For the Aboriginals of Australia

Following up on the previous post, To be a Hero, this plea is for the Australian Aboriginals' Stolen Generation. Shortly after the first settlers of the British Empire came to Australia, half-castes became a bane in British colonization. The mission was to 'breed out' the 'black' in the children and to bring them up as British servants, or, if they were 'white' enough, to be educated and became a member of the British society.


Years after this plan was set in motion, the one-time settlers of Australia are requesting a public, heartfelt apology to the victims of the practice, by the government to the Aboriginal people.


After watching the movie "Rabbit-Proof Fence", it seems only appropriate that they should. Though their intentions might have been viewed as good in their eyes, it does not justify the fact they wrestled mothers and children apart forever, to live separate lives as the latter are taught to disregard their own religion and culture to embrace another, bewilderingly different, one. It doesn't explain away the fact they intentionally tried to 'breed out' the native genes in the children. It sounds like they've been selecting the type of fur they would like a certain breed of dog should have. Humans, no matter how different or 'inferior' they seem to you, are humans. Not animals.


The damage is done. The Stolen Generation is one thing that just cannot be given back. But making up for it is in just order. It's the least you can do after crushing the lives and hearts of the mothers you legally stole children from. Saying the words 'I'm sorry' won't be a satisfactory apology either. Actions speak louder than words.


Perhaps you can't give their children back, but you can certainly allow a little of their native homeland to become wild again. A little wilderness at your backyard can't hurt the scenery. And letting them take up their ways of life, culture, beliefs, could help. Reconnecting with your life hurts, but heals more than it kills. The memory of things done in bygone days revives a sense of homecoming, and brings one closer to their heritage. To their family.


An apology is in order. Make it count; this one's for the Stolen Generation.

Note: In Victorian times, the flower Rue signified the sender's regret.

To be a Hero

The dictionary says a hero is someone, usually a man, who is idolized for their brave deeds and honorable qualities. But what do you think a hero is? Someone who saves people at the cost of their own lives? A protector of the powerless, supporter of the small, fighter for the feeble?

In the movie "Rabbit-Proof Fence", the protagonist, Molly, decides to undertake a 1,500 mile long journey with her two younger sisters. On the good old-fashioned soles of the feet they were born with.

Why? Half-castes in the days of the British colonies, they are the children of the Aboriginals of Australia and English fathers. After being forcibly kidnapped and taken to a camp to train as a servant, the sickened Molly plots to run away, dubbing the camp 'bad place'.

In this, Molly is a hero. She knows this is wrong, that the British have no right to attempt to brainwash her, to make a servant of their 'proper' lives. And she is willing to go against it. She's brave enough to make a stand.

It's not like she's gullible either, thinking no one will stop her and bring her back. She knows the camp has a tracker, an Aboriginal tracker. But she runs, and she runs with the knowledge that the coming rain will soon cover her tracks. That she is brave enough, strong enough, determined enough, to risk the fear of being dragged back to the camp, is a sign of heroism. She will do what it takes to get her sisters and herself home.

She's also smart enough to lessen the chances of getting caught, too. She isn't running headlong, pelting away home just hoping she's fast enough to keep ahead of the tracker. She's laying false trails, keeping the real tracks as hard to follow as possible, and staying alert to the danger. To me, a hero is someone honorable and brave, yes, but smart. Dumb brute strength never saved anybody. You've got to be clever enough to save people against unbalanced odds, and chances are, the odds are against you.

Watch it, brave, honorable, heroic men. Young girls can be saviours too.

DomiKnows: Knowing About Me

Some people think logically, write with their right hand, subconsciously start to walk with their left leg, and prefer listening with the right ear rather than the left. A freak of nature?

Well, if she/he is, then we all are too. These preferences are how you learn, or think, or cope under stress.

It has a lot to do with your brain. Your logical, orderly side controls everyday life like putting the key into the ignition before you drive and booting up the computer before you open Microsoft Word. The other side, however, deals with emotion and intuition. This part likes the way your painting looks because it's got a variety a vibrant colors and says that person in the dark jacket over at that table looks like a thief.

For me, I am gestalt (emotional-oriented), I listen better with my right ear, see things through my left eye, write with my left and step forward with my left as well. My profile is called, simply, O. This profile states that I learn well through movement and focus on the big thing, drawing the issue in relevence to myself. As a highly visual learner, I like to physically see the whole picture and prefer to actually do whatever is being learned. I also like to have examples and allusions to other subjects to help me comprehend when problem solving. People belonging to the profile O are very kinesthetic, meaning they must move their body, mostly the hands, to learn. When in the classroom, I have been known to sit cross-legged on my chair while absentmindedly swaying from side to side. Sometimes, when I feel relaxed, I will doodle absently and listen for the details instead.

Because my eyes scans from left to right, I have slight difficulty reading left to right languages like English, although extensive reading of storybooks have nearly canceled out this difficulty. Also, my eyes and hand don't work together very well, which causes difficulty with handwriting. I usually have problems with communicating details in a logical, orderly way. Sometimes, although my movements are usually intuitive and flowing, stress affects my ability to execute specific technique. I also prefer not to follow the instructions, but instead start by envisioning the final product, then starting wherever I feel is best.

Most people of the profile O benefit from sitting close to the front of the classroom or meeting room on the left hand side, while still being able to move without disturbing others. Some techniques that a profile O person might learn to help cope with stress are reading out loud, toning the hand-eye coordination by using the Brain Gym technique 'Lazy 8's', or 'Thinking Caps'. Also, balancing the arts and movement into linguistics and math will be really beneficial to people of the profile O.

Leonardo da Vinci: A True Renaissance Man

Leonardo da Vinci is most often described as the most famous painter of all time, but he has also been noted as a skilled inventor and scientist. Indeed, he studied many aspects of science, among them botany and aerodynamics. This deep interest in a myriad of different subjects makes Leonardo a fully acclaimed renaissance man.

'Renaissance' can mean an explosion of interest and ideas, and so Leonardo was an explosion of many talents and ideas. He was not only an accomplished painter from a young age, but was also skilled in science and talented in devising inventions. Fascinated by the natural world, he preferred to observe with his own eyes than to read about it in the reports of others, claiming they were too 'tormentingly long-winded and confusing'. He often studied human muscles and tissues, racing against the clock to record them carefully before they rotted. As an engineer, his inventions ranged from practical to mythological. He devised ways to harness water as a powerful source (electricity was not a power source at the time) and used gears and levers to lift huge weights. With his talent in art, he not only drew the famous Mona Lisa, but used his skill to draw, to the greatest detail, his observations in science or his inventions, inside and out.

Leonardo da Vinci was a man of many talents and many interests, and so a true renaissance man.

Brunelleschi: A Story of High Stakes

This building is the Santa Maria del Fiore of Florentine. Behind it is a very interesting sunset, and so behind the making of the dome is also a very interesting story.

The story of Brunelleschi's famous dome is one of courage, virtuosity, creative leadership, and very high stakes. Risks are essential for change, and for achieving ambition. And Brunelleschi's ambition was not ordinary in the slighest; to build a dome that spanned the empty top of the Santa Maria del Fiore of Florence, without scaffolding.

Courage was needed to brave the scorn of his fellow architects, virtuosity to come up with the remarkable idea of the building structure, and creative leadership required for convincing others less brilliant than he to trust in his plans. But what I thought was needed the most was the ability to take risks. The knowledge and instinct to be able to know, or sense, when he could take considerable risks and trust in his understanding of human nature or when he had to cut his losses and wait for a better time. That, in itself was a risk all on its own, but it wasn't the only. It was a dangerous game, and one that had to be played carefully. Risks drove Brunelleschi to succeed because he had to, he wanted to, and so he had to try. If he had to play this game of politics to gain the privilege of designing the beautiful dome of Santa Maria del Fiore, then so be it. The higher the risk, he knew, the better the prize. He just needed to gauge when it was too good a prize to risk. When the stakes were high and less people were willing to take that same risk you took, Brunelleschi went ahead with his plans full force. But when many were vying for the same coveted position as his wanted, he kept well back and pretended not to be interested.

This risk led to Brunelleschi's rise in the standing of his guild and his city, but it also sparked a changed in the views of architecture. This decision, made by Brunelleschi, helped change to happen, like an open door in a flaming building. The actions of this talented man changed Florentine and allowed more inventions of the Renaissance to spring forth.

Where do new ideas come from?

New ideas can happen anywhere, at any time. Some believe that it is some sort of 'Eureka!' moment, but new ideas usually come from prolonged thinking and brainstorming. Most great inventors and scientists in history rarely think up their theory in moments, unless you count Isaac Newton's 'apple on the head' moment of enlightenment. Ideas usually come from experiences coupled with imagination, or problems that are in urgent need of solving. An example of this is Alexander Graham Bell's invention, the telephone. Many people were having trouble with long-distance conversations, having to rely on telegraph or letters. Even though this is usually fine in most circumstances, emergencies posed an urgent problem to the usual time it took for a letter or telegraph to be delivered. This was a problem that needed to be solved , and the telephone became the solution that let others talk simultaneously to one another. Sometimes, ideas come from someone else's thoughts or words, something that sparks one's imagination and in time forms an idea. Other times, the different people would come to the same conclusion and scramble to publish their ideas first, like Charles Darwin and Alfred Russel Wallace. Each came to a similar theory on evolution and while Darwin had come to the conclusion first, he had yet to publish his ideas. This gave way to a scramble for the patent of the theory. All these are ways to come up with new ideas, which are usually revised over and over to become a single, original idea that is both interesting and appealing to humanity, or maybe something that interests you.

My Favorite Short Story From the unit

During the unit of short stories, we read and annotated three stories: The Sniper, Lamb to the Slaughter, and Thank You, Ma'am. When forced to chose a favorite I decided to choose the one had an interesting and intriguing plot, which I thought was the Lamb to the Slaughter. Roald Dahl, the author of this short story, added a sense of secrecy. I liked the suspense, which helped to move the story along and keep a underlying feeling of fear. It gives the story an interesting feeling, one of betrayal and secrecy which really intrigues me because I like to see the way criminals cover their crimes. This story therefore really amazes me in the simple but effective way Mrs. Maloney gets rid of the evidence.