His professor sent him an e-mail the following day:
Dear Michael,
Every year I attempt to boost my students’ final grades by giving them this relatively simple exam consisting of 100 True/False questions from only 3 chapters of material. For the past 20 years that I have taught Intro Communications 101 at this institution I have never once seen someone score below a 65 on this exam. Consequently, your score of a zero is the first in history and ultimately brought the entire class average down a whole 8 points.
There were two possible answer choices: A (True) and B (False). You chose C for all 100 questions in an obvious attempt to get lucky with a least a quarter of the answers. It’s as if you didn’t look at a single question. Unfortunately, this brings your final grade in this class to failing. See you next year!
May God have mercy on your soul.
Sincerely,
Professor William Turner
P.S. If all else fails, go with B from now on.
B is the new C
Since KMLA is a boarding school with no snack bars, and the only available snack bar-Sosa Rest Place-is permitted only in weekends, also very far (1.7km away from the dormitory), the demand for snacks and food is very high. Students like most of the food: the typical snacks they store in their drawers are chocopie and mongshell. Recently, because the cake order became illegal in KMLA, kids use these chocopies and mongshells as a substitute of the cake. They are built in cake shapes, and when they are melted in the microwave it tastes wonderful! (Though it is very fatty...)
Not only chocopies but something more that comes once a month: chicken.
That is making me hungry! :(
There's this Chicken Day every month: it usually comes at the last week but it can be changed. We do the survey every month also-of what will our suite choose to eat from the six different kinds of chickens, approximately one to two weeks before the Chicken Day. It's three chickens for one suite, and boys usually find them insufficient.
We cannot eat chicken otherwise than this day, because it is illegal to order foods from outside -chicken, pizza, jajangmyun, for example. That fact makes the students more excited on Chicken Days, and I think it is related to psychological matters. If there are limited production, consumers are more devoted to gain that product though in times they don't actually need them, because of the imperative idea that they would not have much more other chances.
KMLA students are prohibited to eat cup ramyun: the Korean spicy instant noodles in cup. However, students who have to skip their meals because of their schedule eats the cup ramyun secretly. Not only because of the schedule, but students have it also just because they want to eat it. It is really delicious, and it's one of my favorite foods too. However, they are very bad for our health, and it also has cancer-causing elements, according to some studies.
2. SNS
The sixteenth wave was famous for using facebook so frequently even from before school started. Not only the sixteenth wave however, but most of the students of KMLA love to use facebook. They make numerous groups on facebook and do works together or chat about their recent. I also made a lot of friends, which are mostly KMLA students and graduates: I think facebook is really helpful in building relationships. People upload their recent photos, videos, opinions and others look at them, make comments or press the like button. It's really fun and entertaining, to see other's posts and chat with others online. However, in the same time, it is very dangerous for students since it is addictive!
MSN messengers: quite similar with the facebook, and both of them are actually connected. So if I turn on the MSN I can see my facebook updates right beside the messenger box. The messenger is sometimes more useful than the facebook because the messanger allows much more various emoticons, more private-and-long talk, and faster document-sends. Also the MSN allows students webcam chatting. MSN is also connected with Twitter. The three typical SNS-facebook, msn, twitter-are all connected. How convenient!
KMLA students like these SNS because they have a lot of events that are needed to be discussed. There are numerous team projects, and also various club activities. Those are not able to be done by alone, and sometimes it is hard to meet face to face, and then the students use the SNS. But as mentioned, the SNS is not used only for this purpose but also for building relationships and checking others about their recent, just out of curiousity. Cyworld have once done the similar job, but now the three SNS is much more popular, at least in KMLA. SNS is doing a huge job in KMLA students' lives: it is the super-fast-messenger delivering what is happening in our school in seconds.
3. No morning Exercise
First Graders in KMLA have to do either kendo or taekwondo. Because of the much bigger size of kendo place, majority of the students have to take the kendo class. Since the morning exercise starts at 6:30 in the morning and both kendo and taekwondo are very tough classes, students are thrilled when they don't go to morning exercises in holidays or exam days. Not only first graders are happy but also the second and the third graders because even though they don't take the tough kendo and taekwondo classes, they do have morning exercises and waking up early (6:30 for second graders, 6:45 for third graders) is a hard task by itself. The second graders do jogging, and the third graders do easy gymnastics.
One day, it was around March or April; because of the snow, the road was really slippery and 6:30 was too dark for the students to look at the road they step on. Thus, there was this announcement made by Daegi Kim, the boy's dormitory parent, in 6:10 : No Morning Exercise! It was not a holiday, nor an exam day, but just a normal day. Everyone was so excited!
Though the War of 1812 was overall a poorly fought war, because of the fact that the US have fought solely by itself in the war, nationalism swept through the nation For a strong, unified, economically self-sufficient country Henry Clay established the American System: first, second Bank of US’ establishment, second, protective tariff and third, internal improvement through canals and turnpikes. However, there were some conflicts over this system. Anyway, unity was an important issue coming up. From 1816 to 1824, the period was labeled as the ‘Era of Good Feelings’, because President Monroe was from the Republicans after the Federalist Party collapsed from the Hartford Convention, and the Republicans were solely in power during that period. However, this name was a misnomer considering the destruction of unity, rising economic chaos and bringing the nation into an internationally dangerous situation.
The destruction of unity happened in three main ways. The Tariff of 1816 was the first protective tariff the U.S. have had, but the Southerners thought the tariff only benefited the North and the expense of the South. It was because the North depended on manufacturing while South was dependent on agriculture. Moreover, the Missouri Compromise of 1820 also destroyed the unity of the U.S. The Missouri Compromise was issued when Missouri applied to be a slave state, which would break the balance in the Senate. The solution was the Compromise of Henry Clay: to make Maine a Free State and Missouri a slave state, thus maintaining the balance to the ratio of 12:12. Also, it established that no slavery would exist above the 36’30 in the remaining Louisiana Territory. Thomas Jefferson, about this compromise, claimed that it was a ‘reprieve’ to the death of the Union. He also said “it will burst on us like a tornado” which eventually came true later on. The development of turnpikes and canals (a part of the American System) also affected the destruction: because of the comparatively dense population in the North, most of the roads were connecting West (Old Northwest) to the East-the South was least effected. The National Road, which connected Maryland to Illinois, is an example.
The economic chaos was called the Panic of 1819. It was caused by overinvestment on sales of lands in the West, and the Second Bank of the U.S. was most responsible for the situation. Unfortunately the West was hard hit, and as a result small private banks were shut down and numerous foreclosures were issued on farms. Many people were imprisoned for not paying their debt and the Bank of U.S. became a financial devil to those who were financially affected by the incident, including Andrew Jackson. The Panic of 1819 inspired the masses to alleviate their plight, eventually planted the seeds of Jacksonian Democracy, opposing the Bank of the U.S.
The nation could have gone into an internationally dangerous situation because of the Monroe Doctrine. The Monroe Doctrine was first directed against Russian encroachment that came down from Alaska. Also, it was issued against the European monarchs’ talk about bringing the newly independent Latin American republics back under Spanish control. In response the US, as an expression of nationalism, demanded a nonintervention and noncolonization in Western Hemisphere (North and South America) by other European powers. This is the Monroe Doctrine. It was laughed at by European monarchs, but Britain unofficially enforced it in order to benefit solely from the trade between them and US. Thus the British navy prevented from other European power colonizing the Americas. However, if Britain did not enforce this doctrine, America could have gone into another war with the European monarchs. This is another reason of why the name ‘Era of Good Feelings’ was a misnomer-the situation could have gone into war, and it is too dangerous to be labeled ‘good’.
Consequently, the label ‘Era of Good Feelings’ was not accurate at all. Tariff of 1816, American System, and the Missouri compromise had a fatal destruction on unity of the nation. Also the Panic of 1819 brought America into economic chaos. The Monroe Doctrine brought the country into a dangerous situation, bringing U.S. into an opposing figure of the European monarchs. War with Europe could have happened again, and both the unity of the nation and America’s economy was severely damaged. Therefore the label ‘Era of Good Feelings’ was a definite misnomer for years from 1816 to 1824.
Students in Korean Minjok Leadership Academy (KMLA) always have trouble with sleeping: their biggest enemy and, in the same time, their sweetest comrade. Students are always in thirst of sleep because they are all busy doing their work, finding the twenty four hours too short. However, sleeping is the key determinant of the day, because not enough sleep can cause a complete disaster the next day. It can also lead to health problems such as cardiac diseases and stroke, or in a high percentage, life-shortening. It is obvious that students need to sleep efficiently, and there are various ways of how to.
Efficient time management: use remaining times efficiently. Remaining time here includes times before and after morning exercise, meals, and honjung. My roommate, 16th waver Lee Jieun, always sleeps using her remaining time. According to her, it sure helps her not to doze off during classes. Napoleon was famous for this method: he even slept in the middle of a battle.
Tools are important for good sleep, too. An annoying alarm clock is needed for a relieved sleep: one knows she will wake up because of the alarm. Also, sleep shades are effective. My two roommates, Lee Jieun and Min Jisun, both highly recommended the sleep shades. Since all three sleeps at different times, most of the time one need to sleep under the bright light, and sleep shade solves that problem.
Regulated sleeping times are needed to be followed. It builds biorhythm, and thus helps one to have an organized day. The time is good to be early because at least six hours of sleep is required for healthy days. Twelve o’ clock is recommended because the sleep cycle repeats every one and a half hour, and KMLA students need to wake up at six.
Last thing: no miscellaneous things before sleep! No internet surfing or chattering with one’s roommates because it will definitely delay her sleeping schedule. Those things are very easy to drive people out of plans.
Sleep is something critical for one’s life, especially for someone in KMLA. It can work as a fatal poison for your days or, as a vitamin: always, keep your eyes on the troublemaker!
October 28th, 2011, was the first Minjok Festival for me. I walked around the campus passionately with expectations, and for the whole day what I did was just eating, because almost every booth was selling food. Two hours passed and I had done nothing but only eating. It made me feel meaningless, and for the rest of the festival I spent my time in the library, playing board games. The festival was not a Minjok festival, but rather a Minjok eating place: everyone kept on eating and eating. Ms. Park (Counselor Park Hyesun), who has stayed in Korean Minjok Leadership Academy (KMLA) for a long time, said in class that she was sad to see the change of the Festival. The original purpose of it was displaying the accomplishments the circles made for the year, but now the festival seems to be focused too much on eating.
Why did the festival become the Minjok eating place? The reason is the lacking variety of the booths: first, as mentioned, selling food was the main booths and only a few circles participated in activities other than selling snacks. There were contests-eating and drinking contest-but they did not work out well. This lack of variety has led to a big problem: wasting time. Since every booth was busy preparing food, students were wandering around for the first hour, looking for somewhere opened. If there were more booths doing something other than selling food, the students could have participated in those booths. Also, almost all of the booths were closed much earlier than the closing hour because they ran out of food, and the students had to wander around again, wasting their time until the Singing Contest.
The lack of variety appeared during the opening of the Festival, too. Three circles, Daechuita, KMLA Orchestra and Samuchim, and teachers dressed in animal looks were all who performed during the opening. It was same for the past ten years approximately, and it needs more variety, just like what Mr. Hwang have said at the morning assembly. The opening was too simple, to say it short, and now it needs change.
There is something other than the previous problem, and something that the KMLA students need to be embarrassed of. It is the cleaning up problem: 16th wave Jo Namdo have said in class, that he heard the cleaning woman complaining about KMLA students not taking care of their own trash. The place she was cleaning was disastrous, with noodles all over and the plastic bowls left on the table. Not only there, but also there were numerous eaten-up instant cup noodles on the tables where the game contest had taken place. As a proud KMLA student, one should be responsible for what they do.
There are some suggestions, however, to solve this problem: taking turns. The Legislative Council can decide (basically gathering ideas from class meetings) certain booths other than eating that seems to be necessary, and for every year circles can take turn doing those booths. Opening performances, also, could be like this: circles taking their turns to perform.
Festival does not mean food party, but rather something that every students of KMLA can enjoy. I hope to experience a real festival next year!
Is there any value for people to belong only to a group or groups with which they have something in common?
The word ‘global village’ was first used by Herbert Marshall Mcluhan in his book ‘(the) global village: transformations in world life and media in the 21st century’ written in 1988. The word means that because of the technological development the world had become so close, it is like a village. From this idea, there are people who insist on living really as a whole, and stop belonging to certain groups that share similarities. However, even in one village, people belong to different groups, because belonging to certain groups with which they share something in common is surely valuable. It is valuable in the point of clear identity establishment, an effective way for development, and comfortable life.
People from different countries look different. Their culture, language, history is different, and those are what creates people’s identities. Identity means the information of a certain person, by showing where he is from, what political ideas he has, what does he like, and so on. Belonging to groups help them to build those identities: for example, Koreans have their identity as ‘Koreans’ because they belong to the particular group ‘Korea’. With clearly established identity, people can have stable life, which eventually leads to more happiness. The group helps people to know who they are in the society.
Some may say that belonging to groups with similarities can provincialize people, thus preventing them from developing. On the other side, however, this is not true: belonging to groups is actually a very effective way to bring developments. People bonded in groups are much more powerful than when they are scattered, and by that they strongly insist on what they are for. They compete against each other, trying to do the best they can for their own sake. From that the society develops-develops to the way that are the most helpful for both sides. For example, the Democrats and the Republicans in American politics are complementary to each other: they are on the extreme other sides but each of them helps the other one to be so extreme. Thus, America develops much more with the two-party system than just having a single party. This logic can be also found in economics: people act for their own revenue, and the pie gets bigger.
Last but not least, belonging to groups also bring comfort to people. Groups like countries provide protection, but not only countries but almost every group provides protection for their own people. Also, being together with who share similarities allows people to be comfortable in the group because they are familiar with themselves. That is the reason why people try to belong to groups naturally in any place including school and workplace. It is so natural and instinctive to be in groups.
Belonging to groups is surely a natural process, and it does have values. It helps clear identity establishment, develop the society much better than not having groups, and allows people to be comfortable. It is always relieving to know that there is someone on my side.
Essay about U.S. History (Did slavery issues about the new Western territories contributed to the occurrence of the Civil War? (Time: 1840s~1861)
American nationalism had soon led to the idea of Manifest Destiny around the 1840s: that America was destined-by God and by history-to expand its boundaries over a vast area. Enthusiasm for territorial expansion aroused in the States, and movements were on their way: Texas was annexed, then Oregon, California, Mexican Cession, and Kansas. These new areas aroused controversies over slavery on these territories-North for antislavery and South for pro-slavery-, and those controversies were the main contributing factors of Civil War’s outbreak. Their effect can be analyzed into three parts: first, discord between North and South deepened through disharmonious conventions and compromises; second, political system was damaged and replaced by sectional two parties; third, the South was alarmed with North’s defiance against federal decisions beneficial for South.
Primarily: conflicts severed as events like Wilmot Proviso, Compromise of 1850, and Kansas-Nebraska Act happened. Wilmot Proviso in 1846 was the apparent start: it was a bill prohibiting slavery in any territory acquired from Mexico. It aroused sectional debates between the North and the South, and the debates went on for several months. This event formally initiated the nation into the hot controversies over slavery.
Compromise of 1850 was provided to solve mainly slavery-related problems. California, Mexican Cession, and District of Columbia (DC) were the disputed areas; the compromise made California a free state, popular sovereignty in Mexican Cession, no slave trade in District of Columbia, and reinforcing the fugitive slave law. The compromise seemed to be South’s victory and the debate was to be over. However, the convention was not harmonious: William Seward, a northern Whig, said there is a “higher law than the Constitution,” which is the moral of humans, and therefore North should not ‘compromise’ with the South of pro-slavery.
Kansas-Nebraska Act also severed the discord between the North and the South. Stephen A. Douglas, a senator from Illinois and who wanted the transcontinental railroad for his own section, introduced the bill about organizing a territory called Nebraska. The act repeals the Missouri Compromise, allows popular sovereignty in Kansas-Nebraska, and divides the area into two territories-Nebraska and Kansas. The Act seemed to be the South’s victory. Until it was declared law, there were strenuous debates between parties and even in the party itself. Conflicts and sectional debates were severe, and the nation was getting divided.
Furthermore, slavery problem over the new western territories also intensified the sectionalism politically. Wilmot Proviso and Kansas-Nebraska Act show how the political system was changed before Civil War. At the presidential campaign in 1848-right after the Wilmot Proviso, both the Whig and the Democrats avoided the slavery problem. That could not satisfy some people, and so a new party was created-the Free-Soil Party. This new party had impressive votes-ten percent of the total-and had ten members elected to the Congress, which meant there were at least ten percent of America who thought the slavery problem was needed to be issued. This emergence of a new, notable party signaled that the primary system with parties which have mixed opinions about slavery would not be able to handle the hot problem; and thus the nation will need a new political system with new parties which share the idea of slavery, eventually leading to sectioned parties system.
The Kansas-Nebraska Act also leads to that new system, after destructing the former system critically. The Act aroused conflicts in Democrats and Whigs, and the Anti-Nebraska Democrats and Anti-Nebraska Whigs went out of the party and created the Republican Party in 1854. Free-soilers and Know-nothings also gathered. Under so much conflict the Whig Party was destroyed, Northern Democrats were divided and many of them left the party. Moreover, the two new major parties were explicitly sectional in composition and creed: the political system was getting fatally destructed and replaced with such divided version.
Lastly: south, before Civil War, was alarmed with North’s resistance and seeing how North ignored the federal decision; the South began to feel like they have to secede because events just like the opposed fugitive act and the “Bleeding Kansas” have shown, what they considered victory seemed to become meaningless in the face of North’s defiance. To illustrate: Compromise of 1850 included the provision of reinforcing the fugitive slave law, which was a favorable part for the South. However, in some northern cities mobs were formed to prevent the reinforcement of the new law, and several northern states passed their own laws blocking the fugitive slaves from leaving the state. This was a defiance of the North, and the federal decision was being ignored. The “Bleeding Kansas” also showed Northern resistance: Free-Staters in Kansas building a new government on their own and John Brown killing the pro-slavery settlers. It was like a mini civil war. Right after the “Bleeding Kansas”, in the United States Senate-in 1856-, Charles Sumner of Massachusetts was caned and substantially wounded by Preston Brooks from South Carolina-a member of the House of Representatives, because of Sumner’s vicious speech toward South Carolinian about slavery. North was resisting: and South became to worry about not being able to do what they want to.
I hope I did a much better job on time management.
The reading journal below was like what I tried to write on the essay, and I couldn't because I thought the dead time was 11:50!!! I was even relaxing myself when it was 11:25 because I thought there were 25 more minutes to go and it was sufficient. I seriously thought Mr. Garrioch was joking when he said one minute was left on 11:39. Sincerely! So I laughed and soon realized that on the board he had written 11:40.
"I never had any friends later on like the ones I had when I was twelve. Jesus, did you? (King, p.341)" Stephen King emphasizes several terms under the name of 'fall from innocence' in his novel 'The Body.' One of those main theme is getting mature and loosing innocence. The preceding quote shows that people irrevocably lose something when they grow up. That something is innocence: like friends Gordon had when he was twelve. Throughout the novel the loss is emphasized from several aspects: first recognizing the dreadful reality behind the beautiful cover, second understanding and confronting death, and third learning the different sides of friendship.
Gordon gets to recognize that in the world, there are more under the beautiful mask. "But I never thought ... I never thought that a teacher ... oh, who gives a fuck, anyway? (p.383)" Chris confesses to Gordie the story about the milk money, and Gordie gets stunned about the acts of such a person with authority. Chris, like he appears in the quote, who also did not even think about the old lady Simons to steal the money from him, was shocked. From then, both of them would have learned that authorities are not all to be trusted: they are just masks of people. They lose their innocence here, and gain one big chunk of doubt in believing people. Also the part with the leeches show the idea too. "Behind the dam there was a clear and shining pool of water, brilliantly mirroring the sunlight. (p.395)" The pool seemed so peaceful and lovely on the first sight. Nobody doubted about what's in the pool; and there were the "Leeches!(p.396)". The bloodsuckers were all over their naked bodies and Gordie, had "the granddaddy of them all clinging to my testicles, its body swelled to four times its normal size. (p.397)". This fainted him and it occurred him "a lot of nightmares later on (p.395)". He never gets to forget that experience, and learns that the cover cannot say anything. "If I had looked more closely I could have saved myself (p.385)".
The journey also allows Gordon to confront and understand death. Gordon couldn't really digest the meaning of mortality when his brother Dennis had died. Gordon suffered from numerous nightmares of Dennis and Gordie was blamed of being alive in those dreams. However two experiences from his expedition allowed him to understand death: first with the train, and the second with Ray's corpse. "GO FASTER, VERN! FAAASTER! (p.361)" The four kids-Gordie, Chris, Teddy, Vern-were crossing the narrow track bridge, and there was nowhere else to go if the train came while they were crossing the bridge. The quote is Gordie's, who almost felt "the trestle to start shaking under my feet (p.361)", urged Vern to run faster, who was in front of him. The bridge was too narrow for Gordie to overtake Vern, and Vern was too slow for the train. When Gordie actually felt the trestle shaking under his feet, he jumped below the bridge with Vern. Death was pursuing him viciously, and after that "I was alive and glad to be (p.363)".
Furthermore, the climax of this novella supports the aspect of getting the idea of mortality. "The kid was can't, don't, won't, never, shouldn't, wouldn't, couldn't (p.408)." Gordie gets to understand what the death of the kid meant to him when he saw Ray's corpse. It meant that Ray couldn't do all the things what he seemed to have been doing, and what Gordie have been doing for his life, like "waking up at two o' clock A.M. on the morning of November 1st (p.408)". "The kid wasn't sick, the kid wasn't sleeping. ... The kid was dead; stone dead (p. 408)." "The kid was disconnected from his Keds beyond all hope of reconciliation. He was dead (p. 409)". Confronting the death, even of someone in his age, Gordie gets to digest the meaning of mortality and how it is irrevocable.
And from the idea of understanding the idea of death, Gordie looses one more layer of innocence: dreaming. This is something very sad of kids when they grow up: everyone agrees that people need to accept the reality, and that is inevitable. The reality is, however, never perfectly happy like most kids think, and when they get to know the tragic sides, resign, and get to accept those actualities, they trash their dreams. Those dreams are the things that can be criticized to be so unrealistic: but at least the kids thought it was when they were young. So tragic to let them dump their beautiful dreams, and that was what happened to Gordie: "Some people drown, that's all. It's not fair, but it happens. Some people drown (p. 432)".
The previous quote mattered not only with the understanding of mortality but also the falling from pure friendship. "People. People drag you down (p.384)." Chris, during the journey, talks to Gordie about getting into college courses in junior high. He says that people drag himself down, and the very next moment, he said: "Your friends drag you down, Gordie. Don't you know that? ... Your friends do. They're like drowning guys that are holding onto your legs. You can't save them. You can only drown with them (p. 384)." By 'friends' here Chris meant Vern and Teddy for he pointed at them while saying it, and they were the 'two feebs' of the town. With destructive backgrounds, both of them were rolling into trade-oriented shop courses rather than college, and they would never 'get out of the city'. They were not bright at all, and Teddy was even crazy. When Chris told him about friends dragging him down, Gordie was thinking of rolling in the shop courses to be with friends-the other three kids, mainly. "Fuck the stories. I'm not going in with a lot of pussies. No sir. ... What's asshole about wanting to be with your friends? (p.380)" Chris explains how kids like Vern and Teddy will drag him down, and how Gordie will "just be another wiseguy with shit for brains (p.382)" if he take the shop courses with the friends. After, or even when going back in the adventure, Gordie gets to know what that meant, and how friendships can be so fragile and meaningless. At school Vern and Teddy "slowly became just two more faces in the halls (p.432)".
"Friends come in and out of your life like busboys in a restaurant, did you ever notice that? But when I think of that dream, the corpses under the water pulling implacably at my legs, it seems right that it should be that way (p.432)." Once Gordie even wanted to get into the shop courses and get rid of writing just because he wanted to be with those 'busboys'. The 'corpses under the water' were Vern and Teddy, the ones who drowned in the society, and Gordie said getting them off seems to be the way it should be. He became to know that in the society, there are times like one has to part of with his friends because they become huge obstacles in his life. Right before Junior High was that, and he knew that he did the right thing with Vern and Teddy. He came to know that a pure friendship, which considers nothing else but the friends itself, won't be able to exist in real life. That is a big loss of innocence: fall from pure friendship. That was why Gordie was never able to have friends like he had when he was twelve: he became to consider things other than the person itself when making friends. The reality is, often times much more tragic than what kids used to think. It is because this world has both sides altogether, at the same time: the bright and the dark side. That is why kids have to fall from innocence when they grow up: for here the innocence is the pure dream itself, no irrationality, and no contradiction, when the world is not like that. The reality is filled with irrationality and contradiction, and it's too tragic for the kids to face that fact, be shocked, and trash their dreams. However it is inevitable, and something the kids have to go through in order to be an adult that can live throughout that double-bladed society. Throughout 'The Body' Stephen King have successfully drew the theme of getting mature and losing one's innocence in three big aspects: first, by Gordon recognizing that there's something more underneath the mask; second, by Gordon understanding and confronting death; third, by Gordon falling from pure friendship.
I am in the plane heading to Paris, France. Korea, who has been requesting France incessantly to give back the Jikji, requested again one week ago. France had ignored those numerous requests, and this time Korea is formally sending an envoy to take care about the problem. I am one member of the envoy as a diplomat. The visit will be about a week long, and my little six-year-old son is sitting beside me.
“Paris, son.”
The plane had just taken off, and my son was being impatient. His name is Jin Kim, and he was adopted right after birth. I was not married, and my mom greatly opposed me adopting him because kid without being married will be just a burden in my life. However since I didn’t want to marry, I adopted Jin. Now my mom takes care about him even more than I do. He thinks I am his biological mother, and I am planning to tell him soon, because I think he may get shocked if he knows the truth suddenly. I adopted him maybe because I was just lonely, travelling around the world alone as a diplomat.
This visit to France would be my fifth visit, two times for trip-one with my boyfriend, one alone-two times for official visits as a diplomat, and this time a member of the president’s envoy. Paris is such a beautiful place: not only because of the beautiful sights, museums, streets but also because of the dream I have had as a girl. When I was young I always wanted to go to Paris, and that memory still makes me excited every time I go there.
I looked out the window. Lights were like small dots up the sky: it is my favorite sight. The no-electronic devices lights went off, so I took out the laptop from my bag. Jin is sleeping. On the screen I had contracts and texts I had to see. They were all about Soniafe. It’s a café that I will open in Korea, maybe next year. I have always been dreaming to start my own business, and also I have been dreaming about having my own café, so I decided to start my own café as a business. For the first five to six years as a diplomat I was in Africa and South America, and there I got to know many good coffee and chocolate farms. I visited there repeatedly, and the farmers there became friendly with me. When I first started to prepare for this company-café, my friend from high school told me she will help me. The contracts were mostly about the business between me and the farmers, but one of them was about me and her. My friend, a lawyer, would help me with the legal processes I have to take in order to establish a company, and also she would help me manage the café when I am in overseas.
I reviewed the contracts, wrote some things that I wanted to modify, and saved them in my laptop. I will send them as soon as I reach Korea. I opened the folder about the Jikji and started reviewing. This time, France will have to give the treasure back.
It is jet black outside the window: my clock shows eleven o’ clock Korean time. The plane is on its way.
*Jikji: short for Jikjisimchaeyojul, which is the oldest book printed in bronze type. It is essential evidence that Korea was the first country to invent the bronze type, not Gutenberg like most people know. It was invented in Korea long before Gutenberg. France took the book during Byeonginyangyo, the aggressive war-or just an invasion-of France in Korea in 1866.
I spent about two hours only watching and searching the TED videos because I couldn’t choose what I would like to write about. Nothing really triggered me to write an essay about the video: first I saw the video of ‘How games make kids smarter’ by Gabe Zichermann then ‘Experiments that hint of longer lives’, then‘We can avoid aging’ and then ‘A 12-year-old app developer’. Since I really didn’t like thehackneyed stories of young activists who call people to action in order to change the world, I avoided watching Natalie’s ‘Being young and making an impact’. Their stories are all the same, didactic, and they are all sozealousbecause they are just so idealistic. I thought Natalie's was just the same as Iinferred from the title. However, because I had not much choice left, it wasinevitable for me to watch Natalie’s which was large on the TED homepage.
For the first three to four minutes, I was bored out because of her talking about her mom and about the ‘anonymous extraordinaries’ which I quite expected to hear from a girl like her. But from the four minutes and after the whole thirteen minutes I was, vehemently, with her and the ‘invisible children’ she saved. Concise summary of the video is this: Natalie saw the film ‘invisible children’ which is about kids getting abducted by a rebel leader in Africa and forced to shoot people. The conflict, which the kids were fighting in, was happening for twenty-five years. Something fueled her into action, and when she found out that there’s a bill that can solve the whole problem, she fled to San Diego for internship and protested for the pass of the bill. She postponed college, and she was not paid but actually used up quite amount of money, but she wasresolutewith what she wanted to do. The protestsburgeoned, thousands of people and celebrities gathered in the movement. Finally, after getting introduced in Ophra Winfrey Show, the bill passed the Congressunanimously and President Obama signed it at last.
What grabbed my biased andparochialattention so much was her candidness. She really seemed to work just for what she thought was right without for any recognition. She was not for anything else but solely for what she wanted to do. For the last one minute she says: “Whatever you want, chase after what with everything you have, not because of the fame or fortune but solely because that’s what you believe in. Because that’s what makes your heart sing. That’s what your dance is.” Yes,clichéd stuff, but how could those statements came right into my heart? I could feel how this girl felt after watching the film, and how she really devoted everything into what she believed in. It was different with Steve Jobs, who had a speech at Stanford about doing what you love. He had said something similar with Natalie, but that didn’t really help me feel his words deep through. Anyway, the thing I wanted to tell was, this girl made me to really, deeply think about doing what I want and being the ‘anonymous extraordinary.’
The ‘anonymous extraordinary’: Natalie says during her speech, that what fuels the movement is not the moments like Ophra Winfrey moments she had but the people-the numerous anonymousextraordinarypeople, just like Harding who helped Martin Luther King Jr.significantly. Yes, the people who work forconvictionbut not because ofrecognitions: they are the ‘anonymous extraordinaries’ who made King’s movement possible, and what ended the twenty-five-year old war in Africa. People who work selflessly and vigorously, not for fame or fortune but just because they think what they are doing are right: they are the real heroes and they are the ones who change the world into a better place.
As a seventeen year old kid, just the age of when Natalie started her action, I thought: what am I doing here right now? Am I doing something I want, something I desire, and chase my dream with all I have? Not only with the big issues, but even with the small things, am I doing something in the way I think it is right, not caring about other’s attention? Aren’t I just condoning the irrationalities happening in this society? All these questions came up to my mind and it reminded me of living with fervor. I am young but still I can make changes in the world, and it doesn't have to be a big event what I am participating in like Natalie did but can be something small and something that seems to be meaningless. It would be just like, pushing the chairs at the cafeteria back into where they belonged to if someone missed to do it.
One last thing to consider, and probably something that I asked to myself for the most: should I do like Natalie if I was just in the same position with her? I will have a huge hindrance on graduating from KMLA in time; will need to spend money on things that I will never get paid backmaterially; and get innumerable disadvantages compared to others in my age because of the non-studying period. The answer was, after a lot of thought, no. Natalie was for college and she had her independence in the age of seventeen. I, a South Korean disparate from her, am still in high school-one of the most demanding schools in Korea-and still learning about basic stuff. This is not the right time for me to be in action.
It is a contentious issue: whether to get into action right now or prepare, waiting until one get the influence. The latter seems to be alameexcuse, but that is what I really think right now after a lot of vacillation: I can do my best in what I am doing right now, thus in the future ameliorating the situations much more effectively than a relatively powerless seventeen-year-old girl.
Thanks, Natalie, for reminding me to live passionately, and to live for what I want.
Ten years have passed, and the music video seems to be so old and behind times. This album was released in 2001, when I was in kindergarten. Back then hip-hop style was the big trend and Shinhwa, an idol group, followed that trend: that's why their clothes are all baggy. The music is old and little too much commercialized, but the stage itself is worth watching: their dance, performance, and songs altogether make a good mix. This fourth album was recorded, released and performed without one member in the group-Andy-because he was in the military.
1. Who is Shinhwa?
A lot of students nowadays in Korea don't really know much about Shinhwa, but most of them have heard of the name, at least. It is because Shinhwa is the team that was almost legendary from 1998 their debut till 2006~2007. These days, since they are all busy working individually, kids are not so familiar with them but still they are on the top of Korean idol groups. Their popularity was unimaginable because of their dance, songs, performance, looks, and so on. Shinhwa is most popular with their dance: their dance is really complicated, powerful, and wonderful on stage. For a good example, this fourth album they released in 2001 had the song 'Wild Eyes' and the dance of this song became a trend even until 2011, now, that present idol groups are re-performing the dance again and again. You'll see what's that dance in a minute.
Not like other idol groups, Shinhwa had stayed really long-for thirteen years and they are having their fourteenth anniversary soon in 2012. They debuted on March 24th, 1998, and on March 24th, 2012, they are coming back with the tenth album. The tenth album is really special because they are coming up from their own made-up company named 'Shinhwa Company.' This means from now on the company can never intervene on what Shinhwa themselves want to do, and the music will be reflecting Shinhwa's color solely, not the color of the company by using the company hired composers(many idols don't have much chance to reflect their own musical color to their own music because the companies want income, and thus want commercialized songs, not music.).
2. What is an 'idol group'?
'Idol' in English means a figure which is respected and adored, even worshiped. Idol group in Korean means groups that are popular among teenagers: they are called 'idols' because the teenagers madly love them. Shinhwa, though their fans are now in the mid twenties, was one of the first idols, and thus they are still called as an 'idol group.'
Since teenagers are not so bright in real music, and they are more attracted by splendid performances and nice looks, idol groups are mostly handsome and pretty with their songs lacking quality. However there are some groups among them that have their own music and not only concentrate on money: Shinhwa is one of them. They wanted to concentrate on their own music further, and that is why they came out from their original company-the idol-producing, extremely commercialized company-SM.
3. The Songs
Track 01. Just 2 be with U
Track 02. (Title) Hey, Come On!
Track 03. Shinhwa Knight
Track 04. Wild Eyes
Track 05. Reminiscence
Track 06. Falling in Love
Track 07. Never Can Rewind
Track 08. Trippin'
Track 09. Sure I know
Track 10. Dark
Track 11. Egotism (97年 4月 1日)
Track 12. I swear... (바램)
1) Track 02. Hey, Come On! (Title song)
Hey, Come On! (2001) Live Stages
Hey, Come On! (2001) Official MV
Lyrics written by Hyesung in Shinhwa
Composed by Peter Rafelson & Jeff Vincent
Arranged by You Youngjin(SM employed composer) Rap making by Eric of Shinhwa Choreographed by Minwoo of Shinhwa
This song was popular for its refined rhythm (it was stylish in 2001) and powerful lyrics. The repeated lyrics are "Hey, come on, I won't stay in the cage for you anymore but from now on I will fly out!", translated. The music was arranged by You Youngjin, a famous SM employed composer who handle most of the songs SM produce, and thus the music has his particular style. Though his music is mostly the same, this song's rhythm is pretty fresh and addictive. The lyrics imply deep thoughts, too.
My favorite part is:
넌 항상 비슷해 홀린 투에 thing uh 내 말은 strategies 기억해라 (You are always the same possessed by someone else, my words are strategies remember.) 크게 세상의 속을 봐, 속에 네 모습을 지켜 (Look big look the heart of the world, and protect yourself in that heart) 참아야만 했어 나의 모든 걸 (I had to be patient for my everything)
내 나 지친, 숨가쁜, 이젠 나 쓰러 질 것 같은 (I am tired, breathless, and now I feel like I'm gonna collapse) 짧은 순간들 속에 지쳐 가는 나 내 모든걸 위해 참을 수 없어 (I am getting tired in short times me, I can't stop me for my everything)
The lyrics show the harsh time Shinhwa was having in SM. SM, a strict company, had many restrictions on the group. They could not go out with girls, and they could not go somewhere privately without the company's permission. Almost all of the money they earned went for SM's sake. They could not dive in music they wanted to, and they could not choose what TV or radio programs to do. They were just like money-earning machines of SM: just doing what the company want them to do. This song was like an indirect, implied expression of resistance by Shinhwa.
Dance/performance ★★★☆☆
Music ★★★☆☆
Rap ★★★★☆
Lyrics ★★★★☆
Overall
2) Track 04. Wild Eyes
Wild Eyes (2001) Official MV
Wild Eyes (2001) Live, on stage
Lyrics, Composed, Arranged by Yu Youngjin
Rap making by Eric of Shinhwa
Choreographed by Minwoo of Shinhwa
This was the innovative dance in 2001: since this song Koreans started to use chairs in their performances. When they performed this on stage, the reactions were huge. The dance, the hot topic of 2001 until now, was made by Minwoo of Shinhwa. It was actually made in thirty minutes because Hyesung(a member of Shinhwa), due to his knee injury(cruciate ligament, accurately), couldn't maintain the passionate dance which was the originally planned version. Minwoo, lacking enough time to change parts of the original dance, just created a new performance that has the chair which would help Hyesung dance. And the result was a immense, megaton hit.
Even ten years have passed and idols still mimic this dance. Almost every top idols have performed this dance, and those are not assessed by the audience(online and offline) to be better than the original Shinhwa's, even ten years have passed. The dance have showed how Shinhwa is the best in dancing.
The strong beat of the song always makes me want to dance. The lyrics basically mean the situation of a man who wants to be wild, because that is the type of a man his girl want. Followings are three top idol groups (SHINee, After School, and Infinite) mimicking the Wild Eyes. They miss several motions because the dance is complicated and requires keen sense of balance.
SHINee - Live Performance of Wild Eyes (2009)
After School -Wild Eyes Performance (2009)
Infinite - Wild Eyes Performance (2010)
My favorite Parts:
You need a true rugged type figure, I be holin the key gootta be me, all in the sheets- 달라졌어 나는 강해졌어 ( I changed- became stronger) 두고보면 너도 알게 될꺼야- (You will see)
What you really want from a guy like me, I be rollin the streets hitten my peak, alway complete
…
Diamond briguette- rolex on your wrists Say you wanna man who can do work with his firsts A new millennium type figure here! Only wanted to show you the light side, the bright side of life But if it ain’t so let me show you some more
The lyrics of this song is quite evident and overused, but the rap here made by Eric (of Shinhwa) is pretty good, in my opinion. The rap rhymes well, and the lyrics match up with Eric's voice harmoniously: the last part, especially, goes well with the melody-it sounds like whispering.
Dance/performance ★★★★★
Music ★★★★☆ : loved the beat!
Rap ★★★★☆
Lyrics ★★★☆☆
Overall
minus half a circle
If you want any further information, please contact kimsol0211@naver.com ! A lot of Shinhwa-related stuffs are ready. Copyright@Sol Sonia Kim in KMLA
