“Jakub has a big long one” –Sophia Wu

Okay, I know how that looks, but let me explain. That statement was taken out of context by me, and is not nearly as suggestive as it seems. However, you’ll have to keep reading if you want the full explanation, after all, this all happened much later in the story.

Image Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9uoR1LIYttU

Speaking of said story, hello and welcome to another post, one where we talk about a far more interesting topic than usual, our first overnight trip in a long time. About an hour away from our school, and belonging to UBC, the University of British Columbia, loon lake was a place with exhilarating attractions and ravishing untouched wilds. In this place, we actually, despite what one might think, actually learned quite a bit. Now you, dear reader, may or may not, depending on who you are, know too much about PLP, but if you do, you’ll know that we can’t just have a vacation, we absolutely MUST learn something from it. Anyways, we focused specifically on goal-setting, and becoming better people, which, I daresay many of us undoubtedly achieved. I noticed people, specifically some of the more “popular” kids, actually holding and initiating conversations with people they wouldn’t normally go out of their way to talk to. Regardless that habit has in many ways persisted, and I can safely say I enjoy the newfound relationships I’ve formed. In brief, I’ve known these people for years, but until recently it felt like I didn’t even know them.

Image Source: http://workfos.com/10-tips-to-better-manage-your-conversation-skills/

My goal had been to be a more agreeable person than I normally am, and be more proactive when it comes to starting conversations, as I could really stand to work on that, and it’s safe to say that I, and several others, truly believed that I improved. How do I know this, you may ask? Well, near the end of the trip, we were read out anonymous comments from our peers, both our partners and any others who wished to comment, and, as much as if not more than anyone else, I got comments. It was quite nice to receive feedback about how I had been doing better at self-control, friendliness, and reading the room. Thanks to the mutual monitoring and advice of my partner for this exercise, Indy, it all worked out pretty well.

Image Source: https://www.thebalancesmb.com/goal-setting-the-first-step-to-achievement-2947147

Of course, there were plenty of fun activities as well, as could be determined from my earlier statements. To be more specific, I tried out sharpshooting in archery, though I still got beaten badly by Liam, who was actually quite practiced in the art of the bow, along with plenty of other people. I went canoeing out on the lake, partnered up with Ryder, and enjoyed both serene, calm padding and fast-paced races. I faced my fear of heights with great encouragement from my peers on the climbing wall, although the high-ropes course proved to be a little too much for me! Earlier on, we visited birds of prey such as the peregrine falcon, baard owl, and Harris Hawk at raptor’s ridge, and learned many stunning tales and captivating facts about these magnificent creatures, and finally, the last thing I will mention is the shelter-building competition, when we worked together to construct wooden structures to withstand the elements, and since wood was involved, and we needed large pieces of it, I think you can see where my earlier quote originated from. 

Well, that wraps up everything here, and I must say, it was a marvellous trip, filled with adventures and intrigue, yet also rife with academic instruction and learning. A true balance of happiness and education. I hope you enjoyed this post, as I’m gonna enjoy what comes next…

*brofist*

Yes. It’s back. The thing. The thing I, to a degree, can’t actually talk about by risk of disqualification even though we still have a lot to learn compared the other teams meaning that there won’t be any other competitions we’re a part of for months at least. The thing that, despite this, I must write about, because even though we’re now older than we normally would be doing this, covid is supposedly no excuse for missing a year of it. If you actually managed to guess that from this very vague and unhelpful description, kudos to you! If you didn’t, ah, well, I’m feeling good right now, so kudos to you too! I’m talking about Destination Imagination,  of course, known more informally and more widely referred to as D.I.

Image source: https://www.youtube.com/user/DIGlobalFinals

Now, if you’ve read my previous posts, you’ll probably know what D.I is, and I would guess nearly anyone reading this has indeed been in the domain before, but I’ll give a recap, just for fun. Destination imagination is a competition of creative and interesting minds, who select theirs challenges category as a team, and work collaboratively to form innovative solutions to their seemingly insurmountable plights. It is all about empowering minds both young and old, and teaching all about the most interesting aspects of life. Was that a good sales pitch? You decide. Regardless, we’ve got a post to continue.

Image source: https://www.blog44.ca/tamaras/2018/03/13/destination-imagination-2018-adventure-awaits/

My team opted to engage in the scientific challenge, a highly intellectual undertaking that required us to create and present a thrilling and riveting tale of at least one character, who enters a microworld of some sort, and encounters a mysterious object in the process, which must play a role in the story. The esteemed members of my great team, going by the Revolutionary name of “Yes” were Julien, Nya, Ryan, Liam, and Keenan. We combined our diverse skillset to produce an excellent final product easily worthy of our challenge. Utilizing combinations of leadership skills, technological skills, theatrical skills, craftsmanship skills, and anything in between, we felt true mutual synergy between us, and most importantly, we gave it our all. To be perfectly honest, not everything went completely according to plan, such as our custom-made light sensor not working, even though we tested it excessively beforehand and it worked then, and some of the sound effects were late or not present at all, but overall, it could’ve gone a lot worse. I could go into full detail explaining our presentation, but a picture’s worth a thousand words, and a video, more than that.

Overall, we went through a long process of hard work, labour, procrastination, anxiety, and planning to make things work. We were seemingly less productive in the first bit, although I daresay that was more of a planning phase than anything, thus meaning we did, in fact, get things done at a reasonable rate, though physical evidence of such had been put off. The second part of our project was mostly the same, with the foundations of the complex physical props and and tech stuff being completed. The third phase of it all was the culmination of our work, where we truly had a final product we could show off and be proud of. Anyways, what I’ve learned is that teamwork is the virtue above all when working in groups, and together, as a collective, we can make it all work, no matter the situation or predicament. On a sidenote, I’ve noticed that if you want to impress the teachers, you need “Wow!” Factor, not plans.

Anyways, that concludes this post, essentially everything has already been said, but despite everything, I can’t, or at least won’t, change my farewell that comes now.

*Brofist*

It is time. I’ve been waiting to do this for about a year. This is a post I was looking forward to, because writing it would mean that I did a project on the Second World War. A dreadfully intriguing topic, I daeresay it’s quite near and dear to my heart, the study of it at least. Today we’re going to be discussing not just WWII, but the thrilling podcast series made by myself and my comrades in tradecraft, by which I mean school classmates who may or may not like me. Regardless, let’s jump right in!

source: https://www.cbr.com/best-wwii-books/

Many people claim they know what they need to know about WWII, but as a (slightly modified) famous quote from George Santayana said: “those who do not know history are doomed to repeat it”. So here I am. Preventing you from becoming the next Hitler and starting a major global conflict with over 60 million casualties then surrendering to fate while completely insane in your bunker. You’re welcome. Now, a brief over view of said major global conflict.

source: https://www.thefamouspeople.com/profiles/george-santayana-221.php

Now, if you still think you know enough about WWII, refer to the quote above. Continue to reread it until you’re willing to learn. Perfect, now that that’s out of the way, let’s stop wasting time and actually write something productive. WWII in Europe started when, after a lot of suffering by the German people, Adolf Hitler, leader of the Nazi party, was elected chancellor of the Weimar Republic, and, following the death of president and WWI general Paul Von Hindenburg, established himself as dictator for life, proceeding to then invade smaller countries until Britain and France declared war in 1939. That was quite a run-on sentence, but it is what it is. In the pacific, it started with The Japanese empire’s invasion of the China in 1937, but can be dated back to 1931, the first invasion of the Manchuria region of China. The European theatre started with an eight-month period known today as “the phone war”, which derives it’s namesake from the fact that nearly nothing important happened during that period. However, after that, things were turned upside down, and the Germans invaded France, overwhelming the French and causing their surrender within weeks, using a tactic called “Blitzkrieg”, meaning “lightning war”. To defeat a stronger military force than one’s own so easily, why even the German generals were shocked by their success. Keep in mind that many of them were opposed to war, and had proposed plans to Hitler, who knew nothing about military strategy, that were intended to fail. Annoyingly enough for Hitler, the UK was unwilling to surrender, and the two engaged in an air and naval war to take control over the English Channel to facilitate an invasion of Britain. Hitler’s disgusting nature betrayed him here, as his focus on London civilian targets for revenge of a minor bombing raid on Berlin allowed the British to get their Air Force in shape, and push back the Germans. Hitler was a megalomaniac, and decided instead of fighting back, he’d invade a massive country with the largest ground military of all time, the Soviet Union.

Source: https://www.famousbirthsdeaths.com/is-adolf-hitler-dead-or-alive/

Back to the pacific, the Japanese were scoring victory after victory, justifying their attacks on China with staged incidents, such as a Japanese train being blown up in Manchuria, or soldiers from both sides firing on each other at the Marco Polo bridge. Of course, both were done by Imperial Japan, and blamed on China. In this invasion of China, the Japanese soldiers committed horrible atrocities against the Chinese people. Many believe this kind of stuff was only in Nazi Germany, but sadly, this was not so. Despite all of this, and the fact they had taken the Chinese capital, the war in China was currently in a stalemate, so Japan started eyeing up the rest of the Asia-pacific region. There was just one problem. Countries like the United States and Britain had already colonized these regions heavily, meaning that in case of invasion, Japan would be up against the two strongest navies in the world at the time, and while it’s own was also very strong, it still wouldn’t stand a chance. In spite of these facts, Emperor Hirohito wished to claim these lands for Japan, and nobody could disobey the Emperor. Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto knew this quite well, and even said that while he could put up a good fight for about half a year, it wouldn’t last, so he devised a plan to destroy the US navy before it could react. After much planning, Japanese bombers severely damaged American aircraft carriers in air raid at Pearl Harbour, where the American pacific fleet was parked for training exercises. This led the United States to declare war, and while he may not have actually said this here’s a potential quote from Yamamoto: “I fear all we have done is to awaken a sleeping giant and fill him with a terrible resolve”. 

Source: http://history.info/on-this-day/1943-death-admiral-yamamoto/

The initial invasion of the Soviet Union went astoundingly well. The Russians were unprepared, and their leader Joseph Stalin still held a vain hope that Hitler would keep to their 10-year non-aggression pact, giving him another 8 years to prepare for war, despite warnings from British prime minister Winston Churchill and US president Franklin D. Roosevelt. Yet again, the Nazis seemed to be scoring victory after victory, but come winter, they were completely unable to function properly, whereas the Soviets were in their element. After the decisive battle of Stalingrad (my podcast topic!) in 1943, the Germans began to be pushed back, and not just on the eastern front. You see, when Japan bombed Pearl Harbour, Hitler declared war on the United States as a show of support, meaning now, Hitler was fighting against two giants on either side of him, oh, and Britain was there too. Sorry Britain, it was a joke. If it makes you feel any better, I live in your former colony of Canada, and we did much less than you did, which I know my teacher isn’t going to like to see me write when she reads this. Anyways, with first an invasion of Fascist Italy, a German ally, by sea, and then a storming of the the beaches in the  Normandy region of France, the Germans were now in big trouble. Slowly but surely, Hitler’s forces were being pushed back on all fronts. As the Soviets marched on Berlin, and the western allies entered Germany from the west, hitler took his own life in a secure private bunker. Soon after, Germany surrendered, but the war was not over, because while Germany had given up, Japan had not.

Source: https://www.deviantart.com/sovietpoet1937/art/The-Soviet-flag-over-the-ruins-of-Berlin-1945-658879803

The Japanese had a quality that, despite their precarious situation, absolutely terrified the allied powers: they didn’t fear death. This wasn’t unheard of in European history, but most of that tradition had died out with the Vikings centuries ago. In Japan, however, honour mattered, whereas life, by comparison, did not. One might think that this was all just a piece of propaganda by the government, and most civilians completely disagreed. One would think wrongly. The Japanese fought to the bitter end on Every island the United States tried to take. They crashed their planes into US ships intentionally, called a Kamikaze attack, which was certainly more powerful than traditional bombs, but the cost of not just a whole plane, but a human life, was immeasurable. Still this continued, on and on and on. Of course, the Americans had an ace up their sleeve. Since before the beginning of the war, they had been developing a secret project, a very, very, very large bomb that would change the course of history forever. Using nuclear secrets learned from Nazi scientists in exchange for pardoning their war crimes, the USA developed the atomic bomb and told Japan that if they did not surrender they would face “prompt and utter destruction”. The Japanese did not surrender. The United States did not make an empty threat. Two atomic bombs were dropped, the “little boy” on Hiroshima, and the “fat man” on Nagasaki. After this, and the threat of a Soviet invasion from the North and an American one from the South, emperor Hirohito said “The war situation has developed not necessarily to Japan’s advantage”, and surrendered to the United States in 1945.

Source: https://un.globalcmf.com/2020/08/on-75th-anniversary-of-atomic-bomb-over.html

We in the PLP program here at Seycove Secondary School in North Vancouver, Canada have been hard at work educating the public about the truth of the Second World War, and it would be worth checking out the podcasts we made. If you’re interested, look up “Hidden Chapters Of WWII” on the podcasting platform “Anchor”. If you want to discover the truth behind WWII, start from episode 1, which talks about the rise of Hitler and the Nazi party, or skip to the best episode, mine, episode 14, the battle of Stalingrad. A turning point in World War 2, it was the largest and bloodiest battle of the entire Second World War, but I won’t waste your time writing it here, when you can listen to a much better description yourself! While we had a great deal of freedom in this project, and I absolutely loved it, I think it’s time for me to tell you about what drove us, and the criteria we followed.

If you couldn’t guess from what I just said, we’re now going to discuss the core competencies, so, regrettably, here we go! Okay, quick! Causes and Consequences. A pretty strong area for me, especially in this project, which undeniably peaked my interest. I can say with certainty that I did my job, and did it well, on the topic of this competency. Not done! Comprehend Constructively! Go! My proficiency here was a bit of a Hot n’ Cold thing here. You know, like that one Katy Perry song. With the dancing sharks. Whatever, we’re getting off topic. I think when it came to comprehending text, an effective memory and high level of perception with regards to learning material helped, but my lack of on-time work and participation in the book chats we took part in would, reasonably, cause a bit of a drop in grades for that specific skill. There! Done! That was supposed to be fast! It wasn’t! Why am I continuing?! This is only making it slower!

Phew! That was quite the brick to slog through wasn’t it? Ignoring that fact, I’d hope you enjoyed it, because that would mean the hours that went into writing this weren’t in vain! Goodbye to you all, and despite the fact that a friend accidentally discovered how this blog and pointed out how cringe it could be, I’m still ending this the same way, because this being cringe was kinda the point!

*Brofist*

Well, well, well, look who decided to click on this post. You saw the name right? What brought you this far in search of satisfaction? Desperation? Curiosity? Quirkiness? Or are you so bored that you genuinely have nothing better to do? No matter. Whatever your reason, it’s none of my business. Henceforth, I shall graciously grant thou that which thou’s heart throbs everlastingly, insurmountably for. You liked that, didn’t you? Or should I say: dids’t thou? Well there’s more to come, for this is a post detailing a tragic love story, a tale for the ages, a rant about the strange and intimate relationship between a 13-year-old and a 16-year-old  created by a creepy guy who could genuinely be called insane: Romeo and Juliet.

Now, I’m sure you might be thinking: “you got to watch Romeo and Juliet for a school project? That sounds like you just had fun, and nothing else!” If that were all there was to it, I wouldn’t have to write about it in this post. First of all, we were asked to take some notes on the different adaptations of the story we watched. Specifically, we watched small segments of the 1968 version, the 1996 version, West Side Story, Gnomeo and Juliet, and Warm Bodies. They all had the same basic plot, being adaptations of the same play, however they all had a different twist on them, the only exceptions being that 1968 and 1996 were relatively similar. West side story took place in the 50s in the upper west side of New York, Gnomeo and Juliet took place in a more modern time period, in a garden, and featured the main characters being ornaments for said garden, and finally, warm bodies actually happened in a zombie apocalypse, with Romeo being a zombie. We also read out sections of the play, talked about them, did a few activities, and finally made a remake video of the play in our groups of 4, or in two cases, 3 or 5. I must say, it’s not half bad!

Despite all that’s changed in these posts, it’s still time to dwell on the curricular competencies. There’s connecting critically, for which I have come to the conclusion that I did quite well, due to the reasoning that I was fairly adept at weaving what I knew, what I learned, and what I wanted to know into one delightful basket, and what better to place in that basket than the next competency: constructing? As this is a similar concept, I have reached the understanding that I am equally capable in this regard. Thus, one hast performed one’s obligations dutifully, and with that, farewell!

*brofist*

Oh marvellous day, my fine, esteemed fellows, undyingly loyal readers, and new compatriots in one’s own marvellous life. I am, have been, and will most likely be Nathan Jack Fawkes Talbot, though I happen to be far more renowned within the internet by my longtime alias, YoBoyNyate. It is a grand honour to make, or reimagine, your acquaintance, for after this tale to end all tales, you shall never think of yours truly in the same sense as prior to this odyssey of the mind.

Image source: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC7wubZBtXMpc4DaTcfg0mQQ

Now, try your hardest to forgive my arrogance, but I have thus far refrained from mentioning the reasoning for my summoning of such a lovely audience member. As was stated in the eye-catching title of this top-quality post, if you’ll excuse my feigned superiority complex, is my fabulous Mpol, which, if you’ve been paying close, undeterred attention to this unrivalled platform of mine, you would be fully aware and enlightened to the fact the Mpol, an acronym by nature, can be simply defined by it’s decompressed form: Mid-year Presentation Of Learning. In the creation process of an Mpol, one must engineer a presentation in the middle of the year to demonstrate one’s journey of learning within the current educational year thus far. 

Now, I suppose we should discuss the subject of my phenomenal learning plan, which is essentially, simply, and truly exactly what it sounds like; a set of goals created for this educational portion of the current planetary rotation. Of course, I am certain you would want nothing more in the entire world than to know some of my goals. Well, since I am in such a generous mood, I shall explain the highlights. First of all, I have been attempting to learn and grow in the way of integration. In simpler terms, I have been focused as if my brain could pulse laser beams on better inserting myself into both work groups, and social groups. I will knit my friend groups closer together, all the while making myself a more agreeable person overall, no matter who you ask. With this, it will be far easier to get along with everyone, and thus easier to work with them, though it will certainly require a monumental amount of effort to accomplish. I wholeheartedly believe, however, that I am quite adept in the art of seeking out and retaining both valuable, and useless information to an astonishing degree.

Have you been begrudgingly waiting for the magical moment in this story when I would show you the wonders of one of our many PLP projects? Why, of course you have! You wouldn’t have even considered sticking around this long otherwise. That is, unless you were that one person who is professionally obliged to listen to the ramblings of hormonal teenagers who burn with the same passion as you in this regard, the passion to go home. So, without further ado, let us talk about “Think you can do better?”. As was covered in a previous post, this pristine adventure was centered around a surprisingly common opinion: “The government sucks, even I could do better!”. We of the United Party of Canada worked together to create a video all about our political beliefs, and I must say, I absolutely loved my performance in our video. I’d greatly appreciate doing something like this again, just, mind the voiceover.

IMG_3093

If you were in belief that that concluded this message from the divine (really getting a bit egotistical), you were so very wrong, yet so very fortunate, for now you will hear all about the Ology of Apology. I’m sorry, do I hear what I think I hear? Do I hear you say that Apology is not an “Ology”, and that “Ology” is simply an impersonator of a true descriptor in every regard? Well, both of those are entirely correct, however it’s a fine name, and in the inconceivably massive chance you were wondering what “Ology” could mean, it can be defined as the study of something, for example, Biology is the study of life. Regardless, here and now is the time to talk all about my favourite part of this quest, which was the repeated field trips to the numerous  intriguing cultural sites of the oppressed minorities of The British Columbia province of Canada, and learn hands-on of their suppressed perspective of the horrific events that had unfolded just on our doorstep. Together with my brethren-in-arms for the remainder of the project, we created a final product that truly reflected the story we wished to tell of the Komagata Maru incident. 

Last, but not least, we are going to discuss a thrilling project that, while rushed, introduced a new teacher into the fray, and genuinely allowed the limits of our creativity to shine as bright as the greatest star: Romeo and Juliet. Now, the actual name of the project was far longer than that, but you get the general idea. This was a project right up my alley, due to the fact that I am quite the theatrical person, and obsessively adore any potential chance I can get to make a show. There were countless opportunities to read out the heart and soul of this tragic tale of love and hate, war and peace, victory and defeat, as well as exhilarating class time filled with watching movie adaptations of the original play. Above all, I loved our resounding success of a partial remake of Romeo and Juliet, made by me and my godsend group: Jordan Lo, Jakub Hoffman, and Dries Zuijdervelt. 

Oh boy! That was quite a long ride. I must say that it was quite the labour to write this two-page-with-images epic, and yet despite the lively and incredible time we have spent together, by some twist of fate, it is now time that I take my leave, good night, my beauties, and don’t forget…

*Brofist*

Welcome back everyone, and today it’s time to post something already kinda posted, but it was really just included in another post. The suspense must be killing you, I’m sure. Well, just as a theory, what if I just didn’t say? I could simply cut off this post here. I’d get a terrible grade, but I could totally do it. I’m not gonna, but I could. Anyway todays post is about the press release of the amazing, unrivalled, yet divided and unstable United Party Of Canada*.

*Disclaimer: not ACTUALLY an official Canadian political party

Now, I may have explained this only 2 posts ago, but people forget easily and I am required by my education to explain this so I will. A press release is almost exactly what it sounds like. Namely, it is when one releases their intentions to the press, no matter what the subject may be. In this case, a political party making a public announcement of their political promises and goals should they get elected into office. Of course, many political parties may leave their press releases intentionally vague, leave things out, or flat-out lie to complete whatever their true goals may be. Of course, while political parties are, of course, biased, as general rule news outlets and even average people are as well. Examples being that a news channel can choose what they report, and from which perspective they report it, and that people who believe a certain thing may very well refuse to accept other points of view.

So, I suppose it’s worth talking about the party itself, isn’t it? Well, the united party of Canada is a left-wing party, socialist, to be more exact. Now, I know the word “socialist” might scare you off, as it is often associated with the “communism” of the Soviet Union, but hear me out. The political scale is often seen as THE representation of the range of politics, however if you look closer, you’ll find that both socialism and anarchism are much less authoritarian, while communism is far different. If this is so inaccurate, there must be a better measurement, right? Well, as a matter of fact, there is. The political compass test measures one’s political position by both left/right economics, and authoritarian/libertarian politics. In this test, you’ll find completely different, and more accurate, results. For example, the Nazi party wasn’t actually very right-wing, there were pretty centrist, however, they were VERY authoritarian. At the same time, communism is also very authoritarian, whereas socialism is quite libertarian. With that our of the way, the united party of Canada fights for the rights of the people, as all are equal, the redistribution of wealth, as some have far more than they deserve, and the restructuring of government, as it is currently insufficient. For more details, read the press release above.

All great things must come to an end, oh, and this post too. So, on that note…

*Brofist*

Why hello there! Say, are you in the mood for a story? I hope so, because I’ve got a tale to tell. A tale of struggle, sorrow, and despair. So gather around for the legend of a ship that defied the injustice of it’s time to help people achieve a better life. Gather around for the unfortunate tragedy that befell this proud vessel. Gather around for the legacy of the Komagata Maru.

Image source: http://www.timetoast.com/timelines/major-immigration-events-in-canada-c9ca4195-9de8-430c-a09b-546be55b0654

Now, I’m sure you’re all wondering: what is the Komagata Maru? Well, to know that you must first know it’s origins. Built Originally in 1890 by Charles Connell and company in Scotland, it was first sold to the Hansa line under the name of SS Stubbenhuk. Next it fell under the ownership of the Hamburg America line in 1984, and it’s name was changed to the SS Sicilia. Following that, it was purchased by Shiyen Kisen Goshi Kaisha company of Japan in 1913 and took the name of Komagata Maru, and this, dear reader, is where our story begins.

Image source: http://www.sikh24.com/2017/09/19/book-revealing-true-facts-about-komagatamaru-released-in-canada/

At this period in history racism ran rampant throughout many parts of the world. Canada was no exception to that fact, and the west coast province of British Columbia had, at the time, enacted several laws created to prevent people from Asia coming to Canada. They were trying to create what they called a “White Canada”. In other words, they wished for the entire population of Asians, Blacks, Indigenous peoples, et cetera to either leave the country or die off. However, within their exclusion laws they faced some challenges. When it came to countries like China the government could simply say “No Chinese immigrants allowed”, but the people of India were, like them, citizens of the British empire. Due to this fact, they had, in theory, equal rights when compared to people in other parts of the empire. In practice, they were still subject to great levels of Racism, but despite this fact, the Canadian government could not outright say “No Indians allowed”. Of course, they came up with other ways to fulfill their xenophobic goals.

Image source: http://www.pier21.ca/research/immigration-history/continuous-journey-regulation-1908

In 1914, the Komagata Maru was hired by a man named Gurdhit Singh Sanghu to defy Canada’s immigration restrictions, and bring people from India to Canada. It departed from Hong Kong and made some stops in China, Japan, Singapore, and a few other places as well, picking up more people as they went. It took them weeks to make it to Vancouver, the biggest city in British Columbia, and one of the biggest cities in Canada, however, upon arrival they were not allowed to dock. They were then told by the immigration officers that in coming to Canada they had violated the “continuous journey act”, an act that made it illegal to enter Canada unless unless the ship had made a nonstop journey from it’s country of origin to it’s destination. Now, at the time, a journey from India to Canada without making a single stop was impossible, and in fact, that was the entire point of the creation of this law. The passengers had no idea that this was the case, and, understandably, found it outrageous that they had to deal with such inequities, yet their troubles were only just beginning.

Image source: http://canadafirst.nfshost.com/our_heritage-hopkinson-index.html

See, while travelling on this boat, the passengers had expected to be welcomed into the country. Perhaps not a warm welcome, but a welcome nonetheless. As such, they had only brought with them enough food and water to last for the journey. The Canadian government was fully aware of this, and elected to simply wait them, while encouraging attacks on the ship by the civilian population. There were groups that fought for them then, of course. These groups still fight for them now, because, after all, human nature doesn’t change, people just learn. Even then, it’s often their children that learn, not them. To this day, too many would wish that no apology was ever given, because some believe what happened was right. Especially true back then, as the ship was subjected to attack after attack, until the Canadian government took drastic measures, they brought in a battleship. Cruel, is it not? That they would bring in a machine of war and death to rid themselves of peaceful civilians. It’s things like this that need to be remembered, because hearing that someone was exceptionally cruel is one thing, but to hear the true extent of their hatred through a tragic event, that is something else entirely. Left with no other option, the frightened passengers returned to India, where they found a surprise in the form of British soldiers waiting for them on arrival. 19 innocent lives were taken, many more imprisoned, and all had their hopes and dreams crushed.

Image source: https://www.tapatalk.com/groups/alltheworldsbattlecruisers/warship-projects-blog-post-part-2-of-cherry-trees–t8804.html

94 years later, at the 13th annual Mela Gadri Babian Da festival in Surrey, BC, then Prime minister Stephen Harper, known for giving several apologies on behalf of the Canadian government, repeated history by stating some brief remarks of regret for the Komagata Maru incident. Despite this, an apology is a more important thing than he gave it credit for, and the fact that his apology was given not at the federal House of Commons, but a public park in one of the most crime-filled areas in Canada, it was, understandably, inadequate for the atrocity that had been committed. The Sikh community ran onto the stage denouncing the pathetic apology for these reasons, yet nothing else was said on the matter by the government for 8 years, until current prime minister Justin Trudeau gave yet another official apology for the crimes against the passengers of the Komagata Maru. While the government’s work was far from over, it was finally a step in the right direction. The people could at last take comfort in the fact that Canada was finally taking responsibility for it’s actions. Finally, the road to recovery was being traversed.

In conclusion. The Komagata Maru incident was a horrible instance that allows us to peer into the systemic racism of the time. While we are still working on making amends, I believe we can one day make up for all we have done. Now, on a lighter note…

*Brofist*

Elections. Many of us have them. In fact, I’d wager if you’re reading this, you live under a democratic system, so listen to my perspective on what you TRULY experience in day-to-day life.

source: https://www.huffpost.com/archive/ca/vertical/luke-rebello/conservative-elections-2019_b_15278142.html

Now, we all know the basic premises of democracy, right? If not, here’s a quick refresher; freedom of speech, freedom of religion, transparency, justice, equality, and the right to vote are all ideally part of a democracy. However, there’s one more thing that people don’t understand the true impact of. The thing that makes everyone go crazy, the motivation behind so many unspeakable things, the most coveted and valued thing in the world: money. Of course, everyone knows money is important, but many don’t realize how much sway it holds in politics.   Allow me to introduce you to the term “lobbyism”. 

Source: https://www.toonpool.com/cartoons/lobbyism_161329

Lobbyism is the concept of certain people or groups, such as corporations, paying lobbyists to use the client’s money to influence the government into making certain decisions that advance the client’s interests. This is a term often used interchangeably with bribery, and truth be told, for good reason. They sound similar, don’t they? In fact, I’d wager if I didn’t explain that this was a separate term, you would’ve seen my above description as the definition of bribery, which, I might add, is worth over $1,000,000,000,000 US worldwide, but we’re getting off topic. I know that you might be wondering: “how is this information useful?”. How indeed.

Source: http://www.corporatecomplianceinsights.com/what-companies-do-right-and-wrong-fighting-bribery-and-fraud-in-emerging-markets/

Here in Canada, we maintain a relatively smooth and well-structured democracy, but when it comes to the influence of money in the government, we still have a ways to go. Sure, there’s not so much in the way of corporate entities buying their favoured party to victory, but even still, there are several instances of other forms of economic inequity between parties. This is due to the fact that the conservative and liberal parties have existed since before Canada’s independence, the NDP (New Democratic Party) has only existed since 1961, Green Party since 1983, 1991 for Bloc Québécois (Quebec nationalist/separatist party), and the newest party: the PPC (people’s party of Canada) has only existed for 3 years (2018)!

Source: https://newsinnings.com/tag/canada-election-debate-schedule/

Why is this relevant? Simple. The older parties are generally more popular, as it’s hard to change people’s opinions politically. Increased popularity means increased funds, increased funds means greater resources, greater resources means a higher quality campaign, a higher quality campaign means more success in the election, and more success in the election means more power. Make sense now? I should hope so. As another example of the influence of money, have you ever heard billionaires complaining about their taxes the same way they complain about business losses? No. That’s because of tax breaks. Simply put, politicians want to keep the rich in their area, supposedly because it creates more jobs, and so the rich get tax breaks. Does this happen for anyone else? No. Can we do anything about it? Of course not. At least, not as we are now, but that’s a topic for another time.

Source: https://econographics.wordpress.com/2012/10/16/average-household-income-by-quintile-1968-2011/

In conclusion, the influence of money makes itself known in any way possible, and as long as lobbyism remains the 20,000% return on investment that it is, the rich will find it’s allure irresistible.

Hello, my name is Nathan, and welcome back to this wonderful blog that i definitely write in by choice. In today’s post I’m going to be talking about our project, the Great War exhibit. First of all, our driving question: How might we use artifacts and film to show the significance of WWI?

What you see here is the video we launched this project with. Our goal for this video was to explain why our chosen Canadian symbol was the most significant representation of Canada.

https://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/discover/military-heritage/first-world-war/personnel-records/Pages/item.aspx?IdNumber=135628

This was the source of my information on my soldier Duke Macrolling. Who is that you may ask? Well, to be brief, a WWI soldier. Of course, I am fully aware this alone will not suffice as an explanation, you hunger for more! Naturally, I will grant you what you wish. Duke Macrolling was a civil engineer living in Vancouver, British Columbia, prior to the First World War. However, once war broke out, he gladly enlisted in Edmonton, Alberta as a member of the engineer corps to fight for the triple entente against the triple alliance. Unfortunately, he was injured in the aforementioned war.

This was the screenplay i used for my video. The general idea of a screenplay is for it to be used kind of as a script and also as directions for the actors and actresses  involved. While it had to be formatted in an odd manner, it did the job fine in the end, although for one with a good memory, much of it, even all of it can become obsolete, provided one can improvise on the spot and prepare properly. 

Now, we talk about the core competencies that drove our learning for this project. First we have establishing historical significance. I’d say I did an all-round decent job on this one due to the fact that my knowledge of history allowed me to present many accurate pieces of information. As for the global collaborator competency, I could have done better. Simply put, I didn’t necessarily use all the technology at my disposal.

In conclusion, the Great War was a catastrophic event in the history of the world, a turning point in human history, and an incredibly fascinating subject to study. That wraps up this blog post, and just because things have changed around here, doesn’t mean the ending has.

*brofist*