I wish I had an E-Mail....

Dear Mother and Father,

I have sent you this letter to inform you that I will be leaving the community and never coming back. Please don't be alarmed, for the rest of the letter will tell you more about the cause of my disappearance. My recent training with the Giver has been extremely hard to take in. You may have wondered why I was so quiet at the dinner table; of why I hardly made any conversation during our little gatherings at the end of the day. It was because of what I have learn't over the year. See, training with the Giver has brought me to realize that our world is cruel, merciless and heartless, and that it is full of harsh mistakes. Really harsh mistakes. I found it extremely hard to believe, even though everything that the giver gives is the truth. Being in our community, has made me believe that the world was always safe, that it was never surrounded by such heartless and cold blooded killers; never surrounded by hate or violence. But training with the Giver has exposed me to such. It just hurt thinking about it. I mean, how could I have told you? I just couldn't! And that was it, I confess. That was the reason why I was so quiet during our little talks during dinner time. I feel ashamed to lie towards my own dear mother and father. And for that, I'm truly sorry. I beg for your forgiveness. However, I did receive private training, training that was not to be told towards anyone else, and I couldn't deny that. But then I saw it. I saw the one thing that changed my life. I saw what had happened to that poor little twin. Yes father, I saw what you did. Do not try to deny it.

That's why I left. I couldn't stand such horror, I couldn't stand that you....you murdered him!

I will not stay in this community any longer. These are my last words, I wish you and mother a very happy life. Please don't take my precision of language to seriously, for I will say this last thing. I love you.

Your's truely,

Jonas.

"There could be love"....HOW CORNY. What else? There could be chocolate??

Although, I may not be the smartest person on earth, but in my opinion I think that the theme of freedom is more thoroughly shown in the opening scenes of chapter 16. How I know this? Simple. As mentioned on the opening scene's of the book (Page 121-124), it explained how Jonas went through a variety of different types of memories that each had there very own taste of freedom in it. For example, "In one ecstatic memory, he had ridden a gleaming brown horse across a field that smelt of damp grass" Page 122. When reading through this, I had a somewhat good idea on how Jonas has experienced freedom for a brief moment.

This is because Jonas is riding a horse in the middle of a field. Unlike our community, the people who control Jonas's community wouldn't really allow such behavior within there vicinities. This is because actions like this could lead to conflict or accident by A) Someone else want's to ride on the horse, or B) Jonas could somehow fall of the horse and break his arm into little bits and pieces (Ow). Overall, I would say that Jonas has experienced freedom for a brief moment by riding a horse in the middle of a brown field (Sounds a bit awkward in a way). This however, is the sort behavior that the community elders don't want to have. After all, the community is inherited with "sameness".

Other examples, include the scene on page 122-126. The scene in this part of the chapter shows Jonas experience another memory that was based on the celebration of Christmas Eve. Like mentioned on page 122-124, "He was in a room filled with people, and it was warmth, with a firelight glowing on a hearth. He could see through a window that outside it was night, and snowing. There were colored lights: Red and green and Yellow, twinkling from a tree which was, oddly, inside the room. On a table, lighted candles stood in a polished golden holder and cast a soft, flickering glow. He could smell things cooking, and he heard soft laughter. A golden-haired dog lay sleeping on the floor. On the floor there were packages wrapped in brightly colored paper and tied with gleaming ribbons. As Jonas watched, a small child began to pick up the packages and pass them around the room: to other children, to adults who were obviously parents, and to an older, quiet couple, man and woman, who sat smiling together on a couch".

Reading this, I realized that this could be another example of how Jonas experienced freedom for the first time. Though, this scene didn't really carry on until the next page

When Jonas learns all about colors, he claims "it isn't fair that nothing has color". Why does he say this?

In my opinion, I think the reason why Jonas says this is mainly because this is first time he has experienced this. For example, I remember when I was a kid, when I went to some playground or theme park and had to leave, I felt that I still wanted to stay longer. This is somewhat similar to how Jonas felt, because since this was the first time he experienced this, he doesn't want it to stop. It's just like saying; Jonas has the habit of seeing the color of red.

Another reason why Jonas claims that it isn't fair to not have color, is because of the fact that he may already be getting sick and tired of the original colors of there world. It's just like how when you eat one type of cereal for a very long time, and then you get sick and tired of eating it, and then when you eat another type of cereal that seems more tastier, but instead you're not allowed to eat it.

Also, as mentioned on page 97, " 'But I want them!' Jonas said angrily. 'It isn't fair that nothing has color!' 'Not fair?' The giver looked at Jonas curiously. 'Explain what you mean' 'Well.....' Jonas had to stop and think it through. 'If everythings the same, then there aren't any choices! I want to wake up in the morning and decide things! A blue tunic, or a red one?' ". In this statement, it proves that Jonas just wants make choices by himself and that's pretty much what he actually mean't by "It isn't fair to not have color".

THA GIVA! (The giver)

I've recently been given a book about a 12 year old boy who lives in a society where everything is just perfect, The food supply, the water supply, the fashion, the education-- or to be more precise, pretty much everything is PERFECT. Even the jobs are perfect. So when Jonas celebrates " The Ceremony of 12"; the process of which a child is then turned into an adult-- he is forced to be enrolled as a receiver. A job from which you would have to receive the memories from THA GIVA!!!! (The Giver).

Q: Would you want your future to be decided by others? Why? Why not?

I think that I would want my future decided by myself and not anyone else. This is mainly because I find that everyone deserves the chance to make there own personal choices rather then other people making it. For example, if we were to pick whether to eat a pizza, and whether to eat a grain of rice, which would you pick? The average person would obviously pick a pizza (unless they were lactose intolerance), but what if someone were to make the choice for you, and they; without a doubt, chose the grain of rice for you. Unfair? Exactly. Though, not everything is unfair within the aspects of the community-- you're actually mean't to work for your job. For example, in the book; The Giver, you were mean't to help the area from which you wanted to work with, in order to gain that specific job, or else you would be enrolled into something you're unfamiliar with and/or not interested in. That's why everything inside the society is all controlled....you're not given any choices-- or any undo's.

Which leads me to my second point: FREEDOM!! Reading the book, I noticed that people were not given any choices of what to do, and what not to do. For example, in page 55, the book more thoroughly explained the concept of how Asher; Jonas's best friend in the community, had problems at speaking English when he was only 3 years old. It explained a scene from which Asher was waiting in-line at the canteen, waiting for a snack. Now if you've read this book-- you would know that if you don't speak correctly or in the right manner, you would be beaten with some weird stick thingy. Well, that was exactly what happened to Asher. It wasn't really that necessary to have beaten Asher with a stick, because it was just a tiny error and mistake. But like I said before, it was a controlled society.

Overall, I would say that freedom is rather important to our society, as it contributes many things to us like how we aren't living under strict supervision every minute of the day, and also how we aren't mean't to do certain things that aren't really that necessary to rule against. It is something that we can hardly live with all our lives, as it makes the human race whole. Not to mention, how is being in a controlled society good? It doesn't exactly make us a whole lot happy, I mean, how is being put inside some random job a nice thing? It's just like being put into some random family (Which is also another rule people must obey-- Being paired up into some random family....*Shudders*).

King Khufu.... the pyramid builder-- pyramids are cakes...aren't they?

This is just one of Masterpieces....


1. Why do you think the ancient Egyptian pharaohs create monuments?

It depends on what type of monument they're building. Let's say they're building a pyramid for example. Some ancient Egyptian pharaohs built pyramids to house there tombs when they've died. Take king Khufu for example. King Khufu; or Cheops, is known as the Pyramid builder. Mainly because he built the great pyramid at Giza in which his tomb is located. Though, some Pharaohs commanded others to build Statues in honor of themselves. A famous ancient Egyptian monument called the Mortuary temple was built by yet again, the famous pyramid builder also known as King Khufu. This monument was specifically built to hold a series of festivals including the Sed festival, and the white hippopotamus festival.

2. What monuments in our society are similar? (be sure to provide explanations and graphics).[Image]A monument in our society that is similar to the monuments in our society would be the Luxor hotel in Las Vegas. At a height of 30 stories, the Luxor hotel is the second biggest hotel, from which the MGM grand hotel is the biggest. As seen in the picture, the hotel has a sort of Pyramidal shape that stands at an impressive 350 ft. Though, comparing this to the great pyramid at Giza in Egypt, which is 450 ft, the Luxor hotel is like a pebble compared to that.

3. How did the using Google docs as the main portal for collaboration help you with this assignment? The using of Google docs helped me in many ways. Ways such as how me and my partner, Olle could work on the same thing using separate computers. It was also very useful because whenever Olle forgot a little piece of information essential to our project, I could have just got on to Google docs myself and type it up. That way, if we lose anything, we can just rely on our partner to help us out.

4. What did you learn from this assignment?I learned many things about King Khufu. Though, one of the most fascinating things that I've learned is the famous monuments that he's built. One of them however, is actually part of the seven wonders of the ancient world!! Though some of his monuments include the 3 queens pyramids just linked right next to the great pyramid at Giza. Just like King Khufu's tomb inside the great pyramid, the 3 queens pyramids were specifically built to house the tombs of the Queens from which King Khufu ruled Egypt with. Another famous monument built for king Khufu was the "Solar Boat". The solar boat was created to transport King Khufu's "Ra" (Which means soul" to heaven when he would die.

5. What was challenging?In my opinion, I think that the most challenging part of this assignment was when we tried recording our voices for the I-Movie part of the project. This was because me and my partner Olle couldn't find a suitable place to sit down and record because the entire school was very noisy. After walking around the middle school corridors for the fifty billionth time, me and Olle finally decided to record at some picnic tables with my good friend Alex Yusof. This also was very challenging because my friend Alex also had to record, and me and Olle couldn't record whenever their was noise around, so we had to problem solve in order to fix this problem.

6. Which school-wide learning results were evident in this assignment?One of the school-wide learning results that were evident to this assignment was "Collaborate Constructively". This was because me and Olle had to do a lot co-operation within this project. Mainly because me and Olle had to gather some research so that we could create an I-Movie and that took-- lets say....two days? We also had to create a script that tells the audience about King Khufu and figure out what transitions we should put in between the slides.

LINKZZZ
"File:Luxor Hotel.jpg." Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Web. 09 Feb. 2011. .

King Khufu the pyramid builder, wait..isn't a pyramid a type of cake?

This is just one of my masterpieces....

Why do you think the ancient Egyptian pharaohs create monuments?

It depends on what type of monument they're building. Let's say they're building a pyramid for example. Some ancient Egyptian pharaohs built pyramids to house there tombs when they've died. Take king Khufu for example. King Khufu; or Cheops, is known as the Pyramid builder. Mainly because he built the great pyramid at Giza in which his tomb is located. Though, some Pharaohs commanded others to build Statues in honor of themselves. A famous ancient Egyptian monument called the Mortuary temple was built by yet again, the famous pyramid builder also known as King Khufu. This monument was specifically built to hold a series of festivals including the Sed festival, and the white hippopotamus festival.

What monuments in our society are similar? (be sure to provide explanations and graphics).

A monument in our society that is similar to the monuments in our society would be the Luxor hotel in Las Vegas. At a height of 30 stories, the Luxor hotel is the second biggest hotel, from which the MGM grand hotel is the biggest. As seen in the picture, the hotel has a sort of Pyramidal shape that stands at an impressive 350 ft. Though, comparing this to the great pyramid at Giza in Egypt, which is 450 ft, the Luxor hotel is like a pebble compared to that.

3. How did the using Google docs as the main portal for collaboration help you with this assignment?

The using of Google docs helped me in many ways. Ways such as how me and my partner, Olle could work on the same thing using separate computers. It was also very useful because whenever Olle forgot a little piece of information essential to our project, I could have just got on to Google docs myself and type it up. That way, if we lose anything, we can just rely on our partner to help us out.

4. What did you learn from this assignment?

I learned many things about King Khufu. Though, one of the most fascinating things that I've learned is the famous monuments that he's built. One of them however, is actually part of the seven wonders of the ancient world!! Though some of his monuments include the 3 queens pyramids just linked right next to the great pyramid at Giza. Just like King Khufu's tomb inside the great pyramid, the 3 queens pyramids were specifically built to house the tombs of the Queens from which King Khufu ruled Egypt with. Another famous monument built for king Khufu was the "Solar Boat". The solar boat was created to transport King Khufu's "Ra" (Which means soul" to heaven when he would die.

5. What was challenging?

In my opinion, I think that the most challenging part of this assignment was when we tried recording our voices for the I-Movie part of the project. This was because me and my partner Olle couldn't find a suitable place to sit down and record because the entire school was very noisy. After walking around the middle school corridors for the fifty billionth time, me and Olle finally decided to record at some picnic tables with my good friend Alex Yusof. This also was very challenging because my friend Alex also had to record, and me and Olle couldn't record whenever their was noise around, so we had to problem solve in order to fix this problem.

6. Which school-wide learning results were evident in this assignment?

One of the school-wide learning results that were evident to this assignment was "Collaborate Constructively". This was because me and Olle had to do a lot co-operation within this project. Mainly because me and Olle had to gather some research so that we could create an I-Movie and that took-- lets say....two days? We also had to create a script that tells the audience about King Khufu and figure out what transitions we should put in between the slides.

LINKZZZ
"File:Luxor Hotel.jpg." Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Web. 09 Feb. 2011. .

City Connections reflection...

What do you believe you did well on you're project?

I believe that the Historical factors displayed in my slideshow were the best part about it. I say this because it really shows how Houston started of; from 6,642 acres of land to a large enough city with one of the best education systems in the world. I also chose the Historical factors because it shows how Houston was first established into an actual city, as mentioned in the slide, it says that the incorporation of Houston began at 1837 from which James .S. Holman was declared as it's first Mayor.

What would you do to improve for future presentations/projects?

In my opinion, I think that a good way to improve for future presentations, would be to maybe add a little bit more information in my environmental factors slide. This is because I feel that 2 bullet points wouldn't be enough for an A+ presentation. So in the future, a good solution to help solve this problem would be to maybe manage my time wisely during projects like this because I may have to do a little bit more research if was to add more info in my slides.

What did you learn from you're preparation (for your presentation) in addition to the presentations of others?

I think that I've managed to learn a wide variety of things from myself, and from all the people in my class. During the first phases of my research, I was able to gather a large amount of information that made me have this exact thought at the back of my head: "I've never new THAT before". I also think that what I've learnt from other people's presentations made me seem a little bit more interested in their country then I was before. For example, one of my classmates, Alex, did a presentation about Kuala Lumpur. I wasn't really that keen of Kuala Lumpur at first, but after Alex showed the class his presentation, I was blown away by all the things that he told me. For example, one of Alex's slides mentioned something about how the mountains here can block off the harsh typhoon winds.

What is your analysis of your performance?

I think that the analysis of of my performance is a bit in the middle because, I can't say that I did EXTREMELY good, nor can I say that I did extremely bad. In my opinion, I think that the information I've put into my slides are adequate enough to give me a good and efficient grade that would meet my expectations, but I could still improve upon it in the nearer future. Maybe, the next time I try doing a slide show presentation, I can look back to my older presentations and think: "I have the chance to improve now", and probably use that as my motivation to make a better, and stronger presentation that would deserve an A+.

Sources:

http://abkldesigns.com/city1.html&imgurl=http://abkldesigns.com/skyln7.gif&ei=LBRFTeeHN4KHrAfE6tX1Dw&zoom=1&w=373&h=254&iact=hc&oei=LBRFTeeHN4KHrAfE6tX1Dw&esq=1&page=1&tbnh=161&tbnw=238&start=0&ndsp=9&ved=1t:429,r:6,s:0