Women hardest hit by Tsunami
More women than men were killed by the Asian tsunami, Oxfam figures from India, Indonesia and Sri Lanka suggest. In some regions the disaster claimed four times as many women as men. The charity says women were worst-hit because they were waiting on beaches for fishermen to return, or at home looking after children at the time.
If I could speak English…
“… In the future, I would want to not be isolated from my friends in the Space Station.”
“… I would make all my subordinates Americans and start a hamburger joint with great atmosphere.”
Quotes from a language school ad in Japan. www.boingboing.net/2005/03/17/if_i_could_speak_eng.html
China rules against Taiwan
There’s a huge outrage over a new anti-Taiwan law enacted by China which allows China to use military force against Taiwan in case of secession. Were Taiwan to declare itself independent, it would be immediately occupied Chinese military. President Chen of Taiwan called the law a “law of aggression.” According to the Public Pundit, Taiwan is pursuing an anti-anti-secession law.
Wherever this will go, the public relations scandal is hugely detrimental. Most countries are sympathetic to the Taiwanese cause, but politically cannot afford to ignore China’s strong will or oppose them. The resulting fallout with China would be more harmful than the benefit of supporting Taiwan. So, isolated and on their own, what will they do?
Rice to visit Asia
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is setting off for an Asia tour to foster relations with China and North Korea. Interesting that China and North Korea are America’s two biggest military threats. It makes sense that she’d visit them, given her new position as secretary of state. But–what can she accomplish?
Asian Mental Health
While grading the CS211 prelim, we TA’s saw advertisements for a seminar on Asian Mental Health which claimed 1/2 of suicides at Cornell University were committed by Asian males. The numbers seemed too high, the race issue to laughably strong, so we joked about it, and rewrote the headers to read “half of all singles at Cornell are Asian males.” But when the next day’s issue of The Cornell Daily Sun came out, we weren’t laughing as much anymore.
Wai Kwong Wong, Ph.D., held a lecture addressing health concerns in the Asian community last Thursday. According to Wong, who works for CAPS (Counseling and Psychological Services), 50 percent of suicides at Cornell come from a mere 17% of the population. Asian students are more likely to experience stress, relationship trouble, and abuse, and less likely to do anything about it, he said. The genius stereotype, generation gaps in the family, and what Wong termed “conceptual invisibility” play a huge role in Asian mental health on campus.
The solution he offers? Seek help when you need it.
If you’re not the only one unsatisfied with this idea, brainstorm in the comments. To me, “seeking help when you need it” is a symptomatic treatment that soothes the pain caused by racism and culture shock without actually getting to the heart of the problem. For some reason, Asian students are pressured differently than other Cornell students. A better solution, I think, would be to probe the reasons why, and try and alleviate some of the external pressures that our Asian students face.
Cross posted to the Cornell Blog