Revised Draft
Hold on there, partner! Seohyun still hasn't learned how to properly wink yet. Maybe wait a little longer before this part is (hopefully) populated.
Rough Draft
Media is, in a literal sense, everywhere in today's world. Unless you are currently living in a cave or in a place without technology (which I highly doubt, by the way), you will encounter many and, possibly, all types of media on a day-to-day basis. As a person who was born around the turn of the century, I grew up in a media and internet-centric world. With so much types of media coming and screaming at you every waking day, you eventually develop a kind of "filter" that only allows certain types of media for you to experience. A good analogy that I thought of is that media is like food. Sure, some kinds of food taste great, some better than others; however, you wouldn't want to eat tons of food at a constant basis every single day, would you?
With that said, the media that I've grown extremely accustomed to and highly welcomed as a part of my life is none other than music. Now, remember how I said that media was like food? Well, to me, music is like a cool bowl of ice cream. And my favorite flavor of ice cream is a flavor isn't domestically made, but commonly found where I live. The flavor of ice cream—or the genre of music—I like the most hails from the South Korea, Korean pop, so to speak.
Korean pop or commonly known as K-pop is found all over the place in the country where I live. Despite Korean not being our main language (nor a language most people here understand), the amount of people who like the genre is just staggering to the point that we are almost drowning in the so-called Hallyu Wave.
My experience in being swept up by the Hallyu Wave started around 2010, when Korean girl groups such as 4Minute, 2NE1, and Girls' Generation were steaming their way into millions of TV sets and, obviously, into the hearts of my fellow people. This rising trend of liking a certain Korean group spread like wildfire in our school and, despite not participating in any, I'm pretty sure that there were people in my school who discussed the plans of their favorite Korean groups and their upcoming albums. This trend was like a rash, and everyone got it.
Eventually, it reached the lonely corner of my classroom and found its way to me. With a great beat, rhythm, and lyrics, my head started to bob to the tune of... Girls' Generation's "Gee"?
Neomu banjjakbanjjak nuni busyeo no, no, no, no, no? What are they saying? Why am I bobbing my head to this? Before I knew it, someone—a group of nine girls—stole something important from me, my heart. I was captivated by the bright and flashy music video, and how cute the members looked. Of course, like most things in my life, my all-of-the-sudden liking towards the group quickly faded and was immediately swept under the rug for some reason as I returned back to my normal, musicless school life, thinking that my life would go on without liking them again—and yet, I was wrong.
I still continued the trend of listening to Korean girl groups and I've found a home in 4Minute. The girl group served as my primary K-pop group until mid-2011. At that time, songs from Korean groups were being blasted through the airwaves. I was regularly watching this Philippine music channel, MYX, until I tuned in to watch/listen to the top 20 international songs (songs not from our country) for the week. One of the music videos that took a relatively high spot was "Mr. Taxi" by none other than Girls' Generation.
Neomu banjjakbanjjak nuni busyeo no, no, no, no, no? What are they saying? Why am I bobbing my head to this? Before I knew it, someone—a group of nine girls—stole something important from me, my heart. I was captivated by the bright and flashy music video, and how cute the members looked. Of course, like most things in my life, my all-of-the-sudden liking towards the group quickly faded and was immediately swept under the rug for some reason as I returned back to my normal, musicless school life, thinking that my life would go on without liking them again—and yet, I was wrong.
I still continued the trend of listening to Korean girl groups and I've found a home in 4Minute. The girl group served as my primary K-pop group until mid-2011. At that time, songs from Korean groups were being blasted through the airwaves. I was regularly watching this Philippine music channel, MYX, until I tuned in to watch/listen to the top 20 international songs (songs not from our country) for the week. One of the music videos that took a relatively high spot was "Mr. Taxi" by none other than Girls' Generation.
Bam! Just like that, my heart fell deep for the girls once again. Like a phoenix rising from the ashes, my passion for this group burned, and burned, and burned it did. I eventually took the steps to know about the girls in the group, who they were, what their other talents were, and other background information. For some odd reason, the songs of the girls had a particular appeal to me. The feeling itself is very hard to describe, but, basically, I was hooked.
Soon after, my phone went from having 0 albums from Girls' Generation to, like, 6 or 7 albums. My music library and playlists were dominated by these 9 girls from South Korea. At first, I didn't realize why I swept this group under the rug and chose another, and the feeling itself was like sweeping a small piece of paper under your bed, only to find out later that the paper is a still-valid winning lottery ticket.
That was how my first Korean pop life went by. A year full of discoveries and new favorites. The same can be said for my next few years. Everything changed when my 3rd year with Girls' Generation ushered in.
Now, in the beginnning of my third year with Girls' Generation, everything was quite normal-ish. But boy was it a time to be alive as a Sone (a fan of Girls' Generation). The girls just released their second Japanese album "Girls & Peace" and, my God, it was THE BEST album I have ever heard. It featured a tracks that have a heavy party and dance beat and it started to show that the group was far, far from their cutesy days. Coupled with the release of their latest Korean album, "I Got A Boy," Girls' Generation has solidified their position as one of Korea's top girl group.
I still remember how my day usually went by during this time period. I would open up Facebook and just see the group and their members being plastered all over my News Feed like there's no tomorrow. I've slowly sowed my roots into the online community and started to become a frequent commenter on some of the posts in our local Soshified Facebook group. The content that I saw on my News Feed that were shared by my fellow Sones ranged from jokes, dating allegations, fanart, and much more. To me, it felt like I was part of a larger community that was just around my neighborhood and I made them my family.
I got really into the group and met some new people and a long-time friend along the way. Eventually, I met Elaine, a person I would eventually consider as my big sister and main guardian. The nights we had when we were just talking online about Girls' Generation, about how funny Taeyeon (or, as we fondly called her, "Taengoo") looked, and about how she and Tiffany would totally make the perfect couple were just awesome. Just remembering this struck a chord in my heart because it means so much to me. If I were to explain in the terms used in Disney's "Inside Out," my late-night talks with Elaine make up most of my core memories, and it helped shape me into the bright person who I am today. Had I not had a buddy to talk about GG with, I would've been stuck deeper into depression (2013 was a hard time for me as I was coping with many problems). Because of my liking towards the group, and my willingness to stand out and contact others of the same interest, I eventually found a person that makes saying goodbye hard.
The same didn't apply for the other people I met, but I got to know who they were, what they did, and a bunch of other stuff about my fellow Sones. I remember on some days I would just wait for the classes to get suspended so that I may talk to my friends who liked GG. We would share pics like the ones shown below in our Facebook chat groups and just generally have a good time.
The "climax" of my life with Girls' Generation (and my K-pop life in general) reached it peak at December 2013–February 2014 because that was the time when I attended my first convention ever. I saved enough money to go to the annual Korean Pop Convention on my own. This was a big thing for me because, like a kid learning how to ride a bike on his own for the first time, this was a turning point in my life that signaled the approval of my parents to let me do whatever I want and to pursue my interests in life.
Eventually, I got to the convention and with a stroke of luck, too. I have to say, the line outside was looooooooooooooooooooonnnnnnnnngggggg. It was a quarter of a kilometer in length, if I'm not mistaken, and I arrived late. Adding insult to injury, I heard that they were running out of tickets and this really didn't seem like the turn of events I had in mind. It looked like it was about to rain until, out of the blue, a sketchy-looking fellow stood by the line outside and he told us that he has bought some tickets for the convention. Of course, he looked sketchy, so no one really bought them until I and the girl behind me, decided to risk buying sketchy tickets and losing a spot in the line we were in for half an hour just to buy tickets from this dodgy-looking man.
Needless to say, they were affordable and—most of all--they were legit. I got into the convention along with the girl behind me (who was roughly around my age), and since neither one of us had companions, we both decided to accompany each other in the convention. Ah man, I gotta say that the convention was unlike any other and was the cornerstone of my life as a K-popper/Sone.
While it didn't end there, my K-pop life from 2014 onwards was on a decline ever since Jessica left Girls' Generation (and it's a shame too because she was my favorite member). I'm not currently active on any Sone forums (except one, /r/SNSD), but I still keep track of the activities and news from Girls' Generation.
At the end of the day, we make choices because we chose them, while some were chosen for no apparent reason. My decision to have a life as a K-popper was filled with laughs, tears, and lots of fun—and I can surely say that it's the only regret-free major choice I've made in my life. To you, Girls' Generation might seem like "just another girl group" or K-pop might seem like "just another genre," but, to me, it means so much more. Girls' Generation isn't just a band, they're my inspiration; Sone isn't just a fan group, they're my family; finally, K-pop isn't just another genre, it's a way of living.
When the stage lights dim, and the fans aren't cheering for them anymore, Girls' Generation—and the memories I had because of them—will always remain in the place where they first started out in my life, my heart.
P.S.
This is a rough draft. It may/may not contain grammatical, structural, and spelling errors. Rest assured, I'll rectify ALL of them in the revised draft that will be posted soon. Also, I don't usually share things like this, but I'm glad to share my story, and a part of who I really am.
Assignment
Writing Project 1: Autoethnography
Background and Overview
So far in our course, you have started to see that you belong to a set of communities, and these
communities—their rituals, practices, and various phenomena—are closely tied to your identity. This
relationship naturally raises various questions: How do you experience your community? What
communal rituals, practices, traditions, behaviors, and/or objects have influenced your understanding of
your identity? What does it mean to define your identity through your relationship to these
phenomena?
To explore these questions and others related to them, you will compose your first major writing
assignment—an autoethnography. To write this autoethnography, you will select a specific habit, ritual,
or behavior (what we are calling a “cultural phenomenon”) you practice and investigate it. Doing so will
help you discover what this activity says about you, your personal experiences, and the ways those
personal experiences connect to the experiences of others.
The autoethnography is both an easy and a difficult form of writing. It is easy because, we are writing
about what we know: ourselves. It is difficult because we must communicate the significance of our
experience to our audience, making a connection between our own experiences and those of our
readers. We must confront the hard truth that an event is not significant just because “it happened to
me.” The event must offer some take-away value, and the writer who writes about the event must be
able to answer the question “so what?” The answer to this question is the primary insight of the
autoethnography, or the ultimate point that you are trying to make. Autoethnographies are not just
chronological narrations of events; they communicate the event’s meaning and leave readers with a
dominant impression of what it might have been like to experience it themselves.
For example, you might explore
● your methods of transportation. Do you walk, ride a bike, drive, or take a train to work/school?
Why? What might your routine say about your identity or culture?
● your preferences for certain types of food. What do your choices say about your beliefs?
● your reading habits. Do you read the newspaper over coffee? Do you read before bed? What do
you read? Why? What might these habits convey about your age, class, or social group?
Requirements and Deliverables
1. In your essay, you should select one habit, ritual, practice, or behavior and reflect upon this
“phenomenon,” articulating why and how it has been significant for you. How have you been
shaped as a person within your larger community by this activity?
2. Whatever your topic habit, ritual, practice, or behavior, your essay should be informed by close
observation and provide a level of detail through example, anecdote, and explanation, which
enables a reader to relate to your understanding of the action and its significance. It should provide
significant insight into what has made/makes you who you are by including detailed descriptions of
places and events while explaining the significance of these events to the formation of your own
beliefs and behaviors.
3. Your essay should be written with an audience in mind: it should be organized in such a way
that a reader can follow your thinking and reasoning from paragraph to paragraph and within each
paragraph. This organization should lead your reader to your primary insight or ultimate point in a
clear manner; in other words, your primary insight should help structure your paper.
4. Your essay needs to include and integrate at least one multimodal element. You could include
pictures, sounds, or even hyperlinks to other resources, but you must make sure that your reader
understands why you are including these elements and why including them enriches your piece of
writing. Consider what media beyond text might reinforce your main idea to readers, convey in
another way the significance of your autoethnography, and/or appeal to your readers from a
different register.
5. Your completed essay should have a title and be at least 1200-1500 words in length.
Project Submission
● Rough Draft: Your rough draft will be submitted for peer review and to your e-portfolio.
● Revised Draft: Your revised draft should be uploaded to your e-portfolio.
Tips:
● Get started early.
● Review this week’s materials and discussions.
● Set a writing/research schedule and stick to it.
Background and Overview
So far in our course, you have started to see that you belong to a set of communities, and these
communities—their rituals, practices, and various phenomena—are closely tied to your identity. This
relationship naturally raises various questions: How do you experience your community? What
communal rituals, practices, traditions, behaviors, and/or objects have influenced your understanding of
your identity? What does it mean to define your identity through your relationship to these
phenomena?
To explore these questions and others related to them, you will compose your first major writing
assignment—an autoethnography. To write this autoethnography, you will select a specific habit, ritual,
or behavior (what we are calling a “cultural phenomenon”) you practice and investigate it. Doing so will
help you discover what this activity says about you, your personal experiences, and the ways those
personal experiences connect to the experiences of others.
The autoethnography is both an easy and a difficult form of writing. It is easy because, we are writing
about what we know: ourselves. It is difficult because we must communicate the significance of our
experience to our audience, making a connection between our own experiences and those of our
readers. We must confront the hard truth that an event is not significant just because “it happened to
me.” The event must offer some take-away value, and the writer who writes about the event must be
able to answer the question “so what?” The answer to this question is the primary insight of the
autoethnography, or the ultimate point that you are trying to make. Autoethnographies are not just
chronological narrations of events; they communicate the event’s meaning and leave readers with a
dominant impression of what it might have been like to experience it themselves.
For example, you might explore
● your methods of transportation. Do you walk, ride a bike, drive, or take a train to work/school?
Why? What might your routine say about your identity or culture?
● your preferences for certain types of food. What do your choices say about your beliefs?
● your reading habits. Do you read the newspaper over coffee? Do you read before bed? What do
you read? Why? What might these habits convey about your age, class, or social group?
Requirements and Deliverables
1. In your essay, you should select one habit, ritual, practice, or behavior and reflect upon this
“phenomenon,” articulating why and how it has been significant for you. How have you been
shaped as a person within your larger community by this activity?
2. Whatever your topic habit, ritual, practice, or behavior, your essay should be informed by close
observation and provide a level of detail through example, anecdote, and explanation, which
enables a reader to relate to your understanding of the action and its significance. It should provide
significant insight into what has made/makes you who you are by including detailed descriptions of
places and events while explaining the significance of these events to the formation of your own
beliefs and behaviors.
3. Your essay should be written with an audience in mind: it should be organized in such a way
that a reader can follow your thinking and reasoning from paragraph to paragraph and within each
paragraph. This organization should lead your reader to your primary insight or ultimate point in a
clear manner; in other words, your primary insight should help structure your paper.
4. Your essay needs to include and integrate at least one multimodal element. You could include
pictures, sounds, or even hyperlinks to other resources, but you must make sure that your reader
understands why you are including these elements and why including them enriches your piece of
writing. Consider what media beyond text might reinforce your main idea to readers, convey in
another way the significance of your autoethnography, and/or appeal to your readers from a
different register.
5. Your completed essay should have a title and be at least 1200-1500 words in length.
Project Submission
● Rough Draft: Your rough draft will be submitted for peer review and to your e-portfolio.
● Revised Draft: Your revised draft should be uploaded to your e-portfolio.
Tips:
● Get started early.
● Review this week’s materials and discussions.
● Set a writing/research schedule and stick to it.