#5 Empathy

"He shook his head and held out his hand for the letter. Parvana folded it and gave it back to him. His hands trembled as he put the letter back in the envelope. she saw a tear fall from his eye. It rolled down his cheek until landed in his beard. 'My wife is dead.'" pg. 79

This paragraph shows how Deborah Ellis is a great empathic author. She makes the readers feel for the characters. Authors make the readers feel empathy by using descriptive words and words that make you feel a certain way. For example when you use the word trembled instead of shook it makes the writing better and more interesting. It helps the reader know what the characters are feeling.When I read that paragraph I feel sadness for the Taliban solider and I feel that Parvana would feel a bit awkward because a man who she thought was scary and mean was crying in front of her. Sometimes the author will use empathy right at the end of the chapter so the reader is dying to read more.

In the stories we are writing for Ms Weldon, I have a lot of empathetic moments. I have writing that makes you want to cry for the characters and others that make you want to jump for joy. Empathetic writing is not the easiest thing to do but when you think about what makes you happy or sad it gets easier. When I was writing my story and I wanted the reader to feel happy I thought of words that, to me, sound happy. I used ecstatic in stead of excited or depressed instead of very sad. I hope that if you every read my story that you will feel exactly the way I wanted you to.

Deborah Ellis is an exactly writer and I hope to, someday, be as good as her!

#4 Burqas

I walk down the busy market street with my 10 year old brother as my chaperon. I see a Taliban soldier on the other side of the street I fall to the ground and hide at my brothers feet. They ask my brother, is this a relative he answers, yes this is my sister. They leave us alone and move to the next group of men. As I stand up I ripe my burqa, the only thing I have keeping me safe from the Taliban is now ruined. My brother and I run home as fast as possible so I can borrow my mothers burqa and go back to work in the market place.

Woman in Muslim countries have to wear burqas, it is probably is very stuffy under the material, that only gives you about a 3 inch whole for you to see out of. Can you imagine wearing something like a burqa in the heat of Afghanistan. I think that I would faint from the heat. Woman have to still finish their everyday chores in their burqas. Something as easy as walking up stairs would be difficult because you would keep tripping over the fabric.

When you think about how the woman have to dress in Muslim countries we take it for granted that we can wear our shorts or our bikinis with out getting beaten or taken to jail. The woman are wearing burqas that goes down passed their ankles and here at SJK girls are getting mad when our teachers tell us our kilts are too short. We are lucky here in Canada that girls and woman have the same rights as men. Could you imagine a life where all the women in Canada had to cover themselves from head to toe? I couldn't.

If I had to wear a burka I think that I would get frustrated with it. I would probably keep tripping. If girls were forced to wear burkas in Canada I think that I would want to move to a different place because I don't think it's fair for there to be discrimination against a certain gender. If every Taliban soldier had to live a day like the women did I think the would stop making the them wear burqas.

I was researching on google, that some women like the burqas, I don't think I would. Some women like them because it is a part of their religion, but they still believe that the should not have to wear the burqas all the time. I think that I would hate the burqa and that I would get rid of it the first opportunity I had. But I guess it's all based on opinion. When I see the women wearing the burqas, it makes me think just how strong some women are. They just wont give up!

#3 Eva Olsson

Imagine. You’re being shipped off in a small train car with a hundred other people, you are told you’re going to be making bricks, but when you arrive at your destination you realize you should have said “ I love you” to your mother, you might not see her ever again. To you this might just be a bad dream but to Eva Olsson it was realty. Eva Olsson came to our school on Monday to tell us about her struggles in the Holocaust. She taught us how we should never hate, and that we should never be a bully. She told us about how she was imprisoned in Auschwitz and how, after they were finally liberated, she found love and how her husband was killed by a drunk driver. She taught us a lot of lessons in that short hour long presentation. She taught us to; never drink and drive, not to be a bystander, and mostly not to be a bully!



Eva wanted us to make sure we never hate. Hate was the reason that her family was killed, hate was the reason most of the Jewish people in Europe she taking away and killed, The Holocaust started because a man hated another man. Eva has taught her children and her grand-children to say "I dislike or I don't like" instead of "I hate." I think that I will try to say I dislike because hate is a very strong word. I don't know how Eva has forgiven the Nazis after what the did to her and her family. I know that if I were Eva I would not be able to get through what the Nazis did without feeling hatred, somehow Eva seems to do it.


Eva had to go through a lot with only her sister to help her. She had to lose her mother, nieces, and father only at the age of 19. Eva has shown us we need to love our family even when we are mad at them. That we should thank them when the make us dinner or pack our lunch. We should tell our parents about our day when they ask, because you never know, it might be the last time you ever see them.


Eva Olsson has been very inspirational to me and I hope she continues to make an impact on others lives. She has had a rough life and somehow she gets the courage to go to far off places and talk about these difficulties. I can't believe that so many people died, lost their families or friends just because someone didn't like your religion. But the Holocaust was not the only time where people were killed based on their skin tone, whether they're a boy or girl, or your race. Like Nelson Mandela who was a prisoner for 27 years all because he was black, when he came out of prison he became the president of South Africa. If you think that discrimination has just happened in the past, your wrong, they're are big things: when people are prejudiced to people of a different race, And things that are small: the ongoing fight between Macs and PCs. People hate too much and we should stop before more people get hurt or killed. After Dr. Eva Olsson's speech I feel motivated to make a difference on how we view each other.

#2 Middle School Team Building Day

On Monday we went to Norval! Our team seemed to forget that there is no "I" in team! Everyone was just thinking about themselves and not giving everyone a try on the obstacles. The first activity we did , the one where we had to get the tire off the pole, everyone was getting along and letting everyone have a say in what we did. In the end I had to stand on top of Lyndsey's shoulders and even though I'm terrified of heights I got the tire off!!!!! Our team worked well in that activity, but when we went to the one where we had to walk on the rope everyone got frustrated with each other when we couldn't figure it out! We didn't finish that activity! I wish we would've!



One thing our group did well was being spotters. Everyone made sure we were safe when we were up high!!!! Saski made me feel safe. For the first activity we worked well and as a team everyone was having fun!! Our group was very encouraging. Everyone said nice comments and didn't say anything mean if someone messed up! I thought we had a fun group!



I thought that Norval was very fun!!! I especially liked the drumming!! My friends and I had fun when we played the maracas. We got really into the dancing!! I thought it was nice that everyone got to play something together and we were all in rhythm together. If SJK were to do another drum circle we should use the drum cafe again! I wish that we were allowed to do more of the activities, but other then that it was a great day!!!!

#1 The Clothes Make The Man

In our generation every one cares a lot about what people are going to think of them, but do clothes really shape who you are? Sometimes the clothes you put on in the morning are an image of how you are feeling that day. If someone is really tired in the morning and all they want to wear is sweatpants and a sweater, as soon as we see them we think that they are lazy or they don't care about clothes. Clothing does make a difference. When you want to go for a job interview and you are wearing ripped jeans and the guy sitting next to you is wearing a suit, who do you think is going to get the job? The clean cut business guy or the slob? Everyone thinks that they have to have the latest trend or they will look weird and out of fashion, but why does it matter?! We should be able to wear anything we want and not be judged! I think it takes a brave person to wear weird clothes and be different!

I don't think it is fair for people to make fun of you for your clothing. Clothing is a way to express your personality, when you wear a shirt that you bought at a concert, it shows everyone you see that day that you like that band. Some of the trends we have are cruel like killing the animals to get their furs! Every day people put themselves through torture to wear the latest trends. Do you think that women like wearing huge heels everyday and working in them, I know that I wouldn't. Even in the medieval times people wore ridiculous things because that's what was in an the time. Woman wore corsets so they could fit in the dresses. Men wore funny hats that made it hard to see what was beside you! If there wasn't any trends and everyone wore what they wanted to everyone would be happier!!