What is Power?

Power can be defined in many different ways according to the situations. In the history of the world, power has been a very important ingredient. Some events were caused by powers and some had powers related to the events. The history shows many aspects of power; general categories of power are economic power, political power and military power. The world we live in could not have been the way it is now if it weren’t for the economic power. One of the examples of economic power is different types of economic systems such as capitalism, communism, and socialism. Capitalism shows how individuals have powers to run their own companies and decide own their own for their benefits while communism shows how people all share equally among themselves and how people are ruled by some leaders or parties. Socialism shows how people can have their own businesses but has sort of equality in the system. These economic systems represent the economic power as they show different aspects of it. Moreover, the Industrial Revolution is another example of economic power. Before the Industrial Revolution, people were basically all poor with barely anything to eat. With economic power that grew during the Industrial Revolution, people were able to live longer and more well fed. Furthermore, globalization represents the present economic power. It improved the technology that is used a lot these days, giving advantages to people and making the lives of humans more comfortable, quicker and easier.Another type of power is political power. This power can become both good and bad depending on the situation. An example of political power is the Russian Revolution. From the cause of the Russian Revolution, it involved political power. One of the causes of it was Tsar Nicolas II, the kind of Russia, retaining absolute power, which was autocracy. The outcome of the Russian Revolution was communism of having USSR as the leading party. It later showed that it led to corruption of power of the party being the rich while the common people being the poor. Also, in the book Animal Farm, which is an allegory of the Russian Revolution, Napoleon, who later in the book possessed power all to himself, commanded other animals to work for their benefits when it was actually for himself. As you can see, the political power in the Animal Farm is a bad power.Military power is a very strong power. An example of it is World War I. As the Allied Power had better military power, they could win the war. Also, World War II is another example of military power. It was when the Allied Power won again over the Axis with better military power with more machines than the first war. Moreover, the Cold War shows military power; though the United States and Russia never actually fought a "hot" war, they invented advanced technological weapons to intimidate each other. Actually, US used its very new weapon, an atomic bomb, on a city in Japan, Hiroshima, which affected Japan hugely. Military power is very important, especially in wars to protect their countries.
In conclusion, there are many different types of power, and most of them can be divided into three categories of power: economic, political, and military. Those powers can both benefit or worsen the society depending on the situation.

Power and Control

How do you see either the theme of power or control in your novel?

From the novel The Hunger Games I can see the theme of control very well. I think the whole book is actually about control. For example, on page 5 of the novel, it tells us how the people of the Districts are not supposed to go out of the fence as the Capitol made it a law. Also, it says "District Twelve. Where you can starve to death in safety." This shows that as the Capitol is controlling them and have laws that might lead to starvation of the people of the district, the society is safe, but the people are not fed well. Another example on page 13, it tells us how for the reaping of the Hunger Games, people between ages of 12 to 18 has to have their name in the reaping for one to get picked to participate in the Hunger Games. This shows control because even if the people don't want their name in the reaping or don't want to participate in the Hunger Games, the Capitol control the people to have their name in the reaping and have to participate in the Hunger Games or they will get punished. Also, the novel shows the control of people of not letting them meet or go to the other districts. For example, on page 203, where the little girl from the District 11 called Rue and the main character, Katniss, talk about their districts, which they know nothing about because of the control of the Capitol. Moreover, on page 244, it tells us that the Capitol changed the rule of the game to only having one victor to having two victors and later on page 342, they change it back to one victor. This definitely shows control because they changed the rule to fit their needs. Furthermore, on page 348, it shows how Katniss is controlled even though she won the Hunger Game and should have freedom then.

Feedback - April 27 - May 1 - Population Project

What are the three most valuable things you have learned during the Population Project process? How will they help you in the future?

During the process of the Population Project, I learned that I had to use my time well in the beginning as I had not done my research in March, resulting in a lot of research later for my data analysis and research paper. This will help me to finish my project in time and not to do all my work at last minute. Another thing that I learned is how to write a data analysis and a problem research paper. Though there were lots of things that I didn't understand during the writing process of my data analysis, I learned many new things and how to interpret the data of my graph and use the information to prove my thoughts and opinions. I had learned how to write a issue research paper when we wrote the Africa research paper, but I learned how to write a problem research paper during the Population Project. This might help me in the future when I write a data analysis or another problem research paper. The last thing that I learned from the Population Project is how to use Microsoft Excel 2007 to make a graph. This will help me use Microsoft Excel 2007 to make a graph for my future projects.

Net Effect of Globalization

According to the World Bank, globalization is "the growing integration of economies and societies around the world..." and also "a historical stage of accelerated expansion of market capitalism". Globalization has affected the world both positively and negatively. Firstly, one of the positive effects is that it has westernized the developing countries, helping them to modernization. Secondly, many more jobs were provided for the poor people in countries such as India as the result of outsourcing. Thirdly, due to globalization, we can buy products more cheaply, easily and quickly. Lastly, the technology today has improved so that it makes our lives a lot easier and faster. There are many more positive effects of globalization. As you can see, globalization seems admirable now with only positive effects mentioned; however, there are ugly side to globalization, too.
Globalization definitely has some negative effects to the world. Firstly, millions of Americans have lost their jobs in their country as a result of outsourcing and providing jobs to the poor in cheaper wages. Secondly, the cultures in the east has been somewhat westernized. Countries like India are losing their cultures and traditions because of globalization. Thirdly, as people have to follow the western time, many people in the east have to work in the night, therefore, families are not able to spend much time with each other. Fourthly, there are lots of traffic as more roads and cars are built and bought for transportation. Lastly, a widening gap is creasted between rich and poor. Because the poor can't afford to use technology that are available to the rich, the gap is getting wider as new technology is introduced. Overall, as globalization has so many both positive and negative effects, it can't be considered simply either good or bad. It needs a lot of consideration before deciding it.

Image Source:
http://www.tcnj.edu/~franco6/images/large_globalization_e.bmp

Feedback - April 13-17 - Technology and Schools

The main visual elements of this cartoon is a child eating dinner with his parents and the most important part of the cartoon is the writing under the image: "Well, yes, we could read your blog... or you could just tell us about your school day." I think the cartoon is showing the issue of families not talking about their private lives, rather make the other family memebers read what they did on their blog. I think the cartoonist's opinion on this issue is that technology even prevents families from talking to another about what they should talk about. Though the family is right in front of him, his action of not telling his parents what happened at school and telling them to read his blog shows that technology is not allowing children to talk to their parents privately. The writing below the image shows that my thoughts can be right; especially the underlined word: tell. This cartoon is ironic as families often talk about what's going on in their lives, however, they are not doing so as technology is there where their family members can find about him. It relates to our study of technology and the future as this cartoon shows that with technology, people will not be willing to tell what happened to them to their close relatives, therefore, in the future, this will get worse and family members will eventually not talk to each other as much. I think the cartoonist could have had the cartoon where the boy also talks about checking the blog and his father replying to make the viewers understand more easily.

Image Source: www.sandiegohomeblog.com

PoP Project Work Week

This week is your week to work on your Population Project in Humanities Class. What I would like you to do for this week’s feedback is to create a work plan for using your classtime most effectively. Take a few minutes to figure out what you have left to do and then lay out your plan day by day for this week.

Monday/Tuesday:
Make note cards.
Wednesday:
Put them in order that I want them to be in.
Make an outline using the note cards.
Thursday:
Write a rough draft of my research paper.
Home:
Edit the rough draft.
Make a final copy of my research paper.

Feedback March 16-20 - Technology?

I think technology is use of mechanical devices that uses some sort of energy to generate itself. It helps humans do things that we can't do with human skills or helps humans to do things faster and easier. Also, it helps humans achieve goals such as putting men on the Moon. I think the five most important technologies used today are light bulbs, transportation such as cars and buses, refrigerators, computers, and cell phones. Those are things that help us to communicate with each other, keep food fresh and cool, travel to different places, etc. The five least important technologies would be automatic sliding doors, Christmas lights, things that light up unnecessarily, doorbells, and coffee machines. Those are devices that we consume electricity unnecessarily. We use technology in almost all of our classes: humanities, algebra, science, Spanish, yearbook, robotics, etc. I think that AES uses a lot of technology, maybe more than needed; however, I think it teaches us a lot of things and how to use technology well. Also, I think we are lucky that we can use technology at AES as it is better than technology that I used in the school I went before.

Vonnegut and Technology

Using examples from “Harrison Bergeron”, “The Euphio Question” and current events evaluate the statement:

“Do you know what a Luddite is? That’s a person who doesn’t like newfangled contraptions. Contraptions like nuclear submarines armed with Poseidon missiles that have H-bombs in their warheads, and like computers that cheat you out of becoming. Bill Gates says, “Wait till you can see what your computer can become.” But it’s you who should be doing the becoming. What you can become is the miracle you were born to work—not the damn fool computer.”

- Kurt Vonnegut

I don't agree with Kurt Vonnegut about computer is a damn fool thing that make people less human. Firstly, as the technology helps us to live in comfort, we are able to do things that we can't do with just things that we have that are not related to technology. You can find different information easily by just typing a few words in internet, and you can make things quicker and do things faster. We are able to think more when we are not busy with the help of technology. Secondly, technology helps us to communicate with one another. By using internet, phone, and other communicating devices, we can communicate with people far away quickly, meet people we haven't met before, read other people's thoughts and opinions, and etc. That helps us think of other sides of opinions and thoughts differently, which teaches us many more things. Lastly, it's technology that does everything for us or help us do things faster like I said before. If there is no technology, we would have more diseases, wouldn't be able to learn more than now, travel to other countries or cities, get information we want, etc. Technology actually helps us survive in this difficult world.

Though Kurt Vonnegut disagree with my thoughts and wrote stories that shows the cons of technology, I think it's exaggerated too much. Even though the people use technology nowadays to do almost everything, we won't be using it as a dangerous weapon or for uncomfortable use. Technology is actually designed to help people live in comfort, therefore, I do not think it would be used like that in the story or in a sort of similar way.

End of Quarter 3 Feedback

My first goal for Quarter 3 was speaking more in classes and discussions. I think I reached that goal quite well because I got a good grade in Socratic Seminar and the PowerPoint presentation. The second goal was to improve my reading skills such as speed and understanding the story. I think I reached that goal as I got a good grade on my total grade for reading. My last goal was to improve my vocabulary skills. But I think I did not reach that goal as I do not think I used variety of vocabularies and got some wrongs on Animal Farm Vocabulary Quiz. Overall, I think I did quite well this quarter though my grade was not as good as last quarter's because I finally reached the goal I could not meet last two quarters.
My first new goal for Quarter 4 is to improve my vocabulary skills. I'm trying to meet this goal because I could not meet it last time and also, I think I use same vocabularies too much (as you can see in this post). My second goal for Quarter 4 is to use my time well. In Quarter 3, I did not use the time given to me very well; I actually played before doing my homework. I will try to sleep earlier than before after finishing all of my homework. My third goal is to get an A in humanities. I am trying to meet this goal because my overall grade was worse than before.

Feedback March 2-6

An oxymoron is two words that don’t belong being used together. Why is the phrase “Holy War” an oxymoron? Why is it that so many conflicts in the world today are based upon religious differences yet all major world religions condemn killing?

As an oxymoron is two antonyms that are used together, "Holy War" is absolutely an oxymoron. The phrase "Holy War" is surely an oxymoron because holy means sacred and war means a conflict that involves violence. They cannot be used together, however, "Holy War" is a real phrase that is used and means a struggle between different religions. There are many conflicts in the world today that are based upon religious differences; however, most religions actually condemn killing. I think that is because the people might think they are killing the devils that are trying to wipe out their own people who believe in one god. They might not think of them as humans or even living creatures. Or they might think it's okay to kill people to protect their god.

Feedback February 16-20 - World War III ???

I do not think that a World War III will be in my lifetime. There are so many things that prevent the war from happening. First of all, many countries are allies with many other countries, which prevents the world not to split in half. Even though there are still some communist countries, as there are more capitalist countries, I think they would not be able to win the fight between communism versus capitalism. Additionally, the countries help each other when there is a problem. Therefore, I think the countries are most likely not to involve in a war. Second of all, the world can get the resources they want by trading with other countries. The countries do not need to get into a war to get resources they want now. Third of all, there's a huge depression now so the countries would not be in any condition for any war as they have to solve this depression in the world. Last of all, the world is now a united world. Many people from variety of many countries go to other different countries for tourism, for business, to live abroad, or for any other reason. As long as there are not more countries changing their government to communism, the countries do not stop trading, and the countries are well united, I think a World War III will not happen.

World War II: A Letter from the Battlefront

King George Hospital

Royal Air Force Base

Colchester, England

September 30, 1940

Dear mother,

Hello, mother. How are you doing? I hope everything is fine with you. I am rather well. I'm writing to you from one of the recovery rooms in our base hospital. I had quite a few injuries on my hands, arms, and chest. Most of them have healed. Yesterday, the doctors performed a grafting on my burnt arms. Even though the battle had ended, there was scarcely any food left in London and nearby cities as the Nazi had bombed London so many times and the supply lines were disrupted. Therefore, the rations here are very low. We have barely any food here, but I feel energetic when I think of seeing you in a few weeks. I have been granted to leave and will be home about next week or so.

Mother, when I left to join the Royal Air Force (RAF), I know you were very worried and tried your best to stop me from joining. But today, I am proud to have fought got my country. I am glad to be in part of protecting my own country, even if the conditions were harsh and needed some sacrifices. I can still imagine the battle vividly. The war between Britain and the Nazi started on July 10, 1940 as you might remember; it was the day when the Nazi air force called the Luftwaffe started attacking us for control over the Straits of Dover. The attack continued for weeks. But guess what, mother. The RAF guarded Britain quite successfully from the Nazi. From August 23rd to September 6th, many Nazi's bombing planes reached Britain and bombed the cities such as London, Coventry, and Plymouth. Thank god, you have fled to the country side or else I would have been worrying about you till now.

The battle finally ended on September 15, 1940 as Hitler's threat of invading Britain ended. The Nazi realized that they couldn't defeat the RAF with Luftwaffe. I heard that they turned to the next target, Russia. Therefore, I don't think you need to worry anymore about the Nazi invading Britain, I will tell you more about the war with more descriptive details once I get back, mother. I miss you so much, and I love you.

Love,
James L. Harper

Information Sources:

http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/battleofbritain.htm
http://www.raf.mod.uk/Bob1940/background.html
http://www.worldwar2database.com/html/britain_40.htm

http://www.bbc.co.uk/ww2peopleswar/stories/94/a4171394.shtml

Image Source:

http://www.barryweekleyart.com/aviation/Lucky%20escape%20Battle%20of%20Britain.jpg

Feedback February 9-13

In The New York Times the writer Anna Quindlen asked, “Would our understanding of the Holocaust be quite the same if Anne Frank had not taken a small plaid diary into hiding with her?” Respond to this question and explain your answer.

If Anne Frank had not written a diary during the Holocaust, we would not have been able to understand the Holocaust like now. As the diary is from a real Jew who had experienced the Holocaust as a young girl, we can know and see how the Jews had been like and how they felt about the whole Holocaust. Also, we wouldn't have known how hard for the Jews the Holocaust was, especially for little children, and we would have just thought it was horrible, not knowing the real horribleness of the Holocaust.

A Recipe for World War II

A Recipe for World War II
By HyeJin

People cried from the roof tops,
On the roads, in the narrow streets,
In the grass dead fields.
The sounds burst like grains of sunshine,
The war is over, the war is over.
The future brightly shines.

But was the war really over?
No, in a room sat sinister ambitious politicians
Ready to cook the goose.
Cooking began with cutting the meat.
Each fought for larger share,
Becoming greedier and greedier each second.

Politicians each mixed failure of the Treaty of Versailles
With Failure of the League of Nations.
One applied Fascism, other applied Hitler, Mussolini, and Stalin,
other Appeasement, German Aggression, Japanese Aggression.
Their faces stretched in malevolent grins.
Who said the war was over?
The future brightly shines!

Critique of Animal Farm (The Movie)

After reading the book 'Animal Farm' by George Orwell and watching the movie version of 'Animal Farm' adapted from the book, I realised that I like the book better than the movie. I don't think that the movie was a satisfactory adaptation of 'Animal Farm.' Although story of the movie is same as the book, the detailed parts were missing or were changed differently and I think this made the movie unsatisfactory.
For example, missing of Mollie, the white mare who ran away from the Animal Farm as it didn't like the way it was ruled, made the Animal Farm look prosperous and better than any other farms. I didn't like Mollie missing from the movie as showing that some animals didn't like the way the pigs ruled was very important for the story. Another Example is Battle of Cowshed happening right after Farmer Jones was kicked out. It didn't give any time for the animals celebrate their victory. Also, Benjamin wasn't a working hard animal, who was always with Boxer, and this didn't show Benjamin was educated and knew that the Animal Farm thing would not work. There are many more differences between the book and the movie such as the Battle of Windmill, Mr. Whymper, the song 'Beasts of England,' missing of Clover, overthrowing Napoleon, etc. that I think is important to not change too much from the book. Overall, I liked the book better than the movie.

Feedback January 26-30 - Which Animal Are You?

Mollie is a white horse, who likes ribbons, sugar, and freedom. I think I closely identify to that white horse called Mollie the most from the book 'Animal Farm' by George Orwell. There are many reasons why. First of all, she likes sweet food such as sugar, and I also love sweet food like sugar, chocolate, candy, cookies, etc. Second of all, I like colorful things and so does Mollie; Mollie likes colorful ribbons. Last of all, I like freedom like Mollie; I always want to be alone at home and like to be free to do whatever I want to do. Like in the book 'Animal Farm,' if I were Mollie, I would most likely do the same things as Mollie; Mollie ran away from the Animal Farm as it did not like it. For those reasons, I think I closely identify to Mollie than any other characters in 'Animal Farm.'

Image source: http://www.northernstarart.com/photos/paintingsMollyAnimalFarm.jpg

Feedback January 19-23- Tyranny, Injustice and Self-determination

The word 'tyranny' means the abusive way of being ruled by one autocrat. Tyranny was shown in the book called Animal Farm by George Orwell when Farmer Jones ruled over the farm animals in his own abusive way that none of the animals liked. Therefore, the animals decided to overthrow the tyrant, Farmer Jones, as none of them wanted tyranny in the farm.
'Injustice' is used when something is not fair or does not seem right. In Animal Farm, the injustice was shown when Farmer Jones did not treat the animals fairly; he took all the things that animals produced and used for his own good, not for the animals. Also, he did not give the animals enough food for them to eat and used them to earn money for himself.
The definition for the word 'self-determination' is determining for themselves without any outside influences. It was shown in Animal Farm when the animals could decide what to do with the products they produce after overthrowing Farmer Jones. For example, when the animals decided to divide the food they harvested equally, it was self-determination.

The Young Boy who Wanted to be a Soldier

The Young Boy who Wanted to be a Soldier

War, war, war, war
That's what everybody thought about-
Defeating the enemies, bringing them to their knees,
Coming home to glory and reward,
Eyes beaming, blood warming,
That's what the boys looked upward to.
And then, there was only a boy.





































Excited, he joined, too.
His family proud and elated.
Shining boots, stunning uniform, and splendid thrill
Were his when he marched to the war.
With cheers and loud trumpets,
The boy marched like a full-grown man into the war.
Yet, he was only a boy.












Dark and dingy the trench was,
Blood dripped from the wounds as he lay,
Begging God for his return home.
Then the mustard gas held on to him, not letting him away,
Choking him slowly.
He was only a boy.

















War, war, war, war,
That's what killed the boy.
He lies all alone,
Cold like a rock,
In a graveyard with no marked stone
That no one in his family knows.
Now, he is a boy forever.











Image Sources:
http://www.battlefieldtours.org.uk/somme1.jpg
http://www.users.zetnet.co.uk/dms/past/ww1/trenches/ww1b-013b2.jpg
http://www.rwilt.com/troops2.jpg
http://www.old-picture.com/civil-war/pictures/Warfare-Trench.jpg
http://www.ww1battlefields.co.uk/somme/images/contal/contchatmich.jpg

Feedback January 12-16 - Is the military in your future?

In Korea, my home country, joining the military is mandatory for men and optional for women. Men need to serve in military for 24-28 months, but the amount of time will be reduced to 18 months beginning in 2016. I think this is good because first of all, I'm a girl and I like the fact that I don't have to serve in military. Second of all, the country would be protected all the time. Last of all, men from Korea only have to spend about 2 years to protect their country.

Feedback January 5-9 - Great Powers Game

The picture on the left shows many people in different clothes are shaking hands, except a woman standing on the far left, crying alone. There are some kind of paper, representing agreements, passing between people. Also, some countries have more arms than other countries. I think this picture is about different countries trying to be the most powerful country of the world. I think the picture shows how different countries make treaties with one another, how some countries are the most powerful and how some poor countries are left out. According to my thoughts, the cartoonist's opinion of the issue is that the more alliances you have, the more powerful you are. The evidence of this is in the cartoon; Germany and Austro-Hungary seems to be more powerful than the other countries as they are in the middle of the picture and they more alliances than the other countries. The cartoonist could have drawn more countries and show how much money each countries have. I think that would show the cartoonist's opinion on this issue more clearly as you can then see who is the most powerful country of all. The political cartoon relates to the Great Powers Game as the Great Powers Game showed making alliances with other countries and how conflicts break the alliances so easily or make the alliances stronger and the political cartoon shows kind of the same thing about alliances and conflicts. Trying to get to the top of everyone else by making alliances with other countries just makes it hard to choose one side during conflicts.

Great Powers Game Debrief

1. Which country were you? How did it feel to build your empire? Which countries had the advantage at the start of the game? Why? How did you empire compare to other empires?

We were Italy, and it was fun to build my own empire. I think the countries which had income of 4 at the start of the game had the advantages because they had wider range of choice of things to buy and could buy more things than the countries with income of 2.

2. In the long run was it more important to buy armies, navies, industries or colonies? Why?

I think it was more important to buy colonies as there were limited amount of colonies and it means I have more power. Also, it's similar to industries; it increases the income, which we could use to buy more armies later on to attack other countries.

3. What did you do well? What would you have done differently?

I think we did well on increasing our income and protecting our country. Although I would have bought more colonies or industries at the beginning and increased the income faster as no countries wanted to attack us.

4. How successful were your alliances? Did they help or hurt you? Could they be trusted?

We were alliances with all countries, therefore, we couldn't really help either sides when there was a war. No country hurt us, but France helped us to increase our income by giving us their colonies before the war that they had lost against four other countries. I think the countries couldn't be trusted as I saw other countries breaking their alliances so easily with other countries.

5. What are three specific things you learned about conflict from this simulation?

First, I learned that even if you are alliances with someone, he/she still can't be trusted as he/she can break the alliance anytime they want to. Second, I learned that many things are needed to build a strong empire that can defend itself if anyone attacks it. Last, I learned that you always have to be prepared to fight against someone if they decalre a war against you as you don't know when they are going to attack you.

End of Quarter 2 Feedback

One of my goals for Quarter 2 was speaking more in discussions and classes but I can see that I didn't reach that goal as I didn't get good grade for oral communication. Another goal was to improve my use of vocabularies, and I think I met this goal but not completely. I did well on vocabulary quizzes and learned new words and used them on my Africa research paper. My last goal for Quarter 2 was to get a better grade on writing assignments. I think I reached the goal because I got A's on my writing assignments.
Firstly, one of my goals for Quarter 3 is to speak more in class. I'm trying to meet this goal for third time as I haven't met it till now and I'm not earning really good grades on my presentations and discussions. Secondly, another goal is to improve my reading skills such as the speed because I'm quite slow in reading that I'm always the last one to finish reading handouts. Lastly, my very last goal is to improve my vocabulary skills. I sometimes use some words in a wrong way and I usually use same boring words over and over again as I don't know any synonyms for those words.