Blog Post #4

When I was writing my earlier posted blogs about this book I had written that the social issue is war and conflict. Near the ending of the book I started to see a different social issue (keep in mind this is a sic-fi book) which is society. In the beginning the Oscar has to adapt to the new society since he is on a new universe. After completing the "quest" for the Star (the empress of the many worlds), Oscar ends up coming home with Star and Rufo. He stays with them for a while until he feels out of place. Star tells him that he can leave but he has to go alone since she has to study the egg (the egg is an item that hold all information of pre-empresses). When Oscar goes home he finds it difficult to adapt back to the normal world. Even though he is very wealthy he can't fit in. The entire book Oscar is adapting to new societies and this is why I think that the social issue in my book is both society and somewhat war and conflict.

In this alternative cover of the book, you can clearly see the 3 characters that went on the journey to fins the egg. In the front middle you can see Star with blond hair and a bow and arrow. On the right side holding a bow and arrow you can see Rufo who is Star's assistant. Finally on the left you can see Oscar wearing a brown jacket and a green hat.

Blog post #3

My ISU book is called Glory Road. It is a fictional book. In my book the main character follows an advertisement for a job. When he arrives at his location he finds a women and does a ritual with her. This ritual makes the main character fall asleep and when he wakes up he is in a different place. The women that he met is the princess of universe and he was chosen to help gather a item that would be used to keep the princess alive. So, the main character, the princess and her "sidekick" go on a journey to find this item and save the princess. Throughout the book the main character faces many social issues. While traveling the main character has to adapt to the different things that are socially acceptable on this new world.

To help you understand how it must have felt for the main character, think about a time when you have gone to a foreign country. How would you feel if you didn't know the language that was being spoken there or you didn't know the culture. For example, when people do business they have to research what certain cultures do during business. Some cultures bow when meeting, others shake hands. For the main character he had no idea about the culture, so he was completely blind.

The Boy in the Stripped Pyjamas

This is a picture from the movie. The boy on the right is Bruno (German)
and the boy on the left is "The Boy in the Stripped Pyjamas"  (Jewish), who is in a concentration camp.

Retell:

The story starts off with Bruno and his family living in a town in Berlin,Germany. He and his family have to move into a new house because of his dads work. His dad is a commanding officer in the Nazi party. When Bruno and his family arrive at their new house, Bruno discovers a place that he thinks is a farm but is in fact a concentration camp. Bruno ends up becoming friends with one of the Jewish kids from the camp. The Jewish kid tells Bruno about his missing dad and how he needs help in finding him. On the day before Bruno and his family are going to move away from the concentration camp, Bruno goes to help the Jewish boy in the camp. Bruno digs his way under the fence and puts on the same clothes that the other kid is wearing. Not knowing what is happening, Bruno and they Jewish boy are forced into a small building. Both Bruno and the Jewish boy are killed in a gas chamber and his Family is left in shock knowing the fate of their son. 

Reflect:

The story was about they way they Jewish people were being treated and showed what the living conditions were for Jews at that time. In the movie, Bruno does not know why those people are being kept in the camp. In the movie, Bruno is too young to understand what the concentration camps are, while is sister and the rest of his family know the true fate of the Jews inside the camp.  The movies shows two young boys, one German and one Jewish, get along perfectly fine but with the adults who know the difference between a German and a Jew, they hate and despise each other. This shows that all the hate that people have for Jewish people was all in their mind. Germans wouldn't look at the person personality or anything but since they were labelled a Jew they had to be killed or treated less of. 

Relate:

This entire movie relates to the holocaust and when Hitler was in command. Because of Hitler, Jewish people were hated and we're not allowed to live like normal humans. Jewish people faced discrimination and poor living conditions. This movie showed what it was like for Jewish. The boy in the stripped pyjamas physically looked bad. He had a black eye and was dirty. This shows the ruthlessness of Nazi's, since that kid was Jewish he too was treated badly. All Jewish people were treated as if they had created a crime. I take that back, even prisoners weren't treated as bad as Jewish people were in concentration camps. The author wanted to get the message out about the treatment of Jews in that time period and also the barbaric actions of the Nazi party. 

Child Soldier - Ishmeal Beal's Experience

This video is an interview with Ishmeal Beal a former child soldier. When he was still at a very young age he was forced to become a soldier. He had become a child solider in a militia that had overrun the government where he lived. In the interview he describes his experiences and talks about the challenges that he had to overcome. He was changed mentally and forcefully made take drugs. The militia commander abused his metal state and made him, along with others, turn into killers and made them have the will to kill.


Connections:

I cannot make any connections to my own life since i am grateful to have to go through what Ishmeal Beal had to. I can make a connection to a TV show that i watch which is called Graceland. The show is about the DEA and FBI. In the show they show a scene in which a character is forcefully injected with a drug. The person injecting the drug makes the character get addicted to it and gives the drug to him once every week and than continues until his body craves it. This happens to child soldiers, once they are addicted to the drug and their body craves it, the militia's can use that drug as a reward and tell the children that if they follow orders they can get the drug, and since they got hooked to the drug and their body can't function properly any more without the drug, they end up following the orders.

Concepts:

One thing that you should hold on from the text is the fact that he is now living a perfect live and goes to school. Even after all the things that he had to go through as a KID, he moved on and even ended up writing a book that was published. This goes to show that your past does not determine your future. With the right mind set you can conquer anything.

Challenges:

One thing that i would want to argue with the text is that it blames video games for the increase in violence. First off, most games that show drugs, violence and other things like that are rated M for Mature, and its for people 18 years and older. Nobody cares to notice that kids at the age of 10 are playing games meant for people 18 years or older. The reason to why the games are suggested for people 18 years or older is because they have matured enough to understand that it is just a game but kids at the age of 10 might not understand that and take the game to serious. If parents cared to read the game that their kids want to buy than there wouldn't be this problem. Even than, video games are not the cause for violence.

Sniper News Article

Free Staters Fight for Independence

       During the month of June, the streets of Dublin were turned into a battlefield as Free Staters fought the Republicans in a hopeful battle for Irelands independence.

       The Streets had become no mans land. The Republicans on one side and the Free Staters on the other. One women who was seen running out of the streets explained " What were once calm streets have turned into a war zone". Anything/anyone that was on the streets of Dublin was targeted and seen as a enemy. We advise citizens to remain inside their homes and to not go to the Dublin streets.

       One of the Free Staters shouted " Ireland shall get it's long deserved independence", as he ran off towards the streets of Dublin. Many people had the same mind set and didn't hesitate to take part in the fight for independence. The army had split up too, so there are skilled soldiers out there possibly fighting against amateurs.

       The Republicans seemed much calmer and more layer back about the situation. A Republican explained " We have to continue fighting as long as they continue" With this being said, this battle doesn't seem close to ending soon.

       This battle for independence didn't seem like a battle that either side would give up on. Both sides are fighting until the other one stops. With this mind set on both sides of the battle, who knows how long it will last. We advise citizens again to remain indoors until it is all clear.

Slam Poetry

I wanted to make a slam poem about war and its affects since that seems to be a topic that is also in the news. I tried to make a poem but i didn't know how to poetically show my views on war. I wanted to view over another persons slam poem about war since it was how i wanted my poem to sound.

WHAT I WILL

by Suheir Hammad

I will not
dance to your war
drum. I will
not lend my soul nor
my bones to your war
drum. I will
not dance to your
beating. I know that beat.
It is lifeless. I know
intimately that skin
you are hitting. It
was alive once
hunted stolen
stretched. I will
not dance to your drummed
up war. I will not pop
spin break for you. I
will not hate for you or
even hate you. I will
not kill for you. Especially
I will not die
for you. I will not mourn
the dead with murder nor
suicide. I will not side
with you nor dance to bombs
because everyone else is
dancing. Everyone can be
wrong. Life is a right not
collateral or casual. I
will not forget where
I come from. I
will craft my own drum. Gather my beloved
near and our chanting
will be dancing. Our
humming will be drumming. I
will not be played. I
will not lend my name
nor my rhythm to your
beat. I will dance
and resist and dance and
persist and dance. This heart

beat is louder than
death. Your war drum ain’t
louder than this breath.

This poem starts off by talking about "i will not dance to your drum" which basically means that they person doesn't want to be ordered around like how soldiers are. This poem talks about doing what they want to do and not following/dancing to others drum. It also talks about hating for you and murdering for you, which is basically what they soldiers in the army are doing, they are killing and hating the enemy even though the conflict is between the two leaders of the countries. This is what i wanted my poem to reflect when read by others and this poem by Suheir Hammand reflects that.

ISU Blog Post #2

Social Issue

The social issue in my book has not changed from when I did my first blog post. The social issue in my book is war and conflict. I can say that this is the social issue. This book is a fantasy book so many things that happen in this novel are hard to relate to real life since it is fiction.

Article

http://usmilitary.about.com/cs/generalinfo/a/getout.htm

This URL leads to an article about how to get released from the military. Many people join the military and end up wanting to leave since it isn’t want they thought it was going to be. In the article is basically says that once you join the military there is not getting out. It compares this to a McDonalds job. When you work at a fast food restaurant you can basically quit whenever you want but in the military you sign a contract and take an oath. The way that the main character in Glory Road gets released from the military is since he had suffered from an injury. I could find many articles about people that intentionally try and injury themselves in hope that that they get sent back home. The main character even says that he wishes to get injured on the job since he worked on the front lines as a soldier.

Glory Road

Glory Road

So far in this novel, the only social issue that has been shown is to deal with war. The reason why I think this is the social issue is because the main character receives a letter stating that he has to join the army and fight for his country. This is sort of like the conscription crisis that happened during World War 1.  The conscription crisis is about how able-bodied men, from the age of 18 to 45 had to join the army when their country was at war. The main character ends up getting into the army working as a soldier instead of the job that he wanted which was the job of which the person only had to type up letters and such, which meant he didn’t have to actually fight in the war but was still in the army. 

http://www.cbc.ca/history/EPISCONTENTSE1EP12CH2PA3LE.html

This link is to a website that talks about the conscription crisis, who it affected and why it was created. The conscription crisis was a law that had forced able-bodied men around the age of 18-45 to HAVE to join the army; this was done to get more soldiers since they had lost so many soldiers in battle. This caused many people to start riots, destroy stores and streets. In the novel it does not mention the main character being enraged and joining the riots, rather it just talks about him going and joining the war, even though he has a strong belief against war in general. When the main character didn’t put up a fight of joining the army, you could infer that he had no choice but to do as the letter told him to.

Population Increase in the Future, Abundance of Seniors

Population Increase in the Near Future

http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/canada-s-seniors-population-to-jump-workforce-decline-by-2063-1.2770359

In this article it focuses on how Canada is going to have a abundance of seniors to take care of and how by the year 2063 Canada is going to have a workforce decline, this means that their are going to be too many people trying to apply and get a job while there are no jobs left because of how many people Canada is going to have. In a recent statistics reading, the population in Canada is supposed to rise to be around 40 to 60 million. This just doesn’t cause over population and mean that Canada is just going to become more populated, it means that there are going to be more people looking for jobs, more people in need of health care, more resources being used and made. Another problem that will occur is that the baby boomers are going to be in the ret age now. This means that there are going to be more seniors, and again more medical attention is going to be needed for them. With there being so many people that are looking jobs it is said that there is going to be a work force decline. This means that there aren't going be enough jobs for the HUGE population.

In this article it focuses on how Canada is going to have a abundance of seniors to take care of and how by the year 2063 Canada is going to have a workforce decline, this means that their are going to be too many people trying to apply and get a job while there are no jobs left because of how many people Canada is going to have. In a recent statistics reading, the population in Canada is supposed to rise to be around 40 to 60 million. This just doesn’t cause over population and mean that Canada is just going to become more populated, it means that there are going to be more people looking for jobs, more people in need of health care, more resources being used and made. Another problem that will occur is that the baby boomers are going to be in the ret age now. This means that there are going to be more seniors, and again more medical attention is going to be needed for them. With there being so many people that are looking jobs it is said that there is going to be a work force decline. This means that there aren't going be enough jobs for the HUGE population.

Connection:

The connection that I can make to this text is, text to world. Canada cannot stop the fact that a big part of Canada's population is going to seniors but, they could try and prevent the fact that there is going to be too many people in search for a job and have no jobs to offer. This news article states what could happen ( workforce decline ) if the population and immigration continue to grow at the same rate.