Mandela

August has been a hectic month. Since the 51st Independence Day is just around the corner, I feel like saying something about how grateful I am to be a Malaysian (minus the political issues and bad public transportation services), and especially to live in Malaysia in the present days. Life is not difficult as compared to the earlier years. I have read Nelson Mandela's Autobiography entitled The Long Walk to Freedom. The title itself has a gist of what the autobiography entails. Most of it is his story on how he dealt with colonial power. During class, we discussed quite a lot of issues regarding this text, i.e. hegemony, apartheid and a few others.

I remembered reading the history textbook in my high school years, yet the information about our very own leaders who fought for the country's independence is very little. I believe that there are also autobiographies of our leaders out there, but it would be more interesting if we have the chance to at least read one significant part of their journey, just like Mandela's. Maybe students need more illustration of their struggles and sufferings, so that they can better understand what nationhood is.

I admire Mandela's courage and I personally feel that he is a great leader of his time.

Almost there.

Yay! Finally the presentation of my position paper is over. Which basically means that I have to start working on my research paper now. Dr. Nooreen gave some comments on how to improve the way I write the research paper. I'm going to write the complete paper and submit the draft again. What I've given to Dr. Nooreen was only the outline of the important points in the paper. I haven't thought of how to put the points in complete sentences. Will try as much as I can to work on it. With a lot more assignments coming along the way, I am learning that procrastination is bad. I don't want this to happen to me. He he.

google searched

The Poet

I was glad that we had the chance to meet Kim Trusty, a Canadian-Jamaican, and absolutely wonderful poet. I love the way that she conducted the lesson, the way she gave feedback and comments to our presentations. I was thrilled on the way she managed to gage our attention and she seemed so confident. There's a lot more to learn to be a good presenter I reckon. Our class were combined with Cohort 4, and they were fun people too. I can't help laughing when the representatives of each group presented their poems. Some were exceptionally hilarious, but the way I see it, we can be considered potential poets now. :) I googled for Kim Trusty and apparently there are a quite a few Kim Trustys. Above is the picture of her book, with her image as the cover. Even added her in MySpace. He he. But what's more important is that I've learned a lot. And intrigued by her passion.

The starting point

I've submitted the outline of my research paper to Dr. Nooreen. Basically I'm going to work on two of my favorite novels; The Alchemist and Tuesdays with Morrie. Waiting for comments from Dr. Nooreen. Will get started as soon as I get the draft approved.

The thesis statement:
The conflict between fate and will is clearly described through the portrayal of characters, symbolisms and motifs in the novel The Alchemist by Paolo Coelho and Tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Albom.

Andy Warhol

I can't think of a better title for this post. I've read the quotes from Andy Warhol's diaries, but it did not make any sense at all, not until we viewed a clipping about Andy Warhol and his works. Alas, the audio system in the lecture room was not that good. We anticipated an interesting movie, yet it was a documentary I guess. Well, we had a difficult time trying to attend to the voice and at the same time, view the pictures displayed. I was able to recall that some of Warhol's works are influenced by his religious beliefs. But what captured my attention the most was his Pop Art paintings.

Marilyn Monroe (Pop Art) - Andy Warhol
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This is one of his many significant works, and as I surfed the net for more information about this painting, I found out that those who owns Apple Notebooks will be able to create their own Pop Art Paintings, (most people used their own faces) since there is a software that enables users to make their version of Pop Art. But sure enough, the outcome will never look as good/ original as Warhol's.

Inspiring, Inspired.

My friends and I went to see Dr. Nooreen for the first meeting with supervisor. We get to know the expected format of our research papers. Dr. Nooreen had gave to us some samples as guidelines to prepare our own. I found out that every one has their own interest on what to write about. I have not decided on what to write about for the research paper.

But I'm glad that I manage to complete my position paper. I decided to change the story for the position paper, and I am absolutely happy that I made that decision. At least I am clear of what I want to write, and the Grimm Brothers' works had always been close to my heart. Part of learning is making mistakes along the way, they say.

I'm still thinking the possible issues to be discussed for my research paper.