First ILE blog entry

Throughout the month of November I have gone to my internship 2 times out of a possible 4. I was sick one week and then I got off another week because my mentor was out of the country and there was nothing for me to do that day. The other two days I went I got to see a lot of patients. Most of them spoke english too, which is pretty cool because I can actually understand.
My most powerful experience throughout these last two weeks was probably getting to meet some people from Morrison. I met some sophomore girls on the basketball team and the varsity girls basketball assistant coach. It was nice getting to talk to each of them and learning more about their basketball teams. The first week in November I got to sit in on Patrick Truchons appointment. It was pretty cool watching my mentor work on his toe because I am so close with Patrick. This same day our train got delayed by an hour or so which was really boring. Every Wednesday I get to watch a physical therapy session from 1pm-2pm and I almost always fall asleep. The session itself is not boring but the music they play is so soothing ( which it is supposed to be, just not for me) and by that time I am pretty exhausted. The Physical therapist I usually work with knows that I get sleepy when I hear the music so he has started talking to me more and explains things to me as he works. I am definitely an outgoing person which is really good because I get to talk to a lot of people about their lives and how they injured themselves. On November 12th there was a really funny patient. He was explaining how he layed on his bed with his daughter but before he finished his story he had to clarify that his daughter was only 6 years old and he told me not to freak. He was a pretty cool guy! I hope to learn more about Biology and Anatomy so I am better equiped to help Dr. Hang with his research and any projects he may have for me. He would like me to work on a poster for the treatment Orthokine but he hasn't given me the specifics just yet. My internship is going pretty good so far. Sometimes I don't have anything to do but I take homework with me and I can also read more about Anatomy. I look forward to what the rest of the year has to bring.

Enron Scandal

Where are Lay and Skilling now?
The effect of "hubris" in the Enron debacle

Last Thursday we watched the movie Enron in Global Ethics class. I thought it was a pretty remarkable video. Before watching this movie I had heard the word Enron A LOT, but I really didn't know what it meant and why it was so important. After watching this video I now realize the impact the Enron scandal had on people in the US during the 1990's. A common question regarding Enron is probably, "Who is to blame for this scandal?" If I were to answer this based on what I learned from the video, I would say Ken Lay and Jeffrey Skilling. Lay was the CEO of Enron from 1986 to 2002, when he resigned. He was also the chairman of the company for a few months in 2001. Ken lay died on July 5th, 2006 while vacationing with his family. The Autopsies indicate that he died of a heart attack brought on by coronary artery disease. Skilling, who was the CEO of Enron in 2001, on the other hand, is sitting in prison right now. He is currently serving a 24 year, 4 month sentence at the Federal Correctional Institution in Wasceca, Minnesota.

"Hubris" has a huge impact on the way this Enron story unfolds. "Hubris" is defined as personal pride

Dongmen Shopping Center

It seems that you were really uncomfortable being inside DongMen. Granted, it is a dirty place. How do you feel knowing that people live in that environment, and children grow up there? What kind of reaction do you have when you see people living in a place like DongMen surrounded by the relative wealth of Hsinchu right outside? What do you think should be done, if anything? How do you think DongMen went from being an operational, thriving shopping center to its current state?

It kind of creeps me out to know that people live back inside that abandoned shopping mall. I think we take a lot of things for granted too. We all live in nice houses with hot water and food to eat when we want it but sometimes we forget about the people that don't have those luxuries. I think being in that environment for the few hours that we were there was enough to kind of make me thankful for what I have. I can't imagine what it would be like to be homeless. It must be very lonely, which is something I am not necessarily comfortable with. Our trip to dongmen didn't only involve homeless people though. Some of those houses were pretty crappy. Again, it just makes me thankful for what I have. As far as what we can do for them...nothing. I mean, I'm sure they are content with the way they are living because they have had so long to get used to it. I don't really think anything should be done. Its impossible to get everyone on the same level. Our society is a hierarchy where we have the high class, which is wealthy and then we have the lower class, which isn't as fortunate. That's just how it is. I'm sure some of the larger companies like SOGO, FE21, Windance, Carrefore and RT mart are the reason the shopping center isn't thriving anymore. How do we know that the shopping center used to be thriving? Honestly, I can't imagine that place being very successful. There are houses and every room is so tiny. The Dongmen shopping center is definitely an interesting place and I'm sure I will wander in there a few times.

River Choreography

The main idea that we can draw from the article is that these large companies in science park are contaminating the world we live in, more specifically, the river. These businesses do their everyday routines in order to be successful business enterprises however they neglect one thing: the well being of Hsinchu residents. I think we can do a routine where we have trash scattered all along the river and we have to do a dance/routine in order to pick it all up. That way we can see the importance of throwing away trash, so we don't spoil the environment. I would suggest doing a scene where we walk through the water but the water in the canal is horrendous. We might be able to use the rocks going across the middle in some neat way. I really think that we should try some sort of trash routine. We can collect a lot of trash and somehow make it into a cool routine where we are dancing (since this is dance class) and picking up trash and throwing it away. I think we would have to incorporate some kind of crawling motion in order to pick up the trash. I think this idea has some potential, but I'd like to hear some other ideas. They might help me finalize my idea or come up with something new.