Final Thank You

I attended the graduation ceremony tonight. I was thinking to show appreciation to my instructors by walking but not for my benefit since I had graduated from college once five years ago. That was my original reason of waking at the ceremony. However, it turned out very nice! I was not expecting to experience such positive result by participating graduation ceremony. I saw many of my friends and instructors at the event and they cheered me so much throughout the ceremony. I felt so well by knowing the fact that people who I know are part of my life and I did not know them prior to coming to AV two years ago. I was surrounded by familiar faces during the ceremony, and I felt the unity of whole AVC people at the event.

When I first time took classes at AVC in Fall 2008, I did not know even a single person; I did not even remember how to speak English well after being absent from the U.S. for four years. But now, I speak English much better than ever, and even right critically! (Well, I still need improvement though). Class after class, I build friendship with wonderful people including classmates and instructors. And I felt that graduation ceremony was achievement of friendship circle; hugging and shaking hands with friends and instructors after receiving the diploma was one of the best memories in the college life. I confirmed that my people at AVC became part of my life; I also became part of their life through this event. Knowledge and friendships I acquired at AVC are my treasure.

Since I noticed the importance of human relationship by living in various places in the world where I would not have lived well without my friendships, I really appreciate good human relationships. It is not exception in our English class. I really enjoyed interacting with you guys by various group activities, blogs, and discussions. Without this interaction, class would not have been as interesting as now, even though it still be informative class. I believe we need something to motivate ourselves to work hard; to me, getting responses from what I write motivated more to write rather than just writing it to be reviewed for only grading. So I thought blogging part of the class was especially cool part of the class. It was also nice because we get to know our classmates’ possibly distinct point of view which opens my eyes. Without you guys, blogging process could have been just a painful assignment. So I appreciate you guys reading my blog. This is going to be the last blog from English class; however, I am thinking to keep blogging during the summer since I will have bit more time. In order to maintain or improve my writing, I have to practice it constantly. It’s like math, or language, If I do not use it, I lose it. I will try my best to continue blogging, so I may see you guys on my blog site. Well, until then, I enjoyed having class with you guys and thank you for sharing your thought, Good luck in wherever direction you are heading. You guys proved your patience and strong mind by surviving this class. So please remember this fact when you feel weak or impossible to overcome the problem. Peace!!

Audio Book Rocks!

Our final project in English 103 class is the research paper linked with the book, “Reading Lolita in Tehran” by Azar Nafisi, which describes women’s Western literature study linked with their suppressed circumstance in men’s Islamic world. In the process of writing this research paper, I learned that how we are blessed with the human rights comparing to harsh treatment Iranian women experienced during revolutionary era. I felt that women’s voice there was ignored and they were completely suppressed by men’s selfish interpretation of Koran. I could feel the woman’s suffering days by knowing their background which makes our emotion to link to them. I also realized that how important literature plays to liberate one’s spirit. Even though, Iranian women characters in the book were highly suppressed in the society, they could feel they were in another free world when they read western literatures. The literature can take them to its imaginary world, which helps Islamic women’s captured soul free. Since I am in very blessed world with basic human rights, I can do many things without much limitation. Therefore, I did not appreciate the literature as much as after reading this book. At same time, I realized that how literature is powerful. It enables us to travel any types of world in our imagination. Now I understand why many of literature works has been banned in many parts of the world. It is very powerful tool.

This is not directly related to the topic of the research paper, but one of most amazing facts I have learned in doing this research project was experiencing audio book. I was so worried about reading so many pages in the limited time, since I have difficulty reading in English. When I read the text in English, I take too long; moreover, I have to reread some of the sentences to store information to my brain. I think I am more like auditory learner when it comes to English, since my listening skill is much better than reading skill. Then I visited my professor’s office to talk about this concern of reading tons of pages in limited time with good understanding. Then she told asked me if I have ipod. Then all the sudden the light turned on in my brain. Yes, the audio book! She suggested me to listen to the audio book to help reading the text. Then I tried this great idea which I never considered about. I audio book while I was driving long distance on the free way, then I was surprised how I can understand better by listening the text rather than reading. Then, I tried later the audio book with actual text on my hand when I was at home. I was so surprised with the result! It was like a magic, my brain digests the information much more effectively by listening to the text while reading the text. I could underline the important quotations while doing this task and it served as also an English class for me, because many of the words I do not even know how to pronounce. I was so glad to know how effective this method works for me. Now I will be addicted to having audio book and having text on my hand at same time. Thank you to my professor, encountering this method one of the most useful method I have acquired in this class besides all other critical reading and writing skills I have acquired. If some of you really struggle with reading, I definitely suggest you to try audio book plus actual text method. It rocks!

I Will Survive!

Now we are very close to the end of the semester. This semester has been most challenging and difficult semester because having six classes (three are honors related classes) beside participating more than 100 hours of activities by honors society, and working as a math and accounting tutor at the college. I have been spending longest hours of all in this class, but always I have been fighting with time. Reading and writing takes so many hours from me. I am very slow reader and writer even though I have improved so much in this class. Therefore, I often cut my sleeping hour to compensate the time, 2, 3 hours of sleep per night, or even 30 minutes of sleep per day occur. I honestly very exhausted physically and mentally. Then my current situation does not favor me. My dad just came from Japan visiting me for the business, and I have to accompany him 3 days this week. Even though, it is nice to see my dad, honestly I feel this is not a good time. For instance, yesterday, I had to pick him up at LAX, taking him to Claremont with traffic, and coming back to Lancaster from Claremont 1 AM, and still trying to do the home work to catch up. It is glad to receive scholarships, but convocation on Tuesday and tomorrow (Friday) just make me nervous of running out of time. Going to the Shakespeare play for the class tomorrow night supposed to be fun, but I am sure I will feel awkward. Then accompanying my dad on Saturday and Sunday make the situation very hard to manage my time to do school works. I just feel like to give up everything and just go to sleep to catch all the sleep I missed!! However, my dad told me that he sleeps on average only 4 hours a day even on weekends due to his work even though he is 60 years old! I am actually little bit worried about him if he is going to be OK doing so for many years. Many people in Japan die through too much hard work. I am much better off because I am not going to be like my dad for many years, but doing so for just this semester. So I should be able to do it.

I should try my best and keep cutting back sleeping hours in order to achieve best work possible. I have survived until today academically, and I still have hoped to maintain 4.0GPA in total more than 120 units I am going to have at the end of this semester. I cannot give up my dream of accomplishing this so easily. Result of my four years of college being fulltime student is going to determined in this 2 weeks! I will do achieve it! I am not going to give up!

My reality in research project is maybe poorest. I honestly reveal my status. I just bought Lolita by Nabokov few hours ago to read it and it has 300 pages. I feel so ashamed for being this status, but I do not regret of this result because I have always worked hard to do all academic and volunteer works, it’s not result of just being a slacker. However, this reality is very harsh for me. I read around 10 pages per hour; it takes 30 hours to read. Then I have to upload 5 pages based on reading until this Sunday. What I have to do is just read as much as possible without wasting any moment. I should have such attitude to accomplish this. Thus, I will bring the book when I accompany my dad, every moment I can read a book. I know that only 2 weeks left from to finish this semester. After doing my best, I will be proud of myself, but if I fail to do so, I will stick with my regret. I am mentally motivating myself by saying “I can do it” “I can do it!” Yes, sure I can do it! I will try my best! Please wish me luck and I will wish all of you luck as well. 2 more weeks! We can do it!

We Need Ordinary Conversation

Nowadays, our communication relies on E-mails heavily. It is really rare to see adults without an E-mail account in the U.S. Even college our college provides us E-mail accounts for each student. Why the demand of E-mail as a communication device grew so much? We can analyze the advantages of E-mails over ordinary conversation. We can communicate with an individual in almost any part of the world who has internet connection and an account by simply typing and send an E-mail. It does not charge delivery fee, and it is very speedy, it takes only seconds to send an E-mail to other side of the globe. The E-mail does not require sender and receiver to be connected at same time. E-mail allows communication without actually facing senders and receivers. They are so many more advantages of using E-mails.

However, those advantages can serve as weak point as well. The major difference between communication via E-mail and ordinary conversation is that one does not require face-to-face interaction, while other requires it. I personally think that relying on E-mail as communication tool too much can lead disorder in human interaction behavior since it does not require face-to-face interaction.
When I communicate with people via E-mail, it is very easy to be get confused; for instance, when I read an e-mail which seems criticizing me which was actually meant as a joke. Or when I was intending to point out the error kindly may be received as insult to the other, because of absence of non-verbal cues in the E-mail communication. Telling joke would be perceived by looking one’s smile, or kindly telling one’s mistake can be understood by mild expression in the face. Or anger could be caught by the tone of the voice. Expressing right emotion in writing requires very critical writing skill, and most of would have hard time doing so; this imprecise emotion in E-mail can lead to misunderstanding among senders and receivers.

This neutral effect of emotion, because of absence in non-verbal cues, is nurturing people who cannot communicate in ordinal conversation. Today, in Japan many young people stay in their home and do not even leave from their room; they are called “HIKIKOMORI.” Those people decided to disconnect themselves from real world because of their traumatic experiences. Some of them became Hikikomori due to school buries, while others may be loss of self confidence by losing job. This trend among Japanese young people is getting bigger and bigger each day, which was not seen before in my parents’ generation. Because Hikikomori people can communicate with people via E-mails and internet, they can avoid ordinal face-to-face conversation which they usually afraid of. Thus they are many people who never leaves from their home for years; they do not even communicate with family member. Because of internet and E-mail development, they still enjoy communication with others, but absence of face-to-face interaction for long time makes them difficulties to express their own expression toward others. They slowly become unbalanced emotional people; their awkwardness of expressing their emotion toward real people combined with their fear against facing real human makes them almost unable to return to the real world outside of their room. Because of their long period of staying in small place makes them frustrated and unbalanced in hormones due to stress and lack of exercise, explosion of their emotion can lead to hurting their own family members. Unfortunately, each year, there are many serious incidents caused by hikikomori people. E-mail is very convenient, but we also have to re-evaluate the goodness of face-to-face conversation of interacting emotions. We, humans are social creatures. Without any face-to-face interaction, we will never understand the concept of caring each other, because we never see real smile through E-mail. We are not built to interact with machines.

The Right Thing to Do: Public Talk by Dr. Terrence Roberts

I attended an event on public talk by Dr. Terrence Roberts titled, "What Lessons Can We Learn from Little Rock” on May 11th, 2010 at Antelope Valley College Cafeteria. It was a great moment to find personal connection to the civil rights movement period, because I get chance to interact with the person who experienced the historical event. I have learned about “little rock nine” when I took African American History Honors class in Fall 2009 Semester, thus I was very excited to hear Dr. Roberts’ personal experience and his point of view. In fact, he answered my question on “how can we take a step to get rid of discrimination?” His answer encouraged me to practice “the right thing to do” with confidence to improve the society and the mind of people.

The event started with welcome speech by Professor Scott Memmer to appreciate Dr. Terrence and his supporters to attend this event. He also thanked the stuff and instructors who coordinated and set this event. Shortly after the speech, we reviewed brief educational film regarding to historical event of Little Rock Nine in 1957. The film suggested that after 1954 court decision of Brown vs. Board of Education led all segregated public schools in the nation to convert to racially integrated school. Film also acknowledged us that “Little Rock Nine” was a historical event since nine Black students attended their first day of formally White school with National Guard in order to prevent violence from White students. The circumstance in Little Rock High School was particularly bad because majority of population there did not want to support integration; even Arkansas Governor did not want to support racial integration because he wanted to earn popularity from majority of White people in Arkansas who were segregationists, but Federal Government forced to do so.

Then, Dr Roberts initiated to speak his personal experience on racial issue. He exposed that he was taught from his mother that “what to be a black kid in the U.S.” Thus, he was aware of racial problem and became obedient child. He also acknowledged us the experience he have had when he was thirteen years old; he entered to the restaurant for white people by front door and sat there; immediately after sating down, he felt close attention from surroundings. Even though no one said a word, non verbal message was strong enough to convince him that he was been rejected. Thus he ran out from the store running with emotional mess, fear, anger, and hopelessness; then he realized that he could been killed by crowd, just as thirteen years old Emmitt Tilt, Black boy from Chicago who had same age as little Terrence and was killed by white people in Mississippi due to just talking with White lady. When I heard this incident, I was terrified by the fact that how racial tension was strong and injustice was openly practiced under Jim Crow law. Two years later, he voluntarily decided to attend formally segregated white school as one of the first Black students in school history. He revealed that originally 115 students were planned to attend that Little Rock high school; however, rumor, parents, and kids themselves pulled from an option: only nine of them remained. Many people thought Terrence as insane kid because he was taking risk to attend there. Nevertheless, he decide do attend there because he believed that it was “the right things to do.” In fact, little Terrence experienced strong racism. Dr. Terrence Roberts described the very first day of school that he felt atmosphere of non verbal expression of “we don’t like you” from other students, and also felt he is in a “wrong place.” Dr. Roberts exposed the cruel fact that he experienced any physically and psychologically offense which we can image. The words from Dr. Roberts, who experienced the racial struggle, were much more powerful than acquiring the information from the text book. I felt the reality of racism rather than just understanding as a concept by listening to one’s personal struggle in racial issue.
After addressing his personal experience, Dr Roberts allowed us to have open question time. More or less, ten students asked each question. His answers included the idea of “accepting the fact is good, and it does not necessarily mean to accept the idea, because knowing the truth is important to face the issue.” Another idea by Dr. Roberts was that “we are so connected each other; someone impacts another in some way.” He also acknowledged us that “the language is power; people are going to judge based on that.” And the most important idea of all, he addressed that “choosing moral behavior with strongly determined attitude will make others to follow us;” in other words, we should practice what we think “the right things to do.” Dr. Roberts gave us lots of key ideas which help us to be a better person or a role model.

This public talk, on “What Lessons Can We Learn from Little Rock” by Dr. Terrence Roberts, was very productive to recognize that racial issue existed and still continues to exist. There was also a connection to our English class because Dr. Terrence emphasized the importance of the language which we covered in chapter ? of Exploring Literature text book; after studying in our class, I really agree with Dr. Terrence that indeed “language is power.” His humorous tone was unexpected to me; however, this positive attitude of talking on racial issue gave me an impression that he is a very strong minded person who does not flinch with threat. Maybe his optimistic attitude could be one of the factors which succeeded him to be a part of historical movement. His argument of practicing moral behavior as a strong tool to change the society was very convincing after knowing some reflection of Dr. Roberts’ personal character. He demonstrated us that practicing “the right things to do” indeed attract people to follow him. Dr. Roberts’ encouragement of practicing powered moral behavior would nurture future role models from Antelope Valley College who are touched by his words. I will continue believing in my moral behavior to lead society to the right direction.

Works Cited
Roberts, Terrence. What Lessons Can We Learn from Little Rock. May 11, 2010. Lecture.

Censoring Taboo Language for Our Children

Censorship of taboo words in the television would be controversial issue since some people may think censorship of taboo words gives awkwardness to the characters who are talking on controversial issue without referring to taboo words. Or some others may argue that replacing taboo words with alternative words is like hiding the truth. On the other hand, supporter of censorship of taboo words may say that banning such words will protect children who are easily offended from taboo language on television.

I personally believe that censorship of taboo words is necessary to nurture role model children. I concern more about quality of the language which children speak than reality of the TV program. One of the reason why censorship of coarse words is necessary is that children are easily influenced since their brain is so flexible to learn anything quickly. If we expose children to the environment where taboo words are often heard, those children are more likely start speaking such language in cordial life. Unfortunately, I have encountered some of very young children who are less than five years old cursing others because they were exposed to the environment where those words are frequently heard; since children develop their language style by observing their surroundings, they will think that using taboo words are not bad at all by being in the environment where taboo words are used without hesitation. If use of coarse language are punished or discouraged in the environment, those children would know that speaking such language is not good, then they are more likely avoid those words in their life. Then those children grow up to be a good role model for their children as well. If coarse words are replaced with alternative words, or simply beeped, children in developing stage will notice that those words are not encouraged; thus they will avoid using such language.

It is hard to imagine conversation among teenagers without any taboo language today; however, in Victorian era, avoiding taboo language was very common in society because people in the era were striving to do so. Therefore, they could communicate each other without use of taboo words, and it was natural back then. If we start nurturing children who are accustomed to express themselves without taboo words, they eventually talk more morally then censorship of taboo words may not be an issue in the future, If all things work well. I know that this is an ideology, so it may be so hard to accomplish. However, if we strive to censor taboo words, we can at least prevent some children to be exposed to taboo words and discourage them to use them, even though their parents may use taboo words frequently. This change slowly changes whole society to move toward less use of taboo language. If we stop banning such language, children will definitely be more exposed to those and they will nurture next generation full with taboo language without any offending feeling. I believe our generation became more abusive user of taboo words through deteriorating moral views; one of the influences is definitely pervasive taboo language from TV shows. If we do not regulate taboo words in the television media, we will create our next generation even worse than us. Our children may call us “people from Victorian era” when they become adults.

It’s All about Practice

We are in eleventh week of English 103 class. We have read more than 900 pages from books so far. I have never read this much pages in English in this short period of time. We also have issued more than 10 blogs. We have written 4 essays in the class so far. And we had so many other activities which require all reading, writing, and critical thinking process. We are in fact loaded with assignments!! We have had various types of activities which as individual work, group work, peer response, discussions…etc. Just reading instruction of assignment requires reading skill. Those various types of assignments provide opportunity to improve writing skill. I feel much more confident in English writing than before, because I improved my writing skill through applying my reading and writing skills constantly through various assignments.

When I started this class in February, I already became overwhelmed by reading the class syllabus, because I was so intimidated by reading in English. Since Japanese is my first language, I have tendency of being scared by alphabets; it may be like non-Japanese speaker trying to read Japanese. Those letters do not click my brain at first sight; I have to pay good attention in order to understand the concept of the text. I often bump into the words I do not know the meaning, so dictionary is my best friend when I read in English. Those facts slow down my reading speed so much, and make me feel like I am first grade elementary school student. On the other hand, when I read Japanese, I can just scam the text, and I get most of the concept written down. Therefore, start reading English text immediately after reading Japanese text is one of the worst moments; it reminds me the sad fact that my English reading level is relatively very poor comparing to one in Japanese, because my Japanese reading is non-stop, but my English reading becomes chopped by inserting often dictionary time; worst consequence is forgetting what I have read before by taking time in finding definition by dictionary, which makes me to repeat the sentence in order to understand the line. Therefore I have tendency of avoiding English reading. Since I do not have much vocabulary, problem with grammar and the articles (there are no articles in Japanese), I feel uncomfortable in English as well, so I have no volunteer spirit to write in English.

However, when it comes to class work, I become responsible because I focus on maintaining good grade from the class. Thus, this class’s assignments helped me so much to improve my writing skills through practicing my reading and writing skills to earn credit. I practice my English skills so much from constant assignments which require such skills. I personally believe everything will improve by practice; without practice, there will not be improvement. In fact, now I do not feel that intimidated by reading or writing in English since I am building my confidence by practicing it and recognizing the achievement I have done in the class. Especially group work and blog response assignments help me to be comfortable in writing since those writing process involves communication; I like to communicate with people, so those writing process take my uncomfortable feeling toward writing. This new aspect of communicating mainly by writing increased both comfort and confidence in writing by actually liking it. Therefore, now I am sure that I feel much more comfortable in writing comparing to the beginning of the semester. So I am looking forward to improve my reading and writing skills through more practice in the class. It’s all about practice!

Editorial Cartoons: Proper Way to Express Controversial Issues

In the United States, editorial cartoons are seen in many news papers and magazines. It is the same situation in Japan where I grew up as well. Unlike those editorial cartoons in Japan, some of those in the United States are very controversial and aggressive; many of citizens doubt about existence of editorial cartoons when they see very offensive ones; for instance, fury raised when President Obama was depicted as a monkey shot by police men in political cartoon. I remember that one of Sirius radio’s hip hop program-host was cursing on this cartoon creator so hard, and also blaming on the particular publisher which the cartoon took place. I agree that depicting person as a monkey is very rude and controversial; however, I believe editorial cartoon should not be regulated and should be protected from the publisher, since it is one way of expression which not physically hurt others and regulating the cartoon is violation of the First Amendment of American Constitution, which is “freedom of Speech.”

When we observe controversial cartoons, we tend to focus on only negative side of them; nevertheless, we should consider good side of editorial cartoons as well, in order to evaluate the existence of them. I personally believe that drawing of editorial cartoons soften the expression comparing to just express verbally or in writing; because drawing in editorial cartoons are more likely comical in nature through drawing characters with deformation and emphasizing their uniqueness. Those drawing are not precise as pictures, therefore, editorial cartoons soften offensiveness. Therefore, I believe editorial cartoons are very effective way to acknowledge the readers very controversial point of view comparing to other medias of expressions. Another good side of editorial cartoons is that face to face communication would be avoided through expressing impersonalized media of drawing cartoons; the creator does not have to face to the person who is a target of criticism; on the other hand, readers do not have to face to the creator neither. If readers are dissatisfied with the cartoons, they can contact publisher instead of directly facing the creator, which may cause elevated emotion to increase chance of attacking him/her. Thus editorial cartoons can avoid hatred toward particular person and still encouraged to point out the controversial issues.

If editorial cartoons are regulated, we do not longer face one’s extremely controversial point of view or encountering the issues in form of the speech which increase the possibility of collusion by letting face taker and audience face to face. I especially believe that depicting politics through editorial cartoons are very effective way to convey the idea, since they are in the highest position basically citizens cannot control until election comes; therefore casting on issue by less offensive media of expression has to be promoted in order to make politicians and citizens know about it.

Doug Marlette in his article, “Freedom of Speech and the Editorial Cartoon,” suggests that the number of Cartoonist decreased from 200 to 90 in 20 years due to avoid conflict between publisher and the subscribers (Par. 2). This is a sad fact publishers are avoiding controversial issues in order to maintain their profit rather than acknowledging one’s point of view which may inspire readers to think deeply about it. I am a fan of such editorial cartoons which particularly focus on controversial issues, because I do not really see truly controversial editorial cartoons in Japan because of being too considerable to mention about it; I feel unique free atmosphere of the United States in free speech is decaying through overprotecting attitude of the society; I personally think knowing one’s point of view make others to think more about an issue or getting to know the issue; just hiding one’s opinion does not help to improve the society or letting know existence of other point of view. We cannot forget about greatness of American culture is diversity; we should not go toward homogeneous society where everyone becomes the same by regulating one’s opinion.

Editorial cartoons are symbol of freedom of speech which can express very controversial issue in less offensive way through less personalized cartoon; but it still conveys strong idea. Therefore we should encourage the expression made by editorial cartoons rather than undermining them, in order to maintain our democracy and freedom of speech.

Freedom of Speech Has to Be Absolutely Protected

We often argue the first amendment of American Constitution that “freedom of Speech” as a symbol of freedom in the U.S. I strongly agree with such statement. I believe having right to have speech is one of the most basic rights to maintain equality and democracy. However, many colleges today start restricting this freedom of speech by speech conduct, in order to build more avoid uncomfortable ambient created by offensive words. What would I do, if condition of acceptance to my school was signing an agreement that I would refrain from using racist, sexist, or otherwise abusive language on campus? I would not sign such agreement even though there is benefit from restricting abusive language.

First, what would be benefit of having a speech code to restrict abusive language? I believe restricting such language allow more comfortable environment for people who are targeted by abusive language. The code may encourage all people in school to behave more morally through practicing punishment. The benefit seems to improve whole society’s verbal expression to be highly ethical.

However, we should examine down side of the restriction of abusive language restriction, in order to analyze if such agreement is worth signing. The fact is that the one’s real opinion can be distorted through the speech code since his/her real degree of thought cannot be expressed by restriction of abusive language; opposing with mild and polite words is not same as using cursing words. Even though, use of abusive words can offend others, it can be viewed as sincere language since it reflects strong anger of strong opposing idea. We should consider the fact that restricted use of abusive words in the school does not restrict such use of words out side of the school; we cannot control such words unless we apply the speech code outside the campus as well; thus, the speech code does not serve to completely change abusive expression from the root. Another reason is that it is very hard to define the term abusive words; someone thinks the term is abusive, while other thinks it is not abusive at all; depending on the situation, the word can be offensive or affectionate. Thus code can be used to take advantage of restricting one’s positive expression; on the other hand, favoring other’s negative expression all depending on interpretation. Thus, speech code can create unequal treatment within the campus. It seems like usually people who are not in power have more chance to be abused or mistreated by the majority, since they cannot exceed in numbers; thus they can be treated unfairly by distorted interpretation of speech code if moral standard of people who control the code is not high. Therefore, speech code seems to protect people from abusive words, but actually it may promote inequality or aggressive verbal expression against people.

The biggest reason why I do not sign to agreement of speech code is that restricting abusive word conflicts with the concept of freedom of speech. Having freedom of speech is very important to maintain our basic rights, because speech is the media which can be used to express thought without interaction of physical expression, and powerful enough to change the society. If people are restricted to express whatever they want to say, they lose one of non-violent media to express issue, rather than practicing actual physical resistance. Civil rights movement would not happened without freedom of speech, because if Black people did not have such powerful and non-violent expression, their alternative is protesting or resisting physically, this would have produced more blood and lives lost, and may have been ended without any social change by just suppressing “violent minority group” by force. Many countries where freedom of speech is not allowed, suppression from the ruling group dominates by not giving the suppressed people the opportunity to express themselves; their considerable alternative to resist the ruling group is could be having coup de tat, or something violent. I believe limiting speech causes increase in physically violent actions.

Actually, there is a solution to decrease abusive words toward others. Ethical people do not use abusive words often, because they know that those words offend others and do not make others feel good; thus they tend to restrict themselves to use such words; such use of words are controlled internally rather than externally. Thus such internal control does not conflict with freedom of speech. Therefore nurturing ethnical people would eliminate problem offending others by abusive words. I believe encouraging moral thinking in the speech rather than punishing the speech is the solution to solver the problem.

So, if we analyze both pros and cons of speech conduct on campus, having the code creates unfair judgment toward some speech and which may lead to worth consequence than banning abusive words trough abusing interpretation of the words. Therefore I would not sign the agreement to restrict abusive words in the campus. I strongly believe that freedom of speech is absolutely protected both within and outside of the campus. We will maintain our democracy and liberty by having freedom of speech.

Realizing Importance of Freedom by Reading “Reading Lolita in Tehran”

Today in the United States, many people would have hard time to imagine the life without freedom; many younger Americans may take for granted of this freedom society in the U.S. I have heard many people complaining how liberal today’s society is comparing to old days; I have heard such thing from many older people in countries where I have lived; the U.S., Japan and Ecuador. Thus I was assuming that freedom is spreading and gaining more power all over the world. However, we should remind that even today, some societies do not allowed practice of freedom. We are assigned to read the story, “Reading Lolita in Tehran” by Azar Nafisi in our English class, through this book; I was suppressed how women in Iran are suppressed by men in the name of religious moral. Women in Iran are obligated to followed the rule which is set by Ayatollah Khomeini regime which were designed to regulate women’s dress code in order to not morally distract men; many laws which are believed to enforce religious morality were set by the regime. Such slanted interpretation of religious ideologies is suppressing women. I was surprised the fact, that women in Iran prior to Khomeini regime had more freedom; which seems like the progress of time is in backward in Iran. Then I realize that my thought is based on my experience and it is very narrow perspective. The process of reading this book acknowledged me struggle of freedom in different society and the gender issue. Since I am man, I was mainly thinking in male point of view, so I did not focus on how difficult to be a woman in Iran; however the story made me realize that importance of thinking style as “what would I feel if I were that person.” Description of how women spend their time in Iran acknowledged me that I lacked to think such way.

This reading experience reminded me that we cannot take the freedom for granted. If we examine the history all over the world, we can see the history of control over the people everywhere in the world. In Japan, people were obligated to fight Second World War 60 years ago, in Ecuador, native people were enslaved by Spaniards, and in the U.S. colored people did not have basic rights to support their freedom until 1960s. Those facts come from not long time ago. People learned important to promote freedom through bloods after bloods. So I realized that how important to support and think in freedom in order to maintain or promote freedom in the society; we should never take freedom for granted. Thus, reading “Reading Lolita in Tehran” is recommendable to be aware of existence of suppressed people in the world, and to appreciate freedom we have. Hopefully many people read this book to realize importance of freedom. All readers can spread the idea of freedom to others and people who heard the idea tells other, and so on. Eventually, the idea will be spread all over the world to promote the freedom globally.

Let’s be Open-minded to be Successful in our Life!

An article “Some Friends and I started Talking: Conversation and Social Change” by Margaret J. Wheatley explorers possibility of conversation in our life. Wheatley describes many social changes begun with having a conversation; the power of conversation is emphasized in the article. But she also reveals that social change is not going to happen with any kind of conversation; she states, “Change doesn’t happen from a leader announcing the plan. Change begins from deep inside a system, when a few people notice something they will no longer tolerate, or when they respond to someone’s dream of what’s possible” (Wheatley par. 5). The author suggests that the conversation which make the society different is the one attract people’s will. Following two tips change ordinary conversation to powerful conversation. One is welcome others opinion; the author suggest, “What’s important at the start is that everyone’s voice gets heard, that everyone feels invited into the conversation” (18). Another tip is that being open to one’s criticism; Wheatley mentions. “Another surprising but important element of conversation is a willingness to be disturbed, to allow our beliefs and ideas to be challenged by what others think” (20). Conversation becomes deeper and stronger by openness; this nurtures unified and thoughtful ideas which trigger social change.

When I read this article, I reminded the importance of openness in the conversation, because I have learned how important to be open-minded especially when I have crucial conversation with group of people through my personal experience. When I think my opinion is right, I tend to be close-minded; this result in blocking others’ opinion since I feel listening to others is wasting my time; as a result, others feel offended by my blocking attitude, since many of them may feel that I am treating them as inferior through not listening to them. Then, ironic language starts appearing in the conversation; consequence is more likely having a quarrel rather than having a conversation. I have had many experiences like this when I was talking with friends who seemed not wise to me. However, my living experience in the U.S. changed my attitude toward any kind of people in conversation. My first living experience away from my parents in foreign country with foreign country made me feel ignorant due to lack of knowledge in the culture and the language. This feeling help me to listen to others, since I was not sure what is ideal among American People; there was necessity to learn from other’s opinion. Another reason which made me open-minded was noticing diversity in the U.S. I noticed there are so many racial and cultural backgrounds here and everybody thinks differently; I became very interested in listening one’s opinion because diversity of opinion entertained me through hearing something I never imagined. Through the process, I became aware of how important to be open-minded. I realized that people become very friendly when I listen to them; they can feel that I respect them and their opinion through listening their opinion; they become open to my opinion as well since I demonstrate care to them. And I also realized that Iistening to others may bring some point of view, I have never thought about. Since everyone thinks differently, one’s opinion varies as well; this approach from others open my eyes to come up some fresh ideas. I noticed that my action of listening to others serves sort of ice breaker to the people to open their mind, which more likely to result in meaningful honest conversation without ego and pride. People who seemed unwise was actually holds unique idea ; in fact, they were wise, I was the unwise person who was blocking others’ opinion, which missed opportunity to elaborate my idea. Now, I know how important to listen to others in order to make them feel involved which helps my opinion to be elaborated and approved. I strive to be open-minded always, sometimes, it is not easy to accomplish, and however, I believe it comes with practice. I am more open-minded than before, which make my life more interesting and smoothes. I am looking forward to be more productive and unbiased through listening others’ opinion.

Work Cited
Wheatley, Margaret J. “Some Friends and I Started Talking: Conversation and Social Change” Exploring Language. Ed. Gary Goshgarian. New York: Longman, 2008. 311-15. Print.

Nonverbal Cues Talk More than Words

Have you had experience that you kept distance from someone who was dressed far away from others? Or have you felt your friend who has comical expression is making fun of you even though his words contain sense of consolation? These situations occur very often to everyone, because either strongly or weakly, we more likely determine our mind based on nonverbal cues rather than actual words. Let’s analyze how my body language, the way I talk, my facials expressions, dress style, and mental attitude give vibes to the people around me, to see how powerful nonverbal cues are.

First, many people use body language to emphasize their expression. It is very common nonverbal cue used in the speech. I personally believe that when I use appropriate amount of body language accompanying the words contents, I attract audience. For instance, when I am talking about something “big,” spreading my both arms widely emphasize the meaning and it reinforces audience’s understanding. However, when I use body language exaggeratedly, many listeners start laughing even though the content I am talking is nothing comical. If I do not use body language at all, many audiences would think that I have no passion toward subject I am talking. Therefore people get influenced by body language to determine their mind.

The way I talk can influence people’s thought strongly as well. For example, when I talk in same tone like a robot, many people would lose their interest even though I am talking something what exactly people want to hear. Talking passionately always attract audience’s interest by making them pay attention.

How about my facial expressions? I believe most of people receive message through facial expression than actual words when there is contradiction between them. When I have sad expression, and tell my friends that “I am happy,” they are more likely to think that I am sad. It is very common to hear somebody claiming that “you are not sorry!” when I say “sorry” with laugh, because he prioritizes my facial expression over what I am talking.
Dress style is another strong nonverbal cue which influence people’s mind. When I was dressed very casually, I felt that some people are not really listening to me and not agreeing with me. However, when I dressed formally, my audience was looking at me and listening to me seriously even though I was talking exactly same matter; their feedback were very positive. People’s reaction varied through judging my dress style. Wearing suits when we have business reunion is anther evidences that we care how we dress, because we unconsciously know that our dress style affects customers thought strongly.

Finally, mental attitude affects others around me strongly; unlike other nonverbal cues, this cue actually affects our word choice. When I have positive mental attitude, I usually have appreciative and supportive attitude, which nurture compliment and encouragement. On the other hand, when I have bad mental attitude, I often end up choosing criticizing and denial word choices. Mental attitude affects the verbal cues strongly.

As we examined, nonverbal cues play crucial role in the speech or conversation. In order to convey right thought, we should consider how our nonverbal cues influence the audience, because those cues are very powerful; they more likely win against verbal cues. We should avoid conflict between verbal and nonverbal cues in order to convey our thoughts correctly. Now, I will try to focus on non verbal cues to avoid misunderstanding by others.

Global Language English and Its Future

Nowadays, the term globalization is heard everywhere in the world. The place I have lived before, Japan, Ecuador, and the U.S. all countries focus on this concept every day. Globalization increased the necessity of having communication tool among people all over the world. One of the vital communication tools is a language. Now many people from choose to use English as their tool to communicate with whom has different language background. Many people claim English as a global language; it is second most spoken language after Chinese Mandarin, and it is most spoken foreign-language in the world. According to Carla Power’s “Not the Queen’s English,” “English now outnumber native speakers 3 to 1” (Power 199). This suggests that how English is spread all over the world as foreign communication tool. Power also acknowledges that “Within a decade, 2 billion people will be studying English and about half the world—some 3 billion people—will speak it” (199). It seems there is no doubt English is encouraged language in the world. I remember that I used English to communicate with my friend from Holland when I was in Ecuador. I speak with my Korean and Chinese friends with English as well. In most of Japanese public school system adapt English as a second language in their curriculum. In Ecuador, English is emphasized even for elementary school students. It seems English dominates foreign language choice for many countries, and knowing English is a key tool to succeed in global environment now. However, will this language remain the dominant as a global language in 20, 50 or even 100 years from now? In order to forecast future of the global language, we have to know the reason what makes particular language prominent. According to David Crystal in his article “Why a Global Language?” he illustrates, “A language has traditionally become an international language for one chief reason: the power of its people—especially their political and military power” (Crystal 183). I strongly agree with his opinion since England constructed one of the strongest empires to influence the world, and now United States is the strongest country politically, militarily, and economically. However, we do not know if English speaking country is going be prominent in the future. For instance, China is nurturing its economical power dramatically over this 25 years; Chinese government is increasing its political power and military power as well; in fact, Chinese GDP is said to exceed Japanese GDP this year to be number two highest GDP country in the world. The problem of the United States faces now is lack of skilled labor within the country due to citizen’s lack of education. Douglas McGray in his article “Lost in America,” suggests that “Soon, we hear, the United States will become a nation of baristas and retail clerks, while Asians leave their kids with the Nannybot” (McGray 204). This may trigger serious economical downturn in the future. Therefore I forecast, English speaking population decreases little by little. However hope is potential countries such as China and India currently are focusing on educating citizens with English. Therefore, I believe English is going to be most spoken foreign language in 20 years from now. How about 50 years from now? It is harder to forecast. According to Barbara Wallraff’s “What Global Language,” she states, “In 2050…the world will hold 1,384 million native speakers of Chinese, 556 million of Hindi and Urdu, and 508 million of English” (Wallraff 190). It seems there will be big Chinese influence in the world; If American economy does not remain strong, I think many other countries decide to shift English to other language which is spoken in the country with strong economy and political power such as Chinese in 2060. How about a century from now? This one is almost impossible to forecast, but I believe it depends on how English speaking countries act on developing their counties; most prominent language can be English, Chinese, or Hindu. Since many countries emphasize on English as their second language, it is easier for English to maintain its strong position, therefore I believe there will not be another language replaces English soon. However, if English countries fail to succeed in economic, political, and military power, another language which is spoken in influential country is going to replace it, because foreign countries are not adopting English as their mother tongue, the rise of another language is possible. It is hard to practice only one global language for such diverse world.

Work Cited

Cristal, David. “Why a Global Language?” Exploring Language. Ed. Gary Goshgarian. New York: Longman, 2008. 178-86. Print.

McGray, Douglas. “Lost in America” Exploring Language. Ed. Gary Goshgarian. New York: Longman, 2008. 203-10. Print.

Power, Carla. “Not the Queen’s English” Exploring Language. Ed. Gary Goshgarian. New York: Longman, 2008. 198-202. Print.

Wallraff, Barbara. “What Global Language?” Exploring Language. Ed. Gary Goshgarian. New York: Longman, 2008. 187-97. Print.

Back to the Basic

This week, I have read essays related to language construction and its influence. I learned many methods which affect certain way. This is useful to know in order to enhance my critical reading and writing skill. I read ten essays; the subjects vary from how choice of font may affect readers feeling to how knowing audience helps to choose and shape information. But one of the most informative essays to me is “The Case for Short Words” by Richard Lederer. The author explains how short words are powerful comparing to long words. This article changed my idea toward English writing upside down!

How many of you tried to impress audience by using big words or bureaucratese to show your intelligence? I think many of you tried such method to decorate your idea; I was not the exception. When comes to the writing, I tend to search more difficult or complicated words as possible, rather than simple short words, to make it look gorgeous. But Lederer points out that how use of short words effect audience positively in his essay. He states, “Big words can make the way dark for those who read what you write and hear what you say. Small words cast their clear light on big things…Big words at times seem strange to the eye and the car and the mind and the heart. Small words are the ones we seem to have known from the time we were born, like the hearth fire that warms the home” (Lederer par. 2). This idea clicked my brain to remind that how I used to use short words to explain something new to that person; I often takes a while to understand the concept explained by big words. In addition, I tend to use simple words when I communicate with others. I may confused my audience through use of big words; because my motivation of using big words was, making my essay looks more complicated, rather than telling my thought directly, in order to show my skill of expression to the audience; I distorted some of my idea slightly different from my original thought by using big words.

Lederer also acknowledges us how short words were used in the work of one of the most famous writers in the history as following, “Nobody used the short word more skillfully than William Shakespeare” (par. 8). When I read this fact, I was very surprised that Shakespeare accomplished his famous works without much big words. This fact encourages me to use powerful simple words.

After reading Lederer’s essay, I became aware of using big words does not equal to better writing; I felt extremely relieved since I became released by pressure of using big words; now I can enjoy being me by writing with simple words which is more likely my natural reflection in writing, since I do not talk or express myself as politician. Of course there are cases big words are necessary for essay when those add understanding, however, now I have an idea that use of the language has to be clear to the audience if I want to correctly acknowledge or inform my audience, so I will focus on analyzing the fact that if my word choice deliver my idea clearly rather than focusing on decorating my essay. I saws short words in new light; now, I am not afraid to use such basic words.

Work Cited
Lederer, Richard. “The case for Short Words” Exploring Language. Ed. Gary Goshgarian. New York: Longman, 2008. 122-24. Print.

Power of the Speech

Martin Luther King Jr. is well known Black civil rights leader in 1950s and 1960s who dedicated his life to earn equality for colored people. His passion and the idea such as nonviolent direct action to abolish inequality in the Southern states in the United States inspired many American citizens to abolish such injustice laws. One of his most knows speech is “I have a dream” speech, which is delivered on the steps of Lincoln Memorial in Washington D.C. in 1963. Why this speech became so popular and claimed as a one of the most powerful speeches in American History? Today, I will analyze the greatness of his “I have a dream” speech by critical thinking skill I have acquired in the English class.

One of the most important factors which made this speech great was the location and the time period. 196os was one of the most active decades which Black Civil Rights movement took place. Elijah Mohammad’s Nation of Islam, Black Panthers, and Freedom riders, many types of organization were active to fight against inequality in the South. Especially, Martin Luther King Jr. guided non violent direct action despite of violent southern governor’s treatment against such protestors. If speech was made a decade earlier, I believe it would not have that strong impact as it did in 1960s, because terrible actions of southern police toward nonviolent African Americans were not known widely. Thus, the time speech was made was a crucial factor which made the speech so powerful.

The location of the speech where took place was another important factor. Lincoln Memorial, which represents spirit of President Lincoln, was significant as well; Lincoln was the leader of Abolitionists who guided to terminate harsh slavery. Therefore Lincoln can be seen as a symbol of freedom for African Americans. Therefore, giving speech where resides freedom spirit of Lincoln was very important; the President of the United States represents the nation as well as American spirit; It seemed Martin Luther King Jr. inherited Great Spirit of Lincoln and represented the idea to whole America from its capital. If it was made in any other location, it would not have same impact as Lincoln Memorial; because there is no place represents America’s political heart and the father of abolitionists.

Other facet which made this speech remarkable is its way of delivering message. Some of the words and phrases are highly repeated. For example, word justice and injustice are both repeated more than 3 times during the speech; those words trigger human nature’s conscience to fight for inequality. Also repeating the phrase “I have a dream” has strong impact on American people, since many Americans are aware of American dream; I believe there is a message of that, African Americans are also like other Americans, who should be able to dream and have right to dream come true. I am sure that many listeners were touched and became emotional to hear the phrase.
Addressing landscapes in each state as a symbol of freedom was another unique way of delivering the message. I believe Martin Luther King Jr. intended to express how sublime freedom is by making connection to the Mother Nature, may be acknowledges audience that freedom is beautiful as God’s creation.

In conclusion, unique rhetoric use of Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I have a dream” speech, combined with location and the time period, made the speech one of the most variable speeches in the history. Now, I understand why I felt this is great. We all get feeling when we read, see, or listen. We usually take it for granted, however, analyzing the reason behind the feeling lead toward some interesting discoveries of myself. This discovery can be used to improve my life as a useful tool. Therefore, I would like to continue the journey of critical thinking through this blog.

Language: Powerful Tool to Have Better Life

The power of the language is enormous; it can break misunderstanding and even stereotyping. I have learned this lesson through my living experiences in the countries where do not speak my mother tongue.

I was born in New Jersey but when I was 6 months old, my Japanese parents took me to Japan. So I grew up with Japanese language without any inconvenience in communication. I have encountered my first language barrier when I started home staying program in Pennsylvania. I did not study English when I was in Japan, so I was almost unable to communicate with my new American family; I was very frustrated that I cannot express what I wanted to say. I felt like I returned to 3 years old child who cannot take care himself; I was desperate to go back to Japan as soon as possible. But gradually I start learning and talking English, this made my life more interesting by knowing my American family who are very kind and thoughtful people. Eventually, I decided to stay in the U.S. longer than I planned because of fond of the language and communicating with new people. This English learning process guided me to go to the College in country side in Oklahoma, in order to be banned from Japanese language in order to concentrate in learning and talking in English. During college life in Oklahoma, I experienced something I never expected; I had not talked in Japanese for such a long time, I realized that I had hard time talking in Japanese when my friend made international call; he told me that I speak like a foreigner. I realized that if I do not use it, I lose it, even though Japanese was my mother tongue. It is all about practice.

My best friends in the college were mainly Latinos and they were mainly talking in either Spanish or Portuguese. This experience encouraged me accept the kind offer my best friend gave me; which was going to Ecuador to learn Spanish and Latin Culture. It was a quite experience!

May be due to the geographical distance and also cultural distance between Asia and Ecuador, most of people do not know about Asia and they have misunderstanding and stereotyping against Asian people. Some of them just want to make fun of Asians, or some are really aggressive. I heard it used to be not rare to through stones to Asian people. Fortunately, the situation got better than before. However, it was common to be teased or yelled when I was walking in the street, or having dreadful customer service because of my appearance; It was very frustrating experience. I often got mad in being such situation which made situation even worse.

But one day, I realized that I also have stereotyping and biased idea toward Ecuadorian people through meeting many wonderful Ecuadorian people. I became to understand that if I wanted to be treated with respect, I have to have positive attitude to break the stereotyping and misunderstanding. Then I started to communicate with people who already have attitude towards me; for example start conversation about weather today with a smile. Usually, this little tip changes their attitude significantly in a good way, and usually talking to them in their own language make them surprised and loosen; in fact, some of them told me that they did not expect that I speak Spanish and they all sudden became very interested in me, which provided the opportunity to explain about Japan and its culture; this works toward breaking misunderstanding and stereotyping. When I encountered teasers, now I have humor to yell them back with the joke; this make them laugh and also embarrassed by the joke which was made by the person who is not expected to response in their language. Finally I have recognized how the language can be used to improve our life. The language can make life better or worse; it all depends on our decision.

My First Blog Ever

Hi everybody, this is Jun who is an ESL student in College striving to improve critical thinking through English literatures.
I have thought in blogging many times since many of my friends have own blog and they express themselves through this tool; they sometimes write very interesting things which I never heard from them through regular conversation; traditional blog has to be published through writing, this process may guide them to think thoroughly via converting ideas to solid writing. Therefore I think blog is very fascinating. However, it is little bit embarrassing to me to express myself through blog. I am sure that I will get used to it though.

In the blog, I plan to express my thought related to my reading accompanied with critical thinking. Hopefully I can show the improvement in critical reading, writing, and thinking step by step through uploading my blog. But what does “critical thinking” mean? To me, critical thinking means to analyze the idea thoroughly; it includes and not limited to: find the purpose of idea, confirm creditability of idea, analyze the consequences after implementing the idea, and so on. This skill helps us to have better decision in our life. When I read critically, usually think what the purpose behind of characters’ action is; when I think critically, I usually try to find conflict in the statement to find the real reason behind. We use it sometimes without thinking; for instance, when we buy groceries, we tend to analyze price and feature of the products comparing to similar products; we also refuse suspicious sales call, otherwise, we would be deceived; we tend to vote someone reliable for president through not believing candidates statement without proving it , otherwise, we would vote for political hypocrite; We prove our points backed up with critical thinking when we discuss in the class, otherwise, the points are not strong enough to convince the class mates. However, there are so many critical thinking approach exist and some of the approach will be new to me, so I have to learn them and also apply them in actual life in order to take advantage of full benefit from critical; they are tough process, but I believe they will bring good result; I expect mastering the skill would guide me to view the world from different approach and it eventually results in discovering hidden facets which are hard to find. Actually, writing a blog is a good idea to practice critical thinking, especially to me, since it will be published to the public through world wide web; this fact will remind me that I have to work well in order to have good thought to the public because I would be embarrassed to post something I am not sure about or too obvious. As a result, I will examine my thought thoroughly before posting through many critical approaches.

Being an ESL student is not easy when it comes to English reading and writing, especially with critical approach; but without challenge, there will not be improvement. I have heard “no pain no gain” many times from many people, I am big fun of this word; I know it will not be easy but I am looking forward to apply and improve my critical thinking through this blog in order to have productive and fun life. I will upload my though based on reading Animal Farm by George Orwell soon!