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2006-05-25T11:54:00.000-07:00

HALLOWEEN NIGHT

Spooky, creepy, fun! Halloween is the time of Ghosts, Goblins, Gravestones and Graveyards. Of Spooks and Spirits and silly-fun tricks, of Witches and Scary Black Cats and Candy Corn, Jelly Apples, Pumpkins and Bats. Halloween is a party celebrated in the night of October 31st. This celebration was exported to the United States by the Irish in the XIX century. Because of the influence of the United States in the world, and the marketing of a lot of companies, Halloween has become very popular in other countries, like in Colombia, where the people take it as an excuse to go party, go wild, dress up like their most hidden fantasy and to become somebody else just for one night. For the kids it is an opportunity to be filled with tons of candies, so for those who don’t know anything about Halloween (they must live anywhere but Earth), here’s an opportunity.

In the past people thought that in the 31st day of October the spirits came out of graveyards and took power of the bodies that belonged to living people so they could return to life. To avoid this, the Irish people “decorated” their houses with bones and skulls and other disgusting things just to scare the dead (like that’s going to happen) and avoid been posses by their spirits, this is where the tradition of decorating the houses with sinister motives and wearing costumes comes.

Halloween is a celebration based on fear, death, the living death, black magic and mystical monsters. The Celtics were a village in Ireland, the ones who started all this Halloween celebration. They used to wear costumes made with animal skins so they couldn’t be discovered by the spirits that from what they say come to life that night. That’s how the custom of disguises started.
The characters that used to be associated with Halloween include ghosts, witches, black cats (sexy), zombies, demons and also movie characters like Dracula and Frankenstein.

This is what Halloween is all about. Costumes, candies, having fun with your friends; it is an opportunity to forget all your problems and be somebody else, tell creepy stories, scare them, make really good jokes about it and enjoy it. Here is a story you can tell your friends in Halloween night: it is a true story that happened to a friend of a friend of mine. In Barranquilla on a Halloween night many years ago a men was driving drunk from a costume party to his house when he saw a beautiful lady walking by the cemetery. She was wearing a white dress and when he saw her he was charmed, so he decided to give her a ride. The woman got into the car and he took her home, but when she got out she left her coat. The next day he went back to her house to return her coat and an old lady opened the door. She told him that the woman was dead, that she died a long time ago. My friend was too scared to go out on Halloween night or to pass by that cemetery again.

2006-05-25T11:38:00.000-07:00

SUICIDE BOMBERS: COMBINATION OF OCCUPATION AND HUMILIATION

What brings a young man to blow himself up in crowds of people? Is it a religious education with promises of paradise in reward for their acts of martyrdom? Is it the parental support he receives for his convictions? Is it brainwashing, or rather encouragement from a Palestinian society with no other means of fighting back against oppression and humiliation? It is not easy to understand the suicide attacks from our perspective; these terrorist live in a context where they see their rights harmed and their hopes of a better future broken, coercion and deception are occasionally factors for these acts, also terrorism is not always religion-related instead they want to remove military forces from their territories.

Nikola krastev affirms that, “suicide bombers are highly motivated religious, men and women, who turn themselves into human bombs by strapping explosives onto their bodies. Contrary to popular belief, experts say, suicide terrorism is not always religion-related or particular to Islamic fundamentalism” (World: Experts Discuss Complex Causes of Suicide Bombings).

According to Robert Pape, a political science professor at the University of Chicago, what nearly all suicide terrorist attacks have in common is a specific secular goal: “to compel a democratic state to remove military forces from territory that terrorists consider to be their homeland or that they prize greatly”(World: Experts Discuss Complex Causes of Suicide Bombings).

Every suicide terrorist attack since 1980 has it main goal: to establish or maintain autonomy for territory that they prize, in the United States and London the attacks of suicide bombers were not known until a few years ago when the war, better said, the invasion of Iraq by these countries began. These people are really humiliated-their houses are broken, they are living in a constant war- all of this affects them from the beginning of their lives and they grow up with hard feelings. Sometimes this is the only way they know to call attention or to be heard. Some evidence shows that the presence of American troops is clearly an important factor for suicide terrorism; if Islamic fundamentalism were the essential factor, then we should see some of the largest Islamic fundamentalist countries in the world throwing bombs to the United States. However, Robert Pape has studied the patterns of where suicide terrorism has occurred and also where it has not occurred. In his study he mentions, “Not every foreign occupation has produced suicide terrorism. Why do some and not others? Here is where religion matters, but not quite in the way most people think. In virtually every instance where an occupation has produced a suicide-terrorist campaign, there has been a religious difference between the occupier and the occupied community” (Causes of Suicide Terrorism). An example of this could be the United States and their allies and the invasion of Iraq, two different cultures and religion.

Quick descriptions of the bombers could be: they may be male or female. They are often from middle-class in countries with little political freedom. They are usually well-educated and hold strong political or religious beliefs; they are generally not poverty-stricken or mentally ill, though some may have had difficult childhoods. The extremist groups to which they belong, in addition to their strongly-held beliefs, helps motivate their decision to commit suicide; for the religious, the rewards of an afterlife may provide additional impulse. Repression and deception are occasionally factors for these acts. In concordance with this the grand majority of Muslims believes suicide attacks are generally forbidden by Islam. It is understood that the individuals undertaking suicide bombings (or "martyrdom operations") are simply following what they understand to be their Islamic duty, and regard their own lives in this world as less important compared to the next, eternal life. That is why they are willing to sacrifice their own lives in the hope of becoming a martyr or just to assure a better future. According to Islamic tradition, "he who gives his life for an Islamic cause will have his sins forgiven and a place reserved in paradise"(Ellis Shuman).

Shuman affirms that the people who committed suicide attacks have had a live full of deceptions, humiliation, have no hopes of a brighter future, and he said that they prefer to end their lives as a bomb instead of a bullet because that way they will be in control of their owns lives, they will reach paradise and in front of the eyes of other they will be considered as martyrdoms and reach a high status. (What makes suicide bombers tick?).

In this fight against terrorism of all forms, it is important to understand who or what is our enemy. We can only fight against this horror if we understand its causes and motivations. What motivates a person to act in this violent way? It could be because they live in a context where they see their rights harmed and their hopes of a better future broken, coercion and deception are occasionally factors for these acts. That is something that all of us need to understand, so that we can concentrate on the issues more honestly, prevent more violence, and find ways to work for peace.

WORKS CITED

Krastev, Nikola. “World: Experts Discuss Complex Causes Of Suicide Bombings”. RadioFreeEurope RadioLiberty. Tuesday, 28 February 2006. http://www.rferl.org/featuresarticle/2006/02/b45bd6e1-09e7-444b-bc94-a063908a10e1.html.

Schneier, Bruce. “Causes of Suicide Terrorism”. Schneier on Security. July 18, 2005.

http://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2005/07/causes_of_suici.html.

Shuman, Ellis. “What makes suicide bombers tick?" .Israelinsider. June 4,2001.

http://www.israelinsider.com/channels/security/articles/sec_0049.htm.

2006-05-25T11:34:00.000-07:00

PLASTIC SURGERY: THE BEST WAY TO SURVIVE

It is all about the looks! In this society, the most important thing is how you look. The better you look, the more advantages you will have. Like for example, if you are a handsome person you could get the last seat on a full bus or someone may let you pass in the cash register line but instead of this if you have strange “ugly” features you can be misjudged and at the same time you can be excluded from a group. It sounds bad, but it is reality. This is why so many people are entering into the world of plastic surgery. It is plastic surgery the solution to most of people’s problems? Plastic surgery is the best choice for two reasons.

First, plastic surgery helps a lot of people to fight health issues like deformities or birth defects. This kind of surgery tries to correct affected parts of the human body; these parts can be affected by an injury or deformity that can be product of diseases, burns or car accidents, for example a woman with really big breasts could suffer serious problems with her spine so she could have breasts reduction, or someone with trouble to breathing because his/her nose is deformed could have a rhynoplasty. The principal goals of the reconstructive surgery are the correction of peculiarities, the restoration of lost functions and the improvement of the aspect of disfigured parts.

Second, plastic surgery helps people to lift up their self-esteem. In Western culture there is a pre-established beauty concept. Men and women should be thin, have well provided bodies and showy. Some people don’t fulfill these standards and they feel excluded, develop low self-esteem and it is difficult for them to find a date, so most of the people tries to reach this beauty ideal to have more possibilities in their life. Esthetic plastic surgery helps to chain certain unattractive features of a person, correcting or modifying imperfections. In general, this surgery tries to improve the appearance of people by surgical intervention that helps them to approach the standards established by the actual society and become a more loving person with themselves.

Opponents to plastic surgery affirm that these kinds of procedures are risky for one’s health. They claim that many people have died in the operating room because of these surgeries. This point has some merit on the surface. But it is logical that if someone is going to practice a surgery of this type, she/he has to take care of some things like visiting the clinic, seeing how clean is it, where it is located, searching for the records of the doctor who is going to do the procedure, and also running all the tests as much psychological as physical to find out if he/she is a good candidate for surgery. Follow all this steps and the results will be great.

In conclusion, there are many reasons why plastic surgery is the better choice. It helps people to fight health issues like obesity or spine problems or the consequences of a car accident. Also this kind of surgery helps people to raise their self-esteem and give them the courage to do more things in their lives, like ask someone on a date or go back to school or have more security in their decisions. Believed it or not, this society is governed it by beauty and by appearance, so we have to look for a way to survive. Plastic surgery is one of the best way to do it.

WORKS CITED “Cirugía estética y cirugía plástica: ¿Cuestión de belleza, salud ó funcionalidad?” .Extroversia, Cultura y entretenimiento...

2006-04-27T17:56:00.001-07:00

In which areas of language use have you improved, in your opinion? In my opinion i have improve my vocabulary and my oral fluency, and of course i learned how to write an essay in english

Which areas of langauge use are still a problem? sometimes i confuse verb tense, and somethings i know how to say a word but not how to writed

Which areas of language use do you want to spend the most time on during the rest of the semester? business vocabulary

What type of classwork is most useful, in your opinion? i like the didactic games and talk in class maybe saying an opinion on something

What can you personally do to increase your rate of progress? studing outside the classroom, like taking work to home

Do you have any other comments or suggestions about this class? no

2006-03-27T16:15:00.000-08:00

1.Prudent: prudente; careful and sensible person in her/his speech or behavior. example: In a wedding ceremony we have to mantein a prudent silence.
2.Pretentious: pretencioso; someone who create an appearance of importance or distinction. example: Mary has a very pretentious country house.
3.Gullible: crèdulo, ingenuo; a very trusting person who gets easile tricked. example: the kids are very gullible of the dangers in life.
4.Discount: descuento; te action on reducing the selling price on some articles. example: daniela got a really great discount on her furnitures
5.Tenuous: poco claro; having thin consistency on something; example: she was in a very tenuous position
6.Rebuke: reproche; an act or expression of criticism and censure. example: he had to take the rebuke with a smile on his face
7.Placate: aplacar, apaciguar; cause to be more favorably inclined.

2006-02-09T16:46:00.000-08:00

A LESSON IN LIFE
I've learned that no matter how good a friend is, they're going to hurt you every once in a while and you must forgive them for that, sometimes people come into your life and you know right away that they were meant to be there, they serve some sort of purpose, to teach you a lesson or help figure out who you are or who you want to become. You never know who these people may be (they could be your roommate, neighbor, professor, long lost friend, lover or even a complete stranger who), when you lock eyes with them, you know that very moment that they will affect your life in some profound way, this are the friends that will be there for you in the better and worst, but they are no super heroes they make mistakes as all and you must forgive them because this makes us better people. If someone hurts you, or betrays you or breaks your heart, you must forgive them because they have helped you learn about trust and the importance of being cautious to whom you open your heart to if you don't get the time to know people,because you might get hurt you coul be missing something really special. If someone loves you, love them back unconditionally, not only because they love you, but because they are teaching you to love and opening your heart and eyes to things you would have never seen or felt without them.

My favorite carnival memory

2006-02-02T14:14:00.000-08:00

I really don't have too many great memories of carnivals, because last time i went i got sick out the people was throwing cold wather, beer and shaving cream at me it was awfall and i felt very bad, and the last time before that i was with some friends we were on the way to a palco that its like a VIP's place, i was late as always and i got stuck on like in a sea of people, they were pushing me, and an old lady pass out it was really bad too, and this time carnivals are just beggining and i got into trouble already. but hey¡¡ that's what carnivals is all about some people say to me.
on the other side there has been a few good times a couple years ago in a group of people who dance cumbia and it was really fun, we participate in a lot of contest and win some trophies, aldo was a little exhausting was worth it, the last year i went to the carnival party at the prado's hotel, and it was great, i dance all nigth, and have good times with my friends