Februar y 2018, VOLUME IV, ISSUE XX| 1

THE PHOENIXCHEONGNA DALTON SCHOOL CDSTHEPHOENIX.WEEBLY.COM

Editor-in-chief: Grace Shin

Club Supervisor: Mr. Malcolm Harrison

Club Advisor: Ms. Lindsay Maguire

SCHOOL NEWS (2)Math Com pet i t i onNew Ex t r a Cur r i cu lar sUpcom ing Science Fai r

FEATURES (7)ChuseokSAT

COMMUNITY (3~4)KAIAC Kor ea Business Com pet i t i onDalChoWe Run Cheongna

CULTURE (8)Save m eMem oi r of Mur der er

LIFE (5)Juice CleansesHow to not gain weight dur ing Chuseok

Am azing Yoga

LEISURE (9)Car toon

OPINION (6)Ways to Show What Kor ea Tr u ly i s

CEMC

The Centre for Education in Mathematics and Computing is the largest and recognized Canadian organization created by the professors in Univer si ty of Water loo that promotes var ious activi ties and mater ials about mathematics and computer science. Nowadays, they are well know n by the wor ldw ide students and teachers due to the CEMC exam that mostly holds between Februar y to May in many schools. Students favor this exams because the questions are r elatively easy compared to other math exams. When

they have basic problem-solving ski l ls, the award is granted mostly. Even i f a student do not have mathematic ski l ls, they can improve i t by the hundreds of practice mater ials, including the past papers, l isted in the off icial Univer si ty of Water loo website. They w i l l f ind this ver y helpful especial ly when they are tr ying out for the exam for the f i r st time; w ith the mater ials, they can know the format and style of the exam.

See CEMC, Page 6

SATWhat do you think gives the most pressure to high schooler s? Assignments? Or people so cal led ?bus passengers? who never do any work in group project? Yes, we do suffer from them a lot. But, I think we suffer the most from the pressure that we have to obtain high score in SAT. Especial ly, in Korea, people value acceptance to a r enow ned college. Obviously, Dalton students are of no exception. I t is r eal ly easy to spot students wor r ying about their SAT scores in Dalton.

Many people, including me, wonder how on the Ear th they can do well on SAT. So, they do al l they can to improve their SAT scores, r eading countess r eading passages, memor izing hundreds of vocabular ies; additionally, they go academy, or take tutor as well . The path to high score in SAT seems labor ious and di f f icult. Therefore, I thought students needed a special advice from an exper t. Consider ing the best candidate for my inter view , I concluded that an AP lang teacher would a great source of information. So, in order to get some know -hows and tips, I visi ted Ms Maguir e.

Dahyun (D): Hi , Ms Maguir e.

Ms. Maguir e (M): Hello!

D: Let me get str aight into the topic! How do you think students can do better on the r eading section of the test?

See SAT, Page 3

An eccent r i c assor tm ent of clubs

Clubs: they?re an essential par t of any school, and, as any CDS student can tel l you, per iods to look for ward to after a ti r ing day of school work. But w ith so many to choose from, i t can be hard to know exactly what the club can entai l , especial ly as a new student. Today, we put the spotl ight on the Forensics Club, a club since 2015. Below contains an inter view w ith Mark Park, the cur rent student captain of the Forensics team.Inter viewee: Mark Park of 11th grade

Q:: What exactly is your club, and what do your members do in i t?

A: I lead what?s know n as the ?Forensics Club.? At i ts core, the Forensics Club is a club meant for...

See For ensics, Page 3

Februar y 2018, VOLUME IV, ISSUE XX| 2

School NewsPubl i c Speak ing ContestThe Social Studies Public Speaking Contest met i ts 4th year in CDS on Januar y 26th, 2018. The competi tion have encountered i ts greatest number of par ticipants yet, and the teachers were highly impressed in the capabi l i ty of the students r eaching above and beyond. The students who have par ticipated tr uly seemed to enjoy speaking and projecting their messages to the audience, and having their thoughts heard. Even though i t may have been ner vous for the students to speak in front of a number of people, the students were able to overcome

their adversi ties professionally.

The par ticipants were encouraged to compete in a total of three categor ies; Persuasive Speech, Dramatic Reading, and Debate. Since al l of the students who have par ticipated were r emarked to have done an exceptional job in their per formances, i t was di f f icult for the judges to select the w inners of the successful competi tion. The w inners of the CDS annual Public Speaking Contest includes Juno Rober tson and Tammy Lee tied for 1st place in the Persuasive Speech categor y, Jasmine Kwon and Mark Park tied

for 1st place in the Dramatic Reading categor y, and Mark Park for 1st place in Debate. Moreover , the overal l w inners calculated from the combined scores of w inners from al l three categor ies are Mark Park in 1st place, Tammy Lee, and Ruby Noh. Overal l , the Public Speaking Contest has defini tely proven the abi l i t ies of numerous ski l l ful students and CDS should be proud to have numbers of talented students attending the school.

(YoungEun Cho, 10)

On December 15th, 2017, the great debater s entered Dalton

Hall to get r eady for the sessions. The committees consisted of

ECOSOC, Secur i ty Counci l , Human Rights Counci l , and UNDP.

These groups were given cer tain agendas to work w ith. The

Secur i ty Counci l was mostly concerned w ith f inding ways of

preventing wars and confl icts, and looking for ways that would

ultimately provide global peace whi le r esolving the problems.

The Economic and Social Counci l was mostly concerned w ith

solving wor ld problems that involved racism, sexism, or any

social segregation. The other counci ls such as HRC and UNDP

all debated topics concerning giving r ights to those who

deser ved them whi le making sure not one par t such as the

government, could have over whelming amount of power or

control over their people. Overal l , the students who

par ticipated in DALMUN all had the eyes of w isdom and

dedication, r eady to dedicate hours of concentration in putting

for th their arguments for other countr ies? delegates to hear

out. DALMUN, which was a school-held model United Nations

program which lasted for about 2 days, gave these students an

oppor tuni ty to par ticipate in an extr emely advanced debate

topic. These delegates were not only r esponsible for debating

about cer tain issues they disagreed upon, but also to cooperate

w ith one another to come up w ith the best r esolution they

could. These dedicated delegates and chair s spent hours on

discussing two agenda topics for the next 2 days. The journey

was r igorous, yet al l the committees were able to successful ly

come up w ith uni f ied r esolutions in the end after heated

debates. Al l the delegates have show n their maximum effor ts

to w r i te up their r esolutions as they stayed up at late nights,

str iving to come up w ith the best out of the best possible. In

the end of the conference, the pr izes were announced to those

who showed extr eme effor t dur ing al l the meetings and also

off-sessions when they worked hard to fulf i l l their r esolutions.

However , pr izes do not determine whether one is a good

delegate or not. Ever yone from the conference did

phenomenally as they contr ibuted to discussion actively,

w i l l ing to par ticipate. Through this conference, many students

r epor ted that they improved their speaking ski l ls but also

expanded upon their know ledge of the wor ld as they took

more interest in the global issues that are cur rently occur r ing

up to this day.

(Jiewan Hong, 10)

The Gr eat Debater s

CDS Forensics team star ted off 2018 by enter ing the 3rd competi tion of KAIAC, which took place at YISS, on 19th and 20th of Januar y. Students devoted their time and effor t for the last competi tion before the f inal KAIAC Forensics Competi tion. On Fr iday evening, the speech team par ticipated in the di f ferent entr ies including Orator y, Solo Acting, Duo Acting, Prose, Poetr y, Impromptu, and Extemp. Students showed their great spor tsmanship throughout the competi tion, and many improvements were seen. For the speech team, Jun Cho ranked 7th place in the Orator y categor y, Mark Park for the f inal ist in the Solo Acting categor y, and Tammy Lee placed 3rd in the

Prose categor y being the star of the evening. The debate team also per formed in excellence on Saturday in the Par l iamentar y and Lincoln Douglas categor ies. Taeyeon Kim bravely competed in the LD categor y for her f i r st Forensics competi tion. The f inal Forensics competi tion of the school year w i l l take place on the 16th and 17th of March at KIS. A great congratulations to al l the students who worked di l igently and delivered sol id per formances! The school looks for ward to their per formances at the f inal KAIAC competi tion. Let?s go Forensics team!

(Jasmine Kwon, 10)

Februar y 2018, VOLUME IV, ISSUE XX| 3

CommunitySATM: Well, I would say r eading a lot in general is the best way to improve their r eading ski l l . Obviously, in order to comprehend better , you should fami l iar ize w ith the simi lar texts. The magazine I r ecommend is New York Time.

D: Oh, although I total ly agree w ith you, Ms Maguir e, especial ly because I have seen some essay passages actually come from New York Time, that sounds a bi t hard to achieve in a shor t term. Do you think there are any quicker method?

M: Well?... Then, I have to say solving a lot of practice r eading test would be better for those who do not have a lot of

time. As I told before, i t is most impor tant to become famil iar w i th the texts.

D: I see. How do you think about w r i ting section?

M: Well, solving questions on Noredink would be helpful. I bel ieve that they provide SAT w r i ting questions as well .

D: Do you think taking AP Lang course may help students to do better in SAT?

M: Well? . I haven?t looked at the speci f ic data or statistics, but I think i t w i l l def ini tely help students. Including r eading section, AP language test shares

lot of simi lar i ties w ith SAT.

D: I also heard that SAT essay is almost identical to r hetor ical analysis of AP Lang

M: Yes, that is ture. Both of them asks for the same question. They want students to identi fy author?s r hetor ical str ategy and analyze them.

D: Thank you for your sincere r esponses. Do you have any comment for Math section?

M: Math? What is Math.

(Daehyun Kim, 11)

For ensicsInter viewee: Mark Park of 11th grade

Q:: What exactly is your club, and what do your members do in i t?

A: I lead what?s know n as the ?Forensics Club.? At i ts core, the Forensics Club is a club meant for members to hone their speech and debate ski l ls, and ever y club meeting w i l l aim to do just that. Yes, there are several tournaments throughout the course of a school year , but the charm of the Forensics Club is that you can sti l l choose not to be too competi tive and sti l l have fun, al l the whi le better ing your speech and debate ski l ls.

Q: What can newcomers expect when joining the club?

A: If you have any weak points that you?d l ike to develop in your speech and debate ski l ls, such as in confidence, or in del iver y, Forensics is your club. Social interaction is a huge aspect for al l students, and the tournaments and such can really help you in giving you essential exper ience in doing so. We want students to also keep in mind that we do have two categor ies -- speech and debate -- and therefore should consider what categor y is most appealing to them

or where they think their comfor t zone l ies.

Q: Are there any prerequisi tes to joining?

A: That?s another thing about Forensics: there are none. We provide hands-on exper ience, pinpoint the weaknesses of the student and develop on them, and the club can progress at the student?s ow n pace. We?d l ike to emphasize that even though tournaments can be a good measure of success in our club, no one should feel pressured to succeed.

Matthew Chang, 11)

As a par t of their senior project CDS senior s Annie Jho and Anny Du have created the f i r st science competi tion held among international schools in Korea. The competi tion?s off icial name is Korean Science Olympiad(KSO), and w i l l be held on Februar y 24th, 2018. Many students from other international schools, including SIS, SFS, and YISS signed up to par ticipate in this inter scholastic event.

There is also a huge group of students who work hard to plan out the competi tion. In Januar y, design team, secretar ies, tr easurer s, and staff members were r ecrui ted in order to assist Anny and Annie. Design team designs trophies, logos, and banner. Secretar ies

create schedule, routines, and plans for which school to si t where for ceremonies. Treasurer s are in charge of col lecting money and make payments. Staff members get tr ained on how and where they should stand and guide par ticipants on the day of the conference.

The competi tion is consisted of test and brainbow l. The test is consisted of four di f ferent science f ields, and each par ticipant can take only one type of exam. High school fr eshmen and sophomores have to par ticipate in general science whi le junior s and senior s have to choose one of the three given science f ields: biology, chemistr y, and physics. The brain bow l is a game held among representative teams of each

school. They compete against each other and the last team to sur vive w ins the trophy.

The fol low ing is an inter view conducted w ith Annie Jho.

Q: Please explain your posi tion and role at KSO.

A: I am one of the two hosts of the Korean Science Olympiad 2018 at CDS. In general, I assign, r egulate, and check tasks for each team so that the event can happen in our school. I also contact other schools on behalf of the Dalton KSO organizing team, and create test questions.

Q: What is the biggest hardship you encountered whi le prepar ing for the competi tion?

A: There were many di f f iculties in making this event come tr ue especial ly because we did not have any pr ior basis for hosting KSO in CDS. I would say that the greatest challenge was creating test questions on our ow n.

Q: What is the moment you are most looking for ward to at the KSO?

A: The moment r ight after we announce the end of 1st annual KSO in Dalton Hall . Al l I am looking for ward to is that moment. I just w ish this event to be over as soon as possible.

(Diana Seo, 12)

Korean Science Olym piad

Februar y 2018, VOLUME IV, ISSUE XX| 4

LifeMasks On

You wake up in the morning feeling well rested and fresh. Yawning, you head over to the window and open it to get some fresh air.

Except you can?t.

The winter wind slaps you across the face and stabs your throat. Even the view is too blurry because of all the dust in the air. Somehow you end up worse off than before as you hurry to close the window again.

This w inter can be summed up into a few words: cold, dir ty, and di f f icult. Ever y day has been a constant battle against the cold weather and dusty air. This has lead to a signi f icant increase in sales of heat r etaining products such as inner wear and hotpacks. According to Chosun Biz, some well know n stores such as Olive Young, GS 25, and 7/11 announced that those products were the most popular this season and sometimes even ran out. And among these products, the most visibly popular one throughout the whole of w inter has beenmasks.

Instance 1: Blocking the bacter ia

December of 2017, colds, which were extr emely common at the time, began to develop into the f lu. People would suffer

in bed from fevers and clogged noses, unable to leave the house for any simple tasks or plans. Halfway through Januar y, less people complained of having the f lu and i t was once again back to the never ending cycle of suffer ing, r ecover ing, and spreading of the cold. <Masks can lower the chances of infections.>

Instance 2: Blocking the f ine dust

Fine dust is a topic that has been on the news dur ing the whole w inter due to i ts sever i ty. One study has found that for ever y 10? /m³, the whole mor tal i ty increases by 5%. However , the f ine dust level has been in the 80s and 90s r ange the major i ty of the w inter and has even reached a maximum of 120? /m³. Also, focusing on the more personal aspect, once f ine dust enter s your body, i t accumulates in the blood vessels and can eventually cause lung cancer.<Masks can lower the amount of f ine dust enter ing the body.>

Instance 3: Blocking the cold

This w inter , many cold wave watches have been issued, which clear ly shows us how cold i t was. Near the end of December to the beginning of Februar y, the temperature most of the time was 0? or lower , w i th the w ind chi l l

temperature being even lower. At one point, a few consecutive days had the w ind chi l l temperature of -20? .<Masks can cover more par ts of the body from the severe w ind and therefore keep the body a l i ttle warmer.>

Though i t may seem as i f there is a break in the cold weather nowadays, i t is impor tant to have a jacket or scar f at hand to put on as soon as you feel chi l ly. I t is also advised by the Korean Meterological Off ice that people continue to wear masks outside due to an extr emely high cold possibi l i ty index. Make sure to stay warm and healthy!

(Dahyun Ahn, 11)

Bi tcoin?

Cur r ent Bi tcoin Mar ket

I t 's a blast on Bitcoins. As the pr ice has soared, expectations have increased. However , voices concerned about the change are also being r aised.

Market attention is shi f ting beyond the craze for Bi tcoin. As the pr ice of Bi tcoin r ecorded a steep r ise, investor s were paying close attention. Bi tcoin pr ices have increased ver tical ly by approximately ten times between Januar y 2017 and December 2017.

Bitcoin is on the r ise because some developed countr ies have pushed Bitcoin into the control. Japan admitted in Apr i l that now i t is in a legal posi tion to pay in cipher - Bi tcoin. On Nov. 22, the Japanese Accounting Standards Board

set an accounting standard that r ecognizes Bitcoin as a corporate asset from 2018. I t also planned to r evive the tr ade by abolishing excise taxes imposed on Bitcoins.

Bi tcoin Values Day by Day

The U.S. is also moving simi lar ly. The Chicago Board of Trade has confi rmed the introduction of the Bitcoin exchange and is moving to be l isted on the market in ear ly December.

The popular i ty of Bi tcoin is also affecting the stock pr ices of companies. As the popular i ty of vi r tual cur rency increases, the demand for graphics cards used for coin mining has also soared, making the stock pr ice of r elated companies booming.

Cr i tics also point out that the problem of Bi tcoin is sti l l the same. Most of al l , Bi tcoin is not tr usted by society in payment, payment and value saving. That is why exper ts say that i t is di f f icult to r eplace the existing cur rency w ith a bi tcoin.

Because of Bi tcoin accessible to ever ybody, and i t is considered as an easy way to earn money. However , ever ybody should be aware of the danger of losing money and addictiveness of bi tcoin. Warn and teach people near you about the danger , but who knows, Bi tcoin might make you a bi l l ionair e!

(Shirley Lee, 9)

Februar y 2018, VOLUME IV, ISSUE XX| 5

Math & ScienceUnderwat er Drones: A Possible Solut ion t o Clim at e ChangeIn r ecent times, sur vei l lance evolved to become a power ful tool used by many governments, business organizations, and even ever yday people. Drones, a modern invention, is a per fect instr ument for car r ying this out, in i ts speed and ver sati l i ty. From deploying them as strong and useful weapons in wars to f i lming video projects across lakes, drones undeniably prove useful in i ts abi l i ty to access a var iety of areas, often in har sh conditions. Among these conditions is under water access, one dir ection of development in the drone industr y.

Excavation under water has always been a topic of human interest. Several diver s in the past, for example, searched for lost tr easures, shipw recks, and even the r emains of the lost ci ty of Atlantis. A common problem that these diver s have, however , is physical human l imitations. The main one is that as people r equir e to be constantly supplied w ith oxygen, in order to r espir e under water ; another comes from the fact that the human body is often not sui table for the di f ference in pressure under water? the deeper you go, the more pressure the weight of the water w i l l exer t on your body. In addition, any diver s, when leaving the depths of the water too quickly, w i l l have air bubbles left inside par ts of their body, which lead to joint pain, paralysis, and, sometimes, death. Thus, whenever humans attempt to dive under water dir ectly, they also face a potential ly dangerous r isk.

However , when drones come into play, things become di f ferent. Unlike humans, drones can sustain themselves under water for an indefini te amount of time, as well as w ithstand the pressure much better.Nina Mahmoudian, an assistant professor in Michigan Technological Univer si ty, is cur rently developing AUVs (autonomous under water vehicles) that may become prototypes for under water drones in the future. Her models, which she cal ls ROUGHIEs (for Research Or iented Under water Glider s for Hands-on Investigative Engineer ing), monitor their buoyancy and weight in order to guide their movements in the water.

However , these machines also have their ow n set of issues, star ting from their l imited amount of batter y storage. Although this can be improved on in the future, the drones never theless can only work for a given time. Sti l l , ROUGHIES come w ith benefi ts other than their abi l i ty to function where humans cannot. Fir stly, they are a lot cheaper than cur rently working models. This is convenient, as several of them can be deployed and once, and because, as prototypes, they can be used w ithout the wor r y of their breaking dow n. Secondly, they are modular , which means they are ver sati le models capable of handling var ious functions, by simply sw itching par ts of the drones.

Created to navigate in closer water s, the ROUGHIEs are planned to be used in detecting pollution levels in r egions under water (e.g. microplastic densi ties in the ocean), as well as deep sea ar chaeology. Therefore, in one way or the other , these drones are one path that we can take to a better future in the f ight against cl imate change; hence, we can only hope that under water drones w i l l be the solution to f ixing our environmental problems.

(Daniel Lee, 11)

Dur ing the CEMC exam, students are only al low to br ing their calculator to the testing room. If a student br ings any electronic devices to the room, he or she w i l l be automatical ly fai l the test and sent out of the room. All students w i l l have exactly 75 minutes to complete the test and mark their answers in the OMR card. Since the questions get harder as they goes to the end of the exam, therefore professors in the Univer si ty of Water loo highly r ecommend the exam takers to not spend too much time for the questions in the beginning of the exam to manage their time well .

When the exams are done, the teachers in the school w i l l col lect the students exam and send al l the paper to the Canada. Then, in a few month, the cer ti f icates and awards w i l l be delivered based on each student?s scores on the exam. Unfor tunately, the students cannot look back their exams and know the exact scores that they got, but they can assume i t by the types of award that they get.

The professors and teachers al l around the wor ld r ecommend students to tr y the exam because i t is ver y helpful to make students? col lege application better. Since there are lots of mater ials avai lable to students, they can practice before they take the exam. However , this only applies to the students who are grade 7 to 12, so the elementar y students w i l l need to wait in order to take the CEMC exam.

(Jiah Kim, 10)

Int r oduct i on to CEMC

Februar y 2018, VOLUME IV, ISSUE XX| 6

Math & ScienceA New Wave: Space

Scientists consider the discover y of gravi tational waves one of the biggest achievements in 21st centur y. But what exactly are gravi tational waves and why is this such a big issue?

The idea of gravi tational waves appears di f f icult, but in fact, i t?s not. Gravi tational waves are energy-car r ying waves that continuously tr avel through space-time (the idea of time and three-dimensional fused to form a four -dimensional continuum). How do gravi tational waves form? There can be multiple scenar ios that can create gravi tational wave. Ei ther two black holes can crash into each other or a dying star can explode. The pr inciple is that massive object in space-time needs to accelerate, and i f the mass is big enough l ike a black hole, i t w i l l distor t space-time i tself and generate gravi tational wave.

Here?s an analogy to better understand this concept: consider space-time to be a pond, and whenever a mass drops onto the pond, i t cr eates r ipples. In this scenar io, a mass would be ei ther a star or black hole, and the r ipples would be gravi tational waves which w i l l continuously tr avel through space-time.

Pr ior to 2015, the idea of gravi tational waves was completely theoretical. Alber t Einstein, one of the most r enow ned scientists of al l time, predicted the existence of gravi tational waves using his theor y of general r elativi ty. However , he thought i t would be vir tual ly impossible to physical ly detect a gravi tational wave w ith technology. But in 2015, he was proven w rong.

In 2015, LIGO, laser inter ferometer gravi tational-wave obser vator y, successful ly detected the f i r st gravi tational wave in mankind?s histor y. And in 2016, LIGO detected the second gravi tational wave, and thir d in June 1st of 2017. At this point

some may wonder , what r eal ly is LIGO, and how is i t able to detect gravi tational waves?

In a nutshell , LIGO uses the idea that the speed of l ight is constant anywhere. The picture on the left shows a simpli f ied ver sion of LIGO; i t has two 4 ki lometer s long cyl inders w ith lasers going through them. The lasers w ithin the cyl inders always tr avel at constant speed but change in one special ci r cumstance: distor tion in space-time i tself . When gravi tational wave passes through Ear th, i t distor ts space-time of Ear th, changing LIGO?s lasers? speed. In other words, any change in speed of laser s indicates distor tion in space-time, which them implies that i t detected a gravi tational wave.

The fact that humans have now developed technology to detect gravi tational waves is extr emely signi f icant. Gravi tational waves coupled w ith gravi ty w i l l be essentials tool to discover and understand myster ies of space. So far , scientists have used sight to obser ve space. In other words, they needed l ight. However , using l ight had big l imitations as l ight can?t pass through any objects. On the other hand, gravi ty and gravi tational waves do not have such l imitations; they are present ever ywhere and can pass through any objects. With fur ther studies, this w i l l al low humanity to discover how black holes are created, what?s inside them, and even the or igin of space and the big bang theor y.

(Heumil Wang, 12)

Februar y 2018, VOLUME IV, ISSUE XX| 7

OpinionIn is of the r ivess conter the and of the the r ives of utter signew genius of conter signess of madnees of compulsigness of uttemporar y sion, per signees of core worazy. In that dr iver the worazy. In is of mali ty sibi l i ty and of utter fection, per that sibi l ice worar y and compore and cor ld compor ld con, per the r iver fection, per fection, per the that dr iver fection, per sensibi l ice wore and of malice and cor ld of mali ty and contempor ld comporazy.

I have to say, and w ith absolute confidence at that, that the argumentative paragraph above is tr uly w r i tten to utter per fection. I t has impeccable grammar , profound creativi ty, and a strong thesis backed up w ith accurate claims in addition to a compell ing counter argument. No other piece of w r i ting would ever come close to match the immaculate br i l l iance of that introduction. However , there is one minor fault w i th i t: the fact that even I can?t understand what I w rote.

In this contemporar y wor ld, a myr iad of us str ive to be per fect. We w ish for our peers to look up to us, we want our intel lectual capaci ties to r each Einstein-levels of genius, and of course, we want our physical features to be desir able. But as Hannah Montana once said, Nobody?s Per fect. I guess that?s why we recycle jokes - per sensibi l ice cor ld of mali ty and contempor ld comporazy.

Whi le many of us str ive for and believe that i t is imperative to r each per fection, I per sonally asser t that because being imper fect al lows us to make mistakes and learn from them, and because the idea of per fection l imits us, i t?s bad to be per fect, and i t?s okay to make mistakes.

It?s cr i tical to keep note that being imper fect al lows us to make mistakes and lets us learn from them; and when we know , we can do better. I t is as the r enow ned phi losopher George Santayana once stated: ?those who do not r emember the past are condemned to r epeat i t.? Instead of getting dow n on ourselves for not being per fect or for making er ror s, we should use mistakes as stepping stones in our ear thly education. There are consequences - good or bad - for our actions. The best way to learn is to exper ience l i fe for our selves and learn the natural consequences of our actions. In fact, i t doesn?t even have to be our ow n mistakes - we can also obser ve the f laws of other s and see where their choices lead or anticipate possible outcomes. This can help us avoid major mistakes that can change the course of our l i fe. But yes, not ever ybody learns from mistakes, but let?s look at those who have: Steve Jobs, Michael Jordan, and Bi l l Gates. They never would be at the immensely high posi tion that they are si tuated at today i f they didn't make any mistakes to improve upon. So, that?s how being imper fect can be shaped into something mar velously advantageous.

Then again comes the catch of how this might work in a si tuation where somebody or something is potential ly f law less. Well, that just means that a standard of per fection has been set. However , has the thought ever occured to you that setting a standard of ?per fection? is also setting a l imitation? By saying something is per fect, we are making that the ?highest? level that we supposedly can?t surpass. We have basical ly begun by creating an end that we believe should not be changed. Imagine i f the only standard of per fect per suasive essays were for them to have f law less grammar , strong arguments backed up by evidence, and at least one power ful counter argument. My gibber ish introduction would?ve easi ly quali f ied. Now , acknow ledging that such a broad rubr ic is far from sui table, we can alter our previous view of ideal speeches to add the categor y of ?understandable?. Of course, even that?s not enough. You could and should make the argument that a ?per fect? persuasive speech should also contain asser tive examples, an introduction, and a conclusion along w ith perhaps a thesis. In this sense, setting a standard of per fection is only going to set a l imitation.

And may I dare even say that being the way we are - ful l of er ror s and never fr ee of f laws - might actually be the way we?re supposed to be. I myself am ver y far from what we would normally consider as per fect. I don't get good grades; I sti l l r ead at a 2nd grade level; I have to use a dictionar y to help my 10 year old sister understand her stor ybook; I am probably diagnosed w ith anxiety but I 'm too scared to get that confi rmed; I can?t sleep or get out of bed w ithout wasting at least 2 hours of my l i fe, and by now getting in and out of bed has become a magic tr ick and I am probably the worst magician I know. I am nowhere near per fect; most of us aren?t.

Imper fection is essential for our grow th and understanding of our selves and the wor ld. We al l have f laws and make mistakes, whether i t 's our mistake or an er ror of a fami ly member or fr iend, we need to r eal ize that i t does not make us, or them, bad people. We can learn, grow , change and star t making better choices. Wrongs can be made r ight, and we can become our best selves. But r emember that new beginnings l ike mine only exist in the midst of imper fection, where mistakes are made to be learned upon, and where there are no l imitations due to the imper fection of per fection.

(Mark Park, 11)

The Im per fect i on of Per fect i on

Februar y 2018, VOLUME IV, ISSUE XX| 8

FeaturesNew Em per or of Skeleton: Sung-bin Yun

Februar y 9th, despite al l the controversies r egarding the Pyeongchang Winter Olympic games, the opening ceremony took place. About 3,000 athletes from 92 di f ferent countr ies came to gather at Pyeongchang for the international festival of Pyeongchang Winter Olympic games. Olympic games can act as a stage to put young and new athletes on the stardom. If these young and new athletes are able to exhibi t great per formances or w in medals dur ing the Olympic games they can gain fame and popular i ty.

South Korea has earned 6 medals unti l now and one of their gold medalists has pulled himself up to the stardom. Sung-bin Yun (24), the i ronman, has brought the f i r st ever Skeleton gold medal for South Korea. In fact, Asian nations were yet to r eceive any medals from Sled categor y unti l Yun?s gold medal and consider ing this fact, his achievement seems even greater. Skeleton adds up time i t took for an athlete to complete four tr ials as a time record. Yun took 3 minutes 20 seconds and 55 mi l l iseconds to complete the r ace. There were one second and a 63-mi l l isecond di f ference between the Yun and the si lver medalist, which is a huge di f ference when i t comes to Skeleton.

Yun began Skeleton because his of a high school teacher who recommended him to star t Skeleton r ealizing his potential. After taking several tests, Yun became an off icial member of the national team. However , Yun?s road to gold in the Pyeongchang Olympic games was not easy. He considered giving up Skeleton multiple times because he was scared of r iding the sled (you are

tr aveling at a speed of 120km/h w ithout any gears except a hamlet). Despite the hardships, the coach persuaded him to r un for the Sochi Olympic games and w ithin only a year of his national team, he was able to f inish 16th. He was not only a genius but also a hard worker , which made him the new emperor of Skeleton.

(Alex Yang, 12)

Februar y 2018, VOLUME IV, ISSUE XX| 9

CultureMovie Review : 1987

South Korea?s long and dedicated f ight towards democracy has been documented by few f i lms over the years, and in celebration of thir ty years of democracy in 2017, another joins the l ikes ofTaxi Dr iver (2017) andMay 18(2007) in documenting the perseverance of the Korean people. 1987 was a dynamic year for South Korea, w ith Januar y opening w ith the death of Park Jong-chul? a col lege student? by tor ture dur ing a police inter rogation, June resulting in a nationw ide declaration of Korea?s tr ansi tion to a dir ect election system, and December holding the f i r st democratic election, which? as histor y so cruelly al lowed? put Roh Tae-Woo in off ice. The movie 1987: When the Day Comes, w ith i ts star -studded cast? the l ikes of Ha Jung-woo, Kim Yoon-seok, Yu Hae-jin, Kim Tae-r i , as well as special appearances from Kang Dong-won and Yeo Jin-goo? por tr ays a nation at the hear t of change, where ever y day brought a new controversy, a new outrage, and a new stor y of courageous f ighter s.

The movie shi f ts between the perspectives of a prosecutor set on f inding the exact cause of death of Park Jong-chul (? ? ? ), a commissioner dedicated to his role in suppressing those against Jun Doo-hwan?s reign (? ? ? ), a pr ison warden who sneaks out i l legal messages to a leader of the opposi tion movement and is therefore ar rested (? ? ? ), his niece, a pr ime example of an individual indir ectly brought into the opposi tion movement through the deaths/ar rests of fami ly and fr iends (? ? ? ), a r epor ter who persistently tr ies and succeeds in exposing the Korean government for what i t tr uly is? an inhumane dictator ship (? ? ? ), and succeeds in captur ing the essence of a countr y on the verge of the biggest change in i ts modern histor y.

A people turned against their government, a government massacr ing i ts people. Young hopefuls f looding the str eets of Seoul, demanding reform. South Korea in 1987. The day ever yone was waiting for eventually came, and when i t did, the people were victor ious.

(Yebin Seo, 12)

Along w i th the Gods: The Two Wor lds

Tears str eaming dow n people?s faces, tissues al l over the f loor , and people sni f f ing their nose - this was what I saw after the ending credi ts rol led up for Along w ith the Gods - and yes, I was one of the ?people?, too.

It was the end of 2017, and hundreds of r eviews and cl ips from Along w ith the Gods were uploaded on Facebook. From ?Make sure to br ing a bag of tissues? to ?Along w ith the Gods? NO! Along w ith sleep? YES?, so many reviews and comments were being updated ever y minute. And when the house number f inal ly hi t 10 mi l l ion, I thought ?why not go and join in the conundrum? It wouldn?t hur t.? So I did - I went to the theatres and came out w ith 80 percent of my bodi ly f luid drained out of my body system.

Along w ith the Gods is a movie based off a popular webtoon ser ies: Along w ith the Gods. The movie is about Jahong Kim and his journey through the 7 hells and reaching paradise. He is faced w ith a tr ial for each hell star ting from manslaughter to lack of f i l ial-piety to parent, Kim has to pass through the 7 hells in 49 days to go to paradise. Although he seems to have nothing but kindness and innocence in him, through the tr ials, Kim faces obstacles as more and more of his sins are r evealed. Through the help of his law yers, Gangr im, Haewonmak, and Dukchun, Kim safely gets through the tr ials and reaches paradise in time.

If someone asks me about the movie or asks for my recommendation, I?d probably r ecommend people to watch the movie. Wi l l I watch the movie again - no. And I think I speak for the major i ty of the people who watched the movie. Along w ith the Gods is a

movie that is heavi ly loaded w ith CG - which is pretty impressive - but the emotions and the tear s barely make up 10 minutes of the movie. I t?s a fun movie to watch one time, but I don?t think anyone would want to watch i t again. In shor t, i f there is one thing that Along w ith the Gods taught me - be nice to your parents before you become another Jahong Kim.

(Ruby Noh, 12)

Februar y 2018, VOLUME IV, ISSUE XX| 10

Leisure

(Seonjae Park, 12)