Research Project Has Finished !

[photo: Mayor Jean Drapeau presenting on Paris-tower in 1964. Retrieved from the website "Expo 67 in Montreal"]

[Paper]
1. Do you think your writing has improved overall by doing this paper? Explain.
I believe the research project helped me a lot to improve writing. Especially, as it was my first experience to do such a volume of writing, it gave me a confidence and helped to remove the fear for being overwhelmed by the volume of writing.


2. What are some of the skills you improved in while doing the paper?
The skills I improved in this project are how to select necessary information and put them together. I also learned the importance of thoroughly being familiar with the topic. First I had a difficulty to get familiar with all the names, places, incidents and concept. I learned that to get familiar with new ideas, speed and intensity are more important than I thought.


3. How do you feel about your paper?
On the whole, I am satisfied. I feel that I could accomplish what I really wanted to do in this project. I have got acquainted and created some ties with Montreal, not just as a passer-by.

[Presentation]
1. Did you enjoy listening to the presentations?
It was an exciting experience to attend the presentations of such a variety of fields. Even though we are not qualified professors, we could teach & learn from each other as our interests vary so much. This was really a big pleasure.


2. What did you learn about presentation techniques while listening to them?
As a listener, sometimes I felt that I am left behind when I cannot follow the ideas presented. So in my presentation I did not want to make feel anyone left behind (because my topic is not a technical one and therefore everyone should follow it if my presentation is clear enough) , but I think I failed in part although I may have succeeded in other part.

3. What did you learn during the process of preparing for your presentations?
I learned that conveying an idea through writing and speaking are two different things, and therefore I cannot rely too much on writing.


4. Were you satisfied with you own presentation?
I enjoyed it a lot, but I am not sure if my words were clear enough to convey what I wanted to say. But anyway this was a great experience which taught me a lot.

Advertisement

Ads I usually see on the bus or metro are of cell phone, real estate, schools, insurance, radio stations, etc. and relatively low-key, not so commercialistic. I also see recruitment ads by Mcdonald, but this ad uses only letters on a white background and does not stand out.

Ads for food or beverage tend to be more showy. On the public transportation here we do not see those kinds of ads (the only ads for food I can think of is the one for a chinese restaurant on the flank of the bus). I suppose there are some regulations for the types of ads. That is good to keep public places from looking noisy.

Academic Skills

The section I was most interested is the last article, "sleeping your way to the top." I have learned other interesting facts about sleep in the last session (level 6).

One article was about how sleep can help memory to be fixed. By sleeping more than 6 hours after studying, memory is boosted. The other article was about a hormone called melatonin which is produced only in darkness. Melatonin is very important as it can prevent many diseases such as cancer. The peak time for melatonin production is 1 a.m. to 2 a.m. To lead a healthy life, it is recommended to be in darkness before that time.

But in order to get a sufficient sleep, I have to organize my schedule in advance. This is the most difficult part for me as I am not so much organized. I should fully use the skills written in this article.

Public Lecture Project

About a month ago, Alex, Alina, Khuloud and I went to the public lecture about Altzheimer disease which held at Jewish General Hospital. It was an interesting experience as it was in a hospital. (Come to think of it, this was the first time for me to enter a hospital outside of my country. This hospital did not smell like hospital at all...)

The speaker was confident and had a good sense of humor. He even prepared a photo of a car damaged by his collegue (?) just to make a joke. It was almost perfect presentation, but for me it was too difficult to follow.

I went to several other lectures, too. I want to go more if I have an opportunity, but it was difficult to find (free) lectures. I could not have attended so many lectures if those lectures were not posted on the classroom wall.

Small coincidences

On Friday night, I saw a movie "Mona Lisa Smile" (2003) on DVD. This is a movie depicting the challenge by a feminist teacher who tried to change the mindset of her students at a conservative women's college in 1950s.

I loved the musics, classical dresses and old commercial films used at the end of the movie.

This movie features many famous beautiful actresses such as Julia Roberts and Kirsten Dunst, but somehow I could not take my eyes off from Maggie Gyllenhaal while she is on the screen. She is not a so-called "beauty", but she has something attractive and reminded me of something or someone I know... (now I remember. She resembles Anne Wiasemsky in "La Chinoise" by J.L.Godard.)

What was interesting to me was that the movie was not my choice. I joined my host family while they were seeing it. A couple of weeks ago, it was "Last Samurai". On that day I was limping as I twisted my ankle on the stairs, and saw a crashed car from the bus window. The bloody Samurai movie strangely overlapped the pain and injury I witnessed and experienced on that day. On the day I saw "Mona Lisa Smile", I had come across a piece of words that made me think about difficulties women have to face in their lives. And this movie was waiting for me at home.


These small coincidences made me think that what we have in our mind may attract some events.

Or my landlady Catherine has an ability to read my mind...

(Images: retrieved from IMdb)

Population (post discussion)

The video and articles we've read within these two days impressed me a lot. I have never had oppotunities to learn about such a global topic in an intensive manner like this. I understood that the situation regarding population quite differs in each part of the world. Especially, the life of women in subSaharan African states looks so helpless, trapped in a vicious cycle. Why do they have to endure such a condition? What are the statesmen in those countries doing?

Population

1. My grandparents had 5 and 3 children. My parents have 3 children. I would have 2 or less, if possible.

2. Japan's population is about 120 millions. Dense population makes it easier to get public services such as public transportation. Japan's population begins to decline, which means not enough workforce to support elderly people, causing concern about feasibility of pension system.

3. Currently, earth's population is estimated about 6.5 billions.

4. Animal species populations are controled by the following factors; food supply, loss of habitat, natural enemies, caught by human (poaching), etc.

5. No. As population explosion often comes from poverity, ignorance about reproductive health, or oppression over women, I think goverment should address those problems first.

Happiness is in the FLOWS

This unit was useful and very interesting as I have never learned such subject in the classroom in my country. The idea of "flow" was not so new for us oriental people, but what I was not familiar with is the way of analyzing abstract subject such as happiness using figures or percentages. I found it very occidental. Objective data is practical, helpful and give a strong impression. It helped me to think happiness from a different point of view. (But I cannot deny that some of them in Myers' article struck me as ridiculous too.)

For my previous post, I was supposed to give the "definition" of happiness. So I used "negation" to distinguish euphoria from happiness by their durations, but I also like the idea that a succession of short happy moments can be called happiness. Walking in a crisp morning air, seeing a pleasant smile, eating sweet cakes, buying favorite items, etc. We know that money "can't buy me love"(McCartney, 1964 lol), but money attracts people maybe because it seems to guarantee us those small euphoric moments (or rather comfortness?) endlessly.

Personally, I think the right way to happiness is to appreciate what we have already, be grateful for everything around us. In other words, accept everything (including imperfect ourselves) as they are. This may sound very passive. But on the other hand, I am attracted to the idea to take one's own way like in the following anecdote. I will "paraphrase", as I do not have the book at hand.

*********************

There was a beautiful river full of clear water. At the bottom of the river, there was a village. Habitants of the village had to cling onto grass or rock to stay where they were. But they did not find it inconvenient, as that was their way of life.

One day, one of those creatures cried out, "I'm fed up with such a life, I want to see somewhere else!" Others called him crazy and stopped him, saying "Don't be silly. If you release your hand, the flow will kill you by banging you on a rock." But he released his hand. First he was hurt badly by being crashed on a rock but soon the flow brought him up from the bottom.

He traveled down the river. Seeing him "flying", habitants of other villages were amazed and wanted to talk to him, but he disappeared from their sight in a second. The flying creature soon became a legend.

(Richard Bach, "Illusions")

The following is a piece of lyrics by Kazuo Zaitsu(1948-), a Japanese composer/singer. (by my poor translation)

Cast away your joy or sadness
Be simply happy just like a flowing river
Stop the search for happiness

Just be a 'happy body'

---An Aborning Star(1982)

What he meant is, I think, that happiness is beyond any emotions and remains just still there, within our body. Since body (the receptacle of our lives) is the biggest gift we've ever received, to be happy we just have to concentrate our mind on our bodily sense. (By the way, in meditation, it is often instructed to set your mind on this moment by concentrating on your breath or on auditory sense by listening to the "sound of silence".)

Asked "what is love to you?" in an interview in 1984, he talked about unexpected tears he sheds when he sees beautiful blue sky. Those tears are of sudden strong feeling of happiness, and with no reason. He answered this power which moves him to shed tears is the "Love" to him. By "Happy body", he meant a body with a pure mind (like a baby) which is sensitive to all kinds of beauty.

No need to understand each other as we are somewhat similar

Your being here is enough for me

No need to understand each other as we are different after all

---An Aborning Star

I enjoyed too much writing about this theme. Thank you if anyone still reading this line. :-)

Images: Album jackets of "A Picnic in 2222 (2222 nen picnic)" (top) & "The 10th oddyssey" (bottom) by Tulip