Academic and Business Writing. Optional: Pop-Up 1

photo edited by Laura Lai

by Laura Lai/Uncategorized 

It has happened before to hear people telling me: ‘Ah, but writing is easy!’ Writing is easy when someone needs to take a pen and write a note: ‘I’m in the shopping mall.’ This is easy to write. But when one needs to comply with the writing style’s demands, when one needs to employ literary devices and make out of writing art, writing becomes difficult. 

I wouldn’t have taken such a challenge if I thought writing is easy! When lots of consideration is given to the written word, writing is not easy. On this blog, I mainly write essays, comments, and reviews. Outside this blog, I mainly write plays and children’s books. At the course Academic and Business Writing, generously offered by Berkeley (University of California) free of charge, we’re asked to explain, narrate, describe, compare, discuss, etc. And so is the case with today’s optional writing.

What company or business is having the greatest impact in the world today, either positive or negative? Explain your response.

From my point of view, the coal mining industry has one of the greatest negative impacts in the world today. Coal is an underground fossil that is extracted and burned to generate energy. The extraction of coal affects land topography, may cause earthquakes (ex. Saar region, Germany), destroys soil and vegetation, destroys and displaces wildlife, and affects human health by causing lung and heart diseases. The burning of coal releases a considerable number of chemicals into the air causing air pollution (ex. Mpumalanga region in South Africa). Therefore, the coal mining industry is considered to be the largest contributor to the man-made increase of CO2 emissions in the atmosphere.

However, the quick closure of the approximately 110 million mines around the world would be a human disaster, too. Their closure does not affect only the millions of miners working in this industry, but a number that is at least three times more than the number of miners – considering that each is married and has one child. Having in sight their closure for the long run should provide governments with the necessary time to develop in those mining regions alternative industries for future former miners and their families to work.

How do you think email has affected communication? Do you hate it? Love it? Explain your response.

I think that electronic mail, or shortly, the ‘email’, had a positive impact on communication by making it more rapid, cheaper, and more environmentally friendly. The email operates across a network of computers allowing simultaneous mailing to many receivers (in ‘Cc’) and it allows sending a considerable pile of papers (such as a manuscript) free of charge (as ‘attachment’) – saving both paper and money. The regular post would first weigh the pile of paper and then the stamp’s value would be accordingly. Similarly to regular mail, the email allows also the ‘delivery notification’ – a free-of-charge service that confirms that the receiver read the email. I think of email as an efficient upgrade to regular mail, as well as a great alternative to it.

#cwp2x #writing #amblogging

Academic and Business Writing: Week 1

photo edited by Laura Lai

 

by Laura Lai/ Uncategorized

On March 8^th, 2021 I have enrolled in the course Academic and Business Writing provided by Berkeley, University of California. The reasons why I enrolled in this course are: to improve my writing skills, practice my English and expand my English vocabulary, and learn more about proofreading, editing, and punctuation. Assignments are diverse, but one of the assignments concerns answering a set of questions regarding writing that can be answered directly on the blog. My Writing Blog is a great place to post such an assignment! And I will do so in the following weeks. Here are my answers for this week's journal-type of assignment:

Write a paragraph about what type of writing you typically do.

First and foremost, I write dialogues. I’ve always loved to write dialogues and I thought to take the challenge and combine my pleasure to write dialogues with my political science background and write a particular type of drama called ‘single issue drama’ that puts more accent on the debate than on the characters. But when I write for this Writing Blog, I stick to writing essays, comments, and reviews on topics from politics, culture, and sports. All other writings (such as creative writings) that cannot be classified as essays, comments, or reviews, I classify them as ‘uncategorized’.

In another paragraph, write what you think about writing. Do you enjoy it? Dread it?

I love writing. I’ve always enjoyed doing the different compositions I was supposed to for school. Then I enjoyed dissertations. Nowadays, I write across a range of genres (dramatic and epic), across a range of styles, and across a range of audiences (adults and children). But writing is one thing – a lovely thing I constantly improve. Self-publishing your work is another thing – a complex thing I am still learning. The way the reading public will apprehend a less approached type of drama as the single issue drama is … I would not say that I ‘dread’ (with the sense of ‘fear’), but it makes me curious. Hopefully, it will be a positive reaction!

Finally, write another paragraph about what area of writing you need to improve most. Do you want to be a better essay writer? A more creative writer? A good business writer?

The reason why I work on being a complex writer is that different ideas can be expressed better in different formats. My blog and my writing motto are that ‘one drop of ink may make one million think’, but I would like to know different writing styles so that I can pick the right one for the drop of an idea I have. I enrolled in this course to take the best of it in all aspects of writing it offers. Yes, I want to write even better essays! There are topics that can become clearer when expressed as essays. Yes, I want to be a more creative writer! Usually, a writer is creative; exercises can challenge this creativity to practice it, I am not sure about increasing it, but if it is possible, why not? And yes, I want to be a good business writer! It is great to sound professional when the circumstances ask for it!

#cwp2x #writing #amblogging

Film Review: Shackleton’s Captain – The Famous Antarctic Expedition

photo edited by Laura Lai

by Laura Lai/ Review

Director: Leanne Pooley

On a Novel by John Thomson

With the support of New Zealand on Air’s Platinium Fund

The movie Shackleton’s Captain – The Famous Antarctic Expedition is a documentary movie that reenacts the epic story of the expedition of the British explorer, Ernest Shackleton, and his crew to Antarctica (1914-16). The story is told retrospectively (London, 1926) by Frank Worsely – the photographer of the expedition – to a group of guests, possibly former donors. 

After two previous visits to Antarctica, Ernest Shackleton settled an ambitious goal: to get to Antarctica and to cross the white continent. In order to reach his goal, the 40 – year old British explorer, with Irish origins, bought the most solid ship for that time, brought it from Norway to England, and rechristened it: ‘Endurance’. Designed for hunting cruses, Endurance was modified so that it can successfully carry all the twenty-seven crew members and their belongings, approximately fifty Canadian sleigh dogs, and a cat.

This expedition started in August 1914 and everything went fine until the crew was sixty miles far from the Antarctic shore. It is there that the Endurance got stuck in ice packs on the Wendell Sea. The crew was stuck for months on the ship, then the ship went down and the crew lived on a floating ice pack carried by currents until Shackleton decided to risk and reach the uninhabited Elephant Island, from where he and the other five members would risk again and venture to reach the South Georgia Island to get support and return to the Elephant Island to bring back the rest of the crew.

The moment the Endurance got stuck in the ice pack, the situation for the crew went from bad to worse. Surrounded by death in all its forms (i.e. darkness, coldness, hunger, sea dangers, mountaineering without any experience, etc.) the unendurable endurance brought to light Shackleton’s leadership skills, as well as his sense of geographical orientation on the sea, on the darkness and without a map – a soaked map that one might want to check in darkness, with frozen hands and body, weakened after days of hunger and without sleep does not help as much as an innate sense of geographical orientation.

This also brought to light … the luck as a divine blessing he had. Shackleton and two other crew members arrived on the wrong side of the island. And they decided to cross the South Georgia Island on foot, through snow without any mountaineering experience and without many resources. He used to say that in this venture, it seemed that there was a fourth man next to them, ‘like a spirit’, that gave them strength and courage. Facing such an angry and determined Death, that spirit must have been an even more powerful spirit than Death!

This documentary movie alternates real photos and great quality original videos of both the crew and the ship, the story is correlated with testimonies of researchers and the enactment of the story by a group of talented actors helps visualize better all the hardships the crew had been through.

            Shackleton himself, as well as history, refers to this expedition as a ‘successful failure’ because it did not reach its expedition goal, but it had a happy end. I think that the term ‘successful failure’ is a beautiful rhetorical device (an oxymoron) that summarizes in general terms this entire expedition. But I believe that although Shackleton’s noble goal was to discover Antarctica, for science, for history, and for his country, this expedition was a quest to discover himself; to discover his human and other skills in relation to his men and to divinity – skills, he might have had a clue that he had, but that we have never known about them if they were not tested to such an unendurable human limit. My God, what a limit! And from this point of view, this expedition was absolutely no failure, but a tremendously great success. What do you think?

Enjoy the movie!

The ‘Endurance Expedition’ – Story and Course by Harvard Business School

photo edited by Laura Lai

by Laura Lai/Review

The course Become a More Resilient Leader in Turbulent Times is a 35-minute online course that runs from January 15^th, 2021 to January 15^th, 2023. It is provided by Harvard Business School free of charge.

This course presents the story of the British explorer Ernest Shackleton and that of his 28-member crew during the Endurance expedition to the South Pole. The story is presented by Prof. Nancy Koehn – historian and James E. Robison Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School whose research focus is on exploring the skills of past leaders to better face the current and future turbulent times’ challenges.

The Endurance expedition started in August 1914 when on the continent WWI had just broken out. The stakes for such an expedition were high from a scientific point of view (discoveries and writing history), as well as on a personal basis (honors and recognition) and for the nation (pride and possible territorial claims).

            Despite warnings that icebergs were unusually far north for that time of the year, E. Shackleton decided to continue his expedition. The ship got stuck and in November 1915 it sank. But it is exactly these events that brought to light Shackleton’s leadership skills and his human qualities. For example, while stuck and working side by side with his crew to clean the ship, his mind was processing existential questions such as: ‘How will my men survive? How do I lead them to survival? How do I help them believe they can survive?’

            He succeeded by keeping his crew focused on the positive, by working together and by passing an enjoyable time together – on the ship or on the ice racing with their dogs – and by maintaining his crew’s belief in their mission. After the ship sank, some might have been scared and in order for them not to spread their panic among the entire crew, Shackleton applied an old wise saying: keep your friends close and your enemies even closer – he, actually, kept them in his tent. And he avoided disbelief spreading among the rest of the crew.

This captivating online course presents the expedition story of Ernest Shackleton and his crew in an interactive way – several interesting questions pop up challenging course participants’ leadership skills. The course ends with the beautiful words of Sir Raymond Priestley: ‘For scientific discovery give me Scott; for speed and efficiency of travel give me Amundsen; but when disaster strikes and all hope is gone, get down on your knees and pray for Shackleton.

Enjoy the course!

Germany Criticizes the EU Commission – Vaccine’s Side-Effect?! (I)

by Laura Lai/Comment

 A few days ago, after the acquittal of the former US President, Donald Trump, by the Senate, I was trying to write something – I was thinking. While I was thinking, I almost got shocked by what my eyes were seeing and what my hears were hearing because some politicians from the German government have spoken – they criticized the European Commission, run by the German Ursula van der Leyen, on the European vaccination strategy and border closure to avoid the spread of the mutant virus. The European Union has vaccinated a bit more than three percent, while countries outside the European Union seem to champion the vaccination: Israel (over 60 percent), the United Arab Emirates (over 38 percent), the United Kingdom (over 16 percent), the United States (over 10) and Serbia (over 7 percent). [1]

            The European Commission considered a correct attitude ‘to act in solidarity (…) and help less wealthy or smaller European states to get the vaccine’ first [2] – Sometimes, I surprise myself that I humanly agree with the European Commission. J But how well did the smaller European states actually do? According to the source BBC used, Malta is at 7.2 percent, Denmark – 5.1 percent, Cyprus – 2.9 percent, Austria – 2.5 percent, Luxemburg 2.1 percent, Bulgaria – 0.8 percent. From this list of small countries the only one that is ‘less wealthy’ is Bulgaria. My surprise was short and my disappointment deep to see a ‘small and less wealthy’ country like Bulgaria at 0.8 percent. Even if the Commission would have only referred to Malta, my disappointment is still deep because 7.2 percent is very far from what Israel or the Arab United Emirates have achieved.

After an invitation to solidarity that the Commission understands better than I do, its President, Mrs. von der Leyen, is in the mood for more metaphors – I love metaphors! She said that “[a] country can be a speedboat, the EU is more like a tanker”. If I have to choose between the two metaphors, I think I prefer a speedboat with essence, rather than a stuck tanker without essence facing the COVID hurricane – Which one do you prefer?

            In this European tanker that masters so far the pandemic mainly through the lockdown, a mutant virus is spreading killing more and killing quickly – This situation is becoming a horror movie with a tanker.

            The Austrian region of Tyrol and the Czech Republic (both neighboring countries of Germany) have a high infection rate with the mutant virus. Therefore, Germany decided to close the borders only with these two countries starting on Sunday, February 14^th, just in order to stop or to slow down the spread of the mutant virus. But they did this without informing the European Commission – I hope it is not considered a tragedy by the Commission, especially since it was humanly intended to prevent tragic life loss. And even if it will be considered a tragedy by the European Commission, I hope Germany and the Germans will be forgiven – In the end, it is the Germans who, through their taxes, support the European Commission.

            Mrs. van der Leyen got upset with this decision of Germany and the German Interior Minister, Honst Seehofer, got puzzled and declared:

 “We are fighting the mutated virus on the border with the Czech Republic and Austria. The EU Commission should support us and not put spokes in our wheels with cheap advice.” [3]

Seehofer criticized the Commission for its ‘enough mistakes when ordering vaccines in the last few months’ – an opinion shared also by the German Finance Minister and vice-chancellor, Olaf Scholz, [4] who considers the European vaccine strategy ‘a shit’ and a ‘disgrace’ – most probably in comparison to the efficiency he is used in Germany. [5] (to be continued)

Germany Criticizes the EU Commission – Vaccine’s Side-Effect?! (II)

 

by Laura Lai/ Comment

It seems that the speedboat made in Germany collided with the European tanker. The European Commission will send a letter ‘to advise them against closing borders to stem the spread of coronavirus’. [6]

            It makes sense for the Commission to send a letter – it is what it usually does, it is part of its attributions, and it justifies their income. But it does not make any sense under these circumstances when its vaccination strategy against the SARS-COV-2 virus is at 3-4 percent and the virus is mutating itself into something worse.

            Second, it would have made some sense if this letter would have been accompanied by suggestions for alternative procedures. But it seems that during pandemics, there are not many options besides lockdowns, mask-wearing, and vaccines.

            Third, during pandemic times, a letter from some bureaucrats on … borders is less relevant than the recommendations of a doctor, particularly an epidemiologist. The last thing in the world epidemiologists recommends (during pandemics when we do not yet master vaccination) is free circulation. But I can agree that people who live in one country and work across the border in a neighboring one should be allowed to go to work if they prove to be healthy and they cannot work from home – Indeed, I would surprise myself agreeing with the European Commission if the Commission mentioned this category of people in its letter. No, I have not read the letter because I am afraid that my disappointment about the Commission would get deeper.

            Fourth, speaking of being in ‘solidarity with the small and the less wealthy’ I think we must include the doctors, too – We are all ‘small’ in comparison to the ‘high officials’ in Brussels. And definitely less wealthy! The government of New Zealand had announced at the beginning of this pandemic crisis that it was in solidarity with the society with a concrete 20 percent pay cut for the following six months. [7] This kind of solidarity is easier to understand for me than the European plea for solidarity with the ‘small and less wealthy’ countries that needed to get the vaccine first and we discover Bulgaria on the list with 0.8 percent. I remember doctors were promised by the Commission some financial bonuses that will come from European public money, meaning all citizens’ contributions. And I hope it is not only the government of Germany that receives letters but also the doctors will receive a letter announcing to them that they can pick up the money they were promised, the money they worked for, the money that some of them did not live to get.

            Fifth, many countries closed borders with everybody, not only with a region of Austria and with the neighboring Czech Republic. Israel, for example, closed its borders and was vaccinating its population. New Zealand closed borders with everybody. The European Commission suggests circulating freely when vaccines are scarce?! The free circulation of people and goods is a fundamental principle of the European Union, but at this vaccination rate and with this European vaccination strategy that has had poor results so far, there will be few or no people and goods to circulate after the pandemic. Let us make a beloved imagination exercise for the Commission and imagine the United Kingdom member of the European Union with its rate of new daily cases and with its daily death toll, but with the European vaccination rhythm. What would have been left of the United Kingdom today? – Is the free circulation principle more fundamental than life itself? I do not think so! 

            Enough with constructively criticizing the European Commission! – It will never change. Let us have a quick look at this speedboat clash with the European tanker from the member states’ point of view. The European Commission is purchasing the vaccines for all member states – It is supposed so because it was so decided in 2020. But the states were also given the liberty to strike deals with those suppliers with whom the Commission is not negotiating. [8] And from 27 member states, it is only Hungary that thought to use this privilege?! It was expected given its past experience during the 2015 migration crisis and the European inefficiency. Hungary thought to contact the suppliers of the Russian vaccines, Sputnik V – scientifically proved to have over 90 percent efficiency. Why is it that all the other 26 countries are waiting for the European Commission to do this job? Because it is its assigned task and all citizens pay for it? – Oh, please! The wise men used to say that ‘if you want something done well, you have to do it yourself!’

To sum up, I was surprised by the recent collision between the speedboat made in Germany and the European tanker that is stuck with no essence – metaphorical meaning for ‘vaccine’. J For a second, I thought that it might be a vaccine side-effect, but it can't be with the low vaccination rate in the European Union. Whatever the European reasons to have vaccinated 3-4 percent of the population might be, Israel vaccinated over 60 percent of its population – Therefore, who does not have a Benjamin, to borrow one! J In this collision between the speedboat and the tanker, I was not disappointed by the arguments – they were metaphorical, on both sides. J

I do not believe that doctors all over the world continuously pretend for almost a year that they are busy with an invisible deadly virus spreading, mutating, and killing around and that they somehow enjoy staying in hospitals more than staying home with their families. Many terrible diseases have been eradicated with vaccines and I do not understand where the idea that Bill Gates uses these vaccines to introduce a microchip into our bodies. But if I am wrong, I hope Bill Gates will choose the magical ‘healthy and prosperity microchip' for each of us. J Stay well and stay safe! (the end)

Other sources:

 World Health Organization

Old Films’ Review: ‘The Kid’ (1921)

photo edited by Laura Lai 

by Laura Lai/ Review

Director & Producer – Charlie Chaplin

Main Actors – Edna Purviance (the mother), Jackie Coogan (the kid), Charlie Chaplin (the tramp)

Instead of continuing to review old movies from where I last stopped – meaning, the year 1934 – I preferred to pause and return to the silent movie, The Kid (1921). The reason I find it justified and joyful is the celebration of 100 years since Chaplin’s first directed and produced movie.

The Kid is a captivating comedy about the story of an orphan child, John (Jackie Coogan) abandoned by his helpless mother in a beautiful car in front of a beautiful house. The car got stolen by two villains, with the child inside. Then, the villains abandoned the child – that is the second time he’s abandoned the same day – in a poor neighborhood where he was found and raised by a tramp (Charlie Chaplin). In the meantime, his mother who discovered that the car was stolen never gave up looking for her child. Five years later, following an illness of the child and a doctor consultation, the whole truth about John is discovered.

The story unfolds with lots of funny and captivating scenes – it would be hard for me to choose a favorite one. However, an interesting detail that transcends all scenes of this silent movie is evident: a series of religious symbols.

When the child was abandoned, the movie showed Jesus carrying his cross; when the mother carried her child helplessly, the image of St. Mary with the child was suggested; in the same line of ideas, there was also a quote (‘If he smites you on one cheek, offer him the other one’); and I guess an even more subtle one is when the mother and the child accidentally met without knowing that they were mother and child. This scene is an allusion to the religious quote from John, 19:26 – ‘Woman, here is your son!’ Last, but not least, was the ‘dreamland’ scene. In this scene, the tramp was an angel and so was John. Here, there were love and understanding, and harmony with other neighbor angels until the devil got into his poor paradise and took the child away, and broke the wings of the tramp.

            This scene is visually very beautiful and symbolically very powerful – it concentrates the substance of the entire movie. Indeed, it is one of my favorites. I also loved the scenes in which the tramp appears with the kid because Chaplin’s smile is more generous than ever and his eyes and face are more shining than ever. He must have loved to have such a talented kid as a scene partner!

Edna Purviance and Charlie Chaplin are two actors with a long collaboration – the viewers are familiar with their acting talent. But the kid (Jackie Coogan) was a great surprise: his beauty transcends the simplicity of the black and white screen; his expressiveness in a silent movie is outstanding for a five-year-old child.

            If Charlie Chaplin would have included me in his ‘Dreamland’ scene, I would not be either an angel or a devil, but the president of the Oscar Awards – meaning God himself .J  And I would award this child the Oscar for the best actor. But the reality is no dreamland, I am neither God nor the president of any awards commission and I can award this beautiful and talented kid, the Oscar of my heart for the best actor.

For the story, plot, cast, and the way this movie was directed and produced by Charlie Chaplin, I rate the movie The Kid with 5/5 stars and I wish everybody to … ENJOY THE MOVIE!