Rainbow Death

Rainbow Death
America did not foresee
Green, pink, purple and other colors death potpourri!
Expecting others to pay a high price.
Now thinking twice?
Toll on the innocent and unborn.

Omnipotent and disregarding who will mourn.
Reflective about all the illness, birth defects and prematurely dead.
All the deceit continues to spread.
Nefariously America led astray -
Generations untold WILL pay -
Execrable effects of agent orange spray!

Hubert Wilson

Background Information

This poem speaks of the use of 'Agent Orange' in the Vietnam War that has caused appalling death and suffering – not only to its intended victims, the Vietnamese people, but also the service personnel that used or even just came into contact with it.
According to Wikipedia, 'Agent Orange' is the code name for a herbicide and defoliant—contaminated with TCDD—used by the U.S. military in its Herbicidal Warfare program during the Vietnam War.

According to Vietnamese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 4.8 million Vietnamese people were exposed to Agent Orange, resulting in 400,000 deaths and disabilities, and 500,000 children born with birth defects.[1]

During the production of Agent Orange (as well as Agents Purple, Pink, and Green) dioxins were produced as a contaminant, which have caused numerous health problems for the millions of people who have been exposed. Agents Blue and White were part of the same program but did not contain dioxins.

This poem reminds us that the detrimental effects of modern warfare may still linger on despite the war itself being over.

The author himself was also affects by 'Agent Orange'.
He said,"
I am a Vietnam War veteran (as are my four brothers) who served in the USAF Security Service. I, along with a dozen or so intelligence school grads, prepped for about 14 months at Kelly AFB in San Antonio, Texas, before anticipating being sent to Vietnam or elsewhere in southeast Asia in 1970. About half ended up in Da Nang (an Agent Orange hotspot) in the 6924th Security Squadron. The rest of us were assigned to Shemya Island, Alaska, with the 6984th Security Squadron, and what eventually was a MORE contaminated environment than Da Nang!

My health problems started approximately 15 years ago with unexplained headaches and limb pains. Four years ago my central nervous system radically deteriorated with Parkinsonian type tremors, severe headaches, progressive limb pains, etc. No physician has ever diagnosed the specific illness. NO VA physician has ever rendered ANY medical assistance! My number one educated guess is the heavily contaminated drinking water at Shemya during my year there as an intelligence analyst. Organo-phosphate toxins may not run their toxic course until 20 to 30 years after initial exposure.

Since my brain still functions moderately well (and I have mobility issues), I have turned to writing just like my late Father and the late singer (and writer) Johnny Cash."

Home Learning Task 2- Children in the Darkness

Children in the Darkness


There are children in the darkness
Who have not seen the light
There are children in the darkness
Who someone will teach to fight

Chalk and blackboards will not be
To this door there is no key
From this life they can not flee
And these children are not free

Could we simply light a candle
Could we give them half a chance
Could we teach them how to read
Could we teach them how to dance

Or will a war consume them
Their body and their soul
Will their life and blood be poured
Down some endless thirsty hole

Back into the darkness
From which there is no flight
Back into the darkness
Into which there shines no light
Henry M Bechtold


Point of view
The point of view in this poem is that of an adult who understands the plight of these children and the horrors of war. He also desperately want to free the children of these their lives engulfed in war and gives them hope and happiness. This could be seen from stanza 4, which describes the horrors of war. The repeated use of 'could we' in stanza 3 seems to be convey the message that there is a need for us to help these children.

Situation and Setting
The setting of poem is in Vietnam, where children were taught how to fight and then harshly sent to war and more often than not, to their deaths. It would also be hard for them to escape this sort of life. Stanza 1 line 4 - 'who someone will teach to fight' tells us that the children were given basic training. It could be inferred from Stanza 2 ' there is no key' and 'are not free' that the children were unable to escape the horrors of war and that they have no freedom. 'their life and blood be poured down some endless thirsty hole' shows that the children usually died through the course of war and lives would continue to be lost in the 'endless thirsty hole'.

Language/Diction
The rhyme in this poem mostly follows the ABAB form.
Stanza 1:Darkness/Darkness, light/fight
Stanza 2:be/flee, key/free
Stanza 3:chance/dance
Stanza 4:soul/hole
Stanza 5:flight/light

Personal Response
After reading the poem, I feel children are innocent and that they should not be dragged into wars. It is not worth throwing away their lives away just for their country. War is harmful to the society and should be avoided.

Home Learning Task 1- Children in the Darkness

Children in the Darkness


There are children in the darkness
Who have not seen the light
There are children in the darkness
Who someone will teach to fight

Chalk and blackboards will not be
To this door there is no key
From this life they can not flee
And these children are not free

Could we simply light a candle
Could we give them half a chance
Could we teach them how to read
Could we teach them how to dance

Or will a war consume them
Their body and their soul
Will their life and blood be poured
Down some endless thirsty hole

Back into the darkness
From which there is no flight
Back into the darkness
Into which there shines no light

Henry M Bechtold

This poem was written by Henry M Bechtold in 2009, when he was in Vietnam. He had always enjoyed his trips to Vietnam, so much that he even describes it as his mistress. He first visited Vietnam in 1967 and again in 1969, 2003,2006 and 2009.However, there were times when what he saw in Vietnam breaks his heart. Initially, he was planning to write on the treatment suffered by the girls working in the park. However, he then saw a picture of a young boy with a helmet and an automatic rifle while watching the news in his hotel room. Thus, he got the inspiration for this poem, letting his emotions flow.

Intrapersonal b)Which character would I like to play in To Kill a Mockingbird?

B)

I would like to be Atticus Finch if I were to play in TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD. Of all the characters, i find him the wisest and he seems to know everything. I also like his character, in which he is humble despite his various abilties, for example, having a good shot. He also stood up for Tom Robinson, a black man, when he was wrongly accused by the Ewells. This is particularly commendable at a time when the coloured people were discriminated against and when most laywers would not even take up jobs defending a black man. But Atticus had a immense sense of righteousness and he stood up for what he thought was right, much to the dismay of the people of Maycomb county. It is this act that makes me want to play as him.

Multiple Intelligence Report

Having done the multiple intelligence test for LA home learning, here are the results. My intrapersonal aspect is the highest, followed by logical and visual, which are the same. The rest are in the order shown in the following picture. I find this test rather beneficial to students as it lists out the aspects of our abilities and aid us in improving our overall abilties.

Home learning

TESTS ARE OVER! Finally have some time to slack and of course, post on my blog:) But for today and tomorrow, HCI is conducting home learning. And we don't have to go to school! Though some people might like the idea, I actually prefer going to school. I can't really focus at home, especially when using the computer. Anyway i have done most of the assignments for home learning today so i guess tomorrow won't be as tiring as today. Now that tests are over, school should be much more fun over the next two weeks with sabbaticals and other activities.

Test Week:(

There are going to be a lot of tests next week. There's history, math,geography and a couple more, spread over to whole week. Thus, I had been busy studying for the past few days and i guess i should still be doing that for the next few days to come. Also, I have planning to complete all the ACE needed for Chinese and LA this term. I guess this is the result fo slacking for the past few weeks:(