Oh my god, school IS drugs
Chinese--as a class, not a language--continues to bemuse and bewilder me. (OK, it bewilders me as a language, too, but I'm getting better.) Our first essay assignment is possibly the most cracked-out thing I've encountered in any of my Chinese classes here, and that's saying something. I, just- you guys have to read this. It's so beautiful. It goes on for two pages.
The story continues. . .
Twenty-five years have gone by. Little Honghong has now grown up, graduated from college, and become a "career woman". Twenty-five years is a long time, and so much has happened in her family, where her grandma once danced so gleefully . . .
Both of her grandparents had passed away before she started elementary school. First, it was grandpa, quite to everyone's surprise. Some say it happened on one unfortunate evening when the loud disco music and the bright, multicolored flashing lights in the living room fatally disrupted his delicately-maintained ultimate balance of "qi"; some say it was because he held his arms and legs for an awkward taiji pose for a bit too long one morning in the park and his body simply gave up. Whatever it was, he was gone, bringing with him the noise and the fun that had once filled their small house almost everyday. Smile quickly disappeared from grandma's face - Honghong vaguely remembered later - until one afternoon when she came home from the daycare, she could not find grandma anywhere in the house. Her father told her that grandma "had gone".
Background: This takes off from a lesson in our textbook in which an old couple is arguing about which is better, Tai Ji Quan or disco. Which is great, because now when I travel in China, I'll be prepared to ask the important questions like, "Where is the discotheque?"Honghong grew up with her father. Her friends at the boarding school wondered why at the end of each trimester it was always only her father who came to pick her up. She had to tell her friends that her mother had gone to a faraway land but would return home to see her someday . . . to give her a big surprise and a big hug . . .
Throughout the years, like everyone else - or so she believed - Honghong has had her share of life's dreams, frustration, fantasies, betrayals, joy, and sorrow.
She matured fast, mentally; faster than most girls her age.
Now, approaching thirty and enjoying a successful career, she has decided to remain single for the rest of her life. She realizes, finally, that she is genuinely happier this way.
Her decision is not received well by her father, however, who wept for two days after hearing the news. For it has been so long since he last saw a boisterous family gathering, enjoyed a warm and delicious family meal on Lunar New Year's Eve, or heard a child's cry in the middle of the night. Secretly, he has wished during all those lonely years that someday there would be noise and warmth in this old house again - the footsteps, the laughter, the music, and even the silly and loud arguments about something as trivial as some taiji moves or dance steps.
Unable to continue the conversation, Honghong decides to write down what she wants to say in a letter to her father.
On the same night but dozens of miles away, her father happens to be writing a letter to his daughter as well . . .
You are now either Honghong or her father.
Choose Your Own AdventureTM!If you are writing as Honghong, you want to let your father know that you can understand why after learning your decision to stay single he is disappointed and sad as your father, but you want to explain to him at least the following:
1. Your decision in relation to the bigger picture of the (ever-changing) society, culture, and tradition. You could argue, for instance, that your generation grew up at a time when rules and traditions were constantly challenged and often changed and that the times are different now. You could even attempt to define your own idea of "tradition" - if "tradition" is something that a people and society eventually have grown accustomed to, then your generation can be seen as "traditional" in its own way.
2. Why this is the right choice for you based on your knowledge, your beliefs, your observation of others, and your own experience in life. (You as "Honghong" certainly should know what "Honghong" has gone through, right?)
3. How and why being single does not necessarily make a person or her parents any less happy. On the contrary, you could argue, it could even make everyone happier and less stressful while going through life's journey, et cetera, et cetera.
If you are Honghong's father - well, argue everything "backwards", i.e. from her father's point of view.
Your letter should alternate between formal and casual styles of writing as the content of each passage dictates. It should appeal to both reason and emotions. Be sincere, and yet slightly manipulative at the same time. Be creative and imaginative, but make an effort to use the words and ideas from recent lessons and exercises.
Be sincere, and yet slightly manipulative. Oh my god. *weeps*
This is not an essay prompt, it is an epic. Someone's heart and soul went into this, and I have a horrifying feeling that I am LOOKING AT MY FUTURE. This will be me: an embittered college professor with failed dreams of authorhood, prone to fits of desperate weeping behind my office door as I survey the ruin that is my life, FOISTING BIZARRE ASSIGNMENTS UPON MY STUDENTS MY ONLY OUTLET FOR THE CREATIVE FIRE THAT STILL BURNS WITHIN.
AGH
--either that, or the prof just stole the plot from some soap opera he was watching on AZN. In which case, I'm saved!
...
Oh, and since we're on the subject of crack, Penny Arcade cracks my shit up. PART THREE. omg. asdflkjslkkl; YES.
The story continues. . .
Twenty-five years have gone by. Little Honghong has now grown up, graduated from college, and become a "career woman". Twenty-five years is a long time, and so much has happened in her family, where her grandma once danced so gleefully . . .
Both of her grandparents had passed away before she started elementary school. First, it was grandpa, quite to everyone's surprise. Some say it happened on one unfortunate evening when the loud disco music and the bright, multicolored flashing lights in the living room fatally disrupted his delicately-maintained ultimate balance of "qi"; some say it was because he held his arms and legs for an awkward taiji pose for a bit too long one morning in the park and his body simply gave up. Whatever it was, he was gone, bringing with him the noise and the fun that had once filled their small house almost everyday. Smile quickly disappeared from grandma's face - Honghong vaguely remembered later - until one afternoon when she came home from the daycare, she could not find grandma anywhere in the house. Her father told her that grandma "had gone".
Background: This takes off from a lesson in our textbook in which an old couple is arguing about which is better, Tai Ji Quan or disco. Which is great, because now when I travel in China, I'll be prepared to ask the important questions like, "Where is the discotheque?"Honghong grew up with her father. Her friends at the boarding school wondered why at the end of each trimester it was always only her father who came to pick her up. She had to tell her friends that her mother had gone to a faraway land but would return home to see her someday . . . to give her a big surprise and a big hug . . .
Throughout the years, like everyone else - or so she believed - Honghong has had her share of life's dreams, frustration, fantasies, betrayals, joy, and sorrow.
She matured fast, mentally; faster than most girls her age.
Now, approaching thirty and enjoying a successful career, she has decided to remain single for the rest of her life. She realizes, finally, that she is genuinely happier this way.
Her decision is not received well by her father, however, who wept for two days after hearing the news. For it has been so long since he last saw a boisterous family gathering, enjoyed a warm and delicious family meal on Lunar New Year's Eve, or heard a child's cry in the middle of the night. Secretly, he has wished during all those lonely years that someday there would be noise and warmth in this old house again - the footsteps, the laughter, the music, and even the silly and loud arguments about something as trivial as some taiji moves or dance steps.
Unable to continue the conversation, Honghong decides to write down what she wants to say in a letter to her father.
On the same night but dozens of miles away, her father happens to be writing a letter to his daughter as well . . .
You are now either Honghong or her father.
Choose Your Own AdventureTM!If you are writing as Honghong, you want to let your father know that you can understand why after learning your decision to stay single he is disappointed and sad as your father, but you want to explain to him at least the following:
1. Your decision in relation to the bigger picture of the (ever-changing) society, culture, and tradition. You could argue, for instance, that your generation grew up at a time when rules and traditions were constantly challenged and often changed and that the times are different now. You could even attempt to define your own idea of "tradition" - if "tradition" is something that a people and society eventually have grown accustomed to, then your generation can be seen as "traditional" in its own way.
2. Why this is the right choice for you based on your knowledge, your beliefs, your observation of others, and your own experience in life. (You as "Honghong" certainly should know what "Honghong" has gone through, right?)
3. How and why being single does not necessarily make a person or her parents any less happy. On the contrary, you could argue, it could even make everyone happier and less stressful while going through life's journey, et cetera, et cetera.
If you are Honghong's father - well, argue everything "backwards", i.e. from her father's point of view.
Your letter should alternate between formal and casual styles of writing as the content of each passage dictates. It should appeal to both reason and emotions. Be sincere, and yet slightly manipulative at the same time. Be creative and imaginative, but make an effort to use the words and ideas from recent lessons and exercises.
Be sincere, and yet slightly manipulative. Oh my god. *weeps*
This is not an essay prompt, it is an epic. Someone's heart and soul went into this, and I have a horrifying feeling that I am LOOKING AT MY FUTURE. This will be me: an embittered college professor with failed dreams of authorhood, prone to fits of desperate weeping behind my office door as I survey the ruin that is my life, FOISTING BIZARRE ASSIGNMENTS UPON MY STUDENTS MY ONLY OUTLET FOR THE CREATIVE FIRE THAT STILL BURNS WITHIN.
AGH
--either that, or the prof just stole the plot from some soap opera he was watching on AZN. In which case, I'm saved!
...
Oh, and since we're on the subject of crack, Penny Arcade cracks my shit up. PART THREE. omg. asdflkjslkkl; YES.