I am happy to say that I got my second vaccine shot this month! I am now fully vaccinated and feel more comfortable going out. I am also glad that we were given a one-week extension on the Age-Friendly Neighborhood Assessment Project because there is just a lot of projects and things that I am working on right now so the extension was very helpful. Because of the pandemic, I rarely went out. Going out on trips and walking around my neighborhood to take photos for the project was a nice change of pace. Because of the pandemic, I moved back in with my parents. Currently, I live in San Francisco, Chinatown where I was born and raised. As I have spent most of my life living in Chinatown I am not as interested in my surrounding; similar to sensory adaptation or habituation. This project made me give things in my community a second look. There is something different when you give something familiar to you a deeper look as you begin to notice things you have not before. Furthermore, through my walks, it is nice to see the mural that I have worked on during high school still up in the alleyway. Although the pandemic is still ongoing it is nice to observe the familiar bustling supermarkets since Chinatown would not be Chinatown if not for its lively atmosphere. I look forward to presenting some things about my neighborhood next week when we meet!
I had a lot of fun working on the Debunking Ageist Stereotypes project. I did not know what I was really going to do in the beginning but after some thought, I decided to make a video since powerpoints and other things seem boring to look at and are not as interactive. Making my video, I used the online platform, Powtoon. I wanted the video to be aesthetically nice and also interactive so I used some of the animated characters that Powtoon had to offer and background props. I do not have much video editing experience so I just brute forced the creation of the video by rewatching each part to make sure that everything flowed correctly and smoothly. To make sure there was enough time on each slide I watched the video multiple times to adjust the transition times and duration of each slide. The myth that I decided to debunk in my Powtoon video is the idea that all seniors are depressed and unhappy. While this may be true for some seniors it is certainly not true for all seniors. Some seniors are just beaming and full of wisdom and happiness despite their harsh situations. Some other updates are on the group HAP. I am currently having difficulty getting seniors for the group HAP, waiting for two seniors to respond to my email. Hopefully they do respond soon so I could schedule interviews with them. Lastly, I am excited for next week’s virtual cafe. I hope to talk to a lot of seniors and learn about their hobbies.
These past 3 weeks felt like they went by very quickly due to other classes and projects. In the first week or two, our group (LCS Memories) worked on ironing out our timeline and interview questions that we would ask our senior interviewees. Our group is working on creating a video with around 18 senior participants that show their life stories and memories through three different themes. Our three themes consist of the past, present, and future. The past will be about what they were like when they were young. The present, where we ask them how their lifestyles have changed as a consequence of the COVID-19 pandemic. Finally, the present, which will focus on asking the interviewees what they want to do post-quarantine. Some challenges that my team and I are facing is participation since some of the communities around San Diego have not gotten back or we are currently waiting for responses for participation. This week, I have reached out to some senior communities around my area, San Francisco. If I do not get any responses or updates by next week’s meeting, I will ask the LCS cohort if any of their EPs are interested in participating. Something that I am looking forward to is the Virtual World Cafe that we will be hosting on May 5th. The concept of it sounds really nice :D. Something else that I have enjoyed is reading the new book for this class Happiness Is A Choice You Make by John Leland. The book follows John’s journey of interacting with the aging population and the concepts that are brought up throughout the chapters really makes me ponder over those things. A good read that I recommend!
We just had our last class for this quarter, and I already feel like I will miss going to class on Wednesdays during spring break D: (Although I will still taking USP for next quarter). Last week, during week nine, I presented my Extraordinary Person (Dad) to the class. Going in, I was a bit nervous as I never thought of myself as someone who was very good at public speaking, but I prepared myself beforehand to provide a smooth presentation about my dad’s life story. I loved responding to the usual letter and emailpal system that we are doing with seniors partnered with the class. I will miss hearing the letters during spring break. The seniors’ and my peers’ stories are fascinating to read. In addition, something that I would like to note and reemphasize is the learning process in this class. While we are not learning things like phospholipids and science things, this course really helped enhance my cooperative skills as we participated in many group projects and communication skills as we interact with our peers and got to learn about various lifestyles and stories. The ending of this quarter is like the ending of the prologue. Next quarter I am excited to work on the HAP projects and also see the progress of the other HAP projects. My group’s HAP project is to compile interviews with around six seniors and put them together to make a video. At the end of the project, we hope to gather everyone who participated in creating the video and express our appreciation while also showing them the video
These past two meetings were really engaging and interactive. I find myself enjoying this course as it is very different from the conventional courses where you memorize material and regurgitate information on a test. This week the class has a book presentation on This Chair Rocks: A Manifesto Against Ageism. I enjoyed the book, with parts of it reminding me of the current event article where my group and I presented an article about Accessory Dwelling Units (A.D.U.s) around two weeks ago. The article’s argument centered around the idea of A.D.U.s being effective as it can house older family members, and the book on page 15 talking about universal design. Most A.D.U.s are created to house peoples’ aging family members, so most of the time, these units can be designed in a way with the aging population in mind (universal design) compared to outside housing complexes with utilities unfit for use in the aging population. In the last two weeks, I also enjoyed reading all of the seniors’ replies and messages about their current lifestyles even in times of COVID and how they are doing in these trying times. The seniors’ responses are always so lively and unique! It is unfortunate how I am unable to meet with amazing seniors in person because of the pandemic. However, it has still been a great experience to be able to read their letters and respond. One of the other highlights was learning about my classmates’ extraordinary person (EP). It was lovely to hear about the work that they put into their memoir and what they got from doing the project. I look forward to presenting to the class my extraordinary person (dad) on Wednesday!
This week, I worked with Cindy and Katlyn on a presentation to talk about current events that are going on. In this group project, we choose a New York Times article that was about A.D.U.s. The acronym, A.D.U., stands for accessory dwelling unit. The article argued that A.D.U.s could potentially alleviate contemporary housing problems as our senior population continues to expand. Learning about this made me think about how widespread development of A.D.U.s could be extremely beneficial for the aging population. Instead of aging in isolation and in-place, seniors living in A.D.U.s can age in place with their family members and not in isolation. They would be able to interact with their family members as they are living close to each other. Something else that was memorable and enjoyable to me this week was the seniors from Casa de Mañana who joined our class. Through the breakout rooms on zoom, I learned about Susan and Daniel’s lifestyle and insights. Something amazing was that Daniel is does something similar to our memoir project. He does interviews with other people in Casa de Mañana and puts them onto CDs so that his interviewees will be able to look back onto them. In addition, an insight brought up by Susan is that moving into senior housing can be challenging. Susan argued that instead of being resentful and moving when you are forced to because of your growing age, you ready yourself when the time comes and have it be your decision to move so you can cope with moving out from your loved ones.
Like last week’s blog, this week’s reading further highlights how most consumers are unsuspecting of products they purchase and the power of marketing. In chapter eight of Selling the Fountain of Youth, something that stood out to me is the vitamin industry. Even in the present, the vitamin industry is popular as some people may actually need to take vitamin supplements due to health complications or because of their lifestyle. In chapter eight of this book, the company called MyVitaminsRX created a product idea I thought was very successful in getting consumers to buy into the fraudulent claims proposed for their product. MyVitaminsRX made customized vitamin supplements for consumers at a low cost and from data collected from a urine-testing kit. In my opinion, the idea of “customized for you” is a very appealing idea. In addition, the use of a “test” is effective in persuading customers that the customized vitamin package is legitimate as most people are not aware a simple urine-test is not very accurate in formulating an “ideal” vitamin package as the human body is very sophisticated. The use of personal testimonies instead of certified experiments was a key factor in persuading the mass about the “positive” effects of drugs, vitamins, and food. Without people constantly contesting the validity of such products people can go around speaking gibberish, and most people who are not skeptical would hop into the anti-aging industry bandwagon. An example from the book is the endorsement of acai berry by Oprah Winfrey as a “super genius smart food of all smart foods” that apparently increases your memory and fights heart disease. To summarize with a quote from the book, “Talk show hosts were doctors. Businesspeople were healers.” (210)
I felt like this week's reading Selling The Fountain of Youth was really interesting. The cosmetic industry (anti-aging industry) exemplifies the power of marketing gimmicks and how humans are social animals that are easily swayed to bandwagon. Something that stood out to me in the cosmetic industry is how far people are willing to go to look pretty and look young. The cosmetic industry also illustrates how far people are willing to go to make money. An example of this is Botox, a literal poison that causes paralysis and removes wrinkles at the correct dosage and injection. While most people think of the positive side of botox, which removes wrinkles, the potential consequence of this treatment is paralysis of the face. However, most people do not think about the consequences because their only thoughts are to look youthful. This book also made me think about the marketing of things like diamond and the idea that being skinny makes you beautiful. In the aspect of diamonds, diamonds are just shiny rocks and actually not that rare. However, because of the monopolization and marketing of diamonds, society has come to the norm that before marriage, you absolutely need to buy a diamond ring for your significant other or how diamonds elevate your social status. Another concept that this book made me think about is the idea that being skinny makes you beautiful. This concept in our society makes it so that women may go as far as developing bulimia to lose weight and keep an “hourglass” like curve. While I do not think selling poison, harmful concepts, or shiny rocks is good for our community, the methods and way that people are able to get customers to buy their products is ingenious.
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Danny yuDanny is a Molecular and Cell Biology major from San Francisco, CA. Fun Fact, he has a Black belt in karate. Archives
May 2021
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