Joining Hands Around a New World

Help. In every country, there is someone seeking aid. There are families constantly losing loved ones, people they care about. There are many countries that need aid. I think that with a few joined hands, they can live in a better community with fresh, clean water and enough food to fill their stomachs. Right now they are getting diseases and this is just because they don’t have clean water to drink or proper food to eat. Many countries are suffering from AIDS/HIV that can easily be treated, but without the money there is no treatment. Think about what the world would be like if there was no more poverty and were no more people dying of diseases that could have been prevented.

In a new world all of those things wouldn't be happening. Everyone would be friendly and helpful to their neighbors. If everyone helped each other then there would be no such thing as poverty, everyone would have a roof over their head, food to eat, and an education. That would connect everyone and keep everyone from suffering. It would prevent chain reactions such as war. Young artists for Haiti Wavin' Flag describe this perfectly. All these young Canadian singers came together and recorded a song to raise money to help Haiti when the earthquake hit them. They wanted to help the people struggling and they reached out a helping hand to change the fact that the people were hungry and they didnt have a roof over their head.Think about what the world would be like if there was no more poverty and were no more people dying of diseases that could have been prevented. In a new world it's possible. Help.

Painting: "A Helping Hand"By: Jeanine Malaney

Tears of Shattered Glass

As terror broke through the Jewish "race" the Nazi's were enjoying themselves. The fire was everywhere, glass broke all around there were screams of pain, that was not all. The synagogue was in flames, everything in the building was burnt.

Kristallnacht, 1933, was the night when tears were shed. Propaganda was to blame. Little by little the Jews were being looked at badly, and things started to get worse. People saw signs saying everything was over, things were getting better. The Nazis still looked like the good guys with their fancy programs and statements. Hitler started to target the Jews, therefore he burnt down their temples of prayer. He completely brainwashed everyone into thinking the Jews were evil freaks. Hitler even got children, ages 10-14, to join the Hitler Youth. Was this the right thing? No, kids shouldn't have to do this! After the buildings were burnt the Nazi's rounded up 30,000 Jewish men and put them into concentration camps.

Not all German's were bad. Andre, a young German-Jew, decided not to be part of the Hitler Youth and throw rocks at the Jewish people. So he went, with his mother and father, to another country. Not all people were strong enough to leave the Fatherland, but they didn't agree with throwing rocks and burning the Jewish race. So these people were just bystanders. But being a bystander is just as bad as throwing rocks. I think that the best thing to do would be to leave Germany. Today in school I see people making fun of teachers and students, not that it will ever become as bad as what happened in Germany, and it makes me feel like I should say something. I don't like what happened in Germany, today one of my good friends is Jewish, and to imagine what went on is even harder for. That's why I choose this painting, I think it shows the confusion of the people, and how they don't seem to know whats going on.

Painted By: Hieronymus Bosch. Temptation of St. Anthony

Site: http://scarriet.wordpress.com/2010/04/11/the-adoration-of-anything-you-think-you-own-is-fire/

Through the Eyes of a Double P

Double P? What is that? That was my first question. Then I read about it and found out more. In Humanities Mr. Whiting and Ms. Narsiman came in and we took a series of tests to see what kind of learner we are. My learning profile in PP. That means many things...

When I am learning, I learn best trough movement and actions. I really need to fidget and move to keep my brain active, if I don't I will lose focus. When I do MAP testing I lose my focus and start to get bored. But on the flip side, I enjoy physical activities like sports, dancing, P.E., and drama, because I am able to learn trough movement, and that helps the information stick in my brain. During class I can't sit still so I will need to get up and move, tap my foot, or bounce my knee. I feel when I am learning it is best for me to move my hands and/or perform a skit to help me remember.

Being a PP learner means I have to move around, also I am a Kinesthetic learner which also means I learn best through activities, and I am right brained, or Gestalt. When I am explaining things I feel the need to move my hands around to express what I am saying. Under stress my Visual, Auditory and Movement is limitted, my eyes, ears, and legs, but I am still able to use my hands when I am stressed out. I need to be able to jump around and be active or I won't soak up any information, so in the class after P.E. I remember a lot more of what I just learnt.

Things that would help me learn better in class are, acting out what I just learnt, getting up and taking a jog, playing with something, tapping my foot, and so on. Also I can do lazy 8's, when you take your thumb and make an eight, making sure the middle crosses the center of your head, and thinking caps, when you cross your arms and rub your ears. Both of these exercises force both sides of you brain to work together.

My teacher's should know that movement is the key to really getting me to know what they're teaching better. During classes they should try to incorporate some sort of physical activity in what we are learning. My teacher shouldn't put step by step schedules on the board because I can't focus on reading them.

For all those PP learners just remember what is good for you. The picture at the top is what my profile is. My Domi-know. Now you know what a double P is.

We Are Who We Are

Are actions is what shapes who we are. We control what we do. We can make the wrong decisions. There are things we can do that give us the things that feel good. Helping a homeless person, donating to charity, that can make us a better person. We shape our identities from what people see of us.

The book, The Island by Arman Greder shows that because the towns people treated the strange man so harshly, he was interpreted badly. They thought he was a bad person. They thought he was evil. They thought he was a murderer. But never once did they stop to ask the man what he was. I think we should take that to mind and remember other people have an influence of what is thought about you. We need to spread the message that we are good people.

Jesus Colon was man who worked late, he took to subway home and decided not to help the woman who would have a hard time getting off the train. He blew right past her and didn't stop. He lost his pride. What he had earned. All because of a little moment. He still feels the pain of that day. His identity was shaped by the way he didn't stop to ask the lady if she needed help. But people's identities can also be shaped by the rumors spread around schools, soon everyone hears and people are wondering "who would do that?" YOU never did! Everything you do has an impact on the big picture, if you mess up somewhere then your final product is messed up. There is nothing you can do to change that. The picture,painted by Pat Mansen, fits in with the idea of impacts. The one pink spot leaves an impact on the whole painting, either good or bad.

Site: http://fineartamerica.com/featured/blue-impact-pat-mansen.html

The Fear of a Hero

"It's not power that corrupts but fear" spoken from the lips of a true hero Aung San Suu Kyi. She stands up for what she believes in. She has spent the last 15 years of her life in house arrest, because the fact she dislikes the Burmese government. She wants her people to be free from the tortures of the government. She realizes what a hero she is to her people and wants to help them.

Aung San Suu Kyi spent around 15 years living with her two maids (mother and daughter) and learning how to fix electrical problems. Aung has learned how to fix the plumbing and lights around her house, when natural disasters decided to strike. She was the handy man of the house.

Now that Aung San Suu Kyi has been released she still continues to fight for the freedom of her people. I think Aung San Suu Kyi is like Martin Luther King Jr. because she fights for the rights of her people no matter what the cost. They have made many public speeches and stood up against the government. They believed in what they thought and took it to new levels.

Around the school today, I see people standing up for what they believe, bullying, AIDS, peace, and being eco, but there are always some people who just don't agree. They think they are cool by not joining in, but it's their loss, a sense of pride comes with the right thing.

The picture, Freedom painted my "Freedom"~Lisa Moore, I chose reminds me there is always a choice. You can stand up for what you believe and be free, or you can still down and let the world tumble. The world is placed in your hands. Do with it what you please but be careful, you never know what might happen.

Site: http://oliviahumanitiesgreen.blogspot.com/

No Man is an Island

By: John Donne,

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.

And the video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZrDxe9gK8Gk&feature=player_embedded

Are both connected and different.

I think that they are the same because they are both saying that together we are strong and if one of us dies it affects everyone. In the poem John is saying that everyone depends on another to survive, and if one perishes it makes him weaker because he is involved in this big thing, and never knows who death calls for because it always calls for me. In the video the person is trying to tell us that we need to look out for each other, help one another, there are homeless people with no one to turn to for support, their own families have abandoned them. They are both trying to say that we need to help each other and be connected.

The video and the poem are different because one is talking about homeless people and one is talking about everyone together. They are very different yet similar, but both have a big impact. The video is talking about how Sydney, Australia and New York City, New York are faced with the same problems, people loving the place they live not the people living in it, that is why there are many homeless people living on the streets with no one to care for them, because NO ONE REALLY CARES! The poem is saying that we all need to work together and not stand alone, because that will make us weaker, as a individual and as a whole. We need to make sure that we do not leave out one person because they are black, yellow, white, or brown, we are all people regardless of the color on the outside, we still are a part of this world. So why can't people accept the fact we are different on the outside? That is because they think you will make them weaker, but everyone knows 2 heads are better than 1, so forget the outside, think about the inside.

When I watched this video and read the it reminded me of Fatmire Feka, she wasn't alone in the fight of survival in Kosova. She stood connected with the kids, Albanian and Kosovan, with the thoughts of the war and bombing clear in their heads. The painting above shows the kids standing together reaching out to make the one in the middle feel connected, not an island anymore. The kids all feel like they have to be the ones to connect the Albanian and the Kosovan people together and not the adults that made the mess.

Picture: Original water color painting "Because No Man Is An Island" copyright © 1997 Debbie Turner Chavers

Site: http://visionsofhisword.blogspot.com/2009/12/because-no-man-is-island.html

Hero Song

October 1st: A HERO COULD SAVE US

This song is about someone who wants to be a hero. The lyrics are saying that people were saying that LOVE or a HERO would come and save them, but there was no hero. During the beginning "I am so high, I can hear heaven, Oh but heaven, no heaven don't hear me" is saying that he wants to be a hero but god isn't listening to his cry. "Now that the world isnt ending, its love that Im sending to you. It isn't the love of a hero, and thats why I fear it wont do." This man wants to be a hero to save his lover from whatever the problem is.

I think that a hero is a person who wants to save the people they love. They need a villain too be a hero, or they need something to save the loved ones from, a natural disaster, a villain, etc. A hero is someone who helps people with payment, and usually they got bit by a spider or something like that to make them a hero. The song Hero by Nickelback is saying that he wants to be a hero to save the one that he loves but heaven is not hearing his cries about being a hero.