HI, ladies!!
It is Thursday, October 23, 2008, today, and has been raining on and off.
Plum, I was surprised at your beautiful writing. A big thanks for your explaining, and I’d like to try it.
Review the STEP test:
The North American big ban?
A team of scientists is now arguing that the giant mammals of North America went out with a bang---literally. The culprit is believed to have been a comet that collided with earth about 13,000 years ago, triggering an initial wave of heat that swept across the continent, ignited massive fires, and sent clouds of debris into the atmosphere.
Q1. There are materials in the layer that “collectively provide very strong evidence that the layer (of sediment) was produced by this extraterrestrial impact,” he (geologist) states. These materials include unusual forms of carbon as well as high concentrations of iridium, a metal rarely found on earth.
= The existence of a layer of deposits whose chemical composition suggests it did not originate on earth.
Q2. …his team believe that the 1,000-year-long cold spell, known as the Younger Dryas event, was a result of the impact. The team theorizes that the vast Laurentide Ice Sheet, which once covered much of North America, thawed and sent massive quantities of fresh water into the Atlantic Ocean. This water blocked a major current that has been bringing warming tropical waters from the south and thereby triggered the cooling.
=because a huge ice mass melted, which resulted in the release of a large amount of fresh water into the ocean.
Q3. Archaeological evidence shows that the Clovis culture (early Americans) was once found across North America, but that it became fragmented about 13,000 years ago, suggesting a catastrophe paralleling the disappearance of the large mammals.
=the comet impact had as great an effect on the culture of the Clovis people as it did on the large animals that roamed across North America.
…This article reminded me of Azalea’s big smile.
So, see you tomorrow. Bye!
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Hello, Cherry and my precious friends.
I'd like to conclude Mary's story.
Mary’s two attempted suicides made me think she was not rational creatures but simply slaves to her passions. What she had done was in contradiction to what Mary had said.
Mary confessed that she could not live without some particular love; love was a want to her heart.
Mary Wollstonecraft had learned the basic ideas of Enlightenment philosophy in which rationality or reason was our ability to grasp truth and therefore acquire knowledge of right and wrong that separated us, as human being, form the animal world, extending it to women. Then she set about arguing against the assumption that women were not rational creatures and simply slaves to their passions.
Let me continue Mary’s love story.
Mary Wollstonecraft met William Godwin, the radical philosopher, finding her final emotional reciprocity for which she yearned.
It was good for Mary that she found a love that combined erotic pleasure with mutual respect. Philosophically opposing to the institution of marriage, they lived separately to focus on their separate writing careers. When Mary Wollstonecraft became pregnant, they decided to marry, still continuing their separate apartments.
Although she highlighted women’s lack of political rights and attacked the divine right of husbands, she was in favour of marriage as an institution and called it the cement of society.
(Page 30, Women and Marriage in Nineteenth-Century England)
Thank you for reading.
Sunflower
Hello, ladies!
Cherry and ladies have recently written a little bit difficult issues. The I’d like to talk a stupid talk about a scene in the park.
Well, our members’ writings let me know how patiently many feminists have struggled against sex discrimination. In spite of such hardship, discrimination would be die hard on the earth. I suppose it might be the nature of humankind.
I go to the neighboring park with my dog almost everyday except rainy days. I’ll introduce a very common scene I see there today. Please imagine one man in the center of circles. He is surrounded by a flock of doves. The man feeding crumbs to doves, and doves having the food freely, the both are sharing a happy time. That is their time of bliss. Bu you can see another circle outside of them, black circle, a flock of crows. They are watching the happy man and doves and waiting for their turn patiently in vain, though they know the man never give them only a flake of bread. One courageous crow got a chance and tried to pick up one flake by stealth, invading into doves’ group. Finding that, the feeding man got very angry and dispelled the group of crows with shouting loud voice. This is a kind of biased treatment. I know many people hate crows because crows peck at garbage, scatter them and make them a mess. But this phenomenon is caused from the unfair treatment of human, isn’t it? Doves are favored and crows are disliked.
Discrimination exists, everywhere.
Thank you for reading my stupid talk, friends!
Dear Cherry and friends,
Good morning. It’s raining now.
The blog has a new feature. A “Post a Comment” pane appears at the bottom of each blog entry, doesn’t it? Things change everyday. This kind of change is relatively moderate to catch up with.
Victorian people might have experienced much more drastic changes than us today.
However humbly they tried to behave as respectable ladies did, women were significant agents who brought about changes. Middle and upper-class women’s involvement in philanthropy was recognized as professions that should be handed over to bureaucrats, which meant the framework of the welfare state had been coming into play.
* -------------------------------------------- *
In his book, Pioneer Women In Victoria’s Reign, Pratt used more than 100 pages to deal with women who pioneered philanthropy; nursing, workhouse reform, workhouse nursing, ragged schools, and associations for women’s welfare.
The most remarkable was Miss Florence Nightingale who saved and consoled a lot of soldiers in Crimea where she felt training nurses was necessary. Her suggestion was realized as the first Nursing Institute in London. This effort was inadequate to change the hospital system of those days. Once trained, a nurse should work with other medical staff at a hospital as a professional nurse. To begin this work smoothly, she chose St. Thomas Hospital which became the model hospital. Mrs. Sarah Elizabeth Wardroper who was trusted by Miss Nightingale was the first hospital matron who reformed hospital nursing. Hence, the Nightingale Training School started at St. Thomas Hospital in 1860. Qualified Nightingale nurses scattered around the world.
Florence Nightingale thought, “hospitals are but an intermediate stage of civilization,” and “the ultimate object is to nurse all sick at home” (p. 132). In her opinion, civilized societies should find nurses who visit the sick. Such a job was started by women philanthropists. Being in the death bed, the first wife of Mr. Rathbone, former M.P. for Liverpool, was attended by a skilled nurse and wished “something should be done in the way of providing nursing for the poor” as she was surrounded by every care and comfort (p. 132). Her dying wish was realized by the nurse who was engaged by Mr. Rathbone. The Liverpool Training School and Home for Nurses started operations in 1862. The president of its committee was occupied by Mr. Rathbone. The purpose of the school was to provide “district nurses for the poor” and “sick nurses for the individual families” (p. 134). This movement spread to Manchester and London.
In 1875 the Metropolitan and National Nursing Association, later the Metropolitan and National Nursing Association, was founded. Among the Council which initiated this association was Miss Florence Lees (later Mrs. Dacre Craven), a nurse, under whom “the highest type of district nurses was reached” (p. 137).
* -------------------------------------------- *
It’s time to go.
Have a good day.
Hi Cherry and friends,
Plum, I’m glad to know you had a great and valuable time at the National Hansen’s Disease Museum.
I’m reading books about Kamiya Mieko (1914-1979), who became a psychiatrist after overcame tuberculosis which was thought to be difficult to cure, over objections from her family, worked for Hansen’s disease suffers in the time that women should be a good wife and mother at home.
I want to know how she felt when she was told by a doctor that she could not live long and what made her keep strong to live in bed. Further more, when she recovered from tuberculosis, what was the reason of choosing to work for patients of Hansen, many people hate this disease and patients in those days. She could have been a writer or a translator or a good wife and mother, because of her various talents. To research her life means to look for a meaning life for women. It is also a big issue for me to live a meaningful and independent life as a woman. I think I might have been struggling for this theme for many years, however, I followed my husband and raised my children and still support them that I thought was my fate.
I have no idea how to research her life and how to work on this problem. I will continue to read more books on her.
Thank you and good night, my precious friends.
Reiko
Hi, ladies!!!
It has been a bit cloudy day, hasn’t it? I hope all of you are enjoying this mild and pleasant autumnal weather.
The other day, after getting off work, I subwayed to the shopping complex near the Nagoya Dome in order to change the printer ink, which I bought a couple of weeks ago and turned out to be the wrong one for my printer, for the right one.
Walking on the path to it, I realized the Higashi Library was on the way, perhaps a few minutes by foot away from the station. What a surprise!!! It is so conveniently located. The Prefectural Library is, perhaps, 20 minutes’ walk away from the station while the Chikusa Library is in the middle of nowhere (Of course, I know where it is. It is just an expression implying that it takes a long time to get to the place, on foot, in my case.).
The Tsurumai Library is pretty good, but, again, it is not in an excellent location to me, since I have to change subways. The Higashi Library is brilliant in terms of situation. I did not enter it because I was in a hurry, but next time I will try it.
My daughter is going to give birth to another baby boy by Cesarean on November 17th and I will go to Sydney in the middle of January for about 5 weeks to babysit Yujin, who will be almost one and a half years old around that time.
This evening I got a call from my sister-in-law in Osaka, who said that my mother’s 7th year memorial service would be held at their house on Saturday, November 22nd. Yes, of course I will attend it. It will be a one-day trip, since the following day Mr. Blower is coming to talk about British culture in my lounge. Six years have almost passed since my mother died, and I just cannot believe time flies so quickly.
Well, I hope all of you are having a fascinating evening. I am going to wash all the curtains of my lounge tonight, and thus it will be a long night. Goodnight to you all, my very special friends.
Dear Rose,
Thank you for letting us know about your research. While browsing around the library of the Hansen’s Disease Museum, a book whose title was Kamiya Mieko caught my eye since you said that you were doing her life. Nonetheless, not having enough time, I did not take it to look at it. According to your account, despite her illness and her parents’ strong opposition against the career of her choice, she seems to have had a meaningful life.
While reading various 19th century English novels and historical references on Victorian society, I sometimes come to the realization that the social position of contemporary women even in developed countries, to say nothing of less developed countries, has not changed a bit from the Victorian times. Actually I discussed it with some women in New Zealand and Australia, who, without any question, agreed with me. Amazing, isn’t it? We live in this HIGH-TECH age, but still our condition has not made enough progress though on the surface we easily tend to believe that society is, technologically and industrially, changing so rapidly and therefore people’s mind is changing also. Women’s roles are implanted and programmed in their mind in an extravagantly skillful and ingenious fashion, and gender studies is an academic as well as scientific field to analyze what they were/are to learn and how they were/are to acquire it. So, it is excitingly interesting to do women’s studies. I really hope you enjoy gender studies.
Lots of love,
Plum
Dear Cherry and friends,
Hello. How are you?
The comment pane is gone. They might be testing the function.
My first TOEIC class at a local community college made me have a stomachache. Next week I got several crisp pickled plums because alkaline food soothes my stomach pain. Till last week I ate one before each class to avoid acute pain. Even though I didn’t eat one before today’s class, I had no problem. Although I can’t deny I get a bit nervous while I’m doing it, my tension thawed when a young woman told me that she enjoyed the class very much and this class was one of her most favorite classes.
I haven’t finished writing about nurses from Pratt’s Pioneer Women In Victoria’s Reign.
* -------------------------------------------- *
Some nurses were called Queen’s Nurses in the Victorian era.
As nurses were trained at institutions, the occupation became a respectable one and ennobled. Queen Victoria’s Jubilee Institute for Nurses was established in 1889. The fund to form it was a gift for her Majesty given by the women of England. The main object of the Institute was to dignify district nursing. Other associations which were affiliated with the Institute were given privilege to qualify trained nurses as the Jubilee Institute nurses, endorsing the Jubilee Institute standard.
In villages, district nursing could often be heavy duty for each trained nurse. For example, a nurse was expected to take care of the sick but also the household affairs. In many of the country districts, problems with transportation had also been recognized. Such difficulties led to the establishment of the Oakley System in 1883. Miss Bertha M. Broadwood established it to make it meet the need of particular localities, organizing districts systematically, comprising centres and parishes, and employing cottage nurses.
City Nursing was distinguished from Rural Nursing, namely, the Jubilee Institute and the Oakley System. Lincolnshire reached another solution. When the Lincolnshire Association asked for affiliation with Queen Victoria’s Jubilee Institute for Nurses, it was accepted “on the basis that the Association should maintain the two standards of nursing, with” certain qualifications “and that the Institute should inspect the nurses, and report upon their work. It was stipulated, however, that the second class of nurses were not to be known as “Queen’s Nurses”’ (p. 152).
* -------------------------------------------- *
The story about nursing still continues.
Talk to you later.
Hi, ladies!!!
It is another cloudy day today, isn’t it? Last night the weather forecast predicted that we were going to have a sunny day today and I decided to wash the sunroom this afternoon, but with this weather I do have to change my plan…oh dear.
It is an excellent piece of news, Alice, that one of your students uttered that she was enjoying your class and your class was one of her most favorite classes. God helps those who help themselves, doesn’t it? You are a hard worker and you deserve a lot of luck and fortune. I do like this old saying and I believe in it. How about you?
Again, redundancy… Probably, you are sick and tired of this word, but it is a serious matter, and I hope you take this issue as gravely as I do.
For the next essays, I would like Cosmos, Sunflower and Magnolia to get together and discuss how to reduce redundancy in your essays. In order to carry it out smoothly, I would like you to bear it in mind all the time and try to reduce redundancy in your written messages in this blog.
If you, senior members, write more concisely, you could save the time and energy of Bev sensei, who thereby will pay more attention to the details of your essays, which might help your essays more improved.
Now, I will try to reduce the redundancy seen in Cosmos’ message.
I am very, very sorry to say this, but, probably, with one line space between clusters of sentences, it would be much easier for you to find your redundancy…
Perhaps:
Cherry and ladies have recently written a little bit difficult issues. The I’d like to talk a stupid talk about a scene in the park.
Well, our members’ writings let me know how patiently many feminists have struggled against sex discrimination. In spite of such hardship, discrimination would be die hard on the earth. I suppose it might be the nature of humankind.
I go to the neighboring park with my dog almost everyday except rainy days. I’ll introduce a very common scene I see there today. Please imagine one man in the center of circles. He is surrounded by a flock of doves.
The man feeding crumbs to doves, and doves having the food freely, the both are sharing a happy time. That is their time of bliss. Bu you can see another circle outside of them, black circle, a flock of crows.
They are watching the happy man and doves and waiting for their turn patiently in vain, though they know the man never give them only a flake of bread. One courageous crow got a chance and tried to pick up one flake by stealth, invading into doves’ group.
Finding that, the feeding man got very angry and dispelled the group of crows with shouting loud voice. This is a kind of biased treatment. I know many people hate crows because crows peck at garbage, scatter them and make them a mess. But this phenomenon is caused from the unfair treatment of human, isn’t it? Doves are favored and crows are disliked.
Discrimination exists, everywhere.
Thank you for reading my stupid talk, friends!
In this way, you will find some redundancy, won’t you?
In the nest message, I will try to streamline Cosmos’ message.
Hi, ladies!!!
It’s me again.
Let me try to make some sentences written by Cosmos succinct.
--The I’d like to talk a stupid talk about a scene in the park.
This would be:
Then I’d like to give a stupid talk about a scene in the park.
--The man feeding crumbs to doves, and doves having the food freely, the both are sharing a happy time.
This would be:
The man feeding crumbs to doves, who are having them freely, and both are sharing a happy time.
--They are watching the happy man and doves and waiting for their turn patiently in vain, though they know the man never give them only a flake of bread.
This would be:
They are watching the happy man and doves, waiting for their turn patiently in vain, though they know the man never give them only a flake of bread.
Actually, I think the clause starting with “though” is not necessary, since “in vain” means everything. So, this would be:
They are watching the happy man and doves, waiting for their turn patiently in vain.
This is only a matter of practice. Practice makes perfect, doesn’t it? Let’s practice English every day. Easy, isn’t it?
Hi, ladies!!!
It is Sunday, October 26, 2008, today, and unfortunately it has been wet and a bit chilly, hasn’t it?
The Japanese yen has been getting stronger against other currencies, and since I’m going to Sydney in January, I thought I shouldn’t miss this opportunity and went to the bank on Friday to buy some Australian dollars. I got to the bank in Sakae in the early afternoon, but the foreign currency counter was so crowded with customers that I was told to go to the exchange center one flower below, which I found also packed.
Thereby I went up again and put myself in the waiting list for customers who wanted to make foreign currency bank accounts. Probably, one hour later, around 3 o’clock I was told that I was not able to make an account on that day simply because the bank business was closed at 3.
Last Friday one Australian dollar in cash cost 74.17 yen while on a bank account it came to only 66.47 yen. Around this time last year it was worth more than 100 yen. Amazing, isn’t it? But I am a bit worried about Hitomi san who is at present working in Sydney waiting for her Canadian permanent visa to be officially granted.
I hope all of you are having a fascinating Sunday afternoon, my dear friends. I am getting ready for supper. Goodnight to you all.
Dear Cherry and friends,
Hello. It’s probably stopped raining.
I went to the library, walking through the park and seeing lovely cosmos flowers lining along the path. They are pink, purple, and white.
Plum, I appreciate your warm response to my comments.
As for my writing, I’ll practice avoiding redundancy as carefully as possible.
* -------------------------------------------- *
The next topic about the nursing movement is the Training Institute at Plaistow which produced competent village nurses. Pupils there sometimes included women of 60 who had already worked as nurses but pursued to get late scientific knowledge.
Miss Katherine Twining, a cousin of Miss Louisa Twining, started district work with Sister Maud in the East of London. The institution was called the Maternity Charity and District Nurses’ Home. Miss Broadwood who started the Ockley System sent nurses to Plaistow because Miss Twining offered to train them. Further, no fewer than six counties such as Lincolnshire decided to grant scholarships the holders of which were trained there.
Miss Louisa Twining worked for poor law reform, i.e. workhouse reform. To understand its necessity, we first need to imagine how awful workhouses were, say, in the 1850s. Paupers were packed in a small building and treated badly even if they became sick. A certain couple who was hired as master and matron ruled the Strand Union Workhouse tyrannically and almost killed one inmate in the chimney. They were eventually dismissed, but the case was not exceptional. Miss Twining was one of those who struggled to sweep away the abuses prevailing in the workhouse system. While visiting the Strand Union and St. Gile’s, she wrote reports on the condition of the workhouses to appeal urgent reforms were needed.
For young women, a separate institution was established by Miss Twining who wanted industrial training for girls. In 1878, the home was taken over by the Metropolitan Association for Befriending Young Servants.
“Another department of poor law reform which Miss Twining took in hand in 1861 was the treatment of destitute incurables.” (p. 172)
For this purpose, special homes were not established but separate wards were as Miss Frances Power Cobbe and Miss Elliot recommended. Although infirmaries were formed in workhouses, only nursing by pauper women was available in the beginning. Thus, trained nurses became much-needed. In 1865, the large infirmary of the Liverpool Workhouse “was put under the care of Miss Agnes Jones, of the Nightingale Fund School, St. Thomas’ Hospital, London.” (p. 175) The work of Miss Agnes Elizabeth Jones was closely connected with that of Miss Louisa Twining and recognized by Miss Florence Nightingale. Her conspicuous success was described in the next chapter, which I will not explain the details here, though.
To qualify women of a better class as matrons or nurses, the Workhouse Infirmary Nursing Association was formed in 1879.
Miss Twining and Miss Martha Merrington were women who elected as members of Boards of Guardians. Since their having authority, many other women had served “as Poor Law Guardians throughout England and Wales.” (p. 178)
Pratt describes pioneer women as women who did not forget womanliness, which sounds critical towards Victorian feminists who behaved unwomanly. No doubt, nursing is women’s work according to him.
* -------------------------------------------- *
Almost 3 hours have elapsed since I started writing.
I’m very tired.
Hope you’re not bored.
Talk to you tomorrow.
Hi, ladies!!!
It is Monday, October 27, 2008, today. It was cloudy in the morning but cleared up in the early afternoon.
At the moment I am teaching English to 8 students at the university library in Toyota and 6 students at TCLC in Sakae. They are going to present a public speech in November, and thus I have been helping them writing their speech scripts.
It is fun and enjoyable to assist them in preparing their scripts. Usually they and I discuss what they are going to talk about before the summer vacation.
Normally some students send me their scripts during the holidays, but their early ones are generally so elementary and disorganized, and therefore we exchange emails and try to build up their speech structure. Sometimes it takes about 2 or 3 months to complete their 3-page scripts. But anyway, to my joy, their scripts are all getting in excellent shape now.
I just want to show you one script, which is well organized and can be used as a sample speech. This was prepared by a woman student in the 40s, perhaps, and her English competency level is much lower than yours. She is a brilliant student and opened an English blog for her classmates last year.
*****
High-School Students and Part-Time Work
Introduction:
Hello to my friends, teachers and staff members at the Gakusen University Library. My name is Ikue Kojima. I am called Vicky in Dr. Aoyama’s English class.
I would like to speak about high-school students and part-time work. Some high-school students come to think of earning money after they enter senior high-school. However, there are two contrasting opinions in respect of this idea. I will try to analyze these two different views. I myself support the idea, and so I would like to build up my opinion as a supporter of high-school students working part-time. First I will examine a few opinions in support of this notion, followed by some to the contrary, and then present my own view.
Body:
One of the merits of high-school students working part-time is that they can learn the value of money. They can learn how hard it is to earn money, even a small amount of money, by being engaged in paid work. In terms of value, the money they can get from work is not equal to the money they are given as allowance by their parents. With this knowledge of the value of money, they will come to realize that they should spend their money carefully, wisely and cautiously.
Also, through exposure to the work-place, high-school students can learn common sense or the social wisdom that the general public widely share, as well as social rules that are important to know for living in society in harmony. Unfortunately students are not normally required to learn common sense or social rules in a practical way at school. In their work place, they would learn how to talk to others politely and behave themselves as well as how to respect others. They will be able to develop human relationships at work that they would not do at school. Being surrounded by a variety of different kinds of people working with them, they will be often required to learn how to promote co-operation, solidarity and team work. At school they are normally expected to get higher marks in competitive examinations, with little attention to inter-personal problems.
In addition to this, they will get some information through their work experience that will guide them in making their future career plans. When they are in the third year at senior high-school, they have to make a decision whether they go to college or start to work after graduation. Their work experience and first hand information would be very helpful to them at the time of decision-making.
Now I would like to offer a couple of negative opinions on the issue.
Many people, especially parents, worry that their high-school daughters or sons might neglect their study once they start to work part-time. Parents are concerned that their teenage children might get involved with delinquent or bad people in the world outside the school, since the protection that is provided at school is not expected at work. Mothers and fathers also worry that their children, who are in that sensitive age between being a child and an adult, might be easily influenced by crazy youth fashion that is not appropriate for high-school students.
I do understand these parental worries and concerns. High school students starting to work part-time means that they enter a world where their school protection or rules do not exist. But, what is more important is to consider teenage students' future and let them make their future plans for themselves. Their work experience and various pieces of information they will get at work will truly be useful to them. This kind of experience and knowledge could not be secured at school.
Conclusion:
I have examined some of the pros and cons of the issue of high-school students and part-time work. Since I support this idea, I emphasized the importance of high-school students' work experience. It is still a controversial issue and I believe it is important to discuss this problem openly and broadly.
Thank you very much for listening to my opinion speech. I do hope you enjoyed it. You have been a wonderful audience. Thank you again.
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