Tuesday, February 10, 2009

Japanese Culture - Family Structure

One culture that is different than us is the Japanese culture. Specifically, their family structure is one of the main differences. As one may know, in America, family members don't all live together at a certain age. In other words, grandparents don't usually live with the parents; like so, the children don't live with the parents usually after a certain age. In Japan, however, it's a different story. All three generations of grandparents, parents and children alike all live together.

Wednesday, February 4, 2009

Living Fully with Severe Visual Imparement (Living with a Difficulty)

(Sources: http://www.helium.com/items/95362-living-fully-with-severe-visual-impairment, http://www.writers.net/writers/55424?PHPSESSID=189dfa2806917356a5bd65ce73566891 and my memory (she is my friend after all))



As the assignment was to write about someone going through a difficulty, I decided on one of my best friends on the internet, Lauren Rodriguez. She was born prematurely and had to be put on a ventilator to breathe. Because of the oxygen, it destroyed her retinas (her eyes, for those who don't know) and gave her retinopathy of prematurity* (or ROP for short, as she puts it). Despite not being able to see out of one eye, she still does things that the average 24 year old (her age may not be that accurate here). Working at a day care center, going to the mall with friends and much more. Lauren has also written fan fiction and many stories, even one that got published, called "Finding Her Courage." Though it normally would be an inconvenience to most people, she believes that once she stops being able to see with both eyes, she'll then only see the truth. In addition, she is worried about that day, but also hopeful since she knows God will be there for her. I feel that Lauren's story is an interesting view on how one may be disabled and yet still be hopefull, even if worst comes to show.



* I had to research on the full name of the disability.

Monday, February 2, 2009

Natural Disasters (Hurricane Katrina)

(source: http://www.katrina.noaa.gov/ and my memory)

Hurricanes are not exactly a pretty site for any part of the world, but one in particular stirred up a storm (no pun intended) when it arrived in the southern US. This hurricane was Hurricane Katrina. A category 5 storm, Katrina ruined the coasts and blew harder than most storms, though normal for a storm of that size. The one thing that ruined it all though, was that the levies apart, flooding the streets of New Orleans, LA. In addition, it did not only destroy the city, but George W. Bush's reputation, due to the way he handled the situation.Check Spelling