I am a 16 years old girl from Norway, who loves culture, reading books, watching movies and learning! In this blog I will write about different topics that interests me and my school projects.
My interests include music, traveling, languages and different cultures, tv-shows. Some of my favorite activities to do are going on walks while listening to podcasts, working out at the gym and taking bubble baths!!
A life without cause is a life without effect. ~ Barbarella
For å starte opp norskfaget i VG2 fikk vi i oppgave å skrive en tekst basert på Jon Ewo sin tekst favoritter.
Jeg elsker noen steder: Byer, der de høye
skyskraperne skaper en nattehimmel som ellers ikke kan ses. Blant de tusener av
byer i verden er mine favoritter Seoul og Tokyo, definisjonen av mega byer.
Byer fulle av historie og kultur, som Paris og Athen. Jeg elsker å reise, og å
besøke nye steder – å oppdage og utforske. Uansett hvor langt man reiser, og
hvor mange steder man besøker, er det ett sted jeg alltid ender opp. Hjemme.
Jeg elsker underholdning: Alt fra tv-serier,
filmer, bøker og musikk. Alt som får fantasien til å spinne, der jeg selv kan
følge historien og leve meg inn i det. På Netflix har jeg sett alle romantiske
komedier som skaper et parallelt univers der jeg ler mens jeg drømmer meg bort.
Filmer som ‘Set it up’, ‘Isn’t it romantic’ og
‘Murder Mystery’. Feel-good tv-serier som ‘Friends’, ‘Modern Family’
og ‘Brooklyn Nine-Nine’ er blant mine favoritter. Det er slike Tv-serier som hjelper
meg gjennom dagen.
Jeg elsker mat: Pizza, matretten alle kjenner og
som aldri blir feil. Taco på fredager og grillmat på sommeren. Dette mener jeg
er typisk mat som alle liker og blir fornøyd av, mat som samler familien. Et
ekte måltid bringer glede i hverdagen. Å prøve nye matretter er jeg ikke redd
for, noe eksotisk og fremmed, sier jeg ja takk til – anytime.
Jeg elsker livet og alle de rare tingene i det:
Land, språk, kulturer. Forskjeller og ulikheter. Vi lever alle på den samme
jorden, men det finnes hundrevis av måter å gjøre ting på. Å reise – flyplasser
der ingen sosiale normer eksisteres. Å gå på tur i et område du ikke har vært
før, og se noe du ikke har sett før. Menneskene som passerer vinduet når du er
på café, alle opptatt av egne liv. Musikk som beskriver det du føler, så du
ikke trenger å beskrive følelsene. Å sove lenge – å stå opp tidlig og se
soloppgangen. De små tingene du ellers ikke legger merke til, men som gjør
dagen din en smule bedre.
Yesterday, I found Violets letter to Bill. What I found was shocking. Violet, my best friend of seven years. We have been living next to each other just as long. Violet sent a letter to Bill voicing her feelings about him. Bill is my boyfriend; I can’t believe she is going after him. She said she didn’t like him when I told her that he liked me back. She told me to go ahead, to go on a date with Bill. Now, half a year later, I find out through a letter that she likes him.
I found the letter under Bill’s pillow. After going an amazing round with him, he went out to the bathroom. I slipped my hand under the pillow to pull it closer to me, and I felt a piece of paper under. I pulled it out to find a pink envelope, with Bills name written in beautiful, cursive letters. I recognized this handwriting. I remember seeing this back in school when me and Violet were doing a science project.
I decided not to act on it. A few days later, I was on the way to Bill’s place after having my last exam. Violet had finished earlier than me, and I assumed that she had gone home. I was going to meet up with her later, but I had to confront Bill first. I walked into his house without knocking, not something unusual. I heard loud noises coming from the bedroom. I felt dizzy, not believing what I was hearing. I slowly grabbed the handle, leaning my ear against the door to hear it better. The sounds continued louder than ever. I was scared to open the door, but the urge to open it was rushing through me. Suddenly the door opened. Bill stood in the doorway, and Violets clothes were scattered on the floor.
“Hey, I don’t believe we have met. I am William, Will for short.” I was shocked. Why didn’t he tell me he had a twin brother?
“Oh, are you Bill’s twin brother?” I asked him.
He nodded his head. I shouted for Violet, hoping she could clear things up. I must have read the letter wrong. She came and stood beside Will, and they started to explain. Apparently, Violets Ws look a lot like Bs. Bill was only supposed to give it to Will. And they all lived happily ever after. The End.
If you are reading this, I am most likely shot dead. No way would I have given you permission to see this unless. I have not been honest with you, neither have I spoken to you properly for months. It is because I care, I do not want you to know, I do not want you to be broken. But, I guess I owe you an explanation now.
I am sorry you had to constantly live in fear, constantly worry about me. You could not sleep, and for that I am sorry. The constant sounds outside, I am sorry for them too. I am sorry for all the harsh words, all the hatred. I did not want to worry you.
I will probably become another name on the news, the news you keep watching. Waiting for the moment you heard I am dead. Now that time has come. I need you to know that if I did not live my life like I did, my life would have been in vain. A waste of human resources and time. For my mother, my dear mother, for her life to not have gone in vain. After all, the british killed her, and you know I could not let them off. I had to do something, get some sort of revenge.
I joined the IRA, but you probably caught on to that, even though I did not want you to know. I was angry. I am angry. The friends, if you could call them that, kept me in the game. Not everyone likes what I do, but Da, I had to fight. Da, it was the most important to me. To me, this was right, especially after mother. The IRA let me avenge mother, let me have peace in my otherwise racing mind.
Those bastards of brits probably killed me off. Or someone else that became my enemy. Da, do not mourn my loss. You are better off without me. I hope you can rest now, I hope you can eat. That you can watch the news without worrying now. Maybe you think I should have talked to you. Maybe I should. It is too late now, but I want you to know that I did not leave this earth with too many regrets. Now that you know, I can rest in peace.
The recent developments of the conflict in Northern Ireland
The Good Friday agreement served as a cease-fire, and was agreed upon most of the political parties in Northern Ireland and the British and irish government, where they committed to use democratic and peaceful means exclusively. In spite of the fact that some groups continue to fight, “the Belfast Agreement in 1998 seem to be the most effective effort to end decades, and even centuries of conflicts and disagreements.” (Husby, 2018)
After The Good Friday agreement the most bloody attack since the agreement occurred unexpectedly in the town Omagh in 1998. “250 kilos of explosive killed 29 people amongst them many school children. By this time the IRA itself had decided to disarm and join a political process of reconciliation. Those who planted the bomb called themselves The Real IRA. We can see that The Real IRA is still active to this day.” (Husby, 2018) Till this day we can still see The Real IRA performing terror acts.
Just a few weeks ago a journalist was killed in Derry by the new IRA, which is said to be an act of terror. The Sinn Féin deputy leader Michelle O’Neil said the following about the incident:
“The murder of this young woman is a human tragedy for her family, but it is also an attack on all the people of this community, an attack on our peace process and an attack on the Good Friday Agreement. I unreservedly condemn those responsible for killing this young woman. We will remain resolute in our opposition to the pointless actions of these people who care nothing for the people of Derry. We remain united in our determination to building a better and peaceful future for all” (Rawlison, 2019)
According to the new york times the new IRA admitted responsibility for the act and offered their “full and sincere” apologies to her family and friends
The new IRA is one of the largest and most active armed groups that came from the Provisional IRA, and was created after the Provisional IRA accepted the good friday truce. According to New York Times they are “suspected of killing two prison officers and of numerous attacks, gunshots and bombings directed at the police, army reserves and government targets, that, often thanks to intelligence warnings, did little or no harm.” and that in January “ adherents tried to destroy the main courthouse in Londonderry with a car bomb that caused substantial damage but claimed no lives.” (O’Loughlin, 2019)
In addition to The Real IRA doing terror, Brexit is also serving as fuel to the conflict. The Good Friday agreement is under threat because of brexit, it is under a threat because the Good Friday agreement did not “solve the geopolitical dispute at the heart of the decades long conflict in Northern Ireland”, however it “found a creative way around the issue by allowing a form of co-sovereignty. The Good Friday Agreement allowed people in Northern Ireland to identify as Irish, British, or both, and to hold a passport from either or both countries. As a consequence, people and goods currently cross the border without stopping.” (Meyers, 2019) Brexit threatens this free flow of people and goods.
“When the U.K. eventually leaves the EU, the border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland will require a border apparatus to check passports of visitors, track the origin and quality of goods, and collect appropriate taxes or customs.” (Meyers, 2019)
This is where the trouble starts, recreating a border risks everything that the Good Friday Agreement stood for, and upends the “Nationalist citizens of Northern Ireland – people who advocate for a united and independent Irish state – to see themselves as Irish while living in Northern Ireland.” according to The Conversation the british government has already announced that after Brexit they will no longer treat people born in Northern Ireland who claim Irish citizenship the same as citizens of the Irish Republic. (Meyers, 2019)
“For the Nationalist population in Northern Ireland, this means a key provision in the good Friday Agreement – the right to choose your identity and to carry dual passports – no longer applies.” (Meyers, 2019)
The question we have to ask ourselves is: Will the troubles return?
Based on what I have researched and what we have seen, in addition to Brexit, the possibility of the troubles returning are great. However the will to have peace between the different parties is perhaps greater.
As homework week 14, and as a preparation for the upcoming exam our teacher gave us a short answer task. Her is my answer, out of context, enjoy.
Task 1
Text A uses words such as “ugly scene”, “disgraced footballer” and “thugs attacked” when describing Willy and his supporters. It is clear that this reporter is not a fan of Willy because they choose to use negative words when talking about Willy, as the sentence “a string of scandals involving [him] and so called exotic dancers”. The sentence “… desperately tried to defend themselves against the increasingly aggressive mob” gives us an insight that the reporter is on the journalists side, which we can assume is because the person is also a journalist. We can conclude that the report has a bad attitude of Willy and his reporters and that this might make the report not be neutral.
Text B is a spoken text, we can understand it as such by looking at the words chosen. “It’s”, “won’t”, “lads”, “wacked on the nut”, “bastards” are words one would not choose when writing formal, and therefore indicates that the text is spoken. In addition, some of sentences uses expressions common in dialogue such as “end of story”, “… asking for trouble, and they got it”. Additionally, the string of sentences in the middle of the paragraph are written with a spoken tone, both with the use of commas and are constructed with extra words at the end of the sentence. These are all common in everyday-speech.
Outside of Willy Wilder’s mansion there has been a conflict between supporters of the football player and reporters. These two groups were gathered as of the news of a scandal involving Wilder and his wife surfaced. The conflict between the two groups became increasingly aggressive and several people were injured before the police arrived.
The Hate U Give written by Angie Thomas in 2017 is a book young adult
novel about a sixteen years old girl called Starr Carter. Starr lives in two
different worlds, where she has to act differently according to where she is.
The poor neighborhood where she and her family live and the prep school she
attends with only white students. These two places are entirely different from
each other, and Starr believes that to fit in she has to act accordingly.
Everything is normal until her two worlds suddenly crash together as she
witnesses her childhood friend Khalil being killed by a cop. Khalil was
unarmed, and the injustice is unbearable. The shooting gets national headlines,
where they start to talk about Khalil and the bad things he has done, such as
supposedly selling drugs and being a thug. Some way justifying what the cop
did. With this, protesters take to the street, shouting for justice. Starr is
the only one who can stand up for Khalil, and she has to choose whether or not
to speak up and use her voice to fight for justice for Khalil.
The book portrays the usual story of police brutality from a viewpoint
we often do not get to hear, which makes the book very interesting to read. As
we almost always hear the cops’ side of the story, this book finally shows us
the victims raw and authentic side of the story. In the book there are several
different themes, such as police brutality, racism, equality or injustice,
family, bravery and speaking up.
With of all the themes I think the books main purpose is to try and give us, the readers, another view on what any minorities goes through and at the same time giving us the courage to speak up for what we know is right. The book teaches us empathy instead of sympathy, and that there are more sides to a story than what is shown on the news. The quote “What’s the point of having a voice if you’re gonna be silent in these moments you shouldn’t be?” really shows how important your action and your voice is as a weapon to fight with.
I think everyone should read The Hate U give, as it gives you insight in
an important and often overlooked community. It shows you the other story, the
one that is not shown on TV. We can all learn from Starr and we can develop as
humans reading this book. Next time you stroll into a bookstore or a library and
see THUG, do not hesitate to pick it up and give it a read. I promise you every
page is worth it.
Recently in school we watched the movie “Billy Elliot”,
which was a movie that brought tears, laughter and frustration to every single
one of us. The movie is from the year
2000, and even though our class (born in 2002) were not even alive when it was
made, we all could relate to it in 2018.
The plot is set in England during the coal mine strike
in 1984-85. The main character, Billy, has to deal with the prejudice of being
a male ballet dancer as he strives for his newfound dream. The storyline
follows Billy as he starts to chase after dancing, whilst his family deals with
grief and a strike.
Billy Elliot was an extremely well-made movie with different
important themes and challenges which were not to be addressed in the 1980´s. themes
such as breaking the stereotypes, perusing your dream, finding your identity and
having conflicting identities. I particularly liked the movie for being able to
show a boy going from doing boxing, which is a masculine sport, to start doing
ballet. With this shift of hobbies, you
can see Billy become stronger, instead of weaker.
The best scene for me was when Billy was not allowed to continue dancing, so he ran out in the street and just danced. He danced in a way that would portray his frustration, his anger and his sorrow. Through his dance you understood what he was feeling, there were no words needed. Where he was dancing also mattered as he was dancing where the miners had been protesting. This could symbolize Billy’s inner conflict, but also his outer protest.
Throughout the movie Billy experiences prejudice for
his choice to dance. The judgment is to be expected, both because of the
setting but also because of the society we live in. It is not easy for boys to
be able to break the assigned roles to the gender. Such as doing ballet instead
of boxing, because this shows weakness, and a man cannot be weak. A man cannot
be feminine. The movie breaks this stereotype, showing how something feminine,
something seen as “weaker” actually makes Billy stronger.
“Just because I like ballet don’t mean I’m a poof, you know.”
Billy Elliot
It is no doubt we still have prejudices in the world,
even in Norway. As long as we have a society, we will have set gender roles and
stereotypes. These are hard to break, and cannot be done without a collective change
of minds. It is not the children that decides what they can and cannot do, but
the adults. In the movie, Billy’s dad sends Billy to boxing and when Billy
wants to do ballet he is forbidden to do so. This is a prime example of parents
forming gender roles. Parents needs to send their kids to sports that are breaking
the gender roles. Send the boys to ballet and the girls to boxing, so that they
will grow up knowing that it is okay to do what your heart desires, not what
the society expects you to do.
Grandma: I used to go to ballet. Billy: See? Jackie: All right for your Nana. For girls. No, not for lads, Billy. Lads do football…or boxing…or wrestling. Not friggin’ ballet.
– Billy, Jackie, Grandma
Billy Elliot, the movie and the character inspires you
to dream, stand up for yourself and to live. If not at anything else, I hope
the movie can make you want to find your spark or continue with what you love,
no matter what. Just like Billy. Find what makes you feel like you are flying,
like a bird. Like electricity.
“Sorta feels good. Sorta stiff and that, but once I get going… then I like, forget everything. And… sorta disappear. Sorta disappear. Like I feel a change in my whole body. And I’ve got this fire in my body. I’m just there. Flyin’ like a bird. Like electricity. Yeah, like electricity.”
In the article from the Telegraph, “Teenagers: They don’t drink, they don’t smoke. What do they do?”, the author interviews a group of teenagers between the age of 16-17, and describes how different the teenagers of this generation are compared to the earlier generations. This made me think, I am a part of this new generation, why is it that the newest generation are “the most sensible -or boring” generation. What are the consequences of this sensibility?
Being sensible is not something teenagers used to be associated with, but now they are. There is one major cause of this, the expectations that society have for the teenagers. The expectations are higher than ever, and we have even more resources to achieve what is expected from us. These expectations, these presumptions that we will do well causes teenagers in someway to lose their adolescence. We won’t get to live, as much as just survive.
I think some of the biggest consequences of this loss of our teenage life causes a lot of stress on the teenagers of today. We need to be the best and we need to achieve the best possibly result. There is a constant feeling of pressure on teenagers. We don’t have time to hang out with friends and goof off, because we need to be able to create the perfect CV. When we look back on our adolescence, there will only be memories of stressing over grades and not feeling good enough. I have a fear we will have regrets of not living in the moment, and the high expectations are to blame for that.
However even if there are high expectations that affects our mental health, I also think that in some way where doing the best for us. We know all the possibilities we have in life, and we just want to be able to do what we want. I surround myself with people that think the same. For us, breaking rules and goofing off is not our first priority, but I still catch myself doing it once in a while. Maybe that is how it is supposed to be? Our parents want us to rebel, but this might be our own kind of rebellion.
Wednesday 21st of November our group went out looking for graffiti on the streets of Stavanger. Something we did not just find one time, but four times was the word Pølsevev. We were all very curious about what this meant, and therefor decided to try to figure it out. Pølsevev is a term in Norwegian for Sludder og vås, directly translated to English it means Sausage tissue, but the English word for Pølsevev is Rubbish or Nonsense.
Considering that “pølsevev” is a word that someone would like to spread could indicate that there is a deeper meaning. As mentioned earlier, rubbish is the definition of “pølsevev”, and the graffiti-artist wanted to spread this message believing something was rubbish. He might feel rubbish himself and replicate the effect of the local “skam angst”, where the artist was feeling severe anxiety and showed others that they were not the only ones with that feeling. In this case the artist might want to spread the message that he feels like “shit”, writing it to others who might feel the same way. The person might be trying to make the subjects “hard times” and “mental health” less disapproved.
The location of where we found this graffiti amplifies the word’s message. When strolling around the town we could see this particular word written several different places. By the school, the road, the shop, the church and twice at a government-owned location. This can symbolize what the vandalizer thought of as they were writing the word. As earlier mentioned Pølsevev means rubbish, something that is obscured and does not make sense. A waste of thinking and speaking. To be extreme, this can symbolize how the society as we know it is rubbish. It is a made-up system that is utter nonsense, which is what the spray painter wants us to know and think of. It makes you feel them saying “don’t be fooled”. By tagging this on the wall of a municipality-office and near a school the tagger can in some way protest against the system, be a voice in the crowd of “brain-washed” citizens.
In class we watched the movie Tsotsi. The movie shows the contrast between the rich and poor in Johannesburg, South Africa. The main character Tsotsi, played by Presley Chweneyage, fits the description of a Tsotsi perfectly by being a hard and tough criminal from the township.Throughout the movie we can see that every person has a weak and vulnerable part of them even if they present themselves as tough. We are also taught that people can change, and events that happens in ones life can make even a Tsotsi regret and change his ways of living. The movie was directed by Gavin Hood in 2005, and won several honorable awards, as the Academy Awards for the best foreign language film of the year.
tsotsi
NOUN
South African
A young urban criminal, especially one from a township area.
The movie is about the criminal, Tsotsi, who with his gang spreads fear in the town of Johannesburg. In one of the first scenes the main characters robbery takes an unexpected turn and he accidentally kidnaps a baby. Getting this baby makes the crime/action movie become much more of a drama. During the entirety of the movie we get to see back in time on the main characters childhood, which gives us an insight as of why he became the criminal he is today.
During the movie we can see Tsotsi change as a character. The movie has dark colors because it is an action drama, this plays on the feeling of the viewers. When we get to see what happened in Tsotsis past, when there is a flashback or he does bad actions, the dark colors dominate. This is often shown together with rain, which plays on the viewers emotions and change their interpretation of the main character. The movie purposely makes you become sympathetic for the cruel criminal, who might not be that cruel after all.
We experience the movie trough Tsotsis eyes, and this creates empathy for the criminal. Experiencing empathy for a criminal is not normal, because as a society we give criminals the label “BAD”. When the movie starts to change characteristics, the setting moves from the poor part of town to the richer part, where the colors are much clearer and brighter. This shows a distinct difference between the rich and the poor, but also shows the new direction the movie is taking.
In one scene there is a light that hits Tsosti when he dances and sings for the baby. For the first time the main character is showing feelings and compassion. Before this we have only seen close ups of Tsotsis face where he look cold, emotionless or angry. There is a change in character because Tsotsi has another life to take care of that is more important than his own.
His clothes can also show the change in character. In the beginning he is wearing dark, brown and leathered clothing. Clothes that are often associated with criminals. However, at the end the main character is wearing a white shirt. White is a symbol of purity and freedom.
It is the baby that Tsotsi is introduced to that makes the movie change. In addition, it is also the child that makes the character change. Tsotsi learns about responsibility for another individual trough the child. A child is the definition of vulnerability, a person who cannot make it on its own. In this movie it is the adult who is learning from the child.
This movie plays on a lot of different feelings, and you get empathy for the main character even though he is a criminal. It shows us how a difficult childhood affects the person we become, but also that our personality is not written in stone. We can be whoever we want to be and even a criminal can regret and change, have feelings and take responsibility. Tsotsi does not want to give up the baby he has become attached to, but in the end, he does what he has to do. This shows a growth in character you would never have expected in the beginning of the movie.
The movie also touches important subjects, such as the gap between the rich and the poor in South Africa. It is a clear difference between not just the white and black citizens, but also between the black people living in the townships and the black people living in the city. Tsotis life could have been a different story if he did not grow up where he did, and if he had other opportunities while growing up.
I think one of the most important messages director Hood wants us to remember after watching the movie is to remember that everyone has a story and reasons for acting like they do, this does not mean people cannot change for the better.
Tuva's café 