Winter Poem

Winter is here, there's a new feeling, a new spirit, the days are short, feels like life is short, cold yet warm, family's together, makes you feel grateful, family's gone, quiet, time to reflect, more cold, snowy days, making igloos, dark days, thinking, what's next, laughter, winds, ice, songs, fire, hope, despair, life, winter.

Globalization

Globalization is an economic, social, and political phenomena that has taken place during the last fifty years. Economically, it is the interdependence of the economies of various nations. It is the United States exporting things like food products to all parts of the world as well as importing things from China. A corporation in the United States now can communicate ideas to Chinese factories, have Chinese labor manufacture a product, and ship/distribute the products to markets across the world. Economic globalization can sometimes be seen as an inevitable manifestation because of how economics has evolved throughout the years. If we were to go back to colonial America, most everyone was a farmer, self-sufficient, making everything they needed. During the Industrial Revolution, it was more efficient to allow a factory manufacture a specific type of product than farmers making everything themselves. The United States soon became a market economy in which people could buy what they needed. Globalization could be seen as the next extension of the market economy; since China can manufacture goods more efficiently and cheaper than the United States, it would make sense for the United States not to compete with China in this field. Countries have become dependent on one another to supply them with goods in the same way how the American farmer had become dependent on stores to supply them.

We can now communicate and transport ideas and goods faster and to more places than ever. Western popular culture is being diffused throughout the world. The attraction of the mainstream culture often times weakens local cultures. The domination of Western culture throughout the world has disturbed the cultural diversity of the world as more and more people are becoming westernized. Some people whose local culture is being destroyed rebel against the strong pull from popular culture.

From an American standpoint, globalization has been great. Americans are the ones who are dominating the word culturally and benefiting much from it economically. With globalization, I can buy things relatively cheap. I can call my grandmother in India and can even visit her several times, but I do not know if others in other countries would have the same luxuries as I. While I benefited, others may be suffering from globalization.

Sports in My Life

Sports have played a big role in my life. Ever since I was little I played sports, I watched sports on TV... pretty much anything related to sports. My first and best sport that I have ever played was basketball. I was in an organized league when I was 3 years old at a YMCA. Ever since, I have been playing basketball. During my elementary school days, I was in my park district's b-ball league, and the summers were frequented with pick up games from the park across the street. As a spectator, I watched many differnet kinds of sports--football, bastketball, a little bit of baseball, even some golf-- both on the professional and collegiate levels. Pretty much I was a sports nut. I loved to talk about sports-related topic, showing everyone my incredible sports IQ. My infatuation with sports was influenced by my family. I have two brothers about the same age as me and many cousins (only 2 girls), and we just all naturally gravitated toward sports. In our family gatherings, all the kids would go out and play something. We basically encouraged each others interests. For me, back then, sports were kind of like my escape. The excitement for a big game would always get my adrenaline rushing. I would make sure that I did all my work so I could watch some national championship game. I have watched some amazing games, plays, moments in sports. These moments now seen nostalgic. Also, too many times the team that I intensly desired to win fell short. An example is the 2004-2005 Fighting Illini basketball team. I was madly in love with that team. I watched as we did not lose a game...until the last game of the regular season, and later in the NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP!! For a fan so invested in the success of the Illini, I was devastated....

However, when I grew older, I noticed that my interest in sports was at times unhealthy and that sports weren't really important. I needed to prioritize my life according to what was actually important, so I tried to be less involved in sports. I tried to step away even though it was painful. Sometimes when I told my friends that I had decided not to hoop one day, they said I had "retired." Essentially, I was asking the question "Why should I devote my time and energy to follow something that won't benefit me?" As time went on I developed a more balanced approach toward sports, somewhere in the middle of fanatic and ascetic. I came to believe that sports were healthy and can benefit me. I am more likely to play a sport than to watch it on TV. I try not to get overwhelmed  by what some basketball player did in the NBA, but its hard because I had idolized these people during  my childhood.

Thankful for a Classmate

I am thankful for my all my classmates because they create a distinct personality for the class. I love the class because of all the different perspectives that arise. It would not be as fulfilling if we sat there agreeing all the time, so thanks guys. I am also grateful those who help form my own ideas. When we do group work I am with Dohyun and Rich, and they help me understand concepts in class, even though they laugh at some of my suggestions. Sometimes we disagree on something, but we accept each others view. I am thankful for Jessica because she always has something to say. Sometimes I take a look back at her just to see how see reacted to something. I am also thankful for Jackie, whose involvement in class gives me my needed inspiration to be a better student. I am thankful for those who speak their opinion. I am often fascinated with what comes out of their mouths. People like Colin, Eric, Greg, Vanessa, Courtney, Annie, Hannah, and everyone else that talks (sorry, I wasn't trying to leave anyone out). I often wonder "what makes them thinks that way?" There views help me shape my own views. Thanks. I am grateful I can have a class with all of the classmates I have.

Open Letter to Cormac McCarthy

Dear Cormac McCarthy,
I have recently read your book The Road. I thought it was quite interesting. I liked that the setting was a place that no human being could directly relate to. The descriptions in the book have made me shiver few times when I think of the cold and barren land.
I would have questions about the book like, “what did you mean by this” but I do not think you are willing to answer such questions or if there really is an answer. Some questions I do want to ask are: what made you write this book and what was the inspiration? How has your own experiences contributed to your work? I have read a little bit of your biography and remember you saying that you find no point in writing if it is not dealing with death. Does this mean that you often see death in all things? In The Road there is death all around the boy and the man. It is interesting how the characters cope with this misery. To have hope in this situation is difficult yet the love of the father towards his son and vice-versa sustains them.
I do not know if you were trying to use anything as symbols in your book. Apparently, a critic once said that the boy represented something like “goodness incarnate”. I thought an important part of the book was that the father continued to hold to his ideals and did not become lawless like many other survivors. This could have symbolized that there is something that is universal for human beings in every situation. For example, money is lauded, but it has no intrinsic value, so when it loses its backing it loses its value. In The Road, I think you are showing that there are things that have intrinsic value, things that retain its value, like bonding with your child.

Defend the Poet

Charles Bukowski makes some outstanding claims in his poem Dinosauria, We, but claims that are worth considering. I think he is seriously concerned about the outlook of our society. The way the society is set up is ultimately leading it to its destruction. The negative affects of the society keep piling up and eventually take over. The poem may present an extreme scenario which may not happen. Bukowski is assuming that since A happened then Z happens, but he may have forgotten the steps B through Y that also have to go about before the eventual extinction of mankind. This is not to say that I do not think Bukowski's forecast might ever happen. I do think that with the examples Bukowski offers, we can examine the destructiveness that society can have. For example, in Dinosauria, We, it says that that we are "Born into this/ Into hospitals which are so expensive that it is cheaper to die/ Into lawyers who charge so much it's cheaper to plead guilty". The system is set up in such a way that the services are exploiting the very people that they are supposed to help. The system is more considered with who has more money than with providing justice. This analysis makes me think that there is something fundamentally wrong with our society. These examples are relevant to our current circumstances. Bukowski also observes our society become inhuman. Abusing other people and our environment. I can see how our society can be moving in this general direction, but I think Bukowski expresses to much cynicism about our society. There are some good agents in our society that are mitigating the damage of the bad ones. Things like pro bono work. But maybe I am also just being too optimistic.

A Direction the Class Needs

I think the class is going in a good direction as of now. I like that the primary manner in which the class operates is a discussion format. Mr. McCarthy or the literature which we read poses an idea and we all can have different beliefs about it. As a result, ideas bounce around in our head. When someone shares his/her ideas with the class, the whole class is enriched because everyone is better able to understand the idea from a different perspective. I think this creates a better learning environment.

I like that the class is not very rigid and is very open. The class is very enjoyable because not only do we learn but we laugh too. The discussions are open to most if not all ideas. The only thing that might be considered a flaw is that some of our discusssions drift way too far from the current topic. We do get on tangents and I have no problem with that. It's just that sometimes there's no relevence to class. This class has made me think harder about certain things that I have not thought about before. Overall, I like the current direction of the class, although it could be more focused.