Insecurity in Mexico
Have you ever faced an insecurity problem living in Mexico? As Mexican citizens, what can we do to reduce crime?
The fact is that during the last five years we have been facing the worst crime rates in Mexico’s history. I believe that the severe insecurity in Mexico is mainly due to three factors: the lack of an efficient police force, the absence of moral values and insufficient job opportunities.
The lack of an efficient police department is one of the principal reasons for the violence. The first step to reduce crime is that our government needs to create a capable institution committed to preventing violence. This institution needs to strengthen the professionalism of the police. The government has to fight corruption to purify and dignify the police. Another way to reduce crime is for the police force to receive higher pay and better benefits. For example, the wages of a policeman are almost the same as those of a secretary; it is impossible for a policeman to live adequately being so poorly paid. Definitely their wages cannot sustain a family.
Another reason for the violence in Mexico is the absence of moral values. Mexicans are used to bribes and disrespecting the police. For example, if you cross a red light and get stopped, people give cash to the officer instead so as to avoid the ticket. Another example is that people reach higher level of authority in order to dismiss penalties. Corruption is the biggest problem in Mexico and is produced by a lack of moral values. Extortion, which is one example of corruption, occurs when a person obtains unlawfully something from a person or institution through coercion. For instance, a person asks for money and threatens to cause physical or material damage if there is no payment. Another example of corruption is that the owners of bars allow access to minors for profit purposes. The solution for this is complicated because unfortunately Mexico has grown with this cultural problem “corruption”. However, a solid family structure that cultivates values in our children can help prevent corruption.
The last of the major reasons for the violence in Mexico is insufficient job opportunities. Unemployment has increased in Mexico lately due to the violence situation. According to the AMAC (Mexican Association of Manufacturing Industries) the unemployment rate has increased 10% compared to the last five years. Another reason for the unemployment is that business owners have been threatened and as a result they have had to close their business. According to Borderzine magazine, “In the last five years, 10,000 small companies in Cd Juarez closed their business due to violence issues.” (Unrelenting). The El Paso Times reported that “In the last five years, some 10,000 small businesses in Juárez have closed, with some relocating to El Paso and other parts of the U.S.” (Flight). If the violence keeps growing, unfortunately the unemployment will increase. If our government stops with this war and provides more security to our country, we will be able to have a job and work very hard in order to restore Mexico’s economy. Instead of continuing to deal with the drug trafficking and crime, our government should increase the penalties to criminals, educate the police force and increase resources for the police in order to stop the violence.
In conclusion, the insecurity in Mexico has been caused by the lack of an efficient police force, the inexistence of good values, and the lack of job opportunities. As a Mexican, I believe we have to work harder in order to fix the violence problem. It is getting better, but there is still a long way to go.
Thursday, December 13, 2012
Friday, November 30, 2012
STUDENT WRITING: EVALUATION by ALISA KIM
Assignments and Tests
Do you think it is necessary for students to have assignments? If so, why is it important to do homework? Many people believe if you are sitting down to do your homework, you realize how much you understand of what’s going on in class. Also it can help you have critical thinking skills. On the contrary, what if you have so many assignments that you can’t finish them?
In Korea, I had enough homework to do after school because in those days, most teachers as well as parents thought homework could help students improve their abilities to solve the questions and improve the grades they got on exams. Whenever I took vacations, I was always concerned about how to manage to do my assignments because I could not ask my parents and I didn’t have any reference books at home. However, on seeing my kids’ assignments, I realized that their teachers do not give so much homework because they know that most students attend various types of classes after school. Even though my kids have some homework, they don’t worry about it because they can ask dad and mom, search the reference books and surf the internet. Nonetheless, many students do not care about the assignments. They only focus on getting good grades on tests. The evaluation of their assignments does not influence their grades significantly. On the other hand, when my kids came here, we didn’t know that teachers gave grades on assignments.
I have thought over what homework’s benefits are. My kids’ ability to bring it home, gather and organize necessary materials to complete it, return it and receive a grade strengthens their sense of responsibility. There is also improved development of personal skills such as the management gained by completing homework. In addition, homework can play a public relations role by keeping parents informed about class activities and policies. It also seems to be a bridge that joins schools and parents. From the school’s perspective, there is the opportunity to monitor students’ independent progress. For parents, there is the potential to gain a greater appreciation of education and to express positive attitudes towards their children’s achievement. For these reasons, I can comprehend why my kids’ teachers give them assignments almost every day.
Next, as I examine and compare the tests, most students in Korea are worried about them, so they spend much time studying. Some students even stay up late or try not to sleep during the test periods. Many people evaluate students with rating grades. According to the rating grades, many students get stressed due to the tests. They have two big tests a semester. However, it seems that the students in the U.S. do not get lots of stress because of tests. As far as I can see, they have one big test a year, for example, STAAR. It doesn’t seem that the test result influences their promotion to the next grade. This is one of the answers why my kids like to study here even though they have assignments and tests very often.
I’d like to conclude by saying that I believe that the educational system and the parents’ mind-set need to be reformed in Korea. It is time to ask again why you study. We know that learning continues throughout our whole life. We also know that those who study hard are good, but they cannot keep up with those who enjoy studying.
Do you think it is necessary for students to have assignments? If so, why is it important to do homework? Many people believe if you are sitting down to do your homework, you realize how much you understand of what’s going on in class. Also it can help you have critical thinking skills. On the contrary, what if you have so many assignments that you can’t finish them?
In Korea, I had enough homework to do after school because in those days, most teachers as well as parents thought homework could help students improve their abilities to solve the questions and improve the grades they got on exams. Whenever I took vacations, I was always concerned about how to manage to do my assignments because I could not ask my parents and I didn’t have any reference books at home. However, on seeing my kids’ assignments, I realized that their teachers do not give so much homework because they know that most students attend various types of classes after school. Even though my kids have some homework, they don’t worry about it because they can ask dad and mom, search the reference books and surf the internet. Nonetheless, many students do not care about the assignments. They only focus on getting good grades on tests. The evaluation of their assignments does not influence their grades significantly. On the other hand, when my kids came here, we didn’t know that teachers gave grades on assignments.
I have thought over what homework’s benefits are. My kids’ ability to bring it home, gather and organize necessary materials to complete it, return it and receive a grade strengthens their sense of responsibility. There is also improved development of personal skills such as the management gained by completing homework. In addition, homework can play a public relations role by keeping parents informed about class activities and policies. It also seems to be a bridge that joins schools and parents. From the school’s perspective, there is the opportunity to monitor students’ independent progress. For parents, there is the potential to gain a greater appreciation of education and to express positive attitudes towards their children’s achievement. For these reasons, I can comprehend why my kids’ teachers give them assignments almost every day.
Next, as I examine and compare the tests, most students in Korea are worried about them, so they spend much time studying. Some students even stay up late or try not to sleep during the test periods. Many people evaluate students with rating grades. According to the rating grades, many students get stressed due to the tests. They have two big tests a semester. However, it seems that the students in the U.S. do not get lots of stress because of tests. As far as I can see, they have one big test a year, for example, STAAR. It doesn’t seem that the test result influences their promotion to the next grade. This is one of the answers why my kids like to study here even though they have assignments and tests very often.
I’d like to conclude by saying that I believe that the educational system and the parents’ mind-set need to be reformed in Korea. It is time to ask again why you study. We know that learning continues throughout our whole life. We also know that those who study hard are good, but they cannot keep up with those who enjoy studying.
STUDENT WRITING: PROPOSAL by JANETT AMORES
Deserving
Each year hundreds of students come to El Paso in order to study English. The University of Texas at El Paso through English Language Institute (ELI) provides high quality academic courses. Students from many foreign countries come to ELI in order to improve their English. It is a true multicultural experience. Therefore, students learn and enrich their knowledge when they interact with one another. However, I have noticed that ELI does not require health insurance for students.
People who want to become ELI students have to follow some specific steps. For example, they have to fill out an application form, get an I-20, get a visa, and provide proof of financial responsibility. I wonder why health insurance is not included in the requirements. As a current student of ELI, I am interested in this topic. I firmly believe that health insurance should be a requirement.
Having the opportunity to study English in ELI should be an exciting and a safe experience. Students should realize that anything happen while they are away from home, so they should be required to buy a health insurance plan to protect them. It is important to be prepared for any unexpected illness, injury and medical emergency. Health insurance provides high quality medical care if students become sick or injured during their studies. Some plans include emergency coverage for illness and injuries and medical evacuation. In addition health insurance protects students from exorbitant bills in case they are hospitalized.
Participation in the student health insurance plan should be mandatory for ELI students unless proof of comparable coverage is presented. The benefits are not only for students but also for the ELI because this strategy can attract more students.
Each year hundreds of students come to El Paso in order to study English. The University of Texas at El Paso through English Language Institute (ELI) provides high quality academic courses. Students from many foreign countries come to ELI in order to improve their English. It is a true multicultural experience. Therefore, students learn and enrich their knowledge when they interact with one another. However, I have noticed that ELI does not require health insurance for students.
People who want to become ELI students have to follow some specific steps. For example, they have to fill out an application form, get an I-20, get a visa, and provide proof of financial responsibility. I wonder why health insurance is not included in the requirements. As a current student of ELI, I am interested in this topic. I firmly believe that health insurance should be a requirement.
Having the opportunity to study English in ELI should be an exciting and a safe experience. Students should realize that anything happen while they are away from home, so they should be required to buy a health insurance plan to protect them. It is important to be prepared for any unexpected illness, injury and medical emergency. Health insurance provides high quality medical care if students become sick or injured during their studies. Some plans include emergency coverage for illness and injuries and medical evacuation. In addition health insurance protects students from exorbitant bills in case they are hospitalized.
Participation in the student health insurance plan should be mandatory for ELI students unless proof of comparable coverage is presented. The benefits are not only for students but also for the ELI because this strategy can attract more students.
Friday, October 19, 2012
STUDENT WRITING: OBSERVATION at EINSTEIN'S BAGELS
The Einstein Bros Bagels Cafe
On the UTEP campus, only a few places are devoted to recreational eating areas. The Einstein Bros Bagels Cafe is one of them. It is located inside the bookstore building which is one of the most important landmarks of the campus. We can see it from the freeway from where two exits lead to the roundabout and straight to Einstein. From the outside, the only thing you see are the tables and the umbrellas in the open-air seating area. For the novice, it is difficult to find because there is no mention of it in the Campus Building Directory. But for the veteran students, it is easy to find and to meet people you know. It’s also a picturesque spot for an appointment or to have some drinks and food.
The cafeteria has three entries; the main one is at the roundabout. If you go at rush time, in almost each break time, it will be crowded. You will see people in line even just inside the front door. You will be welcomed by the smell of coffee, cakes, and sandwiches and feel at home. You get in line at your right. You will have plenty of time to choose what you want to buy. The first display cabinet is for the ready-to-go products: cold sandwiches, salads, fruit salads, yogurts or bottled cold beverages such as tea, water, sodas or soft drinks. The second cabinet contains bagels, cakes, and cookies. You can choose from among a lot of types of bagels to make your own sandwich. Then you can also order a beverage of the size and the flavor you want, hot coffee, tea or a smoothie. The third cabinet contains the cash register, the coffee machine, and some baskets with goods for sale. The minimalistic decoration is modern, warm, and friendly. If you have the time to sit or if you find some available tables, it is a great place for a get together, or finalizing your homework or having a snack.
At first, everything looks nice and clean. The bagels, the sandwiches, the salads look like home-made or just made. But in fact you have to pay attention to not using all the sauces they give with the food because they are all industrial and very high in calories. The nutritional value is written on the ready-to-go products because the notice is mandatory but not for the put-together products. The same goes for the cakes. Try for example the blubbery cake; if you hold it more than two seconds in front of your nose it smells like sugar. When you test it, it is like a shot of sugar and sweetness in your mouth. If you are a sugar addict, it is the right place to be. If you are diabetic or if you have hypoglycemia, forget about it! Bring your own snack, lunch or breakfast! Like a lot of cafe food products, the majority of the items are sweet. Sugar is everywhere, even in the salad sauce! It seems like the majority of food producers are subsidized by the diabetes market.
Einsteins's “home-food” is in fact industrial food. We can infer it from the wrapping and the containers of the products they hide in the cabinet under the counter top in the oven area and those we can see if we have a look at the hidden second kitchen when the door is open. It is a small room in the back of the hall in front of the lockers. Inside there is a door that looks like a refrigerated room. Both spaces look very messy, especially at rush time, but it gives us a good idea of what kind of products they use. All the sauces, syrups, flavors, sandwiches, and bagels are industrially made. Everything comes in boxes ready to mix, to warm, or to put together. The fruit salad can stay all day in the display cabinet exposed to the sunlight without getting spoiled. This means that they add some syrup or some preservatives. In any-case, they don't have the room for cooking and they don't have the workers for that either because the employees are not real cooks. Some of them look totally lost if you ask for a special order. They are only there to take orders, payment, and assemble industrial products and warm them. Considering the quality of the goods, the prices are very high, especially for students.
Nonetheless, it is a place to get together. It is open almost all the time when students are present on campus. They offer a variety of warm products that are healthier than those found in the soda and snack machines in some buildings. When we don't have a lot of time and if we have to hurry between classes and want to have something to eat quickly, it is one of few options.
On the UTEP campus, only a few places are devoted to recreational eating areas. The Einstein Bros Bagels Cafe is one of them. It is located inside the bookstore building which is one of the most important landmarks of the campus. We can see it from the freeway from where two exits lead to the roundabout and straight to Einstein. From the outside, the only thing you see are the tables and the umbrellas in the open-air seating area. For the novice, it is difficult to find because there is no mention of it in the Campus Building Directory. But for the veteran students, it is easy to find and to meet people you know. It’s also a picturesque spot for an appointment or to have some drinks and food.
The cafeteria has three entries; the main one is at the roundabout. If you go at rush time, in almost each break time, it will be crowded. You will see people in line even just inside the front door. You will be welcomed by the smell of coffee, cakes, and sandwiches and feel at home. You get in line at your right. You will have plenty of time to choose what you want to buy. The first display cabinet is for the ready-to-go products: cold sandwiches, salads, fruit salads, yogurts or bottled cold beverages such as tea, water, sodas or soft drinks. The second cabinet contains bagels, cakes, and cookies. You can choose from among a lot of types of bagels to make your own sandwich. Then you can also order a beverage of the size and the flavor you want, hot coffee, tea or a smoothie. The third cabinet contains the cash register, the coffee machine, and some baskets with goods for sale. The minimalistic decoration is modern, warm, and friendly. If you have the time to sit or if you find some available tables, it is a great place for a get together, or finalizing your homework or having a snack.
At first, everything looks nice and clean. The bagels, the sandwiches, the salads look like home-made or just made. But in fact you have to pay attention to not using all the sauces they give with the food because they are all industrial and very high in calories. The nutritional value is written on the ready-to-go products because the notice is mandatory but not for the put-together products. The same goes for the cakes. Try for example the blubbery cake; if you hold it more than two seconds in front of your nose it smells like sugar. When you test it, it is like a shot of sugar and sweetness in your mouth. If you are a sugar addict, it is the right place to be. If you are diabetic or if you have hypoglycemia, forget about it! Bring your own snack, lunch or breakfast! Like a lot of cafe food products, the majority of the items are sweet. Sugar is everywhere, even in the salad sauce! It seems like the majority of food producers are subsidized by the diabetes market.
Einsteins's “home-food” is in fact industrial food. We can infer it from the wrapping and the containers of the products they hide in the cabinet under the counter top in the oven area and those we can see if we have a look at the hidden second kitchen when the door is open. It is a small room in the back of the hall in front of the lockers. Inside there is a door that looks like a refrigerated room. Both spaces look very messy, especially at rush time, but it gives us a good idea of what kind of products they use. All the sauces, syrups, flavors, sandwiches, and bagels are industrially made. Everything comes in boxes ready to mix, to warm, or to put together. The fruit salad can stay all day in the display cabinet exposed to the sunlight without getting spoiled. This means that they add some syrup or some preservatives. In any-case, they don't have the room for cooking and they don't have the workers for that either because the employees are not real cooks. Some of them look totally lost if you ask for a special order. They are only there to take orders, payment, and assemble industrial products and warm them. Considering the quality of the goods, the prices are very high, especially for students.
Nonetheless, it is a place to get together. It is open almost all the time when students are present on campus. They offer a variety of warm products that are healthier than those found in the soda and snack machines in some buildings. When we don't have a lot of time and if we have to hurry between classes and want to have something to eat quickly, it is one of few options.
Sunday, October 14, 2012
STUDENT WRITING: AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL by MAYELA PEREZ
The San Andres Community
How The Thought of Tarahumara Indians Changed My Mind.
Fifteen years ago, I was living in Parral, Chih., Mexico. One day I was in my father’s grocery store when a Tarahumara Indian woman came in. She was carrying a beautiful child that captured my attention. I asked her name and where she lived. She said her name was Elvia and she told me that they lived in the garbage dump. I could not believe it because I thought nobody could live there. During the rest of the day, I kept thinking about Elvia, and the next morning I went to find out where the garbage dump was. It was told it was on the outskirts of Parral and when I got there, I did not understand how someone could live there. I asked for Elvia and when I saw her “house,” I felt a huge sadness come over me.
After I knocked on the door, Elvia appeared with her daughter in her arms. Her house was very poor; there was only one room, but it was very clean. She told me about the work of the twelve families that lived there who collected recycling materials. I also found out that they could neither read nor write. I asked her what she needed most and she told me, “Nothing, we have everything that we need.”
When I left the dump, I understood I had a mission in my life. I talked with my mother and my sister Elizabeth about these people and we began to go there regularly to teach those families to read and write. We went three times a week and formed two groups, one group of adults and another of children. Quickly we began to obtain good results. All the Indians were very happy because they were acquiring knowledge they did not have before. I especially remember that Elvia was very excited when she learned the names of the colors and her favorite, which was red.
One day I received a call from Mr. Aguilera, a wealthy miner. He told me that he knew of the job that we were doing and he offered his help. We received money from him and with this money we built two classrooms and one court for sports. But we were not satisfied with this; we wanted to move these people out of the garbage dump.
We looked for help from the government and they gave us some land for all these families far away from the dump. This was not an easy achievement and I was very proud of this. The Tarahumaras were moved out of the garbage dump and into government housing built with cement block instead or fiberboard. They also built a school, another court for sports, a church, a grocery store, and an events room.
During the time that I was working with those people, understood that even though they did not have a lot of material things, they possessed other important things such as faith, comradeship, and a detachment of material things and for time. One of the most surprising things for me was that they always had a smile on their faces and a blessing for us. The Tarahumaras have been a good lesson for me and they have helped me to see life differently.
How The Thought of Tarahumara Indians Changed My Mind.
Fifteen years ago, I was living in Parral, Chih., Mexico. One day I was in my father’s grocery store when a Tarahumara Indian woman came in. She was carrying a beautiful child that captured my attention. I asked her name and where she lived. She said her name was Elvia and she told me that they lived in the garbage dump. I could not believe it because I thought nobody could live there. During the rest of the day, I kept thinking about Elvia, and the next morning I went to find out where the garbage dump was. It was told it was on the outskirts of Parral and when I got there, I did not understand how someone could live there. I asked for Elvia and when I saw her “house,” I felt a huge sadness come over me.
After I knocked on the door, Elvia appeared with her daughter in her arms. Her house was very poor; there was only one room, but it was very clean. She told me about the work of the twelve families that lived there who collected recycling materials. I also found out that they could neither read nor write. I asked her what she needed most and she told me, “Nothing, we have everything that we need.”
When I left the dump, I understood I had a mission in my life. I talked with my mother and my sister Elizabeth about these people and we began to go there regularly to teach those families to read and write. We went three times a week and formed two groups, one group of adults and another of children. Quickly we began to obtain good results. All the Indians were very happy because they were acquiring knowledge they did not have before. I especially remember that Elvia was very excited when she learned the names of the colors and her favorite, which was red.
One day I received a call from Mr. Aguilera, a wealthy miner. He told me that he knew of the job that we were doing and he offered his help. We received money from him and with this money we built two classrooms and one court for sports. But we were not satisfied with this; we wanted to move these people out of the garbage dump.
We looked for help from the government and they gave us some land for all these families far away from the dump. This was not an easy achievement and I was very proud of this. The Tarahumaras were moved out of the garbage dump and into government housing built with cement block instead or fiberboard. They also built a school, another court for sports, a church, a grocery store, and an events room.
During the time that I was working with those people, understood that even though they did not have a lot of material things, they possessed other important things such as faith, comradeship, and a detachment of material things and for time. One of the most surprising things for me was that they always had a smile on their faces and a blessing for us. The Tarahumaras have been a good lesson for me and they have helped me to see life differently.
Tuesday, October 2, 2012
STUDENT WRITING: OBSERVATION by VALERA VOBLIKOV
22 September 2012
My Wonderful Neighborhood
I’ve been living in El Paso for six months and during this time I have discovered a lot of differences between America and Russia. It’s a Sunday morning and I’m walking through the beautiful neighborhood where I live. The houses on both sides of the road attract my attention and I find myself walking towards a park with an ensemble of perfectly looking houses and wonderful green gardens. At first glance, these houses look like perfect places for living. The windows and glass doors are clean and shine in the sun. The lawns in front of the houses are perfectly mowed, the trees are neatly cut. The porches are decorated with flowers and colorful signs. The birds are singing and I’ve just seen a squirrel hiding in the bushes.
Almost all people in the U.S. live in their own houses. I’m trying to imagine the place where I lived in Russia. It’s an old five floor anthill where people are crowded close to each other and separated at the same time by one meter brick walls and heavy metal doors with peepholes. People living on the first and last floors are forced to have bars on their windows. And you would be a foolish person if you left your car open on the street. In contrast, here I see that people sometimes don’t close windows and doors. They are not afraid of thieves.
I like the American way of living in your own house with a garden, backyard, and a garage. However, even though there are a lot of hurricanes and tornadoes in the U.S, a lot of houses are made of ‘cardboard.’ It’s no wonder that these houses can be totally destroyed by a falling tree. The houses remind me of the story about the three pigs. And I can’t understand why people are not afraid to build the straw houses in dangerous areas where hurricanes are very common and they might lose their American dream in a jiffy.
Now I am reaching a traffic light and I need to cross the road. I wish we had such wonderful roads in Russia. I’m immediately recollecting a famous Russian aphorism that there’re two problems in Russia: “The fools and the roads.” Maybe some other problems in addition to bad roads and bribery in Russia are severe climatic conditions and sudden changes in temperature. I love the dry climate here in El Paso. Even though it’s very hot, I don’t sweat. In my native city, the humidity can reach 100 percent. Because of the debilitating heat in El Paso, I haven’t seen any children playing outside during my walk. In contrast, I spent all my childhood playing open air games with my friends in our yard which was so native and unique for every child growing there.
I’m finishing my walk and getting close to my sister’s house where I live. Even though I like the beautiful houses and dry climate, everything still seems strange and alien to me. I miss my warm anthill and the yard where I grew up.
My Wonderful Neighborhood
I’ve been living in El Paso for six months and during this time I have discovered a lot of differences between America and Russia. It’s a Sunday morning and I’m walking through the beautiful neighborhood where I live. The houses on both sides of the road attract my attention and I find myself walking towards a park with an ensemble of perfectly looking houses and wonderful green gardens. At first glance, these houses look like perfect places for living. The windows and glass doors are clean and shine in the sun. The lawns in front of the houses are perfectly mowed, the trees are neatly cut. The porches are decorated with flowers and colorful signs. The birds are singing and I’ve just seen a squirrel hiding in the bushes.
Almost all people in the U.S. live in their own houses. I’m trying to imagine the place where I lived in Russia. It’s an old five floor anthill where people are crowded close to each other and separated at the same time by one meter brick walls and heavy metal doors with peepholes. People living on the first and last floors are forced to have bars on their windows. And you would be a foolish person if you left your car open on the street. In contrast, here I see that people sometimes don’t close windows and doors. They are not afraid of thieves.
I like the American way of living in your own house with a garden, backyard, and a garage. However, even though there are a lot of hurricanes and tornadoes in the U.S, a lot of houses are made of ‘cardboard.’ It’s no wonder that these houses can be totally destroyed by a falling tree. The houses remind me of the story about the three pigs. And I can’t understand why people are not afraid to build the straw houses in dangerous areas where hurricanes are very common and they might lose their American dream in a jiffy.
Now I am reaching a traffic light and I need to cross the road. I wish we had such wonderful roads in Russia. I’m immediately recollecting a famous Russian aphorism that there’re two problems in Russia: “The fools and the roads.” Maybe some other problems in addition to bad roads and bribery in Russia are severe climatic conditions and sudden changes in temperature. I love the dry climate here in El Paso. Even though it’s very hot, I don’t sweat. In my native city, the humidity can reach 100 percent. Because of the debilitating heat in El Paso, I haven’t seen any children playing outside during my walk. In contrast, I spent all my childhood playing open air games with my friends in our yard which was so native and unique for every child growing there.
I’m finishing my walk and getting close to my sister’s house where I live. Even though I like the beautiful houses and dry climate, everything still seems strange and alien to me. I miss my warm anthill and the yard where I grew up.
Wednesday, September 12, 2012
STUDENT WRITING: AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL by ARTURO GARCIA
I Just Wanted to Play
I was thirteen years old and going to a typical school in Juarez except for one thing: every classroom had a different PE uniform color which gave us a competitive environment. Can you imagine a school in which each classroom has a different PE uniform color? We were seven different classrooms in the same level. Therefore, those colors provoked a huge rivalry between us in all different sports.
One day, one of the classrooms challenged mine to play soccer. We prepared and trained very hard because we had only fifteen days before the big fight. We did not want to lose because if we lost our game, our opponents would bother us every day of our school life.
The big day arrived. We were on the soccer field ready for the war but there was a problem. We were nine players and we needed to be eleven to start the game. The time was running out and we had only thirty minutes left before we had to start. One of my friends named Jesus decided to go look for more classmates. Jesus was fifteen years old but he looked older. He was also the only friend in my classroom that had a car –an old Grand Torino. The moment that Jesus said, “Who wants to come with me?” my mind started to think two things at the same time as if I had two consciences, one bad and one good. My bad conscience told me, “Hurry up! It is your first opportunity to get into a car without your parents”, but the other side told me, “Remember your father’s warnings when he said that you must not get into anyone’s car without his consent.” I threw my good conscience into the toilet and I decided to go with Jesus and Carlos too. On the way to Jesus’ car, I ran like when a two-year-old-baby sees a ball in the park. I wanted to sit in the front seat of the car.
Once our trip started, I realized that Jesus was a responsible driver; he was driving carefully. We were singing an Alejandra Guzman song, “Eternamente Bella,” when a horrible crash occurred. It was like someone had stopped the music without our consent. That moment passed very fast but I remember it in slow motion. The car was skidding in circles and Carlos yelled, “Jesus, what did you do?” and Jesus answered, “I did not see the stop sign, believe me”. I could not say anything because I was hit in the chest by the glove compartment and I could not breathe. I was in shock when finally the car stopped moving. Because we had not stopped at the corner, we passed the line and a truck hit us on Jesus’ side. The battery acid spilled and it fell on Jesus’ face. The person who was driving the truck had hit his head on the windshield.
When I got out of the car, I saw the truck driver sitting on the street with his face covered with blood and many people looking at me as if I were the worst person on earth. When the truck driver saw me, he said, “stupid kids!” I just started to walk slowly, step by step, because my knee hurt me a lot too. One person approached me and told me, “Where are you going? You need to wait for the ambulance; maybe you need assistance.” I could not speak; I only looked at him and turned to continue on my way. I decided to leave my friends for one big reason: my father was so strict. I did not want to wait because if the ambulance arrived, they would talk to my parents and my father would know what I had done. My fear of him was worse than the pain caused by the accident. But I did not know where I was, so I walked a long way before I recognized a street where I could take the bus. I did not know if I had walked north or south but I did not want my Dad to know.
When I got home, I went to the bathroom to clean up my cuts by myself. Then, I changed my clothes and I tried to live my life as if nothing had happened. Even though the pain in my chest continued for many days, I never said anything about the accident. Carlos was safe. Jesus was treated for burns on his face and also his arm was broken. Jesus’ father had arrived to help them with the problem. I never found out what happened with the truck driver.
Now, I know that many things could have happened. Maybe my chest should have been seen by a doctor. Maybe I would have been safe if I had listened to my good conscience. The irony is that even though we went looking for more players, we lost the game. As soon as we had left the field, two more players arrived. I now know that our life can change in a moment and our parents always try to give us good advice. But I was very young and I followed my instincts.
I just wanted to play.
I was thirteen years old and going to a typical school in Juarez except for one thing: every classroom had a different PE uniform color which gave us a competitive environment. Can you imagine a school in which each classroom has a different PE uniform color? We were seven different classrooms in the same level. Therefore, those colors provoked a huge rivalry between us in all different sports.
One day, one of the classrooms challenged mine to play soccer. We prepared and trained very hard because we had only fifteen days before the big fight. We did not want to lose because if we lost our game, our opponents would bother us every day of our school life.
The big day arrived. We were on the soccer field ready for the war but there was a problem. We were nine players and we needed to be eleven to start the game. The time was running out and we had only thirty minutes left before we had to start. One of my friends named Jesus decided to go look for more classmates. Jesus was fifteen years old but he looked older. He was also the only friend in my classroom that had a car –an old Grand Torino. The moment that Jesus said, “Who wants to come with me?” my mind started to think two things at the same time as if I had two consciences, one bad and one good. My bad conscience told me, “Hurry up! It is your first opportunity to get into a car without your parents”, but the other side told me, “Remember your father’s warnings when he said that you must not get into anyone’s car without his consent.” I threw my good conscience into the toilet and I decided to go with Jesus and Carlos too. On the way to Jesus’ car, I ran like when a two-year-old-baby sees a ball in the park. I wanted to sit in the front seat of the car.
Once our trip started, I realized that Jesus was a responsible driver; he was driving carefully. We were singing an Alejandra Guzman song, “Eternamente Bella,” when a horrible crash occurred. It was like someone had stopped the music without our consent. That moment passed very fast but I remember it in slow motion. The car was skidding in circles and Carlos yelled, “Jesus, what did you do?” and Jesus answered, “I did not see the stop sign, believe me”. I could not say anything because I was hit in the chest by the glove compartment and I could not breathe. I was in shock when finally the car stopped moving. Because we had not stopped at the corner, we passed the line and a truck hit us on Jesus’ side. The battery acid spilled and it fell on Jesus’ face. The person who was driving the truck had hit his head on the windshield.
When I got out of the car, I saw the truck driver sitting on the street with his face covered with blood and many people looking at me as if I were the worst person on earth. When the truck driver saw me, he said, “stupid kids!” I just started to walk slowly, step by step, because my knee hurt me a lot too. One person approached me and told me, “Where are you going? You need to wait for the ambulance; maybe you need assistance.” I could not speak; I only looked at him and turned to continue on my way. I decided to leave my friends for one big reason: my father was so strict. I did not want to wait because if the ambulance arrived, they would talk to my parents and my father would know what I had done. My fear of him was worse than the pain caused by the accident. But I did not know where I was, so I walked a long way before I recognized a street where I could take the bus. I did not know if I had walked north or south but I did not want my Dad to know.
When I got home, I went to the bathroom to clean up my cuts by myself. Then, I changed my clothes and I tried to live my life as if nothing had happened. Even though the pain in my chest continued for many days, I never said anything about the accident. Carlos was safe. Jesus was treated for burns on his face and also his arm was broken. Jesus’ father had arrived to help them with the problem. I never found out what happened with the truck driver.
Now, I know that many things could have happened. Maybe my chest should have been seen by a doctor. Maybe I would have been safe if I had listened to my good conscience. The irony is that even though we went looking for more players, we lost the game. As soon as we had left the field, two more players arrived. I now know that our life can change in a moment and our parents always try to give us good advice. But I was very young and I followed my instincts.
I just wanted to play.
Thursday, May 3, 2012
STUDENT WRITING: PROPOSAL by MAYUMI KOBAYASHI
Children in Darkness
This is a suicide note of a 13-year-old boy who killed himself because of being bullied in 1994 in Japan:
They took money from me, including 1.000 yen [approx 10 US dollars] my grandmother had given me and the money I planned to use for having my haircut. I had to cut my own hair. I should have committed suicide earlier but did not for the sake of my family. [L]iving life under this kind of pressure wasn’t worth it.(Hays).
Bullying among school children is a very serious issue in Japan. Most of the victim children are bullied physically, verbally, and mentally. “In severe cases, victims become virtual slaves to bullies who extort huge sums of money and beat their victims so severely they have to be hospitalized.”(Hays). This despicable bullying often has caused bullied children to avoid school and even commit suicide. According to the statistics by the Ministry of Education in Japan, in 2011, the number of recognized bullying cases was approximately 75,000 (35,988 in elementary schools, 32,348 in junior high schools, 6,617 in high schools, and 342 in special-needs schools). The number of cyber-bullying cases was 2,924(the previous year: 3,170), which is 3.9 percent of the total recognized bullying cases. And according to the Elementary and Secondary Education Bureau, the number of suicides related to bullying was 4.
These statistics show that the number of cyber-bullying has declined from the previous year, though some educators are suspicious of these statistics and assume that many causes of this kind of bullying go unreported. Cyber-bullying is a recent form of bullying and it is common especially among junior high school and high school students. Cyber-bullying includes posting heartless messages or photos of victims on unofficial websites created by young people, or sending abusive e-mails through mobile phones or computers. Most of the messages on these unofficial sites, which total over 38,000 in Japan, are posted anonymously so that it is very difficult to detect this kind of bullying. “Experts say high-tech bullying is far harder for parents and teachers to police than physical violence because of the anonymity of cyber space and a lack of technical knowledge.”(Kubota). The bullying problem is getting so much more complicated than it used to be that it is not easy to solve instantly in Japan. But at least we need to find ways to reduce incidents of bullying.
As a countermeasure to cyber-bullying, I propose two solutions: restricting unofficial websites for the purpose of bullying and developing technology to avoid the sending or receiving of bullying messages.
First of all, the government should establish laws or regulations to restrict these criminal unofficial websites on the internet. If there is a law that bans these unofficial websites, police will be able to bust administrators of these websites and reduce the number of victim children. Nobutaka Machimura, ex-Minister of Education in Japan, said: “[I]t is not easy for the government to respond to the emergence of such websites. There are some countries that could just shut them down straight away. But Japan cannot legally do that. I think it is a question of the morals of the children and the parents who use them.” (Mail & Guardian online). It is surely the matter of the morals of the children, but in reality they cannot get away from this kind of bullying without the help of adults. It is the responsibility of the government to protect children from this cruel bullying and provide all children with a safe and enjoyable life. Otherwise, what does the government exist for?
Another solution is to use filtering software or special settings on mobile phones and computers to block messages sent through suspect servers or IP addresses. Motohiro Hasegawa, associate professor of the Department of Information and Culture at Kinjo Gakuin University, agrees that: “In terms of technology, e-mail filtering systems are effective.” (Kubota). It is one of the easy ways for parents to protect their children. In addition, manufacturing companies of mobile phones should produce a mobile phone with special features for blocking access to unofficial websites or detecting and rejecting abusive messages before they are received. Technology has created this cyber-bullying, so it is time for technology to improve the prevention of this problem. But technology can not solve the bullying problem by itself. As Hasegawa states: “But in the end, the problem is not about technology…it is about humans.”(Kubota).
Because it is a human problem, education should play an important role in reducing incidents of bullying at school. But teachers have been struggling with this issue in Japan for a long time. The common countermeasure for bullying at school is to have individual conferences with bullies and bullied children and to discuss this issue in a classroom when bullying comes to light. However, this kind of teachers’ action often leads to more concealed bullying and makes the situation worse. After the bullying discussion, students pretend to stop the bullying while in front of teachers, but in fact the situation is exacerbated behind teachers’ backs. The victim children do not ask for help anymore because bullies threaten them with revenge. So how can teachers deal with this?
I believe that every teacher needs to learn about bullying before he or she actually begins to teach. Most of the unskilled teachers try to solve this problem ineffectively and accelerate the bullying, or they try to ignore the problems due to a lack of class management skills. The Board of Education should offer frequent workshops so that teachers learn what bullying is, how to deal with this issue, and what to teach students to solve this problem. As well as teachers, parents also need to learn about bullying. Schools could offer workshops for all parents to gain awareness even though their children may not be bullies or be bullied. Midori Komori, the mother of a 15-year-old girl who killed herself after she was bullied, travels around Japan giving lectures to raise awareness of bullying and strongly insists: “Every adult, including teachers, parents, and other adults, has to teach children not to do anything they do not want their friends to do to them. If we can teach our children that, I think we will no longer see bullying in our society.” (BBC News).
It is time to educate children about bullying. Most teachers bring up the bullying topic when they find a bullying situation in a classroom. But that is not the right time to talk in a class. Teachers should regularly and often share this topic with students whether there is bullying in their class or not. This way, students will become accustomed to talking about bullying openly with teachers and among themselves.
Bullying is also a serious issue in America. The American Justice Department school bullying statistics and cyber bullying statistics studies show that: “1 out of 4 kids is bullied.”(HOW TO STOP BULLYING). Roland Rogers Elementary School in New Jersey has a unique anti-bullying and anti-violence program. There is an anti-bullying wall in the main hall of the school and every student is required to sign a pledge to be “bully-free” and post the pledge on the wall through a school year. Then, when a bullying situation is found, the offender is brought to the wall and asked if he/she adhered to his/her pledge. Robin L. Moore, the principal of the school, says: “I believe the wall has ‘been very effective’ when it comes to bullying in the school.” (Bellano). Annette Giaquinto, a superintendent of schools, also states: “Although I have no data to assess the effectiveness of the pledge wall, I believe that public affirmations are an effective measure.” (Bellano). Like this countermeasure, schools in Japan need to tackle the bullying issue by getting all students involved.
One of the most important things to reduce bullying is for teachers and parents to build a close relationship with children. “Positive and supportive school relationships between principals, teachers, students and parents can have a positive impact on reducing bullying.” (Parentinged). When there is a close relationship and open communication with children, teachers and parents have a chance to notice when they have a problem in an early stage of bullying. The earlier they find it, the easier the problem will be solved. Also, children and students must know they can come to their parents and teachers for help with anything anytime. The close relationship is also very helpful for teachers in order to look into the main problem which causes children to bully each other, i.e. as a release for the academic pressure or the frustration that they have with their parents. If teachers can address the root cause of the problem that bullies struggle with, they will be able to solve their main problems and prevent bullying.
Many parents argue that it is very difficult to communicate with their children in the period of adolescence. That is precisely why it is important for parents to communicate well with their children from an early age. Once parents have this close relationship, they will notice from the emotion and behavior that their children show at home when they are in trouble, even without verbal communication. My mother used to tell me that she could easily know when I was distressed from my behavior at home. And I believe that it was one of the reasons that I did not suffer from any bullying in my school days. I unconsciously knew that I always had someone to protect me when I got in trouble. Excellent communication between parents and children is a key factor in reducing bullying.
Bullying is a significant and complicated social issue in modern society. It is not an easy problem to solve. It requires patience and long-term efforts. But I believe we can, at least, reduce the incidence of bullying if we work together to tackle the problem in the way that I proposed in this essay. All adults should be aware of the seriousness of bullying and address it, even the government. Kiyoteru Okouchi, whose suicide note is quoted at the beginning of this essay, committed suicide after being bullied into stealing over $ 11,000 from his parents by classmates who used the money at the local pachinko parlor. After having his head held under water in a river by the bullies and being stripped of his clothes in a school gymnasium, he hanged himself from a tree in the family garden. (Hay). What if Kiyoteru Okouchi were your child, could you ignore the problem of bullying?
Works Cited
BBC News. “Japan’s deadly bullying problem”. 6 Dec. 2006. BBC. 25 Apr. 2012
Bellano, Anthony. “Roland Rogers’ Wall Combats Bullying” 20 Sep. 2011. Galloway Patch.
25 Apr. 2012
Elementary and Secondary Education Bureau. “Investigation of Issues on Pupil Guidance of Students’ Problem Behaviors in 2011” 4 Aug. 2011. The Ministry of Education in Japan. 25 Apr. 2012.
Hays, Jeffery. "Bullying and School Problems in Japan: Suicides, Injuries by Teachers, Violence and Lack Discipline in Schools" July 2011. FACTS AND DETAILS. 25 Apr. 2012.
HOW TO STOP BULLYING. “Bullying Statistics / Cyber Bullying Statistics / School Bullying
Statistics” 2009. HOW TO STOP BULLYING. 25 Apr. 2012
Kubota, Yoko. “Cyber Bullying bedevils Japan” 11 Nov. 2007. Reuters. 25 Apr. 2012
.
Mail & Guardian online. “Cyber-bullying common among Japan’s children” 16 Apr. 2008. Mail
& Guardian online. 25 Apr. 2012
.
Parentinged, “The Effect Of Bullying In School On Children And Adolescents”.
www.parentinged.com 25 Apr. 2012
This is a suicide note of a 13-year-old boy who killed himself because of being bullied in 1994 in Japan:
They took money from me, including 1.000 yen [approx 10 US dollars] my grandmother had given me and the money I planned to use for having my haircut. I had to cut my own hair. I should have committed suicide earlier but did not for the sake of my family. [L]iving life under this kind of pressure wasn’t worth it.(Hays).
Bullying among school children is a very serious issue in Japan. Most of the victim children are bullied physically, verbally, and mentally. “In severe cases, victims become virtual slaves to bullies who extort huge sums of money and beat their victims so severely they have to be hospitalized.”(Hays). This despicable bullying often has caused bullied children to avoid school and even commit suicide. According to the statistics by the Ministry of Education in Japan, in 2011, the number of recognized bullying cases was approximately 75,000 (35,988 in elementary schools, 32,348 in junior high schools, 6,617 in high schools, and 342 in special-needs schools). The number of cyber-bullying cases was 2,924(the previous year: 3,170), which is 3.9 percent of the total recognized bullying cases. And according to the Elementary and Secondary Education Bureau, the number of suicides related to bullying was 4.
These statistics show that the number of cyber-bullying has declined from the previous year, though some educators are suspicious of these statistics and assume that many causes of this kind of bullying go unreported. Cyber-bullying is a recent form of bullying and it is common especially among junior high school and high school students. Cyber-bullying includes posting heartless messages or photos of victims on unofficial websites created by young people, or sending abusive e-mails through mobile phones or computers. Most of the messages on these unofficial sites, which total over 38,000 in Japan, are posted anonymously so that it is very difficult to detect this kind of bullying. “Experts say high-tech bullying is far harder for parents and teachers to police than physical violence because of the anonymity of cyber space and a lack of technical knowledge.”(Kubota). The bullying problem is getting so much more complicated than it used to be that it is not easy to solve instantly in Japan. But at least we need to find ways to reduce incidents of bullying.
As a countermeasure to cyber-bullying, I propose two solutions: restricting unofficial websites for the purpose of bullying and developing technology to avoid the sending or receiving of bullying messages.
First of all, the government should establish laws or regulations to restrict these criminal unofficial websites on the internet. If there is a law that bans these unofficial websites, police will be able to bust administrators of these websites and reduce the number of victim children. Nobutaka Machimura, ex-Minister of Education in Japan, said: “[I]t is not easy for the government to respond to the emergence of such websites. There are some countries that could just shut them down straight away. But Japan cannot legally do that. I think it is a question of the morals of the children and the parents who use them.” (Mail & Guardian online). It is surely the matter of the morals of the children, but in reality they cannot get away from this kind of bullying without the help of adults. It is the responsibility of the government to protect children from this cruel bullying and provide all children with a safe and enjoyable life. Otherwise, what does the government exist for?
Another solution is to use filtering software or special settings on mobile phones and computers to block messages sent through suspect servers or IP addresses. Motohiro Hasegawa, associate professor of the Department of Information and Culture at Kinjo Gakuin University, agrees that: “In terms of technology, e-mail filtering systems are effective.” (Kubota). It is one of the easy ways for parents to protect their children. In addition, manufacturing companies of mobile phones should produce a mobile phone with special features for blocking access to unofficial websites or detecting and rejecting abusive messages before they are received. Technology has created this cyber-bullying, so it is time for technology to improve the prevention of this problem. But technology can not solve the bullying problem by itself. As Hasegawa states: “But in the end, the problem is not about technology…it is about humans.”(Kubota).
Because it is a human problem, education should play an important role in reducing incidents of bullying at school. But teachers have been struggling with this issue in Japan for a long time. The common countermeasure for bullying at school is to have individual conferences with bullies and bullied children and to discuss this issue in a classroom when bullying comes to light. However, this kind of teachers’ action often leads to more concealed bullying and makes the situation worse. After the bullying discussion, students pretend to stop the bullying while in front of teachers, but in fact the situation is exacerbated behind teachers’ backs. The victim children do not ask for help anymore because bullies threaten them with revenge. So how can teachers deal with this?
I believe that every teacher needs to learn about bullying before he or she actually begins to teach. Most of the unskilled teachers try to solve this problem ineffectively and accelerate the bullying, or they try to ignore the problems due to a lack of class management skills. The Board of Education should offer frequent workshops so that teachers learn what bullying is, how to deal with this issue, and what to teach students to solve this problem. As well as teachers, parents also need to learn about bullying. Schools could offer workshops for all parents to gain awareness even though their children may not be bullies or be bullied. Midori Komori, the mother of a 15-year-old girl who killed herself after she was bullied, travels around Japan giving lectures to raise awareness of bullying and strongly insists: “Every adult, including teachers, parents, and other adults, has to teach children not to do anything they do not want their friends to do to them. If we can teach our children that, I think we will no longer see bullying in our society.” (BBC News).
It is time to educate children about bullying. Most teachers bring up the bullying topic when they find a bullying situation in a classroom. But that is not the right time to talk in a class. Teachers should regularly and often share this topic with students whether there is bullying in their class or not. This way, students will become accustomed to talking about bullying openly with teachers and among themselves.
Bullying is also a serious issue in America. The American Justice Department school bullying statistics and cyber bullying statistics studies show that: “1 out of 4 kids is bullied.”(HOW TO STOP BULLYING). Roland Rogers Elementary School in New Jersey has a unique anti-bullying and anti-violence program. There is an anti-bullying wall in the main hall of the school and every student is required to sign a pledge to be “bully-free” and post the pledge on the wall through a school year. Then, when a bullying situation is found, the offender is brought to the wall and asked if he/she adhered to his/her pledge. Robin L. Moore, the principal of the school, says: “I believe the wall has ‘been very effective’ when it comes to bullying in the school.” (Bellano). Annette Giaquinto, a superintendent of schools, also states: “Although I have no data to assess the effectiveness of the pledge wall, I believe that public affirmations are an effective measure.” (Bellano). Like this countermeasure, schools in Japan need to tackle the bullying issue by getting all students involved.
One of the most important things to reduce bullying is for teachers and parents to build a close relationship with children. “Positive and supportive school relationships between principals, teachers, students and parents can have a positive impact on reducing bullying.” (Parentinged). When there is a close relationship and open communication with children, teachers and parents have a chance to notice when they have a problem in an early stage of bullying. The earlier they find it, the easier the problem will be solved. Also, children and students must know they can come to their parents and teachers for help with anything anytime. The close relationship is also very helpful for teachers in order to look into the main problem which causes children to bully each other, i.e. as a release for the academic pressure or the frustration that they have with their parents. If teachers can address the root cause of the problem that bullies struggle with, they will be able to solve their main problems and prevent bullying.
Many parents argue that it is very difficult to communicate with their children in the period of adolescence. That is precisely why it is important for parents to communicate well with their children from an early age. Once parents have this close relationship, they will notice from the emotion and behavior that their children show at home when they are in trouble, even without verbal communication. My mother used to tell me that she could easily know when I was distressed from my behavior at home. And I believe that it was one of the reasons that I did not suffer from any bullying in my school days. I unconsciously knew that I always had someone to protect me when I got in trouble. Excellent communication between parents and children is a key factor in reducing bullying.
Bullying is a significant and complicated social issue in modern society. It is not an easy problem to solve. It requires patience and long-term efforts. But I believe we can, at least, reduce the incidence of bullying if we work together to tackle the problem in the way that I proposed in this essay. All adults should be aware of the seriousness of bullying and address it, even the government. Kiyoteru Okouchi, whose suicide note is quoted at the beginning of this essay, committed suicide after being bullied into stealing over $ 11,000 from his parents by classmates who used the money at the local pachinko parlor. After having his head held under water in a river by the bullies and being stripped of his clothes in a school gymnasium, he hanged himself from a tree in the family garden. (Hay). What if Kiyoteru Okouchi were your child, could you ignore the problem of bullying?
Works Cited
BBC News. “Japan’s deadly bullying problem”. 6 Dec. 2006. BBC. 25 Apr. 2012
Bellano, Anthony. “Roland Rogers’ Wall Combats Bullying” 20 Sep. 2011. Galloway Patch.
25 Apr. 2012
Elementary and Secondary Education Bureau. “Investigation of Issues on Pupil Guidance of Students’ Problem Behaviors in 2011” 4 Aug. 2011. The Ministry of Education in Japan. 25 Apr. 2012
Hays, Jeffery. "Bullying and School Problems in Japan: Suicides, Injuries by Teachers, Violence and Lack Discipline in Schools" July 2011. FACTS AND DETAILS. 25 Apr. 2012
HOW TO STOP BULLYING. “Bullying Statistics / Cyber Bullying Statistics / School Bullying
Statistics” 2009. HOW TO STOP BULLYING. 25 Apr. 2012
Kubota, Yoko. “Cyber Bullying bedevils Japan” 11 Nov. 2007. Reuters. 25 Apr. 2012
Mail & Guardian online. “Cyber-bullying common among Japan’s children” 16 Apr. 2008. Mail
& Guardian online. 25 Apr. 2012
Parentinged, “The Effect Of Bullying In School On Children And Adolescents”.
www.parentinged.com 25 Apr. 2012
Friday, April 27, 2012
STUDENT WRITING: EVALUATION by MAYUMI KOBAYASHI
Will American Airlines Ever Be Able to Provide a Pleasant Flight?
What is your favorite airline to fly with? I like traveling and have used more than fifteen airlines in my travel experience. My favorite airlines are mostly Asian based, such as Japan Airlines, All Nippon Airways, Singapore Airlines, and Malaysian Airlines. They have a decent quality of service and reliable flight operations. In fact, most Asian airlines rank high in passengers’ reviews. Among the top five World Best Airlines of 2011 presented by SKYTRAX, the world’s largest and reliable airline review site, four were Asian based companies: Singapore Airlines, Asiana Airlines, Cathay Pacific Airways, and Thai Airways International (SKYTRAX). None of the North American based airlines were listed in the ranking. If we evaluate three major criteria: on-board service, flight operation service, and safety, American Airlines is the worst airline among those that I have flown with.
The first impression of the airlines one gets will always come from their on-board service, i.e. quality of service and products served during the flight. Unlike some airlines with highly qualified cabin crews, the quality of the flight attendants on American Airlines is well below average. In my travel experience using American Airlines from Dallas, USA, to Narita, Japan, and Japan Airlines from Los Angeles to Narita, Japan, it was obvious that the staff on Japan Airlines were much more pleasant; enough to provide great comfort on board. While the staff on Japan Airlines kept cleaning bathrooms and picking up trash constantly in order to keep the cabin clean during the flight, American Airlines staff were relaxed and enjoyed talking to each other between the required services, so the cabin was always dirty.
The food on planes is another major factor for passengers. But it was the worst nightmare for me on American Airlines. Besides the inferior quality of the meals, some of them were served frozen, such as frozen sandwiches. Whenever I took this airline, I ended up feeling sick due to my empty stomach during a flight. Additionally, some of the family friendly airlines, such as Cathay Pacific Airways and Emirates Airlines, serve kids’ meals and even provide toys, but not American Airlines. Also, providing little cups with lids and straws for kids’ refreshments on Japan Airlines gave great satisfaction to parents traveling with little kids like I do.
Most passengers complain about the seats. For some people from Asia including me, the seat comfort is not a big concern since we are small compared with western people. Yet since most of the passengers on American Airlines are big Americans with long legs, there is no doubt that American Airlines must receive many complaints about their seats which are relatively small and narrow for western people, especially the leg space. The passengers’ comments from SKYTRAX show poor reviews (“Long haul economy product standards poor” and “Angled-flat long haul Business [C]lass seat offers poor comfort”) (SKYTRAX). Moreover, in the ranking of 2011 on the feeling of comfort and security before and during a flight from the site called Air Valid, American Airlines ranked 76th out of 80 airline companies (Air Valid). It can be assumed from these results that American Airlines has poor evaluations not only in the service on board but also in customer service on flight operations.
Another important factor for passengers is the reliability of flight operations. American Airlines passengers complain about their operational services related to flight cancellation, delay, and mishandling of luggage. One time when my flight arrived late due to bad weather and I missed my connecting flight, I was very disappointed with the ground staff of American Airlines at the Dallas-FortWorth international airport. Although a lot of passengers still waited in the huge lines to change flight tickets late at night, the counter staff kept closing their windows until there was only one person to deal with them. Around one o’clock am, this last employee was also trying to close the window and asked us to move to the end of the line at another counter after waiting for more than four hours. That was only one of the awful experiences that I have had in my traveling. The Wall Street Journal’s Travel Editor, Scott McCartney wrote, “it’s probably predictable that the worst airline for customer service last year [2011] among major carriers was the one that filed for bankruptcy: American Airlines”(McCartney). He also wrote: “Last year, American was worst among major carriers at baggage handling and had the highest percentage of canceled flights”(McCartney). The website of FlightStats, which tracks the number of daily flight cancellations and delays, shows that American Airlines was ranked in third position with 717 in cancellations and 9,062 in delays from March 1st to 30th in 2012. Compared with Alaskan Airlines and Delta Air Lines, which were ranked 1st and 2nd place in the best-performing carriers of 2011, American Airlines have not made any efforts to improve their quality of service. McCartney praised Delta Air Lines: “For Delta, the high ranking represents a remarkable turnaround from last year’s [2010] poor showing. Credit the airline for investing in technology, new baggage systems, retraining for employees and lots other changes to fix its operation”(McCartney). American Airlines, however, does not seem to improve customer services nor safety.
The recent frequent operational incidents that airlines involved in North America have had remind us of the importance of considering the safety of flight operations. Whereas most American carriers place low in the ranking on customer services, they rank high on safety. According to Air Transport Rating Agency (ATRA), American Airlines was one of their top ten safest airlines 2011 (statistic based on data in 2009 since it takes time to evaluate data and release the result to the public) (ATRA). According to an article in The Economist, “These [the ten safest airlines in the world by ATRA] are mainly American and European carriers, which makes the ranking quite different from those focusing on customer service and usually dominated by Asian and Middle Eastern airlines”(A.B.). However, the statistics of the Airlines Safety Table show that American Airlines’ recent one year average of accidents from January 1st, 2010 to January 1st, 2011 is higher than the past five year average from January 1st, 2006 to January 1st, 2011 (AirlineSafetyRecords.com). The statistics categorize three points: accidents per 1,000,000 takeoffs, fatal accidents, and incidents per 1,000,000 takeoffs, which are based on the date from the Federal Aviation Administration, the NTSB, and the U.S. Department of Transportation. They indicate that American Airlines had 5 accidents and 7 incidents in the recent one year average compared with 4 accidents and 4 incidents in the past five year average. From this we can infer that there has been no improvement in safety issues and a lack of sense of crisis within American Airlines.
From the overall evaluations from the passengers’ and my personal reviews as well as several statistics considering customer service before, during, and after flights and safety, American Airlines is not a well qualified airline to fly with. Today, airline companies are struggling to survive in the industry. I believe that the winning companies, like Delta Air Lines, are the ones which accept their deficient customer service and flight operations and constantly make efforts to improve them to benefit their passengers. Hopefully, American Airlines’ bankruptcy will lead this company to improve its quality of customer service and safety so that it can succeed in this severe business competition.
Works Cited
A.B. “Airline Safety: Safe havens”. 31 Aug.2011. The Economist. 30 Mar. 2012.
.
AirlineSafetyRecords.com. “One Year Average from January 1, 2010 to January 1. 2011”. and
“Five Year Average from January 1, 2006 to January 1 2011”. Aug. 2011.
AirlineSafetyRecords.com. 30 Mar. 2012
.
.
Air Valid. “American Airlines Reviews and opinions”. 28 Mar. 2012. Air Valid. 30 Mar. 2012.
.
FlightStats. “FlightStats Global Cancellation and Delay Tracker.” FlightStats. 30 Mar. 2012.
.
McCartney, Scott. “Airline Rankings: Best and Worst for Customer Service in 2011”. 5 Jan.
2012. The Wall Street Journal. 30 Mar. 2012.
McCartney, Scott. “The Airline That Loses Bags, Cancels Flights: In Latest Rankings, American
Places Last in Customer Service; Alaska Tops List, Delta Makes a Turnaround”. 5 Jan. 2012. The Wall Street Journal. 30 Mar. 2012.
.
SKYTRAX. “World Airline awards: the most prestigious and coveted awards for the airline
industry”. SKYTRAX. 30 Mar. 2012. < http://www.worldairlineawards.com/>.
SKYTRAX. “American Airlines official 3-Star Ranking of Product and Service Quality”.
SKYTRAX. 30 Mar. 2012..
What is your favorite airline to fly with? I like traveling and have used more than fifteen airlines in my travel experience. My favorite airlines are mostly Asian based, such as Japan Airlines, All Nippon Airways, Singapore Airlines, and Malaysian Airlines. They have a decent quality of service and reliable flight operations. In fact, most Asian airlines rank high in passengers’ reviews. Among the top five World Best Airlines of 2011 presented by SKYTRAX, the world’s largest and reliable airline review site, four were Asian based companies: Singapore Airlines, Asiana Airlines, Cathay Pacific Airways, and Thai Airways International (SKYTRAX). None of the North American based airlines were listed in the ranking. If we evaluate three major criteria: on-board service, flight operation service, and safety, American Airlines is the worst airline among those that I have flown with.
The first impression of the airlines one gets will always come from their on-board service, i.e. quality of service and products served during the flight. Unlike some airlines with highly qualified cabin crews, the quality of the flight attendants on American Airlines is well below average. In my travel experience using American Airlines from Dallas, USA, to Narita, Japan, and Japan Airlines from Los Angeles to Narita, Japan, it was obvious that the staff on Japan Airlines were much more pleasant; enough to provide great comfort on board. While the staff on Japan Airlines kept cleaning bathrooms and picking up trash constantly in order to keep the cabin clean during the flight, American Airlines staff were relaxed and enjoyed talking to each other between the required services, so the cabin was always dirty.
The food on planes is another major factor for passengers. But it was the worst nightmare for me on American Airlines. Besides the inferior quality of the meals, some of them were served frozen, such as frozen sandwiches. Whenever I took this airline, I ended up feeling sick due to my empty stomach during a flight. Additionally, some of the family friendly airlines, such as Cathay Pacific Airways and Emirates Airlines, serve kids’ meals and even provide toys, but not American Airlines. Also, providing little cups with lids and straws for kids’ refreshments on Japan Airlines gave great satisfaction to parents traveling with little kids like I do.
Most passengers complain about the seats. For some people from Asia including me, the seat comfort is not a big concern since we are small compared with western people. Yet since most of the passengers on American Airlines are big Americans with long legs, there is no doubt that American Airlines must receive many complaints about their seats which are relatively small and narrow for western people, especially the leg space. The passengers’ comments from SKYTRAX show poor reviews (“Long haul economy product standards poor” and “Angled-flat long haul Business [C]lass seat offers poor comfort”) (SKYTRAX). Moreover, in the ranking of 2011 on the feeling of comfort and security before and during a flight from the site called Air Valid, American Airlines ranked 76th out of 80 airline companies (Air Valid). It can be assumed from these results that American Airlines has poor evaluations not only in the service on board but also in customer service on flight operations.
Another important factor for passengers is the reliability of flight operations. American Airlines passengers complain about their operational services related to flight cancellation, delay, and mishandling of luggage. One time when my flight arrived late due to bad weather and I missed my connecting flight, I was very disappointed with the ground staff of American Airlines at the Dallas-FortWorth international airport. Although a lot of passengers still waited in the huge lines to change flight tickets late at night, the counter staff kept closing their windows until there was only one person to deal with them. Around one o’clock am, this last employee was also trying to close the window and asked us to move to the end of the line at another counter after waiting for more than four hours. That was only one of the awful experiences that I have had in my traveling. The Wall Street Journal’s Travel Editor, Scott McCartney wrote, “it’s probably predictable that the worst airline for customer service last year [2011] among major carriers was the one that filed for bankruptcy: American Airlines”(McCartney). He also wrote: “Last year, American was worst among major carriers at baggage handling and had the highest percentage of canceled flights”(McCartney). The website of FlightStats, which tracks the number of daily flight cancellations and delays, shows that American Airlines was ranked in third position with 717 in cancellations and 9,062 in delays from March 1st to 30th in 2012. Compared with Alaskan Airlines and Delta Air Lines, which were ranked 1st and 2nd place in the best-performing carriers of 2011, American Airlines have not made any efforts to improve their quality of service. McCartney praised Delta Air Lines: “For Delta, the high ranking represents a remarkable turnaround from last year’s [2010] poor showing. Credit the airline for investing in technology, new baggage systems, retraining for employees and lots other changes to fix its operation”(McCartney). American Airlines, however, does not seem to improve customer services nor safety.
The recent frequent operational incidents that airlines involved in North America have had remind us of the importance of considering the safety of flight operations. Whereas most American carriers place low in the ranking on customer services, they rank high on safety. According to Air Transport Rating Agency (ATRA), American Airlines was one of their top ten safest airlines 2011 (statistic based on data in 2009 since it takes time to evaluate data and release the result to the public) (ATRA). According to an article in The Economist, “These [the ten safest airlines in the world by ATRA] are mainly American and European carriers, which makes the ranking quite different from those focusing on customer service and usually dominated by Asian and Middle Eastern airlines”(A.B.). However, the statistics of the Airlines Safety Table show that American Airlines’ recent one year average of accidents from January 1st, 2010 to January 1st, 2011 is higher than the past five year average from January 1st, 2006 to January 1st, 2011 (AirlineSafetyRecords.com). The statistics categorize three points: accidents per 1,000,000 takeoffs, fatal accidents, and incidents per 1,000,000 takeoffs, which are based on the date from the Federal Aviation Administration, the NTSB, and the U.S. Department of Transportation. They indicate that American Airlines had 5 accidents and 7 incidents in the recent one year average compared with 4 accidents and 4 incidents in the past five year average. From this we can infer that there has been no improvement in safety issues and a lack of sense of crisis within American Airlines.
From the overall evaluations from the passengers’ and my personal reviews as well as several statistics considering customer service before, during, and after flights and safety, American Airlines is not a well qualified airline to fly with. Today, airline companies are struggling to survive in the industry. I believe that the winning companies, like Delta Air Lines, are the ones which accept their deficient customer service and flight operations and constantly make efforts to improve them to benefit their passengers. Hopefully, American Airlines’ bankruptcy will lead this company to improve its quality of customer service and safety so that it can succeed in this severe business competition.
Works Cited
A.B. “Airline Safety: Safe havens”. 31 Aug.2011. The Economist. 30 Mar. 2012.
AirlineSafetyRecords.com. “One Year Average from January 1, 2010 to January 1. 2011”. and
“Five Year Average from January 1, 2006 to January 1 2011”. Aug. 2011.
AirlineSafetyRecords.com. 30 Mar. 2012
Air Valid. “American Airlines Reviews and opinions”. 28 Mar. 2012. Air Valid. 30 Mar. 2012.
FlightStats. “FlightStats Global Cancellation and Delay Tracker.” FlightStats. 30 Mar. 2012.
McCartney, Scott. “Airline Rankings: Best and Worst for Customer Service in 2011”. 5 Jan.
2012. The Wall Street Journal. 30 Mar. 2012.
McCartney, Scott. “The Airline That Loses Bags, Cancels Flights: In Latest Rankings, American
Places Last in Customer Service; Alaska Tops List, Delta Makes a Turnaround”. 5 Jan. 2012. The Wall Street Journal. 30 Mar. 2012.
SKYTRAX. “World Airline awards: the most prestigious and coveted awards for the airline
industry”. SKYTRAX. 30 Mar. 2012. < http://www.worldairlineawards.com/>.
SKYTRAX. “American Airlines official 3-Star Ranking of Product and Service Quality”.
SKYTRAX. 30 Mar. 2012.
STUDENT EVALUATION WRITING by GILBERTO PEREZ
The Mexican White Male Elephant
According to an Asian legend, white elephants are considered sacred because one of them appeared to Buddha’s mother before his birth. For that reason, kings used to have one for good luck. On the other hand, white elephants were so costly to maintain and so difficult to get rid of that the person who owned one frequently went broke. Mexico does not have one white elephant, indeed Mexico has two. The first one was born when the Mexican government decided to privatize TELMEX, the national communication and telephone company. “Fortunately” for Mexicans, it turned out to be a female elephant, because it happened that within a decade she gave birth to a magnificent fat healthy white male elephant, TELCEL, the first cellular telephone company in Mexico. Making Mexicans pay astonishing monthly telephone and cell phone bills, these two monopolies of the communication sector have caused extensive damage to the domestic economy of all Mexicans. The weakness of the Mexican antimonopoly laws allowed annual sales of TELCEL to be higher than the annual IRS collected taxes. The two enterprises have made of its owner the richest man of the world. The outrageous prices, the atrocious customer service, and the bad connectivity are other misfortunes that Mexicans have to deal with.
In my own experience, after several years of religiously paying a two hundred and fifty dollar per month bill for my “unlimited” cell phone plan, I believed that I had access to all services that my cell phone company could offer, even more so because I had the latest Blackberry version. Not so! Destiny had in store for me a very big surprise. When I had to travel out of my country for business, I carried with me my new fancy cell phone. Once there, I didn’t have any trouble keeping in touch with my office and my Mexican customers. After five days, I went back to Mexico, content because thanks to my cell phone, I had kept up with all my tasks such as checking email, chatting with friends, making and answering business calls from Mexico and so on while I was abroad. A week later, I almost fainted when I received my cell phone bill. The amount was exactly five hundred fifty four dollars and seventy four cents! But I almost died when I received another bill for three thousand four hundred and sixty three dollar for mobile internet services. Of course, I would fight tooth and nail to avoid paying such abuse, but I could not imagine yet the magnitude of the battle that I was going to fight.
My first reaction was to call the company immediately. I wanted to take advantage of my rage to beat whoever tried to oppose me. However, after almost twenty minutes of waiting on line, being transferred from one operator to another, and having given my personal data more than five times, I was fresher than a turkey two days before Thanksgiving. When I finally reached the right person to talk to, I had lost my touch, so in frustration I bore the long specifications and explanations that he recited to me about my contract. I felt a cold sweat run down my spine when he nonchalantly told me that if I did not pay those bills quickly, the company would block all the lines linked to my plan. I was helpless and lost before such power. Nobody in the customer service office could help me, so I began a pilgrimage through uncountable offices, locations, and people full of indifference and mistreatment. Finally, after all those struggles, I managed to get a miserable ten percent discount only on the internet services part, and they reluctantly agreed to spread the total amount over twelve monthly payments with no interest. I had to pay, like all my Mexican fellow countrymen always do, if I wanted to be “connected”. And that is a whole other subject.
Even though TELCEL’s connectivity inside Mexico has improved a little bit, every cell phone call that I make, and every cell phone conversation that I receive, is interrupted in the midst of its catharsis due to a failure in TELCEL’s connectivity. Additionally, trying to use a Mexican cell phone service overseas is a nightmare because it is almost impossible to find a TELCEL connection. When I travel abroad, I look with bitterness at the endless list of all those international cell phone company icons scrolling on my cellular device’s display, but never do I see passing on it the icon of my singular “lovely” Mexican cell phone company.
In conclusion, there are millions, if not tens of millions of stories among Mexican cellular users similar to mine. However, all TELCEL clients day by day suffer the burden of paying super expensive rates, receiving pathetical customer service, and dealing with appallingly erratic connectivity. The worst part in this economic ordeal is that there are no signs in sight of any change in this status quo. The laws against monopolies in Mexico are too soft to beat such giants. Consequently, for the moment, I will just continue dreaming of fifty dollar monthly bills for unlimited calls and mobile internet service included.
According to an Asian legend, white elephants are considered sacred because one of them appeared to Buddha’s mother before his birth. For that reason, kings used to have one for good luck. On the other hand, white elephants were so costly to maintain and so difficult to get rid of that the person who owned one frequently went broke. Mexico does not have one white elephant, indeed Mexico has two. The first one was born when the Mexican government decided to privatize TELMEX, the national communication and telephone company. “Fortunately” for Mexicans, it turned out to be a female elephant, because it happened that within a decade she gave birth to a magnificent fat healthy white male elephant, TELCEL, the first cellular telephone company in Mexico. Making Mexicans pay astonishing monthly telephone and cell phone bills, these two monopolies of the communication sector have caused extensive damage to the domestic economy of all Mexicans. The weakness of the Mexican antimonopoly laws allowed annual sales of TELCEL to be higher than the annual IRS collected taxes. The two enterprises have made of its owner the richest man of the world. The outrageous prices, the atrocious customer service, and the bad connectivity are other misfortunes that Mexicans have to deal with.
In my own experience, after several years of religiously paying a two hundred and fifty dollar per month bill for my “unlimited” cell phone plan, I believed that I had access to all services that my cell phone company could offer, even more so because I had the latest Blackberry version. Not so! Destiny had in store for me a very big surprise. When I had to travel out of my country for business, I carried with me my new fancy cell phone. Once there, I didn’t have any trouble keeping in touch with my office and my Mexican customers. After five days, I went back to Mexico, content because thanks to my cell phone, I had kept up with all my tasks such as checking email, chatting with friends, making and answering business calls from Mexico and so on while I was abroad. A week later, I almost fainted when I received my cell phone bill. The amount was exactly five hundred fifty four dollars and seventy four cents! But I almost died when I received another bill for three thousand four hundred and sixty three dollar for mobile internet services. Of course, I would fight tooth and nail to avoid paying such abuse, but I could not imagine yet the magnitude of the battle that I was going to fight.
My first reaction was to call the company immediately. I wanted to take advantage of my rage to beat whoever tried to oppose me. However, after almost twenty minutes of waiting on line, being transferred from one operator to another, and having given my personal data more than five times, I was fresher than a turkey two days before Thanksgiving. When I finally reached the right person to talk to, I had lost my touch, so in frustration I bore the long specifications and explanations that he recited to me about my contract. I felt a cold sweat run down my spine when he nonchalantly told me that if I did not pay those bills quickly, the company would block all the lines linked to my plan. I was helpless and lost before such power. Nobody in the customer service office could help me, so I began a pilgrimage through uncountable offices, locations, and people full of indifference and mistreatment. Finally, after all those struggles, I managed to get a miserable ten percent discount only on the internet services part, and they reluctantly agreed to spread the total amount over twelve monthly payments with no interest. I had to pay, like all my Mexican fellow countrymen always do, if I wanted to be “connected”. And that is a whole other subject.
Even though TELCEL’s connectivity inside Mexico has improved a little bit, every cell phone call that I make, and every cell phone conversation that I receive, is interrupted in the midst of its catharsis due to a failure in TELCEL’s connectivity. Additionally, trying to use a Mexican cell phone service overseas is a nightmare because it is almost impossible to find a TELCEL connection. When I travel abroad, I look with bitterness at the endless list of all those international cell phone company icons scrolling on my cellular device’s display, but never do I see passing on it the icon of my singular “lovely” Mexican cell phone company.
In conclusion, there are millions, if not tens of millions of stories among Mexican cellular users similar to mine. However, all TELCEL clients day by day suffer the burden of paying super expensive rates, receiving pathetical customer service, and dealing with appallingly erratic connectivity. The worst part in this economic ordeal is that there are no signs in sight of any change in this status quo. The laws against monopolies in Mexico are too soft to beat such giants. Consequently, for the moment, I will just continue dreaming of fifty dollar monthly bills for unlimited calls and mobile internet service included.
Sunday, April 1, 2012
STUDENT WRITING: AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL by GILBERTO PEREZ
1 Jan 2012
A Piece of Heaven on Earth
“Wake up, you lazy bum!” shouted my friend Julio, a fit six-foot-tall guy with a splendid smile, lover of outdoor sports. I opened my eyes and saw him sitting on his bed, ready to leave. The room felt extremely hot even though it was early morning. The humble hostel we were staying at was a far cry from what its advertisement had claimed. Unbelievably, the beds’ legs rested on little plates filled with water to prevent insects from climbing up. There was no private bathroom, no running water, and no glass in the windows! “Hurry up man!” Julio cried, “Panchito is already waiting outside and you haven’t even prepared your stuff! Come on!” Don Panchito, our guide, was a thin short guy, a classic Mayan type, aged around sixty, but still strong and agile. He was outside loading Julio’s stuff into his old yellow Chevy van. I did not know yet, but I was going to go through the closest encounter with nature of my life.
Our adventure was to consist of some snorkeling and rowing at a cenote, named “Ik-Kil”, close to Chichen-Itza, in the midst of the Mayan jungle of Yucatan. I was in good shape and felt very confident. How hard could this be with a sixty plus-year-old guide?
After 20 minutes of driving on a dirt road, Panchito stopped the van and said, “Well, my friends, the road is done! Let’s walk and stretch our legs a little bit!” When we descended from the vehicle, it was eight am. Without clouds, the sun beat down unmercifully. The humidity was very high, so each movement made me sweat profusely. We were carrying photographic equipment, life savers, fins, visors, snorkels, kayaks, food, and personal items, all inside by no means small back packs. More or less sixty pounds each. The exuberant vegetation appeared close-packed before us, and I had no clue where the walking path started. It seemed as if Tarzan and his apes would jump out at any time.
After enjoying the view, we started our walking. At the beginning, it was nice and easy. The richness of the jungle‘s sounds and the beautiful environment were fantastic. However, our load soon felt heavier and heat overwhelmed us. Without any sign of warning, a swarm of mosquitoes surrounded us and attacked us relentlessly. The suffocating dense vegetation let us see only just a few feet ahead. Little by little our journey turned into an almost insurmountable challenge. Soaking my body utterly, the sweat ran down my legs. A frantic need to scratch my whole body plagued me, made even worse by my inability to do so because my hands were busy carrying equipment and dropping it was not an option. Thus, I stoically bore the burden. Panchito smiled knowingly and whistled, fresh and tireless, so neither of us dared to complain. After two hours of pain, Julio swallowed his pride and asked him with a reedy voice, “Hey Panchito!! Is the cenote still far away?” to which Panchito just answered, “No” and he carried on his annoying whistling. It turned out that we still had to walk for another twenty ever lasting minutes. Nobody talked; there was only the sound of two exhausted middle-aged men’s heavy breathing and our gigantic small friend Panchito´s monotonous whistling.
Suddenly, Panchito pulled apart a mangrove branch, a common jungle bush, and an extraordinary and paradisiacal landscape appeared. In front of us there was a rocky wall covered by deep green climbing plants. Vines hanging from above alternated with many trickles of water dropping onto the cenote’s surface while the sunrays struggled to pass through them in a colorful dance of lights and shadows. It was a completely surrealistic scene. A fresh breeze hit my face giving me some welcome relief from the crushing heat. The cenote’s crystal clear water drew me like a magnet. Without hesitation, I dropped the equipment, got rid of my back pack, and pulled off my shirt. I ran to the edge and jumped into the water with a sonorous big splash.
As my body sank into the water, freshness engulfed me completely. Feeling the water against my skin like fine Chinese silk, I opened my eyes looking deep down through the water. Its hyper transparency revealed a mute symphony of multicolored fish, and a kaleidoscopic variety of aquatic plants and corals. The sensation of no gravity and the three dimensional freedom released me from my own weight. For a moment I viewed myself as a pure spirit, slowly floating in heaven. I was immersed in a silent world, but filled with color and light. I was protected and cherished by nature and I learned that I belonged there. I tried to extend the moment as long as possible, but my lungs yearned for oxygen. I emerged to catch my breath.
Once on the surface, I realized that Julio was also having such a good time that his huge smile couldn’t fit in his face. Panchito looked at us with satisfaction as if he previously had known of the effects that this amazing place had on people. Enjoying the moment and laughing like kids we created uncountable splashes jumping into the water in different ways and from different points. We swam and enjoyed ourselves for more than two hours, losing all sense of time until Panchito, looking at his watch, said it was time to row down river to the camping area. We prepared our kayaks and reluctantly started rowing. As we paddled, a melancholic feeling flooded me. I really did not want to leave. Now I know that I left a part of myself in that enchanted place, but I have also taken it with me. Ever since that day, I have had a piece of heaven in my heart.
A Piece of Heaven on Earth
“Wake up, you lazy bum!” shouted my friend Julio, a fit six-foot-tall guy with a splendid smile, lover of outdoor sports. I opened my eyes and saw him sitting on his bed, ready to leave. The room felt extremely hot even though it was early morning. The humble hostel we were staying at was a far cry from what its advertisement had claimed. Unbelievably, the beds’ legs rested on little plates filled with water to prevent insects from climbing up. There was no private bathroom, no running water, and no glass in the windows! “Hurry up man!” Julio cried, “Panchito is already waiting outside and you haven’t even prepared your stuff! Come on!” Don Panchito, our guide, was a thin short guy, a classic Mayan type, aged around sixty, but still strong and agile. He was outside loading Julio’s stuff into his old yellow Chevy van. I did not know yet, but I was going to go through the closest encounter with nature of my life.
Our adventure was to consist of some snorkeling and rowing at a cenote, named “Ik-Kil”, close to Chichen-Itza, in the midst of the Mayan jungle of Yucatan. I was in good shape and felt very confident. How hard could this be with a sixty plus-year-old guide?
After 20 minutes of driving on a dirt road, Panchito stopped the van and said, “Well, my friends, the road is done! Let’s walk and stretch our legs a little bit!” When we descended from the vehicle, it was eight am. Without clouds, the sun beat down unmercifully. The humidity was very high, so each movement made me sweat profusely. We were carrying photographic equipment, life savers, fins, visors, snorkels, kayaks, food, and personal items, all inside by no means small back packs. More or less sixty pounds each. The exuberant vegetation appeared close-packed before us, and I had no clue where the walking path started. It seemed as if Tarzan and his apes would jump out at any time.
After enjoying the view, we started our walking. At the beginning, it was nice and easy. The richness of the jungle‘s sounds and the beautiful environment were fantastic. However, our load soon felt heavier and heat overwhelmed us. Without any sign of warning, a swarm of mosquitoes surrounded us and attacked us relentlessly. The suffocating dense vegetation let us see only just a few feet ahead. Little by little our journey turned into an almost insurmountable challenge. Soaking my body utterly, the sweat ran down my legs. A frantic need to scratch my whole body plagued me, made even worse by my inability to do so because my hands were busy carrying equipment and dropping it was not an option. Thus, I stoically bore the burden. Panchito smiled knowingly and whistled, fresh and tireless, so neither of us dared to complain. After two hours of pain, Julio swallowed his pride and asked him with a reedy voice, “Hey Panchito!! Is the cenote still far away?” to which Panchito just answered, “No” and he carried on his annoying whistling. It turned out that we still had to walk for another twenty ever lasting minutes. Nobody talked; there was only the sound of two exhausted middle-aged men’s heavy breathing and our gigantic small friend Panchito´s monotonous whistling.
Suddenly, Panchito pulled apart a mangrove branch, a common jungle bush, and an extraordinary and paradisiacal landscape appeared. In front of us there was a rocky wall covered by deep green climbing plants. Vines hanging from above alternated with many trickles of water dropping onto the cenote’s surface while the sunrays struggled to pass through them in a colorful dance of lights and shadows. It was a completely surrealistic scene. A fresh breeze hit my face giving me some welcome relief from the crushing heat. The cenote’s crystal clear water drew me like a magnet. Without hesitation, I dropped the equipment, got rid of my back pack, and pulled off my shirt. I ran to the edge and jumped into the water with a sonorous big splash.
As my body sank into the water, freshness engulfed me completely. Feeling the water against my skin like fine Chinese silk, I opened my eyes looking deep down through the water. Its hyper transparency revealed a mute symphony of multicolored fish, and a kaleidoscopic variety of aquatic plants and corals. The sensation of no gravity and the three dimensional freedom released me from my own weight. For a moment I viewed myself as a pure spirit, slowly floating in heaven. I was immersed in a silent world, but filled with color and light. I was protected and cherished by nature and I learned that I belonged there. I tried to extend the moment as long as possible, but my lungs yearned for oxygen. I emerged to catch my breath.
Once on the surface, I realized that Julio was also having such a good time that his huge smile couldn’t fit in his face. Panchito looked at us with satisfaction as if he previously had known of the effects that this amazing place had on people. Enjoying the moment and laughing like kids we created uncountable splashes jumping into the water in different ways and from different points. We swam and enjoyed ourselves for more than two hours, losing all sense of time until Panchito, looking at his watch, said it was time to row down river to the camping area. We prepared our kayaks and reluctantly started rowing. As we paddled, a melancholic feeling flooded me. I really did not want to leave. Now I know that I left a part of myself in that enchanted place, but I have also taken it with me. Ever since that day, I have had a piece of heaven in my heart.
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