Hello! My name is Cal Shin, and I am a '27 planning to double-major in Economics and Philosophy. Outside of academics and blogging, you can find me drawing (perhaps even designing for The Dartmouth), hosting my radio show as a proud deejay at WebDCR, perusing the Free Market, or hanging out with friends. Ultimately, I am an artist and a storyteller. I hope you enjoy reading about my Dartmouth experience; the journey has just begun!
I took this course with Professor James Binkoski and loved it! I had never taken a philosophy course prior to Dartmouth, so this introductory course in the department was perfect! After all, it combined my interests of philosophy with time and time travel — at least, how time and time travel are depicted in the media. This course may initially seem to be on the more technical side, but Professor Binkoski made sure to break down the various time travel theories — various ways scientists and philosophers think of time and its supposed movement — in a manner that’s easy for anyone to understand. A very popular course overall; I am fortunate to have been able to take it during my first term here!
I took this course with Professor Ha Yan Lee and it was absolutely amazing! I had my initial reservations about this course, mainly because I knew a lot of my classmates would have had some background knowledge while I had none. Professor Lee did a wonderful job of breaking down concepts in a manner that, as she often put it, is easy for even “your grandparents to understand”. Even beyond the course, the level of care Professor Lee exhibited towards her students is significant. She’s one of the most popular professors at Dartmouth, and for good reason! I ate lunch with her at The Pine through the Take a Faculty Member to Lunch program, and she gave me tremendous insight and advice! Because of this course, I have been inspired to explore more courses within the Econ department and potentially major in Economics.
I took this course with Professor Jasmina Savic and examined how the vampire figure evolved over time, starting with Slavic literature, going through Dracula and Twilight, and ending with “vampire” political figures. I realized what the portrayal of vampires could tell me about the thoughts of that society, including the fact that the early notions of vampirism are akin to modern-day diseases. For my final project, I wrote a research paper comparing the gumiho (the Korean nine-tailed fox) to several Western vampires.
SummerNew York City, New York
I had the opportunity to visit New York City for the summer! I met up with a good friend of mine, explored the city itself, and went to a networking event with other college students.
ECON 10 is one of the required courses for the Economics major. Based on my stellar experience with Professor Ha Yan Lee during ECON 1, when I saw that she was teaching ECON 10 this term, I immediately jumped at the chance to take the course with her. Once again, Professor Lee did an amazing job of breaking down concepts in an easy-to-understand manner. (The fact that her slideshows were colorful and featured various pictures of cats helped.)
I took advantage of the crisp autumnal weather and vibrant foliage to explore beyond Hanover and cross off an item on my bucket list, just in time for Halloween!
This weekend, I, along with a couple of my sorority sisters, ventured out to Riverview Farms, located 20 minutes out in Plainfield, New Hampshire. Unlike the town's name, the farm (and its fields) are anything but plain. It boasts a sprawling pumpkin patch, a corn maze, apples, berries, and flowers. We cut through a relatively straightforward path amidst the corn maze and meandered through the pumpkin patch, hoisting pumpkins of various sizes onto a small cart. An hour later, we ended up with 26 fresh pumpkins weighing a total of 81 pounds!
All the pumpkins we picked!
After our pumpkin-picking journey, we headed inside the barn and browsed through the items. This included hot apple cider, donuts, berry preserves, smaller pumpkins and gourds, fresh apples (including a free sample!), and so much more. In short, Riverview Farms turned out to be the epitome of a quintessential New England autumn in one place.
But what could you possibly do with 26 pumpkins, you may ask? Gourd question! (Haha, see what I did there?) We drove back to my sorority house, where a bunch of us gathered around to paint our own pumpkins. As we sat together painting our pumpkins, surrounded by laughter and Halloween-themed music, I was once again reminded that Dartmouth is more than just a college. The seamless blend of traditions spontaneity, and a community that might as well be a family (hey, that kind of rhymes!) is what makes this place a home.
I like to believe that my pumpkin is charming with character.
In addition to blogging, I work as a Fellow for the Tucker Center, which focuses on promoting spiritual and ethical life on campus. As part of this role, I'm leading the Interfaith Alternative Spring Break Trip. Read on to learn more about my work!
