IRB Post #3

For my third IRB, I have chosen to read the book The Unwanted: A Memoir of a Childhood. In this story, Kien Nguyen relives his ten years of childhood in Vietnam after Saigon fell to the Vietcong. Kien reveals all that he had to go through as a young boy including many kids viewing him as an outsider due to his mixed race, as well as many harsh racists remarks on a daily basis. I have chosen to read this book because it offers me a look into what it was like to be a kid with American blood during this time, and it is also the only memoir by an Amerasian who stayed behind in Vietnam after the fall of Saigon and who is now living in America. I hope to gain this knowledge because I view myself as a bit of a history geek, as you can tell since my past two reads have both related to World War II. 

TOW #14 - Is the Hoverboard Cool?

Today's generation seems to be mesmerized by the silliest of trends that make older generations think that we are a joke. The new hoverboard that has thousands of teens fascinated is no exception. In an effort to keep up with the trends, author Michael Christie gives his opinion on the experience he had with the modern version of skateboarding. Through his use of targeted sarcasm, Christie makes fun of our obsession with the ridiculous luxuries and exemplifies how today's society is much different in regards to technology from when he grew up. Back when Christie was a in his teens, "No skateboard had ever caught fire, as one Fit Turbo hoverboard did, while its cheap lithium-ion batteries were charging, badly damaging a family’s Louisiana home." Taking aim directly at how our culture is so much different from "the good ol' days", Christie's sense of humor exposes how ridiculous obsession is with such ridiculous items. Similar to the passage I read about pink flamingos in the 1970s, the author has a very different view of the fancy trends, then a majority of Americans. He sees through to how the hoverboard is a representation of such a change in times and technology. "Skateboarding was once dismissed as a fad as well, wasn’t it? Had I become a crank? A nostalgic? A believer that all the truly cool things lay behind us?" Not only is this a great use of sarcasm, but the rhetorical questions also remind the reader of how it seems that people who used to think they were hip, have now ended up in the review mirror to the new types of technological trends of the era. Wrapping up the essay with him taking a test drive, it seems at first that he is going to get the hang of it. However, just as quickly as he got on, the board flew right out from under his feet, leaving him crashing to the floor in the local appliance store. Today's generation has endless limits with the knowledge and the technology when it comes to benefiting society, however, Christine and many other old timers are skeptic the new trends that has risen out of the technological era, such as the hoverboard.