수라 – 백석
거미새끼 하나 방바닥에 나린 것을 아모 생각 없이 문 밖으로 쓸어버린다
차디찬 밤이다
어니젠가 새끼거미 쓸려나간 곳에 큰거미가 왔다
나는 가슴이 짜릿한다
나는 또 큰거미를 쓸어 문밖으로 버리며
찬 밖이라도 새끼 있는 데로 가라고 하며 서러워 한다
이렇게 해서 아린 가슴이 싹기도 전이다
어데서 좁쌀알만한 알에서 가제 깨인 듯한 발이 채 서지도 못한 무척 작은 새끼거미가 이번엔 큰거미 없어진 곳으로 와서 아물거린다
나는 가슴이 매이는 듯하다
내 손에 오르기라도 하라고 나는 손을 내어미나 분명히 울고불고 할 이 작은 것은 나를 무서우이 달아나 버리며 나를 서럽게 한다
나는 이 작은 것을 고이 부드러운 종이에 받어 문밖으로 버리며
이것의 엄마와 누나나 형이 가까이 이것의 걱정을 하며 있다가 쉬이 만나기나 했으면 좋으련만 하고 슬퍼한다.
It was a first class of politics. Mr. Cho came in to the classroom. I’ve never seen him before, but as I saw him I could feel the years of experience from him. He started the lecture right away, opening both his arms, shouting,
“What is democracy?”
I felt a shudder. I’ve never seen a lecture like this. Actually I wanted this kind of lesson. I was thirsty of history, society, politics. I wanted to find the relationship between them.
Mr. Cho liked liberty. He emphasized liberty very much. He said the basic concept of democracy is human dignity, and the two factors that make human dignity is freedom and equity. Freedom, in other words, is liberty.
After the first class was finished, I felt one thing for sure. This lecture will be a great chance for me. And until now, it is.
Me: Hello, sir. My name is Chang In Baek, and I am here to interview you. Would that be OK?
A: Of course, go ahead.
Me: Thank you. Sir, how old are you, exactly?
A: As a matter of fact, I can’t remember the exact number.
Me: You must be really old, then. Is there something special with you, sir?
A: Nothing special. Well, I have ten sons and daughters.
Me: Ten each?
A: Of course not. (Laugh)
Me: Sorry, sir. I heard that you actually spectated the Korean War?
A: Yes, it is true.
Me: Well, how was it? Was it devastating, or…
A: How was it? What do you think about it? I had ten children, then the war broke up. I couldn’t go to warplace alone leaving my children and wife alone. So I went to the jail.
Me: Jail?
A: Yes, jail, for not joining the war. I repeated that on and on. Jail, home, jail…. I needed to save my children. Forgive me.
A died in 1967, when my father was 3 years old. So I never had a chance to see my grandfather.
1. University of Virginia
When I was MS 2, Ms. Pia said that most of the state universities are prestigious, since they represent the state. So I believe University of Virginia would also be a decent place for me.
2. London Business School
I got to know this school from my friend. He hopes to graduate Korean college, then go to London Business School in MBA. I heard that London Business School is one of the most prestigious university for business, so this one also interests me.
3. Carnegie Mellon School
This university is famous for its fine arts lecture. But at first it was actually a college of engineering. Also the school is famous for Andy Warhol, who was once a student of Carnegie Mellon School.
I am a ‘native’ Korean. Which means, I have been to foreign countries for few days to travel, but I have never been there for several years to learn English. There was once a time that I was ashamed of this. My middle school is CheongShim International Academy, which allows only students who are good at English. So I have seen many friends who are very fluent in speaking English or write nice English essays. I admit that I was envious of them, and awed by their great talents. I also admit that I regretted for not going abroad to study English, and blamed my parents at it.
I never expressed this out my mouth, but somehow my father got to know the fact that I want to learn English in foreign country. He was mad at me. He said, “Son, You don’t know what is the important thing. Are you ashamed of your poor voice and writing skills? Foreigners don’t care about it. The important thing is what you deliver. If your thought can be delivered to others, that is enough. English is only a tool. Don’t be confused.”
I was ashamed. Until now I was thinking wrong. When my friends were abroad learning English, I have learned how to think broader, from my father. For the short time, I had forgot what I have learned until then.
I spend my morning reading a newspaper. I hope a cup of coffee with it, but a normal MS 3 student attending middle school won’t dream of it.
News alarm me. They make me aware of the world. They catch my attention. When I don’t have enough time, at least I manage to read headlines of the article, which also helps me a lot. Headlines, made up of few words, sometimes really catch me.
Recently, I read a headline of one article which said, “신혼여행 가장 멀리 떠나는 나라는 한국”. “Korea is a country for the longest honeymoon distance” may be a proper translation. It was an interesting article. Many Koreans think going to Europe or western countries is one of a many standards of a wealth. The article seemed to point the extravagance of Korea accurately, so I was delightful and ashamed at the same time. I wonder how would foreigners think when they see this kind of article.
Since I didn’t go anywhere special or do anything particular, the most fascinating part of my summer vacation was a wide screen (I don’t remember the exact inch, but it IS wide) television. It was not the television itself the caught me, but all those variety programs and home cinemas were what I liked the most in my summer time.
Among those programs, there was a tremendous TV show that gave me matchless entertainment. , produced by Mnet is the name. It is similar with , one who sings better gets to the top, only that those singers in this program is actually rappers. Who raps better, who makes better performance decided the winner of cash prize of a hundred million won and all the benefits. I didn’t really care who the winner is, but the important thing is that this program made me crazy about hip-hop. Actually I have made some of hip-hop songs after watching the show. The way they arrange the words and perform, it was so cool.
이순신
유관순
광해군
안중근
세종대왕
만적
광개토대왕
김구
정몽주
안용복
만적(Man Jeok) is a slave who fought for the freedom of the slaves. He was a slave of 최충헌(Choi Chung Heon), who was the most powerful ruler in that time. As 최충헌 made a coup to gain the power, 만적 prepared a coup to get rid of unjust slavery. He gathered slaves, and made an announcement about their anger of being poorly treated, and what should they do to eliminate slavery. They have promised to make a coup in a certain day. The day has come, but not many slaves were gathered. So 만적 delayed the day of coup, but before that day to come 만적’s plan is discovered by 최충헌, because of his friend slave’s betrayal. So 만적 faces a miserable death.
The time 만적 was living in was 고려 Dynasty, which accepted status system with no doubt. 만적’s action looks easy from the present’s perspective, but in fact it is very difficult to break the rule that is accepted by every person. What 만적 did was a brave, innovative action to change the unfair society, so it must not be undervalued by people.
His famous quote
“왕후장상이 처음부터 씨가 있을까 보냐. 때가 오면 누구나 할 수 있다.”
“Is there really genes of royal family? Anyone can make it if the time comes.”
My pal, Ma Seong Hyun has lots of interesting writings in his blog. Today I want to introduce one of them.
The one that most impressed me was his comment on biology. (B.Boston, subject of inspiration) I have known that Seong Hyun is interested in biology, and it is good for him to keep his interest in it; biology is a good subject for sure. Seong Hyun says “. . . for me it was a shock to see, that such meager chemicals could cause such a change. . .” and “. . .it was just cool to see that small doses could cause such a change.” (http://seonghyunma.wordpress.com/) For me it was a shock to see that Seong Hyun is already prepared to change the world, since he recognizes a small thing can bring a huge change. I definitely agree with his idea; many a mickle makes a muckle. I think I am not prepared yet to be a such person, but Seong Hyun does, so I respect him. Once again I feel a deep bond with him and his ideas, and I am sure that he would be a great biologist.
It was first English class in MS 3. It was my first meeting with Ms. Davene, and my first meeting with George Orwell’s masterpieces. Masterpieces, say, most of the people would think of <Animal Farm> or <1984>. But those weren’t what we were going to learn for one semester.
“We are going to study Orwell’s essays for one semester.”
Essay? Why in the place we learn essays, while there are lots of ‘masterpieces’ that is famous worldwide? She should have had a purpose, so I decided to believe her and learn with an interest.
Well, it did turn out that Ms. Davene had a purpose, of teaching us the real ‘masterpieces’ of Orwell. The first essay I have faced was ‘A Hanging’. The essay was about three pages, so it wasn’t that difficult to read it. It gave me an immense impact. I was so surprised, at how he organizes the events, maximizing the tension of the story, and how he expands a short eight minutes to one story. He didn’t portray the theme of the essay in his own voice; he just reported what happened in a jail, and that was enough to show his strong opinion against capital punishment. It was a huge shock to me. Or, well, Orwell’s writings enlightened a new path of writing that I can learn and follow, as I will use it to enlighten the world.
99bci 