The Last Party

And We Will Reunite One More Time...

The firs of the line is tied to a tree and the last is being eaten by ants One Hundred Years of Solitude– Gabriel Garcia Marquez

The celebrations and festivities have been a fundamental part of my life. Celebrate important events such as birthdays and weddings is part of my Latino heritage. The holidays are special events for me because gathers all my family members and friends. New Year’s Eve will be the most important celebration this year.

New Year’s Eve this year will be held in the old ranch of Granddad Domingo Valle. This ranch is located in the countryside of El Salvador. It is surrounded by large hills, lush and ancient trees and small streams. When night falls, all the guests will feel the warm breeze gently caressing their skin like the smooth hands of a mother caressing her newborn. The night will start full of peace and serenity.

All of my friends and all family will be invited. However, the most special guests will be all my family members and friends that already left this world. They will come from the afterlife. Death will grant them a special permission for this special night to visit us. My grandparents, great-grandparents, my uncles and cousins who are no longer among the living as well as also my friend Marcela who a couple of years lost her battle against cancer, all of them will be the most special guests of the night in which we all will share with  joy and happiness.

In this party there will be all kinds of traditional dishes like tamales, empanadas, baked chicken, sweet desserts as honey. There will be no alcohol but chicha, the drink of the Mayan gods, in remembrance to our ancestors. In this feast we will have all these delights that my family and friends enjoy or enjoyed when they were alive.

Late that night we all meet around a large bonfire in the main courtyard in front of the house. Our grandparents and great-grandparents will be in the center and everyone else will be around them. Our grandparents will tell stories of past lives such as The Legend of the Squeaky Wagon and Cadejo, The Cipitio and The Siguanaba and many more stories. We will feel joy and pain making chills run down our spine like ice water.

At the end of the night all the guests will meet holding hands praying to heaven in gratitude for all the good times that happened to us this year and the bad things because they were opportunities to learn and get better. All members will melt into a deep hug and when the countdown reaches zero everything will be over. Everything will be over because it never existed; I did never exist nor any of my family and friends because all was a dream in a parallel world.

To All The Attention Seekers In The World...

 Dear Little Attention Seeker:

I just would like to tell you several things that for courtesy and politeness I have not said yet. I also have not done so because I will not lower myself to your level and fall into your ʺlook at meʺ trap. I hope you have enough emotional intelligence to understand this writing and begin doing something to mentally evolve.

First, you are an irritating person. The levels of patience quickly deplete with you. You easily displease many people. Your friends and peers are always bored and annoyed of your constant need for attention and that is why nobody really wants to be with you.

Remember all those times when we were focused in class and you always had to interrupt. I had never seen a person asking such dumb and stupid questions as yours. Always distracting the whole class with your little princess voice, making your typical nonsense comments, and shifting away the attention of the topic under discussion. Thank you, because of you we all stop learning what really mattered to listen to your foolishness.

You are a shameful person when you try to poison the minds of others on people you do not like, speaking evil of others just show that you are a ruined person, and show your jealousy and low self-esteem. Talking behind others back is just a sign that always will be behind them starving for their attention.

If your intention is to hoist yourself in the spotlight, then you are doing great. Your desire for attention is a call for maturity. Here is a good advice for you: grow up. Not all around is about you, so move on and realize that everyone else is busy on their own life to waste time on nurturing your baby cries.

You are just a mommy and daddy’s spoiled child. You must grow up and realize that you are not even close to being the center of the galaxy. You are an adult and a long time ago you should have started acting like one. Stop acting like a rebellious teenager that just causes shame and anger to your peers. As long as you keep acting like a little child everything is just going to get worse in your life, so you might end up totally alone.

All the very best,

One of your peers.

Reading with Dan Josefson

A Reading Experience

As a person who enjoys reading I must say that I had never before had the opportunity to attend to a lecture by an author especially when is about his first book. That’s not a feeling is the debut work of the New Yorker writer Dan Josefson. Josefson took some time to share his work with students and professors of Nassau Community College. I can definitely say that the presentation of Dan Josefson and his That’s Not a Feeling was a memorable experience.

Josefson has that look of a philosopher, a quiet and shy person but ready to listen to his audience. Dan Josefson is a person of few words who express himself through his writing. Josefson is certainly a promise of the creative and freestyle writing who once immersed in his reading turns into each character of his play.

            In That’s Not a Feeling Josefson reflects his experiences as former teacher at a boarding school. The novel revolves around Benjamin a formerly suicidal teenager who is left by his parents in the Orchard Boarding School for troubled students in upstate New York. The name of the novel is because of the feelings that are and are not allowed in Orchard’s. That’s Not a Feeling is an amusing novel which at the same time it is a satirical representation of our society.

Josefson spent some time interacting with his audience at the end of the reading. With a more relaxed appearance and in confidence Josefson shared how hard it is to write a book. It took to him about ten years among writing, editing, and find an editorial to publish his first work full of dreams and long hours of editing; certainly was a long way with a lot of rewarding and satisfactions for Josefson. Something remarkable about the presentation was noting Josefson enjoying the spontaneous questions of the students more than the prefabricated questions of his former interviewers.

That’s Not a Feeling is a highly recommended novel which is led to a variety of readers, not only a funny novel, but also critical of society’s ills. In a very personal opinion I think this novel has certain similarities with Looking for Alaska by John Green, but to say that is being disrespectful to a writer who took a long way to bring a very and playful work. I will also recommend to support Dan Josefson and other young writers by reading and appreciating their work.

Josefson, Dan. ʺThat’s not a feelingʺ n.p.. The Creative Writing Project. Holly Patterson Library, Nassau Community College, Long Island, NY. 29 October 2014

For more about Dan Josefson visit: danjosefson.com

           

           

Digital Versus Print

Digital and print resources both represents the transition between two ages, or the beginning of a new century. To some extent, print information is part of the last century while digital is part of twenty-first century’s people daily life. In ʺWhy digital is better than print,ʺ Dan Blank argues a series of points of why digital is better than print. Blank exposes why digital is better than print in a very convincing fashion that most people may agree. 

First, access to digital information is straightforward and spontaneous while printed becomes tedious and time consuming. Blank states ʺthe ability to dive deep into the archives of all media to pull up relevant results the moment you need itʺ (Blank). Thus, digital resources allow people to access the information need it in seconds without spending hours looking for information in stacks of books.

Second, print resources are limited to a single form, thus, neglecting the diversity of opinion and information that exists or like Dan Blank declares ʺDigital empowers the masses; Print has gatekeepersʺ (Blank). Schools and universities base their courses mostly in a single book or text, so students limit their knowledge expansion and learning about different ideas or opinions on a particular topic. However, with the digital age students have access to a wide variety of information on a theme which allows them to create their own ideas and opinions.

Though, reading print resources may result in a better comprehension; its medium results obsolete.  Dan Blank states ʺno longer confined to one mediumʺ (Blank). Digital resources give to the users a variety of ways, shapes and designs to access and manipulate the information making it even more attractive for people who do not like reading or researching. Digital redesign and reinvent itself so quickly to keep up attractive and to avoid falling obsolete.

In the long run, each person must evaluate their own likes and habits about reading and researching, for some people digital can be better than print, and for others can be the opposite. Print and digital resources of information both have their advantages and disadvantages, like easy transportation or better comprehension, but the end their transition it is only part of the natural evolution of life. The old must open the path to the new life.

Blank, Dan. ʺWhy Digital Is Better Than Printʺ I Feel Fine: How I learned To Stop Worrying and Love The Web. Danblank.com. n. p. 5 August 2000. Web. 26 October 20014.

http://danblank.com/blog/2009/08/05/why-digital-is-better-than-print/

See also: Culatta, Richard. ʺHow much better is digital versus print learning,ʺ Bloomberg Tv

http://www.bloomberg.com/video/popout/HJKeBJN2Q66fOHPGRa3brQ/34.443 

Welcome to my blog...

Hi!

I am Arnold and this is my first blog. English is my second language and as such is a real challenge for me to speak it as so write it, so I hope to give the best of myself this semester and to move forward to achieve my goals .