I am not sure if Nien Cheng would act like the Guards because it would depend on her class status. If she had a black class status, she probably wouldn’t act like the guards because she herself would get a taste of what the guards do and lose her wish to become one. Also, if she had seen them raid a house and kill someone, she would probably not join. But if she had a good status, she might join them and act like them if she didn’t know what they really did.
Perspective Journal #2 – Red Successor Election
Oh, how I felt bad for that girl, Ji-li. I meant for the red successor nomination to only be in good thoughts. Sadly, it ended up with Ji-li learning a terrible truth about her past. It all started out when I stepped into the classroom in the afternoon to begin the election for the red successor. Even though it didn’t look like it, I saw that Ji-li really wanted to win the election. When I saw that Yu Jian was nominated, I wasn’t surprised. Naturally, the class’s chairman would be nominated as a successor. When Ji-li was nominated, I looked at the student who nominated her. As I walked and began to write the candidates’ names on the board, Yin Lan-lan raised his hand. When I called on Yin Lan-lan, she said that the candidates political background should be investigated like when the real Guards are elected. Knowing about Ji-li’s past, I worried what she might learn. Yu Jian told the class that his class status was office worker and that his dad was in the CCP and his mom would join it soon. Then, Ji-li had to state her class status. She said that her class status was also office worker and that her father was an actor. Then, Du Hai asked what her father’s class status was. He had a mischievous look on his face and had an arm laying lazily on the desk behind him. Ji-li had a worried look on her face and I have seen that look on enough students to know that when they have that look, they don’t know what to say. She said that she didn’t know what her grandfather did… only that he died when her father was 7 years old. Du Hai stood up and swept his eyes across the class. He said that her grandfather was a landlord and that her father was a rightist. I knew that her grandfather was a landlord but her father, a rightist? I kept it to myself that I didn’t believe it because when I met Ji-li’s father for conferences sometimes, he seemed alright and didn’t say anything against Mao. But after Ji-li heard what Du Hai said and processed it in her head, she ran out of the classroom and that was the last I saw of her that day. At that moment, I half wished that class status’ didn’t matter because it cost Ji-li something that she really wanted… to be nominated as a red successor.
Ji-yong’s perspective
I was just eating lunch when Grandma said that she might need to get acupuncture and when I heard that, my ears perked up. Ji-li asked Grandma if she needed anything and Grandma said that she would be fine but an idea was forming in my head. Grandma said that Mom would take her to the clinic to get acupuncture when Mom got home. Then, I offered to drive the pedicab to the clinic for her since I had some practice and I feel confident about driving the pedicab, since Ji-li pointed out that Mom would get home late in the night. I also told her that I drove it a few times but when Grandma looked suspicious, I added that it was just for practice.
Once we got the pedicab, I showed them a confident smile but inside, I was feeling very nervous since this was my first time driving it with people actually in the cab. With my sisters pushing the cab and me driving it I felt confident. We stopped at the first red light, and when it turned green, I turned around and yelled, “PUSH!!!!!” We hit a second light without noticing and a truck driver yelled for us to move. Ji-li and Ji-yun fell behind but then I picked up some speed. When I turned around to smile and reassure Grandma, the cab jolted to the side and ran over the curb. Grandma yelled at me and told me to be more careful. I felt a little irony because I did feel some confidence but it was washed away like a sand castle on the beach when I hit the curb.
When Ji-li and Ji-yun, caught up at the next traffic light, I turned back and yelled for them to push the cab. When Ji-li said that I needed to go slower because I almost made Grandma fall out when the cab went over the curb. Grandma told them that I had promised to be more careful from then on. I gave them a sheepish smile but inside, I felt bad that I got distracted and made the cab hit the curb. Once we made it to the clinic with no more mess-ups, I felt some relief that I was out of the cab and nothing bad could happen. After Grandma got acupuncture, I drove her home and I was a lot more careful this time. When Mom asked, I told her the truth that it was easy and that we could do it again anytime she wasn’t home.
Deal or No Deal Reflection
Deal or No Deal relates to probability because it is more of a game of chance than a game of skill. You can bring a strategy to play the game but the only way to win is to pick random briefcases and hope that they aren’t the million-dollar briefcase. The best time to back out would be when you know that the million is out of play and the banker gives an offer that is as high as it gets before the offers start to decline. Some things that might influence the briefcase that somebody chooses might be what numbers they like, which ones are unlucky, how old they are, number of people in extended family, and so on. My strategy would be to try to get the million, but if the million is out of play, I would try to get the highest offer that the banker will give before they start to decline.
Shinto: The Way of the Kami
Look here to learn more about the background of Shinto in the Tokugawa Era: https://sway.com/IsBOBohK8JTVEGOF
EKprastic Poetry – Great Wave
The tide rolls in,
The tide rolls out
Waves grow bigger,
And slap ships around.
The waves stand tall,
Watching the world.
And in an instant,
They mightily fall.
Waves like hands,
Grasping for land.
Touching the shore,
And achieving their goal.
In my poem, “The Great Wave”, I was thinking about what it would be like watching the waves in the painting from shore. An example of figurative language that I used was the simile when I was comparing the waves to hands. A sound device that I used was rhythm. In the first stanza, all the lines had four syllables. In the second stanza, there are 5 syllables in the first, third, and fourth lines and 4 syllables in the second one. In the last stanza, the syllables go 5 syllables in the first line, 4 in the second and third and 6 in the last. A theme in my poem is to keep going, as the waves kept grasping for land and eventually hit the shore.
53 Stations of the Tokaido Road
There are a few connections from The Ghost in the Tokaido Inn at some of the stations on the Tokaido road such as Station 47, Kameyama. Seikei stops at Kameyama on he and his dad’s trip to Edo. The whole book is about the crime that was committed in the inn in Kameyama. Seikei thought that he saw a jinkininki outside of his room the night that the ruby disappeared. Judge Ooka found a tunnel in the inn that led to a monastery where a troupe of actors slept the night before. The book was built on the foundations of what happened in Kameyama… The missing ruby, a tunnel to a monastery, the fact that a troupe of actors performed a play the night before and slept in the monastery where the tunnel led, all that led up to Judge Ooka and Seikei following the theif to Edo and finding out his motives.
There are several interesting facts that I learned about the stations of the Tokaido road. I learned that the first station of the road begins in Edo and that there was a bridge in the middle of the city. The bridge is the beginning of the Tokaido road. I also learned that station 39, Okazaki, had a castle that was the birthplace of Tokugawa Ieyasu. He was the founder of the Tokugawa Shogunate. He also became shogun and took credit for what Oda Nobunaga and Toyotomi Hideyoshi helped create – the 66 provinces of Japan united into a feudal agreement.
Flatland Pictures
Top View
Bottom View
Front View
Back View
Right View
Left View
Renga Poem
As the snow falls forth
covering what was made then
plant life comes again. AG
If the night is chilling now,
the plants will hold off longer. CR
I see snow melt and the life
of plants come again. AG
Touring 18th Century Edo
I decided to write about and research the temple of the 47 Ronin or Senkakuju. A lord called “Kira” was visiting the Shogun’s palace and was insulting a Samurai called Asano. Kira purposely knocked off his sandal but made it look like an accident and told Asano to put it back on. Asano lost his temper and drew his sword and injured Kira but had to do seppuku for drawing weapons in the house of the Shogun. His 47 retainers became ronin, samurai without a master, and swore to avenge their master. One ronin, Oishi, made a plan so for a year, the ronin were humiliated and insulted and treated badly. The ronin met at the house of Kira once a year passed and found him. Oishi offered him to do the honorable thing, seppuku but he begged for mercy so Oishi killed Kira. The ronin had to commit seppuku too because they killed Kira but they were honored because they endured many insults and misery to avenge their master.