Shen

Sociocultural Learning []

Also, post your culture brochure immediately/5/2/12
 * Please complete the online evaluation for this class. You must have received a link from the university. Thanks/5/2/12**

Kalpana M. Iyengar/EN 1313

Chapter Presentations Your chapter presentations are due on April 24th and April 26th. Everyone must read all the chapters as listed below because I may quiz you on any day on any chapter! Please use the following guidelines when you present**. Please bring a draft of your presentation to my office on the 19th (anytime between 8 a.m. to 12 p.m.) or Wednesday, the 18th (anytime from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.) (20 points)**
 * 1) Use technology (power point, prezi, and you tube) – List the salient points from the chapter and present the summary. Show part of a you-tube video that is relevant to your chapter **(20 points)**
 * 2) Develop about 5 questions to ask your classmates in class. The questions must be from the chapter and it should engage your classmates. I shall collect the responses in class **(20 points)**
 * 3) Make copies of the summaries for your classmates to read **(20 points)**
 * 4) Discuss the chapter with your classmates by eliciting questions **(20 points)**

April 24th presenters April 26th presenters
 * 1) Chao Ning - The Maker’s Eye: Revising Your Own Manuscripts (83)
 * 2) Ma - School versus Education (50)
 * 3) Shen - Growing up (56)
 * 4) Xi - Everything isn’t Racial Profiling (95)
 * 1) Yihua - My Father’s Life (113)
 * 2) Kim D - College Pressures (128)
 * 3) Kim Y - The story of the good boy (192)
 * 4) Jung - What is Intelligence Anyway? (43)

I met Dr. Theisen on Wednesday afternoon. We talked about some meaning and history about names. At first, I introduced my Chinese name to her. I told her that my given name is Xiang, which means flying in Chinese. And my sername Shen, was came from the 9th son of the empire in Zhou Dynasty which is about 3000 before. Then, Dr. Theisen told me that her first name Sherra was come from Shehrazaad in Arabia area, and her mother made this name up to her. Theisen, her last name, was come from Germany. Dr. Theisen also told me a interesting story about her family. Her grandfather's surname, Theisen, is the same to her grandmother's surname before they married. However, the origin of their surname is different. Her grandfather's Theisen was from Berlin, but her grandmather's Theisen was from the black forest area in Germany. This is the history of Dr. Theisen's name and she also told me that she was glad to know the history of her family and name because many American people do not know where their name came from.
 * No novel chapter summaries posted yet/3/29/12**
 * Have you been reading the novel? If you do not post the summaries on a timely fashion, you will end up doing a mediocre job in the end. Please read the novel and post the summaries periodically/3/1/12**
 * The open book quiz was due. Please post the responses immediately/2/17/12.**
 * Name Game**

Foreigner is a word that describes the people who come from other countries. However, there is a strange phenomenon for people who were born in other countries but returned to his or her homeland. For example, a Japanese girl who was born in the United States looks like a foreigner when she is walking on Japanese streets. Because of the different life styles, clothing and behaviors, the meaning of the word “foreigner” is similar to “stranger”. I am a foreigner in the United States now because I come from China. When I first came here, I could not fit in. When I looked around the street, all the people looked strange to me because of the western appearance, and I cannot even distinguish who is who among my classmates. Also, the food here is a problem for me. I ate sandwiches and hamburgers in China, but it was hard for me to eat them everyday. The most difficult problem for me is the language. English is not my first language, so it is hard for me to communicate with others frequently. I was very glad that there were some people interested in China and Chinese culture. By communicating with them, I found many differences between two cultures such as religion, social relationship, and even food habits. I don’t know how the local people see me, but I know how people see foreigners in China. When I was living in China, there were also many foreigners who came from other countries. They looked very different in appearances in China. When these foreigners appeared on the streets and other public places, people would stare at them and even talk about them. Also, when these foreigners did something normal, people were interested and said, “Look at him, he can do this” and “look at him, he do this like that”. These actions were very normal for people living in China. In conclusion, “foreigners” is not a very comfortable word to use because it means “stranger”.
 * Foreigner**

My grandmother's memory is very deep for me, though she had died many years. My grandmother's home is in the village near the city I live. Besides the time in the school, I spent most time of my childhood there. In my grandmother's home, I had a happy childhood, without any constraints. I often played with my little uncle during every vocation. Then he was in high school, he would tell me a lot of stories that I have never heard about. And we also went very far away to the slopes during the moonlight night to stealing foods in farmland to cook in the winter; and we also saw the stars together in the summer night on the small slope behind the house, and resting under the moonlight. At that time I worshiped him very much, and I was like a small tail to follow him all the day. We often chatted with friends who are not far away from grandmother’s home. Grandmother and grandfather like us, whenever we played outside, she always prepared some food for us. Grandmother was very good at cooking. The most delicious food I remember she cooked is the braised chicken. The Spring Day in grandmother’s home was the most memorized memory in my mind. While we woke up about 6:00a.m., my grandmother was picking up the family busily and she was busy to prepared food, cleaned the house and burn candles in the main room. Then we would wait for other relatives. When the time for dinner, as usual, the first thing is to put the prepared food in the main room and burn cense to pray for ancestors, and then the whole family would begin to enjoy the delicious food around the square table in the main room. After dinner, the time is belonging to children, and adults would stay around the fire pit and chatting with each other. This time was the most happiness day for children in the whole year. Because there is a traditional behavior in the Spring Festival: the adults need to give some money to children as a New Year gift. We spent this money to buy many fireworks, foods and toys. The impressive memory to me is the fighting between boys with cap pistols. I was very young that time so I was often being fired to cry in the game. Then, my little uncle would revenge for me. Also, I remember there were many chickens in grandma’s yard. When I was along in her home, I liked to run after them around the yard. When I caught them, I would throw them out to the air and saw those flapping wings. Grandma often stopped me to run after the chickens because some hens were not lay eggs for scaring. Although so many years left, these things are always keep clear and colorful in my mind. 1. Process analysis: following instructions in putting something together or try to explain why something happens Example: in putting the bicycle together, it is necessary to construct the entire handlebar unit before attaching it to the frame of the bike. 2. Directive process analysis and informative process analysis. 3. Process analysis can be chronological, simultaneous or cyclical. 4
 * The Memory in My Grandmother’s Home**
 * Quiz**

How to Buy a Vehicle A vehicle is necessary for a person’s daily life in the United States. Because there are many highways in the USA and the city is very expansive. As an international student in the United States, it is necessary to know the process of buying a vehicle. Firstly, you need a driver’s license. To get the driver’s license, you need to take a 4-hour driver’s education course and pass the test. You can apply for the class online or go to the nearest driving school. You would be taught some traffic rules and traffic signs in class. After passing the exam, you would be given a driver’s permit and you use this to get a temporary driver license from the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV). With a temporary driver’s license you can drive a vehicle in the company of a person who has a driver’s license. When you think you can drive a vehicle proficiently, you also need to pass the driving test in the DMV. After you pass this test, you will get your driver license. Then, you can go to any dealership to choose a vehicle. Also, if you want to buy a used car, there are two ways: one is buying a car from the people previous owner; the second way is to buy the car from a dealership. You can get information about private sellers in the newspaper and on a website. And the advantage of buying vehicle via previous owner is saving from a transfer’s fee and some tax. But the disadvantage is that you do not know the condition of the vehicle because the owner may hide some of the car’s problems in order to sell at a good price. If you buy the vehicle via a dealer, the advantage is that the dealer checks the car and fixes it. The dealer will also promise a defect liability period or warranty to your vehicle. But the transfer fee maybe a little expensive when you buy a used car via dealer. Furthermore, if you have doubts about the used cars’ price, you can check the price online. There are many websites that give you a reference value of all kinds of used vehicles. Then, no matter you want buy a used vehicle via private owner or dealer, it is better for bring a person who knows about vehicle. After you choosing your car, you also need to apply for car insurance. There are many insurance companies in the United States and many kinds of insurances. You can find the insurance that fits for your income state. When the driver’s license, vehicle and insurance are prepared, the next step you need to do is to go to get a new license plate and transfer the car’s title under your name. You would get a new title of the vehicle and this is very important. If you bought a used car, you also need to pay some transfer fees, and it is about 8% of the vehicle price. However, if you buy the vehicle via a dealer, they will help you to deal with these problems. After these steps, you can get your vehicle and enjoy driving it. Xiang Shen EN 1313 Iyengar 02/27/2012
 * The open book quiz is too brief and incomplete. Please post the responses immediately/2/17/12**
 * See me in class tomorrow/2/22/12**

Main Types of Music The modern music has a lot of styles such as rock, country music, and jazz. The rock is a broad title, which includes a series of thought and cultural movement that accompanied by rock development, and these thought and culture movement rooted in rock, but not limited to the style of rock music. Today, radical elements of music are collectively referred to as rock. Meanwhile, there are many radical factors the rock show, such as the young rebellious thoughts, love and peace, anti-religious doctrine, hedonism and pessimism. In rock history, the two waves were hippie in 1960s and punk music in the late 1970s. The themes of rock during this period were independence, freedom, love and peace. The famous bands were the Queen, the clash and The Rolling Stones. The opinion and theme of rock become more radical and diverse after 1980s; a lot of heavy metal rock became the mainstream in the moment. The famous bands were Nirvana, Guns N 'Roses, combat vehicles. Today, rock has embarked on a commercial route, and be mixed a lot of pop elements. The famous bands are the Linkin Park, the Cool Play and the Green Day. Country music appeared in the United States in the 1920s, and the main contents were the performance of labor, aversion of the lonely life, longing for a warm home, singing for sweet love and the pain of lost love. The main elements of country music are stringed instruments and the singer's voice. These elements make country music closer to life. Country music in general has eight themes: love, romance, cowboy humor, fun, rural lifestyle, regional pride, families, God and country. The first two themes is not unique to country music, but the other six themes distinguish the country music and other American popular music. In short, the people of the villages have their own sense of humor. Jazz style is a combination of a variety of special rhythm effect. The birth of most jazz music was improvisational play. Comparison with the traditional music, a major feature of jazz is its pronunciation and tone, whether it is musical instruments or vocals, these features make people never confuse between jazz and traditional music. Also, these special features are mostly imitated from the Afro-American folk songs. Jazz music carved into many types in the long evolution. People are more familiar with the blues, free jazz and Bossa Nova. The generation of the blues in order to express the artist's personal feelings, the music sounds very melancholy. Free jazz was appeared in 1960s. The different from the free jazz and old jazz is the free jazz did not have many restrictions in harmony, melody. The player can bold, freewheeling play. Bossa Nova is a Latin jazz, from South America. Bossa Nova blends a strong rhythm sense and bold improvisational style of singing of South America. Xiang Shen EN 1313 Iyengar 3/31/2012 The Definition of God In the first, human cannot explain these phenomena but attributed them to the gods. And the meaning of Gods is also defined in first time: Gods can do things that human cannot do and cannot understand, and Gods bring to mankind a sense of awe. Throughout the whole human civilization, with the developing of human cognition, the authority of God has been reduced, because the things which human beings can do and understand are becoming more and more. Humans began to believe atheism. The significance of the existence of God then began to change, from illness and death and everyday life increased gradually to the prayers of the philosophy of human research. The philosophy is that human self-understanding; humans began to study why humans created the concept of divinity and then let God to create humans. Second, the definition of God in today's religion represents truth, love and tolerance. God has gained authority in the long history of human. The modern concept of God is varied. Children accustomed to his imagination for a long white bearded old man, adults believe that God is an invisible power, the concept of a mind of all mankind, the universe, or even one's own. God is a spiritual relying on a belief, from primitive totem worship, because a lot of unthinkable things in the world cannot be explained by human self, so human will find a God as the final interpretation and a kind of spiritual sustenance. This situation is based on the human's fundamental sense of dependence because human needs to find some powerful things like God to be their spiritual backing. Even now there are a lot of people hope that the God is exists, because there are lot of things are out of human's control. So God exists as a religious landmark, and religion is founded base on human’s beliefs. In fact, God does not have a specific name. We said he had no specific name, which means no one knows how many names he has. Since God is infinite, his name must also be infinite. So we cannot limit him in on a certain name. Human faith is very broad, geographical restrictions leads to the different religions have different gods. But in common, God in all religions is omnipotent creator. Gods and myths are attendant; the role of myth is the act of God declares to the world, similar to advertising of religion and it God. In short, God can be said that the creation of human intentional or unintentional. Maybe such supernatural things do exist, but God in the modern meaning and effect are concentrated in the human spirit. Because the most primitive sense of dependence, humans created God, because of God human created religion, and these religions now, in the name of God to develop human civilization and intellectual.
 * Please post your classification essay after visiting the LAC/3/4/12**

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 * Growing Up Vedio:**

Growing Up “Growing Up” told a story about the author Russell Baker’s childhood. And his mother always scolded him and complained about his lack of motivation. The story describes the changing process of Russell’s character in his childhood. At that time, his liked reading his favorite novel, //Dick Tracy Meets Stooge Viller//, in front of the radio. Russell has a litter sister Doris and his character was completely different from her because his sister had enough motivation. Russell's mother played a very important role in his life. In that period, parents often wanted their children to become presidents when they grew up and work towards their goals. But Russell's mother did not ask this of him; perhaps she was disappointed in Russell. When Russell's uncle asked him what he wants to do in the future, Russell wanted to pick up trash, empty bottles and cans as a garbage man. Until one day, Russell's mother asked him to meet a man from Curtis Publishing Company and to get him a job selling magazines for the //Saturday Evening Post//. But Russell’s new job did not go so smoothly. Russell's efficiency on selling magazines was much worse than he expected. When the family’s financial situation became worse, Russell’s family moved to Belleville, New Jersey. There his uncle, who was quite wealthy, provide for their needs. Despite this, Russell continued to sell magazines on the corner of Belleville and Union Avenue. He was, however, unsuccessful and not good at advertising for the //Saturday Evening Post//. Russell's uncle ended up being his first customer. One day, Russell’s mother asked Doris to help him sell more magazines. Doris successfully sold a lot of magazines and Russell did not feel humiliated, but, instead, happy to share the profits with his sister. After this, Russell realized that he was not suited for this kind of work. At school Russell had written an essay about his work experience which his teacher praised and gave an “A”. Once home, Russell's mother read how excellent his essay was and gave him good advice: Become a writer. Writers experience less stressful lives and can write freely. This was the beginning of Russell’s writing career. According to the story, we can learn that we need to find own way suit to our own characters.

//Buddhism//

//Buddhism is a religion and philosophy indigenous to the Indian subcontinent and encompasses a variety of traditions, beliefs, and practices largely based on teachings attributed to Siddhartha Gautama, who is commonly known as the Buddha. The Buddha lived and taught in the eastern part of Indian subcontinent sometime between the 6th and 4th centuries BCE. He is recognized by Buddhists as an awakened or enlightened teacher who shared his insights to help sentient beings end ignorance, craving, and suffering of dependent origination, realize sunyata, and attain Nirvana.// //Two major branches of Buddhism are recognized: Theravada and Mahayana. Theravada has a widespread following in Sri Lanka and Southeast Asia. Mahayana is found throughout East Asia and includes the traditions of Pure Land, Zen, Nichiren Buddhism, Tibetan Buddhism, Shingon, Tiantai and Shinnyo-en. In some classifications, Vajrayana—practiced mainly in Tibet and Mongolia, and adjacent parts of China and Russia—is recognized as a third branch, while others classify it as a part of Mahayana. There are other categorizations of these three Vehicles or Yanas.// =// Mahayana is one of the two main existing branches of Buddhismand a term for classification ofBuddhist philosophiesand practice. “ They believed that one could express the intention to "transfer the merit" of one's religious practice so that others could indeed enjoy its fruits, and that not to do so showed a miserly spirit ” (Jones, 2003). Mahayana Buddhism originated inIndia,and is associated with the oldest historical sect of Buddhism, theMahasaṃghika. The fundamental principles of Mahayana doctrine were based on the possibility of universal liberation from suffering for all beings and the existence of Buddha and bodhisattvas embodying Buddha Nature. The Pure Land school of Mahayana simplifies the expression of faith by allowing salvation to be alternatively obtained through the grace of the Amitabha Buddha by having faith and devoting oneself to mindfulness of the Buddha.//= =// Theravada promotes the concept of Vibhajjavada, literally "Teaching of Analysis." “ Theravadins share belief in the core teachings of the Buddha with all schools of Buddhism. The core teaching that the Theravada emphasizes is summarized in the Four Noble Truths, which the Buddha taught in his first sermon” (Riggs, 2006). This doctrine says that insight must come from the aspirant's experience, critical investigation, and reasoning instead of by blind faith; however, the scriptures of the Theravada tradition also emphasize heeding the advice of the wise, considering such advice and evaluation of one's own experiences to be the two tests by which practices should be judged. //= =// Vajrayana Buddhism is also known as Tantric Buddhism, Vajrayana, Mantrayana, Secret Mantra, Esoteric Buddhism and the Diamond Vehicle. Vajrayana is a complex and multifaceted system of Buddhist thought and practice which evolved over several centuries. According to Vajrayana scriptures Vajrayana refers to one of three vehicles or routes to enlightenment, the other two being the Theravada and Mahayana. Its main scriptures are called Tantras. A distinctive feature of Vajrayana Buddhism is ritual, which are Skillful Means. They are being used as a substitute or alternative for the earlier abstract meditations. //= =//While Buddhism remains most popular within Asia, both branches are now found throughout the world. Estimates of Buddhists worldwide vary significantly depending on the way Buddhist adherence is defined.//= =//Reference://= //Jones, C. B. (2003) Mahayana. NEW CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA (2nd ed., Vol.9, PP 46-48). Detroit, MI: Gale. // =//Riggs, T. (2006). Buddhism: Theravada Buddhism. Worldmark Encyclopedia of Religious Practices (Vol. 1, pp.83-92). Detroit, MI: Gale. //= = = = = =  =