Articles tagged with "commentary"

“Being white” is not something I really think about on a daily basis and, like a lot of people, talking about race makes me cringe just a little bit. But once in China I soon realized that my entire experience would be shaped by this part of my identity that I have rarely been concerned with- the fact that I was white. And not only white, but 5 foot 9'' with sandy blonde hair and blue eyes.

Chengdu, Sichuan Province, China. The Country of Heaven. The Garden City. Land of Abundance. Sounds like an alright place to spend six months to me. I hardly knew what to expect when I arrived in Chengdu, city of 11 million people, after my month-long orientation in the beautifully rural Guilin (think blue skies and Mario World-like mountains). I left early one clear, hot August morning by train and arrived 27 hours later, sweaty and tired at Chengdu Dong Train Station. Talk about an imposing introduction. It opened just three months earlier and still smelled uncommonly like a new pair of shoes. Passengers leaving the train face a mountain of stairs followed by stark white and cavernous rooms seemingly designed to maximize required walking distance or possibly to accommodate the entire population of China should they all decide to vacation here at the same time. I would soon discover that Chengdu Dong Station wasn’t the only building that smelled like new shoes in this city and is, in fact, a perfect introduction to the desired feel of modern Chengdu -- bright, new, grandiose and ever-so-slightly extravagant.

As a costume designer in the theater, I feel that my work often is a re-creation of memories. The actors and I create a life for the costumes and the characters, partly based in fact, and partly in imagination.

Working with other theater artists, we construct a world for the audience that they inhabit with the performers during a performance. That is the magic of theater — a shared existence in real time made up of memories and the suspension of disbelief.

There is great sweetness in remembering a work of art, particularly when it is an experience like a theater performance and you are surrounded by a crowd, a community of focused participants all sharing the same time and place.

That is why it is so vital to have theaters, museums and concert halls, both humble and grand, to experience art in community.

Navi Bajwa took his studies to the United Kingdom because he wanted to immerse himself in the political and social atmosphere.

“The reason I went to the University of Edinburgh is because of the world-class education that institution has to offer,” the University of Iowa senior said. “I have a lot of family in the UK, and I have been there a lot during my life, so I was comfortable going there.”

On March 11, 2011, a rising tide of dark water wrapped Japan’s northeastern coast.

The world was gripped by Armageddon-invoking scenes from this highly industrialized nation in east Asia.

After the visual impact of the unprecedented tsunami, there came news of nuclear meltdown in the Fukushima nuclear plant. Japan’s vast northeastern coast — the coastal villages as well as sizable inland areas — was nearly destroyed by the hand of the nature.

UI junior Angeline See longs to craft her dream business — a bakery chock-full of delicious and colorful Asian desserts. But the native of Malaysia found out her endeavors may be postponed last fall when applying for an office space at the Bedell Entrepreneurship Learning Laboratory.

International students are prohibited from self-employment while on student visas. So for students like See, the only chance at launching a business would be finding a native student to partner with.