Semester Reflection

One thing I learned while studying colonization was that the natives were treated poorly. We studied Australia, Rwanda, and South Africa. In all these cases when the people colonizing landed on the new place they looked down on the natives because they were different. In many cases the natives were killed, enslaved, and their culture was changed. After Germany came into Rwanda the Tutsi’s were put in charge. The Hutu’s were treated bad and looked at as not important. The Germans put Gave Rwanda to the Belgians, but after a while the Belgians pulled out. After they left massive killing started breaking out because of the trouble that was made. This is just one instance of how settlers have disrupted and destroyed the natives’ ways of living.
When we were having our debate on the Rwandan Genocide I realized that there was more than one person or group to be blamed. One group that could be blamed is the Belgians. This is because they gave the Tutsis power for most of the time and then right before they left, the power was given to the Hutus. If they would have just given each group equal power then there would be less tension between the two groups. Another group that could be blamed is the Interahamwe. This group of Hutu extremists did most of the killings. If they hadn’t taken part in the genocide and worked things out with the Tutsis then the problems could have been solved.

Another thing I learned throughout the semester was to improve my writing through blogs. Doing these weekly blogs really helped me to practice my writing. Before writing these I would write a paragraph as three or four undeveloped sentences and not know how to build on. By writing the blogs and having to make them 400 words long I learned to make long and developed paragraphs and ended up finding myself trying to find a place to end it. I also really improved on my thesis statements while writing these blogs. In one blog about the Rwandan Genocide I wrote “My opinion on the conflict in Rwanda is that it was started by Belgium, but the Interahamwe are the ones who kept it going.” Before writing these blogs I wouldn’t have known where to start if I was asked to write a topic sentence.

Also when we read weekly articles it helped me with both my reading, and writing skills. It helped me with my reading skills because every week’s article felt like it was harder than the week before. This made me really have to think while I was reading them, in order to understand it. Since we had to write one or two paragraphs after reading, I not only had to understand it, but I had to be able to write about it also. I really had to work my brain in order to come up with highly developed paragraphs to go with the hard readings. So not only did I improve my reading and writing, but also my thinking skills.

The last thing that I learned hurt my brain even more with only four words Man-In-The-Well.
after listening to this tap for the first time I had no idea what they were talking about. But after listening a few more times of listening to it I came up with a few ideas. The whole point of this activity was to get the class thinking and using our imaginations. I got an idea that the man in the well counld represent the conscience of the children. This was a very difficult story to understand but by doing this activity it helped me think about things in a different way.

All of these things that I learned have helped me a lot. They have changed the way that I read, write, and think.

Country Natives

If I was a native in one of the countries we disgusted I would choose to be a native in South Africa. I would be from here because the natives were treated better here than from any of the other countries. Even thought the natives were not seen or treated as equals, at least in the future they became important to society and a part of the government. In the beginning the natives were discriminated and in some cases even killed. At one point South Africa was split up into "homelands". People were placed in homelands depending upon their race. Different homelands had different rights including voting. In order for people from the homelands to be allowed into the South Africa they had to have passports that included their information and fingerprint.

The natives here were discriminated in other ways also. Though they were treated bad, natives in other countries were often treated a lot worse. In Rwanda after the Belgians took over they put the Tutsis in power, and then right before they left they put the Hutus in power. The Hutus and Tutsis had so many problems that a genocide broke out, leaving almost nobody safe. People couldn't even leave their house without the worry that they may not come back alive. These natives along with many others including those from Australia and the United States, had much worse living conditions than those in South Africa.

Rwandan Genocide: Who did it?

My opinion on the conflict in Rwanda is that it was started by Belgium, but the Interahamwe are the ones who kept it going. This is because when Belgium gained control of Rwanda they had to have known about the ongoing conflict between the Tutsi’s and the Hutu’s. After they got into the country they caused more of a conflict by making identity cards, so that they would know who was a Hutu and who was a Tutsi. While in power, Belgium put the Tutsis in charge of the government, while the Hutus were not favored and acted as peasants. Finally as Belgium was leaving power they decided to change it up, and put the Hutus as the government.

After the conflict started up, the Interahamwe started their killings. They turned on their neighbors, families, and friends. They either killed for land, money, or simply because they were convinced to. One way they were convinced was by a radio station run by Juvenal. He was a Hutu, who wanted the Tutsis dead. On the radio station it said that you should kill the Tutsis, every chance you get. Some claim that the station brainwashed the Interahamwe. They turned their backs on people who considered them friends.

In the opinion of my assigned person, Paul Kagame, I would still blame the Interahamwe and Belgium. Another group I would blame is the Rwandan Armed Forces and the UN. I would blame them because neither of them did anything to help the problem.

The Rwandan Armed Forces were a Hutu army who was involved in the killings of a great amount of Tutsis and moderate Hutus. This group forced the Tutsis to leave their country, in order to live. As one of those people I, Paul Kagame, became the leader of the RPF(Rwandan Patriotic Forces). We were called Rebels and Terrorists, but the only thing we were fighting for was to be treated as an equal to the Hutus. Everything could have been resolved if the Rwandan Armed Forces would have just compromised with us and seen things from our point of view.

The UN did not start the genocide, nor did they help it continue on, but they also did nothing to stop it. The UN sent forces into Rwanda and were going to help the problem get resolved, but whenever help was needed they looked the other way. The UN soldiers were not allowed to use their weapons unless they were being shot at. They weren't allowed to use their weapons, even if someone was being killed right in front of them. Now, what help is that?

None of these groups or people did anything to stop this genocide and some helped to keep it going, this is why they deserve the blame for this horrific time in history.

The Best Time Of The Year!

It's the best time of the year. It's when everyone is happy, the smell of cookies and pine trees fills the air, and the nights are cold. There are Christmas decorations everywhere you turn and the malls are filled with Santas. It's one week until Christmas break and the countdown to Christmas to has started. My chocolate Christmas calendar is almost half way empty and the excitement is quickly filling me. All I can think about is Christmas morning and all the fun events leading up to it. The whole school break is filled with time spent with my family.

We go Christmas shopping, make cookies, and pick out a tree together. On Christmas eve we all go to Church and then to my grandparents house to open our first Christmas gift. Then my grandpa reads The Night Before Christmas to all of us. After finally making it back home we go to bed with butterflies in our stomachs.

The next morning I wake up to the joyful shouting of my little brother and before my eyes even open a big smile spreads across my face. It's Christmas morning! My family goes into the living room and starts opening present after present. After an hour of unwrapping, all the presents are gone.

The fun isn't over though, we play with our presents for a while and then go down to my cousins house were more presents are waiting. All of my family gathers at the house. We eat breakfast, open presents, and the kids give their dollar store gifts, that we had all gotten a few days ago together, to the adults.

After the morning ends we all go home. My cousins all come to my house so that we can show them our presents. We hang out all day in our pajamas until dinner time comes and we had out to my aunt and uncle's house. We eat, talk, and have a good time for hours. I feel sad that the day is coming to a close.

Night falls and the day is ending so my family(along with my cousin) go back to my house for the night. I start to feel like all the joy of this time of year is ending. For a few more hours we have fun playing games, talking, and watching our last Christmas movie for the year. As I start to fall asleep and the sadness falls over me I think about how we still have New Years!

American Scholar

Emerson's argument in "The American Scholar" about American society still holds true today.



One reason Emerson's argument still holds true today is because people only have one job and not multiple. In Emerson's paper he says "Man is not a farmer, or a professor, or an engineer, but he is all." Emerson believes that this statement should hold true, and the problem is that it doesn't. When people go to college they study one profession and there for they are only ready to do that ONE job. This limits what people can do in the world.

Another reason Emerson's argument still holds true today is because people become the job that they perform. Emerson says "The priest becomes a form; the attorney a statue book; the mechanic a machine; the sailor a rope of the ship." This is because people become so involved with their work that they make it their number one priority. Emerson's argument in "The American Scholar" about American society still holds true today, but maybe someday that will change.

Best Day of the Year!

Chocolate, bubble gum, lolli pops, and more. The best part about Halloween is the costumes, the friends, and candy. I trick-or-treat for hours, until I can't feel my feet and I have cleaned out every house in the neighborhood. After a long nights work, my friends and I head down to park for cider and donuts. We grab our food and walk across the leave coated ground to the giant bonfire, which took weeks to gather wood for.

I talk with my family and friends, and meet some new people from the neighborhood. Then my friends and I meet up with my cousin, Nathan, and his friends at the fire. The park is crowded and after 10 minutes of standing in front of the fire I need to get away from the heat. We go to the swing set and sit. We trade candy and talk about peoples costumes.

After a while of talking we go out for some last minute candy gathering. We hit all the major "must go to" house and start our walk across the neighborhood to Nathans house. There we meet up with the rest of my family. We eat more sweets and go down stairs to the candy filled pinata. We go in the order from youngest to oldest and as usual, the pinata is down before my turn comes. The older kids just stand there while the younger ones fight for the candy. Our parents saved some of the candy for us older kids, so that the younger ones would get a chance to retrieve some of the pinata candy.

When we're done socializing my friends and I go back to my house to eat our candy and watch scary movies. We watch all the classic horror films and some of the new ones. We all hide under the blankets when the scary parts come on and our screams cause my dad to come down stairs and remind us that my little brother was sleeping. We stay up half the night watching Halloween episodes on t.v. and Degrassi. We then go on our separate sides of the room and sort our candy. We see who has the most candy, the least candy, the best candy, and the worst candy. Then we talk about our favorite candies and ideas for what we want to dress up as next year.

Finally we start to get tired from walking around Coventry Gardens all night and settle into bed for the night. After an hour of trying to fall asleep I finally dozed off, dreaming of next years Halloween.

The Game of My Life

The starting whistle pulls me away from my fears and the game starts. My mind is in the game and all the thoughts flood out of my head. This is it. It's the final game of the season and this game determines if we move up a league or move down a league. The nerves start to come back, but I immediately push them away knowing that if I let them in my head I have no chances of playing well. Before I know it the ball is at my feet and I'm dribbling down the field, looking around for someone wearing the white and green canton jersey to pass the ball to. Out of the corner of my eye I see one of my teammates running down the opposite side of the field and I quickly turn the ball around. I wined my foot back and hit the ball as hard as I can. The ball flies across the field and lands at my teammate's feet. She takes the ball to the middle of the field and with one last look around hits the ball straight into the back of the net. It's one to nothing!

After over an hour of playing the score was tied at two all. There was three minutes left to play and we were all felling the pressure. I got the ball and passed it over to our team's top scorer. She dribbled it down the field, shot, and missed. The other team took the goal kick. Now there was only one minute remaining. They took the kick and before their player could get to the ball, my team got it. I got the pass and shot it before I even had time to think about what I was doing. I turned to watch where the ball went, and the first thing I saw was the goalie fall to the ground. The ball rolled on the ground and within seconds it was placed in the far right corner of the net. Goal!! We all ran back to our places ready to defend our lead for the last 30 seconds of the game. Each second felt like a forever. The rest of the game was filled with sweat and screams from the other team's parents. Finally the final whistle blew and we had our victory. This was what I lived for, the thrill of playing a soccer game. After a long day of hard work on the field I got into my car ready to take the long ride home with my heart filled with joy and a smile across my face.