“Here I mean only to point out that service might be good for me (doing the serving), it might be good for them (being served), it might be good for us (as a society), or, weirdly enough, it might be good for God (though this would seem to be presumptuous to the point of impiety). “
Why would people ever suspect the intention of someone who is dong “good”? Does the inner reason weight much more than the outer result from that good behavior? Does someone doing good because he wants to seek for a spiritual peace with himself or even to feel good about himself somehow trivialize his action? “Why serve? Here are five reductive answers: (1) we are God’s children; (2) we share the earth; (3) I find myself in you; (4) I win praise by serving you; (5) I suck.” These five reasons seems repetitive with the paragraph above, but I see it as a good summary of the reasons why people do what they do. No matter what is the reason for people to do good, we cannot diminish the significance of one action just because it has a reason that is not as “noble” as the other. “We do not like to be seen as hypocrites and we certainly do not like to see ourselves as hypocrites. So when we say that everyone is equal, we want to believe it.” “The personally responsible citizen acts responsibly in his/ her community by, for example, picking up litter, giving blood, recycling, volunteering, and staying out of debt. The personally responsible citizen works and pays taxes, obeys laws, and helps those in need during crises such as snowstorms or floods. The personally responsible citizen contributes to food or clothing drives when asked and volunteers to help those less fortunate whether in a soup kitchen or a senior center. S/he might contribute time, money, or both to charitable causes. Both those in the character education movement and many of those who advocate community service would emphasize this individualistic vision of good citizenship. “ This paragraph above really resembles reason No.2 that “we share the earth”. It ponds on the necessity that each people share a responsibility as citizen to do good to their community. Which is not entirely false, but to me, being responsible is just doing what we should, what we are supposed to do. While true good actions is doing what we are not obliged to do but would like to do it anyone for the sake of other people’s as well as oneself’s benefit. Research Resources.1 I found the Berlin Themed Books(http://www.slowtravelberlin.com/city-lit-ten-berlin-books/) really helpful in supporting my project. Even though I have not entirely determined my topic and focus, I was thinking about researching on the expression through literature, arts and graffiti by immigrants in search of own identity and sense of belonging. The books mentioned in the website help me get a general idea of Berlin’s environment and show me a glimpse of life in Berlin even though I have never been there. “Historians have praised the novel for its historical accuracy so if you would like a meticulous portrait of Berlin as the centre of the Nazi regime, look no further.” The book The Kindly Ones by Jonathan Littell particularly interests me. I am dying to read it and see for myself how vivid, gripping Berlin is. “I loved the easy, carefree philosophies, the cheap jazz, the vulgar cabarets and all of the other cultural excesses that characterized the Weimar years and made Berlin seem like one of the most exciting cities in the world.” Research Resources.2 The Chronicle of the Berlin Wall(http://www.chronik-der-mauer.de/en/) also provides me with many useful information in forming my idea of the project. It presents me with detailed view of the history of Berlin Wall and the timeline allows me to see the importance of the Wall in German history and the story happening around also worths digging. “Between 1961 and 1989, at least 139 people were killed at the Berlin Wall or died under circumstances directly connected with the GDR border regime.” Victims of the Berlin Wall is not inclusively enough. Besides those who actually died because of the Wall, many more suffered from separation and persecution due to the existence of the Wall.
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“To speak of a single "immigrant literature" is simply wrong, because it is wrongly simple. The nature of migration and the level of foreign writers' integration vary too much to be collected in one category, not to mention the authors' unique biographical backgrounds and differing cultural, religious, or social habits. “
It is just far too general to try to categorize the whole range of literature written by immigrants who possess different feelings, who have gone through different situations and who have distinct expressional writing styles as one genre. To really understand and study the field of immigrant literature, we need to see the detailed focus presented by those works and relate the subjects with author’s life story and the sending and receiving countries involved in that immigration. Also take social structure and personal background into consideration to help us see the whole picture under that particular circumstance. “Urban art and graffiti are expressions of more general ideas, beliefs, and convictions and are thus subject to conflicts about power over signification and interpretation as well as about access to common resources.” Just like words or music, urban art is a more straightforward and explicit way of expression. It represents the trend of standing up and expression one’s own thoughts and tries to either protest or to promote in a peaceful and artful means. In Berlin, the graffiti is ubiquitous and this not only reflects the underlying chaos and conflict within the city, it also demonstrates that the problems cannot be easily resolved just as the graffiti on the walls everywhere cannot be easily all erased. “The familiar versus the alien Migrant literature (or 'migration literature') is the term generally used to denote linguistic works of art whose authors have undergone a major cultural and, in most cases, linguistic shift.” I paused my reading when seeing the words “familiar” and “alien”. It is just an experience too close for me to feel that I need to try and familiarize myself with the outer culture and situations around me. Partially, migrant literature reflects the authors’ feedbacks resulting from the shift in living background they have undergone; but it is more than that. An author may choose to write in a language different than his mother tongue not just for the reason that he feels the need to try not to alien himself with the identity he is migrating to, but can simply because he feels the beauty and fluency found in that particular language. “People have lived and worked here for a long time, and even if they aren’t making much money, they are part of the city,” The main drive and consequence for gentrification is hard to comment on. To me, it feels like “updating” an already crowed system by pushing out those who could not afford so that those who are able to stay can enjoy more. Just as the article goes, “I think you have to find an equilibrium, where people can find reasonable rental prices, but the city is still allowed to develop further.” When an environment reaches the point of saturation, some must leave. Question is who is going to be the one to leave voluntarily and who is to be driven away. “Some legacy businesses, including the 20-year old Platinum Records, have closed or are relocating. Others have cashed in: The Piecora family sold the building containing its 33-year-old pizza shop to Chicago-based developers for $10.3 million.” The difference between gentrification and colonialism via “development” lies in that gentrification focuses on the already existing people and community within the area, while colonialism is more complex because it involves people merging from different countries other than the country that undergoes the development. I do not know if this kind of development by replacing old industry and working chains with a new chain just to realize the purpose of gentrification is necessary. It is such a loss to see those that has been in the city for such a long time that has become a mark of the city isJust as Ivan Illich mentions in his To Hell With Good Intentions, “You will know what you are doing, why you are doing it, and how to communicate with those to whom you speak. And you will know when you fail. If you insist on working with the poor, if this is your vocation, then at least work among the poor who can tell you to go to hell.” Many solutions are meant to help the poor but end up striping what little is left for the poor. |
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