Thursday, December 2, 2010

 How will you begin, in order to catch our attention and introduce us to your topic?
probably, by asking the question: "do you think there are aliens in the united states?, have you ever seen one?". after that probably explain what do i mean by aliens?, and ask if they know why immigrants are called like  that?


- What is the central argument you make in your essay and how will you present it to us?
My main argument is about how the U.S. is able to influence mexico, by immigration.

- What are a few key pieces of evidence that support your argument, and how will you describe and present them?
boycotts, marches, etc, that immigrants have done before, and still, many of them have been deported.
talk about the amounts of money that mexicans send to mexico, and how this help its economy, how mexico is "growing"....  and mexico is on the main country that receives the biggest amont of money annually in latin america.
{...}
- What is your visual element, and how will you work it into your presentation? Remember that you'll want to do more than just show us something - you want to talk about what it shows us.U.S. can control almost anything!!!., for example, mexico's economy, and the U.S. can "kick out" mexican immigrants if they want to, at any time.
I think this image works perfectly, to show about remitances....
- What do you think makes for an effective oral presentation? What makes you want to listen? What can you do to achieve these qualities?

i think that the person who gives a speech has to talk loud, so the person that is listening, can understand clearly.
also, the person that is talking should do it on an average speed, not so fast neither too slow, because he/she can cause that the presentation may be boring, or apparently too long.
Other thing that makes me listen to a person is when a person talks about something interesting. :]

Sunday, November 14, 2010

essay 2 [draft]

Did racism exist during the vietnam war? Well, during the time of the war in vietnam racism was present dividing american soldiers on basis of race, gender, and also depending on their "wisdom and/or intelligence". This caused different reactions on different people who probably were agaisnt the war, such as, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., and people protesting, including the soldiers themselves.

"So we have been repeatedly faced with the cruel irony of watching negro and white  boys on TV screens as they kill and die together for a nation that has been unable  to seat them together in the same schools" , was told by Martin Luther King Jr. during a speech called "Beyond Vietnam: a time to Break Silence " which he gave on April 4, 1967, and he mentioned Vietnam in his speech because he was a preacher and was part of his moral, and also because he saw a connection between the war in vietnam and the struggle that he and others have been carrying on in America. {...}

Thursday, October 21, 2010

-my choice is Mexico, my main points to focus on: Immigration that basically, the main group are the Mexicans who came to the U.S. to work, how it started, why it started, when it started, on a source that i found on jstor.org says that migration started during the Chinese exclusion, when the Americans were looking for new employees that could work as a replacement. It's been said that it began at th beginning ot the 20th century.



[map that shows the territory that
one day belonged to Mexico]

-the Mexican-American war, that occurred from 1846 to 1848, which caused the annexation of Texas and other territories, on that war was involved Antonio Lopez De Santa Anna (dictator) .










 

     -NAFTA: is an agreement signed by the governments of Mexico, the united states and Canada, [but as my research paper is based on the relationship between Mexico and the U.S., I'm gonna exclude Canada]
The agreement became validated in january, 1, 1994.
It was signed by the leaders of ech of these three countries during that time, from the U.S president George W. bush, mexican president Carlos Salinas, and canadian prime minister Brian Mulroney.

Thursday, October 14, 2010

oct. 14th

Today i started looking for sources that may help me on my research paper. Ex: Jstor.org , laguardia's library, and i also used wikipedia to look for more (direct) sources.



http://www.jstor.org/stable/40184809?  "social capital, social policy, migration from traditional communities an new communities with origin in Mexico"

This link (^) is very useful because the main point of it is immigration form Mexico to the U.S., what really happened, and why and when Mexicans started immigrating to the united states.I found it interesting because i did not really know the history behind immigration between these two countries.
     It says that migration between Mexico and the U.S. started at the beginning of the 20th century, when americans went to mexico looking for employees to replace asians, during the chinese exclusion, in the U.S.
The mexican migration rate increased rapidly as job/work demand went "up" in the U.S. during the World War I, it reached high (record) levels during the decade of 1920.

http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/detail?vid=3&hid=13&sid=741d4498-237d-466a-baa3-290a108b0e7d%40sessionmgr10&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#db=a9h&AN=9509271120
"NAFTA takes a beating"

this article is about NAFTA, how does it affect Mexico's economy; the relationship between Mexico and the united states (economically talking).

Monday, October 11, 2010

In the film "Hearts & Minds" we got different voices that not only agreed with the war in Vietnam, we got voices that opposed  the war... people from both sides, U.S. and Vietnam. I found very interesting that Peter Davis included both sides of the war, because we can see what Vietnamese really had to say, we could see it and hear it directly from their mouths, and not from "Americans' mouths", that change or skip parts of the reality to "cover" things they do not want to make public. The voices from the people that live in Vietnam really make an impact on me, because I never knew the main reason of the war in Vietnam (..and still i do not get it..), and i think it is because the U.S. did not have a good reason to fight and kill innocent people, including children.
Something that I didn't expected to hear was that the pilots from the (U.S.) Air force did not know where exactly they were throwing the bombs, or chemicals at, they did not know if there was people, animals, houses, etc. on the ground, they were doing it "blindly" according to one of the pilots, (but I do not know ifi should believe him or not, because i think that everyone knows the purpose of war...).
Also, Peter Davis included many strong images (videos, and pictures) including the one where the little kid (on white) was hugging probably his father's picture, and crying, while he was buried.
The Vietnam War exemplifies the escalation of a civil war to an international war, as an effect of Cold War politics, marked by insecurity and distrust. As Vietnam turned into a quagmire, intellectuals and bureaucrats were forced to revaluate their ideology and policy. The Vietnamese conflict comprised the final assault on international stability. It is ironical then, that the warring sides claimed to be fighting to preserve stability and security

Thursday, September 30, 2010

Mexico

-Why are you interested in this country and its relationship to the U.S?

I chose Mexico, because it is a country that has so much history, it is also part of me, part of my life.
I'm interested in learning more about it, i know some history but not as much as i wish.
A country that had to fight for its independence, (as some others), including the United States of America.
Mexico is a country that has so much to do with the U.S. and its history. For example, when Texas achieved its independence from Mexico, to form its own government, but later on, the U.S. annexed it, including some other states like California, and New Mexico, so I would like to cover that time in my essay, and also the current time, because of the economy, how do both countries affect each other (positively/negatively).


-How do you think people from this country and the U.S come into contact with each other: through immigration, migration, war, cultural exchange, economic exchange, or something else?

 I think Mexicans have come into contact with Americans, because both countries are close to each other.
They also came into contact during the Mexican-American war, and it was for the territory that the U.S annexed (as i mentioned before).
Also, there exist a international border between them and it is the most frequently crossed in the world according to -"Borders and Law Enforcement". U.S. Embassy Mexico. -
Mexico is also home of the largest number of U.S. citizens abroad. The U.S. is also home of many Mexicans, that come here to get and give a better life, and i think immigration is a great topic that MUST be included in my essay, because it surely affects both. 






-Talk about what you noticed in your wikipedia entry.....?
....and also what source might be useful form the notes to your wikipedia  entry?

I think Wikipedia is helpful to start, because it gives you the "basic" information, or sometimes very detailed,
but always you can keep looking through it, and find what are you looking for. Wikipedia gives you sources that shows you where the information comes from (to make it more accurate).
I found this link http://www.gob.mx/wb/egobierno/egob_General_Information     that can be really helpful for my research paper about mexico, because it is the official site of the Government of Mexico, that has statistics and facts about mexico and its govenrment .

Thursday, September 23, 2010

A SMALL PLACE :}



Jamaica Kincaid, is a native Antiguan  girl, who describes her feelings towards tourism/tourists, in her book called "A small place".  In it talks about tourism and its consequences that affect her country, such as the economy, culture, government, etc.
The way she expresses about tourists, is obvious that she does NOT like them, well, in general she does NOT agree with tourism; and it is totally comprehensible because i have prior experiences coming to Manhattan when I take the Staten Island Ferry.




opportunities and trade. 



Kincaid mentioned about the airport that has the name of Antigua's  prime minister, and she asks herself , the why? of not putting HIS name  on a school or a hospital?
so she answers to her own question, and it is because the schools are nothing else but (literally) "basic schools", and hospitals? well, they are not in their best condition either.
So that is why the prime minister prefers to put his "venerable" name on an airport that probably is more "presentable" than any other state property.
But, why spending a big amount of money in airport(s) and not in schools and hospitals?
probably because the airport is the place where tourists arrive, and it is the first thing they are going to see once they are on the ground, so Antigua has to give the best "first impression" to their guests.


Tourists may travel to a foreign country to see new things, to have new experiences. They want to meet different people to the ones they are used to see everyday; perhaps be in a place where they may see themselves different to the rest of their ordinary life.

Certainly, they try to avoid any stress that may be caused by the life they have in their "own" habitat.
Tourists get motivated by the place they are going to visit, and because it is also a way of relaxing after long months, weeks, days, and hours of work, it may also be a great opportunity to spend time with their loved ones.

Apparently, tourists seem like to observe very carefully every single detail around them, but are they really?
In my opinion, they just see what they want to see, nothing else further. As Kincaid mentioned in her book,
-""you see a beautiful boy skimming the water, godlike on a windsurfer.You see an incredibly unattractive, fat, pastrylike fleshed man; you see the pleasure they're taking in their surroundings"-  but were they seeing her? were tourists really seeing the things around them? the people around them? as she said, the just see themselves, and all the "beauty", the "exterior" but they never see what may be "inside", inside of the country, inside of the governmet, inside of every individual,
They do not realize that while they are enjoyin a beautiful view some of us have to go to places for example our work, school, social gatherings etc.
As we know, tourism affects "our" economy in many aspects, some of them for good, some not so good. Sometimes the places visited by tourists are benefited or harmed. For example they bring money to the city so we can have magnificent parks, schools, hopitals and everything the city needs for its public places, but it does the contrary for us the residents, who have to slow down to their pace, for example while they stand around admiring I have to wait until they are done to get through, which annoys me because the simple fact that they delay the ferry and/or other ways of transportation for a couple of minutes.
It also has a huge impact in culture, for example in Mexico, they do not celebrate Halloween, well, at least they did not celebrate it during that time, Mexicans have something called "dia de muertos" that is when they celebrate the death, they did not use customs, but now? they do not celebrate it as before, now people care more about customs than anything else, they do not care about cooking for their loved ones that passed away.
Another example is that children never asked for gifts to "Santa Claus",  now that is what Christmas
 means for kids, and  those are traditions that were brought from the U.S., and other foreign countries.

Sometimes, I just ask myself, if tourists feel the same way, when we go and "invade" their territory?
Kincaid argued in a passage that traveling is a privilege for "the rich to enjoy" but if you think about it, is not about how much money you have, because you do not need an extreme amount of money only affordable to the rich, middle class and even lower class can afford a vacation but it only takes them more time and effort to reach their goal


Tourism has become one of the world’s largest industries. The industry has gone some way to addressing 

some environmental concerns but is not eager to address the social, cultural and economic issues, particularly

 in relation to developing countries in order to protect its commercial interest.

The reason for travelling has changed more into leisure and relaxation instead of exploring new business 

Thursday, September 16, 2010

Just like many of us....


Lucy is about a young girl that came to the united states thinking and hoping that her life here was going to be better than the life she had in her native country, but once she "stepped on the ground" she noticed that nothing was just like "people" said.
Lucy came during winter, (for most of the people is really depressing seeing "dead" trees, days that the sun does not come out, or even if the sun is present we still can feel the coldness of the wind.) she was used to live in a warm/hot place, where probably the sun was there everyday, or at least most of the time.
Her life became a routine.
She had to lie to her family, about how nice and beautiful everything was, how comfortable she was.



Lucy's story is similar to many others, including mine. For some people this decision of moving far, far away from their country may be the best decision. In my case, I'm still regretting the  day i decided to come to the united states, even though i was born here, i live most of my life in Mexico, with my grandparents, i think i didn't need anything, not even my parents, i just came here because my parents told me that i had to learn the language, and to have a "better education", but they never thought about what i really wanted.
Thankfully, i found amazing people that make me feel better, and for them is that i try to enjoy the time I'm here, and i just hope one day I'll be where i belong...  :]










        [Television, internet, and people sometimes make you believe that life in the United States is "PERFECT" ,
that you can have anything you may want, everything you wish to have. Some people think that money "grows on trees"... and most of the time that is the reason people decide to come.]