Summary of the event; A Date with a Literary Scholar

-REFAAT ALAREER-

The session start as Mr. Refaat described the geographical area of Palestine, Gaza and the West bank where it has overtaken by the Israel.

According to him, the tension had started many years ago when the Jews were being oppressed and they starting to use prose to defend themselves and to fight for their positions.

So when they came to achieved their goals through the ‘Cast Lead’, which is so called war, this time the Palestinian gaining some sort of epiphany to write something on their behalf.

They are inspired by a few other writers such as Mahmoud Darwish and Tamim Bargouti. Mr. Refaat also listed some names of Palestinian poets who write in English.

                    i.            Rafeef Ziadah (We Teach Life, Sir)

                  ii.            Susan Abulhawa (Wala! and a novel; Morning in Genuine)

                iii.            Remi Kanazi

Mr. Refaat had shared some tips or steps in beginning to write poetry.

•  Read a lot of good and high quality of poetry
•    Believe that you can write good stuff.
•  Have the will to do so.
• Always scribble your thoughts.
•  Imitate (as for the first step)
•  Be yourself

For the final part of the event, we had the questions and answers session.

Who are his favourite poets?-  John Donne and T.S. Eliot

What kind of poem the Palestinian used to wrote before the war?- Personal issues, love and something usual

How to write about the feeling or suffering of others? - Being a poet or a writer is to be everyone, to understand and to be able to put our self on the positions of everyone.

 Is the olive carries any meaning to the Palestinian?
- The olive is very much related to the life of Palestinian, though traditionally they’re using it for medical purposes but olive also symbolizing their own existence on that very land.The olive is the one that connect the Palestinian with the land and the prove of their past history and life.

In summary, I had gained such an inspiring time learning from the scholar invited and those experiences that he shared had gave an insight about a lot of issues on the situation of Palestine today, especially in the Gaza. 

The opportunity that we had in this country should be deeply appreciated because we couldn't even imagine if we are in their place.

It is an honour to treasure all the knowledge gained from the event.

The First World War

One of the major events involving the world conflicts is the First World War. To be real, we know what happened in that time, it begin in Sarajevo Bosnia, Archduke Franz Ferdinand was killed by a Serbian nationalist in the end of June and this became the immediate factor of the First World War to explode, but actually many that know the war will still begun even if this never had happened. The power of the world was divided into two; which is the Allied powers that made of the Great Britain, United States, Russia, France, Italy and Japan, the second one is the Central powers including Germany, Austria-Hungary and the Ottoman Empire. The war started when Serbia and Austria-Hungary are having some conflicts of their own, but when one declaring a war, the others must do the same and the surrounding countries that are ally of any of those countries would also get involved.

The war was so horrible because it is the first time they use the high technology weapons such as machine guns, tanks, airplane and even chemical weapons such as poisonous gas. During that time, the airplane was also being carried by the big ship crossing the ocean. The politician will only care about the conflicts, it is sad to think about who will care for those who died? By the end of these four years of dark time, more than 9 million of soldiers had died and 21 million were wounded, reading this we only looking at numbers and words, it’s really nothing, but if we look thoroughly by our hearts we know that it is a tragedy, a great horror and the saddest events of the entire human existence. People died everywhere during that time, not only by the bullets of a gun but also by the spreading of diseases, weather, condition of their surroundings, damages and the destruction of everything. We didn't cry to heard this matter, it is sound more like a story than the truth, but that is why there are some people in this world such as Wilfred Owen, Siegfried Sassoon, John McCrae and others, that making poems from this true events for us to reflect the real things that happened, for us to understand it better, judge and choose for the rights in this world.

These war ends in November 1918 by the defeated of the Central powers, Germany begin to crumble and some countries having a revolution including Berlin and France. It has ended, but we will still learning and remember the significance of everything that happened through some stories written about the war through fiction or poetry. People nowadays need to understand that a war would have happen again if we can’t find some peace between one another and didn't bother to believe in the peacefulness of the world.

References

"World War One." BBC News. BBC, 2013. Web. 10 Oct. 2013. <http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/worldwars/wwone/>.

World War One Poem

John McCrae, May 1915

In Flanders Fields

In Flanders fields the poppies blow

Between the crosses, row on row,

That mark our place; and in the sky

The larks, still bravely singing, fly

Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago

We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,

Loved and were loved, and now we lie

In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:

To you from failing hands we throw

The torch; be yours to hold it high.

If ye break faith with us who die

We shall not sleep, though poppies grow

In Flanders fields.

References

Legg, Joanne, Graham Parker, and David Legg. "In Flanders Fields." First World War Poems. Www.greatwar.co.uk, 1998. Web. 10 Oct. 2013. <http://www.greatwar.co.uk/poems/john-mccrae-in-flanders-fields.htm>.

"Biography of John McCrae." PoemHunter.com. PoemHunter.com, n.d. Web. 10 Oct. 2013. <http://www.poemhunter.com/john-mccrae/biography/>.

Define it....

What is poetry? 

"Aristotle, ( 384-322 B.C.) defines poetry as the mimetic, or imitative, use of language, rhythm, and harmony, separately or in combination. It creates a representation of objects and events in the world." (Sparknotes Editor)

SparkNotes Editor. "SparkNote on Aristotle (384-322 B.C.)." SparkNotes.com. SparkNotes LLC. 2005. Web. 1 Oct. 2013.

What is drama?

Drama is seen as a process whereby students can use knowledge, not as a point of reference as something out there to be copied, but as a source of understanding to be analysed and questioned. Drama is thus social and fuels a curiosity about the world, its inhabitants and one's own feelings towards it. It uses the conditions of humanity and stresses the importance of reflection. (Radley 6)

Radley, Kathleen Elizabeth. The teaching of drama in secondary schools: how Cambridgeshire teachers feel the subject should be taught in relationship to the National Curriculum. EdD thesis. The Open University. 2002. <http://oro.open.ac.uk/18810/1/>