journal49


	August 24, 2004 - Licelee and Jhanelle can get into yoga positions as well as Yoga Journal magazine model. The boys I play soccer with can't touch their toes. Our class has a new transfer student from Manila. He is Mourelle (below, in orange) and he has caused quite a stir amongst the girls of section 6A (not to mention all the other girls in the other sections as well as the high school girls). He is "pogi" (handsome), so it is interesting for me to watch the effect he has on others. He lives a few houses away from me and because we have been playing soccer, I have spent a lot of time with him. He handles the cat-calls from girls as well as the stares of many jealous boys well.
Mourelle is pogi because he is tall (almost as tall as I am) and puti (white). It is the male image that you see on TV. I have studied the Filipino idea of beauty though TV, magazines (Metro) and advertisements. It is different than what me and my Filipino-American friends in Hawaii would think. For instance, to be fair (light skinned) is considered beautiful for males and females. This is true thoughout most of Asia. However, in Hawaii, back in my childhood days, to be fair-skinned meant one of a few bad things. One, you were a tourist (not a good thing for a local to be called). Two, you were a FOB (Fresh Off the Boat-recent immigrant, probably an impolite term today, but we were kids then). Three, you did not surf or body board, marking you as weird..




I have chosen not to adopt the Filipino desire for fair skin because I enjoy spending time outside. I am darker than most of my students and most everyone except for hard working farmers and other manual laborers. I was not darker than most of my Filipino friends in Hawaii. I have learned that Hawaii is the real "oddball" and my perceptions are way off the mark for Asia.

		Home Next

Hosted by www.Geocities.ws