weblog assignment (core)

Each assignment is roughly the same: Become familiar with some aspect of the topic, go ask TWO Americans (hopefully with different opinions) about it, and write on the weblog about what you know, what happened, and what you think. All of the links will be on the AE2 Weblog.

Staying Single:

Look at the website of Unmarried America and tell us what you think.
http://www.unmarriedamerica.org/

Or this weblog with information about cohabitation (Cohabitation Nation):
http://www.cohabitationnation.com/

In addition to the four questions on the handout, try to find out what people think of people who choose to remain single. Has the pressure to get married decreased everywhere? Do most people still want to get married? Is this any different in the US and in other countries that you know of?

Stepfamilies:

Look at the website of Stepfamily Association of America and tell us what you think.
http://www.saafamilies.org/

See if you can find Americans who are in stepfamilies. Are stepfamilies different in the US and in other countries? More common or less common?


Communes:

Here are two very interesting communes:

The Farm
http://www.thefarm.org/

Twin Oaks
http://www.twinoaks.org/

Choose one. Become familiar with what it is and what's special about living there. Copy the webpage or the most interesting part of it if you want. In addition to the questions on the sheet, try to find out what people think of communes in general. Is this any different from your country?



Carbondale Halloween

About Halloween itself

In addition to the questions on the sheet, try to find out these: Why is Halloween more likely to see violence than other holidays?

History and Customs of Halloween
http://wilstar.com/holidays/hallown2.htm

Halloween History
http://www.halloweenishere.com/history.html

History of Carbondale Halloween

Split up the following articles. Share what you've learned with your group.
You do not have to be an expert; just learn what you can.

Carbondale's Riots Return from the Dead
http://www.dailyegyptian.com/fall00/10-27-00/

Halloween problems not unique to UW
http://www.dailycardinal.com/media/paper439/news/2003/11/04/News/Halloween.Problems.Not.Unique.To.Uw-547927.shtml
(about rioting at UW Wisconsin, but gives history of Carbondale too)

Halloween still haunts SIUC
http://www.dailyegyptian.com/btc96/btc.entertainment/halloween.html

Violence in groups

Concentrate on the reasons. Here are some possibilities:
-Alcohol causes violence, or at least makes it more likely. There were too many people drinking too much alcohol.
-The people who did it were from out of town- taking advantage of a situation. Some were probably former students
-Carbondale has a number of students who couldn't get good grades and didn't belong in school; anger is inevitable
-Groups make people more likely to cause violence. LeBon's theory: The mask of civilization is removed.

Here are some other cases of Halloween violence. See if you can learn from them:

Univ. California Santa Barbara
http://www.dailynexus.com/news/2004/8279.html

Cal. State Chico
http://www.newsreview.com/issues/chico/2002-10-17/follow.asp

Univ. of Wisconsin
http://badgerherald.com/news/2003/11/03/violence_erupts_on_s.php

Univ. of Hartford
http://www.hartfordinformer.com/media/paper146/news/2004/11/04/News/Halloween.Incidentsimilar.To.1991.Riot-793458.shtml

My favorite musician

Hafiz Abd-elrahman, the Flute player, is one of the best Sudanese musicians. He plays instrumental contemporary music, which is not common in Sudan, so that makes his works special. Before the 90s he had been shown in Sudanese Public T.V., but what made him famous was his first ceremony at the university of Khartoum, the top university in Sudan, with one of his best songs, "EVER LASTING DAYS". For me, when I listen to his music I get some relaxation and a lot of memories from my country.
Widad

'Sumi Jo'

My favorite musician is 'Sumi Jo' who has emerged as one of the most beautiful voices in contemporary music. As a coloratura soprano, She is true diva of the highest order. She is a vocalist with Korean upbringing. She stands for Korean culture worldwide.
-Soony

Musician: Langlang

Langlang is a famous musician who comes from china. Although he is only 22, he is good at playing the piano. He obtained the international youth music prize when he was 15. From 1999 to now, he is performing with the global majority of first-class symphonies, which has raised him in the international musical world. He believes that music is telling stories in fact.

By Selina

My Favorite Band

My favorite band is Heavenly Melody. First, it is composed of 4 men and 4 women. And each person sings the different pitches: soprano, alto, tenor, bass. They don’t need instruments to polish their sound. My idea is that the most wonderful instrument is the human body. Next, the music is gospel songs. I like its melody and words. Especially, I love words of gospel songs. That is because these words always give me hope and faith and love, and I can face anything. Finally, these singers have good behavior and mature thinking. Today, most singers have good singing voice, but they have no good behavior and mature thinking. Can you worry if your children are listening to songs of licentious singers? I surely worry my kids do. In sum, Heavenly Melody is the best band in Taiwan, and it is my favorite band forever, I think so.

I like Heavenly Melody

ManJung

My Favorite Band

My favorite band is YUZU. They are very nice guys, so I want to tell you about "YUZU". YUZU consists of two Japanese guys. They are very popular in Japan. One is Yujin Kitagawa, whose part is vocal(low), acoustic guitar, harmonica and tambourine, and the other is Koji Iwasawa, whose part is vocal(high), acoustic guitar, harmonica and harp. They can play guitar with beautiful harmonic song, and also the lyrics of their songs are great! Their songs always encourage me and make us happy, so I like them and play their song on the guitar if I have free time. I think everyone likes their songs. Their song was even chosen as the theme song of the Olympics. In the end, I recommend that you listen to YUZU's song even though you can't understand Japanese. YUZU will surely make you happy!!
This is YUZU's homepage.
http://www.senha.jp/yuzu/
http://www.senha.co.jp/yuzu_new/new_new/full_main.html

Hiroto

My Favorie Band

My favorite band is Mr.Children. You may feel this name is funny. We call it Misuchiru in short. It's a Japanese band which consists of four men. Ther're very famous and popular musicians in Japan. I have never heard any people who don't like them. I think Mr.Children is one of the bands who represent Japanese musicians. They play Japanese pops. When I was a little child, they were already well-known. Now, they still attract more people. People are attracted by his cool and beautiful voice and identify theirselves with the words. I also like their natural, artless and cool mode.

My Favorite Musician

My favorite musician is Aiko. She is a Japanese musician and writes lyrics by herself. She sings with playing the piano. I like her lyrics because the lyrics that she writes express fine emotions very well, so I can be in sympathy with them. Besides I especially like her voice. Her voice makes me feel relaxed.

The singles and albums that she has released have sold well, so she is known well in Japan. I sing her songs every time when I go to Karaoke. Wakako

The Favourite musician

My name is Omar. I am from Saudi Arabia. I'd like talk about a favorite musician. My favourite musician is Fairuz. She is from Lebanon. In my opinion, she is the best songstress in the Arabic Countries. She sings three kinds of song that I like to listen to. The first kind is mountian songs this kind of music is very famous in her country . The second kind is publicity songs. Last kind is nationalism. In conclusion, She has the best voice I have ever heard.
By Omar

My favorite musician

My favorite musician is Alejandro Fernandez. He's one of or great Mexican musicians. His type of songs are "rancheras"; he sings with a mariachi band. Lately he's singing pop and his new cd "A corazon abierto" is my favorite, because all the songs have a very romantic message and my favorite song is "Que voy hacer con mi amor?". I have not been o a concert of his but I would love to; I'm just waiting for the next concert when I come back home. Besides being a great singer , he's very hadsome and sexy.
Hoi Lin

My Favorite Singer

My faorite singer is SMAP. SMAP is group name. They are 5. Thier names are Masahiro Nakai, Takuya Kimura, Goro Inagaki, Tsuyoshi Kusanagi and Shingo Katori. They are very cool. they released many songs. Their most famous song is "Only one flower in the world." The Japanese name is "Sekai ni hitotu dake no hana." It is a very good song, so the CD's sales are more than 2 million CDs in Japan. I like this song, but I like another song better. It is "Orange." It is a very good song. They are actors too. Their drama is very popular in Japan. Their popularity has expanded to East Asia.

Chiemi

My favorite musitian

My favorite musitian is Billy Joel. He is active as a solo singer now,
but he formed a band whose name was Echoes in 1964. Afterwards he worked with
The Hastles, which is a Long Island band; besides, he moved on to a rock duo named Attila and then he began recording his first solo album.
I like Billy joel so much because of his songs that have a special attraction to draw all people's attention. I guess it is a gentle, powerfuly, and sometimes pensive voice. For example, one of his famous songs,"Tell her about it" explesses about love strongly. I always listento Billy Joels songs.

Sosuke Uematsu

My favorite singer`

I would like to talk about my favorite singer. His name is Emrah and he is from Turkey. In adition, he was born in Istanbul. Moreover, he became a singer when he was a child. For instance, his first album come out when he was 13 years old. However, in the begining, Emrah was talking about how life is terrible in his songs. After a couple of years, he changed his style. In fact, he started to sing love songs. Finally, I like to listen to him a lot because his sound is different than other singers and he makes me feel relaxed.

by Mohammed Ali