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Successors of Liang Zhu

先听的原声带的时候，我就对别致的歌词欣喜不已，后来看到一些repo之后才觉得梁祝独特的剧场风格是与自己一直很相符的，非常感谢母上给予我的这次信仰充值～

故事情节就不多重复，祝英台逃家成功，进入了自己梦寐以求的艺术学院，遇见了生在落魄的艺术世家的梁山伯。

梁祝主要是ensemble theatre, 18位演员，不分性别，轮流扮演梁山伯与祝英台。性别的弱化，我觉得与1963年的《梁祝》电影有异曲同工之妙，在电影版本里面，梁山伯是由女性演员扮演的，有趣的是，由女性扮演的梁山伯和女扮男装的祝英台暗生情愫，这样的设计，更是体现出了梁祝精神的通用性

无论男女，谁都会经历对自我的迷茫，质疑，否定。“我是谁”这个世界通用的问题，在这里更是变成了“我是不是那个我不愿意承认的人”

自我承认永远在他人接受之前，因为，自我承认但他人接受也是白搭

借用顾城的诗《避免》：

你不愿种花，你说：

“我不愿看见它一点点凋落。”

是的，

为了避免结束，

你避免了一切开始。

梁山伯的自我否定，就在那句“我再也不能爱”

我认为，祝英台在这里代表的是更为感性主动的一类，她不顾结果好坏，在初见梁山伯的时候就和他说：

“为什么我有一种预感，在许多年后，我会怀念这个时候的我和你？”

而梁山伯，则因为父母的失败，在故事的开始就否定了自己，他害怕自己变成爸爸，害怕自己成为像爸爸一样一张画也没卖出去的失败的艺术家；他也害怕自己变成妈妈，害怕自己追求金钱，追求利益，因此，作为未来艺术家的他，一张画也没有画。

梁山伯最后当然后悔。在原版的故事中，梁山伯后悔自己的愚钝，后悔自己没有听懂祝英台在十八相送中给他传达的一个个意象；而在艺术学院里，他后悔为什么自己没有画一幅画像，一幅送给祝英台的画像。而一切都太晚了。

大家都死了。祝英台死了，梁山伯也死了，连在艺术学院里，用问题引发问题的老师也死了

老师是在前往学生画展的路途中遭遇车祸而死的，他的死，是艺术从业者为艺术的殉道

祝英台因遗传疾病而死，她的死，是明白了“我是谁”之后苦涩中夹着欣慰的解脱

梁山伯积劳成疾，他的死，是选择了为了避免百分之一就要避免百分之一百的开始的后悔终生

我愈来愈觉得自己更像是梁山伯

我愈来愈觉得自己更像是祝英台

有一种忍耐叫你怎么不来

有一种无奈叫谁叫你来

无限欢喜变成灰

“梁兄，全是小妹把你连累”

“贤妹，愚兄绝不把你怪罪”

“你是好好来看我，我反而害你带病归”

“回家病好来看你，只怕我短命腰伤不来”

王安澜

Functional Network Connectivity: Possible Biomarker for Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD)

Summary
Autism (ASD) is a complex neurodevelopmental disorder that affects social interaction and communication, often impairing individuals for a lifetime. In our study, we used magnetoencephalography (MEG), a non-invasive brain imaging technique, to identify possible biomarkers for ASD. We hypothesized that there would be significant differences in brain connectivity patterns between the ASD group and the controls. We recorded the brain activity of individuals looking at a stationary colorful image while in the resting state. The resting state refers to the brain activity of a subject when he or she is not engaged in any particular task. We found the ASD group had a high concentration of coherent brain activity in the frontal lobe, while the control group had a high level of coherence in the occipital lobe. Areas of high coherence indicate that the brain is well connected and communicating with many other areas of the brain. In controls, we expected high coherent activity in the occipital cortex, since they were looking at a colorful picture. In the ASD group, we found that the frontal lobe was unusually active. This area is typically used in higher-level cognition. These regions of abnormally high coherent brain activity indicate possible biomarkers for autism. Additionally, the ASD group had a significantly lower overall level of coherence than controls.

Frank Wang, Jordan Zhu, Annette E. Richard, Renee R. Lajiness-O’Neill, Susan M. Bowyer

The Effect of Delivery Method, Speaker Demographics, and Physical Environment on the Engagement Level of Older Adults

Summary
With the rise of the older adult population worldwide and the rapid advancements in technology, it is becoming more important that senior citizens learn to use new technologies to remain active in society. To facilitate learning, technology-training programs should strive to capture and maintain a high level of engagement among older adults. In order to understand how to design effective technology-training programs, we examined the factors that affect the engagement of older adults as they learn to use technology. The first part of our study consisted of a survey that collected information about their preferences on various factors relating to learning engagement. Responders frequently indicated preferences for morning lessons in a familiar environment, often by teenage or older (over 50 years old) instructors, with a guided hands-on method. The second part of our study recorded the behavior of a group of older adults as they responded to different teaching delivery methods. The results indicated that an interactive lesson style was associated with a significantly higher level of engagement by participants. Older adults in interactive lessons asked more questions and retained course material at a higher rate than those subjected to video and written methods. In summary, these results suggest that many older adults prefer learning in the morning, in a familiar environment, by teenage or 50+ instructors, and with a guided hands-on method. Furthermore, an interactive learning method may increase engagement.

Josh Seides and Tracy Mitzner

Factors influencing luxury-product purchase behavior of young Indian and Chinese consumers

Luxury products have enjoyed huge sales growth in Asia in recent decades, particularly due to economic growth in India and China. Although luxury product sales represent a strong indicator of economic confidence among consumers, few studies have focused on this topic in an Asian context. In other words, most studies of luxury-brand purchase behavior have focused on Western cultural contexts, and therefore the applicability of their findings to Asian contexts may be limited. To close this important research gap, this study focuses on cultural differences between young Chinese and Indian consumers in terms of their purchase behaviors toward luxury products because India and China continue to be two major markets for luxury products in Asia. Previous findings show that Chinese consumers’ perceptions are increasingly reflecting those of Western consumers. That is, studies have found Chinese consumers to be more individualistic and hedonistic than Indian consumers. Based on these insights, this study assesses whether these findings can be extended to young consumers’ purchase of luxury products in India and China. According to the results, young Indian and Chinese consumers favorably view luxury products, and there was no significant difference. Both young Indian and Chinese consumers highlighted their self-satisfaction as the most important factor influencing their decision to purchase luxury products, and there was no significant difference between these two groups.

Shuilin Wang, Yuwen Lin, Xiaolin Qi, Zihan Lin

Click here for PDF: Factors influencing luxury-product purchase behavior of young Indian and Chinese consumers

For now she knows

Even as the sudden idea of leaving forever and not returning felt good, it didn’t bring the complete sway of relief that she longed to soar away with. She had heard often enough of the feeling called liberation except now she waited for her definition of it.

It had been terrific, she had been happy. She did things and they knew who it was for. Words were abundant, even though she could have done without them. He was beyond the representation of a handsome saviour and she fit into his world like a dream. It was so close to perfect, she had never had the time to decide what she’d do if it stopped making sense someday. It was just not imminent. And when exactly did this happen? Was it when she had stopped waiting for him? Or that one time when she asked him to let her be? Or was the cognizance of her weakening conviction for everything she had once stood for, the tipping point? When did he cease to be the liberator and became everything except that?

She didn’t pretend to know the answers.

The uncertainty of the first few days, the deliriousness she would experience each time he was around, the efforts she would go through for looking perfect, and all these thoughts made her double up with resentment. Her mind kept replaying for her the times she would unthinkingly dismiss every other plan to sit and just endlessly think about him. He loved her and she knew that alright. He would every now and then appreciate her a little less but he knew how to more than make up for it when he eventually did. He kept her preoccupied. He made her care less about every other thing she had previously been engaged with. And slowly he became everything. He became what defined her and her life. . It wasn’t so much about who or how he was as it were about what he had altered her to become.

It somehow didn’t seem right anymore. Was it actually that beautiful before or had she been blinded by love, as they say.

Leaving would mean she didn’t have the courage to face things she had forged herself. To let something grow infinitely and provide for every tad of its creation only to turn around and find a tumour. An inane growth fashioned with pointless memories and unworthy sacrifices. Two faces of a coin? Or that plants rot with over sprinkling of water?

Excess of everything? Harmful. Who didn’t know that? But the simplest of things elude us when we need wisdom the most. Not too long ago, she had mistook it to be a galactic occurrence, for its not every day that two wandering souls fit into each other with a clank loud enough for the heads to turn and marvel at the aura, the beauty and the sheer electricity. She was too dazzled to notice others. She was too elated to know what she knew now; the world was full of people like her. And now she stood gobsmacked at a distance to despairingly watch her thunder stolen. She, for the want of her dignity, would put up an impervious, unrattled front for God knows how long. But, need I tell you that there’s really no ground beneath her feet?

Student: Khawla Zainab