Finish Your Food...Or We'll Charge You

At a restaurant in Sapporo, Japan named Hachikyo, the owner has announced that they will fine patrons if they don't finish every last morsel--including every grain of rice--on their plate. This seems a bit absurd considering the fact that the worst punishment that some of us got was a time out or no dessert. So why does this restaurant charge a fine?

The menu explains that the harsh and dangerous working conditions are unknown to the rest of the world. So to show gratitude for the food they provide the restaurant, Hachikyo's owner makes it mandatory to finish every morsel of food or else pay a donation. The owner even likes to send his waitstaff to work on a fishing boat so they can understand the harsh realities of a fisherman's life.

Imagine having to finish a bowl of rice topped sky-high with salmon roe. (Pictured below, salmon roe happens to be one of the most popular dishes at Hachikyo's.) What an interesting concept. Anyone know of any other unique practices like this at restaurants around the world?

http://newsfeed.time.com/2013/02/18/cant-finish-your-meal-this-japanese-restaurant-will-fine-you-for-that/

The Year of the Snake

Happy Chinese New Year to all!

The Global Scholars had a very fun-filled celebration on Sunday with calligraphy, food, and traditional Chinese practices. It was a time for those away from home to celebrate their culture with their new friends and teach others about their culture.

Each year is marked with a specific animal and this year is the year of the Snake. Additionally, the cosmic element is Water and the color is black. So it is the year of the Black Water Snake. What does this all mean?

There are twelve Animal Signs in the Chinese Zodiac and the Snake is the sixth in the order. The sign is characterized as enigmatic, intuitive, introspective, and refined. The 2013 year of the Snake calls for steady progress and attention detail. In order to accomplish something, one must stay focused and disciplined. 

The animals signs are thought to be zodiacal because they describe the people who are born in their respective years. Those born in the year of the Snake are seen to be thoughtful and wise, and approach problems rationally and logically. They are clever and do not spoke as much. Snake's can be active in their friends' life but sometimes too active which causes them to only rely on themselves. They can also be very insightful and intuitive--almost as if they have a sixth sense.

This is only one part of the Chinese New Year celebration. It is one of the most important festivals in Chinese cultures and consists of many complex practices. The celebration is so rich in history and tradition that it is one of the best ways for us to engage in the Chinese culture. 

What Do You See When You Look at the Elderly?

Grandparents. Most us have seen ours, some of us have interacted with them, and others may even live with them. After a while they just become a nuisance to us. They complain. They sit in one spot all day. You can't go anywhere without making sure someone's home to look after them. They want to engage in long conversations about "back in the day." In simple terms, they annoy us.

But we forget they're people. We forget that at one point in their lives our grandparents were just like us. They were young and vibrant and had the energy to maintain their lives. Our grandparents went to school, had an exciting youth, fell in love, and had children of their own, who then had you. They created memories by going on vacations, seeing friends, and fulfilling their dreams.

As time passes, unfortunately, this energy no longer remains with us. The body begins to degenerate and the mind slows down. But this doesn't mean it completely stops working. Our grandparents still have thoughts and feelings. They get bored because they can't do much by themselves, hence their need to talk to us. We hear stories of "back in the day" because they want to share their knowledge with us. They have wishes and desires, and many of them for our own happiness. They are still human.

So why treat them any less? It is our responsibility to look after the elderly and ensure that they live the rest of their lives with dignity.

Here is a poem by an old man who died in a geriatric ward in an Australian nursing home. As the nurses cleaned out the room, they found this poem in his belongings. It truly is an eye opener.

                                                                                   Cranky Old Man
 
                                                  What do you see nurses? . . .. . .What do you see?
                                                 What are you thinking .. . when you're looking at me?
                                                           A cranky old man, . . . . . .not very wise,
                                                   Uncertain of habit .. . . . . . . .. with faraway eyes?
                                                   Who dribbles his food .. . ... . . and makes no reply.
                                                   When you say in a loud voice . .'I do wish you'd try!'
                                                    Who seems not to notice . . .the things that you do.
                                                       And forever is losing . . . . . .. . . A sock or shoe?
                                                       Who, resisting or not . . . ... lets you do as you will,
                                                       With bathing and feeding . . . .The long day to fill?
                                                     Is that what you're thinking?. .Is that what you see?
                                                   Then open your eyes, nurse .you're not looking at me.
                                                         I'll tell you who I am . . . . .. As I sit here so still,
                                                      As I do at your bidding, .. . . . as I eat at your will.
                                                       I'm a small child of Ten . .with a father and mother,
                                                      Brothers and sisters .. . . .. . who love one another
                                                     A young boy of Sixteen . . . .. with wings on his feet
                                                      Dreaming that soon now . . .. . . a lover he'll meet.
                                                      A groom soon at Twenty . . . ..my heart gives a leap.
                                                      Remembering, the vows .. .. .that I promised to keep.
                                                      At Twenty-Five, now . . . . .I have young of my own.
                                                     Who need me to guide . . . And a secure happy home.
                                                     A man of Thirty . .. . . . . My young now grown fast,
                                                     Bound to each other . . .. With ties that should last.
                                                   At Forty, my young sons .. .have grown and are gone,
                                                    But my woman is beside me . . to see I don't mourn.
                                                    At Fifty, once more, .. ...Babies play 'round my knee,
                                                   Again, we know children . . . . My loved one and me.
                                                  Dark days are upon me . . . . My wife is now dead.
                                                  I look at the future ... . . . . I shudder with dread.
                                                For my young are all rearing .. . . young of their own.
                                            And I think of the years . . . And the love that I've known.
                                               I'm now an old man . . . . . . .. and nature is cruel.
                                               It's jest to make old age . . . . . . . look like a fool.
                                               The body, it crumbles .. .. . grace and vigour, depart.
                                               There is now a stone . . . where I once had a heart.
                                              But inside this old carcass . A young man still dwells,
                                               And now and again . . . . . my battered heart swells
                                                  I remember the joys . . . . .. . I remember the pain.
                                                 And I'm loving and living . . . . . . . life over again.
                                                 I think of the years, all too few . . .. gone too fast.
                                                And accept the stark fact . . . that nothing can last.
                                              So open your eyes, people .. . . . .. . . open and see.
                                                                Not a cranky old man .
                                                        Look closer . . . . see .. .. . .. .... . ME!!

New Year, New Theme

Happy New Years to all!

As we've started the New Year with resolutions and goals for ourselves, let's reflect upon what has happened in the past year.

• 44 people were killed in Mexico during a prison brawl between two rival drug cartels
• Voters in Yemen go to the polls for the presidential elections, only to find out that the only candidate on the ballot is vice-president Abd Rabbuh Mansur al-Hadi
• Red Cross is denied access to provide relief to a district in Homs by the Syrian army
• Largest protest in Quebec's history occurs in Montreal with over 200,000 people marching against government tuition hikes and for free access to post-secondary education
•  African Union deploys 5,000 strong force with the aim of catching or killing warlord Joseph Kony
•  Gunman opens fire on Sikh temple in Oak Creek, Wisconsin killing six people and committing suicide
•  28 people, including 20 children, are shot to death at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut
•  A gang rape of a woman on a bus in India that resulted in her death leads to national and international outrage

But these are only a few of the many things that happened over the year. All of them involve race somehow, someway. Therefore, it is perfect that the theme for this semester is Understanding Race. Race is a huge part of our lives and it's effects are seen and unseen. It intersects with other social identities like socioeconomic status, gender, sexuality, and religion, creating a complex web of ideas that are central to many issues we face personally and socially.

The University of Michigan  Museum of Natural History is bringing an exhibition titled Race: Are We So Different? from February 9th through May 27th, 2013. It looks at the science and experiences that have created the modern definition of race through different aspects of society such as biology, economics, culture, and politics.

Keep a look out for events and activities regarding the theme this semester happening all over campus. Some of the things listed in the events of 2012 could have been avoided if race and it's complexities were simply understood. Let's take a step in enlightening ourselves and creating a more tolerant and informed society.

Group 5: The Fruits of Yggdrasil Take on Social Security

Our debate was focused on whether or not Social Security is a necessary institution to have in the United States. Group A argued in favor of keeping Social Security, while Group B argued against this, that families should be the ones to step in.

Group A:

The U.S. government should maintain a social security fund responsibly so that the elderly can have a source of income after retirement and take care of themselves.

By maintaining a social security fund, the government can ensure that those who have retired, especially those who either do not have families to depend on, or those who simply wish to be independent, have some stream of financial support as they get older. This source of income is absolutely necessary as people get older; medical problems crop up, and chronic disease becomes much more likely. By leaving up to families to take care of their retired relatives, the government would be making many unfounded and frankly dangerous assumptions about the ability, willingness, and availability of families – and that they have the resources necessary to take care of these people. The government is best able to amass such resources, and also best able to manage such a fund.

Group B:

Families in the U.S. should be the ones responsible for taking care of the elderly by providing them with shelter, food, healthcare, and overall quality of life.

Families in the U.S. should be responsible for the well-being of their elderly because the actions of taking care of the elderly will better reinforce family values. Those family values will build and help to foster better community values and health. Decreasing funding in social security will allow the private insurance industry to compete with each other. This competition will allow for greater economic growth which promotes the expansion and growth of medical science as private companies search to provide more and more benefits to their consumers. Also, removing the "safety nets" such as social security helps to prevent the possibility of creating or furthering the national debt.

Group 14 Debate

Our groups’ debate was about children affected by violence in war and what the appropriate action would be in rehabilitating these children in the aftermath of these events. Group One was given the position that children who have been affected by violence in war should receive comprehensive mental treatment. whereas Group Two was given the position that children affected by violence in war should be given comprehensive job and skills training The violence that these children faced could be anything from violence to do with fighting, shooting and bombings, sexual violence, the horrors of witnessing their loved ones be tortured, raped, killed or maimed or the horrors of being forced to partake in the violence themselves, such as the case with child soldiers.

Group One made the argument that children who have been affected by violence in war need to be given comprehensive mental health treatment before any other sort of treatment or training can occur. Other than, of course, their physical health, the child’s mental health should be the first priority in the aftermath of war. Children who have been affected by violence in war can fear further abuse, have a fear of authority figures (as authority figures are often those who have enacted the violence which they have been affected by), can face crippling anxiety and fear and may show signs of depression and suicidal thinking. The effects of PTSD can have a lasting impact on their day to day lives. They, themselves, can be violent, if violence is all they have been exposed to, unlikely to trust people, or difficult to integrate into society as they might not taught have been to interact with people on a normal day to day level. The effects of war are so dramatic that it isn’t reasonable to expect to them to assimilate into society so easily. If unresolved, trauma can be destructive, and can destroy the progress which may have been created by the job training. They need to receive psychological counselling before they are able to be trained, in order to be able to come to terms with what happened and to start dealing with it.

Group Two made the argument that children affected by war should be given the same opportunities as children who are not affected by war so they should be given job training. This will help them become more prepared for their futures. If you give them job training skills first, it does, however, distract them from their past which could in turn be a type of indirect therapy for them. If you give the children mental health treatment, you discriminate against them because you assume that the children automatically have mental difficulties. It singles those children out based on their pasts, which would affect their self-esteem negatively. Furthermore, skills training may offer them the ability to integrate back into society and becoming contributing members within the society. War-torn countries are often economically unstable, giving these children skills training may offer more economic support within the region which may allow for a greater sense of economic stability. These skills may also be used to better the country’s infrastructure and help it rebuild.

As a group we came to the conclusion that it might be prudent to offer psychological assistance first, and introduce skills training at a later stage. We failed to see how psychological assistance and skills training are mutually exclusive, especially as studies have shown that skills training can be used to bolster the effects of psychological assistance and can, in itself, be used as a form of therapy, allowing individuals to work towards something productive and positive, and often within a positive communal setting. We also discussed how psychological counselling needs to be suited to the people that are being counselled and may need to be focused on social integration. However, we agreed that psychological counselling may be necessary as a preliminary step, prior to skills training.

Group 9 Debate: Should Malaria Prevention in Africa Involve Outside Countries and Organizations (U.S., U.N., etc.) or Should Only Those Countries Affected Be Involved?

Group A's Position:

91% of Malaria deaths are in the African region, and most of those deaths are children under the age of 5. Although Malaria was technically eradicated in the 50s in the United States, around 1,500 cases are reported every year in the US. In fact, there have been 63 different local outbreaks of Malaria in mosquitos since its eradication (close calls on having it spread again). The fact of the matter is, one of the mosquito species that can carry Malaria is still living in the US, so as long as it’s not eradicated worldwide, there is always a chance that it comes back here. Due to the illness and death that Malaria causes, it becomes a drain on the economy of the countries that experience it most. Forcing them into the cycle of disease and death, and disabling them from being able to improve their economies. Due to globalization, every economy affects the global economy. And the global economy, including the US’s, would be better off if those countries had a chance to improve theirs. We should help out African countries with their Malaria outbreaks, not just for our humanitarian causes, but for our advancement and self protection.

The African countries cannot eradicate malaria on their own. Although there is a drug for that, it doesn’t work for all species of malaria. Therefore, a new kind of drug needs to be created. With that said, the creation of the first pill is extremely expensive, and pharmaceutical companies will not invest and create that pill unless western countries guarantee them to pay for it. The only reason why pharmaceutical companies invest in drugs without government guarantees is because they know there is a western market for it. The African developing countries do not have the financial resources and therefore, it will never be created without western intervention and resources.

Group B's Position:

Nations that are affected by malaria have a responsibility to better utilize their resources to provide effective malaria prevention and treatment for their people.

A localized approach to the treatment and prevention of malaria is superior as it provides opportunities for the expansion of local economies and reduction of dependency upon developed nations.   It could also encourage and lead to collaborative projects amongst neighbouring countries.  Local organizations are best placed to understand the logistic and medical complexities of the program necessary to combat malaria – having a knowledge of the lifestyles of native people, and any varieties in resistance to the drugs.

Realistically in a business environment, there is not enough of an incentive for the wealthy nations’ pharmaceutical companies to develop the necessary drugs to eliminate the malaria strains that are specific to the affected countries – the potential profit margin is too insufficient to warrant the millions of expenditure.

Group 3 Debate

Team A's Point: Females should pay higher insurance premiums because their health needs make up a disproportionate amount of healthcare costs. 

Females should pay higher health insurance premium because much of their medical procedures cost more relative to male medical procedures. Studies have shown that females undergo  8 out of the 10 most expensive procedures more than males. Also getting to specific female medical issues pregnancy from labor to the hospital inpatient service takes costs an exorbitant amount of money. There are many independent women out there who do not get married but still choose to have children. Thus making health insurance premiums equal for both genders requires that some operations or medical procedures will have to be payed for by a male who will never use them. Women generally use medical services more than males and thus should have to pay for them.

Team B's Counterpoint: Females and males should pay the same amount for the health insurance because charging different rates would constitute gender/sex discrimination.

Gender rating is a term used to describe an insurance company's evaluation of healthcare costs based on gender. This is a form of discrimination because women are generally evaluated to pay more than men. Companies argue that women use more of the services and more frequently; however, this is a practice that helps keep higher-costing, more complicated procedures down, It is especially discrimination because women don't choose to be women and shouldn't have to pay more as a consequence for something they have no control over. Whether a child is born male or female is entirely random and thus being born a women should not mean that she should have to pay for it. Also men need women to procreate and so they should share the cost in bringing a child into the world.

Humpty Dumpty...Sat? Sit? Sitting?

Language Affects How We Perceive the World

Humpty Dumpty sat on wall. Humpty Dumpty had a great fall.

The verb is "sat" instead of "sit", which shows that in English the verb has to be marked for the tense. In Indonesian, however, there is no need to change the verb (mainly because you can't.) Compare English and Indonesian to Russian, where one would need to mark the tense and the gender. Furthermore, one would have to decide whether Humpty finished sitting or he ended up falling--then of course the verb would change again.

Lera Boroditsky explains in a Wall Street Journal article that the logistics of language can change the way we understand the world.  Giving directions, putting events in chronological order, and even establishing causality vary from language to language. The languages we speak become so innate to us that we don't realize how they complicated they can be.

Check out this link for the full article!

Culture Shock's Debate

The U.S. Should provide funding for anti-retroviral (ART) treatments to treat persons with HIV/AIDS in Africa

Antiretroviral treatments (ART) are essential to fight HIV/AIDS in Africa. ART helps reduce the risk of transmission of the virus, and reduces its effects on the body. ART also rebuilds the immune system of AIDS sufferers. Along with treating patients who have received HIV through sexual transmission, ART can also be used to treat people who have transmitted the virus from injections and other means, which condoms cannot prevent. American Institute of Health recommends that all sufferers of the disease receive ART. Studies have shown that treatment such as ART can lead to those that are infected being more willing to talk about their experiences, helping to educate others about the importance of prevention and treatment. This kind of education, and by making treatment more accessible, can reduce the stigma surrounding HIV/AIDs, furthering the process of education and helping the day to day lives of those that are affected. An alternative option would be to provide condoms rather than ART. Funding for condoms, however, is an inferior method to providing ART. Condoms only hit at the prevention aspect, and do not help people who are currently suffering from HIV/AIDS. Condoms have been tried in the past, but have been criticized for breaking and eventually went unused by the general population. ART is the best possible method we can use to both treat and prevent HIV/AIDS. 

VS. 

The U.S. Should provide funding for condoms to prevent the further spread of HIV/AIDS in areas of Africa.

We believe that the US should be focusing its funding on prevention rather than fruitlessly trying to cure those already infected. We think that this is a better form of containment for the deadly disease. The age old proverb of “If you give a man a fish he eats for a day, but if you teach a man to fish he eats for lifetime” applies in this instance. By providing, ART treatments to those already infected, others may see that they can be just as careless since there is now a 'treatment'. Instead, our funding should be spent on education and condoms to those in the population still at risk for contracting the deadly disease. By handing someone a condom for FREE and explaining to them how to use it and what it is for, one will be be much more likely to use it and therefore the spread of HIV/AIDS in Africa will decrease. We also believe that going into a country and forcing our Westernized medicine treatments on a helpless population without explaining our reasoning versus working from the ground up explaining to the people and especially the women how to restore power on the individual level will be just another example of the Westernized country acting as a colonial power carrying out their duties based on  the white man's power. Overall, the research is clear about the efficacy of condoms. They are highly effective against the most dangerous of sexually transmitted infections, especially HIV/AIDS. Effective funding for condoms and  HIV prevention eduction will help reduce HIV rates where AIDS has already taken hold. As a result the spread of HIV in areas where the epidemic is still concentrated in specific populations will be significantly cut short.