Rambling Queen

Random Poem

If elephants flew and cats could moo,

What would this world be?

If puppies could bounce and flies could pounce,

Then what would earth come to?

If we were born with 3 heads and never be dead,

Then what would we amount to?

If dinosaurs still existed and criminals weren’t arrested,

Then how would we all live?

If we could never get sick and never get a tick,

Would we be alright?

If there was no jealousy and everything was democracy,

Then would there be peace?

If we could all just smile and laugh all the while,

Would we be a happier species?

If you imagine,

 Can anything happen?

Horror movies 

I am going to write about horror movies today.  Personally, I love them, but I know that you have to be in the right mood to be able to really enjoy one.  You have to be in a non-laughing mood.  I have only recently been interested in horror movies. One reason for this is that before, my mom and dad wouldn’t exactly be too thrilled if I watched them. 

Here’s a tip for watching horror movies, don’t eat while you are watching one.  My reasoning for this tip is very simple.  One, you might choke if you get really scared or if you are at a point of the movie where the suspense builds and then suddenly, boom, you are startled by what happens on the screen.  Two, the movie may be absolutely grotesque at parts and you might throw up!  Actually, you probably won’t throw up, but you may start to feel queasy, or you might just be absolutely disgusted.

When I watch a horror movie and a character is being terrorized or is see spirits, or something of that nature, I feel a sense of security and reassurance for the character if other people are around them.  Then, suddenly I see that the people around are changing or the character looks at them and they have the face of a demon or a ghost.  I think that this reassurance being taken away is one of the scariest things about horror movies.

Before we did this whole project, I didn’t knew little to almost nothing about the conflict in Darfur.  I have learned a lot of things about the topic and I am very grateful.  I can’t tell you how much more I appreciate our fellow people because of their sufferings.  I didn’t realize what they are going through and why. Now I have a pretty clear understanding of everything. 

I think that, from now on, I will continue to be involved in helping the people of Darfur.  I want to do everything I can to make a difference.  One thing that I know that I am going to do is that I am going to send a letter that I have already written to the president of the United States.  The letter is a plea for help for the people in darfur with many details about the genocide.

Dear President Bush,

I am an 8th grade student in
Montgomery County, Maryland, not far from the White House.  I know you are aware of the genocide in
Darfur.  The conflict in
Darfur is very unsettling to my fellow students and I.  As you know, the conflict in
Darfur has been ongoing since 2003.  That makes this year the 5th year of the genocide, the first genocide of the 21st century.  We are unnerved by the fact that the genocide has been going on for 5 years and nothing has been done to stop it, or to even try to stop it.  The UN has planned to take action, but hasn’t.  Many people are unaware of this terrible and horrifying thing happening to our fellow human beings. Don’t you think that what is going on to people in
Darfur is horrible?  Don’t you think that innocent people are being killed and tortured and the Sudanese government is lying about it, saying that they are just trying to get the rebel groups?  Don’t you think that something needs to be done?  Don’t you think that it is our Global responsibility to help our fellow humans?  I really don’t think they deserve to be treated like they are.  What do you think?

During class one day, 2 students from a local high school came to talk to us about the conflict in Darfur and it really made me think about how bad this genocide is.  Following are a few things that they told us about the topic.  They told us that there is a history of violence in
Darfur and there have been 2 civil wars there since 1951.  They also told us some horrifying statistics: 2.5 million people displaced from they’re homes,  400 dead, and many raped.  We learned that a lot of the rapes have occurred during firewood collection and that a lot of people in
Darfur think that women are not useful to men after having been raped.  That is horrible, they don’t chose to be raped, it’s not like they are committing a crime or sin. 

 They also told us that the Sudanese government supplies the Janjaweed with weapons and other necessities for their attacks.  Then, they attack the people off guard with helicopters, then come in and attack on horseback.  They basically try to take down everyone in sight.  The few that survive are very lucky.  They are even luckier if they can get to refugee camps in
Chad. 

Something else that they told us was that it is not a religious war because both sides are mostly Muslim and the UN does not plan on an invasion. If they in fact attempt to help with the genocide, they say that it will be a UN collaborative effort.  In my opinion, this is a very good idea because we don’t want to start another war.  We should be included in this effort to help our fellow people.  They also told us that this is the first ongoing genocide since the
US was established.  It marks the 1st time when the UN Security Council has resolved to have something done and hasn’t actually done anything.  The last fact that I learned that I will tell you is that there is little to no media coverage on the conflict in
Darfur and this is very bad because the less people to know about the horrible topic, the less will probably be done.

I am writing to you to ask for you to do everything you can to help the people suffering in
Darfur, because I care.  The Janjaweed attacks are still going on and many people are still dieing.  This is a cry for help from the people who can’t tell you how much they need it.  This is a plea for the people in
Darfur, they need our help!

Sincerely,

Leora

This is my last post about our Darfur Awareness day!  This is my last time asking for people to post on our blog and wiki on the Darfur issue.  YOU CAN HELP PEOPLE SUFFERING IN DARFUR!

When:  March 6th at midnight - March 8th at midnight

Where:  Wherever there is a computer that you can use

Why:  Because, if we get enough posts, then maybe someone of power to stop the genocide will see all the posts and actually try to help.  It is our global responsibility to help others in need!  It doesn’t hurt, so why not try to help?

PLEASE TRY TO GET THE WORD OUT ABOUT OUR EVENT BEFORE IT’S TOO LATE! SO PLEASE, TRY ANDE MAKE A DIFFERENCE!

Blog: http://manyvoicesdarfur.blogspot.com/
Wiki: http://stopgenocide.wikispaces.com/

There is a website where you can watch short videos of men and women from Darfur telling stories of what them and othere have experienced.  One of the videos is about a women who was attacked, raped, cut, and burned by five men.  In the video she seems to be very disturbed by all this and she seems that she was very affected by these men.  She also told of a horrible event that she saw happen: a school of girls were raped in North Darfur.  She tells of how they were tortured and about how she doesnt understand because they were just children.

You can see this video and others by clicking on the link below:

http://www.voicesfromdarfur.org/page/content/voicesfromdarfur

I am going to use this blog post to reflect on the posts that I have done this year. I would have to say that my favorite blog post that I have done this year would have to be the one about Times Square. It was a freewrite that we did in class and then posted on our blogs that I had a lot of fun with. In general, the posts that I like the best are the ones that are freewrites that we can a lot of freedom with.

I think that my writing has gotten a bit better thru the course of the past months this year. As I look back at my first posts, back in september, I have remembered that I was less enthusiastic about writing on the blogs in the begginning of the year. I think that I have gotten a lot better about run on sentences, grammer, and spelling. I also think that when I write now, my sentences flow and connect a lot better than before and I have not been repeating lots of words lately. I believe that I still need to improve on run on sentences. Also, I think I need to work on not repeating words so much. One thing that I know I need to improve on is summarizing. I am really bad at summarizing and I know this because I can never seem to summarize in a short paragraph or sentence. Whenever I have to do a summary, it ends up being longer than the actual writing that I am summarizing. I HATE SUMMARIZING!

Classification: when societies are not of mixed cultures, they tend to be more sensitive and stir up trouble with other societies that are of a different ethnicity, race, religion, or nationality.

Symbolization: Societies tend to label others by their classification. When these labels are with hatred for the the classification, symbols can be forced onto members of the labeled group.

Dehumanization: One society thinks of the people in the society as less than human.  This is when hate propaganda gets out from the people who are dehumanizing the other society.

Organization: the genocide is organized by planning genocidal killings and organizing army  units and militias and preparing them for the killings.

Polarization: Hate groups put out propaganda to intimidate the target.

Identification: Victims are singled out and separated by ethnicity or religion,lists are made of who to be killed and the targets are confined.

Extermination: Mass killing starts and sometimes the government sponsors the genocide and armed forces and malitias do the killing.

Denial: Killers try to cover up for what they did and hide the evidence by digging up mass graves or burning the bodies of the ones that were killed.  They deny that they ever did anything and blame it on the victims.

During class, 2 students from a local high school came to talk to us about the conflict in Darfur.  They also talked to us and took questions on the subject while showing a powerpoint presentation.  Following are a few things that they told us about the topic.  They told us that there is a history of violence in Darfur and have been 2 civil wars there since 1951.  It is also a region in Sudan, which is the biggest country in the continent of Africa.  They also old us some horrifying statistics: 2.5 million have been displaced from they’re homes,  400 dead, and many raped.  We learned from them that a lot of the rapes have occurred during firewood collection and that the a lot of people in Darfur think that women are not useful to men after having been raped.  Something else that we learned is that the Sudanese government supples the Janjaweed with weapons and attack the people off guard with helicopter, then come in and attack on horseback.  They told us that it is not a religious war because both sides are mostly Muslim and the UN does not plan on an invasion, if they in fact attempt to help with the genocide, they say that it will be a UN collaborative effort.  They also told us that this month marks the 5th  year of the genocide and it is the first ongoing genocide since the US was established.  It marks the 1st time when the UN security council has resolved to have something done and hasn’t actually done anything.  The last fact that I learned that I will tell you is that there is little to no media coverage on the conflict in Darfur and this is very bad because the less people to know about the horrible topic, the less will probably be done.

Fredrick Douglas was an African American man who lived in the 18th century.He is an important American figure because he was involved in trying to give women and people of color just as many rights as white men.  He also served in many important offices by being appointed by many presidents of the 19th century.  For example, he was appointed the DC Recorder of Deeds by President James Garfield.   Douglass also rose from slavery in the south and became the leading African-American voice of the 19th century.  Douglass worked with many known abolitionists.  This included Wendell Phillips and Abbey Kelley.  After the abolishment of slavery at the end of the civil war, he started to turn his attention to the full integration of the African-Americans into political and economic life in the United states.  In addition, he established his own newspaper,  the North Star and a periodical, the Douglass Monthly.