WHAT ABOUT THEM?

In my personal experience, I've seen most human behavior based on egocentrism. Most of the time we think only about ourselves, what will happen to me?, what affects me?, what benefits me?, but what about them? What about society?, how are you affecting society in a good or bad way regardless of your actions? Being egocentrist is a serious problem, that most of the time people don't really notice it. Why is a person a hero?, simply because people named that person so, his/her actions where benefitial in some way. Sometimes we say things without thinking about what we are saying, if that might hurt someone or not, if that might affect someone emotionally, or not. People that help you, people that understand you, people that would risk their life and sould to save you, those are the people that everyone loves to hang out with. Who would like to be friends with someone who just talks about theirselves, who doesn't really listen to you, who seems not to take care of a relationship?, not being egocentrist myself, I'm pretty sure anyone. Boyfriend and girlfriend relationships for example, the couple will soon break up if either one is always thinking about himself/herself and not cooperating with the couple's communication. Taylor Swift quoted: ''I realized you love yourself more than you could ever love me''. Just as we like to be listened, cared, advised, loved, so do others. Always help someone without expecting something back, but I do believe that person will advise you when you need it. Be humble, don't brag about what you have, I'm sure no one likes to be around someone who is always taking about what they have, or crying for what they don't have.

''Stop looking at what you ain't got and start being thankful for what you do got'' -T.I.

Humbleness is one of the values that I believe is missing on today's society. A humble friend, boyfriend, mom, dad, brother, or any other person will always helo you and be there for you. But we need to remember that just as we want to be listened, loved, cared, etc. others have those needs aswell, just respond to them, and I'm sure those people you helped will sooner or later retun the favor.

EU and Russia sign agreement on nuclear disarmament

When i read this new, i found it really interesting because the fact that Barack Obama is fighting for peace, or to make the world more peaceful is something we should be thanking a lot.

Today, April 8, the president of the US, Barack Obama and the president of Russia, Dimitri Medvedev, signed a new agreement a "historical" agreement: treaty START. This treaty has as purpose to reduce or to eliminate the nuclear weapons, which, as we know, can cause great damage in societies.

President Barack Obama thanked Dimitri Medvedev for his grood cooperation on the new commitment to nuclear disarmament. This treaty kind of obligates both parties (Russia & US) to reduce the amount of each of nuclear weapons within the next seven years from 2200 weapons to 1550.

Im not sure if this treaty will work as Barack Obama hopes, but the fact that there is someone that already did something about all this violence in the world, and the fact that people will start to worry more about this is something to be happy about. I hope other countries join this treaty so the world can become peaceful.

http://www.elimparcial.com/EdicionEnLinea/Notas/Internacional/08042010/440077.aspx

Sonora: The Alcohol Oasis .. ?

I was reading the news paper the other day, and I found this article called " Sonora el "oasis" del alcohol". I thougt this was a catchy title and decided to read all the article. It started saying that for every liter of milk that is consumed two of beer are too. This happens even with the theory that only people over 18 years can consume the alcoholic beverages.

In Sonora, alcohol is basicaly everywhere : in the little stores in every corner, in the supermarket, in the higways, near the offices, on our way to school, even in clandestine places!

In our state there are 2 394 861 persons, and the Secretaria de Hacienda del Estado has 6 639 valid permissions to sell alcohol in it. In any of the 72 municipalities of the state they could tell you they can not prepare you a plate because they do not have all of the ingredients, but never will they tell you that they have no beer.

For each 361 persons there is a business where you can buy any kind of alcoholic beverage that you like, go ahead and do the math ;) . Yes, our state is one of the principal alcohol consumers of the country , especially in beer.

Beer is so available ANYWHERE! Specially in rural zones, like the little towns all around our city, you might not find a school, a hospital, but oh wait! there are like three expendios!!

The Encuesta Nacional de Adicciones 2002 informed the state that 87% of the people of Sonora consumes alcohol in a variable frequency, when 32% does it in excess.

The consequences of living in this "oasis" of alcohol, does not limit on damaging the health of the people but also affect the public security, the peace in the homes and the person´s jobs. It is a factor that generates poverty since the Encuesta Nacional de Ingreso y Gasto en Hogares from INEGI revealed that 2.8% the family budget is used to buy alcohol.

I think that the people who drink are not only harming themselves but all the people around them, specially their families. Some people say that that is not true but it is! They harm the family in a direct or indirect way, being that the drunk person gets home so drunk that s/he could hurt one of the members of his/her family in many fatal ways; if s/he loses his/her job because of the alcohol, their family will be affected because they will have no money, there are A LOT of examples like this.

Going back to the milk example, did you know that 220 000 liters of milk are consumed, while 452 055 liters of beer are consumed daily? Or that 2 090 000 pesos are consumed on milk, while 7 232 880 pesos are spent on beer daily? Or that 762 850 000 pesos are spent on milk, while 2 640 001 200 on bear every year? Yep : I was surprised too ..

Preservation of Ecological Reserves

The preservation of the ecological reserves that still exist is extremely important for us as human beings. Last week I visited a very important ecological reserve in Mexico, Tamaulipas. This reserve is known as “El Cielo,” you can imagine why… I was there for two nights, and I experienced sensations that I would never experience again. Being in that huge, green, beautiful place was awesome! You should try it...

I repeat: the preservation of the ecological reserves that still exist is extremely important for us as human beings. All those trees, all those nature help us maintain ourselves alive. Since we were in primary school, teachers told us that we could not exist if trees do not exist. We need from trees, and trees need from us. We coexist together. We are also tired of listening to grownups talking about global warming and those kinds of problems. But… what about it? Instead of just talking about the problem, they should start taking considerations and making roles that everyone should follow in order to decrease the damages that the human race provoke to the natural environments. Adults should think more about the future generations. Do they deserve a shortage in natural resources and severe environmental problems? Are they the culprits of our present failures? Adults, teenagers, as well as children who are living this present time should do something to help our planet Earth become more fertile and strong. These ecological reserves are an example of the civilization’s concern about these problems. We should come up with new and innovative ideas of preserving our environment including all of the animal species. People… take conscience about the world where you are living. If this world ends, we end with it, so.. think about it and participate in campaigns for the preservation of ecosystems as well as in recycling ones.

High Insecurity Risks

Why do we have to be dealing with insecurity problems in our own country? This is really annoying. For example, last week I went on vacation to Tampico, Tamaulipas, and I faced a severe insecurity problem. Since we arrived to Tampico, the guides were telling us to have extreme precaution when considering going for a ride or to the shopping centers. My family and I decided not to go out of the hotel in the afternoon, and instead stay there to rest. At night, my brother, some friends, and I agreed to go and have some fun to some of the local night clubs near the hotel.
When hanging out with your friends, you never realize or notice that you could be in danger, so we were not aware of that. While we were sitting on a table, having our drinks, we noticed that some guys from the military entered the place. At the beginning everything was calm, but suddenly something happened. We started hearing some gun shots and there was panic among everyone. What is this? Gun shots in a night club? YES! Believe it or not, there were seven gun shots in a night club while I was there. Those seven shots were directed to seven guys who were sitting few tables away from ours.
Do you think this is normal? NO! This is not for rational people. It is unbelievable still for me. I still picture those images in my mind. How can we have the confidence to travel in our own country if this kind of things happens? How can we even have confidence in going out of you own house without expecting someone to pass by and shoot you? This problem should be solved NOW!! The government and the society should do their part in order to improve this huge and alarming problem…

Right now? better tomorrow

We had such a great time to rest and relax from school, vacations, the most glorious reward for a student. But what happens when teacher leave us homework in our sacred vacations? Well the answer, for most of the students, is quite simple; they will leave it for the last minute. I had tried to make this homework since the week started but whatever excuse got to my mind, I used it and now I realize that we are live in a culture which is very difficult to make something with time, because we, as students, leave everything to the very last minute.

I have noticed that Mexicans always leave everything to the very last minute, which is not convenient neither for the one that makes is nor for the one that receives it; because if we leave it for the last minute it is very probable that we will do it as quick as possible, we will be really stressed and we will not do it as it should be (in terms of quality). Therefore the one that receives that work will not be highly satisfied and he/she will think we are mediocre people.

I think that we should eliminate that “tendency” because we as humans should have that capacity of organizing our tasks. Another important reason to eliminate it, is because if we leave everything to the last minute we will be highly stressed and stress is one of the biggest illness in our modern world. Lastly if we are trying to reach a better society we should do everything correct, so it is important to take our time and do it as better as possible.

Economic Crisis

I liked a lot the class we had before the holy week that was about where did the economic crisis come from; but what I really found interesting is how do banks work. Since child I had asked my family and myself how do banks work? What do they do with all that money? Do they save it? Well, maestro John, in this class, finally solved all my doubts.

Savers deposit their money in banks and banks give 90% of that money to borrowers and they can be divided in two types: Individuals (they are given the mortgages) and business, which is used for investment and in some cases they borrow money to other banks. Borrowers have to pay what they borrowed with interests; those interests are the left money that banks win and they can give little percentage it to the savers, as an extra interest, because they saved money with the bank. Borrowers can be divided into two types: low-risk, which are the ones that actually can pay those interests and the high-risk people that obviously they can’t pay these.

Then what causes bankrupt in banks is when they gave too many mortgages to high-risk people (what the bank of US did) and then something happens and they start having problems what means that people will hear that their bank is having problems and there’s the “possibility” to loose their money and they will not like that. Therefore they run to their bank and withdraw all their money, which the bank doesn’t have because the bank stayed with only 10% of the total money. Which means that if many people loose their confidence in their bank an bank run will occur, everybody will take off their money, and the bank will not have the money to pay and it will go to the people they gave the mortgages, which are mostly high-risk, who will not pay because they can’t. But the savers will still want their money so the bank will have to go to the government to ask for its help and the government will buy the bank and “return” all the savers their money.

All this is the process in which we got into the economic crisis and I really liked this class because I didn’t know the way the banks manage their money, and it’s amazing the fact that everything, of this process, is based on people’s confidence because if they had left their money in the bank; the bank will be ok and it will just had to find the way to solve its first problem.

The teacher also talked about the Northern Rock Bank, which was the first bank to have a bank run, which consists that everybody want their money back because they loose their confidence on it because thehy may think that they will loose their money.

Feminism: The Radical Notion that Women are People Too

"If the first woman God ever made was strong enough to turn the world upside down all alone, together women ought to be able to turn it right side up again." - Sojourner Truth

I found this quote pretty interesting, and encouraging, and I think all women should know it by heart to know what they really are nowadays, to know they can, to encourage them.

Althought this movement dates from many years ago, it got stronger during the 60's and 70's, and a representative image is women going bra-less, since brassiere was a mean of oppression. Feminism in these decades was mainly led by the American women. Moreover, during these decades, the movement saw its radicalization and along with the pill, women's traditional role within the family changed totally. Therefore, women started to go to college and some women started to get jobs outside home that were as challenging as "men's" jobs. However, this laboral change was stronger during the 80's, when tha image of a women became an icon of a multitasking person who could both carry out her job and do well at home. Also, during the 60's and 70's women started to demand equal pay and free childcare provision. Nevertheless we can't forget women's labour during World War (I and II) when soldier men went to war and factories started to hire women and it was amazing to see that they could do it better.

Nowadays, women have undertaking roles in politics and economics. Since it took several years to get the right to vote, and many even gave their life for it, women are taking their opportunities seriously and many political parties recognize the importance of female vote and make an attempt to meet their needs. Unfortunately, there are still several women around the world who live under unfair conditions, being victims of many abuses. Some suffer at their workplace, some suffer at the streets, and some suffer even at home. This needs to change, and that is what tha quote conveys: We as women MUST fight for our rights. But, not only fight for ourselves, but also for those women in other parts of the world who cannot. We can fight discrimination, we can beat abuses, we can do it better. Together, of course we can.

40.3 millions (41%) of Mexicans with NO access to health services!!

Aproximmately 25.4 millions- none access to service, 18 millions with access to basic supplies-no health services

This numbers appeared in the newspaper EL Universal, they mean that 25.4 millions aproxy. don't have access to social securities(insurances) of IMSS, ISSTE, PEMEX or NAVY. These 25 millions are also people with scarcity in many basic needs (food, water, clothes...) Then, the 18 millions are people that have access and can have basic needs (basic food, supplies to live) but do not have access to health services (insurances, SS's) from public institutions.

I noticed, that only 2% from the restant pppulation with access to health services; had access to private health services. These numbers are annoying and to care about them because they show us the situation in the health matters, but it ressembles so much the situation and numbers of extreme poverty and people with lack of supplies. Which means that all these, health, food and poverty are linked; and obviously, people with more scarcity than others; have less access to many services.

We have to worry about numbers, and we must help the government to make laws or reforms to our services. Not even the quantity of people with services is bad, also the quality of the health services, for example, is not so well. It must be done, that everybody have access to health services, at least basic one; may be putting a general popular insurance. That the government help everybody, even if he is not in an institution or association. It is expensive, but we need to make a change in this matters. Health, Food and Supplies need that the economy raises and that jobs are produced so people can access, and that the government can make changes (with $$) to improve the Public health services; making them free and for all, if possible...

This is urgent because the demand of health and food services is increasing, but our supplies/services are not increasing; they are not enough and not so well for our people.

Little Paulette's Case: What's happening? Why?

We probably know that 2 weeks before a little girl missed from his bedroom at his home. This missing ocurred when their parents were there. Since here many theories, thoughts about what happened where said. That she was kidnapped or just missed. It was very known for all, that the whole country knew and were searching her. Last weekend, she was found at his bed (inside her house) death in a black bag. I won't talk about all those horrible human things, and scenes because of respect; what I want to comment about is the fact of what happened no body knew anything. Better said, that no body noticed about the miss; then that when they were police men in the building how the little child appeared there.

So I think here we are continue watching bad things at Mexico. A social crisis. Why? Because may be this missing person, was not missed, may be her own parents were the makers of this crime. I don't like to speculate, but if this is possible, and if her parents have something to do with it, I am completely shocked. How can we see things like that in our world, in our country? We are missing many rules and characteristics, that certain past societies had. We are getting in really difficult and sad times, in these matters of security. But also, now that we are studying politics, we are noticing that our government appearyly, doesn't do anything. This case is a very good example. How is it possible that they put in freedom her parents, that all prooves are on their side? And even worst, how is it possible that police or detectives (justice) didn't check well or didn't notice about the girl? How can a girl appear in the same bed, two weeks later of his kidnapping or missing, when the building is secure and checked by the police? Also talking now, that the girl was kidnapped by somebody else, the way the mother expressed in interviews; seem very strange to me. How can a mother talk, that so well, when her little disadvantaged girl is missing? I say it, because I heard an interview, in which she was specifying things, such as, let her in a mall please; or who did it please gave her back, we will pay, etc... Also when i visit Mexico, I watch huge spectaculars, in towers and postes; about her missing. In someway it is good that people help and make all possible things to find her. But the way it was written, it seem like a commercial.

In here, I can only think in one answer: that the certain people with power is involved with the crime or with the manipulation of information/investigations. It is a big accusation, but I won't be surprised if it is true. All looks that there's something not logic and coherent with these; or the parents were the makers of the crime, or somebody is helping them or manipulating the investigation, for the benefit of him or of the parents. I don't know these, that's the truth; but I hope this accusations be false. If not we will be looking another "common case" of unsecurity and indifference from authorities. No body knows anything, no body does anything!

I, and many mexicans, are tired of watching this acts and events in our society. Paulette's case really annoyed and scared me. I said, what's happening we are "fucked" (Sorry for the expression) if this whole event and situation are true...

I hope we speak about it in class, and about topics related to political decisions that affect the society with this events. In order for me to know, if these general events and current bad situations are caused by politics or by the society. Is it fault of some political men or of the society, or of both? Why is these happening? Can we fix it, how? or Why not?

I really want to be informed about all these matter of politics, and specifcly, how does it affects the society and the economy of a certain group, or nation.

Kidnapping

Fear, suffer, pain, psychological trauma….. These are some of the consequences of suffering a kidnap.

This crime has been increasing in our country through the recent times.

Kidnapping is being considered now a big business to the offenders, that’s why Mexico takes the second place in the number of kidnapping! Just before Colombia.

We know that kidnapping is not new, but in the last years this topic has been of very importance in the country and that maintain alert to millions of Mexicans. This make that Mexico have been seen from other countries a kidnapping country.

Kidnapping is one of the most frequent crimes that atent to the dignity and psychology of a person and as I already said is causing a lot of controversy in the recent times. Why people want to seize over a person? Or why they illegally enclose that person and require a rescue?

These are some questions that I make myself when I hear that a person has been kidnapped. I know that they do it for money or things like that, but I don’t think that kidnapping a person is necessary.

From the 51 kidnappings occurred this year 7 have been “self-kidnapping” y they have recorded 49 persons from the 12 gangs, but also they have send to the judges 50 cases without a prisoner. From the 51 kidnappings the 60% has been declared, but not only are the kidnappings but also the assaults that impact directly to the people.

All what is happening about kidnappings make people move to different cities away from their family and friends.170 families of 290 that search for a relative kidnapped run away form the country, because they are scared of hat can happened later. Fernando Ocegueda Flores, the secretary of “Asociacion Ciudadana contra la impunidad”, said the week per week is increasing the rate of people disappearing.

The government should take more rigorous measures for the cases of kidnapping. This goes against the dignity of each person. People have the right for being free and to live with their family, and kidnapping not only affect the person kidnapped but also their entire family. The family feel anguish and after that they can’t feel secure in the place were they live that’s why families are moving of country. Kidnapping is a problem that is affecting everyone and is increasing; needs to be stopped!

Every Effort Has a Reward

Today was the first presentation of our play in front of our teacher, and since 7 am we started to get ready for it; preparing make up, the clothes that every actor had to wear, and the scenography.

When the time to present the play arrived, we went to the auditorium and we did what we have been rehearsing since the semester started.

We actually did very good; everybody did his or her part in a great way and finally we got the perfect grade; a 100.

We all felt so happy about it, I actually felt so proud of being part of such a comitted team that really cared about everything, and I could also felt how every effort we made had its reward; every time we spent plannig everything, all the time we discussed and argue with our classmates... it really worked out.

Sometimes, while we are working on a project, while we are doing homework, or studying, we are only aware of the negative side: we are constantly complaining about getting tired, about all the work that we must do, about all the hours that our homework is taking away from our sleeping time, and other things like that, but when we accomplish our goals, we feel we get a reward; we receive something great; the fact that we are constantly realizing that we can do lots of things; we are developing new skills to organize our time and to have a different perspective of our abilities.

I think that both, our mistakes and our triumphs, are making us learn lots of things like the importance of working in teams, we are learning about the importance of treating others in the right way, about having real commitments and make a great effort in every aspect of your duties.

I think mistakes had taught me that we must be humble; that not always the best wins, that when you give the best of you, is enough; we cannot control the circumstances in the exterior, we can control ourselves and try hard.

Triumphs had also taught me that we MUST be humble, because a triumph doesn't defines you as the best person; it only defines you as very good at something, and we cannot let a triumph take away our values, nor make us feel superior.

That is why we have to keep our feet on the ground and learn about others, knowing that there are people better than us, and accept its capabilities without feeling envy.

Open Design

Now at days, we spent a a fourth or fifth part of our day in internet, so we have less time to go shopping and search for what WE want. It is exhausting to go to the mall and move from store to store searching for the dress you want in a certain type, color and size, this happens to when you want some tennis shoes, a shirt, a toy, furniture, jewelry or even a car!Companies use this amazing tool, internet, to facilitate the search of what they want and how they want it. They designed programs that let you decide how you want what you want. For example, Hummer has on its web page an application where you choose which Hummer you want in the color you want and it has a list of accessories you could apply to it. And when you apply the accessory, you can see how it looks on the hummer you choose! Next to it, is like a ticker where you can see the price of your customized hummer including the accessories you have applied to it. Another perfect example is Nike, where you can design your own shoes! And much more companies have developed this.This new way of buying is an excellent attention to the consumer. They give us the power to CHOOSE how we want what we are going to buy. In the past, you had to go to the factory and wait a lot of time to see your product. Now you can see it while you design it! I consider this as a FABULOUS way companies are treating their clients.

What a shame

Today March 6 of 2010, in our institution, a contest of debate realized by the consejo electoral ( IFE) was made. In this contest, many students from our institution signed up to develop new skills or just to reinforce the ones had. Many topics were asigned ( all of them talked about Mexico) and there were students in favor and in against of x theme.

I was really surprised because I watched many students from school that didn't have the profile or the interest in such thing. However, it is good to discover new perspectives from people. I was in the contest, but I really freaked out with my oponent. Anyway, what I am going to write, has nothing to do with me, it has to be about the winner of contest.

I have to speak out about what I think. I think that Paulina Canizales did a GREAT job in the contest, she was well prepared, had good argumentations, gave a good question to David ( his oponent) and in other words, she did a great job. Everybody in the audience could feel and see that she had the control in her debate, and moreover, we also felt that she was going to be minimum in the first three winning positions of the contest.

Our huge surprise was that, in the end, Arturo, Fernando and the other guy ( I really don`t remember his name probably Marcos) were the winners. AND PAULINA? let me ask again ... and paulina? why she didn´t won if she was one of the best of the contest! honestly, in my opinion, the winner of 1 and 2 place, had no courage or feeling as she projected in her debate, and what I realized then, was that the 3 winners were only men.

After this, I got another super surprise. The director or the man incharged for supervising the contest, came up to Paulina, and he told her " I really was surprised that you didn't won, if I could so, I would definetley put you in first place, you were EXCELLENT and ASTONISHING for the courage, and domination of your topic".

That comment, made me so angry about the selection of the winners. I really am very disappointed and sad about this event. I really don´t think that Marcos or Arturo deserved better the winning place than Paulina, ( leaving behind the money price) because she was so amazing!!!!!!!!!!!!

I think that there was no equity in the contest. I really don´t know, but what I can say, is that we humans still have tied up women as someone that could not express theirselves or with the simply way of being better in things than men, In my personal opinion, this have still provoke shock or discomfort in society.

in other words ... I AM NOT HAPPY WITH THE WINNERS!!!

The Beautiful San Diego

On my Semana Santa vacations, I went to San Diego with my family. It was a fun trip I really liked. First of all, we lost our flight from Phoenix to San Diego because our previous flight was 2 hours delayed. The airline changed our flight but we had to wait for three hours at the Phoenix Airport. Anyway, we arrived at San Diego at 3 pm. We were starving and wanted to be to the hotel as soon as possible. My brother made me realize his geography classes were useless because he asked full of amazement as the plane was landing “San Diego has a beach?” In case you are wondering, San Diego has a beautiful bay and a Naval Station.

The first thing we did was looking for a fine restaurant at downtown. We chose a nice Italian restaurant on 5th Street. I had never been to an Italian restaurant where the waiters are actually Italian. The food was simply delicious. We went to Balboa Park the next day. It is a huge, literally huge, park in the middle of the city where you can find museums, theatres, restaurants and San Diego Zoo. There are trees all over the place and everything is really clean and impeccable. Next day, we went to Sea World and we decided to use the public transportation to get there. It was a different experience and gave us a look at the city not many tourists get. Sea World was really nice! As a major touristic site, there was a huge diversity of people at the park. On Saturday, we went to Coronado and to San Diego Zoo. We crossed the huge bridge from San Diego to the island. We walked around the famous Hotel Del Coronado and the beach. The water was really cold and it was very different to Mexican beaches.

San Diego is a very wealthy city; there is no doubt of it. The tax is higher than in Arizona so the standards of living are better. Because of this, no wonder Californians have a particular culture different from the rest of the Americans. An important part of the income comes from tourism. The city has everything to offer to international visitors and it is really clean. I find it hard to believe that such a great city is so close to the border. Being along a border brings a lot of issues to a city but San Diego has being able of taking advantage of these circumstances for their benefit. It is amazing how the government takes care of every single spot of the city. At night you could see people cleaning the sideways and taking care of the way downtown looked. That must be the major difference you notice when you cross the border between Tijuana and San Diego. The amount of money our Mexican government invests on the cities is a lot less. As I mentioned on a previous blog, I think it is fascinating how a border divides a territory so deeply in all the possible ways. I hope I can visit this beautiful city again.

If you visit San Diego you cannot miss Seaport Village, Gaslamp Quarter, Coronado and Balboa Park.

Graffiti

Sometimes graffiti can be considered an art, but not where it defaces the public or private property. Graffiti has become a very serious problem that is spreading from the largest cities to other locales. Graffiti is related with the gangs, and I considered that this is a form of vandalism that most of the time is not reported to police, but some people think that police cannot do something about it.

Graffiti is a common problem that we see every day in every street and we are in a certain moment costume to it. However, has a cumulative effect; its initial appearance in a location appears to attract more to make graffiti there and that’s how it grows.

Approximately, $12 billion a year is spent cleaning up graffiti in the United States. Graffiti can be related to other types of crimes, like shoplifting, gang violence, property destruction, among other things.

Most of the time graffiti is on a public property, but we are now seeing it in private too. For example, in transportation systems (trains, subways, buses, etc), streets, traffic signs, monuments, schools, walls, garages, etc.

The people that make graffiti are often young and male with ages 15 to 23 and most of the time students. They typically are male, but now we are watching women too. They operate in groups; perhaps 15 % to 20 % do it alone.

This social problem needs to be stopped now, because we are now seeing it in every place where we go. I don’t think that this type of graffiti looks beautiful in our streets or houses. The government should do something about it, so this problem can be stopped. Graffiti lead a lot of consequences, for example if they are often doing graffiti on your house maybe later they can enter to your house and stole things or make something worst! Also I think that it can be uncomfortable that you know that someone at night is doing graffiti on your wall and you don’t know who is it or what other things he or she can do.

Graffiti is an art, but we don’t need it on the walls, streets, and houses.

BE CAREFUL!

The principal of the health Secretary, Jose Angel Villa lobos, said that during vacations the vials accidents increase form 10 to 15 percent.

Also he said that the car accidents were the first cause of dead on the population from 25 to 35 years, when half of these can be prevented and also for this cause 24 000 persons die each year! Between 40 and 60 percent of the accident are associated with alcohol consumption.

This accidents cause costs of $126 million each year, from which 5 to 10 milliards corresponds to the health sector.

They are making campaigns to prevent this type of accidents especially during this vacations that includes campaigns of communication about vial security, training, vigilance, and alcoholmeters.

The objective of this campaign is to reduce between 40 to 50 percent the number of accidents and dead.

The World health organization says that each year die 1.2 millions of people, while between 20 and 50 million are injured because of this.

Having precaution during vacations is very important. We want that our family and friends return complete, but also they want that we return like that. So, let’s be very alert of what happened to us take the necessary measurements .There are so many accidents that can be prevent it, it’s important to take care of us and every body around us.

The Lovely Bones

Last week i watched a movie called "The Lovely Bones". The movie takes place in year of 1973. it tells the storry of a girl named Susie, who was raped and murdered. She had a nice life. She had a nice family: mom , dad, little sister and brother. She also lived inanice neighborhod and went to school. She wasa tipical 15 year old. One day, after school, she was walking to her house when she saw her neighbor, Mr Harvey. She stopped to say hi and he invted her to enter a underground den he had jsut build. At fisrt she was not sure about it but he convinced her. One she entered he Raped her and murderd her. When she was late to dinner time er parrents started to worry, so her father went out to look for her. The mom called everybody she new to asked for her and she also called the police. The police started looking for the girl, they never find her. they only find the underground den and some stuff of her. The investigation lasted month but they never found anything. The police went to the house of every neighbor, they even went to the house of Mr Harvey, but they only made questons. Mr Harvey was a serial killer, he was carzy. He had raped and murdered mor than 15 girlsin the past years and he was never been caught. At the end of the movie the little sister of Susie brokes into Mr Harvey's hose and founds a notebook with evidence that proved that He was the killer. Mr Harvey is able to run away before the police arrives. He takes Susie's body with him, which is inside a save-deposit box and he throw it in a sinkwhole. (a whole in the earth). Obviously the body was never found.

The movie made me realize that even thought the movie could not be base in realistic facts, this realy happen. Before, cellphone didn't existed, parrents were not able to comunicate with the children. Now a days, you are ate for a minute and they have already call you more than five times. If you are n trouble, have an accident are lsot or something, you are able to call for help form your cellphone. Tecnology facilitates our lives alot. More tecnology also means more security. Now a days when someone is missing the police department has a lot of tecnology to find it. They really make good investigations. I see tv programs like Medical detectives and it is incredible how they are abel to solve a crime jst with a part of a nail or a smoked cigarret. Tecnology does not only mean more fun or mor confort, it also means more security for everybody. I'm lad to know that if someone kills for sure the killer will put into jail.

Piracy in Somalia

Believe it or not, piracy is a big problem that is affecting Somalia nowadays. It is not like it is pictured in the movies, of course, since they have to deal with reality were inequality and the survival of the fittest exists. I never thought that piracy was still practiced until I came across this article. In this article we can see how some retired pirates talk about their hard life in Nairobi. It is very difficult to get information about these types of activities, so I think this brings more curiosity to know how they lived. First of all, this people are uneducated, that's the main reason they become part of the crew were they will receive money by participating in stealing ships containing a good cargo. The pirate told that he had no other choice, since he doesn't have education. If he would, he would have taken another path. Here I think that education makes the difference in our lives. Every day we see a lot of people in the street that didn't take the opportunities or weren't given the opportunities. Now, it is crucial to be educated to survive in this world in order to have a decent life.


The pirate also mentioned about the inequality they lived day by day. The people who act and steal are only the puppets of the real pirates who hide behind them. They control the entire situation and just sit behind giving orders. They also are the ones who take all the money and invest it in real estates or businesses. They receive only the third part of what they are promised, like $10,000 to pay the "expenses". They are abused to live in cruel conditions and they are the ones who take the risk. However, this is a way they can gain money from the easy way. Their dreams of being rich are crashed with their hard work and low payment. Now, the pirate has abandoned that type of life and decided to look for a new beginning with more opportunities.


This is only just a news report that really depicts the life in Somalia if you don't have an education. Besides living as a puppet, it's really sad that people are still practicing piracy around the world. Stealing is just a shortcut to get what you don't deserve. Why can't people work for what they want and need? This is just unfair for the ones who really go to work and break their backs. But, there's also another side of the coin. Somalia is a poor country that still is struggling with his own economic problems. People will get whatever they want in order to live just one more day. It's a country with a lot of issues to solve from the civil war that leave the country divided in a lot of different states without a government that can't handle it all.

The Internet Revolution

This news report had caught my attention because it's new topic that I would like to talk about. As time goes by, technology had evolved to become part of our daily private lives. We should consider that this is a new type of "revolution" that will change how we interact in the world completely, including some aspects of our government. I'm talking about the impact of the Internet of course. We can't live an hour without it, we are much attached to it. Some people feel like an "addiction" to the internet by pages like Facebook, Twitter, etc. A friend told me they are even some groups to leave the addiction, something like Alcoholics Anonymous. Leaving the personal effect on us aside, the Internet not only affects how we as humans communicate and "stay in touch" but also, some experts says it will affect whole industries, even the government. We have seen this type of issues before with the Internet. I remember we discuss in class about how the freedom of speech is being violated by governments like China by banning the site of Google and YouTube. They are forgetting the main ideas of great thinkers who fought to defend their beliefs, and now we are taking steps back. I know that China is kind of a mixed country that is moving with big steps in the economic area but is decreasing in the political area. According to the article, the internet revolution will be very slow but painful. This means that industries will reborn from their ashes to adapt to the new challenging world. The government can take advantage of this tool in a positive or negative way. The positive way is that the people will be more informed on what's going around them to have a better judgment and make right decisions. It can also be a place where online cooperation is held and the people's opinion is heard well. Of course, everything has a positive and a negative side. The article says that some people think that this tool in the wrong hands can be a dangerous tracker of persons. With all that is going on, people uploading photos and personal information, this can also affect us. The Internet will change the world undoubtedly, but is up to us what we share and what we don't. This tool can be very useful to us if we want to, we just need to be careful and don't just go with the flow that every site is safe. It has already started, so adapting is the solution to it.

One, or all?

Now a days, the Catholic Church is suffering a crisis. Several events have shocked many catholics and have made them to question about their religion. One of the main events that is still sorprising, is that some priests have rapped kids or have had kids with women. How could they dare to to that?

Mexico is one of the main followers in catholicism, and that is why this have shocked us the most. But, we mexicans have to uderstand that not just because one priest have done such thing, the other ones are going to behave the same. Moreover, we also have to notice that catholicism is beyond from the catholic church, because the catholic church is made up by humans and humans, always makes mistakes.

In this two holy weeks, we catholics have to approach to God and to leave behind all that events that have marked the catholic church. However, we don't have to leave by this things and we also have to uderstand that our mexican society is having a lot of changes in the aspect of sexual preference and necesities.

In my personal opinion, I am relaxed from this events because I knew that this was going to happen someday. This priests rappes and kids from women are normal because priests are men and they can't control sometimes their instincts. However, they know their consecuences and also they know what could happen if they do such things. As a reminder, all humans do mistakes. This, does not only happen in our religion, it also happens in the other worldwide religions.

Sadness ooor Shame, or BOTH?

Scene, Show in Camara de Diputados in MEXICO... congressmen came with a "piñata" of Pinocho, who ressembles Cesar Nava-leader of PAN.

Last week, because of the conflicts between PRI-PAN-PRD and the Secretary of State, caused by the dios to make and do not make alliances in Mexico State. This dios were make in secret but then everybody knew about it, so scandals appear. All the show that recently, we are living in certain politics in Mexico, occurred. Some said that PAN is the guilty one, others that PRI, and others that the Secretary. What is to worry about is that we are watching many things that affect the image of Mexico, not only in politics; but also, in the social and economic aspects. Even more sad is that we are watching on TV and in news, that our politicians and representatives; do not seem to be that, they seem to be actors or showmen, that only make shows, conflicts, and shame events. For example, what happen last week, in March; when some Congressmen (against Cesar Nava) came to the Chamber with a "piñata" of Pinocho, that was to be Cesar Nava. Pinocho because it is said he is a lier because he said that he didn't sign a dio with PRI and the Secretary of State, and so on...

We don't know if he was a lier or not, it doesn't matter... may be he is, may be not. What is important and I don't know if sadness or shame; is that in a Congress; where representatives and politicians are suppused to make laws in order to help and improve the country and its people, are taking "piñatas" and making conflicts. Instead of working they are making "shows" that are really embarrassing for us, the people.

This is an event that affects the politic life of Mexico, as it affects, too; the Social Life of it. It damages our international image. Politicians fighting just for because or for power, it's not good for our people and our lives...

The overweight Beach!

This holy week I went to Kino bay with my family to have fun, relax from school and forget about stress, but what I found is the fact that almost half people I saw, was kind of overweight and I don’t want to seem that I discriminate them but I realized this and I also have relatives that are overweight and even obese and I love them very much, but I found that Mexico is having a really strong problem with this issue. I searched and found in Internet that Mexico is the 2^nd obese country worldwide after the United States.

I started thinking about this issue and I realized several things like: first of all the influences of the United States they invented the fast food and Mexico took that habit and obviously Mexicans accept it and we eat all those fast foods, which are really dangerous to our body. Then we have the junk food, and because they are cheaper some people buy them and prefer to eat them because they have no money.

But besides all these factors; what I think has the fault is our culture and our parents. Why? Because they teach us how to eat, what should we eat, the quantities and all that stuff, which is part of our culture that is passed from parents to sons. I think they should teach us to have good habits with food and maybe just once a month we could have a brake and eat whatever we want to. They should also teach us that we have to exercise our body and not because we want to have a hot body, but because we need exercise. Exercise is essential to our body because if we have it we should use it for something.

I think that it is important to make several programs or ways to eliminate or reduce the percentage of obese people because we should face this problem with all the tools that we have, we have lots of good technology we just have to apply it in some way, but the point here is to find a solution to this problem, now!

The brain suckers

In my family, we have a ps3, a wii and everyone has a portable game and I love these games; but recently, I have noticed that my relatives spend too much time in these videogames, they are becoming addict to these kind of games, they want to play every single minute they can and it’s kind of funny how these games affect them, because you can see they start to lack of imagination, and whenever they want to joke they bring these weird jokes about their games that nobody understands.

When they are playing these games they loose their minds, they are like zombies trying to reach the next level. Whenever I try to make them go out and have some fun or even just take a walk, see the moon or anything, they just don’t want to go and they want to play even they had played for about hours or even don’t want to sleep because they still want to play more. I think that when they reach this point that’s when our parents have to do something on the matter. The other day I read in QUO magazine that every human has to follow the 8 rule, which consists of 8 hours for working, 8 hours for fun and 8 hours for resting and I think it’s quite true, because we have to balance everything and organize out time.

I think it is important to bring a balance; it is ok to play with them because that’s why they were created, to have fun and don’t be bored, but we have to take care about the time of our lives that we spent in those games, because we also have to get along with our family, nature, and so on. They are not bad if we use them cautiously.

Coalition PAN-PRD in Sinaloa with a candidate Príista!

"Senator of PRI"- Mario Lopez Valdez will fight the government of Sinaloa with PAN-PRD.

This summer we will have elections in different states of Mexico. One of them is Sinaloa. In it there are 2 main strong parties: PRI and then PAN. But due to the power of PRI and its contender, PAN has made an alliance with PRD; which is almost to be official. The thing here to talk about is how PAN can join PRD, when this two parties are extremely different. PAN is from he right thoughts and PRD is a left (izquierdista). May be we all think it is for a good for the people, to help; to solve problems; etc... But the real thing is that it is not.

Why? Because this alliance is just made to gain the political position and the power. How can I know that? Because Mario Lopez Valdez was 2 weeks ago, a Senator of PRI; which because in his party they didn't let him be the contender that represents PRI, he is with a whim of being. So he went to PAN, first; and then PAN join PRD. What they are doing it's not illegal or breaks a formal rule of the competition, but instead; they are breaking many PRINCIPLES, values, and ideals-in this case "MALOVA"(senator) is breaking the ones of PRI. Because when you enter a party is because you agree and you will respect those principles. You support them...
Well, MALOVA change of party, just for being the contender for the Election. If he was doing this without breaking the principles and violating his party, all will be okay. But because he wasn't the candidate of PRI, by "x" reason... he change with the party that is different in ideals and in principles, and not even that; they made an alliance with PRD.

What all these that is happening in Sinaloa, let me to think is... our candidates, our politicians-as MALOVA for example- are they searching and fighting to represent us and to help the society? or they just want to be voted in order to get power, money and the position? What MALOVA and other politicians are making know, with this unexpected alliances and changes of parties, is sad in somehow; and also make me reflect... if MALOVA really want to be a GOVERNOR or just a man with power?!

Sexual Education

Last night I got the chance of talking with a friend of mine about pregnancy in children, and we both had the same point of view about the topic. We think that many girls and boys of my generation face a poor knowledge about the topic. School usually teach us about HIV or common diseases you can get. But school is not there when you need some one to talk or to ask doubt that you have. So we came to a conclusion that nothing is better than having an open conversation with your parents, because they are the one that will never let that something bad happen to you. They are the ones that haver already passed trough you age and can give you tips so you can go to the right direction. I usually talk with my mom about girls of my age who are pregnant and girls that already have babies. I found this really sad because some of them where friends of mine and I think having babies in such an early age disturbes everything on your life(plans). Not because of bringin the baby to life I mean because you will have to drop school and where is your future? You may have sometime to start working to you can give your child something to eat or sometimes where to sleep! I invite all of you before of doing somenthing to talk to some one mayba friend, an aunt, some one in church and of course your parents. Think what can a children do with another children? At your age you are nos capable of mainanting anothers life. Abstinence is good everything has it's own time.

Seriously RESPECT yourself. (SCARY TRUTH)

Few days ago I was watching the news in television and they where giving information about something that really make me anger. They where talking about flirbots, naughty pictures and people who use to send dirty or sexy messages how you like to call it. I did not knew many thing about this, so I started looking up on internet about this; I found out that it has been creating many problems in society not only because couples are sharing personal pictures and taughts by text messages. Also because bad people change their identity, because that is really easy on internet, and start persuading girls to send them naughty pictures. When the convince girls to send them they show them up on internet or sell them. So girls and also boys should be aware of this kind of thing beacuse it is happening. You have to respect yourself, your BODY! sending pictures in nude can cause severe problems in your life. The internet is very dangerous you will never be sure if it is safe to send those kind of pictures to someone you dont know in person, and also to people you knew.

5 reasons girls decide NOT to send this kind of things:

-You might regret it later

-People may thinks bad of yourself.

-You could damage your reputation.

-You could damage your family and future relationships.

-You can get into a probelm of rape or promiscuity.

TWENTY-FIVE PERCENT OS GIRLS AGES 13-16 HAVE SENT A SEXT TEXT MESSAGE OR1M. BUT DID YOU KNOW THAT 22% OF THE PEOPLE WHO RECIEVED IT HAVE SHARED IT WITH THERI FRIENDS, AND 39% OF PEOPLE WHO RECIEVED IT HAS FORWARDED IT. SO THEY ARE MANY CHANCES THAT IF YOU TEXT THING LIKE THAT SOME ONE ELSE SEE IT, WILL YOUT TAKE THE RISK?

ABORTION?

I thinkk abortion should not be legalized in Mexico. This action is really cruel and of course it is consider homicide. We all have dignity and also the right to decide if we want to live or not! But the baby can not decide, so we have to decide for him and kill him or her? OF COURSE NO!

Recently we have many problems with this topic, because it is a very polemic topic. Everybody wants to make their comments women think they have the choice to decide beacuse the baby is growing inside her, but people argue that they are wrong because that baby is a human and do not deserve that treat.

I do not think abortion is the right choice, being pregnant is not a problem ladies. And just think a little bit women who pratice abortion will absoluteley live with that for the rest of theri lives, don't you have a little of councious? YOU ARE KILLING SOME ONE OF COURSE YOU WILL REGRET. And think of it in this way you want to get rid of a "problem by killing your baby", but are you going to really get of the problem? i think women will have many psycological and of course physical problems after surgery!

Abortion is bad in many aspects I think that women will start loosing respect from themseleves, beacuse even if they get ptregnant they will have "opportunity" to get rid of the baby. This is really bad. Babies should have the right to decide! DO NOT KILL THEM! Abortion should be punished in many aspects! They exist another alternatives such as adoption. You can help us finish with this! NO ABORTION!

CEPAL predicted that Mexico will be one of the most afected countries beacuse of the crisis.

Since the beggining ot the crisis our Mexican president told us that this crisis will barley affect us Mexicans. Even today beggining of 2010 Mexico is still suffering the conosequences of the crisis. It is known that te economic crisis(2008-2009) is the worst recession that Mexico have faced in the last 70 years! But I do not understand how our Mexican government let things go this way, what I mean by saying this way is that Mexico is facing a lot of problems that are related to economy which is unemployment and extreme poverty. But how do all this problems started? It is known that Mexico is one of the countries with the highest dependence in commerce with the United States. This why Mexico immediatley started feeling changes in its economy. The changes Mexico was experiencing where affecting in a dominal way all sector of economy in the Mexican economy. But what happen when you are noticing that you are not selling tomatoes, or maybe you are not selling textiles; normally you stop producing it in high quantities. A smaller production needs less workes, so this is how unemployment started appearing. Mexico have a weak economy that is why we had so many problems. Also I think that the problem with petroleum have a lot to do with economy. Since all this problems started comming out Mexico searched for new alternatives like increase taxtation, and created new taxes. But how do this help us? I think this does not help us at all it makes us a burocratic country. Our government is making a fool of us by trying to bill us for his problems and his sense of not being worried when the crisis started by saying anything is going to happen to our country because of the crisis. But know I will go all the way to his place and ask him Mr. President what will you do if you where the one with no job or with no money?

Also Mexico had great opportunity of job in its touristic areas, but what happend it also came down beacuse of all thing thing of the crisis! So what is opur government or our president doing! He should be trying to help his country instead of trying to capture people that they know they are not able to capture(drug dealers) because even they are more prepared than our governent and that is somenthing they should shame on it. Even before our government lie to us saying us that the United States crisis will not affect us, CEPAL have already wrote that Mexico will be the country most affected with the crisis.