revised journal

   Why should we care about press freedom?

In this video, there are some people who talk about the pressure which is put on the journalists. They all are with the opinion that there should not be pressure on the journalists and there should be no censorship on TV programmes, magazines, newspapers etc. That’s because they think that this situation causes the society not to know everything that is happening around them.  Therefore , people are manipulated and they become indecisive when deciding which one is right.

I agree with the people in this video because I also think that there should not be any restriction on the people who are with the different opinions. Also, we all should learn how tol ive with the people who are looking at the life from different perspective than ours. That’s why the World we live in requires this.

All in all, we should all be respectful to each other and we should learn how to get on well with different people

revised journal

FREEDOM : TO WHAT EXTENT ?

In today’s world, there is almost no-one who has never heard the word ‘FREEDOM’. Freedom, when we look up for its meaning in dictionary, is “the absence of necessity, coercion, or constraint in choice or action”,yet its actual meaning -what we call ‘connotative meaning’ in linguistics- varies from person to person. That’s because freedom is one of the main concerns of all human lives, and its meaning is a very controversial issue.

The controversions over the extent of freedom changes from person to person. While some people think freedom means being free to share their ideas,some people perceive it as being able to do whatever they want. Also,some people think that being tolerant to other people’s ideas means being free. For example;when I was at high school,one of my favourite teachers told us in the lesson a saying that “I do not agree with you,but I will defend your right of sharing your ideas all the time.” Since then,I began to realize that we all need to respect to each other, and in order for us to learn to do this,we should learn how to look at the life from different perspectives, no matter how hard it is to do so. It is hard because people have the feeling of devoting themselves to one opinion, idea, belief .. etc. and defending their ideas all the time. This is a qualification that everyone in this world has. This is the reason why we always see people having argument, sometimes compromises, yet most of the time fights with each other. The reason why people have fights with each other is that they have the tendency to make the people around them look at the life from the same perspective as theirs. Therefore, when they are not able to make people accept their ideas,they start to have an argument,disagreements,conflicts,frictions and then fights..

 Then,what if we pay attention not to hurt each other or try compromising instead of fighting? We have to do this immediately because the world is becoming more unbearable each passing day. Also,the biggest impact is on us and we can save ourselves only by looking for ways of compromises. All in all, freedom –for me- is being tolerant to each other;therefore,being able to share all ideas anywhere and at any time. Thus, people should look for the ways of extending the restrictions that prevent people from sharing their ideas.

COMMENTS

comments on  my friends' journals :

http://gokdemirsddkanur.blogspot.com/2013/06/journal-entry-2.html?showComment=1371240492765#c5382292934603049161

http://stillwaitn.blogspot.com/2013/06/journal-entry-2.html?showComment=1371241016896 

comments on my friends' article reflections :

http://stillwaitn.blogspot.com/2013/06/artcle-reflection-2.html?showComment=1371243185143

http://muniselibra.blogspot.com/2013/06/article-condemn-crime-not-person.html?showComment=1371243475613#c5395052278501893132,

comments on the wikis:

http://bayraktarayla.blogspot.com/2013/06/world-cuisine-food-literally-means-that_7.html?showComment=1371244673169#c537581984365534223

JOURNAL ENTRY 2: FREEDOM (MULTI MEDIA)

   Why should we care about press freedom?

In this video, there are some people who talk about the pressure which is put on the journalists. They all are with the opinion that there should not be pressure on the journalists and there should be no censorship on TV programmes, magazines, newspapers etc. That’s because they think that this situation causes the society not to know everything that is happening around them.  Therefore , people are manipulated and they become indecisive when deciding which one is right.

I agree with the people in this video because I also think that there should not be any restriction on the people who are with the different opinions. Also, we all should learn how tol ive with the people who are looking at the life from different perspective than ours. That’s why the World we live in requires this.

All in all, we should all be respectful to each other and we should learn how to get on well with different people.

REFLECTION JOURNAL 4 (MULTI MEDIA)

     

 DO I SEE THE COLORS THE SAME WAY YOU DO?

                In this video, the speaker talks about colors and its effects on not only humanbeings but also animals. I foud this video very interesting because it is a little bit related to linguistics and I like linguistics. That's why  I chose this video.

 In addition, the speaker talks about some species of animals which are able to see only 2 different colors. He also briefly mentions about the effects of colors on humans. He indicates 12 boxes all of which are red, yet one of them is a little bit green. He also says that most people are not able to distinguish the different one. He also mentions about the ability of human race to distinguish different colors.  That’s why we can reach to the conclusion that our eyes are so well-designed to see the differences between even very much related colors.

All in all, there are a number of colors and human beings are able to see the differences between them because we are so well-designed creatures.

REFLECTION ARTICLE 3

papa-the philosopher

It is the power of the differences us that make us better. If we all looked the same, were feeling the same or if we got angry to the same situations, there would be no taste of life. That is, when we look at the environment, we can see a number of types of people. These different types are actually the mainstains of our lives because we gain most of our knowledge from different opinions. I mean, we cannot improve ourselves by talking only to the people who are with the same opinions as ours. That’s because these people can only make make us feel ourselves better, yet the people who are not like us are able to make us compare different things and decide which one(s)  are right. This is the way how we can reach to the top especially in today’s World because everyone tries to insist on the opinion they are with and they want to convert the people who are with different opinions from theirs. In addition, the most qualified people in today’s world are the ones who are able to get on well with the ones in different races, ethnic groups, or religions from theirs. For this reason, our ability to manage such a thing in such an inequal world is also making us different from each other., accepting the differences, or whatever you may call, the situation is the same and it makes our World much more bearable. That is, fighting with someone just because of his/her ethnicity or religion or color etc. is not a solution to get rid of feeling bad. Thus, at first, we all should focus on the most peaceful solutions to maket his World and our lives better. All in all, life is too short to manipulate the use of our differences. So, we should always love and respevt to the differences between us which make us actual humanbeings.

REFLECTION ARTICLE 2

FRIENDS, GOOD FRIENDS, AND SUCH GOOD FRIENDS

The writer asserts that there are some different varieties of friendships such as convenience friends and special –interest friends etc. The writer’s perspective is nice because he is able to classify the friendships. In other words, he looks at the relationships between people  from a different perspective. Therefore, from the writing we can reach to the conclusion that although each of us think his/her relationship is ‘unique’ ,actually it is not so. We all are human and ; therefore, our relationships are similar. Thus, wemay classify them as types of relationships.

In addition, historical friends attracted me the most because we all have some kind of backgrounds and anything may always remind us our past. So, may a friend. That’s because a friend means everything to me. Also, we share our secrets, dreams and everything with our friends. In this case, it is very normal to have a historical friend.

Despite these things, there may some people who are with the opinion that they have a very different kind of a relationship from others and ;therefore, they may not find such a classification logical. They might be right and it is very normal for them to think so because everyone has the instinction to feel theirselves and whatever they have are unique. Yet, I do not think so because we all feel the same. That is, our relationships are the same, yet the way we feel is -of course- different from each other. Therefore, we may reach to the conclusion that as humanbeings, our perception of this world are different from each other.

REFLECTION ARTICLE 1

                                    SHOW ME THE WAY TO GO HOME

Traditions that most people do not have in their lives in these days were some key factors to a better life when they were applied. To exemplify, in Turkish culture, family as a phenomenon used to be seen as a little version of the government. Therefore, families were very important. Also, they used to be bigger when compared to today. For example, two cousins used to live in the same house, so did the siblings and grandmother etc. Therefore, houses in the past were much bigger than those of today. In this way, there used not to be such questions like “I want my and my sister’s room to be separated.” That means the problems and cases were different than today. In addition, when we compare this tradition with the other cultures, we can see a lot of differences between our traditions. To exemplify, in Turkey, parents are more likely to save their children from the hardships of the World. In contrast, in most of the European countries , parents tend to be much more relaxed when it comes to growing their kids up. This situation leads to some situations. For example,  in the United States of America, kids’ tendency to be a member of a gangster is more likely when compared to Turkey. Therefore, the rate of crimes in the United States of America are much more than that of Turkey. This situation may not be the same in some ways. For example, in a country, the children of a family may miss their parents and siblings or home in the same way as the other country.  That’s because missing the parents is a common sense between all the cultures in the world. All in all, despite the differences between the cultures, there are some common senses, so we cannot generalize some feelings in different traditions.

JOURNAL ENTRY 4

                                             THE EFFECT OF COLORS ON HUMANS

            Have you ever thought the reason why you chose the color of the cloth that you are now wearing? Actually, the reason of this situation lies behind your mood. To exemplify, if you feel clumsy or if you are in a bad mood, you are probably wearing dark clothes. Also, if you feel alive and energetic, you will probably wear the clothes whose colors are  light and vivid.

            In addition to our mood, the general qualifications of us shape the way we are wearing. Also, the colors of the clothes that we are wearing have effect on what color we are wearing. For example, most people who wear pink generally are the ones who are dreamer. Actually, most of the things I wear are pink and I am a kind of person who has so many dreams. Besides, wearing brown means being shy and introverted. One of my friends likes wearing Brown a lot and she is avery shy girl. Therefore, I believe in the color effects on humans.

            Additionally, the colors of rooms are effective on the way we feel. To illustrate, experts generally advise people not to paint their rooms’ walls because red makes us easily get angry. Yellow also has a that kind of effect. In contrast to red and yellow, light colors  such as light pink, light green etc. makes us feel better when compared to dark and clumsy colors.

            To sum up, colors have so much effect on us ;and therefore, we had better pay attention to the color of the cloth we are wearing and the color of the room we are staying at. Otherwise, we would become much angrier or much more stressful than we actually are.

JOURNAL ENTRY 3

FREEDOM : TO WHAT EXTENT ?

In today’s world, there is almost no-one who has never heard the word ‘FREEDOM’. Freedom, when we look up for its meaning in dictionary, is “the absence of necessity, coercion, or constraint in choice or action”,yet its actual meaning -what we call ‘connotative meaning’ in linguistics- varies from person to person. That’s because freedom is one of the main concerns of all human lives, and its meaning is a very controversial issue.

The controversions over the extent of freedom changes from person to person. While some people think freedom means being free to share their ideas,some people perceive it as being able to do whatever they want. Also,some people think that being tolerant to other people’s ideas means being free. For example;when I was at high school,one of my favourite teachers told us in the lesson a saying that “I do not agree with you,but I will defend your right of sharing your ideas all the time.” Since then,I began to realize that we all need to respect to each other, and in order for us to learn to do this,we should learn how to look at the life from different perspectives, no matter how hard it is to do so. It is hard because people have the feeling of devoting themselves to one opinion, idea, belief .. etc. and defending their ideas all the time. This is a qualification that everyone in this world has. This is the reason why we always see people having argument, sometimes compromises, yet most of the time fights with each other. The reason why people have fights with each other is that they have the tendency to make the people around them look at the life from the same perspective as theirs. Therefore, when they are not able to make people accept their ideas,they start to have an argument,disagreements,conflicts,frictions and then fights..

 Then,what if we pay attention not to hurt each other or try compromising instead of fighting? We have to do this immediately because the world is becoming more unbearable each passing day. Also,the biggest impact is on us and we can save ourselves only by looking for ways of compromises. All in all, freedom –for me- is being tolerant to each other;therefore,being able to share all ideas anywhere and at any time. Thus, people should look for the ways of extending the restrictions that prevent people from sharing their ideas.

JOURNAL ENTRY 2

                                    A NICE THERAPICAL EFFECT: MUSIC

Remember yourself when you’re listening to music. How do you feel when you listen to a lively music or an emotional music? Does it shape the way you feel? These two situations actually show how big the effect of music is on people. Also, the scientific experiments indicate that music has a great deal of effect on mankind. To illustrate, a scientific research has shown that music has an effect even on the pace of our heartbeat and it also ordinates our metabolism. Therefore, we may reach to the conclusion that in order to feel healthy and energetic, we should change the types of music we listen. In other words, if we want to get relaxed, we should try listening to vivid songs like pop or R&B. Also, when we are in a bad mood, listening to slow and emotional musics makes us feel worse.

In addition, the effect of music on people has been used by some people to help people improve or maintain their health. Also,in history music has been related to psychology and used with psychology. For example, Apollo was the god of music and medicine in history. Also, the famous philosopher, Plato said that music affected the emotions and could influence the character of an individual. Likewise, Aristotle tought that music affects the soul and described music as a force that purified the emotions. Moreover, as early as 400 B.C., Hippocrates, played music for his mental patients. In the thirteenth century, Arab hospitals contained music-rooms for the benefit of the patients. Similarly, in the United States, Native American medicine men often employed chants and dances as a method of healing patients.

So, how is music able to do this although it is not alive like a humanbeing? The answer is again in the researches. They also show that the neurons in human brain is affected by the sound waves of the music that a person listens to. That is, the region, called the nucleus accumbens, determines how much we value the song. If we love the song, our brain sends some messages that has an effect even on our eyes. Therefore, we can reach to the conclusion that we need to pay attention to what we listen due to the effect of music on our health.

All in all, if a person pays attention to his/her health, s/he should also pay attention to even what s/he listens. That’s why they can harm their bodies if they listen to a type of music that has a bad effect on his/her body.

TOLERANCE - JOURNAL ENTRY 1

One of the most important qualifications that each person should have is tolerance .  Most of the problems that we face today result from the lack of tolerance to each other. Despite this, we can solve these problems . To illustrate , when someone steals your money,  instead of getting annoyed and shouting at him/her , you may look for the reasons behind this situation . It might seem difficult  to do, but you may find many reasons lying behind this like illness , poverty or having problems with family. Although most people know that everyone should be tolerant , they have difficulties in realizing tolerance in their lives. What would you do if someone swear to you , even when there is no conflict between you?  Swearing to him/her back will  – of course - not be a solution to that. Moreover , it may cause more troubles like a fight. Hence,  you should at first try to keep your patience and  to look for a solution  to this. That’s why it is easy to do a favor to somebody who has done a favor to you. Although it is hard, doing a favor to someone who has done a bad behavior to you is a better solution. Also,  this solution has a lot of advantages not only to you but also to the country we live in. To exemplify, when you show your tolerance to the people, they can easily get how to show their tolerance to other people. This situation may last forever when you think in an optimistic way. Besides,  the fact that you show your tolerance will make people have very good opinions about you. So,  you will have a lot of friends who love you so much especially because of your good behaviors. This means that you will have “real”  friends and their number will increase day by day. In spite of these advantages, there are still many people who think that they should not keep silent when they come across a bad behavior. For them, they are defending themselves ,  yet this is not a defend according to me. For me , this is just a selfishness because they only think about themselves , not about the problems the others face.  All in all , we should be tolerant to everyone and we should show our tolerance both for ourselves and for this world.

REVISED JOURNALS

Journal Entry 2 –Being a METU Student (REVISED)

 

From my viewpoint, being a Metu student makes people imaginative ,creative and critical owing to the fact that it has its own education system which is different from the classic Turkish education system. For example ,there are always questions around the class like 'Why,What is the reason behind it?' during the lessons.Therefore,this pushes the students into thinking and inquiring about any subject all the time and I think that it makes us "real people”.

In addition to this, life in Metu has some harships such as different kinds of assignments.Even though it might look an awful thing at first,it is really advantageous because students all around the world need to be improved and this happens only by such assignments as drama, presentations or activities like "DJ of the week".

Besides,there are lots of students coming from different cities and countries and each of them has his/her own lifestyle. That’s because all the students respect to each other although it is really hard especially in today's world. So, it is one more thing that makes us 'real' people. All in all, Metu helps its students discover their abilities and improve themselves both individually and socially.

 

MY IDEAL UNIVERSITY (REVISED)

 

   Today, although there are lots of universities all around the world ,for me, most of them aren't able to educate their students well enough  to find good solutions to the problems that they face.We can easily see this by watching TV,surfing on the internet or just looking around us because there are many people having graduated from different kinds of universities but they're not even able to know what's going on around them or they don't even try to find good ways to improve the countries yhat they live in. I think that this is a very big problem which can be solved by educating people "truly". Also, this will be possible with "real" universities. For me, Metu is one of these universities because it not only educates its students of their departments but also helps them look at their lives from different perspectives and makes them understand what real life is.As a result of this,those who have graduated from such universities like Metu become aware of the facts.Finally, a good university should educate mentally and emotionally mature generations. That means providing good solutions both to its country and to the world.

 

comments on my friends' journals

I've commented on:

http://gokdemirsddkanur.blogspot.com/2013/01/journal-set-3.html?showComment=1358701179807#c3876437565329286500

 

http://gulcindudukcu.blogspot.com/2013/01/journal-set-2_16.html?showComment=1358701285055#c4711302827989557560

 

http://demetgumuss.blogspot.com/2013/01/journal-entry-3-fashion_15.html?showComment=1358701834200#c729078149202214198

 

http://mgogceoglu.blogspot.com/2012/11/journal-entry-4.html?showComment=1358702044015#c7242249978810755191

 

 

BOOKS-SET 3

THE REFLECTION OF MANKIND- BOOKS

At first it may seem a very ordinary subject but according to me, reading books is the mainstain of our lives. I cannot think any person who lives without books because in order for us to improve ourselves, see the real life and notice different perspectives, we should at first try reading books. As we read, we will learn much more and we will want to read more. I name this condition as “taste of books” because for me ,the taste of reading books is so sweety. When we taste this, we will want to “eat” them J

 

 

In this video, the books are having fun. That is the symbol of the aliveness of the books. According to me, books are just like humanbeings,each of whom has an opinion. Also, each of them are different from each other just like mankind. Besides, as video shows, they’re dancing. So , they try to have fun like us . Hence, these things show us that books are the summary of humanrace J

VIOLIN-SET 2

VIOLIN-MY BEST DREAM EVER

It is one of my dreams to play violin but I’ve never had the chance to learn it. But when I hear a voice belonging to violin,I become really happy and I feel as if I’m playing it. So I wanted to take the subject of ‘violin’ to express my feelings about it. Also, the shape of it and the style of playing it are very effective for me. When I see someone playing a violin I would always want to be that person. I think that It’s a privilege to know how to play it. That’s because It a  big challenge to learn and play it perfectly.

 

 

In this video , the girl tries to teach how to play a violin and she starts from the styles of sitting and holding the violin. That really affected me because in order to play it perfectly, one needs to stay perfectly from the beginning. So,one cannot stay the way s/he would like if s/he wants to play it flawlessly. That reflected me how the violin shapes people J

TUKISH TEA-SET 1

TURKISH TEA

I’m a tea addict. Tea is the centre of my life. The first thing I do when I wake up every morning is to boil some water in order to have a cup of tea. That’s because I don’t feel relaxed until I get my one cup of tea. I may even get annoyed when I don’t drink it a day. But I don’t think that I’m the only person who acts in this way. Also,the researches show that 96% of Turkish people drink tea everyday just like me. Besides, this is not restricted with Turkih people only because the researches also show that tea is the most consumed drink after water. So,the results show that I’m not alone J Additionally,tea is very beneficial for health. If we drink it before an exam or when we get tired,it stimulates the brain and makes you feel more energetic and alert. Despite the controversies over the harmful effects of tea,I advise everyone to drink it because ,for me, there are lots of drinks that are really harmful. But a number of people drink such liquid. Hence,we should at first argue on those drinks. All in all, as the researches show,tea is consumed in large quantities and this situation should go on according to me.

In this video,Katharina Branning –the author of the book “yes,I would love a glass of tea”- talks about a subject about which I didn’y mention in my first subject. She shares her opinions about Turkis tea and the realitonship between Turkish culture and tea. She relates the bright colour of Turkish tea and the brightness of Turk’s faces. Also, the colour of our tea is refers to our flag’s colour for her.

When I first watched this video, I got really happy because It’s so great to see a foreign person describing our cultures and traditions in such a good way. So, I was really affected from watching this video. And I still smile when I watch this great comments on our country and people. Hence, I suggest everyone to see this and have a look at it.

FOOD ADVERTISEMENT

STUFFED VINE LEAVES WITH OLIVE OIL

Fırst of all, It is a famous dish in Turkey. Especially our mothers make them really well. They are best when rolled very thin but it takes a lot of practice so it is seen as talent if you can make them thin. Hence, our mothers are really talented. It's generally served cold with lemons, there is also hot version of this dish which does not include olive oil that is served in normal days, but this version is generally made in but not limited to holidays such as bayrams.

Ingredients

·         500g vine leaves (or cabbage leaves): as thin as possible

·         1 kilo onions

·         1.5 cups rice

·         1 water glass olive oil

·         3 cups boiling water

·         1 tablespoon pimento

·         2-3 lumps of sugar

·         1 lemon

·         A pinch of salt

·         Chopped mint leaves (optional)

·         A pinch of black pepper

     Instructions

1

Carefully remove the grape leaves from their jars and place them in a large mixing bowl. Fill the bowl with hot water and drain. Repeat this step two more times and leave the leaves to soak in the final batch of water.

2

Place the hamburger, rice, diced onion, dill, salt, pepper and diced tomatoes in the large mixing bowl and blend them well.

3

Remove a grape leaf from the bowl and place it on the counter with the underside facing up. Place a small spoonful of the meat mixture into the center of the leaf and form it into a log shape. Fold the bottom and top of the leaf inward over the meat, as though folding a burrito. Roll tightly from the side to form a cigar-like shape. Repeat this step with all the remaining meat.

4

Place the remaining grape leaves on the bottom of the saute pan and stack the uncooked sarma into the pan up to three layers high. Place the heavy dinner plate on top of the sarma face down and fill the pan with water until the water is coming over the plate's edges.

5

Place the pan on the stove at medium-high heat and cover. Bring the pan to a boil, then reduce the heat to medium and cook for one hour. Carefully remove the plate using tongs, stack the sarma on a serving platter and serve with fresh yogurt.

ENJOY YOUR MEAL :)

YASEMİN EROĞLU 

ESRA ELDEM