Jaime – Finally fitting in

§ August 2nd, 2010 § Filed under Meet Jaime, Perspectives § Tagged , , , , § No Comments

Meet Jaime.  Born just a little more than 32 years ago today in a large metropolitan hospital, he is one of the few second generation Asian Americans who are working in the library at a private university.  In fact, most of Jaime’s life was spent attending private schools as his parents were very successful entrepreneurs.   While Jaime’s parents were disappointed that he didn’t follow in their footsteps by working with them, they did not prevent him from pursuing his chosen career.  Jaime has two siblings: An older sister and a younger brother.  His older sister is a nurse at a hospital on the opposite coast from him, married, and has two children of her own.  His younger brother works at a famous, vegetable-themed tech company in California.  The entire family is very proud of Jaime and his siblings. § Read the rest of this entry…

Jaime: The incredibly ordinary woman?

§ June 1st, 2010 § Filed under Biculturalism, Meet Jaime § Tagged , , , , § No Comments

Meet Jaime. Jaime is a 20-year old European woman born and raised for most her life in a small European town. She and her mother immigrated to the United States when Jaime was in her late teens. Her mother divorced when Jaime was still but 5-years old. Jaime’s accent is so light, that it is almost impossible for anyone to hear it when she speaks English. The only clue to her foreign heritage is the occasional odd slip in grammar. Jaime doesn’t remember much of her father except for what her mother has told her about him. They do not keep in touch and Jaime feels that there’s nothing wrong with that. After a shaky start in the US, Jaime found herself making several friends. Life was pretty good for her.

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My friend Jaime and the American diet?

§ May 3rd, 2010 § Filed under Biculturalism, Meet Jaime, Perspectives § Tagged , , § No Comments

Meet Jaime.  Jaime is a friend of mine that I met a few years ago.  In fact, I was the one who was in charge of training him for his new job.  Overall, I wouldn’t say Jaime was remarkable in any way.  If you didn’t know any better, you’d just assume that he was just another guy, like me.  Oh well of course you can tell that Jaime isn’t from here, what with his accent and looks and all, but he works hard and is a real good guy.  I think I met Jaime about a year or two after he came to America.  I remember him telling me he’s been working real hard to earn enough money to bring his parents and siblings over here too.  Must be hard, being single and in a strange land.  That’s why I try to help him as much as possible.  The guy already has a hard life so it’s the least I can do to help him out every now and then, right?  That actually brings me to why I’m talking to you today.  You see, recently Jaime’s health has been concerning me.  He’s been gaining a lot of weight and I know exactly what’s causing it.  The thing is I just can’t seem to get him to see things my way.  Here, let me tell you a little more about what’s going on.  § Read the rest of this entry…

Jaime, under pressure

§ April 1st, 2010 § Filed under Biculturalism, Filial piety, Meet Jaime § Tagged , , , , § 2 Comments

It began with a simple question:

“Tell me, what you think I should do?”

The decision in question was far from life or death in nature.  The statement behind it spoke out loud and clear:

“I’m just, so confused.”

But it caused a lot of stress and anxiety.  It was caused by one thought:

“I don’t know what to do.”

The question and thoughts paralyzed him; stopping him from making the simplest of decisions.

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And one day, Jaime broke her son

§ February 26th, 2010 § Filed under Biculturalism, Meet Jaime § Tagged , , § No Comments

Welcome to a special two part Meet Jaime.  In this month’s story, we first follow the life and experience of Jaime, a single mother.  Then in the second part, we follow the life of her son, Jim and discover his perspective on the situation at hand.

Meet Jaime.  She’s a 45-year old, single mother of two.  Jaime emigrated, pregnant, 15 years ago from a southeastern Asian country to make a better life for herself, along with her husband and her 6-year old daughter, Jenny.  A few months after arriving in the United States, she gave birth to her son, Jim.  While life was initially difficult for Jaime and her family, she eventually managed to both hold a janitorial job and go to school to earn a degree in Information Technology.  Her efforts were hampered by her poor grasp of English and her heavy accent.  The work was difficult and stressful, the pay was horrible, and she never seemed to have time to rest or enjoy life with her family.  To top it all off, she had no one whom she could confide in; not even her husband. § Read the rest of this entry…

Jaime and the war at home

§ February 2nd, 2010 § Filed under Meet Jaime § Tagged , , , § No Comments

Meet Jaime.  Jaime is a 25-year old Asian-American woman from the South-East Pacific.  She immigrated at an early age.  Because of this, she did not carry the accent from her native land with her.   Her stature is short and she leans toward the thin side.  Currently, she is not married.  Jaime’s job has her working at a computer for most of the day.  She is very intelligent and has had no significant behavioral or physical problems.

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More site updates

§ January 30th, 2010 § Filed under Site update § Tagged § No Comments

Finally found a fix for those registration errors, so you should be able to register now.  If you find any other oddities or hiccups, please contact me at:

john (at) capitolhillcounseling (dot) com

Sorry about the copy and paste unfriendly format.  It’s pretty much the only way to somewhat fool the spambots.

Enjoy the blog!

A Jaime at the lunch table

§ January 28th, 2010 § Filed under Biculturalism, Meet Jaime § Tagged , , , § No Comments

Meet Jaime.  Jaime is a male, 15-year old Chinese-American high school student.  He attends a high school whose population comes primarily from low to middle income families.  Jaime was born and raised in America.  Both of his parents were immigrants; coming over to the States roughly 20 years ago.  They are very traditional.  At home, Jaime’s parents speak Chinese to him, and he generally responds in English as he is not quite fluent in his heritage language yet.  This arrangement works quite well for this family since Jaime’s Chinese vocabulary increases with every conversation he has with his parents, and his parents’ English vocabulary increases in the same vein.   Needless to say, Jaime and his parents maintain a close and healthy relationship with each other.

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Meet Jaime

§ January 28th, 2010 § Filed under Biculturalism, Meet Jaime § Tagged , , § No Comments

Meet Jaime.  You’re going to get to know Jaime fairly well over the course of these articles.  Now, you must understand that Jaime is an interesting individual.  From time to time Jaime will be male.  At other times, Jaime will be female.  Jaime’s gender isn’t going to be the only thing that will change from article to article, story to story.  Everything about Jaime will change.   This is because Jaime is the name I’ll be using for my main protagonist.  But, in each story, the things that happen to Jaime are very real.  These events happened to real people and continue to happen to people all over the world.  Some of the information may have been shuffled around to protect the identity of the storytellers or emphasized and exaggerated to drive home a point, but they’re still great.  The stories of Jaime are told for many purposes, but the primary reason is to educate.

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Site update

§ January 27th, 2010 § Filed under Uncategorized § Tagged § No Comments

Registration is still broken. If you want an account, please email me at john (at) capitolhillcounseling (dot) com

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