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.

Book review- The Kite Runner

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An excellent book!!! Especially the inner conflict of the main character, Amir. The story happens in Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan, and then later in America, and after a while, back to Kabul.

The storyline: Amir is born in a rich family, and he has a little servant called Hassan, who serve Amir and also is a playmate with him. They are always good friend, but sometimes Amir couldn't hide his arrogant that he fool Hassan about his illiteracy. In a word, Amir is still above Hassan all the time. The two boys like to fly kites, once there was a kite flying race, and Amir wins the first place (his kite stays in the air the longest). To their tradition, the winner has to trace the kite back, that time, Hassan as a servent help Amir to get back the kite. There is a very bad kid in town that is as rich as Amir's family, treats Hassan badly. He raped Hassan, which the whole process is seens by Amir, but he doesn't come up to help Hassan, he only sees the tears in Hassan's eyes. After all that, Amir starts to feel guilty about it, but he doesn't know what to do, for a kid, he starts to avoid Hassan, and even sets him up and ask his father to fire him. And here is the turning point, everything has changed, the wealth of the family is ruined by war. Amir moves to America, and the story goes on. It has a happy and good ending at last.

The story is moving and tear driving in my opinion. If people wants to seek for some spirit cleansing, this book is the one.

Book review- Rosie Dunne

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This is an interesting book that has a interesting format.

The book is not like normal book that is told by a narrator or something like that, for this book, it is perfromed by e-mails and letters, which in this book, the "narrator" is actually telling her story by showing all the e-mails.

The book Rosie Dunne will keep the readers laughing and guessing until the last page. The very interesting part is that this book started when the "narrator" is five years old till she is sixty-five, which means that this book is about her entire life. And the impressive thing is that the author of this book is also the author of the famous book P.S I love you. Rosie Dunne is as romantic as P.S I love you, and it is almost impossible to put down the book.

The main idea of this book is to show the story of two people, which are meant to be together but just can't seem to get it right. The plot fluctuated perfectly that it's not too disappointing, but not to satisfying. And it is a good book to read, not to learn anything but just have fun!!

OMG!! Betrayers...

A white lie is considered acceptable, but not definetly not betrayal. And I think betrayers are never ok to people. Personally, I think betrayal has two differnt kinds, one is the betrayal of strangers or just random people, another is the betrayal of whom you care, which is also the most unacceptable one. In many situations we can see betrayal occurs, for example like in business, in order to seek for personal benefits, businessman does do something under the table, and a lot to tell you the true. I'm sure whether betrayal equals to selling people out, but somehow they are as bad. How am I going to react to betrayers? Actually, I've never met one, but I think if it's in business, it's reasonable, unless violence involved. However, the second betrayal is the most heart-breaking kind. Take Medea as an example, her husband betrayed her and roll comfortablly in the royal bed, this is totally rediculous. Moreover, the most rediculous thing is that Jason, still thinks that he is right for self-securing. Yes, even though men are not reliable, I think Medea's way to solve problem is also too extreme. Neogotiate is one of the most important step. First, talk to him, but if it doesn't work, let's go with the justice, law. I can understand that back in 400BC it is absolutly different from now that we have the role of law now but they don't. Justice is the best way to deal with affairs outside of marrige. But if it is not about marrige and it doesn't matter the law, I still think that talk or ignorance is a good way to deal with betrayers. Many times thinking of revenge is not a good idea, because one revenge after another, when is this going to end?

The Role Of Government back then and now

They used to have all ears and eyes on the ruler. That is totally dictatorship regarding to the modern terms. King Creon claims that his words are laws, and he is the head of all the commoners and even Gods. Creon is way too arrogant that he thinks no one can ever ever break the laws and rules that he makes. I think it is hilarious that how people nowadays see Creon back then. Creon insists that his rules are the best and within his own power, he is able to succeed. It is irony that he thinks he can speak laws but nowadays people vote for rules, leaders...I know it is not appropriate to compare the governing system from back then with nowadays', but the main point is that Creon shouldn't be so arrogant that doesn't even listen to any other advices. He still claims that he always listen: "I am not aware that I have every failed to listen" (Antigone. Scene 5). But actually there are people around that are lack of awarness, just like Antigone and her brother. If Creon would have listen to what their reasons are, the tragedy will not happen. And also his son Haemon has tried to persude Creon to be more reasonable and courtesy. Maybe the commoners are just afraid to stand out and speak their mind, maybe the commoners just need a leader to represent them or else, Creon might be overthrown.
Comparing the regime from the ancient time and now, there are actually some similarities, but also lots of diversities. First of all, the commoners all have to follow the rules no matter it's before or now. Secondly, there's always people to make laws and enforce law. Lastly, commoners will get punishment if they break the law. These above are the similarity of role of government before and then. And the differences are: people get to vote for the leader in democracy; laws are not set by individuals but a group of legislators; death penalty is not made by individuals but over many courts and judiciary. The government system today are from the basis of ancient system. Thus, it is reasonable that the former systems are not perfect and moral.

The Suicidal Play- Antigone

In this play, basically half of the characters are suicides, that they can totally prevent them. The origin of the suicide is because of the stubbornness of Creon. Antigone always thinks that she did the right thing to bury her brother, she thinks that it is the God's will. After all, she believes in Gods more than Creon- the kings words. In the play, we can tell that Creon is a choleric king that everyone in Thebes should listen to his words, he has once said that: "My words are laws." (Antigone scene 3). He is very arrogant and snooty, that when Antigone refuse to admit her fault, he gets outrages and condemn her to death. Here comes Creon's son, Antigone's fiance, Haemon. When he first talk to his father, he is all polite and obedience, but after he wait for his father make the statement that he speaks the laws, Haemon turns against his father. He doesn' t agree with Creon's stubbornness and his failure of being a king. Haemon asserts that the commoners have been pointing behind Creon's back, some of them think that Antigone is free from guilt and they think that burying own siblings isn't any sin. But finaly, Creon has already make his decision to let Antigone die, he insists it. Haemon then says: "But her death will cause another." (Antigone scene 3).
The story has already going on a downfall because of Creon's stubbornness. Antigone, has been locked in the chamber by herself. She still believes in herself that she did the right thing for her brother and also, she accomplishes the God's will. Antigone wants to kill herself not because of Creon's threats, but her self esteem and honor. She doesn't want anyone to sympathize her and doesn't want Creon to think that he wins the dispute between them two. Thus, due to her honor she kill herself.
Haemon once knows that Antigone has killed herself, he couldn't bear the pain of losing her, he also suicide. As he has claimed earlier to his father, Creon. When the news pass on to Creon, he can not believe that both of them have suicide. With this tragedy, Creon finally realize his own mistake, its all about his stubbornness. If it wasn't his stubbornness, Thebes might have still remain and everyone could live happlily ever after. Creon is so regret that at last, he suicide too. And he ends up as a tragic hero in this play.
I think this suicidal plot is similar to Romeo and Juilet, even though there's no tragic hero dies, the who idea about suicide is the same.

What I think about Shakespare...

Shakespare is no doubt a well known and dramatic play writter. His writing and plays feel so alive, whenever you read them, it seems like you are right there in the scene. I think the best thing that Shakespare did is writing tragedies, for example Romeo and Juliet. The plot was dramatic and emotional, which is what Shakespare is famous of. Even though the language is hard to understand and articulate, the main theme is strong and outstanding. The creativty is what make Shakespare last for so long of a time.

Movie?? No. Play?? Yes.

Comparing movies and plays, I prefer plays better. Even though in the same story, the main story plot line is basically the same, but the way how movies and plays convey is extremly different. For example in Ceasar, the play discribe every characters' emotions and actions detailly. Readers are able to use their imaginations to create their own characters images, and every character can vary depend on different readers. But for the movie, every single character is shown, nothing could actually change because the movie has already fit the actors in. Readers can either agree with the actors but can also dislike them. This is why plays are sometimes better than movies because they leave readers some space to expand their imaginary.

Accident

You all get out of your cars. You are alone in yours, and there are three teenagers in theirs, an older Camaro in new condition. The accident was your fault, and you walk over to tell them this.
Walking over to their car, which you have ruined, it occurs to you that if the three teenagers are angry teenagers, this encounter could be very unpleasant. You pulled into an intersection, obstructing them, and their car hit yours. They have every right to be upset, or livid, or even violence-contemplating.
As you approach, you see that their driver's side door won't open. The driver pushes against it, and you are reminded of scenes where drivers are stuck in submerged cars. Soon they all exit through the passenger side door and walk around the Camaro, inspecting the damage. None of them is hurt, but the car is wrecked. "Just bought this today," the driver says. He is 18, blond, average in all ways. "Today?" you ask.
You are a bad person, you think. You also think: what a dorky car for a teenager to buy in 2005. "Yeah, today," he says, then sighs. You tell him that you are sorry. That you are so, so sorry. That it was your fault and that you will cover all costs.
You exchange insurance information, and you find yourself, minute by minute, ever more thankful that none of these teenagers has punched you, or even made a remark about your being drunk, which you are not, or being stupid, which you are, often. You become more friendly with all of them, and you realise that you are much more connected to them, particularly to the driver, than possible in perhaps any other way.
You have done him and his friends harm, in a way, and you jeopardised their health, and now you are so close you feel like you share a heart. He knows your name and you know his, and you almost killed him and, because you got so close to doing so but didn't, you want to fall on him, weeping, because you are so lonely, so lonely always, and all contact is contact, and all contact makes us so grateful we want to cry and dance and cry and cry.
In a moment of clarity, you finally understand why boxers, who want so badly to hurt each other, can rest their heads on the shoulders of their opponents, can lean against one another like tired lovers, so thankful for a moment of peace.

For the love of butter

His grandmother was obsessed with butter, no one knew why; it had something to do with cows. When she wasn’t eating butter she was hoarding butter. When she was neither eating nor hoarding butter she was warning everyone in shouting distance (and she had quite the pair of lungs, so this really meant something) to lay off her butter. His grandmother was nuts everyone knew that.
Every morning his grandfather left the house. He’d retired, years ago, from the plant, so no one knew where he went. Finally, one day he stopped, he had to, he was dead.
Then his father died. It could have been an overdose.
Then, it was just his grandmother, her butter, and he. One night, over the empty table his grandmother said, “You know, they never listened. Did I not warn them? I told them to lay off my butter.”
The grandson asked, “How do you feel about salt?”
“Salt’s fine. Live it up. Just lay off the butter and we’ll get along fine.”
He did, and things were, in fact, fine until one day, unthinkingly, he brought home some olive oil.
It was a blood bath.

Last Slice...

It must be depressing being the last piece of bread in a sliced loaf. I imagine it’s almost as bad as being the first tiny slice—a thin sliver of tan dough that tastes and looks like spongy leather. Only the last piece is worse. For while the first piece might feel self-conscious by its size or color—further exacerbated when someone finally unwraps the loaf and tries to skip the first slice in favor of the second, or if they’re especially picky the third—the last piece suffers alone. It suffers the fate of watching everyone else get picked in a timely manner and then being abandoned.
At first, I imagine, the last slice tries to come up with logical excuses for its abandonment or lack of being chosen, reasoning that maybe someone wanted to make a sandwich but they couldn’t with just the last slice. Or maybe, someone had called dibs on the last slice but then forgot—prohibiting anyone else from eating it for the sake of decency, inadvertently keeping the last slice in solitude.
But eventually, I guess, the last slice realizes this must not be the case. After the initial curious peeks into its yellow wrappings and then brusque tosses back into the fridge; after getting pushed further and further back, losing its honorary placement of front row middle shelf within hand’s reach, to being bent and squished in a dark corner where the small light bulb can’t reach, next to a crusty mustard case that’s probably passed its expiration date; after all that, it must realize it’s been rejected.
From there I think there are two plausible circumstances. The last slice might accept its fate as a loner and calmly accept the mold that arrives on its once pristine edges—viewing it as age spots with the belief that they act as proof of its existence, its resilience—with open pores. It does this while waiting patiently for the day when it will go to the tiny place in the sky where little French breads and little rye breads can join together to form a single loaf, where bread slices aren’t judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their yeast.
But, in the back of my mind, I think the last slice is probably more pessimistic. It has, after all, been slighted twice by the hands of fate. Well, by the hands of machines most likely as it was unlucky enough to be one of the two awkwardly cut end pieces in the beginning of its creation as uncooked dough. Then, in its early adolescence it’s slighted again by being placed in the bag first, forcing on it the title of last slice forevermore. This resentment probably leads to a spiral of depression for the last slice once its all alone. The crawling of the mold onto its skin later on only increases its dejection and acts as yet another confirmation that it is unworthy. To be even more dramatic, I picture its mortification to be complete with the arrival of a brand new loaf of bread in the refrigerator, a replacement added before the last slice is removed.
I hold the last slice in my palm, deeply sympathizing with the hand it’s been dealt in life, and with the gentlest caresses I’ve ever given garbage, I lightly place it in the trash.

Really bad ads...

The beer ad<<<<<<<

Text: get the courage to do anything...Because you don't have the balls without it...BEER is good!!!


Subtext: it is like you won't have guts to do anything without the beer...and there's a name card of a woman called Rebecca and the number is on it, so there's something deeper meaning than it actually shows...





The Gel pen ad<<<<<<<

Text: Helping students cheat since 1945... New softgel pens make cheating even more comfortable...the student is cheating in class with the tiny notes on his hand...

Subtext: If you use their pen, you can cheat easily on the test...it is good for student to cheat...even the adults courage student to cheat...











Levi's ad<<<<<

Text: Two guys are standing on the rock and looking toward something that seems like they are very intelligent...but the women is seating on the rock (right below the man), and wearing bikinni in the winter, that is abasing women... Subtext: If the guys wear Levi's clothes, they can be on top of women, and you can look smart.....Also, the women will come to you and smile at you...= =

Early Teen Pregnancy Test ad<<<<<

Text: The teenage girl is holding a pregnancy test stick....Like, something you just, like, gotta know!....the girl is smiling like she did the right thing....

Subtext: All the girls are gonna need such things... Encouraging the teenagers to do so....

Response: Maybe it's just because different culture, in the Western culture, it might be ok for the teenagers to be pregnant, but in Eastern culture, it is definetly not ok to be early-pregnant...

Tolerance...

Tolerance, ignorance or sufferance? Wise men chose the first two. Do not tell me to suffer to love everyone, like Jesus, because I am not.

If you don't like someone, bear with it, not murder them. If someone did something that bugs you, ignore it, don't suffer yourself and dont' smack them in their face. If ever once that you are sick of the entire world, tolerate it, and that's the only thing that you can do, unless you have the power to destroy the world like Handcock. Love and peace filled up our world, because of tolerance. If you have love, you will have hate; If you have tolerance, you have both.

Why do people got mentally ill sometimes? Because they suffer in the society. All they need to learn is tolerance.

Bear for a second or two, they sky will be clear.

Ode To Tolerance

Watching the homeless child
crap on the sidewalk

Watching the old couple
beg for spare change

Watch as they cry
because of gang violence

Watch as they're jailed
Watch from a far range