E.C. -Stuff KMLA Students Love ♥

9.  “Stuff Korean People Like” or “Stuff KMLA Students Like.”  You’ve seen the book in my classroom, and if you haven’t you can read the original source here. This is your chance to write satirically in a comical mode about something you should be familiar with.  Stuff KMLA Students like?  Word Smart quizzes.  Morning Exercise.  Elevators.  Pen twirling.

Optional

1.   YA

      YA is an energy-drink made by a Korean company, Samsung, which helps you stay late at night, as long as for five hours. It is made out of Guarana (which contains good caffeine), red ginseng, and some other ingredients that are highly effective in waking you up. For KMLA students, who usually have to stay late for homework and quizzes, YA is such a good friend. They say it gives you more power than coffee does. When you get on kmlaonline.com, you can easily find some posts titled "I need YAs. Sell me some". Although I have only tried it about three times, I could feel its strong effect on helping me get awakened. Many of my friends consume YA at night to study with fresher brain, especially around the final exams. One of my friends K even ordered boxes of YA. Although uncertain on how healthy it would be for body, the fact that KMLA students love YA is definitely true.

2.   Party

      Party used to be one of the reasons why I had chosen to apply for KMLA. As for a Korean high school, KMLA has unusually many party nights; the biggest ones are Freshmen Party, Minjok Party, and Christmas Party. Whenever the party night comes closer, half of KMLA students are looking up online to find a dress or suits, and some other accessories to wear at the party. It shows how much KMLA students love party nights. The biggest considered one is usually the Minjok Party, which we already had on October. Another upcoming big party is the Christmas Party, which will be held on Monday, nineteenth of December. At party, students get on stage to dance and sing, and some student bands play exciting music to help them enjoy the party. Party became part of the most beloved culture in KMLA!

3.   Music

      Music is definitely one of those that KMLA students literally LOVE. Almost every single student can play at least one instrument; some of them can even play more than three or four instruments. There are many music circles for extracurricular activities at KMLA including KMLA Orchestra, Minjok Orchestra, FITM, PLZ, NAB, Synergy, and etc. I play synthesizer in FITM, which is a band that plays soft rock. Some students are members of more than two circles in the above, playing several instruments.

Even students who can't really sing or play any instruments like to listen to music a lot. They have got their favorite bands or singers for their own. Part of the reason for listening to music, as my friend L commented, is because music makes you feel good -sometimes calm and sometimes excited. Music for KMLA students is one of the most basic needs for living :)

4.  Sports

Apart from music, KMLA students also like to play sports. There are about five sports circles at KMLA: Crossover and Gameover for basketball, CGV for soccer, H2O for swimming, Yagubu for baseball and Hit & Run for softball. Those circles always win the 1st or 2nd places whenever they participate at the State-championships, or even the National-championships. Even for those who are not members of the sports circles, playing sports is one of the ways to express stress and enjoy life at KMLA. Asked why playing basketball, one of the best players at KMLA answered, "Because playing basketball is when I feel most excited!" If they are banned from playing sports, KMLA students might transfer to another school. These are all why KMLA is also known as "Korean Minjok Sports Academy"!

3rd Reading Journal for "The Body"-(focused on the movie)

To tell the truth, I have never thought a movie could be better than the original text that it came from. Though I have seen a lot of films after reading the books, all those movies literally seemed to be “craps”, when compared to the text. For me, they couldn’t give the appropriate expression for each scene. One big example is “Twilight”. About three years ago, I used to be so in love with the “Twilight saga” by Stephenie Meyer. I read the all four series in less than a month and was always waiting for the movie. But when it came out, it was so lousy that I wanted to turn it off while watching. Another one is “The Shawshank Redemption”, which I have watched not so long ago. And as a consequence, I expected the same for the novella “The Body”. But, now I know I was totally wrong in that sense.

In the first place, the film turned one boring story into an excellent piece of art that reminds you of childhood memories and friendship. Every single line of the characters’ conversation, every single stream of music in the background, and even the tiniest details were set to fit with the mood and theme of the story. For example, though it was such a small detail, I liked how it was not Denny, but Gordie’s father who appears in Gordie’s dream and tells him “It should have been you (who got killed)”, in the movie.

For some reason, while I was reading the book, I had this perception that Denny should always be the nice one, and this was why I felt weird when Denny’s corpse came out and said such a statement. Although the book did not mean to portray him as a mean figure or anything, I just did not like that part. I was extremely surprised when I found out that the movie modified that very part. The scene in the movie also drew a dramatic effect on forming the “bad” image of Gordie’s dad.

Another thing is that the movie eliminated those unimportant parts in the book, and showed only the main scenes that would either affect the storyline or the mood. There were two metafictions in the book: one that Gordie wrote, and the other one that Gordie told his friends in the middle of their journey. It was a wise decision of the film producer to erase the first one, “The Stud City”, and to accentuate the other one, “The Revenge of Lard Ass Hogan”. The Lard Ass one helped forming the mood of fun childhood talking time. But if the Stud City were described in the film, it would have been more like a serious group of children being lost in their teenage. And the movie would have been rated “mature”, frankly.

Last but not least, I loved how they changed the title “The Body” into “Stand by Me”. “The Body” was such an odd title for me. I wondered why the body had to have that much importance. I felt friendship and the childhood memories were the themes shown throughout the story. Finding the body was just a mere justification for the children leave home and have their time with each other. And the title “Stand by Me” fit perfectly with the image that I had in my mind. Whenever I imagine someone is always standing by me, I feel safe and secure. I strongly believe it tells the overall mood of the story way better than the original title.

             Making compliments toward the movie does not mean I did not like the book. I loved the original story, but then I loved the film more. It was such a great chance for me to notice how there are films that are better than the text; and to stop and think about my own friendship. I hope to watch the movie later in life!

p.s. Mr. Garrioch, do you think i should put this piece as a review on the movie for E.C., or just one of the reading journals.....?

I Want A Wife

I Want a Wife 

 by   Judy Brady

I belong to that classification of people known as wives. I am a Wife. And, not altogether incidentally, I am a mother.

Not too long ago a male friend of mine appeared on the scene from the Midwest fresh from a recent divorce. He had one child, who is, of course, with his ex-wife. He is obviously looking for another wife. As I thought about him while I was ironing one evening, it suddenly occurred to me that I, too, would like to have a wife. Why do I want a wife?

I would like to go back to school, so that I can become economically independent, support myself, and, if need be, support those dependent upon me. I want a wife who will work and send me to school. And while I am going to school I want a wife to take care of my children. I want a wife to keep track of the children's doctor and dentist appointments. And to keep track of mine, too. I want a wife to make sure my children eat properly and are kept clean. I want a wife who will wash the children's clothes and keep them mended. I want a wife who is a good nurturant attendant to my children, arranges for their schooling, makes sure that they adequate social life with their peers, takes them to the park, the zoo, etc. I want a wife who takes care of the children when they are sick, a wife who arranges to be around when the children need special care, because, of course, I cannot miss classes at school. My wife must arrange to lose time at work and not lose the job. It may mean a small cut in my wife's income from time to time, but I guess I can tolerate that. Needless to say, my wife will arrange and pay for the care of the children while my wife is working.

I want a wife who will take care of my physical needs. I want a wife who will keep my house clean. A wife who will pick up after my children, a wife who will pick up after me. I want a wife who will keep my clothes clean, ironed, mended, replaced when need be, and who will see to it that my personal things are kept in their proper place so that I can find what I need the minute I need it. I want a wife who cooks the meals, a wife who is a good cook. I want a wife who will plan the menus, do the necessary grocery shopping, prepare the meals, serve them pleasantly, and then do the cleaning up while I do my studying. I want a wife who will care for me when I am sick and sympathize with my pain and loss of time from school. I want a wife to go along when our family takes a vacation so that someone can continue to care for me and my children when I need a rest and a change of scene.

I want a wife who will take care of details of my social life. When my wife and I are invited out by my friends, I want a wife who will take care of the babysitting arrangements. When I meet people at school that I like and want to certain, I want a wife who will have the house clean, will prepare a special meal, serve it to me and my friends, and not interrupt when I talk about the things that interest me and my friends. I want a wife who will have arranged that the children are fed and ready for bed before my guests arrive so that the children do not bother us. I want a wife who takes care of the needs of my guests so that they feel comfortable, who makes sure that they have an ashtray, that they are passed the hors d'oeuvres, that they helping of the food, that their wine glasses are replenished when necessary, that their coffee is served to them as they like it. And I want a wife who knows that sometimes I need a night to myself.

I want a wife who is sensitive to my sexual needs, a wife who makes love passionately and eagerly when I feel like it, a wife who makes sure that I am satisfied. And, of course, I want a wife who will not demand sexual attention when I am not in the mood for it. I want a wife who assumes the complete responsibility for birth control, because I do not want more children. I want a wife who will remain sexually faithful to me so that I do not have to clutter up my intellectual life with jealousies. And I want a wife who understands that my sexual needs may entail more than strict adherence to monogamy. I must, after all, be able to relate to people as fully as possible.

If, by chance, I find another person more suitable as a wife than the wife I already have, I want the liberty to replace my present wife with another one. Naturally, I will expect a fresh, new life; my wife will take the children and be solely responsible for them so that I am left free.

When I am through with school and have acquired a job, I want my wife to quit working and remain at home so that my wife can more fully and completely take care of a wife's duties.

My God, who wouldn't want a wife?  

This is one of my favorite pieces of writing since long time ago :)
Wanted to share with everyone! 

Stand by Me (2nd Reading journal for The Body)

For some reason I have always considered girlfriends’ friendship as to be higher in intimidation, thus a better and a closer one. Although I cannot be one hundred percent sure for now, I guess I was wrong in that sense. I have never been a boy. But, if their friendship is like the one in “The Body”, I would pay great amount of respects towards them. As much as that, “friends” I found in “The Body” had something more than that can be expressed in a word “friendship”. If I had to name it, I would say it is a “friendship for real”.

In my point of view, real friends have to be just friends, meaning they should not have any barrier between themselves for any kind of reason. I specially want to mention the “barrier by background” for now. When people are young, most of them tend to make friends regardless of each others’ background. Rather than that, they think more of how well they fit into each other in person to person. But then when they grow up, being adults, they tend to calculate how much beneficial their friends would be to them. It is just a natural consequence, well a bad consequence, while growing up as adults. This might be part of the reason why Stephen King portrayed children, not grown-ups, to be his models of “friends”.

In “The Body”, all four friends in the gang have unhappy family background; Gordie, the main character, is an invisible son after his brother Denny’s death; Chris is poor; Vern has imprisoned brothers; Teddy has deformed ears because he was child-abused by his father. They get along with each other not because they are childhood buddies, but because they understand each other. Whenever Gordie’s father tells him not to hang out with those “thieves” and “poors”, he never listens. I believe this is what childhood friendship’s innocence is, and at the same time what the real friendship is. I felt shamefully embarrassed of myself sometimes being picky when choosing friends. And now I learned that I can’t really “choose” friends, but it just forms naturally.

 “I never had any friends later on like the ones I had when I was twelve.  Jesus, does anyone?”

Another value of having real friendship is standing by each other all the time. Especially when they feel lonely or depressed, friends are the ones who can give them power just by being next to them. Even if they don’t do anything special, “standing by one another” would be enough. In this sense, I would specially like to portray Gordie and Chris. Although all four of them are good friends, I found those two most stand-by-me-ish. They form a "mutual support bond" between themselves. Chris supports Gordie's writing, and believes in his ability when other kids make fun of it. He tells Gordie, "Kids lose everything unless somebody looks out for them and if your folks are too fucked up to do it then maybe i ought to," which means he would always be next to Gordie whenever he needs support and someone to lean on. Later on in life, Gordie encourages and helps Chris to keep up studying and get into university.

“That’s the worst, I think. When the secret stays locked within not for want of a teller but for want of an understanding ear.”

Chris also shows Gordie his heart and how much he was disappointed at the teacher about the milk incident. Gordie understands Chris sincerely. To look at this in the viewpoint of ordinary teenager, it might seem to be just a normal conversation that would go on between friends. But then if we think of it from their perspective, this kind of conversation would not have been an easy one. They had to pull out all their family background and some other private issues. Chris had to tell that he was from a poor background, and Gordie knew it. Chris trusted Gordie enough to tell his innermost worry, and Gordie trusted Chris enough to give him sincere comments. It valued much more than just some middle classed teenagers whining and responding. Without exaggeration, it was their whole life in a longer view.

Taking out memories with friends, to be frank, I did not have any friends like Gordie or Chris when I was their age. I was not mature -in mind- enough to listen to my friends’ worry and be truly concerned about them. But I don’t regret my past for not building friendship like the “gang” in this book. It is just I was a bit slower than them. I am now happy to have bunch of friends that I can show deep inside my heart. Because of this book, I could think of what my friends mean to me and what I mean to them.

Overall, I prefer the title “Stand by Me” rather than “The Body”. The journey was important for them not because they wanted to find a dead body, but because they could get together and grow more tightened “real” friendship. At least I believe their goal in the first place was not to leave home; they just wanted to be “standing” by each other for a long time. And how FANTASTIC is that.

"Me? I'm a writer now.  Like I said."

There you go. This is the power of true friendship.