IMHO (In My Humble Opinion) #1?

I know it's late...but it took me a while to find a news story that really..."fired" me up.

Wednesday afternoon, while waiting for my 1:30 Japanese class to begin, a classmate asks me if I've heard of the SJSU student that was beat and tazed by police. Responding with a no, he shows me the YouTube video of the dim hallway. I couldn't really make out much, but for sure I could see the refrigerator, and one man just standing there and something going on in front of him. But the sounds alone, the cry of "No, please stop" made me upset, and I refused to watch any further. From the impression of the suspect's pleading I can tell that he was vulnerable. I have a strong sense of justice and can’t stand seeing people being treated unfairly. If a person is in a position to beg like that it definitely means that they can't do anything...so why are the police still beating him? That part ticked me off.

Conveniently someone left behind the Spartan Daily on the table and I noticed the front page news story about the video. And I have to admit, the article was kind of vague and so I fished around the San Jose Mercury for articles. And it’s not really the articles itself that makes me upset, it’s the responses of readers, who are saying that Ho deserved it because he was waving a knife around in the first place. Well, there has to be a reason for him to be waving the knife around right? If you were eating dinner, particularly a steak, what are you going to use to cut it up? A spoon? I’m kind of ticked off that people tend to highlight the violent factors of a story, and forget about the cause of those actions. I’d be pretty mad too if someone threw soap on my food. I’m sure you would too! That’s money!

Because the officer couldn’t understand Ho due to the accent, the officer went to retrieve his ID telling him to stand still. I’m assuming that the officer failed to tell Ho this and just barged into his room? If you can tell him to stand there, you can tell him that you’re going into his room to find his ID. Just because you’re the police I wouldn’t let you into my room without a reason, that’s an invasion of privacy.

Also, many of the readers are hung on the fact that Ho from Vietnam, and here to study. It seems as if they can’t possibly think of anything else to pick out and instead decide to rely on racial comments. I didn’t even know Ho’s name, nationality and living situation until after news articles. So what if he’s a foreign student? The main factor of this whole situation is the question of whether the beating was justified or not.


In the end, I believe everyone is at fault, Ho, his roommate, and the police. No one is innocent.

here are the links to the articles that I read:
http://www.mercurynews.com/search/ci_13635707?IADID=Search-www.mercurynews.com-www.mercurynews.com
http://www.mercurynews.com/search/ci_13646146
http://media.www.thespartandaily.com/media/storage/paper852/news/2009/10/28/News/San-Jose.Community.Reacts.To.Aggresive.Arrest.Video-3815484.shtml#5

Word of the Week: Word #8

1. The word: Viscerally
2. Where I read it: An article in a magazine titled "Channel your creativity" by Sage Cohen
3. The sentence I found it in: A poem or story's job is to bring a story viscerally to life from a particular point of view.
4. Dictionary definition: characterized by or dealing with coarse or base emotions; earthy; crude
5. New sentence: His simple words viscerally reached out to everyone, they could tell just by the the way he empasized those words how he felt.

Word of the Week: Word #7

1. The word: aphorism
2. Where I read it: ZZ Packer's short story "Brownies"
3. The sentence I found it in: Back at the A.M.E church where our Brownie meetings ere held, Mrs. Margolin was especially fond of imparting religious aphorisms by means of acrostics -- "Satan" was the "serpent Always Tempting and Noisome"; she'd refer to the "Bible" as "Basic Instructions Before Leaving Earth."
4. Dictionary definition: A tersely phrased statement of a truth or opinion; an adage.
5. New sentence: Billy interpreted that one line from the lyrics of that new song as an aphorism.

Drinking Coffee Elsewhere

At the very beginning of ZZ Packer's story Brownies, it felt like something was already happening. She didn't need to introduce the reader on the full details of the setting, but she did so gradually in a subtle way. The way she described the girls of Troop 909 was quite unique using reference to ice cream. Using such reference seemed a bit abstract, yet at the same time it sounds like something a very sharp minded 4th grader would think. The way Packer describes how the characters look and dress are so vivid and exact that I can picture it in my mind without difficulty. Anecdotes were cleverly weaved in to the sentences to give background information on characters and the setting in a short amount of words. Her use of metaphors and similes helped enhance the images like when she used the simile of Daphne’s expression when she was reading the guide book. Quotes were incorporated into the paragraphs in the same way a reporter would write an article, with proper source notations so that the readers wouldn’t get confused. With the narrator’s participation of the whole situation, it seemed like she was more of an observer, who just happened to be at the right place at the right time to see it all. I like how the suspense built up, and how the unlikeliest thing would happen at the end of the climax. Her writing style is quirky, easy to follow, and captivating.

NPR Radio interview analysis

The NPR radio interview that I was listening to was Fresh Air, an interview with the director of Were the Wild Things Are.

The interviewer, Terry Gross, seemed to have known a lot about the book and movie, taking in consideration of details and how they went about filming with techniques and costumes. She was able to point out the contrasts between the movie and the book. She asked questions that asked for reasons behind how and why the main child actor was chosen. Questions were asked that would appeal to the movie’s uniqueness. The questions were short, but they drew out long answers. When the interviewee, Spike Jonze was having difficulty in finding exactly what to say, the Gross asked the same question but re-worded and more specific in order to draw out the kind of response that was fluid and understandable. This made it seem like Gross created a comfortable environment for Jonze. Gross lets Jonze say what he had to say with out interrupting unless he was having difficulty elaborating his answer or to stop him to be more specific in how something came about. It seems like her questions, as the interview progresses, dives deeper into the behind the scenes/ influence for the movie. What I learned about interviewing from this interview was to let the interviewee talk as much as possible, and only interrupt in order for them to explain their answers more in depth. Also to allow them to take their time to answer so that it creates a comfortable environment instead of a rushed one.

Reflection on the AB 656 assignent

I really don't have much to say, mostly because I've forgotten many things since Monday, and the fact that I was probably still sleepy. But I have to say this was a new experience. And as a person isn't in the journalism major, I found it quite difficult when interviewing people, because I didn't know exactly what to ask. Not to mention it felt like I was just thrown into the water with this whole ordeal because I didn't have any prior knowledge on the budget cuts and all... gathering background information wasn't too hard, but orgaizing it all into the news story was quite difficult... All in all I'll have to say...yeah this was intresting, but a challnge.

Mystery Character

She has lived many lives. She has died countless times, only to reborn as a new person each time. However her own life has yet to end. She is capable of temporarily absorbing someone else's life as if it were her own. She is sometimes stoic, often times heroic and strong giving off a majestic and exotic image. She has been acknowledged for her ability to express herself well. Her capabilities allow her to jump from one genre to another. She is candid, and allows nothing about herself to be hidden. She is poised and confident in how she carries herself. Her beauty and compassionate heart is known world-wide.

Word of the Week: word #6

1. The word: labyrinthine
2. Where I read it: Hard-boiled Wonderland and the End of The World by Haruki Murakami
3. The sentence I found it in: My fingers nimbly trace out the labyrinthine seams of light as I grow able to invoke the images and echoes with increasing clarity.
4. Dictionary definition: of, pertaining to, or resembling a labyrinth; complicated; tortuous
5. New sentence: The labyrinthine math equation always sent Bob into confusion, just looking at it alone gave him a headache.

Word of the Week: word #5

1. The word: monotonous
2. Where I read it: Short story titled The Rat written by Tablo
3. The sentence I found it in: He was surprised at the pleasant scent her hair had left lingering behind. He let himself fall into it, but soon the smell became unidentifiably monotonous, like a color laid over a similar color, until it was completely lost.
4. Dictionary definition: lacking in variety; tediously unvarying
5. New sentence: Pretty soon the responses of the students were beginning to sound monotonous, they either had ran out of ideas for new answers, or lost motivation.