【國立臺灣大學109學年度畢業典禮 致詞代表 資訊工程學系韓哈斯】
Student Address, National Taiwan University Commencement 2021
International student Seth Austin Harding from Department of Computer Science and Information Engineering
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校長、教授、以及在螢幕前的各位同學,大家好。非常感謝臺大給我這個機會。我是韓哈斯,來自美國華盛頓特區。我會以自身的真實經驗出發,來跟大家分享臺大帶給我的收穫。
我當初為什麼選擇來台灣求學呢?我小時候非常喜歡看武打片,然後我十歲的時候去看了一部電影叫做「功夫熊貓」。這部電影成為了我最喜歡的電影,主角「阿波」的故事跟我的故事很像。我看完了之後就決定要開始學功夫,所以去了「美國武術學院」。那個時候我每天都聽旁邊的人講中文,到了高中我就決定開始學中文。當時我遇到了一位貴人,她是從台北到美國來教書的中文老師,她教的課是我當時最喜歡的課,我每天去她的教室跟好朋友練習。到了高中畢業時,我是全高中中文最好的非母語人士。同時,我第二喜歡的課程是電腦科學,那時候我是程式能力數一數二的學生。後來在成功錄取夢寐以求的學校:臺灣大學之後,我感到雀躍不已,因為我既可以繼續學習中文,也可以持續在世界頂尖的學府中,往電腦科學的方向精進自我。
不過老實說,當我回顧大一的時期,我也曾迷失自我。雖然我修了很多很多的中文課,但是我那時只聽得懂大概一半的課程內容。跟大家對美國人的印象不同,我其實很害羞,也很害怕舉手提問,我甚至不太敢參與社交,所以當時朋友也很少。我開始想家,也變得有一點憂鬱。那時籃球是我唯一的紓壓方式。
但更不幸的是,我在打籃球時弄傷了我的前十字韌帶,做了兩次手術,需要一年半才能恢復。許多的負面情緒壓得我喘不過氣。我被困在人生的低谷,不知如何是好。我覺得我的中文不夠好,我也被診斷出失眠跟ADHD,另外,美國高中的數學太簡單了,來這邊不夠用。種種壓力讓我足不出戶,找不到自己的人生方向。後來,我向臺大心輔中心以及我的心理醫師尋求協助,然後我也開始跟系上有更多互動。有一位教授叫徐宏民跟我說,"Never give up",雖然那時候我覺得這句話太過於簡化了我的問題,不過,在我仔細思考了一個禮拜之後,我下定決心,發誓不讓自己被這些事擊敗。我決定要克盡全力,認真做好每件事。這是我人生的轉捩點,我開始變得異常自律。當時廖世偉教授和洪士灝系主任帶我進入它們的研究室鑽研學術。這重燃了我對資訊工程的熱忱,提醒了我當初會愛上這個領域的原因。我開始研究人工智慧以及區塊鏈,也開始跟其他系上同學交朋友,一起成立臺大人工智慧應用社NTUAI。NTUAI現在是校內頗具規模的技術研究社團,致力於推廣人工智慧給任何對該領域有熱忱的學生。歡迎加入NTUAI,可以掃描我們的QR CODE。
最近,由於疫情的緣故,我已經一年半沒回美國了。但是沒關係,因為我已經找到了我第二個家。我很愛臺大,以及台灣的人事物。雖然我經歷了人生的低潮,但這裡的一切總是給我滿滿的祝福與協助。最後,我想送給大家「功夫熊貓」裡的一句台詞: "You just need to believe"。只要用樂觀的態度去面對困難,就有能力改變自己,甚至改變身旁所愛的人。就像阿波的父親說的,"心誠則靈,只要你相信,點石就能成金。根本沒有什麼秘笈。只有你。"謝謝大家。
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President, professors, and classmates, I'm very honored to be here. Thank you to NTU for giving me this opportunity. My name's Seth Austin Harding, and I'm from the D.C. metropolitan area. I'm going to tell a real story that's personal but that's relatable and what I see as the real me.
What motivated and guided me to take my undergraduate studies in Taiwan? When I was very young, I really loved watching kung fu movies, and when I was 10 years old, I went to the theater to watch "Kung Fu Panda". This became my favorite movie as I felt like the story of the main character Po was one to which I could very much relate. After watching this movie, I decided that I wanted to start learning kung fu, so I went to the United States Wushu Academy. At the time, I began hearing Mandarin on a daily basis, so when I was in high school, I decided to begin formally studying Chinese. It ended up being my Chinese teacher from Taipei who was my favorite teacher who taught my favorite class, so I decided I'd hang out in the Chinese classroom every day and practice lots. By the time graduation came around, I had attained the highest proficiency in Chinese among any non-native speaker in my school. My second favorite class was computer science, and I ended up attaining among the best coding skills in my school. After getting accepted to the school of my dreams -- National Taiwan University -- I felt honored, humbled, and excited; I could now spend time at among the world's finest universities studying Chinese and at the same time advancing my knowledge of computer science.
But when I look back at my freshman year, to be honest with you, I didn't know what I was doing. Despite having taken very many Chinese classes, when I went to the NTU lectures, I understood only about half of what the teachers were saying. Contrary to most people's impressions of an American, I was actually too shy to raise my hand, to ask questions, or to even meet with teachers after class, so I had very few friends at the time. I started to become homesick and depressed. At that time, I found that basketball was the only way I knew of relieving my stress. However, while playing basketball, I had torn my ACL and it would take two surgeries and a year and a half in time to fully recover. At this point, I felt caught between a rock and a hard place. In fact, this was the lowest point of my life, and I didn't know what to do. I felt like my Chinese wasn't good enough, I had been diagnosed with insomnia and ADHD, and I felt like the math taught in America was too simple to allow for me to keep up with my classmates. I was under immense pressure, and at this time, I lost any sense of purpose or direction. Later on, I went to seek help from NTU counseling, from my psychiatrist, and from my department. I reached out to Professor Winston Hsu from CSIE, and he told me this: "Never give up"; it was such an oversimplified way to approach such a complex series of problems, I had thought. However, I pondered these words intensely for one week, and by the end of that week, I had made a firm decision. This would NOT be another example of me giving up. I decided to go all out, to work diligently and passionately on all tasks at hand. This was the turning point of my life; I started to discipline myself to a very high degree. At this time, I met my then-to-become advisors Professor Shih-Wei Liao and Professor Shih-Hao Hung and entered their labs to begin research. Finally, the passion that I had for computer science that I had previously held in high school was kindled again, and I was finally reminded why I loved this field. I began my research life in blockchain and AI, and at the time I entered the lab, I also began creating NTUAI. NTUAI is now a large and highly successful NTU club that is dedicated to the research and public understanding of AI. Welcome one and all to join us; please scan our QR code here.
For a year and a half I haven't returned to America because of covid. But not to worry; I have found my second home, away from home. I love it here in NTU and I cherish all of the things I've had the privilege to experience in Taiwan. I've gone through the most difficult of struggles in my life here, but I've also had the most fortunate and blessed of experiences. To conclude, I'd like to quote a line from "Kung Fu Panda": "You just need to believe". As long as you are willing to adopt an optimistic attitude in facing challenges and hardships, you may become a positive force in changing the lives of those around you as well as your own life. It all depends on how you view it; just like what Po's father says, "there is no secret ingredient. It's just you." Thank you, everyone.
詳見:
https://www.facebook.com/NTUCommencement/posts/2718185771805180
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#臺灣大學 #畢業典禮 #NTUCommencement2021 #學生致詞代表 #臺大資訊工程學系 #韓哈斯 #SethAustinHarding
it's a privilege to meet you 在 林作 Facebook 的最佳解答
Black Panther 導演悼念 Chadwick Bosemen 極度真摯的一封信。極度令人感動。What a great man. Calm, assured, always studying. Just like me.
Before sharing my thoughts on the passing of the great Chadwick Boseman, I first offer my condolences to his family who meant so very much to him. To his wife, Simone, especially.
I inherited Marvel and the Russo Brothers' casting choice of T'Challa. It is something that I will forever be grateful for. The first time I saw Chad's performance as T'Challa, it was in an unfinished cut of Captain America: Civil War. I was deciding whether or not directing Black Panther was the right choice for me. I'll never forget, sitting in an editorial suite on the Disney Lot and watching his scenes. His first with Scarlett Johansson as Black Widow, then, with the South African cinema titan, John Kani as T'Challa's father, King T'Chaka. It was at that moment I knew I wanted to make this movie. After Scarlett's character leaves them, Chad and John began conversing in a language I had never heard before. It sounded familiar, full of the same clicks and smacks that young black children would make in the States. The same clicks that we would often be chided for being disrespectful or improper. But, it had a musicality to it that felt ancient, powerful, and African.
In my meeting after watching the film, I asked Nate Moore, one of the producers of the film, about the language. "Did you guys make it up?" Nate replied, "That's Xhosa, John Kani's native language. He and Chad decided to do the scene like that on set, and we rolled with it." I thought to myself, "He just learned lines in another language, that day?" I couldn't conceive how difficult that must have been, and even though I hadn't met Chad, I was already in awe of his capacity as actor.
I learned later that there was much conversation over how T'Challa would sound in the film. The decision to have Xhosa be the official language of Wakanda was solidified by Chad, a native of South Carolina, because he was able to learn his lines in Xhosa, there on the spot. He also advocated for his character to speak with an African accent, so that he could present T'Challa to audiences as an African king, whose dialect had not been conquered by the West.
I finally met Chad in person in early 2016, once I signed onto the film. He snuck past journalists that were congregated for a press junket I was doing for "Creed," and met with me in the green room. We talked about our lives, my time playing football in college, and his time at Howard studying to be a director, about our collective vision for T'Challa and Wakanda. We spoke about the irony of how his former Howard classmate Ta-Nehisi Coates was writing T'Challa's current arc with Marvel Comics. And how Chad knew Howard student Prince Jones, who's murder by a police officer inspired Coates' memoir Between The World and Me.
I noticed then that Chad was an anomaly. He was calm. Assured. Constantly studying. But also kind, comforting, had the warmest laugh in the world, and eyes that seen much beyond his years, but could still sparkle like a child seeing something for the first time.
That was the first of many conversations. He was a special person. We would often speak about heritage and what it means to be African. When preparing for the film, he would ponder every decision, every choice, not just for how it would reflect on himself, but how those choices could reverberate. "They not ready for this, what we are doing…" "This is Star Wars, this is Lord of the Rings, but for us… and bigger!" He would say this to me while we were struggling to finish a dramatic scene, stretching into double overtime. Or while he was covered in body paint, doing his own stunts. Or crashing into frigid water, and foam landing pads. I would nod and smile, but I didn't believe him. I had no idea if the film would work. I wasn't sure I knew what I was doing. But I look back and realize that Chad knew something we all didn't. He was playing the long game. All while putting in the work. And work he did.
He would come to auditions for supporting roles, which is not common for lead actors in big budget movies. He was there for several M'Baku auditions. In Winston Duke's, he turned a chemistry read into a wrestling match. Winston broke his bracelet. In Letitia Wright's audition for Shuri, she pierced his royal poise with her signature humour, and would bring about a smile to T'Challa's face that was 100% Chad.
While filming the movie, we would meet at the office or at my rental home in Atlanta, to discuss lines and different ways to add depth to each scene. We talked costumes, military practices. He said to me "Wakandans have to dance during the coronations. If they just stand there with spears, what separates them from Romans?" In early drafts of the script. Eric Killmonger's character would ask T'Challa to be buried in Wakanda. Chad challenged that and asked, "What if Killmonger asked to be buried somewhere else?"
Chad deeply valued his privacy, and I wasn't privy to the details of his illness. After his family released their statement, I realised that he was living with his illness the entire time I knew him. Because he was a caretaker, a leader, and a man of faith, dignity and pride, he shielded his collaborators from his suffering. He lived a beautiful life. And he made great art. Day after day, year after year. That was who he was. He was an epic firework display. I will tell stories about being there for some of the brilliant sparks 'till the end of my days. What an incredible mark he's left for us.
I haven't grieved a loss this acute before. I spent the last year preparing, imagining and writing words for him to say, that we weren't destined to see. It leaves me broken knowing that I won't be able to watch another close-up of him in the monitor again or walk up to him and ask for another take.
It hurts more to know that we can't have another conversation, or Facetime, or text message exchange. He would send vegetarian recipes and eating regimens for my family and me to follow during the pandemic. He would check in on me and my loved ones, even as he dealt with the scourge of cancer.
In African cultures, we often refer to loved ones that have passed on as ancestors. Sometimes you are genetically related. Sometimes you are not. I had the privilege of directing scenes of Chad's character, T'Challa, communicating with the ancestors of Wakanda. We were in Atlanta, in an abandoned warehouse, with bluescreens, and massive movie lights, but Chad's performance made it feel real. I think it was because from the time that I met him, the ancestors spoke through him.
It's no secret to me now how he was able to skilfully portray some of our most notable ones. I had no doubt that he would live on and continue to bless us with more. But it is with a heavy heart and a sense of deep gratitude to have ever been in his presence, that I have to reckon with the fact that Chad is an ancestor now. And I know that he will watch over us, until we meet again.
it's a privilege to meet you 在 麻利 malisheep Facebook 的最佳貼文
#世界企鵝日 快樂! 南半球上現存共有17種企鵝,而我在極地工作最大福利就是可以常常遇見它們。 可惜有一種非常特別的企鵝我卻一次都沒遇到過,它們站起來從腳趾到喙尖高達2米,重達115kg,比成人更高更重!它們就是被稱為「巨人企鵝」的卡氏古冠企鵝(Palaeeudyptes klekowskii)。是的 ,誰也不曾見過,因爲它們已經滅絕了。 我們所知的有關該企鵝的信息來自在南極洲西摩爾島(Seymour Island)在拉梅塞塔層(La Meseta Formation)發現的始新世晚期(34-37 MYA)企鵝骨骼化石。研究一再指出,現存的企鵝正在承受著氣候變化的正面衝擊,成爲人類活動頻繁的背後最無辜受害者,它們會不會面臨和巨人企鵝同樣的結局呢?這個決定權在你我手中!
This is #WORLDPENGUINDAY! Thanks for my privilege as polar expedition guide over ten seasons, I am able to encounter most of the 17 species of penguins in the Southern hemisphere. However, this extraordinary specie attracted me the most. It stood 2m tall from toe to beak tip, and weighed as much as 115kg, named the “colossus penguin” - Palaeeudyptes klekowskii. However, we never have a chance to meet this extinct specie. All the information we know about this penguin is from an extensive collection of fossil bones from the Late Eocene (34-37 MYA) of the La Meseta Formation on Seymour Island, Antarctica. Research has repeatedly pointed out that the existing penguins are bearing the direct impact of climate change and becoming the victims of frequent human activities. Will our current penguins face the same inevitable consequence? It's ALL ON YOU!