the Sam Jackson College Experience

Photo from Flickr user Dexell1827 It's Thanksgiving time of year, and I'm not sure that exactly that will mean here in Beijing. This is the first time that I have been away from home for Thanksgiving (!) and I certainly am missing all the proper accoutrements of Thanksgiving. What matters most about Thanksgiving to me, [...]

So, I've felt pretty awful the last week, and the 'weather' -- or, more accurately, the pollution -- has been part of the problem. Twitter's @BeijingAir has been a constantly depressing reminder, nearly always showing "Hazardous" or at best, "Unhealthy" in the last week. Why has it been so bad? Well, because of a specific [...]

The issue of pollution in China is a very great one, and not a matter than can easily be summed up in one blog post, no matter how exhaustive. However, after several rain and then snowstorms over the weekend, the air quality today is so nice, and the scenery so beautiful as a result, that I just had to stop delaying and start writing a little bit about it.

That's right, as of October 31st, 2009, I'm 20 years old. Very scary. The question remains as to when this birthday actually happened -- was it on Beijing time, where I am at the time, or did it not happen until my birth-timezone, 12 hours behind? Then, do I count the day, or the hour? [...]