[Stella Castro]

In the second part of today’s session Mr. Clay Dube  presented. First Mr. Dube pointed out on the importance of the document that Mr. Berry read yesterday about, to which I do not recall the tile of it but the word that stood out and Mr. Dube reiterated were, “There is no Art”, which these words left me why someone would say this as there are many types of “Art”, and Art comes in many shapes and forms, whether it be musical, acted out, written and or drawn/painted. Whoever said this is totally wrong or just plain ignorant. They may as well be living under a rock. However Mr. Dube presentation was that on the subject called “ Children”, but  the lecture consisted more about posters. Granted there were children on the posters representing  the coming of the New Year. The entire poster shown had a hidden/subtle message to the, that sometimes it was hard to pinpoint the meaning. At times, the whole class would guess the incorrect meaning to the posters, that this in turn was actually cool. However Mr. Dube went on to tell/describe to us what the subtle/hidden meaning to these poster really meant, and some were surprisingly different than what we had thought, (e.g., The posters of planned parenthood). Mr. Dube told us of the meaning of some of the items in the posters and their representations of the item/s , as well as just explaining the posters to/for us. I thought this very kind of Mr. Dube. 

Mr. Dube also went on to explain the differences with birth dates here in the United States  versus the birth dates in the Asian cultures. The first and foremost point I recall is that as soon as a child is born they count that as their first birthday. That is strange but yet very interesting for me. Mr. Dube went on to show us some clips of interesting movies, and telling us  some of the names of interesting movies/books to watch and or read. We were also shown a couple of propaganda posters and were told we were going to get into groups to discuss them , unfortunately time ran out.

I can teach my students many  things from today’s seminar sessions, but from this part of the session I can teach my students about the differences between Asian and American birthdays. I can tell them about the Chinese zodiac/calendar. I can teach them about animals. I can teach them I can teach them how to make a poster that expresses their views, wants and needs. I can teach them synonyms and antonyms, as well as how to paint and use watercolors to make their posters beautiful. 

[Stella Castro]

The first part of today’s seminar was presented by our guest speaker Mr. Kerim Yasar who teaches at the University of Southern California, (USC). Mr. Yasar subject topic was called “Japanese Film & Families through the lens of Yasujiro Ozu an Asian director. Mr. Yasar’s presentation was excellent as it was interesting to learn About Mr. Ozu, (a person I had never ever heard of before). It was interesting to learn about how Mr. Ozu favored to shoot scenes with his camera very low and without much movement. By doing this Mr. Ozu was able to capture the whole bodies of the characters in his movies, to which I thought was really cool, when we were shown video clips of some of Mr. Ozu’s work.

Two interesting tidbits I learned today, (actually I learned more than two but will just comment on these two, and one was that in the Japanese/Asian culture, the last names or rather the family name goes first before someone’s first name. The second item is that back in the 1940’s-1950”s, there were a lot of films being produced, roughly about 2 a day. That is a whole lot of films to watch. It was interesting to also learn about the Venshi, (I hope I spelled that right), who were people that gave voice and/or opinions, to the silent movies. Sometimes though they may ad lib what they thought was happening or what they wanted to happen in the movie/s. I never had heard of this prior to today. It was funny to hear that sometimes the Venshi talked over the film. Mr. Yasar also pointed out that because many people wanted to watch the Tokyo Olympics of 1964 many people bought TV’s for their homes and that was a reason for the decline in movie going, as people decided it was easier to stay home and watch TV, than it was to go out and spend money on the family, to which I totally agree with that concept. 

It was fun to watch the several small movie clips that were shown. In this session I learned a couple of vocabulary words, such as the meaning of a “pillow word”, as well as titles of movies by the three famous Japanese/Asian directors, (Kurosawa,Mizoguchi, and Ozu.

From this session I can teach my students how to do research on the computer about famous movie directors, ( e.g., Lucas, Coppola, and Ozu). I can teach them  simple vocabulary words  in Japanese,  for instance Arigato=thank-you, jicai=period, ninjo=human emotion, ( I hope I spelled those words correctly).  I can also do a compare/contrast of the movies back in the day as compared to nowadays, for example black and white versus, color, silent vs. talking, plain effects vs. special effects, and much more.

[Stella Castro]

A Mr. Michael Berry was our guest speaker I n the second part of today’s seminar. Interestingly enough, Mr. Berry is Mrs. Kim, (aforementioned), husband. I thought this to be really cool, as how often does one get to enjoy lectures from a husband/wife team. Mr. Berry spoke on the topic of Chinese Cinema. Mr. Berry also showed us a couple of movie clips, and/or movie trailers which were good to see. Mr. Berry went on to talk about famous writers/authors, and artists and the forms of art that they create. I found this topic and lecture quite interesting as some of the art forms Mr. Berry spoke about I had never heard of or imagined it could and would be done, much less here in the United States.  For instance Mr. Berry spoke of “Performance art, where one artist and a either friend or colleague of Mr. Berry exercises, but that lasts the whole year, 365 days a year, (I forget if this type of Art form had a different name other than performance art.

Mr. Berry also spoke of comic books, and how comic nooks brought people together because in some of the small towns/ villages in Asia they all have or speak a different dialect. So if it there to be a traveling play, then many people would not understand it. But Art told in the comic book fashion people would and may be able to understand and comprehend the concept/s as the drawings. Facial expressions of the characters could be read just by looking at the pictures on the books.

Mr. Berry also mentioned to us that the next time we go see a movie to see who is making and producing these films, and that nowadays there are many Asian companies that are doing this. Mr. Berry also explained about Invisible Hollywood and vice versa, invisible Asia, and hoe the similarities exists, as in the premise of the movie, the backdrops, the costumes, the titles, and so on.

What I can teach my students from this session is that ART  is a good form of creative expression/s, and that one should not feel bad if they are criticized for a piece of artwork that they have created. That it is important to learn to accept constructive criticism, and learn from that experience. instead of dwelling on some ill words in regards to their artwork. That there are many different types of art and that it comes in many different forms, whether it is drawings. paintings, sculpting, building or playing, (music), it is all good and there are many ways shapes and forms to accept and acknowledge, the many types of Art that exists. I can also teach them how to make a comic book and the folding of the piece of paper into 8 pages will also help them in developing and enhancing their fine motor skills.

[Stella Castro]

Today’s session was quite informative about the arts in Asia, in the first part of the day we had the pleasure of having Mrs. Suk Young Kim as our guest speaker, she was awesome Mrs. Kim spoke of two main  topics; North Korea Life through Cinema, and K-Pop.

Mrs. Kim spoke about how and why film is important in North Korea; this includes the novelty of the medium as being an effective tool. The easy distribution of, and that it is a highly controlled art form, with all that is involved in the making of a film, like the editing, the shooting , the planning and the final outcome, that being the film. Mrs. Kim spoke about how watching films in North Korea were not meant to be a form of entertainment, but rather as a ritual. That film has many roles such as for education, propaganda, and political roles. We were shown a couple short clips of films, some of which were funny, sad, as well as entertaining. Mrs. Kim also spoke about ho in the past there were no credits rolling up on the screen after a movie/film was shown, but that a Mr. Kim Jung -il a movie producer, (I believe), said that everyone working on a film should get/receive their credit for working on a film to which I agree. Mrs. Kim had many interesting things to say.

 Mrs. Kim then went on to talk about the popularity of K-Pop, to which I was not aware of until some of my students mentioned it earlier this school year. Mrs. Kim said that it is unknown how long it will last but that more than likely it will not fade so soon. Mrs. Kim explained why there are so many people in a K-Pop group and that is that everyone has a certain job that they must fulfill. She also went on to explain that the companies that employ these K-pop bands are not fair to the workers and they do not treat them very well  in regards to amenities pertaining to their contracts, such as having to pay for their own uniforms, make-up  and other things associated with costumes and or their contracts. I learned that the K in K-pop stands for kaleidoscopic instead of Korea, which that was what I originally had thought. It was interesting to learn that if one is in a K-pop band/ group that their careers will be over as soon as they age into the 20-25 age range. It is interesting to learn this as most bands /groups do not do the age thing. The older they get the more experienced they are.

What I can teach my students from what I learned  in this section of today’s lecture is how to make a mini-movie, with the instructions of thinking of a plot ,  the writing of a story, the plot, the acting, the editing, etc, In other words I can teach  them the writing process. I can also teach them about felling and emotions, as this is what actors do. I can teach them about the right and wrongs and the rules we have to adhere to in our society to live, learn and be safe in our community.

[Stella Castro]

Wow, I really enjoyed reading, ”Lan Dingyuan’s Casebook”, it was just awesome, first of all I do  not know if this excerpt is fiction or non-fiction, but either way, it sure was a dun reading.  In the part of,”THE SPIIRT OF THE KING OF THE THREE  MOUNTAINS TELL EVERYTHING”, First of all I like the way the story describes the days, (e.g., On the 6^th day of the 7 month,), I like this I have never read anything that describes the day like that. The story itself is about the magistrate questioning, a Mr. Chen Agong, who had gone to the magistrate for help in trying to find his daughter. However the daughter was never really missing in the first place. It turns out that Mr. Agong, had remarried her to a man from a more wealthy family. But it is a well written story as it tells how the magistrate investigates into the disappearance of the ‘daughter. But the fun part is how the magistrate remembers that the people of this village, (The southerners’), are afraid of ghosts and spirits. So with this in mind the magistrate tricked Mr. Agong, into telling the truth as how he had let his daughter re-marry. But the conniving magistrate was able to get all the answers from Mr. Agong, by telling him that the Spirit of the Three Mountains had told him everything. This is quite genius The story then goes on describe the punishment Mr. Agong, receives in which at one point, Mr. Agong has to sell his cow and his younger daughter to receive money to pay back the family from which he let his daughter remarry into. The punishment however seems severe to me as Mr. Agong, gets whipped, thirty strokes, gets put in the Collar, (this word seems odd, as I would think the word should be cellar), and is also put out on the streets for public punishment and humiliation. However, these types of punishment are the common practice in Asia, as I have heard, read about and seen in the movies.

            In this reading, there is another short story, /section, titled.”Depraved Religious Sects deceives People. This is another wonderful tale that involves spirits, magic, and decisiveness. This story is of how a couple of men deceived the village/own by claiming that they can see and speak to the spirits. How these men tricked the people with their shenanigans, and how they were found out by this same magistrate. Again the magistrate, uses his magic, (pun intended), to out trick these men. Again the punishments are severe, but in the end all the evil and filth was done away with and cleanliness restored.

[Stella Castro]

Everyone had such great responses to this session that I did not know who to reply to. As there were many and I do/did not have time to answer to every one. So I will condense my reading reflections’ into just one, “Up to the Mountains and Down to the Countryside”, but first I must say that this session was an excellent one. I will say that the reading of the sent down youth was superb, as it told of the students feelings and emotions of what they felt when they realized that what they were promised, was not what they were going to  get. I cannot get over this reading as it is one of the best readings ever from this seminar, aside from the Emperor Qianlong: Letter to George III. But I stand corrected, all the articles are good readings on the different topics, but the ones I am mentioning here are the ones THAT I THOROUGHLY ENJOYED, like the ones from Lu Xun.

However, going back to the Sent Down Youth, it is and was sad that the youth were betrayed, but the irony of this situation is as the youth were leaving to go up to the mountain side, in every single picture/video clip of this event, all the youth were smiling and happy, they were jazzed that they were going to experience new and good things, that they were going to benefit from this worthy trip up the mountains. But sadly they didn’t. It would be a really good thing to have a guest speaker that lived through this unfortunate time to talk to us and tell us what is was really like, like what they do at the Museum of Tolerance, maybe in the near future and for future seminars, this could somehow be arranged.

[Stella Castro]

Lin: upon reading your post about Lu Xun I was compelled to reply to you as you mentioned that in 10^th grade you had to read the literature pieces that Lu Xun had written and you did not understand it/them until now, after having a discussion with Ms. Cheng, who, researches Mr. Xun you finally understand the concept. Well lucky for you that you were able to have this discussion and now you are able to understand what Mr. Xun was trying to say.  I wish I had been lucky enough to have this conversation with Ms. Cheng, but then again,I had not had any previous exposure to Mr. Xun writings that even if I had had a chance to  have a conversation with Ms. Cheng, I know that this topic would never even ever come up, as  prior to this seminar I had  no idea who Lu Xun  was,  what he is and what he  represents ,and more so, that he is the best. Mr. Lu Xun is the father of modern Chinese literacy.  You also mentioned in your post about Ah-Q, or something to that effect. Which I do recall was mentioned in one/some of the seminar’s sessions which at the time a held and still hold my interest. So like aforementioned, these topics were intriguing to me, to the point of me ordering the books online and which I can hardly wait to receive.  So in my opinion, thank you so much.. Had I not seen your posting/s, I would not be awaiting the mailman/UPS guys so eagerly. Thanks Lin!

[Stella Castro]

 It was interesting to read about the corrupt people that do the “bathing”, of the crabs  they put the crabs in  the water of Lake Tai just for a little while, a short amount of time, and then they pretend they come from Lake Tai, and then they sell them at a higher price so that they can make a profit.  But then it’s the people that pay the price for this scandal. As it’s the people that are getting sick, ( cancer is on the rise),  because they are eating the crabs that have cancer causing agents in them, because of all the pollution in the water and which China is experiencing.  Although China has had and has a major pollution problem with air, water, and soil pollution.

[Stella Castro]

Jacqueline, although you state that this reading of “Preface to Outcry” seems simple and it is, you are correct when you say that there is complexity to it. While reading it I did feel the angst that the writer is trying to portray when he writes how alone and desperate he got and felt when the magazine went out of commission. The writer thought that maybe by having this magazine people would read it and decide to take a stance on something that he and his small group of people/followers believed in. But when the magazine failed, he felt alone as if no one cared what he had to say. This alone would and could be a devastating thing, not just for him in this writing but for anyone who ever ventures out on a mission, on a new venture, in trying to improve oneself or the world. Mr. Xun, does a great job as an author, as he captivates his readers with his prose.  I know I was captivated in reading his articles, which made me want to order his book, ”Dairy of a Madman”. And also T real he story of Ah-Q,, which I can hardly wait to recive, as I am an avid reader.

[Stella Castro]

 Genaro you are totally correct in your last sentence of your writing where you state., “We are all responsible to teaching our students respect to all types of life. This is so totally true. All forms of life matter whether it is a human, an insect or an animal’s life, lions to be precise. Mr. Simba is doing a well and excellent job of helping preserve the lions from becoming extinct and being put on the endangered species list. It is a good and courageous thing Simba is doing to help protect the lions. Mr. Simba had to teach the villagers to try and not harm/kill the lions as the lions are hungry and want to eat and if they are losing their prey, then the local livestock will have to do. So the locals/villagers have to build stronger fences to help preserve their livestock from demise by the hungry lions. While Mr. Simba needs all the help he can get to keep funding his organization to help the lions survive, and we all should help out. Again you are totally correct when you say we need more  brave people like Mr. Simba.

A final note, it was awesome watching the video clip of Mr. Simba’s work. It was interesting to see how so up close and pwrsonal Mr. Simba got to those lions.it was also very interesting to see how at one point, the lions did not even try to attack Mr. Simba, but just looked at him and kept walking around, as if the lions knew that Mr. Simba was there to help them out and not hurt them.

[Stella Castro]

Christine, thanks for your input, I did not know that slurping noodles is acceptable in Japan. While this may seem as a rude practice it makes perfect sense that upon slurping the hot noodles into one’s mouth will cool off the noodles. I would actually like to see someone slurping noodles just for the fun of it. You also mention that in your final class you will have a food tasting experience during your final class, and I just wonder doesn’t your school allow you to do and make a simple recipe once in a while, or while doing science on the 5 senses, to do a taste test?

[Stella Castro]

Sandra I am 100% in tune with you about Professor Ye passion for literature, poetry and chanting.  I also learned the difference between chanting and poetry. I really enjoyed listening to Professor Ye chant it did look as if he really was enjoying the moment. Professor Ye mentioned that chanting comes from the French and that chanting is somewhere between speech and song. Professor Ye also mentioned some famous people s who chant their poems, like Walt Whitman Allen Ginsberg and Vachel Lindsay to name a few.

[Stella Castro]

- I agree with you that there are many ways to teach students about Asia  regards to the Huntington Library. For instance one touch on the subject of architecture by showing the students pictures of the dwellings/teahouses. One can teach about landscaping/gardening, or how to plant a seed and have a plant/tree grow, (Cherry Blossoms or bonsai trees, or just a nice beautiful flower. Research is always good, but your idea of a shoebox rock garden is an excellent one, but I would opt for the shoebox to be the inside of a Japanese house, because according to our docent at the time of the visit to the Huntington Library, the furnishings in a Japanese house are minimal and the homes are furnished in a way that only what is needed at the tiem is put out and can accommodate different times of the day accordingly.  But it is simple and my students would be able to do this, (with lots of help though), But they will feel proud of their project.

[Stella Castro]

: Lauara I totally agree with you that people here in the States would be better off eating healthier foods, like sushi, and tempura, but tempura is actually deep fried so that still is not such a great option, although the shrimp and vegetables part is. However is was interesting to learn how Sushi is made and its origins. While I would love to try to teach my students how to make sushi, I do not think that they will like the fact that sushi is raw fish, and it may or may not be eel.  Plus the fact I would not have the right ingredients available, but which I am sure I can purchase. But teaching them how to make a simple recipe would be awesome, and I’m sure they will enjoy the practice of making something to eat, which my students that are able to eat, are very fond of doing.

[Stella Castro]

: Lauara I totally agree with you that people here in the States would be better off eating healthier foods, like sushi, and tempura, but tempura is actually deep fried so that still is not such a great option, although the shrimp and vegetables part is. However is was interesting to learn how Sushi is made and its origins. While I would love to try to teach my students how to make sushi, I do not think that they will like the fact that sushi is raw fish, and it may or may not be eel.  Plus the fact I would not have the right ingredients available, but which I am sure I can purchase. But teaching them how to make a simple recipe would be awesome, and I’m sure they will enjoy the practice of making something to eat, which my students that are able to eat, are very fond of doing.

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