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.
Friday, May 25, 2012
Home
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.
Monday, May 21, 2012
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
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
Saturday, May 19, 2012
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.
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.
Wednesday, May 16, 2012
Friday, May 04, 2012
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.
Tuesday, May 01, 2012
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
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
Thursday, April 19, 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
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
Saturday, March 31, 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.
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.
Friday, March 30, 2012
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.
Tuesday, March 06, 2012
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
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
[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
Monday, March 05, 2012
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.
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
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
Sunday, March 04, 2012
Monday, February 27, 2012
Critical Reading Activity AP English
This photograph by Spanish photographer Samuel Aranda was awarded first place in the World Press Photo Award competition for 2011.
Re: Critical Thinking Exercise for AP English
Hello Class,
Part of the critical thinking process is context. Please look at the photo we discussed on Monday in class of the mother and son in the mosque. Here is the link to the photo (number one). Then, read number two so you can develop a context for understanding the photo. Finally, critical thinking involves connecting the story or photo, in this case, to additional information that will help you understand the meaning.
Number three will give you background on why the people in Yemen are rebelling against their government, and number four gives you factual information about the country of Yemen.
My questions to you are: Do you think this photo helped cause social change/revolution in Yemen? What was the photographer's message? What do you think the photographer, Samuel Aranda, wanted his audience to think or feel when they saw his photo? Why do you think it was voted the BEST photo of the year by the World Press? (These are all critical thinking questions that are commonly asked in American university classes.)
1. http://www.worldpressphoto.org/ World Press Photo of the Year
2.. The Story Behind the World Press Photo on the BBC, February 21, 2012
3. And, recent news from Yemen on the status of the revolution and the election on the BBC, February 21, 2012
4. BBC Country Profiles on Yemen - facts about the country
Two important questions I want to add to the homework:
1. How did your ideas, assumptions and inferences about the photo change after you read the information in links one through four?
2. Why is it important to keep an open mind while you read?
New information is being created in the world every second. It is important that we keep an open mind and be willing to be flexible with our ideas and thoughts as new information becomes available to us! Have a great day!
Educational P.S. because I believe in a good postscript. After one week, ask your students to search the term "Yemen" on Google News. Discuss the fluidity and ever-changing nature of knowledge. The students will realize that the situation in the country changes day by day, hour by hour.
Educational P.S. because I believe in a good postscript. After one week, ask your students to search the term "Yemen" on Google News. Discuss the fluidity and ever-changing nature of knowledge. The students will realize that the situation in the country changes day by day, hour by hour.
Lori
Friday, February 24, 2012
Monday, February 20, 2012
Waiting for Guffman (1996)
It's a Christopher Guest appreciation night. A Mighty Wind blew through my apartment earlier this evening. Now, I am Waiting For Guffman. And later tonight, This Is Spinal Tap will serenade me to sleep!
Corky St. Clair: I was shopping for my wife Bonnie. I buy most of her clothes and Mrs Pearl was in the same shop! And it just was an accident you know, we started talking... about panty hose, she was saying... whatever that's not the point of the story but what the point is is that through this accidental meeting... it's like a Hitchcock movie you know where you're thrown into a rubber bag and put in the trunk of a car, you find people. You find them. Something, is is it karma? Maybe. But we found him, that's the important thing. And I got Bonnie a wonderful pantsuit.
IMDb Quotes
Thursday, February 16, 2012
Durga Power
Stone for carving beautiful Hindu deities is piled high in the city of Mamallapuram on January 23, 2012.
Durga was carved in stone in the city of Mamallapuram. She has eight or ten hands, which suggest that she protects the devotees of Hinduism from all directions.
Hanuman Temple in Hampi - February 2, 2012
Hampi is the birthplace of the monkey king Hanuman. Hanuman plays an important role in the Indian epic the Ramayana. In the Ramayana, Sita, the wife of Prince Rama, is kidnapped by the demon Ravana. Hanuman commands his army of monkeys to build a bridge from India to the island of Lanka where Sita was being held captive.
Prince Rama rode into Lanka on Hanuman's shoulders and fired an arrow into Ravana, killing the demon and liberating Sita.
The Hindu deity, Ganesha, is in human form with the head of an elephant. Ganesha represents the power of the supreme being to remove obstacles and ensure success in human endeavors.
I call on you Ganesha to clear the obstacles in my path!
[sticker on a car in Southern India in February 2012]
Reading Goethe in China
I never guessed that I would be reading Goethe in China. The image on this attached book cover portrays the Modern Library Publishing House's representation of the plot. Sublime, romantic, angst-filled content awaits readers living on every continent. My students selected a novella that speaks to the heart of hopelessly romantic young men and women in Chinese society in 2012 just as passionately as it spoke to the youth living in Germany in the eighteenth century.
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