Smiiley

Chinese Women’s Progress Stalls on Many Fronts

If you are a women, would you stand up for your own rights? If you are a men, would you support women’s rights? The article I read was Chinese Women’s Progress Stalls on Many Fronts, by Didi Kirsten Tatlow. This article is about women in China who have been fighting for their right. Although they stood up for themselves and protested, but they become heavily monitored by the government and physically attacked in their own community.

In the article, it is obvious that there are people who don’t approve women rights. I think an important message that the article is telling us is everything is all based on our own spirit. Protesting for your own rights, doesn’t matter how other harasses you or give you a hard time, it’s your faith that will keep you moving forward. As a female, I felt very proud, Mrs. Liu have became a campaigner who seizes women rights from a little factory worker. She have been stating her strong opinions toward women’s rights, being in the same ethnic group as her, I think this really matters to all of us. How can we be looking at the news, commenting on her actions, while we don’t even try?

I noticed that Mrs. Liu as an individual does not have enough power to fight over women’s rights, and that’s is our responsible as a community, because it is our community we all have to contribute before we receive. Mrs. Liu have showed her opinions, stood up for herself, she made a good start. But will she be able to succeed and earn respect for every single women in China? If you don’t think she is capable, that is when we all need to step in and let our voice to be heard. The same applies to everything, because we need to work as a whole to make the world better.

BP Oil Spill Aftermath: Eyeless Shrimp, Clawless Crabs and Fish with Oozing Sores

After reading the article, BP Oil Spill Aftermath: Eyeless Shrimp, Clawless Crabs and Fish with Oozing Sores, by Casey Chan I was surprised and worried. I noticed that the fishes are deformed and had serious deformities such as having tumors in their head, eyeless fish, or crabs that are dying. In order to clean up oil spill they use dispersants, which harms human beings, it can also affect growth. I was pretty shocked that the whole cycle of oil spill is harmful, and how it impacts our environment and us negatively.

Do the company still sell the deformed seafood to the customers? I was wondering about it while reading, I thought people might get sick because of the deformed seafood. What if people got sick and doctors couldn’t find out the reason? If that is actually happening, I hope this will be a good message to carry to the companies, and maybe this problem should come to an end. Not only the companies, but this is a message for us as well. This is our environment, so we should be involved and take care of it. How can we farm and grow crops when our environment is damaged, and how will we live without food? Therefore, I think the author have brought up a great point where we should start caring about our environment, and shouldn’t damage our environment by our regardless acts.

I think BP company should take responsibility of this situation, no matter the fish are safe now or not than before, they did cause this problem. Fish were caught with deformities, BP might not notice, but maybe this problem have caused more of a damage to the environment than they think. As the article states, “According to various fishermen, brown shrimp catch has dropped by two-thirds, white shrimp have been wiped out and some fishermen’s seafood catch are ten percent of what they normally are.” this clearly shows how serious the consequence of the BP oil spill, it’s over half the seafood are wiped out. I’m worried about what have been happening lately, I hope people will be more aware of the problem, because a good environments will provide all of us a better living.

Dhaka Slum Dwellers Live Under Threat of Eviction

What if you are evicted from your own house? In the article, Dhaka Slum Dwellers Live Under Threat of Eviction by Syed Zain Al-Mahmood,  I noticed slum dwellers were forced to move out of their own house. The government demolished their homes without providing them another shelter and ordered the slum to get out; the government even reclaimed the land more then what they have announced. The slum dwellers have been living in open and with lacking supplies for days. Can you imagine living with the remnants of your homes?

In humanities, we are learning about human rights, I feel concerned with this issue since the government didn’t show any bit of respect nor did they offer these people the rights to decide whether or not to move out from their homes. Even though they are slum dwellers, they are only a group of people who tries hard to live. As Mofizul Islams stated, “We are not criminals, but people working hard to earn a living and provide for our families,” I think it’s true, it doesn’t matter whether you are poor or rich, have education or not; they are just trying hard to live and raise their kids to support their family. I think no one should look down on them or deprive their opportunity and spirit to live through each day. Personally, I disagree with the forced eviction by the government, but I think this eviction can be illegal and legal from different perspectives. From the government’s perspective, this eviction will be legal, because for them, slum dwellers are just wasting land without bringing any profits to the country. So, they want to remove these structures to build other buildings that would benefit the government. Though, from the slum dwellers and human law perspective, this eviction is illegal, since in the modern world, humans are mostly equal, I believe the slum dwellers have the rights to defend themselves and their homes.

However, I think children will have a positive impact from this situation, no matter children around the world or who have endured this. I’m sure the children will see the reality of the world, how society is unfair and how we still need to live when we face a challenge. If I were a slum dweller, I think I will feel strong hatred towards the world, and the hatred will make me want to live until I have the ability to protest and go against the government; though, it sounds immature but I think that it is just a true, and raw feeling if I really were involved in the situation. As a member of the community, I think we really need to be attentive to the group of people who are in poverty. People like us, who are lucky enough to live with plenty of supplies, should speak out and sustain them for a better living. Maybe we aren’t billionaires who can absolutely change their lives and provide them infinity of supplies, but how do you feel when you’re in school while some other children are begging for food? Overall, I think we should pay more attention to the world, and be willing to help others.

Free Write 4….Disappointment

“Sorry!” I cried loudly with my entire body. I felt a needle thorn into my heart, everything in me have transferred into pain that is unable to be released.  I hate being disappointed. There was once when my friend and I bullied our classmates, we poured disgusting sauce in her shoes. “Did you do anything to her?” my mom questioned curiously. “No, why would I do anything?” I lied with fear. After, her parents came to my house and had a long, thrilling talk with my parents and I. I see tears that filled my mothers eyes, I see disappointments that filled my parents heart. That night, I couldn’t put up my head and speak properly, because all I felt was the merciless disappointment that landed on me. At that moment, the world was pitch black for me, it was hopeless and absolutely no one had the ability to arrest the evil disappointment who decided to live in my heart. “Sorry!” I cried again, that was the only word I said and the only word I can say. 

In South Sudan, Girls Are Given Away to Settle Family Feuds

Did you know little girls are compensations for the mistakes that a male family member makes in Sudan? I felt so fortunate, yet sad for the children that were traded to other families, after reading the article, In South Sudan, Girls Are Given Away to Settle Family Feuds, by Tom Rhodes. In my opinion, the reason why this situation still survives in their culture is because the concept of men being equal to women isn’t well known in Sudan; maybe Sudan is just at a initial developing point of their country and their opinions. Since they still think women are in a lower social class than men, they simply trade females to solve the conflicts between other families. Even though they might think women are unequal to men, in human law, if you did anything wrong, it’s your responsibility to suffer the consequences. It doesn’t matter if you’re a man or woman, because when someone else pays back for what you did, you won’t learn from your mistakes, and you will not be able to improve as a person. Therefore, you won’t ever understand how your crime or mistake has caused your family members a cruel life, and abuse they have gone through.

“Amos Gudo, an elder chief who presides over a traditional court in an Eastern Equatoria village called Kiyala, says the practice of giving away girls must continue, as a way of solving conflicts between community members.” states the article. I strongly disagree with his opinion, because in his point of view, I don’t think he ever cared about the victims feelings. How would Atia, the girl who was traded feel, if she hears this? Why does an innocent girl have to pay back for whatever her brother did? Handing over a family member might be a possible solution to solve conflicts between the two families, but if crime continues happening, how many victims will there need to be? Amos Gudo should certainly stand in a victim’s point of view to view this situation, or else I believe female population will decrease due to the amount of suicides of girls, and the families in the village might protest over his words.

Throughout the article, I think their culture plays a big role in what they are doing, and their culture will definitely need to change in order to solve this problem. If their idea of men having more rights than women alters, this situation may be dispelled because they would start to think that women are not supposed to clean up the trash than men throw. In order to change their ideas, a leader will be required, the leader needs to convince them of how this is unfair treatment for women, and why they should stop this from going on. After knowing Atia and Igitu’s story, I would love to spread this idea over and help them; I also hope that Victor Bulla, who is a staff of the women’s group will definitely put her words into action, and give help the ones who need it.

Letters: Anti-government groups aren’t above the law

After reading the article, Letters: Anti-government groups aren’t above the law by Jay Pasachoff, I noticed racism is still happening. Like how Trayvon Martin who got shot since he was black. Why does skin color and ethnicity matter so much? I’ve been seriously thinking about this problem , and recalled how I was racist over Koreans and orphans. Though, I don’t know why I was like that, it’s just like a natural wall between people, I don’t find any specific reasons why a group of people will look down upon others, but it just happens. Since there is no specific reason, we should avoid this happening; and to allow everyone to feel their quality of living in the community.

In order to stop racism, we should start changing ourselves. I would start looking at myself; from now on if there is someone who has a different ethnicity than me, different skin color, or any major differences between us, I will accept them. Not only to accept,  but we have to respect them too. We should respect everyone’s appearances, cultures, and opinions. There are so many countries in the world, if there is no respect between each nation, racism will always exist. Maybe we can’t change the world as a whole, but we should start changing from ourselves, then as a family, as a community, on and on. Therefore, I believe racism will be changed and hopefully there won’t be another Trayvon Martin.

Reflection of Declaration

According to my writing, I believe my strengths are the supporting details that made me want to write this declaration. I think I made it clear with the reasons of why we should declare independence, like why I think the subjects we study now don’t really benefit to us, since it’s just a fulfillment for parents, which makes them happy. A problem I’ve encountered in the writing is I don’t express my ideas fully or completely. I stated all the reasons, but if I can list all examples for each statement and opinion, my idea will be even more focused, the audience will most likely agree, and be convinced.

I came up with the ideas just by what I have experienced through school life, what I heard from others, and simply found the problems that occurs between teacher, parents and students. Such as, I’m forced to study by my parents, if I learned 10 things, 7 things are what my parents want, and only 3 things I learned are for my own good. I think we should learn something that will benefit to us, because it’s our life. Why will help my future just by getting a higher score than others? If I could start this assignment over, I’ll provide specific examples to each supporting detail, it’ll make my ideas stronger and a clearer view for the audience. Overall, I would like to share my own experiences I had, such as fights I had with my parents, arguing over the importance of grades.

4th Quarter Goals

My goal for the fourth quarter is to raise my grade for Humanities and Spanish. Since my weak subjects are science and algebra, I’ve been working hard on those two for the past three quarters and didn’t put full effort in Humanities and Spanish. I thought I will be able to achieve good grades easily on those subjects, but apparently I still need to put efforts as much as I did in algebra and science. So my goal is to reach A- in Spanish and A in Humanities.

I will try to achieve my goal by editing my article of the week or any paragraphs written in class. I should be aware of any small activities we do in class, or else it’ll really bring my grade down and lose one extra practice I could have had.

Declaration of Independence

     When in Course of  the Human events, it becomes necessary for us, students to raise the quality of living, and to assume power among ourselves. Due to the unfair treatment, we will declare our independence from school and parents, to allow the world to know what we’ve been through, and a decent respect will be given back.

     For years we’ve been waiting until we earn freedom from school and parents. To all appearances, we’ve been showing our opinions towards what we disagree but nothing seems to be altered. However, we suffered under circumstances within unequal treatments, we believe we deserve independence to control our lives, and to earn success that truly reflects our passionate learning. We are equal humans, a difference in age doesn’t mean our freedom and independence should be deprived because everyone have their rights to pursue their own dreams, so we have no reason to follow the track adults gave us.

Our declaration is directed towards teachers and parents, we want to untie the tightened ropes and to seek our freedom.

- They gave us too much tests to stress us out, yet we learn nothing.
In algebra and science we often have quizzes and tests. Sometimes, they are squeezed together in a few days, or must be finished before the semester, therefore, we rush through them. After they are finished, we just forget about it.

- They put pressure on us about our grades, and force us to accomplish things we don’t like.
Parents expect us to have good grades, they give us high expectations of uus for every subject. They want us to get a good grade in every single subject, but sometimes we just want to relax a bit in certain subjects.

- We are forced to study for their fulfillments, instead of benefiting ourselves.
Parents and teachers force us in school subjects and other academies that we don’t want to learn, but still they force us to learn to fulfill their vanity, not because we want to learn.

- We receive a lack of rest time as a result of their assignments.
For break, we aren’t given enough time to rest between classes. Also, during weekends there are a bunch of works to do besides homework, so we get extremely exhausted and a very high level of stress.

We have suffered through the mistreatment, we clarified our opinions but nothing seems to be valued and our complaints seemed to be ignored. Until now, our complaints have not been paid attention to, so we decided to detach ourselves from school, escape out of the parents and teachers shadow and become independent.

We, therefore, the Representatives of all students, will like to inform the world to declare our independence of justice. From now on, we give ourselves the right and freedom among our actions and decisions. For the sacrifices of our declaration, we are willing to pledge anything necessary towards this cause.

Found Poem

Patriots, I shall speak for,
no fear of giving offense,
no fear of suffering painful truth.

Our inestimable anguish,
brethren,
remonstrate not prostrate.

We wish for freedom,
capable to desire,
arduous to get.

Strengthen our irresolute,
we must fight,
liberty or death.