Writing Minors

Some of you have asked about air quality:
 It has gotten worse since they turned the coal fires
 on to heat the city!  Here is a view from my classroom

Up until now, I’ve been teaching the Writing Majors.  They have been quite impressive: working hard and showing off their talents in English.  Their class ends this week, and I begin teaching the writing minors.  This is a very different group.  Some of them are excellent.  They’ve traveled. They are talented students who majoring in the hardcore sciences – so curious and smart.  Some, unfortunately want to minor in English for the cred that it brings in business or the educational setting, but either don’t have time or don’t want to put in the time that it will take to do well. 

The class meets once a week on a Saturday morning.  (Weekends mean nothing in China. I suppose that I should give them all credit for being willing to get up at 8:30 and take a class with me that lasts from 8:30 to 12.)  But many of them do their homework for other classes during that time, so that is a challenge.

The assignment was to write about themselves. My best paper came from Jessica.  She sits in the back, and so was a sort of surprise racehorse, when I sat down to grade the papers.  I had written her off as one of the students who sat in the back to avoid my watchful eye and cross demeanor, sending warning signals when I see an aeronautic or clinical medicine textbook open my class.

The instructions were first to come up with a random list of things about you.  Next, you had to look at the list and find categories that characterized you.  Ideally, you would come up with 2-3 traits that help me better see who you are.  This is what Jessica did with this assignment:

“When I’m supposed to choose two keywords to introduce myself, what comes to my mind are two things that I hold dear, one is a bedside lamp and the other is composing. There are so many stories related to each, I decide to choose both  to introduce myself.

My affection for bedside lamps has been deeply rooted since I was a little girl. As a kid who was imaginative, creative but very timid, I always had some illusions about darkness which would in turn successfully frighten myself. Every night when I lied on the bed and closed my eyes.  It felt like a dark hell where monsters and ghosts were haunting me and scaring me. It was not until my father bought me a bedside lamp that I ultimately get rid of the fear. The dim, soft halo served as the tranquilizer, comforting me and accompanying me to sleep. Every time I woke up in the middle of the night, the faintly lit bedside lamp was always there, guarding me against the horrible beasts I had just dreamed of.

As I grew up, I’ve forgotten many things, but the warm glow of light keeps shining in my memory, imperceptibly shaping my personality. Nowadays, the bedside lamp can be seen as a symbol of my personality.

If the chandelier is a celebrity, searchlight an adventurer, neon light a white-collar worker, then the bedside lamp is a recluse. Instead of blooming bustling parties, exploring the unknown places, or working for busy cities, they give warmth to the lonely night with their light. The quiet and introverted style of being is how I’m similar with bedside lamps. I prefer reading a book in the library at my leisure, which might sound antisocial to most people, in that it offers me a chance to have the animal warmth of the readers sitting right next to me and also sets me free to go roaming around the adventure land inside my own mind at the same time. As for me, introversion is just a way of working and living. I feel at my most alive, most switched-on and most capable when I’m in quieter, more low-key environments. The fact is that I can be bold and assertive too when it is necessary. I just prefer a quieter way of life and that is the point.

When it comes to composing, I’m a person who has been playing the violin for 15 years and once had an opportunity to assist my teacher to compose. I’d like to say that the process of composing is really a combination of instinct and intellect, which are also the two aspects of my personality. The process of composing can be generally divided into three steps: first, relying on instinct to formulate a basic skeleton of the song; second, depending on intelligence to connect various elements of the song; third, using both instinct and intelligence to rewrite some parts of the song. So a compulsory lesson for every composer is to strike a balance between instinct and intellect. To some extent, a great composer needs to be a great improviser with a mind of a chess master. He has the instinct to perfectly modify the original design; he also has the intelligence to pick out the discordant parts and adjust them into an organic integrity. The standard of being a qualified composer has deeply affected my personality, shaping me into that kind of person who is half romantic and half realistic.

These are the two things which have stayed in my memory and had an effect on the formation of my personality. From the two things, the symbols of my personality, you can get a general idea of what kind of person I am—— a quiet, half emotional and half rational girl.”

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The oddest came from Mart, another student who sat in the back of the class and does frequently have another text open – quite unengaged with the task of learning to write an English essay.  Their first assignment was an essay that introduced themselves to me.  Mart’s started out in a typical fashion, but quickly went sideways:

“I am a guy who always feel nervous and can’t sleep well because I overthink over all the things.  My name is Mart and I walked the world for 20 years. …  [ a little more introduction, and then…]

It is just like breath for me to start thinking, and I enjoy that feeling.  There is no doubt that I am thinking now, and I like the process of writing.  The storm of thoughts frequently come to me to understand myself.  This character not only gives me an opportunity to age firmly and rapidly but also creates some rubbish such as useless ideas and negative emotions.  I have thought about the difference between collectivistic government and capitalistic government.  All the world knows the two models work in different ways and there exist some conflicts between them.  I don’t care other countries, even all the human, I just wish my country and my nation grows in a rich and peaceful situation.  I worry about the future of my country, our nation can’t afford failure in the process of improvement.  You might accuse me of nationalism, but I will respond that you can’t imagine what a difficult way Chinese have already suffered and understand the strong expectation of the great Chinese Dream.  This is the power and energy of a nation to fight for the future.  The ideal result is that China is stronger than America and becomes the lead of peaceful world just like ancient times.  The worst result should be China is beaten by America and its partner countries.  [I, at this point, interjected in the margin:  There are other options, aren’t there?  I hope we don’t have to fight…] If that happened, no one can prevent America to earn more profits from other countries just like the past 50 years.   Every country will fight for themselves and the natural sources are limited so that conflicts and wars will happen.  What is the distinction?  Chinese way is more acceptable because our pattern is to build a system and make all countries improve faster.  But I will get the most from this system.  American way is to make full use of the present most advanced weapons to get more money from other countries.  Both of them want to create a suitable system, but Chinese pattern is suitable for the world ad American pattern is only suitable for itself.  Co-win should be the theme of the age. I also anxious about my own future.  Maybe the natural sexual desire leads me to think where is my girl-friend and how to get along well with her.  Then I worry about how to educate our children well and provide him with good condition to grow up…. In fact, my dear beautiful teacher, you don’t need to read my words above.  I just want to use the words as possible to demonstrate that I can really think a lot.  All of these thoughts, if I don’t meet likeminded people, I won’t speak them out because they are so subjective….”

My comments?  “Maybe organize your paragraphs around your political thoughts and your worries.  Remember, you’re writing an essay to introduce yourself to me, not an essay on China vs America.”  

We’ll see how this class goes!