ENG 308J_A02

Before this class, my only experience for learning how to write an essay was in OPIE classes a few years ago as I said earlier in the first blog. As an academic composition class, this was my second class. So, it was true that I was worried a little about taking a junior composition class because writing a paper and even writing in English was the weakest part of my ability. However, I did not have a choice, but to take. After the class began, and I started to write a paper, I noticed that some of knowledge that I learned from OPIE was a little different from the academic English class regarding composition skills such as transitioning or quoting. I have learned a lot of new writing skills. I think I have somehow managed to adjust. I feel more comfortable now.

In fact, I have learned a lot of things that are interesting. The main topic of the class was very interesting because I was interested in sex, love, and romance like others, and it was about media. Even though my major is animation, I have taken several classes related to media because of the department where I am in now: Media Study department. I think it was fun to know something more about media. In addition to that, learning about the love myths of Dr. Galician and reading articles that talk about relationship between the myths and media was quiet interesting. Through analyzing these articles, I think I have improved analyzing and criticizing skills. Moreover, learning how to cite was a very valuable lesson for me. Before this class, I always struggled for working on citations.

I think that the biggies reason I could improve my composition skill was encouragement from peers and the instructor. I really liked that the instructor and peers point out not only the weak part of my paper, but also the strong part of my paper. When they say some ideas in my paper are great, I felt really good. Without this encouragement, I was very skeptical about my papers.

Overall, even though the class was a bit challenging for me in the beginning, I feel very confident now that I could improve my composition skills. It was nice to have a class with good people and a good instructor.

Blog #4 - Goong-Hap

I talked about blood-type love last time. Today, I want to talk about other phenomenon that some Koreans believe in. There is a thing called Goong-Hap in Korea. By the dictionary, it is said that Goong-Hap is marital harmony as predicted by a fortuneteller. I believe that there is no such a word in the US. What it means is that a fortuneteller can figure out if a couple is perfectly matched or not in terms of their Sa-Joos. Sa-joo is known as the “Four Pillars” – the year, month, day and hour of one’s birth – which are supposed to influence one’s fortune or fate. I believe that there are similar things as Goong-Hap in other countries because there are similar aspects of a fortuneteller. Moreover, I think that the type of a thing has not been proven by science. It may be merely treated as a superstition.

However, in fact, many Koreans believe in the existence of Goong-Hap. So, it is common that some couples go to meet a fortuneteller for fun and see if they are really meant to be together. Thus, it is also common that parents go see a fortuneteller and ask her/him if their sons/daughters mat the right mate after their sons/daughters decide to marry someone. If Goong-Hap is true, the outcome of Goong-Hap can be sometimes crucial. For example, by Goong-Hap, it is possible that a person can be harmed or become unfortunate while having a relationship with his/her mate because the Sa-Joo of the mate influences negatively the person. More specifically, the person is more likely to have accidents or even his/her family can become unfortunate. It may seem ridiculous, but some people have experienced these types of things that cannot be explained by any sources, but Goong-Hap. Because of this, it is common that parents go see a fortuneteller before their sons/daughters get married with his/her boyfriends or girlfriends because parents typically want their sons/daughters to get married with someone happily.

I think that the idea of Goo-Hap is very similar to Dr. Galician’s myth #1 – “Your perfect partner is cosmically pre-destined, so nothing/nobody can ultimately separate you.” I somehow believe that a man meets a woman because of they have some sort of pre-destined connection, but I believe that a romance relationship is built through their efforts not because of their destiny. Goong-Hap is a very interesting idea. I myself sometimes check it for fun when I meet a girl, but even if our Goong-Hap is not that good, it does not mean that we have to separate. I think what is for fun is for fun.

My Research Proposal

My proposal for the research is Sex and the City. I wanted to research one of the TV shows because I thought that there will be many things to talk about. I chose Sex and the City. Actually, I did not have many experiences watching TV shows in the US. I did not have many choices to pick a TV show regarding sex, love and romance. After I was given the essay 3 assignment, Sex and the City came to my mind. I know it is one of the most famous romance TV shows in the US. I have watched one or two episodes of the show before, but I think that definitely there will be many things to talk about studies we have been doing in the class.

My topic will be interrelation between Sex and the City and Dr. Galician’s myths and prescriptions. I will research whether Sex and the City as a form of media perpetuates Dr. Galician’s myths or prescriptions. If it perpetuates, I will specifically find how characters in the show illustrate myths or prescriptions. I will focus on character relationships, dialogues of characters and characters’ behaviors.

My primary target audience is the instructor, but my imaginary target audiences will be couples. I think that because they are in romance relationships, they will find this type of a topic interesting. They may be already familiar with Sex and the City, but they are not likely to specifically think about how the media perpetuates myths such as Dr. Galician’s myths. I think that they can have fun comparing their thoughts with the portrayal of a TV show regarding sex, love, and romance. Moreover, I think that the instructor expects me to write a well-organized, fully-thoughtful and well-analyzed research paper incorporated with Dr. Galician’s myths.

My primary source will be obviously a season of Sex and the City. I think I will analyze full episodes in the first season of Sex and the City. My secondary sources will be reliable articles regarding Sex and the City. I will try to look for information of any comments related to Dr. Galician’s myths in the articles. I will find secondary sources in the library and in the internet for additional information. I am not looking forward to interview or survey. I will mostly focus on observing the episodes of Sex and the City.

I will start finding secondary resources tomorrow. I will watch an episode a day and finish it by this weekend. After that, I will collect all findings from the show and secondary sources and analyze them. I will write my paper based on those.

At this point, I wonder what myths or prescriptions Sex and the City specifically perpetuates and how. Problems I may have now are finding secondary resources in the library because I am not familiar with researching in the library. I also think that I will have to manage my schedules well because I will watch a season of Sex and the City for a short period of time.

Overall, for this research, my goal is to effectively convince audiences that my findings and analysis are very clear, interesting and reliable. Specifically for the class, I am looking forward to impress the instructor and get an A.

Love by Blood-type

Koreans like to ask others about their blood-types because most Koreans believe that there is a relationship between blood-types and people’s personalities. That means that the personality of a person can be known by his/her blood-type. I heard that a research finding a relationship between them was first done in the UK. However, the study kept continued in Japan and became popular after people heard of this study. Koreans also heard and got interested. An interesting fact is Koreans still believe that there is some connection between blood-types and personalities even though researchers could not find any scientific proof for the relationship. The Reason why Koreans still like to talk about blood-types is because there is, again, a big contribution of mass media. As a result, Korean couples enjoy talking about the relationship and matching their personalities in terms of their blood-types. This is a love myth in Korea.

Blood-types are generally divided into four, A, B, AB and O. For example, A person whose blood-type is A is prudent and careful, so he/she does not show his/her personality easily to others. A person whose blood-type is B values freedom, and he/she does not like to be bound by a rule. A person whose blood-type is AB likes to be reasonable and fair, and he/she sometimes comes up with ideas that others normally do not think of. A person whose blood-type is O usually is equally nice to all people who he/she knows, and he/she is active and enthusiastic. These illustrations are a part of aspects of blood-type personalities. As you might notice, these personalities are sometimes very specific and sometimes very general. In addition, Koreans made some mate matching test in terms of the blood-type personalities. For example, a man whose blood-type is O matches well with a women whose blood-type is A.

Generally, Koreans enjoy talking about blood-type personalities for fun. However, some people think about them seriously. I think that a person’s personality does not depend on his/her blood-type. There may be some relationship, but I think that personality varies a person to a person in terms of many factors. I thought that this would be an interesting thing to tell you because our class’s study is related to love.

Naked News Became a hot issue in Korea

Naked News is a real television newscast featuring naked newscasters. Naked News started in June 2000 in Canada as a web-based news service featuring an all-female cast. The concept was shocking enough to catch audiences’ attention. The audiences, mostly males, liked it because they could enjoy looking at naked females while they were watching news. Thus, it became popular.

Recently, Naked News became a hot issue in Korea because Naked News started its service on June 23th as Naked News Korea. Naked News Korea divided its service into two versions, an adult version and an adolescence version. The adult version targets audiences whose ages are over 19 years old and features topless female casters. The adolescence version targets audiences whose ages are between 15 and 19 years old. It does not violate the Korean law to broadcast on web. However, I think that this is a great example of objectifying females.

I may say as a man that this type of news is welcomed, but if I look closely into this, this is merely selling sexual content to make money. For example, the nudity of attractive female caters will attract audiences, mostly males. Many audiences mean many advertisements to advertise. Eventually, it will result a lot of money to earn.

Moreover, it is consistent with John’s study on two major magazines that are showing an illustration of objectifying females on their cover and cover lines. It is also consistent with the content of the video, “Killing us softly” that demonstrates that mass media keeps portray females as sex objects and sells the concept of sex. Objectifying dehumanizes females and leads to violence on females eventually.

Overall, I think that this type of a problem cannot be solved just by setting naked males on their show. I think that Naked News should be properly monitored by censorship even if it does not violate the law. It should be distinguished with porn not to give any wrong idea to adolescence for their proper education. I hope that Naked News find a way to combine news and entertainment to create a new genre that can be loved by all audiences without objectifying females and males.

About me

My Name is Kwon Namkoong. I am from Korea. I was born in Seoul which is the capital city of Korea. I am studying abroad in Ohio University for a bachelor’s degree. I am a senior and a digital media major. I came to Athens 8 years ago. I had attended the OPIE program for 2 years in Ohio University. OPIE stands for Ohio Program of Intensive English. This program is for international students to learn English. After 2 years in the OPIE program, I had taken academic classes for another 2 years as an undecided major. However, I could not continue to study because I needed to go back to Korea to serve the Korean military. As a Korean citizen, I must serve the Korean military for 2 years at some point of my time after the age of 18. It was my time to go there. Thus, I decided to go back to Korea and finish my duty as a Korean citizen. It was very hard time for me. After 2 years, I came back to Ohio University to finish my degree and decided to go for a business major. After a couple of quarters, I found my interest in animation, so I changed my major to a digital media major recently. I feel pretty confident studying animation, and I am enjoying it. One thing I feel unfortunate is that I have lost some English skills while I was in Korea because I could not continue to speak or use English in the Korean military. I am trying to recover English skills. I think that this class is a kind of class that I am looking forward to help recover them. I expect to improve my writing skills through the class.

In addition, I have not experienced much as a writer. When I was young, I used to write a short story for fun. However, I just have writing experiences in classes for writing essays. Moreover, prior to this class, I took English 151A. This English 308J class is my second English class. As a reader, I enjoy reading novels, especially scientific fictions. Unfortunately, I have not read any books recently.

Moreover, I have some weaknesses as a writer and reader. The main problem is obviously my English. Because English is my second language, it is hard for me to translate all my ideas when I write, and I have problems in correcting grammar. I also have difficulty to get ideas out of my head. It usually takes time to get ideas regarding a topic. However, I think that I feel confident in structuring and supporting ideas.

Again, I am looking forward to improve my writing skills through this class. Definitely, I hope not to fail this class.