by umene

                There are photographs that remain in the people’s mind. There are photographs that change the world somehow. And there are photographs that let people being aware about what is happening in the other side of the world. The photographs I am going to introduce today are these kind of photographs. Both pictures were taken during the Vietnam War.

First of all, a brief introduction about the Vietnam War. This war occurred during the Cold War, and it is called a proxy war of the Soviet Union and America. The start of this war was the First Indochina War (1946 to 1954). After this conflict, France supported to build the State of Vietnam to persuade Vietnam people for the agreement to the French Indochina. However, the Democratic Republic of Vietnam did not accept this and the First Indochina War started. The People’s Republic of China and the Soviet Union supported the Democratic Republic of Vietnam. America, which was confronting the Soviet Union, supported France. After the Geneva Accords was decided and the defeat of France became crucial, the land of Vietnam was divided in two; the North Vietnam (the Democratic Republic of Vietnam) and the South Vietnam (the Republic of Vietnam which was supported by America). In this accord, it was decided a "general election" to be held by July 1956 to create a unified Vietnamese state.[i] However this election was not held, and the National Liberation Front (NLF)[ii] started to combat with the South Vietnam Government. Also the North Vietnam, which longed the Vietnam to be united again, start to attack the South Vietnam and America, which was supporting the South Vietnam Government, intervened in the war and the Vietnam War started. During this war, America used many bombs to combat and win the guerilla attacks of NLF and the North Vietnam.  America used a napalm bomb, defoliant and many other weapons to cross out them.

                This is a picture taken by Vietnams photographer, Nick Ut (Huynh Cong Út) in 1972. He is a photographer for the Associated Press (AP) who works out of Los Angeles. His best know photo is the Pulitzer Prize-winning picture of Phan Thị Kim Phúc, who was photographed as a naked 9-year-old girl running toward the camera to flee a South Vietnamese napalm attach on invading North Vietnamese at the Trảng Bàng village during the Vietnam War.[iii] Kim Phúc, the naked girl in the center of this picture, talks about her experience in the book written by Craig and Marc Kielburger, “Me to We: Finding Meaning in a Material World”. She was running the highway to escape from the napalm bomb dropped in the village she was living in. While running, she saw airplanes flying really law and dropping other bombs. Something strong pushed her and felt down. Feeling burning, she took off her shirts and saw her left arm, which was covered by fire. It was then, when Nick Ut took the photo.

                This photograph won the Pulitzer Prize, too. This is a picture taken by Eddie Adams, an American photographer working for AP in this time. The man with a gun is the chief police General Nguyễn Ngọc Loan executing a Viet Cong prisoner, Nguyễn Văn Lém. This photograph was taken on 1968 during the Vietnam War. However, this is not taken in Vietnam, but in the street of Saigon. This is because NLF and the North Vietnam Government was using a Ho Chi Minh trail, which is a way to bring food and military to the South Vietnam, through Laos and Cambodia to bring food and weapons, America started to attack also these neutral countries. This is how Laos, Cambodia, Hanoi and Saigon were involved in this war and still suffering for the defoliant aftereffects.

These two photographs brought people to think again about the necessity of the war. In America, students, artists, and many other youth started demo for the peace in Vietnam and in the world. In the American presidential election, people chose Richard Milhous Nixon who committed to withdraw American military from Vietnam. It was because of him that the Vietnam War ended. And it was because these, and many other photographs taken during the world that changed people mind from the war to peace.

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[i] Wikipedia, Geneva Conference (1954), Available: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geneva_Conference_(1954)

[ii] They were also called “Viet Cong”.

[iii] Wikipedia, Nick Ut, Available: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nick_Ut

References

Wikipedia, ベトナム戦争, Available: http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/ベトナム戦争

Wikipedia, Geneva Conference (1954), Available: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geneva_Conference_(1954)

Wikipedia, Nick Ut, Available: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nick_Ut

Craig Kielburger, Marc Kielburger,(2008), Sekai wo kaeru! Minna no chikara. Me to We--- “Me to We: Finding Meaning in a Material World”, Touchstone.

MyMediaFeed, Binary Moon, Available:http://mymediafeed.wordpress.com/2008/02/03/forty-year-anniversary-for-photo-that-changed-the-vietnam-war/

motor show

Motor show

What is the motor show? Why do the car companies want to participate at the motor show? And why people want to go motor show and which motor show prefer to go? 

http://xigzone.tistory.com/10

What do you think when you imagine about Motor show? Super Cars? Racing girls? The Motor show is a good chance to advertise their cars and for customers it is a good chance to see different brand cars at once. There are no place except the motor show, where the place to compare a lot of brand cars from all over the world, many people from all over the world comes to see the motor show.

 Companies research how to advertise their cars in interesting and unique ways. Also usually they exhibit the special car, won the race or won the rally, to attract more people. Also they put the racing girls to attract more male customers. Since the car is more popular among male, rather than female. Basically the motor show’s main character is domestic car companies where that show belongs. However in these days not only for the domestic car companies, have they also invited the foreign car companies to increase the image of a certain Motor show? The most famous motor shows are hold in autumn. For example, the Paris Motor show is in early October, London motor show, Tokyo motor show are late October. As I mentioned the main company in each motor show is domestic car companies. However the UK’s car companies, they focus on export their cars so they usually announce their new car in other country’s motor show. And the Italia Turin motor show focus on Carrozzeria which is one feature of Italian car companies.(you can know more information about Carrozzeria is in my second blog.) As this show is in Italy and the main companies are Carrozzeria, their purpose of motor show is to show as big features of the avant-garde works are. Especially the Swiss’s Genoa motor show is one of the most famous motor shows in the world. And most car companies are foreign companies. So many people say that the Genoa motor show is show room of world car. Also the Genoa is geographically close to Italy, many Carrozzeria companies also participate into that show.

 

In the motor show, they usually announce the new cars but they introduce the concept cars. The meaning of concept car is a outline of how the company will make the car and design. Usually people think that motor show is only display he cars however there are a lot of shows to attract people. For example, there are events that people can be the car model as same as racing girl. And they give a chance to start the car. Usually, this event is done by super car companies.

                                                    http://okgosu.tistory.com/316

As you see the motor show is good chance to see what is trend of car design and see the new techniques of cars. Also this event is only chance to see most popular car brands. 

Second Language Acquisition in Japan By Candy

In my last blog entry, I talked about the second language acquisition in my home country, Hong Kong, and this week I am going to focus on Japan, where most of my classmates are from.

In Japan, Japanese is the first language and most of the people’s second language is English. The majority of people in Japan do not start learning English until they are 10 years old or when they enter Junior High school.[1] However, the English education in Japan does not seem very successful. Even though children start learning English once they start junior high school and last for until the third year of high school, it is clear that most of the students still could not use English properly. Also, compare to other Asian countries, Japan always rank the lowest in IELTS and TOFEL exams.[2]

So why is this happen especially in Japan? One of the reasons is because the educators mostly focus on the skill of reading and writing, and always neglect the importance of listening and speaking English. Also, there are not many chances for Japanese to apply their English skills very often.[3]

Same as other countries, the reason for Japanese to learn English is globalization. Because of globalization, the demand of English skills has been increased. English is already the global lingua franca and it is essential to be able to understand English. So why does Japanese interested in learning another foreign language? Is that because of globalization again? Well, in order for me to understand more about this topic, I have asked some of my Japanese classmates. Most of them started to learn their third or fourth language because they are interested in the language’s culture and tradition or they have influenced by something like friends or the events of the language’s country[4].

It is clear that most of us here learn English because we need to. We heard from the society that without the skills of understanding English, it is harder to get a job or a better future. We are forced to learn. However, in Japan, this does not seem to apply for language other than English. Japanese think that learning a foreign language other than English can help them broaden their horizons and also understand more about their own language. Learning a second language is not only learning about the language itself, but also the culture, history and traditions of the language’s country.[5]  

 Federico Fellini, an Italian film director, stated that “A different language is a different vision of life.”[6] On the other hand, learning another language may provide you a different perspective that you might never have come across. I am sure everyone here would realise the true meaning of this quotes as we are all learning a foreign language other than English. You just don’t simply learn a language but you must have discovered something that has impacted you while you are learning the language.

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[1] Abe, N. (n.d.). English language education in japan. Retrieved from http://japanese.about.com/od/japanesecultur1/a/070100.htm

[2] Hashimoto, S. (2004, June). Foreign language education in japan:. Policy forum: global approaches to plurilingual education, Strasbourg.

[3] Abe, N

[4] Interview with Shunya, Shoko, Yukako and Miyu

[5] Ibid

[6] Why learn languages? 2011, World Languages and Culture, accessed 12July 2012, http://www.vistawide.com/languages/why_languages.htm (a quote from an Italian film director)

NBA where amazing happens -PART 3- JAKE

NBA where amazing happens -PART 3-

HAN SI HUN (JAKE)

The NBA is the third most watched sport in the world followed by soccer and then cricket. This league has grown into a multibillion-dollar industry that has been watched by audience around the world. With the NBA being such a huge worldwide sport, the league has had to come up with many different ways to market NBA to attract even more viewership. The one of the largest populations, China, is the NBA’s target.[1](Chris Peters.2012)

      
The Nation Basketball Association’s expansion into the Chinese market has met up to expectation and is considered a great success. The company’s China operation currently generates over $150 million in annual sales, and is one of the most recognized international brands in the country. To further focus on the growth of this unique market, a subsidiary was established in 2008, with former head of Microsoft China, Tim Chen, as serving as the first CEO.[2](Keith Bradsher.2007)

[2002 NBA Draft] First Pick: Yao Ming (Picked by Houston Rockets)

The NBA has had great success in developing strategic partnerships in China. Over 290 games are broadcasted on Chinese TV per year and NBA related content can be readily found online on Chinese websites. This means that giving the open bow to admire the Chinese most amazing former NBA superstar Yao Ming. When I thought about Yao Ming first started his team’s line-up in NBA game, the image of him running the court comes to mind. When Yao Ming was emerged from the bench, people turned silence to focus on watching this yellow-skinned guy in the middle of white guys and black guys. But he did not seem to show any anxiousness or nervousness. Everything looked so out of place; he looked out of place. He was so massive and tall that even the tallest guys in the court had to raise their heads to look at him. Yao Ming, 229 cm height, played center position, did not even bring the tremendous impact on the court. He actually brought a lot of hope and cultural impact on China. He became the reason why 30 million Chinese people watch the NBA each week. He had helped to make China the biggest market for the NBA outside the U.S. The NBA made a total of $2.3 billion worth of profit on the Chinese market here. The emergence of Yao Ming brought the spring board of the china market of NBA. The league also launched NBA.com/china, a comprehensive internet website, written entirely in Chinese. As you can see Yao Ming has been a stimulus for the sports market over in China. He was not only impact on the china’s market on NBA. He became the hope for the Chinese kids.[3](Net ease sports.2012)

Yao Ming Foundation's Public Service Announcement

Even though Yao Ming retired his career in NBA, he is planning to operate a children’s basketball program and is trying to give a lot of help to rebuild the schools in Sichuan. As you can see Yao Ming as tremendous affect to China, NBA can affect not even just America, but the world. Only just 10 years ago, NBA belonged to America, but now I think NBA belongs to the world since the emergence of Yao Ming. Some people say that it will take a while for its sphere of interest to increase until we see another “Yao Ming.” But as you can see with another rising stars, Jeremy Lin for instance, there will be another impact for China and all around the world to focus on future superstar Jeremy Lin. I am having a lot of expectation to see whether Jeremy Lin is going to be another Yao Ming figure in NBA.[4](2012)

Yao Ming Top Ten Plays

Through researching about cultural and societal aspect of NBA in china, we can clearly see China diversifying itself and broadening its focus and with it, its culture.

Refrence


[1] Chris Peters.Finding newfavor:MLS overtakes NHL and NBA as third-most attended league.(Jun.30.2012) Retrieved from http://www.coloradoan.com/article/20120630/sports/306300025/finding-new-favor-mls-overtakes-nhl-nba-third-most-attended-league?odyssey=mod%7Cnewswell%7Ctext%7Cfrontpage%7Cp&nclick_check=1

[2]Keith Bradsher.NBA makes a big move in China.The Newyork Times.(Sep.19.2007) Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/19/business/worldbusiness/19iht-nba.1.7562899.html

[3]Netease sports.Yao retired effects to show NBA’s $ 2.3 billion market in China hit _ NetEase sports.Two entertainment network.(July.14.2012) Retrieved from http://erji.yu-le-xiu-xian.info/?p=3024

[4] Yao teams with NBA.China Daily.(July16.2012) Retrieved from http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/cndy/2012-07/16/content_15583311.htm

Barong Tagalog, The Philippine National Costume by Miyu

Barong Tagalog is the formal men's wear of the Philippines. Last time, I focus on the Chinese long dress for women so this time I chose men’s costume. One of my Philippine friends told me that the Barong Tagalog has always been considered a staple. Almost every Filipino male has one in his closet, or at least has worn it once in his lifetime.

History:

The history of Barong Tagalog goes back to Spanish-colonial era (1565-1898). The Spanish rulers demanded the Filipino men to wear the Barong Tagalog because they wanted to make the differences between themselves and the 'natives' visible by the dress. Barong Tagalog’ s material should be transparent so that Philippines cannot hide any weapons against the Spanish rulers. Also pockets were prohibited. However, the Barong Tagalog gained its power, prestige, and status when President Quezon, the first Filipino president, declared it the National dress. The status of the lowly inferior Barong thus became another symbol of Filipinos' resistance to colonization. During his brief term, he made it fashionable as business and formal wear. Today, Barong Tagalog is worn in special occasions. The Filipinos (as well as non-Filipinos) continue to wear the Barong Tagalog with distinguishing acceptance world-wide.

Trivia:

Today, every visitor and foreign dignitary invited to a Palace must be dressed to a Barong Tagalog. The invitations specifically say come in "Barong" instead of the traditional "Coat and Tie". Thus, every one invited to dinner at the Presidential Palace and in many Filipino homes have to experience what it feels to have to wear his shirttails out, to suffer the indignity of having the material of his barong transparent so that he cannot conceal any weapon; and horrors, to be accused directly of incipient thievery by having no pockets in his barong to put the silver. So, when Spanish Ambassador is invited to a state dinner, you can say, "Ah, what sweet revenge!"

This is a photo of Hollywood actor Jeremy Renner and the President Benigno Aquino III in the palace.

Features:

Barong Tagalog’s material is transparent and we can see through it if you hold it against the light. Its color is traditionally creamy white and it is elaborated embroidery. This embroidery is an ancient craft that reached the Philippines even before the arrival of the Spaniards. (The needlework is one of Filipino traditions and Filipino girls in olden times, it is said, knew their worth by the way they pushed the needle!)

After I learned about Barong Tagalog’s history and features, I realized how strongly the world history and traditional costume are connected. The Barong Tagalog is beautiful but has a bitter past. It is important for us to know Philippine’s historical background to truly understand the Barong Tagalog’s real beauty and value.

http://www.barongtagalog.org/

http://www.philippines.hvu.nl/clothes2.htm

http://entertainment.inquirer.net/31141/%E2%80%98bourne%E2%80%99-star-leaves-%E2%80%98legacy%E2%80%99-in-palace-visit

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barong_Tagalog

Rethinking about Academic Writing by Miyu

Each professor in this university asks us to write essays in different style of academic
writing. As we can see from this, nobody can define what exactly academic writing is. The
answer to the question “what is academic writing?” is depend on each person and what he/
she writes. Each of us has to find our own way of academic writing. This is what I learned in
Professor Stan’s lesson.

Cultural Shock in Japan by Nachika

When riding the train you might encounter ”女性専用乗車口”meaning the
section of a train is only available for ladies in a particular time. From Japanese
this “Ladies Only” sign is not particularly surprising however, from foreigners
this seems to be very surprising. Majority of the countries have public trains
however not many country enforce the train to have ladies only cargo. A foreign
friend of mine had taught me many things which are very interesting and
sometimes shocking to see in Japan; and one of them is gender roles.

A typical gender role in society will be considered as men going out to work
and ladies staying at home doing household chores. As women got their rights, they
gained a larger opportunity to have access to education and some women are more
educated compared to men. As power of men and women started to become more equal,
the gender roles have also started to change. Full-time house-husband is a word use to
explain the situation when the husband is at home doing chores while his wife is outside
doing work. In the past, the society disavowed such circumstances and looked down at
them however, in the modern day the number of full-time house-husband is increasing.
My friend who comes from a country where the gender roles are strictly followed upon
until this day and from his perspective, Japan is a very generous country due to the
amount of opportunities they give for the ladies. I agree with my friend’s idea because
Japan has become a very generous country compared to the past. Accepting ladies to
have education and giving high rank position in society was simply unimaginable from
the past Japan.
The other factor which had given a shock for my friend was how citizen have
small amount of interest in politics and governmental actions. The actions which
government makes will directly result in the life of the citizen therefore we should have
great attention however citizens in Japan does not. It was amazing to hear that some
didn’t know the name of its prime minister. I feel that people in Japan is less ambitious
than the past; meaning the citizens has somewhat given up fixing things to make their
life better.
Also religion was another factor which my friend was shocked about. Religion
can be associated as one of the key factor of making the society however, though Japan
has many shrines and temples, people will not go worship for God. Shrines are now just

a touring spot and the worshipping for God on the New Year’s Day is just a festival for
Japanese people.
Through speaking with a foreign person made me realize that Japan has many
weird characteristics and traits which other countries does not follow upon. Some are
weakness and some are uniqueness. Maybe what you think as normal can be a “Cultural
Shock” for other people.

Academic Paper Interpretation by Nachika

After reading several academic books in class, I realized how I
interpreted “Academic Paper” was very narrow. In my past experience, using the
word “I” in essays was prohibited and the structure of the essay was designed to a
particular structure. These particular restrictions were not forced from the teacher but
assumptions which I had made and misunderstood. Through observing various writing
styles, I thought the interpretation I had towards academic paper was very narrow and
should be changed to prosper my writing level.

Vietnamese Coffee-Nami

Vietnamese Coffee

Nami

Today I will talk about coffee in Vietnam but before I do, I would like to introduce you to a second hypothesis of the origin of coffee. On the last post, I wrote down the one hypothesis but there actually are two hypotheses so I would like to introduce you to another one.

             According to the second big legend of coffee, the physician Sheik Omar had a disagreement with the ruler and was expelled from his home town of Mokka in Yemen. As he traveled through the Arabian Peninsula, he happened to boil red bean from a nearby bush. Surprised by stimulant effects of the drink, he began using it as a part of care for his patients. It had become so famous that an unfriendly ruler invited Omar back to this country. Later the plants were exported across The Red Sea to Yemen, to Egypt, Syria and Turkey where coffee was known as "Arabian wine". Rulers and religious leaders first persecuted and punished coffee consumers but by 15th century coffee was a favorite drink. Thanks to the Venetian merchants, coffee came to Europe in late 1500’ and London had become a big coffee city with more than 3000 coffee shops by 1700’.

             Now I am going to talk about the coffee in Vietnam. The largest country of coffee is, as you know, Brazil and the second one is Vietnam. We have been learning the area studies in Southeast Asia this semester in the class of Professor Stan so I thought talking about the country in Southeast Asia related to my topic “coffee” would be nice. So I would like to talk about Vietnamese coffee industry.

             Vietnam had taken over the second coffee producing place from Colombia so easily in 2003. Because of the low wages of workers and high production, Vietnam is always considered as the low-cost production country. Thus this country is producing a mass of low-price coffee, most of the blends from major coffee companies are from Vietnam.

             The production scale of Vietnam is huge enough that it has a potential to change the global supply and demand dramatically. This has an important meaning on coffee industry because this has a big influence on the prices of coffee in the world. It was claimed that “the production record in 2000 has caused the sudden fall of the market price”. But the great harvests in next two years that are surpassed pressured on reducing the market price.

              The government authorities recognize this huge quantity of production as too much to maintain the durability of its coffee industry. In order to solve this situation, a plantation will be compressed into 110,000 ha by 2010, and asking earnestly to double the annual domestic amount of consumption to a million bags. However, implementation of the plan is very much behind.

             Now I would like to talk a little about Vietnamese Coffee. Vietnamese Coffee is as much fun to make as it is to watch. It is a real treat, especially for those who enjoy their coffee strong and sweet. What you need to make Vietnamese Coffee is; a Vietnamese filter, coffee (optionally with chicory), and condensed milk. Condensed milk typically contains sugar and is heat processed with steam. Steamed milk has different physics from non-steamed milk and tastes better when used in coffee

Your effort will pay you back-Mizuki

Your effort will pay you back

Mizuki Kuwahara

I took entrance exam and I entered Ritsumeikan Uji Junior High School, which is attached school of Ritsumeikan University. Although I had to get good grades in my courses to get in University, I was guaranteed to enter Ritsumeikan Uji High School and Ritsumeikan University without taking entrance exams. I had to study, but I had not take entrance exams so I did not need to go to calm school; therefore I had plenty of time to focus on club activity.

Belong to club activity was compulsory in my Junior High School. I was wondering which club activity I should join; baton or basketball. I chose to belong to baton team because when I took pre-lesson, I found it is really cool, I had learnt hip-hop dance before, and the main point was practice is twice in a week! I thought it is going to be easy to handle both study and baton twirling. When I was around grade 3, the Baton Twirling was boom among elementary school students, so I had played with “toy baton” which was made by plastic and many kinds of colors; however I had never taken lessons from baton coach before I enter Junior High School.

While High School team had competition, Junior High team was not competing before my generation entered, because school was quiet new and team didn’t have enough members to compete, so we just practiced many skills. The half of my first year in Junior High, until the end of summer, we did not have lessons a lot. However, influence of the High School team competing in competition, we decided to try to enter competition. By our coaches’ “やるからには本気で取り組む” (yarukaraniha honnkide torikumu) spirit; which is if you decided to do it, do it seriously, practice, put effort a lot, and try really hard, our goal was set on get Gold prize in National competition.

We had competition in June, September, November (Region Competition) and January (if we get ticket to go to Nationals in Region Competition). Similar as figure skates, in competition, the judges give us points based on what levels of skill we use, how dancing and twirling and positioning (composing) are matching with music and theme and each members’ dancing and twirling are harmonizing well with other teammates. The judges gave as points and its average effect which prize we can get, Gold, Silver or Bronze. Gold is for 85-100, Silver is for 84-70 and less than 69 is considered as Bronze.

Like other sports or artistic things such as piano, usually the famous baton twirlers started learning it when they are little. In my team, there was a senpai, who started baton twirling when she was three, and she was really good at both twirling and dancing. However I and same grades teammates start it from 12 years old, so there were huge gap between her. We were newly formed team and there was no history that is made by seniors, so we had to practice a lot for competing and win over them. We practiced every day except Wednesday during the semester, and 9am to 6pm everyday during the second summer vacation. Sometimes we got fight with our coach and instructor because our opinion were different and we discussed long time until both agrees on it.

In first and second competition we had, we got silver prize, but from third competition, we could get gold prize in a low. In grade 8 year, we could not go to National Competition. I remember clearly when I heard the announcement, about which team can go to Nationals, did not call “Ritsumeikan Uji junior high school”. We put many efforts and I didn’t hang out with my friends that year, but still we could not go to Nationals. I knew that going to nationals is not easy, but we had hope. The result was if we had one more point we could go to nationals.

Next year, new team consisted with nine grade 9 members include me and 25 new members from grade 8. The theme for this year’s routine was “くのいち～女の戦い～” (Kunoichi ~onnna no tatakai~) which described the fighting scene of the Japanese lady Ninjya with the music which used Japanese flute, Shakuhachi, and western style drums. As same as previous year, we practiced every day and had all day practice and as same as not easy year. It was really big team and hard to unite everyone’s motivation and we had meeting many times. I went through slump this year, but I over came it. Our team got tickets to Nationals. I remember when I heard announcement that said our team name as clearly as when I heard that we could not go to Nationals. I was really happy and I remember I screamed and cried so hard because of happiness and relief. In nationals, surprisingly our team got Gold prize! It was unexpected, because it was first time to competing in there, so we were very happy and we learned that the efforts that we make will pay us back.

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This is video of National competition when I was grade 9. There are many mistakes and drops so it was not perfect performance… and sorry about the video quality is really low and cannot see baton well…

NBA where amazing happens -PART 2- Han Si Hun(jake)

NBA where amazing happens -PART 2-                

 HAN SI HUN (JAKE)

As I mentioned earlier in the first section of my blog entries, nine out of ten NBA players are blacks. They are namely Lebron James, Kobe Bryant, Dwight Howard, Chris Paul and etc. looking at these NBA star players, two big questions always come to mind when: Why are the majority of the NBA players black? Is there racism in NBA?

Jeff Greenfield, a television journalist wrote an essay "The Black and White Truth about Basketball", greatly inspired by the theories from the book, “Foul” written by David Wolf. In his essay, he mentioned that today's modern game of NBA basketball we have come to a form of recognition that the majority of players are black. Greenfield also said that over the last two decades, no more than three white players have been to make it as one of the ten starting players on the NBA All-Star team [1](Greenfield, 2009). David Wolf claimed that this dominance of blacks in the NBA is due to a natural inheritance of talent and condition. Wolf said that basketball is a pastime of the urban poors since the fact that most of them were not financially able to play sports such as hockey, baseball, football, or other fairly expensive sports that requires the use of sporting tools. Alas, basketball is something that they can feel prideful about. Most of the urban poors are black people. Lebron James is a perfect example of this.

LEBRON JAMES TOP 10 plays of the 2012 NBA season

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Lebron James is one of the NBA's the most valuable stars in today's game. He came from poor black slums. His parents split up because of financial issues. His mother, Gloria Marie James, was left to raise Lebron when his father chose to abandon the family. They were forced to move around due to his mother’s job nature; she was unable to hold a proper job. During his childhood, he did not have the money for football, baseball, not even for hockey. This led him to turn to cheap playground sport called basketball. Like many other black players in the NBA, Lebron took pride in developing his basketball skills on playground courts in the slum. Basketball was an activity that temporary kept Lebron away from his harsh life. (Fox Sports Net: "Beyond the Glory"). Looking at the story of Lebron James, I agree with Greenfield and Wolf when they said that black dominance in the NBA is due to natural inheritance, and that basketball was a sport for the urban poor. Greenfield stands by Wolf's idea— basketball isn't the same as it once was. However, I sometimes do not agree with Wolf's idea that basketball is about black or white.

"More than a game" -Kristopher Belman [2](krisopher Belman.2008)

 (this video is about how Lebron James become a success as NBA player)

Basketball is just like a society mixed with different styles, people, colors, races and cultures. The lines between black and white has blurred. Steve Nash, a white player was named MVP a couple of seasons ago, and therefore, showed that color or race not necessary determine a valuable player. It is about style, moves and even grace; about how much you devote for the sport. Back then there was no pro women’s basketball. But now, WNBA teams can be seen in almost every major metropolitan city in the U.S. Basketball is commonity among cultures, races, classes. Basketball brings us together not only to play the game, but to interact with one another in harmony.

Steve Nash top 10

We see here that due to the living condition of the blacks, they have prided themselves to this sport and have prioritize it in their daily lifestyle, honing their skill and using it as a mean to escape the poverty cycle to some extent.

Reference


[1] Jeff Greenfield. The Black and White Truth about the basketball.(1975). retrieved from http://books.google.com.sg/books?id=Nn6y4iHj6_MC&pg=PA373&lpg=PA373&dq=black+and+white+truth+about+basketball&source=bl&ots=-BUoBnWcA8&sig=jLP8RGj5JIunpXrqoEx5zJzlXc8&hl=ko&sa=X&ei=U4ACUPq5AeudmQWiyfDqCQ&ved=0CFEQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=black%20and%20white%20truth%20about%20basketball&f=false


[2]Kristopher Belman. More than a game (2008) Retrived from  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mVndnukjNTw


[3] Youtube. Steve Nash top 10. retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D8hT8cLdO48

about last friday class -Nami

Our professor gave us a difficult question as always. We had to think deeply. "What is academic writing?" His question usually sounds quite easy at first, but actually it is always not. His question always make us think seriously and give us new ways of thinking.He refreshes our brains. This time, the answer came from all the books that he prepared for us. Now we know why he said "academic is not about style" It is about the content.