Free Writing ————HIstorical Literature

I like to read historical novel because they help me learn more about history and the background behind the period during which the novels are set. Foe example, reading Golding's Lord of the Flies gave me some insight into the Cold War and the thinking behind the novel. Historical novels are written during a certain time period and writers have a certain mind set. Golding's book was written after the Second World War when the threat of a Third World War was real. Therefore the setting helps me understand what was happening during the time the book was written. Therefore, in addition to learning about Golding's theme of the inherent evil of man, I also learnt about the threat that the Cold War posed to people. I also read Pearl Buck's The Good Earth which is set in China after the turn of the last century. The book helped me learn about the poverty and desperation during that period of Chinese history. I can relate the poverty in China to the rush of Chinese people to immigrate to Western countries to escape poverty; some came to Canada to build the railroad. Reading about my own culture also enables me to understand the Chinese thirst for land and the desperation to accumulate wealth so that one's future is secure. Moreover, I also learnt about the powerlessness of Chinese women who lived a hundred years ago. The protagonist O Lan helped her husband to become wealthy but she remained powerless in her own house. Reading historical novels not only help me learn more about history, I also learn about the mind set of people who lived during the time the novels are set and how the society of that time operated.

self-published project

This is about fashion and materialism.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=evJRa0MXlKc
                          ---------  made by Joanna Xiang & Queenie Ding

A LETTER OF LOVE

 My dear love Dr. Paul Gauguin,

                                              For your patience I give thanks.

          My appreciation could not be feigned,

                          My last painting of you, I crank.

   Of my disease I have suffered long ,

                 A century long but it seems.

                The loss of health seem so wrong,

                  A scream of pain I silently scream.

At this moment, I am conscious, rare.

It brings my last gifts to you I bear.

I know this is a troublesome disease,

                                       Everyone thinks me an imbecile.

                             Only you say that I will be fine and I cease,

                      But I know that I am not facile.

  Plagued with problems of your unfaithful wife,

                            I’ve never seen you truly happy, so like me.

                   I love to paint, so like you, it is my life.

         In life I search but I find myself at sea.

Only after time spent with you do I find,

                        An understanding of our same sex love.

  I love you deep, with you we are entwined,

                             Our hearts as clear and clean as doves.

           But I deeply apologize and regret,

                     With you no more can I spend my life,

                                         Forever I will be in your debt,

           Through every fiber of my being.

     I feel pain, and I know, so do you.

                  Though I know you are my love, my medico,

                                 I cannot withhold this feeling of rue.

                I love you, my darling, be bold.

        I made the best choice for us.

                      I know you will be sad,

                           But don’t panic for it is thus,

The sadness will last forever.

                                             --------------------  By  Vincent Van Gough


Message: Love comes from sadness.

A VOTE OF LOVE FOR VALENTINE'S

Love finds its way,

                            Into our hearts, it brays.

Love between parents and child,

                                               Is one that is modest and mild.

It is natural and full of glee,

                                        Everlasting as the sun and sea.

Love between sisters and brothers,

                                                    In sibling rivalry may smother.

Love may not always runs as smooth,

                                                       Everlasting as balm may sooth.

Love between woman and man,

                                               Is one that we all plan.

It is capricious and sporadic,
                                          Everlasting as a change in Caddick.

On the day of  Valentine,

                                     Long for a love that is fine,
High and low we search,
                                    The place that true love lurches.

In love, we trust and desire,

                                        A tight rope to bring us higher.
A toast to love we raise,
                                    In love we find our place.




The arrow of Cupid pierce,
                                        The desire so strong and fierce.
A love that we may find,

                                    One that to both does bind.





Do Seek Their Meat from God response

    Charles G.D. Roberts's story is one of the most thought provoking I have ever read. The story starts out slowly and unfolds as one would expect. The settler has every right to kill the panthers in order to protect the child that happens to be his own son. This is the first irony in the story because the settler is debating whether he should go help the drunkard’s kid or not, but he finds out that it is actually his own son who was in danger after he saved the boy. The second irony is when he finds the remains of the panther cubs whose parents he killed. The author poses a question that is more important today then when the story was written decades ago. The question is whether human beings, as the paragon of God's creatures, have the right to cause the death of other animals though our actions? We humans have taken up large lands for ourselves causing the extinction or hard condition for many species of animals. Do we have the right to kill them for our own survival and cause the death of other creatures? The settler compares the cubs to his own son and feels sympathy for the panther family. To survive in the world today is hard. No matter for whom, humans, or animals. We usually have to give up something in order to get another thing. For example, we can build more factories to produce more products and help the economy, but how harmful is it for the environment? In the story, the settler saves his son but kills the panther’s family. How sad is that we must kill the other creatures in order for ourselves to survive? It is just the way the world goes which is usually unbalanced and unfair.

Love is a Poppy

Love is a poppy
                         Rich, ripe, and red
                                             Not the paragon of flowers,
                                                                                    But attractive in its simple symmetry.

You know it is toxic
                             It is an opiate, a drug.
                                                            You just cannot resist it
                                                                                               It takes you to heaven.

You frolic freely in the clouds;
                                            You savor all the sweet foods;
                                                                                       You swim in the azure sea;
                                                                                                                             You wander in the wonderful world.

How soon sweet turns sour
                                        What was best becomes bitter.
                                                                                     Its real face appears, rancid.
                                                                                                                              Everything dries and decays.

All becomes daggers, sharp, stuck in your heart
                                                                      Blood running, you can't breath
                                                                                                                    You take them out
             Revive, catch your breath.

Your pain is excruciating
                                    You know you should stop
                                                                            But your addiction imprisons you

                                                                                                                             You just can't stop loving.

                                                          

                                    
                                                                     

Walk or Work, Hike or Homework?

   I love nature. Who won't enjoy a hike in the woods once in a while?  However, I am a true city girl and I prefer a city life style. Why do people toil in offices for long hours everyday? It is because office workers are often paid better than people who do physical work.  It is the matter of financial reward rather than an aversion to physical work.  Also, in our climate, who want to work outdoors in a cold rainy day? 
   I am a busy student who have little time for anything else other than studying and doing homework.  I cannot find time for walking and running outside when I have to solve a hundred of math equations.  On every Wednesday afternoon and Sunday morning, I have to go to studio and learn to draw with life models to prepare my graduating portfolio. On Saturday mornings, I have more English classes to attend to improve my English skills as there is still a lot of room for me to improve. With a mountain of homework piled on by every teacher, how would I find time to sholve the snow?  After working late every night, I need to go sleep in order to not fall asleep in class and I get up just in time to get to school.  There is no time for any sort of outside activities.  If teachers learn to become more lenient by giving less homework, then I will have more time to do some physical activities and become more healthy. But then if we do less school work and work less harder, how can we get good grades to get into university?  What a difficult decision we have to make?
      I like to watch TV actually, I simply have no a little time for TV on weekend. It's not I don't want to go outside for a sweaty workout, but that is the only time that I can watch my favourite idol for just a little bit, how could I escape that chance? It is not that I want to sit in front of my computer and type, I have to use the computer because I have to finish the projects assigned by my teachers and check e-mails my teacher may have sent to me. I also have to use computer to social with my friends in order to not have too much peer pressure.It is not that I do not like to go for a walk in the sunshine and breath in the fresh air to call my spirit back from the noisy crowds rather than sit in a closed stuffy room and cause massive damage to my brain cells.I am just too busy, but not too lazy.  It is my life, and I am just overloaded with work to have the freedom of choice.