BUSINESS AND ENTERPRISE MEGA BLOG 2018

It's that time of the year! Year 7, 8, and 9 students are starting to form small businesses and the school is making a downright-risky decision trusting us with money once again! Yes, it's Business and Enterprise 2018, and I'm back in the game for the third year after winning Business of the Year for two years running. I guess you could say I like this part of the year.

So, today, the first day, we decided our groups: I'm with Chloe, Jay, Rheanna, and myself of course. We've brainstormed a few ideas: cupcakes, cookies... but eventually we decided to switch to something more practical after getting some advice from Miss Richardson. Because practically every group (in Year 9 at least) is selling food, we would have a much better chance at being successful if we make something other than that. So, taking inspiration from last year and incorporating some of everyone's ideas, we've decided to make keychains! Our options are between: pom poms, perl beads, corkscrew and wire keychains, but I'm really set on making the perl beads. A struggle we're having right now is coming up with the name. We're throwing up Wonderland Keychains, Crazy Keychains, the Keychain Kart - but we also really like the idea of 'The Treasure Chest' as ours. I wonder what we will turn out as! We've decided roles today too. I'm the manager, Rheanna is marketing manager, Chloe is finance manager and Jay is the production manager. 

Second update of Business and Enterprise. We're busy doing our market plan - I think we've decided on The Treasure Chest but we need something more. (UPDATE) Chloe's just come up with the idea of The Treasure Trove. We all like it! I guess that's what we're coming at you as from now on.  The logo and slogan making has been difficult. Chloe found an online logo maker 
that we're using to make it a bit easier. The slogan, however, is difficult to decide on. 
Anyway, we're still deciding on what keychains to make. I think we're going to stick with pom poms and perl beads because everyone likes them. The idea of doing corkscrew and wire keychains are not really my style. I don't think we need to overcomplicate things and waste our money on products that I don't think will sell well. So far we need yarn and keychain rings and perl beads. However, Rheanna and I both own yarn and Ruby has some perl beads we could use. It seems to be just keychain rings we need. Hmm.

Fourth update. Overnight I came up with the idea of 'What's in your treasure chest' for our slogan but according to Jay it was too suggestive and he requested another one. Now we've decided not to do wire or corkscrew chains. However, we've been lucky enough to be sponsored by my mother's business, Kreative Kiwi Embroidery and Jay's Dad's part-time work TSI Logistics. Miss Simpson has also given us some advice - and so we're going to donate 10% of our profit to the Maui Dolphins. We're in the process of making posters using Canva and Piktochart. It's also been decided that we need some keychain chain (plugging chain, I believe it's called) from Mitre 10 so we've added that to our shopping list. 


Fifth update: We have realised that our digital poster has not been completed. So as Miss Richardson is frantically trying to print our posters I'm going to make one. 
Okay, finally made it. Check out the Bikini Bottom background and Rocky Horror text. It's like me in an advertisement. 
Now we need to work on making our banner for the table. Miss Richardson has graciously been working hard on cutting paper to the right dimensions for every group.

Chloe making the perl beads!

We've made a start on the banner. We pencilled in 'The Treasure Trove' on it and we're deciding on what colours to use...

Sixth update: We just came back from some painting of the draft banner. A blue background, white bubble text, some yellow and red paint splattered across it. It's pretty messy but for a first draft I think it's okay. I think we need to improve the text - some letters are lowercase, some are uppercase, and the paint is just kind of... there. I don't like the blue either. Heck, this is turning into a very negative review of our handiwork. I've made some Business Cards to use - simple black and white design that we're going to stick into people's lockers. Miss Richardson had some advice for us, that was to wait until the day before because otherwise people are just going throw them away without a second thought and forget about our stall completely. 

Our first pom pom!

Seventh update: The making of the pom poms have commenced! It's pretty difficult for me to be honest. I posted a pom pom tutorial on my blog, check it out here. We got our stuff and we quickly got to work. We got some yarn and plugging chain. With our sponsorships we're going to buy perl beads and keychains (because it turns out we didn't have enough keychains at home and Ruby supposedly doesn't have anymore perl bead templates or beads). 

Eighth update: We got our perl bead sets, keyrings, and a bunch of other unnecessary crap! Jay doesn't have the foggiest idea on how to make pom poms so we've assigned him perl bead duty. The kits come with little templates and perl beads that you just stick on and they magically start there. We purchased them from Spotlight and they're pretty neat in my opinion.

The cutest couple making perl beads!

Ninth update: We've spent the last lessons working tirelessly on making pom poms and perl beads. We've purchased some proper perl bead templates so at home we're working on making them (we don't have access to an iron at school and I surely doubt Mum wouldn't appreciate us taking her work equipment) 

Tenth update: THE DAY ARRIVES! It's the morning of Business and Enterprise and I got to say, I'm a little disappointed, because when I woke up my awards from Year 7 had fallen off the wall. Either Ruby had a part in this or the universe knows something...

Eleventh update: Finally, we've finished market day! We have spent the entire day setting up, selling, and buying products for a grand total of $100 total income. Minus the $8 we used to buy materials, and 20% to charity and the school, we made a whopping $73 between the four of us. That equals $18.40 each, and we already have made plans to go get bubble tea as a celebration. 
But how did the day actually go? Well, we set up in the Learning Commons next to the tiered seating. We had our freshly-painted banner on the table, a chalkboard and some pom pom garland all set up for decoration. On the table we had all of our products spread out: from expensive to affordable. Our first few customers came fast, and the steady stream did not thin throughout the day either. Shout out to Mr Collins for being our first customer. At the end we'd sold most of our 
perl bead key chains and pom poms. 
We ended up lowering prices to sell faster which was an effective strategy, we learned. All of us ended up with something we'd bought at the end too - I ended up with three containers of coconut oil + beeswax + honey scrubs and another lip balm from my best friend's group, but also some items from some lovely people I've never met before either. I also tried the best cookies I've ever had in my life from this amazing stall >>>

Twelfth Update: Today we've spent our time finalising our income/profit/money stuff before we actually receive our money tomorrow from Mr Scott. Overall it's been a good experience- certainly very different from every other market day, but even with a few fights along the way we still managed to end up coming fourth in terms of making money. The awards, if there are any, are still to come and I'm eager to see who gets them. I'm immensely proud of every team who participated this - especially the Year Sevens, because it's their first year but they still did fantastic. 

'Til 2019, may market day season come to an end, and bubble tea season begin! 

MAKING SUSHI 🍣🇯🇵

Today as it is our second to last Japanese lesson for the term we made rice balls. Rice balls are a traditional Japanese food; they are made from rice, beef or chicken or fish, and is typically accompanied by soy sauce or mayonnaise, or other seasoning. 

We had newspaper on the table as we did this. This was to prevent making a mess in Mr William's (almost) new room. We also used glad wrap as opposed to using water on our hands just for hygiene purposes. 

First of all we were all allocated a bowl of sticky white rice. We then put in a seasoning of some sort - it smelled like vinegar, and apparently it was supposed to make the rice stick together better. I doubt we needed it, it was so sticky already.
Next of all we were handed out some seaweed snacks. Although not specifically Japanese (they were Korean) it is very traditional for seaweed to be used in Japanese sushi dishes. We crumbled the seaweed up and mixed it with the rice for extra flavour. I didn't like the taste of it by itself, however. Jay, who takes spicy food very well, failed to mention that they were wasabi flavoured seaweed snacks. Thanks Jay. 


Next we rolled the glad wrap, kind of moulding the rice into a ball. I found difficulty in the seaweed and sushi not sticking together because the pieces were so big. I had to wrap it really tight to get the desired ball.

Lastly, after our ball was moulded we topped it off with mayonnaise or soy sauce. I LOVE soy sauce (like, I'm obsessed with it) so I obviously used that. However I don't like Mayonnaise so I avoided that.

Before eating, we said a traditional Japanse prayer that schoolchildren typically say before eating. "Itadakimasu". We did this with our hands together to be respectful. 

My rice ball was kind of good. I don't typically go for rice balls because I prefer sushi rolls but this one was good for my first time trying it. I would have preferred it with meat or chicken inside but we didn't have access to that, other than that the rice was cooked well and the seaweed didn't taste quite as painful as it did by itself. I didn't get any photos of mine but I've linked some of Chloe and and Rheanna's! 

NEIL FINN'S LEGACY 🎶

Neil Finn was born in Te Awamutu in 1958 six years after the birth of his brother Tim. His family home appeared in the video for Don't Dream It's Over. Following in his brother's footsteps, Neil was musical, and took piano lessons and taught himself guitar, all while attending St Patrick's School, Sacred Heart College, and Te Awamutu College, the logo of which would become a song title on a Split Enz album. Neil became involved with a local folk group, but when he left school, he worked in a record shop. In 1976 he went to London. He was asked to join Tim's band called Split Enz - but soon changed their name to Crowded House. Don't Dream It's Over made the band famous. 

1. Sketch an outline map of New Zealand. Mark and label the birthplace of Neil.

Neil was born in Te Awamutu in 1958. Te Awamutu is a town in Waikato of New Zealand's North Island. It has a population of about 10,000 people. 















2. Explain the link between Neil and Oxfam.
When Crowded House finally split up, they decided to hold a charity concert in Sydney, Australia. Oxfam was the charity they fundraised for. 

3. Present evidence, not counting Oxfam, that Neil tries to help people.
Neil has been part of many ventures to help people - including when Neil built a studio in Auckland to help out local musicians. Neil certainly shows excellence, innovation, integrity and cares for the environment. 

4. Explain the continuing impact of Neil on his home-town. 
The local museum in Te Awamutu includes a True Colours exhibition, featuring material involving the Finn music and family. This draws tourists to Te Awamutu, increasing popularity. 

5. Discuss the influence of artists like Neil on school bands. For example, think of the Smokefree Rock Quest.
As Neil was still in school when he joined local bands, it serves as an inspiration for younger school bands because it proves that they too can make it big like Neil. The Smokefree Rock Quest is a chance for school bands to share their music and take a big opportunity to do better in their own music. 

6. Web search: Find out about the reformed Crowded House, the new album Time On Earth, and how Neil Finn is continuing to make a difference.
When Neil asked Nick Seymour to play bass on his third-solo album, and Nick agreed, they decided that the album would be released under the Crowded House name. In January 2007 they announced they would be reuniting. They held auditions for 20 days before drummer Matt Sherrod joined the band. Don't Stop Now was a prominent single on their new album Time on Earth, and was performed before the album release in June and July. The album hit Number 1, number 2 in Australia, and 3 in the UK. Neil Finn has recently joined Fleetwood Mac as guitarist after the firing of Lindsey Buckingham earlier this year. 

THE PURPOSE OF CAMERA ANGLES 🎥

THE WATER CYCLE IN ACTION 💦

AIM: To observe the basic processes of the water cycle 💦

EQUIPMENT: 200mL beaker, watch glass, ice cubes, Bunsen burner, tripod, gauze mat

METHOD: 

1. Fill the beaker with approximately 100mL of water and place on a tripod over a Bunsen burner.

2. Fill the watch glass with a few pieces of ice and leave it on the bench.

3. Light the Bunsen and heat the water until it just starts to simmer. Do not boil the water!

4. Turn the Bunsen burner off and gently place the watch glass and ice on top of the beaker.

Fill the beaker with 100ml of water.

Light the bunsen burner.

When the water is simmering, turn off the bunsen burner and put the watch glass on top of the beaker.

There is water vapour clearly visible in the beaker.

The water then begins to condense by dripping.

OBSERVATIONS 💦

We let it heat up until it was brought to a simmer. Then we quickly placed the watch glass of ice on top and we got results immediately. Grey water vapour swirled around in the glass for a few minutes. After those minutes we noticed it was becoming more transparent. Water started dripping from the bottom and there was condensation around the beaker's walls. 

1. State the energy source that drives the water cycle. The energy source is the sun; although in our experiment it was an artificial heat, the Bunsen burner.

2. Is water vapour visible? Yes. The water vapour was swirling around in the beaker before it condensed back into water.

3. Outline two pathways by which water can enter the atmosphere.

a)  Evaporation

b)  Transpiration

4. Explain how water vapour in the atmosphere ends up returning to the surface of the Earth.
The water vapour in the atmosphere, after evaporating, ends up being so cold, that through the process of condensing, it falls to the Earth as precipitation (rain). 

5. List four types of precipitation 🌨️

a) rain 

b) snow 

c) sleet 
d) hail

6. Water 💦 is constantly being evaporated from the sea surface, but the sea level remains fairly constant. Explain why the sea level does not fall. 

Because water cannot escape the atmosphere, the sea level remains the same because no water is leaving, the water is simply going through the process of the water cycle constantly, so it can be being evaporated and precipitated at the same time in different regions

Evaporation - the process of water being converted into gas by heat and travelling upwards. This happened in the beaker.

Transpiration - When moisture travels up from the roots of a plant up into the atmosphere via the stomata (leaves)

KATE EDGER'S LEGACY

Kate Edgar was born in England in 1857. When Kate was young, the family moved to Auckland. She gained permission to study with the top class of boys at the Auckland College and Grammar School. In fact, since she was the only girl in the class, she had to enter with her eyes fixed to the floor. It has been said that the boys were polite to her, but she never spoke to them.
Because the school had connections with the University of New Zealand, Kate could work towards a degree. Kate ended up being a candidate for one of the Maths Scholarships to be awarded at the Examination in May. She gave her age and qualifications but did not say she was a girl - and Kate was accepted.
Making history as the first female in the British Empire to gain this degree, nearly one thousand people attended her graduation, and the Bishop of Auckland gifted her a white camellia flower for her 'unpretending excellence'. 
Kate Edgar then went on to be the first principal for Nelson College for Girls and taught an array of subjects including English Grammar, Science, and Latin. Kate died in 1935. 

1. Explain the difference in attitudes to education today and the time when Kate was a girl. 
Today, girls and boys, and everyone in between, are both encouraged to get themselves an education through high schools and universities across the country. Girls are widely accepted into all universities, just as equal as boys. In fact, in 2009, two-thirds of bachelor degrees were given to women. Evidence shows the tertiary education gender gap between girls and boys increased by about 1 percent per year - with women on top. 
However, back when Kate was a girl, around mid-late 19th century, it was not quite the same. It was the boys that were earning their degrees and allowed to participate in tertiary education. There were no secondary schools for girls in Auckland in the 19th century, in fact. It can be determined that there is a huge difference in attitudes between girls and boy's education between the 19th and 21st century. 

2. Find out where the term 'blue stocking' came from.
Blue stocking was a term used to describe 'intellectual' women who would rather discuss things such as social issues than things such as embroidery or housework. Talking about anything other than 'women issues' was frowned upon as it wasn't ladylike. The name originates from the 'Blue Stocking Society', a social and educational movement lead by women in the mid 18th century. From then on it was common for women to be called a blue stocking if they would discuss these frowned-upon topics. 

3. Describe how females in Kate's day were expected to behave.
Most prominently, society did not think girls should deserve the same educational opportunities as boys; apart from a small array of subjects including drawing, cooking, sewing, housework, etc. This was because it was thought the study of academic subjects would make a women's brain could harm and inflame their brains. The sole purpose of women's lives were not to be educated, but to find a husband, have children, and serve him. It wasn't as if they could get out of their marriage either - it was very, very rare for women to be granted divorces up until the very late 18th century. In summary, women did not have the same rights as men and had to behave very, very differently in oppose to them. 

4. Write "Kate Edger" in a vertical column down your page. Beside each letter of her name write one word beginning with that letter that you associate with her. Beside each word put a piece of proof to back up your decision. 

Knowledgeable; for being able to teach an array of subjects. 
Academic; for her skillful capability in all areas of school
Teacher; for her many years teaching.
Educated; for many years spent in tertiary and secondary education.

Encouraging; a quality that she, as a teacher, must have had.
Determined to receive the education she deserves.
Graduated with a Bachelor of Arts.
Eager to receive her education; eager to give and teach.
Recognised for her heroic, history-making achievements.

5. Discuss the links between a white camellia, Kate, and the aim of the Urangi. 
White camellia flowers symbolise adoration, and are typically given to people who are well-liked. Kate Edgar is just one of the women who have been gifted white camellias in return for their wonderful achievements, because she is very well-liked by many. The aim of the Urangi at Auckland University is to 'create and maintain a positive, productive learning environment in which all persons treat each other with respect'. Kate links to this because, simply, she showed all of these skills effortlessly at both Nelson College and her private secondary school in Wellington. Perhaps it was one of her goals. But what we do know is that Kate excelled at these skills with tremendous accomplishment. 

6. Web search: Emily Siedeberg was the first female doctor in New Zealand. Ethel Benjamin was the first female lawyer in New Zealand and in the British Empire. Find out how they, like Kate Edger, helped to change society's attitudes.
By becoming the first female doctor and lawyer in New Zealand/British Empire, these powerful women have accomplished history-making acts. Men once believed that women were incapable of achievements such as these; but these women defeated the odds. Society changed from men thinking poorly of women's academic skills, to actually being proved wrong: and that yes, women can do anything men can do. 

THE FAIR TRADING ACT

Rights of Consumers and Responsibilities of Producers

1. What is the Fair Trading Act? 
The Fair Trading Act prevents consumers from unfair and misleading trade practises, fake information in advertisements (for example, lying about where it comes from) and deceptive conduct being carried out by businesses. In other words it protects New Zealand consumers from being tricked or mislead by businesses when they post unreliable, deceptive, or false information. 

2. What is the commerce commission's goal?
The commerce commission's role is to put laws in place surrounding fair trading between businesses and consumers. Their aim is to keep New Zealand consumers satisfied when businesses are confident and markets are reliable and working well. 

3. Who besides the commission are responsible for the act and can take their own legal action?
The commerce commission call themselves a self-enforcing act, which means consumers have the rights to take legal action and demand that the business fixes the situation.

4. Who are the two types of groups the act applies to?
The act applies to businesses and consumers.  

_



Understanding your compliance obligations

1. What do the acts apply to?

The Fair Trading Act applies to anyone in the trade industry, from small businesses to large businesses. All consumers are protected by the Fair Trading Act when buying from any business.

2. Whose shoes must the business put themselves into?

They should put themselves in the consumer's shoes to ensure that they are being reliable and fair. 

3. What is the commission empowered to do?

Enforce laws protecting customers from being mislead, tricked, deceived by false or unreliable information put out by producers. 

Reporting a business

1. If you need to report a business, what can you do?

You can make a complaint to the commerce commission by calling 800 943 600 or email contact@comcom.govt.nz. From there, the commission will investigate the business. 

Why is it good to know your rights?

It is important to know your rights as a consumer because you may end up having to pay more than intended for your purchase, or be stuck with a faulty product or unfair contract. When producers set a certain price for a product they may attempt to hide hidden surcharges that the consumer is unaware of. The consumer will then end up paying more than intended because of this unreliable information. Furthermore, when online shopping it is possible for a retailer to sell you a faulty product without any information regarding it. Or hide certain information inside contracts (small text etc.) As a consumer it is important to know your rights to fix the situation if these things ever happen to you, or prevent it from occurring in the first place. For example, I buy a fridge from Fisher and Paykel. But when I receive it, the product is faulty. If a customer does not know their rights they will not know how, or if, they're allowed to get their money back or get the fridge replaced by the retailers. Knowing your rights, to be able to take legal action in these cases, can prevent the producer from getting away with it illegally and ripping you off. This is a much better outcome than having to pay more than intended, have a faulty product or unfair contract. 

BULLYING IN NEW ZEALAND 🇳🇿

Bullying can be recognised in a number of ways:
It is when one or more people purposely target another person either online or in real life. They might call them names and make fun of them, or more non-verbally, attack and punch them. Online bullying is called cyber-bullying, and is recognised by mean messages, sharing degrading photos of someone else, etc. 

How can you determine whether is it just bullying or teasing? 
1. It happens more than once.
2. There is an unbalance of power (2 against 1 etc.) 
3. It is always on purpose. 

This is useful to understand because...
Bullying can happen anywhere to anyone - in the workplace, in public, particularly in schools etc. Even if it doesn't happen to you, it useful to recognise bullying in order to put a stop to it and help out someone else who is being bullied. In New Zealand bullying is even more common than in some other countries - evident when teen suicide rates were released. New Zealand has the highest teen suicide rate, and in  most cases, they're often driven by bullying, either online or in real life. Furthermore, international studies suggest New Zealand has the second highest bullying rate in the world. So this is evidence that bullying is an important thing to recognise in New Zealand because it happens so much. 

I felt sad watching the videos about bullying because I can imagine what the bully must be going through, fighting their own battles. But at the same time I feel sad for the people who are being bullied because they may feel terrible. I made a connection with the video because I've been bullied before.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VJ3m78oJnaM

The key messages I took from the video include: words hurt more than you may think. Bullying can happen anywhere, it can even happen to adults in the workplace and not just in schools. 

I think that it is important to stop bullying because it can lead to long-term consequences affecting the mental health sector of New Zealand society. Mental health is a huge struggle in New Zealand and it's one that the government is trying to crack down on, especially on teens, where most of the bullying takes place.

GOOGLE DRAWING ART

Today in digital tech we were given the task of using Google Drawing to produce a graphic television set. Our goal was to focus on line weight and width, color, and layering to create a high quality drawing that looks like the original graphic example we were given.

I think I did pretty well on this, however it was difficult to add in the lines as I had to draw them individually before I realised I could simply duplicate them. I think I used colour appropriately. I think I will regret posting the Johnny Johnny graphic in about three days though. 

:) 

INTERPERSONAL SKILLS FOR BUSINESS ⭐️

                  

What am I learning?
I am learning skills that can help improve the success and quality of our business while working with others.

INSPIRING WRITERS WORKSHOP ✨

WARNING: Contains a bit of foul language (sorry).

On Thursday, myself and a lot of my classmates were granted the opportunity to visit the University of Canterbury to participate in the Inspiring Writers Workshop presented by WORD Christchurch as part of their writing festival 2018. We all had a great time and I certainly came home inspired to write not only my usual narrative and poetry, but make an attempt at some science writing and rap. 

At the workshop, our first lecture was from a lovely woman named Laurie Winkless, who is a science writer originally from Ireland but now resides in Wellington, New Zealand. What is a science writer you may ask? A science writer is a writer whose job is to explain scientific theories, experiments, general information and translate this information into simpler words for the... less-scientifically-wise public. A way I could explain it to kids is, science writers are the authors behind Sci Pads and other science textbooks - through the use of basic words and definitions, they can teach otherwise complex scientific information to the general public and younger pupils. 
Laurie talked about how she became a science writer. Growing up, she was always a lover of science, but she never planned to become a science writer. After internships at the Kennedy Space Centre and a lot of studying about astrophysics etc, she started a secret blog dedicated to her science work. Through the use of Twitter, Laurie was able to grow more confident with her writing until she was approached by a publisher. After a long 2 year period of writing, planning, and more writing, this publisher (who she said was a lovely man named Mark) ended up publishing her very first book, Science in The City. 
Science in The City is a book about the science... behind cities. For example, all the tunnels underneath the ground, the importance of trees in large cities, etc. One piece of information that really interested me was what she explained to be fatbergs. Fatbergs are basically a congealed mass made up of non-biodegradable things that really shouldn't be put down sewer drains - I'm talking diapers, wet wipes, grease, etc. Fatbergs block sewer drains, and it often takes a long time to get them out. They're found in drains all over the word, including in four of New Zealand's cities, Laurie told us. She talks about the science behind fatbergs and the importance of not putting non-biodegradable items down drains in Science in The City. 
One tip Laurie gave us writers was to practise, practise, and practise. She explained that it was how she got to where she is today and talked about how it really does honestly help improve your writing. This was a really fun, interesting lecture for me personally and I can now say I'm a pretty big fan of Laurie Winkless.

After a short tour of the university, and Chloe being told to shut up in the library, we returned to the lecture hall to attend talks from Juno Dawson, Hollie McNish, and Omar Musa. 

Juno Dawson is a thriller author who read the first chapter or so of her book, Clean. To be very honest, it sounds like an amazing book so far. Clean tells the story of Lexi, a drug addict, and her journey to a rehab centre. I've read countless books about going to rehab before and they've all been pretty similar (but still amazing) but to my surprise, the first part of Clean that we read was much different to them all. Juno explained that Lexi was a really interesting and fun character to create and write about, so much in fact that it took her an astounding two years to ever start writing again. 
Next, Juno read us the very first part of her very-own episode of the BBC's Doctor Who, which she very impressively wrote all by herself. As Juno is someone who grew up writing imaginary episodes of the show, it is so awesome to see her success as a young author. Doctor Who is a very good TV show in my opinion, so despite the fact it will probably be months before it finally airs in New Zealand, I'm excited to watch Juno's episode!

"My shoulders are fucking delicious,"
- the wise words of Hollie McNish, a British poet who was our second guest speaker. She is, obviously, a poet, and loves doing it. She read a few of her poems - one about growing up as a teenager without technology and how free it felt without the risk of photos getting leaked online, and some about her experience as a young mother. My favourite of her poems was about her daughter, who, as she explained, sat in front of a full-length mirror one day, clapping and laughing at her own baby body. This inspired Hollie to write a poem at that moment about body positivity, "My body is amazing," is just one of the few quotes from that poem. Her last poem, which was quite amusing for pretty much everyone in the lecture theatre, was written about her shoulders, which Hollie describes as "fucking delicious". Her shoulders are her personal favourite body part of hers; adorned with freckles, she says. I enjoyed Hollie's talk because I love writing poetry myself, not that I'd ever share it with the world, and she definitely inspired me to write - despite my long lasting writer's block I've had for the past month.



Our last talk was from a Malaysian-Australian rapper and slam poet, Omar Musa. He entertained and inspired us with a few of his own extremely-powerful raps/poetry, including one about his favourite Malaysian curry ("this stuff is hot, woo" is a prominent line in that certain rap). He also moved us with a rap/song about his own experience with depression and emotions and how he learned to 'keep playing'. Despite my less-extensive knowledge of the rap world, or slam poetry for that matter, I thoroughly enjoyed Omar's speech, and it moved me to know that someone else who suffered from depression could help others through it at the same time. 

That brings us to the end of the writing workshop blogspot. I think everyone of us could say that we came out of that ready to write some more. I really, really admired all of the guest speakers that flew over to New Zealand to talk to all these secondary schools, and the stories that came with them. 

Were you at the writer's workshop? Did you enjoy it, and who was your favourite speaker? Let me know in the comments. 
:)) 

sneaky mid yawn shot