Monday, February 28, 2011

Mississippi Burning

Today, Ms Huang finished showing a movie "Mississippi Burning". Personally, I don't really like the show as there are many sensitive issues of racism in the movie. I personally find some parts quite disturbing.
Basically, the story is revolves around the lynching of three civil rights workers. I have learnt alot about the history of racism in Mississippi and also about the Ku Klux Klan and all their evil deeds.
There were some disturbing scenes like the Negro FBI's interrogation on the Mayor.. I found it really disturbing as many disgusting scenes were described such as "cut his scrotum" and "dipped into a pool of blood bottom down." I was really scared of what the Negro man would do to the Mayor, luckily for me, the scene cut off at that point. But was re-enacted by showing the scene of the Mayor hanging from a rope. He probably felt guilty and killed himself.

Personally, I don't really like these kind of shows which shows racism because it gives a constant reminder to the past Singapore had to go through... whats more is that I'm half Japanese, and that peers would always make fun of me/disturb me when I was in primary school.

Sunday, February 20, 2011

Essay draft 2

My second draft for the essay, I dont think its pretty well done, I'm not good at writing... comments? anyone?

Akira Makino (1) 8^th Feb 2011

Narrative essay draft 2

The sound of the war planes soaring through the night sky was heard from every corner of the small little town. Curious heads poked out of windows, looking up into that vast stretch of darkness filled with little white spots questioningly. Suddenly, out of nowhere, a loud boom could be hear. Within a split second, everything changed. Mangled bodies lay everywhere. Babies wailed, women cried, dogs howled, birds screeched, the whole town was in a mess.

The bombing marked the start of the period of time in Singapore history when so much was lost, and when so many suffered.

I stood near my window looking out to the disastrous scene. I was only a small little boy then, and I did not understand much about what was happening around me. But somehow, I could feel danger creeping up on me. I felt that something was seriously wrong. I started crying.

Then, I felt a pair of warm hands gripping tightly around me, and a small, gentle and soothing voice spoke to me, “Its okay, everything would be fine. We would be fine.” It was my mother, I felt calm almost immediately. If she said so, I would believe her, but how I wished that what she said was true.

Through the next few months, the atmosphere became very tense. There was a scent of danger lurking around everywhere. Nobody, at anytime, anywhere was safe. My mother strictly disallowed me to go out and play. I did not understand why, and after a while of enduring the torturous curfew, I decided to rebel and go against her words. The moment I stepped out of the door, I saw a soldier marching along the road. A young Chinese man came over and started shouting vulgarities at him. Immediately, the soldier cornered him, and stabbed him with a bayonet over and over and over again. Blood spilled everywhere, and the screamed of the man echoed everywhere. Suddenly I heard someone calling my name. It was my mother again. She dragged me in and slapped my face once.

“I told you not to go out!” She said, crying.

I thought I finally understood the meaning of the curfew.

Within the next few months, we had no inkling of what tragedy was going to hit our family. It was like any other day. News of more and more murders spread. That day, it was a fine sunny morning. Somebody started knocking on the door, more and more persistently. It was a Japanese soldier. He started talking to my father in a strong Japanese accent.

“You come with me to beach. I talk to you about work.”

My father obliged, as disobedience meant death. We waited all day. He never came back. My mother cried when she heard the news. She almost resorted to suicide. That was what started my profound hate for wars.

A few years later, the Japanese had finally lost, and things started to get normal. However, I would never ever forget the suffering people faced, the losses we all incurred. But I guess the experience strengthens us for further adversities in time to come.

I think my sentences sound awkward and my plot isnt good enough... PLEASE COMMENT EVERYONE

Tuesday, January 25, 2011

Description on the picture

It was a hot and sultry afternoon. The waves rushed towards the shoreline and slowed down just before reaching it, hitting the shore gently, and pulling back. The beach was full of people in their swimsuits, some on land, while some were wading in the shallow water. There were two people looking as though they were having fun in the wet sand, a father and a son, both wearing matching swimming trunks, both hunched, concentrating on building something out of the mud that they had dug out from the surroundings. It was a place of fun and excitement, and accompanied by the beautiful scenery, it was the perfect place to be.

Monday, January 24, 2011

Comic Strip for Home Learning

I chose this topic because I observed an increasing number of racist jokes amongst my friends. It appears that around the world, there is always this form of discrimination against anyone whos skin is black. Not necessarily indian, which shows that this is only discrimination against black skined people, although its worse if you're an Indian/African American.
However, I do not understand the reason behind these prejudicial thoughts. Because we all are humans after all, and I have put across my idea in this comic strip, that we are all equal, regardless of race or religion