It's a day of culture and history!
Actually, I didn't get up early, so I went out just before the ESL course of Jones Library. I am the second one arriving, after a Chinese girls, Ying Yu, who is from Xian. There are four more people being late. Two of them are visiting scholars from Chinese, one is a Taekwodo teacher from Korea, and one grandmother from Russia. The tutor is Fred.
We spent first half hour to introduce ourselves. During the second half hour, Fred asked us if we follow 3 pieces of news: oil spill in the Gulf, new supreme court nominee Kagun, and Greece vs. the E.U. Finally, Fred played the online news of the new immigration law in Arizona for us to practice listening. Then we read it in turn and discuss the effect on human right.
It is really strange that Arizona Governor to sign the law. It empowered the police to ask people to show their paper, no matter they do something illegal or not. If people don't bring the paper with them, they would be arrested immediately, even the US citizen! Of course the law has been against the US Constitution, so the supreme court would ask them to correct it. I just wonder how serious the illegal immigration problems are in Arizona. Why dare they establish such a law?
I think I'll attend the following course on next Tuesday and Friday to decide what date is more suitable for me. I need a motivation to push me to practice English more often.
After the course, I went home to check the e-mail for the dinner gathering tonight. I gave a phone call to Yung-Chi to drive me at downtown. At 2:00 pm, I met Emily Dickinson's poetry walk in front of Amherst Historic Museum. I followed the teams for a short time and decided to visit AHM, because the walk seemed boring.... AHM is a very meaningful place, although it doesn't have a lot of thing to display. I believe it is really important to conserve some common memory for the community. The first exhibition is about the Amherst in Emily Dickinson' era. I was very glad to know more about Amherst in such an old place, the Strong's house. Maybe I need to buy somethings to read or to keep. The second exhibition is the old stuff left by Mr. Strong. It showed her life and the old living style.
After leaving AHM, I bought a cup of latte in Amherst Coffee, where Carolyn has bought her coffee before our Boston trip. I found they have macchiato and I would like to try it next time. I arrived Emily's house by 3:00 pm. The walk has finished and the open house time has begun. I left my latte at the front desk of visitor center and took a look in the museum. There are not many things to display but a little old furniture. It'e hard to understand Emily and her family through the museum. However, the only display boards told the members of the Dickinson's and the characters of Emily's poems. Evergreen, the second part of the museum, is Emily's brother Austin's home. There are more furniture and stuff, including clothes and toys, to describe their daily life.
I bought a small collection of Emily's poems and two magnets in the visitor center. Also, I was considering to buy the novel of Emily Dickinson sold by Food for Thought Books. However, I didn't. I am not really interested to read such a novel, although I want to know more about Emily. Instead, I bought the book Why We Run. Maybe it's an interesting way to kill the time I don't want to work hard. Besides, I believe it's good to read it, no matter for running or for zoology.
Yung-Chia and Chung-fan pick me up by 5:30 pm. We met the other people at Big Y's parking lot and departed for Outback, Springfield. The food was neither bad nor expensive. I would like say it's a good place to celebrate something, a restaurant with typical American style. Anyway, it's a happy night to meet a few friends from Taiwan, including Jenn, who sent me some e-mail to talk about Elsie's house.
