Spectacle

2003-10-29T17:55:00.000-06:00

this semester, i go on with webdesign. this is the page i made. mine is kind of serious. but any way, i think it is ok.

2003-07-19T18:01:00.000-05:00

How is everybody going in this summer? I had thought the first session was the busiest part of my summer, but it isn't. Concordia Language Village will be.

2003-06-14T19:24:00.000-05:00

busy days, next week, i will take 2 exams . Psychology is interesting if i have more time to take a close look.

2003-05-27T11:09:00.000-05:00

i saw a humming bird out of Renee's window on May 15th. a pretty bird with red neck, he stood on the edge of feeder, put his bill into the flower shape feeder.Although i never saw a humming bird, and Renee was not there to introduce Mr. Humming at that time. i immediately recognized that is a humming bird without trouble--because it was the smallest bird i had ever seen!

He was too alert, when i tried to get a close look. He flew away. i heard humming is the only bird that could stay in air and suck honey from the flower. i hope i could see this scene. i felt pity that Renee's feeder had an edge for him to stand. :P

Since summer just begins, i still have handful chance to see them.i will wait.

2003-05-26T10:20:00.000-05:00

The day gets longer. The sun rises at about 5:00 am. At 9:00 pm, the sun is still in the sky.
I remember in winter, the sun always sets at 4:10 pm, then long night.
Suddenly i realize we are closer to the Pole, no wonder i could see nothern light!

2003-05-25T09:03:00.000-05:00

i am back. alas, this relaxing week.

2003-05-11T02:00:00.000-05:00

Final Report

Prologue
Chinese are reluctant to move. Therefore, almost all my relatives and my friends are in a same city. Although people feel comfortable with this cay-style life, they still have curiosity on the outer world. Now, I am here, I become their extended eyes. In the first days when I came here, I was busy to report my new experience to them. “Today, a squirrel picked up a nut in front of my feet and sit down to eat. Obviously, he regarded me as a tree or something else stationary.” “My Goodness, people here uses rice to brew soup!” Actually, my discoveries also give the native a shock. They feel amazing that some people do not live in this way. For instance, when I told the native that I never eat raw vegetable, all of them, without exception, asked me how to make salad in China. It sounds incredible for them that some people somewhere can live without salad. For me, the life here is like expenditure. I know several years later, I will miss these days, but I am afraid I will forget the details. Weblog writing gives me a chance to keep an electro-journal and make my friends in China get my information. Therefore, Spectacle came into being.
My plan
In my proposal, I hope,
1.My Spectacle can be a watching-tower, my friends back home can see a new world, and my friends here can see their familiar world from a new angle.

2.My blog can be an important archive for my other two courses— Shakespeare and English Language.

3.I can take this chance to learn hypertext and learn how to maintain a blog.

4.I can keep five long entries every week.
What is going well?
The main part of my project is going well as I expected. Spectacle serves as my electro-journal.Thank Renee, I always be with her family every weekend and those fascinating Fridays always make me have much to say in my blog. Quilt story, Northern light, humming bird story… most intresting stories from her and her family. When my friends in China read the story of northern light, they asked me why I didn’t take a picture of it. And they were really jealous for I can see humming birds. This is a place for me to show off.
I also put my puzzle in my journal. Studying and living here for me is a kind of challenge. My blog is a place where I can complain. “I know grammar” is a typical example. It is the earliest one, which I almost forget, but I find most of the people who visited my blog mentioned it. When I look back at this post, even I myself can’t help laughing. However, at that time, I really posted it with great annoyance. Now, those posts, like the footprints in snow, stay there reminding me what I have experienced.

What changed?
I had planned to allot one or two sections for my other two courses, but later, I just combine them into my journal and develop some links on my sidebar. However, they still help a lot when I do my literature research. I have followed my link to the audio record of Canterbury and practiced to speak old english for two days before I read it aloud to Dr. Donavan. Besides, the links involving Shakespeare also help me to do research on the backgroud of his plays.

What I unfulfilled?
I can’t keep on posting long entries five times a week as I planned, although I insisted to fulfill it before midterm. When I did my proposal, I didn’t know the technology problem can be a great obstacle to my work. In this whole semester, I encountered all kinds of technology problems, which were from blogger.com and my computer itself.

Sometimes, I couldn’t post it. The error report always said something wrong with my template or the characters in my post, but I never figured out what was wrong with them. It was just like a curse, haunted over my blog for a whole day, and then withdrew secretly.

Once, I did find something wrong with my template. On April 2, when I opened my template, I found it was totally replaced by someone else’s template, the title Spectacle was changed into The Peanut Gallery. I had thought I was attacked by a hacker, and was worried that I was a weak chain of our team, which would make our whole team vulnerable. Although I worked a whole night to get back my template, I wrote to Dr Morgan and talked about my doubt. His answer dismissed my puzzle,

“it might have been a glitch at blooger or blog.spot rather than a hacker. We edit blog entries on blogger, and if when we publish, it uses a script to figure out which blog to update. If something goes wrong at that point - a network glitch, for instance - I imagine it can go to the wrong blog address. It really shouldn't happen,but perhaps the programmers haven't figured out how to handle it yet.”
Am I fortunate?

Besides, my computer also likes to strike and force me to go to the library. Fortunately, it just finishs its stike so that I can do this final report in my computer.

My Response to the obstacle
Honestly, it is a frustrating experience. The only reason I still feel confident to keep on with my blog is I believe different trouble attaches to different blogger. No one can be free from it. Anyway I am not the most unfortunate one. My posts are still going on. Besides, I did get to know some technical knowledge when I tried to fix either my blog or my computer.

Nevertheless, I will go on to keep my blog. I still like this new writing space, which is vitalized by the latest technology. I believe it is not a monster but a wild horse. I need only courage and patience to harness it.

2003-05-04T20:24:00.000-05:00

good, i find back my achive.
but now, my computer is on strike.

2003-05-01T09:56:00.000-05:00

Failed. I can't put it back to local server. :'(

2003-05-01T09:49:00.000-05:00

Aha, I get my archive back. But try to figure it out how to put it back on local server.

2003-04-30T21:13:00.000-05:00

just finish my presentation about The Tempest in Shakespeare. I am so glad that undoubtedly it is a success. Unni, my Norwegian friend talked about the source of The Tempest and I chose to talk about the allegory in this play. It seems both of us did a good job, as Nancy and our classmates said.

Mary gave me a ride home, and said my presentation should be the best one in our class. I was flattered. She said, "Did you notice that Nancy kept taking note of what you said?" I didn't notice that, because i dived in my paper. I told her actually I was not sure it could be a success because most of what I said was different from what Nancy said. She said, "That's it. your opinion is different, that is what we want to listen."

I am very glad for their sincerely compliment. Or, to be exactly, I am moved by their compliment for I never think of my "wierd" thought can get appraise.

Yes, my view angle of this play is much different from the others' in this class, including Nancy's. However, before this class, i don't know that. Otherwise, i will use their angle to analyze this play. It is stupid to follow the others, but it is safe to avoid getting fierce attack--this is what i learnt in China. Sometimes, I am coward because I can never forget that lesson i have taken in China.

When I was an undergraduat student in China, my major was also English. Once, I was required to write a twenty (or thirty?) pages paper. Although I can't remember the content of my draft, I remember it is about Theodore Dreiser's Sister Carrier. But my professor didn't agree with my opinion. She asked me to choose another topic. Actually, I wanted to cry when we finished the talking. All i prepared is no use. She didn't want to listen to my explanation. Twenty Pages! Rewrite it!

Actually, when Nancy was introducing the play, i was sweating. Why did i think in a different way again? for the whole play, Nancy proposed that it reflected the colonism and Shakespeare's thought of how to educate the uncivilized. But i thought the whole play implyed Shakespeare's humanism. Besides, he showed his compassion in a peculiar way--through an ugly monster Caliban--to show his compassion.

I did not think it in a different way intentionaly. But it happened. It was impossible for me to change it in such a short time. I had to do my presentation i had prepared. Actually, I felt timid when i did my presentation soundly.

When i finished my work, i looked up at Nancy. She said, "interesting reading." I murmured, "I didn't talk about colonism." Nice Nancy said, "it's ok, it is what you get."

I am really get self-confident from their encouragement. So, thank all my classmates in Shakespeare--for they taught me a lot in their presentations and thank Nancy--for she is open-minded.

I do appreciate the democratic atmosphere here.

2003-04-26T23:50:00.000-05:00

Now, I should correct a mistake i made on the latest post. SARS is not incurable, but a new disease.
Still many people recover from it
Take Guandong Pronvince as an example. There are 1359 cases. 1159 of them are recoverd and go home, and 49 of them are dead.
According to WHO, the death rate of SARS in the whole world is 5%.
We should be optimistic, if we have to face it. Anyway, 95% can survive. There is a great hope to make the percentage increases to 100%

2003-04-25T18:19:00.000-05:00

Now, it seems they began to realize the severity of that disease. My dad asked me, "Is it really that serious?" because now, Chinese government admits it is true, and reports the new information about the disease (such as the number of new patients, the number of suspicious patients and the dead) All the papers and channels are talking about SARS.
Chinese are in great panic.
It is sad. All the Chinese get used to know the truth from the rumor all along.however, since it is rumor, it can be false. Since the goverment have to admit it, people become aware that the disater must be in a very severe degree.
Thirty years ago, all the Chinese wear blue uniform. Now, all the Chinese wear 16 layers gauze (surgical mask) on their mouths.
All the antibiotic or medicine used for flu are sold out. Besides, the Chinese herbs used for flu are also sold out. Although they know SARS is incurable till now. They are seeking psychological comfort.

2003-04-22T23:05:00.000-05:00

At last, my friends told me, the news that there are the patients suffering from SARS in Chongqing was published in the local paper yesterday. They were not scared by this news for they knew the truth from the prevailing rumor. "News" means latest information. However, in China, some news are polished information.

For some reason, Chinese government often block some news. Sometimes,we stay outside know our hometowns' news much earlier than the people inside do. However, my friends understand the action of Chinese government. Their opinion is "The government is supposed to maintain the nomal civil order. If this disease is irresistible, it is no use to know it earlier or later. The earlier we know it, the earlier we are in panic. Now, we know it, so what?"

2003-04-19T03:15:00.000-05:00

Studio on Joshua
As he said in his midterm proposal, Joshua’s blog is placed into three categories,

“…those that respond to current events -- basically, information I have picked up in newspapers; those that respond to other blogs or other types of online writings, some aimed at a specific person or persons, and others just pondering hypertext-writing styles and tools in general; and those posts that are completely, or nearly completely, personal.”

However, all of his posts have the same characters—his contemplation and humor. He put thoughts in his post. His A-E-I-O-U: When Nerds Go Bad provided me some information about hacker, which I felt puzzled several weeks ago. That Sunday morning, his story Old People , made me smiled. However, behind the literal words, there is something he wants his readers to think about.

Besides, his template is tidy and neat. The contents and the appearance go with each other. I think he accomplished his proposal.

Response to Joshua’s complain in his midterm reflection,

“After all, silence is usually understood as agreement, and I can only assume I have been perfectly correct in everything I have said so far.”

--Hold lower hope to your readers. If so, you will get surprised occasionally, instead of always feeling disappointed.

2003-04-19T01:21:00.000-05:00

Studio on Renee
I began to be a regular visitor on Renee’s blog from the moment when I was trapped by her links. To be exactly, that day is Feb.15.Following her links, I walked through her Spanish street with great admiration. She says she drove like a lot of the Spaniards drive. What kind of car she drove? I was really curious about it. Then, I was excited when I saw she provided a link to her car. When I clicked in, I was astonished at the first glance, and then, I burst into laughter. What a funny Renee!

The blogging style above is my imitation of Renee’s blogging style. :) Maybe a little bit exaggeration, but it is as true as cartoon figure drawing. Renee is very good at using links. The links are the black pepper and chili and salt in her blog. They add special favor in it. I agree with Chad’s comment,

“…you never know where she is going to take you.”

I always take her blog as her personal journal, and I never scanned her proposal before I take this studio visit. Honestly, as she realized in her midterm reflection, there isn’t much information about her lib ed classes.

However, Renee, if you find you don’t want to write about those courses, just change your proposal. As a personal journal, Walkawayrenee is excellent. Anyway, blog is for our own interest.

2003-04-18T09:26:00.000-05:00

i love internet so much! Guess what i found! The audio record of Chaucer's poem!
and therto hadde i riden, no Brian ferre!
^_^

2003-04-17T19:55:00.000-05:00

Studio on Stacey
Stacey’s Planning,Acting,Reflecting is really her College Writing II Course Management Blog and teaching journal. She writes down her plan for the coming class, and put a self-assessment to it later. However, it is not just a simple record of her teaching process. There is something else, as she said in her project proposal,

“My initial preference for this project was to do something not related to academics, but focusing on something that would ‘excite me’ more than it would feel like I was doing weekly assignments.”

I appreciate her teaching stories which were happened in class or after class. There is many important academic information about the course she teaching. I also learn much from her blog. Undoubtedly, I will try MLA Directory of Forms she provided to do my final paper. Her blog is an extended part of her class. To her, a first year teacher, it should be an important history record for her. She is aware of it, and suggests all teaching graduate assistants keep a journal blog similar to the one she is keeping in her Midterm Reflection. No wonder it will be convenient for their communication. It is a good way to avoid being a pest. She comments on it,

“I've tried to get away from asking as much as I used to, for fear of becoming bothersome. Although we touch somewhat on these things during Pedagogy, it's still not the same. My project blog is proof of that.”

If there are readers' reflections, students' responses, and colleagues' comments, Stacey's blog will be cool.

However, Stacey doesn’t have a comment section like “Shout Out”, as she mentioned in her proposal. In her Midterm Reflection, she said,

“I am technically retarded, ok?”

“I also want to know how to install the option for readers to comment on posts and I tried for 3 hours one night to make a column of links and failed miserably.”

Actually, I am technical retarded too. Once, I tried to post several line on my blog in a whole afternoon. When I at last got it, I forgot what I intended to say! However, now, what I want to say is, “Stacey, be patient with technology (This is what Dr. Morgan said to me ^_^).” When you get to familiar with this “damn” html, you will enjoy it. What a beginner need is just patience.

Stacey’s blog is almost perfect, but as she says,

“accomplishing even these simple things would make my blog more ‘complete’."

2003-04-17T17:07:00.000-05:00

There are only three months left for this semester!
O, this dream-like semester!
"Our revels now are ended!"

2003-04-17T09:28:00.000-05:00

Last night, I asked Nancy read the lines in General Prologue to Canterbury Tales alloted to me. My goodness! I don't know what language she is speaking. It seems there is not only the shift of vowls, but also the shift of something else!

2003-04-16T12:09:00.000-05:00

just a test

2003-04-16T12:06:00.000-05:00

I have a new address!
I have moved over to the BSU server.

2003-04-15T22:34:00.000-05:00

These days, I am hanging on Shakespeare's The Tempest. At first glance, I had thought it is a carefree comedy. However, I found something behind the literal words after close reading. It is more than a comic.
Yes, under Prospero’s control, every villain’s evil conspires become farces, which just only entertain the audience. It is so cool to be like Prospero, the great magician, to control everything in his hands. If I were Prospero, I would not give up my magic power to become an earthly duke.
Surely, I understand Prospero’s choose. The magic is a kind of imagination, a kind of fantasy, which is far away from the real life. He has to go back to the real life to taste the bitter and sweet of it, as well as all the others do on the earth.

2003-04-15T21:57:00.000-05:00

Did I say we were not required to read Chaucer's poetry in his way? I said it too early!
Each of us will be alloted several lines. We will read them on Friday. Since it is not a test, i am sure we will have fun on it.

2003-04-13T02:53:00.000-05:00

13 days ago, on April 1--Fool's day, Leslie Cheung, a most popular Chinese pop star, leaped to his death from the 24th-floor gym of the Mandarin Oriental Hotel in Hong Kong.

It is like a bad fool's joke. I am not his fan, but I do appreciate his songs and his movies.

He is a gay, the only Chinese actor willing to admit his sex tendency. In China, it is immoral. However, he still gains thousands of fans, because he is a born actor and singer. He has the talent to perform and to sing.

I watched his movie Farewell My Concubine, which was Oscar nominated in 1993. Cheung plays an obsessive art lover named Cheng Tieh-yi, who gets his own sexual identity confused with the female roles he plays in Beijing operas. It was amazing that I saw Cheung was so beautiful in it. His artistic skill is fantastic. Later, I learned that before taking the role, Cheung said, "I am exactly Cheng Tieh-yi."
I appreciate him for he, as a Chinese pop star, has that great courage to proclaim his sexuality inclination.

Tamarack is 12 stories high. I try to imagine the feeling of looking down from the top of a building twice higher than it. What did he feel when he was falling? How he had the courage to jump out of the window?

2003-04-11T23:08:00.000-05:00

We are talking about the shift of Vowel (a, e, i, o, u). Professor Donovan read Chaucer's poem in Chaucer's way(!!!!!) today. It was awesome. Everybody in class just stared at him O_O.Fortunately, we are not required to read them. If we had an oral test like this...:(

Tonight, help to prepare the food in Feast of Nations till 10. Tired. But, also excited. I got to know so many food from different country.

2003-04-10T23:38:00.000-05:00

Renee's Into the Forest is very cool. Follow the links in the poetry, I was led to the deepest of the forest step by step, and later, and I found I was lost in this boundless forest!

2003-04-10T10:13:00.000-05:00

Last night, Saddam's Statue was toppled. Fortunately, American won. Although I don't like war, I still hope American can be a winner. Or, it will be a tragedy for both of the countries.
It is true that America has the most advanced technology and arms. But can the advanced technology and arms solve all the problems on the earth?

2003-04-07T21:23:00.000-05:00

William Stafford is my favorate poet.
I like his poem, especially this one--"How to Get Back",

By believing, you can get there--that edge
the light-years leave behind, where no one
living today survives. you can get there
where the lake turns to stone and your boat
rocks, once, then hangs tilted a long time:
in that instant you don't want to leave,
where talk finds truth, slides near
and away; where music holds its moment
forever, and then forever again.

You are only a wandering dot that fails--
that has already failed, but you can get
there. And you can come back--the boat
moves; talk turns ordinary; music
is hunting its moment again.
Around you people don't know how you
and themselves and the whole world
hover in belief. They've never been gone.

When we in contemplation, time will play this magic trick on us. I appreciate the delicacy of his words.

2003-04-06T12:46:00.000-05:00

According to official report, Chongqing has a "total population of 30.90 millions", but trust me--the real number is much more than that.

Renee can't imagine it. I can understand. Just like someone points two stars in the sky to me, "those two stars are totally different. one is 200 light years, the other is 300 light years." This comments can't make sense to me--they are just two shiny dots in the dark sky. Our imagination is limited by our familiar life.

We need some examples to widen our imagination and deepen our impression.

ok, i will provide an example. Hope it will be helpful.

As we know, Canada is the second biggest country of the world. However, how many people it has? According to it's census report in Jan.2003, there are only 31,499,560 people, which is almost equal to the population of Chongqing, a city of China.

Did i make sense?

2003-04-06T11:26:00.000-05:00

Joshua Murray's grandma's stories are very interesting.
When I am very, very old, I hope I could be forgetful as well as she is.

Sometimes, forgettery can be a virtue. ^_^

2003-04-05T23:18:00.000-06:00

Treasure Today
--Responding to Birkerts
When we begin to enjoy the convenience brought by links on Internet, Birkerts assists in his “Into the Electronic Millennium”, “The printed page is itself a link.” He seems indulgent in the process of getting knowledge instead of the knowledge. “Print also posits a time axis; the turning of pages, not to mention the vertical descent down the page, is a forward-moving succession, with earlier contents at every point serving as a ground for what follows.(122).”

I am confused by his opinion. What is a “book” for? Isn’t it a tool for people to get knowledge and information?

Of course, as a load of knowledge, the form of book changed a lot with the progress of human civilization. Clay board, wooden board, leather, silk…have been used to be the loads of the words. Undoubtedly, the materials of these books can tell us something beyond the words they carrying. Actually, even when we touch a book published ten years ago, the yellowed pages also can remind us of the past. This is the attached meaning of the book, which is somewhat like the meaning of an antique. But, it is not the basic task of a book.

However, Birkerts pays too much attention on the attached meaning of a book. He says,
“The depth of field that is our sense of the past is not only a linguistic construct, but is in some essential way represented by the book and the physical accumulation of books in library spaces (129).”
So,
“In the contemplation of the single volume, or mass of volumes, we form a picture of time past as a growing deposit of sediment; we capture a sense of its depth and dimensionality.”
Therefore,
“Once the materials of the past are unhoused from their pages, they will surely mean differently (129).”

How “different” it will be? Will the information be different from Internet? Or, people just haven’t got used to this intangible powerful information-collecting tool yet?

When radios came out, people were worried, “Newspaper and magazine will disappear.” When TV set came out, again, people got upset, “Newspaper and magazine will be extinct.” However, today, both of them are still prosperous. Does anyone think about those questions nowadays?

Now, Internet comes out, and it’s time to replay history. Since argument is unavoidable, time will prove it is just a new tool, like TV and radio, to get more information. Its birth is for opening people’s eye-scope, not for substituting the book.

Actually, traditional book has its own great limitation--they are only available for a certain people in a certain place. If you have interest in Chinese or Egyptian ancient history, you have to find out a big library with great storage. Or most probably, you have to go to China or Egypt. Besides, sometimes, even when you want to check out something in your local library, you have to get special permission to touch those fragile precious pages.

Books are only accessible for a few people of the world. Like a small window, it widens but also limits our eye scope. Before Internet’s coming out, we were still in half-obscurity, because we knew little about the outside.

Internet uncovered the veil of human knowledge. The shared data resources make people around the world get close. Scientists from different countries cooperate with each other through Internet; people help each other through Internet. And I always feel fortunate for I can be benefited from Internet. I read the latest news from China on line—can I get them easily in America without the help of Internet? Some American ask me the source of Chinese hieroglyph, which can be traced back to 3000 years ago. Not clear about it, I also have to check it on line. Through Internet, people get to know the story happing at every corner of the world quickly. Isn’t it a good thing? Why Birkerts critics it is “the waning of the private self”?

He also worries about “language erosion”,
“There is no question but that the transition from the culture of the book to the culture of electronic communication will radically alter the ways in which we use language on every societal level(128).”

Undoubtedly, there will be an alteration; because language never stops it’s developing. However, why this alteration is a kind of degeneration? Do we still use language in Chaucer’s way, or Shakespeare’s way? No? Does English get impoverished? Are we supposed to pick up their language again?

As a person from an ancient country, I understand the attached meaning to books very well. However, we do not live in history, but in today, which will soon belong to history. What will we want our descendents evaluate the achievements of the beginning of 21st century? Will they sniffs, “They just focused on studying history. They did nothing else.”

All the masters never appear in their contemporary. Like precious wine, they are tested by time, and voted out by the descendents later. I believe there will be a master in this Electronic Age.

At last, what I want to proclaim is I still welcome the coming of Electronic Age with my open arms, although my blog is always confronting with many troubles resulted from the instability of Internet and it keeps me worrying about my data will get lost someday. Furthermore, I believe this is not the peak of human civilization. Several centuries later, when people touch a silica slice or an electronic card, they will feel the special meaning as well as what Birkerts feels today when he touches the books.

2003-04-04T14:27:00.000-06:00

Chongqing
This is my hometown Chongqing, a moutain city, a misty city.
It is constructed on the hills. In ancient time, it looks like this. Now, it is a modern city.
Because of the polution, it is not as beautiful as before. However, I still miss it.

2003-04-04T11:10:00.000-06:00

Gutenberg sings an elegy to books. In his eyes, the internet will take place of the books.

He is too extremist. I can't understand why books and internet can't be put together. It seems that if we choose one, we have to give up another one.

However, it is not that case. Both of them have their own advantages. They are just tools for human's progress. When TV and radio came out, didn't the people say the newspaper and magazines will be extinct? Are they?

2003-04-03T09:53:00.000-06:00

Last night, worked hard to restore my template. As usual, i can't see change immediately.

This morning, the first thing when i woke up to do is turning on the computer.

Great, it works well now.

2003-04-02T22:08:00.000-06:00

Jing Tong, one thing that I loved to do as a child (and still do) is to lay flat on my back on the ground with my arms spread out and just stare hard at the night sky and the stars. Sometimes if you stare hard enough and let your body relax enough, you can feel like you are falling INTO the stars. It is a strange feeling. I never understood how you could be falling UP. When we were little we lived way up north on Rainy lake and my mom, dad and all of us kids would stay out on the dock staring into the night and listening to my dad tell stories, some from indian legends and some that he just made up. We would have a tent up closer to the house to run to if the bugs got bad or one of the younger kids got scared. Anyway, I am glad you got to see the Northern lights and all of the stars. It is one of the great pleasures of living in a rural area.

2003-04-02T11:24:00.000-06:00

Saffron is Chiefs' Colour

Saffron is the most expensive spice of the world. It is about $58.95 each oz(it is much cheaper than before now.It has been over $100 1oz). I am lucky to see it in Walley.

In Shakespeare’s The Winter’s Tale, Perdita’s brother --Clown-- tells the rogue Autolycus what he will buy for their sheepshearing feast. “…I must have saffron to color the warden pies.”

In ancient Roman, saffron was also used for currency. Anyone who contaminated it would be sentenced to death.

Putting several threads of brownish saffron in my palm, I felt awesome. It looked like tobacco; however, it smelled mild and nice. What color it would give out? I had thought it must be red. I put it in the pasta. In the first 3 minutes, the pasta was still white. I looked it closely, and found some yellow shade was give out by the tiny threads. I was a little disappointed. Was that all?

I left the pasta alone on the stove and went away to do something else. When I came back after 5 minutes, with great astonish, I found the pasta turned into yellow. It looked very nice. Then, I noticed the longer the time, the brighter the color. At last, the yellow is with the shade of orange.

Saffron gives out amazing yellow, not red.

Why it is so expensive? I checked it on line.

In www. Spanish-Gourmet.com,I found the answer,
“The harvesting process of saffron requires a person to manually reach into the flower and remove its three red stigmas. Once this has been accomplished, the stigmas are cautiously toasted, producing what we commonly call saffron.”

Besides, “The flower only opens during a period of 20 to 25 days each year for about 2 hours a day, usually a few hours before sunrise. The opening of the flowers is affected by the microclimate of each region where saffron is grown.”

From another website, I found some figures which are also helpful to explain why saffron was worth such a high price.

“Collecting 8000 saffron flowers bring about 100 g of dried brownish red filaments…”

“The color of the dye can be perceived in dilutions up to the ratio of 1 : 200 000.”

Saffron also has a long history. According to the written-record of Sumerian, it was already in use by humans around 3,300 B.C.

What impressed me most is saffron was used to dye the robe.Golden yellow is the color of chiefs. It is amazing for Chinese emperors also took golden yellow as their color. I don’t know how ancient Chinese get this color. However, it seems that all the human being on the earth have the mutual sense—golden yellow is the symbol of dignity.

Are all the colors born of meaning?

2003-03-31T01:21:00.000-06:00

Diamond Sky

I love Bemidji's sky. Before I came here, I never knew the sky could be that clean.

I like to watch the white clouds floating in the blue sky in the day, and the stars twinkling at night.

My hometown is a polluted industry city. So, I got used to the dismal sky and the foul air. At night, we can see only a few stars, such as the north polar star, giving out faint light. When the sky was clearer, I liked to look up to find out the position of the north polar star. My dad told me, in ancient time, the passengers use it to find the correct direction.

When I arrived Bemidji, it was midnight. Pulling my luggage out of the airport, I found I myself stood under a diamond sky. The clusters of shining stars puzzled me. I couldn’t figure out which one is the north polar star at all. However, I saw milky way for the first time in my life. It was amazing.

I like the stars here. I like to watch them dancing. I had thought maybe the local people here would think I was too fussy. However, I realize Emily seems more emotional to the elves than me. In her imagination, the stars will play with her, and when they leave, they will drop a rose to her. Then, the daytime begins.

Reading her lovely poem, I understand why people say nature can give the poet inspiration. Emily’s sweet little poem evokes my imagination throttled by the gray sky and the gray cement buildings.

2003-03-31T00:16:00.000-06:00

Laziness Principle
The explanation on the pronunciation change of language by Macaulay is interesting.

The Laziness Principle—
Since most human beings are sensible creatures, they do not believe in making more effort than necessary.

Designers of public parks are often frustrated by this side of human nature. The landscape architect sometimes likes to design paths that wind gracefully through the park but it often happens that people create their own paths by choosing the most direct route, often cutting across corners.

For ease of articulation, people often take the equivalent of the shortcuts taken by those crossing the park.

Hence, there come “whea(t) bread”, “qui(t)e righ(t)ly ” …

2003-03-30T01:07:00.000-06:00

And Northern Light.
Another wonder I saw last night is Northern Light--the masterpiece of the sun and the earth. If Renee hadn’t told me, I would not know what is that. I had thought aurora could only appear in the poles of the earth.

Although it was not as spectacular as this one I found in Google, it is memorable. Thank Jerry for bringing us away from the lights of the downtown. We could see it more clearly.

I like Bemidji more and more. It is a fairyland blessed by God.

2003-03-29T23:51:00.000-06:00

Humming Bird
It is amazing I always could learn something new when I spent weekend night with Renee’s family.

Emily showed me her birds’ collective book to me, and explained what kind of birds she had seen in Bemidji.

When she pointed that small bird to me, and said, “This is humming bird. We feed them in summer,” I suddenly realized this was HUMMING BIRD, which I saw in the pictures long, long ago. When I was at Emily’s age, my teacher told us in science class, “The smallest bird of the world is humming bird. It lives in a far away place.” The cute creature gave me a deep impression. It should be amazing to see a humming bird hovering in air and collecting honey in the way of bee. However, I never think of the possibility I could see it. It should be in a place, which is very, very far away from me.

Then, Renee showed me her humming bird feeder. In summer, they will hang the special bird feeder, which is filled with sweet water, on their window. Then, they will have a good angle to see humming bird getting its food.

I can’t wait for the summer’s coming. I checked my window to see where I can hang a bird feeder to greet this cute creature. Well, I should remember to take the feeder down in fall, in case the poor creature forgets to prepare for the winter.

I am longing to the summer's coming.

2003-03-27T21:17:00.000-06:00

Unless They Make a Mistake
I got an email from IPC says, “Giving your families and friends
back home the reassurance that you are doing okay and are safe is very
important during this time of turmoil.”

Thank Lamae Hawk, the director of IPC. She is well-considered.

Actually, I did get my dad’s and my friends’ warning. “Take care. Be alert to the dubious package. Be careful to the terrorists… ”

The serial news report and the messages give the people outside of America an impression—American are in danger.

I comforted them, “Maybe New York and Washington are in tension. Bemidji? It is not worth a missile.”

They laughed and believed what I said was true.

However, after laughing, a friend added, “Yes, unless they make a mistake.”

Wait. Can mistakes be avoided?

2003-03-26T22:52:00.000-06:00

Jealousy is a Kind of Flu?

Just finished "The Winter's Tale". I don't like this one. Why Leontes's sexual jealousy can be so great that he turns so quickly and rapidly against his wife Hermione and childhood friend King Polixenes?

In 17th century, jealousy is really a kind of disease? or a kind of flu?

And Hermione, how come she can hide for 16 years until the oracle--"the King shall live without an heir, if that which is lost be not found"--be fulfilled? If her daughter Perdita couldn't come back, she will hide forever?

Anyway, Shakespeare is their creater. He can make the impossible possible.

2003-03-26T09:30:00.000-06:00

I hung on my computer for several days. Day and night, install and reinstall.
Now, it seems everthing is ok. God bless me.

2003-03-22T14:45:00.000-06:00

Emily is such a smart girl. I like her little poem--"A Word". She IS a poetry girl.
I am waiting for more poems on her blog.

2003-03-19T11:53:00.000-06:00

Wiki wiki
I just scaned Andrea's Hypertext Adventure.

Her fiction story is very interesting.With the help of technology, i can easily choose a clue i interested to follow.They are independent stories, but met together for the same topic--the key of Balmali. Later, they will disperse again--still for the same topic--the key of Balmali.
I like reading adventure stories, and I can't wait to see the journey of those four guys. Maybe she will go on to finish them in the next weeks. I hope I can read them earlier.

It is a good try to write a novel on Wiki.

However, I start to think a question.

It is true that wiki is a new field which can provide clearer clues than the paper did. But, does that mean the traditional character of a novel--suspense--will also lost?

I still miss the craft Agatha used in her novels, like "The Murder on the Orient Express" , and "Death on the Nile", and so on. She never let the readers know the answer, instead she made the suspense bigger and bigger. When the doubt accumulate to its apex, she would always give the solution in the last, or the last but one chapter.

Reading a traditional novel, not only Agatha's, needs great self-discipline--never try to get the answer immediately when we just begin.

However, Wiki as a field for the novel is such a convinent place that we can indulgent us easily. Just a click, we could get what we want to know easily. Actually, I am old fashioned, i still like suspense. While, i am lack of the virtue of self-discipline.

As professor Christensen said in class several weeks ago, Wiki was more organazied than Blog. and he compared wiki to a tree or something like that. He is right. A reader of wiki can jump from this branch to that branch.

With this quality, the reader can jump around to see a story.

I began to wonder--Is wiki really a good place for a novel?

2003-03-19T11:52:00.000-06:00

Hi, is it ok?

2003-03-19T11:51:00.000-06:00

I struggle with my blog everyday.

2003-03-18T23:40:00.000-06:00

2003-03-18T21:42:00.000-06:00

Poetry is for Reading Loudly

If a poetry is lovely, there is an important reason. It has rhyme.It is music. Besides, it has condensed thought, which is resulted from it's culture background. Poetry is the most beautiful exhibition of a certain language. It is a dew which is lying on a petal and reflecting the whole garden.

It's difficult to translate .
If we try to translate an English poetry into a Chinese one, or Chinese into English,
what we can get is only, "The poetry is talking about..."
However, we lost the marrow of that original poetry--its melody.

2003-03-17T09:40:00.000-06:00

Spring is coming. The ice is melting into brooks. The grass can be seen. Several guys are playing baseball on the grass before my window.

Renee says it is the winter of Califolia. Actually, it is also the winter of Chongqing.

But, obviously, people here is happier than the residents in Califolia. I feel happy just because I needn't wear gloves.

I don't know why I suddenly remember Chad's poem "Life is good, but maybe that isn't enough for us. We need it to be bad, to allow it to be potent.” .

Bemidji's winter makes people humble.

2003-03-17T09:39:00.000-06:00

can it work now?

2003-03-14T10:11:00.000-06:00

I don't know why. I can't see the result of any change of my Template immidiately after I publishing it. It brought me much trouble.

I am always admiring Juanita's message board. I tried several times to put it on my blog.

The first time, the message board occupied the whole blog. Nobody could see the content of my blog.
The second time, i put it on the proper place, but it was not bigger than a thumbnail.
The third time--this time, it is bigger enough for anybody put one line, just one line on it.
Then, Renee jumps out,"i like your miniature message board!"

Anyway, it is an improvement for me.

2003-03-13T10:35:00.000-06:00

Snow, snow.
My friend in Chongqing told me they were flying kites.Flowers are blooming;trees are blossoming. They asked me if the flowers in Bemidji were in blossom, too.
I answerd, "Yes, we have a special flower everywhere, which is called snowflake."

2003-03-10T02:45:00.000-06:00

Jing is Cooking

I am my mom’s coddled kid. Even now, I don’t know how to cook, although sometimes I helped my mom in the kitchen in my back home.

I didn’t feel sorry for that, till Renee asked me, “Can you cook Chinese food?” I was blushed, “Sorry, I don’t know how to cook.”

I couldn’t cook! It sounded I was boasting since I told them Chinese food was much more delicious than American food. I couldn’t provide even direct evidence! Then, I began to think how to cook.

My cousin likes cooking, and he is a perfectionist. I called him to get the recipe of Gong Pao Chicken—our regional food. On the line, he told me in details from the ingredients to process. It sounded easy. However, after one hour, my cousin called me to check me if I could repeat the whole process correctly. All were in his expectation—I forgot the correct sequence. Subsequently, I was forced to write down the process on a piece of paper, and read it loud to make sure I didn’t make mistake on it.

Then, with a little bit hesitation, I told Renee, “Maybe I can try to cook Chinese food.” To my surprise, she immediately brought me to a store to grab all the required Chinese ingredients—which were usually not used in a common American family. Looking at the sealed stuffs in the back of the car, I felt pressure—these were for my first cooking! Besides, terrible Renee told every acquaintance on our way home, “Jing will cook!” I was scared.

I strongly demanded to make a sample in advance. I required Renee be away from me and forbad her to watch me. I didn’t want anyone stand aside to give me more pressure. However, Emily was an exception—because she also didn’t know how to cook. Actually, I knew Renee stood behind me. Most probably, she was keeping watch me. She even took a photo of me.

The first process of the dish was frying peanuts. I tried to remember how my mom fried peanuts. However, I was failed and the peanuts get burning. I felt disappointed, but this failure made me get familiar with the stove. The rest went smoothly.

I enjoy their appreciation. I love their exaggerate expression on their faces. When the food came out, Emily was the first one to try my food. With wide-opened eyes, she praised, “It’s good. I like it.” Kay (Renee asked this lovely friend to have dinner, because “Jing is cooking!”) said, “I want to know how to cook it!” Renee said, “It is tasty. I like the peanuts.”…

At that moment, I began to like cooking.

2003-03-09T04:35:00.000-06:00

Studio Tour 1 on Chad Kuehn’s “PoeAZ”

I appreciate the conciseness of Chad Kuehn’s blog. The content and the template of his blog accommodate with each other. As he says, his blog is the field to “develop thorough knowledge of the use of the blog, as well as to explore the composition of my poetry on and off the blog.”

There aren’t many links on his blog, but they are enough, and they “provide useful links on writing.” His blog’s left sidebar lists something relating to his post, and the right sidebar is something important in his post. He says, “avoid outside commentary on my poetry, I will focus on how I write.” He has intensive focus. When I noticed his right sidebar provides the clues for his poetry blogging, I also got to know he had developed “technical blogging ability (HTML skill)”

And the insightful post. “Composing poetry will be the overall subject of my blog, but my own poetry will likely be the main focus of the blog.” Chad Kuehn said in his proposal. Exactly, his blog is like this. I like reading his original writing. His black humor makes me think. "Life is good, but maybe that isn't enough for us. We need it to be bad, to allow it to be potent.” And I like his poems, especially –“Boiling”,

“Out of the steam
I want to drink one definite thought.
I want to scald my face
so that I mean something.
I want to tell you something in this sweaty kitchen.
Watch it condense on the windows
and point to the thought.
Wipe the moisture onto the palm of my hand
and smack you, in the face.”

His poems keep me thinking the meaning of the life. His hypertext ability keeps me astonished.

Yes, his blog is his concise poetry, and his poetry is his condensed thought.

2003-03-09T02:15:00.000-06:00

Studio Tour 1 on Jeremy Althiser’s "Rowanstaff's Realm"

I know a little about role-playing, and I don’t know how to check blog. But…I can try.

Obviously, he is fulfilled with his proposal. “Not just blogging3-4 times a week, but some entries becoming 500-750-1000 word essays…” He posted his role-playing experience everyday with a bunch of lively illustrations, which are useful, especially for me, to get what he posted on his blog.

In his proposal, Jeremy Althiser plans to use his blog to introduce the subculture of the roll-playing. His entries make sense. He insists to look for the other role-player blogs, introduce diverse games, and discuss new strategies.

His blog’s overall looking are awesome. The light text on dark background looks like the preface of the game. What I most like is his artwork. It proves him is a frantic role-player.

2003-03-08T22:58:00.000-06:00

Studio Tour 1 on Junanita Brown's "The Voice of a Child"

Juanita Brown says in her project proposal, “I will be blogging about my daily interactions with my children concerning candid conversations we have that I find amusing or that I can reflect upon, their troubles and successes in school and our personal lives including our solutions or celebrations that result from them.”

Her blog is going as well as she describes. Her blog becomes a window of her family. Through this window, we see a mom and her children’s daily life. The readers can see the two boys running back and forth, back and forth, and the mom watching and writing. We can see the smile and the annoyance in her blog. The pleasure and the trouble the two boys brought to her is the most important part of her life, and of her blog. I like to read her amazing boys’ funny stories. I am getting familiar with her seven-year old’s and her nine-year old’s. I can’t help laughing when I read “He loves slow songs; whenever a slow song comes on, he wants the music turned up and everyone to be silent so he can gaze off and think.” This is an amazing boy. Her nine-year old’s makes me know what is Turbo Twist. Interesting, I get to know American kids’ trouble. Her links are almost about kids’ stuff. Once, I was lost in Snoopy through her link. She brought me a happy cartoon world.

Her thought about “Operation Christmas Child”, and her comment on "Boys!: Shaping Ordinary Boys into Extraordinary Men" by William Beausay II shows the thread of her blog – how to raise her boys. She sets a message board as what she says in her proposal,"Other people will be allowed to make comments on my daily entries and possibly help me along in my pursuit to raise my children well." I admired this board, and I tried to set one on my blog, but i failed. I will try it later.

Her blog is about the trivial things in her daily life. However, it will be a mother’s precious retrospect. I appreciate it. She contracted for 750 points, but I am always thinking of a question after reading Blood’s the Weblog handbook. “what is the criteria for a successful personal blog?”

2003-03-06T19:22:00.000-06:00

I know grammar

I know grammar, because I began with grammar, and I am still relying on it. I spent three years to remember the words, and to learn how to create various sentences with diverse tenses, which are not in Chinese grammar. Then, in the next three years, I learnt to read and write long, long compound-complex sentences, whichcould extend to eight lines, and could only make sense until the readers reached the last word before the period. It is a kind of intelligent game, and grammar is the rule of it. Obeying the rule, we played it with each other in class, and our English teachers were our umpires, who always jumped in to remind us do not violate the rule. Through long time’s practice, we got used to the rule and got to know some complicated crafts. My classmates and I hadn’t contact with any native speaker before we went to college. In the first six years, tape recorders were the only evidences to prove this language was used in people’s daily life somewhere far away. Therefore, most of us were better at playing with words on the paper. We were instructed to use English grammar to explain all the English materials, and it becoming our subconscious action to find out the main clause. If we failed to get the structure of the sentence, we would get lost.

This was a tedious process. The great reward for us is, at last, we can get great information from the outside.

Now, I am in the place where people use English in their daily life. I am busy with diagramming what I see and what I hear everyday. If anybody saw the blank on my face when he talked to me, I confess, I might have failed to figure out the subject or the object or the relative clause in his words. Besides, when I speak out, my brain is also are busy to put the words in a right order. This is just half of a second’s process, but I know it happens. To my satisfactory, the process is shorter and shorter, with the time’s passing. I hope someday I can forget how to diagram, as well as the native speaker here—who cares how to diagram!

I know grammar. Therefore, I am never afraid of doing any diagram in the class of the English Language. I don’t know why my classmates feel difficult for it—it is their own language! I felt puzzled when they were arguing about how to judge a prepositional phrase adjectival or adverbial. Doesn’t the book make it clear that the former is to modify the noun, and the latter is to modify the verb? I found I was really confused by them, especially when they used questions to test them. In my eyes, they were just making the simple thing complex. For example, “The house on the corner is new” is the answer of “Which house is new?” Therefore, “on the corner” is adjectival to modify the subject—“house”. It makes sense to my classmates, but not to me. If I failed to know it is adjectival, I would not be able to question!

Although I know grammar, I still can’t avoid making mistakes on diagramming. The only reason is I must have misunderstood the whole sentence. We were advised by our teachers in China—don’t always try to use grammar to explain everything. This is the amendment of the rule of the game. “The native speaker is always right. Do not ask them why not speak in the way you had thought.” We have been warned not to answer, “Good”, if someone asked you, “How are you?” Because “good” is an adjective and is used to qualify the object, while, “well” is an adverb for illustrating the status. In short, “She is well” and “She is good” is different. However, the first impact I confronted with was they answered me, “Good.” I don’t think they can pass our English test. However, native speakers are always right. Language is for communication, not for test. What I can do is only “Listen, and remember.”

I know grammar. Otherwise, I couldn’t sit here and write down this article.

I know grammar. However, I hope I can forget about it.

2003-03-03T00:54:00.000-06:00

Culture
I spent an amazing Friday night with Renee’s family. I am so glad I could be so close to American culture.

Even now I am in my dorm, I cannot stop thinking the difference of our different culture. I appreciate God’s masterpiece-- the world is so wonderful for its variety.

We started to talk about culture, when Renee showed her hand-made quilts. The complex patterns were very, very nice and made me astonished. Actually, when I was watching these complex designs, something bubbling up in my head, but I couldn’t tell exactly what it was until Renee told me she would give one of them to her friends as a wedding-gift. At that time, my search engine stopped and I got one result. Excited, I asked her abruptly, “You American still keep this culture?” Obviously, she was puzzled by my question. I added, “I mean, giving this kind of quilt as wedding-gift?”

Several years ago, I learnt something about American quilting craft, which is a reminiscence of those hard times long, long ago. For a poor family, it should be a great waste to discard the rest fabric after sawing the clothing. Then, the frugal and clever housewives took use of all the trivial fabric they left to make a quilt. With their natural art taste, they developed many kinds of patterns. Although their quilts were made of litter, they were nicer than any other luxurious quilt. They add beauty to their poor homes. Now, after several hundred years, it becomes a part of their life.

In that book, I also learnt the new couples would get the patterned quilts as their special wedding-gifts. They imply bitter and sweet of the life. Besides, it also contains their friends’ good wish—hope the bride and the bridegroom could, as their vows, hand in hand, go through thick and thin in their future life.

I had been moved by the story of American quilt. And now, I was very excited for the literal words in that book becoming three-dimension in my hands. I could touch it!

To my surprise, Renee herself didn’t realize her patterned quilts represented their local culture. It is just a patterned quilt and a common gift for wedding. However, soon, I understood it. Culture is air. We live with it, but always ignore its existence. Local people get used to their local culture, and no one will ask why, as well as the people before Newton never wondered why the ripe apple would fall down to the ground, instead of flying up. Actually, sometimes, I doubt Newton was from the moon. Otherwise, how could he have such incredible curiousness?

I am from China. Chinese embroider but seldom quilt. So, if I question, I am much more understandable than Newton.

And salad.

It is incredible thing for Chinese to eat anything raw except fruits. I was astonished when I saw people here put raw vegetables in their mouths. I couldn’t believe my eyes until I saw they really gulped those lettuce, peppers, and carrots into their stomachs. At that time, I thought they were big rabbits.

I reported my discovery to my dad on phone. He was worried, “Remember, it is unhealthy to eat anything raw. Just think of it—how many eggs of parasites on it, and the pesticide!” Actually, what he said was what our textbooks say in Chinese primary schools.

I didn’t try to taste these raw vegetables for the first five months. However, my curious overcame my fearless. I tried a little bite of green pepper and found it was sweet. It was not bad. From then on, I accepted salad. I told my dad later, “I don’t think the local people are unhealthy. On the contrary, they are taller and stronger than me.” However, my cousin who has been here for over two years still refuse to eat raw vegetables.

My dad then asked me, “So, did you try the roasted beef with blood?” No way. I dare not. I don’t know how they get rid of the bacterium, which can only be killed in more than thirty minutes’ high temperature. Besides, I can’t imagine the taste of blood.

It is interesting American also can’t understand our food. What they can eat is only meat. They dare not eat chicken’s feet. Actually, chicken’s feet are very delicious if cooked with proper ingredients. I bet they will get faint if I tell these guys I like eat chicken’s stomach and liver much more than the breast of chicken.

Besides, I know many American wonder if Chinese really will eat dog meat. Yes, we do. However, I never eat it. It smells like mutton. I don’t like mutton, so I never want to try. I didn't know why they feel uneasy for dogs before. Why they did not sympathize the ox and the pig?

Now, I am aware that dogs are more than their pets for many American. They are their sons and daughters. So it is difficult for them to accept it. I can understand their feeling. Those guys who take the pigs as their pets will also feel disgusting to see the others eat pork. In China, some dogs are people’s pets. Some dogs are raised for meat. This culture lasted for more than two thousands years. As I know, dog meat was the favorite food of the first emperor in Han Dynasty, which began at 206 BC.

There was a superstitious saying in ancient China that Dog’s blood could keep the ghosts away and help the armies win.

China has such a long history that even a fine detail in our life might be the remains of those ancient eras.

I never realized our culture when I was in China, as well as Renee never realized theirs. Now, I begin to think of it. Suddenly, I understand no one can be absolutely lonely, because all of us live with our own invisible culture, which is transmitted by our ancesters and shared by our contempories.

2003-03-01T00:23:00.000-06:00

Response to Blood

When we are arguing about whether the blog is personal stuff or business affair, in the following three chapters, Blood goes on to explain the meaning of her “The Audience of One”.

It is amazing that I find she has much stronger desire to get more audience than I have , although in Chapter 4, she advices us that the blogger should have his own voice, even if the audience is only one: himself. The obvious evidence is she uses a whole chapter to introduce the way of “Finding an Audience”, and another following chapter to further this idea. The methods of “finding an audience” are various from registering website with the most popular web directories and search engine to taking use of upgrade trackers, from adding the URL of the personal weblog to the personal email account to joining in community sites. All of them are smart strategies to increase the possibility of gaining the fames.

In my opinion, in these chapters, she is talking about how to advertise effectively to attract visitors’ attention. The difference is the merchandise on TV is for money, while the blog for personal currency. How to maintain a successful blog? Blood promotes an Online Rules of the Road. There are several does and don’ts in Chapter 5, which are almost the summery of Chapter 6—Weblog Community and Etiquette.

A polite and educated citizen is always welcome. Blood suggests us:

1.Do not post when you are angry.
2.Always argue the facts, never the personalities.
3.Once you have stated your arguments as clearly and cogently as you can, sit back and read what others have to say.
4.Respond to personal attacks by ignoring them.
5.Do not hijack conversations.
6.Do not misrepresent other people’s positions.
These are the key points to set up a successful weblog, which can gain much audience. Blood, obviously, knows their importance and uses a whole chapter to repeat and explain them. There is a thread traveling through the rules as Blood herself points out,
“If you hope to excite interest in your weblog, you will have to interact with others in an interesting and friendly way. Listen respectfully, have fun, and be yourself.”
Besides, we are advised that we should not miss the chance to join in some social activity. Providing a service and joining community events will increase the blogger’s reputation.

Of course, we still should know how to protect our privacy and the others'.

These are all her suggestion on how to find an audience. However, she knows the audience grow slowly. Then, she encourages the bloggers in a comforting mood.

“Do your best because you love it, appreciate the readers who visit, and don’t allow your statistics to ruin your fun.”
What she say remind me our Chinese old saying, “We arrange the process, God arranges the result.”

Above all is what I got from these three chapters.

However, what impressed me most are the words when she mentions “passion” in chapter 7 Living Online.

“Passion is the purpose of the weblog: passion for a profession or hobby, passion for telling stories, passion for punditry, even a passion for civil, well-reasoned debate.”
I was really moved by her passion on her pastime—she claims that she blogs on her blog everyday!

I admire this kind of passion. It makes she setup a successful blog and write this book. However, she says it is her pastime. I checked the meaning of pastime in dictionary. It means activity that makes time pass pleasantly. For me, it is incredible. I can’t imagine it still could be my pastime, if I have to do it everyday.

2003-02-27T21:27:00.000-06:00

Not for Only One Audience

Chapter 6 and Chapter 7 in The Weblog Handbook are the extending parts of Chapter 5. In Finding an Audience, Blood points out if the blogger wants to gain a wider audience, he should consider both sides—the audience and the writer himself. She instructs in detail how to deal with both poles in these two chapters—Weblog Community and Etiquette &Living on line.

They are about how to be good citizens on line, or a good king in the independent realms.

What’s more, these three chapters confirm my conjecture— Whatever how to register or gain reputation, what she is concerned about is not just only one audience at all.

2003-02-26T23:54:00.000-06:00

How to make the others know our blogs?

Blood use a whole chapter to introduce how to gain “an audience”. The name of Chapter 5 is “Finding an Audience”. However, I’d rather name it “How to advertise for your work”.
The strategies are divided into several parts.
1.Obvious strategies
2.Building Your Online Presence
3.Online Rules of the Road
4.Building Your Community Presence
5. Making Connections
6. Strategies That May Backfire
7. Building Your Audience

In part 1, she introduces some common, obvious ways to make the blogger known, or possibly known by the others, such as registering website with directories and search engine, joining in webrings and discussion groups, and taking use of update trackers.

This is the first step of advertisement, somewhat like the businessman put their products on TV, and newspaper.

In part 2, we are instructed to take use of sigfiles and Listserves, join community sites. This point is similar to what the businessman do, too. See, there are TV programs sponsored by Hallmark, Formula 1 race by Coca Cola. Our emails are also can be marked with our URL.

In part 3, this is about Do and Don’ts. Don’t post when you are angry. Argue the fact, instead of the personality…Don’t hijack conversations. Don’t misrepresent others’ position. In short, bloggers should remember it is a kind of equal competence.

Part 4 is how to build blogger’s community presence. Here, a difference exists between weblog and the business. Blood points out, “The Web is a genuine gift economy, and you will gain personal currency the more you give away.” What we can get is not money but personal currency.

Part 5 is about how to cooperate with the other peers.

Part 6 is about the taboo in blog. However, in my opinion, it can be merged into Part 3.

Part 7 is for soothing. All above are talking about how to make you known by the others, but if you still haven’t a wide audience, forget about it. Anyway, you own this blog for fun.

2003-02-23T03:03:00.000-06:00

Russ’s, Faith’s, Carolin’s, and Crystal’s Comments on Bernstein

Now, I have time to read and digest the other wiki in regards to Bernstein Meets Blood.

Most of them focus on the authenticity of the persona. This question is discussed in literary field all along. Now, the topic changes to a new name—computer persona.

Russ questions,“But how much of ‘the self’ can be reproduced on a blog?” He points out, “We might be able to get to know the 'real' somebody by viewing their blog rather than the quiet or shy person we assume them to be.” I agree with him. I always regard a person as a complex individual. A person’s dress, utterance and habit can show his background, but are not the convincible evidences for his character. Neither did blog.

Everyone is from a special mold, which was demolished after our coming into being. Hence, no one, even psychologists, can see through of a person. Russ is right, “Maybe a blog is the key to the authentic self, or possibly a part of an authentic self that is part of a much larger part of a whole.” And Khalil Gibran is also right, “The real in us is silent”

Weblog is just for self-exhibition, which makes the others know what the writer wants them know. It is about the writer’s interest, not about the personal character.

Internet provides us a new field to communicate. However, not every people enjoy it, such as Bernstein. Faith Benedix criticizes that he belongs to the people who are uncomfortable “with technology as well as rapid change”. Faith Benedix’s Shakespeare’s story is interesting. I appreciate her comments, “It is not okay however to look back and snear at those of us who are at the beginning of our journey, or those like Rebecca Blood that offer us a way to start.”

On the contrary, Caroline Cunningham seems agree with Bernstein’s opinion, “Bernstein is making a point that Blood is romanticizing the idea of a blog community. Blood’s book is marketed as a practical advice on creating and maintaining a blog, but that much of what she has written can discourage a new beginner. To decide on a voice, to decide on a topic, and to find an audience, can be disheartening to a beginner.” Is it true, or not? Only time can tell.

The most interesting and humor comment is Crystal Gibbins’. Gibbins says “I agree with these approaches, but if your blog's purpose doesn't fit any from the list…” so what? Is the value of the blog less important? He says, “ I agree when Blood speaks and Bernstein comments on the ‘Audience of One’, I think they are both right.” “Bernstein states ‘Blood warns, you may doom your work to bland superficiality’.” However, the blog is for the blogger himself. Who cares it is bland superficiality?

Ok, as Gibblins says, I will stop arguing, create my blog according to my own taste. This is my personal stuff. Like it or not, it's up to you. :)

2003-02-21T22:58:00.000-06:00

My Happiness
At last, I have my own computer in my dorm.
I needn't worry about the computer lab will open or not any more.
After work, I will no more hurry to the library to finish my homework before 12:00pm.
At last, I own a computer.
The modem vision of Cinderella comes to an end.

2003-02-20T23:33:00.000-06:00

The Only Choice

At first, when I learnt the news that Google bought weblog, I was astonished. Is it really as Jeremy Althiser says—the start of blogging as business rather than blogging as personal?

Following the links, I get the idea, and don’t feel any upset down with it any more. Maybe, it is a good chance for the development of weblog, since there was a successful case for Deja.com. What I can see in this bargain is Jungle Rule. It is impossible and unnecessary to avoid it. It is a kind of evolution.

As the founder--Evan William—says in his blog, there are only six members in his company. Considering that “1.1 million registered users”, and “about 200,000 of them are actively running weblogs”, especially “most of its registered users don't pay”, the company is too shallow.

Evan William as the founder and the father of the company, had to find a way out for his Blog. To join in Google--a company of 600-- is a good way to solve his problem.

I appreciate Evan William’s courage. He sold the company, which he had poured the last four years of his life into. As a pioneer, he fulfilled his task—bringing people giant brainstorm and a new life style. Just three and a half years old, Pyra's Blogger software has 1.1 million registered users. Dan Gillmor praises it, “Part of that vision, shared by other blogging pioneers, has been to help democratize the creation and flow of news in a world where giant companies control so much of what most people see, hear and read. Weblogs are also becoming a valuable communication tool for groups of people, and have begun to infiltrate the corporate, university and government spheres.”
Now, the tender baby is becoming a giant, which is out of his control. Hence, for him, it’s also time to retreat. However, he is responsible for his blog users. He knows his people would have a stronger technological support in this new realm. Evan William is a hero. He made a brave decision, although in his blog he says he will have something he had rarely have in his life—one or two boss, a car for commuting to another town for work, and the experience of working in a big company. Putting away his fiercely independent nature, he will be an employee, staying in Google to watch the growth of his Blog. His Blog will be more reliable and robust on the network of Google.

From the personal perspective, it also can be a good chance for Evan William. In others’ eyes, Evan William is sacrificing, for he lost his own company. However, he could learn much more than that he learnt in his six-member-team. Not easy adjustment in all cases. He will get the access to these amazing resources—“not just money, and servers, and bandwidth, and traffic, and the index, but incredible brains.” As he says, it will be “an exciting next chapter and a worthy adventure.”

Weighing the gain and the loss, it is a piece of good news. Anyway, the Users of the Blogger software and hosting service won’t see any immediate changes at present. Some bloggers is worried about that it would affect their blogs. However, blog is developed by all the bloggers. It is personal, and it will not change this quality just because of the sellout. Blog is Blog, no matter where it is, in Pyra Labs or in Google.

Bravo Evan William, I can’t imagine his feeling when he put their blog-hosting service-- Blog*Spot, on the vast network of server computers Google operates. Sometimes, we have to choose, although we don’t want to. Although he is right, I still feel regret him.

Last morning, I found I couldn’t work on my blog. Did Evan William begin his work? I could understand it. And, I am waiting for a bright future of Evan William’s Blog.

2003-02-19T13:45:00.000-06:00

Does the buyout effects the blog?
These days, I couldn't edit my blog smoothly.

2003-02-17T14:46:00.000-06:00

A Correct Answer
Although I desired to join this program, most probably I would be refused, because I misunderstand his question. He asked what I would do, if the girl told me that her father mistreated her.

If it was true, of course, I should call the police. However, could this question be that simple? According to my teaching experience, I was aware that sometimes a few children in adolescence had the inclination to exaggerate their feeling. I still remembered a boy had ever told me, “I hope I could kill my father!”

So, I answered, “I would like to talk to her. Try my best to narrow the gap between them.”

However, obviously, the interviewer was not satisfied with my answer.

Maybe, the correct answer should be, “Call the police.” Or, both?

I don’t know.

However the answer is not that important for me. I hope the children in this program good luck!

2003-02-17T14:34:00.000-06:00

An Interview
As an applicant for a RA in a Summer Program hold by BSU, I was informed to be interviewed on Valentine’s Day.

As I knew, the purpose of this education program was to orientate the children in high school to prepare for the college education. Hence, I thought it was a good chance for me to know the education system in America, and to know the life of the kids. I was sure this job could not only bring me salary, but also satisfy my curiosity.

Now, I was sitting before the interviewer.

The interviewer was an old man. He looked very kind.

In the beginning, he told me the program was for the children from the lower-income family. Hence, it was inevitable that a few of them were troublesome. He wondered if I could afford it. I told him I was once a teacher, and I knew how to deal with them, and I provided him an example.

Actually, his question reminded me of many impressive experiences. I was aware that no one was born villain. On the contrary, I always held this opinion-- we were just the same seeds sent to the different soil by the wind. Although we couldn’t choose the birthplace, we could choose our future. As an educator, I was supposed to tell the children that they had this right.

Then, he asked me, “Supposing you were woken up by a girl when you were sleeping soundly at 2:00 am, and she just wanted to talk to you.”

“And what she would tell you was she was maltreated by her father. She didn’t want to go home for the weekend. What would you do?”

I felt puzzled for this question.

Then, I asked him, “If her father didn’t love her, how come he would send her to the program?”

He looked at me, and answered me seriously, “Because it is free.”

I was astonished, and went on to ask him, “Then, who pay for them?”

He answered, “We pay their meals, the boarding, and the fee for the tutor, RA… We afford all the expenditure. We even give the children money, although not much. After the program, we will go on to contact with the children. If they want to go to the college when they graduate from the high school, we will help them find student loan. We aim to help them develop self-confidence, and make them know their responsibility. Through this program, we also want to make them know only education can help them quit the cycle of poverty.”

At that moment, I was moved by this humane and practicable program. As a teacher, I was aware of the weight of it. I saw the best virtue of human nature—benevolence—threading through the program.

Listening to his introduction, I also got strayed, for I suddenly remembered a dead thirteen-year-old girl who had been my student for four years. That miserable girl grew up with her bad-tempered, indifferent father. They were very poor. However, poverty was not the factor of her tragedy. She was the invisible air, not an apple, in his father’s eyes. Her father never ever took care of her life. It was incredible once when we informed him that we hadn’t seen his daughter for two days, he suddenly remembered neither did he see her for two days! It was difficult to imagine that they were father and daughter who were living in a same house.

This girl always brought trouble to all the teachers, if she was forced to come to school. I had tried to persuade and encourage her. However, even I myself knew--any cheering encourage was faint before the cruel reality. I had been worried about her future. However, my worry was proved superfluous--she had no future at all. One day, her father came to our school and told us calmly that she fled away from her home and got drunk last night, bumped the back of her head on the stare and died. Her father said, “I have to work, I can’t watch her for twenty-four hours.”

The girl once announced rudely to all of us, “Leave me alone. I don’t like study. I do not care what the damn future will be. What I am sure is I have fun on strolling on the street with my friends, especially in school time!” Poor girl, the happiest thing in all her life was strolling on the street! All of us felt deeply sorrow for her. However, she was not the solely miserable kid. Hence, we felt guilty for we were incapable of helping the children like her. If there were a kind of program like this one in China, the girl’s life maybe would change. She needed more special spiritual and material support. However, what we did for her? I felt blushed, for the faculty in this program seems much sincerer than we were.

I really appreciate the old man’s great effort for the children, when he told me he had been worked for this program for thirty years. He was a great educator. I admired his perseverance and devotion.

This interview was more than an interview.

2003-02-15T21:00:00.000-06:00

I will begin my project. My blog as a electro-journal, it will tell out my daily life. However, considering it is also published, i will try to avoid use some of the real names.

2003-02-13T23:34:00.000-06:00

Blog is the product of the technology. However, it is also the product of individualism. Everybody has his right to speak out. And, Blog is a good way to speak out (or “Shout out”).

Mortensen and Walker compare blog with loci amoeni--it is a safe garden but is not shut off from the world. “Our own blogs are safe spaces. Though you cannot stop others from flaming or criticizing you outside your blog, within it you have total editorial control.”

Besides, Mortensen and Walker also use “salon” to symbolize it. It stand between private and public. The intrusion (of the other bloggers) was not forced; it was invited, just as the salons were privately owned rooms open to the public.

In our class, people suggest a new name--computer persona, and talk about the truth in blogger’s posts. However, whatever the post is, it always expresses the personality and interests of their writers.
Actually, it is more close to the universal truth.

We publish our view only after a "click". In a minute, the instant publication is known by the world. No more censorship, no more long hours of thoughts. Technology changed our lives in many ways. We get closer and closer to the truth.

Today, what the blog writer is concerned about is not the audiences, but the self-expression and self-fulfillment. The successful blog always has its own peculiar style. On the other hand, the readers have more possibility to get close to the writers, and have more right to choose what they like.

Dr. Christensen's poem confirms Torill Mortensen and Jill Walker's opinion, “This instant publication encourages spontaneous writing rather than carefully thought out arguments.” This poem is kinds of impromptu speak and a first expression of a thought. Maybe as the title of the poem, “the Latest Draft”, it is just a draft; therefore, he will probably revise it and republish it in future. However, he left his trace, which makes the readers who appreciate his poems feel easy to follow him.

2003-02-12T23:25:00.000-06:00

Today, when I was in class, I noticed there is a new look onAyleen's blog.I had thought I would watch it in detail later.
However, now I cannot open her blog--only her blog. Hope she can fix it early.

At last, I open Andrea Novacek's blog. I found interesting thing in Andrea's comments When Berstein met Blood essays.

Andrea says she is not interested in blogging. However, her blog is one of the smartest one.

I agree with her comment about the weblog class"In no other class are the
students encouraged to read each other's work and I have to say that the
effect is a strange one."

Blog is a product of cooperation. I think.

2003-02-11T23:14:00.000-06:00

Joshua Page's essay is great. He is smart to use the definition of culture to explain blogculture. As well as" a learned response to morning hunger", Blogculture should be a learned response to the digital word.

I do appreciate his comment "Culture, as a body of learned behaviors common to a given human society, acts rather like a template (ie. it has predictable form and content), shaping behavior and consciousness within a human society from generation to generation." Right, culture is a kind of template.

When he mentions about the blogger's product, he says," bloggers are creating a new form of communication." It's true people can just click the mouse to show their concern to you. "You are sad, why?" This example is interesting, but exactally.

So, as he describes, I want to add my opinion in it. "You are right, but I think if you add this, it will be better."

Joshua Page says, "This primary concept of a shaping template and body of learned behaviors might be further broken down into the following categories, each of which is an important element of cultural systems:

* systems of meaning, of which language is primary
* ways of organizing society, from kinship groups to states and multi-national corporations
* the distinctive techniques of a group and their characteristic products"

The above three is much technological, but there is another important element in this cultural system--etiquette. The blogger should be friendly to their readers in their templates and the contents. Furthermore, Bloggers can show their either detest or admire to another blog, but the other blogger's publication right should be respected.

These are the blogculture in my eyes.

2003-02-08T18:49:00.000-06:00

Thankyou! Thankyou! ThankYou! I found it now I just have to think of what I want to say. Who would ever consider that I would be at a loss for words ;o)

2003-02-07T15:33:00.000-06:00

aha, I figured out how to align the lines. How to change the size of the words. Most important is, in the process, I am getting to be familiar with the hypertext.
I can decipher some of them now. It is not that difficult as I had thought before! The most difficult thing is the computer is too slow. I have to wait to see the result after any change.

Sit before the computer for 3 hours. Tired.

i gonna to have my lunch.

2003-02-06T20:49:00.000-06:00

Shakespeare's Secrets

Some people say that your secrets were tightly sealed
with spells in your lines in the yellowed pages, but
the magic spells have gone with the west wind.
Does a bee, a butterfly or a bird sense it?
Some others say you locked your treasure
in the coffer, but the sole key was lost
on your journey. It must be somewhere.
Maybe, it's buried in my backyard by accident?
Generation by generation, the people behind you
endeavored to get the inspiration from the wind,
even search for the key in any place reached by you.
Yet, did anyone ever come across the same sunrise you viewed?
Suddenly, I know-- it's your trick to live with the time.
As your dark lady, you live twice--in our puzzle and your rhyme.

2003-02-06T20:48:00.000-06:00

Last night, Nancy stapled all of our sonnets and handed them out to all of us. All the sonnets in this collective r anonymous, except mine. Its name is betraying me. :(

ok, I will post my sonnet with its name. This is my first sonnet. Frankly, I think it is not rigid pentameter. I tried, but I can't make the ends meet.

Then, I understand how great Shakespeare is!

2003-02-06T20:30:00.000-06:00

Russ was also in Shakespeare with me.

When Mary, another classmate, read the sonnet in her hands, the humous words in it made everybody smile.

At that time, I conjectured it was written by Russ. Besides,in the break, he told me he posted his response to my blog.

After the class, I open his blog, and my conjecture was confirmed.

How I regret I didn't check it out in his blog! Otherwise, I could correct my mistake before I handed them out.

2003-02-06T20:13:00.000-06:00

Last week, in Shakespeare, our sonnets were collected anonymously and were distributed to all of us. We were required to read the sonnets in our hands. It was a good way to avoid embrassment.

Before our reading, Nancy asked,"Does a sonnet have a title?" Someone said,"No." Then, I knew I made a mistake. I only knew a few sonnets by Shakespeare. I had thought it was Shakespeares' peculiar writing style. I couldn't remember whether the teacher told us this point or not. Most probably, I was abscent-minded at that time.

2003-02-04T22:21:00.000-06:00

I am thinking of the project. I want to set a higher aim. I admire Ayleen's blog. She is excellent. I hope I can do it as good as her, though I am just a beginner in this field, and even haven't a computer right now.

2003-02-02T20:50:00.000-06:00

Jan. 31 was Chinese New Year Eve. We Chinese people gathered together to celeberate it.

Saturday. Got up late. Read Insights and Other Voices passed out by Morgan. Fascinated by the Utopia world in Wiki.

Sunday.Still got up late. Suddenly, remembered the assignment BersteinMeetBlood. I was really scared!

2003-01-29T14:18:00.000-06:00

Wiki seems more visible and easier to edit.

2003-01-29T09:41:00.000-06:00

Writing is changing when we write in blog. It has much more information. And, it becomes more effective. It is smart.

2003-01-26T16:13:00.000-06:00

In China, Chinese and math are the required courses in elementary school. The mid-term exam and the final exam in each semester are very important. Especially in Grade 5 and Grade 6, their academic records decide if they can go to a good junior school or not. The competition is somewhat cruel. But the college-entrance exam is far crueler. Generally, 25--33% senior school students can go to college. The percentage in 1995,when I went to college, was 17%!

2003-01-25T15:07:00.000-06:00

Does anybody know how to write sonnet? I made one. Maybe I will post it later.

2003-01-23T19:30:00.000-06:00

Just now, I was successful to link an other website. I will try all the buttons with great courage!

2003-01-23T19:06:00.000-06:00

I ordered the textbook Blog On on line. It is still on the way. I feel upside down for it.

2003-01-22T21:32:00.000-06:00

I just finished the course "Shakespear" tonight. My Goodness! Our professor asked us to write a sonnet on Shakespear. I'd rather write a 5 pages paper than make 14 lines!

2003-01-21T15:03:00.000-06:00

how about this template?

2003-01-21T14:58:00.000-06:00

this time i change my template. can it work?

2003-01-21T14:55:00.001-06:00

i hope this time i will get it.

2003-01-21T14:55:00.000-06:00

now, the second one. i hope u can appear properly. God bless me.