Fact or Fiction? Friend or Foe?

After reading the two articles I can say that China is in somewhat fear of what could happen to the Olympics and their reputation if they don’t start pressuring the peacekeeping act on the sudanese government. In both articles they talk about China starting to pressure Sudan about the peacekeepers and also in the second article it talks about new bombs being dropped in the Jabel Moun area. After reading these article it seems Sudan is being very strict with their rules on what troops are allowed to come in to Darfur because scandanavian troops were denied entry and Thai battallion are still waiting approval. Which indicates that Sudan feels threatened by the U.N.’s progress in this whole ordeal. Personally I think that Sudan is trying to use the littlest things to keep troops out of there and I aslo think that China is using this opportunity to regain some countries respect. China must feel threatened that people like Steven Speilberg, who can make a influence on people, have left their role in the Olympics this summer because of these conflicts and because they feel that its not right. I’m assuming that is a primary reason as to why China has decided to speak up now and not before. But overall it seems that these conflicts are nearing an end slowly but surely so please help make a change by participating March 6th.

 1) I think my favorite post would have to be the freewrite I did about the two men in africa. Mostly because I used my imagination and wasn’t worrying about if it was good enough or not.

2)I think that doing our work in a blog form is a really good idea because it keeps our work neat and organized. Plus I think a lot of the students like the technology aspect of the blogs.

3) I think my writing has progressed a lot over the last few months. Looking back at past post I can see things that I could have made sound better and such. One thing I think I do well while writing are my introductions and conclusions. One thing I may need to work on is run-ons. I’ve seen that I’ve improved on this but it could be better. 

Last night, at around 9 pm, me and some other students in our class were part of a skype conference with some teachers and students from around the country. We basically talked about the International Darfur Awareness Day blog and explained it to everyone. We explained how we think the Awarness Day will help and also what we think about it. One question that I enjoyed answering was “Is this still just a class project or has it become something more?” The cool thing is that it’s not just a class project anymore but more of hobbie or an interest of mine. And that is what I would like to see done, if I see or here of someone who takes part in this blog and then get strongly interested in it to learn more and even host things to help, then I will be satisfied. I think that the conference was a good idea because we got to share our knowledge on Darfur with people around the U.S , and show them how much we know about it and how deeply we are interested in it. Getting to argue our thoughts with other students and talking to teachers about what we know, was a very good experience because honestly I hadn’t known how much I knew on this topic.

Today, our class had two guest speakers from Montgomery Blair High School, Alex and Ben who are active in the helping to find a solution in the Darfur conflict. I learned a lot about Darfur and also that there is a lot of things myself and others my age can do to stop the genocide. For example, call-ins which is when the organizers get people to call an important person to tell them their opinion on an important topic. Ben himself organized a Dinner for Darfur and raised 75,000 dollars! They are talking about hosting a call-in on a Friday sometime soon in Downtown Silver Spring. I think this would probably get a lot of results considering DTSS is made up of mostly teens on Fridays. Personally I think their visit was very much needed because I learned things I hadn’t known before and it cleared up my thoughts on Darfur. Thanks guys!

What: Darfur International Awareness Day

Why: Bring attention to the genocide in Darfur

When: March 6, 2008 12am-12pm eastern standard time

Where:  http://stopgenocide.wikispaces.com/

http://manyvoicesdarfur.blogspot.com/

On March 6th, 2008, we are asking students from around the world to leave thoughtful, well-written comments about Darfur.  Our goal is to raise awareness on Darfur so that people know whats going on there and what we can do to help. We hope you join us on this magical day!

In class yesterday, our class watched a video from Frontline News about the genocide in Darfur. I learned a whole lot and am really disappointed in how bad it is. Some things that really stood out were that, first this is the 1st genocide in the 21st century! It all started when the people of Darfur’s countrysides thought it was unfair that the Sudanese government wouldn’t give them enough money to be okay, therefore some rebelled. The government needed to put down these rebels, so they hired a group known as the Janjaweed to forcefully silence them. The UN has tried and tried to have something done but nothing has successfully worked yet. There has been many movements from people like George Clooney, Mia Farrow, and Koffi Annan but also local people that want to see something done. Our MYP question is about global responsibility, which I think is a really big topic. I think that everyone not only has a responsibility to the people around then but also to people further away. Meaning all around the world people should feel the need to know whats going on in different parts of the world and see if there’s anything that they can do to make things better. Global Responsibility is very important and makes me feel like I’ve contributed to a better tomorrow.