What do you get when you mix 2 Italian-American sisters who are both teachers at CELOP, 46 lawyers, 4 Fulbrighters, and children? You get Thanksgiving 2014 with my sister, Donna Palermino.
Thanksgiving Food Italian Style
Food at Thanksgiving is a lot or “abundante”, as we say in Italian. First, we first had munchies: nuts, chips, and cheese and crackers, Then, there was turkey and lasagna, homemade meatballs and sausages, and all kinds of veggies, cranberry sauce (dark red jelly-like sauce eaten with the turkey), a chicken macaroni dish (from a student’s wife), and Korean food. The desserts multiplied; almost everyone brought something sweet. Pies were plenty, including Terry’s famous homemade apple pie that disappeared fast!!
The Guests—Our Students and Fulbrighters
Our guest list was very interesting: international lawyers, a couple of judges, recent law school graduates, 3 Fulbright students and 1 scholar, and several children. Donna teaches law to lawyers and judge(s) from across the globe in the summer at CELOP. (Another instructor teaches English, as well). This international group while very serious really knows how to party! I am fortunate to teach legal English to other international lawyers and some law graduates in the summer. They, too, came and had a great time. Still, another legal group came! I teach legal English presently to international students at the BU law school. They also came with friends and children and partied. Every year I invite a Fulbright group, since I am on the board of the Massachusetts Chapter of the Fulbright Association. Fulbright alumni (people who had a Fulbright scholarship) and board members invite students to spend Thanksgiving dinner with their family.
The Party’s Over
This celebration was fun, exciting, and exhausting. For Donna and me this is a those special event we look forward to each year. Why? Coming from a very big Italian family that has shrunk (gotten smaller) over the years, we miss not sharing this time with family and friends. So, this our way of showing thanks. We are both thankful for our closeness in our nuclear family and our opportunities at CELOP, which have offered us many occasions to work with and socialize with gifted people from all around the world. Here’s to you!!
Many of us come from different countries where it is accepted to copy and paste written work from others in the university community, but it is completely and dangerously different in the US. The U.S. universities and especially professors don’t like that international students plagiarize some facts or sayings written by others. The immediate reaction of a university to a plagiarism situation is to give the student who has plagiarized strict consequences, even at times dismissal from the university. We can obviously see how serious this issue is and also how severe is the punishment for it. In addition, as international students we should be aware of what counts as plagiarism and try to learn perfect citation skills to avoid it. We can ask our teachers at CELOP about the ways that will help us to prevent plagiarizing in our work and to avoid taking risks with our futures.
Everyone is familiar with Christmas, Santa Claus and his sleigh filled with toys, right? The Jewish festival, Hanukkah, a time when the family unites, celebrates the history of the Jewish people and their religion, Judaism. Is this new for you? Have you heard of Kwanzaa, the African-American holiday originating in Africa? The family gets together to celebrate and give thanks. Let’s find out more about these, shall we?
In the Christian holy book, the Bible (Old Testament), a person can read this:
An angel of the Lord appeared to them…and said to them, "Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord….This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger” (Luke 2: 4-19, Source: http://www.cbn.com/spirituallife/Devotions/Noebel_MeaningofChristmas.aspx)
So, we can see that Christmas according to Christianity celebrates the birth of Jesus, the little infant pictured here. Over the years, in churches across America on December 24, Christmas Eve, and December 25, Christmas day, many Christians attend mass (a church gathering where people pray to praise the birth of the son of god) to celebrate this day.
The celebration of Hanukkah is based on the Hebrew calendar and takes place in the autumn month known as Kislev. This holiday usually lasts 8 days and celebrates an important military win of the Jewish people and “a miraculous supply of oil for the Temple.” Here you can see the Hanukkahmenorah that has nine candles; each candle represents 1 of the eight nights, and the extra one is for lighting all the others.
Like other holidays in December, Hanukkah is a time for families to reunite, to eat special food, to give gifts, particularly to children, and to have fun playing the dreidel game, spinning a special top. You can learn more online about the dreidel (www.wikihow.com/Play-Dreidel), and the history of Hanukkah (judaism.about.com/od/holidays/a/hanukkah.htm).
Kwanzaa--The Celebration of the First Harvest
http://www.euclidlibrary.org/kids/tickle 1
Beginning in Africa and celebrated in North, South, and Central America, and the Caribbean, Kwanzaa is from December 26 to January 1. The name comes from Swahili, “matunda ya kwanza” or “first fruits”. The African people originally celebrated the first harvests during this time.
Seven major principles are celebrated at this time: unity, self-determination, work and responsibility, cooperative economics, purpose, creativity, and faith. Similar to the other holidays, Kwanzaa is a time to celebrate the family, the community, and religion.
In 1966 Maulana Karenga, an Africana Studies Professor at California State University, Long Beach, established this holiday here in the US. He started it as a way to resurrect (to bring back) the African roots and culture of African-Americans. To learn more about the origins of this holiday, just look at this link: www.holidays.net/kwanzaa/sitemap2.htm
And if you’d like to have more detailed information about these holidays and other types of Christmas celebrations around the world, you can read this very interesting article: www.unitedplanet.org/blog/2013/01/03/from-christmas-to-diwali-winter-holidays-around-the-world (United Planet Blog)
By Katja Davidoff
Christmas in Denmark is an interesting mixture of old and new traditions. Some traditions were incorporated from nearby countries, such as Sweden. I experienced many of them during the holidays with my Danish mother. Many Danes spend the month before Christmas attending holiday parties. Denmark is full of Christmas lights and greenery. Tivoli gardens are lit up as well and hold a market with vendors and goods to sell. Children expect to receive presents from a man similar to Santa Claus, called Juleman, which is translated into Christmas man. Delicious dishes are prepared along with traditional cakes. A special rice pudding called ris á la mande with almonds is one traditional dessert. Some Danes attend midnight mass on the evening of the 24th and then celebrate by having a feast with family the following day. A Christmas tree is also tradition and it is often decorated with small Danish flags and Danish Christmas hearts.
My mother taught us to make these classic hearts when we were little. One takes very stiff foil paper and creates a mold of two halves of a heart. The two halves are then woven together to create a basket that one can hang on the tree. Those baskets are then filled with small candies or chocolates. Places are also decorated with Julenisse, which are Christmas pixies and Julebok, which are Christmas goats. The Julebok is usually made of straw and decorated with red bows, while the Julenisse often wear red hats. Some people also celebrate Santa Lucia on December 13th. This is originally a Swedish ceremony later adopted by the Danes. A procession of young girls dressed in white gowns visit door to door. The leader of the procession wears a wreath on her head embedded with lit candles. The visitors bring hot cross buns to the homes they visit. A few typical food items at the feast are red cabbage, open-faced sandwiches, almond pastry, and glögg; originally a Swedish hot apple cider with spices and fermented into alcohol.
In Japan, Christmas is not as important of a holiday because we have few Christians. Therefore, Christmas day is not a holiday in Japan. Students have to go to school; other people also have to go to work. However, we do have Christmas customs such as sending cards or receiving gifts from Santa!
After Halloween, suddenly the decorations change to Christmas ones, and also many stores start Christmas sales. These sales continue until Christmas day, but they are not as big as Black Friday in the U.S. In Japan, we usually celebrate Christmas with our significant others, and celebrate New Years day with family at home. Thus, Christmas is considered a romantic day. Many couples visit romantic places decorated by Christmas lights.
There is also a very unique Christmas custom in Japan. We eat KFC on Christmas day! During December 21st to 25th, KFC Japan sells over 6.6 billion yen. KFC Japan makes most of the profits during Christmas season. I know many people ask “WHY KFC?” In Japan, we don’t have the custom of eating Turkey, so in the past KFC Japan started to advertise Christmas Chicken! This advertising success continues and many people buy KFC Chicken on Christmas day. When you visit Japan, Christmas season, you can see long lines in front of KFC.
On November 22nd, at the Faneuil Hall Marketplace and Marketplace Center, the Christmas tree lighting ceremony took place. When I arrived, there were already a lot of people who were trying to see the lighting of the tree and the shows. Before the tree lighting, several artists performed in concerts, and fun shows were going on. Families, couples, students...everyone sang a song and enjoyed this event. I could feel Christmas, even though it was still the end of November!
“5...4...3...2...1...!” When the entire tree lit up, beautiful decorations and LED lights blinked. Over 350,000 LED lights were used! It was so beautiful; I couldn’t stop taking photos and videos. I want to visit again to take more photos! Every night from 4:30 to 9:30, a light and sound show occurs every 30 minutes. It must be beautiful. Wear warm clothes and visit with your friends! If you haven’t visited and seen Faneuil Hall’s big beautiful lighted tree, you should check it out! Nightly performance featuring the music of the holiday pops event from November 22nd, 2014 to January 4th, 2015＊http://www.faneuilhallmarketplace.com/blink
Protesters and the police force stand off in Ferguson, Missouri
Written by Felix Poon
For international students, race in the US can be a new and foreign idea, especially for most CELOP students who come from less diverse countries. Consider the fact that the US is 72% White American, 13% African American, 5% Asian American, and 1% Native American; and 16% of Americans are of Hispanic/Latino origin (www.census.gov/prod/cen2010/briefs/c2010br-02.pdf).
Michael Brown, an unarmed black teenager was shot and killed by Darren Wilson, a white police officer, in Ferguson Missouri. Ferguson is predominantly black, while the Ferguson Police Department is predominantly white. Protests erupted in Ferguson after Brown’s death in August, and another wave of protests happened recently after Wilson was not indicted, which means that the case would not go to trial in a court case. Different witnesses gave different stories about what they saw, so it is difficult to say if Wilson fired his gun in self-defense, or not. The grand jury ruled that it was in self-defense, which is why he was not indicted. (The New York Times has an excellent article presenting the facts about this case: www.nytimes.com/interactive/2014/08/13/us/ferguson-missouri-town-under-siege-after-police-shooting.html?_r=1)
Glossary
Predominantly: most, or majority
Indict: to bring a formal accusation against, as a means of bringing to trial
Witness: somebody who sees an event
Overreact: make a big deal about something little
Institutional Racism: prejudice or unfair treatment that is built into institutions such as the government, police departments, workplaces, etc.
Prejudice: assuming things about somebody because of the way they look
Subtle: hinted or implied; not obvious
Perpetuate: to make (something) continue
Acquit: free (someone) from a criminal charge by a verdict of not guilty
The question is: are the protesters rightfully frustrated? Or are they overreacting? Americans will answer this question differently depending on what they believe about race in America. To try and make sense of a difficult topic, I present two viewpoints. Of course, there are many more viewpoints than just two, but at least this helps us understand the range of views about race. Most Americans’ beliefs would fall somewhere in the middle..
Viewpoint A: Race no longer matters
Institutional racism ended after the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s. Equality is ensured by law.
There are very few people who are racists – people who believe in racial superiority. But most people no longer have prejudice, or at least do not treat others differently because of race.
It is best to be colorblind, since everyone is treated equally now.
If a black man (or any person) is treated aggressively by a police officer, it is not because of his race, but because he is disobedient and not respecting authority.
It is unfortunate if any person is killed by a police officer for a minor crime, but this has nothing to do with race.
Viewpoint B: Race still matters
Institutional racism still exists, but it is subtle.
White Americans have “white privilege” – the favorable treatment for being white.
To be colorblind is to deny that racism still exists, therefore perpetuating racism, and perpetuating white privilege.
Black men are treated aggressively by police officers because of their race, and the color of their skin.
When a black man is killed by a police officer, it is just one example of many of police brutality. If that police officer is not tried in court, or is acquitted in court, it is also one of many examples of racism in the American justice system.
After the events of Ferguson there was a second non-indictment case decided in New York City on December 3rd, 2014, involving a black man named Eric Garner killed by a white police officer for a minor crime. These events have sparked nationwide protests, and a heated debate about race and policing. The issue of race in this country is older than the country itself, going back to European settlers taking land already inhabited by Native Americans, and employing Africans for slave labor. It goes back hundreds of years and has been an integral part of the American narrative. As we can see, it continues to be an integral part of the American narrative.
The views and opinions expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of CELOP, or Boston University.
This is the logo of Friends of Society (designed by Faisal Alamsari), the group of SACM students (Saudi Arabian Cultural Mission). According to Maysar Jabr, a journalist for the Makkah Newspaper in Saudi Arabia, and the young woman who is spearheadingthe group, this logo is “a small picture with a big meaning. Friends of Society is a Saudi student group that does volunteering. Our goal is to make people happy and make them smile. This includes the young, the elderly and many others”.
I had the opportunity to meet with 4 representatives of this 13 member group – Maysar Jabr, Shatha Alghamdy, Ammar Alsallumi, and Anas Albuzaid. The following is what I learned from interviewing these members. These answers are paraphrased from our conversations.
What is the Friends of Society? How was it formed?
Friends of Society is a Saudi student group that strongly believes in helping others and volunteering, which is a devoutbelief in Islam. We are part of an organization known as Hand by Hand; this concept originated from SACM sponsored students’ wanting to offer their kindness to others in need. To promote volunteerism, Hand by Hand is planning a contest to celebrate the work of groups at institutions across the US.
As students at Boston University CELOP, we want to be a model for other teams across the country to follow. In the future, each of us wants to create a new group at the institutions where we will study, maybe outside of Boston. Now we are planning for the long term. In fact, we’d like to encourage other international students to join us; all are welcome.
Glossary
Spearheading: leading, taking charge
Paraphrase: summarize, not the original words
Devout: heartfelt
Promote: increase, encourage
Bestowment: giving, donating
What is the group's vision/goal? Who is the target population?
Our vision:
We believe that bestowment is not by participation only, but also by perseverance.
Our goal:
Our goal is to introduce western countries to the fact that the culture of volunteering is a significant part of our Islamic religion culture, which induces us to help and support all members in all societies.
Our Target:
The whole community is our target: international students, Saudi students in Boston, Saudi patients in Boston, Orphans and people in need, and parents and families.
Tell me about some major activities of the group.
Volunteered at Community Servings to box and pack food
Collected and delivered clothes and toys for kids and people in need.
Helped Shelley, the CELOP Student Life Coordinator, organize social activities
Act as a resource for new Saudi students, for example helping them get their state IDs and drivers licenses, moving into new apartments, etc.
Visited Saudi patients at Massachusetts General Hospital and Dana Farber Cancer Institute to help them change their routines.
Visited premature infants and their parents in the Beth Israel Hospital neonatal intensive care unit and distributed gifts for moms and babies.
Packed winter supplies, such as scarves, gloves, hats, and socks to give them to the homeless in Back Bay, and Harvard Square.
Made boxes of food with macaroni, canned food, dry milk, jello, and cereals.
Is there anything else that you would like to explain?
Shatha Alghamdy explained,
During the Thanksgiving break it was a real vacation for the group because we were able to do things to make and see people smile. When we woke up in the morning, just knowing that you have only 1 objective: to distribute things to the needy. They smile, and they make me smile. Every member knows what he/she does. It doesn’t happen in other groups.
To follow the Friends of Society, you can find them on social media Twitter: @Societyfriends facebook: facebook.com/friendsofsocietyusa Instagram: @Friends_of_Society
By Rina Hirate
On November 22nd, at the Faneuil Hall Marketplace and Marketplace Center, the Christmas tree lighting ceremony took place. When I arrived, there were already a lot of people who were trying to see the lighting of the tree and the shows. Before the tree lighting, several artists performed in concerts, and fun shows were going on. Families, couples, students...everyone sang a song and enjoyed this event. I could feel Christmas, even though it was still the end of November!
Tell me about some major activities of the group.