Letter task- The Walking Dead

AMC's networks
11 Penn Plaza, New York, United States.

Mr Darabont:

Im writing this letter as a form of praise to your show ''The Walking Dead'', because I really liked something about it, you were not afraid of making use of the stereotypes to describe your character's qualities, as well as I liked the evolution on these stereotypes in order to make them each time more worthless, for example in the first two seasons of the show, women were portrayed always as the ''weak'' members of the group, and the ones who used to cause all the problems, sort of useless, as well as most women were on roles like mothers, or persons who needed to be protected, while men were the protectors and the strong ones, I imagine you had quite a few complains about it coming from the feminine community.
 The stereotypes then, (only in gender terms) were weak women who were in need of protection to survive as well as trouble-makers. But I'm not saying this as a complainant, but as a congratulation about what you did, I think, and in my opinion most people think, that the use of these stereotypes is completely necessary in order to make the show have a little more content than only killing zombies, I mean , they were necessary to make the theme get more sense, the evolution of the characters its what I think that's the most important thing, how (by themselves or with help) they get rid of the stereotypes that were put on them at the first chapters.
 The other thing that I liked was the dominance of the male gender on the group, the obvious reason for this its that I'm a man and by nature we like being superior, but there was something that make this stereotype fell a little in order to make the show more realistic, that was the character ''Eugene'', the complete contradiction of all the characteristics portrayed as stereotypes on the men of the group, he is physically weak and he is not a zombie killer with a natural surviving instinct as the other characters, but a ''nerd'' who's afraid of almost everything, even though as well as the female's stereotypes, the character evolved in the last season to something more ''manly''.
  The other thing about stereotypes I noticed, took me a little longer that identifying the others. The innocence as a death factor, I mean that the innocent people were more likely to die. I can relate that to a day-to-day situation in which innocent or shy people are bothered and taken advantage of because of their conditions ands characteristics, so as in the show the innocent ones have to leave this behind, I see sort of an educational or motivation purpose on doing this to influence the audience who may or not be on this situation.

Song lyrics

Run to the Hills -Iron Maiden

The white man came across the sea, 
He brought us pain and misery.
He killed our tribe, he killed our creed, 
He took our game for his own need.
We fought him hard, we fought him well. 
Out on the plains, we gave him Hell.
But many came to much for Cree, 
Oh will we ever be set free? 

Riding through dust clouds and barren wastes, Galloping hard on the plains.
Chasing the Redskins back to their holes, 
Fighting them at their own game.
Murder for freedom, stab in the back. 
Women and children are cowards, attack!

Run to the hills;
Run for your lives!
Run to the hills;
Run for your lives! 

Soldier blue in the barren wastes, hunting and killing's the game.
Raping the women and wasting the men, 
The only good Injuns are tame.
Selling them whiskey and taking their gold, Enslaving the young and destroying the old!

Run to the hills, run for your lives!
Run to the hills, run for your lives!

Run to the hills; 
Run for your lives!
Run to the hills; 
Run for your lives!

The song, Run to the Hills, by Iron Maiden, talks about the american colonization by europeans, and basically all the problems that this caused, for example the murders, the use of slaves, etc. 
The song portrays an image of an ''evil'' white man (who came across the sea...), who only brought to the native americans pain, misery and suffering, by using strong words like the ones already used, words like ''murder'', or phrases that give you the idea of destruction like ''Run for your lives''. In other words, run to save your life from this invader (the white man... who came across the sea). As well, the image of this ''destructive man'' is empowered by the appeal of the innocent tribes of the american in front of someone who only came to kill, ''The good guys who fight for their freedom Vs the Bad intruders''. 


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ZlDZPYzfm4

Short Story

For the complete appreciation of this story, its highly recommended to hear it rather than reading it, since the narrator interacts both with the story and his characters, as well as with the ''reader''

''If you dream about something, think about it, it has a reason for being only a dream''

''I was a lucky man, I had everything I wanted, a luxurious house, a nice sport car, and an awesomely paid work at the Appl and Maicrosoft technology labs. But I had a problem, an obsession with it, an obsession with technology, with all the products I was helping to develop for the companies that I worked for, they had some sort of ''special place'' on my heart. Every night I dreamt about the future, and how I would change it by my work. In the future, I created incredible devices that would change our lives to better, devices that everyone could buy, and I would become famous. I dreamt about a ''cyberfuture'' created by me, with multimedia classrooms, electronic meetings, virtual communities, online business, etc.  A fantastic world, not this.''              

Steve Stevenson Steves

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It was a day like any other, Steve was on his way to work, when he received a phone call:

Steve- the voice said

Yeah, what's going on man?- replied Steve recognising his friend's voice

Remember that today she gotta present our projects to the boss to see which of them gets approved and is ready for the market- said Zach- what are you going to present pal? I know you got a lot of good projects going on!

Yeah, hum probably the one that I was talking about last week, or not only that one, but all of them, the multimedia classrooms with robots and stuff , electronic meetings, virtual communities, online business and commerce, etc. But what about you?- he responded 

You will soon see- replied Zach while ending the call. 

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Our first candidate- announced the judge of the "competition"- bring us the idea of creating a new phone, that will make you "feel like a bird on the sky", an interesting piece of technology which can be bended, its submergible, you can basically smash it with a rock and it would not be even scratched....

This is as boring as some clam's aquarium- thought Steve. He soon started to feel the need of resting his eyes, when suddenly:

_________________________________________________________________________________

A pop up alert!

''Look at this man!'' said Steve while showing his new brand tablet screen to his friend. ''The New News Now magazine here, says that the new AiFon is ''The Real Device'', what do you think this means bro?'' 

I don't know- replied Zach, his friend- Probably the same that always dude... the super-omega-alpha-hyper-ultra new phone that instead of (like the last one) being red, its dark red, but its 400% more expensive.

It says that this new phone gives you the capacity to fly dude, it says literally: ''Be above the clouds with the new Aifoun ''Real device'', It will make you feell like a bird on the sky''

-Its always the same- answered Zach- And by the way, you better be moving soon, you got to supervise the new teacher's class in about 5 minutes.

Steve responded to the text, said good bye,  and left his phone on his backpack.

"By the time, the reader must be asking himself, What is going on? The answer is simple. All what Steve Stevenson Steves thought one time, was already done. And these guys, they weren't talking face to face, but chatting on ''Whats' Dawnn'', an application for phones."

When they got themselves to class, the new ''teacher'' was waiting for them, and I say ''teacher'', because it was not a normal teacher by all means. When someone says "teacher" you spect it to be a human, I don't know, male or female it doesn't matter, but this teacher was... well, a robot. Like the book the "Robot Teacher"? That way. 

well well children- the robot said with some annoying "metal" tone- As you may know, I am your new teacher, and I'm here to...

Suddenly, the power went off and the robot falls to the ground with a noisy "CRASH". 

Actually, I was waiting something like this to happen- said Zach- I knew that it's impossible for a robot, a piece of technology to take a teacher's place. Have you seen the movie The Simpson?

 No... Why?- replied Steve 

Well, in that movie, a bomb is placed on a city that is under a dome, and they have to deactivate it to survive, right? And they hand the job of deactivating he bomb to a little robot who prefers to even blow his head off with the officer's gun rather than dealing with the pressure of his job with the explosive- Zach said- this shows you, my friend, that technology it's not always the answer, and it's not perfect. 

Don't worry- replied Steve- I've already sent a complain text about the function of the robot to the company's main page, now we wait and see. 

Yeah, about that, you might want to check you message again- his friend said

When Steve opened the page in which he published his complaint, he found himself on an infinite blog with thousands of people posting their opinions about it, but no one listening each other. A huge mess, and the worse, the company wasn't even answering the posts.

Whoa, I didn't spect this to happen, it's a mess- admitted Steve- I was waiting for some sort of "tidy" and well organised page in which everyone would be able to show their opinion correctly...

That's the problem with today's society man- replied Zach's voice, since he wasn't anywhere to be seen- all people shout their opinion, but no one have respect for the other's opinion, and they don't hear them, but some insults over here or there.

 And do you remember what you saw inside the classroom? No one was talking to each other- continued the voice- the human interactions Steve! They were all in their phones, even the couples where staring at the screen. Tell me, do you prefer this rather than the old days in which we would talk and I say jokes and stuff?

Wait... What's going on?... 

Look at this world Steve, they are all in their houses staring at a screen, would you rather prefer to see A concert by an HD screen, or live it with your friends?- the voice announced- this is what your invention did to the world, it destroyed the normal course of living, you transformed them to something like those fat guys on the Axiom on the movie WALL-E. In the classrooms, they are not even learning Steve, they don't know what to do with those devices, it doesn't work!

Make it stop! -yelled Steve- make it stop!

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HEY STEVE WAKE UP! You've gotta present your idea to the audience!

what? What's happening?- said Steve confused

You fell asleep while watching the presentations! You even missed mine- answered Zach, who was standing by his side

And what did you present? 

Don't you remember?, that thing of mine that allowed you to live for a short period of time your dreams and...

SO IT WAS YOU!

What....

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Rationale.

 Last class, we were handed a paper written in 1995 that talked about the technology in terms of innovation about the future, and how this were going to either help the develop of a new and better world, or the incompetence of this technology in daily life, like classrooms or even human interactions. It basically takes the vision of some people about the future of technology, and take those thoughts to the real life arguing about how this ideas would really be.

And my topic I chose, its exactly about that. A short story with informal language (used to target all people and not necessarily complicate them in the reading (make it simple)) that targets all types of audience in which some guy dreams about the future world developed by technology , and the awesome things that this would bring to society, but when he makes it to live there he realizes thats that world its not like he thought: ''A fantastic world, not this.'' Its a science fiction short story that leaves a message for the reader,  ''If you dream about something, think about it, it has a reason for being only a dream'', entertainmente its not the only purpose of this short story, but making the audience question themselves a little more about their actions and what could be the consequences of them-

Rewrite task

Dear Ms X,

For over the past six years every morning when my students walk in the door I have felt so happy about see them again and my classroom take on life again; being a primary school teacher feels so natural to me. Yet for the past few months was longing for and thinking about a few personal challenge in the field of primary education. As I'm very intrigued by different cultures and languages, I've decided to start looking for a position at an international school.

As a relatively young international school which I would like to be member of pioneering and ambitious team, your school attracted my attention. I also liked the fact it is a Dutch  subsidized school with competitive fees open to a very broad variety of students. Last, I value the multicultural setting of your school added by the experience of living in Amsterdam and the Netherlands, as I think this city and the Dutch culture have much to offer. 

Even though teaching secondary school students might be a future possibility for me, I am initially interested in groups 3-8 because to me, children of these ages are very spontaneous and eager to learn at the same time able to communicate and discuss well. 

I am an open minded person with excellent social skills who tolerates pressure easily. Group management, organizing and planing is natural for me. By graduating in a outstanding technical university and working several years as a consulting engineer and group leader in the field of logistics and genera, management, I developed my rational, coordinating and analytical skills, so I decided to really follow my heart and passion to become a primary school teacher. 

I believe value would be added to you organization with my skills And enthusiasm as well I would appreciate very much to be interviewed so we could discuss more about the job description, my motivation and suitability .

Yours sincerely 

Candidate Y

Diary entry

september 14, 1939

Dear diary:

Today I was walking through the city streets when I heard some people talking about something about some apparently germans that where I think like grouping outside the city or somewhere near the city, but because I was in a hurry, I didnt pay attention. Later when arrived home, mom was worried about me because she had heard too about this german concentration outside the city. She told me to stay inside for the rest of the day and the whole night... I still dont know why.... 

September 15 

My dad didnt came home last night, neither my brothers, and today, the authorities are telling us to dont go out to the streets, that is not safe. Thats the only reason I can imagine to explain why they didnt came yesterday... 

Germans are in the city, and they are not friendly. I was taking a nap when my mother came running into my bedroom screaming and yelling ¡"Hide, hide!". So we did, but any time I wanted to ask her what was happening, she shutted my mouth. Apparently a german soldier heard us because suddenly he entered the house by using strengh. He made us line in front of him

 

Textual analysis

Ethos: " But I always be honest with you about the challenges we face. I will listen to you, especially when we disagree"

Pathos: "We are, and always be, the United States of America"

Logos: "I was never the likeliest candidate for this office. We didn't start with much money or many endorsements. Our campaign was not hatched in the halls of Washington. It began in the backyards of Des Moines... It was built by working men and women who dug into little savings they had to give $5 and  $10 and $20 to the cause..."

Parallelism: "If there's anyone out there who still doubts that America is a place where all things are possible, who still wonders if the dream of our founders is alive on our time, who still questions..."

Hypophora: Word answer at the begging of each paragraph answering the questions made in the first paragraph.

Repetition: Repetition of word "It" for starting sentences. ex. "It was built... It grew strength..."

Antithesis: "...we are, and we always be, the United States of America" 

Figurative speech: "Our campaign was not hatched in the halls of Washington. It began in the backyards of Des Moines and the living rooms of Concord and the front porches of Charleston"

Tricolon and polysyndeton: "Des Moines and the living rooms of Concord and the front porches of Charleston"

Juxtaposition: "...spoken by young and old, rich and poor, gay, straight, disabled and not disabled"

Allusion: "If there is anyone out there who still doubts that America is a place where..."

Varied sentence length: " disabled and not disabled"

Anne Frank listening

1)  young Jewish 

2) death, following the

3) from the nazis 

4) died aged 15 in a

5) studious and dilligent 

6) a passion for books

7) came to power

8) and outgoing

9) note book

10) about her dreams 

12) to go to a 

13) shared the small space

14) the hideout and

15) in a mass grave

16) most widely read