Author: zhang.6871

Interview with Roger Boylan by Jack

After scanning some of the authors, I finally decided to choose Roger Boylan. The main reason I chose Roger Boylan was because of his unique multi-cultural background and surprising answers to some of the interview questions posted by Eamonn Wall. His unique perspective and writing style combine different cultures, and express his unique understanding of multi-cultural literature which I am very interested about. I can strongly feel his passion for writing through the interview. I can tell that he must be a very good writer with plenty of knowledge and great passion.

Roger Boylan was an American writer but grew up in Europe and Ireland. After attending the University of Ulster and the University of Edinburgh, he worked as a translator, computer technician, teacher, and book editor. His first novel Killoyle was published in 1997. Currently, Roger lives in San Marcos with his wife. He is on the faculty of Western Connecticut State University as a lecturer in creative writing. His novels includes Killoyle, The Great Pint-pulling Olympiad, and The Adorations. As a critic and essayist, he has been a regular contributor to Boston Review and The New York Times Book Review. Roger’s articles and reviews also appear in many other well-known publications, including The Economist, Context, and The Scotsman.

If I can get a chance to have a conversation with Roger Boylan, I would ask him three questions. The first question I want to ask is: what is your opinion about the differences and similarities between Irish and American literature writing style? I expect he can give me some specific examples and some general ideas. The second question would be: is there anyone or any books that inspire him to form his own multi-cultural writing style? The last question I am curious about is: what does he set out to achieve in his writing, and what is his purpose.

Website Link: http://www.rogerboylan.com/.

After searching on Google, I found out about Roger Boylan’s website. This website is edited by Roger Boylan himself. The website mainly gives a brief introduction of Roger Boylan, and also gives descriptions and reviews of his books in English, German, and Italian. Overall, the website design is very good and friendly to readers. The title is big enough to attract readers. Under the title, there is a horizontal navigation bar to help readers to quickly reach. The information and resources are enough to introduce Roger to someone does not know him before, and the website uses many pictures to help illustrate Roger’s book and Roger himself which makes the website more vivid to readers. Besides, there are also many links in different paragraphs to help reader navigate to his books.

Roger Boylan has written many books through his life time. Below is a list of his famous publications.

  • Killoyle, An Irish Farce, Dalkey Archive Press (1997)
  • The Great Pint-Pulling Olympiad, Grove Press (2003)
  • Killoyle, Eine Irische Farce. Translated by Harry Rowohlt. Published by Rogner and Bernhard, Hamburg (1999)
  • Rückkehr nach Killoyle: Eine Vorwiegend Irische Farce. Translated by Harry Rowohlt. Rogner and Bernhard, Hamburg (2002)
  • The Maladjusted Terrorist. Forthcoming in English.
  • Killoyle Wein und Käse. Translated by Harry Rowohlt. Rogner and Bernhard, Berlin (2006)
  • The Adorations. Olympiad Press (2012)
  • Run Like Blazes. Duvel Press (2011)

China, It’s Time to Breathe the Fresh Air by Jack

Comments

The environment issues are always to be taken seriously by human beings. Recently, the serious air pollution has been a very popular social issue in China since 2011. Before 2011, there was slightly air pollution but the problem was not that serious. However, the pollution became more and more serious at the beginning of 2011 and the decreasing air quality can be seen visually. According to China’s Ministry of Environment Protection, the key polluters are vehicle exhausts, industrial productions, coal burning, and construction sites, with dust contributing to 85%-90% of pollution woes (Zhang).

For most cities in China, the air quality is extremely bad. Because of the heavy air pollution, every day the sky is dark and grey. As a result, there is no sunlight, and visibility is greatly decreased to meters. If you haven’t been to China before, you may not have a clear idea how serious the air pollution is. Columbus is completely different than Beijing, which is the most polluted city in China.  For example, the weather in Beijing is the same almost every day, dark and gray sky, no sunlight, and hard to see things clearly far away. However, in Columbus, the sky is totally blue with golden bright sunlight and the air is so fresh. Statistically, the PM 2.5, which is an index to calculate the polluted particle amount in the air, in China is about 500-900 unit, much higher than Columbus which is about 20-40 unit. (AIRNow) Thus, it’s very obvious to see that the air quality in Columbus is much higher than Beijing.

Through the history, only Britain had the similar situation before, which was called “Great smog of London”. Since the Industrial Revolution, London is famous for its fog. Although the technology and economy developed very fast, it followed with the serious air pollution. London was accustomed to heavy fogs, but this one in 1952 was denser and longer lasting than any previous fog. Visibility was reduced to meters (It’s like you were “blind”) making driving difficult or impossible (The Great Smog). More seriously, according to the statistics compiled by medical services, there were 4,000 people killed by the fog. Finally, London spent 13 years to treat this great fog. China now is facing the similar situation with past London.

Before I went to the United States, I breathed the heavily polluted air in Beijing almost every day. Almost every day the weather is similar, the sky is dark and there is no sunlight. After I come to OSU, I finally can enjoy the fresh air and see the blue sky with bright sunlight. I really appreciate my parents that they provide me an opportunity to study abroad. However, most of Chinese people are not as lucky. They had to stay in China and could not get rid of the heavy air pollution. They are still suffering the heavy pollution and facing the great potential diseases induced by the bad air. Do they deserve to get sick from the heavy pollution? Of course the answer is no! No one should suffer. Everyone has the right to breathe the fresh air. The government and people should focus on how to treat the pollution by limiting the industrial productions and coal burning.

Imagine that you are living in the United States, and one day you travel to a city in China with heavy air pollution, what will happen to you? You may get serious heart or lung diseases and even die. There is a real example in my senior high school. My American English teacher came to Beijing to teach us English. Unfortunately, he only stayed in Beijing for nearly two weeks then he went back to the United States since the polluted air induced his lung disease. Even if a foreigner come to China for a very short time period could get serious lung and heart diseases, what about the Chinese people who live in the heavy air pollution every day? They have much more possibilities to get those diseases! Furthermore, it’s very normal that people in China get a sore throat and find it hard to breathe almost every day.

I do not want to live in a country with great air pollution since my health is threatened by the polluted air and my life span decreases a lot compare to people live in the clean air environment. Also, I do not want my children and my grand-children to suffer this again. Thus, Chinese people and government should take it very seriously. This can be achieved by decreasing our daily car uses, and government should shut down those industries which cause the heavy pollution.

It’s no doubt that it will take China a very long time to completely treat the air pollution, but as long as government and people try their best, there will be one day that we can enjoy the fresh air! I am really looking forward to the day that I can breathe the fresh air freely and see the blue sky and bright sunlight.

References

“AIRNow – Columbus, OH Air Quality.” AIRNow – Columbus, OH Air Quality. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 Feb. 2017.

Jingya, Zhang. “Major Causes of Air Pollution in China – CCTV News – CCTV.com English.”Major Causes of Air Pollution in China – CCTV News – CCTV.com English. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 Feb. 2017.

“The Great Smog.” The Great Smog | History Today. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 Feb. 2017.

 

The Little Girl Cathy by Jack

It’s a warm sunny Saturday. As spring comes into the garden, it brings a charming breath of fragrance with joy and vitality to the garden. Everywhere in the garden is vigorous: the flowers are blooming colorfully, and the green grass is standing there motionless.

A 5-year-old innocent girl is roaming around the garden. She has a pair of big blue eyes and a cute pink mouth with a small nose. Wearing a flowy grey shirt and pink pants, she looks so pretty, her blonde ponytail positioned high up on her head. The little girl is strolling along the path, suddenly a beautiful butterfly with colorful wing fluttered in front of Cathy’s eyesight. Cathy, the 5-year-old little girl, was attracted by that butterfly and desired to catch it.

Watching the butterfly stop by a flower, Cathy rushed to the butterfly happily and tried to use her hand to capture it. Unfortunately, the butterfly noticed Cathy and escaped. The butterfly fluttered around Cathy as if it was mocking the fact that Cathy did not catch it. “Darn it!” Stamping her feet angrily, Cathy felt very upset. “Little butterfly, I will catch you soon! You can’t escape from me, I promise!” she said angrily. Then, touching her long blonde hair, Cathy started to think about how to catch the butterfly. Suddenly, a good idea came to her mind.

This time, she decided to be quiet to avoid the butterfly’s attention. She pressed her lips together and bent her body over trying to approach the butterfly quietly. One step, two step, three step…. Soon she approached the butterfly from behind. Stretching out her hand very quickly, finally Cathy captured the butterfly. She was so glad as if she did a great thing. She wanted to share this pleasure with everyone, especially with her dear mother.

“Yeah, mommy, I did it! I caught a beautiful butterfly!” Jumping up and down, the little girl shouted to her mom loudly with great excitement. She rushed to her mother happily, Cathy waved her hand with the beautiful butterfly. “Mommy, is it very beautiful? Do you like it?” Cathy asked her mother innocently.

Removing small strands of hair that had blown in Cathy’s face, her mother answered with great pleasure “Cathy, you really did a good job. The butterfly is so beautiful and cute just like you. I like it so much.”

Hearing her mom’s praise, Cathy smiled with great joy. Holding her mom’s hand, Cathy, in her flowy grey shirt and pink pants, went back home to celebrate.

What Did We Lose? by Jack

The film shows us the daily life of a normal boy when he discovers something lost on a beach and tries to get it back to where it truly belongs. Further, there are a lot of meaningful details that we need to think about.

From the beginning, the limited grey and brown colors indicates the heavy industrialized city. The city is so dull and rusted. Because of the heavy industrialization, there are no plants which directly show that the entire city is tired and lacking vigor. Living under the bad environment, people in this city are doing their works emotionlessly just like walking dead, ignoring unusual things around them. I think the author is trying to tell us the world is cold and selfish.

The lost creature is in bright red color which distracts the boy from collecting bottle tops. Different with those people’s ignorance, the kid noticed the lost creature and has a strong desire to figure out what is it. Asking people on the beach, the kid cannot get the answer from them since no one cares to notice this odd creature. After he brings it back home, his parents are too busy to notice. From this clear contrast between kids and others, the film wants to tell people that we need to have some curiosity and insight into those unusual things in our life just like that kid and should not just focus on the common things.

After walking along the industrialized street, the boy finally finds the place that the lost thing may belong to, which is a very colorful world compared to the grey and brown mechanic city. This is a vigorous space with lots of lost creatures indicating that the thing belongs there. At the end, as the boy grows up and begins to work, he gradually becomes the person just like others, losing all the good characteristics of a child.

In conclusion, I think the film is trying to encourage us to look at the world in a different way, and encourage us to notice those who are different no matter what they are. We should not ignore them as they may need our help. Furthermore, there are some good characteristics of children, such as innocence, mercy, and curiosity that should not be abandoned as they grow up. This film clearly shows this point through the lens of both children and adults.