ASIAN AMERICAN poet

novelist, poet
Born: 1956
Birthplace: Liaoning Province, China

From the age of 14 until he was 20, Jin served in the People's Liberation Army in China.

THE poems on this page were written in English by a young Chinese poet and scholar, Xuefei Jin, whose pen name is Ha Jin. He was born in Liaoling province of Manchuria in 1956, entered the Chinese People’s Liberation Army at fourteen, served somewhat more than five years as a soldier (his father was at the time a soldier) and then three years as a telegraphist for the Harbin Railroad Company. In 1978 he entered Heilongjiang University and is continuing his studies at present at Brandeis. The poems he has written since he began his studies in America deal mainly with the experience of persons in China during the Cultural Revolution– "experience," as he writes, "not strictly personal, although in most cases . . . stimulated by memory of hard facts which cannot be worn away by time."

In Ha Jin’s poems we overhear the people of China–one at a time–speak to one another in the infinite particularity of his concern or her concern and in the deep solitude of a vast nation–the People’s Republic–which constitutes a fate no one can understand or change. Nonetheless, as Ha Jin says, they are "not merely victims of history. They are also the makers of history. Without them the history of contemporary China would remain a blank page." We hear in these poems the living and the dead–vulnerable, passionate, rational, unforgiving, heartbroken, relentless, gay–speaking of the interests which constitute their humanity in an uncanny language in which English is carried up into a region of pure human authenticity–the language of no nation but the nation of the person who speaks willingly or unwillingly the truth. In the introduction to his manuscript, from which these poems are drawn, Ha Jin remarks: "If not every one of these people, who were never perfect, is worthy of our love, at least their fate deserves our attention and our memory. They should talk and be talked about.



An Older Scholar’s Advice

After you get your master’s degree
you will have to work hard for some years
to be promoted to a lectureship. Then you can relax.
Don’t think that if you go on working in that way
you can get your professorship. First,
you must have enough teaching experience.
In my school, only after having taught for 24 years
will you be qualified for consideration
as an associate professor. Second,
you must publish enough papers.
it is not hard to write them but it is not easy
to publish them. In fact, you can publish anything
if you have connections. My colleagues told me that
publication is also an important field of study.
Well, if you "study" it thoroughly
you may be able to get your papers out,
but you will have to pay a lot for it.

For me the most practical thing to do now
is not to worry about my professorship.
So many lecturers are not qualified for it
until they are qualified for retirement
or for death. I just ignore it for the time being.
In the morning I practice Tai Chi.
In the evening I watch TV and go to bed early.
I have quit smoking but drink two cups of wine
every day. Wine can warm your blood.
Don’t indulge yourself in sex.
It will weaken your young kidneys.
As long as you are in good health,
as long as you live longer than others,
eventually you will get your professorship.

You can wait for that.






Jeffrey aka Jupac

Iron Chef

We all agreed to meet at a specific time and place after school, being my house. Kim and Donna bought the ingredients and we started cooking the food immediately. geeyyyyyah!
thats how we roll!!!! Spring roll that is !!!!!
During the Iron chef midterm Mixed Persuasion made Vietnamese fusion dishes that were a blend of American and Vietnamese. It was both tasty and cool to look at lol. We made Spring Rolls with a zesty Peanut and oil+ vinegar dip that was delicious. We also made a shrimp salad that had many American flavors it was derived from. We cooked the seasoning with butter and Shrimp sauce. The preparation was awesome due to the fact it was a group effort. After the cooking we took a short break by knocking back a few drinks. geeeeeyyyaahhhhh. After that short break i took a few more breaks and knocked back a few more.GEYYYYAAAH!
Jeffrey jupac

The Fashion show was an educational experience to say the least. Our outfit was a traditional Vietnamese dress with a beautiful look and appeal. Me [jeff] Julie, and Donna bought the materials on Irving St at an Asian fabric store. The group came over to my house to complete the design and overallit was pretty good,
I hope that we can win or kinda win that would be pretty swell
so yea thats great man shhheeeyyyyyyaahhhhhh

lissen up. lissen up
man, yus musta bin pissin up
I'm the baddest rapper in this game
My lines make others go insane
They so fine
they must be mine

all you punkass wannabe rappers
wit all your fake bling bling
wacked little lines
neva seen the streets or anyfing

Shorties, youd ben beten by cops
crushed like a petal
Give me the props
or feel my metal

Yus thinks you know it all, yu lazy n fat
Keep messin' wit me 'n feel my spiked bat

( Yeah! I now know how to use google! Yeah! No offense intended + not aimed at anybody, just playin' although I'm no PLaya! )

POP goes the weasel

So today I was filled with an overcoming sense of self-determination. I was determined to blog about the POP performance since I haven’t blogged in a while. I’ve been pretty busy working on other group projects. So anyways the day started out just like every other Friday. Wake up at 7, get to work by 8:40, and stay there till 4. Unluckily for me, I forgot to bring an extra pair of clothes and shoes. It sucked walking around in work shoes for 15 hours. I managed to get to the theater by 5 PM, and I saw that the class had already started rehearsing. During the rehearsal, I was entrenched with the perception that the groups were not ready. Going into the break, I was expecting the worst but hoping for the best.

The actual performances started a bit later than planned (7:20ish). The first classes variety show was pretty good. The one film that pretty much stole the show was entitled Identity. By 8:10 PM, the initial excitement for the shows began to die down. It was further complicated by the mounds of people stacking up in the back and the lack of air conditioning. When the second class performed, it was fairly obvious that the heat was beginning to bother a lot of people. Many of their skits and featured a couple of good one liners but nothing much else to rave about. Three fourths through their performance, our class was pulled out of the auditorium and we moved towards the back of the stage.

Nearly everyone was hit with initial jitters. I could recall the dance group frantically trying to get in as much practice as they could. Additionally, Ben was running around everywhere trying to locate Irene. As the second class finished their performance, everyone in our class was psyching themselves up for the performance. As we crowded the back hallway, we suddenly hear Irene and Ben give an unexpected lyrical performance. Looking at each other in confusion and awe, the rhythm and rhyme expelled from Irene and Ben were uplifting and encouraging to our own psyche. After they finished, we did our routines with little hitch. Overall, I think we managed to pull out a pretty good job despite the minimal practice we had. Our biggest shortcoming was setting up the stage and transitioning between scenes. Although we had the biggest class, our play/skit was the shortest. By 10:30 it was all over, and we let out a collected sigh of relief and joy. After a couple weeks of worrying, it was finally over in a flash.

messing around with the blog

so i was trying to make our blog pretty again. now i dont know how to put our picture back on the sidebar. and the info is missing too. ehhhh i tried. lol. i wanted to actually blog about a real issue or something, but i can't think at the moment. just to sleepy. i'll see what i can think of to blog tomorrow. night everyone!

-Donna ;]

Jin the MC THE FAKE JUPAC

Jin was born Jin Au-Yeung on June 4, 1982 in Miami, Florida.[4] He was raised in Miami by his Chinese immigrant parents who ran their own restaurant. In junior high, he became fascinated with hip hop music and dreamed of becoming a professional rapper. He was inspired by artists such as Tupac, Nas, Wu-Tang Clan, The Notorious B.I.G., LL Cool J, Big L and other well-known rappers from the early 1990s. When first taking up rapping, he struggled with the form of music but with much practice he realized he had a talent for freestyle rap. He soon began performing for his classmates, co-workers and whoever would listen. Jin began entering freestyle battles in local hip-hop clubs where he was usually the only Asian around.In 2001, he decided to move his family to Flushing, Queens, New York City. He began performing freestyles and selling his own mix tapes on the streets, in hip-hop clubs and wherever else possible. He quickly gained a huge following, just as he had done in Miami. His big break came when the BET program 106 & Park began inviting local rappers to hold battles in a segment known as Freestyle Friday. Ready for the national exposure, he auditioned and again was underestimated due to his ethnic background. Although he lost to Diabolic, he kept his head and proved everyone wrong by winning the battles week after week. His first battle was against Hasan, who had six straight victories and was one victory away from being inducted into the hall of fame. Jin began the competition by delivering strong rhymes during his round. Hasan countered during his thirty second round with rhymes; however, with ten seconds left in the battle, Hasan lost his focus and was unable to deliver any more lyrics and stopped his performance. Jin was then declared the new champion. After winning for seven weeks straight, Jin was inducted into the show's Hall of Fame.
NOW THAT'S GANGSTA!!!!!!
JEFFREY

POP!

i'm so glad pop is over. and i'm glad it all pulled through in the end. kind of like how our midterm was. i was just a bit irritated how the other classes took so freaking long to do their performances. kinda messed up that they took up most of the time and left us with a tired, sleepy crowd.

i think our class had lots of great ideas for our show. i'm sure there were plenty more ideas but just not enough time to incorporate them all.

i think this semester has been quite memorable in all of my classes, but especially eths 210. i made new friends and new memories. i think our group had its ups and downs but overall, i'm glad i got to work with the people in my group. i can honestly say i like each and every one of them. (and to be honest, that doesn't usually happen... hahaha)

so although we didn't win every group challenge, didn't always all show up to class, and weren't always able to meet up for projects and such, i still love everyone in mixed persuasian and our group will be one of the most memorable ones i'm sure.

and i STILL think we should have won the iron chef challenge. seriously. haha.
-Donna ;]