When I asked him, “What’s up,” in my casual American-like way, my friend from Japan wanted me to tell him the proper casual response to this exchange. I told him, “Not much.” I never really thought about why this international student would be interested in American slang, but I now suspect it was because he [...]
Category Archives: Thoughts
When International Students Are Interested in American Slang: 2 Tips to Offer
Saturday, May 19, 2012
Excuses that Smokers Use
Friday, May 18, 2012
Are there other choices a smoker could make that might be a little healthier? As I watched some of the commercials on television, I have observed that they seem to be more on a personal note now. I recall the commercial of a woman lying in bed. She comments that because of smoking she had [...]
Kids Don’t Have to Ruin Your Marriage
Thursday, May 17, 2012
If you are one of those people who grew up not sure if you’d ever want kids, and now you find yourself married to the perfect spouse and thinking children might be in your not-so-distant future, you are not alone. If you are worried that having these kids will ruin your marriage, you are not [...]
From Sesame Street to Greenwich Village: Traveling with the Cookie Monster
Wednesday, May 16, 2012
Some stories write themselves. This is one of them. Driving into Manhattan one day recently, the NPR station was featuring their popular interview program called ‘From Scratch’. Moderator Jessica Harris was talking to Joan Ganz Cooney She’s co-founder of the Children’s Television Workshop, which is now known as Sesame Workshop, a name change that seems [...]
Transforming Fear into Compassion: ‘Breakthrough’
Tuesday, May 15, 2012
“To my knowledge, there has never been a book that takes on the daunting challenge of describing and deconstructing the unbelievably complex emotional and intellectual journey from prejudice to compassion on this issue . . . until now!” Anna Baltzer, from the Foreword of “Breakthrough.” The book “Breakthrough: Transforming Fear into Compassion – A New [...]
Silent Tears (haiku)
Sunday, May 13, 2012
Published by Martin Kloess My plans were to become a music teacher. I got my BA degree at San Francisco State College. I somehow found myself working for an oil company. They sent me to the San Francisco Academy of Arts to learn graph… View profile Most Recent – Creative Writing – Voices from Yahoo!
Learning Chinese: Traditional or Simplified Characters
Saturday, May 12, 2012
One of the more difficult decisions to make when learning Chinese is to learn simplified or traditional characters. This really depends on your motives for learning Chinese. Many people also wonder which is easier to learn to write, and there is no easy answer for that question. While the number of actual simplified characters in [...]
Surprising Uses of Everyday Foods
Friday, May 11, 2012
Food is necessary to fuel our bodies, but sometimes we buy too much of it at the grocery store. When your produce starts to go bad, or when you’ve kept those spices around for just a bit too long, or when you thought you’d make a recipe out of all of those ingredients but just [...]
How to Dispose of Smoke Detectors
Thursday, May 10, 2012
Smoke detectors are those gadgets which never get any attention unless … well, we’re all aware of the exact moments when they make their otherwise oblivious presence felt with their characteristic beeps. Funnily enough, when asked about our favorite inventions, we never think twice about naming our cell phones, tabs or computers, and remain blissfully [...]
Lengthen a Dress While Making a Bare Stomach Strip
Wednesday, May 9, 2012
If you have a dress that’s a little too short, and maybe a bit boring, you can lengthen it, while giving it a cute, peek-a-boo accent. It’s really easy to do to a certain type of dress and, when you’re finished creating the accent, you’ll have a much more exciting dress, which shows a little [...]