4
February 2, 2012
Happy year of the dragon! Val Vita Collegio Reporter Something about the morning of Jan. 23 seemed different to Ya-Chu Gu. She knew that day wasn’t an ordinary day, like it is for people of Western cultures. You see, Jan. 23 was the first day of the Chinese New Year, the Year of the Dragon. And Gu is a dragon. In the Chinese culture, every year is represented by one of 12 animals. The animal for this year is a dragon, as it was in 1988 when Gu was born. China is not the only country celebrating, as many countries from Asia are also observing the New
Year, also known as the Spring Festival. It started on Jan. 23 and will last 15 days. Pitt State has a large community of international students from Asia, and many of them celebrated the date in an attempt to keep the tradition alive. “A friend of mine invited me to his house for lunch on Chinese New Year’s Eve and we had a reunion meal,” said Gu, senior in English education. “Of course, the atmosphere here is totally different from that in Taiwan, where I came from, but it was not bad because everyone was speaking Chinese.” After dinner, the students played Mahjong, a traditional game that Gu says is her favorite part of the Chinese New Year. According to Gu, Mahjong is a four-player table game that the Chinese believe brings good luck. Gu says that another tradition involves putting money inside red envelopes and giving them to kids. “I still get these envelopes from my parents, because I am still a student,” Gu said. “But I’m not able to do that after I get a job. By that time, it would
Srikanth Korlapati/Collegio
Qianwen Deng, far left, freshman in English, and Hung Ying Lin, far right, graduate student in ESOL, celebrate the Chinese New Year with international students on Friday, Jan. 27. be my turn to give them red envelopes.” Polo Peng says that fireworks are also part of the Chinese New Year, but they have a special meaning to the holiday. “The legend says that there was a monster that could appear on New Year’s Eve to eat the people,” said Peng, graduate student in communication. “So the fireworks scare the monster away.” Peng is also a dragon, but he says that this doesn’t mean this is his lucky year. “It means I have to be careful,” Peng
said. “It is unlucky for me.” Yi Ting Chen says she cleaned her house before the New Year, like her family does in Taiwan. “After cleaning, people put up red decorations throughout the house, because the color is considered lucky in Chinese culture,” said Chen, freshman in English. “I just didn’t do this because there is no Chinese market near Pittsburg.” Some other students, like Aurora Lan,
traveled for the New Year. Lan says she went to Joplin, where a group held a party based on the Chinese culture and customs. Lan says she could remember the taste of Chinese food in Joplin. Lan says the funniest part was a game where the competitors had to eat peanuts using only chop sticks. She won and received a little golden fish in an aquarium as a prize. “It was a tactful gift,” said Lan, an Intensive English Program student.
Into the deep
Photo Illustration/Kenzi Jordan
Students censor themselves
Parents and employers make students wary of their online presence Zach Wagner Collegio Reporter Nick Boux won’t accept his parents’ friend requests on Facebook. “I think up to age 14, parents do have a right to see what their kids are doing online,” Boux, freshman in business management, said. “After that, though, I think anyone is entitled to their privacy.” The dramatic rise in the use of Facebook in recent years has led to personal information being posted by the minute for the public to see. With this easy access, students find themselves taking measures to filter out their Facebook posts. A big issue among college students using the social media is controlling what their parents or other loved ones can or cannot see. Others like Boux, though, have to go to greater lengths to keep their parents from prying into their lives. “Frequently I’m having to put up blocks from my mom, such as deleting statuses and doublechecking my wall posts, ” said
Moiz Syed, freshman in automotive technology. “Where I grew up in Pakistan, it’s very bad to be seen in a picture with any woman, that’s something I have to keep an eye out for, too.” Along with parents monitoring what their kids are up to, some students find it more of an issue what anyone and everyone who has a Facebook account can see, including employers. A 2009 CareerBuilder survey showed that 45 percent of employers use Facebook and other social networking sites to screen potential employees, leaving college students fairly vulnerable during a time when finding a job is vital. “When I was in high school, I tried to watch out for what my parents could see when they looked at my wall or through my photos,” said Logan Smith, freshman in physical therapy. “Now it’s more of a fear what employers could potentially see. I just make sure that I have settings for a restricted profile for those who aren’t my friends online. What random people can see is a big problem.”
What friends on Facebook can see is also an issue, according to Joel Ybarra, senior in communication education. He finds himself worrying at times about what may be present on his Facebook. “It concerns me that at any given time someone could write or post something up on my wall for all my friends to see and I won’t even know about it,” Ybarra said. “You don’t know who all you’re friends with, and everything ends up on the news feed. Sometimes it can be too late to hide the story.” Although it may seem prudent to hide personal information through profile restrictions, other students just slightly alter their Facebook to hide certain information. “In the past, I’ve hidden my relationship status from being seen under my bio,” Jayson Williamson, sophomore in exercise science, said. “You’re advertising personal information plain and simple. I don’t mind what most people can see, but I think everyone has something minor that they fix to hide online.”
Kenzi Jordan/Collegio
Fisher Mosier and Melissa Dobson prepare to enter the water at the Jayhawk Divers scuba lesson on Tuesday, Jan. 31, at the Weede pool.