ESL 100 Spring 2023

Everything has two sides. I am an optimistic person, so I often try to find some positive things in any bad situation . At the end of 2019, the world was invaded by an unknown new epidemic. It was COVID-19. People did not expect that their lives would change so much in the next three years because of this epidemic. Many people lost their family members and lives during that time. In order to protect the health of the people, the Chinese government released China’s epidemic prevention and control policy. This policy limited people from going outside. People had to stay at home all day for almost three months at first. Because of this policy, my life had changed dramatically.   At the beginning, the relationship between my parents and me got better. My parents and I had always lacked the opportunity to communicate comfortably. I had been working out of town in 2021 because of my job. My workplace was far from my home, and it took me three hours to drive back to my town. Due to Chin...

  Handover of Hong Kong        A small change will make people’s lives have a big difference. The handover of Hong Kong from British to China changed my family’s life, and it continues to impact us to this day. In 1997, Hong Kong’s management was handed over to China, and people who lived on both sides of the strait had a huge change. Mainland and people in Hong Kong could shuttle and forth back freely. Therefore, the economy, jobs, and education attracted people on the Mainland to immigrate to Hong Kong. For me, I had a better chance to choose my life. For my family, my grandfather could meet his family members again after forty years, my mother could get a good job, and my younger siblings could be able to receive education in Hong Kong.        After 1997, people who lived on both sides of the strait could meet their family members again. My grandfather could meet his brothers and sisters who lived in Hong Kong. Be...

Hasti Hashemian  February 25, 2023 ESLITNG 100 What We Long for   On February 11, 1979, the life of every Iranian was changed. The Pahlavi dynasty was overthrown, and along with that Iran became an Islamic republic. The previous regime was viewed as highly influenced by the West, corrupt and too oppressive by certain active groups in the society, so protests sparked with the purpose of making Iran a better and more appropriate place to live. They believed that the West was poisoning the minds of the youth and should not have any control over Iran and its society. So big promises were made that were never fulfilled. The generations who came before were heavily influenced by this Revolution. Their lives changed completely, and so did all the generations who came after. Iran in 1960s-1970s My grandparent’s generation was the first were affected by the Revolution. In their time before the Revolution, Iran was moving toward modernization and democracy. The country’s natural and his...

  Over twelve million Africans were brought to the Americas as slaves, more than five million to Brazil, and one of those people was my great-grandmother’s mother. May 13, 1888, 135 years ago, Slavery was abolished in Brazil. However, the black movement does not celebrate this date, since no policy of reintegration or compensation for this population was made. Theoretically, it was 300 years of slavery, but racism is still alive and killing people's dignity everyday. If socially speaking, there is still a lot of reflection from that time, emotionally, the size of the burden is bigger. Starting from my grandfather, the first people in my family were born after the Golden Law, then my father and his siblings, and finally his children. The weight of slavery directly impacted my family's experiences, communication and education of an entire generation. I would like to have more information about my family history, but everything is hidden under heavy thoughts, sadness and oppressio...

       Hong Kong and Mainland China have different social, education, l egal , economic and political systems . Hong Kong is a democra tic city and Mainland China wants to take democracy away from Hong Kong because Hong Kong is a world class center . China tries to control Hong Kong and take benefit s from it . In Mainland China , proposed a law that would limit the right to freedom and speech in Hong Kong . Most of the people who live in Hong Kong believes this law would take away thei r rights and freedom , so they f ou ght for it and protest ed on the street . On June 9, 2019 , a demonstration was attended by hundreds of thousands to protest the law . My friend and I thought the government would withdraw the law , but the government didn’t withdraw al the law . In this summer , Hong Kong has different small and large protest. Everyone who f ought for freedom got a scar from the protest . Before the protest happened, we ...