This I believe
For every touch of gray there's a shade of blue. -Shinedown When I first heard that line, it blended in with the rest of the song. I didn't care about what it meant, up until recently. A lot has hanged since then. I moved countries, left all my friends, and started a new life. Maybe it was my surroundings that changed. Or maybe it was me.
In the past 4 months, I had a lot of gray. I think there might have been some blue, but I was too focused on the gray to notice it. I filled my head with things that I didn't like, mostly about myself. I wanted to change that gray to blue, but I wasn't taking any action. I wasn't taking the opportunities that were right there. I needed the move, bad. Way more than I realized.
I was treating myself horribly, but I was treating my family worse. I used to love working with people and learning things, but that was the blue. I only saw the gray. I would go to school and be what people wanted me to be. I would smile and laugh. I would act the blue and speak the blue; but on the inside, I was living the gray.
I believe in second chances. Another chance to change your mistakes. To change yourself. Living the blue was a lot harder than I thought it would be. I often caught myself slipping back, and starting to live the gray again. I miss my friends. I miss my house, my teachers, and my school. But if there was nothing wrong, then there’d be nothing right. I’m not going to lie to you; it’s hard living the blue. But it’s totally worth it.
A second chance to live the blue; to rewind, pause, fast-forward, and play; that is a miracle. A miracle, that I could create myself.
Goodbyes are strange. They might seem like bad things, but when it comes down to it, it’s a gift. Goodbyes prepare you for what comes next. They are the start of something new.Sometimes goodbye is a second chance. -Shinedown.
I believe in second chances. I believe in a fresh start. I believe in the blue of journey. The blue of the unknown. The blue of opportunity.
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1066 Game
The game is basically a simulation of the battle of Hastings. This game gives you an option to play as William or Harold. Once you pick a player, you have another series of options to plan your battle attack. As William, softening up the front line and supporting with your cavalry is effective and so is a series of feint attacks. This is effective because the confusion will make the Saxon wall fall. I enjoyed this game because it gave me a hands-on way to explore the Battle of Hastings. I learnt that feint attacks were useful and so was the support of cavalry. The Battle of Hastings was a war for England.
Basically what happened was King Edward died, leaving no successor. The English nobles crowned Harold G. king because he was a strong Military leader, English, and Edward was married to his sister. Two other men wanted the throne as well, Duke William of Normandy, and King Harald of Norway. William claimed that Edward had promised him England and also claimed that Harold swore on an oath that he would do anything in his power to insure William was King. As well as give an oath, William knighted Harold and gave him his eldest daughter to wed. William had a banner from the Pope to attack England in a “Holy Crusade”. William was planning to attack, but the winds were blowing the wrong way. King Harold G. was prepared for this attack and was waiting, at Hastings. He soon received notice that Harald H. of Norway had invaded Stamford Bridge in the North. King Harold marched 5 days up to Stamford Bridge and fought off the Vikings. Harald H. had no proper reason for the throne. He claimed that his Ancestor, King Cnute had once ruled England and that his son claimed he could rule it again. Marching 250 miles back down to the awaiting William at Hastings, Harold G. pulled random peasants off the fields to fight in his army. When they got to Hastings, the Saxons created a Shield Wall at the top of the hill and William had to charge uphill to attack. William launched a series of feint attacks that threw the shield wall into confusion. The French heard that William had died, so they started to retreat. Taking the opportunity, the Saxons charged down the hill. William lifted his helmet and announced that he was in fact not dead and attacked the Saxons. This was a very successful technique and they used it again, causing the shield wall to shatter. As legend has it, Harold got shot in the eye with an arrow, and the battle ended. William marched to London, burning down villages, killing and raping women. Arriving in London, he was crowned on Christmas Day.
This game is a valuable learning Experience because it shows the battle techniques and explains different sides of the story. It really helps show the thought put into the battle.
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Medieval Struggle
The historical fiction based novel "Catherine Called Birdy" by Karen Cushman is set in the Medieval times. This is a story of a teenage girl dealing with social ranking, gender suppression, and greed. The mood changes throughout the novel as these three themes make her life in the middle ages difficult. Catherine's social ranking as a nobel woman, restricts her because this is the only class that restricts her opinions. For example, two child-hood lovers in the village ended up getting married, in their favor. Greed also affected her life because all of Catherine's suitors wanted a dowry in trade for a wife, and her fathers' greed made him limit the dowry to a minimum. Catherine wanted to be a monk. A crusader. A merchant. But she wasn't aloud to because of gender suppression; women had no rights. All in all, life in the medieval times was a struggle, especially for nobel girls.
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Shmuels point of View
In this picture, there isn’t much color except for the red. Everything else is dark so it offsets the color and makes the color something special. McCurry emphasizes the meaning in the colors; the shades of gray represent death and conflict, but the red represents hope and love reinforced by the smile on the boys’ young face. The wheelchair is normally associated with sickness, but in this photo, the meaning has been changed. The young monks are using this as a mode of transportation, and also a form of play. The smile on the monk facing the camera shows various things. Trust. The monks trust the man ahead of them. Carefree. He’s not preoccupied with anything and is having fun. Happiness. He has what he needs, right there with him. All he needs to survive is fait, companionship, and love. He lives a simple life. He is and individual. He is part of a group, yet he is not. The other two monks are looking in the same direction, yet he is looking the other way. We can be taught something from these cultures. The young monks’ hands are placed serenely in his lap. Patience; we can learn patience. These cultures have faced so much, yet they are still patient. In the background, there are no cars. I think that symbolizes how they are pleased because they desire so little.
I had to get away. The soldiers SCARED me. I was terrified of them. I hated them. I didn't know what to do, so I just started walking. Soon, I saw the fence. Mile, after mile, after mile. The same rusting, cold, metal fence. But then, somewhere behind that fence, there was a dot. "Maybe," I thought. "Maybe it was food!" I picked up my pace. I could already taste the delicious turkey on my tongue. The dot, that became a speck, that became a blob, that became a figure of a chubby boy, sitting in his shiny clothes, on 'THEIR' side of the fence. I stopped in my tracks. THEIR side of the fence. I peeked up at him from under my eyelids, careful to avoid his gaze. But I wasn't careful enough. I caught his eyes and we shared something. His gaze pulled me in. I lifted one foot to run away, then but it down again. I was at the fence. "Hello," the boy in the shiny clothes said, and I knew then that I had made the right choice. He was different. More like me.
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The road to hell is paved with good intentions; the problem is that intentions that are based on faulty assumptions are doomed to fail.
Many of us have not stopped to think about the story behind photos. Steve McCurry however, has. He stopped long enough and looked long enough to follow photography himself. This is such a powerful thing because in this world today, many people don’t know what is going on. In 1950, this award-winning photographer was born in Philadelphia, when he started to pursue his dreams in photography. Later McCurry went to Pennsylvania State University were he graduated top of his class. McCurry has written 4 books and has captured the unforgettable stories of many lives in hardship. His pictures raise awareness of what is going on in the world around us, mainly in conflicting third world countries. The subjects in his pictures are usually the focal point and extremely vivid. Because his pictures are far from stereotypical, they normally are original and full of emotion. It is truly amazing how McCurry captures the emotion on the subjects’ faces because it challenges us and makes us feel what they are feeling. It also is powerful because and is instantly burned into your mind.
McCurry uses a lot of proportion in his work. His pictures are typically standard composition and have very effective use of color. I have learned quite a bit about photography from looking at McCurry’s work. For example, I learned about foreground and background. In addition, I learned about the different types of compositions, and how McCurry uses a classical composition to focus mainly on the subject. Photography can bring change because people like to look at pictures; and when the pictures show what’s really going on in these third world countries, people make the effort to change. A great photo shows emotion. It really captures a person’s life, hopes, and dreams; just in one click. A photo endures when it stands out and touches a lot of people. To read a photograph, you have to put yourself in the subject’s shoes so that you have empathy for others. What are they feeling? What has changed? What do they want to change? You have to look carefully at the person’s surroundings, the foreground and the background. Look for things that stand out and are unique. But you have to see them through the person’s eyes- from their point of view. Each picture is a journey of its own. The person in the picture has been through a lot. They have grown and changed. Their atmosphere has changed. Changing the person viewing the picture as well. Things and people have come from all over and changed the culture and lifestyle of these people. Steve McCurry has made a journey from different places to other places. Not to mention that the picture itself has traveled thousands of miles, just to get to us; so we can look at it now. Now that this picture is right here in front of us, what do we do? This is the risk McCurry takes to show us how to appreciate everything we have.
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Void Questions
1) I would call this story Ritual to Retire because the ritual is not something that is good. In the story people keep bringing up the fact that other villages have retires this ritual so i think that this story should be called something that didn't happen.
2) I thought that they were going to make the person who got the black dot either work (plant corn) or burn them. I though this because; a long time ago, people used to burn virgins so that it would rain.
3) I felt anxiety when the end of the story was not given to us because I was wondering what would happen and I kept getting more and more anxious and then I wasn't told.
4) When I was handed the Mystery Paper, I felt confused and intrigued because I was curious after not being told the end of the story. I honestly had no Idea what was in the paper. I just thought it was a paper with nothing in it. When I was given the Instructions not to look at the paper until 5, my first thought was; I have swim practice. But then I actually started to get curious. Then I just decided to open it because I was WAY curious about the paper. So I did. Before 5 of course.
5) I was really curious about the black box and spot. The color black kept popping out at me. In the story, the black box was being left places. It also was described as peeling and ugly and old. I was wondering why something so important could be so discarded and treated so poorly. Then I wondered why people weren't happy to get the black dot. In a lot of cases black is associated with death and disease, so I started to wonder if the black dot DID mean death. And that’s where I was left. I didn't have any more evidence about what could happen. That I knew of...
6) In the end of the story I felt stupid because now looking back on what we were told about the story, it was kind of obvious about what would happen.
7) My prediction was that the person that got the black dot would be killed so that something good would happen; sacrifice. My prediction ended up being correct, but I wasn’t pleased with the situation. Half of me wanted my idea to be right; the other half was upset that Mrs. Hutchinson had to have such an awful fate.
8) Nothing would have really made my prediction better except if maybe I got some background information on the ritual. I’m glad I didn’t get any background information though because that made the story interesting.
9) The author left voids in the story to make it suspenseful. The author wanted us to ask questions, and by making us ask questions, we became tense. When the reader grows tense, they want to keep reading on and finding out more. The authors’ job is to please his reader and the only way to do that is to get the reader interested or involved. Void is an original and captivating way to do this.
10) The greatest area of void for me was the text clues and foreshadowing throughout the story. This is the most captivating way to produce void because you barely know its there. In the beginning of the story, the little children were piling up piles of small stones, and I thought that was weird and it didn’t say anything. Then later, when they kept dropping hints about how upsetting the lottery was, I got even more curious. When the man said “lottery in June, corn be heavy soon” is when I formed my prediction that there would be a sacrifice. I didn’t realize until later that the stones were part o f the bigger picture. I like how the author put that in, forgot about it, and brought it up again later. That part was my favorite void part in the story.
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Void Questions 2
1) I would call this story Ritual to Retire because the ritual is not something that is good. In the story people keep bringing up the fact that other villages have retires this ritual so i think that this story should be called something that didn't happen.2) I thought that they were going to make the person who got the black dot either work (plant corn) or burn them. I though this because a long time ago, people used to burn virgins so that it would rain.
3) I felt anxiety when the end of the story was not given to us because I was wondering what would happen and I kept getting more and more anxious and then I wasn't told.
4) When I was handed the Mystery Paper, I felt confused and intrigued because I was curious after not being told the end of the story. I honestly had no Idea what was in the paper. I just thought it was a paper with nothing in it. When I was given the Instructions not to look at the paper until 5, my first thought was; I have swim practice. But then I actually started to get curious. Then I just decided to open it because I was WAY curious about the paper. So I did. Before 5 of course.
5) I was really curious about the black box and spot. The color black kept popping out at me. In the story, the black box was being left places. It also was described as peeling and ugly and old. I was wondering why something so important could be so discarded and treated so poorly. Then I wondered why people weren't happy to get the black dot. In a lot of cases black is associated with death and disease, so I started to wonder if the black dot DID mean death. And thats where I was left. I didn't have anymore evidence about what could happen. That I knew of...
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Web Quest
Q1: Go to education (for students) and click on anti-Semitism.
What does Anti-Semitism mean and what is the most extreme example of this?
Q2: On the same page, Scroll down to the paragraph after the picture of a young girl (Hanne) and read.
In 1933, the Nazi party rose to power by doing what 3 things?
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· Q3: Go back to the main page (education for students) and click on the first concentration camps (under 1933-1939) Read the fifth paragraph.
What four concentration camps were left in 1937 and what was different about the fourth one?
Q4: Go back to the main page (education for students) and click ghettos under 1939-1945. Scroll down to the Star of David and read everything below it.
Some members of ________ staged armed uprisings. What was the biggest one of these called?
Q5: Go back to the main page (education for students) and click on displace person’s camps (under 1945)
What is this a picture of and how do you feel about it? What would you do if you were in her place?
