Self Evaluation

When we were first asked to split into groups for the final assignment, I was a bit nervous because I wasn't really friends with anyone in the class. I'm still not really sure how our group came together, but I can tell you that I am very happy it did. The social issue we chose to do was the situation in Darfur. Our goal was to create awareness about this issue in the most creative, fun way we could; and we did exactly that. We created a video, detailing the gruesome killings going on in Darfur, and we explained to our audience what we, as the youth in our community can do to help. We interviewed students from FIU in GC ,and through these interviews I learned that although many do not know about the issue, many were willing to learn and help.
We then took this footage and added it to our video so show that education about Darfur is key in bringing an end to the genocide. I must say that I am taking with me many things I learned from doing this final project. One of the main things I am taking away is that if you feel strong enough about a humanitarian issue going on in the world, help put an end to! It does not matter if you are an 18 year old college student or a wealthy celebrity, as long as you have that drive and that willingness to help, you are helping the cause. I also learned to open my mind to different things, and that life does not revolve around the small community of Miami; there are things going on this world that we should be educated on, and that it is our responsibility as humans to put an end to injustice. From almost getting arrested in GC, to staying at FIU until 1AM, to drinking enough Redbull to make us shake, and staying up late to turn in the final draft one time, I must say that I could not have picked a better group. I had a great time working on this project, and now, knowing everything I know about Darfur, I wish to continue working towards this cause.

Current Event

A current event issue that caught my eye was the situation going on in Venezuela. This past Sunday, December 1, 2007, Hugo Chavez, president of Venezuela, held an election to reform the Venezuelan Constitution, stating that he would be supreme ruler for all of time. Fortunately, he lost that election, and no reform to the constitution was made. On Monday morning, however, he made it very clear that although he was not going to be supreme ruler, he was still going to present to the Venezuelan people this notion of changing the Constitution, and that hopefully, one day, they will agree with him and vote in favor of him. Personally, I feel that although it is not the United States' duty to intervene with the way other nations are governing their people, I do believe that the United States should keep an eye on what going on with Chavez.

A Day without a Mexican

"A Day without a Mexican" is a movie that gives us a picture of what life in California would be like without a Mexican. Because California is so close to Mexico, many Mexicans illegally immigrate into the United States by crossing that border. Many people in California do not agree with this, but it continues to go on, and continues upsetting people. On a random day, as everyone awakens in the morning, they find that all the Mexicans in California are gone; they are no where to be found. Obviously, the producers of this film are not trying to relate to us that Mexicans did in fact physically disappear, rather, they are showing the audience that all these legal and illegal immigrants play a role in our society, and without them, things were not functioning as normal. Some of those immigrants were babysitters, crop pickers, news reporters, businessmen and husbands; normal day to day jobs. Without these people, parents had no one to take their children to school, farmers were left short handed, desks were left empty, and families were scared for their spouses and children. I thought the producers appealed to pathos and logos the most in this movie. In appealing to pathos, they depicted the picture of the family in which the husband was Mexican and the wife American. They should us how broken she was when she found out that her husband and her son were missing along with the other Mexicans. In appealing to logos, the producers showed exaggerations of what people consider Mexicans and what they do in the United States, and then, in writing, they showed the real facts (which were completer opposite of what people had claimed). I thought this movie was a good way of showing that everyone in the United States, no matter where you are from, plays a role in their community. I liked the movie because of its sarcastic tones, and the interesting way it relays a somewhat serious message.

Fidel

Living in Miami and living with a Cuban parent and grandparents, I must say that my ideas and perceptions of Cuban history have been shaped by the stories I've heard. All my life I've heard stories about Castro, and the impact he had on Cubans. I've heard about the destruction he brought to thousands of families, about the thousands of families he separated, and about the thousands of those he killed for going against what he thought. I also heard the story of my grandmother's family run pharmacy being taken away and given to the government, and how my grandfather had to leave the University of Havana because he didn't believe in what Castro was doing. I've heard the story of my grandparents having to start a new life in a new country, completely from scratch, with a new language, and people looking down upon them because they were immigrants. To me, Castro, and the Cuban government took so many things away from my family that its hard to look at a different point of view and think that maybe theres a different side to the story or that maybe Castro had a point in what he was doing. In watching the movie in class, however, I was able to see what Cuba was like pre-Castro, and the things that went on prior to his regime. In the stories I've heard, I never knew what went on before Castro and for me, seeing this movie is like a mini history lesson that was taken out when my grandparents were re-telling their story. It's good getting all your facts straight for a story, but watching this movie, for me, doesn't change what Castro did to my family, and the thousand others that suffered through Castro's regime.

Not your Ordinary Lesson Learned

"Some people come into our lives and quickly go. Some stay for awhile and leave footprints on our hearts. And we are never, ever the same"

My high school, Lourdes Academy, has sponsored a poor orphanage/boarding school in a small town in Ecuador for ten years. Mindo is located about two hours away from Quito, the capital city. Two years ago, the woman responsible for taking a group of girls every year came and made an announcement in one of my classes. She passed out applications and said that only 12 girls would be picked. I went home that night and discussed it with my parents, and although they were a bit skeptical because I was traveling to a third world country without them, they decided it would be a worthwhile experience for me; and that's exactly what it was. I filled out the application and got picked! When we drove into the school and stepped off the bus, a bunch of kids came running towards us, hugging us, and grabbing all our luggage. All these kids had dirty clothes, some of them didn't have shoes, and yet they had these huge smiles on their faces. You may be wondering why I started off this blog with this particular quote. On that first day I was there, me and this other girl form my school were playing with a bunch of kids in their playground when a little boy came up to me and asked me to push him on the swing. After that, John and I became inseparable, and I spent the remainder of my 10 days there with him. Although he was poor, he had this amazing smile on his face all the time. Every time we would find each other to play, he would run up to me jump onto me, and give me a huge hug. Leaving him on that 10th day was one of the hardest things I've ever had to do. Luckily, Spring Break of my senior year I was given the opportunity to go back to Mindo. I was so excited see John, and all the other kids I had made freinds with the summer before. Reuniting with John was one of the most incredible experiences I've ever had in my life. We again, spent every day together, and I really don't think I've ever loved someone like I love John. He taught me something that I don't think any other seven year old in the world can teach me: materialism isn't everything; money isn't everything; and being truly happy does not require these things. When that last day came, I knew I had to face something I really didn't want to: saying bye to John. I just wished that I could take John home with me, and give him the life that I thought he deserved. John came up running to me, as he usually did, but this time, his eyes were full of tears. I began crying, and he hugged me, and then he whispered into my ear, "Daniela, te quiero." This broke my heart, and one of my friends had to pry us apart because our bus was leaving. Although I do not know the next time I will see John, we've talked on the phone on occasion and there's not a day that goes by that I don't think of him, or the lesson he taught me.

Darfur

I must agree with the fact that there are many social issues going on in the world that many of us know nothing about. It wasn't until my senior year in High School that I became aware of the genocide going on in Darfur. Darfur is a region of Western Sudan, a country in Africa. Since February of 2003, there has been a tribal conflict in this region. Due to many years of drought and oppression, two rebel groups, the SLA/M and the JEM, challenged the president of Sudan. President Omar al- Bashir's retaliation was nothing less than brutal. The president increased arms and began giving money to a militant group which became known as the Janjaweed. The Janjaweed is composed of Arab balck African Muslims. With the help from the Sudanese government, they have used methods such as rape, displacement, organized starvation and brutal massacres to wipe out entire villages. According to the United Nations, as of right now, the highest form of death is due to organized starvation; because villages have been destroyed, people have been mal-nutritioned and therefore die. The UN estimates that 450,000 have been killed from violence and disease, 2.5 million have been displaced, and on an average, 5,000 Darfurian men, women and children die per month. Although the UN has placed sanctions on Darfur and has sent peaceful orginizations to Darfur, this is not enough; the genocide continues. Some may question, "What can I, a collge student, do to help Darfur?" I think the best we can do is bring awareness to other college students who may not know about this issue. Last year, in my High School, a group of senior students formed a club called "Revolution." This was centered around bringing awareness about social issues going on in the world. One main issue they concentrated on was the genocide in Darfur. In many creative ways, they brought awareness to students like me that knew nothing about the situation in Darfur. I must say, what gets me the most out of this whole situation is seeing picture of small, innocent children with looks of hunger, confusion, and sadness in their eyes. It is for this reason that i want to bring awareness of this issue to my community.

Carlos Mencia

I'm really not sure if I agree or disagree on some of the things that Mencia said. There is no doubt that Carlos is funny, and although some of the things he said in Part One were crude, you could tell by the audience's reaction that they thought it as funny. Something I found very interesting was that he didn't take a stab at only one nationality, he made fun of many of them, including his. Carlos' career is comedy, and therefore I think people hear what he says, and don't get too offended because it's acceptable for him. Although Mencia did plenty of parental criticizing in Part 3, I do think that at times he was a bit too harsh on parents. There are many parents out their who have to deal with situations such as down syndrome and ADHD, and Carlos was not sensitive to that; but then again, he's a comedian, and it's not his job to be sensitive.