POPULAR MUSIC FEATURE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C5i-UnuUKUI

Jarad Anthony Higgins known professionally as Juice Wrld, was an American rapper, singer, and songwriter from Chicago, Illinois. He was born on  December 2, 1998 and he learned to play instruments at four years old. He released his first track, "Forever' on SoundCloud in 2015 under the name JuicetheKidd. Inspired by his affection for rapper Tupac Shakur, he changed his artist name to Juice Wrld  because it "represents taking over the world".

 

Higgins died on December 8, 2019 at Chicago's Midway International Airport due to drug related seizure. His first posthumous album, Legends Never Die (2020), debuted at number one on the Billboard 200. 

"Wishing Well" is one of the emotional songs from his latest album. The song details struggling with mental health and addiction. Juice sums up the issues that he carries in his mind; an anvil on his shoulders and that he is aware that the drugs he consumes to rid him of his pain is actually killing him slowly. The overall tracks on his album displays the issues Juice battled in his life like enemies such as anxiety, depression, stress, and pain.

Thumbnail of his music video from "Righteous"

Since the beginning of his career, he always carried with him the "999", he stated in one of the interviews he had that the number was an inversion of 666, also known as "the mark of the beast", a biblical term indicating Satan. "999 represents taking whatever bad situation or whatever struggle you're going through and turning it into something positive and using it to push yourself forward."

                    First album (2018)                            Latest album (2020)

AFRICAN MUSIC

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ig91Z0-rBfo

African music is filled with interesting melodies and exciting rhythms and it is very diverse because of how huge its place is. African musicians aim to express life, in all its aspects, through the medium of sound. Each instrument or part may represent a particular aspect of life, or a different character; the through-line of each instrument/part matters more than how the different instruments and parts fit together. Their music is insanely beautiful and even if we may not understand a single word, the vibe, melodies, and beats is an art. They make music wholeheartedly with their soul and it is very soothing and relaxing yet at the same time, also fun. The purpose of African music is to offer something to their gods, to communicate important sentiments and messages, to mark occasions such as birth, marriage, puberty and death, to protest against a rules, a relative or a tax collector, to educate their young, to provide entertainment, to cure the sick, and to lighten the load of hard work. The video's purpose is to provide entertainment, to lighten the load of hard work and to communicate important sentiments and messages. 

Jobarteh, S. & Band. (2016, January 25). Sona Jobarteh & Band - Kora Music from West Africa [Video]. Youtbe.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ig91Z0-rBfo

Department of Health response against Covid-19 crisis.

          The Covid-19 pandemic that started in Wuhan, China on December of 2019th spread throughout the world and as of October 2020 there has been 35 million cases.  The deadly virus caused a lot of deaths in the world and  also damaged countries economically. Countries are forced to lock down in order to contain and lessen the spread of the virus. 

          As a third world country, there has been major faults and mistakes made by the country’s leaders. Uncountable mistakes that led to the suffering and disappointments of many. There has also been a dispute within the Government because of senators wanting the great leader of health, Francisco Duque III to resign because of various reasons.

         After the first news of people from Wuhan being here on Philippines, the government still didn't ban the entry of travelers from China because they might "question" why them but also not other countries. They prioritized the interest of Chinese people over the welfare of the Filipinos. The Department of Health lacked transparency in their process in helping people and the frontliners. Ever since the first report of them not banning the travelers, people has been voicing out and bashing them for not prioritizing their own people.

        The lack of leadership from the leaders led to poor planning, delayed response and misguided policies. The country has been on lock down or quarantine for months yet cases still kept going up. Although we can't fully blame them because there are also citizens that has lack of discipline but the country also lacked leaders that are more pro active in defeating the virus with lesser casualties. 

          The government from the start doesn't also seem to be invested or caring in the situation, as, they didn't immediately act on this battle. The biggest problem is the delay of mass testing, the process of contact tracing and the shortage of gear. Everyday the front liners risk their lives just to serve and help the people but somehow the DOH haven't put their minds where it is supposed to be put, because of the lack of nurses or other medical people, they decided to set up a offering of P500.00 daily compensation for volunteer health workers. Imagine how big of an insult is that to the medical community. Risking their lives everyday. Putting their heart out and also risking their family's lives. 

         More than halfway on the year, there still hasn't been a concrete plan of the government on how will they fight this virus through the end. Not to mention, it seems that their focus is on other things like the Terror Bill, Manila Bay "beautification" that spent P389 million when that money could've been donated to the hospitals or people that is in very need of food or resources, and also online classes. Their focus could've been in other things that is much more important but they chose to prioritize the wrong stuffs. 

         People are starving and what they need right now is the basic needs and the support of the government. With lock down, many people lost their jobs that could lead to a family struggling because of hunger and day by day we still read or hear news of the government that still continue to upset and disappoint the people. This battle against the pandemic really showed their inefficiency in performing and being the nation's leaders.

"Ang mabuhay ng moral ay mabuhay ng malaya"

                 Ang kalayaan ay ang pagiging may kakayahang gawin ang mga bagay-bagay ng malaya. Pero tama ba iyon? Ligtas ba ito? Bilang isang tao, isinilang tayo upang maging  malaya at gawin ang mga bagay na gusto natin gawin ngunit ito ay dumating na may isang presyo.

                  Ang kalayaan ay walang anumang  kumokontrol sa atin sa kung ano ang ating mga gagawin pero hindi ibig sabihin na magagawa natin ang mga bagay na makapipinsala sa iba. Kaya napili ko ang sawikaing “Ang mabuhay na moral ay mabuhay ng maging malaya” dahil ang pagiging Malaya ay hindi lang sa mga bagay-bagay kundi ito rin ay tungkol sa sarili. Pagiging malaya at makaramdam sa pagiging malaya mula sa negatibo, kasalanan, at takot. Ang mabuhay ng moral ay namumuhay ng walang paglabag sa anumang batas, pagpapanatili ng katapatan, hindi paghawak ng mga grudges, pagkaroon ng mapagtawad na kalikasan at pagiging mabuhay sa iyong sarili.

                        Lahat ng tao ay malaya pero mayroon tayong mga responsibilidad at mga tungkulin na dapat nating gawin. Lahat ng tao ay responsable at palaging nanagot sa ating mga ikinikilos. Lahat ng buhay ay mayroong iba't ibang sitwasyong  kinakaharap maaring mabuti, masama o halo ng dalawang ito, pero lahat na ating mga gagawin ay ating mga desisyon. Ang kalayaan ay hindi para lamang sa iisang tao kundi para sa kapakanan ng lahat.

EXPRESSIONISM ART

 

                 My art is nowhere near good but for me, what's important is it displayed what I wanted to be displayed. The message can be seen or read through the art that I've drawn/painted. This art takes inspiration from the artistic movement, Expressionism. I expressed my emotions about mental health through art, for me the black eyes of the girl resembled a state of emptiness. 

                   In our world, we seem to take mental health or mental issues as a joke or just a person overreacting because we have never experienced it ourselves. Being depressed, having anxiety, extreme mood swings, self-blame, excessive fears, having troubles of doing the most simple things, low energy and so much more, is a serious matter. The dirty hair of the girl showed that having issues or needing help can impact even the things that we usually do everyday, like combing our hair or having good hygiene. The girl also portrayed hiding her sadness behind a smile and that's what we usually see everyday. Everyday we see people happy or smiling but we don't know what they might be going through. We don't know what's in their heads, the struggle that they are trying to defeat. They are just pretending because they don't want to talk or they have no one to talk to and maybe that's because they also don't trust people or maybe they'll feel like they won't be accepted or no one can understand them. The doubts. Many doubts that they have. All I can say is, be kind. Be kind to everyone. Check on your friends, your family or even the people that is around you or even the happiest people. 

                  Everyone is going through every ups and downs of life and even getting crazy in the head and there is no guarantee that we will understand them but what's important is that they'll know that they are not alone. That you are there, and it's okay to feel that way. It's okay to be sad, or angry, or to have mood swings or to not understand yourself. We just have to take it, step by step, little by little. The pain might not be gone today or tomorrow or even the next month but someday it will. As time passes, we will learn how to value ourselves, our life and deal with stress. One day it will all make sense, and  we will have a perspective and a dream and we will learn to love.

The Little Prince

 

True Spirit of Christmas is Kindness

              Ang Pasko ay pagdiriwang ng kapanganakan ng ating tagapagligtas na si Jesus Christ. Ito ay ipinadiriwang sa ika-25 ng Disyembre taon-taon. Tayong mga Pilipino ay mayroong mga tradisyon kada Pasko, halimbawa ay ang pangangaroling, pagbigay o pagtanggap ng mga regalo at iba pa, pero ang pinakaimportante ay sa itong kaganapan, tayo'y magdiwang ng kagalakan. Kaya noong Disyembre 18, nagbigay kami nang regalo na makatulong sa janitor ng aming paaralan, Asian College of Technology. Ang mga janitor ay isa sa mga tao na nagtatrabaho kahit saan, sila ang dahilan na ang ating lipunan ay malinis at maayos. Katulad sa mga iba pang mga nagtatrabaho, sila rin ay nagsisikap para sa kanilang mga pamilya. Kaya sa aming project sa Araling Panlipunan ay kami'y pinag-ipon ng pera para makabigay ng regalo para sa kanila. Nakaipon kami nang pera galing sa aming mga pang araw-araw na baon. Sa aming grupo ay nakaipon kami nang P466 sa kabuuan. Kami ay itinalaga ni Kuya Carl, isang janitor sa aming paaralan habang ang ibang grupo ay nakatakda sa ibang janitor. Itong gawain ay napakamaganda dahil kada pasko na sanay kami na kami ang bibigyan pero maganda pala ang pakiramdam pag ikaw na ay magbigay at makita mong masaya ang iyong binibigyan.

  

Kami ay nagplano sa kung ano-ano ang aming bilhin gamit sa aming naipon na pera at dahil pumunta kami sa SM Seaside para bumili ng mga regalo para sa aming Christmas Party, doon rin kami bumili ng bigas at packed na spaghetti para pang nochebuena. Sa susunod na araw bago magsimula ang klase ay ibinigay namin ang aming nabili kay Kuya Carl. Hindi man ito malaki pero siya parin ay naging masaya. Sobrang saya niya nung pagkatanggap niya sa aming regalo at nagpasalamat siya, pero hindi naman siya ang dapat magpasalamat dahil pag hindi dahil sa kanya o sa ibang mga worker sa paaralan, hindi maging ganun ka linis o ka maganda ang aming paligid.  

   

Kahit na ang aming ginawa ay maliit lamang, malaki na ito para sa kanila. Hindi mahirap magbigay pag gusto mo talagang magbigay kaya kahit man, maliit o malaki, ang importante ay makatulong. 

"No act of kindness however small is ever wasted"

When I was One and Twenty by: A.E. Housman (RESPONSE)

DESCRIPTION:

                  Alfred Edward Housman, usually known as A.E. Housman, was an English classical scholar and poet. Housman was one of the foremost classicists of his age and has been raked as one of the greatest scholars who ever lived. To the general public, his cycle of poems, A Shropshire Lad was acknowledged for its lyrical and almost epigrammatic in form, the poems wistfully evoke the dooms and disappointments of youth in the English countryside.

                When I was one-and-twenty was written by A. E. Houseman. It is about the speaker at age twenty-two that reports the truth of sage advice he received at age twenty-one about falling in love. For my response, it is according to the point of view of the wise man, where in his advices to the young man (the author) when he was one and twenty were completely useless for he was just like other people that are head-strong. And now that the young man has aged a year, and became broken-hearted, he now believed the advices that the wise man gave in the past and is facing the pain and sorrow of falling in love.

Response

When You Were One and Twenty 

by: Chelsea Enriquez

When you were one and twenty

You heard me say

“Give crowns and pounds and guineas

  But not your heart away;

  Give pearls away and rubies 

  But keep your fancy free;”

But you were one and twenty

My words have no purpose to thee

When you were one and twenty 

You heard me say again

“The heart out of the bosom

  Was never given in vain;

 ‘Tis paid with sighs a plenty 

  And sold for endless rue;”

And now you’re two and twenty 

And yeah, you believed, its true. 

LUNG CANCER

Health is a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity. It is important to be healthy because by being healthy, you would be able to take good care of other aspects in your life.

In this generation,  things like smoking has been very common and people still continue to do it without thinking for possible things that would happen or what could happen. Smoking may seem fun to do but the effects of such things could be extraordinary. Smoking can damage nearly every part of our body including our lungs, that is the main organs of the respiratory system and it is where the oxygen that we breathe are inhaled. By smoking, our lungs could get very affected and affected lungs could lead to effects, worst than what we could ever imagine.

                                                                                     

    

DISCUSSION:
Lung cancer is type of cancer that begins in the lungs. Your lungs are two spongy organs in your chest that take in oxygen when you inhale and release carbon dioxide when you exhale. Lung cancer occurs when always smoking and also secondhand smoking.

Symptoms of lung cancer:

• Bone pain
• Losing weight without trying
• Coughing very hard
• Shortness of breath
• Feeling weak or tired

There's no sure way to prevent lung cancer, but you can reduce your risk if you:

• Don't smoke
• Avoid secondhand smoking
• Stop smoking
• Eat a diet full of vegetables and fruits

LINK TO ECONOMICS:

The major prevention strategy is to reduce smoking and if better to not start smoking at all because it could lead to addiction. And the higher the people consumes cigarettes, the higher the possibility of lung cancer and the treatments of such major disease can make families or people spend a lot of money that can affect the monthly budget of a person. Below is an example of a monthly budget plan with the additional expenses for the medication of a person that's diagnosed with a disease.

And it's the person's decision to buy what they want and to know what they need. A buyer or a consumer must know how to be wise and a wise buyer should know the possible effects of the things that they will do with the items that they buy. If a person had already planned out his/her monthly budget plan, unexpected happenings might cause trouble to his/her plan and could lead to additional expenses that the person may not want.

REFERENCES: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11887505

https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/lung-cancer/symptoms-causes/syc-20374620

How to deal with a sad friend

"The greatest gift of life is friendship 

and real friends will be with you thru thick and thin"

                                                                            

Nowadays, being sad is somehow common because we are all humans and we have feelings. So, it is completely understandable that we can feel sadness. But sometimes, our friends get sad very easily and their sadness would last long or it will last for a period of time but it doesn't mean that if their sadness lasts for a period of time, it is already depression because depression and sadness has two different meanings.

So how to deal with a sad friend?
1.) IF THEY SEEM DOWN OR SAD, DON'T FORCE THEM TO OPEN UP QUICKLY. Let them take their time and just wait til' they start talking to you because you don't want them to feel uncomfortable when they want to share the things that they're feeling.
2.) JUST STAY WITH THEM OR BE WITH THEM. Even if, it takes them time to start talking, just let them feel that they're not alone and that you are ready to listen, comfort and understand their situation.
3.)WAIT UNTIL THEY TALK TO YOU. Patience is a virtue. Never rush them because they need time to think things.
4.) LISTEN TO THEM AND UNDERSTAND. Fully lend your ears to them because they need someone that they trust and someone who is focused on helping them and trying to listen and understand is the first best thing that you could do to help.
5.) DON'T JUDGE THEM. Never say things that could hurt them even more. Just try to understand them and give advices that you think could help them in their situation.
6.) LASTLY, GIVE THEM HUGS. Because it is the least best thing that anyone can give and a warm tight hug can always help.

       
               It is important to help anyone because we'll never know how we can affect someone's life and maybe someday, they will also be the one that'll help us, so be kind always.

REFERENCES: https://www.wikihow.com/Encourage-a-Sad-Friend
https://www.lovepanky.com/my-life/relationships/how-to-make-someone-feel-better

Guno and Koyo: A Reflection on Society

 

 

INTRODUCTION

             Guno and Koyo is a story written by Harold Courlander, a folklorist, novelist and a political analyst. The story is a bit fun and there is a moral lesson that can be used as a warning in our real life. At first, I thought it was just another non sense story, where we really have to read in order to have a grade but as I was reading it, I enjoyed it for it is short and is straight to the point. 

             This story will show you, how important it is to be honest and avoid doing the things that you know you’ll regret in the end.

BODY

Look of a Hadji

              The story mentioned the word “Hadji” which according to Google means a Muslim who has been to Mecca as a pilgrim. Hadji’s are usually elder people who travels to other places for religious reasons. 

               Java is an island of Indonesia and it lies between Sumatra to the west and Celebes to the east. With a population of over 141 million, Java is the most populous island in the world and is home to 57% of Indonesia's population. In the island itself, 87.2% of Indonesian population identify themselves as Muslim.

               I think the reason why Guno and Koyo chose to rob the old man Hadji’s house is because Hadji quite means being rich and in the Muslim community, Hadji’s are respected for they have successfully completed the Hajj to Mecca and I think that’s the reason why they were chased by the neighbors, besides from being so noisy.

Map of Sumatra, Java and Celebes.

               After the unsuccessful robbery of the two boys, every now and then the people will tell someone who tries to get out of a ridiculous act that “Don’t go swimming in a dry riverbed.” Because Guno and Koyo did swim into a dry river for them to escape. The saying is a great warning for anyone whose only intention is to do things that won’t do any good to them because being silly after doing an idiotic act won’t make everyone forget about what you did.

CONCLUSION 

              I have come to a realization that this story is a great story for everyone because it teaches a good lesson. It is not only about how stealing is bad but it is also about how you should not do anything stupid especially if you don’t know the repercussions of your actions. 

REFERENCES

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hajji
• https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=hadji
• http://tashaaadatrash.blogspot.com/2017/08/guno-and-koyo-reflection-on-society.html
• https://icouldbethe1.wordpress.com/2011/07/17/guno-and-koyo-retold-by-harold-courlander/
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Java