Category Archives: Features

Is America ready for a minority President?

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By Joy He, Second Place Winner (Grades 9th to 12th)

America is long overdue for a minority leader. For being a well-developed world power, we are notoriously single-minded when it comes to electing our presidents – no women, no minorities, no Jews, and no Muslims (indeed, even JKF’s Roman Catholicism kept the public talking for years). It is no question that America is quickly approaching a time for minority leaders. However, the conflict surrounding that issue comes from two sides. Not only is the question one of the American people’s willingness to elect a minority president, but it is also one of finding the right minority candidate to lead America.

The philosophy of the American people – the “American Dream” – is one that emphasizes equal opportunity for all individuals in all aspects of life. When Thomas Jefferson wrote the Declaration of Independence demanding freedom, justice, and the rights outlined in the first ten amendments to the constitution, he defined the United States to be a nation of choice – of free-will and independence. However, today, with the public’s increasing aversion to immigration and a pronounced distrust of those from the Middle East after the terrorist attacks on 9/11, the American Dream is becoming just that – an American dream. When 5th or 6th generation “Americans” (whose families were incidentally immigrants themselves) begin persecuting other, newer, immigrants for pursuing the same dreams and ideals – the same freedoms – as their own families did once upon a time, then there is something inherently wrong with our Dream. The first obstacle America as a nation must overcome before entertaining hopes of electing a minority president is thus preserving the American Dream not only as a relic of the past, but also as a model for the future.

Conversely, it is also up to the candidates themselves to prove themselves worthy of leading our nation. Not only must America do its part to ensure that all candidates are given an equal opportunity to success, but the candidates must do their part to ensure that America will be led by the best people possible. Overcoming prejudice is one thing, but America shouldn’t feel pressured to elect a minority leader “just because.” Ability must come first and foremost. Whether or not the candidate is a minority should be almost an after thought – although, admittedly, their ethnic background would undeniably play a large role in areas of the presidency such as foreign policy. Indeed, we can’t simply say “minority president” and expect one to show up on our doorsteps.

Each president of the past was elected primarily on ability, and any presidential candidate, regardless of their racial status, must show that they have the ability to lead our nation.Ultimately, the election of a minority president will depend on both America’s willingness and the candidates’ competency . It is not only a question of whether the American public is ready to elect a minority president, but also if minority candidates are ready to step up to the plate. America is not yet quite ready for a minority president – the American Dream must be preserved in its entirety before we can truly be deemed ready – but conversely, we have yet to have a minority candidate who has really shown outstanding competency. In the future, America may be ready for a minority president, but will a suitable minority candidate be ready to lead America?

Judge's comments: Excellent point about older immigrants persecuting newer immigrants. Well structured and well thought out essay. Good postulation about whether the country would be able to throw up a minority candidate ready to lead. Good use of word limit. 

Joy He is a 10th grade student at Parkway Central High School in Chesterfield, Mo. Essay published as submitted.

Prizes sponsored by Desi Knowledge, a great place to get books, CDs and DVDs pertaining to Indian culture. Products ship from within the Bay Area, California

Is America ready for a minority President?

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By Colette Jaycox, First Place Winner (Grades 9th to 12th)

Asking whether or not the county is "ready" gives undue credence to racist perspectives. By posing the question as a two-sided quandary, we tactically accept the answer "no"- and doing so has consequences. If we decide that the country is not ready for a minority president, we condone discrimination against political candidates based on their ethnicity. After all, if the country is not ready for a minority president, why bother supporting a minority candidate, regardless of his or her skill sets? This legitimizes bigotry in the political sphere. Because we deem a minority candidate unelectable, it becomes socially acceptable to discriminate against such candidates. This, then, makes it even more difficult for a minority candidate to be elected president. We spiral downward and it becomes even more difficult for us to overcome our racist past.

Instead of focusing on the ethnicity of presidential candidates, we should examine their opinions on the issues at hand. Media coverage of the elections directed in such a way would send a message to the population that deciding who to vote for based on skin color is socially unacceptable- and societal pressure can be a powerful thing. Only by moving beyond our insecurity as to the readiness of our country to elect a minority president can we actually have a chance at getting a minority candidate in that position. The color of one's skin does not hamper one's political abilities; the country of one's ancestors does not limit one's capacity as a presidential hopeful. Once we stop making race an issue, we will have only the abilities of the candidates to look to- and this is in no way constrained by color.

Skeptics remain as to America's ability to reason in such a manner. However, we have empirical evidence to the contrary. The frontrunner in the Democratic primaries, leading in both states and delegates, is the minority candidate Barack Obama. The unprecedented success of his campaign, even against well-connected Clinton machine, flies in the faces of the political pundits who dismissed him at the beginning of the race. The thousands upon thousands of Americans who flocked to the caucuses to support Obama must think the country is ready for a man like him. The fact that he is African-American does not seem to discourage Americans in any way from voting for him. And as a serious contender for the Democratic nomination, that party must surely believe the country would vote for him. America's readiness is determined by the people, and as of yet, American citizens are looking favorably on Obama, a minority candidate.

They think that America is ready, so it is. America is its people, and its people have spoken. We are indeed created equal.

Judge's comments: By questioning the very premise of the topic, Colette elevates the discussion to a higher plane. Even though the essay is short, it argues its point well. A discussion of the realities of race in America would have improved it further. 

Colette Jaycox is a 10th grade student at Mission San Jose High School in Fremont, California. Essay published as submitted.

Prizes sponsored by Desi Knowledge, a great place to get books, CDs and DVDs pertaining to Indian culture. Products ship from within the Bay Area, California

WNI Essay Contest gets a mention in Mercury News!

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Many thanks to Scott Herhold, who was one of the judges in Water, No Ice's First Annual Essay Contest. He writes an article that appeared today in the San Jose Mercury News highlighting not just the talent but the optimism of the new generation. Some excerpts:

These weren't ordinary kids. They were the children of Indian immigrants with high expectations. I read the top 10 essays culled by the editors of the Web site "Water No Ice" (www.waternoice.com), a cultural voice for Indians in the Bay Area. (The name comes from the Indian preference for ordering water, but no ice, in restaurants.)

He finds that the contestants share a strong belief in the power of the presidency( possibly the influence of the incumbent's appropriation of executive authority?)

If you had to find a common theme in the kids' writing, it might be the belief in a president who has extraordinary power and sweats the details.

He remarks on the hopeful, positive and encouraging tone of the essays.

These kids were far more optimistic. In their essays, you could see a common yearning to use the presidency as a wise parent might – even if that meant stepping on traditional American civil liberties.

One essayist pledged that he would sit down with Fed chairman Ben Bernanke and start a stock market rally. Another, zealous to halt crime, proposed that the police install security systems in the home of every American. "My vision is to make the country peaceful," the student wrote. "No more worries. No more war."

So what does this mean for American politics? Particularly if you think, like I do, that we'll eventually have an Indo-American president? (emphasis mine)

 

Madam President

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By Sanjana Prasad, Third Place Winner ( Grades 5th to 8th)

“My fellow Americans, you know how much I love this country. You know what I will sacrifice for America, the land of opportunity, which is why I stand here now,” I start my inauguration address smoothly. As I continue discussing my policies with certainty, everyone lets out a sigh of relief, realizing they have elected a great president. Continue reading →

If I were the President…

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By Shreya Malik, Joint First Place Winner ( Grades 5th to 8th)

Signing bills to make them laws. Directing billions of dollars of budget. Representing the entire country in the world. Commanding the United States army. Bossing over employees who address you as “sir”.
-Whose job does this sound like to you?
This is the not-so-glamorous, yet most powerful position in the world–the President of the USA. Tiresome perhaps, but there is never a dull moment in the job of the President. Continue reading →

If I were President….

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By Nicole Dalal, Joint First Place Winner ( Grades 5th to 8th)

The swarm of news reporters stormed into the Oval Office, eager to extract any piece of information they possibly could.
The magnificence of the room brought a special sense of national pride to one of the reporters. His eyes beamed as he perceived the stability and peace in the world that had been achieved under the reign of the new president. The eagle had truly spread its wings under this new administration and had taken flight, soaring into new and unexplored heights.
"Excuse me," he spoke, politely introducing himself to the kind secretary in the corner. "I would like to have a word with Ms. President."
"One moment please," the soft-spoken secretary announced as she walked over to the miraculously carved desk. She tapped the large leather chair and murmured, "Ms. President. We have some reporters who would like to talk to you."

Continue reading →

Palace of Illusions – Book Review

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By Vidya Pradhan

palace-of-illusions.jpgChitra Bannerjee Divakaruni has made a name for herself with her stories about the Indian immigrant experience, usually viewed through the eyes of a woman. I remember being quite impressed with Arranged Marriage and Sister of my Heart, perhaps because in those days I was a new immigrant to the US myself. Eventually, when the theme was repeated in endless variations in successive books, the attraction waned. The flowery metaphors, the effusive prose, epitomized a style of writing that was too gushy to be literary, too cloying to be entertaining.

In Palace of Illusions, CBD returns with a feminist retelling of the Mahabharata, seen through the eyes of Draupadi, one of the few polyandrous women in an age of polygamy. The great epic is surprisingly opaque about the character and motivations of the Pandava queen, given her presence at some of the most crucial moments in the narrative. Continue reading →

A Returning Indian Entrepreneur Reflects…

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By Kashyap Deorah

Let’s just say our job in the US was done for now and it was time to go back home. Shruti and I returned to Mumbai at the end of October 2007. We carried back memorable moments from our time in the US: the parties, road trips, startups, ideas, cracking the code, problem solving, craigslist, blueberries, wine, mountains, lakes, snow, runs, beaches, dance, gigs, deals, money, stock options, weather, cars, hacks, radio stations, the daily show; but, most of all,our friends who helped us live each moment to the fullest.

It took us two years of planning to pull this off. Shruti decided to take a break and explore an entry into the environment and climate change industry. I decided to start a business to serve the Indian mass market with a direct-to-consumer service over the phone. Though the impulse to simultaneously desert our lucrative career paths front-loaded the risk; moving back with my parents into their nice spacious apartment with a bonsai garden and a window plunge into Juhu beach provided a launch-pad.So what did we learn in the first few months? I share these thoughts so you can set your own expectations as you consider or plan your own back-to-India move. I try to stay away from the points that are oft discussed about the differences between the two places (lifestyle, economy, growth, family, food, kids, etc.), though they are all relevant and significant. Here I point out differences that oft get missed as we imagine our new lives from 10,000 miles away. Continue reading →

Do we need grammar?

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By Geeta Padmanabhan

The simple answer is “Yes, we do,” though the issue itself is not simple.

When I say “Grammar”, I mean the basic structure of a language. I don’t mean the grammar vocabulary. You can write heart-warming, elevating, wise-cracking English without wondering whether you are possessive about adjectives or definite about articles. You don’t have to be able to whip out grammatical terms like Allomorphs or Apodosis. No one will ask you to name “some” and “any” as Quantifiers. Or “Walking” in the sentence Walking is a good exercise as a gerund.  It is not a crime if you don’t know how to describe words and structures in grammatical terms. But putting words and phrases in the wrong places is.

It is an age-old question. “Why is the sentence wrong if it conveys the meaning?” I have heard this for thirty years now. Mostly from students horrified to find their first test paper soaked in red ink. “You nit-pick!” is one of their mildest comments. My defense starts with the argument that their writing does not convey the meaning they intended. Continue reading →

Decoding 'Teenish' – A Primer for Parents

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By Vidya Pradhan 

Zomg! Woot, you totally pwned me n't, moran! I just smurfed the pools with you. I drank your milkshake. Don't go crying GBCW on me now. eom

The above passage sent my spellchecker into a frenzy as it swamped the page in red underlines. If your head just exploded from the effort of decoding this new vernacular, welcome to the world of obsolete parents whose children have (d)evolved the language of Wren and Martin into a barely verbal, gloriously-encumbered-by-grammar,emphasis-laden perpetual display of oneupmanship. (The only reason this 40-year old mom was able to penetrate this was thanks to lurking on pro-Obama blogs!)

Every generation has its lingo (as Swati correctly points out in the comments), which it uses to defiantly define itself, but there are some very interesting features about this new dialect, almost entirely a product of the SMS, Instant Message culture.

First is the ease with which spelling errors are embraced into the vernacular. Both "pwned" and "moran" are slips of
the thumb which were absorbed with lightning speed by the digital generation. In fact, the errors give the words an
added emphasis, such that "pwned" is a mega term for "owned". I "pwned " him trumps I "owned" him and a moran is a
bigger fool that a moron could ever be.

Second is the divergence of the written and spoken language. Parents through the ages have struggled to communicate
with their teenage children as the generation gap makes its regular and cyclical appearance every couple of dozen
years or so. But never has the generational slang actually gone non-verbal, till now. Just try to read the above
passage aloud to see what I mean. Moms and dads, if your teenager is not talking, maybe it is because he really
can't say aloud what he's thinking, literally.

Third is the speed at which these assaults on the language quickly make their way into mainstream lingo. Maybe it is
a pathetic attempt on the part of us over-the-hill adults to be cool, but respected technical and political blogs have incorporated pwned and eom as part of their shorthand of communication.

Will it last? Slangs of every generation die out as quickly as they are created. ("Cool" is now so uncool; the new term to express approval is "sick", I believe!). And if the experience of the artist now known as Prince who was formerly known as a Mars/Venus symbol who was formerly known as Prince is anything to go by,eventually the lost sheep feel the need to come back to the fold and buckle down to their English teachers' dicta.

Meanwhile, if you are still interested in making sense of your teenagers' angst, you had better make the urban dictionary your new best friend. And if what you are feeling is a sense of outrage over the murder of the Queen's English, Geeta Padmanabhan reflects on the relevance of grammar in our next article.

ZOMG:  ZOMG is a varient of the acronym "OMG", meaning "Oh My God".The "z" was originally a mistake while attempting to hit the shift key with the left hand, and type "OMG"

W00T: W00t was originally an truncated expression common among players of Dungeons and Dragons tabletop role-playing game for "Wow, loot!" Thus the term passed into the net-culture where it thrived in video game communities and lost its original meaning and is used simply as a term of excitement. 

Pwned: A corruption of the word "Owned."It basically means "to own" or to be dominated by an opponent or situation, especially by some god-like or computer-like force.

n't: universal negative. One can say this at the end of a statement to completely reverse the whole thing. Commonly used to disprove a friend and make him/her seem foolish. 

Moran: A misspelling of moron. Maybe, the way morons spell moron?

Smurf the pool: Originally to use a pool cue to mark the face of your opponent with blue cue chalk.Another way to say "Owned".

Drink your milkshake: Inspired by the 2008 film "There Will Be Blood", the phrase "I drink your milkshake!" is used to indicate oneupmanship or getting the better of someone.

GBCW: Good Bye Cruel World.

EOM: End of Message. Used to signify the end of the post.

Glossary courtesy Urban Dictionary