Looking back at the notebook journal

          At first, since I had never used a journal, it was a little difficult to express myself in the notebook. In the past, I usually kept things to myself and did not talk them with anybody. By doing this journal for the class, it taught me that sometimes in life you do not have to keep things to yourself because every person has the right to liberate themselves from what is disturbing or affecting their daily life. This journal opened that path for me to know that by writing what bothered me or just talk about my day, could indeed relax me a little from the daily tension of the university or other problems that I might have.

          In this journal I talked about many things, and I actually think that I might have expressed myself more than usual. Sometimes I arrived from the university and was full of stress so I took the notebook and started writing all that was in my head and when I finished it felt good to let it out of my system. I think the primary objective of the journal exercise was for us students to write about what firsts came to our minds and when we got the hang of it, we actually write more than the first time and about deeper things to find our inner self.

          When we started doing this journal in august, I was passing through difficult times, this I rather not express publicly, and by doing this journal I did find a little about myself and confirmed others. First of all, I confirmed that I’m a very stressful person. I wrote many times about having stress and not being able to control it, something I’m working on at the present. I also found out that being a reserved person is not always good, that sometimes letting things out it’s the best way to feel better. Feeling relieved by talking about things that torment me through the day, let me know that there are other options apart from keeping all to myself.

Since this journal helped me finding out things of me, I took advantage of it and some days wrote on the notebook 2-3 entries per day at different hours and it helped me pass through a tough day. I think this journal did me well, at first what I talked before about helping me find a little about my inner self and then helping me pass through difficult days without having stress thoughts that hold me from having a normal day. Apart from class, I will keep doing this exercise for my own good since it helped, writing what first comes to my mind and letting it all out to feel more relaxed.

Internal journey through dreams

     I usually dream every night and remember most of them. I have 3 kinds of dreams: first, the wish-forefeeling one which I dream when I wish something specific happens, second is the one that you dream and a couple of days/weeks later happens, and the random dreams like a falling dream. On my exercise of writing my dream on the journal it was a very successful one. I woke up at 11:10 am that afternoon and my notebook was beside me so that I had no interruption of my dream. As soon as I became aware that I was awake I started writing what I remembered. The more clear dream that I had was one of an interview that was given to me by GE Capital, a very well known company in the US and worldwide. The interview went very well and I did it as I would like it to happen with a clear and strong conversation with the interviewer. I relate this dream with the experience I had a couple of days before at a job fair at the university. I think this dream is a wish-forefeeling one since a dreamed what I would most like to happen in the fore coming months that I will be expecting a call for an interview. Having this interview in real life would be a dream come true since it is the company that I most liked in the job fair.

Reaction on the first two sections of A Small Place

        Living for my whole 20 years in Puerto Rico makes me think similar to the author of the novel, Jamaica Kincaid. The similarities are that we both come from a small island in the Caribbean Sea, both countries where empowered at first by a European country and both rulers enslaved the citizens of the island, both where colonies at the time of enslavement, and neither, Puerto Rico and Antigua, has proper identity because of the reasons mentioned above.

        I do, in some way, feel envy towards the tourist that comes to Puerto Rico and only sees the good side of it without knowing how hard has been to be where we are now as a country. First being ruled by the Spanish, then going to the power of the United States, I do feel the same as Kincaid because my country also knows how difficult a transition has been from the days of slavery to the present where it does not exist. As Antigua, Puerto Rico also has its wealthy side and a very poor side, although much of the population is middle class. Reading Jamaica Kincaid’s words made me feel as if we Puerto Ricans are not alone in this problem of tourist satisfaction in an island where there are many problems that they do not even know they exist.

A Small Place (Sec. 1 & 2)

      

       The short novel by Jamaica Kincaid, A Small Place, first talks about the readers experience on her homeland from the moment they arrive to the airport, to what they confront in their way to the hotel. By Kincaid’s description, the tourist witnesses the beauty of the island in this path towards the hotel, but at the same time describes how this perception is very different from those who reside in the island because they have a much harsher reality to live with. The reality the author describes is that of poverty, but to the tourist the island shows wealth, or at least a stable economy, because the cab drivers have very expensive cars. Finishing the section, Kincaid says that the residents view tourists with envy because they have the ability to turn their own banality and boredom on the island, into a source of pleasure.

       

       The next section of Kincaid’s novel talks about her memories of the old Antigua, which was a colonial possession of Great Britain by the time. The author describes such in kind a rage because of the many humiliations the Antiguans had to go through. She emphasizes how Antiguans had not a proper identity because they talked the language of those who enslaved them in the past. I think Kincaid’s purpose of the first two sections is for the tourist to not be an ignorant and think that what he or she sees is all the island has, there is much more behind what the tourist sees.  

Tourism in Puerto Rico

     Well, being a resident in the island makes me have different opinions from some tourist that comment on the island after visiting. First, let me talk about the negative comments, starting with crime in the island. Crime is a huge problem here in Puerto Rico, every week hundreds of people are killed, and many by pure joke. Recently there have been many cases of domestic violence which brings more drama to the everyday news. Talking as a citizen of Puerto Rico, I admit it is frightening how horrible the crime is in here, you can't event walk alone outside the university at night without being scared of getting assaulted.

     As for the positive comments about the island, I can say with pride to a tourist that "I live where you vacation." I love saying that phrase. This island is full of beauty. We have the one and only tropical rain forest called El Yunke, one of the best hotels on the world in Dorado and in Vieques, and we have beautiful beaches like Flamenco in Culebra which is in the top 3 most beautiful beaches in the world. Those, and many other things, are to be proud of in the island. All the positive feedback on the island attracts more tourists which makes the island more presentable and also helps the economy since we are living in such hard times.

     For my personal opinion as a Puerto Rican, I will always have my pride towards the flag where I was born in. Everywhere I go I will always have in my heart all the good memories I had during my youth in the island. Personally, when I grow up and become independent I would not live here knowing how bad the criminality is here, but I would recommend the island to all the people I know from outside Puerto Rico because it's a great place to have a vacation. Many people judge Puerto Rico by what others say, and do not take the time to come here and explore all it's beauty. I exhort each and every one of you that are not from here to come and see for yourself how beautiful an island it is. Visitor's must be sure to leave costly belongings in the hotel when going somewhere but other than that there is not much to worry about because criminals do not go for the tourist in this island so visitors can be relaxed about that.

Dead Poets Society: Character internal & external journeys

The film Dead Poets Society is full of hidden messages, and each main character contributes to these messages that the movie tries to express to its viewers. For my blog on a character’s internal and external journey throughout the film I chose Neil Perry. Neil was Todd Anderson’s roommate at Welton Academy. He came from a normal family and was the only member to have the opportunities he had, attending such a prestigious school, according to his father.

Neil’s father controlled what he could and could not do. When the film started, his father went to the school to tell him to drop from a club he participated. He felt that he could not be himself because of his father’s demands but this time he obeyed his father. Constantly fearing to disappoint and not having the courage to stand up to his father is one of his internal journeys. Another internal journey of Neil can be when the boys discover the Dead Poets Society book from Mr. Keating’s days backed up with the professor’s inspiration. He saw Mr. Keating’s mentality of free thinking as a very powerful tool so he decided to take it for himself and audition for a part in the school play. When he got the part, he concluded that he wanted to be an actor, disobeying his father’s imposition to only focus on classes. This internal journey of own thoughts rather than his father’s reflects how Neil found what he most wanted and went to pursue it despite what happened in the end. The most striking internal journey of Neil has to be his decision at the end to kill himself. He surely thought he could not deal with his father’s obligations, wanting to do other things that his dad did not agree.

His external journey in the movie could have been when he did participate in the school play although his father told him not to. By his internal journey of discovering himself, he pursued his ambition and took the role of the main protagonist in the play not caring on what the people on his surroundings would think, including his father. This external journey of participating in the play was one of the biggest challenges of his life because he was disobeying his father by his action. These means that for the first time he acted as himself, not pretending to be what his father wanted him to be.

A little about myself and family

     Since the day I was born, my mom wanted me to achieve more than what she ever did. I say that because when she talks about my future she always says to pursue even more than what she had given me. I think her purpose has always been to keep my head held high and accomplish my goals as she did and to aspire to even beyond that. In my family there are two sides, in my dad’s side no everyone finished or even went to college. My mom’s side all went to college and graduated. Since my parents are divorced, what I only hear is to finish my studies and that do not make the same mistakes some of my other family members had done.


     I live with my mom and I’m the only child. I’m mom’s little baby as she refers to me, even though I’m almost 21, because I do not have any brothers so I’m her only treasure. Being the only child has its privileges and a lot of advantages. For example, my birthday is in November 23, a month from Christmas. I do receive gifts on both dates and sometimes even in Three King’s Day. I’m sure that if I had brothers I would not have gifts on all those dates, and if by chance I do, it would be far less than what I receive now. I get all the attention and all the cooking is for me, can it be any better than that? I do not think so, other only child’s should understand me perfectly.

 

     As I told before, my mom always told me to exceed her achievements, and do not know if that will happen, but I’m optimistic thinking about it. I’m studying finance in UPR Rio Piedras and my biggest goal up to the present is to be a successful broker. That could change when I enter the field in a couple of years but I’m sure that from finance I will not change. I like the idea of stocks and numbers, makes me happy. So that’s where my goal is heading, I know the path towards it will not be easy but I’m up to the challenges and even better at with the support of my family and friends.