Ghosting

Some specific things that I related to in Trevor Noah’s book, Born a Crime, is that he said he never really fit in; he just bounced around groups that were split racially and I relate to that. At my old school I also thought I never fit in. I had no friends that I could relate to, I just hovered around in my friend group not really understanding them. I also care about Asian-Americans and their experience of getting bullied, the same way I did, and wanted to write this essay to make Asian-Americans not feel alone like the way I did. The way Trevor explored his own Identity was that he went to a new school, looked around to see all of that was split racially and just looked at which group he would fit in the best (Chapter 4, Chameleon, Pages 40-46). I felt like that was me looking around at my old school trying to find friends that I fit in with. Eventually, I found friends but still found I fit in with them.

Trevors’ writing impacted me to write about the time where I felt like I didn’t fit in/got bullied because since the Pandemic happened a lot of things unexpected things happened to my community that are just so shocking to learn about and surprised that people aren’t even going to do or talk about what happened to my community since the Pandemic hit. Also some of Trevor’s comedic moments in the chapter made me want to make my memoir with some moments that are comedic. Some storytelling techniques I used in my vignette is that I was talking to a person about something personal that happened to me in my life and seeing if they can relate to what I said or see what’s been happening in my community.

I did choose humor like Trevor Noah because I am not a very serious person and a person who kind of laughs at their own pain but lowkey hurting inside yet I used humor just to add some comic relief in my vignette instead of trying to bury my thoughts when I got bullied. I wrote my vignette like I was speaking to an outsider (that never had an experience that I had) face to face and showing them the pain that I’ve been through and how horrible it is to go through that experience and wanting them to feel the way I felt in those moments I got bullied, not to make them feel bad for me or hurt them but to open up their eyes what is happening to the other sides of reality then just one side.

This vignette addresses one of the essential questions, How do our various cultures influence our identities?, because being as an Asian-American it’s like being a person that is in the community/system but no one counts you as one. You’re just like a ghost floating around, no one caring, no one seeing you, no one knowing you exist. I hated being an Asian-American I wanted just to hide in a corner and wait there until people started noticing that there are more than two races but I had to face reality on my own and explore, and soon to find out that there is a community that sees the way I see, a group that shares about their experience being an Asian-Americans, the times they got bullied, social media accounts showing love to Asians. I finally felt that I belonged and finally fit in a community/system. Then not feeling like a ghost and wanting to hide until I woke up from my nightmare.

Memoir Vignette Final Draft - Michelle Ie ;-; (1)

Not My Hair

I think the mix of Trevor’s stories about being ugly and his identity crisis with being black, colored, and white at the same time inspired this. Him talking about his step-father’s (Abel) community and their toxic practices also inspired this. In chapter 10 he talks about his bad acne and unruly afro hair which I relate to on a spiritual level. In chapter 18 he speaks of his step father’s toxic culture with men being the workers who can do anything to the women who stay in the house to take care of children and the house. It made me think of my culture’s toxic practices and how have they affected me? This idea came to me quickly because this had a huge impact on how I looked at myself and lived with myself. This was really personal. I think Trevor’s writing style stuck to me in the way that I tried to implement the way I talk while also not trying to completely lose the reader with my speech. I noticed he didn’t talk exactly “proper” in this book. It felt like he was actually speaking to me when reading. I don’t think I put any humor in. I knew it wouldn’t work out considering I can barely tell a funny story and it actually sounds funny. The serious route is the best for me. I gave background information on words regarding my hair in case they didn’t know what to imagine when I talked about it. I gave examples of how the culture was “toxic” and I even gave a personal experience that I know is common among the community I am discussing. I think my memoir shows the effects of not knowing enough about our culture. It shows the effects of my culture being twisted and molded into something that makes us forget our original identity, The stuff we were born with. I think it even showcases a glimpse of the mental effects.

Born a Crime Q2 Benchmark

3 Choices, 1 Identity

Reading Trevor Noah´s book made me realize I am not the only one that feels/felt torn between multiple cultures at a young age. He was brave enough to talk about everything in his life both good and bad. That’s inspiring. The way he talked about his family and friends and the effects they had on him shows how open and confident he is. It isn’t every day that you have an identity crisis at a young age so seeing Trevor talk about it made me less nervous to talk about it. My memoir explained in detail about a kid stuck between the lifestyles of the biggest influencers in their life. The kid (being me) is stuck and doesn’t know which lifestyle would look good on him from others’ perspectives. I go on to explain the lifestyles of each of the influences in my life and how they have already affected me. Then the story goes into realization on how others opinion arent the most important thing to life, it’s about what I do and if it makes me happy. That gives me the conclusion that life is about making sure what you do makes you happy. If you not happy with what you do then how can you enjoy life? Speaking of enjoyment, please enjoy the story. (Please note that there is another page for the last two chapters you may have to click on the pdf to see it)

3 Choices, 1 Identity

The Fruitful Salad

In my vignette, I wanted to capture the main ideas and values of my religion and how those values have shaped my identity and who I am today. I have realized from my experience with the salad that some people are willing to learn new things about the world around them, but the resources to do so haven’t always been available to them. Additionally, if the salad taught me one thing, it would have to be to appreciate the little blessings and pockets of peace that make up our everyday lives. Being Muslim is something that I never realized the weight of on my identity and who I am. I have realized though that this little small moment from my busy everyday life has taught me values that I can’t help but share with others. It is always important to look at the bigger picture and not take small things for granted, especially opportunities for more growth and knowledge. I decided to pick a few things from Noah’s memoir and I decided to write about an encounter that I didn’t realize the worth of until after it like he has with his experience with the camera. Noah used a lot of humor in his memoir which I didn’t think was the way I wanted it to go however I did include a lot of my thoughts and reactions at different points as he did when he wrote about his experiences.

the fruitful salad - fatima abashera (1)

Religion and being Hispanic

Trevor Noah inspired me to tell this specific story just because he mentions a lot of things about how not to mix culture with other cultures. He also talked about different challenges and situations that he went through that gave him a different perspective and also to not commit that again. In chapter 13, Trevor talks about how he became friends with this boy named Teddy. They were great friends and always were there for each other but they did illegal things when they were together but one day the police caught them but Trevor managed to run away and not get caught. I still think what Trevor did wasn’t right, but Teddy wanted Trevor to have a good life so he had his back. I know you might think, “what does this have to do with my vignette?” but it somewhat resonates with my story because Trevor and Teddy trusted each other and always had each other’s back. In my case, I knew and trusted some people from that church but they talked behind peoples’ or even my own back, meaning they aren’t trustworthy and because of the mistakes the people made, it was hard to tell if that is what we learned in church or not but I realized that they taught themselves that and brought it to church thinking it was ok when it wasn’t. I liked Noah’s writing style because although there is humor, you can still see the conversations he had with people in that chapter, and so that’s why I chose to do the same as he did. I decided to add a little humor, and I’m not sure if it sounded funny, but to me, I thought some parts of my story were. I also decided to use dialogue. The way I thought of telling my story to other people was by telling them how I felt in that moment by using a little humor and showing the conversation I had listened to, which I think helps the reader know what is going on and puts them in the moment. My vignette addresses one of the essential questions about identity because this story that occurred in my life gave me a different perspective of things and made me realize that I should never mix my two cultures but separately, they can help teach me things that help shape who I am.

Gabriela's Final Draft

guitar

guitar

Trevor Noah’s book really inspired me on how to write a good story. Writing this story felt easy, smooth, and I actually liked it. Usually, writing is hard and I always blank on what to say during a writing piece. But now, ever since I read “Born a Crime”, I have a sense that writing just comes a little more natural to me. I have adopted a few of Noah’s writing styles, for example instead of beating around the bush, I just said what I thought and it made the story more interesting. Also, one of the main writing styles of his is foreshadowing, which I made sure to implement into my story. I sort of stated how getting to play guitar was a long shot, and that I had history that would determine if I got one or not, but I did not say until later what that history was. I didn’t really state what my culture was in the story, but I don’t think I really need to. My culture for guitar specifically is virtually none. But, my culture for music is strong in my family, hence the part where my dad wants me to get into it. Another very important part of Trevor Noah’s book is the sense of belonging. He never feels like he really belongs, but finally finds it through experience, and comedy, and a whole bunch of different things. But I never felt as though I belonged in music. As I said in the story, I went through a few instruments without ever really feeling them. It was always boredom that drove me away, which just blossomed into hatred for the thing. So just like in “Born a Crime”, although it took time, I finally found what I had been looking for. My identity is definitely influenced by my culture. Hell, I would’ve never picked up an instrument at all if it weren’t for my music culture. I’d probably find something else to occupy my time with other than music. But, I didn’t, thanks to my culture, and how it is passed down through generations, like my dad to me. I feel like that really resonates with Trevor, because there are so many things that were passed down from his family to him.

Community from around the world

One way Noah explored his own sense of identity that resonated with me was community. I thought it was fascinating the stories he told and the detail of those stories and what he went through. Secondly, I think that Noah explored his own sense of identity through just living life and dealing with things the hard way. He had to live through some of those hardships to discover and realize things about himself. I didn’t use humor like Trevor Noah did because although my story has lots of emotion and happiness and there was humor I didn’t know how to exactly articulate that use it in my story. A way I explained the culture to an outsider audience was by being desctive with who I was talking and directly stating that we were all from different countries. My vignette addresses one of our essential questions because I talk a lot about community.

Copy of Memoir Planning __ Born a Crime Benchmark

Asian from America

Standing in the shoes of an Asian American is kind of complex. You chose how much of each culture you would like to include into your life. Just like Trevor, he had a hard time figuring out his identity being a mixed child. He acknowledged both sides but chose to immerse himself into black culture.

In a way, I did the same. I acknowledged my American side but chose to be more immersed into Asian culture. Both me and Trevor face the fact that we are surrounded by both cultures but one more than the other. He chooses to surround himself and talk to black people but for me, I live in America so I tend to embrace my American side more as an instinct. But both of us chose what side we prefer to surround us and it helps build our character.

I think the most touching quote was on page 46 when he said “… but I didn’t belong with the white kids. I wasn’t a part of their tribe. But the black kids embraced me.” His situation was definitely the opposite of mine. Instead of having a negative view of one culture, I chose to embrace myself in American culture while immersing myself in my Asian culture. I let the American culture surround me while I spent the small details focusing on my Asian ways of living. A fair balance.

Throughout my memoir, my culture does have a huge influence on the way I think and how I interact with people. There are so many differences between the two countries and I often find it hard to balance myself. Knowing how people think and communicate on both sides, I always have a different perspective on everyone’s opinion. It’s the way Americans have their own plates of food while Asians eat with many bowls shared across the table. It’s how many Americans find makeup and hair styling something a girl should learn while Asians teach kids how to sew. It’s the small details in each culture that builds my character and how I like to look at things.

Gina Z. - Vignette Draft

Gen Z Jew

I was influenced by Trevor Noah’s stories about people making assumptions about his culture. He was often seen as threatening because he was colored, like when he went to jail and put on the stereotypical tough colored guy persona in chapter 17. Some Jews choose to keep kosher, which means that they won’t ever eat meat and dairy in the same meal or even use the same dishes to avoid mixing them. People often assume that because I am Jewish, I keep kosher, which is often confused with being vegan. I don’t keep kosher, nor am I a vegan, yet people tend to make assumptions based on my culture just like they do about Trevor. On page 154 of Born a Crime, Trevor explains that there is a code for mothers in the hood. If you’re not busy and they ask if they can “send you,” you always say yes. This resonated with me because Jews have a similar code. When someone is part of your culture, you don’t have to know them personally to be kind to them. Just like Trevor Noah, I used my vignette as a way to inform my readers about my culture while also using some humor to make my story interesting. I also focused on my perspective of the story and didn’t use much dialogue. I think that humor plays a big part in both Trevor’s and my writing. It makes the reader want to continue reading the story because it eliminates any dull moments. I explained my culture to the reader by defining Hebrew terms clearly, like I was describing them to a friend, which I have plenty of experience with. I also highlighted some of the negative aspects of my culture in order to make my description more personal. My vignette explains the way that culture can affect a person’s identity by providing real-life examples of what it’s like to be part of Gen Z Jewish culture and showing the way it affected my identity through my writing style. I tend to use formal vocabulary with a casual tone, which I feel represents my personality perfectly.

Sebina Leventon - Final Draft of Gen Z Jew - English Born a Crime Memoir BM Project

First Day of American School

Artist statement:

One part of Noah’s memoir that really inspired me to write about my topic was when he spoke about being new to his school. How he had to pick a group to be with and how he felt like he didn’t belong. I really liked the way he explained how he felt and what he went through. I can understand how he felt because I felt a lot of the same things too. That feeling of not belonging somewhere really stuck with me. He talked a lot about being an outsider on multiple occasions which is most likely something that impacted his identity today. In chapter 11: Outsider, he talked about his school experience, how he felt about not belonging, and always having to pick a group even when he didn’t really have any to choose. I really enjoyed his writing style. He made his stories funny and entertaining to read even when some of the moments he talked about were traumatic. He also included a lot of his own culture and identity into his writing. For example, when he wrote in the language his mom yelled at him. It made the reader connect with him. His stories were very descriptive too which I loved, I imagined everything that he wrote about in my head, and so it made me want to make my story as descriptive as possible. Some storytelling techniques I used were visual descriptions, a little bit of humor, and some reflective moments. I didn’t add a lot of humor to my story. I just used it I felt like maybe it didn’t fit right with my story or I didn’t know exactly where to add humor. Even though I tried to add a little bit of humor when I described what I wore to my first day of school because I always thought it was funny. I talked about where I came from, my culture as an immigrant, I talked about myself, and how I had to learn and live in a whole new culture. That explains my culture and identity to an outsider. One of the essential questions of this unit was “ How do our various cultures influence our identities?” in my vignette, I talked about how being influenced by different cultures affected me. It was like stepping into a whole new world and that changed my life completely. Being influenced by American culture as well as my own influenced the way I am now. It taught me so many new things that maybe I wouldn’t have learned if it wasn’t such a big part of my life.

Memoir Project - Valeria Escobar (1)

My Jewish Identity

While writing this vignette, I discovered that it is much harder than I thought it would be to try and explain a culture that I have known my whole life to a potential outsider. Things that seem so obvious to me, are not obvious to someone who knows nothing about Judaism or Jewish culture. I chose to write about my Jewish identity and culture because I feel like it is one of the biggest parts of my identity. Judaism lets me feel connected to my ancestors and family members that I have never met, and provides a community with people that I would otherwise not have anything in common with. In his memoir Trevor Noah talks a lot about religion. His religion is not Judaism but it doesn’t matter that it is a different religion, he still had a community that came from his religion that he otherwise would not have had. In his early life, religion and church were much more important to his mother than it was to him, and I relate to that somewhat because when I was little, I did not much like going to synagogue but it was very important to my mother and other members of my family. My story becomes different from Trevor Noah’s though, because as he got older his thoughts on religion and church did not really change, but for me I became more grateful for Judaism and my congregation, partly because I was starting to become more aware of the struggles and hardships that Jews had faced for years and years, and how much they had sacrificed, which gave me a new understanding of Judaism and the importance it has to so many people.

Lily Weston BM Memoir Vignette

Nagging

It took me a while to figure which one of my identities I was gonna write about. So I decided well, all in a way. Which I ended up doing. And I am happy with the way it turned out. It was fun digging through my memories about it. I found it entertaining how I went from thought to thought in a matter of sentences. I didn’t necessarily use a writing style, I just wrote what came to mind but I did use smilies every once and awhile so I guess I had a descriptive writing style. I did not use humor like Trevor Noah did, I wrote in a way that drew the reader in every so often in the story. Noah’s writing style did not really impact me, I didn’t really think about his autobiography that much. It never came to mind, I feel like our writing styles are different, he uses humor and irony to keep the reader entertained, I mostly just use the story and wording techniques to keep the reader entertained. My story is about me finding who I am and once I address that, I feel completed. The question of who am I? Is crucial throughout the story and through many other people’s lives. The question is essential to life because the answer is what defines us.

Q2 Benchmark - Google Docs

My Memoir: Anecdotes of An Introvert

My Memoir_ Anecdotes of An Introvert - Born A Crime Benchmark

Born A Crime, written by Trevor Noah, is an inspiring story of a young man’s youth and life in South Africa. It talks about culture, religion, family, friendships, and many other topics. These events inspired me to create my benchmark about my own sort of culture, introverts. In his story, Noah talks about his identity as a mixed child and how that affected his childhood. He explores his identity by talking about how his parents’ decisions affected how people acted towards him. He talks about belonging by discussing how he never fit in any friend group, but he was able to blend in and move through them, but he didn’t truly belong. One of Trevor’s most notable chapter was Chameleon. This was a chapter that stuck out to me because I know what it feels like to blend into the background and kind of remain unseen and unnoticed. I can relate to some parts of his writing, but others are completely new to me. Our writings are different, and I use my writing style to create my memoir. Trevor’s explanations of his culture were something that really gave me a clear understanding of the different languages and norms of South Africa, and I wanted to do something similar with explaining what an introvert is and how it reflects me as an individual. Instead of using humor in my writing like Trevor Noah, I opted to make references and write small blurbs with references. I also expressed my inner thoughts in the memoir as a part of my writing style. To explain the culture to an outsider audience, I noted the characteristics of an introvert, the definition, and what it means to me to be one. From my writing, you can get a sense of what an introvert is, but also how they are different from one another. My vignette shows how my culture is a part of my identity, but it doesn’t make up the entirety of who I am. It shows that when people accept who they are, they can use it, but don’t have to let their culture define who they are and limit what they can do.

Community- Nirel Woodson, Q2 BM

A connection that influenced me is how connected he is to his city Johannesburg. It interests me how much he learned from living there and the details about Johannesburg that he put in his writing that made it sound so special. It influenced me to tell a story where I can go into detail about what it’s like to live where I was born, West Philadelphia. Not only did it influence me to do that but it also made me want to tell a story about the identity and culture that I’ve come to learn that was built by my community, and for Noah, this was Johannesburg. Trevor explores his identity through events that happened in his life. One event that resonated with me is when he took a second thought on whether he should sell a camera that was stolen. The thought that he had was there’s someone that is being affected by all the photos and memories connected to the camera and if it’s sold then those photos and memories are erased. Trevor said, “ We live in a world where we don’t see the ramification of what we do to others, because”. This showed Treavor’s unselfishness by putting other people’s emotions and feelings over the money that he would receive. The way Noah used dialogue in his writing resonated with me. I love the way he incorporated dialogue in his writing to make readers want to read more. This was something that I wanted to incorporate in my writing because I want to interest readers and make them want a sequel to the story, just as Trevor did in his writing. The way Trevor’s story is told, there’s a clear idea of what’s going on from the rising action to the falling action in that chapter. I wanted to create a vivid image for readers with my storytelling from beginning to end of the vignette that compares to his storytelling. I did not choose to use humor in my writing. Sometimes I like to use humor and I consider myself pretty funny, but for this vignette, I wanted to leave out the humor because sometimes I feel like it takes away some ideas in the stories that I want readers to see. I broke down what this culture looks like to provide images for an outsider audience so they could imagine what this culture would look like. My vignette addresses the essential question of what it looks like to be a part of a community and most importantly a culture.

Final Draft Memoir Vinginette Nirel Woodson - Google Docs

The Extraordinary Will Take Care of Itself

Noah always embraced that no one welcomed him into any cultures, that he felt he SHOULD belong in. He was not accepted as a colored person by other colored people, because he was either too white for black people, or to black for white people, and at the end of the day, he still chose to identify as a black man. In chapter 16, Trevor was very oblivious to the fact that he was getting bullied. He was also very oblivious when he managed to get his bike stolen from a girl. I think when Noah was more so young, he cared a lot about fitting in, and belonging to a group, that he didn’t realize all the sacrifices he took trying so hard. In chapter 10, there was a Valentine’s Day dance, and a girl named Maylene who had a major crush on Trevor. There was huge talk amongst the friend groups about Trevor asking out Maylene, so he could take her to the dance. But the thought of him liking Maylene never actually crossed his mind. He said yes, but just for the wrong reason. Unfortunately, she broke his heart right before the dance for someone more “cool and better looking”, and Noah was devastated. I honestly can’t say that Noah’s writing impacted my own, because he uses a ton of humor and dialogue, and those aren’t techniques that I would refer back to when writing. I didn’t choose to use humor because I would consider myself just an intentionally funny person, and I feel as though when using humor in your writing, there’s a lot of brainstorming, because you try so hard to make the reader laugh. Furthermore, my goal wasn’t to make people laugh. I wouldn’t want people to laugh at my vignette at all. When my vignette is read, I want people to take the time to sit and think about what I just wrote. As an outsider looking in, which you are, the reader, I gave you points of views of other characters in my story who are ALSO outsiders to my culture.

The Extraordinary Will Take Care of Itself

Struggles of a Sixth Grader

Artist Statement

When writing my memoir Vignette I chose to write about my 6th-grade experience because it was a key event in my life that made me the person I am today, similar to how Trever Noah wrote about his education and how that also affected his life in Born a Crime. Some examples of this are in Chapter 10: A Young Man’s Long, Awkward, Occasionally Tragic, and Frequently, Humiliating Education in Affairs of the Heart, Part I: Valentine’s Day, Chapter 11: Outsider, Chapter 12: A Young Man’s Long, Awkward, Occasionally Tragic, and Frequently, Humiliating Education in Affairs of the Heart, Part II: The Crush, Chapter 13: Colorblind, Chapter 14: A Young Man’s Long, Awkward, Occasionally Tragic, and Frequently, and Humiliating Education in Affairs of the Heart, Part III: The Dance. The Sixth Grade experience, though painful, molded me to be the person I am today. I discovered that I am a pretty cool person regardless of what others think about me. I developed compassion for the downtrodden and rejected in society because isolation and rejection is an unpleasant experience. Not only that, but I realized that in life, shallow people exist and there is nothing you can do to impress them that will cause them to change their attitudes and impressions about you. They are self-conscious people and are consumed tremendously by how others view them. This experience prepared me for the Science Leadership Academy. I learned to be bold in new environments and to not try to adapt to who I was to fit in the environment. As Winston Churchill stated, “Success is not final, failure is not fatal: It is the courage to continue that counts.” I had a lot of failures that 6th-grade year, however, my failures were not fatal. In fact, my courage to continue made me a stronger person, therefore, leading me to future successes.

Q2 Benchmark - Google Docs

Struggles of the Oldest Child

After reading “ Born a Crime” I was heavily inspired by Trevor turning embarrassing or sad memories into humor, and the way he used sarcasm like he was speaking directly to the reader. I loved the way he really opened up and wasn’t afraid to tell so many different parts of his childhood, I wish more people opened up like that in their writing. I think a lot of the deeper stories and the way he really shared his emotions stuck with me. I tried my best to explain my culture as if I was talking to an outsider, but it was so hard to do and made me appreciate Trevor Noah’s writing even more. I also tried to have a deep reflection like Trevor, which also proved difficult, how he wrapped his identity into every small story he told really inspired me too. So I tried to incorporate my chosen culture into as many parts of the story as possible. One of my favorite parts to read were the many chapters where he talked about his school and love life. I could really see him as a social floater, not really in any specific friend group. He was always an outsider and showed how he knew that he was, even in high school and embraced it. He used it to his advantage and even realized that his love life would sadly never work out because of it. “For me, trying to get a girl would upset the natural order of things. Part of my success as the tuck shop guy was that I was welcome everywhere, and I was welcomed everywhere because I was nobody.” page 102. This self reflection was different because it was an at the moment kind of thing, and It inspired me to include how I felt when the events in my vignette actually occurred. Because I really enjoyed this writing style I tried my best to incorporate it into my story, with subtle sarcasm and humor, openness and my real reflections when the event actually happened. While I slightly encapsulated some style, I definitely didn’t pull it off as well as Trevor, I will be sure to incorporate some of the styles I learned from “Born a Crime” into my further writing.

Vignette Q2 Benchmark