Everyone needs to vent every now and again. often as not, I choose to do it here. So consequentially I try to do it in an entertaining manner. But after this Saturday's final - in which somehow one of my classes "didn't get the memo" for the schedule change, even though I specifically remember devoting about 15 minutes to each class telling them about it - was effectively a nightmare. This was compounded by the fact that I was "assisted" by a certain WZMC nanny, whom for the purposes of this articles will remain named only by the letters "cxx." But let me just say, she's come up repeatedly in this very blog. I leave the associations to you. Regardless, on the bus-ride home I was irate enough to whip out my journal and pen a letter to her. I've learned that in these situations, it's often extremely cathartic to write as though you're going to send it, but then never send it. But since Blogger is on, apparently, the parma-block list here in good old Zhongguo, and she's never heard of it anyway, much less my semi-anonymous blog contained within, I feel pretty safe in giving you the unfiltered edition of: "CXX, My Regards":
~~~~~
"CXX,"
You said today that you felt you needed to be frank. Well, allow me to be frank in return.
First, though this entire year you have never once visited a class of mine, nor taken any interest in the work I do - save when it hasn't superficially "looked" as nice as you might like it. Thinking back, I cannot remember a time where you have pro-actively helped me or assisted me in any meaningful way. For instance, what about those student evaluations I asked you for, during both semesters, and you told me you'd get copies of? What happened to them? Instead, your job consistantly seems to have been to give me only the vaguest notion of what you want, and then criticize, belittle, insult, or otherwise waste my time when it's not exactly the way you want it.
And that I tolerated. The lack of any direction whatsoever, I also tolerated, since more often than not I am convinced I care more about the education of these students than you or the school - which prioritizes their (and your) income and image above the students' educational welfare.
Students - and people in general, in life and in the workplace - behave according to how they are treated. And I am sorry to say that your - and the school's - lack of trust or confidence in the students' ability to or willingness to behave in a mature, adult manner regarding tests, classes, or anything has resulted in exactly what you fear. It's a self-fulfilling prophecy: you treat the students like cheating children, and the consequentially behave like cheating children.
But today's "argument" with me in front of not one, but two classes of students in unacceptable, and embarrassing - not for me, but for you. Had you *any* respect for me either as an employee or as a person, you would have had the decency to wait until everyone had left, or we were somewhere private, before you attempted to chastise what you didn't like - but failed to look into beforehand - about my test. Clearly, however, you do not. I had expected more from a Chinese person. Clearly, though, I expected too much, at least from you.
You said you felt "guilty" about leaving the dissemination of the schedule change to me, and that you should have called them yourself, before attempting to guilt-trip me with the work others will have to do "as a result." The questionable validity of that aside, your thinly-veiled suggestion of my incompetence did not go unnoticed. Please, if you are going to be snide, at least have a backbone enough to say it outright. If I am incompetent, though, then I blame you for it. You, who only ever spoke to me to tell me what I'd done wrong... well after the fact. You who, having absolutely no knowledge whatsoever of my classes, presumed to know better than me time and again. You who greeted my every suggestion as though neither it nor I existed, You, who over and over again failed to provide even the most basic information or supplies that my job would require (including the pointless busywork you have me jumping hoops through), and then forced me to use yet more of my time to "fix it" - when you couldn't even be bothered to tell me in the first place.
I've come to dread any interaction with you. You have no idea how disappointed I was to learn it would be you "helping" me today, since I knew immediately that you would be nothing more but a critical, detrimental drag on my day. To me, you are nothing if not a useless nag: someone whose sole purpose is to point out my faults - not because I have some overabundance of them, but because you remain pointedly, in fact *willfully*, ignorant of anything I may be doing well.
As you've ignored virtually everything else I've said over the course of this year, I certainly wouldn't expect - or want - you to suddenly change your tune now. So please, don't waste both your and my time with yet another of your say-nothing responses. You opinion of me or this letter is as utterly worthless to me as mine have been to you all year.
I conclude by simply saying I am glad beyond words that this year with you is coming to a close, and it should come as no surprise that I've been wanting to leave as soon as possible. My only regret is that it cannot end sooner, and moreso that you are needlessly dragging it out longer.
Good Bye.
~~~~~
I think that basically sums it up. There's still a big part of me wanting to send it... but at this point, I don't see what good it would do, as I might need the school as a reference at some point. Best to remain prudent. Still, it was amazingly gratifying to write it... well worth the time.
'Til Next Time,
(CS)WC Out.
Sunday, June 14, 2009
Tuesday, June 9, 2009
The Job Offer Cometh Amid a Tide of Crazy
Amid crazed, belligerent heads of state with awful hair holding people hostage for looking at their country, and crazed, belligerent Southern pastors trying to kill Obama through prayer, a beacon of light has seen fit to pierce the veil of craziness that has descended upon the world...
That's right, I officially have a job offer in Shanghai. It's through a place call BSK Academy, which effective contracts teachers and then hires them out to public schools to teach. I'm reviewing the copy of the contract they went me, and will probably forward it on to my Dad to review in the near future... still it's a very interesting offer. 11kRMB/month, ~16hrs/week... but no housing included. Nancy seems hung up on that, to which I replied: "but I thought you wanted us to get our own nice apartment in Shanghai and not be in a hole like right now." We'll see how it progresses. I'm in not rush to sign anything as of yet. Hell, my current contract isn't even completed yet! Regardless, BSK's school year begins in September, so I'd be in for a nice long, relaxing summer :D
I was awoken today at about 11am by the repeated ringing of my doorbell, and hard pounding on the door. This had happened once before and, not expecting visitors, was more than willing to just ignore it once again. However when the knocking - nay pounding - turned into forcibly pulling on the door handle, I'd had enough. I knew it was a shrill, middle-aged woman, so I was just annoyed, not afraid. I opened the door and was immediately assaulted by this 5'3" woman yelling at me. I caught the vague idea of what she was talking about: something about her being mad (no translation needed there), something about water, and something about a child. I repeatedly shrugged my shoulders and, when she finally was forced to pause and inhale before continuing her rant, I told her I had no idea what she was talking about and couldn't understand her. She claimed that she "knew" I could understand her, and so continued on her rapidfire rant at me. At this point I figured it must be that my bathroom was somehow leaking down into 308 (the apt below mine, and where she'd said she came from, so I told her to wait a moment and I could have a look. She made a motion like she was going to open the door more and step inside, so I quick cut that thought off at the waste with an upraised palm (stop) and saying "whoa whoa whoa."
She said something that sounded snide, so in very growly, not at all friendly English I said, "Listen lady, I don't know what the fuck your problem is, but if you don't quit yelling at me you can just fuck off and get the fuck out of here. So Deng yi xia (wait a second)." Of course she didn't understand, and I didn't mean for her to. It had exactly the effect I had intended. A big, male foreigner telling her something that sounded threatening in a foreign tongue. That's usually enough to shut most people up. I went and put my shirt on while she began jabbering again at the now-empty doorway.
Fortunately, Nancy was calling at this point to invite me to lunch and show off her new haircut (which is gorgeous!). I said, "Nancy, there's some old woman yelling at me right now, can you talk to her and see what she wants?" Obligingly, she said yes, and I handed my cell to the now slightly deflated looking woman. The look of deflation grew the more she talked with Nancy, until she finally handed the phone back to me and said nothing else... without another word to me, she began talking to my neighbor...
I got back ont he phone with Nancy as asked what the deal was. Apparently, there is a baby in the apt below ours, and somebody occasionally throw water out of their window from above. The water hits the plastic balcony cover and makes a big noise, which frightens the baby. Somehow this woman had got it in to her head that it was me doing this... because of course there's certainly not 4 apartments directly above mine. And so took it upon herself to chastise me over it. This included the pounding on the door, not just this time... but once before at about 6am. Nancy told her it absolutely was not us, which took the wind from her sails.
Before she left, Nancy overheard her (via my cell phone) telling my neighbor that I was not "gentle" and wasn't as nice as the last foreigner who lived there. Well NO SHIT. I'm not going to be polite to someone yelling at me. and I certainly could have been much less "gentle" had she continued on like that.
She didn't even apologize - to either me or Nancy - before storming off to go stare outside for who was "really" doing it. Nancy is about as pissed as I am over it. Probably more so, since she wasn't around to face this moron. She now very much wants to confront this bitch face to face and demand an apology for being such a giant douche. Seriously, if you're going to pound on someone's door at all hours and then yell at them once they answer and accuse them of annoying your child with water, you'd better be damn well sure that you're accusing the right person. And then when you've been proven to be an idiot, the least you can do is apologize for being a rude bitch. Nancy's planning on going back downstair later and having a "talk" with this woman about manners. I'm planning on going with her. Not because she needs me (she can be scarier than I could ever be) but because I feel like the lady should looks me in the eye when she apologizes.
Anyway, that's all the craziness to report for today. Tomorrow I attempt to finish my oral finals... and then saturday I've got my lovely listening finals. Joy of joys! Bu hey, less than 2 weeks before I'm outta here!
(CS)WC Out.
That's right, I officially have a job offer in Shanghai. It's through a place call BSK Academy, which effective contracts teachers and then hires them out to public schools to teach. I'm reviewing the copy of the contract they went me, and will probably forward it on to my Dad to review in the near future... still it's a very interesting offer. 11kRMB/month, ~16hrs/week... but no housing included. Nancy seems hung up on that, to which I replied: "but I thought you wanted us to get our own nice apartment in Shanghai and not be in a hole like right now." We'll see how it progresses. I'm in not rush to sign anything as of yet. Hell, my current contract isn't even completed yet! Regardless, BSK's school year begins in September, so I'd be in for a nice long, relaxing summer :D
I was awoken today at about 11am by the repeated ringing of my doorbell, and hard pounding on the door. This had happened once before and, not expecting visitors, was more than willing to just ignore it once again. However when the knocking - nay pounding - turned into forcibly pulling on the door handle, I'd had enough. I knew it was a shrill, middle-aged woman, so I was just annoyed, not afraid. I opened the door and was immediately assaulted by this 5'3" woman yelling at me. I caught the vague idea of what she was talking about: something about her being mad (no translation needed there), something about water, and something about a child. I repeatedly shrugged my shoulders and, when she finally was forced to pause and inhale before continuing her rant, I told her I had no idea what she was talking about and couldn't understand her. She claimed that she "knew" I could understand her, and so continued on her rapidfire rant at me. At this point I figured it must be that my bathroom was somehow leaking down into 308 (the apt below mine, and where she'd said she came from, so I told her to wait a moment and I could have a look. She made a motion like she was going to open the door more and step inside, so I quick cut that thought off at the waste with an upraised palm (stop) and saying "whoa whoa whoa."
She said something that sounded snide, so in very growly, not at all friendly English I said, "Listen lady, I don't know what the fuck your problem is, but if you don't quit yelling at me you can just fuck off and get the fuck out of here. So Deng yi xia (wait a second)." Of course she didn't understand, and I didn't mean for her to. It had exactly the effect I had intended. A big, male foreigner telling her something that sounded threatening in a foreign tongue. That's usually enough to shut most people up. I went and put my shirt on while she began jabbering again at the now-empty doorway.
Fortunately, Nancy was calling at this point to invite me to lunch and show off her new haircut (which is gorgeous!). I said, "Nancy, there's some old woman yelling at me right now, can you talk to her and see what she wants?" Obligingly, she said yes, and I handed my cell to the now slightly deflated looking woman. The look of deflation grew the more she talked with Nancy, until she finally handed the phone back to me and said nothing else... without another word to me, she began talking to my neighbor...
I got back ont he phone with Nancy as asked what the deal was. Apparently, there is a baby in the apt below ours, and somebody occasionally throw water out of their window from above. The water hits the plastic balcony cover and makes a big noise, which frightens the baby. Somehow this woman had got it in to her head that it was me doing this... because of course there's certainly not 4 apartments directly above mine. And so took it upon herself to chastise me over it. This included the pounding on the door, not just this time... but once before at about 6am. Nancy told her it absolutely was not us, which took the wind from her sails.
Before she left, Nancy overheard her (via my cell phone) telling my neighbor that I was not "gentle" and wasn't as nice as the last foreigner who lived there. Well NO SHIT. I'm not going to be polite to someone yelling at me. and I certainly could have been much less "gentle" had she continued on like that.
She didn't even apologize - to either me or Nancy - before storming off to go stare outside for who was "really" doing it. Nancy is about as pissed as I am over it. Probably more so, since she wasn't around to face this moron. She now very much wants to confront this bitch face to face and demand an apology for being such a giant douche. Seriously, if you're going to pound on someone's door at all hours and then yell at them once they answer and accuse them of annoying your child with water, you'd better be damn well sure that you're accusing the right person. And then when you've been proven to be an idiot, the least you can do is apologize for being a rude bitch. Nancy's planning on going back downstair later and having a "talk" with this woman about manners. I'm planning on going with her. Not because she needs me (she can be scarier than I could ever be) but because I feel like the lady should looks me in the eye when she apologizes.
Anyway, that's all the craziness to report for today. Tomorrow I attempt to finish my oral finals... and then saturday I've got my lovely listening finals. Joy of joys! Bu hey, less than 2 weeks before I'm outta here!
(CS)WC Out.
Tuesday, June 2, 2009
Et Tu, Dick?
Reporting once again from the now infamous Undisclosed Location somewhere on the forest moon of Endor, under the watchful gaze of the Second Death Star, Darth Dickhead broke his self-imposed vow of silence of the Imperial Throne Room to relay yet more "breaking news:"
(excerpts from http://edition.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/06/01/cheney.speech/index.html)
Well gee, Dick, thanks for that astonishing information. What the rest of us have known for the last, oh, 4 years or so is only now dawning on the guy behind the whole thing. He went on...
As I've state innumerable times on the internet to the morons who at least have the decency to hide the ugly, snarling faces while they spout bile: just because you say something is a "fact" doesn't magically make it so. The Baathist regime was horrible, yes... but it was also ideologically and religiously utterly at odds with a Sunni group like Al Qaeda. This little tidbit went un-noticed by... well, everyone at first - but it still appears to be slightly beyond the capacity of our former VP, The Undying One. The Baathist regime of Hussein, as we found out by hitting the hornet's nest in 2003, was really the only thing keeping the various factions - including the extremist ones - under control. Far from providing shelter to terrorist organizations, Hussein's reign kept them out of the area. I say this not in defense of Saddam and his despicable reign, but rather as a condemnation of these utter falsities of a man so worried about how people will view his Vice-Presidency/Reign of Terror that he's willing to fall back to the stand-by Bushian defense of saying a lie often enough and loudly enough that people begin to believe it might be true.
Still, he went on...
But that's a false choice, Dick. Utterly false. It's not Guantamo or summary executions, nor is it Gitmo or releasing terrorists into the US. The choice is between keeping open a facility which is seen by our enemies as the pinnacle of what they're fighting against, a center which stands against every philosophy and creed we as Americans believe in and hold dear, a camp which is a slap in the face to any notion that we're fighting "the good fight."
or
Closing down said abomination and instead housing the detainees (which the Supreme Court has ruled have no right to Habeus Corpus protection) in the Supermaximum Security prisons we have already built to house the world's most dangerous people. You know, the prisons no one's ever broken out of, and letting them rot instead of torturing them in Cuba.
Most though, Cheney is pissing me off right now because he's engaging in the most insidious, despicable, nigh treasonable PR campaign I've ever heard of... ever. That is to actively predict that under an opposition Administration America will be subject to the unthinkable: yet another terrorist attack; ad not just predict it, but to all-but hope for it -- all so he will look not as much of the inhuman monstrous shell of an autocrat he is, and more like some patriotic hero for engaging in the most systematic undermining of America and its values since South Carolina seceded from the Union and started the Civil War.
Turning America itself - along with the lives of hundred, thousands, or possibly millions - into a political trump card. Nice one, Dick. Way to go for the gusto... or was the the throat?
(CS)WC Out.
(excerpts from http://edition.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/06/01/cheney.speech/index.html)
Former Vice President Dick Cheney said Monday that he does not believe Saddam Hussein was involved in the planning or execution of the September 11, 2001, attacks.
Former Vice President Dick Cheney says Saddam Hussein "provided sanctuary ... and resources to terrorists."
He strongly defended the Bush administration's decision to invade Iraq, however, arguing that Hussein's previous support for known terrorists was a serious danger after 9/11.
Cheney, in an appearance at the National Press Club, also said he is intent on speaking out in defense of the Bush administration's national security record because "a clear understanding of policies that worked [in protecting the United States] is essential."
"I do not believe and have never seen any evidence to confirm that [Hussein] was involved in 9/11. We had that reporting for a while, [but] eventually it turned out not to be true," Cheney conceded.
Well gee, Dick, thanks for that astonishing information. What the rest of us have known for the last, oh, 4 years or so is only now dawning on the guy behind the whole thing. He went on...
But Hussein was "somebody who provided sanctuary and safe harbor and resources to terrorists. ... [It] is, without question, a fact."
Cheney restated his claim that "there was a relationship between al Qaeda and Iraq that stretched back 10 years. It's not something I made up. ... We know for a fact that Saddam Hussein was a sponsor -- a state sponsor -- of terror. It's not my judgment. That was the judgment of our [intelligence community] and State Department."
Cheney identified former CIA Director George Tenet as the "prime source of information" on the relationship between Iraq and al Qaeda.
Tenet "testified, if you go back and check the record, in the fall of [2002] before the Senate Intelligence Committee -- in open session -- that there was a relationship," Cheney said.
As I've state innumerable times on the internet to the morons who at least have the decency to hide the ugly, snarling faces while they spout bile: just because you say something is a "fact" doesn't magically make it so. The Baathist regime was horrible, yes... but it was also ideologically and religiously utterly at odds with a Sunni group like Al Qaeda. This little tidbit went un-noticed by... well, everyone at first - but it still appears to be slightly beyond the capacity of our former VP, The Undying One. The Baathist regime of Hussein, as we found out by hitting the hornet's nest in 2003, was really the only thing keeping the various factions - including the extremist ones - under control. Far from providing shelter to terrorist organizations, Hussein's reign kept them out of the area. I say this not in defense of Saddam and his despicable reign, but rather as a condemnation of these utter falsities of a man so worried about how people will view his Vice-Presidency/Reign of Terror that he's willing to fall back to the stand-by Bushian defense of saying a lie often enough and loudly enough that people begin to believe it might be true.
Still, he went on...
Among other things Monday, Cheney also called the Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, detention center a "good facility ... if you are going to be engaged in a world conflict, such as we are, in terms of global war on terrorism. You know, if you don't have a place where you can hold these people, the only other option is to kill them. And we don't operate that way."
But that's a false choice, Dick. Utterly false. It's not Guantamo or summary executions, nor is it Gitmo or releasing terrorists into the US. The choice is between keeping open a facility which is seen by our enemies as the pinnacle of what they're fighting against, a center which stands against every philosophy and creed we as Americans believe in and hold dear, a camp which is a slap in the face to any notion that we're fighting "the good fight."
or
Closing down said abomination and instead housing the detainees (which the Supreme Court has ruled have no right to Habeus Corpus protection) in the Supermaximum Security prisons we have already built to house the world's most dangerous people. You know, the prisons no one's ever broken out of, and letting them rot instead of torturing them in Cuba.
Most though, Cheney is pissing me off right now because he's engaging in the most insidious, despicable, nigh treasonable PR campaign I've ever heard of... ever. That is to actively predict that under an opposition Administration America will be subject to the unthinkable: yet another terrorist attack; ad not just predict it, but to all-but hope for it -- all so he will look not as much of the inhuman monstrous shell of an autocrat he is, and more like some patriotic hero for engaging in the most systematic undermining of America and its values since South Carolina seceded from the Union and started the Civil War.
Turning America itself - along with the lives of hundred, thousands, or possibly millions - into a political trump card. Nice one, Dick. Way to go for the gusto... or was the the throat?
(CS)WC Out.
Why don't you ask the kids at Tiananmen Square/ Was fashion the reason they were there?
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
Antepenultimate
So the title's slightly misleading - I doubt this will be the third-to-last entry before I wing it on back to the states - but the sentiment holds true. It's beginning to dawn on me that year-1 here is all but over. Today I finished what turned out to be my last day of "class"... a happy fact that I only learned yesterday. You see, next week is actually a "makeup" week for the occasional single-day holidays (festivals) through the course of the semester. That's right, they don't even let us have "real" breaks. We just have to make them up at the end. I'm not sure if I should blae the govt. or (more likely) the school itself. Silly pinkos...
Regarding the scheduling catastophuck, it's been resolved... though not entirely in the way either of us want it. After my phone tirade, Xiaoxian did in fact manage to find an open slot on the 14th instead of the 17th of June, and told me as much. Knowing that this was basically as good as it was going to get, I readily assented and began preparing to tell my classes of the coming schedule change.
And then she kept talking...
She then said that I actually did not have class next Tuesday, since we'd never missed a Tuesday (remember it's makeup week), and I only had classes on Monday and Thursday. Thus, the entirety of her argument against me giving some of my finals next Tuesday was, in fact, utterly false. I've completed my 32 Tuesday hours/class.
Of course, I didn't make the same mistake as last time. I kept my mouth shut, and simply nodded my head this go-round. But it will turn out fine. I'm doing exactly 1/2 of my total finals next week, and the 2nd half between the 10th and 14th. And I'm thinking that will work out great. The school's happy because - to the untrained eye - I'm doing exactly what they want: giving finals on the days they set forth. But I'm happy because they're not completely backloaded, and so I have a good shot of getting out of here on time! Woohoo!
I showed my listening classes The Daily Show today... and let's just say it doesn't translate that well. Not that I care. It was a new episode for me, and it's in English, and hey, it's GOT to be more entertaining that listening to Special English (where...people...speak...like...this...so...foreigners....can....understand...).
Next week my speaking sophomores will present their 5 minute finals, in which they will attempt to be "the teacher" and teach me a skill. I'm hoping - and expecting - that it will be very entertaining. Xiaoxian, as usual, voiced some "concerns" over this method of non-test-testing, but I replied that the purpose was not to stump the kids, but to adequately measure their oral English improvement over the course of the semester. How would a paper test do that? And, as I discovered last semester, the students find these things easy, and even fun to do. It's all the utility of a test, without the dullness and painfulness. I know. I did them in college a lot... especially in polysci. I find I model myself quite a bit off of a polysci prof I had: Jules Boykoff. He was a really good teacher, and really cool to boot.
See You Next Time, Space Cowboy,
(CS)WC Out.
Regarding the scheduling catastophuck, it's been resolved... though not entirely in the way either of us want it. After my phone tirade, Xiaoxian did in fact manage to find an open slot on the 14th instead of the 17th of June, and told me as much. Knowing that this was basically as good as it was going to get, I readily assented and began preparing to tell my classes of the coming schedule change.
And then she kept talking...
She then said that I actually did not have class next Tuesday, since we'd never missed a Tuesday (remember it's makeup week), and I only had classes on Monday and Thursday. Thus, the entirety of her argument against me giving some of my finals next Tuesday was, in fact, utterly false. I've completed my 32 Tuesday hours/class.
Of course, I didn't make the same mistake as last time. I kept my mouth shut, and simply nodded my head this go-round. But it will turn out fine. I'm doing exactly 1/2 of my total finals next week, and the 2nd half between the 10th and 14th. And I'm thinking that will work out great. The school's happy because - to the untrained eye - I'm doing exactly what they want: giving finals on the days they set forth. But I'm happy because they're not completely backloaded, and so I have a good shot of getting out of here on time! Woohoo!
I showed my listening classes The Daily Show today... and let's just say it doesn't translate that well. Not that I care. It was a new episode for me, and it's in English, and hey, it's GOT to be more entertaining that listening to Special English (where...people...speak...like...this...so...foreigners....can....understand...).
Next week my speaking sophomores will present their 5 minute finals, in which they will attempt to be "the teacher" and teach me a skill. I'm hoping - and expecting - that it will be very entertaining. Xiaoxian, as usual, voiced some "concerns" over this method of non-test-testing, but I replied that the purpose was not to stump the kids, but to adequately measure their oral English improvement over the course of the semester. How would a paper test do that? And, as I discovered last semester, the students find these things easy, and even fun to do. It's all the utility of a test, without the dullness and painfulness. I know. I did them in college a lot... especially in polysci. I find I model myself quite a bit off of a polysci prof I had: Jules Boykoff. He was a really good teacher, and really cool to boot.
See You Next Time, Space Cowboy,
(CS)WC Out.
Saturday, May 23, 2009
The Net-Nanny
The innocuous, almost child-like sounding name of the much more insidious wall of blocks and bans that China uses to forcibly censor what its people can and cannot see on the web: The Net-Nanny. It goes by another name from many of its detractors - both Chinese and foreign: The Great FireWall (GFW). It is the system put into place by the Communist regime which moniters and "harmonizes" China's internet by banning sites and content they deem subversive, potentially-subversive, humiliating, or just bad press for their government.
Common targets are: Wikipedia, Western media outlets, blog sites, YouTube, occasionally Facebook, and many of the other sites across the Great Series of Tubes that make the internet actually useful and fun. As usual with China, the results are haphazard at best. Often entire sites are blocked out for months at a time (currently, YouTube) because of a single item (in this case, a video of Chinese police savagely beating Tibetan protesters) which could - according to the govt - cause unrest or disharmony.
The sad irony to this is two-fold:
1) by using such a draconian method of censorship, the Chinese are using the proverbial hatchet to remove a fly from their forehead. In blocking YouTube for having this video, the Chinese Govt. unwittingly alerted many, many people worldwide to the existence of the video. The damage they were trying to prevent to their reputation is therefore doubly done, both by the initial "item in question," and by the inevitable firestorm of their blatant lying and censorship to cover it up. Cock gun, aim at foot, fire.
2) The GFW is notoriously... well, STUPID. It will block one site which is considered subversive, but miss a whole host of others which, really, have more potential damage to do harm. Back to the ongoing YouTube incident, the site is still down, but the event (the 50th anniversary of the failed uprising of Tibet against the Communists) is now months behind us. The continued blocking only serves to remind everyone again and again just what an oppressive tact the government is forcing down their throats.
Currently, we're coming up on two big events in China's history: the first is the 60th anniversary of the birth of the PRC, so this leads the govt. to want to make the internet as "clean" and "harmonious" as it can. The second is the 20th anniversary of the June 4th Incident (aka the 1989 Tiananmen Square Student Massacre), an event which the CCP continues to deny to this day. So of course, the GFW has gone batshit crazy as of late.
The latest victims? Blogs. As of now, my blog site (and many, many other blogging services) cannot be accessed all in Mainland China... through normal means. You may be asking: how then am I still posting? Good question...
The internet was created, and is still fundamentally made up of people who, quite frankly, don't want Big Brother peering over everything they do. It is designed to subvert authority and disseminate knowledge freely and unfettered. The Chinese Govt. obviously did not - and still does not - fully realize the can of worms it was opening by allowing the internet into their country at all. There are things called "proxys" which befuddle websites IP addresses. For those of you not "in the know," an IP address is exactly what is sounds like. It's the "place" on the web when a particular page or user can be found. Censors like the GFW, as well as any other tracking service, such as Google, et al, function by looking up IP addresses and then... doing whatever they are designed to do with them.
A proxy makes the Net Nanny think that the site I'm viewing is some other site in Wisconsin, Bermuda, Cincinnati, London, Moscow... wherever.... by routing the IP address through itself before sending it to me. Voila, clean slate. Untrackable. Unblockable. It's different ever time you use it, so there's no way to simply anticipate and thwart it, as a government.
my current proxy is called zendlife... and it's quite nice. I'm liking it a lot, so far :D
This ongoing farce of "control over the internet" makes me shake my head, though. And I'm not the only one by a long shot. Even the Chinese shake their heads at it (except that media whore Jackie Chan, who agree with the government that the Chinese people are effectively children and need "to be controlled"). It's enough to make one wonder how long this tangled inter-web of misinformation, lies, deceit, and blocks will hold up to the scrutiny and disdain of not just the outside world, but the Chinese people themselves...
(CS)WC Out.
Common targets are: Wikipedia, Western media outlets, blog sites, YouTube, occasionally Facebook, and many of the other sites across the Great Series of Tubes that make the internet actually useful and fun. As usual with China, the results are haphazard at best. Often entire sites are blocked out for months at a time (currently, YouTube) because of a single item (in this case, a video of Chinese police savagely beating Tibetan protesters) which could - according to the govt - cause unrest or disharmony.
The sad irony to this is two-fold:
1) by using such a draconian method of censorship, the Chinese are using the proverbial hatchet to remove a fly from their forehead. In blocking YouTube for having this video, the Chinese Govt. unwittingly alerted many, many people worldwide to the existence of the video. The damage they were trying to prevent to their reputation is therefore doubly done, both by the initial "item in question," and by the inevitable firestorm of their blatant lying and censorship to cover it up. Cock gun, aim at foot, fire.
2) The GFW is notoriously... well, STUPID. It will block one site which is considered subversive, but miss a whole host of others which, really, have more potential damage to do harm. Back to the ongoing YouTube incident, the site is still down, but the event (the 50th anniversary of the failed uprising of Tibet against the Communists) is now months behind us. The continued blocking only serves to remind everyone again and again just what an oppressive tact the government is forcing down their throats.
Currently, we're coming up on two big events in China's history: the first is the 60th anniversary of the birth of the PRC, so this leads the govt. to want to make the internet as "clean" and "harmonious" as it can. The second is the 20th anniversary of the June 4th Incident (aka the 1989 Tiananmen Square Student Massacre), an event which the CCP continues to deny to this day. So of course, the GFW has gone batshit crazy as of late.
The latest victims? Blogs. As of now, my blog site (and many, many other blogging services) cannot be accessed all in Mainland China... through normal means. You may be asking: how then am I still posting? Good question...
The internet was created, and is still fundamentally made up of people who, quite frankly, don't want Big Brother peering over everything they do. It is designed to subvert authority and disseminate knowledge freely and unfettered. The Chinese Govt. obviously did not - and still does not - fully realize the can of worms it was opening by allowing the internet into their country at all. There are things called "proxys" which befuddle websites IP addresses. For those of you not "in the know," an IP address is exactly what is sounds like. It's the "place" on the web when a particular page or user can be found. Censors like the GFW, as well as any other tracking service, such as Google, et al, function by looking up IP addresses and then... doing whatever they are designed to do with them.
A proxy makes the Net Nanny think that the site I'm viewing is some other site in Wisconsin, Bermuda, Cincinnati, London, Moscow... wherever.... by routing the IP address through itself before sending it to me. Voila, clean slate. Untrackable. Unblockable. It's different ever time you use it, so there's no way to simply anticipate and thwart it, as a government.
my current proxy is called zendlife... and it's quite nice. I'm liking it a lot, so far :D
This ongoing farce of "control over the internet" makes me shake my head, though. And I'm not the only one by a long shot. Even the Chinese shake their heads at it (except that media whore Jackie Chan, who agree with the government that the Chinese people are effectively children and need "to be controlled"). It's enough to make one wonder how long this tangled inter-web of misinformation, lies, deceit, and blocks will hold up to the scrutiny and disdain of not just the outside world, but the Chinese people themselves...
(CS)WC Out.
Update from Bureaucratic Hell
Title: Update from Bureaucratic Hell
OK, fine, not exactly... it's at the very least giving me a headache and making me a bit piqued in the face, though. I'll start at the beginning...
Several weeks ago... not exactly sure... my "nanny" Xiaoxian came into our office and presented us with the finals schedule, which - as expected - had been made with absolutely no consultation from any of us. As it was, I was scheduled to give my last tests on June 17th, one of the last days of the finals. Thinking that the schedule was, well, set, I didn't raise a fuss over it, and simply began planning how I could still adhere to my own departure schedule. The answer presented itself in recalling what some of my own professors have done from time to time: simply move the final test to the last day of class... in this case, June 2nd and 4th.
I brought it up with each and every class of students: "are there any objections, any schedule conflicts, to us moving the test to the last day of class? If you don't want to bring them up now, you can talk to me after class in private." Not only did no one raise any objections... as I suspected, they were all rather happy at the idea of simply getting a test over with sooner. I know from personal experience, that finals week tends to be hellacious for students, and that moving a test to earlier is actually a great relief.
So it seemed set, and I was on my way to departing by the 20th, as I'd hoped to. And here's where the big mistake was made: when sending in my 2 versions of the test (to curb cheating, as suggested by my professor father), I made mention of my schedule change to Xiaoxian, simply to clarify that I'd need both test versions back at the same time. The next day, she called me...
- I'd like to stop here for a moment and go on a minor tangent, if I may. I have nothing personally against Xiaoxian. I know her job is hard, and thankless, and I try try try to keep that in mind at all times. But the only times I ever see her are when I've done something "wrong." Ever. She starts in with this fake, forced-sounding into of "Hi, how are you doing today?" kind of thing, and before I can even really answer she's into her whole, "well you're doing this wrong..." bit. Last week I saw her and she said she "missed me"... but she never wants to find me unless it's to chide me about something. Is it any wonder, then, that I go out of my way to avoid her? That I regard her in many ways as a nemesis? That whenever I see her in the office or her phone number pops up on my phone, I feel the cold stone of dread in the pit of my stomach? Why the hell would I want to talk to you, if you only ever have negative things to say? And not even negative things about my teaching (which neither she nor any of the other faculty have ever come to watch), but rather these piddling, idiotic, bureaucratic details which I see as little more than things to make my life more difficult. Anyway...
She called me, and - par for the course - immediately launched into what she had a "problem" with... which was, of course, the scheduling.
"You are supposed to give the students 32 hours of lecture. If you do this, you'll only be giving them 30."
"Are you saying, then," I replied, already a bit incensed, "that I should not have given them a midterm test during class? That cut into the lecture time as well. By this definition, I've already failed, since the midterm took up about 2 class hours."
"That was different," she said, sounding surprised that I'd react this way. "We set up a finals time for you to give the test."
"What is the functional difference between giving a mid-term test during a class period, and giving a finals test during a class period, other than the names 'mid-term,' and 'final?'"
There was a slight pause, she had not anticipated this tact. She said something, which I cannot recall at the moment, since by this point my face was beginning to redden. Regardless, it was something about this scheduling being a problem.
"Where is the problem?" I asked, "Who has the problem? The teacher has no problem with this schedule, the students have not problem with this schedule. Where is the problem?"
"I showed you the finals schedule earlier. If you had a problem wit the layout, you should have asked me to change it."
"I had no idea it was changeable." I said, face getting a little more red, "As far as I knew, the schedule was already set. No one said anything about being able to change it."
"On monday, maybe Wang Dan (her superior) should discuss this with you."
"Will she say the same thing you're saying right now?"
"Yes."
"Then why waste her and my time? Don't bother."
Later on she texted me saying she'd look into trying to make the test earlier in the schedule... I'm not holding my breath on that one, though.
The call ended somewhat tersely. I think what angered me the most was that thing whole argument had happened because I had momentarily forgotten the Law which I normally hold above all others: "It is far easier to obtain forgiveness, than permission." It wasn't that someone really cared - hell, no one above Xiaoxian even knew about it - it was that I'd made the mistake in telling her my plan. Had I just kept my mouth shut, there would be no issue. But in trying to be upfront and honest about a change I was wanting to make, I got smacked down for no other reason than it was out of line with some obscure, bureaucratic process. Let no good deed go unpunished, indeed.
So here I sit. And the options lay before me as such:
1) Simply carry through with my initial plan and deal with any "repercussions" they throw at me. I'm quitting, it's not like they can fire me. It's not like they can really do anything at all. Still, it'd be nice to go out on a good note.
2) Obey. Needlessly wait an extra three weeks to give the test, which will almost certainly delay my departure, since I can't do all the paperwork/grades until the testing is done. This option is so against my mind that I'm inclined to rule it out entirely. Still, there it is.
3) Take a deep breath and hopehopehope that somehow she can rearrange the schedule to something more suitable. Ha.
4) Pay lip service. Give the test on the last day, but then hold some kind of meeting with the students on the 17th. This seems like a good plan, except they're planning on giving me some kind of "helper" since their schedule has me giving all 4 classes the test simultaneously, in 2 separate rooms. How would I convince them that I don't need the "helper" or the second room?
In closing, I'd just like to point out that all of this is little more than venting. I'm not expecting a great deal of help, or sympathy. It's just a big frustration right at the end when I'm busy doing a lot of other things, and trying to cope without having a great deal of access to a computer (I'm holding Nancy's hostage at the moment). Did I mention I had to rewrite both of my finals in about 3 days because my computer died the day I was planing on sending them to Xiaoxian. She then had the gall to insinuate I was "stalling." I made my displeasure at that insinuation clearly known. One way or another, I've got less than a month to go...
And it can't go by fast enough.
(CS)WC Out.
OK, fine, not exactly... it's at the very least giving me a headache and making me a bit piqued in the face, though. I'll start at the beginning...
Several weeks ago... not exactly sure... my "nanny" Xiaoxian came into our office and presented us with the finals schedule, which - as expected - had been made with absolutely no consultation from any of us. As it was, I was scheduled to give my last tests on June 17th, one of the last days of the finals. Thinking that the schedule was, well, set, I didn't raise a fuss over it, and simply began planning how I could still adhere to my own departure schedule. The answer presented itself in recalling what some of my own professors have done from time to time: simply move the final test to the last day of class... in this case, June 2nd and 4th.
I brought it up with each and every class of students: "are there any objections, any schedule conflicts, to us moving the test to the last day of class? If you don't want to bring them up now, you can talk to me after class in private." Not only did no one raise any objections... as I suspected, they were all rather happy at the idea of simply getting a test over with sooner. I know from personal experience, that finals week tends to be hellacious for students, and that moving a test to earlier is actually a great relief.
So it seemed set, and I was on my way to departing by the 20th, as I'd hoped to. And here's where the big mistake was made: when sending in my 2 versions of the test (to curb cheating, as suggested by my professor father), I made mention of my schedule change to Xiaoxian, simply to clarify that I'd need both test versions back at the same time. The next day, she called me...
- I'd like to stop here for a moment and go on a minor tangent, if I may. I have nothing personally against Xiaoxian. I know her job is hard, and thankless, and I try try try to keep that in mind at all times. But the only times I ever see her are when I've done something "wrong." Ever. She starts in with this fake, forced-sounding into of "Hi, how are you doing today?" kind of thing, and before I can even really answer she's into her whole, "well you're doing this wrong..." bit. Last week I saw her and she said she "missed me"... but she never wants to find me unless it's to chide me about something. Is it any wonder, then, that I go out of my way to avoid her? That I regard her in many ways as a nemesis? That whenever I see her in the office or her phone number pops up on my phone, I feel the cold stone of dread in the pit of my stomach? Why the hell would I want to talk to you, if you only ever have negative things to say? And not even negative things about my teaching (which neither she nor any of the other faculty have ever come to watch), but rather these piddling, idiotic, bureaucratic details which I see as little more than things to make my life more difficult. Anyway...
She called me, and - par for the course - immediately launched into what she had a "problem" with... which was, of course, the scheduling.
"You are supposed to give the students 32 hours of lecture. If you do this, you'll only be giving them 30."
"Are you saying, then," I replied, already a bit incensed, "that I should not have given them a midterm test during class? That cut into the lecture time as well. By this definition, I've already failed, since the midterm took up about 2 class hours."
"That was different," she said, sounding surprised that I'd react this way. "We set up a finals time for you to give the test."
"What is the functional difference between giving a mid-term test during a class period, and giving a finals test during a class period, other than the names 'mid-term,' and 'final?'"
There was a slight pause, she had not anticipated this tact. She said something, which I cannot recall at the moment, since by this point my face was beginning to redden. Regardless, it was something about this scheduling being a problem.
"Where is the problem?" I asked, "Who has the problem? The teacher has no problem with this schedule, the students have not problem with this schedule. Where is the problem?"
"I showed you the finals schedule earlier. If you had a problem wit the layout, you should have asked me to change it."
"I had no idea it was changeable." I said, face getting a little more red, "As far as I knew, the schedule was already set. No one said anything about being able to change it."
"On monday, maybe Wang Dan (her superior) should discuss this with you."
"Will she say the same thing you're saying right now?"
"Yes."
"Then why waste her and my time? Don't bother."
Later on she texted me saying she'd look into trying to make the test earlier in the schedule... I'm not holding my breath on that one, though.
The call ended somewhat tersely. I think what angered me the most was that thing whole argument had happened because I had momentarily forgotten the Law which I normally hold above all others: "It is far easier to obtain forgiveness, than permission." It wasn't that someone really cared - hell, no one above Xiaoxian even knew about it - it was that I'd made the mistake in telling her my plan. Had I just kept my mouth shut, there would be no issue. But in trying to be upfront and honest about a change I was wanting to make, I got smacked down for no other reason than it was out of line with some obscure, bureaucratic process. Let no good deed go unpunished, indeed.
So here I sit. And the options lay before me as such:
1) Simply carry through with my initial plan and deal with any "repercussions" they throw at me. I'm quitting, it's not like they can fire me. It's not like they can really do anything at all. Still, it'd be nice to go out on a good note.
2) Obey. Needlessly wait an extra three weeks to give the test, which will almost certainly delay my departure, since I can't do all the paperwork/grades until the testing is done. This option is so against my mind that I'm inclined to rule it out entirely. Still, there it is.
3) Take a deep breath and hopehopehope that somehow she can rearrange the schedule to something more suitable. Ha.
4) Pay lip service. Give the test on the last day, but then hold some kind of meeting with the students on the 17th. This seems like a good plan, except they're planning on giving me some kind of "helper" since their schedule has me giving all 4 classes the test simultaneously, in 2 separate rooms. How would I convince them that I don't need the "helper" or the second room?
In closing, I'd just like to point out that all of this is little more than venting. I'm not expecting a great deal of help, or sympathy. It's just a big frustration right at the end when I'm busy doing a lot of other things, and trying to cope without having a great deal of access to a computer (I'm holding Nancy's hostage at the moment). Did I mention I had to rewrite both of my finals in about 3 days because my computer died the day I was planing on sending them to Xiaoxian. She then had the gall to insinuate I was "stalling." I made my displeasure at that insinuation clearly known. One way or another, I've got less than a month to go...
And it can't go by fast enough.
(CS)WC Out.
Friday, May 8, 2009
Leading with their Dick
"The idea that we ought to moderate basically means we ought to fundamentally change our philosophy. I for one am not prepared to do that, and I think most of us aren’t."
This lovely little gem was said by former Vice-Torturer in Chief, the Dark Lord of the Triple Bypass, Darth Dick. He snarled this to a conservative talk-radio show (though not Limbaugh, surprisingly) a few days ago.
I wanted to bring it up because it seems to underscore the mentality of Republicans right now. That is to say, in the wake of a crippling defeat, and after months of useless navel-gazing and embittered words toward their vanquishers, this is what they've come up with as a solution. Rather changing with the time, updating their value system, and - dare I say it? - evolving, many senior party members (and, lest we forget, their legions of rabid cultists) have decided their best option is to circle the ideological wagons, and cull the impure from their ranks.
"We're excluding the young, minorities, environmentalists, pro-choice — the list goes on," says Olympia Snowe of Maine, one of two moderate Republicans left in the Senate after Pennsylvania defector Arlen Specter's switch. "Ideological purity is not the ticket to the promised land." And yet, this is exactly what many embattled Republicans seem to be advocating now. Rather than think gee, the American people seem to have told us something last November... maybe we should adjust accordingly... they have double-downed on the philosophy of the last eight years - up to and including a vigorous, and ludicrous defense of torturing people "if it works" - in the near- absurd hope that we'll all suddenly agree with it.
Of course, the first (or maybe second, I forget) rule of battle is, "never interrupt your opponent while he's making a mistake." And I certainly don't mean to do so. If the Republicans want to tie their own shoelaces together, I say "by all means, go ahead."
So go ahead, Republicans, keep letting Cheney, Limbaugh, Coulter, and O'Reilly define your positions for you. Keep the mentality that there's "real Americans" and "fake Americans." Keep out the moderates, and then say "good riddance" when they abandon your sinking ship. Pander to the extreme religious Right. Continue to introduce legislation that - in true Kindergarten tantrum style - attempts to rename the Democratic Party the "Democratic Socialist Party." Continue to use inflamatory hyperbole in the face of rational debate. And by all means, continue to be a uselessly obstructionist party doing everything in their power to hinder the government in a time of crisis.
Let's see how that works out for you.
This lovely little gem was said by former Vice-Torturer in Chief, the Dark Lord of the Triple Bypass, Darth Dick. He snarled this to a conservative talk-radio show (though not Limbaugh, surprisingly) a few days ago.
I wanted to bring it up because it seems to underscore the mentality of Republicans right now. That is to say, in the wake of a crippling defeat, and after months of useless navel-gazing and embittered words toward their vanquishers, this is what they've come up with as a solution. Rather changing with the time, updating their value system, and - dare I say it? - evolving, many senior party members (and, lest we forget, their legions of rabid cultists) have decided their best option is to circle the ideological wagons, and cull the impure from their ranks.
"We're excluding the young, minorities, environmentalists, pro-choice — the list goes on," says Olympia Snowe of Maine, one of two moderate Republicans left in the Senate after Pennsylvania defector Arlen Specter's switch. "Ideological purity is not the ticket to the promised land." And yet, this is exactly what many embattled Republicans seem to be advocating now. Rather than think gee, the American people seem to have told us something last November... maybe we should adjust accordingly... they have double-downed on the philosophy of the last eight years - up to and including a vigorous, and ludicrous defense of torturing people "if it works" - in the near- absurd hope that we'll all suddenly agree with it.
Of course, the first (or maybe second, I forget) rule of battle is, "never interrupt your opponent while he's making a mistake." And I certainly don't mean to do so. If the Republicans want to tie their own shoelaces together, I say "by all means, go ahead."
So go ahead, Republicans, keep letting Cheney, Limbaugh, Coulter, and O'Reilly define your positions for you. Keep the mentality that there's "real Americans" and "fake Americans." Keep out the moderates, and then say "good riddance" when they abandon your sinking ship. Pander to the extreme religious Right. Continue to introduce legislation that - in true Kindergarten tantrum style - attempts to rename the Democratic Party the "Democratic Socialist Party." Continue to use inflamatory hyperbole in the face of rational debate. And by all means, continue to be a uselessly obstructionist party doing everything in their power to hinder the government in a time of crisis.
Let's see how that works out for you.
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