The Purdue Live Gabfest

I was informed earlier this semester that Slate Political Gabfest was coming to Purdue in April. However, when they finally came to West Lafayette on April 7, 2011, I was in St. Elizabeth Hospital because of flu and pneumonia. Since I was probably the only student in class who missed out this live podcast, I think I should make my study in Purdue complete by listening to the podcast recorded in University Church when I was in the hospital.

First of all, this is the podcast that really distinguishes itself from other Slate podcasts. It's probably because it's recorded with real audience at the scene and not at the studio where podcasters have to imagine the existence of their audience. The energy of the whole podcast brings the conversation alive. With the laughter of the audience, I felt as if I was there too.

They talked about three topics on April 7, the federal budget issue, the 2012 presidential campaign, and the college admission percentages. Among these three topics, I relate more to the third topic and would like to reflect my thoughts on that.

The question of whether or not college is worth the huge amount of money we pay each semester has been long debating, and it reminded me of my blog post from last year about wether or not the college names matter. Emily Bazelon, John Dickerson, and David Plotz asked one another these questions: What do colleges really do? What kind of education do you get from college? And what do people want from college? IS it the right thing for everyone?

I believe everyone has their own answers for those questions, but they brought up an interesting scenario that I've never thought of before: If we pay $50,000 per year for college just to build our connections with people, why can't we just save the money but still live on campus?

My thoughts about what we really get from college education coincide with Emily's. To me, college is not just a place where you make friends and build connection with professors and classmates. It's a place where I learn to cope with different pressure, deal with time limits, make friends, work my way through obstacles, experience semi-professional working life, think critically, work with people even if I don't get along with them outside of the classroom, and most importantly, figure out what I love to do and to prepare myself in becoming the professional I want to be. If I just rented an apartment on campus and not go to class, I would definitely miss out a lot.

As I'm graduating next week, if you ask me whether or not Purdue/college is worth the money I paid throughout the years, I would say absolutely yes!

Slate Podcast: Adonis DNA

Going through the podcast list on Slate.com, I found one catching my eyes: Adonis DNA, a cultural podcast edition that talked about Charlie Sheen's career meltdown, the Oscar and its hosts, and Justin Bieber and the teen star phenomenon. So I thought it's worth listening and to find out what they have to say about those people and events.

For Academy Awards, they did not hold much of a different view than the general public. As everyone already knew, James Franco and Anne Hathaway were the hosts for Oscar this year. Although the trailer seemed kind of interesting, the show and the two stars' hosting skills did not raise too much compliment from the public.

I remembered I was surprised when I saw the Oscar trailer. I'm a fan of Anne Hathaway. I love her movies and also her images. However, this year's Oscar really gave people a lesson that great actors and actresses didn't equal to great hosts. I understand that James Franco and Anne Hathaway hosted Oscar because they meant to bring back the younger generation who do not watch Oscar as much as years ago. But, as an honest fan of Anne Hathaway, the show was not very successful, and it wasn't funny at all.

Moving on to Justin Bieber, I did not find this specific singer too interesting because of my personal preference. If I can listen to songs from professional music artists like John Mayer or Jason Mraz, why would I listen to a teenage boy singing with his yet feminine voice? But after listening to Stephen, Dana, and Julia debating for a long time of whether or not Justin Bieber has talent, I heard something that's worth to put on my blog: What does the teen star phenomenon bring to the younger generation?

I was actually surprised that one of the female podcasters (either Dana or Julia, I couldn't recognize who was talking because they sounded alike) said she did not think the phenomenon would do any harm to her 5-year-old child. "It's just part of growing up," she explained.

I respect her opinion on this issue, but I can't stand in the same line with her if I were a parent. Perhaps I perceive the teen star phenomenon differently because of the culture that I grew up from. I admire those teenage stars' courage to be on stage and show people their talents, but what I'm suspicious of is the way those teenage stars behave and how those behavior might affect the younger generation.

It's mentioned in this Slate podcast that Miley Cyrus dressed very sexually in one of the performance with Justin Beiber. Not only did she appear to be very provocative but also show some very obvious sex-imitating dance movements on the stage. Now, I'm not saying that pop singers shouldn't dress in certain ways, but when it comes to teenage singers, the way they dress and the way they behave deserve a more careful consideration. Think about this, most of their fans are in the similar ages. If those teenagers see the teen-stars dress in this way, they might imitate and dress in the same way. Dressing in similar way may not be that big of a problem, but what about their behaviors? I don't have children right now, but if I did, I'm sure I would frown when I saw my 5-year-old daughter imitating the sexual dance movement of Miley Cyrus.

Children are young only once, why rush into adulthood so early? Right?

Slate Podcast: Where Are Our Manner?

As the semester getting close to its end and students preparing for finals, two major news stories took my attention: the breaking news of the death of Osama Bin Laden, and the royal wedding that many people have been following since the engagement of Prince William and Kate Middleton.

Different from the vast majority's celebration and chanting for America either online or on the streets, Slate Podcast took a deeper view into whether or not it's appropriate for us to celebrate the death of the nation's enemy.

When I saw the breaking news alert on my cell phone from CNN, my first thought was that he finally had what he deserved today. It's been almost 10 years. When a lot of people were distracted by other things happening in the world, the death of Osama Bin Laden suddenly took everyone's attention back to the attack and reminded people of that moment when they found out about the attack. After so long, many people may say the justice finally served.

While Americans celebrating at home or out in the public, some people, including those from the Slate Podcast, started questioning wether or not the celebration was appropriate. Yes, he did do horrible things to the nation, and yes, he's the nation's biggest enemy ever since September 11. But the image of Americans celebrating his death might, according to this Slate podcast, bring out a different image of the U.S. in other people's eyes.

They also talked about how people might feel differently if this happened when George W. Bush was the president. It was quite obvious of their political views in this podcast because of the way they talked about it. (If you're interested in that, feel free to go check out the podcast from the hyperlink above.)

In addition to the death of Osama Bin Laden, there's another thing that interested me very much in the podcast: the royal wedding.

One of the most interesting things they talked about was why Americans are so enthusiastic about monarchy and the wedding. Americans believe in the personal effort, not the social status that comes with blood. So why did Americans love the royal stories?

Growing up in a democratic country, I sort of understand what those Americans who follow the royal wedding are thinking about. There's no kings and queens in America, neither does Taiwan. We elect our own presidents and many government officials. But, deep in people's minds, we still want to know about the royal wedding because sometimes people just need something to make them believe fairy tales do exist. The curiosity and interest of monarchy doesn't show up in Prince William's wedding just now. Americans showed great passion in Prince Charles and Lady Diana's wedding in 1981, and according to the Slate Podcast, such enthusiasm showed in hollywood movies as well.

Because I'm personally following the royal wedding myself, I read a lot of articles and photo galleries about the wedding. Many people criticized that the royal family was wasting tax payers' money to promote their image. I'm not a U.K. citizen and I pay no tax to their government, so I won't say they're wrong in criticizing the wedding and the spending. However, even if I did pay the tax and contribute a little to the royal wedding, I wouldn't mind. Why? I'd rather take an easy view on this issue and just see it as paying a little money to remind myself that fairy tales exist. It's like watching Roman Holiday, so why make it a fuss?

Purdue 2011 Mr. Asia Pageant and Cultural Show

Podcast 4 Class Review

Group #1: Spring Cleaning: Jacqui, Chelsea, Bill, Prateik

1. What is interesting?

i. Communication: Very conversational

ii. The source didn’t want to reveal his real name in the podcast

iii. A brief conversation and different opinion at the end about Boiler blast

2. What is newsworthy?

i. New information: a brief introduction of what people do in Boilerblast and the keynote speaker: President Cordova.

ii. At the end of the podcast: statistics of the volunteer numbers

3. How is technical quality?

i. Sometimes the voice got louder than others.

ii. But overall, good quality of sound.

4. What was missing?

i. I wish there was more introduction of what Boilerblast was.

Group #2: Slate Gabfest: Valerie, Cathleen, Ty, and Rachael.

1. What is interesting?

a. Facts that Slate speakers didn’t reveal too much about their personal information and their personal opinions about certain topics.

b. They met a few days later to record a more thorough reflection.

c. Conversation flows very well

d. They covered the story while giving their personal reflection

e. Interesting ending

2. What is newsworthy?

a.

3. How is technical quality?

a. The quality was very good.

b. Almost professional sound

4. What was missing?

a. I wish they had more description of the political gabfest because not everyone went to the event

b. I wish they recorded some audio from Slate podcast to add variety

Group #3: Kara, Kaitlin, Sara: Rituals

1. What is interesting?

a. Super girly conversation

b. The conversation flows very well.

c. Good talk about alcohol and their preparation before going to Cactus on Thursday.

d. Very descriptive of what girls’ do before going to Cactus.

2. What is newsworthy?

a. They did a good job introducing this special ritual belongs to Purdue culture and its students.

3. How is technical quality?

a. Quality was pretty good.

4. What was missing?

a. They didn’t introduce themselves at the beginning. Who are you?

b. Too many people speaking at the same time: Hard to hear sometimes.

c. I wish they interviewed someone at Cactus or someone else outside of the group to add more variety. Don’t be just like a casual conversation among 3 girls. They should also be reporting something.

Group #4: Camille, Patrick, and Antoinette (Spring Training.)

1. What is interesting?

a. Very descriptive of what’s going on at the field.

2. What is newsworthy?

a. New information about the history of the team.

b. New information about what the team does during spring training.

3. How is technical quality?

a. Some pauses in between, should have cut it off.

b. Should have cut off their parts when asking questions.

c. Sound very clear.

4. What was missing?

a. The whole piece doesn’t sound edited. It sounds like raw footage.

b. I wish I heard some more quotes from the student players.

c. They didn’t sound very clear at the end. They were murmuring.

Group #5: Amy, Chrystal, and Ken (Spring Training.)

1. What is interesting?

a. It sounds very real because of the background sound of team practicing.

b. Interesting insights from student athletes and the coach.

c.

2. What is newsworthy?

a. New information of what the team does during spring training.

b. New information of how students manage their time.

3. How is the sound quality?

a. Good background sound of team practicing and cheering for teammates.

b. Everyone sounds clear in the voiceover.

4. What was missing?

a. I wish they were more conversational when doing the voiceover.

b. Ken should speak up more.

Reflection on Podcast 4: Spring Training

For our last podcast assignment of this semester, Chrystal, Ken, and I decided to interview the Purdue Volleyball team to see what they usually do during their spring training. Ken went to their practice and interviewed the coach, Dave Shondell, and two other student athletes.

Since I'm not a huge sports fan, and the only regular exercise I do is yoga, I did not even know that there's such thing called spring training or fall training until talking to the Purdue Volleyball team.

After listening to what student athletes do in spring training and how they handle the pressure and how they manage to keep a balance of school and the sports team, I really admire them in the aspect of using their times wisely. It's actually not my first time realizing I'm one of the luckiest who do not have to squeeze their time out for a dinner. I don't have to work to pay my tuition, and I"m not in any sports team. All I have to do is to make sure I do well in school and attend the meetings of Asian American Association and the Asian Student Union Board every week. However, it's far from the normal life for many of my white friends. In addition to going to classes, they have to work during weekends when I can have the whole weekend to study. Using their time wisely is not something they do to win compliments from friends, but something that they have to do in order to cope with their busy lives.

While listening to our podcast, I couldn't help but keep thinking what those student athletes gain asides from their volleyball skills, a sense of belonging, and the friendships they develop with their teammates. The skills they learn might be forgotten if they stop practicing, and the friendships may fade away when they graduate and no longer see their teammates, but the skills they have to deal with the pressure and the time-managing skills will always be with them no matter where they go after Purdue and what they do in the future. Perhaps that's one of the most valuable things that Purdue sports team teach them.

Podcast 4: Purdue Volleyball Spring Training

Ethnography Video: Humans vs. Zombies

Photo Gallery: Indonesian Festival brings diversity to Purdue

The annual Indonesian festival took place in St. Thomas Aquinas at 6:30 p.m. on Saturday, April 2. Presented by Indonesian Student Association at Purdue University and sponsored by the Embassy of Indonesia at Washington D.C., Indonesian festival presented both modern and traditional Indonesian cultures to Purdue students and local residents at West Lafayette.

The basement of St. Thomas Aquinas was divided into different sections for the major islands of Indonesian, as there are more than 13,000 islands in Indonesia and slightly different cultures were developed within each island. With the population of more than 136 millions, Java is the most populated island not only in Indonesia but also in the world. The capital city of Indonesia, Jakarta, is also located in west Java.

In the room of Java island, traditional handcrafts and handmade fabrics that Indonesia is famous for were displayed on the table with explanation and stories of each item on the side.

Music is an important everyday essential for Indonesians. For many Indonesians, playing the traditional Java instrument is their way to entertain one another and their way to show greetings to guests. Different from the western instrument like violin and piano, each instrument only has one tone. In order to play a complete song, a group of musicians playing at least 5 instruments is required.

Another traditional entertainment of Java Island is playing puppets. Before the invention of projector and television, puppet performers played these puppets on a mini stage with only their hands shown. Most stories are based on their fairy tales and the origin of Indonesia.

In addition to Java, Indonesia has another world-known island, Bali. Well known by its beautiful white sand beaches and a complete different culture from the Java Island, Bali Island is one of the top-rated vacation places in the world. The narrow door shown in the picture is one of the very special cultural aspects of Bali. Bali people believe that people with good hearts will pass through these doors safely, while bad people will be crashed to death while attempting to enter the room.

In another room for Toraja, a distinct ethnic group of Indonesian, the traditional handcrafts made by Toraja people were displayed. With the main population found in the mountain area of South Sulawesi, Toraja people developed a very different culture from the rest of Indonesia, and they practice different religions than most Indonesians.

Different from the Java handcrafts, most Toraja traditional handcrafts are portrays of people and Gods or Goddess' faces.

In addition to static presentation of the cultures from each island in Indonesia, live performances were available as well. Pendet dance is a traditional Indonesian dance in which offerings are made to purify the temple or theater as a prelude to ceremonies or other dances. In Indonesia, Pendet dance is typically performed by young girls, carrying bowls of flower petals, handfuls of which are cast into the air at various times in the dance.

Pendet dance is usually perceived as a dance of showing greetings or to welcome the audience and invite spirits to enjoy a performance.

At the side of the room, a sample of Indonesian coffee is presented and available for guests to try. The coffee is said to have a very distinctive smell because of the soil and the way the plant grows.

Outside of the performing room, traditional Indonesian foods were prepared for the festival guests.

Tickets are available at the entrance. Festival guests spend $10 for 10 food coupons, which are good for exchange of $10 worth of food inside.

According to the students serving at the food table, Es Teler is one of the most popular drinks even in Indonesia nowadays. With the combination of sliced jackfruit, palm fruit, nata de coco, mango jelly, and sago in flavored ice (syrup, sweet condensed milk, and ice), Es Teler is the "bubble tea" for young Indonesians.

As for hot plates, Telur Balado is beyond what people outside of Indonesia can ever think of. Indonesians marinate fried hard bold eggs with ebi, shallot, garlic, lemongrass, galangal, bay leaves, and chili to make this dish. Each portion of Telur Balado costs 2 coupons at the festivals.

Asides from seeing Indonesians students from Purdue participating in the festival, many Purdue faculty members and local residents at West Lafayette attended the event as well. For people who have never been to Indonesia or who are curious of knowing more about the culture, there are tour guides available at the festival.

At the end of the festival, guests were welcomed to sign on the T-shirts of each islands. The festival came to its end at about 9:30 p.m. All guests went home with their stomachs full of Indonesian cuisines and a good memory of the night.

Spring Natural Montage-Purdue Main Campus

After watching others' natural montage videos about winter at Purdue, I gradually understood what makes a good (if not good, at least presentable) natural montage.

This time, our assignment is about the coming spring. I noticed that there's a lot of birds chirping on my way to classes especially when it got really warm in some particular days, so I decided to pay more attention to my audio, even more than I did before.

I took a walk with my boyfriend on Sunday. It was a very windy day, as many of you can hear that from my video, but luckily, I recorded some birds chirping especially when I placed my camera near trees.

I really think I'm lucky to record what I recorded in my spring natural montage, because it turned cold again on Monday. If I did not take that walk with my boyfriend on the beautiful Sunday afternoon, there would be no birds chirping in my video.

I know everyone is looking forward to spring's coming just like I do, but it seems that we still have to bare some sudden cold before spring really comes to Purdue. I hope this video makes up a little bit for those of you who can't wait to wear tank tops and shirts. At least on the day I shot this video, it was really very warm. Enjoy~

Photo Gallery: Mid-semester Mania Week at Purdue

Picture 1: Purdue Recreational Sports Center offers a wide range of fitness classes each semester. Because of the construction of the new recreational building, all the Group X classes of Spring 2011 are held in the north activity room of Harrison Hall.

Picture 2: Group X fitness classes are only opened to students who buy the Group X passes at the beginning of each semester. For students who didn’t buy the pass but still interested in joining, Group X has Mid-semester Mania from March 21 to March 27.

Picture 3: During this week of event, all the Group X classes are free for students with or without passes. “We definitely had more

students coming to our class last week during the mid-semester

mania,” says a student in the fitness class.

Picture 4: CSI is one of the new classes that are opened to students during the Mid-semester Mania Week. CSI stands for cardio, strength, and interval.

Picture 5: In each classes, the instructors will select the music that goes along with students’ motions and demonstrate the position for students to follow.

Picture 6: Before the exercise, the instructor will lead students to do some stretching. Regular stretch before class is essential to avoid sports injuries and reduce the possible muscle hurt.

Picture 7: In order to strengthen students’ muscle strength and endurance, CSI classes require a lot of push-ups as shown in the picture.

Picture 8: “CSI classes are very tiring and we are always heated up by the exercise so there will be a lot of sweats at the end,” says Ashley, a CSI upper-body class student.

Picture 9: The mirrors in the exercise room are helpful for students to make sure they are doing it right and to exercise the right muscles.

Picture 10: When the workout gets more difficult and students’ bodies get tired, it’s really important to focus to remain the right posture.

Picture 11: Being a CSI fitness class instructor is never easy. Michelle Whipple demonstrated throughout the whole class without showing she’s tired, and she kept students motivated when they got tired.

Picture 12: “Are you guys still with me?” says Michelle while she’s showing students the correct posture.

Picture 13: In order to increase muscle strength, kicking is always seen in CSI classes. Students might be tired at this point of time, but they still followed Michelle’s kick.

Picture 14: In the motivating and heated environment like the north activity room of Harrison Hall, students continued to maintain their runner’s launch and continued the workout for a healthier lifestyle.

Photo Gallery: Foods in San Francisco You Can't Miss

This photo gallery is about my experience of foods in San Francisco over spring break 2011.

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Belly Good Cafe & Crepes

One thing I learned in San Francisco was that if you are a Japanese food lover but don't have the money to travel all the way to Japan, San Francisco is definitely your best option. Originally invented by French, crepes reached its popularity in Asia after transformed by Japanese. Belly Good Cafe & Crepes is located in Japan town, just 10 minutes away from the Union Square of downtown SF. A Japanese couple owns and runs this little, warm, and famous crepes shop. They have every combination of crepes that one can think of, but if you feel like being creative and adventurous, you can always create your own crepes.

"Happy Face Crepes" is why Belly Good is so popular, aside from the fact that it tastes very good. People always say Japanese people are good at making cute stuff, but I was still very surprised when the chef gave me my No.48 Happy Face Crepe with pudding, whip cream, corn chips, red bean paste, and banana. Look at this crepe, how can you not want to come back for more?

Realizing their customers have different preferences, Belly Good serves their crepes in two ways: You can have it wrapped and ready to go, or you can go with the traditional French style, on the plate.

Belly Good address: 1737 Post St. #393, San Francisco, CA 94115

Note: Cash only. They don't accept credit cards.

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Verde Tea House

Verde Tea House is a chain tea house in SF, and apparently very popular among not only Asians but also every race in general. The layout of every store is slightly different, but the bubble tea is consistently in high standard.

The name says it all: You must get a bubble tea when you come here. Unlike many bubble tea places in the mid-west, Verde is actually owned by Taiwanese people, and their bubble tea comes with all sorts of things that can only be found in Taiwan (Not even in China or Hong Kong, trust me!). I always get the regular milk-tea with tapioca just to test the water, but later I found out the one my friend had, milk-tea with noodle, was amazingly good. Never thought that noodle and milk-tea could go together? Try it in Verde and you'll fall in love with it.

In addition to bubble tea, they also serve Taiwanese snacks. I ordered some Taiwanese style think toasts to see if Verde was good enough to have a place on my blog, and~ here it is! They come in all kinds of flavor, sweet or salty, and with a little extra money, you can have two flavors in one thick toast just to see which one you like better.

Verde address: 852 Villa St. Mountain View, CA 94041

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Mama Chen

Famous for its traditional Taiwanese food, Mama Chen is always in its full capacity, even on weekdays. Having their store name and menu written in Chinese, I was not surprised to find out this was the place full of Asians, or some Americans taken by their Asian friends. You can find almost every traditional Taiwanese dish in here, from stinky tofu to intestine noodle. However, just when you assumed that they also served bubble tea here, they would tell you they have everything except for bubble tea. If you feel like having a sweet ending after meal, go to Verde.

Taiwanese oyster pancake is one of my favorite dishes of all time. Many tourists who come to Taiwan have it in Taipei, but the best oyster pancake is actually in my hometown, Hsinchu. To my surprise, the oyster pancake in Mama Chen was actually comparable to those in Hsinchu. What does that mean? The oyster pancake in Mama Chen is 4.5 star if Hsinchu oyster pancakes are rated as 5-star.

Mama Chen address: 5075 Stevens Creek Blvd, Ste 10, Santa Clara, CA 95051

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Kappo Nami Nami

Another thing I learned in SF was that there's not really a Chinatown or Vietnamese town where you find legit Asian foods that can't be found anywhere else. Because of the large Asian population in SF, not only did I hear people talking in Mandarin on the streets but also found Asian restaurants outside of the so-called Chinatown amazingly good.

Due to the convenient location of being in the coast area, the seafood in Kappo Nami Nami is very fresh. The special dishes that Japanese restaurants have in the mid-west are their regular dishes in not only Kappo Nami Nami but also all Japanese restaurants in SF.

In addition to raw fish and seafood, Kappo Nami Nami has traditional Japanese hot plates and bowls as well. Their portion comes a little smaller than the usual portion in mid-west, but the quality of food is incomparable.

Kappo Nami Nami address: 240 Castro St., Mountain View, CA 94041

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Pier Market Seafood Restaurant

Located in Pier 39 of Fisherman's Wharf, Pier Market Seafood Restaurant serves the best seafood dishes I had in San Francisco.

Their clam chowder in bread bowl is one of my favorite dishes. Different from other clam chowders, the clam chowder they serve comes with real and fresh clams. A lot of Yelp reviewers said their bread bowls were very good too, but I was too full to finish the bread bowl as well.

Being in the coast, eating raw and fresh seafood is a must-do to me. I"m not a big fan of eating raw seafood because I was food-poisoned before, but these middle-sized raw oysters did not disappoint me.

Pier Market address: Pier 39, San Francisco, CA 94113

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Shabuway

Shabuway is a Japanese Shabu-Shabu place. For those of you who are not familiar with Japanese dining, Shabu-Shabu is similar to Chinese style hotpot, but in a healthier style because you don't drink the soup. Different from the regular hotpot, you don't leave the meat in the soup. You only dip the meat into the soup a few times so the Kobe beef would not get "old" and lose the purpose of ordering such high quality meat.

There's only two soup bases available in Shabuway: Seaweed soup and spicy soup. Interestingly enough, there's only one meat available: Kobe beef! However, you do have a choice between a regular portion or super large quantity of Kobe beef.

Once you choose your soup bases and how much meat you want to eat, it's time to enjoy. Veggies come with the Kobe beef combo, and it's highly recommended that you put the veggies in first because the longer you cook the Napa veggie, the better it'll become.

In such a great place for Shabu-Shabu and Kobe beef, I only have one suggestion for those of you who are thinking about going: Just close your eyes and eat as much as you want because you don't get this kind of meal everyday. God will forgive you for forgetting about the diet you're going though.

Shabuway address: 180 Castro St. Mountain View, CA 94041