201001256 Park Seohee/ Sto[ watching the news (Cause & Effect Essay Final Draft)/ Thur56

Stop watching the news

 

Nowadays, news has become such a harmful information to us. We've been educated from child that who watches the news, is an educated person interested in the society and  person who doesn't is an ignorant person; so we have to know necessarily about what's happening in this world. But many recent researches, are mentioning that the news is actually not beneficial to our lives. And I will show you some of the reasons to this as why we don't need to stay informed, and how the news is toxic to our health and how it affects us mentally.

Sometimes, we feel belated when we are not being noticed of what is happening today or what will happen tomorrow, so we think that we have to be stayed up to date. But actually we don't have to, because news is something that we can't avoid, it means that in anyways we will be informed about the issue by other person of our social circle. So we don't need to waste our time on watching the news or reading all the information that appears when we open a website. Also when we watch the news we get so much irrelevant information that we think it will be much better if we just search for the information that we need.

   If we know relevant information from the news, people would consider us knowledgeable. But this information is actually toxic to our health, and it had been tested already. The continuous violent and panicky stories that we receive from the media, deregulates our immune system and inhibits the growth of hormones. In another word, our body stays in stress all the time. So this consecutive stress causes indigestion, nervousness and makes us susceptible to infections. Also the news works like a drug because it changes our brain structure; simply, it doesn't let the brain to focus deeply in one thing and makes the brain to consume new information before absorbing the last information completely. As a consequence, news brings us a kind of illness and extra stress to our body.

   The most important problem is the mental affection; the biggest one is the creation of the feelings of depression. This is because most of the news are depressive, so we are unconsciously consumed by the negative thoughts which in the future affects us also to our real lives. So how it affects us in our real lives? First, it interrupts our concentration; it happens when we bring back pieces of news that steals the attention of our own purposes. Therefore, affects severely to our memory because disrupts the information that we have stored in our brains. And as a result, it limits our creativity which comes from the thoroughness and a wide imagination, and these are some of the benefits that we have as a human being, but the interruption coming from the news makes us loose our great skill.

   Finally, I explained about the cause and effects of watching the news by explaining the unnecessity of being informed all the time, also the effects of our health and the mental problems that it brings to us. So I wanted to warn you that receiving mounts of news is not beneficial for us, but now I hope you to be able to realize what kind and what quantity of information from the news would be beneficial to you.

 

201101481 Park Jean/ Cause & Effect Essay Final Draft/ Thur56

'MSG', the Best Ingredient    Have you ever thought about why homemade dishes are sometimes less delicious and tasteful compared to the ones sold in the restaurant? Most of people may have assumed the secret of those restaurant dishes; it's an artificial flavor enhancer or 'MSG'. The MSG has an intolerable attractiveness but it is also known as unhealthy ingredient that makes people fat and sick. However, it has scientifically approved that MSG has nothing do with fretting people's health and the actual effects of the MSG is unknown. Thus it will be described in below why MSG got such misconception and the true facts of it.   First of all, MSG is not an artificial flavor enhancer but in fact, it came from natural food ingredients. MSG is the abbreviation form of Monosodium L - Glutamate and it is abstracted from the sugarcane. The glutamate and sodium are mixed together to make both sweet and salty tastes that eventually makes savory tastes. In addition, people have neglected the fact that actually lots of vegetables and meats contain MSG. For example, tomatoes, green beans, corns and Farmasan cheese contains more than 1,000ppm, which is pretty high amount, of MSG but we eat these food ingredients every day in our life.   Another misconception of MSG is it's fatal to men's health. However, it was denied recently by the Food and Drugs Administration. The misinformation got widely known because the 'Chinese Restaurant Syndrome' was reported in US, 1968. At that time, many customers felt sick and vomiting after eating Chinese dishes and people have concluded that it's because they contained lots of MSG. Since then, most of companies advertised their products as 'free MSG' and that made consumers to think that MSG is harmful to human body.   Finally, it was proven that avoiding the use of MSG affects people to put more salts to make pungent flavors. This means there are chances that people can eat more salty dishes and eventually it will cause negative effects on their body. According to the scientific research, salt and even Vitamin 12 and C has higher lethal dose than MSG. Although overuse should be limited, though an adequate amount of MSG can bring a great taste. Therefore, avoiding MSG doesn't exactly mean you're only eating healthy ingredients and extend your life span.   To conclude, despite the fact that MSG does not have any negative effects, still many people hesitate to use the ingredient. But the truth is MSG is made up from natural sources and it does exist in many food ingredients. It's just that wrong information and cognition made people prejudiced and refused to use it in homemade cooks. Since it came out that MSG is not harmful, at least we don't have to worry about ingesting MSG when we have a meal in restaurants.

201102687 Lee, Jun Ki / Live Colder, Live Lighter / Thurs 1-3pm

Have you ever thought about living in Antarctica? This might sound strange, but if you want to lose your weight, it might be the best place on earth. Being on a diet is a daily routine for people now days. However, for most people success seems very far away. Here is a very shocking fact. Temperature can affect your weight. Cold weather can actually help you lose weight because cold weather will require more energy from you to sustain body temperature, boost your body metabolism and produce more brown-fat.              Firstly, your body definitely needs more energy to stay warm. In the colder climate, people tends to spend more calories to sustain the appropriate body temperature. This process will take calories and fats. Normally human body should have a temperature around 36.5 Degrees Celsius, and this is vital for survival. Since our body is designed to protect itself, your body will produce more heat to keep you warm. This process consumes energy, meaning that you will burn more calories and fats. As a result, there is a higher chance for you to lose the weight. Basically, 'staying alive' is more costly in colder climate.              Secondly, cold weather offers faster metabolism. The scientific result showed a negative relationship between temperature and metabolism pace. If the temperature goes up your body metabolism would slow down, making you to consume less energy for same activity. However, as the temperature drops, your metabolism accelerates, so even if you do some slight exercises you will be able to burn more fat than in an warmer weather condition. Your work out will have much more impact on your weight if you could do it in a colder places. Jogging for a mile in Minneapolis is worth more than a mile in Miami.              Lastly, the fat called the 'brown fat', which happens to appear more in colder condition, tends to help you gain less weight. This brown fat burns the fat, and the other 'white fat' stores energy. Scientists have found that protein that makes the brown fat increased in the colder weather, resulting in higher number of brown fat. This brown fat makes you gain 30% less weight even if you have same diet. Also, obese people tends to have lower level of brown fat that thinner counterparts. This means that you will still have the same diet and gain much less weight just by staying in colder situations, so "eat same, lose more" can actually happen.              In conclusion, there are lots of factors that can contribute to a weight loss in a colder climate. Colder weather would burns more energy for body temperature, accelerates body metabolism, and produces higher level of brown fat. All of these could have great impact on your weight. So, how about moving to a colder place and saying goodbye to weight concerns?

201202968 Lim Jung Yun (임정연) / Cause and Effect final draft/ Thurs56

201202968 Lim Jung-Yun / 임정연

Divorce: The Good Side.

 

 Divorce rates all over the world are rising every year. In some countries such as China, the number of couples getting divorced surpasses the number of people getting hitched. Conventionally, divorce has been treated with shame and devastation. However, this is an outdated notion. Divorce has its good sides and positive qualities that should be taken note of. Admittedly, divorce is not the BEST thing that one could experience in one's life. Even so, it is not the catastrophic, earth-shattering event in one's life that people consider it to be. Yes, divorce has its positive outcomes that contribute to the enriching the quality of one's life.

 First of all, divorce allows time for self-reflection and healing. Divorce happens for a reason. Maybe it was because of one's own fault, maybe the significant other was the reason. It may even be of mutual fault. Whatever the reason, divorce happens because of failure to overcome those problems. Divorce grants the time to heal one's self and tend the post-wounds of the events that led to divorce. This may include a variety of things ranging from taking therapy, moving to a new place, or even meeting new people. It could be something simple like finding private and undivided time to spend one oneself like treating oneself to a bubble bath. Regardless of who provided the major leading cause of the divorce, both parties need time to heal and tend their own personal wounds whatever they might be. Divorce gives the time for reflection and improvement that will in the end, gives the strength to seek restart a new life.

Also, believe it or not, divorce also sends out a positive message to kids about loving and caring about one's self. Of course, divorce is a hurting event for the kids as well. However, it is not just all about families being torn apart. Sometimes, a lot of couples stay in a loveless marriage for the sake of their children. Unfortunately, that does not make the kids oblivious of the hostility apparent within the household. In those cases, it sends a negative message that one should swallow personal pains and hardships for the sake of the family. Worse, it could give children the wrong ideas about the 'normal' appearance of marriage, and desensitize them to the hostile relationship between their parents, that could later on affect their own marriage. Some parents often do not realize that living a life in denial could hurt their children more than openly going through divorce. By acknowledging that the relationship is not working and going through divorce, it teaches kids the importance of being in a healthy and loving relationship and putting value on one's own happiness.

 There is no denying that divorce is hurtful and painful process. However, it is extremely important to recognize that it is not just all about tears and pain. Difficult as it may be, with a positive attitude and willingness to make the best out of it, it is possible to reap the benefits out of a hard divorce. It is an opportunity for a life education that children will never forget, a window to self-improvement and ultimately, a chance to obtain happiness that was not possible in a unhappy marriage. 

201103477 Chun Young Ho/ Cause and Effect final draft/ Thurs56

This topic is the most confident theme for me because I am the one who suffer from insomnia. I have suffered since I was in middle school exactly saying 15 years old. I also have been thinking about the main causes of insomnia even now when I am doing this essay on 2 o'clock this Tuesday. Well the lesson I realized as a result of 9 year old meditation that treats the insomnia as a main theme word was do not eat at least 2 hour before you go asleep, do not smoke before you sleep, minimize the lap, clean your room neatly and stress.

Eat delicious food before you go to bed is main factor that causes insomnia. Heavy meals close to bedtime will disrupt your sleep. The best practice is to eat lightly before bedtime. When you eat too much before bedtime, it will make you discomfort and be a obstacle for your body's settlement and relax. Spicy food can also cause upper heart beat and interrupt your relax.

Nicotine is a stimulant and causes insomnia. I am the victim of this factor. Smoking cigarettes close to bedtime can make you hard to fall asleep. Nowadays I smoke at least 2 hours earlier than bedtime. Nicotine also interferes with your heart beat and blood pressure. In day time I usually use cigarettes as a stimulant that wakes me up.

This factor is quite arguable but for me it is influential. Taking a nap in the afternoon has a possibility that interrupt you in bedtime. It will also make you hare to fall asleep. Our body clearly has a 'body's clock'. Taking a nap in irregular time will confuse your body's clock. Shift workers usually suffer with insomnia in a same reason. If you are curious about this factor, do not take a nap during daytime. In night, you will be very tired and it will be much easier to fall asleep than the day that you take a nap.

Stress, I think, is the most critical factor for insomnia. It causes anxiety, tension, excessive worrying. By those things you will be in a situation that you turned off the light, lying in a bed with fully ready for your sleep but you will just overwhelmed by anxiety and keep thinking on it so your bedtime will be continuously delayed. These factors are also influences in 'maintenance insomnia' which is waking up during night and not being able to return to sleep. This will also cause bad cycle. You will be anxious about 'sleep' itself. In this phase, you are hardly recommended 'treatment'

 

To sum up, insomnia has multiple causes and effects. It is resulted by physical, emotional, mental and environmental factors. Also it effects in onset and maintenance insomnia. Onset insomnia is the common notion of insomnia that it is hard to fall asleep. Maintenance insomnia is explained earlier. To take care of insomnia is easy. Avoid the cause of insomnia. It is very simple but hard to realize it.

Gayoung Kim / Makeup For Children(final draft) / Thu 1-3 p.m.

Makeup For Children

 

Mothers freak out when their kids grab a lipstick and rub it all over the face. Most of the people also think there are only bad sides in children wearing makeup, such as noxious stimulus to children's skin or unhealthy obsession to their appearance. However, I believe this is one of the biggest misunderstandings. If we pay just a little attention to the effects of makeup, makeup can have beneficial impacts on children.

At first, makeup products have few problems unless kids wear makeup for a long time. Basically, most of the chemicals contained in cosmetics are harmless. Extreme opponents to cosmetics say some components may cause cancer but the actual probability is pretty slim to none. Also some ingredients that are spotted as toxic chemicals are not examined as harmful and the content of those is very low. Makeup products may cover up kids' face and keep it from breathing. However, if children wash off the makeup in a short time, it will have no problems at all.

Second, makeup does not encourage kids' obsession to their appearance. On the other hand, it would let them recognize their true characters. Since makeup needs lots of time to observe ourselves, children will see their real figure while practicing makeup. This is the moment that parents should take care of their children and educate them. If parents teach that looks are just different and there are no standards decide right or wrong appearance, kids will notice their unique and precious individuality. Makeup would play a significant role in building right self-perception and identity searching.

Last but not least, makeup can have a strong influence on children's brain development. Makeup is changing one's look with adding colors, creating shades, and drawing lines on the face. So, children will learn how colors work and the ways to use them doing their face on. Also, exploring contours and curves on the face will be helpful to improve their awareness of space. Furthermore, drawing on face needs fine and delicate craftsmanship, so that it will promote development of many different parts of their brain. Makeup will be able to foster these various abilities and work as a learning tool.

In conclusion, putting on makeup is not only innocuous to kids, but also effective to their sound self-understanding and brain development. I understand people concerning about artificial chemicals in cosmetic products, but sometimes we worry too much. As long as children can be taught and protected at the right time, we do not need to freak out that much. So now, let kids learn and enjoy.

Lee Seongho/(Final draft)Sleeping and good effects/ Thursday 56

Do you sometimes find yourself hurry to school after waking up in the morning ? or do you often feel it too tiring to keep up with your today's assignments? It's all about sleeping. 'People whose performance peaks in the morning are better positioned for career success, because they're more proactive than people who are at their best in the evening', Biologist Christoph Randler said. Yes, we all know sleeping early and enough is the key of life and in a workplace; but, aside from that, going to bed in time helps make your life better in other aspects: Heights, skins, and stresses.

 

This is not actually concerned with 20s but later on if we know this, it will benefit. Some adults may complain 'my height is too small. I am not charming, I am like a hobbit.' It is really regretful to hear such kinds of jeremiads. yes, it is sometimes too unfair because some people are so tall and handsome but some are not really so. But we must not be too much depressed by the fact. We will someday marry our own crushes and have some babies born. We have to prevent them from being short and charmless. The easiest and simplest thing to prevent our babies from complaint about their height is let them sleep early and enough from their youth. There are several factors in being tall. Of all things, sleeping early and enough take a large part. From 10 PM to 2AM is usually the time the growing hormone significantly increases and gets more efficient. So, If your babies just sleep well and enough in time in their 10s, they will be happy in that matter for more than 50 years afterwards.

 

Second is skin. Have you ever experienced when you go hang out with your friends, hit the booze, or get caught by computer games all the day and night and do not sleep, your face gets ghastly and more likely to get older fast? Absolutely, the skin of a man is deeply related to a good quality and enough time of sleeping. No matter what kinds of makeup you put on your face every day, it makes no difference if you are not devoted to caring about your bed time. I strongly recommend anyone, who wants to get his or her face and all other skins better and adorable, immediately, change your sleeping plan and go get asleep instead of squandering your money and brain cells with vain things like luxury makeup stuff. The reason is very simple. When a person sleeps, all the stress and damages he or she got in the face get lesson and the trouble like pimples get pacified soon. Just sleep and see your face get better. 

 

The last thing is about stresses. It is inevitable but possible to manage. Sleeping is most likely to be one very efficient. of course there are so many things to do for stress like going out and shopping, playing, dating, drinking, smoking etc….  But those things are more exhausting and stress triggering when something goes wrong; on the other hand, sleep is a necessary and fundamental in here sector as well. If you sleep early enough and well, it starts allowing your brains to recharge and your bodies take a rest. Of course it starts memory consolidation. So next, by enough and good sleeping, your brain just gets into recovery, and retrieves stresses. Some research has shown that most Americans would be happier, healthier and safer if they were to sleep an extra 60 to 90 minutes per night. So I also strongly recommend someone, who himself or herself thinks he or she gets a lot of stresses and gets more and more negative, go to bed and feel free to say ' I deserve sleeping more ! It's a reward to myself !'

 

Hitherto came out three beneficial effects, such as access to more growing hormone, chances to let our skin get recovered and the key as resolving our stresses, from early and enough sleeping over other things. What I want to elaborate is simply that, sleeping is everyday's activity and so slight that it and its positive things are sometimes forgotten by many people, so it is the very time that we turned to benefits of early and enough sleeping from other things and made our lives better !

 

201302308 Dooseok Lee / Cause and Effect Essay / Thur 1-3pm class

Effects of living with a good friend

Have you ever had to leave your family and live by yourself? Many college students in Seoul are from many other regions. Therefore they are put in a situation to leave their hometown and live by themselves. They have many choices such as living by themselves, living in a dorm, and so on. But, I strongly recommend living with a friend. It will help you to manage time effectively, handle loneliness, and build close relationships thorugh having fun.

Living with a friend helps you to manage time more effectively than to live by yourself. When college students live by themselves, some of them tend to sleep a lot, skip meals, and feel bored and go out drinking. This can lead to bad performance in academic performances, and also unsteady time managing. I think the reason behind this is because they have no one home when they get back after classes are over. On the other hand, when you are living with a good friend, this situation happens less. You and your friend can wake each other up in the morning, or go out to have dinner together. Also, you can check up on each other with academic schedule, through studying or going to the library with eachother.

Coping with loneliness is also a hard task for those who live by themselves. Since it's first time to live in outside world, many students face loneliness. Unlike life living with a friend, the situation when you have to do things all by yourself is a great task. However, this merely happens when you live with a mate. You do not have to feel alone when you are at home. Also, when you or your friend is concerned about something, you guys can help each other out, through sharing ideas, thoughts, and importantly by caring each other.

If you want a true friend that can last through lifetime, living with him/her is a great idea. It is a great chance to build strong relationship and have fun at the same time. Even though you and your friend were not the closest friends before, once you spend time with, you guys will feel a really close bond. This relationship will highly likely to turn into life-long friends. Needless to say, really close friends that you can count on is essential part of life. Of course, once you get close, living together, fun life will surely come along. You can enjoy college life through sharing ideas, playing sports, and doing many other things together.

In conclusion, living with a close friend had numerous positive effects compared to living alone. These effects will surely help you to turn your life better. Of course, for some people, living with someone else other than family can feel uncomfortable at first, but this uncomfortable feeling does not last long for many people. If you have to leave hometown and live by yourself, why don't you rather ask your friend to live together?

201101883 Hyojeong Shim /C&E Analysis Essay Final Draft/Thus1-3pm

Don't Follow Your Passion!

             Are you passionate about your job? Do you think finding and pursuing your passion is the best idea for your career? We've long heard the platitude of following one's passion, and while it comes from good intentions, this is a completely irresponsible advice. I am a very passionate person and behind a lot of what I have accomplished stands my deep-rooted passion, so it might sound disingenuous to say that "follow your passion" is a horrible advice. However, the problem is that a lot of people have misconception on what it truly means to have a passion. Passion is not just something that sparks in your mind temporarily, and there's more depth to it. So, for a successful career, it is safer and more effective to cultivate your passion rather than just following what you think you love. To do so, you need to know a valid concept of passion that leads to success, put in long hours of work and effort to find what your true passion is, and keep a balance between what you love to do and what you are good at.

             The idea of following your passion can mislead you to think that you have a one true calling and that you have to dedicate your whole life to discover and follow it, and your work life will become failure otherwise. The problem is that most people don't have passion that preexisted inside themselves. Passion is not something that exists naturally waiting to be discovered. It takes hard work and planning to develop. You need to be able to analyze and examine your passion rather than waiting for it to suddenly pop up one day. You should focus down on a small number of things to start the process of looking for what your passion is.

             People often times get excited about an idea of passion, but they quickly lose steam. An issue here is that we rarely talk about what true passion feels like. The sensation of excitement about a particular idea is a different sensation than the type of deep passion that drives people into a fulfilling career. Excitement comes and goes. True passion arises after you put in the long hours to really become an expert in your area and can then make an impact out of your career.

             There needs to be a balance between what you are passionate about and what you are good at. If you focus just on passion you might end up nowhere and if you focus only on what you are good at without being passionate about it might seriously bore you. Remember that even if we see a lot of people on media that gained success by following their passion, most of the time only the ones who succeeded get the attention. Hundreds of other people have failed. What is more important than following uncertain passion which is likely to go away in a short period of time is trying to get involved in as many and diverse areas as possible and gaining insight on how you integrate your passion to what you are good at.

             For a fulfilling career that involves passion, remember these three tips: know what it means to have a passion, put all your hard work and energy into figuring out what your true passion is, and learn what it is that you love to do and what you are good at and how you can balance them. If you ask me once again, "Should I follow my passion?" then I would absolutely say yes but to do so in realistic and practical terms. There is nothing wrong with experimenting but never let your pursuit of passion turn into nothing more than a fantasy or a never-ending chore. Ultimately, it is all about being passionate not about your work but about your journey toward being successful. 

 

 

201102805 Lee Hanwook / cause and effect essay(final) / Thur13-15

As spring has been coming with trees and flowers in blossom, many people try to find their own mate. Falling in love is one of the most valuable and fulfilling gifts we can enjoy through life. However, that is not applicable for everyone. Some people choose single life to enjoy their own life. And unfortunately, some people are single against their own will. In either case, people who stay single long period of time have some common characteristics.

 

First, they like independence. Independent people rarely reach out to others and ask for help and support. They tend to fear being dependent and think that "I can survive on my own and I can do it all by myself." Also help or favor from other people may feel like burden and responsibility. They are probably a bit protective of their space or things. Unfortunately for others, it can make partners feel unwanted or not needed.

 

Second, they love their own time without any interruption. There is nothing they love more than their time alone. The isolated time fills them up with an energy which has been exhausted by complex relationships from work, school, or diverse people around them. Just doing something they enjoy -like reading books or watching movies- keeps them refreshed. They cannot meet and spend time with someone when they use up most of their energy.

 

Last, They have already well-established relationships. They may have a network of friends that is so strong that other people cannot invade easily. Since they are surrounded by their own curtains, they usually miss out new people who want to get to know them. Because they stay only in their familiar boundary, being in a new relationship feels awkward. Maybe they forget to get accustomed with the new person because they are so comfortable with just hanging out with their friends.

 

Being single at any age can be challenging in a world that seems to place so much importance on finding the mate. However, some people choose to be single for many reasons. They tend to be independent, prefer their own time, and have well-established relationships. Being alone can be a positive opportunity that brings greater creativity and greater personal development. Whether you are single or not, you can enjoy your own life with many precious moments around you.

Bae Young Ha/Close your book!/Thursday 56

Close your book! Koreans study a lot. To get into a prestigious university or to get a decent job, we study and study. Even some people pay tribute to students who have a nosebleed due to overstudy. Of course studying is desirable. It helps you broaden your knowledge and improve problem solving skills. It also leads you to go to a good university and get a decent job. But most people who study a lot have a tendency to overlook the importance of working out. In addition they are exposed to much stress. In result, those who commit to studying are likely to hurt their back, get obese and have mental illnesses. First of all, studying for a long time sitting in front of a desk will hurt your back. You bend your back to read and write. When you keep stooping your spine gets put under pressure. If you just keep studying everyday and don't exercise, you will eventually get a lumbar disc disease. I have a friend who studied for three years to become a civil servant. He studied almost everyday and didn't exercise. Finally he passed the exam to be a civil servant. But he has got a lumbar disc disease and he goes to see a doctor these days regularly. In addition, if you sit all day reading and solving problems, you are likely to become obese. Specifically in Korea, most of the students who study for entering a college or getting a job are sitting in front of desks all day. You are more likely to gain weight if you keep sitting down and don't work out. That's why Korean students in the twelfth grade gain relatively more weight. They go to school around 7:30 in the morning and study until 11 at night almost without exercise. Sometimes you need to stop studying and go to work out in order not to get obese. Lastly, some students end up having mental disorders because they are in too much pressure of study. Pressure causes stress hormones to be released that are detrimental to mental health. So some students suffer from depression, anxiety disorder and bipolar. I attended a foreign language high school which is prestigious in my hometown. The competition was very fierce and its students studied really hard. I could see some of them suffering mental disorder and getting medical treatment from psychiatrists.   From the day of our birth, every minute is about learning. We learn from parents, teachers, friends and books. From books we can earn lots of knowledge. But if we lose our health, what good is the knowledge? We study to live a better life. Hurting the back, getting obese and having mental disorder do not mean you are enjoying quality of life. They are actually ruining it. So if you think you are studying too much, reduce the time to study. Set aside some time to exercise. In that way you'll enjoy much healthier life.

Jung Eun (201200741) / Indulge yourself when dieting (Cause&Effect essay) / Thurs 56

Indulge Yourself when Dieting

 

It is a conventional wisdom that one should refrain from eating fatty, high calories food when going on a diet. Yet, as majority of such meals like fast foods, fried chicken, processed foods, ice cream and snacks are hard to abstain from, we are prone to either end up going on a binge afterwards. If not, we become stressed-out having to suppress our ravenous appetite for them. Therefore, refraining from having such meals doesn't seem like an ideal solution. But, by indulging yourself in whatever dish you prefer, not only can you minimize the risk of going on a binge for consecutive days, but also can live a stress-free life with the enjoyment of delicious meals.

 

First, set a specific date, once a week, when you are going to indulge yourself in disregard of calories or type of food you intake. For instance, if you marked Friday to be the designated self-indulgence date, free to eat whatever meals you like on that day. But bear in mind to steer clear of fast food restaurants and food stands alike during the rest of the days. This way, not only can you immunize yourself against appetite control but also can genuinely enjoy your meals without suffering from guilty conscience for such intake. All through maintaining your self-established rules. Great weight gain come when you incessantly go on a binge for consecutive days with such meals. However, as long as you keep to your daily regimen routinely, you can both immunize your ravenous appetite and not put on weight easily.

 

Second, you can have stress-free life with indulgence of yourself. Among various kinds of pleasures, eating itself takes up great part of our lives. While going overboard in trying to avoid our favorite meals out of diet can enormously dampen our mood and spirit for our life. Not only is this harmful for our mental health but also can sap morale in our workplace or in school. Living a healthy life doesn't necessarily mean maintaining a physical fitness but also to live a life with vitality in a positive mental state. If eating such high calories, fatty meals provide us with indescribable euphoria, then it is advisable to indulge yourself in them. It is better to feel guilty of what you have eaten than to suffer from not being able to eat them. As former guilt of conscience helps us to curb our incapability in controlling our eating habits, we can live our life to the fullest with indulgence.

 

To sum up, contrary to old belief that force us to avoid fatty, high calories foods, we can go on a diet in a healthier, in a more effective manner by indulging ourselves in whatever food we like. By eating our favorite meals regularly within a self-established regimen, we can strengthen our resistance against our voracious appetite and live a happier, healthier life with much content. 

201200340 Do Young Kim/ Alcohol Domination (Final)

Social life in Korea is dominated by alcohol. This is not an understatement because alcohol consumption has become a vital and an integral part of the social culture in Korea and we all wonder why such painful and miserable tradition has taken root within our society. The answer is very simple. Alcohol is a painful yet necessary medication to remedy the side effects of Confucianism, stress, and boredom.

Koreans have long lived under the influence of Confucianism and this has made them one of the most polite and self-conscious group of people in the entire world. This has made them introverted in a way that it makes it nearly impossible for them to be friendly to a stranger and build a relationship with an unfamiliar person with ease. But someone has to start somewhere to build this relationship in the awkward atmosphere and this is where the alcohol comes in. Alcohol has the general effect of making people feel lightheaded and loosen up. And when your mind is carefree and relaxed, you tend to forget about the Confucianism that has been suppressing you for so long and start to act more friendly to strangers and unfamiliar people with ease. Alcohol is essentially the magic elixir that cures the introversion caused by Confucianism.

Another reason that the alcohol has become an integral part of Korean social culture is that there is a need for people to relax with all the constant competition and stress. Korea is one of the countries that emphasize the need to work together as a group yet it also makes the environment nearly impossible to not compete with one another at all times. From school to work, life in Korea is all about competition. Who gets a better grade, who gets a better job, and who makes more money. Yet Koreans foster this idea of working together as a group to achieve a common goal and to sacrifice for the greater good. Such environment in work and school are very frustrating and people need to just blow some steam off after work or school and this is where alcohol works its magic. People are no longer competing or stressing each other out when they are drinking alcohol. They are just relaxing and drifting their worries and stress away as they drink at the end of a hard day at work or school. In other words, alcohol serves as a magic spell that makes people forget their worries and stress for the night.

This reason may be the biggest reason of them all as to why alcohol has become such a huge part of the Korean social culture: the need for fun. People want to have fun. But the options in Korea are so limited for so many people. Korea is not the country where a group of people go to play sports together or enjoy hanging out at each other's houses. Korea is a country where people tend to hang outside of homes and being invited to a person's home is something that is so intimate that only close friends would dare to attempt. Alcohol is cheap and it is everywhere. It is pretty much the only solution to a group of friends, colleagues, and co-workers after they are done with their school or work because there is not much they can do and there is nowhere they can go. So they sit down and start drinking and as they get drunk, the night becomes that much more fun. Korea is a stressful environment especially for the younger generation and their need to have fun is always on the rise as the competition and stress levels rise higher. Alcohol serves as their source of entertainment and escape from harsh reality.

Alcohol may be scorned upon as a toxic substance that makes people do unreasonable and dangerous things. But in such a stressful and competition heavy environment of Korea that is under the heavy influence of Confucianism which makes all the people introverts to a certain degree, alcohol is the temporary magic that these people need in order to bond, to nurse their tired minds, and to have fun. Alcohol is a necessary evil in Korean social culture and it will continue to be so as long as such highly competitive and stressful environment continues to dominate Korean society. 

201002623 Lee Jaehwan / Cause and effect essay final draft / Thur. 1300-1500

Games in a Good Light

 

In 2011, the Korean government enforced a game shutdown law, which forbids teenagers under the age of 16 from playing computer games from midnight to 6 A.M. for fear of game addiction and related problems. To the Korean students who usually stay up until 10-11 P.M. studying, the restriction equals banishment to a world without games. While the enactment of the law is based on the consensus among anxious school parents, playing computer games might not necessarily have negative influences on students. Thus, I would like to discuss several notable benefits that students can gain by playing computer games.

The drive to play computer games cannot be described without consideration of stress. Most people would agree that especially among the young generation, computer games are rapidly substituting for existing activities for stress relief. The substitution is attributed to the effectiveness of games in relieving stress as they can easily isolate a player from his or her tiring routine. While literature and comic books performed such a function in the past, games are a successor of that role but in far more graphical and engaging forms. Even though some may argue that a series of problems derive from the sense of escapism in computer games, students are most desperate for escape from stress from studying more than 12 hours a day.

As to another noteworthy function, computer games provide indirect experience. Education in Korea puts little emphasis on extracurricular activities, often limiting students` experience and comprehension of the world outside the school. For the same reason, parents and teachers encourage students to read more books. However, computer games can promote vicarious experience more effectively because they are not only less boring but also more interactive than literature. Whereas literature induces the reader to empathize with characters, a player can become identical with a character in the game world. Furthermore, games can inspire students to search for their futures. For instance, my brother decided to major in urban engineering, having been eager to play the Sim City series in his middle and high school. Computer games could mean more than entertainment, for they are a tool for indirect learning.

Last, computer games can serve as a valid tool for socialization and communication when face-to-face engagements have little chance to occur. As the Oxford English Dictionary defines, a game is notionally a competitive activity. Winning a round or accomplishing a mission demands a player to cooperate, negotiate, and/or argue with teammates. For example, in a world-famous online game the League of Legends, players have to team up by three or five for each round. Korea`s education forces each student to fight for grades all alone, aggravating the lack of opportunities for social activities and cooperation. In contrast, computer games provide rather a valuable playground on which students can learn how to interact with people to achieve the goal.

Contrary to what most legislators and voters believe, computer games have a high possibility to be beneficial in relieving stress, providing indirect experience, and facilitating socialization. As some scholars and politicians insist, games unavoidably are becoming a new paradigm of art and leisure, but debates over game addiction and its alleged maleficence have yet to be settled. One may still ask if we can just dispose of computer games from our exhausted students, but we cannot only focus on the demerits of playing computer games; its merits also deserve consideration.

Ahn Chihwan / Stay Idle (Cause and Effect Essay) / Thursday 1-3 p.m.

Stay Idle

 Do you really want to hear and obey those saying stuff like 'Always do your best' or 'No pain no gain'? I believe for all your life you've heard words giving you burden to do something all the time. People think they should listen to those words to succeed. However, I'm willing to introduce several importances of being idle, which can help you succeed too. Being idle gives you time to think what you really want, enables you to spot the beauty of everyday life, and improves your efficiency and interpersonal relationships.

 First of all, being idle allows you to have time to think what you really want. Most people, including me, don't know what they really want but are doing something all the time. It's because they are obsessed with the idea that they should not take some time to relax, and even while they relax, they do not feel comfortable and somehow guilty. If you have enough time to think about yourself and what you really want, it will improve your life or work in general.

 Secondly, being idle enables you to spot the beauty of everyday life such as trees, people, or wandering cats. I'm not repeating what boring and wise essays like to say. Too busy and in hustle, people just see straight like a horse with blinkers and don't care about their surroundings, not just the buildings but other people and lives. Being able to catch beauties of your everyday life energizes you and gives you fresh impressions of the world. 

 Lastly, being idle can improve the efficiency of your work and your interpersonal relationships. Enough rest allows you to focus better on your existing tasks. If something new comes up, you could relatively easily deal with it because you have more time to allocate. Plus, the feeling you are controlling your life, not overly exploited makes you feel better so that you can interact better with other people. 

 To sum up, being idle has more noticeable importances than you might think. It allows you time to think deeply, to discover everyday life's beauty, and to improve your relationships and work efficiency. It doesn't stop you from succeeding. Rather, it helps you to succeed with more self-control. So don't be afraid, just try being idle. You'll find yourself enjoying your life better. 

Oh Ga-yeong/ My final draft of cause*effect essay/ Thursday 1-3 p.m.

<Three good effects of living a lazy life>      Late birds catch their lifespan. What does this mean? Most people so naturally agree that early birds catch the worms. However, will the habitude of getting up early really bring good results? If you are the person who requires a lot of sleep and manages your affairs better at night, it isn't reasonable to sleep early and get up early because it makes your biorhythms unstable. A certain amount of laziness can bring good results to some people. If you are lazy, your health gets better, you can secure your own time much easier, and you can have better interpersonal relationships.           Firstly, if you live a lazy life, your health gets better. Usually, lazy people are always relaxed like a sloth. To them, there are no reasons to get stressed because they never rush whatever may happen. The more people rush, the more they get stressed because they can't be relaxed. In contrast, lazy people never hurry themselves even though it's urgent because they just consider it tiresome. Like this, lazy people think so simply that they never get stressed. Also, lazy people don't take a shower often and according to a research, it was found that it is much better to take a shower occasionally than often. So if a person is lazy, he or she is surely healthy.        Secondly, lazy people can secure their own time more easily. Only experienced people know the feeling of doing computer alone at night silently. It feels like that I am all alone in the whole world and that the entire night-time belongs to me. Other people have just started to sleep but my day has just begun. In contrast, if you get up early, you will feel like sharing the morning hours with other people than enjoying the time all alone. It's because the time that other people will get up is coming. You will feel like your own time is getting fewer.      Lastly, lazy people have relatively good interpersonal relationships. People usually love the person who has a lazy mind than who gets stressed each time. People who have a relaxed mind can share their peaceful mind with other people and can make other people get calmed. However, overly diligent people can give a stress or pressure to the people around themselves. You want to be relaxed and do nothing but if somebody next to you is doing something with excessive passion, you get a pressure against your will. So most people prefer being with easygoing people. Do you want to make many friends? Then, you have to become lazy.      Like this, if you live a lazy life, you can get a lot of good results. If you are lazy, your body and mind get healthy, you can feel the entire night-time as your own time, and you become popular because lazy person has a power to lessen the stress of other people. Therefore, there are no needs to sleep early and get up early compulsorily. Nobody can be convinced that being diligent is better. A certain amount of laziness can bring great amount of good results sometimes. But pay attention! It is a certain amount of laziness, not a great amount of laziness.

201200440 Kim Minji/Why SNS is the enemy(2nd draft)/Tuesday1-3pm

 Why SNS is the enemy

 

 

      Nowadays, a lot of people use the Social network service (SNS). The SNS is a website or service where people connect and talk with each other. Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr are the famous SNS sites. As the number of the people who use smartphone increases, the frequency of using SNS has also increased. The survey found that 47% of American adults use the SNS. However, the side effects of SNS are serious matters. Alexander Chapman Ferguson, who managed Manchester United said, "I don't have the time to do it. There are a million things you can do with your life other than that. Go to a library and read a book. I'm serious. What a waste of time." Many people agree with him and said using SNS has too many negative effects. It causes waste of time, making the relative deprivation sense, and easy to instigate the people.

 

      How much time do you spend checking the SNS? People click the SNS whenever they feel boring and have nothing to do. Actually, they are on Facebook without specific purpose. Some says it's easy to get the information on Facebook. Nonetheless, if you compared the time spend to get information with the time you spend just overlooking the useless posts, you will find searching the Google is the faster way than SNS.

Korean Education & Employment Panel (KEEP) found that 59% of the people in 20s use SNS and the time they spend on it everyday is almost an hour. The number of books people in 20s read a month is only 2. Therefore, using the SNS an hour everyday without gaining valuable things is definitely wasting of time.

    

      SNS gives you the relative deprivation sense. People write the post about their trumpet. They seem perfect on Facebook. They travel overseas, eat in the nice restaurant, and receive a gift from the boyfriend or girlfriend. The person who feels deprivation from them becomes ashamed of oneself. Do you know that there is a website which makes a fake girlfriend on Facebook? You could buy a Facebook girlfriend for $5. The online girlfriend writes a comment on your post like real girlfriend so nobody will know. This is truly gloomy side of the SNS. People also think the number of 'like' on Facebook is their popularity. However, without the celebrities, the common people who spend more time to make their online profile boastful feel emptier in reality.

    

      Instigating the people by SNS is so easy. Many celebrities who have a lot of followers in SNS use this kind of strategy. If they upload message, it spread through the crowd within a minutes. People easily think that the celebrities' word is reliable. So it's too late when celebrities' lie is detected because people already believe it as true. The rumor and gossip of the actors or singers seriously affect their images. People share the rumors and it seems true because we often can see the shared information on SNS. However, the rumors have been pointed as the key cause of celebrity suicides. It's also same on politics. Twitter demonstrated it's power on election. The message by Twitter could easily attack the other side without clear evidence.

     

      People easily think that it's hard to live without SNS. What's your purpose for using Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc.? Do you upload really important information on Facebook or just kill time looking what other people like? There are much more to lose than gain with SNS. Waste of time, making your feel bad, instigating the people are the bad effects of SNS. It doesn't matter to your life when you log out Facebook for weeks. As Ferguson said, you have many things to do in your life other than SNS. Therefore, if you want to live your life well, please consider these side effects and use SNS wisely.

 

 

 

 

 

201581012 Ji Hyun Lee / Cause Essay/Thur 56

Noise Pollution: Big Problem in Cities

           We, especially people who live in cities, are surrounded by sounds we hear in everywhere even in library. Some sounds are harsh to the ear which is called noise. Noise can be defined as an unwanted or undesired sound. Nowadays it becomes big problem in cities. There are several causes of noise pollution.

           First, traffic noise is the main source. These days, with increasing number of vehicles, the sound caused by engines and exhaust systems of autos, buses and motorcycles create a steady drone of traffic din. These transportations produce heavy noise because of the number of road vehicles and their high traffic speed. Faster moving vehicles generate high disturbing sound from their gear box, exhaust system, vibrations from their body, etc.

           In addition, the construction of buildings, highways and city streets cause a lot of noise. The machines used in construction like concrete mixes, vibrators, bulldozers, building demolition activities add to sound pollution. They are often in areas which were quiet before and therefore the noise generated from their activities is very noticeable. A tumult of noise usually disturbs people to work or study.

           Finally, neighborhood noise becomes a big issue over time. This type of noise includes antisocial activities of neighbors such as using of loud TV, radio sets, playing of children, barking of dogs etc. Excessive noise from neighbors can be frustrating and can cause a lot of unnecessary stress. In many cases, people who make the noise are unaware they are causing a problem. 

           In conclusion, though they do not cause as much city noise, their effect cannot be neglected. On a personal level, everybody can help reducing the noise in their homes for example, by lowering the volume of the TV, radio and music system. Thus, people should seek ways to minimize the aforementioned impact and reduce their exposure of unexpected hubbub

201302308 Dooseok Lee / Cause and Effect Essay / Thur 1-3pm class

Effects of living with a good friend

 

Many college students in Seoul are from many other regions. Therefore they are put in a situation to leave their hometown and live by themselves. They have many choices such as living by themselves, living in a dorm, and so on. But, I strongly recommend living with a friend at a private housing. It will help you to manage time effectively, handle loneliness, build close relationships with the friend and have fun.

 

Living with a friend helps you to manage time more effectively than to live by yourself. When college students live by themselves, some of them tend to sleep a lot, skip meals, feel bored or go out drinking. This can lead them to bad performance in academic performances, and also unsteady time managing. I think the reason behind this is because they have no one home when they get back after classes are finished. On the other hand, when you are living with a good friend, this situation happens less. You and your friend can wake each other up in the morning, or go to have dinner together. Also, you can check up on each other with academic schedule, through studying or going to the library together.

 

Coping with loneliness is also a hard task for those who live by themselves. Since living alone is the first situation they experience, many students face loneliness. Unlike life living with a friend, the situation when you have to do things all by yourself is a great task. However, this merely happens when you live with a good friend. You do not have to feel alone when you are at home. Also, when you or your friend is concerned about something, you guys can help each other out, through sharing ideas, thoughts, and importantly by caring each other.  

 

Living with a friend is a great chance to build a strong relationship with the friend and have fun at the same time. Even though you and your friend was not the closest friends before living together, once you spend time with the friend, you guys will feel some kind of bond. This relationship will highly likely to turn into life-long friends. Needless to say, really close friends that you can count on is essential part of life. Of course, once you get close, living together, fun life will surely come along. You can have fun life with the friend through sharing ideas, playing sports, and doing many other things together.

 

In conclusion, living with a close friend had numerous positive effects compared to living alone. These effects will surely help you to turn your life better. Of course, for some people living with someone other than family can feel uncomfortable at first, but this uncomfortable feeling does not last long for many people. If you are planning to live alone, why don't you rather ask your friend to live together?