Assignment#7 - Reflective Essay(choice 1)

Minjok Orchestra - At last ... harmony!

  A long silence chocked my neck. At last, the teacher opened his mouth with a bottomless sigh. “I was very surprised. How could it be? … There was no harmony at all. Did you guys practice? You cannot go on stage, if you keep doing like this.” Every single word from his mouth stabbed our hearts. The teacher left and we started to pack in silence. It was the audition for the concert, and we, again, had to endure acrid criticism. On the way to the dormitory, I and my friends grumbled about the teacher’s attitude, but we could not say that he was unfair. In fact, he was right at some points: we were neither harmonious nor as good as KMLA orchestra. However, we did practiced a lot – and I was never absent. The only problem was that we did not “seem” to have practiced.

  I am one of the four cellists of Minjok orchestra. (Four cellists are, indeed, insufficient for any orchestra.) Although the names, Minjok orchestra (later Minjok) and KMLA orchestra (later KMLA), seem parallel, they are very different in many ways. KMLA usually plays classical music whereas Minjok plays fusions. Minjok Orchestra includes Korean instruments, such as Haegum, Daegum, Sogum, Danso, and Gayagum. In addition, KMLA is, obviously, much bigger than Minjok. KMLA has over 7 cellists, while we have only 4: two of 4 were not going perform at the concert. Players of any instrument, except for Korean instruments, were almost twice more in KMLA than in Minjok. Two orchestras also perform at different places. Minjok plays the national anthem and the school song every Monday and we perform at Teacher’s Day and school concert. We perform at a concert hall in Bunddanggu with Seongnam junior orchestra. KMLA perform at Teacher’s Day and school festival. As far as I know, KMLA also has performed many times outside of the school.

  When I chose Minjok orchestra, I did not know much about the difference between the two orchestras. Frankly speaking, I was tempted to apply Minjok because the seniors looked friendlier and I wanted to sit during the Aeguk Johwe(애국조회). After the audition, I regretted my choice. ‘If I had applied KMLA, would I have been a better player?’ Now, I know that this was wrong, but at that time, I hated being scolding just because I was in Minjok. I could not see any hope: we practiced the same song, Frontier, over and over, but we did not make it.

  Nevertheless, we did not have choice but to practice more before the second audition. We practiced and practiced and practiced. I practically memorized the whole song. We also called Taepyungso and Janggu players and practiced together. Finally, we took the second audition, and we passed it. We were even applauded. Yet, the teacher said we did not reach the harmony: the reason why he passed us was the effect of Taepyungso and Janggu. Still, I was pleased to get the second chance.

  After the audition, we practiced more, on the weekends, self study time, meal time, and IR time. We often had to practice in the auditorium or PLZ’s practice room when KMLA orchestra used the 3^rd floor of the Chungmu building. By the way, from the third person’s point of view, we should have looked very funny. It was, indeed, ironic that the “orchestra” played on the audience’s chairs, facing the stage. Although we were in a desperate situation, we felt identified, undergoing the same difficulty together. We were more like a family than an orchestra. (I notice that the word, “family” is a cliché, used by every club to describe itself, but, hey, there is no other word to define us as we are) Once the music teacher visited us and said that we looked pitiful. Well, we all know that already, but what can we do for that?

  The day before the rehearsal, we had the last practice. We had practiced a few more pieces, but the conductor decided that we need more practice for other songs. While we were playing Frontier, the teacher showed up. He wanted to see us performing. I felt my heart pounding; it was right here that he sighed at us with disappointment a few weeks ago. We started with the loud sound of Taepyungso. With the slight motion of conductor’s hand the orchestra started off, and I could “feel” the harmony. We were going with each other’s sound. Yes, this was it. When the song ended, I looked up the teacher; he was smiling. He and the PLZ members, who were on the way to dorm, stood there and applauded. I cannot explain what I felt in a few words. One of my friends told that he even beat the time, shaking his body. We were in a small practice room, which we could only use when KMLA was not practicing, but my happiness was bigger than anything.

  Still, Minjok Orchestra had to go over poor situation even at the concert hall; our waiting “room” was assigned at the hallway between the other practice rooms of Samuchim, SOS, and KMLA. At last, we used the KMLA’s room together, but we could not erase the feeling that we were, apparently, treated poorer than KMLA though the two were both orchestras. During the rehearsal, the stage director kept on adding mikes, for the sound was too small. Bunch of mikes, which looked like IVs, hung in front of every part except for Taepyungso.

  Finally, the day of concert arrived. Minjok was to perform at the end of the 1^st part, after KMLA. We waited behind the curtain while KMLA was performing. After they finished the third piece, a large applause, as I expected, filled the hall. Now it was our turn. We walked on the stage in the dark. We had only one song ,which we prepared for almost a year. Yet, I wanted to make it better and more impressive than the three classics. The yellow, warm light turned on, and I could see the familiar faces of our Minjok orchestra. Except for the size of the stage and the black suits, we were as we had been in the practice room and the auditorium. The conductor walked in and bowed. She was the one who suffered the most from the sour criticism and ignorance. She waved her hand, and Janggu started the rhythm. I, the “only” first cello, was almost obsessed into the music. When the song ended, I realized that it was my best performance ever.

  Yet, there was no such a drama out of the stage. People seemed to remember only the Taepyungso, who is originally the flute player in KMLA orchestra. Some people asked us why we only played one song for every performance. I have to acknowledge that it was abnormal to play only one song for an entire year, and we still have to improve more. However, now I appreciate my choice for Minjok orchestra. Enduring the hardship with the members, we established strong intimacy, which, I believe, no other recognized clubs cannot achieve. Though we were hurt from others’ sayings, they are now all precious memories. Most importantly, we learned that WE CAN DO IT!

Developmental Psychology of Confucius?

I was doing psychology homework in the afternoon, completing the key-term note. I was at the page where introduces the developmental psychology from sociological perspective. All of a sudden, I reminded the lesson in Chinese class. Though the psychology textbook only deals with modern theories in the western countries, Confucius also mentioned about the development over his own life time in the Analects. Let me compare Erikson's Psychosocial Stages and the fourth verse of the Whi Jung in the Analects of Confucius:

Birth to 1 year	Trust vs. mistrust
1 year to 2 years	Autonomy vs. shame and doubt
3 to 5 years	Initiative vs. guilt
5 years to puberty	Industry vs. inferiority
Adolescence	Identity vs. isolation
Young adulthood	Intimacy vs. isolation
Middle adulthood	Generativity vs. stagnation
Late adulthood	Integrity vs. despair

15 years	志于學 : aspired to learning
30 years	立 : became independent
40 years	不惑 : became free from vacillation
50 years	知天命 : realized the God’s will
60 years	耳順 : understood anything that he heard
70 years	從心所欲 不踰矩 : doing what he wanted, yet his behavior was always reasonable.

Both Erikson and Confucius divided the developmental stages regarding the cognitive level at certain ages. Erikson claimed that people at each stage develop their personality, confronting unique task at each stage. Confucius talked about his own experience, which can generalized into ideal developmental model.
Confucius did not considered the earlier stages before the adolescence, maybe because his main concern is about the developmental stages as a scholar. The first stage of Confucius' development is consistent with the sixth stage of Erikson's theory: Confucius found his identity of scholar at the age 15, which is the middle of adolescence. The second stage, becoming independent and the stage of young adulthood in Erikson's model are a little different due to cultural issue: in the wiestern culture, independence from parents is very normal, but in Asia it is not. However, they basically deal with the same theme that young adults should reform their relationships with others to be a "socially healthy" adult. The fourty year is the threshold between the young and middle adulthoods. At this stage, people should be free from vacillation, according to Confucius. I think that saying means when people enter into the middle age, they have be prepared to become instructors for the young. At the age 50, which is the halfway of the middle adulthood, people realize the God's will. In particularly in Erikson's theory, the God's will can be interpreted as the responsibility to help the next generation. Finally, at the age 60, Confucius was able to understand anything that he heard. Although the age 60 is in the middle adulthood, Confucius' stage is better match with the last stage of the Erikson's theory. (Maybe it is because Confucius was special.) At the age 60, Confucius had experienced so completely that he reached integrity of understanding others' words. The more advanced integrity came when Confucius was 70 years old: not only his cognition but also his natural behavior became complete. I think this last stage of Confucius is the ultimate level of "integrity" as normal people have to think consciously to behave appropriately even if they become old.
In fact, those two theories of development might not be accurate depending on the cultural background, educational environment and capability of individuals. Yet, I found it interesting enough to compare the thoughts of two very different people - one is a philosopher in ancient China, and the other is an American psychologist in the late 20th century - on my halfway of boring and demanding homework.

Assignment#6(required) - TED Review

David Keith : A surprising idea for "solving" climate change

  Last winter vacation, I researched about climate change and environmental engineering by collecting information from diverse articles, books, and journals. Once, I was researching about global warming and found an article introducing a novel idea of emitting sulfate molecules above the ozone layer to lower the temperature. The idea was inspired by the cooling effect after a volcano eruption, according to the article. The method was not so demanding or costing, but many people worried about its environmental impact. Actually, most ordinary people feel uncomfortable with artificial control of environment, such as geo-engineering, due to unknown risks; even I was opposed to the geo-engineering for the same reason. However, as David Keith claimed in the lecture, geo-engineering is not only expected to be an ultimate choice for environment, but a serious issue demanding profound discussion by entire population.

  Before we conclude whether geo-engineering is good or bad, we have to understand the characteristics of the environmental issue. Environmental problem has two ambivalent factors; one is about time, and the other is durability. First, environmental problem has a tight time limit. Although scientists can invent better ways to save the environment in the future, the nature never waits for humans: We cannot freeze the melted icebergs at the poles after they melt away. The more important thing than investigating to reach an absolute solution is acting the ideas into practice to alleviate the matter. On the other hand, we have to judge whether one possible solution is innocuous or not. Historically, the catastrophic destruction of ecosystem due to DDT shows that prudency in releasing new invention cannot be overemphasized. Every technology in engineering has possibility of unknown danger. To preclude any possible disaster, the geo-engineers should always be careful with new findings. To summarize, geo-engineers should be not only logical but also be pragmatic, balancing the two factors.

  Unfortunately, this “balance” is too hard to define objectively. As David Keith mentioned in the lecture, the environmental issue had been discussed for a long time, but the problem has not been ameliorated, but had only got worsened. It was very shocking that the environmental problems had been discussed for about 50 years, yet the contents of the discussion are almost the same with contemporary articles and papers. It seems that politicians and scientists have cared too much of "expected" side effects that they have overlooked the first factor, the time management. 

  The lecturer suggested us a very tempting and expedient solution to ameliorate the global warming in a short period. He did not thoroughly explain how his idea works, but he assaulted that his idea will surely work out very effectively. Still, many apprehensive people did not accept this solution saying that sulfate molecules will give a negative impact on the atmosphere in some way. Yet, I think judging whether this solution is harmless or risky is only a peripheral approach that does not make any progress. It is true that this tangible solution seems risky, but we should do something before it is too late. It is true that David Keith's idea is not the best idea, but putting the ideas into practice will engender the time to develop incomplete ideas into more exhaustive and concrete. If we have a time to study more about climate change, we have chance to find better solutions, at least; if we do not have time, all the creatures will be threatened.

  Before we put the geo-engineering into practice, we have another obstacle to overcome: It is moral hazard. People tend to have blind faith in the technologies to become more careless about environment. In order not to cancel out the effect of geo-engineering, I believe that policies and treaties should go along with the geo-engineering, scrupulously controlling the moral hazard. Even after the effect of geo-engineering becomes apparent, the effort to save the earth, such as recycling and developing alternative energy, should not be stopped.

  This TED video confirmed my idea of environmental science: Environmental science is complex not only because the mechanism of the nature is esoteric but also because it is more universal field than a branch of science. Since, environment is relevant to all the creatures on earth, environment issue is a jumble thousands of small interlocked wheels. It seems that explaining all the phenomena in a lucid way is impossible, but at least, one thing is very clear; before put something in action, we cannot preclude environmental disasters in the future.

Optional Assignment-Reviewing "The Help"

The Help(2011)

PG-13, 2 hr. 17 min.
Drama

Directed By:Tate Taylor

Written By:Tate Taylor
DreamWorks

Last Sunday, I watched "The Help" at the Megabox theater in COEX with my mom. Overall impression of this movie is that it makes people cry at some particular scenes, and it eventually makes people hopeful. "The Help" makes people think about ourselves and lingers for a long time.

The background of The Help is Mississippi in the 1960's. At that time, entire states except for Mississippi were undergoing groundbreaking changes due to many anti-racil discrimination protests. Still, racial discrimination and violating African Americans' rights were privalent in Mississippi.  Aibileen is the protagonist, who represents the African Americans in the movie. She is a black housekeeper, who has raised 32 white children, but could not look after her own kid. Her mind has been hurt badly by ignorant and biased white people, but she has never attempted to question the reality or to fight for her rights before Skeeter appears. Skeeter is an educated white woman who dreams to become a writer. She wants to write something revolutionary, so she decides to write a story about the help. Aibileen was at first afraid of helping Skeeter, but she starts to be more courageous.

Racial discrimination issue has been already discussed by many other films and documentaries. Only the events that convey the theme differ. The Help uses the events of African American housekeepers in particular. I thought these events  were impressive because it enabled the movie to dramatically contrast African American mothers and white mothers. It is very ironic that African American housekeepers were busy taking care of rich white chilldren, but cannot spend time with their own children. On the other hand, white women thought having a child is a proof of successful marriage, but they were too young and self-centered to sacrifice themselves to raise children. The rich used their wealth to spend more time for themselves, but as consequences, the poor was taken away their time to spend with their family.

I was also impressed by the way the director organized the story. While I was watching the film, I felt like I am reading a book; in fact, The Help is based on a novela. Generally, the film was in chronological order, but some of the scenes came out before and were connected later. Also, the director does not explain a lot, but I could imagine illustration or dialogues, that would appear if it was a novel. I think this way of expression is effective because audiences can imagine the moods from atmosphere or actors' behavior without hearing direct explanation.

Nevertheless, The Help was "fair" but not very innovative. The movie made some clever trials to move the audience's mind and to give a final lesson, which is very acceptable. Nonetheless, the movie was like a tale for children, which clearly devides the characters into angels and evils. Some of the critics said that none of the characters in The Help are realistic, and I agree with that opinion. If the characters were more dynamic, it would be more realistic. For example, the director could have questioned if all whites were discriminating colored due to biased and irrational reasons. I think most people do not argue about the theme because nowadays it is too obvious that racial discrimination is not acceptable. However, back in the 1960's, people did not think that was obvious, so the movie would have been much better if it delt with the theme from deeper and more diverse points of view.

★★★★★ : acting

★★★ : theme

★★★★★ : development of the plot

★★★★ : entertainment

average : 4.25/5

The Body - People in 1960 #1

Stephen King introduces many figures reflecting 1960's America. I didn't know many of them, as it was my first time to read about the American culture of 1960's. These are the pictures of the figures. I felt that America is, indeed, a large and diverse country.
1. Cowboys - Lone Ranger and Cisco Kid?
 On the page 328, Chris attempts to joke Gordie with his father's gun. He hurries Gordie to come along and says, "You wanna be the Lone Ranger or the Cisco Kid?" Then, who is the Lone Ranger and the Cisco Kid?

These images match up with what Chis wants to try with the guns. These two characters are typical icons for American Old Western Cultures. In 1960's, many movies and TV shows shared similar plots about cowboys and native Americans; in fact,  the Old Western story must have been the prevailing pattern of hero's journey in 1960's.

2. Baseball heroes - Micky Mantle and Roger Maris

 On the page 339, the boys talks about the common things that boys are interested in such as cars, baseball teams, and TV shows. These two baseball players, Micky Mantle and Roger Maris, are the legendary heroes in Yankees.

Micky Mantle is considered as the best switch hitter of all the time. He won American League MVP titles for 3 times and still has many World Series records. Roger Maris was a legendary right fielder who made a record of 61 home runs when he was in the Yankees.

3. A Daredevil! - Evel Kneivel

Evel Kneivel appears when the grown-up Gordie talks about himself. Gordie went to Snake River Canyon to watch Evel's motorcycle jump. This eccentric hobby(?) was criticized by Gordie's wife comparing Gordie with the ancient Romans who indifferently enjoyed cruel matches in Colosseum. When I first read this part, I thought Evel Kneivel would be imaginary figure, but he was real. Evel Kneivel was an American "daredevil" who tried 75 ramp-to-ramp motorcycle jumps. He tried to jump over Snake River Canyon, but failed and was injured severly. The reason for presenting the real stroy of Evel Kneivel maybe that he was so famous that he could represent the American pop culture.

MORE THINGS COMING UP!

Assignment#5(required)-Reviewing "Memento(2000)"

Memento(2000)

                                           My score is....

  

92 in Rotten Tomato. 8.6 in IMDb, 80 in Metacritic

“If you have enjoyed Inception, challenge your brain with another film of Christopher Nolan!”

In the middle of summer session, when I had nothing to do, I watched Memento experiencing a huge blaster in my brain. It was my first time to watch Christopher’s work, but when the movie was over, I was fascinated by him! Memento is so full of cues (therefore quite tricky), that makes watching Inception a piece of cake. This film is more like a puzzle that the pieces fit together at the end than an ordinary movie.

Memento is an object kept to remember certain people or events. Most people keep mementoes to remember happy events such as trip, festival, or wedding. However, in this movie, “Memento”, the protagonist, Leonard desperately relies on mementoes to revenge for his dead wife and his lost life. Leonard has gained amnesia after the brutal fight with a criminal that raped and killed his wife. Leonard’s new memories cannot last more than 15 minutes. He believes that the criminal is still alive and is eager to kill him. He “keeps” his memories by note taking, taking Polaroid pictures, and tattooing some crucial facts.

Then where does the puzzle come from? Basically, the director used the characteristic of “amnesia” creatively in many ways. First of all, this film is divided into two parts, and one of them is anti-chronological order. At first, I felt very annoyed of this order, for I had to concentrate very carefully to follow the flow of the movie. However, I felt as much fun as the annoyance, when the all fractions overlapped to create an unbelievable story at the end. It was also fun to predict previous events from the “results”. 

Second, you cannot be sure of ‘anything’ in this film; you cannot believe the characters, mementoes, or even the memory of Leonard himself. This fact can also be annoying, but this uncertainty is a tremendous chance for twists. I cannot explain any more to prevent spoiling, but I can tell you this; you will understand what Christopher believes about memory and unconscious at the end of the movie.

I read some critics, and I found out that the scores for this film vary a lot. In critics view page of Metacritic, I saw some 100 but there was also below 50 and even zero. Many people values the creative techniques, twists and cues, but some also think that the movie is over puzzling, lacking thesis. I agree that it is very easy to be lost if you don’t concentrate, but I value the uniqueness and creativity of development of the story.

P.S. For the students who are taking AP Psychology class, this movie is a perfect example of amnesia, that we have learned recently. However, I think the movie has some errors about the amnesia. I want to discuss these errors of the film and relate some scenes with the facts of memory that we’ve learned.

Reading Jornal#2 The Body(30 pages)

Compared to “Rita Hayworth and Shawsank Redemption”, “The Body” was more energetic and bright because it is about the boyhood memories. The humorous tone of Stephen King seemed harmonize with the boyhood story, as well. In the first 30 pages, things to note were the introductory paragraphs, introduction of main characters, and metafiction.

“The Body” starts with narrative about memories. I liked the first paragraph because of some sentences that touch my mind. For instance, the author says that the most important things are too valuable that the attempt to express them into spoken words only limits their value. I felt the same way when I tried to tell my beautiful memories with my old friends to others. I clearly remember the sense, and feelings that I had, but I cannot recall things that are visible, such as what I did, or what I said. I felt disappointed that my wonderful memory turned into plain and meaningless. However, it is hard to imagine why the author introduced this way. I think it will be clearer at the end of the novel, but right now I think the narrator wants to say that the following story has influenced him a lot.

“Stud City”, which is an example of metafiction – was a big part of the story. Why should the author suddenly go to the grownup story before even the adventure started? At first, I thought this interruption is not so clever because the story within the story was too massive that I could almost lost the flow of the main story, and the mood of the novel has shifted from entertaining and hilarious into gloomy and dark. To figure out what was the purpose of the metafiction, I read a little more than the assignment and stopped at chapter 8. First of all, the story, written by the grownup Gordon, suggests that Gordon is affected by memory of his dead brother even when he grows up. For example, the imagination that the brother may come out of the closet appears again in the story. Although, the young Gordon does not feel resentful about his parents or his brother, Chico and Gordon are both affected by the dead older brother. Then, why did the author have to suppress mood of the young boys, just about to go adventure, into heavy and sad mood? I think the explanation about the novel by Gordon has the clue in it. At the end of the chapter 8, Gordon says, “A Gordon Lanchance halfway along in the process of losing the shrine”. From this sentence, readers can anticipate that the journey is not simply boys’ roman for hero, but passing the threshold of the childhood. In that sense, it is reasonable to press the excited mood before the start of the journey that is both adventurous and melancholic. Also, I expect that the following chapters will bridge the gap between the start of the journey and the final outcome as an adult. In other words, the following chapters will serve as the panorama pictures that show how a little boy moves away from the naïve and ingenuous view point.

Up to the chapter 8, the boys have not yet set out for journey. From the next chapter, I will focus on what the four main characters do and how they reflect their personalities. I also want to collect more clues about the similarity between Stephen King and Gordon.