LAST journal

Wow…finally, it is the last week of the semester! Time goes so fast.

I still remember the day which is the first composition class, and we created our own blogs and thought why do we have to write this every week?

Oh…too much homework

 ohhh…in- class writing again!!

ohNo…today is presentation day!

I believe those will be our murmur every week! At the beginning of the semester, I once hoped that tomorrow was the last day of this semester; however, now I’m kind of miss the time when we get along together. I believe ALP is only the access to the university or graduated school, whatever, for everyone. I think everyone has a more important and desirous goal or dream which you guys want to reach.  Maybe, most of us will feel that we are stuck in this program because we are still struggling with the access to go the university. For me, it might be true; however, this program is where I set up the foundation of my English ability.  The only thing I hate about this program is that I have to get up veeerrrrryyyyyyy early! Otherwise, I am kind of like it because I really learn a lot from this program.   

So, good luck to everyone. Wish you guys have a great summer and receive good news from school!!

Also, good luck to our professor, Sean, your baby most will be very cute, smart, and healthy! And I have ever heard that the one who is going to be a father will always be kind to his students’……………………………….............................................................................................................................grade!!

Journal 17: Baraka

Some of scenes which make me impressed are the scenes portraying poverty.  The first scene leaps to my eyes is a huge garbage mountain with lots of women and children dressing poorly and slatternly and picking up something which they think are useful.  When a garbage truck just dives in that place and prepares to dump a truckload of “new trash,” all of the women and children will flock around new trash and eager to find what they want. 

Before these scenes, there are a series of scenes shows the development of industrialization. People wear good cloths, work in very crowd streets, and take crowd subway every day. Having enough food is not a problem anymore, so people begin to develop other industries to make lives better.

The scenes which describe industrialization followed by the scenes which portray poverty contribute to a strong contrast. It is hard to imagine that the difference between the rich and the poor could be so great.  Those women who picking up trash may even not know that there is another society which is completely different from the place they live.  After seeing this film, I believe that a major reason which causes those poor countries to become poorer and poorer might be us, developed countries.  We want to make our countries richer and more advanced, so we sacrifice the poor countries.  International companies set up the branches there and also bring the poor countries pollution and give their citizens very low salaries. We use our advantages to take everything we want from them and dump every problem to them.  Help might be the most efficient way to relieve their difficulties.  Donating money could not be the best way; helping them develop agriculture or helping them establish education system may really mean “help” for them.   


I commented on Sylvina's blog.

Summarize/paraphrase

Rash, W. (April 27, 2011). Verizon 4G Outage Keeps High-Speed Network Customers in the Dark.

Retrieved April 27, 2011, from http://www.eweek.com/c/a/Mobile-and-Wireless/Verizon-4G-Outage-Keeps-HighSpeed-Network-Customers-in-the-Dark-670603/

The Verizon Wireless 4G LTE data network shut was shutdown today, and this crash makes the Verizon Wireless 4G users cannot access to the Internet.  Until late of the day, the data system still has not been fixed, and Verizon indicates engineers have not found what the problem is. It is hard to believe the most new and famous connectional technology suddenly did not work (Rash, 2011, para.1). However, the main reason making Verizon customers feel unbelievable is that Verizon uses only a few and brief message which be posted on Twitter Website to tell the users this information. Because of the way Verizon deals with the emergency, lots of customers claim they are glad for the survival of Verizon. The author argues the motivation of company uses Tweet as access to the public when the spokesman can have an official statement to explain what the problem is (Rash, 2011, para.5). The public speculates many possibilities of the crash of network.


I commented on Ella's and Thuy's blogs.

A letter to parents

Dear Mom & Dad:

How have you been recently?

I’m pretty good actually although school is busy! 

I just want to let you know that I got a boyfriend recently. I knew that you will feel a little bit weird that I tell you this because I usually will not tell you something about my relationship status. Therefore, the main reason that I want to tell you is that he is not Taiwanese, Chinese, or even Asian; oppositely, he is American. He also studies at the same university as me. In fact, we have been dating for a period of time, and we talk about getting married recently. I understand that you feel shocked, worried, and a little bit angry maybe. You may think that we come from two totally different cultures which will cause lots of problems to our marriage in the future, one of which is opinions of his parents, and I may not intend to go back to home after graduating. I concede that different backgrounds definitely make us have some disagreements of certain perspectives, but he has a very good temper and is always willing to communicate with me whenever we disagree with each other. Also, his parents don’t live in California; if we got married, we would not live together with his parents. The bright side is I can find job here; we all know that the working environment here is better than that in hometown.  I am really used to living in the US.  Now my English ability improves a lot because we need to communicate in English.  I take marriage seriously, so I will meditate on getting married with him thoroughly. Therefore, you don’t need to worry about me.   

Miss you.

 

Cindy



I commented on An's and Motaz's blogs.

Analyzing an Argument

Felton, N. (2011, April 12). Coffee can be healthy. The Daily Titan. Retrieved April 22, 2011, from

http://www.dailytitan.com/2011/04/12/coffee-can-be-healthy/

The author tries to convince us that dringking coffee is beneficial to our health.  This argument belongs to the claim of value.  It takes some studies to support the claim. It indicates the majority of studies states benefits of the comsumption of coffee rather than disadvantages. Joe Vinson,  PH.D., a coffee expert at the University of Scranton, states drinking about two to four cups of coffee a day would cause health benefits, one of which is the prevention of cardiovascular disease. Also,  according to an experiment conducted by American Journal of Clinical Nutrition,  people participating the experiment who drank four or more cups of caffeinated beverages daily, most of which were coffee, and 53 percent lower risk of heart disease. The study also shows drinking coffee will contributes to some health benefits of brain, heart, cancer, and diabetes if people drink coffee moderately. Therefore, the author concludes coffee can be healthy.
I think the argument is valid. The author lists some studies which are conducted by an expert and a professional institution can be trust. Hence, I agree with the argument.

I commented on Andy's and An's blogs

Second annotation

Varnum, R., & Gibbons, C. T. (2001). The language of comics :Word and image. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi.

This book is edited from Rabin Varnum and Christina T. Gibbons. They collected some articles from other authors who are have much more experiences about drawing cominc books or creating animated films.  The main point of the book is to describe how words and images make some meanings when they are combined.  It indicated how to express certain critical meaning or some important issues or humor by facial expressions and descriptions of sound. It helps me to understand what the characters in the animations usually do when they try to imply ironic meanings.

first source-Annotated Bibliography

Ling, C. (2009, August 20). Kids should be allowed to watch TV. New Straits Times,17.  Retrieved

April 13, 2011, from ProQuest Newsstand. (Document ID: 1837399841).

This is an article from newspaper.  The author is Chok Suat Ling.  He indicated that for those who growing up in the 1980s, cartoons are created definitely for children, so those films are always full of happiness, clean expressions, and straightforward meanings.  Most of adults do not watch those because they feel most of contents express lots of opinions which they off course have already known as the adults.  The cartoons were meaningless for adults at the time.  Since when, the children are gradually becoming to spew dirty or impolite words which were only said by adults before.  The cartoons are full of violence, sexual issue, or any adult issue now.  Now lots of animations are designed for the adults, and the children even cannot understand the meanings of those. Many experts hope the children can watch those in company with their parents. That would be a trend for cartoon.