Jaeyoung Choi/ Interview First Draft/ Thursday 1-3pm

My Mother

 

            I always thought that the life of my mother has always been simple, that everything she has accomplished in her life was her coming to Guatemala and raising two children by herself. However, there was a much deeper story behind it. She grew up during the time when South Korea was suffering from the aftermath of the division of Korea. It was a period when the country was in an unstable financial situation and families looked for different ways to feed themselves such as eating grasshoppers. My grandparents had been through very tough times by keeping the whole family together. They had to take care of their five children, which was a much more difficult task because of the country's situation.

 

                  My mother is the fourth child, and even though she has an older sister and brothers she was always the one responsible of taking care of the rest of the family. For that reason, she decided to quit middle school to help out more at home. She mostly grew and took care of herself by her own, because my grandparents were too busy working and trying to keep the family from starving. Later on, when the country was in a better status, she chose to go work to Indonesia leaving all her relatives in Korea. When she got to Indonesia, she immediately regretted it. It was hot, dirty and the country was very different to the way she was once used to live.

                 

                  In Indonesia, she learned various skills with textiles. My mother specialized in clothing and when she was gaining an amount of money, she sent the money back home. My grandparents always felt very sorry for her, for not being able to give what she needed. They were so sad, that a month after my mother had felt Korea, my grandmother passed away. She had call my mother to tell her how sorry she was from not letting her finish her studies, if she had done it, she would had been even more successful than she was then.

 

                  My mother got back from Indonesia to stay with my widowed grandfather. But he had surprised her with a much bigger gift, my grandfather's best friend's son, later on my father. Before meeting him, she had been in an 8-year relationship with another man. However, she was forced to finish the relationship and marry the other man that later on leaved her widowed with two kids. She married him and decided to immigrate to Guatemala, because back then the country showed huge potential for business. A day before, our family would go to Guatemala, my father suffered from a heart attack. The trip was cancelled.  My grandfather couldn't believe what had just happened, and once again he felt so sorry and depressed for the life that he had caused my mother to take responsibility to, was his entire fault. He soon passed away and the once planned trip was set again.

 

In conclusion, my mother only studied until middle school. She only knows how to work with textiles. She is still a widowed single woman with two kids still living alone in a foreign country. But, without her, the two children she has would be nothing. Many other people would have just simply sent the children somewhere else or marry some other man, but she hasn't and still doesn't have any thought about it.

 

"The only thing I am proud about is of you two. You guys are my success and for that I am grateful, you guys are my world. I love you, sweetie. "

-Mom

Seung-Hui Jeong / Interview First Draft / Thursday 1-3PM

What Makes a Person

                 As of late, family has been a core issue I took interest in. Exactly how much did family play a role in shaping a person's psyche I did not know, but ever since my network of people I knew grew after attending college, it became clearer to me that the influence family had on a person was indeed profound.

Jess, though he was one of my oldest friends, was an elusive person. Perhaps it was the way he talked, how he never gave away too many details when he told a story. It always left people hanging onto for more, eager to listen to him talk further, to give away more details. Jess, a careful person, kept details of his life close to himself and protected them by deflecting prying questions. I admit I used this opportunity to pry his life, to open a window into his life that no one else could. So Jess I decided was my candidate for my interview.

                 His military training meant our interview had to be conducted on the phone. I knew him well which meant I could catch things like the slight pauses in his words, which was his attempt to leave certain things concealed, or answering offhandedly to deliberately evade a question. Things that might have otherwise escaped others. What I was interested the most was the relationship between him and his father so I began by asking about his experience working at his father's factory.

                 "Do you remember the first day you went to your father's factory?" I asked.

 "No, the first time I was very young. He took me there countless times throughout my life." He pondered as he sifted through his memories.

"Do you think your father wanted you to get attached to it as though your own?"

"I'm not sure. Maybe. I'm not sure even now if I want to follow his footsteps. Maybe I do, maybe I tell everyone I don't just because. I think deep inside I do but I'm not even sure about that." He gave a deep sigh into the mouth of the phone.

I took to understand this factory as an important connection between him and his father so I pressed for more. His most vivid memory during the times at the factory were the weekly trips he paid to visit the immigrant workers working at the factory. His father took Jess every weekend to shop for groceries to take to the workers. Jess would point out to an item in one isle and say let's bring this and point at another and by the end of these weekly shopping trips, the carts always filled up full to the brim. After growing up hearing racial slurs and the ridicules of immigrant workers, I was also well aware of the harsh working environments of immigrant workers in Korea. It interested me knowing that Jess grew up seeing the workers at his father's factory in no such conditions but rather as a place complete with even massage chairs.

                 "Do you remember any one person in particular?"

                 "Oh! There was a man from Nepal. I liked him a lot. When I worked there (at the factory) briefly before going to college, we talked a lot and we became friends. It was an odd experience. We became Facebook friends too." Jess paused as he reminisced this piece of friendship. "He had such a kind face. Always smiling. He helped me out every time I was having difficulty working. Moving things that were too heavy and things like that."

                 I could tell working at the factory had been a memorable experience for him. Jess talked about his dad quite often, from which I assumed he was closer to his father than his mother. I asked him directly if he felt more emotionally close to his father.

                 "No, I'm closer to my mother," he replied flatly. "My father is someone I admire. He's always worked hard and never slacked a day in his life. He's successful and I always want to be like him but he was stern with me when I was a child. It's probably why I feel more emotionally close to my mother."

                 Growing up, Jess remembered his father mostly as a stern man. His father, who was conservative, did not allow him to do many things like dye his hair, play games or stay out for too long. A lot changed the minute Jess hit the age of 19 but it also explained a lot why Jess was quite conservative himself. Jess was also the youngest member of his family. The gap of age difference between him and the rest of his family members brought easy adoration towards Jess. Jess, perhaps because of this, always had the air of someone who was well cared for and loved.

I had also always felt the difference in personality between Jess and I. He was used to being cared for by the people around him, while I was used to doing things for myself without asking for help. The natural adoration he received, I found, allowed him to become someone generous and giving and rather exceptionally acute to other's needs and emotions.

                 The way Jess described his father's character made me realize how much Jess was like his father than he realized. They were both capable of remaining calm no matter the situation, they were both confident but not proud, they both were conservative on certain matters, and they were warm and kind towards people but detached and ruthless if a clear-cut decision had to be made. I suggested their alikeness and his nonchalant reaction made me think he would have simply shrugged had he been in front of me.

                 Though this interview was initially arranged as part of schoolwork, I found myself becoming more and more immersed as Jess told me about his life. He was someone I was genuinely interested in knowing and my curiosity that accumulated during the time that I've known him made me keenly question him more for details. I've always found it interesting how a person is shaped by their family and my experience from this interview made me realize just how much influence family can have on an individual. 

Su Yeon Kim/ Interview First Draft/ Thurs 1-3pm

Separation of State and Religion

   Religion has been a controversial topic since it first became institutionalized. In many ways, religion has played a key role in shaping the world long before civilization. Some believe that religion is one of the pillars along with politics that supports society and others do not meet eye to eye with such ideologies. Society is pushing for democracy and freedom in all aspects of human life, however, the question whether religion facilitates these values or nor remains unanswered. For instance, Korea is currently under great political turmoil regarding religion. For such reasons, people are hesitant to talk about religion because it has become part of many people's lifestyles, but there is a necessity to openly discuss religion especially with our rapidly advancing society.

 

   I have recently become interested in this social issue and the first person that came to my mind was my brother. He has opinions on almost everything and I know he gets riled up when talking about controversial topics. Also, he is one of the few people that I enjoy talking to because of his philosophies and insight. Thus, I couldn't think of a better person for my interview other than him.

 

   I messaged him first to ask him if he could spare some time for a brief interview. I was expecting a late reply since his life has been so hectic lately. However, surprisingly, he called me right away.

 

   "Hey sis! So what is this interview you want to do?" he said with his usual excited tone. Without asking him where he was I knew that he was at the laboratory because I could hear machines whirring in the background. After a short explanation, he started to feel burdened.

 

   "Are you sure you want to interview me? I haven't talked about these things in a while," this time he spoke in a slightly more nervous voice. However, behind that veil of nervousness, I could hear the subtle eagerness.

 

   "What do you think about religion?" it was a general question dogged by controversies since almost the beginning of civilization.

 

   Before starting, he established his stance by saying that he does not believe religion should be eradicated completely but it should not become an all-consuming influence that seeps into every aspect of one's life.

 

   "I think religion is based on, what should I say, very outmoded traditions. They originate from mythologies or tribal cultures and a lot of their themes don't go with the way society rolls." He spoke hesitantly as though he didn't know where to begin. Then as he continued talking, his speech became more confident and fluent. This was a strong opinion from the start and I knew he was bursting with opinions so I let him speak without interrupting.

 

   He went on to talk about how religion does not fully address issues of equality, slavery, education, family and marriage in a way fit for modern society. He stated that culture as a country or as people evolve over time and we could clearly see this from simply studying history. Furthermore, it becomes almost impractical to build a society when religion comes into play. Particularly when decisions that are left to the state suddenly become influenced by religious views. Society will only progress if decision is left in the hands of the state because religious views and politics are incompatible.

 

   He must have talked for a solid 10 minutes without stopping. I was amazed at how well his thoughts were arranged and how eloquently he communicated them. I could not see him but I could imagine his expressions and mannerisms. His expressions would show composure with the occasional frowns when he was thinking and his excessive hand gestures. This was partly because he is my brother. Additionally, he always had the habit of getting carried away when he got too enthusiastic about something. This was clearly demonstrated during the interview when he moved on to talk about creation theories.

 

   "Regarding creation theories, we have evolution suggested by Charles Darwin and the Christian belief of creation beginning with Adam and Eve. The main evidence of Christian creation beliefs stem from the holy books but there is room to question its credibility in science. If indeed Christianity creation theories can be imbued into our science books, this causes conflicts." He did not stop there but followed it up with reasons.

 

   According to him, the main reason for the conflicts was that every religion comes with diverse creation theories but no credit is given to them. This was not only unfair to other religions but also in a way forcing one train of thought on people. If the Christian creation story was taught all around the world then so should other creation stories. He felt there was inequality in this too. After saying these, this is when he realized he was straying from the topic so he went back to talking about deep-seated dogmas within this institutionalized religion structure.

 

   The problem was that many wrongful acts are justified because holy doctrines state so. For instance, in the Christian holy books, it explicitly states ways to treat slaves. This shows that not only is slavery an accepted practice but goes against the very morals that society has so long been fighting for. Not to mention, even in the holy books of religions, not many advocated for equality between men and women. There were always strict guidelines on the roles of both genders and in many ways, it was disadvantageous for women. People hide behind holy doctrines to defend their immoral actions and it becomes a circular argument. He believed that there are parts of religion that really go against progress in human culture.

 

   While conducting the interview, I became curious about the moment he began to have such thoughts. We did not come from an extremely religious background but there was a time when we used to be religious.

 

   When I asked about this he answered, "I was always sceptic and one day, I stood back and looked at religion objectively. I thought about all the wars and the root of it. Religion has been the main inciter of wars in human history. Millions have suffered to fight for something that does not bring happiness in the big picture."

 

  Then I realized religion alone is not the problem and told him this. My brother agreed to this and said that the way people treat and interpret religion was also an issue. Of course people are free to have a religion because freedom of choice, and also certain principles such as loving and caring were correct. The problem was that these principles were correct but it did not hold the general definition of loving and caring. An example would be the discrimination against the LGBTQ community. This community is comprised of human beings but under the doctrine of the holy books, LGBTQ people do not deserve to be loved. If not written out in the holy books then people have interpreted the idea of love wrong and led to inequality in society.

 

   His words made me think objectively as well and there was some truth to it. Over the centuries, differences in religious views have led to very manic acts, for instance, the Islamic State. The ground for the justice of religions was because the holy books state that it ok. Our judgment of ethics that we have cultivated over time could easily be turned against by certain religious views.

 

   Based on the interview with my brother, I could see why he adamantly believed segregation of the state and religion is vital for societal progress particularly in terms of eradication of wars and establishment of equality. I learned that perhaps ultimately, on a big scale, religion does not achieve the happiness for everyone. Of course, the definition of what a good society is constantly changes over time but currently, religion does not reflect contemporary values. Thus, religion shouldn't take part in state affairs and should be segregated for the progress of society.

Jung Aa Ahn / Interview first draf (REAL ONE) / Thursday 1-3pm

201501855
Jung Aa Ahn

A Dream Made True

     My sister is five years older than me, and currently is in her masters program, studying psycholinguistics. This means that she is always busy. This is not new, however. It may be due to the age difference, but I've always remembered her as a diligent person, always living her life to the fullest. As a matter of a fact, she was on her way to school when I decided to interview her through Facetime.

     "Hey, can I interview you?"

     "What interview"

     "An interview for my class."

     "What's the topic"

     "I have to do an interview with a person who's working in a field I want to work in the future."

     "...What??? No. Absolutely not. Go away!"

     As I expected, she freaked out for a brief moment. She always told me to never go to a graduate school. She always told me to "study hard, but not enough to go to a graduate school."

     After her brief mental breakdown, she calmed down and asked me about the dream. "What dream are you talking about? You want to become a graduate school student?"

     "No, a scholar."

     "??????????"

     She freaked out again, obviously flustered. She stared at me through the screen for a brief moment with a very confused look, seeming She soon told me to proceed, however. I first asked her when she first decided to study in her field.

     "I immediately  I decided to major in psychology when I was in high school –when I was a junior in high school – so when I was applying for college."

     "What about your specific field? I know now that there are many different fields in psychology."

     "I started thinking about choosing my specific field of study when I was a freshmen in college. And I decided firmly when I was about a junior in college."

     "How did you end up choosing it? Like, were there any specific events or anyone influential regarding this decision?"

     She answered without much hesitation. "Well, when I was in high school, I was interested in three majors, nursing, graphic design, and psychology. So I either took classes that were related to them or did volunteer work that were related to it. Then I decided that I was most interested in psychology,"

     "So I went to college and decided to do some, you know, lab work, research assistant work. So I applied to different research labs including language production lab, autism lab, and some other social psychology related labs. But my current advisor, who is a language production lab professor got back to me. So that's how I started in this lab and how I ended up sticking with it."

     She did not stop at that, however. I still remember her striving to try out everything that she had the chance to do. She added, "I also did some work. I took some classes that were related to it like clinical psychology, and social psychology, but I decided that psycholinguistics was what I was most interested in. I also worked in two labs. Two different labs that were related to psycholinguistics and I liked both of them."

     It was interesting to see her talk about her occupation this way. It made me ask the next question.

     "What do you think is the most rewarding part of researching in this field?"

     "I think its most rewarding when we find an operative data that can explain how human mind works," she said, in a slightly exhausted way. It was often very difficult for her to find the right data for her studies. This was especially the case, considering how her field was very special.

     I could see that she was very attached to what she was doing. I still asked whether she would have made any other choices if she was given the chance.

     She answered very quickly again, without  much hesitation. "I don't think I'll ever choose to study in another field. I made my choice extremely deliberately…"

     "Then do you ever regret making this decision?"

     "Sometimes I regret my decision when I feel uncertain about my future. I like doing my research now, but being in the academia is not easy… when I look at my other friends who already have a job and are already settling in, I am not sure if I can do the same," 

     She hesitated a moment, and added, "But if I think about it again, I don't think I will make the same choice again, so that's fine."

     Then I asked her if she had any special memories from the years of research.

     Her face brightened up at the memory as she said, "I joined my lab as a freshman in college, which is pretty unusual but I worked hard and got great experience out of it. My adviser told me few years later that he was accepting another freshman student who was interested in the lab because he was happy with how my precedent turned out. That was very memorable."

     At that point, she arrived at her school. She did not seem euphoric about the fact that she had to go to work, but she did seem very at home to be in her lab, in her usual place, with her typical cup of coffee that she picked up along the way.

Jung Aa Ahn / Interview first draft / Thursday 1-3pm

201501855
Jung Aa Ahn

A Dream Made True

     My sister is five years older than men, and currently is in her masters program, studying psycholinguistics. This means that she is always busy. This is not new, however. It may be due to the age difference, but I've always remembered her as a diligent person, always living her life to the fullest. As a matter of a fact, she was on her way to school when I decided to interview her through Facetime.

     "Hey, can I interview you?"

     "What interview"

     "An interview for my class."

     "What's the topic"

     "I have to do an interview with a person who's working in a field I want to work in the future."

     "...What??? No. Absolutely not. Go away!"

     As I expected, she freaked out for a brief moment. She always told me to never go to a graduate school. I saw her go through the  was the type of person who would tell me to "study hard, but not enough to go to a graduate school."

     After her brief mental breakdown, she calmed down and asked me about the dream. "What dream are you talking about? You want to become a graduate school student?"

     "No, a scholar."

     "??????????"

     She freaked out again, obviously flustered. She stared at me through the screen for a brief moment with a very confused look, seeming She soon told me to proceed, however. I first asked her when she first decided to study in her field.

     "I immediately  I decided to major in psychology when I was in high school –when I was a junior in high school – so when I was applying for college."

     "What about your specific field? I know now that there are many different fields in psychology."

     "I started thinking about choosing my specific field of study when I was a freshmen in college. And I decided firmly when I was about a junior in college."

     "How did you end up choosing it? Like, were there any specific events or anyone influential regarding this decision?"

     She answered without much hesitation. "Well, when I was in high school, I was interested in three majors, nursing, graphic design, and psychology. So I either took classes that were related to them or did volunteer work that were related to it. Then I decided that I was most interested in psychology,"

     "So I went to college and decided to do some, you know, lab work, research assistant work. So I applied to different research labs including language production lab, autism lab, and some other social psychology related labs. But my current advisor, who is a language production lab professor got back to me. So that's how I started in this lab and how I ended up sticking with it."

     She did not stop at that, however. I still remember her striving to try out everything that she had the chance to do. She added, "I also did some work. I took some classes that were related to it like clinical psychology, and social psychology, but I decided that psycholinguistics was what I was most interested in. I also worked in two labs. Two different labs that were related to psycholinguistics and I liked both of them."

     It was interesting to see her talk about her occupation this way. It made me ask the next question.

     "What do you think is the most rewarding part of researching in this field?"

     "I think its most rewarding when we find an operative data that can explain how human mind works," she said, in a slightly exhausted way. It was often very difficult for her to find the right data for her studies. This was especially the case, considering how her field was very special.

     I could see that she was very attached to what she was doing. I still asked whether she would have made any other choices if she was given the chance.

     She answered very quickly again, without  much hesitation. "I don't think I'll ever choose to study in another field. I made my choice extremely deliberately…"

     "Then do you ever regret making this decision?"

     "Sometimes I regret my decision when I feel uncertain about my future. I like doing my research now, but being in the academia is not easy… when I look at my other friends who already have a job and are already settling in, I am not sure if I can do the same," 

     She hesitated a moment, and added, "But if I think about it again, I don't think I will make the same choice again, so that's fine."

     Then I asked her if she had any special memories from the years of research.

     Her face brightened up at the memory as she said, "I joined my lab as a freshman in college, which is pretty unusual but I worked hard and got great experience out of it. My adviser told me few years later that he was accepting another freshman student who was interested in the lab because he was happy with how my precedent turned out. That was very memorable."

     At that point, she arrived at her school. She did not seem euphoric about the fact that she had to go to work, but she did seem very at home to be in her lab, in her usual place, with her typical cup of coffee that she picked up along the way.

Chyue/Life history interview/Thursday 1-3pm

Chyue/Life history interview/Thursday 1-3pm

     Everyone has an admired person or hero in their entire life. I chose to interview someone who is very close to me and have looked up to all my life; my mother. She is my hero for me in my entire life. But I couldn't have a chance to meet with her at outside to interview. We have been apart each other over 2 years. Now I am in Korea and she lives in Myanmar.
      I rang her to interview last week at midnight.  She picked up my call as soon as I rang and asked me "What's wrong?", "Is there any problems,my dear?" with her soften voice. I said, "I'm fine and don't worry." and I said the reason I phoned you is "I'm going to interview you." She was silent for a while and I heard her sobbing. I asked, "Are you crying?"  and she said, "No" and "what do you want to ask me?". Then I said, "Mom, I have an assignment to interview one of our family. I'm going to write about you." She asked, "What do you want to interview me?"
     I asked her to talk about her childhood.  My mother was born in 1964, in the region of Dawae in Myanmar. Her childhood was not too complicated. She is multiculture family because my grandmom is Chinese and grandpa is Myanamar. She enjoyed  her childhood life happily. Unfortunately, she had dilemma when she got married. Both family's living style are not matched. They alway had lots of conflicts between two families.
   The worst thing is my father who can't understand my mother's mind. He always blamed to my mother when they were quarreling. She gave up her dream to be a successful entrepreneur because my father's family side is old-school and they didn't allow her to work at outside.  She had to do housework and raise up babies till she had last pregnant by my youngest brother. She said, "she was so tired on that time and she never want to go back that moment. I know how she is so tired until now. My father is a nice man and he is also really tired of his life but my mom is more tired than him. She said, "We lived in poor and encountered lots of difficulties. I don't want to talk more about how we were tired." She said,"Don't think about the past, look at your present if you want to success in the future. "
    She said, "You should try hard and never give up your life like me.Now, you're in Foreign and you will have a good chance to come true or success your dream." I wanted to ask more questions to my mom but she said, "It's too late to sleep. You should go to bed now." However, My mom is a gorgerous and smart person who always supports me.

Subin Lee / Life History Interview First Draft / Thurs 1-3pm

My mom is the person who knows me and understands me better than anyone else in the world. This is why I feel comfortable being with her. She is a fun person to spend time with, and a great cook. She loves her children and always gives what's best for us. She is a great friend and a wonderful mother. I can never imagine anyone else being my mom─could this be why I take her love for granted? Ironically, despite her being the one whom I spent most of my life with, I couldn't proudly say that I know everything about her. This thought led me to ask her a few questions that I had never actually cared to ask for all these years.

 

"Mom, what kind of student were you when you were young?" I asked. My mom looked up at me from a cup of coffee she had been drinking. "A question all out of a sudden! Why do you ask? Is it for homework or something?" She teased. Dang, she knew me too well. "Yeah," I replied sheepishly. "But I am really curious about how you were at school. Were you anything like me or Chaeeun?"

 

           Mom, looking thoughtful, answered my question. "I am pretty much the same with how I used to be then". My mom, a cheerful person to hang out with, had lots of friends at school. She still contacted them every now and then. She was the center of her large circle of friends. She told me her memories at school. She laughed as she recalled a memory of the time she got scolded by her teacher because she went out to buy snacks with her friend in self study session. I laughed. It was amusing to hear her recollections, yet also surprising. I had never realized the obvious fact that she was a young, lively girl once. She wasn't born a mother. All the memories she told me were blissful ones. I told her that I was glad that she had spent a happy time as a child.

 

"So there is nothing you would change about your life then, if you could go back?"

Mom smiled slightly at my remark. "Of course there are some things I wish would have been different," the tip of her finger touched lightly along the cup she was holding. Mom seemed to be lost in mind. "I had to give up several things that I wanted to do."

 

           Born in a poor family as a fourth child among five siblings, mom often had to give up things she wanted. Some were trivial little things as watching a show that her brother likes instead of a show she wanted to watch. Others she had given up were some important issues that could have changed her life and the way of living. In her teens mom had marked out for artistic senses. Her friends always asked her to draw something for them, and her teachers complimented her. Mom herself enjoyed drawing and painting as well. She wanted to study art. However, art study was costly, and mom knew that it would be impossible for her parents to pay for it while making a living for the family. Moreover, her older sister was taking private lessons for her exams. There was no money to spare. Mom had to put her dreams aside.

 

As I listened to mom, I recalled the time when I was a young kid. I had loved to draw and paint, and was quite good at it. Mom was always pleased whenever I gave her my piece of drawing. She signed me up for an art class, which I enjoyed attending. Now I only draw for fun, but mom had also told me a few years ago that if I had said that I wanted to study art professionally, she would have supported me as far as she could.

 

"That isn't the end," Mom said, interrupting my thoughts. "After I graduated from college, I studied English. I loved learning a new language. Back then, not many people could speak English, and I enjoyed being a bridge between Korean and English. It was the one thing that I could proudly announce that I can do better than others. I wanted to study abroad, to study English further and to learn about the world."

 

           But again, money was the problem. What she had earned from her company wasn't enough to allow her to study abroad. Her family's economic situation didn't get any better. When mom was troubled about this, her father, my grandfather whom I have never met, told her that he would finance her studies, and told her to go. Mom was surprised, but she already knew what she should do. She gave up studying abroad. She couldn't bear to put more burdens on her family.

 

"Nevertheless, I was really thankful that my dad supported my dream." Mom smiled lightly. I gave her a smile, too. "Because I know how it feels to give up your dream because you cannot afford it, I made myself a promise to support my children's dreams as much as I can." Mom told me that this encouraged her and dad to make money. She didn't want her children to give up what they want to do because of money, just like she had to.

 

           Mom had always encouraged me and my sister to go on and do what we wish to do. She told me she has enough money to support me if I want to study abroad, or study further at a graduate school. She would assure me, "That's what we earned money for."

 

I had thought that what she tells me was just a lecture to make me study. Before today, I had felt uncomfortable and burdensome when she said such things. I never realized what was behind such words. Mom was caring for me more than I had ever known. She had been supporting me to pursue my dream no matter what.

Lee Ji Won/ Topical Interview First Draft/ Thursday 1-3pm

Change from The Bottom   Tens of thousands of Koreans are protesting in central Seoul calling President Park Geun-hye to step down for several weeks. Being in tumultuous period, people are worried about the future of Korea. The author of What is History? Edward Hallett Carr said, "The past is intelligible to us only in light of the present; and we can fully understand the present only in light of the past." I also believe that it is meaningful to know the spirit of the past and learn how to overcome the difficulty of the present generation from the past, especially in this hard time. Fortunately, I had an opportunity to interview my mom who experienced the 5.18 Gwangju Democratization Movement and the 6.10 Democracy Movement and could realize that Korea should seek change from the bottom by our effort to make a better future.      It has been almost three months since my mom and I met that we kept talking about how we have been for quite a long time. Before we met, I told my mom that I would have a brief interview but didn't tell her a specific topic. When I asked her to tell me about the 5.18 Gwangju Democratization Movement, she seemed a little bit surprised as if she didn't expect a topic would be that event. But within a few seconds, she began talking. "It was 1980. I was 13 years old, just a young girl." She paused for a while, seemed like lost in thought and I waited quietly for her to continue. "One day, I heard that our school would be closed for a while and communication with the outside including a long-distance call was cut off. I didn't know exactly what was happening but intuitively I knew that something unusual was happening."   She explained that it was democratic uprising against Military Regime. Citizens gathered around Gwangju and the Chonnam area to fight against authoritarian government. There was a sad look on her face when she added, "Violence was rampant. Military forces indiscriminately attacked so many civilians and at least 600 people died." She said that although she was not at the scene at that time since she was living in a rural area remote from a city, she could feel the whole country was very depressing.   Suddenly I was curious of what my father was doing at that time. Thus I asked my mom, "How about father? Did he join the demonstration?" She sighed and answered me, "I guess he was 20 years old back then. Younger than you now. He once told me that he had to hide in a mountain at night since the army often stormed into houses unexpectedly and captured innocent university students." I was so shocked that I forgot what to say for a moment. I couldn't imagine how it would be when people couldn't have the freedom we have now. "So, how did the demonstration end?", I asked. She smiled bitterly saying, "Despite our struggles, the military government remained in power. However in 1987 once again, the 6.10 Democracy Movement began."   I asked my mom to tell me more about it. She explained to me that people arose against two tragic events that a college student named Lee Han-yeol was shot by a tear bomb when he was protesting at the front gate of Yonsei University and Park Jong-Chul died in the middle of an interrogation by waterboarding. "I also joined the demonstration. Time passed and I was 20 years old at that time. Just started university." , mom said. I was astonished that my mom was at the crucial moment of our nation's history. I asked her how different it was when she was 13 years old and when she was 20 years old. Leaning back in chair, she once again seemed to be lost in deep thought.    She said she couldn't do anything when she was 13 years old but things were different in 1987. "I believed that younger generation should take the lead to bring democracy. Can you imagine covering your eyes with plastic wrap?" I asked her back, "What? Plastic wrap?" "Right. Since the army bombed the road with tear gas to disperse the crowds, we should cover our eyes and also put toothpaste around nose and mouth, not to smell the gas." I asked her if she wasn't afraid of. Then mom replied, "Of course I was terrified, but I thought that courage doesn't mean an absence of fear but courage is to know what is more important and precious."   Before the interview, personally I had some doubts if we can ever bring change about Korea's current state of affairs. However through the interview with my mom, I became confident that the collective power of people can bring significant change from the bottom as my mother's generation struggled calling for true democracy. I hope I can also tell the historical story and prove the power from the bottom one day when future generations ask me how it was in 2016 South Korea Protests.

Hong Chae-ryoung/Life History Interview First Draft/Thursday 1-3pm

The Happiest Moments In Our Lives

 

            My mom has always been one of my favorite people to chat and hang out with; we both have some similarities from our childhood, although we may look different. I used to live in Dubai, and my mom used to live in Kuwait when she was young. She said that the time she lived in Kuwait with her family was the happiest memory of her life, and basically her whole life changed since then.

            "I was in second grade in elementary school," she started off. Since my parents live abroad, I talk to my mom on Skype almost every day, and the interview started off just like any other nights I would usually talk to her. She then counted back years to figure out which year it was back then when she first went to Kuwait.

            "My gosh, it was 1978. Can you believe it? 1978?!" She was almost astounded to realize how many years had passed since then.

            "No way. I would never be able to imagine what it was like back then." I replied.

            Her whole family, including my grandpa and grandma, my uncle and two aunts, flew over to Kuwait, and it was my mom's first ever flight, not to be so surprised. I asked her what it felt like when she first knew that the whole family is moving to Kuwait, but all she answered was that she could not remember much, other than the country was somewhere she had never heard of before, but she definitely was quite young to have any complicated feelings in her memory.

            "I remember the English teacher so clearly whom our whole family had lessons with altogether in one room. The teacher's name was Noel, and he was the first white person to meet ever in my life and he was British. But his image that I remember of him is not so good because he always had messy hair and beard on his face. It was such a shock. Well, you might put it as 'culture shock' as you would call it these days." She recalled her memory that I had never heard of all this time.

            She also added that a whole family in one classroom to learn English was an extraordinary now she came to think of it. Her oldest sister was a middle school student back then, so she knew the alphabets at least, and grandpa was quite fluent in English too, but no other family members knew the alphabets at first. My mom got excited again to tell me how she was proud of herself to be the first one to actually read out loud some sentences from books.

            "Grandpa used to have me sit down at desk and taught me phonetic symbols of alphabet, things like how vowels may sound different in different words. So, I memorized them and started to read off some sentences from random books and the English teacher was so surprised to see me read."

            I then asked how it was like in school and she told me that she entered an international school after a few months of private English lessons. She apparently picked up the language really quickly as she was still young and did not have any problems in terms of communication in school. In fact, I was only able to imagine what her school would had been like as the school I used to go to in Dubai, as it was the only experience and memory that I can apply to. She told me that there were lots of kids from different parts of the world, and her best friend was a Swedish girl Anna. As I heard another name that my mom clearly remembered, I was able to infer how she has her experiences in Kuwait as such a good memory of her life. My mom used to be called as sea lion because she loved swimming and she literally lived in the swimming pool with her friend, Anna. Moreover, I know for sure that swimming is her favorite hobby as she still enjoys swimming even these days.

            "I used to borrow books from the school's library and read every day. If I hand in a short writing about the book after I read it, my teacher would give me a bookworm shaped piece of paper as a certificate. I had my room's wall full of that and I felt so proud of myself. That time is probably the time I read most books in such short period in my entire life. I used to be praised from teachers all the time, and you'll never imagine how I was such a good girl."

            I was then able to realize why she said that the time in Kuwait was her happiest moment in her life. Surprisingly, I did not have to ask her follow up questions to get her answer of what she did every day in school, but rather she naturally started to chat about it. Furthermore, her facial expressions showed that she sincerely has her best memories in life back then in Kuwait, where barely other Koreans in the 1980s knew that the country even existed in the world. On top of that, she mentioned that if she had not lived in Kuwait for a few years when she was young, she wouldn't had been able to enter the university and meet my dad, neither get a job as a freelance translator in broadcasting companies.

            "You might not be here now if I didn't get all the chances that I was able to acquire as I lived my life so far. I might not even be here either. You see how moments in life seem like random pieces of a big jigsaw puzzle, but they all come together eventually in the end. It really is amazing how our God has prepared our lives in such meticulous way and He has all the plans laid in front of us. It's just us that we cannot see the plans given in life, and I think that is a little present for us too, so that we can look forward to every day to come in our precious life."

            The interview ended happily, with a big lesson learned yet again. I thought that my mom's and my happiest moment in life overlap in such similar but different way, which gave me goosebumps. No wonder I had always enjoyed chatting and hanging out with my mom! We never know what is going to happen tomorrow, even in the next hour, but I now know for sure that every minute and second in life is a present given to us and we should be thankful for everything given.

LeeSooKyung/Life-History Interview First Draft/Thursday 1-3 pm

Interview with my mom

On a peaceful weekend, I was spending restful time with my family at my home. I suddenly wondered my parents' childhood so they found a small photo album for me. As much time passed, the album also seemed like very old. Its every edges were worn. When I saw the photo album of our family, one picture of skinny girl caught my eyes because I couldn't imagine the girl in that picture grew into my mom! The appearance was totally different.

At the time, I thought it would be the best timing to interview about my mom's childhood and brought a list of prepared questions. She laughed. "When did you prepare these all questions? I'm not a special person as you'd think." Then I said, "Mom, you are special enough for me and please answer about my questions." My mom said, "You might be bored." "Then we should start the interview to know your answer is whether bored or not," I said.

The first question, "How was your childhood?", led her to focus on the interview. My mom was born in 1969, in Uijeongbu, the city of Gyeonggi-do. In her childhood, my mom's nickname was 'Pepero', chocolate covered pretzels. I could easily guess the reason why she called as 'Pepero' and she told me the reason as if she read my mind. She was severely thin and the color of her skin was like dark-chocolate. She said, "There were a variety of food except for our family. Eating greedily was my biggest dream in those long-ago days." She spent a tough childhood because of the poverty. My grandmother gained unsold vegetables from merchants in the market to feed her five children. She couldn't afford to buy some fresh ones. With a sad look, she said, "Your grandfather used to go out every morning so that he sold the basins made of rubber."

My mom showed that the prejudice of 'The longer a person is exposed to poverty at childhood, the worse the achievement levels become' was completely wrong. She looked at me and said, "I had never missed the top of the whole school and it made me to develop a desire to be a teacher." I felt as if her heart swelled with pride. She saw my astonished eyes and continued, "However, I had no choice but to go to the commercial high school rather than an academic high school. All the while, I dreamed of someday becoming a teacher." At that moment, I saw a sense of frustration from her eyes. I understood that feeling of joy and sorrow was mingled in her face at the same time. She said, "There was no time to learn how to dress myself even I had no opportunity for it. Fortunately, I had been offered a job with one of the leading companies in Korea as soon as I graduated from the high school. It was like a turning point in my life!" After listening her answer, I thought it was natural that she could be an employee of that company because she was the most diligent person among the people I know but she thought it was just a reward by god. She continued to tell her story with a pleasant smile. "One of the biggest present I got from here was your dad." It was the first time that I heard how my mom and dad got married so I was so interesting to continue this interview. "One of my superior officers at work introduced your dad to me and I thought your dad could make me happy forever. Well…finally, you could be born!", she grinned wickedly. I asked, "Then, don't you regret what you had to give up for livelihood? Such as your dream of being a teacher." It seemed like she was lost in deep thought for a while. After a pause, she opened her mouth. "I don't think I gave up my dream. I just put my own dreams back. That's the reason why I decided to enter the university and majored the department of early childhood education at a relatively later age." It was true that she challenged to enter the university a few years ago, but I didn't notice her purpose of that challenge. She got a full scholarship for 4 years. She said, "To be frankly speaking, it was too hard for me to be an attentive mom, a thoughtful wife, and a nice student at the same time." She added, "But there's one thing that I really want to tell you. Don't live your life without your dream." She has a great zest for her life and I could feel it.

Now I understand the reason why she has lived her life so hard. It's because she has not given up her dream and she wanted to teach me the value of dream. Maybe she also didn't want that I felt frustrated in my life because of the poverty. Thanks to this interview, I realized her happiness was started from my dad, me, and her dream. 

LeeSooKyung/Life-History Interview First Draft/Thursday 1-3 pm

Interview with my mom

On a peaceful weekend, I was spending restful time with my family at my home. While we with tea, I suddenly wondered my parents' childhood so they found a small photo album for me. As much time passed, the album also seemed like very old. Its every edges were worn. When I saw the photo album of our family, one picture of skinny girl caught my eyes because I couldn't imagine the girl in that picture grew into my mom! The appearance was totally different.

At the time, I thought it would be the best timing to interview about my mom's childhood and brought a list of prepared questions. She laughed. "When did you prepare these all questions? I'm not a special person as you'd think." Then I said, "Mom, you are special enough for me and please answer about my questions." My mom said, "You might be bored." "Then we should start the interview to know your answer is whether bored or not," I said.

The first question, "How was your childhood?", led her to focus on the interview. My mom was born in 1969, in Uijeongbu, the city of Gyeonggi-do. In her childhood, my mom's nickname was 'Pepero', chocolate covered pretzels. I could easily guess the reason why she called as 'Pepero' and she told me the reason as if she read my mind. She was severely thin and the color of her skin was like dark-chocolate. She said, "There were a variety of food except for our family. Eating greedily was my biggest dream in those long-ago days." She spent a tough childhood because of the poverty. My grandmother gained unsold vegetables from merchants in the market to feed her five children. She couldn't afford to buy some fresh ones. With a sad look, she said, "Your grandfather used to go out every morning so that he sold the basins made of rubber."

My mom showed that the prejudice of 'The longer a person is exposed to poverty at childhood, the worse the achievement levels become was completely wrong. She looked at me and said, "I had never missed the top of the whole school and it made me to develop a desire to be a teacher." I felt as if her heart swelled with pride. She saw my astonished eyes and continued, "However, I had no choice but to go to the commercial high school rather than an academic high school. All the while, I dreamed of someday becoming a teacher." At that moment, I saw a sense of frustration from her eyes. I understood that feeling of joy and sorrow was mingled in her face at the same time. She said, "There was no time to learn how to dress myself even I had no opportunity for it. Fortunately, I had been offered a job with one of the leading companies in Korea as soon as I graduated from the high school. It was like a turning point in my life!" After listening her answer, I thought it was natural that she could be an employee of that company because she was the most diligent person among the people I know but she thought it was just a reward by god. She continued to tell her story with a pleasant smile. "One of the biggest present I got from here was your dad." It was the first time that I heard how my mom and dad got married so I was so interesting to continue this interview. "One of my superior officers at work introduced your dad to me and I thought your dad could make me happy forever. Well…finally, you could be born!", she grinned wickedly. I asked, "Then, don't you regret what you had to give up for livelihood? Such as your dream of being a teacher." It seemed like she was lost in deep thought for a while. After a pause, she opened her mouth. "I don't think I gave up my dream, I just put my own dreams back. That's the reason why I decided to enter the university relatively and majored the department of early childhood education at a later age." It was true that she challenged to enter the university a few years ago, but I didn't notice her purpose of that challenge. She got a full scholarship for 4 years. She said, "To be frankly speaking, it was too hard for me to be an attentive mom, a thoughtful wife, and a nice student at the same time." She added, "But there's one thing that I really want to tell you. Don't live your life without your dream." She has a great zest for her life and I could feel it.

Now I understand the reason why she has lived her life so hard. It's because she has not given up her dream and she wanted to teach me the value of dream. Maybe she also didn't want that I felt frustrated in my life because of the poverty. Thanks to this interview, I realized her happiness was started from my dad, me, and her dream. 

Sangeun Baek/Meaningful Place/Thu 1-3 pm

             When I was in Aberdeen, Scotland, I used to live in a house that had a garden at the front. Technically, it was the "front," but my family always used the back door because it was closer to the street, so it felt more like a big backyard. I have always wanted a two-story house with a garden, so that house was like my dream house. The street I lived in was full of houses like mine. The houses even looked all alike.

             My garden was surrounded by fairly high walls, to divide our house from other houses, and little trees and flowers. There was green grass growing on the soil. A gardener regularly came and cut the grass. Whenever I went to the garden for some air and breathed, I could smell the grass and flowers. I felt the soft soil under my shoes. It was cold in Aberdeen, so I didn't come out to the garden often. I especially liked it in spring and winter. Flowers bloomed in spring. The only bad thing was that there were too many bees. In winter, the garden became completely white when it snowed. The year I moved into that house, it didn't snow often, which was a bad thing for me. I liked watching it quietly snow in the garden. It felt like Christmas.

             Once, when I was walking back home, there was a cat following me. It was small and white overall, with irregularly shaped brown patterns. I didn't know whether it was a street cat or someone was raising it, so I let it follow me and just let it to the garden. From then, sometimes when I looked out the window at the garden, I would see the cat walking gracefully around the garden or on the wall surrounding the garden. I guessed that the cat must be being raised by someone, because its fur was always clean and it had a necklace around its neck.

             Whenever people visited my house, we had a barbecue party in the garden. It was always quiet in the garden, but the party always made everything come to life. We took out the grill from the garage, and we cooked pork and beef and sausages and vegetables. The taste of smoked meat always impressed me. My dad wasn't very good with using the grill at first because of the wind, but eventually he became better. I preferred staying inside, but I liked having people come over and have this party.

             The garden was one of the places that represented my impression of Aberdeen. Quiet, cold air, the smell of grass. I know I won't be able to go back there. I really wish I would be able to live in a house with a garden like it.

Yunji Kim/ Meaningful Place Final Draft/ Thurs 1-3PM

That One Special Tree

             I was always the kind of person who enjoyed hanging out with a small group of friends. In high school, as well, I had four close friends who I ate, talked, laughed and did everything with. We all lived close so we always walked home together after school. It was not a short way home from school, but I remember continuously laughing and giggling all the way.

             On hot summer days, it was almost impossible to walk straight home under the sizzling weather. The burning weather forced us to stop and hide under tree shades. There was a place we always went. It was a bench under a tree, located just about halfway home. Before we dragged ourselves to the shade, we always went to the optician's right next to the bench. They gave out free ice creams for those who had membership cards, and the three of us had the membership. I remember sitting on the bench and sharing the ice creams we grabbed. The tree was big enough to cover all four of us and big enough to cover us from others. It was like our own secret place that could not be seen from the big streets. That's why we took our shoes off and even lied on the bench like it was our room. We chatted on and on under the tree, the content of the chat being laughter and random comments.

             I clearly remember lying down on the bench, frowning a little under the brilliant sunlight peaking through the leaves. My friends and I used to stay there for a long time until we could recharge ourselves to walk into the sizzling sunlight again.

             This place is truly meaningful to me because my best friends and I spent most of our high school time under this tree. These four friends and I are still close friends and we sometimes talk about the fun memories under the tree. Unfortunately, when we stopped by the bench under the tree again few months ago, it was not the same place we remembered. It became a smoking area of a newly-built building, and our place became full of cigarette butts and heavy sighs of smokers. It may not be the same relaxing place in our memories, but the tree still stands there at the same place, as an inseparable part of my teenage life.