Racism (an event)

Allow me to take this moment to release some thoughts. Something happened today that hadn't occur to me since elementary school.

I was driving on Babcock St, and was making a left turn onto Nasa Blvd when a dude in a car at the red light shouted at me:

"ASIAN FAGGOT!"

I didn't know how to react. I kept on driving, feeling peculiar. I haven't heard any racial slur directed towards me in a long time. Hearing them again brought back some familiar feelings from my childhood.

Though my family are from Taiwan and I was born in the U.S., I was raised in both countries. While I was living in Taiwan, my Chinese was poor and I had to catch up academically with my classmates. My classmates in Taiwan regarded me with suspicion and picked fights with me and taunted me a few times claiming that I was an American spy. Luckily those incidents were few, and I made a few friends during those two years.

When I returned to the U.S., my English was poor, hence I had to adapt again. First couple of years consisted of classmates chanting "Ching Ching Chong Chong!" and slanting their eyes with their index fingers and telling me to go back to China. But again, the tauntings were rare and pretty soon I made friends and my English improved.

Since then, no one has openly said anything to me regarding my ethnicity. I know that racism still exists but I look at the population around the world and saw the heterogeneity in all the people and felt that a case like today cannot be explained logically. Racism is just another manifestation of xenophobia...and no amount of public policies can change a person's view. They just prevent people from killing what they fear and getting away with murder.

It just so happens that I was driving my car today, which made my physical features visible to the public. I am beginning to appreciate the anonymity that my helmet provides when I ride my motorcycle. What happened to that man that made him say that statement? Was he venting? Was he having a bad day? Did he know someone who was asian and did something wrong to him? These are questions that will never be answered.

Have we, as human, improved after several thousand years of civilization? I really think improvement is hopeless for us, but it is a nice illusion. We strive to continue this illusion of progress, in hopes that someday it will become real. Plato observed this phenomenon over two thousand years ago, and to this day this observation still holds true.

Cape Canaveral

It was just one of those days. I had just turned 25. A lot of changes happened the last few weeks. I felt somewhat depressed, and then I looked outside saw that the weather was wonderful and realized that the perfect remedy for brooding is go out into the sun. I hadn't taken any pictures since I got back from Taiwan, so I decided to pack everything and head north to Cape Canaveral.

A Confession

I have been lying to some of you for a month now. I am no longer a panda on a scooter...I got a motorcycle in December 2006, a Suzuki Boulevard S40 650 cc engine. Basically, the motorcycle is the same as the Suzuki Savage, the style hasn't changed since 1980s. His name is Glenn, and he is a one cylinder, belt-driven, air-cooled bike that the Americans affectionately call a "thumper". A few people asked why I didn't get a bigger bike. I always thought, in amusement, that Glenn's engine size is actually bigger than the Norton that Ernesto Guevara rode on during his trip through the west part of Latin America. 650 cc? The possibilities are endless... ;)

Seagulls

The last time I went to Jetty Park was to watch the space shuttle Discovery launch from several miles away in the cool, brisk night. During the day, cruise ships go by, and seagulls hover the picnic areas for scraps of food. They can be quite vicious, fighting and chasing each other for a slice of cheese. However, all that is forgotten when one manages to capture an instance of their flight...

Pelicans

In stark contrast to the seagulls, the pelicans are much more cooperative and social creatures. Often I see them gliding together across the water, in packs of three to five birds. There were a few times when I thought the birds were going to crash into me. They were flying very close to the jetty, and I was awestruck as to how large these birds really are.

The Stork (aka The Alien)

While I was taking photos, this one stork stared at me intently for a long time. I wasn't sure if it was a bird or not...the head and the beak looked like part of a ceremonial headress. Nevertheless, it stared at me until several tourists chased it off. Very neat looking bird.