ISU- Slam Poetry on Change

From my eyes to yours there is no reflection, I guess I was never your idea of perfection.
Its time for a change the question is how will I deal with the pain?
You left me no option but to think from now on I need to live life with some caution.
Apart of me wants you to stay the other part is happy see you go because I think we can both agree its time for a new me!

ISU Reflection

"Open House" - Social Issue
 The social issue in my ISU novel "Open House" by Elizabeth Berg is dealing with change and heartbreak. The main character, Samantha, husbands leaves her. Now she has to deal with telling her son about the separation and she has to deal with her life without her husband, David. The first thing Samantha does with her "new life"is goes shopping. She makes her self feel better by buying expensive things off her "ex husband" card. She buys herself a tea set. The main character is not the type of person who buys expensive things, in the book she is described as plain and simple. Since she is so plain and simple she gives away a tea set to a women who needed money. http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/5190.Open_House . This article talks about talks about how Samantha "re-constructs" her life. This relates to the social issue because it talks about the main character deals with change and heartbreak.

"The Sniper" By Liam O'Flaherty

Summary

The short story "The Sniper" by Liam O'Flaherty starts off by one of the snipers on a rooftop and the other sniper on the other rooftop. The two sides here are the Republicans and the Free Staters. The Republican sniper is spotted by the "enemy" when he lights up a cigarette. The two snipers try to get each other but are not successful.When the Republican sniper sees the enemy's tank he raises his rifle and shoot, but ends up shooting an old lady. The enemies side fires at the sniper and that results in the sniper getting shot in his arm. After wrapping his arm up he comes up with an idea to fool the enemy. When his plans goes the way he wants he finally hits the enemy. Then he turns the enemy's body over to see who he shot, its turns the life the Republican sniper took was his very own brothers.       

Main Idea

I think the authors message was there are no winners in war. This is shown throughout the text because the two snipers are trying to get each other and when one finally shoots the other its turns out to be his brother. That shows that there are no winners to war because even when the sniper shot his enemy he lost his brother.

 

        

A Long Way Gone - Ishmael Beah

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5kEL_LRBSqk

Connection:
Ishmael Beah story reminds of the movie "Blood Diamond". This is because the movie is about rebels that take over the countryside that is rich with diamonds. The rebels kill families and use the men to find diamonds and the children are used as soldiers. The movie mainly revolves around 1 mans family and how his son is taken away from him to be a child soldier. It shows what the children go through to be forced into becoming a soldier. In the end the boy does return to his father. This relates to Ishmael Beah's story because Ishmael went from having a totally normal life to being a soldier and killing others that have done nothing to him. Ishmael was eventually rescued but still brainwashed by his commander. This is just like how the boy who was a solider went against his father because thats what his commander told him to do. The boy returned to his family and went back to living his life, Ishmael went to rehab and ended up becoming a author.

Challenges:
How did Ishmael decide when he was told "to kill or be killed" when in the end both situations could have ended with him dying? After going through what Ishmael went through, what made him so okay with sharing a story that negatively impacted his life in so many ways?

Concepts:
The key concepts that are worth holding on to from this text would be where becoming a child soldier became Ishmael's new reality. This was a really important part in Ishmael's life because it was the point in his life where everything he ever believed in or cared about was taken away from him. The 2nd key concepts from this interview would be when 1 adult, which was the nurse, helped Ishmael back on track. This was important because it was the turning point in Ishmael's life. He had trouble with a lot of things, like sleeping and trusting people again, but this was the point in his life where he had to learn to go back to life he had before.

Changes:
The changes in attitude, thinking and action from this interview is when Ishmael goes to rehab and learns to lead a normal life again. This is because Ishmael goes from totally brainwashed, having trouble trusting people to becoming very successful in sharing his story.

War and Conflict Article

"Congress skeptical of Obama’s vague request to authorize Islamic State war"

http://www.thestar.com/news/world/2015/02/11/congress-skeptical-of-obamas-vague-request-to-authorize-islamic-state-war.html

This article states that President Obama is asking to formalize a war between Isis. This proposal strikes as a a "necessary balance" for Obama. Obama has stated the three main points to this proposal, how this war will take place, how long the authorization will  last, and where. The way this war will take place would be for there to be an option for the use of ground troops. Ground troops would be just used for rescue operations and special force raids but both parties want a better understanding of the prohibition against "boots on the ground". The war proposals authorization will last for 3 years. Since Obama argued that he has the authority to wage the Islamic State war, him or any future president have the right to justify a war of any length. Lastly the whereabouts for this right now stand at no geographical limits.

This article relates to the text "The Canadian Labour Movement" by Craig Heron. This book is about management being in conflict with the workers. So the workers are trying to fight back for their rights, increased wages, better conditions, etc. They form a union to protect workers and to fight back against capitalists.This relates to Obama formalizing a war between Isis because there is an obvious conflict between the United States and Isis. Isis has made threats to Americans and now for Obama taking the step to formalize the war is just like the workers from the text formed a union to fight for themselves. In this case Isis would be like the management and United States would be like the workers.