Creative Writing Final Words

Sungwoo Bae

Before this class, I thought a good writing has to be well thought of and should not attract counter arguments. When writing, I always though beforehand the oppositions that could be argued against my writing and tried to counter the counter argument or just got rid of the whole material in the first place. However, seeing how my somewhat mindless writing of philosophy and robotics making a controversy which lead to a good source of debate, showed me that sometimes it’s good to be bold and without thought. Although I had no purpose to be so provocative, I was, and it was good see how it spurred many excellent opinions and thoughts from others.

To my Hubaes, I would like to recommend them to sometimes free write however they want on a piece of paper. None stop writing and just pour down all the words and thoughts in your head. Not only does it enhance your writing skills but you can really grasp some very creative thoughts inside your head. Most of us are too used to brain storming and sculpting a form before writing, sometimes we need to break all of those to kick our writing up a notch.

If the English speaking society has ever listened to a Korean song, it’s most likely that it’ll be K-pop. I always thought most of K-pop songs were without meaning and was concentrated on commercializing the song and artists rather than creating a ‘good song’. However, after going through the course of creative writing, I was able to listen to many varieties of songs in K-pop that I usually passed by and found out there were some very good songs to be heard. So for the English speaking society, I’ll try to filter some Korean songs good for the ear and also good for the soul.

Who is driving the bus in our society? Where is that person or group driving us and should we do something about it? These were the questions we talked about during our classes. If the Korean music industry were like free market, I’m with the idea of leaving as it is, letting it go where it wants to go. However, as we went on through our course, I learned that there could be some powerful people controlling the whole industry for their own uses. Now our problem is, can we stop them? And should we stop them?

It’s been such an enjoyable and meaningful class Mr. Johnson. You let the class explore many ideas that we’ve never thought of and let us talk about the things that could really affect our lives in the future. For the question about the driving bus… I think I’ll have to think more on that.

If it really wasn't there - JangGiHa and Faces

With light foot steps
I walked home
had a nap for three hours

the sun wasn't quite down
went out to do groceries,
while making a meal for one
Something felt strange that I nodded my head~ u ah ah ah

As usual
I had nothing planned today
Only when I was in bed late
Something felt strange that I my eyes sparkled in puzzle

In your eyes that flickered by, I saw the tears that wasn't even there
In your face that I first saw, I saw the past that wasn't even hidden
I wanted to check again if it really wasn't there

when my eyes opened naturally
it was 14 minutes till the alarm
while making my bed with aching arm
Something felt strange that I blanked, and was woken by the alarm~ u uh ah


In your eyes that flickered by, I saw the tears that wasn't even there
In your face that I first saw, I saw the past that wasn't even hidden

In your eyes that flickered by, I saw the tears that wasn't even there
In your face that I first saw, I saw the past that wasn't even hidden

I wanted to check again if it really wasn't there

Seduction

 Eye lids are beings of evil
 It constantly screams to engulf the light
 To shadow the shadow and darken the darkness
 Already in state of confusion
 Lights dance around without meaning
 before being destroyed by the lid

 Maybe this is why villains go bad
 the dark side is too sweetening

Comment on SolHee Bae Seonbae's blog post

Hi Sol (Seonbae) ! You know I'm really shocked with Mr.Johnson sending my poor post that I put least effort into to all 15th wavers taking his class! I'm really thinking of taking down my whole blog and erasing it from existence! Also thank you for this short response making my life much easier! You're the Best! ^^ .... MenBung!

After I read this post, it really reminded me of Kolkata India. I remember you saying something similar after living with the innocent young children there. I do agree with you that humans are born with some kind of goodness or morality that lets us be kind and also survive in the human social society. As of question of why, I don't really have a direct answer.Why do you think human beings are born with a tiny morality core? Do you think other living organisms are born with morality also?

http://solheebae.wordpress.com/2012/04/05/do-we-have-to-learn-to-be-good-17

Integration of Philosophy and Robotics

Technology of mankind is advancing in blinding speed. A few years ago, I remember myself excited about getting a chocolate sized phone in my pocket. However, I currently see myself now having a tiny computer in my pocket called a smart phone—fascinating, but also startling. I Robot, Surrogates, and the Matrix are the movies of mankind’s advanced technology getting the better of man. As a high school student interested in robotics, seeing the near “could be” future through these movies really gives spark to my life. However with all this excitement of the advanced future, come the worries and problems than man is faced with. The famous philosopher, Heidegger, once said that technology is not an act of means, but rather an act of revealing. However, he said that the problem of modern technology is that it challenges nature too far by demanding too much. An era, when technological advance goes too fast that it outruns humanitarian and philosophical studies by two folds—truly frightening indeed.

           In my view, as humans are born to this world, we start our lives with a tiny built in morality core. This means that we are naturally born with basic ethics and virtue, so that all we have to do is utilize them in the right way. However, artificial intelligent robots, a creation of man, lack these properties, which means that we must devise some sort of moral and ethics algorithm for these robots. However using virtue and creating one is completely different. Socrates in Plato’s Meno said that no man knows virtue, but only sees the shadow of it. This means that we only know the true direction of virtue just enough to use it, but have no true knowledge of it. Philosophy needs to be with robotics so that we can truly find what virtue is and apply it to future robotics.

           Where do robots stand in our current world? Humans in the past usually had certain rules dividing the life and substances on earth. According to the great chain of being, the hierarchy starts from god and progresses down to angels, demons, stars, nobles, men, animals, plants, and stones. Also according to the dualistic view, man is divided into mind and body. However, what of self-thinking, conscious robots equip with near human artificial intelligence? They think, reason, and even contemplate like humans, but carries metal for body. Where should we put these robots in the hierarchy of beings? With stones, or humans? Also how will it affect the mind-body problem? Will it give proof for monistic view? If these metaphysical questions aren’t solved beforehand robotics, confusion and chaos will erupt between humans, and also robots. Technology without the help of philosophy will bring disastrous consequences.

           Till here I talked about how philosophy could help robotics, but now I’d like to turn the tables around and talk about how robotics could help philosophy. Many think that writing is just an action of converting our thoughts to ink, a one-way output. However, through the process of writing, the process of rethinking and unraveling the complicated thoughts of the brain, we discover a lot of the world and ourselves. Hegel said, by changing and observing the world that is not he, people find individuality. Thus similar to this, through the process of creation of robots, humans will be able to discover themselves and understand the world much deeply, leading to the development of philosophy. Now not only does technology gain from philosophy, but philosophy also gains from technology.

           My friends who know my interests in sciences and computers raise their eyebrow when they see me reading philosophical books. They ask “Sungwoo why in the world are you reading a philosophy book?” This is because they currently see philosophy and technology as inhabiting two opposites of human knowledge. However, I think very differently, they are two similar fields that can really help each other in the presence of another. Without the blend of two, I think that robotics will be close to a lost child with pistols for hands.

Comments on SeungHyung Blog

Sungwoo BaeApr 1, 2012 05:57 PM

Hmm, Seunghyung I don't really get the point here. How are the three big entertainment companies controlling the music industry? Can you give some examples or proofs? Also, if they are controlling the music industry, why is there nothing we have to worry? And I have no idea why you put the line of companies needing lots of money entering global markets.

Me, Mr.Johnson, and all the world visiting your blog will appreciate greatly if you add a bit more to this post and really express how you feel about the music industry in Korea.

http://leeseunghyeong.blogspot.com/2012/03/is-reach-of-some-manner-of-oligarchy.html?showComment=1333328275042#c6937927771730152210

Music Companies Control over K-pop?

Some say K-pop isn’t K-pop anymore, that the charts and music of k-pop is far from the populism of the music in Korea, but rather that the huge music company artificially control what K-pop is. Though this could’ve been very true in the past, I disagree with this nowadays.

In the past, means of advertisement was very scarce. The means were only through television and maybe radio, which took lots of money and some social power to do. However, currently, due to the development of the internet, advertisement is available for all musicians of Korea. Now singers don’t have to make a contract with the big companies to get a head start in the music industry. They can spread their music on their own by means of blogs and internet galleries, and if the music is good, it will rise to become popular.

The Grasshopper Song by SunnyHill, K-pop

Lyrics

if you push back and push back, you won’t find happiness
Today won’t come again
At some point, the time has already…
Come On and Wake You Up

Put away the fake hope of being like this or that
If you just fight and argue all the time, it’s tiring

People go crazy over the habitual competition
They are trapped in the same restrictions
They get buried without anyone knowing
Come On and Wake You Up

Put away all the fake theories that are difficultly packaged
If you just kiss up and line things up all the time, you go crazy

Ring Ring Ring-a-Ring-a
Ring Ring Ring-a-Ring-a
Just singing a song and clapping my hands
I want to laugh as I live

* Ring-a-Ring-a-Ring Ring-a-Ring-a-Ring
It’s an echo of wanting to live peacefully
Ring-a-Ring-a-Ring Ring-a-Ring-a-Ring
It’s a melody of you and I wanting to laugh
Ring-a-Ring-a-Ring Ring-a-Ring-a-Ring
It’s a mirage of an untouchable happiness
Ring-a-Ring-a-Ring Ring-a-Ring-a-Ring
It’s a dizzy world that goes round and round

Lift up your head, no one is there
No one is above you
There’s no need to look around in caution
Come On and Wake You Up

All those who became sinners and danced and played
Here, here, come here and gather together

No matter what anyone says, you are cooler
You’re cool for enjoying it
In my eyes, you’re cooler
Come On And Let Me In

Chattering about this or that, making it seem like it will happen
It’s just for people who are tiring

Ring Ring Ring-a-Ring-a
Ring Ring Ring-a-Ring-a
Just singing a song and clapping my hands
I want to enjoy as I live

* Repeat

Where are you busily busily going, time is busily passing
Take a rest and let’s go together, let’s go peacefully
Everything’s so busily busily passing, busily passing
Let’s just sing a song, let’s just play

Where are you busily busily going, time is busily passing
Take a rest and let’s go together, let’s go peacefully
Everything’s so busily busily passing, busily passing
Let’s just sing a song Please Refill the Battery

I lived like such a fool
I was living in a rat race
It all passes passes passes, the lost time

* Repeat

Ring-a-Ring-a-Ring … x7

       The song focuses on the tragic atmosphere of the current society. Tragic, because the society only embraces the people who are academically distinctive, while people who does art and music are easily ignored. The music video shows workaholic ants who are ruled by the queen ant. The ants, though already abundant in food, keep on working due to the influence of the queen ant. The queen ant symbolizes a powerful group in our society that controls our behaviors indirectly, creating an environment to suit their needs making us think it is for our own good and happiness.

The grasshoppers are the ones who refused to obey the queen and decided to live their own life.

This is very similar to the Korean society where competition is over heated. People are judged only by what university they have graduated and aren't even treated human if he did not graduate college. Students in high school are kept away from sports and dreams that they have; they are sent to Hakwons(academies) till midnight everyday. Suicide rate of teens in Korea is first in the world and  I feel we are in need of some group or organization like the grasshopper to open the eyes of students and let them enjoy life.

Suicides Notes by Langston Hughes

Suicides Notes

                Langston Hughes

The calm, 
Cool face of the river
Asked me for a kiss. 

The poem is only three lines, yet it gives such a strong impact. Suicide is usually thought of as a horrible taboo that is to be seen with great shame. However, this poem really made suicide into something much more than evading life by throwing it in the trash. A kiss in the calm cool face of river, with these words, suicide is turned into something sacred and beautiful. Suicide is not seen as cold death, but rather a sweet kiss.

One view point to see this poem is to look at suicide as a decision and action that is to be respected. Marcus Aurelius once said, everything in the world is good and in season. In other words, every action and event that occurs in our life is good for us and on time, so we should not be angry or sad for even the most unfortunate events. Therefore, suicide itself could be a decision that is good and on time, and should be respected. However, I don’t really know how it’s going to help the high suicide rate in Korea, because I’m sure suicide is going to occur even more frequently if the action is seen to be as respected.

On the other hand, seeing that the river asked the speaker for a kiss, it can be seen that people who commit suicide make the decision due to outside forces rather than an internal reason and commitment. The poem could be criticizing that we should not blame the people who commit suicide, but rather the society, or the river that forces them to kiss the blissful lips of death.

Suicide note

                                                     Sungwoo Bae

The white

thin blanket of clouds

Promised to take me on a glide

Homicide note

                                                     Sungwoo Bae

The Red

Bright rays of the sun

Glanced on my eyes

How I started KMLA Life

 I rushed into the small space and sat down. I was half awake and shivering. The place was cold enough but the freezing sitting that I sat down on was just ice itself. Due to the shock from the coldness I temporarily forgot the agonizing pain in my abdomen. While in the shock my mind drifted through time and space. I pondered about yesterday, what I should do, and the entrance ceremony today. What?! Oh shoot the entrance ceremony! I quickly took out my cell phone. Dang it was 9:48 and I had to be at the gym by 10:00! The alarming thought took me out of my shock and the pain came back. Arr… I focused on my lower stomach muscle and pushed heavily! The beautiful smell ammonia filled the atmosphere and I rushed to be in time for the ceremony.

The Body Reading Journal 2

Mary Hopkin - Those Were The Days       enjoy it as a BGM : )

           I sometimes miss the days when I didn’t think a lot about what was going on in life. It is better to put it “couldn’t think” because I was in the age when one couldn’t really realize oneself thinking. I had no worries what so ever and just marched through life with a big smile on my face. After going though Junior high, I have matured a bit more and gained some abilities to think ahead and be more close to being an adult(still very far from adult though). I would look back in time and be able to feel how embarrassing my actions were in the past and make my actions on carefully calculated logical thinking rather than following my instincts. Though I enjoy thinking with myself and swimming through my past and future pondering, I really do miss the days when I had not needed to think and all.

           The days the boys in the body are having really awakened me the memories of my hakuna matata past. No worries at all about reality but enjoying all parts of life as it goes, going on body hunting adventures and standing besides friends. It seems people lose a lot of themselves when they go through maturity. Letting go of friends that were so close, forgetting the big dreams that we made thinking we would certainly reach, and even lose morality becoming colder and benefit seeking as we grow up. It is sometimes sickening to see all ourselves studying, working, and shedding tears trying to outrank each other when we’ve already had the world when we were young.

           Gordy, Chris, Vern, Teddy, though they are living with none caring families, it seems that they still got the world in their hands – standing and depending on each other filling the empty space made by their families. Though I’ve passed the age far from twelve, I think I still got friends like that I could really depend on spend time with. After I become an adult and grow old, would I ever have friends like these? Or would I become even more thoughtful and lose more of myself as I become more mature. It really feels like a trains honking behind be to become an adult though I don’t want to lose all these privileges of being a teenager… Maybe the train would stop if I go to neverland…

           The body really made me think about the times I had when I was young (I’m still young but younger I mean) and the friends I had and have now. Though I want to remain how I am, keep all of myself and even refuse to become an adult, I know that the reality would squish me as the 100 ton train goes over me. Now I kind of understand what the adult Gordy must have felt thinking of meeting the deer in the forest and calling it “the cleanest and best part of the trip”.

EOP and Hanbok

6.  Reflective Essay about an experience you’ve had at KMLA recently (not last semester. I know you wrote this in Mrs. Choi’s class to).  You should weave in the theme of a “learning experience” and come to a resolution by the end.  Club activities, homate experiences, how to deal with rules that are made to be broken etc. are all themes you might consider.

Required Writer’s Choice: Option 1.

Mornings of KMLA are tough. When large amounts of homework, quizzes, and club activities are combined with morning exercise with a dash of cleaning inspection, morning becomes hell in KMLA. It was one of those morning hells when I heard a shocking yet true word from my friend.

           My friend, also roommate, was in a very cranky mood that day. It was as if he had bee hives planted under the silly pajamas that he was wearing. He was whining and swearing as he got through the morning but exploded when he got to his school uniform.

“S***! Why is this HanBok so F****** hard to wear! I don’t get this crap about maintaining tradition and wearing this ridiculous HanBok as school uniform! If we really care about Korean tradition, than why do we have EOP(English only Policy) to make us use English in our daily lives? Arg! I got the wrong leg in my pants!”

It was rather hilarious to see my friend swearing while struggling with his HanBok pants (I think he was losing the battle). However, as I thought about what he said, I had to agree with him. If we’re trying this hard to maintain our own tradition by living in Hanok and wearing HanBok why are we keeping EOP? This had me going on thinking for the whole day. And this is what it lead to.

You see, the world is always in constant battle between keeping one’s own identity or rather assimilating with other parts of world. Korea is not an exception. To be honest a large part of Korea has already been assimilated with the world. Through the process of modernization, Korea has abandoned the traditional clothing, houses, and culture of Korea while bringing in new culture such as T-shirts, jeans, apartments, and hamburgers, which most came from the west. Now scholars are fighting whether to get hold of our own traditions to keep us from losing our identity or to fully assimilate with the western culture to increase competition for Korea in the global ubiquitous world. Which should we choose? Our own history and tradition while losing all the benefits of sharing the same culture with the rest of the world, or the conventional and efficient assimilation while abandoning our true selves during the process?

This is a similar question as universalism and multiculturalism,  one awesome all combining culture to rule them all, or many respectable cultures all equal in value ruling the world. I think that KMLA has done a wonderful job of solving this universal question that is tormenting many great minds of the world, going right between them.

If KMLA is to go with the multiculturalism side sticking to Hanbok, and Korean traditions, we would be able to maintain our identities but lose contact with the larger world and fail to be the leaders that the school is trying to educate. If KMLA is to go with the universalism side sticking to usual school uniform with white shirts and using English, we would do well as we graduate and jump into the foreign world and become powerful people. But would it be worth anything if by then one’s lost all esteem of where he came from or what he isㅡnot a good leader either. But what KMLA has done is, to wear the traditional clothing Hanbok while using English in our daily lives, just the balance between them.

In a way KMLA has reached the true hybrid between multiculturalism and Universalism. Keeping the precious identities of Korea and also becoming assimilated to adapt to the larger world. Absolutely remarkable it seems to me. And to all this, I have to ask my cranky roommate for helping me realize this.

Spreading Technology

           

5.  Review a TED video of your choice (not Ken Robinson), and include aminimum of 20 SAT words within your writing.  Underline them in bold. If you want to use more without sounding ridiculous, you are welcome to try.  Select them carefully before you write.

Required

     Even at this moment prodigious technologies are found all over the world. However crucial knowledge engendered were usually not tangible to the general population.

“unfortunate situation where a tiny, tiny fraction of the world can actually participate in this exploration or can benefit from that technology.”

 It would just squander between the very astute minorities, due to the reticent environment between the common public and the highly professionals. Though due to the pivotal advancement of communication nowadays such as YouTube, TED, and other ubiquitous means of information, the immense technologies atrophied may now become exhaustive coalescing with the whole world with ease.

“ make the technology accessible to a much wider percentage of the population.”


    The video shows a exemplary application the application of the phenomenon. The guy in the video, Johnny Lee, working diligently with fanatic devotion found a very eccentric usage of the wii remote. He tweaked the remote and created elaborate programs to use the remote to simulate an interactive whiteboard, and 3D TV. Due to his innovative work, now companies and schools don’t have to buy expensive equipment but use scanty materials to do the job. We owe large part of this to YouTube for expediting the spread of ideas and knowledge throughout the world. Now being esoteric is the thing of the past.
    
      "hope online video distribution to be embraced by the research community"

Review on Starcraft and Korea's Obsession over it

    

3. A Review.  You are allowed to review anything you want – a book, movie, video, album, game,  restaurant, hotel…. Just about anything.  You should have personal experience with that thing, and supply factual data to dress up your writing (Rotten Tomatoes, Amazon, IMDB, and Metacritic etc).  React to opposing or supporting reviews that might add to your response.  You must include a rating system.  Stars, thumbs, out of ten or our of five, A- or C+ etc.

Required

The world is asking Korea; why are Koreans so obsessed with the game Starcraft? Though I’m a Korean myself this is not an easy question to answer. I first met Starcraft when I was 7 and almost grown up with it. It was the first computer game that I ever encountered and if I recall myself playing it, memories of me figuring how to beat missions and computers is what pops up. It was truly an enjoyable game, even for my elementary self. Now I assume most Koreans felt like this when playing Starcraft. But why? How has such a normal game such as Starcraft become so loved in Korea?

           

    The game Starcraft was first published on the ancient year 1998, by Blizzard Entertainment. Blizzard is famous for many games such as the Diablo series and Warcraft series but it has not ever gotten a more popular hit than Starcraft. This has to be thanked to Koreans for buying 4.5 million copies of the overall 9 million copies worldwide. At the time of its publish, it was viewed as a overall good game but it wasn’t that special          Here are some reviews given by critics at that time.

Gamers' Temple    96

“One of those rare games that is not overly complex, but provides a challenging and fun gaming experience. It never seems to get old or boring.”

Yahoo! Games  90

“You get a fun, instantly appealing, easy to play-hard to master real-time strategy, with character and an endless amount of playability. “

Cincinnati Enquirer   80

“It won't win any awards for originality, but it's good enough to shrink your nightly sleep to just a couple of hours.”

1. Graphics and technical components   ★☆☆☆☆

           It is possible to understand the popularity at the past but how is Starcraft maintaining its grip over 13 years in Korea? The graphic and technical elements of the game are ancient, 2D isometric screen with low quality graphics and physics engine giving awkwardness, sound play and out of game add-ons from the 90s. Even the entire size of the game file is only about 700 megabytes while today’s games like Call of Duty, Modern warfare 3, going way over 20 gigabytes. I give it  one star for graphics and technical components for this game.


2. Game play   ★★★★★

           While Starcraft carries simple game play and graphics it’s a game where you can fall really deep in. It’s one of the games very easy to learn but much harder to master. Macro strategies combined with small micro controls makes Starcraft very addicting. Starcraft is a game where bad players can hardly beat computers while pro gamers can beat average players 3:1. The more players enjoy this game; they obtain new skills to excel in this game. I think this is the most crucial factor in Starcraft that led to its popularity, very simple game play while having the most complicated skills to master to be good at it. Koreans just loved it even till now. Thus I give it over 5 stars for game play for this game.


3. Influence on Korea   ★★★★★

In 1997 Korea met the IMF foreign exchange crisis and it was in dire need for some economic boom. In 1998 Starcraft just did the job fueling 15thousand jobs and 900 million dollars into the Korean economy. Scattering over 20,000 thousand PC rooms in Korea, now starcraft isn’t just a game but a culture for Koreans. It has gone so far that Starcraft has become a symbol for Korean males, if a Korean male does not know or is unable to play Starcraft he is likely to be teased that he is not a Korean. Pro-gamers, PC-rooms, game leagues giving massive amounts of prize money, these all game from Starcraft. I give it 5 stars for influencing power for the impact it gave to Korean culture.

Here is a Starcraft game play of the famous pro-gamer lim yo hwan.

Starcraft is still growing its power over Korea due to the new Starcraft 2 released in 2010. Starcraft 2 is a 3 part series starting with Wings of Liberty. I have played and is enjoying Wings of Liberty now and look forward for the latter series.

Trailer of Starcraft 2 Wings of Liberty

Sea turtle, joker, facade with out be verbs (for Mr.Moon)

I live like a sea turtle, wandering the streets without thought. I fly upon the sky, floating on thin clouds, enjoying the world itself. No worries, I tell myself and go on daily life in lazy fashion. I enjoy others laugh and try hard to earn them. I joke and fool around like a joker surrounded with laughter. A thick shell surrounds me and hides my true self from the world. Only when at my most comfort and closest I reveal; most are aware only of the Façade that surrounds me.

The body reading journal 1, 0~30pg

The first pages of the book focus on the introduction of the setting and characters of the story. . The story takes place around 1960 in the town of Castle Rock, Maine. There are 4 main characters Gordie, Charlie, Teddy, and Vernand the story itself is told by Gordie himself. The book goes around each character introducing the background of each character. After some explanation is done, the story sets of as Vern finds out about a body that is yet to be found. The 4 boys plan to find the body.

         Just as the story starts to hold a firm on the ground, a story inside the book is introduced. The story is written by Gordie again and is about a guy named Chico going through similar hardships that Gordie faced. Now this confused me a little bit because even before I could get a hold on the main story another story was thrown at me and it was hard to follow all of them. This new method of writing was very interesting to me and I kind of liked it. Maybe I’ll try this in my writing later on.

What is Karma? Spring... (unfinished?)

What is Karma? In Buddhism, life is a repetition of death and reincarnation. During this cycle of death and rebirth the only thing that remains after one life and the other is Karma. Karma is the cause and effect of all actions done in life. If a deed, good or bad, is done at a point in life, the deed will return to the person in the future or the next life. Thus Karma makes life like throwing objects in the air, whatever you threw in the past, it will come back and hit you later in the future.

The little monk in the movie tortures weak creatures for his own pleasure. At this point, the ball full of bad deed is thrown in the air. Later in the movie the big monk punishes the kid cruelly, the same way the little monk tortured the creatures. Now this is very similar to Karma. At the time the little monk’s action was in progress, only observation is made by the big monk. The kid is not stopped nor scolded; the big monk just stands as an invisible man. However similar to the cause and effect of Karma, the bad deed returns to the kid in the future as punishment for the kid to suffer all pain endured by the creatures. Thus the movie could be viewed to illustrate Karma in a small scale.

Now, as a toddler, I was also a young mischief full of curiosity. I would catch little insects such as grass hoppers or butterflies and torture them for my pleasure as well. Well torture it is, viewed from myself today, but when I was at that age, it was just a fun game where the consequences were not fully understood.

Now for these actions when I was a kid, will I be punished later in life due to the cause and effect of Karma? And should I be? So… What is Karma?

Life Pause

 

   “I just can’t do it. There just ain’t enough time!” I hollered in the street.
The workload and things to do has become overwhelming these days and I was beginning to crack. Only if I only had more time everything would solve out…
“Please god! Give me time!” I wailed.
Exhausted and depressed I went home and collapsed on my bed. Then just as I felt asleep a voice rang in my head and started to tell me a story.

       
     Once upon a time there existed a boy who could stop time. He would be able to freeze time whenever he wanted.
He would never be late to school, sleep whenever he wanted, and always got 100 on every exam. However to this awesome and amazing skill he had there was a huge downfall which he realized too late...


     It was a hot summer day when he realized the critical flaw in his ability to stop time. After he enjoyed playing basketball with his friends he looked into the mirror. He was pretty content with the handsome and masculine face he saw in the mirror. But one thing that made him irritated was the day by day increasing wrinkles around his eye and forehead.


     Even though he could stop time, he could not help his time passing by which means even though he stops time for 10 years, he would age every second of those 10 years. He went fanatic and decided not to use his ability ever again.
However one day he found out that not using his ability meant he had to give up all the things he have enjoyed until now. Good scores, no late to school, those things were escaping from his grasp.


     He fell into deep confusion and chaos. He felt regretful about the past that he used his skill so often, but rationalized himself after few minutes that he had to use the skill not to be late, receive awards and get out from inescapable situations. He was crying unconsciously. He started to complain to god about why he got this suffocating skill. Suddenly, he fainted and dreamed.

    

Then I woke up from my deep dream and found myself lying on my bed. It was a dream, I thought. I pondered a lot about time and how I spend it. I realized that more time wasn’t what I needed but actually will power and skill to use time efficiently. However I still want that time pausing skill…

Andy's Journey

Andy Dufresne the main protagonist of our story starts his life in an ordinary world as a hotshot banker. He had a lovely wife, a lot of money, and a overall good life. However unfortunately to our Heroes’ journey script he gets’s called into a life of adventure.

Well to put it more precisely it wasn’t a really a call to the other world but rather a kidnap. He gets convicted for killing his wife and her lover and gets 2 life sentences in the end. He does try to refuse this call by trying to persuade the Juries to his story but fails due to his unfortunate circumstances. Thus he ends up in Shaw shank prison crossing the threshold of his ordinary life. These steps take place in a very short time during the movie making it somewhat different than the normal Heroes’ Journey movies.
Now after crossing into the unknown world of Shawshank our main heroes meets his friend/mentor Red. Red, one of the first people that Andy talked to, supplies Andy many vital objects that helped Andy through prison life. Red had contributed much to Andy’s escape and had always been a very good friend to him.

Andy faces great challenges through prison life and meets enemies such as the sisters, the wardens, and Hadley. He meets allies such as Red, Brookes, Tommy, and his friends at Shawshank. One of the most important test that Andy had to encounter through was with Hadley. During the tarring of the roof Andy takes a gamble and talks to Hadley about how he can help Hadley to manage his money. Though Andy almost gets thrown off the roof, he succeeds in persuading Hadley and creates a turning point in the story which represents the ordeal of Andy’s journey.

Our main character now earns the protection of guards and many benefits by managing the Warden’s money. Our main character, after claiming his reward prepares for his road back to his ordinary world, or escape from prison. He digs for ears with his rock hammer and succeeds in his escape in the end. Our hero is severely tested and finally most conflicts are resolved. Andy returns with a false identity and lots of money which is his elixir.

The story of Andy Dufresne follows most of the steps in the hero’s journey. However another perspective is to look at the hero as Red not Andy. The real hero of the story could be Red and he could be the one going through the hero’s journey. Though this is a very interesting work with I’ll leave it for later.

Creativity vs Education

Creativity vs Education

           Now days the world is pretty much crazy about creativity. Companies, colleges, governments, and even high schools are looking for creativeness. Why has creativity come to so much importance?

           Before the modern times we live in, educated people that specialized in certain jobs were very scarce. However as the industrial revolution swept the planet, high level public education has become wide spread and just a part of normal life. As this occurred, the value of high level education dramatically went down due to the increased supply of educated people. Now even after the long years of school life, it’s hard to make a living out of it.  Creativity now comes in to differentiate these people who have suffered academic inflation. The people with new bright ideas who can think differently than most people are preferred most where.

           Ken Robinson, speaker in this TED video, explains that our precious creativity demanded everywhere is destroyed during the process of education. He argues that schools has become like factories assembling students as mere products. “We are educating people out of their creativity” he says. My opinion is that I definitely agree. The current public education in Korea actually has become like assembly lines creating student products while killing their uniqueness and creativity. Now all students care is their rank in class and nothing else. When students graduate they have become machines that only know how to score 100% in a test. I agree with Sir Ted Robinson completely here but I must ask him, then what must be done to solve this?

           Through most of his speech he introduced numerous errors in the system of education. For example, schools focusing on certain subjects such as math and science, anesthetic ways of education in school, and the separation of students by grades. However how must we solve this? And is it even possible for such education?

          During the industrial revolution numerous factories have been built for one reason, mass production. Though mass production destroys each item’s uniqueness, it saved a lot of money and time. This means that if we are to change our current education from mass producing factories to creativity enhancing centers, it would take massive amounts of time and money. Some mass education for young students is just inevitable in our society. If the students wants to pursue their interest later on in life there are colleges and graduate schools which are much more like the education that Sir Ken Robinson is explaining.

Also I think creativity and knowledge learned by education is sort of a trade off. When students are taught what they don’t want to be taught or in the speakers words “anesthetically taught” some damage will done to creativeness for students However as a advantage it gives them useful knowledge and intellect in the field that they are not interested in.

        Creativity comes in many forms. A child believes he can fly, that could be counted as being very creative. But to prevent him from jumping off a building, someone has to teach him that his belief is wrong, completely killing his free imagination. Now this shows that there has to be a balance between free thought and knowledge of the world. Now the problem is how do we know what thought to kill and not? Thus some loss of creativity is inevitable in the process of education.

           I agree with Sir Ken Robinson that a change must be made in our system of education. However the problems that he stated in his speech can only are solved by complete home schooling, which is also called no public education. In our current worlds state I don’t think a method exists anywhere that could really help to thrive one’s creativity while educating them. So thank you Mr. Sir Ken Robinson for making the public aware of this problem but knowing is just different then doing.