Social Awareness Project

Bruno Houtzager

810

Table of Contents:

Page  1

Table of Contents

Pages 2-5

News Diary:

1. MH 17 crash/ Cleanup Ukraine
2. Attack on a synagogue in Jerusalem
3. Peaceful Protests Hong Kong
4. China Coal Consumption Limit
5. China Airstrip

Page 6

Response on the movie “Remembering the Titans”

Page 7

Social Awareness Poem

Page 8-9

Works Cited, Overview

Day 1    11/17/14

In the summer, when I had just arrived in the Netherlands another Malaysian Airlines plane came crashing down to Earth. Since there were almost 180 Dutch passengers on board I was shocked when I had heard what had happened that day. Now months after the crash the Netherlands and a few other countries are working to collect all of the pieces of the aircraft. You might think, why? Why would you go back to the place where about 230 people died and collect the rest of their plane? Well, the Dutch government and many other governments around the world want to know what happened to flight MH17 on July 17th 2014. Many people think that the Pro-Russian Separatists in Ukraine shot the plane down but, some people think that Russia is responsible. The parts of the aircraft that are now in a field in Ukraine will be sent to an airplane company to rebuild. he plane rebuilt experts will be able to analyze the wreckage and see what happened when the plane was shot down.

I was overwhelmed when I first read the news about the crash, the news also hit me extra hard because I was tired from my trip and I also read that most of the people on the plane were Dutch. Now the people that lost family members will know if, their loved ones had a quick death because of a missile or if something else happened to the plane.  The Netherlands lost so many people for the size of my country that the effect was about the same as the fall of the Twin Towers for the United States of America.

Day 2 11/18/14

Today, the attacks in Jerusalem continued, two Palestinians armed with a gun, knives, and axes stormed a synagogue. The attackers killed five people, this attack continued weeks of attacks on the Palestinian people. The assault is most deadly in Jerusalem since 2008. “The assailants were killed at the scene in a gun battle with the police that wounded two officers, one of whom died of his injuries on Tuesday night. It was the deadliest attack on Israeli civilians in more than three years, and the worst in Jerusalem since 2008.” (Rudoren and Kershner, par. 2) These attacks have broken the sense of security that the people of Jerusalem had.

  

I think that these attacks will prove to be problematic if the Israeli government can’t keep these attacks under control. Next time the attackers might use a bomb to blow up a whole building with people in it. The worst part of the attack was that it took place in a religious building where people were praying, now the blood of five people is on the flood of the synagogue. Imagine what it would be like to have to go back to that building to pray. Being a medical worker and having to go into such a building to help people must be terrifying, “Avi Nefoussi, a volunteer medic who lives a few blocks from the synagogue, said he arrived before the shooting stopped, and helped evacuate some of the injured. “Then, unfortunately, we saw some bodies lying on the floor,” he said. One face was familiar, he said: Mr. Kupinsky, whom Mr. Nefoussi said he “knew personally, very well.” (Rudoren and Kershner, par. 34)   These attacks must stop to protect the people of Jerusalem and world peace.

Day 3 11/19/14

Today, in the New York Times there was an article about how the peaceful protest in Hong Kong lasted for so long but since the protesters started breaking windows on Hong Kong’s legislature building. Since that night the police has been extremely forceful against the protesters that have never hurt anyone, and now the police are attacking them as if they killed many people. A few months ago people in Hong Kong were upset with how the government set strict rules for voting. The people of Hong Kong have been blocking the streets, because they are upset. The protesters have been peaceful so, the authorities have been having a hard time breaking the protests. “The most violent clashes between pro-democracy demonstrators and the police here in a month have underscored the difficulty the authorities face in evicting people from the barricaded tent cities that have blocked some of the city’s busiest streets since late September.” (Forsythe and Wong, par. 1) This peaceful protest that could become a bloodbath like what happened in 1989 in Tiananmen Square.

I think that this event could change the lives of many people in Hong Kong. Either the government will give in or the police will use their power to remove the protesters from the streets of Hong Kong. These peaceful protesters don’t deserve to be treated like this just because they broke a few windows. This might have been an appropriate response if the protesters had killed people but not for breaking windows.

Day 4   11/20/14

Today, China has put a cap on it’s coal consumption. The limit has been set for 4.2 billion tons of coal until 2020. This is a big step for China because they are trying to lower their status of being the largest greenhouse gas producer in the world. “China is the biggest emitter of greenhouses gases in the world, and it uses as much coal each year as the rest of the world combined.” This shows that China is starting to make steps towards lowering their emissions. Last wednesday President Obama and President Xi Jinping made a pledge to cut or limit Carbon Dioxide emissions. With both America and China working together for lowering emissions the world should become a cleaner place.

I hope that China limiting their coal consumptions will make the world a cleaner place.  62% of China’s energy come from coal, imagine big cities like Tokyo being powered only by coal. China has been working very hard to limit the amount of coal use and maximize the amount of renewable energy. With China minimizing their global footprint, the world should be a little cleaner.   

Day 5 11/21/14

Today, in the New York Times there was a report of China starting to build an airstrip on a coral reef. This airstrip would help China protect it’s airpace from enemy aircraft.  One of the problems with China doing this is that, their airstrip would be in disputed territory. “New satellite imagery reported by IHS Jane’s Defence on Friday showed construction of a new island about 9,850 feet long and 985 feet wide at Fiery Cross Reef in the Spratly Islands. The new island would be capable of supporting a runway and apron, the security group said.” (Perlez, par. 4) This runway is troublesome for countries like Vietnam because China once claimed Vietnam for themselves and now they might want to do that again.

I think that China and many other countries around the world are realizing that their militaries would not be strong enough to defend their country from, for example Russia. I don’t think that China is trying to impose more of a threat to the world then they already do, they are just trying to improve their defenses.

Response

Throughout the week I have been following the news more than normal and have created this Diary. With this exercise I have noticed that the world is on edge not only in places like Israel but also in Europe and Asia. First the crisis in Ukraine, that is still going on and now China that is making preparation, for what looks like war. People around the world are standing up for what they think is right, in Hong Kong to veto the new law about voting or in Ukraine were the local people are joining the military to defend their country. I have also learned that the news can also be good, for example China setting a limit on their coal consumption, to help save the Earth from Greenhouse gases.  All in all I think that the world can go in many places all at once, first to save the Earth then to start war. So many things can change in one week.

Note: I used a Dutch news source for the first entry.

Remembering the Titans

The movie, “Remembering the Titans” is about how two, one black and one white, football teams have to merge into one. This sparks a lot of conflict between both the black and the white communities. Not only the two communities have trouble with the teams merging, the two coaches have to get along and, so do the players.  Once the coaches have sorted out the roles and the players are bonding, they start playing against other teams. The other white teams start fouling the black players and letting the white players be. Since the referee is white he doesn’t call the fouls on the black players, but if a black player fouls a white player the referee gives a harsh punishment. The boys fight together to become the best team in their county, the first mixed team.

In this movie the director wants the viewer to think about how racism affects everyone, the white people but also the black people. At first the different skin color teams didn’t want to get along, but once they realized that they are both the same people, the tensions turned into friendships. The director wants the people watching the movie to think about how everyone is the same no matter their skin color. But, he also shows that people of different skin color don’t always get along well.

The director showed many different perspectives in the movie, for example when the white captain of the team introduced one of his black players to his girlfriend she shook his hand and then quickly wiped her hand on her dress. This showed that even though her boyfriend was introducing her to one of his friends, she was still disgusted by the fact that he is black. With this perspective the director showed that just because you are white during the 1980’s in the United States doesn’t mean you don’t have problems. The team’s captain’s problem was that his girlfriend didn’t allow him to have a black friend.

This movie was not only a great sports movie, but more importantly it showed that it doesn’t matter what color your skin is or what religion you have, you can always make things work out. “Remembering the Titans” showed that once you have accomplished teamwork fighting racism becomes much easier

Safe and Sound

Vroom! goes the car as

It claims the lives of real people

Now laws have changed

People walk across the street

As the cars glide to a halt

Laws will now save more people

Less lives will be claimed

As for the speeding limit

Lots will change now

Thanks to the people

That have lost, now we are safer

And less people will lose

In my steps to making these poems I thought about one main idea. I started by thinking about things that are changing, and I thought about the new speed limits. I started brainstorming ideas, and came up with how these laws have changed and how they will affect us. Then I started writing. At the end of my second to last poem I thought about a strong ending, I brainstormed about the main idea and most powerful topics in the main idea and then thought about how I could deliver this idea in the most powerful way.

The issue that I choose is about how the speeding limits in New York are being changed because of the many accidents. Over the past few months people have been killed by cars speeding on the roads and not being careful. For example, there was one boy that ran on the street to chase after his ball and got hit by a car. If that car had been going five miles per hour slower, 25 mph, the boy would have survived. I choose the issue because it is a topic that can affect all of us.

Works Cited

New Diary:

Forsythe, Michael, and Alan Wong. "Fracas Puts Hong Kong Protests in New Light." The New York Times. The New York Times, 19 Nov. 2014. Web. 19 Nov. 2014. <http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/20/world/asia/fracas-puts-hong-kong-protests-in-new-light.html?ref=world>.

Perlez, Jane. "China Said to Be Building Airstrip-Capable Area in Disputed Waters." The New York Times. The New York Times, 23 Nov. 2014. Web. 23 Nov. 2014. <http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/24/world/asia/china-said-to-be-building-airstrip-capable-area-in-disputed-waters.html?ref=world>.

Rudoren, Jodi, and Isabel Kershner. "Israel on Edge After Four Are Killed in Attack on Synagogue." The New York Times. The New York Times, 18 Nov. 2014. Web. 18 Nov. 2014. <http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/19/world/middleeast/killings-in-jerusalem-synagogue-complex.html?ref=world&_r=0>.

"Vliegtuig Van Amsterdam Naar Maleisië Neergestort." - NOS Nieuws. Web. 17 Nov. 2014. <http://nos.nl/video/676047-vliegtuig-van-amsterdam-naar-maleisie-neergestort.html>.

Wong, Edward. "China to Place Limit on Coal Use in 2020." The New York Times. The New York Times, 21 Nov. 2014. Web. 20 Nov. 2014. <http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/21/business/energy-environment/china-to-place-limit-on-coal-use-in-2020.html?ref=world>.

Remembering the Titans Non-Fiction Response:

Remember in the Titans. Dir. Boaz Yakin. Perf. Denzel Washington, Will Patton, and Wood Harris. Disney, 2000. DVD.

Overview

My Social Awareness project starts of with a five day news diary. In this diary I write about the many different issues that are going on throughout the world, from Europe to the Middle East to Asia. In this diary I write about how the MH 17 plane crash is being handled by the Netherlands, how five people were killed in an attack on a synagogue in Jerusalem, how the police of Hong Kong are taking strict counter measures against the peaceful protesters in Hong Kong, how China has set a limit on it’s coal consumption, and how China is building an airstrip in disputed territory. These events all have an important impact on the world today and will continue impacting the world.

For the other two parts of my Social Awareness Project I wrote a nonfiction response on the movie, “Remembering the Titans”, in this response I wrote about how the director showed different perspectives of the different characters and how the director shows his point of view. In the last part of my project I wrote a poem about how the speeding limits in New York City have been changed.