...On which Mr. Maddox has made extensive comments now. So it will be improved.
I walked the direction my back was facing, and so were all the people in the hallway. There were people putting books in their lockers, people pulling books from their lockers. Occasionally, a sheet of paper or two would be vitalized on its own accord and fly into hands and binders of people. If someone was creepy enough to notice it, they would have seen the history handout in my hands iron itself out gradually but perfectly. A few snow flakes levitated and were sucked into the grey sky. No one was careful enough to stop and observe this extraordinary phenomenon. Instead, people were all walking backwards casually. Only they weren’t. No one ran into someone else. We are all much trained in walking backwards.
I kept walking. I didn’t have to turn around to see there was a staircase. It came naturally to me, although I did look down while I was walking (backwards) up the stairs.
Now, forgive my excessive usage of the word “backwards.”
But I did keep walking backwards and went into a classroom. It was brightly lit. As I walked in, I handed the just-copied warm handout back into Mr. Stanton’s hands. The handout, just by pure coincidence, happened to situate exactly on top of other handouts. Two sheets of stapled notebook paper flung themselves into my hands. I identified it to be the essay for the test I have not taken yet (maybe I have). I put it inside a stapler and pressed it. The stapler not only unstapled the essay and swallowed the staple, but also miraculously filled up the little holes on the paper. I walked in a few more steps, and the plastic recycling can tossed up a wrinkled ball of paper in the air. I caught it with probably the least amount of motion physically needed to catch a ball of paper. Paper indeed acquires the habit of ironing itself perfectly in my hands, and the ball was no exception. It unfolded and unwrinkled to reveal its true halfway-written paragraph identity.
Holding my essay and now flat paragraph, I went to my seat in the corner. I made a few awkward, unnecessary motions to unsettle the backpack from my shoulders. I dropped it on the floor in a way that probably hurt my backbones. I sat down, pulled out a pen, and started un-scribbling the essay portion of the test that was in my hands. By un-scribbling, I refer to the curious capability of my pen to suck up the ink already smeared into the paper.
When I was almost done whiting out the first page of the essay, I started giggling for no reason, and so did half dozen others in the room. I was grasped by a strong, subconscious desire to take a look at Christine, my eccentric classmate. Half the class started to laugh out loud, and so did I. I turned to Christine’s direction. Oh, indeed! She was typing on a typewriter. A big old typewriter with a bell and the platform and everything. How she managed to fit that inside her bookbag I don’t know. It should have weighed good ten pounds. The whole class started laughing out loud. The laughter got louder and maniac. Then it was suddenly silent.
Ding.
Christine’s typewriter announced the end of a line, rather loudly. The class started laughing again. Christine didn’t even seem to care. She kept un-typing her essay with a very straight face. We were still all laughing maniacally. Someone said something out loud incomprehensibly. Then we all went silent, forgot about Christine’s typewriter, and worried about the test.
When the bell rang, the now perfectly blank notebook paper attached itself to the notebook, which I shoved inside my bookbag. With another awkward motion, I threw it around my shoulders and walked outside the classroom, backwards.
Thursday, January 14, 2010
Thursday, October 29, 2009
Karma
It felt like the day that child stuck his hand up my skirt.
My teacher hit me with a whip and it hurt.
I felt everything but shame.
Karma told me he made up for my Egyptian fame.
Karma loved me like my father did me.
Talked about China, but he could not see
What I did in Romeo’s house. He told me about
A plagiarism case that the court threw out.
Dharma I did not like quite as much.
I sang Bohemian Rhapsody, she would always hush.
Matters of manner, without proof, she asserted.
I accepted, but I confess my mind was perverted.
Therefore, after all those years, I am proud to say
In my house, their lifeless bodies still decay.
Holy shit, haha, this apparently got into the school literary magazine.
A poem that starts with "It felt like the day that child stuck his hand up my skirt."
My teacher hit me with a whip and it hurt.
I felt everything but shame.
Karma told me he made up for my Egyptian fame.
Karma loved me like my father did me.
Talked about China, but he could not see
What I did in Romeo’s house. He told me about
A plagiarism case that the court threw out.
Dharma I did not like quite as much.
I sang Bohemian Rhapsody, she would always hush.
Matters of manner, without proof, she asserted.
I accepted, but I confess my mind was perverted.
Therefore, after all those years, I am proud to say
In my house, their lifeless bodies still decay.
Holy shit, haha, this apparently got into the school literary magazine.
A poem that starts with "It felt like the day that child stuck his hand up my skirt."
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
A Short Investigation of Existence
Write a response of at least 350 words in which you consider the following passage from Phillipe Lejeune's "The Autobiographical Pact (bis)"
"What illusion to believe that we can tell the truth, and to believe that each of us has an individual and autonomous existence! How can we think that in autobiography it is the lived life that produces the text, when it is the text that produces the life!"
While existence can be real and unique for each individual, it is impossible for a piece of writing to contain all the facts of one’s life. The impossibility always results in intended or unintended bias in every written work of which autobiography is not an exception.
Evaluation of existence is a privilege assigned only to the subject of it. From a philosophical viewpoint, the existence of whole universe depends on whether the subject exists or not. If one did not exist, everything around him does not mean anything to him, and therefore nothing can exist. Lejeune’s claim that no one’s existence can be individual or autonomous cannot be verified since it is in his own existence that he thinks so. Unless he has lived in another’s existence and found it same as his own, his claim does not establish. While a whole universe is dependent on individual existences, it is even ridiculous to examine the possibility of autonomous existence.
His claim about the truth does not make sense either as “the truth” might differ in different existences. For example, in the film The Truman Show, the protagonist’s truth is that he lives in the real world for the most part of the movie, and the audience thinks the fact is that Truman lives in a fake world. However, the audience cannot tell definitely that they are not being watched themselves. It is from a great arrogance that Lejeune says no one can speak the truth.
Even if one accepts individual existence and different truths, the idea of a perfect autobiography is only virtual. For an autobiography to be free of bias, it has to be an account of every single fact and only fact of one’s life, which is of course not possible. The logic here is same as how newspapers can be “conservative” or “liberal.” Since a record of all facts is impossible, some details are intentionally or unintentionally left out, which can create a great difference. In a way, the statement that “the text produces the life” is true since the writing of an autobiography gives the writer a chance to modify his life to a one closer to what he would like to have lived.
Note: this is a great topic. I sometimes wonder if my life (literally) is a Truman Show, and I know someone who has gone to a degree of madness in that thought.
"What illusion to believe that we can tell the truth, and to believe that each of us has an individual and autonomous existence! How can we think that in autobiography it is the lived life that produces the text, when it is the text that produces the life!"
While existence can be real and unique for each individual, it is impossible for a piece of writing to contain all the facts of one’s life. The impossibility always results in intended or unintended bias in every written work of which autobiography is not an exception.
Evaluation of existence is a privilege assigned only to the subject of it. From a philosophical viewpoint, the existence of whole universe depends on whether the subject exists or not. If one did not exist, everything around him does not mean anything to him, and therefore nothing can exist. Lejeune’s claim that no one’s existence can be individual or autonomous cannot be verified since it is in his own existence that he thinks so. Unless he has lived in another’s existence and found it same as his own, his claim does not establish. While a whole universe is dependent on individual existences, it is even ridiculous to examine the possibility of autonomous existence.
His claim about the truth does not make sense either as “the truth” might differ in different existences. For example, in the film The Truman Show, the protagonist’s truth is that he lives in the real world for the most part of the movie, and the audience thinks the fact is that Truman lives in a fake world. However, the audience cannot tell definitely that they are not being watched themselves. It is from a great arrogance that Lejeune says no one can speak the truth.
Even if one accepts individual existence and different truths, the idea of a perfect autobiography is only virtual. For an autobiography to be free of bias, it has to be an account of every single fact and only fact of one’s life, which is of course not possible. The logic here is same as how newspapers can be “conservative” or “liberal.” Since a record of all facts is impossible, some details are intentionally or unintentionally left out, which can create a great difference. In a way, the statement that “the text produces the life” is true since the writing of an autobiography gives the writer a chance to modify his life to a one closer to what he would like to have lived.
Note: this is a great topic. I sometimes wonder if my life (literally) is a Truman Show, and I know someone who has gone to a degree of madness in that thought.
The Age of Copycats
Jinsol Lee
Ms. Wilson
AP English Language
September 17 2009
Another possible outcome is the traditional idea of using clones for substitute organs. It is the most likely to occur among all potential consequences of human cloning, since pigs are already being used as substitution for human organs. Also likely is the use of human clones as objects of scientific experiments. In this case, an even more intense controversy would sweep the world. First, the religious community will oppose any use of clones that violate the law of nature and diminish the meaning of life. The religious has been criticizing science for employing no morality suitable for their discoveries and inventions. Second, social problems may break out as the wealthy save their lives with expensive substitute organs while the poor die without cure. If the phenomenon continues for a long time, descendants of the wealthy would be the majority of population after a while, which can lead to most of the population sharing certain genetic characteristics. For example, if human cloning were used for medical purposes today for high expenses, there would be inevitably more white survivors than blacks since white people dominate the rich population of the world.
Identity problems may break out as well. It is essentially impossible to grant and discriminate different identities of two genetically alike humans with contemporary technology, which includes photographs and DNA. There are also examples of government’s legal misprocessing for identical twins that possess the same DNA, birthday, and birthplace. Most likely, a solution will not help much even if someone came up with it, a great confusion would have dominated the society by that time. A solution which can, although not effectively nor permanently, alleviate the chaos is confining all clones in a closed place. This idea has been explored by several movies and books, all of which portray negative effects such as the clone rebellion or mass disorder in the society by a great escape of confined clones.
Such effects of the mankind’s attaining the ability to manipulate life are generally skeptical. Even though it might have some light sides as significant developments in the field of medicine, they are not quite worth the lives of countless clones who will be produced for commercial, political, or academic reasons.
Note: cause and effect analysis
Ms. Wilson
AP English Language
September 17 2009
The Age of Copycats
Bernard Werber, a French author, writes in his short story Sweet Totalitarianism about a novel that predicts the consequences of legal human cloning. The book, apparently, sees very accurately the chaos that unlimited human cloning in the society might cause. The society is plagued with politicians using clones to attain infinite military strength and clones being used as objects for scientific experiments. It is hard to ignore these predictions just because they are written in a fiction piece. The use of human clones as a military force is a new view on the cloning issue, and it seems probable. In fact, once it becomes possible to produce humans at will, there would be a high possibility for this to happen, no matter if it is legal or illegal. Politicians have always felt the need to place more power under their own. The availability of infinite human resources can inspire the followers of the more obscure ideologies to take over governments. It is also possible that extremist religions try to form an army of clones and start a full-scale religious war.Another possible outcome is the traditional idea of using clones for substitute organs. It is the most likely to occur among all potential consequences of human cloning, since pigs are already being used as substitution for human organs. Also likely is the use of human clones as objects of scientific experiments. In this case, an even more intense controversy would sweep the world. First, the religious community will oppose any use of clones that violate the law of nature and diminish the meaning of life. The religious has been criticizing science for employing no morality suitable for their discoveries and inventions. Second, social problems may break out as the wealthy save their lives with expensive substitute organs while the poor die without cure. If the phenomenon continues for a long time, descendants of the wealthy would be the majority of population after a while, which can lead to most of the population sharing certain genetic characteristics. For example, if human cloning were used for medical purposes today for high expenses, there would be inevitably more white survivors than blacks since white people dominate the rich population of the world.
Identity problems may break out as well. It is essentially impossible to grant and discriminate different identities of two genetically alike humans with contemporary technology, which includes photographs and DNA. There are also examples of government’s legal misprocessing for identical twins that possess the same DNA, birthday, and birthplace. Most likely, a solution will not help much even if someone came up with it, a great confusion would have dominated the society by that time. A solution which can, although not effectively nor permanently, alleviate the chaos is confining all clones in a closed place. This idea has been explored by several movies and books, all of which portray negative effects such as the clone rebellion or mass disorder in the society by a great escape of confined clones.
Such effects of the mankind’s attaining the ability to manipulate life are generally skeptical. Even though it might have some light sides as significant developments in the field of medicine, they are not quite worth the lives of countless clones who will be produced for commercial, political, or academic reasons.
Note: cause and effect analysis
Friday, September 4, 2009
The Battle of the Classes
Jinsol Lee
Ms. Wilson
AP English Language
3 September 2009
If you are a high school student who wishes to work at some field that is related to science, you need to take either or both chemistry or physics. It is also very important that you take advanced courses, preferably Advanced Placement, but at least an Honors class. An AP class does a great deal more than shining your college resume; it prepares you for the classes you will take in college. Good knowledge gained through an AP class will help you through the freshman course you choose to take and place you several steps ahead of others. Most people choose the handy option of starting freshman year with a number of AP credits or even starting college in their sophomore year, but it is not your only option. Even if you fail the AP exam, the knowledge is not wasted; however high grades you had in your AP class, the contents of your class was in a much higher quality and much greater amount. You will meet many people choosing not to take their AP credits and aim for a higher GPA.
My chemistry teacher always said AP Chemistry was the hardest AP exam, but I personally disagree with her. I took AP Chemistry as a sophomore along with Algebra 2 and got along fine with it. People generally assume that science is related to math and that one has to be good at math to be good at science. That is a lie, now that there are calculators. The hardest math you will do in chemistry is barely the quadratic equation, and being the bright student considering an AP course, you would be ashamed not to know it. Also, chemistry is more about concepts and understanding than math. There are a lot of concepts, and that is why AP Chemistry could be the hardest AP, not the math. In contrast, AP Physics is more math than chemistry. You would use the four functions in a chemistry course and trigonometry in physics. If you are considering AP Physics B, go ahead and take it (Physics C might need more confidence in math). Yes; physics math is harder than chemistry math, but it will all get easier once you figure out how to apply formulas efficiently. Formulas are, in fact, all there is to physics. Moreover, you are given a sheet of formulas at the actual AP exam. How easy does that sound?
Since you are going to enroll in an AP class, it would be reasonable to expect a greater workload than a regular class. I had two teachers with different teaching styles for my chemistry and physics class. I had way more homework in chemistry than in physics, and I can say it is only reasonable because the new information introduced in chemistry is massive in amount. On the other hand, I had a high A in physics with a workload that is about two thirds of chemistry workload. As mentioned above, physics should not be hard once you know how to use formulas in different situations.
I hope this information succeeded to give you an insight of AP Chemistry and AP Physics. I strongly recommend you to take either of these two courses for your career again. Congratulations again on being a bright student, and good luck on these courses.
I really am not trying to brag; it's called a strategy, apparently. I couldn't lose my credibility by telling the reader that I have actually taken AP Physics for three weeks.
Ms. Wilson
AP English Language
3 September 2009
Which AP to Pick: Chemistry or Physics?
Congratulations! You have already made a good choice by considering AP Chemistry and AP Physics. Chemistry and physics are two great and fundamental courses that most students take as one of their science courses during their high school careers. Having finished AP Chemistry successfully and taking AP Physics, I have a good insight of these two courses. Students who wish to take either of these classes or major in science may find this information helpful.If you are a high school student who wishes to work at some field that is related to science, you need to take either or both chemistry or physics. It is also very important that you take advanced courses, preferably Advanced Placement, but at least an Honors class. An AP class does a great deal more than shining your college resume; it prepares you for the classes you will take in college. Good knowledge gained through an AP class will help you through the freshman course you choose to take and place you several steps ahead of others. Most people choose the handy option of starting freshman year with a number of AP credits or even starting college in their sophomore year, but it is not your only option. Even if you fail the AP exam, the knowledge is not wasted; however high grades you had in your AP class, the contents of your class was in a much higher quality and much greater amount. You will meet many people choosing not to take their AP credits and aim for a higher GPA.
My chemistry teacher always said AP Chemistry was the hardest AP exam, but I personally disagree with her. I took AP Chemistry as a sophomore along with Algebra 2 and got along fine with it. People generally assume that science is related to math and that one has to be good at math to be good at science. That is a lie, now that there are calculators. The hardest math you will do in chemistry is barely the quadratic equation, and being the bright student considering an AP course, you would be ashamed not to know it. Also, chemistry is more about concepts and understanding than math. There are a lot of concepts, and that is why AP Chemistry could be the hardest AP, not the math. In contrast, AP Physics is more math than chemistry. You would use the four functions in a chemistry course and trigonometry in physics. If you are considering AP Physics B, go ahead and take it (Physics C might need more confidence in math). Yes; physics math is harder than chemistry math, but it will all get easier once you figure out how to apply formulas efficiently. Formulas are, in fact, all there is to physics. Moreover, you are given a sheet of formulas at the actual AP exam. How easy does that sound?
Since you are going to enroll in an AP class, it would be reasonable to expect a greater workload than a regular class. I had two teachers with different teaching styles for my chemistry and physics class. I had way more homework in chemistry than in physics, and I can say it is only reasonable because the new information introduced in chemistry is massive in amount. On the other hand, I had a high A in physics with a workload that is about two thirds of chemistry workload. As mentioned above, physics should not be hard once you know how to use formulas in different situations.
I hope this information succeeded to give you an insight of AP Chemistry and AP Physics. I strongly recommend you to take either of these two courses for your career again. Congratulations again on being a bright student, and good luck on these courses.
I really am not trying to brag; it's called a strategy, apparently. I couldn't lose my credibility by telling the reader that I have actually taken AP Physics for three weeks.
Monday, July 13, 2009
Pop Culture
Did I mention I am home? I probably did in that Bernard Werber post. I am home in South Korea for the Summer, and this is a different world from America. (But America is different from everyone else, anyway.)
One of the differences I didn't realize before is that popular culture is pretty much uniform throughout the country here. The market for anything is far smaller here than in America. The broadcasting business, for example, has virtually three to six channels that broadcast their own shows. And by "shows", I mean programs other than news, which include soap operas, "variety" shows, and talk shoows. The other one hundred and eighty-seven channels either are movie channels or import Japanese shows (of the same level of crappiness as domestic shows) or the entity of E! and Sex and the City.
But however, as I'm most likely not going to criticize my own homeland so severely, there are funny little things that happen with the small range of cultural experience. One thing that was exceptionally amusing lately was that a community named "Voldemort" kept being referenced as I spent some time in a forum. Naturally, I thought it was some kind of diehard Harry Potter fan club and became increasingly interested as I am a diehard Harry Potter fan myself. It was nevertheless bizarre that this Voldemort club was constantly mentioned because the forum itself was a fashion forum. Then some curious person questioned the identity of Voldemort. And, as it turns out, it was a makeup forum! For some reason I do not understand, the makeup forum was supposed to be this huge one-hundred-thousand-user forum/secret organization and the members were forbidden to speak the name of the forum outside it. So they called it Voldemort since that's He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named. I sincerely swear that I am not making this up.
The Lord of the Rings have almost the same degree of fame, with words like "elf", "ork", and "hobbit" commonly used in everyday conversations. A guy would, for example, see a modelesque girl walk down the street and say to his friend, "look, an elf!" Or a five-foot-tall girl would complain about a crowded subway train and say "I hate being such a hobbit." You get the idea. It would actually be quite interesting to know more about this kind of phenomena academically, but I have no idea which field of study this is going to be in.
Thursday, June 4, 2009
Bernard Werber
I'm home. Not much jet lag so far, although I have been getting up at 7 and going to sleep at 10, which is blasphemy in the summer.
While I was away in the states, my brother bought the second part of the novel by Bernard Werber (books that length are usually sold split). I only had the first part of the God books which I liked just average. I had to read this because their predecessors, Les Thanatonautes and L'Empire des Anges, changed my entire conception of death and afterlife. Those are my favorite Werber books. To be frank, I cannot believe that he has no reputation whatsoever, not even English translations of his books, in America. Well, Empire of the Ants is in English, but it is absurdity to read only that because it is only the first part of the Ant trilogy. It is real unfortunate of English speakers not to have Bernard Werber in English. English speakers should not read Empire of the Ants because if they do, they'll want to read the next parts, which don't exist in English language.
He is probably not the greatest writer ever nor a master of language (how should I know how good his writing is in French?). But his ability to gather uselessscientific knowledge and morph it into a story is appreciable. His books give an impression that he doesn't create the story first and fit scientific facts in it but is so familiar with the facts that he can use them to weave a story from them. When you read it, the story isn't the brilliantest of all, but it makes much sense for science fiction.
What I meant to talk about was, however, that he kind of lost it in the God books. Werber has a weird habit to put strands of his other books when he writes a novel. It gets really too obvious in God, where Edmond Wells, a mysterious genius figure in Ant, is featured as a regular character in L'Empire des Anges. His self-quoting is a hidden surprise in previous books because the reader can only see it when s/he has read all other Werber books. But in this, it gets way too obvious and his recycling of Edmond Wells and L'Encyclopédie du Savoir Relatif et Absolu (The Encyclopedia of Relative and Absolute Knowledge)gets old, which is an inevitable result when he recycles them for fifteen years.
Dragging and ambiguous endings are other obstacles that he doesn't seem to be able to get beyond. When you read an epic trilogy like Ant and it ends with nothing clarified in the end, it does piss you a bit. L'Empire des Anges could have been the worst ending I've ever read if God didn't come out. The second part of God didn't end so great either since it declared to drag by, well, dragging.
It really is disappointing to see his books struggle since they did change my thoughts of death a lot. I just wish he becomes obsessed with something that can make better stories so that I don't see another God from him.
While I was away in the states, my brother bought the second part of the novel by Bernard Werber (books that length are usually sold split). I only had the first part of the God books which I liked just average. I had to read this because their predecessors, Les Thanatonautes and L'Empire des Anges, changed my entire conception of death and afterlife. Those are my favorite Werber books. To be frank, I cannot believe that he has no reputation whatsoever, not even English translations of his books, in America. Well, Empire of the Ants is in English, but it is absurdity to read only that because it is only the first part of the Ant trilogy. It is real unfortunate of English speakers not to have Bernard Werber in English. English speakers should not read Empire of the Ants because if they do, they'll want to read the next parts, which don't exist in English language.
He is probably not the greatest writer ever nor a master of language (how should I know how good his writing is in French?). But his ability to gather uselessscientific knowledge and morph it into a story is appreciable. His books give an impression that he doesn't create the story first and fit scientific facts in it but is so familiar with the facts that he can use them to weave a story from them. When you read it, the story isn't the brilliantest of all, but it makes much sense for science fiction.
What I meant to talk about was, however, that he kind of lost it in the God books. Werber has a weird habit to put strands of his other books when he writes a novel. It gets really too obvious in God, where Edmond Wells, a mysterious genius figure in Ant, is featured as a regular character in L'Empire des Anges. His self-quoting is a hidden surprise in previous books because the reader can only see it when s/he has read all other Werber books. But in this, it gets way too obvious and his recycling of Edmond Wells and L'Encyclopédie du Savoir Relatif et Absolu (The Encyclopedia of Relative and Absolute Knowledge)gets old, which is an inevitable result when he recycles them for fifteen years.
Dragging and ambiguous endings are other obstacles that he doesn't seem to be able to get beyond. When you read an epic trilogy like Ant and it ends with nothing clarified in the end, it does piss you a bit. L'Empire des Anges could have been the worst ending I've ever read if God didn't come out. The second part of God didn't end so great either since it declared to drag by, well, dragging.
It really is disappointing to see his books struggle since they did change my thoughts of death a lot. I just wish he becomes obsessed with something that can make better stories so that I don't see another God from him.
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