Say Something

                                                                                                   MISS MARIA PURIFICACION R. RAZON

10-KATARUNGAN                                                                                                           AUGUST 16, 2016

I.                    TITLE OF THE SONG:

Say Something

II.                  NAME OF COMPOSER/S:

Ian Axel is an American singer and songwriter. After becoming well-known with his song "This Is the New Year", he developed a solo career, eventually joining forces with long-time writing partner, Chad King to form the duo band, A Great Big World in 2012 and won the Grammy for Best Pop Duo/Group performance in 2014.

Chad King is a member of a musical duo known as A Great Big World who became well known for their singles "This is the New Year" and "Say Something.  He grew up with one brother in Port Charlotte, Florida. He was born on July 10, 1985.

Mike Campbell (born February 1, 1950) is an American guitarist, songwriter, and record producer, best known for his work in Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers

III.                CHOSEN PART:

And I will swallow my pride
You're the one that I love
And I'm saying goodbye

I chose this part of the song because it catches my attention about the message that is being implied there. We can truly gauge ourselves If who we really are whenever this kind of challenge comes our way. If I may, I would rather be opting to set that woman free for I knew that she no longer cares about me. I would give her all what she wants. Anyway, it’s the happiness that she would like to long for.

IV.                MY PERSONAL INTERPRETATION:

As I comprehend, I would like to regard that this song tells a story about an imminent breakup of a one sided love affair. I could sense that one of the couple is quite impassive on the personification of a lady because she found later that she is not yet ready for love, in which the reason is only known to her. My observation is based on a couple of lines from the song that I would like to demonstrate and they state:

 "I'm still learning to love

Just starting to crawl"

We can truly see if how really a man is in love with the lady and he patiently waited that this lady would make an attempt to show that she still cares about him so that separation can be prevented. He even tried like begging so many times just the lady should speak up with honesty about if what really is the real score between them because they couldn’t go on with their lives with a communication gap that will make them losers.  His appeal has only fallen into deaf ear. The lines below express the thought.

Say something, I'm giving up on you
I'll be the one, if you want me to
Anywhere, I would've followed you
Say something, I'm giving up on you

Time and again, the guy sees that she is not doing something to save their relationship so the man was forced to says again “I’m sorry that i couldn’t get to you” means that I’m sorry i have failed again to convince you to make a change. So there is nothing more left to a man to do but he has to decide now that he should give freedom to the one he loves because, what remains between them is no longer viable. It is hard for him to go separate ways for he still loves this woman but to set her free is the rational thing for him to do, and set aside his pride to prevent further embarrassment and accept everything including breakup with open mind and move forward, which he did with heavy heart. As the song goes:

And I will swallow my pride
You’re the one that I love
And I’m saying goodbye

V.                  ITS CONNECTION TO MY LIFE:

I was once in love with a girl who was very dear to me. It was not a perfect love affair because sometimes we had differences but I saw to it that they must be settled before the next morning had broken. Some had been failed but most of them were fixed. Until later it seemed that this love brought more harm than good. She no longer cared about me I knew it by heart, so I gave her the dose of her own medicine. Reality bites that we have to reckon with.

Reflective Journal: REGRET

                                                              

                                                                                                                                  

 Grade 10-Katarungan                                                                                                        July 22, 2016  

According to Psychology, regret is a negative cognitive/emotional state that involves blaming ourselves for a bad outcome, feeling a sense of loss or sorrow at what might have been or wishing we could undo a previous choice that we made. 

We feel sad after an act that had been done which resulted in a manner that was contrary to what we wish for. Like what had happened to me last week, I was so disappointed with my performance on how to do with my weekly requirements in this subject (English). They (requirements) were not only submitted on time but they were also presented with incorrect format, so I got a low score which I deserved. My fault was I did not use my time effectively. Now I do realize the importance of Time Management. If only I had done using this plan maybe things turn out differently. I have to use my time now rationally. I should reduce my time watching movies, playing computer games, and chatting/surfing the internet etc. The next time around I will do improve my productivity by identifying priorities in terms of importance and urgency then work for it. Time is so precious.

Reflective Journal: SONA 2016, CHANGE IS COMING

MISS MARIA PURIFICACION R. RAZON

Grade 10- Katarungan                                                         July 29, 2016

President Rodrigo Roa Duterte delivered his much-anticipated first State of the Nation Address (SONA) at the Batasan Pambansa in Quezon City, at 4:07 in the afternoon of July 25, 2016, and lasted for an hour and 32 minutes. According to Secretary Andanar, the speech was written by the President himself with inputs coming from his Cabinet members. The speech made a history for the longest first SONA as well as the first Mindanaoan Philippine president, broke a lot of records, protocols, and milestones, as everyone noticed it. Traditional long gowns and elegant Barong Tagalog were supposed to be the fashion of the day, were almost out of sight. All spectators weather VIPs or not, were required to pass through security check. There is no doubt that change is evident, for the benefits of the Filipinos.

The fight against criminality, illegal drugs and corruption, promises of peace, FOI, free public Wi-Fi, pushing to federalism, solution on NCR traffic and lower tax rates are just some of the highlights of SONA. Unilateral ceasefire with the CPP, NPA, NDF has been declared.  The militant organizations, instead of burning effigy of the president which they usually do, are now expressing support, as their slogan implies: "Kilos suporta hindi kilos protesta". These are good indications that peace can be attainable. Duterte’s government sees to it that the living condition of the poorest to the poor will be addressed at once objectively, not only to have foods on their table but also in order to end the culture of street crimes, theft, robbery and other inequities that man could ever think of. This social ill called crime is mainly the product of poverty. Thunder has already been stolen by way of Executive Order when it comes to FOI as per Du30. Everybody knows if how intricate the procedure being done in the Lower and Upper Chambers of Congress. We have now all the rights to scrutinize public documents especially on bidding processes. Drug related issues/crimes are in the top priority of this administration with no let up in this campaign in order to put especially the last big fish behind bars. That’s why Oplan Katok was being launched recently to show its seriousness for putting this menace to a stop that persistently plagues Philippine society for decades.

The government and its people will be working hand in hand to perform what is needed to be done. It cannot deliver good results without the other. As they say, it takes two to Tango. This country is in dire need for a genuine transformation. And now is the time. It is happening in our own generation. Let us give change a chance. Let us take advantage of this once in a blue moon phenomenon. We cannot afford to lose this rare opportunity if we fail this time. We have no right to deal this endeavor into a mess because opportunity seldom happens twice in like form.  If ever we miss, will there be a rebirth of another Digong in a couple of generations ahead? Well, based on recent history, I doubt it. This man is a selfless leader, a kind hearted fellow yet clad with an iron fist as a tool to reform this land. As we can see with our own eyes, finally change begins to evolve. God bless the Philippines.

Short Story: COUNTRY BOY QUITS SCHOOL

Grade 10-KATARUNGAN                                                                                     July 18, 2016

i.                     TITLE OF THE STORY

Country Boy Quits School

ii.                   NAME OF THE AUTHOR

Lao Hsiang (1899-1966) his pen name is Lao Shê as a novelist, was born in Peking (now Beijing).  He has been called as one of China's best modern writers.  The prolific output of this humorist, patriot, and realist also included poetry, several volumes of short stories (many of which contained humor and featured the townspeople of Beijing), and many plays.

iii.                  SETTING

A.      PLACES

·         China- on the first sentence of the third paragraph, it states there if how the father of a boy amazes the books’ contents and exclaims that the people in the pictures are not Chinese so it implies to me that it is the place of that nationality that is being mentioned.

·         School- so many times the teacher is made mention in this place of having to do with the teaching to the boy, Baldy, Hsiao Lin and others,   aside from that the family decided that the boy must be taken out of this place believing that the teaching style is inappropriate for their culture.

·         House- a place where a boy has been studying and reads his books aloud which every dweller is able to hear clearly but makes them mad due to their wrong translation as well as the interpretation.

B.      TIME

Based on information provided by one of Lao Hsiang translators, Howard Goldblatt, it appears that Lao began writing short stories around the early/mid-1920s and had published several large collections by the mid-1930s.

iv.                 MAIN CHARACTERS

The boy who is hardworking, even at an early age of 8 years old he begins to help his family for their daily subsistence. He gains only a little learning in school due to his parents’ ignorance for they (parents) themselves are illiterate.

v.                   SUMMARY

The story is about a poor Chinese family which has a boy of an early age, toiling everyday for a living just to help augmenting the other basic needs of their family. The family is forced to send this boy to school following the City Ordinance, to cite: An official proclamation had been issued in the city to the effect that unless a boy over six years of age is sent to school, some adult in the family will go to jail. Good thing there is a law that compels this boy to study so that it could have been a chance for him to acquire knowledge too but sooner or later he misses that mere chance due to the intervention of his family’s poor insight.

The English illustrations in books and the literal meaning they are using for translation lead to much confusion and misunderstanding in their household which everyone is holding grudges against each other, which in fact without basis at all because their judgment is only based on their own unreasonable perception, which the true intention of the content of the books is the other way around. The intention is for the betterment of the reader’s life.

As the boy studies he frequently reads these books at the top of his lungs and it brings discomfort to the ears of every family member every time they hear this due to their own inaccurate interpretation of the foreign system of education. This incident always results to chaos and misunderstanding so that one day the father decided that these books will never be read again by the boy because his family is certain that the school is not teaching the proper way so the boy is finally pulled out of the school in which the father chooses to be rather in jail than destroying the family for continuously sending a boy to school. It only demonstrates that the entire family lacks in education itself because there is no doubt that they are seeing things differently which is out of context.

vi.                 LESSON LEARNED

I learned that education is very important to us so that we can improve and do better with our lives.  If we are well-equipped, we could be flexible enough to all the changes around us. Education is what we become in the future.

However, to those people who are not fortunate enough to have a chance to go to school due to financial reason or might be the government is not very particular on the matter pertaining to education. It is sad to know that these people are not able to cope up well with what is happening around them. Like the family in this story, they are incapable to do things to make their lives more comfortable. They lack of education because China at that time was more rigid with its communist doctrine. In order to grip its people especially the masses, it is unwise for the government to introduce education to them because rebels come from the rank of educated bracket of society.

vii.                PERSONAL REACTIONS

I felt disappointed about the boy’s ordeal, because of this different culture that is being introduced by the educational system, the children are the ones who are affected. Society begins from a place called family, but in many instances families are part of different cultures which bring conflicts to children that they have to confront. The family supposes to have the big role in encouraging and to guide these children in order to adapt between two different cultures or more. But it saddens me that the family especially the father  who has the first hand to design the future of his son, is forcing this boy to be ignorant about other cultures. They make it clear that the boy should not learn any culture aside from Chinese and it is absurd because everything else in school to them is abnormal. Anyway the writing style of the author is satiric yet full of lessons.