This is my last quarter at UC Davis, since I am graduating. (FINALLY!) But also, I’m thinking of ways of how to celebrate it. Some ways that came to mind is having a BBQ, road trip, or a vacation with my loved ones. I thought it was great idea to go to Oregon to play at the beach and hike. I was also thinking what souvenirs I should bring back to my parents, perhaps a Oregon beach rock, a pine cone, or mini bottle of sand. It really appealed to me in the readings how a souvenir is how we internalize an external experience. We put all these experience in an object in hopes it can preserve what we experienced. There are so many ways we try to preserve a concept and how we have investments in objects such as a souvenir. Like trophies or that piece of paper that told me that I completed a Bachelor’s Degree, these things allow me to internalize my accomplishments and the 4 years I spent here at Davis. It’s also funny, because it’s subjective. If I give my parents that pine cone, I wonder what they would think.
As a child, I used to collect rocks from different places to keep it as a souvenir, but when my parents were cleaning out my room, they saw it as a hoarding problem. I guess, one person’s souvenir could be seen as a one person’s hoarding issue. I wonder where those rocks are now, because even though, I saw them as a souvenir at one point, right now I don’t even remember where they came from. Perhaps, souvenirs are as fragile as your memory. It’s interesting that souvenirs are temporal objects as well as a representation of abstract concepts (---such as memory).
I agree, we hold on to souvenirs like our memories. In my opinion, this might be because we, as a species, need something tangible to hold on to in order to evoke certain memories. To remind us of the experience that we have experienced in our life. This type of object can also be a way to share the memories to others that might not be a part of that experience, such as by giving the souvenir to your family. I think they will like the pine cone that you'll give them from your trip. It will symbolize the place and it will show that you took time to think about them. And we perceive objects with different values, thus one object might be more special to someone than to other people. It is important to realize that objects holds different meanings depending on the experience and memories that have been infused by the user.
I think the memory is what makes an object a souvenir. Once we forget what that object represent I no longer think it is anything important. Can it really count as a souvenir if we do not remember what it was meant to celebrate?
That's very interesting and it's quite similar to what Stewart stated in the reading for this week that Souvenirs hold feelings through the feelings and narrative that we associate with it. Without a narrative, the souvenir is just a piece of object, similar to how we see your rock as a plain rock but to you, its a representation of your experience and the places you visited. Interesting how you state that souvenir can make a simple object abstract because it's very true.
I love your sentence "one person’s souvenir could be seen as a one person’s hoarding issue". That's true because some souvenirs are personal unique memory, containing individual identification.
I really liked this post. In particular, the last section about not remembering where you even got the rocks struck me the most. As I get older and go on more trips, I find myself focusing less on souvenirs and memorabilia to help preserve memories and more on the actually memories and experiences themselves.
A couple of days ago I was watching the show "Elementary" and there was one character named "Shinwell" on the show. He was a color man and an ex-gang member trying to implicate his former gang. In this show, his wardrobe consist of a black hoodie and an over-sized jean. Through reading "The Hoodie as Sign, Screen, Expectation, and Force" by Mimi Thi Nguyen, I have noticed how colored men are portrayed on TV shows, such as this one. They are mostly shown with a hoodie, mostly a dark colored one, with jeans, and most are affiliated with gangs. This TV show even show many others of colored with the same outfit, which show how the media and TV shows are still influenced by racial profiling. We rarely think about the things that we perceive that we end-up concluding that something is normal. The hoodie in this case acts as the symbol for the whole race, legitimizing violence, transferring the qualities of one to the other. In a way this garment enabled the society to make unconscious judgments on a certain race, equalizing their views on the rest of them without knowing each one of their true identity. This is nicely stated in the quote "This distribution of the sensible – as usable knowledge and as felt atmosphere – helps us to grasp the capacious properties of the hoodies to facilitate or impede recognition, movement, or the will and design of other, to transform and render a body into being-as or being-like some other thing – the criminal or the criminal profile." (Nguyen, p.796). The hoodie has been used by many as an excuse for violence, it has categorized a race, and it has enabled the government to place blame on an object. The character that was discussed in the beginning of this paragraph, died in the recent episode of the "Elementary". He died from a stabbing allegedly done by one of the gang member that he was a part of before his death. This scene further showed the stereotypical endings to people of colors in the media. In fact, most of the news covered today of the colored community, mostly showed how they are mostly involved in gangs, and also how they are prone to violence. This depiction normalized violence for that particular community, leading them to have a standard and ending in a bias against them. The media, in a way, further fueled the racial profiling already present in our society today.
That is interesting. I think we all become used to seeing a hoodie as a bad thing or a good thing depending on context and to me, like I feel that our demographics (socioeconomic status, race,etc) help us create what a hoodie is to us! T_T i find it scary.
As my first year here at Davis comes to an end, my friends and I began to talk about how we wanted to do something to end the year right. They have been taking picture after picture. My friends place these pictures in places that are the most visible to them. Most of us will not be living together next year so everyone is trying to capture the other more and more. Everyone has this impending urge to have some kind of material thing that they can hold in order to later recall the moment. I think for many people, pictures are souvenirs. Souvenirs are supposed to remind the owner of a joyful memory. That’s what pictures do. They freeze good or bad times forever. Picture souvenirs, I personally feel are even more personal that another object type souvenir because we, ourselves, are often in the picture so they are better at evoking nostalgia from us because we can visually see our physical selves back in the moment.
That is true, picture and photographs are a type of souvenir that many hold dear. In a way, these type of objects capture the essence of the moment and it can also function to evoke memories and narratives. It is normal in today's society to try and capture as many moments as possible to remind us of the past and maybe past experiences. This is why Instagram is so popular, not only does it serve as a source of communication, but it also serve as an archive for all the moments and memories that we have.
Pictures are a great way to remember your first year at Davis. You will look back on the pictures in coming years and realize how much you have grown throughout your time here**
Reflecting on a childhood object, my stuff animal, Charmander, has been in my life for the longest time. I received it from a gift from Santa Dad on Christmas of 2004. This was when I was around 9 years old when I was in the 3 or 4th grade. The plush is about 32 inches and my dad got it from Chinatown either from LA or SF. If you don’t know what Charmander is, he’s one of the 1st generation starter pokemon. He’s suppose to resemble a fire lizard. After receiving the gift, it made Charmander my all time favorite pokemon. Charmander is significant to me because growing up, I would take him everywhere I go: to school show&tell, family trips, family camps, and even to college! He’s been my deepest and most loyal companion since my childhood. Sadly, over the years, starting my Junior year of college, he doesn’t hold the same feelings anymore. Maybe it’s because I’m getting old or have someone else as a companion. Nonetheless, my life size Charmander plush still bring me a sense of nostalgia of all my adventures and memories growing up.
Okay first, good choice of starter, charmander is the best. I’ve had similar experiences with stuffed animals from childhood, when I gave away most of my childhood toys in high school I remember not feeling that upset about it, but I knew when I was younger they really mattered to me.
We intentionally or unintentionally give meanings into the objects that we interact with. I think this is what makes it special. We infuse our memories and experiences, and associate them with certain objects, then these objects throughout our life would act as a reminder of that time or feeling.
I want to share a special souvenir. It’s a Chinese traditional fan made of paper. There are generations of Chinese emperors’ portrayals of Qing dynasty on it. I bought it in Chinese famous tourist attraction, the palace museum, in Beijing six years ago and gave it to my grandfather who is a Chinese farmer lives in a small town. He loves Beijing because he’s the biggest fan of Chairman Mao, since he grew up in the Mao’s era and benefit a lot from the CCP. He has been to Beijing once, however, his health situation and age don’t permit him to go there again. That’s why he was extremely happy when I brought a souvenir from Beijing for him. He always holds the fan and tells endless stories of the emperors on it to others. The fan is not only a common souvenir, but also a good carrier of Chinese culture and history, and a good gift from me to my grandfather. I am so glad this small, cheap thing (no more than 2 dollars) could give him so much happiness.
It's interested that you purchased a souvenir on one of your trips, but then gifted it to your grandfather. While the fan might have symbolized your experience in Beijing, when you gifted it to your grandfather, it also symbolized his experience of Beijing. Through this object, he was able to conjure his own memories of that place. The object holds different memories depending on who encounters it. It sounds like a very thoughtful gift!
I've found that souvenirs that you find in stores lack the kind of sentimental and personal value of the trip they're meant to memorialize. Instead, I prefer to use photographs as souvenirs because they not only remind me of the experience itself, but they remind me of my particular perspective on that experience. One of my favorite souvenir photos is of my boyfriend and I at the top of Half Dome in Yosemite. After backpacking for five days, we finally made it to the top of Half Dome! We asked someone to take our picture and we both look sweaty and awkward, but it's one of my favorite pictures because it reminds me of that special experience. At the time, I was exhausted and sore, but looking at the picture now, I feel nostalgic and remember that experience fondly. I am so proud of myself for doing someone like that and I'm happy to have this personal memory forever captured in a photo. I now have this picture framed and sitting on my nightstand so I look at it almost every day.
I’ve had a long standing tradition with my mother regarding souvenirs. Whenever I go somewhere far from home, I bring her back a coffee mug. I guess it started when I went to Disney Land with my high school marching band. I asked her what she would like as a souvenir, to which she usually replied pictures, but she asked for a travel coffee mug. I went out of my way to find the most obnoxiously “Disney” mug I could. Most of the time the mugs are corny, silly gift shop type things that wouldn’t have much worth to someone else. The cupboard is full of mugs from Seattle, Disney Land, Carnegie Hall, the Statue of Liberty, etc. I don’t know if they actually have any value to her; I think that souvenirs and the gesture of giving them is more about the sentiment than the object itself.
My grandma was the same way, I don't know why she insisted on having a cupboard full of mugs from different places if she never even used them. I guess she just like the idea of having stuff from different places, but she could of at least made some use out of the mugs, she wouldn't even let other people use them either...
I think this is a great point. While the souvenir might hold no value at all for the person receiving it if they did not go on the trip, the act of gift giving is extremely meaningful. It shows that the giver cares and thinks about them. I believe that it is important to remember that the next time we receive a souvenir that we may not really want or care about.
Retrospectively speaking, the one time I bought souvenirs for my family, I completely messed it up. When I was 12 years old, I had a special opportunity- a baseball team I was on was participating in a foreign-exchange tournament in Japan. Even then, at 12 years old, I knew this was a once-a-childhood type of opportunity. My parents are both Japanese, and they have never been to Japan themselves.
For days, my team and I traveled around Japan visiting cool landmarks, full of history and culture. I had many opportunities to buy interesting trinkets and learn something from our guided-tours, but my friends and I chose to goof off most of the time; even though these places had great, meaningful souvenirs available, I ended up buying most of my souvenirs from a mall on the last day.
At 12 years old, my parents entrusted me to buy gifts for my cousins and siblings- essentially presents for Christmas. My cousins had bought me new baseball shoes before the trip, and the whole trip, I was thinking of good presents to buy them...Looking back at my gifts for my family, I realized they were all very gimmicky- things only my 12 year old self and cousins would have found pleasure in. I bought a straw rice-hat for 25 dollars, a Hello Kitty statue dressed in a kimono for 30-40 dollars, and I bought t-shirts with basic Japanese characters on them- which I can tell now were aimed at tourists.
Luckily, my cousins liked their gifts at the time, but I guarantee now, these souvenirs are essentially meaningless objects.
Recently I went through a breakup with my boyfriend of two years because we decided that the long distance wasn't really working out so well. So, like any normal person I decided to remove traces/pictures of us together from my walls and I came across our pictures from prom my senior of high school, specifically a photo booth set of pictures. I felt really nostalgic and it was really bittersweet taking them down. The photo booth pictures are still a great souvenir from that night because I actually had a lot of fun with him and my friends, but now it kind of has a new type of connotation to the souvenir of that night since I am no longer dating him. It is reminder of that night and all the fun things that happened, but it can longer tell the same story with the same type of emotions that it had previously.
When I was in 4th or 5th grade, my dad went on a trip with his brothers where he was able to attend an NBA game and meet some of the players beforehand. One of the players he met was Deron Williams, who was among my favorite athletes at the time. When my dad came back home, he gave me an autographed basketball signed by Williams as a souvenir from his trip.
Even though I did not go on the trip with him, I was very happy and excited when I received the gift. As a young basketball fan, it made me feel like I had gone to the game and met Williams myself. That basketball instantly became one of my prized possessions.
If I were to receive a similar gift now, it would not hold the same meaning for me. I would much rather get to meet one of my favorite players and not bring back any signed memorabilia than get a souvenir from an experience that I did not even have. In class, it was briefly mentioned that children tend to value souvenirs more than experiences, and I can say that it was definitely true to me. As I have gotten older, I am better able to appreciate meaningful experiences and am much less inclined to purchase physical objects as momentos.
This is very relatable, I personally have a signed baseball from my favorite baseball player "Barry Bonds" the autographed baseball is still in a frame.
Looking through some of my old poems, I found one about police brutality throughout history and in it I mention wearing a hoodie. I talk about it in the context of by wearing a hoodie, that person is essentially subjecting themselves to scrutiny and judgement. This connects to past discussion and readings in class about hooding as well as racial profiling. My poem sheds a bit of light about racial profiling is destroying some communities and increasing biases among people.
Since we started to talk about the theme nostalgia this reminded me of the episode of Mad Men I watched recently. So Don Draper is the main character he is a narcissist man that is living a double life that no one really knows. He starts to have nostalgia about his poor life, again I mentioned he is living a double life. His first life he was a blue color worker and wasn't as successful, he ended up going to the vientam war and later took the identity of the real Don Draper who had died in battle. With that being said he began a new life and a very successful one. But in every episode he would have little flashbacks from his past. For example he went to Los Angeles and he started to think about his ex wife, throughout the episode he becomes very scared that one day the truth will come out.
Yea I watched all of Mad Men and it was a fantastic series and I completely agree with you about the whole nostalgia thing. Constantly throughout the show, nostalgia in Don Drapers life comes up and I think it is very relevant to what we are talking about class currently.
During the most recent sessions of class, there was a lot of discussion on nostalgia and how it is essentially defined as a sense of longing to the past. The word itself has always struck a chord inside of me; probably because experience the feeling so often. Today while driving around and running some errands with my brother, he plugged the aux cord into his old MP3 player. The device hasn't been updated in years so all we had was old songs and albums that defined our childhood: Timbaland's "Shock Value", Nelly Furtado, Beyonce's "B-Day", and other classics reminded me of simpler times as a child where stress was essentially non-existent. I think it's just really crazy how something as simple as music can bring such strong feelings of nostalgia.
I completely agree with what your saying. I have a old Apple iTouch that has all my old music from middle and high school and it brings back so much memories when my friends and I used to always talk about the hottest songs out during our time.
“The True Cost,” directed by Andrew Morgan, a 2015 documentary, showcased how the clothes we wear are produced and the lives of the people in third world countries. These people are exposed to excess amounts of chemicals, exhaustion, and unfair labor practices. They are paid wages that are not considered a living wage. Corruption plagues the garment factories and people are forced to work till exhaustion. This made me realize that the cloths on my back are more then just a fashion statement. People die, get separated from their families, and work till exhaustion all so I can buy cheep clothing. And what do I do with the clothes I buy? I take them for granted and within a year replace them with new cloths. After watching this documentary I have more respect for the clothes I wear, and although most other people take them for granite I wont. I have concluded to make a pact to myself. Stating that I will only discard of my garments in 3 possible ways. 1) If my cloths no longer fit 2) If there are visible holes and or stains 3) If I give them as hand-me-downs because thrifts stores do not actually help people in the long run.
I totally agree with you. I didn't realize the health, environmental, and social impacts that the fast fashion industry has created. I kind of made a pact to myself too that I would make more conscious purchases and try to spend money on products, where the companies are more socially and environmentally conscious.
After discussing about nostalgia in lecture, I remember when I got my first pair of Air Jordan sneakers. They were the Air Jordan 12s and they bring back many memories back to my childhood. I received the shoes in the first grade and that was around the time I first started playing organized basketball. I always wore these shoes to my games and I remember I won the MVP award wearing these shoes. These shoes were then re-released around 2013 and I just knew I had to get these shoes again to relive that memory and that nostalgic feeling from these particular shoes.
Today at work I spoke to one of the full-time employees who graduated from UC Davis 10 years ago. Him and another coworker spoke about a cantina near Froggy’s that they always went to when they were attending college, but I had never heard of it because it was replaced. This somewhat relates to what we’re talking about in class about nostalgic objects and how certain objects evoke feelings and memories. By bringing up downtown Davis I reminded the two co-workers of a setting that evoked a nostalgic feeling. From that point in the conversation they began to reminisce more about their college years because it seemed like that particular place was a focal point in a lot of their memories. I think that evocative objects come in different forms whether it be physical or emotional, but these souvenirs are important for us to remind us of our personal history.
The last couple of weeks, I'v been thinking a lot about hoodies. I have been wearing hoodies since as long as I can remember and I have never viewed them as violent piece of clothing in any way. However, now that we have been studying the effects of the hoodie on different people, it has made me think more about it. I have always viewed the hoodie as something to keep your head warm from cold weather or to keep you hair down during windy situations. The other thing that I thought it could be was for religious purposes. Never until now have I thought that the hoodie itself is something that can be construed as bad. So hearing that people view the hoodie as an object that portrays violence was a bit surprising for me but it has opened my eyes to view it differently.
I remember when i was in junior hight I had big crush with this girl who is a year older than me. Around that time there was this perfume uncle used to wear and I used to spray it on my school cloth before I go to school to make sure I smell good for my crush. Time goes by and after I graduate from high school , whenever I smell the clone it brings me the vivid pictures of that time. At some point I litterly had to follow the person who had the clone on and asked him where he bought it but he did not remember it. Finally after years of time looking for that clone, my roommates here at Davis had also that clone and I did not hesitate to ask him where he bought it and he told where and i went ahead bought it. Therefore I agree with the past week lecture the fact that smell brings you some vivid memories of the past whether it bitter or sweet.
i feel souvenirs are more than just an object to remember an event. I feel they are an attachment to something. I feel we take more souvenirs than we know. for example, you have have a quick five minute conversation with someone and learn something you never thought of. perhaps you went someone like a concert or ball game and purchased a piece of memorabilia to remember the event by. All in all, I think there is nothing wrong with, and it is important to have a physical memory of certain things and carry those with you throughout your days. I know I do. from daily lessons to pictures or snap chats of where I go and what i do. They are all souvenirs of what has happened in my life.
This is my last quarter at UC Davis, since I am graduating. (FINALLY!) But also, I’m thinking of ways of how to celebrate it. Some ways that came to mind is having a BBQ, road trip, or a vacation with my loved ones. I thought it was great idea to go to Oregon to play at the beach and hike. I was also thinking what souvenirs I should bring back to my parents, perhaps a Oregon beach rock, a pine cone, or mini bottle of sand. It really appealed to me in the readings how a souvenir is how we internalize an external experience. We put all these experience in an object in hopes it can preserve what we experienced. There are so many ways we try to preserve a concept and how we have investments in objects such as a souvenir. Like trophies or that piece of paper that told me that I completed a Bachelor’s Degree, these things allow me to internalize my accomplishments and the 4 years I spent here at Davis. It’s also funny, because it’s subjective. If I give my parents that pine cone, I wonder what they would think.
ReplyDeleteAs a child, I used to collect rocks from different places to keep it as a souvenir, but when my parents were cleaning out my room, they saw it as a hoarding problem. I guess, one person’s souvenir could be seen as a one person’s hoarding issue. I wonder where those rocks are now, because even though, I saw them as a souvenir at one point, right now I don’t even remember where they came from. Perhaps, souvenirs are as fragile as your memory. It’s interesting that souvenirs are temporal objects as well as a representation of abstract concepts (---such as memory).
I agree, we hold on to souvenirs like our memories. In my opinion, this might be because we, as a species, need something tangible to hold on to in order to evoke certain memories. To remind us of the experience that we have experienced in our life. This type of object can also be a way to share the memories to others that might not be a part of that experience, such as by giving the souvenir to your family. I think they will like the pine cone that you'll give them from your trip. It will symbolize the place and it will show that you took time to think about them. And we perceive objects with different values, thus one object might be more special to someone than to other people. It is important to realize that objects holds different meanings depending on the experience and memories that have been infused by the user.
DeleteI think the memory is what makes an object a souvenir. Once we forget what that object represent I no longer think it is anything important. Can it really count as a souvenir if we do not remember what it was meant to celebrate?
DeleteThat's very interesting and it's quite similar to what Stewart stated in the reading for this week that Souvenirs hold feelings through the feelings and narrative that we associate with it. Without a narrative, the souvenir is just a piece of object, similar to how we see your rock as a plain rock but to you, its a representation of your experience and the places you visited.
DeleteInteresting how you state that souvenir can make a simple object abstract because it's very true.
I love your sentence "one person’s souvenir could be seen as a one person’s hoarding issue". That's true because some souvenirs are personal unique memory, containing individual identification.
DeleteI really liked this post. In particular, the last section about not remembering where you even got the rocks struck me the most. As I get older and go on more trips, I find myself focusing less on souvenirs and memorabilia to help preserve memories and more on the actually memories and experiences themselves.
DeleteA couple of days ago I was watching the show "Elementary" and there was one character named "Shinwell" on the show. He was a color man and an ex-gang member trying to implicate his former gang. In this show, his wardrobe consist of a black hoodie and an over-sized jean. Through reading "The Hoodie as Sign, Screen, Expectation, and Force" by Mimi Thi Nguyen, I have noticed how colored men are portrayed on TV shows, such as this one. They are mostly shown with a hoodie, mostly a dark colored one, with jeans, and most are affiliated with gangs. This TV show even show many others of colored with the same outfit, which show how the media and TV shows are still influenced by racial profiling. We rarely think about the things that we perceive that we end-up concluding that something is normal. The hoodie in this case acts as the symbol for the whole race, legitimizing violence, transferring the qualities of one to the other. In a way this garment enabled the society to make unconscious judgments on a certain race, equalizing their views on the rest of them without knowing each one of their true identity. This is nicely stated in the quote "This distribution of the sensible – as usable knowledge and as felt atmosphere – helps us to grasp the capacious properties of the hoodies to facilitate or impede recognition, movement, or the will and design of other, to transform and render a body into being-as or being-like some other thing – the criminal or the criminal profile." (Nguyen, p.796). The hoodie has been used by many as an excuse for violence, it has categorized a race, and it has enabled the government to place blame on an object. The character that was discussed in the beginning of this paragraph, died in the recent episode of the "Elementary". He died from a stabbing allegedly done by one of the gang member that he was a part of before his death. This scene further showed the stereotypical endings to people of colors in the media. In fact, most of the news covered today of the colored community, mostly showed how they are mostly involved in gangs, and also how they are prone to violence. This depiction normalized violence for that particular community, leading them to have a standard and ending in a bias against them. The media, in a way, further fueled the racial profiling already present in our society today.
ReplyDeleteThat is interesting. I think we all become used to seeing a hoodie as a bad thing or a good thing depending on context and to me, like I feel that our demographics (socioeconomic status, race,etc) help us create what a hoodie is to us! T_T i find it scary.
DeleteAs my first year here at Davis comes to an end, my friends and I began to talk about how we wanted to do something to end the year right. They have been taking picture after picture. My friends place these pictures in places that are the most visible to them. Most of us will not be living together next year so everyone is trying to capture the other more and more. Everyone has this impending urge to have some kind of material thing that they can hold in order to later recall the moment. I think for many people, pictures are souvenirs. Souvenirs are supposed to remind the owner of a joyful memory. That’s what pictures do. They freeze good or bad times forever. Picture souvenirs, I personally feel are even more personal that another object type souvenir because we, ourselves, are often in the picture so they are better at evoking nostalgia from us because we can visually see our physical selves back in the moment.
ReplyDeleteThat is true, picture and photographs are a type of souvenir that many hold dear. In a way, these type of objects capture the essence of the moment and it can also function to evoke memories and narratives. It is normal in today's society to try and capture as many moments as possible to remind us of the past and maybe past experiences. This is why Instagram is so popular, not only does it serve as a source of communication, but it also serve as an archive for all the moments and memories that we have.
DeleteI totally agree with you, pictures are most common souvenirs, but are best souvenirs because visual things are more impressive.
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
DeletePictures are a great way to remember your first year at Davis. You will look back on the pictures in coming years and realize how much you have grown throughout your time here**
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteReflecting on a childhood object, my stuff animal, Charmander, has been in my life for the longest time. I received it from a gift from Santa Dad on Christmas of 2004. This was when I was around 9 years old when I was in the 3 or 4th grade. The plush is about 32 inches and my dad got it from Chinatown either from LA or SF.
ReplyDeleteIf you don’t know what Charmander is, he’s one of the 1st generation starter pokemon. He’s suppose to resemble a fire lizard. After receiving the gift, it made Charmander my all time favorite pokemon. Charmander is significant to me because growing up, I would take him everywhere I go: to school show&tell, family trips, family camps, and even to college! He’s been my deepest and most loyal companion since my childhood. Sadly, over the years, starting my Junior year of college, he doesn’t hold the same feelings anymore. Maybe it’s because I’m getting old or have someone else as a companion. Nonetheless, my life size Charmander plush still bring me a sense of nostalgia of all my adventures and memories growing up.
Okay first, good choice of starter, charmander is the best. I’ve had similar experiences with stuffed animals from childhood, when I gave away most of my childhood toys in high school I remember not feeling that upset about it, but I knew when I was younger they really mattered to me.
DeleteWe intentionally or unintentionally give meanings into the objects that we interact with. I think this is what makes it special. We infuse our memories and experiences, and associate them with certain objects, then these objects throughout our life would act as a reminder of that time or feeling.
DeleteI want to share a special souvenir. It’s a Chinese traditional fan made of paper. There are generations of Chinese emperors’ portrayals of Qing dynasty on it. I bought it in Chinese famous tourist attraction, the palace museum, in Beijing six years ago and gave it to my grandfather who is a Chinese farmer lives in a small town. He loves Beijing because he’s the biggest fan of Chairman Mao, since he grew up in the Mao’s era and benefit a lot from the CCP. He has been to Beijing once, however, his health situation and age don’t permit him to go there again. That’s why he was extremely happy when I brought a souvenir from Beijing for him. He always holds the fan and tells endless stories of the emperors on it to others.
ReplyDeleteThe fan is not only a common souvenir, but also a good carrier of Chinese culture and history, and a good gift from me to my grandfather. I am so glad this small, cheap thing (no more than 2 dollars) could give him so much happiness.
It's interested that you purchased a souvenir on one of your trips, but then gifted it to your grandfather. While the fan might have symbolized your experience in Beijing, when you gifted it to your grandfather, it also symbolized his experience of Beijing. Through this object, he was able to conjure his own memories of that place. The object holds different memories depending on who encounters it. It sounds like a very thoughtful gift!
DeleteI've found that souvenirs that you find in stores lack the kind of sentimental and personal value of the trip they're meant to memorialize. Instead, I prefer to use photographs as souvenirs because they not only remind me of the experience itself, but they remind me of my particular perspective on that experience. One of my favorite souvenir photos is of my boyfriend and I at the top of Half Dome in Yosemite. After backpacking for five days, we finally made it to the top of Half Dome! We asked someone to take our picture and we both look sweaty and awkward, but it's one of my favorite pictures because it reminds me of that special experience. At the time, I was exhausted and sore, but looking at the picture now, I feel nostalgic and remember that experience fondly. I am so proud of myself for doing someone like that and I'm happy to have this personal memory forever captured in a photo.
ReplyDeleteI now have this picture framed and sitting on my nightstand so I look at it almost every day.
oh no way you climbed half dome? Im doing that this summer any tips?
DeleteI’ve had a long standing tradition with my mother regarding souvenirs. Whenever I go somewhere far from home, I bring her back a coffee mug. I guess it started when I went to Disney Land with my high school marching band. I asked her what she would like as a souvenir, to which she usually replied pictures, but she asked for a travel coffee mug. I went out of my way to find the most obnoxiously “Disney” mug I could. Most of the time the mugs are corny, silly gift shop type things that wouldn’t have much worth to someone else. The cupboard is full of mugs from Seattle, Disney Land, Carnegie Hall, the Statue of Liberty, etc. I don’t know if they actually have any value to her; I think that souvenirs and the gesture of giving them is more about the sentiment than the object itself.
ReplyDeleteMy grandma was the same way, I don't know why she insisted on having a cupboard full of mugs from different places if she never even used them. I guess she just like the idea of having stuff from different places, but she could of at least made some use out of the mugs, she wouldn't even let other people use them either...
DeleteI think this is a great point. While the souvenir might hold no value at all for the person receiving it if they did not go on the trip, the act of gift giving is extremely meaningful. It shows that the giver cares and thinks about them. I believe that it is important to remember that the next time we receive a souvenir that we may not really want or care about.
DeleteRetrospectively speaking, the one time I bought souvenirs for my family, I completely messed it up. When I was 12 years old, I had a special opportunity- a baseball team I was on was participating in a foreign-exchange tournament in Japan. Even then, at 12 years old, I knew this was a once-a-childhood type of opportunity. My parents are both Japanese, and they have never been to Japan themselves.
ReplyDeleteFor days, my team and I traveled around Japan visiting cool landmarks, full of history and culture. I had many opportunities to buy interesting trinkets and learn something from our guided-tours, but my friends and I chose to goof off most of the time; even though these places had great, meaningful souvenirs available, I ended up buying most of my souvenirs from a mall on the last day.
At 12 years old, my parents entrusted me to buy gifts for my cousins and siblings- essentially presents for Christmas. My cousins had bought me new baseball shoes before the trip, and the whole trip, I was thinking of good presents to buy them...Looking back at my gifts for my family, I realized they were all very gimmicky- things only my 12 year old self and cousins would have found pleasure in. I bought a straw rice-hat for 25 dollars, a Hello Kitty statue dressed in a kimono for 30-40 dollars, and I bought t-shirts with basic Japanese characters on them- which I can tell now were aimed at tourists.
Luckily, my cousins liked their gifts at the time, but I guarantee now, these souvenirs are essentially meaningless objects.
Recently I went through a breakup with my boyfriend of two years because we decided that the long distance wasn't really working out so well. So, like any normal person I decided to remove traces/pictures of us together from my walls and I came across our pictures from prom my senior of high school, specifically a photo booth set of pictures. I felt really nostalgic and it was really bittersweet taking them down. The photo booth pictures are still a great souvenir from that night because I actually had a lot of fun with him and my friends, but now it kind of has a new type of connotation to the souvenir of that night since I am no longer dating him. It is reminder of that night and all the fun things that happened, but it can longer tell the same story with the same type of emotions that it had previously.
ReplyDeleteI relate to this because I've been going through this exact thing and nostalgia hits you like a truck.
DeleteWhen I was in 4th or 5th grade, my dad went on a trip with his brothers where he was able to attend an NBA game and meet some of the players beforehand. One of the players he met was Deron Williams, who was among my favorite athletes at the time. When my dad came back home, he gave me an autographed basketball signed by Williams as a souvenir from his trip.
ReplyDeleteEven though I did not go on the trip with him, I was very happy and excited when I received the gift. As a young basketball fan, it made me feel like I had gone to the game and met Williams myself. That basketball instantly became one of my prized possessions.
If I were to receive a similar gift now, it would not hold the same meaning for me. I would much rather get to meet one of my favorite players and not bring back any signed memorabilia than get a souvenir from an experience that I did not even have. In class, it was briefly mentioned that children tend to value souvenirs more than experiences, and I can say that it was definitely true to me. As I have gotten older, I am better able to appreciate meaningful experiences and am much less inclined to purchase physical objects as momentos.
This is very relatable, I personally have a signed baseball from my favorite baseball player "Barry Bonds" the autographed baseball is still in a frame.
DeleteLooking through some of my old poems, I found one about police brutality throughout history and in it I mention wearing a hoodie. I talk about it in the context of by wearing a hoodie, that person is essentially subjecting themselves to scrutiny and judgement. This connects to past discussion and readings in class about hooding as well as racial profiling. My poem sheds a bit of light about racial profiling is destroying some communities and increasing biases among people.
ReplyDeleteSince we started to talk about the theme nostalgia this reminded me of the episode of Mad Men I watched recently. So Don Draper is the main character he is a narcissist man that is living a double life that no one really knows. He starts to have nostalgia about his poor life, again I mentioned he is living a double life. His first life he was a blue color worker and wasn't as successful, he ended up going to the vientam war and later took the identity of the real Don Draper who had died in battle. With that being said he began a new life and a very successful one. But in every episode he would have little flashbacks from his past. For example he went to Los Angeles and he started to think about his ex wife, throughout the episode he becomes very scared that one day the truth will come out.
ReplyDeleteYea I watched all of Mad Men and it was a fantastic series and I completely agree with you about the whole nostalgia thing. Constantly throughout the show, nostalgia in Don Drapers life comes up and I think it is very relevant to what we are talking about class currently.
DeleteDuring the most recent sessions of class, there was a lot of discussion on nostalgia and how it is essentially defined as a sense of longing to the past. The word itself has always struck a chord inside of me; probably because experience the feeling so often. Today while driving around and running some errands with my brother, he plugged the aux cord into his old MP3 player. The device hasn't been updated in years so all we had was old songs and albums that defined our childhood: Timbaland's "Shock Value", Nelly Furtado, Beyonce's "B-Day", and other classics reminded me of simpler times as a child where stress was essentially non-existent. I think it's just really crazy how something as simple as music can bring such strong feelings of nostalgia.
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with what your saying. I have a old Apple iTouch that has all my old music from middle and high school and it brings back so much memories when my friends and I used to always talk about the hottest songs out during our time.
Delete“The True Cost,” directed by Andrew Morgan, a 2015 documentary, showcased how the clothes we wear are produced and the lives of the people in third world countries. These people are exposed to excess amounts of chemicals, exhaustion, and unfair labor practices. They are paid wages that are not considered a living wage. Corruption plagues the garment factories and people are forced to work till exhaustion. This made me realize that the cloths on my back are more then just a fashion statement. People die, get separated from their families, and work till exhaustion all so I can buy cheep clothing. And what do I do with the clothes I buy? I take them for granted and within a year replace them with new cloths. After watching this documentary I have more respect for the clothes I wear, and although most other people take them for granite I wont. I have concluded to make a pact to myself. Stating that I will only discard of my garments in 3 possible ways. 1) If my cloths no longer fit 2) If there are visible holes and or stains 3) If I give them as hand-me-downs because thrifts stores do not actually help people in the long run.
ReplyDeleteI totally agree with you. I didn't realize the health, environmental, and social impacts that the fast fashion industry has created. I kind of made a pact to myself too that I would make more conscious purchases and try to spend money on products, where the companies are more socially and environmentally conscious.
DeleteAfter discussing about nostalgia in lecture, I remember when I got my first pair of Air Jordan sneakers. They were the Air Jordan 12s and they bring back many memories back to my childhood. I received the shoes in the first grade and that was around the time I first started playing organized basketball. I always wore these shoes to my games and I remember I won the MVP award wearing these shoes. These shoes were then re-released around 2013 and I just knew I had to get these shoes again to relive that memory and that nostalgic feeling from these particular shoes.
ReplyDeleteToday at work I spoke to one of the full-time employees who graduated from UC Davis 10 years ago. Him and another coworker spoke about a cantina near Froggy’s that they always went to when they were attending college, but I had never heard of it because it was replaced. This somewhat relates to what we’re talking about in class about nostalgic objects and how certain objects evoke feelings and memories. By bringing up downtown Davis I reminded the two co-workers of a setting that evoked a nostalgic feeling. From that point in the conversation they began to reminisce more about their college years because it seemed like that particular place was a focal point in a lot of their memories. I think that evocative objects come in different forms whether it be physical or emotional, but these souvenirs are important for us to remind us of our personal history.
ReplyDeleteThe last couple of weeks, I'v been thinking a lot about hoodies. I have been wearing hoodies since as long as I can remember and I have never viewed them as violent piece of clothing in any way. However, now that we have been studying the effects of the hoodie on different people, it has made me think more about it. I have always viewed the hoodie as something to keep your head warm from cold weather or to keep you hair down during windy situations. The other thing that I thought it could be was for religious purposes. Never until now have I thought that the hoodie itself is something that can be construed as bad. So hearing that people view the hoodie as an object that portrays violence was a bit surprising for me but it has opened my eyes to view it differently.
ReplyDeleteI remember when i was in junior hight I had big crush with this girl who is a year older than me. Around that time there was this perfume uncle used to wear and I used to spray it on my school cloth before I go to school to make sure I smell good for my crush. Time goes by and after I graduate from high school , whenever I smell the clone it brings me the vivid pictures of that time. At some point I litterly had to follow the person who had the clone on and asked him where he bought it but he did not remember it. Finally after years of time looking for that clone, my roommates here at Davis had also that clone and I did not hesitate to ask him where he bought it and he told where and i went ahead bought it. Therefore I agree with the past week lecture the fact that smell brings you some vivid memories of the past whether it bitter or sweet.
ReplyDeletei feel souvenirs are more than just an object to remember an event. I feel they are an attachment to something. I feel we take more souvenirs than we know. for example, you have have a quick five minute conversation with someone and learn something you never thought of. perhaps you went someone like a concert or ball game and purchased a piece of memorabilia to remember the event by. All in all, I think there is nothing wrong with, and it is important to have a physical memory of certain things and carry those with you throughout your days. I know I do. from daily lessons to pictures or snap chats of where I go and what i do. They are all souvenirs of what has happened in my life.
ReplyDelete