Memories-Never-Die

MEMORIES NEVER DIE

BY: ATIA BALKIS

 Hello my lovely friends, how's your IB life? Did all of you still breathing? Let’s fight to be the IB survivors and create beautiful memories together in this cozy college. Make it short and simple, I'm going to share about memory and hope all of you will enjoy reading this.

 Memory can be sad or happy or maybe both but some of them never fade and could never be replaced. The brain is truly a marvel because it can store our most precious memories as well as our lifetime’s knowledge. But is there a point where it reaches capacity or be full? The answer is absolutely no because brains are more sophisticated than we thought. Scientists have yet to settle on a definitive amount, but the storage capacity of the brain in electronic terms is thought to be between 3 or even 1,000 terabytes. This makes our brain’s memory power pretty darn impressive.

 In the novel Secret Life of The Bees, Lily which is the main character remembered about her mother's death when she was four remind me to the first accident happened in my life at the same age as her.I don't actually remember the full version of it because i fainted after gets injured but the full story is revealed and i feel so stupid when i think about it.Sometimes,it seems funny to. The scene happened at my home's backyard, under a big rambutan tree. Around 9 o'clock in the morning, i went there to play the traditional swing which is hanging at the branch of the tree but my sister was already there.I felt so angry because I'm late and told her to get lost or go watching the cartoons.Without further words, I get onto the swing but I’m not sitting like a normal girl children but I stood up and started to move the swing back and forward.A few minutes after the swing move faster and more faster, I lost the stability and fell onto the ground which covered with the buttress roots of the rambutan tree. Do you feel tragic?My head was bleeding and my parents send me to hospital immediately. I got several stitches on the head and become more conscious after get the treatments.

 So my dearest readers, it depends to ourselves whether we remember or not about our childhood memories but if the memories are important and give a huge effect to our life, for sure we will remember it. How can Lily forget about the scene before her mother's death? Of course it's impossible. Lastly, have a nice day and come to see my artworks in the coming exhibition. Hahahaha.^^  

La Memoria

La Memoria
By Amir Farhan

Hi there peeps! Its me, Amir Farhan. So, at this moment that you're reading, I'm going to tell you guys about my earliest memories that I could remember. But before that, lets refer to the novel The Secret Life of Bees on Lily remembering her earliest memories when she was four. She remembered about her mother's death and some sort of a gun sound. "BANG!". Lets see, how could she remembered that event even though she's still so young? Well, it is because that incident had changed her life and her status as an orphan. 

Research shows that the earliest memories that a child could remembers starting from three to four years old. In special cases, there are some who could remember earlier than that but these memories will decline as they get older. Thus, the inability of adults to retrieve episodic memories is called childhood amnesia. Okay, done giving facts. Now, lets continue on my story.

I'm going to share with you guys my earliest memory that I could remember. Its kind of embarrassing but its fine as I was only four during that time. So, for your information, I hate going to the nursery. I wanna stay with my mom at her workplace but she won't let me. She still sends me to the nursery. As we arrived there, I refuse to get out of the car. My mom pulled me out but I used my full strength to not letting it happened. Do you guys know what did my mom do next? She called my teacher to help her pulling me out of the car. And do you guys know what I did? I ran to the back seat of the car as soon as possible. Then, my mom open both of the back door, left and right. Both of the sides are secured with my mom and my teacher standing there, waiting to catch me. I got nowhere to go. I'm completely stuck. My teacher managed to pull me out even though I keep on struggling to get free. At that moment, I knew that I had lose against them. Yep, 1-0. Soon as I grew bigger, my mom would tell me the same story because she thinks its funny. Are you kidding me? Its HILARIOUS. Man I feel so embarrassed thinking about that.

These sort of memories will faded sooner or later. We will get older and go through more challenging future as time passed by. As Haruki Murakami said, "No matter how much suffering you went through, you never wanted to let go of these memories".

The thought of running away.

     Hello everyone, it's me Iqbal. As we all know from the novel Secret Life of Bees, Lily Owens ran away from her house after she realized that she'd to leave her father, T-Ray for some reasons. She'd been through all kinds of experiences after that thanked to her father.

     To me this whole idea of running away from home portrays Lily as a brave girl. She was just fourteen years old when she decided to run away and left her dad for good. She had never been to any places alone. Once she followed Rosaleen to Sylvan town on her birthday as Rosaleen wanted to register herself to vote. She was aware that T-Ray was a very stern man and if she by any chance got caught by him in the midst of runaway, she would be punished even harder than the Martha Whites punishment. 

     I also think it manifest Lily as a very smart girl. She was not just blindly ran away from home. She had all of the plans visible inside her head. She knew what she was going to do after escaped from the peach farm -which was freed Rosaleen from the prison after Rosaleen got caught earlier that day for disturbing the peace. Lily used her clever mind to come up with a plan to trick the nurse and the officer to create a diversion so that she can saved Rosaleen which was being admitted into one of the room in the hospital. She also knew exactly where she and Rosaleen would be headed to after successfully freed from the hospital -which was Tiburon. 

     If I were Lily I would've done the same thing as her which is running away from home. We all know that the reasons behind her plan to run away from her father were the sound of a voice inside her head that was telling her to run and the longing to know more about her late mother and the mystery behind the black Mary.

      I once had this kind of stupid feeling that to me, it needed me to run away from home as I was so overpowered by all kinds of emotions at that time. It was all because of a mistake I'd done before (which I can't remember ;p) when i was young. At that time, the only thing I could thought of was to run away from the problem that I'd caused. But thankfully the taught of ran away from home suddenly disappeared from my head and I was willingly confront with my parents and let my ears faced the music. As a wise man once said “If you build the guts to do something, anything, then you better save enough to face the consequences.”  Things become so much better after I admited my mistake and apologised to my parents. I then learned that no matter how much you are trying to escape from a problem, it will somehow keeps chasing you relentlessly untill you finally solve it. I think thats all for now. See you soon. bye

Memories Are Timeless Treasures

Hey pals!

So, it’s already the end of September and I am sure most of you guys have already read the first chapter of The Secret Life of Bees even though I know that most of you haven’t finish reading the whole novel yet. As we all know, Lily Owens lost her mother when she was four. The only memory she had about her mother’s death was she was the one who killed her mother. Her father, T. Ray seemed to hide what actually happened that day from her. But, it is possible that she remembered every single thing that happened that day although she was only four when that incident happened.

According to a research I’ve read from a website, the earliest age that we can possibly remember is 2 to 4 years old. Every person has different capacity of remembering things. Some research also has proven that there are children that can remember events from the age of 1, but these memories will fade and decline as they get older. This is called the children amnesia.

Talking about memories,  I want to share with you the earliest memories I still can remember. One of them is when I was two. It was winter and I really wanted my dad to make a big snowman for me at our lawn. So, he promised to make one for me when it snows. I waited by the window every single day for it to snow and one day, my wish came true. It snowed! Right at that moment, I went to my dad and said “Ayah, it’s snowing outside. Go and make a snowman for me!”. He just smiled, grabbed his coat and gloves and walked through the hallway towards the door. But the moment he opened the door, the door stucked! There was too many snow and we couldn’t go outside. I cried so hard that finally, my dad made a mini snowman in a bowl using the ice in our fridge. It was the most memorable thing my dad had done for me. I can also remember the first day I went to kindergarten. I was so afraid at that time because I have no friends and I am so scared of the teachers. Then, an Arabic girl came to me and introduced herself. Her name is Sarah. She was so nice and she always took care of me from the bad kids who like to beat other kids. One day, she was absent and I felt so lonely without her by my side. She didn’t come the next day too. A week after, I heard my teachers were talking about her. All this while, she was not absent but, she actually moved to other neighbourhood and she won’t be attending the kindergarten anymore. I was so sad at that time that I cried very loudly. That was the first time in my life that I have ever cried for a friend instead of crying because of toys or candies.

So, it is true that we can still remember and recall the memories when we were small. Memories may fade but somehow it makes us laugh and feel stupid when we think about the things we did again. Good times come and go but the memories will last forever.

memories will never fade

Hello beefriends. This is my very first time writing a blog by myself. For today’s task, we were assigned by Miss Sherene to choose one out of five blog entries and i chose to talk about memories of childhood where it is mention in the novel when T. Ray asked Lily about her mother’s death. If i was Lily, I wont remember a thing as i was only four at that time. But it is logic for Lily to remember the tragedy as it is scary and that was the starting point where her happiness had been pulled away when her mother dies. Refering to the science facts, the earliest age to remember is three years old. But there are some people who can remember earlier than that like my friend, hanis. She was two when she and her family lived in London. One day, she went to a nursery and there was a birthday party of a chinese boy. Hanis likes birthday party. She got so excited and she stands beside him during the birthday song. She ate many pieces of cake more than the celebrated boy. After three days, she got chicken pox. She doesnt know why did she got it until she was told by her father about the chinese boy who had chicken pox before his birthday. As for me, i don’t quite remember my childhood memories but the earliest that i can remember is when I was 10 years old where me and my family went to Sungai Congkak for picnic. Soon we arrived, we decided to play  in the river first before we had a meal becaause we tend to fell hungry even more after we are tired.  When all of the family members started to gather to eat together, i still in the river because i love to swim. I went further from the picnic place with my younger sister and she was only six. Suddenly, when we were trying to stand on the slippery rocks to cross  to another side, my younger sister sliiped off and both of us were drowning along the river about 50 metres away. Luckily my left leg was stucked at the scattered rocks and we were rescued by a chinese uncle nearby. My family didnt see the incident because we were far away. I was afraid to tell my parents about it and i also forced my younger sister for not to tell them.  When i asked her now, she said she doesnt remember anything. It proves that memories can  either be remembered since young or later than that. 

Social Conditions (culture) of the African Americans

By: Muhammad Iqbal bin Ibrahim and Aisy Mikhail bin Aznan

Hello my fellow readers, Recently we have just completed reading the book secret life of bees based on America during the mid 1960's. Within that book it reflected the daily life and social conditions of the African Americans during the 1960's which are often referred to as either the coloured or black people. Todays edition of the blog will talk about the daily of those very people and how it relates to the book we have read.

Firstly in the terms of their clothing, the help (Black Maids) often wore standardised maid uniforms which reflected the 1960's fashion which often came in a variety of different colours dependent on the town and region they work in. It can go from black and white, patterned, coloured checkered, yellow on white and etc...  While the normal clothing for the coloured during that era was decent it also reflected the 1960's explosive fashion movement towards new innovations of fashion. The sometimes incorporated styles which reflect their culture as apart of the Black Art Movement. 

The black art movement refers to bringing back old traditions of their people going as far back as when before their ancestors arrived in America as slaves. African American cuisine during that time was often referred to as Soul food. Soul food is well known in the South of the United States and the ingredients used to make up this style of food such as honey can make up a large variety of cuisines from honey biscuits to honey chicken. The African Americans often used the ingredients available to them at the fullest so they experiment a lot.

Food is not the only these people experiment on as music fits the bill as well. During the 1960's they the African American community contributed to Blues, Jazz and Soul and R&B. Compared to rest of the American community which focused on change to rock and roll. These people have managed to bring up major stars into this industry such as Duke Ellington, Marvin Gaye, James Brown and Louise Armstrong. These legends made songs which are still being played today even though their time had passed on.

When it comes to their traditions it can be traced back to the ancestor's traditions such as the one in Ghana for example. "Jump on the broom" is still being practices today by some African Americans as a part of their wedding ceremony. Another example is that some African Americans have created/adapted their rites of passage in America. The teens for instant, have are started to take classes which focus on responsibility, leadership and also spiritually that can prepare themselves for adulthood. These programs are molded after traditional African ceremonies, with the focus on embracing the African cultures.

Even though African Americans at the time were not very appreciated or respected due to how people perceive their race at the time. They still managed to persevere and adapt to their version of culture. They have kept their old tradition and made a new. They have created legends in the music industry and the food they make to fill our stomachs. These are a strong willed people and does not let people stop their practicing their old customs and creating a new. 

Our wants and our parents responds towards them

For today's blog, we were assigned to do a task individually. For this task, I'll be discussing about things we wanted when we were kids that our parents didn't give to us based on the novel Secret Life of Bees. Everyone have experienced the moments when their parents don’t care about their wants. Based on the novel The Secret Life of Bees, the main character, Lily was never given what she really wanted. Well, maybe by saying that is a little bit exaggerating things but she deserved better from his farther. Her farther hardly conveyed any actions of love towards her. It was a critical situation until she called her own farther T. Ray. Like any other kids, Lily needed love as she desperately tried to find one by running from her house.

The most obvious part of not getting what she wanted is when she didn’t get to wear the latest fashion. We all had this. The moment when we want to follow the latest trending clothing style. Unfortunately, our parents will be the judgemental king and queen. Well it will fine as long as they have the same taste like most of the young people but the problem is they are still clinging to their old school clothing style which will only make our friends laugh at us. As for me, I always wanted outfits with a fit cutting but my parents bought me an outfit with a very huge cutting as if I was a contestant in ‘The Biggest Loser’ television show. It’s like, I could fit both my thighs in a single sleeve of the shirt. So, there I was, walking in the crowds with my classmates in a shopping mall, wearing old school outfits whilst the others were wearing elegant and nice looking trending outfits. Wished I had a pail with me to hide my face.

The other part we can see in the novel is the lack of freedom. Lily could not hangout with her friends because her farther is really strict. She also need to sell peaches on the holidays. She barely had any free time and even when she had some, she couldn’t spend them well. I don’t know about you guys but actually I’m quite the opposite. I learned since I was very young to travel by myself. I took a public bus by myself by memorizing the numbers to go somewhere when I was eight. After that day, my parents had been keeping their faith that I can take care of myself. I could go to KL tower by myself from my school after my school hours. I can do almost everything except for bad things and anything that can cost too much money. Having optimistic parents is a good thing though sometimes it is the opposite since they couldn’t care less about their children’s safety.

Unlike a child’s temperament which is strongly based on the parent’s behavior towards their children, child’s wants can be influenced by others easily. Sometimes, parents just couldn’t keep up with their children’s wants and it is normal for them to not grant them with those things. Sometimes our parents just didn’t give them because it’s for our own good. For example, they forbid us from eating too much sweets because they are bad for our teeth. This may sounds cliché but people tend to forget this kind of thing and start to blame their parents instead of considering the pros and cons wisely. I hope this blog have broaden your mind about a child’s wants and the decision for the parents that they have to make for their child’s sake. 

Remembering a person or a place just by their smell

       
        In today's blog, me and my classmates were assigned to another topic from our teacher but now it's an individual task. For today's task I'll be discussing about how people associate different smells with different people or places. For example, based on the novel Secret Life Of Bees it states how Lily always remember's her mom by her specific scent. Related to this, Lily's mom always wears her usual perfume most of the time and therefor since Lily is always with her mother. Thus she would already be used to the familiar and similar scent and smell of her mother. It would be easier for her to identify or recognise her by just the smell of her perfume.

        Based on this novel, I would just like to address how I associate different smells with different people or places. Now different people have their own different ways of identifying people or they can just tell a person or a place just by their scent. This is because they have probably been used to the smell or have already been familiarised with the same scent. For example, whenever I ever think of the durian fruit or just the smell of it I will always think of my classmate Hanis. This is because she is the only person I know who is always obsessed with durian and is always eating durian ice cream during recess time. Therefore, I am already familiar with that durian smell and that's how I remember Hanis by.

        Another example is whenever I'm at my grandmother's house, I can already smell the aroma of her special cooking whenever I walk into her house. This is a smell I'm always used to because I always visit my grandparents house at least once a week ever since I was a kid and my grandparent's cooking are what I always look forward to the most. There would always be those special dishes she would make whenever she knows that I'm coming over. That particular smell is what I will always remember as it's represents something special to me ever since I was a kid.

        Therefore, in conclusion I would just like to say how different people have different ways of identifying people or places just by their scent or specific smell. We can definitely say this is one of the special ways of identifying people and knowing that we'll always have a special indication of knowing that specific person.

               CIVIL RIGHTS AND RACIAL SEGREGATION AND JIM CROW LAWS


Hey guys today Hanis and me , Usman  are going to talk about the African American in 1960's . So what happened to them was they were racially discriminated by the white people . To encounter the problem the well educated African American start to demonstrate and campaigning to achieve equal rights as an american. The campaign started when President John F Kennedy stated that he would want to pass the civil rights act in the 1960 . They campaigned at Washington DC with 250 000 people demonstrating . There were several assigned marshals to control the demonstration because they were suspecting the demonstration will lead to violence , but they choose the peaceful way by demonstrating peacefully . This is where the legendary speech of Martin Luther king speech were heard . I HAVE A DREAM ! This act and campaign have effect the civil rights and voting where all american have the same equal rights and law. The campaign was successful as African american is no longer racially discriminate now days . God bless america.

                                    this is martin luther king jr if you dont know him .

                                         

         the peaceful demonstration that were attended by 250000 fellow Americans in                                                                          Washington DC

After the Civil War, millions of formerly enslaved African Americans hoped to join the larger society as full and equal citizens. Although some white Americans welcomed them, others used people’s ignorance, racism, and self-interest to sustain and spread racial divisions.Racial segregation was a system derived from the efforts of white Americans in denying the African Americans to equal access of public facilities and ensuring that blacks lived apart from whites. During the era of slavery, most African Americans lived in South, mainly in rural areas. Under these circumstances, segregation did not prove necessary as the boundaries between free citizens and people held in bondage remained clear. Reconstruction after the Civil War posed serious challenges to white supremacy and segregation, especially in the South where most African Americans continued to live. Racial segregation, or Jim Crow as it became popularly known was the state and local laws enforcing racial segregation in the Southern United States. It is a series of rigid anti-black laws operated between 1877 and continued in force until 1965. Jim Crow represented the anti-black racism. Whites were taught by Christian ministers and theologians that they were the Chosen people, blacks were cursed to be servants, and God supported racial segregation. blacks were often referred as niggers, coons, and darkies by Newspaper and magazine writers; and worse, their articles reinforced anti-black stereotypes. Jim Crow system was undergirded by the following beliefs or rationalizations: whites were superior to blacks in all important ways, including but not limited to intelligence, morality, and civilized behaviour. Blacks were violated and threatened as well. The most extreme forms of Jim Crow violence were lynchings. Lynchings were public, often sadistic, murders carried out by groups. This law ended when the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Voting Rights Act of 1965, and the Fair Housing Act of 1968 officially ended the ability of any state to discriminate, disenfranchise, or otherwise restrict any individual on the basis of race.

So, thats basically our understanding what happened to the african americans in USA during the 1960s . That's all from us ! Hope you enjoy it . (╯°□°)╯︵ ┻━┻

Geographical Location

         Hi guys, this will be my first blog entry. Today me, Eiman and Hadri were assigned to an assignment from our wonderful teacher Ms Shereen.As you all know, we are currently reading the novel Secret Life of Bees and in today's assignment, we will basically be talking about the setting of the story which took place in South Carolina. South Carolina is situated on the west side of the Unites States with a population over 4 million people. The capital of South Carolina is Columbia.

Fort Sumter

        One of the famous destinations in South Carolina are Charleston, Mrtyle Beach, Greenville, Daufuskie Island and many more. These destinations are the most frequently visited places by tourist from all around the world whenever they visit South Carolina. It is estimated around 400,000 people come and visit this state every year. South Carolina is mostly famous for it's historical wars and the ruins that were left behind from the battles such
as the Fort Sumter which was one of the first places where the Civil War took place.

Chris Rock

James Brown

        Next we will be talking about famous icons who were born in South Carolina. One of them is Chris Rock. He was born in Andrew's, South Carolina. He is a comedian, actor, producer, director and a screenwriter who rose to prominence as a cast member on Saturday Night Live from 1990 to 1993. He also got to star in many big firms such as Grown Ups and got to voice 'Marty the Zebra' in Madagascar. Other than that, James Brown is also one of the famous icons from South Carolina. He was born in Barnwell, South Carolina. He is a funky sole singer who gained fame for his anthem 'I Got You' and Rolling Stone magazine ranked him seventh on their list of the 100 greatest artists of all time. Sadly, his death was a tragic lost to the music industry when he passed away at the age of 73 in December 25 of 2006.  

            In Secret Life of Bees, there are certain places in the novel that are fictional. But, the fictional places such as Sylvan and Tiburon are inspired by real places situated in South Carolina. For instance, Sylvan is inspired by Johnston, South Carolina. As we know, Lily who lives in Sylvan have a peach farm and Johnston is known as the Peach Capital of the World.

Johnston

Pink House

        Next, we'll be talking about Tiburon. So we found out that there's a place which is very similar to Tiburon which is not fictional. It is Charleston, South Carolina. First, we know that the Calendar sisters have a bright pink house. In Charleston, there are a lot of pink coloured houses. There we can see one of the similarities. Next, we know that the Calendar sisters have a bee farm. Charleston is known as the Bee City of South Carolina.

Bee City

 

THE YELLOW-BLACK STRIPES INSECT

THE YELLOW-BLACK STRIPES INSECT
By: Amir Farhan and Atia Balkis

 Hello dear readers! Today, me, Amir, and my friend Atia are going to share with you guys about an insect, which commonly known as bee. Now, do you know that bees have many secrets? We think everyone of you knows the existence of the yellow-black stripes insects and maybe had the experience get stung by it. They are the only insects in this world, which are able to collect and keep the golden honey. The sweet yellowish-brown fluid can be a remedy for certain diseases, has many nutrients, and others cosmetic values. There are many facts about bees that we had never imagined. Okay, let’s continue reading to discover the reality of bees’ life.

 First and foremost, they live in colonies where there are three different types of bees which is the queen bee, the worker bee and the drone. Each of them has their own tasks and responsibilities to survive in their home, which is the hive that usually contains around 40,000 to 45,000 of bees. The queen and worker bees are both female.

 Unfortunately, they have a weakness of sight because the bees can see all colours except red. Next, they use a secret dance called “Waggle Dance” to communicate with each other. By performing this dance, they share the information about the direction and distance to patches of flowers yielding nectar and pollen, to water resources or to new site locations. The duration of the dance indicates the distance of the place. So, the longer the dance, the further the location.

Now, lets talk about some current issues about bees and beekeeping. People who keep bees are known as beekeeper. It can be a hobby or a full-time business. They keep bees for different reasons such as for honey and beeswax, for their ability to serve as pollinators of crops, or simply for the fun of learning more about these interesting insects. 

Experienced beekeepers may collects wild swarms or colonies. However, current problems with diseases or parasites like varroa mites or malnutrition and habitat loss and pesticides that kill bees,  had reduce the bee population.

In conclusion, we have to be aware of these cases and try to prevent unlikely things to happen. If the population of bee decreases, pollination decreases. Pollination decreases, honey decreases. Honey decreases, economy decreases, and so on.

Are you ready?

Since we started the `appreciation literature' week I felt it was fitting for us to have an outlet to appreciate things more and express ourselves - or yourselves, more like it. So, this blog was born! :)Basically we're gonna try using this as your way to submit 1) assignments on The Secret Life of Bees and maybe some 2) homework. This blog is accessible to everyone in your class so please feel free to start writing here.

 

Here's how it will work. I will assign a task for you to do in groups and/or individually.  You complete the task(s) by posting it here in the blog. The teacher, me, and your classmates can comment on the posts sent by everyone or anyone, via intellectual and useful comments or constructive criticism (to learn from it) or add on additional useful info where necessary (eg. a link, a picture, etc). Jokes or playful comments are not encouraged but if used, should be kept to a very minimum amount if you really can't help yourself. By the end of our 3 weeks studying the novel I hope this blog will help assist your understanding of the story and of course give you a lot of practice in writing (typing!) and indirectly communicating with each other..


The best part is that your entries in this blog will contribute to 5% of your assignment marks this semester so make sure you get with the project! ;)

 Are you all ready?




ps/ suggestions to help manage this blog is highly recommended :D