The Blog of Elaine Wang

16 March 2015

So my mom was yelling at me about random bullshit again. I'm literally just done with her shit. I don't even care anymore 'cause she's crazy (but obviously I actually still do because I'm human and she's my mom).

A few days ago I was reading El Estoque (my school's monthly magazine), and one of the articles mentioned someone called Ethan. My mind immediately went to the Ethan that died in a bike accident (collision with a truck) at the end of last year. I knew the article wasn't talking about him though. Regardless, the Ethan that passed away was in my class, and so it's so strange to me. I think about it, and he's just gone. Like, I spoke to this person, and now I can never speak to him again even if I wanted to. Almost everyone at my school and even in my classes are just people I see. They are just another student to me. And he was too. He still is, but now he's just a dead one. That sounds really insensitive and mean but it's the truth. I didn't actually care about him, and so I didn't pretend that I cared about him just because he died. Isn't that a shitty thing to do? I mean I think it is: "yeah i didn't give two shits about you, but now I'm sooo sad and of course I totally cared about you now that you're dead! :P". My point is, I find it impossible and arrogant to claim that you care about someone just because they died. Many of these people never even spoke to him. They never thought about him, and they weren't even friends with him. Of course I cared that he died (probably the human sympathy I felt for his family, etc.), but I didn't really care about him. Then again, my definition of care is very strong. A clear sign of my apathy towards others, and in this case specifically him, is my early blog post about douchebags (my rant about hobbes, transportation equaling signalling, etc.). At the end of the post I briefly mentioned the two people I was doing the project with. The popular hot girl and this other guy that was "just there". Ethan was the guy. He happened to be the first person I sat next to in both Literature and History (the project was in history). In Lit. we always do this thing when we change seats: we talk to our partner about anything. After the conversation, I learned that he liked sword art online (haha), and he liked to play some games that I can no longer remember the names of. My point is that I think about him more now that he's dead, and I guess that sucks. I was listening to him when he spoke, but I wasn't actively storing that information. I didn't think I would have to, but now I can never again ask him and find out. That information is literally lost forever. That's what's so strangely creepy to me.

There was also this other thing that happened when he died. People changed their profile pictures on Facebook to something that said something like "Monta Vista Cares" or "Cupertino Cares". All I will say here is that I disagree with it; I've explained why so many times before, and I just don't want to do it again (it's long).

People gradually forgot. Or at least it seems that way. Life goes on for everyone else, and it should. I guess all you have to do is think about it in your mind. Because if they truly cared, they wouldn't have to scream it to the world.

Many of those who live in the industrialized city of Lagos face a common problem: money. It seems strange that, as areas become more industrialized, the more impoverish they become. Although that appears counterintuitive, it makes more sense when one reasons the tendency people have to drift towards industrialized areas. They go looking for opportunity, and even if they fail, they might as well try. Lagos’ government is attempting to fix this issue by improving the city’s infrastructure. Improvement in infrastructure will help alleviate the effects of Lagos’ economic ‘lottery’. Due to this perceived lottery, where luck means everything, the industrialized city of Lagos is continuously growing in population and forming a megacity; though the lottery is just as it sounds, near impossible to win, people still go because they have nothing else but the hope that they will.

Even the extreme poverty plaguing Lagos is not enough to stop new people from immigrating. Those in poverty are not simply poorer than the rich; they are poorer than the poor. Poverty occurs when people are lacking the basic necessities for life because they cannot afford it. Although poverty is indeed a worldwide phenomenon, Nigeria, and therefore Lagos, has been classified as one of the most impoverished parts of the world (Dosunmu). The average worker is unable to support their families because of inflations on food and transportation. Though there is a minimum wage implemented by the federal government, not only do many states not follow this wage, the wage itself is below the necessary amount for basic necessities such as healthcare, food, and education (Dosunmu). This issue, especially inadequate education, is causing many to fall even further into poverty, if that is even possible. Much of the population’s descent into poverty is fueling yet another issue in Lagos: the wealth gap. Upwards of 70% of the population is spending less than N320 (equivalent to approximately 1.7 USD) (Dosunmu). The rest of the population is not necessarily rich (though some are), but they are not in the same unlivable state as the 70% mentioned previously. A major way the wealth gap issue can be solved is through proper education, which leads to yet another complication.

The lack of Education is a key factor towards the near unbreakable cycle of poverty many Lagosians are stuck in. Often times, education appears tedious to privileged students. In fact, it is illegal in many places for people not to attend school at a certain age interval. Yet for Lagosians, school is not so easy to attend, and those who do, display tendencies towards juvenile delinquency and teenage pregnancy, greatly affecting their performance (Dosunmu). In a study of 250 students attending schools in the slums of Lagos, 79.2% of them attested that they were not helped at all by their parents in their studies and often did not have the proper textbooks for their studies either (Rhoda). On the other hand, only 11.5% of the students attending private schools said the same thing (Rhoda). This may be correlated to parents of poorer households coming home from late jobs (simply to make ends meet with their low pay) and not having enough time to help their children. From this breeds a greater saturation of poorly performing students in the poorer areas of Lagos. The increase in grade deficiency in turn pushes parents into influencing their children to quit school and find a less skillful job to support the family.

Instead of continuing school, many children tend to search for a job instead. It can be said that this is a completely bad thing, but the Lagosian job of filtering E-waste can be more helpful than it seems. E-waste is electronic waste, and in this day and age, technology is knowledge. Knowledge, besides money, is what makes the world go round. Therefore, workers hope to break out of their continuous cycle of poverty through the information gained from E-waste (Sullivan). Through this salvaging of waste, many Lagosians have become experts at electronic repair, and their economy takes full advantage of these skills. Yet, as great as this sounds, there are obvious detrimental effects as well; the major one being health. The dumping of E-waste and the open handling of electronics have been shown to poison the landscape along with the humans living there. For example, flatscreen TVs contain mercury, and the unregulated handling of mercury along with other dangerous elements such as arsenic cause the poisoning of well water, soil, and most importantly, the human body (Sullivan). Even those who do not work these jobs are indirectly affected through drinking the water and eating the plants grown from the soil. Knowledge for the few is not worth it if it detriments the needs of the many living in Lagos.

Despite all these issues, it is clear that people still choose to go to Lagos. They go because they hope that, even disregarding the health issues that may plague them, it is still better than dying without trying (Packer). The reason they do not simply stay in Nigeria is because Lagos is where most of the knowledge-rich E-waste goes. This is due to lower shipping costs and Lagos’ loosely regulated environmental protection laws (Sullivan). As this happens, people with no other chance drift towards Lagos looking for a job. In essence, they go hoping to strike it rich no matter how low the chances are, just like winning the lottery.

Besides the implications on human health, there is also the issue of inadequate government assistance. The government is working to combat poverty by improving Lagos’ infrastructural quality and quantity (New Africa). The state governor Raji Fashola is working to make Lagos a proper megacity, rather than just a megacity. These public works projects will not only improve the quality of life for Lagosians, but will also give many of the workers jobs. One of the major achievements of Fashola is the building of over 1,000 roads and multiple public buildings (New Africa). These new buildings will improve transportation and jobs, which will subsequently improve living standards. Though all these things appear great on the surface level, roads cannot be built for forever, and not everybody will get a job from this. Therefore, though the government is working towards a better Lagos, the greater 70% of the population is still living below the poverty line (LeBas).

The cycle of poverty much of the Lagosian population is stuck in is not easily fixed. It is made even worse by a continuous stream of people traveling to Lagos in hopes of winning the “lottery”. Like its namesake, this system is almost entirely based on luck, and therefore many of the people hoping to win, do not. Although there are attempts to fix this by enhancing the infrastructure of Lagos, this only gives jobs to a few people, and not for the long term. The wealth gap continues to widen, not only with the rich getting richer, but also with the poor getting poorer. There must be a regulation on the number of people allowed to live in Lagos, or the poorer population will only become poorer, especially when education is not of concern to many of the parents living there. Without adequate education, it is even harder for those in poverty to rise up.



Dosunmu, Simeon, and Rhoda Sowunmi. "Impact Of Deprivations In Childhood On The Academic Performance Of Secondary School Students In Ghetto Areas In Lagos, Nigeria." Online Submission (2013): ERIC. Web. 19 Nov. 2014.

This article discusses the effects on education in the poorer parts of Lagos. It investigates the differences between scores due to different schooling. This is relevant to why the lottery system is even a lottery. It in part explains the issues of not having adequate education, and how this does not allow people living in Lagos to rise up from their low economic status. The author is from Lagos State University, so it comes that he would be even more informed about Lagos education than he already is. This article comes from EBSCO. I used this article for the partial cause of the wealth gap.

LeBas, Adrienne. "Violence And Urban Order In Nairobi, Kenya And Lagos, Nigeria." Studies In Comparative International Development 48.3 (2013): 240. Advanced Placement Source. Web. 19 Nov. 2014.

This article explores the politics and government in Lagos (as well as other dangerous cities). It writes about how the violence is connected with politics as well as militia. This article is useful for the government aspect of the paper. This source is credible because the author, Adrienne LeBas, is the assistant professor in the Department of Government at American University. Her research interests include social movements, democratization, and political violence: these topics all relate greatly to this article. This article came from EBSCO. I used this article for information related to government action.

Packer, George. "The Megacity - The New Yorker." The New Yorker. N.p., Nov.-Dec. 2006. Web. 01 Dec. 2014.

Although this article is from 2006, it provides useful background information and anecdotes about Lagos. It also explains the whole concept of the lottery system and why the people in Lagos are so persistent in never giving up. This article is from the New Yorker. I based my thesis off of this article, as in the lottery system and hope concept.

Sullivan, Jack. "Trash Or Treasure: Global Trade And The Accumulation Of E-Waste In Lagos, Nigeria." Africa Today 61.1 (2014): 89. Advanced Placement Source. Web. 19 Nov. 2014.

This article writes about the e-waste being dumped in Lagos and the recycling methods the people who live there use to extract valuable materials. It also discusses the effects of this on Nigeria’s economic, ecological, and human health. The information in this article will be used for the social and human aspect of the paper. It summarizes the topic of what Lagosians do in order to survive if they are unable to win the lottery, as most people don’t. He also touches on the environment and therefore human health issue of this E-waste. The author concisely explains why this issue is so prevalent in Lagos in the first place. This article is from EBSCO. I used this for the human impact of people constantly moving to Lagos without real contribution.

Unknown. "Lagos State Under The Leadership Of The State Governor." New African 533 (2013): 56. Advanced Placement Source. Web. 1 Dec. 2014.

This article summarizes Lagos under the leadership of the State Governor and how he is improving the infrastructure of Lagos in order to bring it closer to the envisioned megacity. The article is taken from New Africa and writes clearly and concisely about what the State Governor’s achievements in his project to improve Lagos are. This is greatly related to what the government is doing in relation to the problem of Lagos’ lottery system. This article comes from EBSCO. It was used for the government action information.

In Paths of Glory, Kubrick illustrates the absurdity in the idea that higher up individuals are allowed to dictate unavoidable orders because they know their rank will protect them; this negligent attitude prompts them to make unjust decisions that do not affect them. The more prominent figures Kubrick uses in his film to exemplify this idea are General Mireau and the court. Mireau is shown to be constantly, to the point of being comedic, giving orders that he has no business giving. When he orders the “easy” attack on Anthill, and soldiers were not advancing, Kubrick deliberately makes the audience watch Mireau looking through binoculars, yelling about how the soldiers are all cowards. Yet he himself is standing in the bunker safe and decidedly useless. The attack he ordered has no detriment to him; rather, he may even gain from it if the battle is somehow won.

Furthermore, during the court case against the randomly chosen three soldiers, Colonel Dax defends one of the soldiers by bringing up his (the soldier’s) previous achievements and displays of honor. However, he is ignored because “medals are no defense”. It is absurd and ironic that the President would say this, as he is in a position of power, and “medals” are his defense. But if honor should defend those who truly deserve it, it becomes unfathomable. In that kangaroo court, they made light of difficult tasks because they could never fathom what they do not know: actually putting their life on the line and fighting in the war. To them, there is no such thing as an impossible order, there is only “cowardice in the face of the enemy”: If the order was truly impossible, “[the soldiers] would be dead”. Yet, they are not the soldiers acting as human shields. They are not the ones being regarded as just another necessary sacrifice-- a mere “percent[age]” of people lost for a means to an end that does not even happen.

By the end of the film, the three soldiers have been executed, and General Mireau is happy that they “died very well”: a truly absurd thing to say. And when he is accused by Colonel Dax, he exclaims that he is “the only innocent man in this whole affair” and the “man you stabbed in the back is a soldier”. He may call himself a soldier that does not fight, but in the end, he is the coward hiding behind his rank, not only in the face of the enemy, but also in the face of those above him. There is always someone more powerful, and there is always someone with power that will abuse it.

1 March 2015

My mom is going crazy again. Well not really again, she's always crazy these days. She was looking at old letters she wrote to my dad back in the day. Suddenly, she yelled, "They know cho bo zhang's name because they read my letters!" She is saying how this lady relative person look her letters and read them all because she has the key to our house in Taiwan or something. What the hell. Does she really think she's so important and people would waste their time reading all her letters and making fun of her for it? Welcome to the real world, nobody actually gives a shit. What I can't believe is that she got that crazy paranoid theory all from the lady knowing my jiu jiu's name. Wow Sherlock Holmes is my mom, I never knew. It's as if it's impossible for her to have know his name from just being a relative. How hard is it to know your own relative's name without having to "steal your other relative's love letters"? My dad even said that he said my cho bo zhang's name many times to her, but no, my mom is adamant on her crazy ideas. Once she gets some idea in her head it's like nobody can convince her otherwise, and she always has to be correct. The problem is that her ideas are always paranoiac and don't make any logical sense. She assumes everyone in the world is like her, and that thankfully isn't true. But people can hardly realize the thoughts of those around them, and it's so hard for her to realize that other people actually have different (and less crazy for that matter) ways of thinking. She just walks back and forth and yells about stuff from the past. She thinks everyone is against her. She laughs at things that make people feel uncomfortable. Not like gore or anything. It's like she's laughing but it's kind of sarcastic laughing so it's really creepy.

The biggest thing is that she doesn't understand the internet at all, and that's fine, but then she makes false assumptions that nobody can convince her otherwise of. Especially with Facebook. My dad made her a Facebook hoping that she would find her old friends and be less crazy all the time, but I think it just made it worse. She is constantly thinking about who's friends with who and how she doesn't want to post anything. The other day, she started yelling about how one of her friends became friends with some relative or something on Facebook without telling her. She was all mad that she didn't know they became friends and how neither of them told her. Is it just me or is that just so petty and ignorant. Wow how could people make friends with other people without you having to be involved. Incredibly shocking. But the thing is, being friends on Facebook doesn't even necessarily mean being actual friends. I'm friends with some girl called Jasmine on Facebook but I don't really like her. Big deal. I never even chat, mention, or speak to her. But it's Facebook, you're pretty much just "friends" with everyone in your school or in your school district.

I just wish I could silence the world.