A poem

This is for us, to remember where we come from, and what anonymous people do for us. And finally to understand that war is not an alternative. The key is in the words!!
Respect the others in their differences, as you value yourself in front of a mirror.

The return to the islands

I stare at the snap shot
And I see green everywhere,
I look up, and there it is
The sun, with its sunbeams,
There is white and light blue too.
I am young and so they are,
Suddenly strange sharply words
Come deeply into my ears.
I raise my head, there are no greens.
I look up, but the sun has gone.
The white and light blue have vanished.
I look at me, I’m old.
There are scars in my hands, I’m lonely,
There is nothing around me
But white crosses and a thin boy
Passing by, belting out a sharply melody
Made of unknown words.

Ignatius Reilly

A Profile

One of the people I really admire is neither rich nor famous, nor even particularly talented. However, he is a hard-working man. Under a dark suit, a light-blue shirt and a typical peaked hat, hides a special person: his name is Héctor, and he is my father.

One of the reasons why I admire my father is that he is a real persevering born-fighter. He grew up in extreme poverty, in a little town in Santiago del Estero. Although his family condition made him work and study when he was a child, he had a happy childhood. However, when he was sixteen years old, he couldn´t stand his mother´s spankings and he ran away to Buenos Aires. There, he met a young amusing girl who would be his wife four years later. But it wouldn´t be easy because he needed a job to support his new family. It was then that he decided, influenced by my grandfather, to be a police officer. He had to work hard all his life in order to get all that a person dreams of: a home and a career.

Another reason for admiring my father is that he loves his job and he works gladly, although everyday he has to face from the most unusual petty crimes to the most cold-blooded murders. He also works like a psychologist when people come to the police station because they don´t know, for example, how to bring up their children. He has a kind heart and he is always delighted to help people.

Finally, I also admire him for his conservative ideas about life. He has influenced me since I was a child. He always supports me in everything I take up, and he has showed me confidence. He has taught me how to behave in some sorts of situations and when he punished me, he was strict. Now, as a grown up, I´ve learnt the difference between right and wrong, so I can understand why my father was so stern when I was a child.

My father is a special person. He has raised me the best he could, he has given me everything he could, but he has had a significant influence on my life. First of all, because he is my father, a good carefree father, and thanks to him I am who I am: a good carefree person, too.

Butterfly

All the troubles of the world

All the troubles of the world is a science fiction short story written by Isaac Asimov. This story was first published in 1958 and it is about an intelligent machine with great responsibilities, called Multivac.

“Multivac was the greatest machine in the world” begins this brilliant story, introducing to us in this way to a great computer which has the daily job of working with facts. It deals with every person’s facts of the entire world.

In a context in which crime has been eradicated, Multivac predicts a case of murder. People who work inside the machine are certainly worried and start an investigation which ends up in a shocking discovery. After arresting Joe Manners, and later on his son, Ben, it is discovered that Multivac is tired and was it that started a plan to die. Surprisingly, this extraordinary machine has developed human sensitivity and it is exhausted of dealing with every single trouble of the world.

Isabella

A brain teaser

Taken from: riddles.com/brain-teasers

Hi, people! This time, I challenge you to a brain teaser, which only requires mental reasoning to solve. Read it, and write your answers as comments. Next month, I´ll post the correct answer, so you can see how good you are at difficult questions.

Enjoy it!

Polly wants a parrot

Polly Perkins was after a talking parrot, so she went to the local pet shop in the hope of securing such a find. She was in luck. The shop assistant assured her that the parrot would learn and repeat any word or phrase it heard. Polly was delighted. However, a week later, the parrot still hadn't spoken a word. Polly returned to the shop to complain, however, it appeared that the assistant was accurate in what he had said, and refused a refund.

Why didn't the parrot talk?

Butterfly

My Home

My house is the most beautiful building I’ve ever seen. There is a small porche (my father always liked small porches), and then the front door. When you enter my house you can see the big living-room, where there are a lot of armchairs and one table with the old telephone. The other room near the living-room is the kitchen, where the whole family takes breakfast. On the opposite side there are three rooms. One of these is my room, the other is my brothers’ and the third is my parents. My room is wonderful, because my family decided that I could decorate it the way I liked. Then, I put a big trunk and upon it there are a lot of teddy bears, there is a bedside table and over it there is a library. My bed is right in the middle of the room. It is old and long because it belonged to my grandmother’s parents. Finally, my house has got a laundry, where my family put a little house for my dog Onna. I love my house and I love all the good times I had there!

Milkyway

Bad news

When I was a child, I wished that my older brother had a wife and had children, too. When I grew up, I felt that my dreams had been fulfilled. My brother married the best woman on earth. Her name is Alejandra. The wedding party was wonderful. They didn’t have a honeymoon because they hadn’t got enough money, but  the most important thing was that Alejandra was pregnant. My first nephew, Iván was born in November the 16^th. In the next year my dear Sabrina, Ivan’s sister, was born. But this wasn’t all, in October 2001 a new baby was born; my brother and his wife decided that I was going to be the baby’s godmother, and I was very touched by their decision!

Then my brother decided to go to Spain His poor economic situation brought him the idea of travelling to Spain. We all missed my brother at home, but at least the kids were still with us since he travelled alone in the first place. However, one day he phoned his wife and told her that life in Spain was, in fact, much better than here. Then all of us thought the same: the children were going to Spain as well. We hardly had one more month before Alejandra and the kids left the country to join my brother. Today, after many years, I still remember the face of the boys; they were very unhappy and cried a lot. I’ll never forget that day. 

Milkyway

Charles by Shirley Jackson

Charles is the story of a five years old boy named Laurie going for the first time to kindergarten. When he came home, after his first day of school, his parents asked him about school and if he had learnt something. He asked roughly that he had not learnt anything and that the teacher had spanked a boy for being fresh. His parents wanted to know the boy´s name and Laurie said it was Charles.

The following day Laurie told his parents that Charles had been bad again and had hit the teacher. The third day, Charles bounced a see-saw onto the head of a little girl. The rest of the week Charles´s behaviour had been even worse.

Laurie´s parents reflected on his behaviour, his toughness and bad grammar, seeing Charles as a bad influence to their son. They even thought of kindergarten being unsettling to him, but they just waited for him to come from school and tell them the news about Charles.

Charles´s behaviour was the same for a couple of weeks, yelling during story hour, hitting a boy in the stomach, kicking a teacher´s friend, and so on. However, during the third and four weeks Charles changed. Laurie told his parents that Charles had been so good that the teacher gave him an apple, and that he had been the teacher´s helper. Then things went back to normal, Charles told a girl to say a word, she said it and the teacher washed Charles´s mouth out with soup.

Laurie´s parents missed the first P.T. A meeting ( parent-teacher association ), but Laurie´s mum went to the second one, hoping to find Charles´s mother there. Although she scanned every face trying to find “the one” looking haggard, she could not find her. In addition, nobody mentioned Charles at the meeting. After the meeting she looked for Laurie´s teacher and she told her that Laurie liked kindergarten because he talked about it all the time. The teacher said that they had had a little trouble adjusting the first weeks, but now he was a helper, with occasional lapses. Laurie´s mum said that her son adjusted quickly but she added that she supposed it was Charles´s influence this time. “Charles?” asked the teacher, we don´t have any Charles in the kindergarten.”

This short story should be useful for parents as a way of reflection about their children misbehaviour. There is a trend nowadays to blame classroom mates at school or teachers, avoiding the real problems children have at home.

QueenV.

The Zoo Story by Edward Albee.

The Zoo Story is the first play by the American playwright Edward Albee. It was written in 1958. The particularity of this text is that it is written in a long one act play, and the only thing that happens is conversation until the very end in which things change.

The play is about a confrontation between two men, Jerry and Peter, in a bench in New York´s Central Park. Jerry, a man in his late thirties, walks into the park and he finds Peter, a man in his early forties, who is reading a newspaper. Jerry starts the conversation by asking Peter about the zoo. At first, Peter does not want to be disturbed, but finally he gets involved in the conversation, telling Jerry things about his life. He says he is a publishing executive with a wife and two daughters, two cats and two parakeets.

Jerry tells Peter that he is completely alone in this world and tells him stories from his life, including where he lives, the things that he gets at home, the story of the landlady´s dog, his parents´ death, the reasons about his frequent visits to the zoo, and some other stories.

After being for a long time listening to Jerry, Peter decides to leave, but Jerry does not let him and begins to tickle Peter. Peter giggles and laughs, and in the end he agrees to listen to Jerry telling what happened at the zoo. At the same time Jerry begins to push Peter off the bench, saying that it is his bench. Peter gets angry and they have a little dispute about the bench. Unexpectedly, Jerry takes out a knife and he drops it near Peter. Peter holds the knife and Jerry makes a manoeuvre to impale himself on the knife.

Jerry is bleeding on the bench and asks Peter “ Could I have planned all this. No...no, I couldn´t have. But I think I did.” Peter is horrified and runs away from scene. Jerry lies there, saying “Oh... my... god”, his dying words.

The story leaves us a message and is that of people being immersed in their own worlds not paying attention to other people or things. The zoo represents the animals that we, as human beings, have inside. These animals are ready to get out if our world is disturbed.

QueenV

We can make a difference

Some time ago I read in the newspaper that climate is changing, which is, indeed, a big problem. However, there are many things we can do in order to make a difference. For example, driving a car or using electricity is not wrong, but we need to think well about it and try to use less energy. Four people can travel together in one car instead of driving four different ones; people can even use bicycles instead of travelling by busses or cars. Recycling also helps to save the natural resources such as trees, oil, etc. Last but not the least, is planting trees in order to prevent pollution. We know that tree absorbs carbon dioxide from the air, reducing the greenhouses effect. I think that if we all help doing the best we can make a difference; we can make a better planet for our children!

Milky Way

Esperanto in La Plata ?

This is not an advertisement of a new discotheque in La Plata. I am not going to talk about the famous nightclub, but about an almost extinguished language: Esperanto.

Most people thought, so did I, that the old fashioned language had disappeared, but in fact it did not. Yesterday, reading a local newspaper, I read a report which said that there will be a convention in a down town University, for those people who speak Esperanto.

People who talk Esperanto will get together at the University and will create a formal committee in which they will discuss about strategies to preserve the antique language.

This is very interesting for everyone who enjoys languages, or those that want to start learning Esperanto, since there will be courses for beginners, given that the members’ ideas are to enlarge the group of speakers.

Our father in Esperanto

Patro nia Patro nia, kiu estas en la ĉielo,
sankta estu Via nomo,
venu reĝeco Via,
estu volo Via,
kiel en la ĉielo, tiel ankaŭ sur la tero.
Panon nian ĉiutagan donu al ni hodiaŭ
kaj pardonu al ni ŝuldojn niajn
kiel ni ankaŭ pardonas al niaj ŝuldantoj;
ne konduku nin en tenton,
sed liberigu nin de la malvera,
ĉar Via estas la regado, la forto kaj la gloro eterne. Amen!

Ignatius Reilly

Grammar Clinic

Remember your question about the use of "to" followed by "ing"? Here you have a clear explanation of "to" as a preposition. It's been taken from  "Practical English Usage" by M. Swam. Hope you find it useful.
Anahí

Mrs. Dalloway

In this novel, three stories of three different people are developed at the same time. The first one is about Clarissa Dalloway, an upper-class housewife, who is about to give a party for all her friends, something that makes her feel really anxious. When she returns from flower shopping, an old suitor and friend, Peter Walsh, drops by her house unexpectedly. Years earlier, he proposed to her but she refused, a fact he never forgot. Peter asks Clarissa if she is happy with her husband, Richard, but before she can answer, her daughter, Elizabeth, enters the room. Peter leaves and goes to Regent’s Park where he thinks about Clarissa’s refusal, which still obsesses him. After that, there is a shift in the story towards Septimus, a veteran of World War I who was injured in trench warfare and now suffers from shell shock. Septimus and his wife, Lucrezia, pass time in Regent’s Park while waiting for Septimus’s appointment with Sir William Bradshaw, a celebrated psychiatrist, who thinks Septimus is crazy and decides to send him to a mental institution. As he doesn’t want to go because he thinks the doctors would destroy his soul, he jumps from a window and dies. The third important character that appears in the novel is Clarissa’s husband, Richard. Richard Dalloway eats lunch with Hugh Whitbread and Lady Bruton, members of high society. After lunch, Richard returns home to Clarissa with a large bunch of roses. He intends to tell her that he loves her but finds that he cannot, because it has been so long since he last said it. All these three characters meet at Clarissa’s party, which turn up to be a success. Everyone is enjoying the party but Clarissa, who feels dissatisfied by her own role and acutely conscious of Peter’s critical eye. Sir William Bradshaw arrives late, and his wife explains that one of his patients, the young veteran (Septimus), has committed suicide. Clarissa retreats to the privacy of a small room to consider Septimus’s death. She identifies with Septimus, admiring him for not compromising his soul and she feels, with her comfortable position as a society hostess, responsible for his death. The party is about to end when Clarissa enters the room to say goodbye to the guests.

Sun

How to beat depression without drugs

Article taken from : “ The Guardian.co.uk, Monday 19 July 2010

The clinical phycologist Dr Steve Ilardi is against using drugs to cure depression. In this article, he explains the six-step programme to beat depression without drugs.
First of all, he argues that in the depression cure, the brain mistakenly interprets the pain of drepression as an infection. As a cosequence, the sufferer tends to crawl into a hole and wait for it all to go away thinking that isolation is needed. On the contrary, what depressed people really need is “ more human contact.” So, the first step to cure depression is:

• Social contact.
The other five steps are:
• Meaningful activity( to prevent “ruminating” on negative thoughts)
• Regular exercise
• A diet rich in Omega-3 fatty acids
• Restorative sleep.

The reasons which Ilardi focuses on to set this six-step programme are the aspects of primitive life style. “ Hunter- gatherer tribes still exist today in some parts of the world.”, he says, “ and their level of depression is almost zero. The reasons? They are too busy to sit around brooding; they get lots of physical activity and sunlight; their diet is rich in Omega -3; their level of social connection is extraordinary; and they have as much as ten hours of sleep.”

The only omission this programme has is anti-depressant medication because according to Dr Ilardi, drugs don´t work. They have only 50% success rate. Moreover, of the people who do improve, half experience a relapse. This lowers the recovery rate to only 25%. To make matters worse, the negative effects after taking drugs include: emotional numbing, sexual dysfunction and weight gain.

In my opinion, this programme to beat depression is very useful because it helps to cure without depending on drugs.

Bryana.

My son the fanatic

This story written by Hanif Kureishi tells us about the conflict between a father and his son. Parvez is a Pakistani immigrant who is living with his wife and his son, Ali, in London. The story begins with Parvez worries about his son´s behaviour which has changed significantly. Parvez discuss his worries with his friends and they come to the conclusion that Ali is taking drugs. On the contrary, Ali´s attitudes have nothing to do with drug´s adiction, but with the fact that he wants to keep his identity by practising his religion strictly. Besides, Ali is very upset with his father because he is "too implicated in Western civilization" and he breaks the Koran’s rules by drinking alcohol and eating pork.
Personally, I think this story is really interesting because it shows us that wherever you are you have to keep your own roots in order to avoid losing the characteristics, beliefs and feelings that distiguish you from other people in a society which is not yours. In other words, “keep your ancestors´traditions to avoid losing your identity.”

Bryana