Over 2,000 people in Haiti were protesting over the recent elections. They claim that the elections were fraud and unfair. They marched in protest in Haiti’s capitol. As they marched, demonstrators drew red cards demanding the impeachment of their current president along with his protégé, who is a candidate. A red card comes from the game of soccer, when a referee pulls a red card on the player they then must exit the game. The march was being heavily monitored by the riot police. There was no serious violence in the march. The march was being led by candidates who thought that the outcome of the votes was changed by the current presidential government so that the president’s protégé would come out on top. Not only was there an uproar over the presidential votes, but an epidemic has been going on as well killing dozens of Haitians each day. They are also still getting over the January 12 earthquake, which ultimately destroyed most of Haiti itself, taking the lives of over 250,000 people. The United Nations have seen this protest as less violent than past electoral forms of protest. Them, along with international monitors haven stated that the polls are generally acceptable. I think that if Haiti has a history with violence towards the electoral votes then something isn’t going right. Something obviously is causing them to have little trust in their government. There has to be major problems with their government, whether it’s due to a president or not, for them to constantly rely on such violence. They should look back and analyze their government’s recent history and relationship with the people.  

http://www.haitinews.net/

The literary murder mystery is a weird mix. The two genres slightly differ from each other, and usually don’t come together. Murder mysteries are seen as fundamentally uncultured, off-the-rack, populist and hard to put down. On the other hand, literary novels win a lot of prizes, but are only actually read by people judging prizes (who are paid to read them), reviewers (also paid to read them) and the parents of the author. Mostly, when intellectual meets murder mystery, the intellect stays pure but the mystery is so bad that just by reading the back the mystery can be solved in a matter of minutes. African Psycho has pretty weak plot twist. The murderer is discovered on the last page to be a character we have only heard about in passing, and never met. This ending is just huge let down and is very irritating. I like the mixture of the literary and the murder mystery but…I don’t know, something always seems to be missing. It is definitely funny, in a dark sort of way. It is entertaining don’t get me wrong. I just wish it was more suspenseful and that more was left for you to find out. It was very open and right to the point. Though I am assuming it was on purpose, it is showing the way the “protagonist” thinks. The thing I didn’t like the most was that this book had only a murder plot line not a murder “mystery” plot line. Over all this was an alright book the underlining views of politics and society definitely made me laugh.

African Psycho is definitely a moral tale, and broken down, one can easily see this as so. Yes I agree that, Grégoire does some completely terrible things, but the most gruesome, which is when he attacks the older boy when he is only eleven, is more or less acceptable. The other acts that he performs aren't nearly as awful as he had planned. And, in the end, even if he doesn’t want to see the good and the pure, he is pretty much set on the straight and narrow. He has a ‘steady job’, an education and is doing pretty well for himself. This just proves that no matter how much bad is in someone they always have some good in them as well. This can also be considered into politics and society. People may say that society is completely evil well I disagree. I believe that sure society sucks, I don’t agree with most of it, but there are moments that show me there is still some good left in people. Like fundraisers for a worthy cause, charity, and so on and so forth. If there wasn’t some good in everything then society wouldn’t have a silver lining like the things I just listed. In my eyes politics are plain out stupid. I think that mankind needs to find something more important to fill their time then politics. Yet there is some good in politics. I agree that without politics there would be more struggle and conflict. That is just one of the many things I hate about mankind. This book shows off my hatred.

Vulgarity in Afriacan Psyco

Grégoire is modestly successful. He has a house that he built with his own two hands, he has a workshop and somewhat of a career. He has something of an education; too, because he lived for a while with a well-off, caring family he was placed with after apparently being abandoned by his parents. He ran away from them when he was eleven because he was about to be raped by the families’ older son and protected himself, injuring the boy badly in the process. Grégoire is apparently very unattractive, that might explain some of his problems. He also makes clear:

“I love vulgarity. I claim it loud and clear. I love it because only it says what we are, without the hideous masks we wear by nature, which turn us into mean beings, hypocrites, ceaselessly running after decency, a quality I couldn't care less about”

That is one of my favorite quotes. I personally don’t have much faith in humanity. To me humans are built mostly on vulgarity. Our sinful nature takes up 84% on our hearts and soul. Our minds are never pure; if anyone says they don’t like vulgarity then they haven’t fully realized themselves or human nature. So when he says that vulgarity says what we are just makes me smile because I completely agree. I also believe that we each wear our own hideous masks. We were each born with one and we each die with one. That mask is called sin. It is made with vulgarity and the devil and if with Jesus our mask may never physically be removed.

we are all born with this

African Govts Urged to Inest in Soial Protection

http://us.oneworld.net/article/369577-african-govts-urged-invest-social-protection

In Windhoek, Africa, social protection is beginning to be looked at. They are saying that by allocating just one percent of GDP to social protection it could drastically change the lives of Africa’s poorest of children. Jonathan Bradshaw, a professor at the University of York in the UK, says that many children in poverty will most likely have a hard time succeeding in life. He says that all African countries should invest in social protection. Bradshaw has been doing a lot of research in this and has backed up some pretty good points in why Africa needs to look at social protection. I personally believe that Bradshaw makes a good point. I strongly believe that Africa needs to start looking into social protection programs. If Africa did this, then yes I do believe that the children will be in much better shape for the future causing Africa to start becoming healthier due to more and more successful citizens. Social protection deals with social insurance. So yes I think that Africa will have to give up a lot to add these social protection programs but I think that in about ten years it will truly pay off and definitely pay for itself. Investing in social protection will also help with Africa’s income maintenance. So all and all I definitely think Africa needs to look into investing in social protection programs, that way in the future their overall health will increase tenfold. Bradshaw knows what he is talking about and this article needs to be looked at.

India's Female Peacekeepers Inspire Liberian Girls

http://us.oneworld.net/article/369578-indias-female-peacekeepers-inspire-liberian-girls

In Monrovia, Liberia, there is a school named Victory Chapel School. It holds both male and female students, who are clothed in royal blue uniforms. It is like many other schools except for the big white fenced compound standing off to the side. In the compound are hundreds of Indian female peacekeepers, dressed in a navy blue combat uniform, black boots, a UN official cap, topped off with an A-K 47 at their sides. They are the first all female UN police force in history. The roles of these peacekeepers are to protect the president on Capitol Hill, though during the time when they are not protecting the president they are located in Liberia training and also helping out the teachers at the school. They also help provide the children with medicine, give them lessons on how to do Indian dances, show them how to use computers, and teach them how to use self defense. As these Indian women are doing these things for the children, they are also providing inspiration and a special message. The principle of the school said, “It has made the girls to believe that they are not just people who sit at home, they are people to get out there”. One of the students that attend Victory Chapel School almost decided to become one of the peacekeepers, but changed her mind once she was introduced to dancing and music, she finally decided to become a musician. I definitely like this article; it shows people that women are able to do anything a man can do, that they are just as important as any other person. I believe that more people need to see this.

Good Vs. Evil Quotes

Good Vs. Evil Quotes

BBC Africa

US to seek stronger ties with Somaliland and Puntland;     BBC

This article discusses the US’s plans on strengthening their relationship with Somaliland and Puntland. The US is hoping this will stop the Islamist insurgents. Somaliland has been through some hard times. For the past twenty or so years they have been under attack and their economic state has been in very poor health. The US is trying to become closer to Somaliland to ward off the Islamic attacks. We, being the US, haven’t aggressively been involved with this situation. We have had a relationship with Somaliland but we have not aggressively watched out for them. Now Obama is deciding to become closer with aggressive acts towards the Islamic attacks towards them. We are supposedly sending more aid workers to Somaliland and Puntland to help them out even further. I personally am frightened with Obama’s thoughts and actions with this situation. This article states that we are going to take aggressive action to stop attacks. What that tells me is the start of another war. Technically we aren’t in a war right now, as far as I’ve heard, but we do still have troops still defending democratic beliefs. We can’t afford another war. I’m talking about financially. We are in incredible debt and becoming involved in another war will destroy us. Sure it’s a good thing we are helping out our allies and everything but we need to think of the consequences. I feel that we need to check our own house before looking in someone else’s.

Book Blog 3 i think

On page 83 the narrator tells us about a scene which involves a fiery river demon, naked bodies, and red horned people holding black feathered object. He says that bronzed breathing quivering naked bodies come from behind trees and he points to the river demon as it is flicking its tail and sending out black smoke. The demon is beating the water with his tail and splashing around. Once he pointed towards the demon all the bodies followed where he was pointing. He also talks about three men with bright red earth plastered on their bodies from head to toe making them look scarlet. They are marching around shaking their horned heads and finally face the river shaking gourd shaped object covered in black feathers towards the fiery river demon. They began chanting words which didn’t resemble any human language what so ever. To me this seems like a dream. I looked up what a river demon is and all I found was that a river demon, which is also known as a river horse, is a type of river seaweed in the southern regions of Scotland. So I don’t think he is talking about that kind of river demon. I think that he is possibly in a tribal region and that he is in the middle of a religious ceremony because of the people with horns on their head and the red mud and the black feathered objects. The bronze bodies are just the other tribe members and the river demon is a fire. It is sending out black smoke and beating its tail which could just be a flame.

Heart of Darkness Book blog thing

"I flew around like mad to get ready, and before forty-eight hours I was crossing the Channel to show myself to my employers, and sign the contract. In a very few hours I arrived in a city that always makes me think of a whited sepulchre. Prejudice no doubt. I had no difficulty in finding the Company's offices. It was the biggest thing in the town, and everybody I met was full of it. They were going to run an over-sea empire, and make no end of coin by trade.The “whited sepulchre” is probably Brussels, where the Company’s headquarters are located. A sepulchre implies death and confinement, and indeed Europe is the origin of the colonial enterprises that bring death to white men and to their colonial subjects; it is also governed by a set of reified social principles that both enable cruelty, dehumanization, and evil and prohibit change. The phrase “whited sepulchre” comes from the biblical Book of Matthew. In the passage, Matthew describes “whited sepulchres” as something beautiful on the outside but containing horrors within (the bodies of the dead); thus, the image is appropriate for Brussels, given the hypocritical Belgian rhetoric about imperialism’s civilizing mission. (Belgian colonies, particularly the Congo, were notorious for the violence perpetuated against the natives.) Fog is also a symbolic part along with the “whited sepulchre”. Fog is a sort of corollary to darkness. Fog not only obscures but distorts: it gives one just enough information to begin making decisions but no way to judge the accuracy of that information, which often ends up being wrong. Marlow’s steamer is caught in the fog, meaning that he has no idea where he’s going and no idea whether peril or open water lies ahead.

DRC: Getting away with rape

Jenne, a nine year old girl from North Kivu Province in the Democratic Republic of Congo, was violenty raped by a neighbor. Her parents made a promise to make him pay. They obtained a lawyer from the police. The man tipped off the police to let him out of jail and he got away. He came back once the police left and threatened to kill Jenne’s father. Jenne’s father was staying at home to take care of their other three children while Jenne’s mother remained at the hospital to take care of Jenne. The family ran away and is too afraid to return. The neighbor is staying at home. They now have no place to live and are frightened on how they will survive.


I think that the way the police handled this account was severely wrong. The police should not have let him out of jail let alone unattended. Because the police deliberately forgot their duty to the people have now caused a family grief and for the most part have cost them a home. The neglect makes me sick. The uninvolvement toward statutory rape is unacceptable. There is now a family without a home who has a daughter in the hospital and there is a man who raped a little girl left unattended. Because the police did such a horrible another little girl may be raped as well. Not only is it just a mother, father and a daughter, this affects the way three other kids will survive.

Somalia: Corpses Litter Streets Amid Mogadishu Fighting

Several people were murdered by an attack on a downtown hotel in Mogadishu. This was caused by the clashing of Islamist insurgents and African Union-backed government forces. The death of these Mps and citizens backed up many parts of Mogadishu. This happened on August twenty fourth. One of the citizens said stated that no place in the capital was safe. She also gave information of reports of dead bodies that were scattered along the streets and that these bodies were not being collected since the fighting started occurring on the twenty third of August. She thinks that the two parties want to kill the remaining health of the city. An amazing quote from her was; “Who will they rule if we are all dead? Whoever wins will rule corpses.” One of the ambulance drivers stated that they had collected thirty four bodies and more than one hundred and thirty one injured people littered across various streets. He believes the numbers will go up considering the fact that there were streets that they haven’t even covered yet. My personal view on this is that fighting and violence is usually not for a good cause. In the bible they fought for God and to share their religion with non believers. Today we fight for oil, for money, for women, for irresponsible actions. This is why I don’t only dislike war but I mostly don’t support it. The only reason we should get in a war is to protect ourselves from offensive actions from other countries. If everyone did that then there would be no more war

Book Blog 2

While the unnamed narrator and his ship mates are sprawled out along the deck, Marlow, one of the narrator’s ship mates, begins to tell a story of his own adventures. Marlow's adventure begins in London, where he has recently returned from several years sailing in the East. While recuperating in London, he becomes restless and longs to travel somewhere he has never been. As he strolls about the city, he happens upon a map in a shop window depicting a place he has longed to visit, a region of the world that was still largely unknown to Europeans: the Congo. Though he is normally an ocean-going sailor, he longs to travel the Congo, a freshwater river, deep into the heart of this little-known land. When his attempts to secure a position on a boat with a company that trades on in the Congo go unfulfilled, he enlists the help of his aunt. Through her influential friends, Marlow secures a post as captain of a riverboat steamer, replacing a captain who had recently been killed by natives. Literally, the Congo River is the means by which the Europeans enter the region. It is also their main method of transportation. Marlow equates the river with a coiled snake. Thus, it is a symbol of danger; it lies in wait, ready to strike. It should be noted that Marlow's journey upriver, into the heart of the Congo, is a very time-consuming and arduous. This suggests that the journey into oneself is both a slow and difficult task.

1st blog of Heart of Darkness

“Heart of Darkness”, by Jeseph Conrad, starts off on a boat with harsh waters. They are voiaging towards Africa. He views the crimson sails as blood on the horizon. There may be death to come. This could be some form of foreshadowing. He talks about their captain saying that instead of his work being out there in the luminous esturary, it is behind him within the brooding gloom. Another possible form of foreshadowing maybe showing that the captain isn’t the best guy in the world. He uses metaphor comparing the sea as the lawyer of the ship making everone tollerable with eachother. He uses great personification describing how the sea itself is like the lawyer. He talks of a man named Marlow who has sunken cheeks, is sitting criss cross, has a yellow complection, and with his palms face up looks like an idol. He could possibly be comparing him with Death: sunken cheeks and yellow complection. Or her could just as easliy be viewing him as a god of some sort: criss corss and palms face up, like that of certain gods do when posing in paintings. He uses an intersting line stating that the gloom to the west was being angered by the upcoming sun. Great use of personification; I can see a eary gloom and with rays of sunlight mixing into it while it acts like it is retreating. Conrad’s writing style in incredible, it is very intelligent and yet intrieging. Every sentence feels like there is more than meets the eye.

Me

Hi, my name is Bryson if you haven't already figured that out. I attend Greer Middle College Charter High School, before I enrolled, I endured Greer Middle. My passion in life is my music, I listen to music whenever I can and I also compose music as well. I have been playing guitar for right at four years and take lessons at Phil's Music in Greer. I enjoy playing acoustic along with electric it just depends what kind of mood I'm in. Along with guitar I play another stringed instrument; ukulele. For my last birthday one of my good friends gave me an incredible accordion and so I'm still in the process of learning how to produce anything remotley to music. I am still getting over a rough time in my life, see my mom past away last November and she was a really important person in my life so I'm still learning how to deal with that; so if I'm ever down in class or whatever just know what's up. Last year was the hardest year I have ever gone through and I'm really hoping that this year will be much better. As of right now life is actually the best it has been in a while; my band is going great we are hoping to get a record deal soon and we are talking to the guy that produced Kiss's frist record so im stoked about this opportunity. I also have an incredible girlfriend (Haven) who helps me a lot and is a major part of my life, and no she doesnt go to our school. Writing is a passion of mine as well, a few weeks after my mom passed I started getting into poetry to get all of my emotions out and was told that it was actually pretty good so because of that and the fact that I thouroughly enjoyed it I continued. I would sometimes write about five poems a day and I am actually working on writing a poetry book and I'm going to try to get it published. Along with my poetry book I am working on a book of short stories and a distopian novel; if your interested in my writing it would be super stellar to send you some and get some feed back. My hero is Ghandhi along with Edgar Allen Poe they are just incredible and inspire me to just be who I am and with Ghandhi to be a good leader and never stop believing. I am also in Boy Scouts. I have been in scouting since I was in the first grade. My dad is my Scoutmaster and was also my Cubmaster, I am working on my Eagle (the last rank in scouting, highly regarded) I should have it by the end of this year. I work up at a summer camp called Camp Old Indian as a councler. This job entails dealing with kids all day and getting to teach them fun classes and getting to see them have a great time, so I know what it's like being a teacher.Well I will see ya at school keep it real and hope I didn't bore you too much.


http://www.playlist.com/
This is a website that I chose to share due to the fact that I am on here most of the time.