Outside Reading #5: An Ordinary Man

This week in my reading of An Ordinary Man by Paul Rusesabagina the experiences that Paul went through from the 1994 genocide were described in great devastating detail. The president of Rwanda did not care that his people were killing each other. People were getting "brain washed" and sucked into being a soldier. Rusesabagina expresses, "'Do your work.' It made killing sound like a responsibility. Like it was the normal thing to do"(Rusesabagina 82). Messages would go over the radio saying things like "'Clean your neighborhood of brush. Cut the tall trees'"(Rusesabagina 82). This referred to the Tutsis that were commonly know to be taller, hence the tree metaphor, and the sympathizers who were portrayed as the brush, around helping the trees. People everywhere were being murdered, even by their close friends that they saw every day. Even UN officers stopped escorting people because it was not safe. People were so influenced by fear that they did crazy things that they would never have done if they were not under these circumstances. People changed. Where have I seen people changing in a negative way? The first thing that comes to mind is when soldiers form Iraq come home with post traumatic stress disorder. They change and become different people just because of their environment that they were living in over seas. This is not necessarily the same type of change as people had to face in Rwanda, and most definitely not to the same extent at all. But still the fears and chaos of war almost always makes an impact in one way or another. The 1994 genocide in Rwanda was a terrible time in Rwandan history. It was scary, confusing and just plain out of complete control. I wish our society could help to prevent war and to help all the people involved.

Outside reading #4: An Ordinary Man

This week in An Ordinary Man by Paul Rusesabagina I found a connection with population, and numbers. "Kigali itself held about 350,000 people a the time-a city about the size of Minneapolis, Minnesota-and the strain on the infrastructure was very great"(Rusesabagina 68). This just shows how many people really were effected by this genocide. 800,000 Rwandans were slaughtered. Over double the population of Minneapolis was killed; but to add to it, it is completely unimaginable how many people were affected by this terrible genocide. People's whole families were ripped apart and their neighbors quickly became enemies. Rwandans knew that this was going to happen for a while, but it didn't add up to anyone until it was too late. Rusesabagina expresses that no one even made a protest against these horrible events. Fear won in that time and nobody spoke up. This was a terribly scary time for citizens of Rwanda and the not even the government was helping them. The government was simply turning their citizens against one another, ending in a confusing mess of anger.

Numerology Story: 4

The quartet of quadruplets were the fourth best in the nation.
However, 4 people were riding quadrilateral quadcycles and feel.
They sadly became quadriplegic.
Doctors tried to cure them by giving them 4 doses of carbon tetraoxide.
But, this did not help the quadriplegics.
The quartet came to visit the quadriplegics and it made them feel very happy.

An Ordinary Man Outside reading #3

This week in An Ordinary Man by Paul Rusesabagina we learn about a new rule that came into play in the Rwandan culture before the 1994 genocide. All citizens were expected to wear a pin with the president's portrait on it. Again, Paul is a hotel manager and is seen by many important people daily. He chose not to wear the pin and people got very mad. "'You are not wearing your portrait of the president,' he told me"(Rusesabagina 56). This is a great example of standing up for what you believe in and not advertising something if you do not agree with its view on things. A connection to this in everyday life could be a proud American wearing something like Canada socks. This American might not want to move to Canada, but they just got the socks form a friend. However, a Canadian might see this American and think he doesn't like America, or likes Canada better. In An Ordinary Man Paul simply just did not want to be viewed as someone who agrees with his government at that time. He did not want to support the government because I believe that he thought it was wrong. This is an important lesson and people should always remember to show what they support, but keep away what they do not agree with. Although, just like all ideas that are important, people should not take this idea to extremes. For example, if you don't like the color green I do not think it is right to yell at everyone wearing green. Important lessons are shared all throughout this book, and I highly recommend reading it.

Number Poem

Eight cold October nights there were eight beautiful octuplets born
On October 8,1888 the eighth of the octuplets were born
One of the eight octuplets formed a beautiful octet in their octagon shaped school
Another formed a group of eight octopus, swimming in the shape of figure eights
One of the eight was a great inventor and founded the octacycle,
Which found its way into the top eight best inventions
Each group of eight was most definitely great!

Outside Read Blog #2: April 29th

In a section of my reading this week from An Ordinary Man by Paul Rusesabagina they explained a new radio station that went on the air on August 8, 1993. This radio station was called Radio-Television Libre des Mille Collines. It was very influential and everyone listened to it. They described it as the radio of the side walk because you always heard it throughout the village. This reminds me of my own life because the radio is very influential to listeners and can tell a lot about a person by the radio station that they listen to. For instance, if you listen to 98.5KTIS you are most likely a Christian who enjoys a variety of Christian music. The music influences you because something that you heard on the radio might effect a decision you make during the day. This was very true during the genocide in Rwanda. They would send messages over the radio telling stories to persuade people that they should dislike the Tutsis. For example this was a story that they shared in the book as a typical broadcast: "Jeanne is a sixth-form teacher at Muramba in Muyaga commune. Jeanne is not doing good things in this school. Indeed, it has been noted that she's the cause of the bad atmosphere in the classes she teaches. She urges her students to hate the Hutus. These children spend the entire day at that, and it corrupts their minds. We hereby warn this woman named Jeanne, and indeed, the people of Muyaga, who are well known for their courage, should warn her. She is a security threat for the commune"(Rusesabagina 52). Stories like these caused people to grow tension between Hutus and Tutsis. These never ending stories influenced the people of Rwanda daily and contributed to the 1994 genocide.

Spontaneous Word Poem

By the tree my eye sees 3 cows
The smell of vinegar fills the air and music from the church books fly by my hair
in my hair binder.
My dog smells sweet from the bath me and my sister gave her
My shirt does not
It is dirty from a long walk in my sunglasses breathing deeply
I skipped to the Oprah Winfrey show
My mother drove and my brother ran.
We heard her talk, laugh, giggle and sing
Then we jumped on home for the family meeting.

An Ordinary Man Outside Reading: Blog #1

I am reading An Ordinary Man by Paul Rusensabagina. The author was the hotel manager of the well known Hotel Rwanda. This book gives a better understanding of what happened and what is behind the genocide. On page 21 he mentions the Berlin Conference of 1885. I was very excited when I saw this because that is just what we were studying in my World History class the day I read those pages. "Representatives from Austria-Hungary, Denmark, France, Great Britain, Spain, the United States, Portugal, Holland, Sweden, and Norway met to sort out the conflicting claims their agents had made to vast pieces of real estate in Africa"(Rusensabagina 21). This was not a good time for Africans. Their land was being invaded by unfamiliar cultures and the new boundaries made no sense. "Rwanda fared well in some ways-at least, better than most of our neighbors. The borders shaved some corners form the rugged area claimed by the mwami, but we retained a certain amount of territorial integrity"(Rusensabagina 21-22). Rwanda was considered lucky compared to other African countries that had to go through the effects of the Berlin Conference. It is unimaginable to me of how much fear I would have if a country from another continent suddenly started taking over my continent and there was nothing I would be able to do about it but see what happens. The connection to the Berlin Conference in my book came to me as a pleasant surprise. This book is great and very interesting; I highly recommend it as an outside reading choice.

Spring Poem

So much of spring depends

Upon

Crunching Leaves

Browned from the long winters cold

The smell of wet earth and budding trees present in the air

Each leaf beside one another like a mosaique of the new season.

Outside Reading: Overcoming the odds

I read an article about how Kanye West overcame an extreme obsticle in his life. Just two years before he had his Grammy winning albums he was the victim of a devistating car accident. He hit an SUV and he recieved many injuries from that. He feel asleep at the wheel and the next thing he know, his jaw had broken in three different places and his face crushed against the stearing wheel. Accidents like this happen suprisingly quite frequently, however not all of them end in the same way. As most people know, he is an extremely successful and popular R&B/Rap singer. He was extremely motivated to get through this tough patch of his life, and a paid off in a huge way. He once passed Oprah in his car and told her the was going to be on her show, and sure enough that happened. Kanye West learned so much from this expirience and he would not have overcame the odds if he were not so persistent, and passionate for his music. Kanye says he trys to be greatful for every moment of his life because it was almost taken away in the blink of an eye.

Kashmir Conflict Info Resource

Ahmad, Mukhtar. "Killing Sparks Protest in Kashmir". CNN,com/asia. 23 March 2009 . http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/asiapcf/03/19/kashmir.protests/index.html?iref=newssearch

Kashmir Conflict Multi-Flow

Singh, Aarti Tikoo. "'It Is Never Over, Never Escaped'". NEWSWEEK 21 January 2009: 20.

"Who is involved?". Washington Post. 19 March 2009.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/world/kashmir/front.html.

Kashmir Conflict Multi-Flow

Work Cited:

Singh, Aarti Tikoo. "'It Is Never Over, Never Escaped'". NEWSWEEK 21 January 2009: 20.

Outside Reading: Love

Love can come in many different forms but I found an article on a love between two birds. It was mainly a series of pictures that illustrated the dedication they had for one another, and the sadness that death brought to the other. The first image shows one bird seeing the other one lying in the street, extremely injured. Then it shows the other bird trying to help by getting food for the other bird to try to take care of the injured bird. Finally, it shows how the bird realizes that the other one is dead, so the bird stays by its' side and screamed in sadness, ending in just an image of the bird, silent in mourning over the other bird. This story symbolizes love because of how much the one bird cared for the other one so much. Even though the other one had finally died, the bird did not leave its side while it was injured and dying. It also showed how it cared because it was screaming in mourning for the other bird, clearly showing that it cared. Love can come in unexpected forms, but when it is observed, it is always comforting to see.

http://www.myinterestingfiles.com/2008/10/a-true-love-story-of-a-bird.html

Outside Reading: War and Kashmir conflict

Everyone knows that with war comes loss. In Kashmir it seems like there has been a never-ending war between primarily India and Pakistan. China has been involved also but; for the most part, this brutal war is between India and Pakistan. I read a story of just one person, similar to many of this area that have struggled with the outcomes of war in Kashmir and all the conflict and loss that has come with it. This man, Abdul Rehman Bani, had his two oldest of his three sons taken away in the middle of the night by Indian troops. They told him that the boys would be home that night. Two days later, only one came home alive. The other son had died and Bani believes that they used his sons as "human shields" Bani explained. This war in Kashmir is very tragic, as is any war. “‘We feel that if one brother in a family is killed by the security forces,' he said, 'the other brother will take up the gun for revenge'."(Bilal Ahmed Bhat) This is how this war has gone on for as long as it has; "unless Kashmir finally gets the peace it has been promised for so long"(Bilal Ahmed Bhat) People are getting caught up in different military groups to seek revenge. Revenge is a never ending cycle and someone needs to break that pattern through forgiveness to finally achieve peace.

Watson, Paul. "Civilians Find Little Refuge in Kashmir". Los Angeles Times (Los Angeles, CA) 29 March 2004: 1-3.

Outside Reading: Physical Abuse

I read an article on a recent case of physical abuse in the public media. This article was on the new controversy between Chris Brown and long time girlfriend, pop sensation, and Grammy winner Rihanna. I write this article in support of domestic violence awareness month. Chris Brown and Rihanna had plans to perform together for the 55th annual Grammy Award Ceremony. Unfortunately, they did not make it to the event because of the former attack upon Rihanna by Brown just hours before they were supposed to perform for the award ceremony. This just shows how abuse can happen to anyone and we need to be aware of it and get help immediately for people of abuse suspicions. This happens all around the world and seems to be overlooked by many, for various reasons. Yet, one should know that this is a real global issue that needs to be observed.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,489885,00.html

Outside Reading: Holidays

I read an article on Ash Wednesday. This is a holiday starting Lent in the Christian religion. Lent is a 40 day period in time leading to Easter, when Jesus rose from the dead. People usually give up something as a sacrifice that is keeping them away from their relationship with God. This helps people remember the sacrifice that Jesus paid for all sins. In a typical Ash Wednesday service you get ashes in the shape of a cross put on your forehead with the words "ashes to ashes, dust to dust" said, to remind people that we start as ashes and end as dust. Three days before Easter is Good Friday which is the day that Jesus was crucified. People may get confused with the whole Easter bunny aspect of the holiday. This has nothing to do with the religious part of the holiday, it is probably just some marketing technique to get people to buy cute little candy bunnies and share them with family as a gift. The bunnies and colored eggs are just a fun way to celebrate the holiday.

Vocab: Cassava

Outside Reading: Bollywood

I read an article on Bollywood and the effects it is having on America lately. As everyone knows, Slumdog Millionaire won an extremely impressive 8 Oscars out of 9 nominations. This article raised the question of how these super successful movies affect America's film industry. In class I watched the film Bride and Prejudice for our India Bollywood unit. Although, this movie is not actually a Bollywood movie according to Bollywood "standards" and as I read on through this article I learned that Slumdog is also not considered a true Bollywood film. On the other hand, both of these films do incorporate Bollywood like features such as bright colors, lively dances, and what I thought was most important, getting the whole "package" or your money's worth out of the movie. When you look back, Bollywood has always been very successful in America every once in a while and I hope to see them come out with another great film some time soon.

http://www.cnn.com/2009/SHOWBIZ/Movies/02/23/bollywood.hollywood/index.html?iref=newssearch

Outside reading #8 : Culture

Today I did a reading on the culture of the deaf community, or deaf culture. It talks about the views hearing people have on this culture. One view is that they are impaired by not hearing and they are not "normal". Another view is that they just have their own culture and share common interests with everyone. They have their own language of sign language. If you think about it, we do not think say someone speaking Spanish is impaired because they do not speak English. Of course they can not hear, but there are many ways to get around that and do the same things as anyone else would do. They share sign language with other people in that culture, the only difference is that they are not majorly centralized in one place like other cultures. In other words, they do not originate from one place. However, there are many similarities that people of that culture share. Common obstacles they need to cross and common views from a judgmental society. You get to chose how you want to view the deaf culture. Do you see them as impaired from their "abnormality" or do you see them as just another common culture?

http://www.signmedia.com/info/adc.htm

Outside reading: Religion/Spirituality/Belief/non-belief

I read an article on the mission that World Vision has for the world. World Vision is a Christian organization trying to help people in need all around the world. Their Vision statement is this,

"Our vision for every child, life in all its fullness;

Our prayer for every heart, the will to make it so."

This organization has sponsored children which is a way to help people in need pay for what they need such as food, school, and clothes. They take donations and you can give gifts to people in impoverish areas such as giving a goat, bed, bike, cow and other helpful gifts to enrich these people's lives. Also, they have mission trips available. In fact, my mom and brother have gone on two mission trips to Uganda, Africa through World Vision. World Vision does all of this because of their belief in the Christian Religion and it is so helpful to people all around the world.

http://www.worldvision.org/content.nsf/about/our-mission

Outside reading: Gender and Gender Roles

I read an article on gender roles and how people thought they should be. There was a survey that many people took to get the statistics for the article. It also talked about where gender roles came from. One view they had on that issue was on how they were raised, or how their parents used gender roles to raise a family. They also said how the male and female brain is different and how men and women are smarter in certain subjects. For instance, women are often stronger in language in the left side of the brain. In this survey they asked people their opinions and I was suprised on how many people, both men and women, wanted gender roles to be like they were "before". How I took this was when men were the bread winners and women did all the domestic help around the house work. Although some people want that to be the way our society runs, I do not think that people who want jobs outside of their "gender role" should be limited to do so. Yes, men and women are common in their own ways but not everyone has the same aspirations and are good at the same things, thank goodness. If that was true, it would be surprising how much did not get done. Society gave us gender roles it is our choice to use them how we think they should get done.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/national/longterm/gender/gender22a.htm

Outside Reading: Culture different from my own

There are many cultures that live in different ways than I do. When I think about this topic a culture that seems fairly different from my life would be the life of a celebrity. In the spirit of the 51st Annual Grammy Ceremony airing tonight I read a short article on the Location of the Ceremony. It is in the Staples Center and was first performed there in 1999. I remember, at a very young age thinking that I did not want to be a celebrity. I simply thought it was unappealing that everyone would know everything about me. I wanted a more private life for myself. Of course, probably not thinking of all the luxury and riches that came with that life style. Still today I am extremely thankful for the culture that I live in. It is simply fitful for me, and if I were a celebrity I probably would not fell that I was in the right place. Everyone has a culture that they belong to. Each culture has their pros and cons, but are usually just right for the people in them.
http://www.foxnews.com/wires/2008May21/0,4670,GrammyAwards,00.html

Outside Reading: Facing a difficulty

I read an article about Michael Phelps and his recent struggles while off track from his normal schedule. Phelps did extremely well in the 2008 Summer Olympics swimming for the U.S.A. However; as many might know, Phelps got caught smoking marijuana and now has to face the consequences. He is getting a lot of criticism from fans and sponsors and feel like he has let them down. But, the biggest difficulty he feels he has to face is the disappointment in himself. He knows it was a stupid thing to do and he guarantees that it will not happen again. On the other hand; as stated in the article, this is not the first time Phelps has struggled with substance abuse. Unfortunately after the Athens Olympics he was caught drinking while driving. When he is not on his swimming schedule he seems to not have any guide lines at all. His family and friends are supporting him and helping him carry out the right path for this extremely talented man. Phelps has learned who his true friends are during this hard time and I think that can be true during any difficult time. It seems the true friends are there for your benefit but the bad friends some how drift away from your side and are just another critic of your life. Everyone faces difficulty at some time or another, it is important to learn from those times and move on.
http://www.kare11.com/sports/sports_article.aspx?storyid=538721&catid=24

Outside Reading: Natural Disaster

I read a text on Avalanches. I learned how they form, what they are doing while they are occurring and how to try to get out of harm if a victim of this terrifying natural disaster. I learned that there are many opportunities to know that an avalanche will happen. Knowing this now made me realize how important it is to inform and educate oneself. As I thought about it, this is true in many instances. Some situations that would include this important way of living could be striving for a higher education. In today's economy, being in demand for a job can be a tricky thing. If you have in impressive education background you might look more appealing to a possible future employer. Also, something else that I learned from this article was how to get out of an avalanche successfully. There were many steps but near the end, the article states the probability of getting out alive related to how long it would take. In a nut shell, the faster it took to get out, the more probable it was that you would live. In some situations this also can be related to being unemployed in the sense that the longer it takes to get a job, the more debt you get buried into. This is why it is so important to inform yourselves to get through life as smoothly as possible. Most people think that natural disasters just happen, and there is nothing we can do about it. This may be true in some cases but there is always something to do that can change an awful, out of control situation for the better.
http://environment.nationalgeographic.com/environment/natural-disasters/avalanche-profile.html

outside reading

I read an article about a 6-year-old boy who went missing from his St. Cloud school for a few hours. This young boy's name is Caedyn and his mom, Bridget Menden got very nervous when she had no idea where her son was. She called the police to look for him and they were successful. They found him walking along the high way without any hat or gloves about one mile away from the school. One of Caedyn's friends was trying to be helpful by telling Bridget that he walked home, but Bridget told the boy that they do not even live in St. Cloud. The superintendent says,

"Caedyn went into a hall with other students to get ready to go home. When they returned to class, he walked outside."
When Bridget heard this she was just frustrated that no one had noticed he was gone earlier, or said anything about his absence. This must have been a very scary experience but in the end, it ended well.

outside reading

This week i read an article from fox news about a very creative ice fisherman. This man's name is Dave Novak and he has been seen ice fishing on Lake Julia, or should I say his fish house has been seen on Lake Julia. He has constructed a 60 pound fish house that is portable. He simply lifts it up from the inside to move from ice hole to hole without having to collapse and rebuild his fish house. It is fairly small with the dimensions of 42 inches wide by 60 inches long. There is a convenient window in the front so he can see where he is going. There is just enough room for a small heater a himself, and two buckets to hold his fish and fish gear.

"He says he's gotten some weird looks, as people see his fish house moving across the lake. But Novak says the only disadvantage is that the more fish you catch, the heavier the house gets to carry."

Even though some people may think this is unusual, if it works for him, then that is all that matters.

Outside reading

I recently read an article on a tricky dilemma facing some Wisconsin people in Green Bay right now. There were a few people who were standing on the ice outside on the lake when suddenly something quite terrifying happened. The ice broke off from the ice leading to shore and the people were stranded. The water must have been much too cold to swim to shore in. Although I sure do wonder how close they were because the chances of surviving from swimming to shore are much higher than staying on the little piece of ice they were standing on. To put this in perspective this is not just like two people on a chunk of floating ice, there were about a dozen people on the chunk. Which brings me to my next question of how large the chunk of ice is because that could make their, I think personally odd decision seem more sane. For instance if there was like a crack in half the lake or something then I would probably stay on too, but a dozen people is a lot. People do odd things in scary situations and this is a good example of one.

Every year for nineteen years now people do a crazy thing to bring in the new year. They register to jump into the freezing water of lake Minnetonka commonly know as the annual polar plunge. This year originally three-hundred and eighty-eight people registered to do this insanely cold jump. Later, after others wanted to join the fun it turned out that nine-hundred and eight people made this jump just for fun. They said people from all over the world came to experience this frigid event. For instance, people for Canada, England, Iran, and Jamaica all came in addition to the locals. There was also a cub scout pack that learned that their assistant cub master was diagnosed with cancer so they made the plunge to raise money to help support his family in this worrisome time. I do not fully understand why so many people did this but I guess it would be pretty cool to just be able to say that you did.

Outside reading

I read an article on a house burning. The Kramer family of Minnetonka was happily on vacation out of state over the holidays when they came home to an unsettling sight. Their house had burned down when they were out of town. They know that the fire had for sure started in the location of their laundry room area. Although, they are unsure why it erupted and how. Also, they have a feeling that, whatever it was that started the terrible fire had been lingering for a long while before that actual intense outbreak of fire engulfing their house in flames. The fire department attended the scene just in time to protect the other houses from any harm by creating a burier around the house to keep the harmful smoke and flames away form the neighboring houses. "The house was completely gutted and considered a total loss."
This is how the author of the article described this awful situation that the family has to deal with right at the end of all the holidays.