Pages

Friday 31 May 2019

I just took a DNA test, turns out imma 100 percent...

If given the opportunity to complete a DNA test and learn about my heritage and ancestors, my answer would simply be no. I feel as if it is a waste of time, and it is not like I can meet someone new in my family because I already know who they are. Perhaps if I were in a different situation and didn't know my parents, I would likely complete a DNA test to find out where I came from, but I am fortunate enough to know my whanau and where they come from. Another reason is there are many theories regarding how mainstream DNA testing companies use and store the data of its clients. To illustrate, many people speculate that DNA tests containing the genetic information of millions of people are being sold to the U.S government. So although it would be interesting to find out what I don't know about me, I would rather not risk having my genetic information sold to the government.  

ART: Magazine Layout Critique

For the past two weeks or so, Riccardo, Sara and I have been working towards the completion of a magazine layout. These layouts were to be inspired by our thumbnail sketches. For this task we used Adobe Illustrator on the iMac (which we've learned is very complex and difficult to navigate). 

Discussing our thumbnail sketches, I only had a vague idea of what it was going to look like, but I soon formulated an idea in my head on what it was going to look like. I wanted to utilise focal points, leading lines, and use font, texture, and colours purposefully. In the end, when we got to actually digitally creating a layout, we used Riccardo's thumbnail sketches which we thought would be more simple to utilise all while making it look elegant and minimalistic.



This is our progress as of Thursday. We have not specified what we are going to write exactly about, but we have found some great pictures that we think really show off Voice With Soul's great spirit and passion for singing. Notice me in some of the photos!

Does your design reflect your thumbnail sketches so far?
Yes: we stuck to the original idea of Riccardo's thumbnail sketch very well.

Have you figured out the screen shotting process?
After getting help, yeah, we did. Command+Shift+4 on an iMac. 


Have you played with layering of your visuals?
Not as of yet, but this is something I really want to utilise, and I've had the idea of including our previous artwork (print making, lino cutting) in the artwork as I know it will be a great opportunity to include colour and a focal point. 


Do you know what your focal point is?
At this point, no, we don't: the images are all sort of the same size and rather large so that is something we need to work on. We sort of have a grid thing going on which is nice, but we still need to work on our focal point. 

Does your design reflect the feeling of your topic?
When I think of Voices with Soul I think bright, colourful and fun colours. We haven't really used colours in our work yet.

Our next steps are to develop more ideas and thumbnail sketches and possibly digitally create them in the near future. The end of Term 2 is nearing quickly so we need to work hard to complete this. 

Tuesday 21 May 2019

LIFE IN THE 1800's: Chapter one & two (draft)

Tuesday May 7th, 1868


Being a mortician was nothing to complain about.

Being Irish was nothing to complain about.

But living in Essex, Henry Worsfold had decided, was definitely something to complain about.


He was standing in the window of the family’s run-down, ramshackle office they called the Worsfold and Co. - General Mortician Services, when he decided this. It was merely frosted glass panes that separated a crowded street from thesomewhat cold—interior that was the Worsfold family’s mortician business. Yet no one hadn’t so much as glanced at the office all afternoon.
“Ach, Da, I really don’t think there’s a point in keeping the shop open,” Aunt Mary cooed, taking a drag from her pipe. “There’s much too many people out there to let this day go to waste, you blimy church bell,” Grandfather Neil said harshly in his thick Irish accent. “Christ, you should know this by now.” “Jesus wept,” Aunt Mary sighed.


Father emerged from the back office soon after: under a white apron that still had ashes on it — God bless Alice Withers heart — he wore a starched black suit. ‘I am the face of this company, after all,’ Henry could almost hear his Father remind him. If you were the face of a company that was any better than mediocre, Father, you would not require a year’s worth of family savings to buy a £25 suit, Henry thought, before he decided against saying this aloud.
“Hello all,” Father greeted the family. He stripped himself of his white rubber gloves, power flickering off momentarily—this did not phase a single one of the Worsfold, mind you— before Uncle Joe trailed out behind him.


“Ah, hello,” Uncle smiled warmly, extending a gloved hand towards Henry, before deciding against it, and nodding at his young nephew instead. “Henry, come help me close up shop,” Father barked. In his hand he held the keys to the doors. The three Worsfold swiftly locked up the shop, locking the door to where one body—embalmed in a thick layer of honey— lay. Henry had remembered the body coming in just a few days ago. Uncle Joe and Father, having had no customers for hours, had gotten Henry to work quickly.


Whilst Henry prepared the honey solution, he’d heard Father give him condolences to the family member who’d brought the young corpse in. From Colchester, they were, a rather wealthy family staying in Essex temporarily before they travelled to Liverpool. From Liverpool they would migrate— a word Henry did not understand—to Canada. Henry didn’t know where Canada was, and the location of this foreign country became a growing suspicion as he worked with Uncle to lather the body in thick honey. Henry had decided against asking. If Father found out, he might lose his assistant’s position, and there were hardly any jobs in Essex anymore. All had been taken by the older men and boys, as there were simply too many people in London, at least where Henry lived. As the family made their way home that evening, Henry couldn’t help thinking of Canada. Wherever it was in the world.



CHAPTER 2

“My deepest condolences to you and your own family, Miss Worsfold.
On Wednesday May 1st, Orla passed away. I imagine this must come as such a shock, however her health has significantly deteriorated since you departed Ireland. This envelope contains a sum of money, enough to suit you and your fami-”

“Henry!”
Panicked, Henry silently tucked the letter back into it’s envelope. “Yes, Mother?” he called, as nonchalantly yet politely as possible. Yet of course, his mother did not reply, and so Henry bounded down the crumbling spiral staircase leading from the attic to the kitchen.

“Yes?”
He found his mother precariously placing slabs of wood in the small fireplace. “Hurry up and fetch me that matchbox, Henry, make it quick.”  Henry mumbled, “Yes, mother,” quietly before doing what had been asked. Momentarily, he pondered whether or not to discuss the letter he’d found in the attic. Henry didn’t mean to find it, after all - on the other hand, Great Grandmother Orla had passed, and his Mother had to be grieving, over such a horrific thing-
“Evening, ‘enry!” a voice suddenly called from behind him. Henry snapped out of this thoughts, shifting his attention to the familiar voice belonging to none other than his Da.

“Hello, Father,” Henry replied. Behind his Da trailed Uncle Joe, holding a broom over his shoulder, white gloves ashy and dirty. It was the exasperated sigh that Mother and Father both shared that alerted Henry to the arising situation.

“Right, sit down, Henry,” his mother sighed, throwing her tea towel down.
Henry looked at his feet as he shuffled towards the couch: this had to be about Orla. Had they known about him snooping in the attic? Was he in trouble?

“We’re moving.” Father began to explain.
“Now, Da, no need to scare him. Yes, we are moving, Henry, but we’re all going together.” Mother continued. Henry was speechless. Is that what the letter had said?
“Wh-why?” was all Henry could manage to utter. “I mean, we have a good life here-”
“No, Henry, no we don’t.” said Uncle Joe, stepping forward solemnly. “The business is falling to pieces, Orla-”
“We don’t talk about Orla in this family, Joe,” hissed Mother, whipping a hand out to silence him, Uncle Joe’s face whitening beneath the soot.

“Where are we moving?” Henry squeaked.
“New Zealand.” Father admitted, earning a confused look from his son. “New Zealand? Where is that, father?”
“It’s on the other side of the world, Henry, but you mustn’t fear, for we will start a new business there. New Zealand is beautiful, they tell me, a beauty she is.”
Henry couldn’t help but feel distraught. Moving to New Zealand, across the world - how would he learn to cope? What about Alice from where he used to go to school? Before these questions could be answered, Uncle Joe spoke up.

“Yes, Mary, very beautiful indeed. You’ll love it there, ‘enry - so many mountains and beaches for you to play on-”
“When you aren’t working, of course-”
“New people, new friends, a proper school-”
“A proper school?”
“Yes, ‘enry. We’re enrolling you at a school there.”
After a long discussion that excited the entire family, Henry couldn’t wait to leave for New Zealand.


Wednesday 15 May 2019

MATHS: How to calculate the area of different shapes

UNWIND: Essay Writing Preparation 2




16.05.19

1. The '-ing' start
e.g. Deciding, speaking, seeing, grasping, rising, looking, holding, emerging, taking, signalling, analysing. 

Ex. sentences:
1. Talking about military successes, one must include Alexander the Great. 

2. Misinterpreting the task, Jaime failed horrifically.  

3. Demanding better pay, the teachers went on strike on May 29th. 

Tuesday 14 May 2019

UNWIND: Essay preparation 1

1. Adverb Sentence
-An adverb is something to describe a verb, adds to the verb. Usually ends in an 'ly'.
Ex. curiously, quickly, rapidly, often, curiously, importantly, technically, firstly, secondly, lastly, remarkably, similarly, significantly, readily, interestingly.
- Comma goes after the adverb, ex. 'Surprisingly, Mrs Handley was on time for class.' 

1st ex. sentence: Interestingly, Harry Potter is one of the best-selling children's books of all time. 

2nd ex. sentence: Remarkably, all sunflowers face the sun due to a plant hormone called auxin.
______

2. Begin with a preposition

Try starting your sentence with a preposition. Prepositions are little words indicating movement or position. Ex. against, under, above, in, at, throughout, behind, within, near, for, about, between, over, prior, beyond. 

1st ex. Against all odds, the humans managed to save Earth from its predatory invaders.


2nd ex. Prior to the apocalypse, there were over 4 million citizens in New Zealand, in contrast to the remaining 200,000. 


______


3. Classic compare and contrast paragraph


The Heartland War was devastating to the world's economy, population, and political tension, however it were the results of the second World War, in 1935, that were the most severe. Firstly, the Heartland War did not involve as much of the population as the second World War did throughout its duration. The Hiroshima bomb, a bomb which the United States shot at Japan, for example, killed almost 150,000 people of Japan, whereas the Heartland War was responsible for 90,000 recorded deaths. 

FLOOR HOCKEY (recap) 🏑

1. On a scale of 1-10, rate yourself on how well you participated in the previous lesson. 1 being not at all, 10 being the whole time. 2. Why did you rate yourself the way you did?
I actually wasn't participating in PE yesterday because of an injury I sustained on Saturday at my netball game. So I'd give myself a 1, but based on my work in previous PE lessons I'd give myself a 6: I haven't been doing it to the best of my ability and I feel like I need to change that, so from now on I'm actually going to try my best in PE. 

3. What do you think you have done well in PE? 
There have been certain things that I've attempted to try my best at, like football and netball because they're sports I know well. However I need to work on getting out of my comfort zone. 


4. What skills did you use to accomplish passing and dribbling?
While I was watching I observed that the best players kept their stick by the puck (or in our case, a ball) while they were dribbling instead of whacking it in front of them. 

5. What do you need to improve upon for next time?
We're doing floor hockey for the rest of the lesson and I'm honestly going to try my best in all of my games. I'm going to focus on keeping my stick near the puck and staying in control of the ball.

Friday 10 May 2019

MIGRATION: Voyage conditions and illnesses


https://teara.govt.nz/en/the-voyage-out

Q1. Where did people prefer to migrate to and why? 
Most people preferred to migrate to Canada or the Americas. This is because voyages to countries such as New Zealand were very long and strenuous, taking up to 120 days. What's more, most people were restricted to poor conditions with limited food and space as only the rich could afford cabins. 

Q2. How would people feel on the day they left?
People would feel distraught and upset to leave their relatives and native land, often to never return. Women often cried, sometimes together, sometimes reading letters. Travel wasn't as convenient as it is now and seeing, and communicating, with family was almost impossible after migrating to another country. 

Q3. Describe the conditions in steerage. 
As only wealthy people could afford private cabins, the poorer people, which outnumbered the rich by 10:1, had to travel in small spaces with low ceilings called steerages. The steerage was located below the main deck. 

Image via Getty Images
Q4+5: What were some of the issues people faced in storms, with food and hygiene? What were some of the sicknesses you got onboard? 
Because there were so many people with poor hygiene in such a confined space, diseases and illness spread extremely quickly. Cholera, tuberculosis, influenza and smallpox were just one of many diseases common in the 1800's as they were easily transmitted - especially in the confined, cramped conditions that many people on ships had to face for months. Infectious diseases soon became the most serious threat to health and wellbeing in the early 1900's. 

🎶 MUSIC MEGA-BLOG: Focused Listening 🎶

1st song: Adele, Hello

1. What instruments can you hear?
Piano, vocals, drums, backing vocals, bass (only very subtle). There was also a keyboard I didn't originally pick up. 

2. How would you describe the singer's voice?
Adele's voice is slow, raw, powerful, and strong. She can sing high notes powerfully, and low notes. She has an excellent vibrato and natural singing ability: she is able to sing without straining her voice. There are some high notes that Adele hits effortlessly. Really brilliant runs, overall an excellent voice, I'm only slightly jealous. 


3. What kind of feel does this song have?
Hello by Adele has a sort of sad yet soulful feel to it, I feel as if though you could cry to this very easily and have a good emotional release. It's a powerful, bold song that's a great breakup anthem. Slow, regretful, and painful, yet empowering. 


2nd song: Adele, Hello (reggae cover)

1. What instruments can you hear?
A drum/percussion of some sort: bongos, drums, vocals, backing vocals, a string instruments I can't identify. 

2. How would you describe the singer's voice?
The singer's voices was very plain in my opinion, both singers (male and female) were able to hit the notes well, including some high ones, but it wasn't particularly powerful or emotional. Both are talented singers. The male vocalist has a subtle rasp to his voice which I liked, it brought some depth to the song. 

3. What kind of feel does this song have?
This song is very chill and more upbeat in comparison to Adele's original version of Hello. It had a really nice Island feel like what I really loved. Both songs are very different but I liked both feels, I feel as if though you could feel two very different emotions while listening to both songs. 


UNWIND: The Idea of Being Alone

Theme: Being alone
Being alone is not necessarily always a bad thing. Being alone can help you to think more clearly, can give you space from other people's emotions or can make you feel free. But, being alone for too long can make you feel sad or depressed. Find three quotes from within the text for Connor, Lev and Risa to show their reactions to being alone. How does the theme of being alone shape the text? 

Connor
Connor is scared of being alone, evident through this quote found on Page 4, Chapter 1. He is 'terrified' to run away - or 'kick-AWOL' - without his girlfriend Ariana, despite being known as the bad boy in society, indicating to readers that Connor isn't as hard and insensitive like he seems. 
"Connor hangs on the thought. The idea of kicking-AWOL by himself terrifies him. He might put up a tough front, he might act like the bad boy at school - but running away on his own? He doesn't even know if he has the guts."

Risa
Risa feels hurt when she is alone. Evident through the quote, 'Mr. Durkin does not come. This hurts Risa most of all.' Mr Durkin is a teacher and fatherly figure to Risa, and Risa feels lonely and hurt when he does not come to visit her in a guest room. 

Lev
Lev feels the most alone when he is kidnapped by Connor and Risa: being the odd-man-out in a 2 strangers against 1 boy battle, he can't help but feel lonely, disbelieving, nervous and speechless. "My parents will look for me," Lev quotes, disbelieving that he will remain tied up with these strangers. 

How does the theme of being alone shape the text?
Loneliness is an important motif in Unwind, all of the protagonists experience it and it helps readers understand the true, inside emotions the characters have to deal with. The author has included these moments of loneliness to portray how these characters feel in emotional situations, to represent the character's reputation in the book as 'outsiders' or 'weirdos'. 


Monday 6 May 2019

MIGRATION (a MySimpleShow)

Script: Migrationwhatwhyhow?
Migration is the moving and transferring of humans from one region of the world to another, with the intention of temporarily or permanently settling there. While everyone has different reasons for migrating, some people do it voluntarily, but some people do it by necessity.
An example of migration is Syrian refugees moving from their own country to other countries for their own safetyMigration has been around for as long as Earth has been around, and millions of people move everyday.
So why do people migrate? You may not have heard of two common terms named push and pull factors. Push factors are the reasons for someone to move away and migrate to another region.
Pull factors are the reasons for someone to migrate to that specific country. Furthermore, these factors can be categorised into six smaller factors. Cultural, economic, socialpoliticalenvironmental and natural.
While these terms are easy to interpret, let's go through a few examples. Cultural: for example, a person or family may want to migrate to another region to be in touch with their own culture.
At the same timeculture, which is not always agreed with, can be one of the reasons why someone will migrate away and out of a regionPolitical tension, economic, environmentalsocial and natural factors may also influence someone's decision to move to another region.
To illustrate why people migrate in more detail, and explain push and pull factors, here are some examples.
If someone does not like how crowded a certain region or country is - an environmental factor - they may choose to migrate to another region.
Choosing to migrate because of the environment they have lived in is a push factor because it is what is pushing someone out of a country. Furthermore, a pull factor is what draws someone in to a certain region.
If someone wanted to migrate but didn't know where, the factors that influenced the decision to migrate there would be known as a pull factor.
So, have you learned about migration today? Let's recap. People migrate for many different reasons, and it can be a necessity or voluntarily. Push and pull factors are the reasons why or why not you want to migrate to a specific country, or leave your own.
Furthermore, these are often categorised into social, economic, politicalenvironmentalnatural and cultural factors. Thank you for listening!

Thursday 2 May 2019

MAY DAY PROTESTS (a critical literacy task)

✰ Select 3 questions from 3 different colours from the matrix on the following 2 slides.
✰ Apply those questions to a text of your choice. This could be a text studied in class, an advert, a music video, a tv show or film you enjoy.
✰ Post your findings on your blog. Make sure you tell your audience what text you have chosen. 




Text One:
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-48119183?intlink_from_url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world&link_location=live-reporting-story


1. How would the text be different if it were told in another time, place, or culture?
If this text were told in another culture: perhaps a culture or country that is not used to the more-violent atrocities that the French May Day protest brought, such as New Zealand, it would be different, at least in my opinion. Take New Zealand for example, it is a country who is not typically used to violent protests. I imagine if a protest like that of the French May Day protests happened in New Zealand, it would be a highly-broadcasted and serious matter than what we have seen in the May Day protest coverage. Although these Paris protests were taken quite seriously, I imagine that New Zealand, a country and culture who is not used to these acts of such violence protests against the government - it would be taken very seriously. 



2. Whose views are excluded or privileged in the text?
I believe this text would be more fair if it included a story or opinion from the perspective of a French government official, police officer, etc. To provide another side to the story that isn't from a protester: there are always two sides to a story and hearing one who is fighting against the protesters view would give readers a fair, unbiased read. 

3. How do contextual factors influence how the text is interpreted?
I think that, because the text is a developing story, it has influenced how the text is interpreted, at least for me. We have not seen any action taken by the government yet, nor any disclosed details about what action the police or government have already taken, but I imagine once the protests have come to an end and matters are dealt with, the text will be interpreted differently. There may be more things to come - for good or for bad, after all.