Spoken Word Poetry Reflections

Spoken word poetry is a story poem about what people really feel strongly about and they say it out. The "Hawaii" video was about two girls talking about how racism is bad. This was their interest and they made it into a poem form so more people will listen to it and understand it better. The "Superman" video was about a guy who told a story through poetry form about his encounter with Superman and the Justice League. He told Superman about how his super power was with his words because he thought that words are very important and are very powerful.
Spoken word poetry is kind of like a persons opinion on something.


Spoken word poetry elements are very similar to normal poetry but they are stronger because it's spoken and you can here the emotion in the voice of the speaker.
The voice may be the most important element in spoken word poetry because it shows the emotion and shows a little bit of the identity by their voice and how they tell they poem. Subject is also another important element in poetry because there has to been a very strong reason why we do spoken word poetry because we want to write a poem, but have it spoken so it's stronger, therefore the poem's subject must be very strong and have a great impact on the audience.
The subject of a spoken word poem can be anything, mostly a speech/story to tell the audience about what they are interested in or what they are concerned about. They use poetry to spread their idea because they want to show their identity; which could be a concern for global crisis, or their identity.
The imagery for a spoken word poem has a great impact on the audience. When reading a normal poem, the reader has to pay attention to reading the words and also at the same time imagine the images in his/her mind. For spoken word poetry, you don't have to worry about reading the words because it's already being read out for you. So, imagery in a spoken word poem must really be descriptive and with the voice of the speaker, you can really imagine the scenes in your mind more clearly.

Anyone could do Spoken word poetry. They must have a cause of why they are doing in, an interest or concern they have. If they have in opinion on a concern or global crisis or the current events, they show it through spoken word. Forming it into poem form just makes it easier for the audience to take in information.

I personally enjoy listening to the "Superman" spoken word poem because I agree with the guys idea that words are very important and have a great impact if used correctly. The guy says to Superman that he can help save the world by words and poems, and I absolutely agree. Anyone can make a difference without violence --but through words. Spoken word poetry is a great way to have your say.

Reflections on Dongmen (2)

What were your reactions to the location in general?
- It was quite dirty. I would sit on the floor --it's still okay. But there were many dusty and dirty places I wouldn't dare to sit. On the higher levels during the night time (the first time I went there) it was pretty scary because the building was so quiet with exceptions of some distant voices of people talking and TV sets playings. With some light flickering, I was kind of scared. But if you think very logically, it's just another home to people- like being in another person's house; you don't know where is where and you're cautious of what you enter and where you step.

What is it like for you to witness people living in relative poverty in a place like DongMen surrounded by the relative wealth of Hsinchu?
- There was one time when I was going around the escalators when I saw a man setting up his cardboard "bed". After seeing the rest of Hsinchu, coming from such a good privileged school and then I see the people here, I felt really sad. However, I saw some really happy people, like the man playing with his dog and the woman who gave us drinks, and even though they lived in an old run-down building, they were still able to be happy. How can they we so happy with so little money and we have so much money yet we are never happy? I really helped me reflect on my life because in order to fully understand your culture, you have to submerge yourself into another culture. We are very privileged to go to a good school and get a good education and live such a special life.

What would you do with a place like DongMen if you were the mayor of Hsinchu? Would you tear it down? leave it? try to revive the industry there? allow people to live there or not?
- DongMen to many people is a sactuary -- a home. Tearing it down would not be one of the options if I were the mayor (unless we had a cleaner and safer place to put them). I would start up the industry on some of the levels; giving some more people jobs. But I would also let the people living there keep their homes because they have a right to live there and that mall has been their home for many years.

Current Events

Town brought to life by solar-paneled graves


Solar Panels. Image Source.
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Everybody knows about solar panels and how they are found on houses and building to uses the sun's light as power instead of electricity. Well in a town in Spain, just outside Barcelona, called Santa Coloma de Gramenet, solar panels have been built on top of mausoleums in the cemetery.
This project began three years ago and it started working on Wednesday.
The reason why they decided to put the solar panels in a cemetery, was because that the small town are so dense and they had no where to generate it.

The power these 462 solar panels produce enough power for 60 homes, goes to the local energy grid and for use of normal consumption is one of the weird ways this town fights against global warming.

Esteve Serret, a director of the company that runs the cemetery (and know also works in renewable energy) says, "[It's] the best tribute we can pay to our ancestors, whatever your religion may be, is to generate clean energy for new generations. That is our leitmotif."

Some people have disagreed with the idea of putting these solar panels on the remains of so many dead people. However, the excuse was that the panels only take up 5% of the total surface area and will keep about 62 tons of carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere. I think that the dead people would have agreed too with save the world they had left.

24 Nov 2008 CNN.com

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Deadly flooding leaves thousands homeless in Brazil

Flood affects. Image Source
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A flood in Santa Catarina, Brazil has killed 28 people and left more than 18,000 homeless. the flood affected 1.5 million people and cut off 4 cities from the rest of the nation: Rio dos Cedros, Pomerode, Itapoá and Benedito Novo were the cities. The mayor of Blumenau, Joao Paulo Kleinubing has declared a stare of emergency on Saturday. Aid has been sent to most of the cities and towns to help the now homeless people and only 2 helicopted have been sent to Blumenau to help victims.

23 Nov 2008
CNN.com

The Element of Poetry - Identity and Elements

The Last Good-by

How shall we know it is the last good-by?
The skies will not be darkened in that hour,
No sudden blight will fall on leaf or flower,
No single bird will hush its ceaseless cry,
And you will hold my hands, and smile or sigh
Just as before. Perchance the sudden tears
In your dear eyes will answer to my fears;
But there will come no voice of prophecy,--
No voice to whisper, "Now, and not again,
Space for last words, last kisses, and last prayer,
For all the wild unmitigated pain
Of those who, parting, clasp hands with despair:"--
"Who knows?" we say, but doubt and fear remain,
Would any choose to part thus unaware?

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The form of this poem is in paragraph form and in each line, there is 10 to 11 syllables, though mostly 10 syllables per line. The words in a line is from 6 words to 10 words. However, the number of words in a line can change the rhythm of the poem. The syllables, to me, are the ones that really count because if each line has the same number of syllables, then the rhythm and the beat of the poem will be even.
When I read this poem, I think about the time I had to say goodbye to someone. But for lines 3 to 4:
"The skies will not be darkened in that hour,
No sudden blight will fall on leaf or flower,
No single bird will hush its ceaseless cry.."

They are very descriptive and they make me think of the sky at twilight, a flower dying, and a cawing of a raven. These images will make one sad because those are the times and things I'm most afraid of in a day; having the day end, a flower (life) dying, and a shrieking call of bird. Especially the last line; I imagine a barren corn maize with only a scarecrow in the middle and two crows circling the field.

All of the ending words of each sentence rhyme with another word. There is some sort of pattern in the poem. From the line 1 to line 7, the rhyming sequence goes by: A B B A A CC. From line 11 to 14, the sequence goes by D E D E.

Reflections on DongMen

How did the site of DongMen alter the choreography that you created in the classroom?
- Originally, we had this cool dance effect we wanted to do with the clothes line that was supposedly there and white sheets. When we got to the site, there was no clothes and there were no white sheets in hand. Ms Sheilah had recommended to use the stuffing (the clothes) of the "dead bodies". Eventually, the clothes were taken out the choreography.

If you were to go back to DongMen what would you add or subtract from your choreography to make it stronger?
- I still the clothes line idea was perfect and added to the creepiness. :) But when I got there, there were a lot of puddles of water. If the water wasn't so dirty and I wasn't afraid of getting my clothes wet, I would have added somethings with the water. Also, the covering the bodies with clothes was a good idea but I think we should have gotten up and then thrown the clothes on them. Maybe we trip and stumble a little then the clothes fall on them to created the effect that we're dead and they just died.

The Elements of Poetry in "The New Colossus"

The New Colossus
By Emma Lazarus
Image Source

Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,
With conquering limbs astride from land to land;
Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand
A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame
Is the imprisoned lighting, and her name
Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand
Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command
The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.
"Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!" cries she
With silent lips. "Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"

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There are many elements of poetry in this poem. There are metaphors, similes, alliteration, rhyming, and even a hyperbole.
Metaphor is a phrase or sentence that compares something to another without using like or as. An example of a metaphor in this poem is in the phrase "...whose flame, Is the imprisoned lightning...". This compares the flame (or the fake build flame in this case) to lightning that was kept in the metal torch.
There are many examples of alliteration in this poem. One of them is in the phrase "wretched refuse", and though they don't start with the same letter, they start off with the same sound which makes it easier to understand and memorize and also take in the information. Another Example of alliteration in the poem is on the third line, "sea-washed, sunset gates". I think this shows good alliterations because "sea-washed" and "sunset" start off with the same sound and makes the phrase sound better. A third example of alliteration is "world-wide welcome". Not only does it make the phrase sound better, it's easier to understand what the poet is trying to say.
Similes are phrases of comparison. These are similar to metaphors except these are less vague about their comparison by using words like as and like. "Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame" in the first line is a simile because it compares the Statue of Liberty to the great Greek statue, Helios, using the word like.
Hyperboles are phrases of exaggeration. Lines 11 and 12 are hyperboles because they exaggerate that the "refuse" - which are like the people that others don't really care about (esp.: beggars, homeless...) - being wretched. Not all beggars and homeless are un-happy though they can be un-fortunate.
Rhyming is everywhere in this poem. The words with matching colors rhyme with each other, thus, making it is easier to take in, understand, and memorise the poem.

What did a daily life is Ancient Greece look like?

For poor families who didn't have slaves, the wives would run the house and raise the children. In households that had slaves, the wives would simply supervise the slaves who were taking care of the children and doing most of the work. Spinning thread and weaving cloth was usually what the women would do in every family, rich or poor.
Usually in their mid-teens, like our age, girls would get married whilst the men would get married around 30. The girls were then under legal control of their husbands (it was passed from the father to the husband). When married, a girl was get a part of the family's fortune (the property and money) as a gift from the parents (or dowry). The husband would ben own and control the money and property until they divorce, which is when he has to give it back to the family. If a divorce does not happen, they would simple pass the dowry to their children.

In Athens, the children, usually just the boys and very few girls, would go to school is learn to read, write, and quote literature, as well as learn and instrument and sing. They would also play sports as this was the start of their military service. All this studying was not so that they could get a job; it was so they could be an effective citizen.
For girls, they only learned to read, write and simple math during their childhood s that they can run their own household in the future.
The education in Sparta was different because Sparta thought that education wasn't really important. When boys turned 7, they would be sent to the barracks where they were put through harsh training. However, they learned basic reading, writing, and math. Girls were also put into physical competition.
Young children in both Sparta and Athens spent their days playing with toys before they turned 7.

In a household, husbands was in charge of all the members of his family and was responsible for them. Greek men, after their service in the military was over, hung out in the agora, which was a marketplace were people would chat, gossip, buy and sell items or food. In the morning, they would buy the supplies and food they need then return home.

Here is a picture of an agora which was Greek market place. Image Source.


Either that or they were playing sports and exercised in public sports facilities.
When democracy (or Demokratia in Greek) was created in Greece, men who were citizens were allowed to and had the right to attend assembly. There, they had the right and freedom to speak and vote. Assemblies sometimes had debates and these debates decides how the city was run -- all decided by the people.

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Sources

http://www.worldbookonline.com/student/article?id=ar234900&st=ancient+greece&sc=2#h5

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Greece#Education

http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/ancientgreece/athens/rule.shtml

Current Events

German economy now in recession

Recession basically means when a country's economy declines significantly and thus, the trade and industrial activity are reduced. A country is classified in recession when the the GDP of the country falls in 2 successive quarters.

Another country has gone into recession after the country's economy fell by 0.5% in their third quarter. The fall of GDP in Germany was much bigger than analysts had expected and they have also predicted a fall in Europe by 0.5% in the next year.
A couple other of European countries are also in recession.
France, Ireland, Denmark, Singapore and New Zealand are some countries that are in recession.

November 13, 2008 BBC.com

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Kids' dancing causes Haiti school collapse, Red Cross says



Who would have thought that a musical could bring down a school -- literally. In Haiti, the dancing and jumping in a musical caused the Grace Diving Primary and Secondary School to collapse. Luckily, though there were no deaths, nine children were injured.
The school, which consisted of a few small buildings built on top of each other, was built on the side of a hill. Of course, the jumping and dancing could not possibly bring our school down, because this school was not constructed properly.
When the school collapsed, the ground shook and another school about a mile away felt it. The children in that school had thought that they're school was collapsing and they panicked, which caused two students to be injured.
This is the second school collapse in this month. The previous happened last week, but of course, that incident was much more fatal. That school has three levels and when it collapsed, it killed more than 90 people, most of them children. No survivors have been found since Saturday in the rubble of the school. The owner of the school, Fortin Augustin was questions by the police and turned himself in for the collapse. No charges have been pressed against him. I would consider him loyal to the school because he turned himself in when so much has happened and blamed himself.
There is no need to worry for this year's musical at our school. I highly doubt our dancing can bring down the school -- we're not that good. Also, some of the schools in Haiti are not well-built and are easy to fall whilst ours is....well I'm not so sure...;)

November 12, 2008
CNN.com

Image Source: http://edition.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/americas/11/12/haiti.school/index.html?iref=mpstoryview

Education for All

If people were more educated in the countries simple things like farming to health care and over population would all be solved. Because people are not educated, they don't know how to handle a business or to raise a family.
Countries in poverty would gradually become successful from the inside out -- by that I mean the people of the country solving their own poverty troubles without charity groups to come and try and stop them.
I'm not saying that the charity groups or even the government isn't helping. But for the government to give each family in South Africa living poverty a thousand dollars will only help them for a few months or so.
Because they do not have the education, all they know is to pay off their debts and buy food for the big family. The thousand dollars isn't enough from them to have live through years to come. Plus the government can not just keeping giving each family money because then the nation's income will grow lower and lower and the country will be even more in poverty. Things will just get worse.
If they were educated, they would know how to start off their (eg.) farming land. They would know how to raise their crops or livestock so that they will have a consistent income.
More doctors and hospitals could be build because of more people becoming educated and thus, more people wouldn't have to suffer the pain of AIDS every day 'til they pass from this world.
Children and even adults can finally go to school because people from their country got the chance to become a teacher.
Everybody knows that the jobs that are the toughest, are the jobs that pay the bills. Once people get an education, they can choose a well-paying job and get a decent salary that they can benefit from.

Non-educated people are being mis-treated because they do not know how to handle business and the world. They tag along the rich and smart people because they do not know what else to do. Once people get a decent education, they can stand up for themselves and actually know what they are speaking up for. Most of the community would be middle-class and the number of poor people would go down.

Education for all is very important for the developing countries and even in developed countries like the US or Canada or even Taiwan. Everyone would be treated equally and no one would be living under poverty...

FAT Questions

Why did Sparta decide to be a military state rather than a democratic like Athens? See mindmap..

How did Greek mythology affect the daily lives of middle class Athenians? See mindmap..

How did democracy first help Athens decide government?

Which one was better for the poor living in Athens: Cleisthenes' way (by dividing people into groups depending on where you lived) or Solon's way (by dividing people into ranks of wealth)? See mindmap..

Why were Spartan women put into training when Athenian women weren't? See mindmap..

Language Arts - Culture

Culture is the way of life. It's the way a person lives and how they live. It is their customs and their behavior towards each components of culture (history, religion, food, clothing..etc). Cultures does not have to be about the culture of your country, but also what you're interested in.
I am part of a lot of cultures. I'm part of the culture of the people who love to sleep, love to eat, dance, love to read, Singapore, Taiwan, America, the laptop community, the HIS community, the grade 8th community, just to name some...
Culture is exclusive because you can't be in all of the cultures of the world. You can't be both old and young at the same times. You can switch from the young to the old but its impossible to be both at the same time. There are many other cultures out there that we do not know about. To give an example, I am not part of the culture of Uzbekistan or Iraq or South Africa.
When people see my grades or my work, they think that I study a lot and is an active learner. I'm not. The first thing I do when I get home is procrastinate. I play with my baby brother, mess up room up, yadda yadda yadda. But I don't start my homework until 9. Just because fair enough grades are part of my culture doesn't mean studying hard is.
People shouldn't mix up culture with identity. The culture is the way they live by. Their behavior, as to say. Many other people can be part of that culture. But your identity is yours, not for anyone to share because we were all made unique. Culture is the way of life, but an identity is who you are.

ESPRAT+G and My Passport Country

Singapore

1. What is the Economic (business) system?
The economic system for business is capitalism.

2. What does the Social system (daily life, classes, customs, etc.) look like?
It’s mandatory for all children to go to school. Singapore is known to have to top schooling educational system because it’s so strict and harsh.

3. What is the Political (government) system? Who has the power?
Socialist-democratic. This basically means that the citizens can vote for the president and such however, the government can intervene (like a republican country) with anything. For example, the government can hold a criminal without trial.

4. What are the Religions? Describe them in detail.
We don’t have any special religions for our country and we take off from other countries’ religions. Buddhism is very popular in Singapore and so is Christianity. There’s also Islam, Taoism, Hinduism, and many others.

5. What are the various Arts (especially those your nation is known for)?
Singapore has never been famous for its arts. The art that we do is very similar to the art many other countries do. Dance, painting, drawing, literature, etc. are all the same as other countries.

6. What are various Technologies that are a part of life in your country?
Laptops, computers, and cell phones run the life of an average worker. Everyone has a camera on their phone because all the phones sold there all have cameras installed. Either that, they have a normal cameras.

7. How does Geography affect ESPRAT in your home country? Go into rich details breaking down each component of ESPRAT.
I don’t know how to answer this question and my mom and dad just said that our geography doesn’t effect us much.

What does a government do?

A government's job is to lead and govern the nation peacefully and maintain order. They do this by making and passing laws. Thus, the nation will keep order and peace. They deal with everything that falls under the politics and laws.

Current Events

Iraq twin bombings kill 25

On Monday in Baghdad, Iraq, two bombs went off killed 25 people and injuring 48 other people.
The first bomb was in a car parked outside a crowded marketplace. This is a very smart tactic because people started to crowd around the exploded car, another bomb -- from a suicide bomber, went off, killing 25 people that had surrounded the car.

November 10, 2008
CNN.com

Afghan governor: U.S. forces killed guards

After Afghan millitants shot at the U.S. military forces, the U.S. military said that they killed 14 people. However, says the provincial governor, the 14 that died were merely security guards who were protecting the road construction crew during the shooting.
When the U.S. military stopped 3 cars they had been tracking, coalition forces for the U.S. military arrived and the militants in the cars fired on the help that had arrived. Then a helicopter was called in and they killed 14 people while trying to shoot the 3 cars.
The U.S. have been tracking those car for a long time and they needed to catch and question those people before they got away. They had been waiting for the cars to get away from the crowded cities because if there was trouble, no civilians would get killed to injured. And they were right to call upon those cars because they later found rocket-propelled grenades, hand grenades, and AK-47s in the vehicles.

November 9, 2008
CNN.com

Display the 5 student outcomes

Active learner. Critical thinker and Problem solver. Person of high character. Effective communicator. Community contributor.

During these past two weeks, I assume that I've display all five of the student outcomes in Humanities. Most of these examples of me displaying the 5 student outcomes happened during working with the team but also individually for the Modern Nations project.
I was an active learner these two weeks. While taking notes on my research of Colombia I wondered how they gained independence. So I added a few more questions I wanted to find out in the mind map research. This showed that I was an active learner because when I finished finding how the nation of Colombia was started, I went further and added questions because I wanted to. I would also like the recognize Cindy in my group because she's always so curious and asks a million questions. It can get annoying sometimes but its awesome that when she knows she doesn't understand something, she will push through anything to get her answer.
I showed that I was a critical thinker and problem solver this week when I was helping Jacky with writing up the presentation proposal. We knew we had to assign the jobs to the people who would be best in that particular area. We both evaluated each member of our team and chose the best jobs for them to do. Also, we did the same evaluation when assigning questions for the group mind map to make a page from the keynote.
Being a person of high character is very important. I guess I have been a person of high character. I did the work that the team captain assigned and I constantly remind my team mates to send me their presentations so they can be edited. Though, I think that that is not being a person of high character because I start to get annoying after pestering them to send me their presentation sections.
I managed to accomplish being an effective communicator even when I'm an English speaker in an all Chinese group. All the members of my team are all in ESL and sometimes its hard to communicate with them. However, I managed to explain to them what they wanted to know with not much problem. I think that all the members of my teams were great effective communicators, too, because they were able to listen and communicate with me effectively.
Contributing to my community, or in this case, group was fairly easy because contributing its just participating in the group meetings and when we go over what we plan. I think that all of the members of the group is community contributors because we all engage when we're in class and going over the project. I help remind people what to do for homework.

What science skills did you use during the SMASH Day activity? How do these science skills help us be better scientists?

What science skills did you use during the SMASH Day activity? How do these science skills help us be better scientists?

Thinking outside the box. When we couldn't find a sturdy way to have the "tower" stand, we decided to use the scissors because Mrs. Smith didn't say that we couldn't use the scissors as part of the "tower" and it was under the list of supplies we could use. The scissors was a great idea and it actually held all 50 grams when we were testing it (but now when we actually did it because our group did it more gently than Mrs. Smith).
Thinking outside the box can help us be better scientist because sometimes we make the experiment more complicated than it is and we totally miss every little thing. When we think outside the box and consider every view, we could make the "tower" stand up.

Current Events

Note to readers: The direct link to the article is and has always been in the title of the article. I've placed another link on the news site below the date that the article was published.
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Obama, McCain campaign through swing states

The U.S. elections are just two days away the the candidates John McCain and Barack Obama are neck and neck in the polls. Just yesterday, both candidates spent the whole day holding campaign rallies on the battleground states, which are the states that have an almost even number of votes on both sides or the majority of the state supports the other candidate.
As both side attack each other in order to persuade the citizen of America, all trying to convince everyone that they would be a better president than the other.
Now it all comes down on the Americans themselves to pick who will be the better president after the disappointing 8 years.

November 2, 2008
CNN.com

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Saddam Hussein Reportedly Stabbed 6 Times After Execution

The body of dictator Saddam Hussein, who was executed in 2006 for crimes against humanity, was found stabbed six times after being hanged.The chief guard at Hussein's tomb said that there were stab wounds all over the dictator's body and another injury to the face. 300 other people also saw these injuries when the body was being buried, but yet the world only knows 3 years later? Officials are still investigating how the body came to these injuries because it might have been a soldier or guard who did this because according Mowaffak al-Rubaie, Iraq’s security advisor, Saddam Hussein wasn't harmed before and after his execution.

November 1, 2008
TheLondonTimesonline.co.uk