Victoria Kraus
@vkraus2Victoria Kraus é ex-editora da Web do DiscoverNikkei.org. Ela é meio japonesa, meio caucasiana e atualmente reside no bairro predominantemente hispânico de Boyle Heights, em Los Angeles. Ela se formou na Soka University of America com bacharelado em Artes Liberais.
Atualizado em outubro de 2008
Stories from This Author
Japanese school memories, Part II: My Japanese names
10 de Março de 2007 • Victoria Kraus
My full legal name is Victoria Emily Mariko Kraus. Growing up, I responded to Bikki, the Japanese pronunciation of Vicki, my English nickname. My mother, friends and relatives in Japan, and Japanese family friends in the U.S. all called me Bikki’chan. (The “chan” being the Japanese version of the Spanish informal, affectionate and kiddish suffix, “ito” or “ita”, as in the names Juanito and Juanita.) Before starting Japanese school, I was accustomed to the two versions of my nickname, Vicki …
Japanese school memories, Part I
2 de Março de 2007 • Victoria Kraus
I recently had a conversation with an old high school friend reminiscing what we did on the weekends growing up. She went to Catholic school on Saturdays to prepare for her first communion and confirmation while I went to Japanese school. Since one of the aims of this website is to preserve and share the experiences of Nikkei from all over the world, I thought I would take the month of March to talk about my “Nikkei” experience attending Japanese …
Hopeless romantic semi-feminism: A follow-up on Valentine’s Day
23 de Fevereiro de 2007 • Victoria Kraus
I must reaffirm that being a hopeless romantic does not take away from me being anti-chauvinist. The fact that I demand to be treated like a lady when I’m on a date or in a relationship should not compromise how I am to be treated at all other times. Some friends emailed me in response to the “Cross-culturing Valentine’s” piece I wrote last week. One friend said that I contradict myself as a semi-feminist anti-chauvinist because I believe that men …
Cross-culturing Valentine’s
16 de Fevereiro de 2007 • Victoria Kraus
I don’t consider myself a feminist. Mainly because I am, painful as it is to admit, a hopeless romantic. When it comes to Saint Valentine’s Day, however, my cynical nature of male chauvinism and excessively commercialized holidays comes out full force. I’m the type of female who is generally independent, enjoys the single life, and can’t stand male chauvinists nor the females who allow such males to be chauvinists. I define chauvinists as males who treat and expect females to …
Bad SAT/GRE genes?
10 de Fevereiro de 2007 • Victoria Kraus
I’m preparing to take the Graduate Record Examination (GRE) to apply for graduate school. Studying for this exam takes me back to high school when taking the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT)—the required exam for any high school student or graduate applying to an undergraduate four-year college— was the biggest thing. I was college-bound but didn’t take the SAT seriously. I didn’t study for the exam and, I think, as a result didn’t do well. Although I took the exam three …
Following my sign
3 de Fevereiro de 2007 • Victoria Kraus
My birthday is coming up in a couple of weeks. I tend to get spiritual around the month of my birthday, trying to deepen the “meaning” or significance on the one day during the one month of the year that celebrates another year toward retirement. I attribute my getting spiritual on my birthday to my fascination with the fact that while no one 24-hour day will ever repeat itself, someone’s birthday is revisited every 365 days. My birthday falls under …
Japanese cars are better
27 de Janeiro de 2007 • Victoria Kraus
In last Sunday’s Los Angeles Times (January 21, 2007), columnist Steve Lopez wrote about Hummers and the people who drive them, specifically Los Angeles’ transportation chief. This upset Steve. I also find it ironic and upsetting that the city of Los Angeles’ transportation chief would drive a Hummer. It would seem that people in public office positions, at least those who are in charge of things environmental, would drive more environment-friendly energy-efficient cars. The Hummer breaks every rule. Steve’s column, …
Spiritual journeys, done from home
20 de Janeiro de 2007 • Victoria Kraus
I woke up at 6:07 a.m. last Friday morning to an NPR “Morning Edition” interview with Gillian Siple, a World Religions major and senior at Davidson College in North Carolina. She talked about her travels throughout Asia and Europe as she learned about various religions practiced in Thailand, China, India and France, and the deep spiritual awakening she experienced that challenged the Christian beliefs she was raised with at home in the United States. Gillian grew up in a town …
Remedies for the common cold
13 de Janeiro de 2007 • Victoria Kraus
I recently caught a winter cold. Although it’s never really winter in Southern California, there are occasionally rare days when the temperature can drop down to the low 40s. It could’ve been due to the drastic up-and-down weather patterns lately with daytime highs in the 80s and lows in the 40s. I must’ve let my guard down when I wasn’t looking. It’s been six months since I was last afflicted with the inescapable common cold virus so I tend to …
Boars and fortune cookies
6 de Janeiro de 2007 • Victoria Kraus
2007 marks another year of the boar since its last turn of the animal wheel twelve years ago. I am a proud 1983 boar. Friends and family say it’s no coincidence since I am generally stubborn. And since it’s that time of year in Western society, I thought I’d share some of my new year’s goals inspired by some fortunes in my cookies and my boar-ish personality. My first fortune of the new year said, “Keep your feet on the …
