a double rainbow i saw yesterday at the trumbull mall

A man full of passion:

When I first walked into Dr. Ju’s office I had no idea what to expect. All I knew was he happened to give off that odd eccentric charm wherever he went so I knew his answers would at least be interesting. When I first approached the office I saw Dr. Ju sitting there in the dark eating dried fruit by himself.  I walked up and he asked me right off the bat out of the darkness, “What’s your first question?” I hesitated and said, “You have any hobbies?” He took a long pause then said, “I have no hobbies.” Right then and there I knew this would be an interesting interview.

So then I moved onto the second question, “What do you like to do?” He quickly went on about all the things he used to do but never mentioned what he currently does. He told me stories of how he would get into fist fights over Chinese checkers as a college student in China. He then went on to say he’s written several books and one currently is being translated into English. Then in the middle of all the things he used to do in the past he paused and said, “Well wait. I currently do calligraphy.” Dr. Ju’s dedication to the art of drawing Chinese characters runs off of 3 hours of practice a day. He likes making elegant pieces of calligraphy and often gives them as gifts. He finds it relaxing and does it in the morning. He even used his calligraphy in his intrapersonal communication class that I take with him. Even the Chinese character for listening was on the mid-term. One can easily see Dr. Ju is wild about calligraphy.  I quickly asked him , “How is this not a hobby?” He then responded, “Maxwell, it’s not a hobby. It’s a passion.”

So what is the difference between a passion and a hobby? Whatever the answer is what defines Dr. Ju as a human being. Most people just do things to fill time. Dr. Ju does things with passion. He doesn’t just watch tv. When asked , “What are your favorite tv shows?” He told me he watches Chinese mini-series based off historical fiction. He has a real passion for Chinese history. He doesn’t waste his time watching CSI like other people his age. He said there’s one story every Chinese person should know. It was called , “The twelve kingdoms.” He was very adamant I should see it to further my knowledge of Chinese culture.  When asked what music he listed to he named only one singer , “yo-yo ma”.  Not only did he listen to that artist but he knew everything about him. When asked what he likes to read it just ended up being something he used to like to do when he was younger but now he says, “ I feel I can write better than most authors. So I write my own books.”

Speaking of books he has one called, “Land of Bailin.” He never revealed what the book was actually about to me when asked but I suppose that sums of Dr. Ju perfectly. He only bothers answering things he cares you should know.  Maybe that’s why he teaches communication because he has a knack at turning banal questions into deeper questions that are borderline philosophical.  I wanted to end the interview with him giving a few closing words of how he wants to come off in the article. He told me with a smile on his face, “ I want to be known as a learning professor. If you stop learning you can’t function as a professor.” Maybe that’s why Dr. Ju is a man full of passion and not just a guy with hobbies. He doesn’t just do things to pass time he does them to learn. He told me America is a teaching country and China is a learning country. One would have to say Dr. Ju is a mixture of the two. He loves teaching but he loves learning even more. He then only learns to teach.

So how did my impression of Dr. Ju change during our little brief interview? First off I walked away knowing more and less about Dr. Ju at the same time. Every question he answered only lead to more questions he brushed off to answer another question. I never really found out what I was intending but in some odd way I only found out what he wanted me to know. Some parts of the interview seemed to be about me catching up to questions he asked himself.  In the end I learned Dr. Ju spends his whole life teaching. Even while interviewing him he was more interested in teaching me than actually answering my questions. Not many professors live to do what they do. Dr. Ju doesn’t just teach he does it as a passion because he’s a man full of passion.

So last night I recently re-watched Batman forever not having seen it since I was about 10. I know all the current rage is all about the dark more serious christain Bale Batman these days but this film just makes me miss the good old flamboyant Batman. Maybe it’s because I’m a gay man but I just love the “Gayer” Joel Shuchmacher’s Batmans. Theres a whole lot of witt in this film I feel modern Batman’s lack. In the first few scenes between Val kilmer and Nicole kidman had me cracking up.  Not to mention Jim Carey’s performance as the ridler should not go unnoticed he makes the perfect whackjob. The best part of the film though for me has to be hands down Chris O’Donell in that Robin suit when you first see him. Overall I feel Batman forever is a little lost gem from the 90’s that was terribly marred by its over extravagant sequel Batman and robin.