Travel Guide to South Africa

 South Africa: Land of Diversity

Travel Guide 

South Africa is located at the southernmost part of the African continent. The country is renowned for its many diverse landscapes, ranging from its large mountains to its savannas. The colorful and busy streets of Cape Town has a mix of the modern city look and the rich cultural look. Visitors can explore everything about this country. From the iconic Table Mountain and Robben Island to the vast wildlife reserves like Kruger National Park. There are so many things you can do like hiking, tasting local dishes, learning about apartheid history, or meeting people from different cultures and languages. South Africa offers a powerful and unforgettable experience.

This southern nation's history is marked by the apartheid era. A period of institutionalized racial segregation and discrimination. Trevor Noah's book, Born a Crime, provides a personal lens into this period. His book detailing his experiences growing up as a mixed-race child in a society where just existing as mixed-race was illegal. His stories offer what it looks like living daily in a apartheid society and the resilience of those who lived through it.

"In a society built on institutionalized racism, race mixing doesn't merely challenge the system as unjust, it reveals the system as unsustainable and incoherent." 

This map shows South Africa's nine provinces: Eastern Cape - Free State - Gauteng - KwaZulu-Natal -Limpopo - Mpumalanga - Northern Cape - North West

https://www.southafrica.net/uk/en/ 

Here is a link to tell you everything you need to know to travel to South Africa

"Despite the fact that black people made up over 80% of South Africa’s population, the territory allocated for the homelands was about 11% of the country. There was no running water, no electricity. People lived in huts."

Born a Crime Chapter 8-13

1. "Africa is full of black people," He would say. "So why would you come all the way to Africa if you hate black people? If you hate black people so much, why did you move into their house?" To him it was insane.

 I choose this particular passage because it shows how illogical and ridiculous racism really is. It made me think just how strong hate can be even when it makes no sense. It made me feel anger and sad and raise the question, how can you move to a land full of black people and than treat them badly as if you didn't come into their home?

"But then it will be a whole restaurant of nothing but toilets."

"Well, if you don't want to do that, than your other option is to make it a normal restaurant and only serve whites."

I choose this passage and it really stuck out to me because it made me realize how causal racism was like just running a restaurant and using the bathroom. It made me raise the thought, How many normal everyday decisions were shaped by racism?

2. I'm not sure yet what I will write about. 

3. DISCUSSION QUESTIONS: 

• He learned nothing other than that he was secretive. 
• They were given different jobs and rights to make people compete against other races. Trever was being bullied by a bunch of kids and knew he made a mistake by telling Abel because Abel took it too far.
• Trevor gets saved from trouble because officers believed the boy in the video tape was white so they didn't think it was Trevor. I really relate to that quote because a lot of the time I stop myself from doing things I want to because of fear, but the regret i feel later for not doing that thing was a worse feeling. 

Born a Crime

1. The essential points Trevor Noah makes is that people aren't communicating like they should anymore and are living through their phones. He also points out that people aren't living in the moment anymore and feel the need to capture everything with their phones. I agree because I think phones have made people obsessed with capturing and documenting everything rather than just enjoying the moment.
2. Trever describes moments in this chapter that illustrates this like when his mother pretended like she wasn't his mother to the cashier because he kept nagging her about the toffee apple or the whole thing with the letters. 
3. Fufi was his first heartbreak because he felt betrayed by her for loving the other boy. I did not have any pets growing up.

Trevor Noah’s Born a Crime

 1.  I don't really know anything about comedians so I couldn't tell you who my favorite comedian is. I think that comedy helps people cope through hard times and lightens their mood. 

2. Apartheid's divides people, those of the different or even the same racial group, to keep them from going against the system. The Xhosa and Zulu tribes have different languages and cultures. Trevor Noah's parents are of a different race and were in a relationship which was illegal under the apartheid. 

3.  Trevor Noah's mom threw him out of a moving vehicle to protect him from a dangerous situation. His mom's strong belief to her faith plays a big role in her decisions. His mother throwing him out of the car was tied to her belief in the power of prayer and spiritual intervention.

4. Taco's are one of the most delicious foods! The mix of so many flavors that work so well together is what makes it so good. What I find striking about Trevor's experience is that to him napkins mean diapers. I learn learning about the difference between someone else's experience and my own because it is intriguing. 

Why Should Anyone Care?

 Michael Pollan’s “Why Bother" 

Conversation

Me: I think we really need to talk about a rising issue of the effects that electronics are having on people's mental health, especially younger people. The long amounts of screen time and lack of real world interactions is causing people to have depression and anxiety. 

Companion: Yeah but there isn't really anything you can do about that. You can't just get people to put down their electronics.

Me: That is true but we can take small steps that create small changes that add up. If people set screen limits for themselves or their children and encourage themselves and children to have real life interactions it would help. 

Companion: I guess but tech companies are just going to continue to encourage large amounts of screen time. 

Me: Public pressure can force that to change. Spreading awareness on this issue with encourage that force. 

Companion: I guess your right.

Summary

Pollan answers his own question "Why Bother?" when he argues in his writing that people's small individual actions do make a difference and matter. He acknowledges that its easy to feel like small actions like using less plastic, are too little to make any real difference. He shows that he is against this kind of mindset because change starts with individual actions. If enough amount of people take action, there will be real change that we can see. 

Believing Game: 

Specialization has made people too dependent on those who specialize in fields and causes us to not have basic life skills. People should be more self reliant as that will make society stronger. 

Doubting Game: 

Specialization does have its flaws, but it is also something that should be depended on since if everyone were to be things like farmers, progress would slow down. Making it more sustainable is what we should be doing instead of rejecting specialization as a whole. 

What can we learn? 

Pollen's essay teaches to not only define the problem but connect it to a larger issue. 

My Proposal: 

An excessive amount of screen time particularly when it comes to things like phones, video games, and social media especially. There have been lots of studies that have linked excessive amounts of screen time, especially in younger generations, to a rise in depression and anxiety. According to the National Institute of Health, among children ages 14 to 17 years old, high users of screens (7+ h/day vs. low users of 1 h/day) were more than twice as likely to ever have been diagnosed with depression and anxiety. This issue is very concerning considering how electronics are deeply embedded into the way that people live from education to entertainment. To combat this issue, parents should be more strict with the amount of time that their children are spending on their electronic devices. Parents should also not be giving children under the age of 5 devices. Schools should also implement tech free zones that limit the amount of screen time the students are getting. Research shows that reducing screen time even if it is a small reduction, will lead to improvement in mental health. 

Short Story & The Coming of John

Part One: 

According to Chimamande Adichie, the danger of a single story is that it creates a stereotype and can be misleading. Single stories makes it hard for people who have bought into the story, to view the people in the story as anything else but the story. Single stories often reduces people/cultures to a narrow, and a lot of the time negative perspective. She introduces a igbo word "nkali" which translates to "to be greater than another". She introduces this word to talk about how those in power control people's narratives. According to Chimamande Adichie, stenotypes are a problem because they don't tell a complete story and can cause people and things to be viewed as simple instead of their complexity. The most important idea I will take with me from this talk is to remember to seek out multiple stories instead of buying into one and that becoming my perspective on something that is more complex, like people. 

Part Two:

In the short story, the author compares and contrasts the lives of John Jones who is a black man and John Henderson who is a white man. Both of the men are educated but their lives are vastly different because of their race and how they were treated because of it. John Jones is initially living a carefree life until he becomes aware of the injustice he faces because of his race. John Henderson remains privileged and unaffected by the injustice. I think he chose to write a fictional story instead of a real one because it gives him a better chance at showing a broad problem rather than just giving one real life situation. Education changes John Jones by opening his eyes to the racism and injustice that is around him all the time. I think education can definitely change a person by making them see so many things much differently than they saw before and open their eyes to different perspectives. I think just like Chimamada Achidie talks about how not having a single story can open your eyes to the truth, the short story suggests that education can also open your eyes to the truth. 

Jim Crow:

During the Jim Crow era in the south, African Americans faced severe racism through segregation and discrimination. African Americans and white people were segregated from each other with schools, in transportation, public spaces and pretty much everything. African Americans always had the inferior parts of these places. While Black citizens were technically allowed to vote, there were tactics used to suppress their ability to do so. Lynchings and racial violence against African Americans was also very rampant during this time. 

Is My SmartPhone Hurting Me?

 Are Smartphones Ruining People? Two Different Perspectives Compared!

People have discussed the impact that smartphones have had on younger people for years. In Jean Twenge's essay, "Have Smartphones Destroyed a Generation," She argues that smartphones have contributed to the rise of loneliness, depression, and a lack of social connections among younger people. However, In Sarah Rose Cavanagh's essay "No, Smartphones Are Not Destroying a Generation", It takes a very different stance, it suggests that Twenge’s ideas are an exaggeration and that the effects that technology has had is more nuanced than she is making it out to be. 

Now looking at my own experience with smartphones, I got my first smartphone when I was 13. Having a smartphone definitely changed the routine of my daily life. Their were some positive things about having a smartphone like it helped me stay in touch with my friends, sometimes helped me with my schoolwork, and most of all it entertained me. However, I also noticed that spending too much time on my phone made me feel sort of depressed and like I am wasting my life. I noticed myself getting pretty addicted quickly. For example, If I did not have my phone with me all the time of is someone took it from me, I would get stressed out and upset. However, the older I got the more time I could spend away from my phone and live in the moment. 

What we can learn from these two arguments is that Twenge raises an important point about the negative effects that too much screen time can have on you. Cavanagh reminds people to look at the bigger picture before blaming smartphones for all the problems. The key idea is to balance between using technology to benefit you in a good way and to not letting it completely control your life.