ENGLISH – What exactly does the cover of the Help mean?

During our last class, we were tasked with either trying to find out what the book cover of our current read, The Help, is. Or designing a new and more ‘relevant’ cover. I chose to attempt to find the meaning of the cover. I found that the birds actually symbolised peace and harmony which is kind of a theme in the book, but the fact that they’re separated makes it that much more interesting. Could it be that despite their symbolism of goodness, their separation is reflected within the characters in the book and society in the 6os?

The colour scheme is quite muted and has a rather serene feel to it. According to Google, the yellow signifies cheerfulness and brightness, and the purple against it amplifies these traits and creates a contrasting authoritative feeling. The fact that “the Help” is in the purple text might be kind of ironic? considering that they’re the ones who lack authority.

PSE – My musings

Today in PSE we continued talking about emotional intelligence and the qualities of emotionally intelligent people. We compared emotional intelligence next to IQ and there were some pretty significant differences, some data even links that people with higher EQs had higher IQs because of it.

Some of the behaviours of emotionally intelligent people are: having a robust emotional vocabulary, curiosity about people, embracing change, knowing your strengths and weaknesses, being a good judge of character, difficult to be offended, you know how to say now, being able to let go (of mistakes), neutralising toxic people, giving and expecting nothing in return, not holding grudges, not seeking perfection, appreciation of what you have, disconnecting from time to time, getting enough sleep, stop negative self-talk and not letting anyone limit the joy in your life.

I would think that some of my strengths are being curious about people – not nosy though, giving and expecting nothing in return, having an appreciation of what I have and having a good knowledge of emotions instead of having a robust emotional vocabulary. It’s great knowing what emotions are called but it’s even better if you have experienced them which can be used to connect with people, so I think that’s one quality I have.

Something that I’d really like to work on is becoming a better judge of character, knowing how to say no, having the guts to neutralise toxic people, stopping negative self-talk and not letting anyone limit (or control) the joy in my life. These ones are some extreme weakness of mine and it would mean a lot to me if I could improve these qualities. Not only would I feel better but it would make me an overall better person for everyone else. For the last one, it’s extremely important not to limit happiness to just one person because it would be a shame if that person left from your life.

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ENGLISH – Issue of Representation in the Help

In our lang&lit class, we’re currently discussing the issue of representation in the Help and what our thoughts are about Miss Skeeter writing about the help’s life from their point of view. Personally, I think it’s unfortunate that the only way for their stories to be heard is for a white woman to publish them. However, it’s great that at least their voices are being heard and shared. I wouldn’t necessarily say there’s a case of misrepresentation happening right now. Yes, maybe it would be better if more perspectives of the help were included rather than just Aibileen but I’m sure that’ll all come in time.

It could be said that Miss Skeeter isn’t actually achieving her full potential of being a writer, but not only does she serve as the link between the Help and the world, she’s also shaping their stories whether she knows it or not.

CAS – First Week of Activities

Today I have officially finished my three activities for the week. On Tuesday I had boxing which was a nice opportunity to get back into and see familiar faces, but also to meet new people who were interested in the sport and hopefully find their passion where I found mine. There’s plenty of opportunities to build skills hidden within boxing. It’s up to you if you’d like to collaborate with someone new, whether you can communicate and express verbal commands and turn them into actual actions. Near the end during an endurance section, I was next to a new girl who hadn’t done boxing before and I was trying to help her stick through the rough part and we ended up just cheering each other on which was a really fun experience.

For Body Pump, it seems as though more people are joining every week! It’s a nice activity to do with a large group of people because we’re all in pain together, but we can manage ourselves and decide how far we want to push ourselves that day. I think it’ll be a bit of challenge having only one rest day in between two really intense activities, but we’ll see if I can walk up the six flights of stairs tomorrow.

CAS – First SustainaBrew Session

This afternoon we had our first SustainaBrew meeting! It was a typical first service session. We talked about the aims and goals of our service: to reduce waste at the school and also aim to try and provide drinks at events occurring throughout the year. It was actually a really interesting experience to discover the link between this service and also my previous service, Boomerang Bags, where these services both have the goal of “upcycling, recycling, and reducing waste” as their goals. This just proves how general the SDGs are and how so much can be done for each of them! We started to discuss possible drinks that we’d be interested in making while keeping in mind the waste that comes with producing beverages such as transportation, the energy it takes to cool and the plastic aftermath of drinks. I’m looking forward to see how this service is going to evolve over the year!

CAS – First post!

What aspects of CAS are you looking forward to? How might you plan your year of CAS in order to maintain balance?

I’m really looking forward to CAS in general. Throughout the years in UWC, we’ve always had a small push and it’s been only good experiences. This year, we have a bigger push for doing something creative, active and related to service. Normally I would only stick to the activities I like to do and do service with my friends, but this year I’m excited to be trying something new. Especially taking part in the Samba band. I’ve found that when I was choosing my activities (and service) I was really excited about all of them and really interested to either continue doing what I love or trying something new that I have a vague idea about and hope to turn into a passion!

It was an easy choice for me to continue doing boxing which I absolutely love, and also include a weekly Bodypump session as my active part of CAS. For creativity, I was hoping to get into the marimba activity, but I was still determined to play any music in a sort of group because I’ve been wanting to have that experience for a really long time, and as I’m getting closer to the end of school, I’d really like to take the opportunities that the school is offering us. For service, I’m going to be taking part in a new college service called SustainaBrew where we look at the process of brewing and fermentation, and hopefully aim to provide the school cafe with (non-alcoholic) drinks that we make, as well as looking at reducing wastage which relates to the 12th SDG goal: responsible consumption and production.

I’m honestly really looking forward to doing these activities and hopefully finding new passions along the way!  #LO3

ENGLISH – Which representation of Michelle Yeoh illustrates the real Michelle Yeoh?

How do the two stories we read about Michelle Yeoh “represent” her —tell her story in different ways? How have the writers’ differing audiences and purposes shaped the telling?

 

The GQ magazine had a very different approach to representing Crazy Rich Asians star Michelle Yeoh compared to the New Straits Times. In the GQ interview, first of all, it was an interview, not a report, portraying Michelle Yeoh as a humane person rather than someone featured in an online tweet thread. The GQ interviewer took note of all the details of their interview and created the impression that the reader was there as well. The Straits Times however just reported an event that was observed from a distance, including some individuals’ responses to the announcement.

Personally, I think the GQ magazine interview could be appreciated by anyone as it’s just a conversation and what you might observe in a conversation. Who doesn’t enjoy a nice conversation? The Straits Times report seems a bit more estranged and void of emotion, again, making Michelle Yeoh seem like words on paper whereas the GQ magazine elevates her from just words on paper to as if you were in that room.