Why I've Been AWOL from Blogging

February was the Student Research Competition

http://www.csulb.edu/divisions/aa/projects/grad/research/winners/

Now we're working on getting the finishing touches of our Asian Studies Grad Student Conference put together before 3/18.

http://www.csulb.edu/colleges/cla/departments/aaas/graduate/conference.html

http://www.csulb.edu/colleges/cla/departments/aaas/docs/program3.4.11.pdf

Then at the end of March and beginning of April, I will be in Hawaii for the Association of Asian Studies Conference, Session 418.

http://www.asian-studies.org/Conference/Program/Saturday.pdf

I just finished my first mid-term portfolio on Early Chinese Culture, including Confucianism, Daoism, and the evolution of civilization and government. Tuesday I have a mid-term presentation for the class entitled: "Is There a Confucian Revival in Contemporary China?"

Confucius now stands on Tiananmen Square next to Mao Zedong's mausoleum.

I have to present a different paper on 3/19 from the one I could present in Singapore, at the CSU research competition, and in Hawaii, because I co-authored that paper with one of my professors, who will be a discussant for our conference. So I am tweaking my final paper from the Asian Studies seminar last semester: "The Hot and Sensitive K-pop Hero: A Contemporary Re-mix of Ideal Neo-Confucian Masculinity?" I have done a lot of research on Neo-Confucian ideals for masculinity while working on my thesis. I am not so familiar with Korea and Korean pop culture, and I have been doing research beyond what we learned in the seminar last fall so that I will be able to answer questions after presenting the paper. I have also been working on my power point for that presentation.

Gotta love the always hot and very sensitive K-pop sensation Rain!!

Now I have to find a 10-15 page scholarly article in Chinese on Jin Yong, the martial arts novelist whose opus is the subject of my thesis. I have to translate 3 pages before May 1st and upload them with my application for a summer translation workshop in Shanghai, sponsored by the Confucius Institute. The problem so far is that all the articles I have found are either 4-6 pages or more than 40 pages. There just does not seem to be a happy medium in Chinese scholarly journals.

http://www.confucius.ucla.edu/languageprograms/translationworkshop.htm

I have the whole outline of my next post blocked out in my head. I just have not had the time to get it fully written. I had set aside time this weekend, but on Friday my professors sent me the link to the translation workshop and told me that I really needed to apply... And the best laid plans of mice, men, and Teresa went out the window as I spent hours searching for a 10-15 page Chinese article... I will do my best to make time during the week.