Professionalism
In case you missed it here the first time around, or in the noble pages of the Tufts Daily the second time around, here’s another chance to read "An Open Letter To the Chinese Language." If you’re in China, pick up today’s copy of the China Daily, and turn to page 10.
Yes, indeed, Red Sky at Night has made its initial breakthrough into the "professional" media. Don’t believe me? Check it out on the China Daily’s website. I can’t guarantee it will be more hilarious than the rest of the paper’s content, but then, you’ve never met the boy who stole half a million RMB to pay for the treatment of a stomach bug he contracted after his parents’ divorce. And you have met me, most likely.
Basically, the China Daily, the national English-language newspaper, has a weekly page devoted to the trials and tribulations of learning Chinese. They take submissions from anyone who has something to say, and they apparently decided to divert from their usual aggravatingly upbeat "you-can-do-it" attitude to publish my occasionally despondent column. Huzzah for realism.
Last night I went to see the "Abigail Washburn and the Sparrow Quartet" in a performance on Beida campus—the third stop on their tour of China. You probably haven’t heard of Abigail Washburn, but you probably have heard of legendary banjoist Bela Fleck, and may have even heard of Casey Dreissen, who plays a mean fiddle.
Bluegrass was the genre of the evening, and it was lots of fun. Abigail has spent some time living in Chengdu, and speaks half-decent Mandarin. Some of her lyrics were in Chinese, too, which was pretty hilarious. And seeing Bela Fleck was a treat.
If my sister read my blog, she might leave a comment about how innovative Casey Dreissen’s fiddling style is, or perhaps about how cool bluegrass is. But she doesn’t. Gosh, how embarrassing for her.
Speaking of my sister and her ilk, I recently met Vickie, a Taiwanese/Chinese/American girl who is taking a year off before going to college in Williamstown, Mass, and hanging around Bejing. Turns out she knows Michelle Miao, an Andover friend of my sister’s, and is close family friends with Andover economics teacher Carroll Perry. Wacky!
The earlier photo was from yesterday’s trip to the Dashanzi art district. It was a very cool, very funky low-rent area of old communist-era factories that is now chock full of little art galleries, showing the hippest of the Beijing art scene. The shows were mostly ok, more fun was to be had outside taking pictures. What follows below is a reminder that, even without a beard, I could probably still have you killed.
Yes, indeed, Red Sky at Night has made its initial breakthrough into the "professional" media. Don’t believe me? Check it out on the China Daily’s website. I can’t guarantee it will be more hilarious than the rest of the paper’s content, but then, you’ve never met the boy who stole half a million RMB to pay for the treatment of a stomach bug he contracted after his parents’ divorce. And you have met me, most likely.
Basically, the China Daily, the national English-language newspaper, has a weekly page devoted to the trials and tribulations of learning Chinese. They take submissions from anyone who has something to say, and they apparently decided to divert from their usual aggravatingly upbeat "you-can-do-it" attitude to publish my occasionally despondent column. Huzzah for realism.
Last night I went to see the "Abigail Washburn and the Sparrow Quartet" in a performance on Beida campus—the third stop on their tour of China. You probably haven’t heard of Abigail Washburn, but you probably have heard of legendary banjoist Bela Fleck, and may have even heard of Casey Dreissen, who plays a mean fiddle.
Bluegrass was the genre of the evening, and it was lots of fun. Abigail has spent some time living in Chengdu, and speaks half-decent Mandarin. Some of her lyrics were in Chinese, too, which was pretty hilarious. And seeing Bela Fleck was a treat.
If my sister read my blog, she might leave a comment about how innovative Casey Dreissen’s fiddling style is, or perhaps about how cool bluegrass is. But she doesn’t. Gosh, how embarrassing for her.
Speaking of my sister and her ilk, I recently met Vickie, a Taiwanese/Chinese/American girl who is taking a year off before going to college in Williamstown, Mass, and hanging around Bejing. Turns out she knows Michelle Miao, an Andover friend of my sister’s, and is close family friends with Andover economics teacher Carroll Perry. Wacky!
The earlier photo was from yesterday’s trip to the Dashanzi art district. It was a very cool, very funky low-rent area of old communist-era factories that is now chock full of little art galleries, showing the hippest of the Beijing art scene. The shows were mostly ok, more fun was to be had outside taking pictures. What follows below is a reminder that, even without a beard, I could probably still have you killed.
posted by Sam at 8:55 AM
1 Comments:
Your Sister has read. Now your sister will write you an email about the magnificence of Casey Dreissen, her personal encounter with his glory and the beauty that is bluegrass- plus a sidenote to her brother to whom she is very sorry, and hopes has recovered from his bloody encounter with the wall.
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