Reinventing feminism

Summary:

     According to Courtney Martin’s speech, she states women should be aware of three paradoxes, including rejecting the past, maintaining the faith of greatness, and aiming to succeed with fulfilled failures. First of all, Courtney described the first paradox by the experience of her growth. She grew up in a feministic family with the suspicion of feminism, so she was against with her mother. During studying in college, she found feminism is actually a political movement because of the cultural issue, like race, class, gender; therefore, she realized her mother’s work for the welfare of women was right. Secondly, having the faith of greatness is another paradox. Many young women are well educated, and they are able to overcome difficulties in their life. Self-esteem is important to overwhelm the environmental crisis. When Courtney was suffering from the depression in a volunteer job, her mother gave her faith to move on. In addition, her mother’s encouragement brings her to think about the third paradox, which is to aim to succeed and also get ready for failure. In Courtney’s book, she wrote some famous women who work in military and education. All of them had a huge impact before, but they found themselves in the right way and then became the role models and have a meaningful life. Finally, in Courtney’s opinion, life is neither a glory nor a certainty, but if women embrace the paradox and face it, they can make life better reward.(words:243)

Picture resource: Feminism is not a dirty word

http://stephanierapp.blogspot.com/2010/11/feminism-is-not-dirty-word.html

Response:

     According to my understanding, feminism is mainly about women's issues, like gender equality, work opportunity, status in society; however, I am not a defensive activist of feminism. Firstly, I think everyone grew up with paradox, both men and women. All of us have to face disparity in this unfair world. Does that mean we need to reject our past? I don’t think so. Actually, we can build on the welfare of women by using the movement happened in the past. On the other hand, I agree with Courtney’s others points. Women can achieve the greatness if we have faith. We are the part of the society, and the important thing is that we are not in weak group. In addition, her words “aiming to succeed wildly and being fulfilled by failing really well” is very inspired, which encourages women with a hope all the time. The new generation feminism is more complex, and there are many women like Courtney, who do lots of work for women’s right. In conclusion, women can do everything even it is difficult sometime, because life itself is full of challenges.(words:186)

Men jion into the feminism,too...interesting!

Picture resource:

 http://hammerhearts.wordpress.com/2010/08/01/dude-you-are-not-a-feminist

James Cameron: Before Avatar ... a curious boy

James Cameron:

   A well-known Canadian film director, and his famous work includes: Aliens, The terminator I&II, True Lies, Titanic, Avatar. In addition, Cameron's directorial efforts have grossed nearly US$2 billion in North America and US$6 billion worldwide.


Summary:
     According to Cameron’s presentation, he describes three significant factors leading to his success in the film industry, which are curiosity, imagination and team work. When Cameron was a young boy studying in high school, his favorite subject was science. He always tried to understand the world, and satisfied with curiosity about the possibility. After moved to California, he started to learn diving. He found himself loved the ocean so much which made him think about the amazing ocean animals beyond imagination. Later, when he became a film maker, he had an urge to put pictures and story together to make the film sense. Although it was tough at the beginning, he still pushed himself to solve problems, and he also took an adventure of using software into movie. With this magical inspiration, the first digital production has made him unbelievably success; moreover, he started to direct the fiction movie “Titanic” with former experience. During that time, he had done survey of Titanic with scientists for years, because he wanted to show audience that watching movie would feel like physically inside. He states that he was actually doing scientifical research when making the film due to expectations. In addition, he had learned a lot from “Titanic” since he was in the leadership, and it made him consider the challenge of discovery when being a leader. He appreciated that he could work with his group all those years. They created new technology under tremendous challenges in another movie “Avatar”. He has failed many times in the process of making films, but he has never feared of taking risks.(words:267)
Response:
     James Cameron is one of my favorite film makers. I have almost watched all the movies directed by him; however, I barely know his character of curiosity of the world. I think he has set an example for me to pursue my life with a more positive attitude. I like taking challenges actually, and I’ve learned some principles and brought them into my life. After his presentation, it reminds me that it is the right decision to continue my further education in Canada. He has the spirit of perseverance and creativity, and also he does not fear of failure. According to this, it will always encourage me to finish my study which I had wasted before. In addition, I am really moved the process of how he made “Titanic” and “Avatar”. Not everyone could concentrate on one thing for years, but he did. That’s why he has won so many rewards and has so many fans in the world. To conclude, I can also do better and achieve my goal if I could always remember what I have learned from James Cameron today.(words:184)

Sherwin Nuland on hope

Profile:
     Sherwin Nuland is the author of the book "how we die", who won the National Book Award. His book spent thirty-four weeks on the New York Times best-seller list.

Summary:

     According to Sherwin Nuland’s lecture, he explains what hope is in his opinion and how to encourage people and the world with a hope. First of all, Sherwin says that there are 14 definitions of hope in the dictionary, but none of them really hits people’s heart. The word “hope”, which is not a concrete word, is an abstract phenomenon or idea. He did some study, and then he got the idea of hope which is an expectation of something good that will happen. It is a sense of going in different directions. In addition, hope is human’s spirit. It is an ability of people to achieve something greater than he or she thought at the beginning. Sherwin uses a quotation from a 27 years old poet Shelley: “hope is moral imagination”. It makes a person to do better and to see himself or herself through other’s eyes. Finally, he states that every disadvantage people or nation is kind of patient, and this disadvantage world is a patient too because wars and disparity everywhere. All of us should to be the healer of the world. To conclude, hope is the love of healing power to translate into action of human’s spirit.( words:201)

Response:

     In my opinion, Sherwin not only gives the definition of hope, but also encourages people to achieve their goals and to love this world. First of all, hope enlightens a person’s motivation. None of us could succeed without any actions, because everyone knows that no pie from sky. We may have a tough beginning, but we can still make our dreams come true as long as we have hope. For example, Martin Luther King is a leader in the African American civil rights movement.His speech “I have a dream” moved many people, and nowadays black people share the same rights with others because his effort for the African American. Secondly, hope is the expectation for the world peace. We are in living in a high standard of life; however, there are millions of people who are suffering from the wars. As Sherwin says the disadvantage country is a patient, the citizens there are patients too. I have a great compassion for those people, and I wish they have a peaceful life someday. Finally, many of us are concerning about the earthquake and tsunami in Japan. In college, we donate and write on the board. We hope everything will be fine there. In a word, I think all the people and also the world need hope.(words:217)

Inspiring a life of immersion

Summary:

     Jacqueline has interviewed many people who live in impoverished countries. She finds that time is changing now, and most people want to be a part of it. On the other hand, they are afraid of risks, because they don’t want to be disappointed. To defeat this Fear, she gives true events about figures she had met, for telling people nothing will happen in life without costs but we would see the sustainability when we look back at the end. The first one is in 1950, a woman Ingrid who wanted to be a leader, but during that time only elder people made decisions. She realized the importance of the generation in future, so she worked all her life in culture and language. After she was killed in 1999 in Columbia, people still leave a chair of spirit for Ingrid, to continue working on her life of mission. There is another story about traditional dancers in Cambodia. Most traditional dancers were killed as a target during the war in 1970s, only three of them survived; however, they didn’t give up dancing but trained next generation to dance. When Jacqueline was watching them dancing around beautiful rhythms, she discovered that is human being’s pray, they focus on honoring in past to build the promise for future. There are also violence and attack in many other countries suffering from the war, Jacqueline wants all of us to take action. Life is the road of difficulty, but we are not alone.(words:247)


Response:

     According to all the stories which Jacqueline has told, I think our life need to be immersed. First of all, people should be curious about life. Some people pursuit of happiness, some people choose career, and some people spend time on stress and depress. Properly some of them with a dream will be more motivated and some of them with sad emotion will be positive after listening these stories. Secondly, I am moved by the Cambodian dancers, they fight against unfair justice, and keep their hope even though the fragile experience they have suffered. In addition, I think about the women’s right. In many countries, women have less opportunity than men, such as job, education, status. They can have more choices if they fight against the unfair. For example, Hillary Clinton, Angela Markel, Drew Faust, they are improved that women have the capacity of doing anything. To conclude, life is short and precious, we should go on with our dreams no matter how many difficulties on the road.(words:169)