Journal 78: Risk for a Reason

      Most people is scare of death, no matter how brave they pretended to be and whatever they said before, when facing the moment of life and death. Most people chose life of its own over the life of perhaps many others.

    The story that I know of people risking their life to save others is that a group of terrorists had taking over the plan but the passengers over powers the terrorists. They, having no idea of how to drive an air plan, decides to sacrifice their life to crash into a forest instead of landing on the city, as the terrorist had previously planed. So they had risks their own live (it is still a risk because they don’t know for sure that they are going to die, the percentage is just pretty high) to save the lives of millions.

    Some people look out for other people’s live over their own because they have more empathy or they just value the lives of others over their own. I admire the courage of risking your own life to safe other people. Now, safe and sound in my chair, I would say I chose to safe other people’s life if I had a chance. However I don’t know for sure when I actually face the situation, I really do hope I make the right decision and I would not regret that.

Journal 77: Why Take Risks?

      Krakauer said that those climbers know very well that they are doing a dangerous activity but it they took it anyways. Most climbers tries to get to the top no matter what, especially when they are very close to the top of the world, it is almost impossible for the leader to turn the climber around. One of the climber who had one of his eyes almost blind, think he could get on with the short rope and decides to hide his condition from the leader so he wouldn’t have to go back.

      People always take risks, it makes or normal, non-exciting more interesting. When a person is breaking the rule, he or she is taking the risk of being caught to reach the goal, and sometimes the risk taker enjoys the nervousness comes with the risk taking. If a student decides to cheat on a test, he is taking the risk of being caught to reach the goal of getting better grades, which is something all students desire. If someone happens to tigers a fight with a bough guy, he is taking the risk of getting beat up to maybe proves himself or gain attention. I could easily understand the reason people take risks, the excitement and nervousness comes with it sometimes is more attractive than reaching the original goal. 

Journal 76: Participation

   The job of the journalist is to first witness an event, observe it, and write honestly about what happened then report it to the public. Although the news report now a days, at least in Taiwan, is not very reliable, what the journalist suppose to do does not change.

    When a journalist need to write about a event that he or she is the participant, it might be hard for them to write about the event without any bias, or personal judgment. It might be also hard to write clearly about the details because, as a participant, it is hard to notice small details. An observer and a participant are both at the place when the event happened but the observer does not involve in the event. It is generally more reliable if the event is reported by a observer because observer notice more details, less likely to exaggerate the event and more likely to report the event without bias.

     It is hard to be in a event such as a disaster without being emotional involved, if someone wants to do that, I guess they have to feel very detach from the whole event even as it if happening.

     I think a professional journalist should be able to report the event as a observer even if himself is a participant.     

Journal 75: Humor’s Role

   In the story, Patricia was copying Sister Rita’s voice in a funny way. So Frankie laughed at it. In a sad story, humor played a role of hope. I think humor is very important, especially in a sad story, because when the characters still jokes around and find things to laugh at, it seems like there are still hope for the situation to be better. If a story is too sad and without any humor or the author repeatedly used the same kind of humor, the story gets boring and readers don’t want to keep reading anymore. For example, the “Series or unfortunate events, ” starts off pretty interesting but the story drags on for too long and as you think of it couldn’t get worst, it some how gets even worst. So there are no hope nor humor on the way to help the readers get through the story and therefore readers stop reading it. The word catharsis means “the purging of the emotions or relieving of emotional tensions, especially through certain kinds of art, as tragedy or music.” I think this relates to having humor in the story because in a sad story the humor relieves the emotional tensions.

Journal 74: Sick

       I had played in the hospital before because my dad is a doctor in the emergency room. When I was young, I felt like it is a very fun place to be in because it is a totally different world to me. Everything is so serious and it is such a busy place to be in. Even having the nurses telling me not to go in somewhere is fun. As I grown up, I start to not like the place as much because of the smell, and the whole feeling of sick people around you.

   I was delivering dinner to my beloved father. I stopped and take a big breath before going into the glass door. I don’t like that smell, mixture of countless chemicals and breaths of many sicknesses. I walk as fast as I can into the white world. The sound, how can I forget about the sound! I start to sing to myself. The men beside me had his hand held high, I over heard that his hand had been smash by a machine. A nurse closed up the curtains in front of me, but I still saw it before the bluish-green block my view. It’s blood! The poor patient’s arms and legs are full of pus and blood. I drop the dinner box on my dad’s table and rush right out before he say hi to me. I swear again, as always, not to go back again. 

Journal 73: Happy or Sad

        Our strongest emotions are usually form by sad events. At least, it is the first thing that pup up when we want to re-tell something that happened in our childhood. I think it is because, for most people, people remember it when it is painful and know not to do it the next time.  

   One thing that I remembered in detail from my childhood is when I discover there are red water fountains in the world. That after-noon, my dad was at work and my mom is on the phone talking about world events. My brother and I were at the room next to my mom and we were playing toys. Some how, we get into a fight over toys. My brother, who is a year and half older than I am and obviously stronger than me, pouched me on the stomach and at the chest. I was wearing my favorite yellow jacket and I saw blood coming from my mouth; the bright red from fresh blood contrast with the yellow jacket. I still remember that I wasn’t crying because of the pain, in fact, I didn’t felt anything at the moment. I was crying out of shock of what happened to me and I am scared that my jacked is getting dirty. My brother then left the room, slap the door right at my face, and I don’t have the energy to walk to an other room to get my mom, so I went on crying.

    This is what always pop into my mind whenever teacher asks me to tell a story about my childhood. I went around and told everyone how scary my brother is and he punched me until I throw up blood when I was little. I felt like I am revenge him this way. Hehe 

Journal 72: Immigrant’s Journey

       I do not consider myself as an immigrant because I never move to anywhere, the American culture basically move to me. So the school itself is an immigrant, not me. I think the biggest difference between my experience and Jhumpa Lahiri’s is that her original society and the one that she had to get use to is very different. For me, I just put on one mask when I get to school. For Jhumpa Lahiri, she had to prepare two masks for both when she went out and be with her family. The fact that we both had to live under bi-culture environment was the same, but other than that, I think the two situation were pretty different because the two backgrounds were swapped.   

       Since we are not in the same situation, her quotation does not apply to my life at all. However I do think the quote makes since and I would agree with that quote. No matter how rewarding the experience is, the immigrant based everything off departure. For whatever reason the immigrant leaves, they are making the next generation a better point to start with. All the bitters the first generation immigrant face will end up as advantage for the second generation.

Journal 71: Two Lives

    To me, the Chinese background have larger influence on me; after all, I was born and raise in a Taiwanese family. Compare to my peers, my family is rather traditional. Going to an American school is probably one of the most surprising decision in my life. It is unplanned and I am still in a Taiwanese environment. The American culture might have a greater influence on me if I were in a American environment but that is not the case.

      As a Taiwanese, I was taught to respect the elder no matter what they say or do. Obey, is the word that curve in our bones and asking questions could be consider as a disrespectful thing. When I entre the American system, things are a lot different to me. Elders are more than please to see me asking questions. Obey is no longer the golden word, its replace by independent and speak out for your self.

     If I were ever a writer I think my style would be influence by the American culture that gives me a rather casual style. That is because I learn how to write essays in the American system. However, if I were to write in Chinese, my style would be very different because I read a lot of Chinese novels and making up stories in Chinese were my best part of academic.   

Journal 70: My Style

     My style, I actually had thought deeply about my style before. I once tried to make myself more stylish but it kind of fail because the cloth doesn’t look that good on me and I feel uncomfortable. I think generally I am an easy going person, doesn’t mean that I don’t have my own opinion but I don’t need others to follow my opinion and is willing to change my mind if other people have better ideas. I walk, rather fast? Compare to people in my group, I do think I walk pretty fast. Maybe it’s because I don’t like to be late, but yet, I still wait for others in my group because it is nice.

    My dressing sort of reflect my personality, often it is just jeans, and some t-shirt. Just because I usually pick my cloth before I go to bed, doesn’t means I spend a lot of time on it. I like to be in the thing that are comfortable than be in the stylish cloth. I had asked people about what my dressing style is. They all said it is very casual and rather sportive. I don’t like giving people the first impression that I am a sportive person. there is no because, I just don’t like that feeling. 

Journal 69: Magic Pictures

      In the second picture, where three kids are riding on a fish, the size of the fish is endogenously big compare to other things in the picture. The  children are not suppose to able to ride on a gold fish and the gold fish is not suppose to be bigger than it’s container. Which seems like to be the bucket that’s under the fish. The fish appears to the kids as a very usual thing. the kids are riding on the fish as if they are riding on a house. There is even a rope that holds from the fish’s mouth to the child’s hands. The children does not have an expression of surprise, disbelief or any other physical expression that allows the reader to think it is a special thing or any how unexpected. This is magic realism, unusual things appear in everyday life and people seem to be not surprise of it. The surrounding creates a feeling that the fish and children are very normal. They are beside a old wall with a brume beside it. There are no painting on the wall or anything that shows modernization. The reader might miss it and thought it is a very normal thing if not paying attention. 

Journal 68: Magic Realism

      I can totally understand if people have trouble understanding magic realism because it is hard to indentify. It is similar to just friction story, supernatural things appears but it is not the same. Magic realism is very unusual things that appear in normal life and people take it for granted or does not think it is weird. For inexperience readers, they will have a hard time just to understand the text and finding deeper message to the story would be even harder. Young readers usually like things to be handed to them so they don’t have to think. The author of magic realism makes people felt weird because the attitude characters have toward the “magic.” It would also be hard to new readers to distinguish between friction and magic realism.

       I don’t think I have a hard time with magic realism because it is quite easy once you get the concept, same with any other thing in life. I am a person that reads for entertainment so I think it might help on understanding the concept. Some people might have a hard time with magic realism because they don’t really know what is magic realism. That happened to me when I first encounter magic realism too.