The Curse Of Taguba Reflection

THE CURSE OF TAGUBA:

          In this recent topic of our History Elements, we had to chose a period in time (history related) in which was a particular interest to our group. To had the choice to chose anything that you desired. However, every since I was you I have always enjoyed horror. This comes under films, books and research. Therefore, because the people in my group were also interested in horror we decided to explore the Salem Witch Trials which later became the topic of our film. We were originally thinking about doing our trailer on the life of Lorain and Ed Warren, however, there wasn't much on it related to history. Their lives were all about demons and other spirits as they were exorcists.  They both explored some of the most haunted places on earth as well as concluding their stories. Another reason why we didn't stick with this idea was because it is about a very serious topic in which many people are frightened by. 

Did you enjoy this topic? Why or Why Not?

I really enjoyed this topic, probably a lot more that the other topics that we explored last term. This was because I got to research and create something that I love and that I am very interested in. I also got the chance to work with some nice people who I have never worked with before. This topic also helped me to meet new people who I am great friends with now! My favourite part of this topic was probably filming and then organizing it into a trailer. I loved displaying the clips with crazy effects that you can only really see in horror movies. I also really enjoyed putting the music together for our trailer. Overall, I had a great experience and enjoyed every second of it.

What did you do well in?

I believe that I, as an individual did really well in the production of our movie and the research. I also thought I did quite well in cleaning up the script and adding the last parts to it. As a group we worked terrifically well together and got a lot done. Everyone in our group did really well in bringing in the props that they were assigned to. For an example, bringing in the props and tools for Taguba and finding the clothing for all of us to wear in the making of the trailer. Darcy was exceptionally excellent at being our director and filmer. Antonio was very talented in making our movie poster on Photoshop. I was blown away by the amount of work that he actually did because at the beginning of the topic I was sure that he wasn't going to do any work. We were overall very successful in the making of our

How well did I contribute?

I thought that I contributed very well in this topic. In fact I believe that I did the most work, also with Darcy. I was the main person who put the video together and organised the prezi so that it looked impressive and clear to read. Darcy's main task was to be the director of our trailer and the researcher. However, I did a lot of research as well. Antonio and Chloe did equal amounts of work. However, I thought that they could have done some more work like gathering information for our prezi and cleaning it up so that it would be ready to present. Antonio's main job was to create the movie trailer poster and brainstorm how we would promote our trailer, engaging people to come and see it in theatres. Overall, he worked on the pitch and Chloe worked on collecting appropriate information. Darcy and I did the most work out of everyone. However, everyone did a reasonable amount of work. 

If we were to repeat our task again, what would we change?

I overall believe that there aren't any reasons why we would need to repeat this movie trailer. I think this because I feel that everyone in my group did really well and we all worked really well as a group. We achieved so much and I just think nothing could be more perfect. However, if we were to repeat this task over again for the slightest reasons, I think we could have redone the format of the prezi.

Movie Poster:

This is our movie poster explaining when our movie will come out and where people who are interested in it can find us (facebook, twitter, etc). It provides colours that portray the feelings of witches. 

Overall Course Evaluation

Evaluation:

Hippies to Ho Chi Minh:

This course of History, Film, Food and Fashion has been extremely fun and interesting so far since the Battle Reenactment. After that, the next topic that we picked up on was Hippies to Ho Chi Minh. During this topic we learned about the different protests that took place in the 60s and why people protested. I believe that I learned the most during this topic because I gained more knowledge about important events that happened in my Country that I never knew about. I learned about the shootings in Kent State Ohio where 4 college students were shot by the U.S Army. This is what my Protest music video was on when the time came to produce it. 

Why did you chose the Kent State Shootings for your music video?

I was originally going to produce a music video on Animal Testing as it is a very important type of protest in some parts of the world followed by insane groups (PETA). I was also thinking of producing a protest video on animals of War and what the "purple poppy" is about. However, it was extremely difficult to find any songs related to this type of protest and there also wasn't any research relevant to it. Therefore, I kept researching the top Protest Songs and I came upon a song titled "4 dead in Ohio" and I was really interested about the story behind the song. So, I looked into it and found out that it was an unbelievably important time in history for the United States as it stated why we would kill our own children just after fighting in Vietnam. 

Did you travel to any places?

During the "Hippies to Ho Chi Minh" topic my class and I traveled to a farm in Mui Wo called "Ark Eden" where children like us can go and learn about the lifestyles of people living near the area. We learned about how the houses of natives are slowly being taken down due to the development and construction of new buildings. This act of selfishness, therefore, caused the people living in that area to complain and protest because they want to preserve the nature as much as they can before it's too late. We all got to observe effects leading to infrastructure and the building of modern society, burying the 20th century world. That is why we visited Ark Eden to help preserve the habit around Mui Wo by planting new plants and creating compost for healthy gardening. This truly helped us have a better understanding of why it is worth it to fight for what you want!

Did you Enjoy this topic?

I really did enjoy this part of the course as I learnt so many important points in history that have changed how people see the world as a whole. I also learnt more about my own country and event that were significant in their time. This topic really gave me the chance to research what I am most interested in and I am really proud of what I produced !

Thai Food Cooking Evaluation:

During this next topic our job was to learn about the different cuisines in Hong Kong that might have traveled from long distances to get here a long time ago. We also learnt about the different cultures that immigrated here and made Hong Kong their home 100s of years ago whom also brought their food with them.  We visited the Hong Kong History museum to learn about the history of food here in Hong Kong. We then went to TST in Kowloon to observe the types of food every-day people like to eat and to get ideas for what we were going to cook in our groups. As well as learning about different types of food we also had the chance to try food!

Which Food Cuisine did you chose? 

For our food unit we visited the Hong Kong History Museum which I mentioned previously. When we were there, it had a section and an exhibition about Thais immigrating to Hong Kong. It also had the different types of food that the Thais brought over with them including green, red and yellow curries, fried rice, lettuce wraps, Phat Thai and various types of Spices, fruits and vegetables that are widely used all around Hong Kong.  From that moment onwards my group knew what we were going to cook for our final task. We took some notes for the recipes and decided to cook traditional Green Curry, Lettuce Wraps and tea. On the day when all of the groups presented their cuisines our Green Curry was a big hit as it was everyone's favourite, especially Mr. Rowson!

What was difficult about this topic?

There were many points during this topic that were difficult. A major difficulty that we had was cooking in a matter of 60 mins. We planned to cook the Green Curry and the Lettuce Wraps. However, we only had time to cook the Green Curry and could only get the lettuce with the sauce out on the counter. Next time we will manage our time better and try to work as quick as we can to stay within the time limit. We should also split up more to get more done!

My Protest Song Evaluation

My Protest Song Newscast Evaluation 

Our previous assignment in this History Elements course was to create a protest song in which is related to a topic of protesting. Our job was to write lyrics and perform the song with our acting skills. Wr could wear any type of clothing symbolizing the time of when the event occurred.However, I created a video, involving a newscast that I directed as well as describing a song related to the event that I chose. I chose the song “Ohio” by Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young. I played this song throughout the video, as well as showing a live audio version of them performing in Toronto, Canada. 

The event that I chose was the Kent State, Ohio, University Shootings that took place in 1970. The students were protesting about their feelings of the Vietnam war and were very angry at what president Richard Nixon told them. He had told the American people that the American Army needed to expand. This, therefore, meant that young soldiers from all over America were needed to be drafted. Once the American Army heard about these protests at the school, the Ohio National Guards Men were called in to disperse the students. However, the guards men ended up shooting 4 students as well as leaving 9 other severely injured. I made the video as if it was during the time of when the event of the Kent State Shootings actually took place.

In this unit, I thought I did exceptionally well as I managed my time wisely and ended up finished with the video leaving myself with 3 full class times free. I really enjoyed this topic, but would it particularly challenging as it took me a long time to find an event that interested me. I searched so many different protest songs, from the top protest songs of the century to the top 45 protest songs that changed America. It also took me a long time to find raw footage of the event because there weren’t many people on that day who had their camera ready to take photos if something happened. However, I did have many advantages of picking this topic as there was a Pulitzer Prize winning photo that I used two times in my video because of how engaging and inspiring it is. This special and rare photo shows a girl named “Mary Veechio” as she stood screaming over the dead body of a former student “Jeffery Miller.” 

Before I picked the Kent State, Ohio shootings as my protesting topic, I was thinking on doing my video on Animal Testings or Animals of war. However, I couldn’t find any songs that could help me. I also knew that if I created this video by just making a song of my own I knew that I would fail and wouldn’t be able to create a video the best of my ability. I was going to pick a topic related to animals because that is what I love and I am very interested in it. Therefore, I didn’t want to pick something such as “The March on Washington” because I am not as interested in it compared to animals. However, in the end I found something that was both sad, shocking and interesting. 

Tutor Time Review of Learning Style

Elements Courses:

In this tutor-time lesson, Mr. Sims is going over our elements courses with us to see if we made the right decision and if we are a risk taker or not. I have picked my History Elements Course to review because I feel that it can be boring at time and sometimes I wonder if I should have picked another course. I have learned how to be reflective and risk taking as there are some points in the lesson where I think I enrolled myself in the wrong elements course. However, I don't want to leave because I am going to stick through it and do my best to get the best results that I can.

If I were to go back in a time to repeat one lesson of my Elements Course then I would want to repeat and travel back to the very first lesson. I want to go back to this lesson because we had to participate in an activity called "Just One Minute." And in that game we had to prepare information to speak in front of the class for as long as you can in a matter of 1 minute. I didn't do very well on this game as I was very nervous about the fact of speaking in front of a whole class of students. Therefore, I would like to travel back to this moment to try speaking in front of the class now that I have had more practice in speaking to a large crowd of people. I would also speak to people more about there ideas and to prepare.

The Montgomery Bus Boycott-Rosa Parks

Who Was Rosa Parks?

Rosa Parks is known to all as the woman who stood up for herself and the many blacks around her. She was an African American Civil Rights Activist, who was often called "The First lady of Civil Rights" because of what she did to start the Civil Rights Movement. On December 1st, 1955, in Montgomery, Alabama, Rosa Parks got onto a bus and refused to obey the white bus driver's (James F. Blake) order to give up her seat to a standing white person in the coloured section of the bus after the white section was filled. This situation that happened that day was called bus segregation and Rosa Parks wasn't the only person in history to resist this kind of segregation. However, Parks was the most famous person to have done this because she was the best candidate for seeing through a court challenge after her arrest from disobeying the bus driver and violating the Alabama laws.

What Rosa Parks did in 1955 led to many protests an the Montgomery Bus Boycott which was a very important symbol of the Civil Rights Movement. Rosa Parks also became a worldwide icon for the resistance of racial Segregation.  Rosa Parks also organized and collaborated with many other Civil Rights Activists including Edgar Nixon and Martin Luther King who was also a very important mark in time for the Civil Rights Movement. 

This is the exact bus that Rosa Parks boarded on December 1st. The number of the bus was 2857. It was an old looking GM Transit Bus. That bus is now in the Henry Ford museum.

The Montgomery Laws

In 1900, Montgomery, Alabama had passed some new laws, that whites could only vote for, to separate the bus seats according to race. Drivers were told to assign seats for the whites and the coloured. This was very unfair and unjust because the whites always got the nicer seats and pretty much everything was nicer for them. On the other hand, the coloured had to sit at the very back and there were only a small amount. Therefore, many african americans had to also stand whenever the bus was crowded or sit on the same seat as someone who got a seat. If the bus was really crowded and there were some whites standing, the African Americans that were sitting had to give up there seats to the whites. 

The first 4 rows of the buses in Montgomery were reserved for the whites only. The seats that were reserved for the blacks were usually at the back of the bus, even though the blacks often compromised more than 75% of the passengers in the bus.  Black people were allowed to sit in the middle rows until the white only seats were filled. African Americans' couldn't sit in any if the aisle seats or in any seats that were in the same row as the whites.

What was the Montgomery Bus Boycott Incident?

The Montgomery Bus Boycott incident was one of the most remarkable events to ever happen in American history. It was also a very important mark in the Civil Rights era from 1955-1968. It was a political and social protest campaign against the racial segregation problems on the public transit systems of Montgomery, Alabama. The Montgomery Bus Boycott incident lasted from December 1st 1955, when Rosa Parks was first arrested to 1956, when Browder V. Gayle, took effect and led the United States Supreme Court to make the Montgomery laws requiring the segregated buses to be unconstitutional.

On Sunday, December 4th, 1955, plans for the Montgomery Bus Boycott protest were raised and announced at black churches in the area. It was also on a front page article in the Montgomery Advertising company to attract people and to get their attention. The very next day Rosa Parks was pressed on charges of disorderly Conduct and violating the Montgomery laws. This trial only lasted 30 minutes because she was found guilty and was fined $10, plus $4 in court costs.

On the same day of Rosa Park's trial, 35,000 leaflets were distributed throughout the whole state of Alabama for everyone to read. This quote briefly describes what the leaflets said:

"We are...asking every Negro to stay off the buses Monday in protest of the arrest and trial ... You can afford to stay out of school for one day. If you work, take a cab, or walk. But please, children and grown-ups, don't ride the bus at all on Monday. Please stay off the buses Monday."

When the blacks heard of this, from then on, they rode in carpools, while other african americans traveled in black-operated cars that charged the same fare as the bus, which was 10¢. Other blacks, which consisted of 40,000 blacks walked, some walked as far as 20 miles. As more of the blacks walked instead of taking the bus, this therefore threw the bus companies out of business as they weren't getting enough money since the blacks started walking. On Monday night, 50 African American leaders of the community gathered together to discuss the actions of Rosa Parks and her arrest. Edgar Nixon who was the president of the NAACP, said "Oh my God, look what segregation has put  in my hands!"

I got some of my notes here from these links:

1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Montgomery_Bus_Boycott
2. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosa_Parks#cite_note-time100-27

My Protest- Women's Rights in India

Women’s Rights-A Problem: In all the countries in the world, not all the women have the same basic rights that many of us own. In some places around the world these rights are supported by law, local customs and behavior, whereas in other places the rights of women are ignored or suppressed. The roles of women in the United States of America during the 20th Century underwent many changes. Over a period of 20 years women went from having no voting or civil rights to being a Presidential Candidate and Secretary of States including Hilary Clinton. However, these rights didn’t come as quickly for other classes of women. Rights came fastest to women in the Middle class and slower in the Lower Class which mostly consisted of various minorities from all over America. These minorities mainly included African American’s, Chinese Americans and the American Indians.

 Throughout my research into this topic of Women’s Rights, I came across a news article about an event that happened in India over the past month. The event that happened was that 4 men were convicted for rape in Delhi. What happened in Delhi shows how little women are respected and how their rights are ignored. A 23 year old woman was brutally assaulted by these 4 men on a bus and then died 2 weeks later. Her death led to huge protests across India with a wave of anger. The women who were apart of these protests were standing up for their rights. Before the poor lady died 2 weeks after the attack she was able to give evidence against her attackers from her hospital bed. "We are happy with the conviction. Now we expect the judge to sentence all of them to death," the victim's father told Indian media after the verdict.

Protests of Hong Kong

There have been many protests in Hong Kong recently. Here are some of the few protests that have caught a lot of attention:

• The Income Gap Protest
• Equality
• Helper's rights act
• Controversial Graffiti Incident in 2010
• National Education Movement (teachers, students and parents)- This kind of protest is mostly about China 
• The British Flag-being Anti- Beijing
• Beijing involvement in Hong Kong Government.
• Resignation (Beijing)
• Dock Workers-P.R Domestic Workers
• Occupy Movement (Professor Benny Tai).

These are just a few of the many protests that have been going on in Hong Kong over the past year or so.

This is a picture of the Dock Workers Protest that happened before the summer holidays this year.