Who I Am

Essay-a-Week Challenge - Week 1
"May 6th: Who I Am
A credo of sorts. Who are you? What makes you tick? What ticks you off? What do you want out of life? What do you think life wants out of you? Really, this one’s fairly open ended. Do with it what you will."

Topics from, A Bookful Blockhead.

Nearing twenty ellipses around the sun, I'm halfway done my undergraduate degree, and two decades through life. After twelve years in elementary, junior high, and high school, studying and sampling various classes in the sciences and the arts, I find myself in university working away at my Arts & Science degree. It's an interdisciplinary program, and I love it, despite the confusion and challenge in explaining what I actually do. But it is this challenge that is integral to the program, accepting and integrating different fields of study, that makes it as fun as it is relevant in the confusion of accepting and integrating different parts of life. 

Thankfully, for the sake of some focus, I have specialized in something: biochemistry. In the past year, after choosing my combining option, I began to dig deep into the cell, entrenching my studies in nucleotides and amino acids. They are the foundation of life from a biochemist's point of view, so let's start with that. 

Like the other nearly seven billion of us, I can be genetically defined by some combination of 28.5% adenine, 28.5% thymine, 21.5% cytosine, and 21.5% guanine. Yay Chargaff. On the nativism side of the nature vs. nurture debate, this code makes up a big part of who I am. Since my zygote era, these genes have directed the growth and specialization of cells from one to tens of trillions  - the miracle of life. There are plenty of things I can't change*: PTC will always taste awful. 

I was born in Canada to two Taiwanese parents. I've lived a lifestyle of both worlds, speaking Taiwanese at home and learning English through public school. I was raised spiritually through the United Church, with a Taiwanese congregation. Weekends, I'd play some folk music with the Taiwanese Toronto Chamber Orchestra. Weekdays, we practiced Beethoven in strings class. Here, nurture comes in and plays a role. The not-so-tall skeletal frame dictated by my genes - not so much. The 45% increased likelihood of arthritis from playing the cello, yup, that's my influence =). 

I suppose I spend a lot of my life trying to "reconcile" things, trying to bring together two or more concepts in my life and mashing them together. The Arts & Science Programme at McMaster holds an annual student conference titled "Combining Two Cultures"; a case study written by our first program director on our program uses the same name. I like this idea, and it's one of the reasons I love the program so much - to combine different disciplines and make the most out of them.

"When life gives you lemons, make lemonade." I like this phrase. I don't get "ticked off" often, but when I do, it's probably when people go against this mantra on either extreme: asking for more, or not doing anything. But again, I don't get "ticked off" often, usually because everyone's different and entitled to their own philosophy. Much like lemons, I'll make the most out of the scenario. 

But life doesn't usually just give you lemons. There's also limes. And apples. And watermelons, guava, and blue raspberry. And then life throws you some cut of lamb and a bagel BELT from Tim Hortons**. [Perhaps I didn't have dinner today.] Life gives you a ton of stuff. What I want most out of life is to be able to reconcile these different parts of life - both things I can change, and things I cannot - and create something nice out of them. 

I don't like seeing conflict, or "opposing" ideas. When I tell people I'm doing an "Arts and Science" degree, people usually go, "cool, but aren't they complete opposites?" In my mind, no. They're like two ingredients in the kitchen that aren't usually paired, but when done right, it'll be amazing, much like maple syrup and imported tapioca pearls, my wonderful Taiwanese-Canadian treat made for the multicultural night at Shad Valley 2008. 

I was first introduced to the word "synergy" by Shad UNB program director Ian Forgarty. The word describes the combination of two ideas, or concepts, or compounds, that creates a product or effect greater than the individuals. His example was the sustained benefit of taking Vitamin C and Vitamin E together, compared to the limited effects of consuming each vitamin on its own. This concept is vital to the idea that "when life gives you lemons, blue raspberry, and a cut of lamb, make lemon-roasted lamb served with blue raspberry sauce. or something-like that". 

I've learned a lot in the past two years, even more in the past two decades, and I really enjoy putting arts and science together. It can be as superficial as explaining the Protestant Reformation with organic chemistry compounds, as deep as understanding the theme of uniformitarianism and the works of Lucretius, or as fun as a musical interpretation of the ActR transcription factor of Streptomyces coelicolor. 

I am a person who strives, and struggles, in reconciling different aspects of my life: my passion for the arts and the sciences, my studies of both Christ and biochemistry, and my culture of Taiwanese tradition in a Canadian lifestyle. It's not always easy, but I appreciate the challenge - it gives me purpose each morning as I discover new recipes for better synergy. mmm, mmm, good.** 

And that's, who I am. 

*at least, not yet. 
**not a paid advertisement.