My Facebook Wall: May 2011

5/1: I had Korean barbecue for dinner. It still wasn’t as manly as “Thor.”
5/2: (After Osama bin Laden’s Death) I am grateful to the United States Military for its protection, today as ever.
5/5: ‎”When you’re holding a hammer, everything looks like a nail.”
5/6: This Sunday is Mother’s Day! “Charm is deceptive and beauty fleeting; a woman who fears the LORD is to be praised. Give her a reward for her labors, and let her works praise her at the city gates.” 「姿色是虛幻，美麗是泡影；敬畏上主的女人，纔堪當受人讚美。願她享受她雙手操勞的成果! 願她的事業在城門口使她受讚揚!」
5/9: Cheers to Phil Jackson. “Everything ends badly; otherwise it wouldn’t end.”
5/9: The most touching song/comment combo I can remember seeing on YouTube.
5/10: In Taipei, when it rains, you get out your umbrella, and when it’s sunny…you get out your umbrella.
5/10: 「於我心有戚戚焉」「以心傳心」「辭不達意」「不可理喻」「生死與共」等等…「思想與社會」的目的到底是教我們怎麽談戀愛嗎？
5/11: How was I lucky enough to be born in an era when I can listen to any song at any time?
5/13: What’s one of your favorite titles to a song? I’ll start us off with “All the Things You Are.”
5/15: The Onion riffs on a baseball star whose parents don’t understand his job.
5/15: George R.R. Martin is coming to my hometown of Carmel, Indiana! Barnes & Noble, July 16, 2:00 PM. He’s the author of an excellent series of fantasy novels which is the source material of HBO’s “A Game of Thrones.” If anyone’s going, could you please stop by my house on the way and pick up my hardcover copy of the last book so he can sign it? Thanks!
5/17: What’s your 看法 on Taiwanese miso soup? It’s way different from J-style (for example, no wakame) but I still like it. I’m having egg miso soup for dinner, and it’s so thick it might be all I need for dinner.
5/17: 最可靠的文本編輯器還是「記事本」呢。
5/18: Jay Chou has a reputation here for mumbling, and I can really hear it on this old track. Great song though.
5/19: Someone brought up buying an engagement ring, and it called to mind the one radio advertisement I know by heart: ‎a single man saying matter-of-factly, “For service, selection, quality, and value, now YOU have a friend in the diamond business: The Shane Company. Located at 96th Street & Hague Road, just east of I-69. Open Monday through Friday ’til 8, Saturday and Sunday ’til 5.”
5/19: A story worth telling about Hunter the Punter!
5/19: Baseball: Bryce Harper and good ideas for interleague.
5/22: Even the dogs in Japan are more reserved than I am!
5/23: (After Mitch Daniels’s Withdrawal) Do you have to be crazy to run for president?
5/25: Whenever I write the bottom radical of 牽 (牽連) I think “OOOOOOOOMUTA!” (大牟田)
5/25: (To a friend feeling sad about leaving Japan soon for a new job) Now you can let someone else have the same experience you did!
5/25: Pop is boring in comparison.
5/26: Texas: 732,800 new private-sector jobs in the past ten years. #2: Arizona with 90,200. The #1 venture capital market in the world is the US. #2 is Israel. The more you know*!
5/27: Spanish Cool
5/27: Mark Zuckerberg’s New Challenge: eating only what he kills
5/29: Happy 33rd Anniversary to my parents, and Happy 23rd Birthday to my sister Trish Smyth!

ICLP電子報第48期：臺灣中部旅遊 ~ A Tour of Central Taiwan (featured in 48th ICLP Bulletin)

電子報第48期：臺灣中部旅遊 (original article including photos)

A Tour of Central Taiwan
English Translation of an Article by James Smyth

In my last report of ICLP’s trip to Central Taiwan, I described the Mazu Festival in Beigang. This time, I’ll recount the rest of the trip. We had all sorts of activities during an abundant three days of travel. I invite everyone to read the following, and if any of these places interest you, you can go visit them yourself!

On the way to Beigang, we stopped at the Zhongxing Kebao factory; we took a leisurely tour of its new museum and learned more about our favorite staple food: rice. At the museum shop, we tried rice ice cream [rice cream?], malted rice milk tea, and the like.

After that, we went to Tianwei Flower Garden and rode bicycles through Taiwan’s “Genuine Flower Expo,” which is the traditional farms and neighborhoods of the town. You don’t have to be Lance Armstrong to ride, as the town bicycle shop rents 2-, 3-, and 4-person bicycles in addition to the single-seaters. Pedaling around with friends is a very social way to sight-see. The town’s restaurant, “Grandma’s Kitchen,” also prepared delicious Taiwanese cuisine.

The second day, we drove from Beigang to Lugang. The Qing Emperors made Lugang an important part, as did Japan, so Lugang was central Taiwan’s biggest city until the early 20th century. First we toured the restored historical temple street market. We made yuzhen cakes [consisting of dry flavored powder packed together] and drank oyster soup. While we were in the heart of Lugang, a group of pilgrims carried an icon of Mazu into the temple accompanied by dancing, costumes, and music.

Local high school students gave us tours, which was a natural cultural exchange method. One could say the city’s most famous site is Longshan Temple (it has the same name as Taipei’s most famous place of worship, but the two have no connection with each other). The Lugang Longshan was built in 1653, during the 7th year of Ming Emperor Yongli’s reign. Though numerous natural disasters have damaged it over the last 350 years, it’s always been quickly rebuilt. Its most recent vintage was finished in 1938, during the 13th year of Japanese Emperor Showa, and it has great artistic value.

That afternoon, we ascended to Xitou Forest by bus. On the morning of the third day, we enjoyed a refreshing hike of the cool and beautiful mountain. There we saw the 2800-year old “God Tree.” Actually, before Japan colonized Taiwan, the entire mountain was virgin forest, but the Japanese army harvested almost all the timber to aid the war effort. They spared the “God Tree” because it looked terrible, so its initial misfortune was most fortunate indeed. There were also archetypal flower bulbs which enlightened “Thought and Society” students who had learned the theory that the Chinese character for “emperor” (帝) is a pictogram representing a drooping flower (蒂), symbolizing that society is supported from the top down by the emperor. The mountain resort in which we stayed had all kinds of Japanese shops, and we could also buy some comparatively rare Taiwanese snacks, for example “black charcoal ice cream” (which had the flower of bamboo charcoal).

Finally, we took a boat across Taiwan’s most famous lake, Sun Moon Lake, and sampled its traditional food stands, famous for wild boar, mushroom baozi, and rice wine. The area isn’t your parents’ Sun Moon Lake anymore: the pace of its development surprises year after year.

We returned to Taipei on Saturday evening so we could take a one-day vacation from our exciting three-day vacation and enjoy Easter Sunday.

臺灣＝合

我認為適合代表台灣的是「合」字，
我選的字並不是和平共處的和。因爲選舉季節又即將來臨，我擔心今年那個字沒有代表性。我提出的是「合適」的合，「綜合」的合，也就是「不謀而合」的合。

原因何在呢？首先我認為臺灣適合居住。「古人云。智者樂水。仁者樂山。臺灣非獨有山，且亦有水。」在這個「美麗島」，各種各樣的大自然環境組合在一起，同時也有現代化城市與傳統農村的結合，再加上四季分明，因此作爲一個臺灣居民就不愁生活會流於枯燥無味。

加之，臺灣是多元文化的社會。雖然我是個「老外」，不過連一次也沒有被臺灣人排斥過，我覺得非常難得。我當地朋友也說因爲臺灣已經是多民族的社會，也受不同民族統治的影響，必然比較開放。

我的春節接待家庭就是典型的臺灣文化英雄。父親是退休體育老師和童子軍團長。他曾經騎著自行車遊遍日本。因爲我以前居住在日本，所以我們用日文聊天、唱歌，很多想法都不謀而合。母親雖然不是客家人，可是當客家樂舞團的藝術總監，跟他們一起巡迴世界表演。兒子在華盛頓特區念過研究所。女兒是華語老師，也在英國住過幾年，因此她小孩也說英文說得很好。還有親戚養的導盲犬是從澳洲來的，也可以跟我用我的母語溝通（笑）。他們也接待過六個原住民國中學生三年。由於他們的熱情，使我有這個團圓快樂的過年體驗。

到目前爲止，我在臺灣只住了十個月而已，不過已經對這裡產生了深厚的情感，我要在此感謝各位歡迎我，並祝賀中華民國再一百年好「合」！

臉書時代的情形 ~ The Facebook Generation

臉書時代的情形
作者: 史杰輝
編輯: 沈若榆

自從大學就學以後，我只要透過臉書就可以毫不費力地知道遠方朋友的情形。反過來說，我朋友無論是美國人或是臺灣人，也都可以隨時跟我聯絡。因爲使朋友能夠交換網站，所以臉書在信息跟娛樂活動上也有所貢獻。
如果可以因此緩和分離的痛苦，又何嘗不可？不過從另外一個角度來看，如此方便的社會網絡，並非人人都能抗拒對臉書上癮。即使臉書是交流工具，也絕對不能取代面對面互動交際。雖然歷經多年網絡上的友情，仍然無法了解那個朋友的情形。如果某人在現實生活中沒有其他的興趣，反而在螢幕前面度過大部分的時間，這並不是我們所樂見的。
我有少數朋友至今仍拒絕用臉書，他們說必須藉由親身的經驗來過真正的生活。由於臉書為我個人帶來許許多多的好處，我不願意放棄這個工具，不過我很關心我使用電腦的時間，希望好好利用我生活的寶貴時間。

The Facebook Generation
Author: James Smyth
Editor: Shen Ruo-yu

Ever since I went to college, I’ve been able to use Facebook to effortlessly keep up with my friends from a distance. And whether my friends are American or Taiwanese, they can use Facebook to keep in touch with me. Because Facebook also lets friends trade web addresses, it’s also made a great contribution to the news and entertainment industries.

If we can use the network to ease the pain of separation, what could be wrong with it? Well, such a convenient social network can be addictive. Though Facebook is a handy communication tool, it still can’t compare to face-to-face interaction. Even if you maintain a friendship with someone for years through the Internet, you can’t understand certain things about their lives. Not cultivating one’s interests outside of Facebook and spending most of one’s life in front of a monitor are not things we should look favorably upon.

I have a few friends who refuse to use Facebook. They say only life in the outside world is real. Because Facebook has done so much good for me, I don’t want to give it up, but I keep track of how much time I spend on the computer; I want to use my limited lifespan wisely.

地域觀念的影響

地域觀念的影響
作者：史杰輝
編輯：周長楨

今天我的同學，思婷，說「半身插進土裡」的村民可能免不了討厭那個地方。我認爲她說得很中肯，所以先把這個思想加以分析。我學生時代常常用尖酸刻薄的話描寫我家鄉。即使我了解那是非常安全跟富有的地方，也以爲村民很淺薄、很高傲。作爲一個青少年，固然很容易流於批評人和事，不過理由不充足的話只是害人害己罷了。我如今的愛鄉土感情比任何時候都強烈。

進一步來説，除了我家鄉以外，我也住過在四個不同的地方，那就是杜克大學、馬德里、一座日本農村跟臺北，都各有千秋。在我腦海裡我管每一個地方都叫過「我家」。每到夢到某個地方的時候，我就知道我在那裡感到自在了。去年世界盃的時候我支持三個國家隊。錦標賽當天我四點起床看了比賽，西班牙勝利之後我就欣喜若狂。

我想這樣的觀點與傳統地域觀念有衝突，不過在這個國際化的社會裡類似我的人會一年比一年多。其實，不少居住在日本的移民哀嘆無論他們住在某個地方幾年，參加幾個當地活動，本地的人還是把他們看成旅客，問他們什麽時候要歸國。這是日本移民的苦衷，跟美國的情形截然不同。縱使日本人注意到移民有形的差異，不過至少得承認有日本血統不是當日本人的必要條件。大家都知道我珍惜我日本鄉下經驗，不過我也感到了這個不能跨越的隔閡。

反過來說，我在臺灣也屬於少數民族，不過我在這裡連一次也沒有被排斥，我覺得非常難得。ICLP的國際化固然扮演很重要的角色，不過我當地朋友也說因爲臺灣已經是多種民族的社會，也受過多種民族統治國家的影響，必然比較開放。到目前爲止，我所觀察到的臺灣的地域觀念簡直是微乎其微。

Regionalism’s Influence
Author: James Smyth
Editor: Zhou Chang-zhen

Today my classmate Stephanie said that some people who are “half-planted in their hometown soil” [a Chinese figure of speech] can’t help hating the place. I think this is very true, so first I’d like to expand on her thought. When I was a student, I often used sarcasm to describe my hometown. Even though I knew it was a very safe and prosperous place, I thought the people there were shallow and arrogant. When you’re an adolescent, it’s natural to criticize other people and things, but if you don’t have a good reason for it you’ll simply hurt yourself and others. My love for my hometown has never been stronger than it is now.

Taking it a step further, I’ve now lived in four other places: Duke University, Madrid, my Japanese farming village, and Taipei, each of which has its own great qualities. I’ve thought of each place as “my home” before. Whenever I start to dream of a place, I know I’ve become comfortable there. I supported three teams during last year’s World Cup. I woke up at 4 AM to watch the championship game, and I was celebrating all day after Spain won.

I imagine my attitude conflicts with traditional regionalism and nationalism, but in today’s internationalized society there are more people like me every year. To tell the truth, though, more than a few emigrants to Japan complain that no matter how many years they’ve lived there, and no matter how many local activities they’ve participated in, the natives see them as guests and ask them when they’re planning to return home. This is completely different from the emotional burden carried by, for example, an emigrant to America. Though the Japanese easily distinguish a person looks different, they should at least acknowledge that Japanese ancestry is not a necessary condition for being a Japanese person. You all know I treasured my experience in Japan, but I also felt this kind of distance from people when I lived there.

Though I am also a minority in Taiwan, I’ve never felt left out here, and I find that amazing. ICLP’s international atmosphere obviously plays a big role in that, but my Taiwanese friends also say that because their island already has so many ethnic groups, and it has been governed by many different nations, it has a more open society. As far as I can tell, Taiwanese-style “nationalism” is a rare thing.

The First Lady of the Renaissance

Above: Lady with an Ermine, a masterpiece painted by Leonardo da Vinci in 1490. Below: Rembrandt’s Girl in a Picture Frame on display in one of the rooms of the Royal Palace of Madrid. The pieces are part of the Polish Golden Age exhibition opening June 3. Photos by Claudio Álvarez.

The First Lady of the Renaissance
One of Leonardo da Vinci’s greatest paintings arrives in Spain under extraordinary security: “Lady with an Ermine” rarely leaves Poland
El País: La primera dama del Renacimiento
Ángeles García reporting from Madrid May 25, 2011

It will be the center of a phenomenal web of diplomatic-artistic intrigue: on Monday, May 30, at 16:00, a military plane from Poland will land in the Torrejón airport. From that moment, a team of 12 people, among them restorers and politicians, will keep watch over a priceless artistic treasure. The object worthy of such attention is La dama con l’ermellino (“Lady with an Ermine”), one of the fundamental works of Leonardo da Vinci’s meager artistic production and by extension one of the jewels of the Italian Renaissance.

It will be the star of the exhibition the Golden Age of Poland exhibition (opening June 3 in the Royal Palace of Madrid, and it will surely be one of the artistic events of the season. Such prominent pieces do not commonly travel, and this is not precisely an exception. After passing time in the capital, it will take advantage of the break from its home (the Czartoryski Museum in Krakow) to visit Berlin and the National Gallery in London. Upon returning home, it will not leave again for at least 15 years.

Before then, the lady will complete her obligations in Spain. The canvas – 54.8×40.3 cm and painted in 1490 – will be installed in a nobleman’s salon in the palace especially designed to host a piece which revolutionized the portrait for various and intangible reasons including the spiral movement ascending through the head, the anatomical study of the hands, face, and neck, the atmosphere which could be called tangible (the famous Sfumato mode), and most of all the harmony and enduring Renaissance beauty.

A team of reinforced glass specialists will create a display case to guarantee suitable conditions for the painting, a panel 40 centimeters thick designed not to hinder contemplation of the painting, costing 30,000 euros for the trip and paid for by the three countries benefiting from the visit: it is little to preserve a canvas which, having survived two world wars, Nazi plundering, and acts of aggression, is now maintained in optimal condition.

A miracle? Nicolás Martínez-Fresno, president of the Patrimonio Nacional [National Heritage], prefers to use this word to describe the painting’s arrival in Spain. Those who have taken part in seducing the venerable dame include President Zapatero, Minister of Culture Ángeles González-Sinde, and King Juan Carlos himself, who contemplated Leonardo’s works in Washington years ago and has a personal relationship with Prince Czartoryski, the sole owner of this work and the rest of the extremely valuable collection held in the Krakow museum.

“The history of this painting,” explained Martínez-Fresno, “has run almost parallel to that of Poland.” The vicissitudes to which the director refers include episodes like its discovery in 1939 in the catacombs of a Polish castle and subsequent requisition by invading Nazi forces, which sent it to the Kaiser Friedrich Museum in Berlin. In 1940, Hans Frank, General of the Polish Government, demanded the restitution of the treasure in the city of Krakow; ignominiously, it ended up adorning his own private villa.

The painting’s good luck before the convulsive twentieth century began in earnest in Milan. Leonardo created it on commission for Duke Ludovico El Moro. The lady is Cecilia Gallerani, the beautiful young lover of the duke, who sat for the portrait at 17 years of age, when Leonardo had a little more than 40. Successive restorations have not affected the woman’s figure, but they have affected the background, which was not originally black. There was not always a signature in the left corner, either.

And the ermine? That was the duke’s nickname. The only argument about the work is over the exact identity of the creature: is it a weasel? A ferret? A marten? Zoological digressions aside, the enigmatic mascot will settle in Madrid until September along with 190 other works testifying to the cultural richness of Polish museums, including treasures from artists like Lucas Cranach and a very beautiful oil painting, Girl in a Picture Frame, produced by a mature Rembrandt in 1641.

A Well-Traveled Lady
There was no trace of the portrait of Cecilia Gallerani, who died young, until the beginning of the 19th century. It then became a part of the Czartoryski family collection which also included pieces by Rembrandt and Raphael.

After the Russian Czar’s troops arrived, the painting went into exile in the Hotel Lambert in Paris. The Franco-Prussian War propitiated its return to Poland. From 1876, it presided in the Krakow Museum until the Nazis arrived.

For the First Time, More Than Half of Spanish Public Debt is in Foreign Hands

For the First Time, More Than Half of Spanish Public Debt is in Foreign Hands
Debt issuance falls 41% thanks to the government’s adjustment measures
El Mundo: Más de la mitad de la deuda española está en manos extranjeras por primera vez
Juan Emilio Maíllo reporting from Madrid May 25, 2011

The majority of Spanish public debt is in foreign hands for the first time ever. Those who are not residents of the country possessed 291 billion euros of Spanish debt at the end of 2010, 70 billion more than the year before and 53.4% of the total.

In 2009, the percentage was 46.5%, according to the data of the Bank of Spain, which published its annual public debt report on Wednesday; the report did not detail which countries own this debt.

The net issuance of Spanish public debt was €64.147 billion euros in 2010, which would be a descent of 41% from the year before, according to Javier Maycas, chief of the national bank’s Monetary Policy Implementation division.

The national bank attributed the fall in debt issuance to the adjustment measures the government had already put in motion.

In any case, the total state debt in circulation increased 13.9% to roughly €461,996,000,000.

The net collection of funds through T-bills ascended to €3.579 billion while the amount raised by bonds and obligations were €26.737 billion and €33.831 billion, respectively.

For its part, the secondary debt market had a slight 0.1% fall in 2010 and held at €18.6 billion.

Rajoy Claims Vindication for Strategy of Keeping a Low Profile, Requests Early Elections

From right to left, Mariano Rajoy, Dolores de Cospedal, Esperanza Aguirre, Javier Arenas and Alberto Ruiz-Gallardón at the Executive National Committee of the Popular Party. Photo by Claudio Álvarez.

Rajoy Claims Vindication for Strategy of Keeping a Low Profile, Requests Early Elections
The leader of the victorious Popular Party avoids questions, calms euphoria, and won’t consider a vote of censure
El País: Rajoy reivindica su estrategia de bajo perfil y pide elecciones anticipadas
Carlos E. Cué reporting from Madrid May 24, 2011

Mariano Rajoy is not a man accustomed to vindication. Due to his timidity, style, and strategy, he prefers that others analyze his trajectory and explain his decisions. He almost never does so himself. But Sunday’s landslide victory lead to changed behavior on Monday. Rajoy used a televised speech before the National Executive Committee to remind everyone, the faithful and critical alike, of the wisdom of his strategy of keeping a low profile, designed by him and his guru Pedro Arriola, and he said he will continue to employ this strategy given the fabulous and unexpected fruit it has given him.

Sunday was, for Rajoy and the majority of the PP, proof that he was right. Now he is committed to cooling euphoria, not agitating the left, and arriving at La Moncloa [the presidential palace] without anyone noticing. And also in changing the party’s isolationist image from the last legislature: “The PP can speak to everyone except Bildu [ETA's de facto political party].”

“We had a slogan, centered on you, which was an appeal to moderation,” he began. “We campaigned the way we believed was best for us and the Spanish community. We haven’t responded to provocations or insults. We have to think about the future. We aren’t here to entertain anyone, and no one should mark our agendas,” he finished in a clear reference to the press. Esperanza Aguirre listened to him quietly though she obtained an extraordinary election result using precisely the opposite strategy, which was to take a stand on all controversial issues.

He is so obsessed with not making noise that when he laid out the matter of the day, a petition for early elections, he did it in his style, dissimulating, without any sound bites. He reminded everyone that he had already asked for early elections ten months before in the debate over the state of the nation, and he assured that the option remains on the table. “We told Zapatero. He didn’t accept, and that’s his right. Things haven’t gone any better. Our position is the same, and we’re not going to repeat it every single day because that wouldn’t make sense.

“This government is not in good shape. Greece’s isn’t well, either; it has a dangerous amount of debt. There is much uncertainty, and this government is not the most suitable for generating confidence and dispelling doubt,” he argued.

In case any of his directors doubted him, Rajoy put the machinery of his party in motion yesterday. The leadership believes Zapatero will not move forward on his proposal, but the PP wants to maintain pressure and keep its rival in tension.

In fact, Rajoy announced that on June 6 there will be a board meeting to decide the future of Dolores Cospedal as secretary general. If Rajoy opts to relieve her – first he will speak with all the party barons – Ana Mato, whom the leader applauded as the coordinator of this campaign, has the votes in hand to be the new secretary general. Cospedal has always said that she wants to get along with others, which has inspired much internal criticism, although yesterday she was much more cautious. Cospedal, after her well-deserved victory, and Rajoy both have the power to do what they like.

The PP should have a congress before the end of the year. It could happen after the elections, but it also could also take place in the fall as a launching pad for the national elections. “The party is beginning to prepare for the general elections,” Rajoy stated.

The leader did not answer questions – not even after such a crushing victory – but Cospedal will do so in the morning. He left it clear that, despite those who are convinced the current state of affairs is unsustainable, the PP will not call for censure of the current government. Rajoy has decided to move forward cautiously, not take risks, and wait for the PSOE to collapse under its own weight.

Now for governing. Only a fall packed with budget cuts, which made the left mobilize against previous PP governments, as is happening in Catalonia now, could detail a victory the populares have long considered irreversible. The leader asked influential party members for cuts but not traumatic ones. “I’d like more control of superfluous expenses, assessments, contracts, and normal expenditures, and austerity in comportment and in law. That is what is expected of us.”

Although just yesterday he asked for “maximum transparency” from his regional leaders in order to clean up politics, Rajoy still hasn’t explained a controversial decision such as leaving Francisco Álvarez-Cascos off the Popular Party ballot in Asturias, something which came back to hurt him. But the power of Rajoy is already so absolute that no one even asked about the Cascos affair. In fact, nobody spoke except him and Cospedal.

A hundred directors, among them the regional presidents – including the almost-always absent Francisco Camps – traveled to Madrid to applaud each other. Rajoy has attained all his objectives. Including this last one: that the PP act ever more like its leader.

Rajoy Quotes
Early Elections: “This government is not in good shape. Greece’s isn’t well, either; it has a dangerous amount of debt. There is much uncertainty, and this government is not the most suitable for generating confidence and dispelling doubt.”

Low Profile: “”We had a slogan, centered on you, which was an appeal to moderation,” he began. “We campaigned the way we believed was best for us and the Spanish community. We haven’t responded to provocations or insults. We have to think about the future. We aren’t here to entertain anyone, and no one should mark our agendas.”

Popular Party Crushes Socialist Party in Spanish Regional Elections

Popular Party Crushes Socialist Party in Spanish Regional Elections
The total difference in support was 10 percentage points with 99% of ballots counted
El Mundo: El PP arrolla al PSOE en las urnas
Álvaro Carvajal reporting from Madrid May 23, 2011

Check El Mundo‘s front page for the Javascript electoral map.

It was a bad night for the PSOE all right, as Ferraz predicted. The PP had a crushing victory in regional and municipal elections as the Socialists paid dearly for their management of the economic crisis and the five million unemployed. The voters’ castigation of Zapatero was so convincing that, with more than 9 months to go until the general elections, the question in the air is whether he can even finish the next legislative session. For the moment, the President has ruled out advance elections in order to concentrate on the economic crisis.

The populares have wiped the socialistas off the map. The data speaks for itself. With 100% of the votes counted, the PP obtained 37.53% and the PSOE 27.79%. The difference rounds to ten percent, practically double what the populares won in 1995 when they anticipated the change to come in the general elections of 1996. In 2007 the PP also won, but the difference was only 7 tenths of one percent (35.62%-34.92%).

The lesson is that the PP has painted Spain blue and prepared what could be the landing of Mariano Rajoy in La Moncloa next March. The “populars” won more than 2,200,000 votes and 5,000 council seats than the Socialists. It received half a million more votes than in 2007.

For its part, the PSOE is all disconsolation and sadness. Erased from the regional political maps, it bled votes in the municipal elections and lost more than a million and a half in all. They are suffocated for the immediate future by the voters’ rejection of the Zapatero Government’s policies. Still, their alliances with the PNV and CC guarantee they can rule until the end of the legislature.

From this Monday, Ferraz will fire the starting gun for primary elections to select a new leader for the general election campaign, a delicate situation. We will see if these facts don’t push any aspirants to give up and wait for a less black time. The thumping is such that José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero though it necessary to appear before journalists and take responsibility for the election as a castigation of his leadership. The President will “say goodbye” to the elections leaving his party knocked out and without territorial power.

The populares will probably double their offensive to call an advance election. Asked about it, Zapatero dismissed this scenario in order to “complete reforms that are indispensable to the economic recovery“. In his public appearance, Rajoy did not make demands, but he was a meter from Alberto Ruiz-Gallardón and Esperanza Aguirre while the partisans who went to Génova cheered for a “Zapatero resignation” to bring about a “Rajoy presidency”.

Indignation Lifts Up the United Left
Those discontented with the PSOE, and possibly the May 15 Protest Movement as well, have given wings to Izquierda Unida (The United Left) which finally enjoyed a great election night and consolidated itself as a third force. It obtained 6.32% percent of the vote compared to 5.48% in 2007, more than 1,400,000 ballots in all.

The indignation expressed in demonstrations all over Spain, like the band at the Puerta del Sol in Madrid, has been reflected in the ballot box, where despite fears of a fall in participation, the voting rate instead rose to 66.22%, two points higher than in 2007. The most remarkable aspect is the black vote, which had a record showing for the democracy at 2.55%. Nullified votes also rose to 1.69%.

There were more winners on this night. Bildu, which was finally allowed to participate in the elections after a Constitutional Court decision, obtained some great results. It is situated as a second political force in the Basque Country, after gaining 25% of the votes and 82 more council seats than the PNV. In Navarre, the coalition sponsored by the Basque nationalist left won 11.64% of the vote and became a third political force, in front of NaBai. The ex-leaders of Batasuna, like Joseba Permach and Rufi Etxeberria, celebrated the results in Bildu’s general headquarters. For its part, the PNV received a slightly greater amount of the vote in the Basque Country (29.9%).

UPyD, running for the first time in some local polls, continued to grow and won 2.08% of the vote, as many in the state of Madrid as in the city. Among the Catalan leagues, CiU won 3.47% and ERC 1.21% of the total votes in municipal elections.

Castilla-La Mancha Falls to the Popular Party
The Socialist bloodletting has a name: Castilla-La Mancha. The turnover in this historically socialist region was complete, and what seemed unthinkable for years has finally occurred.

The fight to govern from Toledo was one of the PP’s obsessions, and it concentrated on raising up a “number two” from the party in anticipation of the national elections. Maria Dolores de Cospedal has obtained an important majority and opened a new cycle in Castilla-La Mancha.

The PSOE has saved Extremadura, another historical stronghold which for some moments looked like it would also fall into the hands of the PP. It would have but for a handful of votes. A predictable pact between the PSOE and IU will leave Fernández Vara the president of the region although the populares received the most votes.

The PP won the elections in all Autonomous Communities in play except Asturias and Navarre. Especially significant are the cases of the Balearic Islands and Cantabria, where it gained an absolute majority in territories in which it was outside of the government due to alliance-making.

Aragon has also changed color. The “popular” Luisa Fernanda Rudi has overturned the government with seven seats, but she will need to make a pact with PAR to become the first female president in the region.

In “popular” fiefdoms like Madrid, Valencia, La Rioja, and Murcia, the PSOE suffered painful defeats. In the case of Madrid, Aguirre augmented her already ample advantage, and in Valencia, Camps survived despite the corruption of the “Gürtel case”.

The only bad news for Génova was in Asturias. Álvarez-Cascos – the candidate Rajoy rejected who created his own party – won the elections with six seats more than the PP. As such, the leader of the Asturian Forum will need votes from the PP to govern..unless there is a PSOE-PP alliance.

In the Canary Islands, the PP won the most votes, but the government will depend on alliances. Given the results, any scenario is possible.

Change in Barcelona and Sevilla
Turning to the municipal plane, the PP has also wiped the Socialists off the map, as the latter lost two of its emblematic and historic cities: Barcelona and Sevilla.

The CiU’s victory in Barcelona means, besides the end of 32 years of Socialist government there, the collapse of the foundation of the PSC which without the Catalan capital will have to learn how to live without the “heart” that sustained it for three decades. So begins the era of Xavier Trías.

In Sevilla, the PP swept to an absolute majority which gives many lessons. And it is the populares who now govern in all the capitals of the province of Andalusia, which seems to anticipate the winds of change announced by pollsters. The president of the region will not be decided for another nine months, but the PP appears to be a serious aspirant to the principal granary of the PSOE.

Of the seven most important cities in the country, the PSOE would only maintain Zaragoza if it formed a triumvirate with the PAR and Chunta. This would appear to be difficult because PP regional leader Rudi will need the PAR to govern the region, and this alliance would presumably include the capital.

日本教育的好處 ~ Japanese Education’s Strong Points

日本教育的好處
作者：史杰輝
編輯：周長楨

大學畢業後我在日本五所國立中小學校教了兩年的英文。我一共跟四十多位老師跟一千多個學生一起上課。根據我的觀點這種了解日本教育的機會真是鳳毛麟角。日本教育跟我國教育比起來，缺陷有倒是有，可是在原則方面也有很明顯的優點，以下我要擧一些例子。

許多美國朋友，尤其是男生表示他們小學的時候討厭上課因爲令他們悶得發慌。更可憐的是許多教育者以爲類似的坐立不安的學生有精神病，因此讓他們天天吃葯。不過孩子本來不適合坐著念書，而需要常常運動、體驗。雖然日本也有不少應升學主義而成爲「書呆子」的學生，但是學校都爲了培養四育起見，進行各種各樣的活動，尤其是小學。我的學生往往要參加似乎無限的活動，包括園藝、種田、每日運動、藝術、表演、工作經歷、拜訪療養院等等，這幫助學生同時明白和培養自己的興趣和擴大經驗的範圍。我認爲一般的學校之所以智育站首要地位就是因爲智育是最容易管理的方面而已。

美國老師的標準與地位都不如日本老師。日本用淘汰制度挑選老師，原因在於該工作的名聲、穩定性，而且薪水很高。老師也在教書生涯中受訓練、加班。因此我認識的日本老師大部分都不但聰明而且認真。

我最後要討論日本老師的責任感。如果學生受傷或是被逮捕，醫生跟警察一定給學生的「担任老師」打電話，老師無論如何都會到學生那裡去。開學的時候老師爲了了解學生的家庭情形起見要拜訪他所有學生的家。老師也每個星期都要看學生寫給他們的日記，然後老師給學生私人指導。我不要說美國老師應該像日本老師一樣當學生生活上最重要的人，原因之一是日本跟美國有不能調和的文化差異，不過我個人在日本教書的時候感到我跟自己中小學老師的距離是一個缺憾。

因爲受到時間的限制，我只能談到這三個現象，不過因爲我對這個話題相當有興趣，歡迎各位老師跟同學隨時跟我一起討論日本教育的情形。

Japanese Education’s Strong Points
Author: James Smyth
Editor: Zhou Chang-zhen

After graduating from college, I taught English in Japan for two years. I had class with over 40 teachers and 1000 students altogether; it was a precious opportunity to learn about Japanese education. Though Japanese schools don’t surpass my home country in every respect, it still has many good qualities, some of which I’ll describe here.

Many of my American friends, especially men, have told me that they hated going to elementary school because it bored them out of their minds. What’s worse is that many educators assumed restless students like them had mental problems and fed these children medicine day after day. But young people aren’t meant to sit and read all day: they need to exercise and try different things. Although Japan has more than a few bookworms, its schools, especially elementary schools, still offer several kinds of activities designed to provide a well-rounded training of the body, knowledge, teamwork, and morality. My students participated in a seemingly endless number of events, including gardening, rice-planting, daily exercise, art, work experiences, visiting nursing homes, and so forth. This helped them realize their own interests and abilities and expand their horizons. I think the majority of schools devote most of their time to the “knowledge” side of education simply because that’s the easiest to teach.

Japanese teachers have to meet higher standards than their American counterparts and also receive more respect. Teachers have to compete for positions in Japan because the occupation has so much esteem, stability, and remuneration. Teachers receive training and work overtime throughout their careers. Hence, most of the teachers I met there were not only intelligent but also hard-working.

Finally, I’d like to discuss Japanese teachers’ sense of responsibility to their students. If a student is injured or arrested, the doctor or policeman will call his homeroom teacher, and the teacher will drop everything and visit the student no matter what. At the beginning of the school year, teachers visit students’ homes to understand their families’ circumstances. Students also write diaries for their teachers, who after reading them give their students guidance. I’m not saying American teachers should become the most important people in their students’ lives, as Japanese teachers are – for one, there is a vast cultural differences between the two countries – but after teaching in Japan, I felt regret about the distance between me and my elementary and junior high school teachers.

Because of time constraints, I can only discuss these three phenomena, but because I’m very interested in this topic, I invite my teachers and classmates to discuss Japanese education with me any time.