Reading Log - Forrest Gump (~30pp)

             Young Forrest Gump once said: stupid is as stupid does. This quote simply compresses the mindset of Gump – the real matter of life is about the attitude, not about the appearance.

             Talking in southern vernacular, Gump is an “idiot” – if we accept the common way people call him – with low IQ. He doesn’t have the intellectual ability which is expected for the people in his age. Unfortunately, he even had uncomfortable legs during his childhood. However, he never lost the most important truth in life – how to behave decides how to be treated by others. Although being bullied by bad friends, young Gump did not become frustrated or shrunken.

             He has his own way of life. He’s bright, and brighter than folks. He knows how to enjoy his own life. Perhaps he was affected very much from his mother who always told him that he’s not different from the others. Everybody has both strong points and shortcomings, and this is because we are not the God; we are imperfect creatures. If the awkwardness and poor ability in communication is what people think the problem of Gump, then it might be true. Some parts of Gump don’t meet the common standards of this world. But at the same time, he has unique abilities. Running fast is the representative symbol of Gump’s good qualities. And if we think about him from the viewpoint of good and bad points, he is one of the common people –having both bad and strong qualities just like others.

             So, is he really a half-witted idiot? Maybe, but only for the people who don’t accept the value of difference. If we have a wise eye in evaluating someone’s life, the top-rated item should be about the clear identity of life. Forrest Gump obviously has his unique way of living, and he is the owner of his life. Now take one step back and see what happened to this brave guy. 

Poem Practice

A Piece of Autumn

Now the noise of crowds in Notre Dame Stadium has been gone

On a beautiful Saturday of autumn, I wander above the fallen leaves.

All the trees point at the blue sky as the sunshine touches their skins

And for the people on the streets, they sing an anthem of silent season.

I see some tourists staring at the golden dome

But in front of the touchdown Jesus on the Hesburgh Library

These visitors are way too small.

Don’t care much about the way people walk

Just let the pleasing wind combs down my hair

And I, I’m on the way toward the Log Chapel.

Soon my eyes watch a greenish wooden house

Among the colored leaves so I kneel,

Kneel and pray for the God of innocence.

On the way back to my room I imagine a nice dream

A bright dream about the never-ending autumn yellow.

11/08/2011

Chang Woo Jung

Reading Journal #1 - Rita Heyworth and Shawshank Redemption

           When I reached to the near end of Stephan King’s “spring,” it was the patience and persistence of Andy Dufresne that impressed me most. Despite of the hopeless 20 years in Shawshank, Andy’s desire for escape had never been removed, not even blunt. Definitely he was different from the other prisoners in Shawshank. While the others were getting used to the Shawshank life he tried to find the breakthrough, and while the others were finally “institutionalized,” he dreamed of Zihuatanejo. The wall of prison was thick, but Andy’s hope made a crack on it, spread it apart, and eventually broke it down.

           Considering Andy’s life in prison, everybody would agree that it was not fair at all. First he was bullied and tormented by the Sisters. When he finally gained the protection by helping the prison guards with tax problem, a harsher future was waiting for him. Since every prison guards got helpful advice from Andy, the highest warden of Shawshank, Samuel Norton hired him for money laundering. Mr. Norton gave much convenience to Andy compared to other prisoners as cost. However, Andy was also forced to pay the price for Norton’s fabricated kindness: he would not go out from Shawshank forever. Maybe Andy already knew from the first day of Shawshank, that it’s impossible to get released in legal way. The more Andy is related to the Shawshank society, the more his innocence would be contaminated.

           However, Andy didn’t lose his most powerful weapon until the end. It was his hope and desire for the escape. Nobody would know what exactly was his motivation for keeping such invincible volition, but I believe he always left enough space for hope. Hope, as Andy once said to Red, his favorite mate in Shawshank, is something “good” and “imperishable”. Glimmering inside Andy’s deepest mind, the hope soaked his every night and made him dig the stone wall for 20 years. The rock hammer that was almost worn away at the end of story symbolizes how the hope made Andy endure under unreasonable treatment and abuse so desperately. As the novel approaches to the end, King made the meaning of hope elated higher by describing the scene of Red, who was finally released on parole and amused by the hope of meeting Andy in Mexico. Here it is proved again, that the hope would be never rotten.

           Instead of Andy, the overall storyline takes Red as the narrator. Using this ‘observer’s perspective,’ Stephan King provoked readers more curiosity about the secret of Andy Dufresne until the highlight. Andy’s hope and patience resembles the young sprouts which split open the frozen earth in every spring. That is why King chose “Rita Heyworth and Shawshank Redemption” as the first season of his book.

09/22/11

Chang Woo Jung

When the world cries for Timmy (fake essay)

I remember the day of death of my beloved cat, Timmy. It was raining day. After a harsh days of struggle against cystitis, this tiny life escaped her small cage forever without any regret. I felt tangled. Why the world the God took this poor and weak creature?

However I also know, that I should understand the providence of great God. If there's one precious lesson I gained from this experience, that is the patience and courage in front of the death. Now I know that I'll stand still roughly in front of the death of my parents, grandparents, friends, and even me. I believe this is one of the most royal and noblest virtue which you, the college officers want from the applicants. 

I have a bunch of other stories to support my matured attitude towards the world and life, but it will only let my readers tired and boring. For this reason, I finish this essay with my poem about the tangled feeling I felt in front of Timmy's dead body.

Tangled

Shooting your gun into the dark

Let’s see who fires back

When a bite comes without a bark

Who's gonna watch your back

So little in so much time has been tasted

You wasted all that we had

Maybe we were wrong from the start

Because we are sorry,

Sorry excuses for love

Summer's never coming again

We will tangle in the wind and rain, oh

It's ok with me though

I will just keep my radar low

If you knew what I know

It's nothing new at all

But love stay with me

Love stay with me

Creative Writing - A Harsh Memory

1

In my dream you smiled at me, who was late for the meeting. What an abnormal smile. In dusk of hot October’s day, we didn’t feel the wind. Your friend used to sneer at us – “Don’t you think it’s a harsh love?”

2

On the road we walk along, the streets were dirty with aimless souls and drunken dumbasses. Taking each step, my shoulder cracked by the alcoholic air. But your lips were harder than usual, and your breast was colder than what I thought. Aren’t you tired? I was unable to hear your words. A cold robot talking, without a piece of true heart.

3

You used to smoke, sitting next to me. Silently, watching a point in empty sky or the shoes of walking people, you swallowed the toxic world and split it out. Give me one. I said quietly. In a surprised face, you fumbled the rattling handbag and took out the cigarette pack. Then you hesitated. Were you scared of me, or couldn’t you just endure the familiar situation.

4

I was already exhausted when I walked in the dusky road. I went over and over, splitting the darkness and trembling my tired legs, leaving the unreasonable footsteps. It was a summer night neither hot, nor cold. The dark solitude was broken by insects’ crying, and the light from unknown people’s house spread out into the foggy air. I closed my eyes for a while, opened again, and stared at the empty sky. A girl I used to know disliked the cigarette smoke. I filled my lung with the shining starlight and blowing wind climbing up trees. The sky of city was always obscure. I patiently walked over, following the footsteps of you. Waving my tired arms, I escaped the fog area that became more and more sticky.

5

When I wandered around, I smelled the sweat of running boys. I greedily bite off the memory you left. The endless summer of city was gradually forgotten under the shadow of anonymous evergreens. I spent more time with the girl. The grass seemed burning, under the stinging sunrays. The memory of sad cigarette smoke. Now a wet air comes through my throat. A fish who wanted to live in your air forever. The streetlamps sick of insomnia shed light on me and the girl.

6

If I could go back to the painful past, would I flutter again on the unknown street with my hidden gills opened? I still find you sometimes, with no trace in my places. The young people wandering streets. And the story flowed between them. I was too young. Today, I take a walk again to the park where the girl would be. She stares at me with her round eyes. I see you inside her iris, burning the rotten world. Inside my harsh memory, there is you, who sigh a gray smoke. 

Chang Woo Jung

09/03/11

1st assignment for Comparative Adaptation

Group: Five

Film: The Spiriting Away of Sen and Chihiro
Why we chose it:
This is the only movie that all of us have watched which includes the element of hero's journey

<ACT1>
1.Ordinary world:
- an ordinary japanese town
2.Call to adventure:
- a strange tunnel on the way to the family's new home
3.Refusal of the call:
- Chihiro's family is lost in an unoccupied town. Hungry, Chihiro's mom and dad eat the food gregariously without paying for the food.
Chihiro, however, chooses to look around the town and when she comes back, she sees pigs instead of her parents.
4.Meeting the mentor:
-Haku appears to tell Sen to leave the town immedately
5.Crossing the threshold:
-Chihiro, failing to find the way out with her parents, steps into the world of Ubaba by getting a job at spa town.

<ACT2>
6.Tests, Allies, Enemies:
-Test: In the spa town, people are gradually subjugated by Ubaba as they eat the food of the town and forget their original name.
Since Chihiro is unaware of such danger, she initially eats the food people give.
-Allies: Haku warns Chihiro of the danger, and she therefore manages to keep her identity.
She also becomes friends with the faceless ghost (Gaonashi).
-Enemies: Ubaba & her loyal eagle
7.Approach to the innermost cave:
-One day, Sen discovers Haku soaked in blood.
8.Ordeal:
-Chihiro discovers that Haku got hurt because he tried to steal the stamp from Ubaba's twin sister.
To ask for forgiveness and save her parents and Haku, she takes the Train of Death and arrives at Ubaba's sister's home.
9.Reward:
-On Haku and Chihiro's way back to the spa town, Chihiro suddenly remembers Haku's original name, thus liberating him from
Ubaba. Chihiro also saves her parents.

<ACT3>
10.The road back:
-Haku accompanies Chihiro in her way back to the ordinary world.
11.Resurrection:
-Chihiro finds her parents who were waiting for her at the tunnel.
12.Return with the elixir:
-The value of family
Points of contention (ifs/ands/buts):
Resurrection is a little unclear

Chang Woo Jung

09/02/11

Waiting for Guffman

  Who decides the fate of passionate person? Is it the enthusiastic man himself who create own future? Or is it an influential figure who has the power to evaluate someone else's passion? The answer for the above question might be "the both." The evaluation among other people cannot completely prove whether someone is really full of zeal. Like this, the passion alone cannot guarantee the social success. 


  In the mockumentary [Waiting for Guffman], the main characters started to have a real strong passion - performing a musical on the stage for 150th anniversary of their town, Blaine. With the lead of Corky, the enthusiasm inside these star wannabes began twisting. Corky attracted them with the possibility of their musical to become a Broadway-scale show by the critique from Mr. Guffman. So the people practiced harder and harder until the last moment. (Although they were not so good at acting and dancing.) 


  On the day of performance, finally the show started but the reserved seat for Guffman was empty. Corky calmed the casts down, believing all the Broadway star critiques are late for shows. Was he right? Soon one person came inside and sit on the reserved chair. Happy with the arrival of assumed Guffman, all the members    did their best and finished the performance successfully with the large cheer from audience.


  Right after the show, Corky took the assumed Guffman in front of the main characters, who were desperately waiting for Guffman's positive critique and dreaming to be Broadway stars. But Oh My God. The man who should be Guffman argued that his name is not Guffman. Something's wrong. At that moment, Corky received a telegram noticing Mr. Guffman's airplane was grounded due to the snowstorm (even though  it was summer). 


  What can we say about the powerful passion of main characters? Was their effort meaningless since Guffman actually didn't come at the first place? Maybe. Maybe they could earn lots of money, building the reputation in Broadway. Or maybe not. However, I think all of the performance members found their way out at last. Some became extra actors in Hollywood, and some began working as an entertainer. Someone just went back to the original life. The real important point is, that everybody anyway found the way of life, despite of the Guffman's absence. 


  The real point this film tried to make is (sure, the first and foremost one is comedy but) this: the life always go on. All we can do is just carrying it. Accept the life as itself, then it would be neither too sickening nor too sweet. (To be honest, life doesn't have any flavor at all.) Now let's answer the very first question again. Who decides the fate of passionate person? It's easy to discover the serious irony in it. No one can ever decide fate at all. Even Guffman, too.