Post Your essay

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of Chicago ✅
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<ol>
<li>How does the University of Chicago, as you know it now, satisfy your desire for a particular kind of learning,
community, and future? Please address with some particularity your own wishes and how they relate to Chicago.</li>
</ol>

<p>Perhaps I should fear that by indulging in my varied interests, I’ll end up not a “Renaissance [wo]Man,” but a useless
dilettante (if dilettantes are indeed so very useless). Yet I refuse to fear. Rather than dabbling pointlessly and
endlessly, I will explore those subjects that interest me so that I can learn more about the world, about humankind,
and about myself. And I will find fun along the way: indeed, fun will be intrinsic to my journey. In the words of Dean
O’Neill, I have “made peace with the artificial distinction which supposedly separates the meaningful from the fun.”
Guided by this understanding which I thought for so long was mine alone, I will study. I will grow.
Everything I have always loved about The University of Chicago can be stated very simply through the recollection of
its motto: Crescat scientia; vita excolatur. The idea that life is enriched by the growth of knowledge has been instilled
in me from a very young age. Thus, I began my college search with a desire for a holistic education infused with an
excitement for learning and permeated by peers who would wish not only to gain knowledge, but also to improve
their very minds, souls, bodies, and spirits. In my experience, an analytical learning process is superior to a
mechanical digestion of information. As my calculus teacher says almost daily, “We are not robots.” In this way, I
found The University of Chicago.
Having fallen in love with Chicago’s attitude, worldview, and very ethos, I scoured the website, emailed students,
asked everyone I knew, and finally visited. Reality surpassed all I had envisioned. Exploring the community, meeting
the students, staying in the dorm, touring the campus, and seeing first-hand that intellectualism reigns supreme was a
most comforting and uplifting experience, especially coming from a small town high school where higher education is
commonly considered a routine means to a job. Even if somehow something had fallen short, the Seminary Co-op
Bookstore would have been enough appeasement!
The very highlight of my three days on campus occurred while I sat waiting for the campus tour to begin: a mere
sophomore at the time, I was astonished when the Dean of Admissions, in leaving his office, stopped, sat down, and
spoke with me. Dean O’Neill made me feel extremely welcome. At the time, the overall friendliness and happiness
of the admissions staff and student guides impressed me: in retrospect (after having visited a few more colleges), I am
astonished. I have never felt more at home.
This feeling did not end when I left campus: every postcard and email and letter and mailing I have received from
Chicago greeted me with all the exuberance of every mind on campus. Opening a piece of Chicago mail is a totally
different experience from opening any other piece of college mail: all else is impersonal and flat by comparison. With
every envelope I open, I picture Dean O’Neill specially crafting his letters to all the potential Chicago applicants. I do
not know who we all are and what we are all like, but I am certain of our incredible diversity and our one central love
of the life of the mind.
Now I only have one problem. How do I explain why I want to go to The University of Chicago? I’ve already
heard the remarks that someone “smart” like I should go to a “good” school. I’ve decided I would rather not explain.
I could list the Nobel prizes; I could tell them how I want to study linguistics in the oldest linguistics department in the
United States; I could try to enumerate the research opportunities—yet all these facets, wonderful as they might be,
pale when regarding the true essence of the university. I cannot explain the intellectual energy. I cannot describe the
minds flowing with ideas. I cannot analyze why everything fits perfectly. I can only hope that I will have the
opportunity to tap into this fountain of educational zeal that is The University of Chicago.</p>

42

<ol>
<li>Tell us about a few of your favorite books, poems, authors, films, plays, pieces of music, musicians, performers,
paintings, artists, magazines, or newspapers. Feel free to touch on one, some, or all of the categories listed or add a
category of your own.</li>
</ol>

<p>I have always heard the presumably trite saying that new languages open new worlds. Behind its hackneyed fa</p>

43

<p>Yeah...they're pretty long...but I guess the adcom liked them! I got in RD with a $9500/year scholarship!</p>

<p>For my third essay, I did essay option #1 (Theme for English B) and I wrote about how I've grown up in a rural area (with chickens and rabbits and gardens, etc.) and how my parents raised me with a rather anti-materialistic attitude...no cable TV, no video games, rely on your own ingenuity for entertainment...and that I've lived my whole life on the grounds of an Orthodox monastery! I described how this upbringing has shaped me (to the best of my abilities).</p>

44

<p>Savoirfaire87,</p>

<p>The Brothers Karamazov! Yes, one of my favorites too. I mentioned it in my transfer app. Hopefully, I too shall be accepted! lol</p>

<p>Just thinking about the poor little kid who bit Alyosha's finger still can bring a tear to my eye. :( One of my favorite passages:</p>

<p>"Another boy with less character would have resigned himself and just become ashamed of his father, but this one decided to stand up for his father, one against the world....""</p>

<p>Which translation is the one you liked, btw? Mine is by Andrew R. MacAndrew... It's the only one I've ever looked at.</p>

45

<p>My "Why Chicago?" essay</p>

<p>Colleges are supposed to be places of learning, or so I thought. Yet it’s strange that so many kids seem focused on the outcome of college rather than the process itself; it’s all about marketable skills rather than the process of acquiring them. It’s pretty rare to find someone who truly, truly enjoys the material he/she encounters and constantly desires to learn more. I think it’s even more special when you get a whole group of kids like that together. I see myself as one of those kids, and I see Chicago as a place where I’d fit right in; of course higher education will lead to my employment, but most of all I want college to help me become a genuinely learned, well-educated person. Even when considering schools of similar intellectual caliber in terms of faculty and students, what sets Chicago apart for me is that it seems as if kids at these other institutions often look at college as a fast track to big bucks or the presidency, and that fellow students are competitors rather than partners in learning; Chicago strikes me as a place where people go for the intellectual experience and enjoy it collectively, and that’s where I want to be.
Aside from the learning, Chicago is also very attractive to me because of its location, partially because I’ve lived my entire life in a rural town. But I’ve been lucky enough to visit Chicago once (coincidentally, my mother grew up in the “baddest part of town”), and I would be thrilled to spend the next four years there. </p>

<p>Well, then I stumbled onto this article two days after getting my waitlist letter.......</p>

<p><a href="http://magazine.uchicago.edu/0310/features/zen.shtml%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://magazine.uchicago.edu/0310/features/zen.shtml&lt;/a>.... Here's a preview.... "There are no aims of education. The aim is education. If—and only if—you seek it…education will find you. Welcome to the University of Chicago."</p>

<p>Hmmm, about all I can conclude is that I didn't want to go there for the right reasons.</p>

46

<p>Ohhhh... The Brothers Karamazov!</p>

47

<p>This is my essay in response to the "Destroy a question" essay prompt. I'm damn sure it was a pretty big factor in netting me a University Scholarship award...</p>

<p>“Why do so many people have religious faith?”</p>

<p>faith:
a(1) : belief and trust in and loyalty to God
(2) : belief in the traditional doctrines of a religion
b (1) : firm belief in something for which there is no proof
(2) : complete trust</p>

<pre><code>The concept that there are billions of people throughout the world yearning and striving for the purely unselfish tenets of society’s major religions is a simplistic viewpoint at best. Granted, there are true believers out there, but faith is replaceable. In some instances, piety is mimicked for survival or material gain. More often than not, people practice their religion not out of a sincere “belief and trust in…God”, but because they are just following societal norms.

Religion and society can be so intertwined that it is difficult to tell them apart. Do people profess their faith out of a true loyalty to God, or is it out of loyalty to society and what it demands? Human beings are social animals; we have a need to be part of a group. The desire to be included and escape the “odd man out” scenario can lead many people to profess faith in something they may not actually have.

History is filled with examples of one civilization fighting and then absorbing the culture and peoples of another. The losers of these wars must inevitably find a way to survive, both economically and biologically. Converting to the victor’s religion and way of life is the easiest way to accomplish this. Adoption of their belief system and God(s) not only can end persecution, but it also provides overall integration into the society.

Professing belief in the faith can also be tangibly rewarding. Case in point, the Crusades. These wars were never solely for religious purposes; there was land, money, slaves, and power to be had as well. Traditionally, holy leaders live better lives than the flocks to whom they tend.

Conversely, intangible benefits are offered to the masses. Promises of a better afterlife are bought and sold through appropriate behavior. People who follow the tenets as outlined by the hierarchy are thought of as pious. These people will be rewarded, if they wait long enough. The aspect of faith is gone. The “complete trust” is replaced by threats of Hell and eternal damnation; good behavior is leveraged and it is elicited not through faith, but through fear.

Faith is supposed to be built upon belief and complete trust. The appearance of belief and complete trust may not always be sincere or pure. It can be outwardly manifested in any number of ways. Conversion, prayer, and allegiance to the value system can serve to indicate one’s supposed loyalty to God. People may go through the motions, not because of their faith, but because its nothing more than a means to an end. In fact, the great irony of all this is that God would know.
</code></pre>

48

<p>Here is my response to the other short essay question...10 bucks one of the Adcoms loves Jared Diamond too...</p>

<p>Darren Aronofsky is best known for his two movies, Requiem for a Dream and Pi. Both of these films look at the interplay between different forces and how it impacts the world and individual characters as a whole. Requiem and Pi tell the stories of seemingly disparate characters and the factors that unite them together. Certain kinds of music, colors, or diction are attributed to each persona, and some scenes become nothing but one gigantic sensory overload. The movies provide never-ending layers of symbolism for me to examine, no matter how many times I watch them.</p>

<pre><code>Trent Reznor’s music, which he makes through his band Nine Inch Nails, is very complex and multi-faceted. The ambient sounds, off-beat drums, sporadically placed riffs, and layers of harmonies and melodies all serve to come together much like an orchestra. While listening to his songs, I can almost pick out two to three separate songs within the entire piece; in fact this has kept me occupied during car rides for hours on end.

Jared Diamond draws upon anthropology, paleontology, economics, human history, and biology, to try and determine answers to the questions his books pose. When readers ponder the mysteries of human evolution in The Third Chimpanzee, they must routinely synthesize concepts found in many different disciplines. This approach has greatly influenced the way that I think. I no longer see knowledge as being neatly divided into independent topics; I see it as all being linked together. 

    These works are all composed in a similar fashion. Aronofsky’s films, Reznor’s songs, and Diamond’s books are like tapestries, a multitude of ideas and random tangents. Though there may only be rudimentary commonalities within each work, the threads are all organized in such a way that makes perfect sense. This style is more powerful than the traditional linear and homogeneous approach. It gives me opportunities to analyze, dissect, and enjoy the components that make up each piece.

</code></pre>

49

<p>The translation that I enjoy was done by Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky. Incidently, my parents happen to know Larissa...she is a native Russian and my parents met her when she came to New York to study. </p>

<p>I really enjoyed the ethnic flavor that they gave the books: many cultural and religous aspects have been translated correctly for the first time by these two talented people. The change is incredibly refreshing to me, as I am half Russian and have grown up rather familiar with Russian culture.</p>

<p>Their only translations that I have read are Crime and Punishment and Brothers Karamazov. They have translated many more...I've heard that their Anna Karenina is really good. (It was selected for Oprah's Book Club...for what it's worth.)</p>

<p>Wikipedia:</p>

<p>Richard Pevear is an American-born poet and translator who frequently collaborates with his wife, Larissa Volokhonsky, on translations of Russian novels. The husband-and-wife team live in Paris and are said to work in a two-step process: Volokhonsky, a native of St. Petersburg, Russia, prepares a literal translation of the Russian text, and Pevear adapts the literal into polished and stylistically appropriate English.</p>

<p>Pevear was born in Boston and earned a bachelor's degree from Allegheny College and a master's degree from the University of Virginia. As of 2006, he teaches classes at the American University of Paris.</p>

50

<p>My son's response to the Langston Hughes poem, Essay Option 1.</p>

<pre><code>"My name is Sam. I am 17 years old. On my mother’s side I am a third generation Ukrainian Jew. On my father’s side I am a descendant of a family that came to the United States on the Mayflower. I live in the Flatbush neighborhood of Brooklyn, zip code 11226. According to my college applications I am “White/Caucasian.” I am a Jew. I am an atheist. I celebrate Christmas. In other words, I am a New Yorker.

"I live on one of the rare integrated blocks in Brooklyn. It is approximately half Black and half White. 11226 is not diverse, and it is not integrated. It is 6.5% “White/Caucasian”, and 79.8% “African American/Black”. In fact, there are very few African Americans. The ethnic majority in the 11226 zip code is first and second generation Carribean.

"My high school is one of the most diverse schools in Brooklyn, and probably in the country. It is 49% White, and half of those students speak Russian at home. It is 23% Black, 13% Hispanic, and 16% Asian. I am a member of student government, which has Indians, Bangladeshis, Pakistanis, African Americans, Barbadians, Grenadians, and “White/Caucasians” like me.

"Race is important to me. There was a time, not too long ago, when I was under the impression that White Conservative Southerners were the racists in this country. This week a friend of mine who is by no means a Conservative Southerner insinuated to me in the course of a conversation that she does not like a specific restaurant because there are never any white people in it. This week another friend of mine started a sentence with “Ok, I hope no one gets offended by this... Oh wait, no one here is black.” Another friend’s dad does not want her to go to the corner store that is owned by “the Arab guy.”

"Race is important to me, but I did not say anything to them. That is why it is hard to say who I am. My racist friends believe in affirmative action. They want better funding for inner-city high schools. They have black friends. All of those things are true for me. In my mind, they are racist and I am not. In my mind I tell them so and they realize they are wrong. In the real world, I shrug and feel uncomfortable. I change the subject. It is hard to say who I am because I am not used to feeling ashamed of myself, or of my friends, but I am ashamed. I am not used to hiding how I feel from others, but I have done that. This week I was a very polite and
</code></pre>

<p>socially well adjusted coward. Next week I will be angry, rude, and honest."</p>

51

<p>Just got the acceptance e-mail (intl)! Happy happy happy :D</p>

<p>I guess I'll just post my own prompt (a spin off #2):
Questions are wonderful playthings. We can ask them, tweak them, bounce off them, redefine them, wreck our brains over them, sometimes even destroy them--and write about them. Do.</p>

<p>And then I wrote five numbered sections of stuff. Whee.</p>

52

<p>I was deffered early action and accepted regular decision...</p>

<p>my essay was like a mock newspaper article complete with pictures and stylized heading, etc...</p>

<p>Option #5 (essay of your choice)</p>

<p>Fun Dies in University of Chicago Classroom
Students stunned to find beloved classroom entity gone</p>

<p>CHICAGO- Yesterday at approximately 4:30 pm Fun, a highly popular class presence, was discovered to have died away in a University of Chicago classroom. Students were stunned to find Fun absent in the University’s Multivariate Calculus class especially given the course’s reputation as quite the delightful romp. Sources conclude that the University’s daunting course load and tendency to extinguish all that is enjoyable was cause for this tragic event.
Witnesses say that this comes as no surprise. “Well it’s really cold here and U of C students just don’t know how to party. I’m surprised Fun didn’t die sooner,” says Amy Linfield, a friend of Fun. Others say that the death of Fun is of no consequence to the University given its naturally somber atmosphere. Says one student: “Well, I was in the library when it happened, writing fourteen papers…I didn’t really notice Fun go.”
For others outside of the University, the loss of Fun is a tragic event. Fun was a much beloved entity in many classrooms across the country as well as at bachelor/ bachlorette parties, clubs, and in game shows. Said one fan of Fun between sobs, “Every time I was sad I knew I could just hit the beach with some friends and Fun would be there. Now… I’m sorry, I can’t go on.”
Born at the time of the first ice cream social, dating back to homo habilis, Fun was a major part of human life for the past 2.3 million years. Raised in the town of Sodom, and later Gomorrah, this revered and always jovial being was at the festivals of Bacchus, the first Olympic Games in 775 B.C., the decadent court of King Louis the XIV, and was deemed crucial to attracting people to yearly Mardi Gras celebrations everywhere.<br>
Recently Fun made the decision to attend the University of Chicago, forfeiting a large scholarship from the University of California Santa Barbara, known for its constant parties and sunny location. However, Fun soon realized that the University was not a match. Despite Fun’s best efforts to organize social events or even coax a smile out of the University’s students, Fun was immediately dissuaded by neuroengineering and quantum physics homework.
After classroom assessment, Stuart Wells, an environmental psychologist, released a report declaring the University of Chicago an unhealthy environment for joy to thrive in, citing Fun’s passage as a prime example. “Fun slowly faded away. It is heart wrenching to see someone die as a result of sheer dejection. I implore you remaining students to get out while you still can!”
Fun was last publicly seen, outside of University of Chicago, at a roller disco in late October. “I didn’t think that that was the last time I would see Fun,” says one witness, present that night. “It’s a total shame! I mean I barely saw Fun on campus but when I did it was great. Anyway, I have to go study for nine exams.”</p>

53

<p>and also here's one of my short responses</p>

<ol>
<li><p>Tell us about a few of your favorite books, poems, authors, films, plays, pieces of music, musicians, performers, paintings, artists, magazines, or newspapers. Feel free to touch on one, some, or all of the categories listed, or add a category of your own.</p>

<p>I love Amedeo Modigliani paintings. I was first introduced to his paintings, as so many are introduced to fine works, through a wall calendar (surely the most cultured way to absorb great art). Modigliani paintings caught my eye more immediately than most because many of the girls depicted in the paintings resemble me. One way to get people to appreciate fine art is to encourage their vanity and that’s exactly what Modigliani does. It makes sense that I would like to behold myself in painting because, as a dancer, hours are spent in a studio being trained to look at oneself.
Sure, I recognize the feat that is Starry Night, the impact of Guernica, the way that a Rembrandt portrait is seared into one’s memory, but when I behold an artful rendition of myself, that is what stays close to my heart. For, I love myself (as everyone should) and I am pleased at the thought that, everyday, thousands of museum connoisseurs are loving me too.</p></li>
</ol>

54

<p>here's my essay:</p>

<p>Roses are red
Violets are blue
poop is green
and im real mean</p>

55

<p>-_- wow boopie that sure is impressive.</p>

56

<p>i don't remember the number of the prompt, but i think you guys can figure out which it is. in, EA, if it matters.</p>

<p>What's so terrible about a sticky mind?</p>

<p>Sometimes I wish mine would stick more.</p>

<p>There is a difference, of course, between “stick” and “stuck”--more significant than a single vowel. It is as essential as the difference between the flypaper and the doomed insect it ensnares. Something stuck cannot free itself. It is trapped and immobile, bound to whatever has captured it. Perhaps it is even veering toward the jaws of apathy. Stuck brings to mind childhood memories of A. A. Milne’s image of the beloved but none-too-bright bear, Winnie the Pooh, wedging himself in the door-hole to his home. He is unable to retreat nor continue because he has eaten too much honey and grown ponderously porcine. Pooh lacked the willpower to control his appetite for sweets and the discipline to eat healthier foods, and as a result, it took a radical diet and a shove from all of his friends to budge him. Similarly and unfortunately, fat minds are becoming a pandemic--perhaps even at the alarming rate that fat bottoms are. Some are so content to wallow in easy day-to-day routine that they rarely expand beyond comfortable normalcy of thought. Whichever flavor of information piques our bland palate is readily and steadily available thanks to mass media. Even our presidents choose to surround themselves with yea-sayers from their own parties so that their ideas are constantly supported and never challenged to what may actually be a higher standard. Being agreed with gives us confidence and warm fuzzies, but it is the mental equivalent of sitting on the couch watching soap opera reruns. As such, a mind never forced to defend itself grows flabby and complacent. It is stuck in its own mire of sameness.</p>

<p>Quite the contrast to the stuck individual is the slippery brain, so slickly coated that it cannot seem to adhere to any particular set of values. This is not to say one cannot be open-minded; on the contrary, it is essential to value the diversity we strive to preserve. Somehow, though, society mistakenly defines open-mindedness as never criticizing or challenging opposing viewpoints, lest some sensitive soul be hurt--lest they themselves be unable to defend what they stand for. Ideologically it is in vogue to believe whatever you want, but not be so bold as to profess that belief as correct. Do so and they start slapping on labels: “judgmental”, “closed-minded”, “rude”. Slippery minds sometimes claim to be “Socratic”, but Socrates clearly would have never supported them. To argue well was one of the prized talents of a classical scholar. Under these rules, there is no room for intelligent debate--to disagree is to offend. Even more tragic is the destruction of absolute truth that relativistic thinking brings with it. Logically, it even destroys itself--without absolute morality, this theory claiming itself to be undeniably true creates an unsolvable paradox. Ouch, what a headache. Yet again, the operative is to be flexible and willing to listen without being relativistic and uncommitted. </p>

<p>What, then, defines this ideal sticky mind? A little acquisitiveness never hurt, for one. There is a well-documented psychological phenomenon that the more you already know, the more you are able to gain. Prior knowledge creates “hooks”, a potential force for snatching up even more information because you already recognize a small part of it. Listening to the incredible people around us can supply us with more information than we can handle, and all it takes are the ears already slapped on the sides of your face and a bit of concentration. Some of the non-ambitious sort make it their goal to learn one new thing every day, but volumes can be read in simply being observant every minute. Sticky people also persevere--they have “stick-to-it-iveness”. Plans and goals are made to be met, and obstacles are what make the getting there more fun. Loss of self-discipline is a disease of inertia among my peers--at least the ones I have spent the past four years with. Being a section leader in a competitive marching band that rehearses almost twenty hours every week has shown me first-hand what commitment means, and how pointless any activity is without it. The only way to have fun in band is to contribute everything to the show for that season--time, energy, your entire social life as you know it. Otherwise, rehearsals become pointless and boring, competitions mean nothing. The apathetic ones find it a great relief when they finish four years belonging what they viciously deem a “cult”--yet the ones who cared come out hugging a family with a hundred and sixty members and the best memories of their lives. Perseverance equals success--sticky people will have all the fun. It takes effort on their part, but the benefits always outweigh the costs. Finally, living a sticky life means being true to oneself. My grandma probably would have called it “sticking to your guns”. Strong people always stand for something, whatever it is, and make it their cause celèbré--but they do not overrule the possibility of changing their minds if so convinced. The only people who make history are those who go against the normal ways of doing things. There is no revolution in the status quo. </p>

<p>You see, there’s nothing wrong with getting a little sticky. Who knows what magnificence will stick to you…</p>

57

<p>I did the string essay, and here's one of my rough draft versions.</p>

<p>The World According to Atlas</p>

<p>Sing me a song, nomarchs of admission
As I accept this difficult mission
To enliven the process of writing
And muster up a scheme for its rhyming-
Maybe I’ll follow the Tales of Canterbury:
A B A B? No, it’s A A B B.
I can positively tell you one thing:
This is much more fun than an essay- that’s boring.
Especially ones of such feigned enthusiasm.
Clear your mind and prepare for fantasm.
In this process, you may become flustered.
(Can you say that for a jug of mustard?)
We will leave on a journey of epic
Proportions, like Homer and those other “relics,”
Relative to Ulysses, Gilgamesh
But sexier and, even better, fresh.</p>

<p>In sunny Tartarus the story starts.
A place of gum drop smiles and rose-red hearts,
Where those damned titans now frolic and play
(After losing to Zeus, they were thrown away)
They were each assigned their own special job-
To bar the mentality of a mob.
Prometheus, his liver served nightly,
Was strung to a rock, restrained mightily.
Atlas, his brother was another story!
He just wanted to read Tuesdays With Morrie.
He was rewarded a much happier fate:
(After which he became wrongly irate)
Holding the world was, in the end, more fun
Than reading Morrie and crying a ton.</p>

<p>“O darn,” he said, taking his position
He was, you see, not strong with his diction.
The Earth to him was a little bit heavy,
Each day he worked out, simply benching a Chevy.
On one fine morning he fancied juggling
(He’d just been seen with the earth snuggling.)
As he prepared, something strange caught his eye.
A small, white piece of string, not very high.
“Man,” he exclaimed, “these pants are getting old!”
So he knelt down to grasp the string in his hold
He quickly caught on and forcefully ripped
But he lost his balance and dramatic’ly tripped!!
He would have lost this globe, had he not knelt
And his pants were sagging. Awkward, he felt.
He tried to get up- alas, he could not!
Behind his head, in his arms, Earth would rot.
“O well,” he said, he did not want to fret
He was just worried about all his sweat.</p>

<p>His worries were valid, as the world saw,
Leaving some places humid, others raw
The summers would be quite unbearable
The entire East Coast- intolerable-
(Your snowy Chicago is quite a bit better,
Hopefully I’ll have access to a sweater)
Seasons back east might end up being somewhat tough
Unlike L.A.—Wait? What’s this weather stuff?</p>

<p>This epic is over, the poem’s almost finished
And now you know why some weather’s skittish.
Who would have thought that that’s how it occured?
Atlas tripped and the world frightfully stirred.
Is he really to blame for the changes in weather?
He could have avoided it, had he just worn leather.
But no, Earth would be eternally feeling
The huge effects of that tiny, white piece of string</p>

58

<p>I took a little different approach with my essay, but I got accepted, so I must have done something right. =D I did topic #3, I believe:</p>

<p>Mu.</p>

59

<p>I envy all these beautiful essays ARGG</p>

60

<p>Here's mine. It was kinda weird, I'm not gonna lie...</p>

<p>What is?
Modern languages have verbs that mean "to be." Spanish has two "to be" verbs - ser and estar. One is a
temporary verb, and one is permanent in nature. English has one verb "to be." It can be conjugated as I am, you are,
he/she/it is, we are, and they are. Existence is marked by reality, and reality is, in turn, marked by the process that the
verb in question describes. Most humans would agree that concrete things that "are" would be described as tangible.
Abstract things can also "be."
I can obliterate my question by forming a response so astounding and unfathomable that the question crumbles at
my feet. Being is something that exists in the minds of those that live. Humans perceive things and then assume they
are real and exist, although they might not actually be tangible. What of mental patients who have hallucinations? Their
perceptions are real to them, but they're not real to everyone else. A fit of insanity temporarily brings reality to a level
on which it does not exist, but its form seems reasonable to he or she who perceives it. Reality is in the mind of the
beholder, not in the world around us. Nothing could actually exist if there were no living creatures to realize it.
Billions of years ago, when the earth was in its molten state, nothing actually "was." How could it be? Nothing
could understand it as "being." It was not able to be perceived as “was.” In fact, "being" had not even been invented.
It is a sentiment of thinking and perception. When animals began to populate the earth, what we call "being" came into
existence, as the world was able to be felt and understood. Humans came along and invented words that described
the action of existing in reality. We had to invent something like that; it only seemed natural to describe the world
around us in permanent and temporal states.
"Mommy, it's hot outside." In English, we use contractions with phrases like "it is." They are used to assist
speakers in quickening the pace of conversation. I think that the use of contraction undermines the importance of "to
be." Nobody ever stops to think about how important our ideas of reality are. Being is indeed in the mind of those
who think they can be, and it could not exist without a general acceptance of what most people believe. The original
question posed was "What is?" It is whatever we want it to be, what we have developed as a civilization, and what
we have formed in order to escape the mental anguish of discerning reality from fantasy.</p>