Nominative Determinism Essay

     I was 18 going on 19 in the year 2012. In Korea, they call the year you turn 19 your "Seongnyun year," in other words, the year you become an adult. In this new year, 2023, eleven years since my "Seongnyun year," I am 29 going on 30. Eleven years have gone by in a flash- it seems like I'll never know where they went. At KMLA, I was a member of the 15th wave- class of 2013. This year, my 26th wave hoobaes will be graduating as the class of 2024. I hope life brings for them many positive changes, as it has done for me.

     One of the positive changes I went through was my attitude towards life. Until my senior year in high school, I was pretty much a fatalist. I though my successes were due to sheer good luck, and my failures were the results of bad karma. Such a mindset prevented me from really trying for the things I wanted, and it made me very afraid of failure. The scariest things in life are the things you cannot control, and I felt like I had no control, even over my own life. I started with the small things- I complimented myself for the little triumphs in my life, and I objectively analyzed the causes of my successes and failures. I started to regain control over my life, actively pursuing the things I wanted for myself.

     This renewed life philosophy was what helped me most in becoming a successful graphic designer. This is a field that required me to put a lot of faith in myself, because the best designs come from trusting your instincts. I learned how to stop overthinking things and go with my gut feelings. Consequently, my designs became more direct, forceful, and effective. People praise the flash of creativity that unfurls itself in my designs, and they often say that looking at my work is like looking at lightening striking across the sky. I am more than grateful for such positive feedback, and I am excited for what's to come in the future.

     Thinking back, the catalyst for all of these positive changes seems to be my 'Seongnyun name.' The name I gave to myself upon turning of age was Levyn. In Chinese characters it meant 'lighting up the world through hard work,' and in Old English it simply meant 'lightening.' I don't subscribe to the whole notion of nominative determinism, but I think giving myself a new name that encompassed all the values I wished to have definitely helped me find my way in life. All of my names- Sunho (big person in the world), Yerin (Pretty child), and Levyn (Lightening)- have shaped my world in some capacity. I sincerely hope that the 26th wavers - who are going through their Seongnyun year - choose the right Seongnyun name for themselves as well.

Gyutae and the 4/7 Debate

http://gyutaep.blogspot.com/2012/04/response-to-misos-writing-about-47.html#comment-form

"Does true altruism exist?" seems to be the question that you are focusing on. You argue that true altruism cannot exist, that it is only a concept. I think in similar lines, but I don't think it's predetermined either way. You can argue with your examples for intrinsic goodness as well- for example, the drowning man example can be used to argue that intrinsic goodness exists because you still see people who reach out their hands even when they are aware of the dangers. That said, I do not believe that humans are inherently good- the only way we can determine whether we are 'inherently' good or bad is to analyze our actions, and the results of the actions. However, I believe that our actions are more influenced by nurture rather than nature- nature provides the ingredients, but it's nurture that does the cooking.

journal sketch 3/30

vivre le colour, journal sketch 3/30/2012

Writing projects, art projects, photography projects are all good, but sometimes I just need some time to spend with myself and to just let my ideas flow without worrying where I'm going with them. The things I draw, paint, or write during these periods are often the ones that I'm most comfortable with. They're very personal, and they help me communicate with myself :) 

Yesterday I spent about 4 hours, listening to music and watching The Voice while I was working on this. I don't think the music playing in the background really influenced what came out--I think the things that I expressed on the paper yesterday were just the things that I'd been keeping bottled inside for quite some time now. Though I was really tired after I finished, it felt good, like I'd been talking to a trustworthy friend. 

Letter to myself [rough draft]

Writing project- re-writing lyrics to a song :)

6 AM, a world without meaning

I open my eyes but it's always the same old walls again,

Walls that set me in my reality

I don't know how,

I don't even know why

I just know I want to be a part of somewhere else,

Escaping into my own world

Where dreamers still exist,

not scared to be daring

Where I can fly

liberty from my own walls

A place I'll never reach but a place I keep running t…o

But someday

You'll wake up and you will come to realize

You've been dreaming, in your world, all along

You just have to embrace yourself for who you are

It's not the walls, it's you that limits you now.

Cathedrals

"We are the artists of the time,
We dream in sculpture, dream in rhyme
For you we bring our world alive
So something will survive.

From nowhere came the age of the cathedrals,

the old world began-

a new unknown thousand years.

For man just has to climb up where the stars are,

and live beyond life-

live in glass and live in stone"

-Musical Notre Dame de Paris

"Les Temps des Cathedrales" (Age of the Cathedrals)

Nave of St. Sernin's Cathedral
Toulouse, France

      My neck stars to ache, but I cannot stop. I am looking up, falling up into the rib vaults of the ambulatory here at St. Sernin's Cathedral. Just six months earlier, I had seen this image in my art history books, but the Art Through the Ages had not prepared me for this. The precision of each stone, the magnitude of each vault is overwhelming. Looking up at the tip of the dome, I literally fell upwards; I felt as if I was being sucked into the dome.

     Cathedrals inspire me not only with their sheer magnitudes, but also with the philosophy embedded in them. Romanesque and Gothic cathedrals with their astounding naves, a long hollow hallway with a ceiling so high, encasing a space so large, allow me to feel both solitude and togetherness at the same time. Cathedrals are about craftsmanship, but they're ultimately about "living beyond life" as Gringoire in the musical Notre Dame de Paris puts it. No cathedral was built in just one generation- the people who worked on the cathedral knew they would not live to see it finished. Yet so many people within one community, all members in the community, worked tirelessly on them. All these people while building the cathedral transcended their daily lives, forgetting individualism and tying themselves as a part of a larger society. Cathedrals were not one person's art, they were owned by the community at large. This meme regarding individualism and at the same time, community, is the key idea represented by cathedrals.

Death of an Orange

Experiment with stop-motion video making :)
This is my first time trying to use the stop-motion technique, and this was literally a trial run- the clip was made in just an hour. I just wanted to get the feel of making a stop-motion film and explore its possibilities. The result (and the process) was satisfactory-more projects to come!

There is another sky- Emily Dickinson

Sky @ KMLA- March 9th 2012

There is Another Sky- Emily Dickinson

There is another sky,

Ever serene and fair,

And there is another sunshine,

Though it be darkness there;

Never mind faded forests, Austin,

Never mind silent fields -

Here is a little forest,

Whose leaf is ever green;

Here is a brighter garden,

Where not a frost has been;

In its unfading flowers

I hear the bright bee hum:

Prithee, my brother,

Into my garden come!

Sky @ KMLA 2, March 9th 2012