News for the week of 4/4

Female Exclusive Services

Michael Pelletz, founder of Chariot, is limiting his employees and customers to women, children, and transgender women. Set to open in Boston on April 19th, Chariot is essentially a service like Uber or Lyft that provides car rides to customers. When asked about his motives to create the business, he says that he, as an Uber driver, felt uncomfortable with a male passenger. He then consulted with many female Uber passengers decided that he had to "come up with a better way to keep people safe, especially women passengers and drivers." Pelletz realizes the probable legal adversities that are likely to come shortly after beginning the business, but he says that he is not worried, and that they even "look forward to legal challenges." In response to the claims about the restrictive hiring and service practices, he "hope[s] to go to the US Supreme Court to say that if there's safety involved, there's nothing wrong with providing a service for women."

The foundation of Chariot's intentions and ideas are all completely valid and beneficial. Pelletz says that he plans to introduce reform to the system of passengers and drivers meeting, in-depth background checks and mandatory safety courses for drivers. I agree that all of this must be done in order to ensure the safety of passengers, but the fact that he is limiting the business to women is egregious and presumptuous.  Even Uber admits it's issues with female drivers, hiring, and safety, but the assumption that all of the male drivers of Uber are at fault is simply outrageous. These reforms ought to be taken, however half of the entire population of the United States should not be restricted from the opportunity of employment. Security is a major concern, but the safety of a small number of people should not be an exchange for employment opportunity of 151.8 million men.

Hinckley, Story. "Women-only Uber set to open in Boston. Isn't that illegal?" Christian Science Monitor. First Church of Christ, 10 April 2016. Web. 10 April 2016. Link

Source of the first article: https://www.bostonglobe.com/business/2016/03/28/uber-but-for-women-probably-illegal-experts-say/QP5fYbQfvXUnKcEs0BqhEP/story.html

Chinese Vaccine Regulation

Private Chinese companies have been selling and distributing expired and faulty vaccines to thousands of infants, operating under weak government supervision. Authorities have detained at least 130 individuals involved in the scandal which took place in the Shandong Peninsula of China, and are in the process of further investigation, including having seized 20,000 vaccinations. Although the manufacturers of the vaccines were licensed, their distribution process involved improper refrigeration. The government offers free vaccines for diseases such as polio and measles, but diseases such as the flu and rabies are left to the private sector.
The vaccination scene in China is a decently designed system, however it is obvious that further government regulations and supervision is required. A scandal on this scale, impacting so many people with so many vaccinations is abominable. First of all, the families impacted by this scandal ought to get a free refund and then further monetary compensation from the government. Furthermore, the business that distributed faulty products ought to be penalized, or even put out of business for their wrongs. Lastly, this is only one instance of faulty government regulation, in one country. Other events such as this occur in many places in the world -- granted, on a smaller scale. The World Health Organization has done a good job in the past years of pressuring governments do do a satisfactory job of regulation.

Burkitt, Laurie. "WHO Urges China to Boost Vaccine Regulation." The Wall Street Journal. Dow Jones & Co., 29 March 2016. Web. 10 April 2016. Link

Yao Ming -- Physical and Metaphorical Giant

Yao Ming stands at 7'6", is the child of two successful Chinese basketball players, and has been under constant Chinese pressure to become a star. More importantly, Yao bridged the gap between the dominant world superpower following the Cold War, and the rising star of the world. The Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame has announced that Yao is among it's 2016 class of inductees, along with basketball stars Shaquille O'Neal and Allen Iverson. If at first this seems insignificant, try again. Yao Ming never won a championship ring, was never the MVP, never even made an All-NBA First Team. What he did better than any other professional athlete ever is connect two hemispheres of the world. Chinese-American relations have been spotty -- at best. Ever since the Chinese exclusion act, the Chinese have looked down on the U.S. government, but that was all changed when the two allied to fight off the invading Japanese during World War II. Following the world war, the Cold War took place, where China more or less sided with the Soviet Union. Yao Ming was something -- somebody -- that fans in both countries loved and adored, which brought the two cultures and mindsets closer together.
The article does an excellent job expanding past Yao's professional career, and tying his presence into greater context. When Yao first came into the NBA in 2002, the racial stereotypes were abundant. Hsu talks about the fortune cookies given out in Miami during Yao's first appearance, the awkward and politically incorrect commercials, and the suffocating reporters. The cherry on top? Shaquille O'Neal's message to tell Yao "Ching chong-yang-wah-ah-soh." It was all acceptable in 2002. 14 years later? Magnificent changes. Political incorrectness still exists, but the level to which it is present is now acceptable. Yao paved the way for other players from China including Yi JianLian and Sun Yue, not to mention the infamous "Linsanity" phase involving Chinese-American breakout Jeremy Lin. Going past the game, Yao has led the American public as well as the Chinese public to be more accepting of one another, and brought as much agreement between the two as one man could possibly do.

Hsu, Hua. "When Yao Ming Was the Center of the World." The New Yorker. Condé Nast, 8 April 2016. Web. 10 April 2016. Link

News for the week of 3/28

College Admissions

In a world of increasingly competitive admissions for college acceptance, Strauss breaks down the issues arising due to the system. The premise of her argument centers around the claim that children are becoming worse off due to the stress and competitive nature attributed with being accepted into the most prestigious colleges and universities in the world. The fierce competition is described by Strauss as akin to "The Hunger Games", the popular novel written by Suzanne Collins. According to Strauss, the result of this competition is a "fundamentally Darwinian" message to students, describing it as being (as Darwin had said it) survival of the fittest. This results in students not staying true to their passions, interests, and values.  Strauss continues to call this very grim result a "call to action for students and parents everywhere". At the conclusion of the article, Strauss lists a number of declarations, some of which she encourages students and parents to do, and others that she stresses should not be done.

While I agree with Strauss that the notion fueling ultra-competitive behavior is wrong, and that students ought to choose a college that is the most suitable to their needs academically, financially, and from a personality standpoint, I believe that the declarations that she encourages everyone to follow take it too far. While it is true that the immense stress and lack of sleep associated with getting into the most prestigious colleges in the world can be harmful, to some students this may be a step in achieving what they want to be, and where they desire to go. Telling students to individually follow these declarations will not allow for a sweeping reform in the college admissions system. Instead, it will only hurt the individuals who follow the declarations, thus pushing the people following the system to greater success. The true reform must come from the colleges and universities themselves, and the admissions offices of each one. The students and parents are not at fault, so it is pointless -- counterproductive -- to target them as the ones needing change.

Strauss, Valerie. "How college admissions has turned into something akin to 'The Hunger Games'." The Washington Post. Fred Ryan, 28 March 2016. Web. 2 April 2016.
For more reading on this topic:
http://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2016/03/where-admissions-went-wrong/475575/
http://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2016/03/college-admissions-narcissists/475722/
http://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2016/03/the-commodification-of-higher-education/475947/

Carbon Emissions

China's greenhouse gas emissions are a problem. The world's superpowers (United States and China) are both looking to lead the way to reduce CO2 emissions, and as of now China is exceeding both expectations and projections. Some say that the emissions in China have already peaked, in which case they would be over 10 years ahead of schedule. Evidence for this is that China is experiencing an economic shift away from the use of coal, which is a result of the economic slowdown. In addition China has also implemented policies limiting coal usage and promoting hydropower and nuclear power. On the flip side, others say that urbanization and coal plants are still on the upswing, so the emissions are at best going to plateau. The per capita gross domestic product statistics support their case. It is agreed upon, however, that China could have a leading role in climate change.

Coming from a country that has not historically been "environmentally friendly", the news that both Chinese policy and practice is changing is overwhelmingly good news. The article presents both opinions to a reasonable extent, but personally I believe the true significance here is that change is coming, and coming early. Hopefully the fact that China is turning the tide will lead other major contributors of greenhouse gas emissions to follow. As said in the article, limiting the temperature change to 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit is essential to preventing an environmental catastrophe. In the future, look to see if China does indeed become an active player in the campaign for stalling global warming, or if the United States and European Union continue to lead the process on their own.

Wong, Edward. "It's Hazy, but China's Carbon Emissions May Have Peaked." The New York Times. Arthur Ochs Sulzberger, Jr., 3 April 2016. Web. 3 April 2016.

Suicide and Guns

The article centers around a man named Keith Carey, who is a gunsmith trying to help Western states reduce their suicide rates, which are the highest in the country. The suicide rates in these states are, after being age-adjusted, at over above 50% more than the national rate. Among those who have committed suicide, 60% involved firearms. Common theories as to why these states have such high suicide rates include rural isolationism, economic distress, and "self-reliant frontier mindset" deterring people from seeking help. Whether these theories are accurate or not, the correlation between prevalence of firearms in the West and suicide rates is a persistent factor.

Having done a large quantity of research on the topic of firearm prevalence and suicide, I find these alternative theories possible, but pointless. I agree that each of these theories has merit, but the bottom line is that these guns are dangerous to the safety of not only gun owners, but also those close to owners. The article says that in Carey's town, "guns are an integral part of daily life", but it never expands upon what this actually entails. If the presence of these guns is commonly linked to homicides and suicides (not only in the Western rural states), obviously something must be changed. Instead of doing what the article references (posting suicide hotlines, pamphlets, etc), a more direct and effective way of reducing harms is to simply control the number of firearms, or some other type of political action.

Crary, David. "In West, region of guns and suicide, outreach to curb deaths." Times Union. George Randolph Hearst III, 3 April 2016. Web. 3 April 2016.

The Good Earth

Pre-revolutionary China. Nobel and Pulitzer Prize-winning Author Pearl S. Buck. Dramatic Cinema.
-*symbolizes musical cues*
-Each paragraph is a description of a scene, and cuts abruptly to the next one with a very short transition


*chaos and quiet screaming*
In a world where peasants work on land for nearly no wage, and landowners own nearly all of the farm land, Wang Lung wades along his crops on the wet, over-saturated ground next to his faithful worker Ching. The great flood has come, and there is nothing to salvage. Everything has been drowned, nothing is left except for his silver hidden in the soggy walls of his house. It's time to start over.

The Good Earth features farmer Wang Lung, portrayed by Paul Muni, and his life's goal to acquire land and wealth.

A Few Years Ago

It all begins with marriage -- on a bright morning, Wang Lung goes to the great House of Hwangs to retrieve his new bride, O-Lan. Dreaming of the quintessential farmer's life (wife, kids, concubines, land, wealth), Wang Lung constantly contemplates about his land. He works, he buys, he invests in more. With a child on the way and his crops prospering, life is looking swell -- until a drought strikes the area. The crops wither, leading to famine and starvation overtaking the region. Plagued by starvation and poverty, Wang Lung and his family are forced to migrate South.

*quiet melancholy piano music*

Tensions are high in the South. Soldiers march through the streets, dragging civilians away, increasing the nervous energy. The family has hit rock bottom, begging for food to prevent starvation every day. The only thing keeping Wang Lung going through these tough times is remembrance that he still owns his land, and nobody can ever take that away from him.

6 Months Later

*traditional Chinese music*

The crops are flourishing, more children are on the way. Life is back to what it should be. Wang Lung purchases land from the prestigious House of Hwangs, and Wang Lung and O-Lan look at each other happily, seeing that they have become the success story of the town. With an influx of silver, they begin to bury some into the mud walls of their house. 

With the joy comes celebration. O-Lan prepares celebratory food and impresses the entire town with the showing of wealth in the family. From here, there's no looking back. The Wangs have established themselves as the new Hwangs.

Down the Road

*dramatic orchestral score (Carmina Burana)*

"You can never make me leave this place, I will agonize you forever. You would never dare face the consequences" said Wang Lung's Uncle. Looking at the inside of his uncle's coat, Wang Lung felt a sense of grief and despair wash over him. His uncle was part of the redbeards, a group that would raid and loot houses of all potential enemies.

*despairing piano solo (Chopin's Funeral March)*

"Father, I don't want to stay in this place anymore. I must go find myself as a soldier and fight in this war" said the Third Son. Wang Lung looked into his son's eyes, and as his father, realized that there was no longer anything he could say or do to stop his son from leaving. Anguish flooded his heart.

The Good Earth, a novel by Pearl S. Buck, follows the adventurers of a seemingly ordinary peasant who turns into a landowning elite through blood, sweat, and toil, the life of Wang Lung is no ordinary story. Starting out with nothing, ending with nearly everything, yet never having achieved anything. Will all of Wang Lung's hard work pay off? Will his uncle continue to terrorize? Will the son disobey the father? Watch his story unfold in a theatre near you as a major movie production.