End & Beginning

Thank you.
Encore!!! haha~
(This crown the girl weared in the picture is similar to what I weared in the play of Hamlet.)

It is the end of the ISP.
Today we have finished all the presentation and handed in the ISP essay. Though it was a hard work for us to do as well as it took much time and energy for us to do the reserach, I really aprreciated that Ms. Vetuna gave us the chance to improve our learning ability. We did lots of research and selected useful information. While reading the original english novel, it also provided us a chance to enlarge my vocabulary.
As I mentioned before, I wrote my essay about the hero's journey in the Kite Runner. In a sense, I thought myself had just finished the hero's journey. :P
The call is to read the book and finish the ISP task well.
The helper in the Threshold is Mr. Venuta, espeically the conference with her.
The challenges is that I had lots of work to do, such as searching information and finding second resources.
The Abyss may be that when I had to do other reports and much homework for other courses, even had 3 tests in a busy week, but I still had to handle the ISP!
The transormation and revelation happened when I finished all the reading and got some valuable points about the books.
The Atonement may be when I found that I forgot to update the blog for some time, from that day on, I tried my best to make my blogger more informative as Ms. Vetuna suggested.
The return is that I finished the ISP task and I returned to everyday study life and prepare for my final exam. I returned to study with my new independent learning ablity, which I gained from the ISP learning.
Consequently, I am happy to say that I complete my hero's journal. (LOL~)
After the hero's journey, I had formed the ability of independent reading.

I still remember that when I did some research in the library, a kind woman said that the Kite Runner is a good book and I suggest you to read his another novel: A thousand Splendid Suns, it is better than the kite runner.

I think I would read A thousand Splendid Suns in my short semester.
It is a new begining for the my personal reading.

Encore. Once agian.

My plan for my presentation

Here is the outline for my presention~
★Remind of the 9/11 attacks in the U.S.A.
★Show the picture of war in Afghanistan
★Introduce the Taliban
★Talk about their radical Islam which somehow destroy the culture
★Especically they ban the kite flying
★Connect to the book of The Kite Runner
★Compare the picture of children's flying kites past and nowadays
★Show a wonderful vedio about the kites flying tournament referred to the book
★Display a serious of picture from New York Times about the kites flying again in the open
★Make my wish for the peace in the Afghanistan
I will make a presentation on Tuesday. wow~
I prefer to find other interesting information to add to my presentation.
Cross my fingers~!!!

After the conference with Ms. Venuta

Today, I had a conference with Ms. Venuta.
It has already past 4 o'clock, she may have something else to do after school but she still talked with me. Thanks for your care.
I talked about the idea of essay and presentation.
For essay, I wanna connect the Kite Runner with the hero's journey. I want to write how the
hero's journey applied to the Amir. I was glad that Ms. Venuta said it was a good idea~~
For presentation, I want to do some information for the background of Afghanistan. I planned to introduce some culture and religious about Afghan, which are affected by the war in the Afghan.
I searched great amouts of informaion, so it seemed to be hard to know what was the first step I should do. The culture and religious are too broad and complex to talk in only 20 minutes. What's more, it may be boring, I thouhgt.
Ms. Vetuna gave me suggestion that I had to find a hook in the presentation. The purpose of the presentation is to teach others something.
I thought I got a sense. Maybe I would talk about How war destroys culture in Afghan, especially flying kites.
OMG~
I will make a presentation on next Tuesday. I feel a bit nervous mixed with excited.
HURRY UP~~TIME IS UP~

Thinking for my Essay!

It's time for me to prepare for the essay! I has a idea that I want to write the application of the Hero's Journey in the Kite Runner. Since we had just leaned the mythlogy and the Alchemist, it helped me to gain a understanding of the hero's journey more clearly.

There is a quotation of the handout about the hero's journey, which impressed me a lot.
"The Hero's journey isn't just a pattern from myth. It's the pattern of life, growth and experience--for all of us. We see it reflected everywhere, from a televsion comedy to the great works of literature to the experiences in our own lives."

This sentence gave me the inspiration for the essay.
The narrator in the Kite Runner has a journey of return to Afghanistan to redeem himself from the sin he had made when he was a young boy. I
n the end of the story, Amir has became a good brave and faithful man, which is a sharp contrast to what he used to be, a cheater and coward.
The narrator completes his transformation in his personality!

From The New York Times: Afghan Kites

From Afghanistan, The New York Times brings us Tomas Munita's photography in a (too) short slideshow titled Back In The Air. Kite-flying is a traditional pastime in Afghanistan, however it was banned during the Taliban’s rule. Now, flying kites is once again the main recreational escape for Afghan boys and some men. It still remains largely off limits to girls and women. The big kite-fighting day is Friday, the Muslim day of prayer, and the objective of the kite fight is to slice the other flier’s string with one's own, essentially disabling it from flying. Kite-fighting string is coated with a resin made of glue and finely crushed glass, which turns it into a blade. With the release Friday of the film “The Kite Runner,” based on the best-selling novel of the same name, a much wider audience will be introduced to Afghan kite culture. Kites were invented in China some 2800 years ago, and its use migrated to Japan, Korea, Burma, India, Arabia, and North Africa, then farther south into the Malay Peninsula, Indonesia, and the islands of Oceania as far east as Easter Island. In Bali, annual kite-flying festivals draw teams from all over the country to compete.

Funny and Useful Vedio about the flying kites

Afghan Fighter Kite
This video shows how Afghan fighter kites are flown. These kites are similar to the kites from "The Kite Runner" book and movie.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fixJaV5Ja_g&feature=related

It really is a wonderful vedio about the fighgting between the kites fighters, which shows their excellent skills at flying kites. There kites are like dancing in the sky!!! Amazing~

AFGHANISTAN : THE TOUGHEST BATTLE: CHALLENGE: KITE PROBLEM
Here is a video clip of Afghanistan: The Toughest Battle. This is with regards to the problem with kites flying. This was aired on Al Jazeerah TV.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CHILUBHB2MQ&feature=related

Kites flyijng is banned by the Taliban. Kites flying also is a traditional game for Afghanistan. As a result, there comes a conflict.
Historical and Political Context for "The Kite Runner"
Peter Bergen and Massoud Aziz discuss the historical and political context for the book and movie of "The Kite Runner."

In breif version: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wAYd117Dj2Y
A detailed version:http://fora.tv/2007/12/18/Kite_Runner_A_Panel_Discussion

The Kite Runner author visits Afghanistan

Khaled Hosseini, author of the best-selling novels "The Kite Runner" and "A Thousand Splendid Suns" visits with Afghan refugees who have returned to their homeland after living as refugees for decades.


More information on the website: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g6aAgCPSdOw