A graphic book – Maus

I am so happy that reading a graphic book is one of the assignments of my English class. Even though I have already been the US for 8 months, I still have trouble in reading books in English efficiently. However, this is not one of the reasons I love the book. Maus is a graphic book, created by Art Spiegelman. I think its form, cartoon, is perfect for the book to show the history and the stories of Art’s father.

Cartoon makes the content interesting. I am a science student and have a very bad memory. History class is always my nightmare. Reading the long articles in a history book helps me fall asleep quickly. I love cartoon. If I were born in America, I would watch Sponge-bob every single day. Even though I learned the history about World War Two in my junior high school, I was still very interested in this book when I opened it. Yet, I’m going to buy MausII and read it during the ten hours flight trip back to China.

In the book, I did not see any human being except several pages of Art’s previous comic work. The Nazis are cats, and the Jews are mice. This is perfect to describe the relationship and situation of the Nazis and the Jews; and this format also makes the whole book become less serious. During that period of time, the Jewish people who wanted to survive had to hide and even do everything sneakily as mice. On the contrary, the Nazis enjoyed killing Jewish people. They killed Jewish people for fun, which reminds me that Japanese did the same thing to Chinese. They were looking for Jewish people all the time; they never thought killing such many Jewish people was enough. The Nazis were like a number of greedy hungry cats that never felt content. I think the way in which human beings are shown as animals only can be used in a graphic book. Although in China there was a famous writer who used the same method in his articles, not many people love reading those articles because he didn’t leave any information to explain which animal stands for what kind of people.

Cartoon also makes the book more vivid and real. When Art’s father went to his uncle’s house and gave  the two daughters chocolate, they were extremely suprised and happy in that panel. There is no other way in whcih their feeling could be showed more effectively.

One of the main characters in Maus is Art Spiegelman himself. Despite the book is focused on the history, he also showed to people the huge influences that the war left to his father.  Through those conversations between he and his father, people can easily see that his father could not get used to the new life after the war. There is an interesting panel on Page Twelve. When his father just started paddling and telling his stories, there are some numbers on his left arm.The series of the numbers, 175113, are the sign that he’s been to the concentration camp. If people don’t know about this, they will not even notice those numbers.  I think it is a good way in a graphic book to attract readers’ attention and arouse their interests in this book.

Anyway, I think Maus is a great graphic book. It has perfect format, true stories as its material. This is the best way to convey the writer’s messages.

when everything is new

When everything is new to me, I’ll learn how to get used to it or how to fit into it. But at this time, I’ll choose my new life and do what I want to do.

I’ll move to Australia, build a wooden house on a beach and start my career there. I’ll have a cafe like a beach cafe. People who go to that beach can get drink and food at my place. I’ll sell fresh fruit juice, beer and other alcohol. And I also make cocktail for my customers, although I don’t know how to do it now, but making cocktail will be my first thing I need to learn when I arrive. I will prepare some stuff for rent, like surfboards, sand volleyball and other water sports equipments. In my cafe, there are many tables for small groups of people and long tables for big groups. That is not a place that is just about making money. I love sea. I want to make everybody who comes to that beach feel relaxed and hope they have a great time there chilling with their friends. I’ll work with my friends so that when we get spare time, we can just lay down in the chairs in front of my cafe, talking about those stupid things we did before and enjoying the sunshine.

That wooden house I own on the beach should be the same color as the sea, not just blue but a little green. I want to give a name to my cafe. Hm mm…… I still decide to use “Marina” as its name. I’ll paint the name in gold, the color of the sunrise. I love the name (that’s why I use it as my English name). Marina generally means a dock or basin providing secure moorings for pleasure boats and often offering supply, repair, and other facilities. For me, it’s just a place that offers what visitors need when they come to the beach to have fun. When they feel tired of water sports, they can come down my cafe, get a drink and play some card games with friends. Imagine that you start a trip sailing in the ocean, when you feel insecure, bored or lonely, you feel like talking to people, staying at a safe place to relax, any marina will be the right place to stop by for a while and refresh yourself.

When I’m not working, I’ll go swimming, diving and learn how to surf and sail. Perhaps some day I will see some dolphins that want to stop by the beach where I’m living. Perhaps I can realize my dream which is swimming with dolphins.

I always want to have such a life. I make enough money for my living. I don’t need to think about too much about complicated relationships around people. Although sometimes people think Chris McCandless shouldn’t escape the society, in every heart, does anyone not want to create a life just for himself or herself? I have to admit that I want to escape. However, it’s not gonna happen at least during a short period of time. I have my parents and my grandparents to care about who can’t just count on themselves (because of the different law in China). I’m still happy with my dream or imagination I would say.

Into the Wild & Zine

I do not think I could understand Chris McCandless. People he met during his journey said he was a nice guy. Sometimes he liked to socialize, when he helped Jan Burres out with the secondhand book sale, but on the other hand, the first thing I know from the beginning of the book is that he hated society so badly. I assume that the reason why he wanted to and did get along well with those people like Websteberg, Burres and her boyfriend, Bob, is that they had similar experiences and thoughts with him. Importantly, they did not have any relationship or connection with Chris. In other words, in front of those people Chris was still a free person. They did not try to “control” him, and he did not need to care too much about their feelings.

Reaching this point, I have to admit that I do not like the way in which he treated his parents. I have experienced that period of time in which I cannot understand parents and insist they do not understand me, either. The only solution I could think of and used to solve this problem is communication. Because Chris and his parents did not communicate with each other, they did not understand each other. I can understand why his parents wanted to buy a new car for him, because they love Chris and thought maybe buying a new car would be a good way to express their love. Even though Chris did not want a new car, did he tell them in a better way instead of yelling at them or something? Why did he say”they try to buy my respect”?  I don’t know if there is culture difference about the relationship with parents between Americans and Chinese. I do think a good way to keep a peaceful relationship with parents is to communicate with each other. Either children or parents can’t ask the other to understand themselves if there is no communication.

I admire his insistence on chasing freedom and the love of nature. I love some classical Chinese literature which is regarded as fossil. I also love talking about the spirit or message that the author conveys. You could imagine my friends’ faces when I was talking about those “fossils”. To be honestly, although sometimes I hope someone could understand me and have same interest with me, it’s alright. The most important thing I should know is I do get something fun or useful from my unique interests. However, I don’t want to go extreme like Chris to think about everything around me. Many friends of mine say I always think too much about something. Yes, I do. I’m always trying to find out the reason why things go in that way not other ways. And I always try to give myself a reason to understand others, even though those are not my businesses. But anyway, I did find some similarity with Chris.

What He Said about The King of Kong

“Sounds like Kong” written by Hunter Stephenson has a very impressive picture; Seth Gordon, the director of The King of Kong, was talking to a “ape-man” holding a banana. The article is what I am going to talk about.

From the interview of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the author thought of a similar scene of interviewing Billy Mitchell near the end of The King of Kong. In this way of talking about a scene of a movie, the author seems to tell the readers there are some political messages in this movie. No matter what kind of political messages are really in The King of Kong,  his opinion somehow speaks Mr. Gordon’s voice. He said, “People should be thinking about larger themes—authority, government, what it means to be an outsider, a winner, a loser, and the psychology of all that—when they see [King of Kong]. All of those issues come into play when we’re talking about being the best, being dominant, and being in charge. And the quote [that appears in the film] connects with all of those themes as well, but those themes, we didn’t expect them when we started.” The quote that Gordon mentioned is the one appears at the beginning of the movie: “We are a war universe. War all the time. There may be other universes, but ours seems to be based on war and games.”

Donkey Kong is a classic game, and many young adults don’t even hear of this game. However, a lot of mid-age people like Billy and Steve don’t have other habits but they love Donkey Kong. They can sit in front of the Donkey Kong machine and practice all day long in order to obtain a higher score. I think Mr. Gordon himself is very into this subculture, and he said he felt like never finishing the KoK project. With his real respect to those people’s talents, he wanted to show the audience that, this is a great subculture; we should be proud of the two Americans who are the best players at Donkey Kong all over the world. To be honest, when I was watching the movie, I was encouraged by their spirit which is to attempt to make history with their greatest efforts.

In the end of the article, the author mentioned the problem in the movie that Steve Wiebe faces; after submitting the tape that records his high score in Donkey Kong, Twin Galaxies denies to accept his score that is higher than Billey’s. As an outsider, I think those filmmakers add the words of Steve’s son to make the tape very reliable, but as a result, the tape is not accepted. I was a little disappointed at that moment, even though I didn’t think it was that easy for a new guy to be admitted. However, what surprised me most is later on Billy changes his mind to submit his tape officially that records his new score after a short period of time. At this point, the movie becomes more attractive and mysterious. Anyway, this article gives me some good idea and thought, such as the one about political messages.

Hope is a good thing

The Shawshank Redemption is one of my top 5 movies. It is the first American movie I watched without Chinese voicecover.

This movie was recommended by one of my English teachers, when she found out I had trouble in choosing movies for her assignment. Before watching the movie, I had no idea about it, and I did not even hear of it. It was a tough time watching a movie in English, even though the movie had subtitle on it. I spent several days watching it over and over again; but actually when I was done with watching it couple times, I realized that I started enjoying listening to the conversasion between Andy and Red, and looking at those grey walls in Shawshank State Prison.

I think most of Americans have been tired of talking about this old movie, but for me it is fun. Andy was a great banker. He was smart and hard-working. However, he was convicted of murdering his wife and her lover and was sent to Shawshank State Prison. In the prison, Andy met Red who was known for cleverly smuggling in contraband, and they became best friends. With Red’s help, Andy got what he wanted such as a rock hammer. At the same time, Andy was helping with financial problems for the staff in the prison and even the head of the prison Warden Norton. Inorder to make Andy work for him, Warden accepted his requests for enriching prisoners’ lives. When Andy was talking about his belief of hope, Red told him seriously that hope was a dangerous thing and tried to convince him stop thinking of it.

After Andy escaped from the prison successfully, he wrote a letter to Red,” hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things. ” This is my favorite sentence. I have to admit that this sentence is very powerful; it not only encouraged Red, but also encouraged myself not to lose hope, ever. It is because Andy never lost his hope to get out of the prison, he spent almost twenty years tunnelling through the wall by a small rock hammer.  Those prisoners including Red could not adapt to the new life out of the prison. When they started to depend on the life inside the prison, they were losing their hope that they had before. This kind of situations take place everywhere, probably to everybody, but at least to me. When I had my first step on the United States, I felt I was an outsider. Everything was new to me. American English was much harder than what I thought before I came here. When I went to a resturant, I did not know how to order food; when a friendly American talked to me, I even did not know how to respond; when I went to a market, I did not know what I could buy. All the problems were coming to me, filled of my head. However, whatever happened to me, there were two people supporting and encouraging me all the time. Every time I made a call to my parents, they always hoped I could live here happily. I never lost my hope, just as Andy. I tried to get to know different people; I pursued every single opportunity to improve my English. Overcoming language problems became the first and vital target. I am still working on hitting this target. I am still trying to do something that helps me accomplish my goal, even though sometimes I do not think I could do that. 

Hope is a good thing, and it is the best of things.

If I have a tattoo…

If I decide to give myself a tattoo, I will choose dolphin as the image. 

There are many different reasons why people love tattoos. In general, they go into four groups. For most of young people, tattoos are able to make themselves unique; this is sort of cool thing they should do. Some young people, especially teenagers, having tattoos are rebellious because of their parents, schools or even society. A tattoo can also be the symbol of some class of people.  Maybe a few decades ago a tattoo was a symbol of working class masculinity, but now it becomes a symbol of middle class. Back to 1980s, people thought tattoos were associated with having control over their own bodies.

Although getting tattoos becomes fashion nowadays, it is still a hard decision for me to make. Once I have a tattoo, it will exist somewhere on my body forever. That is why I spent long time thinking of the tattoo that I really want for my whole life. I was thinking of what kind of person I hope to be, what I will pursue all my life. The answer I get is happiness and freedom.  Therefore, if I  have a tattoo, I will get a dolphin on my ankle. One person’s lifetime is too short. I do not want to be suffering sadness during the period of time. “They may take our lives, but they will never take our freedom!” said William Willett, in the movie, Brave Heart. I have been living on my own for over three years. I lived in my high school which is far away from my home. Now I am studying in the United States on my own where is in the west of Pacific Ocean. I have been used to this life. I made decisions on my own. I did what I think I should or even have to do. I am feeling like that my own life is controlled by myself. If I cannot live in this way, I would not feel the sense of my existence in the world. Dolphin is the happy angel of the ocean. They are born in smile face naturally. They live in the ocean freely. That is why dolphins are symbolized by human as happiness and freedom.

I always wish I could be a dolphin instead of human, because they are happy and living in a simple world. I also want fins and tail other than legs and feet. So, I am going to give my ankle, which is the joint of legs and feet, a mark as an impossible wish to be a dolphin’s fins and tail. I know this is sort of crazy, but this also makes me pretty sure about the one that will stay with my body forever.

I have never seen wild dolphins before. I have visited many places, such as Australia, South Korea, Germany and France. Every time I go to a different place, what I am willing to see strongly is the ocean park there. I love dolphins’ performances, meanwhile I feel bad about them most of time, but it seems like the only opportunity that I can see dolphins. With contrary feelings, I will make my tattoo like that, a dolphin jumping out of waves of the ocean. I will not put any color on my dolphin, because it is myself. She is different.

Quoting, Paraphrasing, and Summarizing

Quotation: In Roger Sipher’s opinion, private schools do not have those problems that exist in public schools. It is because that “They can fail or dismiss students, knowing such students can attend public school. Without compulsory attendance, public schools would be freer to oust students whose academic or personal behavior undermines the educational mission of the institution.”

Paraphrase: Roger Sipher points out that abolishing compulsory-attendance laws will not hamper public education. He takes two economists’ research results as his evidence to prove this point.

Summary: Roger Sipher thinks the solution to solve the problem that exists in American education is to abolish mandatory-attendance laws. He talks about the importance of this action and six arguments to support himself which are mainly four points. First is schools should be opened only for students who are willing to learn. Second, grades would reflect the efforts students have made. Third, elementary schools should stop passing failing students into next level education. Last is schools would save a lot of money from elimination of compulsory education.

Being a weird girl

Many of my friends think, weird, is not a good word. However, I like this word, because I am weird as a girl.

I believe everyone has their own special aspect, for example, someone is a furry and a soldier at the same time, and someone enjoys socializing but cannot concentrate on work. This makes people different from each other. When I was a little girl, I was afraid to be unique or different. I did not like the feelings being starred on. I learned to act as a boy, because all friends around me were boys. Now I know it was very silly but at that time I enjoyed being a “boy”. Sometimes I feel these experiences I had in my childhood do make myself special as I grow up.

Believe or not, I am a NBA fan. I have been loving NBA since I was in middle school. My favorite player is Kevin Garnett who helped Boston Celtics win the champion last year. This year is also very important for him, because it is his second year being significant part of Celtics. He worked so hard on his first year with his champion dream in Boston and he made it… Once I start talking about NBA, it is very difficult for me to stop focusing on this topic. I think that is why it is easy for me to make friends with boys. It is good in this case, but most of time when I want to talk about NBA, I cannot find the correct person. Talking about NBA stuff over and over again will definitely freak out my girl friends. I am a girl who loves making friends with people, which means, I will and do have many girl friends. At this point, consequencely, “weird” became the special adjective to describe me which was given by my friends.

Although I love NBA so much, I rarely play basketball. Actually, I did play it before realizing the importance of acting as a girl. Then I began to watch NBA. I remembered one thing that determined my destiny as a NBA fan. The basketball contest started in my junior high school when I was in Grade 8. During that time, I was being athlete assistant. Players in the game mostly cannot be aware of their own faults. Because of the thirst for winner, we used to discuss strategy after each game. When I got home, my father, who was a basketball player in high school and college, always would like to give good suggestions. Since then, I liked to chat with my father. When I found we had a lot of opinions in common, I felt happy and found my father was much cuter than what I insisted in childhood. Now my parents and I are still good friends. I love my family. If this is the way in which I can know them more, I will keep it, enjoying being weird.

There are two definitions for “weird”. One is relating to or caused by the supernatural, and the other is of strange or extraordinary character. I prefer to define myself as the girl who has supernatural power, because life is magical. It tells us bad things also have good side.

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