Piece of News

A piece of news that would like to talk about is the teacher’s mobilization. I am really concerned about the subject and I’d like to synthesize what I know about it.
The teachers, as a professional trade are demanding in general to the state a new pact between all the actors involved in the education in our country, but under the specific demand of the reparation of what they call “Historical Debt” owned to them, which is rooted in the legal changes the dictatorial government promoved.
It’s quite interesting to address that the propose a general change of our educational system, because they realize that improving the quality of it and the state intervention on the subjects It’s a way to deal with the enormous social disparities in Chile.
They have been on strike for about a month, discussing with the government and calling for several protests. This movement affects to our society in all their levels: in a local way, most of the municipal schools are closed and in some cases, the JUNAEB benefits for the students cannot be delivered and, at a greater scale, the SINCE test has not been applied and some people are worried about who this could affect the results of the PSU exam.

Election Day

I decided to vote long time ago, when I was sixteen years old. Since then I was very worried about it, but I didn’t took part of my own decision until very recently, when I actually registered myself to vote. I went to Lo Espejo, accompanied with my stepfather, who is a communist. We register together in that district to vote for the communist candidate that is running for this current election.
I don’t agree with the way that our politicians do their campaigns. The spend a lot of money that could be used in more useful or important issues and they also contribute with the pollution in our streets.
I’m sure that they should participate mostly in local spaces and make themselves known in their own and concrete action, rather than spend money and time on doing campaigns.
I think that our political agents shouldn’t be reduced to the electoral o traditional “politician” idea. I’m really concerned with another, and more complex issue: the need to create a real commitment and dedication about our social reality in the common people.

Parents, Children and music tastes

I've always found amusing to think about very specific things about being a parent nowadays. I try to project myself into the future and guess how it would be like to be a mom. These questions begun when I found about the “Rockabye Baby” records: it was a collection of albums of classic and contemporary artists like Björk, Radiohead, The Beach Boys, The Beatles or Metallica, but made especially for little kids; that is to say that included their most popular song played with soft pianos, xylophones and strings that were completely amazing. I just fell in love with the idea of introducing to my offspring to the music I loved.
So, this article really caught my attention. The author discusses if it’s right or not to “cultivate” your son or daughter to the music you love. What I found interesting about his opinion is that even if in all generations, the older ones probably think that the younger people only bad or at least not-that-good stuff (especially on different art trends), maybe this generation is most auto conscious than the ones who came before. I think that his observation is actually, very accurate, because parents maybe are more concerned about trying to avoid their kids to consume the highly commercial musical trends and maybe they’re against on seeing the kids tastes as a marketing source; so it might reflect a cultural change that is remarkable subject to discuss.

Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/musicblog/2009/oct/26/parents-influence-childrens-taste

Criminal Laws

I don’t really like to discuss this subject, it one of those topics that I always avoid.
Although, I think it’s not right to put capital punishment as a solution to reduce criminality. Criminality is a more complex social problem and, in my humble opinion, capital punishment merely could be a way to solve the situations with the convicts. But capital punishment is not an incentive to not commit a crime. I’m sure that people that commit crimes need to be seen as a part of more deep reality where the final punishment that you can recive it just one of the themes involved.
That is my general opinion. But if you push me, there are types of crimes that are harder for me to understand, for instance, rapers, pedophiles, and men murders of women.
In terms of reducing criminal rates on our city or even in our country, I think that the courts and the sentences should be more strict when the persons are reoffenders.
But, again, that ain't the main solution. I think that our society has to take responsability in the great inequalities that exist among social classes. There's a lot of frustration and insatisfaction within disadvantaged ones, mostly in terms of life chances.

Finally, yes, I have been a victim of crime. I'd been mugging twice and pick pocketing in three occasions.

What to do and where to go in Santiago

If you are a foreigner who has arrived to our city, I think that you can do a lot of different things. First of all, I think that you could go on Sundays to walk along the Parque Forestal, especially if you have kids. There are playgrounds and activities like painting his o her faces animal o fairy-like. Then you could take them to eat a delicious ice-cream in Emporio La Rosa.
Nearby, there is the second must-to: you should definitely visit Parque Metropolitano in the Cerro San Cristobal. It is the classic family ride, and when you reach the top of the hill, especially if its winter and it rained the day before, you can enjoy a fantastic view of the city.
Now, to get familiar with the local culture you should go for the day to Pomaire. It’s located at the outskirts of the city and it’s a beautiful and small town that is very famous for his handcrafts and handmade pottery.
And then, you can go by car to the southeast zone of the metropolitan region to visit Pirque and San José de Maipo. These two rural like locations have many attractions like good restaurants, picnic zones and great pools. You can also do horse riding, kayak, rafting and trekking.
Finally, if you are into nightlife and bars you should go to Plaza Ñuñoa and drink the tasty handmade beer in HBH and eat a chorrillana (French fries, steak, fried onion and fried eggs) in Café Dante.

Education

I studied in the same school my whole life. So, everybody knew me and I knew everyone. It was a private school, but I had a scholarship which allowed me to stay in it times that I couldn’t afford to pay it.
During highs school I pretty much enjoyed most of the subjects. With the patient help of my teachers each year I achieved better scores than the year before. My all-time favorite subjects (with the respective teacher) were: History, Philosophy and Language.
Although my school was private (I’m saying it “was”, because the owners sold it in 2007) we haven’t had much technology. Or maybe what really happened was that the equipment and facilities were very limited compared to the ambitions of our teachers. But judging it from the present, I guess I didn’t need much material things for accomplish my goals.
I guess that the quality of my education, in terms of the how good and how dedicate were my teachers and the concern, the demand and love of my parents were determinants for me to set my aspirations.
I guess that to say that each one is responsable of his education its unfair. The whole system that organizes the education in our country is inequal, and the position of being privileged or not, is the main reason that i think, for the opportunties and the goals that one cant set in her life.

First Term: Good and Bad points

Now that I’m in the second term of this year I can look back and talk about it.
In first place, the relevant lectures I had were “Antropologia Económica I”, “Métodos Cualitativos” and “Antropología del Género”. Obviously I coursed a couple more but this were my favorite ones. In terms of the first one, I really enjoyed to learn about the economics discussions that many theorist have since the nineteen century and to understand how anthropology can contribute. I also did an applied investigation about micro business: I read a lot about the subject and analyzed in terms of “Game Theory” and wrote an article that made my very proud. Actually I’m going to publish it in student magazine.
Second of all, I decided to star jogging. I’m very interested in being an active person and I’ve tried a lot of activities. This year, for practical reasons, I bought a pair of run shoes and begin to run in my neighborhood. I’m running for about 40 minutes and I’m training to run 5 km.
Finally, this term was very stressful. I begin to work on March on weekends in a bakery shop, so it became a hard routine. Eventually I did not have the time to eat well, rest or sleep as much as I need it, so I ended exhausted. I had to quit before June, so I could finish the term without failing a lecture.
I hope i could do a better term this time.