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Sedgehead's introduction (document filed)
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Well, I would like to introduce myself to the dioenglish.com crowd! Who am I?
My name is Philip E. Hyatt. I use the name "sedgehead" because that's a term used by a few botanists who study plants called sedges. Yes, I am a botanist and ecologist. I'm 57 years old, happily married, and a father and a grandfather. My wife and I have five children; she has two and I have three. How can that be? My first wife and I had two children, but after a divorce in 1985, she died in 1994. When I married Sheila, she already had three children. Those five children now have a total of seven children themselves, so we are grandparents.
At the age of 37 I returned to college after getting a BS in Zoology in 1974. I obtained an MS in botany in 1991 and started working as a botanist / ecologist for the US Forest Service. Oh, yes, I am an American. I was born in southern California near Los Angeles. But I have also lived in Florida, North Carolina, Arkansas, Louisiana, Tennessee, Kentucky, Texas, South Carolina, and Georgia. I've lived at several locations in some of those states! I've spent a few hours in Mexico, twice! And I've fought forest fires and work disasters in 17 states, including working two weeks at the World Trade Center in October 2001.
In 2003, we moved to Atlanta, Georgia where I completely my career with the US Forest Service. In that city of 4.7 million people, there's a community of about 50,000 Chinese people. I decided "I should teach myself how to speak Chinese." I choose Mandarin because more people speak Chinese than any other language. For more info, visit my website: http://www.sedgehead.com/why_chinese.html . 我会中文一点可是不好。
I found this site through a member of this site. She knows me from a similar website. To find me, just search the internet for "sedgehead." You will probably find me that way! HA!
In 2007, my wife and I returned to our home state of Arkansas. Sheila is an Arkansas girl! Much of her family lives here. 我有两个哥哥两个妹妹两个弟弟和两个姐姐！My parents left them all across the US so they live in North Carolina, California, Tennessee, Nevada, Virginia, Texas, Utah, and Illinois!
Anyway, that's my story and I'm sticking to it!
pH
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Post comment Comment (25 replies)
- Reply SmilingAngel
- Warmly welcome to our lively community.
Wow.. You have experienced a lot. You are a sophisticate and veteran.
I am looking forward to reading your masterpieces.
- Reply flyerMIN
- your life was so bumpy and abundant! Are you American? I want to The US. but my english is so poor. I'm learning English every day. I think I'm going to America one day. Can you tell me some things about your hometown.For those who are interested in me, such American Slang, manners and customs etc.Oh,Introdunce myself. My chinese name is Chen min. The chinese write is "陈敏". I was born in XinJiang. but I'm work in Beijing now! I like making friends,so I wish we could be friends!
- Reply lvshu
- wow, you are an American grandfather ! it is the twice time for me to read your articles , from your text , I can know that you experienced a lot and now you live a happy life with your family . May you have a strong body , glad to make friends with you
- Reply adck
- Dear sedge,welcome to dioenglish.
you know,there are few American members here.
after reading your esaay,i know you've been studying all your life,it really inspires me.because it's also my dream and ambition.
by the way,if you can say 我会一点中文,可是不是很好 instead of 我会中文一点可是不好,i think it's better.
- Reply sedgehead
- SmilingAngel: Warmly welcome to our lively community.Masterpieces? Wait until you see my use and abuse of Chinese! HA!
Wow.. You have experienced a lot. You are a sophisticate and veteran.
I am looking forward to reading your mas
- Reply shawle
- Welcome.
Something l've always been curious about is that why there are sooooo~ many Chinese are learning English while there are so many native English speakers are very interested in learning Chinese.
Is it the fascination of linguistics? I think it is indeed.
Every time I heared that someone said everyone will learn English, I wanna say that everyone will learn Chinese.
It seems like that my words have an aggressive hue.HOHO~~~
I visited the website you gave to us and visited these links in your website. Sorry to just skim them, but it gives me a deep impression.
I think I will visit it more.
>>>我会一点中文，可是不好。
- Reply sedgehead
- flyerMIN: your life was so bumpy and abundant! Are you American? I want to The US. but my english is so poor. I'm learning English every day. I think I'm goingA few quick notes in response! I'm trying to keep up with several Chinese friends and sometimes I run out of time! HA! Yes, I'm an American. You can read many blogs about my life and see many photos at www.ok-english.net, but eventually I will add more blogs here too. I just found this site yesterday. I have a bunch of email to read so I will write more later.
- Reply sedgehead
- lvshu: wow, you are an American grandfather ! it is the twice time for me to read your articles , from your text , I can know that you experienced a lot andI have written many blogs at www.ok-english.net, but I plan to start writing more here too. I found this site only two days ago.
- Reply sedgehead
- adck: Dear sedge,welcome to dioenglish.Thanks! I've written something like that several times, but I still can't get it right! But I'll keep working on it. Practice makes perfect.
you know,there are few American members here.
after reading your esaay,i know you've been studying all your life,it
- Reply lvshu
- sedgehead: I have written many blogs at www.ok-english.net, but I plan to start writing more here too. I found this site only two days ago.
- Reply Maranda
- Compared to today's Chinese family, you have a big family. You have been to many places. That definitely good. I hope I can go through the whole world some day. Welcome to Dioenglish
- Reply sedgehead
- Maranda: Compared to today's Chinese family, you have a big family. You have been to many places. That definitely good. I hope I can go through the whole worldActually, I considered the global population when I had my children. I tried very hard to have only two children. In reality, my efforts have been successful in not adding to the global population. My wife (Gail) and I had two biological children. That's the "replacement" rate of a stable population. My son has no biological children and expects to have none. My daughter has four children, but that's also the replacement rate; those four children have four grandparents.
The fact that my wife, Sheila, has three biological children which I did not father, means that all the five children we have "don't count". I fathered only two children, and those two children have an average of two children. Sheila and I, as a couple, have not added more children to that.
Unfortunately, one person's actions do not change the world. Other people continue to have more than two children at a rate high than people having one or no children. Until humans, as a species, control our population, we are on a road that is not sustainable. If we don't control our populations, nature will control them for us!
I like to give two examples, and often say this.
First, it takes about 1/2 acre of good farmland to support a person. Only 5 percent of the earth is good farmland. So, we need ten acres per person on the planet. Unfortunately, today, we have only seven acres per person when we need ten.
Second, if we continue to expand our population at the current rates, by the year 3000 the entire planet will be made of people. So, there is a point where we can't keep expanding. Business does not live in a real world. Business wants continued expansion forever. Biological systems don't work that way. If a biological species continues to expand, it will run out of one critical resource. I don't know what resource humans will run out of first, but I do know that we can't live on a planet made out of 100% people. Somewhere before the year 3000, human populations will quit growing!
pH
- Reply Maranda
- Yes, I totally agree with you. More population needs more resource, more lands, more... However, we do not have inexhaustible resource. Even though new energy and methods are practiced, there is nothing that can make a big difference. But I will still try my best to protect my surroundings and saving resources at least used for my family.
- Reply hirondelle
- A wonderful life!
- Reply sedgehead
- sayuri: welcom."You see what you want to see and you hear what you want to hear." That is, "you can do it." If you want to know where that saying comes from, it comes from an old 1970 cartoon movie called "The Point" which was narrated by Ringo Starr of Beetles fame!
I would like to have a wonderful life like you.
- Reply sayuri
- sedgehead: "You see what you want to see and you hear what you want to hear." That is, "you can do it." If you want to know where that sayi"The Point"? oh, i'm sorry,i didn't watch it. is it very interesting? i will search and watch.
- Reply sedgehead
- sayuri: "The Point"? oh, i'm sorry,i didn't watch it. is it very interesting? i will search and watch.It is one of my favorite movies. But it may be hard to find. I watched it again recently as wasn't too well impressed. I just like the story. The theme of the movie? Be who you are and enjoy it.
