Well, I'm a sedentary and a very idle person. Apart from that I'm despective to alternative practices, like be a green (like a life style) not because they want a world free of garbage or pollution (that's a very good idea, for example I do things to be more friend with the environmental, like ride my bycicle to came every day to the university or use recycle things, like papers or notebook), but they used that practices to create a fashion.

If you go to alternative places here in Santiago, you can find this particular kind of people. Peace and love, the most are veggies (vegeterian or vegans), ride colorfull and vintage bycicle...

AAAAA!

Ok, I will try to make and objetive post in my blog, but you can look that I have a idea about the "green people" and they horrible fashion.

Well, I really think that make environmnental friendly practices are one of the best proposition in the last 15 years. In a world where the biggest entrerprises (and countries) take the control of the economy, consume and of course, the production, the social organization (civil society) it is the last alternative.

In their beginning the ecological movement grew in the base of the society...like a independent social movement, specifically in industrialised countries. In that sense, if the ecological organization want to fight a way of production (in marxist terms), they are in the wrong way making a fashion around some practices. That's the reason because I don't support the actual movement, but I'm constant doing my own practices.

The chilean government doesn't want to promote a environmental policy because they are inserted in a dependent relation flow with the industrialised countries. Chile export prime material and that's the reason because our rivers and sea are full of garbage and filth.

Meanwhile there aren`t a change in the production way, the environmentall friendly efforts will be a residual and minimal forces. I hope that this reality change one day :)

An unusual chance

I studied in a private school, a very high class private school; The San Ignacio El Bosque school is an exlcusive education establishment in Providencia. If I have a good memory, at least a 80% of the teachers have postgraduate courses, including the jesuits priests, who studied 14 years to recieve the order. Inside, there are an olympic swimming pool, a real-grass soccer field with a athletic track around, an artificial-grass soccer pitch, 14 baby-soccer field (you can deduce that is a school only for boys, jeje) and an enourmus arena. Those are details that I can't avoid to make an auto-analysis of my high-school education. I think that I recieved a very sofisticated education. Just as well, because my parents paid a fortune.

My favorite subject were history and geography, the politics tendencies elective, literature, and of course, the football time. I still have contact with Carolina, the history teacher and with Guillermo, the teacher of Latinamerican Literature. This last one suggested me to study either Anthropology or Sociology. Firtsly I had intention to study Anthropology, but then, thinking and thinking I decided for the sociology.

I remember those conversations with Guillermo. We came to Plaza Ñuñoa at least 3 times to chat about my future, and eventually his future, because he is atheistic and that is a forbidden characteristic in a religious school, so he had problems with the superior priest and the school authorities.

With the tecnology I don't have much affinity. I only remember with happiness, the technologic evolution that my generation lived during the high-school. We were the generation that started presenting in card, then in diskette, years later in a cd and finally in a pendrive. I recall the pasion and dedication with my friends and I wrote in the cards, the subtlety with which pot glue in the newspaper clip...now with internet everything is easy, everithing is possible.

¿How Fair is Britain?

I study Sociology since 2007 and, for me, the most important topic are the social inequalities. That's the reason for why sociologist write about power, domination, authority, legitimacy etc.

I found in http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2010/oct/11/equality-report-race-britain-launch?intcmp=239, an interesting article about ¿How fair is Britain?. It is new for me review articles with a sociological background of a european country, because I ussualy read about Latin America or specifically of Chile.

The social reality in those countries (european) it is completly different of our continent. For example, the inequialities are not the division rich/poor but european/foreigner. Also that categories have implicit power relations who influence the different kinds of social relations. In Chile we have that phenomenon with peruvian people. They are sistematicly marginalized of the social activities, for example, they are relegated to informal jobs.

In britain, "the commission's first three-year review, How Fair is Britain, shows that while some inequalities remain entrenched, new challenges are emerging as the country's population becomes older and more ethnically and religiously diverse".

The high rate of immigration seems to be a problem for British society. Dispite of good news like, "in education the Chinese and Indian people are streaking ahead at school", there are evidences to suggest that discrimination in the recruitment process keeps them out of jobs, specifically for Pakistani men who has to be self-employments ( a quarter of men of Pakistani descent drive for a living – mostly in a taxi cab).

The commission does say that Britain is a largely "tolerant and open-minded society", which has become more socially liberal in recent decades. In that sense, the article says that Britain is living the "immigration paradox": three-quarters of Britons say that they are concerned about the scale of immigration at a national level – about the same proportion feels that immigration is not a problem for their own communities".

Finally, a spokeman for the government say that ""When people are treated fairly, everyone in society benefits. That's why this government is committed to tackling all forms of inequality and discrimination"...

¡we are waiting that these words are not being the typical statements of good intentions of politicians!

Miners...the eternal wait

Since August 5th their family didn't have any notice about the 33 miners. Some people said that they will be die. Other, thought that only the most youngers will survive the bury...well, the 33 miners was a topic in the traditional familiary sunday lunch. Surely more of one of you had a long conversation with a brother, parents or even with a completly unknown person, like a taxi driver or the kiosk owner. There was no one who didn't have opinion in this dramatic episode.

The miracle happened the August 22th, near the noon. I remember that I was preparing the lunch with my mother when in radio cooperativa confirm the rumor that ran all the morning...the 33 miners were alive in the refuge. Independently of any politic position, that day it was one of the more incredibles that I can remember.

Ok, a lot of people hate Piñera and his despicable capacity of appear when anybody wants to see him, someone like me think that the chilean flag has a simbolic charge of death and intolerance can't understand why was in hands of innocent people...dispite of all of that negative things, that day, the day with the miners send the historic piece of paper with the sentence "estamos bien en el refugio los 33" was an historic day of our horrible country.

Historic day, like will be the day when the rescue be effective. Yesterday I saw in the midnight news that a rescue drill was in 300 meters and the other two drills was also with positive progress. I can't imagine the face of their families. One day, when I was child, I cry because my father was 5 days in Argentina...i can't think about, their sons, their wifes...oh my god.

I'm wating that day...even, i think that a tear will run down my face. Ja, i'm not a sensible guy, but specifically this news, broke my heart.

Santiago, a boring city

Really, I think that Santiago isn't very shiny. There are a lot of pollution, the people are angry and egocentric, it is a bad copy of any city of the United States; definitely I don't recomend it to any foreing tourist.

Ok, I can't be so bitter. There are very beautiful places like Santa Lucia hill or the Forestal Park. The first one is an amazing piece of nature in the middle of the down-town. It's full of water fountains and scultures sorrounded with shrubs and trees. It also has paths to walk, benches to take a rest or viewpoints to see the city. The second one is a huge park, also in the down-town. It starts near Baquedano Square (also known as Plaza Italia) and finish in front of Mapocho Station. Within the park is the Bellas Artes Museum (very affected by the earthquake, but it was recently re-opened) and interesting scultures. At the weekend, artistic organization goes and does different activities, so it is a special place to visit with children and the complete family.

There are other typcal places, like the Metropolitan Park (San Cristobal Hill) which has the zoo and an old cable car (special for a romantic date). Near that, there is a Pablo Neruda's house (La Chascona) and Bellavista, a bohemian and cultural neighborhood.

But, despite that, there are beatiful places, some with a tremendous cultural value, Santiago has no identity. People love going to the mall or prefer staying in there houses watching TV instead of visiting and walking around their city. Modernity not only produces changes in the sense of production, but also in the interactions and ways of relating to people. Santiago is a city which pretends to be modern...however, those who observe and analyze the contradictions of the globalization (see the other face of the coin) can say the opposite.

Everything is ok (I think so)

Well, I really don't know if it's everything ok, but it is a very nice way to start the second term.

The year started full of good news: I met a interesting girl (now she is my lovely girlfriend), went to Buenos Aires in my summer vacations and started to work in a real sociological organization as a assistant researcher. Nevertheless, our country was devastated by one of the most violent earthquakes in the world history, situation that plunge us into deep depression. Dispite the dark days of Febraury, my year is still shining.

I started my fourth year (the last with presencial courses) obtaining antecedents about the topic of my mayor: "new curricular strategies in elite schools". It's a research inspired in the high scores that those schools get in the PSU. I'm convinced, because I studied in such establishments, that there are more factors than just the possession of cultural capital (using a Bourdieu concept) or a socioeconomic variable. In the elite schools (with elite schools I'm trying to describe not only the best schools of the country in the standarized test, but also the establishment which recieves in their classrooms the highest percentage of revenue and the powerful groups of our society) there are special courses of PSU, even since 1st grade of highschool or pre-universitary courses that overlap the obligatory planning of the ministery. All this diagnosis is crossed by the neoliberal laws that the military gobernment, the "concertación", and now the "new way of governing" apply in Chile in the last 30 years.

Well, I exceed the word limit, therefore I say goodbye.

See ya.

Second Term

OMG
I'm in English IV :)