Jason and The Golden Fleece

In class, we watched a documentary about the Greek myth, "Jason and The Golden Fleece."

In the beginning, Jason was the son of the king of Iolcus. But Jason's uncle Pelias stole the throne. jason is then offered a task which if he passes, he will be rewarded the throne. The task was chosen because no mortal except the gods can succeed. But Pelias didn't know that Jason had Hera on his side. Jason faced many dangers like the clashing rocks.

When Jason reached Colchis, He met king Aeetes. His daughter Madea was a sorcerer that soon fell in love with Jason. Because of love, Madea did not hesitate to betray her father by helping Jason. But in return Jason Promised to take her with him and make her his queen.

Shabanu

In class, we have been reading a book called "Shabanu." It is about a girl's way of life in Pakistan and her culture. In the book, Shabanu is a 11 yr old girl who lives in a poor but happy family. She has been allowed freedoms forbidden to most muslim girls. Yet her parents are concerned that her independence and disinterest in women's work will lead to trouble.

Soon, Shabanu and her sister, Phulan are forced to marry their cousins, Hamir and Murad. The two sisters accept it as a duty to their family.

Then a wealthy landowner ruins phulan's marriage plans, and it is Shabanu who must sacrifice everything she has dreamed of. 

Orphan Boy- Curiosity

Is curiosity good or bad? In the story of Orphan boy, it speaks of an old man who comes across a lonely small boy named Kileken who has special powers.

During the drought, the cattles were well fed by the boy. Thus the old man was

curious. But Kileken said "you must never seek to know... discover my secret will be the end of your good fortune." But the old man was overwhelmed with curiosity. 

He discovered Kileken's secret and Kileken "exploded into a star." The old man knew he had abused the boy's trust. True enough the old man returned to his lonely and poor life. Is it really that important to always know the truth? I guess in the old man's case, it's not.

My Name

My name, like most chinese names has three characters (李毅凱). The first character is my family name which is Lee (李). It is made up of two other chinese characters, that is, wood（木） on son（子). It doesn't really have a meaning. But this surname was a royal surname from the Tang Dynasty. The middle character which is Yi, meaning perseverence in everything I do. The third character is Khai（凱), which means victory. This word is taken from a chinese noun: kai xuan（凱旋). Kai xuan are songs which was sung after a victorious war. In chinese names, besides the surname, the next most important name is the third name. My second name Khai was actually taken from my grandfather's second name. This is to create a relationship between us. My grandmother and parents also put in a lot of effort to give me this name. Why do I say that? This is because they have to calculate every strokes and make sure it matches my birth date. The chinese believe that this name would bring me luck for the rest of my life. So far, my name seems to be working as I'm feeling really happy and lucky.

Common Elements in Creation Myths

Myths come from all around the world. Although they emerged from different cultures, they all leave the same common factors which makes creation myths so great. The mythical supreme being forms the land, from nothing to something. For example in the Chinese myth, it speaks of a dragon called Pan Gu who molded the land with his bare hands. He died 18,000 years later but the world was still incomplete. There was no life. But following his death, the half dron goddess came to the world that Pan Gu created. Picking up the clay, she molded a creature with a pair of arms and a pair of legs. Thus began the human race. Another myth that emerged from a different culture is the native American myth which mentioned about Skywoman falling through a hole caused by the uprooted tree in heaven. She landed on a giant turtle that formed the land and there she gave birth to the first human. Thus besides common factors about a supreme being and creation of earth from nothing to something, another common factor is mentioning of an animal and human being. Although there is a difference in culture, however, in the myths, we can still see common factors in the creation myths which speaks of the beginning of the world.

The Departure of Ceyx

probably

about 1502-7, Vittore Carpaccio

“Those that live must die, passing through nature to eternity.” – William Shakespeare

This panel, which appears to have been cut down, illustrates the story of Alcyone from Ovid's 'Metamorphoses' (XI: 410-748). Ceyx's departure to consult the oracle of the god at Claros was delayed by his devoted wife Alcyone, who had foreseen a stormy sea and winds. A companion panel in the Philadelphia Museum of Art shows the body of Ceyx (who reluctantly set off despite his wife's protestations and whose ship was destroyed in a storm as predicted) being carried back to Alcyone upon the waves. When she recognised her husband's body, Alcyone hurled herself into the sea. The unfortunate pair were transformed by a pitying god into birds, which are shown on the left of the Philadelphia panel.

For homework, we did research on china's one child policy. I have learnt that china established the one child policy in 1979 because china was over populated. At that time, China's population was 1/4 of the world's population and their arable land was only 7% of the world's. This policy has prevented more than 300 million births. If it weren't for this policy, China's estimated population today would be more than 300 billion people. Now china's population is more than 1.3 billion people.

Even though this policy has helped control  the population growth, it has created new problems for China. Problems such as the people preferring boys to girls which leads to people abandoning female babies. Also, many children are sibling less. Poor couples have to give up their hope for a second child because they do not have the money to pay the fine.