Lies at Fukushima

Often times during a time of disaster, the government will cover up a horrible situation with lies. These lies are used with the intent to create a perception that the disaster isn't as serious and will calm the public and media down. A perfect example of this is the nuclear disaster at Fukushima, Japan as a result from the 2011 Tohuku earthquake and tsunami. There were only minor injuries caused by the earthquake but when the tsunami hit about 50 minutes later, the water flooded the low-lying rooms which contained the emergency generators. When the flooded diesel generators failed soon after, the power to the pumps that circulated coolant water to keep the fuel rods from melting was cut off. Therefore the next day, the rods overheated causing the nuclear plants to begin exploding and leaking massive amounts of radiation.

This is when the lying started. The TEPCO executives came in and said they had the situation under control and said that the level of radiation released was a manageable amount. The lying soon became obvious when scientists all around the world and the independent press began to investigate. Released readings weren't matching up and the Japanese government's cover ups were beginning to be exposed as false.

So why didn't the Japanese government and TEPCO just tell the truth? They didn't want to be embarrassed and didn't want to deal with all the troubles that are a result of the disaster.
Quite simply they lied because executives will be punished, stock prices will fall, it is bad for business, they receive horrible publicity, and they wanted to avoid legal troubles. All of these reasons were self centered and didn't take into account the lives that were being affected due to the radioactive substances released into the air, soil, and water which people depend on to live. Sadly, even two years later the problem still isn't solved nor does there seem to be any end in sight.

Gender Roles

Whether people want to face it or not, gender roles are still very prominent in todays society. Women are supposed to carry out the household duties, cook, clean, care for the children, and adhere to her husband. Husbands are "supposed to" work all day and just come home to their loving wife. As a result stereotypes and generalizations are made. Women may be seen as weaker and less competent. However men may be viewed as the stronger and more competent one, but yet they are shown as pathetic characters who can't cook. (as shown in the botton right picture)



Though the three images are portrayed from a more western point of view, the stereotypes occur worldwide. Girls and boys are raised a certain way to fit the criteria a culture sets out for them and it is very unusual for a girl to assume a boy's job and vice versa. The story of Mulan especially stands out because she crossed the border of the perfect young lady she was supposed to become. Some women from strict cultures, such as the Chinese, don't fit the glove. Even though customs demand it, not all Chinese girls want to be that perfect daughter who acts, dresses, and serves to the men like a lady. Thankfully, the stereotypes have subsided a bit. They are still very prominent in today's society all over the world, but at least the situation has improved. At least it is acceptable for women to join the army now. But unfortunately stereotypes still remain. To this day women are still seen as less competent and weaker than the men out on the field beside them.



Gender stereotypes are difficult to fight out. It's plain fact that women are built differently than men and were made to serve different roles. However I believe that not all these roles should be set in stone and women should be able to make their decision of the type of life they personally want to live without society looking down upon them for crossing the line. I do realize that this is a lofty wish as cultures are not easily mended, but maybe one day women can stand closer to equal ground by men.

Living Hell

I don't have a distinct faith that I believe in. The only religion I somewhat understand is Buddhism because it is the dominating religion my Taiwanese family practices. Back in America, religion isn't a part of my life. However just like anyone, I have those days where I think "gee, this is what hell must feel like".

Typically six days a week I endure living hell. Fall seems like the worst season to have cross country. The heat and dust make running dirt trails seem horrible. Speed workouts on the track aren't any better. Cross country puts a whole new name on "track workout". Twenty 400s in three minute intervals, leaving less than a minute and a half of rest between each of them is quite simply, TERRIBLE. I've ran three seasons of track, and yet when the coach announces a track workout during cross country season I'm ready to go pick out what type of marble I want my tombstone to be made out of. The other terrible type of speed workout are timed miles on a hilly terrain such as on Thompson in Browns Valley. After about the third mile repeat, each mile seems to feel like the length of California and it is always when you start to slow down out of exhaustion, that our coach comes out of nowhere on his bike and yells at you to pick up the pace.




The only thing worse than exhausting speed workouts are the races. It truly sucks when you have to hike a mile uphill just to get to the starting line and you're already tired before actually racing. What makes cross country an extremely hard sport is that it's not only physical strength but also mental. Without being mentally motivated to run, the task becomes impossible. Getting on the start line with over a hundred girls at big invitations such as the Stanford Invitational (picture below), is beyond intimidating. At races like this, it becomes apparent that cross country can actually be classified as a contact sport. The start is full of tripping and elbowing, often causing false starts when whole groups of runners fall down within the first 100 meters.



So...why do people actually participate in this painful sport? Answer: WE'RE CRAZY.
Through the pain and sweat, somehow it feels so rewarding that we keep doing it over and over again. Now as the girls captain of cross country, I still look back on my years and wonder why I run cross country if it's living hell, but I have no better answer than there's something wrong with me.

A new era

Today in class we read "What, Me Care? Young are less Empathetic" which was published by Scientific America. The article discussed how newer generations are beginning to lose empathy due to the lack of being social, overuse of technology, and decrease in reading. Personally, I agree with much that was stated in this article as it does seem to be true that the younger generations are detatching themselves from the world, therefore losing their ability to show empathy. All I have to do is take a look around my school. Of course I'm not saying that the world is filled with cut-throat uncaring people. It just seems that this new era of technology is cutting people back from their ability to understand and show empathy for each other, which is one of humanity's first abilities.

I can agree with the author that the decrease in young adults reading literature has led to the downward scale of empathy, but I think the root of the problem began with technology. In this new technological era, the way humans were designed to interact, care, and show empathy for each other is being crushed. Of course there are some benefits to interacting with the wider world over the internet, as touched upon in the Stanford Daily. However it is often that this isn't the case. The increase of technology and social media has sent the world astray. No longer do people talk face to face and interact with each other as much as before. What seems even more far fetched is internet dating. What happened to meeting that special somebody without the help of a machine? This lack of empathy is growing so much that it can even be classified as some sort of disease.

Unfortunately the younger generation isn't headed towards a very good path either. It is now extremely common to see little kids playing with their parent's smart phone and already, at such a young age, they can work it better than many adults. Already attached to technology, kids will undoubtedly grow up to rely on technology. They will lose their ability to communicate comfortably when faced to speak to their co-workers or their boss in person. As the years pass by, a smaller amount of people are reading fiction. Scientific America revealed that people who read less fiction tend to be less empathetic. Bottom line is that people need to start tuning back in with the real world and perhaps put down that technology and actually be social the correct way. In other words, be more "human".

Common Humanity

In class on Monday we read "On Compassion" by Barbara Ascher and that evening we were assigned to read "The Human Cosy of an Illiterate Society” by Jonathan Kozol. Though Ascher's essay was about two homeless men and Kozol's work was about the illiterate population, they actually were quite similar. Both of these authors were able to portray their message, drawing on the reader's sympathy through the use of relatable stories.

Both of these two works are reminding us that no matter how different people are through race, language, cultural, and class, we are still nonetheless equal due to our common humanity. Ascher reveals this common humanity through compassion. However, she does not believe that a person is born with it. Instead she says that people begin to acknowledge the existence of helplessness and become familiar with it enough to "begin to identify and empathize with it". To get her point across, she used the story of the two homeless men who are granted with food and some food from the bakery. By using this story, she is able to make her reader understand, because pretty much anybody has either helped out a homeless person by giving them money or seen someone else do so on the street.



In Kozol's work about illiteracy, just like Ascher, he helps his reader understand his message by making his examples relatable. It is easy to take simple things like being able to read a menu, fore granted. Personally, this essay couldn't be more relatable. Each summer I go to Taiwan and I live the life as an illiterate. There are just so many Chinese characters that I still  don't know and I constantly have to primarily rely on my speaking abilities.





However, Kozol is still able to allow people who haven't been in that position be able to understand and sympathize for the illiterate population. It is due his incorporation of examples in which people struggle with what seems to simple, that allow people to comprehend and identify the hardship. And just like what Ascher preached, once the hardship is understood, people are able to show compassion or sympathy. Kozol's work may have a more fearful tone than Ascher's, but the feeling of fear is a commonality that humanity shares. Both these essays take a play on emotions of sadness  and fear, putting the reader into a position to question what it would be like if they were put into the more unfortunate position. I'm sure Ascher would agree that once a person understands the hardship, it is no wonder why someone would reach out to help someone, whether it be through some spare change or translating a sign for an illiterate.

Salzburg

Two summers ago, Napa Valley Youth Symphony went on its first international tour. We traveled to Salzburg, Vienna, and then Prague. Despite the fact that I got sick and refused to eat all the fried food we were served, therefore losing five pounds over the course of ten days, it was the most memorable trip of my life. But don't be alarmed, I gained back all the weight that was lost and more once I went to Taiwan two weeks later when my grandma's only mission in life became to fatten me up.

The first city we visited was the city of Mozart: Salzburg. Right before we left the hotel to go to a nice restaurant, it started POURING. Do not underestimate the word pouring because I had never endured such fierce rain, and this is coming from someone who has endured countless typhoons in Asia. Since the streets are so old downtown, the buses couldn't travel very close to the restaurant and we were forced to walk the rest of the way. It was raining so hard that all of our rain gear, jackets, and umbrellas, became useless. By the time we entered the restaurant's staff was horrified to see that every piece of clothing we had on was DRENCHED. We were literally ringing our hair out on the front porch of the historical building. On the second day in Salzburg the weather cleared up and presented us with the perfect weather to complete a walking tour of Salzburg's castle, cathedral, squares, and gardens.

By that evening all of us were exhausted from jet lag and the afternoon of walking all over the city primarily up the stairs of the grand castle. Lucky for us, we had a performance that night. If the church didn't have so much echo, all of our mistakes due to pure exhaustion would've been all too obvious. Once we finished what seemed like the longest performance of our life, many youth symphony members said they didn't even recall playing parts of piece because they just zoned out. There was even a point in Mendelssohn's Reformation Symphony where I was the only first violin who didn't miss our entrance. Even though it was a performance that people could hardly even stay awake for, it is somehow the performance that nobody can forget.

After a good night of rest, we were off to spend three days in Vienna and another three memorable days in Prague. Below is a picture during our dress rehearsal before our grand performance in Vienna as the finale performance of the International Mahler Music Festival.

That devious boy

In Elementary school, pretty much every girl has endured that annoying little boy in their class who had a crush on them. Sadly as we have all learned, elementary school boys aren't exactly the best at flirting. By second grade, the idea seems to develop around the lines of if I poke her 100 times to get her attention, then she'll like me. These boys become the devil you don't want to get icky cooties from.

Ten years later, these girls still remember those sad stories when their fellow boy classmates went through unusual trouble to get their attention. Of all the weird ones I endured at Alta Heights Elementary School, the craziest one occurred when I was enrolled in school in Taiwan during the winter of second grade.

On my first day of school in Taiwan, my mom and the school principle walked me to my new homeroom classroom at the four story elementary school. Upon entering, every pair of almond shaped eyes turned to look at me. Never have I ever felt so white in my life. This was an unusual feeling since I had always been pegged for my half-Asian background. But at this moment, I felt like the only American on the face of the planet. I looked at the green chalk board and saw math far beyond my abilities, realizing I had entered a world future Einsteins. (Below's picture isn't actually my classroom but looks similar. Only difference is that the students at my school had to wear blue and white uniforms.)



After shyly introducing myself and taking my seat in the back, I endured two hours of pretending that I understood the textbook while the students around me recited the text loudly in unison. I learned at a young age what it felt like to feel like an idiot. I endured this feeling of stupidity for a month. The only exception was English class, the only class I aced.

To my surprise I actually didn't have trouble making friends at this school. Everyone was interested in getting to know the American girl with naturally brown hair who could run faster than most of the boys. However, there was this one boy who never came close but still managed to make me nervous even if he was clear across the classroom. One afternoon during a break in between classes I went back into the classroom to fetch something from my backpack. When I looked up from my bag I noticed that boy standing in front of me smiling. I was confused by it, but thought maybe he wanted to be friends! Before any second thoughts, he grabbed me by my left arm with such force that I fell to the dirty cracked concrete ground. Instead of stopping and helping me up, he kept hold of his death grip on my arm and began running. He kept running and dragging my small body until he gave me the full tour of the amount of dirt on the ground between all eight rows of desks. By the time he finally stopped I was kicking, screaming, and crying. Scared and struck with disbelief, I looked up and saw that boy smiling. It was then that our second grade teacher walked in the classroom to find me terrified, crying on the floor covered in dust and dirt with that boy standing over me smiling like an idiot.

It wasn't until after my teacher shooed out that boy and cleaned me up that she explained to me the boy's reasoning to perform such a crude act. She tried to explain how that boy had a major crush on me and didn't know how else to confront me. As the victimized second grade girl, I was having none of it. Why would any boy do such a thing to a girl they had a crush on? I refused to believe her. That boy was the devil. But what I did learn was that a second grade boys' inability to flirt with a girl is universal.

The next winter when I went back to Taiwan, I once again went to school there for a month. Being in a new third grade advisory room felt like starting over, since I got to meet many new people. One afternoon, about a week into my month at the school, when I was walking up to the third story to get to a music class with some of my friends, I made eye contact with a boy in the hall. To my horror it was THAT BOY. Yeah, THAT devil. Except this time, to my delight, he exclaimed my name, dropped his food on the ground, and took off running in the opposite direction.