Letter 21: All That Dress Making

Tim,

First, here are the study questions.

1. Why did many American women during this time use old flour sacks to make clothing for their families?
Many American women would make clothing for the families from old flour sacks because the fabric are the best alternative of other fabric, since they come with the flour and you don't have to buy new fabric.

2. How did the flour and animal feed companies try to take advantage of this practice?
The flour and animal feed companies tried to take advantage of this practice by marketing the flour bag. They may include patterns or instructions on the bag.

3. What were some of the reasons for the decline in popularity of the “flour sack” dresses?
The reasons are that homemade dresses are not as fashionable as the ones at the stores and that schools are no longer giving required classes.

If I were the mother though, I believe I could do better than the plain dresses. I've got the talent from my grandmother, whom had a large business making homemade gowns when she was a young. Even though there wasn't even a brand or a shop name, her name had already brought too many customers. There was even once when a foreigner came for a wedding dress.

It was said that my grandma can make any dress upon her memories of window shopping. I'd like to be born that time, so that I could seize the best chance of creating a popular brand of my own. It was not long after my mom was born that Taiwanese became rich. Well...for now, I just wish that someday we could have a sewing class, and I could make some money by finishing other's homeork.

Allison

Letter 20: Air Pollution

Tim,

The air pollution in Taiwan is getting worse these days. We can easily see mist every day out the window or on the streets which makes  mountains disappear. Air pollution can lead to diseases such as lung cancer, COPD, and even heart diseases. In fact, over 5000 people die of diseases directly related to poor air quality every year in Taiwan.

People in Taiwan use to blame on the transborder air pollution from China. But the truth is, over 63% of the pollution comes from our domestic transportation and industrial waste. It turns out that our environmental laws are not strict enough. But because of some political reasons, people deny that the pollution comes from ourselves.

Allison

Letter 19: Getting Closer to Our Performance

Tim,

You've asked about Doris and I in one of the comments. Yes, we are still friends. Why did you come up with this question?

Time flies, and we're already starting the practicing of the play. We did an audition on Friday, and we will get to know the results either today or tomorrow. I am really excited about being able to perform on stage. We have drama class every week, and it's really fun watching all our classmates act. Speaking of acting, I think Doris is pretty good at it. She can easily make people understand what she is acting.

Aside from acting on stage, I have other jobs, such as making props and also teaching my classmates how to put on makeup. I wish I can do good teaching them. Since I have never wore makeup to school, it would be strange for me to teach them. Well, I'll try may best!

Allison

Letter 18: My Five-Day Vacation

Tim,

You probably already knew that we had a five-day vacation because of the Ching Ming Festival and the Children's Day. Most of the families go tomb sweeping on Ching Ming Festival, but there's already years since the last time our family went tomb sweeping. I guess our family is not that traditional.

Instead of tomb sweeping, my dad took the three of us to Ishigaki, an island only a 30-minute-flight away. We went snorkeling and enjoyed the clean beach there. The weather wasn't good enough for other outdoor activities after the third day though, so we played indoor games like table tennis, squash, and mahjong.

The sand is really clean and beautiful!

Blue blue sea!

We are playing mahjong in the bar!

I also painted a shisa, a cultural artifact and decoration in Okinawa. It's a lion like dog, which are often in pairs, with one's mouth opened and the other closed. The opened-mouth shisa is seen as male, and the other is seen as female. The shisa are so cute! 

My cute shisa!

Allison