ADH Essay Refelction
The following are two things about my essay writing that I am proud of my use of inserting techniques and my embedding of quotes. Through practice, I’ve learned I’m really good at embedding quotes because I’ve demonstrated that I can show off my knowledge of the play and back it up with properly embedded quotes making my statement stronger. However, I know I need to work on spelling and grammar. I am planning to do this by learning how to spell words that may come up in the exam and learning grammar rules. As well as addressing the spelling issue with learning the rules that come along with them rather than sounding out the word.
A GRADE 9 STUDENTS TAKE ON TOUGHNESS – DANNY RAVEN TAN IS HARD AS NAILS
On the 21st of January, Grade 9 students were visited by artist Danny Raven Tan, a Singaporean artist, in UWCSEA East to tell his story. One of his quotes is that “We are all created to create something,” – throughout the pain, he has gone through he has remained positive. Along with his art, he is also his mother’s caretaker, who suffers from dementia. Before finding his way in the art world he was in building estate management, saying that he hated his job and the only enjoyment he had was decorating the show flat, this is where he saw the change in his mindset and decided to pursue his dreams. He applied later to be a manager at Versace and shortly after his interview. He was still waiting on the decision, Gianni Versace was shot outside his Miami home, just like that, Danny Tan’s dreams of working for a fashion company died along with Versace himself, and he had to move onto another passion.
Even after all of that, he persevered with admired determination then Danny opened the Tiffin Gallery in 2015 after quitting his job at Lasalle School of The Arts, his home art gallery located in Ang Mo Kio. Then he unveiled his art to the public in 2016. But back in 2010 everything changed, he was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, of which the 5-year survival rate is 7% according to the American Cancer Society (Prognosis). Incredibly, it has been 8 years. Once he was told the news he did quite the opposite of what most people would do – he didn’t tell his family. Braving the pain, he told his parents he was going on a business trip and walked away without them knowing what was going on. When the students asked him “What were your parent’s reactions after you told them?”, he told us that he didn’t tell them. “What are they going to do, other than worrying. There’s no point.” was his comment that resonated with me and put everything into perspective and shocked the room. As young people in school when we have a problem we are used to going to someone instead of dealing with them head-on. Taking all of us by surprise, including the teachers, this made me realise that you are the only one that can deal with your problems because you and only you can help yourself.
His previous points really got me thinking how we respond to daily occurrences in today’s society. Things that don’t really make a difference are met with “Oh my god, I’m literally dying.” or “This literally couldn’t have been any worse.” However, it’s not complaining that defines us, it’s the motives behind the complaining and how you push through you will be remembered for. Through Danny’s life, he has persevered and is now accomplishing what he wants to, even if it isn’t supported by society. If he didn’t have his own struggles he is also his mother’s registered caretaker, who suffers from dementia. The fact that he doesn’t have a traditional job means he can look out for her while also providing for her. In his home gallery, he turns his struggles into art, often painting about things that happen or he sees happen to him. One example of this is with his ‘No.5’ line, telling us that his girlfriend was putting on perfume, he asked if it was expensive and she
I think nowadays some of us lack the determination and perseverance that Danny Tan shows. Thanks to the various advances in technology I believe many people have gone soft, especially the younger generations, which leads me to ask “could technology be changing human nature?” It is a rare trait in today’s society but after meeting Danny Raven I am re-evaluating what I think and what I do. The idea that he decided to go into the art world even though the odds were very slim is something to admire and something I can translate into my own life and keep going as he has been through a lot more than I ever could. That afternoon I went into the conference room not expecting anything but a presentation and leaving with my mindset changed because now I know Danny Tan is hard as nails and someone to look up to.
On the 21st of January, Grade 9 students were visited by artist Danny Raven Tan, a Singaporean artist, in UWCSEA East to tell his story. One of his quotes is that “We are all created to create something,” – throughout the pain, he has gone through he has remained positive. Along with his art, he is also his mother’s caretaker, who suffers from dementia. Before finding his way in the art world he was in building estate management, saying that he hated his job and the only enjoyment he had was decorating the show flat, this is where he saw the change in his mindset and decided to pursue his dreams. He applied later to be a manager at Versace and shortly after his interview. He was still waiting on the decision, Gianni Versace was shot outside his Miami home, just like that, Danny Tan’s dreams of working for a fashion company died along with Versace himself, and he had to move onto another passion.
Even after all of that, he persevered with admired determination then Danny opened the Tiffin Gallery in 2015 after quitting his job at Lasalle School of The Arts, his home art gallery located in Ang Mo Kio. Then he unveiled his art to the public in 2016. But back in 2010 everything changed, he was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, of which the 5-year survival rate is 7% according to the American Cancer Society (Prognosis). Incredibly, it has been 8 years. Once he was told the news he did quite the opposite of what most people would do – he didn’t tell his family. Braving the pain, he told his parents he was going on a business trip and walked away without them knowing what was going on. When the students asked him “What were your parent’s reactions after you told them?”, he told us that he didn’t tell them. “What are they going to do, other than worrying. There’s no point.” was his comment that resonated with me and put everything into perspective and shocked the room. As young people in school when we have a problem we are used to going to someone instead of dealing with them head-on. Taking all of us by surprise, including the teachers, this made me realise that you are the only one that can deal with your problems because you and only you can help yourself.
His previous points really got me thinking how we respond to daily occurrences in today’s society. Things that don’t really make a difference are met with “Oh my god, I’m literally dying.” or “This literally couldn’t have been any worse.” However, it’s not complaining that defines us, it’s the motives behind the complaining and how you push through you will be remembered for. Through Danny’s life, he has persevered and is now accomplishing what he wants to, even if it isn’t supported by society. If he didn’t have his own struggles he is also his mother’s registered caretaker, who suffers from dementia. The fact that he doesn’t have a traditional job means he can look out for her while also providing for her. In his home gallery, he turns his struggles into art, often painting about things that happen or he sees happen to him. One example of this is with his ‘No.5’ line, telling us that his girlfriend was putting on perfume, he asked if it was expensive and she
I think nowadays some of us lack the determination and perseverance that Danny Tan shows. Thanks to the various advances in technology I believe many people have gone soft, especially the younger generations, which leads me to ask “could technology be changing human nature?” It is a rare trait in today’s society but after meeting Danny Raven I am re-evaluating what I think and what I do. The idea that he decided to go into the art world even though the odds were very slim is something to admire and something I can translate into my own life and keep going as he has been through a lot more than I ever could. That afternoon I went into the conference room not expecting anything but a presentation and leaving with my mindset changed because now I know Danny Tan is hard as nails and someone to look up to.
WF #4
Mukul Deva had an interesting presentation. I enjoyed it very much as he injected a lot of humour into it. I particularly enjoyed the section where he lead us through writing a murder mystery. As he said he was going to write a book with us I thought that we were actually going to have to do some writing which I was not thrilled about as I don’t like writing, but then he talked us through it and enjoyed it very much. His interaction with the audience I liked, in particular, picking certain people to answer and it worked great when they didn’t know what was going on, like when Arsh got picked and responded with “I don’t know” 3 times. It was really interactive and that meant that at no point you got bored for an overall effect of a really interesting presentation that kept me listening to a subject that I don’t enjoy. He was also really honest with us saying that he does it for money which showed that not everyone has to like it and someone who doesn’t like writing, like me, I can really relate to it.
WF #3
Danny Raven Tan has quite an interesting story filled with ups and downs. His story is also really inspiring as he never complained through the whole experience not even telling his parents to this day. Even after his dreams were crushed after the death of Vercase he kept going. He really has got a way of thinking that most people don’t have. He doesn’t hold anything back either calling out some members of our grade and not refraining from using any words that most presenters would shy away from. Despite this attitude, he was self-conscious of his scar from pancreatic cancer and eventually faced his fear and did a photoshoot showing them off spelling life which really inspires us to not be afraid.
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WF #2 Marc Nair
Marc Nair has an interesting way of writing as seen in Plasticpeligo. He writes some of his poems in quite an ironic way and even puts some of them to song. Even after saying that he likes to write ironic poems. That makes for quite an enjoyable performance as you are entertained the whole time. He didn’t talk about himself too much but instead focused on his writing. I found his writing style cool and it’s not conventional. All of his books have photos attached to the poems as he said he likes to travel and I found that a different way to write poetry as I thought that the only way to do it was just with words but he does it with travel photos and some paintings. Overall this presentation was really enjoyable because it took something that I knew how to do, write poetry and really changed how I looked at it and gave me a new view on how to do it.
WF 1: Steve Dawson
During the presentation, we saw Steve Dawson present to us the 5 points of interviewing. As much as we wanted him to show him to tell us about himself, he didn’t. Instead, he wanted to talk about others the great experiences that he had and the amazing people he met. When he talked about Fernando Alonso he was very empathetic towards him. Most people would just assume that he was a mean guy. But Steve thinks differently, he understood that it was hard and decided to empathetic. Even when question provoking him to be egotistical, nothing. When he talked about Larry King and Piers Morgan still praised them for making it and never once said that he should be in their position. He came across very well in the presentation and even if I wasn’t paying attention all the time, throughout his whole story I was intrigued and wanted to know more. When he was talking about sports, as someone who likes sport naturally I was interested. But he wasn’t just talking about sport he was teaching us how to interview properly. Normally that isn’t something I would be interested in and would shy away from but this was different, I really enjoyed this story.