My Black Messiah

My Black Messiah, by Sonia Weitz

A black GI stood by the door
(I never saw a black before)
He’ll set me free before I die,
I thought, he must be the Messiah.

A black Messiah came for me . . .
He stared with eyes that didn’t see,
He never heard a single word
Which hung absurd upon my tongue.

And then he simply froze in place
The shock, the horror on his face,
He didn’t weep, he didn’t cry

But deep within his gentle eyes
. . . A flood of devastating pain,
his innocence forever slain.

For me, with yet another dawn
I found my black Messiah gone
And on we went our separate ways
For many years without a trace.

But there’s a special bond we share
Which has grown strong because we dare
To live, to hope, to smile . . . and yet
We vow not ever to forget.

To me, this poem represents sadness and hope. I say it represents sadness because in stansa 5, she says that she's met the Messiah but then, he's gone. Also I say hope because in the last stansa, she says that she shares a special bond and that is to live to hope and to smile. I find that Sonya still has hope because she is standing up for herself and is not giving up. She's saying that everybody has the right to live their lives no matter what race, skin color or gender. She also vows to never forget that moment she lived to live, to hope and to smile.

Victim Options

Some people say that what makes a person a victim is they have limited or no options about how to act.

My opinion is that I sort of agree because not all situations are the same. Someone in class said that they had many options when their situation happened but while she said that, I was thinking in my head about my situation. My situation is that a long time ago, I had a friend who used to push me around and annoy me. He did that every single day and he never stopped. He would cheat in games, get me in trouble, blame me for everything and he always got away with it. One day, I had enough, I told him if he ever did something like that again, I promise you will get suspended for at least a day. And sure enough, he did something like that again and I thought to myself what should I do? Get him back for what he's done or tell an adult/teacher. I chose to tell the counsellor because I knew if I tried to get him back, this will keep on going on and going on. I went and told the counsellor and she said she will talk to him and to tell her if he did anything like that ever again. I thanked the counsellor for her advice and concern and continued my lunch.

The next day, I came to school and my friend had been talked to by the counsellor and he was very angry. He was so angry that he threatened me. As soon as he did that, I walked into the counselling office and told her. She then came very angrily outside and pulled him into her office. When he came out, he said that he was very sorry and he was going home for a couple of days. This proves that sometimes victims have many options but sometimes they also have 2 options. Those are some things that I think about Victim's options.

The Eternal Jew

When I first looked at the picture, I saw that the person in the picture was a Jew. An ugly Jew. When I saw this, I felt really bad for the Jews because thats not what they really look like. They Germans are only trying to make people think that the Jews are ugly and dirty and they are responsible for every bad thing that has happened in Germany. Another thing that made me feel bad was the title. The title was "The Internal Jew" and that just made me feel really bad. I also saw that in the picture, it shows that the Jew has stolen money from the German bank and they are to be put in concentration camps and they are also to be put into labor.

The coat that the Jew was wearing looked really nice so what I thought was that the Jew either stole it from a German or he used the money that was stolen to buy a really nice coat. Another thing that I saw was the stone that was in his left arm. That stone had a communist sign on it and I also realized it was in the shape of Germany. What I think this symbolizes is that the Jews are stealing Germany's money, and Germany itself. I think this because the stone is in the Jew's arm and it represents stealing. Those are some things I saw and what I think it symbolized.

My Learning Profile

I learn best when the teacher writes what we are supposed to do on the board. I like this way of learning because if I ever forget what I need to do in class, then I can look at the board. If the teacher tells us what to do by talking, I will probably forget what to do. That has happened to me a lot of times and after a while some of my teachers found it annoying because I would keep on asking them questions. In all, I like this because I am a visual learner.

When I am in class and learning, I need to have a pen with me because I often like to click it or flip it. This is another thing that I find drives teachers crazy. It drives them crazy sometimes because if they are not gestalt, they often don't do that kind of thing. Also last year I often got in trouble because I would click and click and they would get really annoyed so I had to stop and when I stopped, I often lost interest on what we were doing. Also when I am in class, I have to sit in a place where I can see easily with my left eye. Also, I have to sit in a place where I can hear with my right ear easily because when we did the tests to see which side of the body (leg, arm, ear, eye) we were, I found out that I am all right except for my eye. Those are some things I need to do when I am in class. I would like my teachers to know this about me.

My 10 Memories

Taylor Mali, a famous poet that is known world-wide came to ISKL. He told us about his life and all his techniques for when he got up on all the stages and told his poems. He encouraged us to dig deep down into our memories and find ten and write about them. Here are some of mine.

I remember the time when I was two and I cut my head open at my favorite pizza restaurant.

I remember the time when I got the best present ever on the worst day of my life.

I remember the time when I had just finished school and my grandmother picked me up for a change and I asked her why she picked me up. She said that I had gotten a baby sister.

I remember the time when I got in a car with my dad and I kick the gear shifter by accident and the car rolled all the way down the hill.

I remember the time when i was in a ring floater in the pool and I accidentally bent down and my head went into the water and stayed there for about 15 seconds and when my mom noticed she jumped into the pool and got me.

I remember when I was about 4 and my croc got stuck inside an escalator

My name-Norman

It means Northman, which refers to a viking. It is from an old Germanic name. Throughout my whole life, I have never wanted to change my name because since I was little, I asked my mom what Norman meant and she said that it meant viking so ever since that time, I have loved my name. If I did want to change my name, I would change it to Jamie because I think it is a cool name. I have had a nickname and only my sister calls me by it. She calls me “Abang” because in Malay, “Abang”, means big brother so that is why she calls me that. I have been teased about my name when a friend of mine called me “Norman the doorman” and that made me really mad and he would not stop, so everyday he would come up to me and call me that. I said ok fine, he is calling me that so I shall call him Spongebob Squarehead. I did not want to be mean or anything but because he made me mad and would not stop, I called him that.

Before I was born, my mom and dad were expecting a girl because that is what the doctor said so they were coming up with names and my mom said that I would be called Jane then my dad said no because he wanted me to be called Harley. He wanted me to be called Harley because he loves Harley Davidson motorbikes and I have been riding with him ever since I was three. When I was born though, I turned out to be a boy so my mom and dad were like “uh,oh”, so they decided to name me Norman because that was my great grandfather’s name.

Me in Three

When I take the first step into my room, the thing that first think about is my laptop. I think about my laptop because everyday I am always on my laptop whether is it a game or Facebook. For I am on my laptop everyday, it is pretty much something that represents me. Ever since my dad showed me a computer game when I was little, I loved computers. It was so fun because the game I played was really colorful When I was a little kid, I enjoyed looking and playing with colorful things. One day in fifth grade, I waited by the car pickup/drop off place was with my friend Sam and he had a Macbook laptop and he was playing a cool game. I was talking to him and I said “Boy, I wish I had a laptop” and I didn’t feel sad After about ten minutes, Sam died in his game and my mom came. What a coencidence I grabbed my bag, said bye to Sam and walked to my car. My mom told me that there was something special waiting for me at home. The whole car ride home (2 minutes) I was wondering what it could possibly be. Finally we got home. I dropped my bag and ran upstairs. Before I got to the top, my dad stopped me, he made me close my eyes and he walked me up the stairs. I got in the room and said that I could open my eyes and when I did I was like there is nothing here! Then, I saw something on a box that said Macbook. I could not believe it! I got a macbook. I thanked my mom and dad so much and they both helped me set it up and the exact same one I am using right now. That is one thing that I think represents me.

Another thing that I think that represents me is my Rockband box. In case you did not know, Rockband is a game that I play on my PS3 and it is pretty much a virtual band where you go on tours with like a guitar or drumset. This was another thing I got for my birthday. For my tenth birthday I got some PS3 games, a PS3 and my mom said I could not have an electric guitar until I am twelve, so my dad decided that because I could not have a real electric guitar to get me a virtual electric guitar. That day was an awesome day because we went to the themepark with all my friends, had an awesome birthday cake and some pretty epic presents. That is another thing that I think represents me.

The final thing that I think represents me is my radio. I chose my radio because everytime when I walk in my room, even when I go to bed, I turn on my radio. I love music. Music to me is like a second sister. Sometimes when I have a bad day at school or I loose a piece of paper that was really important, I would turn on my radio and most of the time it would cheer me up. My Ipod also goes with that because my radio is where I put my ipod if I need to charge it. Also I can record the music from the radio and play it on my Ipod. My Ipod was the second electronic thing I have ever got. I got it in 4th grade and I really like it because that is sort of like my second planner. I can store phone numbers, games, music and other things that are on there and because I always use my ipod, sometimes I store my homework on there. All in all, those are the three things that represent me when I walk in my room.