'Hitchhiking Game'

The dramatic change of relationship and traits of the couple is interesting to follow.  Hitchhiking game, which was initiated with no serious purpose, has satisfied the desires of both girl and the young man, but it had gone over the boundary.  The desire of girl to free from herself, her soul, extended herself to really become as unknown person.  The man also lost his love toward his girlfriend due to his conception with innocence and purity.  To me, it does not make sense that the couple has gone far away from they used to be due to the simple game. It is so dramatic that the game simply transfers the identity of characters and reflects the hidden desires of characters.  For me, a person who likes happy ending,  the ending was depressing that I do not prefer at all. However, it was new challenge to describe two characters with important source : Hitchhiking game.

Tao - Final Reflection

Tao is the new type of study that requires me to think and surprises me of its versatility, when it fits to many situations.  I was interested to know the deep belief of the Tao and its purpose for audience.  Tao is above our reproach that nobody can be the master who truly understands Tao.  Its ambiguous expression and its  indirect indication made me to wonder the true meaning of each verses.  My favorite verse was verse 24 which simply defines the meaning of Tao as "Let it go".  Tao seems to be free and unrestricted flow that do not interfere with the principles of society and is inclined to follow the nature.  It reminds me of the Buddhism which also depends on the nature and requires its trust on the occurrences. It was challenging study that made me to step forward in my thought.

Tao Reflection

<Verse 57>
In order to become an ideal leader, the leader needs to give up many things.  Eventhough the leader requires many things to protect and gain trust from followers, he or she should rather let go everything in their own ways.  What I can imagine from Tao is the free spirit that nobody can disturb.  Such prohibitions, weapons, subsidies are useless that should be thrown away.  It is irony on the third paragraph that letting go off the rules enable things to happen fluently.  Tao gives us the lesson that such efforts to control and gain desire are actually useless in our lives.  Therefore, depending on the flow of time is good idea.  I do not agree that much with the thoughts due to its extremly ideal suggestions, but I can understsand the relationship between leadership and liberty.

The Little Prince

1. "Grown-ups never understand anything by themselves, and it is exhausting for children to have to provide explanations over and over again."-pg3
The quote discerns the difference between Child's innocence and Adult's maturity. Adult's too realistic pattern of life makes them unable to understand children.  I agree that adults should also accept child innocence rather than living in only realistic society.  Child's innocence is pure and comfortable that adults need to seek for.


2".Grown-ups like numbers. When you tell them about a new friend, they never ask questions about what really matters. They never ask: "What does his voice sound like?" "What games does he like best?" "Does he collect butterflies?". They ask: "How old is he?" "How many brothers does he have?" "How much does he weigh?" "How much money does his father make?" Only then do they think they know him." pg15
This quote also criticizes the number oriented society.  I definitely agree that majority of adults judges and thinks everything in numbers rather than seeing through mind.  The realistic view toward the society made adults to concern numbers more than judging itself.


3."That is the hardest thing of all. It is much harder to judge yourself than to judge others. If you succeed in judging yourself, it's because you're truly a wise man." -pg44
The king's quote makes me to realize how I need not know myself.  I think nobody truly understands himself or herself thorough.  If they do, they must be truly mature. Understanding and recognizing one's true identity is hard task that has to be faced in one's life.  As king says, judging oneself is perplexed and difficult process to go through. 


4."One sees clearly only with the heart. Anything essential is invisible to the eyes." -pg83
The quote emphasizes the importance of invisible things such as moral values, ethic values, emotions and other humanized qualities.  Differed from adults, children have tendencies to look at invisible things especially through heart.  Rather than judging and believing something in direct way, it is also essential to consider the invisible values indispensable qualities.

5."Language is the source of misunderstandings." -pg79
 Language can help understanding unknown by explaining directly.  However, the invisible things can not be understood through the words.  Such those invisible qualities can be only understood by heart not by mouth.  Moreover, using words can also lead to the misunderstanding unintentionally.  Fox's comment also indicates the importance of  acting and thinking rather than speaking.

Different point of view

1. I decided to sleep with my mom because of the harsh weather I could not imagined.  I heard sound of wind whirling outside the window.  It seemed to be that someone was knocking the window.  The wind was so strong that I was afraid to look outside.  Suddenly, bright light came through the gap between the blinds.  Then, I heard something heavy fell down on the roof which made the light fell down from ceiling. Fortunately, the light fell down right beside me.
2.  Somehow, my daughter came to my bed and laid down beside me.  Her body was shivering that I wondered something was wrong with her.  Suddenly, I saw light coming through the blinds.  I could guess that she was afraid of the harsh weather she had never seen before.  Then, I heard a noise from the ceiling and moved to protect her from falling light bulb.  I noticed that nothing happened and checked the light bulb broken right beside her.
3.  Jane came over to her mom's bed to soothe her fear of bad weather.  Her mom wondered why her daughter laid down beside her.  Jane was so scared that she grabbed the blanket firmly.  The thunder fell next to her house.  Jane trembled her body and covered her ears.  The thunder strikes a tree next to the house, and the tree branches fell down on the roof. Because there were so many branches fallen down , the ceiling quacked and dropped the light bulb.  Jane's mom covered Jane with maternal instinct and identified that it was dropped next to her.

"Eva is inside her cat?"

Before reading the story, I guessed that the main character will be a cat as I read in the metamorphosis.  However, after reading it, I was befuddled. Eventhough Eva desired to be inside the cat, she could not because of passed time. What I interpreted the story was that Eva started to look for the cat , failed to find it and realized that already 3000 years had passed.  I was confused, so I looked at other critic's comment and interpretation about the story.  I found some interesting comments that Eva was already inside the cat, but she did not realize it.  I wondered were there any specific description that Eva was inside the cat? I could not think any evidence.  I gave up and decided to wait for the class to hear more description about the title.

The Metamorphosis

Chapter 1
May has a lovely pet, a parrot with colorful feathers and beautful voice.  Its name is Joey of which name comes from her father.  Her father is the famous singer in New York who was known for his amazing voice.  His voice attracted numbers of people , and many of his fans came to his concert on every sunday.  He had only five years old daughter as a family member whom he loved more than anyone else. One day, while heading to home, he found an injured parrot nearby a trashcan on the street.  He brought a parrot to his house and cured it by binding bandage around the its body.  As few days passed, he gave it to May as a suprised Christmas present.  Since then, May taught the parrot how to speak, listen and sing.  One day, she listened to her father's song and decided to teach the song to the parrot.  The parrot listened to the song several times and sang the song in different tone.  It did not clearly pronounce as May did, but it sang in beautiful voice that human could not have.  She decided to name the parrot as Joey due to its similarity with her dad.  After few years, her father was passed away due to sudden traffic accident.
Chapter 2
One day, May had a strange dream. She was locked in the cage and saw her father walking to the big door.  She tried to talk to her father, but nothing could be hard except bird's sound.  Her dad seemed not to notice her and walked away from her further and further.  She screamed and murmured that it was her dream. She opened her eyes to get out of her dream.  Finally, she woke up in the early morning and tried to grasp a cup to drink water.  She found something weird.  Her hand was covered with shiny blue and blended yellowish feathers.   She tried to get up and looked at her foot accidentally.  She found her foot as hard and sharp-edged bird foot.  She looked around the room and realized that her room looked bigger than usual.  She felt something strange and tried to look at the mirror on the wardrobe.  Because she could not figure out how to balance her body, she tried to get up several times.  She stood with her two small foot and tried to balance her body weight.  She jumped over her bed and landed on the wardobe.  Then, she dragged herself in front of the mirror.  She saw that her body had transformed into a tiny blue parrot with white ribbon on her neck. The ribbon was actually the hair band she got it as her birthday present from Joey.   Then, she realized what situation she was in, tried to hold her conscience, and pondered what she should do next. 
Chapter 3
She found her pet, Joey staring at her in the cage.  She looked for a key to open the cage.  She looked around and remembered that the keys were hanging on the wall. She holded the key in her mouth.  She put the key into the key hole and turned it around.  Because the key was slippery with oil, she could hardly grasp the key into her mouth.  Finally,with several attempts, she opened the cage and reached closer to Joey.  She wondered why Joey reminded her father and remembered her memory with her father.  Suddenly, Joey began to sing with most beautiful sound that May had ever heard in her life.  Joey walked out of the cage and flapped around its feathers.  Then, it turned back to May and stared at her for few seconds.  Joey flapped the feathers again and prepared its posture to fly.  May also flapped her wings and practiced to be floated in the air. The neighbor living next to May's room watched a big and a tiny parrots with white ribbon flying away from the next window.

What is Avant-garde?

What is Avant-garde?
(1860-1960)
Avant-garde means the movement in which contemporary pioneers or innovators signified the works that challenges against accepted standards.  It was originated in France by an artist, Gustae Courbet.  This movement confused elite, upsetted commerce and incensed moral society.  The representative of this movement was Salvador Dali.

Source: http://web.presby.edu/writingcenter/newsletter/avant-garde.html

The two typical movements of Avant-garde
1)Die Brucke
Die Brucke was originated in Dresden, German. It had been lasting from 1905 to 1913. In German, the movement means a bridge which connects common interests and link to the future. The representatives of the movement will be Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, Erich Heckel, Fritz Bleyl, Karl Schmidt-Rottluff etc. Die Brucke rejects academic tradition, realism and impression.  It was inspired by German medieval and Renaissance art.  It was sometimes called as untrained art that uses strong colors and distorted shapes to express strong feelings and vivid imaginations.  It has impacted on Modern Art and created impressionism.  The artists sometimes draw sexually charged events or the chaos in streets.


Example : Ernst Ludwig Kirchner’s Nollendorfplatz

Source: http://the-artists.org/artistsbymovement/die-Brucke/

 

2)De Stijl (1917-1931)

  De Stijl was started from Netherland which is often called as Neoplasticism.  "De Stijl" means style and indicates the name of the contemporary journal in Netherland.  The typical representatives of the movement are Theo van Doesburg , Piet Mondrian etc.  The style has been known for its purification of art and usage of primary or non colors. The artists also favored vertical and horizontal elements in their works.  These characteristics help artists to express utopian of harmony and order.

Example : Piet Mondrian’s Composition with Yellow

Sources: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/De_Stijl

http://the-artists.org/artistsbymovement/de-Stijl/

What is meant by national eating disorder?

The food disorder happening in America is becoming a serious issue nowadays.

I watched several movies about the current diet of United States in AP biology class. 

Those were 'Food. Inc', and 'Supersize me'.

By watching the movie, I realized how dangerous the American diet is.

According to 'Food, Inc', I listened to several comments about the problem and heard the story of a child who was died by eating a hamburger.

Moreover, the document ' Supersize me' amazed me how foods in United States can destroy people's lives.

The reckless experiment of  a man eating only hamburgers shocked me how instant foods are unhealthy and actually poisonous. 

As an international student, I wished the diet of Americans becomes more cooked and healthy food.  

About myself?

Name : So eun Park

Nick name: Joy Park

Birth : 01/31/ 1993

Home : Seoul, Korea

Interest: Sleeping, eating, watching dramas

The thing I am good at: Art, listening to others, solving the math problems(?)

Interesting fact:  had caecum surgery six years ago , Asian , Senior, loving family and friends,

have several nicknames: Teddybear, precocious child, racoon, parkso etc