Silvana's Blog (7)

I've just read Obama's speech, and I'm amazed. I had constantly heard about (at least in Mexico) cry of the people for more efforts from part of the government into education - it's not enough money, its not good enough education quality, not enough professors... But no one speaks about those students (that, admittedly, he treats them very kindly in his speach) that go to school just by inercia, by obligation, to make us loose resources.



It bothers, me, you know? To have people in my… Continue

My dad always used to cite the chinesse proverb "the palest ink is better than the sharpest memory.” And heeding his advice has been very good for me, for sometimes with so many things going on at school, at work and at life I can´t keep track of were I left my mind, much less of what I have to do. So the solution is simple: I use agendas.



I've never tried anything fancy like GPA´s, because, as I mention, I haven´t lost my head just because it´s attached to my neck; and loosing… Continue

This 4th of July, besides being the independence day in US, is also ELECTIONS DAY in MEXICO. It is not a colorful and darling date as having a lot of fireworks, in Mexico it's a date for which lots of money have been spent in campaigns and in which the dreams of a few will be broken or made true (the politicians) and of other will be keep on being unanswered (the people).



You may ask: Why so negative, Silvana? Well. A few weeks back, there was this tragedy in my state, which is also… Continue

Last week, I was 4 hours away from civilization, on top of the Large Binocular Telescope, the biggest optical telescope on earth so far. I was learning about real stars and their lives, seeing constellations like the eagle nebula were they are forming; the beautiful blue and red binary stars of Albireo, and taking spectography picture of dead stars like the Dumbell planetary Nebula.



Planetary Nebulas are, perhaps, some of the most beaituful night sky objects you can observe. You can… Continue

Do you think machismo is a problem in our culture?



I will answer YES, but I have to explain, for its a Yes on many levels and a No in some others.



When I was growing up, I remember (male) friends discussing how they weren't machos anymore, how society had changed, evolved. That machismo was a thing of the past. I wanted to agree, because I believed (and still) that I deserved same rights as men, same opportunities, but later on I discovered that there are creeks were… Continue

Obviously, when I was little, my dad was my superheroe. He used to play nintendo for me on the difficult underwater worlds in mario 1, and read stories to me *every* night (wonder why I am a writer). He used to save me a lot, and what I loved the most was to walk by his side with my hand on his arm.



When I grew up, sadly I lost touch with him a little. As all parents, mine have arguments, and I usually sided with my mother (at least mentally). It took me some time to discover that my… Continue

Language and its uses evolve, and that is part of the reason for the mix-up in terminology of Latina-Hispanic. If we go back to the word roots and origins (dictionary!), we will find that: a) Latino: Natural de los pueblos de Europa y América en que se hablan lenguas derivadas del latín. b) Hispánico: perteneciente o relativo a España o a la antigua Hispania o a los pueblos que formaron parte de ella y a los que nacieron de estos pueblos en época posterior. This both terms refer to group of… Continue