Journal 16: Baraka

     In this non-verbal film "Baraka", the most impressive scene for me is "Balinese Monkey Chant." At the beginning of  this scene, a bunch of Balinese who sit and face to the temple sing the special chant that sounds like monkeys or gamelan orchestra. With the melody, they move forth and back with waving hands.
    When I saw this scene, the special, neat and tidy movement caught my eyes. All of these Balinese involve themselves in the religious ceremony with special painting on their face and colorful flowers. They present their respect and ask for blessing by imitating the sound of monkeys and orchestra. From their expression, I even could feel the joy and great admiration for their God.
     In Asian culture, people usually not only show the respect for God, but animals or plants with long life. For example, people in Taiwan worship longevity trees; cows in India are pampered. I think these religion events or ceremonies are usually very fascinating and the best way to know another culture.

Journal 15: Anticipating Your Parents' Objections

Dear Mom,

Thank you for always treating me so nicely even though I'm tough sometimes. I know you worry about my health so you strongly disagree I taking shower in the morning. Maybe you think I may catch cold and headache easily if I always do so, however, taking shower in the morning is the only way could wake me up and let me feel fresh. Besides, the doctor also told us there's no connection between morning shower and cold or headache. Therefore, there should not have any reason to against morning showering.


Love you, always
Joanne

Journal 14: Summarize/Paraphrase Practice

PASSARIELLO, C., & CLARK, J. (n.d.). Benetton Unveils 'Unhate' to Regain Consumers' Love - WSJ.com. Business News & Financial News - The Wall Street Journal - Wsj.com. Retrieved November 21, 2011, from http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203611404577041

Benetton, the Italian clothing chain, is trying to arouse everyone's attention for their brand by showing global leaders kissing such as president Barack Obama kisses China's Hu Jintao, Pope Benedict XVI hugs Sheik Ahmed al-Tayeb. (para. 1) Because of these ads, Benetton got a reaction from the Vatican rapidly. The Vatican spokesman stated that they could not accept Benetton took advantage of his Holy Father's image without permission to advertize. (para. 2 &3) Benetton usually uses provocative images and controversial topics such as "United Colors of Benetton", AIDS, Gulf War casualties to absorb shoppers' attention. (para. 5) Before the Vatican complained, Mr. Benetton said the ads promote a message of peace, so he didn't expect the complaints. (para. 11) Keve Greenberg, a lawyer specializing in trademarks said, "legal experts often advise against attacking such ads because it only contributes to the publicity." (para. 12)
 

Journal #13 Analyzing an Argument

Brown, E., & blog, L. A. (n.d.). Happy people have lower five-year death rate, study    

finds - latimes.com. Los Angeles Times - California, national and world news - latimes.com. Retrieved November 6, 2011, from http://www.latimes.com/health/boostershots/la-heb-happy-people-health-death-20111031,0,3342308.story

This article is about happiness can decrease five-year death rate (par. 7) According to Andrew Steptoe and Jane Wardle’s examining date by the English Longitudinal Study of Aging, a large survey in England (par.3) is a claim of cause which appeals to logos. They are reason from comparisons: divided the study subjects into three groups (par. 5); reason from statistic: 3.6%, 4.6%, 7.3% (par.6) The researchers, Andrew Steptoe and Jane Wardle wrote that this research is not about happy people are healthier, comparatively, it’s about positive affect or good mood is good for older people.

Although I’ve read several similar articles, this study emphasizes that our mood affects our health indeed. I think positive attitude not only important for young people but also older people especially those who suffer from illness.

Journal 12: Your First Source

Oladejo, J. (2006): Parents' Attitudes Towards Bilingual Education Policy in Taiwan, Bilingual Research Journal, 30:1, 147-170

Bilingual education is very common in several countries and also in Taiwan. In this journal, James Oladejo discussed about parents attitudes towered biligual education in Taiwan. I think this journal is quite useful for my journal because there are some interesting questions such as "Dose learning a foreign language have negative effects on the child's competence in his or her mother tongue?" which is useful for my reserch.