And so, considering just how awesome an experience it was for me, I thought I would devote a post to touch on how to get on the right track towards study abroad. Study abroad is like that iceberg meme—much focus is placed on when you get there; but this long-anticipated moment is the result of a LOT of hard work. So I thought I would bring up a few points to keep in mind, if you are thinking about starting or have already started the process to study abroad, first study your options of places and languages, for example studying in israel in english is a possibility and one of a great options.

1) Do a little ~Introspection~

A vital question to ask yourself is “why do I want to study abroad?” It’s one of those sentences that your mind automatically answers with “Uh, because I want to?” while glossing over study abroad pamphlets. But it is a serious and valid question that must be addressed before even choosing your program. It can validate, critique, or instigate your plans. Why are you studying abroad? And why this country or program? Is it just because your friends did and you want to follow suit? Do you want experience, or a chance to step out of your comfort zone? Do you see it as a challenge, or a way to discover yourself? As for me, I wanted to study and experience a culture and people that have been a large part of my life and my identity as a biracial person, and to pursue academic areas (such as linguistics and translation) that are part of my career goals, and to study abroad is the best decision you can make,  to study abroad, first study your options of places and languages, for example studying in israel in english is a possibility and one of a great options.. And believe me, this introspection is going to do wonders when you’re doing applications and statements of purpose (just saying).

2) Money Money Money

A more logistical concern surrounds finance. You really want to go abroad, but then you see a cost sheet for your program, or remember your tight financial situation. The thing to remember, however, is that there are always opportunities to help finance your experience, but this also requires the initiative to seek them out and pursue them. A lot of the scholarships and grants that you will find may give you the “There’s no way I’ll be able to get that” mental flinch. But go for them anyway. I applied for the Benjamin Gilman scholarship—applying to a big program like this was a first for me—because there was an opportunity staring at me in the face (and people had recommended it), that I had to take a shot at. And I got it. That, together with other scholarships from my university, made my experience possible.

3) Tick-Tock Goes the Clock

DON’T PROCRASTINATE. Says I, someone so articulate in procrastination that I should have a professional degree in it. But the fact remains that you’re dealing with deadlines that will usually be as hard as the sidewalks you walk on. You are working with (and hope to actually be with) institutions that are working with who-knows-how-many prospective applicants. You will also be working with two different governments (again, depending on your program) to get visas, passports, airplane tickets; and this is not including potential duties that may need to be done abroad (I had to deal with tonnnnns of paperwork in Japan too).

It may help to think of this article as a memoir of things I needed to remember when I was preparing to study abroad, during which I learned important lessons about time management, responsibility, and a bold use of opportunities.

The post Matcha, Manga, and Mayonnaise: Study Abroad appeared first on KRUI Radio.

It is not accomplished by smiling, or shaking hands, or saying “cannot” instead of “can’t,” like the breezy way we accomplish politeness in America. Instead, daily interactions at your house, during commute, in stores, in restaurants, and everywhere else are steeped (or at least are supposed to be) in formality, politeness, and pleasantness.

The most notorious example of politeness in Japan is its linguistic manifestation—honorifics. Loosely referred to as keigo, honorifics are a type of special grammar used when talking to anyone other than your equals. By equals, I mean people your own age, most family members, extremely close friends, or whomever you have agreed to not use honorifics with.

Otherwise, use keigo—to strangers, senior coworkers or classmates, and anybody older than you, even by a year.

Think this is complicated? Keigo itself is divided into three main types, or functions—sonkeigo, kensongo, and teineigo.

The first, sonkeigo, is used when talking or addressing someone “superior” to you. The word itself implies a verbally expressed reverence. When referring to yourself, you are supposed to use kensongo, “humble” language, the use of which elevates the addressee by lowering yourself.

Think of it as the teeter-totter of politeness. Teineigo, on the other hand, is a sweet middle, which does not change the stance of either speaker.

The information just relayed to you is akin to the statement that a car needs an engine, oil, and gas in order to run. In the event that you want to read further about honorifics, go here.

Politeness goes beyond honorifics and emerges elsewhere in daily social interactions. To give (a perhaps slightly ideal) example: go to your nearest convenience store and buy a pack of gum.

As you set your pack of gum on the cashier counter, you might notice how the clerk uses their hands—fingers stuck together, wrist bending at a delicate angle. You might also notice how they bow at least three times during the transaction—once when you first get there, once when

you pay them, once again when they give you your change, and then a final time when you pick up your pack of gum and leave.

If you buy five packs of gum, you might see how they take the handles of the plastic bag, twist them, and with both hands swing the handles around so that they are facing you, ready to be picked up. The scenarios of politeness are many.

A footprint of the strict social hierarchy active for centuries, politeness and honorifics seem to be a reminder of the tentative divide between personal spaces, a sense of reciprocal debt between parties.

And yet, when someone treats you with perfect politeness but looks like they couldn’t care less about your existence, you wonder, “What’s the point?” Perhaps because of instances like these, some have asked whether Japanese politeness is insincere.

Rather than hop towards a general conclusion like this, it might be more accurate to say that

because politeness is culturally essential, at moments like these, it seems to become a means and not an end, and the gap between word and action becomes that much more graphic.

Taking heed to the well-being and convenience of another member of society, as I have

noticed, is a mentality highly valued and cultivated in Japan, and politeness is an avenue towards this goal. But, as in any country, there are always exceptions to the rule.

And to label a country as insincerely polite flagrantly disregards the fact that a culture is still made up of individuals, people with a nationality in common but with individual beliefs, values, and quirks.

For further reading about the spirit behind politeness and its other manifestations, check out this article from the Japan Times.

The post Matcha, Manga, and Manners appeared first on KRUI Radio.

Home sweet home.

But what exactly do we think of when we say, “Home sweet home”? Do we think of the house we grew up in, our hometown, or our home state? Perhaps it depends on where we’re coming from, and how far we go.

This familiar phrase has an equivalent word in Japanese—the noun 故郷, “furusato.” As opposed to its English cousin, it’s not something you whisper to yourself as you get off at your home train station, or walk into your parents’ house. Instead, it’s an interpersonal communication thing—while I think it’s pretty rare for Americans to ask each other, “What’s home sweet home for you?” It is a more doable thing in Japan. “What do you call your furusato?” “Do you have a furusato?” “I’m going back to my furusato.” Though used like “home,” it comes with the strong nostalgia and sense of belonging in “home sweet home.”

“Furusato” is also a popular theme in Japanese literature, music, and poetry. A couple of my favorite short poems (called “tanka”) about this topic are written by the author and poet Tawara Machi, popular for her book Salad Anniversary.

It feels like collapsing an umbrella

As I change trains

And find myself at home (from Te no Hira no Taiyou)

We smile about nothing

Laugh about nothing

Nothing really matters

That’s why I love my home (from Salad Anniversary)
Particularly with the second poem, it’s because Tawara Machi uses “furusato” that you can quite freely surmise that the speaker is a loooong way from home—which does not come out as well in my (feeble) translation.

A staple in children’s songs is, appropriately named, “Furusato,” with these wistful lyrics:

“Chasing rabbits up that mountain

Fishing for little carp in that stream

Even now those dreams come back

About my home that I can’t forget

…

If my wishes could come true

I would be going home someday

Home is where the blue mountains are

Home is where the streams are clear”

The word “furusato” is not without a little controversy, however. There tends to be a strong association of a rural setting with the word, which some areas in Japan have used for commercialization. In northern Japan, for instance, you’ll see haphazard billboard signs advertising the area as someone’s “furusato,” also hoping to lead you towards some ma and pa merchandise in the souvenir shop below the signs.

Regardless, this popular image has led to some interesting studies—one survey asked native Tokyoites if they considered Tokyo to be their furusato. Nearly fifty percent said that they did not. This was in stark contrast to the answers from people coming out of Tokyo, approximately eighty percent of which answered that they did have a furusato. Of course, there are Tokyoites who will fiercely insist that there is no reason to not call Tokyo their furusato—however, the rurality of the word still remains.

Yet we’re also in a setting where it was common for country dwellers to leave their rural homes to find work in Tokyo, to the point where this emigration to Tokyo also has its own word—joukyou. In this almost three-hundred-year-long pursuit of economic promise in the capital, “furusato” has become smoked with these flavors of long-distance exile and nostalgia, together with a stalwart sense of identity and attachment to one’s homeland. This also seems to speak to the individuality of Japan’s different prefectures—there’s now even a Furusato Festival in Tokyo every year, where you can go and get the unique experience of what Japan’s different prefectures, or should we say furusato’s, can offer.

The post Matcha, Manga, and Mayonnaise: Coming Home in Japan appeared first on KRUI Radio.

In June, NPR released a list of the 150 best albums created by women. The list was compiled by around 50 women who either work for NPR or are otherwise involved in public radio. Just scrolling through the list it is easy to tell that there are albums from women of many different backgrounds, ethnicities, races and sexualities. Nearly every genre of music is represented as well. There is such a wide expanse of important music made by women that people have not heard of, that I have not heard of, that have had huge impacts on women’s rights. Even in little ways.

I will be picking one of these albums to review every other week. I don’t necessarily care what the ranking of each album is in terms of what is “better” or “worse” since it is so subjective. What matters more is that the album or artist was influential, that it empowered a woman enough that they decided it belonged on a list like this one. As long as the music is powerful to me or somebody else, I want to be writing about it.

The goal is to delve into each album and artist and answer several questions. Why is this album/artist important, historically or otherwise? What about this album/artist is important? Is the album/artist empowering? And lastly, how did this album make it on a list of the greatest 150 albums made my women?

I’ll be starting off with an artist that has changed a mass of Latinx people both in Latin America and in the United States. Selena’s album Amor Prohibido is placed at number 19 on NPR’s list.

She has been marked as the Queen of Tejano music or “Tejano Madonna” due to her overwhelming musical presence and fashion sense. Tejano music is defined as a style of folk or popular music with elements from Mexican-Spanish vocal traditions and Czech and German dance tunes and rhythms, while the term Tejano itself refers to a Mexican-American person residing in Southern Texas.

Selena released five albums in her lifetime, which ended tragically in 1995 when her agent fatally shot her. Her death shook the world and has been commonly compared to the deaths of John Lennon or Elvis Presley.

Over six hundred people attended her funeral while tens of thousands of people flocked to numerous vigils around the United States. She was only 23 years old when she was murdered.

Amor Prohibido is the second to last of her five completed albums and was released in 1994.

There are so many musical female icons that have taken a spotlight that Selena hasn’t been included in despite her tremendous influence such as Missy Elliott, Amy Winehouse, Madonna, Joni Mitchell, Billie Holliday.

When I quickly Google searched for the most influential female musicians of all time, Selena didn’t show up in any articles on the first page of search results. How is this possible when her confidence, vivaciousness, and spiritedness permeated an entire generation of Latinx people just like all of these other women have?

In fact, all Latinx women were generally absent from these lists, which is a primary example as to why the world needed Selena. (I mean, seriously Rolling Stone? Shakira? Jennifer Lopez? Celia Cruz? Gloria Estefan? None of those pioneers came to mind?)

Before moving forward, a disclaimer: I haven’t taken Spanish since my AP Spanish class three years ago. Since I was better at comprehending the language than speaking it, I expect to understand most of it, but definitely not every single word of it.

As I listen to the album, the first word that comes to mind is happy. The music is joyful, and the brass is a perfect accompaniment. It’s dancing music, it’s living music.

While some of the lyrics are full of longing or feel somber, the music doesn’t always reflect this. I interpret this as an optimism that isn’t always found in sad music. Even though she is feeling less than enthusiastic in what she sings, the music allows for hope.

I haven’t looked up Selena’s lyrics or their English translations before I’ve decided that I would listen to this again one million times. I could get ready to this music on the laziest of days, and by the end of one song I would feel ready to take on the world.

Selena’s voice is not what I would have expected. Her lyrics are deep already, but are made more so by her voice. She feels when she sings, she forces the listener to understand what she’s saying with their emotion. It’s a catalyst to the purest of responses.

Songs that stand out to me from my first listen through the album are “Amor Prohibido”, “No Me Queda Más”, “Fotos Y Recuerdos”, “El Chico Del Apartamento 512”, and “Bidi Bidi Bom Bom”. So basically, I love all of them. Her band and lyrics put together are so rhythmically spot on that it’s so easy to move to.

She sings in the way an artist asks you to stand up and dance at their concert. This is sappy, but it’s like she truly cares about the happiness of the person that’s listening.

“Techno Cumbia” also really sticks in my mind because it’s so different from the rest of her songs on this album. It’s incredibly catchy so I can’t stop listening to it, but it isn’t as much of a favorite as the others I’ve listed.

“Ya No” is also very different, because Selena isn’t singing to a Tejano band. I would expect to hear this kind of accompaniment in a Shania Twain song, so it was very unexpected to hear similar music here.

I can’t sit here and say a negative thing about any of Selena’s music on “Amor Prohibido”. It’s seriously all amazing. I can normally muster some kind of criticism, but I am at a loss.  I’ve never listened to Tejano music before, much less sat down and wrote an article analyzing it, but it’s something I should really invest more time into listening to in the future. I haven’t felt this way about finding new music in a very long time, and I wholeheartedly agree with her placement on NPR’s list.

Listen to “Amor Prohibido” on Spotify below or on YouTube here.

Stella is a column surrounding analysis and appreciation of the 150 albums chosen by NPR as the best created by women thus far. Each week I choose an album from this list I’ve been wanting to listen to, that peaks my interest, or that seems like essential listening to write about. The column’s goal is to provide female identifying readers with the empowerment that can only be obtained through a badass woman and her amazing music.

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The featured photo collection was entitled “X-Offenders,” and most of the photos were taken 40 years ago, in 1976, when Persky still lived in Greenwich Village and was just beginning her career as an artist. Entirely by coincidence, in this 40th anniversary showing there were forty photos on display.

Most of the prints hung around Persky as she spoke chronicled a time in her life when she was in a relationship with Gary Valentine, the bassist for Blondie in the 1970s. As a result, many of the photos featured Blondie’s founders, Debbie Harry and Chris Stein, in their most organic settings.

Persky decided on the name “X-Offenders” for the exhibit because “X-Offender” was the name of the debut single that Valentine had written for Blondie. The collection acted as a tribute to their time together, and Persky’s time with Blondie as a whole.

The photos were up close and personal; many were head shots and all seemed honest and raw. The prints were almost as raw as Persky herself– when she opened up the talk to audience discussion she confidently said, “If you ramble, I will cut you off like a cancer.”

Though this exhibit was focused mainly on 1976 and Blondie, Persky also talked about life as an artist in general. She emphasized the importance of being true to oneself and creating. “What you create is so much more important than anything else,” she said, “Just keep making the work.”

Creating is just what Persky has been doing since she was a teen in Greenwich Village. She discussed the first play that she acted in, written by HM Koutoukas specifically for her, and her stint as a writer for The New York Rocker.

What seemed to create Persky’s genius was her environment. She spoke of the influence that Greenwich Village had on her upbringing often throughout the hour. It was a place of artistic creation for people of all sorts, though “the Village was empty back then.” Greenwich seemed to be a hub for creation.

Persky described walking out on the streets of New York to find props and materials for her artistic endeavors. “All of the stuff we used was just trash that somebody brought in, but then again, we were trash that somebody brought in.” The artists of Greenwich made art of anything and everything they had.

Throughout Persky’s talk, she was brutally honest and open. The range of topics she discussed spread from finding out she was weird at the age of five, to traveling to Los Angeles with Blondie for one of their first major gigs. It is clear that she has had a life full of adventure and experience.

This morning’s talk was an insightful and exciting view into the daily endeavors of a person with a true talent for art, as well as a vehement appreciation for the impact that art has on our world.

The post Mission Creek: X-Offenders Artist Talk @ The Englert Theatre 4/8/16 appeared first on KRUI Radio.

There were good vibes all around, as I was side-stepping white clouds to get better pictures. I was lucky enough to catch the end of  Bambu’s set.

MaLLy introduced a fair man, with an even fairer beard. It was strange, when he spoke I forgot about the world around me. I understood then why the people were howling,

“ALI! ALI! ALI!.”

With a raised fist to the government,  he swung right into his set. He had the crowd sliding first to the right, then to the left. It felt like attending a church service down South, when I heard Brother and  the audience join in damning injustices that have weighed them all down.

Mourning in America and Dreaming in Color, Ali’s 5th album, was released in 2012, but he played off of everything he has released.

Domestic abuse, race barriers, and political unrest are just a few of the issues that he stresses in his movement. Brother Ali may very well be a legally blind, Caucasian albino who grew up in Minnesota, but he practices Islam and curses the demons that ensnare our generation. By demons, I mean issues that seem hopeless like: welfare, ignorance, and a distorted sense of self-image.

The crowd was shouting amen when he threw up his hands in a justified rage. I was amazed by his unique sound, a funky collision of soul and contemporary hip-hop. He isn’t afraid to drop the f-bomb and still find a way to share his wisdom.

During my time sitting at a booth behind Gabe’s, Brother Ali confessed this tour was for the people and getting back into venues that feel like home.  Iowa City was first on the fall lineup which stretches into mid-November.

If you like what you hear, check him out on FB or Twitter.

Check out some of my favorites below!

The post Show Review: Brother Ali @ Gabe’s 9/13/14 appeared first on KRUI Radio.

February 8^th was the 2014 National South Asian A Capella Competition, otherwise known as Gathe Raho.  A Capella groups compete by singing Hindu-American song mash-ups.  Here are some reasons it was one of the best things that have happened so far this year and why you should go next year:

1. It’s a national competition of the seven BEST groups in the entire country, and University of Iowa hosts it in the Englert each year.  Talk about convenient.  It was just ten bucks and totally worth it.

2. The entire show is a phenomenal clash of Hindu and American culture.  Bollywood songs fused with Beyoncé.  Traditional saris are mixed with snapbacks.  The dancing is a combination of something you might see in a Bollywood film and something you might see in Step Up.  The best Hindi-English mash-ups of the night were an Imagine Dragons fusion, a Muse fusion, and Backstreet Boys fusion.

3. The crowd gets totally into it.  They chant their favorite team’s name.  They scream when the cute beat boxer has a solo, or clap along with the beat.  They form fan clubs.

4. Yes, it does feel a little like you’re watching real life Pitch Perfect.  I mean, they have the pitch-pipe that they blow before each song and everything.

5. Just because it is a cultural event does not mean it’s exclusive.  The teams are made up of students of all different races.  And the Bollywood songs are completely rad, especially with how they weave into songs you already know really well.

6. This may go without saying, but a lot of these people competing have magnificent voices.  Honestly, at one point there was an angel on stage and he was singing Give Me Love by Ed Sherran and I almost died.

7. Get outside your comfort zone.  More than once I remember thinking, “how exactly did I end up watching the National South Asian A Capella Competition again?”  Attending an event like this really put into perspective how much diversity and culture we have here in Iowa City.  In my opinion, if you’re not submersing yourself into something different every now and then, you’re not doing college right.  Try to attend an event like Gathe Raho at least once.

       Carnegie Mellon’s team, Deewane, won the competition and took home the prize of $3,000 while Michigan’s Maize Mirche team took home $1,000 for second.  University of Iowa hosts Gathe Raho every year, so plan on coming for the 2015 competition.  It’s an unforgettable experience.  And if you can’t wait till then, on March 1^st in the IMU will be hosting Nachte Raho, an Indian Dance off contest. I’ll be there with my sari.

The post Why You Should Be Bummed You Missed Gathe Raho This Year appeared first on KRUI Radio.

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“Welcome ladies, gentlemen…and twitter followers,” opened Margaret Atwood, the grand literary figure who celebrated her 74th birthday giving a lecture at the Englert Theater Monday night.

The Englert was at full capacity, and even though I lucked out by slipping in after that announcement, which meant I had to stand in the back the entire time.  The theater was a diversified pool of all ages and I wasn’t the only one standing along the outskirts of the theater.

Atwood, the author of The Handmaid’s Tale and dozens of other ward-winning pieces of literature, claimed to have no area of specialization.  So naturally, she talked about zombies, other monsters and non-humans in writing, where the science came from in her latest book, Mad Adam, the importance of story-telling, and hope.

Throughout her discussions, I began to wonder if I was at a lecture or a comedy show.  Jokes about cats, the internet, penguin mating, and her own hair were truly laugh-out loud experiences.  Intrigued by science, Atwood expressed a love for breeds of characters she could create with seamless logic.  In addition she addressed the question many people ask her, “why do you write”, with utmost rationale.

“Story-telling is part of the human tool kit,” she said.  “It’s what human being do.”

Finally, Atwood left the audience with the notion that there has to be hope in the world.  She, again very logically, explained hope is built into the human being as a means of survival—humans without hope would go extinct.

Satisfyingly surprised, I will certainly be attending lectures more often.  While I expected a dry discussion of literature what I got was a personality come to life on stage.  Margaret Atwood was just as comical as she was pragmatic, and I left the Englert Theater feeling both enlightened and entertained.

Check out this funny video featuring Margaret Atwood goal-tending:

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