Cover Letter

A letter to my Professor Kelly Rowley

Dear Professor Rowley,

 

  This is my second time chose your class, and I am so happy I can took your class again. Because I am an international student, so writing is a little bit difficult for me, such as the grammar, I always want to express many things and ideas but I can’t write right sentences. In last semester I took your English writing class, it is a huge improves for my writing, so in this semester beginning I took your class again, because your class is so popular, I am so hard to enroll, but finally you give a seat. At this semester beginning, with a grateful mood to complete every class and homework, I have confidence in your class I can improve my writing level again, and in fact it is. I feel better in my writing before start, for the grammar, express, form, everything you taught me I pay attention on it, I am so glad I can learn with you.

 

  Talking about what I learned in this class, there are many things I can write, because in this class, I am not just learned about writing skills, also learned many other things, in this semester we have three group work, I did many presentation before, but just few times for group work, three times group work let me know the benefit of team work, I enjoy in it also learned many things from other people. For writing I am step by step to improve it, the grammar and skills, also the form, how to quote resource and works cited. After this semester I feel my writing is better than before, maybe I can’t improve to the professional level, but I work hard on it, and with my professor I have confidence I can complete it.

 

  In my future there must have many essays or research paper waiting for me, so for me, have a nice writing skills is important, also I need it in my whole life. Writing it is not just for class, in the future, for study, for work, for everything I need it, because it is a base skill, this class help me more and more, it is like a cornerstone in my English life, build this stone be nice, then I can build many building on it, so I am very luck can meet professor Kelly, teach me attentively and have patiently explained, she gives many me confidence and courage at I starting in this school, also I have nice plan in my future.

 

 

 

Sincerely,

 

 

Ke Ning

 

Who We Really Are

Who We Really Are

  In the novel, The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, author Robert Louis Stevenson emphasizes the good and evil sides of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Even though he is at first excited about being able to change into Hyde, he is later in agony as the evil side takes over. In people’s view Dr. Jekyll is a nice and perfect man, but in reality he is partly a violent and cruel person. Dr. Jekyll is scared of showing his dark side to people, because he fears they will spurn him. Therefore, he creates Mr. Hyde and he enjoys being Mr. Hyde’s because he can do everything he wants in Mr. Hyde body. But, since Hyde’s actions are not accepted by society, Dr. Jekyll must kill himself in order to restore his good name. Stevenson ultimately shows that in order to be accepted by society, we must keep our deepest desires in check, even if this means holding back who we really are.

 Dr. Jekyll is a knowledgeable, respected celebrity with extraordinary ability in London. At the start of the novel, Stevenson shows us a perfect man, Dr. Jekyll: “And the person that drew the cheque is the very pink of proprieties, celebrated too, and (what makes it worse) one of your fellows who do what they call good” (5). During the novel, Dr. Jekyll enjoys being Mr. Hyde, but he still has a conscience, Stevenson describes how Jekyll feels “and I began to spy a danger that, if this were much prolonged, the balance of my nature might be permanently overthrown, the power of voluntary change be forfeited, and the character of Edward Hyde become irrevocably mine”(60). Dr. Jekyll knows he can’t control Mr. Hyde anymore. If he still drinks the poison belong to Mr. Hyde he won’t came back to Dr. Jekyll. Even though he enjoys transferring to Mr. Hyde, he kills himself if because Dr. Jekyll is conscience is so strong that he is willing to destroy himself to get rid of his dark side. At first I despised Dr. Jekyll because he escaped from the reality and used Mr. Hyde to hide his crime, but in the end he confess everything, it makes me feel very surprised and then I admired him. Not everyone in the face of his evil side can overcome it; he is a brave man.

  Everybody detests a person like Mr. Hyde, but in my opinion Mr. Hyde is a pitiful person more than a hateful one. There is a sentence in China, “Poor people must be of the hateful.” But I think for Mr. Hyde is “Hateful people must be of the poor.” Mr. Hyde is a cruel person and sloppy. In society there are many people like Mr. Hyde, some are truly evil, but others just act bad to protect themselves. In the article “Creating the False Self”, author Harville Hendrix talk about how children create a “false-self” and show it to their family and friends. They create a false self to protect themselves from getting hurt by others. Dr. Jekyll created Mr. Hyde, his evil side, to do those bad things. By doing this he is protecting his good side and his honor. I said Mr. Hyde is a poor person because all the evil side of Dr. Jekyll is on him when he is create by Dr. Jekyll, so he has no choice. He trampled the young girl and murdered Carew like a puppet controlled by Dr. Jekyll. In the end, Dr. Jekyll felt Hyde was out of control, so he killed him. In this way, Hyde is a person to be pitied.

   Nobody wants to show their evil side to people, nobody want to have an evil side, we cannot express our evil side, because we need to live in this society, need to earn money, need to protect ourselves, so we create a “false-self”, our shadows. On the one hand we can protect ourselves, hide our real emotions. On the other hand, we can do hard those things that we want which are not accepted by society. I heard a sentence like that “when people see good, they expect good. And I don't want to have to live up to anyone's expectations.” Dr. Jekyll in people’s view is a perfect person. People can’t accept that he makes mistakes or does something wrong; therefore, Dr. Jekyll, in order to keep his perfect reputation alive in people’s expectations he created Mr. Hyde. But who are we? We live in a society or family and friend’s expectations? Why do we need to hide our real emotions to become a masked man? I don’t like people who want fame and wealth and fake like they are good man. That makes me disgusted; I don't have to do something just to fit in. But in fact the truth is we must keep our deepest desires in check, even if this means holding back who we really are. In the novel The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, I admire Dr. Jekyll but also very sympathetic to him, because he needs to secret his desires for keep fame and wealth, so he lives in a mask to be a good man. For Mr. Hyde I appreciate and also pity him. I appreciate he for he can do those things he wants. Even though something is bad, I pity him because he has an evil side and cannot be accepted by society.

  The ending of the story of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde makes me so sad. Dr. Jekyll drank a potion, and then changed himself into an evil man. He hovered between good and evil all day long and his guilty feelings always tortured himself. Finally, he can’t bear the condemnation from his heart, so he takes poison to commit suicide. Actually, we all are people like Dr. Jekyll, everyone has the evil side. We just can control ourselves; we have a rational mind to judge right and wrong. Our thinking dominates our behavior to do the things that are right. But sometimes, we also need a method to release emotions, and we need to choose a way that is correct and appropriate. If not, we will also become like Dr. Jekyll, and feel repentant in our lifetime. We need keep sober and have a clear-head to make sure who we are.

Works Cited

Hendrix, Haville. "Creating the False Self." Meeting the Shadow: The Hidden Power of the Dark Side of Human Nature. Eds. Connie Zweig and Jeremiah Abrams. New York: Penguin, 1991. 49-52. Print.

Stevenson, Robert Louis. The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. New York, NY: W.W. Norton &, 2003. Print.

Memorial Record History

Memorial Record History

Memorial spaces are important for recording the history. In an article “The Spontaneous Formation of Memorial Space.” The Case of Kikar Rabin, Tel Aviv,” author Azaryahu Maoz said “Spontaneously constructed memorials figure in the geography of contemporary popular culture as an authentic articulation of public sentiments.” There are lots of memorial spaces in the world, such as the Metropolitan Museum and Chairman Mao memorial hall. Every year lots of tourists come to these places to visit. They not only bring large amount of revenues for a country, but it also tells people the history and culture of a country. This is import become record history.

There are two important reasons that memorial spaces are important for remembering significant moments. For the first, memorial keeps some materials, which are used in significant moments. It can be illustrated through War Memorials. Lots of War Memorial spaces collect guns or other weapons used in the war. Although the wars are historical events, the materials used in the war can recall the memory of the people fighting in the war. Author Kim, Suk-Young, in his article named “Staging the Cartography of Paradox: The DMZ Special Exhibition at the Korean War Memorial, Seoul” said “The Korean Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) may be a small strip of land, but it is one of the most dramatic spaces on earth, simultaneously standing for the devastating traumas of war and an activist movement for peace and environmentalism.” When people see the guns or knives, they see the repeat of history. It is so lively, it gives people unlimited space to imagine the memory. You can see from these images, the site is so raw and almost archaeological, because by seeing all the materials you can get a real feel from them about the bloody fight scenes. Author Jake Barton in his TED talk, “The Museum of You," identifies that memorial spaces are important for remembering significant moments. For another thing, in memorial spaces, it records the process of significant moments. It can be illustrated through museums. In most museums, there are collections of lots of historical relics. Beside the historical relics, it attaches the written history of the relics. The written introduction explains why the relics have significance in marking the events. It also indicates the value of the relics. The introduction can make people know the origin of the relics and some historical events. It is important in recording the large historical events. Therefore, it is important for remembering significant moments.

 

It is well known that Chairman Mao is the greatest man in China. Under his leadership, the old and poor China becomes a new society. Nowadays, China has become a large and rich country; it cannot separate from the contribution of Chairman Mao. China wants all of its descendants to remember the great leader; so it has constructed Chairman Mao memorial hall in Tiananmen Square. The Chairman Mao memorial hall is a typical presidential memorial. It is located in Beijing, which is the capital of China. In the hall, it keeps the body of Chairman Mao. The Chinese government uses the advanced technology to make the body of Chairman Mao fresh as 30 years ago. When people come to this presidential memorial, they can see the real appearance of this great leader. It is totally different than photos. Also, in the memorial hall, it records the classical sayings of Chairman Mao. It always reminds every Chinese person how Chinese society is progressing day by day. The Chinese people cannot forget the history. Everyone needs to work hard for the society, so it can progress continually. This memorial hall has great significance for China in this way. For foreigners, the Chairman Mao memorial hall records the darkest history of old China. It also tells them about the great leader and how he changed all of the dark life of China. It has historical significance for the entire world.

 

Every year, there are a large amount of people who come to visit the Chairman Mao memorial hall. It includes lots of Chinese people, but also, many foreigners. The Chairman Mao memorial hall is located in the southern part of the heroes monument in Tiananmen Square. Tiananmen Square is the largest city center square in the world. Every morning, the Five-Starred Red Flag rises in the Square. It shows China is also rising sharply in the global world. Combined with Chairman Mao’s appearance, This memorial attracts numerous foreign tourists and patriotic personages to attend. All of them deem it is not only a great architectural wonder in China, but also an important space for remembering the history of old China and recording the progress of new China. The creator of the Chairman Mao memorial hall, YangYanBao who created that hall wants all Chinese people to have the spirit of heroes in old China. They should know the thoughts and classic sayings of Chairman Mao. On the whole, the creator wants to use this hall to stimulate the societal progress of China. That is why it is important as a memorial.

 

This essay deeply discusses the importance of memorial spaces for remembering significant moments. Memorial spaces can record historical events and show the materials of the events, so it can give people a place to learn about the events. The Chairman Mao memorial hall strongly demonstrates this. It always reminds every Chinese person of the dark history of old China and the spirit of Chairman Mao. That is what attracts tourists every year. For China, and even for the world, this memorial hall has significance to record Chinese history.

 

 

Works Cited

Azaryahu, Maoz. "The Spontaneous Formation of Memorial Space. the Case of Kikar Rabin, Tel Aviv." Area, 28.4 (1996): 501-513. Web. 18 March. 2014.

Barton, Jake “The Museum of You." TED. May 2013. Lecture. 18 March. 2014.

Kim, Suk-Young. "Staging the 'Cartography of Paradox': The DMZ Special Exhibition at the Korean War Memorial, Seoul." Theatre Journal, 63.3 (2011): 381-402.  18 March. 2014.

Technology and Addiction

Technology and Addiction

Technology is around us everywhere; right now we can’t leave it, and we can’t drop the technology, such as social networking, video gaming, TV. Technology like social networking provides a convenient place for interpersonal communication; it’s a realistic society new social mode. In my opinion, the development of science and technology is good for people, but the disadvantage of the technology is many people are becoming addicted to it. Addiction to technology, like social networking, is inevitably exacerbated in some aspects of social alienation. However, the virtual social communication cannot replace the real social. Otherwise, excessive dependence on social networks will reduce the ability of the people to interact face-to-face, especially young people.

  Technology may make the reality of human emotion atrophy and communication ability degrades. In real life, interpersonal relations are very complicated, the exchanges between people are always done with great care, and the social networking society provides us a wide, safe and hidden communication platform. In time and space, perception of virtual social networking, unlimited extension of the virtual social network is easy to make people more distend because. Some people would rather stay at home and use networking software than go out with friends, some people even go all night to play the online gaming at home rather than go out with the family to have a meal. In the article “A New Addiction for Teacher Candidates: Social Networks” authors Cam, Emre, and Onur Isbulan said “With the transition to being a knowledge-based society, the internet usage has become an irreplaceable part of life. As socials networks have come into our lives, the internet usage has taken a different dimension. The process that starts with membership then turns into an addiction. The internet addiction is along with the addiction to social networks.” Although social networking provides us with a virtual social commination, we still should limit the time on technology of social networking or online gaming, because we need holding back this addiction.

  Social networking desalination weakens the ability of interpersonal skills communication, also internet addiction makes it so people cannot distinguish between real life and the network world. Frequent interpersonal communication on social is easy to neglect; we always let it become habit. This can distance us from people physically and psychologically making us alienated from real life, caused psychological loneliness and depression. Some people will become depressed, lose interest in real life and lack energy to study or do other things, People who are always addicted in the virtual world start to lose social skills. Now many, people are beginning to become addicted to social networking; social networking captures people's attention, while learning and work efficiency decreases. This can cause the emergence of narcissism, obsessive compulsive disorder, attention deficit disorder, social phobia, depression and other "self-messy" phenomenon. Now, in America people want "social control.", if they do not check the mobile phone they can't feel at ease to eat, sleep. If there not on the Facebook to show themselves, they will feel uncomfortable; when they see their Facebook postings there are many responses or "like" (good / top) they would very glad. Neurology professor Larry Rosen of California State University Northridge thinks: more and more people are showing this phenomenon. Rosen called this phenomenon as "iDisorder." Rosen says the performance of the "iDisorder" phenomenon is due to the trial of high-tech equipment. Compare those two things we can know, although the network is developing, face-to-face is the best way for people to communicate, even though we develop a strong relationship with social networking, the texting or video call still can’t replace face-to-face to chat, also can’t deliver the real emotion, and if people use social networks for a long time they can easily develop an "iDisorder".

University Students have more free time. Some of the university students in the afternoon and evening often chat online or play online gaming. Social networking has high degree of openness and compatibility, to bring knowledge and convenience at the same time, but it also have many negatives. University students’ intense curiosity for new things, and for the things they have no accurate judgment, so if they become addicted to social networking, they become vulnerable to the erosion negative thoughts, and are unable to control their behavior. They make some bad choices, because of the negative impact of social networking; People may imitate each other’s bad behavior, resulting in vicious spiral. In the article “Internet Abuse and Possible Addiction Among Undergraduates” from Castiglione, James, he says “Findings – Anecdotal evidence has been accumulating for over a decade, suggesting that inappropriate use of the internet by college students may lead to adverse educational outcomes; however, very little empirical evidence is available to substantiate the phenomenon.” Compare many violent criminals from college students, we can know weak monitoring in social networking; the university students have low recognizing ability and poor self-control. We should prevent the university students’ technology addiction. We need to provide more to requirements for more stringent rules to guide the social function. To improve social networking literacy, it is necessary to correctly understand use technology.

  In the end, in my opinion, using technology is good for us, but we should limit the time and control the extent. With technology developing we can’t forget the original way for people to communicate is face-to-face. The emotions we gain from it are something social networking can’t provide it. In the meantime, when using social networking, we need to prevent “IDisorder” so we won’t suffer ill effects from social networking.

Works Cited

Cam, Emre, and Onur Isbulan. "A New Addiction for Teacher Candidates: Social Networks." Turkish Online Journal of Educational Technology - TOJET, 11.3 (2012): 14-19. Web. 16 Feb. 2014.

Castiglione, James. "Internet Abuse and Possible Addiction Among Undergraduates." Library Review, 57.5 (2008): 358-371. Web. 16 Feb. 2014.

Rosen, LD, K Whaling, S Rab, LM Carrier, and NA Cheever. "Is Facebook Creating 'IDisorders'? The Link Between Clinical Symptoms of Psychiatric Disorders and Technology Use, Attitudes and Anxiety." Computers in Human Behavior, 29.3 (2013): 1243-1254. Web. 17 Feb. 2014.

My neighboor

This is the first time I live in Northridge, I rent an apartment with my roommate, and with the question of my apartment there I have some opinions and suggestions.

  First of all, for my neighborhood, the streetlights are around the road and light the whole night, it is influence me when I go to bed. The second part is of my apartment facility, the gym, I think the property management of residents should renovation the gym, add some facilities or refitting it. Most important question of this apartment is the sound insulation is not good, maybe it is because of the build material is wood or something else, I think it is should be cement, because I always can hear some voice from my neighbor and other place, such as the car on the road which beside my apartment, sometimes on weekend there have some party in the swimming area or someone’s apartment, I can totally hear about what they said, those voice make me can’t have a nice dream. The last question of my apartment is the security. I saw many apartments of US are use key to come in and go out the gates; there have no security staff at the gates, many strangers who didn’t live in the apartment can with other people who open the gates come in together, I think it is not safe for residents security. In my opinion, I think there should have a security at the gates, the strangers who want to come in need check their ID or someone who lives in this apartment come to the gates pick him up, especial at night, there should have security around apartment. In total my apartment is nice in Northridge, but I want it become better, and I have a little request that is can permit the dogs come it or the residents can have a dog in apartment, that make me feel superb!    

Northridge Mall

Northridge mall

  At this weekend I with my friends went to Northridge mall, Northridge mall named Northridge fashion center, it is a nice shopping mall for Northridge, when I work in it, there have a big exhibition stand for a Jeep car,  in my left side, there have a spiral stair go to the second floor, it is a nice design of this mall. Inside of Northridge mall not have many superb layouts, all are the basic set up, but I prefer the outside. For the outside of this mall, there are many pathway can come in the main mall, such as in front of many restaurant, there have a cinema, beside the cinema have a way fall of shops, I can walk on this way and in the end it is an entrance of the main mall, it is can let consumers let nature take its course. Another part of I like it is in the center of Northridge mall have a fountain plaza and many chairs can let consumers take a break, then can choice a restaurant to have a meal.

 

 Around this mall have three floors, the basic layout is good, but it is a bit of chaos. Most of the foods shops and some stores are together, that make me confused about it, and I think they should have the restaurants area and the shops area, not combine together, and then consumers can know which area they should go. Northridge mall have many parking, but they don’t have a sign of those parking, so it is always let me forgot which exit is lead to my parking, also will let the consumers who first time come in Northridge mall confuse about the parking. Another part of my opinion is Northridge mall should have a child place, when the adult come to shopping, the child have no place to play, just can with their family but it is boring.

  Those are my view of Northridge mall, actually it is a nice mall, also the location is convenience for people.

My Dream House

  In the future, when i will live by myself, i have a dream house, after i finish my study will come back my country and build that house.

  In this house i don't how big is it, i have two ideas, one of it is build on the middle of a mountain, anther one is beside a river with a large garden. The first one should be terse style of the whole house, but the second one i prefer Chinese style.

  Just with the different style,  but all the details is same. First i wanna some fresh windows, all the furniture are white or terse style. In the living room, i plan grow some kind of flowers and plants, and there have two chairs beside those plants, above those chairs and plants there have a large window on the roof, can let me in the night lay on the chair watch those stars. And in my bedroom, i don't wanna many things in it, just have the bed, sofa, chairs, and the french windows, when i wake up i can stand in front of the windows and enjoy those views. In my basement, i wanna create a small cinema, then i can watch many film i like in my cinema, also need a cellar collect many perfect wine in it. Maybe i can build a small gym in it, for me keep the weight and with friends do some sports. 

 The most important part of my house that is must be full of technology, such as i can control every furniture and facility with i stay outside. I can know the situation during i work out, before i come back i can use my phone to open the air condition in my bedroom,  when somebody stranger wanna come into house those technology facility can catch their photo and call the security. Anyway i can control all the things on my phone or laptop, make sure it is safely. 

  Those are my plan and design of my house, i don't need it in the main city of the main place, i just want it can give me the safely and comfortable, it's a real house, a home, not like a hotel. When i feel upset and irritability i can stay in my house with a peace and quiet place to have a break.