The American Constitution

A few days ago we had a visitor in class. Her name was Lee Ann Potter and she spoke about the American Constitution. She was a good speaker and it was interesting to listen to her. In this entry I will try to recapture what she told us in a short summary. Enjoy!

The American form of government was written down in a Constitution adopted in 1787, not long after the thirteen colonies gained independence from Great Britain. They decided to have a representative democracy. The system worked like this; elected representatives would regularly be shifted out. For the first time the power belonged to the people, and not to a king. They also decided to have a federal system. This was made up of individual states, which gave only certain specific powers to a central government. This is known as federalism. The last thing they decided was to divide the powers of the federal government into three. Each of these branches kept track of the other two so that none of them could become too powerful. This is known as the separation of powers.

As you see, the Americans were very eager to make sure that no person or persons would be allowed to have too much power. This is understandable after fighting war against what they viewed as the tyranny of King George III.

Lee Ann Potter showed the class a clip on YouTube. The clip was a jingle that aired on television when she was a little girl. It was named “We – the people” and the text of the refrain is the Preamble (which is the beginning part of the American Constitution). It was pretty funny. Check it out!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aNb9AoY5XXE

Milk

Last Tuesday I watched the film Milk with my class. I had seen it once before but I did not mind seeing it again because I think it is so good. It is a very serious and important film that is grounded in historical events. Howard Milk was a real person who lived from 1930-1978. He was the first openly gay man to be elected to any substantial political office. He was murdered on November 27, 1978. Milk is a film about Harvey Milks journey from being a gay man living in the closet to being the first openly gay person to be elected to major office.

The film is set in two different time zones. The first scene is from the “future” where Milk sits at his breakfast table talking into a microphone. He starts telling his story before the film travels back in time. Milk meets a gorgeous young man whom he falls in love with. This young man eventually becomes not only Milks boyfriend but also his campaign manager, at least for a period. Their relationship makes you smile because they are so cute together. As I have already told you this story is real. Harvey Milk was real. I get chills already in one of the first scenes where Milk and many homosexuals march down the streets in San Francisco as an attempt to be heard. I think the film is absolutely fantastic. It is touching and I think that Sean Penn does an amazing job in the lead as Harvey Milk.

I find myself writing down and then deleting what I have already written over and over again. This is because I am afraid to give anything away. There are so many important events happening in the film and I think I should stop writing before I ruin the film for you. You just have to see it yourself! This is probably a given by now, anyway I think I should tell you one more time that I strongly recommend this movie to everyone.

“His life changed history – his courage changed lives”
His goal was to make homosexuality legal. You are definitely missing out on something great if you do not watch this movie. Watch the trailer here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZLC5SzczC44

Loony Parties

In the UK the three major parties are the Labour Party, the Conservative Party and the Liberal Democrats. These parties are taken very seriously by British citizens. But there also exists smaller parties which are not taken so seriously. They have been founded to show how absurd politics can be. The Official Monster Raving Loony Party was established in 1983 by musician and politician David Sutch, also known as Screaming Lord Sutch. Even though there exists hundreds of candidates with ridiculous names none of them have ever won a seat in the Commons. One of the loony parties proposes a lowering of the school-leaving age to nine.

Examples of crazy proposals:

-Re-introducing hanging (but only for offences like throwing away banana skins on the street)

-Conquering France

-Placing an electric shock collar on the other politicians, the type to stop dogs barking, so they can be shocked every time they lie

-All football team's should wear the same colored shirts, shorts and boots, wear big red noses and bright green wigs, as this will lead to a more exciting and interesting game.

-Semicolons should be banned; No-one knows when to use one anyway.

Not many people vote for these parties, but a few actually do. The fact that loony parties win a handful of votes indicates that some people are quite bored with conventional politics – and that many have a good sense of humor.

Screaming Lord Sutch (1940-1999)

In 1954..

Joseph R. McCarthy (1908-1957) is best known as a communist-hating senator. At a period McCarthy was one of the most powerful men in Washington. He developed a personal and political view that has been called McCarthyism. It included bullying attacks and accusations, branding anyone who disagreed with him as disloyal, un-American or a communist symphatizer. In 1954 McCarthy accused public figures of being communists and reportet that the Army was trying to keep him from digging out more communists.

In the 1950s, racial segregation in public schools was the norm across America. Oliver Brown who was the father of a black third-grader was tired of seeing his little girl walk such a long way too school. He wanted to challenge segregation in public schools and in 1951, the NAACP, recuested an injuction that would forbid the segregation of Topeka's public schools. Eventually the proposal came through and in 1954 supreme court decided that racial segregation in schools was unconstitutional.

Lions for lambs

Three different stories with three separate time zones are told simultaneously in the film Lions for lambs. Republican Senator Jasper Irving gives a one-on-one interview to a cynical veteran television reporter named Janine Roth. Irving details a strategy for victory in Afghanistan while Roth asks skeptical questions. Meanwhile professor Dr. Stephen Malley invites a promising student named Todd Hayes to his office for a talk. Hayes has been skipping class and Malley tries to re-engage him. Concurrently, a platoon of United States soldiers is airlifted to a location in the Afghan mountains to head off the Taliban.

These three separate events are linked at the very beginning of the film. Irving tells Roth that small groups have been sent into Afghanistan to resolve the deadlock. Meanwhile Malley tells his student a story about two former students he had. His former students both enlisted in the military. The mission they were sent on is the mission Senator Irving is telling Roth about. In this way all three stories are connected.

But why did Malley’s former students join the military? They both grew up in poor families and faced many challenges growing up. They had to work hard to get good grades so they could get a scholarship and attend college. They were the part of the American society that no one really cared about. They wanted to make USA a better place for everyone to live. But to do so they first had to engage people in their country’s foreign problems. They did not want to just sit back and do nothing.

Irving and Roth end their interview, Malley and Hayes end their talk and the soldiers end their lives. Roth wants to publish the story with a negative perception to Irving’s mission but is told to do the exact opposite by her boss. Hayes has clearly been affected by his teacher’s story and goes home thinking about it. The reporter, the student and the soldiers all have to make an important decision but we only get to see what the soldier’s decision is.

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I thought the film was okay entertainment. If you ask me I would probably recommend a different film. However, it does make you think about doing something special with your life. And that is not such a bad thing is it?

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Lions for lambs, trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n_V6ulwA0KE

Snowboarding

Snowboarding is a sport that is very popular in Norway. If you were to ski (or to snowboard) down our slopes half of the people there would be snowboarding. It is mostly young people who do it but older people are beginning to join the popular wave as well. But snowboarding can bee dangerous and it is important to use a helmet. The snowboard is attached to the riders' feet using a special boot set into a binding that does not come off if the rider were to fall.

To be able to ride a snowboard you have to have good balance, technique and stamina. I have snowboarded since i was a little girl and I can go pretty fast and controlled down the slopes. However, where I am at compared to where professional snowboarders are at are two very different levels. The pictures to the left are all pictures of good snowboarders.

Since snowboarding became a Winter Olympic Sport (in 1998) it has developed various styles each with its own specialized equipment and technique. In USA there is an annual sports event called X Games. Click on the link below to see some insane snowboarding from this American competition.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gSQgld2RPIA

9/11

Last Tuesday my class watched a documentary made in 2002 called 9/11. I have seen many movies made about this date but I had never even heard about this documentary. I thought it was extremely exciting to see real footage from that day. It was filmed and directed by two brothers named Jules and Gedeon Naudet who was in the middle of the chaos when the two plains crashed into the towers. Originally the two brothers were making a documentary on a probationary firefighter on the New York City Fire Department (Battalion 1).

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On the morning on September 11th Battalion 1 was called to check out a gas leak near the towers. Jules Naudet filmed the first plain crashing into tower one. Battalion 1 was the first responders to the scene. Jules and Gedeon get separated during most of the day. The film continues to show 9/11 through the cameras of the two brothers who are in different places in New York. I definitely recommend this film to everybody! But I have to warn you; it is a very strong film.

I think most of us remember where we were and what we were doing on September 11. It was (and still is) the biggest terrorist attack in history and it shocked the whole world. How did the people in USA react to this attack? First of all people got scared. They no longer felt secure going to their jobs or leaving their kids in kinder garden. The fear of another attack was very real. One of the definitions of terrorism is that it is violent acts that are intended to create fear. And 9/11 really created fear throughout the world.

People in Europe also got scared. They got scared that their country was next on the terrorists list. But above all the Europeans sympathized with USA. USA declared a global fight against terrorism and Europe was not late to enter. Europe wanted to help and to stop terrorism. USA also reached out to the states for allies in the fight and this brought the country together. But the Americans were not only sad. They were also very angry and wanted revenge for their loss. It is still an ongoing conflict today; should the American soldiers in Afghanistan be taken out or not?

After 9/11 airport security have become very strict in both USA and Europe. People are afraid of another similar attack and are trying to prevent it from happening. 9/11 was a day that shocked both USA and Europe. Americans have sworn that the lives lost on that day will never be forgotten.

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Jules Naudet's film of the first plain craching into tower one can be seen here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ys41jnL2Elk

Weather today

Hi everybody!

When I woke up today it was cold and grey outside. But the grey has gone away and the sun is shining :) It's still really cold though, but that is just because the autumn has arrived! Autumn in Norway is a beautiful season. The leaves turn orange and yellow and eventually fall of the threes. Spring is the total opposite. Everything turns green and flowers blossom.

My favourite season is summer. I love Norwegian winter as well but it is to long for me. The snow is lovely but the darkness can be very tireing at times. The winter is mostly spent at home but also at my winter cabin in Sjusjøen. I have been snowboarding since I was about six years old and I think it is a lot of fun. I am also trying out down hill skiing now. In the summer vacation I spend my time at my summer cabin which is about an hour drive from my house. I love it there! I have many girlfriends who stay there as well and we have a lot of fun. We bathe, waterski or wakeboard all day long and in the evening we drive down town and attend a movie or to shop at the mall. What do you guys do in your holidays and which season is your favourite one?

George Orwell

Eric Arthur Blair was born on June 25th 1903 in Motihari, Bihar India (then a British colony). When he was one year old Eric and his mother moved to England. He went to the Anglican parish school of Henley-on-Thames, St. Cyprian’s school in Sussex and Eton College. Corporal punishment was common and possibly a source of his initial resentment towards authority. Eric Arthur Blair is better known under the pseudonym George Orwell. Orwell was journalist and political author.

Soon after the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War, Orwell volunteered to fight for the Republicans against Franco's Nationalist uprising. Orwell was shot in the neck in 1937, an experience he described in his short essay "Wounded by a Fascist Sniper".

Eric Arthur Blair: "The quickest way of ending a war is to lose it."

During most of his career Orwell was best known for his journalism, both in the British press and in books of reportage such as Homage to Catalonia. Contemporary readers are more often introduced to Orwell as a novelist, particularly through his enormously successful titles Animal Farm and Nineteen Eighty-Four. Orwell is also known for his insights about the political implications of the use of language.

Birthday

Yey, my birthday is in three days!

On September 17th I turn eighteen! My boyfriend is taking me to see "Raske menn" in Oslo. "Raske menn" is a very funny Norwegian stand up-group. I am really excited!

Another thing, the election in Norway is today. It is my first time to vote so that is pretty cool as well!

Inglorious basterds

A couple of weeks ago I saw one of the best films I have ever seen! I am a huge Tarantino fan and I think his latest film "Inglorious basterds" is his best one yet.

The plot is set in Nazi-occupied France during World War II. A group of Jewish-American soldiers, "The Basterds", are spreading fear throughout the Third Reich by hunting Nazis. Brad Pitt plays the leader of "The Basterds" as Aldo Raine and he does an excellent job in my opinion. A French-Jewish girl who runs a movie theater in Paris also has a plan including killing Nazis and she crosses paths with "The Basterds".

I absolutely loved this film. It is very funny and incredibly exciting! So if you have not seen it yet I suggest you do not make any other plans for this Friday because it is an absolutely must-see-movie!

You can watch the trailer to the film here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5sQhTVz5IjQ

Siegfried Sassoon

- Siegfried Sassoon was a decorated soldier
- His poem “Does it matter?” created a sort of shock
- WW1 soldiers thought the war would be different
- Sassoon said that in the beginning it was a war of defence but it became a war of aggression
- Sassoon was on a hospital for the mentally ill

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f3-qSV6zPDE

“Does it matter?”

The three effects of the war on a soldier the poem "Does it matter?" touch on are:
-losing your legs
-loosing your sight
-loosing your dreams

The soldiers feel that their country does not care if they loose their legs, sight and dreams.

This poem by Siegfried Sassoon probably has enjoyed a bit of a revival because of the soldiers that are being sent to fight in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Me and my hometown

Hi everybody!

My name is Hanne and I am a 17 year old girl from Norway. I created this blog because my English-teacher told me I had to. I am supposed to write about social studies but first I will tell you something about myself and where I live.

My life started on September 17, 1991 in the capital of Norway which is of course Oslo. I lived in the center of the town for about one year until my parents decided to move right outside of Oslo to a place called Baerum. I am very happy with their decision because Baerum have been a great place to grow up. It is one of the richest townships in Norway and people living here are known for being snobby and full of theirselves. If I am visiting some friends on the country I try to avoid the question "Were are you from?" If I can't avoid it I tell them I live just outside Oslo. I do this because when people hear I'm from Baerum they make assumptions and it can be kind of tireing to hear what they think about me before they even know my last name.

But enough about that! I love listening to music, watching crap-TV and good movies and hanging out with my friends and boyfriend. In the summer I lay on the beach, barbecue and party. And in the winter I freeze and ride snowboard :-)
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