CAS Project – AMK Minds final reflection

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After going through multiple rounds of action and doing self reflection within these sessions my project has now come to an end. Over the past few months this project has allowed me to expand as both a leader and collaborator. Although at times there were doubts as to whether we were doing the right thing especially from both my co-chair and I we overcame this through making sure that we maintained as much contact as feasibly possible with both our clients students and teachers in our school. One of the main issues that we asked ourselves was if it was ethical for us to create videos not knowing whether it was beneficial for our clients. Although we try to have as much communication as possible our main client of the service was not as communicative as we would have liked, making us doubt whether these videos were beneficial.This meant that we had to go through our school service department to try and reach our partners. As this was successful our perseverance and want for getting feedback allowed us to get that, which helped us to produce better videos for our clients. All of these issues helped me to grow skills that I would not have gotten in another activity or creativity.

Below I have attached an image of the questions that are new students asked are both Isaac and us. As a result of doing the service over the past three years and making it my project during CAS I was able to have an increased awareness on the issue of people living with intellectual disabilities in Singapore and globally. Although this was not an easy process it allowed me to grow into the leadership role making sure that everyone had their aims fulfilled.

U19A Basketball – Final reflection

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As my final basketball season ended there was a sense that it wasn’t really over. Throughout the season we only played two games, both against teams that we had been playing against for the past two years as they were the only ones we could play. Yet additionally, there was a sense of finality. Our final game was against a team that we rarely beat, the last time I remember beating them was in my last game in middle school. There was a sense of nostalgia beating the team that we always tried to beat with the same girls that I started this journey with in grade 7. Although it was not the same, and along the way I have improved my skills through all the training we take I have also learned so much more. Basketball has taught me to hone my leadership and communication skills. Although they are not quantitative skills such as shooting percentage or minutes played, all the skills I have learnt have greatly affected me as a player, student and person. It has made me aware of the things that I had to change and how to change them with the help of my coaches. I hope in the future I still get to play basketball and build connections like the ones I have made at this school.

Here is a photo of me at my last basketball game.

CAS Project – AMK Minds second reflection

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As a result of me being co-chair of this service it was both a leadership role and a collaborative role. The teachers that facilitated the service were not as active as some are in others which meant that both my coach and I were relied upon to create and lead all service sessions. As a result of this every session we had to come up with a plan to make sure that our aim for the group with met. Our main aim in the beginning was to create videos that could be used by our service partners to help them to get moving again especially during this time when it was very difficult to go outside if you were intellectually disabled because of the mask mandate in Singapore. In the planning stage we asked all the students to come up with plans for their videos making sure that this was then approved by both us and our teachers. Additionally both my co-chair and I made our own plans for not only the service and where we see it going but also for the videos that were to be made.

In the action stage of our service this was mainly the making of videos to send to our clients. We chose to do this as we thought that this would be the best product that could be created during Covid with the limitations that we had upon us. The videos typically lasted from 3 to 5 minutes making sure that there was a warmup exercise section and a cool down, additionally included music that was both upbeat but not to lyric heavy as well as subtitles to help English as a second language clients. Here is an example of one of these videos.

 

 

U19A Basketball – Mid-season reflection

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Now we are in the middle of the season there is quite a lot to reflect on. It has been very difficult to stay motivated as a result of the number of people that show up, and the varying skill levels. This has been made harder as I additionally play in a club team with players from different schools who I feel as though I play better with as we have been playing together for a long time. Although I believed there to be issues and at times I didn’t want to play as a result of not feeling as though there was an end goal with no games, I still showed up for training. My main motivation were my teammates; both previous and current. I remembered back to when I was in grade 8-9 and I was playing with girls who had been playing for a lot longer and were a lot better. I tried to be as helpful as possible to both my coaches and to my teammates. The basketball community over the years had grown into quite a tight-knit group, and to further expand that was hard but eventually we got there and became a team.

U19A Basketball – First reflection

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After last years disappointment with not being able to play in season, and having to play solely in my club, in this season I want to establish a sense of community within the team. I believe this to be necessary as I am a part of the last four from the original team who knew all of the plays and the way things ran pre-COVID. Collaboration between the seniors and the younger players will be integral to this process. Additionally, staying motivated and persevere through the harder times. As a result of COVID, basketball has become decreasingly popular in my school, especially with the girls. I know that these next few sessions will be hard but hopefully at the end of the season it will all be worth it and I can enjoy my fourth and final season on this team.

The Handmaid’s Tale: Historical Notes

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What, ostensibly, is the function of the Historical Notes?

  • Provides context
    • As Offred can only account for what her life was like as a handmaid it provides more perspective
  • Adds objective data to the Offred’s account
  • Highlights that what caused the rise of Gilead still exists
    • Sexism

What additional information is provided?

  • Gilead has ended
  • How the other countries perceived Gilead 
  • Judging things out of context changes the meaning behind them or even history
  • What contributed to the rise of Gilead

What might be problematic about this section of the novel?

  • Two men are in control of Offred’s narrative
    • Pieixoto seems to not understand the novel and it’s damning nature
      • Would it have been better received by him if this was happening to men?
  • They are questioning the authenticity of the novel
    • In which the readers believe to be true
  • There is still clear sexualisation of women
    • Demeaning jokes which are encouraged with laughter from the audience
      • Sexism still exists
    • Her horrific troubles are being made light of to further progress one person’s career
  • It takes away from the ending of the novel
  • The reader is being asked to not judge the Gilead regime as it is not contextualised
    • Opposite to what the novel pushes

How is this section of the novel both an epilogue, a warning and a critique?

  • We struggle to learn from history
    • It warns us from creating that history
  • Reference to global warming
  • “As all historians know”
  • There is a sense that there is nothing future tense or fictional about the handmaid’s tale

Herstory or History?

  • Is it written to a female audience therefore when Pieixoto reads the novel he doesn’t recognise it to be true
  • Pieixoto is a historian and thinks that way
    • He becomes frustrated when Offred leaves out gaps
    • He wants statistics, facts
      • Cares about who the commander was, not about Offred’s story
    • He doesn’t believe this to be history as it is Offred’s perspective rather than real facts

How is the power distributed in Gilead?

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Power is a key theme within The Handmaids tale and is what Gilead is founded on. Atwood makes it unknown to the reader who is the leader of Gilead, but rather there is a figure “The eye” who is seen to have an effect on citizens of Gilead. When Offred is doing her assigned tasks outside of the house such as shopping or walking she feels a feeling of being watched. This links to Atwood’s inspiration from 1984, playing on the idea of surveillance. Although Offred is not being overtly watched, through different tactics from the Gilead government there is clear suppression through the use of their power.

Additionally, there is a clear distribution of power through the use of clothing. Each faction of Gilead has their own distinct powers, creating a sense of jealousy within the groups. Their groups are seen through the use of clothing, creating a physical divide between them. This allows for the power to be distributed into clear groups, whilst the separation and lack of socialisation means that they can not work together against the government.

The wall is a physical representation of what will happen if you strike out against the regime. It is a form of oppression through instilling fear within, a result of this many turn on each other with few being spared in the process. It’s a punishment for dissension, with them retroactively punish people making an example of them.

In chapter 5 Offred gains some of her power back. This is done through the use of her body. Although her body is owned by the state, a way in which they control them, Offred intentionally moves in a way which is covertly sexual. She views this as liberating, this little power over the movement of her body could be taken from her at any moment like the mutilations they do upon women who strike out against them.

In what ways is the control of women’s bodies reflective of the totalitarian control of the regime in Gilead?

Lily on

Notes

  • Gilead enforces the idea that women’s bodies belong to men
    • Handmaids for babies
    • Jezebels for pleasure
  • Offred doesn’t view her body as her own but rather as an alien territory
  • Gilead ideology has become ingrained and to an extent she has internalised it
    • She has a sense of failure when she doesn’t produce a child every month
  • “I’m a cloud” pg. 86
    • Implies that the regime has stripped her of her identity leaving her to be lifeless
  • She believes she is a walking womb
    • Her entire identity is focused around the thing that the regime has deemed most important
    • Her womb is “hard and more real than I am”
      • Creates juxtaposition between her identity and her organ
  • The little choice that Gilead allows for women creates an illusion of some choice
    • The question of state rape or free will?
  • Offred doesn’t refer to herself in the ceremony but rather as one
  • Dreams and memories highlight the difference and extremities
    • Shows how her ideology and identity has been controlled
    • Forcing her to do things that prior she would have seen as impossible

CAS Project – AMK Minds initial reflection

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The service that I will be working with for my project is AMK Minds. Although I have previously worked with them in the past, this year we are focusing on a whole different type of format as we can’t meet them face-to-face. The aim of the service is to help people with intellectual disabilities to move around and have fun during our time in service. This was made extremely difficult as a result of not having the partners, clients or equipment available to us. This lead me to the investigation stage. Although I was familiar with the service it was totally different to what I had done before. I needed to ask and collaborate with people who did the service last year that worked with them during the Covid period as this was not when I worked with them. Through meetings with both students and our clients it allowed us to understand both their needs and how to go forth with this service in a new way that was fun for both the students in my service and the clients in my service.

The handmaid’s tale: context

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Atwood calls her book as speculative fiction

Puritans

  • Religious members of Christianity who were viewed as extremely conservative 
    • Religious sect
    • Were also a part of the witch trials
  • They are from Europe but they migrated to the USA in the 1600s
  • Pure
    • Everything in it’s most clean form
    • Puritanical → negative connotations associated (pejorative)
  • They viewed the bible differently to the church of England
    • They took the word of the bible as literal
    • Their beliefs were basic
    • Believed in the old testament bible
      • A god who was strict and would punish human beings
      • Earthly life was to work and to pray
      • This prepares your soul for the afterlife
      • Distractions were seen as taboo
  • Martin Luther created the protestant as a protest of the Catholic church’s power
  • Henry the 8th made his own church after his divorce wasn’t allowed
    • He was influenced by Martin Luther
  • The religious right or evangelicals
  • The book is based in Massachusetts which is where the Puritans were based 
    • Founded Harvard

Theocracy → what Gilead is ruled by

  • When the state/civil law is informed by religious teaching
  • Religious teaching/law becomes the justification for civil law
  • Religious texts are subject to different interpretations which means that not everyone will agree on what the word of God is
    • Vagueness within the text
  •  There is a large difference in cultural context between when the religious texts were produced vs. when they are being used

Influences

  • The diary of a young girl – Anne Frank
    • Personal voice/ first person
      • Ramifications of the regime on the individual
      • Insider story
    • Witness account
    • Fragmented narrative
  • 1984 – George Orwell
    • Playing on the idea of Big Brother
    • Totalitarianism

The women’s rights movement

  • Religious interpretation of gender roles/values
    • The main reason that men don’t believe them to be equal is because in the bible a woman was created for man and men were seen as all-powerful
  • The idea of a handmaid comes from the bible
    • Handmaid is another word for important servant
  • There was a second wave of feminism in 60-70s
    • First wave was during the suffragette movement
  • After ww2 there was a change in society where the women who previously worked in the war had to go back to their family life
  • Civil rights
    • Black Americans
    • Women’s rights
  • Landmark case in 1973 → Roe vs. Wade
    • In 1981 there was a group of extremely conservative christians who protested against it