Au revoir

Like all good things, this blog has come to its end. As the end of my first semester in college approaches, I will have to say goodbye to this blog too. I won’t lie, at first I never thought that I would like writing in this blog. However, this blog started to occupy a big time of my life, so I decided to give it a chance. I started to check my blog daily, look at my classmate’s blogs and eventually I fell in love with the idea of being a writer. I know I’m not the best and I still have a long way to go, but this experience made me improve my writing skills. I found myself looking at other fashion or food blogs and comparing them to mine. Looking at other blogs made me more attentive at the things that I could improve in my blog. Also, by reading other blogs I started to catch the “blog language”, which at times wasn’t even formal. In fact, something that I had to struggle with was getting out of my comfort zone. I was accustomed to writing formal and serious essays. On the other hand, in a blog you can write however you want, you can be funny or sarcastic. This freedom in writing was what made my blog experience extremely exciting, but difficult at the same time. It was hard for me to lose the serious and formal tone I was so used to. Nevertheless, I knew that people would enjoy my blog more if I was more flexible with my writing, so I tried. However, I think I could have still improved a lot more. On the bright side, my typing skills are now ON FIRE.

Additionally, it was fun for me to see how my classmates and I had the same topics to discuss in our blogs, but we still had totally different perspectives in our reflections. Therefore, another thing that I learned with the blog was how much diversity exists in the world. Additionally, I loved that we could add interactive media, such as images, videos or gifs.

 With this, I was more creative and made my blog more interesting.  Many people prefer visuals to comprehend situations, so through my blog I tried to catch the attention of both, the book worms and the persons who don’t like to read at all. Furthermore, I loved how I could customize each entry with a different type of font or letter size. This way, I could make each entry special and different.

All in all, I gained a lot from the blog, from letting lose to accepting another person’s opinion. Definitely a great interdisciplinary activity.

Happy Holidays!

Au revoir (goodbye)  

Reflection- Autobiography Project

Thanks to my professor Cynthia Pittmann, I started to develop my own Autobiography Project.  The purpose of the Autobiography Project was to learn more about myself and my ancestors. I can say that the Autobiography Project worked for me. Through deep research from past memories, I found explanations to my present behaviors. Also, I remembered situations from my childhood that can help me now and in the future. With that being said, the activity that helped me the most in achieving the purpose of the Autobiography Project was the Timeline.

With the Timeline, I discovered emotional problems that I didn’t even knew I had. For example, how much my parents’ divorce had affected me. In my Timeline, I decided to visit (through my memory) every house that I had lived in. It was amazing to me how much important things I had forgotten. Luckily, with deep concentration I started to remember events as far as when I was four years old. Also, remembering my past relationships with my friends, family and neighbors, made me feel like a whole different person. It was like seeing myself, but not recognizing me. That, made me realize how much I had change, both positively and negatively. The Timeline also made me extremely grateful for all the good and bad things that had happened to me. Thanks to the Timeline, I now know why I act as I do in certain situations.

Nevertheless, other activities helped me as well. Through the Venn Diagram, I noticed how much I fought with my mom. Consequently, I’ve been trying to fix our relationship, so every day we grow stronger and not apart.

Additionally, with the Cluster Work, I realized that my name had many qualities that could either, distinguish me positively from other people, or make people remember my name for negative political reasons.

To conclude, I would love to keep the Autobiography Project, and read it again in ten or twenty years to see how much my life and the lives of the people around me have changed. Maybe many people that I have mention in this project will be out of my life or even dead. Therefore, I hope that I can grow from this project, have better relationships with others, and create stories that my successors will remember as well.

Ps: This project made me think of the song "If Today Was Your Last Day" by Nickelback, they share some similarities. For example, both make you cherish every memory you have, and motivate you to make the best of your time in Earth. Enjoy the song!

Reflection: Orbiting Izzy

While finishing the reading “Orbiting Izzy”, one can become really disappointed at the protagonist. Why is that? Well, the story is based on the autobiography of Nancy Whiteley, which basically explains a certain period in her adulthood, where she was influenced in a positive and negative way by two different men. Izzy (her boss) taught her responsibilities, while Aldo (her husband) taught her how to be a criminal by committing multiple credit card frauds. At the end of the story, she goes to jail (for the second time) for committing credit card fraud. In the story, the reader can see how hard it was and for how long she tried, to avoid the negative influence that Aldo had already created within her.

Whiteley’s story, is one that definitely many people can relate to. Maybe with different aspects of their lives, but it’s relatable. For example, a person wants to start a diet and spends ten days eating healthy, but since everyone else around the person is eating junk food, the person on the eleventh day gives up and eats junk food.

Or, when an alcoholic has been sober for a year and breaks his sobriety. All of these derailments can be avoided, in my humble opinion, with three key things. The first one being, having a good support group that encourages you to follow your goal. Secondly, avoiding the persons who don’t support that goal. Thirdly, have a very strong willpower. In other words, if you know what you are capable of, and you have your goals and priorities straight, there is no person that will ever derail you from the correct path.
For my class, I had to do a Venn Diagram to compare and contrast two aspects of Nancy's short story, Orbiting Izzy. The two aspects I chose were Nancy's life when she was with Aldo, and her life when Izzy was her boss. With this Venn Diagram, you will have a better understanding of how both men influenced her life, in a positive or negative way. 

In my opinion, in Nancy Whiteley’s case, even though she had her sister as a good supporter, she had no willpower. Her urge for a luxurious life was bigger than her urge to be free, or maybe she simply didn’t think of the consequences. Also, in her defense, maybe her love for Aldo blinded her from making the correct choices. I also think that she didn’t acknowledge the good person she was, and the successful person that she could have become, while working with Izzy or any other boss. With this story, I learned that willpower is a thing that many people lack, and that to lack willpower can sometimes get you in bigger problems than you should’ve had.

Life Compass Reflection: Know Yourself

My professor, Cynthia Pittmann, yet again amazed us with new writing techniques. I often compare this Literature class with a Yoga class, but with a little plot twist. Instead of exercising the body, we are exercising our minds. The Life Compass Activity is an example of such exercises. This activity consisted in grading four different aspects of our lives from one to three, one being the lowest and three being the highest. While doing it, some interesting things became clearer to me. I started to notice tendencies in my days, and how the different sections of my compass such as, body, mind, emotions and spirit, had influence on each other.

In my case, I noticed that when the quantity of my college work grew, my scores dropped. Especially, in the areas of mind and emotion. Usually, my spirit stayed with a score of three because I used my spirituality to strengthen my mood. Therefore, I always tried to have a strong spiritual life, in order to, balance my overall health. In other topics of the compass, for example, body, my scores were low (one or a two) only when I hadn’t slept as I am used to or when I exercised. I didn’t see a connection between my bad mood and my sore body. However, I did noticed a relation between the scores for my mind and my emotions. Usually, when I got extremely emotional, my mind lost focus. For example, I couldn’t study properly or concentrate for almost anything.
Let me show you a graph of my overall scores! 

Towards the end of the Life Compass Activity, I started to draw each compass differently. Some days, my drawings had no relation to what I was feeling, but other times I tried to connect the drawing with my scores and feelings.

In conclusion, I noticed through this project that when I’m not feeling good, the people that I like the most, are usually a good option to brighten my mood. Also, I’m glad that my body doesn’t get affected when my emotions are spiraling out of control and my mind is in planet Jupiter. On the other hand, I definitely have to improve how I channel my emotions because I can’t keep letting my feeling get in the way of me having a good and focused day. Furthermore, I’m also glad that I can always rely of my positive perspective of life (spirituality) to strengthen my other sections of the compass. In my opinion, the Life Compass helped me organize and analyze my feelings while developing my writing skills. 

(I did some research to look for other ways to get to know myself better. Surprisingly, there was one link that talked about a similar technique as the First Thoughts Activity that my classmates and I have already reflected in our blogs. Apart from writing your thoughts for a period of time, my favorite new thing to do was the idea number five. Take a look at the link and comment your favorite technique. Hope it helps you!)

Relfection on Running Brave

   For my INGL-3151 class, we had to watch the movie Running Brave and write a reflection about it. In my opinion, the most important theme in the movie was the discrimination that exists towards Native Americans. Before reading the rest of this entry, you could read some information about the history of Native Americans in North America and how they have been affected since the colonization of Christopher Columbus. To make your research faster, I recommend reading this link. Also, if you want to see the movie I will be commenting on, click here. Without further ado, let's begin!

  

The protagonist of the movie, was inspired by a real Native American called Billy Mills, who became the best distance runner at the 1964 Tokyo Olympics.

   Recently, on October 10, 2016, Christopher Columbus' day was celebrated. Native Americans circulated a video through the internet, where they explained why they didn't think Christopher Columbus' deserved to be the one credited for the discovery of America. According to them, he simply got lost and named them Indians because Columbus though he was in India. In other words, they demonstrated the real meaning of that day, which for them represents evil, ignorance, murder, and so on. I highly recommend watching this video to fully comprehend their point of view.

   As to Billy's situation, it was difficult for him to adapt outside of his reservation. He was discriminated by his teammates, authority, and many more ignorant people. In college, he had no friends because he didn’t share the same beliefs or preferences as most of the students. The scene in the movie that impacted me the most was when all of his teammates were invited by a fraternity, called Theta Sigs, to join them in an activity, where some members of the team could become part of the fraternity. However, Billy was prohibited from being a member of the Theta Sigs because they had a rule that no “Indian boys” were allowed into the fraternity. It was heartbreaking to see how motivated he was to meet new people and the members only cared for a stupid rule that was not even created by them. Often, people judged him for being Native American, instead of seeing the great human being and runner he was.

   In the case of Billy Mills, he had the strength to chase his dreams against all odds. Even though, his story was one of success, some minorities, who are being constantly put down by others, don’t run the same fate and end up giving up on their dreams. This movie serves as a motivation to minorities, but also an eye opening experience for people with erroneous perceptions of others. Looks, race, beliefs, among others, shouldn’t be a variable that determines one’s capacity or worth. As the Bible says, treat others, as you would like to be treated.

A short video of the race where the distance runner, Billy Mills, won the 1964 Tokyo Olympics' gold medal.

Journal Reflection: As Simple As That

For two whole months, I had to write in a journal the first things that came to my mind. This idea was suggested by the author Natalie Goldberg and our professor Cynthia Pittmann, incorporated it to our class activities. The rules were simple:

1. Keep your hand moving

2. Don't cross out

3. Don't worry about spelling, punctuation, or grammar    

4.Lose control

5. Don't think

6. Don’t get logical

7. Go for the jugular.

    In my case, I was successful with achieving almost every rule. They only thing that I had a lot of trouble with, but then got used to doing was, not crossing out words. I’m usually a perfectionist, and minor things bother me.

Before the project, I considered myself a lazy writer. I didn’t like to write for fun and if I had to do it for a class, I would usually spend a lot of time in the process. Eventually, my writing process became faster and the fluidity of my work, improved. 

In a way, I think it was due to the fact that I felt no pressure to write perfectly or coherently, so I wrote faster than ever. The only thing that I don’t like now is that I have to start writing perfectly again, just when I got used to writing as I pleased. 

In terms of me as a writer, I would like to stay as a writer, whose only reader is myself. In my twitter, I do write, but it is a different type of writing. I do not have to write perfectly and I do not write about controversial topics. I mostly just post thoughts that I find interesting or videos that make me laugh. After the journal project, I have stayed the same way because Twitter and Facebook are very public, and I do not like to use them for writing my feelings or opinions.

I discovered that my emotional health, influenced the decisions that I made during the day and how I treated others. I also found out another thing with the journal, in terms of my spirituality and my energy. I am Catholic, but do not practice it very often. The journal to me, was like my religion. It made me connect with my better side, the side that likes peace and treating others with respect. Religion usually helps you be the better version of yourself, and the journal did that with me.

I would love to share with you, a blog entry from Rekha Shrivastava, a Certified Hypnotist and Rehabilitation Counselor. She discussed in her blog all the important aspects about feelings, how to deal with them and how to recognize them. If you are still not convinced about the positive results of having a journal and/or expressing your feelings, you should click here. I was impressed at how accurate she was when referring to the negative things that could happen to someone if they didn't express their feelings because they happened to me. 

To conclude, the journal project has helped me be a more open person to myself. Honestly, I wouldn’t have dared to talk about my feelings two months ago, even to myself. Especially, when I was starting a new college experience and had to focus solely on college work.  Now, I can let it all go with a pen and a piece of paper. As simple as that.

Tabatha Rowley: Standing Up

When reading a story, it is extremely important to put yourself in the place of every character. By doing this, it will be easier to comprehend his or her actions towards certain situations. When I read “Hair Chronicles” by Tabatha Rowley, since it is a story based on true life events, I grew closer to the writer and protagonist. Tabatha was a young black woman, who went to prison for seven years, after shooting her boyfriend at the time. Later on, she decided to write her autobiography through a short story.

Tabatha grew in a home where drugs, alcohol, violence and abuse where a constant variable in her life.

In my opinion, Tabatha shot her boyfriend because she was tired of being the victim, the one who was always abused by others. That day, she decided to stand up and defend herself. Was it right what she did? Off course not. But, considering everything that she told the reader about her life, I’m glad she shot him. Maybe that was the push she needed to become the better version of herself. Tabatha was in jail, yes, but look how incredible she writes, being in jail doesn’t define you, and being raped or abused doesn’t either. Tabatha is now a different woman, more mature and through her story she wants to help others from committing the same mistakes she did.

As I am writing this blog, all I can think about is the song, "Til it happens to you". In the song, the singer (Lady Gaga) criticizes everyone who says "You'll get better" to rape victims because nobody really understands what they went through, until it happens to them. So, I feel that Gaga would probably judge me if she read this article because I'm making it seem as if I understand Tabatha's situation, when I really don't (according to Gaga). But, in my opinion, it is important to at least try to understand certain situations in a person's life, whether it's a character in a story or a person in real life that you can actually help. 

To conclude, I understand why Tabatha would want to publish all the horrible things that she went through. I do not think it was to look for the pity of everyone, but to make people stand in her shoes, understand her and spread awareness.

A Vicious Circle

In the song, “Where is The Love?”, by the Black Eyed Peas, ignorant people with low moral values are criticized. The song doesn’t necessarily talks about drunk drivers, but it does mentions: the effects of making bad decisions, racism and discrimination. These three themes are also presented in the novel by Will Allison, Long Drive Home, and in the exhibition in the Lazaro Library by Fiesta II.

Sadly, racism and discrimination have gotten to a point where it’s almost normal to kill someone for being black. For example, when Rizzo indirectly accused Glen of being a racist. He insinuated that, since Glen was from Kentucky, he probably killed Juwan on purpose because he was racist. This demonstrated the reader, that people can expect the worst from others and can judge your beliefs based simply by the region where you were raised.

The song writer, also criticizes the media and makes them responsible for contaminating people’s mind and ideas with negative things. In the novel, when Juwan’s accident happened, reporters were there in a splint of a second just to broadcast the terrible accident that had just occurred. Usually, the news always focuses in the negative things and people seem to be attracted by them. On the other hand, from all the bad things, people always need to find something to learn from. That is why, the exhibition in the Lazaro library is an example of a good outcome, from something bad. Even though media, focuses on the bad things, it’s good to see that adults are educating others how to prevent a fatality that humans constantly do, such as drinking and driving. Sadly, it takes someone dying for people to realize that things do happen and people can prevent it. It only takes one decision, to change a person’s course in life, and “only one more drink of alcohol” to cause an accident. 

At some point, the speaker seems disappointed at what society has become because most people have been caught in a vicious circle that harm, themselves, others and the world. The Black Eyed Peas, released the song for the first time in 2003 and 13 years later, the main themes in the song are still relevant and present in everyone’s daily life. For example, racism, materialism, ignorance, war, violence, terrorism, among others. In examples like the novel, one can see, that some people, even though they make stupid decisions, then learn from them, and live the rest of their lives being careful not to commit the same mistake again. In the exhibition, lives were touched. For what matters, the group of INGL 3151 of the University of Puerto Rico learned the importance of making good choices at this stage in their lives, thanks to the song, our professor (Cynthia Pittmann), the novel and the exhibition mentioned previously.  

The Mission of The English Department: My First Thoughts

               

   As you may already know, I am a first year college student. During this first semester, I am taking an English Literature class which focuses in the human condition. I would like you to know more about my course; therefore, though this article I will be giving information and my opinion about the mission of the English Department and my course in specific.
   The mission of the English Department, in general, is to help the student evolve both orally and through written skills. From my experience so far, the professor Cynthia Pittmann, has achieved both of the goals. Through a journal, she’s helped us with our written skills. The activity consists of writing for ten minutes every day.

   At first, it was a little hard for me to write for ten minutes fluidly. I usually take my time writing because I don’t consider myself a natural writer. I can assure everyone that with two consistent months of doing this activity, I have seen great results. My writing comes more fluidly and I don’t feel rushed anymore, I can take my time and still do a great job. Also, through this blog she is exploiting our creativity to our maximum potential, which is also a goal of the English Department. Pittmann reads to us in class, and gives us things to read on our own. In class, we can see how she analyzes a story, and then in our homes we can remember the techniques she used in class to do it on our own.
   The mission of the English Department states that their goal is, "the integral formation of students in all dimensions: intellectual curiosity, critical thinking, life long learning, effective communication, appreciation and cultivation of ethical and aesthetic values, participation in the processes of the society, as well as reflection and social responsibility"

   A student of Sydney Harris once said to him (Click here to view article), that he had so much work to do that he hardly learned anything. Pittmann, on the other hand, gives us plenty of time to read, write and create. I’ve spent weeks making this blog perfect for the class, and having so much time to do it, has given me more ideas to incorporate into my blog. Also, more time to fix everything that I have done wrong. 
(She has a blog too, if you want to see it, click here.)

   To summarize, even though people fight all the time about which is the correct way to educate, I believe that the current mission statement of the English Department is achieving its purposes. Through the human condition in specific, the students learn about ethical values that can be put into practice in the real world. Consequently, being prepared both academically and morally, which is very important in today’s society. 

When Life Beats You Down, Get Help and Get Up

Will Allison’s novel, Long Drive Home, highly emphasizes the emotional impact that a car accident can have on everyone involved in the accident. Also, Allison sends a strong message, that no matter who you are, with the right situations and moments you could go to the extreme and make bad decisions.

All of this, can also be related with the drunk driving exhibit at the Lázaro Library because there was a section in the exhibit that demonstrated steps, for people to follow, in order to cope with an extremely difficult situation. In other words, the book gives you an example of a terrible situation and the emotional effects that can harm you if you don’t get help, and the exhibition gives you the tools to help you through the after effects of the accident.

The novel and the exhibition gives us two situations that contrast in the after emotional effects that each person had. In the novel, the characters didn’t care a lot about what Glen went through, they were mainly worried about Sara’s and Juwan’s family emotional health. When in reality, Glen was part of the accident too and needed help. Since he didn’t get any, later on, he submerge himself into alcohol and obsessed over things that he shouldn’t, like making Derek pay for something that was not his fault, Juwan’s death.

In the exhibition, Fiesta II showed the testimony of a woman named Gloria Quiñones who lost her daughter due to a drunk driver, and later on her husband committed suicide because he couldn’t endure the pain. Nevertheless, Gloria never lost her want to live and started educating people on the dangers of drinking and driving because she followed the steps suggested by the book “¿Qué hacer en el peor día de tu vida?” Gloria’s story can be contrasted to Glen’s situation in the novel because while Glen was drinking and fighting, Gloria was rebuilding her life in a very optimistic way, even though she lost half of her family. On the right side, you can appreciate a picture from the exhibit, where Gloria stated that the only thing that she wanted to do, after losing half of her family, was to live.

To summarize, the novel and the exhibition relate in terms of the after effects of a terrible situation such as car accidents. Although, the exhibition specifies in drunk driving accidents, the coping techniques can relate to any bad situation. Also, with the right help and motivation, one bad experience can have a good emotional outcome. If the help doesn’t arrive on time, the person’s emotional health may be at risk. Therefore, from the novel and the exhibition everyone can learn that it is important to look for help before it is too late. An example is that Glen lost control of himself and his marriage, and Gloria Quiñones, lost half of her family and still managed to live her life.

Since Gloria's husband committed suicide after the death of his daughter, I find it important and relevant to show you two videos. The fist one gives you advice on how to deal with the death of a loved one, and the second video shows you ways you can help a person ,who is having suicidal thoughts for some reason.  

Looking Through Glass

I'm originally from Puerto Rico and am currently studying at the University of Puerto Rico, Río Piedras Campus. I don't usually find myself writing for fun, so this will be a different and new experience for me. One that will certainly be a challenge.

   First of all, I would like to explain the title of my blog and it's relation to the human condition. As you can see, below the title of my blog, lies a quote from the writer Paulo Coelho. The quote explains that the human condition is based on sharing one's ideas. Therefore, if you translate my title from French to English, it will say "The ideas of This Little One.". I'm usually distinguished by my short height, and I want to relate my blog to the human condition. Consequently, the title came naturally. Additionally, you may be asking, why on French? Well, I've been wanting to learn French for a long time now, and I thought it would be fun to incorporate the language into my title. 

In other news... at 18 years old, I still don't know what I'm going to do for the rest of my life (wish me luck on that). But on the bright side, I consider myself a very realistic person. I’ve grown to love every scar, mark, blemish, stretch mark and birth mark on my body. I’ve learned to appreciate quality, not quantity. I've learned not to judge others, no matter the circumstances. I've learned to set goals and accomplish them. I've learned to always find a positive aspect to a bad problem. I've learned to be thankful. I've learned to be kind, honest and loyal. I've learned to respect people. But most importantly, I've learned to love myself. All of these things, are the ones that I want to transmit to my readers.

Even though I’m still not sure where life wants me to go, I'm sure through this blog I will learn more about myself, and so will you.

Likes and Dislikes

A. My 7 favorite things:

1. Color: White

2. Dessert: Three Milks Cake

3. Song: Too Close by Alex Clare

4. Book: "11 minutes" by Paulo Coelho

5. Beach/Sunsets/Vacations

6. Organization

7. Boys

B. 7 things I dislike:

1. Cleaning my bathroom

2. Pickles

3. Violence

4. Making my bed

5. Sickness

6. Goodbyes

7. Driving

Hope you like my blog!
With love,
Sila