The Stern'st Goodnight

This is my found poem, its lines borrowed from Shakespeare's Macbeth. I apologize to any readers who find themselves irritated by the alignment of this piece. That said, I would like to mention that the shape is a visual representation of how night suddenly morphs into a messy disorder.


The Stern'st Goodnight

what is the night?
to lie in restless ecstasy, never at quiet
weary with disasters upon the quarter of the moon

the live-long night, the torture of the mind
equivocates him in a sleep
and leaves him
disheartens him

Night's black agents to their preys do rouse
whiles Darkness does the face of earth entomb.
        spurn fate, scorn death,
        hover through the filthy air
        and let the frame of things disjoint!

                    The owl shriek'd!
             daggers upon their pillows!
                  Both worlds suffer!
                  
his blood is cold.
sleep no more! 
Pray For This Good Man 
Goodnight.

Macbeth on BBC

I don't know if anyone would find these interesting, but I was going through YouTube today...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fgj8GhcxDeo&feature=related
this is the one Ms. Mah was talking about, I think.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LC9G_CZVAL8
this one is a cartoon that skips a lot of speeches, but the lines don't stray from the original text.

Guilt-Free Snacking [this has nothing to do with English class]

For those of you who crave sweet treats at lunchtime, come out to Japan Exchange's bake sale on Thursday, May 5 in the Sea Lounge! We'll be selling...

• cookies 
• cupcakes 
• danishes*
• brownies*
• slices of pie*

If you're busy on Thursday, then maybe you want to come out to Crane Festival on Friday, May 6th in the old gym. We'll have...

• live music entertainment (guitar and taiko drum performances)
• baked goods 
• crane signing booths
• with the minimal donation of $1, you can sign one of the 1000 paper cranes that we'll take to Japan next year. 

Please note that all proceeds go directly to people in urgent need in Japan. We have connections with our sister city, Wakayama, which is just southwest of the Tohoku prefecture (the area that was heavily impacted by the earthquake).

Thanks!

P.S. I'm sorry for using the English blog as a means of advertising. 

*We have limited quantities, so please come early and hungry (although for nutritional purposes, I should recommend buying your dessert first and eating it after your meat and potatoes)

"I Always Do"

Sorry there isn't much of a format here. This is Mgbafo speaking to her husband Uzowulu, two seasons after the trial.

I wish you would speak to me. If not for my sake, then do it for the children. They love you as their father, despite what they’ve seen you do. They confide in me their respect for you. And I respect you. I love you as my husband.

Oh, do not look at me that way. I did not leave you two seasons ago when you asked me to say. You may have been confident that I would choose you, but my heart was in dilemma. This whole union has been an effort on my behalf, but I expected that you would start to work as well. I believed your pleads, Uzowulu. Despite everything you did, I placed my trust in you. Please tell me I did the right thing. Please, convince me I made the correct choice.

These marks have been fading for many moons. I never forget what caused them, no matter how many I have to keep track of.  For example, where was it…. Somewhere here are scars from when I was ill. You were upset at me for bringing your supper late. And these here… they are yet fresh. But I am waiting for the pain to dull and disappear. Just as I will wait in vain for you to fulfill your promise.

Still… why, Uzowulu? Why did you stand before the egwuwu? Why did you give my brothers wine? Why did you stand before me and beg me to stay? For even now, if not for the children I would run. I would flee from this iron cage and from the wretched devil that you-

No! Stop! Please! Forgive me! I have outspoken and forgotten my place. I am confused and speaking nonsense! You are tired! You  do not want to hear of this matter...... And indeed, you work hard to earn the respect among Umuofia. Do not give this a second thought. I will speak to the children on your behalf. They are, after all, very concerned for you. And after that I will prepare your supper. If it is illness that is affecting you, please rest. I will come back shortly. I always do.

Characters Coming to Life

Initially, I was under the impression that Okonkwo was on the way to becoming a hero. In order to become a hero, you must pass an ordeal; I believed that the issue with his father provided something to be overcome. Upon completing the novel, although he chose to escape, my naive mind firmly believed Okonkwo's actions became a legacy outside of the fading black ink. Jumping out from the thin white pages, he became a hero.

That being said, perhaps this idea only proved my ignorance to the Igbo culture and the importance of cultural relativity. Even with the novel as a source of insight, perhaps I could not judge Okonkwo by Westernized measures. The Igbo people viewed all suicides as sins. In this light, the protagonist had the chance to be hero throughout; yet, by taking his own life, he failed. To contrast this, suicide in Western movies was considered a noble death if it was done for a cause. We labelled it as an honorable sacrifice when the captured secret agent or the star-crossed lovers cut their own life strings.

In the same perspective, without knowing what happened after the final chapter, I believed Okonkwo's death stood for something. His character became a hero by making such a bold statement that global readers would care. In international eyes, he may or may not have been a perfect protagonist, but we read the book from cover to cover. And as his body hung lifeless from that tree, we stopped to think. By committing suicide, he showed to the Western readers the very impact of their missionaries.   By doing something so unforgivable and shameful to his clan, he proved the desperation of the situation. Oftentimes, by the nature of biculturalism, the people spreading their religion believed they were doing a kind and compassionate duty. Okonkwo's tragic story, however, proved otherwise. And it was this that gave real, living people a perspective on the true impact of their actions.

What Defeats a Man

         The clear conflict in "The Road" is survival, under the man vs. environment category. When the world is at its end, history repeats itself and the man and his son act like nomadic cavemen. Every day, they must find food and shelter while hiding themselves from the other survivors. In multiple situations, the reader's grip on the book tightens as illness and inevitable death are foreshadowed.  In such a dark time, the cliche "every man for himself" becomes religiously practiced.
         The underlying conflict in this novel is between the protagonist and himself, following the criteria of man vs. self. Throughout the entire story, the character is in turmoil. He had to come to terms with his wife's suicide and desperately tries to carry all of the family's burdens. And whilst he strives to preserve his son's youth and innocence, he seems to be leaving himself in dark anxiety. He seems to try to protect the boy from the harsh realities surrounding them; consequently, there is no one he can speak truthfully of his own fears. His thoughts remain in his mind, which I suspect may be what leads to the end of the book. As I near the final page, I predict that what defeats him is not that which surrounds him, but that which is inside.  That being said, this is only a prediction.

Post-Colonialism to My Ears

Recently, the post-colonialism studies in our class have centered around that of countries in Africa. This is perhaps due to the fact that the most prominent pieces of evidence come from Caucasian views on this continent. However, post-colonialism refers to the aftermath of the subjugation of one group of people; it does not always allude to Africa. A pattern I've noticed is a lack of independency after a country releases the assimilated population. Oftentimes, although society modernizes with time, traces of a colonized nation remain. This can be observed in both distinct and subtle examples. 

Great Britain brought Hong Kong under its wing in 1841. It declared the island as part of its empire until giving it to China during the next century. Yet, even as the British dismissed them, pieces of post-colonialism still linger. The instance this post will focus on is on the unstated, indirect effect on Canto-pop, or HK-pop. 

Oftentimes to find what a society finds hip, looking at the trendsetters themselves is a good start. In researching various artists, I was interested to find many popular, familiar English names. Some of the band names were also words from our language; this includes Purple Nine, Twins, and Shine. The attached picture is a list of the top album sellers in 2009 for Canto-pop in Hong Kong. I was surprised to know all of the bands listed had English names and English song titles. Here, the only Chinese words were the last names of certain individuals. 

2009 IFPS Sales Chart, Hong Kong

Additionally, in searching the individual artists, some also supported appearances of Caucasian people.  

Shine

To conclude, post-colonization happens worldwide despite the number of generations passed. Sometimes, it is as unnoticeable and subtle as the people who fill our music players. It isn't a clear insult of one party versus another, but the fundamentals of post-colonization are still present.