Linda Furiya

I thought this was an interesting video. The author, Linda Furiya, reads an excerpt from her book, "Bento Box in the Heartland: My Japanese Girlhood in Whitebread America." In this clip, she is reading the part in her book where she is discussing the struggles her mother had because she could not read or understand English. She talks about the many insecurities her mother had and how it made her feel. Because her children understood English, and her daughter was even a Brownie girl scout, you could pick up the generational differences. Furiya even mentioned that her mother put off getting her citizenship for years for fear she would fail the written part. She studied in secret, because she was so afraid of failing and being ashamed. Once she was granted citizenship, she shared all of her insecurities with her children. She told them how she was upset that she could not help them with their homework, or read them bedtime stories. It was interesting though that Furiya mentioned her mother learned some English from watching soap operas, because we mentioned that briefly in class. In any case- I recommend watching this video. Although it is only the woman reading from her book, the video was not boring. Rather it was very informative and easy to follow.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=ov_gD4q6Or0