Bios

The Editor

Growing up in New York City in the 1960’s, Arnie Cooper spent a good portion of his childhood counting quarters in his father’s Laundromat. And though he didn’t have what it takes to be a laundromat entrepreneur he is eternally grateful to the number 7 machine, which, under his father’s watchful eye, funded his college education. After several non-descript jobs, including working as an assistant for “Billy the Tree-man,” assistant managing a copy shop and “proofreading” balance sheets at one of the Big 8 accounting firms -he secretly spent most of the day reading the New York Times – Cooper began teaching English as a Second Language in 1987. A freelance writer since 2000, Cooper covers environmental issues, food, travel and pop culture. He is a regular contributor to The Sun Magazine and The Wall Street Journal. His writing has also appeared in Outside, Hemispheres, Esquire, Orion and The Ecologist.

　　
The ELP LIFE team

Ankara-based student Hamdi Aytac Bagci has spent 15 years at school trying to do his homework while he was playing for his school-soccer team and dancing the Waltz. “Doing all the things is OK but doing my math homework was killing me” says Aytac. Istanbul, where Aytac grew up played a big role in his succes in social activities and his failure in his school life. `Istanbul makes me happy” says Aytac who has been in S.B. since late July. His english teacher from highschool said he can’t write but he is one of the best writers for the International Eye. “I love being a member of Arnie’s class and a writer for the International Eye” Aytac is not joking.

Tseng, Hsin-Yin is from a small coral island in Taiwan. Because she has tiny eyes, everybody calls her “mini eyes”. In her English classes she loves hearing teachers say: “Now, you can go” most. Her funny comments and action always make it hard for every body to stop laughing. But she doesn’t always know why they find her funny. She is easily scared, even if no one tries to frighten her. When she is scared or surprised, she will scream and shout loudly. Everyone who wants to scare her is always terrified. So she always ends up being the winner at scaring people.

yuki
Yuki Nishino was born of noble ancestry, and grew up in the busy city of Tokyo, Japan. Now, he is staying in the quiet town of Santa Barbara to study American culture. His life has changed from uneventful to great since he came to the US. “My life here has been surrounded by amusing international students, nature, crazy parties, and some trouble? but I have been learning a lot, and that is good for me,” he says.

The Entertainment team

Graphic Designer

Harley Pan has always had his own thinking about life. “Sadness in life is not necessarily a bad thing.” he says. Photography, music and drawing are his favorite hobbies. In fact, his father, a photographer in Taiwan, taught him how to shoot pictures since he was 10. And because his father listens to classical music everyday, Harley has a strong interest in art. When he was 18, he chose Design as his major. Nowadays, thinking about philosophy has become his favorite leisure. “Life is just like ocean waves, sometimes high sometimes low. If you don’t get low times, you won’t get happy times.” he says happily.

kary
“If I could be what I wanted, I would be a piece of chocolate.” Karrie says. “Chocolate has the power to give a smile to people and they are also soft.” says she, who is short but have a strong impression. “And, also I’m crazy about sweets.” Her most favorite sweet is mochi ice cream, especially the strawberry flavor found at Trader Joe’s. Hoping to live happily, she always try to be possitive. Karrie enjoys meeting many new people. “I’ll welcome anybody who like sweets and small talking!”

The Food team
syny
“Sunnie Sun”, when you see this name how do you feel? “Sunnie” is outgoing and enthusiastic. She prefers exercising to writing and reading. “Every time I see Arnie, I feel so sorry because I don’t know how to write an essay; I don’t even have an idea about our online magazine-The International Eye.” Somehow she was able to write a great article…she hopes.

Taegon
The little boy who lived in a very small island never dreamed that he would study abroad. Taegon with grew up on an isolated island in Korea: a population of less than 30 people. As you imagine, there were no restaurants in the whole island. However, he is now trying different kinds of food. You can see what he says in his articles about American food with the perspective of someone fully immersed in Korean traditional foods.

Web Designer
“Webzine! That sounds very interesting,”said Tim Huang when he first heard about this idea. This guy, who is from Taiwan, chose to focus on food in Santa Barbara for the webzine and find out what is best for students, especially international students. “It is very hard to describe the feeling even after you taste the food,”he says. One thing we know is he tries to do his best! As the designer of this website, you’ll have to decide for yourself whether that is true or not.

The Health team

Anna Martina
“Are you really going to eat that food?” That was the question that Anna Martina asked an American girl while she was eating real american food. Just with a look, she immediately understood that in the USA it is very common to eat that kind of food and see fast food all over the streets. Anna Martina’s parents are both doctor so her first impression was : how can the US people have a healthy life? is that why the obesity is so common? For this reason she wants to make people think about the Mediterranean diet. Not to be thin more beautiful but just for have better-healthier life!

Jung-wook Shin

Jung-wook Shin had been a nurse until last year. She doesn’t want to do that anymore, but she is still interested in health. “I was happy while I was taking care of patients even though I was getting tired of the intensity so I quit.” That’s why she is volunteering at Cottage Hospital. She is studying English because she wants to get an advanced career. Someday she expects to be a kind of health expert in whatever she wants. Her articles are intended to make students think carefully about keeping themselves healthy. “I’m glad to write articles about health in Arnie’s class, because I want to give the knowledge that I have,” she says.

What a fantastic adventure to observe, find and solve urban problems! Won-wook Choi who loves to wander around and feel the character of the space in cities, worked as an urban designer and researcher in South Korea. Finally he has come here to learn more about U.S. cities and how to manage urban growth. “If we have a reliable methodology to simulate our urban environment in the near future, we can have the capability to manage our environment more reasonably,” he says.

yuko
Yuko Akazawa had been a dental asistant until 2 years ago. When she worked she was always happy, surrounded by kind patients. She enjoyed working in Japan but she also wanted to study English because she thought if she can speak English, she can talk with everyone. Then she came to America. Now she is studying hard. Her life has turned around 180 degrees. I’m happy to be surrounded by good friends? She says. Now instead of talking with her Japanese friends in Japan, she is conversing with international friends in Santa Barbara.