Short tribal movies: questions

1. Saisiyat people choose their surnames from plants, animals and natural phenomena. In your country, do you think a person’s surname has special meaning which can reflect your own culture and why?

In my country, a surname usually just represents what racial group you come from. For example, when a person's last name is Chang, you can probably assume that he/she is chinese. Or if it's "Smith" you can assume that he/she is western or past western. Especially in a country like Singapore when you have 4 or more different races, a person's last name might come in useful in large groups of people. I don't think it reflects any type of culture because no one chooses their last name, it is just passed on to them by either their father or mother (in countries like Pakistan).

2.Lily is a symbol of RuKai. For Paiwan, a hundred-step viper is significant in their society. In your country, do you have any symbol that represents your country and what does that mean? 

In Singapore, the merlion is usually used to represent our country. The mer(fish)lion has a lion head and a fish body. Although an imaginary creature, the picture of a merlion can be found on most postcards or souvenirs in airports or giftshops. This is because Singapore was a fishing village and a major port a long time ago. The lion reminds of the Malaysian Sultan who stepped on the small island and thought he saw or actually saw a lion run by.

3.On Beian’s traditional weddings, you can see a prospective bride climbing a giant swing. And tribesmen swing her until the swing sails like kites. In your country, do you have any special ceremonies that are held on weddings? Please explain it.

Well, of course every country/race has its own traditions when it comes to marriage, so because Singapore is a multi-racial nation, there are many many different ceremonies that are held before, during, and after. For example, the Chinese carefully plan out and select an auspicious date to hold the wedding with consultation from the chinese almanac. The ceremony itself is pretty simple. The bride and groom are led to the family altar, where they give their thanks to Heaven and Earth, the family ancestors, etc. Then specially prepared tea is offered to the groom's parents. There are also many other things that are done before and after, most of them to prevent bad luck, back omens, or the evil spirits, but that may be brought to a whole new level. 

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Tao Film Questions

(1)Indicate the importance of the ocean to Tao:

It acts as a kind of playground for the children. For the grown ups, rowing plank boats is a form of exercise. The ocean provides the Tao with food like crabs or fish. As the Tao live close to the ocean, it teaches them to watch the wind, clouds, and currents for shifts in weather. 

(2) It takes a lot of time for Tao people to build a boat. How do Tao people make a boat? Do you think it is worthy or it wastes time? Why?

The boats are made of at least 23 trees, of 5 different kinds. It takes the Tao about a year to carefully select the best trees in the mountains for build a boat and before the tree is cut down, a prayer is said for the tree. In order to protect their environment, they never cut down more than one or two trees in the same place. After the shape of the boat is done, the pieces are joined together with wooden pegs. Nails or screws are not used. Then, they paint and decorate the boat according to their beliefs. There are usually two eyes equally balanced on each side of the stern and bow.

I think it would be easier for them to use modern tools like the saw to chop down the tree and nails to secure the pieces together, but what the Taos are trying to do is preserve what they still have of their old traditions, so they are doing a good job of that. I don't think the decorating is worth the time is precision, but again, they decorate because they believe it will help them in harvesting the fish.

(3) Explain the boat launching ceremony.

Male Taos perform an loud angry dance around the boat because in the culture, anger is said to repel the evil spirits that might be around the boat. They toss the boat with the chief inside to represent how the waves will act on the boat. 

(4) Explain the flying fish calling ceremony.

The flying fish is viewed as their god, or the God's fish and they pray to it, like they do with many of nature's creations. On the boat, the crew sings again to repel the unwanted spirits. They set something on fire and hoist it on the back of the boat, as flames are said to lure in the flying fish. They also hold up a rooster (presumably dead) also to attract the fish. On the shore, the other people dip their fingers in a piglet's blood and put wash it away in the ocean. (Also to get in the fish). Short drift nets are used to catch the prized fish, which they carefully store on the boat until the next day by when the fish will have to be eaten. 

(5) How do Tao people live in harmony with the natural environment? 

The Tao people take good care of the trees and plants around them, especially the ones that they have "grown up with". They also leave the animals to their natural habitat and respect the way they are. Basically, they make sure that they are not harming their environment with pollutants or human waste.

(6) The houses the Tao people build are so special. Please compare their houses to those houses in your own country. 

Each house is built with carefully selected leaves, plants and timber. They ask the gods to bless the materials they use to build their house, so that the end product (the house) in the end is blessed. 

In Taiwan, Singapore, the States, wherever, people have other workers build the house for them with cement, bricks, metal, etc. Our houses are usually not made of plants or leaves. 

(7) Tao people view eating a sea snake is a taboo because it lowers social status. In your own culture, do you have any eating taboos? Do you believe in it? Why?

  If we do have any taboos, I'm not familiar with any of them.

(8) So far only one big handmade boat is kept in Tao tribe because of modernization. Thus, some Tao people try to preserve their art culture. Please describe a vanishing art culture in your country that you would like to preserve.

  I don't know much of Taiwanese culture, but I guess they try to preserve tea art and the old traditions that follow along with it. Modernization has changed tea so that people don't drink it the way it's supposed to be enjoyed and savoured.

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Teenager sentenced to 4 life terms for racist murders

This article reports about a white South African teen who has been convicted of murdering four blacks in his racist killing spree. His victims were a mother and her infant, an elderly man and a ten year old boy. He not only had killed these four but also planned on killing 11 others, earning him 68 years in prison. On top of that, he got another 8 years for possessing firearms and ammunition. His lawyer is attempting to plead the court to consider "compelling circumstances", that his upbringing played a major role. The teenage has been home-schooled all his life and has never learnt to socialize with other kids, especially one who are of a different race. 

This is good reminder to everyone that there is still racism in the world, and the harm that people are compelled to do to someone of a different race because of it. The article isn't biased because it just stated the facts of the situation and there was not a hint of opinion about the convicted. 

Source: article & picture

All About Luck

A question most of us haven’t thought about and most likely will not pass us is why the Europeans were the ones to conquer so much of our planet. We can look at Spain now, or France, or the UK and we will unanimously agree that those nations are a lot more civilized than third world nations like New Guinea. We buy our food in supermarkets, where everything have been processed for us. We can get from place A to place B in automated vehicles in short amounts of time. The New Guineans, however, have to gather their own food everyday without break. They travel on foot, searching relentlessly for food to keep themselves alive. They don’t have the time to play video games to to get an education. But why? Why is it that these nations are so different in lifestyle? In his book, Guns, Germs, and Steel, Dr Jared Diamond explain that it all comes down to geographic luck.

If we go back to a time when everyone on earth was pretty much on the same living standards, it would be much easier to find an answer. First, we look at the different types of crops that could have been cultivated and domesticated. Europe is along the same lines of latitude as the Fertile Crescent. And as we all should know, civilizations on the same lines of latitude share the same geography and climate. Therefore, whatever crops that are able to be grown in the Fertile Crescent were able to be grown in places east and west of that piece of land. That would be Europe and China. In the Fertile Crescent, there were two main cereal crops that the people relived heavily on: Barley and wheat. Not only did these two grasses provide the people with a steady source of carbs and protein, it was able to be stored for long periods of time without decaying or rotting. This meant that the people didn’t have to farm everyday of their lives, worrying whether a sudden change in the climate will affect what they have to eat tomorrow. Meanwhile, in New Guinea, the people harvested sorghum and bananas. Both are low on protein and carbs, so almost all the people there were and are malnourished. Large amounts of energy are required to harvest just a few pounds of sorghum, and both crops rot easily. There people would have to work everyday for their food while the people in Europe and the Fertile Crescent had time to delve into other ideas and come up with machines to make their lives and work easier. 

Diamond notices that the lines of latitude where the most bountiful crops grew are the same as where the “beasts of burden” were able to survive. Out of all the many animals that live on our planet, humans have only been able to domesticate 17. Out of that 17, the four main ones (cows, sheep, goat, and horses) are all found in the Fertile Crescent. The rest are scattered all over the planet, except for New Guinea, which is home to none of the domesticated animals. Beasts of burden, as their name suggests may be domesticated to lift the burden of carrying and moving heavy loads or ploughing our fields. They may also provide us with certain materials, like leather, hide, milk, wool, and a source of meat. Civilizations without these animals have to completely rely on their own human ability and strength to complete jobs that might have been easier if they had these beasts of burden. Another example when having beasts of burden domesticated in your land is during war. Wouldn’t it be so much easier to be victorious if your soldiers came riding in on horseback while your enemy was on foot? You would have the high ground. You could look down on your enemy and attack from atop. You wouldn’t have had to use up all your energy charging ahead. In recent years, the pig has been brought over to New Guinea. And even so, pigs don’t give any wool or hide, they have little muscle strength, and are too difficult to rear as a steady source of food. The New Guineans were on a disadvantage. Therefore, their road to a greater and flourishing civilization was a much steeper one than the Europeans’.

When your country is in turmoil from the outbreak of a contagious and lethal disease or infection, the economy inevitable tumbles and loses out. An example would be of the problem with the spread of malaria throughout Africa. Before Africa had been colonized, malaria stayed wherever it first began: In places where amount of stale water was present or by marshes and lakes. After Africa was colonized, they became forming civilizations that were closer and closer to each other, and therefore more people became infected with this disease. Nearly half the children that are hospitalized are there because of malaria. Quinine may be able to stop the first few generations of strains of malaria, but two problems come up. One, the human body is designed to adapt and become immune to certain diseases, like malaria, but at the same time, makes that person more vulnerable to a different strain of malaria that also is mutating faster and faster. The simple drugs are no longer strong enough to eradicate the disease. Two, medicine is expensive. Countries in Africa are few of the poorest in the world. Though it may seem like the parents of the sick children might work more to provide the medicine and care, malaria is the reason why Africa’s economy deteriorates by 1% each year. The parents of the very young children actually quit their jobs to look after their kids in the hospital. From there, they basically can’t do any more than that. When your economy is on a downhill like that, how can your nation prosper? When people cannot even find the time to take care of themselves, what else can they do for their community? On a different view, disease can also be used as a biological weapons to cause internal uprising in opposing nations. The advancement of technological weapons is also another topic that causes certain civilizations like Europe’s to grow. (I’ll need another paragraph to explain that, so I won’t go there.)

In the end, as Jared Diamond says, it's really all about location. Civilizations living in conditions like new Guinea will not prosper because its people will not have time to. They spend their life hunting and gathering food. The idea of expansion does not even pass their mind because they can’t even take care of themselves. The creation of technology because ideas of staying “at home” inventing machines does not appeal. Who would want to collect someone else’s share of food? This is why the New Guineans never learnt how to smelt steel or create weapons like the gun or the atomic bomb.  On the other side of the world, in Europe, the people had division of labour. They had people who specialized in certain areas and institutes. They had jobs so not everyone had to search for their own food because food itself wasn’t as hard to get. Eventually, they began roaming outside their comfort zone to other territories to conquer so they could expand their land. They traded their goods with other nations who needed them. In conclusion, the New Guineans were at a standstill because there was nothing else they could do. They weren’t able to become like how the Europeans are now because where they are situated. The Europeans are where they are in terms of how advanced they are now simply because of pure geographic luck. 

Mexican vs. Taiwanese Food Culture

Before European influence, most of the foods that the Mexicans consumed was based on one main staple: corn. It could be made into many different, but similar types of food such as tortillas or tamales. Of course, they wouldn't just eat these on its own but supplement it with varieties of vegetables and meat, sweet potato, beans, squash and different spices, especially chilies. You many find that Mexican food also relies heavily on its range of mushrooms and other crops that grow in their nation (some of which has been mentioned earlier): beans, chocolate, corn, squash, tomatoes, avocado, vanilla, spices, peppers. These are still very popular in modern Mexico, but dishes vary in different regions of the nation, most likely because of foreign influence and the geography that allows certain crops to grow in that area. When Spain took over Mexico, she brought in new goods and livestock, like cows, pigs, sheep, garlic, foreign herbs, dairy products, many other spices to complement the overall appearance, aroma, and taste of the food. 

Taiwan's food culture, like the Mexicans', had a slight influence from the time of their Japanese occupation. Example of Japanese influenced foods are tempura (deep fried seafood or vegetables), mochi, and the occasional green tea ice cream or other products. Because of its proximity to China, Taiwan food is similar to that of  Guangdong, Shanghai, Sichuan, and Beijing's (Mid to Southern provinces in China). A typical Taiwanese meal has rice as the staple, a marinated meat dish (most likely pork), and a vegetable dish. Their food mainly relies on sauces made from soy, sesame, or chilli because they have those resources growing in their country. Mexico will have less products made from soy or sesame because the crop isn't native to their country, and they haven't been introduced to it. 

I notice that a lot of Taiwanese foods are deep fried to make it tastier (but is also more unhealthy), but Mexican food is baked most of the time (healthier). 

Both seem to have a variety of colours in the food to give it a more aesthetic appeal, as anyone would do to make it look more appetising.

At formal meals in Mexico, you're not to sit until told where to sit, or start until the host/hostess starts, as it pretty much is in Taiwan as well. You have to keep your hands visible on the table while eating, which is one rule most Mexicans don't follow anymore. One rule that was different from the Taiwanese etiquette is that it is polite to leave some food on the plate when you are done. In Taiwan, it would an insult to the host who has provided the food and he/she would think that you do not like the food they have prepared. 

Personally, I would prefer Mexican cuisine to the Taiwanese one because I think it does not all have a similar taste to everything. But that's just me, and I'm sure at least 90% of the other students would prefer the Taiwanese cuisine. 

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Indian milk scare kills 5 children

This article is about the milk scare that has made its way to India, killing 5 and hospitalizing another 25 children. So what's the deal with this contaminated milk? It has affected 53,000 infants in China and now it it s to have spread. Investigators have found that some milk vendors, in order to boost their supplies, have diluted the milk to increase the volume of their "milk" and added a chemicals, melamine, to make the milk seem higher in protein content. Melamine is used in the manufacturing of plastics and fertilizer -- not to be put into milk and definitely not to be consumed. 

If you look in your nearby grocery store, how many items can you point out that might contain any traces of milk? Ice cream, cheese, snacks, candy, chocolate, pudding, cereal, biscuits, cake, cookies, beverages, and of course, infant milk formula. We rely so heavily on milk, and even more so for the infants who only drink the milk formula. 

Countries like the US have blocked any imports of milk containing products from China to protect their citizens from the contamination of the goods sold in their markets. This article just points out that we need to be more careful on guarding the food that our people consume. It doesn't matter if companies earn more from selling these contaminated foods. In the end, people will become paranoid after they read about how many people have died or been hospitalized, and avoid buying any products containing milk.

I don't think there is much to be biased about in this article. The writer is simply telling the people to be more careful with the stuff they eat or drink, although this might have a significant effect on the people. When we hear about these problems going on in India or China, we tend to avoid buying products from there. There also might be less people going to those places at these times and that might have some effect on those countries. That's just the way people are.

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Energy bar prototype

For the past few classes, we've been researching on the ingredients we should put include, what kind of ingredients would be best for athletes, and so on. This time, we finally put it all together and actually began creating the first prototypes for the energy bar. We hadn't finalised what was actually going to be put into the bar, but we figured we'd just experiment with a few ingredients that we definitely wanted. Guessing that by mixing in mushed bananas would help coagulate the other dry ingredients into one form, we acted on that and it ended up working. After the mixture of two different type of oats, raisins, and the mushed bananas had been baked, it stuck together in its form, just the way we intended it to. While the little sections of the bar had was baking, we melted 2 bars of chocolate to use as a coating. One the chocolate was melted and the baking done, we would dip the little baked balls of oat raisin banana mixture in it. To cool and harden the chocolate coating, we were going to quickly soak it in cold water. We tried that, but it kind of looks wet and disgusting after. The first dip also make the chocolate a bit harder and less liquid, for some reason. (It was probably just because we had been heating it for too long.) We decided stick the portions on a skewer and spread the chocolate over them ourselves. Then we stuck them in the freezer/refrigerator so the chocolate wouldn't be as sticky and soft. 

I don't think we need to change the recipe any much since our little experimentation went pretty well. We did find that the oats we used were too soft, so next time we will probably use granola, which is harder than the oats, but just as healthy. To make the final product look better, we will also try to find crushed almonds to sprinkle over the chocolate coating while it's still sticky. 

Our groups worked very well together because there were certain jobs that required more than one person to complete. Even the simple things like changing the hot water that was used to melt the chocolate or just checking to see if the oat mixture was burning in the oven helped a lot. 

Scramble For Africa

The scramble for africa was the series of increasing European claims to different African territories that commenced in 1881. In Europe, people were beginning to create and invent new technology to make their lives better. Industrialism brought about competition amongst the nations which then led to nationalism, or a strong sense of pride for their own nation. When that happens, they usually want the best for their nation. They want to expand their territory and the amount of land they have control over. This is known as imperialism. At that time, Africa was a vast space just in wait for people to come and take over. The more powerful nations, like Britain, France, Germany, Portugal, Spain, and Italy quickly rushed in to claim whatever they could. 

More land meant more space for the nations to build factories to produce items to expand and improve their economy. Other than having more factories, they also had access to cheaper labourers to work in those factories. Because of where Africa was situated, she was rich in various resources that the European consumers had grown accustomed to. Tea, copper, tin, cotton, rubber were just some of the major goods. There was little competition involved, business here gained more profit and they could rely on the consumers' need for these raw materials without having to deal with rivalry. 

When the Europeans came waltzing into Africa, they took up the majority of the natives' land. Powerful technology was brought in, which increased warring. The natives' were lethally affected by the diseases that were alien to them. More importantly, traditional culture in the various tribes in Africa were destroyed and never taken back. 

If this meant that Europe just came striding into Africa make everything the way they wanted, why didn't the natives who already lived there put up a fight? This was because they saw the positive effects that it had on their own nation: The development of infrastructure, advancements in agriculture, the ability of the Europeans to moderate their internal wars, and the new medicine that was introduced in their country to help them. 

New virus contained?

We often hear about diseases or viruses, like malaria, AIDS, dengue fever, etc. Then we assume that these must be the most lethal outbreaks, and we do whatever we can to avoid catching them. But we don't know that there are other viruses out there that can be more or as deadly. 

One such example is the recent case in South Africa, where 4 people were caught and died of this virus in just a few days. This virus causes hemorrhagic fevers, which results in flu like symptoms, digestive problems, rashes that resemble the measles, and finally to respiratory and circulatory system failures. It is still unknown how the first victim got affected with this virus, but these types of viruses (arenavirus) are found in rodents' waste and can infect us as we inhale these harmful micro-organisms. The others who were infected were simply around the person who was ill: the paramedic, the nurses, and a person who was cleaning the room. So far, the outbreak seems to be well under control and the authorities are still trying to name this new virus. 

This article does not show any form of unfair opinion on the topic and is a pretty factual piece. It is just to inform us of the new outbreaks that are happening around the world that we should be aware of, and therefor it is reasonable to trust the information that is given.

Source (article & picture)

Airstrike Kills 9 Afghan Troops

Yet another article about a shooting of Afghan soldiers by a US-led coalition, it sends a message to the rest of the world about the current members of the army in the States. The story doesn't seek to explain in detail about how this incident occurred, but rather to illustrate a problem that seems to pass most of us by. It states that this shooting was a case of mistaken identity on both sides, which might lead us to believe that is just another biased article trying to cover up the mistakes that the US soldiers seem to make continuously, without fail. As we read on, it gives us a few more examples of similar situations that have occurred in the recent past. Examples such as one when more than 90 Afghan civilians in a suspected Taliban compound were killed, and how the soldiers involved tried to argue that the death toll was within 5 to 7 people. Since this example given in the text doesn't appear to be trying to conceal any of the soldiers' wrongdoings, we can assume that the article is most likely not influenced by personal bias. So as to not seem like all the blame is being put on the US side, the story also includes an incident when the fault wasn't solely the American soldiers'. Either way, the article brings out an important factor in solving conflict, which is to avoid any misunderstanding between the two sides. 

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Reflection on Bizarre Food of Taiwan

In class, we watched a few videos on the bizarre foods Taiwan. It shows how foods like Stinky Tofu is made. According to the video, they soak it in rotting vegetable matter for two weeks before frying or doing anything to it. I was disgusted when I saw that and it makes me wonder if the people eating it at the enumerable stores on every street corner know what the tofu has gone through. Then there were foods that supposedly cured you or prevented you from certain illnesses or diseases. The only catch -- some of them cost 8000 US dollars per pound. 

A lot of the foods that were mentioned in the video had something to do with chickens or geese. Chicken butt, chicken uterus, unlaid chicken eggs, goose tongues, goose heads, etc. There was even an entire 10-15 minutes devoted to white and black chicken testicles.

At the markets, they showed oyster omelets (gooey mixture of plum, oyster, ketchup and egg -- ew), coffin bread (which is basically bread with a bunch of stuff that you can't even identify), and an entire sharks fin (controversial in some aspects). 

Overall, I think these few videos have covered most of the bizarre foods that a visitor could find in Taiwan and also gives us a sense of how different foods in different cultures can be. And how many ridiculously nasty dishes they can come up with. And how they can eat stuff like that, knowing what it is. 

Distinguishing between living and non living matter

All living things have a few factors in common. They have one or more cells, they can, independently, grow (no matter how much), reproduce, interact with its own kind, need to take in substances to carry out certain processes in order to survive, and eventually, die. Inanimate objects depend on other things to move, they don't grow on their own, and can't do most of what living things can. 

Nova

During our physics class, we watched part of a movie "Nova". It talks about the complicated theories of the universe and how everything works, from the molecular level to black holes and parallel universes. It introduces general relativity and quantum mechanics, which can get pretty confusing at times, but I still want to know more about the topic. When they get into parallel universes, it really makes me wonder if there was another same earth somewhere out there with the same people doing the same things, just with different outcomes. And how quantum mechanics say that everything is possible - like if you tried enough times you would somehow be able to walk through a concrete wall. 

The movie explained how these great scientists (Newton, Einstein, Bohr, Maxwell) worked all their life on trying to create equations to understand how things really worked. They really got into the deeper information that was used in understanding these sciences. Especially for Einstein, how he dedicated his life to trying to unify general relativity and electromagnetism. He ignored all the newly made discoveries which left him behind and continued working on what he'd started off before. It makes me marvel at how involved he was with all his work. 

Also, the string theory saying that everything, literally everything (all the forces, atoms, etc) is made of tiny vibrating strings. Because these strings are so tiny, it is impossible to prove that this theory is real. Although all of this is very hard to comprehend, I think I would appreciate learning more about this more in the future than I would be before.

Reflection - Science project

Over the past few weeks Connie, Gene, and I were assigned a project. We were given a 2 metre ramp and a cardboard box with weights in it. We were to study and calculate all the forces acting on the box as it slid down the ramp. I didn't like the idea of it at first; with the long list of instructions and words I wasn't quite familiar with, but as we researched about it off the internet and asked Mr Loken the right questions, the group slowly began to understand the problem more clearly. Although there was a lot of heavy and new math concepts to be learnt as well during this project, I think the group was open to learning all the new information. 

What I liked about the project is that we were able to work at our own pace, and that we had a final due date, not many little ones. But at that, I didn't like the fact that we were just given a set of instructions, some equipment, some resources, and a due date. Yes, thank you, Mr Loken for helping us understand and calculate the forces behind this simple, yet complicated movement of the box down the ramp, but it gave all the members in the group a headache when we first heard what we were supposed to do. 

What bugged me at the end of all this is that we didn't manage to find the coefficients of friction between the wooden ramp and the cardboard box which cost us a few points on the overall. I should really read through all the instructions on the paper next time...

Frankly, though, I think we learned a lot through this project, even if we didn't manage to communicate our newly gained knowledge to the rest of the class effectively. Sadly to say, I have no real suggestions on improving the way this was organized, I think it'll do fine for next year. 

How The Giver Ends *SPOILER*

Jonas lives in a world where everything is seemingly perfect. No emotions: fear, pain, love. Things will never get out of hand and everyone will stay safe and sound. There are rules that people have to live by for their own protection. Then, when Jonas gets assigned as the receiver of memories, his life and everything he knows changes. The Giver passes memories to him, both good (riding on a sled, having family, celebrating Christmas with all the colourful lights) and painful ones like death and war. As he gets more familiar with his job and what burden he has to take on, he makes a decision that everyone should know the truth. He learns that if he leaves his community, the memories will return to all the people. So, he escapes to find Elsewhere with a child (Gabriel) who he has already passed some memories to. At the end of the story, Jonas and Gabriel are freezing and on the edge of starvation after their long and tiresome journey. Jonas finds a sled waiting for him at the top of a hill, rides down it, sees a brightly lit house and hears music coming from that direction. He is certain he's finally made it, but perhaps it is just an illusion?

This ending represents a dilemma because nowhere in the ending does it say that Jonas and Gabriel finally get rescued. Some people may want to to be that Jonas gets rescued by the family he finds, and that after his long travel, it's all been worth it. But, neither does it say that they did not make it or didn't survive. Others may not like the usual happy endings and that Jonas didn't survive. When he said he thought he saw that house and he heard music, it was all just in his head. Different people interpret this ending in all sorts of ways.

Most people would prefer a more optimistic ending to this story: Jonas gets found and rescued by the people in the house he finds, and they all live happily ever after. Don't you think it's too coincidental that, at the end he "finds" a sled WAITING for him? That directly at the bottom of the hill, Jonas finds a house that a family is celebrating something? After the entire journey, the story just ends like that, so abruptly? I think that he was probably just having delusions. Perhaps he passed out from the cold and was dreaming of good memories. The sled ride, the house where it was going to be warm inside, with family members celebrating and enjoying being with each other, the music, the colours. I don't think it was real. I think Jonas and Gabriel don't make it through. But for the community that they escaped from, where the people finally received the memories, both good and bad, they will continue on. The people will eventually learn to deal with the memories with the Giver's help, that they'll live like we do now. I don't think that the author would leave such a good story with everyone living happily. I'd want Jonas and Gabriel to leave, for the sake of their "utopian" community.

Final engagement

Active Learner - 1.7
Usually when I dont' understand something and am completely lost, I try to find out how to solve it. I don't do that all the time though. For example, if everyone gets what the teacher is saying, but I don't, I usually don't stop and ask the teacher to explain again. I'd ask after class, or something. But most people have seen that on some days when my thoughts are somewhere else, I 'm not as active.

Critical Thinker/Problem Solver- 2
I think on most occasions, I try to think up of ways to solve something. When one method doesn't work, I'll get a bit annoyed, but wont give up right there and then. I know that if there's a problem, there's an answer, and I'll do what needs to be done to get that answer.

Community Contributor -1.7
Part of this if not disrupting the class, during work time and when the teacher is trying to teach the class something new. As far as I know, I haven't disrupted the class in any way. When a classmate needs help with something or they don't quite understand something, I explain it to them the best that I can. I didn't give myself a 2 because sometimes during discussions, when I'm not too interested in the topic or if there are other thoughts bothering me, I don't add anything much.

Effective Communicator - 1.8
In all my work (homework assignments, group work, projects) I think I effectively show what I know and communicate across the information that I need to. When I have problems with something, I explain what I don't know so that the teacher can help me. When I add something in class, I know what I'm saying and make sure that people will understand what I'm saying.

Person of High Character - 1.4
Although I complete my work on time, not fool around in class, and do everything to the best of my abilities, I gave myself a 1.4 here because I admit that I don't pay attention in class all the time. But when the homework comes, I understand it all. Other people who see me not being very attentive and follow what I do may not be as good in their homework. I don't think it's fair for them that just because I know what I'm doing doesn't mean I don't have to try as hard as they do. Therefore that 1.4 stands as my mark for a person of high character.

First ever entry

So, I'm sitting in this swirly black chair thinking of what to write for this entry cause Mr Loken says I have to. This is one of those times where I'd rather be sitting down in front of a book and just reading or doing physics problems, although it isn't one of my favourite things to do.

In Science this semester, we've switched from chemistry to physics. Why that has happened, I'm sure there are better reasons that the ones I think to be true. I wasn't too excited about the idea at first and disliked it with a passion. As time goes by though, it's getting better. Still not one of the few times I look forward to in school, but I guess it'll have to do.