Blood drive/donation

Last Wednesday, I hurried to the Sterling Memorial Libarary for blood drive/donation, for I am perfectly healthy and have done it many times back in China, and now I am here and I want to make a little of my contribution, but I was turned down, because I haven’t been here in America for more than one year, which aroused my interest in criteria for elibibility in America.

Sure most of the criteria are the same between Chian and America, but the following two points puzzle me.

First is about age. The more or less same starting age

You must be at least 17 years old to donate to the general blood supply, or 16 years old with parental/guardian consent, if allowed by state law(America).

Chinese are allowed to donate at the age of 18, which is the age of adulthood.

Quite different is the upper age limit.

There is no upper age limit for blood donation as long as you are well with no restrictions or limitations to your activities(America).

But chinese have to stop at age of 45(woman) or 50(man).

What’s problem with chinese health?It’s clear that we are not so confident about our own body and health at all.

The second is as follows.

Travel Outside of U.S., Immigration

You can be exposed to malaria through travel and travel in some areas can sometimes defer donors. If you have traveled outside of the United States and Canada, your travel destinations will be reviewed at the time of donation.

Come prepared to your donation process with your travel details when you donate. You may download the travel form and bring it with you to help in the assessment of your travel. You can call 866-236-3276 to speak with an eligibility specialist about your travel.

If, in the past 3 years, you have been outside the United States or Canada:

·         What countries did you visit?

·         Where did you travel while in this country?

·         Did you leave the city or resort at any time? If yes, where did you go?

·         What mode of transportation did you use?

·         How long did you stay?

·         What date did you return to the U.S.?

Malaria is transmitted by the bite of mosquitoes found in certain countries and may be transmitted to patients through blood transfusion. Blood donations are not tested for malaria because there is no sensitive blood test available for malaria.

If you have traveled or lived in a malaria-risk country, we may require a waiting period before you can donate blood

·         Wait 3 years after completing treatment for malaria.

·         Wait 12 months after returning from a trip to an area where malaria is found.

·         Wait 3 years after living 5 years or more in a country or countries where malaria is found.

Wait 12 months after travel to Iraq. This requirement is related to concerns about Leishmanaisis. Those who have had Leishmanaisis are not eligible to donate. See In-Depth Discussion of Leishmanaisis and Blood Donation below.

Persons who have spent long periods of time in countries where "mad cow disease" is found are not eligible to donate. This requirement is related to concerns about variant Creutzfeld Jacob Disease (vCJD). 

     So hurt I am by this criteron, for it means all the people except Americans and Candians, are looked down and distrusted.

I feel a little Ecuador On the land of United states of America.

Summer weekends are highlights of new Haven residents, so I have enjoyed a couple of concerts of different styles on the green, and today is special for Spanish Ecuador immigrants.

Hispanic people(black people too)seem to be born able to sing and dance, so there are singers and dances on the stage and on the green. What a picture!

It’s not only time for music, but also for these.

Kids are the happiest with their own ways though they don’t care about music at all.

I don’t know what gets Chinese immigrants together (mahjong, jiaozi?), but I bet not this kind of music and dance.

Human being are sociable animals who need companions and gatherings, but different cultures have quite different ways of doing that. 

My books borrowed from the New Haven public liberty libaray were due Friday, Aug,31, so I hurried to the library before 9 so that I could return them before 9:30 and come back to class on time. But when I got there and found a notice on the door , saying it doesn’t open until 10 o’clock. Oh, my goodness, how could I wait so long? I was sort of anxious and worried about my class. I am not the person to be late for work.

Just at the moment, a kind passerby told me to go down a passage and just insert the books into a box and everything is done.

I followed her direction and returned the books in a couple of minutes.

I was and am so moved by his kind of design which brings great conveniences to the readers who can return the borrowed books at any time.

What’s human-based management?This is!

I don’t think my university or community has this sort of service(actually we don’t have enough libraries at all). Our government officials spend large fortunes every year to come to America or some other advanced countries for advanced management, but what have they learned and what they have done and are doing? There are a lot of changes, sure, but there is still too much for all of us to do to make a better place for ourselves to live better.

“You are proud of me today,

I am proud of you tomorrow”

Every day I pass schools of architecture and drama when I talk a walk. And when I pass, I can’t help giving a glance at them, because two women I respect very much once studied there. One is Maya Ying Lin , graduate of school of architecture, the other Meryl Streep, graduate of school of drama.

Maya Ying Lin (born October 5, 1959) is an Chinese American designer and artist who is known for her work in sculpture and landscape art. She is best known as the designer of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C. and we can appreciate her Women’s table before the Sterling memorial libarary. In 2009, Maya Lin was awarded the National Medal of Arts by President Barack Obama.

Meryl Streep (born Mary Louise Streep; June 22, 1949)is an American actress of theater, film and television, widely regarded as one of the greatest actresses of all time. She has been nominated eighteen times (more than any other actor/actress in history) for an Academy Award, winning four. I love all her films for her amazing acting and the profound stories.

I admire and respect them for their total devotion and passion to their careers,and their great achievements. Although they are elites and celebrities now, they are so humble, so peaceful,still focused on their careers, keeping on working and creating.

They are my models and icons forever.

They, I suppose, were proud of being enrolled to Yale university, for its fascinating history and tradition, for its prestigious teaching and research staff,for its first level facilities, so on and so forth, but now Yale can be proud of their excellent graduates. They are the pride of each other. What a wonderful connection between the school and the graduates!

Am I unhappy about everything?

No.

I am happy about and satisfied with and grateful for whatever I have now: health, freedom, a career I love, a lovely daughter, more and more understanding parents, close friends, my own spacious apartmen, opportunity to be here in Yale with nice collegues and teachers…. I can’t ask for more.

Thank God!

Am I happy about everything?

No.

I clean the restroom here in our apartment in Yale(8 of us women share one, 5 Chinese; Delia and I are adults, the others are young undergraduate or graduate students). We are told again and again we cannot put trash like food, peels from our rooms into the restroom trash bin, but they just do it. I clean the restroom( no cleaner ever comes ), take the full trash bag to the basement trash room, but I am worried about the young generation’s behaviors and morals, for in some way it is the same situation on our campus in our country. Sure not only young people, a lot of adults behave like this as well.  

I love to talk with and listen to people, especially young students, for their own thoughtful ideas, I learn from them(I always tell them that), but today what some of our students are interested in are rumors, gossips, materials, pc games, vuglar tv shows(which I don’t care at all). So I am a little confused and worried. My friends from some other universities in other fields, like history, philosophy, law have the same kind of experience and feelings and confusions. Of course we have outstanding students, but generally what they care about is power, money and a cosy life in the future.

I, like most Chinese, complain a lot about our system, constitution, our government just because I love the nation and people. I do expect we have a free and democratic country, and then we people can live better in all ways and it can be respected by the other nations, just like I respect America in many ways. And our kids can be better raised ,cultivated and educated, so they can be civilized and respectd by all when they grow up and come out.

Yesterday I paid a visit to Peabody Museum and Leitner Family Observatory Planetanum.

    For detailed information, please log onto

 https://www.peabody.harvard.edu/

 http://lfop.squarespace.com/

I never ever imagined a university possesses such amazing arts, history, natural collections and they are open to public free of charge. But now I am with them, I believe and admire and respect everything I see, especially people behind them. What people? People who donated those arts or funded to found those centers and museums.

As you know, China has a long history, but with continuous wars and revolutions, so there are no big noble, honorable families and funds which have preserved their names with magnificent teaching buildings, libraries, laboratories, museums, art centers, hospitals, etc.

Situations, however, are changing more or less. We may have no professional philanthropists like Bill gates today, but we have more and more NGOs, funds and foundations.

If I had a fortune, I would establish a scholarship in my university, helping brilliant students(from not wealthy families)to summer sessions in prestigious universities in English speaking countries. But the possibility is nought, for I never buy lotteries, I don’t see any chance to make such a sum of money in the rest years of my life.       

I always waste American drivers’ time at crossings without traffic lights.

One day, an senior American man told me, “ I am the king” when we waited, looked around, hesitated to or not to cross a street, for we saw cars approaching the safety line. He lead us go forward without giving even a glance at the cars at all. I know we pedestrians are entitled to go first at any place (except at the crossings with green lights on) in America, but I just hesitate because you know I am from China, where most cars rush for most time and go first in any place as if they are a specially privileged group, so tragic accidents happen so often just on zebra lines or turnings or crossings in China with or without traffic lights, though our traffic regulations say motor vehicles must be courteous to pedestrians, I haven’t seen many drivers do that so far, and nobody has been punished for not obeying . So hesitation, fear, wait is so regular for us, which has been a kind of subconscious. How can we “brave＂enough to cross the street without any hesitation? We have to learn to do as Americans do in America. But back to China, we must come back to that way in a minute, or our life would be in danger.

Which day could be the day in China when we walkers are kings!

I chose to live on campus in a college, though renting an apartment off campus and self-cooking could save a fortune, for I wanted to experience college life. Now we have been here for more than three weeks, and I believe I made the right decision. But I did’t expect it’s so noisy around all day long.

Looking around, I find noises are from the following sources.

1.     The graduate school. We are neighbors, and steams can be seen rising from the chimney 24 hours a day.

2.     The power plant. We assumed that is a lab. Reading the map, we know there is a power plant so near to us.

3.     The gym renovation/repair site. fortunately the construction workers stop at night, unlike ours who work far into the night.

4. The steel door of the college to the north which is just down our windows.

5.     People, police cars,ambulances,private cars and trucks coming and going in the street downstairs.

     What a "lively "life we are having here now in Morse college,on Yale campus!
    Anyway，I am enjoying life here！

The other is from Jose Lopez, a 17-year-old American high school graduate In LA, who is a rising freshman in Yale this fall.

His parents immigrated to America 20 years ago. They support three boys with their humble salary from their hard physical work. They take college education very seriously. Jose is the first college student in his generation, and the whole family is so happy and proud for him. He thinks he needs help to get better ready for his coming college life, so he applied, and the government pays all for him to be here for the summer session, including tuition, board,and accommodation. His two younger brothers can have this kind of help some day, but their kids can’t, because their fathers have had college education, and the fathers must be responsible.

I have read much about the educational and welfare systems, but today when I hear the story in my own ears, I still feel a little bit…what? I can’t find the proper word. I feel happy for lucky Jose, also sad for our kids, very different situation in China so far.

I said I respect America for their care to the disabled, also for their  care and help to the lower income families, especially in education, so the young generation can change their life through their hard work, through good education.

This is the greatness of a country!

Coming to the dinning hall a little late for the supper and staying a little longer(before 7:30), I can always hear different nice stories.  

The following are two of them.

One is from a 19 years old Chinese boy, who came alone to America to purse his high school four years ago, and now he is a rising freshman in Boston university. He is here in Yale to take some courses with no credits, just because he is interested in classes. He doesn’t like taking part time jobs or travelling around, and his father pays all the expenses for him. He tells me that all the Chinese students in his high school have been or are top ones, not having cared or caring about anything else besides courses, having been or going to prestigious universities in America.

They are intelligent young students, but I ask him the question,“Do we learn so hard just for the sake of learning”. A degree from a famous college is helpful, but it should not be the pursuit, the ultimate aim. After discussion, we agree that we spend so much money, come to a foreign country, labor on our courses to make ourselve a better-rounded person which may be a little tough in Chinese educational system. And finally we can do something good, even great for all the human beings. Thomas Edison, Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, so many of them had no college, but they did help man so much. There have been many Chinese who have graduated from first class universities in Europe and America so far, but they are mainly doing their business and making their money, no report about how they have helped change the world, or the country more or less. They are the first or the second generation of students studying abroad since 1980s, and establishing their own businesses and making their own money might be their first concern, for money is the foundation of life. But the new generation(basically the sons and daughters of the above wealthy generation) doesn’t have to worry about money, they don’t have to return their families(in money sense, I mean), what they should carry with is responsibility for the mankind, glory for their lives. Otherwise there is no need to go abroad to spend so much and take up such good educational sources.

Such a humble guy he is, and we share similar ideas. May him somebody one day!  This somebody does help to change the world, no matter how little the change is! 

I was informed by Siggy’s recommendation of http://dailynutmeg.com/ that there is a summer carillon concert series 2014 in Brandford college courtyard every Friday night from 27, June to August 14, beginning at 7:00pm.
    What is a carillon? I’ve never heard of that, to be completely honest. So I turned to Net for help, like I always do.    Here is a photo and the definition.
        A carillon is a musical instrument that is typically housed in the bell tower of a church or other municipal building. The instrument consists of at least 23 cast bronze, cup-shaped bells, which are serially played to produce a melody, or sounded together to play a chord. A traditional manual carillon is played by striking a keyboard — the stick-like keys of which are called batons — with the fists, and by pressing the keys of a pedal keyboard with the feet. The keys mechanically activate levers and wires that connect to metal clappers that strike the inside of the bells, allowing the performer on the bells, or carillonneur/carillonist to vary the intensity of the note according to the force applied to the key.

    For more information on carillons and the Yale university guild of carillonneurs , please refer to    http://www.yale.edu/carillon/carillon.html

    Just like the independence day fireworks show, this summer carillon is an outdoor family gathering.It's fun!       I love the sound, the music, and being together with the local family gatherings.

   

    And I am so lucky to win the only lottery, a T-short as the prize.

How time flies! Today is the third Friday(July,18,2014) we are here in Yale and time for the third field trip.

Actually yesterday we had an extra field trip to the beach, the woods(what are the names? No idea), and carrie’s newly-bought-and-renovated house with a history of more than100 years. I love the beach, but we were just visitors and photo-takers, not swimmers. I admire carrie so much for her artistic eyes, and what she has done on her house is a good example of the spirit of self-reliance in Americans，I suppose.

Today we went to Hartford(the capital city of Connecticut) to visit Mark Twain’s house and show our respect to the great writer.

In the first class when we were asked to name one English book I love most, my answer was The adventures of Tom Sawyer. I got to love it when I touched it. Like Tom, I was depressed, even devastated by too much blame, curse, beat, even humiliation as a kid. By nature I was a somewhat daring and adventurous kid, but I never had that kind of chance to experience any adverture like what Tom did. So I was deeply absorbed in the story. Later I read more Mark Twain and he is one of my favorite writers.

Now I am in his house. Though he is so far far away from us, the house brings us close. 

I respect American way of treating and taking such a good care of the physically challenged.
In our cities, those people are not so often seen in public places, not because we have fewer, but because it’s inconvenient for them, the trasportation, the facilities, even eyes from around.
But here in yale, we can see for people on wheelchairs a special button to open every door, a special booth in every restroom, special parking lots in any street. Therefore those people can come out to be a part of the world, to have their life. I remember the black school bus driver Joe’s touching stories on how he and the schools have helped and are helping the physically challenged young people.
Sure those are usually have some problems with their limbs, especially legs. I have no idea where are those who are visually or audily challenged and I am wondering what kind of life they are having in the United States of America.

Tuesday, 15, July, 2014

Before the 9:30 class in the morning, I went to Sterling Memorial Library. We pass it every day on the way to our classroom in Williams & Harkness Hall, but until today I walked inside. The following is the information I got from the net about the library.

Sterling Memorial Library is one of Yale's most prominent buildings, as well as being the largest of all the Yale libraries. Completed in 1930, it was designed by architect James Gamble Rogers (Yale Class of 1889) and later named for its benefactor, John William Sterling (Yale Class of 1864).It currently houses approximately 4 million volumes on 16 floors of book stacks. It was built in the Collegiate Gothic style, resembling a European Gothic cathedral, with its 60-foot ceiling, cloisters, clerestory windows, side chapels, and a circulation desk altar. The stained glass windows throughout the building, 3,300 in all, were designed by artist G. Owen Bonawit. SML houses the Irving S. Gilmore Music Library, added in 1998, as well as numerous reading rooms and departments.  From early June 2013 until the fall of 2014, the nave area of SML will be undergoing a major renovation. 

The architecture is amazing, with every detail so delicate. And I found some Chinese elements, those screens and wood carving are so familiar to me. Soon I got a clue on the cloister to the international room , where a statue of a Chinese man is standing.

It turned out that he was Rong Wing(容闳) , the first Chinese ever to have graduated from an American university. In 1847, sponsored by some Americans and Englishmen then living in Hong Kong, he went to the United States and entered Monson Academy in Massachusetts. After he graduated from Monson, he took the entrance examinations and enrolled in the famous Yale University where he worked very hard, overcoming difficulties in mathematics and shortage of funds and, finally, he got his bachelor degree with honors. Later he went back and contributed so much to China.

Oh, I’ve heard and read a lot about him before, and now I am standing before and showing my respect to the pioneer.

History remembers people who have devoted to the improvement and change of the world no matter which nations they were from. 

Sunday,13,July,2014

What a rewarding day!

    At 8, I was in the Christ Church for the ceremony with fewer than 20. It was grave and people there were so pious and friendly.Last Sunday morning I was there at 10. Different time, different procedures. I love to be in that kind of atmosphere, which makes me ease,calm, relaxed and even elevated.

    At 12 Delia and I went to the center of British arts, where we enjoyed wonderful British oil paintings and sculptures on the 4th floor. On 3rd floor is a special show of suites of people and sights in UK by two well-known American photographers.Those photos recorded nature and people and life there in 1950s to 1960s.
   The second presents people's research and insight of nature.
   If our students of all levels could have so many galleries and museums to turn to in their studies, they would do much better!
    And then I went back to the dorm, watching the world cup with susan wang. Germany won last, as we know. I just appreciate and enjoy the process, so who won finally didn't matter to me. And I always believe one who has worked hardest, cooperated best wins.
    At 7 pm,after supper, I went to a small restaurant for Yale Summer Cabaret.The performers are students from Yale school of drama. They did a wonderful job. Though I didn't catch every single word, I could understand the story, the point. Just as they put it,"We are investigating the contemporary American experience.How we define ourselves as Americans in relationship to the larger world, to each other and to ourselves?...". I do hope they can present one concerning how America can get along with China.
    The above actions and activities are my way to experience America.

Saturday, July,12,2014

I was so lucky to have the chance to go to Broadway for the Lion king with the summer session!

To be honest, this is the first time for me to watch a musical in a theater. The atmosphere, the lights, the setting, all is awesome, not to mention those terrific actors and actresses. I’ve seen the film, but a film is quite different a musical. Here the audience and the stage, the performers are so close that we are much more attracted, lost and involved.

At the end of the show, the audience stood up and gave the performers big lasting applause, which touched me to tears.

One line ”remember who you are” is repeated in the play, which implies a kind of duty and responsibility and glory. The world needs elites to lead, by blood or by sweat. It reminds me of some secret societies(like bones&skull n Yale) and Barake Obama’s speech at 2014 graduation ceremony in West: it is not whether we should lead, but how we lead. They take themselves as the leaders, the saviors of the chaotic world.
Why so many of our high elite officials corrupt and end up in prison is attracting wide attention and research. Besides system and constitution background, not enough education from childhood of duty,responsibility and glory may be a big reason.

There is kind of philosophy behind, and I will go further about it and may write a paper on it.

Thursday, July, 9,2014

Tonight the summer session arranged a study break for all of us at 8 pm at the Mory’s, which is on the corner just outside the Morse college. We went inside for a look in the afternoon, and a little earlier before 8 pm again, only to see people dining and talking, so I left for a walk on the campus and didn’t come back to the study break.

At night I searched the net for information about the Mory’s. Wow, such amazing history and stories! I didn’t know that so I didn’t feel the necessity to be there to experience. What a pity!

I have to know and understand the background, the history, the stories behind , and then you can appreciate the place, the stuff.

Mory’s, known also as Mory’s Temple Bar, is a private club adjacent to the campus of Yale University in New Haven,Connecticut, United States, founded in 1849 and housed in a clubhouse that was originally a private home built some time before 1817. The club's membership consists primarily of those who have an affiliation with Yale, and the culture of both institutions is deeply entangled. Originally an exclusive club only open to males affiliated with Yale College, the club gradually expanded membership over the years to the entire Yale community after much public wrangling about the exclusion of certain segments of the population when important meetings were held there over lunch, as was usual, by University decision makers.

After several years of operating losses and the 2008 financial crisis, the club closed indefinitely on December 19, 2008. Although the club had an endowment of $2 million, it was depleted by this poor performance and the market downturn in 2008-2009.  After completion of a comprehensive business plan at the end of 2009 and progress on a fundraising effort, Mory's committed to a major renovation and a new business model in 2010. The fundraising effort and construction were completed in 2010 and Mory's reopened on Wednesday, August 25, 2010.

The building was listed on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places in 2005.

Membership in Mory's is now offered to all Yale students, employees and alumni as well as members of the New Haven community with an affiliation to Yale. Yale undergraduates can join with a $15 membership fee that covers all four years at Yale. Alumni living within 30 miles of Mory's pay a $99 annual fee while alumni living over 30 miles away pay a $49 annual fee.

Several important traditions are maintained at Mory's that have deep resonance with certain Yale alumni and students.

The Whiffenpoofs

The Whiffenpoofs, the a cappella group made up of Yale seniors who are recruited from other Yale undergraduate singing groups, sings weekly most Monday evenings in the dining areas of the club. They often perform the famous "Whiffenpoof Song" which mentions Mory's as the "place where Louis dwells." It was through this song, which was sung and recorded by the likes of Rudy Vallee, Bing Crosby and Elvis Presley, that the Club became part of the national consciousness in the early part of the twentieth century.

Cups

One of these is the ritualistic consumption of a "Cup," in which a party of members gather to share drinks of assorted colors and ingredients (usually containing alcohol, although a non-alcoholic "Imperial Cup" is available) from large silver trophy cups that look like handled urns and are passed amongst the gathered company. The cups are ordered by color, and some are based on sparkling wines, while others are based on beer. There is an elaborate ritual, including at the completion of a cup a drinking song, associated with the tradition. Cups come in many colors including Red, Gold, Purple, Blue, Green, and Velvet. The color of the potions made it easier to detect any remaining drops. One thing that made it extremely difficult to avoid remaining drops was the nearly invariable presence of a cylinder of ice in the center of the "loving cup". As the last drinker tried to drain the cup, the cylinder would come crashing down on the poor devil's nose. This may have been a perversion associated with the years 1950 to 1980; history is silent on the duration of the offense.

When a member finds himself (or herself, as Mory's has welcomed women into its membership ranks since 1972, three years after Yale College) about to finish a Cup, he or she faces the decades-old challenge of "cleaning the cup"—removing all moisture from the cup by using only his or her mouth and, to finish the job, hair. Friends to the left and right are at the ready with napkins to minimize drippage during this process. While the member is finishing, and to give that member extra time to "clean the cup," his or her friends are wont to chant the Mory's Song (an adaptation, for a diametrically opposite purpose, of theSalvation Army camp song "Put a nickel on the drum")^{[unreliable source?]}, with the finishing member's name as the hero of the song:

It's [Name],
It's [Name],
It's [Name] that makes the world go 'round,
It's [Na-ame], It's [Na-me],
It's [Name] that makes the world go 'round,
It's [Na-ame], It's [Na-me],
It's [Name] that makes the world go 'round,
It's [Name] that makes the world go 'ro-ou-ound,

Sing Hallelujah! Sing Hallelujah!
Put a nickel on the drum,
Save another drunken bum
Sing Hallelujah! Sing Hallelujah!
Put a nickel on the drum and you'll be saved.

I was h-a-p-p-y to be f-r-double-e
f-r-double-e to be s-a-v-e-d
s-a-v-e-d from the bonds of s-i-n
Glory glory Hallelujah hip hooray amen.

Sing Hallelujah! Sing Hallelujah!
Put a nickel on the drum,
Save another drunken bum
Sing Hallelujah! Sing Hallelujah!
Put a nickel on the drum and you'll be saved.

I was lying in the gutter,
I was covered up in beer,
Pretzels in my moustache,
I thought the end was near,
Then along came [Name]!
And saved me from my curse,
Glory glory Hallelujah sing another verse!

Sing Hallelujah! Sing Hallelujah!
Put a nickel on the drum,
Save another drunken bum
Sing Hallelujah! Sing Hallelujah!
Put a nickel on the drum and you'll be sa-aa-aved.

At the conclusion of the Mory's Song, the member places the trophy cup, upside down, on top of a cloth (or, more challenging, paper) napkin, whereupon three friends place their respective hands atop the base of the cup and tap firmly. The cup is then whisked away, and the napkin is inspected for any signs of moisture. In decades past, if the napkin were wet, then the finishing member would be forced to pay for the cup; if the napkin were dry, the member to the finishing member's right—who himself chose to forego finishing the cup—would have to pay. In more modern times, most toasting parties split the bill evenly amongst members, regardless of who finishes or doesn't finish a cup.