A trip to the UK

Some weeks ago we had a project called: "A trip to the UK". We had to make a presentation about where in the UK we wanted to go with the class, and what we wanted to do there. There was no budget, so we could do almost whatever we wanted without thinking about what the price was and such. Me, Rikke and Jonas planed a trip to London and Northern Ireland.

In London we wanted to stay at the most finest hotel (i dont remeber the name right now). At the hotel there was alot of stuff to do, swimming, training and getting massage, ect... We also planned to order our own servants, and our own drives, with two huge, pink limo`s, with room for the hole class. Some of the days we planned to go and see some attractions, like the London Eye, Tower of Londond, Buckingham Palace, ect...

After a week in London we planed to go to Northern Ireland. There we wanted to sleep outside in tents, so we could experience the nature, and wild life. Some days we decided to climb the moutains in the area, and go swimming in the lakes...

this was a little taste of the trip we planed.

Multimedia poetry presentation

The last week we have been working with poetry. We were told to make a multimedia poetry presentation. Me and Tine chose "Strange Fruit". It is a song performed by Billie Holiday, but originally it started as a poem by Abel Meeropol. It is about racism. The hunting lyrics and melody made it impossible for white americans and politicans to continue to ignore the southern campaign of racist terror. The poem describes the contrast between peace and ungraciousness. The line: a strange fruit with blood on the root, gives us an unpleasant felling about the poem. It describes the terrible way black people got treated back in the 1930`s.

We chose this poem because we think it is about an interesting theme. It`s about a very important theme that have taken place in the American history. They call it the American holocaust, where black people got executed because they were different.

Working with poetry the way we did, is more interesting than just reading and analyse poems. We made a moviemaker presentation. The pictures we used are mostly from the 1930`s, the time when the American holocaust took place. The music we used is the song "strange fruit", performed by Billie Holiday.

National stereotyping

National stereotyping is a problem for a lot of people over the world. When you meet people from other countries, they might judge you because they have heard bad stereotypes about the inhabitants of your nation. Stereotypes can be prejudicial and often ill-informed, and often overlap with ethnic and racial stereotypes. But some stereotypes can also be positive, like Australians are good at sports, and that Britain’s are very creative.

Some national stereotypes, that are instantly recognized, play an important part in advertising and comedy. By maintaining and provoking in conflicts and wars between nations, stereotyping also play a big role.

Of mice and men - the theatre

yesterday we watched the play "of mice and men" in Trondheim theatre. it was a very exciting play, and the actors played very well. it was in norwegian, and since that is my mother language, it made me understand more of the story Steinbeck is trying to tell us. but also i got a little confused by watching the play, because we have allready watched the movie, and many of the parts is very different from the movie. for example in the beginning when lenny and george is walking on a country road and talking about their future, we get to see it happend on a different place and time in the play.

The Great Depression - 1930

The great depression was a worldwide economic donwturn in the 1930. It was the largest depression in the modern history, and is now used as an examle of how far the the world`s economy can fall. The Great Depression originated in the United States; and the day it all started is called the stock market crash on October 29, 1929, known as Black thuseday. When the depression ended in the U.S it assosiaded with the onset of the war economy of Worl War II, beginnig around 1939.
The depression had devastating effects in virtually every country, rich or poor.

John Steinbeck

Steinbeck was born in 1902 in Salinas, California. After graduating from Salinas High School in 1919, Steinbeck attended Stanford University. During this time he worked periodically at various jobs and left Stanford permanently in 1925 to pursue his writing career in New York. But when he didn`t seam to get any of his writing published he returned to California. "Of mice and men" (1937) was his first comercial success, followed up by "the grapes of wrath". In all of his books he shows a deep love of humanity, especially of the working man with all his flaws and virtues.
John Steinbeck was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1962. In 1968 steinbeck died of heart disease. His ashes were placed in the Garden of Memories Cemetery in Salinas.

Of mice and men

In a couple of weeks we have been working with a book called «of mice and men». It is a short novel written by Nobel prize winner (1962) John Steinbeck. By now i have read 3 chapters of it.

The Novel «of mice and men» is about two friends – quick-witted George and simple-minded Lenny. George is a small guy, dark of face, with restless eyes and sharp, strog features. Lenny is the opposite; a huge man, shapeless of face, with wide, sloping shoulders. They are both ranch-hands, and together they are moving from ranch to ranch, looking after work. But everywhere they go, lenny seams to get them in trouble. Not because he wants to make trouble, but because he dont know any better. Lenny is not the type who can take care of himselfe, so George have to take care of him, and make shure de don`t do anything stupid that could cost them their job.

They both have the same dream about someday owning their own place. thats what keeps them together. Especially i like the way the two of them never looses their faith of one day fulfilling their dream.