Wednesday, November 30, 2016

Unretiring


Recall: The most important part of this article is that Ali chose to keep fighting regardless his age. He is old at that time and diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease. The most difficult point is that he did doing so well in the last fight.

Summary: The article “Unretiring” by David Reminck talks about the last fight of the Muhammad Ali, a famous boxer. He introduced Ali by his glories. He stated the reason of Ali keep fighting even he is suffered from sickness. In the end, he briefly tells the readers how Ali lose the fight and the thought from others.

Question: Why did the author choose to write about this topic? What did he want to tell us?

Connect 1: The author is attempting to show the readers that Ali keep fighting for his glory even he is sick. I think what Ali did is wrong, because from the time he is diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease, he is a patient. He shouldn’t go to another fight which is going to lose absolutely.


Connect 2: I think this article is about if we should give up our glory. “You have to be humble when you're trapped in an inferior situation.” I think it is right. First, Ali have fought with Larry for many times. He did not win a lot. Second, he is old at that time and he should be retired. He keeps losing after the break. Therefore, I think the best way is to retire instead of fighting.

Monday, November 21, 2016

One Child

        One Child
A child means good luck in China. If a family has a lot of children, that symbolizes they will be a big happy family. Unfortunately, all Chinese families could only have one baby  starting in 1980 because of the One Child Policy. There was a baby boom after World War II ended in 1945. My parents both born during that baby boom, so they both have five siblings. As a result, the Chinese government decided to control the birth rate. They introduced the One Child Policy, which is  also called “family planning”. Obviously, this law means all families can only have one baby,  and it was a serious law. If people were going to have the second child, they had to get the abortion by the law. If they insisted on keeping the second baby, they would incur twenty to fifty thousand penalty. This was a huge amount for an ordinary family in the 1980s. Moreover, the people who were working for the government such as at the education department, medical department, or the big companies owned by the government, would get fired if their family decided to keep the second baby. For this reason, the children who were born from the 1980s to 1990s, become the lonely generation, and I am one of them. I always wished I had siblings to play with me when I was younger, and to share the stress and responsibility with me.
I had a lonely childhood before I went to school at age six. I lived with my parents and my grandma until she passed away. My father is the last son that my grandma had, he had all the love from my grandma. My grandpa passed before I was born, and taking care of my grandma and living with her was the responsibility automatically put on my father. My grandma was diabetic, and her eyes were influenced by her high blood sugar level, so she could barely see. Due to this situation, she couldn’t play with me, couldn’t read my favorite Snow White story to me, and couldn’t take me to the park, which is only five minutes away from home. Also, I was not allowed to go out and play with other children, because I was too young, and my parents were afraid somebody would kidnap me. Furthermore, my parents always needed to work, and I always asleep before they come back home. All I could do, was just play with my dolls, Lego, and watch TV by myself. Once in awhile, the little girl from next door would come in front of my home, but I was not tall enough to reach the lock of the gate, and I didn’t want to disturb my grandma’s a nap, so we played across the gate. It was a very boring childhood.
Most people put their hope on their offspring, but I am the only one that my parents have. My parents always think their lives are not going to have some big change, even when they were younger, because they weren’t  very educated, so now they are waiting for me to change their life. After I went to school, my parents always told me “you have to study very hard. Knowledge could change your life, make your future better, and then you won’t have to work as hard as I do.” My father was a cook, and he had enough of the poor work environment--hot, wet, busy, long hours, so he always admires people who work in an office. He wants me go to a good college and find a decent job, with a high wage, nice working condition. He used to care about my score very much, so he would get super angry when I got a “C” on a  math test. I am bad at math, physics, and chemistry, and there was a test every month at my middle school in China. It was a big pressure to me, and I felt like I couldn’t breathe sometime.
Furthermore, I realized that taking care of my parents is going to be a big responsibility for me when they grow older. My father is a diabetic, too. I guess it is inherited from my grandma. Therefore, I need to take him to the hospital for a regular check up. Because he doesn’t speak English at all, I need to stay with him all the time. On another side, another grandma, my mother’s mother, had Alzheimer’s when she alive. She went outside and got lost a few times. Therefore, my mom and her siblings decided to take turns to watching her 24 hours a day. She was lucky, because she had six children to take care of her when she was old and sick. I always worry about my mother will get the same illness from her mother, because I realized that she has poor memory just like my grandma. Sometimes I jokingly told my mother “Try to activating your brain little bit more, so you won’t get the same illness as grandma. You don’t have six children as grandma, so if you got the illness like that, that will kill me”. Taking care of my parents would be a responsibility like a big rock on my back, and I am sure the rock will become heavier and heavier as my parents getting older.  

Somebody who have many siblings told me “being the only kid in the family is so lucky, so you don’t have to fight with your sister all the time, and you can have all the love from your parents.” I don’t agree with that, because of all the stress, responsibility, and my lonely childhood. There is a maxim popular on Weibo, which is a popular Chinese social media, like a Chinese Facebook. “I afraid of getting sick, afraid of getting into accident, afraid to move far away from home, because I am the only one that my parents have.”  If I create my own family in the future, I hope I will have more than one child, so that will make their life easier if I am lucky.

Wednesday, November 16, 2016

A child Thief

Lianghuan Tan
Compare and contrast essay-final draft
November 15,2016
A Child Thief
Unbelievable, a child stole something in a store because he saw a TV show in which a child did the same thing. He pretended to be a thief in the TV show. When the manager of the store asked him why he stole it, he just answered: “I was copying a child in a TV show.” The manager didn’t call the police because he was just a child. The manager wanted to give the child a chance to repent. The way that the child stole in the store and the way a child stole in the TV show were same. He found a corner that the store camera couldn’t see. When nobody noticed him, he put an expensive watch into his pocket. After that, he was ready to leave. A salesperson noticed that a watch was missing, so he caught the child. I don’t think that his parents would ask him to steal. If a child’s father is a thief, the child may learn from his or her father. However, the celebrities and the parents affect the children significantly. Time and strength are two differences between the influence of celebrities and the influence of parents on children.

The first difference between the influence of celebrities and the influence of parents on children is time. After children were born, their parents would affect them every day before children grow up. Parents take care of their children when children are unable to take care of themselves. Parents talk to their children every day. Parents teach their children how to dress and how to do other things. Some parents teach their children how to make friends. My classmate’s father asked her to be a doctor when she was child. Now she has become a doctor because her father mentioned her dream all the time. In contrast, the influence of celebrities on children is occasional. Celebrities affect children when children watch TV or movies. Children generally don’t watch TV day and night, and it is hard to meet celebrities for children in their daily life. My middle school classmates bought sport clothes with the number that represented sport stars like Michael Jordan. They played basketball like Michael Jordan too. Mostly they were affected by Micheal Jordan when they watched basketball games, and it was occasional.

The second difference between the influence of celebrities and the influence of parents on children is strength. The influence of parents on children is very strong because children trust their parents. Children are usually afraid of parental authority, so they would behave like their parents hope. A child hit my cousin with a plastic bottle in a party. His father yelled at him: “What the hell? Don’t hit people.” Then he stopped hitting. Children also do things that their parents ask them to do because they love their parents. Parents take care of their children, so most children are grateful. My elementary classmate’s father asked him to study hard. Therefore, he studied hard and got into college. In contrast, the influence of celebrities on some children is weak. Children don’t do everything that celebrities do. Also, children wouldn’t follow the words that celebrities say. Children may like some celebrities, and they might hate some celebrities too. Some of my elementary school classmates disliked Micheal Jackson because they thought Micheal Jackson danced in a weird way.They haven’t behaved like that. They didn’t watch Micheal Jackson shows anymore. In the other words, the influence of Michael Jackson on them even disappeared. The influence of celebrities got weak in this case.

Celebrities and parents affect children in different ways. People shouldn’t ignore either. Parents need to educate their children to become good people, but children might get disobedient when evil celebrities affect them. In addition, people should control the TV shows that their children watch. Let children watch good celebrity shows. Delete bad celebrity shows on their computers. When children watch movies, parents should tell their children which actor is evil and which actor is kind. Parents should tell children don’t behave like evil actor. It is important to avoid their own children become thieves who stole in a store, so tell children that thieves will be caught by police and will be in jail. Thieves aren’t often forgiven by managers in stores.

Monday, November 14, 2016


                                                                             KASP
 
The number of Saudi students who have had scholarship around the world increased from 2000 to 190,000 during King Abdullah’s scholarship program. In fact, Saudis will never forget King Abdullah because when he became a king, he started to set certain plans and goals to restructure and develop many fields of the country. One of his plans was King Abdullah’s scholarship program that provided scholarships for students from different levels. Also, KASP (King Abdullah’s scholarship program) covers the tuition fees, salary, and medical coverage. King Abdullah’s scholarship program include a lot of countries that students could choose from such as the United States, Canada, Australia, Britain, New Zealand, India, Singapore, France, Italy, Poland, Malaysia, and China. Moreover, King Abdullah’s scholarship program has improved my life because it helped me to get an education, see the world, and improve my health.

In the beginning, King Abdullah’s scholarship program helped me to get an education. This program has given me the opportunity to continue my education in Chicago. In fact, it was hard to accept the huge number of high school graduate students and the requirements of this program were not easy, but I worked hard to make my childhood dream come true although KASP requested high grades in school and on other exams.  However, King Abdullah’s scholarship program inspired the students for what they were interested in. For example, students can receive salaries and choose where they want to study. Before I came Chicago I was confused about choosing a city which is a good place for study, and this program helped me to choose Chicago, so that why I’m here.

In addition, King Abdullah’s scholarship program has helped me to see the world. In fact, this program has enabled hundreds of thousands of young Saudis to travel overseas for higher education opportunities and experiences. I have discovered a new culture in Chicago. The United States has people from many different nationalities, and I have met a lot of friends from different countries and cultures. My life experience has  improved because I learned many things from their cultures. For example, I have a friend from India; he told me that in his country the women usually cover the costs of marriage. In addition, the United States has a lot of holidays, so students who study here have many vacations. I traveled to four cities since I came to Chicago including Los Angeles, Miami, New York, and Indiana. I have visited new places that I have never visited before such as Times Square in NY that I just saw in the movies, and Beverly Hills in LA that the most famous neighborhood in the United States.



Finally, King Abdullah’s scholarship program helped me improves my health. As I mentioned in the introduction, King Abdullah’s scholarship program covers medical coverage, so it has helped me to take care for myself. In fact, I did not have medical coverage in my country. Because of that, I did not focus on my health there. My weight has increased since I came to Chicago. I have done medical examinations each month because my insurance has covers that. Also, since I started paying attention to my health, I have avoided diseases such as stomach problems, flu, and pneumonia.
In conclusion, King Abdullah’s scholarship program aimed to improve the Saudi students’ life by improving their health, helping them to discover the world, and reducing the unemployment rate back home. In fact, King Abdullah died two years ago, so the numbers of Saudi students who have had scholarship around the world has decreased. All the Saudis loved King Abdullah because he supported education. Because he gave me this opportunity, I will study hard to graduate from a university in the United States.

Sunday, November 13, 2016

The Turning Point

The Turning Point
A long time ago, there was a mother that made a decision that would affect her child’s life. When I was young, our family was so poor that we had to buy the cheapest foods to eat. In other words, in my homeland China it was difficult for my mother to get a decent job because of the huge population in the country. In addition, there is a big competition for the students to go to college because the university seats are limited. For this reason, my mother decides to move away to the United states in order to give me a better future and a better life. 

When I was in elementary school I was a very bad student. I used to hang out with the craziest guys in the class. I learned all kinds of bad things from another bad student. We did crazy things like making smoke bombs and putted it under the cars to prank people. Therefore, I was a disappointment in my mother’s eyes. However, as I grew up, my mother decided to move to the United States to let me have a better learning environment. With this intention, my mother kept me away from those bad kids that were a bad influence on me. If I didn’t come to the United States I might become a useless person like them. However, in the United States everything is new to me.
When I was a child, I have always wanted to learn a second language, and I told my mother about it when I was growing up. At the same time, I never had a chance to learn the most primitive English in my own country. However, now I have the chance to learn the best English from the United States because my mother made the decision to move to the United States. Therefore, if my mother didn’t decide to come to the United States, I won’t be able to learn all these new stuffs I learned in this country.
There are huge populations and competitions in the country of China. In fact, China has the biggest population in the world, and it is so hard for the people in the country to get a decent job. In order to get a satisfied job, people have to study very hard to get higher education. Important to realize that the seats in the universities are very limited, and not all the students can get in. Surprisingly, I’m very lucky that I don’t have to be one of those people in China. I am very glad that my mother brought me to the United States to avoid those huge competitions among the people.

Moving from China to the United States is the most important turning point in my life. Therefore, if I didn’t come to the United States, I might still hang around with the uneducated people on the streets. Additionally, I am living a better life in the United States, and my family don’t have to buy the dead fishes to eat again. Furthermore, I can go to college without a huge competition between the other students. I’m so thankful that my mother gives me this new life.
A nation affected

Brazil is well known for the beauty of nature, the affectionate people and the lack of effectiveness. Since 2014, Brazil has suffered one of the most devastating economic crises. The first reason is because of the corruption. The old government that was leading Brazil stole a lot of money from public coffers. The second reason is the decline in values of products that Brazil exports, such as grains, orange juice and oil. A few years ago, the oil was really expensive and now its price is low. The last reason is because of China. China was the biggest buyer of merchandise coming from Brazil, and if China does not buy Brazilian products, it affects their economy. There are many consequences when all of these negative events occur together. Principally for the political and economic factors. This new Brazilian economy has forced me to live in another country and it has changed not only my family’s life, but also the entire population of Brazil because of the poor salary and unemployment.

Unemployment is the principal consequence of the crises. A lot of companies have gone bankrupt. Consequently, the number of unemployed people increased. If a company does not have enough work, in many cases, they have to fire employees, because they do not have enough money to pay them. Another reason of the unemployment is the company does not have work, but they still need the employee to do the work. Most of the time the salary of this employee is too high. For this reason, the owners of the company decide to replace the person and they hire people less qualified with less salary.

Poor salary is also a result of the crisis. Big companies have been reducing the salary of workers. A good example is the company that my father used to work for. He used to work in one of the most important companies that manufactures polyethylene. Polyethylene is the most common plastic. It is used to make plastic bags, plastic films and containers like bottles. He was a truck driver, so he carried the merchandise principally to the northern part of the country. With the crisis the company began to pay less my father and sometimes delayed the payment. Not only did this happen with my father’s company, but also with a lot of other companies. It was almost a “rule”. First, the companies reduce the salary. Second, they don’t pay, because they don’t have enough money. The last option that the owners have is to close the company.

After all of these effects of the crisis, I decided to move to the United States. I never thought of moving to another country to have a better future for my family and I until my father lost his job and my mother had to find one to help with the house expenses. These changes have meant that I am much stronger than I seem to be. Like that famous phrase “You are your only limit”. I learned to take care of myself and to be proud of this. I know that I will never be the same girl that I used to be, and I will never be the same person when I return to Brazil. My thoughts changed a lot. I still have a long journey, but I know I am in the right direction. My family is the only reason that I decided to stay here even if sometimes I just want to give up and go back to Brazil.

Some economists say that Brazil might recover from the crisis in 2020. It is terrible to see the whole country suffering because of the same thing, money. Everybody had to change their life. I completely changed my life, and it has been a painful decision. Brazilians just have to adapt to this new economy. Maybe the crises brought one good thing. The changes in people’s live promote strengthening as a nation. It has not been easy living with all these changes but they brought new innovations, new ideas and ideals. With all of these problems, the president of Brazil changed. Brazilians were protesting against the old president. After the impeachment, I hope that this new president can try to change the economic problems. When I return to Brazil, I think the situation will be better, but if this does not happen I will do my best to work hard for my own future.

What did your ancestors give you?

      In about 1100 BCE, Shang Jiang was raised to the king of Qi which located in the Shan Don province in China. It is because he helped the kings Wen and Wu of Zhou fought battle against the Shang in the past. Some of his children kept his given name, Shang, as their family name instead. That is where I got my family name from, so I will keep my family name for good. My family name is so unique that it is easy to remember. Although it is one of the important key for others to recognize me, my family name has had little effect on my family and me. I think the establishment of modern China have made greater effects on three generation of my family already.
For a start, both my grandparents migrated to the same city because of the Chinese government. Which means that none of my grandparents lived in the city Fushun, where I was born. On my father’s side, the migration started in 1912. To develop the economy of Northeast, farmers like my grandparents were encouraged to move their residence to Northeast provinces from the middle part of China. My father’s family chose Fushun to relocate, because it was built as an industrial city. Right after the factories were built, more and more people migrated there. Unlike my father, my mother’s family has been farming in North for a long time. However, they decided to move to Fushun for the same reason in 1953, a larger working opportunity.
File:Location of Fushun Prefecture within Liaoning (China).png
Instead of migrating encouragement, my parents’ lives were influenced by the wars later. During the war, my parents’ life is much harder than how I live now. Most of citizens like my parents were struggling for their next meal. It was impossible for two parents take care four teens by their salary at that time. Which means that both my parents and their siblings must take care themselves as soon as they could. My mother always tells me the story when she was a teenager. I couldn’t even count how many times she has told me the stories about she taking care some businesses in her house, such as cleaning, cooking, and washing. Thirteen-year-old male like my father started to looking for a job. He worked so hard because he knows his responsibility. Almost all my relatives consider my father a hard-working man, and so do I.Image result for one child policy

As for myself, I am trapped by the One-Child Policy. Since there was no such policy when my parents were born in the 1960, both my parents have three siblings. My parents’ responsibility of caring the elders is divided with their siblings. Also, my parents could gain help from their siblings if they need to. In the contrast, the burden of caring my parents is on me. Since the Two-Child Policy effected from 2016, the burden is heaver for my generation. In this case, not only must I take care both my parents without any help, but I must also take care two children in the future. Though I am trapped by the One-Child Policy in certain ways, I am still benefit from it. My parents and I always say that finding a suitable job in China could be harder for me.
Image result for china 1963
Altogether, my family’s life and mine as Chinese citizens have been fully influenced by my homeland. China is a country with a unique history. The modernization of China appears to affect every Chinese and the world. With no doubt that China have already influenced three generation of my family. Its effect to my family in the future remains unknown, because I came to the United States. Regardless how China will affect me and my children, there is one thing for sure. The only thing their ancestor Shang Jiang left my children is their family name. For that reason, they probably won’t remember their ancestor, Shang Jiang, but they will remember China as their homeland. 

Rashidi

Cause and Effect 3

11/12/2016





Scholarship’s Effects

        I could have never have imagined that I would be one day studying in Chicago and have a scholarship from SACM (Saudi Arabia Culture Mission). SACM is an organization that was created by King Abdullah for the benefit of Saudi students to get a better education in American universities. I felt extremely honored and appreciative for receiving this significant award which will help my confidence and inspire me to realize my dreams in develop skills.

        The first effect of me having a scholarship is that I dramatically improved my English language. Because when I arrived here first time, my English was very limited and I had a hard time understanding people for the first two months. For example, I remember one-day I was invited to watch one of the Cubs ‘game with my fellow Americans. Once the game was over, one person asked me, what I thought about the game: I replied by saying “good” I felt so embarrassed that I did not explain more information due to the lake of my understanding. Additionally, people sometimes come to me and start to talk to me fast, and I all I do is just pretend that I understand them by shaking my head so that people can see that I got everything was being said but I was not.
      

       Another effect scholarship had on me that I got to changed my career goals and look for different one. Before I received the scholarship, I was working as a surgical technician in a huge private hospital which was very far away from my home. But I wasn’t getting enough money even though. Plus, I wasn’t enjoying my work. I felt like I wanted to complete my education and run away from the operation rooms. However, Things have gotten to the point where I had quit my job and came to Chicago to study more and more. When I got to Chicago, I said to myself this is the chance that I should try and prove to myself that life doesn’t end when you lose a job, because there is always a way and hope.
    

Last effect scholarship also gave me was that I changed my view on the US. When I was in Saudi, I thought that racism has completely gone from the united. But I found that my expectations were in fact wrong. For example, my first year in the US was indeed horrific black people were unjustly brutal by the police. Another incident was the death of Eric Garner which took place in New York, he was unarmed when a police man dragged him to the floor and stepped up on his chest and Eric was saying “I can’t breathe”.  Not only that but, white people recently just voted to Donald Trump who is an absolute professional racist. On the other hand, the great Americans whom I love and respect are trying very hard to treat everybody equally respectful to all races and cultures regard what Trump’s supporters might say.
       At the end, this scholarship has enabled to blend and adapt to a new culture. Indeed, I am so thankful that this chance which has opened an enormous door for me to discover the diversity of this country. Again, I should give credit where is due which to my friends who provided me with a lot of information about Chicago, so that I could study in this incredible city.


Selected Daughter
      Filial piety is a term of praise in China. It means the child would take care of their parents very well when they got old. In traditional China, the daughters would get married to compose a new family and the sons have the responsibility to take care of their parents when they get older. On the other hand, who can take care their parents when they only have daughter? My second aunt's name is Xiao, the Chinese meaning is happy but her name does not match her life. When she was only sixteen years old, she was selected by my grandparents to take care of them for the rest of their life. Sometimes, filial piety is double edged weapon. However, these words for Xiao are more like the responsibility and pressure to that changed her life.

     As a selected daughter, Xiao has never had choices for her own life, even her marriage or dreams. Xiao was an intelligent student in school and she wanted to be a teacher when she grew up. However, my grandmother thought there wasn't any benefit for girls to study. When Xiao was in high school, she was forced to give up studies and went out to work to support her home. In addition, she had no choice to choose her marriage. When Xiao was twenty-five, she had a boyfriend, and they had been together for several years. Unfortunately, my grandmother was against their marriage because Xiao's boyfriend's family was poor. My grandmother wanted Xiao to marry a rich man. These are Xiao's greatest regrets of her life.
    Since my grandmother and Xiao lived together, they began to quarrel about every little thing in daily life. My grandmother's and Xiao's attitude and options towards everything were completely different. My grandmother always wanted to know everything in the house, and Xiao always tried to hide everything. For example, one day my cousin was fell down in the stairs and went to the hospital for two days. Xiao was afraid my grandmother would worry about it and would make her blood pressure become higher. Therefore, she did not tell my grandmother what happened, but my grandmother suspected my cousin had run away from home and never come back. Furthermore, they often had a lot of debates about food. My grandmother is a frugal person, and she likes to save the leftovers in the refrigerator, but Xiao thinks leftovers are unhealthy. They have argued everyday, Xiao has too much pressure to living with my grandmother.
     My grandmother's decision increased Xiao's burden when my grandmother got Alzheimer 'S disease. When Xiao planned to send my grandmother to a nursing house. My grandmother thought Xiao wanted to abandon her and my grandmother refused to eat anything. Eventually, Xiao decided to lived with my grandmother but Xiao had to spend a lot of time and energy taking care of my grandmother. One day, my grandmother said she wanted go out to buy breakfast. After three hours she did not come back and that made everyone get anxious. My cousin and Xiao stopped their work to look forward to my grandmother. Furthermore, my grandmother usually said something made Xiao feel hurt. She would repeat and repeat Xiao 's mistakes. My grandmother's unreasonable behavior made Xiao 's life become harder and harder.

     Filial piety is the traditional goodness of Chinese people, but some people are burdened by these two words. These traditional ideas have damaged some selected daughter's live. In fact, it is the responsibility for people to take care of their parents 's life. However, responsibility do not mean live together. There are some different ways to make the parents happy in daily life. The first is giving some patience to understand what they want to say. The second is spending more time with them and do not make them feel lonely. More care and respect is more important to living together.