Reports From Around the World
(Continued from page 18)
In 2010 China graduated 10,000 PhD engineers. The US graduated 8,000 PhD
engineers that year, but two-thirds of those PhDs went to non-US citizens. My personal
advice would be for our educational system to ramp up science and technology training
rapidly. Spoken Chinese would not be a bad skill to have in the near future in ones job
resume; however, with 6,000 characters, written Chinese will probably not become a
world written language.
Western dominance of world economics and innovation is a recent thing with a
short history that is really quite fragile. History certainly indicates the West does not
have any claim on an irrevocable franchise for world leadership in many areas. It is
critical that we of the West wake up to this reality and get prepared to be able to truly
compete with Eastern resurgence. If we do not comprehend this and take actions to
correct things, we are at real risk of fading into smaller roles in world leadership.
Asia, a complex awakening dragon
As we cruise northwest up the Malacca Straight, into the Andaman Sea and then
across the Bay of Bengal to Colombo, Sri Lanka, our minds are reeling from all we have
seen, heard, tasted and experienced. It will take a good bit of reflection and thought to
get a realistic handle on Asia and Southeast Asia.
Japan, Korea, China, Hong Kong, Vietnam, Singapore and Kuala Lumpur,
Malaysia—wow, what a set of mind boggling cultures, contradictions, long histories
of successes and imperial wars, and current economic and political realities, which
include surprising tribal hatreds.
I suppose the Western view of Asians as a group is a way to deal with the complexity,
but it is not the way to understanding modern Asia. As an example, the Communist
victory in Vietnam reportedly led to a reunified country. The reality is that there never
'vas a unified Vietnam. There are tribal/cultural divisions that have been and remain
forces that make the people of the North incompatible with those of the South. Sadly,
niy guess is that these divisions will eventually lead to another conflict.
The strange history of Singapore is another convoluted story involving Chinese,
Malay, Indian and other cultures, including Portuguese, Dutch and English. We visited
a section where a Peranakan mixed culture of Chinese, Malay and Indians intermarried .
and made compromises to allow religious and cultural unions. I do not know how
niany distinct races of humans could be segregated in Southeast Asia, but I can assure
you these groups would wish to be distinguished from other groups. They have definite
and definable physical and cultural differences.
One thing that jumped out to me yesterday was that I have seen only one black
African in our Asian travels. We have seen millions of people, including plenty of
Europeans and Americans, so this is surprising to me. I do not have any idea why this
uiight be.
What Sri Lanka (old Ceylon) and India will add to our minds overload is unknown,
but with 1,300 miles to travel, we hope to be ready for whatever comes our way. We have
Signed on to a non-Road Scholar excursion in Sri Lanka that involves a train ride to an
^rphan elephant farm. Trains are not a part of this trip, so I have to put extra effort into
Unding experiences involving them.
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What’s Up With PARC?
By Jean McDanal
Put your bunny ears on and bring the kids and grandkids to Pine Knoll Shores
annual Easter Egg Hunt at Garner Park on Saturday, April 15, beginning at 10 a.m.
Over 2,500 candy-filled eggs will be hidden, and there will be separate sections for four
age groups: 0-2, 3-5,6-8, and 9-12. The Easter Bunny will arrive on the fire truck, and
cookies, lemonade and water will be served. We are requesting folks to drop off at town
hall donations of individually wrapped candy of the size that will fit inside a plastic egg.
The Parks and Recreation Committee is sponsoring memorial benches that will be
made of wood from the Iron Steamer Pier and placed in our parks. The purchase of
these benches will help defray the cost of new playground equipment in our parks. Two
benches have been purchased already. Please see details in our graphic in this issue.
Thanks to PARC member Leann Sanders, enough funds have been collected to
purchase one unit of playground equipment. It was scheduled to be erected at Garner
Park in mid-March, and should be ready for fun by the time you are reading this. There
were 32 walkers at the beach walk on Saturday, March 11, who added $410 to the funds
for more playground equipment. Thanks to PIKSCO for donating funds as well. The
next playground equipment will be installed at McNeill Park. Thanks, Leann, for all of
your hard work.
The Carteret County Senior Games celebrates 30 years in 2017, with events running
from April 10 through May 5. Pine Knoll Shores traditionally sponsors the cycling and
kayak/paddleboard events. The cycling will be held Tuesday, April 18, at 9 a.m., with
distances of 1 mile, 5K, or lOK. The kayak race is scheduled for Tuesday, April 18, at
10:30 a.m., followed by paddleboarding at 11:30.
We are currently gearing up for the 10th anniversary of our Kayak for the Warriors
activities in late May and June. The 5K Beach Run begins on the beach at the Inn at
Pine Knoll Shores (formerly the Clam Digger) and continues through Beacons Reach.
This event will be held on May 27 from 8 a.m. until 10 a.m. Online registration will
be available at a later date for all events. Further information will be forthcoming. All
proceeds will go to Hope For The Warriors. .
The Parks and Recreation Committee welcomes suggestions for activities that will
get people out, moving and involved. If you have any suggestions for PARC, please
email PARCPR@ec.rr.com or come to one of'our meetings. TTie next meeting will be
held upstairs at the fire station on Tuesday, April 11, at 9 a.m.
Julie Anderson
(Continued from page 15)
becoming empty nesters. Since the Andersons’ immediate families all reside in other
states, Julie and Cameron are looking forward to the opportunity to travel, reconnect
with family and see the country.
Apart from her professional career, Julie is the current president of the Outer Banks
Chapter of the National Charity League, Inc. (NCL). NCL is an organization commit
ted to the development of women as leaders. Mothers and daughters work together
to improve their local communities through hands-on volunteerism. Julie and her
daughters have participated in NCL since 2012, and she explains that “the NCL experi
ence inspires and empowers women to succeed as confident, well-rounded and socially
aware contributors to society.”
Julie and Cameron have been heavily involved in Pine Knoll Shores Kayak for the
Warriors event since its inception in 2008. They also volunteer with the Pine Knoll
Shores turtle watch group. When not working or volunteering, Julie likes anytliing to
do with the outdoors or the water.
As my visit with Julie came to an end, I asked if there was something she would
like to share about herself that people would be surprised to know. She answered that
at age 16 she was an exchange student to Switzerland, and she and a group of friends
swam across Lake Geneva on a whim, swimming from Lausanne, Switzerland, to Evian,
France. Tliirty years later, looking back as an adult and realizing how far the swim and
deep the lake, Julie admits that she would never do it again. In spite of her current
thoughts, she has no regrets.
, .L-
The Shcrsli le
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