Sunny Youth Journal

Counting the number of COVID-19 deaths is hard. It is also very dangerous. The reason is that if you detect someone with COVID-19, you might get it too. This is not good news, so we try to catch bats. Since COVID-19 comes from bats, we can measure the number of bats and try to find out how many deaths there will be. This is one purpose of catching bats. The other is to not allow the bats to even get to humans. “‘The goal is to prevent the virus from getting into the humans in the first place,’ says Marc Valitutto, lead author of the study and a former wildlife veterinarian with the Global Health Program.” It is not easy to do this: “Searching for new viruses is ‘a grueling job,’ he adds, ‘but this is what’s required if you want to prevent 90,000 deaths, which is what we’re seeing today. So, it’s a small investment monetarily compared to what we’re spending now.’” Also, “Zoonotic pathogens, which spread between animals and humans, have caused almost three[-]quarters[!] of infectious diseases in humans [in only] this century. This interaction happens because of changes in land use and other human behavior.” Bats are not rare though, “One cave that the researchers studied in Myanmar, Linno Cave, had more than half a million bats. Tourists would visit the area to watch the bats leave the cave each night. Caves in Myanmar also serve as religious sites, and local people go there to collect bat droppings for fertilizer.” This may be one of the reasons there are so many COVID-19 cases. “We have been saying within the medical community, ‘An epidemic is coming, it’s coming soon, it’s likely to be one of these three or four viral families, it has the potential to kill a lot of people,’ Murray says. ‘Until it really touches people, it’s hard to recognize how connected we are. And as long as something’s happening across an ocean and far away, sometimes it’s hard to really feel the relevance of it.’ People now realize, she says, that “we’re more connected than we think we are.”

Finding new diseases is dangerous work,
Setting traps, getting ready there’s no perk.
Wearin’ suits from head to 2 to toe,
COVID-19 was their only foe.
“Searching 4 new viruses is a grueling job,
It’s not easy it’s no piece of cake.
It’s not something we want 4 do.” says Rob
But then you’ll have to worry every time you wake.
“Hey, Rob!” said Bob come look at this!
It’s some bats we found, in the Abyss.
Let’s test it now,
Somewhere safe n’ sound.
They tested 464 bats, 11 kinds of them.
“AHEM!” the boss said, “Hurry up, we don’t have time!”
Don’t just stand there like a mime, test, test, test!
The crew started to put the bats in and flick (the tester).
“Hey, boss!” Rob said “We found Six
new viruses!!
THE END

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I liked the idea of “Rules of the Game” alot, and I really enjoyed reading it. It tells about how the more time you spend at something, you will get better at it. Meimei, a little girl who lives in Chinatown with her mom and two brothers one day discovers chess. Her brother got the set as a Christmas present from their church. Meimei learns on her own from the library and from an man in the playground. She gets very good, and plays in many tournaments. She is just short of a grandmaster, and is getting slightly annoyed at her family for not meeting her requirements of how the live, and they keep on having to adjust to her needs. She finally has had it when her mom goes around and shows her off to other people. Meimei runs off and returns later, knowing that no matter how famous she is, she just like everyone else and needs to plan things out. I found this story very entertaining by the very Chinese point of view, and the moral that you always need to look ahead

The short story, The Rules of the Game is about a girl named Waverly that has a mom that judges her a lot and uses her to become more popular. One day she sees her brother playing chess and she wanted to learn how to play. After her brother teaches her how to play she starts to read books about the pieces and improves very fast. She got so good that people stoped playing her. After playing some people at the park, people started to watch her. Her mom starts to brag about her. Waverly gets angry and has a fight with her mom. I think the moral of the story is to stand up for yourself. I believe this because her mom is taking advantage of her and I think that she could stand up for herself.

Curtis Zhang

6/3/20

Rules of the Game

The short story “Rules of the Game” by Amy Tan is a story that tells about a Chinese girl(Waverly) growing up in Chinatown and becoming a chess prodigy and trying to get away from her mom who she thinks doesn’t care about her, but actually does. Some things that I have noticed about this story is how her mom is trying to use her to bring their family honor, Waverly not noticing that her mom is actually caring about her, and the daughter trying to escape from living to please her mom.

Waverly shows how her mom is controlling her life as well when in the chess tournament her mom accidentally annoys her without knowing, but she cannot say anything “I was annoyed, but I couldn’t say anything.” The Narrator then shows why her mom wants to use her daughter when her mom went around the street telling everyone that her daughter was Waverly to try and get people to think highly of her. This shows that the mom is controlling her for honor and praise and Waverly dislikes that. Waverly even runs off when her mom shows her off and hides in the dark alleyways for a few hours.

Waverly either does not like the way her mom is presenting her care for her or does not realize that her mom actually cares for her, as her mom makes her brothers do all her chores and makes her study chess right after school. She shows that she dislikes her mom’s care when her mom is standing over her and making  “a soft “Hmmmmph” would escape from her nose,” and she tells her mom that she can’t concentrate when she does that and her mom does not appreciate that and makes loud noises in the kitchen, presumably because of her being annoyed at her daughter.

It also shows that the daughter wants to escape from the way that her mom is trying to control her, as shown when the daughter tries to escape by running away from her mom but ultimately failing. This is also made more apparent in the fact that at the end of the story Waverly declares her mom as her enemy and decides her next move against her mom. 

The story “Rules of the Game” is very interesting because it shows the struggles of a strained relationship between a mom and a daughter.

Everybody needs sleep. The real question is how much? Every single body, whether short or tall, young or old, needs sleep. Living creatures just can’t survive without it. Though sleep is such a large part of life, there still remains the question of how much sleep is good for the body. There are countless doctors or reporters that swear by a certain amount of hours of sleep every night, but how are they reliable? Sleep schedules differ from body to body, and it is clear to see why.

Animals, such as bears, are very similar to humans. Every single species of animals have different sleeping cycles. Whether it is hibernation, to being nocturnal, no two species are alike. It is the same thing with people. No two people are alike; even twins. Twins, although can look extraordinarily similar, have a few differences in the way their bodies function. Therefore, shouldn’t they need different amounts of sleep?

Some of the recommended amounts of sleep are: 6-8 hours, 8-10 hours, and 10-18 hours. However, those are for adults, teenagers, and infants. As the human body progresses on its cycle of life, the recommended sleeping cycles progress too. If they change for the stage of life, then they are different for everybody.

Lastly, there are even “experts” who claim that people who sleep too little become ugly. Though there are real consequences to sleep deprivation, those same “experts” will preach their recommended sleeping amount. Hours of sleep should not be scared into a person. Each individual should explore how much sleep their body needs, and then alter their schedules to fit into the healthy cycle of natural sleep.

All in all, sleep is important, and many people try to tell the rest of the world how long they should spend in their bed. Statistically, humans sleep for approximately one third of their lifetime. It should be spent healthily. Everybody should choose their own amount of sleep; there is no right amount.

Sleeping is something many people do on a daily basis. Sometimes we spend half a day sleeping and sometimes a couple hours, but does the number of hours really affect how you do during the day? Sleeping is a major role in physical health and mental health.
First of all, for physical health, sleep can actually cause a gain in weight. A study had shown that children and adults who have a tendency to lack a sufficient amount of sleep are more likely to gain weight and develop obesity compared to kids and adults who sleep a good amount, which is about eight hours respectively. It was also proven that people who are sleep-deprived and lack sleep are often affected with hormones interfere with the appetite and leads to eating excess calories than those who get a sufficient amount of sleep, who intake fewer calories.
Adding on to physical health, you need your body to be the healthiest it can be when perfuming sports or some kind of extra curriculars activity. You need to be the healthiest in order to do well and can maximize the amount of energy you have to perform the sport you play. Less sleep can take away that energy and can weaken the performance of one.
Now mentally, how does sleep affect you mentally? There is obviously effects of someone’s physical health when they lack sleep but what exactly goes on mentally for someone when they do not get a good amount of sleep? Well, it could lead to disorders and affect moods most importantly, which can also lead to anxiety. Sleeping is what helps us recover from our mental health every day, and without the proper sleep, it is easy to fall into problems, which can soon lead to suicidal thoughts and depression. Sleep is an important part of our lives, and we should not overlook it because it is something that helps us recover and grow stronger for the next day.

It is well known how overbearing Asian parents are. Everybody has heard of the joke that if an Asian student comes home with less than an “A+” on their report card, they will get kicked to the curb. Rules of The Game clearly shows how this tendency of the so called “tiger moms” can strain a relationship. But this schism isn’t just the fault of the parents. The narrator, now grown up, looks back and realizes “how wicked” she was.

Waverly’s mom, realizing that her daughter is a genius at chess, latches on, causing her daughter to lose much of her freedom. Waverly, looking back, writes, “I no longer played in the alley of Waverly Place. I never visited the playground where the pigeons and old men gathered.” In doing so, Waverly starts to feel suffocated. She can’t understand her mother, which isn’t helped by the language barrier between them. Her mother, being from China, speaks broken English, which is muddled and hard to comprehend. Waverly hates it when her mother stands over her, watching as she studies new chess moves. But the grown up Waverly realizes that her mother might have thought herself as her daughter’s “protective ally.”

Despite the obvious strain in their relationship, Waverly still tries to please her mother. Throughout the story, the mother-daughter duo try to outmaneuver each other, and Waverly sees her mother as a chess opponent, “two angry black slits.” But perhaps this is also just a scheme of Waverly’s; she believes that if she could just please her mother, her mother would stop being so demanding. She believes that she could end the chess game with her mother if she fulfills everything that her mother wants.

Waverly dreams of running away from her mother. She sees herself being “pushed up toward the night sky until everything
below (her) disappeared.” This is just another indicator to the tense relationship she shared with her mother. Nevertheless, Waverly never estranges herself from her. Maybe it’s just because of the Chinese quality of being xiao shun, of being filial to parents. But it is clear that Waverly respects her mother; she respects that her mother “imparted her daily truths,” allowing Waverly and her brothers to become better in every which way.

The strain between Waverly and her mother is caused by a variety of factors, among them misunderstanding, miscommunication, and the uneven placement of control. However, no matter how large the rift is between mother and daughter, somehow they don’t alienate themselves from each other. This is seen in how grown-up-Waverly doesn’t write about her mother with bitterness, but describes her fairly. Waverly as an adult still views her childhood with sadness, but she has changed her view of her mother, from dreaming of running away to understanding that she was well-meaning.

Thinking in a negative way is really unhealthy and can lead to depression. Pitying yourself, envying your friends, and thinking the world is just too unfair may make you feel better in the moment, but not in the long run. This kind of thinking or perspective weakens your mental strength, so it is important to not fill our heads and minds with these destructive thoughts. There are three main beliefs that we should be aware of, so we are not tempted into enjoying the momentarily comfort they provide us with.

The first is having unhealthy thoughts about yourself. Feeling sorry for yourself, and blaming outcomes on others. To escape  this uncomfortable situation, we decide to avoid it. This often prevents us from finding the solutions, as we are too focused on the problem and all the troubles it has brought. We get stuck in the same place, and it’s hard for us to move on. You don’t necessarily have to come up with a solution that’ll immediately fix what has happened though. You can take smaller steps at a time, and it’ll still make a difference. Over time the small differences become a big difference, and it’s way better than doing nothing except feeling bad for yourself.

The second is having unhealthy thoughts about others. This comes from comparing ourselves with others around us. The only person we should be comparing to is ourselves. How have I grown, or what do I do differently now compared with what I used to do? We let them influence our lives, when we should be the ones with the ultimate decision. We should not let them shape us, and give up the control over ourselves. 

The third is having unhealthy thoughts about the world. Thinking that the world is unfair, or that it owes us. Thinking that when we have accomplished something we will get rewarded, but that is not how it works. We should accept that, but we should not use it as an excuse to not try our best. This should not hold us back, and should not make us feel less about ourselves.

The only way to be mentally strong is to give up all bad habits like envy and strengthen our good habits like appreciation. We counter those unhealthy, negative beliefs with positive ones. Just because you have been through some tough times, it doesn’t mean your whole life will be like that. You are in control and you can change your life, your world. Once you believe that you can do that, you won’t be afraid of what future obstacles you’ll be met with, and nothing can hold you back. That is what a person with strong mental strength looks like.

In Amy Tan’s short story “Rules of The Game”, Waverly Jong, adolescent chess wizard, goes through a fight with her mom when she embarrasses Waverly by constantly telling everyone that “this is my daughter, [Waverly] Jong”. In their actions in response to each other, several flaws in their relationship become apparent, like lack of communication, maturity, empathy/understanding, and the lack of will to fix any.

The lack of maturity is what fuels the lack of communication, which in turn keeps Waverly and her mother from understanding each other, and the unwillingness to resolve these issues is woven all throughout these and is, of course, what keeps them from being resolved. An instance that demonstrates all of these flaws is a fight they have in a market, which stems from Waverly’s anger at her mother telling everyone they meet that Waverly Jong is her daughter.

In response to Waverly’s embarrassment and annoyance, instead of responding calmly and responsibly like an adult mother should, the mother only gives icy silence, and when she actually does respond it is to call her own daughter a “stupid girl” for accidentally bumping into someone. The mom does not show the level of maturity to be expected from her, but the same cannot be said of Waverly, because she is still growing up and cannot be expected to show the same level of maturity that her mom should, but does not. Waverly runs from the site and does not return home for hours.

In the market, Waverly does not properly communicate her feelings with her mother, and her mother nearly fails to communicate at all, leading to a complete lack of understanding on both parts of the other’s feelings. Her mother’s greeting upon her return home- that if this girl would not bother with them, they would not bother with her- demonstrates that she is unwilling to even attempt to actually have a proper talk and fix things with her daughter. Waverly says nothing and only retreats to her room, proving herself also unwilling to fix things. However, the blame for this unwillingness can be almost entirely attributed to the mom. As children and young adults, a girl’s primary role model is her mother. Mom demonstrates what a mature woman should be, and we follow her example. So when Mom teaches us a certain thing, whether it be something we should learn or the exact opposite, we learn it.

In this way, it is shown that Waverly Jong and her mother’s unwillingness to communicate and empathize with each other in a mature way can be almost completely blamed on her mother (Waverly does have other influences- friends, teachers, her own thinking, etc.), and it can only be hoped that Waverly will learn a better lesson and that she and her mom will fix things, for that is entirely up to them.