Author: Susie

My personal response to Brave New World:

Reading the novel Brave New World by Aldus Huxley was… an experience. I didn’t know how to feel about it when I first started reading it, but by the end, I was grateful to have read this strange, confusing, and eye-opening novel. After finishing the last chapter, I reflected on the novel, and I became sad; I realized how similar this Brave New World is to our current world. You wouldn’t think our world has anything in common with this Brave New World, but unfortunately it does.

Keeping up with the latest trends is a huge part of our society. If you don’t have the coolest clothes, newest iPhone and know all the latest slang; it’s hard to be popular or connect with your peers. This was also something I noticed in Brave New World, how the scientists were so eager to mass produce children and move on from the “traditional” ways of reproducing. When I read how they “reproduce”, I was in shock and immediately thought of my opinion; it is unethical. They probably didn’t think of or care about how ethical it was, they were just so excited to use the new, “shiny” technology. Similarly, to how on our social media there are trends that are either unkind or even dangerous.

You would think that in a Brave New World, everyone would be treated equally, there would be gender equality, and equal opportunity for all. Unfortunately, that is not the case. Just like our society, they have social classes/castes. Women were talked about as if they were a prize, and even though the lower casts (Epsilons) were trained to enjoy their jobs such as a garbage man or toilet cleaner, they are still treated as less. I even connected it to how we’ve become almost immune to the fact that there are still people with no food, clean water, and no roof over their heads. It was eye opening and an unfortunate reminder of so.

Lastly, due to the fact that they were all twins and thought to think a certain way, there was no individuality. For example, Bernard, he was different, he was shorter and less attractive than other Alphas. He was made fun of for it too; people even made jokes about how he was poisoned with alcohol as a fetus. Following that passage, I made a connection to our society; due to social media, tv shows and movies, we are taught to act, dress and think a certain way, which also creates no individuality. If we are less attractive, too smart, or slightly overweight, we also get made fun of.

I was saddened by all the similarities our world had to the Brave New World. Of course, we haven’t started mass producing children in factories, who all act and look the same, but we don’t have to; social media is doing that for us. It was shocking to reflect on the similarities but I’m glad I’ve read this novel. It gave me a chance to reflect on what part I play in our society and how I want to change it, for the better.

My mission – PW6

In a world full of hate,

I do what I can to show love.

Yet for some reason I get judged,

Or feel like I don’t belong.

I’ve read through every chapter,

I pray every day.

I know You’re always there,

For my family, friends, and me.

I knew living this life wouldn’t be easy,

With all the stress, hardship, and temptation.

But God, why is it so hard,

To live Your way to liberation?

I guess this is me,

Crying out loud,

Stating I’m imperfect,

I’m not proud.

I’ll do better,

I promise.

It’s just so hard,

If I’m being honest.

My people in the past have done wrong,

Used Your name in vain,

They’ve made people suffer,

A great deal of pain.

This is me trying to live,

The life that you have given.

Setting Your story straight,

I’m making that my mission.

IRJE 6 – Money can’t buy you happiness:

The book Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte follows the story of Jane. She lives with her cruel, wealthy, abusive, Aunt Reed and goes to Lowood school where she has to battle its grim conditions. Bessie is a servant at her aunt’s house who provides her with one of the few kindnesses she receives. She eventually falls in love with Mr. Rochester (her employer) but has to deal with his marriage to another woman, Bertha. Her conditions are simply not ideal.                                                                    The passage that I have chosen comes from chapter 3 where Jane states that she would never live with poor relatives, even if she had any and even if they were loving. This is because her wealthy family, the Reeds, have taught her that living in poverty is immoral and unpleasant. From this point on it takes Jane some time to realize that just because someone is wealthy, doesn’t make them any less degraded than poorer people.

Poverty looks grim to grown people; still more so to children: they have not much idea of industrious, working, respectable poverty; they think of the world only as connected with ragged clothes, scanty food, fireless grates, rude manners, and debasing vices: poverty for me was synonymous with degradation. (P. 63)

I chose this passage because it reminded me of something; that money can’t buy you happiness. In the world which we currently live, people are so focused on what brand of shoes you wear, how big your house is and where you go on summer vacation (those are just a few examples). If someone has money, it doesn’t make them any kinder than someone who is poor. It doesn’t make them perfect or any less broken, rude, or messed up. It doesn’t mean their life is easier, yes, they won’t have monetary struggles but that doesn’t mean happiness. If we only do live once, why spend our time trying to make all that money if it doesn’t bring us happiness? Why not just focus on spending time enjoying the world we’re in and the people we are surrounded by? Once we have a big house, the fanciest car, coolest shoes and have everything we could ever want; what’s next?

Don’t worry guys this is just how I cope – personal writing 5:

My cat is dead,

Yes, indeed that’s what I said.

So young and agile,

She was my child.

Now she’s gone.

All gone.

Heart beating,

Heart stops.

Tears running down, screaming aloud.

Up she gets,

No longer dead.

My dad rushes home,

His crying daughter,

Lying on the floor,

Cuddling her cat.

A few minutes pass,

She climbs up to say goodbye,

Off to the vet…

She dies.

Waking up,

Praying it’s a dream.

I have to get through another day,

No nothing happened,

I’m okay,

First loss I’ve experienced…

But hey! that’s life,

I’ll get over it,

She was just a cat…

Just a dang cat,

But that’s not all that she was.

She was a roommate,

A child,

Special,

Sometimes a bit wild.

Anyways, back to reality,

Life is so precious,

So, I guess that’s all she’ll ever be;

A precious life that was lived.

The not so perfect utopia – BNW ¶

The dystopian fiction novel Brave New World by Aldous Huxley is about this imperfect, “perfect world”. Humans are artificially made and there is minimal diversity in the sense that there is no individuality because many people are the exact same. In a world like that, I could never live.
In chapter 3, Bernard witnesses two men; Henry Foster and the Assistant Predestinator, having a conversation about Lienna, who he is interested in, as if she was a meal, or something to devour;

“Lenina Crowne?” said Henry Foster, echoing the Assistant Predestinator’s question as he zipped up his trousers. “Oh, she’s a splendid girl. Wonderfully pneumatic. I’m surprised you haven’t had her.”

“I can’t think how it is I haven’t,” said the Assistant Predestinator. “I certainly will. At the first opportunity. (P. 37)

From where he was, Bernard Marx overheard what they were saying and was shocked. I was also in shock; how could someone speak of a person like that? Although in this world sex was a part of their identity and pride, it was still upsetting. When Henry said “I’m surprised you haven’t had her“, that is like saying “I’m surprised you haven’t tried Bin4 yet”. She is a human (not food), like them, and they spoke very rudely and arrogantly about her. Regardless of sex being prideful, it was very disrespectful and would not be something she’d like to hear for herself. Huxley definitely made this perfect, ideal, utopian society, seem perfectly imperfect.

Chapter 5 of Outsmart your brain by Willingham:

Chapter five of Willingham’s Outsmart your brain is titled How to read difficult books. Although he doesn’t give a straight up answer “this is how to read a difficult book”, he does give some useful tips and advice. He started the chapter off by stating how teachers are willing to give us textbooks that go very in depth in a subject even if it is boring or doesn’t always help us. Teachers may think it would help us, giving us a long, in-depth explanation, but as many people say; “Quality over quantity”. Willingham also explains how most readers are less likely to notice if two sentences contradict each other, rather they notice a word they don’t understand. This can be caused by not understanding what individual sentences have in common with each other; it’s one thing to understand what an individual sentence means, but if you can’t understand the big picture, that’s when it becomes a problem.

A tip or piece of advice Willingham gives us is to not highlight the “important stuff” while reading, but rather take notes, unless you are already familiar with the subject. By doing so, we can memorize faster and have a better understanding of the main idea. If we simply highlight what we deem important or significant, we will most likely miss something important, or not be highlighting the important information. He says by finding a reading tool that works for us will also help us read difficult books. For example; the KWL tool, thinking of something you KNOW, something you WANT to know/learn, and something you’ve learned. This tool works best for me because it helps me organize my thoughts well and can help me summarize what I know or what I’ve learned.

The last tip he gave us that I thought was important, was to make sure we create time every day for reading. Not just to read 15 minutes anytime of the day, but at a time when we have the right mindset to read and absorb information. Of course, there will be times where we will have other priorities, but we have to remember that there’s no such thing as speed reading; aka skimming for the “important stuff”. If you do miss your scheduled reading time, don’t just go to a website with a summary in the place of reading the text; instead find the time another day. Learning aids/summaries of texts will not make your understanding better because it won’t have all the information you need; it will be whatever that writer thought was important, not your thoughts.

Unfamiliar yet very inviting – part one of my poem about my South African journey:

It all started with a long journey to an unfamiliar place,

Yet it felt like home.

Although its seemed sketchy, I had a smiling face,

because I didn’t feel alone.

Hot and sunny,

Beautiful and bright,

The mall was busy,

But not too tight.

Good night’s sleep is needed to recover,

After all that drifting,

I get under cover,

And I start to dream.

Food was amazing,

My mouth was watering,

Biltong, droewors,

Lots of candy.

A red bus is what we used to see,

The beautiful Cape town city.

Lots of flowers, lots of trees,

Many new faces on magazines.

Monkeys climbed,

Even on me!

But they weren’t scary,

They didn’t even bite.

Meeting people…

I never knew existed,

But they felt like family,

Almost like sisters.

Going to school,

I embraced my inner “Matie”,

Only to learn,

So did many in my family.

That first week ,

All new and exciting,

Unfamiliar,

Yet very inviting.

Some girls do – IRJE#5:

The novel Some Girls Do by Jennifer Dugan is a story of two complete opposites. They start off as enemies and end up in love. Ruby is a “rough around the edges”, car loving, padgent girl; whereas Morgan, an aspiring track star, just got kicked out of her catholic school for being gay. They work on a school project together and from there, they slowly become inseparable.

Ruby’s mom has had her do pageants since she was a little girl because it was her own dream but Ruby really doesn’t care about doing them anymore. When she tells her mom she won’t compete anymore, her mom gets really mad. Then she continues to come out to her mom…

“But.. I’m also not just talking about pageants.”

“What then?”

“You know what I’m talking about, you even know who I’m talking about…”

“Get out of my kitchen!” She stands up so fast her chair tips over.

“Mom-“

“Get out of my sight right now, Ruby.” (p.297)

This conversation was an unfortunate reminder that many, many people still get unaccepting responses when coming out. Many from their own parents and family, who is supposed to love them unconditionally.

Fortunately, Ruby was just a fictional character, but she represented so much more.

Ideally perfect; but great will have to do – my utopia:

Utopia. A perfect society. A world with no problems where everyone is happy, no death, no hunger, no worries.But for me, a utopia is an ideal world, where nothing is perfect so great will have to do. My ideal world is a place where we all belong, no racism, homophobia, or narcissism. A place with many beaches and beautiful views, none of which are destroyed by human abuse. Climate change doesn’t exist because we all care for our world. And people get high off of being happy not marijuana. Each country has their own language because it’s important to embrace culture. No war, just peace and no hunger either. No sleeping on the streets, we all have a place to call home. A world where no one feels alone. People get paid enough, no load-shedding or corrupt governments. A world where there is death, but at the end of the day it’s a good place to live.

Reflecting on the unit final:

            Throughout the process of preparing for and writing the unit final essay I have made mistakes, but I’ve also learned a lot. To prepare for the essay I re-read some of the texts, wrote summaries and mini analysis’ for most to ensure that I knew enough about each possible known text. Of course, I was still nervous about the one unknown text, but there was nothing else I could really do to prepare for that.

After writing the essay I thought about what grade I might get, what went well, and what I could improve on. I did get a lower grade then I thought, but that just means I have more to learn. What I thought went well was that I made a fairly detailed plan so when I wrote the essay itself, I had a good idea of what I’d say. Planning well definitely made me feel more prepared. What I thought I could to better or differently was that I didn’t add enough direct quotations from the texts studied which is something to work on.

Mr.McMaster also commented on the lack of direct quotes in my assertion. The other comment he wrote was that I used “I” and “me” too much which made my essay less formal. How I can improve is by making sure I have at least 2 direct quotes (depending on length) to ensure I have enough evidence to support my assertions. To prevent overusing “I” and “me” will take practice, which is what I will keep doing to improve the quality of my writing.

“Some Girls Do” and some girls… don’t – IRJE#4:

The novel I am currently reading, is titled Some Girls Do, written by Jennifer Dugan. It is about two girls; one named Ruby who loves nothing more than tinkering with her car but is stuck perusing her former beauty queen mother’s dreams when competing in local beauty pageants for extra money. Morgan on the other hand, a track star for running and has just been kicked out of her catholic school for being gay, because apparently it is against their school code of conduct. The first chapter is about how their world collide. One passage found relatable and that stood out to me;

But there are some things you can’t say out loud: like how her dream isn’t my dream anymore, hasn’t been for a while, no matter how hard I tried to force it. Like how I wish that post-dated check word for bills and groceries and not tap lessons I hate and spray tans that won’t do anybody any good. like how I’ve been faking my smile for so long, I’m scared I don’t know what the real one feels like anymore. (P. 22)

I found this relatable because I know what it’s like to do things for other people when you’ve either lost passion, or never had any in the first place. Or for having the pressure to find the passion out of fear of giving up. And the last sentence about faking a smile, for me I lost so much of my passion for music that I don’t feel like I have passion anymore, or if I do, what it feels like. This quotation gives the feeling of nostalgia can be relatable for many people for any circumstance, which is why I found this passage so impactful.

The first time I saw the light – A poem:

I saw the light:

I woke up the same as any other day,

Got dressed,

Made breakfast,

Outside, it wasn’t even grey.

Off to school,

Early like usual,

But something felt off,

Yet not like a cough.

After a class,

Or two,

I drink a glass,

And still, I feel a little bit blue.

I call my mom,

I act all calm,

All I wanted to do was cry,

But I kept cool and went with a lie.

Soon enough school was over,

I went home,

Found a three-leaf clover,

And was all alone.

After dinner we watch some tv,

My mom said I look tired as far as she could see.

Off to bed I go,

It took a while to fall asleep though.

“Oh, S..a I hope you’re okay”

Over the sirens, that’s all I hear them say.

All I’m thinking about is my sister,

About how much I’ll miss her.

 

Turns out that was not the last time I would see the light.

IRJE – Good Habits, Good Students by E.T.MacKnight:

The book Good Habits, Good Students by E.T.MacKnight is “A Complete Guide for Students Who Want to Succeed”. The main ideas I pulled from reading it were, that in order to be a good student, we need good habits. Good habits may come from asking parents to remind us to read, study and do homework; making sure to get enough sleep, exercise, and water so that we’re ready to learn the next day; or setting achievable goals to help us stay focused. My favorite thing from this book was how it talked about making realistic goals, and to focus on one goal or area that needs the most improvement rather than feeling overwhelmed trying to fix multiple simultaneously;

Don’t try to solve all your problems at once. Pick just one area that needs improvement, and work on it until you’ve reached your goal. To turn your achievement into a new habit, repeat the behavior you are practicing until it becomes automatic.

Set a realistic goal. Decide in advance what you need to do to meet the goal, how you will measure success and what your deadline will be. If you fail to reach the initial goal, revise it and try again. (Ch 3, Pg 7)

I found this part particularly helpful because it is speaking truth, and although we may know that, occasionally we will need to be reminded that good habits don’t come easily. If we make unrealistic goals, we may become upset or feel like giving up. But if our goal is not being achieved, change the goal, go one step at a time, and try again. Once we meet the goal, it becomes an achievement and now we can turn it into a good habit that can improve our education and/or our day to day life.

This book has been very useful and I would highly recommend reading it if you are needing a reminder of how to become a better student or simply wanting an informative read.

Personal Writing #2 – a poem “Never Ending”:

The power our thoughts have on us, is scary,

Sometimes they makes me smile,

Mostly cry.

They determine what I wear,

Who I talk to,

What I do,

And what I consume for food.

One day I’ll wake up,

Happy as can be thinking to myself,

“No one can stop me”,

But then the next day,

I’m a mess,

Now all I want to do is sleep, cry, and watch my comfort series.

School doesn’t help on those messy days,

It makes me tired,

I want to go home,

And needing rewired.

My brain hurts,

It keeps stabbing me with a knife,

Telling me I’m worthless and I can’t “do life”.

The pain that thoughts cause,

Is more than gain,

And the biggest annoyance;

It’s never ending.

Finding Perfect – Keeping it together inch by inch:

The book Finding Perfect by Elly Swartz is about a 14-year-old teenager; Molly, and her journey navigating the troubles of OCD. She lives with her dad and brother, and her mum lives in another country. As she is feels responsible for her brother and having trouble hiding her increasing OCD from her friends and family, and the pressure of the “Poetry Slam” she’s competing in, she has a hard time to live the “normal” teenage life that she should be.

In chapter 16, there’s a poem she wrote saying;

I know I’m not the girl I used to be

I don’t know what’s happening to me

The sting of hurt it burns my eyes

I organize and tell more lies

Share my fear, it’s not forbidden

To tell the truth that’s deeply hidden

Someone find me, where did I go?

Can you see me? I need to know. (Pp.103)

I found this relatable and significant because it’s a feeling many teenagers experience. Although I don’t have OCD, I understand the feeling of being lost or having changed and not knowing why. Many teenagers experience this feeling because of the pressures we face from society to fit into a “cookie cutter” human. When it says, “Someone find me, where did I go?”, I relate to that part in particular, because I often feel as though I have no clue what I’m doing or who I am anymore. It also can be very difficult to feel like you are enough, and no matter how much extra work I do, or how hard I try I’m never enough, the part in the poem that says, “Can you see me? I need to know.” Is very impactful because it’s her asking if what she’s doing is enough, and also if they can tell that she has OCD. Overall this book is a very relatable book for me in the sense that it’s about a teenage girl struggling her way through high school while facing her own set of challenges, and not asking for help.

Personal Writing #1 – A poem:

Déjà vu:

Waking up the same way every day,

Alarm set for 6:30, can’t be late!

Slept about eight to ten hours yet still feeling tired.

Can’t say no though,

Have to push through it,

Be the model student because we have to prove we can do it.

Can’t ask for help,

Show no signs of weakness,

Can’t show them we’re just a big mess.

Life can be tough for anyone,

For us though,

It’s a mountain to climb.

No time for a social life,

No time to smile,

Get the work done or feel the burden,

Once that’s done,

We can finally close the curtain.

Sports keep us busy,

And so does music but at least we have Sunday for relaxation and playing with church kids.

Summer is great, we get to have fun, go to camp, and soak up some sun, and like this year,

Getting dunked!

But once summer’s over, its back to school,

The terror has begun.

As the cycle continues,

It feels like nothing new though.

All it feels like;

Déjà vu.

They Shall Not Grow Old, “All Quiet” and Soldier’s Home comparison:

Harold Krebs from Soldier’s some, Paul Baumer from All quiet on the western front, and the British soldiers from the film They shall not grow old had their differences, yet their experiences when they returned home were surprisingly similar.

All three pieces of literature may be different mediums and have other perspectives of the war, but all three pieces described what it was like for soldiers to go back home after serving at war. Both Krebs and the British soldiers in the movie found that no one wanted to talk about the war when they returned.

There was a part in the movie when a soldier described his experience of returning home and talking to the mother of one of his dead comrades to tell her about her son’s death. This scene is quite similar to a part of the novel All quiet on the western front where Baumer returns home on leave and visits Kemmerich’s mother. Although the two scenes are alike, they are both different because Kemmerich’s mother was more in shock and had a hard time believing that her son was dead, whereas the soldier in the movie found that his friend’s mother was angry.

In the movie it also talked about how when you’re at the front, you find yourself thinking about why you’re fighting and killing people, essentially why there’s a war. That was similar to a part in All Quiet when Paul was talking to his friends about that same topic. In both scenarios, they got to the same conclusion; you can’t justify why there’s a war. War is an opportunity for world “leaders” to fight for land and to gain power or simply to kill others to “solve” their problems as a way of fighting rather than talking.

With that said, we can find similarities and differences in all three pieces of literature, but they are all similar in terms of them being about WW1 and soldier’s experiences.

IRJE #1:

          In the novel Guard Your Heart by Sue Divin, Aidan is Catholic, Irish, and Republican. Iona, Protestant and British. At a party celebrating the end of exams,  Aidan leaves the party alone and becomes the victim of a brutal attack. Iona witnessed the attack and picked up Aidan’s phone after he dropped it then filmed what happened. Eventually she gets in touch with him to return the phone. Then when the two the differences between them seem irrelevant and after they start talking more, they start falling in love. A bit of a “Romeo and Juliet” scenario.

“The first blow caught me hard on the chin and I spun off balance, tripping over the empty beer cans as the green, navy, and white Northern Ireland tops blurred past me. A kick in the groin and a knee in my back followed as swiftly as the abuse.

“Fenian bastard!” said one man

 Is ‘Catholic’ tattooed on my head? How did they know?” (p. 11)

          I chose this part because it expresses how often people get discriminated against for something as simple as what they believe in, religion, their race, nationality, gender, sexuality, political opinions and more. After that happened, Aiden lived in constant fear of being attacked. No one should have to go through that. Unfortunately, in reality many people do, and if we spread awareness, and talk about why it’s wrong, maybe one day we’ll get to a place where no one has to live in fear of being treated differently because of who they are. Reading this book gave me a glimpse of what that’s like, and why no one should have to go through what Aiden did.

Harold Krebs vs Paul Baumer:

Susie Black

Harold Krebs vs Paul Baumer:

       The main characters from the book All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque and from the story Soldiers Home by Ernest Hemingway have many similarities but also many differences. The main similarity being that neither of them truly felt at home when returning. But the primary difference between them, was that Krebs wanted to talk about the war and his experiences on the front whereas Baumer didn’t.

       When Paul returned home for the first time, he found out his mom was sick. Not only was she sick but he kept getting questions asked from his dad, in particular about what it looked like living at the front. Paul didn’t want to talk about his experiences because it was traumatic and something he’d rather forget about but unfortunately that’s not possible with the constant questioning. Because of those two main factors, and the fact that he realized he’ll never be the same as before the war, he is left with a feeling that his “home”, is no longer his home. In real life, many soldiers had similar experiences, and had the same feeling of not being at home anymore, or that they are not the same person as before the war.

       Harold had a similar yet different experience. When he went home, he felt as though nothing had changed; except for him. He, unlike Paul, wanted to talk about what had happened on the front. But no one was asking because to them, since they didn’t experience what he had, didn’t care enough to ask. And because of that, he felt like it wasn’t his home anymore. This was the same feeling as Paul; the feeling of being lost.

       That is primarily what they had in common, the fact that neither of them felt at home after returning from the front. With all that they’ve seen they still coped differently; Paul by keeping to himself what had happened, and Harold by sharing what had happened so that people could help him and understand what he went through. But neither of them truly got what they’d wanted.

       Overall, both of these stories had a very real outlook on what life during and after war was like yet with a comforting fictional element. The aftereffects it had on soldiers; typically resulting in PTSD and feeling of being invisible or not valued.

These stories demonstrated the unfortunate truth of war.

All Quiet on the Western Front – personal reflection:

             All quiet on the western front is a very realistic, fiction (but based on true story) novel about a soldier’s experience fighting on the war front. It used complex language, yet it felt simple to read and understand. Although it is the German’s perspective, I’m sure most soldiers would have a similar experience regardless of what country they were fighting for. With the war going on in Ukraine at the moment, I’m glad I got to read this book to get a glimpse of what some men(and some women) are currently experiencing so that I can empathize and understand more about what is going on.

            On page 99, it talks about how they have to go back to the front earlier than expected, and they weren’t expecting to have to leave so soon. Then I compared it to how many of the soldiers in Ukraine, and even some from Russia, were not expecting to be fighting in a war this year. No one did until the rumors started that Russia would attack. There are many young soldiers in “All Quiet” who were just graduated, or in their 20’s, as well as many “older” men who had to leave their life, school, jobs, and families behind. This is a lot like what many dads, and some brothers and grandpa’s are doing in Ukraine; as many of their families leave and go to safety they have to stay and fight a very dangerous, tiring, and deadly, never-ending battle.

             Then in chapter nine it talks about how Paul directly killed someone for the first time. It continues to talk about how this makes Paul feel guilty and start to question why there’s even a war and why he’s killing a man, just like him. And later on in the chapter it mentions that Paul, and his other friends were saying how its only beneficial to the “higher ups” who want to fight for power and land. Otherwise, it’s just an excuse for bunch of people, killing people just like one another. After reading that I reflected on how that’s how many soldiers from Russia must be feeling too. They are forced to do something they don’t want to do; destroy other people’s lives when they are no different than themselves and it’s all because their “leader” wants more power. Which when you think about it, is really unfortunate, that someone they are supposed to see as a role model, is choosing war over kindness.

              In conclusion, this novel was truly an amazing read; it was challenging yet understandable; eye opening but not completely disturbing; and most of all informational. It made me very thankful for what I have and where I’m from, and I will not take that, for granted.

Susie

I have grown up in Victoria, but was born in Taiwan and lived there for two years before moving to Canada. I am also a South African citizen because my mom is from there. I have been playing piano for about ten years now and I enjoy playing and listening to music. One goal I have for myself in this year’s English class is that I’d like to improve my knowledge of terminology as that’s something I’ve struggled with in past years. But I am excited for poetry this year because I love poetry and writing poems.

– Susie Black