Pecha Kucha Pesentation!

The Pecha Kucha presentation that listened to and watched was the “Superior Skydiving” overall I didn’t really like it. I like the Idea of the type of presentation but the voice overs are kind of hard to focus on.

                What my presenter did well was that he didn’t get side tracked when she talked and she was easy to understand whenever she spoke. Another thing she did well was that her slides didn’t go too fast, they matched up with what she was saying, and her pictures were clear.  The one thing that I thought was effective that it was easier to pay attention with the pictures because with the voice over I didn’t really want to pay attention. I think I pay more attention when I have to read to learn what the presenter is talking about.

                What the presenter needs to work on is whenever she was talking it wasn’t that it was too fast, but that she lost her place when she was reading her script to describe the pictures. The visual aspect of the presentation was good. I liked the pictures, and it was cool to see the different parachutes. It was also cool to see a bird’s eye-view of the places she was landing, like the one in Hawaii.  

                What I thought as a whole on the presentation was that I liked the idea of the voice over, but for me I don’t think I would do it. But it is cool to see other people’s presentations.  I do think I would be able to fill my ten slides with the information I have if I did a presentation in the Pecha Kucha form.

Expanding Family by China

                What made me choose Chinese adoption as my topic was actually my friend, Sydney. She adopted her little sister she has now from China, her name is Lydia. I didn’t really know anything about china, or anything interesting about china. So, the only thing that I thought about was Chinese adoption, and how popular it is. Not that it’s like a trend to adopt from china, but there are a lot of people who do.  

To adopt from China there are certain requirements, to the Adoption Law of People’s Republic of China, you can adopt children up to the age of 14-years-old, but in these categories: Orphans who have lost their parents, abandoned children whose parents can’t be found, and, children’s parents who are able to provide for them. There are many procedures when adopting from china, (an American adopting from China) like once you are approved for adoption, you are matched with a child. And with that, you receive a picture of that child, and there medical record. The medical record consists, of general information. You also have to obviously travel to china. If you are married your spouse has to come with you, and you finalize the adoption in china. You go through even more procedures in China.  

I was talking to my friend Sydney about how she felt whenever she was adopting her little sister from China, and she was saying how long it took, it takes about 12-18 months to get approved, and application placement, and about 0-6 months for the home study. But she was saying that the trip to China was great, she went along with her parents and said that the experience was full of memories, and all the cool things she got to do. She went whenever she was in 5^th grade, so she also said that it was even more of an experience.

Sources:   "FAQ About Adopting From China." New Beginings. N.p., n.d. Web

"Adoption Children in China: Requirements, Procedures." Adoption Children in China: Requirements, Procedures. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Nov. 2014.

Sydney Schildknecht

Face to Face

Face-to-Face

            What I thought over all about the website, and what it was about in general was just it was kind of depressing, like it wasn’t upsetting, it just kind of makes you feel bad. Like, wanting to give so much sympathy to the people who went through it and experienced the hurt, anger, loss, etc.

            One of the stories that I found most interesting was, Tosh Kawahara, because of the quote you see before you hear the passage by the person. His was, “At best it was awkward.” he says that because his passage was about going back to school after everything that had happened, and president Roosevelt was giving  a speech, and Tosh was walking out in the hallway, when another student was out there, who was very angry and yelled at Tosh “Go back to Japan!” Tosh said that he was disappointed, which I would agree on, considering the person who yelled at him, was one of his friends. It just goes to show, that when something bad happens, you can see the type of person they are. Not that if you get angry in a bad situation that means you’re a bad person. Just that if you’re in a bad situation, and you’re going to be that mean to a friend.

            Another passage I found interesting was Ruth Okimoto, her response in the “Identity” category was relatable to me, the quote that it shows you before you hear or read the passage is “The will first see my Japanese face.”  The passage is about how when she was younger she refused to learn about her Japanese side, that when her mother would try to teach her the language or history about their culture, Ruth would refuse to hear any of it. But, she says “I’m a Japanese American, and no matter where I go, they will first see my Japanese face. So I can’t escape that.” I connect to that, because I am Asian, I am Korean and whenever people see me they don’t automatically think that I’m just American, they ask if I’m Asian. Not once do they assume that I’m only American which is okay, because I enjoy being Asian. It makes me who I am.  


         My overall reflection on what we did in class today was that I found it pretty interesting. I didn’t really like the biased testing because how could a computer tell if I am biased of not, all I was doing thing into obvious categories, like yes, horrible is something bad, and yes this person looks African American, so that I found pointless, and didn’t really tell me if I was biased or not. But the 9/11 responses, I found really interesting especially the categories’ they had, like loss, anger, and identity. I found the fear, and identity ones the most interesting. But, it was just cool to see people who experienced it their responses and reactions to the cause that happened.    
  

Reading Response #3- "Where She Went" By: Gayle Forman

Reading your response #3- “Where She Went” By: Gayle Forman

                I have continued to read “Where She Went” and I have still enjoyed it. I got kind of bored with it because the story was taking a forever to pick back up again. But I started reading it again, and I don’t remember why I stopped reading, because it was more interesting now that it was before. Maybe I just needed a break from reading.

             The chapter I have continued to read, was about Mia and Adam finally meeting each other again, because it has been such a long time. Mia and Adam go out on the town, where Mia gives Adam her own private tour of her favorite spots of New York City. Adam is shy towards Mia, which seems a little strange because you would think that he would be so happy to see her, not almost frightened. At the same time I understand why he would be a bit scared. Adam made this promise to Mia, that if she lives, that no matter what he would let her go if she would decide to stay.  And now that she is living a basically normal life and she wants to see Adam he’s speechless, and feels almost guilty to see her, and be talking to her, because of his promise. This promise that he made carries out throughout the part that I read because the guilt he feels, and how he doesn’t have the right to feel guilty because shes the one who got to have her life back.

 

 

           This book is really good, considering it’s a sequel. It stays with the story line, and it has “flash backs” to scenes in the first book, “If I Stay”.  Which I like, because I like remembering the moments of the first book, and seeing how they relate to the moments that are happening in the first book. The first book does have a movie and I still have not seen it, but I am hoping that they will possibly make a sequel to the movie as well.

Quotes:

·         “It would’ve been easier to die. It’s not that I want to be dead now. I don’t. I have a lot in my life that I get satisfaction from that I love. But some days, especially in the beginning, it was so hard. And I couldn’t help but think that it would’ve been so much simpler to go with the rest of them. But you—you asked me to stay. You begged me to stay. You stood over me and you made a promise to me, as sacred as any vow.”

·         “I get it now. I have to make good on my promise. To let her go. To really let her go. To let us both go.”

Both of the quotes go with the summary of what I read because they both are about Adam’s promise.

This is New York, and it reminds me of the part where Mia is giving Adam her secret tour of all of her favorite places.

 

 

Book Response #1- "If I Stay" Gayle Forman

Reading Response #1 – “If I Stay” By Gayle Forman

            The book that I have chosen to do my first reading response on is “If I Stay” I began interested in this book mostly because of the movie that is based on it. But I have this thing where I don’t like seeing the movie version of a book unless I have read the book version first. So I spent the weekend after the movie came out reading “If I Stay” it only took me about a day and a half to read it, because I was so interested in reading it, and over all I liked the book a lot!

 

In “If I Stay” by Gayle Forman It starts off as a typical family that lives in Oregon, a Dad who was in a rock band in his early years, a Mom who fell in love with that rock n’ roll type of  guy, a musically gifted daughter, named Mia, and an energetic son named teddy. But this family is about to go through a very dramatic experience, A terrible car accident on a snow day changes this family forever, or more just Mia.

 

Now I don’t want this reading response to be me giving away the whole book, but that’s probably what it’s going to turn out as in the end. Throughout out the first couple of chapters it starts the tone of the book as a happy, casual, calm book. It talks about how Mia, and  boy named Adam start to like each other, but this couple isn’t a couple you would think would be together,  they get nicked named as “Groovy and the Geek”. They go on a first date, and they go to see the cellist Yo-yo Ma. This is very sentimental to Mia because she is a cellist, and you wouldn’t think for emo-rock band member Adam to go to see Yo-yo Ma, but he did it for her. You later find out that Adam, saved up a month’s worth of pizza delivery tips to get theses Yo-Yo Ma tickets, and that just makes me like this book even more because of the cute relationship that you see Mia, and Adam share.

 

The Chapters that I have read, have really got me into this book, because I’m a teenage girl who likes to read about relationships in books. Relationships in books are always better, boys in books are always better. But like I said before I’m excited to see how the relationship of Mia, and Adam changes throughout the book, and what happens over all to the plot of the story.  

Quotes:

“If I felt like a fish out of water in my family, I felt like a fish on Mars in Adam’s circle.”

• This quote is significant because it’s saying how Mia feels not in place with her family since she is not like her family. She isn’t into punk rock, she doesn’t have the blonde hair like her mom, dad, and brother. And she is saying that she also isn’t like Adam, but it’s important and goes with the summary that I wrote because even though Adam and her aren’t alike in appearances, and cliques but they are alike in musicality. They both have a love for music, and that’s what pulls them together to have such a great connection. It’s just like the label their relationship got, “The Groovy and the Geek” how opposites attract.

“Mia, Mia, Mia. This is the you I like, you definitely dressed sexier and are, you know, blond, and that's different. But the you who you are tonight is the same you I was in love with yesterday, the you I'll be in love with tomorrow. I love that fragile and tough, quiet and kick-ass. Hell, you're one of the punkest girls I know, no matter who you listen to or what you wear.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

In the photo above its Mia and Adam on Halloween, and Mia went as a punk rocker because she thought Adam would like her more if she was dress more like the girl he thought she wanted to be like. Adam went as Beethoven because he wanted to impress Mia. This picture illustrates the quote that is above.

The Quotes That I Adore

“For beautiful eyes, look for the good in others;

for beautiful lips, speak only words of kindness; and for poise  walk with the knowledge that you are never alone.” – Audrey Hepburn

“Everyone should smile. Life really isn’t that serious. We make it hard. The sun rises. The sun sets. We just tend to complicate the process.”

“Today you are you that is truer than true, there is no one a live who is youer than you.”

“To be outstanding — get comfortable with being uncomfortable.”  — Alrik Koudenburg

"Play the laughter, pause the memories, stop the pain. and rewind the happiness."