Since I was a little girl, I have been fascinated with the works of Hayao Miyazaki, a famous Japanese film director, animator, producer, and screenwriter. Miyazaki’s works were first introduced to me by my mother. She would show the Japanese tapes of the 1988 hit, Totoro, I was in love. My grandmother also introduced a picture book called Kiki’s Delivery Service, based on the film. Since then, many other films have been produced, including my favorite, Spirited Away. Spirited Away is about a girl who crosses a mysterious tunnel with her parents and over time must learn how to believe in herself in order to turn her parents back to humans. Miyazaki’s works have greatly influenced many people around the globe.

Hayao Miyazaki was born on January 5th, 1941 in a town called Akebono-cho in Bunkyō, Japan. His love for anime was sparked in his third year in junior high, by the anime film The Tale of the White Serpent, written by Taiji Yabushita. His first hit film was in The Castle of Cagliostro, in 1979, Miyazaki was 38 at the time. Since then, he has directed many more movies including Castle in the Sky, Ponyo, and Howls Moving Castle.

By far, the anime movie Princess Mononoke , is the biggest movie in Hayao Miyazaki’s career. Princess Mononoke was released 1997 when he was 56 years old. A boy named Ashitaka is fighting for his village when a boar-god disguised as a demon gives Ashitaka a demon mark on his arm. He later finds out that mark will soon kill him if he doesn’t find a cure. On the search for a cure, Ashitaka arrives in a forest filled with animal gods and watches as his village is constantly being destroyed. San, a girl raised by wolf gods communicates with spirits to help Mono bring down these villages however, Ashitaki tries to bring peace and co-exist with the creatures.

Unfortunatly, with Miyazaki’s older age and declining health, his last film was released in 2013 called The Wind Rises. Many people, including myself, cherish this last film as a gift of his works. Luckily, his son, Goro Miyazaki has decided to take over his father’s business. I cannot wait to see the films he produces in the future!

Sand

          "We are going to learn about sand for the next couple weeks!" Mr. Pearson exclaimed. In my head I thought, "Oh this should be... interesting", sand was not a topic that interested me. I kept thinking, "What's so interesting about sand?" , the thought ran through my mind for days. On the first day of the sand lessons, we walked into class where there was a big bucket of sand. He said "grab a bag of sand!" and we all followed his directions and obtained bags of sands. He gave us about 5 to 10 minutes to "play" with the sand and observe its features. We were told to read our first text, number one of seven. It was a PDF on a report of the different types of sand in the Huangshan mountains of China and how the sand had originally got there. The report on sand was a drag. It was not interesting, however it did provide interesting facts and information.

           As we moved further into the lesson, sand became interesting. "How can sand become interesting?" one might ask, well the answer is simple, perspective. We discussed what contributed to different perspectives and how people saw sand. The author of Sand: A Journey through Science and the Imagination, Michael Welland, argued that sand is no longer a mere object, but one that has come alive and shaped the environment and who humans now are. He referenced the time period where armies would put sand in balloons to maintain a certain altitude for the balloon and the bomb would be inside it. Thus, connecting sand and human actions.

            Our last couple readings all have been about the art and beauty of sand. John C.Van Dyke, a historian and naturalist, discusses the figural state of the desserts and its inhabitants through an artistic yet scientific lens and point of view. He argues that the desert is not what it seems; there is much more than what someone can witness with their bare eyes. He shatters the claims that the dessert is dead by comparing the liveliness of the city and desert, claiming that they are identical. The Mandala, a Hindu or Buddhist graphic symbol of the universe, is claimed to be a very spiritual and important piece of art which can consist of thousands of grains of different colored sand. Sand can be used and viewed in many different ways.

              Sand can be viewed as a boring piece of land or it can be viewed as a majestic living thing. Sand helped me realize the other things in life that I considered boring to now be lively and beautiful . Its all about ones perspective.