Blood Diamonds

Blood diamonds refer to the mines in a war zone. Those diamonds were sold to finance an insurgency in Africa. It is said that the African people were the ones in charge to extract the diamonds from the ground, but generally, this people were poor and exploited.

Nowadays, there is no change, the diamond production has increased; Africa is the major producer of those beautiful stones and that continent sells this resource to many contries making millions and millios of dollars. The wealth that the diamond brings has not been distributed very well. We still notice that in many contries of Africa like Liberia, Republic of Congo, Angola, and others, people live in terrrible conditions.

It is time to legitimate and legalize diamond mining industry to stop exploitation in Africa. It is time for the goverments to invest more to improve the quality of life of the people. They have the same rights as everybody.

The four million of people that die every year by wars is terrible. They are still being slaves for the rich people who own the mines.

Edited by Marisol

MADAME BOVARY

I invite you to read this book. It is available at UCA´s library.
It is one of the best love stories... but I wonder what love is...

The author of this amazing book was accused of being inmoral and controversial when he published it in 1857 in France. However, the novel Madame Bovary is considered as the second best lingüistic piece ever. It is also considered one of the first novels that initiated the modern narrative.

Gustave Flaubert (1821-1880)

French novelist of the realist school, best-known for MADAME BOVARY (1857), a story of adultery and unhappy love affair of the provincial wife Emma Bovary. As a writer Flaubert was a perfectionist, who did not make a distinction between a beautiful or ugly subject: all was in the style. The idea, he argued, only exists by virtue of its form - its elements included the perfect word, cunningly contrived and verified rhythms, and a genuine architectural structure.


Gustave Flaubert was born in Rouen into a family of doctors. His father, Achille-Cléophas Flaubert, a chief surgeon at the Rouen municipal hospital, made money investing in land. Flaubert's mother, Anne-Justine-Caroline (née Fleuriot), was the daughter of a physician; she became the most important person in the author's life. Anne-Justine-Caroline died in 1872.

Being edited by Marisol

El TrIbUnaL , The cOuRT

He venido a este tribunal a acusarte
por haberme robado el sueño y mi corazón
el juez es el destino, la victima soy yo.

I came to this court to accuse you
of having stolen the dream and my heart
the judge is the destiny, the victime is me.

L a vida declaró en tu contra
y el destino me alejo de tí.

Life declared against you
and fate led me away from you.

Ahora te necesito, pero nose
en que lugar te encuentras atrapado.

Now i need you, but i do not know
where can i find you.

Mientras tanto sigo sin dormir
y sin poder amar, porque te condenaron,
pero tú nunca me devolviste lo robado.

Meanwhile I´m still not sleeping
and I can not love, because they condemned you,
but you never gave me back what you have stolen.

Ahora quisiera abrir de nuevo el caso,
pero el destino no me lo permite
y la vida sigue declarando en tu contra.

Now I would open the case again,
but the destiny does not let me
and life continue declaring against you.

La unica solución es que te escapes,
me busques y me devuelvas el sueño
y mi corazon.

The only solution is to run away
from your jail, look for me and
and give me back the dream and my heart.

Made and translated by Hada

Poema 20


Puedo escribir los versos más tristes esta noche.

Escribir, por ejemplo: «La noche está estrellada,
y tiritan, azules, los astros, a lo lejos.»

El viento de la noche gira en el cielo y canta.

Puedo escribir los versos más tristes esta noche.
Yo la quise, y a veces ella también me quiso.

En las noches como ésta la tuve entre mis brazos.
La besé tantas veces bajo el cielo infinito.

Ella me quiso, a veces yo también la quería.
Cómo no haber amado sus grandes ojos fijos.

Puedo escribir los versos más tristes esta noche.
Pensar que no la tengo. Sentir que la he perdido.

Oír la noche inmensa, más inmensa sin ella.
Y el verso cae al alma como al pasto el rocío.

Qué importa que mi amor no pudiera guardarla.
La noche está estrellada y ella no está conmigo.

Eso es todo. A lo lejos alguien canta. A lo lejos.
Mi alma no se contenta con haberla perdido.

Como para acercarla mi mirada la busca.
Mi corazón la busca, y ella no está conmigo.

La misma noche que hace blanquear los mismos árboles.
Nosotros, los de entonces, ya no somos los mismos.

Ya no la quiero, es cierto, pero cuánto la quise.
Mi voz buscaba el viento para tocar su oído.

De otro. Será de otro. Como antes de mis besos.
Su voz, su cuerpo claro. Sus ojos infinitos.

Ya no la quiero, es cierto, pero tal vez la quiero.
Es tan corto el amor, y es tan largo el olvido.

Porque en noches como ésta la tuve entre mis brazos,
Mi alma no se contenta con haberla perdido.

Aunque éste sea el último dolor que ella me causa,
y éstos sean los últimos versos que yo le escribo.


I want to share with you my favorite poem from my favorite
writter Pablo Neruda, i read this poem when i was 14 and since
that time I fell in love with it.

Manlio Argueta, a Salvadorean Writer.

Manlio Argueta was born in San Miguel (El Salvador), on November 24, 1936. Argueta is a salvadorean writer, critic, and novelis. Although he considers himself first and foremost a poet, he is known in the English speaking world for his book "One Day of life".

Argueta has stated that his exposure to "poetic sounds" began diring his chilhood and that his fundation in poetry stemmed from his childhood imagination. Argueta began his witing career by the age of 13 as a poet. He cites Pablo Neruda and García Lorca as some of his early poetic influences. Although, he was relatively unknown at the time, Argueta won a national prize for his poetry around 1956, which gained him some recognition among Salvodorean and central american poets. He was exiled to Costa Rica in 1972 because of his writings criticizings the government, He was not able to retun to El Salvador until the 1990s. Argueta currently lives in El Salvador where he holds the position of Director of National Public Library.

Some of Argueta´s works include El valle de las hamacas, Un hombre por la patria, En el costado de la luz, Caperucita en la zona roja (Little red riding hood in the red light distric), Un día en la vida (One day of life), Milagro de la paz ( A place called Milagro de paz). A characteristic of Argueta´s witing style present in the majority of his works is the use of salvadorean spanish vernacular and slang. He considers this a way to express and preserve some of El Salvador`s cultural identity.

FOCUS

What is the problem when we write an essay?

• Think in an original topic
• Organize ideas correctly
• Focus on what we we have decided as the topic

Writing essays will be hard, but not impossible!

We can do it! Let´s give a bit of time to the process of writing!

Edited by Marisol

THE IMPACT OF GLOBAL WARMING IN CENTRAL AMERICA

The climate of Central America strongly affects social and economic conditions in the region through its impacts on agriculture, tourism, and human health. The impacts of the 1997-98 El Niño Central America provide examples of what future climate warming may bring. During that year, forest fires raged out of control and high sea surface temperatures? bleached? Corals in adjacent seas. Future changes in the frequency of extreme events such as hurricanes, floods, and droughts may damage important export crops such as bananas, threaten human settlements on unstable hillsides, and facilitate the outbreak of diseases such as malaria and dengue fever.
I want to share the following idea with you, and try to put in practice everyday with our friends or our family: “I hear, and I forget. I see, and I remember. I do and I UNDERSTAND”; I would like to change the Global Situation, but everybody must have responsibility about this problem. What do u think?

"IF I WERE"

If I were a ghost
I would be inside you
and know what you think
and feel about me.

If I were a butterfly
I would fly to the place you are.

If I were your girlfriend
I would love you.

But unfortunately
I´m not any of those characters
I´m just a girl who is waiting for you.


XOCHILTH ZEPEDA
Edited by Marisol

God´s love

We almost always say we love someone, but how do we define it?

The dictionary defines love as "an intense affection for another person based on familiar or personal ties". Often this "intense affection" stems from a sexual attraction for that other person. We love other people, when we are attracted to them and when they make us feel good. This phrase "based on" means we love someone because that person fulfills a condition we require before we would love them.

The definition of love for God is so different because He defines it as an act of giving, and it is stated in the Bible when He says "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life."( John 3:16).

He demostrated his love by giving his Son.

You have the decision to look for him.

Your silence.

To be by your side is like...to know a deep silence,
the silence of the night, the silence of the forest.
I watched the storms that were inside you,
for the lightning of your eyes.
I felt the fire coming from your soul,
because you set my whole self on fire.

To be with you was like living in a daydream,
pieces of my heart were taken when you were gone..
but pieces of your silence remain with me.

Edited by Marisol

Isabel Allende

Isabel Allende is one of my favorite writers. I have read "Eva Luna", and I have seen the movie "La Casa de los Espíritus". Both of them are wonderful, they are full of passion, history, and love. There you can find different styles of life, many points of view towards politics, religion and love.

HANDS OF WORKERS (Rafael Menéndez)

MANOS DE OBREROS
Libros que se abren y se cierran
Con tantas historias por contar
Que a nadie le interesa leerlas
Aunque se prestan tanto para saludar.

Books opened and closed
with so many stories to tell
nobody is interested to read
eventhough they are so willing to greet.

Selvas, estériles y desiertas,
Cementerios de tantas ilusiones
Sueños que ahora los despiertas
Con tus majestuosas creaciones.

Tropical rainforests, barren and deserted
cemeteries of so much illusion
dreams that now are woken up
with your majestic creations.

Rasgos de los causes de sudor,
Arrugas enhebradas en tu tiempo
Estampas memorables del dolor
“cicatrices” como huellas del sufrimiento.

Traces of sweat flows
wrinkles needled in your time
memorable illustrations of pain
"scars" as paths of suffering.

Manos sórdidas y devaluadas
Cubiertas con un manto de ruego
Seno de las esperanzas albergadas
Esperanzas que ¡tenemos como obreros!

Squalid and unvalued hands
covered by a begging blanket
heart of sheltered hopes
hopes we embrace as workers!


Translated by Marisol
(still being revised)

Starry night (Vincent Van Gogh)

"A starry night is one of the things that brings me peace. Being able to admire that endless contrast of the complete darkness and the tiny but bright sparks as eyes. Having the sensation of being -myself- as such tiny and extremely far star... (Do I have the same glow?...) Closing the two curtains of my soul to taste the delight of a peaceful minute."

I challenge you to find the cause (s) or/and effect (s) in the previous poem I wrote some time ago.

It´s a review about phrasal verb.

We are a new generation of great teacher, that´s the reason because we have to know many things..

phrasal verbs are important in our vocabulary

AGREE WITH - estar de acuerdo - "All women are bad drivers." "I don't agree with you."
BE ABOUT TO - estar a punto de -I was about to leave the house when my friends arrived.
BE BACK - regresar -I'm working late at the office tonight so I won't be back until 10.
BE OUT OF - quedarse sin - We're out of eggs so we can't make a tortilla.
BE OVER - terminarse - When the football match was over, we went to the pub.
BE UP - estar levantado - "Phil isn't up yet: he's still in bed. Phone again in ten minutes."
BLOW UP - estallar (una bomba) - The bomb blew up killing six people.
BLOW UP - inflar - We blew up at least a hundred balloons for the Christmas party.
BREAK DOWN - averiarse - My car broke down on the way to Motril.

CUT DOWN ON - consumir menos - You must cut down on cholesterol or you'll have a heart attack.
CUT OFF - cortar, desconnectar - When we didn't pay the bill, the electricity was cut off.
CUT UP - cortar en pedazos - We cut up the birthday cake and gave everyone a slice.
DO UP - abrochar, atar - I was five before I knew how to do up my shoelaces.
DO WITH - tener algo que ver con, tener relación con - "What's MS DOS?" "It's got something to do with computers."
DO WITHOUT - pasarse sin, prescindir de - The shops are shut so we'll have to do without sugar.

Docentes competentes y comprometidos.

Los docentes deben tener vocación, paciencia y amor fundamentos que son muy importantes para producir un proceso educativo ameno, eficiente y productivo. Deben sentir plenamente lo que hacen, tienen que estar concientes que su trabajo es educar y formar personas que se convertirán en el recurso humano que una nación necesita. Los profesores deben trabajar para lograr satisfacer las necesidades e intereses de los alumnos que conlleve a producir y fortalecer las habilidades y destrezas de ellos. El docente debe velar porque la persona se forme en una diversidad de temáticas educativas que logren confianza, participación, democracia, respeto y aceptación en los alumnos. No deben ser los mismos modelos para educar. Se debe terminar con los modelos autoritarios que provocan uniformidad, obediencia, silencio y resignación en los alumnos. El gran profesor tiene autonomía, compromiso con su labor, contribuye a proteger y desarrollar valores, como también al desarrollo de la educación en todos los niveles (cognitivo, procedimental y actitudinal). El docente actual debe admitir que lo más importante es el aprendizaje de sus estudiantes, lo que ellos y ellas descubren, lo que hacen, lo que piensan y lo que dicen. Somos modelos para ellos y la coherencia entre el discurso y los actos de uno tienen un efecto positivo en ellos.

Como docentes experimentaremos muchos obstáculos en el camino, que interviene en el desempeño docente como el estado de la infraestructura escolar, la disponibilidad de recursos didácticos, el clima institucional y el nivel socio económico de las familias de las niñas y los niños, pero el sacrificio y la perseverancia al trabajo docente fortalecerán el proceso educativo, además como docentes estamos obligados a enseñar de una manera precisa e integral. La profesión de docente no es vocación para cualquier persona ya que de nosotros dependerá, en gran parte, formar individuos útiles a la sociedad. Debemos ser guías y ejemplo en el proceso de la enseñanza de los alumnos y poner nuestro sello en cada uno de los estudiantes porque el verdadero profesor se le lleva en el corazón a través de los años y se le recuerda con orgullo. 

"NO PENSABA"

No pensaba en conocerte
No se me cruzaba por la mente
Pero algo te trajo a mí
Y ahora solo me interesa, tenerte aquí.

No pensaba que por un momento chiquito
Estuviéramos los dos juntitos
Hablando cosas de nuestra vida,
Y entre risas y miradas de tí me enamoraba.

Ahora pienso ¿Cómo sería mi vida?
Si nuestros sentimientos se unieran
En un momento de amor y alegría.

Ya que conmigo no te tengo
Una fantasía fuiste, nada más,
Hoy solo recuerdo lo que sucedió
Y sé que otro momento vendrá.

Xochilth ♥

ISABEL ALLENDE ... a passionate woman talking about THE BRAVEST WOMEN!!!

HAVE SOME TIME TO TAKE A LOOK AT THIS LINK

http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/lang/spa/isabel_allende_tells_tales_of_passion.html

Be the first in commenting about the brave hearts of women like Wangari Maathai, Somali Mam, Jenny and Rose Mapendo.

FALTASTE TÚ

Esta tarde recorrí
Una vereda seca y lastimada
Tapizada con hojas caídas
De una madre ceiba cansada.

En cuyas ramas marchitas
Se escondía un pájaro colega;
Y vi como rayos de luz las atravesaban
Colgándose como columpios de ellas.

A lo lejos aprecié
Como se pinta un arco iris,
Como se forma una tormenta
Y como el sol se enfuerece y se lo impide.

Al gastar un par de pasos
Formé parte de un baile
Donde a mi acompañante no la pude ver;
Es más, creo que no había nadie.

Pero las ramas me saludaban,
Las hojas y las flores hacían un espiral
Que ascendía hasta las nubes
Como que si para ellas
No existiera un final.

Y aun más adelante
Crucé un mar color verde,
Y al verlo que se peinaba
Despertó en mí la necesidad de verte.

Quise buscarte en lo alto
Y sólo encontré a la tarde herida
En el dormitorio del sol
Cuya luz ya estaba pobre, casi no se veía.

Y ví también como el cielo
Se puso un traje oscuro
Y colgó su vestido azul…
¡Ah! Fue hermoso
Solo me faltaste tú.

Rafael Menéndez

RAFAEL MENÉNDEZ

Rafael Ernesto Menéndez was born in Santa Tecla, May 29th 1990. He is the oldest son of Mirna Rocío Menéndez and Julio César Morales Monge.


Rafael studied his primary school at Centro Escolar Católico Alberto Masferrer. Nowadays, he studies his last year of Bachillerato at Instituto Nacional José Damián Villacorta in the evening section.


In 1998, he was given the opportunity to work in carpentry in Santa Tecla.


Two years ago he started working at Mueblería Tecleña, where he still works.

He is a very good poet.
Enjoy and be inspired by this young man.

SIMPLEMENTE GRACIAS

Gracias por nunca haber firmado
con tus labios mis mejillas
por jamás querer decirme
lo que sentiste al saber que nacía.
Por ser como eres
indiferente a tu realidad,
cobarde con tus sueños
y enemigo de la verdad.

Gracias por haber matado

con los años mi esperanza,

con la absurda ilusión

que algún día volverías a casa.

Aunque sé que fue bobo

pues nunca te fuiste

siempre estuviste lejos;

es más creo que jamás me quisiste.

Gracias por no tomarme en cuenta
y ni formar parte de tu vida
por no incluir mi nombre en la lista
de tus cosas preferidas,
por eludir tantas veces aquel niño
que formó parte de tí; sólo quiero que sepas
está pronto a morir.

Gracias por jamás comprarme el juguete

que te dije una vez: Ese quiero;

han pasado más de diez años

sabes, aún lo espero.

Así como espero el momento que en mí

la palabra "PERDÓN" sea hecha,

y opaque mi pasado

que en esta noche me acecha...

Gracias por no venir todas esas noches
que con lágrimas te clamé ¡a gritos!,
donde sólo mi cama y frazada
eran mi escondite perfecto;
sabes, sigue empapada;
Y donde mi dolor
se mezclaba con el llanto maternal
que no comprendía por qué nacía;
pero sí comprendí que era real.

Gracias por no correr a mi rescate

todas las veces que mis pasos se entorpecían,

por no humectar con tu amor

el dolor que en mí se esparcía.

Como un vacío que nunca llenaste

y que jamás lo harás;

no es porque no puedas

sino porque no querrás.

Y por haber renunciado a mi niñez

te agradezco profundamente,

por hacer que en mis escasas fuerzas

levantara cosas que no se podían ni en mi mente.

También quiero que sepas

que en mi vida he jugado siempre

con un trozo áspero y duro de ébano

tal y como es ahora

casi toda mi mano.

Gracias, por haberme dado la dicha
de nunca caer rendido en tus brazos,
por darme la oportunidad de reconstruir ahora
todos mis sueños hechos pedazos.
Así como deseo que algún día
Nazca en tí y en mí
una verdaera relación
para que juntos podamos reír.

Y ahora te pido que el día que me necesites

haz que no me entere,

ni siquiera intentes llamarme

teniendo así una excusa más y no presentarme.

Y si la muerte te visita antes que a mí

te enviaré con ella esta carta

que ella misma me ha entregado

en una noche más que lloré

al saber que siempre te he necesitado.

November 14th, 2004

9:02-11:45 pm

Hello to all my classmates!!! This is Eduardo Ruiz

I´m happy because I am a member of this blog. During our class we have discussed very interesting topics; the last class was amazing because we also discussed about our national football team!!! We gave some REASONS (causes) why we like them. We related this event to the topic we are studying now : cause-effect essays.

Let me tell you, I am a fan of our salvadorean team, and I am proud of them. Isn´t it because of the flag they represent?

Emotional Intelligence

When we talk about emotional intelligence, we refer to the control of the emotions. Life emotions most of the time impact the decisions of the human being without we being able to notice it; so forth we have to learn how to deal with them.

The emotional intelligence can help us in the great variety of good interactions among people, and it also helps us in having a good performance at work, school, family, and some other environments.

There are also some other elements to consider. Motivation, enthusiasm, perseverance, and mental agility have coherent levels. Those abilities take part in the good human control.

Therefore, the key to succeed is in ourselves. If we are optimist and capable of recognizing our problems and facing them, we will have a productive life. We will get confidence, competence and hight standars in communication.

Since the emotional intelligence helps us in controlling emotions, we will surely have an excellent performance.

Sensibility

"...a hard heart is no infallible protection against a soft head."

(C.S. Lewis, "Men Without Chests" http://www.columbia.edu/cu/augustine/arch/lewis/abolition1.htm)

The above quote is taken from a brilliant essay by C.S. Lewis (yes,... the same one who wrote the Narnia books!) on the need to cultivate in young people (and adults) sensibility, and sensitivity towards the highest values as the best means to edify the human being, and protect her and him from the base influences in materialist society.

It really is a brilliant piece, and well worth reading for its content, first of all, and secondly because of his masterful command of written English. He is a clear, and well-organized thinker and his ideas are threaded together in an amenable fashion. He analyses the content of a high-school grammar book (actually, in the British system it's not called high-school) and tackles the little side-comments that authors make on the different pieces they have included for analysis, and shows how they make off-hand statements about value judgments, and relativise them to the speaker's own experience, whereas that merely hardens the heart of the reader who may unknowingly agree, and provides no real upliftment or edification. The real edification and strengthening of the soul comes from cultivating values and emotional attachment to them. Truth as an intellectual product is not in itself complete unless it is accompanied by the love of truth.

But I am really not doing this theme justice, as Lews does. I invite you to read and enjoy the essay, follow the link above.

SEPTIEMBRE DE 1800 TANTOS Y ... hasta HOY.

The tears, the cries, the shouts, the screams,

and the deaths.



I wish I could erase the paths of secrecy, silence and

darkness many of you had to traverse

I wish I could remove the ancient ashes of what you were

to find myself.

15 years of battles and death and then... slaves in their own land!

The forced works, the new life conditions, and sickness uprooted them with balsamic reasons.

I reject the hand of the masters from across the blue sea

covered with the also blue dyed fibers of indigo.

I refuse the color of their skin stealing the pure white of cotton.


In the name of God? Why did you kill behind the Cross?



(THIS FRAGMENT IS STILL BEING EDITED)

The Clown

"Clown"

(picture taken by Luis Romero)

"A veces... a veces pronuncio palabras que no comprendo: voces y signos, letras heridas, ciervos de pálida luz. Esto es: digo lo que no comprendo, lo que yo no quiero entender".

Italo López Vallecillos

"I have given my many faces, my laughter, my happiness... what do I have left? No even the make-up accepts the canvas I provide...The sound of many people hitting their hands together and shouting is now silent...CLAP NO MORE!!!"

*

Marisol

Is it possible...

Is it possible to put into words the thousand thoughts dancing in my mind?

Is it possible to compel all the shades in a painting?

Is it possible to describe a thunder to a blind person?

*

Alicia

About Macbeth

In 1606 William Shakespeare, the Bard of Avon, wrote a play which would go down in history as the cursed Scottish play after numerous mishaps during production. It was written for his new patron, James I (James VI of Scotland), following the death of Queen Elizabeth. James was interested in witchcraft and Scotland, and hence the themes in the play. Banquo is James's ancestor. The play itself tells the story of a man, urged by his wife and foretold by prophecy, who commits regicide in order to gain power.

An in depth analysis of Macbeth is provided at

http://library.thinkquest.org/2888/

William Shakespeare

Macbeth Act 5, scene 5, 19–28

She should have died later.

There would have been a time for such a word.

Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow,

Creeps in this trivial pace from day to day,

To the last syllable of recorded time.

And all our yesterdays have lighted

The way to dusty death for fools.

Out, out, brief candle!

Life's only a walking shadow; a bad actor,

That struts and worries about his hour on stage,

And then is not heard from again.

It is a tale

Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,

Signifying nothing.

You came to use your tongue. Tell your story quickly.

Strenght

The strenght of a multiple vortex ,
of a landspout...
of a waterspout...
or the strenght of a gustnado...?
Can you reach the ground and the clouds at the same time?
Tell me...
How far you can go
how much you can do
how much time I should wait
Show me...

you can go further.

Marisol

Cause-Effect Essays

do-ho suh
(contemporary korean artist)

‘Cause and effect’, 2007 installation at the gallery Lehmann Maupin, New York.


What is a cause/effect essay?

A cause and effect essay deals with explaining, examining or exposing two events or actions (which could be thought of as topics) and how each has an effect on the other and/or the results of these events or actions. Topics always have a number of possible causes and effects.

Example: Marriage and happiness – When marriage is the cause, most people assume that the effect is happiness. However, what if the marriage was arranged, or was the result of a pregnancy, or done out of pure convenience? Would the cause and effect follow a logical sequence? Or could the cause be happiness and marriage the effect?
Some other examples: drug addiction and crime, weight and television, ethnicity and professional success.

Would you contribute giving some more examples?


Go to this link and enjoy contemporary art at Lehmann Maupin Gallery
http://www.lehmannmaupin.com/#/contact/

ANXIETY (2008)

Anxiety runs through my veins…

It destroys the peaceful stream,
It flows producing heat and flames,

Hidden and confused…
It shouts at someone to reject loneliness,
It tells someone else to do the unknown,
It whispers me how desperate my blood is…

It murmurs to my ear how sweet my life could be.

The Scream. An agonized figure wails against a blood red Oslofjord skyline

in Edvard Munch's The Scream (1893), National Gallery, Oslo.

Poems: similes, metaphores, sensory details...

Detail of Hieroglyph, a hammered copper sculpture by O. V. Shaffer in the courtyard of the Madison Public Library on West Mifflin Street . The sculpture has been there since the building opened in 1964.

POEM

(untitled)

Insomnia struggled to fix a painting, the painting of a life,
Some traces that hurt…

First, it installed a screen: the landscape seen through the bedroom window
But it couldn’t heal the open wounds.

Second, it tried again with natural warm drops directly from it´s own eyes.

Impossible to erase the scars!

Marisol

THINKING AND WRITING

Thinking man
(Rosewood Hand carved)

Writing is a mode of thinking. In order to produce a composition, writers must generate ideas, plan for both the process of writing and for the written product itself, translate thought into print, revise what they have articulated, and evaluate the effectiveness of their efforts. In short, in moving from conception to completion, writers tap all of the levels of Bloom´s taxonomy of the cognitive domain.

If thinking and writing are so inextricably connected, then a number of fundamental premises about thinking can and should inform the teaching of writing:

• Thinking is developmental. It is an evolving process that grows with maturity and experience. A developmental writing curriculum should start from where the kids are in terms of interests and maturity levels, tap a range of different intellectual strenghths or what Howard Gardner would call "areas of potential" (linguistic, musical, logical-mathematical, kinesthetic, etc.), and build bridges from the student´s personal experience to the world of school. Instruction should be challenging enough to stimulate students to stretch intellectually and yet be accessible enought to be attainable with guidance from the teacher.
• Thinking is progressive. As Piaget observed, the mind is better able to make cognitive leaps when learning moves from the concrete to the abstract. Individual thinking/writing tasks should begin by focusing on something tangible and/or concrete. For example, students can observe a seashell and be encouraged to think analogically by creating similes about what the seashell is like. An overall writing curriculum should also move progressively. This might take the form of sequencing the domains of writing from descripitive to narrative to expository, or it might involve moving from known to unknown audiences.
• Thinking is cumulative and recursive. All thinking experiences build upon one another. However, the pathway to more complex thought is not a linear one. Researchers have noted that writing, in particular, is a recursive process. Writers often go back in their thinking in order to move forward with their writing. Therefore, teachers who use a stage process model of composition which moves from prewriting to writing to revising, editing, and so forth should invite students to continually revisit what they have written and to think about their thinking and their writing. So, too, a writing curriculum should be scaffolded in such a way that students must go back to prior learning in order to move forward to the next assignment.
• Thinking is not taught but fostered. Thinking is an innate capacity which can be enhanced through the act of writing . Hilda Taba concludes that "how people think may depend largely on the kinds of 'thinking experience' they have had". The teacher, then, plays a crucial role by providing students with thinking experiences that facilitate cognitive growth. Writing is one the most complex and challenging thinking experiences the teacher can provide.

Source: Writer´s Choice. 1996. McGraw-Hill.

TOPIC SENTENCES AND CONTROLLING IDEAS

The topic sentence informs the reader what the paragraph will be about. The topic sentence

• is the most general sentence in the paragraph; all the sentences that follow it are less general, more specific.


• states the purpose of the paragraph for the audience.


• is the most important sentence in the paragraph; it acts as an "umbrella" that "covers" all of the ideas in the paragraph.


• contains controling ideas that control the information in the paragraph.

Controlling ideas (sometimes called "key words") are words or phrases that give the main ideas in the paragraph. The sentences that follow the topic sentence will then EXPLAIN, DEFINE, CLARIFY, ILLUSTRATE.

Source: The Process of Composition. Joy M. Reid. 2000. Prentice Hall Regents.