Entry N°20: "A feminist is a man or a woman who..."

MAYA ANGELOU >> "Phenomenal Woman" by Maya Angelou. 



Why is Angelou's poetry/literary production considered "feminist"?






CHIMAMANDA NGOZI ADICHIE >>"We should all be Feminists" by Chimamanda Adichie.

• Write a SHORT introduction.
• List the CONCEPTS (use NOUN PHRASES) 

MADONNA >> Woman of the Year Full Speech Billboard Women in Music, 2016.

Answer in at leas ONE WELL WRITTEN PARAGRAPH the message behind her speech.

(IN PROGRESS)

Entry N°19: "The Fall of the Berlin Wall and Multiplication of Western Walls"

James Petras is a Bartle Professor (Emeritus) of Sociology at Binghamton University, New York.

He is the author of more than 62 books published in 29 languages, and over 600 articles in professional journals, including the American Sociological Review, British Journal of Sociology, Social Research, and Journal of Peasant Studies. He has published over 2000 articles in nonprofessional journals such as the New York Times, the Guardian, the Nation, Christian Science Monitor, Foreign Policy, New Left Review, Partisan Review, TempsModerne, Le Monde Diplomatique, and his commentary is widely carried on the internet.

His publishers have included Random House, John Wiley, Westview, Routledge, Macmillan, Verso, Zed Books and Pluto Books. He is winner of the Career of Distinguished Service Award from the American Sociological Association’s Marxist Sociology Section, the Robert Kenny Award for Best Book, 2002, and the Best Dissertation, Western Political Science Association in 1968. His most recent titles include Unmasking Globalization: Imperialism of the Twenty-First Century (2001); co-author The Dynamics of Social Change in Latin America (2000), System in Crisis (2003), co-author Social Movements and State Power (2003), co-author Empire With Imperialism (2005), co-author)Multinationals on Trial (2006).

He has a long history of commitment to social justice, working in particular with the Brazilian Landless Workers Movement for 11 years. In 1973-76 he was a member of the Bertrand Russell Tribunal on Repression in Latin America. He writes a monthly column for the Mexican newspaper, La Jornada, and previously, for the Spanish daily, El Mundo. He received his B.A. from Boston University and Ph.D. from the University of California at Berkeley.

ACADEMIC PAPER: "The Fall of the Berlin Wall and the Multiplication of Western Walls"

Key concepts:

Good walls 

Bad walls

Re-unification

War on drugs

Entry N°18.3: Film "Class Divide"

“Class Divide,” a fascinating documentary by Marc Levin and Daphne Pinkerson, focuses on a macrocosm and a microcosm, both within the urban sprawl of New York City. The macrocosm is the slice of Manhattan known as West Chelsea, which in the last decade has seen a real estate boom spurred in part by the success of the innovative urban park known as the High Line.

The microcosm is the intersection of 10th Avenue and 26th Street, where one of the most elite and pricey K-12 schools in the city faces a housing project that contains some of Manhattan’s poorest families, whose kids attend public or parochial schools. While the film contains interviews with all sorts of adults involved with the locations it concerns, some of its most illuminating comments come from kids on the two sides of 10th Avenue, who reflect on their circumstances and the fortunes life has given them.

Entry N°18.2: Walls of different kinds

Unimaginable that still nowadays more than 65 countries still choose fences as a solution for their different problems with the other nations. Many countries claim that the attempt to protect themselves from terrorism, drugs and illegal immigrants is the argument why many barriers are being built worldwide. The ideology of segmented nations has been valid over the years and today is stronger than ever despite the lack of evidence of their effectiveness.

The Berlin Wall was a fence which separated the internal borders of Germany after the Second World War. It was raised due to the ideological differences by the Eastern bloc which was Soviet-dominated and it alleged to attempt to protect its population from fascist elements that conspired to avoid the popular will to build a socialist state in East Germany. Its construction caused many atrocities and many deaths. Its fall on the night of 9 November 1989, 30 years ago, marked the end of an era that humanity celebrated and which was not supposed to reoccur.

Countries like Kenya, Saudi Arabia and Turkey are all constructing border fences in a bid to keep out jihadist groups next door in Somalia, Iraq and Syria. Seven miles of barrier have already been erected along the border at Reyhanli town in Hatay province, a main point for smuggling and border-crossing from Syria. The fence in Turkey will eventually stretch for 28 miles along a key stretch of its border with Syria. But the Turkish wall pales into insignificance when compared to the multi-layered fence which will one day stretch 600 miles from Jordan to Kuwait along Saudi’s border with Iraq, a line of defence against ISIS. 

In spite of the aggressive symbolism, there is no clear proof that walls are truly effective. What all these walls erected in the world have in common is that their main function is theatre or illusion. They provide a sense of security more than real security. There is evidence that refugees and immigrants still find their way in despite the enormous fences at borders. Nevertheless walls’ supporters claim that a few leaks are better than a flood of immigrants. 

Entry shared with Sol Vega.

Entry N°18.1: Walls

"Don't ask where I'm from, ask me where I am a local."

In this video, Taiye Selasi explains the difference between the question "where are you from?" and the question "where are you local?". She starts by telling the audience that every time she was introduced before a talk, introducers told she was from Nigeria, USA and Ghana, but in reality, she doesn't feel like it. That's when she started to think about where she was from. Taiye provides the audience with a three-step test, what she called the three R's, to make people find out where they are. the first R is for rituals, that is the daily things you do, those rituals may differ from the rituals of your country or even your neighbourhood. The second R is for relationships, those who shape your days and those who shape your weekly emotional experience. The last R is for restrictions, and this refers to where you can live or if you are restricted from feeling fully at home where you live. She says "We're local where we carry out our rituals and relationships, but how we experience our locality depends in part on our restrictions." 

Taiye explains that the difference between "where are you from?" and "where are you local?" isn't the specificity of the answer but it is the intention of the question. When you asked where are you from, you are referring to the country, and countries represent power, less or more power. An example that she mentions is that maybe a Mexican gardener in Los Angeles and a Nepali housekeeper in Delhi have more in common in terms of rituals and restrictions than nationality implies. 

I liked this talk. It made me think of books, let me explain to you why. When I was listening to Taiye talk about rituals and relationships, I couldn't help but remember those books I read (and loved) and the rituals I shared with the characters, even though the stories were set in another part of the world completely different from my country. I think that the rituals you shared are what make you love a book because you can understand or empathise with the situations. Also, this talk makes me wonder where I'm local, I guess I'm still finding it out. 

Entry N°17: Arguments and counterarguments: Capital Punishment

 

The following chart consist of a list of arguments and counter arguments about death penalty presented in the video "Jeremy Irons talks about the death penalty". 

ARGUMENTS	COUNTER ARGUMENTS
It reduces crime rates.	It is not a deterrent against the crime it punishes.
It is right if people from all sections of society were executed.	Societies that use death penalty don’t have lower crimes rates.
	When a county abolishes death penalty that are not plunged into criminal chaos.
	The death penalty targets the economically disadvantaged.
	Death penalty is irreversible.
	It abuses two basic human rights “everyone has the right to live”, “no one should be the subject to torture”.

Entry N°16: Opinion Essay

https://learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/advanced-c1-writing/opinion-essay

Tips on writing an opinion essay.  

1. Introduce your essay by restating the question in your own words.
2. If the essay asks you to what extent do you agree?, make your opinion clear throughout. You can either agree, partially agree or disagree with the statement, explaining and justifying your opinion.
3. The structure should be:
   • Introduction
   • The first reason why you agree/disagree
   • The second reason why you agree/disagree
   • The third reason why you agree/disagree (if you have one)
   • Conclusion
4. Use phrases to organise and link your ideas, e.g. Owing to … , One justification for … , The first thing to consider is … , A further reason … , In conclusion ... .
5. If you do not have solid evidence for your ideas, use modal verbs such as might, may or could (e.g. they could develop more empathy and care) or other tentative phrases (e.g. it does not appear to be an effective punishment).
6. Conclude by restating your opinion and summarising your two or three main arguments.