Friday, December 30, 2011
Rice Supplement: Lights and La Grande Jatte @ 12:02 AM
The quality of Rice's academic life and the Residential College System are heavily influenced by the unique life experiences and cultural traditions each student brings. What perspective do you feel that you will contribute to life at Rice?
An ocean of moving sparkles faces me every time the sun goes down. I've been told that I live on the "top of the world," on a hill overlooking the Californian East Bay Area. When the sun sets, the lights congregate into ambiguous masses of colored brightness. From that, I can vaguely make out Interstate 680 and see the city of San Jose's illuminated night life.
The scene oddly reminds me of paintings I've seen in art history class from the post impressionist period that use the pointillism technique. Little dots of different color are agglomerated together to create entirely different color mixes which fool the human eye into seeing one color. Although still beautiful on its own, each single dot is part of a bigger picture, a larger whole.
I live in the George Seurat painting,
Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte,
where everyone and everything around me is a brush stroke, a dot on the canvas.
My parents are the dark red points that make up the painting's centrally positioned woman. She holds her daughter's hand, guiding her where to go. Red is also the color of strength and hard work, which is befitting, as my parents were refugees from Vietnam who came to America with nothing and have worked for everything they have now. Red is also a color on the Vietnamese flag, whose culture and language my parents have brought with them to the States and have taught me since a young age. I celebrate the Vietnamese New Year every winter and eat moon cakes during every autumn festival. My mother and I frequently watch Asian dramas together as well.
My school is a blue dot on the water on the left side of the painting with the white of sailboats peppering it. It is a deep body of knowledge, which keeps that which is upon it afloat and a natural means of crossing from one side of the land to another, a rite of passage. The culture of school spirit has always been strong. Valley Christian's school colors are blue and white, and those colors are the only ones you will see at rivalry football games. At the same time I've learned the value of fellowship with my peers, I've learned the value of a strong, solid education. My school has a very broad course offering, and I took advantage of it by taking as many enriching and rigorous courses as possible.
My friends are the dots that make up the green grass. The grass fosters growth as it grows itself, and it provides cushion for anyone that may happen to fall. I've learned to appreciate having good friends as well as being one. I have been bosom buddies with my two best friends for over 8 years, despite the fact that the three of us each go to different secondary schools. Loyalty and being available for the people that you care about are things that I value greatly.
I see the world in a way that mirrors the place I live; it is full of light and a work of art. I would hope to be able to contribute the same brightness to the Residential College culture at Rice, to be a dot of color that adds vitality to the whole.
Friday, December 30, 2011
Rice Supplement: Lights and La Grande Jatte @ 12:02 AM
The quality of Rice's academic life and the Residential College System are heavily influenced by the unique life experiences and cultural traditions each student brings. What perspective do you feel that you will contribute to life at Rice?
An ocean of moving sparkles faces me every time the sun goes down. I've been told that I live on the "top of the world," on a hill overlooking the Californian East Bay Area. When the sun sets, the lights congregate into ambiguous masses of colored brightness. From that, I can vaguely make out Interstate 680 and see the city of San Jose's illuminated night life.
The scene oddly reminds me of paintings I've seen in art history class from the post impressionist period that use the pointillism technique. Little dots of different color are agglomerated together to create entirely different color mixes which fool the human eye into seeing one color. Although still beautiful on its own, each single dot is part of a bigger picture, a larger whole.
I live in the George Seurat painting,
Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte,
where everyone and everything around me is a brush stroke, a dot on the canvas.
My parents are the dark red points that make up the painting's centrally positioned woman. She holds her daughter's hand, guiding her where to go. Red is also the color of strength and hard work, which is befitting, as my parents were refugees from Vietnam who came to America with nothing and have worked for everything they have now. Red is also a color on the Vietnamese flag, whose culture and language my parents have brought with them to the States and have taught me since a young age. I celebrate the Vietnamese New Year every winter and eat moon cakes during every autumn festival. My mother and I frequently watch Asian dramas together as well.
My school is a blue dot on the water on the left side of the painting with the white of sailboats peppering it. It is a deep body of knowledge, which keeps that which is upon it afloat and a natural means of crossing from one side of the land to another, a rite of passage. The culture of school spirit has always been strong. Valley Christian's school colors are blue and white, and those colors are the only ones you will see at rivalry football games. At the same time I've learned the value of fellowship with my peers, I've learned the value of a strong, solid education. My school has a very broad course offering, and I took advantage of it by taking as many enriching and rigorous courses as possible.
My friends are the dots that make up the green grass. The grass fosters growth as it grows itself, and it provides cushion for anyone that may happen to fall. I've learned to appreciate having good friends as well as being one. I have been bosom buddies with my two best friends for over 8 years, despite the fact that the three of us each go to different secondary schools. Loyalty and being available for the people that you care about are things that I value greatly.
I see the world in a way that mirrors the place I live; it is full of light and a work of art. I would hope to be able to contribute the same brightness to the Residential College culture at Rice, to be a dot of color that adds vitality to the whole.
me.
you think you know me yeah ?
Hello, my name is Ash, and I'm currently a student in her last year of secondary school.
To be honest, this blog has been made so that I can practice my writing and delve deeper into my mind in order for me to realize what is important to me -
what exactly makes me me?
It's a soul searching blog, and the ultimate goal is for me to write freely about myself and find inspiration and material for admissions essays.
As that is, anything that is written on this blog is my intellectual property. Uni.'s obviously use plagiarism checkers on all submitted work, so stealing any words that I have written will only ruin your future.
One thing I hate
most is academic dishonesty.
