Reading one

I have to be honest; when I learned that a requirement for this class is to keep a public blog for all my fellow classmates to read, I almost dropped this class from fear. Sharing my thoughts in general is a very difficult task for me. Since preschool, I've always dreaded sharing time and this continued on into high school. Entering college, I made a vow to myself that I would change. However, three years later, I'm still the same. Since no other interesting class can fit into my schedule, I've been forced into a corner to make the first steps in change. I am hopeful that this class will become an unintentional blessing. So then, my expectations for this course is to help myself become comfortable with contributing to discussions with my peers and rid myself of feelings of incompetency. I know nothing about Jerusalem, other than from biblical accounts. Though I lack knowledge in the topic, I hope that my perspective will be deemed useful.

The postponement of the Jerusalem festival was sort of a shock to me. "What was the big deal?" I thought. If it were a Chinese festival, things would be simple. We would hire some lion dancers, have the women dress up in the traditional Qi Pao dress, serve up some rice and we have ourselves a pretty decent festival. China has long prided itself in having a unified culture. As a Chinese American myself, this is what I am accustomed to. It is hard for me to relate to this Israeli-Palestine conflict other than think about how a Asian American would represent oneself in a American Festival. But, this comparison is not a fair comparison in my eyes. From these articles, I have been exposed for the first time to the diversity of interests and beliefs in Jerusalem. I am slowly beginning to understand the difficulties in representing all sides of Jerusalem as equals, without offending and surpassing one over the other, whilst paying close attention to religious, political and cultural diversity. As the class progresses, I hope to learn about the underlying struggles that each group has had to bear and trace it through current times. I also hope to further learn about current efforts for peace and unification.