the bird on fire

How Should America Respond . . . to Gun Control?

January 20, 2016 by szachik@pvs.org 4 Comments

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–by Chloe Sweeney, as part of her ongoing series, “How Should America Respond . . . ?”

The opinions expressed in this piece do not necessarily reflect the views of my fellow blog constituents or the Palm Valley School. — C.S.

On December 2nd, the United States was horrified as it witnessed another massacre carried out by fanatics. This tragedy occurred in San Bernardino, California, a mere hour from my home. The aftermath of the crisis came with the leftist rhetoric calling for increased gun control. These shouts for more firearm regulations have become standard after mass shootings.
The Second Amendment of the United States Constitution clearly articulates Americans’ rights to bear arms. If something is so clearly stated, why are there so many people who wish to infringe upon this right? Already, there are many laws in place that restrict the owning, selling, and usage of guns. For example, it is almost impossible to obtain a Concealed Weapons License in New York City, and California has many laws regulating the type of guns that you may own and the number of rounds you can keep in the gun’s magazine. Despite these laws, there are over 33,600 gun-related deaths annually in the US. Some are quick to point the finger at the NRA, and they say the problem is that there are too many guns. I completely disagree. The problem is that law-abiding citizens are restricted from carrying guns so guns fall in the hands of criminals.
Civilians in France are unable to carry firearms, and we saw what happened in Paris last month. I believe that if more law-abiding citizens were carrying firearms the scope of the tragedy would have been drastically decreased. The case is the same for San Bernardino. The California shooting took place in a gun-free zone. The shooters knew they would be unopposed by any of those attending the holiday party, so they seized the opportunity to slaughter them. Since 2009, 92% of mass shootings have occurred in gun-free zones. Many establishments–including schools, movie theaters, etc.–are gun free. This makes people sitting ducks. We saw this in the Tennessee military recruiting office where even the soldiers were unable to carry guns. We also saw this at Sandy Hook and the Batman theater attack. There is a reason why terrorists and other shooters go to such locations. They know they will be unopposed. These radical, disturbed people want to encounter unarmed citizens. If we give in to the people who want to decrease gun possession, then we will continue to see the death toll rise due to mass shootings.
In my opinion, almost all gun laws are completely pointless. Laws such as what guns you can own, how many bullets you keep in the gun, and where you can carry guns are only followed by law-abiding citizens who DON’T want to kill people. A terrorist will use a machine gun whether or not they are legal. It honestly makes no
difference whether or not these laws exist. The laws are simply in place to give people a false sense of security. If a fanatic wants to carry out a mass shooting, they will do so regardless of laws. When someone has made up his or her mind to do something, no law will stand in opposition.
With gun laws, I believe the most important thing is to use common sense. People should be required to have a background check before purchasing a gun. You shouldn’t be able to buy a gun until you are over 18 without a parent/guardian present. If you are on the no-fly list you CANNOT be allowed to buy a gun. If you are on the terrorist-watch list you shouldn’t be able to buy a gun. If you are not a naturalized American citizen you shouldn’t be able to buy a gun. Specifically anyone in America on a visa, especially from countries with a large terrorist presence, cannot be allowed to purchase a gun.
Many people feel like you should only be allowed to own hunting guns, but I completely disagree.
A free people ought not only be armed and disciplined, but they should have sufficient arms and ammunition to maintain a status of independence from any who might attempt to abuse them, which would include their own government. –George Washington
I am not saying that we need to be armed to overthrow the government, but I believe this quote explains why Americans have the right to carry guns. The Founding Fathers did not write the 2nd Amendment so that we could go hunting, which is still a very important part of it, but the law was written so that Americans could protect themselves. The American people must be able to stand up against evil and radical terrorists who threaten their lives and the lives’ of their children. It can take minutes for law enforcement to reach the scene of a mass shooting, but if terrorists find themselves attacking a crowd of armed citizens, many innocent lives will be spared.
I believe that Americans need to be able to carry concealed weapons in each and every state without any restrictive zones. Let me remind you that in order to obtain a Concealed Weapons License, you need to be thoroughly vetted and go through gun-safety training. Law-abiding citizens should be able to purchase legally and own whatever type of gun they please. For guns such as assault rifles and machine guns, I believe prospective buyers should go through a brief safety training and should also go through a mental health evaluation. This is because the vast majority of mass shooters are young men who have fallen susceptible to radicalization or are extremely mentally unstable. I do not believe that all teachers should be forced to carry guns on campus, but I do believe there needs to be an adequate number of armed guards depending on the size of the campus and the number of students. I wish that this could mean that we will all be safe, but unfortunately we live in a world with evil people who desire the slaughter of innocents.

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Chinese-American Fast-Food

January 15, 2016 by szachik@pvs.org 1 Comment

Senior Blog Writer Amber Zheng talks today about the menus of some of the fast-food brands in China that look deceptively familiar.

–by Amber Zheng
American fast-food corporations entered China several decades ago. Fast-food brands like KFC, McDonald’s, Pizza Hut, Carl’s Junior, etc., are very popular in China. However, most of these American fast-food restaurants offer a much wider variety of foods in China than they do in America.

KFC was the first American fast-food chain that opened in China. It has a “localized” policy worldwide, which means it has specialized menus in different places in order to maximize the profit. Chinese KFC’s offer not only fried-chicken wings and sandwiches but also seafood porridge, chicken wraps, puddings, corn, fried rice, and even egg tarts! China is the only country in the world where KFC makes more money than McDonald’s does, and a huge part of the reason is because of the diversity and localization.

Pizza Hut was the first American fast-food pizza store that walked into China. In China, instead of a fast-food place, Pizza Hut is more like a chain restaurant that has a very big menu. A Chinese Pizza Hut menu is bigger than a Cheesecake Factory menu. Pizzas and salads are only a very small part of the options on the menu. Chinese Pizza Huts have soups such as chicken mushroom soup and seafood chowder; French appetizers such as garlic snails; different kinds of steaks such as French-style sirloin; all kinds of wines and coffee–such as vanilla latte and rum; various styles of noodles such as asparagus salmon spaghetti with Alfredo sauce; a long list of desserts including ice-cream chocolate cake, caramel brûlée, etc. Moreover, all of the Pizza Huts in China are designed as sit-down restaurants. They also have servers at the door to lead people to different tables and booths and waiters for each table. Moreover, the Pizza Huts in China offer a special packet for little kids. In this packet, kids get to go to Pizza Hut with their friends on their birthday and learn how to make pizzas. The Pizza Hut staff also arrange games for kids at their birthday parties.

–Edited by Henry Huang

We Lift Our Lamp Beside the Golden Door

January 13, 2016 by szachik@pvs.org Leave a Comment

As we continue to wrestle with terrorist attacks, the threat of terrorist attacks, refugees in desperate need of help and sanctuary, Bloggers Anna Kleckerova and Trey Lucatero wrestle with handling the turmoil humanely, responsibly, with fear and with courage.

This piece does not necessarily reflect the views of Palm Valley School or our fellow bloggers.–Anna Kleckerova and Trey Lucatero

Friday, November 13th, 2015 marks the most devastating day in French history within the last several decades. The first attack on Paris began just after 9:20 pm UTC. Several armed men began roaming the streets of Paris, opening fire on clubs, diners, and crowds of innocent people. They were calm and steadfast in their resolve. President Francois Hollande called the attacks an “act of war” by the Islamic State (The Washington Post). Radical cutthroats cowardly kill civilians from all over the world. They slaughter anyone who does not conform to their ideas. They kill those who stand in the way of their ideology. These terrorists wish to instill immense fear in the hearts of everyone. And, they’re succeeding. These men, women, and children who are stuck between the crossfire are forced to seek refuge in safer lands. Europe is currently overflowing with refugees from Syria, unable to support so many who cannot support themselves. Up to this point, America has done nothing in regards to helping the refugees escape their war-stricken home. The refugees want to come to a place where they can be safe and successful, without having to fear for their childrens’ lives. They have to travel thousands of kilometers every day for a chance at a better life. America should intervene and alleviate some of Europe’s weighty responsibility to the refugees. We cannot send these refugees back to their hell. It is our duty as humans to help them. Not every Muslim is a terrorist. That’s a fact we should all realize.
America and Europe have to stay strong together during this crisis. They can easily help each other to coordinate relief efforts to save these refugees. It is extremely important for Americans to take some of the refugees. If they don’t do so, the terrible consequences will be felt by both Europeans and Americans, and many others throughout the world.
Recently, several governors of various states have proclaimed that they will not, under any circumstances, accept Syrian refugees. They believe that allowing any refugees into our country will result in spontaneous terrorist attacks on our soil. People are afraid, and rightfully so. Yet, does our cowardice run so deep that we will turn down accepting innocent men, women, and children into our country? Closing our borders is exactly what the radical terrorists want. They want us, the once great and mighty America, to cower in fear of Islam, and we’re letting them do exactly that.
Closing our borders to these people would be against everything America stands for.

“Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, the wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”
The New Colossus — Emma Lazarus

These words are etched in stone on the Statue of Liberty. If we were to inhumanly deny these lost souls, we would be disgracing our legacy and dishonoring every value and ideal set forth by our founding fathers. We do not consider this as an acceptable thing to do. This is why we believe America must accept Syrian refugees.

–Edited by Chloe Sweeney

Schizophrenia from the perspective of John Nash

January 13, 2016 by szachik@pvs.org Leave a Comment

Edited by Treyvn Lucatero

Anna Kleckerova takes a look at the mental health disease Schizophrenia that often manifests in young adults. Medication is available, but some, like Professor John Nash of MIT, opt to go it alone.

Schizophrenia is a mental disease often characterized by abnormal social behavior and failure to recognize what is real. The most common symptoms are image1-2 hallucinations, paranoia, delusions and collapse in emotions. It usually starts in young adulthood, and symptoms are identified through a patient’s actions and perceived experiences.

A person who has this disease often thinks that someone or something follows him. He has a compulsive feeling that he has to talk to them and respect their rules and not tell anyone. With time, it gets worse and suddenly the person can’t distinguish between reality and imagination. At this point, social isolation comes with the inability to remember and do certain things. Aggression can also appear over time.

I would like to refer to a movie which helped me to understand this disorder of the mind. The movie is called A Beautiful Mind and is directed by Ron Howard and stars Russell Crowe. This story is based on the true story of John Nash. It starts with a very smart man who is a genius in math and goes to Princeton University. His symptoms are already apparent in his young age when he has an illusion of a roommate who helps him with everything. Even though our main hero is extremely antisocial and going to classes sounds stupid to him, he makes it through university with producing an excellent paper on governing dynamics and gets a great job at MIT. Unfortunately, he considers his new job uninteresting and boring. Some years later, people from the Pentagon come for him to break some important code, and he cracks it. After this event, another illusion appears. This time it is a man who works for the United States Department of Defense who wants him to break more codes to uncover Russia’s secret plan on attacking the USA. By that time, John falls in love with his lovely student Alicia Larde who soon becomes pregnant. With time, John Nash has difficulty distinguishing what is real and what is not. He attacks poor Alicia in order to protect her from his nonexistent boss from the Department of Defense. As a matter of fact, none of the characters or tasks from the Department of Defense are real. This attack makes her call a psychiatrist. Then, Nash begins treatment with medication for schizophrenia. However, Nash stops taking the medication after time because he grows too aggressive with it. He can’t take care of his own baby. And, he can’t think clearly. However, when he discontinues the medication, his hallucinations come back. By the end of movie, Nash is able to ignore his hallucinations, and he wins a Nobel Prize for his article regarding governing dynamics.

We can see that the medication helps Nash to not have visions and hallucinations, but he is not able to do any of the things he holds dear. So, schizophrenia is a very serious disease which can be treated by medication, but it can cause less concentration and decrease the ability to work normally.

The awards they’ve missed …

January 8, 2016 by szachik@pvs.org 3 Comments

–by Ashley Zhou

There are some extremely famous celebrities and athletes who have gained money, fame, and public recognition. They have been acknowledged as successful in almost every way–except they haven’t obtained that one important award in their fields. For whatever reason, they have been unintentionally locked out of winning a coveted prize–although they’ve been nominated numerous times.

The first person who pops up in my head is Leonardo DiCaprio. The highest honor of being an actor is to receive the Oscar or Academy Award. Leonardo DiCaprio has been nominated by the Academy for Best Performance of an Actor in a Leading Role three times and as the Best Actor in a Supporting Role one time, but he has never won. The movies that he was nominated for were What’s Eating Gilbert Grape? (1993), The Aviator (2004), Blood Diamond (2006), and The Wolf of Wall Street (2013). DiCaprio has established himself with great performances in those movies. However, the Academy obviously didn’t appreciate his talents as much as we, the audience, did. Of course, he has been teased a lot about his “so close” trophy by caring netizens (people who populate the internet), too. DiCaprio’s new movie The Revenant is being released nationwide currently with high expectations. It is also eligible for an award in the 88th Academy Awards, so we are all hoping that he can bring Oscar home this time.

For the eleventh year in a row, Japanese author Haruki Murakami was favored to win the Nobel Prize for Literature, and for the eleventh year in a row, he didn’t win.
His books and stories are bestsellers not only in Japan but also worldwide, winning numerous awards including the World Fantasy Award (2006) and the Frank O’Connor International Short Story Award (2006). However, he is still missing the Noble Prize for Literature. When asked about the possibility of being awarded the Nobel Prize, Murakami responded with a laugh, saying “No, I don’t want prizes. That means you’re finished.” It is true that great writers care much more about their readers’ responses than the awards.

As a strong national team throughout history, the Netherlands National Football Team never let its fans down in the World Cup–expect for every time they were in the final match. They hold the record for playing the most World Cup finals without ever winning the tournament.
In the 1974 World Cup, the Dutch played against West Germany. With only one minute into the game, the Dutch took the lead with a penalty kick by Johan Neeskens before any German player had even touched the ball. However, Germany struggled to recover until they scored with their own penalty kick in the 25th minute. West Germany pushed for a win–Gerd Muller scored in the 48th minute. Although both sides had few chances of sending the ball to the gate, West Germany was eventually crowned the World Cup champion. This was the first time that the Dutch missed the opportunity. Then, in 1978’s World Cup, after losing the final game four years ago, the Dutch made it again. The host Argentina turned the table of a 1-1 game by scoring two goals in stoppage time. But this match was a big controversy, as the Dutch accused the Argentines of using stalling tactics to delay the match that allowed tension to build in front of a hostile Buenos Aires crowd.
In the 2010 World Cup final, similarly, Spain defeated Netherlands 1-0 with a goal from Andrés Iniesta four minutes from the end of extra time. At the end of the game, as the sound of revelry hailed from the winning team, the orange soldiers left again with their lonely shadows fading out of the scene.

–Edited by Gaven Li

eSports: “It’s not just a phase, Mom!”

January 7, 2016 by szachik@pvs.org 2 Comments

Our popular blog writer Jim Wang is also a royal fan of eSports. He disagrees with many people’s idea that eSports are not real sports and explains his reasons in the following blog post.

–Editor Amber

–by Jim Wang

eSports means competitive tournaments of video games, especially games among professional gamers. But are these eSports real sports? Most people may say no because they think that there are not any physical aspects like those found in football or basketball in video games. However, in my opinion, I totally agree with people that categorize eSports as real sports. Here are my reasons.

Firstly, eSport competitions are similar with those of traditional sports. Like conventional sports, eSports consist of many different games such as Starcraft, DotA, IMG_0930-2 Counter-Strike, etc. So, let’s take, for example, League of Legends, a popular multi-player game. People who are really good at League of Legends must have inhuman reaction speed, excellent team awareness, and great minds–just like in any other sport. Moreover, these players have to practice for more than ten hours a day in order to improve their personal and team-working skills. You may think that playing ten hours of a video game is easy, but if you try to play just one competitive hour of any eSport game you will know that it’s not easy at all.

Secondly, eSports are generating enormous business all over the world. According to newzoo.org, which conducts market research for the computer games industry, in 2014 there were 205 million viewers of online games. The 2013 League of Legends world championship attracted 32 million online viewers, which was more than double the amount of the online viewership of the Baseball World Series and seven times the amount of the NBA finals online. The 2015 Counter-Strike Grand Final drew 36.95 million viewers online–a 295% jump in viewership from last year. The 2014 League of Legends world championship attracted 40,000 fans at Seoul Sangam Stadium, which hosted a football World Cup semi-final in 2002. And, in July 2014, 11,000 fans watched an eSports event in a Seattle basketball arena. It offered the highest eSports prize pool so far–$10.9 million, which is higher than the prize for golf’s USPGA Championship, and this event was streamed by US broadcasting giant ESPN.

Finally, the reason eSports is a true sport is that the top players earn an estimated 1 million dollars a year by winning the world championship or through sponsorship and subscriptions to live broadcasts like that on Twitch.tv. People don’t have to worry about their livelihood if they are masters at video games.

Now, more and more people are realizing the potential of eSports, and I hope that one day eSports can be accepted as real sport.

Kobe’s Final Chapter

January 6, 2016 by szachik@pvs.org Leave a Comment

–by Gaven Li, longtime devoted Lakers fan

On November 29th, 2015, Kobe Bryant, the All-Star shooting guard from the
Los Angeles Lakers, made an announcement that after playing 20 years
in the National Basketball Association, he would retire after the end
of this season. Posting this poem “Dear Basketball” on the website “The
Players’ Tribune,” the 37-year-old “Black Mamba” shared his story and
love to basketball.

Dear Basketball,

From the moment
I started rolling my dad’s tube socks
And shooting imaginary
Game-winning shots
In the Great Western Forum
I knew one thing was real:

I fell in love with you.

A love so deep I gave you my all —
From my mind & body
To my spirit & soul.

As a six-year-old boy
Deeply in love with you
I never saw the end of the tunnel.
I only saw myself
Running out of one.

And so I ran.
I ran up and down every court
After every loose ball for you.
You asked for my hustle
I gave you my heart
Because it came with so much more.

I played through the sweat and hurt
Not because challenge called me
But because YOU called me.
I did everything for YOU
Because that’s what you do
When someone makes you feel as
Alive as you’ve made me feel.

You gave a six-year-old boy his Laker dream
And I’ll always love you for it.
But I can’t love you obsessively for much longer.
This season is all I have left to give.
My heart can take the pounding
My mind can handle the grind
But my body knows it’s time to say goodbye.

And that’s OK.
I’m ready to let you go.
I want you to know now
So we both can savor every moment we have left together.
The good and the bad.
We have given each other
All that we have.

And we both know, no matter what I do next
I’ll always be that kid
With the rolled up socks
Garbage can in the corner
:05 seconds on the clock
Ball in my hands.
5 … 4 … 3 … 2 … 1

Love you always,
Kobe

Kobe Bryant is definitely one of the greatest basketball players in
NBA history. After being drafted by the Charlotte Hornets in 1996,
Kobe spent his whole career with the Los Angeles Lakers and won five
NBA championships (in 2000, 2001, 2002, 2009, 2010), one Most Valuable
Player (2008), two times NBA Final MVP (2009, 2010), and four times
All-Star MVP (2002, 2007, 2009, 2011)–all while wearing his purple and gold jersey.
His retirement announcement made millions of his fans sad, including me.

So, what influence does this announcement bring to the NBA?
Ticket prices have gone up!! On Saturday, which was November 28th, I WAS going to
buy tickets for the Lakers’ last game of this season with my friend.
However, we decided not to buy them then because they cost about 600
dollars each, and we needed to talk to our parents about that. The next
day, after Kobe’s announcement, we made up our minds to buy the
tickets. When we went on to the website, we saw this:

HOLY COW. What’s going on? The prices were increasing crazily; you could
even see the numbers going up if you kept refreshing the website! We
found the tickets we looked at the night before, and they
were——-NINE THOUSAND DOLLARS EACH!!!
Me and my friend were like:
39006
At the end, we still bought two tickets for 600 bucks each, but they
were much much further back. This story tells us: Buy your ticket
early!
Anyway, Kobe Bryant’s retirement is no doubt a huge loss to
Basketball. We hope, well, at least I hope, that Kobe can enjoy the
rest of his final season.

The World According to Henry: My Turn

December 17, 2015 by szachik@pvs.org 1 Comment

Senior Blog Writer, Henry Huang, weighs in on the subject “How Americans should Respond to Syrian Refugees.”

First, I’d like to apologize for this article. I made myself a promise that I would not put anything political in my column. People perceive me too much as a “political geek.” I wanted to expand my horizons. My life is not just about politics; it’s about everything. However, I reached a point where I felt the obligation to write this piece.

The topic is, Daesh, otherwise known as, ISIS. More specifically, I want to talk about the refugee issue created by Daesh.

Daesh has created so much chaos in our society. It has destroyed so many things that we treasure in our lives–freedom, liberty, the simple happiness of life. They attempted to diminish the innocent Parisian victims, calling them “apostates engaged in prostitution and vice.”

Now, after such barbaric behavior, there is an outcry, getting stronger and stronger, saying that accepting refugees from Syria and Iraq should come to an end. Some people think that it is too dangerous to host those people from embattled, radicalized regions. What is even worse is Muslin communities around the world fearing attack and recrimination and feeling generally unsafe. On Dec 7, Donald Trump directly stated that all Muslins should be barred from the “Land of the free and home of the brave.”

I couldn’t witness this rhetoric any longer.

My attitude is simple; the United States should welcome all refugees from Syria and Iraq. Like Matthew 26:33 said, “Though all men shall be offended because of thee, yet will I never be offended.” We should always open our warm hugs to them. These are my reasons.

First, accepting Muslims is an attitude of resisting Daesh. It tells the world that we, as human beings, will never surrender to Daesh. The Western society with the Renaissance walked out of darkness and let the spirit of humanitarian democracy flourish. It was a long process, and it took us more than four centuries to achieve what we have today. Now, Daesh wants to destroy our principles. Daesh creates fear, sadness, and anger. Daesh wishes to distort our conscience and our courage. However, only those precious things in our lives, such as love, friendship, and strength, could ignite the torch of our souls and resist Daesh. Simply refusing to accept the refugees is indeed surrendering to Daesh and its cruelty and violence.

Also, if we make one exception to keep Muslims outside of the U.S., it will eventually take away our precious freedom! Later on, the regulation towards immigration might spread to Latin America, Africa, Asia, etc. The poem from Martin Niemoller states,

Then they came for me,
and by that time,
there was no one left to speak up.

We need to speak up. Finally, I would like to point out that it is an absolute violation of the Constitution of America for a state to announce the decision to not host Muslim refugees in that state. I personally recommend the United States government learn from Hong Kong of the 1970s. Hong Kong hosted more than two hundred thousand Vietnam refugees during the chaos of Vietnam unification. Hong Kong only had 5 million people at that time. Even though it was a highly expensive thing to do, Hong Kong still did it. What’s more, hosting the Vietnam refugees didn’t create a huge conflict within Hong Kong society. Hong Kong managed a rigorous vetting process in the identification of refugees and their reason for departing Vietnam. Hong Kong set up refugee centers with food and shelter until the refugees could be integrated into Hong Kong or other Western countries.

Europe and America could definitely learn from Hong Kong.

Americans stood up against fascists in World War II. People didn’t kneel before fascists. Now, when the new evil, Daesh, challenges our values, challenges our beliefs and tolerance, challenges our democracy, is when we, as people, should open our arms toward the Syrian refugees. It is not the duty of Americans only, but an obligation of all mankind. It is time for us to share our brotherhood and internationalism toward these suffering people. Like Emma Lazarus said,

Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!

–Editor Amber Zheng

Travels with Friends: In Search of the Aquarium of the Pacific

December 17, 2015 by szachik@pvs.org Leave a Comment

–by Zhenzhou Hu and Jim Wang

During this year’s Thanksgiving break, Palm Valley international students Hugh Hu, Allen Zhao, Ben Ju, and Jim Wang visited Long Beach’s Aquarium of Pacific. All of them strongly suggest their peers put this aquarium on their field trip lists. The following depicts the adventure from the perspective of Hugh.

–Edited by Amber Zheng

Ben amazingly looked at this scary Moray Eel and said, “This fish is beautiful!” The rest of us failed to see the beauty.

Ben really loves fish. He wants to major in Sea Creatures (or Ocean Biology) in college. So, on our time off, we took an Uber from Arcadia to the Aquarium of the Pacific, and we had a great time. Ben was excited over every tank. He must have said “Wow” more than 25 times when looking at the various jelly fish and sea horses and star fish. We visited the aquarium on Thursday, which is Thanksgiving Day, and it was not as crowded as we expected. The ticket price was also not as high as we expected—only $29.

There were awesome educational exhibitions and facilities. At the beginning, we went to see a short movie about the Pacific Ocean. The movie showed us how human beings affect the biosphere of ocean and told us how to protect the biosphere by reusing and recycling. The aquarium also had a little 3D theatre that sells tickets for $4 each, but we didn’t walk in because we were not interested in 3D theatre.

The Aquarium Officer gently teaches Jim and Ben NOT to touch the shellfish with five fingers and definitely NOT to flip them over.

The aquarium was kind of small, but there were plenty of things to see for everyone, and there were several touch tanks and good viewing angles for people to really appreciate the aquatic wildlife. The aquarium officer allowed us to touch the aquatic wildlife with two fingers, but Jim was so amazed and excited that he flipped the the shell. The officer told him not to do so because it’s okay to do it several times, but if everyone out of the couple thousand visitors does the same thing the shells will be affected. The officer forgave Jim, but the rest of us blamed him.

My favourite part of the aquarium was the penguin exhibit! I thought that there was no way I could see penguins in a place like California. We didn’t expect to see cold-loving penguins in a climate as warm as California’s. The penguins were sliding and waddling and posing for photos (with us).

The most shocking thing to me was seeing the exhibits cleaned. Divers use a vacuum to suck up leaves and dirt. We saw a diver step on a starfish while cleaning the tank. We worried about the starfish, and other people around us did as well: “What is this man doing? Does he realize what he is doing?” said the aquarium visitors.

–Photo credit: Jim Wang

Overall, the Aquarium of the Pacific is a fun place to be if you don’t have any idea about what plans to make and you’re in the area! We easily spent two hours there! I highly recommend students in biology class going to the Aquarium Of the Pacific for an annual trip.

We don’t know what fish this is, but IT IS a BIG fish.

“The crabs must taste delicious.”–Amber Zheng

If you look closely at the bottom right of the picture, you can see the diver in the tank nearly kneeling on a starfish!!!! –Photo in Action by Zhenzhou Hu

The Art of Talking

December 17, 2015 by szachik@pvs.org Leave a Comment

As you prepare to sit around the holiday table with relatives and close friends, Ashley Zhou, specialist in relationships, has some conversational advice for you . . . .

–by Ashley Zhou

“We always take good care of our appearance, our clothing, and makeup. We look into the mirror several times a day, but we don’t listen to our own voices when we are talking.” — Kevin Tsai

This is an excerpt from a famous Chinese book, The Art Of Talking by Chinese writer and TV host, Kevin Tsai. I think of this book when I hear my peers talk, chat, or argue about different topics. We really don’t care much about the way we talk to others. No one will actually tape his own voice and play it back at the end of the day. I once listened to my voice when I was doing a interview, and I felt really uncomfortable about my voice. I didn’t think the voice sounded like me. However, we can think in a different way: If we constantly listen to ourselves or pay attention to our voice volume and tone when we are talking, we will become better talkers.

When we are talking, we all want to be the dominator in the conversation. We always want to talk about ourselves. To be a good friend, however, we need to listen carefully to others. Try to avoid saying “I” in the conversation, instead, use “you” or “he.” Also, if you don’t want to be too blunt in front of newly made friends, then you should avoid those sensitive or potentially dangerous topics, such as age, relationships, politics, religion, etc. Some people have secrets that they don’t want to reveal, and others might have strong opinions about a certain issue that might cause arguments.

People want to hear compliments the most. We need to intentionally compliment our friends and make them feel special. Being a good friend doesn’t mean being honest or blunt. It means to place yourself in your friend’s shoes. Be empathetic. When we are asking someone for a favor, it is the same thing. We could use a little trick to achieve whatever we want. For example, when you want someone to cover for you at work, you may want to say, “Could you help me this time and I will substitute for you next month?”

Talking is an art, and it needs us to be studied and explored and practiced. A person who knows how to talk will be much more attractive than someone who knows how to dress.

–Edited by Gaven Li