GHS208-01 Spring 2020 China and the Islamic Middle East

3/5/2020
Student were working on exponential functions again. There were a new faces in class today both of which needed help with exponents, specifically multiplication and exponents. I explained it with cars, a weird analogy I know. This resonated with them and they knew how it worked. A few of the students asked me what I was doing in school. I told them I was a chemistry major and the cooed, calling me smart. I tried to explain my research to them, but they seemed dismissive. I think I should have explained it in a simpler way.

Hey guys, sorry it’s been so long. In the next few posts I’m going to share my ICR Journal. With everything that has happened in the last month a lot has changed. You can see this reflected in my journal entries so please give them a read if you have the time.

2/27/20
Today I helped students with Algebra review worksheets. They worked on algebra review worksheet which had problems from exponential algebra to fraction multiplication. The students seem relatively prepared for the exam that a few were taking on Tuesday next week but there was a few hang ups of variable fractions. I tried to explain it like soup again but I think this caused more confusion than answers.
I feel like my role in the class is very tertiary. I am there to explain things when they need help a not much more. I have found that relating math to food works pretty well with a few students.

China has one of the world’s oldest medical systems. Traditional Chinese medicine aims to prevent or heal disease by maintaining or restoring yin yang balance. The earliest known written record of Chinese medicine is the Huangdi neijing (The Yellow Emperor’s Inner Classic) from the 3rd century BCE. The composition provides the theoretical concepts for traditional Chinese medicine that remain the basis of its practice today. Traditional Chinese healers seek to restore a dynamic balance between two complementary forces, yin (passive) and yang (active) which pervade the human body. According to traditional Chinese medicine a person is healthy when harmony exists between two forces; illness on the other hand results from a breakdown in the equilibrium of yin and yang. 

Chinese medicine has evolved over the thousands of years it’s been in existence. Practitioners of traditional Chinese medicine use practices like acupuncture, tai chi, and herbal products to confront health issues using the mind and body. 

Many tests have been performed to see if acupuncture helps ease different types of pain. Studies suggest that acupuncture stimulates the release of the body’s natural painkillers, but some trials suggest that real and sham acupuncture are equally effective, signifying a placebo effect. However, results from many studies advocate real acupuncture may help ease types of pain, specifically chronic pain in the low-back, neck, knees, arm, and hand. It may also help reduce the occurrence of tension and migraine headaches. 

Tai Chi combines specific postures, gentle movements, mental focus, breathing, and relaxation. Research supports that practicing tai chi may improve balance and stability for older people. Research also supports tai chi may help people with parkinson’s disease, reduce pain from knee osteoarthritis, cope with fibromyalgia and back pain, and promote quality of life and mood in people with heart failure and cancer. 

Chinese herbal products have been studied for medical problems like stroke, heart disease, mental disorders, and respiratory diseases.  A national survey showed that about one in five Americans use Chinese herbal products. There are not enough quality studies to allow firm conclusions about the effectiveness of Chinese herbal products. For information about specific herbs visit NCCIH’s Herbs at a Glance Web page.

Resources:

https://www.britannica.com/science/traditional-Chinese-medicine

https://www.nccih.nih.gov/health/traditional-chinese-medicine-what-you-need-to-know

Islam does not have that many holidays in comparison to many other religions. One of the biggest holidays as known as Ramadan, where Muslims are obligated to fast. The main reason for the fast empathy of the less fortunate, and reflection on their own lives. During the fast, they are not allowed to drink or eat from dawn to sunset.

I was able to FaceTime one of my good friends to talk about her experience as a Muslim during Ramadan. As one may feel that it would be hard experience, my friend describes it as a rewarding time. She plays soccer all year around at a competitive club level and said the hardest part of Ramadan was being energized for games and practices without being able to fuel up beforehand. On some big games she said she broke fasting in order to gain energy and focus for the team. Due to this she decided to fast on “make-up” days after the holiday was over.

As a Catholic, I practicing not eating meat on Friday’s during lent. Even though this fasting is not as extensive as Muslim’s during Ramadan, it is a change from my typical eating habits. Having this change effects my life by having to be conscious of what I am eating. My friend related to this by stating how conscious she to be of her actions during the holiday. Since Ramadan is condensed, my friend said it turned more into a routine as the days went on. Similar to Easter (a celebration at the end of lent), Ramadan has a celebration with a big feast at the end.

As I have discussed in previous posts, there have been a lot of developing difficulties for the Muslim community regarding the holy month of Ramadan in the era of Covid-19 and social distancing. The article from the Wall Street Journal details the stories of how several people and communities are trying to cope with not being able to actually physically gather, and what some of the leaders of these communities and events are doing to try to get people together during these important times for the entire Muslim community. These people feel that during Ramadan families and friends need to be able to see each other and be together somehow, even if it is over the internet, or some sort of e-meeting platform. Another idea that the article presents is the idea of BYOI (Bring Your Own Iftar), on the e-platforms so that dinners and dishes can be shared among friends and family in these holy times. Some people are more on board than others as there are some people that are against it, “Not everyone is on board. Some say the lack of sometimes-gluttonous group dinners offers a chance to focus on the spiritual aspects of the month, including special nightly prayers called tarawih and reading from the Quran. Others worry about the risk of iftar envy: wishing you were eating what is on the other side of the screen”. While there are some that are against these ideas, I feel that these are a great alternative to larger in person gatherings, we need to be taking every precaution possible.

While reading No god but God, I was intrigued by many of the particular statements Aslan made. Aslan’s perspective on Islam in chronological order provided me with an understanding like no other. From this reading, I have gained an interesting perspective on Islam as a whole that I will carry with me outside of this class.

Although Christianity, Islam, and Judaism all have many monotheistic commonalities, Aslan points out from the beginning that they are constantly and wrongfully portrayed in very different ways. In hopes of breaking away from many of these misunderstandings, Aslan points out that Muslims do believe that Jesus was an important spiritual leader and messenger. The key difference is in Christianity’s supplemental belief that Jesus is the Son of God. Through explaining this in relation to the concept of jihad, I gained a better understanding for jihad as simply striving for what is just. Although extremist groups have taken this concept out of perspective, Aslan focused in on the importance of understanding its true meaning.

Additionally, I gained a lot of insight from Aslan’s perspective on Muslim woman within the modern era. Within chapter three of No god but God, Aslan discusses Muhammad’s approach to marriage. During Muhammad’s time in Medina, he was married to a total of nine different woman. Eventually, Muhammad’s wives began wearing a veil to signify their relationship with him. I was most surprised after learning that Muhammad had married some woman who were not Muslim. However, Aslan continues to point out Muhammad’s exemplar of both a compassionate and family style union. Muslim women and families are now guided by many of Muhammad’s foundational principles.

Just recently I finished up my final project fro my ICR. Although it was disappointing not to be able to do more and help more on site the final project that I was assigned was still very interesting, and gave me a new perspective that I had never really given too much thought to. For my final project I was assigned to research mental health issues in Muslim communities along with specific examples of what different Muslim communities were doing to combat these problems. At first I was a little overwhelmed by this project because this was a subject that I knew very little about. Although I had been at the mosque to volunteer a decent amount, mental health of the community was a thing that rarely crossed my mind. However, as I researched I found that this was a very interesting topic and there was lots of good information to be found. As I researched I found lots of information on what mental health issues were most prevalent in Muslim communities. It turned out that a lot of Muslims dealt with adjustment disorder, and this was the top disorder in almost every age group. This was a bit unexpected to me but there were plenty of other more expected examples that showed up a lot, such as anxiety, depression, and insomnia. However, I also found a decent amount of unique ways that different Muslim communities combated these issues. Although a lot of Muslims aren’t typically comfortable with normal or group therapy there appeared to be many alternate options for help. I found examples such as music therapy, aromatherapy, and mediation. All of these methods are found to have good mental and physical benefits and they all adhere to any Islamic guidelines. Overall, this was a very interesting research paper for me. I really never considered how different faith communities could be effected by mental illnesses and how they could combat them. I think it was a very helpful thing for me to research and learn more about, and it really opened my eyes to the different problems that these communities may suffer from.

This semester for my ICR I collaborated with the Indiana Association of Chinese Americans, which goes by the acronym IACA. During my time on campus I learned about the association through two members and Chinese Americans, Kwan and Benny. They also shared about their own lives and experiences living in Indianapolis. Since we are unable to continue our ICR and complete the required amount of hours on campus, we were assigned three projects. The first project was to make a flyer for the IACA to share with the Butler Community. Below is my flyer including main ideas from the organization’s mission and activities they run that students can be apart of! The IACA is a great part of the Indiana Community and I loved creating this poster to share that!

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For my ICR this semester, I partnered with the Indianapolis Association of Chinese Americans (IACA). While on campus, we were able to learn more about their organization as a whole. Both Kwan and Benny provided us with an insight into their own lives as well. Through chatting with both of them, I learned a lot about what it has been like for them to live within Indianapolis themselves. I was inspired by their motivation to really learn about and get involved in the culture they currently live in. Although I am greatly saddened by the fact that we are not able to complete the rest of our ICR hours on campus, I found the first part of our ICR final project to be quite interesting. I enjoyed the opportunity to give back to the IACA in a way that can hopefully provide incoming Butler University students with the same experiences that I was able to have while patterning with them myself. While creating this flyer for the IACA, I did my best to exhibit the opportunities that I had encountered in the hope that it would convince someone else to do the same.

As everyone knows, everything in the world seems to be closing down, and some of the most popular holy sites in the world are obviously no exception. According to this Al Jazeera article, “Saudi Arabia has asked Muslims to wait until there is more clarity about the coronavirus pandemic before planning to attend the annual Hajj pilgrimage, the Minister for Hajj and Umrah said on state TV on Tuesday”. I’ve spoken on earlier blogs about the difficult decisions some countries have had to make in closing their mosques, and the difficulties other countries have faced when people have disobeyed those orders and gone to prayer anyway. I can not imagine the amount of difficulty that will be faced by the Saudi government in trying to get people to not go on the Hajj and come to see Mecca. Especially if the coronavirus stay at home and closing precautions continue into the coming months. The Saudi government is going to have an incredibly difficult time keeping people away from their holy cities in my opinion. “Some 2.5 million pilgrims from around the world usually flock to Mecca and Medina cities for the week-long ritual scheduled to begin in late July. The pilgrimage is also a significant source of income for the kingdom”. I think there is no possible way to keep that many people from trying to come, and the economic difficulties that keeping it closed will cause may cause further problems for the nation other than the health of the whole.