A wasted life!!

This weekend all the people were in vacations, and most of them went to the beach: either san carlos or kino bay. Others, went to the united states, and others visited other cities in mexico. However, I noticed that all the people is crazy these days. They drive with big velocities, they buy things crazily, the drink alcohol extremely, and they even say things they should not. With these, I questioned myself: Are not people aware of what they are doing? Why can't people see the opportunities they have and take the best ones? Are not people able to decide and used their willpower for not to drink until becoming unconscious?

In these blog I will try to explain and try to understand some of the consequences of why teenagers drink, as well as the consequences that they suffer or can suffer.

Why teenagers drink?

These were some of the answers I have heard:

- Because its delicious.

- Because it makes me feel big.

- Because it helps me forget my problems.

- Because it makes me more "machito".

- Because all of my friends do it.

- Because it is a tradition in my brothers, so I don't want to break it.

- Because it is a way in which I can have more "girls or boys" behind me <3. align="justify">

What are the consequences of alcohol?

In the alcoholic's body:

Initially, alcohol generally produces feelings of relaxation and cheerfulness at the very beginning, but further consumption can lead to blurred vision and coordination problems. Cell membranes are highly permeable to alcohol, so once alcohol is in the bloodstream it can diffuse into nearly every biological tissue of the body. After excessive drinking, unconsciousness can occur and extreme levels of consumption can lead to alcohol poisoning, damages in the the liver and the immune, cardiovascular, and skeletal systems, and even to death.

In the alcoholic's society:

First of all, alcohol breaks your relations. It starts with your your true friends, then with your job, and finally with your family. Alcohol increases crime, as well as accidents. I have just read in the newspaper that a car with 3 children and their parents, they all die in a car crash in the highway because of an alcoholized young men (24 year-old) who came with 3 of his friends from enjoying spring break. 9 PEOPLE DIE BECAUSE OF ALCOHOL!! Think about it, 9 lives, more than the half innocent. Alcohol takes alcoholics into violence which affects all of us. It also can take the alcoholic, or in some case a member of the alcoholic's family into suicide.

(There are lots of other consequences that I did not mention)

However, if you are an alcoholic, you can still get out of that situation, and recover yourself. The tratment is usually therapies that some insititutions such as AA (Alcoholics Anonymous) and others offer. In extreme cases, there are rehabilitation and medical centers that offer drugs that can help as well as therapies and activities for their better.

Remember, if you are an alcoholic, you can still SAVE your life, you just need help. But, if you are just a drinker, take care of yourself, measure what, how, and when you drink; we only have ONE LIFE, we need to take care of it!

DID YOU KNOW?????

According to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), 2.6 million young people do not know that a person can die of an overdose of alcohol.

Alcohol poisoning occurs when a person drinks a large quantity of alcohol in a short amount of time.

The amount of alcohol in the bloodstream is called the blood alcohol concentration or BAC. BAC is measured in percentages. For examples, a BAC of 0.10 percent means that a person has 1 part alcohol per 1,000 parts blood in the body. Most experts define a lethal dose of alcohol at about .40 to .50 percent; however, the level can be higher or lower for different individuals.

Impaired driving can occur with very low blood alcohol percentages. For most young people, even one drink can adversely affect driving skills.

For young drivers 15 to 20 years old, alcohol involvement is higher among males than among females. In 1997, 25 percent of the young male drivers involved in fatal crashes had been drinking at the time of the crash, compared with 12 percent of the young females drivers involved in fatal crashes.

What others think about government...

72 year-old man

I do not know if the mexican independence really helped us because we continue with an enslaved life. The government continues exploting the citizens; they try to take out money from them every opportunity; we would probable go into a time in which we would have to pay even for the oxygen that we breath.

54 year-old man

We have a government that is trying to rescue the country, but it still has a lot of areas to better, such as the security of the country, its economy, as well as education, which all these are essential to reach the wellness of a country.

A 22 year-old lady

The Mexican Government, besides being a government of opportunities; sadly, those opportunities are not being applied in all Mexicans. The government should implement and start ACTION in order to reach peace, instead of being making manifestations that does not takes us anywhere. I do thank them the things it does respecting the rights, and innovating with things that better us such as the “seguro popular” and others. However, it should work with the opportunities that it gives in jobs. There are lots of employees with a lot of talent, but it is not being used because of the employment scarcity.

A 47 year-old woman

Our government is always promising and promising and never carried out. I think our government should promise less and act more. They should focus not only in trying to help poor people; they should also consider the middle class. Also, the government should be fair about taxes. They do not make rich people to pay taxes, but they do take advantage of the ones that do not have a lot but are not either poor. They should tried to make a society equal, in which we all have the same opportunities, as well as the same responsibilities. They should do something against narcotraffic because it is something that is affecting us A LOT!

A 12 year-old boy

I do not know much about our government, but I do know that I can see that a lot of people are poor, and that a lot of people are in the streets with jobs that are not presentable neither good. I also heard some adults talking horrible things about the government. They were saying that the government does is not working properly. It do tries to help us, but they have not found the way to reach it.

Looking for New Prospectings

I read a while ago about a news report talking about how Obama had authorized new explorations looking for petroleum. I choose this topic because petroleum had given a lot to talk lately, especially in our class. It was even included in the article of the exam, which has a link to this news. According to the article, Obama is now pushing the line to get out of the stagnation by looking for new resources in different parts of the world, such as the Gulf of Mexico, the Atlantic Ocean, and Alaska. I found this great since the quantity of petroleum had decreased in the recent years, so the price had increased. If we found more petroleum in our areas, Mexico will have a more stabilized economy because it will extend the years of U.S.A buying petroleum to Mexico. The sad part about this is that the business with petroleum could be better, since we sell them the barrels and they give us back the finished product more expensive. Almost everything is made out of this resource. We are now so dependent of petroleum that we are desperate looking for more of it, and the country who finds it will instantly become more powerful because every country needs it and it will guarantee its survival in the next years.


I also consider dangerous taking petroleum out of Alaska since it is in a delicate status right now. I'm saying this because nowadays that part of the planet is the one that is receiving most of the sun rays, by of course, the problem of the greenhouse effect. If they try to look for petroleum over there, they are going to alter the nature of the glaciers by doing the big holes and bringing huge machines. I hope the U.S. has this in mind, so that their search of petroleum doesn't affect too much. We are already having a huge impact in the world.

Speaking of resources to produce energy and other things, nonrenewable resources like the petroleum shouldn't be in our list anymore. We have to start looking for new forms of energy that are efficient and doesn't affect our planet. It says on the article that Obama wants the U.S.A to depend on the fuels produced in their own country, including renewable forms of energy. This is time to introduce concepts like solar energy, wind energy, among others to our daily life.

Shame

Recently, PAN cancelled the rights as delegate of Víctor González Ortega, since he was found drunk and with drugs and a gun. But, the thing is that he is not just a simple delegate, he is the president of Congreso del Estado de Baja California.

What makes this striking is that the municipal police recorded his detention, and the tape clearly shows he is totally drunk, with cocaine and a gun, and... DRIVING THE OFFICIAL VEHICLE OF PODER LEGISLATIVO!

The video is funny; it shows this guy babbling and staggering. But then, a policeman tells González Ortega he is in trouble because of the drug. And tells him, 'Imagine the newspaper tomorrow, especially the yellow press, could you imagine the title of the news? PAN Delegate is found drunk and with cocaine in official vehicle, ah no no wait, President of Congreso is found drunk?' And González Ortega says he is right and he is all f***** up because of the drug.

Víctor González Ortega was checked up after this; the police checked his house and tested him, but they found 'nothing'and he was set free. Weeks later when the video was shown in the news of most states,he just denied it. But, we know what we saw, so he admitted he had drunk some beer because it was Sunday, after a cabalgata and asked media to stop it because they were damaging his family, his party and himself. Oh please! Months before, he was also punished because cans with alcohol and vomit, and used condoms were found in his office, so I do not think media must stop 'damaging his image'. He deserves it, and also PAN. Why all the evidence just disappeared? Why he did not go to jail? Why the police did not go further? Obviously PAN asked for it. Its image as a 'serious political institution'was being degraded, so they disappeared all the drug and the gun, sent González Ortega home, took over the anti-doping tests and the policeman who recorded it.

It is unfair, PAN is demonstrating that it is a double-standard institution that only looks after its own interests.

"Controversial Statue"

Recently an African country, Senegal, inaugurated a huge monument to commemorate their independence 40 anniversary. This statue required a budget of £18 million. Senegal has a GDP of $21.773 billion, comparing of $1.563 trillion of Mexico, and consider we are not a very rich country. This means Senegal probably got a little more fancy than his wallet allowed, so wasn't surprised when I found out that hundreds of Senegaleses protested about it.

  What did chocked me was that people main disagreement wasn't the price, but the thematic, because it didn't had Islamic symbolism (95% of Senegal is Islamic). It is understandable that people expected something they were more identified with, but the statue was supposed to represent tolerance and non-racism (the main principles of Senegalese independence), that's why it didn't had Islamic symbols, just like it didn't had Christian symbols, or any symbols at all. It was only a man, a woman and a child, a family, an universal value.

In my impartial opinion both government and civilians are wrong; through government wanted to growth a moral value, it should have watched first over unity of the people, and it could have be done with a lot less of money. The civilians should be more tolerant, and try to evaluate deeply before going on a riot.

Tv reporter being threatened

It is very ugly to watch in the news how a woman reporter for ESPN has been receiving death threats, especially because her only job is to inform people from the field when she is at a game. Erin Andrews is the woman who has been target of death threats according to CNN.com.

It was horrifying for me watching this note, especially because at this day but five years ago, a journalist from El Imparcial, was kidnapped and nothing was known of him again.

Even though both cases are very different, the two cases caught my attention because now with technology and crazy people out there, is harder to be free when you are a public figure in the case of Andrews.

In the case of the Mexican journalist, he used to write notes about organized crime and stuff like that, what makes clear that some people did not agree what he write, so they decided just to shut him off. According to a Mexico City journal, in the past three years Mexico lead every country in murdered journalists.

These are ugly realities we are facing, and we will hardly stop them. When this topic shows up I don't like to talk about it, write it does not make it easier, but is something I just wanted to share.

Hypocrisy

Recently, I have been wondering why leaders of labor unions are so hypocrite; why they snivel and claim for better working conditions and then go to parties with people from the high society and bosses of the companies who abuse of workers, why they think they represent the whole syndicate with thousands of workers who are truly poor, but they live in large houses and eat caviar. Why?

One example of these 'glorious leaders' is Elba Esther Gordillo, one of the most powerful Mexican politicians. Yes, that woman that can provoke nightmares just with her face. She is the leader of SNTE (Sindicato Nacional de Trabajadores de la Educación). Since she is the leader, many of her relatives work there and she demands about 120 million of dollars to support the syndicate. It is said that she uses this money dishonestly for her own benefit, and it is reported that she owns a house in San Diego, worth $5 millions of dollars. She is also very involved with Mexican politics. First, she belonged to PRI, but they turned her out: time ago, there was a controversy involving both her and Roberto Madrazo. Long story, but the thing is that now she supports PAN and even helped Felipe Calderón to win the federal elections, and because of this, she is linked to corruption since she used teachers and the syndicate to arrange the elections. What a teacher!

Other example is Joaquín Gamboa Pascoe, leader of CTM (Confederación de Trabajadores Mexicanos). And here is a lovely quote from him, '¿Qué, porque los trabajadores están jod... yo también debo estarlo?' Aw, that is so cute. This man is much known for being stupidly rich and collecting luxury cars. And, this fact is very interesting: He never was a worker, he only was a consultant, and then became leader. Since he is the leader, the amount of available money has decreased, which is very weird since he asks for moneys to other syndicates affiliated to the CTM. Moreover, he is a very conservative and traditional person, who basically has sort of frozen the syndicate with his attitude. Even the workers have said they do not feel represented by him, because of his glamour. Nice!

And last, but no least: Napoleón Gómez Urrutia, leader of Sindicato Nacional de Trabajadores Mineros, Metalúrgicos y Similares de la República Mexicana. You must know him. Yeah, he is the guy who did not pay Cananea miners the money from Grupo México. He owes them $55 Million of dollars: The reason of Cananea problems. This man, as well as Gamboa Pascoe, never was a miner, and for just being leader of the miners, he is very rich. When Cananea mine was sold, Grupo México's intention was to pay the miners, but Gómez Urrutia never paid them. As he did not find any excuse and the police was chasing him, he moved to Canada, and now is neighbor of Pamela Anderson. The most representative of his leadership is the amount of strikes: 200 in 8 years. Because of this man, Cananea economy is totally collapsed. Bravo!

I do not mean that labor leaders must be poor; they must be humble and thoughtful. There are thousands of teachers, workers and miners who live in unfair conditions and these leaders are doing nothing, but stealing. This must change. They are supposed to be the representatives of the workers, and they are just becoming dishonest leaders and politicians.

Killer Defending Abortion

George Tiller

Abortion is a delicate theme to talk about since it has its pros and cons, so it is a wonderful subject to pick in an open discussion. However, I don't want to talk about what we all already know religion vs. freedom. I want to approach a news report that caught my eye about a person who killed an activist of abortion, which at the same time was a doctor who did this procedure. The name of this doctor was George Tiller who lived on Wichita, Kansas and was a clear activist of human rights. The killer's name was Scott Roeder who was given life imprisonment for killing the doctor while he was at the church. According to the article, he still doesn't regret what he has done. He thinks he had saved babies from being killed. Well, I think that this is not right. What about the doctor's life and the family he has destroyed? After all, the ones who take the choice are the pregnant women. The doctor just followed his ideas of what he think it was right. This doesn't mean I support abortion, I think that they are plenty of other alternatives a woman can follow, like giving the baby in adoption. Still, that is not a reason to kill someone, it's just sick. While abortion is permitted in Kansas, there are people who don't like it at all like this man.

I think that toleration is now on the floor. Besides the people who had to be present on this act, the government applied a big sanction on this man. I think he deserves it because he killed a man. The sanction he received comes from all the months that this man Roeder stalked Dr. Tiller. I think that Dr. Tiller, as a women's right activist, supported this procedure because the woman will have the free choice. However, I disagree with this man about the free choice they are allowed to make. We're talking about a life here, which already has rights. They are violating the most important human right, which is the respect for life. A baby is too weak, he/she can't defend himself or herself. According to some studies, they cry their lungs out when the vacuum is introduced.



This man wants his opinion to be heard, but in the wrong way. There are better alternatives to achieve our goals. He violated the law he was defending, ending with the human life. We can't live guided by our impulses and desires. We have to stop and think twice before acting.

First Scarced Then a Surplus

This news report caught my attention because almost a year ago we experienced it here in Mexico causing panic like if it was a virus too, and now everyone seemed pretty normal about it. They even are dumping H1N1 vaccines because they had expired. The quantity of vaccines that are going to be discarded is surprising: 71 million! A year ago, everyone wanted to have the shot but now, there is a big surplus of vaccines. This is just so strange that they continue producing the vaccines, even though the "breakout" of the mutated virus had gone away. I remember that the information of this event was managed in a very suspicious way. If I was a pharmacist, I would take advantage of this opportunity and try to sell the more quantity of vaccines I can. Fear is one of the things that can easily be spread throughout a region. The bad use of information helped and now with technologies like the Tv, internet, etc. is easily to get "informed" of what is happening around. It was a big hit to some stores since everyone was inside of their houses "safe" from the pandemic virus. I think that the situation should be handled in a more appropriate way the next time something like this happens. There are still some mysteries surrounding this situation, which I doubt will be clearer in the future. This shows that the government in our country still holds a lot of power in controlling the information, like the Google problem in China, but not so strong.

With the experience that I lived at school, when our teacher entered and just said that we have go home and just get on the bus (one of my best days), there was total chaos everywhere. This makes me think how a small mutated virus that started spreading throughout the country can make the whole world shake.

According to the article, there are still producing more vaccines while millions are being dumped. How can this happen? If they weren't used, it means that they are just wasting money or maybe they had a treaty with pharmaceutical companies which of course obtain all the benefit. The U.S. had invested $1.6 billion in the vaccine program. A friend who lives currently on the U.S told me that it was obligatory to take the shot, which included long lines and a lot of time invested.

I think that this issue is good for us to reflect on whether the people are being protected or just another unnecessary spending from the U.S.

Looking for a Balance

I just came back from tucson and I saw how houndreds of people were putting lots of money into the economic system. I consider that is impresive how people in the united states are constantly buying things; malls are always full of people buying and they can spend hours and hours doing it; the level of consumerism is very high.

Now, I have a question. Is it good? is it good to be always buying unnecessary things? Here I find a dilema, because if people is constantly buying, is introducing money into the system. In the other hand, we should save our money to buy what we can pay. So, what should we do? I think that we must have an equilibrium between a high level of consumerism and a super high level of saving money.

I think that the extreme side of the equillibrium of consumerism it would be when someone who doesn't have enough money to buy unncesessary things and borrows money from the bank to buy those things, and the other extreme side of the equilibrium of saving money would be when someone who has enough money to buy the necessary things, doesn't buy those things.

In general, I consider that we sould have a balance in every aspect of our lives so we can enjoy everything that is being present in our daily life.

Enslaved to taxes?

The City Council informed by today's newspapes that today, wednesday 31 of march, is the last day for the "hermosillenses" to pay the property taxes or better known as "predial".

The property tax is a tax imposed by the constitution that is supposed to be collected by the town council. All the citizens are supposed to pay it.

The quantity to pay is established by applying the customs of lands and unit prices of building; these prices are established by the "Consejo Nacional de Tasaciones" and anually proved by the "Ministro de Transportes, Comunicaciones, Vivienda y Construcción".

However, the main problem observed with this is that those assesments are done most of the times by people that do not have enough knowledge about it, bringing into consecuence that the determined values are below the real ones.

Owning to the fact of the things exposed, many citizens have expressed a disatisfaction because of the exorbitant pays that they are supposed to do the last days.

None the less, the city council is demandind the pay of the property taxes until today, wednesday march 31. They offer a variety of places in which they can pay; the city council just want us to pay.

They explain that the money collected is used to better the public services, the infraestructure of streets, as well as to provide a well-equiped city, and even a property insurance.

However, the custom is not lost: the government tries to win $$$ as usually, so they establish that if the tax is not payed for the due date, citizens would have to pay an extra 3%, and so on.

We have two options: Either continue paying on time and save yourself that 3% extra, but at the same time keeping yourself enslaved; or don't paying it but taking the risk of paying extra charges.

Understanding Class Terms

Last class we talked about politics, government and state, and we define those terms.

We defined politics as a science that studies the system in which people is distributed.

The state was defined as the group of institutions that possess the authority to make the rules that govern people, we also conclude that state is a very abstract term, so it can have a variety of definitions according to the perspective of the person who defines it, and we also conclude that government was the most important institution of the state.

I think that is very important to see these terms; to know what is the meaning of each word because we are constantly hearing politicians and teachers saying things about the state and politics.

I have been realizing that this class is very helpful for all of us; we have to know what is happening in this world and how is affecting us.

I actually feel very proud when I am listening to the news and I can understand terms that I didn't before and I also like that I can understand how the economic crisis started and how it became global. I think that is the first time that I can inmediately apply new knowledge in my life.

A guilty Pleasure

Lately I have been thinking about the importance of organizing everything; your time, your absences, your activities, your priorities, and your money.



As we learned in class, one of the principal reasons of the economic crisis was the fact that most of the people were borrowing money from the bank; they were spending more than they could pay back.


It is easy for us to say that if we need the money in that moment we could borrow it, and return it slowly, but most of the time there is something else that we want to buy or something else that we have to pay, so borrowing money is not something easy; it is a compromise, and if you are going to use that money just to pay a TV or something unnecessary, it would be better that you don't.


We should be realistic; we must know ourselves and our condition. If you are aware that you have economic issues, you must think twice before you borrow money from the bank; you have to analyze the situation. Don't borrow money just "because" , because eventually it will become a guilty pleasure; you will have what you want but maybe the consequences will make you feel guilty.


Finally, I would prefer to avoid a "pleasure" instead of having it and start feeling "guilty".

Obeying others

Since we are born, parents start telling us what we need to do, or at least what we should. Then as we grow up we find that in school is always the same thing… obeying the teacher, director, and it continues with our parents. Also, sometimes we obey the friends or agree with their decisions although we are not so convinced. Why? Aren’t we able to make our own decisions? When do we have to make our decisions if people are always telling us what to do? What happens with our thoughts if we are not able to make them?

I consider that when we are little it is ok that parents tell us what to do, because in that age is when our principles are formed, and if they give us too much freedom we could end up in a bad life. But when we start growing I think that people shouldn’t prohibit so many things, we become conscious about our acts, and because of this we make the better decisions for us.

For example, at school we must accomplish the rules, but we must see them by the positive way. I mean, we must obey them not because it says not do certain things, but because they help us to be in a nicer place. Or in our home, yes, we must obey what parents say because they want the best for us. But when they tell us a ‘’no’’, aren’t we able to now the reasons of their answer? We are not that young to accept something and not questioning why? We want some answers.

With this blog post I’m not saying we must be bad people and do whatever we want, and always ask for whys in a bad mood. But to be more conscious about what people say us to do, and if we do it, we must be sure that that is what we want. We are responsible of our acts, and never forget that we must look for the good things for ourselves and the others. We must be independent in our decisions to be innovator, original and successful.

Illegal cars

In Mexico, there are several procedures to admit a car from the United States. The car must be from certain year, and accomplish with characteristics to become legal. Last week a coordinator from TEC told us that the authorities didn’t want to legalize the cars, and do something with the people who bring the cars because they were making something illegal. But from the other side, the people who sell them where telling that that was their job, and source of money, that they weren’t violating anything, so they would support their work.

Is it correct to legalize the cars? I think that it is fine to legalize them. That is the way some people can only have a car, and if they are buying it by this way means that they really need it. Besides, they are paying and more employments are created, so the economy increases. I think that the problem the government sees is that they are not consuming product that is made in Mexico, or that they could buy other old cars from here. But for this, I think that people is free to buy the things they want in whatever place they want, for example most of us buy cloths in the USA. And the government shouldn’t interfere in that decision. They are obtaining what they need, from the source they are able to. We are living in a free-decision-making country right?

More than Just Wrestling

On Sunday, a major event took place in Phoenix, Arizona. The World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) had a show on this city near our state. Apparently, this kind of events has a lot of fans, too much if you ask me. Since Friday, a lot of families headed for Phoenix to see the famous John Cena, Randy Orton, Jeff Hardy, among many others. Buses and buses left town to see this popular and all-American show. Several members of my family are huge fans and they couldn’t miss the chance of seeing these celebrities. I heard a lot of people were going to this event and I began thinking the economic effect of this type of shows. Just imagine all the money that the United States received for every person that bought a permit at $6 to go to Phoenix. I’ll tell you what my family had to do in order to see the WWE show. They made a special trip to Nogales several weeks ago to get their permits. This was actually very smart because last weekend the permit line must’ve been so long since vacations had just started. Then, they left Hermosillo at 4 am on Saturday, so they would be early at Phoenix. Of course, if you are at Phoenix who wouldn’t make a nice stop at the mall. The result is simple: more money for the USA, and obviously, less money to be invested in Mexico.

These types of events are really beneficial for the USA economy. We as Mexicans leave our neighboring country a lot of money, more than we imagine. I bet Mexicans were an important part of the audience in this wrestling event. I wish we had such big international idols so people from Tucson or Phoenix will come to Hermosillo to their shows. It’s hard to picture, isn’t it? Sadly, we depend a lot on our dear neighbor. I sometimes wonder how healthy this dependence is. As we have seen in class, depending on the economy of another country makes our economy a lot more unstable. Also our culture is influenced a lot by the culture of the United States; for example Halloween and the clothes we use. I think it is really interesting how some Mexicans almost worship everything the United States does and every festivity or tradition it has. We are the ones who decide how much of this culture we are going to take as our own. The more we take from this culture, the more we will depend on them.

Having these celebrities and shows represents an important flow of money. There’s nothing wrong with liking them and attending to the events. We should just think a little bit beyond what we see. We must decide if we want to give our money to the USA or to our own nation.

Political Cartoons

A political cartoon is a humorous single-panel drawing or gag cartoon. They are often used to make laugh by representing current public political figures or issues symbollically or satirically.

But, do you think that political cartoons are the best way to make laugh and satirize politics? Do you think what political cartoons express is true? Would you be able to make a political cartoon?

In my opinion, political cartoons do express what the citizens see and what the politics itself represent. Even though they have the purpose of encouraging a change in politics, they are not the best way to implore for a change.

Nowadays, political cartoons are even showed daily in newspapers, magazines, and sometimes even in television.

This is a common political cartoon that expresses some of the thoughts of citizens about government. They are used to see and accept that prices rise a lot and they are not able to do anything; apart from not being able to act, government also does not act. Government do nothing agaist the rise of prices because it is something that would better them.

This political cartoon is trying to explain the tired situation that the "venezolanos" have been experiencing a total dictatorship since 1999. Most of the citizens ruled by Chávez have the strong desire of being able to vote. They wish for the day in which they can live in a democratic society. These is what is expressed in this political cartoon. The people are quite tired of the incoherences that Hugo Chávez invent daily that they even think they can finish crazy.

I think political cartoons is a good way in which the citizens can express themselves because in most of the countries the voice of people has no value.

Busy Children

I was doing some more research on China because that’s the country I am doing the Final Project on. Then, I decided to look about children in China since it is a very controversial topic in this country. I found an article about Chinese children that states they spend too much hours in school and have no free time to play unlike normal children around the world. The article said that children may even go to school more hours than their parents go to work. Parents try to keep children busy at all times so they can focus on their careers and time for themselves. This is a very interesting phenomenon because it is directly related to culture. Parents are so worried about making their children competitive and prepared for being the best they forget children are supposed to have time to play and discover the world around them. Chinese children grow up with a lot of pressure from their parents who are always pushing them to be better. Being pushed by your parents is good as long as it does not affect self perception and your quality of life. It is good to be competitive and it is good to be educated but your overall well being is unquestionably first.

If most children grow up stress, which is happening, they can cause a major change in China’s future. The way I see it, people used to struggle and suffer because they could only have one child. Today, they may not even want to deal with this responsibility. A cultural change is definitely going on right now. This change in the way parenthood is seen can affect thousands of children who are growing up feeling unloved and without time to play. Growing up like this is not only unhealthy for the child. These children from today are going to be the political, economical and social leaders from China in a few decades. Adults should consider this when treating their children. They should raise them properly so they can contribute with China’s development in the future. If China is full with unhappy and traumatized people, its economy and social situation may suffer changes. We cannot be sure how much these changes with affect this country that has struggled so much to be one of the most powerful countries now a day. I am using the case of China because it is the country I am researching about but I am sure there are sadly other countries were children are being underappreciated.
We should focus on children today to have a better world tomorrow.

JOKES: Positive or Negative ??

Do you have a sense of humor? What do you think about giving jokes during class? How do you feel when someone jokes about you? Do you think it is humiliating to joke about someone?

Jokes during classes are very common. However, it depends a lot of the professor who is giving the class for a student to say a joke.

We students are supposed to listen to teachers during their class, but these classes are for around 80 to 90 minutes. Also, we coexist with our teachers almost daily; therefore, this coexistence gives us a lot of confidence between student-teacher. The long durance of classes together with the confidence in the relation student-teacher has takes both into jokes.

Either students or teacher, they both joke during classes. These jokes can have a different meaning: to mock, to exemplify, to turn the class from boring to entertaining, or many other reasons. However, both, students and teachers must consider their level of joking as well as the people with whom they are joking. There are some people (either young or a little bit older) who have no sense of humor; there are others who take those jokes personally onto their situation, and others who take those jokes humiliating.

For example, Maria is falling asleep during class, the teacher notices that and says: Maria, I think you were quite busy with your boyfriend yesterday night. Maria may either laugh and take the comment positively, or she may felt humiliated and offended.

These is why jokes are quite risky, and the people who used them must use them quite carefully.

However, I am not saying not to use jokes in classes. Sometimes they must be quite effective, as well as interesting. In other situations, they must make people to feel offended and humiliated, lowering their autoestime.

I invite students and teachers to use jokes, but jokes that may have no double sense, or jokes that may contribute to the class understanding, or jokes that may increase the confidence between teachers and students.

Use jokes, but use them carefully ;) !

Abuse vs. Wanting ??

Have you ever noticed the difference between abusing power and wanting power in the government? This is a very pollemic question that many people wonder.

According to the oxford dictionary, "want" is the action of desiring something and "abuse" is an action considered unjust, corrupt or wrongful practice or custom.

The most important action that the abuse of power takes people to do is an unlawful act, which done in an official capacity, affecting the performance of official duties.

Well, I think that people cannot have everything they want, so they must look for the most affordable alternatives to get it, and one of this alternatives may be corruption. Therefore, I think that the wanting of power and the abuse of power would consequently go together.

When a political leader wants/desires to have all the power, he would probably do actions that are considered illegal to get to it. I would call to these actions abuse because I think they are the same as the actions that an opportunist would do.

However, there could be some few cases in which a person who want the power would not surely practice abuse to get to it. There are some honest people who really want to help the country, so they really want to have the power. The actions that these people would do are for example promising things that are possible to carry out, or make things in order to catch the perspective of the citizens.

On the other hand, I have to accept that most of our politicians have get to power through abuse and corruption, which for me are synonyms. Most of our leaders have get to power by promising us a lowering of taxes, enough water with a low price, no more crimes or corruption, a well education for all, respect of each of the rights established in the constitution, and lots of other promises that they NEVER BECOME TRUE.

Aren't you tired of hearing and hearing and never seeing? Aren't you tired of the strong adiction of some people of wanting an abusing to get to power? Aren't you tired of the big difference of social classes? Aren't you tired of seeing that all the politicians and their relatives can do and have wahtever they want?

I think these is enough. We should open our eyes and call for action. We need to have a change in our government.

An hour without energy will not save the planet

I know that making that movement of turning off the lights at certain hour, was a big help to make people realize how important is to care about electricity. But we have to be aware that this kind of events will not save our planet.

If we really want to stop global warming, we have to make this kind of things more often, to use the less possible electricity and start using new sources of energy such as solar panels, geothermal, windmills, among others.

I am tired of watching cars throwing out smog out, to see how people abuse of electricity, and how kids and adults waste water.

We are reading a book for our ethic class by Al Gore, the book's name is "Our Choice: a plan to solve the climate crisis". This book has taught me a lot, has gave a lot of ideas to help my planet to be a better place, and deliver it to our child and grandchild in a good way, not with 50% of smog in the air, not with a couple of trees remaining in our planet.

The action that was taken by several countries is great from my point of view, but I consider it useless also if they do it once in a long time, let's be realistic, we need more effort to solve our planet ecological crisis.

Can you give me a hug?

Last week I received a course of Hug Therapy in a camp. There a person explained that we need 10 hugs per day to get back all the energy back from the day you wasted. Also he explained us that there are 9 kind of hugs (with their variations), and each one meant something. We practice them, and at the end we felt really happy and relaxed, so a question came to my mind, do hugs really bring the energy of our day?

A hug is a form of expressing that you care for someone, that they can count on you, and a way of congratulating someone.

But why do we feel like this with a hug? I think that when the people really feel a hug, and they do it because they are pleased to, they exchange some energy. I mean, the real feeling is given, and because of this you forget the problems or stuff on your head. I think that this is why when you are sad you want someone who can show you are protected, and you want a hug. A hug makes you feel happy, and I think it can increase your self-steam and confidence.

I think that they are very important because, a person can’t live without love, and it is a gift everyone can give. ‘’ Therapeutic touch, recognized as an essential tool for healing, is now part of nurses' training in several large medical centers’’. So it can be considered as a medicine, or sometimes as prevention for depression.

Where is Mexico Going?

I was reading the New York Times and an opinion article caught my attention because it was about Mexico. The article talked about a recent phenomenon in some Mexican cities; the article refers to it as the “art of renting”. This basically consists on renting a person for any purpose. For example: if you are arrested for whatever minor crime, you can rent a person to spend the nights in jail you were given; or you can rent a person to be your signatory for a “legal” business deal.

I was more than ashamed people from our country are actually doing this. I haven’t read about any of this on the newspapers from Hermosillo. I think it must be a really big deal in other bigger cities because the New York Times is talking about it. I can’t believe this people are willing to leave their dignity aside in order to get money. What’s going on with us? In these times of economic crisis, a lot of employments have been lost. I never imagined we will get to that point. If you think about it, it is a new kind of prostitution. People are paying someone else to spend time in jail in their place. I never thought that was even possible. We are definitely going beyond all levels of corruption and injustice. We are also suffering from a lot of insecurity in Mexico. The drug-related violence is worse than ever and all over the country. I used to believe Hermosillo was a safe city but not anymore. We have no idea what may happen to us as we walk down to the grocery store, as we eat with our family at a restaurant or as we hang out outside our school. Just like the two students from Tec de Monterrey who died tragically.

Renting people will affect the economy and our society if we do not stop it. Imagine all the crimes that will not be punished. This may become a major problem in the future. Today it is really hard for the government to impose the law. Our president is having a really hard time taking control of the drug-related situation in the country. It is such a shame that our justice system cannot do anything to better our security. Our police department is contaminated by criminals all over the place. These made me question on whether our government has the power an actual government should have or not. We learned in class about several countries where the government has no longer control of its people. I am concerned and really afraid we might me heading to that point.

A Different Look at Tucson

Last week, several classmates and I had the chance to visit a High School in Tucson as part of the AMUN. This is a Model of the United Nations in which high school students participate. Because of the friendship between Tec de Monterrey and Catalina Foothills High School, we got the chance of participating in a small exchange program. We visited them and interact with their families as they hosted us one night. On Thursday, the day before MUN began, we spent the day in their high school and I was able of noticing all the differences a small line called border can create.
When we arrived, they had prepared a barbecue to get to know each other. It was a lot of fun and everyone was willing to get to know us and the way we lived. We talked a lot about the differences between our schools. Their school was a lot bigger, nearly 1800 students. They have to move from classroom to classroom because each teacher was his or her our room, so there’s a lot of walking during a school day. It was a great experience because I had never been to a school in another country before. As we all know, their culture is very different from ours. People are a lot more open-minded, like in European countries. I entered a Spanish class with the girl who hosted me and I sat in front of the whole class so they could ask me questions about Mexican culture and so they could practice their Spanish. It was harder than I thought speaking about what we do, what we celebrate and how do we speak informally.

I think we all became good friends; we had a great time with the students from Catalina. Getting to know some of them before the conference helped me participated a lot more at the committee. We were the only Mexican students who had the chance to know totally different people. I hope our friendship does not go away and that I have the chance of seeing them next year. I am extremely happy the school supported us and organized this awesome trip.
It was the best trip I’ve ever done to Tucson because I got to see the people’s culture and a different side of the city other than just shopping. I will never forget everything I learned during these 4 days and I am looking forward to next year’s MUN.