Tips ahoy!

Went for the Star NiE Mag Inc workshop today. I was so shocked when the teacher asked me to fill up the permission slip to leave the school. I thought I did something wrong unknowingly and she was calling me out to kill me! It turns out my English teacher nominated me. I was so touched because even though she's taught me for 3 years she can't really remember my name (my name is hell to pronounce for a five-lettered thing) but she thought so highly of me. 


The group of girls sent to attend the workshop were rather diverse, one from each form baby! And we fulfilled the 1Malaysia requirement. Its rather amusing to see me in the midst of these accomplished girls. They're in the top classes, very involved in school activities. Two of them are prefects and high up in the popularity scale (the number of positions they hold in co-curricular activities is proof), the other girl is a school debater. In the mix of this you have ye average person aka me. No accomplishments unless you count choral speaking team. No positions (my club members in our tiny CF don't even recognize me), unpopular and content to float around and let the day pass. The average commoner. I got my laughs.

Mag Inc is a big thing to students nationwide. Mostly because of the pizza voucher for participation. Pizza in Malaysia isn't a cheap dish at all and we certainly aren't in the habit of eating it all the time. With so many people participating, they're bound to start researching and I thought, why don't I share what notes I've taken down. Perhaps some people would find the website vague (I did last year) or maybe they don't know how to get started. There are many who wouldn't ask the workshop participants out of shyness, fear etc. They prefer to sit down in their comfy chairs and websurf, so this is for you. 

1.    Team consists of 4 or 5 people only.

2.    Brainstorm on topics; choose one you would like to Speak Out

Ë  What are you talking about

A                    Plus and minus interesting aspects

A                    Relate to anecdotes/happenings in real life. Give it the human touch

A                    Provide statistics/ Do a poll

Ë  What are the solutions

A                    What can people get/learn from your magazine (educational value)

A                    Give suggestions and tips

3.    Don’t plagiarize articles/cartoons from other publications

4.    Always state the sources, e.g. write what song you’re using in your video and who sang it in the credits

5.    Delegate the work

6.    Photos are important. Hilarious captions too

7.    Include a masthead and editorial note

8.    Encouraged to do in scrapbook form (you don’t have to dig out too much money from your pocket this way)

Ë   It would be prefer if you paste things that can be felt, e.g. If you’re doing on fashion, paste scraps of cloth so the judges can feel the texture

Ë  Make sure whatever you paste does not break easily and will not hurt anyone. So, no glass, no mirrors, ceramics etc  

9.    Judges will look at layout/creativity/content/use of language.

10.                       Most importantly be original and creative. The sky’s the limit.

Pizza vouchers

            I.      1 mini pan pizza, 1 personal pan pizza

         II.      2 mini magazines/1 mini magazine and 1 three minute video clip, 1 regular pan pizza

Basic requirements:

·       1 feature article

·       3 other elements

v   Poems

v   Polls

v   Editorials

v   Cartoon

v   Comic strip

v   Interviews

v   Jokes

v   Photograph

v   Illustration (if you use some form of design in the page it counts too)

v   Adverts

Template:

a)    Only the original template from The Star is allowed

b)   You can type, cut, paste and draw on this template. Yes, you can type your feature article on A4 paper and stick it on the template.

Video:

a)    Same topic as your magazine

b)   Format on .mpeg file supported by Windows Media Player

c)    Label the CD/DVD clearly with the name of team and school name

d)   Make sure the ink will not smudge

e)    One form (original form B) per CD/DVD

Design Tips

   Play with colours

   Use clip arts (you don’t need to pay royalty for these)

   Auto shapes

   Lines

   Cut and paste from recycled items

   Adopt mix media, e.g. collages

What is……

A magazine

§    A form of publication; for a larger audience; something people can relate to

§    Issued periodically (at a certain time) e.g. Once a month, once every 2 months, two times a year etc (Your mini magazine? Once in a lifetime)

§    Bound in a cover

§    Contain essays, stories, poems etc. Also contains photographs and drawings

§    Frequently specializing in a particular subject or area, e.g. hobbies, sports, fashion

Masthead

§    Where you list out the members of your team and their roles, e.g.:-

Team leader

ABC

Writer

DEF

Photographer

GHI

§    You can include photographs/pictures of your individual team members

§    You may also include email addresses for feedback

Editorial Note

§    A way to get your personal opinion on a topic out

§    Usually written by team leader but can also be written from the whole team’s point of view

§    Encouraged to write it from the whole groups point of view

§    Keep the topic relevant to the magazine

§    Do not let it get too long (it’s only a small corner). Keep it short and simple

§    It provides an understanding of a subject

I found hidden treasure (sorta)

Happy April Fools! Hope nobody got pranked too severely. Me? I got tricked in front of the class. Not surprised if the whole block heard my class laughing. Who would have thought that quiet and passive Science 2 could pull that off? We're so abnormally quiet that the highest decibel level we get to is a buzz. And this is when the teacher is not in class. Yeah, strange.

Well I was doing me some youtube surfing when I felt like listening to Please Bring Honour To Us All. Yes, I'm the kind of female that goes on Disney musical highs, scary no? So somehow I got a whim to click God Help The Outcasts. Wham, I started crying. Here was my longing being sang in the voice of an angel. True, I'm not as unselfish as Esmeralda being wholly human and wholly self-serving and lazy but I've always felt that society has put too much emphasis on being leaders, on being outstanding. We often forget that there are often others who need help and when we do help its only for a few seconds and then we forget them. I always did feel something for those that are unwanted. Dear Jesus, give me more compassion to love the unlovable.



So here we have a girl who has nothing, is nothing. Yet, she prays for others and asks nothing for herself. This is contrasted to the rich who pray in the cathedral for wealth, fame, glory. All the things everyone wants but how many are willing to ask that others be blessed too? True, they are very pitiful, searching to fill an emptiness they cannot explain. But, the problems come when you look at yourself. When you focus only on yourself, you see all that is lacking, all that is ugly in you. When you focus on others, the world is more beautiful.


The comments section was filled with religious rhetoric though, which makes me think people are completely missing the point. Its not that she's praying to a God you don't believe in, its that she's asking for help for others when she herself needs so much too. The purpose is not to make you argue about whether there is a God or not, its about selflessness and the capacity to love those that society find undesirable. Anyone, regardless of status and wealth, who has at anytime dealt with confidence problems or the feeling of being unloved and unwanted should know how horrible it is. And that is why we must reach out. Because even if we are hurting, to stretch out our hands and show love (what little of it we have), it can heal.


I remember some children I had the chance to meet in my old Sunday School. They lived with their moms in a house rented by a kind man. (Yeah, they didn't have a home.) I admit I was a horrible person then, didn't pay them any attention because they were scrawny, mischievous and of a different race. Yeah, I am pretty disgusted with the person I was then. But this is church and I was a student teacher (alright I was a busybody 13 year old) so I had to work with them. I was pretty indifferent until I gave one of the little girls a congratulatory hug. The poor girl looked so happy. Nobody really paid them any attention. The teachers (the adults) just gave them some notice but always went for the cute and lovable ones. Looking back I don't blame them, because it is human to look for the beautiful and ignore the less than perfect.  That little girl and I became friends of sorts and she clung to me afterwards. I think that's what got the rest of them to warm up to me. And I had to give out lots of hugs everytime I was in church. I kicked myself like you have no idea. And that is when I first thought, we neglect those we can help far too often.

So God Help the Outcasts made me tear up, from the beautiful words and from the memories it brought back up. I've gone to another church and don't see them anymore. Its been years already. I'm not exactly what you'd called brilliant. I'm not a social butterfly nor do I excel in co-curricular activities. I don't measure up to the brilliance and leadership abilities that people look for in scholarship holders (blasted things are what I need but are so out of reach). I am just an average girl, living a pretty mediocre life and being far from what people admire. Yet, to know that just by giving hugs, by giving my time and my ear to all their nonsensical little ramblings, I made some children happy, I am glad. Even if the dream I'm chasing now doesn't come true, I think, I'm going to spread a little bit of care, to all the outcasts.