The Spring of Hope (Poem of the "Terrible Winter")

They stand apart, divided,
so different yet so together.
She gazes at him with longing, desire,
or is it fear?
Can she follow him out of this bleak, waste land?
Wanting to leave the cold, barren place,
he reaches his hand, grabbing the rail.
So many obstacles, so many barriers
denying him from his ascent.
The branches reaching into the sky,
pulling him upwards, seeking the warmth of spring,
the spring of hope.
The buds poking out of the ground, seeking light,
reaching towards the astral rays that
shoot down to crack the winter's wall.
Can this wall be cracked to let new lives burst forth?
Love, Hope, Desire,
reaching upwards,
bringing them together.

I was a loner,
I felt scared.
I kept things to myself,
Everything bottled up.
I couldn't trust anyone,
To let things out was still a battle for me.
Now, I've smashed that bottle.
Now, I don't keep things to myself.
Tell someone.
To all those shy kids,
You need to tell someone.


Author: Victim

Audience: The people who have similar experiences with the victim and who fear to tell.

Message: If you have experienced the same thing as the victim and are still keeping it to yourself, then you should really tell someone. It is the best way of releasing pressure and it helps you to step outside to the wide world.

Synopsis of the Digital Chapter

In the last chapter of “The Chrysalids”, the story ends with the helicopter containing David, Rosalind, Petra and the Sealand lady about to land. In our digital chapter, we continued with this scene and created three comic pages as an additional ending of the novel. On the first page, as the helicopter is descending, we had the Sealand lady announcing this news to the others through thought shapes. For the background, we found a picture of a coastal city which represents New Zealand in the story. For the second page, we used a picture consisting of many huge buildings in the background to tell readers that they have successfully landed in the city. They are welcomed and accepted for who they are. Finally on the last page of our digital chapter, we had Rosalind and David sleeping. Right beside David, there’s a dream bubble consisting of a picture of outer space. This is a connection with the first dream he had in chapter one in which he dreams about New Zealand. We decided to use this dream as our ending because it links the whole novel together in a circle. As well, it indicates possibility and change. David is now in a world which he is free to dream and choose his future. In Waknuk, this was impossible. One of the themes in the book deals with change and evolution. The word chrysalid is a term in biology and it’s a state in which the larva is wrapped in a hard case, not moving or even eating until it becomes an insect. The people of Waknuk seem to be stuck in this state, never deviating from what they think is normal. In contrast, the Sealanders know that the chysalid must pass on to the next stage and that change is inevitable. David is happy to leave Waknuk behind for the next stage in his life where anything is possible.

If there is really a tribulation happening right now, I think we, 25 of us as a group, should work together to face the problem and solve it. At this very urgent situation, we should all cooperate and help each other out. For example, if there's an earth happening, we should all stay together and no one should be on his/her own. We should stay calm and find a right way to solve the problem. We need to get all of us out of the building while having no one in danger. One solution can be to have us be divided into several groups. Each group can work on different things. This way, we will all be solving the problem and no time will be wasted because obviously time will be the most important thing to consider at that situation.

Perhaps the tribulation is something more serious and 25 of us can only do little to help . If this is the case, I still think we should try. Most important of all, we should treat each other well because we are the last 25 people on Earth. We must support each other and feel like we're in a family. We should eliminate any negative thoughts in our mind and to only think on the postive side. This way, we will be confident to face the upcoming problem and work through it as a whole.

Topic line: What describes my love to thee?

Restrcition: At least 5 syllables each line

Literary device: Rhyme

A look into thy eye,
Melts the snow of mine.
Arise! For thee, my love,
See our joy fly like a dove.
Thou is the light in the dark,
Leading me the way that sparks.
My life exists for thee,
And not a thing can compare indeed.

Response to "All the Troubles of the World"

The short story "All the Troubles of the World" by Isaac Asimov has provided its readers a very creative and unbelievable world. In that world, a giant computer called Multivac controls the world. It has the power to predict things that are going to happen in the future such as potential crimes. Multivac has human emotions which kind of frightened me. At the end of the story, the omniscient Multivac desires nothing but to kill itself. It wants to be shut down permanently.

Why is this? I asked myself this question and the answer that came to my mind was humans had given too much pressure on it. Because Multivac has amazing abilities such as predicting imminent things, humans are starting to rely too much on it. They tend to have excessive expects on the magic computer which eventually leads Multivac to become unbearable of all the pressure.

Now here comes the question. Should there be a Multivac in our real life? In my perspective, I think Multivac is although impressive but not necessary in human's life. This is because we, as human beings should have the power to control our own lives. We should not be dominated by technologies. Moreover, if there's no Multivac in the world, everyone would rely on themselves which is much more beneficial than to rely on a machine.

Poem to Ms. Hancock

Dear Ms. Hancock,

Planted deeply in my heart,
Your beautiful smile, like a piece of art.
Time had flew since we first met,
But your grace stayed which I will never forget.
The precious time we had spent together,
Often pushes my smile to go up higher.
Your charming, deeply modulated voice,
Never fails on bringing me to rejoice.
Your special way of teaching,
Made my days more than interesting.

If asked, the greatest experience I had,
Your entrance to the English 10 class was not that bad.
If asked, the worst experience I had,
Your first lesson in the English 10 class made me sad.

Regret to what I had done,
Your response is nothing but to be gone.

If you can hear them,

Two words I must and wish to tell,
Are sorry, and thank you.

Sorry, Ms. Hancock,
And thank you, Ms. Hancock.

Sincerely

Charlotte