ISKL statement - Power of Void

The International School of Kuala Lumpur provides an exceptional education that challenges each student to develop the attitudes, skills, knowledge and understanding to become a (silence) highly successful, spirited, socially responsible global citizen.

Between these words in ISKL statement, I put the word 'silence' to create tension and curiosity for listener. The listener is very interested in the future of the students in ISKL, and if we pause where the word silence is, the listener will be curious and anxious at the same time. When the curiosity is formed, people will ask questions. The word 'silence' forms tension because there is no answer.

Part Two

Composers can create tension and release in their music by putting a pause, a rest or a surprise silence in their music. When there is a pause, the tension is created and makes people curious about the answer and reasons to this silence. They think what is going to happen after this silence. The silence will be few seconds but for the listeners, it will feel like more than 5 minutes. The void is created when the elements of music is taken away. Then the release of the silence (when the elements of music returns) will give the answer to the listeners.

The Black Spot

I would call this story "The Black Box" because the black box is the main subject of this story and it also creates tension and curiosity on what is in the black box. In the story, there were a lot of foreshadowing that helped me predict what was going to happen. When Mrs.Hutchinson shouted "It wasn't fair!", I noticed that she wasn't happy at all when her family was selected in the lottery. This infers that the lottery in the story is not same as the lottery nowadays. The people don't want to be chosen for the lottery. Also from this text "it was no longer completely black but splintered baldy along on side to show original wood color.", I realised that the black box was antique and I knew that the lottery was a ritual from a long time ago.

These foreshadowing and questions that are popping in my head pulled me into the story. I couldn't wait to read the last paragraph. Instead of lines and words in the last paragraph, I saw a BLANK space. As a result, more questions appeared and created great tension. The second when Ms.P ripped the paper that had the end of story, The power of the void exploded and I thought I was going to die! There were so many clues in the story about the black box but there weren't any accurate answer. Then A paper that said "Do not open until 5pm and follow the instructions" Some papers had a black dot on it but mine didn't. I was kind of disappointed because people around me had the black dot and I thought something more special was on the paper.I did follow the instructions, I opened the paper at exactly 5pm because I was very curious about this mysterious paper and there was a SURPRISE! There was the ENDING OF STORY and some questions to answer for this blog. Obviously I did follow the instruction by writing this blog post.

The black box, the black spot and the blank paper...The black box is somehow the main object of this story and this caused the most tension for me. What was this box? What is in there? What makes people so curious about this box? Why do they want to change this box but they never do? These countless questions were suffering in my head until I received the rest of the story. The black spot is the climax of the story. Whoever gets the black spot is chosen. One thing that made me so anxious is that people didn't want to be the chosen one. I thought people want to be chosen for something good like the lottery. The blank paper is something that made people feel comfortable and happy. The people didn't want to be chosen. The blank paper was more like a winner in the lottery. more than 300 winners and 1 loser.

4:58pm, COME ON! (Peeking into the paper) For me, it felt like more than an hour passed to reach 4:59pm. Any faster? The second when the the big needle pointed at 12 and small needle turned to 5, I ripped two staplers on the paper and read "THE ENDING OF STORY" I knew it! Somehow I knew that I will find out the ending of the story. If there wasn't the ending of story, I would still go and ask teachers for the ending. I wasn't really focusing on the "assignment part", I could still make questions and predictions in the end of story. The time when the answer was given, I felt as if i was in heaven where I saw and knew everything. My prediction was the chosen one was going to be killed. It was kind of right because they threw stones at Tessie which is basically killing her. If I related more clues and forshadow in the story to make predictions, I'm sure I could make a better one. The auther left these voids in the story because the readers want to think and make predictions and questions. Also, it's boring when the author gives away every details.

No title, The title is suppose to give ideas to readers about the story. My first huge tension was created when I saw blank space in the title page. No ending, It's good to think and make predictions but there was nothing! Though people enjoy predicting, they still want to know the answer. Text clues, they were my heroes, they gave me ideas about this story and led me into the rest of the story. Mystery paper and delayed ending, The silence for 3 hours, I wasn't suppose to open this paper. What is this? The silence, the time when question ghosts flies in my head and the power of void ruled the entire band class students. From this short story, I realised that void can be created from anywhere, and wherever it happens, the power of void will rule the entire space...

"The most seemingly mundane activities can be inspirational when you look beneath the surface." Steve McCurry

Steve McCurry, a tremendous photographer, was born in Philadelphia in 1950, he worked at the newspaper for two years and traveled to India for freelance. He started his career as a photographer when he crossed the Pakistan border into rebel-controlled Afghanistan just before the Russian invasion. When he sewn films and photos into his clothes when he emerged from Afghanistan. He won countless awards of photography. McCurry explores themes of humanity in difficult circumstances, the human spirit, hope, poverty, determination, love of parent and child and war. Steve McCurry’s photos focus on people’s eyes and those eyes tell the story of the person. "If you wait, people will forget your camera and the soul will drift up into view."

As I was looking through Steve McCurry’s photos in his website, this photo of a child holding a gun with unsoiled eyes captured my eyes. His clothes are cluttered, brown and dirty. His skin is faded dark brown and it’s not emphasized in this photo, it’s slightly fainting. It’s not noticed at first when a person looks at this photo. His clothes and skin symbolize the weakness of this little boy. Although he has a gun, he has not enough power, he still has fear as a young child. Most of people will think that this boy is strong and he has gone through all the dangerous occasions that he is not afraid of anything anymore. If I just look at his face, his eyes and the gun which are positioned in the center, I can never guess what he is terrified. There is a huge contrast of colors between the eyes and his skin. He represents the children who live in a war place or danger zone.

The cloth that he is wearing on his head looks like a tent or a cave. A tent or a cave has defensible walls. However inside of the cave, there is nothing but dimness, gloomy breeze wondering around, rushing as fast as it can to get out of the walls. The focal point of this photo is the eyes. The eyes are the cleanest part in the photo. If I stare at those eyes, I might fall into that. I might be able to feel the spirit, and know the stories behind him. I could communicate with his eyes and his dried tears, the tears make his skin look pale brown, becoming weaker and losing the meaning of life. Steve McCurry positioned this boy in a plain background but showed the boy’s skin. I think he used the skin as a background. The mixture of foreground which is eyes and gun and the background, the skin introduces to the viewer to imagine a story about this boy and think deeper.


Steve McCurry captures the spirit of the person. He wants the viewer to read and analyze the photo: to feel the soul and be able to communicate with the focus point. His photos have more ideas then just spirit and emotion. When the viewers stare at the photo, they can hear the voices, smell what’s around them, see what’s next to them, feel the danger and taste the word of a fear that pops up their mouth. I learnt that to analyze a photo, I have to look at foreground and background, color contrast, size and position. Also, I need to be able to make inference about the photo. The photo will look more realistic if I infer some ideas in the photo. The photos inspire people to look back or look around to see what actually is happening in this world. There are gazillions of people who are in the same difficult circumstance as the people in the photos. Since the photos makes the viewers to actually think and be part of the scene, the viewers will understand more about them and stand up and act for the people in difficult circumstances. I believe that McCurry’s photos will endure forever. The viewers will never forget the eyes in the photo. The eyes will grab on to the viewer's heart. A great photo has a focus point that symbolizes the main idea. McCurry’s photos tells us journey of the people in the photo. From a scene, the viewers can notice the whole journey. Not just the scene but the whole story will last forever in our hearts.

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Steve McCurry's website-galleries-child soldiers-8