Post #7: The Fringe Benefits of Failure and the Importance of Imagination.

So since there's no specific assignment for this week's blog, I've decided to pick topics that aren't entirely japanese related (but will try to include what ever  にほんご　I can.

I love J.K. Rowling. I won't even get into how much I love Harry Potter. If you haven't heard Rowling's Harvard Commencement speech, I suggest you check it out--it's brilliant. It's 　にじゅっぷん　long though, so you'll need some free time. I would just like to share one of my favorite quotes from it:

"Imagination is not only the uniquely human capacity to envision that which is not, and therefore the fount of all invention and innovation. In its arguably most transformative and revelatory capacity, it is the power that enables us to empathize with humans whose experiences we have never shared."

If you watch J-Dramas, you might have seen the series One Litre of Tears. But even if you've never seen the drama or movie version, I strongly suggest reading the actual diary written by Aya Kito. It basically chronicles her experiences throughout contracting the spinocerebellar degeneration disease. She has heartbreakingly beautiful insight. I actually did cry reading it. I don't have the actual textual version, but I read it electronically; you can probably find it online too.

Anyways, it's midterm week everybody. Good luck, but don't worry about them so much. If anybody wants to have a study group for Japanese, Intro to American Politics, Discovering Astronomy, Calculus (10250), or Professor Peri Arnold's Seminar (POLS-13181), let me know!

おやすみなさい！