Quitting a job
If I quit my current job and moved to rented accommodation I could pursue the 'writing side' full-time (always making sure I was ready and available for work if the ideal vacancy came along...)
This means I would lose approximately £30,000 (according to the main pay scale for teachers) which is about £120 a day. However as I get paid holidays it's really about £180 a working day. This is about £110 after tax and national insurance etc. Take off petrol and food then it's about £105. Making the maths easy, it's £100 a day.
But if I lived on benefits....
I'd get free use of Council sports facilities (I spend £2 a day on gym membership)
About £10 a day in JSA
About £13 a day in rent allowance/income support etc
So that's about £75 a day less.
But...I'd also get 10 extra hours a day free time.
So for £7.50 an hour.....
Hmmm..
Loads of advice around... people falling over each other to help...
After all £28,000 a year on benefits if you have a load of kids...
Ex-gunmen get benefits...
Terror suspects get benefits...
People even become addicted to benefits...
20% are on benefits - plenty of company...
140,000 people get more than me in a job...
Maybe go and live on a tropical island...
Maybe study p/time for an MA....
Sociology homework - by Saturday 14 March
Blog about:
The application of sociological research methods to the study of education
Quantitative and qualitative data in education
The dominance of statistics (eg examresults, league tables)
Positivist and interpretivist approaches as applied to education
Issues, strengths and limitations and examples of the application to the study of education of the main sources of data studied
Questionnaireso interviews (formal/structured; informal/unstructured)
Participant and non-participant observationo experiments
Use of documents, official statistics and other secondary data
The theoretical, practical and ethical considerations influencing choice of topic,choice of method(s) and the conduct of research on education.
Homework for Mary, Chee, Maria and Elvira
Blog about:
The significance of educational policies, including selection,comprehensivisation and marketisation, for an understanding of the structure,role, impact and experience of education
Independent schools
Selection; the tripartite system: reasons for its introduction, forms of selection,entrance exams
Comprehensivisation: reasons for its introduction, debates as to its success
Marketisation: the 1988 reforms – competition and choice; new types of schools(CTCs, academies, specialist schools, growth of faith schools)
Recent policies in relation to the curriculum, testing and exam reforms, leaguetables, selection, Special Educational Needs (SEN), etc
Recent policies and trends in pre-school education and higher education.
Cheeeeee, Wendy, Elvira
Blog about:
Relationships and processes within schools, with particular reference toteacher/pupil relationships, pupil subcultures, the hidden curriculum, and theorganisation of teaching and learning
School processes and the organisation of teaching and learning: school ethos;streaming and setting; mixed ability teaching; the curriculum; overt and hidden
The ‘ideal pupil’; labelling; self-fulfilling prophecy
School subcultures (eg as described by Willis, Mac an Ghaill) related to class,gender and ethnicity
Teachers and the teaching hierarchy; teaching styles
The curriculum, including student choice.
Mary, Daisy, Elvira
Please blog about:
Differential educational achievement of social groups by social class, genderand ethnicity in contemporary society
Statistics on educational achievement by class, gender and ethnicity; trends overtime
Social class and educational achievement: home environment; cultural capital,material deprivation; language (Bernstein); school factors, relationship betweenachievement by class in education and social mobility
Gender and educational achievement: feminist accounts of gender-biasedschooling; the concern over boys’ ‘underachievement’ and suggested reasons;subject choice; gender identities and schooling
Ethnicity and educational achievement: patterns; reasons for variations;multicultural and anti-racist education; experience of minorities in different types ofschools
The relationship between class, gender and ethnicity
The effects of changes on differential achievement by social class, gender and ethnicity.
Finally, Mary, Chee, Maria and Elvira...
Please blog about:
The role and purpose of education, including vocational education and training,in contemporary society
Functionalist and New Right views of the role and purpose of education:transmission of values, training workforce
Marxist and other conflict views of the role and purpose of education: social control,ideology, hegemony; ‘deschoolers’ (Illich, Friere): socialisation into conformity bycoercion
Vocational education and training: the relationship between school and work:human capital, training schemes, correspondence theory.
Good!
Should classes start later?
But maybe a later start would benefit everyone?
Think about it.
When I ran revision classes in the evening people were wide awake and with-it. Often people would stay on later at classes. (Last week I taught someone at 11.30pm and finished at 1 am)
If we start later I miss the traffic jams.
If we finish later I miss the traffic jams.
Then there's the body clock.
Please visit Monkseaton High School.
I was in contact with them over their 8 minute lessons. I tried them in class - they work very well - in fact I will do this all next week.
Read this article about it...
Read about spaced learning...
Now watch this...here's a clip:
Now here's the science...
Russell Foster, an Oxford professor of neuroscience, tested the memory of 200 Monkseaton pupils at 9am and 2pm using pairs of words, and discovered a 9% improvement in the afternoon. Students correctly identified 51% of word pairs in the later session, compared with 42% in the morning. Tayler McCullough, 15, one of the test subjects, said the majority of students would welcome the extra hours in bed. "I'm extremely hard to get up in the morning. One or two people like to get to school early, but most of us would be up for going in later. I'm sure it would make a big difference to our learning ability."
There's an article in the Guardian about it...
I saw a film today...
The film is pretty old but creepy nonetheless.
It was called Chucky.
What struck me most - and hence made it creepy - was the resemblance between the doll (small, never stops talking, screws up its face to mutter things) and, well, make up your own mind...
There's also the alleged link to the murder of three year old Jamie Bulger...
Maybe I should be more careful as to how I talk to people...you never know what sharp objects they may carry around their person...
Are you unhappy?
British children are - well, at least 1.5 million of them are. Have a read of the articles, follow the links.
What makes YOU happy?
What makes people happy in your country?
Maybe people need happiness lessons.
How do YOU define happiness?
Look at how others define it...
Would you like a free life transformation kit?
"“I was severely depressed. And now my kids can't believe I am the same person anymore! I laugh out loud like a child now--I am genuinely happy! My 20 year old says there is something different about my face-as if my face is glowing. You just can't imagine what this cd has done for my life in just two weeks. You literally have saved my life.”
- Debbie, Canada
or...
Boyfriends are temporary but Economics is forever!
Generation Sex?
Maybe more accurate than Generation Y...Generation Sex...
Naturally there's a Facebook entry...and a TV programme...
Human Characteristics
If so read on - here as an extract from the article:
"THERE was a time when we thought humans were special in so many ways. Now we know better. We are not the only species that feels emotions, empathises with others or abides by a moral code. Neither are we the only ones with personalities, cultures and the ability to design and use tools. Yet we have steadfastly clung to the notion that one attribute, at least, makes us unique: we alone have the capacity for language.
Alas, it turns out we are not so special in this respect either. Key to the revolutionary reassessment of our talent for communication is the way we think about language itself. Where once it was seen as a monolith, a discrete and singular entity, today scientists find it is more productive to think of language as a suite of abilities. Viewed this way, it becomes apparent that the component parts of language - everything from gesticulation and babbling to meaning and syntax - are not as unique as the whole. In fact, a boom in research into animal cognition and communication has gradually picked off most items on the list one by one.
Take gesture, arguably the starting point for language. Until recently it was considered uniquely human - but not any more. Mike Tomasello of the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany, and others have compiled a list of gestures observed in monkeys, gibbons, gorillas, chimpanzees, bonobos and orang-utans, which reveals that gesticulation plays a large role in their communication (Gesture, vol 5, p 39). Ape gestures can involve touch, vocalising or eye movement, and individuals wait until they have another ape's attention before making visual or auditory gestures. If their gestures go unacknowledged, they will often repeat them or touch the recipient."
Here are six 'uniquely' human traits found in animals....
Check out this video round up of animals with human traits - on video....
Also here are some human characteristics exhibited in chimps...
Sociology: Domestic Violence
Latest BBC News & Sport results for domestic violence
- Children 'injured in adult rows' Last updated: 1d ago
More than 300,000 children suffer domestic violence while trying to stop arguments between adults, an NSPCC survey suggests.
news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7850102.stm
-
Results from "News - Tayside and Central"
- News - Tayside and Central - Children face domestic violence . Last updated: 22 Jan 2009
Between 8 December and 18 January the force took part in a nation-wide campaign against domestic violence. They found about 100 incidents related to domestic abuse occur in the region each week.
news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/tayside_and_central/7845094.stm
- News - Tayside and Central - Domestic violence cases reported . Last updated: 23 Dec 2008
The force is taking part in a nation-wide campaign aimed at tackling domestic violence, which runs until 18 January.
news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/tayside_and_central/7798082.stm
- News - Tayside and Central - Children face domestic violence . Last updated: 22 Jan 2009
- News - Sussex - Domestic violence 'up by a third' . Last updated: 16 Jan 2009
Reports of domestic violence in East Sussex over Christmas and New Year rose by a third this year.. Det Sgt Wendy Vodrey said that domestic violence was "always a priority".
news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/sussex/7833937.stm
- News - Devon - Christmas domestic violence rises . Last updated: 12 Jan 2009
Page last updated at 08:48 GMT, Monday, 12 January 2009 Christmas domestic violence rises Police dealt with a big rise in calls about domestic violence in Devon and Cornwall over Christmas.
news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/devon/7823471.stm
- Radio 4 Woman's Hour -Domestic abuse and the recession
Domestic violence, however, refers to a range of controlling behaviours. Domestic violence, however, refers to a range of controlling behaviours.
www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/womanshour/03/2009_02_tue.shtml
- News - Foyle and West - Reports of domestic violence down . Last updated: 30 Dec 2008
Domestic violence during the Christmas period falls in the Foyle area, police figures show.. She also says there are probably many domestic violence cases over Christmas that have gone unreported.
news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/foyle_and_west/7804352.stm
- News - Merseyside - Officers tackle domestic violence . Last updated: 25 Dec 2008
Police officers dedicated to tackling domestic violence are working on Merseyside throughout Christmas..
news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/merseyside/7796924.stm
-
Results from "Relationships"
- Relationships - Domestic violence
Information on what you can do if you're experiencing domestic violence, who you can talk to, how to protect your children and details of your housing, legal, financial rights.. 27 January 2009
www.bbc.co.uk/relationships/domestic_violence/
- Relationships - Domestic violence - In an abusive relationship?
Is your relationship abusive? If you're not sure, read the warning signs, and do our quick test.. 26 January 2009 Are you in an abusive relationship? If you're reading this section, chances are you
www.bbc.co.uk/relationships/domestic_violence/youhh_index.shtml
- Relationships - Domestic violence
- Radio 4 Woman's Hour -Domestic Violence
This year, the Government has been keen to expand its Specialist Domestic Violence Court Programme and to create Independent Domestic Violence Advisers.
www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/womanshour/05/2008_44_fri.shtml
- Radio 4 - Woman's Hour -Domestic violence
Frank is the first person to instigate a homicide review into a death caused by domestic violence.
www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/womanshour/2006_05_wed_03.shtml
- Radio 4 - Woman's Hour -Spanish domestic violence
Lesley Hilton went to Madrid to find out what impact the scheme has had on tackling domestic violence.
www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/womanshour/2005_50_mon_04.shtml
- Radio 4 - Woman's Hour -Domestic violence
- London - London Local - Getting tough on domestic violence
Domestic violence is a crime and we will continue to adhere to our positive arrest policy."
www.bbc.co.uk/london/content.../dagenham_violence_feature.shtml
- Northern Ireland - On Your Behalf - Family Life - Domestic Violence
Physical violence often escalates in frequency and severity over time. Women’s Aid is here to help you come to terms with the violence.
www.bbc.co.uk/northernireland/oyb/fa.../domestic_violence.shtml
- Radio 4 Woman's Hour -Domestic Violence - Women's Aid celebrity campaign
There is a new campaign by Women’s Aid called ACT - Admit it is a problem, Call it by its name, Talk to someone to highlight the problem of domestic violence.
www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/womanshour/03/2007_05_thu.shtml
- Radio 4 Woman's Hour -Violent women - male victims of domestic violence
But what effect does domestic violence have on men and what support is available to them? But what effect does domestic violence have on men and what support is available to them?
www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/womanshour/02/2007_03_tue.shtml
- Radio 4 Woman's Hour - Timeline:Domestic violence
The British Crime Survey 2004 showed that one in four women and one in six men have suffered domestic violence at some point in their lives.
www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/womanshour/time.../domestic_violence.shtml
- BBC Four Storyville - Domestic Violence
In this powerful film he looks at the way police officers and social workers become implicated in the appalling phenomenon of domestic violence.
www.bbc.co.uk/bbcfour/documentaries/storyville/...
- Leeds - all_2gether_now - Domestic violence - but I'm a man!
Part of the all_2gether_now project. 24 January 2009 » Domestic violence - but I'm a man!
www.bbc.co.uk/leeds/altogether/flatlands/domestic.shtml
- Devon Community Life - Domestic Violence: One Woman's Story
DOMESTIC VIOLENCE PLAYS 'For Better, For Worse' is a specially recorded radio play for Domestic Violence Awareness Week.
www.bbc.co.uk/devon/community.../domestic_violence_victim.shtml
Always check your English!
"Video games can influence on the human behaviour. Noawadays play male and female of different age, them interesting virtual life, because there thay can do what they want, no roles, no preasure from other peolpe And people become agressive after. For example female play Sims. The presence sexist stereotyping in games is hardly surprising. But it is influence on the state of mind, such as when you play you can do what you want but afterthis you want to try in the real life. There are many choices when people after game they went out and killed person or crushed something. At the real life for this you should pay, you can be arested.I think tha t after the playing games person can be change, because some of them can play all day, it is a drugs when yu try ones and cant life with out them. I think that should to influence to stop sell agressive games cwhich bring bad position. "
Sociology: Hopeless!
Hetereosexual
Monogamy
Polygamy
Contraception
Abortion
Celibate
and the REASON is they haven't bothered to look at the powerpoints on the AS Sociology blog, then I know that whether or not this class is even offered, has to be reconsidered.
When people get 18% or 20% on a test that is based on one page of GCSE notes that was available 2 weeks ago, then I know that whether or not this class is even offered, has to be reconsidered.
When people are set five simple questions to answer and bring to class and not one of them does it, then I know that whether or not this class is even offered, has to be reconsidered.
Looking at the specimen questions, the 24 mark question requires:
"Examine the ways in which social policies and laws may influence families and
households."
Answer....
"In answering this question, candidates may refer to some of the following sources and/or
relevant alternative ones: Gittens, Donzelot, Murray, Drew, Wilson, Althusser, Hood-Williams."
When you don't read about researchers, don't participate in blogs where ideas can be exchanged, cannot even learn one page of GCSE notes, then I know that whether or not this class is even offered, has to be reconsidered.
Each person who originally signed up for Sociology will be asked again whether they want to continue because there is every possibility that the class will now be closed. You are starting 20 weeks behind English-speaking students (some of whom have done GCSE) and yet most of you cannot even be bothered to read research, write it up, contribute to forums, and do preparatory work.
Look at these three blogs:
Elvira
Mary
Rebecca
even these only just begin to make up the work that has been missed!
Sociology: Video Games - debunked
1. The availability of video games has led to an epidemic of youth violence.
According to federal crime statistics, the rate of juvenile violent crime in the United States is at a 30-year low. Researchers find that people serving time for violent crimes typically consume less media before committing their crimes than the average person in the general population. It's true that young offenders who have committed school shootings in America have also been game players. But young people in general are more likely to be gamers — 90 percent of boys and 40 percent of girls play. The overwhelming majority of kids who play do NOT commit antisocial acts. According to a 2001 U.S. Surgeon General's report, the strongest risk factors for school shootings centered on mental stability and the quality of home life, not media exposure. The moral panic over violent video games is doubly harmful. It has led adult authorities to be more suspicious and hostile to many kids who already feel cut off from the system. It also misdirects energy away from eliminating the actual causes of youth violence and allows problems to continue to fester.2. Scientific evidence links violent game play with youth aggression.
Claims like this are based on the work of researchers who represent one relatively narrow school of research, "media effects." This research includes some 300 studies of media violence. But most of those studies are inconclusive and many have been criticized on methodological grounds. In these studies, media images are removed from any narrative context. Subjects are asked to engage with content that they would not normally consume and may not understand. Finally, the laboratory context is radically different from the environments where games would normally be played. Most studies found a correlation, not a causal relationship, which means the research could simply show that aggressive people like aggressive entertainment. That's why the vague term "links" is used here. If there is a consensus emerging around this research, it is that violent video games may be one risk factor - when coupled with other more immediate, real-world influences — which can contribute to anti-social behavior. But no research has found that video games are a primary factor or that violent video game play could turn an otherwise normal person into a killer.3. Children are the primary market for video games.
While most American kids do play video games, the center of the video game market has shifted older as the first generation of gamers continues to play into adulthood. Already 62 percent of the console market and 66 percent of the PC market is age 18 or older. The game industry caters to adult tastes. Meanwhile, a sizable number of parents ignore game ratings because they assume that games are for kids. One quarter of children ages 11 to 16 identify an M-Rated (Mature Content) game as among their favorites. Clearly, more should be done to restrict advertising and marketing that targets young consumers with mature content, and to educate parents about the media choices they are facing. But parents need to share some of the responsibility for making decisions about what is appropriate for their children. The news on this front is not all bad. The Federal Trade Commission has found that 83 percent of game purchases for underage consumers are made by parents or by parents and children together.4. Almost no girls play computer games.
Historically, the video game market has been predominantly male. However, the percentage of women playing games has steadily increased over the past decade. Women now slightly outnumber men playing Web-based games. Spurred by the belief that games were an important gateway into other kinds of digital literacy, efforts were made in the mid-90s to build games that appealed to girls. More recent games such as The Sims were huge crossover successes that attracted many women who had never played games before. Given the historic imbalance in the game market (and among people working inside the game industry), the presence of sexist stereotyping in games is hardly surprising. Yet it's also important to note that female game characters are often portrayed as powerful and independent. In his book Killing Monsters, Gerard Jones argues that young girls often build upon these representations of strong women warriors as a means of building up their self confidence in confronting challenges in their everyday lives.5. Because games are used to train soldiers to kill, they have the same impact on the kids who play them.
Former military psychologist and moral reformer David Grossman argues that because the military uses games in training (including, he claims, training soldiers to shoot and kill), the generation of young people who play such games are similarly being brutalized and conditioned to be aggressive in their everyday social interactions.Grossman's model only works if:
- we remove training and education from a meaningful cultural context.
- we assume learners have no conscious goals and that they show no resistance to what they are being taught.
- we assume that they unwittingly apply what they learn in a fantasy environment to real world spaces.
6. Video games are not a meaningful form of expression.
On April 19, 2002, U.S. District Judge Stephen N. Limbaugh Sr. ruled that video games do not convey ideas and thus enjoy no constitutional protection. As evidence, Saint Louis County presented the judge with videotaped excerpts from four games, all within a narrow range of genres, and all the subject of previous controversy. Overturning a similar decision in Indianapolis, Federal Court of Appeals Judge Richard Posner noted: "Violence has always been and remains a central interest of humankind and a recurrent, even obsessive theme of culture both high and low. It engages the interest of children from an early age, as anyone familiar with the classic fairy tales collected by Grimm, Andersen, and Perrault are aware." Posner adds, "To shield children right up to the age of 18 from exposure to violent descriptions and images would not only be quixotic, but deforming; it would leave them unequipped to cope with the world as we know it." Many early games were little more than shooting galleries where players were encouraged to blast everything that moved. Many current games are designed to be ethical testing grounds. They allow players to navigate an expansive and open-ended world, make their own choices and witness their consequences. The Sims designer Will Wright argues that games are perhaps the only medium that allows us to experience guilt over the actions of fictional characters. In a movie, one can always pull back and condemn the character or the artist when they cross certain social boundaries. But in playing a game, we choose what happens to the characters. In the right circumstances, we can be encouraged to examine our own values by seeing how we behave within virtual space.7. Video game play is socially isolating.
Much video game play is social. Almost 60 percent of frequent gamers play with friends. Thirty-three percent play with siblings and 25 percent play with spouses or parents. Even games designed for single players are often played socially, with one person giving advice to another holding a joystick. A growing number of games are designed for multiple players — for either cooperative play in the same space or online play with distributed players. Sociologist Talmadge Wright has logged many hours observing online communities interact with and react to violent video games, concluding that meta-gaming (conversation about game content) provides a context for thinking about rules and rule-breaking. In this way there are really two games taking place simultaneously: one, the explicit conflict and combat on the screen; the other, the implicit cooperation and comradeship between the players. Two players may be fighting to death on screen and growing closer as friends off screen. Social expectations are reaffirmed through the social contract governing play, even as they are symbolically cast aside within the transgressive fantasies represented onscreen.8. Video game play is desensitizing.
Classic studies of play behavior among primates suggest that apes make basic distinctions between play fighting and actual combat. In some circumstances, they seem to take pleasure wrestling and tousling with each other. In others, they might rip each other apart in mortal combat. Game designer and play theorist Eric Zimmerman describes the ways we understand play as distinctive from reality as entering the "magic circle." The same action — say, sweeping a floor — may take on different meanings in play (as in playing house) than in reality (housework). Play allows kids to express feelings and impulses that have to be carefully held in check in their real-world interactions. Media reformers argue that playing violent video games can cause a lack of empathy for real-world victims. Yet, a child who responds to a video game the same way he or she responds to a real-world tragedy could be showing symptoms of being severely emotionally disturbed. Here's where the media effects research, which often uses punching rubber dolls as a marker of real-world aggression, becomes problematic. The kid who is punching a toy designed for this purpose is still within the "magic circle" of play and understands her actions on those terms. Such research shows us only that violent play leads to more violent play.
Henry Jenkins is the director of comparative studies at MIT.
Sources
Entertainment Software Association. "Top Ten Industry Facts." 2003. http://www.theesa.com/pressroom.html
Gee, James. What Video Games Have to Tell Us About Learning and Literacy. New York: Palgrave, 2001.
Grossman, David. "Teaching Kids to Kill." Phi Kappa Phi National Forum 2000. http://www.killology.org/article_teachkid.htm
Heins, Marjorie. Brief Amica Curiae of Thirty Media Scholars, submitted to the United States Court of Appeals, Eight Circuit, Interactive Digital Software Association et al vs. St. Louis County et al. 2002. http://www.fepproject.org/courtbriefs/stlouissummary.html
Jenkins, Henry. "Coming Up Next: Ambushed on 'Donahue'." Salon 2002. http://www.salon.com/tech/feature/2002/08/20/jenkins_on_donahue/
Jenkins, Henry. "Lessons From Littleton: What Congress Doesn't Want to Hear About Youth and Media." Independent Schools 2002. http://www.nais.org/pubs/ismag.cfm?file_id=537&ismag_id=14
Jones, Gerard. Killing Monsters: Why Children Need Fantasy, Super Heroes, and Make-believe Violence. New York: Basic, 2002.
Salen, Katie and Eric Zimmerman. Rules of Play: Game Design Fundamentals. Cambridge: MIT Press, 2003.
Sternheimer, Karen. It's Not the Media: The Truth About Popular Culture's Influence on Children. New York: Westview, 2003.
Wright, Talmadge."Creative Player Actions in FPS Online Video Games: Playing Counter-Strike." Game Studies Dec. 2002. http://www.gamestudies.org/0202/wright/
Chinese New Year (2008)
Promotional fliers for NTDTV's Chinese New Year Spectacular -- a lavish multimillion-dollar production opening Jan. 18 at the Nokia Theatre -- describe the show as a celebration of "The Renaissance of Divine Chinese Arts." Featured on the colorful handout are dancers in traditional costumes, whirling ribbons and review quotes that deem the show "fabulous," "beautiful" and "astonishing."
What the fliers don't say is that NTDTV - New Tang Dynasty Television - is a New York City-based, nonprofit satellite broadcaster operated by a staff that includes members of a relatively new spiritual sect called Falun Gong. The production has met with controversy at virtually every stop of its tour because of the perceived connection between the Chinese New Year Spectacular and the religious group.
Falun Gong or Falun Dafa - system of mind and body cultivation that was introduced to the public in China in 1992 - has been banned by China's communist government. The Chinese government has denounced the international touring production of the Chinese New Year Spectacular - now in its fifth year and visiting Los Angeles for the third time - and has pressured companies to cancel their support.
Pressure from the Chinese government has reared its head in Southern California: In a Dec. 17 letter, China's consulate general asked Orange County not to recognize the Chinese New Year Spectacular performances in Los Angeles and others scheduled for mid-January at the California Center for the Arts in Escondido. Earlier this year, a letter urging a boycott of a New York show arrived at the office of a state assemblyman there.
Representatives for the Chinese New Year Spectacular would not reveal the cost of the show, which contains computerized visual elements and live fireworks, except to say it is in the multimillions. "Everything is very elaborately prepared," says spokesman James White. "It is a state-of-the-art show."
At the core of the spectacle, according to Simone Gao, one of the show's producers, are large-scale classical Chinese dances with as many as 60 dancers backed by a live orchestra. The production features instrumental performances, including a soloist playing the erhu, a stringed Chinese instrument.
The show also includes "mini-dance-dramas," with narratives about Chinese legends or historical characters and events. Some of these dramas depict the persecution of Falun Gong members in China. In one piece, Gao says, "Policemen come in and drag the practitioners off and beat them, including little girls, which is very true -- many similar stories are happening in China right now. Later on, the people in the park start to stand up and block the police, and eventually the police retreat."
Gao adds, however, that she does not see the content as out of place in a show about Chinese history and culture. "It is not something that the producers squeeze in to get you to convert to Falun Gong; it's not like that at all," she says. "The Falun Gong content is very well in line with the traditional Chinese culture; it is part of Chinese values and traditions."
Tactics questioned
Falun Gong members have raised hackles in the mainstream Chinese-American community -- in part because some consider Falun Gong a fringe group or cult religion and in part because of the group's in-your-face approach to spreading its message.
Those who practice Falun Gong frequently congregate in public places, display banners or take to the streets to distribute printed materials that detail ways in which Falun Gong practitioners say they have been persecuted or subjected to human rights violations in China,sometimes including graphic images of physical abuse.
"I think some of the tactics used by the Falun Gong are not very welcome," says Peter Kwong, a sociology professor at the City University of New York's Graduate Center and professor of Asian American Studies at Hunter College. "They are very aggressively pushing their agenda to the extent that some people think it is giving China - and the Chinese in general - a bad name."
The Falun Gong, Kwong adds, has a reputation for being less than open about its connection to events or institutions. "They have their free newspapers on the street corners, in every language possible; at the same time, they are trying to get themselves involved in issues that project them as part of the mainstream," he says. "This show is one of those moves they have taken."
Others say that though Falun Gong practitioners call themselves a religious group, their main message has been political -- and some believe that politics, not culture, dominates in the Chinese New Year Spectacular.
"Most of the Chinese community think it's linked too much with political events," says Michael Cheung, president of the Chinese Consolidated Benevolent Assn., based in downtown Los Angeles. "I saw the show last year at the Kodak Theatre. Some of the content reflects politics and human rights; it is not exactly art."
Press material sent to The Times about the Chinese New Year Spectacular makes clear its connection to New Tang Dynasty Television - although no specific mention is made of the broadcaster's relationship to the Falun Gong.
But one letter from a press representative offers as an interview subject the show's emcee, 29-year-old Israeli-born Leeshai Lemish, detailing the story of how Lemish was "beaten in detention and deported" for joining 35 other people from 12 countries in 2001 in "the first international protest" of the abuse and mistreatment of Falun Gong practitioners.
No surprises
As to why the Falun Gong is not mentioned in fliers being circulated to the public, representatives for the Chinese New Year Spectacular say that such mention is not necessary. Although some involved in the show practice Falun Gong, they say, the religious group is not a fi- nancial backer of the show, which is funded by New Tang Dynasty Television and private investors.
"Falun Gong is a social practice, it doesn't own any corporations or organizations," Gao says. The perceived connection, she says, is because "NTDTV is known for reporting true stories of persecution in China, of political corruption, and reports heavily on human rights abuses, including the persecution of Falun Gong."
Cheung of the Chinese Benevolent Assn. says that while he does not believe the show's producers actively seek converts to Falun Gong, "they try to send a message." He adds, however, that the Chinese American community is aware of New Tang Dynasty Television's ties to Falun Gong so it knows what to expect.
"We are not surprised, when we see this show, that they are trying to send a message," Cheung says. "We understand because we know who they are, and most people are not surprised by what they see."
Chinese New Year starts with the New Moon on the first day of the new year and ends on the full moon 15 days later. The 15th day of the new year is called the Lantern Festival, which is celebrated at night with lantern displays and children carrying lanterns in a parade.
The Chinese calendar is based on a combination of lunar and solar movements. The lunar cycle is about 29.5 days. In order to "catch up" with the solar calendar the Chinese insert an extra month once every few years (seven years out of a 19-yearcycle). This is the same as adding an extra day on leap year. This is why, according to the solar calendar, the Chinese New Year falls on a different date each year.
New Year's Eve and New Year's Day are celebrated as a family affair, a time of reunion and thanksgiving. The celebration was traditionally highlighted with a religious ceremony given in honor of Heaven and Earth, the gods of the household and the family ancestors.
The sacrifice to the ancestors, the most vital of all the rituals, united the living members with those who had passed away. Departed relatives are remembered with great respect because they were responsible for laying the foundations for the fortune and glory of the family.
The presence of the ancestors is acknowledged on New Year's Eve with a dinner arranged for them at the family banquet table. The spirits of the ancestors, together with the living, celebrate the onset of the New Year as one great community. The communal feast called "surrounding the stove" or weilu. It symbolizes family unity and honors the past and present generations.
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Sociology in China
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Sociology: homework for Wednesday
Therefore let us assume that the LATEST DATE is by Wednesday but I can ask for it any time after Sunday:
"Find out about what policies they could find on a certain topic (abortion, etc.) and discuss how it impacted on family life."
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SHOW AN INTEREST and post on at least THREE different blogs!