Justin's Blog

What does it mean to become the best version of yourself?  During a virtual math summer camp last year, I was asked a question by a professor named Nina from University of Michigan. She asked me directly if I enjoyed math, and I responded that math by far is my favorite subject. Why?  Because math is black and white. You either get the answer to a problem correct or not. Math has a structure; math uses logic and formulas; math is not ambiguous; and math is not open-ended. And to this very day, I still love math for these reasons and I still believe it is my strongest subject. Now, I am not too intrigued in English courses because literature is the opposite of math— it is too open-ended and I despise the ambiguity of it. But that is what life is, isn't it? AP Literature taught me that literature, to an extent, is life. They're both ambiguous and open-ended. Life cannot be predicted and there is no set structure to it. Life is always changing. Just because yesterday was a good d...

You know, despite the subjective nature in beauty, we all find beauty in something. Beauty, to me, is when something just continues to recur in my mind, and I can't help stop forgetting about it (like in a positive way... like I still remember the one time I got a D- on my Unit 3 Algebra Test... I don't classify that experience as beautiful, I think of it as a traumatic experience.) Anyways, there are many things I like to call beautiful. There are some music that I find beautiful and that I listen to every day. There is also beauty in art that I can't get off my head. And then, there is beauty in faces, one in particular that I can't help but share in this blog.  ok he started this not me But beauty in literature??? Oh boy, I don't know bout that one. Just kidding of course... :)) To me, beauty in literature stems from the overall craft of a novel, or a particular passage that is still clear in my mind, almost to a point where I can recite it. A couple of the great...

       As I was browsing for modern poets on teachlivingpoets.com, I came across Richard Williams and became immediately attached to his poetry and videos (literally binge watched his videos for quite some time).     Born in St Louis, Missouri, Richard Williams, more commonly known by "Prince EA (EA standing for Earth)," is mainly recognized as a singer, motivational speaker, and a youtuber. Inspired by Canibus and Immortal Technique, he set out to start a small music career around 2005, and now he has over six million subscribers on YouTube. He focuses on brining a sense of unity to his followers and community, expressing a wide range of emotions with the goal to connect and evolve altogether.      What I like the most about him is how optimistic, powerful, inspiring, and easy to understand his videos are. Although he is not completely recognized as a poet, the way his voice carries through and the arrangement of the words really speak ...

I am a firm believer that words, despite how high the diction is or how beautifully they are arranged, cannot truly capture human emotion to the fullest degree. I remember during the pandemic, when I had a lot of available time to myself to self-reflect, one of my favorite daily routines was to walk over to the park near my house, sit on the bench or the swings, and just think and reflect on everything component of my life- my behaviors, decision, interactions, future, etc. I, like many of you, had a lot of emotions and thoughts circulating in my brain, and I tried to write what I was thinking, what made me so stressed at the moment, on notes through my phone, but when I tried to put these thoughts into words, it was practically impossible. I had few successful attempts in the sense that I was able to coherently describe my feelings into words, but when I read back upon what I wrote, they still are far from perfect to truly capture how I feel.  To be honest, I like poetry... actual...

To me,  Siddhartha  offers a new perspective of life that is contrary to mine. I like to have set plans ahead of time, and I am someone who tries my best to follow these small steps to achieve what I have always wanted. Besides school work, because I seem to procrastinate and cram them last minute, I prefer to know what I am doing; for example, before I entered high school, I mapped out what courses I wanted to take, what activities I wanted to do, and what accomplishments I wanted to achieve. Similarly, I do have somewhat of a plan for my next upcoming few years- I do have a major decided that I want to study, possible internships that I want to take, and types of activities I want to do that would promote my academic growth. However, some of my plans fail, which easily gets me frustrated and nervous... Siddhartha  however tells me that it is okay when plans don't work in our favor... let me explain. In his journey to find enlightenment, he deliberately plans all the cou...

Reading and writing- the two things I dread the most, still- has always been my biggest academic setback. I don't know why, but I just suck at it. I don't really feel comfortable with my essays. I'm not the biggest fan in participating in the Harkness discussions... for some reason, I always feel hesitant in sharing others my thoughts because I fear that I would be judge... or just forget how to speak entirely.  One improvement I made this year is confidence... I think at least. Well, I definitely will say I got a little bit more comfortable with my reading and writing skills—maybe I wouldn't necessarily say I got better or anything, but my scores on my essays prove to me that my analysis isn't stupid. I can trust myself more and have more courage to share out my thoughts and ideas, but this is something I just need to continuously work on for rest of my school year.  I feel like confidence in this class ties very strongly with reading skills, and maybe I wasn't...