Emma C. Johnson Writer/Artist/Musician: /PARIS

Friday, July 13, 2018

Communication with each party identically misjudging the other

A woman at Starbucks greeted me when I walked in, “Hi, Pumpkinseed Eater!” I had no idea who she was and couldn’t remember any pumpkin inside jokes. So I smiled and said, “Oh, hi! So nice to see you! How are you?” For a millisecond she had deer in the headlights but said, “Hi … uh ... good to see you!” I then realized she hadn’t said ‘hi’ to me, but must have been recounting a story to her friend. So there we were: Two people who didn’t know each other both pretending that we did (waiting for context clues that would never come)!

It reminded me of vacationing in Paris when a man asked me directions in French. He spoke slowly and deliberately. I hadn’t spoken French in three years but did my best to answer him in French. Then I overheard him rapidly translating for his wife in English. We were both American tourists: Two native English speakers thinking the other was French!

I wonder if there is a technical term for communication where both sides equally misjudge their audience.

Tuesday, January 9, 2018

‘Yesterday meets tomorrow in Shanghai today’: The case for Xīntiāndi

‘Yesterday meets tomorrow in Shanghai today’:

The case for Xīntiāndi

All images are moments, just as any point in space is both the memory of a time x, and the reflection of a space y.

– Bourriaud[1]

[C]ulture is both ‘socially constructed and geographically expressed.’

– Jackson qtd in Kobayashi[2]

Introduction

An American traveling abroad in 2011, I found myself in a German restaurant in the French part of Shanghai, China. It was like Russian dolls: A culture inside a culture inside a culture inside a culture.

Saturday, December 9, 2017

Friday, April 26, 2013

The aspects of French healthcare that could be adopted in the United States/ Les aspects de santé français qui pourraient être adoptées aux États-Unis (paper)

Résumé du papier en français

Quelques soins de santé aux États-Unis et en France sont les mêmes et quelques autres sont différents. Les États-Unis pourraient apprendre du système de santé en France. Aux États-Unis, les soins de santé sont très chers, donc il est préférable que ce système change. En France, la plupart des assurances soins de santé et hôpitaux sont à but non lucratif. Pour cette raison, l’accent est mis sur les soins de santé et pas sur l’argent. Les deux systèmes de soins de santé sont financés par les employeurs privés et le gouvernement. Ceci a bien fonctionné en France, mais à cause du système, certains pensent que ceux qui travaillent méritent beaucoup plus les soins de santé que ceux qui sont au chômage. Les États-Unis font face aux problèmes de paiement pour la formation des médecins. Ces universitaires qui obtiennent leur licence, préfèrent plutôt travailler dans le secteur privé. Les actionnaires font des bénéfices et les contribuables ne sont pas remboursés. Pas toutes les politiques de la France marcheront pour les États-Unis, mais il y en a beaucoup qui pourraient être adoptées.

Paper abstract in English

The healthcare in the U.S. and France is the same and different. The United States could learn from France’s healthcare system. In the U.S. healthcare is very expensive; so, the system needs to change. In France, most healthcare insurance and hospitals are nonprofits. Because of this, the focus is on healthcare and not money. Both healthcare systems are funded by private employers and the government. This has been working well in France, but because of the system some people think people who work deserve healthcare more than those who are unemployed. The U.S. also faces problems with paying for doctors’ training and university research only to find the graduates work in the private-sector. Then stockholders profit and taxpayers don’t get a return on their money. Not all of France’s policies will work for the U.S., but there are many that could be adopted.