A good picture makes us curious and makes us want to know more” - Steve McCurry

Se Jin Lee January 18, 2010

One of the greatest photographers, Steve McCurry was born in Philadelphia, 1950. He graduated the College of Arts and Architecture at the Pennsylvania State University. He became famous with his photography, which captures human struggle and joy. McCurry takes his risky journeys around the world to take good pictures in countries like Pakistan. He also has won several awards. One of his photography,the Afghan girl is chosen as the most magnificent photos in the world. He also was a writer, he wrote nine books. In many of his photos, he captured civil conflicts during Iran- Iraq War. The main themes of his photo are sadness and suffering
“A good picture makes us curious and makes us want to know more” – Steve McCurry




Among those amazing photos in Steve McCurry's blog, this photo which was taken at Kuwait, 1991 during a war by Steve McCurry had captured my attention. There is a dead body in foreground and a tank in the background. I also can see a small fire way back in the foreground. When I first saw this picture, the face of the dead body really caught my eyes. He really focused on the face; it’s hard to recognize, except its terrible facial expression which really tells me how cruelly this person has been killed. The dead body seems like a soldier’s, burned during the explosion. He used color to tell the mood of the picture. Every thing except the fire is black, representing the death, sadness and suffering. Even the color red of fire is emphasizing the explosion, maybe the color of hell. I think McCurry is trying to emphasize that wars only leads to death in this photo. Just like he said, if man kinds don’t stop the wars, mankind will die because of the wars.
“Most of my photos are grounded in people, I look for the unguarded moment, the essential soul peeking out, experience etched on a person’s face.”





Steve McCurry’s photos are great, because he uses colors, positions, balance, size and others to warn us that if you take away human rights from some people, they will suffer and die. His photos also makes us realize what is happening outside. I think his photos will last forever, because he captures all the sadness and suffering during human's histories. And histories will last forever in our heart, especially histories that made us suffer. I thought that I was reading a history book when I went throw his photos, though it was much interesting than a history book, it captured a lots of historical events, moods. Steve McCurry is just amazing! I hope he keeps taking more of these amazing photos, so people can realize the reality, the people who are suffering without some rights and that we got to help them.

Jason and the Golden Fleece

Question1

I think Jason and the golden fleece fits with the cycle of hero which was developed by Joseph Campbell, because of these facts.


Birth: He's unusual birth actually caused his journey. When he was born as the son of the king Aeson in Thessaly, he almost gets killed by his uncle when he was young by his uncle, Pelias. His uncle disobey his father to get the crown and become a king, so the king and queen gets kicked out to the mountain, Pelion.

Call to adventure: when he returns to the kingdom after finishing Chiron's teaching, he meets Pelias and asks him for the crown. The wicked uncle gives him the dangerous quest before he accepts him, getting the Golden Fleece.

Elixir: Elixir is like the reason for the journey like the goal of an adventure. In Jason of the Golden Fleece, I think the elixir is getting the crown back from Pelias, because that was the reason why and how he start the journey to find the Golden Fleece, so he can be the king.

Helpers: . In his journey, he asks 50 Greek heroes to join his adventure, like Hercules, Odysseus and others. Even though Jason was the leader, without them, he wouldn't have succeed his quest. And in my opinion the most helpful person for Jason was actually his lover, Medea. She killed her younger brother, betray her father and kill Pelias just because of Jason. Even though at the end, Jason's love for Medea disappears because of her cruelty, she really loved him and helped him.

Helpers/Amulets: The king and queen send him to Chiron, one of the greatest teachers in the Greek myth. He learned every skills and knowledge he need for his journey from Chiron. Jason became strong and mature because of his lessons.

Tests: There were few tests in Jason and the golden fleece. Especially when Jason and the Argonauts were in the way to the island where the Golden Fleece, they across the clashing rocks, the monsters such as siren, fire-breathing bulls.

The final battle: After passing all the tests, he reached a island where the Golden Fleece was located. Fighting the dragon ,which was told to guard the Golden fleece by gods was his final battle. It was most challenging and the last step to accomplish his main quest, but at the end he fought bravely with helpers and could win the battle and get the golden fleece.

The return: After the final Battle, he brought the Golden Fleece to his kingdom with Medea and his Argonauts. Pelias opened a big celebration. Many people and his Argonauts were glad to congrats his succeed. But after many days, Pelias didn't say anything about giving back his crown. Medea got angry, so she tricked with a magic to Pelias's two daughters and made them kill him.

Question 2

I read two different types of Jason and the Golden Fleece so far. They were really different, especially the way they described the character 'Medea'. In the first story was she was a wicked witch who tried to kill Jason, but the second one I read, Medea was like the second most important character in the story where they fall in love and she joins his journey. I think Greek people really loved this myth, they have changed the story so many times they want to. That's why there is so many different stories for one myth, Jason and the Golden Fleece.

In the cartoon, compare to the book I read, I think Jason is described as dependent and a bit weak. I think he gets too much of help by other heroes and believes in Medea too much at part 2, but I can't really say they did represented Jason well or not. People might think they didn't because of their thought of heroes being always independent and strong, but even in the story, he's just a person. Maybe he was weak and dependent but had enough knowledge to succeed.

Question 3

I think Jason and the Golden Fleece is a story which is mixed with tons of facts and imaginations.

These facts are what I got from Humanities class...

• Mount Pelion does really exist.
  


• The island of Lemnos, Greece where Jason did his first test is real..
  


• Found the Bronze-Aged Palace of Jason.


• Greek people had enough technology to make Argo and go through the Black Sea.
  


• They found out that 1,400 B.C was when Jason did his quest.
  


• Jason and the Golden Fleece when there was the Trojan War and it was a real event.
  


• They found a real cave with drawings of Jason.
  

From these fact, there is obviously a possibility that some parts of the story might have been real, maybe people have changed some parts like those magical monsters to make the story to a myth.

Curiosity

Source: https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEpR0KsFd4O6oTX_vPAfQuLkv9b8vdbweiwgl5ccafaPp94r8U2XfEzUlleDwcQqDzVc0b6Go3pGzhm1UMPVGKsyzIMqmnvuyxtNh_v_biA1KT6wHFiKQcGIjFN-I39fITu73gFCZ3jzA/s1600-h/19090675.jpg

Source: https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEis4iqbkJZem1tX9QETd2xGUD0FyaKSc3X0ZWUKfhVzXDg1XE8JDKeAfYH_-7ieRaVlGphR_6ji4xtC5KpL6gOg8ejrs_i3RahPfye0YuMh3T3WCtssgcXSIFEQSIbQsVbGbRtGPhNE-vE/s1600-h/waterhouse_pandora.jpg

Curiosity in the African myth, Orphan boy and the Greek myth, Pandora demonstrates to us that curiosity sometimes leads us to change. This can be proved because in Pandora, Pandora got punishments because of her curiosity of opening the box. When she opened the box, every disgusting and bad things came out to the world. Also in Orphan boy, the old man got punishments because of his curiosity of following the orphan boy. When the orphan boy found out that the old man had followed him, he lost his trust and left him. Also the man and his cows died. People who made these two myths enforced us that curiosity makes things go in disarray. Which is weird and does not make sense, because they also made myths because of their curiosity.

My name

Source: http://listentoleon.net/wp/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/winnie-the-pooh-evil.jpg

My name


I never complained about my name in my life, I never liked my name either. When I was young, in Korea there were many teachers asking me about my name. Maybe I was born to be negative. Well that's just who I am. I thought it was just wasting my time discussing about them. But I was totally wrong. I think names really do relate to you and your life like destiny!

One of person I knew in Korea had the worst name in the world. It was so bad I can still remember. It was "Akma " which means devil. I mean who in the world name their children a devil? though I don't know the another story of theirs, but really... Surprisingly he really was a person who has a soul of a devil. I can't blame him though, it's all his parent's fault of giving such bad name. So, to sum up, name is really important. It's also important to know what it means too, so I can at least know if my parents cared about my future.

My name is Se Jin Lee, a very easy name to memorize, though it’s hard to pronounce perfectly for people who aren’t Korean. They often mispronounce Si- instead of Se- and when I tell them the right pronunciation. They always ask me “What’s the difference?” I can’t understand why they can’t compare Se- and Si-, or is it just me who's so sensitive?

My best friend describes me as Winnie the Pooh. She say I'm a dull, warm and friendly person who's so comfortable to hug. I'm not sure why she thinks Pooh is dull,warm and friendly though. When my mom had her beautiful 3rd baby, she had a hard time giving her a name, because she had already used the best ones for the 1st and the 2nd daughters. First time she thought about giving me "Yeo Jin" which mean girl treasure(?). haha, I think I would have been a really beautiful girlish girl if my dad agreed with that name.

My grandfather wanted to help her, so he thought about a good name for a few weeks. Ignoring all the beautiful names, like Yu Na, Hyo Won and You Jin, he finally chose ‘Se Jin’ which sounds quite boyish. Though the reason why he chose that name was that he wanted me to become a respectable woman. Se Jin means the world treasure. What a lovely name! That’s why I get so mad when people call me Si Jin, because I love my name and Si Jin means marry-treasure or poo-treasure, which are funny but don’t even make sense.

My last name, Lee means a peach tree, which is probably a very fresh big tree with golden peaches. I wonder if that’s why I’m so sweet-hearted. I love my last name, because it’s very simple for anyone to read and remember. It would be so great if I become a music teacher, and my students call me “Ms. Lee”









261 words

Common Elements of Creation Myths

Common Elements of Creation Myths

“A myth is the projection of a culture’s soul” Dictionary of Creation Myths. Many creation myths contain common themes of children against parents, people from mud and explanation of the world. This fact is very surprising because those creation myths are from all different cultures and times. In many creation myths, there are children who go against father, for example, the Greek myth, Pandora and the Korean myth, JuMulJu. This proves that even though people couldn’t communicate, people had the same ideas. One of the common elements in many creation myths is people being made from mud, for example, the African myth and Pandora. Even though these myths are from totally different countries, their beliefs were the same. Many creation myths explain the world like the Chinese myth of Phan Ku and the Chippewa myth. It’s amazing to see the connections between them even though they’re from different times. All the creation myths are actually from one thought, because they’re all sharing the main ideas no matter where and when it came from.



190 words

A quote and a picture I've chosen.

The reason why I chose a quote by Lao Tzu, Chinese taoist Philosopher is because it is very simple and powerful. It's telling me that even a long jouney starts with one step.
The reason why I chose this picture is because it shows the obstacles through the journey. I thought it was interesting because there are thousands of flags(obstacles) on mountains (the journey) which is showing how tough the journey is. Also the mountains are colored with different colors which tells me that there are several journeys. This is the picture that perfectly fits to what I thought about journeys. Tough, risky and difficult.

7th grade

Dear. 7th grade teachers

Hello, I’m Se Jin. I’m very excited to write this letter, this year have been a great succeed. And to explain how I feel of getting out ESL3 is unexplainable. But I feel quite sad at the same time because that also means I can’t participate in intermediate band. It is very cruel to me because band is the subject that I most enjoyed with in grade 6. I think it would be great to give ESL4 students chance to participate in band. (Because it is a great opportunity to play an instrument.)

I also want to get more supports from my science and math teachers because I had quite a hard time in math and science class. It’s really hard to understand what they are talking about in science class especially people like me who is in ESL. Maybe teachers can make a science class for ESL students so they can help them on vocabularies.

But over all, I enjoyed grade 6 and I will really work hard in grade 7.





Sincerely
SeJin Lee