Jeff Bliss's lesson!!!

        In this video the student Jeff Bliss made a brave observation toward his teacher. In my opinion, the attitude of Jeff Bliss wasn't wrong. He was absolutely right, when he referred to the education like the future of this nation and that the teacher has to touch students's heart. In The Passion Project Emily says, "I've been in many classrooms where the teacher just teaches and doesn't interact with the students much." No doubt, this is a valuable lesson, because some adults don't realize that they can learn from teens and even from kids, because they are more transparent in their feelings, and of course, most of the time they say what they feel without something to stop them.

         One thing that I don't like from this video, is the arrogant behavior of the teacher. I mean, how can be possible that this teacher being a professional and she is working with kids that are there to be taught, and instead of listen the commentary of one of her students, she was able to get it out of her class? And after this, she continue says to the student, that he is making to waste her time, and continuously she is pushing to the student to leave her class. Ray argues, "Students have to feel like they're at home so if they wanna be comfortable they gotta get comfortable with the teacher. We kinda have to know about the teacher and we gotta feel like the teacher is real, like he really or she or he or she really truly wants to help us" (The Passion Project.) I wonder after the student leave the classroom, what did she say to the rest of the students? Maybe, she justified her attitude, saying that the student with hippie's appearance had a behavior that was rude to her. That's why, she replied saying that he was making to waste her time, and for that reason she several times said bye as a sign for the student to leave her class.

Success to me is...

          Success can be defined in many ways, taking into account that reality can be interpreted differently for every human being. Also, all depend of the thoughts, ideas, goals, feelings, etc. But I think the two most important things are, culture and the way of growing up of each person. That is why, I really like the quote in the book The Last Hours of Ancient Sunlight that says, " Our minds and our cultures created our situation." In my case, a person from a country of the third world, success primordially is related with have money. If you don't have economic problems and have a lot of money, you can be considerate like a success person.

          Finding success in my own life was difficult, because the form of my growing up wasn't easy. Yes, I have my parents who gave me the needed supplies to continue through college, but for some reason I was missing something. I felt  like a present without a bow and a blank card. In order for me to find the sensation of success, I had to take one big decision, and that was leaving my country. I feel identified with the phrase of Romeo, "Society is like not doing its job because it has a high expectation for people to follow what other people are doing" (The Passion Project.) Growing up in a Latin atmosphere, where everyone thought and opined with a so old school, that is not motivating at all. I could not be me, without the criticism and negative feedback. I could never find someone to talk and understand my ideas or someone who thought outside of the box. That's why leaving Mexico gave me many reasons and motivations to find my true passion, in what I love doing and of course I have found some success in the United States.

         In my last years, I tried that success is always like a part of the task in my daily routine. Success is being true to your own self, without anybody tell you "well done." In my point of view, regardless success comes with humanity, with thoughts of honesty and less deception. Of course, problems never end, they are part of the life. Romeo argues, "Problems there's always problems we face. We can learn from it and rebuild our life and making better choices" (The Passion Project). Trying to include these thoughts in my daily life, trust me it's not an easy task. When you do incorrect things, the word success goes out of you, and you need to struggle again in order to find it. Therefore, it is a good idea, to have paradigms or admire someone as you would like to be, because that is a good motivation, but I think is better to be yourself trying to reach your own success.

I'm still here!!!

         One strategy for me is, persistency. It is hard work for me, to go to school and have a regular job, but I think that this is the best inversion of effort that I can make. I'm pretty sure that in the future, I will be thankful for all those nights without any sleep, because I was making my homework. In the book Into the Wild Hathaway talks about Chris, "He didn't get into trouble, he was a high achiever, he did what he was supposed to" p.114 In my case, sometimes I get discouraged, because I doubt my ability. But I don't want to continue working in a regular job, because I know that I had the ability to finish college in my country. That is why, I am still here trying to get my equivalency. 


        Another strategy for me is, keeping myself focused. If we know where we want to go, we don't have to get distractions. I have known some friends who leave school to find a job, and   after they begin to work, they lose their interest in their studies, because they feel that it is more important to have money. In the Passion Project Emily says, "We still have that mindset where we need money to survive. Oh, I have money I can buy a plasma T.V. I can buy a uh a king size bed, a water bed." In this point of view, I understand them, because when you are young, you want to have money to buy a car, take your girlfriend to the movies, etc. But after this happen, they find out that it is more difficult to return to school. Therefore, if we are already here at school, we have to overcome all obstacles in order to finish college, later we will have a better job.

          And the last strategy to me is, to make an extra effort. Sometimes, I feel like my thoughts begin to fade, but at the same time I remember my boss that sometimes is screaming at me, because he is under pressure. And of course, I do not want to spend the rest of my life in my current job, I want to do something to have a different future. In the book Into the Wild the author argues, "To symbolize the complete severance from his previous life, he even adopted a new name. No longer would he answer to Chris McCandless; he was now Alexander Supertramp, master of his own destiny" p.23 If we have a dream in our lives, we must do all possible to reach it. Currently, in my own life with obstacles like I have, they keep me motivated to pursue my dream of one day I can get my degree in UCSJ. Therefore, it is important to do everything that I can to be here at school, despite some moments I feel that this is too much. 

Christopher Johnson McCandless

          The first relation that I can see with this book and with the direction that we are going in class is, a piece very important which is our family. The formation of personality of every human being start in the family. In my opinion the parents can be responsible of emotional problems in their children, and this is one cause why young people want to run away from their family looking for some freedom. This is because one of the emotional responses of a person with some psychological trauma may have, is this person feels that their parents do not understand it. Chris used to take refuge with her sister, like the book says on page 107, "I think it was one of the reasons Chris and I were so close. We learned to count on each other when Mom and Dad weren't getting along." In my case, I lived a difficult childhood. I needed to pay for the inexperience of my parents. They were always more understanding to my younger brother, with him they were more patient when he made a mistake. Instead, with me my parents were very demanding and that motivated me to run to this country. On page 61 of the book it says, "It is also true that, in some instances, trauma, in the shape of early separation or bereavement, has steered the potentially creative person toward developing aspects of his personality which can find fulfillment in comparative isolation." That is why, is very important that if we want a better future to our societies around of the world and specially in this country, we need to start to have love in our closest core that it is the family.

          The second relation that I can see with this book and with the direction that we are going in class is, the education. Parents have to make an effort to send their children to college. But before this happen, they need to provide them with love and compression. In the case of Chris nothing of this was related to the reason that motivated it to go to Alaska, it was simply a desire like the book says on page 159, "He said it was something he'd wanted to do since he was little, says Stuckey. Said he didn't want to see a single person, no airplanes, no sign of civilization." But in my opinion, we are not prepare to live in nature like Chris wanted do it, we first need to remember the form of living or our ancestors. Humanity already forgot this form of living. In these times, we have everything at hand. On the same page it says, "He wanted to prove himself that he could make it on his own, without anybody else's help." Chris did not think that all humans need others, is a bit selfish to think this way. At some point in our lives, we will always need the help of others, and if our governors start to work in the way that they have to work, our societies will be better than today.
          
          And the third relation that I can see with this book and with the direction that we are going in class is, our mentality. We as students must change our mentality if we feel that we can't finish college, and guide this change to our success, whatever it is . Like Chris did it, because he finished his studies. Chris had a way of thinking very liberal, like he evidenced in one of his letters, "The joy of life comes from our encounters with new experiences, and the hence there is no greater joy than to have and endlessly changing horizon, for each day to have a new and different sun" (page 57). The mentality of Chris was very different, he was looking for adventure, he wanted to get out of the monotony. He was looking for his freedom, freedom that he didn't have with the pressure of his parents. In the movies there is a quote that says, "The freedom and simple beauty is just too good to pass up..." He wanted to live spontaneous events, but the sad thing was, that it led him to his dead. We have to think like realistic people, if we live in these urban societies, we have to accept  the conditions in which we are and not looking for freedom into the wild.    

Andrade video response...

          This video made me think about that the government of this country should put more effort on the population's education. Because the education is an excellent way of warranty to a good future for this nation. People must be prepare to contribute to have a prospers country. Basically, I'm a foreign person, but this country received me with open arms, with a lot of opportunities which I don't want to waste them. It certainly is a double challenge for me, because English is my second language, but I don't want to be a deal breaker. I want to continue with my education because I already finished college in Mexico. What I'm trying to do is an equivalent to the degree that I got in my country, which is Informatics Systems. I want to go to San Jose State University, because they have the degree in Concentration in Management Information Systems, and they sent me here to this Community College to complete four transfers.

          Also this video make me think about my friends. I have a lot of Latino friends that they were brought to this country when they were only babies. They have been struggling with their education, because they didn't have a legal status to live in this country. Therefore, they did not have the same opportunities like others students. If we want some changes in the policies of the law of this country, we need to fight for it, like Thom Hartmann argues in the book The Last Hours of Ancient Sunlight, "Political parties can bring about such transformation only if we, in massive numbers, join them, embrace them, and ultimately gain a powerful and decisive voice in their policy-making and selection of candidates" p.343 Now, with the Dream Act singed for the president Obama, the possibilities of students without legal status changed, because they were making many campaigns to get this privilege. The other day, I found my friend Carlos Torres in the gym. He was very excited because he was just approved for the Dream Act. He showed me his driver's license with such happiness. I want to let you guys know that my friend Carlos is studying at UC Berkeley. No matter the legal situation of the people out there, there are pretty intelligent people, including the children brought to this country when they were only babies. Thom Hartmann says, "Kennedy challenged us to think of our children's future before own, to create change that could be lasting, to build a new world that could sustain itself and yet protect its valuable resources" p.139  Personally, I didn't have this problem, because I have my legal status. But of course, that situations like these, motivate me to take advantage of my situation, because I am pretty sure that many people still living in this country without this benefit.

         
Three questions I came up with reference to Andrade's video are:

Why the index of delinquency in Oakland is very high?
Do we have to let others start to do something about it?
What we can do for our community, for this country?

Video Related with what we are doing!!!

What is the relationship between passion and poverty?

       

          
          The first relationship between passion and poverty, I relate it to the conditions under which I was born. I was born in a middle class family. When I was a child I wasn't poor, but there were limitations in my family. I always wanted to grow up fast to get a job and to get whatever I wanted. In the embedded video and it's called The Most Motivating Video for Success says, "We are the results of our thoughts and actions." I remember that I wished to have a bicycle of the brand GT, but I never had it because my parents had other priorities. I mean, I was a kid full of wishes. One of my passions was to have money, so I could buy everything I wanted. In this country full of opportunities, we don't have to limit ourselves. 

          The second thought that I had over the relationship between passion and poverty was about encouragement. I think when you are child and you don't have the amenities you wanted, this is a good reason that motivates you to struggle to get them. In the embedded video and is related to these post, there is a quote that says, "Decide what you want and go after it with everything you got." My dad always told me, you need to go to school, that way you are going to be able to have a good job and also, you are going to be able to get whatever you want. Maybe, if I was born as a rich kid I wouldn't have too many needs or too many passions.

How does the movie of Passion Project speak to me?

          The first thought that I had after seeing the movie was that some people are really lucky, because they are good in what they love, like athletes, artists, actors of Hollywood, etc. They are doing something that they like to do, In the embedded video Steve Jobs argues, "If you don't love it, if you don't have fun doing it, you don't really love it, you are gonna give up! and that's what happen to most people." But when we are not athletes or famous people, and we are doing something that is not our passion. We have to make an extra effort to learn to enjoy what we are doing in our lives. Everyone has the desire to do something, but sometimes not all wishes are possible to reach them!

          The second thought that I had was, how can I define passion? Passion to me is, something that makes you live, something you enjoy, something you wish that never end, is like a force that makes you struggle to get what you desire. In the Passion Project Samira says, "Passion is a desire to do, or accomplish, or feel love without...without any barriers." One of my passions is to drive. I mean, drive long distances, get out of the city, get out of the routine. It is like if I get some freedom when I do this. A couple of times before, I drove my car to Mexico to visit my parents. I am talking about of 2150 miles. And the longest driving that I've had in United States was, from Hayward, CA to Wausau, WI. Because I have three uncles that live over there. It was almost 38 hours of driving, but I really love it.

          

          Another thing that make me to live with passion is, to visit my country, Mexico. Every time that I go back to Mexico, I feel a big emotion. I have my parents over there, so that is my biggest reason to go.This is a big difference between Christopher McCandless and me, because I went away from my family looking for my independency in this country, but I still having a good relationship with my parents. In the book Into the Wild the author says, "It was pretty obvious he didn't get along with his family, but he never said much about any of them except Carine, his little sister" p.63 One of the most important things for me is, that I have many things to talk with my parents, especially that many of my dreams have come true and I've realized that my decision to come to this country was not erroneous. Another great thing that I will tell my parents, is that I am still in college and I'm sticking with my goal to get my equivalency valid in the USA. Even though my parents don't show their emotion , I know they are proud to have a son like me.