shallow breathing

hazy breathing 

though a PM 2.5 glaze of yellow

spreading the sky and lungs and tender noses

of Beijing masked pedestrians

making their way home. 

National Poetry Month 2013

April Sneezy, runny nose. 
May please Please Me, sunny rose. 

Wipe Away Fever, season change. 
Robustness deliver, to my June! 

- I'm rhyming for National Poetry Month.

H.G. Wells: The Invisible Man

Wearing A Cloak Of Invisibility 

If Jesse were invisible, he would go to Spain and help his favorite soccer team win against the other team. He would be their invisible goal keeper.

If Jerry were invisible, he would go to the bank and steal money and then go kiss the girl he loves. 

Ethan would push Nash forward when Nash faced Maggie- his true love.

If Nash were invisible, he would do research on how to be invisible so that he could be invisible any time.

Mike would fall in love with someone he likes, and if James were invisible, he would catch the thief to save the world. Alan plans to find his friends from middle school, but Ann would sleep in the dorm until lunch.

Michelle would enjoy free travel around the world. 

Surprisingly, Tina would be a killer. 

William would pay more attention to the people he likes, and Steven plans to take a photo of himself and send it to his blog. Charles would like to be a super-spy like James Bond. 

And finally, Cullen would perform an invisible grand theft auto in Beijing.

Slowly Ascending

This is how I feel every morning when I take the 

elevator 21 floors down, down...

THE elevator continued its impossibly slow ascent. Or at least I imagined it was ascent. There was no telling for sure: it was so slow that all sense of direction simply vanished. It could have been going down for all I knew, or maybe it wasn’t moving at all. But let’s just assume it was going up. Merely a guess. Maybe I’d gone up twelve stories, then down three. Maybe I’d circled the globe. How would I know?

Murakami, Haruki (2010-11-17). Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World (p. 1). Random House, Inc.. Kindle Edition. 

Love Your Country With Rationality

Note: I assisted my students with their speech for tomorrow’s flag-raising ceremony. Listen to what China's future leaders have to say!

Today, our theme is: Love your country with rationality.

Tomorrow, we are going to welcome a significant day that we Chinese will never forget.

At midnight on September eighteenth, 1931, the Northeastern Army awoke to the blaring sound of bombs. The Japanese Empire bombed railroads near Liuhu in Shenyang province, and accused the Chinese Army.

With this excuse, the Japanese army bombed the barracks of the Nortnheastern Army, capturing the city of Shenyang. Half a year later, Northeastern China was occupied by Japan. That was a great shock to the whole world and a symbol of Japanese aggression, which was called the Incident of Nine Eighteen. The national humiliation was something we Chinese would never forget.

14 years! Bleeding 14 years!

The Northeast, the Central Plain and then the Songhu Area, were captured one by one. This great country was suffering and wailing. A bloody river spread through the mainland. We sacrificed 35 million lives to win the war!

This was a horrifying war. But we weren’t afraid of countless sacrifices; We Chinese got together for the first time to fight aggression. During the most desperate time, the power was building from the bottom of every Chinese citizen’s heart. The power was the desire for a peaceful life and for justice.

The mist of war has been cleaned off, but the alarming memories are still in our hearts.

Peace is not free. At the moment, it’s 81 years later, but still a painfully aching day.

I am sure all of you know about the event of the Diaoyu Island. It’s a question shaped by history. I should begin from the failure of the Qing Empire in the JiaWu naval battle. As a vanquished country, we gave some of our islands to Japan, including Diaoyu Island. After that, Japan was defeated during World War Two, and the United States asked Japan to give the island back to China. All of these countries reached an agreement that said Japan would help manage the Island. Today, how dare you Japan claim that Diaoyu Island as your national island?

How dare you regard China’s sovereignty as nothing!

Premier Wen said:

”The dignity that Chinese people and the government used to struggle for freedom is treasured during tough times; We are strong as steel.” Diaoyu Island belongs to China geographically and historically. So, we won’t take any steps back on the argument about the territory and sovereignty.

What we have to remember is the island is ours according to history. The destiny of a country depends on its people. We should defend our sovereignty positively.

However, impulse and anger won’t show the true heart of the country. Instead, having a responsible heart and a calm mind that can help you judge right or wrong are needed! Students and teachers, let’s change the love to our country into the power of study in order to make a stronger China! We will be pillars of the country both rational and logical.

Incident nine eighteen, we still remember and we will remember for all time. Keep the humiliation in our mind and love our country with rationality and calm.

Speakers: Jason Qian class 1 and Jason Ni class 2

Flag raiser: Mao Yuying class 1

Disguises

Disguises

The students in my literature class are studying the short story “Disguise” by Jean Fong Kwok. In the story, the main character, Mrs. Chen, is an immigrant from China who lives in New York City. Mrs. Chen can’t speak English and gets lost in a dangerous neighborhood. I asked the students in one of my classes to write about a time they have felt confused or misunderstood when speaking a foreign language. Here are several responses from the students to this writing prompt. The kids are reflecting on their first two weeks of school. Their responses serve to remind me that as a teacher, I am also responsible for students' emotional and social well being. The writing is in the students’ own voices.

Kevin, Class 3, 4-B

I land up in a strange city. In there, I don’t feel completely at ease in the strange surroundings. Without any money or friends, everythings make me confused. Nobody knows what I say. Being a lonely man is too bad. I am anxious.

Ethan

In fact, my English isn’t very good. So in class, I can’t understand some words. So sometimes I don’t know what teacher means. When he asks me questions, I’m nervous. I was worry if I can speak English well.

Nash

At this week, we had 4 science classes and I usually didn’t know what’ the meaning of it. Once he taught us a lot of things, and then he asked me to answer his questions, but I really didn’t know what the answer because I didn’t know what he taught me, so I couldn’t answer the question. He told me to pay more attention in class. He thought I can answer the question but I didn’t listen carefully. I felt shamed during that time.

Jerry

I was sad when I disunderstand the English. When I in class, I feel bore because I can not understand it at all. And I didn’t want to ask others for help because it will disturb others and I didn’t want to ask teacher, too because I don’t know what I should say. I feel lonely and helpless.

Home

Thoughts on a Still Night - Li Bai 

Before my bed, the moon is shining bright,
I think that it is frost upon the ground.
I raise my head and look at the bright moon,
I lower my head and think of home.

Arts

Rare and lovely like a feathered or aquatic member of an endangered species: #4 in the list of desired student outcomes reads as follows-

A student should develop and increasingly demonstrate creative appreciation for the visual, literary and performing arts. 

Can we implement this outcome countrywide in China? : ) 
across the entire global community?


Woodstock School

Oracle Bones

Review: Oracle Bones by Peter Hessler 


If you read Oracle Bones while you are living in China, as I did, Hessler's insights and observations concerning the culture create a context for your own personal emotional reactions to the country and the people. 


For example, I asked several ex-pats about their adjustment experience during their first three months of life in China, and I received a similar response from each one of these ex-pats. Everyone, including me, shared a feeling of isolation and depression for that initial period of adjustment. Unlike other countries where I have lived, no Chinese co-worker or acquaintance extended a hand of friendship or a bridge of cultural support. Everyone I met seemed too busy with work or family concerns to notice me. Hessler's passage from the chapter "Hollywood" expresses my exact thoughts on the matter. 


"Without a sense of a rational system, people rarely felt connected to the troubles of others... In part, this was cultural- the Chinese had never stressed strong community bonds; the family and other more immediate groups were the ones that mattered most. But the lack of a rational legal climate also encouraged people to focus strictly on their own problems... A foreigner inevitably felt even more isolated." 


I decided not to study Chinese until I knew I would be in the country for more than one year, but the sadness of being linguistically alienated from the company of over a billion people by a barrier of words and characters is overwhelming at times. I admire Hessler’s acquisition of the Chinese language during his Peace Corps training and his description of the language learning process in the chapter “The Voice of America.”

“First, you established basic sentence structures and vocabulary, the way a painter might initially outline a portrait’s fundamental elements. Over time, you acquired more sophisticated words and phrases, attaching them to the existing foundation. It felt like living in a rough sketch of the world where new details appeared day by day.”


Overall, if you are an ex-pat living in China, enjoy the insight Hessler will give you on your own experiences- enriching the time you spend in the country. 

Pretty Fish

Changzhou B12 Bus Stop, Friday, May 04, 2012

I was on my way to Wanda Plaza when this warning sign entered my awareness. The feelings I experienced while trying to fully comprehend the meaning of the sign were common in my daily life here: wonder, confusion, an oppressed sense of squashed freedom, more confusion, and at last- a realization that I must construct my own meaning from a bad translation.

Jaded

White Jade in a Xi'an Shop Window

Definition of NEPHRITE from the Merriam Webster Online Dictionary
the commoner and less valuable kind of jade that varies in color from white to dark green or black

Jade -To become weary or spiritless.

April 29, 2012 

Simulated Oxygen

Why would parents strap a simulated oxygen tank for scuba diving crafted from balloons on to their child' s back? 


While looking for Megan and her tai chi master. we stumbled across this little girl. I wonder... if she fell into the water, would she float? and for how long? 


Red Plum Park in April 2012

Wisdom

Linda Ho- You are as articulate as you are wise my friend.

At its most extremes, I do not think rationality can co-exist with unyielding loyalty. Despite my doubts and preferences for "sanity," I unconsciously respect/admire those who possess that irrationality.

Brainstorming Beauty

I shot this photo with my phone camera, so I apologize for the blurry perspective.

That day in class, my senior 3 students had finished reading seven articles in a synthesis unit about beauty for the AP Language and Composition exam.

We were struggling to find the definition of ideal beauty.

Your contributions to the dialogue are welcome.

Sweet - Bitter

The great moments of heroism and sacrifice are rare. It is the little habits of commonplace intercourse that make up the great sum of life and sweeten or make bitter the journey. - George Orwell

Father forgive us for what we must do. You forgive us and we'll forgive you. We'll forgive each other until we both turn blue, then we'll whistle and go fishing in heaven. - John Prine

Liberty and Social Anarchy

Lady Liberty

[I think differently about these concepts in China than I did in the United States, but that's probably not surprising.]

The passage is taken from 'The Rule of the Road', an essay written by a twentieth century essayist.

A stout old lady was walking with her basket down the middle of a street in Petrograd to the great confusion of the traffic and with no small peril to herself. It was pointed out to her that the pavement was the place for pedestrians, but she replied: 'I'm going to walk where I like. We've got liberty now.' It did not occur to the dear old lady that if liberty entitled the pedestrian to walk down the middle of the road, then the end of such liberty would be universal chaos. Everybody would be getting in everybody else's way and nobody would get anywhere. Individual liberty would have become social anarchy.

There is a danger of the world getting liberty-drunk in these days like the old lady with the basket, and it is just as well to remind ourselves of what the rule of the road means. It means that in order that the liberties of all may be preserved, the liberties of everybody must be curtailed. When the policeman, say, at Piccadilly Circus steps into the middle of the road and puts out his hand, he is the symbol not of tyranny, but of liberty. You may not think so. You may, being in a hurry, and seeing your car pulled up by this insolence of office, feel that your liberty has been outraged. How dare this fellow interfere with your free use of the public highway? Then, if you are a reasonable person, you will reflect that if he did not interfere with you, he would interfere with no one, and the result would be that Piccadilly Circus would be a maelstrom that you would never cross at all. You have submitted to a curtailment of private liberty in order that you may enjoy a social order which makes your liberty a reality.

Liberty is not a personal affair only, but a social contract. It is an accommodation of interests. In matters which do not touch anybody else's liberty, of course, I may be as free as I like. If I choose to go down the road in a dressing-gown who shall say me nay? You have liberty to laugh at me, but I have liberty to be indifferent to you. And if I have a fancy for dyeing my hair, or waxing my moustache (which heaven forbid), or wearing an overcoat and sandals, or going to bed late or getting up early, I shall follow my fancy and ask no man's permission. I shall not inquire of you whether I may eat mustard with my mutton. And you will not ask me whether you may follow this religion or that, whether you may prefer Ella Wheeler Wilcox to Wordsworth, or champagne to shandy.

In all these and a thousand other details you and I please ourselves and ask no one's leave. We have a whole kingdom in which we rule alone, can do what we choose, be wise or ridiculous, harsh or easy, conventional or odd. But directly we step out of that kingdom, our personal liberty of action becomes qualified by other people's liberty. I might like to practice on the trombone from midnight till three in the morning. If I went on to the top of Everest to do it, I could please myself, but if I do it in my bedroom my family will object, and if I do it out in the streets the neighbors will remind me that my liberty to blow the trombone must not interfere with their liberty to sleep in quiet. There are a lot of people in the world, and I have to accommodate my liberty to their liberties.

We are all liable to forget this, and unfortunately we are much more conscious of the imperfections of others in this respect than of our own. A reasonable consideration for the rights or feelings of others is the foundation of social conduct.

It is in the small matters of conduct, in the observance of the rule of the road, that we pass judgment upon ourselves, and declare that we are civilized or uncivilized. The great moments of heroism and sacrifice are rare. It is the little habits of commonplace intercourse that make up the great sum of life and sweeten or make bitter the journey.


Adapted from an essay by George Orwell
Source: http://www.majortests.com/sat/reading-comprehension-test05

Journalism Resources

Journalism - AP 3 Resources/Assignment

Source 1.
Moyers, Bill. "Bill Moyers: "Our Democracy is in Danger of Being Paralyzed"." Democracy Now. Democracy Now, 24122004. Web. 5 Mar 2012. .

http://www.democracynow.org/2004/12/24/bill_moyers_our_democracy_is_in

Source 2.
"Mission, Philosophy: College of Arts and Sciences." Our Philosophy of Journalism Education . University of South Florida. St. Petersburg, Florida. Online Reading .

http://www.usfsp.edu/journalism/mission_&_philosophy.htm


Source 3.
The Story of the Three Little Pigs:

http://w8r.com/kidsbook/pigs.html


Source 4.
Rusbridger , Alan. "Guardian Newspaper Blog, Editor-in-chief Alan Rusbridger Explains the Thinking Behind the Guardian's 'Open' Approach to Journalism."Guardian [London] 29 02 2012, blog page. Web. 5 Mar. 2012. .

http://www.guardian.co.uk/help/insideguardian/2012/feb/29/open-journalism-at-the-guardian?intcmp=239

The Guardian’s Three Little Pigs Open Journalism Campaign

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/video/2012/feb/29/alan-rusbridger-open-journalism-guardian-video


Source 5.
Society of Professional Journalists Online, High School Essay Contest 2011: Topic- Why is it important that we have news media that is independent from the government?

5a.
http://www.spj.org/pdf/hsessay-2011-1st.pdf

First Prize, $1,000 Scholarship to Erin McDonough of Bishop O’Connell High Schools in Arlington, Va

5b.
http://www.spj.org/pdf/hsessay-2011-2nd.pdf

Second Place, $500 Scholarship to Shaj Mathew of Huntington High School in Huntington, Md.

Pudding

First of all, why pudding?
I was a private chef for a young man, and he asked me one day to make pudding, and I said, "Okay, I can do that." So I make him pudding, and he loves it. He gives it to his friends and family, and they love it. And I kept getting requests to make pudding. So one day as an off-handed joke, I said to him, "This is just like crack. I should just sell it."

Clio Goodman, Pudding Chef, On Opening Her Shop Puddin' By Clio
Huffington Post, March 5, 2012
Lori Fradkin

Guttersnipe

Bhi Bhiman "Guttersnipe" from Bhi Bhiman on Vimeo.

Bhi Bhiman