A farewell gathering

Two former students, Allen Ho and Meedy Nugraha, organized a farewell lunch for me on May 29. This was essentially a Chinese University gathering and about 25 guests turned-up. Some were current students, some were my theses supervisees, there were two former colleagues from the ELT Unit, and other friends.

We ran a Writing Across the Curriculum (WAC) program at the Chinese University, supported by a HK$4 million grant from the University Grants Commission. Over a 4-year period, we were affiliated with about 100 courses and served 5,000+ students.

In this photo, from left, are Ada, Kasina, Wience, Allen, Jane, and Paulina.


These are some of my theses supervisees and former students. From left, Josephine, Sabina, Kate, Kasina, Iris, Meedy, Emily, and Dora. Christie, Allen, and Paulina are in the front row.


Iris Lin, on my left, is the first MPhil student I supervised. I am supervising Dora Huang now, and she'll be my last MPhil.

A rose between two thorns! (?) Ada Young on my right, and Janet Ho on my left. Ada worked on the WAC team for a number of while finishing her PhD. I used Janet's photo on a brochure advertising the MA in Applied Linguistics which I directed. Soon, we saw a dramatic rise in the number of applicants! Hardly a surprise.

The pleasure of being an English professor is the opportunity to work with so many lovely ladies, a chance denied to professors in engineering or medicine, disciplines where male students dominate. I've been blessed.

With Kate Lee

Nellie Chan, on my left, was a secretary at the English Department and was my best friend in the department. She now works at Shue Yan University, along with Fawzia & Josephine.

Reading my list of retirement "benefits". The last item read "I won't have to buy you'll lunch anymore".

A brand new American citizen

My sister Beaula became an American citizen on May 20.

Seven good reasons for taking retirement

No more

• boring meetings, having to sit with a bunch of PhDs with clashing egos and personality disorders;
• meetings during my nap time;
• teaching at 8.30 in the morning and at 6.30 in the evening;
• teaching huge classes, knowing well that I could never learn the names of all the students;
• reading papers written by students, who, even after 15 years of learning English, still can’t tell the present tense from the past;
• watching my back for those academic "knives", and
• having to hold teddy bears and flowers when posing with students for graduation photos!

BETWEEN THE LINES

Who knows what shadows lie between the lines
Between bed-sheets closely ironed
The ghosts of time
Open their pale eyes
Intruding into space
Questioning:
Do you know the taste
Of the shadow of love
Its tender touch a fingering
Inside the heart
Then snaking down in warm coils
To the groin
The womb
The alpha and omega
Where life begins?
The ghosts of memory
Memories of sunshine
Filtering from the skies
Through leaves of orange groves?
Do you remember
The future, my love
How I found you
In years to come
How I held you so close
That skin melted away
How I touched the tears
Which had not yet been cried
And reached with invisible hands
Beyond matter, space, and time
Where life curves back upon itself
Eternally
Memories dissolve
And are formed
And the spirit of the heart glides
Spherically
Infinitely
Joyfully
In ecstasies of disbelief
Until the great release
The launching
You.

Anonymous

November 5, 1999
Kowloon Tong

Voting for "Long Hair", again!

Barely two years ago, I cast my first vote in Hong Kong for "Long Hair". (There's a previous blog entry on this momentous event.) Today, I voted for him again in what's called the Five District Referendum.

It was actually a one horse race, the horse being Long Hair. But, it was important to vote for reasons I'll outline below. I was pleased to see these young supporters of Long Hair who had come all the way to Sai Kung to canvass for him. The shorter guy on the left is a Philosophy major from the University of Hong Kong (a friend who teaches there said that the Philosophy Department has become a "hotbed of militancy", what with firebrand Christina Chan also being from Philosophy). The other canvasser is a secondary school student from Tuen Mun. With supporters like these, there is still hope for Hong Kong.

Opposite Starbucks, I ran into Daisann, the "human billboard". Daisann runs the Learning Cantonese blogsite http://daisann.com/ and is a staunch supporter of Long Hair. She was distributing handbills that she herself had designed. At the last election, when Daisann was in Sai Kung with a similar billboard, she was jostled and harassed by despicable DAB supporters. This time, she had a few minutes to chat with me.

Here I am, opposite the polling station (Sai Kung City Hall) with my polling card.

Sai Kung definitely looked better with fluttering banners for Long Hair.

So, why did I vote when many in Hong Kong didn't? Here are four reasons (with acknowledgements to Daisann.)

1. Donald Tsang was hedging, wondering whether to vote or not. (He finally didn't.)

2. Steven Lam, the puppy-dog Secretary for Constitutional Affairs, threatened the Civic Party and the League of Social Democrats, saying that they "will be banished by the community".

3. Peng Qinghua, the despicable vice director of the Liaison Office, stated that "proposing sensational and extreme slogans like 'civic uprising' and 'liberating Hong Kong'" was "a total violation of mainstream public opinion".

4. Gordon Wu, yet another rapacious tycoon, said that he hoped street activism "won't lead to a wave of emigration". (I sincerely hope he would be the first to leave.)

Enough said!

Setsuko Hara

Some names have a natural appeal, gliding thru one's tongue and leaving a lasting, somewhat nostalgic memory. To me, Setsuko Hara is such a name. I liked the name long before I saw her image.

Now that the teaching has ended and I have time on my hands, I have been watching some "digitally remastered" movies of Hara from the 1940s and 50s. I have already watched Late Spring, Early Summer, Tokyo Story and No Regrets for our Youth. These movies also have correct English subtitles.






I have copied the text in blue from a website because I couldn't have said it better.

Setsuko Hara became one of Japan’s best-loved stars over her 30-year film career. Her signature character type, variations on a daughter devoted to her parents and home, inspired the nickname that stayed with her until retirement: the "Eternal Virgin". To some extent, reality mirrored her roles in these films. In a society that considers marriage and parenting almost obligatory, she remained single and childless, something of a controversy in Japan in the 1950s. Fortunately she was popular enough to avoid criticism, but the 1950s were still a hard decade. She was plagued by ill health, missing out on several roles top roles as a result, and she witnessed the bizarre death of her cameraman brother in a freak train accident on set.

In 1963, shortly after the death of her mentor, director Yasujiro Ozu, she suddenly walked away from the film industry. At the age of 43 and at the height of her popularity she bluntly refused to perform again, angering her fans, the industry, and the press. She implied acting had never been a pleasure and that she had only pursued a career in order to provide for her large family; this explanation is seen as the cause of her popularity backlash. She moved to a small house in picturesque Kamakura where she remained, living alone (though apparently sociable with friends), and refusing all roles offered.

She is undoubtedly known mostly for her work with Yasujiro Ozu, making six films with the great director, including the so-called Noriko trilogy, of which Tôkyô monogatari (1953) is probably the best-known worldwide. She also worked with Akira Kurosawa, Mikio Naruse, Hiroshi Inagaki, and many others.

Hara has been called "luminous", quite appropriately. For me, the attraction is her mischievous laughter and quiet dignity. She is 90 now.

"The way we were"

The year: 1993. The place: Jackson Hole, Wyoming, the playground of the rich and famous. I was there for a meeting of the Test of Written English (TWE) of the TOEFL. (I wasn't paying for

the trip.) I got out of the hotel one morning and was wondering around when I saw the arch in the background, made entirely of deer antlers!

The photo below shows the Wild West like wooden buildings in town and the ski slopes up the hillside.

A marriage bureau

I was walking around the old town of Sheung Shui, up north near the border, when I saw this unusual business place. At first, it seamed like an anachronism in Hong Kong; who would be going by arranged marriages here. But, thinking further, they may be in the business of arranging marriages between Hong Kongers and Mainlanders.

The "Pavilion of Harmony"

On the Chinese University campus, my favorite places for for some quiet reflection are the Lily Pond of Chung Chi College and the Pavilion of Harmony at New Asia College, which, to my eternal shame, I refer to as the "infinity pool". I take visitors to these two locations, and the inevitable reaction of those who see the Pavilion for the first time is an audible gasp followed by a look of sheer bliss.

The Chinese University, hell bent on expansion, is now a construction site. High rises are appearing in every nook and corner. The student population will nearly double and the university, like most places in Hong Kong, will likely become a concrete jungle. But, the Pavilion of Harmony, which overlooks the Tolo Harbour and the distant Tai Po hills, will provide a tranquil corner for a momentary escape for anyone who seeks it.


With Prof. Freeman Chan

So, I was glad to attend a recent talk by Freeman Chan, a former professor of architecture and the designer and architect of the Pavilion of Harmony. Canadian born and raised, he moved to Hong Kong is 1984 and taught at the Chinese University till retiring in 2003. He cannot read Chinese and barely speaks it. The design of the Pavilion was part of his "service to the university/community", meaning it was honorary. Freeman explained that he went through about 20 designs before settling on a final plan. During the talk, a member of the audience gave his own interpretation of the Pavilion, attempting to link it to Chinese philosophy. Freeman, modest and unassuming, smiled serenely through it all. Freeman's intention may not have been symbolic; he intended to create a place in harmony with its surroundings. This concept is not necessarily confined to Chinese philosophy.

Freeman apparently believes that the discipline and profession of architecture has strayed and lost its true direction. One glance at the Science Park along the Tolo Harbour or the constructions taking place on the Chinese University campus are enough to confirm his views.


My photo at the Pavilion was taken by Prof. Andrew Parkin

Devils' workshop?

I often visit the Sri Lankan restaurant on Hoi Pong Street in Sai Kung and pass this workshop on the way. This is probably the most disorganized workshop I've ever seen. But, no doubt, the owner knows exactly where each tool and item brought in for repairs is kept!