Assignment #3

Academy Award Nominee documentary film Trouble of the Water captured the day before the hurricane Katrina. An aspiring rap artist Kimberly Roberts turned her video camera to her neighborhood to record how other people reacted to the hurricane. While she was taping conversations with people around her neighborhood, she kept saying that she cannot afford to move and those poor people have nowhere to go. “Nowhere to go?” I started wonder where were local and federal government to help those people? Where were policemen to help people to evacuate? Where were hundreds school buses that supposed to transfer the city residents to outside of New Orleans? Although the city had long history of floods and hurricanes, there was no prepared reaction or evacuation plan for the hurricane. Unpreparedness was observed in both local (micro) and federal (macro) government level, which caused more human casualties.

Because natural disasters devastate the residential areas so quickly, evacuating potential victims on time is critical. That’s why local government immediate rescue plan is a significant matter. Although the city of New Orleans knew that many residents didn’t have car and couldn’t afford to move, the city didn’t react quickly to save them because simply they were unprepared. They could use school buses to transfer the city residents out of the city. Frontline -the storm showed that local government didn’t use hundreds school buses to evacuate people because they didn’t have bus operators. Where were operators (National Guard)? National Guard didn’t receive any request from the city. The TV program also emphasized that local law enforcements and firefighters didn’t prepare for emergency evacuation. Some people luckily made phone calls to 911 operators, but most of them didn’t get help because those who supposed to help the residents were busy to save themselves.

Federal government unpreparedness was much obvious. The purpose of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) was to coordinate local and federal government organizations to provide aids in places like New Orleans. In order to perform efficiently, they should have road maps for any kinds of natural disasters. However, what they did during the Katrina was nothing more than a bunch of unorganized group of people. Frontline showed how FEMA failed to perform their tasks. Former FEMA director, Michael Brown, didn’t know how many people needed shelters and how serious the situation was. Also, federal government sent national guards five days later which was too late to recue people. Trouble of the Water and Frontline both showed images of so many people lying on the ground after Katrina. However, there was no rescue worker or National Guard with them in the images. It took so long until FEMA effectively helped people.

Lack of interoperability between the residents and local or federal government was another problem in New Orleans. Frontline showed why interoperability was important to prevent human casualties. Places where hurricanes or earthquakes happen usually don’t have electricity and phone service. In other words, people don’t know where they have to go. According to trouble of the water, many residents didn’t know what exactly happened to the levee. They couldn’t call and they didn’t know where they had to go. Frontline said that the city had a chance to build the interoperability system couple of years earlier before the hurricane, but they used money for other purposes. What were more important than saving lives? Ridiculously, they had money for buying bulletproof vests for canines and air-conditioned garbage trucks. Sadly, they didn’t have money for building the system.

How do we prepare for our final exams? The answer is depending on how hard and how important the exams are. If we think that questions are harder and it is important to our GPA, we probably start studying couple of weeks earlier. We probably hire a tutor to get ready. Preparedness is the best way to prevent unlikely results. What about the case of the Katrina disasters? For a long time, many experts had predicted disasters like hurricane Katrina. People had enough time to reduce the hurricane casualties. Especially, local and federal governments were well aware of the consequence of hurricane-induced sea surges, waves, and rainfall in New Orleans (Bergal 4). However, they stubbornly ignored their responsibilities and they also failed to make efforts to prepare for the hurricane. We couldn’t stop the hurricane Katrina to come to New Orleans, but we could save many lives if our government prepared for it.

Don't say it although I don't understand it.

If you travel to other countries, what words do you hear or learn first? It could be greetings or simple conversational words, like, “how much?” or “where is the bathroom?” But do you know what is next? I believe it is abusive language or swear words. It is not that you want to learn, but you want to know how people express themselves when they get upset. If someone is cursing at someone in other language that you don’t understand, you cannot just go him or her to ask where is the bathroom. Their response won’t make you feel happy. So it is important to know and speak abusive language when you travel other countries. You probably disagree. I know it sounds a little crazy, but this is based on my own experience.

Last summer, I traveled Europe for couple of weeks. I had had a wonderful time until I met a man in train in Prague. He tried to sell something to people on the train and I didn’t want to know what it was. I didn’t pay attention to him, but at one moment he stood right in front of me. He spoke something that I didn’t understand. I waved my hand to express “I don’t want to buy”. Then, he said something comically with strange gestures and suddenly people in the train laughed at me. How did I feel? Yeah, it was suck. I really wished that I could speak their abusive language and say, “shame on you guys”.

Sometimes I see people in movies say a lot of bad words, especially action or gangster movies. I thought it was cool to know how to swear well. Actually, once I asked an American friend to teach me how to swear. I still think it might be better if I know how to do it. What do you think? I don’t have to try? Is it necessary to know it?

Do we have American Dreams?

When I was in S. Korea, I heard about American Dreams many times. It was all about successful and bright stories. Some of Korean immigrants accumulated a large amount of wealth and some became famous scholars, economists or musicians. I had a great yearning for American Dreams until I came to the USA. The reality was so different. Most of new comers had hard time to communicate with Native Americans. It is also hard to find jobs for them. Companies don’t want to hire F-1 status students (international students). Immigrants had to face and realize that American Dream is far away to achieve.

I am not saying that America is not a good country to live. It is still the best country that provides educational opportunities and safe environments to people. If I have a decent job, I definitely want to live here. But, let’s face the reality. Economy in the U.S. is getting worse and worse and competition in global market is tough. 20 years or 10 years later, it would be much worse. I think we have to redefine what American Dreams are. Maybe we should say, “there is no American dream at all”.

Assignment #2

People want to see and feel what they don’t usually experience. Maybe that’s the most reason why people travel around New Orleans. Unique characteristics in New Orleans have made it as a popular place to visit. It has a unique architectural style which shows historical backgrounds and multicultural heritage of the City, especially in French Quarter. It is also well known for Jazz, Carnival (Mardi Gras) and many music festivals. Its various historical backgrounds and geographic location difference compared with other regions in the U.S. are also considered as New Orleans distinctive characteristics. The major economic activities such as tourism-related works and cargo works are based on its attractive cultures and location. However, economic situation and segregated neighborhood in New Orleans are somehow very similar to other typical cities in the U.S.

New Orleans was found in 1718 by French, Jean-Baptiste Bienville and soon after it had a period of Spanish control. Later, it was under French rule again until the United States purchased Louisiana. During 1780s to 1810s, most of residents were whites: Catholics, Red necks, and white-Scotch Irises, but there was also small black population. At the beginning, most whites lived in French Quarter and black lived in Treme. The city grew with influxes of French, Creoles (Haitians), Americans, and Africans, which caused expansion of the city. One major difference of these immigrants was that there were free people of color among Haitian immigrants, which created a unique aspect compared with other regions in the U.S. Black population grew and eventually they formed a strong political power in mid 19th century. They voted and they published first black newspaper, L’Union. The newspaper demanded land and education opportunities for blacks. However, after the reconstruction, blacks lost their voting rights and their political voices. After the U.S. Supreme Court rule regarding Plessy v. Ferguson case, black history turned around and marched on opposite direction. Black became a powerless minority and isolated. Also, segregated housing policy early 1900s and desegregated public school policy mid 1900s accelerated housing segregation in New Orleans, which eventually caused a horrible consequence of Katrina disaster.

The people and cultures in the New Orleans have created different characteristics. First, different languages exist. Although American English is dominant, many people still speak French, Spanish depending on their origins. Second, music is one of the most distinctive cultures in New Orleans. The city is home to Jazz and many musicians. Since the end of 19th century when blacks lost their political power, Jazz represented their inner voices since they couldn’t speak out loud their opinions in public. Along with Jazz, Mardi Gras is another music related unique celebration, which is not observed in the U.S. Third, many antic or multicultural buildings and structures are still obsevable. In French Quarter, many buildings still have French and Spanish styles. Especially, French Quarter’s notorious nightlife is a world renowned place. People in New Orleans have tried to keep their cultural origins, which is the reason why they have this uniqueness.

New Orleans’ location is well known for ‘horrible site, but a perfect situation’. Until late 19th century when people realized what the cause of fever or disease was, many New Orleans residents had suffered from various diseases such as malaria. It was also a place to have many floods and hurricanes. On the other hand, it was a perfect place to build a port as a transportation hub. Since Mississippi river provided connections between city to city, cheap transportation system developed. Huge accumulated sediment along Mississippi river was a good location to develop a port and build houses. Also, hurricanes and river floods were common, high location was considered a safer place. However, as population grew rapidly, people had to find other places to live because of limitation of the area. Development of water pump helped to drain water from Jefferson Parish that became a residential area. Whites moved to the newly developed suburban area in 1950s to 1980s: white flight (Lewis 125). Also, desegregated public school policy accelerated the white flight. Most of black population still remained in highly segregated Orleans Parish. Also, newly built urban highway (I-10) triggered more white flight (Lewis 98).

Orleans Parish after the white flight confronted many problems. It was more segregated, alienated, and violated. Since blacks couldn’t find decent jobs, their income level was low. There was lack of school funding and public services in the area. Also, crime rate were very high. Those aspects seemed was very similar with other segregated neighborhoods in the U.S.

We need to change, but not this one.

Couple of days ago, president Barrack Obama announced that his administration will change the US education system. He wants more school hours and less vacation periods. He believes that current levels of US students in math and science is very low compared with other countries like Japan, Korea, or Germany. I agree with his opinion. We have to change our education system, but what I am worried about his education policy that is likely similar to Korean education system. Since he already mentioned several times about Korean education policy and Korean parents’ passion to teach their children, I assume what he wants to do is following a standard model like Korean’s.

To be honest with you, I think that is a terrible idea. When I was in high school in Korea, I woke up at 6 am and I got to school around 7 am. I had 8 regular, 2 extra classes and 3 intensive self study hours. I usually stayed until 10 pm and it was 11 pm when I got home. I didn’t have time to meet my friends and I didn’t have time to read nobles. Most of all, my school life was so stressful. Sometimes, I couldn’t concentrate on classes because I was so tired to focus. I wasn’t only one who suffered, all high school students in Korean had to suffer. Now, I don’t have many recollections regarding to my high school years. Only what I remember is tests and a lot of homework.

Because of those difficult times, now I am pretty good at math and science. However, I am not sure whether I am a creative person. I am good at memorizing and solving problems, but writing? Writing requires a lot of thinking and creativity, but I am really terrible about it. What I find from American education system is that students actually learn creativity from their classes. My point of view towards US students is that as time goes by, American students are better than Asian students. Just what they need is some time to learn basic concepts.

What I am saying is that moderate change in the US education system like more class hours is a good idea, but not following others’ systems. We cannot sacrifice our creativity for higher math scores.

Cultural Outliers (?)

This morning I got a phone call from my father, which was very weird because he usually doesn’t call me unless it is an emergency. He suddenly asked me “when are you going to get married?” My answer was simple “soon”. I felt his anxiety. He wants me get married as soon as possible. The problem is that I haven’t thought about marriage before. I called my sister who is married and I told her what my father said to me. She said that he actually tried to buy a house for me in case I get married soon. I was shocked.

My father believes that there are time periods for everybody, especially for me.
Age 5-20: Studying
Age 20-26: military service & university
Age 27-30: first job & first(?) marriage
Age 31-65: work hard & raise children
Age 61- : I don’t know yet his mind

I don’t think this perception is much different from other Koreans’. I wonder how people think about me if I don’t follow this rule. Maybe, I will be a cultural outlier(?) who doesn’t do what he or she supposes to do. Since I don’t want to be any kinds of outlier I probably follow the time schedule. Is it funny? Now we are free to do anything, but at the same time we are afraid to do it.

Can you speak English?

Ok, here’s a fact. I don’t speak English fluently. To be honest with you, I still have a hard time to pronounce ‘r’ and ‘th’. Of course my English is much better now compared to five years ago. But I still feel like it is not enough especially when I cannot make friends easily because of a language barrier. It is so sad because I used to make friends very easily and I was very sociable in Korea. Now, I am losing confident. I wonder how other Native Americans perceive me as a foreigner.

When I was in Korea, I saw some foreigners on the streets. Of course, I hadn’t tried to speak with them because I didn’t have a chance to get to know them. And also I didn’t want to talk to someone who couldn’t communicate with me. I also laughed at them when TV show host interviewed foreigners in Korean. It was funny to hear strange Korean pronunciations. I didn’t really care about how they felt when people laughed at them. Now, I know their feelings.

But, do we have to speak fluently to make friends or communicate with others? I believe the answer is “no”. We don’t judge our friends based on their communication skills. We judge them based on their characteristics. Maybe it is not my English, but lack of social skill makes me hard to make friends.

Citizen Journalism

People used to rely on books or journals in libraries as primary sources in order to get information, but the aspects of searching information have changed dramatically since the advent of the Internet. In an Internet connected office or home, it only takes a few seconds to find information and it is also very cheap. Moreover, Internet has also allowed people more chances to speak up their voices and opinions to the world by posting articles on blogs; being a journalist becomes very easy. Yoani Sanchez takes advantages of this. She creates public opinions and tries to change Cuban society. Her blog, Generation Y, can be a good source to get information and to know the Cuba, but it doesn’t mean that people can rely on her positing completely. Blogs’ articles are not always reliable and objective as journals.

Publishing magazines or broadcasting news is very complicated and expensive process. Only people who have huge capital to support the process financially can do so; it is an impossible goal to an individual to make its own company. As Joseph Liebling said, ‘Freedom of the press is guaranteed only to those who own one’, ideas or thoughts that couldn’t be supported by mainstream media didn’t have any chance to be available in public. However, people find other methods to show their opinions in public. The advent of the Internet, especially blogging, has made it possible; people simply type their opinions on their blogs. Since blogs are available through the Internet, everybody who has an internet connection can read articles or watch videos on blogs. Individual now has a power to create online magazines or broadcasting news. Like Sanchez, already many potential citizen journalists use blogs to provide information deeper and more often than mainstream media. Sanchez uses her blog as a megaphone to speak out her opinions associated with Cuba to the world. According to the interview with Ted Henken, sociology professor, Sanchez emphasizes, “citizen journalism is especially important given the fact that the government exercises an information monopoly”. In a place where people are only exposed to the government information or propaganda, the effective way to take an action against the government is providing real stories to Cubans and last of the world. Sanchez knows that it is hard to change if Cubans don’t realize why they face so many problems. Her method to change Cuban society is simple but very effective. She describes what she feels or sees on the streets and provides reasonable reasons why they have such problems.

When people ask questions or request information on a search engine like google.com or yahoo.com, many times the search engine shows blogs’ articles as results. If all bloggers considered and disciplined themselves as professional journalists, blogs would be a reliable source as a substitute for journalism. The problem is that people sometimes use articles in blogs without verifying or criticizing opinions. Rettberg says, “journalism is expected to be objective and reliable, and the editor and the brand of the newspaper or broadcast medium itself stand as guarantees of this”. Journalism is objective and it doesn’t provide subjective opinions to their readers. In comparison, blogs are generally both subjective and objective, which means that articles in blogs contain facts and opinions. Sanchez has posted many articles regarding to reality of living in Cuba. It is hard to say that her blog is closed to journalism because her descriptions are subjective and sometimes emotional. One of her articles describes a raining day in Cuba. She said that Cubans cannot walk on streets in raining days because Cubans don’t have umbrellas. She then criticizes government policy and she asserts that Cubans do not like their current situations. However, her posting doesn’t show a neutral point of view. There are obviously other opinions towards to Cuban government policy, but she only shows negative side of situation or her own opinion.

Reliability is another factor to define journalism. Since publicly available articles on the Internet can be seen anywhere in the world, maintaining credibility and providing origins of sources are critical because passive readers usually accept information. When mainstream media companies publish newspapers or broadcasting news, there are people who responsible the contents of their news or articles. Since editors and producers supervise before people read newspaper or watch TV programs, readers are only exposed to reliable and correct information. However, we cannot fully rely on information on blogs even though blogs only contains linked articles. For example, Filterblogs usually provide links, but it doesn’t guarantee that original information is reliable. More creditability issues occur when we look at personal blogs. Unlike filterblogs, articles in personal blogs are written by individual blogger, which means that nobody checks the quality or reliability of articles before publishing. Sanchez’s blogs is a personal and topic-driven blog. Most of the articles are written by her, which means that her writings are only approved by herself. If articles are published without verification by someone else, I don’t think I can rely on them.

Blogs are one of the most powerful tools for an individual to spread its own opinion to the world. It is very cheap and simple way to do it. The number of people who use blogs now already shows how popular and powerful it is. Blogs has changed the aspect of publishing. For a long time, people perceived journalists as professional writers who had high education and professional experience. Bloggers still think that they are not journalist, but many characteristics of blogger similar to journalist. However, we cannot fully rely on blogs as a substitute for journalism because articles in blogs are not verified by others. Of course, comments or reply from others can corrent them, but articles are still subject to be verified. The blog, Generation Y, provides a good point of view about Cuba, but I don’t think that people should perceive the blog as a good source of news and information and perceive it as true. If the blog only provided subjective point of view about Cuba, it would prevent readers to perceive and think neutrally about Cuba.

Am I a loser?

Lady on top saying " Loser"

Couple of days ago, young female university student talked about general characteristics of good men in Korean TV program called “MISUDA” that is quite popular in Korea. “MISUDA” means “beautiful women’s talks” (I don’t agree with the title since I cannot check whether they have beautiful minds). The girl said that man whose height is not 180 cm (5.10 feet) is a loser. Her comment became a huge issue in Korean society. You probably don’t understand why it was a big deal. You might think that she was absurd or crazy. The problem was not the girl, but society itself.

In Korea, cosmetic surgery is very common. People want to have a big nose and eyes so that they look like Americans or Europeans. Believe it or not, many Koreans think that most Americans and Europeans are beautiful. This perception makes some Koreans who have small nose and eyes feel depressed. My sister was one of them; she thought that her nose was small. (she is quite beautiful and cute)

My grandmother always advised me, “don’t look at woman’s appearance, but find a woman who has a beautiful mind.” She knew that beautiful appearance doesn’t mean anything to me. At that time, I disagree with her, but now I know what that means. Although I am not 5.10 feet, I don’t feel like I am a loser. If we ignore who we are and where we are from, we cannot satisfy real us. Am I right?

Technology makes you happy?

We as a group of individuals usually have same cultural rule and ideas towards our world. Following the rule of society and law is one way to have a comfortable life. That’s why it is sometimes hard to stand outside of the rule. Like although you don’t like your mother-in-law, you have to pretend you like her . However, nowadays we as an individual have a weapon to against those rules and law. That’s Internet and new technology like digital camera. Of course, not all generation enjoys these things. Maybe someday in near future when new technology shows up, I will be one who cannot enjoy them.
My question is that do we have to keep following new machine or technology in order to keep up with young generation? I have to ask again, can I keep up with new generation when I am old? Do we have to teach our parents’ generation how to use smart phones or computer? I believe the answer is ‘no’. I once tried to teach my father how to search information on the internet and I soon gave up on him because it seemed like impossible to teach him. I felt sorry for him because he couldn’t follow me even though he tried very hard. I wanted him to take advantage of new technology like internet, but at the same time, I wonder how stressful it was to our parents’ generation to know totally different technology. My reason of giving up on him was that he was born in wrong time and wring place. Why I suddenly think about Outliers?

Murder of a Vietcong by Saigon Police Chief

This picture was known “Murder of a Vietcong by Saigon Police Chief”. When I first saw the man who was being shot, I wonder why the soldier wanted to kill him and I felt sorry for the Vietcong. Since the title was ‘murder of a Vietcong”, everyone who watches the picture probably has the same feeling that I have. However, if I knew that the Vietcong was a murder of dozens of civilians, I wouldn’t have sympathy for the Vietcong. The truth was that the Vietcong who was looked so pitiful was a captain of a Vietcong “revenge squad” that had executed dozens of civilians. Then, do I have to perceive the police chief as a justice? As far as I know, there was not a good court system in Vietnam and laws couldn’t effectively control people’s behavior. One who had a superior power could be a judge and executer. I don’t want to blame the soldier because his action probably reflected people around him.
Without know the truth about the picture, it became an icon of the war.

A picture

When I first saw this Pulitzer Prize winning picture, I couldn't believe my eyes. It was obvious that the volture was waiting the child die so that it can eat. The child in the picture has big bally and very skinny body shape, which is a sign of starvation. The child was crawling to United Nation Food camp, which was located kilometers away..
It was taken in Sudan by photographer, Kavin Carter, who later committed suicide because people accused him not help the child.
However, this one picture created a huge attention in the world. People all over the world helped children in Sudan after they saw the picture. Since people invented cameras and films, it is easier to record scenes and store data in pictures. Furthermore, now with digital camera, almost everyone can be a historian. I want to see how people perceive the world around them by studying some pictures