Zaman International School Newspaper Issue 11

Volume 1 Issue 11

INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL NEWSPAPER

“You’re going to reach the top with us.”

1 April 2004

U SAM OEUR A FAMOUS POET O home! home! the sacred ground where we lived happily the heritage built, bit by bit, by my father O, the Naga fountain with its seven heads Preserving our tradition from days gone by.

Back in the 1940s, when Oeur was growing up on a farm about halfway between Phnom Penh and Ho Chi Minh City, some Vietnamese who lived nearby told him that one day they would take Cambodia. "I said, 'Take it?

Take it where?' I didn't understand," he says, wincing, tears in his eyes. "I was just a boy, herding water buffalo. I had no clothes, just nude."

Oeur's was a lonely existence.

His siblings would run off and play together, telling him it was his duty to watch over the family's 18 water buffalo, a huge undertaking. Says Oeur, "I was afraid of the water ZAMAN NEWSPAPER Zaman, Publisher Zulfi Erken, Editor -in-Chief Murat Tutumlu, Editor at Large Oum Vantharith, writer Malik Ates, writer Zaman International School Newspaper dedicated to educating students and training journalists.

Published 2 times a month in Zaman International School.

Copyright 2003 by the Zaman International School.

All rights reserved.

No part of this periodical may be reproduced in print or electronically without the consent of The Zaman International School.

buffalo browsing near the rice shoots. They would destroy the beauty of the rice and the trees." He rarely saw his father, who would "get up with the cock and the birds" to go tend the fields. As Oeur puts it, "I knew the word father, but I did not call that old man father." At night, long after Oeur had gone to bed, he would

another world and so I ran and ran but the horizon just kept going and going. I got scared and came back home again."

In 1946, at the age of 10, he was one of the few local boys to attend school in nearby Thlok village, taking some of his father's bamboo and palm leaves to help construct a shelter for him and the other

Born in the Svey Rieng province of Cambodia, U SAM OEUR received his M.F.A. from the Iowa Writer's Workshop in 1968.

Oeur was elected to the Cambodian National Assembly in 1972 and in 1973 was appointed Secretary General of the Khmer League for Freedom. After the country was "liberated" by the Vietnamese, he decided to remain in Cambodia, largely because of his vow to stay there until democracy was established. pretend he was asleep as his father climbed up into the house and started chanting about work and coming h o m e. T h e s e r h y m e s a r e among Oeur's fondest memories of the man.

Out in the field one day, Oeur started wondering if he could "fly beyond the horizon. I said maybe I could escape to

s t u d e n t s. O e u r ' s h o r i z o n s expanded again when, after slipping from the back of a water buffalo and cutting his testicle on a horn, his father sent him to a hospital in Svay Rieng, a neighboring province. Soon after, he asked his little brother to help him steal his sister's chicken so they could sell it in the city market.

By third grade, he had begun scouring the rice paddies for grain to sell.

Pushing farther and farther beyond the farm, he eventually landed at the School of Arts and Trades in Phnom Penh, graduating in 1961. It was there that his intelligence caught the attention of the cold warriors from the Agency for International Development, who recruited him to attend UCLA after an intensive course in English at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. Oeur began writing poetr y while in California, becoming skilled enough to earn a scholarship to the Iowa Writers' Workshop. After receiving his masters of fine arts at Iowa in 1968, he returned home to teach at a trade school in Phnom Penh.

By the time of Oeur's return, the Indochinese war had sent the region into political crisis. When Oeur began criticizing Cambodian r uler Prince Norodom Sihanouk for being a communist sympathizer, the poet was threatened with prison. After just six months of teaching, he resigned his post to manage a cannery. During his time at the factory, Oeur wrote 80 political poems for a never-to-be-published volume titled The Cursed Land.

When Lon Nol overthrew Sihanouk and established the Khmer Republic in 1970, Oeur enlisted in the republican army as a captain. Shuttling between the battlefield and the trade school (where the new government had reinstated him), Oeur joined in the fight against both the Khmer Rouge and the Viet Continued page 2

1 April 2004

ZAMAN INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL NEWSPAPER

2

AND ALSO Cong, who were camped in the north of the country. In a poem from Sacred Vows titled "April 1970: The Atrocity of War," h e w r i t e s, " Pe a s a n t s, t h e innocent/lay dead: not a word from God./Children, mothers, side by side/lay silent, no complaint."

A force in the new government, Oeur began serving in the National Assembly in 1972 and was part of the Cambodian delegation to the United Nations two years later.

Oeur begin to work in a bicycle factor y and then eventually for the Ministry of Industry, where he was forced to resign his post in 1991 after a prodemocr a c y p o e m w a s found on his desk.

After this incident, h e stayed at home pretending to g e t drunk on rice wine so as to avoid h a r a s sment. He dreamt of fleeing the country with his family and returning to America.

B a c k i n A m e r i c a, a m o r e concrete guardian angel was working feverishly for Oeur's release. Ken McCullough, a poet who had gone to graduate school with Oeur, was working at the University of Iowa in 1984 when a letter from the Cambodian arrived requesting a copy of his burned thesis. After nearly eight years of lobbying and fundraising, McCullough finally secured enough grants--most prominently, one from the Lillian Hellman-Dashiell Hammett Fund for Free Expression--to sponsor Oeur's immigration to the United States.

After some subterfuge and a

series of close calls, he arrived in San Francisco on September 1, 1992. Since then Oeur has produced the Khmer poems, with English translations by McCullough, that make up Sacred Vows.

The two have also been working on Oeur's autobiography and a Khmer translation of Le a v e s o f G r a s s b y Wa l t Whitman, whose classic work is reflected in the nonpolitical, nature-oriented poems Oeur wrote both before and after Sacred Vows.

Sitting in his Eagan living room, Oeur sports a smile so soft and pacific it inadvertently reminds you of the terror he has withstood to get here. "Life for me now is peaceful, s t e a d y, " h e says. But hardly worr yfree. His wife remains back in Phnom Penh, caring for her mother (his 28-yearold son currently lives in Texas). His own grant of asylum has not yet been finalized. And since arriving in America, he has received periodic death threats from the Long Beach area of California, a locus of Khmer Rouge party members and sympathizers.

Nevertheless, sitting together in Oeur's living room, Oeur and McCullough are enthused about the audience response to their recent nationwide tour in support of Sacred Vows, which they say is drawing sizable crowds of both firstand second-generation Cambodians as well as Americans.

"As good as the poems are, it is really quite moving to hear Sam do them aloud," McCullough says. "Go ahead Sam; do the one from the other night, the 'O home!'

One."

PEARLS ABOUT ART

A

rt is one of the most important roads for the evolution of the spirit and the development of t h e feelings.

T h e u n f o r t un a t e talents that lose t h e opportunity to use this road live all their lives with one part of them being partially dead like those who are paralyzed.

Art is like a magical key that o p e n s h i d d e n t r e a s u r e s.

Behind the doors it opened, ideas take on the dress of form and dreams take on body.

Art enables people to travel in the depths of the oceans and the heights of the heavens.

Thanks to art, man opens his sail in the vastness of the earth and skies and reaches feelings beyond time and space.

Art is at the head of factors that, by protecting human feelings, at every instant shows those feelings the highest goals and takes sensitive souls to profound depths. If it weren’t for art, man, in his dimension of interference, wouldn’t be able to see any of the existing beauties.

And that fire would bur y all the plans and descriptions in artistic spirits.

Art is the foremost tablet that describes man’s power and depth. Yes, due to art the most profound feelings and thoughts, the most striking obser vations and the innermost

desires are recorded like a musical recording and made immortal.

T r u e knowledge shows itself with art. It cannot be said that one who has never put forth any work in the name of art knows very much.

The vitality of a person’s natural capabilities is closely related to the artistic spirit. Even if a person without art isn’t considered dead, he’s not fully alive either.

Art is what makes iron more valuables than gold and copper more valuables than bronze. Yes, thanks to art the least valuable metals become more valuable than gold, silver and diamonds.

The existence/non-existence of all spirits closed to art is the same; they comprise crowds that are of no benefit--in fact they can be harmful--to themselves, their families and their nations.

1 April 2004

ZAMAN INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL NEWSPAPER

3

EDUCATION

Gaining Knowledge by Reading What to read Reading can include the newspapers, magazines, work- or school-related books, fiction, and books on subjects of interest.

Reading fiction cannot only get you involved in the story, but is also a source of useful facts and representations of how people act and think.

Books and magazine articles can teach, as well as give opinions of the authors.

You should not only read about things you are interested, but also be curious enough to look into new material and different subjects.

Where to get material You can get books from the library or bookstore. You can access articles, essays and lessons over the Internet.

Problems Problems concerning reading is separating the wheat from the chafe. Among the useful information exists a large quantity of useless or even incorrect information. Even within a useful text, there may be extraneous information on which you just don't need to spend the time.

Speed-reading and skim reading are useful skills to help decide what you should bother with.

Reading Faster It certainly is more enjoyable to be able to read something rapidly, instead of spending what seems like forever struggling through the words.

Students and workers improve Besides the enjoyment factor, students need to get through a lot of reading material in as fast a time as possible. Efficient reading skills will help them in their schoolwork and help to improve their grades.

Improves comprehension Although it is difficult to speedread a complex chapter in a Mathematics book, using speed reading techniques does help to improve your comprehension. This is especially true when you have to read a large amount of material that can numb your brain.

Skim reading Some speed reading methods have you first skim-read the material and then read it over a second time more carefully, but yet still at high speed. In skim reading you often just scan through the material, letting your eyes catch key words, that give you the crux of the writ-

ten material.

Skim several times When reading extensive material, you can first skim over the chapter and section titles to give you an idea of when the material is about. Then quickly scan through the material again to get a better idea of the topic. Finally, you read the assignment, but still reading rapidly.

Read first sentence Since often the first sentence of each paragraph states the main idea of that paragraph, while the other sentences elaborate on that idea, you can skim read by just reading the first sentences. In some cases, you can get enough information by only reading the first sentence from each paragraph.

Unfortunately, some writers make their paragraphs so long, that they have several ideas in them, and others stick the important sentences in the middle. In such cases, you can't use the first sentence method effectively.

Complex reading With some complex reading-like Mathematics--you should still skim over the material, quickly looking at section titles

and the equations and formulae. After you get an idea of what the material is about and where it is going, you can read it more carefully. Since you often may have to work out problems with a pencil, obviously your reading speed will not be as high as other type of reading.

Grouping words Most people read one word at a time, saying the word to themselves. This is a slow way of doing the task, especially when your mind is capable of processing information at a much higher rate.

Look at groups of words One of the primary tricks in speed reading is to look at phrases and groups of words instead of individual words.

Instead of reading word-byword, you read in chunks of information. You don't have to say the word to understand what it means.

Practice with newspaper Try reading several words, a phrase, or even a sentence at a time. A good way to practice this is to read newspaper articles by scanning down the column, digesting all the words across, instead of reading each word at a time. A newspaper column usually has 4 or 5 words per line, and you should be able to process all of them at once. instead of reading each word at a time. A newspaper column usually has 4 or 5 words per line, and you should be able to process all of them at once.

This method is one of the best for getting used to reading phases instead of words. Just practicing reading this way should noticeably increase your speed.

In conclusion Reading speed is something you must work on and concentrate on until it becomes a habit.

Being able to read and comprehend the material at high speed is a skill that is worthwhile for students and people in business.

Challenging Problems English: Write down the longest word with no repeated letters ***

Mathematics Ten years from now Tim will be twice as old as Jane was when Mary was nine times as old as Tim. Eight years ago, Mary was half as old as Jane will be when Jane is one year older than Tim will be at the time when Mary will be five times as old as Tim will be two years from now.

When Tim was one year old, Mary was three years older than Tim will be when Jane is three times as old as Mary was six years before the time when Jane was half as old as Tim will be when Mary will be ten years older than Mary was when Jane was one-third as old as Tim will be when Mary will be three times as old as she was when Jane was born.

How old are they now? ***

Science: Which element gives Mars its reddish-orange color? *** Answers of previous issue.

English: "A rough-coated, dough-faced, thoughtful ploughman strode through the streets of Scarborough; after falling into a slough, he coughed and hiccoughed.� *** Mathematics: 10; start at ninetenths [=90] and work right to left *** Science: The hot water Surprising, not? it happens under certain conditions. There is no exact reason why. *** You can give your answers with in 7 days.

Rewards goes to; English: No correct answer Science: No correct answer Maths: Hout Socan 12-A

1 April 2004

ZAMAN INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL NEWSPAPER

4

SCIENCE

How The Things Work

Question and Answer

I

f oxygen is released in space, what will it look like? Will it bubble like under water? Will it be visible at all?

O

xygen is an invisible gas, most other gases. What you see as bubbles rising to the surface in water is not oxygen, but light refraction at the interface between liquid (water) and a gas (oxygen). Light travels at different speeds in different environments and can be bent or distorted at the interfaces of different compounds through which it passes.

To better illustrate an answer to question, make a big glass of tap water. Now stick a straw in it. Look closely at the straw where it is above water and

where it's in the water. Does something look odd ? ... like the straw under water looks bent!

Pull the straw out. Is it bent ? No! Then why does it appear to be bent when we stick it in the water ? The answer is light behaves differently in air and water. As light passes from air to water it slows down just a tad (insignificant by our standards) and thus is bent ever so lightly.

We don't generally perceive this change ... without something to help us recognize it (our eyes see it, but our brain doesn't know what to make of it). Putting a straw or an air bubble in the water helps our brain "recognize" this change in light.

In the case of our example, our eyes perceive a change in the

property of light originating from the straw and passing through water and air, but now our brain has a "frame of reference" (something upon which to make a comparison), so it say's the straw is bent. But it's not. Incidentally, this is called an optical illusion.

Look around you, do you see any AIR ? Now blow some AIR down the straw to make some bubbles. The same principles discussed above apply here too. You aren't seeing air when you observe bubbles floating to the surface (remember air is invisible). What you are observing are differences in the light passing through the water and the air pocket (bubble) on it's way to your eye.

Incidentally, outer space contains a lot of gases, like oxygen.

Since space is a vacuum, oxygen or any other gas released into space will expand without

1 April 2004

ZAMAN INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL NEWSPAPER

5

CULTURE

NEVRUZ (NEW DAY) N

evruz, a composite noun combining Nev (new) and Ruz (day), means new day and is a mythologic day celebrated as New Year's Day

by Turks living in Central Asia, Anatolian Turks and Persians. This day corresponds to 22nd March on Gregorian Calendar and 9th March on Julian Calendar when the day and the night are equal.

The sun beams more directly toward Southern Hemisphere until March 21 but this b a l a n c e becomes equal on March 21 and changes in the favor of Northern Hemisphere after March 21. Therefore, some communities living in North Hemisphere accepts Nevruz as wakening up, resurrection and creation day, and celebrate under the name “Nevruz/New Day Feast”.

Nevruz, in other words New Day besides being the symbol of nature's release from winter and arrival of plentiness and abudance, is also regarded as a day which reflects the vitalities, beginnigs and turning points in the lives of societies.

Each society celebrates Nevruz due to its special reason. Nevruz is perceived as a salvation day by Turkish people and commented in connection with Ergenekon or Bozkurt(Grey Wolf) legends.

According to the legend, foreign tribes declaring war on Gökturks won this war by c h e a t i n g. G ö k t u r k s w h o managed to survive the war alive passed trough steep mountains and settled in an abundant valley where nobody could find them. In

time, their number increased in

celebrated with lively traditions

this placed called Ergenekon.

Eventually, they no longer did fit the valley and then setting the surrounding mountain on fire and melting it down, they left Ergenek on and disperse d. T h e departu re date f r o m Ergenek on has b e e n accept ed as t h e beginni ng of the New Ye a r.

La t e r, every year on t h i s particular date, Gokturk Khans would hammer a hot piece of iron to symbolize the day. This date has been considered as a salvation day for Turks and seen equal to resurrection in nature.

In Anatolia, Nevruz has been

starting from Seljuks' Period, continuing with Ottomans and reached today.

On Nevruz, day trips are taken to the high plateaus. Those living in plateau houses host the visiting guests.

T h e visiting group fire guns to signal t h e i r arrival and the leader of plateau settlers replies by firing a single s h o t .

Later on, mutual celebration firings go on and people exchange greetings with each other by saying “Happy Nevruz, may your offspring be fortunate and plentiful”. The person, who has 20 lambs or goats that particular year,

slaughters a sacrificial animal which is cooked and consumed there.

Yo u n g p e o p l e make a wish that night then try to guess whether or not their wishes will come true by listening and interpreting the conversations behind the doors of others.

Another practise is that a single young man eats half of a pastry made of salted dough called “tuzlu gýllýk” then goes to bed without drinking a n y w a t e r.

According to the belief, he will be marrying the girl who gives him water in his dream.

N e x t d a y, h e p u t s t h e remaining half of the pastry on the chimney or the roof of his house. It is belived that, if a crow grabs the pastry and rests on a roof to eat it he will marry the daughter of that house or if the crow flies away with the pastry he will mary someone from a long distance.

On the occasion of Sultan Nevruz festivities some people jump over the fire made by burning old straw mats chanting “March In, Flea Out”.

To limit the Nevruz traditions of Turkey countr y with the examples given above would mean to narrow and limit the range of Nevruz Celebrations in Anatolia. The examples presented here refer to only limited selection of existing practises.

Similar and different practises are also observed in the huge geography where Turkish culture expanded. It is noticed that vitality of this tradition carried on even under soviet authority in Turkish Republics which become independent recently.

1 April 2004

ZAMAN INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL NEWSPAPER

6

ENTERTAINMENT

Funny Adverts * Lost: small apricot poodle. reward. Neutered. Like one of the family. * A superb and inexpensive restaurant. Fine foods expertly served by waitresses in apetizing forms. * For sale: antique desk suitable for lady with thick legs and large drawers.

* For Sale - Eight puppies from a German Shepherd and an Alaskan Huskey. * Creative daily specials, including select offerings of beef, foul, fresh vegetables, salads, quiche. * 7 ounces of choice sirloin, steak, boiled to your likeness and smothered with golden fried onion rings.

* Have several very old dresses from grandmother in beautiful condition.

* Four-poster bed, 101 years old. Perfect for antique lover.

* Tired of cleaning yourself? Let me do it.

* Now is the perfect time to get your ears pierced and get an extra pair to take home, too!

* 20 dozen bottles of excellent Old Tawney Port, sold to pay for charges, the opwner having been lost sight of, and bottled by us last year.

* No matter what your topcoat is made of, this miracle spray will make it really repellent * For Sale. Three canaries of undetermined sex.

microsopes $15.00.

* Mt. Kilimanjaro, the breathtaking backdrop for the Serena Lodge. Swim in the lovely pool while you drink it all in.

* For Rent: 6 room hated apartment.

* The hotel has bowling alleys, tennis courts, comfortable beds and other athletic facilities. * Get rid of aunts: Zap does the job in 24 hours.

* M a n , h o n e s t. W i l l t a k e anything. * Wanted: Part-time married girls for soda fountain in sandwich shop. * Man wanted to work in dynamite factor y. Must be willing to travel.

* Great Dames for sale.

* For sale: a quilted high chair that can be made into a table, pottie chair, rocking horse, refrigerator, spring coat, size 8 and fur collar.

* We do not tear your clothing w i t h m a c h i n e r y. We d o i t carefully by hand.

Chopin.

* Dog for sale: eats anything and is fond of children. * Vacation Special: Have your house exterminated. * If you think you've seen everything in Paris, visit the Pere Lachasis Cemetery. It boasts such immortals as Moliere, J e a n d e l a Fo u n t a i n a n d

* Toaster: A fift that ever y member of the family appreciates. Automatically burns toast. * Sheer stockings. Designed for fancy dress, but so servicable that lots of women wear nothing else. * Save regularly in our bank.

You'll never reget it. * We build bodies that last a lifetime. * Offer expires December 31 or while supplies last. * This is the model home for your future. It was panned by Better Homes & Gardens. * For Sale - Diamonds $20,00;

* Used Cars: Why go elsewhere to be cheated? Come here first! * Christmas tag-sale. Handmade gifts for the hard-to-find person. * Wanted: Hair-cutter. Excellent growth potential. * Wanted. Man to take care of cow that does not smoke or drink. * 3-year old teacher needed for pre-school. Experience preferred. * Our experienced Mom will care for your child. Fenced yard, meals and snacks included.

1 April 2004

ZAMAN INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL NEWSPAPER

7

ENTERTAINMENT

Electricity Word Search Puzzle

Word List Alligator Badger

bat Black bear blue jay brown bear

bunny butterfly cat chicken

cow crocodile dog eagle elephant emu ferret fish fox frog gecko gerbil giraffe goat groundhog hermit crab hippo horse iguana kangaroo kodiac bear kola bear leopard lion lizard mink mole mouse ostrich otter panda bear parrot penguin pig polar bear raccoon rat sheep skunk snake tiger turtle vulture zebra

1 April 2004

ZAMAN INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL NEWSPAPER

8

SPORT

T

What is Table Tennis

a b l e Te n n i s c a n b e classified as a major sport worldwide, with millions of participants, major tournaments(with its own superstars), and many other things that make a sport truly a class of its own.

As a sport that emphasizes endurance and reflexes above simple size and strength, people of all ages and genders can play on an

largely unknown, although forms of the sport have been documented as early as the late 1800s in England. The sport started becoming popular around the world in the early 1900s. During this time, the official name of the sport was changed from PingPong™ to table tennis. This was due to copyright conflicts with Parker Brothers, who owned the rights to the name and game

Serving for 21-Point Game Matches: Each player gets 5 consecutive serves. When a game becomes tied at 20 points, each player serves only once, as the serve then alternates between the two players or teams. If the score becomes tied at 20 points, the first player or team to take a lead of two points wins the game.

Serving for 11-Point Game

equal field. The equipment can be had for a reasonable price, and the sport is played indoors so year-round competition and practice is possible. A game requires only two players at the least, and typically lasts around 30 minutes, enabling quick matches during breaks, etc.

Table tennis truly is a sport for the masses, and its widespread adoption around the world is a testament for its versatility. The United States has been lagging behind Europe and Asia in per capita participation of table tennis as a sport. With enough enthusiasm and support, however, this intense and exciting sport can succeed beside the old mainstays.

The true origin of Table Tennis is

of Ping-Pong. The International Table Tennis Federation and United States Table Tennis Association(later changed to United States Association of Table Tennis) were formed at about this time. These organizations would go on to become the primary ruling bodies of table tennis.

Table tennis has evolved significantly since its surprise birth upon the sporting world, acquiring many revisions of rules and seeing an evolution of equipment as technology and playing styles changed.

Such refinement only serves as evidence that table tennis is indeed a full-fledged sport, comparable to any of the other classics we behold with reverence.

Rules of Table Tennis

Matches: Each player gets 2 consecutive serves. When a game becomes tied at 10 points, each player serves only once, as the serve then alternates between the two players or teams. If the score becomes tied at 10 points, the first player or team to take a lead of two point wins the game.

A legal return: A legal return is made by a player striking the ball over or around the net and then onto the other side of the table.

Did you know !T h e c u r r e n t s u p e r p o wers(1998) of international table tennis include Sweden, China, Germany, Belgium, and South Korea. !Judy Hoarfrost, one of the members of the ping-pong

diplomacy to China in 1971, co-owns a table tennis company called Paddle Palace with her brother Michael Bochenski in Oregon. !Back in the days of unregulated rackets, all sorts of strange materials were at the tables. Among the stranger ones include: 5 inch think sponge, pure wood, and sandpaper. !The name ping-pong™ is t r a d emarked by P a r k e r Brothers, w h o wanted a huge sum of money from USATT for the rights to that name.

I n response, t h e c o m m unity gave the sport its o w n n a m e : t a b l e tennis. !The name o f t h e U n i t e d States of America Table Tennis used to be United States Table Tennis Association. !Certain world-class players can put up to 9000rpm of spin on table tennis balls. !Table tennis balls aren't really hollow. They are pressurized slightly with a gas. !More than 30 table tennis companies exist around the world, making a full line of accessories from paddles to warm-up suits. !In Europe and Asia, table tennis is big business and is very popular overall. Top players are endorsed just like players are endorsed in USA by shoe and apparel companies. !Certain governments(like Sweden and China), actually pay their top players just to practice.