Month: January 2018

I thought this talk was the most meaningful because it was a very local issue. I had previously been part of a service “healthserve” in grade 8 in which we helped injured migrant workers to entertain them by playing games and such which would stop them from staying in their hostels alone. I thought it was a very good service and I enjoyed seeing the migrant workers smile and have a good time. Although I was in this service I didn’t quite realise all of the details to this problem and why it was so bad. I was glad to hear that the MOM let the migrant workers have a special pass. But then realise that it doesn’t really help them because they no longer get paid during this period.

One part of me thought that this issue is a very big issue in singapore and as she said it will be a “slowburn” but non the less that doesn’t mean we cant help the process

Another part of me was talking to a classmate afterward and we were thinking that in order for a society and economy to work properly you need cleaners and garbage man and things. Not everyone can be a CEO or Boss. But non the less this doesnt mean that those who are CEO’s have more rights than those working at a garbage dump.

Deborah Emmanuel was certainly one of my favourite speakers from writers fortnight 2018 because she seemed to be the most real. She didn’t really hold back when it came to her thoughts and she just said what she felt which I thought was very powerful. Most of the time she would talk about her not feeling as though she belongs in a community eg Singapore. She told us poems about this and shared a few of her thoughts on the point. I can certainly relate to this and I am sure many other people can because we all have those times when we feel although we don’t belong in a community so then we must try to find one in which we do fit. Kind of like finding friends. Not everyone can be your friend so you have to choose a few that you think you can relate to and like the most. I really enjoyed her poems and I felt like i listened to her more when she was telling her poems as they were more complex and more interesting that you had to be very attentive in order to understand what she was trying to tell you.

“Everything is going to be okay, its not okay because we choose not to think it is okay”

I personally didn’t even realise that child marriage was such a big issue in the world. Robyn Hayes really did state how it is impacting many many children around the world and I didn’t even know about it. For example she stated the 1/3 children in the developing word are married under the age of 18. She also said the women there are only valued for being mothers and wives. I understood this from the mans perspective but when she said that the woman felt this way too I was shocked. To think that the women themselves only know what it feels like to be a mother or wife is really quite sad as they have no friends and not much of a social life etc. Another big factor that took my attention was that child marriage means that gils cannot have an education which I didn’t understand previously but obviously greatly upscales the issue. I liked how Robyn had a different way of attacking the problem compared to most other people when faced with a global issue. She gave them a voice. I think this is really meaningful as “a picture tells 100 words” so it was very very meaningful to me and I also thought it was a very good way to spread awareness.

I chose these ten Images because I think they best describe our generation. The biggest one in the middle is the one I think explains the most about us. It is a baby at a computer.

This represents how we have only ever grown up with technology around us and it is a very different childhood in comparison to those in the generations above us

The other images such as the mobile phone, Snapchat, Youtube and Instagram show how we are all connected online and on social media. The Champion Logo and the Fidget spinner goes to show how we are like sheep and follow trends really easily.

The Vegan logo is showing how as a whole we are more accepting of people’s different values and beliefs. Homer lying down as well as the kid getting money express’ how we are lazy and when we are children everything is given to us as if we are being spoon fed.

Chetan Bhagat was one of my favourite speakers so far. I really did enjoy listening to him and he did tell us why. He said in order to reach people you must reach them through entertainment. He did this by making us all laugh in the beginning and then since he was “funny” we all listened to him.

He talked to us abut success and how you can get it.

• A winner is someone who either is better then the rest (eg. Sport) or someone who changes the game (eg. Writing)
• He used a cockroach analogy to describe how a winner is not the strongest player, it is the one who can adapt to its environment.
• You always ned to be thinking of new ways to reach people. He did books then Bollywood.

He then talked to us about goal setting and how you need to ad a time frame to a goal or else it is just a dream.

I related to this part a lot due to the fact that I swim a lot. We set a lot of goals and we practice this a lot but I have never heard it been said in this way so it made me think more about my dreams/goals.

Steve Dawson is a Fox Sports commentator. He has interviewed many people throughout his time and has had a lot of experience. I was certainly glad to hear his story. He told us about the 5 principles of a good interview. These were..

• Ask open-ended questions because it provides the challenge for the interviewer.
• Set the answers free and don’t limit
• Don’t interrupt
• Don’t ask double barrelled questions. (Be a single Shooter
• Listen to the answer
• Don’t be a fanboy or a girl

This last one made the most impact to me because he told us a story about his interview with Manny Pacquiao. He could have been a fanboy about it and made a big deal and ask for photos and everything but he was very responsible about it. Then as he was leaving the hotel room Manny said “Steve, come back we need a photo” and from acting professional I learnt that you can build very positive relationships from it.