September 9 - Dube - Intro/Geography/Early EA

I liked the intro evening a lot and look forward to the class's meetings. Thanks for all the background info and setting the stage for a course that offers texts, which I am thoroughly enjoying:

Somethings I liked in my readings:

From "Passages from the Laozi": (sic--underlining not working as I type)

" If you want to take from something, / Be sure to give to it. / This is called the brilliance of the minute. . . (Ebrey 29).

and. . .

In the preface to " Daoist Teachings":

"Whereas plants and animals act spontaneously in the ways appropriate to them, humans have separated themselves from the Way by plotting and planning, analyzing and organizing. Both texts [the Classic of the Way and Its Power and the Zhuangzi] reject social conventions for an ecstatic surrender to the sponaneity of cosmic processes" (Ebrey 27).

srae, 9/18/08

I, too liked the "trivia" facts within your lecture, such as the sheer number of people who fit into a space on the subway during rush hour. I told my students about it, and we tried to see how many we could fit! Some of the Filipino girls had no trouble, but my Samoans said "we count for three!" Hahaha... I am very much a popular culture and "trivia" junkie, so it helped me to remember and retain other information that was more significant and dense. Thanks for that!

I'm not a very political person, but it was interesting to see/hear about the inter-connectedness of politics and life in the different Asian countries. Certainly demonstrates how universal these issues are.

As for pre-reading, I liked the letters, a few of the stories (although I didn't completely get the satire in the "Proclamation on North Mountain" piece...I'm just hoping I'm correct that that is the satirical piece!), and really enjoyed the poetry. T'ao Ch'ien's poems reminded me of much of the romanticists, such as Whitman and even Thoreau...wonderful imagery and simplicity.

I thought that tuesdays meeting was interesting. I wish we could have spent a little more time discussing E. Asian Geog. Geography is one of the main focuses of my 6th grade ancient civ. classes. I really enjoyed the story about Tokyo's crowded subways. I am also looking forward to the next session about Chinese Philosophy. I am not much of a debater, but i am interested in learning more about Daosim and Confucianism.
have a great day

I enjoyed the September 9 session very much. I'm glad I learned some basics, such as which countries are referred to by the phrase "East Asia."

Also, I am very glad that I gained an appreciation for why educating my students about East Asia moreso that other regions of the world is important. The U.S. and East Asian countries and economies are so much more intertwined beyong the understanding that I already had about this topic.

I will have an usual challenge in my classroom simply because I don't teach subjects that are obvious fits (History, Social Science). Since I teach math (namely, Algebra), I've begun to consider ways that I can creatively work education about East Asia into teaching core math concepts and skills.

I'm glad to be taking this class and very much look forward to all of the learning that is yet to come. I've always had a fond fascination with East Asia, and now I am getting to experience the region and its peoples and cultures.

The first session was very informative. I left knowing more about Asia, it's population, and geographical breakdown than when I started. It was interesting to find out that Korea is smaller than California, and has twice as many people. And, we complain about California being crowded. I knew that China and Japan was heavily populated, but when Professor Dube gave the example of having 7 people stand on a newspaper to give an example of 7 people per square meter, it brought home the idea of just how densely populated some Asian countries are.

Also, because of what we see in the media, I never really thought about the fact that the vast majority of Japan consists of forest and mountains.

I am excited, and I look forward to learning more.

This first meeting got me really excited about the class. I am so intrigued by the history and geography of East Asia. While I am interested in the contemporary relationship between the United States and East Asia, I am also really looking forward to learning about the diverse and unique cultural history of the region. I really like that Clay is so well versed in the history and culture of the region. I love listening to his lectures!! he has soooo much information! I look forward to future meetings..

just a thought- looking at the geography of East Asia, I wonder if in the future an organization like the EU will emerge. I am speaking more of a economic conglomerate of sorts that leads to and a single currency and a ruling body like that of the EU. While it is unlikely, it is interesting to think of how this might effect global politics, trade and the decline of the US.