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Friday 3 May 2013

Poetry

Poetry has always been part of my life, whether it was a poem in a book I read when I was a kid, or from a song I heard.  From what I know about poetry, all it is is an art. People use art to express themselves or try to get a message across to other people. Of course, using just plain words will not deliver a as strong a statement or message as an artwork. Analyzing poetry seems a bit boring and not fun, however, putting the words in context allows us to see what goes through the mind of the poet, much like Van Gogh, different poets have different literacy techniques which they use to captivate their reader and have some kind of trademark. In poetry, we should try to look of for these things to really appreciate the poem itself. Like I earlier said, poems can be about almost anything, nature, people etc..  A quote from a song:

And so she said, why you gotta be so mean to me?
Why you don't know what you mean to me?
Why you always playing games? Why I feel like you ashamed
out in public, curse me out and make a scenery?
Why you got other bitches rolling their eyes at me?
Why text messages popping up saying hi daddy?
Why you treat me like I'm nothing? Why you always at a function?
 We get into it, I'm the one that's feeling stupid
You don't need me, you gon' leave me, that's your favorite threat
Why you never know how it feel to be lonely?
Why I feel I'm the last option after your homies?
Why you always gotta know that I will never let you go
even though you get violent and put your hands on me? Sometimes...


Monday 1 April 2013

What is the What

Over the course of a month, I read a very influential and heart-breaking story called What is the What. The book falls somewhere in between a biography and a novel. The story is about the trials and tribulations of a young boy in the midst of a civil war in Sudan.

Valentino Achak Deng was once a happy and content boy living in the Southern region of Sudan, the small village of Marial Bai. However he is thrown into a conflict between the SPLA ( Sudan's People Liberation Army ) and the Sudanese government. He witnesses his entire village get razed to the ground and its people shot and enslaved. He joins a group of boys walking towards a safe haven in Ethiopia, known as the ''Lost Boys''. Along the way, many boys perish to starvation, disease, and attacks by the government and SPLA. They finally arrive in Pinyudo, Ethiopia after months of walking and are joined by other refugees from Sudan and other African countries. However, after a few years, the Ethiopian government is overthrown in a coup and they are chased out and shot at. A lot of them were massacred in a river near the camp when Ethiopian troops and local tribesmen opened fire on the fleeing refugees.

 They flee and are once again on the road, walking. This time they head to Kenya, where the U.N has established a refugee camp in Kakuma. This is where Valentino spends the remaining days of his childhood and teen years. He is eventually chosen for the resettlement program that allows Sudanese refugees to be resettled in the United States. Once there, he finds it difficult to settle in and is constantly stressed and tormented by a lot of different things, homesickness, financial problems, his deranged girlfriend, etc. He learns that no matter where he goes, there are always people who will take advantage of him and he can never escape that.

The book is a statement of man's inhumanity to man seen through the eye of a young African child confused and unwary of what is going on. Yet, despite all the hell and chaos, there are flickers of hope and elation that make the book heart-warming and pleasant.

Wednesday 27 February 2013

What is the What by Dave Eggers

The story ''What is the What'' is a very emotional story from a Sudanese boy, Valentino Achak Deng. Although he is now a man, he recounts his long walk from Sudan to Ethiopia, then to Kenya, in the midst of a civil war.

After reading Book 1, I could not really relate to the boy. Having everything you have taken away from you and then walking hundreds of miles with people you know dying around you all the time. That will be an experience that I can't even imagine feeling. I enjoyed the book very much, although it was very sad and depressing most of the time, there are small parts of humor and happiness.

The reason why the story is so tear-jerking is because Achak is treated very badly throughout most of the book. During the long walk, Achak feels like nobody cares about him and his friends. It seems that the world has forgotten about him and he does not exist. Even in America, he is still treated like dirt when he was robbed. And the truly sad part was when Michael dropped a book on his head, as if he was a fly, insignificant.

Altogether, What is the What is the What is a thought provoking book that really shows human nature towards people that are less fortunate than you. Cold and Selfish.


Wednesday 6 February 2013

How to write about America

A response from    http://www.granta.com/

How to write about America, a place of obese, rude and ignorant  people whose lives revolve around themselves and their selfish ideals. Be sure to include in your paragraph how you cannot walk on the streets without someone saying a racial slur to you. Also, Be sure to add how many people carry guns and weapons and kill people for no rhyme or reason. That should be the introduction...

For your main paragraphs, include how the country is filled with corrupt politicians and leaders that only care about their next paycheck. Also, how can we forget the african-american gangsters that roam the streets looking for trouble and the a bottle of booze. How they shoot anyone who insults their 'swag' would be a useful fact when describing these uncouth hooligans.

In your ending paragraph, be sure to include of course the average stupid american that thinks all muslim are either an extremist or a terrorist. The paragraph should also include the stupid endeavors of the US military trying to suck all the oil from the middle east while killing any ''terrorist'' that gets in their way.

So those are the key notes you may need to write about the USA, an amazing country while stupid at the same time. Always keep in my mind the ignorance and stupidity of an average american redneck, and Im sure that you will write a very informative piece based on the truth of whats goes on in the land of the free and the home of the brave!..  God Bless America!


Monday 28 January 2013

Finding the truth

There is a story that lies beneath lies and trickery. That is the single story. Usually, we cannot see the actual truth that is covered by the single stories that many people tell and spread. Like in my digital story I likened life to a sidewalk, have to dig deep beneath the cracks to actually find the surprising and wonderful truth. However, the sidewalk is very plain and ugly and usually hides the wonders in the cracks. Normality is amongst all of us and we can't help but want to fit in and be normal. But there is also a side of us that wants to stand out and be different. We should encourage the latter! That I think is the point of the unit. Finding the strength to stand out and express ourselves. And being confident when people criticize you for being different or non-mainstream. I also learned about how a single story can totally point us aways from the truth. It is basically believing in someone else's opinion and thinking that that is the only side of the story. It should be an awareness that everyone has, to agree to disagree. Once we are aware of single stories, we will question more and learn more, then only will be see the beauty of the world.


I used to live in a room full of mirrors; all I could see was me. I take my spirit and I crash my mirrors, now the whole world is here for me to see. 
Jimi Hendrix 

Will the giraffe believe what the Zebra says about the ground, and will the zebra believe what the giraffe says about the sky? The danger of a single story is dangerous indeed, as it messes with the most important part of humans, our mind.

Tuesday 15 January 2013

Gish Jen Blog Post

The Story ''Who's Irish?'' really elaborates how different points of view can conflict with each other. The author tried making the grandmother look racist at first by writing ''Irish people are like Chinese people, work so hard on the railroad, but now I know why the Chinese beat the Irish'' along with some other quotes, the author tried to make the grandmother a 'bad' character at first.

As the story progresses, we see that the O'Shea family is as stereotypical and racist as the grandmother. From a passage in the paragraph, the O' Shea's invite the Chinese family over for Thanksgiving. The O' Shea's then make very stereotypical jokes and insults towards the grandmother. This shows what the O' Shea's are really like, before that, the story only showed what the grandmother thought of them. And I actually felt pity for them at first, but again, this really changed the mindset and how I looked at the story.

The story also shows how the grandmother, who lived in China and lived her life according to the lifestyle in China, adapts to a totally different environment, the US. ''You are crazy! say my daughter. Look at what you did! You are crazy!'' This quote is after the grandmother poked her granddaughter with a stick when she did not come out of a hole in the playground. Evidently we can see how her daughter ( who grew up in America ) has a totally different way of dealing with children.

This story shows what happens if we grow up hearing single stories about people or places we have never seen before. When we eventually see or experience these people or places, we are very surprised and shocked at how different things are, we eventually change over time after these experiences. This story relates to how the grandmother goes through her changes. This story makes people think about how we should not judge other people unfairly or biased.

Tuesday 8 January 2013

Who's Irish Blog

After reading Who's irish, I realized that the author made the asian grandmother look very racist and one-sided at first. Then, there was a scene where the neighboring irish family also were very stereotypical about her. The story is an example of what happens when single stories are taught to people their whole lives and eventually when they do meet someone different from them, they are very surprised that they are not what other people said they would be.


Monday 7 January 2013

New Year's Word

My new year's word is commitment. It is a very strong word because it motivates people to do things they otherwise could never have done. It is a certain loyalty to something you are very passionate about.  The word is very special....