The 2 part interview with Geoffrey Canada (author of the excerpt we read in class), about his Harlem centre.
Oprah.
Part 1 -
Part 2 -
28 November 2007
24 November 2007
Second Chance
I knew all about death then because in dreams I had been there.* Nonetheless, it was scary to think about what could happen there, in that place where time does not go by. Everything seems to be timeless and lifeless at the same time.
Uncertainty brings out my inner fears. ‘What is that?’ I ask to myself after spotting a strange shape. It is coming towards me. It is so fast, fast as a panther. But I still cannot understand what that shape is.
The air is heavy and the sky is getting darker. I cannot breath.
‘Run!’ I scream but I cannot move. My feet are glued to the ground.
The dark shape is coming. Everything dies around it. It seems to be fed by life. No plant, tree or insect survives.
I must run… but I am…
‘I am late…’
The most important game of our lives was about to begin and it was imperative for me to be there.
While opening the door of my house…’Almost forgot my mask!’
I could not afford to let myself get contaminated before the game. So I start running. The street is empty as always, it reminds me now of my dream, only the shade is missing. However, I must focus on the game.
‘Password?’
‘My soul belongs to destiny.’ I answered.
‘Good luck.’ said the guard of the gates but I knew that he, like the rest of the surviving group, had already lost hope.
I am prepared, I think… The team is already there: Suli, Oaja and Sandy.
Fear dominates us but on the opposite side the other team seems confident.
Suli is first. The faces of the other team’s members are covered. I can only imagine them: transparent skin and hollow eyes… It gives me the creeps.
Anyway Suli played. His opponent was stronger so Suli was defeated by the poisonous skill of the other.
Sandy was next. She fights the second player using the power of the purple light. The other is temporarily blinded.
‘Oh no Sandy, look out!’
With a stake made of ice the other took the life of Sandy.
We ran to help her but it was too late. We only heard the last breathe of her life.
Oaja responded with a beam of blue light, which was rapidly blocked by the third member. He returned the beam to her and she fell on the ground.
Now everything looks darker than before. I am lost, my mind betrays me. Some strange sensation is growing inside me… ‘Where am I?’
I realise that I was dreaming. I remember now that we lost that battle (the game) for the survival of mankind. We destroyed our planet and we tried to win our second chance in order to continue living somewhere else. Maybe on some other planet. At least until we had destroyed it again.
Now I am being swallowed by the black shade just like the other lives were.
*Love Orange
Uncertainty brings out my inner fears. ‘What is that?’ I ask to myself after spotting a strange shape. It is coming towards me. It is so fast, fast as a panther. But I still cannot understand what that shape is.
The air is heavy and the sky is getting darker. I cannot breath.
‘Run!’ I scream but I cannot move. My feet are glued to the ground.
The dark shape is coming. Everything dies around it. It seems to be fed by life. No plant, tree or insect survives.
I must run… but I am…
‘I am late…’
The most important game of our lives was about to begin and it was imperative for me to be there.
While opening the door of my house…’Almost forgot my mask!’
I could not afford to let myself get contaminated before the game. So I start running. The street is empty as always, it reminds me now of my dream, only the shade is missing. However, I must focus on the game.
‘Password?’
‘My soul belongs to destiny.’ I answered.
‘Good luck.’ said the guard of the gates but I knew that he, like the rest of the surviving group, had already lost hope.
I am prepared, I think… The team is already there: Suli, Oaja and Sandy.
Fear dominates us but on the opposite side the other team seems confident.
Suli is first. The faces of the other team’s members are covered. I can only imagine them: transparent skin and hollow eyes… It gives me the creeps.
Anyway Suli played. His opponent was stronger so Suli was defeated by the poisonous skill of the other.
Sandy was next. She fights the second player using the power of the purple light. The other is temporarily blinded.
‘Oh no Sandy, look out!’
With a stake made of ice the other took the life of Sandy.
We ran to help her but it was too late. We only heard the last breathe of her life.
Oaja responded with a beam of blue light, which was rapidly blocked by the third member. He returned the beam to her and she fell on the ground.
Now everything looks darker than before. I am lost, my mind betrays me. Some strange sensation is growing inside me… ‘Where am I?’
I realise that I was dreaming. I remember now that we lost that battle (the game) for the survival of mankind. We destroyed our planet and we tried to win our second chance in order to continue living somewhere else. Maybe on some other planet. At least until we had destroyed it again.
Now I am being swallowed by the black shade just like the other lives were.
*Love Orange
22 November 2007
The Photo
I’ve always thought that we were the same and only now do I realize that this smiling girl in the photo and I are no longer the same person. How can someone change so much without noticing?
I hold in my hand the black and white photo that one of my neighbours took one day when I was playing with my friends in the street near my home. Looking at this photo, I wonder… who is the real me? Is that girl with the vibrant eyes my genuine self? Perhaps... or perhaps she’s just the happy and carefree version of myself. The girl, whose mind was full of dreams, knew nothing about what was already taking place in the remote forest, in the other part of that country that was 14 times bigger than Portugal. Without even suspecting that a war had started, the girl in the photo played with her dolls and planned her future. “I want to be an airhostess”, she repeated with conviction. But, now she has grown up and her life is totally different from what she had dreamt. Few dreams could resist the war! She, or maybe I should say I, well… I am not an airhostess and, actually, I began to hate aeroplanes, since one of them transported my dying father to South Africa and returned him in a coffin. It was from the window of one of those planes that I saw my country for the last time.
I close my eyes and I can see the streets of Luanda, my friends, my neighbours and my house. All of that has ceased to exist and only the power of imagination can reunite those people and recreate the atmosphere of those times. Times so far way and yet so vividly remembered.
I open my eyes and, from this cape, the westernmost point of Europe, I see the Atlantic, the ocean that separates my homeland from this country; the ocean that unites the European, the African and the American continents; the ocean that stands in the middle of different countries and cultures, just like me and thousands of people in this world. I listen to the wise ocean and to the sound of its waves and waters in continuous movement and constant renewal.
Nothing not even the oceans stay the same!
I hold in my hand the black and white photo that one of my neighbours took one day when I was playing with my friends in the street near my home. Looking at this photo, I wonder… who is the real me? Is that girl with the vibrant eyes my genuine self? Perhaps... or perhaps she’s just the happy and carefree version of myself. The girl, whose mind was full of dreams, knew nothing about what was already taking place in the remote forest, in the other part of that country that was 14 times bigger than Portugal. Without even suspecting that a war had started, the girl in the photo played with her dolls and planned her future. “I want to be an airhostess”, she repeated with conviction. But, now she has grown up and her life is totally different from what she had dreamt. Few dreams could resist the war! She, or maybe I should say I, well… I am not an airhostess and, actually, I began to hate aeroplanes, since one of them transported my dying father to South Africa and returned him in a coffin. It was from the window of one of those planes that I saw my country for the last time.
I close my eyes and I can see the streets of Luanda, my friends, my neighbours and my house. All of that has ceased to exist and only the power of imagination can reunite those people and recreate the atmosphere of those times. Times so far way and yet so vividly remembered.
I open my eyes and, from this cape, the westernmost point of Europe, I see the Atlantic, the ocean that separates my homeland from this country; the ocean that unites the European, the African and the American continents; the ocean that stands in the middle of different countries and cultures, just like me and thousands of people in this world. I listen to the wise ocean and to the sound of its waves and waters in continuous movement and constant renewal.
Nothing not even the oceans stay the same!
18 November 2007
More Cartoons
Paula Joana and I, went to the cartoon exhibition at Caixa Geral de Depositos.
The number of cartoons on display was not impressive. The atrium of the building was badly used. With a mixture of cartoons and themes without any coherent coordination. None the less, some of the cartoons were very good, and the majority had a common theme or title that aloud us to identify them.
The main subjects were:
Globalization;
Racial discrimination;
Franchising;
Weather and end of natural resources;
Socio-economic differences;
Religion;
New technologies.
Some of the artists were quite good, and we all agreed that Tommy Thomdean and Ernani Cousandier were our favourites.
For more cartoons just visit www.cartoonvirtualmuseum.org
The number of cartoons on display was not impressive. The atrium of the building was badly used. With a mixture of cartoons and themes without any coherent coordination. None the less, some of the cartoons were very good, and the majority had a common theme or title that aloud us to identify them.
The main subjects were:
Globalization;
Racial discrimination;
Franchising;
Weather and end of natural resources;
Socio-economic differences;
Religion;
New technologies.
Some of the artists were quite good, and we all agreed that Tommy Thomdean and Ernani Cousandier were our favourites.
For more cartoons just visit www.cartoonvirtualmuseum.org
6 November 2007
The pics are here!!!
Sorry for the delay, but I only finished the slide show a couple of hours ago.
It does look good, and although there are few photos I think it gives the idea of how we were really into it.
Hope you enjoy.
It does look good, and although there are few photos I think it gives the idea of how we were really into it.
Hope you enjoy.
5 November 2007
Cartoons - powerpoint
Well, as I promised, my ppt.I tried to post it on Mynoteit, but for some reason it isn't working properly with me. So, I tried via myyearbook, but if it doesn't work for you just tell me and I'll post it through sendscape :)
We've got to do this mega group powerpoint on cartoons!! So, the first person to download my little version should put here a comment saying they're going to be next, so that the next person waits for theirs powerpoint instead of downloading mine, if you know what I mean... *I know it sounds confusing* And don't forget editting the last page, to put your names and numbers as well. It will look messy, but as a presentation it's looking good :)
4 November 2007
A whole batch of more cartoons
Here are a couple of cartoons that I've been saving, or that I've used in other blogs making a small contribution to our "stash" of cartoons.
A topic that I am quite fond of is 'education' or 'non-sense' but the themes presented here are also very interesting, so without further a due, here they are:
Even More Cartoons!
http://www.seashell.com.au/CartoonGallery.asp
http://www.borg.com/~rjgtoons/toon.html
Those two websites have some interesting cartoons on some different themes from the usual ones, but not less important.
http://www.borg.com/~rjgtoons/toon.html
Those two websites have some interesting cartoons on some different themes from the usual ones, but not less important.
eg:
Education and Technology
Education and Technology
Vanity and Health:
More Cartoons...
Check these websites for more cartoons:
http://editorialcartoonists.com/index.cfm
http://www.halltoons.com/
http://editorialcartoonists.com/index.cfm
http://www.halltoons.com/
3 November 2007
Assignments and updates – bitter sweet!
1. Wednesday 7th – class assignment 1 – with dictionary.
The work and preparation you did for the class debates will help you in writing either an opinion or argumentation article. Question suggestions on pages 18 and 19 of the coursebook Reason to Write will be worth thinking about in advance. Also read the article in the book on pages 2, 3, 4.
2. Feedback from debates coming on Monday. Congratulations to you all for last week.
3. Creative writing – Either continue on from the debate topics or escape!!! ….. To post in your group blogs (not assessed, but corrected). How about for Monday 12th.
Some ideas:
i.) Play around with a sentence taken from a screen play in your short stories: “With each step farther from the Donor Processing Center, Derek feels his movements ease, his pace quicken, his stiffness loosen. A concentrated and increasing happiness sweeps across his face.”
ii.) Finish the sentence… “……and I really thought he would do it.”
iii.) Start with " I always thought we were the same ......."
iv.) Ideas from Bruce Holland Roger’s Creative Writing workshop will also be valuable. Read the specific stories he has suggetsed in his replies to the workshop notice.
4. Cartoons. If anyone has the time to create a PowerPoint with a few well-selected cartoons for use on Monday 5th (short notice –sorry), but will also be of use for the following Monday.
The work and preparation you did for the class debates will help you in writing either an opinion or argumentation article. Question suggestions on pages 18 and 19 of the coursebook Reason to Write will be worth thinking about in advance. Also read the article in the book on pages 2, 3, 4.
2. Feedback from debates coming on Monday. Congratulations to you all for last week.
3. Creative writing – Either continue on from the debate topics or escape!!! ….. To post in your group blogs (not assessed, but corrected). How about for Monday 12th.
Some ideas:
i.) Play around with a sentence taken from a screen play in your short stories: “With each step farther from the Donor Processing Center, Derek feels his movements ease, his pace quicken, his stiffness loosen. A concentrated and increasing happiness sweeps across his face.”
ii.) Finish the sentence… “……and I really thought he would do it.”
iii.) Start with " I always thought we were the same ......."
iv.) Ideas from Bruce Holland Roger’s Creative Writing workshop will also be valuable. Read the specific stories he has suggetsed in his replies to the workshop notice.
4. Cartoons. If anyone has the time to create a PowerPoint with a few well-selected cartoons for use on Monday 5th (short notice –sorry), but will also be of use for the following Monday.
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