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.)
As I am wrapping up my second term at Dartmouth, I wanted to take a moment to reflect on where life has taken me—at least within this cozy college town.
Most people decide to take lighter courses in their first term, and slowly ramp up the difficulty (and perhaps the workload). I, however, opted to take a lighter courseload in the winter term. I'm from a warmer area and have never been a huge fan of the cold, so I knew that I would need to focus on adjusting to the Hanover winters and single-digit temperatures (in Fahrenheit). After careful consideration, I decided to take ECON 1, PHIL 3, and WRIT 5.
ECON 1 The Price System - Analysis, Problems, and Policies:This class is an introduction to the wonderful world of economics, and is a prerequisite for the economics major. I never took an economics class prior to coming to Dartmouth, so I was initially nervous about whether I was sufficiently prepared, even if it was supposed to be an introductory class. Thankfully, my worries were assuaged. Professor Lee broke down all concepts in a step-by-step manner that was easy for a layman to understand! Don't be fooled: it's not an easy class. Despite the challenge (or maybe because of it), I genuinely enjoyed it and am considering further pursuing economics. In fact, I liked both the class and the professor so much that I took her out to lunch at the Pine through the Take a Faculty Member to Breakfast or Lunch program!
PHIL 3 Reason and Argument:This is the second philosophy class I've taken at Dartmouth, and I am all the more determined to pursue this field of study! As someone who is considering majoring in philosophy, it was a good idea for me to take this course because it is a major requirement. When you hear the word "philosophy," your mind may wander to ethics, morals, the "big questions," and famous philosophers like John Locke or Kant. This class was nothing like that. Instead, we learned how to evaluate the strength of an argument, validity and invalidity, logical fallacies, sentential logic, and more. My favorite part of the course is the final essay, where we pick any passage that has some sort of argument, and then analyze it. I chose to write an analysis of someone's case against universal casic income.
WRIT 5 Future Fantasies - Imagining the Posthuman: Writing 5 is a mandatory writing course for all first-year students that consists of no more than 16 people per class. People are placed into taking it in the fall or winter term. I was scheduled to take Writing 5 during my winter term, so when course election rolled around, I scrolled through the list of various Writing 5 courses and decided to take a course called "Future Fantasies - Imagining the Posthuman." We had extensive discussions about the posthuman, what it means to be human, and how science fiction is strikingly parallel to current issues that our society has faced and continues to face. These issues included the various "-isms" (racism, colonialism, environmentalism), but also focused on current technologies such as the rapid advancement of artificial intelligence. I have always been interested in the combination of technology, ethics, and bias, so this class fit right up my alley! My favorite part of this course was when I did my presentation on the ethics of AI art, and discussed what constitutes "real" art—something that is considered to be a "human" quality.
One of the readings for WRIT 5, Dawn by Octavia Butler, explores themes like colonialism, consent, and reproductive rights.
Beyond class, I have been working on finding my place at Dartmouth. I am aware that is an extremely broad concept, and that my identity within the lens of college will change over time. I have narrowed down the possibilities of what I want to study in the future, and am heavily considering double-majoring in economics and philosophy. I've taken the time to try new things. I've walked in the snow on my way to class, made and thrown snowballs for the first time, and joined The Dartmouth as a writer and a designer despite having no prior journalism experience! I've continued being an active member of leadership within Dartmouth QuestBridge Scholars' Network, and an enthusiastic radio show host every week.
Winter term has started and ended in a whirlwind, that's for sure. I cannot wait to see where spring takes me!
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!
