Essay

I would like to write about the use of technologies as an important part of the learning process at the classroom. Technologies are a new phenomenon; it has been incorporated to the learning process not too many years ago so I would like to give myself as an example about the use of technologies in the classroom. I have lived all the process… while I was growing up, technologies were been incorporated to the classroom.

My firsts years at school the most technological things that we have were radios and tvs, but then when technologies were reproducing themselves, start to appear the learning programs on computer or teacher start to tell us that we should do our papers on the computer. Then, appear the “power point” and nowadays it’s one of the best tools for teachers beacuse facilitates the learning progress. And then came all the internet revolution: All the information was only a click away. Now I think we're kind of slaves of these machines. Everything depends on these technologies. It’s unthinkable to do something handwriting.

I think this entire phenomenon has good and bad things. Computers, and especially Internet let us access to a huge world of fast information and communication, and I think I could say that it’s one of the most important tools for students today. Everything that you need to know you can find it on the internet. But this is not a formal source to search the information, because anyone can upload documents to internet and you don’t have a way to prove the veracity of the information. So it’s like a double-edged sword. Also, the use of books and encyclopedias has been reduced, because of the same thing.

Personally, I think that we should be careful about the use of technologies. I think they are a great tool that makes life easier in lots of ways but we can’t forget that there are other ways to do things. Today, kids use to play lots of hour at the computer or with their play station and they didn’t know than there is a whole amazing world outside. Works on computer are ok but sometimes it would be great if we were challenged to do some things handwriting. We have lost our consciousness about our capability to do things with our hands, not just with machines.

The (bad named) Mapuche conflict

First of all I think it’s necessary to clarify the name of this conflict. When you speak about “Mapuche conflict” you’re saying that they have a problem among them and that’s not true. They have a problem with the Chilean state and the government, because of lots of particular demands. I think than this has been a problem since the independence and colonization years and even that it could sound like an “old problem”, it’s just a reflect about how badly they have been treated.
My opinion about the -badly named- Mapuche conflict is that it’s a national problem so it should concern all of us. They are claiming for their rights and want to be owners of their spaces to manage them however they want to do it.
I think “the coin” has two sides: The first one is that the Chilean State was conformed with an unreal nation, I mean all the Republican project was made by a minority that claimed that everyone in this territory would be Chilean (and that includes mapuche people). Even that the republican dream could have worked the political class never knew how to include mapuche into this new Chilean nation. On the other side, I also think than mapuche would have never recognized them as a different nation because they also have some benefits from the Chilean state. So I think that the right way to solve this problem would be recognized them as a different nation. That means to recognize that they have a different culture and that they are able to decide how they want to use their territories.
The last few months were particularly coflictive and the most important proclaim was related to the application of the anti terrorism law to different mapuche leaders. 34 commoners were in a hunger strike for more than 80 days and this caused lots of popular manifestation showing the support to mapuche people.
I think than it’s horrible to have to use something like a hunger strike to defend a fair cause.

About Music

My relation with music started when I was really young, because my kindergarten was a “musical” kindergarten and that means that I had to choose an instrument to learn how to play it. So I started playing the guitar when I was 4 years old. I had lessons since I was 13 and I learned a lot about classical music and also lots of songs that I could play with my guitar. My favorite classical composer is Bach.
I Also used to listen to lots of folkloric music and musicians from the “new Chilean song”(my mom and my dad used to listen to that kind of music). I also remember that I had a Café Tacvba cassette, a Mexican group which mix folklore with rock. When I had to finish my guitar lessons (they were just classical compositions) I learned to play the guitar but with chords. For me, it was to discover a whole new world outside classical music: popular music was available with all their chords on internet for me. So I started to listen and to play folkloric music, classic rock, Argentinean rock, bossa nova, etc. Now, I consider myself a big fan of music. I think music makes life funnier and it’s really important for me in lots of different ways. Music can communicate things by using the sounds, by the lyrics or as a complete composition. I would like to recommend you to listen to Jorge Drexler, I really love him. He’s an Uruguayan composer. I like him as a musician and as a writer. His music is really nice; he has really good songs but what I most like about him are his lyrics. I like the way that he sees life, as something where anything can happen but with an optimistic way to view it. I also love Argentinean rock. I think it could be like my favorite kind of music (it’s really difficult for me to choose just one). I like a lot of singers groups as Charly García and all his bands, Fito Páez, Luis Alberto Spinetta and all his bands, Pedro Aznar, Bersuit Bergarabat, etc. I think music is something really important and that it should be cheaper here in Chile. The taxes for buying books and music are so high that it’s almost impossible to buy one of it. At least now we can download music from Internet, but still it’s not free for everyone.

How green I’m..

I think today all the green matter has become a citizen concern. Anyway, I think that most of the time it remains just in the concern and it doesn’t become a real action. My family and I have tried to incorporate recycling habits but when you live in a building it’s a little bit more complicated. Four years ago I used to live in a house in Ñuñoa, who has a good recycling program financed by the City Hall; when we were living at there, we usually tried to recycle plastic bottles and cartons. When we moved out to the apartment where I live now, everything turned more complicated. It’s really difficult try to recycle when you live in a community that doesn’t care about it. I don’t know particularly if the City Hall of Providencia has a recycling program, but the fact is that to apply a recycling program in my building everyone has to agree with that. And we are not enough.
I think there are lots of things that can be recycled easily, but most people don’t know what kind of things are or how to get the information to do it. But the information about this subjects is everywhere. If you visit the web site http://www.tuverde.com you can get some tips to try to get a greener life and to be respectful with the environment.
Another thing is cycling, it’s cheaper, good for health and good with the environment. But this also has a problem, there are not enough bike paths in the city.
So I think that if we want to have a greener life it doesn’t mean just to recycle, I think it should be accompanied by lots of changes. The City Halls should be worried about giving more chances to the citizens to incorporate this kind of habits.

About the 33 miners

I have a lot of different ideas about this event. When I heard the news for the first time, I worried about their families and I couldn’t imagine all the suffering they were going through… I think that not knowing about your relatives it’s something terrible.

I’m going to be honest… I really thought that it was impossible for them to be alive. When the day came and the rescueing group found them alive, I was really impressed and relieved thinking about their families. But after this event, all things started getting a little bit weird. First, there was something like a psychotic reaction from everyone, and the 33 o miners became the main characters of a reality show on the news. I mean, I think it’s really important to learn about them and about their physical and psychological condition, but meanwhile lots of important things were happening at national level and they were ignored on the news because the miners were the center of all the attention. The government led people’s attention on the miners issue and this was the perfect distractor to do lots of things which went unnoticed by the public opinion while the government projected the image of a good government worried about the miners. I think if they were really worried about this event, they would check out work regulations and miners’ working conditions.

I think that too many things went unnoticed, such as the militarization of Rapa Nui, the -badly named- mapuche problem, the environmental issue regarding the setting up of the thermoelectric at “Punta de Choros”, the protest for quality education, among other issues.

I think the miners issue affected everybody at national level, and that’s ok but I believe that national concern should be focused on the horrible work conditions and efforts should be made to make improvements on this area rather than telling public opinion if miners want to drink wine or beer for the celebrations of the bicentenary.

The first term of 2010..

Hello!
The first term of 2010, was a period with lots of changes. First of all, get into University with new people and new subjects to learn. Second, come back to “real life” after my sabbatical year on 2009.
Anyway, I think it was a good semester. I learned lots of new things about Anthropology and I had the opportunity to read the most relevant writers and their theories, so it was really interesting as an introductory semester to the general terms about my career. The most challenging thing that I had to face off it was to start studying again, because I had lost training and study habits. But nothing to worried about, I think.
About sports, I had to admit that I’m not a sport lover, actually I dislike most of them… but I think it’s also necessary to do something with our body so I went to yoga two times every week on Tuesday and Thursday at 7pm. Also, every Saturday morning I participate in a scout group.
Something about this semester that was really important for me it’s that I met great people and make really good friends. With them I can speak about things that I love, like cinema and literature among others.

Topics that I would like to write about

Generally I love writing, but write on English it’s a different thing. Anyway, I would like to write about lots of things. First, I’d like to write about films because I think it would be fun if we all share about our favourite movies. After that, I’d like to write about my family or maybe about some fun experience that we have had with our relatives. Also, I’d like to write about music styles and groups, and maybe that everyone could say something about their favourite song or share some nice lyrics. Then, I’d like to write about literature and maybe try to write some story. Another topic that would be fun to write it’s about trips; maybe write a story from a particular trip or maybe write about places that we would like to know.