March 23, 2004

I know I'm not answerable to anyone regarding my blog rate (i.e. how regular I blog) and my content. But, still, I gotta admit I would have to do something indigenous like 'copy' and 'paste' for today's posting. It's a mind boggling conversation between Meisen and me over MSN earlier this afternoon. And Meisen would like to thank all the Sociologists (note: capital S) that taught her how to do Sociology (note: not study, but do). It's a censored version of the full length of our chat. Enjoy.

come, ye all faithless says:
welcome to b crappy blog

When the stars go blue says:
so entertaining...

come, ye all faithless says:
*my

When the stars go blue says:
nono its not crappy at all....
its much more productive than reading a bible

come, ye all faithless says:
aiyoh, dun say lidat... hoho
make my day siaaa.
wait a minit.. how did u get to it? frenster?

When the stars go blue says:
hehe yeah
yeah u write well man...
dun ever give me that bullshit that u cant write in english again ok?

come, ye all faithless says:
haha.. nonsense. since when have i ever said that? *crosses fingers.

When the stars go blue says:
nono...save all these....one day if i ever work in publishing (alternative if this sociologist thing doesnt work out)....im gg to publish this n shame sumiko tan

come, ye all faithless says:
i dun write THAT well.. juz that i've been practising a lot in my blog. hee

When the stars go blue says:
nono...i love sacarsm humour....

come, ye all faithless says:
ay, dun lidat lor..

When the stars go blue says:
its so funny....
ur everyday life is entertaining n filled with resistance..heh

come, ye all faithless says:
entertainin i wun say.. but resistance mebe.. i mean, wat else can u do when u are in my situation?hee

When the stars go blue says:
hey it is BECAUSE u are free...thats y ur life is more entertaining...

come, ye all faithless says:
no lah, juz make the best outta a shithole. hee i'm good at stayin positive. that's why u (n charan) haven't been able to depress me

When the stars go blue says:
heh its fun nonetheless....bookmarking it

come, ye all faithless says:
hee.. thank q, meisen.
it's ego-lifting. haah

When the stars go blue says:
good...cos i cant do it all the time...hha

come, ye all faithless says:
haha.. u wun lor...

When the stars go blue says:
hey i had my first date at national lib also
ohhh scary...i see my name on ur blog...
and sociology fucks us up...?? hmmm...did i say that?

come, ye all faithless says:
ya u did!
ya u shld see ur name a few times here n there.. haha
i'm assuming that u dun realy mind seeing ur name in my blog. but tell me if u feel otherwise.

come, ye all faithless says:
cos i've frens who said they rather not

When the stars go blue says:
really? i mean i feature in ur everyday life...then why not?

come, ye all faithless says:
haha.. ego! haah

When the stars go blue says:
didnt say i didnt have one...hahahhaha
ok im a bit crazy today...cos i drank coffee today....

come, ye all faithless says:
i juz wanna make sure u know that i know. haha

When the stars go blue says:
woohoo!!

come, ye all faithless says:
ya i can see...

When the stars go blue says:
yeah listening to js bach while reading ur blog...
ok thats not really cultural capital...but im enjoying it
didnt know u were sooo bothered by the mother tongue issue also

come, ye all faithless says:
i am. still am.
i think the govt is like so screwed up (but wats new?).. cos they kept insisting they are not undermining imptce of CH in sg.

When the stars go blue says:
well by putting out a B-series of C-lang...that already is

come, ye all faithless says:
but the rest of us bai xing here already feel the real effect.

When the stars go blue says:
actually im just wondering if u dun have to pass to get into uni....what is the point of the b-series?

come, ye all faithless says:
i yet to hear any one be thankful for that move. cept mebbe my kids, who dun realli give a damn now anyway
so ostensible, their efforts.

When the stars go blue says:
first question....where was the standard of mandarin in sg?

come, ye all faithless says:
haha

When the stars go blue says:
it was gone when the chinese-educated were marginalised

come, ye all faithless says:
gone ever since LKY came into the pic
haha.. ^5!

When the stars go blue says:
and NTU got anglo-cised...if thats the word

come, ye all faithless says:
ya n my dad often laments that he wld b a lecturer now if not for LKY. haha
i'd go.. 'ya rite..' but in a way, he's right.

When the stars go blue says:
ok see? let me historically deconstruct this...
singapore....there was never a ONE mandarin BEFORE INDEPENDENCE

come, ye all faithless says:
yaya.. do that. i'd copyright it onto my blog. hee

When the stars go blue says:
the chinese migrants here spoke their own languages
which is hokkein, hainanese..watever from where they came from
if u got to china now, its still like that
so mandarin, was NEVER a langauge INHERENT to a chinese culture
n there is NO INHERENT chinese culture
but after independence....with the institutionalization of FORMAL EDUCATION...
we had new categories for everyone n anyone
we had the CIMO
and with the CIMO...we have ENGLISH FIRST, and then MT
and for the chinese, whats MT even if u spoke hokkein at home?
mandarin...?
so if u talk abt the marginalization of mandarin, also talk abt the marginilization of the real MTs...which is now known as 'dialects'

come, ye all faithless says:
man, u sound like my dad... haha..

When the stars go blue says:
taxi drivers are good sociologists

come, ye all faithless says:
can always count on meisen to deconstruct things. hee
nx time anyone asks whh line u are in, u shld juz say, 'deconstruction'

When the stars go blue says:
haha yeah...
well its a racial issue as well....
coming up with a b-series....empowers the chinese once again
i was never that into mandarin....lacking the environment..since my parents are english cum hainanese speakers....

come, ye all faithless says:
ya it is. i read fr papers also that learnin ch for the chinese doesnt make sense anymore. cos of globalized climate. it juz further propagates racism or sthg.

When the stars go blue says:
but i still think any language is worth learning n appreciating

come, ye all faithless says:
n i tot hey, that's quite a valid point. but i guess me, i juz dun like it when pple dun respect lang or culture for what it is.
n links it up with watever economic shit...

When the stars go blue says:
progagates racism of what? chinese?
haha like the venerable tells me....n i tell my students, pragmatism will be the death of us all

come, ye all faithless says:
ya it will.

When the stars go blue says:
but i blame capitalism again....cos its the capitalist logic....
formal rationality

come, ye all faithless says:
ya. i sorta figured that out too.. n got quite disgusted by it.

When the stars go blue says:
i mean u talk abt racism....but within the so called 'chinese' race....there are class differences also
like how many singaporean chinese look down on PRC
and i was at this coffeeshop with my parents the other day, n this PRC lady selling rojak...
she was serving this other table...with tow kays n a bevy of PRC ladies dressed really sexily n all
n those with the tow kays....they were really rude n mean to this nice lady selling rojak
i mean...wtf??
all from PRC....

come, ye all faithless says:
ya..

When the stars go blue says:
all trying to make a living...
whats there to look down on?
but theres class differences
so i mean...yeah chinese....malay...its not an unproblematic whole...
just like my students write abt family...n they write abt women n men so naively....
like there are no differences within women as a group

come, ye all faithless says:
but u can't blame them too.. cos they are products of how many yrs of MOE's naive concepts..

When the stars go blue says:
yeah gotta give it to the PAP...they make my job really really hard

come, ye all faithless says:
i know i ve been a terrible n naive student too.
haah..

When the stars go blue says:
dunno lah....i had the cultural capital to begin with....
always read a lot...and always critical
n ive been always quite the keen observer..so sociology was NEVER that tough for me...

come, ye all faithless says:
ya... in many sense, u ve been luckier than most. but u see, there are many many more who don't see our point even s we discuss tis now

When the stars go blue says:
so studying became doing quite naturally after a while
haha darren once told me, there are those who see n care
n hurt
there are those who see n are lukewarm
n then there are those who dont care to see

come, ye all faithless says:
but among those who hurt, there are those who retreat n there are those who resist, yet there are still those who are hopeful

When the stars go blue says:
resistance is tiring....i do that on a daily basis
sometimes i dunno who am i resisting for....i tell myself for better days ahead...for those who have lives to see the change
but then i also wonder...whats the point?
cos there are always only one or two to pass the beacon too....n how much change can they effect when the dominant hegemony is so pervasive?

come, ye all faithless says:
like u said, there are so many kinds.. n those who care not to see is probi the worst.. but, at the end of the day, sometimes, i think, if they chose ignorance, who are we to refuse them?

When the stars go blue says:
we cant....but its bad faith

come, ye all faithless says:
but, of cos, in whatever ways that we can, we try to at least offer antoher perspective.

When the stars go blue says:
yeah tats what i find in teaching...offering another perspective...

come, ye all faithless says:
end of day, it's ashes to ashes, dust to dust. n que sera sera

When the stars go blue says:
haha need to listen to this song called butterflies n hurricanes

come, ye all faithless says:
juz like the ch teachers.. in wys that they sstill can, they try to impart n excite. but there's a limit to wat they can achieve.

When the stars go blue says:
yepyep in the words of gandalf, all you have to decide is what to do with the time that is placed before u

come, ye all faithless says:
heh heh.. yeah!

When the stars go blue says:
yeah ch teachers are always fighting a losing battle
actually all second lang teachers

come, ye all faithless says:
but i'm inspired by the fact that they are still fighting.

When the stars go blue says:
yep like aragorn said....for frodo. we dun fight for ourselves, but we can give frodo a chance

Then, I had to terminate the chat cos I had to go down to Tuas to visit the site of my Company (just when I'm counting down to leaving it for good).

thanks, meisen! For this lengthy piece of contribution! ^_^

Posted by 杏 cy （Jancy） at 17:49