Reading Reflection #4

Doing it out of order. Whatever. So I'm still reading The Unbearable Lightness of Being, and it's getting very complex. One thing I'm noticing is that the scenery in the book is completely contrasting to how the characters are feeling. At one point the character Tereza goes out to photograph the Russian invasion of her homeland of Prague. There's girls in mini skirts parading around in front of the soldiers, and general chaos and anarchy, and it's one of the only times in the book Tereza is truly happy. She's impassioned by the rebellion and the chaos and feels light in that moment. Another time where the scenery doesn't reflect the situation is when another character Sabina decides to leave her lover. She doesn't want to be tied down to him anymore and doesn't like how "heavy" his personality is (how he gives every little thing so much weight and value), and decides to celebrate by going to a cemetery. That's right, a cemetery to celebrate. A third example is when Tereza goes to the park. It's this REALLY strange part where her husband has sent her there to die. He's arranged for a firing squad to kill her because he thinks she doesn't want to live anymore. At this point in time I can't tell whether Tereza is starting to go crazy, and whether this is a made up situation in her mind, or she was the one that decided to go herself. Anyways, when she realizes what her husband intended to do the author suddenly takes note of how beautiful the surroundings are. He talks about the elegance of the trees and how Prague is the most beautiful city in the world. To me this plays a huge part in the theme of the novel. The theme so far is the comparison of lightness and heaviness. Not just like weight wise, but in actually living. For what is typically considered "heavy" (depressing, sad, responsible) moments like Tereza almost getting killed, the scenery doesn't reflect the heaviness of the situation. It's what is normally considered a "light" scene (happy, carefree). Then, when the character feels a "lightness" (like finally coming to a decision on a tough subject), the surroundings are suddenly what is considered depressing (cemetery). It makes it seem that everything is not what as it seems, and that there's many different nuances to every single situation encountered in life. It is also a good way of the author remaining unbiased about what he thinks is the better way to live; with heaviness or lightness. I don't understand how the author thought up these ideas, and had the ability to put them into words, but I'm glad he did. It's really made me think.

Personal Post 7

I'm not sure what other people look up when they go on youtube, but whenever I do I go to the extreme sports stuff like cliff diving and snowboarding and the redbull challenges and stuff. For those of you that don't really know me I'm kind of an adrenaline junky, and I LOVE watching other people trying to push themselves to do all these awesome new tricks and skills. Obviously in this section of youtube there's also a ton of wipeout videos, and I'm not going to lie, as much as I like seeing the crazy stunts is the amount that I don't like watching the wipeouts. Anyways, here's some of my favourite videos so far. One of the things I've been realllllllly interested in lately is wingsuit base jumping, and it's now on my bucket list to try it! Imagine the first person to ever try... Like what was going through their head? They were probably more than just a little suicidal- either that or they had the biggest balls on earth. I guess it's a good thing they were crazy enough to leap off a cliff in a death suit though, because that means one day I could potentially do it!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zQgFxDSqft4&ob=av3e

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I4U6T_BB1N8

Writing Reflection #2

So we've been doing the blogging now for a couple of weeks, and I'm still not a fan yet. To be honest creative writing is not what I thought it would be. I would really like to be doing a myth or a comic or something, and I want to use my imagination a little bit more. I don't know, I guess it's a good way to get us all interconnected, but I get now why I didn't have a blog in the first place. Computers don't interest me in the slightest, and they're really frustrating to try and use. We're doing moments right now which is pretty sweet, but I'm having a hard time writing it since I don't find it that interesting. One good thing I like about blogging is that I feel like we have more of a voice in the classroom.

Personal Post 6

Whenever there's a thunderstorm there's no place I'd rather be than at the lake playing cards with the neighbours and my famjam. The lake's definitely held some of my best memories- from blueberry picking, to cliff jumping, to tubing, to rainy days- I love it more than anywhere else

A Rant (personal post 5)

So I work at Quiznos. You know, gettin paid and whatnot. For the most part it's a pretty sick job, I get paid to make some sandwiches and hang out with some people. Plus my boss is great and lets us eat there for free (but that's a secret). Not that hard. But you know what really irks me, is when people I serve are unnecessarily rude or talk to me like I'm an idiot because I work at a sandwich shop. Like you know what, it's not my fault I have a minimum wage job because I'm still in school. I wasn't aware it was necessary to yell at someone and call them a moron because they forgot to make 3 inches of your sandwich. If you're having a heart attack over 2 bites of bread maybe you should be somewhere other than at Quiznos, like anger management classes for example. I'm aware Quiznos is like a little taste of heaven in every bite but common man, no need to go berzerk. And the best part is that as an employee I'm expected to stand there and listen to this complete nonsense and at the end pretend like I'm sorry I forgot to make you that extra little piece. You know what, there's the door, and if you have an issue with what you got go get some meat and bread from Sobey's across the parking lot and make your own sub. That is all.

Personal Post 4

With this whole kony thing that's been going on recently it reminded me of a book I read this summer on the pirates of Somalia. It's by a now famous Canadian journalist named Jay Bahadur who decided to travel to Somalia to do his dissertation on a topic that was very popular but that he felt was only getting limited publicity, and the publicity it was getting was just sensational press. For those of you that are interested in these types of topics I highly recommend this book because it's one of the most informative, well written pieces I have ever read. He covers every aspect of pirating and the reason it came about. So how does this relate to kony? Well, I'm not exactly sure, but it did make me aware of the irony of western culture and civilization. Does anyone know why there was suddenly an upsurge in pirating in the middle of such a war torn country? Wouldn't you think that they would be more interested in stabilizing their country? You would think. But in order to have a stable country you need a source of income. That's where the problem lies. For hundreds of years the people of Somalia have relied on fishing as a source of income and food. It was their livelihood. Then, in the middle of a civil war, when food and income was a huge priority, illegal fishing trawlers from Japan and Europe and even Canada started fishing their shores. Suddenly they were destroying habitat and taking all of the fish, and the government couldn't do anything because all its resources were being used in the war. The fishermen started to get angry; wouldn't you? They decided they weren't going to sit by as their only source of sustinence was taken away and decided to take action. At first they held boats hostage just as a way of showing the other countries not to mess with them, and to have some sort of justice, but as newer generations came along they realized they could make a lot of money on the ransoming the ships and that's where we are today. Now for the ironic part. Why did this whole pandemic start? Because rich countries like ourselves were taking fish from poor countries like Africa. This is why I have a hard time supporting government and big businesses and stuff, because at the end of the day, no matter what their mission statements are, or what they supposedly believe, there's always a bottom line- money. Who can make the most money? Is it morally wrong to take from a country that already has nothing? You bet, but they have the best resources. If they go in and take what they want will there be consequences? No, because they have the bigger guns, and the better government, and more money. Then, when suddenly the people you're stealing from don't let themselves be walked all over it's as if they came out of the blue and are doing it for no reason. Before I read this book I had heard a little on the Somali pirates, but only about western side of it, how they were asking for millions of dollars to ransom ships and how businesses were shutting down because they couldn't meet the demands the pirates were asking. After reading the book I realized the amount of propaganda in the media, and how one sided news is. The people who shout above the rest are the ones heard, and the ones with the most money are the ones controlling everything. This is why I am sometimes cynical when it comes to the governments response and the western civilizations response to helping Africa. Sure, a lot of whats going on is atrocious and something needs to be done, but a lot of the time we were as much of the problem as they were. Did we really need to take fish from an already poor country? I think if the excess of wealth we have here was spread to other less fortunate countries there'd be so much less conflict. Instead, the bullies take everything, and when the light gets shined on them they feel remorseful and try to make amends with the people they bullied.

"Poking the Puddle" Response

So we were asked by our teacher to share our thoughts on this new sensation going around the internet relating to the Kony campaign. I'm not they type of person who makes assumptions quickly because I like to take my time researching an issue and deciding my point of view before going around and spreading false information. At this point in time I'm still undecided as to how I feel about Kony specifically because from the research I've done and the sites I've visited both in favour of the video and against it I think there's a lot of propaganda and lies circulating. My conclusion as of right now is that a lot of what was in the video was somewhat dated information trying to get people interested in their cause. It was a half hour clip that showed nothing of Kony's background or what has been going on in the last couple of years with the LRA and Uganda. Mostly it used people's compassion to make them interested in the Invisible Children's cause and to want to help us support them. That being said I think the message they're trying to convey is a good one. As a society that has such an excess of wealth and justice I think it's our responsibility to help out other countries that aren't as fortunate as ourselves. Often I feel like there's nothing I can do to help but I like how this video provided us with an answer to that dilemma, and I feel that donating 30 dollars and a couple hours of my time is not going to be the end of the world. My only addition is that the money I spend may go towards a more legitimate organization like UNICEF or Red Cross. I'm more interested in seeing that the victims of Kony are getting the help they need to recover.

six word memoir #4

I think this one speaks for itself. I've noticed that a lot of people complain about how mean/rude other people are and while others can have a bad personality I feel like how they treat you is a direct reflection of the way you yourself act. Unless you're being bullied, but that's another story.

six word memoir #3

 So I didn't mean for this to be posted upside down but I think it works better with the message. This one is my favourite because I feel like we're all really weird sometimes and it would be a lot funner if everyone just accepted it and owned it.

six word memoir #2

 

This memoir is one of the more personal ones I did because it's not something I like to share a lot. With graduation coming up soon I feel like I have to start thinking about my future more and I came to the realization that I'm scared to aim for anything above "average" and push myself to the next level.

6 word memoir #1

So this one is obviously about my grandma. She's basically the coolest person I know, like when I'm having a bad day I really just enjoy going to her house and playing scrabble or talking. She's 84 years old and still gardens and goes camping every summer. It's really comforting to know I'll always have a person in my life who'll love me no matter what. It also doesn't hurt that she makes some kick ass Coke Floats whenever I go to her house in the summer.