Winter Poem

As Fall slowly fades away
Winter quickly makes its way
Invading us with cold and snow
Disturbing us and our natural flow
You make people get up to shovel this mess
Every passing year makes me like you less
Your arrival brings darkness
Filling our souls with emptiness
You take away our sun
Forcing us to have less fun
Annoying us with your snow and ice
You know, that is not very nice
Our world have enough problems
We do not want to add more to them
Beautiful at first sight
But you are nothing but a blight
Oh winter please make this your last
There is a suitable seat for you, the past

Globalization

The presence of globalization is undeniable. Our world is constantly changing today and will continue to do so. Countries now are starting to put high values on certain things and ideas and we are starting to idolize the same things.
Our world today is all about fast and efficient methods. We want things to come to us with the easiest and quickest method. People today are getting greedier. We idolize that 1% of the population that are considered rich and people try to be like them. Other countries look at how powerful and rich the United States is and they try to be like us in certain ways.
Globalization fails in some places though. With the example of soccer club cultures, globalization is not able to break down the culture and their enthusiasm for soccer.
The presence of globalization is a double edged sword. It can be good for us but it also creates serious problems. Many jobs can be created and poor countries can be liberated of poverty, but the rich and power can use it to their advantage by exploiting the poor. Let us hope that people use it more for the world's well being than for their self interest.

Sports

Sports in my life. Where to begin? First of all, I am not that great at sports. The first two sports I learned to play were basketball and ping pong. Yes, ping pong. All Chinese people love ping pong. I do not know why I chose basketball though.... I played on my grade school's team for a few years and I would play at the neighborhood park once in a while. My shooting was decent and so were my free throws, but that's about it. No defense, no dribbling, no speed. Probably should have gotten myself an ankle protector too...... Anyways, I had better luck with ping pong, but I was never on a team. I only played at some Chinese club in Chinatown. I was pretty good, at least compared to those amateurs.
Somewhere along the way, I learned to swim. Again, I didn't join a team for it but I really enjoyed swimming. I would go to the neighborhood park with friends and race against them. Good times.
So I continued with those sports until high school came. I tried playing tennis with some of my friends and I kind of liked it, even though I did not know the correct forms for hitting the ball. I decided to join the team along with a few of my friends and I pretty much grew into it, learning to hit and serve ball and the different styles that can be used. Tennis is my favorite sport now and probably the one that I am best at.

Thankful for classmates

To be fair, I am thankful for all my classmates. There are some who I talk to more than others, but everyone in the class contributes to making the class entertaining and fun. The questions and the comments that my classmates make usually make me think and question my own beliefs. This helps me to come up with new ideas to support my own beliefs and to get another perspective on things. Everyone is very intelligent, which inspires me to do better in school and to try harder.
The classmates that I am more thankful for would be Dohyun and Anil because they are usually the ones who work with me in group work or discussions. They are both very smart and clever and they have many good ideas to contribute. I do not know if they feel the same way, but I think that we work pretty well as a group. We get work done rather efficiently. They are not the ones who get all worked up about getting things done either. We know when to joke around and when to get down to work. I do not feel pressured or left out when I am working with them. They make work enjoyable and easy. I am thankful for my group.

Open Letter to Cormac McCarthy

Dear Mr. McCarthy,

I really enjoyed your book The Road. It started off a little slow but when I got towards the middle of the book, I could not seem to put it down. The way you developed the bond between the man and the son was fascinating. As the man is dying towards the end, it felt like I could feel what the boy was feeling. That is how well you were able to developed the characters.

When I was approaching the end of the book, I did not want it to end. The journey was so interesting and the obstacles they encountered kept me at the edge of my seat. How did you do it? I ask myself that quite often. You created a world we do not know yet and situations that most of us have not experienced before yet you make it seem so real and plausible.

I know some people will not agree with me, but the dark and pessimistic aspect of the book is what makes it good. It would not have been as good if more good stuff happened to the travelers than bad stuff. The unfortunate events is what makes the reader want to read on. You did a very good job with this book and I will definitely try to read your other pieces of literature.

Your New Fan,


Rich

Defend the Poet

I believe that Charles Bukowski's writing “Dinosauria, We” depicts the present and the future of our world in a very precise way. Some of us might be living in suitable situations today, but there are others out there who are struggling to just survive. It might not impact us now, but all the problems we are ignoring today will eventually catch up to us and destroy our feelings of tranquility. The peace that we know now will be gone and the values that we hold on to today will be challenged.
Some examples that Charles Bukowski uses is that it is cheaper to die than to go the hospital, cheaper to plead guilty than to hire a lawyer, and a place where fools will be elevated into rich heroes. All these examples that he gives is a result that people are getting more greedy and selfish everyday. We take money for ourselves but we give nothing back. The fact that we charge so much money for a simple service is that we are doing it for ourselves rather than trying to help others out.
All the wars and the overuse of the earth’s resources will lead to destruction of our world. Everything we know now will die eventually and Charles Bukowski vividly describes this in his writing.

A Direction the Class Needs

A direction the class needs is that we need more class discussions. We use some of our time during class doing group work or individual work, but we are only writing down things that we already know and think. In class discussions, we have a chance to listen to what our peers and teacher has to say about the topic. I believe that it is a better way for people to learn.
Everyone has their own view points on different subjects. Group discussions can help us bring all our ideas together so that we can get a better understanding of the topic. Every student should have something to contribute. I know, I am a hypocrite for saying that because I usually keep my thoughts and ideas to myself, but in an ideal class, every student contributes.
Another direction that our class can take is to watch movies of the novels that we read. Movies will help us get a visual representation of the story, which helps us to get a better understanding and interest in the piece of literature.
More class discussions and movies would be a good addition to our lesson plan. The class is going well the way it is right now, but I dislike having to do writing work in class when we could be using it for discussions.

Family Relationships

It is in human instincts that parents will protect their children. Aside from the occasional psychopaths, parents will never intentionally harm their children. I am pretty sure it has been like this throughout time. It ensures that there will be future generations to come; a survival behavior that exists in all living things.
Our parents do much more for us. For most of us right now, they create a safe haven for us; a place called home. The stress and the troubles we experience right now are not as drastic as they could because we know that we have our parents supporting us. I think it is fair for me to say that life would be hell right now if we did not have parents helping us.
Parents are always there to give advice. I am sure most people have heard the "back in my day" stories from their parents. They are just trying to teach you mistakes that they have made in the past and try to make sure that we don't repeat it. They are also trying to explain to you that things right now are so different from how it was back then, that the world is constantly changing and advancing. We should be happy and enjoy what we have now.
Though I don't know how it feels to be a parent yet, I am pretty sure that I will love and care for my children with all my heart. I wouldn't really have to worry about that though because it is something that I will subconsciously do. It is in our nature to do so.

How do we know what we know

I believe that we are born into this world with an empty mind, ignorant to everything around us. As we grow up, we fill up our minds with ideas, thoughts, and actions of the people around us. We learn to accept these behaviors and we develop the sense that this is how the world is suppose to run. Simply living is one of the reasons for how we know the things we know.
Growing up, most of us have parents and teachers guiding us. Parents are mainly there to help us with life in general and teachers are there to guide us through our education. Both teachers and parents play a major role in how we know what we know. Parents give us advice on how we should deal with certain problems. When they do this, they are telling you of the experiences they have had; their advice isn't always accurate though, but since they are our parents, we usually believe them. Teachers learn from textbooks and teaches us in their own words. We, as students, usually agree with what they have to say because it sounds right and others agree with what they have to say. Most of what we know now is handed to us by others.
Everything around us contributes to how we know things. Our mind develops over the years and we experience more things around us. We have people to tell us information that they know and there are people guiding us throughout our life. We know what we know just by living.

Our Meaning

     What is our meaning in this world? We live everday of life, accomplishing and achieveing things that we strive for. But why do we bother trying in the first place? Is there something in the end that will be worth all the effort? So many questions can be derived from this.
     I believe that our meaning in this world is just doing something that makes us happy and something that makes us feel accomplished. People all have their own dreams and goals in this world and we all strive to achieve them. All our different motives creates the world for the way they it is. It creates the diversity in our world and it helps the world constantly change and improve.
    We should not worry about leaving a mark on history or not. Many of us live our lives without receiving world wide recognition because there is just so many of us. We should just worry about being ourselves because our existence contributes to the growth of our society.

God in 2010

       God, the almighty being that is responsible for creating all of us and the world we live in. Religion advises that we pray and thank God whenever we have the chance. Today, even people who claim to be religious lack the effort to do this. What has God turned into?
      When people are stuck in bad situations or when something unfortunate occurs in their life, what do they do? Most of us will try to blame someone or something. One of the first options people would turn to would be God. They have a good reason for doing so. God is the divine being that created us all, is he not? Should he not be there to guide and protect us?
      We turn to Him for refuge and we put all your faith into him when we are in need. But what do people do when in times of success? Do we still turn to God and give him all our thanks for leading us to success? Most likely not. We will thank the ones that are close to us and we believe that all that success comes from our own abilities and not from an almighty being that is guiding us. Very little of our thanks actually goes to God.
      The presence of God today is fading. We use him as an excuse and a reason in dire times, but we discard him in prosperous time. There are still many people out there who's faith is unfaltering, but how long will that last? Will it still be this way for the next generations to come?

Candide’s Punishments, Do They Fit the Crime?

Why do punishments exist in the first place? All actions must have a consequence to them. If we do generous things, typically we will be rewarded. If we do evil things, punishment is inevitable. Our society has its share of good and evil. Good and evil, however, can be interchangeable. We see things from different perspectives, some would see an action as an act of kindness but others might see it as meager or rude.

Should Candide have been punished then? His innocence made him ignorant and his ignorant made him foolish. His punishment was not in vain. It was a way for him to snap back into reality and forget his so called "paradise." People shouldn't always have things go their way. A so called "paradise" should not exist in our world. People need to be constantly challenged to strengthen their resolve and add more to their experience. The feeling of safety made Candide vulnerable and weak.

Punishment is necessary in most societies. Some people live their life, thinking that they can do whatever they want without any consequences. Punishment is there to show these people that their actions are not justified in their society and it exists to remind people what will happen to them if they do not act accordingly.

Who is the Modern Socrates?

When we think of Socrates, what do we think of? The first thing that comes through my mind is a philosopher. He was a quick witted and clever minded person who challenged authority and questioned everything. He forced people to think a great deal more and he made arrogant people look even more foolish than they already were. He was a benefactor to his society.

When I try to think of a modern day Socrates, no one really pops up in my mind. People today might question or challenge controversial ideas, but I believe that theirs movies are quite different from what Socrates had. People today usually do things to gain fame and money.  They bring up topics of interests or of controversy, but do they really just want to challenge it, or are they doing it just for the attention? Are they really trying to find answers to their questions?

When we think of people today, we don't think of them as philosophers. There are music artists, film directors, talk show hosts, all these people who ask questions, but we don't label them as philosophers. They are just doing their job. How many people would die for their beliefs? There might be people out there who might actually have true motives, but nobody deserves to be labeled Socrates.

The Unexamined Life is Not Worth Living

What makes life worth living? Everyone has their own answer because we all have our own views on what is valuable to us and what is not. How is it that we find these answers though? I believe that answers do not just reveal themselves to us, but that we have to question ourselves and things around us to find what we are looking for.

Constant questioning of our motives and our surrounding helps us to stay aware, understand, and improve. A person that reflects on their life will come to see what it is that is valuable to them, what they truly believe in, and what in life has given them a real reason to be happy. These things will help a person find their true purpose in life. People who examine their own life will also have a chance to look back on their past mistakes and prevent them from happening in the future.

Questioning our surrounding helps us with our survival and our well being. By understanding our surrounding, we can get a better understanding of why people around us act the way they do and it helps us realize that there are many things in the world that we do not know about. Knowing these things will help us to accept the way some things are and it will motivate us to learn more.

We are born with the ability to process and retrieve information. Why should we waste something that is given to us? So many things can be revealed to us if we just question things. The unexamined life is definitely not worth living.

Eulogy

Rich lived a good life even though it was rather short. It is hard for us to lose someone dear to us, especially someone like Rich. He was a rather quiet guy, but once you got to know him, you find that he is not as awkward as he seemed. Most of his close friends deeply cherished his friendship and his company, even though it seems as if all he did was listen to you. Words are not enough to express how dearly we miss our good friend Rich. This is not a moment for us to shed our tears though, but a moment for us to celebrate the life of Rich.

What is it that we remember when we think of Rich? Many people who knew would agree that he was a very caring and an awkwardly funny person. He spent much of his time doing volunteer work. He would always tell me that being able to help anyone, as little as the task may have been, was one of the best feeling in the world. He felt that money should not be the only incentive for doing work. Rich said to me that even though volunteer work does not pay you with money, it rewards you with something even better, happiness. People might not agree with his views on things, but he felt that knowing that he made someone's life better even by just a little is more than enough of a reward for him.

Rich was a great guy. He received decent grades in school and went to school even if he was not feeling too well. Another thing that defined Rich for who he was was his sense of humor. He had the tendency to laugh at just about anything and he would have a smile on wherever he was.

I will be forever grateful for having a friend like Rich. He never wanted to see people cry and he always tried his best to make everyone happy. Rich will forever live in our hearts.