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I am from the garden city,

from grass, flowers, mud & dirt.

I’m from riding bikes and climbing trees,

sandcastles, parasailing, & the deep blue sea.

I am from teddy bears & unicorns,

Waking at 6 to watch dora & boots.

Sponge bob, teletubbies,

Powerpuff girls and Tom & Jerry.

I am from “Make your bed” & “Go practice clarinet,”

Getting grounded because I ‘read too much.’

I’m from staying up till 12 “working,”

In reality just listening to music & relaxing.

I am from wishing on stars,

And wanting the unattainable.

From “nothing is impossible”

And “Never give up.”

                                           

Where am I from?

I’m from the memories of my childhood,

The actions I take today,

And from my hopes and dreams for the future.

The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas

The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas by John Boyne is a novel about two young boys who are living during the holocaust. The two boys are opposites, Bruno being a child of a Nazi commandant, and Shmuel, a Jew. Though they are supposed to be enemies, because of their youth, ignorance and freedom from prejudice, they befriend one another.

The gates to a concentration camp

The prejudice in The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas were mostly caused by fear, anger and humiliation. When the Germans lost the war and were forced to sign the Treaty of Versailles, they were humiliated and lost a lot of their wealth and power. Because of their anger, they wanted someone to blame and be responsible for the disgrace of Germany. The Germans decided that the Jews were responsible, even when they had no support or evidence on how the Jews were to blame. The majority of the people thought that they were doing the right thing but the few who disagreed were too fearful to speak up.


This novel has taught and shown me many things about prejudice and biases. In The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas, Bruno and Shmuel meet each other when they were both still unaware of the holocaust. They befriend one another despite the fact that they are on the opposite sides of the fence. This shows that not all prejudices are correct as Bruno and Shmuel were meant to be enemies but, because of their lack of knowledge, they were willing to get to know and understand each other. 


Prejudice and biases not only affect yourself but others too. Gretel was deeply influenced by her parents and Lieutenant Kotler to believe that all Jews were responsible for Germany losing the war. When Gretel talked to her parents or Lieutenant Kotler about the current situation with Jews, they would tell her information based on their points of view, some of which are not accurate or correct. Gretel chose to trust her parents and in result, became a supporter of the Nazis. She tried to influence and educate Bruno about the Jews but Bruno, who is ignorant and naive, did not listen to Gretel and carried on to be friends with Shmuel. This proves that it is possible to ignore what others say and just do what you believe in.


"Prejudice is a burden which confuses the past, threatens the future and renders the present inaccessible." - Maya Angelou 


Reference:
http://www.krakow-poland.com/i/cms/krakow_auschwitz.jpg

Treaty of Versailles

In the June of 1919, the Treaty of Versailles was signed by Germany. The treaty was created to punish the Germans for World War One, which, the other nations agreed Germany should take complete responsibility for starting the war. Out of the 440 clauses which the treaty consisted of, 414 of them dealt with punishing Germany. 


The Treaty of Versailles was much too harsh on the Germans. Though Germany had a big impact in the war, they were not the only country who participated in it. Countless of other nations have fought, destroyed, and killed many people as well. The treaty caused for the Germans to admit that they were responsible for the entire war but this is not true. Each country had the right to decide to stay neutral like Spain and Sweden did, but instead, many chose to get involved and in result, many died. Germany was also not the only nation who had invaded another country, the Allied Powers did as well. They are just as responsible for the war as the Germans are.

Allied Powers in green, Central Powers in orange, and neutral countries in grey

Clause number 233 of the Treaty of Versailles had Germany pay for all damages done to the civilian population and property of the Allied Governments. In the end, The Allied Powers charged Germany $33 billion, leaving Germany in serious debt. This was unfair as there were many innocent Germans who were greatly impacted by this. There was much hardship for the Germans as many lost their jobs, money, and those who had family members injured also had to pay for the medical fees. Adding to that, the treaty caused Germany to lose a lot of land, resulting in some Germans losing their homes and having to move. The Treaty of Versailles made life in Germany very harsh and unpleasant even though some Germans did not get involved in or support the war.

Land that Germany lost after the treaty

The Treaty of Versailles was incredibly hard on Germany but not on the other defeated nations. Austria, Hungary, Bulgaria, and Turkey all lost some land and money but none of the punishments were as harsh as it was on Germany. This is unfair as all the nations should be sharing the blame instead of just Germany. They all had played a part in the war, including the Allied Powers, so they should all pay the debt together. It was unjust to thrust all the responsibility on Germany alone.




References:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/4f/WWI-re.png/400px-WWI-re.png
http://www.historyonthenet.com/WW1/germanlosses.htm

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/