Task 2

Complete the template provided below (Annex A), focusing on (1) Point of View; (2) Situation and Setting; (3) Language/Diction; and (4) Personal Response, and post your response to Task 2 on your blog. This template is based on John Lye’s ‘Critical Analysis of Poetry’, and you can make reference to this in Annex B when in doubt.

Rainbow Death

America did not foresee
Green, pink, purple and other colors death potpourri!
Expecting others to pay a high price.
Now thinking twice?
Toll on the innocent and unborn.

Omnipotent and disregarding who will mourn.
Reflective about all the illness, birth defects and prematurely dead.
All the deceit continues to spread.
Nefariously America led astray -
Generations untold WILL pay -
Execrable effects of agent orange spray!

Hubert Wilson

Point of view

I think the poem is from the point of view a person who have seen the causes and effect of Agent Orange on the people of Vietnam, most probably from a third person point of view. This can be seen from “America did not foresee” which show that he is saying as a bystander on how careless America was without considering the effect of the deadly Agent Orange that will “Toll on the innocent and unborn.” He is like narrating the first-hand experience that he had seen from the war and thus this support my point that the poets adopts a third person point of view and is not actually one of the victims or it will be in the first person point of view. It can also be confirm with facts that the poet was participating in the war and had survived to narrate the story.

Situation and Setting

The setting and situation of the poem is most probably after the war whereby the Americans are “ Now thinking twice” in releasing the “Green, pink, purple and other colors death potpourri!”. This shows that the America regretted releasing the Agent during the war as “America did not foresee”. It is only after the released of the agent can we know “Execrable effects of agent orange spray” on people like “illness, birth defects and prematurely dead”. Thus, I conclude that the poem can only be set in the aftermath of the war to know the effects the agents had on the Vietnamese people and the feeling of regret by the Americans.

Language/Diction

Diction is carefully and uses very accurately to create and impact on the reader so as to let the reader feel the devastating effect the agents had on the Vietnamese people and the remorseful America.

The title “Rainbow Death” is an oxymoron whereby Rainbow is associated with death. Rainbow being colourful, lively and lead to heaven is seldom associated with death, which is dark, dull and lead to hell. The title also relates back to the Rainbow Herbicides that America used solely to remove the leaves of tree to prevent the enemy cover and concealment but have caused many deaths, which was never meant to be lethal or cause any heath problems. However, the rainbow used here has a contrast in saying that it leads to death that in turn leads to hell. This is showing how America used the Agent Orange without knowing its effect on people.

Similarly, death potpourri is also an oxymoron. Potpourri is a mixture of dried, naturally fragrant plant material, used to provide a gentle natural scent in houses. However, it is associated with death. Death that is commonly known to be negative is seldom associated with potpourri that is something positive since it gives a nice fragrant smell. Since death potpourri shows the dying of plant material, it might also relate to the Herbicides which kills off the leaves of trees. However, what the Americans did not know was that such harmless herbicides that were used to only destroy plants can destroy or kill humans as well.

Personal Response

The poem make me feel that the people of Vietnamese or maybe just the poet bore a grudges against America for causing death to so many people and birth deformities too. It enables me to understand the feelings and sufferings of the victims of the Agent Orange and the war itself. Although America is not to be totally blamed, the poem is portrayed to be anti-war and blame America for the sufferings that it had caused on the Vietnamese people. It also allows me to sympathized with the victims. I feel that the message of the poet is that war can bring devastating effect to both sides and that we should resolve everything peacefully instead of going to war as it will bring no good to both sides. I hope that war will cease to happen in future.

Task 1

Based on your understanding of the selected poem, perform extensive web research and write a report on your blog detailing the conflict represented in the poem(s) of your choice. Bear in mind that this piece of background information will allow your blog audience to further understand the poem as well as your analysis of the poem in Task 2.

Rainbow Death

America did not foresee
Green, pink, purple and other colors death potpourri!
Expecting others to pay a high price.
Now thinking twice?
Toll on the innocent and unborn.

Omnipotent and disregarding who will mourn.
Reflective about all the illness, birth defects and prematurely dead.
All the deceit continues to spread.
Nefariously America led astray -
Generations untold WILL pay -
Execrable effects of agent orange spray!

Hubert Wilson

Hubert Wilson was a Vietnam War veteran who served in the USAF Security Service. The Vietnam War was a Cold War military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from November 1, 1955 to April 30, 1975. Along with a dozen intelligence school graduates, Hubert was assigned to Shemya Island, Alaskawhich, which was an Agent Orange hotspot.

About 15 years ago, Hubert’s health problems started with unexplained headaches and limb pains. His central nervous system radically deteriorated with Parkinsonian type tremors, severe headaches, progressive limb pains. No physician has ever diagnosed the specific illness but he guessed that it was because of the drinking water heavily contaminated with Agent Orange at Shemya during his year there as an intelligence analyst. The effects of Agent Orange only showed up 20 to 30 years after initial exposure.

So what is Agent Orange? I have done some research and Agent Orange is the code name for a herbicide and defoliant—contaminated with TCDD—used by the U.S. military in its Herbicidal Warfare program during the Vietnam War. During the Vietnam war, the United States military sprayed 12,000,000 US gallons of chemical defoliants in South Vietnam as part of the aerial defoliation program known as Operation Ranch Hand. The purpose of the product was to deny an enemy cover and concealment in dense terrain by removing leaves from trees and shrubbery where the enemy could hide. It was principally effective against broad-leaf foliage, such as the dense jungle-like terrain found in Southeast Asia.

4.8 million Vietnamese people were exposed to Agent Orange, resulting in 400,000 deaths and disabilities, and 500,000 children born with birth defects like an extra toe or finger. It also caused other serious health problems like mental disabilities, hernias, skin diseases as well as a vast variety of cancers in the lungs, larynx( the hollow muscular organ forming an air passage to the lungs and holding the vocal cords in humans and other mammals)and prostate (a gland surrounding the neck of the bladder in male mammals and releasing prostatic fluid).

References:

http://www.warpoetry.co.uk/2010warpoetry.html

http://www.johntreed.com/agentorange.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vietnam_War

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agent_Orange

Today I went for a Mathematics ACE seminar/ project today, organized by Mr Colin Ton and Mr Chua Boon Woo. It is about using Mathematics to made the best decision possible by considering all the factors.

You can use it for any sort of situation. Be it to decide whether you should ask a girls out for dinner and ask her to be your girlfriend or whether to take a shoot in a game of soccer, etc.

It is very simple and I will try to explain it to you guys. Using the four operation +, -, x , /, we can easily form our equation.

First and foremost, we must first find our situation. I will use a simple situation.

Should I buy the mobile phone or not.

Legends( Variables) Scale

Cost of phone- C 1-10

How much do I need the phone-N 1-10

How much do I want the phone-W 1-10

Functions and Applications of the phone- FA 1-10

The variable can be divided into two parts. Negative( decrease the chance of me buying the phone) and Positive( increase the chance of me buying the phone).

Negative= Cost of phone, How much do I want the phone.

Positive= Functions and Application of the phone, How much do I need the phone

The operations we used must also correspond to whether the variable is negative of positive.

Negative= + and x

Positive = - and /

Now we can start our equation.

(FA+N)/ (C+W)= 0.1-10

0.1 is the minimum answer we can get from this equation

10 is the maximum answer we can get from this equation

Therefore, if the answer is more than 1, I will buy the phone. If the answer is less than one, I will not buy the phone.

This equation might seem easy enough to do but this is only because they are only a few variables. When there are many variable, the trouble will come.

I hope that you guys find this helpful and can finally made the better decision in any situation once you read this.

If you find this too complicated to understand, the easiest way to make the better decision is to consider all the advantages and disadvantages before making the choice as it will increase the chance of you making the right choice.

I find that this seminar is worthwhile as I get to bring away what I had learnt there and is able to apply it in life when I am making a choice.

I feel that going for courses and seminar solely for ACE purposes is wrong and incorrect as ACE are meant for you to learn something out of the class syllabus. You don’t do ACE just for the sake of doing it. You have to enjoy the course, enjoy the process and learn something from the ACE assignments.

Hence, I would like to conclude by reminding you guys that today is already week 6 and I hope that you guys will treasure the time left and complete all the ACE for this term.

Today we had our Chinese Current Affairs. It is about littering in Singapore and whether we should use stricter law to stop it or use moral education to educate Singaporean against littering. They are two sides in this debate and some of my classmates are asked to have a debate with each other depending on which side you are on.

Here are some of my friends views on this problems:

LAW Point of view

I feel that law is the only way to go as it is only by enforcing law will the citizen be able to stop littering. Since Singaporean a more materialistic, they tend to treasure they valuable more, especially their money. Singaporeans are unwilling to part with their money. Therefore, by enforcing law, people will think twice before they litter as they are afraid to get caught and will need to pay fines that range from about a few hundred dollar to a thousand dollar for repeat offenders. They will not think about affecting their moral when they are about to litter. Therefore, using moral education is not helping Singaporeans to stop littering. Furthermore, this can also be confirmed by factual knowledge that with law imposed, there are fewer cases of people caught littering. Some other suggestions to prevent Singaporean from littering are to increase the fine further. Like instead of a few hundreds dollars for first time offenders it should be a few thousand dollars for first time offenders. This will tell the citizen that the government and NEA( National Environment Agency) are treating littering seriously and they will do whatever it takes to stop it from happening again.

MORAL Point of view

I feel that moral is the only way to go as results have shown that more than half of the people caught littering are youths. Therefore, it is only through educating the youth can we really stop littering. Moral education is important as it teaches everyone to be a better person and do things that are morally correct. Littering is regarded as incorrect. Through moral education, more people will know that littering is incorrect and they can also spread it out to their families and friends so that more will get the message that littering is wrong and they can spread it to even more people. This is the advantage of moral education. By using law to enforce littering is impossible. Everyday, there is bound to be lots of people littering and all the officers will not be able to catch everyone of them and fine them, thus everybody will not think twice about littering as the percentage of getting caught is very small. Furthermore, the reason why Singapore got it reputation of being a green city is because of the hard work of the road sweeper Without their hard work, sweeping up all the rubbish and litters on the ground, Singapore will become a rubbish dump in no time. Moral education teacher us to spare a thought for other and it will be the benefit of the road sweeper if Singaporeans can spare a thought for them and not litter taking into account of the road sweepers being in the hot sun all day just to clean up the mess we made.

MY Point of view

Personally, after this debate/discussion, I feel that both cannot exist without each other. Both law and moral and education have to work hand in hand to make Singaporeans stop littering. Without law, littering will definitely increase even with the help of moral education. Moral education can only go as far as to educate people but can not completely prevent them from doing so. With moral education, littering will also increase as less people will know that littering is incorrect and there are not many officers to go around catching everybody who litters. However, with both imposed upon Singaporeans, the law will prevent Singaporeans from littering as it inflict pain on the citizen if they lose their hard-earned money just because of this small act of littering. On the other hand, moral education can act as CCTVs and monitor everybody and prevent them from littering. If the person want to litter, there will be a string tugging in him and that will cause him to think whether or not to litter.

Thus, I conclude that Law and Moral education must both be imposed together. Everybody has a part to play in keeping Singapore a CLEAN and GREEN city.

What are your views on this issue? Is there any other solution other than the two I mentioned above? Please feel free to comment.

Sorry guys for not posting for so long. It had been a tedious, tiring and stressful month for me and I think for everyone as well. Tests are coming and the workload is increasing. With CCA and homework to juggle, it is quite a marvelous feat for me to be still surviving and not dead from exhaustion. We are only secondary 2 and I wonder how we are going to manage in Secondary 3. However, this is not the point of this blog post. Just wanted a channel to vent my “anger”.

Moving on. I am sure that all of you, if not most of you had heard of the ACSI and SAS “interesting” and “exciting” rugby match. It was more of a boxing tournament though. Some background information for you guys, for those who have yet heard about this incident.

At the B Division finals of the rugby competition, ACSI emerged victorious against SAS by a mere margin of one point, 8-7. This is such a thrilling match that is not to be missed. However, the show was not over after the final whistle. A fight broke out involving Leonard Wee and an opposing SAS player. It left Leonard Wee with a bloodied mouth and nose.

I am sure that all of you will think that the SAS player is in the wrong for hitting Leonard and that he should be punish. I also thought that way too when I first read about it. You might think that the reason why the SAS player hit Leonard is because they lost the match by only a point and cannot swallow his pride and wanted to take revenge and thus hit Leonard. However, that might not be the case if you know the full story.

According to some of my friends from ACSI, it was Leonard who first provoked the SAS player in the first place. He called the SAS player a loser. If I am not wrong this is what Leonard said, “ Loser! Go back to ITE”. From what I have heard, the SAS player was formerly from SAS but went to ITE. And SAS called the player back to play for their school. What the ACSI said was really insulting. If I were the SAS player I would also not be able to take the insult and punch him in the face. You might notice how I emphasize that all this information was from my friend and might not be true. So it is your choice to choose which one to believe in. Whether Leonard provoked the SAS player or the SAS player punched Leonard because he cannot accept the defeat. Whatever the case, I want to point out that both Leonard and SAS lacked sportsmanship.

After the game, the SAS player should try to accept the defeat no matter how hard it is and admit that both sides fought hard and tried their best. The SAS player should at the end shake hand with the opposing team and congratulate them on their achievement. While Leonard upon winning the game should not agitate the losing team even more but instead encourage the losing team that they have to try harder next year and meet in the finals again. After the match both team should shake hands with each other to show that both teams had a wonderful game with each other and it is an honour to be part of this thrilling match. This should have been the case for this rugby match so that none of the fighting would began in the first place and of course this also applies to other sports as well. This is what sports is all about to make new friends and of course to work hard and strive for excellence and not all about winning and fighting(except for sports like judo, wrestling ,etc).

Violence will not solve problems but instead creates more. So if one insult you, you should not resort to violence but instead tell it to the teacher or coach, etc to solve the problem diplomatically. Once a fight starts more will follow and it is hard to stop it, similar to the case for both World Wars. Therefore, we have to be more friendly towards each other and try not to agitate the person purposely to prevent such incident from happening.

Hence, I conclude that in sports, having sportsmanship and discipline are important and these traits are what make athletes special, different from those who don’t take up sports. Let play our part and not tarnish the image of sports.