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.

Reflection... continued

I feel very content with what I have achieved in the blogger posts. I have been working very hard, and all my effort is paying off. I can see the difference in all of my writing works, including the Writing down the Bones project, my chemistry and biology lab reports, and my personal writing. This activity has enhanced my writing skills by contributing to my creativity, phrasing, critical thinking, and every other skill concerning writing. It has also served as motivation to continue writing and to express myself in artsy ways. Additionally, analyzing the movie and the play has stimulated me to want to analyze everything! I usually always analyze many things, but now it is more frequent. For example, when a friend is in trouble, I give him or her an advice based on my analysis of the situation; when I go to the movies, I not only analyze the film, but also the trailers and commercials being displayed; and when I feel overwhelmed with work from my classes, I calmly analyze everything, and effectively plan out what to do during the week. I really hope that our next activities involve critical thinking!

Reflection

I absolutely love working on these reflections. I enjoy analyzing literary works and movies (Two can Play and The 60's). As we write these reflections, we become more persuasive, and our writing begins to carry more substance. By analyzing certain events or scenarios we found interesting, we also develop our argument skills and we become able to defend our thesis in a stronger manner. Working in the blogger has been a totally new and wonderful experience. Expressing my opinion about some topics also creates response. My peers not necessarily agree with me, so by submitting the main points that support his or her thesis, counter-argument is created. When I commenced making my first posts, I was a little lost and disoriented, when using the website, but I gradually "took the hang of it" and learned how to use the system (some of my group friends helped me along the process). Looking back on my first post, I realized that my writing has gotten a lot better (in terms of quality and quantity). I am aware that there are aspects I still need to work on, but as I continue writing and exposing my thoughts and opinions, I believe that those areas will improve.

The 60's, the Resolution

In the final part of the movie The 60’s, everything started to calm down after a big crisis. Michael found a new girlfriend when he was helping in the campaign of a politician. However he was still in love with Sarah, and goes one more time after her, he seems to be a hard learner. Sarah, on the other hand gets sick of Kenny, who is a complete idiot, and does not take care not even a bit about her, or about anyone else, he is just concerned about the “cause”, which could be means that he is only after personal glory at all. He is hiding from the police, because they are after him to put him in jail, so he hides, let his beard grow a lot (resembling a lo to the Che Guevara), and prepares bombs in a tiny room with a couple guys that are as sick as him. Eventually, one day Sarah visits him, throws him money (only seen in movies) and goes really exasperated. Kenny stayed for the cause smoking near to a bomb that he was making, and as is natural, and I hoped form the beginning of the movie, he exploded in a thousand pieces. Rest in peace Kenny.

            Brian comes back from Vietnam, and he was not happy at all, looked like he forgot to speak English, because not even a word came out of his mouth at his arrival. He hides in his room for a couple days and let his beard grow, looking like a copy of Chewbacca. This part of the movie is a representation, of how soldiers were sent to the Vietnam War, to fight and die for reasons that they did not understand. The reasons for the psychological trauma of Brian is not explicitly explained on the movie, but it could be assumed, that his behavior is a result of his experiences in the war; facing death, watching his partners die, while he was killing by himself Vietnamese in a effort to survive. He becomes a part of the opposition to the war and accompanies Michael to a hippie festival, where he had a mental crash and tried to kill a man whose head was not on earth and was desperate asking if someone had seen his lady. Brian gets knocked and then everything starts to get fixed when he wakes up.

            Katie on the other hand, understands that the father of her son is an idiot and he does not give her a penny for her son. She starts to work doing striptease but she quits the same day she begins, because a man offended her. It is degrading what some women have to do for necessity in order to maintain their families, in extreme circumstances, and because of the lack of support of their families or partners. She goes along with her baby and escapes to the farm of her mother in law. There is like a small community where everyone cooperates in order to coexist. Then, she goes to a hippie festival, where she finds her brother Brian knocked and takes care of him. She did not recognize him at the beginning, because he changed a lot his appearance, but finally she realizes who he is when he says his name. Then Michael arrives and they reunite, and both brothers met their nephew, Michael Rainbow, Katie’s son. They all go together to their home, with their parents, and they reunite. Both parents, Bill and Mary, were astonished at the arrival of Katie. They make a barbecue, were Bill quits his role of Macho man, and says “I am sorry” to Katie, because of all the suffering she passed through and because he thought more about what people would say than in his own daughter. Sarah arrives from nowhere and now she is really decided that the only man she loves is Michael, maybe because Kenny is dead, but they get together again. Meanwhile, the new girlfriend Michael had disappeared from scene and never came back.

            In other waters, Emmet joins the Black Panthers, uses a leather jacket and thinks he is a bad guy. He is part of the protection team of Fred Hampton, an activist of the Black Panthers in Illinois. Later, Fred is killed while sleeping. This meant a point of high tension in the civil rights movements. The falling action of this movie was steep, and it had a happy ending for the principal characters, excepting for Emmet, who was drastically affected by the murder of his father. Some secondary characters did not have a happy ending, like Kenny, who became fireworks. The crude reality of that time and the resemblance it has with nowadays is marked, meaning that many of the problems of the 60’s are still alive, and while other problems ended, many others arose. But I guess it is how life is all about, problems ending and other ones arriving.

The 60's directed by Mark Piznarski (part 1)

The 60’s directed by Mark Piznarski is a film that portrays important events that marked the 60’s as an important period on American history. These events are presented through the lives of two fictional families that are affected by most of the things happening in that period of time. The first part of the film presents the Herlihys, who represent a “common stereotypical” American family and that throughout the film have to face different situations that will bring them together at the end of the story. The father, Bill Herlihy is the “support” of the family and he presents an indirect sexist character towards his daughter and wife. The wife, Mrs. Herlihy, is submissive to her husband and resigns to the social opinion of women not having a voice of their own. The youngest daughter, Kate, also has to deal with the sexist society and discrimination towards women. This is shown when she gets in trouble for dancing with a colored man on a school dance which also presents the discrimination towards colored people. Later on, at the end of part one, Kate gets pregnant and due to it his father is ashamed of her and her mother suggests that she could go away until she give birth and give the baby for adoption and then everything would go back ton normal. What other people thought had a lot of importance to their family it even defined who they where, this is also why the mother wouldnt dare to speak up her opinions. The youngest son, Michael, is the ideal son, all A’s kind of student and his father expects great things from him just because of it. He is exposed to the idea of fighting for a cause or fighting for what one believes in. The film even shows when Michael takes a course in Loyola University with a certain father Dennis who makes clear to his students that he is against the war and that he believed in social protest. Michael gets involved in protest and learns more about the war when his brother Brian decides to join the military. Last but not least there’s The oldest song, Brian, who’s not as smart as Michael and doesn’t care much about grades. Even though he’s not that good in school his father expects him to get in to Notre dame. Brian decides to get into the military to make his father proud. This shows how Brian has not defined well his identity and needs the aproval of his father by joining the war. A mentality that the goverment has put in its citizens, "fighting for a greater cause", a cause that is not even defined because young men joining the military usually didnt know the purpose of the war. The second family that the film presents, are the Taylors. This family has to deal with racism in the United States. Mr. Taylor is a reverend and is usually trying to make statements against racism with fellow friends who share his same ideal. Because of his manifestations he gets beaten up and his church gets burned down. This first part of the film ends with a national teach-in against the war that Michael assists to. Here is where the characters of Kenny and Sarah are first presented. Kenny is a revolutionary young man who has many ideals against the war and seems to be focused in only one thing, make an impact that would stop it. Also on this meeting is when the character of Sarah is presented she is shown as a strong character, she wasn’t afraid to raise her voice and to speak her mind in the teach-in meeting. She's also brave because cosidering that at that time women's opinions wheren't even looked upon she still spoke up. This carelessnes upon womens opinions is also shown when Kenny tries to ridicule Sarah's opinion by asking her what organization did she speak for. Lastly something very important that Kenny starts to show with his behavior is that he doesn’t really care for the safety of people, he just cares for the cause that he's fighting for.

Final Reflection on "The 60's"

Throughout the final scenes of the movie the same issues were addressed such as gender roles  and racism.  Nowadays racism is not as strongly noticed in society as it used to during the 1960’s decade but its presence is recognized. There are numerous examples of situations where black are discriminated over whites in politics, work and even in neighborhoods. An example in the field of politics can be the very own President of the United States Barack Obama. His campaign in 2008 was a very controversial one not only because of his muslim heritage but also because of being black. He received numeral threats and offensive comments from specific groups from numerous communities just like Congressman John Lewis has been insulted numerous times. Congressman was a significant leader in the civil rights movement of the 60’s and up to the present day he has encountered protesters and verbal assaults from them.  Regarding gender roles, these are still common these days. Compared to previous years women have progressed in society and acquire numerous prestigious positions in society. Many women are underestimated in the labor area as if they cannot do as good as a job as a man can. For example, as a mechanical engineering students I have faced numerous comments on how it is strange that a woman would be so interested in that field, do a man’s work and be as good as them.  In different households the scenario prevails as the woman who does the entire house cleaning and taking care of the children while the man goes to work. I cannot remember clearly what brand of car it was but there was an advertisement where it showed a minivan for the woman and a sports car for the man. This clearly addressed the gender roles mentioned before. Homosexuality is addressed in a scene in the movie where they weren’t allowed to join the military and were discriminated against.  Throughout history there has always been discrimination towards them from society and the different religious groups present. They were prosecuted and murdered. Nowadays homosexuals are still adapting to society and many homophobes have murdered homosexuals just because they think it is immoral in their perspective and lack of respect towards them. The 60’s movie addressed very well the issues during that decade and demonstrate us that there is still work to do in order to try and diminish these prejudices from society and keep poisoning it causing violence and disorder.  

Final Reflection of the 60's!

As the movie approched the resolution, new prejudicial aspects surfaced. Racism, Gender Roles and "homophobia" are very vivid in the final scenes. Situations concerning these three universal and controversial themes can still be viewed today. Racism has always existed in America, and it will always exist as long as hatred and ignorance remain there. It has attenuated to some some degree since the era of The 60's, but not completely. For example, in job interviews (whites chosen over blacks, despite experience and preparation), general treatment (ex. being less amicable when they order food), and even in elementary schools (they get chosen last in games, and get reprimanded more often), which later has worse effects. Gender roles are also common nowdays. Woman have acquired a lot of power, but gender bias is still seen. For instance, as I mentioned in class, one of my (girl) friends quit her job after learning that she was being paid 50 cents less than all male workers. As with Kenny and Sarah's relationship, many women nowdays are subjugated by their male companions in different manners. We see how they are constantly physically and emotionally mistreated. Not so long ago occured the Tara Lynn Gant Case. Tara Lynn was a woman murdered by her husband, Stephen Grant in Michigan. When Stephen reported his wife missing, the policemen executed a search warrant and found Tara's torso in his garage. After several events, Stephen finally confessed his crime. He strangled her and then took her body to a family owned tool and die shop were it was dismembered. This is an extreme case, but it really shows how some men feel the need to overpower women and lessen them in al possible aspects. Homosexual bias was and is still present in our society. In The 60's, gays were not able to participate in war. Homosexuality was viewed as a defect, something unnatural; therefore, making them unable to go to war. In November 2009, right here in Puerto Rico, 19 year old gay George Steven Lopez Mercado was brutally killed for being gay. His body was found burned, dismembered and decapitated. His arms, legs, and head had been torn off before the body was dumped. The police investigator of this case asserted: "People who lead this type of lifestyle need to be aware that this will happen". He warned other puertorrican gays as if they were citizens unprotected from the law. The cases displayed show that prejudice still exists. The movie The 60's merely portrays a subtle reflection of the racial, gender, and homosexual bias that the incidents show. Equality will only reign when we forget our differences and somehow comprehend that we are all the same.

The 60's continuation

The plot has been fully developed, and the main crisis has reached its apogee. The protagonists are placed in tedious crossroads which lead to certain realizations that contibute to the categorization of the nature of each of them. The audience can easily grasp the symbolism in several acts, which carry out significant meanining in the film. For example, the moment in which peace and equality dominated the scene of one of the strikes. Michael placed a flower in the muzzle of one of the soldiers' guns and this single act presents the same thing that protestants commenced to assert: "We are not against the soldiers, we are against the war". Michael's passion and hope towards the whole movement is vehemently expressed by this action. His genuine desire for the success in "changing the world" is even observed by Sarah Winestock, who put an end to their relationship when she met Kenny, a protestant with much fervor who almost got killed by a train when demanding his rights. Sarah felt immediately attracted to Kenny when she saw his furor when protesting. Kenny was the epitome of her "perfect" man, thus leaving Michael for him. During this time, marijuana was greatly consumed. I believe that this is attributed to the rebellion of youth against the Vietnam War. They used it to escape the war-like environment and to submerge in one filled with peace and love. Additionally, in the 60's not much scientific research was done on this drug; hence, people thought that consuming marijuana was actually benefitial for them. Sarah eventually realizes that leaving Michael was an immense mistake. Not only was she in awe with Michael's eminent act on the strike, but also she begins to feel subjugated when noticing Kenny's attitude towards her. In terms of Katie, she has joined the hippie movement when she found refuge with the father of her child (whom she decides to name Rainbow). When Rainbow is born, she faces many economical adversities, since the father of her baby does not cooperate on any of her needs because he is so focused on his band. Katie feels devastated and desperate for money to take care of Rainbow. She decides to become a stripper, thinking that it was a worthy sacrifice for her daughter. She quickly quits after being treated as a whore. Katie's situation portrays how the conservative society cannot accept her as a young mother and how women's sexuality was somewhat controlled, giving more power to men. As her last resort, Katie calls her family through a payphone. but fails to mention her location during the phone's time limit. Furthermore, Emmet exemplifies a pacifist in the Black Movement, but after perceiving no change and observing many injustices, he reccurs to violent means. A scene with much sentiment was ascribed to Willie's unexpected and heartwarming death. While convincing Emmet that violence was not the answer, and taking his gun ,a policeman shoots Willie thinking that he was menace with the possession of a gun (which was actually Emmets'). After this touching and moving part, Emmet returns to his nonviolent ways, but the struggle for equality augments as the racial segregation intensifies.

The 60’s movie (Part II)

The 60’s movie (Part II)

                During this second part of the movie the same issues are presented as in the first part but there are still no solutions, just more problems and tension. The movie begins with a festival where it can be observed that the hippie movement has evolved. Even Katie is now all about peace and love. Not so far apart, the protesters from Michael’s university promote the same ideals, during a protest to stop the war they all go forward to where the soldiers are standing blocking them and trying to prevent a chaos. Just when things might get violent Michael starts shouting “We are not against the soldiers, we are against the war.” As a part of the tradition of calmness and peace always, a great amount of people smoke marihuana and brownies with the substance, even soldiers. Nowadays many people still consume marihuana but not in such an exaggerated manner as in the hippie movement.  The African-American Civil Rights Movement still continues and the black civilians are exhausted of the treatment they receive. Martin Luther King Jr. is assassinated and a riot commences. African-Americans started vandalizing everything that came in their path, and Emmet is a part of it. Earlier in the movie he expresses to his father how tired he is of the fact that nothing has changed for them after all they have already been through. When his father finally finds him he takes his gun away from him before an accident could happen and they hold on to each other. Emmet realizes that his actions were inappropriate. At that moment the police arrive and they see the gun, Emmet’s father is shot and killed. On the other hand, Sarah keeps herself involved in political events and starts distancing from Michael. Turns out that Kenny (the leader of the protests) wins her over. Ever since his “heroic” action in front of the train she felt a sudden attraction. Kenny offered her backstage tickets for Bob Dylan and winning her over in every way while Michael just felt hopeless. Sarah likely got won over by materialism because there is no sign in the movie that he made any emotional effort to win her over. Of course he liked her but he just bought her and she fell over his image and “heroism,” he was her ideal man. Michael did his best but he would not go to the limits Kenny did. At a certain moment Michael goes home to get signs for a campaign. He asks his mother to sign and tells her that she should decide for herself even if his father does not approve and she has the right to do so. When his father arrives he starts talking about how Bryan is fighting for his country and mocks Michael’s ideals. Her mother finally stands up to him and tells him that she has always supported his manner of thinking all of those years and that he should respect her. He offers no response and Michael shows a grimace for her bravery at the moment. 

The 60's(part 2)

            This movie is spicy; the first thing that makes me think is that my generation is not as lost as people said. It is impressive, how even the soldiers were smoking weed; people seemed to be “high” all the time. I think that they took hashish brownies for breakfast. However, this is not an exaggeration from what happened in real life, and in some way it keeps happening. In the parts seen of the movie, the black people start to hit back. For a lot of time they were mistreated, but now they are tired and start a riot in Los Angeles. Emmet joins to the riot, until his father catches him, convinces him to come home, Emmet gives him a gun he stole, and then the police arrives and kills his father. This just shows how violent and tense the situation got, as a direct cause of segregation. Samantha in the other hand, becomes a real activist, she gets so in deep on it, that she begins to cheat on Michael with the leader of the protests, Kenny, who was the man that did not let her expose her opinions before (and yet), but he becomes a hero, because he almost died trying to stop a train. Michael finds it out, tries to impress her with a brave action, stopping the National Guard from hitting all of the people that were marching to end the war with sweet words, more specifically, “We are not against the soldiers, we are against the war”. But things did not worked out; he is not as radical as she is. Then he helps with the campaign for presidency of a candidate that is against the war. He collects signatures, and gets his mother’s signature, the first open protest from his mother to the gender role she has. This is because, his father defends the war, but she does not, and she faces her husband and tells him that she has her own opinions, breaking with the gender role of the pleasant and sweet housewife. Katie ran from home, and assumes the gender role of a mother, because now she has to take care of her baby, because, although she found the father of the baby, he is as responsible and mature as a three year old child. The struggles arise; the war gets worse, while Brian is still in Vietnam fighting. The tension gets greater, and there is no resolution yet in any part. The civil rights movement evolved and turned to an angry and violent response of a race that has got tired of being oppressed. The gender roles are better defined, and the problems are seen better at this point. The resolution of all the problems is not seen yet.

The 60's Movie Reflection , Part. 2

In this second part of the movie we see how the movements have evolved and becoming something else even thou they have the same purpose. For example the young protestors of the university like Michael are now hippies which promote peace and love. The black movement took a drastic turn after the death of Martin Luther King Jr. since they became a more violent group. Also we see that Bryan and apparently all of the country believe that the Vietnam War has a true reason to be (which doesn’t) and that his young brother is not appreciating the risk of losing his life for “defending the United States”. Finally we see Kathy as the wife of a hippie singer that is irresponsible and that does not care much about his son, since he is more concentrated on being high and his music gigs. This also reveals the truth of those days when they were little helps from government for the people that didn’t have a job and that had to work on the lowest levels of society like Kathy working as a stripper. The protests in all the country were getting to another level of social transformation since they were affecting directly the roots of the problem. Students took the university by force as a way of protesting very similar to what happened here on campus which was something never done before which caught a lot of attention by the media. Also the burning of Draft Cards and dollars were sings of how intellectual the protests were being held now. Some strange customs that are presented in the movie is the constant smoking of marihuana which obviously evolved in addiction problems later and the hippie congregations were they danced and danced manically. The 60’s was opening the door for the controversial 70’s that followed up as the historical moments advanced.

The 60's Movie Reflection , Part. 1

In the sixties movie presented in class we can observe a lot of important social movements happening at the same time. The first one I saw is the raising importance of educating oneself. Michael the younger male is not well appreciated by his father who prefers his oldest and testosterone-full brother Bryan. We can see that being well educated was considered important but was not really well appreciated by others. This search of knowledge leads Michael to question him, society and the government which involves him in the revolutionary events happening around him. I see him as part of the pioneer thinkers that helped mold the world to what it is now. Another movement represented in the movie is the liberal woman and her rights. Michael’s youngest sister Kathy is the best at showing her independence of society. She has sex with the man she wanted to, dances as she wants and with the one she wants to. In her time she was seem like a spoiled brat but the reality is that she is not too different of the woman of nowadays. The rights of women in the other hand are not fully developed since they were starting to demand equines in gender thus in the black communities the woman is more respected than her white counterpart. The final movement seen in this movie is the Black Power Movement which was starting to manifest against segregation in the United States. We can see that in the city of Alabama some people where fighting for the right to vote of the black people and where not welcomed. Their protests were peaceful and without any intents of hurting someone but the racism was stronger than common sense which always ended in a white hurting a black guy. The movie also mentions some important events that motivated these movements like the assassination of John F. Kennedy, the Vietnam War and the speeches of Martin Luther King Jr. These great events led to some interesting changes in the movements and their effect on society.

The 60's

            The 60’s were a transition time marked by the diversity of opinions and the strong and transcendental incidents that occurred at that time. As seen in the movie, which carries the name of that time period already named, things started to change forever, and the events molded the rest of the history of the United States and of the World. It was a mix of revolutions and changes in all directions. One of the primary facts watched in this movie is the racism and the anti-segregation movements. The movie is sort of a collage of real footage that reminds to a documentary, and the story of a family suffering different aspects of the social movements, and an iconic event of that time, the Vietnam War.

            The oldest of the three brothers, Brian, was not picked up to study at college, so he joined the Marines; he is the patriotic symbol of the family that risks his life to keep safe the nation. On the other hand, Michael is smart, and is conscious of the changes his generation is confronting. He volunteers in a group of the church to fight in a pacific way the segregation. In this process, he meets a young black man named Emmet that is his age, and they become friends. It is impacting how racism was so marked in the 60’s because, when they got to the march, the police tried to stop them violently, only for protesting, and the only reason they did not hit the black people, was because there were journalists around, and they did not want to get in trouble. Michael gets to study at college, where he goes to meetings of activists that are trying to stop the war and smoke weed (all they can), there he changes his way of seeing the life, primarily because of a young beautiful girl called Sarah, that fall in love for Michael when he defended her in public, from the leader of the meeting, who thought that her ideas were dumb, and did not let her participate. This is a way in which women are mistreated by society, because Sarah could argue and fight all she wanted, but still, the leaders of the groups composed by men would not hear her opinions. It is ironic how they fight to end with prejudices and injustices, but they are not capable of treating all the members the same way just for the gender.

            In another different aspect, there is Katie, the youngest of the three brothers. She is young and beautiful, and also rebel. She is an intention of saying “no” to the gender roles of the moment. One of the first things she does is that at the beginning, at a school dance, she started to dance with a color boy, action which was punished by the principal of the school, because it was considered inappropriate to dace the way she was dancing. This is clearly a point for segregation because in deep, the real fear was that both races, the white and the black, would merge, concept that was not accepted by society back then and is not well seen nowadays. Katie goes to parties hidden from her father, until one night she had sex with a musician and she gets pregnant. The prejudices she had to face were humongous, because her father wanted to beat her and her mother wanted her to give the baby in adoption secretly, so nobody would now that she got pregnant. This behavior of her parents makes me wonder, what would have happened if it happened in a different way, if one of their sons were going to have a baby. The reaction clearly would not be the same. This is an example of gender roles, as same as another important aspect seen in the movie that is kind of hidden and clearly is part of the gender roles, which is the fact that the mother of the house was a housekeeper, while the father brought money to the house. One of the most important moments as seen in the movie in which women began to take control of their lives, was the birth control pill. That pill was purchased by Sarah, who is of a newer generation, and of a far less conservative generation. There is yet much to be seen of this turbulent time period called the 60’s.

The 60's Movie Review

The 60’s movie

                The 60’s movie represents the different political and social circumstances through which the United States passed through. In the beginning, the film starts by introducing an American family composed of both the parents, a daughter (Katie) and two sons (Michael and Bryan). The first incident occurs when the teenagers are at a school dance and Katie dances with a black student. She is grounded by her parents and called on by the a nun by for behaving “inappropriately.” Woman gender roles in society can be observed throughout the movie with Katie. Katie’s parents demonstrate to be stricter over her, compared to her brothers. She sneaks out of the house to another friend’s place and is caught by her father who becomes fully disappointed of her behavior. Not long after she sleeps with a musician at a party and gets pregnant. After the incident her mother is trying to find a solution since what Katie did was considered immoral at the time and girls weren’t supposed to have sex before marriage and the Church would not approve of her actions. Shortly after her father finds out and becomes more alarmed and disappointed and says that she has dishonored the family. In another scenario Katie’s bother Michael goes to a teaching regarding the war in Vietnam and witnesses a young woman trying to speak her point of view and isn’t paid attention for being a woman, leaving Michael to defend her. Later on Sarah Winestock is seen getting anti conceptive pills which were being introduced to women and were are great controversy at the time.  These actions present how women were considered inferior to men at the time and were more limited in her roles and decision making in society.  During these years also took place the African-American Civil Rights movement represented primarily by Willie and his son Emmet Taylor who from the beginning fight for equality in the American society. Due to the segregation between blacks and whites, African-Americans were not allowed to be in the same places as white people. As a sign of protest they go into a diner and are thrown out by force and violence. Additionally shortly after a march for their rights to vote father Willie’s church and house are burned down as a sign of the white society throwing them out of their territory. 

The 60's movie review

A wide variety of controversial themes are vividly displayed in The 60's, a movie that effectively places the characters in the context of that ambience (the black and white newsreel footage contributes to the scenarios). As we are introduced to the primary characters; Michael, Brian and Katie, the plot commences to develop and the audience begins to grasp the air of the conflicting ideals and ethics of the era. Gender Roles are vastly present in the movie. First, we see Katie being reprimanded for showing "immoral behavior" while dancing with a black student on a night out (racism rises as another strong theme that molds the plot). Since Katie is a woman now, her parents wish for her to exhibit certain "qualities" that society expected from young ladies. Brian joins the Marines rapidly after high school, since his performance in the football field did not astonish any scouts. Their parents support his decision and reveal admirability for his enthusiasm, attitudes never present towards Katie. On the contrary, her father feels deceived when he caught her in the closet of a friend's house with a boy. The parent's expectations on Katie drastically diminish after she gets pregnant by a musician in a one night stand (at least that is what musician thought). Katie is aware that she has "dishonored" her family, so she decides to flee. Michael gets in Loyola University and becomes involved in the civil rights movement, and after campaigning for Bobby Kennedy and Eugene McCarthy, he becomes involved in radical politics. The audience meets another character, Sarah Winestock, when Michael defends her in a meeting for civil rights, since other members dislike the fact that she is a woman giving her opinion, manifesting her voice. Spectators are also introduced to Willie and Emmet Taylor, an African-American family struggling with equality for all races. Racism is highly prominent throughout the movie. Not only is Willie hardly hit, but we also see how blacks are separated from whites in diners and bathrooms, as if they were another abominable species. After a black man is seen eating in a white man diner, he is literally kicked out and strongly beaten. The portrayal of all these characters transports the viewers to The 60's providing them with a slight hint of prosaic events that occurred in that time.

Two can play

In class we have been reading a play called “Two Can Play” which takes place in a late 70’s Jamaica that has been overwhelmed by the effects of political warfare. In the play we have two main characters; Gloria and Jim, who are two perfect examples of gender roles in that time. Jim presents the typical sexist male role who is afraid of women power and who thinks men should have control of everything even if sometimes women have more courage than them. This behavior in Jim is what causes his bad relationship with his wife. This is shown in the way Jim tells Gloria to do things around the house, like cooking and taking care of Pops. He also needs to feel good about himself and in control even though he is a coward. This is shown when he is afraid of the gunfire outside and he is hesitant to look for Pop’s medicine even though Pop’s was dying. His cowardliness is also emphasized in the fact that Gloria is braver than Jim and is willing to go outside and stay calm about the whole situation. Gloria takes control of all the things Jim can’t man up to do. Constantly Jim acts like he is always right, and that his decisions are the best, but because Gloria is a woman he never takes in consideration Gloria’s thoughts and feelings even though she seems smarter than him. He sees Gloria as his property and not much as his wife, this type of thinking is presented at the end of the play when he directly says that he wouldn’t let Gloria go because he owned her. Throughout the story we see that Jim loves Gloria but his sexist mentality prevents him from sharing his feelings the correct way. For this reason he almost looses Gloria when she decides that she can’t take Jim’s behavior anymore and that Jim is never going to change. Through this we see that Gloria is a strong character and that she represents the revolutionary ways in which women had to take control of situations so they could be respected and taken in consideration. Even though the story presents the reader with a late 70’s Jamaica these situations still happen in our present day.

Reflection on "Two Can Play"

As observed in the play “Two Can Play” by Trevor Rhone; Jim is a very complex and dynamic character whose attitude varies drastically as the story proceeds. From the beginning the reader can perceive Jim as a very coward male that hides behind his chauvinistic way of thinking as an excuse for not satisfying his role as “the man of the house” in front of her wife Gloria. Example of this coward attitude, are the gunshots he hears that scare him to the point that he has to take valium pills to ease his paranoia of being shot. The pathetical way of reacting to this matter is antagonized by the bravery of her wife which is the one that is always fixing his problems. After Jim’s father dies he drastically changes his attitude to be more like a brave man or something close to it. This fake change is still dominated by his wife since she is the one that takes care about everything in the house. Jim only takes the role of a “man” at the time he gives orders or complains about something. He is no more of a coward trying to look strong so he can make himself and his wife believe that he is something important. In the other hand we have his wife Gloria that takes the place of both men and women in the house. She cooks, she took care of Jim’s dad, she pays the bills, she buys food, and well, in sum she does everything. She is the brave one that does not succumb to the fears that his husband has. She is the example of a strong woman that works hard to make something out of her life with or without the help of her husband. She is the central pillar of the house and of Jim’s life whether or not he wants to accept it. They are not the perfect couple but they do are the only thing that each other has. Maybe that is why they are so important to each other. Even though that Jim does not show his feelings until late in the story, Gloria in her way of being show the love and compromise that she has to her husband. This story is getting really good and I wait for a fantastic ending, maybe one In which Jim becomes a man after all or accept his male inferiority as compared to his wife.

Reflection on "Two Can Play"by Trevor Rhone

“Two can play” by Trevor Rhone takes place in the late 1970’s in Kingston Jamaica during the height of the country’s political upheavals. But what he really writes about is about a couple who struggles with their marriage because they barely understand each other. During the first act of the play Jim is called a paranoid by Gloria when she tells him that Andrew wrote them a letter. He is constantly drinking valiums so he can sleep and he’s constantly closing the windows of the house and staying locked up inside even if he tries to appear to be the brave man of the house. Once, she tells him that for calling himself “The General” he can surely loose his calmness easily in a sarcastic tone towards him. Contrary to Jim, Gloria seems to keep her emotions under control and tells him “Jim, yuh have to fight fear. Open the window.” Gloria plays the role her husband should play in a male dominated household. Throughout the play Jim is always ordering Gloria to cook him, clean the house and do chores but when tough situations appear Gloria takes the lead in the house and keeps everything from falling apart, including Jim’s emotions. During Act II scene I, the audience perceives a clearer view on how Jim tries to assert his dominance over Gloria after she comes back to his house and he notices she stands up to his demands. Gloria tells orders him to serve her some of the Wincarnis he had bought. Trying to re assert himself he orders her once again to wash dishes and fix him something to eat. Having enough of this they have a discussion and he tries to soften her with sexual blackmail and she stops him and warns him she will not go back to him under the same conditions she has been living under  for the past twenty years of her living by his demands. The discussion goes on and Gloria is going to leave Jim and he questions why. In response she restates that he doesn’t treat her like the man she married does, that is all she asks from Jim. At the end Jim realizes how Gloria had been feeling all those years and they both settle their differences after hearing each other out. Jim is determined to be the man Gloria wants her to be and changes his behavior towards her.  

Analize the ways in which Jim tries to be masculine

Jim is a very complex and dynamic character. He displays unemotion and roughness to succumb to his gender role and gradually contributing to the male stereotype. Jim does not cook or clean, since he believes that those chores are exclusively for women. He also associates tending for the elderly as part of women's duties. This is clearly presented as Gloria takes care of the physical health and well-being of Jim's father. When Jim's father becomes ill and commences to cough blood, Jim is reluctant to fetch the pills his father needs to recuperate. Gloria then undertakes to go in Jim's place. As Jim asserts, "I'm the General. Me run tings.", the audience rapidly perceives his hunger for domination and how Gloria exists to provide his comforts, which are mostly food and sex. He wants to effectively achieve his role as "man of the house" by making the decisions and taking control of every situation the family might encounter. Jim is not as strong and masculine as he puts on. A series of reactions ensures the reader thaty Jim is wearing a veil to cover his true self and to carry out his archetypal characteristics. When Gloria tricks Jim into thinking that she flushed the money, Jim begins to cry. Crying is very much associated to women, thus, Rhone incorporates female qualities to Jim. Additionally, Rhone presents the stereotype in which men are affiliated to cleverness and astuteness. Jim wants to be the one with all the good ideas concerning where to hide the money to execute their plan to become legal and reunite with their children, so he tries to take credit for Gloria's ideas. He explains "What A tell yuh, Gloria, I is the General. Dem could search till thy kingdom come, dem would never find where I put the money." Jim also tries to manipulate Gloria to cook, after she arrived from America. He appeals to pity by showing Gloria his burned hand in an attempt to cook, while she was away. Despite all these negative traits, Jim is considered a dynamic character because to avoid losing Gloria, he is willing to put effort and change his way of being. By determined to reconquer Gloria's love, Jim demonstrates that he is not as self-centered and selfish as his behavior suggests during the rising action and the climax of the play.

Review of “Two Can Play”

            “Two Can Play” is a type of bitter humor. Although the reading goes easy and is funny, the message transmitted is quite strong. This play reflects the reality of Jamaica more than thirty years ago, a country doomed in the riot of an internal war. One of the themes seemed so far is how external issues can affect people who are not involved in the confrontations. This point is clearly seemed when Pops died; he died, because the doctor was afraid to get into that part of the city at that hour, and they could not get to the doctor’s house to pick up the tablets. An innocent person died for nothing. Besides, the familiar separation is also seemed, because Jim and Gloria’s sons had to leave Jamaica to emigrate to the United States in order to get a future farther than being a robber or a prostitute. Another noticeable aspect is the fact that in this play, Jim fights to get into his role of being the man of the house, but he can’t. The real leader of the situation is Gloria in every aspect. Jim is so coward, he is afraid to everything, he locks the house completely because he is afraid to the sound of shots, he wants to go from Jamaica, but then he is afraid to the people that might take him out of there; he is a real coward. The only part of the male role he occupies well is being requesting his wife to everything in the house, he does not cook, he does not buy food, he does not wash the dishes, he just leave everything as it is because it is not his duty. At the end of page 30 it is partly said that Jim is cheating on his wife, this arouses another important point, how the relationships deteriorate because of the tension of the environment. The play is just starting yet, and it promises to give a lot to count.

The Samurai

The samurai technique is about not being afraid of editing your own work just because you spent a lot of time into it. There are going to be times where our writing is good, bad or super good. It’s up to us to distinguish when our writing is good, really good or bad. If it’s not really good then we should cut it out and leave the essential. This is how really god poems develop, with really good and strong fractions. One good example of this is a minisaga. A minisaga is a super short story where a whole plot develops with just a few sentences. In order to have a good minisaga you’ll have to use the Samurai technique, where you cut out anything that’s not necessary or not really good. I wanted to share with you guys a minisaga that a friend of mine did and I really think is really good. Her name is Yoarelis Olavarría and this is her masterpiece:

Dead End

Road trip. Fun and smiles. Then Impatience takes over the wheel. A reckless turn. Suddenly, the wheel is misleading their destiny. A crash. Blood. Bruises. Wounds deeper than skin. A widowed husband. Motherless passengers. Now cars pass by. Impatience, observing its work of art, welcomes Death to the passenger’s seat.

Imagine yourself sitting in front of a computer, at this bare second…writing. Imagine also, that you are someone that loves to read because reading takes your mind to the limits of imagination; someone that loves to paint or draw because through it you can show people the way your mind sees things. Imagine you are someone who sees the world differently through the lens of a camera, because you can focus on the beauty of a candle stick or a rock. Someone that loves to dance, because through dance you can show the passion of feelings through movement. Imagine you are someone that cannot contain a smile each time you feel the warmth of the sun or the breeze of the wind touch your skin; someone that on a friend’s face sees happiness just because they form part of your life. If you imagined this, then on that minute, on that second or fraction of a second…you were being me.

My name is Karla M. De Jesus and I guess this pretty much expresses how i am and how i feel towards the world around me. I study Computer Engineering at the University of Puerto Rico, Rio Piedras Campus and I'm 18 years old. I am a very spontaneous and artistic and i hope you, dear reader, enjoy the things i'll be posting. Enjoy the blog while you can; it's a limited time edition blog.

Love is patient, love is kind,
Love does not insist on its own way.
Love bears all things, believes all things,
Hopes all things, endures all things.
Love never fails.
- I Corinthians 13:4-8
_______________________________________________________________________