Dear Hubae

      Dear hubae,

     Hello, I am one of your sunbaes who was able to experience life at KMLA one year before you. I have a lot of advice to give you, but today let me tell you about the most challenging thing I learned in Mr. Johnson’s English class. It is the way to format references.

     It is very important to format references correctly because when we use another person’s ideas, we have to give credit to the person who provided us with the ideas. There are a lot of rules to format references, and it can be very hard for you. But don’t give up, and try the best as you can to format the references correctly. If you master this skill, you will be able to succeed easily when you start your dream to change the world. Try not to ignore even the simplest rule, and fix your references if you realize that they are wrong.

Wishing you luck,

Your Sunbae

 

The attitude towards outsiders

In a pool that has no contact with the rest of the world, change is almost impossible, especially when the place is dominated by a one or a few members. Leaders try to maintain their authority by eliminating any sign of change that might lead to revolution. When this continues, the pool is stagnated from progression. It is left alone in a bad state when everything around them changes.

The thing that is needed in the pool at that moment is an outsider; somebody that can bring new ideas, new mechanisms into the group. Stagnation can end, and unjust autocracy could be overthrown with bright new ideas.

 If the pool is separated for a very long time, the members of the pool can evolve into something completely different from the outside world. Therefore when a sudden change strikes the group, the results are devastating.

Revolution!

What is the definition of insanity? It’s doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result.  (Albert Einstein)

This is true in every way. People compete in investing their money into bubbles about to explode, and politicians always do the same things as the former people in position, and they expect themselves to be better. Students start to study right before the exam terms and expect their grades to improve.

This has been same for the LG Twins in Korean baseball. When one of the positions was gapped, the Twins bought veteran players from other teams and filled it in. But since the new players already spent their heyday in their old teams, they weren’t able to produce good results at the Twins. This has continued on for nine years, giving no chance for fresh, new faces to challenge and improve themselves.

But now ten years later, a new hope has arrived. The new head coach of the team, Kim Gi-Tae, has decided to put no much effort at catching veterans, and brought fresh prospects from other teams. The head coach is not only planning for his own term, but for the future of the team. He suggests that even when he is gone, the team is going to continue, and it will need fresh new players for the upcoming matches.

Next year, I am putting a lot of hope for the Twins. They started to change, and that’s what matters. Once the change starts, it’s only a matter of time before a positive result can be achieved.

Debate on Genetically Modified Organisms

Debate arguments

THBT, Genetic Engineering of food crops is progressing responsibly enough and that the policy should be expanded – “full steam ahead!” – Government

 

-Medieval times->chemical fertilizer->advantages

1) productivity

(1) resistant from insects, cold weather

① increase absolute and relative supply of crops

② people can buy food at cheap costs, use in various aspects with surplus supply(bio-fuel, solve famine more extensively)

2) consumer’s choice

(1) provide various choice for consumers

① GMO can increase the food’s taste, nutrients, etc.-> consumers can choose between GMO foods and Original foods

② if banned, would be the intrusion of consumer’s freedom of choice

3) solve environmental pollution

(1) GMO crops can lessen the use of chemical

(2) fertilizers/pesticides/herbicides b/c we are able to make the crops more resistant from outside damages.

 

가) Not to worry about Safety Issues

① There are no evidence of any kind of Genetic Mutation concerning the intake of GMO crops

② Rationally, it is so unproductive to give up all the good benefits of GMO foods over a baseless insecurity

The Power of Sports

The power of Sports

10a5 황민엽

I am a huge fan of Korean baseball, and I especially like the LG Twins. Despite the team’s superb pitchers, stable catcher, and firing batters, the Twins failed to enter the post-season for 9 years straight. It’s the longest failure in the history of Korean baseball, much longer than the Lotte Giant’s 7 years of failure. However, I am a faithful fan of the team since 2002, and my loyalty will not change.

The Korean baseball league started in 1982, very recent compared to Major League Baseball in the USA. It started the same year that Korea won the “Baseball World Cup” held in Seoul. The Baseball World Cup allows only amateur players to compete in the league, so the Korean Baseball Association(KBO) delayed the entrance of the best players in Korea from entering the league for one year. Therefore Korea was able to compete with its most competitive players and was able to be first place in the championship beating Japan at the finals. One year after the “Baseball World Cup”, all the members of national team were assimilated into the new league, which made the league more interesting. That’s how the Korean baseball league started, and baseball has been gaining more popularity ever since. The skills and status of the athletes are always improving.

Unlike in the past, recently there is one strange thing about the league. When looking around the seats at the ball park, one can easily spot couples wearing different uniforms and supporting different teams. Also, sometimes all the members of a family support different teams and wear different uniforms to the park. It also became a hot issue when a boy was found in the ball park wearing a uniform which was covered half by that of Samsung Lions, and the other half was covered by that of the Kia Tigers. His father seemed to be supporting the Samsung Lions, and his mother was supporting the Kia Tigers, so people called him ‘The Liger Boy’. The boy became a trademark of peace in Korea, and people realized the powerful effect of sports in gathering people together.

These situations can seem bizarre, but they could also be thought of being normal. The goal of sports is to entertain each other and get to know each other through engaging in various activities. The fact that people are able to get together and enjoy their time together is more important than the result of the game.

My father sometimes talks about zealous baseball fans back in the 80s and 90s. The competition between fans was so fierce that fights between fans were seen very often during games. It was impossible to find fans from different clubs watching the game together in harmony. Also, the number of fans for each team changed every season, according to their performance.

Therefore, we can conclude that baseball has the power of uniting audiences into one, and enabling them to cooperate with each other without any discord. There are more examples of sports contributing to harmony of people. “That Ping-Pong Diplomacy ended the Cold War shows that table tennis destroyed the ideology barrier that separated the world into two, and was the start of the open-door policy of China(Boggan 184). When no American was able to talk or even meet Chinese people, table tennis aroused the attention of people in the two countries and triggered a talk between the two countries. After that, in 2008, Hu Jintao, the president of China, played a friendly match with a professional ping-pong player of Japan with the skill of a professional, and was able to catch the attention of the people around the globe. With such attention, he emphasized the importance of many exchange matches of diverse sports between China and Japan. This episode shows that China has been constantly doing the Ping-Pong Diplomacy since 1971, the time of the first match between China and the United States.

There is a reason why sports can integrate people together and accumulate diverse subjects of conversation. “Sports is able to improve stamina, make one happy, and make one build diverse communication skills. Sports activity with another person destroys the barrier between the two people and makes a connection between them”(MaxMedia 81). This sentences clearly emphasizes that sports itself can become a great subject of conversation between two people. When two people find a connection between each other, they feel as if they are similar and they feel intimate with each other. Sports act as the connection and it triggers players to search for more similarities between each other. As the number of connections between players accumulate, players steadily become close and are able to open their thoughts and feelings to each other.

In addition to the players themselves, the audiences can also come together through sports. First of all, audiences supporting the same side will obviously build connection with each other. They cheer at the same moments and get frustrated just the same. They act as one same group, considering the stadium as a small society. Furthermore, audiences on different sides also become unified during the game. When the audiences see the athletes they support shaking hands and hugging each other after games, they realize that the fans on the other side are not their opponents, but just the same people that enjoyed the game together as a whole. When the athletes cry together, the audiences also cry together and share the same feelings.

There are vast amount of cases of sports changing the world just like Ping-Pong Diplomacy. Jackie Robinson, an African American baseball player, can be said as the man who demolished the remaining racism altogether in 1940s. He is the first African-American to play baseball at Major League Baseball(MLB) in USA. Before that, African-American baseball players had their careers at the Negro League Baseball, which segregated black players from white players. With extraordinary talent at batting, Jackie Robinson was able to make a contract with the Montreal Royals at Minor League AAA. Despite all the discrimination he faced at having a professional debut, he managed to make four hits including a three-run home run in his debut game. He later carried on into MLB and made astonishing results throughout the game, even contributing his team’s victory in the World Series. With the start of Robinson, other teams also started to get players from the Negro League, and in a few years, every team in MLB had at least one African-American player. Jackie Robinson was the man who destroyed the color barrier in baseball, but he can also be said as the man who demolished racism itself, since the desegregation of baseball league had a great impact on people’s mind. After Robinson’s debut in MLB, white audiences and African-American audiences cheered at the same teams and same players, and when they watched the games together, they were able to realize that they are not that different from each other. The white people’s stereotype of blacks was able to flow away naturally.

 The 1988 Seoul Olympics is also a good example that portrays the power of sports. The Seoul Olympics was the first Olympic after(or during) the cold war in which all communist and capitalist countries participated. The Olympic games right before Seoul was played with half the members, with the members of the other side of ideology not participating. Even though the USSR and USA didn’t have much communication with each other through the 80s, their relationship grew enormously in the 90s. The Seoul Olympics played a key role in this phenomenon. While competing and sweating together, people of different ideology realized that the people on the other side are just the same as themselves, and the only difference is the way they see the world. They realized that their difference in viewpoints can be tolerated, and this leaded into cooperation between the United States and the Soviet Union and ended with Gorbachev and Reagan shaking hands.

The various examples of sports acting as a diplomatic tool throughout the world shows that sports has the power to change the world. If it wasn’t for ping-pong, Coca-Cola won’t be available at Chinese convenient stores, and if it wasn’t for Jackie Robinson, we wouldn’t have been able to see Barry Bonds hitting a home run. Therefore, when solving conflicts between people, small or big, the best way to do it is by playing sports. The importance of sports as a tool of friendship and diplomacy cannot be emphasized enough. So every day, we should grab a baseball bat and get outside to get one step ahead in changing the world.

Sources:

—김영록 기자(Reporter Kim Young-Ruk).

“아빠는 삼성, 엄마는 KIA…‘라이거 소년’ 화제(Dad a Samsung, Mom a KIA… ‘The Liger Child’” 스포츠동아(Donga Sports) 18 July 2011 pg.21

—최민규 기자(Reporter Choi Min-Kyu). “프로야구 600만 관중… 한국인 삶 접수하다(6 million spectators in Korean baseball… A part of life)” 중앙일보(JoongAng Daily) 14 Sept 2011 pg.37

— Famous People. Posted in 27 May 2006 Richard Nixon Biography

<http://www.thefamouspeople.com/profiles/richard-nixon-62.php>

Posted in Famous People, Political Leaders, Richard Nixon

— Nina Agrawal. “Playing Sports for Peace”/

Americas Quarterly, 23 Spet. 2011.

Posted in International Conflict, Social Conflict, Sports, Youth

<http://www.americasquarterly.org/node/2904>

—맥스미디어 편집부(MaxMedia Editing Crew).

스포츠는 세상을 바꾸는 힘이다(Sports is the Power of Changing the World).

Seoul: 맥스미디어, 2011

—Boggan, Tim. The History of U.S. Table Tennis. New York: United States Table Tennis Association, 1999

Ghadafi’s death

When something illogical is happening somewhere in the world, it is important to get the problem fixed as fast as possible. However, if the method of solving the problem is as dirty as the problem itself, there is no progress and the disequilibrium continues. It is the same for Ghadafi’s case. It is true that Ghadafi did many horrible deeds, but the new government should have dealt with Ghadafi by law. A proper trial and analyzing of his actions was necessary. Without these actions, the new government is not different from Ghadafi’s; it’s just a repetition of autocracy by a different person.

How to Change the World

     Dream big. A big dream is the only thing necessary to change the world. Dream of leading mankind into paradise. Dream of saving the people from harm. And most importantly, dream of your heart’s desire.

     Every time you face a wall during the journey to your dream, simply break the wall and continue. Never stop. Always imagine yourself fulfilling your dreams, and trigger yourself into continuing the journey.

     The details of the dream does not matter. It just has to be big. Big enough to change the world.

Hope

People walking

Cars roaming

Subways crawling

Buses Circling

Trains Moving

So boring.

 

But none stops

For the sky

Why

So beautiful

So big

So bolster

So blue.

Longing

I miss your voice

During the horn of a passing car

 I miss your scent

During the smell of a stranger’s perfume

And I miss you

During the blinking of my eye

 

Why?

I love you.

The Power of Baseball

I am a huge fan of LG Twins. Despite the team’s superb pitchers, stable catcher and firing batters, the Twins failed to enter the post-season for 9 years. It’s the longest failure in the history of Korean baseball, longer than Lotte Giant’s 7 years of failure.

But still, I love the Twins. I always will.

Korean baseball league started in 1982, very recent compared to Major League Baseball. It started at the same year that Korea won the Baseball World Cup held in Seoul. All the members of the national team were assimilated into the league. That’s how the league started, and baseball is gaining more popularity ever since. The skills and status of the athletes are always improving.

However, there is one strange thing about the Korean Baseball League. LG Twins, which continued to fail to enter into the playoff matches after 2002, is one of the most popular baseball teams in Korea. On the other hand, SK Wyverns, which won the Korea series three times in the last four years, is not considered to be a popular baseball club.

This is not the only strange thing about the league. When looking around the seats at the ball park, it is easy to spot couples wearing different uniforms and supporting different teams. Also, sometimes all the members of a family support different teams and wear different uniforms to the park. How can I interpret this situation?

However, I thought about it, I realized that the events are not that bizarre. It is okay for different fans to watch the games together because they come to the park merely to enjoy themselves with their friends and family. Also, atheletes don’t think of the other team as their enemies, but they think of them as co-workers in the game.

My father sometimes talks about baseball fans in the 80s and 90s. The competition between fans was so fierce that fights between fans were seen very often during games. It was impossible to find fans from different clubs watching the game together in harmony. Also, the number of fans for each team changed every season, according to their performance.

Nowadays, the basic goal of going to the ball park seems to have changed. People think of it just as an event, an event to enjoy themselves with their friends and family. They cheer together and enjoy the athletes’ performance.

I support LG Twins for the same reason. I was heartbroken when it became clear that the Twins failed to enter the post-season again this year, but I still support the Twins until the end of the season. Always supporting the team during the whole season is a very meaningful thing to me.

It seems that during baseball games, no conflicts occur within people. People forget about hard feelings between each other and concentrate on enjoying the game. Then, why don’t we use baseball to solve conflicts occurring worldwide? Playing baseball with each other, or even just spectating the games together can make everybody become one and trigger them to find similarities between each other. Baseball can change the world. And who knows? Next year, with the support of many fans, LG Twins might win the Korea Series for the first time in twenty years.