havent seen again since), an early morning sometime in august of 2012, obviously me, and an early morning bus route that leads to downtown Stockton.( Just so you have some insight of my usual early morning commute, in the mornings the bus drivers dont wait for anyone, the outside temperature feels like the inside freezer section of your local Costco or whatever food market or warehouse store you may have where youre from, and last but not least, the early morning busses are always filled with either business men or women who want to help save the world by taking the bus or who just cant

Hinojos 9 afford a car, or it is filled with the homeless who either want to go somewhere or just want some protection from the harsh freezing wasteland that is the outside). Usually when I ride the bus in the mornings I will leave at around 6:30 A.M, that way the bus is not to crowded and I can listen to my music in peace. However this morning was a little different than normal, the temperature outside was still freezing, I had already missed to first bus, which mean I had to wait about a full fifth teen to twenty minutes before the next bus to come in the cold, and when the bus did come it looked deserted and eerie. There was only one other person on the bus and you could tell it was one of his first times ever being in a bus because of how nervous he was just to be sitting down and him constantly looking over his shoulders, as if looking both ways before crossing the street. However besides the fact that he seemed to be scared of riding the bus, he still attempted to have a conversation with me even though I had my headphones in. It was kind of awkward at first but after he lost his nervousness and stopped being so timid he actually turned out to be moderately cool and was actually almost like me, ethnicity wise. During our brief conversation we established that both of us mestizos and were fairly whitewashed (no offense if it causes any), and on top of that we were both around the same age and listened to the same kind of music. The only thing that we couldnt see eye to eye on was with our amount of cultural integrity that we still had, with him he still very much loved his culture and tried to maintain it as much as possible although also admitting to be whitewashed he still enjoyed have his culture and even tried to get me to try and become more culturally integrated. And just as anyone would do in that situation, I lied straight through my teeth and said that I would try to be more cultural. However I just knew that in the back of my head that I wouldnt be able to live with the guilt of lying directly to someone that I just met, so I did the next best thing and halfway adopted a new culture, the kind of culture that is made up of nothing but other cultures, my American culture.

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Hinojos 11 Mexi-pinos: What exactly are we?

Mexi-pino, not exactly a word that you use or hear often, but when you hear it you should at least know what it is or what it means (I hope). Mexi-pinos dont always come up in the news, newspapers, T.V, or anywhere really. I guess were more of a quiet group/society that likes to keep to themselves or something like that. Either way I cant personally tell you anything truthful about the mexi-pino culture, except that mexi-pinos are an obscure group of people that probably like keeping to themselves. However besides that, Ive also have never met more than two or three people that are mexi-pino or that even act mexi-pino, and even if I did meet someone who is, acts, or even looks like a mexi-pino, I still probably wouldnt know or notice because, once again, Ive never met anyone else that is, acts, or even looks like a mexi-pino. So can I honestly tell you anything about how my culture has an effect on the world at large? Of course I can, why else would I be wring this, and why is would you be reading if not for the fact that you just want to so dearly know my opinion about my culture and what kind of an effect it has on the world today. Well today, the Philippine islands are an essential part of America and to the world, do its rich and abundant rice farms. And without them, America and its citterns would lose a part of their daily meal and a part of their daily diet, therefore resulting in massive hunger and most likely massive damage towards everything and everyone. However on the other side of the border and for the Mexican side of me, Mexico is a place in which it is known food its tequila, beer, and cheap labor force (that many in America choose to exploit today by using immigrant workers to do jobs that they are too lazy to do themselves).

Hinojos 12 And when you put all the things that we are known for separately together we get a culture that is known for being rice picking immigrant workers that know how to make good cheap alcohol, and I am just fine with that. I mean after all, it couldve gone a lot worse than that, and at least we still play a factor in what the world does today and even if its not that much its still better than nothing. So in the near future of the world, I would hope that the mexi-pino culture will get out and do more stuff for the world, whether bad or good (hopefully more on the good side, I was just joking about the bad side, please dont do that if you are reading this), just get out there and do more stuff for your community, and I dont know, maybe help more old people across a busy street and maybe one day they will be some kind of newspaper article writer, and bam just like that, the world will now have a more powerful and better outlook on us. However as for me, in order to keep myself and my culture from falling back down into the unknown zone that it was before, I will also start helping old people across the street and if that doesnt help then I guess I could always go back to writing completely biased essays about my culture in order to make myself and my culture, that may or may not exist, look good. Word Count 594