LA June Holidays Assignment

Now, I will be doing my other assignment, which is to discuss the effects of war. My teacher instructed us to either read or watch war novels or movies respectively. Not being a fan of reading, I decided to choose the latter. I watched the famous war movie, "Saving Private Ryan". To be frank, it was one of the most grotesque movies I've ever seen. The gory, bloody scenes are very disturbing and I cannot imagine placing myself in one of those soldiers' shoes, watching your own friends die right in front of your very eyes, at the risk of being killed, and killing others. I can imagine just how traumatising this would be if I were there. Right from the very start, we are already introduced to the horrifying scenes of the cruelty of war, where the Germans kill the Americans at Omaha Beach. In on of the attacks, three of the four Ryan brothers in the movie were killed, showing how one war could ruin an entire family. How easy it is for all to get killed. After the small journey just to save the last Ryan, 2 out of the 8 people in the rescue team survived, with the leader being one of them who got fatally wounded. This just shows how easy men can lose their lives just for saving a man in a war. In the end, the leader died as well while Ryan survived and got home. This movie shows us the cruelty of war and the risks involved in it, so is it worth it having the war? Personally, I feel that it is not worth it having a war, thinking of all the negative consequences a war would result in. I do not understand why people cannot settle their disputes amicably and must always resort to violence. War would be the last thing on my mind to settle a dispute or conflict. Besides, war doesn't settle everything, it only makes the problem go away for the time being, with the winner being the last man standing, but there won't be an agreement reached ever. Rather, war increases the number of problems, causing such great damage to society. Thus, I believe war should not be introduced at all.

From the movie, we can thus infer some impacts of the war, as well as other kinds of impacts from witnessing the wars happening in other countries right now. This brings me to my task of crafting a mind map with the effects of the war. Hence, I append my mind map below.




Take a look at my mind map. Do you think there are more types of impacts in a war? Do you think having a war can solve all the problems? Share them with us.

LA June Holidays Assignment

One of our assignments for the June holidays is to read the book, "Merchant of Venice", by the renowned William Shakespeare. After reading the book, we are supposed to make a mind map on the plot of the book. This book is a play, a romantic comedy. After reading the book, I find the plot very interesting, having a twist in the end. The characters are extremely dramatic and it pokes fun here and there. Being the first play I have ever read, this gives me a very good impression of plays, making me more interested in drama and plays. Well, of course it is expected since it's by the great WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE. So below I append my mind map.

Take a look at my mind map and enjoy it! :)

Home Learning Task 2

Rainbow Death

America did not foresee
Green, pink, purple and other colors death potpourri!
Expecting others to pay a high price.
Now thinking twice?
Toll on the innocent and unborn.

Omnipotent and disregarding who will mourn.
Reflective about all the illness, birth defects and prematurely dead.
All the deceit continues to spread.
Nefariously America led astray -
Generations untold WILL pay -
Execrable effects of agent orange spray!

Point of View --> First-person.
Unbiased / Candid / Truthful
Evidence:"America did not foresee / Green, pink, purple and other colors death potpourri!
"Expecting others to pay a high price. / Now thinking twice?"
"Nefariously America led astray"
"Execrable effects of agent orange spray"
Elaboration: The poet is an American who fought for America in the Vietnam war. However, here he says that America makes a mistake, being "led astray". He also sets this poem after he himself has experienced the effects of Agent Orange, and is very infuriated by it. Hence, we can tell that this is an unbiased and truthful point of view, not siding with his own country, saying that there is nothing wrong.

Situation and Setting --> In a war, the Agent Orange had been used and the effects are dire, to both sides fighting the war. In this poem, the poet feels emotional for the use of Agent Orange after seeing the aftermath of the usage of it. He clearly feels that Agent Orange should not have been used as it causes great damage to both sides in the war, and the damages affect not only his generation, but subsequent generations as well, being born with defects, etc. In a sentence that covers it all, it means that the war doesn't end even when it is said to have ended. In simple words, it means the damages done in a war carries on even after the war is said to have ended.

Language and Diction --> Oxymoron
Emphasis or words
Evidence: "Rainbow Death"
"Death potpourri"
"Nefariously America led astray"
"deceit"
Elaboration: The usage of the title, "Rainbow Death", is an oxymoron. Rainbows normally connote something joyous and positive, but it is put together with "death", making it an oxymoron altogether. It gives the reader suspense as they will wonder, a death due to a rainbow? In the end, they will realise that it is true, death due to the different agent colours.

Next, "death potpourri" is also an oxymoron. Death is used to show something negative, which is described with something solemn. However, Hubert uses "potpourri", something fragrant. He should be being sarcastic at this point, showing that death can be so colourful and pleasant, caused by the different agent colours, but it is untrue that death will be colourful and pleasant.

On the other hand, emphasis of words are used in this poem. Hubert writes the word "WILL" in capital letters. This is to place emphasis on the line itself, showing that the subsequent generations will definitely have to suffer due to the effects of the war and America's rash actions of using Agent Orange.

Lastly, Hubert displays America in a negative light, saying that America was "led astray" and that she uses "deceit". This is showing how much Hubert disapproves of America and is furious about the fact that America used the extremely harmful Agent Orange.


Personal Response

Hubert is trying to criticise America in this poem, showing how it "did not foresee" the "execrable effects of agent orange spray". He also says that America is "omnipotent and [disregards] who will mourn", showing how heartless America is, causing great harm in the war, to subsequent generations who are innocent people as well. Hubert is trying to make known to everyone how America's actions could affect the world greatly and hopes that war will not enfold again, because the war does not end when it has ended. The damages carry on to subsequent generations. He wants to show that war is nothing but harm to both sides and there is no absolute victory, because both sides will have a huge amount of suffering after a war. I personally sympathise with all the Agent Orange victims, "all the illness, birth defects and prematurely dead" and that those "generations untold WILL pay". I support Hubert in feeling that America should be held responsible for this great damage done. If it was not for America, the damages wouldn't have been so dire for both sides. I feel that his main message here is to say that war is harmful and war should not occur, and I totally support his view about war, because war causes great damages and if war doesn't erupt, the world will have a much better peace and people will not be subjected to such gruesome suffering.

Home Learning Task 1

Rainbow Death

America did not foresee
Green, pink, purple and other colors death potpourri!
Expecting others to pay a high price.
Now thinking twice?
Toll on the innocent and unborn.

Omnipotent and disregarding who will mourn.
Reflective about all the illness, birth defects and prematurely dead.
All the deceit continues to spread.
Nefariously America led astray -
Generations untold WILL pay -
Execrable effects of agent orange spray!

This poem is about America making use of a poisonous substance, "Agent Orange". The poet is saying that America used the Agent Orange, in a bid to make the enemy in the war suffer, but in the end, it backfired and the Agent Orange was used against herself. In the end, both sides of the war gets affected and it causes negative impacts, like how Agents "Green, pink, purple and other colors death potpourri". This Agent Orange affects not only the generation itself but the future generations as well, when he said that "generations untold will pay". In this poem, the poet, Hubert Wilson, is trying to say that in war, it causes great damage and the damage will never be only to one side, but to both sides. And when the damage is done, it does not only affect on generation, but the damage can carry on for many subsequent generations. The conflict depicted in this poem would be how America's plan backfired and caused great harm to herself, being "nefariously... led astray", and how the damage done will carry on to subsequent generations. This conflict shows that there will always be damage done to both sides involved in a war and that a war is not over even when it is over because the damages of a war will carry on even after the war has ended.

Now, to understand better what the poem actually means and why the poet would write this, we have to first look at his background information.

He is a Vietnam War veteran who served in the USAF Security Service. He, along with many others, prepped for about 14 months at Kelly AFB in San Antonio, Texas, before anticipating being sent to Vietnam or elsewhere in Southeast Asia in 1970. About half ended up in Da Nang (an Agent Orange hotspot) in the 6924th Security Squadron. The rest of them were assigned to Shemya Island, Alaska, with the 6984th Security Squadron, a more contaminated environment than Da Nang.

His health problems started with unexplained headaches and limb pains. His central nervous system radically deteriorated with Parkinson type tremors, severe headaches, progressive limb pains, etc. No physician has ever diagnosed the specific illness. His number one educated guess is the heavily contaminated drinking water at Shemya during his year there as an intelligence analyst. Organo-phosphate toxins may not run their toxic course until 20 to 30 years after initial exposure.

According to Vietnamese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 4.8 million Vietnamese people were exposed to Agent Orange, resulting in 400,000 deaths and disabilities, and 500,000 children born with birth defects.

From 1962 to 1971, Agent Orange was by far the most widely used of the so-called "Rainbow Herbicides" employed in the herbicidal warfare program. During the production of Agent Orange (as well as Agents Purple, Pink, and Green) dioxins were produced as a contaminant, which have caused numerous health problems for the millions of people who have been exposed.

Hence, this poem was written because he personally experienced the feeling of being attacked by Agent Orange and how it could affect not only the original target, but you yourself as well. He is aware of these harmful consequences of war and hopes that war will stop because it will affect the subsequent generations as well. The title suggests how harmful war can be, causing "Death". "Rainbow" symbolises Agent Orange, Purple, Pink, Green, etc. These agents are what caused the death and harmful consequences of many, and the poet is showing that war is harmful and it never ends when it ends because the damage will carry on even after the war.

Global Warming -- Is it that Pressing an Issue?

Hey guys. I'm back. Today I am doing this extremely important topic on global warming. As most of you might know, global warming is become an important issue these few years. However, is it as important an issue as it seems in the newspapers and reports?

You might have seen advertisements or posters or even heard from your friends or teachers to perform the 3 Rs, Reuse, Recycle, and Reduce. Let me give a brief introduction on what these three Rs are about. Reuse. What does it really mean? It is to tell you that instead of using a new item everytime, you can reuse it if it doesn't cause much harm. For example, toothbrushes can be reused until a certain period of time. Recycle. When you use something and find no more use of it, you can recycle it and the material can be made into something else for another purpose. As for reduce, we have to reduce the usage of natural resources as we have a depleting supply of natural resources, with the only resources coming from imports.

Why then, are we asked to preform these 3 Rs. It is important to know the importance of these 3 Rs so that there is no wastage of materials in this world. For example, plastic is not biodegradable. This means it takes a very long time for plastic to be removed from the world, maybe a few thousand years. Therefore, instead of wasting our plastic by throwing them away time and time again, we can actually use the plastic for other uses by recycling or maybe reusing, unless you want a plastic filled world.

However, this is not the main focus of my topic today. My topic is about global warming. Global warming is when the world temperature is increasing, causing dire consequences, such as the melting of ice bergs and glaciers. How is this going to affect us then? Once the ice melts, it turns into water and soon, the Earth will be covered in nothing but water. Then, we will have nowhere to live. You might think that that will be in the future and we need not care about it now. But there is more to it.

Studies have further proven that in a few decades, the situation will worsen by a lot, and everything will turn for the worse, unless we take action now. And for those who think that global warming is in the future, can you live with this conscience? This is just irresponsibility on your part. This is an extremely selfish thinking! You should always think for your future generation because it is very important, your future generation carries your blood and maybe, your family name. You shouldn't be so heartless to leave them to die.

Hence, the main gist of this post is that, global warming is a pressing issue which can cause dire consequences in no time. If it isn't controlled, the world coming to an end will be within a few decades. The only method to solve this problem, to me, is global cooling. But as far as I know, technology and science have not proven this theory yet. Thus, I plead with all of you to start performing the 3 Rs, in order to slow down the process of global warming, so that there is still time for technology and science to think of ways to solve this problem, hopefully.

Smoking

This was the topic which I did for my Chinese current affairs session. Smoking. There are many smokers around the world. They do it for many reasons, despite the negative impacts smoking has on people.

Smoking causes many health problems. It may result in lung cancer. Smoking causes you not to be breathing in fresh air, but all the smoke and polluted air. Cigarettes contain tar, the substance which is present on the roads where cars drive over everyday. Can you imagine them breathing in tar? These people are actually smoking tar. Knowing this makes smoking seem disgusting, I know. But why then, do people still smoke?

People should have been educated that smoking causes many health problems, in the heart or in the lungs. Even if they don't know about the health problems about smoking, the cigarette packet is always there to deter people from smoking. It shows disgusting images of the result of smoking, dirtied teeth and many mouth ulcers, etc. However, why do they want to smoke? There are many reasons why they smoke.

First, cigarettes contain nicotine in them. Why is knowing this fact important? Nicotine is addictive. Many people have never tried smoking before and they want to try once, thinking that it would be harmless. But little do they know the nicotine inside is addictive. One puff is all it takes, one puff and you can be addicted. If you smoke and you don't know how to control, the addictive nicotine in it makes you addicted to smoking. And once addicted, you never stop and continue to smoke.

Next, people smoke because they think it's the "in" thing. They feel that the cool people smoke and therefore, they should learn from them and take up smoking as well. They want to be part of the cool clan, so that they have status, although they are aware of the dire consequences smoking might lead to. This can be categorised under peer pressure. People smoke because of the pressure they undergo from their friends. They also feel that smoking is a thrill. They can get to play with the smoke and they think it is cool, but little did they realise their health is actually at danger.

Smoking is an expensive activity. One packet can cost up to $10. However, when the youngsters realise in the adult years, it is already too late because they are already addicted to smoking. Others realise their health are deteriorating but it is just too addictive. One example would be my grandfather, smoking for many decades and in the end, suffering heart problems and had to be hospitalised. He did not take the initial warnings to quit smoking seriously because he did not expect one day, he would fall because of smoking. However, it was too late when he realised it as he had already fallen sick. Now, his illness would relapse from time to time.

My main point in writing this post is to say that smoking is bad. Smoking has many negative impacts on people and you should realise that from young. If you only realise that when you're old, it would be too late already and coming to regret it only when you fall ill would be a little too late as well.

Family Ties

Ok. So I was watching the Star Awards on television just now. I witnessed the many celebrities going up the stage, collecting their prizes, and making their "thank you" speech.

Looking at them and listening to some of their thank you speeches, I noticed that the speeches were mostly talking about spending a lot of time and effort in filming. For the celebrities with kids, they will say that they have spent so much time filming that they have no time for their families and kids. For the married couples, I really take my hat off them for being able to be both celebrities and have a child at home. I feel that many of them have no time for their families and this might cause a strain in their relationship ties. I really wonder how they cope with such a busy schedule but still have to spend time with their kids. This brings me to my topic about family ties today.

There are many celebrities who are couples and they spend most of their lives filming and being in our television screen for our entertainment. Some of them spend so much time filming and performing for us that they actually even forget to spend that time with their children. As a result, they neglect their children. This has become an increasingly important problem in our society nowadays. Many people spend time working and working. They leave the house early in the morning and come home in the wee hours, like many celebrities, having to go out and film or record, even going for interviews. Some children don't even get to see their parents everyday. As a result, when the parents are with the children, it becomes awkward and the atmosphere would be very tense.

What parents nowadays are not able to see is that children need their attention. They crave for their parents' care and attention, because they need it. They want their parents to cane them or scold them, but not parents who don't even see them or talk to them often. They become neglected children who just need the love showered on them. Parents become workaholics and they think that by providing well for their children, they are doing their role as parents and their children will be happy. But obviously, they are wrong. As a child, I know that what children crave most is their parents' support and care. They need guidance so as to determine the direction of their path. Without the direction, chances are more likely that they will take the wrong path and mix around with the bad company.

Because children want the attention so much, they commit crimes like vandalising or robbery just because they want the thrill out of it and the attention from their parents. It is always then, that the parents realise their children are taking the wrong path and are mixing around with the bad company. However, it is too late as their children will be given a record. Parents should realise as soon as possible, even better before they become parents themselves, what children really want, not wealth, but the care and love. This way, they will be able to satisfy their children's needs better.

What I am trying to say here is, parents should not be too preoccupied with their work and neglect their own children. Once their children are neglected and if they take the wrong step, everything would go wrong and the consequences would be dire. Therefore, I want to tell parents that they should always show care and concern for their children because these are what their children really want. But of course, it should not be overdone too. What do you think, readers from all over the world?