Writing opinion

 Chatgpt -- there are excellent college-level materials and journalism programs specifically for opinion writing, editorials, reviews, and NYT-style guest essays.

The key thing to understand is that writing for the Opinion section of The New York Times is not the same as academic essay writing. Editors want:

• a clear argument
• a strong, distinctive voice
• evidence and reporting
• timeliness
• originality
• concise structure
• authority or lived experience

The Times’ own submission guidelines emphasize that strong guest essays make a focused argument grounded in expertise or personal experience.

Here’s a practical path to learn the craft.

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1. Study the Structure of Great Opinion Writing

Read these sections regularly:

• The New York Times Opinion / Guest Essays
• The Washington Post Opinions
• The Atlantic essays
• The New Yorker criticism/reviews

A good op-ed usually has:

1. A sharp opening
   • surprising fact
   • contradiction
   • vivid scene
   • personal stake
2. A clear thesis
   • one sentence stating the argument
3. Evidence
   • reporting
   • studies
   • examples
   • firsthand experience
4. Counterargument
   • acknowledge objections briefly
5. A memorable ending
   • insight
   • consequence
   • challenge
   • emotional turn

The Washington Post’s guide says successful op-eds are usually about 750–800 words with a clear thesis and strong structure.

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2. Best College Courses & Journalism Programs

University Journalism Courses

University of Arizona — Opinion Writing

The course “JOUR 558: Opinion Writing” focuses specifically on editorial and opinion writing processes.

University of California, Berkeley — Opinion Writing

Berkeley’s journalism school has a dedicated “Opinion Writing” course centered on persuasive essay writing and publication-ready arguments.

The New School — Editorial & Advocacy Writing

Strong for political/cultural criticism and persuasive journalism.

Columbia University — The Art of Opinion Writing

A practical online course from Columbia Journalism School on writing publishable opinion essays.

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3. Best Free Learning Materials

NYT Submission & Editorial Standards

These are extremely valuable because they show exactly what editors look for.

• NYT Guest Essay Guidelines
• NYT Letters to the Editor Guidelines

You learn:

• acceptable length
• editorial standards
• fact-checking expectations
• originality rules
• how pitches work

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4. Learn These Four Writing Modes Separately

A lot of beginners mix them together.

Type	Purpose	Tone
News writing	Inform	Neutral
Editorial	Institutional opinion	Formal/persuasive
Op-ed / Guest Essay	Personal argument	Voice-driven
Review/Criticism	Evaluate art/media	Analytical + stylish

Reddit journalism discussions summarize editorials well: identify a problem and argue for a solution.

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5. Books That Teach NYT-Level Style

These are genuinely useful:

Opinion / Essay Writing

• On Writing Well
• The Elements of Style
• Draft No. 4
• Everybody Writes

Criticism & Reviews

• How to Write About Music
• Reading Like a Writer

Journalism & Voice

• The New New Journalism

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6. Best Practice Method (Most Important)

This works better than passive learning.

Daily Exercise

Choose one NYT Opinion piece and do this:

Step 1 — Outline it

Write:

• thesis
• evidence
• transitions
• ending strategy

Step 2 — Rewrite the headline

NYT headlines are extremely engineered.

Step 3 — Write a counter-opinion

This teaches structure fast.

Step 4 — Cut 30%

Opinion editors love compression.

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7. How to Practice Review Writing

For reviews:

• movies
• books
• restaurants
• games
• politics
• cultural criticism

Study:

• argument
• scene description
• judgment criteria
• style/voice

Strong reviewers:

• describe
• interpret
• evaluate
• contextualize

not just “I liked it.”

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8. The Fastest Path to Publication

Start smaller before aiming for NYT.

Good progression:

1. Medium/Substack
2. College paper
3. Local newspaper
4. Regional magazines
5. National outlets
6. NYT Guest Essay

People in journalism communities often note that major outlets prefer writers with either:

• subject expertise
• unique firsthand experience
• demonstrated publication history

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9. What NYT Opinion Editors Usually Want

Based on their guidelines and editor commentary:

They look for:

• surprising insight
• timely relevance
• authority
• strong perspective
• elegant prose
• concise argumentation
• intellectual honesty

They reject:

• generic hot takes
• ranting
• obvious arguments
• unsupported claims
• academic jargon
• overly long introductions

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10. A Self-Study Curriculum (8 Weeks)

Weeks 1–2

• Read 3 opinion pieces/day
• Outline arguments

Weeks 3–4

• Write 300-word op-eds
• Practice headlines

Weeks 5–6

• Write reviews and criticism
• Study transitions and pacing

Weeks 7–8

• Pitch editors
• Revise heavily
• Submit to smaller publications

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If you want, I can also help with:

• a full NYT-style opinion writing syllabus
• a reading list of the best modern op-ed writers
• how to write reviews like NYT critics
• editorial writing templates
• how to pitch publications
• free Ivy League journalism course PDFs
• or a daily training routine to become publication-ready in 6 months.

Engineering in Biology

 Engineering Physical systems for Biology

cant engineer luck

https://x.com/K_Ishi_AI/status/2053709348808134974 - self evolution in Go, Matehmatics and LLM

"LRMs show human-like rule discovery, and their hidden states predict human brain activity during gameplay."

Is the self evolution of Math? Hope of Bourbaki

Is the rebus relation maintained in Japanese exactly as in Chinese?

Gemini ---  

While Japanese uses these characters, it typically separates the meanings into different characters to avoid the confusion that the original loan system created. [1, 2]

In modern usage for both languages, the character 其 has almost entirely lost its literal meaning of "basket" and is now used only for its borrowed meanings. [1]

How the "Winnowing Basket" (其) works now:

• The Shared Loan Meaning: Both Chinese and Japanese still use 其 as a pronoun/demonstrative meaning "that," "its," or "those" (e.g., Japanese: sono 其の; Chinese: qí 其).
• The Literal "Basket" Meaning: To clarify the literal meaning, a bamboo radical (⺮) was added centuries ago to create 箕.
  • In Japanese: If you want to say "winnowing basket," you must use 箕 (mi). If you use 其, a Japanese person will only read it as "that".
  • In Chinese: Similarly, 箕 (jī) is the standard for the literal basket. [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]

How "Probably/Will" (将) works now:

The character 将 (or 將) is a rare case where both languages do maintain multiple abstract meanings in the same character.

• As "Future/Will": Both use it for things that "will happen" (e.g., Japanese shōrai 将来 / Chinese jiānglái 将来).
• As "Leader/General": Both use it for a military rank (e.g., Japanese shōgun 将軍 / Chinese jiāngjūn 将军).
• Literal Meaning: Unlike the basket, the "literal" origin of 将 (meat on a table) is so ancient it has effectively disappeared from everyday use in both languages. [1, 2, 3]

Summary Table

Original Concept [1, 2]	Shared Graphic Loan	Character for "Literal" meaning
Winnowing Basket	其 (Now only means "that")	箕 (Used for "basket")
Leader / General	将 (Used for "will" AND "leader")	None (literal form is archaic)

In short, while the system of borrowing was imported to Japan, the Japanese language (like modern Chinese) eventually "cleaned it up" by using different characters for literal objects versus abstract concepts.

 

Chinese Characters across Asia: How the Chinese Script Came to Write Japanese, Korean, and Vietnamese

Matteo Ricci

Kanbun

Hyangchal

kungana

https://x.com/NanaoSakurada/status/2052265301530841246 word families

Only when "sound → meaning" connects directly will you finally be able to catch what’s being said. - @Maochan_Chinese 「音→意味」が直結して、初めて聞き取れるようになります。

`Oto ￫ imi' ga chokketsu shite, hajimete kikitoreru yō ni narimasu.

pg 14 loan graph borrowing.  

Omori cup speech contest

 

私と日本

Watashi to Nihon
Me and Japan

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『おしん』は、私が初めて見た日本のドラマです。
“Oshin” wa, watashi ga hajimete mita Nihon no dorama desu.
Oshin was the first Japanese drama I watched.

おしんは、私にとってとても共感できる存在でした。
Oshin wa, watashi ni totte totemo kyōkan dekiru sonzai deshita.
Oshin was someone I could really relate to.

リビングルームで、『ジーニー』や『ドゥギー・ハウザー』、『アリフ・ライラ』などをよく見ていました。
Ribingu rūmu de, “Jīnii” ya “Dugī Hauzā”, “Arifu Raira” nado o yoku mite imashita.
In the living room, I often watched Genie, Doogie Howser, and Alif Laila.

このように、いろいろなものに共感しては、「これは私かな？」と考えていました。
Kono yō ni, iroiro na mono ni kyōkan shite wa, “kore wa watashi kana?” to kangaete imashita.
I kept wondering, “Is this me?”

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仕事を始めた頃、私は新しい環境に慣れず、少し孤独を感じていました。
Shigoto o hajimeta koro, watashi wa atarashii kankyō ni narezu, sukoshi kodoku o kanjite imashita.
When I started my first job, I felt a bit lonely in a new environment.

その時、本を読むことで気持ちを落ち着かせていました。
Sono toki, hon o yomu koto de kimochi o ochitsukasete imashita.
At that time, I calmed myself by reading books.

カズオ・イシグロの『浮世の画家』と『日の名残り』は特に印象に残っています。
Kazuo Ishiguro no “Ukiyo no Gaka” to “Hino Nagori” wa tokuni inshō ni nokotte imasu.
Kazuo Ishiguro’s An Artist of the Floating World and The Remains of the Day left a strong impression.

また三島由紀夫の『金閣寺』も読みました。
Mata Mishima Yukio no “Kinkakuji” mo yomimashita.
I also read Mishima’s The Temple of the Golden Pavilion.

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飛行機の中で映画『舟を編む』を見てから、漢字が好きになりました。
Hikōki no naka de eiga “Fune o Amu” o mite kara, kanji ga suki ni narimashita.
After watching The Great Passage on a plane, I came to like kanji.

映画の中で漢字が海に浮かぶように見え、そのイメージが強く残りました。
Eiga no naka de kanji ga umi ni ukabu yō ni mi e, sono imēji ga tsuyoku nokorimashita.
In the movie, kanji appeared as if floating in the sea, and that image stayed with me.

漢字を学ぶことがとても嬉しいです。
Kanji o manabu koto ga totemo ureshii desu.
I am very happy learning kanji.

すでに知っている言葉の漢字に出会うと、とても嬉しく感じます。
Sude ni shitte iru kotoba no kanji ni deau to, totemo ureshiku kanjimasu.
When I meet kanji of words I already know, I feel very happy.

言葉の中で、昔からの友達に再会したような温かい気持ちになります。
Kotoba no naka de, mukashi kara no tomodachi ni saikai shita yō na atatakai kimochi ni narimasu.
It feels like warmly meeting an old friend within language.

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✍️ VERSION 2 — Full essay blocks

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🇯🇵 Japanese

Speech Contest

『おしん』は、私が初めて見た日本のドラマです。おしんは、私にとってとても共感できる存在でした。リビングルームで、『ジーニー』や『ドゥギー・ハウザー』、『アリフ・ライラ』などをよく見ていました。このように、いろいろなものに共感しては、「これは私かな？」と考えていました。

仕事を始めた頃、私は新しい環境に慣れず、少し孤独を感じていました。その時、本を読むことで気持ちを落ち着かせていました。カズオ・イシグロの『浮世の画家』と『日の名残り』は特に印象に残っています。また三島由紀夫の『金閣寺』も読みました。

飛行機の中で映画『舟を編む』を見てから、漢字が好きになりました。映画の中で漢字が海に浮かぶように見え、そのイメージが強く残りました。漢字を学ぶことがとても嬉しいです。すでに知っている言葉の漢字に出会うと、とても嬉しく感じます。言葉の中で、昔からの友達に再会したような温かい気持ちになります。

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🗣️ Romaji

“Oshin” wa, watashi ga hajimete mita Nihon no dorama desu. Oshin wa, watashi ni totte totemo kyōkan dekiru sonzai deshita. Ribingu rūmu de, “Jīnii”, “Dugī Hauzā”, “Arifu Raira” nado o yoku mite imashita. Kono yō ni, iroiro na mono ni kyōkan shite wa, “kore wa watashi kana?” to kangaete imashita.

Shigoto o hajimeta koro, watashi wa atarashii kankyō ni narezu, sukoshi kodoku o kanjite imashita. Sono toki, hon o yomu koto de kimochi o ochitsukasete imashita. Kazuo Ishiguro no “Ukiyo no Gaka” to “Hino Nagori” wa tokuni inshō ni nokotte imasu. Mata Mishima Yukio no “Kinkakuji” mo yomimashita.

Hikōki no naka de eiga “Fune o Amu” o mite kara, kanji ga suki ni narimashita. Eiga no naka de kanji ga umi ni ukabu yō ni mi e, sono imēji ga tsuyoku nokorimashita. Kanji o manabu koto ga totemo ureshii desu. Sude ni shitte iru kotoba no kanji ni deau to, totemo ureshiku kanjimasu. Kotoba no naka de, mukashi kara no tomodachi ni saikai shita yō na atatakai kimochi ni narimasu.

“Oshin” was the first Japanese drama I watched. Oshin was someone I could really relate to. In the living room, I often watched shows like Genie, Doogie Howser, and Alif Laila. In this way, I kept wondering, “Is this me?”

When I started my first job, I was not used to the new environment and felt a bit lonely. At that time, I calmed myself by reading books. Kazuo Ishiguro’s An Artist of the Floating World and The Remains of the Day left a strong impression on me. I also read Yukio Mishima’s The Temple of the Golden Pavilion.

After watching The Great Passage on a plane, I came to like kanji. In the movie, kanji appeared as if floating in the sea, and that image stayed strongly in my mind. I am very happy learning kanji. When I encounter kanji from words I already know, I feel very happy. It feels like warmly meeting an old friend within language.

 

It's Hard to Be an Animal: A Novel

Long way here. "Isabel’s first true love, though, was Simon, a fluffy puppy who’d been saved from the meat trade. As the highs and lows of her twenties hit Isabel in wave after wave, it was Simon who kept her grounded. Together, Isabel and Simon created a community of dog-lovers and a tight-knit group of friends pursuing their dreams." from the description of Isabel klees new memoir exploring the realities of dog rescue. There is a conneciton here to the The Sheep Detectives movie too which made me revisit this novel.

The SHeep Detectives

The sheep have a way of forgettign things like the red or blue oill, safe choice - what Luke Burgis calls "an illusion sustained by a comforting simulation" in his book The one and the 99.

Getting the sheep system to act, the outcast and then the first one who needs to believe to act.

Learning script

 https://hambaanglaang.hk/all-levels/

Practising reading Kanji

 https://japanese.thetinywisdom.com/kanji

Niningashi song

 https://x.com/sonnysehra/status/2046732980954022320

Super Kanji map

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MJCuzfvLvwA&t=126s

kai tribe

https://www.learn-japanese.info/kanjifirst.html

https://www.thejapanesepage.com/node/kanji/dictionaryframe.htm

KU resources for Japanese

Hanzi on an earring

 https://www.reddit.com/r/translator/comments/1mnld9j/unknown_english_maybe_chinese_a_charm_youre/

I saw some chinese characters ona friend's earrings. I tried to remember as best as I could.

It had 順 on the top and 治 on the bottom.

It helped to spot them on https://www.kanshudo.com/collections/kyoiku_kanji

I came across this while looking for this (List of the 1006 Kanji that Japanese students must learn in six years of elementary school)

https://x.com/DrSchwamborn/status/2044927609809801514/photo/1

https://safiria.net/nihongo/The%20Complete%20Guide%20to%20Japanese%20Kanji.pdf 

Kanji map

https://x.com/hiragananinja/status/1608149095092457472/photo/1 - kanji witj meaning

ロッキ

 私たちの一日はロッキーにえさをあげることから始まります。

Watashitachi no ichinichi wa Rokkī ni esa o ageru koto kara hajimarimasu.

Our day begins with feeding Rocky.

彼は食べるのがとても早く、初日に食べすぎて吐いてしまいました。
それから私たちは、空気を飲み込みすぎないように、少しずつえさをあげるようになりました。

Kare wa taberu no ga totemo hayaku, shonichi ni tabesugite haite shimaimashita.
Sore kara watashitachi wa, kūki o nomikomi suginai yō ni, sukoshi zutsu esa o ageru yō ni narimashita.

He eats very fast, and on the first day he ate too much and threw up.
After that, we learned to feed him little by little so he wouldn’t swallow too much air while eating.

歯が生え始めているので、食べる以外にもいろいろなものをかみたがります。
ある日、ソファの後ろに行ってコンセントのプラグをかんでしまいました。
そこは狭い場所だったので、後ろずさりして戻ってきました。その様子がとてもおかしかったです。

Ha ga hae hajimete iru node, taberu igai ni mo iroirona mono o kamitagarimasu.
Aru hi, sofa no ushiro ni itte konsento no puragu o kande shimaimashita.
Soko wa semai basho datta node, ushiro-zusari shite modotte kimashita. Sono yōsu ga totemo okashikatta desu.

Because he is teething, besides eating he likes to chew on many things.
One day, he went behind the sofa and bit the electrical plug.
Since it was a tight space, he had to back out and walk backward to get out. It looked very funny.

家族でテーブルを囲んで食事をしているとき、彼は自分だけ仲間はずれになりたくないようです。
ソファにもたれて私たちのほうを向き、家族の楽しい時間に参加しようとします。

Kazoku de tēburu o kakonde shokuji o shite iru toki, kare wa jibun dake nakama hazure ni naritakunai yō desu.
Sofa ni motarete watashitachi no hō o muite, kazoku no tanoshii jikan ni sanka shiyō to shimasu.

When we are eating together as a family around the table, he doesn’t want to be left out.
He leans on the sofa and faces us, trying to join our family fun time.

新しい家族の一員は大変なことも多いですが、とても楽しいです。

Atarashii kazoku no ichiin wa taihen na koto mo ōi desu ga, totemo tanoshii desu.

Our new family member is a lot of work, but also a lot of fun.

Our day begins with feeding Rocky.
He eats very fast, and on the first day he ate too much and threw up.
After that, we learned to feed him little by little so he wouldn’t swallow too much air while eating.

Because he is teething, besides eating he likes to chew on many things.
One day, he went behind the sofa and bit the electrical plug.
Since it was a tight space, he had to back out and walk backward to get out. It looked very funny.

When we are eating together as a family around the table, he doesn’t want to be left out.
He leans on the sofa and faces us, trying to join our family fun time.

Our new family member is a lot of work, but also a lot of fun.

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Vocabulary List (Grouped by Parts of Speech)

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🟦 Nouns (名詞)

• 家族（かぞく） – family
• 一日（いちにち） – one day / day
• 食事（しょくじ） – meal
• 初日（しょにち） – first day
• 歯（は） – tooth
• 餌（えさ） – animal food
• 空気（くうき） – air
• プラグ（ぷらぐ） – plug
• コンセント – electrical outlet
• ソファ – sofa
• 場所（ばしょ） – place
• 様子（ようす） – situation / appearance
• 一員（いちいん） – member
• 時間（じかん） – time

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🟩 Verbs (動詞)

• 始まる（はじまる） – to begin
• あげる – to give / feed (animals)
• 食べる（たべる） – to eat
• 吐く（はく） – to vomit
• 飲み込む（のみこむ） – to swallow
• 生える（はえる） – to grow (teeth)
• かむ（噛む） – to bite / chew
• 行く（いく） – to go
• 戻る（もどる） – to return
• 囲む（かこむ） – to surround
• 参加する（さんかする） – to join
• 向く（むく） – to face
• もたれる – to lean
• かみたがる – to want to bite
• かんでしまう – to end up biting (accidentally/completely)
• 飲み込む（のみこむ） – to swallow

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🟨 Adjectives (い・な形容詞)

• 早い（はやい） – fast
• 狭い（せまい） – narrow / tight
• おかしい – funny / strange
• 楽しい（たのしい） – fun
• 大変（たいへん） – difficult / hard
• 新しい（あたらしい） – new

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🟪 Expressions / Grammar

• 〜から始まる – to begin with
• 〜てしまう – to do something accidentally / completely
• 〜ようになる – to start doing / come to do
• 〜ようです – it seems that
• 〜ようにする – to try to do
• 〜たがる – to want to do (someone else’s desire)
• 〜以外（いがい） – except / other than
• 少しずつ – little by little
• 自分だけ – only oneself
• 仲間はずれ – being left out

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🟧 Adverbs (副詞)

• とても – very
• いろいろ – various
• ある日 – one day
• すぎる – too much (as part of grammar)

seen and imagined

 seen and imagined

Japanese to other language dictionaries

 https://x.com/syakeflaked/status/2040103513011953927/photo/3