Dear New English 110 Students,

In this English 110 class you will learn lots of useful skills of writing and analysis by practicing different assignments, such as blog, a good way to communicate with your classmates and share your ideas; and ARP, a nice training of using appropriate sources to support your main argument. This is an interesting course; you will get a really good grade on it if you work hard. It is really a happy thing for me to have English110.01 class this quarter.

At the very beginning of the class, you will get a theme, which you will be worked on for the whole quarter. Mine is about food and foodways. I was kind of worried of how can I write a long analysis paper of this theme at first. But, please relax, every doubt will change as time goes on. It’s more about linking ideas together than criticizing your work. The instructor will teach you the best way to find your sources, and then you need to push yourself hard to discover the inner meaning of your source. You will find a style of writing that works perfectly for you. You may also look forward to the Commonplace essay. It is much more exciting than creating an academic piece of writing while giving you the chance to expand your thoughts on a given topic, as well as expand your abilities as a writer. Blogs have the same significance to you also. Your writing will become much more public, therefore much open for expressivity and public opinion.

After this course, I become aware of writing is really a good way to express you own ideas, especially when it can be something fun and interesting, like foodways for example. For this course, although you may be given a theme to write about, you can still make it very much your own piece of work with insightful details, claims, and anecdotes that express who you are.

A final thing I suggest is getting to know your classmates. This is a fabulous chance for you to know each other in your class since this is one of the parvus small class-size courses at OSU.

Good luck in English 110.01.

Sincerely,
Xuechen Zhang

You may feel unsure about what are in the picture, they are called Bingtonghulu in Chinese, which simply means Crispy Sugar-Coated Fruit (haws, yam, etc.) on a Stick. It is a common snack in the cold winter of north China. It tastes a little bit sweet and sour. I love it soooo much!!!

Dumplings

The most special foodway for me is making dumplings together with my families. In Chinese culture dumpling is one of the representative foods of the Chinese New Year. It have several special meanings: the shape of a dumpling is just like the Chinese ingots which signify the good wishes of been wealth and fortune; moreover, dumplings are stuffed by all kinds of forcemeat, legume and vegetables which are endowed of sweet blessings; when make dumplings, families always share out the work and help one another. It is quite a warm atmosphere. While eating dumplings, we like to watch the special celebrating TV show for welcoming the New Year.

PSA

Possible Primary Source #1:

I chose the movie Mary & Max as a possible primary source because this is a great example of how food can affect the relationship between people. This is a simple story about a unique friendship of two eccentric ugly people who accidentally find each other through the mail and subsequently learn to love, feel, want, hurt, and dream. They write letters and send each other’s favorite foods in the next 20 years. The first thing I noticed and appreciated is the childish frankness used to explore the very real issues in Mary & Max. As we're left to examine not just the relationships we have in our lives, but the ones we have with ourselves as well. Regardless of the gloomy themes, Mary & Max is a heart-warming tale overall because it tells a tale of two lonely souls becoming best friends, despite being continents and generations apart.

Possible Primary Source #2:

I chose these posters as a possible primary source because they show the brilliant originality of human. These posters are made by several middle school students during art class. The vivid sculpt greatly intrigue my interests in eating the tantalizing fruits. My point to this source is always keeping our mind open to look for something that really attract you and be enthusiastic toward it. We may face some dilemmas during accomplish the goals, but persistence is the best choice.

http://www.xici.net/u10846721/d87419292.htm

Welcome

First of all, I would like to introduce myself to everyone. My name is Xuechen Zhang, a freshman from Beijing, China. Whenever mention about China, you might think of time-honored culture, the Great Wall, manufacturing, tons of people, etc. However, the first thing come to my mind is the cate of China. Yep! China is not only famous for its long history, but also for its multifarious and goluptious food. There are eight distinct cuisines in China, each of them have special cooking skills and flavors. My favorite one is Sichuan Cuisine which has always been thought as being hot, sour, sweet, and salty; using fish sauce; or having a strange taste.

Because of the sweet childhood memory, hot pot is the best of all the Cuisines for me. When I was little, my father worked in another city far away from home and came back nearly twice a month. We sometimes had hot pot after dad coming back home especially in winter. Then the families huddled over a big pot boiled with flavorful and nutritious soup base. After boiling the thin sliced raw variety meat or various bean curd products or diverse kinds of vegetables in the soup base, we dip them in a little bowl of special sauce. I can barely remember the things we had talked about at table; however, I do clearly remember the delight I had by seeing dad at that time. Hot pot is a special memory for me. It symbolizes the harmonious dependence between folks.