Gone To Look For America

Maybe I will look here first?

Oh, and nobody wants to waste the summer reading Norton Anthologies, but may I recommend the following?

-Toni Morrison, Beloved (novel)
-David Foster Wallace, Infinite Jest (novel)
-Nassim Taleb, The Black Swan (finance/philosophy)
-The Wire (television drama)
-Arrested Development (television comedy)

因為這裡我的招聘者會看, 所以我必須寫這個郵件使用秘密代碼. 我稱之為"中文." 妳們都太火辣和太聰明.（你們也是.）我給妳們我所有的愛和最良好的祝愿美好的生活！

Exam lowlights/highlights

Note for Late Finishers: Intense deadline pressure is the biggest risk factor for plagiarism. I mention this because I have already read three answers on this exam that relied on unattributed direct quotation of internet sources. Seriously, I taught American students for six years... I'm like Sherlock Holmes for this. Don't spoil all of the goodwill from last week. If you think a source is interesting, cite it and make a comment about it.

A Happier Note: I've read about half of the exams now, and here are the two best answers so far...

Question 15: American’s cultural imperialism sells their value, perspective and attitude successfully to most countries. And it is clear that Taiwan has been severely affected by American pop culture, especially movie. Some ideas and words in Taiwanese have exactly the same meaning in America. For example, “a civilized country” should have a democratic government which cares about people’s human rights, well-developed technology and free market economy. In addition, Taiwanese tend to see the world through American’s eyes. We accept the way how American interprets the world include many kind of stereotype toward other countries. So we want to jump out from the framework that America gives us; people start to believe United States is an evil empire who wants to take all sources of petroleum under control. However, I jumped into the framework and study it in American Literature class; it’s quite interesting for me to observe Taiwanese culture through American’s viewpoint.

In this course, I found out the condition of Taiwanese aboriginal and Native American is quiet similar. However, it seems Native American is an important issue in American literature; however, aboriginal literature hasn’t been mentioned a lot in our literature class in Taiwan. It makes me start to perceive the relationship between Han groups and aboriginal who either had been forced to live in mountains or assimilated with Han groups. Taiwanese aboriginals group are very inferior because their tribes are usually small and distant after the oppression of new comer. A single tribe is hard to arouse attention, but it’s hard for them to connect together. In Taiwan’s media, the reports related to Native Taiwanese are usually about their Harvest Festival, accident caused by drunk or aboriginal athletic star. These images of aboriginal enhance our stereotype of them; and they might also fit themselves into the frame and miss other kinds of possibilities. Their distinct culture is losing; nevertheless, government assigns ministry of tourism instead of ministry of culture to provide them aid and help them promote their festival and dancing which is just the surface not the core of their culture. In the end, everyone can join their celebration ceremony and pretend that we understand aboriginal culture profoundly.

There are some aboriginal writers publish their works after Taiwanese aboriginal literature start to prevail around 1980 with the native movement. They express their feeling of double-consciousness and contradiction in their work like Native American writers. But I want to discuss how authors in Han group present aboriginal characters. Despite few authors who can point out struggle and difficulties that aboriginal face throughout the history, we can divide aboriginal characters into three types in most stories. First of all, the descriptions of Taiwanese aboriginals recorded by Han people during the Ching dynasty are usually savage and brutal as the image of American Indian in prior literature work about American frontier. Second one is similar to the concept of Emerson’s noble savage. The story, which might appear in children’s or teenager’s book, is usually related to aboriginal legend, love or friendship between Han people and aboriginals. And they live happily after in the tribe. The other one appears in novels of late 20^th century and the very beginning of 21 ^th century. These stories usually talk about the success of aboriginals in Han society; and the characters are usually Han-lization. They try to integrate with Han groups and totally accept and appreciate the value in Han society. I think these writers simplify the process of integration as government and create an ideal condition despite those complicated problems of aboriginals. In other words, the real life of aboriginal is not in their concerned, because they try to understand aboriginal through the aspect of Han. The difference between ethnic has been deliberately ignored in those novels, and the author just depict an imaginary perfect society of Taiwan.

In the course, I learned one event could have multiple features when you stand on different aspect. After reading essays of American minority groups, I figured out that most people in Taiwan seldom mind the problems or dilemma of aboriginals. We judge them by the impression given by the mass media and feel reluctant to face their misery which might cause by our ancestors. Fortunately, people pay more attention on the issue of preserving aboriginal culture in recent years. Aboriginals also start to speak out for themselves through writing, music or politics. Some of them or scholars try to rebuild aboriginal language system and traditional custom. Taiwanese of majority Han groups should care more about our land and other ethnic groups; or they will mournfully looking at their culture swallowing by the mainstream culture before we notice.

Question 4:

A BAND

A band is a band but not a band. No rubber, no drum, no noisy rectangle stuck in the broken palm. No color was seen. What does it want if the pride no longer necessary. A band is everything.

A MOUTHFUL OF MUSIC

White words against dark black color.

Speakers upon dusty table. A man, a woman, and a group of people.

The tenderness along the pages frightens the motion of fingers, and in the corner hides the wall that shakes the late night air in the sleepless city. How about a drink. Loneliness in plural form makes cheerful singularity, and what if imagination is a crime, what if nothing breaks the regularity. Will the jazz still be humble and will the blues still be red. Red is not a color but a jumping wide.

A piece of metal strikes. There, there is nothing neglected, not a blissful wedding more triumphant than a growing melody. Step forward step forward toward the edge where everything falls.

This is not for you, but please and please not talk to when.

This is so not this.

A SEDUCING PILLOW

A bowl is larger than a pounding fist, and it is necessary to hold onto the petals that dance like the girls in front of the pond that rains.

A mountain is shoveled with a pair of pants. To be a glass of ocean even to smell beautiful is no simple task. A quiet sleeper suffers immensely from the insomnia, a flock of sheep was kept for the volcano and the thick island is all that one can see.

GREEN TEA

Green tea means does it my dream it means temporality. A sucker and a lamp and a pair of scissors mean no more than the less it means morality, morality is sometimes that does false.

Green tea is not only green but even strong in its tenderness. A few changes have been conducted, lie to anything that is relevant and anything not meaning but changing.

OLD BOY

Violence has been beautified. If the window was not broken, if the secret was not told, if the river was dry. The scene would be less bloody and more delighted, if the climax comes lower is good, scarcely any difference. Save one bite for dinner.

A green sweater and a narrow escape from the pineapple.

Awake, as how it should be ended should be ended. Press the button, no need to be hard, but slightly touch and let out the fancy light. What lies beneath, what lies beneath is the ugly truth that stands between the CD covers that is all white, all white and blind.

Brownie is not made of cats. The boots and the scarves and the lollipops are close and close enough. Tissue is another kind of extravagance, and the color of the tongue is round and round as the most obvious icon on the table. No need to be careful.

MOBILE PHONES

Two makes none. A singing joy tumbles in front of a bed. What is called language is dear to me. The tiger speaks finer English, finer and finer English.

A TOILET

A channel, an ivory white, a dirt, a wondering mind.

EYE SHADOW

It was in the drawer, eye shadow in the drawer. Humid smell expresses a sense of responsibility. Spoil it, spoil it, and no regret until the cockroaches meet next to next to the practical money. The second best thing is to cut the decision without a piece of tragic hesitation.

No comedy provided, and a little little little good is no less less fun than a rainy dog or cat.

No nonsense is being handed that a smirk is a dandy. If a clock walks high, if a coin drops dead, if a pill book wine, then no friend will be browsing. A mustache upon sings, making a plastic machine, making a dreadful sound of it.

謝謝你們!（或謝謝妳們?)

I had a wonderful time at your graduation ceremonies on Saturday and Sunday, and at the Pynchon seminar on Tuesday. I don't know how you're able to maintain your focus for exams during this (post-)celebration week, but I definitely look forward to reading them.

Also, OMG, the most interesting thing happened in my home state of South Carolina. Pynchonites will love the various conspiracy theories here; the others may consider the race-relations angle... My take on this Wikipedia rundown of possible explanations... why is it somehow the least plausible explanation of this electoral result, that black voters in a party primary for a state election their party cannot possibly win, would choose to send a message to their party's establishment candidate (who is an unpopular jerk) by going to the polls and choosing, in effect, "none of the above"? But no, I suppose it would take fictional Portuguese people to think of something like that.