Post 89 Demonstration for the least expected reason
In 1991 I was at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, University of Toronto, Canada for a short post-graduate course. I learnt a lesson on what could be considered to be an issue warranting a placard demonstration by students while having lunch one day at the dining hall of the university.
There was a group of about 30 undergraduates who walked into the dining hall carrying placards. The students were not satisfied with the ventilation system in the university and demanded that action be taken to rectify it. It was just a small scale peaceful demonstration asking for more fresh air in the building. The protesters wanted their voices heard.
This incident reminded me of the many demonstrations happened in the USA in the
1960s. The young generation at that time protested over other issues in their campuses at a time of social unrest. It was a decade that saw many Civil Rights and Anti- Vietnam War demonstrations; and changes in social norms that were against traditional moral values with the introduction of contraceptive pills. It was the Swinging Sixties of pop music and mini-skirts that swept the world and the placard carriers at Toronto were not born yet.
The Toronto experience was an eye-opener to me. It was never expected of me that stale air in campus building could also trigger off a demonstration!
5 April 2011
Tuesday, April 5, 2011
Tuesday, March 29, 2011
Buffalo
Post 88 An episode in a foreign city
Having crossed the Niagara Falls border from Canada to Buffalo, USA, my family and a few relatives went for lunch at a Chinese restaurant. After that we went shopping at a mall as part of the program for our one-day trip. As no one could beat ladies in shopping, I gave up half-way and decided to wait for them at a centre point before going for dinner.
A local white man came and sat next to me at a bench. He must have just taken a few drinks for he looked a little bit drunk. We had a short chat. Unexpectedly he told me,”I admire you people.” I asked, “Why did you say so?” He replied, “Because you all can speak English well.” I thanked him for the compliment.
iAs the drunk will tell the truth, I believe he must have met and spoken to tourists whose mother tongue was not English but were eloquent at it. I would have continued our conversation if he had not fallen asleep. I still remember the facial expression and sincerity of this man whom I met by chance in the early 1990s.
If the man had been sober, I would have had the opportunity to learn from him on social-cultural issues that shape his thoughts and perceptions.
I still appreciate what this gentleman had told me. He made my day in a foreign city.
29 March 2011
Having crossed the Niagara Falls border from Canada to Buffalo, USA, my family and a few relatives went for lunch at a Chinese restaurant. After that we went shopping at a mall as part of the program for our one-day trip. As no one could beat ladies in shopping, I gave up half-way and decided to wait for them at a centre point before going for dinner.
A local white man came and sat next to me at a bench. He must have just taken a few drinks for he looked a little bit drunk. We had a short chat. Unexpectedly he told me,”I admire you people.” I asked, “Why did you say so?” He replied, “Because you all can speak English well.” I thanked him for the compliment.
iAs the drunk will tell the truth, I believe he must have met and spoken to tourists whose mother tongue was not English but were eloquent at it. I would have continued our conversation if he had not fallen asleep. I still remember the facial expression and sincerity of this man whom I met by chance in the early 1990s.
If the man had been sober, I would have had the opportunity to learn from him on social-cultural issues that shape his thoughts and perceptions.
I still appreciate what this gentleman had told me. He made my day in a foreign city.
29 March 2011
Tuesday, March 22, 2011
Gracious living
Post 87 Performing arts and music
My trip to Washington D.C., a national center for the arts, in the 1990s to attend an international conference on education had an added cultural atmosphere. The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts situated along the Potomac River is one of the many surprises for music and art lovers.
I remember reading the quotation of President Kennedy who said that anyone who wants to know whether a country is developed or not should look at the number of performing arts centres it has. This is indeed very true. First world countries are strong economically and so their citizens have the means and leisure to engage in gracious living like attending world class concerts, plays and other performing arts as and when they like.
In the Newsweek cover story "The 10 Best Schools in the World" (December 2, 1991), the USA tops the world in two areas: Arts and Graduate schools. Art is the creation of something beautiful and of intrinsic values in painting, sculpture, music, literature, dance, and drama. Music, painting, poetry and the like are known as fine arts. By having the best graduate schools in the world, it means the USA generally has top class scientists, engineers, lawyers,economists, doctors, inventors and other professionals in the world.
When a country is run by capable leaders at all levels, the fulfillment of peoples’ dream of having a gracious living is a natural and logical outcome.
22 March 2011
My trip to Washington D.C., a national center for the arts, in the 1990s to attend an international conference on education had an added cultural atmosphere. The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts situated along the Potomac River is one of the many surprises for music and art lovers.
I remember reading the quotation of President Kennedy who said that anyone who wants to know whether a country is developed or not should look at the number of performing arts centres it has. This is indeed very true. First world countries are strong economically and so their citizens have the means and leisure to engage in gracious living like attending world class concerts, plays and other performing arts as and when they like.
In the Newsweek cover story "The 10 Best Schools in the World" (December 2, 1991), the USA tops the world in two areas: Arts and Graduate schools. Art is the creation of something beautiful and of intrinsic values in painting, sculpture, music, literature, dance, and drama. Music, painting, poetry and the like are known as fine arts. By having the best graduate schools in the world, it means the USA generally has top class scientists, engineers, lawyers,economists, doctors, inventors and other professionals in the world.
When a country is run by capable leaders at all levels, the fulfillment of peoples’ dream of having a gracious living is a natural and logical outcome.
22 March 2011
Tuesday, March 15, 2011
A high achiever and a low achiever
Post 86 Foresight and hindsight
I like the following proverb which is also a tongue-twister since my secondary school days:
“He who knows not and knows not he knows not: he is a fool - shun him.
He who knows not and knows he knows not: he is simple - teach him.
He who knows and knows not he knows: he is asleep - wake him.
He who knows and knows he knows: he is wise - follow him.”
Laozi (老子) said, "He who knows others is learned; he who knows himself is wise." The wise has foresight while the fool, the simple and the sleeping may only know the mistakes they made with hindsight. The former is a leader and the latter, followers.
Sunzi (孙子) in his Art of War said,
“If you know thy enemy and know thyself, you will be ever-victorious in a hundred battles.
If you know thyself but not thy enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat.
If you know neither thy enemy nor thyself, you will lose in every battle.”
A high achiever is wise and self-made.
15 March 2011
I like the following proverb which is also a tongue-twister since my secondary school days:
“He who knows not and knows not he knows not: he is a fool - shun him.
He who knows not and knows he knows not: he is simple - teach him.
He who knows and knows not he knows: he is asleep - wake him.
He who knows and knows he knows: he is wise - follow him.”
Laozi (老子) said, "He who knows others is learned; he who knows himself is wise." The wise has foresight while the fool, the simple and the sleeping may only know the mistakes they made with hindsight. The former is a leader and the latter, followers.
Sunzi (孙子) in his Art of War said,
“If you know thy enemy and know thyself, you will be ever-victorious in a hundred battles.
If you know thyself but not thy enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat.
If you know neither thy enemy nor thyself, you will lose in every battle.”
A high achiever is wise and self-made.
15 March 2011
Tuesday, March 8, 2011
Reading Biscuit Town
Post 85 Happy memories of my childhood
During the early 1950s and as a little boy, I used to like the small and round biscuits kept in green oblong tin containers. The then Malaya was still under the colonial rule and it was a privilege that children got to wear shoes, clothing, and to eat food like biscuits manufactured in England.
In 1986 I was studying in Reading (pronounced as ‘Redding’), England and together with my wife and two daughters, we were there for a year. It so happened that while travelling on the upper deck of a bus in town one afternoon, I saw the signboard of Huntley & Palmers. The name was very familiar to me since I was a boy, though at that time I did not know how to pronounce them.
My wife then confirmed that the ‘reading’ biscuits which I took in the 50s were actually manufactured in the town. I was really delighted that the household name in biscuit manufacturing had brought back happy memories of my childhood. I did not expect that one day I would be in the biscuit town to rekindle old dreams!
Huntley & Palmers was founded in 1822 and for the next 150 years, was well known for being "Number One in Biscuits and Second-to-None in Cakes." At its zenith, it was trading in 137 countries. Visitors to the Museum of Reading would be able to see the 1,500 biscuit tins made by the Quaker company.
I’ll never forget the green oblong tin containers which brought joy to my childhood days.
8 March 2011
During the early 1950s and as a little boy, I used to like the small and round biscuits kept in green oblong tin containers. The then Malaya was still under the colonial rule and it was a privilege that children got to wear shoes, clothing, and to eat food like biscuits manufactured in England.
In 1986 I was studying in Reading (pronounced as ‘Redding’), England and together with my wife and two daughters, we were there for a year. It so happened that while travelling on the upper deck of a bus in town one afternoon, I saw the signboard of Huntley & Palmers. The name was very familiar to me since I was a boy, though at that time I did not know how to pronounce them.
My wife then confirmed that the ‘reading’ biscuits which I took in the 50s were actually manufactured in the town. I was really delighted that the household name in biscuit manufacturing had brought back happy memories of my childhood. I did not expect that one day I would be in the biscuit town to rekindle old dreams!
Huntley & Palmers was founded in 1822 and for the next 150 years, was well known for being "Number One in Biscuits and Second-to-None in Cakes." At its zenith, it was trading in 137 countries. Visitors to the Museum of Reading would be able to see the 1,500 biscuit tins made by the Quaker company.
I’ll never forget the green oblong tin containers which brought joy to my childhood days.
8 March 2011
Tuesday, March 1, 2011
"If You're Going to San Francisco"
Post 84 The Hippies
You may want to go to youtube and listen to this song made popular in the 60s. The lyric reflects the culture and radical beliefs of a new cultural movement. The decade from 1960 to 1970 saw the emergence of an anti-establishment Hippies group, spearheading from San Francisco to Canada and other parts of Europe. The hippies were rebels against middle-class values, especially during the 1960s. They adopted an unconventional way of life, particularly in clothes and behavior. I remember their anti-war rallies in the 60s well.
In my two brief visits to San Francisco, I enjoyed watching cable cars plying the city, visiting Fisherman's Wharf, travelling along the famously crooked Lombard Street and the Golden Gate Bridge, and speaking a few Chinese words at San Francisco's Chinatown, established in the 1840s. I also took an hour or so of bus-ride to the Muir Garden for a relaxing morning and a cup of tea during my first trip.
During the 19th Century, San Francisco was the center of the U.S. gold rush, with many early Chinese workers joining in the treasure hunt. The Chinese then called it “Gold Mountain”. However, with the discovery of gold in Melbourne, Australia, and in order to make a distinction between the two gold mines, the Chinese name for San Francisco was changed to “Old Gold Mountain”, and the one in Melbourne, "New Gold Mountain ".
Be it old or new, and “If You're Going to San Francisco”, be sure to “wear some flowers in your hair”!
1 March 2011
You may want to go to youtube and listen to this song made popular in the 60s. The lyric reflects the culture and radical beliefs of a new cultural movement. The decade from 1960 to 1970 saw the emergence of an anti-establishment Hippies group, spearheading from San Francisco to Canada and other parts of Europe. The hippies were rebels against middle-class values, especially during the 1960s. They adopted an unconventional way of life, particularly in clothes and behavior. I remember their anti-war rallies in the 60s well.
In my two brief visits to San Francisco, I enjoyed watching cable cars plying the city, visiting Fisherman's Wharf, travelling along the famously crooked Lombard Street and the Golden Gate Bridge, and speaking a few Chinese words at San Francisco's Chinatown, established in the 1840s. I also took an hour or so of bus-ride to the Muir Garden for a relaxing morning and a cup of tea during my first trip.
During the 19th Century, San Francisco was the center of the U.S. gold rush, with many early Chinese workers joining in the treasure hunt. The Chinese then called it “Gold Mountain”. However, with the discovery of gold in Melbourne, Australia, and in order to make a distinction between the two gold mines, the Chinese name for San Francisco was changed to “Old Gold Mountain”, and the one in Melbourne, "New Gold Mountain ".
Be it old or new, and “If You're Going to San Francisco”, be sure to “wear some flowers in your hair”!
1 March 2011
Tuesday, February 22, 2011
Atlanta
Post 83 ”I have a dream”
Atlanta is the capital and most populous city in the state of Georgia, USA. It was also the venue of the 1996 Summer Olympics. While having a short stay there, I visited the Martin Luther King, Jr., National Historic Site; the Carter Center, and the Cable News Network (CNN) headquarters at the CNN Center in Atlanta. However, I missed visiting the headquarters of Coca-Cola Company in Atlanta to have a taste of its different global beverages.
In this post I am not writing about the song "I Have a Dream" by Swedish pop group ABBA. The song was one of the top hits in 1979, and which I still hum along occasionally after 30 years of its airing.
I am referring to the dream of Martin Luther King, Jr. His "I Have a Dream" is a seventeen-minute public speech. It was delivered on August 28, 1963 and ranked the top American speech of the 20th century. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s call for racial equality and an end to discrimination was a defining moment of the American Civil Rights Movement. He said in his speech that all men are created equal.
"I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character."
22 February 2011
Atlanta is the capital and most populous city in the state of Georgia, USA. It was also the venue of the 1996 Summer Olympics. While having a short stay there, I visited the Martin Luther King, Jr., National Historic Site; the Carter Center, and the Cable News Network (CNN) headquarters at the CNN Center in Atlanta. However, I missed visiting the headquarters of Coca-Cola Company in Atlanta to have a taste of its different global beverages.
In this post I am not writing about the song "I Have a Dream" by Swedish pop group ABBA. The song was one of the top hits in 1979, and which I still hum along occasionally after 30 years of its airing.
I am referring to the dream of Martin Luther King, Jr. His "I Have a Dream" is a seventeen-minute public speech. It was delivered on August 28, 1963 and ranked the top American speech of the 20th century. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s call for racial equality and an end to discrimination was a defining moment of the American Civil Rights Movement. He said in his speech that all men are created equal.
"I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character."
22 February 2011
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