Matthew's Online Journal

You can hear the crowds roar, the stadium is alive and kicking, the opposing fans chanting and cheering. The stadium is huge and densely packed with people in heated arguments over nothing. The stewards are running around hopelessly trying to desperately keep the peace. And at this point, people continue to flood in like the violent rapids of a river, filling every seat possible and waiting with excitement and worry on their faces, the stadium was extremely tense.

You can see the suspense building on the fans faces as they begin to get agitated pushing and shoving. Then suddenly the entire stadium fell silent, you can hear the clang of the players boots against the concrete floor of the tunnel. At the first glimpse of the referee the entire 90,000 strong crowd of Wembley stadium erupted into chanting and screaming. England vs Argentina, a long held rivalry spanning over generations, since the days of Diego Maradona and Gary Lineker, but the winner of the match today they will be superior for the next year or so.

But as both teams stream out of the tunnel both have warm and comfortable looks on there face but you can see the hidden tension between the two rivals. The managers of each team staring deeply at each other with inquisitive face trying to work out the plan of the oppositions manager.As the managers settle, so do the crowd, the ball was placed on the centre spot and both captains stepped up.The referee held the coin and they both made their decision the got flipped up and span as if it was in slow motion it flipped and flipped and landed on heads.

The Argentinians stepped up to kick off, and the whistle blew and the ball was moved swiftly towards England’s goal, the ball is flowing between players uninterrupted by any of England’s defense as if they weren’t there.The ball in mid-flow is struck with immense power it curved toward the top left corner of England’s goal, the ball began to rise further pushing it just above the crossbar and off of the pitch.

The Argentinian crowd rose and fell with the movement of the ball but as this happened from the other side of the stadium an huge sigh of relief came from the fans, players and management. The panic began to set into the English players, and as the ball was kicked off again the Argentinians were putting on unrelenting pressure.

The ball hadn’t left England’s half by 45 minutes. The half-time break allowed both teams and sets of fans to relax and refuel, the England manager panicking and his stomach in knots pushed on to the dugout.

The game started England’s players seemed more comfortable than before they we playing flowing football, pass after pass flowing through, over and around the Argentinian defence, but shooting straight at the keeper, the crowd sat stunned, wide mouthed and in disbelief. Yet again England were on the ball in the in the centre of the pitch, and like an unstoppable power the Argentinian defender put in a crunching tackle in, the English crowd roared and wailed when the referee didn’t acknowledge the severity. With the England winger sprawled across the floor, the Argentinians burst through England defence as if the wasn’t there, they shoot and nothing short of a brick wall is going to stop that shot and it was 1 – 0. The English fans and bench are distraught with the undeserved goal in the dying embers of the match, with little hope hundreds of England fans left the stadium like a tsunami. 

They kicked off once more, the England again seeming unsettled, messing up simple passes and giving away needless fouls, they were set to lose, with limp arms and legs, as if they were lifeless and no push left they got the ball and strolled up the pitch in a simple straight line like a charge they forced their way through the midfield and suddenly another tackle by the Argentinian defence, the defender boot moved into the players lumbering legs, the leg snapped as if it were a glass as if it were a hammer going through a glass plain. But this time there was a result. 

The English, still disheartened, line up for the free kick, 25 yards out seemed like a mile, he lines up and the stadium falls silent, the whistle blows and the sound of grass rustling is the only sound for miles. The ball flew through the air straight, no curl, no spin as if it is not affected by anything, wind or gravity.

The ball flew high over the wall but suddenly dipped hugely, it’s carried on dropping, the goalkeeper was confident, he launched up with great power and stretched out as far as he could but not far enough it hit his fingers and shot upward and rattles against the bar and down across the line, the entire English team and fans erupted with great noise, heard for miles, it echoed and echoed.

Dear Madam,

I recently read your article titled “Human Zoo” and I am writing to raise a concern about your recent article on the “Human Zoo.” I am very concerned on your extremely biased view, you are making these people out to be criminals and racists.

Brett Bailey is simply trying to express the feelings of himself and others, and I am deeply distressed over the shutting down of the exhibition. It is a very important period in history and because someone is trying to depict it respectfully, now they are seen as a racist and a monster. I know this is a controversial subject but it is art and as it has been quoted that “Art needs to push boundaries.” and this exhibition has tried to do so but Brett Bailey is being labelled as a monster. Additionally he is only trying to respectfully depict and remind us of the horrors of colonialism. And you are trying to silence him?

The “Exhibit B” has had five-star ratings from all around Europe and hasn’t had any reports of racism or objectification, until it came to London this obviously shows we are not exposed to this type of horror. In my opinion if we are not regularly reminded of the horrors of slavery it could easily resurface causing the horrors could repeat. The main reason for the protesters wanting to shut down the exhibition is because the director of the “show” is white. He has been compared to the director Twelve Years a Slave, Steve McQueen, and McQueen hasn’t been labelled as racist, the only two difference is that it is art and not film and that Brett Bailey is white. Which should not make a difference because race does not define feelings for such a theme.So what is racist about what Myers says is a “racist exhibition”? Is it really racist to show the shocking facts of the past. The holocaust is integral part of history and majority Jewish people do not take the same opinion, this is because the Holocaust has be portrayed it in film, in art galleries, on stage and in literature in all its horrific detail.

Additionally  people didn’t say films such as Schindler’s List or The Boy in the Stripped Pyjamas was racist or anti-semitic because they saw its context. Jewish people have watched the depiction for the holocaust story for years without accusing them of racism or anti-Semitism. Like The Holocaust, slavery itself has been on-screen in film and in plays. Myers started the campaign on a “gut reaction” after seeing a piece about “Exhibit B” in The Guardian this is not the most informative because if Myers had done his research he would see the correct image trying to be portrayed by the exhibit. Making the term Human Zoo is not in Brett Bailey’s title, it’s Myers, made from a “Gut reaction”. And only if Myers had done any sort of research towards the exhibition he would have seen the context of it and understood it.

For many Jewish people these films and plays and exhibitions are impossible to watch. The story of The Holocaust is one known too well. The pain is still there. But by remembrance through things like art and literature, it allows us to remember and learn from past mistake. Many opposer think mostly the same thing and thank the starter of the protest Myers this is one man’s quote for his appreciation.“ I speak with the heart of an Ethiopian man, an Englishman, a spiritual man and a practical man. These are the ventricles that pump blood throughout me 24 hours a day. I thank Sara Myers and her “campaigners” for the opportunity to consider my personal position on their flawed campaign which aims to silence an artist. I thank them for this opportunity to speak as one”.

A supporter of the exhibition said “I am not defined by my scars but by the incredible ability to heal. And part of this healing is to know the story of oppression. These stories must be told by all to all. Like the Jewish community we may not like what we see but we can understand that it must be seen. This is our strength. It must be told a thousand ways by a thousand generations to come.”

And therefore I hope that you feel my disgust at the closure of the exhibit and possibly even review your petition for its closure to allow an amazing piece of art to return.

Yours sincerely,
Thomas Wood

Dear Ms Birbalsingh,

I recently read the article you write about the London riots, and from that article you made points to do with race and culture that I disagree with and therefore that is the reason I am writing to you.

In your piece, you make the point that you believe the London riots were not due to the anger felt by the shooting of Mark Duggan, but instead that the riots were caused by “black youths” behaving in a purely opportunistic way. I feel however, it was due to the constant injustice and mistreating of the black community.
You  say you “instinctively” knew that it was black youths who had set London alight. This suggests to me that you had already made assumptions about the race of Mark Duggan because of the involvement of crime.
For you it seems that crime is constant theme seen in black people, this is similar to the controversial comments by David Starkey on NewsNight. His argument is that he also believes black people are a violent race, this can be seen when Starkey says: “What has happened is that a substantial section of the chavs that you wrote about have become black.” The implication behind David Starkey’s point is that to be black is to be violent or a criminal.

Additionally, you seem to maintain the point that people are over-exaggerating about the problems seen in the police. However the fact that there have been 333 deaths in police custody since 1998 shows that there is a problem which needs to be investigated extensively.
Only a few days after the London riots a recording was publicised of a police officer using racist terms directed at a 21-year-old black male culminating in him saying “You’ll always have black skin. Don’t hide behind your colour.”
The man said afterwards that he was made to feel like an animal and was assaulted by the policeman.
Additionally the action taken by the male to record the incident show the insecurity and distrust felt by the black community towards the police. This is just a part of the problem that has been going on for years, this can be seen as institutional racism throughout the MET police, and stems back as far as the racially motivated murder of Steven Lawrence in 1993, where the report only surfaced in 1999 admitting the mistakes of the police, 6 years after the incident.

Additionally with the recent police shooting of Mark Duggan and the racism recorded, both went without consequence, showing that there is still no system of accountability for mistakes or improper conduct of the police service.This is my problem that you seem to be part of a community that is blind to these problems. It is quite revealing about these problems that in June 2015 Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe, the MET commissioner, himself admitted that there is justification for allegations of racism in the MET police and that a young black male is still far more likely to be stopped and searched than a young white male, showing the extreme difference in equality in today’s society.

This is why I disagree with the points you have made in your piece, and believe that majority of them are either racist or just plain ridiculous.

With regards,
Thomas Wood

Shakespeare develops our understanding of Lady Macbeth as controlling, power hungry, devoted but deceiving and clever.
In act 2 scene 2 both Macbeth and Lady Macbeth seem to be worried this is shown when one doesn’t finish their sentence the other is there to finish off the rhythm of the iambic pentameter.

Even though they are both worried Lady Macbeth shows herself to be in control, this is shown by the punctuation used; Lady Macbeth is being very assertive use many full stops an few question marks, where as Macbeth is using a substancial amount of them, This shows how powerful and devoted to keeping the murder of Duncan a secret.

Lady Macbeth is still shown as controlling in act 3 scene 2 by saying to Macbeth “You must leave this” by using “must” Lady Macbeth is showing she is in charge, I believe Shakespeare chose “must” because it has negative connatations of the person being controlling.And this means she knows she can and will manipulate him.

Lady Macbeth is displayed as power hungry this is done at the end of act 1 scene 5 where Lady Macbeth is persuading Macbeth to go ahead with the murder of Duncan, this is done with the use of very spacific vocabulary such as “serpent” i think this is used because a serpent is a snake and snakes are often related to slyness and deceiving, this shows how Lady Macbeth provokes Macbeth it to doing anything she wants and ultimately gain even more power.

I feel Shakespeare intended for us to interpret her this way to break the female stereotype at the time, additionally Shakespeare may have done this to provoke a reaction from the audience because they would be used to a damsel instead of a dievious and controlling character.

The cruelty of her character makes her fit into the arcitype of a villain additionally at the time some women in the jacobean era who acted or looked different were often presumed witches, so shakespeare may have been trying to make her seem “evil” to the audience.

I believe that the play Macbeth is unsuitable for public viewing, i have drawn to this conclusion because the acts of treason and betrayal. These acts could provoke acts of pure insanity from the citizens of England, additionally the certain scene makes OUR king Edward seem idiotic and oblivious.

Finally I also believe that the writer of this “play” Shakespeare should be fully prosecuted for conspiring in act of treason, he has done this by implanting thoughts into innocent citizens heads.

Life Of Pi is about a story of a young indian boy struggle to survive on a life boat with a tiger and with his religious beliefs.

When Pi is on his way to Canada he is thrown into the ocean with a TIGER (Richard Parker) his religion is tested to it limits as he was doomed to drift and wait for rescue.

I think that Animal Farm does have an implied reader, because it contains a lot of language devices that orwell use which force the reader to thinks deeper and understand the metaphors of the book,this often is related to older, wiser people and therefore i think the implied reader is of an older person.It also relies on the reader to know about politics and the events that were happening at the time.

Your task is to identify the metaphor present in the following excerpt and then write a paragraph that explains the metaphor and its effect on the meaning of the passage it is embedded in.

From this world-wearied flesh. Eyes, look your last!
Arms, take your last embrace! and, lips, O you
The doors of breath, seal with a righteous kiss
A dateless bargain to engrossing death!
Come, bitter conduct, come, unsavoury guide!
Thou desperate pilot, now at once run on
The dashing rocks thy sea-sick weary bark!
Here’s to my love!

Feel free to re-watch the presentation explaining how to identify and explain metaphor: