Blog #6 - My Identity Kit

In James Paul Gee's "Literacy and Linguistics," Gee quotes Mack, defining mushfake as "a term from prison culture, as making 'do with something less when the real thing is not available. So, when prison inmates make hats from underwear to protect their hair from lice, the hats are mushfake. Elaborate craft items made from used wooden match sticks are another example of mushfake.'" Gee then labels Mushfake Discourse as "partial acquisition coupled with meta-knowledge and strategies to 'make do.'" To simplify mushfaking even further, I believe mushfaking is another word for improvising, and mushfaking is a type of skill that everyone at some point in their lives is required to do in order to fit with the current social norms.

One of the most valuable life lessons that was taught in a drama class back in high school was that the audience does not know what kind of performance they are expecting. Actors and actresses use this to their advantage and will improvise, whether it be with themselves or with each other on the stage. However, improvising is an extremely hard skill to perfect, as it requires an individual to think very quickly and maintain a confident physical appearance.

One particular new discourse that I experienced difficulty adapting to was culture, specifically Japanese.

When I traveled to Japan for the first time for vacation In 2011, it felt awkward because the Japanese culture differed greatly in contrast to American culture. One of the most socially uncomfortable activities I partook in was the mineral bath. The mineral baths had water supplied by the local geysers, so it was very hot, soothing, and refreshing. However, the process prior to the actual bath is what would probably drive most tourists away. In public baths, it is normal and socially required for everyone to be 100% naked, because you are not allowed to bathe in the geyser water if you are "dirty" or have clothes on (swimsuits are considered dirty). Prior to bathing in the geyser water, people must shower and scrub their bodies with soap and water in public shower stations, where privacy is not a luxury. I didn't want to appear to be a foreigner and create an awkward scene. Taking what I learned about improvisation, I chose to adapt to the Japanese culture and its norms and proceeded to cleanse myself in the public showers naked. Don't get me wrong, I felt very awkward the entire time, largely in part because this sort of activity is never socially acceptable in America. Mushfaking in this particular scenario required me to figuratively paste a mask of a Japanese local in attempt to "blend in," as well as fit in with the majority group.

Blog #5 - The Cost of Affiliation

In Ann M. Johns' "Discourse Communities and Communities of Practice: Membership, Conflict, and Diversity," Johns states that to "succeed in school, they (students) may have to make considerable sacrifices. To become active academic participants, they sometimes must make major trade-offs that: can create personal and social distance between them and their families and communities. Students are asked to modify their language to fit that of the academic classroom or discipline. They often must drop, or at least diminish in importance, their affiliations to their home cultures in order to take on the values, language, and genres of their disciplinary culture." To me, this excerpt immediately sounded like a basic concept of marketing.

The first thing I learned in marketing was that marketing is everywhere, because everything carries a price. Price does not have to be monetary; the amount of time spent on performing particular tasks is also considered a price. Payment for tuition and living expenses aside, the enrollment in SDSU carries other prices, as well.

The determination of the price of attending SDSU started from the early stages in my decision-making process when choosing a university to attend. On one hand, there was San Jose State. Being a Bay Area local, the apparent advantage of attending SJSU was being much closer in proximity to my home. However, the prices included a reduced experience of being independent and the attendance of less-reputable school (in comparison to SDSU). On the other hand, accepting SDSU would mean that I would be able to add a much more reputable school on my resume, experiencing much better weather, and a change in scenery (a potentially more exciting experience). One price of attending SDSU is that I would be entering an unknown community; none of my friends from high school nor any family friends went to SDSU. The second price of going to SDSU is much steeper. I would be required to create massive distance between from my family, closest friends, and family friends.

Partaking in the commitment to an academic discourse community as a whole has both its advantages and its burdens. The advantages include meeting an extremely large variety of people, becoming academically enlightened, and finding one's true identity. The burdens on the other hand, consist of separating oneself from their families and friends. As Johns mentions, becoming academic participants means to "create personal and social distance between them and their families and communities." Both my parents knew this would be a high cost of going to college, so they request for me to contact them via. FaceTime once a week to maintain a strong family bond and to update each other on the local and personal news. However, the high intensity and high volume of workload from several classes cause substantial amounts of stress and require heavy investments of time. This has caused me to forget to contact both family and friends (forgot my best friend's birthday last week for the first time).

My double-PhD economics professor back in community college raised the question of whether or not the investment of a college education was worth it. If not attending college, one can immediately begin to work and earn money. In contrast, one can choose to attend college and pay a heavy price of tuition and living expenses (and financial aid for some) for four or more years. For some, it would take several years to be able to break even with the college expenses and eventually gaining actual return on investments from the attendance of college. The cost of affiliation in an academic discourse community shines light on a new costs of attending college: the emotional, personal, and social burdens. So, is college truly worth investing money and time in? In the long run, I believe a college degree is worth the investment; it gives an individual much more job security, ultimately giving one a more reliable and flexible key to survive the dangers of reality.