20. We want to move from the wide world into exploring our own cultures (school, municipal, religious, home) so write a blog post connecting Sullivan in any way you can to the themes from Rwanda or your other chosen conflict/incident. Some questions you may want to consider: How did the two (or more) groups become divided or chosen originally? How do groups get chosen at Sullivan? What outside influences increased/decreased the tension between the groups? Are there "outside influences" on social circles here at school? What sort of things do different groups value? What do they describe as the reason for disliking another group? How much of there opinion of "others" is based on fact or personal experience? How much is based on rumours, half truths, and propaganda? How do these messages spread through Sullivan? What stops students from learning more about others rather than believing what they hear or read?

Finish with some personal stories of times when you found yourself believing things about others AND times when others believed things about you.



Every school has groups and cliques, almost like the Rwandans... When I look back at the movie I realized that the Rwandans aka Hutu's and Tutsi's were seperated and divided due to the way they were treated by eachother and outsiders. The Tutsi's were the Belgins "favourite" because they had the same similarities as them... the Hutu's on the other hand were absolutely nothing, this infuriated the Hutu's. 


The same goes on in Sullivan Heights Secondary. In my opinion I feel that people have to live upto other peoples expectations... Their is always that one Leader of the group that will order the followers around. People in Sullivan choose their groups differently... the popular kids will always want popular kids... the smart people will always want the smart people... Jocks want sporty people. The outsiders have an influence on groups alot because if its popular kids are hanging out with popular kids and theirs that one kid that doesnt fit in, the popular kids will start judging and this is were bullying comes into play... Popular kids will pick and name call. If groups in Sullivan ever got into a fight I know for a fact outsiders would get involved and increase the issue.


 A personal story: It was in 2011 of Janurary, it was my 16th partybus we all had a blast and a few people that i didnt know were on the partybus, so what? they were friends of my friends... i thought it was okay... We all had a blast. After the partybus we all went to tim hortans... all of a sudden I realized that my phone was stolen... My bestfriend Amaan and Kristy and I went looking for my phone... Then I realized that the people I didnt know took it.. I was furious I marched my way up too them along with Amaan and asked for it back... As usual they denied... I lost it... so did Amaan, Amaan was defending me and as a friend he helped me... The random people that came too my party called a bunch of outsiders to fight their battles. It escladed... I left with Amaan and my bestfriend Ashley. A couple of days later at school the girls that I thought were my friends called the same random people that came to my partybus came too our school to fight... We were so unaware of the fact these randoms were at a school... Amaan and I were walking in the hallways all of a sudden these randoms came running towards us with a mace can and brass knuckles... We ran as fast as we can to the office and stayed their until they got caught, the girls that go to our school and that called these randoms got caught.


 I believe at a certain extent, outsiders are a influence because... young children these days look upto outsiders and see what other people to do! These kids want to be cool and what outsiders do they will want to do and act like. Groups value: Loyalty, Honestly, Capablity, POWER etc... Groups in school have many reasons not to like eachother... the way they dress, religion, who their friends are, how they look like etc... I think alot of it is based on fact but turns personal somewhere along the line because during the years whatever you have shared to your friends and soon or later you guys got into a rift, they will do things to get back at you... like telling something that only they were suppose to know but just to get popular and make everyone hate you, they spread a rumour like rapid fire. ALOT of it is based on rumours, half truths because people want to be accepted into groups and some ways they get accepted is by telling lies about other people, telling secrets of other people, and to pretty much ruining someones life just to be accepted.


 Another personal story: In grade 10 I was friends with everyone and the one that i thought that was my BESTFRIEND turned on me, she told everyone my secret... it spread like rapid fire, people were calling me names, they were judging.. but they didnt realize i am only human and if i didnt experience this in life... i would never learn from them... People were constanly judging me... But sooner or later the rumours and bullshit faded away. I was glad it was over and done with and that everyone liked me for who i am not what i have done... now when i see younger groups doing that i tell them  how its not right and how it can effect their life... Messages spread through Sullivan by one person gossiping to a friend and then its a chain. The DETAILS of the story makes everyone believe what they had heard... And they would ask other people if it was true or not... people would never ask the person their talking about what had happened. 

19. Using the theme you chose from Assignment 18, write your own song lyrics, poem, or short story. As we may all choose to write different type of prose, we will not be spending entire classes on the structure of a short story. I have inserted a few helpful videos and you are encouraged to do your own research on the technical aspects of your chosen writing. Whatever you choose, it should reflect YOUR personal thoughts and/or feelings about the theme. More than any other writing so far, this will require you to be thoughtful, work hard, and decide for yourself how much is "enough". One of the best tips I can give you is to write about yourself or the things you care about. Find a way to connect one of the themes into your own life rather than random topics. If you love baseball include a theme from Hotel Rwanda into a baseball story. If you know about hip hop, or India, or muscle cars... connect one of the themes to a story about your passions. It will make your writing process easier because you have a base of knowledge and motivation about the subject. It will also make the writing more authentic as your "voice" will be more natural. Long boarders know how long boarders talk... I don't. When I try to pretend to be a long boarder it is obvious and awkward. As always, your reading and commenting on others work as a part of our network of "experts" will be a large part of your success in June.


Growing up mother always told me" do well in school or else i'll end up on the wrong path like the kids that live on the streets on Eastside Vancouver"... Thats exactly what happened. Here's a summary of my life. Hi my name is Paul Douglas Jr, I lived in a happy home (well it seemed like it) life was great, a perfect home, perfect family, and perfect life. My mom was a housewive she loved being at home with the kids. My dad was a hardworker, he provided for the family... In my mind life was wonderful but in my parents eyes it wasn't, their marriage was falling apart, couple of months later the news hit us, the one news that can possibly change your life the " We are getting a divorce, and this is not your guy's fault" We lived with our mother, she had to start working to provide for us, she did double shifts and worked HARD. She was rarely home. In highschool I had a tough time adapting to new people, life got hard... I just couldn't bare the feeling. So I decided to hang out with the wrong people... yeah the ones that are into doing drugs, stealing cars, and trouble with the law. Everyday of my life it was the same routine... Skip school to get high and be a druggy. Sooner or later my other noticed the difference in my behavior , how I was acting with everyone at home. When I went to school my mother decided to raid my room, she went through everything, last thing to go through was my bed, my mom tossed over the bed and found the reason what was changing her son... Lots of drugs. I got home that day and I see my mom waiting in the family room with all the drugs laid out on the table, my heart was pounding, I was nervous and most of all scared. My mom asked me to be seated on the couch across her, she asked one question " why?" I was thinking of a good reason but nothing came to mind, all of a sudden I hear weeping and my mother just said it straight out... " Paul I feel we need to send you away to your fathers home..." Hearing that made me furious, why should I have to leave if I am going through teenage stuff, I stormed out of my house and decided that its my life I'll do whatever I want too, so I called up a couple of friends and asked of they wanted to get high... We went to a park and found a drug dealer who sold us some good sh*t, it got us high as f**k all of a sudden it hit me, I don't need to live with no one I can support myself by dealing drugs I could make a fortune... So the dealer who implied us with drugs I asked if I could start working for them. The next days took everything that belonged to me and left to the underworld the drug dealing world, I started off small with weed and sooner or later I started to deal crack, cocaine, heroine etc.. I was making big bucks... But then I started using all those drugs instead of selling I was ripping off the boss, one day the boss called me in and his men had their guns to my head... The boss gave my 48 hours to give back all his money, and I owe a lot of money... I agreed but had a plan that I would run away and leave... The next morning I left I went to Richmond and decided to stay there... But I never knew that I have people watching me, the boss sent people he was 2 steps ahead of me ... His people took me back to the boss and the boss had enough, and the boss pulled his gun to my head... The boss counted " 1-2-3 BOOOOM" my life flashed before my house, I saw how my life was as a child how happy I was and by the choices I made led me to a path of destruction this was bound to happen... I was left in the street dying until someone found me, I was rushed to the hospital all I saw was nurses and my brothers and my mom, until I went to the operating room, life has giving me a second chance, I was alive and recovering , I decided I didn't want my mom to suffer she dd everything to make us happy and our lives easier. I decided I was going to go to rehab and clean up. Now I am clean and volunteer to tell my story to young adults. When life gives you a second chance take it cause you never know where life's going to take you. 

18. Find a song, poem, or story about any one of the themes from our Hotel Rwanda discussions. (propaganda, lack of education, prejudice, social circles/creation of outsiders, calls to violence, or genocide). Link or post (giving copyright credit where due) and write a post about why your selected that piece and what it says to you. Then read and comment on others posts.



The movie I chose that kind of resembles the theme or story line of Hotel Rwanda is Boyz N the Hood Directed by John Singleton. Boyz N the Hood is a story of a young boy( Tre Styles) who lives with his struggling professional mother, Tre is a troublesome young boy who got into a few rifts at school with a few kids and begins to show signs of trouble. As soon as his mother notices the trouble, she sents him off to his fathers house, Who is a strict, hard headed, and disciplinarian. There while living with his dad, Tre befriends a few boys Ricky the Football player and Doughboy the Drug dealer. Soon when they grow older, they choose different paths... Tre decides to go to College, Ricky wants to pursue the football career and go to school, and Doughboy decides to stick to be a gang-banger,drug dealer, and in-out of Juvie. One day Tre and Ricky are walking until a rival gang chases down both of them, with tragic results. Once Doughboy heres this news, he immediately prepares for revenge and asks Tre to choose whether he chooses his future of becoming something in life and making clean money or takes the path of taking revenge on the rival gang and gain self respect from people in the hood. The movie portrays the life in the "Hood" how boys and men are struggling to escape the violence and drugs, and the poverty life. This is some what similar to the movie because alot of violence and killing was involved between the SAME COLOURED PEOPLE! They were exactly the same people killing eachother for what power? Thats exactly what happens in the "GANG" world they kill eachother for the power and respect or even revenge for a irrevelent reason. I chose this movie because, i have now watched it 4 times and everytime I see it I always have the same reaction... the "WOW" reaction, this movie had portrayed the hood life so well and the argument of why are we killing eachother for power and respect, when you can get that with doing good deeds. It also shows how some men are pressured on their man-hood when it comes to tough and traumatizing situations like this... Alot of songs have been written after this amazing movie. 

16. After watching Hotel Rwanda to begin our new Unit please write a blog post answering the following questions: What caused two tribes of people who lived in peace for hundreds of years to build up hatred for one another? What reasons do they describe for their dislike? How is the hatred spread? How do they justify the horrible things they do? What similarities from other countries or historical events do you see? What sort of reaction do you have to watching the film?

Questions&Responses

What caused the two tribes of people who lived in peace for hundreds of years to build up hatred for one another?

A: The two tribes conflict started when the Belgium people differentiated between the Hutu's and Tutsi's. The Belgiums wanted to take back one of the tribes that looked more European with sharp noses and tall heights.   The Belgiums thought the Tutsi's looked more European. Which the Europeans put Tutsi's in responsiblility. This infuriated the Hutu's. Which led to the Hutu's to instigate a massacre, this was just the fuel to the fire. But this has been a back and forth issue between the Hutu's and Tutsi's since the beginning. The Tutsi's had a higher population which made them control Rwanda. The Hutu's were feeling like they were getting discriminated against which they felt they werent equal, that eventually provoked the Hutu's to kill and get their equal rights and in control.

What reasons do they describe for their dislikes?

A: The reason they dislike eachother from the beginning is because of the ethnic tension. But in some ways they were similar but they didnt realize that. The Tutsi's loved being better then the Hutu's and the resentment to the Hutu's built up so much that they killed the Tutsi's. Overall the MAIN reason is that the Hutu's felt the resentment and hatred.

How is the hatred spread?

A: The hatred spread by Propaganda. Propaganda is information, ideas, rumours purposely and deliberatley spread to either help or harm a person or people. This is a big movement that can be good or bad. But in this case the Propaganda was deliberately used to harm the Tutsi's people. They used this propaganda over the radio which everyone listened too. Once the Hutu's heard the radio, they would get infuriated and hyped to punish the Tutsi's.

How do they justify the horrible things they do? 

A: They justify the things they do by bringing in the UN and help from local police. Which led to stop the genocide

What similarities from other countries or historical events do you see?
 
A: Some of the similarities i still see to this day are hatred and sexism. For example their has been one genocide occuring in India since beginning of time... The female genocide, heres a little background on what the female genocide is. The female genocide is the killing of baby girls because in india the parents want to determine the sex of the baby ahead of time to see if its a boy so they can keep it and if its a girl kill it. In india it is believed that if you have a boy in the house it is good because they can carry on the "name" of the family and  carry on the family business, which in my opinion is stupid. Women are the same as men, they are equal to men, whatever men can do women can also do, their are many powerful women out there that have done so much for the people and the world, that are such a great inspiration. In India this genocide has effected many women. More then 50 million baby girls have either been missing or killed...the culture of favouring males in India is costing the lives of millions of young girls which is absolutley disgusting. More than 2,000 illegal abortions are being carried out every single day, and it is dramatically altering the balance of the population. Many baby girls have been killed before even being born, and many baby girls have been killed after being born. It truly sickens me that this type of belief in India still exists in the 21st century, It hurts to see that many baby girls that could have been something and done something could not even be given the chance to live. I am a female myself and seeing events like this in india, in my culture still happens hurts, I feel like there should be something done about this, spread the word, make the parents understand the value of being a female, make the mothers understand themselves that you are a FEMALE yourself so why on earth are you part of the killing of your own daughter. I think that the most powerful people in the world should focus on a topic like this, atleast there will be a change in a horrific event like this and hopefully a end to this event.

8) We watched the movie Gladiator with the TOC and the final day talked briefly about the difficulties of high school and the need for the human brain to stereotype others as a way to categorize and simplify information. We all understand this in an emotional sense and thus create/accept/use our public personas and protect our personal ones. Write a blog post describing the public persona Maximus takes on (or is given) by others and compare it to what we see of his personal persona. Next, think of someone famous or someone you know who you feel has a very distinct public persona. Why do they have it? What does it do for them? What do you know of their personal persona? Then describe your own public persona (whether you feel you create it or are given it by others) and how that is similar or different to your personal persona. What does your public persona do for you? Why did you create or accept it? What don't you like about it? *As a part of our skill development in formulating and argument and using web tools for modern literacy you are encouraged to embed short videos or images that help provide context or support your writing.


Maximus public persona was that the gladiator was never defeated in his battles. His personal persona was that he was weak inside and looked strong on the exterior. In the movie everyone wanted to see him fail but that didn't stop him, the trauma that he had made him stronger and powerful. My public persona is Gandhi, he was a political and spiritual leader for our country, he had many movements too help India. He wanted to stop discrimination for indians. He had been jailed for conspiracy. He wanted to stop the Hindu and Muslim conflict but that led to assassination. People wanted to see him fail. He died on January 30 1948. Gandhi was a simple believer in change. He faced many challenges just to make a difference in the world. I believe in change, change is a good thing because it leads you to new experiences. 

Write a blog post reviewing your efforts this year as percentages (your total/total owing) : What percentage of classes have you attended (include lates and early dismissals)? what percentage of assignments do you have complete? what percentage of your assignments have been done to your BEST ability? what percentage of time in class do you spend "on task"? what percentage of your final presentation for Genius Hour is complete? What percentage would you give yourself for "self-regulation" (being in charge of yourself)? What percentage would you give yourself for effort on assignments? What percentage would you give yourself for quality of writing and assignments (list each one)? What overall percentage would you give yourself so far? WHY? 

I have missed a lot of classes 70%, I admit that I haven't been attending classes due to medical issues, but its not an excuse to not complete my homework, whenever I do miss a day I always use my time wisely and complete my homework so I can get a good mark 80% of my assignments are complete. Whenever I am in class I am focused 100% I do chat but I do my work while I talk to my peers around me. 70% of my genius hour project is complete. I give myself 85%-90% for self regulations. I give myself 95% for effort for my assignments I try to use a wide range of vocabulary and make my assignments meaningful so that I am proud of my assignment and the final mark. 75%-90% for the quality of writing an assignment.

Tattoo Assignment- 90% it was a meaningful piece 

Forever young- 100% I put my mind into and lots of effort and understood the concept of the song

10 year plan- 75%-80% it was my first assignment but I thought I described my future plan well 

Personality Test-80% it didn't have enough quality that I expected it to have but still it was well done

Hamlet-90%-95% because I have used my life as an example and tried to use an extensive vocabulary and thought I wrote it pretty well.

Overall percentage I would give myself an 75% only because of my attendance. 

14. 1) Write a blog post reflecting on the story of Hamlet and his most famous soliloquy. 2) What parts of his story or his feelings can you relate to? 3) What struggles do you wrestle with when you are alone? 4) What positives do you look for when you are feeling down? 5) What do you think Shakespeare is trying to say about family, suicide, murder, love or life in general in his play Hamlet?



1) Hamlet was about a young teenage boy that was the prince of Denmark (Hamlet) who's father was killed by his fathers brother(uncle) that was sleeping with the queen. Hamlet seen the ghost of his father, who tells him that his uncle Claudius poisoned him and that was the cause of the death. Hamlet is angered because Claudius married Hamlets mother to gain the crown of being the King of Denmark. Hamlets fathers ghost tells him to plot a plan to kill his unlce Claudius. Hamlet needed a good plan to let everyone know how the former king died, Hamlet created a play about the way his father exactly died,  Claudius was angered and walked out. Hamlets mother asked why he would do such a thing, Hamlet heard something in the closet, he quickly grabbed a knife and stabbed someone, Hamlet came to know it was his lovers father. T prove himself innocent hamlet had to have a sword fight... Is step father poisoned the wine glass and sword, the mother drinks the wine falls dead and hamlet got stabbed had poison flowing through him as hamlet was dying he killed his step father.



In some ways I can say I can relate to hamlets story because in my life there were many times were I was alone and didn't understand how to cope with the world around me. There were many days were I would turn to very serious dangerous things that could have made me sick or dead. I had so many feelings suppressed inside of me that I had no one to talk to because I would worry about how people would judge me. We're Hamlet and I are the same are the feeling of being alone and judged. The struggles I had faced of being alone was I was diagnosed with severe depression ,the very traumatic events that have happened to me built up so much inside of me that I didn't know what was going in around me, with my severe depression I have put my family through a lot. I would cry myself to sleep, i wouldn't talk to no one in my house, I did not eat, I lost my appetite, I closed myself off from the world, i could barely make it to school, life was just a mess, it was such a mess that I tried many times to make myself "disappear" which really landed me in the hospital and counselling, I have learned with all the struggles I have faced i have learned to become a stronger person and become a role model to the people who have faced the same problems and traumatic events that I have . I love my family for all there support and positivity they made my journey of being better and healthy so much better. When I feel alone I keep myself occupied in the stuff I like doing and that distracts me or i talk to my bestfriend my mommy.The positives I look to when I'm feeling down are that I am in a loving and happy family/environment that support me through my high and lows, my rise and falls, success and struggles, I love how my family keep me happy everyday knowing that I have been through a lot and they want me to stay positive so with their positivity I get through my low days, so with all this positivity life is definitely worth living. I think what Shakespeare is trying to intend is with many struggles comes judging, frustration, and thoughts about your life, with all this if you have negative happening think positive about life,think about the people that care about you. There will always be struggles in life but that's life, you have to suck it up and get through it to become a stronger person.