Inspirational Song

Waving Flag - K'naan
http://youtu.be/BgyJY9yndv4

       
I I chose this song as being one of the most inspirational songs throughout my life because at the moments that it was played at, what the song is about and how it was used. This song was released in 2010 for the FIFA World Cup in South Africa. As many events have their own theme songs, this was the theme song for World Cup which whenever played, got many people even more excited for the World Cup, including me. This song then came to me as a pump up song that I would listen to before soccer games or whenever I needed to get excited for something. I remember, it was the day of one of my soccer finals to get us into Nationals and none of us were really into the warm up at that moment. Then, the song played. This song got me so pumped up for the game, as well as my teammates and we played one of our best games of the season that day. The next day, it was the awards ceremony and as we were all waiting, the song played again. Ever since then, I have always had to listen to this song before games to get me ready and focused to play. K'naan is expressing the freedom and equality that each country has when they come to the World Cup to play. Every country and fans come together as one and celebrates their love for the game. This uses a simile comparing freedom to a waving flag as a flag waving in the wind has nothing to hold it back from waving. I am a big believer in freedom and equality and this song not only pumps me up before games, but send a very valuable message to everyone.

Found Poem

Senior Year

Winterfest,

A senior event

Take a picture with Santa,

Free pancakes and waffles,

Or tight and bright

The most epic day for all.

Hate is overrated.

Post grad, 

Fun and adventurous 

Reveal your potential,

Be creative,

Value all contributions,

Celebrate respect, welcome love

Ideas start here.

G15.

http://youtu.be/XYZ2MGAgBps

Post Mortem Monologue

Ophelia

I have now fallen to death. I guess my time would have come soon enough, but the thing is, I don't regret it. I have had enough of everyone and everything and I wouldn't have tried to stop myself from drowning even if I could have. (However, it was not suicide, I really did fall and drown not on purpose). I was going a bit crazy, I do have to admit. After all the events that happened in the past week who knows what I would have done next. First, Hamlet, the so-called love of my life, tells me to "get to a nunnery" and then ends up murdering my father in the late afternoon. I don't know how thou could be so cruel. This led me to the craziest of days that I have experienced. I became crazy, and for that I regret. Aye! Now that I ponder what I have done from all the recent tragic events in my life, it was the best decision for me. I could not balance those distracting thoughts in my head of love and hate. I did not know whom I could trust anymore. The voice of a women does not have much say in what goes on in this cruel house. I must respect all others. All the men. But nay! I could not do that. However, I am happier in this place I am now. Must be heaven, for even though He may have thought I have taken my own life, but in the end God forgives me, as I would not dare to be here if I committed such a horrid sin. I am at peace, and all thou who are on earth must still be running crazy.

Hamlet on Revenge

Is revenge good? In other words, does the act of revenge somehow help in healing personal trauma, or is it in fact more damaging to one's emotional well-being? Is there ever an instance where revenge might be justified or is forgiveness the better path?

         Personally I think it depends on the circumstances of what that person did to you when trying to get revenge. If revenge was something little towards the person, one would feel satisfied with what they did, but if revenge was something much bigger than that like killing someone, one would feel traumatized at the fact that they did that to someone and it would hurt their emotional well being. In Hamlets case, something so big that he must get revenge in his uncle by killing him, because he killed his father, would hurt Hamlet in the end. He would be emotionally scarred and because it would be his uncle that he would have to kill, that is still his family no matter what they did to you. In some ways, one might feel satisfied and healed right when they get their form of revenge, but once it sinks in that they committed something like that, it would hurt their well-being and would make them feel guilty. Generally, forgiveness is the better path to take rather than revenge. When taking revenge on someone, it may lead to other things happening and have a never ending cycle of revenge on each other, which could easily get out of hand.

Is there a difference between "avenging" and "revenge"?
         The difference between avenging and revenge on someone is that when avenging someone, they are looking for more justice being done rather than revenge where it is taken to a more harmful effect. Avenging someone would be a less harsh choice putting them into jail rather than physically harming someone to get revenge after what they did to you.

Advice to Grade8 Self

Dear Grade 8 self,

What in the world were you thinking wearing those black ripped jeans on the first day of school... you were at the back of the line anyways for lockers, so you could have take more time to look half decent. Seriously, why did you not go earlier to lockers. Getting a bottom locker every single year of high school really sucks. While grade 8 is probably one of the easier years of high school, don't take it for granted. Work as hard as you can and use your extra time to SLEEP! As you get older, sleep becomes more valuable as you get less of it every night. Study as hard as you can for tests and put your phone away. I'm pretty sure you can last at least an hour without going on your phone. School is more important than friends sometimes, but that doesn't mean you can forget about them. Don't worry about who your friends are right away, you'll get where you fit in eventually and find out who your really friends are. Oh, another thing, when you're going shopping, don't spend money on clothes that you're never going to wear. If you don't love it in the change room, don't buy it. Try and join as many sports teams as you can throughout high school. You make some amazing friends during those times that you stay with throughout the years. You might even end up winning a banner.... One last thing, never run on wet muddy grass or walk down a muddy hill. You'll end up falling right on your butt and get very muddy and wet, which is not enjoyable.

Sincerely,

Your Grade 12 self.

GATTACA Response

In what way might GATTACA be considered a representation of a utopian society?
          While watching the movie GATTACA and comparing it to a utopian society, this movie has certain characteristics that leads us to believe that it is a utopian society such as the parents getting to create their own kids by choosing the characteristics, life expectancy and to make sure their kids have no sicknesses while they grow up or later on in life. Only those people that have a certain DNA in their bodies which is the so called "perfect" DNA are allowed in a certain society where the jobs and work environment are much better than the outcasts where their DNA was not made up and left to fate. This being said, things still can go wrong in the movie's form of utopian society which will cause it not to be a perfect society. A quote from the movie that the main character said that relates to a utopian society is, "we have discrimination down to a science." This quote is significant in the way that it represents an element of everything being perfect and discriminating those who are not perfect, relating to the element of a utopian society.

http://youtu.be/ZppWok6SX88

In what way does GATTACA represent the elements of a dystopian society?        
           This movie also relates to a dystopian society by not having any rights for all the people in the movie and not just the "perfect" people. The invalids in this movie don't have any rights in deciding what they want to do with their life as they cannot work for the higher end jobs. However, there is no freedom either for the "perfect" people as they have their life plan given to them by there parents from birth and they have no say in what they want to do. The hopes that the society had in reaching a utopian society went terribly wrong and became a dystopian society where everyone now has no control in what the want to become or who they are. Many things that are now engineered and modified in the movie, should be left naturally and let the world run its path.

Inquiry Reflection

What did you learn that was unexpected during your inquiry?
During my inquiry research, I learned a lot about sports and sports teams that I didn't know before. I didn't know that social media was the biggest role in keeping fans loyal to your team. Keeping your fans engaged throughout social media makes them feel more apart of the team almost like a community. Certain types of sports have a different fan base throughout the on season and off season. Basketball and hockey have a steady amount of fans throughout the whole year following them where as football and basketball mainly have all their fans in the on season and no fans in the off season as you can see in the picture below. There are many different ways to keep your fans loyalty throughout the whole year and even when your team is doing bad.

 What challenges did you experience during the inquiry process?

While doing my inquiry, my main challenge was trying to figure out how to word my question. At first, I was going to make it specific and include on season and off season, but I figured while I was doing my research, the topic needed to be more broad in order to find enough research. Also, with no set guidelines or criteria on how to do an inquiry, I found it difficult to get started and know where to start, but once I got going, it kept flowing and got much easier. 

What might you do differently next time? 

If I were to do another inquiry in the future, I think I would try and find a more creative way to present it rather than just a power point. Also, I would do a different topic on something I may not know a lot about so I can find more information about something else. 

What connections can you make between your inquiry question and your own life experiences?

Within my own life, I am a huge sports fan. I try to watch as many games as I can of my favourite team when they are on season. I do follow my favourite teams on social media to stay in the loop and learn more about them. I find that the more they post about information or things going on behind the scenes, the more I like my team because they are willing to share that information with their fan base. Even in the off season, I like to stay connected with certain teams and look at what they are posting for us to see. I find the more that teams interact with their fan base, the more you end up liking that team and feeling like a community. I stay loyal to my favourite teams no matter if they are going through a rough patch in their season, or if they are winning every game they play. 

What would you like to continue to explore? Is there anything that you still find puzzling or confusing? What new questions have you developed? 

There is not a lot that more that I would like to continue to explore and all my questions about fan loyalty have been answered. While doing my inquiry, no new questions came up about anything so I would have to say that my inquiry was successful.  

Here is a video clip on how to be a loyal fan:

http://www.howcast.com/videos/356380-How-to-Be-a-Loyal-Fan