Friday 29 March 2013

What is the What? Yeah, what IS the What? Wait what?

What is the What by Dave Eggers is essentially a biography of Valentino Achak Deng,  one of the Lost Boys of Sudan, but since he can't remember every single detail, some things have been made up and so its becomes a novelized biography. What is really interesting for me though is how the book was written, I've never read anything like it before. Eggers tells Deng's story of the Walk from Sudan to Ethiopia, then back to Sudan then down to Kakuma, a refugee camp in Kenya through a series of flashbacks during events happening "now" in Atlanta. I like how this is done as it makes the book really interesting, as it mixes in more current, relatable events in with the story of the Walk. All in all, What is the What is a interesting book from a factual point of view, and I think the way it is written gives us valuable skills in creative writing.

Wednesday 27 February 2013

I still don't know what the What is

While reading the book What is the What I've found it drags on quite a bit however I feel this gives the impression of the Walk being long and hard, like Emily said. This has also caused my interest in the book to diminish slightly, but all the facts and information are really helpful in broadening my knowledge of the Lost Boys' situation, and this has made me feel sympathetic for them and at the same time as the story being boring, it makes me want to read more. I think also that Eggers has done a really good job with changing between scenes, like when Valentino is robbed and then tells the story of the Walk via flashbacks.


Tuesday 5 February 2013

How to write about Ireland

*DISCLAIMER* BEFORE READING THIS BLOG POST PLEASE VISIT THIS LINK
http://www.granta.com/Archive/92/How-to-Write-about-Africa/Page-1

How to write about Ireland

Using words like "Ireland" or "green" or "farmer" in your title is a must, and subtitles may include the words "drunken", "guinness", "Dublin" or "IRA". Note that "The Republic" refers to the Republic of Ireland, which is an independent country and "the North" refers to Northern Ireland.

Do not have a picture of a well-off intelectual or someone who isn't ginger on the cover of your book. A drunk, poor farmer with his ginger wife plus four to six children with a farm in the background, make sure the farm is green. A leprechaun dancing will also work well.

In the text, treat Ireland as if it were one massive farm swarming with cows, pigs, horses and sheep. It is cold and if it's not snowing it's raining. The Irish are uneducated ginger people who are always drunk and have large amounts of children. Don't bother yourself with detail, Ireland is a small island with farms everywhere and the people there are too busy getting drunk or farming to concern themselves with your book.

Make sure you show how Irish people have Guinness running through their veins, and all of them are born with the ability to do Irish Dancing without flaw. Do not mention the Celtic Tiger, when Ireland was one of the biggest economies in Europe and the people were all well off. Do not mention either the culinary diversity of the food in the big cities (Cork, Dublin, Belfast etc.). An Irishman's cuisine of choice is boiled potatoes, boiled cabbage and boiled hams, with several pints of Guinness stout to wash it down with. Make sure you stress how much Irish food is always boiled, and the Irish only drink alcohol. Make sure also that you are able to drink and drink and drink without throwing up or dying of alcohol poisoning, and how you grow accustomed to it - because you care.

Taboo subjects: ordinary domestic scenes, love between Protestants and Catholics (unless tragic death is involved), references to life outside the Irish farms, and mention of Irish kids going to school.

Make sure you write about Irish young men and women who are full of hope, and go looking for work in the States, only to be disappointed and being squashed into tight living quarters or poverty. Make sure you mention how hospitable Irish wives are, and will let you stay at their house if you need to. Write like this and your set for a best-selling novel on Ireland.


Monday 28 January 2013

Shrouded In Normality



The topic of normality has always been a controversial topic, is it better to or to not be normal? Many a lesson in English we have spent discussing and analyzing normality and stereotypes. We also had to take photos in Chiang Mai to build a photo essay on a theme we developed. All of these learning opportunities were excellent, and I had never done anything like it before. Even though it was a challenge, I found it really fun and interesting, and worth it in the end as we gained valuable skills on how to develop a thesis and theme, how to make a photo essay and how to structure a paper relating to a theme. My greatest takeaway from it was how to write, develop, and back up a thesis statement for a short story, as I feel that this skill will be very important to me should I take English Lit. as a HS subject.

Monday 7 January 2013

If you Experience, You Learn.



"If you experience, you learn," - National Geographic. To broaden view on the world, and to gain knowledge on many different things I need to experience more. I want to experience more this year by trying new things, new methods for doing things, trying new food, making new friends, maybe even riding Battlestar Galactica in Universal Studios (no, I haven't ridden it yet). In my opinion, experiencing new things broadens the horizon on which we think, makes us more open-minded and more welcoming to change. Also, it helps us learn what to and not to do and this is how we gain knowledge. 




   

Thursday 13 December 2012

Ireland + China + Chiland?



To me, Gish Jen’s short story “Who’s Irish” is about the fusion of two very different ethnicities with two very different cultures and suggests that two largely different ethnic groups colliding in this way could have both a positive and negative impact on the family.

I think that I can really relate well to Gish Jen’s story Who’s Irish as I basically have the same ethnicity as Sophie, only my dad’s side is Chinese and vice versa. It’s true what Jen says in the story, that Chinese parents are much stricter and Chinese children and generally more well behaved than the Irish kids, and I think one of the many reasons for this would be what the children do in their spare time. In Ireland, children are generally more sporty, they typically would play rugby, football, gaelic football or hurling/camogie (a hockey-like sport from Ireland). After which, the kids would go home and complete their homework. Also, Irish children would only receive tuition once they are about to sit their Leaving Certificate (similar to GCE “O” Levels). Irish parents, like most European and American parents are also more tolerant of playfulness from their children and much less likely to punish their children by, for example, using a bamboo cane to hit children when they are either naughty or do not perform up to his/her parents expectations. For Chinese children however, life growing up is much much different. From an age as young as 9 children will be sent for tutoring classes, will sit exams at school and will experience the stress and anxiety that comes along with a national exam by the age of 12. After school and completing homework, Chinese children either attend tuition or attend classes for a musical instrument or do revision. Also, idioms and ideologies from Confucius are repeatedly drilled into the young minds of these children, almost always related to taking good care of your parents and respecting them. Chinese children are also told that if they are not filial to their parents, they will go to the 19nth level of hell in the afterlife. Now, I'm not just listing stereotypes of the Chinese here, I am half Chinese and I know what it's really like. Furthermore, I think that the major differences in the two cultures, Irish and Chinese, can greatly impact a family, and one possible impact is that the influence from the Chinese side of the family could be stronger than that of the Irish, and so the “Irishness” in the family could just die out as it is overpowered by the Chinese side. But, having a mix of such different cultures can also be a great thing for the child of mixed blood, because the child will get to experience twice the amount traditions and festivals as another “pure blooded” child. I think that the differences in the two cultures and the impact of this mix is greatly illustrated in the Jen’s story, as it is portrayed by the Chinese Grandmother. I think that Natalie, Sophie's mother is slightly more "Irish" in a sense that she is very tolerant, like the other parents, of what the grandmother perceives to be "misbehavior". Also I feel that this may have happened because Natalie has been living in a western environment for a long time and her view on things and the way she acts may have changed. However, like people say, old habits die hard. I think this could be why the grandmother's way of viewing things and characteristics haven't changed much, and also because she worked in a Chinese restaurant, which could have maybe prevented her from stepping out of her comfort zone.

Tuesday 9 October 2012

Different Points of View: The reasons behind it all.

Everything affects our point of view. The factors that would affect it the most, however, are things like one's past experiences, how one has been brought up and what our personal preferences and ideas are. How we see differently is different, it can be as separate as being the exact opposite of something or the difference can be merely the tiny details. Different points of view can change how one understands things, for example if I am not in the least interested in sports cars I can choose to not bother to understand things about them and vice versa. Going back to the table discussion, I think apart from the fact that I contributed more than usual I also took away with me more than I usually would. On the subject of stereotypes, I'd like to share something here that I couldn't in class. A few days ago Amy Cheong from NTUC posted a racist and stereotypical status update on her private Facebook wall concerning Malay weddings and using vulgar language, she complained about how long Malay weddings go on for at the void decks. For this she was fired and so I think that if you really have to be racist keep it to yourself so as to not hurt other peoples' and potentially your own feelings.