https://padlet.com/bracchii/n45xeczh28mhdq0f By: Isabelle, Jay, Colin, Tristin, Wei Wei en-us 2021-12-15 17:23:19 UTC 2026-01-28 23:13:45 UTC hello@padlet.com bacekt https://padlet.com/bracchii/n45xeczh28mhdq0f/wish/1950032969 Life as an immigrant was hard for Malaka because she was a young childs with divorced parents from two completely different places. Ths book has to do with racism and discrimination because malaka is egyptian and fillipene. Malaka is treated differently than others because of this and does not have a very good socail life but she is not rude or does not blame it on anyone because of it. Her sister minn minn is younger than her but mor epopular because she is not mixed race whcih is also part of racism. 

Characters
-Malaka
-Minn minn
-Malakas Mom
-Malakas Dad
-Tatay(Her grandfather)
-Tita Pink(Malakas Aunt)
-Tito Arnel(Pinkys husband)
-Tito Maro(Malakas Uncel)
-Nanay(malakas Grandma)
-Hala(Malakas stepmother)


]]> 2021-12-15 17:31:11 UTC https://padlet.com/bracchii/n45xeczh28mhdq0f/wish/1950032969 butkowskij https://padlet.com/bracchii/n45xeczh28mhdq0f/wish/1950038967 Malaka had first grown up Cerritos, a place in Los Angeles county. She grew up with her Filipino mother and Muslim father. The setting changed periodically and often, since she practically lived in two very different areas. Over the summer, she would go to Egypt with her father and during the school year she would be with her mother. At one point, the setting is in a college and at another it's in an office. ]]> 2021-12-15 17:33:56 UTC https://padlet.com/bracchii/n45xeczh28mhdq0f/wish/1950038967 bracchii https://padlet.com/bracchii/n45xeczh28mhdq0f/wish/1952911663 In "I was Their American Dream" the story takes place in America, specificaly Cerritos. The book goes through her life so the beginning starts when she was a baby. The book was published in 2019 so I would say that, thats around the time that the book is in. 

]]> 2021-12-17 02:00:36 UTC https://padlet.com/bracchii/n45xeczh28mhdq0f/wish/1952911663 bracchii https://padlet.com/bracchii/n45xeczh28mhdq0f/wish/1952919571 This is Cerritos, where Malka grew up with her Filipino family. Her parents immigrated to this country in the early 1980s and meet in Los Angeles. They did not have Malaka yet until they immigrated here.]]> 2021-12-17 02:06:02 UTC https://padlet.com/bracchii/n45xeczh28mhdq0f/wish/1952919571 zhongwe https://padlet.com/bracchii/n45xeczh28mhdq0f/wish/1953971554 Her parents were married around the early 20th century or so. So the story would have taken place around that year. Now the social issues in the story are immigration and racism. 

Previously, immigrants coming to the U.S. faced terrible things, for example, few job opportunities, poor living conditions, forced assimilation, racial discrimination, poverty, social functionality, racism etc. In the past, white people were always superior. 

So Malaka, as an immigrant in this time period, she was experiencing the same conflicts. Plus her parents were also from different places.  ]]> 2021-12-17 16:15:12 UTC https://padlet.com/bracchii/n45xeczh28mhdq0f/wish/1953971554 zhongwe https://padlet.com/bracchii/n45xeczh28mhdq0f/wish/1957975265 Malaka Gharib is the author of this book. From this article I understand why she wrote this memoir because she wanted to tell the story of growing up as a first generation Filipino Egyptian-American. And she wrote books that covered issues including the refugee crisis, gender equality etc. And all of these have been expressed in her book. For example, Malaka didn't have enough money to go to college and needed her Mom to take mortgage money to help her. ]]> 2021-12-21 02:10:07 UTC https://padlet.com/bracchii/n45xeczh28mhdq0f/wish/1957975265 zhongwe https://padlet.com/bracchii/n45xeczh28mhdq0f/wish/1957990771 I added the time period in which the story takes place and the problems immigrants would have faced during that time period to the padlet, because I think the time period had a big impact on how things happened in the story. In contrast to the present time when it is very difficult for immigrants to live in America, if the story took place in present day, the social issues in the book might be less or different. The point of this message is to tell that the time period has a direct effect on the social issues. ]]> 2021-12-21 02:21:34 UTC https://padlet.com/bracchii/n45xeczh28mhdq0f/wish/1957990771 zhongwe https://padlet.com/bracchii/n45xeczh28mhdq0f/wish/1958005489 I added information about the author to this padlet because knowing the author can help us understand the book better. For example, what the author went through, the reasons for writing the book, and the themes the author often write about. ]]> 2021-12-21 02:31:20 UTC https://padlet.com/bracchii/n45xeczh28mhdq0f/wish/1958005489 bacekt https://padlet.com/bracchii/n45xeczh28mhdq0f/wish/1959185017 Malaka's dad was from Egypt and her mom was from The Filipines. Malaka was born and raised in California USA. Shortly after she grew up her dad and mom got divorced and her dad went back to egypt and her and her mom stayed in california.]]> 2021-12-21 16:56:50 UTC https://padlet.com/bracchii/n45xeczh28mhdq0f/wish/1959185017 bacekt https://padlet.com/bracchii/n45xeczh28mhdq0f/wish/1959201290 Rascism playes a big part in peoples lifes and especially malaks life. It plays a part in malkas life because she is mis-treated by some people because of her race. Rascism is a reoccuring problem in this world today Amongst America especailly]]> 2021-12-21 17:08:03 UTC https://padlet.com/bracchii/n45xeczh28mhdq0f/wish/1959201290 bracchii https://padlet.com/bracchii/n45xeczh28mhdq0f/wish/1959201352 In this book there is a couple of social issues. One of the main issues is discrimination. This is a major problem for Malaka throughout her life. She was always has been the "different" one. She never fit in anywhere because she was half Filipino and half Egyption. She also never had a friend group because the kids left her out. As she grew older she also faced discrimination in the place she lived in and the work enviornment.]]> 2021-12-21 17:08:05 UTC https://padlet.com/bracchii/n45xeczh28mhdq0f/wish/1959201352 zhongwe https://padlet.com/bracchii/n45xeczh28mhdq0f/wish/1959228869 Growing up in California, Malaka experienced feelings of cultural isolation and difficulty fitting in due to her mixed heritage. Her trouble fitting in stems from her mixed heritage: her mother is Filipino and her father is Egyptian. After her parents split up, Malaka spent summers with her father in Egypt, where she felt like a complete outsider due to her upbringing in the United States.

Malaka starts out in this story with a lack of confidence in her own ethnic culture, and in the way she looks. She feels that she is neither Filipino nor American. But by the end, she chooses to accept herself, her race, and what she looks like. She reconciled with herself that she didn't need to be who her parents wanted her to be, or pretend to be someone else at work. She is who she is. A free spirited Filipina. She didn't obey her parents' choice to marry a Muslim, she married a white man. Although she didn't obey her parents' choice, she was happy with Darren. And in the end it shows that her parents were also racist, the same as the people around Malaka.]]> 2021-12-21 17:27:56 UTC https://padlet.com/bracchii/n45xeczh28mhdq0f/wish/1959228869 butkowskij https://padlet.com/bracchii/n45xeczh28mhdq0f/wish/1959229714 For Malaka, fitting in was difficult due to her being foreign from the area. She grew up in Cerritos, Los Angeles county. Malaka was used to her past settings and customs, therefore it was hard for her to get used to the people around her. The dishes she used to enjoy were seen as gross or weird. The traditions she used to practice were seen as strange and unnatural. She needed to learn how the people around her acted and what they did if she wanted to fit in.]]> 2021-12-21 17:28:33 UTC https://padlet.com/bracchii/n45xeczh28mhdq0f/wish/1959229714 zhongwe https://padlet.com/bracchii/n45xeczh28mhdq0f/wish/1959234019 I add information about social issues to this padlet because the setting, and where she from has affected her to face social issue like cultural isolation. ]]> 2021-12-21 17:31:37 UTC https://padlet.com/bracchii/n45xeczh28mhdq0f/wish/1959234019 byrnecs https://padlet.com/bracchii/n45xeczh28mhdq0f/wish/1962204378 Malaka's mom was from the Philippines. This means that Malaka is part Filipino and this causes problems for her in the book. She gets made fun of for being Filipino and has to try and make friends and live with it. Malaka is a very strong person and get over it and end's up living a good life with her family.]]> 2021-12-23 15:08:12 UTC https://padlet.com/bracchii/n45xeczh28mhdq0f/wish/1962204378