“Her watch had said six o’clock for weeks. She had stopped winding it the day they had stepped off the train” - When the Emperor was Divine, Julie Otsuka We have all heard about the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941, but what do we know other than the Japanese had attacked America? In my …
A Bittersweet Moment
It has already been two months since we first received the move-out notice in March. In the beginning of this semester, we hardly thought about the coronavirus having such a huge impact on us because of its “distance.” I still remember how I was worried about missing my friends when I go study abroad blocks …
Motivation vs. Procrastination while Distance Learning
In my personal experience, it can be difficult to be productive while both distance learning and social distancing in tandem. The illusion of a purgatory-like free-time can curtail my motivation, but luckily I have begun to develop strategies to fight against my urge to procrastinate while weathering the COVID-19 pandemic. I start every day …
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Do you have a “story”?
Today, I will be reflecting on my our discussion about "true war stories". During the first week of class, one of the stories we were asked to read was, Love and Honor and Pity and Pride and Compassion and Sacrifice by Nam Le. In the story, the narrator is faced with the dilemma of whether or not to "sell out" …
Incarceration
Last Friday, we read When the Emperor was Divine, a story about a family's experience during and after the Incarceration of Japanese peoples in America. By reading the story, it became more understandable as why so many internees were quiet about what happened to them. It wasn't so much the time they spent in the …
A Child’s Perspective of War
For class today, we were asked to read Thannha Lai’s Inside Out and Back Again. I remember passing by the book in my school’s library when I was in elementary school, but I never really had the urge to read it. Poems were short and confusing, while books like Harry Potter were long and fantastical …
Adventures in investigative reporting, or the physical manifestation of a bad simile
Investigative journalism can be a lot like foraging for mushrooms. As the book Shaking the Foundations points out, journalists pick up the spoor of a story in a multitude of ways: an anonymous tip, an overheard rumor, an overlooked piece of information anywhere. A healthy sense of skepticism leads a reporter to think— hey, something …
AI Week 2: Coding Netflix?
We survived the first week of AI online but the second week felt much more daunting and I was honestly starting to feel pretty overwhelmed. My favorite thing about Computer Science on the block plan is how collaborative it is. We, as a class, are constantly working together to understand new material and finish our …
Artificial Intelligence Online: Week 1
Artificial Intelligence sounds scary in itself, but when you add on the online portion it sounds far too intimidating. While I was hesitant to take this class once it was moved to online, I decided to continue with it because it was something I had been looking forward to learning all year. The first day …
The Documentation of War
The dominant narrative tells and shows us that war looks like... WW1. WW2. Vietnam War. Bombs. Guns. Men. Death. Enemies. Tension. Glory. Honor. Power. Protection. National security. Memorials. Veterans. Social Mobility. Beyond the romanticized documentation of war, war is scary as it affects everyone and all aspects of life. The US is an empire that …
