Russell Copley's Page

Hello Everyone! Here is a small introduction on who I am and what I stand for.

Some of my photos are displayed here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/87740020@N06/

I love photography, I love language(s). English is a difficult language, but I love it, I am in the process of learning Mandarin, and I am somewhat conversational in Spanish and French... but as is anything, all of these languages are a work in progress!

I love history. I love the intricate tapestry that builds our world, that built mighty empires and civilizations and tore them down. I love the fact that now, more than ever, history means so much more... because everyone can report on their side of the story. It is no longer that history is "but a fable agreed upon" (Richard Lee), and something that is made by the victor. History can now be written in an instant. From anywhere with internet access, both losers, winners and those caught in cross fire can tell their stories... but that is also what makes it SO mightily important to be well educated, and to take from the stories the perspective that is balanced with both sides, and all angles.

I love diplomacy. I know, you're all thinking that a 15 year old in high school knows nothing about diplomacy. To be fair, you're partially right. I know nothing about real diplomacy. However, having participated in two MUNs (Model United Nations) CMMUN and BALMUN --in Asia and Europe respectively-- I learned about international relations. Couple that with Take Action Academies, Red Cross Symposiums, as well as facilitating discussion with Vancouver Board of Trade Members with the former Governor General of Canada Michaëlle Jean on the situation in Haiti, and you have a young man desperately trying to understand everything that is going on in the world. I think the fact that I am so hopelessly confused with international diplomacy is exactly what makes me appreciate it and want to learn more.
It is that confusion that makes me giggle with excitement whenever we have an assignment about: Global Citizens, Foreign Countries, Leaders, Conflict and Resolution, Justice and Reconciliation... whenever we talk about the ethos of a particular author, and how they use a balance of pathos and logos in their work to efficiently get the reader both engaged and excited about a topic... and how people can twist those things to create what we know as bias and hidden agendas or, simply, manipulation.
This is why I love diplomacy and international studies.

I'm not too thrilled on math. Being honest, I'm not good at it. However, that doesn't mean I can't appreciate the beauty and wonder of numbers. Check out Vihart on youtube to learn more about what I mean when I say that: The fibonacci sequence and the golden ratio are directly related to plants, and that some numbers are just so majestic that they possess bizarre and interesting qualities like the number one. I love that we can all work on concepts like pi, and that sine waves are what makes it possible to compress music onto my phone. I have 1225 songs on that phone. The amount of space to store all that music, only 20 years ago would take up an entire desk. I can now fit all that in my pocket.

I really like science. I'm not saying I'm good at it, but the amount of amazement that just slaps me in the face every single time I think about the universe and the world still knocks me off my feet. I love thinking that if the entire universe (of course, assuming that the universe is infinite) is expanding at a constant rate away from everything else in the universe at the same time, then technically, you ARE the centre of the universe. I like thinking that, mathematically speaking, we will never ever run out of new music. That there are more variants within four bars of music while retaining to one single octave than there are atoms of Hydrogen in the entire universe. However, on a scientific level, the human ear can only appreciate a small fraction of those variants... but we still will not run out of new music in this lifetime. However, that being said, some music already is starting to sound the same, and has for many years. Check out Vsause on Youtube for more information on science.

I love nature, science, English, languages, history, the World.

If you have stuck with me for this long, then thank you. If you haven't, hopefully you've learned something about this person that you read a fraction of their writing of.

Cheers,
Russell