Autism Slam Poetry

In this poem I am speaking in the point of view of someone with autism because a character in my ISU novel has autism.



They will never fully understand why I am so quiet,
Outspoken without speaking at all.

Small talk is the only talk I know,
I can never seem to want to let a conversation flow.
They call it a complex developmental disability,
Yet they don't understand my ability.

To deeply love the one thing I am good at,
Without being good at too much.

People don't understand me,
They think I can't feel.
Just because I don't show my emotions,
Doesn't mean I'm not real.

A myth, I tell you,
I am just like the rest.

Poem for My ISU Novel

http://www.karensscrapsandgraphics.com/poetry/lboy.htm

    This poem represents the prominent social issue in the novel "Dear John." Although John's father is not necessarily "little" as the poem is talking about a little boy, autism is a disorder that is present from early childhood. John's father has always kept their conversations to a minimum. Being a single parent, he raised John alone and they have always had a weak relationship. His passion for coins is all he ever converses with John or anyone about. John's father is a very alienated man from the rest of society. Now Savannah, John's new love interest, help's John understand that the reason why John's father has always been like that is because he has autism. Autism is a mental condition, characterized by difficulty in communicating and forming relationships and using abstract concepts. This impaired social interaction has resulted in John and his father's weak relationship for the course of John's life. This has effected his life drastically.

The boy in the striped pyjamas- Retell Reflect Relate

Retell Reflect Relate

The boy in the striped pyjamas is a story about the friendship between a young German boy named Bruno and a Jewish concentration camp prisoner, Shmuel, who is also around the same age. Bruno and his family are far more privileged because of his father's high position as a Nazi commandant. Bruno's father has been promoted and the family moves. Bored and wandering for an adventure, Bruno comes across a nearby farm, however his parents refuse to discuss it. His mother was not aware of what the father was doing exactly, which led her to become more naive. Bruno's sister is also very naive to everything occurring around her, due to how privileged she is to not have to see the harsh realities of the war. Bruno ends up near the barbed wire fence. Soon after, the two boys become closer as their friendship grows. Bruno gives Shmuel a piece of cake and Shmuel is accused of stealing after, which resulted in severe punishment. Bruno returned to where the two boys played on opposite sides of the fence and Shmuel didn't show up for a couple of days. Soon after Bruno apologizes for not speaking up about how Shmuel did not steal that day. This emphasizes how Bruno is nothing like his father. When Bruno's father announces that the children will be moving with their mother, Bruno uses a shovel to reach to the other side of the fence and Shmuel brings an extra pair of pyjamas so Bruno will blend in. Around this time, Bruno's family realize he's missing and search for him. The two boys are led to what they were told to be showers, with the other concentration camp prisoners and are gassed.


I believe this movie was a visual representation of what the world is teaching children, and when they're taught something right someone will always protest against it. Also, that children's innocence is their only advantage in society and that every child should have a voice. This is shown when Bruno befriends Shmuel, as he looks at him as an equal. The movie prominently showed how evil lives inside everyone, and one's appearance may not look evil but they are indeed capable of doing evil things. However, one of the characters still values the life of someone "below" him. A sense of humanity is restored during the course of the two boy's' friendship.


I can relate the movie to ISIS, because they're teaching children as young as the age of 6 how to behead people and fire AK-47's. Although they are protecting the rights of their religion it is still similar to the movie because children are growing up thinking that violence and evil is an appropriate way of solving problems. Children are basically growing up mindless and not being able to speak using their own voice. The training is said to be brainwashing the children and many of the children were also brainwashed in the movie, including Bruno's sister who did not care about much of what was going on because of how privileged she was.

Teaching Kids to Kill

Concepts: Some key concepts that are formed by this text are that video games are contributing to the mindlessness of mass culture. This is a theme that is present throughout the text as video games are causing people (mainly young) to not think for themselves. Also people are receiving pleasure from killing which is problematic. Another concept that is present in the text is how soldiers are trained and have to see first hand human brutality at it's greatest extent.

Connections: A connection that can be made within this text is the effects of video games on everyone using it. In the text they are portraying the idea that video games brainwash people to act violently, however in many cases this is not true. I've seen people play violent video games before and it hasn't caused them to act aggressively or in an inappropriate manner.

Challenges: The text is presenting the idea that video games causes people to act in a harmful manner, which is not always true. This creates a bias assumption because the juvenile crime rate is not necessarily caused by video games, much of it depends on the person committing the crime in general and not what they occupy their time doing. An easy solution to this problem would be for parents to not buy video games if it is causing a change in behaviour for their child.

Changes: Changes that are being suggested by the text are a change in how young people occupy their time basically. Since the author believes video games are causing violent behaviour in kids, they are portraying the idea that video games containing violence should just be banned. This is a bias point of view because kids may find joy in playing these games and may not even act violent at all. Also they could continue to be harmless for the rest of their lives.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2013/08/20/congo-civil-war/2624757/


This article is discussing the continuous war in Congo that has been progressing for almost two decades. It is known to be the deathliest war in African history and is beginning to enter a new phase. Starvation and disease have left millions dead, which is resulting in the intervention of the United Nations and forcing people to plod from village to village. Most of the fighting is occurring in eastern Congo where both sides are being accused of raping women, men, girls and boys as a form of weaponry. The rebels are fighting for a measure of freedom from the dictates of the central government due to the fact that they aren't given much at all. However, the Congolese government led by President Joseph Kabila denies all the claims made by the rebels. Many of the people in Eastern Congo are complaining over incompetent governance, dictatorial polices and corruption, which is resulting in more conflict. It is believed that this can't be solved with the intervention of the United Nations alone, and the government needs to deal with these issues in order to achieve peace. Col. Innocent Kayina, commander of operations for M23 (March 23 Movement), who was named in the report denies all of the allegations as propaganda from the Kabila government and questions why they would rape and kill the civilians they live with. Therefore, majority of the problems could be solved by the Congolese government if they included the right's of minorities. Many observers also believe it would be a much more peaceful solution to this conflict than having the United Nations involved.


This article relates and connects to war and conflict because it is discussing war that is being caused by a corrupt government. Also a connection I can make between this and what I've learned in history is about the use of propaganda. War propaganda is that branch of public relations devoted to manipulating people's attitude toward a war or war in general. In history, we learned about how propaganda was used in both world wars. In the past wars, propaganda was used to brainwash men to join the war by using posters. They would use these posters and imply that if you were a man that wasn't in the war, you were cowardly. Propaganda was also somewhat used in Conga when Colonel Innocent Kayina was named in the allegations and denied them as propaganda from the Kabila government, which is the government formed by the president of Conga. He defended himself by questioning why they would rape and kill the civilians they live amongst. Both of these uses of propaganda relate to each other and exemplify how the method of propaganda is useful in many wars.