For English, we have been tasked to make our writing portfolio, which we need to include the three pieces of writing we did this year.
In term 1, we were looking at creative writing and had to write an essay about anything we like. I wrote my version of the movie, The Day After Tomorrow. However, I hadn't finished my essay, I hadn't much ideas and there wasn't enough time. Also, the story was at its climax.
Here is my creative writing essay.
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Jack Hall, an American paleoclimatologist, with his colleagues Frank and Jason, is penetrating the ice-core samples in the Larsen Ice Shelf in Antarctica for the NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration). An ice shelf abruptly splinters from the rest of the continent, and Jack almost succumbs to death.
A few months later, UN Conference, New Delhi.
Jack admonishes world leaders. "From my research, finding that 10,000 years ago, global warming changed the Earth's climate to an ice age. If humans don't stop polluting the atmosphere, this might again happen in estimated 100 to 1,000 years from now."
"What nonsense!" Shrieks the U.S. Vice President Robert Hayward, repudiating his solicitudes.
Jack continues speaking.
"As we can see, the AMOC or the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation could collapse. Numerous intense storms could wreak major global cities, massive temperature variations would occur, and the northern hemisphere would be left frozen - our planet could trigger a new cataclysmic ice age."
At the conference, Professor Fraser Thomson, an oceanographer of the ECRC (European Climate Research Centre) in Scotland, keeps track of the world's ocean currents. Professor Thomson befriends Jack over his views of an impending climate shift. Fraser tells Jack that the melting of the polar ice caps has poured fresh water into the oceans and diluted the salt level balance, which has provoked the temperature of the ocean currents to drop 13 degrees.
Professor Fraser showed Jack by placing two buoys in the North Atlantic simultaneously, displaying a massive drop in the ocean temperature. Then concludes that the melting of the polar ice has begun disrupting the reconstructional data of the climate change that caused the first Ice Age; to predict what will arrive.
Due to this concern, both Jack and Fraser team up with NASA meteorologist Leeann Takada and build a forecast model based on Jack's, Fraser's and Leeann's data.
Fox 11 Presents: "Breaking News: All over the Earth, the climate system is screwed; the violent weather causes mass destruction. U.S. President Blake has authorised the FAA to suspend air traffic due to severe turbulence after learning several tornadoes are decimating downtown, Los Angeles.
Tokyo just got hit by softball size hail, and it starts to snow in New Delhi, and Los Angeles is predicted to be hit by many massive tornadoes. This map shows the three supergiant tornadoes on Canada, Siberia, and Scotland."
https://imgix.bustle.com/inverse/55/90/5e/73/05e9/4207/a1a2/608158a965b4/canada-scotland-siberia-all-screwed.jpeg?w=349&h=233&fit=max&auto=format%2Ccompress
White House, Washington D.C.
Jack meets the President and gives him the distressing news that his estimate of years has now turned down to days before the planet enters the new Ice Age. He urges the President to evacuate the southern states and Mexico because it's too late to evacuate the northern states.
ISS (International Space Station)
Three astronauts delay their return home after seeing a storm system spanning the northern hemisphere.
Siberia, Russia
Fox 11 reporter in Novosibirsk, Russia: "This has already started; the area of Eurasia is frozen and is spreading to the southerly areas of Asia and Europe."
Tokyo, Japan
No one knew what swift weather variation could cause chaos in the populated metropolis of Tokyo. Unexpectedly, countless softball size hail storm the city, transmitting damages and several dead and wounded.
New Delhi, India
This unexpected weather brought everyone to shock, the change from the blazing summer flame to the freezing snow descending. It becomes the coldest weather ever recorded in India.
New York, United States
BREAKING NEWS:
"Warnings from the European Climate Research Centre have stated that the North Atlantic current had completely changed due to imbalance of salt and fresh water from the melting polar ice caps", shares a news reporter.
The sky turns black,
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During term 2, we moved on from creative writing to visual text study. In this unit, we had to study a visual text, a movie. We watched The Power of One, as our text we had to write our essay on. This is another essay which I hadn't finished, which was not good. We had to write three body paragraphs for this essay, but I wrote one and a half paragraphs.
Here is my visual text essay.
Body paragraph 1:
In the Going for a Run scene, the director uses the tracking shot completely. For example, the director, John Avildsen uses the tracking shot when Gideon and PK were running from Alexandria to Johannesburg. The purpose of this tracking shot used by Avildsen was to get the audience on board with PK and Gideon running and showing the life of the slums in Alexandria. This created impact on me by seeing the daily life in the slums and how difficult it is living there; for instance, it is seen when Gideon talks about the government allowing only one toilet for every 200 people and the law saying that only 2% of black people can go to school enough to be maids, street sweepers or mine slaves. This scene of the slums can be juxtaposed to Maria’s father’s (Marius Weyers) mansion emphasises a contrast in the living environment between the blacks and the whites.
Body paragraph 2:
In this scene, the director uses mise en scene adequately. This is demonstrated during PK and Gideon’s run, a Bantu, black African, was running towards the loading truck and a white Afrikaner kicked him off harshly. This was intended to show the harsh treatment the Afrikaners did to the black Africans. This technique created an impact by helping me see the struggles of black people during the time of Apartheid by the mistreatment and gruesome acts the English and Dutch were doing on them. This aspect can be related to when the Americans treated the black Africans during the Slave Trade, they faced brutal physical punishment, psychological abuse and endless hours of hard labour without compensation.
I didn't start on my third paragraph. But I'm happy with what I've done with my work.
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Mid-term 3 and mid-term 4, we were looking at short text study, in this, we had to read several short texts and choose one text for the essay -- I chose the short text, "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty" by James Thurber. We had to choose one topic question that we need to answer in our essay. I feel that this is the best piece of writing I did this year because I had finished the essay, which I am proud of. Here is my essay.
Describe at least one memorable idea in the text. Explain why this idea was memorable to you.
“The Secret Life of Walter Mitty” by James Thurber
Introduction:
In the short written text, “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty” by James Thurber, the narrator portrays the mysterious life of Walter Mitty as a man in his own concealed world, where he mutates into a figure with immeasurable attributes and abilities. As he drives through the streets, he defies five daydream adventures, with some of them memorable for me. One memorable idea in this text is how Walter Mitty confronts chivalrous scenes with absolute assurance throughout the text. Walter Mitty has journeyed from a navy pilot to a surgeon to fighting in Germany. This key idea was memorable for diverse reasons — being brave and calm in troublesome circumstances and being fearless.
Body Paragraphs
Hydroplane
One memorable idea incorporates the initial paragraph where Walter Mitty is in a crucial position. We see this when Mitty, a naval commander, directs his crew for technical modifications to the eight-engined aircraft. For example, the narrator first expressed with the dialogue, “We’re going through!” Another example is when the commander says he isn’t alarmed; the narrator remarks, “The Old Man ain’t afraid of Hell!” It explicates that the commander can do anything to fly the aircraft; this indicates that the commander isn’t afraid of anything and is prepared to fly the plane at any cost. The author wants us to ponder that we should be courageous when encountering a situation. It makes me understand how firm the commander is and can take risks no matter what. This reminds me of a later part in the text where Walter Mitty is a surgeon and resolves the situation by being brave and calm. The message I take away is to be brave when subduing your aversions and vulnerabilities.
Surgeon
In another daydream, Mitty is a renowned star surgeon, where he unravels the perplexity calmly and without any impediment. We see this when a trainee screeched, “The new anaesthetizer is giving way!” “There is no one in the East who knows how to fix it!” At that moment, Walter Mitty calmly replied in a calm and confident voice, “Quiet, man!” He began fingering the dials and then asked for a fountain pen. The author shows us that Mitty is calm, even when there is an error during an operation. It made the reader feel relieved because he knows how to fix the machine but was also worried. After all, the patient might wake up during an operation. In the real world, this idea is important because we should always be calm in situations where we feel stressed, sad, or angry. Staying calm allows you to think logically and make decisions logically.
WWI Captain (Germany)
Lastly, the third memorable idea, where Mitty is up for the mission of bombing a depot. We see this during his daydream in World War I, Mitty is a captain for an army and volunteers to bombard the enemy ammunition depot. For example, when Mitty is talking with the sergeant and knows that the plane is frequently piloted by two people, Mitty speaks, “With the others. I’ll fly alone.” This means that Mitty is fearless in attacking the foe. The author wants us to consider that we should be fearless when facing our foes. This made the reader feel worried about Mitty, because it was a precarious job. In the real world, we should be courageous when challenging our weaknesses.
Conclusion
In the text, "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty", a memorable idea was how Walter Mitty confronts chivalrous scenes with absolute assurance throughout the text. This idea was memorable to me because it teaches a lesson of being brave and calm in troublesome circumstances and being fearless. Of all these reasons, I think the most important is being calm in troublesome circumstances. If we don't, we won't focus on what we need to do and won't get much done. For example, when the new anaesthetizer wasn't working, Walter Mitty becomes calm and solves the problem calmly. This text confronts us to be calm and to think logically.
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