Writing Across Cultures

Before you graduate, please make sure all your work in turned in. All written projects and assignments are due by the end of the day. Good luck to all of you during finals and into graduation. Have a great summer! It's been a pleasure. I came across this video the other day and since we discussed the generation gap in class, thought it might be a good ending to the class: Millennials in the Workplace .

Located at the southern tip of Africa's great continent, South Africa, originally a Dutch colony (an important harbor--the Cape of Good Hope, later Cape Town). Later the discovery of diamonds ultimately lead to the Boer wars (as the Dutch, French, English, German, etc. battled over control of the area). White minority privilege caused strife as only about 4.5% of the rich, white ruling class had control of government policy. This lead to Apartheid (see below) which you have probably studied in Global. Here is some brief information about South Africa: South Africa Government Site and key issues the government is dealing with (a good place to look for ideas for conflict!) South African History: The Apartheid South African writers: Lionel Abrahams Peter Abrahams Nadine Gordimer Music of South Africa South African Arts Cinema of South Africa

China Tour (video) Information about China This is China (promotional documentary) Government The Ka-Cing Dynasty (Documentary) CrossTalk: China's Century (economics documentary) Religion Confucianism (The Analects) Literature The Misty Poets ( Bei Dao ) Chinese American poet: Li-Young Lee ( "Eating Alone" ) Contemporary Chinese Poets Film: Sixth Generation Jackie Chan Jackie Chan from Mulan Theatre: Cao Yu (play Thunderstorm , adapted into the film Curse of the Golden Flower ) Music: Harlem Yu Chinese Hip-Hop: Yin T'sang Don't Worry (hip hop video) Big Bird in China & Rubber Ducky Chinese food in America versus Chinese food in China

After our quiz, let's chat about Japan. Japanese News Traditional Japanese "Noh" Theater Hiroshi Kawasaki (poet) Japanese Pop Music Sumo: cultural pastime Japanese literature and history is divided into various periods (based largely on who was controlling the country): Nara Period (710-794 A.D. or C.E.) Japanese literature traces its beginnings from an oral tradition that later used a writing system introduced from China. Most of this literature from the eighth century was created as governmental projects. The Kojiki ( Record of Ancient Matters ) and Nihon shoki (Chronicle of Japan) are really an anthology of myths, legends, stories, and history (much like the Western Bible, but without the religious significance). The most brilliant literary product of this period was the Man'yoshu (Collection of Ten Thousand Leaves), an anthology of 4,500 poems written by a variety of people ranging from peasants and commoners to emperors and nobility (c...

Okay. So some of you have been bugging me about commas. While you should have learned this by now (or looked it up) sometimes it takes a little more practice. So: Commas are used to separate a series of words or phrases. In writing (as in comedy) we usually adhere to the rule of three. Three objects or examples are separated by commas and a conjunction. You may use more in a series, but three is usually the best number: Birds, bees, and trees.  Actors, dancers, and creative writing majors.  She danced a jig, made a macaroni necklace, and ran a marathon all in one day! Commas are used for coordinating adjectives . If you use two adjectives to describe a noun (and if a conjunction fits nicely between the words), you use a comma between them: He was a tired, weary man. (He was a tired AND weary man.) She was a nice, courteous teacher. (She was a nice AND courteous teacher.) Use a comma to join two or more independent clauses (sentences that can stand on their own ...