Day: June 4, 2011

Bright Star

yourgingerkidLeave a comment

Bright star, would I were stedfast as thou art–
Not in lone splendour hung aloft the night
And watching, with eternal lids apart,
Like nature’s patient, sleepless Eremite,
The moving waters at their priestlike task
Of pure ablution round earth’s human shores,
Or gazing on the new soft-fallen mask
Of snow upon the mountains and the moors–
No–yet still stedfast, still unchangeable,
Pillow’d upon my fair love’s ripening breast,
To feel for ever its soft fall and swell,
Awake for ever in a sweet unrest,
Still, still to hear her tender-taken breath,
And so live ever–or else swoon to death.

John Keats

I love poetry. There’s nothing more in this world that could make me feel as much emotion and imagine so much as it. It’s simply magical. It’s creation and writing at it’s finest. And there’s one poet who inspires me more than any other.

John Keats.

Every single one of his poems is written so articulately and beautifully that I could re-read it a thousand times over and still find it fascinating. It’s a true gift to be able to create works such magnitude as he did. It’s no wonder why the created a movie about him.

Bright Star is a film based loosely on the romance between Keats and Fanny Brawne. Even though story line is probably far from accurate, it’s an insanely beautiful movie. (Not to mention the casting is fitting and absolutely stunning.)

From start to finish your world becomes there’s and you find yourself immersed in 19th century England and into the lives and two young, ill-fated lovers. It’s captivating, and it my face, I couldn’t take a break while watching it. Every single detail is so accurate and the characters are so lovable that you wish that the movie would never end. Even the actor who plays John Keats, Ben Whishaw, has won numerous British acting awards, and in my opinion, irresistible in this movie.

It’s available on Netflix on demand. I would definitely recommend watching it.

Mike Brown

smackyjackjack1 Comment

Mike Brown. Why would the Lakers pick Mike Brown to be the new head coach?

Mike Brown, LeBron James

Well, it’s either one of several things. Firstly, Mike Brown could be the best coach of all time, but no one has realized it yet. Coaching the Cavilers has not helped his reputation as a great coach, but now that he is at the Lakers, that might change. Maybe he could make the team better again, better than they were with Phil Jackson. This is pretty unlikely.

It could also have been a decision that fit with a much larger plan. Jerry West has just been signed to become an executive board member to the Golden State Warriors. This could mean that West is using the Warriors as a farm team, and that he is planning something to help the Lakers. The decision to enlist Mike Brown as a coach could have something to do with this as well.

I still think that the Lakers should have picked Brian Shaw to be the head coach. He has worked with Jackson, and is still young. He even played with some of the older players. But who knows, the Lakers could be planning something big.

What will go on my first page?

vabenissimoLeave a comment

This will be my last post on OVS Journalism Blog.

But, as Alexander Graham Bell said, “When one door closes, another opens; but we often look so long and so regretfully upon the closed door that we do not see the one that has opened for us,” I will be heading off to college. FUN. And, I will definitely need some mental preparation and set plans for the next few years of my life even if my future may be highly unpredictable and spontaneous. I had pondered over my strengths and weaknesses and how they would influence me in the future along with the importance of life, college experiences, relationships, and the whole universe, and then guess what happened to my brain.

It went KABOOM.

I have FINALLY figured that too much thinking evokes my allergy to the universe. But, too little of it causes some troubles along the way. So, I wrote exactly two things on my first page of life that will become my legend, history, and everything.

First, actions over words.
Second, I am OUT, of high school.

And, the rest will be written as my life unfoils in the midst of surprises. I also want to thank this OVS Journalism Blog for entertaining me and stimulating my curiosity for my surroundings throughout the school year. The experiences that I gained from this blog will surely be unforgettable.

To that end,
VIVA LA VITA.

Threads

yourgingerkidLeave a comment

For my blog post for this week  I thought that I’d post my favorite poem at the moment.

This poem, by Gabriel Gadfly, is not only beautifully written, but also describes how I feel at this point in life. You can relate it to leaving high school. You can relate it to leaving friends behind. You can relate it to leaving past lovers behind. In my case, I relate it to all of those things.

Threads 

From time to time,
when you have wandered
away from a person,
you wander a little further
and feel the slightest tug
at your ankle.

Looking down, you find
a thread, red or maybe
blue, barely seen,
barely there, tied
gently and trailing
as far back as you
can see and you know,
instinctively, where
it leads.

It brings you to a choice:
to take one more step,
snap the thread and
leave it where it lay,
or return from whence
you came.

Sometimes, the one’s
the best choice;
sometimes, it’s the other.

Is it not wonderful? Maybe I’m just a complete weirdo that likes poetry, but I can’t help but share it. No others words could possibly describe the way that I feel at this point in life. No matter how much I whine about wanting to leave and am counting down the days, I’m incredibly sad to leave.

I can’t imagine not seeing the few people that I care about every day. I don’t want to leave those who are staying behind and I don’t want to watch the other walk away and never look back. It’s a terrible feeling knowing that things are coming to an end, and you can only sit back and watch.

Well as Dr. Seuss said “Don’t cry because it’s over, smile because it happened.”

I

Time Flies

weirdjennyLeave a comment

nullIt has been two years since I came to OVS. During these two years, I have only been to Santa Barbara State Street trip twice. The first time is the very first school trip last year, and the second time is the last trip of this year, which today. I remember the first time I went I don’t know anyone yet, and I have never been there, so I was following other Chinese students. However, I got lost. At the end I was all alone by myself, so I just walked around the department stores and got a hamburger from The Habit. However, the second I went there is a totally different situation. After spending two years at OVS, I not only improve my English skill and gain new experience, but also make lots of great friends. Today, I went with few of my good friends. Just sitting next to the street, feeling the wind blowing on our face for few hours, we talked about what happened in these two years. Time flies. We all still remember how we meet each other in the beginning, and then now within 12 days we are all going to different place to start a new journey. One Chinese proverb said that there is no such a party without an ending. However, friends are forever. We will keep in touch.

The Last Blog

yrreskrapLeave a comment

This is my last blog of the year-the last blog as a junior.

So should I write about?

Well, I can write about almost anything. About how my friends are leaving in a eight days, or how maybe I found out that I became president. I could write about how I will be going to Chicago this summer for a medicine forum. Or I could talk about unicorns and how much I ABHOR butterflies. Ick.


But, I feel like my last blog should be more substantial than my usual potpourri. My final blog should be more.

This blog (my last blog) is a tribute to a very special person. A teacher to be more specific.

I have had him teach me in a subject every single year that I have been here at Ojai Valley School Upper Campus.

The greatest thing about this man is that he knows when and how to push me to my greatest potential. I don’t think I have learned more about my own limits than I have when I was learning from this teacher.

He has an interesting way of teaching. History, which is the subject he teaches, happens to be the subject I hate the most. But, when I learned it from him, it was my favorite subject. It was because of his humorous way of teaching that engaged all of his students and made everybody love taking his class. But this teacher is not just jokes but he knows when to be serious and knows motivate his students to do their best.

Mr. Alvarez, you are not only my favorite teacher, but you are my coach and one of the people I look up to. You are great and I am happy that I was fortunate enough to take your classes every year. Thank you for being such an excellent teacher and for motivating me to always do my best. I can’t wait for journalism next year, during my senior year. Haha hopefully, you will be able to put up with my major college stress and senioritis.

It’s Over.

theycallmedameLeave a comment

“Like, ohmygodddd, it’s the last day of our sophomore yearrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.”

No, it isn’t. Shut up.

1) It is not the last day. It is the last day of our classes. Our last day of sophomore year will be the day the seniors graduate and not a moment sooner.

2) Stop whining. It’s almost summer! You should be celebrating being able to do absolutely nothing for three whole months. You should be forgetting everything you were taught and letting it melt away into mush at the back of your brain. Goodbye grammar! Goodbye math! Sayonara!

3) Yes, I will admit it is sad, all of our senior friends are graduating and leaving us for bigger and better things. But that does not mean we’re never going to see or talk to them again. It isn’t like they are dropping off the face of the earth. It’ll be okay.

So goodbye sophomore year! It’s neither been extraordinary nor mediocre.

I’ll see you in four years.

Why OVS?

vabenissimoLeave a comment

This is a question that hundreds asked me througout my life.

When I was 11, I joined OVS Lower Campus community as a fifth grader. Such early start of boarding life may sound incomprehensible to many people. But, I knew that my education at Lower is guaranteed to provide me with numerous benefits. And, it did. After I completed my elementary and middle school curriculums at Lower, I moved onto another school in Kent, Connecticut. Attendance to this school was not an option. It provided the education that my parents and I desired and a sense of dignity. Having had recently graduated from a small community and moved to a school near NYC where freedom is “freely” given with responsibilities, I thought it was the real world. Then, I wanted to get out of the states. I remember this one day finding my surroundings hackneyed. And, I could not imagine such life for the next three years. So, I shot an email to the admissions of schools in Paris and Lille, both in France since I had an intention of pursuing my French study. The response from the one in Lille was positive and seems to happen until I had learned about Kent’s affiliation to St.Sephen’s in Roma, Italy. However, since American Overseas School of Rome had the curriculum that suits better with my interests than that of St. Stephen School, I spent my sophomore year at American Overseas School of Rome.

At the end of my stay in Rome, however, I was seriously ill and learned that I had cyst near my ovary. To have an operation to remove the cyst, I had to be hospitalized for a while. Since my family was in Korea and my friends were at school I had been given no time to wait for them, I had to go through it by myself. After the surgery, teachers from Ojai Valley School, where I had spent my first four years before moving to Kent high school, contacted me. And, I recalled the lunch with Kara Waycasy, the school secretary/assistant to headmaster at OVS, and her sister in Kent, Connecticut. I immediately knew I missed Ojai and SoCal, my “second home”, very much and thus, decided to transfer back to Ojai Valley School. (Also, I believed the warm weather in CA would definitely help me to recuperate faster!)

Over the summer transitioning from my sophomore year to junior year, my mind was set on Upper and no where else. And, Tracy Wilson, the Director of Admissions and Marketing at OVS, had confirmed my decision. When I returned and joined the community under Mr.Cooper’s “super”-provision, I had an experience that I would never have at any other school. Such proviso was so unique at OVS that I had both moments of dislike and thankfulness. Throughout my two years at Upper, I seized the advantages of this distinctive environment and tried to maximize my potential. It was OVS that allowed me to become who I am now. And, that’s why I choose OVS.

I guess this is goodbye.

Paloma SpencerLeave a comment

So graduation is right around the corner, and I am honestly unsure of what I am feeling.

Last Friday, the seniors at my school attended an alumni luncheon, and I couldn’t help but think of my past two years at OVS, and how I could sadly never get those moments back.

But I guess that is life.

Moments happen. And whether they are good or bad, we cannot fast-forward or rewind.

There are moments when I am so excited about the prospect of college and the long-awaited, stress-free summer.

However, there are times when I am walking by the amphitheater or down by the pool, and I remember moments from Junior year.

I remember the friendships, the laughter, and the inside jokes.

I remember my amazing roommates within the past two years and my best friend Parky (yes, that is her nickname) whom I honestly could not have gotten through these past two years without.

Ojai Valley School has given me so much: life lessons, life-long relationships, and experiences I could have never gotten anywhere else.

And to my journalism teacher, I just wanted to say that you are an absolutely amazing person, and a mentor to all of your students. You push people to do their best, and you have taught me to work hard, strive for the best, and most importantly, to follow what I truly love.

So I guess this is goodbye.

I will be graduating on Thursday, surrounded by my parents, teachers, and friends.

I will be graduating, and will not be coming back next year.

But I hope that every underclassmen will listen to this.

Make every moment worth it, and try not to complain. Because, in the end, you don’t want to have regrets. In the end, you want to be sad, but you want to be happy that those past four years were the best you could make of them.