Let's take care about our health

There is a new Bacon Ice Cream created by burger king which caloric intake almost equals that of the full burger Burger King Whopper, 670 calories. This ice cream is been distributed in Tennessee, that holds the fourth highest rate of obesity in the United States (31.9%), according to a report last year of the Reflection Group Health Foundation of America. What I personally think is that it is not that healthy food would be more expensive, that is what they made ​​us believe and traders have taken advantage of what is advertised as healthy. For example, the production of chia is not expensive, but it is sold at a high price because it was advertised as excellent, then take advantage of this good reputation, so it is with the quinoa, their properties have been identified and generally people with more resources that you access this information, then you think,'' if rich people want to eat it, then they can pay if you sell it expensive.'' In any case I do not find it more expensive to buy a package of lentils and rice (reaching for many dishes) completely nutritious, to buy two pieces of meat or this bacon ice cream, otherwise I think it's better to spend $ 1000 more to spend huge amounts of money on doctors and medicines in the future Viviana Seguel

No quality in education, No progress in society.

During the last week I made an essay talking about the life of one of the most important persons that fought against racial prejudices in the USA by non violent resistance. That made me think about our everyday life, and how is it possible that in 2012 after a world war, after killing people just because they were different, discrimination is still an issue in every country. In Chile, the value-based education with an emphasize on empathy and respect for others have been lost in our society which makes increases the individualism, bullying and all kinds of violence against “different persons” and for this wrong concept of education we have been hearing a lot more about cases where that violence end up in murder, if we take as an example the Zamudio’s case, we can realize that this is not an isolated incident. In our country, people are discriminated because of race, nationality, social status, or sex, physical appearance, ideas, or their disability, which is about tolerance as a principle…Something that is not learned by a political decree, a resolution, or a law, but through a process of continuing education over time. Viviana Seguel

Welcome to the Future!

200 years ago, Jim Robbinson was working as a slave in a cotton plantation in Virginia. He was illiterate, and when the secession war was over, he remained living in the slave quarters and working as a cotton picker for little pay. He made sure his children learned to read and write, and his grand children went to high school. And so, every generation became more educated.

In the 1950´s , Rosa Parks, a working African American woman, could not sit on the bus after a hard day´s work, she was born free, unlike Robbinson, but she was still discriminated because of the color of her skin, and did not have the same rights as white people.

Later, a man with a dream, Martin Luther King, stood in the Lincoln monument, giving a speech about a world without discrimination towards any race.

On June 4^th 2008 Barak Obama was elected as the 44^th president of the United States. He is the first African American president in United States history.

On that same day, Jim Robbinson´s great great granddaughter, Michelle Obama, became the first lady.

Although discrimination still happens all over the world, and not just towards colored people, things have gotten better.

What would Jim Robbison say if he could see Michelle Obama? What would Martin Luther King say if he were alive today?

Each generation brings change, for better or worse.

Obama becoming president made a big impact in today´s culture. In the past, it was hard to believe that someone from a minority could become president, even if there´s still racism. Children need motivation to understand that hard work and doing the right thing really will bring success.

This song is about how things have changed. The most meaningful line is “from a woman on a bus, to a man with a dream, welcome Martin Luther, welcome to the future”

By Paulina Wall
 

¿marijuana should be legal in Chile?

    I would like legalization, will take place, so put an end to drug  trafficking  which is most high, to think that the forbidden always attracts attention and you want to get it,this also increases the desire to prove. see more of someone who is consuming the drug in either a party or at the same university

    There are several studies that have attempted to ascertain the nature and has several medicinal properties as últiles reduce nausea in patients with terminal cancer, but while it has some positive effects, the negatives are addiction issue that greatly affects consumers, should make clear that people should be able to discern whether or not it affects them.

Karma is a b*tch !

"Karma is a b*tch"

It's a famous phrase, and the term "karma" is related with the topics that we have been working on class.

But, what is Karma ?

In Indian religions is the concept of "action" or "deed", understood as that which causes the entire cycle of cause and effect originating in ancient India and treated in the Hindu, Jain, Buddhist and Sikh religions.

"God does not make one suffer for no reason nor does he make one happy for no reason. God is very fair and gives you exactly what you deserve."

In Buddhism, karma is strictly distinguished from vipāka, meaning "fruit" or "result". Karma is categorized within the group of cause in the chain of cause and effect, where it comprises the elements of "volitional activities" and "action". Any action is understood as creating "seeds" in the mind that will sprout into the appropriate result when they meet with the right conditions. Most types of karmas, with good or bad results, will keep one within the wheel of samsāra, while others will liberate one to nirvāna.

Karma is not fate, because humans act with free will creating their own destiny. 

 

This is basically saying that everything that you do in this life, bad or good, it's going to return back to you. So be careful on what you do, You don't want to end up saying "Karma is a bitch”.

Indian food

Would you like to try some new kind of food?

In general Indian food is well known for the use of herbs and spices. The style of food varies from region to region, for example, we can find a different way to cook in Bengali or Gujarati or Kashmiri.

Now I'm going to introduce you to the different region and the manner of cooking in it:

Bengali food: Bengali cousine is renamed for the use of "panch phoron"(it is a term to refer to the five most important spices, such as mustard, cumin seed, aniseed, black cumin seed and fenugreek seed). Bengali food is a perfect mix of sweet and spicy flavors.

Gujarati food: This food is mostly vegetarian food and it has a great nutritional value. They usually use rice, vegetables, chapatis (a sort of dough), kachumber( mixed vegetables salad),and curd.

I think Indian food is quite special, compared with our bland Chilean food. In Chile many spices are not used, but as you could realize Indian food, do it.

                                                                                           Luis Salgado Reyes.

                                                                                                                         

Disney's Influence

           I found this video about the stereotypes that apparently are shown behind all the magic and innocence of Disney.

         I personally think it's an exaggeration. We can see these situations everywhere and everyone can give the interpretation they want. What do you think?

Drowning in money

Tuvalu is a tiny Polynesian island nation of nine islands located in the South Pacific, midway between Hawaii and Australia. Its nearest neighbours are Kiribati, Nauru, Samoa and Fiji. Its population of 10,544 makes it the third-least populous sovereign state in the world, with only Vatican City and Nauru having fewer inhabitants.

But, Why did this country caught my attention?

A few years ago, Tuvalu was one of the poorest country in the world, but then it got a great opportunity. Tuvalu has the internet domain name '.tv' so lots of communication companies and websites offered to buy the domain for large amounts of money (because in many countries 'tv' means 'television') and as a result of that the islanders became very rich.

But, there is a problem. Because of the global warming, and because these islands are only 3m above the sea level, Tuvalu will probably became the first country in the world that will disappear under the sea. Probably by the end of the century. Despite that, they used the money to develop the island, for example with the construction of new building, houses, restaurants, new roads, buying luxurious cars, importing a lot of foog and other goods and improving the tourism business.

However, despite the money that they have, they have to do something with their 'big' problem and about what they are going to do with the climate crisis.

Here there is a video that explains more the climate problem in this country:

Valeria Montecinos A.

Consumerism

   After the World War I, mass production of manufactured goods suffered in United States and another countries of the developed world a big expansion causing what we now know as a consumer society...

   In the United States, the system of mass production started in the World War I, and now millions of goods sprouding in the production lines. Industrialists fear was the danger of overproduction.(That the would come a point that people have enough goods and they simply stop buy. Up to that point, the majority of products sold in terms of need. While reach people were accustomed to luxury goods, for the millions of American workers most of the products were promoted as necessities, goods like shoes, clothing and even cars were advertised from they utility and durability. The purpose of advertising was to show the usefulness of the products, nothing more. What the corporations realized they have to do, was tranform the way the majorities of americans thought about products. They wanted to shift U.S from a needs to desires culture, they wanted to train people to desire, to want new things. They wanted to change into a new mentality in America. For them, men desires must exceed his needs.

     But, What is consumerism? After all, all of us are consumers, every of us go shoping and the society, obviously, can´t function without some level of consumption, so, consumerism puts consumption in the center of the modern economy, and everything is done to persuade us to go and consume more. Advertisements are in signs, newspapers, magazines and television, we are bombarded day by day by this advertising messages. We may think that they are selling something different. Different products, different brands, different life styles, but at the same time, they are selling one big idea: That when all of us consume, we will have a better life. Almost unnoticed, consumerism is become our principal pastime, our ideology, it's a very seductive idea, but it's also a harmful idea. We become a generation of compulsive shopaholics.

   So... What do you think? And what about you? Do you buy only when you need it?

Kids react to...

Award winning filmmakers Benny & Rafi Fine and their production company "Fine Brothers Productions" have amassed over 350 million views across content online. The Brothers have created content for several networks and companies (Warner Bros, Comedy Central, BBC America, MTV etc.), been featured in nearly every major publication (Variety, NY Times, Time, Huffington Post, Deadline, The Today Show, Glenn Beck etc.), and spoken at conferences across the U.S. (NATPE, ITVFest, Digital Hollywood). They've also helped build digital media startups, serving as Creative Executives, Head Writers, and Heads of Production, leading to the expansion of their own independent studio.

They have their own Youtube channel in which they interview kids and teens about different topics such as recent trends, viral Youtube videos, new music groups and relevant events. For me it’s very interesting to observe and hear their reactions, not only because they are funny but also, because we can appreciate several cultural differences such as age and nationality. Thanks to this we can somehow, create an idea of what children nowadays think about the different trends that go around the internet and what is their personal opinion about them.

As future teachers, most of us are going to have to work with children from different ages, so it’s important to be updated on their interests and what sort of things they like and don’t. That way we can relate to them in another level and create a type of bridge that connects us by understanding their way of thinking and seeing things from their point of view.

And there are not only "kids react to" and "teens react to", o no, there also is "elders react to" .

I encourage you to take some time and check out some of the videos on this channel of Youtube.
 

Indian Henna Tattoo (Mendhi)

In India, there is a pre-wedding ceremony called Mendhi that is when the groom's mother and sisters get to know a little bit better the bride, who soon will become a new member of their family, by accompaning her while she gets her hands and feet tattoed with Henna that is a temporary ink.

 This ceremony needs to be done 1 to 3 days before the day of the wedding because henna needs time to stain and deepen in the skin of the bride.  The meticulous pattern has hidden the groom´s initials and during the wedding night he is suppose to find them, which is a way to break the ice with his new wife; this kind of game of "hide and seek" is a way of interaction between the newly weds that have never met before because they were arranged in marriage.

This is also considered a work of art since the patterns are quite hard to achieve and require great amount of details.

Regardless of you own culture, would you like to get your hands temporary tattoed with henna? Do you find this attractive?


Carolina Yubini Lagos

Indian Music

Hello everyone!

Well, I was thinking about a topic to share with you and suddenly I remember this. I want to talk about Indian music and how this type of music contrasts with our pop-rock culture. Basically I want to show you some videos :)

First of all, for Indian music is very important the "raga" (musical scale) and "tala" (rhythm). Also it has many variants, but now I just want to talk about classical, folk and pop-rock music.

Classical divides in Carnatic and Hindustani music. The first one is played in Southern India, it evolved from ancient Hindu traditions and it was often inspired by religious devotion. Their main emphasis is on vocal music; most compositions are written to be sung, and even when played on instruments, they are meant to be performed in gāyaki (singing) style. Improvisation plays an important role. This is a video of Dr. KJ Yesuda, a singer of this type of music. The song is very misterious and the singer has a deep voice.

The second one is played in Northern India, it has been evolving since the 12th century and it uses voice and some instruments plucked, bowed string, of wind and percussion. This is another song :) I liked it so I hope for you too.

Also is Folk music, which has at least six varieties. One of them is Dandiya, which is a form of dance-oriented folk music that has also been adapted to for pop music. The curious thing about this, at least for me, is that people who dance are hitting 2 sticks with each other, following the rythmn of the song. I found it very nice :)

Another is Ganasangeet, which is generally sung in chorus carrying some social message. The songs are usually about Freedom, community strength and patriotism. Due to the British occupation in India, a lot of protest songs about anti-imperialism/pro-socialism have been written in India. Apni Azadi Ko Hum Hargiz Mita Sakte Nahi (in English: We cannot ever erase our freedom) is a song from a film called Leader, so here it is.

Now we go to pop music and obviously I'm talking of Bollywood, because Filmi (songs from Indian films) is the biggest form of Indian popular music. One example is this song, Jai Ho! That is from the famous movie Slumdog Millionaire.

Finally I want to show you “Raga rock”, which is a term used to describe rock or pop music with a heavy Indian influence, (either in its construction, its timbre, or its use of instrumentation, such as the sitar and table). Raga and other forms of classical Indian music began to influence many rock groups during the 1960s; most famously The Beatles. So this is the last song, it is called Norwegian Wood.

As you can see, this type of music is very different to Madonna, Michael Jackson or Justin Bieber. What do you think about these songs? Did you like them?

See you!

                                                                                            By Constanza Ureta

Stereotypes in South Park

Stereotypes in South Park

Most of people think south park is about making fun of people, toilet humor and vulgarity, but for me is more than just that, there were lessons to be learned in each episode and they talked about issues that were popular in society at the time.

Because of the harsh language found in South Park, people find it hard to recognize the deeper meanings in each episode. Instead of promoting positivity, they believe that South Park promotes stereotypes, discredits important figures in our society, uses bad language for an animated series, and ridicules religions. Because of these reasons, some believe South Park is not appropriate for television and should be taken off the air. Despite these reasons of opposition, there are many reasons why South Park should remain on TV, but i think South Park is appropriate for television because it actually ridicules stereotypes, discredits bad morals, teaches valuable lessons, and exposes people to different religious beliefs.

I think one of the reason why South Park is acceptable on television is because it ridicules stereotypes in American culture,  this show displays American stereotypes in extreme and satirical examples to show how ridiculous they really are.

Another reason why South Park has value on television is because it exposes people to different religious beliefs and lets them decide how they feel about them. If there is anything that causes the most controversy on South Park, it is they way they depict religions. This, like every other aspect of South Park, is demonstrated satirically, but in the end always verbalizes an important message.

What do you think about South Park? Does South Park have the deep message I think or it is only vulgarity and toilet humor?

Here it is a short clip of south park and their museum of tolerance.

                                                                                                       By Luis Salgado Reyes

Imagine / John Lennon

Well, maybe this post isn't connected with the topics for the blog, but I want to share it with you. I found it in Tumblr, is like a comic that shows the song Imagine (John Lennon).
See you!

                                             
                                                                                                     By Constanza Ureta

Children's abuse in kindergartens

Children's abuse in kindergartens

On this week have revealed a case of child abuse in kindergartens for a teacher.

Juan Manuel Romero Gómez was defendant of to have raped to several children in the kindergarten "Hijitus de Aurora" in Vitacura. 

The defendant lived with his mother; who is the director of the kindergarten; in the same establishment, some of the aunties were his own cousins​​, they are nieces of director. The man worked as a janitor and uncle of computing, even he was alone with the children.

When the reported was made the defendant was arrested and taken to disposal of law to investigate the reported.

Remember last year showed a case of child abuse in the kindergarten ''Amanecer'' in Quilicura or better known as ''El jardin del terror''

JUNJI can not even close this kindergarten, because for be private it is not obligatory have JUNJI role for work. This role certify certain safety measures and the presence of professionals.

Anyone to rent a house and to take on staff, they can open a preschool. It is a big contradiction because these are the places that care for younger children, who are most vulnerable, which often are not able to report accurately what happens.

Why in this area of formative we have left much freedom? In my point of view, the misunderstanding of this, the free market, it's just a business to protect, to teach and to care for.

Is there freedom of education in chile but is to the best of?

                                                                                                                                      Barbara Escobar

Underground Railroad - Slaves Follow the Big Dipper

During the time of slavery in the United States, many slaves escaped to go north and seek their freedom. The Underground Railroad is the symbolic name given to the routes they traveled from safe house to safe house until they reached freedom. Music played a big role as songs gave coded instructions for the routes to follow and warned of dangers along the way. The songs also encouraged slaves to join the Underground Railroad; provided inspiration and support for the long journey north; and celebrated the end of a successful trip to freedom.

Escaping slaves did not have maps to guide them North.  Instead, they often relied on "map songs" which included coded words.  Those coded words provided directions.  One of the most famous songs was "Follow the Drinking Gourd." 

When the sun comes back and the first quail calls,
Follow the drinking gourd.
For the old man is awaiting for to carry you to freedom,
If you follow the Drinking Gourd.
The river bank makes a mighty fine road,
Dead trees to show you the way,
And it's left foot, peg foot, traveling on
Follow the drinking gourd.

The river ends between two hills,
Follow the drinking gourd.
There's another river on the other side,
Follow the drinking gourd.
Where the great big river meets the little river,
Follow the drinking gourd.
For the old man is awaiting for to carry you to freedom
If you follow the drinking gourd.

I thought I heard the angels say
Follow the drinking gourd.
The stars in the heavens
Gonna show you the way
Follow the drinking gourd.

What do you think about this codes? Do you think this way to scape is clever?

                                                                                

                                                                   Mariángel Ruedi

Hawaiian Language

A l o h a ~

   

   Last Friday, we had a particular class about Hawaiian culture with a nice teacher from that place. She shared with us many aspects about Hawaii and what is to be a Hawaiian. Some topics she spoke were about education, lifestyle, language, music, history and social problems. However, I would like to write a little bit about one of them; the language that people speaks in the island.

    We already know that Hawaiian (or ʻOlelo Hawaiʻi) is a Polynesian language that is still spoken by the inhabitants in the state. Hawaii is part of The United States since 1959 and it has Hawaiian and English as their official languages but this native language was dying some decades ago. Fortunately, the government education program in the island stimulated the study and use of the Hawaiian language in schools, in music, in government offices, in the courts and many other aspects of society. In 1990, the U.S government established a policy recognizing the right of Hawaii to preserve, use and support its language.

    The Hawaiian alphabet has only 12 letters; the vowels: a, e, i, o and u and the consonants: h, k, l, m, n, p and w. It’s the shortest alphabet in the world and the same words can mean different things according to the context. For example, the word “Aloha” means “Hello”, “Good-bye” and “I love you”. The following is a short list of a basic Hawaiian vocabulary:

• Mahalo:Thank you.
• Pehea ‘oe?: How are you? 
• Maikaʻi, a ʻo ʻoe?: Fine, and you?
• Pomaikaʻi!: Good luck.
• Hōʻolu: Please.
• E kala mai iaʻu!: Excuse me / Sorry.
• E kala mai iaʻu!: Cheers!

    
    Personally, I really like Hawaii culture, people from there have interesting traditions, values and beliefs. Hawaiian language is unique and beautiful and I hope it never disappears. To conclude I want to share a song from the Disney Movie “Lilo & Stitch” with Hawaiian lyrics. This movie is part of my childhood and I think I will never forget this phrase:

"'Ohana" means "family." "Family" means "no one gets left behind."

By Emma Echeverría ♥

Indigenous Influence on the Chilean language.

While searching for information about indigenous people here in Chile I end up realizing the influence from the indigenous people in our Language. And how we use some of their word without even realize that those word have indigenous origins. I will give a short list of some words with indigenous origins that we use.

Quechua
-anticucho : grilled pieces of beef heart
-cochayuyo : Sea weed
-chirimoya : Cherimoya
-papa: potato
-palta: avocado
-guaso: country person
-cancha: place destinated to ball games
-guagua: baby
-garúa: drizzle

Mapuche
-cahuín : gossip
-guata : belly
-un pichintún : a little bit


It's said that language is really useful to know more about the culture of and specific place or country. What do you think about it?

Other Customs

One or two years ago, I saw a brazilian soap opera called "India". In this I could learn some customs. The first one, is:

- In the poorest zones, although it's illegal, kids could get married and their parents allowed them.

- The parents arranged the marriage, either to care for children in prostitution or economic needs.

But what shock me the most is that I saw in this soap opera was how they treated the widows when their husbands died.

They are stripped of their colorful clothes, and they had to use just white clothes (the color of mourning),  they are not allowed to use jewerly and they can not have their faces with makeup.

Widows are not consider as part of society anymore, they are dead in life.

 Also when someone is leaving her/his home and see a widow she/he have to be at home the rest of the day because see a widow is a omen of bad luck.

 

In my opinion Indian culture is a culture where women are undervaluated related to men.

Does discrimination and stereotypes come naturally?

Have you ever felt discriminated? Have you ever discriminated someone?

Probably the answer of at least one of these two questions is YES. Why is that? You would probably have heard about some typical phrases related to stereotypes that discriminate people by the color of the skin, religion, country, social orientation or economic status. For example, in Europe Chilean people are recognized as thieves (“If you see a Chilean stealing, let him it is his nature”), and even here in Chile, mostly in the north, immigrants from Peru and Bolivia often are discriminated. There is also social and economic discrimination. Within the fifth region there are some “areas” that have like a status. For example, there’s a notion that poor people live in Valparaíso and rich people live in Viña (and I’m from Valparaíso). Maybe because of the old architecture and the historical features that Valparaíso has, and Viña is mostly a modern city, and especially in summer you can see many foreign tourists wanting to expend their holydays in Viña. It is more common to see luxurious and expensive cars in Viña rather than Valparaíso.

Not all the Chileans are thieves, there is rich people in Viña and there is poor people in Valparaíso, but it doesn’t make it an exclusive place to certain kind of people where everyone have the same situation. It’s just an stereotype and appearance thing.

Why do people tend to gather with others that look, think and have similar conditions as us? Why do we look as a “weirdo” and reject someone who looks different than us?

I think it is our job as future teachers to change the minds of the future generations and open their minds to different cultures and the diversity of people that live in this world because “when we turn off the lights we are all the same”.

The influence of facebook in our society

Today, they are more and more people using social networks on the internet as a medium of communication, but one of the most influential is that we know as Facebook.
Who has not heard about facebook? I chose this topic because it is so popular in our society, especially young people and children although now more adults who dare to use it too. Facebook was created by Mark Zuckerberg in February 2004, was originally a site for students of Harvard University, but now is open to anyone with an email account. Now has over 800 million users worldwide, it has expanded very quickly at all places where there is a computer, laptop, cell phone or whatever that has internet.
It has become an important tool for social relationships with various functions such as games, events, applications, groups, photos and videos in which we have the option to comment, some people use it to interact with others, meet new people or reconnect with old friends, from the old school or something like that, but also to know what they say, think and do the other people, as well.. get to know different points of view to issues that are contingents, but ...is this really good?
Well, I think that is good and is very entertaining, I like to use it a lot to communicate with others and share ideas but really their use has big disadvantages, because there are people who spend a high percentage of their day at the computer,connected to this website, apart from perhaps more important things like work or homeworks, etc., becoming a vice. actually is a little impossible to avoid feel the need to first open the Facebook page when you're on the internet, before anything else ..I'm sure many of you, who have facebook, the same thing happens (including me) but something else is really bad in my opinion is that separates us from the actual physical contact, of which we need to share with others. Apparently now the most communication is via virtual and physical personal contact is the setting aside ...

We also need to be careful because it is getting used to commit crimes around the world, because as it comes at the beginning of the web "anyone can join free" unfortunately there have been cases of extortion, forgery, pornography and violations of privacy, reason  which we have to be very careful with that is published because anyone can see who are our friends, family or know our preferences of the things we like or not, as the workplace, where we study, so it is advisable to choose the maximum level of privacy, because you never know if someone may be collecting all this information for malicious purposes, you never know whose hands can reach it.
I really think many of you have a Facebook account or have heard of it ... what do you think? How do you think they have influenced in our society and why to not say ..in our culture? Can we live without Facebook or without the social networks of this style in a few years?  How do you think human relationships would be if this did not exist? Would that be the same? How to evolve our society with networks of this style? ...
Finally here is a video from a argentinian publicity spot that makes a parody of Facebook or something like that apparently gives understand how facebook has become part of our way of relating.

   

LATINOS : we are a minority too¡¡¡¡¡

During this unit we have talked about ethnic minoroties in different countries , such as hindi people in the United Kingdom , australian aborigines , hawaiians living in the USA ,etc... But we can not forget about another minority : Latin people living in the United States of America .

Since I have never been to the USA I haven´t experienced the fact of "been LATINO"( as they call us) , but a very close friend of my mom has lived for seven years in New York and he always says that althought New York is a multi cultural and multi ethnic city , he stills feels discrminated in some siatuations and he feels part of a minority and not part of the country . He also told me that in some states ( for example southern states) the discriminatios against latinos is even worst , because they think that latin americans are taking advantage of the good quality of life that US citizens have.

I personally believe that leraning about ethnic monorities during this class has been great to realize the struggle that some people have to face just because they are different , but we should not forget that some of us ( latins) also are discriminated not only in the US , but all over the world .

My mom´s fiend is thinking about coming back to Chile to see his relatives and friends , because he feels that in Chile he feels like home , while in the US he us just a monority.

I leave you a video of the song "America" by the musical West Side Story, in which the male character feels the need of going back home , the same feeling that my mom´s friend has

Drug traffic

Drug traffic is a serious and complex social problem of modern societies. This illegal business generates worldwide about 320,000 million dollars a year.

The drug traffic takes advantage of poor people to work and grow, due to the largest producers and traffic occur in third world countries like Colombia, Brazil, Bolivia, Mexico, Peru, China, Myanmar, Laos, Vietnam, Thailand, Nigeria, South Africa and other African countries. Drug traffickers use the poor rural areas for the production of drug crops. They also recruit children, women, youngsters and anyone who has lack of money. Thousands of poor people a year worldwide are killed, arrested and they risk their health for a few dollars.

In some regions, drug cartels have great popular acceptance because they provide social support in the absence of the state and as a way of replacing their needs which is very serious because in these regions drug has great influence and presence in society.                        

Violence increases strongly when the drug has a great presence in a place. This is seen in fighting between gangs over territory to do business and also in the confrontation with security forces causing insecurity and crime.

But, how to solve the drug problem? Is the legalization of illicit substances a solution to end the illegal business that kills millions of people around the world? These are questions that generate much controversy and I invite you to answer and analyze them.

By Héctor Vielma

Mapuche Conflict

A few weeks ago we saw ThunderHeart. The movie shows some of the things that aborigine people have to suffer by being under the power of the "white men" who have tried to make them lose their identity and customs and even their lands!.This make me think about our own aborigines the Mapuches and how they have being treated by our goverment. They have been fighting for years because the goverment have take away the land they had heritage from their ancestors.


Recently, the goverment have decided to treat the mapuches who resists the steal of their lands as terrorist!

Educational Inequality in Chile

We all know that in Chile there are divisions according to social classes and this is reflected in our ways of life, in our health system and also in our education system.

The education which is given to children and teenagers depends of the parents’ economic status: if the parents have a good economic situation the child will be send to a good school, therefore the child receives a really good education and also has more opportunities to succeed in his life. Moreover, if the child’s family doesn’t have a good economic situation, the child will be send to a school not so good and also he will have an education from the government’s hands.

How is the quality of the schools directed by the government?

The SIMCE test results are always divided according to the economic status of each school and the private schools in which students from families with higher incomes assist always have higher results than the municipal school.

If the education “is the same”, what is happening then? 

The Chile’s government is responsible of give a standard education to the municipal schools and also of supervise the private schools. Maybe this education system isn’t bad, but the way in which the education is given has problems: the teachers who are hired by the government are not of the highest quality and also they don’t have the motivation which is needed for this work, therefore they don’t motivate their students. Moreover private schools have their own educative system and their own way to educate and also they have teachers who motivate their students to emerge.

The fact that we don’t have the same educational system is a discrimination against the students and their families. It is a way to stop them and take their chances to emerge.

The government discriminates giving different educational system depending of the economic status of the students. So, if the students are discriminated they will continue discriminating, and in this way the discrimination won’t disappear and this cycle won’t stop.

So, how we want to stop the discrimination in Chile and in all over the world if our own government discriminate us?

Green Lantern

Green Lantern is a superhero from the company DC comics, the first one was Alan Scott, created by Bill Finger and Martin Nodell in 1940. After World War II when superhero comics books declined, DC sttoped  publishing comics of Green Lantern where Alan Scott appeared.

Then the second Green Lantern appeared in 1959, his name was Hal Jordan, he is the most famous.

Both superheroes had the same powers, and used the same "power ring". I know you are wondering:

Why am I writing about Green Lantern?

I'm writing about Green Lantern because these ones, like the others superheroes of DC comic company
 ( superman, batman, flash, etc) Green Lantern was a white person.

The comic world was not so foreign to the fight for black equality, in 1960's the first black superhero appeared, he was Black Panther (by marvel). Then in 1970's lots of afroamerican characters proliferate .

When DC comics saw this, they also wanted to create a black superhero, because they were seen like a discriminative company, and then they launched their first afroamerican superhero.

Their first black superhero was a new version of Green Lantern, his name was John Stewart.

This topic shows us the fight against segregation in a different aspect.

In the picture we can see all Green Lanterns, including John Stewart.

Creepypasta

          I've always liked urban myths, horror stories, mysteries, etc. This is a topic that I like very much, so when I met some time ago the term CreepyPasta was just perfect.

          A Creepypasta is a story that simulates a real experience, and strikes terror in the reader. These are stories that seek to disturb the reader. In other words, a creepypasta is a story about a chilling experience that someone has designed to frighten all who read it. And the fact that simulates be real is because the issues tend to vary between games, TV series, cartoons, or experiential stories.

          The first story I read of this kind was a story called Smile.jpg. Someone must know. Of these there are many good examples like Squidward's Suicide and Candle Cove.

  Smile.jpg

          You can search in the internet the story that seems most interesting to you. There are creepypastas for almost EVERYTHING.

Sweet dreams.

          Talking with others, we had the doubt that if this topic is appropriate for the blog. I think it is, because is a part of the web culture that exists today and it can be conciderated part of the small c. Here is a link that helped to convince me http://alt1040.com/2011/11/creepypastas-las-leyendas-urbanas-en-los-tiempos-del-web