Week Eight Blog Prompt

For this week, you may choose any current affairs topic that you feel strongly about and write a 200-word reflection on it.

The upcoming Presidential Elections on the 27th of August will be, as said by many, a heated one, just like the General Elections on the 7th of May. Being a fourteen year old student, I obviously would not be able to vote. However, I am a Singaporean and the next Elected President will be taking care of our nation. Because of this, I would be talking about what I would like to see in our President, this is just a personal view.

Firstly, he must have the qualities and capabilities of a suitable President. That is why the candidate must first have had the appointment to manage something or a company of a capital with over S$100 million. Getting this appointment is already a difficult thing and surely it meant that the candidate has already a certain capability. Next, I hope that he would be open about his thoughts of Singapore's future, be it good or not. Basically, I hope his opinions would be known to the public because it would really show what sort of person he is, however, the opinions must surely be an honest one. Finally, actions speak louder than words. The candidates have press conferences and they speak about their plans for the future of Singapore. They make it sound as if they will definitely accomplish everything they mentioned. I know it is not as easy as it seem, but they still have to complete their promises towards the public because it was because of what they said that voters believed the voted for them.

I know that there are still many qualities that a President has to have. However, it would be too in-depth. All I can say to all voters out there is: Vote wisely, Singapore's future is in your hands!

Week Six Blog Prompt

The news media should be blamed for the unhealthy paparazzi culture and going to the extremes for sensational news. How far do you agree?

I agree because when the term paparazzi come to peoples' minds, they would be known as a stalker. This is because even though they are movie stars, these celebrities are still people. Everyone needs their own comfort zone and privacy. These paparazzi follow them everywhere they go, shopping, spa and to exaggerate, they may have a campsite outside the homes of celebrities. From the perspective of a celebrity, wouldn't it be creepy to know that there would be paparazzi following behind wherever you go. One may even have the sound of a camera shutter stuck in their head whilst the thought of people following them everywhere.

A counter argument may be that it is because of the social status of these people that keeps the paparazzi on their move. The fact that these people have a higher status may be why so many people are curious of what they do or did. They may think that they are the same species yet there's a difference in status. Some people may inflict insulting comments to demote the celebrities because of jealousy. They are jealous that they could not have the same fame, wealth or attention and wants the celebrities to feel the same. Thus this may be tentative from the point of view of this issue.

Week Five Blog Prompt

No, I believe that there was in some way a form of justice but not true justice. In the trail scene after Portia came in, she asked Shylock three times whether or not he was going to show some mercy towards Antonio by not taking his pound of flesh but the money instead. The vengeful Shylock wanted that pound of flesh so much because he knows that Antonio would surely bleed to death, thus rejecting the money for the flesh. The manipulative Portia then found a way to save Antonio's life after seeing a loophole in the bond they made. It stated that a pound of flesh is Shylock's to take but, it did not state that he could have any of Antonio's blood. Once Shylock heard Portia's point, he immediately wanted the money instead of the flesh because clearly, there would be bleeding once the knife goes into Antonio and being trapped in a corner and out of desperation, he pleaded to have his ducats instead. Using the Venetian law, Portia said that Shylock was to give up his life, but the Duke spared him mercy but took away his entire assets. There was justice towards Shylock because he clearly wanted to claim a life but did not succeed so he was punished yet justice was not done towards Antonio for not paying back Shylock.

Persons of power, authority, and wealth can easily manipulate Justice and Law. They bribe and bribe even more just to save their title and to keep away from embarrassment. A perfect example is corruption in certain countries. Using their power and the authority they have in the government, they take taxpayers' money as they wish, spending them like no one's business when in fact, they are themselves are in the wrong the they were suppose to be examples for the nation to follow, how ironic.

Week Four Blog Prompt

The letter written to the Education Minister, Mr Heng, was pretty impressive to me personally. First of all, the fact the teenager, Janelle Lee, had the courage to write to someone of such a high status impresses me already. She mentioned a couple of key subjects that many students in Singapore also have but do not have the guts to write a letter to the Minister himself. However, I do not totally agree with one of her points, that is the point that student these days do not ask, 'Why?' With the technology advancement today, students can simply go on the net and search for the answers on their own. So why bother someone else when the answers are already available on the worldwide web? However, maybe a handful may only go ask teachers or parents for more information that they could not find, or maybe just a better understanding of it or more in depth information in simple English. Whatever the case, I believe that students these days have not stop asking, 'Why?'

Her tone in the open letter was rather casual. I think that probably she told that no one would actually read it and furthermore, that it would not be made public. Maybe it was just her way of expressing her unsatisfactory of the education system, with some points she recommends to improve the whole system. However, she said that 'As a Secondary Four student, I experience first-hand the ugliness of the flaws the education system has'. This sounds as if she is saying that there are no good points about the education system. This is the system that made many Singaporeans top scholars, made them create companies that may be leading the industry in the world, this is the system that made students in Singapore who they are including Janelle herself and all she see are flaws in the Education system? I beg to differ.

If I were to write a letter to the Education Minister, I would mention that teachers should give us more practical than just notes and worksheet, as most students would remember better through first-hand account. I would also include the fact that tests and examinations pose a too big importance in the system as only when it comes to the tests and exams, the students will then rush to memorise and revise all that has been learnt just because they were told that these were going to determine where they would be going in future, what they would be doing and who they are.

Week Three Blog Prompt

Money, money, money. A saying goes, 'Money makes the world go round', but is this actually true? I personally have absolutely no idea. Money is indeed a big deal in our current lives and without money, there's nothing you can get and nothing you can do.

What about money and marriage? In the past, the Chinese would put up their daughters in for a 'transaction'. In this 'transaction', the groom has to give the bride's family a certain amount of money or something that has some sort of value in exchange for the bride's hand in marriage. In these cases, money is indeed involved but some may consider this as a sort of custom rather than greed over money since it has already happened for hundreds of years in China.

In the present context, this Chinese tradition still exists and some families having a low income, would find the more wealthy families to marry their daughter off. However, this is not as simply as in the olden days as the youngsters wants their own say and would not marry to someone for the rest of her life just because the family wants that little bit more money.

Is there an upward trend in relationships and marriages because of money? I really do not think so. This is because, nowadays, women can also be independent and be out there working along side the men. They can even support a family alone, so why would they want to marry because of money since they already have money. Personally, I think that people marry to one another is simply because of love, the simple yet complicated and subjective, topic.

Week Two Blog Prompt

Difference between war in the past and war in the present has changed quite drastically. In the past, war was fought using nothing other than hands. Then, Man became smarter and used the things around us to create items, they created weapons such as using the branches and trunks from trees to create spears, wooden swords and perhaps clubs. After the discovery of metal, Man used it to arm them with the weapons they previously created to make them even more dangerous, causes more damage and more effective in killing enemies.

To make things worse, Man found that the use of combustion is effective in making things move at high speeds to penetrate things and the human body, and the gun was invented. The gun has changed umpteen times and changed the way we fight. From the close range fist-fight to now, long range shooting, this changed all in the name of efficiency and effectiveness. Make types of handheld guns exists including machine guns, sniper rifles and pistols. All have different types of uses but all lead to a common goal, to kill.

Land combat was still not enough for the human race. We invented fighter jets, submarines and ships to have more control over what's mine and theirs'. Altogether, the human, weapons, guns were placed together into one common thing, a fighter jet or the ship, all add up to make a deadly combination.

All in all, we can safely say that the way we fight in battles today have vastly changed since the time of the stone age.

Week One Blog Prompt

I think National Service in Singapore is compulsory because every men in Singapore should have that chance to show their patriotism and love for the country they live in, Singapore. It is important because in the world we live in today, there are so many threats, especially terrorist threats. Since the 9/11 incident that happened to the United States of America in the year 2001, every country in the world has stepped up security measures to prevent such horrible incidents from happening in their country and even if they are unable to prevent such incidents, they would be able to respond quickly enough to catch the culprits, save the victims and assure everyone that it is save once again. Singapore being Singapore, we have faced couple of threats. The one that most people would remember is the plane hijack done by Mas Selamat bin Kastari, the leader of terrorist group, Jemaah Islamiah. After his escape from the Whitley Road Detention Centre, the Singapore Arm Forces, Singapore Navy as well as the Singapore Police Force were deployed. These men went through the National Service and came out as fit young soldiers and policemen, and in times of need, they will be sent out for task in order to keep Singapore safe. That's my explanation for why we have National Service compulsory in Singapore.

Do I think I am patriotic to Singapore? Personally, I have absolutely no idea. I can't say that I am patriotic at times because I really hate somethings on the island. Yet, I cannot say that I am not patriotic towards Singapore because I do indeed like or even love things in Singapore. So it's actually quite contradicting.

2011 Term 2 Online Lesson 25/5 Task 1

The poem that I will be doing on is Rainbow Death by Hubert Wilson.

Difficulty Rating: * *Rainbow Death

America did not foreseeGreen, pink, purple and other colors death potpourri!Expecting others to pay a high price.Now thinking twice?Toll on the innocent and unborn.Omnipotent and disregarding who will mourn.Reflective about all the illness, birth defects and prematurely dead.All the deceit continues to spread.Nefariously America led astray -Generations untold WILL pay -Execrable effects of agent orange spray!Hubert Wilson

About the poet:

He was a Vietnam War veteran (as were his four brothers) who served in the USAF Security Service. He, along with a dozen or so intelligence school grads, prepped for about 14 months at Kelly AFB in San Antonio, Texas, before anticipating to be sent to Vietnam or elsewhere in Southeast Asia in 1970. About half of them ended up in Da Nang (an Agent Orange hotspot) in the 6924th Security Squadron. The rest of them, along with Hubert Wilson, were assigned to Shemya Island, Alaska, with the 6984th Security Squadron, and what eventually was a more contaminated environment than Da Nang!
Hubert Wilson’s health problems started approximately 15 years ago with unexplained headaches and limb pains. Four years ago his central nervous system radically deteriorated with Parkinsonian type tremors, severe headaches, progressive limb pains, etc. No physician has everdiagnosed the specific illness. No physician has ever rendered any form of medical assistance! Hubert Wilson’s number one educated guess is the heavily contaminated drinking water at Shemya during his year there as an intelligence analyst.
Fortunately, since his brain still functions moderately well (and I have mobility issues), he had turned to writing.

About the Poem:

Hubert Wilson’s Rainbow Death speaks of a modern day ingredient of warfare that has caused appalling death and suffering – not only to its intended victims, the Vietnamese people, but also the service personnel that used or even just came into contact with “Agent Orange”, which appears to be the code name for a herbicide and defoliant—contaminated with TCDD (Tetrachlorodibenzodioxin) —used by the U.S. military in its Herbicidal Warfare program during the Vietnam War. According to Vietnamese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 4.8 million Vietnamese people were exposed to Agent Orange, resulting in 400,000 deaths and disabilities, and 500,000 children born with birth defects.

“From 1962 to 1971, Agent Orange was by far the most widely used of the so-called "Rainbow Herbicides" employed in the herbicidal warfare program. During the production of Agent Orange (as well as Agents Purple, Pink, and Green) dioxins were produced as a contaminant, which have caused numerous health problems for the millions of people who have been exposed. Agents Blue and White were part of the same program but did not contain dioxins.” -- Wikipedia

Thus, we can see from this quote why Hubert Wilson had written a poem entitled Rainbow Death. This poem, Rainbow Death, may remind us that wars actually are not over when the wars are over.

Source : www.warpoetry.co.uk/2010warpoetry.html

Online Learning - Letter of encouragement (30/3/11)

Bukit Batok Street 34 BLK 341 #97- 44

Singapore 874103

Dear Mr. Jones,

I am someone from Singapore that has read your article about the Japan Crisis and I would like to write this letter of encouragement to you as well as to the people of Japan. I understand that you have felt the earthquake tremors on March 11, 2011. This earthquake, as seen on the newspaper worldwide, caused a 10-metre tsunami as well as a current nuclear crisis at the Fukushima nuclear power plant.

Videos and pictures of the tsunami is everywhere. Trending on twitter and spreading on Tumblr and Facebook. I found out that this is the worst Mother Nature has give Japan since the 1995 earthquake that hit the Western city of Kobe. All the buildings in the affected areas were destroyed completely; nothing could be seen left in shape. The rebuilding of cities, towns and provinces costs hundreds of millions to rebuild. This takes the help of the entire planet, and I am please to say that contributions made were a significant amount. These food and water would be sent to the affected areas as soon as possible. I hope that your family, friends and yourself would be fine and in one piece.

The nuclear crisis at the Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant is huge problem currently. The radioactive leakage is causing major problems to Japan and parts of the world. Food supplies around the world from Japan are banned from entering the country. I hope the government would be able to solve this as soon as possible to avoid further complications.

I hope that you are fine, not forgetting your family and friends too. I have confidence that the Japanese nation would be able to overcome this as even after all that has happened, the people are still calm and composed and not panicking. I wish everyone in Japan a few safe weeks ahead and good luck!

Yours truly,

Kang Jun Yi.

Setting

Telephone - Wole Soyinka

1)This poem is full of colours no just that of skin, what do you think these colours signify?

One of the colours mentioned in the poem is the colour gold. The gold generally meant that the persona had some wealth as it is believed that gold was for the wealthy people as only they could afford it. The next colour is brunette. Its not really a colour but people with brown-coloured hair. I think it is for the landlord to make herself feel more at ease as I think she prefers brunettes to Africans.

2) What does the dialogue in this poem reveal about the two characters?

This poem reveals the two characters other side of their personality. This is because the landlord, whose skin colour is white, looks down on the persona, whose skin colour is totally different, dark brown, or West African sepia. The persona on the other hand, feels very awkward about talking about her own skin colour.

3) The poet dramatises a battle, who wins finally and why?

The landlord is curious to how dark the skin colour of the African lady is and keeps asking and asking. However, the African lady tries again and again to not answer directly to the landlord. This make the landlord impatient and wants to hang up. So the African lady had no choice but to give in and thus resulting in the landlord being the winner of this ‘battle’.

Civil War

a. Identify the southern states.

South Carolina, Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, Texas, Virginia,

Arkansas Tennessee and North Carolina.

b. Who was the US president who proclaimed the war against the south?

It was President Abraham Lincoln.

c. Why was the Civil War fought?

The South was taxed way more then the North and the Southerners felt that it was unfair and so the Civil War.

d. When was this war fought?

The Civil War took place between 1861 and 1862.

e. What was the outcome of this war?

The North won and prevented the South from being an independent republic.

f. How does the Civil Right movements relate to the novel (To Kill A Mocking Bird)?

Both talk about the racism in American life.

Identity

It has been years. It has been years that I finally came back. Glad to be back, yet at the same time, I do not know if I am able to blend in as a local like when I was a kid. In those times, people were more adventurous, fit and optimistic. Now, things have changed the way I never imagine it to be. However, it might not be so bad after all. It could be a unique personality of us. A personality that no where in the world has, as I have said, a unique personality, even new words were created just to describe us. In fact, a new language was created.

Coming back was a totally different feeling then leaving. When you arrive, you feel welcomed. Like thousands of people waiting at the airport upon your arrival and greet you when you look at them, but in fact, no one is there but strangers waiting for their relatives and friends. No one would even bother looking at you. However, it just feels good to be back.

This trip back home would just a two-week holiday. Visiting friends, shopping and do everything and anything. And of course, understand how and what my homeland has became after eight years abroad in London. Went over when I was thirteen because my father was posted there to work. Pretty excited at first but leaving behind all my friends, it was hard. All the friendships that took years to build can simply be left behind just like that. However, I had no choice. My whole family was going. I cannot just say no to that. I was thirteen.

The only thing left was to make new friends in London, keep in touch with old ones and come back to visit. And there I was eight years later I am finally back on home ground. A sense of joy and anxiousness runs in me.

Everything has changed. From the old dirty island, to the clean, green and fresh island today. From a world of rural areas, to an island of urbanized city. However, some things still have not changed, that is the multi-racial and multi-cultural we have in Singapore. Not many places are able to cope with 4 or more religions living together because of the much friction caused between two religions, fights and rioting tend to happen and peoples’ lives are at stake. This is a one thing about government that I admire, able to control and races and all live in peace.

The Central Business District is another world famous place. Or at the very least, to me it is. This is because this is the place where the country’s economy depends on. If it crashes, all is doomed. Thus, it takes much consideration and feedback from others before a major change would take place. It is like the New York City’s ‘Wall Street’, but simplified.

Talking about my homeland, the thing that most tourists would talk about is the language we speak. We speak a unique combination of every language here. It started from mandarin, Chinese. It then evolved and other language started coming into this. Reason is simple, because the world is evolving, surely we too have to do the same and thus, English, Malay were slowing added into the language. Furthermore, we even added Chinese dialects, such as Hokkien, Teochew into in! It somehow mange to turn out fine, but only if you speak to locals who say it as well. And this is called none other than ‘Singlish’!

From our Central Business District to our clean and green gardens to our invented language, that's our identity. Once you hear someone speaking in a language you feel that is confusing and at the same time containing a lot of languages and dialect, you know what it is, it’s ‘Singlish’!

I guess you already have a clue to where I come from. I come from Singapore! Have you guessed it right? And this was how I felt after coming back to Singapore after eight years. Eight whole years out of your home country, I mean, who can not feel homesick, even though your home is now else where, your home country is your home country, no other place will be able to replace this significant country in your heart.

And that's our Singapore Identity!

Slavery

a. When and how did slavery in the southern state?

Slavery recorded went as far back as the civilisation of Sumer, which spans over the Uruk period (5th millennium BC), followed by the proto-historical early dynastic period (early 3rd millennium BC) and the dynastic period of Sumer proper in the mid 4th millennium BC, until the conquest of Sumer by the Akkadians around 2400 BC. Native Sumerian rule re-emerged for about a century in the so-called Sumerian Renaissance of the 21st to 20th century. It started when people had a shortage of workers and did not want to pay the workers their salary, thus they became slaves against their own will.

b. Which country/countries did the slaves come from?

Slaves mostly came from Africa with about 12 million to 27 million brought out of their country each year. The women and children were mostly brought to the sex industry which eventually would go into the drugs.

c. Who traditionally bought and owned the slaves?

The white people mainly bought and owned the slave. They normally own companies or factories for these slaves to work in.

d. Were there rules/ laws that the slaves had to abide by? If yes, what were they?

The slaves were not allowed to own any piece of land, get married, to testify in court for any sort of cases and have family. Any other rules/laws would most probably made up the slaves' owner.

e. How does the nation of slavery relate to the novel? Does the study of slavery help you understand the novel better?

It helps by telling me why there was a need to have slaves during that period of time when manpower was needed, and with limited amount of money, nobody had a choice but to go into slavery.

Home Learning 24/1/2011 - Comic Strip

- Why did you choose the different pictures or background(s)?

The backgrounds are mostly the same except for one. This is because I feel that when I think about books, the first few things that comes to mind is the library, school and the classroom. Thus the backgrounds of this comic have a background that looks like a classroom.


- How do they contribute to the elements (plot, setting, characterization) of your narrative?

They contribute quite a lot because like as I said in the previous question, its seems like a library at the back. At libraries, there are many books and you cant just judge all of them by their cover, just like the one in the comic strip. Thus I feel that the background is absolutely relevant and helps contribution to the elements of the comic.

- How did you make use of the different elements to contribute to the theme you have chosen?

The theme that I have chosen is, 'Don't Judge a book by its cover'. In the first box, we have a bear who saw a Harry Potter book and that it was boring, weird and no nice at all to read just by looking at the cover page because he sees a nerdy young boy. However, he still read the book and in the end, he enjoyed it, as well as hundreds of millions of fans around the globe!

By kangjunyi | View this Toon at ToonDoo | Create your own Toon