30 things about me

1. CGV

I personally think that, for the past two years, I was among the few most passionate members of CGV, the soccer club of my school. For the last two years, playing soccer on the futsal field or the soccer field was one of the factors that made my life so enjoyable, and I thus gave up about two thirds of the dinners for the pleasure of playing soccer. I can’t wait to play soccer again after the end of the 8^th period today.

2. Wings of Thought

Four hours of physics project class every week during the semester, and the whole winter vacation in the laboratory, or in the Mr.Kim’s office. True, it may seem to others that being a member of ‘Wings of Thought’ is a very tiresome and difficult thing to do (it actually is partly true), but I could have precious opportunities to study about various physical phenomena, be close with the members of the club, and interact actively with my physics teacher.

3. 10^th floor

Total chaos. Anything can happen, and anyone may be the victim.

4. Watching Soccer

I really love playing soccer, but I also love watching soccer. Although I cannot watch a lot of matches here in KMLA, I try to make enough time so that I can at least watch the highlights of the Premier League games, Champions League games, and some other games of the teams I like.

5. Losing things

I lose things very easily. For example, when I went to Europe two years ago, I lost my hat more than 20 times. I lost my father’s watch and sunglasses when I went to Las Vegas last year. I lost my pencil case four times after I came to this school. I lose my earphones once a month, and I lose my pencils every two weeks. I try very hard to keep track of the things I have, but my efforts are not always successful.

6. Physics

I personally enjoy learning physics, and thus invested a lot of time to learn physics. I am a member of ‘Wings of Thought’, which means that I have four units of physics project studies every week. Furthermore, I listened to various physics courses provided in KMLA. Physics has surely been an integral part of my life in KMLA, and is one of the important factors that define who I am.

7. Fantasy literature

I fell in love with fantasy literatures three years ago, when I was preparing for the interview of KMLA. I was soon ‘addicted’ to fantasy literatures, and spent every single nights reading fantasy novels; I would tell my mother that I was going to prepare for the interview, and read until it was about 4 o’clock in the morning. Fortunately, I was able to refrain myself from those novels after I entered this school, and nowadays, I just enjoy reading fantasy literatures as a pleasant hobby.

8. Handwriting

I have an awful handwriting, and it takes me so much effort to write letters neatly enough so that others can interpret them. Ironically however, I am quite good, compared to my atrocious handwriting, at writing Korean/Chinese calligraphy, which seems very odd not only to me but also to my parents and my friends.

9. Tomato sauce

There is something that I realized very recently; tomato sauce is just amazing. So amazing that I can worship it as a sacred gift from god. Last week, I devoured two bottles of tomato sauce(with my roommates) before I could even realize it.

10. Webtoon

I love reading webtoons. Every night, I read the daily updated NAVER webtoons, which are updated at 11:00 p.m. every day. Every afternoon, I read the daily updated DAUM webtoons. Sometimes(not every day, but two or three times a week), I read some webtoons from other websites, such as LEZHIN, or KAKAOPAGE. True, reading webtoons requires quite a lot of time, but it is what makes my life happy.

11. Lying down

During the two years of my life in KMLA, I fell in love with lying down. I love lying down on the desk, on the floor, on the futsal ground, on the gym floor, and anywhere that seems ‘safe from possible infection’. All my stress seems to fly away at least when I am lying down somewhere.

12. Basketball

When I was in middle school, I loved to play basketball, and I became a member of the basketball team of the school when I was preparing for the interview of KMLA (that was when the team was formed). However, after the coach dropped me from the starting lineup to let her personally favored student participate in the tournament (I was the better player, but he was the student of her class.), I started to lose my passion in basketball. Nowadays, I rarely play basketball, only when I have no other things to do.

13. Mathematics

I enjoy learning mathematics and solving problems, and the pleasure of finding the solutions is what makes mathematics so fun for me.

14. U.S. History

I am a ‘science kid’. Most of the activities that I have done in this school clearly prove that I am a science kid; practically everything that I did was related to science or math. However, taking AP U.S. History class made me think that I may have some ‘potential’ interests in subjects other than science and math. 

15. Japanese comic books

I can’t read Japanese, but I am a great fan of Japanese comic. Reading Japanese comic books is one of my favorite hobbies, and I usually use the weekends to read through a particular series of comic books.

16. Animations

I started to watch Japanese animations after Geonho Min, an 18^th waver, advised me to watch animations as well as comic books. I followed his advice and watched some famous Japanese animations, and I really enjoyed some of them.

17. Ongdalsam

I am a founder and the first captain of “Ongdalsam” club, a volunteer club of KMLA. It was established in 2014, and it aims to apply appropriate technologies for installing water purifiers suitable to regional conditions, and providing facilities for simply treating waste waters, especially in countries suffering from water shortage. Last year, we went to Vietnam and did voluntary works there.

18. Pimpled face

When I was in elementary school, I used to have the ‘purest face skin’ among the boys in the class. Unfortunately, my face went through abrupt changes as I graduated elementary school, and about the time I was taking my first mid-term test in middle school, I clearly had a ‘pimpled face’. Since then, the number of pimples steadily increased, and I lost control of my skin after I came to this school. Now, pimples seem to be an inalienable part of my life, although I am planning(or wishing) to completely get rid of them after graduation.

19. Facebook

I have to admit it. Facebook is a perfect way to waste my life. But I do not yet have the courage to quit it.

20. 1004 & 1006 Union

I mentioned above that 10^th floor is a total chaos. Well, 1004 & 1006 can be called as the center of the chaos. Kids go wild and insane in this ‘union’.

21. Voice

My actual voice was lower than the voice I usually make. However, many of my friends seemed to be very uncomfortable with my voice, and I thus started to use higher pitched voice. Now, I feel more comfortable with using higher pitched voice. Actually, I forgot how to use the lower pitched voice.

22. Writing

I personally believe that I am not that skillful when it comes to writing, especially when I have to write something in English. Although my life in KMLA has improved my writing skills, I am still very poor at using the right words, describing something vividly enough, and most of all, expressing my thoughts with written words. I think the only choice I have is to read more, experience more, and write more.

23. Vocabulary

I suck at vocabulary. Therefore, I have to struggle in order to deliver my thoughts to others with my limited list of words. Although my life in KMLA has improved my vocabulary, I still strongly feel that I have a lot of work to do.

24.  Not serious enough

Since I was young, I never wanted to lose my close friends by being too serious or by fighting with them. Therefore, I tried to be optimistic, positive, and most important of all, tried to endure instead of bursting into rage or getting too serious. True, others may not agree to my idea, and I know that some may not like me because I am overly positive and excited all the time. I also know that I cannot get serious enough even when I have to. I also know that sometimes, I cannot get angry enough even when I have to. But that’s my way of living my life, and I do not, and will never feel that it is wrong.

25. Making jokes

I like making jokes. Unfortunately, my jokes are not that funny, but I still love making jokes. I love to see my friends laugh when I make funny jokes, and I also love to see them frown when I make awful jokes.

26. Lazy

I get lazy very easily, especially when I am doing something against my will. Therefore, many times in my life, I failed to overcome my laziness and did practically nothing until the very last moment. Then I would feel deeply endangered, do everything at the very last moment, and then get lazy again. It is a vicious cycle that I always struggled, and will always struggle to overcome(and probably fail most of the times).

27. Public Image in KMLA

It is a deep tragedy that my public image in KMLA is very different from the truth. The majority of the people in KMLA seem to believe that I am attracted to men. Well, I am not against LGBT (I respect everyone’s personal preference), but I am just like other boys; I am attracted to women. (This may surprise many people in this school). I even had a crush when I was in KMLA(This may also surprise many people in this school, and put some people into fears.), although I never had the courage to confess.

28. Das Boots

The music video of the remake version of the music of the commercial “Das Boots” was what publicized my image(mentioned in #27) in KMLA.

DAS BOOTS….!

29. Sleeping

I love to sleep. I love to go to bed early and sleep until it’s time for lunch. But life in KMLA just doesn’t allow me to do that. One of the reasons I am looking forward to graduation…..

30. America

I was born in America, but I came back to Korea before I could even speak(my English pronunciation is thus far from good). I lived in America for one year when I was in elementary school, but I stayed there too short to feel any ‘attachment’ to America. Of course, living as a KMLA student, and especially as an international field student, forced me to deeply acknowledge the fact that I am ‘legally’ an American. However, I strongly think of myself as a Korean, and I am very proud of it. I am even planning to go to the army few years later.

Metafiction: Week of Silence

Frankly, since I was young, I was not very fond of ‘artworks’, especially those that are so famous that people try to award them with those ‘unworthy meanings’. Those filthy critics saying “what a fabulous painting that accurately captures the chaotic yet beautiful nature of human mind”, for example, to a mere painting with random rectangles just….freak me off! Do they really say those things because they actually think so?

Unfortunately, this point of view that I have had since I was young was actually related closely to the fight between me and my father, who works as a critic in a magazine. My father, partly because it is his occupation, loves giving those strange meanings about various artworks, while I abhor that. Eventually, last week, we got into a big fight when he talked about this artist named Thomas Mortenson when we went to a restaurant to eat dinner.

“Dad, I said I hate that artist!”

“Why? Just look at his paintings, and feel the…”

“Nonsense! Be honest to yourself! Do you really think that…”

“Art is the only way that human being can truly express itself! That is why I chose to be a critic, and that is why I could not quit this job even when I could not earn much money, and…”

“Yes, and THAT IS EXACTLY WHY YOU BROKE UP WITH MY MOM!”

And then he slapped my face. Then he put 20 dollars on the table so that I could pay for the dinner, and he rushed out of the restaurant.

Yes, my parents divorced six years ago. My father, a not-famous critic, couldn’t earn enough money, and used to fight with his wife -my mom- day after day. One day, mom eventually got tired of everything, and declared that she wanted to divorce with him.

“I cannot bear this anymore, Steve.”

“Jenny… But look at James, you son…”

“So you want me to look at James growing up in this wretched house? A house supported by this critic-something who likes art even more than his family?”

My father could not reply to that question, and that was THE END. For two years following the divorce, I lived with my mom, but she unfortunately passed away due to a car accident. So, since then, I have lived with my dad, who, although it caused him to break away with a woman he loved most, is still so passionate about his job as a critic.

Whatever, after my father slapped my face, we didn’t talk at all for almost a week. A week of total calmness and slight antipathy. And because only my dad and I live in our house, that calmness was something impossibly difficult to bear. But my dad just didn’t seem to care at all. As he did before, he used most of his days researching about various artists, and writing articles about this diary of a famous artist named Thomas Mortenson.

A full week of uneasy calmness eventually drove me mad, and I decided that I should take a look inside that diary, questioning to myself the reasons my father was 
interested in the diary.

9/15
I had a sleep attack again. Mom would simply hug me tight whenever I run over to her, sobbing, because of fatigue. Sometimes I feel my eyeballs bulging out when I'm deprived of sleep.
Ms.Alisa called me to the disciplinary office. I felt very sorry for her because I don't pay attention in class. But it's partly her fault too because her phoenics class is awfully boring. I said sorry, Ms Alisa because I wanted to go have lunch. I like pickles. We had pickles at the cafeteria today. Ms Alisa cuddled me and tole me, you're a special boy, Tommy.

I was on my way home from school, went suddenly my brain turned off again. When I opened my eyes again my eyes looked into the familiar 'Marvel' poster and I found myself in my bed. Soon, I found my mom, watching me worryingly from the end of my bed.

"What happened mom?" I asked. " You slept during your walk to school and you hit your head on the floor." She said. "That's unfortunate." I said. "It will be okay, Tom. Mom should head for work, see you later". I was left alone. There were some papers on the table, there were some notes but I don't care. I started to draw. It was 3 pm then. It's 11 pm now and it's not finished yet. I'll finish it after the diary.

Just a normal diary…. I couldn’t see anything special from it at all. Actually, it was not a perfectly normal diary, as it is a diary of a boy suffering from sleep attack. But I couldn’t see anything special about that. Especially nothing related to the fact that this Thomas Mortenson is a renowned artist. So I decided to read the diary of the following day.

9/16

My head was hurt. It was dumb until yesterday. I almost finished my picture in the morning at 7 am. It's just 8 pm. Mom said I was not responding to her. She said that I was as if I were stuck in my own world, not just my own room. I don't know what is happening, but now I see my picture is painted in black except for my signature. The left corner is the only evidence that yellow color was once used in that canvas. I'm confused. Such thing never happened to me. I cannot think of any explanation nor do I want to. I'm tired. I may just sleep early today.

From the word ‘canvas’, I could see that the diary had some links to the fact that Thomas Mortenson was related to art. But that didn’t really explain why my father…

“So, you’ve got yourself interested in his diary.”

“Huh?”

I turned around and found my dad standing behind me, smiling. He seemed to be excited to know that his son(me), who never had much interest in art, would spend time reading something that he would write about in his article.

“So, what do you think?”

He just seemed to be so bright, and I could not find a clue from his face that we have fought so badly just a week ago. All the antipathies that continued for a week seemed to have been sucked away by his pure passion in art.

I felt dazzled by the fact that such antipathy could fade away so easily, but I decided to answer anyway.

“Actually, I don’t know.”

“I expected that.”

“Yes, of course.”

“But, why?”

“Because you would not even know that Mortenson started working on his most celebrated work on September 17^th.”

“His most celebrated work?”

“Take a look at the diary of the next day.”

9/17

I woke up at 8 am. I didn't go to school today. I just felt tired. But mostly, I wanted to draw things; I didn't mind what to draw.

And that was the end of the diary of that day.

“That’s all?”

“Yes! And that is the real beauty of this diary!”

“Why..?”

“Because it enables us to imagine!”

“Imagine?”

“Uh…huh?”

“And you know…… Jenny and I actually first met in the Louvre museum, looking at the painting.”

“Really? Are you kidding me?”

“Yes, it’s definitely true. I got her into having dinner with me by talking about everything that I knew about Mortenson… She really liked to talk about artworks with me then.”

I don’t know why, but I didn’t know how to reply to his words. Moments of silence followed.

“You know, James. I really love Jenny. Now that she’s gone, forever gone, I work as a critic to think of all the beautiful moments I spent with her. All those times we spent in the museums, all those times we talked about artists, all those times we made love to each other, and when we had you…”

Moments of silence followed again.

“You know, Jenny didn’t like to take pictures. So, I don’t have any pictures of her, and the best way to remember her is to think of all those paintings we enjoyed…You know, HAHA!”

I still couldn’t reply. I felt my eyes getting wet.

“I am sorry, James. I didn’t mean to…”

“Oh, it’s okay dad. I understand.”

Then I went inside my room, and shut the door. And I cried, cried, and cried. I could finally forgive my dad.

UChicago Prompt 5 Untranslatable Words

There is no doubt that a language bears the context of a culture. A language is required in order to enhance communication in a specific group of people, and is thus easily influenced and shaped by the aspect of the culture of the group. Therefore, some words of a language inevitably become ‘untranslatable’, mainly because of the unique cultural aspects that appear only in a certain cultural area. For example, there is a Japanese word that refers to a certain type of chopstick because those who developed and used the language were in need for a word to describe that particular chopstick. This Japanese word would certainly be ‘untranslatable’, as that particular type of chopstick only exists in the Japanese culture. As shown from this example, ‘untranslatable words cannot be properly understood without understanding the contexts of a culture, and are thus incapable of being accurately translated into a different language that bears the aspects of a different culture.

 A great example of an untranslatable word is ‘In-Yeon’, a Korean word. Like many other untranslatable words, this word cannot be translated into a different word, as it bears the emotion and sense that cannot be properly understood without a thorough understanding of Korean culture.

It would be appropriate to start explaining the meaning of this word by referring to some commonly used English words to substitute this word; tie, relationship, and connection. As shown from these ‘close but inaccurate’ translations of these words, ‘In-Yeon’ is commonly used in Korean language to describe the relationship between people. However, it is important to note that this word cannot be explained by those ‘emotionless’ words; perhaps, it should not be translated into those words. ‘In-Yeon’ is a word that is full of diverse emotions, some of which are unsympathetic to those unfamiliar with the Korean culture. A more important reason, however, is that the word can be used to refer to so many different situations for various sentimental reasons.
For example, imagine a girl and a boy who fall in love with each other the moment they meet, and eventually marry each other few years later. In-Yeon can sometimes be used to explain a serendipitous relationship that can bring light to our lives, like the one shown in the example above. Ironically however, 'In-Yeon' can also be used to refer to, for example, two people who have fought each other for the past five years, unable to draw a satisfactory agreement. As shown from this example, In-Yeon can also be used to illustrate deep-rooted antipathies between people. Thus, In-Yeon is a very abstract word that can be used to explain so many different situations that call to deep emotions: wistfulness, sorrow, delight, love antipathy, and many other emotions. Most of these emotions result from interactions between people, which are deeply influenced by the cultural contexts of Korea that are not shared by other cultures. No other words from other languages, I think, will be able to correctly fit the definition of this word, which contains in it so many cultural aspects and emotions native to Korean culture. Therefore, Korean word 'In-Yeon' can rightfully be called 'untranslatable'.

Minjok Essay

Living a life in Korea, an individual would frequently be exposed to the term ‘minjok’. It is a term most important in explaining what Koreans are like, and what the society of Korea is like. Without an understanding of this concept, one would not be able to understand the Korea properly. Then, what exactly is ‘minjok’, and what impact does it have in the Korean society?

The dictionary meaning of Minjok is ‘a group of people who lived in the same region for a long period of time, and therefore sharing the same language, cultural aspects, and possibly other aspects like religion, way of thinking, dressing style, and so on. However, ‘Minjok’ in reality is quite different from this. Especially considering what it means to Korea and its people, it means much more than that. In order to take a deep look into the meaning of ‘Minjok’ to Koreans, I think that it is most important to first find out its origin.

Our school, KMLA, includes 'minjok' in its name

Most of the people living here in Korea perceive the concept of ‘Minjok’ to be an essential part of Korean history, as it seems to be an innate feature of us. However, looking at the history of ‘Minjok’, the concept is relatively new compared to the history of Korea, as it first came onto surface during the Japanese Colonial Era. During the era, Japanese tried to unite Korea and Japan into one by advocating the idea of nae-sun-il-chae, which claimed that Korea and Japan were originally homogeneous ethnically, but separated due to unavoidable reasons. In order to prevent complete assimilation, Korea needed something that would serve as a shield that could protect Koreans from Japan’s mental invasion. Therefore, scholars such as Shin Chae-Ho came up with the concept of ‘minjok’ to unite Koreans and stimulate them to resist against the Japan. In order to support this, these scholars invented the notion of a unitary nation with Korean history and myths, which became the start of the theory of ethnic history (Minjok-Sahak), which significantly contributed to the formation of ‘minjok’ and the protection of Korean identity from Japan.

Shin Chae-Ho

After independence, the concept of ‘minjok’ continued to be developed by ideologies that were set up by the following rulers. The most important one was President Park Jung-Hee, who was a dictator who ruled over Korea for almost 20 years, starting from 1961 to 1979 when he was assassinated. President Park, although being notorious for his dictatorship, achieved an outstanding economic development during his reign, which is the reason Korea could reach its level. In order to achieve this miraculous growth, however, he needed a mechanism that would unite people and raise their productivity to the highest rate. Therefore, he utilized the concept of ‘Minjok’ to brainwash people by emphasizing the importance of ethnic nationalism, and to make them sacrifice parts of their freedom and rights for the good of the Korean ‘minjok’. We could say that ‘minjok’ is a concept that eventually led to the rise of Korea’s international position.

President Park Jung-Hee

Above was the history of the term ‘minjok’. However, what I want to focus is the effect of ‘minjok’ in the present. Quite surely, the concept of ‘minjok’ evidently still has a large effect in the modern Korean society. This has both advantages and disadvantages in our society, all of which must carefully be considered for the future of both us and our society. First beneficial impact of the concept of ‘minjok’ is fast recovery from crisis. One great example of this is ‘gold gathering campaign’. Starting from January of 1997, a lot of companies went bankrupt and as a result, the Republic of Korea fell into debt by IMF. In order to help Korea regain its economical sovereignty, Koreans started to donate gold and money. Thinking in terms of economy, this was an irrational choice to make, but thanks to Koreans’ firm belief and affection of ‘minjok’, Korea could recover from its crisis very fast.

Another advantage is that people can unite more efficiently. Koreans perceive themselves to be a part of the same ‘minjok’, connected to each other with a strong bond. Therefore, people tend to unite extremely effectively and fast, usually when it is directly related to the whole ‘minjok’. The 2002 World Cup held in Korea and Japan is a perfect example of this. The summer of 2002 is remembered to be a continuum of excitement, passion, and unity. Millions of Koreans came down to the street and cheered together for the victory of Korean national team. Even people who did not like soccer prayed for the victory of Korea. Medias all around the world were amazed by how Koreans could unite and cheer for their country. Not only this, Koreans’ tendency to unite easily was the main motive power for Korea’s outstanding economic growth.

2002 World Cup is an example of unity formed by the concept of 'minjok'

However, there is also one great disadvantage of ‘minjok’. It is the fact that most Koreans perceive the extent of ‘minjok’ to be ‘a group consisting of people from the same ethnical background’. Many Koreans think of themselves to be a member of their ‘Danil Minjok’, meaning that their minjok consists of members sharing the same bloodline. It is quite natural that bloodline is an essential part of the concept of ‘minjok’, as the concept started to be used in a time when Korea was colonized by a foreign country. Especially in this type of era, emphasizing the superiority and importance of their own bloodline would have been a superb way to unite the people. This acts as a serious obstacle for our society to interact with people from various cultures, as many Korean still refuse to accept people with different ethnicity to be a part of their society. 

Considering the fact that the 21^st century is the era of globalization, this is a serious problem. As the boulders between countries are being diminished and people are now actively interacting internationally, it has become quite important to open our mind and cooperate with people with other ethnic background. However, many Koreans even fail to live in harmony with people from different ethnic background living in the same region. Children from multicultural families often get bullied. Workers from Southeastern Asian countries are often discriminated. Not only that, people who committed racial discrimination rarely gets punished. The concept of ‘minjok’, throughout its history, has helped Korea to reach its position, but is now starting to block it from further development in this new era of globalization. How could we cooperate and interact with people from all over the world when we don’t even treat Koreans with different ethnic backgrounds as outsiders who cannot truly be a part of our society?

Even the media often commits racial discrimination.

Another case of racism in Korea

Therefore, people should now change their ideas about the meaning of ‘minjok’. As mentioned above, the present ‘minjok’ is starting to have negative effects in the modern Korean society, and to overcome them, a change in the concept of minjok should be brought. Then, in what way would the idea of it change in the next few decades? As the society is now requiring its members to cooperate with foreigners, not to resist them, I believe that ethnicity would have less importance in the meaning of ‘minjok’ in the future. Instead, I believe that the meaning of ‘minjok’ would be close to that of a nation. People will feel a strong bond to each other not just because of the ethnicity, but because of each other’s nationality. Koreans’ emphasis on pure-blood country will gradually be diminished and therefore, the concept of ‘minjok’ will be more multicultural than before. As the era of globalization has come, we will have to change ourselves into understanding and living in harmony with people who have diverse ethnicity and cultural background. 

We now come back to this question; what is ‘minjok’? It is a very vague tem. Every individual has different opinions about what exactly it is. However, there definitely is a common factor between the different perceptions about ‘minjok’, and this is what formed a very strong bond among Koreans. This strong bond and a sense of belonging became a motive for Koreans to resist being assimilated by Japan, and sacrifice themselves for the economic growth of Korea. It has made Koreans unite and overcome difficulties. To make it short, the concept of ‘minjok’ is one of the most important factors in explaining the development of Korean society in the modern history, and also in explaining the characteristics shared by many Koreans. However, it also causes some side effects in the modern society, such as the racial discrimination. Koreans will have to constantly go through many changes in the concept of ‘minjok’, until Korean society is fully ready to adjust to the new age of globalization.

We must live together.

Learning a third language-French

 

Since I entered middle school, I had a little hope of having the ability to speak three or four languages frequently. However, it was quite hard for me to grasp a chance to learn a language other than English and Korean, due to lack of time. I knew that learning a third language would cost me a lot of effort and time, which made me afraid because I was busy trying to get good grades in school.

Three years of hard work enabled me to enter KMLA. I gave up many of the hopes and dreams I had as a youngster because entering this school was one of the highest priorities for me. Thankfully however, KMLA has provided me a new chance to fulfill one of the dreams I had; learning a third language.

After I came here, I found out that I had to choose between three different languages; French, Spanish, and Chinese. After spending quite some time to make a choice, I chose to learn French. The reason was quite simple. It was because since I was young, I have been thinking that it was simply magnificent and awesome to be able to speak fluently in French.

Nevertheless, let me talk about the way students learn French here in KMLA. French is taught by Ms. Jung. She is one of the main reasons students including me are fond of French class because she is very generous, kind, and passionate. There are about 50 students who take French classes, and as it’s quite impossible for our teacher to teach all these students at once, we were divided into three separate classes. Unfortunately however, 29(including me) of the 50 students were jammed into one class, thereby making the class extremely crowded. Because of this, I was first worried of being unable to participate freely and concentrating in class. 

When I actually took the French class however, all my worries faded away. It was one of the most exciting and fun foreign language class I have ever taken, and I could easily participate freely in class and learn a lot about the language. Now, French is one of my favorite subjects that I am quite passionate at. I am quite grateful about the fact that I could grasp the opportunity to learn this fabulous language here in KMLA, and I personally hope to be fluent enough to be able to have a conversation with French people.

Choosing the courses for next semester

I believe that it is natural for every single teenagers to have worries about their future plan, especially if the ‘future’ is not so far away. This ‘natural phenomenon’ occurred upon me this week, as I had to make difficult choices that would decide how I would live the next semester. Choosing the courses for next week definitely was a hard job for me, and was also a great chance for me to think deeply about how I should spend the remaining two and a half years in this school.

On Monday afternoon, the list of courses I can take next semester was posted in the school website. Frankly, as I first took a look at the list with little expectation, I was extremely amazed to find out that I, as many other students, was given so many attractive choices. There were so many courses that looked so interesting and fun, and there were also a lot of courses that were directly or indirectly related to my dream. In a matter of fact, the first thought that came upon me was ‘It would definitely be a very painful job for me to choose among these choices.’, which came into reality in the next few days.

As some people might know, my dream is to be an expert in environment who studies about ways to reduce the amount of energy spent by buildings and city systems. Therefore, I am interested in fields related to this, such as environmental science, physics, and chemistry, and I also feel a need to study these subjects more deeply. This made me feel a great motive to choose courses like ‘AP Physics B’, ‘Advanced Physics’, ‘AP Chemistry’, ‘AP Environmental Science’, and ‘SAT Biology’. Not only that, my pure interest to particular subjects like ‘AP Microeconomics’, ‘French Grammar’, ‘AP Statistics’, and so on. Unfortunately, it is impossible to take all these courses as the amount of time I can invest to study these subjects is limited. This meant that I had to make a choice by arranging these subjects in order of priority.

In order to do this, I had to invest time to ask some seniors for advice, read ‘Know How Do How’, and talk with my friends and parents. Therefore, I could get some knowledge about both advantages and disadvantages of most of these courses. Ironically however, having more information proved to make it harder for me to choose between the courses. All the courses seemed to be more attractive now that I knew the advantages of them. At the same time, I was afraid of making a choice as I was afraid of facing the disadvantages of it.

After spending some time wondering what courses I should take, I came upon the fact that I could also take most of the courses next year when I would be in 11^th grade. This made my choice so easier. I finally came into a conclusion that I would spend this semester studying scientific subjects, as I had a goal of studying science more deeply. So, I selected ‘AP Physics B’, ‘AP Chemistry’, ‘AP Environmental Science’, and ‘Advanced Physics’. Of course, I still have two months left until the start of the next semester, which means that I still have time to think more carefully about the choices I have made and change them if necessary. I do really want to spend the next semester effectively and beneficially.

How does the use of genre and writing skills support the main ideas in George Orwell's 'Why I Write'?

 

George Orwell, the author of the essay ‘Why I Write’, mainly talks about the motives for writing throughout this essay. He especially focuses on two motives for writing; aesthetic enthusiasm and political impulse, and concludes that he wishes to be a writer who can satisfy both motives by making political purpose into art. In order to deliver this to the readers successfully, the author uses various types of genres and writing styles in order to support his main ideas. Then, how did George Orwell use diverse genres and writing styles, and what effect does it have on the impression that the readers get by reading this essay?

 

Using the appropriate writing style and genre is very important especially for the author, as using different writing styles results in the readers getting different impressions about the author’s writing. For example, this essay shows traits of personal narrative essay when the author describes his own life and writing experiences. By talking about experiences from when he was young, George Orwell implies to the readers that he first started writing by focusing on descriptive writing. On the other hand, by talking about the experiences he had in his later life, such as going through poverty, having a job in Burma, and experiencing the era of Hitler and Spanish Civil War, he explains how he started to write with a political purpose. He concludes that his goal is to make political writing into an art, as he wishes to fulfill both the world views he acquired in his childhood and in his later life. The author has stated in the essay that one cannot assess a writer’s motives without knowing something of his development. Therefore, by using characteristics of a personal narrative essay, the author supports his main ideas about his own motives by providing readers of knowledge about the development of his own motives for writing.

The author also uses expository writing style in order to support his main ideas. This writing style is used in this essay when the author tells the readers about the four great motives for writing; sheer egoism, aesthetic enthusiasm, historical impulse, and political purpose. By choosing this writing style, the author successfully provides the readers with necessary information. As it is important for the readers to have knowledge about the motives in order to understand George Orwell’s main ideas about his own motives and goals, using expository writing style is very effective in supporting his ideas, as the role of an expository essay is to provide readers with new information and knowledge.

The poem that George Orwell introduces in the middle of the essay also acts as an important way for the author to deliver his main ideas to the readers. Through this poem, the author describes his dilemma got as he started to write in political purpose. The dilemma is about whether he should focus more on descriptive writing or on political writing, as he thinks that both of them are very important to him. By describing this through a poem, the author succeeds in making the readers get a stronger impression on the dilemma that the author was facing. This is because poetry has a characteristic of maximizing the emotion of the narrator by compressing it into a few well-selected words. As a poem is formed through putting these words together, a well written poem has to be able to provide readers with amplified emotions and feelings. As George Orwell has succeeded in this, the poem in this essay acts as an effective way to support the author’s main idea, as it gives the readers a strong impression on the conflict between the two motives which the writer thinks is most important to himself.

In order to give the readers the impression that the author has intended, the author must choose the most appropriate writing styles and genres in order as they effect the readers’ impression toward the literature greatly. Looking from this point of view, George Orwell has succeeded in this, which therefore lets the author deliver his main idea of his own motives for writing effectively to the readers.