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Dec

Teaching in Japan: A Cultural Encounter with Language

by Janine Boylan on December 3, 2012

The letter J symbolizing a cultural encounter with language while teaching in Japan (Image courtesy of Thinkstock)

What sound does the letter J make?

This Lesson Brought to U by the Letter J

After over a dozen years of formal “foreign language” instruction, I should be able to communicate in a language besides English with ease. But I can’t.

Sure, I have managed enough language to have ridiculous conversations like trying to explain, in Russian, why some Americans drink green beer on St. Patrick’s Day. And I’ve been able to ask, in Japanese, where to find baking soda in a grocery store. Unfortunately, those may be my greatest language accomplishments. Read more...

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Cultural Encounters/Japan/Language & Culture

Nov

A Cultural Encounter with Mexico’s Calacas

by Janine Boylan on November 26, 2012

Oaxacan artist Carlomagno Pedro Martinez, whose calacas (skeleton sculptures) provide a cultural encounter

Sculptor Carlomagno Pedro Martinez adding texture to a skeleton’s shawl
© Janine Boylan

Symbols Abound in Skeleton Sculptures of Oaxacan Artist

Sculptor Carlomagno Pedro Martinez leans over the wooden table and meticulously adds texture to the wailing skeleton’s shawl. Loose bones, skulls, and other skeletons are scattered on the table around him.

At a cultural exhibit of Oaxacan artists in the Bowers Museum (Santa Ana, California), Martinez, the featured sculptor, is working with the unique black clay he brought from his hometown near Coyotepec in Mexico.

Once Martinez’s figures dry, he polishes details with a quartz stone and then, using a centuries-old technique, kiln-fires his creations to obsidian black with gleaming metallic-like designs. Read more...

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Cultural Heritage & Traditions/Cultural Symbols/Mexico/The World's Art & Design

Nov

Life’s Changes on a Thanksgiving Tablecloth

by Janine Boylan on November 19, 2012

Table set with a Thanksgiving tablecloth showing a record of life's changes

Our Family’s Thanksgiving Tradition

Many years ago I spread a thick, gleaming white tablecloth on our Thanksgiving table, and, after dinner, passed around a permanent pen and asked everyone to write short notes of gratitude on the cloth next to their place.

Thanksgiving tablecloth with "Bats and Frogs", showing a record of life's changes

Our First Messages

That year there were just five of us: Mom, Dad, my husband, my tiny son, and me. My son was the first to accept the task. He scrawled “BATS AND FROOGS!” in his boxy uppercase letters. Read more...