The Body Reading Journal #2 Grow until reach the sky

The book, The Body illustrates the growth of the kids who travels to see a dead body of a kid. They are from different backgrounds and problems, and by going through the journey, they met what could be their enemies and grow up while going through. Also, they share the concerns that have been torturing, and heals each other.


The rumors about the dog chopper told that it is such a hellhound that will make people who go across the junkyard disabled. However, the chopper they met was a relatively small dog who they were able to tease at. By this experience of meeting the childhood monster, they realize how the things they used to fear could be really small and nothing, and that they don't need to be afraid of the monsters. Even though they seemed to still have fantasy about the under-bed monsters, when they grow up a little more, they will again realize that there's no such thing as the under-bed monsters, and remember their experience with chopper to laugh about it again.


While they were realizing the truth about the Chopper, Teddy meets an ordeal as his personal hero was ranked down by the Milo, the junkyard keeper. He said that Teddy's father was a loony. Teddy highly respected his father as he once have stormed the beach in Normandy, even though his father once almost killed him. As Teddy's father was attacked, he got mad, and almost tried to fight the Milo. But his friends managed to control him and get out of the junkyard. By this experience, Teddy learns that there's no need to care about what the others think of the person who he loves, as Chris said. Even though the others try to insult the respected one, it doesn't change that the value of him, which makes him still respectable.


Vern was a coward who was scared to go along the railroad that was on a bridge. While he was going through, he walked like a grandma who's not able to walk comfortably. Also, when the train was coming, he was trapped in terror that he couldn't move so fast. Still, he ran and was able to dodge the train. Dodging a moving train was Teddy's wish. And as Teddy was always making fun of Vern's cowardliness, it should have been a nice punch. It didn't change the Vern from inside-out as he was still afraid in the forest and many places. However, the experience gave him pride and honor of train dodging, and it must have helped him to grow up and escape the cowardliness.


Gordie lost his brother and was treated as a troublemaker in his house. His father tells him to have a nicer friends, and sometimes Gordie thinks that he should have died instead of his brother Dennis. He was living in his brother's shadow. However, whenever people tried to compare Gordie with Dennis, he managed to show them what kind of person he was. Especially when Ace mentioned Dennis to make Gordie to hand over the dead body to them, Gordie showed his toughness by threatening them back with a gun. It showed that he was a grown up guy with guts to stand up for what he think is right. It's much valuable than playing football very well, which is the aspect that people praised about Dennis. Gordie showed that he is too good to be in Dennis's shadow.


Chris, who is my favorite character, has once stolen milk money, and returned it. However, his teacher just took it, knowing that people won't believe Chris even if he claims that the teacher stole the money. Chris believed his teacher and she betrayed them, and it left as a scar in his mind. I felt very sorry and sad when I knew about his behind story. Children should carry their fantasies until they reach the appropriate age. Chris was too young to know the dirtiness and selfishness of human beings. But the teacher who should be leading her students to morality and help them to carry to the fantasies just broke them. I'm not a grown up yet, but this made me to wonder about the role of the adults; what adults should to for their children to help them keep their dreams, and how to present them a better world to live and love.


The best part was when Gordie wanted to stay with his friends and give up a better education. Chris was really angry and told Gordie that he shouldn't waste something that God gave him. It made me to remember a similar scene in the movie, Good Will Hunting. In that movie, a gorgeous mathematician Will works as a cleaner of universities, and wish his life to continue in such way. So, his friend Chuckie said,  'Fuck you, you don't owe it to yourself man, you owe it to me. Cuz tomorrow I'm gonna wake up and I'll be 50, and I'll still be doin' this shit. And that's all right. That's fine. I mean, you're sittin' on a winnin' lottery ticket. And you're too much of a pussy to cash it in, and that's bullshit. 'Cause I'd do fuckin' anything to have what you got. So would any of these fuckin' guys. It'd be an insult to us if you're still here in 20 years. Hangin' around here is a fuckin' waste of your time.' I thought that The Body and Good Will Hunting were trying to deliver a same message. The importance of using one's own talents and the value of real friend. Real friends help their friends when they are going to a path that's wrong and regretful. They don't get jealous. But cheer up and help. I thought that I also wanted to be a friend like him. And that if I had friends like him, I would have been really happy.


Even though they had many adventures, it didn't change them very much. Even after all the journey, they acted as young children who had same problems to solve . However, it certainly changed their views toward the world. The town that has been everything to them felt small. They have gained the chance to grow up. Reading this story made me to think back about my childhood (although I'm not so old) and feel nostalgic. I think reading this book was a nice chance to sink in memories, remembering the times I had overcame the similar problems they had.

Creative Essay: 11/27/31

This is my second day in India. Today morning, I received an e-mail explaining that the seminar I came to attend is going be postponed from 12/01 to 12/03. I't because the world climates are terribly unpredictable that it messed up the whole airline today that many people won't be able to attend the seminar at the time. I was actually happy to receive the mail (sorry for those who got damaged by the hurricane that occurred simultaneously) as it meant that I will have more free time in this country.

It's been a while to attend a seminar that required people to actually gather. I preferred offline seminar but I was really busy these days as my research was coming to the end, and the students asked me a lot of questions as it was near the final exam. So I was only able to attend online. However, this seminar was really important that I even canceled my other schedules to attend. Thank God that final was over as I wouldn't be able to reject my students. I was planning to reveal my research conclusions to the world through this seminar as the other people attending helped my project by answering my questions that I had and sharing some of their opinions. Therefore, I wanted to show them some respect by making them the first one to see my full outcome.

Yesterday, I walked around various famous places, taking pictures and drawing croquis' as it is my hobby. I should have been preparing for the presentation today, but the seminar has been postponed, so I decided to expand my leisure. I planned to visit where my educational volunteer organization is working. I was always sorry to order them and help them from distance, so I thought that this was a great chance. So I went to the head office of India branch. They greeted me warmly. After short talk about the current situation of the organization, I asked them if I could participate in today's volunteer, and got approved.

Even though the cities of India has been developed, the countries remained the same. I went to a small school where the organization worked. I brought some snacks for the children, and while they were eating, I asked how they were doing. Even in hard situations, they looked very bright, so I was relieved. I took pictures with them. The master of India branch told me that the number of Indian student volunteer was even lower than the number of students from other country. So we opened up a meeting, and concluded that the advertisement of our organization was too weak. And we planned to make posters to hang on 15 universities.

I left the further planning to the branch, and came back to the hotel to eat dinner. As southern India was summer in these days, it was still bright. I checked my e-mail and there was a new e-mail saying that the seminar will be held on 12/05. It didn't really mattered to me as I had nothing until my birthday, which is 12/20. I guess I saved some more days. Maybe I'll be able to help putting the posters in universities tomorrow.

TED: David Carson on design+discovery

Designing is a field that doesn't have a criterion precedent to follow. It's a filled with sense of humor and creativity to grab attention of people. David Carson shows myriad slides to introduce the world of designing and its characteristics in a very doggerel way. And when watching the video, it reminded me of a book Put on an Engine on Creativity by Hyunwoo Lim, which is a book about using creativity; especially on advertisements and designs. 


Design sends "message that's sent before somebody begins to read, before they get the rest of the information; what is the emotional response they get to the product", according to David Carson's speech. I think it is true. There are some designs that touches me even without making me to try to figure out what the design is about and what it is telling. Designs and advertisements are very ephemeral. People flip them over in very short time. So prodigal or esoteric wordings will be futile and mundane. Leaving a strong impression concisely is important, therefore the importance of emotion in designing augments.

David Carson gave an example of smoke-free design that he created. In small letters, it says, 'If tobacco companies can lie, so can we.' It's very humorous, but it looks very gravitational and professional as the design is in black-and-white color. When people first see the advertisement, they will worry and throw away their cigarette, as the advertisement looks very serious. And when they read the advertisement again, they will laugh at the humor that's hidden inside, and remember the danger of cigarette that is tacit in the advertisement, as the creativity leaves strong impression, helping the people to remember 

In the book, it showed a WFP's picture on Times, by Rein Skullerud. The picture illustrates a terrible repercussion of tsunami. Even among all the broken furniture, there's one tree alive that shows the hint of recovery and hope. When people first see this picture, they don't read the caption under the picture written in infinitesimal letters about the hope in the terrible scene. However, they get the lucid impression of hope by the standing tree itself. It shows that even in such a horrible situation, there's still something that's not lost. And it helps people to overcome.


At his closure in the video, he defined a good job, and it really hit me. He stated, "if you could afford to--if money wasn't an issue--would you be doing that same work? If you wouldn't, what the heck are you doing? you're going to be dead a really long time." I think this statement was for young people who are afraid to jump in and dedicate on the field of designing . However, it hit me too, as I was also worrying that what I want to do aren't revered in the society and it doesn't guarantee me of nice future. However, if I'm working on the job only because of money, then I'm not living my own life or living alive. I want to live genially, so I worried living a miserable life out of lack of money. However, a life only for earning money is more terrible. It might be a hackneyed dictum, but my own definition of a good life is that if I don't regret anything when I'm dying; it was a good life. And after I watched this video, I thought that to live an un-regrettable life, I should jump on to what I really want to do. Like the David Carson, who devoted on designing.


The video didn't states his one strong idea and espoused, but showed his small and many ideas of living and designing. And most of his ideas impressed me. I strongly recommend this video, as it is very humorous yet has significance that has power to change and inspire people. Also, the book carries the message that emphasizes the importance of creativity and audacity. So I recommend to read the book after watching the video.

Top Band -Season1

(# of pictures in this review/out of 10)

Top band is a name of a TV show. It's a band audition program where amateur bands compete against each other by tournament. And before the actual competition, they can choose their mentor among the famous experts of rock music and have lessons.  I really like this program, not only because I love rock music, but also the program helps the bands of Korea.

Korean indie bands aren't that famous among Korean people. So they suffer out of low income and interest. The program director was planning to make a documentary about the lives of Korean indie bands. However, the broadcasting station recommended the director to make a competition program, as it was a trend. So the program became in a shape of tournament among the bands, but it still carried the intention to advertise about bands.

The program showed the current situations and the hard times they had to overcome in order to present their music to the world. It was very impressive. The biggest problems they had were people's views toward them. When they declared that they would be musicians, their parents and friends opposed them. One father even threw a guitar out of the window to stop his son. And even after they became musicians, most were unpopular, so they had to suffer greatly. As the program contained such behind stories, people could learn about the backgrounds of the music. And as the program contained rock music itself, it advertised rock music to the public. The participants of the competition had a same goal, which is to notify Korean Indie rock music to the public, they helped and cheered each other.


Also, there are other types of bands than rock bands with electronic instruments. For example, there are Latin music bands, orchestra-like bands, brass bands, and many more. Also, people with musicians as jobs aren't the only ones who play in band. There are people who plays as a band member, but has a different job. Top band introduced these types of bands to the public, allowing publics to break the prejudice about bands, and giving courage to the minor bands and musicians.

Other competition programs had lot of operation behind the program to make the show more entertaining, like faking the statistics and directing people's every movement. However Top Band didn't had any. So the process was very clear, but it was less entertaining than the other programs. For example, Broken Valentine team, and Toxic team, who were considered to be in top4, had match in the round 16. So the Broken Valentine couldn't even go to the round 8, because the matching system wasn't controlled, and was out of drawing lots.

Also, as indie rock music is more about pursuing one's own music style than entertaining the public and adjusting to match the people, it certainly has limits as a TV program. As public's choice was included in the score, bands with unique and special styles had advantage. Also, visual was involuntarily included in the scorings as people preferred bands that were visually good.

Even though the program had few problems, it still had good effects on advertising the Korean indie bands to people, and it was very entertaining to me, as I really liked rock music. I am looking forward to seeing the participated bands in a bigger stage like the famous bands that came and performed for celebration. Also, I'm looking forward for the season 2 of Top Band.

The Body #1 Reading Journal

In the book The Body by Steven King, characters shared a treehouse to hang out and have fun. They played games and hid important things or things they didn't want others to discover. It's their own territory and others, especially adults, didn't have rights to invade without permission. If they tried to, the boys would have resisted to the invading force.

My friends and I also had a similar place too when I was a student of an elementary school. There was a church right beside our school that my friends and I also went, and at the bottom of the church, if you go over or under few pipes, there was a small secret field that nobody used or care. It was a open space, without ceilings, but it was deep inside so nobody really wanted to approach. It's surrounded by trees and a huge three machines that we assumed to be heating machines. So people can't see us, but we can observe people outside through the trees. 

We first found out the place out of curiosity. We were unbeatable elementary school children, and there was nothing we should be afraid of. We wanted an adventure, and we thought going through the pipes into a deep, unexploited place of church seemed to be the adventure we were looking for. We went through the pipes  and found the beautiful place. We declared it as our territory and gathered when the church ended. The field was too small to put things in there or play, so we only used the it as a gathering place and  a conference room where we discussed what we should do for the day. We also found a pot and his our treasures we found in process of searching and hid the pot in our secret place.

When we were entering the place, a few younger kids saw us and tried to follow. We said that the place was our own so do not dare to invade and scared them off. However, one time we felt that there has been someone who has been in our secret place, as our pot wasn't on the right place we used to hide. So we collected ash from the field, as farmers were burning the stems of rice after harvest, and spread it around our secret hiding. It was like animals placing their smell on their territory. We thought that the people will be afraid to come any nearer as they won't want their shirts get dirty, and we used it to detect the footprints that others would leave. We once were so obsessed with the idea of protecting our place from strangers, that we tried to make walls with bricks. Even though the place wasn't really ours, but the church's. 

The church people knew about us and created iron fences around the place so we couldn't reach there even though we passed the pipes. We were very angry, but we didn't have any power to rip off  the iron fence. We couldn't understand the adults as there was nothing important nor dangerous in that place. It was just a very small and simple field. So we decided to use the iron fence for ourselves. Unfortunate for the church people, we were very physically talented. We were able to use the walls to climb and jump over the fence. So the fence couldn't stop us, but it stopped the other kids form invading our place. We were satisfied. 

Even though it's a very embarrassing past to me, I miss it so much. And if I have a chance, I want to go back and visit the place once more. I believe the treehouse to the boys in The Body will feel the same. When they grow up, the treehouse, which is a place they have spent most of their time will be the most missing place. And they will be able to remind the other memories of their childhood. And I'm looking forward to peek their memory they will remind when they think of the treehouse, by reading this book.

(It was placed inside the circle, behind the trees.)

Reading Journal #1 - Being meaningful

(Matthew West- More)

(I thought this CCM matched the theme of my writing, and my experience.)

In the book Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption, there was a character named Red. He was the narrator of the story, and the best friend of Andy, who was the main character of the story. He was the one who could get anything for others in the jail. And that's how Andy and Red became friends. Also, even though the buying and delivering things for the others didn't do any good to Red, he still did the job as he really appreciated the title of 'the person who can get things to you'.

When Andy and Red were talking about leaving the jail, Andy asked if Red could join Andy's business.  However, Red presented his worries about being useless outside of the jail. In the jail, he was a very important person who had the power to bring things in. But at outside, there are others who already had the job that Red have had in the jail. He was worried to loose the title and the power at outside. That was one of the reasons why Red was afraid to leave the jail.

I also had the similar feelings when I first came to this school, KMLA, which is a very admired high school in Korea, I believe. When I was attending a normal middle school, I was a smart girl with other special abilities, like playing flute. All teachers who taught me knew me and remembered my name. When there was a question, my classmates brought that them to me and asked for help. When I gained awards, people took it for granted.

However, in this school, nobody noticed me. I wasn't smart. There were other people who had the title 'smart'. I didn't have other special extra abilities. It's something more like 'required', as every other people had it too. Teachers didn't know my name. I wasn't special at all, so I wasn't worthy to be remembered by others. I had to bring my questions to others in order to solve it. I lost the title as Red lost his title at outside of his world, Shawshank. I lost all confidence I used to have and I became very negative. I wondered if this place was where I should really be. If I was at ordinary high school, maybe I could have been just like I used to be in the middle school. Good old days. Other people looked marvelous and there was no place for me to fit in. I considered myself very miserable.

Red must have felt the same when he was thrown out of his cozy Shawshank. Even though the place was where other jail people wished to be, it was certainly not for Red. People didn't pay attention to Red, and he was a replaceable worker to the society. He must have felt very miserable in repeated life that he could never get used to. Being in a place where doesn't belong to the person creates big pain. Red accepted Shawshank as his place and rejected what we call 'normal life'. Being outside of the Shawshank created him a big deal of pain.

However, he found his place in the world. It was with Andy. Andy saw Red's values and created his place even though the society classified him as 'useless'. Andy cheered Red up and gave him hope. Because of Andy, Red could stand up and went on a journey to find his place in the world, not like Brooks, who couldn't find his place in the society and finally died.

In my case, God worked as Andy. When I was down and felt miserable, he was with me and kept said that I was also precious. As I gained the confidence back, I could see my state more clearly without any negative blinders. I actually was able to fit in this school. I found my place in here too. It's not a well-known and respected place like I had when I was in the middle school, but it's a place where I can have fun and feel comfortable and protected. I'm doing many activities that wouldn't have been allowed if I quit this school and went to normal high school, like the club activities and school projects. I also helped some of my friends by listening to their stories and being together when they were going through harsh time. I realized that I wasn't the only one who had such concerns.

Still, the school is very challenging and I feel miserable sometimes. However, I never think of quitting this school anymore. It's all my life and experience. If I just stop everything right now, I am sure that I will regret my choice even after I die. I hope Red feels the same after he meets Andy and start the business. The time gap that was created because of the imprisonment isn't an easy enemy. They will have times when they face big troubles and miss the Shawshank. However, I hope they will take that as one of the experiences that they missed while they were in the jail.
I hope they never lose their hope and keep heading forward.
I hope at the time they die, they don't regret things for not challenging.
And when I continue to live on this harsh world, I hope I kept considered myself as a beautiful person, no matter what.
I hope

Green Day-metafiction

I'm a tree located on a windowsill of a typical Korean high school. It's a very typical school with lots of students in a small classroom, and the small size of the room actually helps me to observe them. Observing these students is very interesting. When a person called teacher comes, they all fall asleep. However, when the teacher leaves, they all wake up and move around. Even though the 'teacher' is changed, it's always same.


The 'teacher' is also very interesting. Everyday, he or she talks about tests. Especially the big test named Suneung. Students looked very bored when the subject is brought up that they tried to ignore. Also, the teachers categorized students into groups and treated them unequally.


My life is very peaceful. Even though the kids are very noisy and energetic, they never torture me. Actually, it's more like they don't care about me, except only one girl who waters me everyday. She's a very strange girl. I can't see her. She's blurry. I don't think she really is blurry, as other kids don't seem to feel the difference. It's very weird.


Mentioning weirdness, there's another thing that's very strange. I know somethings that I shouldn't now as a tree. For example, I understand the lectures that the teacher is teaching. It's as I have taken this class before. It may be from last year's lecture, but last year, the classroom I'm located was used for freshmen, so the lecture should have been different. Also, I don't remember listening to the lecture. I just know it.


Back to the girl, she was a perfect person. Or should I say whom TRIES to be perfect. She was smart, kind, humorous, and active, but sometimes very unstable. For example, she once got one question wrong on the math quiz. The quiz was unusually hard, so she did well compared to the others. But she couldn't satisfy, and studied only math for about 3 days even during the other class times, before she fainted shortly in the school. When she woke up, she resisted to go to the hospital or tell her parents about it. Also, a kid who really hated the girl was very mad one time, and slapped her face. But the girl was smiling, like she didn't know how to get angry. Or like she was restraining herself too much.


It seemed that teachers and her parents are expecting very high on her. People took granted about her good scores, and when she didn't pay attention on the class, teachers would scold her. And tell her that the they were very disappointed at her, even though the other kids never paid attention. 


She became more and more unstable. I wanted to help her somehow. I really felt pity. And on final exam, she got really low score. Her teacher and parents were upset, but not like she was. She was pushing herself too much. She looked really tired. And one day, she wasn't there during the class. I was looking out of the window, and


She was falling down.


Everyone and I panicked. 


I wondered, 'Why does she has to be perfect?' It's her life, so there is no need to care about the others' views. She should be the master of her life, but she let the others to have control. Expectations are expectations, not the final goal, and moreover, they're other's expectations. Also, other people weren't that strict on her either. Her parents were worried and yes, they scolded her. But suicide?  I don't know. I mean.. I don't, I don't understand. 


Life is important. Everybody knows. And everyone has their own sufferings. I can't blame others for giving up their life as I am not them and I can't fully understand their suffer. But it's really sad that the girl forced herself too far and that's the reason she committed suicide. It's not her parents, teachers, or the financial problem or unemployment. Herself. And that's the tragedy, I believe. I really wanted to help her, and now she's gone. She was smart. She deserved a better life. She had the power to have a better life. It's sad.


How do I know that the exact reason she committed suicide? I don't know how, but I know. I know what her parents have told her, and how she felt about the people around her and all the situations. This is weird. Now I realize, it's very strange. How do I know it all? I'm only a tree who has been placed on the windowsill for my entire life. No I'm not. I don't remember being put here, or any past before this class started. I'm a tree, a very small tree. No I'm not. I'm not a tree. Who am I?


The world is spinning












Beep-
Beep-
Beep-
Beep Beep Beep Beep


"Zoomi, you woke up!"
"Oh, thank God!"
"Are you okay? Can you see me? Can you hear me?"


They are my parents


"Wha.. What happened?"
"You threw yourself from the rooftop of the school building!! Luckily, you only broke your leg! Oh my god I was so scared! I thought you would never wake up from the coma!"
"Yeah...?"
"Well, the patient needs time to relax, so please leave the room"
"Okay, doctor. Zoomi, see you this afternoon."


They left and I was alone. I thought about the dream I had. Do I really deserve a better life? I didn't realize it when I was living like crazy. This is my second chance to create my life story that many people wanted. I really wanted to make it valuable. I wanted to find something that I really wanted to do, and put my passion on it, not on maintaining on my reputation and situation. 


Sun is shining brightly and shedding light through the window to the room. And there is a small tree on the windowsill.


Who are YOU?

Reflective Response to "Spring" in Kim Ki Duk's Film

In the movie, the master taught how the similar-looking herb can kill or save people. It's the white line that determines the effect of the herb. Just like that, our wordings can either kill or save people depending on the intention that is hidden in the words. I once was in a very bad mood as something really bad happened. One of my friend came and said "Awww.. that's too bad" in a very emotionless tone with a little bit of smiling face. I know that it's her usual face and tone, but I couldn't stop thinking that the girl was enjoying my disappointment and happy because I'm said. After that day, I couldn't really open up my mind to her or share my personal experiences. However, one of my friend wrote me a long letter that wishes me to feel better. It wasn't a great artistic piece, but it moved me and I was able to feel much better, thinking that I have good friends around me who I can rely on, so there is no reason to be depressed. I still keep that letter. Both actions and words were to make me cheer up, but one worked and one didn't. I believe that it's because of the intention and care that is hidden inside the words that made the difference, just like the white lines on the herb.

Also, the boy tied animals for his amusement, and it lead to the animals to die. Similarly, I usually tease people around me for my amusement, and I find out that it can bring the same effects as well. I once told funny stories about one of my teacher in my academy to my friends. And I thought that it won't affect him at all, because I tole others once, and he didn't take that seriously. However, he did this time, and he was seriously offended. I felt really guilty, however, I didn't know how to apologize to him. He moved to another academy later. It wasn't because of my teasing, but I still feel like it's all my fault. Still, I can't control myself sometimes and still hurt people. But I always try to remind myself about the incident and try to restrain myself. I think I will have the guilt forever, just like how the kid in the movie will feel for killing the animals. 

Greenday-relay writing ver.1

I'm a plant that is located in a field that is between Dasan-Building and Chungmu-Building in KMLA territory. In here, I can see and hear the people going to another buildings, playing in the soccer field, and people doing work or chit-chatting near me. It's very interesting to observe them. But sometimes it's painful also. Yesterday, one senior kicked me badly because he had problems with his applications. I learned that the application thing is very important among them, but I still don't get why. Human beings are very interesting. Their stories don't end with just the example of one senior. I've been staying this place for nearly ten years, and their actions are very similar, yet they believe to be different.--KJE

As usual, I was holding my roots, hearing the icy wind that swept me like a blade of a sword. My inner ecological clock told me that it was 9:18 AM. So I had 2 minutes before everyone would get out of the buildings and run over me with their ruthless, spiky shoes. I only had to bear 10 minutes for those barbarians with absolutely no respect for plants like me to get to their next classes.---KSY

But today was a little bit different than I had expected. I happened to hear a couple accidently. Accidently, I never eavesdrop people. ---PJM

But of course, I can't help it if a couple decides to step behind me to have a private conversation with themselves. If I was a warm-blooded animal(ugh!), I would've blushed and moved out of the way. But i couldn't, so yeah. Not my fault.---JSB

I can read their name tags: Joo Subin and... who is it? I can't read I really don't like couples. You might think they are the most interesting but they aren't, because they're all the same. Friend have various conversations and all, but couples? They only do two things. Talking awkwardly about some boring topics (this usually happens with freshman couples) or kissing. This time, it was the latter one. Boring, really, just watching them putting their mouths together for minutes. Iw wonder if it is exciting.---SJY

Educating Creativity?

  
     Everyone is bored. Therefore they always desire something very fresh and new. That's why creativity is respected in modern society. When people  a new idea, they feel to be out of their ordinary boundary, which gives them freedom. However, as public school doesn't grow students' creativity, many adults live with dead creativity. In the TED video, Ken Robinson said, "Creativity now is as important in education as literacy." And I definitely agree.
     Society asks grown-ups to use creativity. However, children have better creativity than adults. It's because the public school system restricts the students to follow rules, and boundaries of their precedents. However, breaking out of rules is needed in developing creativity, because the shock that creativity gives to people is based on deviation. Public education system need to give children chances to be out of sense, if they really want the children to have a sense of creativity. Just forcing students to find a common quote to have a better hook in writing won't be helping. To have an aspect that differs the person from others isn't a better score or organized writing. Creativity that is different from ordinary thoughts, will make the person different from ordinary others.

[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vTjA2icNAGA&feature=player_embedded]
     When I watched this video, I first thought, 'Wow, how boring and same is that life.' But as I thought deeper, I could realize that the person who made this won't be living such a boring life. To make a scenario, and to film this video, creativity is needed, which this student succeeded to use. But would this person come up with the idea to make a film that's very humorous and both educational, when he was thinking himself? Would he have made the scenario that shows the Korean high school student's life very well, all by himself? No. He probably was groaning with his friends about their life, realizing that their lives were incredibly similar. Then, they would have realized the most of Korea's high school students' lives are like theirs too, even though they are very different beings inside. Like this, talking and having good relationship with others helps a new idea to pop up. One idea plus one idea equals three ideas. But public education makes students to compete with others, making them to be isolated. This interrupts students from using their creativity, which can only be practiced by sharing ideas with others.
     The main reason that the public school can't concentrate on developing creativity is because the companies and working places only value the university he or she has been, and academic grades. If the working places start to value the creativity more, then the public schools will automatically concentrate on developing different ideas, which leads to the increase of creativity. It's true that the university's name and grade are important, as they show the student's academic ability, how much he or she has learned, and how hard the person worked. It's not fair to ignore, as it is gained by proper and proven work. However, companies should care more about the applicants' creativity more for both the company's and public education's future. If creativity becomes one of the most important factor of getting to a higher school or gaining a job, company will be able to have people who are creative enough to lead the company to a higher place in the age of limitless competition. And public school will work on increasing students' creativity, not killing them like now.
    However, I disagree some parts in the TED video above. The Ken Robinson said that students should have chances to develop their own abilities starting at young age. However, I believe all students should take courses that are until least middle school. Until middle school, the education is more like basic knowledge that doesn't need deep insights to understand. Therefore, I believe middle school education is required as it is basis of knowledge related to living in a society as a proper citizen. Also, creativity doesn't come out of nowhere. They are based on the background knowledge. For example, car designer needs background knowledge about the car's basic components and their functions in order to create a new design. If not, the design would be useless as it may disrupt the functions of the pieces of the car. Therefore, students should least attend until the middles school and gain basic knowledge, even though that is provided same to everyone, to have a better foundation of more creative ideas.
     Although there are some parts that I have a different view, Ken Robinson's lecture was brilliant and made me think deeply about the problems of public school system. As people like Ken Robinson exist to give out lectures that will make people realize about the problems, now the world needs people who will take actions to actually change it. If the ideas and actions are combined, school will be a place that actually educates the creativity

About myself

My name is Isabella Kim. I'm actually 18 years old (in Korean age) as I lowered my grade. My family members are father, mother, younger brother and I, who are all Christian. I was born in USA and lived there until I was seven in Korean age, and moved to Korea. And then I went back USA for an year and a half to study, after I graduated elementary school. Even though, I consider myself to be very weak at English.

I have read a verse from a book saying, "It's worthy to make people laugh as much as to make them realize a fact". I really like to entertain others. It's not that I'm very talented at it, but whenever I succeed, I feel great joy. Many researches illustrates that smiling or laughing makes you healthy and positive. But I value it as it is a good way to communicate with others. Nobody hates to have a chance to be entertained. And it's pleasure to provide the chance. Just sharing humors is as good as sharing experiences, preference, and thoughts, as it opens up people's minds toward the others.

I always try to enjoy my life, and it is both my strength and weakness. When doing work that I like, I do it really excitedly. Even if other people advices me to work slower or later, I won't listen. And when there is work I prefer not to do, I try to find fun parts and do it to make the work much more enjoyable. However when I really feel like not doing it, I can't concentrate on the work at all. I keep thinking about other things I really like to do, which leads to losing tracks in doing the actual work. I'm glad that I feel most of the events in the world interesting. If not, I could have been an idiot who can't do anything happily.

During the summer vacation, I've been to the street that's near to Hong-Ik University with my family, which is a biggest home-ground for many Korean bands. We went to a club that only provided band performance during daytime, because my brother and I are students yet that we weren't allowed to attend any dance parties. We watched and enjoyed many famous Korean Indie-bands. Our goal was to have a chance to listen to a team named Gate Flowers, but other teams' performances, like Yellow Monsters' and Go-go Stars' were very good too. The performances made me to have a big interest about the bands. It was one of the most interesting memory in my life.

While I take this English class, I expect myself to become more fluent in English, in a way that leads me to be able to use many different expressions and words instead of just simple, repeated ones. I believe it will allow my writing to be more comforting and interesting to read. I also want to create my own, unique style of writing, but I believe that is only possible by writing a lot, not just taking a class.