Dating Tips

by Crystal Yao

GIRLS
Girls do realize that the devil of charm is in the detail. In order to give a great first impression, we do allow some time for makeup and outfits.
 
BOYS
Boys, on the contrary, tend to focus on "what to do" instead of "how I look." Hence they make a lot of efforts practicing on things to say or to do, in order to have a second date.

DATE 
 If winter comes can spring be far behind?

  Oops! It's springtime already! A season of love and a time for dating. Creatures are in pairs and humans are in search for their better-halves. Have you found your Princess or Prince Charming? If you haven't made your move, you might want to try some of the dating tips listed below:

TIPS

1. First impressions are always important!!

2. Make plans for somewhere you will feel comfortable.

3. Don't do all the talking.

4. Avoid the "ex’ conversation."

5. Have some sense of humor (like Alvin.)

6. Don’t smoke.

7. Don’t be stingy.

TO SCARE YOUR DATE AWAY

Girls! A makeup you think is perfect may be a disaster in your date mate's view.   

If you don’t want your date to leave, please don't…
1. Be late. (Who would want to date a person that is late
        all the time)
2. Talk on the phone all the time. (Seriously!? I’m in front
        of you!)
3. Keep checking your Facebook or Instagram. (What the
         …)
4. Look or smell dirty. (Ewe…Go away.)

Yvette’s Selected Pearls -- From Jocasta to Oedipus

source: pixabay (CC0 public domain)

英一甲 林于竣

     If you are reading this letter that means I have already received the punishment that I deserve. Oedipus, you are known as my husband, but in fact, the infant that I gave birth to several years ago. The infant with the prophecy that would kill his own father and marry his mother. I believe the plague upon our kingdom is a punishment from the gods because of our unforgivable behavior, incest and unfilialness. I can no longer bear with this accusation in my life. Now that I have left for another world, marry someone legitimate, rule the kingdom with kindness and justice. May the God forgive us.

 

英一甲 劉松穎

 Dear Oedipus,

I understand that we can’t avoid the destiny settled by Gods.
We can be together no matter the gender or ages. However, you are my son! That is totally different. I even had babies with you. I really can’t stand how shameful it was. Your father and I tried to avoid the fate, but it seems that there’s no way. Oh! My dear son! Please forgive me for making this decision.  Whenever I thought about the shame I felt gross and disgusted, so please let me go. I guess this is farewell, my son.

Your mother, Jocasta

圖傳二甲 秦川

To Oedipus:

    My son, Oedipus, on the day you were born the very oracle at Delphi from the great Apollo had predicted your destiny already.  We mortals naively think that we can conquer our fate or fear, which only leads to our being trapped into the fear as well as the pain much further.  Only at the end of my pathetic life do I realize that, how weak and how lonely we humans are on this planet.

    I want to apologize to you, and your tragically murdered father.
    Oedipus, my beloved son, the unfortunate consequence of me and your father King Laius, abandoned in your infancy, I beg your forgiveness with infinite regret from the bottom of my heart.  It is the fate that pushes you back to me and makes us intimate again.  But today, I cannot accept the reality, more like a lie to some extent even though it combines us together so tightly again.

    And dear Laius, my husband, our fear to the death was so great that even misled us to leave our own flesh and blood in the forest mercilessly, however, brought termination to ourselves.  Alas!  Our narrow souls which were blinded by the unknown are finally punished.  The consequence we shall suffer, and ironically it is how the fate rules us all.

    And I deeply apologize to my four other children also.  You will lose your mother, grandmother as well, at such a young age. Hope you four will earn a bright future and can grow up strongly with honor, glory and blessing rather than the dreadful curse on you.  All your mournful mother can do now is gives you her best wishes.

    My soul is tortured, suffering.  And it is the only way for me to release the misery by ending my shameful, humble life with my own hands.  So, please don’t blame yourself, my son, for you know the only fault is mine.  Meanwhile I will face the result caused by my fault directly and peacefully.  My life comes to an end, and at last, as a parent and wife I beg you to take care of yourselves in the following days or years.

Endless sorrow,
Jocasta

Does the “Drug War” Serve Its Purpose?

source: pixabay (CC0 public domain)

"War is not the answer, because only love can conquer hate."

                                                                      -- Marvin Gaye

by Penny Lai

     With the thriving of mass media, it is easy and common for people to receive the information or images of drugs. It is more than often that they are shown in a way of negative, sinful, and crimeful kind of images. And the concept of fighting the drug cartels, arresting drug abusers, and cleaning off every last bit of the drugs on this world can bring happiness and peace to this world seems to be what people have in mind. The “war on drug” has gone off for decades in America, but the rate of drug abuse and transaction has no significant decrease. In the meanwhile, main stream media and mass culture are using and creating drug-consuming images as if it were acceptable. So perhaps there are better approaches to control the problem that has last more than a hundred years, and make the world a better place.

      In 1970’s, Nixon first used the phrase, “drug war” due to the fear of high percentage of heroin usage by the American soldiers during the Vietnam War, and the rising smuggling rate of the marijuana from the Mexico border. Thus, from the very beginning, marijuana was made for the target of the drug war. However, marijuana has lower addiction tendency than most of the common drugs, even lower than nicotine and alcohol. And unlike other synthetic drugs which might hurt major organs or brains, marijuana mostly affects the lungs if it is being used with tobacco by smoking. However, the knowledge most people have on marijuana is mostly wrong or incomplete, and still, nothing can stop them from judging and arguing with others base on their misconception. Moreover, marijuana has been proved with positive medical use such as a natural painkiller, tranquilizer, and a cancer blocker. There are still a lot of possibilities on marijuana which have yet to be discovered, because the laws and regulations can slow down the research process. Of course, anything can be bad once used incorrectly or excessively. Perhaps some drugs can serve very positive purpose if people open their minds and do comprehensive researches, they can benefit the society with some pleasant results. It is only wise to understand the nature of drugs, the definition and standard of addiction before the government and people set the targets and fire the guns.

     In Nixon’s speech on war on drugs, he declared drug abusers as “the public enemy number one”. The original message emphasized on "prevention of new addicts, and the rehabilitation of those who are addicted", but it did not get as much as attentions as the term “war on drugs.” This message unknowingly enhanced the hatred and conflicts toward drug abusers. However, are the segregation and condemnation from society what the drug addicts really need? There is a number of researches show that the feeling of loneliness or isolation from society can easily lead people into substance addiction. And after people become drug or alcohol abusers, not only do they have to fight against the physical addiction, but also have to bear with a tremendous sense of solitude, since they are not accepted by society. The lack of care and support can make addiction harder to overcome. People often think that drug abusers are morally flawed people who needed to be locked up behind the bars. However, perhaps they just need some medical care and emotional supports in their lives. They are merely people who made a wrong decision on drugs rather than on positive recourses.

     Is it an effective way to solve the problems by catching all the drug abusers and put them in to jails? There are several cases from countries which tried an unusual method with some successful outcome. Portugal, as a model example, in 2001, decriminalized all drugs. The authorities will not arrest in people who hold illicit drugs under 10 days of supply. Instead, they inform them of related regulations to abide by, which the offenders will have to attend “discussion panels.” They provided drug abusers with help, such as prescribed treatments and therapies. The result over the years is more than satisfactory, not only the abuse rate dropped significantly, but the rates of HIV infection and drug overdose had reduced greatly. Because in a society where the drug users are less targeted for and stigmatized, the higher chances are there for them to get out to seek help and care. 

     When people and politicians talk about drugs, it is always considered sensitive and seems bias. However, the rule of disciplining teenagers applies to this issue perfectly: the more you ban something to them, the more interesting it seems to them. People should not judge before acknowledging what they need to know, it goes the same for the governments. Do not walk the same path of the Prohibition in 1920s, which ended up benefiting no one but the illegal organizations. This world does not need more hatred and misunderstanding. People should find the most suitable way as the solutions instead of the ones that seem most effective, but no more than dusting it under the carpet.

Upon Graduation: Voices of Youth

copyright: Eng. Dept., SHU

 by Lydia Weng

     With the coming of the graduation season comes our annual theatrical performance to feast the eyes. Yes, the English Dept.’s play of the year. This year, seniors started from the group up by writing their own play—Voices of Youth.

     The story begins from a new semester at college where a transferred student swooped in to inspire a new attitude to celebrate their graduation and a new way to stage a performance. Chloe, the transferred student, a hard-working and all-A student, is secretly nicknamed the “Creepy Nerd” by her classmates. What’s more, her relationship with one of her classmates, Michelle, triggers people’s curiosity. People often guess and gossip about it, without knowing their relationship would be thought-provoking and lead us to think about our life journeys.

     Other characters also play out our different phases in life. Characters like William and Captain Red remind us of our dreams when they share with the audience their pursuit of basketball stardom from college to the league; characters like Chatty Alice, Eve, and Minnie, reflect on how we bear ourselves when we tend to gossip about people at a certain time; characters like Gunther and Nevaeh brings back our memory when people around us are secretly in love and how we rooted for them when we found out.

     From rehearsal to audition, from audition to staging, this play has moved a lot of hearts and most certainly left few dry eyes in the audience. What we saw in the performance was characters we could relate ourselves to and slices of memory that seemed our own. If you by any chance missed its two theatrical performances, you can only wait till its DVD comes out. But, for the head-on impacts from stage and the tears of joy off stage, you can only leave them for your imagination to go to work.

A Comfort Revolution Starts Now: The Menstrual Cup

source: zh.wikipedia.org

by Chelsea Huang

     The Moon Cup (Taiwan's cute code name for the menstrual cup, like Me Luna in Germany) is finally here! Announced on March 16th by the Food and Drugs Administration of Taiwan, the “Moon Cup”, classified as a second-grade medical device, has been approved and soon to be available online and in stores.

     The re-usable menstrual cup is a small flexible cup made of flexible medical grade silicone. You simply place the device inside you while you are on the period. The cup collects the blood and needs to be changed every 8 hours. The menstrual cup has been around in the West for some time, known for its eco-friendly and low-cost advantages, as it is re-usable. Unlike other menstrual products on the market that have can only be used once, the Moon Cup can end your monthly expense on pads and tampons. 

     With this “revolutionary” product finally reaching Taiwan, it is still unknown as to how it would be received by the Taiwanese market. One problem that the Moon Cup might face when it attempts to claim its market share in Taiwan is how to make the women in Taiwan become comfortable into accepting it. As the Moon Cup shares the same invasive quality with the menstrual products tampons, which is still not widely accepted by the Taiwanese market due to that specific reason. However, this is still considered a milestone for Taiwan as the menstrual products on the market only offer us a limited selection. With Moon cup coming on the market, there will be more choices opening up for the ladies in Taiwan.

Climate Change: Trump V.S. Paris Agreement

source: pixabay (CC0 public domain)

by Nicky Tu
May 28th, 2017

     As Trump wraps up his first overseas trip as the president of the USA, besides the awkward handshakes and shoving of NATO leader, the most evident reason for animosity from foreign leaders would be Trump being the only leader amongst the G7 summit who refuse to promise to abide by the Paris Climate Change Agreement to reduce greenhouse gas emission. Though this outcome does not really come as a surprise, given Trump’s notorious track record in his disbelief of climate change throughout his campaign, it is still worth the discussion as the repercussion of a potential withdrawal from climate deal could have a massive ripple effect that affects not only USA, but the international scene of environmental protection effort. Given the grave outlook of this presidential decision, the following discussion would focus on analyzing the importance of the Paris Agreement, Trump’s ability to interfere with the agreement, and the future outlook should Trump really pulls out from this international accord.

     Paris Agreement, which was negotiated at the annual United Nations Climate Change Conferences late 2015 and came into effect by late 2016, is recognized as a monumental step for addressing climate change and setting a path for the coming decade in reducing greenhouse gas emission. What separates the COP21 from previous Climate Change “Conference of the Parties” (COP) since the mid-90s, is that 195 countries (almost every country in the world, including USA who avoided the 1997 Kyoto Protocol altogether) has come to a consensus to tackle climate change together. Furthermore, unlike previous COPs which countries just come together to list their shortcomings, Paris’ COP21 allows each country to set its own goals for limiting or slowing carbon emissions, fighting deforestation, maintaining transparency on climate issues, and identifying the adverse effects of climate change. Every country submitted a set of goals, called Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDCs), striving to keep the Earth from reaching the 2°C increase in global temperature. USA’s INDC in particular is to reduce carbon emissions by 26% from the levels measured in 2005. In short, COP21 guarantees each nation has its own reachable goals, and is the first time that almost 200 countries recognise publicly that lowering carbon emissions to curb climate change is important.

     Donald Trump, on the other hand, has claimed on several occasions that climate change is a hoax created by China, is now the leader of USA, a country with the second highest carbon emission in the world. During his election campaign, he has promised to cancel or renegotiate the Paris Agreement, so it does not come as much of a surprise for him to not promise to abide to the agreement during the G7 meeting. However, he does not have the authority to simply “cancel” the agreement, as it is an agreement signed by more than 190 countries, and neither can he withdraw USA from the agreement immediately as it would be a process that takes more than three years. He does, however, has the power to ignore it, as like most UN drafted agreements, the Paris Agreement does not hold countries to legal obligations, but social responsibilities. Given Trump’s view on the matter and his demeanor on such issues, the possibility of him ignoring the agreement altogether is indisputable. He has signed an executive order back in March as an attempt to rollback President Obama’s Clean Power Plan, and can very well eliminate it altogether by simply directing the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), which is headed by Scott Pruitt, who allowed his governed state, Oklahoma, to experience an increase of earthquakes of 3.0 magnitude from 2 in 2008, to 889 in 2016 due to fracking, a method of extracting natural gas by injecting water, sand and chemicals into the ground. Therefore despite Trump’s inability to directly hinder global combat against climate change, he is fully capable of doing so on a national level, and given USA’s global status, it is inevitable that Trump’s climate decisions would affect the world’s joined-attempt in slowing global carbon emission, as other countries would definitely be unhappy about USA being uncooperative, which might even lead to a contagion effect of countries withdrawing from the agreement.

     Nonetheless, should Donald Trump really elect to withdraw USA from the Paris Agreement, the global outlook on curbing climate change is still tilted toward the optimistic side as the majority of the components are still out of his control. To begin with, it is more likely that other countries would continue to abide to their promises in terms of the Paris Agreement despite USA’s withdrawal, as most countries are largely sensible and responsible (at least politically), and that would eventually build up scrutiny towards the Trump administration.  Meanwhile, stateside, he and the EPA would face the litigation from environmental groups if he opt to eliminate Obama’s Clean Power Plan, and in terms of legislation, it would be a long winding process and certainly not something he is going to be able to do so in the short term. Furthermore, market trends have shown a reduction in coal power and greenhouse gas emission, as companies shift their business strategies in terms of energy consumption, due to the international compliance towards the Paris Agreement, which is something that is outside the realm of USA’s regulation and Trump’s control. In conclusion, however oblivious or irresponsible Trump and his administration are towards climate change (which he clearly is not unaware of, as he filed a permit to build a seawall in 2010, to protect his golf course in Ireland, the reason he cited was literally ‘Climate change and its effect’), the Paris Agreement still stands a great chance in coming out triumphant eventually, as the rest of the world behave like actual adults and help mitigate human effect on climate change as a whole.

A Rainbow in the Sky

source: pixabay (CC0 public domain)

by Penny Lai & Alvin Dahn

 
     A drizzling Wednesday afternoon ushered in good news. It was May the 24 when both the skies and the people were moved to tears by the Supreme Court's decision in favor of same-sex marriage. The belated justice now finally rights the wrong it failed to address.

     The key figure who applied for constitutional interpretation by the Justices at Supreme Court to determine if forbidding same-sex marriage violates the rights as stipulates and secures by Constitution of Republic of China was Qi Jia-Wei. He was the first person who made public his sexual orientation at a press conference back in 1983, an era when society was far from friendly towards homosexuals. He fought for legalization of same-sex marriage for over three decades. Finally, on 24th of May 2017, the Supreme Court rules that the regulation of being legally wedded, the couple must be one male and one female in the Civil Code of Republic of China contradicts with the Constitutional Law in the freedom of marriage and equality. It means that the Ministry of Justice needs to revise the Civil Code concerning same-sex marriage, if it fails to do so within two years, same-sex couples will be entitled to register their marriage at the Household Registration Bureau Office. After years of fighting and hundreds of parades, this is no doubt the most exciting step for those heroes who never gave in to the pressure and discrimination from society.

     Yet, an advanced and diverse society like ours accommodates more than one voice for everything. While most of us are celebrating the new epoch of human rights some are arguing otherwise. Still some, ridiculously, are doubting the credibility of the Justices. However diverse a society can be, it still makes people wonder on what grounds can one justify his act of depriving others equal rights and entitlements. People who voice their anger and hatred toward the legalization of same-sex marriage resort to numerous reasons: religion, personal hygiene, public health, birth rate, etc. What they did not say is that all reasons are gift-wrapped science-coated bias, resentment, and sense of superiority, all based on the illusion that they above all stand and speak for the ultimate truth and the divine law.

     One of the most splendid things on earth is diversity. People must not accept only what they like and want to see. If we are meant to be the same and cannot tolerate divergence, perhaps we are no better than lab duplicates. It is understandable that some people cannot and will not accept in-depth ideas, but spread irrational judgment and underground hate messages will never get anyone anywhere. It is all right to disagree with someone on something, but it is not acceptable to attack others maliciously. People say Taiwan has proved itself an advanced country by being the first Asian country to legalize same-sex marriage. It is no doubt one of the most beautiful and civilized acts a country can achieve.

President Trump: Has America Lost Its Mind?

source: pixabay (CC0 public domain)

“If you don’t read the newspaper, you are uninformed; if you do read the newspaper, you are misinformed. What are the responsibilities you all (the media) have? To tell the truth, not just to be the first.” 

                                                                       -- Denzel Washington

by Penny Lai

     On November 2016, the presidential election of America shocked the world with its result. As almost all of the main stream media predicted that Clinton should be the one that wins, Trump took all the people by surprise. What happened? Were the opinion polls not accurate? Or were the media pinning too much on one side and ignoring the voice from other people? For outsiders from other countries, it seems like the America has gone crazy due to all the impertinent statements from Trump which had been broadcasted endlessly during the campaign. The image of Trump which people have received from the media made it hard to believe that an advanced country would elect him the President. There are few analyses that can conclude this phenomenon in terms of America election system and the information gap between city and suburb. 

     Everyone knows the American election system with the catchy phrase: Winner takes all. The political stand of every state in America is always consistent. Big cities like New York and California have always stand on Democratic Party’s side; while places where are considered to be more conservative, such as Texas and Arizona, mostly support the Republican Party. And there is one exception: Florida, the swing state, which does not have a solid political position. In this election, Florida was considered the crucial point to Trump’s triumph. However, dose this election system of America really reflect people’s voice? Perhaps this system fails to serve the people good and, worse still, injustice to some candidates. Because the popular votes, the total votes from the people, not electors, shows the voice clear and loud. Hillary Clinton won 48 % of the popular vote to Trump’s 42%, which outpaced him by almost 2.9 million votes. American were not crazy, they just got tricked by the election system.

     Still, Trump had won a good amount of the popular votes. This means a huge portion of the voting population supported him even after all the controversial statements he made. There are several reasons to that and one of the biggest and most successful one is that he knows what the people from outside of the internationalized cities want. States like New York and California are true mixing pots of the world. And citizens in those cities have perspectives that are more liberal and internationalized. However, states that are in more suburban areas are more conservative compared to the world-famous states. People in those places might think that America is going down because of the immigrants and the Muslims. They think that the Americans are losing their jobs because going into America is too easy and people from other countries take all the opportunities away. This widespread view can be attributed to the result of information gap. And Trump seizes their hearts with all the extreme statements he made, though they were considered to be sexist, racist, or homophobic by the world.

     For sure this election concerns more issues than just the system of voting and information gap; however, there are the two major points. People can easily be deceived by the media if they do not try to gather more information on their own and think independently. Now is the time when the technology develops faster than the speed of the bullets. It goes without saying that the media plays a role that is more important than ever. And from this American election, it is not hard to see the impartiality of each medium. It is not wrong to take a stance, but when the media are reporting information to people, no matter how impertinent a candidate is, the media should always stay just and true. Because this not only influences the decent publicity, but also affects the minds and conceptions of the audiences.

Let Me Have My Courses!!— What Makes for a Better Sign-Up System?

copyright: SHU

by Gill Chi

     We are always complaining about the sign-up system for courses. What is a better system than what we have right now? There are actually two different systems running on campuses in Taiwan—the “ante” system and the “random” system.

     The ante system offers students ante, or bargain points (usually 100 points), which you allot and bet on courses you want to sign up for. The more you want to sign up for a course, the more points you bet on it. For a popular course, of course you need to “up the ante.” That is to say, if you can focus all your ante on one course—betting all the 100 points on it—that is a guarantee. Because no one else can out-bet you. The downside is that in order to secure one course, when it is really popular, you have to risk other courses you also want to take. But if you ask around and bet wisely, you can secure quite some courses you really need to take.

     The other system is the “random” system—a system that randomly choose students from the sign-up ballots and decides who may take the course and who may not. It is sheer luck of the draw and it is level playing field. The downside is that numerous students end up being opted out, year after year, by the computer’s randomly selecting system and the possibility of graduating in four years seems so far away. The “fair and square” system guarantees randomness but not equally distributed opportunities. When the computer keeps “fairly” choosing others instead of you for one required course, you may fairly fail to finish college in four years.

     Most colleges in Taiwan rely on the random system. They may have been doing that for a reason in addition that it is an old system that has always been around. Or, maybe fairness matters more than anything else from an administrative point of view. However, if the newly introduced ante system can better reflect students’ urge and urgency to take a required or otherwise desired course, why not give it try?

E-Radio: Interview

Introduction

What Is E-radio

  

 Among all the universities in Taiwan, Shih Hsin was the first school that founded its Department of Radio and Television studies, along with three media platforms which offers students opportunities for internship: SHU Radio, SHU Television Studio, and SHU Film Society. Students are encouraged to fruition by creating programs and managing related procedures. Not only the Radio Department of Radio have access to the equipment but there are numerous opportunities for students from other departments as well. A radio show hosted by students from English Department is call E-Radio. What is E-radio? E stands for English. Radio is for students’ to share any ideas they have to the audience. 

Q&A

  With Willy

Reporter: Hey Willy! How are you doing? I’m going to invite you to talk about E-radio, since you and I hosted the same program last year. Would you like to share some things with us?

Willy: I think E-radio is a great project between the English Department and the Department of Radio. On this project, by sharing interesting things and anecdotes on air, we improve our speaking skills and flexibility at the same time.

Reporter: Will you recommend this project to your classmates?
Willy: Definitely! This opportunity from our department is a great chance for us to enrich ourselves. Everyone should give it a try in order to earn some experience.

Reporter: What did you learn from hosting a radio show?
Willy: On the grounds that we are obliged to process a lot of information on a variety of topics, including some which we are less familiar with, we have to spend time and make efforts to prepare ourselves. To me, it’s fun to learn new stuff.

Reporter: How about this year? Are you working on something else or are you back on E-radio?

Willy: Oh! This year I am trying something different from E-radio program. But radio shows are still my favorite, only that I have my eyes on something new.

Reporter: Thank you, Willy.

It is really great to hear your own voice on air, especially when it is something you have put in many efforts. I believed it is a rewarding experience that will become helpful in the future.