The perfect world

"They say that time changes things, but you actually have to change them yourself" - Andy Warhol

This picture I chose represents how if we were to make a perfect world, peace would be first thing we would need to have in this world. All the war has to stop in order for a perfect world to be made. This peace sign was formed in Budapest.

This quote tells us that if the perfect world were to come, we have to change it now. We know that change comes from our actions, change doesn't come on it's own, you have to make it happen. Time can change things, but most of the time change things for the worst. We have to change things for the better. We have many countries in the world suffering right now and we can change it.

If I were to create a perfect world, one characteristic I would definitely have is equality. In the world right now, equality is something I would change. People are struggling in different parts of the world and one reason is they are not treated as equal as us. We have shelter, education, healthcare, food, clean water and they don't have any. In my society, everyone will be treated equally.

In this society, people will be treated equally as everyone will have shelter, education, healthcare, food and water. This way, now one will struggle to live and they get their basic needs. Being treated equally also means everyone gets the right to tell their part of the story when in court, etc. A perfect world does not only consist of one characteristic, other characteristics would be for the society to be peaceful, safe, citizens to have their freedom and respect for each other. Imagine a society like this existing on Earth.

You can find the picture here

Hitler's rise to power, Kristallnacht

January 1933, Hitler gained power through flames at Reichstag. Hitler had completely brainwashed everyone in the country, including children. Nazis recruited many unemployed men and one propaganda phrase was: "When Jewish blood drops from the knife, you know everything will be fine." That caused racial hatred. Hitler then convinces president Hindenburg to suspend all civil liberties. November 1938, on the night of the 9th and 10th, Kristallnacht. Shattered glass, burning houses, synagogues, the name Kristallnacht was given. Over 30,000 Jews were sent to concentration camp, over 90 were killed. The Jews then had to play one billion marks for the damage "they" had done from the events that had happened. In 1933, the first concentration camp was formed in Dachau. Communist, socialist, democrats and catholics were sent to the camp. They also suspended all Jews from civil services and universities. Jews were portrayed by Hitler as greedy, repulsive, corrupt and anti-German. This also showed up in textbooks. This shocked me. How would like it if you were called greedy, repulsive and corrupt? In September 1935, the Nuremberg laws mentioned to take away all citizenship rights from the Jews. The Nazis were not thinking genocide, they just wanted the Jews to leave Germany. Thousands left but no country would accept them. Canada's infamous quote was " How many should we take it? None is too many."

Hitler knew he had to control the children too. He made them dedicate their lives to Hitler. The Hitler youth camp started in 1922. The kids felt they had a mission and felt important. They had sworn in their lives to The Fuhrer and the Fatherland. They were taught that the Jews were a dirty and poisonous race.

The painting shows the Nazis smashing the windows and beating the Jews. This is the reason it was called Kristallnacht. The smashing of windows. The faces of the Jews show how horrified they were during Kristallnacht.

Painting from: http://www.moshegalili.com/images_holocaust/Kristallnacht.jpg

Check out the other paintings ( click on headings bolded and in white) at:

http://www.moshegalili.com/holocaustexhibition.htm

Is this really me?

This is my DomiKnow.

My learning profile is profile L. Which means I am a gestalt learner. To find out what learner you are, you need to find out your dominant eye, ear, arm and leg. All my dominant parts are on the right, which makes me a profile L. The right side of your brain means your a gestalt learner, the left means your a logic learner. When I fidget around with a pencil, eraser, paper or other things you have on a desk, it may seem like I'm not paying attention, but I am. I also focus on the whole picture.

I prefer not to do instructions that requires it to be done step-by-step. I think of the end result and that is what suits me. When I am under stress, I need quiet time on my so I can easily get new ideas. However, when I am under stress, I shut down completely. It gets difficult for me to see, remember, communicate and hear, which really is me. Sometimes when reading a book, I can read but can't remember a thing about what I read, and will have to read that page again. I can easily loose focus on what I am doing when it is noisy. When I hear noise, I will look towards that direction.

While doing a test, I will get stressed and not remember a thing. Activities that can help me are lazy 8's, brain caps and more. There are different brain gym activities you can do. While the teacher is teaching, I would learn easier with metaphors and my doing things that involve movement. I won't know where to start chunking it down when I see the whole picture.

This is what I would like my teachers to know about me. In class, I would like to do activities that involve movement so I can learn better.

A small mistake making a big difference

Jesus Colon is a negro. One night, he had finished work and was returning by train. In the subway, he saw this white lady, she was carrying a heavy suitcase, a baby and had two children following by her side. He was thinking if he should help, and he was thinking about how the lady would react. He decided not to help because since the lady was white and he was black, there might be racism, she might think Colon was trying to rob her or even worse. After that incident, Colon felt that he had failed and his identity had been banished. Since that incident, it had changed his identity. This also relates to the poem by John Donne, in the poem, it said we are all mankind and we are all connected and we should always help mankind. Colon failed to do that because he just ran away. This story also relates to the video by Jason Van Genderen. In the video, they showed the beggars, the white lady relates to the beggars because she was ignored by people and left alone, isolated on an island. To me, this would've been a really hard decision. I think that there is no good or bad when your in a situation like this. If you ask the lady, she might think you are willing to help or she might think that your going to kidnap. If you leave, it shows that your scared of the lady's reaction and it's alright to be scared. Like sometimes un school, people are scared to ask a question, because he/she is scared of the teacher's reaction, just like the lady in Jesus Colon's story.

In the poem by James Berry, it said "do we shut our eyes", that also relates to the video by Van Genderen when everyone were just ignoring the homeless people around them. The poem also said "What do we do with a difference? Do we stand and discuss its oddity or do we ignore it?". In Colon's story, he ignored the difference, in the video, everyone also just ignored the different people and they just think that only normal people live in this world, but their wrong. In school, different races and religions get on well, I haven't seen any quarrel about races. So in my school, it is the total opposite with this story. The painting by Picasso shows two doves different in color and still happy together. The picture was selected by me because the two doves are like Jesus Colon and the white lady, but their actions and their thoughts are the total opposite. They are both united but Jesus Colon didn't think that that was going to happen. Even difference can be united as one.

Painting from: http://www.guggenheim.org/new-york/collections/collection-online/show-list/do-search/?search=picasso&page=2&cr=10

The will to fight for freedom

Aung San Suu Kyi was an Oxford graduate and a Noble Peace Prize winner. In 1945 June 19, she was the pro democracy leader of Burma and Burma got rid of the Brithsh, eventhough her father supported the British during World War 2. Sadly, her father was assassinated when she was 2 years old. in 1964, she studied philosophy and politics at Oxford University. She then went to work for the UN in New York. She is married to Michael Arns who is a Tibet scholar and they have 2 children, both of them are boys. She wanted the killing in Burma to stop and Burma needed a leader. She overwhelmingly won the elections. Then, the military dictatorship placed her under house arrest. In 1995, she was briefly released of house arrest. In July 1995-2000, she was freed from house arrest but there was a dillema, she could see her husband but never allowed back into her country and she realized her husband was dying. She then had a quote saying "Drops of water that make up the ocean.", meaning that nothing is too small.

This also relates to Daedalus and Icarus. Daedalus wanted freedom from King Minos and he built wings so he could gain his freedom. Aung San Suu Kyi had to make really hard decisions. I always have to make decisions and I think in my mind "this is such a hard decision to make". Now, after this story, I know that all my decisions are way easier than Aung San Suu Kyi's. I think that what Aung San Suu Kyi did was right. The fact that she could give people freedom is already heroic. I wouldn't be able to do that.

The painting by Toni Littlejohn is a bird heading up into the air. I chose this painting because the bird is getting freedom. The bird is like Aung San Suu Kyi because she also wanted freedom, same with the bird, it wants freedom.

Painting from: http://tonilittlejohn.com/gallery/show?keyword=Paintings&subkey=+Forms

Mankind and alien

The feeling everyone has on an island is isolated because there is no civilization on an island and you are separated from the outside world.

The poem by John Donne is telling us that no man should be alone by themselves, everyone should be with civilization. The quote "any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind." tells us that even when one man dies, it affects him because he is part of mankind. "if a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less". That shows that when a little part of Europe falls out, Europe gets smaller. Same with the one where someone dies, the civilization gets smaller.

The video by Jason Van Genderen also has the same message as the poem by John Donne. It shows that no one should feel left out even if your a different race, religion or from a different country. That is saying that he is an alien, but everyone is mankind. In the video, the beggars are on the street begging for money and everyone just ignores him and walks past him. I think they notice him but just ignoring him. Just because he is a beggar, different from everyone else, it doesn't mean the that you should just ignore them, how would you feel if you were a beggar and people ignoring you? The beggars feel isolated like how you would feel on an island, they are detached from the outside world. They showed the sign saying "This is freedom?", for everyone else but not the beggars. They are isolated away from civilization.

Van Genderen's video's theme relates to the story "The Island" by Armin Greder. This is because a stranger gets stuck on an island. Everyone there is different from him and he is treated unequally. No man should be treated as an outsider as he is too part of mankind. It relates to the video when the beggars were just waiting and everyone just walked past him. This also relates to Theseus and the Minotaur. The Minotaur is also part human but King Minos just wanted to put him in captivity because he looked like a monster. It makes the Minotaur feel isolated away. When I first came to this school, I was all alone on an island because I didn't know anyone there except one friend who was in the same kindergarten as me, Dzaim. When he wasn't there, I was isolated away from civilization and I was alone.

The painting by Edouard Manet shows that everyone is involved in civilization. No one is left out and everyone are united. I chose this painting because I am trying to tell you that this is how the world should be, eveyone together and no one should feel like an alien, on an island or isolated. We are all mankind and should all be treated like mankind.

Painting from: http://dev.laptop.org/~arael/preview/famous_paintings/famous_paintings.xol/painting/Edouard_Manet-800px-Edouard_Manet_036.jpg

What items are in me?

It wasn’t easy to find 10 things to represent me as a person, but having thought harder about it, these are the ten things.

Most of the items have to do with sports because I enjoy playing sports. I have included a shuttlecock as badminton was the first racket sport I played, which I started when I was five. You can count this as a team spor,t but I'd rather play singles. When you are alone on the court, you can see if your skills are better but in a team, it is more about teamwork, although skills are important too. After I hit a shot perfectly on the net of the racket, it feels that the shot is unstoppable.

My second racket sport I played was tennis. That's why you can see a tennis ball on the floor, but I started late in tennis, about 3 years ago. To me, tennis is my preferred racket sport today although when I first started, I didn't quite enjoy it, as I struggled with backhand. I prefer tennis than badminton because for tennis, you use your whole arm and in badminton, you only use your wrist. So tennis you use more strength and it is easier because a wrist can't make you hit that hard.

The other sport I enjoy is soccer, which is why I chose a soccer ball. On the soccer ball, you can probably see a little red and yellow picture stuck onto the soccer ball. That is the soccer team I support, Manchester United. I have supported this team since I started to like soccer, which was two years ago. Soccer is a sport which requires a lot of teamwork and sometimes, when you pass to the opponent by mistake, and they score, the team has to understand that no one is to blame - not the keeper or not me for the horrible pass. So sometimes soccer can be frustrating, but nevertheless, I enjoy it. I still have lots of room for improvement as I am not very good at it.

On the floor, you can see a piece of paper colored in black, because black is my favourite color. I like the color because it represents darkness and mysteriousness. However, that does not mean that I like everything black as, sometimes I think lighter colors look better on some items. Since the color black is dark, it makes the other lighter colors stand out and the colors shine out.

You can also see a pack of UNO cards. I like to play UNO with my friends or siblings when I am bored. My friend taught me how to play UNO when I was about 5 years old and I have enjoyed it ever since. I am glad he thought me how to play, otherwise, I don't think I would know how to, till now. A packet of Doublemint chewing gum is on the floor - I like it too. You can see a book which I read and enjoyed a lot. My friend from my previous school introduced me to Stormbreaker, the first book, and since reading it, I have consciosuly made it a point to read all his books, including the other series. The author is Anthony Horowitz. My favourite book of his is Crocodile Tears. This book is the last book in the series. It is about this fourteen year old boy’s parents passing away, but he never got a chance to meet them. He then replaces his father and becomes a spy. I started reading the first series last year.

Last but not least, I enjoy music. There is the Guitar Hero game which was given to me for my birthday a year ago. I do not play it often enough, thus I am not very good at it, but I do enjoy it. It is probably the best wii game I have played so far. The other, is the clarinet - I started playing the clarinet since I joined ISKL. When I first started playing the clarinet, I found it to be quite easy after learning the first few basic notes. Now, as it gets increasingly more complicated and I join the intermediate band, I realise that it is not so easy after all!

Now, by describing 10 things related to me, I am sure you have a better understanding of myself. What 10 things best describe you?