Michelle Obama

is an intelligent, accomplished woman, and yet, the media insists on only talking about her dresses. I think she should have worn jeans.

Speaking of Atheism...

It is mentioned in Obama's inaugural address:

We are a nation of Christians and Muslims, Jews and Hindus, and nonbelievers. We are shaped by every language and culture, drawn from every end of this Earth.

New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof mentions that this is the first time he can recall that "non-believers" have been acknowledged by a president. And the foreign policy section of the speech...

To the Muslim world, we seek a new way forward, based on mutual interest and mutual respect.

To those leaders around the globe who seek to sow conflict or blame their society's ills on the West, know that your people will judge you on what you can build, not what you destroy.

To those...

(APPLAUSE)

To those who cling to power through corruption and deceit and the silencing of dissent, know that you are on the wrong side of history, but that we will extend a hand if you are willing to unclench your fist.

(APPLAUSE)

To the people of poor nations, we pledge to work alongside you to make your farms flourish and let clean waters flow; to nourish starved bodies and feed hungry minds.

And to those nations like ours that enjoy relative plenty, we say we can no longer afford indifference to the suffering outside our borders, nor can we consume the world's resources without regard to effect. For the world has changed, and we must change with it.

...brought tears to my eyes as I read it. He is my president.

If you read Chinese and want an interesting newspaper to read...

...I highly recommend Southern Weekend (南方周末). It is an independent, interesting paper, published weekly (comes out each Thursday evening) by the Southern Daily Group. Some inspiration from the paper's New Year's message:

　当我们扪心自问之时，我们心中对这个国家深挚的爱已经给了该如何行事的答案。

　　这就是为什么我们不只赞美国家的进步，也批评它的不尽完美；为什么像捧着烛火一样捧着“真相”，在群论汹汹之际也坚持独立的立场；为什么若我们只能发出荧荧之光，也有崇高之意。

　　这也就是为什么你会在今天买下这份报纸，而它没有提供可供获利的消息甚至也不提供什么消遣。

Equally beautiful in translation (by David Kelly):

When we look within, the warm love in our hearts for this country tells us to how to proceed. That is why we not only praise the country's progress, but also criticise its imperfections; why, holding up "the truth" as if holding a candle, we maintain our independence in the face of mass opinion; why if we can only issue a gleaming light, it bears a noble meaning. This is why you bought a copy of this newspaper today, though it offered little of profit and no entertainment whatsoever.

Atheism: Sleep in on Sunday mornings

This slogan comes from a campaign in Britain (actually from a failed spin-off in Australia) of advertising about atheism to counter religious groups' advertisements. According to the article, it hasn't set off much controversy, which I think is a definite contrast to how much dissent there would be to such a campaign in the US. There is so much social context in religion and perception of religion. For my final exam, I did interviews based on topics discussed in class. There was one unit on supersitition and belief, and for some reason, one girl ended up talking about religion. She said in Chinese society there is a lot of pressure not to believe. Obviously this social pressure functions in the complete opposite way that social pressure in the US works. It is something I had never really considered.

I've been thinking more about the topic of religion lately after my student's comments and watching Religulous - a Bill Mayer movie about the ridiculousness of religion. I will write more about the movie (which I actually didn't like too much despite some amusing moments and general agreement with many of his ideas) another time.

The lost art of writing

David Brooks' latest column in the New York Times begins like this:

Everything becomes a shorter version of itself. Essays become op-eds. Op-eds become blog posts. Blog posts become Twitter tweets. The Sidney Awards stand athwart technology, yelling stop. They are awarded every year to some of the best examples of long-form journalism and thought.

I do realize the irony of writing about this in a blog post (at least it is not on twitter...), but for someone who is not a journalist, there are obvious benefits to blogging - more than one person can read my thoughts (whether anyone would actually want to is a totally different story). These lines seemed particularly salient to me because of the book I have been reading recently - Team of Rivals, about Abraham Lincoln's life, politics, and rivals. This book has been providing me with a much needed refresher history course and a glimpse of the political genius that was Lincoln. Yet, something that has stood out to me is how much history of this period derives from hand-written letters between leading figures (and their wives) of the time. It makes me somewhat sad to think that the history of today will be derived from e-mail. While e-mail serves many purposes, it lacks the beauty and weight that often is intrinsically present in written letters. Maybe I'm just being nostalgic and a traditionalist, but I don't see that as a bad thing.