Journal 15 My experience as a writer.

      This semester in my English class was a great experience and I learn a lot from it. At first when I took this class I thought “writing that’s easy, I put a few words here and there and done”, but I was wrong writing was more than putting a few words in a paper. I was not very happy with the term write, but I had to do it. It was very hard for me since my English grammar was really poor when it came to writing in past, present or future tense. Before this class I wrote various essays, but like opinions essay that are easier than the others. My first essay in this class was about a memoir in my life and I wrote it about an experience that my best friend and I got one morning before the English class. I could say that was my worst work of all, I even forgot that essays got paragraphs now you could imagine what a disaster. Thank god the professor gave us an opportunity and I re-write it various times until I got it right. After all that work I compare it to the original and there I saw a big difference and something that helps me was doing a lot of      re-write.

      I learned how important it is to do various draft, the organization f an essay, to talk in third person, to be clear in the point, always think of the people who is going to read the essay, use the right grammar and if you don’t know the word use a dictionary, always in a research paper use mla and remember that paragraphs are a really important thing in essays. Besides the various errors I commit in my essays every time I wrote one it was better and always using the rules I mention before. Now I love writing more and now it is easier to start writing, but hard finishing it because one you start you will not want to finish. Like my English teacher Ellen Pratt said in class “The more you write the better you get at it”, practice makes perfection or it will improve your writing. 

Journal 14 Three races one culture.

      What really means to be a racist? Does racism exit in Puerto Rico? First of all being racist it is the act of hating and humiliating a person by his or her color even discriminating them by their sexuality or country. Also racism has been used as a weapon to create fear and hatred to others in the times of a war and even during economics problems. Second if racism exist in Puerto Rico well that it is a 50 – 50 chance. Puerto Rico is an island that has people of all different types of color, but they are Puertorricans. How one can explain this well Puerto Rico was an island that only “Tainos” live in until Spaniards came to colonize with their slaves the Africans. All this races got together Spaniards with the ladies of the “Tainos”, Africans with Taino and Spaniards ladies with the Africans. After all the races became together the result was Puertorricans. In Puerto Rico racism shouldn’t exist since no one here is pure white neither pure black we are a combination of the best races in the world. Most people in Puerto Rico understand this today, but still our grandparents think we should “clean” or “improve” the race. This comment seems a little out of place, because our “race” was never pure and since that happen we should accept everyone for who they are. It doesn’t matter their color they are still people and deserve respect like everyone else and remember they are Puertorricans too.

 

Journal 13 A opinion about “mafiosos”.

      The theme that the news present every day and people can’t stop talking about, at one point that people fear for their life. One may think that it is politics but not even politics can be compared to the theme of criminality or killing in Puerto Rico. I really can’t understand the necessity this people have to kill and hurt others and everything for money. Although I am conscious that most of them do it because they have a necessity, that it is to sustain themselves in this hard times, but why not look for a job and it doesn’t has to be being an engineer or a doctor, they could work as janitors. Also another thing is the competition that drug sellers or “mafiosos” have when it comes to selling drugs and who has the biggest drug point in the

     Everything is for them is money, they don’t care who you are if you owned them money they will go after you and hurt you or your family. Sometimes they get so mad at the people who owned them money that if they see them they will shoot or hit them and they don’t care if people are walking by, the only thing that will matter is to catch the person or kill it. I think most of them are cowards and preferred to shoot by distance or even send someone to kill them or hurt them. When I see this things I can’t handle my anger towards them, instead of doing those things if they want to kill someone go personally to them and confront them like a man would do. People may think that selling drugs it is not a great idea for surviving, because when one is “in” there is no way out and if one gets out, gets out dead. Today people need to be careful with who they hang out , who are their friends and  go to places less dangerous.  

Journal 12 Christmas from two points of views.

          Christmas in Puerto Rico equals to a lots of parties, families reunions, and lots of food, “parandas”, trees and “coquito”. For me Christmas begins the 1 of November that day my mother and I begin the Christmas cleaning. A Christmas cleaning it is when we go through every closet in the house and starts getting out every box, clothe, dolls, toys, albums, house decoration, etc. After everything is out, we start getting out the things we don’t need anymore and trash it or give it to someone that need it. Then we start cleaning everything windows, doors, sofas, kitchen everything to the perfection and we even wash the tree. After the tree is dry, it comes the fun part putting up the decorations and lights on the tree. Most of the time we have the tree for five months is that it looks so pretty and Christmas doesn’t ends in January for us it ends in March. Also is really important to mention that Christmas is the time when we shared with our family since everyone works and most of the time are in business trips it is hard to be together and every day of December we became together and celebrate.  

          For others Christmas is the day of the birth of Jesus and the very personification of Divinity. Some respect and celebrate Christmas in the name of Jesus, since he was born in the when ignorance, superstition, greed, hatred and hypocrisy prevailed and purity was forgotten and morality was neglected.  Also for them giving this day for him it is a way for saying thanks for sacrificing himself for us. Jesus wasn’t born around money neither a palace he was born around his beloved parents who love him and took care of him. That shows for some people that Christmas is not about expensive gifts it is about sharing with the family and thanking God for one more day with them. Christmas means different things depending of the people and culture, but for everyone has a small and beautiful point of deep significance that should be celebrate in a big special way, with family or beloved friends.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      Merry Christmas.

Journal 11 Drug dealers and witchcraft

Some days ago an interesting article appear in the news, this article was about drug dealers one may think it is not something new, but the interesting part is that the article mentions that most drug dealers practice witchcraft. When I read the article I was really shock about it and thought why drug dealers need the help of black magic or “spirits” if they have weapons and gangs that protect them. Witchcraft is something that most people are scared of, religious people think is just wrong and the others try to maintain themselves away from the people that practice it. Besides most people hate it and doesn’t want to know anything about for others is an art, a way of living and it is like preparing yourself for a class. For practicing witchcraft one has to know and have the next things: they need to learn about candle colors, oils, crystals, herbs, and incenses, own a book of shadows, or diary of favorite spells and rituals also learn about the eight holidays that Wiccans or witches celebrate, which are called sabbats.

It is easy for drugs dealers to spend a lot of money in all those things and also spend time practicing witchcraft , some benefits that drug dealers get with all these “magic” is the protection of the spirits these spirits tell them who are their enemies and who will hurt them next. Although they ask their spirits to protect them from the police, that their “agency” generates more money and organization. Also experts mention that drug dealers look for the same thing that religious ones look that it is the sense of identity and explications. Puerto Rico has 100,000 persons that practice witchcraft which seems a lot for me, but these people aren’t only drug dealer there’s also lawyers, doctors, engineers, artist, etc. In the article I found an interesting comment from a santero that said “Drug dealers are clients and not devoted ones. They came looking for protection or someone that will protect them, but they don’t believe in anything not even in electricity because if they believe in something they won’t be killing people. Soon the spirits that they killed will come for them. A lot of people hate them and there is no spirit that could protect them. There’s no eternal protection and if in 5 or 6 years they aren’t dead they will go to prison.” It is amazing that a santero a person that his whole life has been doing witchcraft said these words and in when point his right there is no eternal protection.

Journal 10 Man’s best friend.

        When one feels alone and sad the only thing we want to do is wrong away from everything, scream, cry and insult everyone that has hurt us. Besides sometimes they have their family and best friends there one feel that no one could help them and that no one would understand that pain and shame that they carry in that moment, feeling like that they  don’t belong there and that life is a piece of shit. Until this special friend comes along and sits beside them and looks right in their eyes, without using words tells them that everything is going to alright and that they are not alone. That’s when everything changes and that special friend and companion is the dog man best friend. Some people may not like dogs, but it is a little percent of them it is really rare that people could not resist does little guys and their big eyes. Dogs are loyal animal; they give unconditional love, companionship and laughs. When one is around dogs the atmosphere is different, is relaxing and loving. Some medics have discover that being around dogs it helps people to concentrate , be more relax by lowering blood pleasure and also doing better one daily routines. Also dogs help people with a lot of things like helping blind people to move around and warning the deaf that something needs their attention or something is going wrong. Dogs aren’t just animals when they enter ones home in that instant they become part of the family and they won’t judge if one is black or white , poor or rich , healthy or sick, ugly or beautiful, the only think they ask in return is love and they would never, never betrayed you.

Journal 9 Serial killers are around us.

         Most people are fans of some series like NCIS, criminal minds, Bones, CSI Miami and more, because it presents cops fighting bad boy and serial killers. Most of these people think that all this is an act, fake and just done for entertainment. Also this “acts” are taken for real life stories and experiences of the people that have survive or know the killers personally. People have some stereotypes of serial killers most of them think that these people are dumb, crazy, and not normal and that they should be put in an asylum. Everyone has a different perspective of what a serial killer is, but from a perspective of others a serial killer is individual who has murdered two or more people over a period of more than a month, they commit murder alone and most of the time before killing the victim they abuse their victims sexually.

        The things that motivate a serial killer are anger, thrill, financial gain and even attention. It is really hard to spot a serial killer between us, since they are normal people like us and the stereotypes are wrong. Some of the characteristics that define a serial killer just in case some of our friends have these characteristics are: they are really smart people, as children they are often abandoned by their families, abused physically and emotionally, a few tries of suicidal, some interest in fetishism and sadomasochistic pornography, some are fascinated by fire , like torturing animals, more of the 60 % wets their beds beyond age 12, as children their where bullied and some have participate in fraud, vandalism and theft. With all these one can see that serial killers are typical people workers, children, housewife, etc that have a moment of anger and becomes a killer or a serial killer in seconds. Some examples of a serial killer men and women are: Ed Gein would skin his victims, exhume corpses and then decorate his home with parts of their bodies and use the skin to make clothes and furniture items. Belle Gunness killed more than 20 suitors and all of her children. Also she burns down houses and collects the insurance money for the property and husband. These two examples go hand by hand with the characteristics, but sometimes there are exceptions like the case of Colonel Russell Williams was a successful and respected career Canadian Air Force Officer who was convicted of the murder of two women, along with fetish burglaries and rapes.

Journal 8 The mind play us.

          The mind is really weak and sometimes it could manipulate people easily. Scientifically it has been demonstrate that most people doesn’t has control of their emotions specially the emotion of fear. A perfect example are the reactions of the people after they have seen a movie of the end of the world, like 2012 and The day after tomorrow. At first the people that goes to see the movie know and they are conscious of the content of the movie, they have knowledge of the problems that will be presented in the movie  and even more they know what is real and what is science fiction in the movie. Besides people know all those details the mind plays a really good trick on them, the mind manipulates them to think that everything that it is presented is real and in seconds people create a huge fear to the oceans,for example. After the mind and people create those false fears to some things, they start talking to other people about the things he or her saw so that way the other person creates fear too. Most of them don’t understand that the mind could be control, but still they insiste to create panic in the whole world making some people to suicide and even think that nothing matter. Some start to do things wrongs, because they think that the world will end in 2012 just like the movie 2012 presented it. Maybe the world will end someday , but in this moment no one knows when exactly so is really out of place that people create those types of fears, because a movie present the end of the world in a dramatic way. Fear is a big emotion that restrain people from living and sometimes it could be contagious, if people think that they can’t control their emotions and accept movies like a fun time and all fiction they shouldn’t go to see it and when they feel prepare to see these types of themes without getting stress up, well go and enjoy those movies.

Journal 7 Tattoos

  Tattoos famous drawings that for centuries have identify delinquents, said by our grandparents. Thoughts have changed through the years, today most people has tattoos and they aren’t delinquents some of them are professional and famous people. Some people get tattoos just because they think they are cute or beautiful without having a real reason for having them. Tattoos are a real piece of art everything starts with a drawing that the person wants it could be a star , an animal , a face , words , a heart anything. Tattoos are expensive and people should not go to a random place to get them, because the tattooist use a needle that if they don’t change it, it could contain a disease and it will transfer to the skin of the person. The tattooist draws the picture and them puts in the arm of the person like a sticker at that moment everything is nice and it doesn’t hurt. After all those steps it comes the real thing, the tattooist take a machine that has a needle and ink that will penetrate the skin of the person. With slow movements the drawing will start to take form and some blood will come out and it will hurt. For some the level of pain is different just because it all depends on where the person wants the tattoo. Some of the places that it most hurt are: the feet, wrist, face and ribs. For those that get tattoos on these places are brave people and should remember that tattoos are for life. Although today exists some methods to get rid of them it cost a lot and sometimes it could cost to three or four times the amount of money that the tattoo cost. People should think of the future and how the skin will look with all the drawings through the time , also if one is thinking of having a tattoo first have a real reason for it , like the face of a lost child or words that meant something in your life.

Journal 6 – Medical Marijuana.

Maybe for most people the use of marijuana is wrong just because the government says it is illegal. Still in some countries it is legal and in others is use as a medical treatment. Medical marijuana is a plant also called medical cannabis after some studies medics have conclude that this plant relieves symptoms and is helpful in the treatment of many diseases. However the medical marijuana it is not the same of the regular marijuana creepy, this type of marijuana gives throat cancer and kills the neurons of the person. This plant has it positives and negatives, but the only thing that is negative is that depending of the type of marijuana that one uses. Something curious about the marijuana is that it is harmful and the users are less aggressive unlike the alcoholics. This detail is because this plant works around all the brain and it gives a relaxation mode to the parts of the brain that most of the time are hyper or active. Some conditions that could be cured thanks to the marijuana are antiernetic properties or anti-nausea, glaucoma, sclerosis, appetite and palliative. Patients that suffer nausea because of cancer chemotherapy treatments start smoking marijuana and in a short term of time the nauseas disappeared. Also it is use as a pain reliever for patients with cancer and if they take more dose of the normal  they will feel less pain. Not only it is use in humans also doctors have treat animal that suffer glaucoma, but in this cases it only the only way it will have an effect is when the patient or animal stay in the drug continuously. This natural plant helps people a lot not only in their disease , pain , anger, it also relax them and helps people to have a better posture and balance. Marijuana shouldn’t be illegal,  it is natural and it helps people to feel better, especially people that suffer cancer.