{"id":458,"date":"2015-01-06T13:39:50","date_gmt":"2015-01-06T13:39:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/macbob.org\/?p=458"},"modified":"2022-10-21T20:53:41","modified_gmt":"2022-10-22T03:53:41","slug":"happy-2015","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/macbob.org\/?p=458","title":{"rendered":"Happy 2015"},"content":{"rendered":"

Happy New Year!<\/h3>\n
\"Teacher's<\/a>So here’s our faculty meeting that took place this week at the new campus site, far away from everything else in the world.<\/div>\n
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Just kidding. Actually, we all jetted out to the Columbia River near Portland for our meeting. That’s Washington in the background.<\/div>\n
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The new campus site will be almost as disruptive as a commute to the Columbia would be, though. It’s painful to listen to all the problems that it will cause in just our small group, let alone the hundreds of other faculty and thousands of \u00a0students involved in this\u00a0 exile\u00a0<\/del>\u00a0exodus.<\/div>\n
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It would seem that, despite its reputation otherwise, this country attaches little regard\u00a0to education as a system. Of course, teachers here are no richer than their American peers, but moreover, as soon as the real estate values go up, universities are moved out to the wastelands, regardless of any\u00a0impact on education, or education’s enrichment of the cities. This is not only true in Tianjin, but in most Chinese cities. Universities become outliers\u00a0in far-flung satellite groups, disconnected\u00a0from city centers, isolated for greater control, while rich real estate investors make a killing by developing\u00a0the evacuated\u00a0land.<\/div>\n
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Still, it wouldn’t be so bad if it hadn’t been\u00a0handled with such utter disregard for\u00a0the people affected. For example, we had long been promised public transportation for when the school opened. No ground has yet been broken for that. There’s no housing adjacent to the university. The closest housing developments lie\u00a08 kilometers away (that’s about 5 miles). It’s a pleasant half-hour bike ride in the spring and fall, but summer and winter will tell\u00a0another story. \u00a0It probably means that\u00a0more cars will be purchased by people who really can’t afford them. \u00a0Unhindered by city traffic, they’ll spout even more hydrocarbons into the air.<\/div>\n
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There are also no elementary or high schools for staff families. There are no nearby businesses, at least not yet. And there are no places, other than dormitories, to stay the night on campus.<\/div>\n
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So the comparison to the wild lands around the Columbia River is not far from the mark.<\/div>\n
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Oh, and nobody will actually know for sure until February or March who will stay and who will go. \u00a0I keep thinking that if this university, the oldest in China, the foundational institution, is being tossed about like this, then\u00a0what must other schools have to put up with?<\/div>\n

Business and Education<\/h3>\n
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On the other hand, a university education here is affordable even for farmers from the countryside. Nobody talks about turning the educational process itself into a profit center, like they do in the USA, \u00a0saddling students with debts unimaginable compared to when I attended university, not to mention the dismantling and privatizing of public education in general. No, they just talk about taking the land. \u00a0So I guess it could be worse.<\/div>\n
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Actually,\u00a0just under\u00a0two-thirds of the campus will be moving, including all the undergraduates. Those who remain should find the campus pretty roomy, at least until more\u00a0businesses move in.<\/div>\n
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Actually, the connection between business and higher education is much more explicit here than it is in America. Take, for\u00a0example, a shiny new building called the “1895 Building” (named after the year this university was founded) which was erected in a single year across the street from the main campus.<\/div>\n
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\"1895<\/a>I took this picture of it last\u00a0March. It’s the building painted the color of gold bullion.<\/div>\n
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Except for some street-level shops, it houses an architectural firm attached to the university . I am told that this company\u00a0ranks about the same as\u00a0a normal university department\u00a0in the governing hierarchy, and that it functions within the university just like any other department.<\/div>\n
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\"OLYMPUS<\/a>This picture shows a view from the 1895 building. \u00a0Tianjin University lies in the foreground.<\/div>\n
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The same grad students that study in the regular architecture department on campus also contribute their labor to this firm. \u00a0They do earn a small amount of pay. Oh, did I mention that the architecture grad program is not moving next year? In fact, they’ll be expanding into an otherwise abandoned building on campus.<\/div>\n
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Actually, there’s a lot to be said for business-educational partnerships. \u00a0 It would seem, though, that there’s little use for education other than to gain\u00a0skills to help companies make profits.<\/div>\n

The Marvelous Weather<\/h3>\n
\u00a0It’s been cold, though apparently not as cold as Colorado or Iowa. \u00a0Temperatures dip far below freezing every evening and morning, though.<\/div>\n
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\"Skaters\"<\/a>The upside to the frozen ponds is the skating. A huge expanse\u00a0beneath the lofty\u00a0\u00a0Tianjin Television Tower is devoted to skating every year. I took this shot a few\u00a0days ago at dusk. \u00a0The main skating area is actually in the distance. The shiny roped-off circular area closer to the camera is most likely too thin yet to be safe (?)<\/div>\n
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\"OLYMPUS<\/a><\/div>\n
People here don’t simply skate. They also drive a large variety of sleds and sled-like vehicles. These can be seen by enlarging the picture above. Actually, here is another shot that shows some of them a bit closer up.<\/div>\n

Merry Christmas<\/h3>\n
\u00a0One of my biggest privileges here has been some\u00a0\u00a0friendships with a small group of journalists. I’ve written about them from time to time over the years, and also traded pictures with them on occasion.<\/div>\n
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\"Christmas<\/a>In fact, the picture at right, which portrays students celebrating Christmas at the nearby Gloria Jean’s Coffee , actually got published in a local paper, as part of a conglomeration of Christmas shots. Unfortunately, the design overlapped the pivotal\u00a0figure, the girl tied to \u00a0her computer, lost in cyberspace. \u00a0Can you see her? This obliviousness to actual space is\u00a0perhaps typical of our modern life everywhere.<\/div>\n
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I always contrast this connected-yet-isolated condition\u00a0with my many trips to Europe back in the old days, when nobody could get in touch with me for months at a time. What a different world. \u00a0Everyone I interacted with on those trips actually interacted with me.<\/div>\n
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\"Christmas<\/a>Anyway, these parties, like all annual feasts here, always feature the same activities — lots of games where guests can embarrass themselves singing or performing silly stunts, and some planned performances, such as magicians.<\/div>\n
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Yeah, this year I attended two local Christmas celebrations, and they both featured magicians. \u00a0Maybe it’s finally time for me to bring my “dove pan” and “linking rings” from home. \u00a0Anyway, the prestidigitator in the picture at left was pretty handy with card tricks and needle swallowing.<\/div>\n

Professional Pictures<\/h3>\n
One of my journalist friends shared some pictures with me recently. I wrote her some feedback, some response to them. \u00a0I deliberately didn’t ask what the subjects were, though I’ve since discovered that the first picture comes from a “veteran’s home.”<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
But hey, this is a post modern world, isn’t it? Art stands on its own. Once it’s out there, the interpretation is up to the beholder, right?<\/div>\n
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Anyway, I thought that people on this list might also enjoy these shots. \u00a0It’s an opportunity to see this country through its own eyes. And if we don’t know the exact circumstances for each shot, maybe that’s better. Believe me, if you ever come to live here off the beaten tourist path, you’ll discover that discerning\u00a0the true conditions of things is rarely easy.<\/div>\n
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Anyway, these are my original reactions. If you have any, I’d love to hear them.<\/div>\n
\u00a0==========================<\/div>\n
\"Veterans<\/a>The first picture with the middle-aged men strikes me as very lonely and impersonal.\u00a0 The men are all dressed alike (the green jacket makes this even more clear) and they emerge from identical doors. Yet they are no group. Their circumstances push them together.<\/div>\n
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The surfaces of the building are clean, but hard and merciless. The men’s faces seem interchangeable. \u00a0They are not so hard. The unsmiling wear of a graceless existence impacts their appearance. None smile. \u00a0They should be presiding “in family” over the younger generations, their functional apparel exchanged for clothes of honor. Instead, they find themselves\u00a0cut off and penned up. They don’t appear to be sick, but perhaps some other malady has pricked society into warehousing them this way.<\/div>\n
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\"03\"<\/a>The baseball players, seen\u00a0from that angle, tower like superheroes.\u00a0 They are dirtied by the mud of good honest effort. The intensity in their faces contrasts with their older peers in the picture above. These young men are strong and confident. The \u00a0crowd together in a huddle, as a team, intent and purposed. Overconfidence stains the two at left. They lounge with hands on \u00a0hips, their success guaranteed by merely showing up.<\/div>\n
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Their uniforms, elaborate and colorful, unite them as a team — the Tianjin Lions. I would be tempted to Photoshop a blue sky with racing clouds above their heads.<\/div>\n
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\"53\"<\/a>The young graduate clutches his hopes, now fulfilled. As inscribed\u00a0on the stone, “dreams become reality.” The wind stirs his gown. It is a spirit that will lift him and his stone into a successful life. His smiling face tilts to one side, pressed against the rock like a young boy clinging to his mother. He is carefree. Decorum floats away into the air. The young man on the right, meanwhile, readies his cap, as if planning to fly off next. Or perhaps he’s just gripping it against\u00a0the wind which streams into him from his highly-placed comrade.<\/div>\n
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\"BB5G3614\"<\/a>Our mutual friend Du Hai in his days of longer, more tousled, hair, happily flashes a victory sign. He has just bagged a photo, or perhaps is about to bag it. His right hand cradles his weapon. The day is bright, with firm shadows. His quarry rests\u00a0peacefully, quietly snacking. Does he snack on food, or on the latest news? \u00a0Deerlike, a brown sweater his coat of fur, he sits out of focus. He is but sustenance for the black-clad panther standing behind him, so close, so happy, so unannounced.<\/div>\n
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A women walks a bicycle respectfully through a temple. What sort of temple is it? The miraculously straight lines of demarcation enclose a lofty space above the fans, above the chandeliers. The space’s white pureness soars in contrast to the muddy browns of the world below.<\/div>\n
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\"BB5G3642\"<\/a>The columns, like dim and standing arrows, transform into whiteness as they hurl into that higher plane. They point the way. Will\u00a0the woman strive to leave the world of the bicycle for the ecstatic, yet spare, realm above?\u00a0 Will she have to stage herself on the hard green seats, harmoniously\u00a0bound to the stern, enclosing,\u00a0angular walls? In the distance, a humbler figure ventures to enter. He’s escaping that same outer confusion, an indistinct world without guideposts.. It’s bright, but without form. Will he succeed where she may not?<\/div>\n
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\"DSC_5086\"<\/a>The cat stares directly towards the viewer. His tongue hangs out. Is he thirsty? No, his coat seems tousled, as if he had just emerged from a soaking. Is he just happy to have escaped all his problems? It’s not always easy to perceive the thoughts of a cat.\u00a0This cat himself is hard to perceive. His body stretches\u00a0out of focus, but his face is sharp, emphasizing his gaze. (nice use of shallow depth of field)<\/i>. He stands amidst a formed, yet formless backdrop, a sheet that conceals\u00a0the real world.\u00a0 So much mystery here. Like the Cheshire Cat, only his eyes and his smile remain.<\/div>\n
\"NG2R0256\"<\/a>A queen sits proudly on a throne, her hair piled high like a crown. She gazes down her nose, away from her high-flying subjects, who merit not a glance. They stand at attention within the flying arch. Starched and stiff, they wait on cords. And they wait. She won’t let them clutter her perfect thoughts. She prefers the light. At first glance, all seems disheveled. True symmetry emerges only gradually. And light enters the passageway, which no longer seems as insulated as it first appeared. And still, the stuffed shirts wait.<\/div>\n
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\"NG2R8837\"<\/a>Two figures huddle behind a veil of redness, reduced to shadows.\u00a0 Their hands seem to touch. Perhaps they are paying each other. Perhaps they are taking things.\u00a0 Perhaps they are playing at cards.\u00a0 Perhaps their game will capture winnings for one of them. Perhaps one is a client, and one provides service. One smokes, addicted to nicotine. A bright, hidden light bears down on them.\u00a0 An empty chair stands ready for the next actor in this shadow puppet drama. Additional curtains cover the side walls. What lies behind them?<\/div>\n
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\"NG2R8926\"<\/a>The people in front\u00a0don’t count. They have already rejected what she has to offer. She gazes off in expectation of others to come. Her child, of course, does count. He accepts what she can offer. Such a variety of goods, yet no one willing to\u00a0buy. Feeding two mouths, she appears not careworn. \u00a0A tenuous existence, but they seem strong. They seem healthy. \u00a0Does she have everything she needs?<\/div>\n
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And how do they get all that stuff to their spot on the sidewalk? All those boxes, too many to carry very far. Who helps her?<\/div>\n

==================================<\/h3>\n
\"Administration<\/a>I hope that you enjoyed these photos as much as I did. \u00a0 I leave you with one last winter shot – the Administration building of our school, taken three\u00a0\u00a0weeks ago when it snowed. (It has not snowed since then).<\/div>\n
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Happy New Year! So here’s our faculty meeting that took place this week at the new campus site, far away from everything else in the world. Just kidding. Actually, we all jetted out to the Columbia River near Portland for our meeting. That’s Washington in the background. The new campus site will be almost as … Continue reading Happy 2015<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/macbob.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/458"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/macbob.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/macbob.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/macbob.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/macbob.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=458"}],"version-history":[{"count":15,"href":"http:\/\/macbob.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/458\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3708,"href":"http:\/\/macbob.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/458\/revisions\/3708"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/macbob.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=458"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/macbob.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=458"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/macbob.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=458"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}