# data[].attributes.body
My introduction to the class was rather interesting.

Lesson one and there I was, already unable to answer the question given to us all. "Who are you?". "I'm a father," I heard Mr. Samwel say. "I'm a black individual," i thought back and at once I was met with personal disappointment. The label was too broad and something i simply refuse to let define me. Perhaps i am one who refused to be defined by the titles the world has presented to me. I also started on the first novel in my IB  journey, 'The Awakening'.

Groups. Oh for the love of groups. I can't say ive ever been one to struggle with interaction or change, after all, i have been in several different schools. This group was especially interesting since i started with a group of gentlemen. Now before you call me out for circling them out using only what lies between their legs, let me explain. The novel was about the patriarchy and old timely feminism(it was based in the17th century). Growing up a woman in THIS world, i had a personal connection with the character and her struggles, maybe not to the same extent as Edna, but in the same context. I failed to fathom how these men would possibly process the struggles of this protagonist and play her off as anything more than a slut or a cheater. And yet surprisingly, these men recognised and defended her actions. It was beyond fascinating and i once again felt like i could rely on my belief that gender means nothing beyond the biological world, logically speaking of course. A good start indeed.

# data[].attributes.body
Who are they?

A personal venture of mine has been personality types, their combinations, what makes them and how each of them adapts to real life situations. Ive been steady studying and observing all the characters in the books i read as well as people i meet in real life so meeting with yet another group of people, working together and presenting with them was particularly exciting. Ive found myself obsessed with identity as a concept in my day to day life, what an adventure its been. If I'm being entirely honest, the presenting part of our assignments has me more excited than it has me nervous. I love the rush of getting up to face a group of people and have to convince them of a point after ive perfectly curated my words to make them believe what i say when i present facts and opinions. The power that comes with an audience is what drives me. We also had the honour of being taught by Ms. Lukia in this time. She challenged my perception. A simple image of someone folding clothes had several different stories to tell. We related it to the patriarchy, feminism, masculinity, sexuality and even race. Everything is not as it seems. i wish to read between the lines. I would like to question the question, not only think outside the box but leave the box altogether.

Global issues and concepts, these weeks were really only about presentations. All the things ive seen have made several appearances in my life with my notice and now i finally have words and themes to relate them to.

I've begun 'Perfume. Story of a murderer as well'. The book seems to be based on Grenouille's incredible olfactory senses. Interesting.

# data[].attributes.body
"For the first time they had done something out of love" -Suskind, Perfume.

Of all the books that I've read, this takes the cake for the most bizarre unexpected ending of all time. It has me questioning power and the different ways one can attain such power. The power to control how the brain perceives things, how the brain work and how you can be viewed. With the power of smell Grenouille(the protagonist in 'Perfume. The story of a murderer') managed to control all those set to judge him. He made a crowd forget about his gruesome crimes and commit to absolute obscenity. All sanity walked out with the town folk's morality, almost as if they had forgotten basic human function. Coincidentally, my mother watched a film based on this book right before i mentioned it, it was interesting to hear about the film adaptation of this masterpiece.

Aside from that, we started looking at poems by Carol Ann Duffy in class during this time. Annotations, connections, perceptions and the like. I'm particularly fascinated with the war poems, the poems that focus on the cruelty of war and how only those that do not deserve to suffer while those making the decisions reap the benefits or suffer minimal punishment. WAR, POLITICS AND JUSTICE. To what extent do any of us truly care for justice? See war photograph, the photographer himself comes to the conclusion his work could not matter less. Does the power change a man or were they like that the entire time? When do people stop being people and start being the pawns in some twisted chess game we call war, in some bittersweet challenge we call life? I can't choose where to stand. With the less fortunate or with the masterminds behind the entire operation. One may question my humanity but I'd like to think my humanity is what has made me this way. Am I a monster for trying to justify this or am I the most human of us all?

# data[].attributes.body
The beginning through to the end.

These two weeks of school were, in a way, crucial to the molding of my future. Dramatic much? Perhaps. Realistic however? Definitely. In this time i did one of the hardest things i could've done, i identified my own weakness, procrastination. Procrastination has enveloped me and i slowly feel it delivering me to the doorstep of that whom they call failure. unable to be the 'ideal'  IB student? I refuse to let this be my fate, refuse to let this be my reality. Acceptance is the first step to recovery i suppose because i truly recognize this as an illness. One that i must rid myself of.

Week seven, we looked at a wide selection of photographs and broke them down to find their meanings, to see their impact. A particular favorite of mine was "Shell-shocked soldier" which perfectly captured the face of post traumatic stress disorder. A picture of a soldier that appeared to think of everything and nothing all at the same time. It made me question the descent to madness and how slippery the path is, everyman and woman has that crazy in them and all it takes is a break, a trigger to set off the bomb that destroys the mind. The delicate human mind.

We returned for week nine of the term with an increase in our knowledge of chimpanzees and a lack of knowledge or the rest of our school work. Majority of us had misunderstood our half-term assignments and yet gave rather reasonable attempts at the english oral. The topic of 'madness', or rather mental health, stay constant on my mind. As we reviewed some of my classmates audios i began to ask myself who was on the brink of madness and if you could even feel yourself on the edge or you only find out once you've fallen off and you're spiraling.
I am once again questioning the complexity of the brain and trying to find some way to simplify it, crazy.

# data[].attributes.body
Today is a Friday, the day most people choose to partake in ‘oh so fantastic’ celebration meant to mark the end of a long dreadful week(even though the week continues for another day). And as I sit here and think on that, my mind wonders to things we consider tradition and what can be counted as tradition.

“We do this because this is all we have ever known, it is what we are comfortable with” R.Keith 2023
For long I have pondered this question, whether it be wars or silly little things like watching fireworks every new year, we depend on the things that we have done and those before us have done and expect those after us to do the same, basic human function.

Of course this is all ingrained in us by those that raise us and those that raised them to raise us, the fear of change, of originality. As human being we fear to break away from tradition of any sort and those that have strayed from tradition are seen as “daring”, “crazy” and “bold”, as it is seen as normal to remain the same yet in the overall look of things, the human being was built for change.
Would that mean those that choose to let their differences shine (I do not say “be different” since no two human beings are the same)are inhuman or are they the epitome of humanity itself? Just a thought, perhaps the build up of an epiphany.

# data[].attributes.body
Today is a Sunday. Because the day is Sunday, I shall be discussing the topic that is Sunday. Amongst other things of course.

According to common belief, widespread media and discussion amongst my peers sundays are sad-days. Why one may ask? Perhaps because it marks the end of a weekend, meant for relaxation. Perhaps because it is yet a painful reminder that the next day is a Monday, a Monday filled with work, school, chores or whatever activity one may occupy themselves with during the week. The furthest day from the end of the week, the longest time to wait till a break which is somewhat ironic considering Sunday in itself falls in the weekend, a day without work and yet we still find ourselves thinking of the work that is to come.

On this particular Sunday, I’ve found myself delving into an issue I commonly find myself discussing whether it be with my parents, teachers, relatives, classmates or my own friends, the topic that has found itself worth discussion globally amongst peers, parental figures, the elderly and even politicians themselves. mental health. Specifically, mental health in relation to science and technology.

The conversation(if you might even call it that, i would describe it as more of an argument if i were asked privately but that isn't of importance) came about in reference to some of today's current issues, one of them being the global agenda pushing LGBTQ content to the younger generation and a recent event that occurred in a popular ugandan school where a child was the victim of a bullying incident.

The main point of said conversation however was whether or not the cause of most mental issues amongst the current youth is the access to information we have through social media and the internet. As of recent, the current generation of teenagers and young adults, Gen-Z, have the highest rates of suicide, depression and other mental illnesses ever recorded and coincidentally, or not so coincidentally, it is the one generation that has been subjected to online influence and education, especially with the covid period and the isolation it invoked in all of us. To look at an example of influence, a twelve year old girl's parents in the USA are in the process of suing Meta, the company that owns the biggest social media platforms because their child committed suicide. Research shows that six months prior to her death to the time she committed, the algorithm had pushed over 180,000 posts on suicidal content and pushing the romanticization of suicide as a common theme.

Human beings are wired to be influenced by what is around them, what they see and hear and the availability of knowledge from technology is starting to have more of a negative effect amongst the current youth. Is it too late to make a change to the damage that the internet has caused or are we doomed to a fate that we have created for ourselves?

# data[].attributes.body
“How can you tell that I’m human?”
Our topic today.

Of recent, Artificial intelligence has been getting awfully good and is going as far as to create human faces and activities in pictures or realistically imitate the voices of popular personalities such as Joe Biden, Donald trump and Ice Spice. It’s becoming so flawless that some AI have even found ways to outsmart the measures put in place to ensure one is human before accessing different websites which brings us to a place where being asked whether or not you’re “real” is a completely valid question to ask.

Now from the perspective of a citizen of a third world country where less than half the population have access to smartphones let alone advanced high tech robots or applications that behave quite similarly to our favorite movie robots(see Jarvis from the avengers), this may not seem like that but of an issue to me. However, in due time I intend to become a global citizen and by that, I mean I wish to move and live in as many places as I please so this may present some of the most irrational(but completely possible) problems. How would I keep my identity safe from those that wish I’ll upon me or how would I stay if relevance to the timeline for this lifestyle to be adopted and maintained without having my position replace by a bot or an app. How do I increase and maintain my significance in a world that would thrive if I were not?

All the traits that make me human are so easily imitated by technology that we are almost indistinguishable. So I might as well adopt the language that we use to refer to them. So as I shut down and recharge for the next few hours or so, the question lingers on my mind, “how am I sure that I am still human?”

# data[].attributes.body
The last two weeks have been filled with article analysis and interpretation. Specifically Umair Haque articles.

Being as popular as he is and as factual as he can be, you’d think the man were god’s right hand man as he shares his strong opinions on matters that are not of his concern. You’d think he were representative for ruler of the world considering he claims to “know” everything and everyone that is not him is incredibly wrong unless they choose to agree with him, yes?
The ultimate good guy
When you hear knowledge and the knower(TOK) he is most definitely the knower, correct?

Wrong. Umair Haque can come off as quite intelligent and through out a lot of his work he can occasionally give correct information and possibly answers to all these unanswered questions the American citizen has, BUT he also has a tendency to drift from what is of relevance and go off the rails with his hate speech, Nazi accusations and “facts” that fail to accurately cover all sides of the argument that he chooses to support. Some may say he’s an idiot, I wouldn’t entirely disagree.

Anyway, all this talk brings me to my point for today. Europe and their ginormous long noses. To be more specific, their need to control every country but their own that has spread from the government to the citizens. Let’s look at “The unimaginative hysteria of Umair Haque”
An article written by Tony Senatore, an American, basically opposing one of Haque’s previous articles talking about trump and the spread of fascism in America(completely unachievable, not to mention). In this article, Tony combats Haque using his own information against him which I’d like to think covers a much larger topic in a more personal way.
When I read it I’d like to imagine this were all the European colonies having a little chat with their colonizers after they were wrongfully controlled except back then there were many boundaries that could not be crossed and thus these conversations could not actually happen this way. European countries being themselves feeling the uncontrollable urge to tell us(their toys) how to live and how to function even though we had survived without them for so long. And when they finally did get involved there were two global wars over who should control who, absolute madness I know. Just for us to end up in the 20th century with no one having colonies and everyone just minding their own business, all that was for nothing. So yes the European urge to control has been simplified and personalized in a lot of Umair’s articles considering his need to tell Americans what they’re doing wrong and how they should improve despite Britain’s hole that they’ve dug and their own lack of healthcare. He is the perfect example of the ignorance of Europeans in their own home, a complete and utter idiot.

Umair comes off as strongly opinionated and smart and yet he cannot seem to find solutions for his own country. Could anything describe our former controllers any better?

God bless America? More like may the lord have mercy on Europe.

# data[].attributes.body
Control. Dictatorship. Totalitarianism.
This term, English literature has taken a more historical yet theoretical approach. 1984 based on societal control in what was the future at the time and A Handmaid’s tale which was diced into control that’s gender based in a society where the men truly do own the world and everything about it. A “classic piece on feminism” on may say and yet I cannot agree with that statement. Yes the main character battles mentally for control if her own life but never actually battles the community she’s placed in or outright fights against it. Some may say this is cowardice and I’d agree. Be it, her own safety would be at risk if she did but part of the fight for freedom would be those sacrificed along the way and the burning urge to justify their deaths, an urge so strong that one would risk all they have for a cause. However one could blame this cowardice on the state itself and the fear it has installed in the citizens, not to mention the loss of their humanity and basic understanding of what their needs actually are. Look at the German Jews for example, one could not possibly blame them for their death as the holocaust was beyond their control but perhaps their unionizing could’ve saved them but the fear instilled prevented this in any case and this gave birth to this global strategy.

And from different perspectives, totalitarianism could be viewed as a positive thing since it may be better that what was known before. Take a look at Cuba under Fidel Castro. The country had been a hotspot for crime and a vacation home for American millionaires and the introduction of communist dictatorship freed them from the shackles of American dependency and balanced the wage gap. One cannot blame the average citizen from thinking that this caused more food than harm(some could even say the same about colonialism)

Overall these independent views on what an imaginative totalitarian society hasn’t failed to put things into perspective for me and make me 100 times more paranoid of government control especially since Uganda as a country could slowly be falling into the depths of authoritarianism, a common debate amongst my peers, as the current elections seem to hold no weight on where our political leaders come from but instead we have to look on as our democracy slowly gets stripped from us.
A problem in itself.