#BlackLivesMatter

Last week we had a writing assessment. I did mine on racism. Surprisingly I didn't find writing this speech hard; I normally find them really hard. I made sure I also researched my topic beforehand so I had some facts to back up my argument and also made sure to include the sentence styles we have been learning more the past year and a half and the paragraph styles I have recently began to learn. On the other hand I enjoyed having my say in this problem that is affecting the whole world at the moment. I personally think it's a really big problem and we really need to start acting on it. 

Have you ever been affected by racism? If so, are you still affected by racism?

Racism is a quiet, but big problem in New Zealand. Everyday people are being punished for the colour of their skin or the place they were born in. It is not acceptable. One in three complaints to the Human Rights Commission are about racism; most people normally do not report racism. Which means this number is most likely even higher. I strongly agree that racism is a big problem in New Zealand, and as a country we need to do something about it.

Unfortunately, casual racism is a big but not talked about topic. Quite often we let small comments, thoughts and actions into our life without doing anything about it. It is not doing anything about racism that is making it flourish. We are suddenly making it alright to say racist things, until eventually someone gets killed. Thinking they are doing their bit, the people who said nothing changed their profile picture to anti racist one, when really that does nothing to help.

On March the 15, an attack on a muslim mosque killed around 50 people. Since then racism for muslims has only gotten worse. A young muslim woman exclaimed that the racism after the mosque attacks there was not less hate—there was more. Another woman said that when at a bus stop she was sworn at and told to go back to her own country. This is not acceptable anymore.

Racist comments happen to everyone. African, european, asian, indian, chinese, pacific people all suffer from racism. You may be thinking, no white people do not suffer racism, but we do. At my school I sometimes am afraid to walk past one of the classes as they have called me names for my white skin. Recently I have tried to learn maori, but I feel as if I should give up as someone told me that I'll never be able to learn maori because I am white. No one should ever be scared to walk past a group of people because they are scared of what they might say.

I am confident that racism is a problem in New Zealand. People get attacked verbally and physically because of their ethnicity. It is time to stop. Stop all the racist comments, people being scared to walk around; in a country they should feel safe in. In a country they should feel loved, supported and accepted. It is time for New Zealand to step up and take the lead in racism all around the world, we were the first country to let women vote. So let's be the first country with zero racism

All about ME!

This session in Manaiakalani we were learning about images and what images you can't and can't use. We learnt that sometimes we just save an image on our computer and forget that we actually legally can't use that image unless we get permission from the owner. When you search up an image on your computer there is a tool just below the search bar, which lets only images that are labeled for reuse come up as images you can use. Another great website I use is Unsplash, it has thousands of free images that you can save at any time of the day. 

 I found it really fun to create this project. I made sure that all the images I had to explain myself were in the same colour palette. Sometime I did find it hard to find the exact right image that would represent exactly what I wanted it to mean. Is there anything you think I should improve on?

Sam the Snowman

We used a new tool called Piskel, it helped us create characters exactly how we wanted them to be in our scratch game. It also gave you templates of characters just incase you were stuck on how your character may look, but I decided to make my one from scratch. After deciding out of a dog, fish and snowman, choose a snowman as I thought it was a bit different to what everyone else was doing. I have to admit I really struggled at the start because I didn't know how to use it, once I got the hang out of it, it was really easy and cool to use. 

Under the Sea with Hannah and Georgia

Today I made this video with Georgia. Our aim was to include a phrase from some maori that we are learning. Go check out Georgia's blog. https://gisintgeorgiar.blogspot.com/

The Secret Garden

A few weeks ago I wrote a summary on the secret garden, here's mine.

Mary Lennox—sour, skinny, foul-tempered—who loves no one and whom nobody loves, is the main character. At the start of the story she had no friends and had a negative outlook to everything. She lives in India with her mother, beautiful and frivolous and her father, an army captain. Who she scarcely sees. Unfortunately everyone, including the servants, dies of a disease apart from Mary. She turns into an orphan.

Mary is stuck in her room oblivious to the fact that everyone had died, until a group of soldiers find her in her room with great surprise. Considering that she is now an orphan, they decide to send Mary to her uncle, Archibald Craven in Yorkshire, England. Shortly after she arrives at her uncle's she finds out about a mysterious garden; she decides to go find it.

As Mary searches for the garden she begins to become strong and happy. Eventually she discovers the secret garden, where she starts working on to making it beautiful again. Dickon, a boy who can charm the animals of the moor, becomes Mary's partner and first friend. One day she hears strange cries coming from one of the rooms. Interested by strange cries she decides to investigate. She finds Colin Craven —unfit, negative, impolite—her uncle's son.

Mary and Dickon begin secretly bringing Colin to the secret garden. A few people find out about their secret including Ben Weatherstaff and Susan Sowerby, but still does not tell Mr Craven. Eventually Colins health miraculously improves; he no longer thinks that he should no longer live and has a positive attitude, just as it did to Mary. One day Susan writes a letter to Mr Craven exclaiming that he must come home, but does not tell him why. Concerned, Mr Craven comes home straight away. His first instinct is to go to the secret garden; when he turns the handle of the door his son comes rushing into his arms. Colin's recovery becomes known to all.