The use of technologies in my studies.

Technology is a concept usually confused with Science and Engineering. It was common in the United States of America to think of Technology as useful application of science in a particular subject. However, this concept caused the creation of sciences focused in specific tasks, which was seen as a damaging practice. On the other side, the word Technology is normally used to refer to High Technology, Computer Sciences and else. But, if you come to think about it, the concept is wider than that. Technology is the human production to solve real-world problems, created by the application of mental and physical effort.

Technology in my studies is applied as a way to make easier our understanding as students of the subjects we study; and, is part of what we study. How? Public Administration is a science focused to found the best solution to community problems. In order to do this, it uses a lot of concepts, such as Society, Organization, Budge, Law, Juridical Ordination, and else. They have all been produced to solve real-world problems. On the other side, technology is also used as a way to make more efficient the act of teaching. Teachers almost always use Power Point Presentations as a way to attract our attention. I, on the other side, think that the use of Power Point Presentations is good, but it is over exploited; allowing the teacher to just read everything they have to say. And that is extremely boring. On the other side, platforms like www.u-cursos.cl and http://www.lapetus.uchile.cl/ are very useful to students, because, we can share every book, our own summarizes, exercises we have found somewhere, material from older students, such as tests, exams, guides, etc. On the other side, it is of fundamental importance the access to internet (wired and wireless), and computers free to use, without virus and trojans.

In conclusion, technology is very important in my life as a student, because it is very influential in the society we live and study, and on the other side, it allows us a better comprehension of the world we are in. Technology configures communication, health, knowledge, information, politics, commerce, services, etc. And, inside this “technologized” society, cannot expect to learn about it without getting in close contact with technology.

The first time I was bitten by a Zombie

The first time I was bitten by a Zombie, I was nearby Santa Lucia Cliff. I, innocently, had came to a march of humans disguised as zombies... Or that's what I thought at first. I met with a friend. None of us had the time of disguising, so we looked just like humans, and that made us feel like losers. My friend carried a photograph camera, and photographed everyone, the bloody nanny, the zombie Frida Kahlo, the zombie Bernardo O'Higgins, the zombie Diego Portales, the zombie Caszely, the zombie lunatics and nurses, the zombie soldier... We even chased down a boy dressed with a box in his head, covered in a yellow face made of paper. In the middle of our persecution, we saw policemen carrying a man outside of the march. We followed them asking why he was going to be taken, and we heard that his blood was not made of ink, it was real. He actually, had broken a glass bottle and had cut his stomach in front of everyone. We were obviously told by policemen to go away, so, after taking several photographs, we kept going looking for the yellow-faced man, when I lost my friend. I told him to follow me because I had seen him, but he lost me, or I lost him. Anyway, I was alone and everything seemed a little more creepy. Even the Ice-cream seller was selling brains, kidney or liver ice creams. At that moment, we were just in Santa Lucía Cliff, and a lot of zombies began rolling down the cliff, throwing different parts of bodies around. It was when I began wondering if they were real zombies, a guy, grumbling, walked towards me and bit me. Then, he just kept walking. When, a lot of time later, I saw my friend again, I couldn't think of anything else than the taste of his blood, and I had to bite him, too.

To Think Green

There has always been an idea of "Progress" attached to Humanity. We can't avoid to think about the future with the hope of a exponential progress, growing and development. There were proof to think that way, the development of medicine made possible to raise significantly the life expectancy, to produce a lot more food (and a lot of stuff, too) than before, and, thanks to the commerce, to have a wide variety of very different and exotic things near you. Efforts are put researching how to produce more effectively, efficiently and efficacious. How to reduce illness and put a stop into death. How to get more and more pleasure and no harm. But somehow, things have gone backwards. Due to this anxious there has been made an incredible and continuous harm to the environment. Why would we need cars, cellphones, if we are severely ill as an effect of pollution? Why would we need all this progress if it is just leading us to self-destruction? Why are we just seeking for immediate pleasure, if when we grow old we won't be able to enjoy nature -nor anything, really-? As consumers I guess it is not our task to worry about the future. Otherwise, we can choose not to be only consumers, to be humans and to think about where are we living and how.

There is a very good movie called Koyaanisqatsi that makes you meditate about this issue. Its name comes from the Hopi Language, and it means "Life Out Of Balance". The music is incredibly performed by Philip Glass, and helps you to feel critical about the way things "are"...

Watch it!

Miners

Miners were rescued yesterday, after being trapped for nearly 3 months. Painful 3 months were if you turned on the TV, you rode the bus to attend to classes and you had forgotten your headphones, you turned on the radio, you would hear about them... Everywhere, it was the trend topic (just like twitter). I am not saying it is not a very shocking event. I am not saying that working conditions should be discussed more often than it is. But anyway, the media took this matter and made what they do best... They created kind of a reality show of it, making known every detail of the lives of every miner. I guess it is a strategy for getting the image of the miners closer to the audience, and a very good way of producing new material, but it can't be good to have all your life exposed because of an accident. To be famous, and make your family famous because of it. And on the other side the abusive use of patriotic signs... I can't understand how this accident could raise the appreciation of our country, and why is our flag and coat of arms everywhere now. This is not the country where 33 miners were rescued from death. It is a country were only this year 34 workers died, and if the government had failed rescueing, they would be 67. So how could we be proud of it? The focus should be there, and not in these new saints.

I hope this kind of accidents don't repeat. And I hope this soap opera doesn't continue.

Santiago

Sadly, most of places that I enjoyed going to are not the same anymore. As an example, Parque Almagro is not an option anymore because it's crowded of hobos and policemen. On the other side, Parque Forestal was really great when a fair was installed and you could buy music, movies and clothing really creap. You could also enjoy an ice-cream at "El Emporio de la Rosa" and watch juggling tricks, as well as learning and playing yourself, if you were able to. But now, the fair is almost gone, and the Park is crowded with policemen. You can still practice juggling tricks, though, just beside the "Museo de Bellas Artes". I miss the free performances of La Rompehueso (a chilean blues band) outside the subway, too.

I think I've replaced the joy of these places with strikes or "marchas", because I meet most of my friends (those who are not my classmates) and dance and sing with the bands of fanfare or "murga"... You can also scream a lot, and feel a little more civilian, conscient and activist. As long as a "marcha" is a party, I enjoy it.

Santiago is a beautiful city, but its beauty is very hidden. I think it is mostly in the ancient part of the city, like Santiago Concha neighbourhood, just beside the "República" subway station. Nearby is the Plaza Brasil, which is a very nice place, specially on the day, because there are a lot of kids playing around.

I would recommend Parque O'higgins and Plaza Bogotá only when there are singers or performances of any kind, because they are usually free and you can enjoy music and information with a lot of people. Also, both are really close to my place.

Movie I like most.

It's very difficult to me to precise which is my favourite movie. I can only guess that is the one I am going to watch next time. Anyway, one of the most beautiful movies I've ever saw was "Dead Man", directed by Jim Jarmusch, and stared by Johnny Depp. It has a western aesthetic, and a wonderful BSO played by Neil Young who really makes its guitar talk and tell us a story. Dead Man is the story of a shy man named "William Blake" (just like the poet) that in a certain moment of his life loses most of what gives sense to his life and finds a job in the other side of the country (from Cleveland to the town of MACHINE), but, when he arrives there, the position has already been occupied. He has nowhere to go, and begins a journey to become a real man, a dead man. He gets involved in a shooting, and the daughter of the boss of the industry of machine gets killed along with her previous fiancée. He is blamed of it, and has to run away, hurt. While running away he meets "Nobody" an Indian that teaches him his path: to make poetry with his gun.

PD: the most beautiful thing in this movie is the end, that actually, is told by the machine operator in the train, at the beginning of the movie. "Look out the window. And doesn't this remind you of when you were in the boat, and then later than night, you were lying, looking up at the ceiling, and the water in your head was not dissimilar from the landscape, and you think to yourself, "Why is it that the landscape is moving, but the boat is still?"

Mapuche Issue

The first thing I would like to say, is that Mapuches is bad spelled. If you analyze the word, you realize that there's no need for the plural, it would be like saying "peoples" when you're actually trying to say people, one people. Mapu means land, and Che means people. In fact, if you really think about it, we are all Mapuche, we all live over this very same planet, over this same land. Even if we didn't, most of us, Chileans, are Mapuche, or are sons, daughters, grandsons, grandaughters, grandgrandsons and grandgrandaughters... But it seems like there is a huge problem in the family, because most of Chilean people try not to think very much about these relatives. And I can't blame any of my mapuche relatives for not trying to think about our relationship, because my ancestors weren't really good to them. I think that Chilean people have a broken identity. But reconciliation is not easy, if we see in the news all the time the aggression between winka and mapuche. If you think about it, Winka aggression to Mapuche is a very silent one: For winka, mapuche do not exist, don't allowing Mapuche to live with the commodities that winka are used to, not allowing Mapuche live with the commodities they used to enjoy. To Mapuche is not that easy, they (or we?) can't pretend that winka do not exist, they attack them. And I am not saying that's bad, actually.

Italy

I would like to visit Italy, because my family comes from there. Italy is a country that was born from the revolution led by Garibaldi, because before of it, Italy was constituted by a lot of separated "states", but it would be more certain to call them independant cities. The most important were northern ones, like Genova, Venezia and Firenze. Most of them keep some medieval structures, even some keep their walls, like Lucca does, but most of them destroyed their walls because it didn't allow the city to grow. Some of them, like Roma keep their cathedrals, but completely surrounded by skyscrapers, so it looks very strange. On the other side, Pisa has the Leaning Tower surrounded by a huge countryside, where is a cementery and another cathedral. In that very Cathedral, Galileo Galileo studied oscilation in the movement of candelabra, and did a lot of experiments. On the other side, Venezia stays pretty much the same during all these years, with their "pontes" and their very thin streets. Instead of buses, the public transportation are the "vaporettos", medium sized ships that go through the canals carrying people just like buses do on a normal city, but you can also take "gondola" that are like Taxi, because you go alone or with a partner, and its a private service. When a couple takes a gondola, the driver usually sings and plays an instrument. It's a very beautyfull scene!

Who am I?

My name is Sol Vio. It's a weird name, but it allowed me to cheat on the doorman of my school when he recorded the delays, because he thought my name was "Silvia Díaz". It would be boring to be called like that, or like "Fernanda Orellana" which are my middle name and my Mother's maiden name -And it would be way longer, and I enjoy being a big star-. Anyway, I dream of buying a large ship and traveling everywhere, just like Björk does. In the meantime, I study "Administración Pública" in "Universidad de Chile". I enjoy talking about politics, psycology, sociology, so I guess I am a little boring. But on the other side, I love listening to music, especially Rock, Post Punk, and lately anything from Uruguay (like Jaime Roos, Jorge Drexler and Cuarteto de Nos), I guess its just because the way they talk. I don't like being at home, so I go out a lot. I love playing Taca-Taca and Pool, even if I am a disaster in both. I hope to have a nice semester and have fun at class.

My last semester

I had a nice semester, after all. I finished school and I began being a little more independent. And I began my first year at University, which has been really good. I've enjoyed learning exactly what I want, and not taking any more Biology or Physics classes. I've met a lot of new people, some have became my friends, and fortunately I've kept in touch with my friends out of the University. On the other side, I felt disappointed about how Politics are taken inside the University. And I hate not having a place to ourselves, It feels strange not to be in a campus, which was what I expected. Sadly, the earthquake changed that. I spent most of my time being with my ex-boyfriend, but, well, that's not one of my activities anymore. Also, I spent most of my time being ill with my asthma, so I didn't do any of the things I wanted to do, except studying. But I am not ill anymore, so I got a new job, and new activities, and new hopes :) So I am ready to begin this new semester.
Hope you all have a nice semester