Life in US --- a series of sketches

Excellent, J-B!
I'm looking forward to your sketches.

The Maze

When I got out of the Semiary Co-op Bookstore it was unexpectedly dark. Thunders and Lightenings slipt up the breasts of heaven. Rain-water from Lake Michicago had already pelted down.

Within the gate of the Seminary there sat on the stone bench a man. He was reading, oblivious of the weather or of the dim light. I couldn't sit and read so undisturbedly like him, for I had diner to rush for. So I tucked my bag under my arms, and ran like mad.

Oh I ran, and I was drenched in a few seconds. The sky was furiously bolting down thunders. Some trees cracked and creaked. And wildly I ran across the Gothic gargoyles of uchicago. The stark weather and the explosions of thunders added something unreal to my percetion. Gradually, I felt that the monsters and the gates and the bars and the mansions were staring at me. The voices of thunders were the voices of them, as if all those inanimate things were actually breathing. Maybe they were even hissing, whispering and talking among each other. I felt I was haunted, trapped not only in this bad weather, but also in the secret maze of this university. As if, it was a carnival of mystery.


(This one only records my own sensations for no more than several seconds.)

Moi, aussi!

interesting - i'll be reading

Two versions of education, Part I

There is a remarkable difference between America's and China's education systems and philosophies. A typical American education centers on individuality and diversity. Kids are encouraged to train and improve their particular skills or characters. Thus, a young pianist is encouraged to sophisticate on his or her skills; a young leader is trained to lead even better; and so is an aspiring young physicist, a young writer or a young dancer. This emphasis on individuality is closely associated with another belief, I suppose, that the ultimate aim of education is to lead young people to best perform their individual roles in the world, according to individual natures and abilities. Obviously, the qualities of these "performances" are usually judged by society's feedbacks. On the other hand, they can rarely be represented by a single standardized test applied to all the people.

The predominant phenomenon of Chinese education is very different. In Chinese schools, esp. high schools, you can sense a pervading impression of an unhealthy, excessive obsession with tests. There will always be tests. Month tests, mid-term tests, end-term tests, tests of all kinds. Students cling to textbooks everyday. And when you see someone reading books, always they are either doing homework or preparing for tests. Whether a student is "good" or "bad" is often described by test scores. A teacher's working capacity is also judged by students' test scores. So is any school's quality. Test is but a form, a form that is used to judge how much "matter" students have learned academically. Yet in China, this form defies matter. Many young people, occupied with this "form", neglect to consider the essence of a true, beneficial education.

Obviously, the American education (which I call the "open system") tends to produce individuals who could easily find themselves the places in the society. Whereas, the Chinese education (Which I call the "monopolized system") looks more like a machine which churns out well-trained test-takers, who are usually called by another name, idiots.

Alas, too much of american education is going in the text and test direction - and some of our education always has been that way - but not all schools everywhere in the country are doing so.

J-B, I'm delighted to see you back. I appreciate your experience with the vocal gargoyles in the maddening rain. (maddening not used here in the usual sense of 'aggravating')

That's what I am going to talk about

Also, I like the photo in the hallway. Fluorescent lights have never looked so dramatic! Is that a fellow student?








Addendum: some art installations of fluorescent lights have lookd dramatic, but they are usually in 'art installations'. The artist Dan Flavin comes to mind.

That's Me

Oh, I was hoping that was you. Terrific photo.

I have to share some information here.

A2kers have met in Chicago in the spring of both 2006 and 2007. I was luckily able to get to the meeting in 2006. Walter Hinteler and Cicerone Imposter and I took an architectural tour that included the U of C, and I was wondering, when I saw your photo, if that was that new building, by, I think, Legorreta, the architect.

Yep. I saved your photo to my computer and noticed Max Palevsky in the URL.

Which is the name of the building, as I remember.

Here's the odd thing. Max Palevsky's ex-wife, a wonderful woman, was a client of our small landscape architecture firm back in the 1980's. I don't know much about Max (except he had something to do with xerox, perhaps started it) but I remember the name Palevsky fondly because of her, and enjoyed seeing the building in the U of C environment. I am guessing there were howls about the design from some alumni, as the U of C campus is a well-known architectural treasure chest and this building could have been considered inappropriate. I did like it, from the architectural tour bus - or at least I didn't dislike it.

Always a pleasure to see J-B back on the boards, no matter what the topic. I really loved the series of photos of the home village.

Here is the Pic



Singled out, the whole commons is a lovely masterpiece. Taken it within the environment, it's even more lovely... And it's air-conditioned!!

A teacher of my husband's went to U/Chicago for his doctorate (I don't know the year, quite long ago), and was associated with some people of renown. So what? Just that I think he would have hated that building.

Ah, but in the context of the good old buildings, I can just imagine a flurry of some people hating it.

You liked it, eh?

Here's the Legorreta website -
http://www.legorretalegorreta.com/lego_new/index.php

J-B, I don't mean to divert you from your account. (I noticed "it is a small world".)

Hehe, I don't mean to like it. I just don't hate it . It is, as I have said, very lovely...

I will visit my grandparents who live in a village some provinces away tomorrow. I will keep writing the "sketches" on my own notebook. But I may not have them posted in several days.

See you!

Might be nice if you could post similar writing and photos here about your Grandparent's village. To most of us their village and lives are as foreign and strange as Chicago might be to your grandparents. Good chance to build some cultural bridges.