Lost Without Longitude. Course Review

 

by Laura Lai/Review 

Here I am interrupting the series of film reviews with a … course review. J I guess it happens when one writes. The thing is that in the process of sharpening my writing techniques for reviews, particularly films – and that is because I did book reviews before when an undergraduate, postgraduate, and Ph.D. student – I came across a course generously provided free of charge by Harvard, and implicitly by its outstanding professors and researchers. 

It is a one-week online course under the coordination of Prof. Alyssa Goodman. I interrupted almost all my thoughts and work to get on board before the course gets archived. The reason I took the decision to enroll in the course PredictionX: Lost Without Longitude is its relevance to a play I am having in mind, which was inspired by a short online course also provided by Harvard: Becomea More Resilient Leader in Turbulent Times (please click here for the course review).

This course is about the art of navigating on the sea, mainly before the era of GPS. The word ‘navigation’ comes from the Latin words ‘navis’ (ship) and ‘agere’ (to drive), meaning ‘navigare’ (to travel in a ship). In general, to navigate means to move from one place to another by a way of an intended course. This implies other concepts, such as position, distance, direction, speed, the margin of error, etc. Therefore, to navigate means to predict when and where someone or something will be at a certain future point.

This course points to the role played by astronomers and clockmakers in accurately assessing this prediction. It is also a course about people who impacted, in a positive way, the long scientific process of getting to an accurate prediction: Eratosthenes of Cyrene, Hipparchus, Nevil Maskeyne, etc.

The course includes also the beautiful story of the clockmaker John Harrison – a simple clockmaker in wood, from Lincolnville village, who in the 1730s traveled to London seeking financement to his ‘sea watch’, and whose reward for his great discovery in settling the longitude was put on hold by Nevil Maskeyne – an outstanding astronomer working on the same longitude issue, but from an astronomical point of view, and who, in the meantime, got to such a social position that he had the power to put on hold Harrison’s discovery based on the argument of replication. I will let you follow the course to discover the way Harrison’s son thought to work things out, and whom exactly he went to see to cancel the order given by Nevil Maskeyne - his father’s competition.

Personally, I do not see any competition between the two. They were two brilliant minds that worked on the same longitude theme, each of them from the point of view of academic and professional competence: Maskeyne as an astronomer, and Harrison as a clockmaker. Although I dislike human shortcomings, I appreciate the great input both brought to the progress of science and the king’s decision.

This course provides concepts, notions, and facts that are fascinating in the ‘pre-writing’ phase when an author is researching its topic. It is scientifically argued that an author usually uses only 30 percent of the research for writing, and 70 percent is left aside. However, the research process before writing gives the author a complete picture of the story it wants to write about. Indeed, there is lots of work behind any piece of writing and only a few authors can live only from book sales – lots of the effort remains non-remunerated. Therefore, it is disappointing when some readers or viewers (depending on the medium) do not consider measuring their words when criticizing. In terms of measurements, the course PredictionX: Lost Without Longitude, suggests nautical miles, fathom, chip logs, etc. J

To sum up, although after the course on Academic and Business Writing, I thought to practice my film reviewing techniques with a series of Alfred Hitchcock movies, I considered it relevant to pause for today, and for this week, and to post another review – a course review, relevant for a piece of writing I am having in mind. I hope to be forgiven. 

I will definitely see you in the next review of Alfred Hitchcock’s movies!

Other links:

Lai, Laura. ‘Shackleton’s Captain – The Famous Antarctic Expedition’. Online Movie. Writing Blog. March 9, 2021. Web. May 30, 2021. https://writingbreaklauralai.blogspot.com/2021/03/film-review-shackletons-captain-famous.html

Old Film (and Book) Review. Hitchcock Series: ‘The Lodger’ (1927)

photo edited by Laura Lai

Laura Lai/Review

Film’s Title: The Lodger

Lead Actors: Daisy (June), the lodger (Ivor Novello), Joe (Malcolm Keen), and the landlady (Marie Ault), the landlady’s husband (Arthur Chesney)

Director: Alfred Hitchcock

Based on the novel The Lodger by Marie Belloc Lowndes (1911)

The Lodger is a silent movie thriller that starts with a murder and keeps the audience in suspense with great turns and twists as created by the master of suspense, A. Hitchcock.

            A serial killer was at large even after having committed the seventh victim – all of them blonde women, which, from a scientific viewpoint, was the work of a psychopath that developed a fixation. The murderer was ‘signing’ his murderous acts with the name of ‘The Avenger’ and an upwards triangle. According to police calculations, the following victim should be from a certain area of lodging houses. In one of these houses, lived a young blonde girl named Daisy (June). To this house, a tall man, with his face half-covered – as ‘The Avenger’ was described by a witness after his last victim – asked for accommodation (Ivor Novello). The lodger was carrying a leather bag, he was wealthy enough to pay the rent in advance, and he was having a map on which it was marked all the places where the murderer made his victims – altogether a triangle-perimeter on the map of London. Following a series of coincidental events, the lodger almost got annihilated by the masses – wrongly annihilated by the masses constantly reading in the Evening Standard about The Avenger’s victims. 

It is in this scene that Alfred Hitchcock is caught on camera, as an actor – a lovely and original idea. Nowadays, I think that Quentin Tarantino sometimes does that, too: being both the director and the actor. But there may be others I am not aware of just as a cinema movie consumer. 

            I remember that during my Drama Writing course in 2019, we got to the topic of book adaptations for screen and/or for the stage. Our drama writing tutor at Oxford asked us about a book that we would adapt, for which medium, and the way we would do that. I answered that I would adapt Romeo and Juliette by W. Shakespeare for several reasons: remembering Shakespeare, for the fun of updating the topic and pacing it in the present, for the challenge of the medium change adaptation (text written for the stage but adapted for the screen), and for the even greater challenge of transforming a tragedy into a comedy. Just that I would call it Roman and Julie, and the way I described how I envisioned my adaptation was just an allusion to Shakespeare's play. The tutor found my creative idea lovely and asked me if I saw the movie Romeo and Juliette directed by Baz Luhrman. I was just about to reply ‘I’ve seen the movie Romeo and Juliette with Leonardo di Caprio’, but I checked on the Internet and I learned that we were referring to the same movie - just to see the difference between the way a professional asks a question about a movie ('by Baz Luhrman') and the way a cinema consumer would answer ('with di Caprio'). J My drama writing tutor, Nicholas McInerny directed a series called The Rainbow Dads and got the Silver Award at the British Community Radio Awards 2020. 

In the movie The Lodger there are particularly three scenes on which I would like to pause, because they made quite an impression on me, from either an artistic or a technical point of view – both stressing Hitchcock’s film genius.

First, from an artistic point of view, to have a lamp as a leitmotif of a movie whose subtitle is A story of London Fog is an absolutely brilliant idea! Brilliant! Second, from a technical point of view,  and related to the idea of searching for a serial killer in a London fog, I want to point to the scene when the camera shoots the back of a police car with two windows through which one could see the driver and the agent sitting next to the driver, both dressed in black. The way the car swings creates the artistic impression of two eyes looking left and right. And that I also found absolutely brilliant as an idea. The third scene I would like to mention is one of the mobs wanting to annihilate the lodger, who was stuck in a fence because of his handcuffs. The moment he is brought down from the fence, with Daisy crying over his wounded and bleeding body was, from my point of view, an allusion to the biblical story of Jesus' crucifixion.

After having read the book The Lodger by Marie Belloc Lowndes I am persuaded by the biblical allusion to this scene because in the book the lodger is described as a gentleman who the moment he arrived in this house seeking accommodation, he also asked for a Bible. He was also quoting from the Bible. I find it fabulous the way Hitchcock transposed on screen this information from the book. However, I think that the use of the Bible in the book and referring to the lodger was intentionally used to raise questions about the true character of this lodger - to be or not to be the serial killer. The reason why I believe so is that there is an old saying that says that the devil can also quote very well from the Bible. Therefore, the fact that this lodger asked for a Bible does not say anything about his innocence because he could be that evil-spirited serial killer having a Bible and even knowing quotes from it. 

            This book that inspired Hitchcock for the screen is structured into twenty-seven chapters. The landlady and her husband are, actually, the Buntings and Daisy is Mr. Bunting’s daughter from a first marriage. Daisy is described as having ‘always lived a simple, quiet life in the little country town…’ while in Hitchcock’s movie, she’s a mannequin having periodically a show – an idea that is more attractive for cinema. However, in adapting the book for the screen, Hitchcock kept many elements from the book, including the description of the lodger (Sleuth, in the book) who was ‘dark, sensitive, hatchet-shaped face’ wearing a black leather bag that was kept closed in a ‘chiffonnier’.

            This book from 1911 uses the French word ‘chiffonnier’ that was used in English at the beginning of the XXth century, and that is no anymore mentioned in the English dictionary. In French, it means a piece of furniture that is relatively high, not too large, and that, usually, has drawers. It is in this kind of piece of furniture that the lodger was having his bag closed both in the book and in the movie. Furthermore, Hitchcock used the idea of a serial killer, ‘the avenger’ signature with the triangle sign as in the book, and the Evening Standard. But contrary to the book, he built a love story between the lodger and Daisy – a love story that only Hitchcock could envision taking shape during a chess game. A very original idea within this movie context! Maybe the most original and the most intriguing was the back story Hitchcock created for the lodger’s character: ‘the avenger’ as being ‘the revenger.’ I will let you discover why I believe so. 

Enjoy the movie!

P.S.: See you in the next review of Hitchcock’s movies!  

  #filmreview, #oldfilmreview, #bookreview, #writing, #Hitchcock, #amblogging                                               

Old Film Review. Hitchcock Series: ‘The Pleasure Garden’ (1925)

photo edited by Laura Lai

by Laura Lai/Review 

Film’s Title: The Pleasure Garden

Lead Actors: Patsy (Virginia Valli), Jill (Carmelita Geraghty), Levet (Miles Mander), Hugh (John  Stewart)

Director: Alfred Hitchcock

Based on the novel The Pleasure Garden by Oliver Sandys

 

The Pleasure Garden is the first movie directed by Alfred Hitchcock. It is a silent movie and, theoretically, a black-and-white one, but this link provides a kind of tinted version of it.

            This movie is the story of a woman and of a man searching for and finding each other. Hugh (John Stewart) was initially the fiancé of Jill (Carmelita Geraghty) – a popular cabaret dancer. Jill’s friend, Patsy (Virginia Valli), rushed into marriage to Levet (Miles Mander) a work colleague of Hugh that she met through Jill and Hugh. Both men were detached by the company to an overseas plantation for a period of two years. It is during this time that Hugh read in the newspaper that Jill would marry somebody else and Patsy – making all the effort to come to this plantation – discovered that Levet was not the man she thought she married.

From an artistic point of view, Hitchcock chose to unfold the plot with both indoor and outdoor scenes – he found great spots to film both the plantation and the honeymoon of Patsy and Levet to Italy, without actually having traveled there. Furthermore, he made an interesting choice of characters when deciding on Virginia Valli and Carmelita Geraghty for the roles of Patsy and Jill, because these two friends look alike, but they have opposite behaviors, mentalities, and, consequently, opposite choices they make for life.

From a technical point of view, the movie is silent but appropriate music (composed and performed by Lee Erwin) accompanies the viewers all along the movie. Hitchcock succeeded in his first movie to catch on camera man's hypocrisy - on the one side, the desire in men’s eyes as spectators to this cabaret and, on the other side, men's arrogance toward women: 

‘Folks, I have a great artist here, who has never been on stage in her life but is sure she can show us how to dance’ – a humiliating line addressed to Patsy who was looking for a job at the cabaret where Jill was working. 

And speaking of lines, there is an original point to be stressed here. The slides with the characters’ lines that are typically for a silent movie were added an originality note by Alfred Hitchcock. Those at the beginning of the movie that introduces the characters, they also introduce the actor performing that role – which is something I have never seen in any other silent movie. 

My favorite scene is from the end of this 1-hour movie when Hugh is ‘brought in’ to save Patsy from the madness of her husband – an original way to bring in an ill man! In terms of characters, my favorite is Cuddle, the dog living with Patsy. For this role of the most intelligent of all characters, Hitchcock chose a lovely and playful stray dog. So playful that it also chewed cables in the last scene - a fun and brilliant choice made by the film director.

Enjoy the movie!

P.S.: See you in the next film review of this Hitchcock series! J

 #filmreview, #oldfilmreview, #writing, #Hitchcock, #amblogging       

Old Film Review: The 39 Steps. Hitchcock’s Film Genius

photo edited by Laura Lai

by Laura Lai/Review 

This film review was my final assignment for the course ‘Academic and Business Writing’ (University of California, Berkeley) provided by edX on its educational platform. It’s with great pleasure that I did my final assignment by watching the movie and reading the book that inspired it. It’s with this course that I deepened my writing technique to review movies. And, now, it’s time to keep on practicing this writing genre. Therefore, with the movie, The 39 Steps starts a series of Alfred Hitchcock’s movies that I’ll review in this Writing Blog. You’re all welcome to read them, comment, and watch the movies! J

Film’s Title:     The 39 Steps (1935)

Lead Actors:     Robert Donat (Richard Hannay) and Madeleine Carroll (Pamela)

Other Actors:  Lucie Mannheim (Annabella Smith), Mr. Memory (Wylie Watson) and Godfred Tearle (Prof. Jordan)

Director:         Alfred Hitchcock

Genre:             Thriller

Based on the novel The Thirty-Nine Steps (1915) by John Buchan

The film The 39 Steps is a fascinating black-and-white spy thriller directed by the film master of suspense and of psychoanalysis Alfred Hitchcock.

            The movie starts showing the main protagonist, Richard Hannay (Robert Donat), participating in an interactive musical where a certain Mr. Memory (Wylie Watson) was entertaining the audience by answering questions from memory. At this event, Hannay met Annabella Smith (Lucie Mannheim) that accompanied him to his apartment and told him that she was a spy who worked to save a state secret; she also mentioned that she was followed by other two agents who wanted her dead. Hannay did not believe a word, but the same night she died stabbed in his apartment – a map in her hand – and Hannay was dragged into this spy story. He succeeded in leaving his apartment disguised as a milkman, leaving for Scotland following the map Annabella Smith had in her hand the moment she died, with the police after him for murder. Here starts the amateur spy adventure of a regular citizen engaged in discovering the state secret and in saving it from being discovered by foreign governments – an adventure that keeps the audience in suspense to the very last scene.

From an artistic viewpoint, this plot is fascinating. It keeps the audience hooked, it engages the audience in Hannay’s adventure, and it takes the audience to different places: in a train, in an inn, among sheep, behind a waterfall, then back to the musical where Hannay met Mr. Memory again and where, this time, he asked him what the thirty-nine steps meant. The dialogue is short, dynamic, and funny at times. The characters are greatly introduced. The music accompanies marvelously Hannay’s spy adventure. 

From a technical viewpoint, I want to stress the film genius of Alfred Hitchcock (1899- 1980) that always attracted and fascinated me.

            Firstly, it is Hitchcock’s original idea to present Hannay’s spy adventures – as inspired by John Buchan’s novel – by focusing on the human senses. It is a brilliant idea that converges with the topic of this film, in which Hannay is an amateur relying mainly on his feelings and on luck.

            For example, at the beginning of the movie, the camera stops on the hand of Annabella Smith holding a map (touch sense). On the train, Hannay read in the newspaper that the police were after him, and the camera stops on his eyes (sight). When he reached the inn, the innkeeper tried to hear what his wife was whispering to Hannay, and the camera stops on the innkeeper listening (hearing). Finally, when Hannay reached the house of Prof. Jordan (Godfrey Tearle) – the murderer of Annabella Smith – there was a party, and Hannay tasted the wine (taste sense), but the camera stops on the right hand of Prof. Jordan where a finger was missing, as described by Smith. And the entire movie 'smells' of an international conspiracy (smell sense).

            Secondly, it is about the scene of the meeting between the protagonist (Hannay) and the antagonist (Prof. Jordan) which is a scene of fine psychoanalysis. Such one scene is often met in Hitchcock’s movies.

            For example, the ‘room scene’ starts with Prof. Jordan closing the door twice with a key. Hannay sits, he is trapped. At the line ‘she’s been murdered by a foreign agent’ they both stand – which makes Hannay as an amateur spy equal to the professional spy, Prof. Jordan. When Hannay saw Prof. Jordan missing a finger, he understood that he was the murderer and he stood thinking to escape. Hitchcock used a third character, to suddenly open the door from the outside calling Prof. Jordan – which stresses Hannay’s adventure relying particularly on his luck. Hannay moves slowly to the door, and makes small steps; he is followed by the murderer. They both pause: they sit. Hannay resumes his plan to get closer to the door. The ‘room scene’ ends in suspense.

In conclusion, the film The 39 Steps is a great spy thriller that engages the audience with suspense and fascinates with the psychoanalysis of the characters’ behavior. Its plot is about the involvement of a regular citizen in a dangerous series of adventures. This film succeeds in conveying the message that all regular citizens should put their country’s interests above their own life through an artistically crafted plot and through a brilliant technique that reconfirms Alfred Hitchcock’s film genius.

            This movie was considered by film critics as the best adaptation of the novel The Thirty-Nine Steps by John Buchan (1915). It is the first of a series of five books in which the main protagonist’s adventures entertained the British soldiers fighting in World War I. Hitchcock’s movie kept lots of elements from the book (plot, setting, the milkman, the candidate speech, etc.), and he also used in the movie the black notebook that appears in the book – a codified conspiracy dairy – that proved to be a lifesaver for Richard Hannay. But he left aside conspiracy details (countries, names, assassination dates, etc.). Additionally, he gave a more artistic and musical nuance to the state secret to be saved.

            This is a great movie that I recommend to all ages, at any time during the day or the night! Enjoy it! 

#cwp2x, #edx, #UCB, #oldfilmreview, #filmreview, #Hitchcock

Academic and Business Writing: The Time after the End of the Course

The Academic & Business Writing Certificate

photo edited by Laura Lai

by Laura Lai/Uncategorized

Dear all,

it’s been two weeks since I finished the course on Academic and Business Writing. The first thing I did was to print my certificate. And the second was to frame it next to the one from Oxford and the one from Harvard. I’ve always loved writing. I’ve always used all opportunities to write. But I’ve never thought that I would actually have the opportunity to do something only for my writing skill. Even if it had occurred to me – which it never did – it would have never ever crossed my mind that I would take classes from specialists in drama writing from Oxford University, in rhetoric from Harvard, and in academic/business writing from Berkeley. To be honest, I’ve never even dreamed of it. What I used to think was that I would finish my doctoral thesis and that I would start teaching something somewhere. That’s all. As simple as that! I’m surprised that my writing skill had the honor and the privilege to be perfection by great specialists from the traditionally best world’s universities. J

Then I entered the household’s Easter preparations: a general cleaning and sorting-out process. It’s traditionally said that people should welcome this holiday – which is my favorite of all – with the houses, the yards and the souls clean (not necessarily in this order!). I consider it a good advice, it also makes sense because Easter is always in spring, and because spring usually comes after … usually long winters when it’s hard to work the yards, for example. And once every corner of the house is in order, we can concentrate on some Easter dishes – a creative and relaxing activity, which doesn’t mean that I’m a great chef that successfully and regularly cooks snake stake garnished with grasshopper antennas. J

The dish rehearsal baked on the cooker 

because the oven proved broken

photo edited by Laura Lai

It’s regular dishes that I can handle. I even tried a dish rehearsal, which usually needs baking, and on this occasion I’ve discovered that the oven broke. It was an old one, anyway. The positive side is that it happened on a Black Friday discounts period. I also tried new tastes: used with the sun flower halva, I’ve said to taste the sesame one… which tastes good… of sesame seeds! J I know that it’s sweet, I know that it’s a bit oily, I know that it might have some calories, and I do care about my line, but I don’t live my life on a scale neither do I weight every piece of food I want to swallow; first, because when you’re 174 centimetres tall the one or two kilos in plus or in minus are less evident… Second, when working more with the head instead of the body, nobody beheads you for the one or two kilos in plus or in minus. J

       But I had time for movies! You bet I did!!! And one of them is ‘Jesus of Nazareth’ (1977) directed by Franco Zeffirelli. This is also one of those movies that I’ve seen several times. And this year again, because this is a masterpiece in every sense. I don’t have words to describe the every sense in which this movie is a masterpiece. The cast plays its roles outstandingly, the setting is perfect, the music is marvelous, and the recreation of the époque (outfit, habits, etc.) is wonderfully conveyed! Even some small roles were difficult to play, but played magnificently such as the role of the young man possessed by the devil. I’m impressed by the way each of the actors played and by Robert Powell (Jesus) who I’ve recently watched in a documentary movie in which he was visiting the places where they filmed the movie. It’s remarkable to have gathered such crowds, to dress and make them up to fit the times, to bring in many animals: lambs, sheep, donkeys, etc. Amazing!

From an artistic point of view, the scene of Lazarus’ resurrection is subtle and mystical: Jesus stays in front of the tomb, the stone was removed, behind him a large crowd, but the camera is behind this crowd at some point so that the viewer sees lots of shadows… and Jesus in front of the tomb. Furthermore, the scene when Mary is announced that she will conceive a son is the scene of the divine message that is differently depicted by film directors, but the way Zeffirelli chose to do it, it’s most probably the way I would do it, too. Mary ‘hears’ with her spirit the divine message of her child conception, and that of her relative who would conceive a son, too, before her, although much older than her. Her mysterious divine message was confirmed by reality and the way the director chose to arrange the sequences is absolutely terrific.

Pausing on some stones, 2021

Now, that things have been sorted-out, house is prepared to celebrate Easter and the few dishes to prepare are settled, I started to review the course. A revision after some time is a positive thing because while I study I don’t know what comes next. But when I get to the last course, I prefer to review it once more to have it all in my mind – the whole structure of it. And this way, the organized information settles better and longer in my mind.

       I loved participating at this course. And I’m thankful to the educational platform, edx, for the financial support to get my certificate and always be able to prove that I did participate to the course. But only I know how much heart I put into it! A certificate never tells, the result sometimes does, though. I’m thrilled that from all types of the academic and business writing genre, I could deepen one: the film review. And I loved to read and to challenge my opinions on different matters reading and replying on our virtual discussion forum.

       I had in mind to enroll to another course offered by Berkeley and taught by Dr. Maggie Sokolik. It’s about the AP English Literature & Composition – Part 3: Plays, but it’s going to be archived at the beginning of May. I checked the outline and I was hoping to be able to cover just the drama part, the first two weeks before the course gets archived… Indeed, I was considering audit enrolling, rather than the verified one.

To sum up, two weeks after the course I was mainly caught in household arrangements mainly to welcome the Easter holidays, and celebrations. I enjoyed the beautiful weather and took long walks to the park. Shall I remind you that I still love drinking a cup of coffee while sitting on the bench and thinking about what to write or the way to improve what I’ve already written? I also had time to watch movies, to write shortly, and to think more about writing. And when the time comes, I will sit and write… Now, it was time to celebrate that I accomplished this course with a precious 97 percent – a wonderful birthday present that I celebrated also during these last two weeks. 

Peace be with all of you! 

P.S. Also during these two weeks it was my name day, and not in the same day with my birthday – another reason to celebrate! J

 

OTHER LINKS:

‘Ben-Hur’: From Silent Movie to Animation & to Sound Movie (I)

https://writingbreaklauralai.blogspot.com/2019/05/ben-hur-from-silent-movie-to-animation_31.html

‘Ben-Hur’: From Silent Movie to Animation & to Sound Movie (II)

https://writingbreaklauralai.blogspot.com/2019/05/ben-hur-from-silent-movie-to-animation_1.html

‘Ben-Hur’: From Silent Movie to Animation & to Sound Movie (III)

https://writingbreaklauralai.blogspot.com/2019/05/ben-hur-from-silent-movie-to-animation.html

#cwp2x #Easter #filmreview #Zeffirelli #BenHur

Academic and Business Writing Course. Last Homework: On Text Revision

photo edited by Laura Lai 

by Laura Lai/ Uncategorized 

This is the last homework. It is the end of the course on Academic and Business Writing. It was great to have practiced both English and writing on given topics. And the writing was practiced on topics that were so diverse! I equally loved all of them – no favorites.

            This course was my third online course. My online study adventure started in 2019 with the course on Drama Writing – a four-month course provided by the University of Oxford. I did not know what to expect from an online course, but I was prepared to study drama and eager to write it. And I enrolled looking for a drama writing road map. I could not compare it to anything I experienced before, as I have always studied in class – not in virtual classes. I found it more difficult online than in class when the teacher can be interrupted at any time to be asked a question or to clarify an issue. But it is not so difficult if the course is well organized and well structured by the instructor.

The online class is about self-discipline, is about motivation, is about making it a high priority for your daily schedule, and is about studying more than meeting peers, having a chat, having a walk, or having a coffee together. I found my road map, I found my confidence, and I found out the greatest advantage of the online course: it is self-paced. I study constantly, organized, daily, and weekly, but once during this course, I had to relocate from one country to another. The online course allowed me to finish the readings for one week before the end of the week, start the readings for the next one when my laptop was on, and pack when it was off. I announced to the tutor that for two days of the week I could not be on the virtual discussion forum (which was highly interactive) as I was changing planes, trains, and buses. The course was self-paced and me being organized on the second day, in the evening, I was already in the virtual class for a few hours, getting back my study rhythm as if I did not even relocate the day before.

            In the process of perfecting my writing skills and in order to practice my English, in 2020 I enrolled in the course Rhetoric: The Art of Persuasive Writing and Public Speaking – provided by Harvard University. Although I knew what online study meant, I was still nervous. I was nervous because I was not 18 years old anymore as I was when I first entered university, I was facing material coming from the best university in the world (for the 2021 world university ranking, click here) and I wanted to assimilate it all. I have learned that my thirst for knowledge is now as it was back then when I was 18. And I laughed when I remembered that then I could only go to the best university in the country and that, now, I am taking a course from the best in the world. The fact that I wanted to learn from the best is the same now as it was when I was 18. Indeed, I also do not have the impression that I changed in comparison to the way I have always been. And April 22^nd is my next birthday – I do not think that I will change, because I am curious to know, I want to understand, because I want to apply what I know and what I understand. If I want to make a difference? Why shall I? I may be the difference itself! J

            The course on Academic and Business Writing – provided by Berkeley, University of California is the third step in my process of improving my writing and practicing English. It is the course I am about to end, and like all courses, I am sorry that it is about to end. I was eager to start learning the course material of another great world university. I would have enrolled anyway, but I was feeling sorry that I would never be able to prove to anybody and in any professional context that I studied it. The day the online platform EdX approved my financial request was a great day. EdX made my day! J

            In Oxford University’s terms, some of us are ‘lifelong learners’ and we never know enough. I will never will. The most recent podcast for ‘curious minds’ is about the long tradition of what we call nowadays ‘online learning.' It started in the 19^th century with ‘tutorial classes’ with writing essays about political and economical issues of those times and it became in the 20th century a 'permanent national necessity’:

 

‘The continuing education of adults was of vital importance to the nation’s welfare and security. Citizens needed the intellectual tools to weigh the evidence and critically reflect on political claims…’ 

It is said that people turn to tutorial classes mainly ‘to change the trajectory of life’. Therefore, it is great that such platforms exist. I look at it as an academic platform of excellence. My experience with it was great and I will return to it every time I need to perfect a skill or acquire new professional ones. 

Until then I need to finish this course. And I have one last homework, on text revision. How do I go about revisions? In this course, I learned different techniques for revisions and editing, but before this course, I was traditionally reading and re-reading the text several times, both in my mind and aloud; I was leaving it aside for shorter or longer periods of time and reading it again. Sometimes I was also recording myself to hear the way it sounds.

            Reading aloud allows one finding a better word, and a better structure for the sentence, it helps hear its rhythm, and it also allows one to work on the punctuation or to edit some typos and/or some grammar mistakes (e.g. subject-verb agreement and plurals). To me, this works great, because I usually think long before I write a play, for example. I research. The topic unfolds first in my mind. I write an outline to point out certain things. Then I sit and write, and I let the story take me on the writing adventure. I cannot write it all at once, but when I resume, I usually do not have to reread what I wrote because I am writing down a story that is already unfolding in my mind and I know where I stopped.

When the first draft is finished I start reading and rereading. I do that on screen and on paper. Sometimes when the paper is too long, and in order not to stay long in front of the computer, I print and correct it on paper. But every corrected typo or every improved sentence structure is usually improved according to the level of English one has. That is the reason why the language must be constantly improved: so that each and every time an author revises its text or edits its grammar and punctuation to do it with a pair of fresh eyes and better skills.

In terms of text revision, there is also the possibility to ask somebody to read your text and make improvement suggestions. Personally, I do not use this method much unless it is in an educational format and the instructor needs to read and give feedback. There are a few reasons why I do not necessarily use this text revision method. First, it is about time availability. In general, people live a busy life and they may be too busy to find the time to read something they enjoy rather than to read others’ writings and give feedback. And if they are so busy, I am not sure they will read attentively, maybe just by obligation and on a diagonal. Second, it also depends on what an author is writing. I focus on a particular type of drama that is not much explored. I do not know the way the audience will react to this type of genre called ‘single-issue-drama’. This type of drama combines perfectly my political science background with my love of writing, particularly dialogues. Why not write in this genre? But reading to an audience like a reading club may be ‘torture’ for the members who love other genres and a significant time investment on my side to explain every step I made to combine the topic with art.

Third, even experienced authors recommend prudence when getting feedback. They usually recommend taking into account only those opinions that matter to you, or people who are involved in your writing process, etc. (for more information, please read the article here or my series of comments on it that I posted on the ‘Writing Blog’ in November and December, 2020). Quentin Tarantino, who is both a film director and a film writer, summarized it into three simple words with a profound meaning ‘defend your art.' 

To summarize, the course Academic and Business Writing is the third online course I take. With the first course, I learned what online learning meant. With the second course, I discovered that although not 18 years old anymore, my thirst for knowledge is as high as then, and that my interest to learn from the best is the same. And with the third course, I learned the importance of constantly improving one’s language skills. By approving my financial request, the online educational platform EdX helped me to be able to prove in any professional context these new skills.

            The last homework for this course requires insights into our ways to revise a text. I traditionally use the reading and re-reading of a text maaaaany times and after shorter or longer periods of time, in my mind and aloud. This allows for finding better words and elementary text editing (e.g. correct punctuation, missed plurals, or subject-verb agreement). 

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Academic and Business Writing: Optional Pop-Up 4. Globalization: Our Friend or Our Foe?

photo edited by Laura Lai

 by Laura Lai/Comment

More than ever, globalization and international travel affect universities and companies. What are the benefits and problems caused by either globalization or internationalization? How has it affected your job, your school, or your home town?

Globalization is a process that refers to the constantly growing interconnection between states so that political, economical, and/or social events taking place in one country may have effects in the most remote areas on the globe (e.g. the global economic crisis, the COVID pandemic, etc.). The relationships between states and their economies are traditionally analyzed under three main paradigms: realism (that is centered on the state, its sovereignty, alliances, and diplomacy), liberalism (for which the state is not the main actor, but just a bureaucracy, the people are perfectible, but mainly in a democracy; it does not reject the concept of state sovereignty, but the balance of power between states is reached through interdependence between them), and the structural paradigm (which is the least influential of all and that focuses on classes rather than on states).

            Globalization is not a new paradigm. It remains a process that in its turn is analyzed from the perspective of the three main paradigms. From my point of view, globalization is not a process, but a step in a process that started long ago. And this can go as far back as the 18^th century when I. Kant wrote on the ‘perpetual peace’ expressing the observation that among democracies war is less possible. Furthermore, in the ‘60s and in the ‘70s there were political and economical scientists that spoke about ‘modernization’ and its different aspects. In this sense, we can come across concepts such as the ‘global village’ that addresses the Internet connectivity of all societies and this may imply the development of a more homogeneous society in which identities, time, and space diminish. Another concept is that of ‘global polity’ that has supporters who promote the idea of a transfer of sovereignty from state to transnational actors. 

As a step in an ongoing process or as the process itself, globalization has its defenders and its opponents. I suppose that measurements and analysis have been undertaken by specialists and those whose measurements resulted in qualitative and quantitative life improvement position themselves on the defenders’ side of globalization. Those whose measurements resulted in the negative impact of globalization position themselves as opponents of it. I have never come across such measurements, I have never read such analysis, and I do not position myself either as a defendant or an opponent of it.

            There are pundits who claim that the improvements were more qualitative than quantitative. Others argue that it destroys the local economy and identity. And there are also voices commenting that it is only about national companies trading globally – which, obviously,  it is true, too. In which concerns universities, most people argue that it affected them in a positive way. And they mainly refer to international travel that facilitated student exchanges, and multiculturalism in a class that has its benefits to learning about different cultures or the learn a point of view on a topic from a person raised and educated in a different culture. I cannot agree more that these are interesting, fascinating, and culturally enriching.

However, I do not see a strong link between international travel and universities, because when it was about education, people motivated by learning traveled from poor regions and countries by horse and carriage to get to cities that had a university (e.g. Berlin, Oxford, Paris, Vienna, etc.). Furthermore, if a university considers the potential of a candidate relevant for its team, it made that person part of its team with or without international travel, with or without globalization. I am doubtful that it is international travel or globalization that made a university competitive or less competitive.

But I think it is possible for globalization to negatively impact universities. It is about universities that are not competitive enough. And one of the main reasons they may not be competitive enough is not the technology that they can purchase at different prices – due to economic competition during globalization – but the staff they employ (letting aside that sometimes it is about nepotism and other forms of corruption). In the www-global era in which we are living, potential students can ‘search’, ‘find’, and ‘apply’ and some get accepted to competitive universities, while the least competitive get closed, meaning that staff gets unemployed. It is supporters of globalization that come with the solution: to make other courses and learn a new job. Competitive universities benefit culturally, academically, and financially from the increasing number of students. Globally speaking, we all benefit from having good and seriously educated people.

In which concerns private companies during globalization, there are many voices stressing the negative impact of them on people. Here, opponents of globalization speak about ‘exploitation’, ‘cheap labor’, ‘child labor’, and even ‘enslavement’ during modern times. Theoretically, it is about the argument that globalization is another phase or a late phase of capitalism in which private companies make the rules and the state is powerless.

            In this sense, I have seen a documentary on jeans manufacturing. It showed that one pair of jeans is sold for $100 dollars in the Western world and women working for them in Asian countries are paid $20 a month. I still have in my mind the image of one of the women, her disappointment, her tears that this money is not enough to live with. And she was showing the way she lived. Basically, a private company selling a certain good looks for cheap labor anywhere in the world to manufacture that product as cheaply as possible and sell it afterward as expensive as possible to maximize its profit.

            I understand that profit is essential for a business. The way it is made is debatable. I am doubtful that globalization is responsible because globalization – as a process – only allows private owners (with more or less human values) to search for cheap labor. To my mind, the state is more responsible for the situation than an abstract term called ‘globalization’. And I disagree that the state and the national governments are powerless in front of such private owners running only after profit and to whom the individual has no other value but to trade their skills for as little money as possible. But national governments are made of people. A significant ‘financial attention’ from a private company to government officials and the government will not regulate ‘exploitation’ or ‘child labor’.

            The recent trade agreement between the United States-Canada and Mexico (USMCA replacing NAFTA) signed into law by former US President Donald Trump stresses that in terms of car manufacturing, 75 percent of its parts must be done in these three countries with workers paid at least $16 an hour. Such a governmental agreement is beneficial, particularly for Mexican workers. It will be translated into the car's price but it is the evidence that it is not globalization that is stronger than states and governments. 

To summarize, globalization is not a new paradigm in which we are living. It is a process that refers to the constantly increasing political, economical, and/or social interconnection among people and states. To me, it is more like a phase in a process that started in the 18^th century and that was retaken in the ‘60s and the ‘70s. There are different opinions on globalization, some claiming its benefits and others claiming its negative consequences.

            In which concerns universities, the interconnection among people allows students to choose competitive universities and those less competitive get closed. I do not support the argument that international traffic favored universities, because people motivated by education use horse and carriage to get to universities in different countries. I also do not support the argument that globalization made some universities more competitive than others, but the staff it has and the orthodox way it was selected and employed. This process may have started long before the www-global times we are living.

In which concerns private companies, they are all interested in making a profit, and some of them make this profit by paying their remote employees so little that they themselves cannot live with that money. That is the reason why people speak of globalization as being about ‘modern enslavement.' My argument is that it is not about an abstract concept like ‘globalization’ that does that but concrete private owners, who do not value the life of people, but only the skills they have that they try to acquire at the lowest price possible to maximize profit. The argument that globalization is strong and state/national government is weak is not sustainable to me. The recent regional trade agreement between US, Canada, and Mexico that former US President Trump signed into law stresses that 75 percent of cars’ components, for example, to be manufactured in these three states by workers paid at least $16 an hour. Through such an initiative that is signed into law, these three governments proved stronger than some possible private owners using globalization to maximize their profits.

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