chinthe's viewpoint magazine

C H I N T H E’SV I E W P O I N T

Viewpoints on neighborhood, school rule changes and more

SPECIAL FEATURE- Origami How-To’s and Movie Review

Political Cartoons about Current World Happenings

Editors- Anna Maxwell Wendy Naing

Publishers- Chris MinnEdgar Oo Oak Soe San

T H E S T A F F

C O N T R I B U T O R S

Sophia Hsuan Wendy Naing Sharlotte Chin Kay Zin Alex Hein Chotiya Mahattigul Allison Southfield Nicola Tura Arjun Prakash Harmehar Wadalia Rishabh Ramakrishnan Thunn Nadi Win Aung

THE DOMINATION OF FAST FOOD- SHARLOTTE CHIN

THE RIGHT TO PLAY- CHOTIYA MAHITTIGUL

YANGON’S NOISY HOUSES- ALEX (KAUNG ZAW HEIN)

STUDENTS DELIGHTED TO SEE A CHANGE IN RULE- SOPHIA HSUAN

ORIGAMI—————————————HOW TO MAKE ORIGAMI 3D STARS- KAY ZIN

MOCKINGJAY MOVIE REVIEW- ALLISON SOUTHFIELD

POLITICAL CARTOONS- MULTIPLE CONTRIBUTORS Wendy Naing Nicola Tura Rishabh Ramakrishnan Thunn Thunn Harmehar Wadalia

TABLE OF CONTENTS

A R T I C L E S

1

Y A N G O N’ S N O I S Y H O U S E S

Geometric pictures from Spoongraphic Blog

T H E D O M I N A T I O N O F F A S T F O O D- by Sharlotte Chin, March 23rd, 2015

Companies use many marketing strategies to convince their consumers to purchase their products. Examples of these strategies include weasel words, bandwagon, facts and figures, bribes, and many others. Most of the time, the products advertised aren’t healthy for consumers. Fast food restaurant chains, such as McDonalds’s, which advertises their extremely detrimental Big Mac® using bribery: ‘Buy one Big Mac get a second Big Mac Free’. The harm from eating Big Macs are unknown by many consumers, but the burgers are being eaten by billions in the world.

Strategies used by companies are very smart and help convince consumers to purchase items. Weasel words are words that contradict the claim. For example, in “Helps fight cavities with regular use”, ‘regular use’ are the weasel words. Bribery is a common technique that affects greedy people. Companies often offer promotions such as “Buy 1 get 1 free” or “Buy one gets second 20% off” to attract consumers. The bandwagon technique uses peer pressure and make products seem very popular, as if everybody uses/owns the product. For example, “5/6 people use this product!” Celebrities in the testimonial technique endorse products, while the plain folks technique uses ordinary people. Facts and figures technique uses many numbers and techniques to make the product seem superb. These marketing strategies are used by businesses all around the world and they work very well.

The attractive design of the product and the appealing words of the Big Mac advertisement may convince people to buy Big Macs, but they are extremely unhealthy for the body and does not aid in maintaining health. Big Macs contains 27 g of fat and 530 calories, of which 240 calories are from fat. High calories can lead to obesity, which furthermore leads to heart disease and many other detrimental health risks. Obesity can cause type 2 diabetes, heart disease, stroke, and cancer. Moreover, Big Macs contain 10 g of saturated fat, 1 g of trans fat, 85 mg of cholesterol, and 960 mg of sodium. Saturated and trans fat are unhealthy; saturated fats become solid at room temperature and trans fats become solid through processing. High blood cholesterol can cause people to have heart diseases and heart attacks. A person should only intake 1,500 to 2,300 milligrams of sodium per day, while one Big Mac already contains 960. High sodium intake can lead to heart disease and high blood pressure. Big Macs only contain 6% vitamin A, 2% vitamin C, 25% calcium, 25% iron, and 24 g of protein. With this minute amount of nutrients and large amount of unhealthy substances, this harmful burger does not aid people in healing.

McDonald’s and many other fast food companies have had a big impact on the world, and definitely not in a positive way. Fast food has become a big part in peoples’ lives, and not in a good way. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, about 34.9% of American adults are obese. Fast food chains are trying to spread their companies around the world by trying to dominate countries such as Myanmar. There are many uneducated and ignorant people in Myanmar who solely believe Americans to be powerful and wise, and if they think Americans eating unhealthy fast food is wise, they would do the same. Do we really want the people of Myanmar to be corrupted by fast food as well? Do we really want to see Burmese people overpowered by the danger of fast food and obesity?

McDonald’s Big Macs are extremely unhealthy with very little amounts of nutrients, which does not help the human body stay healthy. Many substances in fast foods can lead to many diseases, but ignorant people do not know these statistics and the detriments of eating it. In addition, McDonald’s is the largest hamburger fast food chain and is creating negative influence on the world. While Myanmar has not been overwhelmed by fast food, many countries all over the world have been affected by fast food. It would be wisest to avoid yielding to these sneaky companies trying to dominate Myanmar and corrupt Burmese people.

T H E D O M I N A T I O N O F F A S T F O O D

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KONE MYEIT YEIK THAR NEIGHBORHOOD- “GREAT DEAL OF NOISE CAUSED BY CONSTRUCTION”- by Alex Hein, March 15th, 2015 March 15th, Kone Myeit Yeik Thar Street, Pyay Road, 7 and half miles, Mayangon Township, Yangon.

Construction of the house that caused “one of the loudest commotions”, according to most of the people in the neighborhood. Taken by Alex Hein

Bang! Bang! Bang! Bzzzzzz! Bzzzzzzz! Bzzzzzzzz! Tat! Tat! Tat! Taut! Taut! Taut! When exploring the streets of the former capital of Myanmar, Yangon, you will hear at least some sort of construction in motion. But sometimes it causes great rackets in the city.

A new house is being built in the neighborhood of Mayangon Township, ever since November, caused a great deal of noise. According to observations, out-of-date chainsaws, drills and other tools are being used for construction. They often make these disturbances as early as possible. At 6 AM, this morning, they made awful commotions as they were constructing.

Commotions, especially from construction, that is loud should not be in action, is being heard early in the morning. The owner’s wife, Daw Sein Htet, said that her husband, the owners, pays these workers 2500 kyats a day after construction. 2500 kyats is five hundred kyats less than the regular payment for construction workers in the country, which is 3000 kyats a day.

It would usually take at most 6 months to finish a house that has an area about 80 with a height of over 24.32 m, which is a volume of 1945.6, as estimated by professional engineer U Soe Aung. But it is odd since it has been 6 months since the construction commenced, through the residents’ observations, and it is not nearly halfway through yet. Normal working time would be 6 hours a day according to past construction sites and U Soe Aung himself, around 1945.6 but the process they take is more than 6 hours on the report of the residents themselves.

So this is a very peculiar way of construction in this neighborhood the construction is a lot longer, by not spending much money on the construction and paying below average, with out-of-date tools, it is the reason of its slow and loud progress and the chances are that the owner maybe having financial troubles.

As stated by the people living in the neighborhood that is a bit far from the house being built, said they had heard these noises, and it was a disturbance to them.

Daw Kin Aye Thant said, “It was just six in the morning, I’ve just finished my prayers when constructing noises started to come out of nowhere, I walked down to see what those noises were from and saw a construction site going on, I did heard of it but I couldn’t believe that they would be loud this early in the morning.”

And another resident, a British named Georgina Wilson who has just moved in to the house across the constructing house said, “It’s been just a day since I arrived, and I expected that such noises would take place since the country and the city itself is developing in reformation, but what I did not expect was that much noise could be made from a house in the process of being built.”

Next door resident, Daw Mi Mi Soe was visibly angry and claimed to have already shouted at them twice now, “I screamed at them when they were cutting down a tree, at late evening and it was loud, they neglected of how I shouted at them before, and I have plans of suing the ones who are responsible.”

From what the neighbors had said, it is unreasonable to start making construction noises when people had just awaken from their sleep, where the first thing they hear is commotion that a person would usually hear in the middle of the day.

Construction workers fought back and said that their superiors should be held responsible not them and told the neighbors not to “just yell at them”. And they are right. It is not their error; it is the superiors.

The foreman just said that it was mainly the responsibility of the owner as he was the one who did not pay them enough to buy their up-to-date materials.

The owner of the house, U Ba Aung Htet apologized to the neighborhood, “I am sorry for all these commotions that has been a disturbance to your sleep and to your daily lives. Our budget is not full right now and the construction will be finished in a few weeks and there will be less noise”.

11 days later, construction starts at 07:00, non-stop, till noon with an hour and a half break then less noises than it is in mornings. Instead of creating commotions in the morning that troubles the neighbors and the start of all this they really should switch the noise levels, while everyone has just started the day.

Now, with the clarifications from the observations, the house is about to be completed but the commotion issue is still in occurrence.

Picture taken by: Alex Hein, March 15th, 2015

Y A N G O N’ S N O I S Y H O U S E S

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T H E R I G H T T O P L A Y- by Chotiya Mahattigul, March 26th, 2015

There’s a right to play? Many people don’t know the fact that there’s actually a human right that states that each and every human has the right to play. Researches have proven that a child who plays more will increase their physical and emotional feelings. When this right was created, there were no such things as video games. The right to play was directed towards playing physically outside, but now all kids are playing inside with the new technologies of this era. Studies have also shown that playing reduces stress and relaxes the kid. Playing was not meant to be luxury,iIt was meant to teach the children what they cannot simply learn from someone else but instead they have to learn with experience. The universal rights were made after the tragic event of world war two on December 10, 1948. One of the rights was the right to play for children. During the world war two many children didn’t get to play because it would be dangerous if the enemy found them. When this right was made it was meant for children to play outside but now it’s completely the opposite of what the right was meant for.

Students delighted to see a change in school rule- by Sophia Hsuan, March 9th, 2015

On Monday, the 9th of March, all the 8C students were seated in their seats, getting ready for class to start, as their teacher, Mr. Antal, walked in. The room gradually grew silent, as the students waited for him to read the announcements so the class could get started. To majority of the class’s surprise, something new was added to the announcements that applied to all of the students there at the moment, and surprisingly rare event, which would also be very important. Mr. Antal’s voice rang throughout the classroom as he delivered the fantastic news to the now wide-awake students. “Students are now allowed to stay on campus until 4 o’clock without adult supervision”. When the students got the news, many were so ecstatic and found it too good to be true. When the announcement was made in my class, a student named Edgar even exclaimed out loud in joy, “Yes, finally!” when hearing upon the news. Some found the new rules so great they became suspicious. Many reread and checked the announcement over and over again as well as talk with the teacher who wrote it to get a solid confirmation. Many students at this school enjoy staying on campus after hours. They play sports with friends, spin on the space ship, or simply just sit and talk with friends. No matter what they wish to do, many of our students had been wishing for this change to happen for a long period of time. Before this climatic change, students were not allowed to stay after school for there own entertainment if a teacher was not at present. While this new change have been what a lot of the students had wanted, some may argue if this was actually a wise decision. Many believe that teenagers are not capable of doing the right thing a lot of the times, which could cause trouble to themselves and the people around them. Therefore, letting the students stay on their own, without any adult around, could lead to many possibly infuriating troubles. However, it is not a bad thing, to let students learn to take responsibility of their own actions. Also, it is merely a stereotype that all teens are troublemakers. There are many exceptions that are very responsible. I believe this change is an action of the teachers and principle,

“STUDENTS ARE NOW ALLOWED TO STAY ON CAMPUS UNTI 4 O’CLOCK WITHOUT ADULT SUPERVISION”- Daniel Antal

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C H I N T H E’ S V I E W P O I N T S

C H I N T H E’ S V I E W P O I N T S

E N T E R T A I N M E N T

O R I G A M I- by Kay Zin, March 23rd, 2015

The first time I folded paper was in third grade. It was just an ordinary day in third grade and we were learning about Japanese culture, when I came upon a small worn out book, Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes. I was interested in the thousand paper cranes and I picked up the book immediately.  Within just a few days, I had finished the book, which was an accomplishment for a mere 3rd grader. The book told the story of a Japanese girl trying to fight cancer and although it was a heartbreaking story, that wasn’t what intrigued me. Sadako attempted to make a thousand paper cranes, because according to Japanese legend, making a thousand paper cranes would earn her a wish. Thus, she could wish for her recovery and survive, although eventually, she did not make it. Sadako’s ambition and the cranes that she created from nothing but paper was what made me so engrossed in the Japanese art of folding paper. How could plain white paper turn into something so beautiful?

I started to borrow origami books from the library just to try a few paper folding. The origami instructions in the book were to fold a very simple fish. I also saw the traditional crane, which was a bit harder than the fish, but I still wanted a challenge. I eventually asked my mother if she knew how to make anything out of paper and she showed me how to fold these adorable tiny puffy stars. It was highly difficult, so I couldn’t make it in the first few tries. After I figured it out, I ended up making roughly a hundred stars, give or take.

Over the years, I started to get more interested in the art of origami and realized that it has many uses. For example, origami flowers are beautiful and can be used as decoration for your house and many other places. Together with my mother, we made a variety of different flowers and decorated the house by putting them in vases or by leaving them hanging around the house. My family has also used origami to make raffle tickets by folding them in tiny triangles to make sure all the tickets are even and would not open up. One time in fifth grade, my whole family gathered together to fold hundreds and hundreds of tiny paper into triangles. Origami is also an important part of culture. Although it is a Japanese art, Chinese people also have a tradition of folding paper. For Chinese New Year, we would fold many types of golden squares into special shapes. The golden shapes represent money for the afterlife and our ancestors. We would then burn the money and pray for our ancestors.  Although one may not realize it, the art of origami exists in everyday life. One shouldn’t feel forced to make origami shapes, because there are many reason why one would make origami for fun. I have often heard that people appreciate origami because they enjoy following directions. After one has completed creating an origami shape, he or she gets the satisfaction of looking at the final product that they created out of plain paper and enjoying it to the fullest extent. I, for one, take delight in making origami because it makes me feel like I have learned something new. For example, when I learned how to fold a new origami piece I would memorize it and make it whenever I wanted. Usually, my brother and I make origami together. He is an amazing and avid artist but doesn’t have the talent to make origami at all. I also enjoy helping and teaching people the beautiful art of origami.

Origami can help you in everyday situations everyday. Owing to the fact that you have to follow directions carefully to make origami, the art helps people improve their skills at reading directions carefully and performing the properly. A single mistake can ruin the entire shape and outcome. You also learn to concentrate and to comprehend the directions better. Since origami requires you to fold the paper neatly and precisely, it makes you get a habit of cleaning up and becoming more organized.

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Origami has always been a way for me to release any emotion I’ve bottled up. Folding plain paper into intricate little designs always manages me to calm down. I immensely appreciate origami for it’s significant part in my life and I hope my story makes people value, cherish, and hold this beautiful Japanese art of origami in high regards.

O R I G A M I

H O W T O M A K E O R I G A M I 3 D S T A R S by Kay Zin, March 23rd, 2015

You can use ready-made strips to make these stars, but if you don’t you can make it with A4 paper.

Fold and then unfold the A4 paper in half to make a crease.

Fold the halves of the paper into more halves, forming 4 rectangles.

Repeat until there are 16 total rectangles as shown in the picture on the right.

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Cut out one of the rectangles

Cut each rectangle into two equal-sized strips.

Fold the strip about 3 in. from the top to the right, as shown in the picture on the left.

Take the remaining edge of the top and match it up with the bottom left corner of the trapezoid.

Fold it again matching the side of the strip and tuck in the remaining strip.

Take the strip and fold it upwards matching the side to the strip to the right side of the pentagon.

Flip the (unfinished star or pentagon), so that the protruding strip is pointing towards you.

Take the strip and fold it upwards again, matching the side to the strip this time to the right side of the pentagon.

Flip it around and repeat previous three steps until you run out of paper to wrap it around.

Tuck the remaining small bit of the strip into the pocket (or opening) of the star as shown in the pictures at the right and left

Push in the sides of the pentagon, so that the pentagon seems to have inflated. This creates the points.

You are done with your 3D paper star!

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M O V I E

R E V I E W

THIS WEEK’S SPECIAL MOVIE: MOCKINGJAY

REVIEW by ALLISON SOUTHFIELD

MARCH 25TH, 2015

C H I N T H E ’ S V I E W P O I N T S

When the director made the movie, Mocking Jay, he missed a simple addition problem. There is one book and he is going to make 2 movies, Mocking jay part 1 and Mocking Jay part 2. I think it was a fabulous idea; the Harry Potter movies did it. By doing this director keeps us interesting and wanting more. Plus with 2 movies instead of 1 there is twice as much money made. And if he made one movie it would be like 4 hours long, at 2 hours 26 minutes the movie is a perfect length. With the award winning actors and experienced director it is hard not to love this movie.

The movie is based off of the top selling book series, The Hunger Games. Susan Colin wrote this book series. According to publishers weekly the series has already sold over 1.6 million copies (http://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/childrens/childrens-book-news/article/44359-mockingjay-sells-more-than-450-000-copies-in-first-week.html.) Contrary to popular belief 3rd movies can be amazing, and Mocking Jay-part 1 proved that. Director Francis Lawrence managed to keep whole audience on the edge of there seats. In addition to directing Mocking Jay-part 1 and Catching fire, he has also directed a Grammy winning music video and other movies, like; I am Legend and Water for Elephants.

The movies focus on Katniss Everdeen, played by Jennifer Lawrence who is a multi time Grammy award winner. We see as Katniss progress over time from an introverted poor hunter, to a famous roll model Mocking jay. The movie Mocking Jay shows how Katniss Everdeen steps up to the plate and starts becoming the role model the rest of Panem (the fictional country) sees her as. She develops into the leader of the revolution against the capital. She and her sly camerawomen Cressida (Natalie Dormer, also seen in the popular movie Game of Thrones) film Katniss visit different districts and film commercials of her fighting the capital. They film her as she reacts to the hospitals in district 8 and also the bombing of innocent lives, this is where she delivers her famous quote, “If we burn, you burn with us.” The cunning President Coin, played by Julianne Moore, runs her campaign along with the smart and witty Plutarch Heavensbee (Philip Seymour Hoffman also seen in Mission Impossible 3). Together they learn how to make her a star. 

Jennifer Lawrence and her co-stars, Josh Hucherson (plays Peeta) and Liam Hemsworth (plays Gayle), really embodied and became their characters in the story. Through there acting the audience can feel the pain and suffering the characters have to go through. These actors also play the key role in the on going love triangle since book one. It first started when Katniss and Peeta, Josh Hucherson, were chosen for the hunger games, and Katniss had to leave Gayle, Liam Hemsworth, behind. From then it has flourished into an even more confusing love story. Peeta was kidnapped by the capital at the end of Catching Fire. While Katniss is becoming the face of the revolution, in the Panem (the capital) Peeta is getting his brain washed. He and president Snow, Donald Sutherland, send messages to district 13 where it

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seems as though Peeta is working for the capital. So when he returns to Katniss and district 13 he does not recognize her and ends up trying to kill her. But she still has hope that his true self will return. 

In addition to being a great movie, the movie is also increasingly funny. The comical relief comes from Woody Harrelson (plays Haymitch) who is surprisingly sober in this movie because district 13 does not allow alcohol. He provides the sly witty remarks through out the movie. Also the ever so hyasterical Effie Trinket, who is played by Elizabeth Banks. She is faced with her struggle to keep her fabulousness in district 13’s not so attractive uniforms. It is a great idea by Francis Lawrence to put her in the movie even though Effie Trinket is not a character in the book, this added humor to an other wise very serious movie. Because of this it makes the movie appealing to younger age groups. 

Overall I think that it was a good idea to split the movie into 2 parts. Because of that we get to see a surprise in the 2nd part that we would not get to see if it was 1 movie. It also adds suspence to the plot line, as it leaves people wondering what will happen to Peeta and the other prisoners of the capital. Though this is a long movie, 2 hours 3 minutes, it is well put together. If it were one movie then it would defiantly be to long and I doubt even Francis Lawrence could make the entire movie enjoyable. Out of 5 stars I would give Mocking Jay-Part 1 4 stars. It is enjoyable to watch and the movie itself is very well put together.  

M O C K I N G J A Y M O V I E R E V I E W

C H I N T H E’ S V I E W P O I N T S

P O L I T I C A L C A R T O O N S

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