Take A Stand

"He who lends a book is an idiot. He who returns the book is more of an idiot."

- Arabic Proverb

What are the importance of a library? It surely isn't that minor of an importance, but the UK government seems to disagree. Their idea of closing down libraries all around the country brought millions of people in a uproar. Indeed, the budget needed to keep the libraries from closing, and that yes, they do need to make cuts, but destroying the libraries simply isn't the answer. Governments have a duty to care for their citizens, and if they take away all access of knowledge, how is that care?


I believe that libraries are worth standing up for, for they offer people, regardless of race, age, or history, a place to learn, a place to simply read. Not everyone can afford to buy books, and now everyone can afford a computer. If we were to buy books for everything we needed, from learning to enjoyment, the cost would be great. But in libraries, they offer access to both books of all genres and computers with internet access to search up all things. In communities where people don't have computers, they can go to the library for research. 


Books not only supply information, but they make you think, they make you question things that you've never thought about. They take you to places you've never gone before - past, present, future. They open up portals to horror, wonderment, love, hatred, to dragons and knights, from eras past to the present. They are a way of free speech, to be able to talk about whatever they like. Books allow the readers to dream, to escape reality into any world they want. Does the government have the right to take this away? 


Once, Neil Gaiman said "A librarian is the thin red line between barbarism and civilization." Without the access to books, where would we be? Surely not living as educated people, for the gift of language is what made us what we are, and what has took us this far in life. Removing books are just as bad as book burning, for what are we without free speech?

My Five Special Objects

What describes me in five objects? A violin case, swimming trophy,  silver necklace, mermaid key-chain, and my bookshelf.

                                             

The violin case is one of the most important things that describe me. It’s one of those things that if you take it out of my past and current life, it’d leave lots of holes. I started learning the violin when I was five, and had several recitals, and orchestra performances during that time. Sometimes, I absolutely loathed to play the violin, and would have to force myself and play. It was frustrating to try to get every note in tune, and to play it flawlessly like my father or teacher might want me to. However, the violin is a way for me to relieve my stress. Some days, I’d pick up the violin, and just play to my heart’s content. I’d never notice the time pass by, and just keep on playing.

                                            

For me, my swimming trophies hold a lot of memories, starting from first grade summer to fifth grade summer. In those times piled up, a lot of memorable things happened. There were two swimming pools in the neighborhood, but often, we’d just use the pool called “Ellis Creek.” At the Ellis Creek Pool, there was a lake right behind with a river flowing towards another lake. My friends and I would always go to the river before play around before our practice or after.

One day, my friend, Kasey, and I went down to the creek. Every year, there would be some ducklings, with their mother to watch over them. And every year, we would be tempted to try and catch one. The year right before I moved to Malaysia, Kasey and I finally decided to try and touch one. Just seeing a duckling made me want to try and pet it. Let’s get this straight: it was tempting. The river water was clear and cold, and the sun was beating down on us. Even though stepping on the sharp, minuscule stones in the water would hurt, it beat standing on the sun-cooked concrete any day. Kasey and I quietly slipped into the water, approaching the ducks. Lucky for us, one of the ducklings went swimming away, back into the lake, and the momma duck chased after it. In that moment of time, Kasey and I ran towards the ducklings, making loud splashing noises. Not the smartest thing to do, but it worked for us. We managed to catch one, but the momma duck abandoned its chase for her duckling, and came flying towards us. I dropped the duckling on the water, while my friend was being pecked by the momma duck. I couldn’t stop laughing - it was honestly a ridiculous sight: a girl running around, screaming, with a duck flying behind her, pecking continuously. It’s one of those memories where I always smile when I think about it.

Of course, the trophies I got was later on, but in each trophy I’ve gotten each summer, they always contained special memories.

                                             

The silver necklace is one of those really important things to me. It’s one of those “best friends” necklace, broken in half a heart for two people. My friend, Megan, gave it to me. It’s important to me, because it marks our friendship. Admittedly, Megan and I weren’t friends at the beginning. She came around in second grade, and the first impression I got of her would be cocky. The way she acted, talked, walked just simply screamed “arrogant.” Most of my classmates agreed.

I was kind of reckless back in second grade-that was probably the year I got injured or something the most. I once bluntly told her, “You know, not many people in this class likes you.” Afterward, I felt horrible, but surprisingly, she didn’t mind. Megan simply shrugged and said, “I don’t really care.”
During recess one day, the boys and I were playing this game, and near the end of recess, I tripped and fell over a boy’s foot. He was one of my close friends, and he came and asked if I was alright. I told him to go ahead, and tell the guys that I went off to do something else-I was prideful back then, and was reluctant to say that I was winded from falling down. When the whistle blew, signalling the time to go in and eat lunch, everyone rushed past. Everyone but Megan. By then I was crying, because I couldn’t breathe, couldn’t stand up. She was the one that took me to the nurse, and not anyone else. After that, through a series of weeks, we became best friends. From second to fifth, we would always hang out, and even after I moved, she would still chat with me from time to time.

 

I have this mermaid key-chain that’s special to me. It’s made out of yarn, and the length’s about the length of my palm. I got it from my friend right before she left for California. However, a week or two before, we were fighting about something. I don’t remember what, but it seemed really trivial, unimportant. Fortunately, right before she left, we made up, which I’m really grateful for. As a reminder of her, she gave me the mermaid. It’s special to me because before our fight, we were the best of friends, and we also stuck together, like glue. After she moved, I never saw her again. We used to email, but slowly, we stopped, and pretty much lost contact. I hope I can see her again, but if I don’t, at least I have something to remind me of the time we spent together.

I know many people who dislike reading, because they think it’s boring, hard, or something like that. But I, on the other hand, absolutely love reading. For me, reading is a way for me to just have fun with the characters, and forget about reality. I love how authors can just spin some words into a wonderful tale of magic, love, or mystery. My bookshelf holds a variety of genres, and even some math books.

I don’t think there’s much history to the books I have for people to be interested in. But I can definitely say this: They’re worn out, and many of the bindings have broken at some point, which my father fixed it for me. I know some people think rereading books is a waste of time, but to me, I think it’s wonderful to travel to another world again.
The each and every book I have in my bookshelf are books that I’ll treasure forever.


Me in five objects: A violin case, a swimming trophy, a friendship necklace, mermaid key-chain and my bookshelf. All of those objects hold a million of tiny pieces of memories for me, and they're special to me.

What's in a Name?

"What's in a name? That which we call a rose,

By any other name would smell as sweet."

- Romeo & Juliet

Tiffany

Tiffany. It is a bold and elegant name, a name so unlike me. When heard, it paints a picture of a dark, stormy night, when lightning lights up the sky for all to see, glorious and daunting. Yet, it can always create an image of a ribbon flowing elegantly in the wind, dancing lightly. It means Manifestation of God - Divine Manifestation - yet I am neither religious nor special in any way. I’m just a girl on the street you walk past without giving a second thought. A name derived from the Ancient Greek Theophania, it is a name that does not represent me well. Yet, when people call my name, it sounds natural, it sounds like me.

When my name is written, I always thought it looked awkward, how the ‘i’ always looked crushed between the towering ‘T’ and ‘F.’ When someone whose mother language isn’t English says my name, they elongate the ‘I,’ which makes it sound like a ‘ee.’ When that happens, my name no longer sounds bold and elegant, but more like a beautiful note on a violin gone wrong.

When asked what color my name could be, I think of a dark, navy blue color tinged with silver is the color I imagine with my name. It is dark and mysterious, and is not easily spotted in a mass of colors, and mysterious like the gods. Though it may not seem so, the colors represent both my name and me. 

My name doesn’t have much of a history. My parents had simply picked up a name book, and chose between Stephanie, Sabrina, and Tiffany. But out of all those, my father chose Tiffany because of the jewelry Tiffany & Co. “I chose it because it was elegant and beautiful,” he had said. I used to wish I had another name, but when I think of the other names I could have gotten, like Sabrina or Stephanie, I am grateful that I had been chosen the name Tiffany. 

Though I may not be elegant nor bold, beautiful or special, I am still me, and no other name would fit me as perfectly as Tiffany.

Imperfection is Beauty

"Imperfection is beauty, madness is genius and it's better to be absolutely ridiculous than absolutely boring."
— Marilyn Monroe


The reason why I chose this quote is because everyone's imperfect. In the world, there is no such thing as "perfection." To me, the quote is saying "Be yourself, and don't let anyone else get you down." It might not be the meaning, but I have the feeling that the quote is implying that.

Another reason why I chose this quote was because it was probably one of the few quotes that made me smile. Perhaps it was the part where it said, "it's better to be absolutely ridiculous than absolutely boring." Or maybe "madness is genius." Or even "Imperfection is beauty." But I guess to me, it was one of those quotes where it just tells you "to live your life how you want." You don't have to be beautiful to be perfect, a genius to get good grades, or act the same as everyone else to get in the crowd. Life is about living as yourself, and doing what you believe in.

Just because we're different, doesn't mean we imperfect! After all, we are made out of imperfection.

Infallible (Greek Movie Trailer)

Infallible:




In humanities, we were supposed to make a movie trailer on a myth. We could choose from Egyptian, Greek, Chinese, or Aboriginal. So, I decided to do a Greek Myth on the battle between the Gods and Titans. The story originally started out with Cronus eating his sons and daughters. Rhea, his wife, managed to hide one baby before Cronus could swallow him up-like he did with the other children. The baby was Zeus.

When Zeus got older, he returned to Olympus as Cronus' cupholder, and slipped in a drink that would make his father vomit up his other children.

Zeus' siblings, grateful, made him their leader. They declared war, and it became the battle between the Titans and Gods.

Infallible: I chose the name Infallible because it meant incapable of error. Since it was a war between the Titans and Gods, one single mistake might've plunged them to doom.


Hope you enjoy!


Greek Graphic Sources

♫ The End ♫

From August 3rd to June 3rd: The whole school year has been filled with fun, friends, and most of all, work.

Sounds kind of depressing, doesn't it? Work. But so many things happened this year, so it evened out. MS Parties, Spirit Week, Malaysia Week, Bake Sales...to name every single detail of this year would take a while! 

The piece of work that I was most proud of this year was my Ancient Egyptian diary entries. These three diary entries are perhaps the ones I worked hardest on this year, and showcases my best writing. Writing is my passion, and that's why I worked the hardest on the AE diary entries this year. 

The greatest challenge for me this year was probably our first literature circle, when we had to read Call it Courage. Mr. Thomas explained the whole thing to us, but I didn't quite get the whole thing. The connection and vocabulary were easy enough, but the passage and question just plain confused me. So that was my reason for why I thought my very first literature circle was hard.

I think I learnt a lot about myself this year. I think that I could work a lot faster, definitely. And the most is that I get distracted easily. I mean, no matter where I am, I get distracted. Empty room, I find out a way to procrastinate. A noisy room, I space out. A quiet room, I just get distracted. Sure, I'll say that I'm doing my homework, and that it just takes a while, but honestly? I just can't concentrate. I somehow always manage to convince myself that I always have more time; not the best thing. If I try to work on one thing for too long a time, I'd just walk away, and not finish it till the last minute.

a) Behavior: 
Well, personally, I think it's satisfactory. I mean, sometimes I goof off, and sometimes I work. I guess it depends on the day, or my mood, or what we're doing. If I'm bored, I do tend to space-out.

b) Participation: 
Satisfactory, I think. Well, I personally don't like participating in discussions, but I think that I do sometimes. I do think that I need to participate more in discussions, however.

c) Organization: 
I like to think that I'm organized, and that I know where everything is. But sometimes at home, I loose stuff, and I freak, and freak, and freak until I find whatever I was looking for. So, I'd rate myself a 'satisfactory.'

d) Effort:
Personally, I like to think that I always went 'above and beyond what was required' this year. I worked extremely hard on all my projects/homework, and tried my best on everything. 

There are two goals I want to make in grade 7 next year: To work more efficiently, and to participate more in class.

Goal 1: I want to work more efficiently because it would save me so much more time, and leave me free time to do the stuff I want, and not just spend my whole after-school life doing homework. So I just need to think, "If you don't do this now, you'll get a B or below.' That somehow helps...most of the time.

Goal 2: I think that this isn't just a want, it's a need. I need to participate more in class. Participating in class helps me learn better, because when I'm not talking, I'm spacing out.  So sometimes I have no idea what's going on.



Well, if there's something I would like the teachers to know, it would be the fact that I absolutely love writing. But there's one particular genre I like to write: It's not essays, or narratives, but it's imaginative writing. Paranormal, fantasy...I can write those kind of stuff in a matter of minutes, with just one single word as an inspiration. But if you tell me to do an outline to go along, I'll write down the story then do an outline. If making an outline is part of an assignment? I'll probably start on it, but not finish it until I finish the story. Well, the main thing is, I absolutely hate planning my stories. They never seem to work out that way.
Another small thing is that I don't have a particular liking for working with partners, unless it's literature circle, where I can learn something from working with a partner. 

Which activity did I like the most in Humanities? It would be the Tic-Tac-Toe. It definitely helped me study about whatever historical era we were doing, and it's a fun way of learning about Ancient China, or India, or Egypt. I also liked how we could choose the projects we wanted to do, so that it would best match our group's skill. That definitely helped.


I honestly wished that we could've spent more time on our Imaginative narratives. To me, one is too little, and having a word count doesn't exactly help, either. If you really want to write, you should be able to write as much as you want, as many times as you want. When we were doing the project, I could see that a lot of people enjoyed it, shared ideas and all.


A word of wisdom? From me?
Take you time, do your best, and mots of all, enjoy! Don't let your first year of middle school go to waste. Instead, have fun!


Advice?
Do your homework the minute you get it. Finish it at lunch, on the bus, during break, whatever. Makes like much easier ;)

Welcome to the end of 6th grade.

Tiffany 

A Letter: The Giver #5

Dear Fiona,


You might notice, by the time you have received this letter, that I have left-away from the community, from this place that feels like it's suffocating me little by little each day I stay here. The lack of freedom, of choice...it was just too much for me to bear, so prison-like. So I fled-perhaps looking for another place, where I could have freedom, and make my own choices. To live my life fully, with emotions. But I didn't do it for myself. I also wanted everyone to feel what I could feel, and that would only be attainable by what I have been given: memories of the time before our generation, and more generations back, before we transferred to Sameness. Maybe when you will understand better why I left after all my memories return to the community. But for now, and until that happens, you must be wondering why I decided to leave, suddenly and forever. Choice and freedom: what exactly is it? 


You must understand that there is more to society and life then what we-you-have now. Life...it contains emotions, love, hatred, sorrow, joy...those are all part of life. Life also holds friendship and family, real and true, for all that you could actually feel. Though society may not always be perfect, like the one we had back here in our very own Utopia, there still were flaws. You were trained in the arts of Releasing, I assume? Though you may not realize it, death is always, always a cruel thing, no matter if it is done in the most peaceful way without any pain. I had just recently witness my father put a helpless twin to sleep; to death. You could not comprehend the sorrow I felt, how painful it was to watch the one you love betray your trust.  Hopefully, one day, you will realize this. The Giver had once told me, "Making choices are frightening." But I believe they are necessary. We did not get to choose our jobs at the Ceremony of Twelve-think how amazing it would be to choose our jobs, to do what we loved. In fact, think about it: if we were to marry the ones we really loved, to spend the rest of our lives with our loved one just as our ancestors had done generations ago, there would be so many things we could do.

Love is a big thing, isn't it? Though my feelings were hurt when I asked my parents whether or not they loved me, when they replied, "Love is a very generalized word, so meaningless that it's become almost obsolete," I still loved my parents, still loved Lilly.  You Fiona, I think you had also experienced love, when you took care of our elders. But trust me, that itself is nothing compared to the love you feel when you have the memories. This is another reason of why I left: to give everyone, including you, a chance to feel. Life is more then simply doing what we are told to do.

So, please don't worry about me, because I'm safe with Gabriel. Please tell my parents and Lily that I miss them, and The Giver that I hope he succeeds. Tell Asher that I hope he's okay, and hopefully his job goes well.  Tell everyone, each of our friends, our teachers, the ones that helped us, that I sorely miss them, and hope that their lives go on well, and that I hope they appreciate the things they will be able to feel when they have the memories. And last of all, Fiona, I miss you lots, and hope that everyone can have the chance to sense your compassion. Please go on well, and visit my family often for me. For the times I could've seen them again if I had not left.


Someday, you may thank me for my efforts, though you may despise me for the pain you must go through bearing the memories. And maybe one day, we may see each other again.

      Jonas