Summer is here
Feel the heat
Feel the freedom
Lazy days
Long nights
5 hour car rides and
5 a.m. flights
Beaches and Mountains
Sand and snow
Nothing to tie you down
No one to say “No”
Hair is bleached
Skin is tan
Summer, I’m your #1 fan
I think that this year my writing has improved a lot. I now find myself using larger words as well as a larger selection of vocabulary. I also find that instead of having run on sentences my writing now flows much better than in previous years. And last, but not least, I also enjoy writing much more when it is not just for myself, but for others to read. So to anyone and everyone who has read my writing this year, or in previous years, I thank you greatly, and I bid thee farewell.
THANKS AGAIN!!
I think that I would prefer to stop writing on my blog but still be able to view my writing. For, example Mr. Mayo could have a link that could take his previous students to their blogs such as the poetry slam of 2007.
Bliss. Sleeping in my soft, comfortable bed. Lying on a cloud. My white feather filled comforter pressed lightly agaisnt my body. Up in the corner of my room seperated from reality by my wooden bunk bed with pink sheets hanging off the side. Then, suddenly a vibration accompanied by a loud beeping tune brings me back…my alarm. I slowly reach over to stop the irritating sound so I can doze for a while. I’m so used to it I don’t even have to look at my pearl gray razr, within a split second my right thumb has found the red circular button and automatically pressed it. Silence. I return to my glorious dream. But, when it seems as though only a minute has passed my second alarm goes off, always seeming a bit louder than the first. I turn it off and, reluctantly, bend my tired arms back and begin to push myself up seperating my body from the squishy memory foam, while catching a glympse of my chipped maroon nailpolish. I find myself blinking my eyes multiple times before finally adjusting to the lime green color of my picture-filled walls and seeing my room clearly, pages ripped out from magazines tapped to the wall, a poster of Johnny Depp, a calender reminding me that it’s Monday…gee thanks alot. Clothes strewn all over the floor, the gray sweatpants in the corner look appetizing but I think I’ll go with the jeans hung over my desk chair today and pair it with a turquoise tank top, then to top it off my UNCW sweatshirt, of course. I brush my hair and put it up into a messy bun, wash my face rinsing it with warm water before and cold water after, eat my slightly burnt toast smothered in butter and jelly, make my lunch, put my backpack together then brush my teeth making sure I don’t miss a spot and that there’s no toast in my silver braces. My mom walks through the door and to her surprise-and delight- I’m ready to walk out the door. Here we go again…
She has the entire sea
But must satisfy her hearts longing for he
If she ever wants her happiness to be
And for her heart, there is only he
He who holds the key
To the lock that is the Mermaids Heart
But he is on land and she is at sea
No happily ever after will come to she
Darfur
This morning I came to school after eating a good breakfast, and taking a hot shower. It is a beautiful, warm, sunny day but not much is going on. Almost everyone is heading to work in their cars, or biking/walking to school. There’s no violence, everything is calm. All of my family members are safe and sound and I can count on the fact that I will see them all at the end of the day, healthy and happy. Everyday, it’s about the same routine. Sometimes I can even get bored with it but the fact is, I am one of the luckiest people in the world. People in
Darfur don’t have any of these privileges. Everyday, someone they love risks being killed, they risk being killed. They have no real home and they don’t have enough food and/or water to survive. Everyday they fear that militias will come into their home, take their family members, as well as torture, abuse and kill their friends. There is a major problem in
Darfur and we need all the help we can get to stop it, and soon.
WE WANT YOU TO HELP SAVE
DARFUR. All the problems in
Darfur started in 2003, when the government was selling their oil to china and getting large sums of money in return. The Darfurians who were actually doing the work to get the oil were barely getting paid. When these workers found out what was going on, they knew it was unfair and decided to rebel. Rather than pay all the workers a fair amount of money and avoid violence and conflict, the government decided to hire the janjaweed and keep the money. The original plan was for the jajaweed to go into the village where the rebels were and kill them all. However, by the time the janjaweed arrived, the rebels had fled. Not knowing who among the innocent civilians may have been a rebel, the jajaweed began to slaughter everyone. Since, then, the killing continues. Up until now, it has left 2.5 million innocent people homeless and hungry and at least 200,000 dead. Militias ride into villages, killing innocent people, ruining their homes and picking up women to rape and keep as sex slaves along the way. And the problems do not seem to be getting better.
If you are a Darfurian, there is absolutely no way you can wake up and know that at the end of the day you will be alive or if your family will be with you. We need to help
Darfur restore the peace so that innocent people can live their lives with enough food, water and security to survive. Imagine if the people in this situation were your family, your friends or your neighbors. You would want to help. And
Darfur needs as much help as possible. We are not asking for anyone to treat Darfurians like Kings or
Queens, we are only asking everyone to treat them the way they should be treated, like human beings. There is a major problem in
Darfur and we need all the help we can get to stop it, and soon.
There are alot of sites where you can learn information about Darfur and genocide. Our class has found a site with a game called “Darfur Is Dying” It is a visual game that helps people put themselves in the places of suffering Darfurians. In the game, you can choose a player to represent your camp. Next, you can choose whether you want risk your life to get water for you and your family while running and hiding from militias or if you want to go to your refugee camp while trying to salvage enough food and water to survive. While getting water you risk getting caught by the janjaweed and dying. But, while in your refugee camp, you can also be attacked and captured my militias or run out of food and water. Although you can hide from the janjaweed, it is a challenging game that helps inform you about what’s really happening in Darfur.
If you’d like to play the game please, click here!
IF YOU WANT TO HELP DARFUR:
Please participate in INTERNATIONAL DARFUR AWARENESS DAY, March 6th, 2008. You can participate by posting thoughtful comments on our Many Voices For Darfur Blog.
For more information about International Darfur Awareness Day and to visit the Many Voices For Darfur Blog, click here.
Thank You Very Much For All of Your Support.
One of my favorite blog post from this year was assigned very recently. I really enjoyed learning and writing about genocide. I enjoyed it because at the end of the day I felt like I had really learned something and that now, I had a better understanding about whats going on in the world. And I can have a bigger outlook on life and try to help other people.
In my opinion, using blogs in class is a very good idea. I think this because it is much, much easier to keep all my writing in one place so I can go back and look at how I’ve improved and how my writing has changed. Also, I like it because I can be on my computer having fun and just pull up a page to do my homework. I think that using these blogs for english class is a fun way to spread facts about what I’ve learned while improving my typing skills.
I don’t think my writing has changed much this year beside the fact that I have become more interested in what we are learing about so I have been writing more.
I think that when I do type that one thing I do well is to spread information clearly so readers know what is going on in our class, and how I feel about it.
I think that one thing I could definitly work on could be to blog more often because alot of times I just turn in written papers to Mr.Mayo, so not all of my writing is in one place.
There are 8 stages of genocide.
Classification- The seperation of a community, the forming of categories. Classifying people by ethnicity, race, religion or nationality.
Symbolization- Making names or symbols to represent the groups. Labeling the groups with a name or image because of what they do, the way they dress or how they think.
DEHUMANIZATION- The third step of genocide is DEHUMINIZATION. Dehuminization occurs when one group reduces another group to the equivilence of vermin, animals, insects, diseases ect…(One group denies the humanity of the other group) In most cases one group is reduced to such things so another no longer sees them as humans so they don’t feel guilty torturing or killing them. Leading to hate crimes. When one group dehumanizes another, they are making way to hurt or kill them. Since the groups no longer see each other as humans, they figure their acts of violence are justified and they will not be punished.
Organization- The planning of genocidal killings and massacres lead by special army units or militas.
Polarization- Extremists drive the groups apart. Sometimes forbiding intermarriage or social interaction.
Identification- Death lists are drawn up. Victims identified are forced to wear a symbol to identify themselves. Sometimes the victims are forced into consentration camps, ghettos or places with low food supply and left to starve. At this stage, a Genocide Alert must be called.
Extermination- Mass killing starts and the process is legally called “GENOCIDE” This stage is called “extermination” because after dehuminization the groups see the killings more as exterminating insects or pests rather than killing human beings.
Armed forces are doing most of the killing. Occasionally, these genocides result in revenge killings from other groups. Therefore, the problems keep escalating.
Denial- The last stage of genocide is denial. The crimes are all denied, mass graves are dug, the bodies are burned and the perpatrators of the genocide continue to govern until they are forced to flee into exil.
Ways that the situation at the zoo and Animal Farm are alike include the following two points:
1. At the zoo in San Francisco the 6 peinguins kind of take over and somehow convince the other peinguins to follow their lead. This is the same situation as in Animal Farm when Napoleon takes over and all the animals begin to follow his lead. He takes over and convinces all the animals to think his way. The 6 peinguins at the zoo convince all the other peinguins to think their way and swim.
2. Also, in Animal Farm there are alot of animals but 3 pigs take over and eventually Napoleon is in full control even though the animals could easily over throw him. As at the zoo, the 6 peinguins are less than the 46 peinguins but they still take control and lead while the 46 couold easily overcome them.
