Popkins School

“Popkins School”

 

I sometimes read the article in Ann Arbor Observer. Among those articles, I want to write about a recollection of a woman, related to Popkins School here. The author is Bonnie L. Branim. Do you know the Popkins School?

She described that the small school was on Plymouth Road. In the 1950s, students from kindergarten through sixth grade shared its single classroom. She was only student in her class. While reading the article, I remembered the movie, "To kill a Mockingbird." I assume that the locations are different, but the schools shared common characteristics. People at that time knew the importance of education and cooperated to maintain school by themselves. I guess that looking at the dedication of adults, children seemed to study hard with gratitude and respect their teachers. Now, the government control on education may be huge, but instead, we tend to forget the joy to study and the necessity to maintain educational system by ourselves. The other day, when I joined the conversation class at the library, I talked about what we would do if we became millionaires. A Chinese woman who has a child said that if she became a millionaire, she would want to build schools or libraries in China like here. I respected herself and her thought. I felt a bit shameful that I said “I would save the money.”

Because I have partly engaged in education, I sometimes remember the importance of education and the valuable role as a teacher when I read those articles. Although it may be true that each contribution of each teacher is small, the whole of them contribute the growth of children and the empowerment of nation. Additionally, I am glad if I can know the history of Ann Arbor deeply.

 

 

Snow Country

“Snow Country”

 

Recently, it has been snowing a lot. When I see that the snow lies thick on the ground, I remember the beginning of a novel, "Snow Country" by Yasunari Kawabata. Kawabata opens the novel with "The train came out of the long tunnel into the snow country. The earth lay white under the night sky."

Kawabata is one of my most favorite novelists, a Novel Prize winner. He dedicated his life for writing novels related with a losing beauty in modern Japanese society. In my opinion, the train at the beginning of "Snow Country" symbolizes a modern culture. The novel is full of recollections about love affairs of a dilettante from Tokyo, the Japanese capital. In the train, the dilettante remembers his sense of touch with a lover, while watching indirectly, another female's profile reflecting on the window. His lover is a geisha, the Japanese singing and dancing girl. Because we have to pay much money to see an authentic geisha, I have seen a geisha only once when I went to Kyoto with my supervisor.

I don't know precisely about novelists who describes a losing beauty of America, but I assume that Scott Fitzgerald and Ernest Hemingway wrote some stories related with the losing beauty. In the U.S.A., women look so strong and independent, expressing their opinions more clearly. I guess that women in American novels may be also quite different from Japanese ones.

Robotics

“Robotics”

 

I read an article about robotics. Some researchers in Japan are developing robots. They are interested in autonomous learning, in other words, learning without teachers in robots. Now, the technology remains primitive and far from being used in reality settings. But within ten years, it is predicted that we can see the robots who think and behave by themselves. Most researchers about robots are thoughtful and try to develop the technology for the happiness of humans. In my opinion, not only roboticists, but also ordinary people have to know the risk and make consensus to ban harmful uses for humans.

Shakespeare

“Shakespeare”

 

I read an article about the play by Shakespeare. I know his name mainly through movies. Those films are "Ran" directed by Kurosawa and "Westside story" directed by Bernstein. While the former is based on the "King Lear," the latter is based on the "Romeo and Juliet." If I had time enough, I would watch and enjoy those plays here. I wish if I could understand them in English. Because the images of family that Shakespeare described are common among different cultures, many artists refer those stories into their works.

Gone with the Wind

“Gone with the Wind”

I have watched the film named 'Gone with the Wind' right now. It is really a long film. I got so tired. But the movie gave me a lot of hints to think about American cultures. The movie describes the paradoxical aspect of U.S.A. The civilization of Old South is the one that Americans lost by themselves through the Civil War, but even so, they like it so that there is a root from European countries, that is related with old classicism. The notion of equality might be oriented from the history that this country finally gets independent from the British Empire and its philosophy. Now, I know that to understand the historical relationships with Britain and other European countries are important for understanding U.S.A. Focusing on the movie itself, I was surprised that the director spent four hundred thousand dollars to prepare things only, such as casting, story settings, and so on. But I completely agree that Vivian Leigh was the most appropriate actress for Scarlett Ohara.

Kelsey Museum of the Archeology

“Kelsey Museum of the Archeology”

The other day, I went to see around the Kelsey Museum of the Archeology. I was impressed by the things that are preserved for understanding ancient cultures and societies. When I was a student, I learned about Greek mythology. After being a psychiatrist, I have met those stories through Freud's and Jung's books several times. I cannot figure out the relationship between Greek cultures and Christianity yet now, but I guess that the merge of two cultures consists the original form of European cultures, partly affecting the American cultures. In terms of the relation with Asian ones, their effects seem to be indirect. Islamic ones may mediate the effects between the European and Asian cultures. When going around the museum, I saw several couples talking something about the exhibition. It may be fruitful for them to understand with each other by talking about anything. It may be like a honeymoon to enjoy an ancient world that is so far from here.

Change of American Family

“Change of American Family”

I read an article about the change of American Family. The article describes the complexity that makes it hard to understand what is going in American family at a glance. The writer delineated the effects of divorce, LGBT, decreasing marriage and birth rates, work environment, and crime on family. I cannot help focusing on Asian-American family. Frankly speaking, I was relieved, hearing that Asian-American family was wealthy, was experiencing a low rate of divorce, and was raising well-educated children. But I also concerned that Asian women involuntarily victimize themselves for her family even now. Although the respect given to unselfish mother can be found in American culture, this is found more easily in Asian cultures. We cannot say whether it is right or not to appreciate the devoted woman. We have to know the risk of harsh devotedness and remember to be thankful to those women.