201103628 Hana Choi/Hangul/Tue 3.4

201103628 Hana Choi

Hangul, the proud Korean language

1446 is one of the most meaningful years in Korean history. It is when King Sejong the great, the king of Joseon dynasty back then, distributed the Korean alphabet Hangul to his people. Despite many of his servants' oppositions during his making of the alphabet, he did not stopped working on it. That resulted in a huge difference in Korean politics, culture, and society. It improved political awareness among Korean citizens, made culture more flourish and inspired patriotism while the country was colonized by Japan.

The creation of Hangul let the ordinary people know the government issues. Before the king made Hangul, only Chinese characters were written and read in Korea. But very few privileged people such as civil servants or wealthy people had chance to study in the feudal society. So for others, the elite Characters were too difficult to learn and naturally people were not able to know what was going on around the country. The king who knew this wanted all of his subject to learn and use Hangul. The Korean alphabet was indeed a revolution to Koreans. Different from Chinese characters, Hangul was very easy to learn. After all of the Korean citizens regardless of age and sex commanded of Hangul, the chance of education grew. As people started to have ability to understand books and posters, the equality in getting information is realized. People grew power to think about the happenings in the government and at the same time ordinary people could criticize on the government and express their own feelings about politics freely.

Because the barrier of language was gone and people were educated, it was possible to have culturally more developed society than before. First, many Chinese writings were translated into Korean to many people could approach to readings easily. It caused more ordinary people, not only few privileged people, to create their own writings. Particularly when the book written for agricultural techniques is translated into Korean, farmers could figure out better agriculture methods suit for Korean geographical conditions. It increased the efficiency in farming. Also the ordinary people began to participate in creating works of arts. A large number of ordinary people from farmers to even Korean geisha who is called gisaeng wrote something in Korean and shared it with others. Since many high-quality arts reflecting Korean traditional values were came out, some of them are still found in historical sites and help us understand thoughts of our ancestors from different social classes.

Hangul also prevent people from losing patriotism during Japanese colonial era. Japan prohibited Koreans from using Hangul and if people had used Korean language they were punished. It is because Japanese knew every language has people's spirit and using Hangul would ruin their plan to make Koreans obey Japanese people. Although they forced us to learn only Japanese language lots of people tried to teach and learn Hangul secretly through making night school and distributing books or newspaper written in Korean language. This acts raised many patriots who fought for the independence of Korea. If there had not been Korean language there would not have been many movements of independence. Hangul is one of the main reasons how Korea recovered so quickly from terrible historical events so far amazing other countries.

The creation of Hangul had such huge influences in every part of Korea including people's approach to information, contribution to culture, and increasing patriotism. Even though Hangul made people's life much better, Koreans do not seem to be pleased to use Hangul that much. It is a shame that less and less people know the importance of Korean and even some people insist on taking English as the Korean official language. Korean people need to be thankful to use Hangul and feel pride to have Hangul. 

chaelim lee/ Assignment No.4/Tue. 11a.m.

<Not just a First Lady, but a "great" First Lady>

 

Chaelim Lee

 

How many first ladies in the United States do you know? Maybe You'd know Hillary Clinton, Michelle Obama. Then, do you know Eleanor Roosevelt? She was a spouse of Franklin Roosevelt, the 32^nd president of the United States. She is one of the most famous first lady for the American people for her achievements in protecting human rights. She was a feminist and a powerful supporter of the civil rights movement, protecting the weak during the world war Ⅱ as well.

 

 

 

She was very interested in protecting woman's rights. Before she became the first lady, she was already a feminist. She made many achievements such as working with the Woman's Trade Union League(WRUL), and buying the Todhunter School for Girls with her friends and teaching American literature and history there until her husband was elected. After TDR's inauguration, she kept carrying on her business and writing a column on the New Work Times, in an era when few married women had careers. She proved herself that women are capable of work after they married. Her career inspired many women in the world.

 

 

Eleanor was very ardent supporter of the civil rights movement. During Frenclin's term in the white house, she was the vocal for the support of the African American civil rights movement. She pointed out the New Deal programs in Southern states was discriminating with African-Americans. She showed her endorsement by inviting hundreds of African American guests to the White House, such as the famous black singer Marian Anderson, or African-American educator Mary McLeod Bethune. Even though The Roosevelt white house wasn't really interested in the rights of the African American, She was kept working with a lot of activists to gain equal rights for the African American.

 

 

During the World War Ⅱ, She focused on protecting human rights of the weak. She lobbied with TDR to allow greater immigration of groups, including Jews, whose persecuted by Nazis. However, that Franklin didn't approve it because of the fear of the Fifth Columnists. But she managed to rescue some Jewish refugees instead of giving up and doing nothing. Also, she thought that women and African American should get a factory job during the wartime. She encouraged women of all social backgrounds to "learn skills and be useful". Even in the war, she made an effort to work for the weak and help them to gain social powers.

 

 

Eleanor Roosevelt lived in a hard time with many affairs such as the Great Depression, and world war Ⅱ. However, she always concerned about how to help the second-class citizen. According to her biographer Cook, she is "the most controversial First Lady in United States history" because of her unconventional move. That's why we consider her as one of the most ardent supporter of the human rights.

Do Hee Kim/ Assignment #4/ Tues. 11 A.M.

Procrastination

      Procrastination is the act of putting off tasks to a later time. A research by University of Calgary in 2007 has shown that around 85% of college students have experienced procrastination and about 75% of them consider themselves as a procrastinator. As a college student, I have been a "full-time" procrastinator myself and learned from my experience that being a procrastinator almost never brings about any pleasant circumstances.

      I can make up as many excuses for my act of procrastination. If I feel that I have enough time to do the task before the deadline, I procrastinate. If I suddenly feel my eyes strained, I procrastinate. If I get hungry, I procrastinate. If I get depressed, I procrastinate. If I get happy, I procrastinate. I procrastinate all the time and all these excuses rationalize my act of procrastination.

     What happens after procrastinating and the deadline of my assignments or any tasks comes near? I get extremely stressed out. At this moment, all my excuses for being a procrastinator vanishes away and leaves me no choice but to face reality. Under all this stress, I finally start doing the work. This means studying just the night before an exam or doing homework right before the deadline, under the feelings of anxiety,uncertainty, and urgency. I mumble to my self, "If I only had more time..."

      The outcome is pretty obvious. I fail on tests, get lower grades on homework,always regretting about my procrastination. I always think the results would have been so much better if I only had studied more. All these regretful thoughts cannot change anything. I regret all the time but I still procrastinate. Procrastination is tempting and the only way to overcome it is through throwing away any illusions or excuses that builds up into procrastination.

     We underestimate time and do not recognize the fact that the time never waits for us. We can never save time for anything, we can only spend it. Knowing how to spend it wisely depends on ourselves. If we are given a task to do, let's not put it off to the last minute. We have to do it by someday anyways. Better to get satisfying outcomes then to regret about them, isn't it?

Yujin Lee/ Natural Phenomenon / Tuesday 11a.m.

The plague: One of the worst diseases that shook the Europe

 

Yujin Lee

 

 

I think everybody has experienced some kind of diseases, for instance, cold or flu. Although we may suffer for a few days when we get such diseases, with fine care and medicine, we will recover gradually. The diseases are not very fatal and we can get adequate cure if we need. However, back to 14^th century, a disease which struck the Europe was both deadly and cureless; it is called the plague. This disease is also known as the Black Death and was highly contagious. The plague is considered as one of the worst diseases which killed almost one third of the European population and this led series of significant changes in the religious, social, economic aspects of the Europe society.

 

 First, in the religious aspect, since the Catholic Church failed to provide solutions or comforts, the plague resulted in decrease of church's influence over people. It is quite recent that some possible scientific causes of the disease are suggested and still there are many controversies. Needlessly to say, scientific approaches to define exact cause of the plague rarely existed back in 14^th century; even though there were a few theories, they were hardly helpful to stop the disease. The predominant explanation of the plague was that it is a form of god's punishment to sinful mankind. To avoid the disease, people believed they have to repent their sins in front of priests. However, the priests also were not free from the plague and a large number of them were killed like the others. Surely, people could not rely on and get comforts from them. Consequently, a lot of superstitions other than Christianity were formed instead and the church's power over people diminished.

 

In the economic aspect, because of the decrease in labor force, the feudalism broke down and technology to displace labor force was developed. In the middle ages, the main social structure of Europe was feudalism which is based on agricultural economy. In agriculture, the labor force plays a crucial role. However, since an enormous number of people were killed by the plague, the value of the labor force increased and the wage level soared. As consequence, the serfs were not easily available like the time before. This resulted in the decline of the feudalism. Also, due to the shortage of the manpower, the demands for technology in industry came up; this has something to do with the inventions of the printing press or mill.

 

Next, in the social aspect, because of the short life expectancy, the pessimism and the hedonism spread. At this period of time, the average life expectancy in Europe was extremely short; in the case of Britain, it was around 17 when the plague was at its peak. Unlike today, death was common and a part of everyday life. Because of this instability, the general atmosphere of society that affected the culture was very gloomy. Death was often depicted in the arts, as the pessimism prevailed. Meanwhile, people also had tendency to pursue pleasure or enjoyment rather than stick to the restrained lifestyle encouraged by Catholic Church. This lessened influence of church on people's lifestyle, later helped to enter the Renaissance period.

 

Without doubt, the plague was one of the biggest disasters. It is estimated that nearly 25-million people were killed by the plague in only five years (1347-1352). There was immense impact on society which led significant changes throughout European countries; in summary, first, in religious aspect, the authority of Catholic Church declined since it failed to provide solutions or comforts. And, in economic aspect, decrease in labor force resulted in the downfall of feudalism as well as the development of technology in industry. Also in the social aspect, shortened life expectancy led to the pessimism and hedonism which later also influenced the Renaissance. From these results that the plague brought, the disease is called as the worst massive killer; but, at the same time, it is also evaluated as a key factor which led Europe society to enter the modern times.

201101524 Park Hyun ju / famous person / Tuesday 11 am

Famous person 201101524 Park Hyun ju   When I am asked which Korean figure I most admire, I always say I admire Ban ki moon, the current Secretary General of the United Nations. As a career diplomat in South Korea's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, he represented our country for 30 years, promoting peaceful and friendly relations with other countries. After being elected to the position of the Secretary General of the United Nations, he has dedicated himself to make the world we live in a better place to live.   Ban ki moon has dedicated himself to bring peace and prosperity to the world. Because he always thinks beyond the borders of his country, he has always tried his best to tackle countless world problems. As a result of his truly global mind, he successfully dealt with North Korean nuclear threats, widespread poverty, humanitarian crisis and climate change. He visits regions where disaster has struck and where injustices are committed. Thanks to his efforts and dedication, he prevented many nuclear catastrophe, expanded women's rights and advanced democracy in many other countries. He has also contributed to the gains in literacy and life expectancy, a reduction in poverty, a decrease in the spread of HIV and AIDS.   Although he is now on the highest official position in the world, he always maintains humble attitude. His humble demeanor came from his humble childhood. Raised in the small farming village of Korea, he lived in constant poverty during the Japanese occupation of Korea. Because he was the oldest child in the family, he had to take care of his younger brothers and sisters. As a teenager, he studied hard to achieve the goal of being a professional diplomat. Even after he became one of the powerful leaders of the world, he certainly has not forgotten where he has come from, which makes everyone admire him even more.   The event that motivated him to pursue a career in diplomacy and public service came when he was in high school. As a high school student, he always studied hard with a passion for English and international politics. He was always the top of his class and got the chance to go to the United States' White House and meet John. F. Kennedy. This event led him to become a diplomat and serve Korea and the world. He served on the foreign ministry for over 30 years. After 25 years of service in the South Korean division of the United Nations, in 2007 he became the first Korean Secretary General of the United Nations.   To sum up, as the Secretary General of the United Nations, Ban ki moon contributed to solving many world problems including nuclear threats, environmental issues and human rights crisis. His truly global mind and universal vision originated from his humble upbringings and passion to make the world a better place to live. His story has inspired me to work hard not only in the classroom but in anything I do.

201000003 Naeun Kang /historical event/Tuesday 11am

201000003 

Naeun Kang

 

Kievan Rus' the Acceptance of the Greek Orthodox Church was a double-edged sword

 

When you think of Russia, what word do you come up with? You will probably answer "Vodka" since many people do. As lots of people already know, many Russian people enjoy drinking. Do you know the fact that when Kievan Rus, the early Russia, chose a state religion, the culture of enjoying alcoholic drinks affects to the decision? Vladimir the great felt the necessity of the state religion and considered several religions including Islam, the Greek Orthodox Church and Catholic Church. However, he chose the Greek Orthodox Church. There was no known exact reason why he excluded Catholic, but the reason why the Islam was excluded was the religion did not allow drinking. So he said Russian people could not live without the joy of drinking. As the result, the Greek Orthodox Church became the state religion in Kievan Rus. Then, what is the reason why the Greek Orthodox Church was accepted and which effects did it cause?

 

First of all, the reason why Vladimir decided to have a state religion was he saw the necessity of integrating nation. At that time, Kievan Rus' population comprised a wide variety of racial and ethnic groups because the geographic feature of an open field made other nations easy to access to Kievan Rus. So he needed one integrated national identity, and establishing the state religion was exactly effective way. Meanwhile, the reason why the Greek Orthodox was chosen as the state religion was because not only Islam was excluded as mentioned above, but also delegation from Kievan Rus was impressed to see Cathedral of St. Sophia and strongly recommended the religion to Vladimir. Then, after Kievan Rus accepted the Greek Orthodox Church, what did it affect to the society?

 

             There were positive and negative effects, and at first, the positive one was the acceptance of the Greek Orthodox Church made it possible to accomplish cultural development. First of all, the Cyrillic alphabet, the original form of Russian Alphabet, spread and came into wide use. At that time, though there was no official language in the society, the Bible written with the Church Slavonic language, which was the Cyrillic characters, was supplied to the public and the alphabet could be spread and take root in the society. It also leaded to development of documentary literature such as a book <Primary Chronicle>, a history of Kievan Rus, which offered state identity. In addition, Byzantine culture was spread and developed in Kievan Rus such as icon, mosaic and architecture.

 

Next, the negative effect was Kievan Rus was disconnected from Western Europe. The two societies had an adversarial relationship because of the difference in religion. At that time, most of western European countries believed in the Roman Catholic Church. So they avoided to accept Kievan Rus as a member of European Countries. For this reason, Kievan Rus could not learn and go through the progress of civilizations in Western Europe, which let the Kiev society remain backwards until the time of Renaissance.

 

 To sum up, the early Russia, Kievan Rus accepted the Greek Orthodox Church as the state religion to integrate diverse ethnic groups, and not only achieved the goal but also spread the Cyrillic alphabet and Byzantine culture. However, we can't ignore the negative effect of disconnection from Western Europe. So we should try to see the both effects rather than to see one side and conclude the acceptance of the religion was good or bad. 

Haesook Yoon/ Assignment 4/ Tues 11.A.M.

Give Some Supplement for Better Condition 201302209 Haesook Yoon Today's people are living a manic life. In these busy times, it is hard to take care of our diets. Even essential nutrients are hard to be provided in the flood of fast-food. To solve out the short supply of nutrients, dietary supplement came into this world. Dietary supplements can't cure illness like medicine but can help our body to keep the best condition to be healthy. Mainly, multi-vitamin and omega-3 are recommended for every day intake. Other supplements may be needed depending on one's health condition. Multi-vitamins consist of various vitamins, minerals and other nutritional elements. The purpose of taking multi-vitamin is to make up for lack of essential nutrients. A lot of antioxidants in multi-vitamin enhance our immunity therefore just by filling the needs we can maintain health and prevent disease. Also those vitamins have a share in fatigue recovery and aging prevention. Multi-vitamins cannot be the cure-all but can be the vaccine in the way that they prevent diseases. Omega-3 is polyunsaturated fatty acids. It is essential fatty acids for metabolism. This fatty acid is usually extracted from fish. Other important fatty acid is omega-6 which is usually found in meat, corns and dairy products. These days' people take 20~30 times more omega-6 than omega-3. Thus Omega-3 is made into a dietary supplement to balance intake of omega-6 and omega-3. Omega-3 help improve cardiovascular system to work better. Also, it helps with mental illness and improving intellectual capacity. Other dietary supplements are flowing over in markets. They are targeting eye health, liver capacity improvements, skincare and etc. If one understands the purpose of supplements and one's body condition, the supplements will be a big help. The recommended trend of dietary supplements is vitamin-c megadose. It is a mega consumption of vitamin-c which helps maximizing body condition. Milk thistle for liver capacity improvement, L-Cystein for skincare and Eyebright for eye health is also recommended. Dietary supplements are made to help our body to stay in our best condition. It cannot cure diseases but can enhance our body to cure the disease itself. Multi-vitamins are the most efficient supplements. Omega-3 improves our cardiovascular system and brain. There are many other supplements to promote our health. It is important to have a good knowledge of supplements before taking them. With careful investment we all can get a boost of our life.