THE GIRL WHO SILENCED THE WORLD

Severn S. Suzuki, she is the girl who silenced the world for seven minutes in 1992. My ESL (English as Second Language) teacher showed us this video when she introduced us the environmental issue we are now facing as the citizen of the world.

Before, I never knew about this video or who Severn Suzuki is. I found this video was very thought provoking and heart touching. A 12 year old girl gave a speech in public, talking about environment, fighting for her generation in the future. In fact, we are still facing the same problems she talked about in 1992, or even worse.

 I watched this video several times and still it could catch my attention. I loved the whole speech, not only the message but also her voice, tone, pitch range, intonation, everything. My next question is, where is she now? Is she still concerning about environmental issue?

Then I found this video,

She is there, doing the same thing she did when she was a kid, fighting for future generation to live in a better world. We don’t have a label as environment activists, but still we can do tiny little things to keep the world green. Even tiny little things do matter.

THE JACK O’LANTERN

The Jack O'Lantern

Last Wednesday, October 31st was my first Halloween. All I thought about Halloween were dressing on scary costumes and lots of candies and chocolates. But in fact, there was a unique story about its history. Actually, people celebrate Halloween for several reasons, which includes celebrating the lives of people who aren't with us anymore.

What is more interesting for me is pumpkin. What is the idea of using pumpkin as an icon of Halloween? Why do they carve the pumpkin into certain design?

Well, after googling, I finally found the unique story behind it. The design made for pumpkin named Jack O' Lanterns. Jack O' Lanterns is a popular Halloween tradition that originated hundreds of years ago in Ireland. The practice originated from an Irish myth about a man named "Stingy Jack." According to the story, Stingy Jack invited the Devil to have a drink with him. Stingy Jack then asked the devil to turn himself into a coin that Jack could use to buy their drinks. But, Stingy Jack kept the coin with him, so the devil could not turn into his original form. Another time, Stingy Jack again tricked the Devil into climbing the tree to pick a piece of fruit. While he was up in the tree, Jack carved a sign of the cross into the tree's bark so that the Devil could not come down. 

It said, God would not allow such an terrible soul into heaven. The Devil, upset by the trick Jack had played on him and keeping his word not to claim his soul. Then on Jack’s death, the devil sent Jack off into the dark night with only a burning coal to light his way. Jack put the coal into a carved-out turnip and has been roaming the Earth with ever since. The Irish began to refer to this ghostly figure as "Jack of the Lantern," and then, simply "Jack O' Lantern."

In Ireland and Scotland, people began to make their own versions of Jack's lanterns by carving scary faces into turnips or potatoes and placing them into windows or near doors to frighten away Stingy Jack and other wandering evil spirits. Immigrants from these countries brought the Jack O' Lantern tradition with them when they came to the United States. They soon found that pumpkins, a fruit native to America, make perfect Jack O' Lanterns.

Isn't it cool? YES, it is!
HAPPY HALLOWEEN!! :)

Happy Halloween!

THEO CHOCOLATE, YUMMY!!

Two weeks ago we went as group to Theo Chocolate Factory. The factory is located in Fremont, north of downtown Seattle. The factory building looked simple from the outside and surely warm inside. It suddenly reminded me about the movie “Charlie and The Chocolate Factory.” Honestly, that was my very first time visiting a chocolate factory, naming myself as a chocolate lover, I should have gone for a chocolate tour before. Isn’t it? Hahaha.. 

It was a very wonderful tour. I got to learn a bit about chocolate, from where they got the chocolate and through the process which seemed not as complicated as I thought. The tour guide explained that Theo is the only factory that is organic and fair trade, sounds cool? Yeah!! It was so much fun to have a guide who knowledgeable and handing you chocolates and taking you behind the scenes on how they made them.

Theo has very nice displays, and no doubt; a delicious chocolate! Theo seems to focus more on dark chocolate, which I know is good for health. What I loved the most were the free chocolate samples, They were definitely tasteful! You can taste the samples as much as you want, my favorite one was milk chocolate with 45% cacao. The more cacao, the bitter it tastes.

Chocolate milk from Theo!

Here are some cool pictures I took during the tour!

The tour guide explaining the process of making chocolate

'Sweet Coco'-The sweet notebook, Isn't it?

Group picture in front of the factory (anish's camera)

I just now found Theo official website and realized that the tour costed 6$ per each person, it was free for us though! J If you are in Seattle or happen to be there, don’t forget to visit Theo Chocolate Factory!

HANG ON POLITICAL ISSUE

         What do you think when you hear the word ‘politics’? Some might be curious, and some might have no idea at all, including me. My friend in Madison, Sylvia, sent me a message through inbox on facebook, asking for my opinion about the election issue after watching the last presidential debate. She told me that this opinion would be included in her article for weekly college weekly newspaper. Did I watch the final debate? Yes, I did. Oops! I had my mass media assignment for final presidential debate, but It was not the only reason I watched the debate. I think it was worth watching since I would not experience it twice, live debate on TV. 

To me personally, it’s kind of complicated to understand how American people elect their president, I mean it’s very different compared to election system in Indonesia. Watch the TV, and see what mass media do with this election issue! It is interesting to know that media can choose and campaign for certain candidates. Walk around the city, and hear people talking about Obama and Romney! It is so   provoking, and  keeps me updating the news to see what is going on every day.

Back to my friend, Sylvia. Before, she told me that she was offensive of Romney’s statement (not in debate) that he said, “Look at Indonesia in the 60s. We helped them move toward modernity.” She finally wrote an article for college newspaper and put my opinion on it. I find her article very interesting and explanatory; she also added some opinions from international student as the source.

Here is the link to her article in online version: http://www.theonlineclarion.com/election2012/2012/10/30/foreign-policy-controversy-and-whats-expected/