Sep 27, 2009

Don't be late (Chung-Chih Chi)

People are always regretting what they have done or what they haven’t done. Many people are trying to hide their feeling and thought. Even if they are angry about what their friend have done to them, they might just keep silence or decide not to talk about it to their friend. But, they don’t know how much they would pay later. Misunderstanding and mistake are easy to happen in people’s communication. They are not hard to solve, but it depends on whether you solve it on time or not.

When I was in junior high school, Bill was one of the best friends. He was smart and everyone in the class liked him. We went to school together, we had fun together and we studied together. I thought we can still keep this friendship after we graduate from junior high school. But it didn’t. After graduation, I never talked with him again. When I called him, he never picked up the phone. When I send email to him, he never sent me back. I had no idea what happened with us. I tried to contact with others to see if they know something. Until two years ago, I finally figured out why he did this to me. One of his friends told me that he lost his wallet on the graduation and he thought the thief was me because I was the only one who opened his bag. I thought if he told me what he was angry about, the problem would be solved easily and our relationship would continue.

From now on, if my friend is angry about me, or I feel something is wrong between us, I would ask him immediately and try to solve any misunderstanding as soon as possible because the longer the problem exists, the worse the relation will be. Even if you may have a fight with your friends when you talk to them about any problem, it is always worth to solve problems on time.

I Hate It but I Can't Say (Hao Su)

I Hate It but I Can't Say
How can we to do when someone else censure the things have related with ourselves. Do we should to fight back? Or just like the author of “Long overdue”, have stones stuck in the throat.
To be a humble people is not a fault. But for other people's insinuation, we should stand up and fight back. This is a fight for our dignity. Keep silent will left regret. As the author cannot find word to say, but regret later. I have also experienced the similar events with the author. For the first time I was speechless, But the second time, I fought back bravely, and also won the dignity. I also make people did not look down on me. Using word rationally to fight back, not only can solve our own embarrassment, but also can win the respect of others.
Although we do not want to hurt others, we also do not want be hurt by others. We can do more skillful counterattack others. That is why we have to learn how to use language. Never to be a person who are “I hate it but I can't say”.

Long Overdue (Lian Chen)

When I saw “Think of something you said. Now write what you wish you had said” in this article. I recalled as I was in ESL last year, the teacher are Susan and Rochelle. They ever told me about my situation in the class. They said” when they asked questions in the class. Even if I knew the answers, I always chose to keep silence. I would not to be a volunteer to answer the questions. They hoped that I could be more active in the class. I also wanted to raise my hand to answer the questions that I knew. But I was very fear that everyone would open their big eyes to star at me. If my answer was wrong, I was feeling very embarrassing. That was the reason why I always kept silence. After I still kept try again and again, my hand still put in my legs. Eventually, I lost convince that I had. I began to fear everything that I was first to face.

Don’t let prejudices and misunderstanding blind our eyes(Jianjie.zhao)

How do we say when we get some successes and achievements? We will say we are talent, or it is my efforts. How do we say when other people win their accomplishments? We may say that’s their luck. This is a psychology behavior called ethnocentrism, so it means when we judge others values we are always subjective and not fair.

The article “long overdue”, start with author’s sight to an abandoned garden, the gardener is sitting is the garden, weeds flourished grow there. What is that weeds imply to? That is prejudices to Middle East people from Americans; it has existed there for longtime and never changes.


We all have favors or preferences on something, especially on people. Some people we like them just because we can comprehend their behavior, and we hate some because what they do is ridiculous to us. As we know, American is a country combines the people from every corner of the world, where the different cultures and the races introjected. Therefore, some conflicts and misunderstandings happen here. As we live on this would, we should not let prejudice and misunderstood blind our eyes. What we can do is to interpret others behavior by learning their culture, and not just judge them on some stereotypes. That’s the way how we approach success, and the way let us become more objective rather than subjective.

What I think of “black men and public space” (Fang-yu LIN)

In this article, it mentions that this black narrated his past from Chicago to New York City what he had been encountered. Besides, as from beginning, I estimated this black was a murder, because he used the “victim” to begin. Then, he started to recount what he thought while he saw the reaction of this woman which let him down. After this occasion, he described when he was a twenty-two-year old graduate student just arrive in university of Chicago. He still felt that he is so different from this society, because of his skin color. Since two years age he moved to New York city, he wish somehow would be different; however, it was still the same even doorman or police officer. As from point of view, I think every race is the same; moreover, there is no standard to judge which race is better or lower than others. Therefore, I think we should spread out that every race is the same and interflow with other’s point of view and cultures!

LONG OVERDUE( YING YI.CHEN)

In this article” Long Overdue” have some important sentences make a sense for me: Think of something you said. Now write what you wish you had said. But I am always thinking of the times I said nothing. The sentence make me think a lot.

One of my friend, I knew him since high school. Actually, he is not a good student but clever. That time, our relationship were very close. He was joined the bad group at that time. But I didn't tell them he had to study hard and not went there anymore. However, the stones stuck in the throat. I didn't say that for him. I was really regret. After one year, someone was killed him on the street and also his friends. When I heard the news, I was surprised if I tell him not going there anymore, maybe our relationship were still until now. I regret his death.
According to the this events, I learn a lesson from him. If I want say something for my friend, I have to tell them not just stones stuck in my throat that will become “ long overdue”.

difference and understanding - Long Overdue (SooHyeon. Kang)

As we could see in the article, the ways in which people are treated differ significantly between people of different countries. When people are young and students, they are schooled to know, “all Men are created equal and they have certain rights, and among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.” However, some variations in race, gender or socioeconomic class often lead to discrimination and cause prejudice.

Before I leave my country to study abroad, I didn’t think about the problem seriously. But now, especially after reading this essay, I really insist that we need to know and learn about other countries since we are living in a world to be more and more global and it’s helpful to broaden their view and diversity.

As one of the tools, the internet gives insight into what values are important to a country. A lot of opinions and videos online show clearly what societies esteem and what they look down upon. So, the Internet is a great to learn other places from the comfort of one’s home. A few people have the opportunity to travel around the world, but people become better familiar with the values and social structures of different cultures through the Internet. This method of global enrichment is both educational and enjoyable.

My opinion about "Long Overdue" Natalia Ushak

Hey guys! i dont know where the hell i am , cause i logged as Red Love and whole page opened in Chinese or Korean language i dont know :))) Looks cute tho. But i dont understend which button to press :)) whatever lol I wanted to share with you my opinion about the article " Long Overdue". After i've read it, of cause i found something familiar with my life too, and it is very difficult to answer this question : " Do you need to say something or you dont have to..?" For myself i've chose this side, i think if somebody said something about me, which is not true i dont really care about it. But if i heard bullshit about my friends or family or just about things which i am care about or like i will definatly say what i think. If i saw in the street unfairness i will stop and protect the person or persons :) If i have a deal with my closest people or family and i dont know should i tell them something or not i prefer to tell, because the true will come out anyway, soon or later, and all these nights you will be sleepless and just going to kill yourself. So the truth, even the bitter truth, is better. For conscience' sake, even if you know you are wrong but you said the truth you will definatly feel much better. I dont trying to prove anyone in things which i believe are right, because life is life and it will show later on who is right. Natalia Ushak

Thoughts after reading "Long Overdue"

After reading the article “Long Overdue”, I keep my silence for a while. I am not sure if I were the writer, I would choose to say back or just leave it. It is hard to against in front of the crowd. Even sometimes, it is also not easy to controvert with someone you do really care so much in your close relationships. Probably it is easily way for us to say nothing. Because we may want to pretend nothing and just let it go, at least, we can still keep the harmony in the face. But deep in our mind, we still cannot convince ourselves there is nothing happened. The vexation still bother in our mind or fret in our heart until one day we couldn’t take it and suddenly burst out and might also scare. It’s just like in the article “ Long Overdue” mentions about the weeds getting more and more than the grass until too hard for us to fix it. Maybe it’s better to start earlier to fix the crucial problem, at least it won’t get worse afterwards. Still, if everybody can make their hearts grow larger and learn to be polite and more respectful to other person’s point of view, with much more care for others, even during an argument. I believe it’s will be much easier to understand the difference with the sympathy. I do like the writer mention in the article about what did Aldous Huxley say toward the end of his life when someone asked him for advice? His answer is “ Be a little kinder to one another.” I think that is very simple but great wisdom understanding for us to learn.

Proud to be Korean.

There was a long pause after I finished this "Long Overdue" article.
Naomi, even though her long overdue left her a painful memory, I felt how she loved her country and how bravely she standed for her nation by writting.

What am I? Shame and embarassing emotions evoked from my inner side.

I'm from South Korea which is the only nation devided into two.
Yes. Sadly, I have to clearly say I'm from South since many people would be aware of North Korea.

Back to my junior high school year, I remember how I was sad about my country's segregation.
When I was watching people on TV who were originally from North and crying out for their families who still live in North, I also cried. I also remember all students sang together about unity of Korea.

However, now, when politicians declared North Korea as one of the most dangerous country in this century, I do not feel anything. Even though I used to believe that North Korea was part of my country, there wasn't any long overdue when people were describing North Korea as most dangerous country in this centry.

Probably my heart for North Korea is long overdue.

This article helped me to realize how my heart has been ignorant in these days.
My mind has been refocused to my country's origin and I wish Korea to be one again someday.

Sep 26, 2009

Speak out loudly (Susan Chen)

After I have read the article, I found that I have many common points with the author. When some other people are talking about the bad things behind me or even in front of me, of course I will feel extremely uncomfortable. However, I always chose to forget it. Because I am an ordinary people, just like everyone else, I cannot do as a perfect. If so, it will be too hard and tough.

Many times I was hurt by those words and I often said to myself that next time I should speak out what I was thinking about. But till that moment, I felt that I cannot say anything, even though the words have already in my mind. To be honest, I have no idea why I didn’t say anything to express my anger.

But fortunately, when the similar thing happened, I did it and made it. Just about three years ago, I went to Michigan State University for a summer camp. At that time, I was only a new student of a high school. I hoped that I can make some friends through this camp. Two days was gone, there was still nobody talking to me actively. I was totally invisible. Did I do something wrong? I was always thinking about the question.

“Hey, guys, look, that girl is stilling alone. So bad. She is totally the shadow of the teachers. Why do those teachers like to talk to her, not us?” Suddenly I understood that why they didn’t like to talk to me. They treated me as a myrmidon of the teachers. I went forward to them and said:” Listen, guys, I would like to make friends with you. But you guys totally ignore me. I am not a secretary or shadow of the teachers. I just don’t be alone.” I cried, maybe because I have spoken out the words which have hidden in my heart for a long time. However, the tears and the words did work. They didn’t say the bad things behind me anymore. And I have made a couple of friends during the summer camp. To me, this summer camp seemed significant. I overcame myself and spoke out the words I wanted to say which I never did before.

Why don’t we speak out what we want to say? If we do, it really can help us solve those tough problems.

Feeling the same ( Thanh Tran-Terry)

Before reading the article, I have thought so much about the title “Long overdue”. Could it be something that the author can’t stand for a long time, something really bad, something that really hurts her inside heart. After reading, I have found down what happened to her. As a half Arab person, she felt so angry when people said bad things about Arabian but she couldn’t say anything to them to prove that it was not like what they thought about Arabian. None of any words came out of her mouth. She kept that hurt for a long time and said that it a “Long overdue”. The article made me remember one of my friends who felt the same with her. He is an Indian guy. He is really a nice friendly person. I like talking with him and we often share with each other. One time, he told me “Terry, you know what, some American people said they do not like Indian because our bad smell from food. I felt very angry but I couldn’t say anything because I did not want to make trouble”. A sadness came on his face. He knew that not most of Indians have bad smell. He told me it touched his patriotism. I have thought a lot about what he has said to me. I know that I and him, we are international students. Sometimes we can hear something really bad about our countries but we couldn’t do anything because of making trouble is not good for us. I felt the same with the author that it hurts inside heart. I want to change it from now. I want people to know the truth.

Long Overdue(Hearim Lee)

After reading a this article, I remember one of my friends. In the article, is important two sentences. Think of something you said. Now write what you wish had said. I usually care about conversation and connect with my people. Even though i get hurt something from someone, before telling my feeling, i became think more seriously. Without thinking, to tell someone is not good for relationship with people. Three years, one of my friends got married very early. Actually, she and my friends were best friends but since she made a relationship with her husband, she never connected with us and she usually said “I am busy to do her business” So, we believed what she said but she usually lied to us. After we knew her all of situations, we became stating far away from her. At that time, I felt betray from her. When she invited me to go to her wedding, I didn’t go there. Of course when I think about the situation, I feel sorry to my friend. If her behavior shows to me seriously at that time, we would be much better friend like family.

Sep 25, 2009

a regretfull memory

Read Naomi Shihab Nye's "Long overdue", I immediately found that I do have a lot of memories about long overdue. The following is one of my most regretful encounters.
It was one day before holiday when I studied in high school. That day, I was going to home for holiday by coach bus. Bought the ticket, I was walking to the waiting room. The waiting room is pretty empty. It would be a good news for me because there were few passengers that I can choose a good seat on the bus so I could have a comfortable trip. Suddenly, a middle-aged man walked by me with a strong hit. I turned around and found that he was also staring at me, too. He was oval face, with foxy eyes, and in a dark, plain jacket. I felt so strange that the ground was so empty, why he just hit me. There was an indescribable feeling around me but I didn’t understand.
When the bus began running, I found my cellphone was missed. At that time, I finally found that my cellphone was stolen by that mysterious man. I think it was a long, long overdue for me. If I focused on that man’s hand, my cellphone might never be stolen. I’ve already felt that man strange but didn’t do anything. What a regretful mistake! How I want the time go back and I would kick his ass out of the earth if possible.

Sep 24, 2009

Missing after "Long Overdue"

I am an international student; sometimes I find the distance is really a big problem for me and my family. When I had to face something terrible by myself, I found it was too troublesome to tell my mother what happened to me. I just chose not to tell. Time and again, I had nothing to share with my mother no matter it was happy or vexing. The distance between my mother and me becomes longer and longer. I don’t know whether you have the same problem with me or not. But I am trying to change the situation. I know in the world my family is all I have. It will never abandon me.
Sometimes I just miss my people. I wanted to go back. I really want to tell my family but stones stuck in the throat. After calling my people, I had the same idea that in the “long overdue” by Naomi Shihab Nye “but I am always thinking of the times I said nothing”. I miss my people who I can tell everything to them, and I missed them in some sense. One of my friend left me a message that she wanted me to go back China and she had some problem but nobody could be told. The satire is I can’t go back as everybody can see. And I so much hate it.
Anyway, I hope I can find a way to solve the problem. I miss my people and I am missing them.

"Long Overdue" essay (Yalin Hsiao)

I can not understand why this essay's title is "Long Overdue"before reading. However, when i finished reading this article, i noticed the meaning of this title. In this article there is a writer's favorite poet William used to say, "Think of something you said" and "Now write what you wish you had said." It remind writer to think of the times "I said nothing." This quote is totally relate to the main idea. In reality, there are countless people are through all over the world, and there are lots of different personalities of people. I also like the writer's favorite poet William's quote, because i think it is important to think of something before you said it. Without thinking you might hurt someone oneday.

Sep 21, 2009

Welcome to Share Your Ideas with Others

Hi, Guys,

This is a venue for you to exchange your ideas with others and enjoy the feelings of accomplishment to have words published online.

You can post words, images and even videos onto your blog, whatever you think will bring powerful and meaningful resonance to your readers.

Enjoy and be sure that you will keep it clean. (Don't forget to respond to my invitation to member you, and tell me if you are not invited.)

May 4, 2009

What is writing? Miyako Okuda

People live in society as a member of the group. I can never live completely alone. We are always involved in others and our existence is certified when it is related to others. So people always need to express to society. Language is the one of the most greatest tools of communication and also the one of the most greatest cases of human evolution. I believe that the development of language has helped to develop civilization. There are two kinds of the way of using it; one is speech and listening, the other is writing and reading. Speech and listening do not have any shape. On the other hand, writhing has a shape.
What is writing? This question seems to be easy but sometimes it is difficult that the subject is too simple. If writing is writing, what kinds of writing are around us? And what are they for? First, we have writings to convey things to people, such as news papers and journals. Second, we have writings to spread and hand down things to posterity, such as history books and science books. Third, we have writing to express ourselves, such as a poems and letters. Fourth, we have writings to define things, such as a constitution.
I read a lot of journals and two books about gay marriage for writing my research paper. Many people debate on the subject in writing. Through reading writings, I could know a lot of opinions and people’s thoughts. We can listen to what people who live on opposite side of world think right now, and what people who lived two hundred years ago thought at the time through writings.
Writing ties the past, the present and the future together, and makes sense about things. If writing does not exist, history is not handed down, technology is not developed and the law does not exist. Writing make this world get together.

What is writing????????????

What is writing?
In my opinion, writing is one of good way to express my opinion, what I believe, or facts. There are some kinds of different writing, such as essay, junner, fantaege and story. Essay is for academic purpose, fantage is not real story. Also writing is good way to commutate with other people. Before we didn’t have internet, we usually sand mail to communicate with other people. I think write a letter is more romantic then e-mail.
Is writing an enjoyable or an annoying process to you?
Depend on situation sometime writing is enjoyable and sometime annoying. For example, informer writing is somehow more enjoyable. Because I don’t have to worry about anything and just write about my opinion or what I know about. On the other hand, research paper is sometime annoying, because I have to find some evidences or facts. Sometimes, hard to find evidences or facts, because my research paper topic was too bright. Even though, I found some evidences or facts, I have to figual it out where should I use this evidences or facts to somewhere. Also, MLA format somehow annoying, because I have to know how to use MLA format to my research paper.
What is the purpose of writing to you? Is it just a course for you to get credits? Is it a necessary preparation for your academic career? Is it a way to make your voice heard? I sit a good record of your life track? Is it a process of self-recognition or self-evaluation?
I think writing is very important for university study, because for my study I need to hand in lots of writing so that I need to practices now so that nextime I will know how to write research paper and I don’t have study about MLA format.

some feelings about writing (Yuan Xu)

Language is hard, especially for us, foreigner students. However, I find English is very interesting when I study it. It is the reason that I keep studying English for so many years.
Studying is never a easy way to go. When I came to America, I found the requirement is so high, especially for English writing. In China, when I write an essay, all I need to do is that present the meaning clearly. When I went the collage, I was told to do more. For example, I should organize the structure well in the essay, and I should present the thesis statement clearly.
I benefit a lot from writing. When I prepare to write an essay, I should read a lot of materials. Reading is a hard process for writing. Firstly, I should collect as much information and data as I can. Then I should analyze and pick up useful information. It not only improves my reading skills, but also enriches my knowledge. Also I can increase my vocabulary. What is more, I learn that how to study through reading by myself. When I am writing, I find it is very important to write an outline. If I write a clear outline, I can write the essay quickly. And the essay will be organized well. Otherwise it will cost me much time to finish the essay. Also, it is very necessary to read and correct the essay many times before making the final draft. No matter how perfect your first draft is, there are always many things should be improved in the essay. In my view, writing is an attitude. We must do it as best as we can. Just as the saying, no pay no gain. The more efforts you put in writing, the better essay you will write. In this way, we can write good articles. Otherwise we will never write out good essays. Writing is also a good way to relax myself. When I feel lonely, I can write. It is like that I am talking with myself when I am writing. I can write everything I want to write. It is a world created by myself. Here I can express my feelings and emotion freely. Writing is really happy thing. Also, when we enter the society, the person who has better writing skills will benefit a lot.

Writing is Thinking by Shuhua Lu

Shuhua Lu
Professor Bai
English 2F
May 4th
Writing is thinking
Words have a life of their own. Edward Schlossberg, a famous author, said that the skill of writing is to create a context in which other people can think. As for me, writing itself is a process of thinking.
Writing also represents the different culture. In America, thesis statement is always the last sentence in the first paragraph. However, in China, people can write thesis statement in second, even last paragraph. I believe that the different culture background cause that kind of difference. American is open and direct. In contrast, Chinese is implicit and modest. Therefore, American like saying or writing whatever they like in the very beginning. On the contrary, Chinese will think a lot before they say or write something. For example, a Chinese and an American want to borrow some money from friends with exactly same reason. However, they will use very different way to say. The American will say:”can you lend me some money? I have to pay the rent.” The Chinese will say that:”you know what, I have to pay rent tomorrow, and I will be paid for my work next week. So, can you lend me some money?” It is easy to find that kind of difference in writing. It is the different way of thinking in different culture background.
As an International student, writing English becomes more difficult. I will always think about not only the good content but also how to choose the best words and write the correct grammar. Like a lot of students, the hardest thing for me is to revise my paper. I do not like to read the essay I wrote. It makes me feel awful. Basically, it cost me 5 hours to write a five-page paper. Then, I spend another five hours on improving it. However, I change only a few things, which makes me crazy. I consider that writing is a process of thinking. The reason why revise is so hard is that thinking one thing again and again always gets people to upset.
When I look back my whole writing courses, two essays make great impressions on me. The first one was the second essay I wrote last semester. In that essay, the professor asked us to analyze the meaning of the geography in the article. At the beginning, I through that was an intelligible article which consists of several simple stories, so I could not find any deep meaning of the geography. Then, I went to the writing center, and the assistant there really helped me a lot. He taught me how to dissect the article sentence by sentence. After all, I found a lot of sentences that I thought had no meaning actually had a great influence on the whole article. For instance, the assistant told me that geography is not only the study of the earth’s surface, but also the study of the earth and its features and of the distribution of life on the earth. Therefore, I found that the author talks about many of the specific native food and drinks, such as “rice-an’-peas,” pureed boiled green bananas and sorral, and Jamaica is a place always hot, even in the Christmas. She gets readers to know Jamaica is a special country that she used to live because of its climate, soil and food. Furthermore, it is easy to see that the author really loves her hometown because she can remember every detail clearly. I remember this essay clearly because it let me know how to analyze an article. Moreover, I found that I need to think in American way if I want to write English well.
The other easy that impress me is, of course, the research paper I wrote in this semester. When I knew I had to write a ten pages paper, I firmly believed it is an impossible task. However, with the help of professor Bai, the impossible happened. Although my research paper is not prefect, I learned much from the process. The professor taught us how to write it step by step.
I lacquired how to choose the topic, how to find the resources on the online database and how to write the work cited. I remember that I was really upset at the beginning. I chose lots of different topic, such us homosexuality, gender equality and different religious. I though these topic were too normal. Combining with my interests, I eventually, got a topic—evolution of American nation during 1789 to 1861. However, I was not sure whether this topic was up to the mustard. So, I sent an e-mail to the professor. The professor replied me immediately. She said that this topic would be fine, but I had to analyze the meaningful insights to the present society. Finally, I found the topic. Through the research paper, I learn a lot. This is not an essay for the grade but a gain which will benefit me a lot for my future academic career.
Writing is a process of thinking. We write down whatever we like in order to memorize the life. It is meaningful.

Read, Write and Be Confidence by Yoona Hahm

Yoona Hahm
Professor Leslei Bai
Eng 2F

Read, Write and Be Confidence
Everyone has their abilities and talents individually. One has a good head for mathematics while the other struts the verbal talent. For me, I am good at math but poor at liberal arts. Frankly speaking, I like math and chemistry because there is a way to solve the problem. After following the way, I finally end up reaching the answer which is the one. It seems concise and clear even though the way is hard and long. However, I do not like liberal arts such as history, philosophy, linguistics, and especially writing. From when I was young, I do not like writing so much. In other words, I am a poor writer. Someone said writing is easy and you just say what you are thinking freely. I did. However, after I finish my essay and then read it, it is not easy to read and it is boring to read. I did not figure out what my problem is and how I can solve it. Even I did not try to figure it out. Through the class, there are two important ways of writing: read and write a lot and be confidence.

Read and write a lot. Many people love reading. I can see many people read books in the subway or in the bus. Also, whenever they are on their own time, they grab the book or newspaper and read. Even though I know that reading make readers extend their knowledge and books show the widen world, I do not enjoy reading. There is no reason. Because of this, my writing is limited of vocabularies, sentences, and even structure. I can feel the difference between the essay after I read a lot and the essay without any reading. After reading a lot, my essay has stronger structure and full of words than without reading. Furthermore, reading in English, which is not mother language, helps me a lot. It makes me meet new words and how to use phrases and idioms. Reading is good for readers to enrich the ideas and expressions. Also, writing again and again is helpful for writing. It is kind of practice for next writing. From last two semesters I spent here, I had to write almost every week. At that time, I could not bear this. However, after I spent almost two semesters, my writing has been improving. Writing the essay, revising it, and rewriting again help me. From this process, I know what my problem is exactly and how to fix it. So, when write an essay next time, I can try to make the same mistake which I have done already. In so doing, my writing could improve. Therefore, reading and writing a lot is one good way to improve my writing skills.

Be full of confidence. I used to lose confidence of my writing. It makes me cower before writing and I do not like writing. Finally, my awful writing comes out. It causes a vicious circle. However, after I read and write over and over, my writing has improved by piecemeal and I get self-confidence as well. So, I begin to like writing little by little. A vicious cycle turns to a positive cycle. Then, I can enjoy writing now. No matter how much I have plentiful knowledge and large vocabulary, my writing must be weak without confidence. The confidence makes not only me strong and but also my writing skill strong. Just be full of self-confidence and keep going my way.

I will keep following my rules and then my writing skill will improve. Also, in so doing, I enjoy writing more and more. I am sure someday I would be a good writer and I really hope so.

What Is Writing-----Superwoman Lucy lol

Lucy Jiao
Prof.Bai
ENG2F
04/27/2009

What Is Writing

Writing is like emotion, it is never limited by situation.Who cares about the real world? We express out our emotions no matter the situations. We have our own silent way of revolution. Pen is the weapon and paper is the bullet. We criticize the ugly part of lives, we carol the little detail even it is as little as a ladybug in spring.We shout out, do not judge who we are by appearances, cuz you won’t get to know us unless you see what we write.

Writing is a decision; there is never a right or wrong.I don’t love him anymore, so I put it into writing; just in case I change my mind in the last minute. Writing becomes a decision maker, or I say writing nails my decision; it nails down my thoughts which are as important as money. See, there is never a right or wrong when a guy decides to write a love letter to his beloved.

Writing has its own function, imagination never dies.J.K. Rowling doesn’t know Harry Potter would ever become a legendary hit in literature history. She did not write these series for any commercial purpose but writes whatever pops from her mind. Now, writing has provided a stage of imagination for the old and the young. I used to be a millionaire in my stories, maybe I will in the future. I encourage myself to become a hard-worker in the story, and in real life.

Writing is like a fountain, you never know what is coming out next.Do you know what I’m going to write? Well, I don’t know either. Writing is like going on a blind date, do not expect every guy you meet is going to be your prince of charming. Make it as a surprise; when you look back, regardless it is good or ok, this is a piece of memory. Writing has been a pain in my college life, but also gives me a blue sky holiday when my leaves are fallen.

May 3, 2009

The Meaning of Writing(Zeyi Hu)

When is my first writing? My first writing course was started at teenaged age, and I have to admit I used to hate writing and felt it was the most boring and annoying process since I knew it. However, all of these memories are about the Chinese writing. For my first time formal English writing experience was for the ESL course, which still make me feel bored and annoyed at the beginning. However, after I keep doing this I started to feel it is a very important part of learning English and then I have to enjoy it. I feel writing is a best way to express people’s attitude and practicing language. So, What is writing?
General speaking, writing is a skill to spread a personal emotion; it could be a simple word, or a sentence, even a paragraph and article. For me, writing is an enjoyable process for my study and my life. For my private life, I would like to use Chinese writing to notice what I focus on; but for my classes, I would like to use English writing to take notes and finish the homework. Writing is also a special way to communicate between a teacher and student. People can know each other through writing. As we all know, people always writing for some purposes. For me, the simple purpose of writing is to express my personal attitudes, whatever my text books or some things around me in my life. Writing is not just a course for me to get credit; as an international student, writing is also a traditional way to provide my English study and helps me to get with a new environment. And it is exactly a necessary preparation for my academic career. As we all know, the international students’ English speaking cannot be as well as American students. On the other hand, it is easier for us to improve our writing ability through practicing. Therefore, it could be our second “speaking” skill to make our voice heard.
There is always a question around me after I studied the English Writing in America, which is: If writing is necessary and why it is necessary? The answer for the first question should definitely be “Yes”, because writing is the best method to present people’s feelings and attitudes. And for the reasons of why writing course is necessary to international students is because writing is a preparation class for their future study in English and helping them how to study with a new language. There are a lot of obstacles for international students to write a good article and to study a language well, such as, lacking of vocabularies, incorrect grammar, translation in English from their mother language, confusing about the organization of English article, and so on. However, students can get better through the writing, because the only way to master a language well is to use it.
For the different writing types, I prefer to write the research paper because I could know a lot of new knowledge during the searching, and I can know about more different culture. The main point for me is that I can get some new ideas and attitudes after I reading those resources. It is a pretty good way to make me have deep thoughts. By the way, we can practice our searching skills through writing research paper.
In conclusion, writing is one of the most complicated way and one of the most common ways to express people’s feelings. And writing is not only a studying and but also a life, people should start to writing articles as a hobby instead of for the credit. Therefore, we can be not only a good course writer, but also a good life-writer. I

The Melody of Life

ENG 2F 4TH ESSAY
DR.LESLIE BAI
HONGFEI SONG

When I raised my head from biology and chemistry books
Willow germination, and swallow nested in he oak tree
Spring is in at last
When i raised my head again
The weather is growing mild and the pissing pouring rain
Gradually
Spring is gone

A cup of hot green tea
A touch of green leaves dance in the cup
The scent of the narcissi was in the air
This night or the night of this day

Nameless and off the emotion torment me
I am very frustrated and lost
Like a freewheeling adventure, questing for sighn of oasis
However
I have been looking forward to the oasis in my life
Has been enjoying talking with words of consolation

I used to write my first novel when I was in Junior high. Gradually, I noticed writing become a kind of pressure and a burden. Meanwhile, I Realized I am living in a highly developed society, which stop me creating my own words because I have to satisfy the law of the jungle-- survive. Writing is just a hobby and an important component of my life. I still desire to express my feeling when I am confused and frustrated or keen to inject confidence into my mind.

How far is the distance between words and reality?
The vine of history

The night or the night of this day
A nice pot of tea
Appeased my thirsty and starving life
Smelled the fragrance far away

The horizons sprung wide
Fear went away
The unknown became knowable
Life follows the natural law
Life's original reality is spirit
Words are the water sources of spirit
The rhythm of life

Boqiong Su (Andy)
Professor Leslie Bai
ENG-2F
04/26/09
Learning in writing
Finally, the last essay for ENG-2F and I hope that would be the last essay I write as a task. Well, to be honest, I am really not good at writing. Every time I begin to write article as if it is the same as the beginning of the war. It is no exaggeration to say that writing is such a painful thing for me. Although the pain, but as I said, I treat it as a war- It is inevitable, so I make an all-out effort. Anyway, that is what I feel when I am writing.
I remember that writing is started from my third year of primary school. It is the end of carefree days; I ushered in a new era of learning. I have been very puzzled why we need to learn writing, because it is so painful. I have heard the conversation between two teachers; they agreed a consensus second-grade students are the best for teacher to lead. First grade is too naughty and they need to teach writing to third grade students. So I am confused, we don’t want to learn and teachers don't want to teach, why do we still have to learn writing?
Fortunately, Professor Bai answered my question when I was doing the speech. Writing truly reflects a person himself. In everyone’s diary, it reflected in the most real aspect of their own, happy, sad, painful, whatever the mood he is felling. Writing can let others to know your true feelings, and also allows the existence of future generations to know you. Once the person’s death, writing is the only way to reflect the life of this man. If there is no writing, there will be no history. The facts which were written down are more reliable than the ones which were on everybody’s lips. And one more reason, writing is one way to test your academic ability. Write out what you have learned so that people can understand that you have the knowledge. Otherwise, knowledge is in your mid, any person is unable to know or to see, at least for the present level of science.
Learning through ENG2F, I also learned a lot. I know how to write a research paper which I will definitely use it in my learning career and definitely I will not know how to write if I don’t take the class. I know how to do the work citied. I really don’t want to be said I plagiarize someone’s idea. It can be said that writing is painful but necessary. And fortunately because of various reasons we missed a lot of classes; professor Bai is also very good, the curriculum is still relatively easy and we have watched lots of movies, and the final week she in ample time for us to review other subjects.
I hope in the future, I will truly fall in love with writing, and write for mine own.

To write is to find myself (Jungtzu Lin)

Since prevalence of internet, especially widespread blog, brings writing closer to our daily life, we have been given more chances and places to write. Therefore, writing is getting more and more important in our life.

There are two purposes to write; one is to communicate, another is to express ourselves.
First, we need to write in order to communicate. Writing is very useful and fundamental instrument to send a message because we are able to relate facts more precisely by written than by oral communication. Also it is important that we can leave on record forever.

Second, we write because we want to express myself. Writing is a simple and convenient instrument, but it can be one of the most powerful means of self-expression, like other arts, such as painting or music; however, as for me to express my own opinion or feeling is the hardest part in this writing course. Writing a fact is one thing, writing about my feeling or opinion is another. I have to have something to express, and moreover, I have to have a desire to express. Through writing three essays I was asked my opinion and enforced to think about love, culture and collision. I was very surprised that I did not have any opinion about those topics, and I was shocked how shallow I had been.

The most difficult assignment in this course was writing about “Love.” Of course I loved and love a lot of people in my life, and it should be a near affair to everyone. However, I could not come up with topic for long time. I read some essays written by students to get some ideas, and I was very impressed with their way to express their feeling. They pick up a little thing of ordinaries of life which everyone go through, and express their feelings straightforward. I think that the difference between those who are good at writing and those who are not arises from their lifestyles. It is important that we should habitually observe daily life and what is happening around us, and think about it in deep. Even when we need to relate a fact to somebody, it is important for us to examine object carefully in order to send correct message.

Also, it is very useful for me to learn a basic process and rule of writing. Especially, to learn how to make an outline is productive. As Professor Bai says, “we cannot construct a house without construction diagram,” it is essential to make an outline before writing.
Usually I know where I am going, so I try to make an outline in order to reach my destination. However, sometimes I am surprised that it leads me the different direction which I do not expect. I think that is the most interesting point of writing. Writing reveals unexpected and unlikely myself through struggling to write.

Beyond doubt, we need to know basic writing skill and proper English usage in order to improve organization of essay. But I think the most important factor of a good essay is how deeply and critically it is thought.

Writing : a self-fulfillment ( Laura )

My love for writing

A library in my own house, this is what I had the chance to have. Having parents who enjoy reading, books were put down everywhere in my house : bedrooms, living rooms, entrance, and even kitchen were full of books of various gender. I am the youngest child of my family, and strangely enough, the fact to see my parents and brother reading a lot when I was little catched up my attention. At five years old, as most of the children, I did not know how to read yet. However, I was observing members of my family who were keeping these books in their hands for hours. How can they stand so many time in front of a book? Why do they seem so attracted? I really wanted to know what all these books were about. I was scared to never get to my answers… Consequently, I learnt how to read at the early age of 6 years old. I used to read different kind of books, including fiction and article for children. During my junior high school years, I began to read the so-called French literature. I did not like all of them, and personally, I think that a young child of 12 years old can not understand the all and deep meaning of it. However, I read one that really touched me, and this is how I became aware of the beauty of the writing process. The name of the book is “Les Mots” (words) from Jean-Paul Sartre, a famous French author of the twentieth century. In this book, he is explaining how each word evokes something to him. In a certain way, he deciphers the French language, taking account the meaning of the words as well as their spelling. Jean-Paul Sartre was an incredible writer and he was very specific in the choices of the words. In my opinion, this is what makes his books so famous. This is the author who makes me realize how gorgeous was the writing process. Thanks to the good choice of words, a book can make the reader escape from his own life, and he can feel every existing feeling of this world : happiness, excitement, sadness, nostalgic and so forth.

To my mind, the main purpose of writing is to share ideas and feelings. However, it does not mean that it is easy to do. In addition, sometimes you have to respond to specific criteria or format, which makes the writing more difficult. For this reason, the writing I like the most is Journal writing. We are free to write whatever we want with unspecific format and we have no rules to follow. We can let our mind write without being stopped by fences.

Unfortunately, this is not what we did the most in this class. However, the essays we had to write helped me a lot in different ways. Mainly, I learnt how to organize my thoughts and how to explain to my reader by which step I wanted to go through in order to get to my own conclusion. “English Composition” Class is important for every single student and even more for international students. I became aware that writing is definitely the key to improve English. This is such a difficult process for international students, but this is how we can cover every point of the English language, including syntax, vocabulary or grammar. Finally, the most difficult part for us when we have to write an essay is that we are always tempted to translate from our own language. Here is the mistake. Translating our thoughts from our own language to English will make the essay weak and clumsy. The difficulty is to think in English. It involves much more focus, but I am convinced that this is the way to improve my English in order to write and speak this language as if it were my native language.

 

No more unhappy Writing(Hugo)

I would like to talk about what I feel about writing in English. I really hate of writing English. Also Writing in English or even Korean has always been something I find to be disgusting to do. That’s why I just wanted hopefully English 2F class also finish soon. I received a terrible grade in English last semester so this really frustrated me. I came to the resolution that I needed to prepare better for my English classes in the future as I felt it was my entire fault for receiving a terrible grade. So I keep trying to improve my writing by constantly writing even though I hate it. In order to improve my writing skills I have always tried to ask my American friends proofread my writings. After I feel that I have gotten more confidence with my writing, I will continue to keep writing in order to progress with my English writing skills. And I am now getting enjoying writing at little by little. So I am used to starting from text message writing email and writing diary also in English. And I am really feeling this is so much pretty fun and I will keep doing. Lastly I would like to suggest to everyone who is especially international students to not be lazy when it comes to your writing stuffs. In the future and in the end I believe it will bring you sweet fruit for all your hard labor.

Writing…….
Writing was only for the Grade.
Writing was pain…..
Writing was disgusting…
Writing was fatal taste…
Writing was the object of one’s grudge.
But suddenly ………
Writing is come closer to me …
Writing holds my hand…
Writing encouraged me …
Writing is getting sweet…
Writing comes friendly…..
Writing is now my friend.
We will keep this friendship forever!!

Importance of Writing by Ramil Chabayev.

Importance of writing

As children grow up, they learn more and more things, discover something new for themselves. First, they learn how to walk, then they learn how to talk, and, finally, to read and to write. One of the most important part of our lives is the knowledge of writing. Writing affects us within our family, at school and especially at work.
Firstable, writing helps people express themselves. Writing can be a great tool to help you know more about the way you think, writing can solidify ideas and thoughts, and allow you to reflect on them better than if the ideas remained evolving in your head.
Writing is how much of the world communicates. If you don't write, you cut yourself off from a large community.
Writing is one of the ways that we translate our thoughts for other people. Some people are better at expressing themselves in writing than any other way, and you thus get a better translation when you read what they have to say rather than hearing them speak.
Writing assists you with other language tasks as well. Writing helps you learn how to form language, how to spell, how to put together a plot. You learn how to make a logical argument, or how to persuade, mainly through writing. Speaking can help you learn those things as well, but it is easier to self-examine and evaluate how to improve when you have something concrete in front of you, and can revise.
As for me, writing is a skill set that lets me convey my ideas in a way that lasts. Of course, a lot of students would argue about the importance of writing correctly, because usually friends do not care if e-mails or text messages are gramatically correct or have thesis statement.
Most of my friends probably don’t care about those things. They are willing to spend the time to figure out what I meant to say even if I wasn’t clear about it.
However, there are other situations like school or in the business world and other audiences like teachers and business professionals – for whom those things will matter. Those things will matter simply because paying attention to the details of good writing shows that you have the kind of discipline and professionalism that are prized in your career field.
You are only valuable to your employer to the extent that you can solve problems and produce results. All this work requires ability to think as hard as you can and often you will be asked to convey your ideas in writing. If those ideas don’t make sense, if they are not clearly presented, your bosses will move on. They don’t have the time to try to figure out what you meant to say, and they are unlikely to trust that you can produce the kind of results they want if your writing shows that you don’t pay attention to detail and don’t care about the quality of your work.
I think the importance of writing is obvious. It does affect a lot of parts of person's live and, in my opinion, the right thing to do is to be always grammatically correct, even when texting your friends or writing an informal e-mail.

Last Essay =)

Dila Yolga
Dr. Leslie Bai

Write for Future You


I never thought that my English was improving day by day, until; I start to study for my finals. I was studying for my PR class, and reading my notes from the beginning, to the end of the semester. When I read my notes I noticed my improvement and which was noteworthy. This was interesting to see my improvement even though I’ve never noticed my sentences structures, spelling and words that I use was looking so much better at the end of my notes. That automatically made me happy to see any improvement that I have been through but I know I still have a long way to go.
Because of my previous education that I got, I have never been good at formal writing. I never focused on writing in a proper way even in my own language that is weird because I know the rules in English but not in Turkish. Anyway, even though, I cannot write formal in Turkish, I love to write. One day, me and my friends were discussing about “What would you do if today would be your last day” and my answer was “I would write something to the people that I love” and this is how writing is valuable for me. I love expressing my feelings by writing generally to myself, I write future myself. I just read my writings when I forget what I wrote about, generally years later, but I would never read afterwards.
I like writing when I’m angry to someone, I write things that I’ve learned from life, I write random things, with out any reason. Even though I do not write often, I always write meaningful, funny, serious, sad, happy things to myself without any rules.
Writing is something that brings people back, something, makes time stops. Speaking can never be formal if people would not save it. People leave hard copies after their speeches for instance in Obama’s election speech, his speech was in newspapers and it saved for the future. In the history beginning of the civilization is starts with first writings, and paintings. We could have never figure out the future if there would be no writing materials in the world.
Writing is something that starts everything, and it might be the thing that would end everything. Sometimes, it hurts people and sometimes makes people so happy. It has been articles that influence people; I love writing because it is so influential, and effective. It remains forever, and it can never be change.
Anyways, even thought I like writing for myself, I do not like to write in a formal way, especially if I have to. One of the hardest things in wiring is when you have to write about something, that you do not like. Restrictions, sometimes we need restrictions but it should have limits. In English 2F class, there were right amount of restrictions, for instance, topic was “Love” and we have to choose something inside of the pool. It is always easier to write if you find a topic which you can connect yourself, and find examples about your life. That is why, our first and second essays were so much fun to write but I really struggled with research paper.
Writing is not one of the best, and successful skill that I have but it is always fun to write anything about my life. There are so many people, who do not like writing in any way but I am not one of them. It is o.k. to write for a person that I love, but it is hard to write someone that I do not know. I think sometimes writing is so much easier than speaking, that is why people always text someone on the phone instead of calling them. People who just start to date; they use internet communication or texting first instead of talking. So sometimes writing is an alternative and easier way of communication.
Overall, writing has many different options that you can use, it will remain forever, and when you write something it is generally so hard to change, like history you cannot change the history and you cannot change the things that have written before too. Writing can hurt someone really badly or it can make people so glad, because words are so powerful, and effective. Me, I like to write for myself and especially for future myself because, you can always come back to the feelings that you felt when you wrote those things. It is kind of time travelling, when you read the things that you wrote, it brings you back and help you to remember those days. So writing is necessary, and meaningful try to write something just for yourself and hide it somewhere that you can not find and someday, the day that you least expect to see that writing read that, than you will feel something that you would never felt.

May 2, 2009

Writing-the confidence booster (Aakash Mehta)
Before a month or so, I was working in my room at night. My cousin brother came in my room to invite me for the dinner. He saw me and asked me that what I was doing. I replied that I am writing a letter to my grandfather in India. He got very much surprised to hear that. In this modern world of technology and internet, I was writing a letter on a post card to my grandfather. However, it is never unusual for me. In my life, writing has a very important identity. It is a kind of activity that I never take as granted.
I enjoy all forms of writing very much and I prefer writing on top of reading and speaking. In my personal opinion, writing is a primary and the most important basis upon which I commute to the society. There are many people who take writing just as a study course that they can get good score or credits of. Many more take writing just as a temporary subject for the academic semester or year. However, in this competitive world I can never restrict my writing to the subject or to one academic semester or year. I use writing on daily basis in my life. Writing is an important tool for me that explain my messages and express my feelings among the world. It is the base upon which my knowledge is being judged in the society. It is very necessary in molding my academic career. Writing makes my thinking clearer and more visible. It helps me in understanding the statements, facts, opinions and inferences. Sometimes excess speaking and listening gets tiring for me. I often get confused in live speaking if I miss any part or any part I don’t understand. I can’t go back in such speaking. However, writing is pretty straight forward to me. I don’t get confused in it as I can always go back and look for the missed parts or can search the meanings for confused words and/or sentences.
Moreover, writing organizes my observations, thoughts and ideas that provide me a clear path of working which is lacking in confusion. It is ability by which I can explain complicated situations to my readers. Writing is always portable. In other words, it is always easy for me to carry books, magazines or articles with. The debate has been going on since many years about whether the books are better than movies or vice versa. I always prefer a book on movies as in my opinion writing is permanent. I can preserve my ideas and reflect upon them later any time. Moreover, I can preserve writing for as much time I want. On the other hand, the CDs or DVDs of movies get useless after certain period of time.
For international students writing is very much important. In my own opinion, any kind of essay writing, articles or research paper writing requires a lot of reading and knowledge of the related topics. Thus, writing appears to be a role model in the improvement of the knowledge. Furthermore, it also improves the speaking abilities. Other than these, it also helps to improve vocabulary, intellectual flexibility and maturity. These tools are very important in the practical world. As I think, writing is an essential job skill for the academic path.
I enjoy all kinds of writing. However, personally I prefer academic writing such as, journals, articles or research papers. Because in such forms of writings I need to work very hard and it is always glad for me to be judged and credited by the academic individuals. I never expect anything when I write. I write as a hobby and not to prove anything. However, I always learn something new when I write. I always improve my word bank and my knowledge gets better all the time I write. Due to these, I can talk about any topic among the society.
In my opinion, a hard work in the field of reading and knowledge can make me a good writer. However, I am not a writer. I write as I am fond of it. I can never take writing tiring. My writings strongly reflect my personality. For me, writing is a great confidence booster.

Xinbei Xie (4th essay)

From a hating-writing person to a “writer”
Writer is a person who can use his pen to write an article that is popular in public. A writer can use his talent and inspiration to write a very wonderful essay. Of course, in my topic, the “writer” is just a exaggerated expression.
To be honest, I don’t think I could become a writer forever. A famous English writer Douglas Adams said “ Writing is easy. You only need to stare at a piece of blank papar until a drop of blood form on your forehead.”(Wikipedia) While for me, writing is really difficult. However one factor is that I have to stare at a piece of blank paper when I begin on a new essay. I still remember when I was in high school, my teacher said I didn’t have any writing talent. At that time, the full composition score was sixty, but I could only get about 42, maybe sometimes I could 48. 48 was the highest score that I got in my high school. At that period, composition was the most vexatious thing for me. Eventhough in my college entrance examination, my composition score was not so satified.
After the college entrance examination, I came to the USA for my further study. As an interenational student, language become one of the difficult barriers. As a freshman, I have to take ENG1F and ENG2F courses. Both of these two courses are writing. At first, I was so afraid to write essays. When I wrote a essay, I always translated Chinese to English. The sentence was always in Chinese style.My grade was also not so good.
In this semester, I take the ENG2F. Actually, ENG2F’s assignments are really much more than ENG1F. When I heard I have to write ten pages research paper, I really want to drop this class. Finally, I decided to follow through. Professor gave us many references to read, and I had to post blog on class wiki. That pushed me to read all these references carefully, and posted some short passages on blog. Through these articles, my reading skill had a improvement and I preferred to read these articles gradually. Furthermore, checking the class wiki has become one of my habits in my daily life. As I wrote more essays, I found out I would not avoid writing. I also went to writing center. In writing center, I gained more skills about how to write an essay in English. I also acknowledged the difference between the Chinese and English in writing essay. The assistant gave me a lot of help with my essay. When I wrote the research paper, I found that it wasn’t so difficult I imagine. I checked many references and did some analysises. I learned how to write a research paper. I think it is a good begining for my professional paper in future. I feel very lucky that I didn’t drop this class in the beginning.
In this semester, my grade is much better than the last semester. I think my writing has a progress through this semester’s practice. I don’t avoid writing. I learn how to write a essay much more professional, and I will not translate Chinese into English.
Writing is a necessary part in our study. If we fear of writing, writing will only become more difficult. If we enjoy the process of writing, it will bring us many wonderful things.
Thanks for professor Bai’s teaching in this semester.




Work cited
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. 2, May, 2009. <>