To Whom This May Concern,

To whom this may concern,

I am writing this plea to you because of the pain you have caused my family and other half-castes. I am asking you to do one simple thing, in that British government that you have. No matter how hard we try and forget the pain, it has never been publicly excused, and I ask you now, Apologize... apologize. Apologize for all of the children we have lost, apologize for tearing apart families, apologize for hurting our children, and apologize some more. Even though you cannot replace our lost children, or the dread we felt, one simple word can make it so much more bearable. Sorry. That's it. That's all it takes. Please, for all of the aboriginals in Australia, apologize. Because you simply stole our children.

Rabbit Proof Fence: Hero

hero |ˈhi(ə)rō|

noun

a person, typically a man, who is admired or idealized for courage, outstanding achievements, or noble qualities : a war hero.

• the chief male character in a book, play, or movie, who is typically identified with good qualities, and with whom the reader is expected to sympathize.

• (in mythology and folklore) a person of superhuman qualities and often semidivine origin, in particular one of those whose exploits and dealings with the gods were the subject of ancient Greek myths and legends.

ORIGIN Middle English (with mythological reference): via Latin from Greek hērōs.

Western Australia, 1931. When A.O. Neville, the government's "Chief Protector of Aborigines", sends Molly (14), Daisy (10), and Gracie (8) to the Moore River Settlement, the girls are extremely unhappy and quickly decide to go back home to their mothers. Trouble arises as the settlement's tracker Moodoo, follows them throughout the underbush of Australia. Led by Molly, who is strong, cunning, and determined, the girls attempt to make their way back home.

In my opinion, Molly is a hero, because she is leading her sister and cousin back home to their mother, therefore saving the girls. Also, she displays courage, by eluding the tracker under the most stressful conditions. Her noble qualities, (strong, cunning, and determined) also qualify her to be a hero. She walked across Australia just to see her family again. This is outstanding and of course, and achievement. In my opinion, Molly is a hero, and should be remembered in history.

Double E (:

We have two sides in our brain, logic and gestalt. Each individual has a dominant side. Mine happens to be on my left side, which is logic, and my profile is EE.

I learn best when I am given instructions verbally and am able to 'anchor' my understanding of the directions by repeating them back. I need to move around and talk through everything. If I am under stress, I tend to not be able to move through things quickly, and my ability to listen strays. The strategies that would help me in my learning are if I sit near the back of the classroom, and be put with a group that can communicate. If most instructions are given verbally, I will benfit. I would like my teachers to know that even though I am left brain dominant, that my personality is still very gestalt.

LEONARDO DA VINCI - a Renaissance Man?

Leonardo da Vinci was one of the most famous inventors and artists of the Renaissance time. He was in my opinion the ultimate renaissance man. He was a painter, and at the young age of 14 was working as an apprentice to Andrea del Verrochio. When he left the workshop however, he became more interested in engineering and the anatomy of various animals, and people. His notebook was usually full of designs for war mechanisms, sketches of sculptures, and the anatomy of certain subjects. He paid homage to his city, by designing things such as canals, and war defenses, and beautiful sculptures. He redefined portraits when he painted his famous subject, The Mona Lisa, by giving her a sort of smile that was not very heard of in portraits. Also, Leonardo was assisting many people that had huge social statuses, such as important families, dukes and even the pope.

Leonardo redefined the rules of science and art and contributed to the term 'rebirth', therefore making him a true renaissance man.

Courage- Brunelleschi's Dome

Courage: the ability to do something in the face of fear, danger and/or disapproval. Brunelleschi, the architect of the dome on top of the Santa Maria del Fiore church, was making plans to create something never done before. He was designing the biggest free standing dome without scaffolding. At the time, it was a great risk, and needed creativity, and virtuosity, but most of all he would need courage. Courage to keep on going with his idea that was frowned upon by most, laughed at and mocked. When he was thrown out of the magistrates meeting to see who would construct the dome, it must have taken a lot of courage to continue with his plans after they were discouraged. It then led him to wait a little longer, where he would accept the challenge to stand an egg on it's top, without support. He figured that he could crack the bottom of the egg lightly and it would stand and it did. So Brunelleschi broke through the 'egg' of society with courage and never looked back. He was then commissioned to build the dome. Even though he knew it would be hard he was courageous and persisted and in 1436 the dome was completed. It had never been done, so at the time, it was a marvel and inspired many other young artists and architects. Courage helped Brunelleschi prove his ideas, pitch them, and complete them. No wonder this genius made history! The actions of the architect helped effect the change that was so prominent in the renaissance, because many others were influenced. Change was from courage, of many brave renaissance rule-breakers and risk-takers.

Where do new ideas come from?

Where do new ideas come from? Do they come from our brains? Our heads? Or are they generated from other people's ideas or reactions? Well, I believe new ideas are made by our imagination. If we didn't have any imagination, we wouldn't be able to imagine the world in the years to come, we wouldn't have all of our genius creations, and sometimes, a reason to live. We use our imagination to come up with ideas. Take the telephone for example, how did Thomas Jefferson come up with the idea of a phone? Imagination. He may have imagined a world where everyone could talk to each other without moving, and then decided this world was a good one. He took actions into his own hands, and voila! A telephone! So you see, ideas are generated through imagination. Sometimes, ideas from imagination can't really be made into a reality so don't dream TOO big, people.

Favourite Short Story From Our Unit!

For our shot story unit we read three different stories. All of them were entertaining but I think my favourite was 'Lamb to the Slaughter' by Roald Dahl. It was my favorite because I loved the character of Mary Maloney. Roald Dahl did an excellent job of portraying the character to be a kind gentle woman, but he let the readers know how cunning she actually was. Mary seemed so innocent at first, so helpless, but in fact she could do so much more than everyone thought she could. Also, the irony in the story makes me laugh and feel like a detective because the policemen didn't know that in fact, the lamb was under their very noses! The activity that Ms. Casey had us do was also really fun and interesting so I liked that.