What an exciting English class to be in. Indeed a profound journey of choice and creativity. Thank you for sharing your work in China. Lynda _____ From: oe-bounces@lists.wedgeblade.net [mailto:oe-bounces@lists.wedgeblade.net] On Behalf Of Jaime R Vergara Sent: Saturday, December 01, 2012 11:10 PM To: oe@lists.wedgeblade.net; oe@wedgeblade.net Subject: [Oe List ...] Fwd: OpEd Wednesday Someone asked about popular preaching not too long ago. I am sharing this article for the Saipan Tribune that I also shared with colleagues of the Realistic Living Symposium. The usual caveat: curious, welcome; not, see you at the bend! j'aime la vie Yesterday, appreciate; tomorrow, anticipate; today, participate. In all, Celebrate! -----Original Message----- From: Jaime R Vergara <jrvergarajr2031@aol.com> To: jrvergarajr2031 <jrvergarajr2031@aol.com> Sent: Sun, Dec 2, 2012 12:00 pm Subject: Fwd: OpEd Wednesday My secular articulation of transcendence, immanence, and transparency; metaphorical translation of Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. <http://presence.mail.aol.com/mailsig/?sn=jrvergarajr2031> j'aime la vie Yesterday, appreciate; tomorrow, anticipate; today, participate. In all, Celebrate! -----Original Message----- From: Jaime R Vergara <jrvergarajr2031@aol.com> To: jayvee_vallejera <jayvee_vallejera@saipantribune.com>; mark_rabago <mark_rabago@saipantribune.com>; editor <editor@saipantribune.com> Sent: Sun, Dec 2, 2012 11:55 am Subject: OpEd Wednesday HERE I STAND The oft-quote, "Here I stand, I can do no other," is attributed to the German monk Martin Luther when asked to recant his Wittenberg 95-thesis at the imperial Diet of Worms. The phrase now considered an editorial insertion is nevertheless "faithful" to the religious reforms of the 1500. We do not draw a dividing line in our class context though we start our 16-week journey with an exposition of three perspectives, used thoroughly and throughout the whole term of our Oral English classes. (We taught the same using a different set of metaphors in Saipan not too long ago.) "Life, real life, is the subject of what we can talk about in oral English," we begin. "Of this life, we view it from three perspectives." We then draw a couple of two-inch-wide circles, two feet apart, on the board. The first circle is the microscopic perspective. On individual lives, it is the small picture. It begins at the hour of conception when 200 million sperms attempt to fertilize an egg. One sperm makes it and given the odds, is clearly a winner. On the other hand, the egg does not just allow the first arrival to penetrate her crust. An element of free choice is involved. Two cells then join to create in a nine-month period a very sophisticated bio-organism complete with digestive and respiratory systems, muscle and skeletal structures, a neural nexus and a reproductive capability. Not yet born, it is already a winsome, free, and creative marvel. One is some body! The second circle is the telescopic perspective. On the level of an individual student's life, we telescope from one among 20k population at the University, a unit out of 8 million in Shenyang, a creature out of 1.395 billion in China, and a human being among more than 7 billion in the planet. The planet is but the third rock from the sun, which is a minor star in the Milky Way, careening in a space of a billion universes, our own speculated to be 14 billion years old. We are not even a pixel in the HDTV of life! One is, quite literally, a no body nobody! By then, the part of the class who tends to be apologetic about their lives and their humble beginnings hear that it is their birthright to be somebody. On the other hand, those who are prone to air balloon their somebody-ness might hear the emptiness of their valued significance. In the big picture, we are just a bunch of nobodies. By this time, one may feel a silent awe-filled and awe-some current in the air. Stealthily, we return to our board work and mark an X on the center, equidistant to the two circles. There is a third perspective, we declare. This one knows itself not absolutely a somebody, nor eternally a nobody. It knows itself to be temporal but is full of moments, historical but not altogether fleeting. It knows itself as one, unique, unrepeatable gift of life into human history. There has never been like it before, and there will never be another one like it ever again. With all the drama I can muster, I solemnly declare: "I am this one," pointing to the X, and after a long pause, "and so are you!" The invitation to decisional confidence is laid bare. Letting the last line drop, we draw a large circle around the two small ones with the X in the middle, and add a horizontal "S" intersecting with the X. The result is a horizontal taiji, the figure of the yin-yang on the board. We are in China. The taiji was banned as a religious symbol in 1949, surreptitiously revived as a cultural oddity in the 80's. "A group of people", we continue, "have chosen to call themselves the people of the middle, Zhongguoren." We translate Zhongguoren as "Chinese" in English, from Zhongguo, aka "China", the term the Persians called the Qin in the Silk Road, "Sina" by Rome, "Chine" to Marco Polo, and "China" by England. While adopting the appellation of "China" in English, in Zhongwen and Putunghua, Chinese call themselves privately and internally in China as Zhongguoren, the people of the middle. Though limited in their English, by now, through the board drawings, and our body language, the members of our audience catches on to something significantly personal and meaningful being uttered. We conclude: "Face" is important in China. The face you wear so far shall be left outside the door of the classroom door. It will still be there when you leave the class. You can decide if you wish to continue wearing it. The language you are about to start using insists on getting as close to the "real" as possible. It will want you to objectively narrate what you see, hear, smell, taste, and touch. It will encourage you to reflect and express your feelings, and articulate and interpret your thoughts. It will ask that you rehearse in terms understandable to your peers the direction, plans, decisions of your life. In short, we shall speak with authority on what is real and authentic to us. That created face is what we want to see and hear. T'is temporal, t'is historical. That is the face we want to create in Oral English. By then, the students realize they had not come to a standard academic class. Thus, commences a 16-week series of encounters, a journey of choice and creativity in eight classes at Shenyang Aerospace University. It is, indeed, a season to be jolly. With the global gaze of human academé, and the cosmic grace of the spheres, I encounter students who call themselves Zhongguoren, and with them, I say: here we stand! In English! My Muslim colleague down the hall says, Amen! <http://presence.mail.aol.com/mailsig/?sn=jrvergarajr2031> j'aime la vie Yesterday, appreciate; tomorrow, anticipate; today, participate. In all, Celebrate!