Log #7

Being Introverted

I am an introverted person. I feel nervous and uncomfortable when being in an unfamiliar environment. I seldom talk to strangers actively, and I am not good at chatting with unacquainted people. Unfortunately, this kind of personality seems to be negative nowadays. However, not being outgoing doesn’t mean that I am not friendly. I think being introverted should not be a weak point. 

In fact, I had been worried about this issue before because it is hard for an introvert to blend in with a group. Moreover, many people kept telling me that I should get rid of this kind of shy personality and try to be more outgoing. However, it’s not easy to change one’s personality; therefore, I kept avoiding this problem. Until several months ago, I participated in an extracurricular activity of preparing a winter camp. One day one of the leading member asked me, “Have you got close with any member?”, “Did you make any new friend?”, and “Did you improve your personality and become more outgoing?” For an introvert, it takes time to get familiar with other people, not to mention making new friend in a short period of time. After listening his questions, I started to face this issue seriously. After deep consideration, I realized that being introverted is my personality, and I don’t think it is a negative one. Then, why should I force myself to change? People have various kind of personalities, not everyone should be very lively and outgoing. I am shy, and I am not good at making friend with others actively, but that’s me! I think I don’t need to force such a shy person like me to be outgoing. I am happy to be myself and accept my own personality.

Log #6

Bucket List

Last week, I attended a speech delivered by the author of Lessons from Movies. The speaker mentioned about bucket list. She said that we used to have a lot of dreams and expectation when we were little. However, many of us would give up lots of dreams because of the reality as we grew up. It reminded me that I used to have lots of expectation about future career, but I gave many of them up because I thought I wouldn’t be suitable for those jobs. While, I even haven’t tried them at all. Till now, it turns out to be that the most possible career for me now is public servant, which is not my favorite position but what my mom wants me to be in the future. What’s worse, I have no idea what’s my ideal and profession. In addition to future career, there were many dreams that I gave up after much consideration. After that, I thought that one of the barrier for me to achieve my dreams is that I always think too much. I tend to take everything into consideration. I believe that I would end up doing nothing I love if I don't make some change. I think make a bucket list will be a good start.

A bucket list can show what I really love and what I care the most. By making the list, it will also provide me the motivation to pursue my dreams. In that way, it can really help me to achieve my dreams and find the goal of my life. I will get around to settling my mind and making my bucket list. Also, I should write down everything come to my mind and don't care about the possibility. I believe the bucket list will not only be my motivation but also helps me to discover myself.

Log #5

MBTI

When it comes to self-exploring, in fact, I don’t think that I understand myself very much. In order to seek my true self, I took some online personality tests as references. After finishing several tests, I think the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) is the most accurate one. The result shows that I am the type of ISFJ, which refers to introversion, sensing, feeling, and, judging. I think I am obviously an introvert that I don’t feel comfortable when talking in front of a lot of people, and I seldom share my own ideas or feelings with others. Also, I am very shy, especially with strangers. When I am in an unfamiliar environment, I feel uncomfortable and have difficulties in talking with strangers actively. The result also shows that I am a sensing person that I focus on details when receiving information. Compared with abstract things, sensing person pays more attention on concrete things that we feel by sensory organs. We care about things that happen in present more than things that may occur in the future. The result also indicates that when making decisions, I prefer taking my own system of values and personal feelings in consideration, instead of taking account of objective criteria. In addition, the result points out that I deal with things in a judging way that I like to make plans in advance. I consider it’s true because I like to make to-do lists and do things step by step. In that way, I can be organized and structured when completing tasks.

After completing this test and reading the analysis carefully, I believe that I have understood myself better. Not only did I confirm that I am an introvert, who prefer to handle things in a judging way, but I also discovered that I have the personality of being sensing and feeling.

References:

https://www.arealme.com/16types/zh/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myers%E2%80%93Briggs_Type_Indicator#Cognitive_learning_styles

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISFJ

Log #4

Media Literacy

By doing this project, I found that the problems of media chaos are more serious than my expectation. Thus, not only the journalism but also we ourselves, the readers, should attach importance to this issue. After reading some articles, I discovered that media literacy is an essential ability to everyone nowadays. According to the participants at the 1992 Aspen Media Literacy Leadership Institute, “Media Literacy is the ability to access, analyze, evaluate and create media in a variety of forms.” We all know that literacy, which means the ability to read and write, is important; however, it’s not enough in modern times. Nowadays, we received messages from many types of media; therefore, we should have the ability to recognize and evaluate the information we obtained.

Education for media literacy is not the professional journalism education for journalists. It aims at help people to develop the ability of analyzing and evaluating messages they received properly. Media literacy can also help people learned critical thinking, which my group members Jay and Penny mentioned in their previous logs. With these skills, the readers have the ability to understand the information from the media in a critical way, and they will also not be misled easily. In addition, the journalists should also possess the skills of media literacy because it enables them to create adequate media messages. In modern society, we access various kind of media every day; as a result, I consider that all of us should have the skills of media literacy.

The problems of media chaos is getting more and more serious. We can’t ignore this issue anymore. To deal with media chaos, media literacy, which both journalists and readers should learn, is one of the solutions of this issue.

References:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Media_literacy

https://medialiteracyproject.org/learn/media-literacy/

http://www.medialit.org/media-literacy-definition-and-more

Log #3

Non-stop and Over-detailed Reports

In my previous logs, I mentioned the problem of misleading headlines and media bias. In addition, over-reporting is also part of media chaos. In my understanding, over-reporting includes repeated reports and extremely detailed contents.

When something significant happens, the news media would start a serious of reports. They keep reporting the same incident for a long time and make the audience surrounded by their reports all the time. Although it’s the journalists’ duty to convey the latest messages to the public; however, their non-stop reporting was keeping reminding the victims’ families and friends of those sorrowful memories. Also, their repeated news about cruel incidents make the public immersed in negative emotions. What’s worse, it might arouse potential criminals to commit crimes and increase tragedies. Moreover, because of focusing on certain incidents, the journalists sometimes ignored other big issues and fail to achieve their task of conveying the important messages.

In addition, the news media often provide very detailed reports, which are sometimes over-detailed. For example, the journalists sometimes violate the privacy of people who are involved by revealing their photos or Facebook posts. Besides, the over-detailed contents are sometimes meaningless, such as reporting what the victims of the car accident had for dinner. These messages are unimportant to the audience and have nothing to do with the major issue.

Repeated reports and over-detailed news both have bad influence to the society. Therefore, I think the journalists should pay attention to this issue the be responsible to their jobs.

References:

https://www.thenewslens.com/article/39165

https://www.peopo.org/news/255485

http://tw.on.cc/tw/bkn/cnt/commentary/20150826/bkntw-20150826000520497-0826_04411_001.html

Log #2

Media Bias

In Taiwan, Kuomintang (KMT) and Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) are the two most powerful political parties. Each person has his or her own preferences. However, surprisingly, most news media in Taiwan also have their own bias. When there is a political issue, the news reports from each media might has different kinds of titles and contents. Take the Sunflower Student Movement for example, media that prefer DPP praised and supported the students a lot and even called them heroes. On the other hand, media inclining KMT wrote the reposts in an opposed way to show that they are against the students’ action. What’s more, the media sometimes even ignored the news that are unfavorable to the parties they support. In short, their biased news reports influence people’s perspectives on issues. 

In my opinion, the mission of news media is to convey latest and correct information to the public; therefore, they supposed to be neutral and objective. However, journalists nowadays tend to put their own points of view in the reports and make the news partial. In this way, the audience can’t receive proper and accurate messages from news reports, and the media also lose their function of providing appropriate news.

References:

https://taipeiteentribune.com/2016/10/31/news-media-slant/

https://masterrehab.wordpress.com/2017/01/16/taiwans-media-bias/

Log #1

Misleading Headlines

How do you get news every day? Nowadays, many people tend to receive news from the internet, especially social media. As long as you follow the pages of major news media on Facebook, you can simply get the latest news by swiping through various posts. However, did you really get the correct message? According to a study, almost 70% of people only read the headlines of the post. As a result, headline plays an important role. What’s bad about media is that they tend to headline the articles in a twisted way. Therefore, the readers are easily misled if they only read the headlines instead of the whole articles.

As a person who usually receive news on the internet, I exactly had this kind of experiences. The journalists like to give the article an exaggerated title in order to attractive the readers to click and read the news. However, the real contents are often not that serious. Sometimes, the headlines and the contents are even two different things. I think that the duty of news media is to provide latest and accurate information for the public. However, many journalists nowadays are misleading the society by their untrue news reports and twisted titles so as to get high views. Thus, the news media has bad reputation in recent years. I think the journalists should know what’s their true responsibility, instead of seeking high views blindly.

References:

https://medium.com/inside-the-news-media/misleading-headlines-6253672d40f5#.6dg00vmkf

Log #8

Wuthering Heights

Author: Emily Brontë

In the end of the story, Mr. Lockwood visited Thrushcross Grange and Wuthering Heights again after few months. He knew that Heathcliff had died from having no food and drink, and that Cathy got married with Hareton.

Heathcliff finished his revenge. He thought he would be happy and satisfied after completing his plan of revenge; however, he wasn’t. Although he succeeded to make all the people he hated become unfortunate, he didn’t feel delightful, but empty. He couldn’t get rid of the shadow of his affection toward Cathrine. I think he had difficulties dealing with his emotions. His love toward Cathrine is so strong, even crazy. The hatred of being unable to get Cathrine hide the truth from his heart. He spent almost half of his life on revenging and even his own son is the prey of his revenge. However, he got nothing in the end and the fundamental sadness in his heart didn’t eliminate. Hatred and revenge couldn’t solve problems. We have to learn to forgive and face down our past demons.

To be honest, I didn’t predict that Cathy would marry Hareton in the end. However, I am glad to see them falling in love and helping each other became better. Because of Cathy, Hareton started to read and become gentle and civil. I think it is the magic of love that it can make a person want to make himself a better person. No one is perfect, but everyone wants to be perfect, especially for his loved one. The power of love is very strong. It can not only be the provocation of one’s revenge but also become the motive that inspired a person to improve himself.

After reading the book, I can understand why it is a classic. The plot of the story is very attractive and the content as well as ending are not common. Although it would be hard to read at first, as long as you get into the plot, you would addict to it and want to read it page after page. I enjoy the book a lot and I am willing to recommend this book to others.

Log #7

Wuthering Heights

Authors: Emily Brontë

In the chapters I read this time, the story had made a big progress. Mr. Earnshaw past away. Hindley got married and became the master of the Earnshaw. Catherine altered to be a lady with decent manners after spending five weeks at Thrushcross Grange with the Linton family because of being injured. From then on, Heathcliff became upset and was not intimate with her anymore. Moreover, sadly, Mrs. Earnshaw died after giving birth to Hareton. After that, Hindley became desperate and very tyrannical. Besides, after knowing that Catherine was going to married Edgar Linton, Heathcliff felt sad and left without a word for three years.

Things really changed a lot in these chapters. I am very glad to see Catherine became a lady with good manners. However, I don’t like her personality afterwards. She became haughty and headstrong. I don’t consider her a genuine lady because a genuine lady must have decent manners and a kind heart, which is the most important thing. In addition, I don’t think that she loved Edgar sincerely. What she loved was his wealth and fame as well as his love toward her. I think she was taking advantage of his love, and that her determination of marrying him was wrong.

In addition, Heathcliff once said that he wished he had light hair, fair skin, and blue eyes. It shows that he was upset with his race and background. He thought that if he has had the appearance and the family background that Edgar had, he could had been an equality with Catherine. However, what really define a person is not his or her appearance or wealth and fame, but his or her personality. “A good heart will help you to a bonny face.” One’s kind heart and good behavior are far more important than anything else. 

I was more and more fascinated by the plot of the story. Heathcliff was back and I think he was going to begin his plan of revenge. He started contact with Hindley, and Hindley even invited him to his home to play cards. Both of them hatred each other since childhood. Why were they get good along with each other all of a sudden? I guess that it was a step of Heathcliff’s revenge. Maybe he would knock Hindley down all at once.

Log #6

Wuthering Heights

Author: Emily Brontë

Just as my expectation, there are something unusual in Wuthering Heights. Mr. Lockwood spent a night in Wuthering Heights and discovered the secrets of Mr. Heathcliff and Wuthering Heights. After going home, he asked his housekeeper, Mrs. Dean, who knew Mr. Heathcliff in childhood and was also Mrs. Heathcliff’s nanny for further details. She told him about the ancestries of Mr. and Mrs. Heathcliff as well as the background of the Earnshaw. Mrs. Dean started to tell Mr. Lockwood the story about the Earnshaw, the Linton, and Mr. Heathcliff.

The truth is actually over my imagination. After knowing Mr. Heathcliff’s ancestry, I can probably understand the reason why he was so rough and unsociable. When the misfortune of being an orphan was already suffering, being adopted seemed to be a rescue. However, he was hated by his adopted mother and disgusted by his foster brother. I think being lack of love was the main reason of his antisocial personality and bad temper.

Reading this novel is like watching a soap opera. The background of the story and the complex relationship of the characters are so attractive to me. I can’t wait to know more about the story of Mr. Heathcliff and the two family.

Log #5

Wuthering Heights

Author: Emily Brontë

The book we chose for our group reading project is Wuthering Heights. It’s a classic literature, which was written by Emily Brontë. The book is very famous that I think everyone has heard of it before, and I am no exception. However, although I have known this book for a long time, I have no idea about its content. I know nothing about the book excepting its title. This time, I am very happy that I have the opportunity to read this classic novel.

As far as I have read, I think all the people in Wuthering Heights are very wired. Mr. Heathcliff, the host of Wuthering Heights, was a reserved and unsociable man. Mrs. Heathcliff, a girl who was under 17, was his daughter-in-law. I wonder if there were some accidents happened in Wuthering Heights before because both of their mates were dead. Besides, Mr. Heathcliff looked at Mrs. Heathcliff in a hatred way. Moreover, Mr. Lockwood detected “Hareton Earnshaw”, which was the name of a servant in Wuthering Heights, among the carving at the door. I think that it’s definitely unusual to carve the servant’s name at the front door. I believe there must be some secrets in Wuthering Heights. Also, I am curious of the real relationships of Mr. and Mrs. Heathcliff and Hareton Earnshaw. I think they were maybe not just father-in-law and daughter-in-law as well as master and servant.

Currently, I still have no idea about the relationships of those characters and the secrets of Wuthering Heights. However, I believe that there must be something unusual and astounding there. I can’t wait to know the truths and see what’s going to happen in the further chapters.

Three Best Presentations

Sally — Brooklyn:

        I like Sally’s presentation because she not only introduced the story in an attractive way but also connected to her own experience. What’s more, she shared her thoughts and feelings about homesick, and it also bring my interests in her sharing because I am homesick as well. Therefore, I like her presentation the most and she also attracted me to read the book.

Julie — If you could see me now:

        I think Julie really made a good use of PPT slides. She introduced the story very systematically with it. I can understand the relationships of the characters in the story easily.

Tiffany — Before I go to sleep:

        I like Tiffany’s presentation because the way she introduced the story is very interesting. She was the only person who mentioned the Chinese title of the book and her feelings about it. She also said that she never read the book before going to sleep because of being afraid of waking up and forgetting everything. Her presentation made me want to read the book very much.

Log #4

Confessions of a Shopaholic

Author: Sophie Kinsella

For Rebecca’s debt, her dad suggested she should Cut Back or Make More Money. Therefore, she had tried to cut back her expenditure. However, things didn’t work like her expectation. Not only didn’t she save money, but she even spent more. Rebecca finally accepted the truth and faced her failure. She was really frustrated. Her friend, Suze, told her that she didn’t think Rebecca is a Cut Back kind of person. Suze suggested Make More Money is the better option for Rebecca.

After reading this part, I asked myself which option I would choose if I were in this situation. Cut back or Make More Money? After considering all the aspects, I think Cut Back is more suitable for me. Make More Money means you have to create a new source of income, such as having a side job or doing some investment. Since I am a student and I need to pay most of my attention on my schoolwork, it’s hard for me to do a lot of part-time jobs to make more money. However, in the case of debt, I personally think cutting back spending and making more money at the same time is the most efficient way to solve the problem. Recently, I discovered that my expenditure in the last few months is more than that before. So I started trying to cut back my spending. When I wanted to buy something, I would think that whether I really need it or not. Also, I decreased the frequency of drinks and desserts. I found that it not only helped me save money but also made me healthier. I hope I could cut back my expenditure successfully. And I can’t wait to see the result of Rebecca’s Make More Money plan.

Log #3

Confessions of a shopaholic

Author: Sophie Kinsella

       In the previous chapter, Rebecca had borrowed money from Luke, boss of Brandon Communications, in order to buy a scarf. She lied and claimed the she needed money to buy some gift for her sick aunt. Because of the lie she had made, she had to make more and more lies afterward. She even lied that her aunt was ill to death. However, Luke didn’t seem to believe Rebecca very much that he was often suspicious of what Rebecca said. But he still didn’t expose her.

       I think it’s really a bad idea to tell a lie because a lie lives on more lies. Once you tell a lie, you need more lies to make it seem true. Therefore, it is better not to tell a lie no matter in what situation. Or, the things may be much worse than you predict.

       To be honest, I have a little lost my interest in this book recently. At the beginning, I was really interested in the story and impressed by the optimism of the main character, Rebecca. However, as I read, I started to not agree with Rebecca’s conduct. She often rationalized all the bad things she did, and she even sometimes lied or did something illegal. I am not really like her personalities now and start being tired of her irrational actions. I think it’s the character that makes me lose interest in the book. Besides, I think I am not very attracted by the plots now. It’s also one of the reasons I seldom read the book recently. However, I really don’t want to give up the book because I still love the subject of it. Therefore, I will try my best to accept Rebecca’s conduct and finish the book.

Log #2

Confessions of a Shopaholic

Author: Sophie Kinsella

       In order to afford her bills, Rebecca decided to make some change. She bought a financial management book and follow the author’s suggestion. She was going to live frugally.

According to the financial management book, the author suggested that we can save all the unnecessary expenditure, such as making your own meals instead of eating in restaurants and riding bikes instead of taking tube. In that way, we can save money everywhere. Also, recording your expenditure was very important. However, things didn’t go smoothly. The book said you should begin with itemizing every purchase in a normal spending day to see your spending habits. So Rebecca didn’t control her spending desire and spend a large amount of money on the first day. She didn’t even feel guilty and didn’t consider it serious. Besides, to follow the financial management book, Rebecca even did something illegal. She went to a bookstore and copied the recipe from a cooking book secretly instead of buying it. She was finally caught by the staff of the bookstore. Although she thought that she have lived the frugal life the next couple of days, she actually did several unnecessary purchase. What’s worse, she tended to rationalize all her buying.

I thought that what Rebecca was doing was actually useless. In my opinion, she just misunderstood what the financial management author said to rationalize all her purchase. She didn’t really save money. To my surprise, she even thought she was doing well. I was impressed by her confidence. However, at least she finally take actions to solve the problem. Now, I can’t wait to see the result of Rebecca’s saving plan.

Log #1

Confessions of a Shopaholic

Author: Sophie Kinsella

The book I chose to read is Confessions of a Shopaholic. I guess many people have watched the movie that adapted by this book. However, I haven’t watched that movie before, but I have always wanted to watch it. Besides, I think most girls loves shopping, and I am no exception. That’s why I chose this book as my first book for the reading class.

        Rebecca Bloomwood, a shopaholic, recently faced a big trouble of being unable to afford her bills. She couldn’t control her desire and stopped shopping. Ironically, she worked as a financial journalist who taught people how to deal with personal finance. Actually, she was definitely not interested in finance. Her ideal job was to work for fashion magazines. She loved everything about fashion and couldn’t stop buying them. Now, she was overdrawn and the banks kept sending her mail to press her to pay the bills. However, Rebecca didn’t want to face her financial problem and always try to escape the reality.

        When I read the book, I was really shocked by Rebecca’s shopping addiction. Although she knew she couldn’t afford it, she really couldn’t control herself to stop buying and kept rationalize her purchasing. In addition, the most interesting thing is that Rebecca’s mother was also addicted to shopping. And Rebecca thought her mother’s behavior of keeping buying new things for kitchen was terrible. I think that there might be the gene of shopping addiction in their blood. Moreover, I was stunned by Rebecca’s over-optimism. Although she encountered such a critical problem, she didn’t take it seriously. She didn’t really take effective action. She even dreamed that she could win the lottery and use the money to pay her bills. However, I think she was so optimistic that she didn’t know the seriousness.

        Things I have learned from this book so far is that we should learned to estimate our financial capabilities and control our desire. Otherwise, we might be overdrawn and have bad credit. Also, when encountering problems, we should take it seriously and take actions to solve the problems instead of avoid it.

My Reading History

I don’t consider myself a reader now, but I used to be one. I started to be interested in reading when I was an elementary school student. We had “Reading day” once a week in my elementary school. On that day, we could do extracurricular reading in the morning. Therefore, I did a lot of reading at that time. That’s also the reason why I started loving reading. However, as I grew up, I had to spend more and more time on my schoolwork. Especially in senior high school, I had no time reading books except textbooks. From then on, I lost the good habit of reading. I seldom read now.

As my reading history, most of the books I read were Chinese. So I think I was a reader in Chinese more than English. My favorite kind of book is novel. I was very fascinated with romance novels when I was in junior high school. In addition, I read a few English novels in senior high school because of the reading class. However, they were in the purpose of schoolwork, so I didn’t very enjoy them at that time.

Although I don’t have the habit of reading now, I think I am still a lover of reading. When I am reading a book and really falling in it, I can forget all my worries. I think reading can not only make me relax but also bring me happiness. I hope that I can regain my interest in reading through this class.