Eulogy for Grandfather :: Eulogies Eulogy

Eulogy for Grandfather When I was little, if you couldn't find me, I could be anywhere— up a tree, under the covers, in the closet, even hiding in the bathroom where I couldn't be disturbed... but almost always with a book. Friends even through college would ask how it was that I gobbled up words like peanut butter. Usually, I would just shrug and say, â€Å"I have no idea where it came from!† Thinking back, though, it's so obvious— how could I miss it? My GungGung took such an amazing interest in books that one of my lasting childhood memories is him sitting in that armchair in the corner of the Ross Road house, under a pool of lamplight, poring over some biography of a thousand pages. My mom and two uncles used to joke that if an earthquake or fire hit Palo Alto, my grandfather would never notice, because he would be so wrapped up in his reading. I used to think, wandering around that Ross Road living room and looking at the shelves overflowing with books, that hopefully some day I would be able to cook like my grandmother and read thousand-page books like my grandfather. I also secretly thought that GungGung must be bursting with words, because so many went in... but so few came back out. At least when I knew him, he was not a man of many spoken words. On occasion, an old friend would stop by, and then I would be astounded by their animated back-and-forth. Usually, though, my grandfather was very quiet. I heard amazing stories of his studies in Paris, his political involvement in the Young China Party, and his years at the United Nations, but never from him. He never boasted, and I would never know these stories if it weren't for my mom and two uncles, who were so proud of their dad. So much of what I know of my grandfather is pieced together from these stories that have trickled down from relatives and friends, and PoPo's photographs that I love to look at. In those, I see a wholly different GungGung— someone who wasn't a GungGung yet, someone laughing tremendously with friends on a beach in Paris (wearing a very fashionable 1920's bathing suit!), someone who, as my mom was fond of saying, looked like a Hollywood movie star, someone striking a debonair pose in my grandmother's garden with a guitar. Eulogy for Grandfather :: Eulogies Eulogy Eulogy for Grandfather When I was little, if you couldn't find me, I could be anywhere— up a tree, under the covers, in the closet, even hiding in the bathroom where I couldn't be disturbed... but almost always with a book. Friends even through college would ask how it was that I gobbled up words like peanut butter. Usually, I would just shrug and say, â€Å"I have no idea where it came from!† Thinking back, though, it's so obvious— how could I miss it? My GungGung took such an amazing interest in books that one of my lasting childhood memories is him sitting in that armchair in the corner of the Ross Road house, under a pool of lamplight, poring over some biography of a thousand pages. My mom and two uncles used to joke that if an earthquake or fire hit Palo Alto, my grandfather would never notice, because he would be so wrapped up in his reading. I used to think, wandering around that Ross Road living room and looking at the shelves overflowing with books, that hopefully some day I would be able to cook like my grandmother and read thousand-page books like my grandfather. I also secretly thought that GungGung must be bursting with words, because so many went in... but so few came back out. At least when I knew him, he was not a man of many spoken words. On occasion, an old friend would stop by, and then I would be astounded by their animated back-and-forth. Usually, though, my grandfather was very quiet. I heard amazing stories of his studies in Paris, his political involvement in the Young China Party, and his years at the United Nations, but never from him. He never boasted, and I would never know these stories if it weren't for my mom and two uncles, who were so proud of their dad. So much of what I know of my grandfather is pieced together from these stories that have trickled down from relatives and friends, and PoPo's photographs that I love to look at. In those, I see a wholly different GungGung— someone who wasn't a GungGung yet, someone laughing tremendously with friends on a beach in Paris (wearing a very fashionable 1920's bathing suit!), someone who, as my mom was fond of saying, looked like a Hollywood movie star, someone striking a debonair pose in my grandmother's garden with a guitar.

Interest in Public Health

The pursuit of a satisfying and meaningful career is my ultimate goal and a master of public health degree is a stepping stone along the path to a future career. For me, it is also a responsibility I owe to myself. My university education exposed me to a number of public health issues. While at university, I was affiliated to an anti AIDS club whose increased emphasis was placed on behavioural change to prevent the risk of STDs, HIV/AIDS and unplanned pregnancies.I particularly joined this club so I could make an impact on fellow students and prevent the spread of the virus as I had lost a lot of my close relations to HIV/AIDS. It was from this point that my interest in public health arose. During my fifth year of university education, I proposed to conduct a research on the role of physiotherapy in patients HIV/AIDS patients but could not conduct the named research due to funding difficulties and ethics issues.Nevertheless, I still picked on another public health topic ‘the pr evalence of complaints of arm, neck and shoulder among office workers who use computers' and I earned myself an award as the best graduating student in Research. The findings of the study further prompted me to make a difference and prevent preventable illnesses, thus considered public health research as a career. My work experience as a physiotherapist is within the field of public health and has developed my disease identification, treatment and to a lesser extent preventive skills.I am currently engaged in community (outreach)programmes for HIV/AIDS patients. My role in this activity, is to identify and mobilise patients who are on Anti retro virus drugs who have residual effects (weak limbs) of ARVs and other people in the community who might actually need physiotherapy services. Though this integration of physiotherapy services with HIV/AIDS activities at the hospital is still in its infancy stage, as a department we have achieved an increase of 30% in the number of patients ca ptured in the community and are actually accessing our services.What about the rest of the 70% ? we could still do better. Personally, being the overseer of the physiotherapy aspect of the HIV/AIDS programme I have earned a great deal of insight on issues pertaining to . However, each time we embark on the usual community visits and find cases that could have been prevented, I feel challenged and to some extent motivated to do more than I am already doing because currently our main emphasis is on the curative aspect of disease rather than prevention and primary care . in addition, I as diagnosed with Hyperthyroidism in 2009 and I realise that I am not able to meet the physical demands of my current job and would want to contribute to population health at an administrative level. My participation in the programme confirmed my budding interest in preventive medicine and improved quality of care. I am drawn to public health because of its unbounded solutions to health problems. I am in search of public health skills develop and be able to contribute positively towards the health of the community and society at large.In addition, I feel that my current degree alone, is not offering me adequate career opportunities, in which case gaining a further qualification particularly master of public health, will provide me with new career options and advance my prospects immensely. After I complete the master of public health programme, I will have acquired problem solving skills, locating and using information effectively and analytical thinking skills.In view of this, I intend to join an Non Governmental Organisation dealing in public health issues and possibly work in a rural area as that is where the bulk of the work is to be done. Currently I am studying for a certificate in HIV/AIDS management, I believe the certificate and the master of public health coupled together will help me perform better in my future job role as I would like to be involved in the devising of p rogrammes focused to prevent and provide quality health care especially in HIV/AIDS related projects.

How Neologisms Keep English Alive

A neologism is a newly coined word, expression, or usage. Its also known as a coinage. Not all neologisms are entirely new. Some are new uses for old words, while others result from new combinations of existing words. They keep the English language alive and modern. A number of factors determine whether a neologism will stay around in the language. Rarely will a word enter common usage, said the writer Rod L. Evans in his 2012 book Tyrannosaurus Lex, unless it fairly clearly resembles other words.   What Qualities Help a New Word Survive? Susie Dent, in The Language Report: English on the Move, 2000-2007, discusses just what makes a new word successful and one that has a good chance of staying in use. In the 2000s (or the noughties,  oughties,  or  zips), a newly minted word has had an unprecedented opportunity to be heard beyond its original creator. With 24-hour media coverage, and the infinite space of the internet, the chain of ears and mouths has never been longer, and the repetition of a new word today takes a fraction of the time it would have taken 100, or even 50, years ago. If, then, only the smallest percentage of new words make it into current dictionaries, what are the determining factors in their success? Very roughly speaking, there are five primary contributors to the survival of a new word: usefulness, user-friendliness, exposure, the durability of the subject it describes, and its potential associations or extensions. If a new word  fulfills  these robust criteria it stands a very good chance of inclusion in the modern lexicon. When to Use Neologisms Heres some advice on when neologisms are useful from The Economist Style Guide from 2010. Part of the strength and vitality of English is its readiness to welcome  new words and  expressions and to accept new meanings for old words. Yet such meanings and uses often depart as quickly as they arrived. Before grabbing the latest usage, ask yourself a few questions. Is it likely to pass the test of time? If not, are you using it to show just how cool you are? Has it already become a clichà ©?  Does it do a job no other word or expression does just as well? Does it rob the language of a useful or well-liked meaning? Is it being adapted to make the writers prose sharper, crisper, more euphonious, easier to understand—in other words, better? Or to make it seem more  with  it (yes, that was cool once, just as cool is cool now), more pompous, more bureaucratic or more politically correct—in other words, worse? Should the English Language Banish Neologisms? Brander Matthews commented on the idea that evolutionary changes in language should be prohibited in his book Essays on English in 1921. Despite the exacerbated protests of the upholders of authority and tradition, a living language makes new words as these may be needed; it bestows novel meanings upon old words; it borrows words from foreign tongues; it modifies its usages to gain directness and to achieve speed. Often these novelties are  abhorrent, yet  they may win acceptance if they approve themselves to the majority. This irrepressible conflict between stability and mutation and between authority and independence can be observed at all epochs in the evolution of all languages, in Greek and in Latin in the past as well as in English and in French in the present. The belief that a language ought to be fixt, that is, made stable, or in other words, forbidden to modify itself in any way, was held by a host of scholars in the 17th and 18th centuries. They were more familiar with the dead languages, in which the vocabulary is closed and in which usage is petrified, than they were with the living languages, in which there is always incessant differentiation and unending extension. To fix a living language finally is an idle dream, and if could be brought about it would be a dire calamity. Luckily language is never in the exclusive control of scholars; it does not belong to them alone, as they are often inclined to believe; it belongs to all who have it as a mother-tongue.