OOOPS...

Talking about Natives these days, and how to address people in a respectful manner, I just came across this article about the Victoria's secret show. This may be an interesting read for you. What do you think?

Read the article here.

Native Peoples

To kickstart you on the Natives, I want to recommend you a couple of films related to the topic. Films are a great way to inspire you and give you different angles. It may be a great way for you to want to find out more about specific topics! Here they are:

On Inuits:

Read more about it here.

On Native Americans:

Read more about it here.

On Aborigines:

Read about it here.

On Maoris:

More about it here.

Brainy Babies

I just came across this article about kindergartens that test the kids to find out if they are smart enough to attend their school. This is SO different from the policy we have in Norway, where everyone should attend the same school no matter how high their IQ is. Still, I find it interesting that other countries do it differently. Here are some of the tests the children have to answer correctly! How well do you do?

Anglocreep?

In Norway we are constantly debating if we use too many English words when we speak. (I am terrible at this by the way). Who knew, that this is a debate in America as well, that they are using too many British words! How funny!! Alex Williams, the husband of one of my favorite bloggers Joanna Goddard, wrote a really funny article about this in the NY Times. Read it here!

Pic from here.

Wheels of Change

In 1895 The New York World posted an article on the do's and don'ts for women in bikes. Many people claim that riding a bike was a big part of the women's liberation, it allowed them to move freely around, and it finally made an excuse for woman to get out of the corsets and skirts and wear pants.

The list is amazing, can somebody please tell me what a "bicycle-face" is??? And what has chewing gum got to do with anything? (BTW this was my last female-related post for now.)

Anti Suffragette Postcards

As expected, some people (and not only men) thought the idea of women voting was absolute nonsense. The Suffragettes were portrayed as angry, unattractive women. Many of the women protesting were arrested. Once arrested the women often went on hunger strikes, refusing to eat anything at all. Many of them were force-fed by the prison, as you can see it is made fun of in the card above. To see more of the postcards, go here! It is quite fascinating!

The Suffragettes

Throughout this year we will talk about freedom fighters, and oppressed groups fighting for their civil rights. The following days, I'll show you some articles and pics from the Suffragettes movement, who fought for the women's right to vote. To start it off, I think it's a good idea that you read this article in BBC news. Try to keep in mind what you know about history in the English speaking world at the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century. Colonies? Slavery? Make a historical mind map, it will be useful later!

Remember, when talking about "freedom fighters" we often forget to include the people fighting for the rights of women!

Nothing Good Gets Away.

Many of you have probably not (yet) heard about John Steinbeck, but trust me: you will. He is a very famous author. However, the letter he has written that I'm about to show you, has nothing to do with fame. Steinbeck's teenage son, going to school away from home, has fallen in love and told his father. In a letter, Steinbeck gives his advice on love.

This is his reply.

I love this, because he takes his son so seriously. People tend to write off teenager's relationships as "puppy love" even though we all know that you are capable of falling just as hard in love as an adult is. Have your parents given you any good advice on love? Share with me. I want to make sure I never underestimate my boys when they fall in love.

Talking about Steinbeck, here are six REALLY good tips on how to write from Steinbeck himself.

Pic from here.

Tavi Revisited

Before recommending this page to you, I wanted to make sure it was really as good as I thought. I posted the video on Tavi Gavinson in the spring. I could tell from the stats on the blog that many of you watched it, and hopefully you found it inspiring. Tavi is the editor of the online magazine ROOKIE. It is nothing but FANTASTIC. I wish I had something like this to read when I was your age. She has many contributors, and there are some many amazing articles on everything from fashion to politics. Please, take some time to browse through this page. You can get some really good ideas on how to write good articles, and maybe some of it helps you "to figure yourselves out." Enjoy!

Here is an article about Tavi from New York Times.

To My Old Master

The link I'm going to show you today is nothing but amazing. We have in 9th grade talked about the slavery in the US and we are going to talk more about it after Christmas, but I just cannot wait to show you this. We have talked about how many former slaves stayed with their slave owners, because they had nowhere else to go, and were bound to a life in poverty.

The letter I am linking to is written by a former slave in 1865 (the year the American Civil War ended - remember?) and is an answer to his former slave-owner who wants him to come back to work for him.

Read this and have a goose-bump moment. I did.

How Obama Tackled the Race Issue

During the last presidental campaign, Obama managed to avoid talking about race for a very long time. That was until the media found out that he had been attending the church of the controversial minister Jeremiah Wright. In this video, by THNKR, different speechwriters who has worked for presidents (you didn't think they write their own speeches?) analyzes the speech Obama gave as an answer to the critique. This may sound boring, but trust me: if you like to learn how to use words as a weapon, you want to watch this! You can learn A LOT. Notice the different parts of the speech, emphasized by the green headlines.

What's up with Broadway?

1.

2.

If you look at a map of Manhattan, NYC, you will notice that all the streets are planned in a grid. The streets are planned in straight lines. The ones going from the top of the map in the pic are the avenues, and the ones join across are streets. They are all numbered.

In the second pic you'll see all the areas. You will probably also notice that the streets of lower Manhattan ant Greenwich Village are not on the grid. You will also notice the street going diagonally across the whole map, that street is the famous Broadway.

Take a look at this short film to see the explanation as to why this is so!

Pic1 from here.
Pic2 from here.

USA Common Sense

Just like we in Norway have created stereotypes of Norwegians, or even Europeans (the French are snobbish, the Italians flirty, the Scottish cheap etc), the Americans have stereotypes connected to the different States. Here you see a map with the American stereotypes. Which state do you think "fake boobs and oranges" is? If I hadn't seen it on the map I would be torn between two. Quite fun! Can you explain more? How do you think these came about? Which state is called Scandinavia for example, and why?

via this link.

America's Dead Sea

Sometimes it seems like the fear we have when it comes to our environment is all about the future. It is important to be reminded that the things we do to our planet affects us here and now as well. This is from World Press: 

"Salton Sea in the Colorado Desert of Southern California is a former tourist destination that has turned into an environmental disaster. Born by accident 100 years ago when the Colorado River breached an irrigation canal, the lake soon became a popular resort. Yet with no outflow, and with agricultural runoff serving as its only inflow, the lake’s waters grew increasingly toxic. Though the resort towns were soon abandoned, the skeletons of these structures are still there; ghost towns encrusted in salt."

Isn't this scary and sad? Watch a short film here, notice how cleverly they use the old soundtrack with the new pictures.

LEGO

I bet you all have some. I have plenty, my two boys love it. I showed you this post earlier, a way to creatively use LEGO. I came across this patent drawing from 1958, isn't that cool? Imagine what a great invention that has been.

As the nerd I am I have started collecting LEGO buildings for my sons. A combination of great architecture and toys, what a great way to learn about wonderful buildings! The first we bought was the LEGO Guggenheim museum, which is a wonderful museum in New York City, designed by an architect called Frank Lloyd Wright. read the story behind the building here, believe me, it's a building worth recognizing.

(BTW this was also very cute. Get it?)

Pic from here.

Meet Tavi Gevinson

A couple of weeks ago one of my friends sent me a video and asked me if this could be interesting to you all, and I knew it would be. Tavi Gevinson is a 15 year-old girl who started her own fashion blog. This speech is called "A teen just trying to figure it out" and is such an honest, beautiful speech about how society and media tell you young girls what you should be like, when it really should be all up to you.

You are all at an age where you really are just trying to find your place in class, school and in the world. I hope this speech inspires you to realize that the choice of who you want to be, is all yours.

Thank you so much 9cdef for lovely days at Oksnøen, you were fantastic! I hope you had as much fun as I think you had. Enjoy the weekend, see you monday.

Welcome to The White House!

The White House in Washington DC (which is NOT in Washington State) is where the president of the USA lives and has his office. Now, you can take an amazing tour of The White House! Take a look at the video posted here to see how they did it, and then grab something cold to drink and take the actual tour here.

Enjoy!

Made by hand

It was very interesting to read all your term papers. In addition to discussing the distribution of wealth, many of you chose to write about materialism. You all seem to agree that your generation is far more materialistic than the previous one. I do in many way think you are right, but at the same time we see huge movements of people starting to appreciate the simpler things in life. A small well-cooked meal. A hand knitted sweater. Gardening. The man who chose to live without money. The two brothers making small quantities of perfect chocolate. We are somewhat tired of everything that can be bought in bulks.

Here is another example. A girl in Brooklyn, New York who has started bee keeping to make her own honey. I just love it.

(If you feel like making small, quality gifts, why not make someone a jar of home made jam or knit them something nice!)

The man who chose away money

I have now corrected almost 60 term papers, all dealing with money and money-related issues. You have made some really good points! Many of you argue that money creates more problems in the world than it does good. Well, here is a man who agrees with you and who has chosen to live without it. He left his savings (which was about $30) in a phone booth, and walked away. That was 12 years ago. Now, a book has been written about him. Look at this film, isn't it facinating?

Here is the book, I wonder if that will make its way to my reading-list for the summer... (That list is getting very long.) If it does, I will definatly tell you about it when we return to school!

Obama pretending to be interested

I would make a terrible president. I am terrible at pretending something is interesting when it really is extremely boring. Some of you are quite bad at faking as well, I have noticed....
Imagine all the incredibly boring things you will have to listen to when you are president. Everyone wants to show you what they do for a living, and let's face it: some of it is very dull.

Here is a slideshow of Obama looking at things, pretending to be interested. Or maybe he really is?