[BWC]: UC Essay Prompt #2

When I was ten years old, I visited my grandfather for the very first time in southeast China. Due to the others passing away before my birth, he was the only grandparent I had left. I remember entering the rural village where he resided and being shocked at how differently the environment was compared to what I was used to. The lack of technology and his simplistic style of living was new to me, but what shocked me the most was that he was happy in this condition. During my visit, much of what I learned about his life was through my parents. It was difficult for me to communicate with him directly since he spoke a Chinese dialect that was only native to the surrounding village area. My interactions with my grandfather consisted mostly of smiles, hand gestures and using my parents as translators. As a family, we spent three days in the village and left aboard a train to catch our flight back to the States.

A week after the vacation, I remember my mother receiving a phone call during dinner. Suddenly, she started bursting into tears midway through the conversation, but I was ignorant to what was going on. Later on, I found out that my grandfather had passed away a few days ago in his home at the age of 89. Upon hearing the news of his death, I was not emotionally shocked nor devastated because I could not yet comprehend the significant role that he would play in my life in the future.

In the following years, I have realized the need to treasure the people and things around me because they could be gone at any moment. I came to regret the fact that I never got to know him better as a person. Through my maturation, the love for my grandfather grew and although we were separated by a language barrier, I recognized the love he had for me as a grandson. His death has taught me to become a less passive person, that I could not afford to take opportunities for granted, and to fight harder to achieve my goals.

Honestly, this experience is not one of my proudest moments. However, the tragedy of my grandfather's passing has proved to be one of the most enlightening and significant experiences in my life.

In the past, my academic performance was just an arbitrary way to compare myself to my peers. Fortunately, my grandfather's passing changed that by bringing meaning and depth into my life. Academic excellence is no longer a meaningless undertaking, but rather each experience is another opportunity to grow, each class is another opportunity to learn, and achieve something more substantial than a letter grade.

Essentially, one of the most tragic events in my lifetime taught me that I must take a more active role in achieving my dreams and aspirations. Not only did I take my family and education for granted, but my own potential as well. I feel internally indebted to my grandfather because he has enlightened me to never stick to the norm of being an average student. Instead, I must venture out into the world and discover the many possibilities that are available to me. I will forever carry the memory of my grandfather with me, along with the lessons of his passing to guide me to reach my potentials and goals.

Honestly, I love things like this. Last week I saw a video of people using liter bottles to light up their homes. I do not know if this is becoming a trend in the Philippines, but it certainly is innovative and effective as well. Not only does it show that people can make use of what they have and find ways to live off it, but it shows the kind of creativity and love for the community that thrives from these towns. Instead of focusing on corporate industries, or making money for the individual, people are getting together to help build better schools, or rebuild roofs. This goes back and relates to my poverty post, although America as a country is more financially secure than these other countries, they are still finding ways to help others, while we are having rising unemployment and a failing housing market. It really just goes to show that people certainly do appreciate things more when they only have the bare essentials. I think that if we got rid of a lot of the unnecessary distractions in our society, we would function better as a whole and produce innovative ideas such as these to help our community, and country. I really wish people were more willing to compromise and focus on the essential issues instead of everyone just worrying about the individual. It sort of makes me want to live in other place just to see how their society differs. We need to change our mindset of things before we try and change our structure.

[Re]: Poverty

But life in Biko seemed to me, in some non-material ways, to be much "wealthier" than the life I experience in Oakland for example. The village had a much stronger sense of shared community and connection to the natural world, as far as I could tell, than our big urban jungles do. It may sound corny, but I think there are forms of wealth which we in the "civilized" world tend to ignore or devalue, much to our own detriment. -Mr. Sutherland

I believe that since we are considered a first world country, our idea of poverty itself is much different than that of second and third-world countries. I mean, we have so many liberties and rights that we take for granted all too often, whereas people in other parts of the world are risking their lives for, hoping that future generations would have these "privileges" that we already posses. Just from the fact that we have everything so readily available to us, it has made our generation a very lazy one as a result. The term "first world problems" is often used to describe this phenomenon, frustrations and complaints are only experienced by privileged individuals in wealthy countries. It is typically used as a tongue-in-cheek comedic device to make light of trivial inconveniences. Things like "My phone charger is downstairs and I'm too lazy to get it." and "I click on my Facebook notifications, but they aren't going away." are common complaints. 


I believe that the reason that communities such as those in Biko are so banded together is due to the fact that they don't have much materialistically. They have a stronger sense of community because they are actually forced to interact with one other, instead we live through a wall of social networking and texting, creating a totaly different persona for ourselves and losing touch with our community and surroundings. In some ways, people like those in Biko are richer than us in my opinion. Such as their culture, and the way they treat each other are probably held in higher regards compared to what we experience in present day America. So really, get to know your neighbors, be involved with your community, pick up a physical book, and go play outside and exercise. 

[FP]: Calvin & Hobbes

Calvin and Hobbes was probably the first and only comic book that I really got into. Not only did each panel bring me constant amusement and wonder, but it also stimulated my imagination and changed my perspectives of how I viewed the world. I think it really did play a large role in my childhood as I was growing up. It all started when I discovered my sister's minor collection of the books. I started reading them for fun because they were like cartoons, and I really enjoyed reading at the time. Over time I become more enveloped in the series and it became a sort of addiction. Pretty soon I would ask my sister to order the other books online, and over a period of time I collected all of them, but one. I think I still have them somewhere, lodged away somewhere in a box in my house. Now that I reflect back on the times that I've read the comics, I think what really caught my attention was how they actually made you think. I mean, sure some panels were filled with the intent of amusement, but for the most part, a lot of them had a hidden message behind the humor. It takes a special kind of sophistication and humor to be able to create such a masterpiece like that. I really hope that I will dig up my collection soon because I feel like I would understand more of the "real" message at this age, compared to when I read it as a child. Thank you Bill Watterson, for providing me with countless hours of enlightening entertainment and shaping part of my childhood.

[Re]: Insane Bike Trip

I've been to so many places on my bike I could practically say that I've been just about everywhere. I'm always looking for new places to go, craving that adventure and trying to immerse myself in a new environment just so I could slowly figure out my surroundings. Sometimes, I don't know where I'll end up and I'll get scared, but part of that experience is conquering the fear of the unknown. I journey to become lost and make it my quest to find my way back. I found that experience during the summer--a trip I'll never forget. Enter Joaquin Miller Park. -France

 I seriously consider this to be one of the greatest physical feats that I've accomplished so far. What made it insane was that it was supposed to just be a simple bike trip that could give us something to do on a weekend, yet get in our exercise as well. I personally consider myself to be a pretty active and physically fit person, but I don't think I could have ever prepared myself for a trip quite like this. The trip was supposed to be around the 25 mile range with only one very steep hill and a couple of small ones. Little did I know that before we even entered Joaquin Miller Park, the hills would be so steep that we were forced to walk our bikes up. I seriously believe that we spent walked up hills for a good 2-3 miles that day. The only thought that kept motivation in my mind was the thought that 'If we take so much effort to walk UP these steep hills, there has to come a point in time where we could ride DOWN them as well." Basically I just kept going due to the fact that I was hoping to go down hills at a very fast velocity. All, in all I would say that the bike trip and hiking was worth it, and as an experience it was definitely something to learn from. I don't really want to go into details about that day since France hasn't finished telling the story, but it was definitely one to remember. I hope to go on that same route again sometime in the future, just because we've been through it before now and we know what to expect. I really look forward to our next bike trip, and this time hopefully more people would be willing to accompany us.

[CE]: Brazilians leading social media boom

It's interesting to see that another country is taking the social medias by storm, especially coming from Brazil, which is quite unexpected. The news of this surprises me because Brazil isn't normally a competitor in the online market, as compared to countries in Asia and Europe.However, the news that they are gaining grounds on these countries is good news. I believe that in this day and age, social medians such as Facebook and Twitter have become basically a standard in terms of forms of communication. Twitter is a very interesting site that can be used for much more than knowing what your favorite celebrity is up to this weekend. It is actually a great way to spread news internationally in a matter of seconds. During the earthquake in Japan, people living in the United States knew about the disaster before the news of it was even broadcasted on television.
I believe that the rise in users coming from Brazil for the use of social media is a good sign because the public is becoming more aware of using the tools readily available around them. Imagining one fourth of the population using Twitter is a crazy thought. Hopefully, some tech start-ups can spring from the country of Brazil and they could have a Silicon Valley effect in their country. The use of the internet and web just encourages the spreading of ideas, and creativity. It is very exciting news to hear that Brazil is starting to take serious advantage to this technology that so many of us take for granted.

[FP]: Photography.

Taking pictures has progressively grown to become one of my favorite hobbies to do. The idea that I can capture a moment, an expression, a feeling in a single moment in time and keep that moment in time in a picture has always caught my interest. At first it began as a casual thing. I received a Samsung SL202 point and shoot as my first camera. I would basically take pictures of each and everything I saw, even if they weren't interesting, I wanted to just start capturing everything and getting a feeling for using it. I even started carrying it around with me everyday because I started to do a self-photography project called Project 365, where you basically take a picture of something every single day for a full year. I ended up stopping around day 200 because the my days kept getting busier and I never had time to think of interesting concepts or compositions to take photos with. I would say that my knowledge and skills with a camera have increased dramatically over the period of a year. Over that time I've acquired a consumer level DSLR camera, which is what I currently shoot with. Through taking multimedia art in my junior year, and just experience on my own, my skills for post-processing pictures in Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Lightroom have also become a useful skill. I hope to take my hobby further with the purchase of a couple lenses in the nearby future so I can take pictures of a better caliber.

A rather progressive sample of some pictures over time:

[BC]: UC Prompt Rough Draft

I come from a world bounded by traditional Asian expectations, constantly surrounded by the pressure to become successful. Growing up, I was taught that success meant focusing on school to get good grades, going to a good university to get a degree, and finally ending up with a high paying job to support your loved ones. While this became my definition of success as an adolescent, my perspectives would gradually shift as I became older.
Although my parents had high expectations of me academically, my grades were never satisfactory to them. I was never the straight A student, but I would never be below average either. As a high school student, finding the balance between academics, having a social life, and sports is the biggest challenge. While going through school, I became more self evident and formed my own opinions. I started to realize that success can come in many forms other than through rigorous schooling. However, my parents would constantly compare me to their friends' children, saying how successful they were as doctors, or lawyers. I do not know if this tactic was used to serve as motivation for me, but I never felt motivated because I had no interest in becoming a doctor, or anything of the sort.
I believe that a person becomes successful when they are doing what have a passion for. It does not have to be a high paying job, or one that changes people's lives, just as long as they are doing what they love.  Even though my views of success have differed from my parents, I still want to be able to support them when they are no longer working. My parents do not believe that success and passion can coincide. I want to prove to them that as long as there is passion and motivation behind my actions, success will follow.

[CE]: China's empty city of Ordos

This video caught my eye and really surprised me that something like this would actually exist. It's really hard to imagine, a rapidly growing town with just a few residents physically living there. I would imagine that it would be a pretty boring place to live since there really wouldn't be anything to do. Also, having the homes being invested into is quite a risk in my opinion. The increase in building infrastructure in the city, and the anonymous investors in the housing market there are all basing their actions on the fact that sooner or later, the town will be filled with people. It's a really weird concept to think about. Starting a town and trying to get a population instead of the standard opposite way. What would attract people to such a place? As the reporter mentioned in the video, it is a town in the dessert so the weather isn't exactly ideal. If the increase in the country's economy keeps rising, it will soon be the dominant worldwide powerhouse, so I suppose the investors do have a safe bet. However, the question still remain: when will people start living in the city? Without people, how can there be jobs other than construction work? If there are no attractions there, then the demand for jobs will quickly vanish, along with an insensitive to live there. I think that this thing could really go either way, but I suppose only time can it's fate.

[Re]: Changes

"It's amazing how people change over 4 quick years. I'm sure I've changed in almost every aspect, no matter how much I want to tell myself that I am the same.." -Adam

I believe that for the most part, the change that people undergo during their four years of high school is for the better. Reflecting and looking back now, I think that I was quite a naive freshman. High school is really a place for inner development. Change is inevitable, bound to happen sooner or later, and whether you like it or not, it happens to everybody. In one way or another, you do change.

As seniors, our class has had the most allotted time for development. Basically, our class should theoretically be the most mature, although there are of course a few exceptions to this. Aside from that, I believe this rule holds true throughout the entire populous at our school. Even though I believe that most of the learning you do occurs outside of the classroom, our school as a setting is a center for development. It's simply because you take all these different types of people, coming from different backgrounds, cultures, etc. and putting them all together for half a year, for 7 hours a day. Through this you learn about the type of people you dislike, the people you are attracted to, those who influence you and much more. I really think that's why a lot of people actually enjoy going to school, so you can see people.

I personally believe that I have changed a lot since first stepping into these hallways. The inner workings of my mind are far different than that of four years ago. I feel like I've become more open-minded and aware of my environment. From the way I talk to people to the way I behave in class has even differed from my days as a freshman. I view this personal growth as an achievement because as long as you're happy with who you are and what you're doing, then something is going right in your life.

[FP]: Senior Life.

The top of the food chain, the upperclassmen, senior year has finally dawned itself upon us and it feels odd to be placed in this niche of highschool society. It's hard to believe that we've walked through the orange lined hallways for the past four years. Everything feels routine at this point, from knowing the best routes to get to classes, to knowing where to meet-up with friends during breaks. In addition to all the social perks of being a senior, there comes the ever-so daunting pressure from colleges looming over most of us.

This is where things start to feel a bit surreal for me. Knowing that by the end of this year, we'll have sent off our applications to admission officers to decide on our future based off 1000 words. It's a bit frightening to think about actually. The whole college admissions, SAT, etc. process has had a weird effect on me. I've found nostalgia creeping into my mood more frequently. Perhaps I feel as if I'm not mentally, or physically ready for college yet, or it could just be that I regret not spending more of my time in these past years doing more productive activities. Whatever the reason may be, the fact still remains that each day that passes by, is just another day closer 'til the end. I won't be seeing 95% of the faces that I see currently for the rest of my life. A walk across the stage, a diploma hanging on my wall, and a giant chapter of my life will suddenly come to an end just like that. I hope these next few months will honestly be one of the best times that I will have ever spent in Alameda High, because you only go through this once so you better make the most of it.