Claire's Current Event Blog

       So, this is my last current event blog. It is kind of sad because it did help me to build up my writing skills, and I, who barely care about news, can become less ignorant about what’s happening in the society. Anyway, the longest article that I have to read thoroughly in order to write a blog is this one from The New York Times.

     The author states that Christian conservative activists are not only obstinate about gay marriage, abortion and government spending, but their opinions are also based on the belief that the United States is founded by Christians. Without referring to any data base, not even the intent of the founders, they call the country a “Christian nation.” Recently, when the state of Texas, the governing state in education domain, is revising its guidelines for textbooks, the activists asserts that it is time to re-write the history and educate children from perspective of religion. Since they see Christianity in the founding of the country, they feel that the history of religion was covered for a long time, and that it is now necessary to “tell the truth.” Their goal is to “use courts and public schools to fuse Christianity into the nation’s founding.” They urge the change by applying direct pressure to textbook companies

      The author also provides the views from opposing side. They have five strong arguments. First, they retort activists’ truth-uncovering theory by revealing their real ambition, which is obviously to influence the next generation as much as possible, thus they can have more supporters. Also, according to many observers, seeming unlikely to be achieved soon, activists’ goal could have “far reaching consequence”: the more closely they relate Christianity to the founding, the easier they can dominate the future supreme court. The fate of Bill Martin Jr. also demonstrates the ignorance of people in the board: there were two Bill Martins and they confounded them. The direct pressure was also criticized: the publishers merely care about getting their book listed and they did not care about what is true and what is false. This allows the potential of including errors.

      It seems like activists are satisfied enough with the revision. Opponents acrimoniously critiques that they could still “use tiny fragments to wage war on publishers.” Activists eventually decided to turn to political actions, and not to do the transformational change in front of the whole public.

      This debate reminds me of the early European kingdoms. Their countries were dominated by religion. So are the Christians trying to do the same thing? It could be an extreme result of this act. I don’t like this kind of “furtive” change. If they have a plan, why don’t they show it to the whole country and let the people to judge? This is like trying to brainwash the people. This reminds me of a definition of freedom in the constitution, which is that people have the right to choose their belief. The activists have better not to overplay this game, or it might become a violation of liberty.

       These days, something is becoming popular on facebook. When you log on it, you may see something called “Join the Coffee Party Movement.” Now you may wonder, what is Coffee Party?  Is it somewhere that provides free coffee? It is not likely to be this. Well then, maybe it has something to do with the famous Tea Party? In fact, yes. It is started by a Korean American, Annabel Park, and it is meant to be the alternative of Tea Party, which is not the historical term but currently an organization acting against high taxes. 

       So I found this article on The New York Times, and it explains the whole thing thoroughly. By giving the data, there were 40,000 people signed up until March 1, in the afternoon, which seems not really significant, but actually, the number grew quickly: there were 11,000 people signed up just one morning. Then the author quotes form the founder, Ms. Park, to show how surprised she is by the popularity. The author explains their slogan, which is “wake up and stand up,” by using the Party’s mission statement that emphasizes the importance of communicating with government. After introducing background information, the author turns to the most recent activity they are planning, which is a nationwide coffee house on March 13, where people can sit down and discuss their concerns, then let the government hear their voice. Also, they are going to hold a convention during the summer in Midwest.

       People made joke about the name of the Party and wonder why it is not other names instead of “Coffee Party.” Ms. Park argues that its name and Tea Party both agree on same things which symbolizes “like a desire for fiscal responsibility and a frustration with Congress.” They are not the opposite of Tea Party; in fact, in the end, they might consider combining their efforts. Park then states that, their purpose was not to fight against government like an “ultimate fighting secession,” but to teach people to learn to cooperate. This, according to her, is the American way to solve the problem. Government is people’s representative, and people should “act like boss” towards it.

       The article does not contain the author’s opinion. It is mainly about what the founder of Coffee Party thinks. In my perspective, I agree with Park’s views about the government’s function, and also it is people’s responsibility to communicate with the governors, to convey their voice. The Coffee Party is a very practical idea. Let’s wish them a great success.

      Recently, I went to see the movie Avatar. I wanted to see it when I was in China, but the opening day was delayed and I had to come back to the US before enjoying the film. Anyway, CHCH natural club afforded me the opportunity to watch this great film in IMAX. It was truly impressive, and I heard the same comments from my friends in China. Surprisingly, Chinese government pulled the 2D version of Avatar off the screen for the opening of Confucius.

 VS.

      Personally, I love that film and I have heard about its popularity in China. Check out this video clip and see how popular avatar is in China. I also read this article on The New York Times. This article is quite comprehensive: it includes a lot of information from many ways. First, it concludes briefly the popularity of Avatar in China, then the author start to write about the decision made by Chinese authorities to shorten the planned schedule for Avatar. This current event has brought up active discussions in the country. Not hard to imagine, most of common Chinese people were not happy with this interference of government. The author gives some idea from Chinese educators, officials, and then he tries to understand the reason for which Chinese government restricts the movie. The main reason, according to the article is that China is trying to favor its own film industry; however, this decision is considered stupid and ineffective. The article then shows the explanation of state film bureau which argues that 2D version was not as popular as 3D and IMAX versions are. The author immediately retorts his arguments by giving convincing data that shows the landslide victory of Avatar over Confucius. This makes the actor of Confucius’s prediction, which says the Confucius movie will challenge Avatar, seem to be very ridiculous. Additionally, the article ends with another anecdote of Avatar: in Hunan Province, people were so touched by the film that they renamed mountain peaks using the name of “Hallelujah” mountains in Avatar. This instance shows another aspect of the impact that Avatar has in China.

      I totally agree with the article. It is quite objective about this move. I consent about the opinion that government should not interfere with the cinema only because of marketing preference and educational purpose instead of the quality of the restricted film itself. This is not a good reason and it is not going to work. I particularly agree that the decision will not reduce Avatar fan, and it will not increase people’s interest in Confucius, neither. People who bought the ticket ahead for Avatar would need to give them back to the cinema and get their money back. This is very disappointing and it will probably stir up the negative attitude toward the propaganda for traditional studies. Especially, since that movie is about Confucius, which is favored by monarchs over the Chinese history because of its feudal thoughts, this government’s decision will not help the propaganda at all; on the contrary, it is more likely to set off people’s repugnance.

      In conclusion, I don’t think this is a wise implement. What I think they should do is to delay the opening of Confucius, instead of arbitrarily pull Avatar off the screen. The government is taking too much control over national media: it tries hard to confine foreign programs. However, this limitation is already making people frustrated. The government should improve our own national products in order to attract more spectators, instead of simply block our vision, hoping nobody would pay attention to our media products, which have relatively poor quality and which are full of imitations.

            My guardian’s 17-year-old daughter, who is a Chinese-Polish girl, just came back from China after Christmas break. Actually she spent the last whole summer in Xiamen, the city where I lived, and her Chinese improved from nothing to an expert level. I was quite impressed. While Chinese students learn English as if they are crazy, now Chinese become an attractive language for American to learn. Such an interesting circle!

            Today, the article I read on The New York Times somehow proves my thoughts; I was astonished once I saw the title, “Foreign Languages Fade in Class — Except Chinese”. Is it true?! That’s so sad for me who adore learning languages. I then read the article thoroughly. According to a government-financed-survey, many public schools stopped giving foreign language lessons in the past 10 years; however, the number of schools that teach Chinese increased from about 300 to 1600. The reason for this is that, Chinese government is sending Chinese teachers from China and they are partly paid by the former. Under the strict financial condition, most of schools are more likely to accept this kind offer rather than paying for a French teacher. The article also provides another indicator, the number of students taking AP Chinese, which also has grown so rapidly that it was likely to surpass that of German. Meanwhile, study shows that other foreign languages that have grown, later has declined. Then, the article demonstrates the working condition of volunteer Chinese “guest teachers”. Comparing to its start point, which is 2006, their salaries increased significantly and experienced teachers are given much more benefits.

            There is an American called “Red Foreigner” who is quite popular among Chinese. He speaks perfect Chinese. Let’s take a look at this short video, just for fun and also get an impression of American Chinese speakers.

            It seems like the author likes this fact and believes that fluent Chinese will be helpful in the future American generation. I agree with this. The policy is very clever and it aids both sides: it offers more vocations for those Chinese; it lightens the financial burden of public schools; it provides American students the opportunity to learn Chinese so that in the future they can go to the developing China for living without language concerns.

Last year, a sex-photo scandal of a famous Chinese actor, Edison Chan, shocked the Chinese society. Hundreds of naked photos of several celebrated female stars, taken by Edison Chan, spread rapidly in the Internet. It was one of the gravest events in Chinese, especially Hong Kong entertainment industry. That actor took those photos, but he did not intend to disseminate them. It was a computer repair man, who uploaded all the pictures on line.

Even though they took photos just between couples, the scandal still happened and there is now nothing to change. This make people concern about their privacy safety, which is not always secured. However, these people can hardly imagine someone who consciously sends their own naked pictures to friends. This is called “sexting”.

I was flabbergasted because of this article. A 13-year-old girl, Wish Witsell, committed suicide because she sent a photo of her breast to a boy she likes, and the picture was disseminated in the school. The pressure eventually caused her suicide. 

This is not the only example. Check this video:

The author’s attitude was suspicious. However, according to a survey, it seems like about 10% of teens has send sexy pictures and 17% of them receive “sexts”. (This result is not quite accurate because only 1,450 kids did the survey. For a more specific detail, check this article on npr.org) The author then presented “two schools of thought about how to treat sexting”, and he indicates the mistake of it, which is paying too much attention to the technological issues. He states that it would be more useful to communicate with teens and teach them to have empathy. After that, he analyzes the “convenience” that new techniques provide for cyber-bullying. Then in the next paragraphs, he focuses on the comparison of cyber-bullying and traditional bullying. In the last three paragraphs, he discusses how to deal with the problem. The question remains unsolved, but people have to come up with a solution at some point.

I agree with the author that the main solution of the problem is education. I also think the government should take more control of unhealthy materials’ dissemination. If people can get in serious trouble for sexting, then they would less likely to do it. Maybe this point seems kind of radical. But think of it: what is more important than the future of a teenager? Sexting can ruin the life of teens (especially girls). They cannot afford to lose their reputations, and to be seen as a “whore”. It is too much to suffer. So girls, learn to protect yourself; boys, please be moral. Always remember to make good decisions!

               I recently watched a speech given by President Obama in West Point Academy, about sending 30,000 troops, which is “historical” according to Mr. La Forest. It was quite shocking for me and it changed my opinion about Obama. With some questions in my mind, I looked at several articles on line in order to deepen my understanding (and to prepare for this extra-credit blog).

               Let’s watch a video first and get an image of  Obama’s falsity.

               It is maybe a little bit radical, but I think it is likely to happen. I supported Obama when he was elected. Even before I watched his speech, I believed that he was a good, peaceful president who fights for the justice. Why do I changed my mind though? It was his speech that evoked my detestation.

                Here is one of the most interesting articles among all I have read on npr.org. It is all about the author’s opinion about the speech. He addressed that the speech is “solid”, and did a “masterful job” in analyzing the current situation and challenges that American is facing. However, he also indicates that, it did not answer many essential questions that people wonder and it failed to change people’s mind. In the last paragraph he gave the comparison of Afghanistan and Vietnam mentioned in the speech as an instance: Obama argued that this war will not turn out to be similar as the Vietnam War; he missed the point by asserting people’s fear as a “false reading of history”. And this ambiguity, that is able to satisfy both left and right people happy, could make his speech “a brief, shining moment in a war that could very well define his presidency.”

                There are many great articles. Most of them are criticizing his decision and saying his speech is confusing. This article is quite different. It focuses on the speech itself and it affirms the things on which the speech did well. When I read the first two paragraphs, I mostly felt the same way as the author does. I agree that Obama has avoided answering so many essential questions skillfully. As a high school student, I was almost fooled at the first and almost believed that the war is in the purpose of justice and it is necessary: indeed, it increased the support for Afghanistan war. Although it did convince some people, Obama obviously contradicted himself: he said he was strongly against the war in Iraq, but he called it a “milestone”. Personally, I hated it when he said that, and found him so hypocritical. Also, the speech seems over confident. Obama did not mention of the result of lose. The uncertainty of this war is ignored.

                In my opinion, which may seem kind of superficial, Obama exaggerated the role of U.S in the world. If U.S wants to catch Taliban and rescue people from suffering, what’s the point of sending 30,000 troops and make Afghanistan people even more painful? And why does America keep interfering other countries’ own affairs? If it’s for American’s benefit, then don’t say that it is for the sake of the world. Obama, please don’t let down your Nobel Price.

       I’m very interested in same-sex marriage. The first time when I heard of it, I was shocked: how can two people of same sex marry each other?! Then this idea became more and more common. Even a good friend of mine came to me one day and told me that her girlfriend proposed. They were about to move to Netherlands and get married there. That’s how homosexual became one of my favorite topics. United states is well-known for its openness and human rights. However, there is an irony: the same-sex marriage is only allowed in five states; homosexual do not gain enough respect and they feel sad about it. I was so exited when I saw this article on Los Angeles Times.

      It’s a short article comparing to other ones I did. It is quite brief but has a clear structure. First, it mentions about the background of homosexuality in New England. After a hopeful start, the same-sex marriage law turns out to be rejected. Then it indicates that United States government has already improved in realizing the importance of gay/lesbian rights. For teenagers, just like our generation, have more open mind and they are less influenced by the religion that opposes the same-sex marriage. It can see the future of homosexual is optimist. And finally the article urges people not to wait for the young generation to grow up and vote for equal rights of homosexual, but to act from now.

       I like this article pretty much. It is good to see the same-sex marriage to be described as an “essential right”. The society is progressing; new opinions should be gradually accepted by people. Like females and African Americans in the Revolution War, they were excluded when Thomas Jefferson wrote “All men are created equal”, whereas today, they have gained their equality (well not totally but almost), and now it is time for gays and lesbians should fight for their rights. Check this short video:

      “The younger you are, the more likely you are to support the idea.” I agree that the new generations are more open and they can accept this idea more easily, and I also would love to witness the time when same-sex marriage becomes legalized in more and more places. It is crucial but still hard. However I believe that it will come true one day.

　　When I’m at home, I always remind my dad not to smoke, although he never listens to me. I feel really worried about his health. It is not hard to imagine how I feel when I read this article on slate.com. It is actually a briefing version, so I then found the original article  from US. News.

　　The article first gave readers the background:  the percentage of smokers was been decreasing since decades, however this year, it increased from 19.8% to 20.6%. Experts think that it’s because of the cut of budget for state tobacco-control programs. It then gave some statistics like male smokers vs.  female smokers, smokers graduated from high school vs. smokers who did not graduate from high school, Asian American smokers vs. native American smokers. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the reason for which there are more people smoking, is that the state is not giving enough money for them to control the situation, which is somehow, good to know since it proves the success of control. The report also indicates that the money that we spend on tobacco is $203.5 billion, which is almost 33 times greater than the money spent on tobacco prevention. After focusing on these negative sides, the author also wrote about the positive things. The topic firstly narrows: the secondhand smoke is mentioned, then the article provided some advices to reduce it. Then it starts to talk about the overall situation again, finally winds up with the adolescents smoking problem caused, according to them, by movies with smoking scenes.

　　To be honest, I did not like this article. It is organized in some order, good for the first part, however the second part from the weekly report did not make much sense to me. It is merely a report of survey result without many opinions. Those datas are not really interesting. However, numbers talk. Large amount of data shows figuratively the fact. I’m surprised that “states have received $203.5 billion in tobacco-related revenue”, but the budget for tobacco prevention is less than 3 percent of that. This is something that the government should consider thoroughly. They  indeed, raised tobacco tax to shock smokers early this year. Check this video:

I also went to the NPR news to find other reasons why they increased the tobacco tax and I do find it: actually, this measure is also related to  “bridge budget gaps“. It is obvious to tell: money matters the most.

　　I should not be writing the last blog post now and I must confess myself to procrastinate. It’s not reasonable and I should try to finish work ahead. But because of it, I did not miss this great news: NASA found evidence of water found on the moon! Isn’t it an exciting moment?

　　I was shocked when I refreshed the NPR and saw this article appeard on the home page. “Plenty of water” is found on the moon. Scientists analysed the data given by the spacecraft that they crashed on the moon last month and they finally figured out that water do exist on the moon, at least near the south pole. Then the author points out the significance of water on moon, and introduced the way NASA discover.

　　Since it’s so recent, that’s all I see in this short article. And on Youtube, i gladly found this video:

　　That is a momentous discovery! It is a landmark in the lunar science. Astraunauts now can envison camping on the moon because of the water that makes it easy. Although it still takes time for scientists to figure out futher usage of water on the moon,  the “crash” of the moon brings them to a whole new page on the knowledge of our neighbor. 

　　It is a giant step for all human beings, and especially a brand new victory of NASA. It shows the  strong national power to the world again(although it’s already very well recognized). I look forward to seeing more and more exciting discovery. But still, people should also be aware of not being overconfident. We are almost nothing comparing to the nature, so it is important not to offense it, or it will eventually distroy us.

Bake food is always beloved by students. Can you imagine a school without cupcakes, muffins, chocolate cakes… but only things such as reduced-fat Baked Doritos or low-sugar granola bars? An old friend of mine who studies in New York just called me last night. When I told her that I was having a great carrot cake, she said,”You know what, in order to keep students healthy, bake foods are not allowed in schools here any more! But I don’t think it’s a good idea! Totally ridiculous!” I was surprised when I first heard that news:  seriously? Will that work for those who are unaware of their obesity but still eat all the time?                         

I immediately looked it up on the website of The New York Times and I read this article, which is published quite recently. It first announced the measure that the Education Department uses which is to forbid selling unhealthy foods. The author introduced the basic background of this rule and then quoted some comments from adults as well as from students. The article did talk about students’ concern, for example raising money. It shows some pieces of advice given by teachers and Department officials although they does not really seem to be ideal according to the author. The article is quite good and I loved the last sentence said by Dr.Wechsler: “Schools are supposed to be a place where we establish a model environment”.

In fact, the ban of bake sales is not new. It’s already implemented in California.

In my opinion, this ban is a double-edged-sword. It is reasonable for the obesity of adolescents is becoming increasingly serious in American society, but it’s kind of unfair for those student organizations that just sell food to raise money in order to raise money.

The ban can ameliorate the situation of corpulence. Even when those overweighted students don’t actually need food, they are not usually can’t control their endless desire for foods when they see them. Banning bake sales is a great way to keep them away from high fat foods. Students won’t have the motivation to buy food if they can’t see them at all. From this perspective, the policy is quite helpful.

From the perspective of students who just need funds to organize activities, this rule blocks their most efficient way to get money. Nothing can be easier than benefiting from food sales. Suggestions like “sell T-shirts or key chains” instead of food) are not practical indeed. In a word, this ban brings inconvenience to students as well.