Busy and happy: Fall 2021

"I'm busy, but happy," I told my family while visiting home one weekend. Lots of late nights either studying or talking to my roommate, walking through campus watching the rain fall in the Quad or Suzzallo Library illuminated in the dusk, figuring out my favorite places to eat on and off campus and that even I can get tired of sushi, sandwiches, and noodles…in short, experiencing college life in-person for the first time, albeit masked and with some classes partly online. It was tough leaving home and my family to live on campus, but I’m grateful I was able to see them every few weekends or so. I think the biggest thing I learned about myself is that I love trying new things, but am really afraid of failure and disappointment. Sometimes that fear keeps me from being as bold in my plans or making decisions because I’m not sure what the outcome will be.

From taking ENGL 202 and COM 200, I’ve discovered that one pattern in the things that fascinate me involves how messages in the media and literature we consume shape our thinking. From learning about the theory of post-Saussurean linguistics and reading William Faulkner’s novel As I Lay Dying through that lens to discussing the cultural imperialism that results from the proliferation of U.S. films and media productions across the world, I’ve developed a greater interest in how literature and film literally constructs the world we perceive around us. It seems almost like a direct continuation of the article I wrote last year about the history of virtual reality in pop culture – virtual reality is a literal representation of how we imagine our world into being; how the world itself is a production of our own perceptions and consciousness. So the language we speak, films we produce, stories we tell, books we read can also be seen as figurative “virtual realities” – they also are mediums through which we perceive and construct our world. Combining this with my interest in Korean culture and society from my family’s background, I hope to investigate Korea further through their language, books, stories, and media and see how they perceive(d) the world, perhaps during a specific era or historical period – and then turn this knowledge/research into a journalistic project that can share this way of thinking and meaning with the rest of the world. I declared my major in English this quarter, but plan to apply to the Journalism and Public Interest Communication major next quarter, and Korean, and Comparative Literature are still potential options for majors/minors that I’m interested in.

I’ve learned a lot about leadership this quarter as well, starting with volunteering with DAWGS Crew and Dawg Daze Leaders in September and moving to serving as president of Calligraphy & Handicrafts Society and recruitment coordinator and mentor in the Honors Peer Mentoring Program. I struggled with planning for events way in advance and delegating responsibilities with other team members, because I often feel that it’s just easiest if I do certain things myself without being fair to my other team members. I tended to ask for others’ opinions frequently, and tried to avoid using direct language when asking for volunteers to get certain tasks done. I hope to continue working on finding the right balance between collaborating fairly and remaining sensitive and understanding with others while also being firm about what I can handle (and being okay when things don’t go exactly as planned!).

Other amazing memories from the quarter were auditioning for University Chorale and getting to hear some truly phenomenal singers in both Chorale and other UW choirs, being accepted as one of the copy editors for UW student-led travel magazine Voyage, applying for the Critical Language Scholarship (maybe not such an amazing experience but it did force me to break down my own goals and interests around study abroad in the process), starting a biweekly column for The Daily, and meeting the vice provost and dean of Undergraduate Academic Affairs at UW on accident (it’s a long story :).

One thing my mom told me after I finished a difficult article at The Daily that took up a lot of headspace and energy was that she hoped I could use my aspirations to become a journalist to glorify God. That little conversation has stuck with me, because I found myself constructing all these dreams and desires for fame and glory and success for myself and just completely forgetting that that isn’t what it’s about, at all. Reading about Daniel and David in the Bible and listening to Dr. Tim Keller’s sermon “The Dream of the Kingdom” has been really transformative because of how I can see how the Lord led these heroes of faith in their careers and life aspirations – rising to the top of the political hierarchy in Babylon, in Daniel’s case, and becoming king of Israel, in David’s case – because they trusted every decision to Him in prayer. That’s my prayer this year too.