No Man is an Island

No man is an island entire of itself; every man

is a piece of the continent, a part of the main;

if a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe

is the less, as well as if a promontory were, as

well as any manner of thy friends or of thine

own were; any man's death diminishes me,

because I am involved in mankind.

And therefore never send to know for whom

the bell tolls; it tolls for thee.
- John Donne

How do these texts explore similar themes?
These text all explore the theme that everyone is connected and we all have to help and show compassion one another, no man is an island. No one can survive and be successful by themselves and we all have to rely each other for assistance and support some point during our lives, as shown in Mankind Is No Island (Jason van Gederen). The video shows many pictures of poverty stricken people on the road sides and emphasizes on the amount of people who walk by without doing anything. They ignore their silent pleas for help. This is also shown in The Island (Armin Greder) when a stranger is washed onto an island. The story tells a tale of a man who had to depend on the compassion of the other villagers for survival and all but one of the villagers was willing to help the stranger. The Island shows a representation of the current world and how little people care for and help others. In John Donne's No Man is an Island, he suggests that all mankind are the same and we should all be treated equally. This contrasts to Greder's illustrations which show villagers treating a man like an animal. They keep him in a goat pen and feed him scrapes of food. They do this because they think that he is different from "them." And yet in the saying, no man is an island, it tells us that though each of us might have some unique qualities that different-shade us, underneath it all, we are all the same. We all are humans. We all want to be loved and appreciated. We all want to fit in. 


How do the texts provide insight to prejudice and "otherness"?
Greder provides insight to prejudice and "otherness" by showing a man who is isolated, ignored, and ill-treated just because he is different. He is secluded from society because others believe that his differences is too great and that he are not like "them." They judged him based on his looks and refused to help him. They think of him as an animal and locks him up a goat pen. Otherness is also clearly shown in Mankind is no Island. There are many pictures of people on the road who need help but are ignored due to them being different from others. 


Why do people make distinctions between "us" and "them"? 

People make distinctions between us and them because they are afraid of their differences. They judge people based on what they look like and where they come from. They are afraid that the people who are different from them might be dangerous, harmful and maybe even more powerful than they are. They isolate the different people to make themselves feel safer from harm. Also, it is much easier to ignore people and make excuses by saying that they are different and could be dangerous instead taking the time help them. 

Profile A

     In humanities, we learned about learning profiles again. This is because learning profiles can sometimes change, just like how peoples personalities can change too. When I did the learning profile test, I found out that I am still an A. This means that my eye, ear, hand and foot work well under stress but I might have difficulty seeing the big picture instead of focusing on the details.

     Being a profile A means that I should sit on the left side of the room so that I can access my right ear easily. I know that I am right ear dominant because we did a test in class. For me, when I pick up the phone, I would usually bring it up to my right ear. Another test we did was that imagine that someone is talking on the other side of the door. You want to know what they are saying so you go up to the door and put your ear on it. When I acted that out, I put my right ear on the door confirming that I am right ear dominant. It is important that I can access my right ear easily because it means that I can hear the teacher better. I also learn best when I focus on the details. I process by analysis, verbalization and writing. Being a profile A also means that I like and have the ability to follow step-by-step visual and auditory instructions. I learn best from oral and written communication. This means that I am not very creative or emotional and can sometimes be unsympathetic towards others. I think that all of this is very true because I like to follow detailed instructions. I also like it when there is only one correct answer. 

     I should be encouraged to understand information from a whole perspective and should also be allowed some time for my ideas to generate. I need to learn how to not always ignore and dismiss my ideas to quickly. This happens to me very frequently especially in humanities. When we are have to write a story but not told what to write about, I get ideas but most of them I would ignore. This makes my writing less creative and in other words, my imaginative stories are usually very dull. I also need to trust my instincts more as most of the time, my movements would be planned. This means that I don't like to improvise because I would have to trust my instincts. To help me with this, I should try to draw blindfolded because I would not be able to see what I was drawing in result forcing me to follow my instincts.

Strategies that would help me learn include trying freeform painting and writing poems that don't rhyme. Freeform painting would help me because it would help me to trust my instincts and to use my imagination. In freeform painting, there are no rules and your results can never be wrong. Freeform painting also allows me to show my emotion through the artwork. For example, if I was sad then I might paint using black, grey, and brown but if I was happy, I would use bright colors like yellow and green. Freeform painting will help me be more creative and show my emotions more and this would help me to write better stories in humanities. Writing poems that don't rhyme can also help me a lot. It will help me to be more imaginative and it will improve my writing. It will help me to be more imaginative because there are no rules and I could write about anything. Even if it doesn't make sense to others, it is okay. This means that I can use a lot of imagination. By writing poems, I am also improving my writing because I am practicing my writing skills and practice make perfect.

     I would like my teachers to know that though I am suppose to try to use my imagination more, I do not like to be imaginative or creative. I like it when I have specific instructions to follow. The thing that I dislike the most is when teachers give instructions that are not clear. It is annoying because you know that they want you to do something in a specific way but you don't exactly understand what they want you to do. Another thing that I would like teachers to know is that I don't like to perform (acting/drama). I don't like to because I am always not sure if what I was doing correct or not and think it is embarrassing.

Graphic Citation:

http://qwickstep.com/search/learning-brain.html

http://www.sacredheartsns.net/poetry/

Take a Stand

Hundreds of public libraries in the United Kingdom are threatened to close down due to the lack of people visiting them. This makes the government feel that there are no need for the libraries and that they are a waste of space. The budget needed to sustain the libraries are high so they think that it will be more advantageous to use the land for something else. Fortunately, many people are protesting at all corners of the nation causing the government to reconsider their decisions. 

I strongly disagree with closing of libraries in the United Kingdom. Libraries not only let people read books for free but also let them have internet access. Some people cannot afford to buy books for themselves and rely on public libraries for reading materials. Others who don't have internet where they live and come to libraries to do research for school projects and assignments. Closing down libraries means preventing people from reading and making it harder for them to excel in school.
Reading is very important in life because it can teach us what is right and what is wrong. History is written in books and when we read them, we can know not to make the same mistakes as people in the past did, reading makes us wiser.
Books are also a source of inspiration. It causes people to think and question, and without these traits, we will never move forward in life. Many inventors read books to help them figure out how things function and how to improve them but without the books, they won’t be able to create new machines to make life easier.
Reading is also entertaining and educational for both children and adults. When you read, your vocabulary expands and you become better at writing stories and essays. Studies have shown that people who read all four types of reading materials, books, magazines, newspapers, and encyclopedias, scored higher than those who don't read. Books can be entertaining and a better way to past time than watching television as well. To some people, books are who they confined to when they are stress and want to escape reality. Taking away libraries is like taking away a friend to them. Public libraries benefit people a lot and it is wrong to close them down.

"To read is to fly; it is to soar to a point of vantage which gives a view over wide terrains of history, human variety, ideas, shared experiences and the fruits of many inquiries." - A. C. Grayling

Reference:

http://www.wisbechmuseum.org.uk/collections_libraries.htm

Five Objects

If you could only have five items for the rest of your life, what would they be? A book? A stuffed animal, an iPod, or perhaps even candy? These objects can be almost anything but they will show who you are and what you value. For me, the five items that I would choose are a bracelet, my bookshelf, a metal box with my stationary inside, my sticker-covered bible, and my clarinet.

When I was around nine years old, my cousin, Jasmine, gave me the rose bracelet. This bracelet reminds me of my extended family because all my female cousins and my sisters have one. It shows that we are all connected somehow as there are exactly six flowers on the bracelet, each one representing a family. The rose bracelet also symbolizes my great-grandmother, who is 98 and still alive, because she loves plants and has them in pots outside her front door. Whenever I go visit my great-grandmother, I would see flowers blooming despite the weather and the season and it will cheer me up, because it looks like a rainbow exploded on her porch.

My bookshelf is also another significant object to me. The bookshelf at the corner of my room is filled with books which I used to read when I was a little girl. Some of them were given to me as a present and some I bought. When you look at it, you can see how I started to read, mostly about fairies and princesses, and how the books start to become thicker and less childish. The shelf holds many memories of my past and my journey through life. Sometimes when I am bored, I would just select a random book from the shelf and start reading it. Each book has a special meaning and story behind it and they are all very precious to me.

A metal box painted to look a little rusty is another object which is important to me. I keep all my stationery supplies in it and for those of you who don't know this, I have a weird hobby of collecting unusual pens, pencils, highlighters etc. I keep all of my unused stationery in the box and sometimes give it to people as presents.  The box itself is also important as my mom gave it to me for Christmas and it was painted by one of her friends. My sisters also have similar boxes with different designs.

When I was eight, my parents bought me a bible which I still have today. I like this particular bible because it is dark blue, my favorite color, and slender instead of wide. My bible is also covered in stickers which I pasted on when I first got it. It is important to me because it teaches me valuable lessons that reminds me of my experiences, actions, and attitudes and how they should be.

The last object that I would chose is my new clarinet. The clarinet is really important to me because I spent years trying to find the right instrument for me. When I was seven, I learnt the guitar for a year before moving on to two years of piano, later playing the violin. When I started middle school, I chose to learn the clarinet. Like every instrument before, I hated it and regretted picking it up. However, I quickly learnt that the practicing was worth it and found that I was starting to enjoy it. I hope that playing the clarinet will stay with throughout my life, and that I will just keep getting better.  

A bracelet, a bookshelf, a metal box, bible, and clarinet might not seem like special objects when alone, but together, they clearly represent something... ME!

My Name, Josephine

Josephine. An ordinary name for an ordinary girl like me. As like many others in the world, I was named after my parents' friend in hopes that I would grow to become similar to her.

When I was younger, I absolutely hated my name because I thought it was too long to write and wasn't feminine enough. I often used to wish that my parents had named me something more "princessy and girly" like Rose or Crystal. Though I disliked being called Josephine, I hated it even more when my friends called me Jo-Jo or Josie when they got to lazy to say my whole name, as if I wasn’t important enough for others to take a few moments to acknowledge me properly. But as I grew older, I became very glad and thankful that my parents had decided to call me Josephine, a name that sounds mature and responsible, like I can be trusted to do important tasks.

My name, Josephine, is an artist’s paint pallet; full of different colors and mixes, hard to describe using only one word. If you look closely at it, you can see my personality written all over the name. Sometimes, if I am familiar with the person, I’m relaxed and friendly like the letter ‘J’, written with a casual flick of the wrist. ‘O’, a letter that is completely closed up represents me when I meet someone for the first time, reserved and distant.

Josephine also means “God will increase his blessings,” although, my parents didn't name me Josephine because of what it meant. This was an unexpected coincidence because my family and I are Christians and we believe in God. I think it is special how my name shows not only what I believe in but also my personality and what I want to be like, mature and responsible, as if it were created especially for me. Josephine. An ordinary name which represents an ordinary girl like me.

Like an artist’s paint pallet; full of different colors and mixes, hard to describe using only one word

Reference:
http://mobile-phones.com.pk/wallpapers/Artistic/Paint-Splatter-w4689