love, bliss, pleasant, misfortune, injustice, and resistance

Since early on this year, the issue of Koreans—both north and south—being caught and handed over to North Korean officials on Chinese territory has been a unsettling topic to my heart. For a long time, Chinese police force was used to capture any North Korean escapees passing Chinese territory. Although such an act is against the international treaty concerning international refugees and escapees, the act was never openly challenged in fear of diplomatic problems, until early on this year. This time, the South Korean government made a formal objection to China’s plan to transport of nearly thirty people that escaped from North Korea back to their dreaded home.

 Having slept, played, and cooked together with those around my age that had to undergo the painful procedure of escaping from North Korea only a few months before, I was touched as I never would have before. The day I came upon the news, it was strangely easy to picture my friend desperately clinging to the South Korean embassy wall as Chinese police grabbed her foot. As a member of Amnesty International, I took part in this issue by promoting Amnesty’s efforts to sign petitions and send letters of condemnation to the Chinese embassy. Thanks to my efforts several school mates became aware of the problem and participated in helping the captured escapees. But, all went amiss as China again closed its damn ears to its neighbors and had its own way. 

 Despite the failure, the fire was not yet quenched in me and when news of a South Korean man caught in the same problem reached the news, I was eager to participate again in the protest. In this case, the person caught is a South Korean social activist that in his past afflicted himself with socialist ideals and actually visited the North a few times to see how communism was actually practiced. Thankfully, as Sartre did after Praga’s Spring, ideologists get a chance to revise their theories after witnessing sites where their theory was actually implemented, the person in this case also changed his mind after the visit. Therefore, he changed his view toward North Korea to a more acceptable one and focused on helping North Korean escapees reach Korea safely. North Korea saw this as a threat and the Chinese police force was called on to capture him.

 So, with such knowledge, I visited a church located across the Chinese embassy where people were putting on a 102 protest against the problem—by the way I’m not religiously afflicted to church. There, I read several posters that recounted successful escapees’ accounts and what’s more, accounts of what happened if the attempt failed. If the escape failed, the people are either taken to this concentration center with conditions much resembling Auschwitz or shot dead in front of their family. Even for other family members that were left in North Korea, the result is catastrophic. The victim’s family are all taken to the concentration center and both tortures and put to hard labor under insane living conditions.

 Waiting by the street for mom’s ride back home, this phrase resonated in my head, “I grew up not knowing the words, love, bliss, pleasant, misfortune, injustice, and resistance at the camp; I only learnt these concepts after I came here (South Korea)”. It wasn’t strange for them to describe themselves as dog turds, it seemed to me.

Words and Laughter (facepalm.. had read too much GRRM at the time)

Words are wind and laughter is but a mask.
Yet there is little doubt that such wind have power.

As instrument of power, everyone wielding it should take caution.
Nonetheless, too oft, we hear liars, cravens, and simple careless beings using the instrument in ways that hurt the innocent.
Everyday we meet friends in agony because someone was careless in creating false wind, ever careless of our friend for the mere merriment of the someone.

It is not much different with the mask we face in our daily lives.
Little truth is in but seldom is it powerless.

Vain, might people feel to know that such empty things hold power. But it seems to be the way of things in this life.

Axiz-Music Video:Hug Me &Clips from SBS,MBC

Axiz, a high school band
with skills enough to break to the 16elimination round for TopBand competition where hundreds of experienced bands participated,
have released their music video(though it's been some time..)


Anyways, they are really good and were called as the 'Enfant teribeul' of TopBand along with another high school band WMA, which had SonSeungYeon--winner of the famous Voice Korea audition--as it's vocal.

I think their spirit and passion is really admirable and was very surprised to
learn that they are from the same city as me and was in the same school as some of my friends in middle school!

Probably a fanmade MV of <Why Don't You Give It Up>

At first I doubted them a bit beacuse I read several comments on their videos which criticised them for overly concentrating on mere skills and other such frills when they should actually be trying to find and develope their own music. Being new to band music, I was swayed by such comments and thought them as too upbeat.

However, now as I have listened to band music for sometime and became to love it, I feel that they have a charm that make us flow into their thread of music. Kim-JongJin, judge of TopBand competition and nationwide recognized musician, even went so far as to state that their 1st stage performance was the best play ever throughout his 50years of life and that he wishes Axiz to play music until he dies.

Never knew they already got on air!!!

from SBS Famed Songs
+
http://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&feature=endscreen&v=Z6Zt_5z5hfE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6iZwgGFqR5E&feature=player_embedded
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7okRysG8ujc&feature=relmfu
from MBC Music Core

Here's a nice article on Axiz(though it's in Korean..)
http://media.daum.net/entertain/enews/view?newsid=20110726032409955
2 Clips from the actual TopBand competition(In Korean as well..)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uYSQMVdPpn8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9vIheDLO-hk&feature=endscreen&NR=1

Broken Valentine- new album:Shade

OMG
I can't believe I have this album myself!!!
All the songs represent a part of the music that the Rock Grunge Band
Broken Valentine and I guarantee that there isn't one part here that can be called worthless of my enthusiasm!
So far it is the 3rd album we can purchase but according to the interview I linked below,
it's their 1st Regular album!

Just a tip-
Broken Valentine is the
Winner of the 2009 Yamaha Asian Grand Final
&among the 32bands out of several hundreds that got to the 4th stage of TopBand competition
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DRcBb7DfYlc&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wC4whC2bvxs&feature=related

Official Music Video of the Album:Down

An early production, MV of the song <The sea in my worn drawer>


MV of the song <Song of a Fossil>

http://music.daum.net/musicbar/musicbar/detail?menu_id=4&board_id=3067
(-nice article,  but in Korean)

I actually made an album cover last year when their single:Calling You came out..
http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=9171040756349628827#editor/target=post;postID=4241967040840805230

WMA(We Make Arts)

WMA is a highschool band comprised of SonSeungYeon, it's vocal who recently won the Voice of Korea audition, and members of the group A Pair of Kings.

The group Pair of Kings was a band made by 2nd graders of Seoul Performance Art Highschool. They originally applied for TopBand competition without a vocal and passed the 1st stage with the premis that they find a vocal for their team.

Luckly, 3rd grader SonSeungYeon agreed and Formed the new team We Make Arts, in short WMA, and passed other stages onward until the 8elimination round, the video below.

I think SonSeungYeon's presence changed alot of things for this team. Although she had faileures earlier on with other competitions such as Glorious Birth, she got spotlights from this competition with her overwhelming aura and went on to win the Voice of Korea audition.
Furthermore, she also got admitted by Buckley Music school with full scholarship, she's very lucky I guess.

This is her own song she sang at Voice of Korea audition
&
Here are some links about WMA!
(It's from the actual competition and therefore in Korean)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&v=OAkeXNQlCkE&feature=endscreen
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=piyb3xDBi8k&feature=endscreen&NR=1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hVl0YSClCDs&feature=endscreen&NR=1

Harp Ukulele

 Into guitar and it's family currently.
Though do not and will not actually play it.
Banjo mandola are just as good as guitar.
Just as this harp ukulele is. Love this guy's music!!

http://www.youtube.com/user/banjoman22/featured
Banjo

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gem-lUfiypM&feature=BFa&list=UUBpLn6E9LWsJpmYAUBQH8vQ
Mandola

jung sung ha

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MPLEN7ylBDg&feature=BFa&list=UUvYOI9r09p88r2kGmeBTr3Q
 Band Toxic and other bands
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v7nOFRQEx8c&feature=BFa&list=UU9WK3wq-i2mDAJjTxS9C6tA
Band Phantoms and other bands
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HptmlRYNcn8&list=UUzyh8Txmqe-kueYaLOOHSGw&feature=plcp
band 2stay and other bands
http://www.youtube.com/user/kayaaak/featured http://www.youtube.com/user/heymin1234/featured
several bands~
http://www.youtube.com/user/pbpproductions
Mike Tmpkins
http://www.youtube.com/user/jwcfree/featured
Sungha Jung-fingerstye guitarist
http://www.youtube.com/user/yellowpostitman/featured
Jae Park-KPoP Star
http://www.youtube.com/user/EC2JM/featured
Eddie Chun-KPoP Star
http://www.youtube.com/user/iwoosung
Wosung Kim-KPoP Star
http://www.youtube.com/user/ColdplayTV/featured
band coldplay

yield? to whom?

26 years after...google earth reunites families

http://media.daum.net/photo/newsview?newsid=20120415184604452


According to the link above, which sites BBC as its main source, Google Earth helped the boy in the picture below find his childhood home among the billions of housings in India.
The boy was lost at the age of five when he got speraed from his elder brother during a railroad trip with his brother who worked on a train(the brother was discovered dead a month after the incident, hit by a train probably at the time of the incident).
After the seperation, the boy lived on the streats of Calcuta(the train he was on was headed there) until he got into a orphanage and got adopted by a family living in Tazmenia, Austrialia.

26 years after, he used Google Earth to search for places with any signs of familiarity , and through arduous procedure, found his childhood home and family.
Months from now, issues were raised concerning Google Earth's invasion of privacy.
At the present, Google Earth and its likes which provide a realistic, specific view of every area on the Globe invade the privacy of many isolated regions such as North Korea and is thereby approved by many.

Moreover, instnces such  as this work to promote a friendly atmosphere to recognizing the benefits of Google Earth.

Stephan Crane: Revised version of the Dark Brown Dog

Poets and reverence

Poems are coming back to me.
I had a taste for them when I was young ,but I lost it after I found that my poems took too long a time to wirte.

Now that I am reading poems again, I think of reverance.
Though it is not the same in the Americas, Korea and adjacent east-asian countries resrve a reverance specially for poets.
Poets, be they unknown, poor, or hard to look at, are respected as the pilars of society or the beings that help the pilars stand.
I also had, have, and will keep this respect for them.

But, what concerns me is that people other than poets write poems and resonate people's hearts just as professional poets do.
But, are these 'psuedo-poem-writers' given the same reverance?


As much as people writing poems for their life, such as Yaets, are devoted to the poems they write, others writing peoms also devote theirselves to their works.
Reverance should not come simply with titles but rather with what we do in life.

Some art!!

Freddie Mercury might like to see this

Jack London: To Build a Fire

Jack London is famous for writing stories that humble people. As is the case for several other naturalist writers, London often portrays humans as being foolish and selfish. In many cases, such characteristics result in an unpleasant end of the human. Due to this, many readers establish the consensus that London degrades human beings to show the dark nature of our kind. However, if readers pay closer attention to the surroundings in the story, they would notice that London rather highlights other objects in an upgrading way to achieve his purpose.
A novel with the name Jack London stamped in the front page is expected to include elements of nature in it. These elements, though seemingly bland and plain in the chosen environment, are crucial to the story in that London achieves his intent by featuring such elements in a high-held standard. To illustrate, London portrays the elements as possessing wisdom that humans lack. In the “Call of The Wild”, the dog survives the harsh environment suddenly thrown to him when even experienced hunters from the winterlands perish. Although some might take this as an obvious feature of a lucky protagonist, London goes lengths to portray the dog in the way stated just above. Through such an upgrading of the nature, humans—the product of civilization—are humbled.
Yet, one might ask, then, why would Jack London choose companion animals such as dogs as his main instrument to humble the human kind. This is when the presence of an wolf-dog in the story “To build a Fire” becomes important. Since the element of nature was a hybrid of civilization and nature, the element could stay with and behave like a product of the civilization, while still possessing the old wisdom Mother Nature gave. London expresses such views in other works as well. In the “Call of The Wild”, the dog discussed previously could survive despite his originally coming from the summerlands by growing out of his old form.

Brainstorming on 3-sided story

Three side story
1st perspective:
I am checking on facebook.
Suddenly this a chatting box emerges out of nowhere.
I see that it’s that pretty girl from Mr./Mrs.?’s class.
She asks me what is tomorrow’s homework for English literature.
I am about to answer when

2nd perspective
You give a light squeeze on my left arm
Whoo~ so U finally got a girl friend? kk
Congrats~

3rd perspective
Just coming out of the shower room with the stupid bathrobe on.
What, did I hear? He says



So basically this is a story about how a boy was caught chatting with a popular girl. The boy didn’t intend on chatting with her but circumstances led him to. The ‘you’ in this story finds out about this situation the first and keeps bugging ‘I’ about the situation. The ‘he’ is close to a lot of girls and he secretly(nothing is ever secret!) tells about this to some girls. Since he didn’t see the situation for himself, he wants to find out whether it is really an ongoing relationship and help ‘I’ if he can on how to deal with girls. They all get stressed out and the story ends with the three guys different than before. I haven’t decided on a solid ending but I know it’ll be a bit murky….not so jolly!

Mark Twain : Revised version of the "Adam& Eve's diary"

Mark Twain was one of the more issue-oriented writers of his time. Twain’s stories often deal with special issues that were prominent during his lifetime. With Tom Sawyer, he dealt with the lives of children, especially those of orphans and the poor, soon after the civil war. With Huckleberry Finn, he dealt with the lives of slaves on the run, something that was frequent in his time. These examples show Mark Twain’s affiliations as a realist. But, with the diaries of Adam& Eve, he tries some new attempts.

The two diaries are set in a time and place that no human being at the time –including Twain- could have experienced. Compared to the two adventure stories mentioned above –which are set in environments Twain actually lived in- this is a notable difference. Why might have Twain done this? Was he tired of always depicting realistic settings? Was he turning into a Romantist? To the present day, scholars agree that the answers to the above queries are no. Then, why was Twain seeking out a new style in which he was not limited in writing in the realist’s POV? I suspect Twain tried to do so by experimenting with simply making the characters and the relationship between the characters more realistic. Adam& Eve seem real to the audience despite the unfamiliar environment where they’re in because the two are described as realistic as Twain could.


-Comment-
Hyunseok Lee: Great connection between stories and realism. Good effort trying to analyze the writer in deeper way. However, I’m confused whether you’re supporting or criticizing on the point that Mark Twain had a new attempt on , . It would be better to make your claim clear through topic sentence. Plus, even though you asserted your opinion on the very last point of your essay, it was too short and not explained enough. (I understand the time problem) If you added some examples that Mark Twain tried to describe Adam& Eve realistically, it would be much better essay.

How to write stories? especially, good ones?

*got this from Lisa Joo's blog during Creative Screen Writing class

Edgar E.Poe: Revised verion of the "Tell-Tale Heart"

The young man seems to be one of those people that become too obsessed at random things easily. But, can he be defined as a madman whose mindset is totally different from us because of it? Controversy remains, most agree that but obsession is something inherent in human. Then, why should people distinguish the young man as so extraordinary?

Madness is often associated with behaviors thoughts that are too extraordinary compared to common sense. One such behavior might be the young man’s reaction toward the old man’s pale eyes and their gaze. To murder someone because someone’s appearance and attitude disturbs oneself is thought to be out of the ordinary. But, is it still safe to say that attempting to eliminate something that bothers one so much to result in one becoming unable to live with it is out of the ordinary? Rebels have risen up in the past, risking all they have, because they couldn’t bear the society that they existed in. In the renowned film [The Lives of Others], where the life of discontent writers in East-Germany is dealt, many writers either attempted suicide or revolt because they couldn’t bear their life. As in this case and still many others in everyday life where people attempted to eliminate the source of their agony despite all the ‘unacceptable’ actions they took, would it be still safe to say the young man is mad?

Anger, pain, sorrow, annoyance, despair: all emotions accepted as inherent in human beings. Why then should madness be treated otherwise? Why should it not be treated as something that can and is okay to happen to anyone? Though I pity the old man, I would like to say I could understand the young man.


-comments-
Chonghyun Ahn: I liked the realistic point of view that you raised; stating indirectly that the common sense and mainstream ethics is not divine, categorical and absolute. However, I would have liked a much deeper analysis on the motive of the murder. Was it just because of someone’s appearances? Wasn’t it more like “the gaze” that the old man had put on the protagonist? In such sense, comparing or identifying the protagonist’s action with Father’s killing for revenge is a bit awkward. Such vengeance murders are generally accepted (at least partially), actions in moralistic point of view by some people. In order to strengthen your argument of the relativity, you should’ve chosen a more significant example instead of acceptable one of fathers killing for their family losses. In short, the protagonist’s killing and that of the Fathers have different characteristics, which would enact as a flaw when trying to compare the two. Anyway, great work!! I liked it.

Lee Hyejoon: There were some very deep questions but it would have been better if you answered them too. For instance, you said that insanity was not a very peculiar trait for some mentally disabled people but something prevalent in everyone. Then there must be some difference between most people and Edgar Poe that makes him being called ‘insane’ what would it be? Maybe it’s because Poe and other ‘madmen express their madness out to the public while most people stay silent.

Ryu Jin-Gyeong: New perspective on the “eye” of the old man! I’ve read other critics saying that the ‘eye’ is another ego of the murderer. I thought it to be too symbolic, but you viewed it in other way. J However, I couldn’t understand your points -_- . Are you talking about the historical/ social examples? I think your explanation is quite confusing. Anyway, good job!

Nathaniel Hawthorne: revised version of the "Ambitious Guest"

Ambition is perhaps one of the less understood kinds of human emotion. Ambition is oftentimes accompanied by lust, devotion and persistence

As described by the Stranger, ambition is at first only a dream that passes one’s mind but after some time, as people struggle to keep their ambition persistent, devotion turns into a desperate act until people become too attached to it and make the ambition a part of their life. The stranger seems to have already gone through the process mentioned above. To him,


-comments-
Hyunseok Lee: Well-described and summarized the story, but lack your opinion. I believe you hadn’t enough time to write about what you really wanted to talk about. Nevertheless, you should have been writing about what you’ve learned from the story and expand your thoughts, not just explaining what happened in the story. Fresh introduction with the story [Little Prince], but I expect more lengthy and concrete body and conclusion. I’m looking forward to your interesting essay about how beings get attached to each others!

Chung Yoonju: It was very nice to relate [Little prince] and Dark Romanticism short-story [The Ambitious Guest] but I didn’t get what you really meant by. It will be much better to develop your idea in the introduction and clearly deliver your main idea. Also, I have a little different idea on the point of corrupted ambition the traveler influenced. I don’t think the traveler should be accused of leading both him and the family to die in the slide. It’s true that he somewhat enlightened (?!) the family about the civilized society but still the family is the one who blindly ran out of the house listening to the sound of slide – it was very common aspect of their life. I think it will be a well-opinioned essay after finishing the last
paragraph.

Jin-Gyeong: Did the family become familiar with the city life only by listening to the strange traveler? I don’t think so. Rather than becoming familiar, I would be much better to say that they were disturbed or agitated by the corrupted ambition. However, your introduction with the famous story [The Little Prince] was so cool. Hmm, but I think it is a little bit absurd to realte this story with the [Little Prince]. Anyways good.

MLA style guidance

In defense or satire of Kony2012? hmm....

Toung (facepalm.. )

I want to rip out my toung.
Since my desires, which are to be not born at all, to meet a painless, quick, and quiet end, and such on as the list goes..... cannot be met under ordinary circumstances,

-and because I can't learn to shut up when it is safer to do so,

I might as well paralyze my toung.

Kony 2012??....not so sure..

http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/reality-check-with-polly-curtis/2012/mar/08/kony-2012-what-s-the-story

Catfish review

Facebook started out in 2004. As is widely known, Facebook initially started as a method to rank the beauty of Harvard students. I started Facebook in 2011. As of now, Facebook has become a common means both for communication between people from different regions and people in need of a cyber space where they can share ideas and do group work. From personal experience, FB (Facebook)’s distinctive feature are interacting with others that may or may not be new to one and assume identities that may or may not be true. Angela Pierce did just that and became the catfish of Yaniv Schulman (Nev). A wondrous thing that a single program can help people do so much, isn’t it?
Catfish showed the audience that cyberspace has become a place where people can interact with others just as intensely as one would in face-to-face relationships. As in case of Nev and Angela, people can share their ideas and opinions with others through cyberspace. Often this is done by typing words into the computer which will be shown on the counterpart’s screen. This struck me as very similar to a form of written speech I experienced when both I and my mother couldn’t speak due to fever. During that time, we would scribble what we wanted to say on any piece of paper near us at the moment and show it to the other. But, a difference exists in that FB chatters cannot view facial expressions and gestures which I and mother could use to comprehend our intentions. Nonetheless, emoticons and face chats have bridge this gap in the past years. In Catfish, Nev and Angela could share their feelings about each other through the means stated above. But, the couple’s relation did not fully reflect what cyberspace interaction is capable of. If Catfish was a film with the intention of exploring cyberspace interactions with a depth, face chat, which was not dealt with, should have been used. But, as Nev repeatedly emphasize, this was supposed to be simply true, so excuses can be made.
Cyberspace interaction is not the only form of interaction in the film though. After Nev’s failed attempt at visiting Meg’s-Angela‘s decoy identity- farm, Nev moves on to the pierce family’s actual house. Starting from this scene, Nev is in almost constant contact with Angela. During this time, the issue of interaction between people in relationships where they cannot be true to others can be dealt. Angela is met with the task of playing a false identity where she cannot have feelings that she had as the person with a fake identity conjured by her image. Nev grasps hints which lead to the conclusion that none other than Angela herself is Meg. At this realization of the suspicion which had driven him to this long, tiring journey, he is given the task of interacting with a person that has been false to him in such a way that the person will not be hurt while at the same time making the person admit lies. The situation is a common one that can be found in everyday relationships between people such as wife& husband, teacher& student, or roommates.To know that one was cheated and yet having to stabilize such a relationship in a way that both sides of the relationship is not hurt beyond repair and yet correct the wrongs bring many thoughts to one’s mind. Nev came out relatively clean-faced out of it. He announced his realization to Angela without much fuss and still conveyed the essential message, that he will no longer feint for her. In actual life, will you be capable of such? Can you tell your best friend that I knew all along that you were a freakin liar and still manage to embrace that guy as a friend? I had trouble answering this.
But, before anyone interacts with anybody, people must promote their identities. In the case of Angela, a harder task than most, to promote a fake identity for a whole family and its friends was given. Angela succeeded in this at least for some time and could enjoy being the ideal person she always wanted to be. When drenched by the hazards of everyday life, people often wish that they could be born again. They wish for lost and forgotten dreams to come true so that they might escape the hardships that befell them. Angela wished for her dream as an attractive and outgoing dancer to come back. Eventually, she found a way to accomplish this buy making a false identity online at which she was presented the dancer she wanted to become in her youth.
The norm was that identities are shaped by how people act. Even if people wanted to promote an ideal image of them, it wasn’t possible unless people really lived up to the image. Facebook made the norm a bit less normal in the past few years. When people meet new friends at Facebook, they look at the “friend’s” profile; get information on the “friend’s” supposed hobby, political& religious affiliation, workplace, etc. The Profile, along with a few elusive pictures on the picture page can promote a whole new identity. This is even more effective and dangerous than other means of cyberspace identity promotion because Facebook spares such a large portion of their program to profiles and other related activities. Many experienced users of SNS raise caution to Facebook users because of this characteristic, which as in the case of Nev and Angela, can result in unwanted affairs.
Through the whole film, interaction between real life people and identity shaping is dealt. Angela might have wronged Nev in her way of approaching Nev. But, it certainly did provide the public with a thought to consider when going online to meet other people.

sources on Catfich

http://www.iscatfishfake.com/

http://www.artbyapierce.com/blog/2012/1/sanctified

http://www.indiewire.com/article/sundancedaily_controversial_doc_catfish_divides_sundance

http://blog.moviefone.com/2010/09/16/catfish-real-fake-interview/

http://www.vulture.com/2010/09/what_got_cut_from_catfish.html

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1584016/

Catfish fake or true??

http://veryaware.com/2010/09/catfish-real-or-fake-its-a-fake-sort-of/

http://techcrunch.com/2010/09/05/catfish-movie/

http://users.rider.edu/~suler/psycyber/bvinterview.html

links on walmart

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/5069992/ns/business-us_business/t/chicago-approves-its-first-wal-mart/

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/10/21/us-walmart-idUSTRE79K43Z20111021

Jae Park. Korean Singer wannabe

http://www.youtube.com/user/yellowpostitman?feature=watch

http://media.daum.net/entertain/showcase/kpopstar/top10?id=2#40531800

박제형


Ranking audition

Walmart Synthesis esssay 1st draft

Wal-Mart, why it isn’t a gift

Synthesis Essay on Wal-Mart
Submitted to: Mr. Garrioch
By: HaeUk Ko
Student ID: 111009
For: English Composition
Should have been On: Wednesday, March 7th, 2012
Actually submitted on: Friday, March, 9th, 2012


The relationship between customers and producers is an intimate relationship that is central to the modern citizen who is not capable of producing all the things one needs. This has grown even more important as nowadays, world-wide enterprises take a big role and the average citizen is belittled by his/her counterpart in the relationship. Because one side of the deal is too powerful compared to the other, certain cases arise where citizens believe themselves to be cheated by their counterparts. One such case is the Wal-Mart crisis. Wal-Mart should be blamed for harming the economic base of the local society, forcing unjust relationship regarding the producers of the product Wal-Mart sell, and maltreating the employees of Wal-Mart.
Wal-Mart becomes the dominant workplace around the local are as soon as it is built. This means that a substantial part of the local workforce is drafted by Wal-Mart as its ‘associates’. A society where the majority of the job offered is Wal-Mart ‘associate’ is neither attractive nor healthy. It is widely known that Wal-Mart associates are part-time workers. The associates do not receive a monthly salary they would have gotten if employed at the local herb-store but rather get hourly fees. A monthly salary is beneficial in the sense that the worker earns a stable income and that workers are free to leave work at any time after the pre-assigned time without having to worry about the hours their manager count. On the other hand, part-time workers earn hourly fees counted by the hours they put into work. This means that if a worker is sick or otherwise occupied due to unpreventable reasons, the worker’s income becomes drastically different based on whether he/she is a full-time employee or a part-time worker. Hence, a significant portion of the local area’s workforce becomes dependent on Wal-Mart and loses the power to pursue their economic rights if Wal-Mart violates it.
Furthermore, Wal-Mart doesn’t only affect people who work at companies but also people who own a company in the area. The documentary, “Wal-Mart: The high cost of low price”, does a splendid job of illustrating how local-owned mom&pop shops are negatively affected by the establishment of a Wal-Mart. From the documentary, a case can be seen where a shop dealing with hardware such as bolts and nuts was forced to close because Wal-Mart moved into the community. H&H hardware, located at Middlefield, Ohio, was affected in such a way because Wal-Mart’s field of sale overlapped with H&H hardware. The short clip, “When Wal-Mart comes to town: a success story”, John O’Leary, owner of a contractor equipment shop emphasizes how Wal-Mart helped his store by making more traffic and consequently, more customers. However, this situation can be seen as a result of the comparative freshness of the Wal-Mart in his area. Wal-Mart does not usually touch all fields of sale when they first move into town. Rather, they wait until they get settled and stable in the area before expanding. If the local Wal-Mart decided to include contractor equipment as a part of its sales, Mr. O’Leary would have stood no chance.
Retail stores do not produce the products they sell, but rather buy them from the producers and then make profit by selling the products at a higher price. This indicates that the original price of the product determines to a certain extent, the market price. However, this becomes different when the market is dominated by a large enterprise. In this case, Wal-Mart, who should be determining their price based on the original price they purchase, rather indirectly lowers the original price by setting the market price at a low price. Because Wal-Mart has grown so big and so many producers are dependent on Wal-Mart for their products to reach the market, Wal-Mart wields the power to set the price. Consequently, producers are forced to sell their products at a very low price in order to meet the Wal-Mart standards. This harms the producers in that they cannot sell their products at an adequate price and it also harms the customers because producers try to use cheaper, less-secure methods of producing. Despite Wal-Mart’s slogan that it saves the producers by granting access to the market, Wal-Mart threatens the producers by granting access that is controlled by Wal-Mart.
Wal-Mart mal-treats its employee regarding health issues, racial issues and job-contract issues. Because most Wal-Mart employee are part-time workers, they are vulnerable to unfair contracts or change in their contract concerning their health-insurance and job-contracts. In most countries, part-time workers are guaranteed less legal security when it comes to health insurance. This makes health-insurance contracts prone to unjust adjustments by the company, such as Wal-Mart, which is one of the biggest promoters of part-time jobs in the world. Wal-Mart employees have been reported to be exposed to on-the-spot firing. According to “The High cost of low prices”, Wal-Mart has repeatedly used on-the-spot firing to firing workers who were too loud in voicing complaints. This also worked against union forming process among Wal-Mart employees.
To conclude, Wal-Mart does not benefit the people in the sense that it harms the local economic base on both the work-force level and the enterprise-level. The local work-force are presented with only a limited number of choices which are oftentimes part-time jobs. Local shop-owners quit their business because Wal-Mart does not leave room for competition. Producers suffer from not getting enough out of their produce due to Wal-Mart’s tyrannical price policies. The “Associates” working at Wal-Mart are not treated as any proper associate should be, but are rather deprived of their rights. If the governments will not act for the people, then at least, may some divine being strike this monster down.



Works cited:
The High cost of low prices
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hftb_DVuelo&feature=player_embedded#!
When Wal-Mart comes to town: a success story
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qdtcBiaflUQ&feature=player_embedded
Chicago approves its first Wal-Mart
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/5069992/ns/business-us_business/t/chicago-approves-its-first-wal-mart/

Our Pokemons for the class~!

Goodbye 이건우 !

His last song in K-Pop star, a Korea auditon program


his first song


singing with others as a group


Singing JYP's song as usual kkk

Walmart crisis -defendant's say

http://www.capitalismmagazine.com/markets/business/3957-in-defense-of-wal-mart.html
Article in defense of walmart

Walmart crisis- the dark side

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walmarting
walmarting -wikipedia

Ode to Fever

Ode to fever
How have you been my friend? Are you surprised that I refer to you as a friend, when we have been in dispute since the earliest fringes of my memory? But, remember this, my friend; we were born for each other! Just looking at my parents will settle you, I think. When one is born for the other, there is no choice but to accept the simple fact and make the best out of it. Thus, I have made peace with you.

But will you? And if you do, will I be able to bare it?

Doubt clouds me as I recall that you have wounded me of not just body but also of mind. As I strove to drive you out of me, I centered my focus on you when others of my age put focus to toys and games, later on moving to dates and movies. During the laggard combats, one or two friendly spirits would occasionally chance on me, haggard as I was. But, none would come to me willingly as you enveloped all my good will and want of companion. At such times I would weep bitter tears and confine myself to a cellar I had constructed under the deepest of pools in my heart, brooding on the bleak life you presented. Biding my time for revenge, I searched long and hard of what and perhaps, who you are. I started by analyzing what features you let me glimpse during my struggles. I found that you are a shape-shifter fully capable of, but not licensed of, changing into the various forms I fought. Yellow phlegm was one that I despised the most. As it stuck at my throat and refused to budge, I was helpless while my voice was lost and my throat became raw. Then there are the snivel and snot. Of late, you seem to enjoy this form the most. Mark my words, my mother will kill me if she finds out that I made peace with you just for this fact, oh the money she spent on all the tissues! Last of all, there is the thrice damned cough as well. Though you don’t take this form as much as the earlier one, this is the one that really threatens to get me an early coffin. Ah, the sleepless nights! But, don’t worry, I not thinking of making you pay the blood price for all the blood I lost when my lung veins burst, in the near future at least.

Then why try making peace in the first place, do you ask?

Because as much as all the hate and fury gone in to my dispute with you, a strange kind of love always followed, grooming the hurt lands where we struggled. With time, I have come to accept what is you and furthermore have come to respect you as I would a living being, rather than a lifeless disturbance. Thanks to you, I learned care for my neck and its cord with the delicacy that one could not have gained without years of experience. Thanks to you, I have earned the funny nickname, the most efficient water intake in history (all that sniveling equals the amount of liquid I drink), something most wouldn’t ever be able to boast of. Thanks to you, I now understand what my mother went through during pregnancy, as asthma ravaged her lungs. Thanks to you, I have come to value what I have, regardless of its grandeur and quality.

I will be looking forward to increasing the viscosity of our friendship, at least we should equal that of your phlegm!

FAO resolution at KMUN2012

Committee: FAO
Topic: Proposing new paradigms of aid for the horn of Africa
Signatories: Chad, Kenya, Ethiopia, United Kingdom, Costa Rica, Argentina, China, Chile, Switzerland, India, South Sudan, Germany, Sudan, Djibouti, Egypt, Turkey
Deeply concerned that people of the Horn of Africa, with their nationalities of Somalia, Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya, Sudan, and South Sudan, is suffering under successive years of fatal famine,
Reminding all nations of the celebration of the 64th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights which recognizes the rights to standard of living,
Reaffirming this committee’s resolution numbered as FAO-A2, on which the member nations of the FAO have agreed upon working against food price volatility to protect poor households and rural farmers,
Noting with satisfaction the past efforts of various relevant UN bodies, governments of the member nations, and nongovernmental organizations, empowering underdeveloped nations of resilience,
Regretting a recent closure of a MSF(Medicins Sans Frontieres) office in Somalia after its two personnel have victimized by a terrorist attack, and any other frustrations against NGO activities in the region,
Stressing the fact that there should be enhancement of current missions and programs, as well as implementation of new methodologies to resolve the region’s fundamental politic chaos,

1) Promotes the integration of agricultural and industrial aspects(industrialization of agricultural industry) through combining resources in the Horn of Africa with developed nations’ industrial capacity with the partnership with African Union and FAO to;
a) Pursue general good of the Horn of Africa to develop general economy to step out of famine with fairness and transparency with new paradigms suggested,
2) Promoting better transportation in the Horn of Africa for the purpose of better distribution of crops both domestically and internationally by;
a) Receiving aids from developed countries in order to build new railroads and reinforcing currently existing railroads to transport the year’s harvest from arable regions to arid regions, in case where land transportation is promoted
b) Requesting aids from developed countries in order to stabilize river systems to transport the year’s harvest from arable regions to arid regions, in case where river transportation is promoted
3) Urging the developed nations to allow developing countries to take their technologies that consists of;
i) Bio-technologies, which indicates certain positive qualities such as but not limited to;
ii) Limited use of a Genetically Engineering technique which is expected to grant the plants flexibilities towards standing hostile conditions of Africa in support of irrigation system;
iii) Help regional farmers yield their food claiming their ownership upon the produced crops to revive the first level industry presented by agriculture;
iv) Promotion of biodiversity that allows the farmers in the Horn of Africa to diversify the plants they grow ultimately warding off plant-related diseases and reducing the use of pesticide;
v) The establishment of seed data-base for better accessibility of various seeds to ascertain what seed is appropriate for a certain land use
vi) Vaccines for plant-related diseases,
a) Cash crop-related technologies, which will allow the region to independently produce refined-cacao and coffee beans that can be sold in higher price than the crude ones, in order to allow the governments to provide the local farmers with financial aid,
b) Infrastructure-related technologies to pursue for betterment of living condition of people and to allow the region to be free from draught that consists but not limited to:
i) Irrigation technology,
ii) Technology for reviving the arid regions
4) Promotes Feed-in-Tariffs system to encourage developed nations and multinational corporations to share their skills with the developing nations in a mutual contract in order to increase farming land in developing nations and provide financial benefit to the developed nations in vice versa;
5) Requests the United Nations General Assembly to agree upon establishment of a UN Peacekeeping Operation(PKO) in the region as an effort for some areas such as:
a) Coastal countries, to implement peaceful atmosphere within the nation which local military rebel such as Al-Shabab threaten rural farmers and force them to grow money-making crops, instead of main food crops of the region;
b) Newly independent countries, to help its newly founded government to peacefully gain control through all of its territory;
c) Refugee camps, to protect unarmed civilians without any nationality from local military rebels;
6) Urges an implementation of an emergency plan to make farmers be aware of upcoming weather conditions by:
a) collaborate with FEWSNET(Famine Early Warning Systems Network) to locate future weather fluctuations or possible disasters via satellite such as but not limited to:
i)sudden precipitation of lack of precipitation
ii)natural disasters
iii)drought
b) conduct the emergency plan by taking actions such as:
i) making governments to activate their irrigation system when FEWSNET predicts possible drought
ii) making NGOs prepare surplus amount of food before possible drought or natural disasters
iii) dispense telephones to the horn of Africa. In consecutive regions within walking distance
7) Urges governments to introduce a ‘charter to end extreme hunter’ that is designed to:
a) enforce ‘accumulate tax’ on the rich in the Horn of Africa to invest in local food production
b) Request ‘accumulative tax’ on the rich in the Horn of Africa to provide aid to the financially lowest 10%.

My Position on Agenda B regarding FAO of KMUN2012

Agenda B: Proposing new paradigms of aid for the horn of Africa
The Food and Agriculture Organization of UN needs to turn its attention to the Horn of Africa and renovate their efforts in combating starvation and other relevant problems in the area. The FAO previously focused on the supply of food resources from other regions. This was because in most countries, starvation is primarily due to lack of edible and nutritional food gained through harvest. However, Kenya suffers from a different type of starvation problem. Kenya’s fertile farms produce enough crops to feed the whole population with crops of rich nutritional value; yet, every day thousands of families cry because they cannot find something to eat.
The primary reason why many Kenyan families have problem finding food is the low level of stable transportation. Because transportation between areas with farms yielding more crops than one area can consumes and areas where crops are rare is not stable, farmers cannot sell their crops to starving people even though they want to do so. If the Food and Agriculture Organization will aid Kenya’s efforts at constructing better railroads and water ways, the crisis in Kenya can be elevated by a great degree. This is also beneficial for both Kenya and the donor countries of FAO because if the transportation problem is solved, Kenyans can become independent of food aid brought by FAO and donor countries can put to more efficient use of their donations.
Moreover, the increasing rate of farms growing only cash crops is another fearsome problem in the Horn of Africa. In recent years, horticulture produce and tea have become crops of more value than most staple crops in Kenya. Since then, more farms in the fertile highlands have turned to harvesting cash crops. This is not merely an issue of Kenya because the Kenyan highlands are one of the most fertile lands in Africa and with proper adaptation of stable transportation, can become the main supplier of food for all of the Horn of Africa. Therefore, the FAO need to take measures to stop the decrease of farms growing staple crops. To illustrate, sending FAO agents to help the Kenyan government at forming an education program for farmers can be a way for FAO to help ease the problem.
The current cassava crisis is another problem threatening Kenya and the rest of the horn of Africa. Recently, a deadly virus has been found that attacks cassavas and make them inedible. This epidemic started from Uganda and is spreading into adjacent Burundi and the Democratic Republic of Congo. This is an especially fearsome problem because the signs of infection are shown only at the roots of the plant and farmers become aware of their failure only when they start their harvest. This virus might just be the cause for the next Irish potato crisis back in the 19th century. This is due to the similar rate of dependence Irish people of that time had on potatoes and East African people have on cassavas. Since cassava grows exceptionally well at places with relatively low rainfall and poor soil, it has become the staple crop of many drought-ridden countries at the horn of Africa. Thus, the FAO needs to organize their scientists and fund them adequately so that they will find a cure before the next crops are planted. Also, FAO can help countries to regulate the distribution of cassavas in the area so that the disease will not spread to the already drought-ridden regions.
To conclude, the Food and Agriculture Organization have to renew their methods of aid in Kenya and the rest of the Horn of Africa in order to properly combat food and agricultural problems in the area. FAO should not limit their aid to merely fields of agriculture and food import, but also focus on the foundations on which food is delivered to the tables of hungry people. FAO needs to be wary of the decreasing proportion of staple crop growing farms in the region and help local governments to maintain a sufficient level of staple crop producing farms. FAO is sorely needed in combating the casaba crisis in East Africa and can make a significant difference to the search for the cure.

Jumper! I loved the novel

My position on entering KMUN2012

Model United Nations is a chance for me to test my skills as a debater, negotiator, and a global leader. From past experiences of competing at such competitions, I learned that I am capable of debating on several international issues and that I potentials of becoming a leader that persuades others with different views through discussion and compromise. I hope to test such skills again by participating at the Korea Model United Nations 2012.

My participation as a delegate of the UNHCR is an important process in the path to my goal as a global leader with a view on current issues. This is because of my background as a child among war refugees. A few years before I entered my teenage hood, I was living among refugees who lost their homes fleeing from this bloodhound called war. Around me, boys with strange names who couldn’t pronounce them well themselves swarmed. As I began calling them friends and as they started coming over to my house for lunch, I learned more about each boy’s family and their hellish escape from war. Now, I sit in front of my SENS laptop and recall the winters and springs I spent with them. I earn for a chance to share these memories with other delegates and help them understand the dire need of war refugees.

I have decided to represent Sudan at the UNHCR based on my future goals. From my research on UNHCR’s Korea branch, it seems clear that refugees of Sudan’s civil war need the most care and attention from the world. As the delegate of Sudan, I wish to present the perilous situation of Sudan’s war refugees and persuade them that Sudan needs immediate attention from the UNHCR. My experience among war refugees will benefit me in this.