We've been talking for about a half an hour. The soup had been cold already. It was like a normal Friday night. Well, anyhow, we didn't need to feel uncomfortable feelings at all. Few days ago, I made a phone call and told him that I wanted to interview you especially his life stories for my assignment. He, just like he always did, said yes very simply. That's why we are here and spending time, catching up. One more bottle of So-ju arrived. "I think catching up is enough for today, shall we cut to the chase?" he said, trying to open the bottle with a small smile.
Mike went to California when he was 7th grade and spent 7years there all alone. He is smart, I mean really smart. His IQ is 178 and he is the member of people who have better IQ than MENSA. "I think my parents believed me too much because I'm son and ,you know, I am freakin' smart." That was the beginning of his story. He thought he felt lucky that his parents didn't keep eyes on him at that time, but I am not sure that was really lucky thing to him. According to him, the First 3-years in USA was fine. He'd got great grade of course, and it looked like he had got used to the life of foreign country pretty well before that accident happened. I assume that, maybe, it was bit difficult for such a young boy to bear the life full of unfamiliar things especially all by his own.
"When I come around, I was in jail." He told that he couldn't remember anything that day. The only thing that he could remember was that he and one of his friend were in the middle of fight. He couldn't remember why they fought either but this is just because it has been too long. Anyway during the fight, Mike punched his friend too strongly and didn't stop even after he fell down. A student who spectated the fight called the police and 911, after the police handcuffed him, finally he was able to be stopped. He was diagnosed that he has a problem with anger-control which can completely explain his black-out. As soon as he woke up, he was free to go because he was under age but it didn't take long to find out that he was expelled from his high school. It is not that much surprised: the victim was American citizen and Mike was just a foreigner after all. I've heard his story few times before and every time when I hear this, I was wondering that would his life be different if his parents had known all of it. "Definitely not. I was totally uncontrollable kid at that time. I didn't think I would let them control my life." He smiled and I laughed. "After all It is my life, not theirs." He never disappoints me, ever.
After a few years, he got acceptance from UCLA. He usually smiled when he reminisces his college life. With "unrecallable reason," he needed to make his tuition fee for specific semester. So he worked literally everything he could such as waiter, tutor, bartender and even model. I bet, despite all of these hard-time, one of the best memories of his American lives might be the college one which both of us still don't know why.
One day, after a few hours of sleeping, he called his girlfriend. They talked on the phone, and right after he hung off, he got his car key and tried to go and meet her. He wanted to surprise her with unexpected visiting. When he was near her house, he found out she's having a party without telling him but with bunch of other boys with her. Both of them wanted to talk, so they got into his car. The argument got worse and, unfortunately, the tragic happened again. "It was blood everywhere. That's the first thing I'd seen." He kept explaining how his car was crashed completely and found out that he drove his car towards the wall. "Pain, blood, smog… do you know the most terrified thing other than that? It is the fact that I blacked out again." He looked painful. I knew what's up next so I asked him to stop if he feels bad. He lost his words. We just emptied our glass in silence because I knew he needs some times. After a big sigh with deep-deep breathing, finally he tried to break the ice again with 911. He continued that he noticed something bad had happened to his girlfriend since the 911s struggled to rescue him only even though he shouted them that he wanted to save her first. Again, he smiled with a short pause. Suddenly I felt bad and shouted "Stop smiling especially when you talk this. I hate that." He looked like surprised but, still, he was smiling. "That's enough. I'm done with interview." I thought I can't keep doing this.
I am sorry to stop here. But I need you to understand there are some reasons with that. In short, yes, his girlfriend died on the spot. He had been once diagnosed that he wouldn't use his legs forever but he is fine now. He can even run. We call that 'miracle.' Even doctors call that miracle as well.
"A lot of people tell me that they envy me," he said bitterly all at once. It is true. Even friends who know his story told him that they envy him because he's smart, he's got rich parents and anyway he survived from the tragic. That's why I hate him smiling. Many people judge other people with their covers and talk about them very easily. And they sometimes tend to look down the people especially with smiles. They're not interested what's hidden behind. The only thing they care is themselves not anybody else. It seems like they console themselves while hurting somebody else. But even if someone is super-smart, super-rich, survived from absolute tragic or easy laughter, everybody has their own scars. People think that he overcame completely because he laughs again. But this kind of things cannot be overcome ever, people just buried it deep inside because this is only thing they can do.
"It's on me! Let's go another round, shall we? Friend?" I said him with a big smile because I know my best friend won't give up smiling.
Hello, this is Shim Min Jung. I read your essay and want to comment about it. These are the feedback based on the textbook page 162~163.
ReplyDelete1. I like her way of using direct quotations. It really made me feel like hearing the interviewee’s voice, like “I am freakin' smart.”
2. There is nothing vague.
3. I think she wanted to talk about the sad story under her friend’s smile. He keeps smiling but he has scar under it.
4. "A lot of people tell me that they envy me,"
5. The essay has the right number of quotations. She used direct quotations only where the interviewee’s exact words are particularly effective.
6. Maybe she has to check some grammar errors like ‘According to him, the First 3-years in USA was fine.’ And the essay will become much better if she makes the title of it.
ReplyDeleteHello, this is Hye Hyon Kim from the class.
1. This was certainly a unique interview! I have never heard of such a story before. It grabbed my attention as I read more and more, making me want to read faster to find out what will happen next.
2. I was a little confused when you wrote about Mike's first incident and whether it would have different if his parents had known. So his parents do not know? How could that be if he went to prison and found out that he had an anger control problem? Also, after he said it was none of their business to know, you wrote that you were not disappointed with him. Why? What made you feel this way?
3.I am not sure what your thesis is. Is it Mike's struggles to overcome his problems? Is is his independe? Is is Mike's dark past?
4. "Pain, blood, smog… do you know the most terrified thing other than that? It is the fact that I blacked out again." I liked this quotation best. It showed the terror of Mike from his own actions.
5. I think there could be more quotations. Maybe you could use his own words describing the incidents?
6. I think your interview could improve if you could elaborate on his smile more and why you had to stop asking him questions suddenly. Why did it bother you he smiled? Is it because it was unnatural for Mike to smile frequently and it was making you scared and uncomfortable? Or is it because it hurt you to see him smile while he talked about his painful past? Why did you have to stop the interview?
See you in class!