Grade 9

Dear Siri,

siri, why do we spend so much time online?
why does every minute on here cost a dime?

we’ve been contemplating our electronic navels for too long,
and even my childhood was taken where it doesn’t belong.

why is our need to hold stronger than ours to feel?
though, it felt pretty great when i got an iPhone deal.

each new deal coming out is greater than the last,
and my mind’s been oblivious to the time that has past.

the time that could’ve been used building connections,
was taken over by Tinder and its chronic disaffections.

the time that i could’ve spend playing outside,
was crashed on, like a wave, when i slowly died.

but here, i revive,
cutting through my past life with knives.

here i will listen, see, and feel..
just as soon as i buy this brand new deal.

“Dear Siri,” by Shea Smeltzer is the perfect example of the technology based world that we live in. She captured the perfect amount of irony and put it all together in a swift rhyming couplet poem. She smoothly added the downsides of technology into her poem, however represented mankind by resenting these downsides and continued to indulge in the devices. Smeltzer included similes, metaphors, repetition, and irony, which all beautifully compliment her literary allusion to The Veldt. The line “we’ve been contemplating our electronic navels for too long,” is a quote taken from The Veldt that fits in wonderfully with her theme. Smeltzer simply states the shame that our generation should have for making our phones such a necessity, but makes it easy to comprehend from the point of view of a 21st century child. The question “Why do we only focus on the tangible or the material in our culture?” directly addresses to Smeltzer’s poem, because she also questions a lot of our tech-lifestyle choices, even though she supports our choices. Technology is going to continue to take over our world more and more as our years descend. Shea Smeltzer has sent an eternal message to our ever-growing electronical world, and it is safe to assume that her passion may help us conquer the world’s technology indulgent.

FINDING BALANCE IN YOURSELF

Brent was a teenager who was oblivious to his own cluelessness. His whole life he had been chasing popularity, wealth, girls… although he was unaware that he was chasing the wrong thing. He was so set on being popular that it took someone’s life to make Brent reconsider his lifestyle choices. He was very drunk, very depressed. Driving mad down the highway, he swivelled into Lea’s car. For whatever terrible reason, she died and he did not. Lea was an amazing person, touching the hearts of anyone she saw. Brent was not sent to juvy, and did not have charges pressed. Instead, he slowly went crazy as he realized he wanted punishment to make up for what he did. Everyone knew him. The innocence that he once contained had spilled out, and turned into envy for those who now controlled the innocence. He was a murderer, and needed to be punishment. He met with Lea’s mom finally. The sleepless nights and gallons of tears were physically visible, and the pit of depression inside Brent’s stomach continued to grow. Lea’s mom could’ve asked Brent to do anything for her, but of all things she could’ve asked, she chose this: Brent had to build 4 whirligigs resembling Lea, and put them in all 4 corners of the United States, spreading the same love and happiness that Lea would have. Although she was dead, her spirit didn’t have to be. He began travelling, and learning about the earth. He called this his afterlife, as he started to rebuild his entire lifestyle. Through the frustration of whirligig building, he played his harmonica, read books, even made a new friend or two along the way. The spirit of Lea had been able to touch two girls named Alexandra and Steph, who found love in the presence of the whirligig. The spirit had also enlightened a Puerto Rican immigrant who was unhappy with his community.

Discipline + Determination = Balance

With the propor mindset based off of hope, discipline, and determination, you will achieve balance in your life.

Connections:

In Miami, Florida, the whole plot was based on how humans need each other. The man was searching for a certain bird because he once had seen a picture of it, free, and alone. When he finally sailed out to see the bird first hand, it was in a flock, arguing with all of the other birds. In twinkle twinkle little star, page 66, Brent thought: “It dawned on him why animals live in herds.”

What are the consequences of an individual not pursuing his identity? Throughout the beginning of the book, Brent was trying to be something that he wasn’t. He wanted to be popular, even if that meant acting like a completely different person. During Brent’s afterlife, he was finally discovering who he really was. He was finding himself.

Riverside Secondary Sinking in Stress

Visiting earth is all fun and games, until ‘treating depression’ goes a step too far.

Today is my last day on earth. I explored the ins and outs of humans as they underwent the pressure of the high school hierarchy, scholar ships, homework, popularity, social media, post secondary education, families, friends, and puberty. On my very first day, the high school heat took me by surprise. Riverside Secondary is filled with cliques. You have the nerds, potheads, jocks, anime lovers, people with brightly coloured hair, popular people, the rave people, and everyone in between. On my first day, I tagged along with the jocks to find out what was crushing them inside. No surprise here, but their number one stressor is scholar ships. Their whole life revolved around sports, which made it unbearable to think that they wouldn’t get into the top-schools. They were very competitive within the group, but didn’t pay much attention to the rest of the school. With all this pressure standing on their shoulders I wanted to know how they coped with their stress. After a few short hours with them, it was clear to me that practice is what made them perfect. The next day, I decided to see how the other half lived with the anime lovers. They actually seemed to be generally happy people, considering how they rarely even associate with the rest of the school. They were all very intelligent, so their biggest stressors seemed to be who was going to die in the next episode of anime, as opposed to what school they would be getting into. I had a lot of information to absorb that night, and a lot to prepare myself for. The next day, I would be chilling with the rave squad. At lunch, while everyone was talking about their rave outfits, I had time to fit in some questions about why they rave. “It’s an easy escape from reality, while giving us memories and a good time,” said one girl. This really resonated with me. They had no regrets, no fears, but just wanted a good time.

This eye-opening poem wanders the many ideas of technology destruction, along with an image that I edited to put modern day life into perspective.

iWorld
I’ve sent more texts today,
Than real words spoken.
And I’m not ashamed,
I already know this world is broken.

When I drop my apple,
The damage is much more than a bruise.
When I go to pick a blackberry,
All in all, I loose.

My phone is my lifeline,
When the battery dies, so does my heart.
When nobody texts back,
The loneliness, where do I start?

Schools enforcing technology only,
I can’t come to school without my device.
But when families are 8 feet deep in debt,
Why do we buy more data? At what price?

The iPad mini for 269,
Which is basically just a bigger version of the iPhone 6s,
Which for the small price of 649,
Please mom, it could be mine!

Now, we can’t stop investing on newer technology,
Because we won’t fit in, we won’t know what’s going on.
And when we don’t know what’s going on we slip into the state of depression,
As we loose contact with mutual friends, breaking the Facebook bond.

I’d rather hear a tweet on my phone than a tweet outside,
I’d rather look at the view on Instagram than actually hike the mountain,
I’d rather FaceTime my neighbour than go speak to her in person,
And I would rather live someone else’s life online, instead of mine.

Look at us mankind, we died.

Building Understanding FEC

Mushrooms by Sylvia Plath
Overnight, very
 Whitely, discreetly,
 Very quietly

, Our toes, our noses
, Take hold on the loam,
 Acquire the air.

 Nobody sees us, 
Stops us, betrays us; 
The small grains make room.

 Soft fists insist on
 Heaving the needles,
 The leafy bedding,

 Even the paving.
 Our hammers, our rams, 
Earless and eyeless,

 Perfectly voiceless,
 Widen the crannies,
 Shoulder through holes. We 

Diet on water,
On crumbs of shadow,
Bland-mannered, asking 

Little or nothing.
 So many of us! 
So many of us! 

We are shelves, we are
 Tables, we are meek,
We are edible,

 Nudgers and shovers
 In spite of ourselves.
Our kind multiplies:

 We shall by morning
Inherit the earth.
 Our foot’s in the door.

Thematic Connections
The Friday that Everything Changed and Mushrooms are similar to each other in the way of feelings of insecurity and worthlessness. In Mushrooms, one segment that really stood out to me was: “Soft fists insist on, Heaving the needles, The leafy bedding.” Sylvia Plath was almost describing how worthless she was, as evidenced by the lines: “Diet on water,” and “We are meek, we are edible.” She was more so focussing on all of the oppressed people, and not just women. In the Friday that everything changed, Joyce was trying to express how unfair it was that the boys always got the water bucket privilege… That is until Alma took a stand. I can see a clear theme connection between the two, due to the fact that certain characters were feeling degraded, left out… Segregated, if you will.

mushrooms poem

cri du chat syndrome

childhood: the most innocent stage in a human’s life. Children should have the right play, the right to have fun, the right to receive proper education, the right to bond with friends and family, the right to determine their own future, the right to just be a child. We were all children, and we still are. But, that’s not how life works in the majority of the world. We are extremely lucky. In school we learn about the countries that can’t afford education, or work all day to provide for their families. This really hits home and is an extremely serious topic to talk about, but we don’t really know how life would be, if everything that we had got taken away. Our cellphones, those new Jordans you got, that hoverboard that you got for christmas, our daily meals plus snacks, our education, our homes, and even our families. Like they say, you really don’t know what you got till its gone. So today, we are going to walk in the shoes of a child labourer from the Philippines; who ironically might not even own shoes. But his fingers are worked raw, and his body is on the verge of breaking point. That’s the power of child labour in the mines of the Philippines.

Child labour is not a problem that we commonly have to deal with here in Canada. In British Columbia, workers must be 15 years old to work, in every area from industry to agriculture. Once you start working, there are certain time restrictions on the hours you get. Minimum wage is $10.20, although there is the option of overtime which could result in double time.

In this movie, you will learn all about child labour in the Philippines, and child labour in Britain during the Industrial Revolution. You will be educated on both topics, and you will learn why child labour is such a serious effect that can’t be stopped.

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Cranny, Michael William. “Triumph of Steam.” Crossroads: A Meeting of Nations. Scarborough, Ont.: Prentice Hall Ginn Canada, 1998. Print.

Del Col, Laura. “Child Labour.” Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 29 Oct. 2015. Web. 18 Jan. 2016.

Eaton, Sam. “Philippines: Too Many Mouths?” Philippines: Too Many Mouths? Market Place, 23 Jan. 2012. Web. 18 Jan. 2016.

Edelijn, Gertjan. “The Industrial Revolution. Where Are We Now?” Linkedin. Linkedin, 31 Aug. 2014. Web. 18 Jan. 2016.

Editor, BMI Online. “Philippines to Curb Worst Forms of Child Labor.” Balitacom. Balita, 5 Apr. 2011. Web. 18 Jan. 2016.

Fitzgerald, Rachel. “The Industrial Revolution – Human Rights.” The Industrial Revolution – Human Rights. Google Sites, 21 May 2013. Web. 18 Jan. 2016.

Kippenberg, Juliane. “”What … If Something Went Wrong?” | Human Rights Watch.” Human Rights Watch. Human Rights Watch, 29 Sept. 2015. Web. 16 Jan. 2016.

Lone, Stewart. “Flag of the Philippines.” Wikipedia.org. Wikipedia the Free Encyclopedia, 12 Jan. 2016. Web. 16 Jan. 2016.

MacDiarmid, Peter. “40 of the Best News Shots | Photos.” Newcastle Herald. Newcastle, 31 Dec. 2014. Web. 18 Jan. 2016.

“Multimedia Download Centre.” ILO. International Labour Organization, 12 June 2014. Web. 18 Jan. 2016.

Nowak, Geralt. “Shocking Photographs of Child Labour In Philippine Gold Mine – Best of Web Shrine.” Best of Web Shrine. Best of Web Shrine, 11 Sept. 2015. Web. 18 Jan. 2016.

Price, Larry C. “Philippines: Child Labor and Gold Mining.” Pulitzer Center. Pulitzer Center, 7 Nov. 2012. Web. 18 Jan. 2016.

Price, Larry C. “The Philippines: Risking Lives for Gold.” Pulitzer Center. Pulitzer Center, 15 Nov. 2012. Web. 18 Jan. 2016.

Reed, Lawrence W. “Child Labor and the British Industrial Revolution | Lawrence W. Reed.” FEE Freeman Article. Foundation for Economic Education, 23 Oct. 2009. Web. 18 Jan. 2016.

Saludes, Mark Z. “Report Condemns Child Labour in Philippine Gold Mines.” – Al Jazeera English. Al Jazeera, 1 Oct. 2015. Web. 18 Jan. 2016.

Scruton, Roger. “England.” Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 13 Jan. 2016. Web. 18 Jan. 2016.

Thatcher, Wade. “Child Labor During the English Industrial Revolution.” Child Labor during the Industrial Revolution. Wade Thatcher, 2009. Web. 18 Jan. 2016.

The Children Risking Their Lives In Underwater Gold Mines. Dir. Evan Williams and Georgina Davies. Perf. Joshua. Journeyman Pictures, 2015. Film.