First time through the Truman
Nov. 25th, 2004 12:01 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
greybetaIt's Turkey Day. And now I can be thankful that I've got my first go around at my Truman Application done.
With these three last questions, I've actually answered them all. I'm far from done, as I have a lot of editing and rewriting to do. I'm not exactly happy with the way that I've currently worded some of my responses, so they will change soon enough.
And you know, looking back on it, I've done a lot more than I thought I have. And I'm a bit more idealistic than most people. I guess I just might be one of those "change agents" that the Truman looks for.
I'll try to have a Word version of my application as soon as my university's national scholarship coordinator and the slavediver, my senior AP english teacher Mrs. Kropp, go through it.
Here are some satisfactory and unsatisfactory responses to question number fifteen.
10. What are the most significant courses you have taken in preparation for your career?
In retrospect, I see that my AP American History class in high school first piqued my interest in how America came to be what it is now. I discovered the dominance of American influence upon the world in my history topics class appropriately titled, “American Empire: Myth or Reality”. I began to understand the parallels between present-day America and the Late Roman Republic in my junior history colloquium, where I learned that social and institutional changes swept Rome into monarchy. I feel that these three classes whetted my appetite for history and prepared me to do the research to back up my opinions, and I feel that these three courses have helped me understand the background and position of America’s foreign policy.
11. If selected a 2005 Truman Scholar, would you apply for the 2006 Washington Summer Institute? (If yes) With which federal executive branch agency would you like to work? What issues would you like to address?
If selected a 2005 Truman Scholar, I would be glad to apply for the 2006 Washington Summer Institute. I would prefer to work with the State Department, and I would love to work on Southeast Asian affairs. Since my history research deals with the Vietnam War, I believe my talents would be best served dealing with foreign policy in that region of the world, especially Vietnam. Not only do I understand the history of the region, but I also understand its culture. Also, I am aware that Vietnam has a poor human rights record and a weak economy, and I would like to help shape a policy that would help alleviate both of these problems in my motherland.
15. What additional personal information do you wish to share with the Truman Scholarship Foundation?
Although I can understand about ninety percent of normal everyday Vietnamese conversation, I never fully developed my Vietnamese language abilities because I only had English-speaking friends growing up. There simply were not very many Vietnamese families in my hometown. At home, my parents speak their native tongue to me, but I usually respond in English. One of my friend's liked to comment that my family could be planning to take over the world and he would never know it. Either that, or we plotted to poison him.
Fortunately, I reinforced my understanding of my native tongue by watching many Chinese kung fu serials dubbed in Vietnamese. I grew up watching these television shows based on classic Chinese novels. In my humble opinion, the best kung fu series is Jin Yong's trilogy of The Legend of the Condor Heroes, The Return of the Condor Heroes, and The Heavenly Sword and the Dragon Sabre. Of the five great kung fu masters from the beginning of this trilogy, I most closely identify with the “Weird Man from the East”. He does not particularly care for the social rules of the martial arts world. He demands loyalty from his students, and he mirrors that loyalty to those he loves. Most importantly, he dares to say what others will not, even if it sounds rather strange. I wish I could say that I also possess his vast medical knowledge and formidable fighting skills.
In the Legend of the Condor Heroes, one specific scene stands out in showing the character of the Weird Man. His daughter loves the hero of the first third of the trilogy and wants to marry him, yet the Weird Man wants his daughter to marry the son of his archrival, the Poison from the West. The Weird Man knows that the hero is a clumsy oaf, too naïve for his clever daughter. He would prefer to be the father-in-law of the intelligent and handsome son of his archival, even if he has killed people in cold blood. After lengthy consideration of the matter, the Weird Man decided to use a contest to determine who would win his daughter’s hand. Against all odds, the hero prevails to win the Weird Man's daughter hand in marriage. The Weird Man accepts this surprising turn of events as a decree of fate.
With these three last questions, I've actually answered them all. I'm far from done, as I have a lot of editing and rewriting to do. I'm not exactly happy with the way that I've currently worded some of my responses, so they will change soon enough.
And you know, looking back on it, I've done a lot more than I thought I have. And I'm a bit more idealistic than most people. I guess I just might be one of those "change agents" that the Truman looks for.
I'll try to have a Word version of my application as soon as my university's national scholarship coordinator and the slavediver, my senior AP english teacher Mrs. Kropp, go through it.
Here are some satisfactory and unsatisfactory responses to question number fifteen.
10. What are the most significant courses you have taken in preparation for your career?
In retrospect, I see that my AP American History class in high school first piqued my interest in how America came to be what it is now. I discovered the dominance of American influence upon the world in my history topics class appropriately titled, “American Empire: Myth or Reality”. I began to understand the parallels between present-day America and the Late Roman Republic in my junior history colloquium, where I learned that social and institutional changes swept Rome into monarchy. I feel that these three classes whetted my appetite for history and prepared me to do the research to back up my opinions, and I feel that these three courses have helped me understand the background and position of America’s foreign policy.
11. If selected a 2005 Truman Scholar, would you apply for the 2006 Washington Summer Institute? (If yes) With which federal executive branch agency would you like to work? What issues would you like to address?
If selected a 2005 Truman Scholar, I would be glad to apply for the 2006 Washington Summer Institute. I would prefer to work with the State Department, and I would love to work on Southeast Asian affairs. Since my history research deals with the Vietnam War, I believe my talents would be best served dealing with foreign policy in that region of the world, especially Vietnam. Not only do I understand the history of the region, but I also understand its culture. Also, I am aware that Vietnam has a poor human rights record and a weak economy, and I would like to help shape a policy that would help alleviate both of these problems in my motherland.
15. What additional personal information do you wish to share with the Truman Scholarship Foundation?
Although I can understand about ninety percent of normal everyday Vietnamese conversation, I never fully developed my Vietnamese language abilities because I only had English-speaking friends growing up. There simply were not very many Vietnamese families in my hometown. At home, my parents speak their native tongue to me, but I usually respond in English. One of my friend's liked to comment that my family could be planning to take over the world and he would never know it. Either that, or we plotted to poison him.
Fortunately, I reinforced my understanding of my native tongue by watching many Chinese kung fu serials dubbed in Vietnamese. I grew up watching these television shows based on classic Chinese novels. In my humble opinion, the best kung fu series is Jin Yong's trilogy of The Legend of the Condor Heroes, The Return of the Condor Heroes, and The Heavenly Sword and the Dragon Sabre. Of the five great kung fu masters from the beginning of this trilogy, I most closely identify with the “Weird Man from the East”. He does not particularly care for the social rules of the martial arts world. He demands loyalty from his students, and he mirrors that loyalty to those he loves. Most importantly, he dares to say what others will not, even if it sounds rather strange. I wish I could say that I also possess his vast medical knowledge and formidable fighting skills.
In the Legend of the Condor Heroes, one specific scene stands out in showing the character of the Weird Man. His daughter loves the hero of the first third of the trilogy and wants to marry him, yet the Weird Man wants his daughter to marry the son of his archrival, the Poison from the West. The Weird Man knows that the hero is a clumsy oaf, too naïve for his clever daughter. He would prefer to be the father-in-law of the intelligent and handsome son of his archival, even if he has killed people in cold blood. After lengthy consideration of the matter, the Weird Man decided to use a contest to determine who would win his daughter’s hand. Against all odds, the hero prevails to win the Weird Man's daughter hand in marriage. The Weird Man accepts this surprising turn of events as a decree of fate.
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Date: 2004-11-25 11:17 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-11-26 01:40 am (UTC)Happy Thanksgiving to you too!