“The past is never dead, it’s not even past.”

What does this quote mean to you?

Well at first I didn’t understand this at all. Now I understand it, it’s just that I don’t agree with it. This is the case with almost everything that I don’t understand. The point is, I think this quote means that the past is never dead because it is repeated and recalled. But can this mean that if a dead person is recalled, then they are not past or dead? I think not. I believe that the past is dead, no matter how far back or how recent in time.

How does this connect to The Wave?

The quote is the basis of the whole book! The entire storyline is based upon the past. The whole movement that Mr. Ross has brought upon the school was meant to be a history lesson. He was trying to recreate Nazi Germany with a history class, but the entire school got sucked into it, and it created a huge catastrophe. To back up my argument in the previous question, just because something is recreated, it doesn’t mean that it has been brought back to life. You can’t bring something back to life the exact same way it was. The past can’t be brought back just like a dead person can’t be revived.

How does this connect to American history?

I don’t know of any specific example, but we supposedly learn history so we are not condemned to repeat it. I’m not sure that I agree with this quote, because in The Wave Mr. Ross, a history teacher, repeats history. He obviously has learned history, but he has still repeated it. He knew the cause and effects of the whole Nazi movement, and yet he still went through with his experiment. I think that sometimes the human mind is too curious to not experiment with history. It’s like a small child who touches the stove once, and burns their finger. The next day they touch it again. And again. Eventually, they get the idea that the stove is hot and they shouldn’t touch it, but how many times will it take for us to repeat history before we understand what will happen?

Laurie has noticed that non Wave members are being bullied into the wave

Have you ever been forced to join something against your will?

Well as of now, I can’t think of anything. But I can write about the topic. When I read this question the first thing that pops into my head is the phrase, “peer pressure.” How many times have you pleaded to your parents, “But everyone is doing it!” How many times have you heard this in response, “If everyone jumped off a cliff, would you do it?” The point is, in most cases, joining something against your will is often caused by your peers joining that something first, and you getting sucked into it.

How should we behave if we see someone being taunted or bullied by a group of people?

If we ever see someone being taunted or bullied by a group of people how we should behave would depend on who is being taunted and who they are being taunted by. For instance, if there is someone who I have never met before, and they are being taunted by a group of people who I have never met before, then I have no business confronting them. However, if I know anyone participating in the taunting or bullying, then I should confront them and try to stop it. In a situation where it gets violent, I myself would tell an adult rather than get involved myself. I wouldn’t want to put myself in danger!

Should we try not to get involved or should we intervene?

I would only get involved in these situations:

• My friend was being bullied
• My friends were bullying someone
• The situation became violent

If the person being bullied was someone I didn’t know or care about, I probably wouldn’t care, and wouldn’t intervene. If my friends were bullying someone, I would probably tell them to stop, unless I didn’t like the person they were bullying. In that case, I would probably join in. If the situation became violent, then like I said in the previous question I would call an adult to solve the problem and take the measures necessary.

We talked about power. Who has power over us, who do we have power over. We created power pyramids that ranked figures of power which included the government, the media, our families, friends, etc. We also freewrote about a quote, which can be found in this post. We also talked about the topic community versus individuality. Basically, we answered a few questions stating our position on this topic and what role it plays in our current environment. In my opinion, being an individual is more important than being part of a community. I think being an individual means thinking for yourself, acting for yourself and making your own decisions. However, you still have to take into account the common good of your community. For instance, you may love to set off fireworks at 3 am every morning, but your neighbors probably won’t love it quite as much as you do. A balance needs to be kept between being an individual and being part of a community. Another topic that came up in the same discussion was the difference between being the same, and being equal. I think that being the same means thinking alike, acting alike and it could even go as far as having the same personality. Being equal is entirely different. I think being equal means being treated the same way, and having equal opportunity.

I learned that I really do have a hard time doing group work. Even if I have mathematically competent partners in math class, I still end up doing all the work myself, because I don’t trust anyone else’s methods or answers. To tell you the truth, I just don’t like putting my grades in someone else’s hands. Another important lesson I learned was that muttering insults under my breath is not the best idea while playing basketball in gym class, because ocassionally I might be heard. I have to admit, sometimes I do say things louder on purpose, but I find it really amusing to watch the person take it to heart and try to prove themselves. I get a laugh out of someone trying to shoot outside the three point line when they can’t even make a lay-up. The best part is, I totally taught them a lesson by shooting three baskets in a row, making them lose the game. I guess practicing five days a week for two months really did pay off.

I daydreamed about what was going to happen at the friendship festival. I hear all these stories about being soaked in soda and silly string. This frightens me. I imagined my friends pouring soda over my head and smashing cupcakes in my face. What a sight it was. I truly hope I won’t have to experience it! Another thing I daydreamed about was yet again, my homework. There seems to be this pattern that never fails to continue. One week I have absolutely no homework over the weekend, the next week I am bombarded with homework to do and tests to study for. Why couldn’t it be balanced out?

I wanted to say once again, I can’t think of anything. I am now promising to myself that I will write down my thoughts that I don’t say out loud, even though those are usually just the bad ones that I forget very quickly.

Other comments this week was pretty relaxed in Language Arts class. We didn’t do much work or even do that much class discussion. We got to spend a whole class period browsing and commenting on blogs, which I thought was pretty cool. I learned a new game from Ms. Dolan that I found I was very good at and enjoyed regardless of the fact that I was unlucky and didn’t win a single game. All in all, it was nice to not have very much work to do, at least in one of my classes. 

Mainly South Asian men

Left their countries, to help their families

Never to see them again

Millions of laborers in the Arabian Gulf

With huge regrets day after day

Came on a jet, sucked into debt

That they cannot afford to pay

Millions of laborers in the Arabian Gulf

Cramming twelve or more men to a room

Sleeping in massive labor camps

With barely enough to consume

Millions of laborers in the Arabian Gulf

Without clean water to drink

Lack adequate living facilities

With hundreds of men to a sink

Millions of laborers in the Arabian Gulf

Long to make this fair

“No unions” rule makes it difficult

And the employers don’t seem to care

Millions of laborers in the Arabian Gulf

Dehydrated and exhausted by heat

Thousands of cases every month

From pouring seemingly endless concrete

Millions of laborers in the Arabian Gulf

Are convinced and truly sure

That this wasn’t a great opportunity

But a scam that made them poor

Millions of laborers in the Arabian Gulf

Are reminded that they were cheated

They never knew the situation

Or how they were going to be treated

Millions of laborers in the Arabian Gulf

Who simply cannot take the stress

Take their lives one at a time

‘Cause of emotions they can’t suppress

You can see the the entire process and research behind this poem here.

The formatting won’t work! If anyone knows how to fix it, let me know

“Power corrupts. Absolute power corrupts absolutely.”

I strongly agree with this quote based on the following examples and reasons. Firstly, if children had absolute power over their parents, then I think they would eat unhealthy foods and therefore become overweight which leads to other health problems such as diabetes and obesity. On the other side of this situation, if parents had absolute power over their children, the children would never be able to realize their dreams because of the shadow their parents cast over them. I would consider both of these situations to be absolute corruption. No matter the ratio of power, I believe it is always better to have some type of division of power rather than one figure having absolute power. When one figure has absolute power over another or often times many others, the powerless can be exploited easily. To relate to a recent assignment, an example of this exploitation is the relationship between laborers and their employer. To conclude these examples, I believe that absolute power is a corrupt system that has taken over certain parts of our world.

LaborArt -class assignment about labor

This is one of the many parodies and raps from GoRemy, a comedian and Youtube user. If you like “Hey There Khalilah”, click the link and check out some of Remy’s other comedic creations. I recommend Two Percent Milk: The Rap, McDonald’s: The Rap and A-R-A-B: The Rap. Enjoy!

We talked about Blogging and networking, among other things. As of now, I can see the point in networking, but don’t like the idea of asking someone I don’t know for help on a homework assignment. How do I know if the information they are giving me is legitamite? Yes, I know, I could compare their information to other sources, but I could much more easily go through the same process using only the internet. Another topic that came up in Arabic class was Qatari soccer teams. Although, I don’t really watch any, it’s interesting to watch students argue with eachother- and the teacher.

I learned that the students in my math class really are as dumb as they seem. We were given one algebraic problem that we learned how to do in 7th grade. That was it. The only other part is that we couldn’t use a calculator. This proved to be a major problem for the majority of the class. The point is, it took a group of high school freshman, sophmores and even juniors about an hour to solve a simple math problem. To get back on a more interesting note, in language arts class I learned that constructive criticism really does help! We peer-edited eachother’s poetry, and I was one of the lucky ones whose poem was passed around at the “writers table.” At first, I was afraid of getting my poem covered in red pen, but in the end it really helped. When I saw how little Haya’s poem was edited, I realized that constructive criticism is key to composing a well written poem. I’m not saying my poem is well written, but I think it’s on the right track.

I daydreamed about what I was going to do after school tommorrow. I’m not sure that this would be considered daydreaming, but I also thought about, or worried about what I was going to get on my math test. I just took it today, and as usual it didn’t make much sense and my teacher wasn’t much help. I also daydreamed about my Mass Media project- again. Often times I am slightly distracted from everything else except a project that is due, or a test I think I bombed. But it all turns out good in the end, so most of the time I waste my daydreaming on work.

I wanted to say to be honest, I usually say everything I want to say. Ocassionally I will stop myself, because sometimes I just want to call out the teacher for absolutely no reason, aside from it being fun! I guess that as usual, I wanted to tell my math teacher that he is completely unfair because he puts random material on his test that he hasn’t ever talked about. When I do try to tell him, he just laughs evilly like teachers do when they hand back a failed assignment.

Other comments You can tell I didn’t take notes in class.

We talked about why we write. A few that we came up with (with some help) were reflection, communication, and expression. We also discussed a poem by Woody Harrelson, which can be found here. It is called “Thoughts From Within”. I found it to be a very closed minded poem, with a very opinionated voice. In Mr. Raisdana’s words, the author seemed to be “soap-boxing”. If you don’t understand this expression, it means standing on top of a soap box pointing fingers at everyone except yourself.

I learned that Monsanto is an enormous agricultural company that probably owns 90% of the companies that we buy food from, and Dupont supplies it with chemicals and genetic modifiers to make its produce bigger. I knew that this was going on, but I never knew that it was occuring on such a large scale. Another thing I learned in class today was that Mr. Raisdana doesn’t like rhyming poetry. I think this will prove to be a problem for me, because ever since elementary school, I always try to rhyme my poems if it is possible. I find that the poem sounds more put together and less emotional, even if it is based upon an emotional topic. 

I daydreamed about my Mass Media project. I was trying to figure out what my short film was going to be about, how to incorporate the requirements, where and when to film it and how to put it all together. I also daydreamed about whether I was going to go to the basketball party with the team, or to skip it entirely and do something else. I’m still trying to decide on both of these topics!

I wanted to say not much. Usually I say everything that pops into my head, which sometimes is not the best idea. I can’t really think of anything at the moment.

Other comments I’m kind of worried about my poem, because I don’t think it’s good enough based on what was said in class. It will probably get rewritten or intensively edited before I bring it to school. That is if I feel like editing it…

This is our first blogging assignment for eighth grade language arts class. At this point I’m not that interested in blogging, and you’ll get a better sense of my opinion below.

To be honest, I don’t really want to accomplish anything. I guess that I want to see a nicely formatted blog in June. I’m not that interested  in blogging at the moment. I don’t even have a facebook or myspace. Blogging is not my kind of thing. It’s harder for me to put my thoughts on paper than to just say them out loud. I could talk about just about anything out loud, then tell me to write about it, and I won’t know what I’m doing. I am working towards being better at formatting and such, but other than that I don’t have any goals for this blog. I also want to learn how to do HTML, but I don’t think that will happen. As of now, I don’t really care about or have any goals for this blog, but maybe that will change.