Monday, September 24, 2018

Monday, September 17, 2018

Sept. 17 (M) 2018 多少人五詭搬運?



Bertrand Awr Or just accept new immigrants of the rich, the privileged, the powerful, and the dominant few from countries where they drain out of their motherland’s resources?

多少人五詭搬運其母國資產, 到美國來進貢, 以購買個次次等公民牌照 (如果您是非白人,
除非是諾貝爾獎得主, 或特異人士), 多半充當個武陵遊魂? 美國焉能不美??

Note: 美國表面的微笑, 難掩其內在種/國族, 族群, 社會階級壁壘分明的實質運作. 此類研究著作, 汗牛充棟. 有興趣者可網上查詢. 持平之論. 此非美國獨有的現象.

至於軍售大事: 販賣武器, 是此國至高無上的賺錢工具, 與最迷人的公開機密
(民主與共和兩黨, 大概是有五十笑百步之別.) 點滴訊息給充満 "美的" 幻想者一奌考慮空間.


Bertrand Awr We have not progressed into a global village yet...
Other countries' brain/resource drain, obviously, is a big gain to the US. but also creates internal competition and grudges from individuals.


Bertrand Awr You asked "What about you?" - Me? A cultural sojourner who came here with a scholarship and a luggage (not two) from Taipei Taiwan, plus my mother's tears and anxiety ...


Bertrand Awr I do hope America will be great again

- in the near future....

Monday, September 3, 2018

Sept. 3 (M), 2018 Revised: The Monkey in The Classic Novel: Journey to the West




あの娘と僕 (Japanese oldies) /
臺語 (Taiwanese) : 水噴噴 Monkey in the Journey to the West 
Composer:吉田正  よしだ  ただし 
Lyricist:     佐伯孝夫  さえき  たかお
Singer/清唱者: Dr. Xena LCH #178b


拗ねて   渚      に 来 たもの  の    炎     の   ような   波頭         
追って   き てくれ    きてほしい                           
感   じが   でないよ   一   人    では
青 い    この 海       君 のもの
渚   は  恋 の  パラダイ  ス
------------
なんで   拗ねたか     考  え    りゃ   
この 僕  ちょっと   恥ずかしい                     
好きだ   からこ そ  妬けもして                 
嫌 い    ぶって は   みたものの                                     
可愛 い  笑くぼ が   眼 に 浮かぶ   
渚  は  恋 の   パラダイス

Wednesday, August 29, 2018

Aug. 27 (M), 2018 What does the Day-one of Crystal's Sociology class look like ?

I just converted the Day One of my first week PowerPoint into a video to share. (Will convert my Art Appreciation soon.)
Cannot wait to meet my two face-to-face Introductory Sociology classes tomorrow.


Some messages were hidden in the video, alas... (The sound and music was not recorded, otherwise, fantastic, after a long term design:)! )

Some information was incorporated from philosophy, psychology, visual arts, as well as conferences I attended before.





70 slides on day one? Crystal, aren't you too greedy!!! ?
It happens all the time. So, nothing new.
Ya, Crystal tends to bite more than she can chew.
In fact, she may be able to cover 1/3 of it, at most, if she is good enough.

Tuesday, August 14, 2018

Aug. 14 (T), 2018 Songs for tonight あの娘と僕 (Japanese oldies) with 臺語 (Taiwanese): 水噴噴








My singing for tonight:

あの娘と僕 with 臺語: 水噴噴

Composer:吉田正 よしだ ただし
Lyricist: 佐伯孝夫 さえき たかお
Singer/清唱者: Dr. Xena LCH #178


拗ねて 渚 に 来 たもの の 炎 の ような 波頭

追って き てくれ きてほしい

感 じが でないよ 一 人 では

青 い この 海 君 のもの

渚 は 恋 の パラダイ ス

--------------

なんで 拗ねたか 考 え りゃ

この 僕 ちょっと 恥ずかしい

好きだ からこ そ 妬けもして

嫌 い ぶって は みたものの

可愛 い 笑くぼ が 眼 に 浮かぶ

渚 は 恋 の パラダイス                                                

Monday, August 13, 2018

Aug .13 (M), 2018 Odies for tonight - Good Bye (Japanese:十代の恋よさようなら; Taiwanese 臺語:可憐戀花再會吧)




十代の恋よさようなら
Composer:上原げんと  (うえはら  げんと   Gento Uehara )
Lyricist:石本美   由   起    ( いしもと  みゆき   Miyuki Ishimoto)
Time:1957

Singer/清唱者: Dr. Xena LCH #177

好きでならない 人なれど  非常喜歡的人,不過與其
別れてひとり 湖に   分手後,獨自一人來到湖邊
悲しく棄てる 男の涙    悲傷捨棄男人的淚水
ああ十代の 恋よさようなら  啊啊!年少的戀情,再會啦!

月の渚を さまよえば    如果徘徊於月色的湖畔
返らぬ夢を 慕うよに    戀慕著已逝不回的春夢
はぐれて一羽 啼く水鳥よ  就像一隻迷失路途而哀鳴的水鳥
ああ十代の 恋よさようなら  啊啊!年少的戀情,再會啦!

恋の名残りか むらさきの  依依不捨這份戀情嗎?於紫色的
りんどう風に 散る夜は林道風中,吹散的夜晚
瞼に沁みる ホテルの灯り  眼底已浸濕,旅館的燈光
ああ十代の 恋よさようなら  啊啊!年少的戀情,再會啦!

----------------------
In Taiwanese:

可憐戀花再會吧

作詞:葉俊麟
編曲:張乃仁


雖然是 無願意 佮伊來分離
一旦被風拆散去 
抱恨無了時 只好忍著 傷心淚 
孤單到湖邊 啊-啊薄命戀花 再會啊再會啊

雖然是十五暝月色帶柔意
水鴨單隻 在水墘聲聲訴悲哀
已經破去 青春夢 何必再想起
啊 啊....無緣戀花再會啊再會啊

雖然是 不得已 看破了情義
夜蟲因何嘆秋風 淒慘哭規暝
只是令人添稀微 大氣喘袂離
啊 啊....可憐戀花 再會啊再會啊

Aug 13 (M), 2018 The Governor and the Governed


Crystal Xena LC Huang shared a video. 2 hrs ·

Re-post:
Meanwhile, in Canada, the governors and the governed !



1,344,331 Views
Meanwhile in Canada
May 27 ·

Mother duck and her ducklings got a little help crossing the street in Stratford Ontario.
10You, Crystal Xena LC Huang, Jennifer White and 7 others


Crystal Xena LC Huang The progress of a nation manifests in how she treats the voiceless, the powerless, and the environment (for both human and non-human sentient beings) !

Carmen Hernandez Hurray 🇨🇦 🇨🇦🇨🇦🇨🇦🇨🇦🇨🇦

Crystal Xena LC Huang Protecting the family, in particular, when the breadwinner (such as, a male, in this case) is not available socio-econonomic-psychologically, racially, HIStorically, and Specieally (of Speciesism). 



Aug. 12 (Sn) 2018 Is teaching (or preferrably, Educating) a unique artform?




My innocent confession:

Educating/facilitating to me is a pure all-dimensional ArtForm (ya, we just covered in my Art Appreciation class last week- the Super Mixed Media) !!

I rarely find that educators intend to 誤人子弟 (mislead, or indoctrinate), except some ideologically embedded schools/edu- institutions.

Educating/facilitating to me is fun, inspiring, exciting and enlightening interactions with diversely precious souls that make you optimistically delightful and once in a while, stressfully frustrated. It is like creating a vase, from, identifying different types of clay, patiently kneading, pulling the cylinders, molding, shaping, bisquing, glazing, firing again, to, violaaa, expecting the expected as well as the variety of the Super UNexpected out of the kiln.

More properly speaking, it is like gardening as well. The issue is that in gardening you have the opportunity to choose seeds or species which you need, want, or love to plant and nurture, like teaching at the selected elite schools where students are quite homogeneous in terms of social class/cultural capitals, academic capacity/preparation...etc., unless you own and nurture an authentic prairie.

I have taught at high schools, 2-year and 4-year colleges. Most of them are open-admission institutions or with less selected criteria to meet the needs of the disadvantaged or under-privileged learners (Wow, what a lofty calling :D!) So facilitating students with diverse background can be like herding cats in the wilderness (in fact, I do like and herd many cats in the real life situation :) ). Due to the challenging nature of the diverse population, educating/facilitating turns the teaching/training into the Art of Educating.

An interesting phenomenon is that when I taught at 4-year colleges, I used one or two of my academic degrees and performed pretty well. Nevertheless, when I am teaching at a 2-year college, fortunately, I have the opportunity to mobilize what I learned from my 5 majors and 4 minors (which include 1.7 bachelor degrees, 3 master degrees, and 1.5 Ph.D degrees....Wowwww- oooouch!!), plus other life experiences, such as my military education background (a retired captain), cooking techniques, cross-cultural experiences, a minority's specific linguistic/artistic presentation and so on to engage "each" very different individual learner. They differ from having difficulty to read and write, up to the ones who are well-prepared and ready to transfer to a 4-year college.

I would like to join the kindred educator who won't deny "educating" being a Pure ArtForm. And an alert is that when this fun-exciting-enterprise turns into not so much fun due to variety of reasons beyond your control, what will you do next?
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Facebook posts:


Crystal Xena LC Huang

The coming semester will be my 21st years of teaching in the US.
(CVTC, UW-Stout, and Wayne State College) - 行不得已也哥哥地 - 楚犲晉佣, plus more than a dozen years of teaching in Taipei ( a retired captain as well), working at the Legislative Yuan (Congress of Taiwan), policy researcher at the Executive Yuan (the Central Government of Taiwan), and journalist at the Ta Hwa News. (Other trivial jobs were started when I was around 4 or 5 years of age - believe it or not, a happy-n-innocent child laborer of MIT/Made-In-Taiwan Nation.
Quite a blessed workaholic, am I not ?



Marian Smith I have started courses preparation too. Back to work!


Crystal Xena LC Huang I am lucky to have 6 with four preps (Art Appreciation, Diversity Studies, and Sociology for the basic, as well as for the transfer track in the face-to-face and online delivery formats). Many colleagues have 7. (I had 7 last semester).


Crystal Xena LC Huang A quick snapshot: Diversity Studies tend to be an exciting one facilitated by a non-native English speaking faculty ! Sociology, well, lots of adventures and delights (when helped by bio-economic-politic-psychology...), and Arts, less controversial (when taught by an "Artistic (not Autistic) Sociologist") with tons of fun - under the age of faked-ups. At the personal level, teaching truly enriches my life by the unique institution and students. I will write and share more regarding my enormous privileges in this field when time is appropriate, soon.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

A previous post -  a couple of days ago:

The coming fall semester will be my 16th year's teaching in Social Sciences and Arts at the current work-setting. There are 3 sages of experiences.
The first stage was passionately exciting, and the 2nd stage was energetically, joyfully glorious with 3 privileges of being nominated and won one excellent teaching award. (What a shameless self-aggrandizement !)
Sharing the 3rd stage: a recent 7-years' "peculiar" vicissitude with patience. Do you know why? What happened?

Aug. 12 (Sn), 2018 Pop-quiz for today



Crystal Xena LC Huang , 決勝千里之中, 運幬帷幄之外 - Name the top 5 tactics 以色列與南韓在美最常用的 among the 36.... Hints: below. (Attached photo was students and I in Taipei...mmm...long time ago).

勝戰計
一、瞞天過海︰備周則意怠,常見則不疑,陰在陽之內,不在陽之外。太陽,太陰。
二、圍魏救趙︰共敵不如分敵,敵陽不如敵陰。
三、借刀殺人︰敵已明,友未定。引友殺敵,不自出力。以損推演。
四、以逸待勞︰困敵之勢,不以戰﹔損剛益柔。
五、趁火打劫︰敵害之大,就勢取利。剛決柔也。
六、聲東擊西︰敵志亂萃,不虞,坤下兌上之象。利其不自主而取之。

敵戰計
七、無中生有︰誑也,非誑也,實其所誑也。少陰,太陰,太陽。
八、暗渡陳倉︰示之以動,利其靜而有主,益動而巽。
九、隔岸觀火︰陽乖序亂,陰以待逆。暴戾怒睢,其勢自斃。順從動豫,豫以順動。
十、笑裏藏刀︰信而安之,陰以圖之,備而後動,勿使有變,剛中柔外也。
十一、李代桃僵︰勢必有損,損陰以益陽。
十二、順手牽羊︰微隙在所必乘,微利在所勿得。少陰,少陽。

攻戰計
十三、打草驚蛇︰疑以叩實,察而後勤。覆者,陰之媒也。
十四、借屍還魂︰有用者,不可借。不能用者,求借。
            借不能用者而用之,匪我求蒙童,蒙童求我。
十五、調虎離山︰待天以困之,用人以誘之,往蹇來返。
十六、欲擒故縱︰逼則反兵;走則減勢。緊隨勿迫,累其氣力,消其斗志,
            散而後擒,兵不血刃。需,有孚,光。
十七、拋磚引玉︰類以誘之,擊蒙也。
十八、擒賊擒王︰摧其堅,奪其魁。以解其體。龍戰在野,其道窮也。

混戰計
十九、釜底抽薪︰不敵其力,而消其勢,兌下乾上之象。
二十、混水摸魚︰混水摸魚乘其陰亂,利其弱而無主。隨,以向晦入宴息。
二十一、金蟬脫殼︰存其形,定其勢,友不疑,亂不動,巽而止,蠱。
二十二、關門捉賊︰小敵困之,剝,不利有攸往。
二十三、遠交近攻︰形禁勢格,利從近取,害以遠隔,上火下澤。
二十四、假道伐虢︰兩大之間,敵脅以從,我假以勢。困,有言不信。並戰計
二十五、偷樑換柱︰頻更其陣,抽其勁旅,待其自敗,而後乘之。曳其輪也。
二十六、指桑罵槐︰大凌小者,警以誘之。剛中而應,行險而順。
二十七、假癡不癲︰寧偽作不知不為,不偽作假知妄為;靜不露機,雲雷屯也。
二十八、上屋抽梯︰假之以便,唆之使前,斷其援應,陷之死地。遇毒,位不當也。
二十九、樹上開花︰借局布勢,力小勢大。鴻漸於陸,其羽可用為儀也。
三十、反客為主︰乘隙插足,扼其主機,漸之進也。

敗戰計
三十一、美人計︰兵強者,攻其將;將智者,伐其情。將弱兵頹,其勢自萎。
                利用御寇,順相保也。
三十二、空城計︰兵虛者虛之,疑中生疑;剛柔之際,奇而復奇。
三十三、反間計︰疑中之疑,比之自內,不自失也。
三十四、苦肉計︰人不自害,受害必真。假真真假,間以得行。童蒙之吉,願以巽也。
三十五、連環計︰將多兵眾,不可以敵,使其自累,以殺其勢。在師中吉,承天寵也。
三十六、走為上︰全師避敵。左次無咎,未失常也。




Crystal Xena LC Huang A quote from the Art of War (by Sun Tzu): 兵者,詭道也。故能而示之不能,用而示之不用,近而示之遠,遠而示之近。(Attached photo was a military course regarding the "Trans-dimensional Warfare philosophy" with students in Taipei. I was on the right-hand side.)

All warfare is based on deception (sometimes, bluffing). Hence, when people are able to attack, they seem unable; when using forces, they appear inactive; when the enemy is near, you make them believe you are far away; when far away, you make them believe you are near. Here is a translated version by Giles: http://classics.mit.edu/Tzu/artwar.html



Crystal Xena LC Huang This takes - 5 minutes via a video version to get a tint of Sun Tzu:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hz4FNBj1APA This video does not represent the poster's ideas. See attached in the next post.

The Art of War is the most influential treatise on war ever written, consisting of 13 chapters, each of which is devoted to one aspect of warfare. The Treatise has shaped the way in which conflicts have been fought for thousands of years from the Japanese samurai to the Napoleonic war. Not only has the book influenced military commanders and generals all over the world, it has had resounding effects on politics, sports and business to this day. The following video gives key examples of Sun Tzu's most influential philosophies and strategies. These range from the Vietnam War to the coasts of Normandy in 1944.




Crystal Xena LC Huang https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hz4FNBj1APAManage



YOUTUBE.COM
Sun Tzu - The Art of War Explained In 5 Minutes

Sunday, August 12, 2018

Aug 12 (Sn) 2018 Folksong for tonight 花笠道中




Composer/Lyricist:  米山正夫 
Singer/清唱者:  Dr. Xena LCH  #175

これこれ 石の地蔵さん
西へ行くのは こっちかえ
だまって居ては 判らない
ぽっかり浮かんだ 白い雲
何やらさみしい 旅の空
いとし殿御の こころの中は
雲におききと 言うのかえ

もしもし野田の 案山子さん
西へ行くのは こっちかえ
だまって居ては 判らない
蓮華たんぽぽ 花盛り
何やら悲しい 旅の空 いとし
殿御の こころの中は
風におききと 言うのかえ

さてさて 旅は遠いもの
田舎の道は つづくもの
そこでしばらく 立ち止まる
流れて消える 白い雲
やがて蓮華も 散るだろう

https://youtu.be/vqmkRGL87nc

Aug. 12 (Sn) , 2018 Japanese Oldies: 潮来笠



潮来笠
omposer:吉田正  よしだ  ただし 
Lyricist: 佐伯孝夫  さえき  たかお
Singer/清唱者:  Xena LCH  #176

(1)
潮来の伊太郎 ちょっと見なれば
薄情そうな 渡り鳥
それでいいのさ あの移り気な
風が吹くまま 西東
なのにヨー なぜに眼に浮く 潮来笠
(2)
田笠の紅緒が ちらつくようじゃ
振り分け荷物 重かろに
わけはきくなと 笑ってみせる
粋な単衣の 腕まくり
なのにヨー 後髪引く 潮来笠
(3)
旅空夜空で いまさら知った
女の胸の 底の底
ここは関宿 大利根川へ
人にかくして 流す花
だってヨー あの娘に川下 潮来笠

https://youtu.be/p7TRJ2SZBi8

Tuesday, August 7, 2018

Aug. 7 (T), 2018 My singing for tonight: Dream Catcher





夢中人
Composer/作曲: 陳歌辛
Lyricist/作詞:       吳村
Singer/清唱:         Xena LCH # 173

月色那樣模糊 大地籠上夜霧
我的夢中的人兒呀 你在何處

遠聽海潮起伏 松風正在哀訴
我的夢中的人兒呀 你在何處

沒有薔薇的春天 好像豎琴斷了線
活在沒有愛的人間 過一日好像過一年

夜鶯林間痛哭 草上濺著淚珠
我的夢中的人兒呀 你在何處

 https://youtu.be/4SSlKR9VJC8

Aug. 7 (T), 2018 夢 My singing for tonight: Old Folks at Home


My sister 麗月shared a song with lyrics by Master monk 李叔同. The song was originated from an Ethiopian melody, translated into Old Folks at Home by Stephen Foster in 1851.


Master Li 李叔同 wrote with a classic-poetic style regarding children missing their parents.

Old Folks at Home originally was a Minstrel song, which was popular in the mid 19th century.


I recorded it today and share with you.



夢    Old Folks at Home
Composer/作曲: Stephen C. Foster
 Lyricist /作詞: 李叔同
Singer/清唱: Xena LCH  #173


哀遊子煢煢其無依兮,在天之崖。
惟長夜漫漫而獨寐兮,時恍惚以魂馳。
夢偃臥搖籃以啼笑兮,似嬰兒時。
母食我甘酪與粉餌兮,父衣我綵衣。
月落烏啼,夢影依稀,往事知不知?
汨半生哀樂之長逝兮,感親之恩其永垂。
哀遊子愴愴而自憐兮,弔形影悲。
惟長夜漫漫而獨寐兮,時恍惚以魂馳。
夢揮淚出門辭父母兮,嘆生別離。
父語我眠食宜珍重兮,母語我以早歸。
月落烏啼,夢影依稀,往事知不知?
汨半生哀樂之長逝兮,感親之恩其永垂。

-----------------
Old Folks at Home

Way down upon the Swanee River,
Far, far away
That's where my heart is turning ever
That's where the old folks stay

All up and down the whole creation,  Sadly I roam
Still longing for the old plantation
And for the old folks at home

All the world is sad and dreary
everywhere I roam
Oh brother, how my heart grows weary
Far from the old folks at home


Far from the old folks at home.
Chorus:
All 'round the little farm I wandered,
When I was young
Then many happy days I squandered,
Many the songs I sung
When I was playing with my brother,
Happy was I

Oh, take me to my kind old mother,
There let me live and die  One little hut among the bushes,
One that I love
Still sadly to my mem'ry rushes,
No matter where I rove
When shall I see the bees a humming,

All 'round the comb
When shall I hear the banjo strumming,
Down by my good old home

https://youtu.be/xmQr-XugCgg

Thursday, August 2, 2018

Aug. 2 (Th), 2018 August 1 - International Childfree Day


Crystal Xena LC Huang 

Meet with our Tweedledee and Tweedledum: Climate Change and Rapid Population Growth/ In-balance Growth:

Now my summer online Sociology is focusing on the last unit of learning- Population, Urbanization, Environment, and Social/Change Movements.

Then "August 1": To many individuals, indeed - what a tabooed topic !!
Institutionally, businesses, consumerism/super Capitalism, most religions, politicians' constituency head-counts, and the rest of enterprises which heavily rely on the huge growth of population will frown on such a dislike-able subject matter - blocking the way of making profits: in their eyes, undeniable, each new born is a golden goose.

Meanwhile, the duchess of Windsor claims that she wants (not "needs") 5 children and is still working very hard to reproduce the 4th - congratulations, what a noble deed to procreate bunch of the noble human beings!

On the other side of the story, isn't it the most difficult/challenging decision-making happening in a person life for being childfree by choice, such as,
voluntarily forgo the instinctual pride to pass-on your genes,
examine the myth of the procreative/motherhood mandate,
resist social pressures,
challenge cultural/religious indoctrination and ideologies... and the rest, such as,
individually, miss the giggling of the lovely bunch,
enjoy the pleasure of changing diapers (it takes longer in the nursing home, though), and
provide an average of $364,000 love and care up to 18 years of age per child, not including the college cost, as well as
institutionally, lose the future-taxpayer headcounts, and the rest of other socio-economic consequences ?























Crystal Xena LC Huang

Crystal Xena LC Huang Several of my female friends Consciously adopted this route- childfree by choice (for better or worse?). They are great teachers, social workers, pediatricians, psychotherapists, environmentalists, humanists...and of other professions.
They take their "motherhood" and "mothering" tasks seriously !

Note: According to a demographic-math modeling, 7 billion is the ultimate condition that the Earth can handle. See below:

Crystal Xena LC Huang
Crystal Xena LC Huang If childfree is not a "right" choice for you, then one child is an alternative; two, might fit Zero Population Growth "theory"...? Furthermore, adoption has been practiced by many caring and loving people.


Crystal Xena LC Huang
Crystal Xena LC Huang Children are gifts from g_ds. Worldwide Children's Statistics presents many gifts waiting for gift-recipients:
https://www.sos-usa.org/our-impact/childrens-statistics:
Much progress for children has been achieved since the United Nations established the Millennium Development Goals in 2000. However, there are still major issues that children around the world face, including hunger, poverty, access to education and medical care. Orphaned and abandoned children are at particular risk.

Below are statistics, which show the scope of the problem.

Updated April 2018

World:
Orphans
It is estimated that 153 million children worldwide are orphans. (UNICEF).

Child Labor
Worldwide, there are 168 million who are child laborers, accounting for almost 11 percent of children (ILO).

Education
263 million children and youth are out of school (UNESCO)
An estimated 61 million children of primary-school age is out of school; 53 percent of them are girls (UNICEF).

Health
There are 69 million children worldwide who suffer from malnutrition (World Bank).
In 2017, 75 percent of all wasted children live in less developed regions (WHO).
Nearly half of all deaths in children under 5 are attributable to undernutrition. This translates into the unnecessary loss of about 3 million young lives a year (UNICEF).
66 million primary school-age children attend classes hungry across the developing world, with 23 million in Africa alone (WHO).

Mortality
In 2017, there were about 15,000 deaths every day of children under the age of five (WHO).
Leading causes of death in under-5 children are preterm birth complications, pneumonia, birth asphyxia, diarrhea and malaria. About 45% of all child deaths are linked to malnutrition (WHO).
2.7 million babies die every year in their first month of life and a similar number are stillborn (WHO).
5.6 million children under the age of 5 died in 2016, equivalent to 11 children every minute (UNICEF).

Poverty
Children represent almost half of all people living in extreme poverty although they make up roughly a third of the world’s population (UNICEF).

Refugees and Migrants
There were 65.6 million refugees in 2016; half of them were children (UNHCR).
In 2015 and 2016 alone, more than 2.5 million people applied for asylum in Euope. (Europol).
10,000 unaccompanied migrant children are missing in Europe (Europol).

War/Conflict
There are over 250 million children living in countries affected by conflict (UNICEF).
1 in 4 of the world's children live in conflict or disaster zones. (UNICEF).
20 people are forced to flee their homes every minute (UNHCR).
Manage

Thursday, June 28, 2018

June 28 (Th), 2018 A minor correction on 池塘裏翻龍舟 Make a Teapot in A Tempest












This is a casual chat, not an academic writing. 這是網上交換意見, 非學術性討論.


剛剛 (June 28, Thursday, 2018) 看了一段 在台北舉辦的政治研討 video.
主題是探討共產主義與台灣問題.
Just now, I stumbled upon a video of a political symposium held in Taipei regarding Communism and issues of Taiwan.

這是一個好大的題目!
That was a heavily loaded topic!

大得至少充斥著三大重型意識形態以其交織的離奇, (政治, 宗教, 以及經濟), 且要在半小時內蜻蜓點水, 三両撥千斤, 實屬不易!  The subject matter involved at least with three major ideological domains and their intersectionality: politics, religion, and economy. It was an overwhelming task to be done within half hour by the speaker!

以下幾奌粗略聞閱, 恐有断章取義, 或屬個人偏見浅見, 僅是請教:
After having watched the video, I have a couples of observations which might be taken out of the contexts (since I did not watch other relevant discussions), or reveal my personal inadequacy or biases about the issues. So, your feedback and/or inputs are welcome:

1. 西方政教分離與東方宗教在學術引証的覌奌: A referential issue in academics regarding the difference between western separation of Church and State and those in some Asian religions:

The speaker began with an experience at a Catholic university as a student, which unfolded myriad of connections with communism and why Karl Marx was the epitome of the satanic destruction to the world.  I skipped the historical evolution and reformation/revolutions (such as, the power struggles and blood shedding among Popes, Monarchs, and aristocracy) of institutionalized religions (particularly, the late Medieval Catholicism) in this short writing. (Note, based on this piece of information, the following observations turned into being factually based, or less critical.)

The separation of church and state is a philosophic and jurisprudential ideas which define political distance between religious organizations/institutions and the nation/state. It refers to the establishment of a secular state and to disestablishment of an existing, formal relationship between the church and the state. In some Eastern societies, this issue might not be as controversial as the west, such as in the case of Han Yu (韓愈, 678 - 824 ce.)  Han Yu was a Chinese writer, poet, and government official of the Tang dynasty.  He significantly influenced the development of Neo-Confucianism, described as "comparable in stature to Dante, Shakespeare or Goethe" for his influence on the Chinese literary tradition. Han Yu stood for strong central authority in politics and orthodoxy in cultural matters. In order to reinforce the dominant Confucius ideology, one of the most significant religious-political events was his challenging the transmission and development of Buddhism in China, seen in the well-written document of《諫迎佛骨表 Reproach on Welcoming the Buddha's Bone.

Although conflicts among the three systems of thoughts occurring,  Confucianism, Daoism and Buddhism gradually integrated into a holistic one as a way of life, except the theocratic Tibet.

In the US., Thomas Jefferson (the 3rd President) in his letter to the Danbury Baptist Association in 1802, referencing the First Amendment to the United States Constitution often quoted in debates regarding the separation of church and state. He writes: "Believing with you that religion is a matter which lies solely between Man & his God, that he owes account to none other for his faith or his worship, that the legitimate powers of government reach actions only, & not opinions, I contemplate with sovereign reverence that act of the whole American people which declared that their legislature should 'make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof,' thus building a wall of separation between Church and State".

Though as an important political statement in the US. history, the omnipresent influences, if not dominion, of religions (Christianity: Protestantism, Catholicism, Restorationism and the rest) on "education and politics" are well documented and researched, even till today, if not intensified, particularly, during the political campaign seasons.

The statements, or publications of theologians or religious scholars are respected in the religious field. Since that university is a religious institute, usually,  private by nature,  not involving taxpayers' public funding, the school has its own right for specific curriculum and instructions.

Separating church/temple and state has not been a politically salient issue in Taiwan, nevertheless, there is still certain awareness of scientific or academic disciplines expected, which, in this episode, demarcates the general political science from the faith/religion base studies. Even though there is a trending research to integrate religion, science and technology into the interdisciplinary subject matter, I don't see it applied to this case.

- 宗教與槍桿子是資本主義的左右臂, 骨子裏的立國精神! 浅見一樁.
Religion and military power are the two arms of Capitalism - the foundation of the "spirit" in this type of countries - a personal bias.

在大众廣庭之前, 是否只能看, 不好說? Perhaps, being aware does not have to make it apparent to the mass ?

2. 舉例辨证的陷謬: Fallacies in arguments

Ad hominem, short for argumentum ad hominem is the second lowest  type of argument in a disagreement based on Paul Graham's research.


It refers to in a genuine discussion of the topic at hand that is avoided, but instead, attacking the character, motive, or other attribute of the person who makes the argument, or persons associated with the argument, rather than attacking the substance of the argument itself.

Whether one agrees or disagrees to a strand of philosophy, knowledge, ideology, or practice in a debate or argument or not, ad hominem as a fallacy, the participant's (or debaters') awareness is expected, unless "other agenda is attached or associated with". From the opening of the speech, the audience could easily sense an overtone regarding Marx and communism as a "satanic", "destructive" force.  For critiquing on a political theory or ideology, the speaker also adopted a microscopic strategy to highlight his arguments: Marx's personal financial condition from a family letter.

Karl Marx is one of the most influential, or controversial social thinkers/philosophers in the recent history according to different school of thoughts or individuals' various sociology-economic-political perspectives. Bertrand Russell who had difficulty to categorize Marx's system-building grandiosity, once said," Emphasis upon any one of multiple-aspects at the expense of the other gives a false and distorted view of his philosophy". This comment is not only on Marx, but also onto all the rest of knowledge builders. There are enormous research strands on different stages of Marx's ideas and practices available, thus, I will leave here for readers' endeavors in this regard.

So, focusing on a glimpse of an individual's private life might bring up intimate or "immediate" understanding of such a person.  The family letter of Marx the speaker referred to was a required reading assignment by a catholic professor. It was a good strategy to magnify an event, but in the academic engagement, the counterpoints are needed to balance information to prevent from over-generalization or reinforcing existing stereotypical thoughts.

In the letter, Karl Marx requested financial assistance from his father (perhaps, more from Friedrich Engels). It would be a common private issue which is not much different from many other students/scholars who ask monetary support from their parents/relatives.  Nowadays, you might know better than I do  (在超資本主義下, 金銀堆積満山, 坐擁暴利的寵男寵女們五鬼搬運, 淘空臺金, 充當武陵遊魂的無止尽留學熱潮, 向美獻金貢銀, 商購學历文憑, 昭昭在人耳目):  how many oversea students from the rich and powerful families of Taiwan, China, and the rest of privileged men and women of the Asian countries benefited by the Mutated Super-Capitalism, provide the US billions of tuition and the relevant high-end consumerism to enhance America's 金多謝 economy.

In the speech, a dichotomy of an ideology into black and white might sound arbitrary, leaving no room for the gradation or further discussion.

Next, this chat would delve into the key concern:

3. 中國是馬克斯所谓的共產主義國家嗎? Is China a communist country according to Marx's ideology?

Again, there are voluminous research and studies available on the rise and fall of Communist political entities, so, I leave them for readers' endeavors.

Before furthering the understanding, I would like to clarify the meaning of terminology used in this writing to avoid confusion. I tried the most general type of definition:

Capitalism is an economic system in which natural resources and the means of producing goods and services are privately owned. Typically, capitalism has these features: private ownership of property, pursuit of personal profit, and competition as well as consumer choices. (Note, there are many variations under the Capitalism umbrella. Furthermore, though, the actual term “Capitalism” was coined by Karl Marx, the original comprehensive work of the "Bible of Classical/Capitalism" was done by British economist Adam Smith in his groundbreaking The Wealth of Nations, in 1776. His main argument was that when individuals worked in their self-interests would create a strong and healthy society. As he said, “We address ourselves, not to their humanity, but to their self-love, and never talk to them of our own necessities, but of their advantages.”  Thus, he propounded that it was in the best interests of the economy and the government for the government to interfere as little as possible with the economy).

The classical capitalism is quite different from today's super-capitalism which benefits the early  social class of  the Haves, in particular, in the land acquisitions through conquering, force, discrepancy in legality and the rest of policies, as well as specific labor "management" (exploitation) and slavery. Marx has detailed studies on the power of "Surplus".

Thus, protecting private ownership of property, pursuit of personal profit, and competition are essences of legislatures in the early developing stages of the US Constitution and the later legal protocols aligned with rising super-capitalism to ensure that "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness"!  The following chart detailed information about who signed the Declaration of Independence and lay out the foundation to spearhead toward Super-Capitalism with the aid of  African-American Slaves and Native Americans' land of the free and home of the brave,  in addition to the Earlier Immigrants' managerial endeavors:


The similar practices in Taiwan and China, as well as all over the world, the Land Acquisition is the first step toward wealth, power and prestige. (有土斯有財, 有財斯有人).

Socialism
is an economic system in which natural resources and the means of producing goods and services are collectively owned. Generally speaking, socialism has these features: collective ownership of property,  pursuit of collective goals, and government control of the economy.
Socialism is deemed as a transitional stage toward Community.

Now, getting into the key term - Communism, is a hypothetical economic and political system in which all members of society are socially equal. Some individuals might refer it as a utopian ideology. It is nothing new in the Far-Eastern Asia.  For example, in the 禮運大同篇 The Chapter of Great Harmony (Ta Tong ), such an ideal society was well depicted by Confucius (551- 479 bce.) : "When the Great Principle prevails, the world is a Commonwealth in which rulers are selected according to their wisdom and ability. Mutual confidence is promoted and good neighborliness cultivated. Hence, men do not regard as parents only their own parents, nor do they treat as children only their own children. Provision is secured for the aged till death, employment for the able-bodied, and the mean of growing up for the young. Helpless widows and widowers, orphans and the lonely, as well as the sick and the disable, are well cared for. Men have their respective occupations and women their homes. They do not like to see wealth lying idle, yet they do not keep it for their own gratification. They despise indolence, yet they do not use their energies for energies for their own benefit. In this way, selfish scheming are repressed, and robbers, thieves and other lawless men no longer exist, and there is no need for people to shut their outers. This is called the Great Harmony (TA TONG)."

Similar Communist ideology appeared in the fifth century 桃花源記 (The Peach Land by Tao Yuan-ming 陶渊明 (369-427 ce.) , translated by Lin Yutang 林语堂). I added it  here for a literature appreciation, in addition to the ideological flavor:  晋太元中,武陵人捕鱼为业,缘溪行,忘路之远近。忽逢桃花林,夹岸数百步,中无杂树,芳草鲜美,落英缤纷;渔人甚异之。复前行,欲穷其林。林尽水源,便得一山。山有小口,仿佛若有光,便舍船,从口入。初极狭,才通人;复行数十步,豁然开朗。土地平旷,屋舍俨然。有良田美池,桑竹之属,阡陌交通,鸡犬相闻。其中往来种作,男女衣着,悉如外人;黄发垂髫,并怡然自乐。见渔人,乃大惊,问所从来;具答之。便要还家,设酒、杀鸡、作食。村中闻有此人,咸来问讯。自云:先世避秦时乱,率妻子邑人来此绝境,不复出焉;遂与外人间隔。问今是何世?乃不知有汉,无论魏、晋!此人一一为具言所闻,皆叹惋。余人各复延至其家,皆出酒食,停数日,辞去。此中人语云:“不足为外人道。” During the reign of Taiyuan of Chin, there was a fisherman of Wuling. One day he was walking along a bank. After having gone a certain distance, he suddenly came upon a peach grove which extended along the bank for about a hundred yards. He noticed with surprise that the grove had a magic effect, so singularly free from the usual mingling of brushwood, while the beautifully grassy ground was covered with its rose petals. He went further to explore, and when he came to the end of the grove, he saw a spring which came from a cave in the hill. Having noticed that there seemed to be a weak light in the cave, he tied up his boat and decided to go in and explore. At first the opening was very narrow, barely wide enough for one person to go in. After a dozen steps, it opened into a flood of light. He saw before his eyes a wide, level valley, with houses and fields and farms. There were bamboos and mulberries; farmers were working and dogs and chickens were running about. The dresses of the men and women were like those of the outside world, and the old men and children appeared very happy and contented. They were greatly astonished to see the fisherman and asked him where he had come from. The fisherman told them and was invited to their homes, where wine was served and chicken was killed for dinner to entertain him. The villagers hearing of his coming all came to see him and to talk. They said that their ancestors had come here as refugees to escape from the tyranny of Tsin Shih-huang (builder of Great Wall) some six hundred years ago, and they had never left it. They were thus completely cut off from the world, and asked what was the ruling dynasty now. They had not even heard of the Han Dynasty (two centuries before to two centuries after Christ), not to speak of the Wei (third century A.D.) and the Chin (third and fourth centuries). The fisherman told them, which they heard with great amazement. Many of the other villagers then began to invite him to their homes by turn and feed him dinner and wine.After a few days, he took leave of them and left. The villagers begged him not to tell the people outside about their colony."


The utopian ideology can be traced back to the Classical Antiquity. Later, Thomas Moore's Utopia was published in 1516 ce., Francis Bacon's New Atlantis in 1627 ce., like most utopian ideology, with an emphasis on egalitarian principles of equality in economics, government and justice, though by no means exclusively, with the method and structure of proposed implementation varying based on ideology.

The readers who read this "meandering chat" do not have to agree to the above definitions. These are just some general concepts used in my Sociology class.

Based on the above understanding, no country has ever practiced and achieved the "idealistic" communism, unless you name a society where everyone is treated equally regardless their race, gender, class, sexuality, disability, ancestry, nationality, language, locality, religions.... and so on so forth. Since there is no country practicing 100%  Capitalism or Socialism aligned with the above understanding, not to mention Communism, then, what kind of Communism does China practice?
行禮運大同 or 深入桃花源 -
what a grandiose social engineering ?

Since there is no pure Capitalism and Socialism on this planet, many countries adjust, adopt and adept different parts of political-economic philosophies (or ideologies) to meet the society's needs.

This creates several types of Hybridized systems derived from capitalism and socialism. Here are two major categories:

Welfare capitalism:  is an economic and political system that combines a mostly market-based economy with extensive social welfare programs. It is found in some European nations.
State capitalism:  is an economic and political system in which companies are privately owned although they cooperate closely with the government.

As we know there are relative advantages of capitalism and socialism:
1. Capitalist societies are considerably more economically productive.
2. Socialist societies display considerably less income and wealth disparity.
3. Statistics are not enough to compare overall well-being in either system.
4. Capitalist countries are characterized by more civil liberties and political freedom.

The hybridized politic-economic systems are quite successfully practiced in the Scandinavian countries, such as Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Switzerland, partially succeeding in Germany, Italy, Singapore...etc.

According to the world practices, suffice to say, it is about the quality of human population paralleling with the adjusted politic-economic philosophies or ideology that makes a society tick. 
So, under what socioeconomic conditions does a Socialism (or Communist?) might be called up or needed by a specific society? 

Generally speaking, thoughts are reified by action which is executed by human beings. It is humans that are the final executors. To attribute success or failure to a school of thought/individual is like saying: "humans don't kill people; gun/weaponry does it." (Similar to 庶人無罪, 懷璧其罪 which means that a person was not guilty but convicted of possessing the most precious stone: a white jade that made him/her guilty. Originally referred to as the ordinary people are unable to privately possess the jade, unless through stealing robbery. It implies there are talents and ideals who suffer.).

Along the same vein, I would like to borrow one of Russell's observations: "Greek philosophy down to Aristotle expressed the mentality appropriate to the City State; that Stoicism is appropriate to a cosmopolitan despotism, that scholastic philosophy is an intellectual express of the Church as an organization; that philosophy since Descartes, or at any rate since Locke, tends to embody the prejudices of the commercial middle class; and that Marxism and Fascism are philosophies appropriate to the modern industrial State". 

Indeed, some predictions did not happen as Marx prophesied, and the last condition in the above statements are partially wrong.  French, Russian, Cuban, China, even American revolutions did not erupt in the modern industrial state.  As to Communist Manifesto, is an 1848 “political pamphlet”.  For the detailed and genuine thoughts, Das Kapital provides a direct understanding of his original Communist “ideology”.

It is safe to say that China would be the least possible country to operate a “Communist” system according to Marx’s doctrines. She has never been qualified, nor civically industrialized enough to be able to relate to the original Marx’s ideology. Her long-term Conservative Obscurantism built upon feudal-familial-capitalistic ideology (共剷主義) oppressed millions of people to sustain her top 1% over-privileged, super-dominant, self-absorbed, and self-serving upper-aristocratic social class throughout 3 thousand years of the gloomy history. It is hard to find any extremely stratified society socio-economically like China other than the caste society of India or the Pharaohs' era of Egypt.

The concentration of power, wealth, and prestige via controlling of education and hegemonic ideological domination within the hands of a few of Monarchs/royals, intellectuals, and military rank-n-files in China had been omnipresent in the society for over 3 thousand years, longer than any other cultural or political entities, such as Hindu culture, Mesopotamia culture, Greco-Roman world, Medieval Catholicism, except Christianity/Judaism on this planet.   This type of tribal/political entity is not mature with any bit of conditions to align with what Marx's activism for a real socio-economic change - "Philosophers have only interpreted the work in various way, but the real task is to alter it", but another cycle of dynastic vicissitudes in China: 苛政猛於虎, 官逼民反, 窮極思變, then, 被ㄧ個食古不化的小地主, 搗出清算幾千年來地富反壞右的養尊處優旣得利益權势團體, 為千年莫名冤死的農工兵 "申張正義".  黄巢, 張献忠,李自成, 洪秀全之類, 也曾演過"義". 只是時空情境略有不同, 與馬克斯的意識形態有岀入. (The above sentence involved several notorious rebels in uprisings throughout different Dynasties due to corrupted, repressive tribal/dynastic politics that forced the oppressed poor people to revolt.  In short, I would like to use an old story to highlight the core regarding the dynastic vicissitudes which, apparently deviate from the origins of Marx's ideology: Confucius was passing by at the foot of Taishan Mountain (泰山) when he heard a woman wailing before a grave. As he bent over the front bar of his carriage listening with concern, he sent his disciple Zi Lu (子路) over to inquire. "From your crying we presume you have endured misfortunes," Zi Lu said to the woman. "Exactly. Some time ago my father-in-law was killed by a tiger, then later my husband, and now my son." the woman sadly responded. "Then, why hasn't she left this place?" the wondered Confucius asked Zi Lu regarding her situation. "Because this place is not plagued by tyranny," came the woman's answer.  At this moment, Confucius reminded his disciples,"Keep this in mind - tyranny is indeed fiercer than a tiger.")

The practice of Chinese "communism" has not much to do with the original Marx's thoughts except stirring up a utopian ideology to the young (especially, some "conscientious" intellectuals), the desperadoes, and the have-nots. (向長期被剝削知的權利的廣大無識群众執行揠苗助長, 推銷無根無基的大同世界意識形態, 絕非是实行共產主義的先決條件). It ends up with dehumanized,  totalitarian dictatorship and potential mobocracy that were unavoidable within more than a billion ideologically controlled mass.

As to Taiwan, the early repressed immigrants were part of that dark history, like those of the US' first wave immigrants from Europe,  who abandoned the old world economic repression and political-religious struggles, and built an independent country of their own.  Immigrants after 1940s were a complex entity: a defeated military troop with all sorts of Conservative rank-n-files carried on the privileged professions (except the "fare-foot" soldiers KMT老兵) of governmental bureaucracy, educational posts, "nationalized"  industries established by Japan, and the rest of upholding the stagnated grandiose banner of "Cultural Recovery" reactionary business.

The question is to recover which part of "benign" culture that would have released the thousand years of pains, suffering, poverty and induced ignorance of the deprived mass (at least 95%) in China and the early immigrants to Taiwan? Through 5 decades of thorough brainwash and White Terror after 1947 political massacre, the conservative ideology was seamlessly reinforced on Taiwanese's mind. Particularly, through the omnipresent power of education and political propaganda (for example, most of my teachers from Elementary to NTU in Taiwan were waishengrens 外省人-Chinamainlanders, indoctrinating everything about China and the world, except Taiwan, my native country), supported by the early mass-land owners of local "genteel" privileged Taiwanese. Though some of them went through 375 Rent Reduction Act, but strategically sailed the boat with the incumbent China-mainlanders' big wind, profited by the Conservative Chinese Culture Ideology to feed the Asian-Capitalism.

Taiwan, has been enduring half century of military-fascist oppression (1946-1987) from the immigrant China-mainlanders, another half century of Japan's occupation and repression (1985-1945), in addition to the foreign invaders of Portuguese, Spaniards, plus, more than 5 hundred years of negligence from a so-called mother-land. Furthermore, currently claiming a unification from a "new mother" offers nothing to Taiwan, but, from the abusive military threat, economic/human-wave intrusion, to the daily politic-psychological harassment to a political entity, self-sufficiently building a thriving, democratic, and prosperous society through 6 decades of courageous struggle.

If history were able to tell a truth and the International Community dared to read conscientiously, then how much Taiwan plays a beacon role as a Democratic Nation to inspire China, and serves as a catalyst to stimulate and facilitate socioeconomic development of China to stretch out her first baby-step after 1987 (KMT lifted the Martial Law in Taiwan) will be voluminous. Since then, knowledge, skills, experiences in business, industries, democracy, and prosperity successfully established in Taiwan has been shared and exported to China to transform her from a poor and old society into a less miserable one -  through Taiwanese
people's wisdom, generosity and sacrifice.

Apparently China's current practice: as mentioned above, the politic-economic ideology and practice is far away from the original Marx's ideology, but evolving into a Tapir - anything but the basic democracy (四不像, 当前一個 "美" 麗的 "國" 家的領導主子, 也是如此長像): capitalistic-communist-authoritarian fascism. 









Nevertheless, she is still struggling, and perhaps, evolving, hopefully, not too much a detoured one.

Why have people had to endure everlasting pains and suffering throughout centuries if the QUALITY of the population is lifted? The quality in enhancing three major goals in a person's life chances: education, career and health care has been successfully practiced in several countries as mentioned in the previous section: Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Switzerland... where super-Capitalism is under checked. Meanwhile, the “false, deviated Communism” cannot endure the communication-no-border’s check and balance. Even the fake news intend to distract the main concerns of humanities, the awakened warriors will continue to fight for human dignities.

Finally, may Taiwan, be aware of the lingering traps of Conservatism implanted from the long history - of China. Though Conservatism convinces the innocent and the powerless with the illusory promise of social stability, nevertheless, in terms, it demands the status quo, protects the dominant class, and enhances the privileged few's wealth, power and prestige at the cost of the silenced mass' well-being. (保守主義的主要功能, 無非是用來维持現狀與鞏固旣得利益權势).

The abhorrence toward social change is part of human nature, but it cannot flourish without ideological controlling through education, fearmongering propaganda, and media manipulation. In the long run, the blind, obedient, silenced mass is the most powerful tool to reinforce the despotic ruling.  Capitalism needs Conservatism to flourish. The frog in the slowly warming up pot has hard time to avoid death.

As the world is in the fast changing mode, Prometheus' fire, the idealism of 禮運大同篇 The Chapter of Great Harmony (Ta Tong), 桃花源記 (The Peach Land), Thomas Moore's Utopia, Bacon's New Atlantis, and the activism of John Brown, Rosa Parks, John Lewis, to the recent OWS (Occupied Wall Street) of the 99%, and the rest of the noble and awakened spirit and souls, carrying on their torch, passing on the baton, never slowing down the footsteps, stand for the deep aspiration of love, peace, and justice for the humanities. The hope and spirit still continuously inspire the mass who incessantly educate, organize and act against the thousand years of social deprivation, domination, and injustice. Indeed, the world does not need to confer and offer more protection, resources, opportunities, privileges to the dominant, advantaged few. The planet does not want another ready-made heroes and heroines. To create a just environment for people to have a fair shot into his/her life chances is feasible with the aid of allies, the unselfish/less-selfish, the conscientious, and the awakened human beings.

As a cross-cultural sojourner, I understand the de facto vs. de jure status of Taiwan in facing a rising "Tapir" when the national identity confusion is concurrently challenging many people in Taiwan. Objectivity vs. subjectivity in thoughts, ideologies, and doctrines are blurrier more than ever. It is overwhelmingly to render issues embedded in the historical, geo-political complexity at the public setting. These conditions may impose challenges onto some researchers/scholars in expressing their thoughts publicly. Thinking and behaving might be gingerly "circumscribed" into certain framework for specific economic-political agenda implicitly or explicitly. And this could be my unnecessary sensitivity when listening or watching events going on in daily life. 

Now I am going back to the main topic of my question one and two at the beginning of this chat. Depending on the nature of research and researchers' value/ideology, scientific positivism and/or critical activism might be oriented into investigation procedures.  Who would deny that to reach "value free"/ neutrality in social science research is too much an idealistic goal yet still an optimal one to thrive, particularly, in a public forum?

As this loosely written chat which I did not expect to turn into such a long and cumbersome manner is close to the end, one might recognize that everyone may have his/her own biases to offer. The more passionate the idea is, the more potential preconception it may be. I am aware of my own share of it.

As aforementioned, I fully understand the daunting task of the speaker to share a heavy and complex topic within half of an hour! I also agree to the speaker's conclusion from the bottom of my heart that justice and peace, in the long run will prevail!

夲來起意, 是打字網聊. 不料赘言叠累. 以上浅見, 請賜教更正!  A penny for your thoughts!

Crystal Curriculum Vitae

Crystal Li-chin Huang is a bilingual writer, folksong singer, and visual arts/social science educator with a background in learning technology. Through her work, she offers poetic, socio-cultural critiques in her signature one-page-snippet format.

Teaching Experience:

Fall 2003 to Spring 2020, faculty professor, teaching Art Appreciation, American Government, Diversity Studies, Psychology, Sociology, and Social Problems via multiple delivery formats (course designer and facilitator for the face to face, online, hybrid, ITV -Youth Option, Web-conference, and Accelerated/Evening alternative methods) at Chippewa Valley Technical College. (During the above teaching career, I also completed my terminal degree in 2015 through being a part-time student for 10 years. This could be an answer to some friends' curiosity why I did not teach at the 4-year college? In fact, students and I have some similarity regarding SES at the 2-year college environment that sustains my teaching enthusiasm.)

Spring 2000 to spring 2003, Lecturer, Sociology, University of Wisconsin-Stout

95-97, TA at Wayne State College, NE

1. Taught “Introduction to Visual Arts” sections
2. Assisted Design and Painting studio courses
3. Conducted workshop for Information Literacy and Library Automated System

Professional Experience:

2000 to 2003,
adviser of Undecided Student Advisement Program, UW-Stout

1999 to 2000, program coordinator at the Undecided Student Advisement Office,

College of Arts and Sciences, UW-Stout

Nov.1997 to Jan.1999, Computer Layout Specialist in the Composing Department and

lifestyle columnist in the Editorial Department of the Dunn County News, Menomonie, WI

1992-93, library assistant, UW-Madison

Civil Servant:

1. Supervisor, the Supervisory Committee of the Congressional Aide Association of the Legislative Yuan (首屆立法院國會助理協會監委 Congress of Taiwan), Taipei

Job including: coordinating election campaigns, Congressional speech writing and serving constituencies.
(問政質詢總主筆, 競選文宣策劃, 選民服務)

2. Executive Secretary and member of Taipei Women Rescue Foundation (台北婦女救援會執行長)

3. Taiwan-China policy researcher at the Executive Yuan (研究考核委員會/大陸工作會報 - 陸委會前身 of the Central Government), Taipei

4. Journalist at the Ta Hwa Evening News, Taipei.

5. Cultural/English tour guide at the Ministry of
Transportation, Taipei, Taiwan. (交通部導遊 英語組)

6. Military educator, and English/Japanese instructor.

Education:

(Luckily, I won a full scholarship to study abroad through a nation-wide competition in 1990, Taipei, Taiwan.)

Ph.D. Learning Technologies (previous Instructional Systems and Technology) , Department of Curriculum and Instruction, University of Minnesota-Twin Cities
明尼蘇達大學科技教育研究所博士

Dissertation: Preferences, Pedagogical Strategies,
and Challenges of Instructors Teaching in Multiple Delivery Formats within A 2-Year College Context

M.S. Ed., Art Education, Wayne State College, Nebraska with a minor in Computer Science.
Research Project: Integrating Multimedia Technology into Art Curriculum with Classroom Implementation, 1997.
偉恩大學美術教育研究所碩士

M.S. Sociology, University of Wisconsin-Madison
Major: Social Psychology focusing on Social Movements
Minors: Journalism and Women's Studies. Thesis Title: Multilevel Analysis of A Social Movement-1947, 228 Social Uprising in Taiwan, 1993.
威斯康辛大學社會研究所碩士

M.S. Socio-political Science (the Graduate Institute of National Development), National Taiwan University. Thesis: Social Ideology and Gender Roles- Women's Issues in Contemporary society, 1986.
臺灣大學國家發展研究所碩士

Special Training. Major: Military Education. Political Warfare Academy, Army of Taiwan (due to a national crisis, I joined the Army Academy).
國防部政治作戰學院

B.A. Sociology, National Taiwan University.
臺灣大學社會

Taipei Municipal First Girls' High School.
北一女

Areas of Interests

Innovation in Online Education Programs

TPACK Integration of Emerging Technologies

Equity and Quality of Diverse Learning in the Digital Age

Learning Technologies in the post-secondary educational setting

Interdisciplinary collaborative (Education, Social Science, and Technologies) Learning

Skills

Interpersonal, enthusiastic, and helpful with strong work ethics

Multiple language ability: Taiwanese, Mandarin, English, and Japanese

Have taken computer science as a minor (2001-2003).
Knowledgeable of C++, JAVA, Assembly language and Web Design
CMS/LMS: BlackBoard, WebCT, E360, Moodle, Joomla.

General Software application: Multi-aid, QuarkXpress, Pagemaker.

2010,Hyperstudio, Inspiration and variety of social media applications

Authorize tools: Macromedia (DreamWeaver, and Flash)
Web 3.0, Blog 2.0., Cloud Computing,
Photoshop/Photodeluxe, Premiere, Illustrator

PC and Mac proficiency

Visual-art making (2-D: Calligraphy; drawing, traditional ink/painting and mixed media;
3-D: mainly, ceramics and other mixed media

Trained quantitative, qualitative and mixed research methods

Statistic software: Spssx, MaxQDA2, and Minitab

Certificates:

Canvas/E360/BlackBoard/WebCT/Joomla - LMS (Learning management system) Teaching Certificates from UW-Stout and CVTC

Hybrid/blended and Web-conference training Certificates from CVTC

Quality Matters Certified Peer-Reviewer

Web Design and ITV Certificates from UW-Stout

General and Special Higher Civil Service Certificates from Taiwan

Academic Activities and Professional Development

Research, Papers, Posters, Projects, publications, and Professional Development


Book

1993, Title :The February 28, 1947 Uprising in Taiwan:
A Multi-leveled Analysis of Collective Actions Author Li-Chin (Crystal) Huang
Publisher: University of Wisconsin--Madison, 1993
Digitized Feb 19, 2008. Length 172 pages

https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=wu.89048376008;view=1up;seq=12

2004, Title: The Wonder of Tao: A Meditation on Spirituality and Ecological Balance.
Author: James Eggert.
Illustrations and Calligraphy by Li-chin (Crystal) Huang
Green Dragon Publishing. Printed in the United States of America and
the United Kingdom.

2018 Title: A Mystic Flow. Poems.
Publisher: Xena Crystal LC Huang

https://www.bookemon.com/flipread/777800/mystic-flow-from-sun-sun

Theses/Dissertation

2015, Dissertation: Preferences, Pedagogical Strategies,and Challenges of Instructors Teaching in Multiple Delivery Formats within A 2-Year College Context. Dept. of Curriculum and Instruction, Learning Technologies (previous Instructional System and Technology), University of Minnesota-Twin Cities.

1997, Thesis Research Project: Integrating Multimedia Technology into Art Curriculum with Classroom Implementation. Wayne State College.

1986, Thesis: Social Ideology and Gender Roles- Women's Issues in Contemporary society. Socio-political Science (the Graduate Institute of National Development), National Taiwan University.

Research Papers/Publications, Posters, and Projects

2017, Internationalizing the Curriculum Conference, Panelist, 2017

Apr 13, 2017 publication description Crystal Li-chin Huang Learning-Teaching-Sharing Blog

Title: “The Voice of Faculty and Staff”

2012, title: Integrate Learning Technologies into A Social Science Course-Race, Ethnicity and Diversity Studies
https://drive.google.com/?utmmedium=et&utm_source=about&utm_campaign=et-about%23my-drive
Presented at the 28th Distance Teaching and Learning Conference
at UW-Madison, Aug, 2012.
Paper published in the Conference proceedings. https://drive.google.com/?utm_medium=et&utm_source%20=about&utm_campaign=et-about%23recent

2012, Project Presentation- STEMSS
Project presentation to the future- STEM scientists for the local district.
https://www.linkedin.com/profile/edit?trk=nav_responsive_sub_nav_edit_profile

2009, Title: “What is the Lived Experience of Designing and Teaching Multiple Delivery Methods -Live Meeting, Hybrid, Online, and Face To Face (f2f) within a Semester at a Technical College Setting”?
Paper presented at the 2009 AECT International Convention, Louisville, KY
Published in the Convention Proceedings, and in the ERIC
http://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED511355.pdf

2009, Title: Learning Information Technologies as Empowering Tools to Narrow the Gender Gap in the Rural-Urban Spectrum - a Review from Global to Domestic Perspective (Project Leader: Dr. Susan Walker)
Paper presented at the 2009 AECT International Convention, Louisville, KY
Published in the Convention Proceedings, and in the ERIC
http://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED511355.pdf

2008, Title: Beauty and Artistic Beauty
Presented at University of Minnesota-Twin Cities, 2008
http://tinyurl.com/XenaCrystalLCHuang-A

2008, Title: Green and Dao
“The Wonder of the Tao-Six Meditation on Science, Spirit,
and the Future of Economics”
Presented at University of Minnesota- Twin Cities, 2008
http://tinyurl.com/XenaCrystalLCHuang-B

2008, Title: Freedom Writers
Presented at University of Minnesota- Twin Cities, 2008
http://tinyurl.com/XenaCrystalLCHuang-C

The next 5 research projects, due to my job descriptions (mainly, as hired in a Non-Research Institution of a 2-year college setting, the dir. of professional development (a male) at that time/2010, informed me that the school budget supported attendees, but not the researcher-presenters), I was unable to attend/present to the following conferences.

2015, Research proposal: Title:
“How Could It Be, Two Identical Online Deliveries in One Composite, and One Did So Well,
While the Other… , accepted by Association of Educational Communication and Technologies (AECT) for presentation
at the 2015 International Conference.

2010, Research proposal. Title:
“Struggles and Triumphs– A Female Minority Social Science
Instructor’s Reflection on Sociology Web-conference Course in
Facilitating Disadvantaged Learners”,
accepted by Association of Educational Communication and
Technologies (AECT) for a presentation
at the 2015 International Convention.

2010, Research proposal: Title:
“From Quantity to Quality - Quality Matters! But, What and How Does It Matter?
– Pursuing Online Courses Quality Assurance One Step at
A Time!” accepted by the Association of Educational
Communication and Technologies (AECT)
for a presentation at the 2015 International Convention.

2010, Research proposal. Title:
“Live Meeting: Web-conference Triumph in Sociology Course
facilitation”, accepted by the League of Innovation for a
presentation at the 2010 Maryland Conference.

2010, Research proposal. Title:
“Constructing a Bio-ecological System of Teaching and Learning Environment for 2-year College”, accepted by the League of Innovation 2010 Maryland Conference

-----------------------------------------
2008, Quantitative Research Project. Title:“Do The Knowledge Of Using The Internet And The Annual Income Level Affect The Total Life Skill Assessments Of Rural Low Income Mothers”? University of Minnesota - Twin Cities (as part of my collaborative research projects)

2008, Co-presenter: The 16th Midwest Quality Research Conference
Topic: “The Lived Experience of Relocated Teachers in Korea”,
at St. Thomas University.

2008, Co-presenter: “A Brief Introduction to the Multimedia
Enhancer” at UW-Stout.

2008, Co-presenter: “A Mini-presentation: A brief of CMS”
at UW-Stout

2007-8, Collaborative Research Project: Joined the “Rural
Families Speak”
– A Multistate, Longitudinal and Multidisciplinary research
project, focusing on low-income women’s using information
technology, University of Minnesota - Twin Cities.

2007, research project presentation. Title: “Reflection on the Pedagogies of the Oppressor and the
Oppressed”, at University of Minnesota - Twin Cities

2007 The Four Asian Dragons.
Presented at Professor Husby's International Business program http://www.authorstream.com/Presentation/lchuang-229189-4-dragons-new-entertainment-%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20ppt-powerpoint/

2006, Research paper: Exploration of PCTMK Model of Hybrid Teaching.
Published as an Op-Ed in the Dunn County News.

2004, Collaborative project.
Assisting professor emeritus Jim Eggert as a translator and
illustrator of the Book-
“The Wonder of the Tao- A Meditation on Spirituality &
Ecological Balance”. FL: Brumby Holding, Inc.

2004, Panelist, UW-System Women's Study Consortium
Topic: “A Hermeneutic Phenomenological Study of Childless
Issues in Contemporary American Society”, at UW-Stout.

2003, Keynote speaker:
Annual Spring Awards and Recognition of Multicultural Student Services at UW-Stout.

2003, Presenter, “A Cultural Sojourner's ‘Courage to teach’ in
Intro-Sociology”, at UW-Stout.

2002, Poster presentation, Student and Faculty Research Day:
”An Action Research Report on a Spontaneous Thematic
Pedagogy in Intro-Sociology”, at UW-Stout.

2002, Panelist- International Forum
AAUW Midwest Regional Conference Presentation:

1.“The Trajectory of Women's Transformation via Education
- 3 Women's Stories”, at Rapid City, South Dakotahttp://www.authorstream.com/Presentation/lchuang-1577072-mini-cultural-presentation-%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20calligraphy/mini-cultural-presentation- calligraphy/

2. Story-tellinghttp://www.authorstream.com/Presentation/lchuang-224205-3-women-stories-%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20gender-presentation1-education-ppt-powerpoint/

2001, Teaching Day Display,
“Sociological Pedagogy-Blending Teaching Strategy to Empower Student Active Learning”, at UW-Stout.

2001, Presenter, Professional Development Day:
“Enhancing Active Teaching/Learning Via Electronic application” at UW-Stout.

2001, Research paper:
“A Thematic Approach of Teaching Sociology during September
11th Crisis”, accepted to the Midwest Sociologist Conference

------------------------------------------

2014 Diversity Pedagogical Project
-The Gettysburg Address recorded in English, Mandarin,
and Taiwanese http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLR4PZFwrj-hN3un6lZg_ADXauCGe7JCCy

Affiliations /Associations

American Education and Research Association (AERA)

Association for Educational Communications and Technologies (AECT)

International Society for Technology Education (ISTE)

Association for Career and Technical Education (ACTE)

Wisconsin Association for Career and Technical Education (WACTE)

National Educational Computing Conference (NECC)

CVACTE, EDUTOPIA

American Sociological Association.

Member of American Association of University Women (AAUW)

Governance Involvements

Executive Secretary of Li-ling Huang Gender Equity Memorial Endowment at Chippewa Valley Technical College (CVTC). (2016 to present).

Sponsor of the Tsai-Huang Memorial Endowment Scholarship at CVTC. (2007 to present).

Adviser of Art Club at CVTC (2016 to present).

Adviser of Diversity Student Organization at CVTC (2011-2013).

Co-chair of Professional Development Committee of
Chippewa Valley Technical College Career and Technical Education Association (2009-2011).

Chair of the Chippewa Valley Technical College Education Association Scholarship Foundation (2010 to present).

CVACTE Event/Year Book Coordinator (2010-11).

Representative of ALC (Academic Leadership Council –WTCS).

Representative to the Advisory Committees of Renal Dialysis, Surgical Technician programs.

Course representative of Art Appreciation and Diversity Studies.

Nominations and Awards


2019, nominated to the Teaching Excellent Award at Chippewa Valley Technical College.


2013, nominated to the Teaching Excellent Award at Chippewa Valley Technical College.

2010, nominated to the Teaching Excellent Award at Chippewa Valley Technical College.

2006, nominated and the recipient of the Regional Outstanding Teacher of Chippewa Valley Technical College.

2001, nominated and the recipient of the Outstanding Contribution to UW-System and Women of Color representing UW-Stout in 2001.

Activities in Taiwan

1989-1990 Taiwan-China policy researcher at the Executive Yuan

(大陸工作會報兩岸政策研究員 - 陸委會前身
Central Government), Taipei.


- 1988: Elected as the Supervisor
of the National Congressional Assistant Association, Taipei.
(首屆國會助理協會監委)

- 1987-88: Delegate of Taiwan, invited

by both Congresses of Taiwan and the U.S. to observe the

Primaries and Causes in New Hampshire and Iowa as well as

followed the Presidential campaign trails.

- 1985-88

1. Journalist at the Ta Hwa Evening News, Taipei.

2. Cultural/English tour guide at the Ministry of
Transportation, Taipei, Taiwan.

3. Twice Campaign Coordinator and Speaker, and later,

the Speech Writer in the Congress.
(問質詢總主筆, 競選文宣策劃, 選民服務)

4. Executive Secretary and member of Taipei
Women Rescue Foundation.
(台北婦女救援會執行秘書長)


1985-87 Congressional aide at the Legislative Yuan

(首屆立法院 國會助理 Congress of Taiwan), Taipei


Job including: coordinating election campaigns,

Congressional speech writer (質詢總主筆)
and serving constituencies.


- 1984-85: Summer and Winter Camp Speaker. (奉派執行冬令夏令營巡迴演講)


Previous career:

Military educator, and English/Japanese instructor at
Chung-San girls' High School, Chung-Sing University,
Taipei-Tech College, and Chang-Shu high school.

Others:

Grad Student Activities:

College and Graduate School at National Taiwan University

- Vice Chairperson

of the Graduate Association of National Taiwan University.

- Due to a National Crisis, I joined the Army Academic.
A retired Captain since 1985.

- Four semesters top 3% students of Sociology Department,

National Taiwan University.

- Selected, members of softball and volleyball varsity teams,
National Taiwan University.

Non-Academic Publications/Writing:

· Calligrapher and illustrator

of The Wonder of the Tao-Six Meditation on Science, Spirit,

and the Future of Economics by Jim Eggert.

A Human Trade Group Publisher, FL., 2004.

· Karma Ode, Burning Snow-Poetry, 2002, (in process).

· "Introductory Miao (Hmong) History and Culture by Tinqgui Li":

Translation,(collaborated with Steve Vang.) Wisconsin, UW-Stout. 2001.

· A Comprehensive History of the Chinese Miao (Hmong) by Xingfue Vue.

Translation. (collaborated with Steve Vang.), Wisconsin, UW-Stout, 2001.

· 10 articles related to cultural phenomena
for the Dunn County News, 1998-1999:

1. A thought to the Humane Society.

2. Homeopathy- a look from a tradition medical perspective.

3. The sociocultural perspective to Mulan.

4. Gua Sha-the traditional home remedy.

5. Halloween in the U.S. vs. Ghost Festival in Asia.

6. Organic products and its co-op practice.

7. Bosnia first hand report-Military sisters.

8. A cultural-sojourner's multicultural perspective.

9. Mini international house-visit the "Sharon the ambassador".

10.The legends behind Chinese New Year in Taiwan.

Selected writing/proposals as A Congressional Aide:

· “Women and Social Order,”

The Research and Assessment Monthly, Taipei, Taiwan, 1990.

· “The Interpellation to the Central Government”

- a compilation of 3 volumes (300 articles) relating to social welfare

and political system reformation drafted by me when working at

Congress,1986-88.

Some articles related to Women's issues are:

1. A proposal for "Equal Right, Equal Pay and Equal Opportunity of Employment

for both genders." September 29th,1987, the 80th session Legislative Yuan.

2. A proposal to Establish the "'Ministry of Women's Affairs'

to implement the Social Welfare for Women."

January 6th, 1988, the 80th, session, Legislative Yuan.

3. An interpellation on the issue of the Dilemma of

Single Parent and Divorced Women. January 19th,

1988.the 80th session, Legislative Yuan.

4. An interpellation on the issue of "the Myth of Marriage and

Increasingly Dysfunctional Families in contemporary society."

January 18th, 1987, the 80th session, Legislative Yuan.

· Personal Quantitative Research Project:

"Gender and Political Tolerance-The Study of Dane County,

Wisconsin." UW-Madison, 1992.

Hobbies

Enjoy reading, writing, poetry, music, cooking, visual art-making, nature and pet-caring.

Like to play basketball, ping pong, volleyball, tennis, softball, swimming, and hiking.

Li-chin (Crystal) Huang


WebSite: http://ci8395.blogspot.com/


https://www.youtube.com/user/huangzena




Learning and Teaching of Crystal Li-chin Huang