This World and Me

You might never fail on the scale I did, but some failure in life is inevitable. It is impossible to live without failing at something, unless you live so cautiously that you might as well not have lived at all – in which case, you fail by default. —J.K. Rowling,  The Fringe Benefits of Failure, and the Importance of Imagination  (Harvard commencement speech) , 2008

This is a research report that I wrote for my Honors English I class in my freshman year of high school. It is dated December 10, 2013. My instructor was Mrs. Razem. From “how many people live in New York City?” to “what does a hedgehog look like?”, in the modern day, one only has to encounter any intriguing question, and the answer can probably be materialized almost instantaneously through the use of computers. It is needless to say that computers have become a vital aspect of the daily lives of millions of people. However, computers were not always so useful, and had it not been for one man, today’s perspective of computers would be very different. This figure is best known for co-founding Apple, a company which has grown to become the most valuable company in the world (Tibken and Stahl). The sensational achievements of the life of Steve Jobs have revolutionized several technologies, and, by extension, have positively changed the lives of man. Apple Computer was founded by Stev...

Sonder — n.  the realization that each random passerby is living a life as vivid and complex as your own—populated with their own ambitions, friends, routines, worries and inherited craziness—an epic story that continues invisibly around you like an anthill sprawling deep underground, with elaborate passageways to thousands of other lives that you’ll never know existed, in which you might appear only once, as an extra sipping coffee in the background, as a blur of traffic passing on the highway, as a lighted window at dusk. —John Koenig, The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows , 2012

A week ago, I was at the Nazi party rally grounds in Nuremberg, Germany. For some odd reason, I had brought a jacket with me; not a single cloud came to my rescue as the Sun turned the sweat glands in my head into faucets. At least I had my sunglasses. The other Americans and I made our way to the Zeppelinfeld, a large field where hundreds of thousands of Germans historically congregated to hear Adolf Hitler's rally speeches. As I walked the steps to ascend the tribune, my heart began to beat more quickly, for I knew that I would be standing in the exact spot that Adolf Hitler – a name which has become synonymous with pure evil – stood not more than a century ago. A few other tourists were there as well, and they each took their turn standing upon the little balcony that overlooked the entire Zeppelinfeld. When my turn came, I braced myself for whatever paranormal curse that Hitler left on the tribune to hit me like a freight train. Thankfully, it never came. There's somethi...

This is my first blog post that I've written in the German language, which I am currently studying in school. The post is about my summer study trip to Germany, which I will begin today. Heute Abend werde ich in Deutschland sein. Ich gewann diese Studienreise, als ich die „National German Exam“ (ein nationale deutsche Prüfung in der USA) tat. Ich tat besser als zweiundneunzig Prozent von die Schüler und Schülerinnen, die die Prüfung auch taten. Wegen dieses Ergebnisses war ich qualifiziert die Studienreise zu beantragen. Ich musste eine Anwendung tun, und dann musste ich ein Telefon-Interview machen. Die Anwendung fragte mir einige schwere Fragen, wie „Warum wollen Sie Deutsch sprechen?“ und „Was wollen Sie für Ihren Leben machen?“. Ich musste auch einen Brief für meine Gastfamilie schreiben, und mir wurde gesagt, dass die Organisation, die die Studienreise organisiert, den Brief zu meine Gastfamilie wirklich schicken wird, wenn ich die Reise gewinnen. In meinem ...

We don't read and write poetry because it's cute. We read and write poetry because we are members of the human race. And the human race is filled with passion. And medicine, law, business, engineering, these are noble pursuits and necessary to sustain life. But poetry, beauty, romance, love – these are what we stay alive for. To quote from Whitman, " O me! O life!... of the questions of these recurring; of the endless trains of the faithless... of cities filled with the foolish; what good amid these, O me, O life? " Answer: That you are here – that life exists, and identity; that the powerful play goes on and you may contribute a verse. That the powerful play goes on and you may contribute a verse. What will your verse be? —Mr. John Keating (portrayed by Robin Williams ), Dead Poets Society , 1989

Light thinks it travels faster than anything but it is wrong. No matter how fast light travels it finds the darkness has always got there first, and is waiting for it. —Terry Pratchett, Reaper Man , 1991

Consider this thought experiment: try to imagine yourself without a body. Just an effervescent consciousness floating around the room – kind of like a ghost. It's a little awkward at first, but you can do it. You are capable of imagining life where one's body does not exist. But now, try something different: try to imagine yourself without a mind . Immediately, we run into some trouble, for how can we imagine ourselves without minds, if a mind is necessary to do the imagining? How can we , the consciousness of our minds, think if we do not exist? We can't. It follows, then, that if one is able to think, then one must  exist. This is similar to the thought experiment that led French philosopher René Descartes to famously declare  cogito ergo sum  – I think, therefore I am – in his seminal 1644 book Principles of Philosophy . You know that your mind exists, because you have the ability to think for yourself, to direct your thoughts at your own volition. You know ...

When I despair, I remember that all through history the way of truth and love has always won. There have been tyrants and murderers and for a time they seemed invincible, but in the end, they always fall — always. —Mahatma Gandhi, The Story of My Experiments with Truth , 1927

This song always sends chills down my spine. Released in 1983, in the midst of Cold War tensions, the English-translated version of the song is about a couple that releases 99 red balloons into the air, which the government mistakes for a potential military threat. Panicked, "ninety-nine ministers meet" and hastily authorize the use of military force against the ninety-nine red balloons. They order a group of ninety-nine air force pilots to intercept the potential threat and "identify, clarify and classify" it. This show of military force is seen by other nations as an act of war. The confusion and strife-torn atmosphere catalyzes a devastating nuclear war that destroys both sides of the armed conflict. The song was released at a time when the possibility of the events described in the song actually happening was very, very real. The United States and the Soviet Union – the two global superpowers – had huge stockpiles of nuclear weaponry. The most tense moment, th...

This is a rhetorical analysis essay written for my AP English Language and Composition class. My instructor was Mrs. Razem. The year is 1963. The United States is at its momentous period of revolution: the Civil Rights Movement. At the head of this revolution sits Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., who, having protested in the streets of Birmingham, Alabama, is confined in Birmingham City Jail. Opposed to King's unlawfulness, a group of eight Alabama clergymen compose an open letter , criticizing King's demonstrations as "extreme". King's letter in response, later dubbed " Letter from Birmingham Jail ", eloquently defends his actions to the Alabama clergymen through the use of strong appeals to moral authorities that King and the clergymen share, as well as through his shifts in tone from respectful to accusatory. King is quick to point out that he and the clergymen share a relationship with God and thus appeals to God as a moral authority. King opens his ...

We often wonder what it is about humans that sets us apart from every other species of life on Earth. We can communicate with each other in languages more complex than any other life form; we can invent tools and machines that make life for us longer and easier. We have the stunning ability to prove the truth with our minds—and we do this through reason. The 18th-century Age of Enlightenment sealed the deal for reason, establishing it as the highest source of authority for mankind. If there is any one trait that sets us apart from all other life on Earth, it has to be our impeccable ability to reason: the ability to conclude that if all humans are mortal, and Mr. Stroh is a human, then Mr. Stroh must be mortal. The foundations for reasoning are the rules of logic—and so too are the foundations for mathematics. Fermat’s Last Theorem states that equation x n + y n = z n will have no whole number solutions when n > 2. The theorem was proposed by French mathematician Pierre de ...

A photo posted by Michael Zeng (@michaelzeng7) on May 14, 2016 at 8:11pm PDT

Once, lived a boy, Who called himself Stu, He ran, played, and cried, As any would too— And such was the life Of the boy named Stu. Stu and his friends, Together at school, Learned and listened—not! They thought they were cool— And such was the life Of the boy named Stu. Alas, but then, On a warm, spring day, Before himself stood, A boy in his way. Mad, overcome, Stu picked up his tool, And jabbed it at him, Got expelled from school— And such was the life Of the boy named Stu . Then, an event! Some horrible news! No more could he run , A cost so undue— And such was the life Of the boy named Stu . New friends he made, But saw old ones too, He played, cried, and swam, No need to be blue— And such was the life Of the boy named Stu. Last, it would not, For it burned a flame, As Stu tried to play, His "friends" called him names. They were just kids, Yes, this, the boy knew, He said he cared not, Though this was untrue— And such was t...

The pessimist complains about the wind; the optimist expects it to change; the realist adjusts the sails. —William Arthur Ward, source unknown

Two weeks ago, I posted about intention and its relevance in homicide law. We spend a great deal of time and effort on criminal trials with the goal of ascertaining a person's intentions when they caused the death of another person. In different areas of the law, a certain intention can mitigate the severity of the punishment while other intentions can exacerbate the severity of the punishment. In other areas of the law, intention matters nothing at all. Nevertheless, intention undoubtedly plays an important role in how we go about our lives. We often excuse mistakes if they were made unwittingly – that is, "on accident" – but we are less sympathetic to harmful actions if they were committed with the intention of doing so. There is an aspect of this world, however, where intention is important, but in a different way. That aspect of the world is interpretation. * * * The definition of "interpretation" is, according to the Oxford English Dictionary,  the ac...

[...] For the moon never beams, without bringing me dreams Of the beautiful Annabel Lee; And the stars never rise, but I feel the bright eyes Of the beautiful Annabel Lee; And so, all the night-tide, I lie down by the side Of my darling—my darling—my life and my bride, In her sepulchre there by the sea— In her tomb by the sounding sea. —Edgar Allan Poe, " Annabel Lee ", 1849 (Poe's last poem).

On March 1, Minnesotan musician Adam Young released the second album in  his conceptual film score project . Last month, I posted about this new project. I was ecstatic, as I saw it as the beginning of Young's return to the grassroots style that he started with—the style I fell in love with. In case you don't know him, Young is perhaps most famous for being the creative mastermind behind Owl City, an electronic music project which has slowly morphed from a dreamy, unique vibe to an almost exclusively pop scene. Young is taking a break from the pop music realm to return to that organic, individualized music production of the good ol' days, releasing a 12-track conceptual "film score" every month for the rest of 2016. Each such score will musically narrate Young's interpretation of a famous historical or fictional event. Each album will be available to stream and download for free on his website. February's score was about the 1969 Apollo 11 spaceflight t...

That surreal feeling when all of math you ever learned in school—from when you started counting on your fingers to when you integrated exponential functions—culminated in one final lecture and one beautiful proof. e iπ + 1 = 0

Two young children are playing. "Hey Jack! I found a stick! Check it out." "Cool! Let's play Harry Potter with it! Jacob, pretend the stick is a wand." "Okay! Avada Kedavra! " At this point, Jacob, who has the stick, sharply spins and thrusts it as if he were casting a spell. However, he ends up forcefully jabbing Jack in the face with the stick. "Ow! Hey! That hurt! I'm gonna tell the teacher you hit me!" "No, don't! I'm sorry! I didn't mean to hit you!" Jacob's right. He didn't mean to hit Jack. It happened accidentally. However, this doesn't change the fact that he hurt Jack. The question is: does it matter if Jacob meant for it to happen? Should the teacher punish Jacob, or should Jack forgive Jacob and forget the incident ever happened? Does  intention  matter? We see similar questions in far less humorous circumstances. Murder, in the simplest terms, is the intentional killing of a human b...

The overwhelming majority of my life thus far has been consumed by the primary and secondary education systems of the United States. Being so close to the end of high school, I often find it sobering to pause and look back on the whole journey. Nostalgic at times, longwinded at others, there isn't a singular direction I'm aiming for with these posts. When you get to the end, you might wonder what the point of the post was. When writing to this blog, I usually start with a main idea then let the post write itself. The idea for these posts is pure reflection. At the forefront, they're a collection of memories—kind of like a memoir. They're about me, and what makes me who I am. They're mostly for  me too. Perhaps years down the line, I'll look back at these posts and chuckle nostalgically at them. I'll call them School .

Today, outside Secretary of State Jon Husted's office, we protested . We demonstrated that seventeen-year-olds do not live up to their stereotype of being apathetic and uninformed. We demonstrated that the most fundamental right of democracy—the right to vote—could not be denied to us on a technicality.  Ohio law is clear : if a person is or will be eighteen years of age on the day of the next general election, then they are entitled  to cast a ballot at the primary election, provided they are affiliated with the political party whose primary election they desire to vote in. All citizens must have an equal say in the nomination of candidates just as much as the election of candidates, and the ultimate goal of the presidential primary is  to decide the nomination of candidates. And today, the Court agreed. At about 4:30 pm on Friday, March 11, 2016, Judge Richard Frye of the Court of Common Pleas for Franklin County, Ohio, made a decision in the case of  Rachel...

RSVP to our Facebook event. Hello friends. You are invited to participate in this opportunity to take direct action in support of a cause. This is a unique experience – please carefully consider the issues and help us protect our right to have a say in presidential nominations. In Ohio, it is legal for seventeen-year-olds to cast ballots in primary elections, provided they will be eighteen on the day of the next general election. This entitlement is stated in the Ohio Revised Code as section 3503.011, titled “Qualifications of electors for primary elections” : At a primary election every qualified elector who is or will be on the day of the next general election eighteen or more years of age, and who is a member of or is affiliated with the political party whose primary election ballot he desires to vote, shall be entitled to vote such ballot at the primary election. (ORC 3503.011) This law, enacted in 1981, has led young Ohioans to believe that they were entitled to a full ballot...