Words on Paper

the world vs Israel

2006-07-21T20:25:05Z

Read this article. (And then read the comments.) Ridiculous, that people are somehow convinced that Israel should be more "proportional" and diplomatic when dealing with a terrorist group whose sole purpose is the irradication of the nation of Israel.

jeeves777 @ 2006-04-19T11:48:00

2006-04-19T18:51:46Z

Study: Internet Users Using The Internet

Europe and its wish for US failure in Iraq

2006-03-21T23:23:27Z

Interesting read on the growing rift between Europe and the United States. Link here.

And a humorous article about monkeys and bananas. Josh Go, I think you'll like this one. Link here.

Don't pass it up.

2006-03-18T20:12:59Z

"I think I'm avoiding her actually. I haven't seen her in person for over 6 months, since I graduated. And that might have been on purpose too."

"Hmm. What are you afraid of?"

"Relationships?"

They laugh.

"Wuss."

He snorted. "Fine, fine. I'm afraid of having to pick between my career and a relationship."

"But the only reason you'd do that at this point is because you want to be able to provide for your family later on, right?"

"Yeah."

"That's a noble desire, man. There's nothing to be ashamed of in that decision."

"But still..."

"This girl, is she someone you can walk away from, just like that?"

"No. I've been trying to."

"Then fight for her! You know, someone once said, 'This world is screwed up, and if anybody can find love in this messed up world, it has to be a miracle. And that's why you don't just walk away when you meet someone like that. When you find love, or better yet—when love finds you—you hold on. You don't just pass it up. That's what cowards do because they are too afraid.' "

"Well, maybe then I'm just a—"

His friend laughed. "Shaddup, man. Don't be a coward. If she's the one, don't pass it up. Some chances don't come twice."

Back to Words on Paper: Conversations

Oh the ugliness!

2006-03-02T03:07:57Z

I spent over 10 minutes looking at the pictures on this site, and I was left with a distaste in my mouth. I don't even know where to start: the "flawlessness" of our celebrities, the "honesty" in photography, the innocent "touch-ups" most digital photographers do (including me), the desire for beauty. Sigh... Photography, to me, is about finding beauty. So why was I left with a sense of the ugliness of people? Something is out of wack. Maybe it's because I've been considering exploring portrait and fashion photography, and one day, perhaps wedding photography. The past months, I've become very aware of the physical appearances of those I pass on campus, and my eyes zoom in on those who are not just good looking, but who would be extremely photogenic. How much touch-up is acceptable? What is honest? Are we, in our drive for beauty, setting up a completely unrealistic standard with a sick focus on the external?

Anyway, check this out
1) Go here
2) Click "Portfolio"
3) Click "Agree"
4) Click "Before/After"

I miss...

2006-02-25T08:38:49Z

I miss...
12.28.05

I miss walking the fields with you
on clear spring mornings
with the scent of an early bloom
rising in the breeze.

I miss days at the beach
on balmy summer afternoons
listening to the breakers
join in our laughter.

I miss our whispered conversations
along that quiet forest path
softly stepping over a floor
strewn with autumn leaves.

I miss watching the snow
fall gently on Christmas Eve
layering the city in white
as our gloved fingers intertwine.

I miss you.
I miss you.
I miss you.
I miss you.

But how is it possible
that I miss you
when we have never met?

Back to Words on Paper: Prose and Poetry

I never claimed to be a "real" photographer.

2006-02-19T10:47:31Z

I've noticed that photographers drool over various cameras and lenses and kits and whatnot. I drool when I see a good photo.

What ever would we do without... series

2006-02-16T02:04:37Z

What ever would we do without studies?

"Study: Internet Users Go Online for Fun"
Associated Press, 02.15.06

"Male chromosome has a future after all, study says."
Associated Press, 08.23.05

What ever would we do without scientists?

"Western and Eastern people look at the world in different ways, University of Michigan scientists have claimed."
BBC, 08.23.05

Fill in the blank

2006-02-14T02:53:04Z

The future is _____________.

jeeves777 @ 2006-02-11T14:19:00

2006-02-11T22:20:35Z

Someone told me yesterday that I was bipolar. I thought that was funny.

jeeves777 @ 2006-02-10T16:09:00

2006-02-11T00:11:33Z

"How far would you go?"
"To the ends of the earth."
"Awww... how sweet," she said. "Would you swim the deepest ocean?"
"Huh?"
"You know, like the song..."
"Oh, shaddup."

jeeves777 @ 2006-01-24T14:35:00

2006-01-24T22:36:24Z

Been feeling kinda down and mellow the last couple days... dunno why. I just really hope this passes, cuz I haven't been the most exciting hangout buddy. Sorry folks. =(

love, and cleaning up fresh vomit

2006-01-23T06:14:40Z

"People who confuse love and romance often wind up in divorce court because they are susceptible to the dangers of romantic thinking. They may not know much about love, but they enjoy the feeling of being 'in love.' I admit that 'being in love' feels wonderful... going around with a natural high, feeling lightheaded all the time, thinking that this old world is a marvelous place, that you've finally found a new purpose and zest for life. But there is a world of difference between having those feelings and loving someone. Yes, when you fall in love with someone, you will experience those feelings—but those feelings can also come about because you are infaturated or because of the excitement of establishing a new romantic relationship.

"The love that last and that really matters is the kind of love that makes you get out of bed at 3:00 A.M. to tend to a sick spouse. It's the kind of love that makes you decide not to buy that motorcycle because you know your wife says you need a new dishwasher. It's the kind of love that makes you willing to watch Monday Night Football just because that's what your husband really wants to do."

Kevin Leman, The Birth Order Connection

on that human connection

2006-01-20T20:03:34Z

"People connect with you when you lose, not when you win. When you win, no one connects to you except the elites. So now, I usually tell people how I fail, or how I'm stupid. Not in a way that puts me down, but in a way that shows them I'm human.

"In New Zealand, I made a mistake and I said, 'You have to forgive me. I'm an ignorant American, you know.' And that makes them happy because Kiwis know how small they are in comparison to America.

"So whenever you tell stories about yourself, you have to tell stories about you failing. And whenever you tell stories about other people, you tell stories about them winning."

Back to Words on Paper: Conversations

angst free anchor me

2006-01-15T05:16:15Z

"I don't know if he likes me..."

He laughed at her.

"Whaaat?"

"Well, is he attractive?", he asked.

"Um, not particularly..."

"Well then!" He laughed again.

She frowned.

"You're pretty. He's not. Of course he likes you!"

Back to Words on Paper: Conversations

too funny too funny!

2006-01-12T21:42:20Z

hahahah normally, i'm not all that into blond jokes. but this one was just too funny.

I dreamt of you

2006-01-11T06:01:28Z

I dreamt of you
01.08.06

I dreamt of you last night
like we hadn't met for so very long
Twas a bittersweet embrace
for I knew I'd lose you again
to that far away place you had to go
So I held you close to heart
even if it would tear apart
when it came time for you to leave

But that will be then and here is now
and the smell of your hair is sweet
and the touch of your skin is soft
I am content sitting here with you
But I didn't know this is just a dream
I didn't know you are just a dream

Back to Words on Paper: Prose and Poetry

Is God dead in Europe?

2006-01-10T04:19:45Z

linky

hello

2006-01-07T11:39:03Z

Is it possible to miss someone you may have never met before?

i have a problem.

2006-01-05T08:54:20Z

Most of the ppl leaving comments on my xanga are girls. That kinda erm... doesn't reflect all that well on me, huh? >.<

I mean, there's a good number whom I geniunely enjoy being friends with, and some of them I have actually hung out with. But...where my brothers at???

Maybe I should start writing about sports or cars or something. Except I don't know anything about either. It's like ooooh look! shiny car!... right.

Or maybe I should write about girls, or even better! Replace my ugly smiley mug with a profile pic of a hawt girl! cuz you know... guys like girls. Um... okay scratch that idea too.

Yadayada. My housemate has been keeping Jason Mraz's "I'm Yours" on repeat for the past hour. Funny thing is, I actually don't mind. It sounds very... peaceful. :)

It's late and I'm going to sleep. Good morning!

jeeves777 @ 2006-01-03T22:33:00

2006-01-04T08:51:17Z

ooh.. how I wish I could have told her what was burning in my heart. that she didn't have to go through all that crap alone. that Jesus offers life! and peace that defies all understanding. that God is sometimes the only reason I can get through the day.
but i'm not yet in a position to tell her that. and she wouldn't have understood anyway, except for a polite nod of the head. and so i didn't say anything except to empathize. maybe in time. maybe in time.
i'll be praying for her tonight.

mom

2006-01-02T23:22:28Z

"Choosing the right person to marry is far more important than choosing the right career. Don't be hasty."

Article: "Two California high schools losing white students as Asians move in"

2005-11-30T00:00:26Z

WSJ Online is available by subscription only. Reposted here for reference.

Two California high schools losing white students as Asians move in

Monday, November 21, 2005
By Suein Hwang, The Wall Street Journal

CUPERTINO, Calif. -- By most measures, Monta Vista High here and Lynbrook High, in nearby San Jose, are among the nation's top public high schools. Both boast stellar test scores, an array of advanced-placement classes and a track record of sending graduates from the affluent suburbs of Silicon Valley to prestigious colleges.

But locally, they're also known for something else: white flight. Over the past 10 years, the proportion of white students at Lynbrook has fallen by nearly half, to 25% of the student body. At Monta Vista, white students make up less than one-third of the population, down from 45% -- this in a town that's half white. Some white Cupertino parents are instead sending their children to private schools or moving them to other, whiter public schools. More commonly, young white families in Silicon Valley say they are avoiding Cupertino altogether.

Whites aren't quitting the schools because the schools are failing academically. Quite the contrary: Many white parents say they're leaving because the schools are too academically driven and too narrowly invested in subjects such as math and science at the expense of liberal arts and extracurriculars like sports and other personal interests.

The two schools, put another way that parents rarely articulate so bluntly, are too Asian.

Cathy Gatley, co-president of Monta Vista High School's parent-teacher association, recently dissuaded a family with a young child from moving to Cupertino because there are so few young white kids left in the public schools. "This may not sound good," she confides, "but their child may be the only Caucasian kid in the class." All of Ms. Gatley's four children have attended or are currently attending Monta Vista. One son, Andrew, 17 years old, took the high-school exit exam last summer and left the school to avoid the academic pressure. He is currently working in a pet-supply store. Ms. Gatley, who is white, says she probably wouldn't have moved to Cupertino if she had anticipated how much it would change.

In the 1960s, the term "white flight" emerged to describe the rapid exodus of whites from big cities into the suburbs, a process that often resulted in the economic degradation of the remaining community. Back then, the phenomenon was mostly believed to be sparked by the growth in the population of African-Americans, and to a lesser degree Hispanics, in some major cities.

But this modern incarnation is different. Across the country, Asian-Americans have by and large been successful and accepted into middle- and upper-class communities. Silicon Valley has kept Cupertino's economy stable, and the town is almost indistinguishable from many of the suburbs around it. The shrinking number of white students hasn't hurt the academic standards of Cupertino's schools -- in fact the opposite is true.

This time the effect is more subtle: Some Asians believe that the resulting lack of diversity creates an atmosphere that is too sheltering for their children, leaving then unprepared for life in a country that is only 4% Asian overall. Moreover, many Asians share some of their white counterpart's concerns. Both groups finger newer Asian immigrants for the schools' intense competitiveness.

Some whites fear that by avoiding schools with large Asian populations parents are short-changing their own children, giving them the idea that they can't compete with Asian kids. "My parents never let me think that because I'm Caucasian, I'm not going to succeed," says Jessie Hogin, a white Monta Vista graduate.

The white exodus clearly involves race-based presumptions, not all of which are positive. One example: Asian parents are too competitive. That sounds like racism to many of Cupertino's Asian residents, who resent the fact that their growing numbers and success are causing many white families to boycott the town altogether.

"It's a stereotype of Asian parents," says Pei-Pei Yow, a Hewlett-Packard Co. manager and Chinese-American community leader who sent two kids to Monta Vista. It's like other familiar biases, she says: "You can't say everybody from the South is a redneck."

Jane Doherty, a retirement-community administrator, chose to send her two boys elsewhere. When her family moved to Cupertino from Indiana over a decade ago, Ms. Doherty says her top priority was moving into a good public-school district. She paid no heed to a real-estate agent who told her of the town's burgeoning Asian population.

She says she began to reconsider after her elder son, Matthew, entered Kennedy, the middle school that feeds Monta Vista. As he played soccer, Ms. Doherty watched a line of cars across the street deposit Asian kids for after-school study. She also attended a Monta Vista parents' night and came away worrying about the school's focus on test scores and the big-name colleges its graduates attend.

"My sense is that at Monta Vista you're competing against the child beside you," she says. Ms. Doherty says she believes the issue stems more from recent immigrants than Asians as a whole. "Obviously, the concentration of Asian students is really high, and it does flavor the school," she says.

When Matthew, now a student at Notre Dame, finished middle school eight years ago, Ms. Doherty decided to send him to Bellarmine College Preparatory, a Jesuit school that she says has a culture that "values the whole child." It's also 55% white and 24% Asian. Her younger son, Kevin, followed suit.

Kevin Doherty, 17, says he's happy his mother made the switch. Many of his old friends at Kennedy aren't happy at Monta Vista, he says. "Kids at Bellarmine have a lot of pressure to do well, too, but they want to learn and do something they want to do."

While California has seen the most pronounced cases of suburban segregation, some of the developments in Cupertino are also starting to surface in other parts of the U.S. At Thomas S. Wootton High School in Rockville, Md., known flippantly to some locals as "Won Ton," roughly 35% of students are of Asian descent. People who don't know the school tend to make assumptions about its academics, says Principal Michael Doran. "Certain stereotypes come to mind -- 'those people are good at math,' " he says.

In Tenafly, N.J., a well-to-do bedroom community near New York, the local high school says it expects Asian students to make up about 36% of its total in the next five years, compared with 27% today. The district still attracts families of all backgrounds, but Asians are particularly intent that their kids work hard and excel, says Anat Eisenberg, a local Coldwell Banker real-estate agent. "Everybody is caught into this process of driving their kids." Lawrence Mayer, Tenafly High's vice principal, says he's never heard such concerns.

Perched on the western end of the Santa Clara valley, Cupertino was for many years a primarily rural area known for its many fruit orchards. The beginnings of the tech industry brought suburbanization, and Cupertino then became a very white, quintessentially middle-class town of mostly modest ranch homes, populated by engineers and their families. Apple Computer Inc. planted its headquarters there.

As the high-tech industry prospered, so did Cupertino. Today, the orchards are a memory, replaced by numerous shopping malls and subdivisions that are home to Silicon Valley's prosperous upper-middle class. While the architecture in Cupertino is largely the same as in neighboring communities, the town of about 50,000 people now boasts Indian restaurants, tutoring centers and Asian grocers. Parents say Cupertino's top schools have become more academically intense over the past 10 years.

Asian immigrants have surged into the town, granting it a reputation -- particularly among recent Chinese and South Asian immigrants -- as a Bay Area locale of choice. Cupertino is now 41% Asian, up from 24% in 1998.

Some students struggle in Cupertino's high schools who might not elsewhere. Monta Vista's Academic Performance Index, which compares the academic performance of California's schools, reached an all-time high of 924 out of 1,000 this year, making it one of the highest-scoring high schools in Northern California. Grades are so high that a 'B' average puts a student in the bottom third of a class.

"We have great students, which has a lot of upsides," says April Scott, Monta Vista's principal. "The downside is what the kids with a 3.0 GPA think of themselves."

Ms. Scott and her counterpart at Lynbrook know what's said about their schools being too competitive and dominated by Asians. "It's easy to buy into those kinds of comments because they're loaded and powerful," says Ms. Scott, who adds that they paint an inaccurate picture of Monta Vista. Ms. Scott says many athletic programs are thriving and points to the school's many extracurricular activities. She also points out that white students represented 20% of the school's 29 National Merit Semifinalists this year.

Judy Hogin, Jessie's mother and a Cupertino real-estate agent, believes the school was good for her daughter, who is now a freshman at the University of California at San Diego. "I know it's frustrating to some people who have moved away," says Ms. Hogin, who is white. Jessie, she says, "rose to the challenge."

On a recent autumn day at Lynbrook, crowds of students spilled out of classrooms for midmorning break. Against a sea of Asian faces, the few white students were easy to pick out. One boy sat on a wall, his lighter hair and skin making him stand out from dozens of others around him. In another corner, four white male students lounged at a picnic table.

At Cupertino's top schools, administrators, parents and students say white students end up in the stereotyped role often applied to other minority groups: the underachievers. In one 9th-grade algebra class, Monta Vista's lowest-level math class, the students are an eclectic mix of whites, Asians and other racial and ethnic groups.

"Take a good look," whispered Steve Rowley, superintendent of the Fremont Union High School District, which covers the city of Cupertino as well as portions of other neighboring cities. "This doesn't look like the other classes we're going to."

On the second floor, in advanced-placement chemistry, only a couple of the 32 students are white and the rest are Asian. Some white parents, and even some students, say they suspect teachers don't take white kids as seriously as Asians.

"Many of my Asian friends were convinced that if you were Asian, you had to confirm you were smart. If you were white, you had to prove it," says Arar Han, a Monta Vista graduate who recently co-edited "Asian American X," a book of coming-of-age essays by young Asian-Americans.

Ms. Gatley, the Monta Vista PTA president, is more blunt: "White kids are thought of as the dumb kids," she says.

Cupertino's administrators and faculty, the majority of whom are white, adamantly say there's no discrimination against whites. The administrators say students of all races get along well. In fact, there's little evidence of any overt racial tension between students or between their parents.

Mr. Rowley, the school superintendent, however, concedes that a perception exists that's sometimes called "the white-boy syndrome." He describes it as: "Kids who are white feel themselves a distinct minority against a majority culture."

Mr. Rowley, who is white, enrolled his only son, Eddie, at Lynbrook. When Eddie started freshman geometry, the boy was frustrated to learn that many of the Asian students in his class had already taken the course in summer school, Mr. Rowley recalls. That gave them a big leg up.

To many of Cupertino's Asians, some of the assumptions made by white parents -- that Asians are excessively competitive and single-minded -- play into stereotypes. Top schools in nearby, whiter Palo Alto, which also have very high test scores, also feature heavy course loads, long hours of homework and overly stressed students, says Denise Pope, director of Stressed Out Students, a Stanford University program that has worked with schools in both Palo Alto and Cupertino. But whites don't seem to be avoiding those institutions, or making the same negative generalizations, Asian families note, suggesting that it's not academic competition that makes white parents uncomfortable but academic competition with Asian-Americans.

Some of Cupertino's Asian residents say they don't blame white families for leaving. After all, many of the town's Asians are fretting about the same issues. While acknowledging that the term Asian embraces a wide diversity of countries, cultures and languages, they say there's some truth to the criticisms levied against new immigrant parents, particularly those from countries such as China and India, who often put a lot of academic pressure on their children.

Some parents and students say these various forces are creating an unhealthy cultural isolation in the schools. Monta Vista graduate Mark Seto says he wouldn't send his kids to his alma mater. "It was a sheltered little world that didn't bear a whole lot of resemblance to what the rest of the country is like," says Mr. Seto, a Chinese-American who recently graduated from Yale University. As a result, he says, "college wasn't an academic adjustment. It was a cultural adjustment."

Hung Wei, a Chinese-American living in Cupertino, has become an active campaigner in the community, encouraging Asian parents to be more aware of their children's emotional development. Ms. Wei, who is co-president of Monta Vista's PTA with Ms. Gatley, says her activism stems from the suicide of her daughter, Diana. Ms. Wei says life in Cupertino and at Monta Vista didn't prepare the young woman for life at New York University. Diana moved there in 2004 and jumped to her death from a Manhattan building two months later.

"We emphasize academics so much and protect our kids, I feel there's something lacking in our education," Ms. Wei says.

Cupertino schools are trying to address some of these issues. Monta Vista recently completed a series of seminars focused on such issues as helping parents communicate better with their kids, and Lynbrook last year revised its homework guidelines with the goal of eliminating excessive and unproductive assignments.

The moves haven't stemmed the flow of whites out of the schools. Four years ago, Lynn Rosener, a software consultant, transferred her elder son from Monta Vista to Homestead High, a Cupertino school with slightly lower test scores. At the new school, the white student body is declining at a slower rate than at Monta Vista and currently stands at 52% of the total. Friday-night football is a tradition, with big half-time shows and usually 1,000 people packing the stands. The school offers boys' volleyball, a sport at which Ms. Rosener's son was particularly talented. Monta Vista doesn't.

"It does help to have a lower Asian population," says Homestead PTA President Mary Anne Norling. "I don't think our parents are as uptight as if my kids went to Monta Vista."

the Way, the Truth

2005-11-23T00:24:05Z

While surfing xanga today, I came across many entries by those who are questioning and hurting, who are seeking for answers that I know are readily available, who cling to beliefs that rationally, wouldn't be able to hold water if I poked a few times. For the first time in a while, I felt pain for these people. How do you reach all those who are hurting and lost and misguided? And what am I to do? Me, with my own life to live, and so little time. Me, with my weaknesses and failures as a son and a friend and a student.

Love your neighbor as yourself...

I try. I don't know how to, most days. But I try.

I want to tell them that Jesus is the Way, that He is the Truth, that He is the Life. That for all our eternal questions and questioning, He is the Answer. That there is an answer for every question, for every plea. I don't know the words to say, and sometimes, I don't say anything because words are not what's needed. If only the grace that has been given to me, would be transferred to them. Many of them deserve it more than I do.

LORD, teach me to love my neighbor.
LORD, teach me to love You.

dancing with the devil

2005-11-22T03:16:06Z

As Christians, how are we to remain relevant to a pagan culture?
Do we change institutions from within?
Or deem them incorrigible and turn our backs?