Tuesday, August 2, 2022

Summertime!

‘Summertime’ Acrylic Painting 120x70cm

Thursday, June 30, 2022

MOS I’U LIGSHTO AQ LEHTË VDEKJES / DO NOT GO GENTLE INTO THAT GOOD NIGHT

POEZIA E SHKRIMTARIT UELLSIAN DYLAN THOMAS: ‘DO NOT GO GENTLE INTO THAT GOOD NIGHT’ E SHQIPËRUAR NGA FAZLI RREZJA

MOS I’U LIGSHTO AQ LEHTË DEKËS                                    

Mos i’u ligshto aq lehtë dekës!                                                                       
N’pleqni. Ee! mas’m’rami.
Mos hjek dorë,përçartu, në çdo rrudhë t'ballit.  Xixa shkrepi jetës

Pleqtë e mequm,  e dinë se deka  e mirë asht, kur asht me ren'
Por, kur amaneti s’zënë ven',
Qojnë krye. Rr’fimin se lajnë n’udhë, se shpirti rahat s’u flen

Njerëz't e mirë,  kur bje valë e madhe, gjëmojnë
Edhe n'orë t'funit,  kujtojnë, najsen me m'rri
Idhnohen. Bahen zjarm. Bishtnimet e territ, aq lehtë s’mujnë m'i përbi

Njerëz't e guximshëm, që e hangrën kët jetë e dillit i k'nuen,
Tek, vonë! e marrin vesh, se ky dill i praruem zajftohet n'perëndim
Por, bahen luftarë, e të mramën  s’e presin me dorëzim.

Njerëz't e pikëlluem, me ni kam' buzë vorrit,
Me sy t'vërbuem, si flakrim meteori, gulojnë gjallni
Edhe ata forcohen, bahen shkamb, e dinë se dekes s’i merret lakmi

Edhe ti, baba im,  në afrinë e trishtë t'dekës,
Mallkom, e bekom, bashkë me lumin e lotëve, të lutna.
Mos i’a lehto terrin vetës.
Përpjeku, guxo, në buzqeshjen tane, shkrepi dritë jetës.

Shqipëroi: Fazli Rrezja

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

DO NOT GO GENTLE INTO THAT GOOD NIGHT

Dylan Thomas

Do not go gentle into that good night,

Old age should burn and rave at close of day;

Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Though wise men at their end know dark is right,

Because their words had forked no lightning they

Do not go gentle into that good night.

Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright

Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay,

Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight,

And learn, too late, they grieved it on its way,

Do not go gentle into that good night.

Grave men, near death, who see with blinding sight

Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay,

Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

And you, my father, there on the sad height,

Curse, bless, me now with your fierce tears, I pray.

Do not go gentle into that good night.

Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Tuesday, June 28, 2022

FILMA QË NDËRTOJNË AFTËSITË THEMELORE TË SHEKULLIT 21

Formati i punëtorisë u krijua për të nxitur diskutim pëmes shfaqjeve të filmave, si dhe filma që mund të përfshihen në aktivitetet shkollore kurrikulare dhe ekstrakurrikulare. Punëtoria filloi me shfaqjen e filmit Amanda Rose Wilder ‘Approaching the Elephant’, një dokumentar me nuanca dhe pasion, për vitin e parë të një shkolle fillore “të lirë” në New Jersey, që zbulon lavditë dhe kufizimet e klasave të pastrukturuara dhe bazohet në parimin e vetërregullimit të nxënësve.

Ky dokumentar, ku fëmijët shkruajnë rregullat e tyre nga themeli dhe kanë barazi me mësuesit, nxiti një debat mbi zgjidhjen e konflikteve dhe edukimin mediatik. Me udhëheqjen e ligjëruesve Kaltrina Kelmendi nga Departamenti i Psikologjisë dhe Alban Zeneli nga Departamenti i Gazetarisë të Universitetit të Prishtinës, diskutimet u fokusuan në identifikimin e mjeteve për zgjidhjen e konflikteve dhe prezantuan konceptin e shkrim-leximit mediatik si një çelës që zhbllokon kuptimin prapa mesazheve që shohim dhe për të zbatuar mendimin kritik mes mesazheve mediatike.
Trajnimi ofroi gjithashtu një mundësi për mësimdhënësit që të shikojnë fituesin e Balkan Dox të edicionit XX të DokuFest, ‘‘Reconciliation’ nga Marija Zidar, e cila arriti të shfaqë të gjithë fenomenin e gjakmarrjes dhe përpjekjeve për pajtim ndërmjet familjeve, të dyja kto me rrënjë në kodin e lashtë fisnor në malet e izoluara të Shqipërisë së Veriut. Regjisorja e filmit iu bashkua seminarit dhe ndau këndvështrimin dhe pikëpamjen e saj mbi temat e përfshira në filmin e saj me mësimdhënësit. Marija Zidar i ka dhuruar filmin e saj Bibliotekës Digjitale të Mësimdhënësve të DokuFest, një burim i hapur arsimor për mësuesit e shkollave të mesme.
Gjatë këtij seminari, mësimdhënësit do të kenë mundësinë të shikojnë dokumentarin gjithëpërfshirës të Aleksandër Nanaut ‘Toto and His Sisters’, i cili është një vështrim i fuqishëm i vëllezërve dhe motrave në një lagje të varfër të Bukureshtit që nuk kanë gjasa të shpëtojnë nga kontrolli i drogës, varfërisë dhe një nëne monstruoze. Shfaqja e filmit vazhdohet nga një diskutim interaktiv me Eroll Shportën, autorin e librit ‘Veç edhe Sot’, ku ai përshkruan përvojën personale të një përdoruesi droge që kalon një dekadë me luftën e përditshme të varësisë së tij. Diskutimi i tij do të fokusohet në rritjen e ndërgjegjësimit, që mësuesit të fitojnë njohuri se si t’i qasen kësaj teme me studentët e tyre.
Kjo punëtori është pjesë e një programit ‘Shkollat dhe Dokumentarët’ të mbështetur nga National Endowment for Democracy, që synon të zgjerojë rrjetin e mësuesve përmes edukimit multimedial. Nëpërmjet këtij procesi të lehtësuar, mësuesit trajnohen për të zhvilluar udhëzues filmash në përputhje me Kornizën e Kurrikulës së Kosovës, që do të përdoren si Bibliotekë Digjitale e Mësimdhënësve online dhe offline dhe do të vihen në dispozicion përmes departamentit DokuLab të DokuFest. Udhëzuesit e filmit do të përdoren si një mjet nga mësues të tjerë, kryesisht në shkollat publike për të arritur një gamë të gjerë të rezultateve efektive të të nxënit në përdorimin e tyre të filmit.
Edukimi i shkrim-leximit mediatik si një aftësi thelbësore e shekullit të 21-të është kritike për shëndetin dhe mirëqenien e të rinjëve, si dhe pjesëmarrjen e ardhshme në jetën qytetare dhe ekonomike të demokracisë sonë. (Source: https://dokufest-lab.com/lajme/films-that-build-the-essential-skills-of-the-21st-century (

Biblioteka Digjitale e Mësimdhënësve

https://dokufest-lab.com/

Platformë virtuale me materiale didaktike për përdorimin e filmit në klasë në përputhje me Kornizën Kurrikulare të Republikës së Kosovës. Krijoni një llogari për qasje të pakufizuar në Bibliotekën Digjitale me mbi 150 filma dhe 80 fleta të punës për përdorimin e filmit në klasë.

Duke u regjistruar në Bibliotekë do të keni qasje në filma dhe materiale përcjellëse arsimore me të cilat nxënësit zhvillojnë njohuritë, shkathtësitë, qëndrimet dhe prirjet që janë të domosdoshme për një shoqëri demokratike. Kjo ndihmon që të zhvillojnë të kuptuarit e tyre mbi botën, njerëzit, vlerat e tyre, proceset shoqërore në kohë, vende dhe rrethana të ndryshme. Gjithashtu, nëpërmjet kësaj fushe ata zhvillojnë edhe të kuptuarit e tyre për mjedisin e vet dhe më gjerë.

Për qasje të plotë në bibliotekë, Kyqu ose krijo Llogari të re.

(Source: dokufest-lab.com)

Monday, June 20, 2022

Jean Baudrillard about New York

In New York there is this double miracle: each of the great buildings and each of the ethnic groups dominates or has dominated the city - after its own fashion. Here crowdedness lends sparkle to each of the ingredients in the mix whereas elsewhere it tends to cancel out differences. In Montreal, all the same elements are present - ethnic groups, buildings, and space on the grand American scale - but the sparkle and violence of American cities are missing.

Clouds spoil our European skies. Compared with the immense skies of America and their thick clouds, our little fleecy skies and little fleecy clouds resemble our fleecy thoughts, which are never thoughts of wide open spaces. . . In Paris, the sky never takes off. It doesn't soar above us. It remains caught up in the backdrop of sickly buildings, all living in each other's shade, as though it were a little piece of private property. It is not, as here in the great capital New York, the vertiginous glass facade reflecting each building to the others. Europe has never been a continent. You can see that by its skies. As soon as you set foot in America, you feel the presence of an entire continent - space there is the very form of thought.

By contrast with the American 'downtown areas' and their blocks of skyscrapers, la Défense has forfeited the architectural benefits of verticality and excess by squeezing its high-rise blocks into an Italian-style setting, into a closed theatre bounded by a ring-road. It is very much a garden à la française: a bunch of buildings with a ribbon around it. All this has closed off the possibility that these monsters might engender others to infinity, that they might battle it out within a space rendered dramatic by their very competition (New York, Chicago, Houston, Seattle, Toronto). It is in such a space that the pure architectural object is born, an object beyond the control of architects, which roundly repudiates the city and its uses, repudiates the interests of the collectivity and individuals and persists in its own madness. That object has no equivalent, except perhaps the arrogance of the cities of the Renaissance.

No, architecture should not be humanized. Anti-architecture, the true sort (not the kind you find in Arcosanti, Arizona, which gathers together all the 'soft' technologies in the heart of the desert), the wild, inhuman type that is beyond the measure of man was made here - made itself here - in New York, without considerations of setting, well-being, or ideal ecology. It opted for hard technologies,

exaggerated all dimensions, gambled on heaven and hell. . . Eco-architecture, eco- society . . . this is the gentle hell of the Roman Empire in its decline.

Modern demolition is truly wonderful. As a spectacle it is the opposite of a rocket launch. The twenty-storey block remains perfectly vertical as it slides towards the centre of the earth. It falls straight, with no loss of its upright bearing, like a tailor's dummy falling through a trap-door, and its own surface area absorbs the rubble. What a marvellous modern art form this is, a match for the firework displays of our childhood.

They say the streets are alive in Europe, but dead in America. They are wrong. Nothing could be more intense, electrifying, turbulent, and vital than the streets of New York. They are filled with crowds, bustle, and advertisements, each by turns aggressive or casual. There are millions of people in the streets, wandering, carefree, violent, as if they had nothing better to do - and doubtless they have nothing else to do - than produce the permanent scenario of the city. There is music everywhere; the activity is intense, relatively violent, and silent (it is not the agitated, theatrical activity you find in Italy). The streets and avenues never empty, but the neat, spacious geometry of the city is far removed from the thronging intimacy of the narrow streets of Europe.

In Europe, the street only lives in sudden surges, in historic moments of revolution and barricades. At other times people move along briskly, no one really hangs around (no one wanders any more). It is the same with European cars. No one actually lives in them; there isn't enough space. The cities, too, do not have enough space, or rather that space is deemed public and bears all the marks of the public arena, which forbids you to cross it or wander around it as though it were a desert or some indifferent area.

The American street has not, perhaps, known these historic moments, but it is always turbulent, lively, kinetic, and cinematic, like the country itself, where the specifically historical and political stage counts for little, but where change, whether spurred by technology, racial differences, or the media, assumes virulent forms: its violence is the very violence of the way of lif

(SOURCE: America. by Jean Baudrillard)

Kosova Sunshine Adventures

https://www.facebook.com/KosovaSunshineAdventures

Sunday, December 12, 2021

FREE - Coming of Age at the End of History- LEA YPI

I never asked myself about the meaning of freedom until the day I hugged Stalin. From close up, he was much taller than I expected.'

Lea Ypi grew up in one of the most isolated countries on earth, a place where communist ideals had officially replaced religion. Albania, the last Stalinist outpost in Europe, was almost impossible to visit, almost impossible to leave. It was a place of queuing and scarcity, of political executions and secret police. To Lea, it was home. People were equal, neighbours helped each other, and children were expected to build a better world. There was community and hope.

Then, in December 1990, a year after the fall of the Berlin Wall, everything changed. The statues of Stalin and Hoxha were toppled. Almost overnight, people could vote freely, wear what they liked and worship as they wished. There was no longer anything to fear from prying ears. But factories shut, jobs disappeared and thousands fled to Italy on crowded ships, only to be sent back. Predatory pyramid schemes eventually bankrupted the country, leading to violent conflict. As one generation's aspirations became another's disillusionment, and as her own family's secrets were revealed, Lea found herself questioning what freedom really meant.

Free is an engrossing memoir of coming of age amid political upheaval. With acute insight and wit, Lea Ypi traces the limits of progress and the burden of the past, illuminating the spaces between ideals and reality, and the hopes and fears of people pulled up by the sweep of history.

https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/320/320869/free/9780241481851.html

Wednesday, December 8, 2021

Kosova Collage (The best of the best)

Sunday, November 14, 2021

Whoever controls the media, 'manipulates' the behaviour of young crowds!

by Fazli Rrezja

The famous singer of the group 'The Doors' Jim Morrison, once said: ‘Whoever controls the media, controls the mind’ , although Morrison is no longer alive, this phrase has become a reality, Perceptions in our minds are largely created by the fourth, but most powerful power, the Media!

'Adobe Stock'

Every morning, young people just wake up checking social media, bombarded with information, messages, e-mails, news, propaganda, fake news, and other incentives that often create the feeling that today has started with a load of information. Young people should use the morning to improve themselves, to work towards their goals, to prepare for a successful day by engaging in activities such as reading, meditation, study, prioritizing tasks, physical activity, and a healthy breakfast to kick off a quiet day on the way to school.

The author of 'Lonely Together', Sherry Turkle, a social psychologist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, says that ‘People today are more connected to one another than ever before in human history, thanks to Internet-based social networking sites and text messaging. But they’re also more lonely and distant from one another in their unplugged lives. This is not only changing the way we interact online, but it’s also straining our personal relationships, as well’.

The University of Gothenburg in Sweden shows the effects of using 'smartphones' on people in their 20s over a year. The study showed that high phone use is directly linked to increased rates of depression in both men and women. The study says ‘All qualitative variables had cross-sectional associations with mental health outcomes. In prospective analysis, overuse was associated with stress and sleep disturbances for women, and high accessibility stress was associated with stress, sleep disturbances, and symptoms of depression for both men and women’. and this is worrying in our country such studies have not been done yet, but, would this study turn out differently!?

All of us are witnessing a massive load of information through social media. The way we live is shaped by the dizzying power of the media, both positively and negatively. Why, young people find it difficult to determine what is true information and what is false?. Without a doubt! It is the lack of media education that according to the American education organization is defined as ‘Media Literacy is a 21st-century approach to education. It provides a framework to access, analyze, evaluate, create and participate with messages in a variety of forms — from print to video to the Internet. Media literacy builds an understanding of the role of media in society as well as essential skills of inquiry and self-expression necessary for citizens of a democracy. Media literacy builds an understanding of the role of the media in society, as well as the essential research and self-expression skills necessary for the citizens of a democracy.

Media literacy, as a concept for critical thinking, would help young people in Kosovo build an objective discourse by reading and analyzing information from ‘healthy’ perspectives. French Sociologist Jean Baudrillard, says ‘The hyperreality of communication and of meaning. More real than the real, that is how the real is abolished.’

Whereas, those who have watched the documentary 'Social Dilemma', should probably worry! because the documentary describes how social media, every day, affects the vulnerability of teens who use platforms like Tik-Tok Facebook, Snapchat, Instagram, and other applications creating a complex mindset dependent on media influences. The documentary provides an in-depth overview of how social media nurtures addictions, manipulates the views, emotions, and behaviors of young people, and spreads conspiracy theories. But what is the benefit for the youth in our country? since the detection of misinformation and false news is very challenging. Currently, this kind of misinformation has been added more than ever. For teachers and parents who teach students/children what is true and what is not, it can be tricky, but it is important for them to understand that just because something is online does not mean it is true.

Propaganda and fake news are one of the biggest challenges of our era. Craig Newmark School of Journalism at New York City University in a publication tries to teach us how not to be fooled by information. Research says that when we read a news story, we should be skeptical and consider the source; headlines can be sensational in trying to get clicks; discover the author: do a quick search for the author; is it reliable? is it true? Check the date; reposting old news does not mean that they are relevant to current events; ask the site and author to make sure; consider whether it may affect your judgment. Ask the experts or consult an official fact-checking website.

There are many benefits for young people who understand media education. First of all, it helps students become smarter consumers and responsible producers of their media. According to the American non-profit organization 'Common Sense Media for Education', media education is the ability to identify different types of media and understand the messages they are sending. The digital revolution has given rise to a whole range of ways that people can become ostracized by their group or society, from cyberbullying and addictions to radicalization. Teachers and parents, along with their children, need to be provided with innovative opportunities and pedagogical resources to meet these new challenges, through schools, the workplace, and the community at large.

Beneficial developments for media education in Kosovo have been made by the Network of English Language Teachers in Kosovo (KetNet), by training teachers in critical thinking, debate development, and media literacy. Also, the OSCE mission in cooperation with the most famous short documentary festival in the country DokuFest. Their program has included teachers in the fields of languages and communication, arts, society, environment, and civic education in the workshop on the use of media education in teaching. This workshop aims to strengthen the skills of teachers in media education, using documentary film as a learning unit to enable and educate students to understand more fundamentally different topics, concepts, and cultural problems. ‘The focus will be on the lifelong learning perspective, with particular attention to evaluate the credibility of information, fact-checking, effective and conscientious consumption of information, e-learning and the ability to utilize new digital technologies’.

Every moment, we produce and consume news. The Internet, in addition to being used for communication and education, has also become the largest platform for disseminating news, hate speech, and propaganda. The pervasive development of social media, the massive flow of fake news is changing the way we create perceptions about ourselves and the lives of others. The Ministry of Education should consider including media education as a subject on its own, while schools, teachers, parents, civil society should create different platforms and applications that help primary and secondary school students understand how to use media literacy for educational and scientific purposes.

A Facebook magnate Mark Zuckerberg said that ‘Virtual reality was once a science fiction dream. The future is coming'.

Hopefully, for a future where young people have the skills of media literacy to understand a reality, and not to dive into the ‘virtual reality’, towards which we are moving at the speed of light.

--------------

References

Navraj Narula , Never Judge an Article by its Title: An Exploratory Analysis of Headlines for Real and Fakes News Articles, Department of Journalism Columbia University – New York, USA , page 1, last updated 10.20.2021, http://navierula.github.io/papers/narula_newsheadlines.pdf

Michael Price QUESTIONNAIRE Alone in the crowd American Psychological Association June 2011, Vol 42, No. 6 https://www.apa.org/monitor/2011/06/social-networking Thomée, S., Härenstam, A., & Hagberg, M. (2011). Mobile phone use and stress, sleep disturbances, and symptoms of depression among young adults--a prospective cohort study. BMC public health, 11, 66. https://doi.org/10.1186/1471-2458-11-66

Media Literacy: A Definition and More, Center for Media Literacy , last updated: 11.01.2021 https://www.medialit.org/media-literacy-definition-and-more

Baudrillard Jean, Simulacra and simulation , page 81, Originally published in French by Editions Galilee 1981

Misinformation and Disinformation: Thinking Critically about Information Sources, Research Guide adapted by the Research Center at the CUNY Graduate School of Journalism, Last Updated: Sep 14, 2021 9:38, https://library.csi.cuny.edu/misinformation

News and Media Literacy, American non-profit organization 'Common Sense Media for Education', Last updated 10.01.2021 11:23 PM, https://www.commonsensemedia.org/news-and-media-literacy/what-is-media-literacy-and-why-is-it-important

Digital Citizenship Education Handbook, Council of Europe, Page 34, Council of Europe Publishing, January 2019, http://book.coe.int

Teachers Workshop, International Documentary and Short Film Festival DokuFest, Last Updated: Nov 10, 2021 10:18, https://dokufest.com/en/news/call-for-applications

-------------

Also published in:

https://www.gazetaexpress.com/edukimi-mediatik-i-domosdoshem-per-dilemat-sociale/

https://telegrafi.com/edukimi-mediatik-si-domosdoshmeri-per-zgjidhjen-e-dilemave-sociale/