Minjok Essay

 In Korean society, most Koreans consider Korea as racially homogeneous nation. This is a common belief among Koreans, and even textbooks define Korea as a racially homogeneous nation. Assuming that Korea is a racially homogeneous nation, I started to wonder about the definition of Minjok. If Korea is a racially homogeneous nation, we would be able to define what ‘Minjok’ is by thinking of the characteristics of Korean society. If Minjok is defined as people who share same blood, there is a contradiction since it excludes the multi-cultural families. In addition, in Korea Dynasty back around eleventh century, many monarchs were engaged with Chinese monarchs, so it is incorrect to define Minjok as community who share same blood. If Minjok is defined as community of people who share same culture, such as ideologies and languages, it is incorrect since it excludes Korean residences abroad. Thus, I personally believe that it is extremely difficult to clearly define the concept of ‘Minjok’.

 According to Benedict Anderson’s ‘Imagined Communities’, he admits it is hard to define the concept of Minjok, but that Minjok itself poses great importance. He states that the concept of Minjok was formed because people wanted to be treated equal, and liberal from Kings and Popes. Kings and popes in the medieval period were considered to be the ones who were selected by god, and in contrast, the public wanted an ideology that can bring every member of the society to an equal stance. Thus, we can infer that concept of Minjok can be described as something that unites every member of the community, guaranteeing equal social level. Later on, in the 18^th century, Johannes Gutenberg invents printing technology, and brings shift to the concept of Minjok in each society. As printing is developed, and as languages are translated into other languages, there increased communications, and understanding of other cultures. This event can be interpreted as a catalyst for globalization, and complex concept of Minjok. Benedict Anderson also describes that Minjok can be split, by exemplifying the independence war. Americans were originally British, but as they settled in the new colonies, two societies began to show differences in languages, religions: they became two distinct communities. With this, in ‘Imagined Communities’ the author argues that it is hard to clarify the concept of Minjok, but that it is undeniable that the concept of Minjok is useful in causing illusions, and is related with the identity of people.

 It is definitely difficult to tell what Minjok is, but to help the understanding, it is better to think that Minjok is similar to a community that shares similar characteristics. Then, how did the definition and role of ‘Minjok’ Korea changed overtime? Korean society can be divided into mainly 6 eras: Danggun, The period of three states, Korea Dynasty, Chosun Dynasty, Colonial period, and now. In the period of three states, Shila, Baekjae, and Kokureo, three states shared the same roots of Danggun, but their political actions were based on their interests. In Korea Dynasty, though is lost significant amount of land of Kokureo, it was the first time that Korean Minjok were assimilated, and started to share similar characteristics. Such characteristics further developed in Chosun Dynasty, but during the colonial period of Japan, there were severe damages on Korean identity, and what it means to be Korean. Scholars such as Shin Chaeho, Seu Jaepil, and Lee Gwangsu tried their best to keep the cultural identity, but it was not able to fully resist the policies of Japan. After Korea became liberated, in 1960s and 1960s, President Park, Jeonghi introduced the concept of Minjok by using the legend of Danggun and Baekdusan. This necessary illusion of Minjok is what actually we believe as the concept of Minjok these days. We now believe that as a Korean Minjok, we all share some homogeneity, that we are from the same root Danggun, that we are polite country, that we all love Kimchi. Such are definitely arguable. For instance, by arguing that we are polite, it is an overgeneralization, and at the same time implies that other countries are not polite compared to Korea. However, it is indisputable such illusions were necessary in the development of Korean economy.

Not only Korea, but also in Europe, we can find some characteristics of Minjok. In Europe, concept Minjok is defined as nationalism. Before the 18^th century, many people were generally loyal to their religion or to a particular leader than their nation. Thus, citizens were eager for a securing system, liberal from popes and kings as mentioned earlier. Therefore, they started to create the emergence of a public sphere. At first, the concept of ‘belonging to a same community’ meant having same ancestry, and same ethnicity, such as Germanic people, Latin people, Anglo-Saxon. However, as time passed, the concept ‘Civic Nationalism’ became popular, which defined ‘belonging to a same community’ as having equal and shared political rights, and being allegiant to similar political procedures. Therefore, not only in Korea, but also globally, it is plausible to infer that the concept of Minjok itself is related with community.

Back to Korea, what would be the most accurate meaning of Minjok? Considering the situation of Korea, it is divided into North Korea and South Korea. The characteristics of communities in North Korea seemed to have changed after 1950. The country is under communism, having close relationships with China rather than South Korea, and most importantly, merely affected by the globalization. Meanwhile, South Korea is now one of the well-living countries, with economic boom and spreading of Korean culture called Hallyu. Such contradictions between two countries, who were actually integrated 63years before, can be interpreted as the effect of globalization. Globalization has definitely changed the life style of people. In North Korea, Kim Ilseung, Kim Jeungil, Kim Jeungeun has formed a society that is barely able to contact with the outer world except China. Due to this, the history of Korea Dynasty, and Kokurea-one of the states in ‘the period of three states’, are being distorted by the Chinese government by the plan called ‘Dong Buk Gong Jeung.’ In contrast, the South Korean government is trying to have more contact with the global society, such has holding treaties, and investing on other nations. Thus, such different actions of government could be said to have distorted the meaning of Minjok to both countries.

 To conclude, what would it mean to be a Korean, and be included as same Minjok? As a South Korean, and as a student of Korean Minjok Leadership Academy, we should be able to realize our role as a same Minjok, and at the same time, keep up steps with the globalization. The 2002 world cup, figure skater Kim yeuna, and Psy could become a good model of how we should act. It is inevitable to partially give up the Korean tradition, yet our focus should always be ‘How we should act as a member of Korea.’ Though it is hard to define Minjok, it would be important to regard that single actions we take represent the image of Korea, and our community. 

 There are things to retain, while there are things to discard. Obviously, to use the concept of Minjok effectively for Korea, there are things to retain and things to discard. For instance, like the 2002 world cup, and efforts people put on to host the 2018 winter Olympics, concept Minjok should definitely be something that can aggregate people, unite people, and lead people to bring advantages to Korean society. Nevertheless, since it is evident that people, despite of continuous globalization, Korean will never forsake the virtue of being Korean, as mentioned in professor Shin, Gi Wook. Thus, it is clear that Korean will have strong pride in being a Korean itself, which means there is potential risk of discriminating other people. Such discrimination, and tendency to look down on other people residing in different community, should be discarded. The concept of Minjok was, is, and is going to be in Korean heart always, but we should never forget to use it properly.

https://attachment.fbsbx.com/file_download.php?id=167063150140151&eid=ASttfq9GsdThxv8ARJ2sPGAQR6LqFzcwp0QxyUL3jrbT0QfAFVsW_I5FERL_9RvDF7k&inline=1&ext=1373189626&hash=ASuzhIAh7Zd0ypRm

http://iis-db.stanford.edu/pubs/20125/Shin.pdf

http://www.ucalgary.ca/ev/designresearch/projects/Evds723/seoul.pdf

http://blog.naver.com/them1?Redirect=Log&logNo=50168636001

Noam Chomsky 'Necessary illusions'

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Things I can't understand about MNET

Mnet is an music broadcasting channel, and nowadays, they are broadcasting a hip-hop survival program named 'Show Me the Money'. It is the second season , and last year, same program was held, though with lot of criticisms. However, season 2 is not that much better than season two, mainly because of the directors of SHOW ME THE MONEY.

First of all, it is using the so-called 'Evil-Editing'. This simply means that what people see in television is totally different from what happened in the studio. For instance, a rapper named Jo, Uoo-jinn, after finishing his performance, said 'Kanto(another rapper) was not in good condition. But, I think I was the worst on stage today, and that I am not going to survive in this round'. In contrast, it was broadcasted as 'Kanto was not in good condition, worst on stage today, and not going to survive in this round' which is totally different from what he actually said. Because of this, innocent rapper Jo, Uoo-jinn was harshly criticized by numerous hiphop-listeners. This is not the only case, but I bet that I will make a short story if I explain it all.

Also, even though the program is an hip-hop survival, the rules of survival is not consistent, and is hard to accept in common sense. There was an one-on-one rap battle, and only one person was able to survive. In the end, 25people were left. However, right then, only 10 rapper was chosen by the judges. This is awkward, since there was no meaning of doing the rap survival if it were going to choose 10 people , with 15people just doing nothing after the rap battle.

I do hope that please Mnet make sensible actions, as a viewer of Show ME the Money.

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My Personal Narrative- The way I live my life

Almost every people account an event that brings significant impact on their lives. For instance, Helen Keller would have had a mere chance to succeed if it were not for the teaching of Ms. Sullivan, and Korean Scientist Jang, Youngshil would not have able to invent lots of scientific gadgets if he couldn’t meet Emperor Seajong. As with these people, I also had something that entirely changed the overall attitude toward my life when I was attending middle school. That is, to say, getting to know about hip-hop music through my best friend, Kim, Namkyoung.

It was about 8months from now, when I started to listen to hip-hop. Before, I, like most of my peers, listened to K-Pop, and were fan of idol girls. One day, I had the chance to listen to a song called ‘Airbag’ by Table, and for no reason I was seriously addicted to it. How addicted I was? Well, in our class, I had a close friend named NamKyoung, whose dream is to be a rapper, and I asked him to teach me how I can accomplish the rap part in the song. I sang it in front of him, which was horrible of course, and asked him for revision. What he said was though, ‘just try harder.’ Regardless of my dismay, from then on I started to listen to hip-hop music. As time passed by, I felt as if hip-hop music is the best in the world, because of exciting rhythms, and mostly because of the genuine lyrics without affectations. Furthermore, I started to admire all the rappers, as I was just amused by the fact that they can produce rap music, which motivated me to compose my own song. Feeling as if I am a musician, I showed to my friend, Namkyoung. After taking a glance look at it, he tore it off; he told me it is a crap. I was shocked and despondent because I never expected my close friend would do such a thing. Nevertheless, something inside me kept pushing me to learn how I can improve. So I asked him for some advice. He kept his neglectanct attitude, and kept saying that I should just give up on it. But I didn’t. I grabbed this little hope that I can improve if I kept on practicing. Without letting my parents know, I stood up in the midnight until about 3a.m. and wrote lyrics, fixed lyrics, practiced rap. As time passed by, and as my skills improved, he started to become a bit more open-minded, and told me about some concepts related with hip-hop. The most important concept was to be modest, and not boast around with hip-hop. That was why Namkyoung was not generous when I first encountered hip-hop, as he thought that I may not be modest if I was praised from the start.

 After I heard that, and as time passed by, I started to become more modest of myself. Rather than exaggerating or being bossy of one’s ability, I thought that being modest and enhancing one’s ability is much better, whether it is music, studying, or sports. Thanks to my friend, Namkyoung, through learning about hip-hop, not only I was able to enhance my rap skill, but also I could become more modest of myself.

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Show Me The Money season 2 review episode #1 y

'Show Me The Money' is a hiphop- survival audition program that is held in Mnet. Season 1 was held last year, which can be abbreviated as 'half-success'. There were lots of miscommunication between hiphop artists and the directors of Show Me the Money.

With that, season 2 started, and as a lover of hip-hip music, I hoped that the program has advanced, and it did! The line-ups of musicians had better quality, and there were more investments on the program itself.

However, I did felt something uncomfortable in the program.

In the show, a rapper named Swings participated in the audition. Swings, is actually a pro- rapper, and he is one of the most skillful rapper in Korea. Because of it, it was questionable enough to ask him 'why did you participate in this program?'. In the interview, he replied that he wanted to start from the basic, and be re- evaluated without his name value. However, during the program, that was ironic, since his lyrics and attitudes toward other competitors seemed to be bragging about what he has done in the past. Instead of being modest, he was arrogant about himself, and did not try to cooperate with other rappers, and rather ignored them.

After watching the program, I began to wonder how Swings will change his attitude.

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Chu Shi Biao

It's about two weeks after we came back from vision trip, and I felt lots of things, which motivated me to pursue on finding my dream, and working hard on everything I do. To illustrate, vision trip made me realize what I have to do for the two and a half years in KMLA. With it, I planned lots of things to do in KMLA, mostly related with academic activities.

However, it was not easy to implement what I planned. I was used to playing tetris and chatting in facebook, which I mostly did during the trip, so I kept doing it in KMLA, even during the self-study period. I felt that something was going wrong, because I was acting the way completely different from what I promised for myself.

Therefore, I have been trying to change for several days, and one of the methods I found was taking challenging courses in 2nd semester. I've always felt that I have great interest in science compared to social subjects, therefore I planned myself to take Ap Physics C, Ap Chemistry, and Ap Environmental science. I thought that if I took such subjects in freshmen year, I would be able to learn more complicated matters, such as conducting research, and deeply think about what I like and what I am interested in. Unfortunately, I couldn't take Ap Physics C, since the subject was held the same time with Ap Chemistry.

Also, on K and M module, I am planning to take 'Introduction to English Literature', the so- called 'hell' subject. This sounds crazy enough for a student who takes Ap Chemistry and Ap Environmental science. This is not the end though, I am also going to take Ap Microeconomics. The main reason for this is that in KMLA, it is required to take 12 units of social subjects. If I take Ap Microeconomics, I can fully focus on studying in-depth science after freshmen year. 

To summarize, I am definately crazy. I am going to take Ap Chemistry, AP Environmental science, Ap Microeconomics, and Introduction to English literature. Most of the seniors do not recomend this selection, and none of my peers do. However, I have a strong desire to take in-depth courses after my freshmen year, and I promise to myself that I am going to fully overcome all the difficulties. Therefore, I am going to go crazy, and challenge my limits.

This is my Chu Shi Biao for my second semester.

Let me get crazy.

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Toefl Essay #2: Global Union!

In the 21^st century, there are many ongoing changes within the society, such as development of science technologies, growing populations, changes in several ecosystems and other many factors are the cause for such changes. In the past, there were also many changes within a society. For instance, there were two world wars in 20^th century and industrial revolution in the 19^th century. In this century, I insist that 21^st will become an era where each society is hugely dependent on other parts of the globe. This is because increasing number of people is becoming aware of social issues around the globe, and because many countries have to solve environmental problems by cooperation.

To begin with, each society will become more dependent on each other since many people get to know the various social issues. Advancement of technology greatly impacted this. According to a research, one billion people are already online and this figure is expected to double within a decade or so. There are also 2.5 billion using cellphones and the number of people using smartphones is rapidly increasing. Due to this, many incidents such as coups in Africa are quickly delivered to many people across the world as people upload the news on Facebook or other social network services. Moreover, as aero technologies have been developed, more nations can watch over other countries through satellites. As social events are quickly spread through quickly developing social networking systems, many people will be more aware of what is happening around the globe.

Moreover, many countries have to be dependent on each other because of the growing attention on environmental problems. There are many factors that commit to this, such as the rapid depletion of fossil fuels, expensive cost for developing renewable energies and the Brazilian government trying to destroy the crucial Amazon forest. Therefore, many countries are holding treaties on developing renewable energies and co-researching on technologies which are beneficial to the future of earth. Not only that, but also many countries are holding treaties for the safety of their nation, mainly because environmental problems effects worldwide. For instance, when there was nuclear accident in Japan, it even affected the western part of America. To sum up, many countries are holding increasing number of treaties, such as economical funding or protecting their nation. Thus, it is reasonable to argue that many countries are becoming more dependent on each other in environmental issues.

To conclude, the 21^st century led the globe to be more dependent with each other. This is because many people have become more aware of the social issues, and because there are growing consideration with environmental issues, which is a global problem. As technologies are undergoing rapid development, and as more and more people realize the seriousness of the environmental problems these days, I strongly believe that Earth would become extremely connected.

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Realization I got from Nacirema

When I first read Nacirema during the class, I thought it was about a traditional tribe who resided in Northern America. With that, in in-class essay, I wrote whether technological advancement has brought benefit to our lives. However, as I figured out what the essay was about, I was extremely shocked and bemused by the secrets in the essay. Flipping back the spellings of Nacirema is America, and thus, the entire essay was about criticizing America, not introducing a traditional culture.

 The reason why we were shocked was because of the cultural bias we had with American culture. The fact that the culture which was perceived as a weird, traditional culture was actually a culture of the United States in 1956 brought enormous shock to me. I believe that 1956 was the age of cold war, where lots of technology is showing advancements. However, imagining such culture becoming a traditional culture, it was definitely shocking.

 In this essay, there are some features that imply Nacirema means American such as that the region is located between Canada and Mexico. Nevertheless, for me at least, it was hard to figure out what the main point of the essay was, as not only I was unfamiliar with the term ‘Nacirema’, but also because it’s hard to come up with the idea of flipping back the spelling of it. Thus, the essay has criticized the social problems of united states without directly addressing it.

 With this, as I realized what the essay’s goal really was, I was definitely shocked. Furthermore, it helped me to think about how we should look toward a culture. Through the understanding of the passage, I felt that it is important to not have bias about a typical culture. Normally, when people discuss about traditional cultures that are passed down from the past, we usually imagine something spiritual and unordinary customs. However, realizing that such a culture is actually the culture of the United States, which I thought to be somewhat modern, we should not try to examine a culture with prejudice, as it can hinder us to make exact realization of the culture.

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When We Graduate KMLA...

Today, the seniors took their graduating photos around the school. They all looked somewhat happy, by the fact that they will graduate, overcoming all the hardships they had to go through for about two and a half years in KMLA. From this, I sort of had myself think about what would be an idealistic living in KMLA so that when I take photos, or graduate, I would be content.

Yesterday, I heard that a 3rd grader, Lee Seayoung, is going to take rest for about 1year, and then come back to school. He is quite famous among 18th waver, because he has never lost the top score in almost every exams. However, he is taking his time of because of health issues.

In KMLA, their are lots of important things that we have to be cautious of, such as studying, health, club activities, and social relationships. I heard that to go to good universities abroad, we have to at least keep our GPA above 4.9, and have SAT scores over 2300. These, are of course, arduous tasks that cannot be achieved without significant amount of effort. Moreover, I do want to spend more time in club activities, because highschool is the last three years of my teen life. Therefore, I am eager to spend more time in music, in volunteering, and in sports.

In February, many seniors told me that it is important to maintain balance between studying and playing. Until now, I think I am fulfilling it well. However, after I took my midterm, my life has become sort of unorganized. I started to not clean my room as much, and started to sleep more in self-stuydying time, and started to get more penalty points. I did not realize the seriousness of these, because I was too excited about 'vision-trip', but through seeing the seniors, and imagining what I would become after 2 years, I would have to refresh my mind, and live the way I used to before mid-term.

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When I was Cutting My Hair

Last Sunday, which was april 28th, I went to a hairshop in downtown. I was doing magic ferm, which took about approximately 2 hours. It was enough time to have some chat with my hair designer, and through the talk, I thought about the social role and the image of one in a society.

The Hair designer said
'"Is your father a professor? His hair and overall atmosphere seemes to be like it"
"Did he cut his hair here?" I asked.
"Yes" she replied.
"Then yes, he is a professor."

Then, I had something that went past through my mind.
'How does the hair design and atmosphere relate to the fact that my dad is a professor?'

In a society, everyone is given certain role, and are expected to fulfill their roles. Perhaps, through fulfilling their roles, the groups of people may form similar images that suit their roles. However, I felt that maybe such roles could stir prejudice among people, and about their job. For instance, if a person is unshaved, and wearing wagged clothes, most people would think that that person is not dedicating to high-profitable job such as lawyer or doctor. Meanwhile, if a person is wearing a suit, that is neatly designed, we would generally think that the person is committing to a rather high- profitable job.

There comes the question. Is one's job superior to others? We all know the answer, which is 'no', but does it really? We, cognitively, feel that being a doctor is better than working as a janitor. It is definately wrong to feel such emotion, but social image of one's job affects the overal 'superiorness' of jobs. Social image is not ignorable, but when I was cutting my hair, I felt there were something wrong with this...

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Right now, Madlamites is the main power of Gangneung Hiphop. Madlamites is consisted of my best friend in Middle school, and other members.

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https://soundcloud.com/madlamites/madlamites

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The Age of Stupid- 'Media's role'

     Play this song... while you read...

 

According to the film, we are indeed living in the age of stupid. There are increasing numbers of environmental problems, yet countries like China and the United States are consuming more fossil fuel, accelerating the problems related to the dearth of energy sources. The Brazilian government is investing more on developing the Amazon rainforest, which poses significant impact on the ecosystem of South America, and the desertification process is deteriorating the living conditions in Northern Africa. Nevertheless, at least for now, such situations don’t seem to improve.

In this film, age of stupid, an unnamed archivist, living in 2055, shows several incidents in the past that is related with Earth’s environment. This archivist mentions his archive footage as ‘when we could have saved ourselves’. He tells his story with mainly 6 groups of people: Al Duvernay-a resident of New Orleans, Jehangir Wadia-an Indian businessman, Jamila and Adnan- two Iraqi children, Fernand Pareau-an eighty two years old man who works as a guide on the Mont Blanc glacier in France, Piers and Lisa Guy- a British couple who is interested in wind power, and Layefa Malemi, a Nigerian woman who struggles with poverty despite the wealth of oil in her country.

From these characters, I could figure out a common problem: lack of proper information was the common factor for the environmental problems we could see in the clip. According to the Nigerian women, media reports its country as prosperous due to oil industry, but in reality, she is in destitute condition. Though the U.S. government commented Iraq war as an act for world peace, it was actually an act of oil savaging. The family, who were with the Mont-Blanc guide, seemed surprised by the fact that lots of snow melted in Alps, indicating that general people might not have realized the condition of Alps. Furthermore, if people had realized the importance and the process of wind energy, the British couple could have won the court. Moreover, Al Duvernay and Jehangir Wadia do not seem to have proper knowledge about the impacts their companies pose on environment, even though they know it is important to protect Earth.

With this, I argue that the role of media is extremely crucial. Solving Earth issues is difficult since our actions do not immediately impact our daily lives. To illustrate, if we dump trash in a river, we don’t shower with the water we dumped our trash. This is the reason why media, in which we encounter almost every day in our life through television or internet, is crucial in making us realize about such problems. Associating the 6 groups of people, if media were able to spread accurate information, that Iraq war was an action for gaining oil, or Nigerians are not living in wealth in contrast with its country, more people could have realized such problems and could have prevented the disastrous catastrophes in 2055.

 

Unfortunately, media tend to conceal some crucial facts, because of governmental pressure or fear that it would arouse public anger. In fact, lots of information about the environment is distorted. For instance, there are rumors that data that support global warming is miscalculated. To add, when there was a hydrogen fluoride gas emission in Korea recently, Search Engine ‘Naver’ actually shut down all the news related to hydrogen fluoride gas emission so that it won’t become a hot issue.

 

Media, by definition, is a tool used to store or deliver information or data. It is evident that its role is to let people know the right information. Right now at this moment, in contrast with the archivist, we should consider more on how we can save ourselves, rather than when we could have saved ourselves. Media should not be the one that makes us stupid with distorted fact. Instead media should press accurate information that will help citizens realize the seriousness about the earth’s condition. With it definitely is possibility for the situations to improve.

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My personal narrative-'Still Water Runs Deep'

Almost every people account an event that brings significant impact on their lives. For instance, Helen Keller would have had a mere chance to succeed if it were not for the teaching of Ms. Sullivan, and Korean Scientist Jang, Youngshil would not have been able to invent lots of scientific gadgets if he couldn’t meet Emperor Seajong. As with these people, I also had something that entirely changed the overall attitude toward my life when I was attending middle school. That is, to say, getting to know about hip-hop music through my best friend, Kim, Namkyoung.

It was about 8months from now, when I started to listen to hip-hop. Before, I, like most of my peers, listened to K-Pop, and were fan of idol girls. One day, I had the chance to listen to a song called ‘Airbag’ by Tablo, and for no reason I was seriously addicted to it. How addicted I was? Well, in our class, I had a close friend named NamKyoung, whose dream is to be a rapper, and I asked him to teach me how I can accomplish the rap part in the song. Though I knew I was horrible at it, I sang it in front of him and asked him for revision. Uninterested, what he said was just ‘try harder.’ Regardless of my dismay, from then on I grew significant interest on hip-hop music. As time passed by, I became obsessed with hip-hop, because of exciting rhythms, and mostly because of the genuine lyrics without affectations. Furthermore, I started to admire all the rappers, as I was amused by the fact that they can produce rap music. Such passion motivated me to compose my own song and though I knew I wasn’t skilled, I felt as if I am a musician when composing a song. Feeling somewhat proud of myself, I boasted around Namkyoung though I knew my work wasn’t good. Then came the astonishing moment: after taking a glance look at it, he tore it off; he told me it is a crap. I was shocked because I never expected my close friend would do such a thing. I felt angry and humiliated at that moment, because it felt like he was belittling the effort I put on and time I spent. However, as time passed by, the anger settled down, and I thought what was wrong with my behavior. Then, I reached the conclusion that maybe I was just boasting around with hip-hop, and acted as if I was a cool dude. Then I thought that I need to be more modest, and instead focus on enhancing my ability. With this, when the rest of our family were asleep, I wrote and fixed my lyrics and practiced rap. After several months, I went to Namkyoung again. We hung out even after he tore my paper, but we never talked about hip-hop. This time though, I talked about hip-hop: instead of boasting around, I asked him for revision. He was astonished after realizing that my skills improved, and in contrast to what happened before, he encouraged me. After this moment, I still put lots of effort in rap, but unlike the past, I try to be modest as possible.

 There is a saying ‘Still water runs deep.’ This means that thoughtful and skilled people remain quiet and modest. After Namkyoung tore my lyrics, and as I became more modest about rap, I could feel this sentence by heart. This is because by keeping such attitude, there are less chance of boasting around, and having exaggerated skills. Instead, one can focus on improving their ability. This impacted me to keep modest attitude toward other parts that I excel, and focus on my work rather than focusing on what other people think about me, thanks to my best friend, Namkyoung.

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My goald

Personally, I have two major goals in this class.

First, I want to use more diverse vocabularies, which will definately enhance my writing and reading skills. Through this, I eagerlly want to express my thoughts clearly, so that I can persuade others as effective as possible.

Secondly, I want to experience more foreign culture, through indirect ways, which is having conversations and listening to what our teacher says. By this way, I would be better able to understand daily-frequently- used vocabularys.

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My Personal Narrative Essay-"My Big Butt"

Most of the Koreans have heard of the song called ‘Swing Baby.’ This song was produced by a famous Korean producer named Jin Young Park, the main producer of JYP entertainment. It is composed of exciting rhythms, and dances that remind me of Brazilian Samba. The reason why I am mentioning this song is because it posed great impact in my life.

 When I was in the 2^nd grade of middle school, I had the chance to volunteer in one of the biggest culture festival called ‘Danoje’. There, I had to take part in a flash mob to let foreigners know more about ‘Danoje’. My friends and I were practicing dance for it, and I realized that even though I practiced hard, I could not dance well compared to my peers. Trying to figure out the reason why, I realized that a huge defect in my body was hindering me from dancing well. My butt was too big to fully accomplish several steps in the dance. Though I kept on practicing, it just looked too funny to be a dance that represents our traditional festival. From that moment, I started to have negative thoughts about my butt.

 Nevertheless, that all changed in the end of the 3^rd grade. As a vice president of the school committee, I had to participate in the school festival. Our homeroom class was preparing for dances, including shuffle, and Gangnam style, which of course was a difficult task. During break time, me and my friend were having a silly dance-battle, just for fun. I danced on the ‘Swing Baby’ beat, and surprisingly many friends were enjoying my dance. They said it was so hilarious that I should participate in a solo-dance for the festival. That boosted my courage and motivated me to practice that dance. For about a week, I recorded myself dancing, and realized something ironical about my dancing. In my version of Swing baby dance, my butt was the most essential part of my body. I had to bounce my butt elastically to fully achieve my dance. I used to see my butt as a determinant of skillful dance, but in this dance, it was not. As I kept on practicing, I started to gain more confidence about myself, and I could successfully finish my dance with a school festival with explosive reactions from my peers. Moreover, I have used this dance in KMLA’s club interviews, and it became one of the popular dances in the 17^th wavers.

Conceptions about one can be different among many people, whether it is good or not. One thing is clear, that conception about something can pose great impact. For instance, I had negative opinions my butt since I thought it was an obstacle to dance. Nevertheless, when I realized that my butt can make people laugh through dancing, I could erase the negative thoughts I had about it. I believe that erasing prejudice, and trying to see an object from diverse perspectives can definitely lead to finding advantages about an object.

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Monthly TOEFL Essay number #1: Please don't leave any food!!

In worldwide, every country has its own unique custom, such as in India they eat with right hands. Korea is not an exception. In Korea, there are lots of customs that has been passed down from the past, for instance bowing to people who are older than us. There is another custom which is not leaving food when eating. Not only there are regulations about this in many schools, but also in many units of family, parents scorn kids for leaving food. Personally, I thought it would be a good custom for other countries to adopt as it is definitely good for health, less waste in food sources, and can help people to realize the importance of following rules.

 

To begin with, not leaving food is certainly beneficial for our health. Nowadays, there is growing attention on keeping balance with one’s health, but at the same time, there are growing numbers of health problems. Increasing number of students is getting fat, due to the digestion of junk foods. Meanwhile, many teenagers are also getting extremely slim, due to severe diets. However, when we don’t leave any food, it is easy to maintain one’s health. We get to eat all the nutrients that are provided in a dish, and also we can prevent ourselves from becoming over-weight, since we eat exactly the certain amount given. Thus, we get to eat in a balanced nutrient state, which helps significantly in keeping our health.

 

In addition, this custom enables Korean pupils to reduce the amount of leftover food. Korean students usually choose what they want to eat in the cafeteria from the point where they are in elementary school. As they are not allowed to have left-over food, it is important that students choose how much, and what they are going to eat. Gradually, it can lead pupils to make better selection on eating the exact amount they need. For instance, I had a friend who always put all the food on his dish. Without a doubt, he always had left over food, and was always criticized by his homeroom teacher. Because of it, he was always left alone in the cafeteria eating up all the food. However, he realized that he needed to have less food on his dish. Gradually, he was able to reduce the time he spent on meals, and also reduce the amount of leftover food. Thus, this custom is beneficial in reducing the amount of waste food.

 

Moreover, not leaving food can help people to realize the importance of obeying rules. Though this custom may appear to have little impact, it actually plays a significant role for individuals to enhance the ability as a social member. Many people feel it tiresome not to leave small amount of food, such as rice paste. Nevertheless, as individuals follow the custom, they can practice the habit of not ignoring minor policies. Thus, this custom is helpful in making people to follow the social rules, even minor ones.

 

To conclude, I argue that not leaving food is a good custom for other countries to adopt. This is mainly because it has positive impacts on our body, can decrease the waste of food, and because one can understand the importance of obeying the rules. As it is a custom that our parents and teachers always stress, it would definitely bring positive impacts when it is adopted.

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My self intro

Hello Mr. Menard. My name is Minseok Kim, shortly you can just call me Min. When I was young, I used to live in many different places. For instance, I lived in Japan for 5years, Daegu for a year, Seoul for a year, Seeheung for a year. Then, when I had to go to elementry school, I moved to Gangneung, which is where I live now. When I was in fourth grade, I spent a year and a half in Northcarolina, United States.

I am really interested in basketball and hiphop, which is what I mostly do during my freetime. I am also interested in purifying water system, by using some sort of chemical processes. Therefore, I want to major in environmental engineering or environmental science, especially with purifying water system.

For the three years in KMLA, I have some sort of a goal, that when I play, I play hard, when I study I study hard. Spending for a few weeks in KMLA, it feels like a place where you study a lot, and enjoy our lives at the same time. As probably all the other students wishes, I also want to have a good time in KMLA.

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