Who’s a bicentennial Chilean?

Are Bernardo O'Higgins or José Miguel Carrera the real historical heroes of the nation? What the media and the government celebrate? Who are the important Chileans for them? It is bicentenary or tricenterary? Who decides who’s a real Chilean?



I think there are three main point we need to answer this questions: The image of the government of the bicentenary, the image of the media of the bicentenary and who is left out in this vision of the bicentenary year.

It’s common to think that the government vision is something like the “official discourse”. Something like if they were the truth itself. They do official ceremonies and remember the “historical heroes of the nation” like Bernardo O’Higgins or Arturo Prat. They try to transform this people on gods. Statues, monuments, streets with their names, etc. They build an image of this people like their were superheroes. For me they are just people with a lot of power like O’Higgins. Who wants the independence of Chile just for having more power. He wants to build just another colony. Or people like Prat that for me is a simple soldier who fights against our friendly nations.



Now the media do something similar. They show us TV. shows of the “heroes of the nation” and they contribute to make this false image of “heroes”. On the news this year for example. They just remember this few people that for me isn’t the most important one, like I said, they were just people with power or simple soldiers. For they aren’t the “heroes” they just reproduce this idea of colonialism and imperialism.

I think that with this vision of the “official heroes” a lot of people is left out. For example the mapuche people. I mean media or government mention them, but the heroes that are on TV shows or government ceremonies aren’t the mapuche people.

I think we have to be very careful with the images that the government and the media show to us. I mean we don’t have to believe all what they said. There’s not a “real chilean” or something like “heroes”. I think all the people of this country are heroes. The simple Chilean is equally or more important than Prat or O’Higgins. We are all part of the construction of this nation called Chile.

Money money money

First of all, I would not like to won the lottery. For me a lot of money is a synonymous of troubles and a abnormal life. Not real friends appear to ask you for money. And the most important thing for me is that money distort the meaning of life. I think that if you win the lottery all in your life will refer to money.

Anyway... If I won the lottery I would like to help my family and pay my entire university debts. To be more independent and. Obviously I would like to gave some money to them so they can spend it in wathever they want.

After that i would like to buy some interesting guitar and juggling stuff. I Have always wanted to buy an special amplifier for my guitar that is very expensive. It’s name is “Fender Twin Reverb”. It’s have a blues sound with the perfect amount of reverb to make your guitar sound like an old rock and roll.

In Juggling stuff I would love to buy an unicycle. They are expensive about 80 chilean “lukas”. I would like to have one to make more interesting my “semáforo” routines.

Finally I would love to use a lot of money in an artistic/social project. I imagine something like a free Circus School for all the children that can not pay anothers circus workshops.

Green? I think it’s gray

We live in a gray city. Santiago is full of concrete, a lot of noise and pollution. So I think people isn’t very green here.

The main way for me to learn about be friendly with the enviroment is talking with my friends. I have a vegan friend, his name is Dani Opazo. He teach me a lot of things about the enviroment. He doesn’t eat meat and animal products. But also he is always worried about be friendly with the enviroment. He came to university by bike and he’s always worried about no producing unecessary garbage.

Here in Santiago i’m not green enough. I don’t use a bike or my legs to go to university. And i don’t incorported recycling into my habits.

But when I lived in Curicó, from 1993 to 2008 I was a little more green. In Curicó you can walk to everywhere to school, to downtown, to your friends houses, etc. Because Curicó is a Little city is more easy to be green. There are easy access green points where you can take some of your garbage and recycle it. Definitely Curicó is a green city.

I think is hard to be green in Santiago. I think Santiago is sentenced to be a gray city. It’s hard because there are long distances, too much people and in this city people have no time to be green! Work+School+University+LongDistances=No time=GrayCity!

Welcome to the miners reality show!

Now the miners are free… there is a concern on me… Will the press convert this in a reality show? Just make money and take adventage of the situation? Will the politicians just take adventage of this and convert the miners in a mediatical circus to gain popularity?

I think this will unfortunatilty convert in a mediatical circus. Just a money machine. After the miners have medical cheks and see their families the press will squeeze them, make shows, interviews, reports, and make them another showbiz star.



The press isn’t worried about the miners and his life. They just want to make more and more money of the situation.

Besides the press the politicians will take adventage of the miners. They will convert this in a political catapult to gain popularity. I think thhat they are happy no because the miners are safe… they are happy because they are sure that the people buys very easy the super heros ID that they are trying to sell.



Finally and behind all this grey situation that I built (jajaja) there are lights and colors! Yes! The people they are the colors behind. I want to talk about Luis Urzua the most experienced miner. He becomes an example of leadership and integrity. I think he has a strong mind. I Hope he doesn’t fall deep in the hell of the mediatical circus that the press pretends to make off them.

Hot-dogs. Juggling. And good Chilean Rock!

Do you want to spend a good day in Santiago? Wanna know some non-tipical things to do in this city? You don’t have a lot of money? I would give you some tips to have a great day in Santiago mixing some culture with good and cheap food!

First of all you have to know how to get to the places that i’m going to explain. For me the fastest and easy way to get to them is by metro. Go to the green line of the metro this is the “línea 5”. Go to “plaza de armas” metro estation here is our first stop: Portal Fernandez Concha. In this place you can buy some delicious and cheap food. The speciality in this place are the hot-dogs “italianos”. You can buy them in a combo that contain the hot-dog, some french fries and a soda. It is a very delicious and cheap lunch.

After you have lunch is time to do something special in this grey city. You can take the metro again to “Bellas artes” station or you can walk to do some excercise after thehigh calorie hot-dogs. The place is “Parque Forestal”. Whats the especial thing of this place? If you are in Santiago on the weekend you can see the jugglers that practice here. It is a very beautiful spectacle to see a lot of artists united making their arts.



After this beautiful afternoon is time to finish the day with some good chilean rock! Go to metro “Baquedano” and walk to “bellavista” here you can find places like “Sala SCD” or “Bar purísima” where chilean bands of garaje rock like Guiso or Ramires play frequently. It is an excellent way to finish a good day in Santiago! With some good rock and roll!

England

The country that I would like to go is England. Why this country? That makes this country a place that I would love to visit are a lot of things that have a strong connection with some of my hobbies.

England is famous for its monuments, castles, and many historical/military things. But I don’t feel very interested in that part of the well-famous England. They are the most common reasons for people to visit this country.

How I said at the beginning of this topic. I like England for specific things that are very connected with my hobbies. The main reason for me is the British music. My favorite band is from England… THE BEST HARD ROCK BAND EVER: DEEP PURPLE. Ian Gillan on lead vocals, Jon Lord on keyboard, Ian Paice on Drums, Ritchie Blackmore on guitar(for me the best guitar player of the world) and Roger Glover on bass guitar.



I play guitar on some bands: “Chili Bomb”, “Pikin” and “El Parche Curita de Rock” so music is one my favorite hobbies. And British music influences me and my band mates a lot. For me specially the music of Ritchie Blackmore and Deep Purple. So in England I would like to buy some records of Deep Purple and other British music. Like the gods of blues and rock&roll called Ten Years After. I would love to buy a guitar or some good amplifier of the best brands in the world that are in England.

The good music and guitar gear… They are my main reasons to visit England the country of the very best of Rock and Roll.

Deep Purple - Child in Time

Hola hoola

Hi there! This is my first blog of the semester and I’d like to talk about my experiences during the first term of 2010. First of all I want to talk about some interesting things I learn last semester. I’d like to talk about some subjects that were very interesting. Psychopathology was a very good way to notice what i DON’T wanna be as a psychologist jaja. Because they don’t see at the people as they are… PEOPLE. They look at them as objects. Like a scientist look at a mouse.

Some other activities that I do last semester was learn a lot of circus arts. I learn a lot of juggling. Some chinese poles acrobatics. A Little things about clown and very important things about group work at the circus.

In the sport area I practice soccer. I play it some Fridays with my best friends. After class we meet at the “Calama” field and play some soccer.

As a challenge I would like to improve my circus skills. Learn more about jugglin’ I mean new tircks and some passes with friends. And I would like to learn more about psychology to be more critic about my discipline.

Here is a video of Vova Galchenko… For me the best juggler in the world.