imitation....

Just one inch taller, then the grass is out of the soil. Every energy within the tiny grass is releasing to get to the point. The light green tip appears above the soil; the sand and stones are pushed aside. The grass extend the tip and used up more energy than it ever did. The street walkers are traveling in a perpetual rhythm. The grass keeps stretching, and pushing, at the same moment, a huge foot step steps on it. The grass bend itself weakly; the tip swaying on the surface of the soil with a tiny crack on it. The grass needs sunlight, but it's blocked bu the busy crowd above. The grass wish for a light breeze to help him up, but the atmosphere is muggy. The grass lift the tip laboriously a little, and suddenly there comes the gentle breeze. And all of sudden, the grass is standing straight up again. The crowd is not dismissed yet, but the grass trengthen its stem with it's full power to prevent from falling down again.

A letter to Mr. John Steinbeck

Dear John,

Sorry to reply you so so late. It has been 47 years that I have received you letter. Today, I decide to pick up my pen and write again. Never thought that you will be a famous writer today. It is a pleasure to have you in my writing class back in Stanford. As I always tell you, a writer always needs to know what he wants to say, in short, what he is talking about. To write a good piece of story is to have a good story to write about. And the meaning needs to be able to transport to the readers' mind. Over these years, you have written a great many stories and they are all very useful to many people as they have been through the very hard time back in the days. As I taught you before, the most important thing is to convey your feelings and thoughts clearly through your words, which can be more convincing. A good short story is not for pleasing the readers, but grabing their attention and lure them sympathize. It is a very hard and long road ahead, don't you ever feel shame anymore. After the long journey America had been through, no one is going to tease about the poor. Be as a writer, you are ready to be starve. But the most valuable thing is the pieces been done after a lot of effort and struggle. Like you say, every time, when you start a short story, the topic freaks you out. Yes, that is why every time you got a piece done, you will feel so proud of yourself. There is a long long road ahead, stay strong and contribute more to the world.

Edith Mirrielees
May 7, 2009

Travel with John... (from the perspective of Charley)

As John brought me into the Park, the bears were staring me straight in my eyes. I felt something very odd inside of me. I have never seen those creatures living in earth. I felt them harmful to John, so I bark furiously. Even though they didn't talk to me and they didn't reply me a word, their eyes looked through my body. Not only I felt I am naked at the moment, but also I felt threats. No one can do no harm to John. My lips flared, showing wicked teeth to them, trying to scare them off. I stared at them, each of them; I raved and ranted beside John, telling him to drive away these danger. I can indeed put them onto the ground if John wasn't there, I was just concerning about John's safety that I didn't raise toward those creatures. They didn't have friendly posture and facial expression that's why I think they are totally different from the cute caterpillar. I almost barked my lungs out and bleed to death. It was a nightmare at night. My body was sore and I sweat like a dog, which I am actually a dog. I would never want to see those bears again, and no one is gonna harm John.

The Photo essay response!

Photos are the most direct way to impress the readers!!! The photos show the visions of the time during the Dust bowl. Meanwhile, I do think that John Steibeck did a great job to describe the details of the migration. Also, vivid pictures may help explain and convey full image to the writing.
Picture # 1
The couple in the photo is going through a hard time. Not only the environment behind them says so, but the description of John Steibeck tells us so: "[...] I'm gonna die pretty soon now. I wish he didn't feel so bad about it." The couples are holding hands, which shows even though the conditions around them are bad, they still sick together. In the photo, they stay in a tiny tent, which is hard for two adults because it may be too crowded for them and it might not be clean enough to live in.
Picture #2
The whole family is living on the car, cooking with dirty water and mud all over the place. Yet, they seemed happy staying together. Even though the conditions are harsh to them, as long as they can stay together, hard work is nothing. They are very happy to get work from where they are staying: "We just got in. Gonna work in the peas. Got a han'bill that says they's good wages pickin' peas." This picture transfer the meaning from the writing to the reader.
Picture #3
The kids are playing outside the tent. In the middle of nowhere, the family set their tent on the dry gound and they live and eat there. However, the kids seemed happy and enjoying. Even though they are in bad condition, they think that they are actually very lucky to stay with their family. The tent was set up by weak tree stems and the cooking equipments were left outside the tent. In addition, the toy of the kids may be the abundant sand. This picture gives us a direct image of the live of the people during the dust bowl. And the feeling of sympathy come right to the reader when they look at the picture.

Flood~

The Flood is one of the passages in John Steinbeck's famous literature work- The Grapes of Wrath. Most part of the article is describing the flood; however, it is implying the difficulties for the people migrating from Texas to west California in order to seek for fertile land. The description of flood is the actual fluctuation of feelings of the migrating people just like "The Turtle". The reason why John Steinbeck's work is famous is because that he can use the word choice precisely and directly lead the mood of the readers. The Flood conveys the living conditions of the people at that time: "They splashed along, carrying the children, carrying the very old, in their arms. And if a barn stood on high ground, it was filled with people, shivering and hopeless" (924). As reading this passage, the reader will feel like they are in the picture.

The Turtle..

"Very descriptive" is my very first reaction to this article. "The turtle" is a small chapter form John Steinbeck's famous book Grapes of Wrath. "The turtle"is written under the background of the natural disaster the dust bowl, which people have to move away from the area to California. The interesting things about John Steinbeck is that he never directly introduce the difficulties to the reader, instead, he uses analogy to create a vivid image to impress the readers. Some may say that his description is a little too heavy to understand, however, as you read close enough, the image is clear and interesting. For example in the article: "For a moment he stopped, his head held high. He blinked and looked up and down [...] The head upraised and peered over the wall to the broad smooth plain of cement." The whole paragraph is describing the obstacles that the turtle meet when it is crawling across the road. At time point, John Steinbeck is actually implying the difficulties that the people meet during the move from the dust bowl. Even this is a heart breaking historical event, in John Steinbeck's writing, we can find it humorous and enjoyable.

Book review- Hotel Babylon

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A awesome book for the people who are thinking of diving into hotel business. Hotel Babylon is a famous BBC series that is now written into a book. The TV series is now up to season 4, but the book is only 300 pages long, it is because that the author has compacted almost 10years experience into 24 hours in the hotel, which is really creative way to me.

As I am going to major Hotel Management, I think this book is a little tip, and almost I can say it is a pre-entre to Hotel Management. The book has many surprising incidents in it and I think the way how the characters (hotel manager, reception, concierge...) deal with the problem is very different from other services. There are many amazing stuff in the book that are interesting to read. So I recommend people who are interested in Hotel or people who want to know more about hotel's affairs can absolutly read Hotel Babylon.