My Blog - reflection

The making of this blog was a great new experience. I had never done a blog before and I had always wanted to do one, so when the teacher told us that we would be making one I was very excited. The thought of other people reading what one has to say and letting it be known that it is yours, it’s a little scary but exhilarating. Knowing that people all over the net can read your words makes you feel like you have a greater voice, a voice that no one can take away, a voice that makes you feel powerful and fearless. I think this was a very creative way of doing the class and this is why I enjoyed it so much. I hadn’t had a class like this in a long time and it made me feel like in one of those clases in some movies where the teacher is very inspirational and incites her students to think outside the box, to think outside what they thought they were capable of. I enjoyed it even more because I used to love writing since I was little, im not necessarily good at it, but I sure loved it. But I stopped writing because classes took most of my time, but this class and this blog gave me the opportunity to start writing again, start setting my thoughts free again, start feeling creative again. It was like a glass of water in a dry desert. This is why I always looked forward to this blog. I’m pleased with what I got to write in the blog and im happy with my work. Although I would have loved to comment in my classmates post and get to read them all because they all have great minds and incredible things to bring to the table, I wasn’t able to. Other than that it was a very fun experience.

Blog Reflection

When the professor mentioned for the first time I felt thrilled with the idea. At first I thought it would be awkward since I had to publish my personal thoughts and anyone who wanted to would read it. I did in fact; get over that uncomfortable feeling fast enough which made writing easier. I had never worked so well with a group of people, that to be honest, I barely knew. The blog assignment gave me the opportunity to get to know a lot better my classmates and develop more confidence with every one of them. I did feel worried in the beginning since I was named task manager of the group which made me feel a little pressured but our communicating skills with each other made those worries go away since they all worked so well and did an exceptional job doing the assignments on time.

                I finally learned how to use blogger, which I was completely unaware, existed, and quickly went on the mission with Carlos and Zareth to figure out how we would make it a group blog. Luckily without much trouble as expected, we did all the blog settings and were ready to go. Carlos was in charge of the design of the blog and after that was done we started uploading out writings. We uploaded a small autobiography and our Writing Down the Bones entry. At first I had troubles organizing my thoughts clearly. I noticed that with the practice every blog assignment gave me, I started writing not only faster but with a clear mind on what my purpose was. The activity has been great so far and I have had the chance to see my classmates writing and share our thoughts and reactions to the topics discussed in class. I’m proud of my group and I know we have done a great job with the blog project. 

The 60's part III

In the last part of the movie we could see much resemblance between the movie and actual events that are happening in our time right now. This shows how great the movie really is. It shows main things that keep repeating time after time; since, after all, history is always repetitive. Recently the University of Puerto Rico in Rio Piedras had a strike where the students fought for their rights of free accessible education for anyone in the island. Students went through danger, and had to face the police’s outrageous actions towards them. The things in Puerto Rico aren’t going very well and the ones who still have the spirit to fight for what they think is right are the young students that are recently exposed to the situation in the island, are affected directly by it, and are fearless when it comes to justice. This is exactly what happens in the film, college students were the ones brave enough to defy the government and stand against the war that had no reason of being. Maybe the students are the ones brave enough because people just grew used to what the government’s actions or where too afraid of it. Students stood against the police for what they believed in and they had to face danger in order to make a statement. The police now a days behaves exactly as they behaved in the movie with the students on strike, as if the students where wild animals that had to be taken in control by hitting and with gas pepper.

In other aspects we can also compare the discrimination in the movie with the discrimination happening now a day. For example in the movie they show how women didn’t had a voice in the 60’s and even though that has changed now a days, sometime women keep being discriminated just for being women. Things like getting paid less than men for doing the same job, not getting considered in many aspects are things that show how female discrimination is still alive in our surroundings; people are just not aware of it or decide to be oblivious to it. To this day the race discrimination is less evident, but there is still evident discrimination in social classes. There is also the topic of the war; this could be compared with the latest war in Iraq since the purposes of the war in Iraq where never clear just like the movie presents how people actually didn’t know what the war was even for.

The 60's part II

The second part of the film starts with the march against the war in the train. In this part it is clearly seen how Kenny doesn’t really care for people’s safety but for the cause he is fighting for. He tells people to stay on the tracks because the train was going to stop but the train never did. Sarah develops certain admiration towards Kenny because of his bravery since he stayed on the tracks till the last minute. The next scene presents the reverend William with his son Emmet painting. Here Emmet establishes how he does not agree with his father’s method of making a statement having to endure the outrageousness of white people against colored people. Emmet asks his father “What do we ever get from turning the other cheek?” because he didn’t understand how would having to endure all of that torture would help. Later on a more important situation happens, the film presents two white police officers about to arrest a colored man because he was drunk. The mother of the drunken man pushes him and accidentally hits the police officer. Commotion starts to develop as the people watching what was happening see how the other officer pushed the woman away. Next thing you know people start breaking windows and robbings stores. Emmet got involved in all of this chaos and was a victim of pure pressure. When his father finds him he takes the gun that Emmet had and a cop sees him with the gun and shoots him. This resembles many situations that usually happen Puerto Rico where the police acts and then ask and where many innocent people have to pay the price of ignorant police officers who act by impulse and not by righteousness. Specially here where the officer probably acted this way because the man that had a gun was colored. Here in Puerto Rico this could happen with a police man and an armed man that comes from a residential. The cop would be prejudiced because the person comes from a place like that and would assume that his next action would be to shoot him. I remember something that happened in PuerTO Rico once where a police officer shot various time a man that was on the floor defenseless. It is true that the man was running away from the police but once the police officers had him there was no need to shoot him. In this case the police man acted on impulse and fear. And this can resemble what happened in the movie with Emmet’s father, the officer that shot him was scared and acted on impulse. After the incident Emmet forms part of the hippie revolution and this is how he meets Katie. Emmet probably forms part of this revolution not because he is specifically against the war but because he needed an escape from all the things that he had been through.

Next it is shown how Michael had developed an opinion of his own about the war and it went against what his father believed, his father tells him that if he keeps it up he can no longer live on the same house, something very close to what happened to Kate. Her father’s impulsive way of thinking pushed her away until she decided to run away. Michael then attends to a march against the war in The Pentagon where he impresses Sarah by preventing turmoil between the military and the protestants, where people could have been hurt. This is where the phrase “we are not against the soldiers, we are against the war” takes place. After the manifestation Michael tries to tell Sarah how Kenny doesn’t care about the security of people but only of the cause and how he really acts carelessly. This concern that Michael has about Kenny’s behavior is because Kenny is a character that has strong ideals but as the plot develops his ideals grow even greater than himself and slowly start to consume him. Later on in the story, the film presents how this consumption puts an end to him. After all the commotion in the march at The Pentagon Michael starts making campaign for G. Mc Carthy and goes people to people encouraging them to sign petitions against the war. Michael even encourages his own mother to sign one. But when Bill, the father, comes home she is hesitant to do so, until he starts to read the letter that came from Brian and starts to brag about how Brian is doing well in war. Here Mary gets the courage to speak her mind and signs the petition and tells her husband that as she respects his opinions she expected that he respected hers as well. Mean while Kate’s child, Rainbow, gets sick and Kate doesn’t have money to get medicine, so she decides to dace for money but she gets robed and all hope is taken away from her, which leaves her with the desperate decision to call home for help. Here the second part ends.

Contribution to the blog

            Since the first moment I heard about the blog, I was eager to begin with it, because it was something different from anything else I have done in a class before. When we split the classroom into two groups I felt it was a challenge, because it is extremely difficult to gather a group of people with different thoughts and opinions, and get them to make a good job, reason why I tend to hate working in teams; however, it was the opposite. Our team work is great, we have bonded very well and I am happy working with all of the members. Although I felt comfortable with our team, I knew that all of us must have to work synchronized to make our part in order to achieve a good work. I understand that we have done that, and I do not have any complain from any of the members. We have divided equally our responsibilities and have done it right.

            My current work in the blog is as a researcher, which carries the responsibility of finding out what we don’t know. One of my first contributions to the blog was in the very beginning of it, during the creation of the blog itself. I was sent to find out how to make a blog. It was a process of learning in the hard way, because I have never done a blog before in my whole life, until our leader, Samalis, or as I call her, boss, sent me a link that said step by step how to make the blog. Finally we made it, the blog was done, but then we had to fill it. I have to recognize that sometimes I forget to make the posts, because there is a lot of work from every class, and always when you come out of a class, you have a new assignment to do. However I have done my best to keep on track and I take every work with the respect it deserves. When I made my first entry, I was confused, because it was about me. I wanted to do a good presentation of myself, but at the same time, I did not wanted to reveal too personal things, like that I sing in the shower. Thoughts “anyone could read it”, or “that sounds awkward”, passed through my mind, but in the end, writing about me was no more difficult than writing in facebook. Another entry that was difficult, was writing one entry of the journal. It was tough, because the journal contains personal information and things that should be kept in secret. Then I found one that I wanted to share, one activity called Composting. That activity, although revealed things about me, said things that I wanted people to know, like how is it to be an immigrant. After all, the activities have kept flowing better and better, and I am doing well in the blog, the only complain I have about myself is that sometimes I forget to make the entries, and that I forget to send the links to our professor, however it is no problem that cannot be healed, so lets get started right now, and post this reflection.

Blog Refflection

Since the first day that the professor mentioned that we had to make a blog and actually publish our writing on it, I was very intimidated. I was not aware of how people would react to my writing since people were going to be able to read it. I’ve had some similar experiences by publishing poems in Facebook but the difference between a poem and a general writing is very evident when you start actually reading and comparing them. A poem if it’s sounds good and has a deep or cute message on it you can post it and forget about negative opinions since poetry is free for everyone and it can be written as you like. Writing is the exact opposite of it, in order to make a competent writing you have to put your own personal opinion, experiences, feelings and perspectives. Along with that you have to write precisely, with a sequence and with meaning, above that all of it has to come together along to be called a “good” writing. All of this is really hard to do and is something that you think twice before letting another person to read it, but this time ANYONE could. After I started reading my classmate’s work I encouraged myself to publish my work, even though I was the first one to publish on our blog I was not very sure. Work after work I got confidence and eventually had it all under control.

By doing this project I learned that all of us have a lot of different opinions about a same topic which really impressed me since I never took the time to do that before. The varied reactions and approaches that each one of us take to state our points, improved my writing in a big and positive way. I also learned how to have self confidence in my own work and the things I write. This was a big issue for me before since I was always scared of my work not being good enough. In sum this project helped us in a great and positive way. We learned how to make a blog and use it. We were also able to evaluate our classmate’s work to improve our writing. It was a nice experience to go “through the worlds eyes” and letting your voice be heard. I am most grateful with everyone and I can’t wait to see how our blog is going to evolve after this class is done but most important: I survived the blog project!

The 60's Resolution

In the 60's movie we can see a lot of social struggles well known to us. Since we are part of modern society, these old problems can be easily indentified in our time. These have changed their form and purpose in some way but essentially they are the same.

One of the biggest problems that we have today is the struggle between men and women for the number one spot in everything. Now days this does not come exclusively from the male figure against the female like in the 60’s, now there is also gender discrimination against the male. For example, a man that is raising his daughter alone and without a mother is seen as if he were raising that girl “the wrong way”. This comes from the classic idea in which the woman is the one that “puts love on a child’s life”. A man that raises his daughter this way supposedly creates a tomboy or a woman without manners which is not the case of most girls in that situation. Also the supremacy idea of the women is present more than ever in our times. Many women use the excuse of the old “slavery” that they used to have at their house like mopping the floor, cooking dinner, washing clothes and etcetera, to justify themselves to never do it at their houses. Thing that now men have to do in most houses of today and there is nothing wrong with it until you start hearing from a lot of women that before having a relationship are prepared to make a slave out of their future husbands. This looks really similar to the classical chauvinistic male behavior of the 60’s but today is present in the form of a woman.

Another problem present on our modern society is the racial discrimination. Even though here in Puerto Rico this is not a big issue since most of us are non-white. However this problem still lives as the first day it started in the USA. Nowadays racial discrimination is illegal but some people still find a way to make each race uncomfortable in the presence of the other when racial issues appear. That is why people still live segregated in sort of “racial communities”, black with black and white with white. I have heard from my humanistic professor that even though we are kind of American citizens, there are a lot of people in the United States that discriminate against us puertorricans. They have the idea that we are good for nothing and not very intelligent people. Also here in Puerto Rico we tend to discriminate against immigrants, especially Dominican people from whom we make the same kind of discriminating jokes and ideas that some Americans make for us.

Finally the last main problem that was represented in the movie is the student movements. In general this is not in any means a problem since it represents a sense of knowledge and bravery from the younger generation that is growing up and eventually will drive the world with their hands. Even so whenever these movements come into action, serious conflicts and problems appear. Nowadays student’s strikes and manifestations have changed from fighting for a common goal to strictly fight for the personal interest of small groups. The perfect example about this is the UPR these last two years. The first strike that happened had a proper and real way of being, along with a valid cause and a noble reason. That is why it succeeded in the first place. Obviously the methods they used where not the best ones but they made it happen and that is what counts. However the second one that tried existing here on campus is the perfect example of a failure of students as a movement. In the very early stages of this so called strike, all the reasons, purposes and strategies where looking strong and ready to unleash another successful strike. That was until the students assemblies started. In those meetings they did all of the things that the small collision groups wanted and not what students decided. That grew up in confrontations between students, lost of class days, the arrival of the police to our campus and a lot of other complications for the ones that wanted to study and that where not in “their side”. In the 60’s the strikes where held down in a smart way even though drastically in some way as ours but not so out of control. Maybe driven by some crazy leaders that were searching for publicity but as compared to ours, the where more healthy fights than ours.

In conclusion, many problems still exist today in our modern society. They surely have changed their form and ways of showing up, but essentially is the same problem of the past that has evolved into the ones we have now. This will keep evolving as the times pass and generations come but it’s up to us to learn how to deal with them. If we cannot deal with them, well at least learn to live with them.