Interview

Being Canadain. It's more than just a citizenship status. It boils down to a few really important elements that everyone values in one way or another.

One of the main traits that seems to appear to everyone is that sense of pride. Of being happy your canadain. No matter who you talk to, immagrant or someone who was born and raised in Canada they speak about Canada with pride, they're proud to call it home. I think that so many people feel this way because when you look at all the great things that we recieve and take for granted.

Another big and commonly shared trait or belief of what it is to be Canadian is is to express your appriciate for what you have been given. Much like that whole sense of pride most Canadain's look at the country and say "whow I really love _____________." It shows that they know Canada is pretty great.

Doing this interview really opened my eyes. I learned that canada has always been a really cool place to live and that a lot of people want to come here becuase it isd just really amazing to be a Canadain and to have such privledges. Overall a really cool assigment that overall opened up my eyes as to what it means to be Canadain. 

Reflecting Me... One Posting Later

Yeah! I survived another unit and am ready to plow onto the second posting. the more I plow on the more i learn about myself. This unit i learned above all that not everything goes your way. There will be projects that you just don't get in on time, projects that just don't turn out the way you want them to. You just have to get over it, move on, and live with it. There's always tommorow, there's always another project.

This unit I also learned how to work with people who are used to doing a totally different thing than you are. Before now I had usually worked with people who liked/didn't mind/ already did things, in a way that was very similar to mine. This was a big change it meant trying a lot of things in new ways and I think I might not have always handled things that well. Amazingly enough though teamwork might be somethign I'm getting good at. Definetly not a strength but something I'm half decent at.

My favorite project this term was probaly our very first one, the individual logo. I liked doing the individual logo because it forced me to reflect on who I was, what was important to me and how that affected the rest of the world. It was challenging because like most of the assigments we didn't get exact instrucions. We had the idea or the outline but that was it. looking back at my humanities logo now I see the weak spots, where I let myself fall into patterns or being comfortable with my routine. I think that sometimes I just need to push myself so that instead of getting a good mark I could get a great mark. That's one of my weakness you know, being happy wiith mediocer.

As the year goes on things that really worry me worry me less and less. And this point I don't even really worry about getting along with new teamates because really absoulutley no one is completly impossible, everyone wants to to get along and make team assigments work. I just have to remeber to keep working a tthings that I'm not good at like, giving up control of an assignemt.

Well that's my big soul searching reflection, hope I didn't bore you too much.

Native North American Contribution Chart- Crowfoot

Contribution	Relation to Canada	Date
Negotiation of Treaty Seven between government and the Siksika tribe.	Gave fur traders rights over first nations that helped them settle the land.	1877
Saving the life of Father Lacombe in a Blackfoot raid. This not only lead to a lifelong friendship with Father Lacombe but also lead to traveling opportunities for him.	Allowed the town of Lacombe to be founded. Father Lacombe also helped convince Crowfoot to agree to more government control.	1865
Vicious warrior going to battle nineteen times  before he was twenty being wounded only six of those.	He refused to fight in the Northwest rebellion in fact he even stated that he would side with the fur traders, helping to prevent the war.	1885

Movie and Book Comparison

In our Humanities 10 class we recently read and studied the classic Fiddler On The Roof. After finishing the book we watched the movie which we felt was an okay but not amazing portrayal of the book.

One of the extreamly noticable diferences was scene four where Lazar asked Tevye for Tzietel's hand in marriage. Instead of happening in the original bar the scene started in Lazar Wolf's home. Tob us it seemed less of a fun drinking atmospher wich subtracted from the film because it downplayed how the Russians and the Jews had a good time together, which in the end downplayed the ability of the Jews and Russians to work together.

Another thing that happened in the book that we really didn't get from the movie was that the book had a far better use of humor. Almost every scene was played up so that at one point or another you laughed. In the movie though a lot of the things that made you laugh so hard in the book weren't  brought forth in a humorus sense, so they didn't even seem funny.

One of the things that was very clear in the book and also came through in the movie was Tevye internal struggle of wanting what's best for his daughters and wanting to keep tradition. In both the moive and the book he struggles to keep the rules of traddition while his daughters fight him to find happiness.

As an overall rating Active Rythym enjoyed the book far more than we enjoyed the movie because it had a better use of humor and a plot line you could follow.

Canadian Identity...

I chose the song "Canada Is" by Micheal Mitchel for my song to represent Canadian Identity. Even though it s a childrens folk song it makes some good points about what it means to have a canadian identity.

Towards the start of the song "We have a voice that is calling, telling all the world we're willing." This uses a rhyme scheme to talk about how we are often willing to enage in battles that are not ours to help out a friend or a neighbour.Being willing to help out our neighbours gives us a reputaion as a carring country and helps to enforce our peace keeper title.

Michel makes a comment about how we nurture our children and then says "for our future's in their hands." This is a use of personification because it makes it sound like the future is an object that you can hold inyour hands. Canada is well known for it's strong education system which nutures the next generation. By working so hard to teach our children useful skills we bring scientist, artists, military leaders and other important figures into the next generation.

In the chourus he also mentions Canada's diverse landscapre. The different geographcial area's make up an important part of Canada's identity becuae many people chose to isit Canada because it has aspects that they have never seen before.

One of the verses mentions that we have peace in our cities and our valleys and we're happy with that. the fact that Canada can be a democratically run society with peace says a lot about the way that we strive to work together and find a balance. Our peace affects the world because it acts as an inspiration and allows us time to help other countries who aren't so lucky.

Current Events

I chose this political cartoon because I feel that it expresses the current  economic situation due to the recession that hit last year. What this cartoon issaying is that it is the regular middle class peolpe that are feeling the strain of the mistakes that large corporations have made even if they didn't do anything wrong.By the large corrporate building simply sitting on top of the houses it implies that the large corporations aren't trying to fix their own problems.

The recession afects the Canadian identity becuase it is costing Canadians job and putting a slump on the buying market. Houses aen't selling, car dealerships are pulling in new figures because o one can afford to be excessive anymore because money is tight.

This cartoon targets large corporations who are getting bailed out by the goverment. it is implying that they do nothing and expect tax payers dollars to keep their companies heads above water.

I agree with the points made by this cartoonist because i think that tax payers are feeling to large of a hit because of the mistakes made by large corporations.

This cartoon is expressing that if we followed Jack Layton's plan to buy only Canadian products to fuel our own economy that we would be missing several of the key ingedients that we use on a day to basis.

I chose this cartoon becuase I felt like it pointed out flaws ina fairly solid plan. It seems like a great economy boosting plan at first but as you take a closer look you relize that all of the flaws that were ignored and sugercoated to make the plan seem better.

This cartoon is an intented stab at Jack Layton and the NDP party saying that their ladership skills are questionable becuase there plans don't work in the best intrestes of all Canadians.

This cartoon affects Canadians becuase it is all about them and how their only allowing Canadian products into their economy then their would be many essential everday iteams that we would not have acess to.

I agreee with this cartoon to a point. I do n ot thing that buying all Canadian iteams would work but  if we have a choice to buy it from Canada or import it we should choose to buy without our own country.

Literary Devices

Dramatic Irony-noun- irony that is grasped by the audince but not the character

• Act One-Scene Four- pg. 39-44- Tevye believes that Lazar wants to buy his new milk cow. Lazar wants to marry Tevye oldest daughter Tzietel.
• Act One- Scene Seven-pg. 71-82- Tevye has made up a dream to convince his wife to let Tzietel marry Motel, the tailor instead of Laar, the butcher. 

Symbolism- [sim-buh-liz-uhm]- noun-when an object is used to represent something greater than itself

• Act Two- Scene Eight-pg.146-Golde is worried about packing her goblets. To her they may represent her and Tevye's marriage. The long way they have come and how they cannot simply leave everything behind.
• Act One- Scene Ten- pg.92- Golde and Tevye give the newlyweds(Motel and Tzietel) goose pillows. By giving them fancy and expensive pillows they are wishing that they be well and wealthy long into their old age.

Metaphor-[met-uh-fawr, -fer]-noun-a literary application used to suggest a resemblance between objects.

• Act One- Prolouge- pg.2- Tevye compares the villagers in Anatevka's challenges to the challenges that a fiddler on the roof faces.
• Act One- Scene Six- pg. 70- Motel is singing about his good fourtune of "landing" Tzietle. he compares himself to a lump of clay

Allegory-[al-uh-gawr-ee, -gohr-ee]- noun, plural- a spiritual representation through concret forms.

• Act One- Scene Seven- Tevye has a "dream" that spirits have come from beyhond the grave to give him the message that his daughter must marry the tailor not the butcher.

Allusion-[uh-loo-zhuhn]-noun- the act of alluding.To pass a casual refrence to literature or history.

• Act One-Scene Two- pg.28-Tevye quotes what Moses says in the good book.
• Act One- Scene Six- pg. 56- Perchik makesa refrence to the bible saying, "Let there be light."

Simile-[sim-uh-lee]- noun- when two things are compared using the words like or as.Personification-[per-son-uh-fi-key-shuhn]-noun- when inanimate objects are given human qualities.

• Act One- Scene Six- pg. 57- Perchik compares Hodel's lack of curisosity to a rusty tool.

Personification-[per-son-uh-fi-key-shuhn]-noun given a non human, human characterists.

• Act One- Scene Nine- pg. 90- the villagers are singing about the groom and bride growing old. they say that the years swiftly flew by impling that they passed all too quick.

Foreshadowing-[fawr-shad-oh, fohr-]- verb- to suggest that something may happen.

• Act One- Scene Two- pg. 25- Avram explains that the Jews have been evicted in a nearby village called Rajanka. There was no warning or indicator either all of a sudden they where just forced to leave.
• Act One- Scene One- pg. 15&16- Hodel and Chava suggest that Tzietle may wissh to make her own match with Mote, the tailor.

Imagery-[im-ij-ree, im-i-juh-ree]- noun, plural- to creat a picture for the audince.

• Act One- Scene Two-pg.222- Tevye is describing the house he would live in if he were a rich man. He tells us about it's stairs, roof and floor.

The wedding ceremony....

When the Russian's interupt Tzietel and Motel's wedding cermony it says a lot about both parties character's. It helps us to better understand the true nature of their relationship.

Even though it apperars that Tevye and the constable appear to be at least civil aquatince  when the Russians attack at the wedding it shows that even if they do get along with the jewish (remeber they warned Tevye the "demonstration" was coming) they still fear the Tzar (their ruler) too much to defy him. If he orders it, they do it. However they did warn Tevye wich shows that they may not be happy with the procedures that their ruler has ordered to be carried out on the jews. Even if they feel that co-exsisting with the Jewish is possible for them, the actions in other villages have made it impossible. This leaves the Russian's in a tight spot, either betray their ruler and in a sense, their country or befriend their neighbour.

When the Russian's first begin their destruction rant Tevye does nothing. As the purge continues he still does nothing. To me this makes him seem like a bit of a coward. He is willing to let the Russian's come in and destroy a very special and monumental important celebration not only in his daughter's life but also in the villagers make-up as a group. They are indroducing two new adults into their social and working group. By Tevye standing by and doing nothing he is proving to the Russian's that they are nore powerful, they dominate him. Has he really come to terms with the fact that he can't fight the constable without fighting the Russian goverment itself? How did he handle that knowledge that he wasn't wanted, that even his friend the constable was willing to punish him for a crime he never commited?

No matter what was going on in Tevye's head at the time, it happened. And it gave us one more piece of the puzzle letting us know who they are and now their execution from the village came to be.

This confrontation proved a really important point to us. The Russian's will do whatever their Tzar orders them to beacuse they are too afraid of him and the Jewish will take it lying down out of fear that they be deported from Russia. It's not a very balanced relationship.

tradition, change and me- venn diagram

  I find that I identify most with Perchik because I value an education and I am always looking to change things and make them better. Both Perchik and I have our eyes open in the sense that we are watching and listen to how others view us and we improve the situation accordingly. We are both also headstrong  in getting others to understand why  our idea has so many pros, even if it is tainted with cons. When Perchik leaves for Kiev to find for what he believes in he expresses a difference between us for he is far braver than I could ever be.

My Identity- Visual

Each little circle represents one of the little pieces of my identity. The blank circle represent the parts of my identity I have left to discover.

My Identity

What is it that makes up who we are. Do people define us by how we look and how we act. How do we define ourself's.

Who we are isn't one big thing a billion little things. Some of them we share with others. For me those are things like the language I speak. I'm really lucky that I've been given oppurtunity's in life to expand my communication skills. Not only do I get to continue to recieve eduction that advances my skills in English but I am also learning French, an oppurtunity that I recieve parshily becuase I live in a bilingual country Being a Canadian is also a part of my identity that I get to share with millions of others. I love living in Canada because it is so beautiful here, with all the fall colors, the mountain's, the ocean's, even the wheat in the praires. I also like living in Canada because we seem to have a pretty decent reputation. I like feeling like part of somethig good.

Style, how I dress, is really important to me as a teenager. My style reflects my colllective identity becuase it definetaly follows trends or what's goingin the fashion world but it also representives my individual aspects because everytime a person puts on an outfit they make it their own.

Another big part of my individual identity is my love of travelling. I want to  travel and experince every culture there is out there. I think that by travelling  and seeing new ways of life you become a more compassionate person. As an individual I really love to dance. I am so glad that dance is a part of me becuase it allows me to tell  you how I'm feeling without me saying a word. It can also allow me to morph into someone else, shed the bad day I had. By dancing I open a whole new piece of myself.

My creativity also effects who I am. It helps me feel motivated to do personal projects. Like dance it too helps me express  how I'm feeling. It allows me to put words into  a card or make a scrapbook reflecting an amazing trip.

A final but really big part of who I am is being raised in the Christian (United) Church. it really was the foundation for all the morals that my parents raised  me on. By believing in God it gives me someone to turn to when things get really rough and no one else can make sense of them. The bible was also a good refrence point for lessons my parents were trying to teach me.

For me my identity's hard. I'm still trying to figure out who I am. What makes me, me. I know what's important to me but are those the major points in my identity? I guess I'll just have to keep growing and remebering to hold Nothing back...

Humanities Logo

My Logo

I wanted this logog to represent being a bigger person and how by letting things go you make a lot of things easier. 

Life so far...

How many of you had story time when you were a little kid. Whether it was with your mom before bed, with your Grandma around a fire or in kidnergarten at circle time. Well gather round children cause it's time for another story. One of my own for a change.

First day of grade 10. I walk in the doors to see this burly ex- football player standing at the front of the class.  My gut dropped like 40 feet. As the day went on I didn't feel any more optomistic. I was terrified I was going to fail Humanites 10. I've never failed anything in my life. EVER! But hey I did promise myself that this year was going to be about change.

But you know what, it got better. Projects started to involve creativity and writting two or my strengths, but they also included group work. And those of you who have worked with me know that I don't always do too hot in a group. I'm kinda bosy and really controlling. Luckily I wound up with an awsome who kept me grounded and still let me play to my strengths. I'm still a little worried though, what if the next time I'm in a group the dynamic dosen't work as well? I think the big reason I don't feel comfortable with assigng others work is becuase I really have a hard time trusting others to do work to the calibar that I strive to acheive.
As our diplotmatic training continues there's even more changes . For example I go from a locker to not having a locker. Thank-you LCHS fire of 2010. I went from viewing our technology as a helpful tool to something that could possible harm our communication skills.

The number one thing that I hope to gain from humanities is the ability to see things from all sides and argue all perspectives. I like to debate or argue so I hope that starts coming up even more in our learning. That's probaly why i really like class disscussions they give me a chance to share my ideas but to get new idea's too.

So there you have it, there's my story. Probaly should have warned you it didn't have any pictures. I hope you enjoyed it. Alright now it's time to move on to our 1st ever diplomatic posting. Well I guess i'll jnust have to remeber to hold Nothing back...

The Unexamined Life.... Introducing ME!

Live in the present, not the future, not the past.

In life we all have to make choices, some big some small. Some of those choices just tell you what ice cream flavor you'll have that night. Some of them determine what career you will have for the rest of your life.Mark Hansen, motivation speaker once said to an audience, 

"Don't wait until everything is just right. It will never be perfect. There will always be challenges, obstacles and less than perfect conditions. So what. Get started now.With each step you take,you will grow stronger and stronger, more and more skilled, more and more self-confident and more and more successful."

 

I always strive to live my life by this quote. I believe that every time you look down and decide not to jump you waste a precious second of your short time here on earth. So many people aren't given chances in life. They don't have the oppurtunity to make the choice because they are being oppresed by some sort of a hardship. Take a second to think what if that was me. What if I coundn't decide to play basketball becuase I was in a whhelchair. Maybe then you would be willing to take more of a chance at life.

We are human and we all live on this earth. We all make mistakes, but what defines us is if we sit in those mistakes and wallow or if we pop back up and try again. You can't wait forever to try again either. the longer you wait the more anxiety you build up and the more dangerous your task seems. New experince develop your character and your charecter is the way others view you.

So next time your scared to leap wondering if it's worth taking a chance just remind yourself... hold Nothing back.

-Phedra