CONNECTIONS TO HUMANITY:WE ARE NOT ISLANDS!

I looked into the distance.
I saw something move.

I went closer.
I saw an animal.
I went closer still.
I saw a man.
I went closer again.
And I saw that it was my brother.
Tibetan fable

The photographer Yann Arthus Bertrand has created an amazing project: 6 Billion Others. This project reflects many of the essential questions we have thought about in our year long humanities class. As you view the project make connections to the texts and units we have studied.

In interviewing people Bertrand has created a global portrait of mankind. Bertrand thought:'It all looks simple from the sky, but down below we are often confronted by borders, antagonism, separations, misunderstanding, ignorance between one and another. So it was important to let the men and women of our planet express themselves, collect their experiences and life philosophies, their visions of the world and to share with them. In this case, 5000 men and women describe their lives and hopes, their joys and woes, laughter and tears and relationships to God, the devil, love, life,death, and so on…

He and his team asked the same questions of The Malian fisherman, the Brazilian labourer, the Armenian mother, the Afghan fighter, the Germanpriest, the American farmer, the Russian merchant, the Japanese rebel, the Australian road sweeper, the Rwandan refugee'... which culminated in a major exhibition in Paris in January February 2008.

As we listen, we find ourselves so different and yet so similar, so far and so near from all the inhabitants of our planet.In the exhibition Bertrand encourages us to listen so as to better understand. We listen to 5,000 people representative of the 6 billion that share our planet testify, talk about feelings and think about life.

Bertrand and his team aimed to 'allow each one to share his/her personal experiences, hopes, dreams, fears, life philosophy with everyone;and to offer these accounts to as many people as possible'. Between 50-300 interviews were carried out per country with a variety of people and ethnicities.

The project took:
'4 years of filming were required to gather all these precious accounts.
6 reporters, passionate about the project, embarked on this formidable human adventure.
Each with his or her approach and sensitivities made a mark on the project.
20 hours of personal narratives to discover at the exhibition in the Grand Palais
40 questions, always the same, posed to each of the interviewees.
75 countries crossed: covering the entire planet was not possible unfortunately. But our journey
was guided by a spirit of fairness, which was not an easy thing to achieve. All the continents are
represented, town and country as well as the most emblematic areas of conflict.'

The exhibition makes us consider:
• How can we make our social, professional, platonic and romantic relationships more authentic?
• How can we encourage communication between generations, communities and cultures?
• How is reconstruction possible in the wake of suffering or conflicts?
• Are we in control of our destinies, and how can we influence our world?

• Below are the questions interviewers put to 5,ooo people.
• Read the questions then visit the site here: 6 milliards autres and listen to the responses.
• Spend time exploring the site. Think about how you would respond.
• We will then take some of these questions and you will answer the questions and upload to your blog.

01 | Start the interview by asking the person to introduce him or herself, giving name, age,
profession, family situation and nationality.
02 | What is your profession? Do you enjoy it ?
03 | What does family represent to you ?
04 | What do you want to hand down to your children ?
05 | What did you learn from your parents ?
06 | What do you find difficult to say to your children ? Your family ?
07 | What is your greatest joy ?
08 | What is your greatest fear ?
09 | What angers you the most ?
01 | What did you dream of as a child ?
11 | What is your greatest dream today ?
12 | What have you renounced ?
13 | Are you happy ?
How do you define happiness ?
14 | What would you like to change about your life ?
15 | How do you define love ?
Do you think you give and receive enough love ?
16 | What was the last thing that made you burst out laughing ?
17 | When was the last time you cried ? Why ?
18 | What has been the most difficult test you have had to face in your lifetime ?
What did you learn from it?
19 | Do you have enemies ? Why ?
20 | What angers you the most ? And why ?
6 billion Others | 17
21 | What would drive you to kill someone ?
For what would you be willing to lay down your life ?
22 | Do you find it easy to forgive yourself ?
What would you not be able to forgive ?
23 | Do you feel free ?
Out of all the days in your life, which could you not do without ?
24 | Do you like your country ?
Have you ever wanted to leave your country ? Why ?
25 | What does nature mean to you ?
26 | Have you seen nature change since your childhood ? And what would you do to save it ?
27 | Do you live better than your parents ? Why ?
28 | What does money represent to you ? Why ?
29 | How do you define progress and what are your expectations ?
30 | What is man's greatest enemy ?
31 | What is man's greatest friend ?
32 | Why do men wage war ? What can we do to reduce the number of wars ?
33 | Do you confess to a God every day of your life ?
34 | What do you think there may be after death ?
35 | Do you know a prayer ? Can you say it to me ?
36 | What for you is the meaning of life ?
37 | What would you like to say or what questions would you like to ask the people who will see you ?
38 | What is your favourite song ? Sing it…
39 | What do you think of this interview, this exchange ? What do you think is its aim ?
40 | Do you want to add anything else in conclusion ?

Religions DBQ Preparation

Look at this link (a google doc) for the sources that you need in the DBQ on Thursday and Friday.

https://docs.google.com/a/iskl.edu.my/document/d/18UssAQG9by_TP-QJCCs_uFbAXwuvhzuz0_-jCkmjUus/edit?hl=en

Good luck!

Learning Profile Blog Outline

Have you ever struggled in class, feeling the need to move, or simply change seats that so that you could listen better with your left ear or view the whiteboard from a different angle?

The amazing characteristic about understanding your Learner Profile is that it will help you and your teachers know more about the best learning situations for each student; that is your strengths, your preferences and areas that we all can work on and improve.

Today's blogpost is a reflection on Learning Profiles, and now that you have a better understanding of your profile we would like you to write and share the information with the class.

In a well structured response, (using the information you gained in class ) please reflect upon and answer the following ....

1. I learn best when......

2. I need to .....

3. The strategies that would help me in my learning....

4. I would like my teachers to know this about me.....

About The Hunger Games - Suzanne Collins

BACKGROUND:

In this gripping young adult novel set in a future with unsettling parallels to our present, the nation of Panem consists of a shining Capitol surrounded by 12 outlying Districts, in the ruins of an area once known as North America. In this stratified society where the Capitol controls all resources, 16 year old Katniss and her friend Gale forage for food in the wood surrounding their impoverished District. The main support for both families, Katniss and Gale are apprehensive about the approaching annual Reaping, when two "tributes" between the ages of 12 and 18 will be chosen by the lottery from each of the 12 districts to compete in The Hunger Games, a survival contest on live TV in which teenagers fight to the death.

When her beloved younger sister Prim is chosen as one of the "tributes", Katniss volunteers to go in her sister's place. Her fellow tribute from District 12 is Peeta, a boy with whom she soon develops a complicated relationship. After traveling to the Capitol and undergoing elaborate training and preparation, Katniss and Peeta are launched into the Game. In the terrifying events that follow, Katniss must marshal all her skills to stay alive and all her emotions to remain a caring human being in the face of the stark brutality of the Games.

"It's hard to choose one element that inspired The Hunger Games," says Suzanne Collins. "Probably the forst seeds were plantes when, as an eight-year-old with a mythology obsession, I read the story of Theseus. The myth told the story how in punishment for past deeds, Athens periodically had to send seven youths and seven maidens to Crete, where they were thrown into the Labyrinth and devoured by the monstrous Minotaur. Evan as a third grader, I could appreciate the ruthlessness of this message. 'Mess with us and we'll do something worse that kill you. Wr'll kill your children.'

"Other early influences would have to include watching too many gladiator movies, which dramatize the Roman's flair for turning executions into popular entertainment; my military specialist dad who took us to battlefield for family vacations; and touring with a sword fighting company in high school. But it wasn't until the much more recent experience of channel surfing between reality TV programming and actual war coverage that the story for this series came to me."

(Discussion Guide material)

YOUR TASKS!

1) Read the book - enjoy. (I bet you won't be able to put it down).

2) Open a Google Doc, share with me and do some searching on the web about this book. Link anything you find, or write a synopsis, add pictures and so on. Gather as much data about the book, author, plot, themes as you can.

3) Be prepared to share your findings in the near future!

Religions DBQ Preparation

Review the sources below - they are in your test tomorrow. Also take a look at my last post on January 27th, Holocaust Study. There are some great videos there to add depth to your understanding. Some of them you will recognize from class, some are new.

For the DBQ: Tuesday is Section A (Source Analysis). To prepare for this, examine the sources below. Do ask your parents for their input! Also, do some research on the web. Don't forget that I have linked to some amazing websites on my Moodle page. You are not allowed to take notes into the test for Section A.

Section B (Wednesday) is the writing part of the test. You will be allowed a note card on which you may write NOTES (bullet points, table, spider diagram). You may copy directly any quotes that you intend to use. I'll check the cards on Wednesday as you are taking your writing section.

Test Taking Tips!

• Remember to use the CLAIM, EVIDENCE, INTERPRET method of writing. 
• State what you see as fact, avoid ABSOLUTES (Nazi's ALWAYS did this or that; the people ALL felt this way...and so on). 
• Don't jump to conclusions unless asked in your opinion, or to deduce, or to worth something out. 
• Stick to the facts as you see them in the sources in front of you. 
• Refer to the sources "In source 1 I can see..." or "The similarities between sources 1 and 2 are...." in your answers.
• You may refer to other things that you know from our readings, discussions, your wider knowledge AFTER referring to the sources provided. Remember this is a DOCUMENT BASED QUIZ and therefore you must use the data presented in front of you.
• Read the questions over twice before jumping in to answer - highlight the DOING words in the question, identify if there are two parts to the question, look how many marks it is worth, and how many lines you have been given on which to write.
• Keep an eye on the time - aim to complete Section A on Tuesday.
• When working on Section B, review the writing tips given on the paper and be sure to look at the rubric carefully.
• And lastly....Good Luck! We've done some amazing learning this trimester - now it is your chance to show what you know.

RESISTANCE :DBQ REVIEW

STAGES OF GENOCIDE: Review this by clicking here for the 8 stages

PYRAMID OF HATE: Click here to review: pyramid of hate

RESISTANCE

The word resist comes from the Latin root sistere to stop: re+sist. So the denotation is to struggle against someone or something,to try to prevent by action or argument. So resistance, the noun, 'is the refusal to accept or comply with something'(Oxford Dictionary).

CONTEXT
The Holocaust was the murder of six million Jews and millions of others by the Nazis and their collaborators during World War II. Mass killings began in June 1941 with the shooting of Jewish civilians during the German invasion of the Soviet Union. At the end of 1941, the Germans began deporting Jews to killing centers in occupied Poland. By May 1945, about two out of every three Jews in Europe had been murdered.


Prewar European Jewish population: 9.5 million.

Before World War II, more than half of the world's Jewish population lived in Europe. Most Jews lived in eastern Europe, primarily in the Soviet Union and Poland. The Nazi party came to power in Germany in 1933. The Germans moved to extend their power in central Europe, annexing Austria and destroying Czechoslovakia. Germany invaded Poland in 1939, beginning World War II. Over the next two years, German forces conquered most of Europe. The Germans established ghettos in occupied eastern territories, isolating and persecuting the Jewish population. Nazi anti-Jewish policy expanded with the invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941. Mobile killing units murdered Jews, Roma (also called Gypsies), Soviet political commissars, and others. The Germans and their collaborators deported Jews to killing centers in occupied Poland. At the largest killing center, Auschwitz-Birkenau, transports arrived almost daily from across Europe. By war's end, almost six million Jews and millions of others had perished in the Holocaust.


Postwar Jewish Population, ca. 1950: 3.5 million — United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
Look carefully at the maps below to draw conclusions about changes in the Jewish population.

What is propoganda?

Propaganda is biased information designed to shape public opinion and behavior.
Propaganda simplifies complicated issues or ideology for popular consumption, is always biased, and is geared to achieving a particular end. Propaganda generally employs symbols, whether in written, musical, or visual forms, and plays upon and channels complex human emotions towards a desired goal. It is often employed by governmental and private organizations to promote their causes and institutions and denigrate their opponents. Propaganda functions as just one weapon in the arsenal of mass persuasion.(The Holocaust Museum: Propaganda)

Examine the following propaganda posters of Hitler and Jews.
Think about the impression created and the ways this impression is built in the minds of the viewer.

Examine the 1928 painting the Agitator by George Grosz by clicking on the link.

Read and interpret:Pastor Niemoller's poem: click here.

PART B: OBSTACLES TO RESISTANCE

Consider what Father says to Bruno in Boyne's The Boy in Striped Pyjamas: "Accept the situation in which you find yourself and everything will be so much easier" (page 53). Using the sources write a paragraph that examines why people remained silent, and 'accepted the situation in which (they) found themselves'. Why did more people not speak out against Hitler's harsh rule?

Holocaust Study

Take a look at these resources which are linked to our study of the effects of religious persecution in the WWII era in Germany. You will get a much deeper understanding of our novel, The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas (John Boyne) by understanding some of the background history. It is also great practice for the DBQ to analyze primary and secondary source documents.

Kristallnacht and Propaganda















The Liberation of Auschwitz (27th Jan 1945)
Read this BBC article and watch / listen to the interviews.
Also read this real life story of heroism and survival.
Take a look through this amazing website.
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
Your reactions...On your blog, write a reaction to the source material posted here. You may also reference the historical work that we did in class, and link to our novel study. We have examined paintings, posters and poetry - make as many connections as you can!
How do you feel about what happened?
How did this happen?
How can people recover from this event?
Should Grade 7 student's study this period of history...is it too 'dark' and depressing?
Why do you think we have studied this historical unit and chose this novel?
What will you remember after this unit is finished...what will be your 'Big Learning'?
Remember to include a cited image - and if you find more resources that you feel should be here, then add them to your response. Please look at the blog rubric (posted on Moodle).

Field Trip Photos

Our pictures!





Grade 7 Religions Trip 2010

And Ms Larsen's pictures (Click here).

Power of Music

Thankyou  Mrs. Whiting and Safa for sharing the group Native Dean on their blogs! This is so relevant as we work through the unit on religion right now. Read the lyrics below and watch the clip.

What is the theme of their song? 

How does this connect to other texts - poems, stories, books or people that we have been examining this year?

Me, my community we work hard,
Every opportunity to break walls,
Fighting all the lunacy that they cause,
Respect here, to you and me, the same God.
Giving you the right facts,
We keep repeating that Islam has been hijacked,
We ain't like that,
Then some lunatic goes on a rampage,
Using violence and I'm outraged
These is senseless, and its gruesome,
Please don't let this, be a Muslim.
Awww maaan... We're all vilified,
They're saying we're savages, uncivilized
Islam means peace? na thats a front!
Its all a deceit, till they get what want
Dont trust them, even the nice ones
Wait till the bite comes - Mike Tyson
Not fair. The KKKs, Timothy McVeighs, 
Militia Brigades, the old crusades,
They're all renegades, from the faith that you claim,
Its them we should blame
I dont blame you, You should refrain too
Believe when we say that it ain't true.
I know what they call us, uh huh
They try to blame all us,
But I know the prophet lived and I know what he taught us
[Chorus]
its... my faith, my voice,
its... my faith, my voice,
Don't care what they say, this is my voice....
my faith, my voice
Come you're invited to see the real picture
Nothing hiding, here's a free scripture
We ain't gonna hurt you, try to convert you
Just so you know how easily they tricked ya
That all us Muslims are those 19 men
Don't build that mosque cause it might be them
Its the same kinda talk of a Bin Laden
Get'em - guilt by association
Mosques being vandalized, cats being stabbed at night
The bigots and racist like zombies they come to life
But instead of all the hate, lets join the same team
I love this land, my people, our dream
Go use the same steam, for youth to stay clean
Our earth to stay green, we want the same thing
'Stead of burning books, extinguish disease
Help spark the flame to help children in need
You will be your faith, I will be mine
Lets live in peace, ma'asalaam
Peace all the time, for all of mankind,
thats on my mind. my masterplan.. check it, yeah
that's my master plan, that's my master plan.

No Man Is An Island

Read John Donne's writing:

No man is an island entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main; if a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less, as well as if a promontory were, as well as any manner of thy friends or of thine own were; any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind. And therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee.

These words by John Donne from the 1624 Meditation 17, 
from Devotions Upon Emergent Occasions

And watch the video clip below:

Reflect on the poem in your blog entry and 'the visual poem' to make connections to the people we have considered, the texts we have studied so far and the themes we are exploring this year. All of these resources are great inspiration points for your theme notebook entries.

How Does the Past Impact Identity?

Listen to Fatmire Feka's story. I am so inspired by her ability to forgive, to move beyond understandable rage against the horrors she has seen. Consider how her identity has been shaped by the events of her past but how she transformed these events into becoming an 'upstander', an activist for peace and human rights.
Fatmire's 2009 Speech from The Eagle Down Foundation on Vimeo.

What Shapes Our Identity?

How do we view ourselves? 
What shapes our identity?
How does how we define ourselves affect how others see us?
How do others perceptions affect they way we see/define ourselves?
How do these perceptions affect the relationships we have in society?
How does our identity change over time, within certain conditions?
Watch the video of Jesus Colon. How does Colon see himself? How might others describe him?
Create an identity chart for him and compare it to your own identity chart to consider the influences on our sense of self, our identity.


Image: Pulcinella from Commedia Del Arte, illustrated by Luigi Serafini

Jesús Colón describes labels that others have placed on him. Use the following questions to write a response on your blog:
What labels does he place on the groups to which he belongs? on other groups?
How did those labels shape the way he perceived his choices? the decision he made?
Why does he have regrets? Did he make the right choice?
Would your answer be different if he were a white American?
Who is the victim in this story – Colón, the woman, or the larger society?

from Facing History,Facing Ourselves:Choosing to Participate

What Do We Do with a Variation?

What do we do with a difference?

Do we stand and discuss its oddity

or do we ignore it?

Do we shut our eyes to it

or poke it with a stick?

Do we clobber it to death?

Do we move around it in rage

and enlist the rage of others?

Do we will it to go away?

Do we look at it in awe

or purely in wonderment?

Do we work for it to disappear?

Do we pass it stealthily

Or change route away from it?

Do we will it to become like ourselves?

What do we do with a difference?

Do we communicate to it,

let application acknowledge it

for barriers to fall down?

James Berry

"IT IS NOT POWER THAT CORRUPTS, BUT FEAR" AUNG SAN SUU KYI

Aung San Suu Kyi, the pro- democracy leader of Burma, was finally released on Friday, 13th November after serving 15 out of 21 years under house arrest. 'Her release comes six days after the political party supported by the military won the country's first election in 20 years. The ballot was widely condemned as a sham.'

While many see that Aung San Suu Kyi's perseverence in fighting for democracy has been a 'positive force for Burma', some have been critical saying 'her rigidity has held the pro-democracy movement back'.

Some suggest she should have left Burma when she was able to do so in the late 1990's as she then could have addressed the UN General Assembly and worked for rights for her people from outside.

In Aung San Suu Kyi’s 1990 famous speech, “Freedom From Fear“, she noted, “It is not power that corrupts, but fear. Fear of losing power corrupts those who wield it and fear of the scourge of power corrupts those who are subject to it.”

• Why could Aung San Suu Kyi be considered a hero?
• What does she value? What choices has she had to make? Create an identity chart for Aung San Suu Kyi and consider what personal choices she has made in order to overcome the injustices in her country and help her her people?

Connections:

• Have you ever been in a situation where you are aware of an injustice but did not take action? What stopped you getting involved?

Click on the link to watch an interview made in 1995 with Fergal Keane when she was last released in 1995 before being re-arrested.

Listen to Freedom From Fear a BBC world service audio documentary.

sanctions
'In foreign affairs, sanction means 'penalty, deterrent': eg.international sanctions against the republic go into effect in January.
• ( sanctions) measures taken by a nation to coerce another to conform to an international agreement or norms of conduct, typically in the form of restrictions on trade or on participation in official sporting events.
root: L. sancire: to ‘ratify'.

Listen to the BBC interview of Aung San Suu Kyi

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/nov/15/aung-san-suu-kyi-release

Mythology DBQ Preparation - Daedalus and Icarus

After discussing this myth in class, reading two versions of it, watching the adaptation on DVD and annotating a poem....it is time to assess your understanding. "Yipee!" I hear you cry...This post contains the texts that you will be assessed on in class on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Examine the visual text (painting) and the literary text (poem) posted below.

Remember the strategy that we use in class:

C.E.I.

1. Make a claim (What can you see? Examine the text).

2. Explain your claim (Use evidence and examples to justify your claim).

3. Interpret (Extend your thinking - why did the poet, artist etc. use the technique? What are they trying to communicate with you, and how. Make observations and connections, infer information, link to your wider knowledge).

VISUAL TEXT - Painting Landscape with the Fall of Icarus c. 1558 by Pieter Bruegel

Pieter Bruegel (about 1525-69), usually known as Pieter Bruegel the Elder to distinguish him from his son, was the first in a family of Flemish painters. Pieter Bruegel the Elder, generally considered the greatest Flemish painter of the 16th century, is by far the most important member of the family. He was probably born in Breda in the Duchy of Brabant, now in The Netherlands. His paintings, including his landscapes and scenes of peasant life, stress the absurd and vulgar, yet are full of zest and fine detail. They also expose human weaknesses and follies.

Source: www.ibiblio.org/wm/paint/auth/bruegel/

LITERARY TEXT - Poem Icarus, by Christine Hemp

Icarus

It was his idea, this flying thing.
We collected feathers at night, stuffing
our pockets with mourning dove down. By day,
we'd weave and glue them with the wax
I stole after we'd shooed the bees away.

Oh, how it felt, finally, to blow off Crete
leaving a labyrinth of dead-ends:
my clumsiness with figures, father's calm
impatience, cool logic, interminable devising.
The sea wind touched my face like balm.

He thought I'd tag along as usual,
in the wake of his careful scheme
bound by the string connecting father and son,
invisible thread I tried for years to untie.
I ached to be a good-for-something on my own.

I didn't know I'd get drunk with the heat,
flying high, too much a son to return.
Poor Daedalus, his mouth an O below,
his hands outstretched to catch the rain
of wax. He still doesn't know.

My wings fell, yes - I saw him hover
over the tiny splash - but by then I'd been
swallowed into love's eye, the light I've come to see
as home, drowning in the yes, this swirling
white-hot where night will never find me.

And now when my father wakes
each morning, his bones still sore
from his one-time flight, his confidence undone
because the master plan fell through,
he rises to a light he never knew, his son.

ABOUT CHRISTINE HEMP: Hemp's poetry and essays are heard on NPR's Morning Edition and her work is published widely. She has worked with such groups as Los Alamos Laboratory scientists, Harvard and University of Washington students, National Park Rangers, corporate lawyers, and Native American tribes, as well as the U.S. Navy. She has also has broken new ground in England and the U.S. by uniting youth offenders and police officers, using writing as a tool for crime prevention. Read more on her website: http://www.christinehemp.com/index.html

YOUR WRITTEN RESPONSE
In part B you will be asked to write a paragraph about the following:

It has been said that this myth deals with the following themes: "captivity and escape, ingenuity and creativity, flight and fall, success and failure" (J.E.Nyenhuis 2003). Select one pair of themes and discuss how well they fit the idea of a journey for either Daedalus or Icarus.

It will help you to go to the Moodle page and look at the 4 step paragraph planner there. You might like to plan a response in preparation for the assessment using this format. This method of writing is what I will be looking for in your response. Remember a great place to find a 'hook' and an 'anchor' quote could be in a dictionary (hero, journey, pride....whatever your theme will be), the myth, or maybe even our novel (but choose wisely, this is more difficult). Write these on your planner. You can use your planner in the test - but don't abuse this privilege, writing the whole paragraph there really tiny and copying in the test is not Living Ethically!

You can also view the videos below as more sources of the myth:

Source: Jim Henson's The Storyteller - Greek Myths, Sony Pictures (2006)

What's in a Name?

Think about the name Phoenix in Alan Gibbon's 'Shadow of the Minotaur'. Authors can be very deliberate in their naming of characters. Note the allusion to the myth which many of you have picked up from The Harry Potter book 'Order of the Phoenix'. Follow the links and read the myths of the phoenix and consider the number of cultures this bird occurs in. Why might this idea recur throughout time and culture? How do the associations and symbolism of the phoenix link with the character Phoenix? what are the qualities of the phoenix? What is being suggested here in Shadow of the Minotaur with this name?
Phoenix myths:
The Legend of the Phoenix
Rise of the Phoenix

Connections

Are we more similar than different?

Read Matt Harding's Connecting to a Global Tribe after watching the video clip below. Read and be inspired by Matt's essay and at the same time note how he starts, the personal experiences he describes, his conclusion that connects to a deeper idea. Identify what he values.Respond in your blog to his writing and the video.

The painting is by Marc Chagall, The Juggler. 

Both Matt Harding and the Compliment Guys (see below) make me smile and restore a belief in the basic goodness of people. Read the article outlining the medical benefits of smiling.


And for a little more inspiration... read the poem below:

Stream of Life

The same stream of life that runs through my veins night and day

runs through the world and dances in rhythmic measures.
It is the same life that shoots in joy through the dust of the earth
in numberless blades of grass
and breaks into tumultuous waves of leaves and flowers.
It is the same life that is rocked in the ocean-cradle of birth
and of death, in ebb and in flow.
I feel my limbs are made glorious by the touch of this world of life.
And my pride is from the life-throb of ages dancing in my blood this moment.

Rabindranath Tagore

Rabindranath Tagore was a Bengali poet and in fact won Asia's first Nobel Prize for Literature in 1913. He first started writing poetry at the age of eight! It is this poem that becomes the inspiration and lyrics for the music in Matt Harding's video. Talk about connections.

I BELIEVE IN COMPLIMENTS

Compliment: noun, a polite expression of praise or admiration.

com+pli+ment from L. complere "to complete," via notion of "complete the obligations of politeness from the Latin root: plere, to fill (Harper,D 2003).

When was the last time you received a compliment? 

How did it make you feel? 

When was the last time you complimented someone? 

How did it make that person feel?

The Compliment Guys are making a difference to people's days. I like the idea of small steps that we can all take to make the world a better place and I do believe this can have a ripple effect.We all have the power to connect and effect each other so it might as well be for the good! With so much in the news of disasters and wars it's refreshing to read of positive actions, of goodness and kindness. I believe that a smile towards a stranger, a compliment to someone can create connections and warm the world. I believe we can all connect positively to everyone and in doing so make the world a little better.

Read the article The Compliment Guys, and watch the you-tube clip below. 

What are your reactions? 

What connections can you make between these videos, poems and pieces of art?

The painting is by Teesha Moore, an inspiring collage artist. Visit her site, look at how she combines text and images together. She blends quirky paintings, images, colours and textures in her work. For those of you who may be interested in keeping graphics in your theme notebook, read about how she creates her pages and the materials she uses here in How I Journal.
References: Moore,T.My Journal Pages,retrieved from http://www.teeshamoore.com/teeshasjournalpgs.html

Harper,D. 2003, On Line Etymology Dictionary