Year: 2022

Fly Me Up – My Dream For The World

Wishes-

This post was inspired by a story called Fly Me Up. The story is based on Tiffany Singh, A social-practice artist who works with the local community. One of Tiffany’s works is called “Fly Me Up To Where You Are”. Basically, a bunch of flags are hung up. On those flags are the dreams of the community’s youth. Right below is my wish on a flag.

 

Diary Entry- Ukraine

Diary Entry-

March 22, 2022-

My POV of the previous day-

Mom keeps telling me it’s just a holiday, but I know it’s not. I don’t understand why she’s trying to hide it from me. It’s blatantly obvious that we’re running from the war. Mom still thinks that I think that we’re going on a holiday. I guess I should keep this unaware facade up. It seems to give Mom a false sense of security, knowing that her kid isn’t aware of the horrors that are occurring around us. Snapping back to the reality, Mom and I hop onto a bus, It’s destination, The Polish-Ukrainian border. We sit down. Everyone around us has worried expressions. Once again, hinting at the fact that this isn’t a holiday. Having sat down near a window. I could see for myself, the absolute destruction we were driving past. Buildings were leveled, Bridges were collapsed. Raging infernos filled the sky with a thick layer of smoke, blocking out the sun. At this point, even a small child could figure out what was really going on. Mom seems to have given up on the whole “We’re going on a Holiday” act. Now, she’s on her phone, calling up the rest of the family. A couple hours pass by and we’re still on the bus, riding through the war-torn country of Ukraine. Looking out the window, the same old ravaged city was still there. I could hear the distant echoes of gunfire all around the bus. Maybe this is just a dream, maybe this is just one really long and traumatic dream. Maybe if I were to just doze off, I’d wake up snug in my bed. I could only hope it was a dream. But reality is a cruel thing. All this thinking has tired me. I can’t concentrate properly, my brain is overheating. Maybe I  should take a nap. Yeah…….. I should, after all, what’s the worst that could happen.

This piece was written because of a reading  project

Themes

Themes

The table below is a list of themes from an article I talked about in an earlier post. The article talks about the Ukrainian refugees and how they’re coping with the events of the war. The first half of the table is a list themes from the article that relates to me. The bottom half of the table is list of themes from the article that relate to the refugees in the article.

Sacrifice

Something you love

Sacrifice yourself 

Sacrifice your money and time 

Family

Strong bonds 

Care for one another

Fight for each other 

Supporting each other

Hope

Achieving your dreams

To have motivation 

Keep pushing forward, no matter what

Kindness

 

 

Respect others 

Forgive others

Be charitable towards others.

Friends and family 

Their homes 

Money and food

Their culture and history

Praying for each other

Losing relatives to the war

Caring for each other in shelters 

To be free from war

To have peace 

To have food and shelter

To reunite with their families 

 Care from World Vision and other volunteers

Free shelter and food

Role on the Wall


Yesterday in reading, my group and I read an article about the current conflicts in Ukraine. This article talked about how the families of Ukraine are coping and dealing with the events from the war.  The article talked about one family who was evacuating. The mother of that family told her kids that they were only going on a ‘holiday’, to keep her kids from knowing the horrors of war. Other families were talked about, and how much they have suffered. After reading this article, we had to work on something called a Role on the Wall.  We had to use a empty template of a person. That person would be a child who has suffered from the war. On the inside, we would put what we assumed the feelings of the child were. On the outside, we would put the things creating those feelings. The black words are the inner feelings, and the blue words are the things creating the inner feelings.

High Diving Giraffes

 

Clip clop, Clip clop, clip clop. Turning the corner, I enter a long narrow hallway. The floor, walls and ceiling are covered by a seemingly infinite stretch of white tile. The sun shines through the many windows. The light bounces off the shiny white tiling. More and more giraffes emerge into the hallway. Cameras are rooted in the corners of the ceiling. The hallway reaches its end and I’m the first one to walk out. The overpowering smell of chlorine fills the air. Soon, we are walking up a tall spiral ramp. Glass panes decorated the edges. Clip clop, clip clop, Our band of giraffes reached the top, and a line seemed to be forming.

 

The line finishes forming and I’m the first one up. Straight ahead of me is a poorly lit corridor. At the end, the darkness stops and the light illuminates a giraffe, who appears to be suspended on a machine. I guess I should go, I am first after all. I take off in an instant. Clip, clop, clip clop, clip clop. I charge through all the way to the end. I enter the next room. I look around for a bit, it seems that I’m on a diving board, I look down to see crystal clear water. You could see all the way to the bottom. I look back at the giraffe on the machine. Ah, I get it, he must be here to help as dive. I quickly think of a move to do while I rush towards him, a simple backflip, nothing too flashy but good enough to impress. I cling on to the hanging giraffe as he swings me through the air. He lets go and I get into a backflip position. I twist and turn my body around, the room seems to be spinning every which way. I do the backflip as perfectly as I can. I then make my body as straight as a pencil. The air rushes past my face as I zoom towards the pool, for a brief moment, I feel like an eagle swooping down to catch its prey. I feel my adrenaline rising. If I mess up, I might get seriously hurt. I look at the water getting closer and closer, then all of the sudden, SPLASH!!

 

I gracefully enter the water. I feel the sudden cold rush up and down my body as I descend to the bottom. I tilt my body upwards to rise to the surface. Air bubbles materialise all around me. I slowly ascend back up. The air bubbles disappear and water floods my ears. I enter a state that I can only describe as serenity. There are no sounds, no gravity, no distractions, just me and my thoughts. Underwater, the only person I could talk to was myself. Rising up, I feel as if I was a dolphin, elegantly gliding through the deep blue. It’s like I’ve done this a million times before. Every move I make has been practiced and perfected. At last, I arise in shallow waters. I pick myself up and exit the swimming pool. Soon, more giraffes emerge from the waters. Once again, a line  forms. In a perfectly synchronised fashion, we all bend over to drink. I get up with excess water dripping from my mouth. I start to walk over to what seems like an exit. It turns out, the “exit” actually led back to the diving board. This time, there are two diving boards. Well, a second dive couldn’t hurt, After all, we are the High Diving Giraffes

The Argo Cycle

Argo floats are devices that measure the temperature and the salinity of the water around. Scientists of all kinds use the information gained by the Argo Floats. These Argo Floats collect data in a cycle.  These cycles only last 5 years, that is because the batteries of the floats only last 5 years, once the battery runs out, the float will sink to the bottom of the ocean. Here is a diagram of the Argo Cycle