Yuyun Zou - Assignment 1

Living in media convergence era, the media becomes a part of my daily life. I usually spend a couple hours to engage in media activities everyday. It makes my life to become easier. For example, if I encounter some problem, I will go to Google.com to find a solution and try it. I enjoy different forms of media such as Skype, YouTube, Vimeo, iPhone, ebook, Google, Facebook, and Blog, etc. I use Skype a lot. It’s very convenient for me to work with a global team. YouTube is my favorite. I can find a bunch of tutorials to learn whatever I want. 

            As a female Chinese American, traditional Chinese culture influences me a lot. Traditional Chinese culture sought harmony between man and the universe and emphasized an individual's ethics and morality. In ancient Chinese culture, people believe that artist’s work carries all messages the artist has. That is why ancient Chinese culture emphasizes that as an artist, the most important thing is to upgrade his or her moral standard to be a good person, a better person. I follow my eyes and my heart to express myself with my works.

           As a media major student, my dream job is a producer or a filmmaker. The Internet offers me great resources. For example, In Fiverr, only 5 dollars, I can hire someone to do professional video animation, intro or promotion as well as other post production works. That's amazing and incredible. The Internet encourages closed communities because it has made the world becoming a global village. The more technology develops, the more I get close to the media. Even though I realize the side effects of the Internet, the traditional Chinese culture gives me enough power to self-restraint.

Guangzhou City's Standard and Quality of Living

Standard of living is measured by objective such as goods, services and a country's infrastructure. Quality of life is measured by subjective such as relationship, crim rates, etc.
I had lived in Guangzhou mainland China for 22 years. Guangzhou is a modern city. At the surface, Guangzhou city looks very good. Goods, services and city's infrastructure caught your eyes. To be honest, the quality of those things are really bad. Toxic food is full of coutry. From toxic rice to toxic milk-powered, everything has fake, let alone the infrastructure. Under chinese communist party control, moral standard is going down worst. People harm each other just for a little bit personal gain. Corruption become government's chacrateristic. People suffer a lot. Sactisfaction is extremely low. In Guangzhou, the low level standard of living, the lower quality of life.

The Trumpet of Conscience

The article "The Trumpet of Conscience" by Martin Luther King expressed that King supported non-violence and opposited violence of the war in Vietnam. Government had been making poverty program to help poor people. Because of involving the war in Vietnam, poverty program was broken. The black young men were sent to Vietnam to guarante liberties in South east Asia and they hadn't own them in South America. Segregated accommodations must had been ended up.

Create an outline of Tell White Lies (Occasionally)

Thesis: Tell white lies occasionally

I. Occasionally, courtesy calls for a white lie

II. Not every truth should be told
III.White lie protect people from unnessary hurt


Conclusion: Use white lie wisely

Courtesy: Key to a Happier World

Thesis: Life’s difficulties would be minimized if people were more courteous to each other.

I. Basic ingredients of good manners

A. Justice

B. Empathy

C. Capacity

II. Three ways to improve one’s manners

A. Practice courtesy

1. Single-minded on what you are doing

2. Don’t let others’ bad manners make you rude

B. Positive thinking way

C. Be able to accept courtesy

Conclusion. Politeness is the golden rule in action.

Responsible to The Friendship Bond

The article "The Friendship Bond" written by W. R. Smalzer is about friendship bond. Smalzer believes friendship is built between two people with warmth and love. Trust and acceptance are the friendship's foundation. Psychology Today's survey shows people think that five qualities, that are trust, honest, accepts, supports me and understands me, are important to their friendship. And then, betrayed by a friend and having different view on important issues are the two reasons to end up friendship. Social psychologists think that trust and friendship are going together.
This article is interesting. Smalzer says,"Both members in a friendship must be open with and trust one another for their relationship to become deeper. " I agree with Smalzer. Trust is very important factor in friendship. If I don't trust this person, I won't say anything to him, let alone being a friend. Trust plays fundamental role in friendship. Human's feeling is very complicated. It relates many aspects. I experienced that I had met a person on a party. She gave me first impression was amazing. I felt she would be my sister in the past life. I became a talkative in front of her. After that, we became good friends. We had a lot of interactions like family members. We shared our views on different issues, shopping together and traveling together if possible, etc. Staying with her, I felt comfortable and relax. I was very happy to have a friend sharing my happiness and unhappiness. 12 years passed, we still are good friends. Looking back, if I didn't trust her, I wouldn't be open and socialize with her, and vice versa. Certainly, we weren't good friends. Smalzer's view that the two most important building blocks of friendship are trust and acceptance is really sensible.

Do you think the message in Maugham's story is the same as or different from the message in the Aesop's fable of the ant and the grasshoppe?

I think the message in Maugham's story is different from the passage in the Aesop's fable of the ant and the grasshopper. In the ant and the grasshopper, the moral is to save for the future and you won't be without. But opposite in Maugham's story. Tom is like the grasshopper, but he gets every thing through married an old women. George is really working hard like the ant, but he gets less. He fails to predict Tom will be end of gutter. This makes him very jealous.