A girl changed my life.

I'm now sitting on a bench at the Yuldong Park. The breeze, it is gently sweeping my face and my hair while I'm writing this on my lap. I gotta tell you, the world is happy all over today, with children laughing and running around, joyous couples strolling through the beautiful flower paths, and blissful families having a nice little picnic here and there. Oh, it's time to go to my music class! I love my music class so much that I'm willing to take the class even when I'm dying. 

I used to attend Iowa State University until just yesterday, although I'm 31 by the end of this month. I know it is ridiculous, but my brother made me attend this school, trying to convince me that I've got some kind of disease, which I don't remember the name of, schizcco something. As usual, I walked into the school gate into up the stairs into my Basic Psychology classroom, with my eyes meeting the floor, afraid to meet someone else's eyes. Walking into the classroom, I cautiously looked around the room and noticed a shocking thing; I was amazed by the presence of a new member sitting in the front row, on the very right corner. 

She looked… absolutely AMAZING. She was a typical beautiful blonde, not like my horrible reddish hair, she had such beautiful blue eyes, skin as white as a snowflake, not like my burning cheek, and had stunning body, not like my short, stumpy body. I really wanted to talk to her, but I just didn't have enough guts to do it. She must have noticed that I was always on my own, because during the five minutes of break, she walked up to me and asked if I could lend her notes of the previous lectures. Of course, I didn't have any notes to lend, since I never take notes. Maybe that's why I get F every semester. 

Anyway, one thing led to another, and I found myself eating lunch with her, the experience that was half pleasing and half strange for me. To tell the truth, I've never eaten with a stranger before, or even talked to one. At first, when she asked me to eat with her, I was really worried that it might turn into an utterly awkward lunch. 

Well, my worries turned out to be completely useless, because she was not only beautiful, but also so funny. I was laughing every second we were together, and when she was around, I could forget all the things and not notice the time anymore. She, like me, didn't have cell phone. She said it deterred her from her studies, but I think she doesn't need one since she can get along quite well with others, even without cell phones. In this and every other way, she was a perfect match for me, so we became best friends on the very first day we met, which was just yesterday. It seems like I've known her for years now. 

After lunch, when we went outside, rain was pouring all over as if it were trying to sweep out everything that exists on the Earth. We stared at each other in awe, not knowing what to do. I quickly suggested if she wanted to stay at my house for some time before the rain stops, since my house was really close to that place. Without a word, she ran ahead of me through the rain, and I quickly caught up with her.

It felt so cozy and warm being with her, having a hot cocoa with five marshmallows in each of our cocoa. Like when we had lunch, she was making me laugh again for the whole time, and I was laughing my head off, seriously. Her jokes made my stomach muscles ache. The time, again, flied so fast that it was now time for dinner. I knew exactly when we should eat dinner, because my stomach always rumbles at the exact 7 o'clock.

The ordered pizza arrived, and while she was paying for it at the door, I washed my hands in the bathroom. As usual, I was unconsciously, but passionately, singing the "Take a bow" of Rihanna. I finished the whole song in the bathroom and came out to eat pizzas, but was startled my Sarah standing right in front of the bathroom door. I stared at her in amazement, and she said she had something to talk to me about. I had no idea what she was going to say, so I went over to the sofa with half anxious and half anticipated minds. She seemed so serious when she finally opened her mouth, and that was the first time she was talking to me without making me laugh.

"Clara, I gotta tell you this, and you SHOULD listen to what I'm saying very carefully, all right? Umm… All right, here goes. Clara, You. Are. An amazing singer. You really are. I just heard you sing just one song inside that bathroom, but I can totally tell that you are. I know you've been hiding your own identity probably because you are an extreme introvert or because your brother prevented you from exposing yourself. If you hadn't been hiding yourself so much, you would have already been a well-known singer by now. I think you should try now. It's not too late, Clara"

"Wha,, what, what? I am?"

I couldn't even say the correct words because of the shock I got from her.

"Try what?"

"Try on the auditions of entertainment companies and become a singer! You love singing, right? Just by the voice of yours inside that bathroom, I could just feel your passion."

"Yeah, sure I DO love singing, but I'm not even trained or learned a thing about music, Sarah. It's impossible. It's too late now. I'm 32 soon."

"No, I'm telling you. Remember when I told you that you should always choose to do what you love the most? This is it! You are to enter a field that you're actually passionate about! This is really rare, even for normal people, because it's SO difficult to find a field that matches what you're passionate about, and what you're actually good at. You just did! Well, you were born to be, I'm just the one who found that for you right now, but… The point is, you should at least try performing in front of others, the strangers."

I was completely enthralled by the idea, but I was kind of uncertain of performing in front of others, because I've never done it. I always had to hide from other; I had to sing while taking showers, while no one was at home, or while I was alone in the street at 5 in the morning. I was too afraid. I've never even TALKED to another person before. I told Sarah the truth, but she was too clever to get out of it. She came up with another brilliant idea.

"Hey, why don't you try uploading your own video on Youtube? I know that's how Justin Bieber was casted by Island Def Jam, the entertainment companies that produced many famous figures such as Usher or Mariah Carey. You definitely have the talent, so you SHOULD try this, otherwise I know that you'll regret it for the rest of your life, Clara."

THAT's how
a girl changed my life.

The Picture of Dorian Gray

The Picture of Dorian Gray: Reading Journal up to chapter 2

Theme: Character Analysis

"The Picture of Dorian Gray" begins with Lord Henry Wotton and Basil Hallward arguing about a charming guy, "Dorian Gray," while Basil, the painter, enjoys the view of his own painting. In chapter 1, the author quite explicitly describes both the characters while giving the reader an anticipation of Dorian Gray. According to the first chapter, Basil Hallward is an inflexible, serious artist and rather dull moralist, the primary characteristics that can be shown when Basil says, "Oh, I can't explain. When I like people immensely I never tell their names to any one. It is like surrendering a part of them. I have grown to love secrecy. It seems to be the one thing that can make modern life mysterious or marvelous to us…" Basil here is so enthralled by Dorian Gray, whom he chose as a model for his painting, that Dorian is often described by Basil as "an inspiration for his art," or "the reason he continues to paint."

On the other hand, Lord Henry is a fantastic talker who possesses such a great humor in his words. He is a bright, open-minded genius, charming others using his witty sayings. His theories are often very radical, and they are to shock the conventional ideas. Thus, Basil frowns on Henry's words now and then, trying to contradict his ideas, but fails to do so. Especially when the subject of Dorian Gray came up, Basil almost beseeches Henry not to influence Dorian at all when he fails to persuade Henry not to meet Dorian. Again, Basil's love towards Dorian is shown here, and as he begs more and more while complimenting him, Henry desires more and more to actually meet this Dorian guy.

In chapter 2, Henry finally meets Dorian Gray, and despite Basil's request, Henry charms Dorian at first sight, eventually influencing him to great extent. Here, Dorian is described as an ideal, who is perfect in all sense and a prime model of a human being. Especially in terms of outer appearance, Dorian is a perfection. However, the acute questions and comments from Lord Henry reveal the real, inner qualities of Dorian Gray as the story goes on. In this chapter, Henry starts to impart his unusual theories into Dorian's brain as a process before revelation, telling him that "you have the most marvelous youth, and youth is the one thing worth having." Basically, youth is an ephemeral phase, but quite wonderful, so Dorian has to enjoy and get out as much joy as possible when he can. This idea greatly confuses Dorian, who develops his own notion, thinking that it is unfortunate of him to stay very short time in his youth, and at the same time admires the painting that Basil drew of him.

Frankenstein Chapter 4 Analysis

In the beginning of chapter 4, Victor finally watches his result of toils in amazement and horror. Here, Victor describes the shape, the color, and the movement of the monster in details, as if drawing a picture of it, like this: I saw the dull yellow eye of the creature open; it breathed hard, and a comvulsive motion agitated its limbs.

Watching the monster move in disgust, Victor feels two very opposite emotions at the same time. He certainly compares the monster to so many things, but the most representative ones are given in the phrases “Beautiful” and “Wretch.” In a way, he is quite proud of his own accomplishment, which is shown in his description: “His limbs were is proportion, and I had selected his features as beautiful. Beautiful! – Great God! His yellow skin scarcely covered the work of muscles and arteries beneath; his hair was of a lustrous black, and flowing; his teeth of a pearly whiteness; but these luxuriances only formed a more horrid contrast with his watery eyes, that seemed almost of the same colour as the dun white sockets in which they were set, his shrivelled complexion, and straight black lips.” However, in the other way, he is horrified and feels utter repugnance and panic with this “demoniacal corpse.” His horrified feelings are also shown in the climate of that day. “It was a dreary night of November” when he first saw his monster moving, and when he ran out of his apartment, he was “… wetted by the rain, which poured from a black and comfortless sky.” The ironic emotions of Frankenstein are contrary to how God felt when he created first human being; Adam. When God made Adam, instead of feeling aversion, he felt “good.”

            As scared as he was, he was wandering around in streets, not knowing what to do, or where to go. He also has nightmares, becoming increasing vulnerable and weak. His sentiment then is expressed in a passage from Coleridge’s The Rime of the Ancient Mariner here. The “one” in the passage, like Victor, feels fear, nevertheless full of curiosity. Speaking of fear and curiosity, he may also be compared to Adam, since Adam also feels scared of the warning but wants to taste the apple, probably from the curiosity.

Even after meeting Henry, his best friend, the fear continues to linger in his mind. It is true that he “… was unable to remain for a single instant in the same place; he jumped over the chairs, clapped his hands, and laughed aloud,” “… and his loud, unrestrained, heartless laughter frightened and astonished him. However, as he is seeing hallucinatios; “I imagined that the monster seized me; I struggled furiously, and fell down in a fit,” his laughters are not merely happy laughs, but they may be the dramatic expression of complex and extreme inner fears. Also, Henry nurses Victor for being sick, but this is not just physical illenss, but the mental one due to his fright of the monster.

Step 4: THW return cultural property residing in museums to its place of origin

THW 

return cultural property residing in museums to its place of origin

            During the 18^th and 19^th centuries, imperialism spreaded all over the world, when more powerful countries took over weaker countries, where they exploited natural resources, humans themselves, food, labor, and even cultural artifacts. The number of total stolen treasures from weaker countries is unreasonably huge, and the victims, now aware of the significance of the artifcacts, are claiming to restore them as soon as possible. However, the previous imperialistic countries are asserting their rights to have the treasures since they got them using their own power, which is, according to them, just and fair. Also, since the previous imperialistic countries are far more developed countries compared to those that aren’t, they are still retaining the relics in their hands. These, should be returned to their original places for the following reasons.

Tourism is one of the most important industries today, bringing huge income to areas with relics. This is because most people, especially scholars, think that the cultural, historical artifacts are worth observing and examining directly, and that they could better understand history through the research. Due to this desire towards relics, the related industries, such as hotel, guidance, and entertainment industries develop together, ultimately bringing progress into the city or the state. Today, as the world is becoming more and more globalized, more people around the world are willing to travel far away to appreciate the relics. For these reasons, the proprietorship of cultural artifacts greatly alters the economic income of countries that own the artifacts. The ownership, for sure, should be of the country from which the artifacts belong to. Otherwise, the original country is being deprived of its economic opportunity to build a successful tourist trade. 

Jikji is one the most valued artifacts in Korea that has been taken by French by force. “Jikji” is the abbreviated title of a Korean Buddhist document, whose title can be translated "Anthology of Great Buddhist Priests' Zen Teachings". Printed during the Goryeo Dynasty in 1377, it is the world's oldest extant movable metal print book, and UNESCO confirmed Jikji as the world's oldest metalloid type and included it in the Memory of the World Programme. (Jikji) It is now possessed by the National Library of France, and although Korean scholars are trying their best to restore Jikji, France is stubborn in its view, not returning it ever since they stole it. The NationalLibrary of France is earning tons of money from the Jikji, and probably tons more from the different industries related to it. Meanwhile, Koreans are trying their best to take back what is theirs. Just because imperialistic countries were strong enough to steal treasures out of weaker countries by force, it doesn’t mean that they deserve to have them permanently.

Most of the cultural artifacts that are “misplaced” are taken by imperialistic countries using force. Whether it was acquired through winning a war, or through hoarding it secretly by using spies or illegal traders, this is called “stealing,” as long as it wasn’t agreed upon by both countries. This is an “international crime,” which is why this case should go through trials for fair judgement, let the artifacts return to their original place, and let the criminal country be punished severely. As a part of this idea, UNESCO regulations also drafted “Convention on the Means ofProhibiting and Preventing the Illicit Import, Export and Transfer of Ownershipof Cultural Property 1970.” Importantly, the convention also requires states parties to seize illegally traded cultural goods and return them to their countries of origin. To date, 88 countries have ratified the treaty, but of the major art market nations – those that have prominent museums or large private collections – only France and the United States have joined. (Odor) Since this is obviously a crime, the UN should not make this as a recommendation, but make it as a punishment of a serious international crime.

It is true that the level of technology or the expertise on the historical evidences is much higher in the pre-imperialist countries, such as France, Britain and the United States. Thus, interpreting or deciphering the artifacts is much easier, academically deeper and accurate in these countries. These relics are not preserved for mere displays or for museums that want to earn some money out of them. Instead, they are preserved so that we can investigate and dig up the historical significance out of them, and use them to build up history. Thus, scholar will access much better to the treasures. This is the main reason for some people why these legacies are better off when they are in imperialist countries where they are now. One example that benefited from this was Rosetta stone, which changed the interpretation of whole bunch of history considerably. However, deciphering Rosetta stone could have been done by local historians, if only the stone was left in its own country. Furthermore, although it is true that the developed countries like Britain and France have the superior technology, it has been proven that the technological development is not always proportional to the ability of conservation of the artifacts. For example, the Elgin marbles havebecome ‘irreparable’ during their stay in Britain. The culture minister, Elisavet Papazoe, said, “The damage wrought by the museum's botched attempt to clean the 2,500-year-old treasure earlier this century had been much worse than originally thought.” (Smith)

She also said,

The findings of a Greek group of conservationists, who recently inspected the marbles, demonstrated that the very morphology of the sculptures had suffered as a result of the misguided efforts to make them whiter than white. This was the first time the marbles have ever been examined by experts outside the British Museum and unfortunately the findings have confirmed the fears that they were damaged irreparably. In some cases, excessive rubbing and polishing had not only destroyed the sculptures' historic surfaces, but deformed them to a shocking degree. (Smith)

Here, the fact that the British experts hadn’t been able to identify what was wrong before what Greeks have found out, whether it was intentional or an accident, clearly proves us that higher technology doesn’t necessarily mean better preservation. Mrs. Papazoe also admitted that “The debate around the marbles is full of myths which have been exposed with this new evidence.” She also said, “For the first time we have a scientific reality, beyond archive material, which we cannot ignore.” (Smith)

To sum up, it is only fair if the “misplaces” artifacts should be returned to their original spots, because the countries deserve the economic benefit coming out of them, the imperialstic countries literally “stole” the artifacts, and the level of technology is not always proportional to the level of conservation. It is understandable that many countries do not want to return the treasures back, for they are definitely bringing in so many dollars and they provide great historical references to many scholars, but it is right to return them as soon as they can.

Works Cited

Ana Filipa Vrdoljak , “THIS HOUSE WOULD RETURN CULTURAL PROPERTY RESIDING IN MUSEUMS TO ITS PLACE OF ORIGIN”, international debate education association, http://idebate.org/debatabase/debates/culture/aboriginal-culture/house-would-return-cultural-property-residing-museums-

General Conference of the United Nations Educational, “Convention on the Means of Prohibiting and Preventing the Illicit Import, Export and Transfer of Ownership of Cultural Property 1970”, United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, 14 November 1970, http://portal.unesco.org/en/ev.php-URL_ID=13039&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html

Jessica Odor, “The Return of Cultural Artifacts to Countries of Origin”, http://www.uni.edu/ihsmun/archive/sc2005/Artifacts.htm (no website name)

Helena Smith, “British damage to Elgin marbles ‘irreparable’”, the guardian, Friday 12 November 1999, http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/1999/nov/12/helenasmith

“Jikji”, Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jikji

Frankenstein

< Frankenstein, The Modern Prometheus >

Since I first grabbed this book in my hand, I’ve been excited to find out how the main character “creates a life.” Also, I was fascinated by the subtitle, “The Modern Prometheus.” It turns out that the main character is called Victor Prometheus, who was born into a family in Switzerland. All the family stories aside, Victor introduces himself to a life-long friend Henry Clerval, who turns out to be extremely helpful when Frankenstein gets into a very poor state after his experiment.

Before Frankenstein’s first attempt to create a living organism, he shows a great interest in alchemy and studies all the works of well known alchemists, and studies chemistry, especially alchemy like a mad person. This is kind of a foreshadowing, which probably laid the foundation for him to make a “brand-new monster.” In his school Ingolstadt, he meets his mentor, Waldman, a professor who was the only one to truly appreciate Victor’s passionate interest in alchemy. Waldman showed his works and devices he had, and even encouraged Victor to study “every branch of natural philosophy.” Personally, I blame Waldman for all the tragedies in the latter part of this book. If he hadn’t talked to Victor about how valuable his knowledge is, or encouraged Frankenstein to study more in the field, he might not have even tried taking this risk.

Here, as the subtitle indicates, Victor could be compared to Prometheus, who had an obsession for more knowledge about the world of Gods and Goddesses, and about the secrets they had. This guy Victor also has an infinite thirst to know more about life and death and eagerly tries to conquer the world of life and death. Studying night and day on this subject for a long time, he finally gains the confidence for controlling the “life.” Again, like Prometheus, this confidence gave rise to a terrible result, the creation of a troublesome monster. Prometheus also had the confidence that he would be able to save and enlighten the human beings, which led to his own tragedy.

The actual central outline of the story starts when Frankenstein devotes every bit of himself to creating a “new life” in his laboratory. He shuts off his contact from the outside world, even from his own family, throws himself to this scientific experiment, and combines the body parts collected from the morgues and cemeteries. At first, I loved the way he was engrossed in this project, so concentrated and focused as he was. If we observe how all the famous scientists throughout the history were able to create innovative inventions or develop revolutionary ideas, it seemed as if Victor was creating a life that could really be a living creature.

Here, Victor can not only be compared to Prometheus, but he can also be likened to God, who is thought to have made humans. This metaphor can be made because Victor, just like what God did, abandons his new creature without taking any responsibility for what he had done. Both Frankenstein and God try to stop the catastrophic consequences their offsprings had made, but they already had become unstoppable.