Eugeneは大阪よりもちょっと暖かめです。コートなしで大丈夫。
貼るカイロもなしでいけますｗ　でも昨日の朝は雪がだいぶ降ったそ
う。私が帰って来た時は雨でした。それも３０分もするとやみました。
ほんと変な天気です。これから夏まで毎日Oregonの雨と付き合っていく
のかと思うとぞっとします。

昨日はほとんど眠れませんでした。時差ボケはないのですが、体が疲れ
すぎて寝れなかった。帰ってすぐシャワーをして、荷物を全部出して、
整理してたので。それに携帯は壊れているは、インターネットも繋がら
ないはストレスレベルが既にピークに達していました。

今朝も早朝から前使っていた部屋に残していた荷物を半分移動させてそ
の整理、それから友達に会ってお土産のたこ焼き器を渡し（めっちゃ喜
んでた！）、そして違う友達何人かとタイ料理のレストランでランチ。
それから携帯ショップに行き、新しいチャージャーを購入。で、ホスト
ファミリーの家と学校に行き赤ちゃんと遊びました、その後はまたキャ
ンパスに戻って、今学期から学校にきた、ジャーナリズム専攻の日本人
２人のジャーナリズムのクラスのことや奨学金のことの相談にのっ
て。。。やっと家に帰り、ディナー。それから残り半分の荷物を移動
し、また整理整頓。服も、売るもの、Goodwillにドネーションするも
の、知り合いにあげるもの、日本に送るか持って帰るものに分けまし
た。それから明日Portlandに行く為の荷造り。

やっとそれがひと段落ついた今、夜の１１時を回っています。
朝早いAmtrakという電車に乗らないといけないので、起きれるかちょっ
と心配。。。これからの引越しのことを考えて頭が爆発しそうに痛い
し、もう寝ます。。。

またメールとか手紙下さい★質問も大歓迎！
以上報告でしたー。

さて、私の現在の状況ですが。。。１２月１２日に卒業しました！！＊＾０＾＊
１週間ほど前から日本に帰って来ています。っていってもまた２月に戻るのですが。
今はほんとlazyで食ちゃ寝食ちゃ寝の毎日。たぶん今までの疲れがどって出てるんだと思います。
最後のtermは睡眠時間３時間の生活だったし。今までの人生で一番勉強しました。

何から報告していいのか分からないので、私の卒業した大阪女学院のカタログの為に半年前に書いた留学報告みたいなのを、ここにペーストしときますね。私の留学生活のちょっとしたまとめになっています。（下書きです。実際に載った分は持ってなくて。。。）

Twenty-six community members in matching blue tee shirts with personally accessorized decorations of blue and yellow sparkling scarves, beaded necklaces, and feathers, line up in Ken Kesey Square of downtown Eugene. Drums hang at their waists. The hard beats of large bass drums called surdos propel the Samba. Caixas, like American snare drums with deeper sounds, run along with the deep-pitched music line. A rack of metal jingle shakers, chocalhos, creates a steady tempo. Agogôs, multiple-piece metal bells struck with wooden sticks, add high-pitched rhythm and promote the melody of the drums. Audience members cannot help moving their feet to the beat, and people start dancing. They express their appreciation by putting hands up, swinging with partners, or hollering. On a weeknight in July, a bateria, or percussion ensemble, called Samba Já turn the public space into a Brazilian world.

“I love it,” a group of five high school students echo to each other, moving to the rhythms of batucada, the dense and complex musical texture that a bateria produces.

“Music is in my spirit,” says dancer Angel Snell who indulges in Samba Já’s enthusiastic music. Once people begin stomping their feet to the music, it doesn’t take long for Samba Já to take the audience over. Despite the rain, nearly 50 people, ranging from children to seniors, stay until 11 P.M. enjoying the public rehearsal for the upcoming Oregon Country Fair.

Samba Já has been bringing the flavor of Brazil to Eugene venues for the last six years. The group strives to provide the audience and community with joy and energy by drumming and sharing their culture. The word “Samba” refers to the urban dance music of Rio de Janeiro, and “Já” literally means “already,” but colloquially, “right now.” The implied message could be, “You don’t have to wait for Samba because Samba is right now.”

Samba Já was co-founded by Jake Pegg in 2001. One day in a record store in Michigan, the track “Ritmo Number One” from the Mr. Bongo Records compilation “Batucada: Music of the Favelas [slums]” caught Pegg’s musical ear.

“I completely freaked out,” Pegg says. “I just started dancing.”

Later, in Eugene, University of Oregon professor Charles Dowd became a catalyst for getting Samba Já started. Dowd recognized Pegg’s music ability at a party where Pegg “played [his] heart out.” He offered Pegg a concert spot to play Brazilian percussion pieces that Pegg arranged and transcribed. Afterwards, Pegg complied with the requests of listeners and formed a group.

Since making its debut at the Eugene Celebration in September 2001, the group has grown to about thirty musicians. Members aged eighteen to sixty-two include doctors, graphic designers, and teachers. Many had no prior experience performing music, but attended a practice and experimented with various instruments. It was so fun they came back the next time. Some were hooked after seeing Samba Já perform at Saturday Market, Oregon Country Fair, Take Back the Night, Sweet Cheeks Vineyard, or Lorax on Alder Street. People join the group for different reasons; the only common factor is the passion for Brazilian rhythm. Steve White remembers the moment he saw Samba Já’s performance at the Eugene Celebration when he visited his brother.

“I felt their energy. It was out of control,” White says. “It was the coolest thing I’d ever seen. I had to join them.”

On Saturday mornings, Samba Já rehearses at the Core Star Cultural Center. Standing in front, Pegg instructs members by blowing his whistles while making triangle-shaped gestures with his hands. People who play the same instruments then look at each other or use their own signs to make sure they start at the same time.

“It’s really a unit. If you messed up, the whole band would mess up,” says Gladys Campbell, who plays shakers such as ganzá.

Their songs include “Magalenha,” which sings about flirtatiousness, and “Negrume da Noite,” a song of the beauty of Afro-Brazilian music and fruits, and of the struggles of Afro-Brazilians. Samba Já uses a variety of Brazilian drums called caixa, cuíca, pandeiro, repique, surdo, timbal, tamborim, and zabumba. The different squeaks, barks, yelps, buzzes, slaps, cracks and cries the instruments emit express joy, sadness, or tension. Pegg says responsorial singing, heard in such songs as “Claro Que Sim!,” “Maculêlé,” and “Bambaataa Car Wash,” is part of the music’s African heritage.

Sometimes at the beginning of or during a song, Pegg kneels on one knee, puts his head down, and plays his drums, as if devoting all his spirit. Alternating sticks, thumbs, fingertips, or palms produces the different patterns of high and low notes. When the group plays well, he sometimes dances and sings to show his excitement.

“I feel an element that’s not on the earth,” Pegg describes. “It takes me to wonderful places…I feel great when I have concepts of sounds in my head, and can hear them through the band.” But when the group is not playing well, he says, it’s sometimes frustrating. When that happens, he hides his irritation to avoid letting band members pick up on it, which might affect their music. He knows, however, that learning to communicate negative critiques in a non-hurting but honest way is important.

Samba Já’s rehearsals continue for about three hours. Drops of perspiration shine on foreheads. Not everyone is young; their arms and legs seem heavy. Yet, no one dances sluggishly. Where does their energy come from?

Pegg’s answer is easy. “This [Brazilian] music provides everything.”

Now the band members feel satisfaction when they look back on their performance at the Country Fair; they amazed the audience that packed the main-stage meadow.

“We communicated our energy to the audience,” says UO faculty member and Samba Já musician, Michael Clark. “I felt like we were sharing our passion for the music.” The next goal of Samba Já is to maximize the direct interaction with the audience. One of the ways to do that is through choreography, Pegg says.

The bateria promises to expose a broader community to the Brazilian world.

On the morning of Aug. 6, 1945 before a horrible bomb fell on Hiroshima, a little two-year-old girl named Sadako Sasaki was eating breakfast with her family much like any other day.

At 8:15 a.m., everything changed. An atomic bomb exploded over the city of Hiroshima. The huge mushroom cloud went high up into the sky, the blast knocked down buildings. Fire burned patterns of kimonos into people’s bodies. Black rain beat down against them. An estimated 140, 000 people died as a result of the bomb and its after effects.

Sadako’s home was just a mile away from ground zero, but she was lucky enough to servive—at least at first. She grew up strong, courageous—an athletic girl who loved singing and running. But after some years she developed odd lumps on her neck, ears, and to her face. In Jan. 1955, purple spots started to form on her legs. One day, she fell down during her race practice. She was diagnosed with Leukemia. A year at the most—that was the time Sadako had left to live.

Then something beautiful happened. High school students from Nagoya sent 1000 cranes to Sadako and other patients in her hospital. And Sadako started making cranes herself. She believed in a myth that said 1000 cranes make a wish come true. “I want to run again,” Sadako said, and she never gave up the hope. For the last 10 months of her life she kept folding papers: one, two, three…thousand! But on Oct. 25, 1955, Sadako died at the age of 12. Even 1500 cranes could not keep her alive.

After her death, her schoolmates and friends raised funds to build a memorial to the children who died from the atomic bomb. About three years later, a statue called “Genbaku no Ko no Zo” or “Senba Zuru no Zo” was unveiled in the Hiroshima Peace Park on May 5, Children’s Day. The statue is a representation of Sadako holding a big golden crane above her head. There is a wish inscribed at the bottom: “This is our cry. This is our prayer. Peace in the world.” Still today cranes are sent to the memorial from all over the world. More than 10 tons, or 10 million cranes are dedicated to the statue annually.

And Sadako is still is there today too, hoping that her cranes someday bring peace to the world.

http://www.pcf.city.hiroshima.jp/
http://www.sadako.org/sadakostory.htm

Why are people standing around Columbia Hall on campus holding up "Free Hugs" signs?

What is that for?

And why do people go get their free hugs?

This is so creepy.

The other day, I was waiting in a line to dinner from Panda Express (Chinese fast food) at EMU on campus. A woman came and cut me off. I was like "What the hell!" It's very rude. She asked the employee, "I'm gonna try the orange chicken." Okay...I'm waiting. "I need that one too." Okay...please...is there way to ask nicely? "Umm...good." Then she left without saying a word.

Wait...what did just happen?
Did she get samples and leave without getting anything, even though she did not line up and bothered people, at least me? Did she leave without saying thank you? I lost my words.

Isn't this something some kids do and their parents tell them it's not okay?

Please, woman. You're not a girl. Don't just come to get samples because you're hungry.

(imitated blog entry: http://valleywag.com/tech/apple/42-reasons-normal-people-can-switch-to-macs-242430.php)

On Nov. 20, 2006, News Corporation cancelled the TV special and a book publication, which was scheduled on Nov. 30. This book "If I Did, Here's How It Happened" was authored by O.J. Simpson, an American former college and professional football player. It discusses how he would have carried out the 1994 murders of his wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend, Ronald Goldman, if he had done it. This cancellation will bring a huge loss for Fox since it was the ratings period, when Nielsen closely watches the ratings and tabulates future and rates based on those numbers. If the TV special was aired, the company could expect curiosity to drive viewers to the program in huge numbers. The loss of the publisher, ReganBooks, will be great as well. The Simpson's book, "If I Did," had once ranked the top 20 of Amazon.com but by the time its cancellation was announced, it had fallen dramatically. This decision must have been hard for all financially involved.

The public reaction toward the project was negative. "Don't watch the show. Don't buy the book. Send a message loud and clear," Fred Goldman, Goldman's father, stated. Nicole Simpson's sister, Denise Brown, said, "It's unfortunate that Simpson has decided to reawaken a nightmare that we...worked so hard to move beyond..." She accused Simpson for not being respectful for survivors. She also showed her anger against the publisher, Judith Regan, and required her to take full accountability for abetting and promoting the wrongdoing of criminals. Harry Papas said on the Fox News Channel about News Corp. that "Principle was finally established over profit." Yet, some, including the National Enquirer, point out that Simpson had already made $3.5 million in advance for his book. Laurence J. Kirshbaum and other media agents label Regan as "total publisher," "slimy publisher," "foul-mouthed tyrant," or "enfant terrible of American publishing." For those people, it is unethical for Fox to publish the book and achieve a primary goal of gaining world wide attention as well as for Simpson to profit from the 1994 murders.

On the other hand, Regan insists that she did not pay Simpson. She said that she contracted through a third party and was told that the money would go to his children. According to broadcasters directing Fox-affiliated stations, including Papas' Mike Angellos, their company feels very strongly that there is "no beneficial interest in the airing of this program except to O.J. Simpson" and they have "no desire to benefit O.J. Simpson." Regan emphasized after silence that she wanted Simpson's "confession" because she herself was once a victim of abuse.

This is a case of journalists putting their own thoughts into their work. As Regan herself revealed, her own experience of being a victim because the conclusive reason for releasing the book. Some might say that Regan was obsessed with ending abuse, and forgot her profession to decide what to publish depending on the public's interests and needs. The Simpson's book illustrates the absurdity of contemporary media content. Interestingly, even though Simpson is familiar to the world, it appears that much of the condemnation is directed at Fox and Regan. We can conclude from this news that the public demands media or its agents to take greater responsibility, and often it is hard for the latter to make ethical decisions.

sources:
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6393289.html
http://www.Washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15754428

新しいブログをジャーナリズムのクラスで作りました。こちらは英語ですが、宿題でずっと書いて投稿しないといけないので、頻繁に更新しています。この学期が終わったあとも使おうと思っているので、是非チェックしてください。今どっとこちらにペーストしました。オリジナルは写真もついているので、そちらで見る方が楽しいと思います。是非コメントも残していってくださいね。

http://happyduckmaiko.blogspot.com/

EUGENE, Ore.--Do you go into your neighbor's kitchen and grab something you need for your recipe when they are not home? People do, in this neighborhood.

Quiet. There's no sound but birds singing. Climbing up the mountain, you find its panoramic views beautiful. Clean. There are no overfilled trash cans on the streets. You'll see people jogging and bicycling. This is what the Walnut-Fairmount neighborhood looks like.

"Sandra will be gone from Jan. 30 to Feb. 18," said Tim, who lives next to the Fairmount Park. They know where others are and when they are coming back. They know which schools others' children go to. They even know how married couple met!

Sharing not only information and space, but also plants, animals, and all kinds of tools, the neighborhood has become an "extended family." That's where the comfortableness of taking food from your neighbor's fridge comes from.

EUGENE, Ore.--It's not just fans who will be affected by the new basketball arena, but also people in Walnut and Fairmount neighborhood. This is the biggest concern the neighbors have in common. The new facility will be most likely built after the Williams' Bakery, which has already relocated in Glenwood, Springfield. The reasons for the new facility include: offering increased seating for additional fans to attend games, enhancing the university's competitiveness in recruiting potential athletes and coaches, and providing improved access for physically challenged people, food services, weight training facilities and gyms. It is estimated that the arena could provide $4-6 million in additional net revenue annually.

Walnut and Fairmount neighborhood--nice neighborhood where big houses line up the streets. It is also a very quiet, clean, and friendly environment where many people are jogging, bicycling, and walking with their dogs. Many residents there are professionals such as journalists and lawyers, or are affiliated with university. If the new basketball court is built there, whether or not the neighborhood will remain "as nice as it is" is questionable. Noise, traffic, parking, problems...neighbors' worries grow as university expands into their territory.