American, But Non-American Cuisine

Hey! Were you waiting for the next writing of DSKUSSS? Today we brought the theme of food! Let's find out what theme is and what message is in it! Enjoy it and give your thoughts through comments :)

American, But Non-American Cuisine

Sunju Lee

Kyung-pook National University

Political Science and Diplomacy

 

Nobody can deny that people from various kinds of cultural background live in the U.S. and have the U.S. citizenship. Although we do not know how much hard time these immigrants had had in order to settle down in the new world, a list of fusion cuisines helps us to find some of them were as clever as to modify themselves properly to the society. Especially, American Chinese cuisine shows how different culinary traditions have combined and invented popular dishes.

When it comes to characteristic Chinese cuisine, it is common to say that vegetables are usually cooked or fried. American Chinese cuisine also follows this style of cooking, but what we should carefully look at is the use of western vegetables. For example, daikon or lo bac, a large white radish from East Asia, is substituted by carrot which is called “foreign daikon” in China. Similarly, western broccoli, short and bulb-shape one, is not originated from China. However, it is often used in American Chinese dishes instead of Chinese broccoli or jie lan. Likewise, Chinese cooks agreed to modify original cutlery elements. This is why we can find these western vegetables in many ‘Wok’ or “Chop suey” in the U.S. but not in China.



Lo bac or Daikon                        

 Jie Lan or Chine Broccoli



     

Chop Suey(www.norecipe.com)

 



It is not strange to see people in the U.S. order and enjoy Asian food in Chinese restaurants. Not only have these immigrants modified their cuisine to suit American palate, but also have dedicated themselves to improve their restaurants inventing plates with new ingredients. From the effort of Chinese-American, we can learn these people did not hesitate to modify and adapt themselves to the new world.

 

Hello! Here comes DSKUSSS! We want to discuss why people use nuclear energy even though they are aware of the problem of it. If you agree or disagree, let us know through the comments! Enjoy the reading :)

Nuclear Energy: Why People Use Nuclear Energy

                                                                                                                     

Yunzee Kim

Graduated from Dongseo University

Broadcasting and Media Studies

             Since nuclear energy has developed gradually from the 1970’s, there have been continuous controversies about using it. The main factor of anti-usage of it is about safety. People who are against using nuclear energy usually mention the Three Mile Island incident, the Chernobyl incident, and the Earthquake of Dohoku in Japan. They say the nuclear energy could be terminated and changed with another alternative form because this energy could threaten people’s safety.

However, their argument seems hard to be done. Do you know what the number 4,157,000,000,000 represents? This huge number means the amount of energy consumption (unit: kilowatt hours of electricity) in 2007 in U.S.A (Widder, 2010[1]). Much worse, needs of energy have never stopped increasing since the Industrial Revolution. People have extracted more energy from various sources to satisfy their needs.

In this situation, nuclear energy becomes one kind of alternative energy. That is because it can satisfy huge amounts of electricity demands. Aronson (2009[2]) says nuclear energy usually supplies electricity steadily and stably unlike fuel fossil energy that has limited amount. Echdvarri (2006[3]) also shows that more and more OECD(Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development) countries use this nuclear energy. In other words, countries are using this energy because the nuclear energy is effective in supplying increasing energy amounts to people. For this reason, people should realize how an important role nuclear energy plays in covering soaring demands of electricity.

             Based on this, nuclear energy is effective in meeting increasing demands of electricity. However, there are still controversies on using nuclear energy. Despite the controversies, people cannot deny the truth that nuclear energy is useful in meeting huge demands of electricity. As long as people stay aware of the risks of using nuclear energy and cautious about the safety of it, they can use it as a useful alternative energy.

---

[1] Widder, S. (2010). Benefits and concerns of a closed nuclear fuel cycle. Journal of

 renewable and sustainable energy 2. 062802. 1-10

[2] Aronson, R. B. (2009, February). The Emerging Energy Industry. Manufacturing Energy-

Related Products. 142(2).47-54

[3] Echavarri, L. E. (2006, December). Nuclear energy: Towards sustainable development.

 OECD Obsever. 258/259. 17-19.

Voracious Reading Does Not Vouch for Language Improvement

Do you read materials to improve your English? One of our members introduces one interesting theory on reading style for language improvement. Take a look and think about what style do you have when reading something. Give us your thoughts through comments!

Voracious Reading Does Not Vouch for Language Improvement

 

Cha Su-Min

Korea National University of Education

Dept. of English Education

             As more emphasis has been placed on the foreign language proficiency, learners began to look for effective ways to improve their language ability. One of the most prevalent strategies they choose is to read as much material as possible. It is undoubtedly reasonable to say abundant exposure to various resources may help to establish broad background that will eventually bring linguistic improvement. An educational approach, however, reveals that reckless reading without careful plans, hence the term “voracious reading,” would bear less fruit than learners might expect or none.

             Two notions language pedagogy suggests against voracious reading are “uptake” and “intake.” While “uptake” refers to the state learners store new or unfamiliar concepts in their brain instantly and forget them in near future, “intake” refers to complete internalization of new concepts so that learners are able to apply them to whenever necessary. According to this approach, language learners whose focus is solely on the amount of reading would be able to reach the “uptake” level but would never reach the “intake” level.  To fully understand and vitalize what they acquired, therefore, learners should prepare carefully designed strategies prior to a reading phase. One good tip, especially when it comes to unfamiliar themes, is to broaden preliminary knowledge by reading corresponding material in a native language. After grasping the concept would learners be able to “intake” target language instead of drifting along the paragraphs only to stay in “uptake” level.

             Everyone has different purpose as to learning the foreign language. Once their ultimate goal is to get used to the target language without any feeling of repulsion, voracious reading will help achieve it. If the priority is on native-like communication in the target language, on the other hand, learners had better try to reach an “intake” phase as shown above by arranging well-knit strategies. Voracious reading provides no guarantee for excellent language acquisition. Why don’t you look back to your language learning and cautiously examine the overall process once more?

Understanding America, Understanding the Great Seal

Here is another interesting writing on the Great Seal of the USA. One of our members explain what this symbol stands for. If you read this, you are going to understand its true meaning. Let us know what you think about this writing through comments! :)

Understanding America, Understanding the Great Seal

Kim Min Ji

Sogang University

American Culture and Political Science

 

 

             I bet many recall seeing this emblem before from somewhere, probably from the covers of U.S. passports. It is called the Great Seal of United States, representing the country itself and it is used to authenticate documents produced by the government. Even if it is a symbol that can be seen quite frequently, how many of you know what it symbolizes as well as the values it stands for?

             The first thing that comes into sight is the eagle. It is a bald-eagle, also known as the American eagle. Plus, it is the national bird and at the same time the national animal of United States of America. The eagle holds 13 arrows in its left talon and a branch of an olive tree on its right with 13 olives hanging. The eagle then holds a ribbon in its beak which has the phrase, “E Pluribus, Unum” written on it.

             Several symbolisms that can be found from the seal represent the founding of the country. First, the repetition of number 13 stands for the fact that the country started out with 13 states. The olive tree and arrows in each of the eagle’s talons symbolize peace and war respectively, and it can be interpreted as America’s strong will to protect peace but if anyone tries to violate it, the country is always ready for a war. The phrase on the ribbon, “E Pluribus Unum” is Latin for “out of many, one.” The phrase can be interpreted in two different ways. It means that the country is made of 50 different states, and all these states come together to form a nation. Another interpretation is to suggest the notion of multiculturalism in America, as many different races, ethnic groups, religion and so much diversity stands at the core of America’s fundamentals.

             The Seal of United States of America has a lot of meaning compacted into a single picture. From the peace-protecting agent to the originator of the Melting Pot theory, the seal is self-explanatory regarding its symbolism and understanding what it stands for will give a better insight into America in general along with the values the country promotes.

Two Interesting Factors of 'Gossip Girl'

Here comes us! We are back with a recommendation of American TV Drama Show! Have you ever heard of 'Gossip Girl'? It is a famous TV drama show that describes how the life of high school students in upper class is like. This writing is going to talk about why you need to watch it :) Feel free to share your feeling through the comment! 

 

Two Interesting Factors of Gossip Girl

Han, Hee-ju

Hankuk University of Foreign Studies

Dept. of International Development Studies

1. Fashion



School Uniform

          They don’t wear school uniform in the same way as others. The girls wear not only hair band which means a symbol of authority, but also red stocking and high heel with school uniform. It is story of it-girls, Serena van der Woodsen (Blake Lively) and Blair Waldorf (Leighton Meester). 

Wedding Dress

Through the trend-setters in New York, I’ve enjoyed seeing the fashion of privileged young adults in Manhattan's Upper East Side.            Maybe the peak of the fashion in the drama would be a wedding dress in the last season, season 6. To meet the expectation, they show us not just a white wedding dress but a unique one and break the stereotypes of a wedding dress. 



2. Conflicts and Friendship

          Serena and Blair are longtime friends and occasional rivals. They repeat a lot of conflict-and-reconciliation processes. It was very interesting to understand each other after serious conflict and betrayal. After they have gone through complex love relationship, eventually they forgive each other and become the most reliable supporters.

          Another interesting conflict is made by the omniscient blogger ‘Gossip Girl’, a mysterious existence, who knows everything by tip-off around main characters. ‘Gossip Girl’ is deeply involved in the relationship among the main characters including Chuck Bass (Ed Westwick) who is a heir of Empire State Hotel and Nate Archibald (Chace Crawford) who is a honorary political heir. Also an outsider in Brooklyn, Dan Humphrey (Penn Badgley) who lives in opposite conditions to the four people is an important character.

          The Gossip Girl blog spreads gossips on their private lives throughout New York. It gives impetus to the story. Indeed, who is the owner of ‘Gossip Girl’, the trouble maker blog?