Speech- inaugural address

Today when we were given a copy of inaugural speeches, I was speechless. Don’t tell me that we are going to write an inaugural speech! Then Ms Dzeelfa explained that we were actually needed to write an inaugural speech. What a nightmare! I hate speeches! Our group was assigned to read the speech from Franklin Delano Roosevelt about the Pearl Harbor Address to the Nation. I have this negative mindset that all speeches are boring. But after reading this particular speech, it turned out to be that the speech was marvelous. I could really feel what Roosevelt was trying to convey, how angry and depressed he was about the attacking of the Pearl Harbor. After reading my assigned speeches, I ended up reading another speech from Earl of Spencer about Princess Diana’s death. I was touched! Then we were required to answer some questions about the speech. I was never introduced to speech reading before, thus this experience of reading inaugural speech is something new and quite interesting.

Parody Presentation

At last, we are going to present our own version of parody. At first, we were thinking of doing the parody of The Three Musketeers. But after a few cats and dogs arguments, we have decided to change our parody to The Hunchback of Notre Dame. It was so difficult to choose the appropriate scene from the Musketeers, and Hunchback was much more easier. We came up with the dialogue and did some last minutes practices. We were kind of worried that we might not be able to perform it well due to the last minute changes. But fortunately, things went quite smooth and we enjoyed ourselves very much. The others did a wonderful job in presenting their version of the parody. I really did not realize that parody can actually be a stress-release things to read. After all the introduction of parody by Ms Dzeelfa, I realized that now sometimes I do google parodies and actually read it. It was fun, and by reading it you could actually release your tense. But of course, I only read the funny ones, an dkeep myself away from those serious and politically address issues.

Malaysian marginalized literature

First of all, thank you Ms Dzeelfa for all your comments-I know you are a very busy woman!!In the Marginalized Literature post you commented about Malaysian marginalized literature. Honestly,I am not very familiar with Malaysian English literary works. I hope that i haven't lost interest in reading story books. I used to have collection of Nancy Drew, Francine Pascal and Christopher Pike's books during my school days, but they weren't returned back to me everytime I lend them to someone. So after that I have stopped buying books, and since then I realized that I haven't read as much as I used to. Back to marginalized literature in our country, the only writer that I am familiar with is Muhamamad Haji Salleh, and we know that Malaysian do not have the habit of reading. Perhaps in Bahasa Melayu, the marginalized literature is more voiced compared to the Malaysian English literature. But I am not familiar with any of the Malaysian minority ethnic groups literary works. I would love to read their work. They are often discriminated, and I would like to know how they express themselves in a literary work.If you knew any of their works, do let me know!

Remember that I said we learned about parody in class?Well, Ms Dzeelfa wants us to come up with our own version of parody!And guess what, we need to present our parody to the class. So it's play time! My group members and I cracked our head just to decide on what story should we mock on. First we decided to write on local legends like Hang Tuah or Mahsuri but then we opt to The Three Mustketeers...this should be fun!I mean and terrifying- I don't even know how to write a good piece of story and here I am, mocking about other people story. I guess we just have to wait and see our version of the three musketeers..

Parody

Today we were introduced to parody...am guess what?I am beginning to like parody! I mean, it's interesting to read about people mocking on other people's work!Ms Dzeelfa has given us a few examples of parody and I like the one about the Hansel and Gratel...very un-fairy tale. Sometimes it is enjoying to read other people views and perceptions of a literary works. I didn't realized that almost every literary works has its own parody.It could be exciting to the readers but I'm jusy wondering, how would the author feels about his or her works being mocked and published? Does it affects the author? Ms Dzeelfa told us that there is a book of parody about Harry Potter called Barry Trotter written by Michael Gerber. I have came across the parody version of Lord of the Rings-Bored of the Rings...I just have a glance at it and I think it is a non-humorous version...well, I don't really know. Personally, I don't think JK Rowling really mind about people mocking the world's famous witch boy because she is so famous and rich-but what about the unfamous author?Do they care?

Position Paper Presentation

I have finished writing my position paper but I haven't presented the power point slides. So this morning Agnes and I presented our power point presentations. Luckily Agnes and I went there early, so we didn't have to wait that long. There are some changes that I need to make, and there are also some points that I need to clarify in my stands. Having this little chat with Ms Dzeelfa made me realized how different people can have different perspectives and views on certain things. For example, I'm doing my position paper based on her short story, and of course as the writer she has her own views and expectations. I sees the story differently,and when she discusses with me about her views, I wondered how on earth I did not notice that before! Well, perhaps that is why I am not a writer!Anyway, I need to edit my position paper now before the disease of laziness affected me!

Marginalised Literature

When I got my handout about the marginalised literature, I was a bit lost on what are we actually studying now?I felt like I was in a history class rather in a literature class. But soon after I read the poem "Theme For English" by Langston Hughes, I began to make sense of my learning. Why on earth does the white people dislike the coloured ones? I mean we are all human beings. Then I realized that the literary works on marginalised literature are mainly concerned about the ethnic minority groups in the western.Reading works of Langston Hughes made me realized how serious the racial problems during those days. I especially like his poem Cross which he talks about his mix roots. I wonder how does he feels, not being white or black...

Position Paper Draft

Hi again! It's been a while since my last entry. Well, I was a little bit occupied with assignments here and there...and balik kampung. Last 2 weeks I had a discussion with Ms Dzeelfa regarding the position paper. I showed her my dratf and she commented here and there. In the beginning I was a little bit anxious about proceeding with my position paper. I even tried to change my position paper. Well, the short story that I was doing my position paper entitled "The Competition", written by Ms Dzeelfa. Haha, the author herself! And of course she has her own views and perceptions of the story. But after some thoughts, I decided to continue writing the paper. So, after my first meeting with her, I started to edit my stand for the paper. Hey, that was not so bad! Yes I stumbled in the beginning of the process but after our discussion, I had a clearer views of what I am supposed to write. Well, I better start writing!See ya!