Last Week and the Weekend

Last week was the first week of classes, so I was busy getting ready for all my classes, getting to know the students, and getting used to waking up early again!

But last week was also a very sad week. I went to the funeral of a great man. His name is Neal. He was my boss in Beijing, when I worked there in 2006-2007. He was a dreamer. He dreamed of one day opening orphanages for kids who had lost their parents. He continued to follow his dream until he died. He died of brain cancer. For years, he was having headaches, but he didn't know why. Finally, he found out that he had a brain tumor, and it was cancerous. Unfortunately, he had a kind of cancer that could not be removed completely. So, after more than a year of fighting the cancer, his body gave up. Now, his pains are over and he rests in peace.

This weekend, I reflected on my life. And I cleaned the house. We will be moving soon, so we are packing and sorting through things, boxing things up, and getting ready for our big move to Korea. I hope all goes well!

Beef Dispute Confronts Rice on Korean Visist

(Read the complete article ... )

SUMMARY:

Condoleezza Rice visited South Korea, and while she was there, she had to answer a lot of questions about the safety of American beef.

Secretary of State Rice was in Seoul after North Korea destroyed a cooling tower in its major nuclear plant, but the issue of beef safety overshadowed North Korean nuclear issue.

According to the article, "For many South Koreans, who have lived with threats from their neighbor for five decades, the nuclear issue is of less concern than in Seoul's agreement to lift a ban on American beef imports in April."

The article also mentioned that there were large demonstrations and rallies in the streets of Seoul, "to voice fears about possible health risks such as mad cow disease." The demonstrators were chanting: "Rice, Go Home!" and "We don't need U.S. troops! We don't need mad cows!"

On Saturday (June 28), about 15000 people held another rally in Seoul, and some of them clashed with police. Police said they arrested more than 50 people.

The article says that U.S. beef was banned for about 4.5 years (until April this year), when in 2003 mad cow disease was discovered in the U.S.

MY OPINION:

I think American beef is probably not the best beef, especially because the American beef industry uses a lot of hormones and drugs on the cattle. Using so many drugs and hormones cannot be very good for the health of the cattle, and also it cannot be very healthy for the consumers of American beef. So, even if there is no mad cow disease in a particular cow, it can still cause a lot of other health problems. So, I think the Korean people are right to be angry about American beef getting into their food supply.

GREETINGS & WELCOME!

Welcome Students!

This is the first post of the Writing 400 (Summer 2008). 

I would like to welcome all the students to the Writing 400 course! Hopefully, we will have a wonderful quarter together. Please make sure to read this Blog regularly, and please feel free to leave comments on any of the posts!

Best wishes for a great quarter!