Rabbit proof fence reflection

Hello everyone

Today's blog is going to be about an Australian book that personally I loved it. Rabbit Proof Fence. The novel by Doris Pilkington, tells a realistic story which has a mix of topics such as: politics, discrimination,violence ,violation of rights and impunity . As narrated in the book, the Australian Government made a rabbit-proof fence to prevent white men (English Colonists) and "black" people (Aborigines) on getting "mixed" . 

The book is about the girl’s journey from Moore River back to their home in Jigalong, a journey of over a thousand miles.
Because he government separated the half-caste children from their home, the aboriginal communities where they were born and locks in special schools where they are trained to serve the white population. And there begins the escape of these three girls. 

I will never understand the unconsciousness and evil caused by those people, The events were really cruel and I think is because they believed that were superiors and did not tolerates the differences between white men and aborigines. It's amazing that the two girls no matter the adversity they returned to their community (place which was a part of them).




 The most dramatic events in the book was when the girls are separated from their families and the most poignant moments is was the girls decided to separated and follow different paths. But finally, the powerful sense of responsibility to Molly is imposed and both sisters turn around to go find Gracie.But soon find that Gracie is captured, while watching the horror scene.

I can only say :
I have a great admiration for those girls, for strength and wish that they had in their heart because walking that long distance only imagine your pain, your suffering. Their perseverance is admirable.


I think we can do today that contrast with the indigenous people of our country. They do not seek to be "better" or "equal", they only thing they want is to be respected and recognized because are the roots of a nation. 

To finish my entry , i would like to ask you some questions

what do you think about of aborigines ?

what do you think about of special school in the book ?


Here for more information I leave the trailer and a documentary about rabbit proof fence.

I hope you enjoy my entry :)

What About Now? ... (Sorry for being late)

First of all, sorry for doing this post so late. In this days i joined to the blogs and for me is a little bit strange.
This song is call "What About Now" and  is a song of the band Bon Jovi.
You maybe  know this band, for songs like "Como yo nadie te ha amado", "You Give Love A Bad Name" or "Livin' On A Prayer". 
In this song we could see a hopeful message, the band promoves don't feel afraid to do anything, you can do whatever you want if you put your best in it. 
Is a song made for the teachers, for the family, for a woman or a men, is a song for every people , is for every person that needs to stand up and be proud of what they are doing, or what they are. 
The lyrics says: 
"The leaves fall like reasons that drift through the seasons
'Till dreams are just fade dark and grey.
And all of your plans that slip right through your hands
Are just things that you take to your grave.

Tonight we're alive.

Who'll stand for the restless, for the lonely?
For the desperate and the hungry?
Time for the count, I'm hearing you now.
For the faithful, the believer,
For the faithless and the teacher.
Stand up and be proud...
What about now?"

that's the question, What about now? ... You feel better? that's what you are, that's what you want in your life?

 be proud of yourself, stand up and face the world!

Was Queen Elizabeth a Virgin?

Was Queen Elizabeth a Virgen?

Most people think that it’s impossible that Queen Elizabeth was virgin, but   many writers said that the Queen’s virginity it was real.

In fact, a master in Tudor history said that  she couldn't openly take on lovers like a king would be able to as she was an unwed woman. She did have a rather 'interesting' friendship with two men, Robert Dudley and Robert Devereux, and public rumor of the time was that she had an affair with both men. When she came into the throne, she made Robert Dudley master of the horse, and was extremely flirtatious with him. Upon the death of his wife Amy, however, she publicly distanced herself from him, most likely to preserve her reputation, especially as it was rumored that he had killed his wife to marry the queen. Elizabeth later recommended Dudley to marry Mary, Queen of Scots, who turned him down on the basis that she would not take Elizabeth's lover. 

Robert Devereux was also given the title of Master of the Horse by Elizabeth, and was later sent to Ireland to defend English interests. He failed abysmally, and returned home in disgrace, where he led a rebellion against Elizabeth's council. He claimed that her advisors sought to rule through her and he believed she was worthy of ruling on her own. The queen later ordered him to be beheaded.
So, whether she was actually the virgin she claimed is unknown. She claimed she never married because her people were her children and her family, and she had no desire for another to control her children. So, in this sense, it would make sense for her to take lovers and not marry them.

Some people think that she was unlikely to be a virgin, but she knew how to play the courts, especially with her virginity, to her advantage.

Other specialist in the matter think that  Queen Elizabeth “may have made the equation that sexual involvement was inextricable linked with death”. After all, her mother  and her stepmother  had been executed for adultery, her grandmother  Elizabeth  of York had died  for puerperal fever. May be she also have scared  from sexual involvement, because sex inevitably could lead to childbirth  and in those days it was a risky business.

So, was The Queen a Virgin?. …..I want to share with you an interesting video ……..

Videogames: A simple set of pixels or a piece of art?

   Nowadays is undeniable the influence of tecnology in people's life and how its progress became in a very important part of society. In this way we can talk about videogames, a growth industry that gradually was positioned at the level of large and old industries such as film and literature. 

   Actually we can perceive the videogames like an element of the culture in most of societies in the world, mainly as a way of entertainment, Due to their proliferation in an increasingly broad and diverse audience, there are many communities or groups of followers (of all ages) about pixel world of gaming, generally known as "gamers". 

   Despite this, most people and a big part of society consider videogames as a simple product made only for children, withtout serious or deep contents. Following this idea we can thought in the videogames as an example of culture with a small "c". Nevertheless, certain people or institutions think in a different way, they are considering videogames as a traditional expression of art like film, painting, etc. For example, in 2011 the Supreme Court of United States of America included the videogames into definition of art and the independent agency of the Government of the United States created a new category in the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) dedicated to interactive medias, in which the videogames are considered like pieces of art. Other example is the exhibition of videogames in the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) of New York or the exposition called "The Art of Video games" in the Smithsonian American Art Museum of Washingtong, D.C. 

   In this way, the line of videogames between the small "c" and the big "C" culture is increasingly more closer and narrower, creating a disjuncture between the popular and the experts points of view about what represent videgames in culture like a media that try to express an emotion, a history, a vision, etc. Anyway, it doesn't matter who is in true, the fact is the videogame world is changing and growing. So if we can't consider videogames like an artistic expresion or a kind of artwork yet, personally I think it is only a matter of time to this will happen, because times are changing too and is evident that the videogames industry is constantly evolving and finding new ways to give us a message or a sample of their creative vision. An example of that are the new wave of independent games (or indie games) in the industry with great titles like Braid, Journey, The Stanley Parable, Bastion, Fez, Aquaria, Terraria, Brothers: A Tales of Two Sons and a long list of etc. For all these reasons and following Carlos Ramirez's words (an important videogame journalist and critic in the industy):

"Art is an artificial consensus created by the elite through the media, museums and symposiums, always to trade with it. For now, the consensus may be limited, but it is a matter of numbers. And time." 

   Is foreseeable that in a near future, videogames would be part of the "cultural elite" and the culture with big "C".

   Finally I invite you to watch this trailer about Smithsonian American Art Museum's exhibition of videogames, in order to you make an idea about these kind of events.

Elizabeth I: A Symbol Of Greatness

Hi everyone.

This post is about Elizabeth I and how she became one of the greatest womans in the world history.

Elizabeth I was the greatest queen of the history of England and Ireland, and maybe of the world. She is the most famous queen that ever lived; also she is a great cult character.

Her history tells us, how a woman can be an example of leadership, autonomy, greatness and power. She is the daughter of Enrique VIII and Anne Boleyn.

She established a protestant church separated from Rome ,This is one of the most important things that she do, because is the beginning of the Anglican Church who we know.

The reign of Elizabeth I was very prosperous, even thought the nobility and the bourgeoisie were the main beneficiaries, always advised by Sir Francis Walsingham and Sir William Cecil. She established the Anglicanism as the official religion. 

It is said that many wanted to kill Elizabeth I, to obtain the power. 

She spent her last years sad and lonely.

In my opinion, she is one of the most important woman in the history.

A woman who became Queen of England and Ireland, who have the power and the force to Head an Empire, a woman that dedicates all his life to his kingdom is a woman who deserves our respect and admiration

                              

Do not judge a movie by its cover

[Although Thunderheart was a movie that we saw a while ago, due to some health condition I missed the class and I just saw it last week]

Stereotypes, first impressions… despite how much we have talked about this topic I have come across (once again) to the awful realization that I still have a long road to go about this particular issue. 

It's 11 pm, I have the test tomorrow afternoon, and I still haven’t seen the movie. 7 a.m. Day of the test and I realize that I cannot possible keep on procrastinating the movie and decide to watch it with my mom in order to focus and pay attention to it. 11 a.m. Tears falling from my eyes, and wondering how could I possibly not wanted to see this amazing movie.

Thunderheart taught me many things:

First of all made me realize how little I actually internalized the topics seen in classes; I didn’t want to watch it ‘cause I thought it would be a lame movie about some Indians, but MY GOD how wrong I was. It made me question about my values, my principles because being brutally honest I am a little bit like detective Ray Levoi (at the begginning); I have always been attracted to culture from other countries, but I have never paid attention to my own culture, the culture of the country that I was born in, my origins. 

And that made me think a lot about the class of Culture and Identity, the awareness about my sense of belonging towards my country, how much do I identify with my background. 

And in other hand, about prejudice and discrimination that we see towards natives, something that happens even in our own country, even though the movie is based loosely on an issue that happened on 1972, today in 2014, we can still see the “conflict view” that proposed Moran, for example Mapuche people in conflict.

This movie totally took me out of my comfort zone and made me question my way of thinking and the way I see things, showed me a side of myself to which I have to pay attention in order to improve it, and hopefully change my point of view and avoid judging something by the first impression.

As the Titanic... We don't see the Iceberg

The most important thing I learn was the culture is like an Iceberg, because when we see something about a country, We only see thing like language, tipical food, tipical clothing, important artists, famous writers and all the topics like these. Professor Pablo Villa emphasized this part of the subject and He made us to reflect on whether it was important to focus on trying to learn only about these things or about all the topics of the country like nature of friendship, beliefs, values, ideas concering governing, childraising, etc.

Also we relate these with stereotypes, how these things make a inaccurate image of the people or the whole country so if we going to search information about a country we need to investigate for more accurate information and try to avoid the generalization of the people.

All these ideas was new for me and I started to think about how we alway generalize when we talk about people on diferent country or also people in diferent cities of the same country and that caused my mind blow, because we live for make stereotypes of what we don't know.

"THE WHOLE SOCIETY DICTATES WHAT WE THINK OF OTHERS AND IS ALWAYS A STEREOTYPE".

If we will be teachers, we must change this paradigm, not only for us but for all our future students, beacuse we will build future generations and many of the things they think will emerge from our knowledge.

Finally, maybe this was the intention of Professor Pablo Villa on first, that we become aware of this issue, not only because it is something we must learn, at least that is what I think.

I want to exhibit the following questions to close my posting: what you concluded about this, and if you are in agreement or disagreement with my point of view?