Culture and Concern

Purdue definitely has a distinct culture. In Hess’s Science and Technology in a Multicultural World, culture is defined as a way of life of a group of people. The people of Purdue, although they come from many different backgrounds, all have one thing in common which is basically their love for Purdue. BGR events, fountain runs, den pops and drinking from the lion’s fountain are rituals only familiar with those associated with Purdue. This idea then flows into social relations; the actions, motivations and interests for the events.

I found the Lucena paper concerning. The notion of recruiting engineers and scientists in the war on terrorism doesn’t seem just counterproductive but also flat out mean. Technology is supposed to better the world and make us progress to the future. Using advances in an arms race would be a waste of talent and would not be in line with the Engineering Code of Ethics.

A Global Culture

It's almost common knowledge now that globalization is one of the biggest trends of modern society and has a profound effect on our daily lives. We could cite the usual example of the globalization of products: the average American eating Chinese food while watching movies made by British directors on Japanese TV screens while sitting on a Swedish recliner. However, globalization is not solely limited to the products we use. It extends to culture, to lifestyle, even to religion. Entire countries are exchanging cultures and ideas, and slowly creating a global community. As a student who spent half of his high school career in Bombay, India and the other half in central New Jersey, I have experienced the globalization of culture firsthand.

Bombay is one of the most modern cities in India, with large shopping malls, an excellent public transportation system, high rise towers, and all the other facilities you could find in any major city of this world. What is most striking, however, is the amount of Western influence that has crept into the city. It's not just the fast food restaurants like McDonald's and Subway, which are now commonplace, or the European car showrooms that litter the more affluent areas of the city. It is the attitudes and beliefs of the people. Women, who not so long ago did not advance very far in professional life, are now as widespread in industries as men. The youth demographic, which earlier was meek and obedient when it came to their parent's wishes, is now more inclined to pursue its dreams, even if it means going the “American” way and leaving the house when they turn 18. Many Indians are still fairly orthodox, but the attitudes of the average Indian are slowly changing, becoming more open to new ideas and thoughts. It is all part of the globalization of India.

Bombay is just one of the many places in the word which is adopting a more open, Westernized mindset. In China, for example, every elementary school student is required to take English as a second language. Chain stores like Gap and KFC are present in every country from Saudi Arabia to Japan. And above all, people's attitudes across the world are changing. They are becoming more accepting of other cultures, willing to coexist and even adopt their beliefs and ideas. We are steadily developing into a homogenous, global culture.

culture diversity

Although cultures are becoming more homogeneous, there are still lots of difference. Different country has different history. As a result, the cultures are diversity in the world. Until now, I found a lots of difference between the ife in US and the life in China.

We all have McDonalds' and Subway, but the menus are different. The taste of soft drink here is a little strange for me. I can understand what teachers and classmates are saying in the classes, but it's difficult for me to understand why they are laughing. When they talked about the social network, the only two networks I'm familiar with are Facebook and Twitter. The social network in China is completely different. It's hard for me to find something I need in Walmart. My roommate likes cheese, butter and chocolate for breakfast, lunch and dinner. I prefer to fruit and vagetabes.

Purdue is a large community. It has thousands of students come from the whole world. They all have unique culture. I'd like to experience the culture diversity on campus and find the distinct culture of Purdue.

Cultures unite?

The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines ‘Homogeneous’ as “of the same or a similar kind or nature”. International culture and trade (in goods, research, economy and intelligence) has seen some of the steepest curves in the globalization-time curve over the last three hundred years. Yet most social groups that existed are persisting in their existence while new ones are continually popping up. The key to comprehending this argument is to understand that the same person can be a member of several social groups.

Purdue, for example, is a massive and diverse social community. It started out as a school; a lone community of intellectuals and student single-mindedly striving towards broadening the horizon of their wisdom. It has transformed over the years into an increasingly social community, comprising of over 900 smaller communities, each with its own ideology, thought process and rituals, each a culture in itself. A member of any one of these cultures was a member of one culture less, before they arrived at Purdue. And every member of anyone of these cultures is first a member of that community that was formed over a hundred and fifty years ago, the Boilermaker community.

Writing History-ish

For the longest time, I disliked the English language. Actually, dislike is being nice; I loathed it. The grammar and punctuation rules with their few exceptions drove me insane and until junior year, I had marked English as my least favorite subject. If I had had a choice between sitting through a 50 minute English class or hug a hungry tiger, I would take my chances and embrace the tiger as if it were a small kitten. English class was that bad.

But what happened junior year that changed my mind? Aside from having an English teacher fresh out of college, the freedom to write about anything our heats desired was introduced. At first, I was confused; I finally had the power to write about whatever I wanted as long as it fit the type of essay we were learning. No teacher was going to “spoon-feed” us our topics or how to go about the essay. That year, my imagination grew immensely. I was writing about short skirts and glitter (an inspiring essay about my cheerleading days), roasters chasing my brothers (narrative essay) and how the term “gold-digger” began (informative paper). I used more than four pages to describe New York City in the descriptive essay, found a way to relate myself to SpongeBob SquarePants, got to critique a Marc Jacobs ad and wrote about the sugar tax.

Junior year English class basically changed my thinking process. The creativity brought from that class is indescribable

Book wise, my favorite types of books are the Harry Potter series, stories like Anna Karenina and books like The Book of Awesome, and books about Amish life. They are all very different from each other; one is fiction, another is a literary classic, the third is a blog-based book and the last is about a group of people I find to be very interesting.

Reading and Writing from my POV

Before coming on over to college I was in the midst of the inevitable chore of sorting out the mounds of ‘stuff’ that I had collected through high school. I consider myself to be a fairly organized person, so the shock came when in some obscure and dark corner of a cupboard I stumbled upon the first piece of literary genius I had ever produced. It was cheesier than it seemed to be eight years ago and didn’t make me very proud. But it got me thinking about how I have evolved as a writer and matured as a reader.

Prior to my junior year in high school, the only time I wrote was when I got an assignment in class or when I had some sort of revelation or thought that just had to be jotted down, elaborated and made presentable. I enjoyed these occasional bursts of literary promise. So right out the gates of my sophomore year I created a blog and began posting fairly regularly. What this allowed, was for me to be able to look back on my work and analyze it with a critical frame of mind rather than enjoy it with a nostalgic one.

Concerning my status as a reader, I disliked books as a kid. The ones without pictures were abominations to me. I considered them with a passionate contempt and destructive emotions. After one of my final exams a few years ago however, I was bored and decided to pick up ‘The Alchemist’ which I then proceeded to devour in six hours. It was a moment of revelation and utter surprise. It was also, I imagine, what triggered the development of the reasonably rampant bibliomaniac I see myself as today.

My favourite books

I must say, this is the first time I write something in English on my blog. I don't know how to describe the feeling, strange and a little exciting. I know it will take me a long time to finish the blog. I had English class since my primary school. The class was boring, teachers always focus on grammar, grammar and grammar. To be honest, I do not interested in English. Finally, I get into college and the English class will pay more attention to writing. I'm looking forward to the class, although I'm worried about it too.

I like reading, especially novels. I used a summer to read kongfu novels written by a famous writer in China. But it is difficult for me to remember the authors' name, even the name of the characters. This is the reason why I need to read the same book again and again. In other words, the only thing I care about is the story. I usually spend the whole day reading novel, moved by the story and keeping crying. Sometimes I just hope I can jump into the book to experience the story by myself. I guess this is why I like Harry Potter so much.

I'm a big fan of Harry since I was a little girl. I have known him for ten years, really a long time. I read the whole series of Harry Potter and watched all the movies. I was crazying about that amazing magic world, was curious about owls and believed there is a school like Hogwarts. The only reason we still have to be muggle is our owls lost their way and the letters from Hogwarts never come. Is this a little crazy?

Another book I like very much is The romance of three kingdoms, one of the most famous masterpieces in China. There is an old saying in China,"Heroes emerge in troubled times". It likes an biography of many famous historical people. The book talks about history, military strategy and tactics, the complicate relationship between people. I can learn a lot of things from this book.

Here's a sample Post!

Bla bla bla... I'm going to label this post with "Jayne" because I want it to be counted toward my English 106i course credit. I can add other labels if I want, but I have to have at least the course label in order to receive credit.