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Life after Guanajuato
My experience on the service-learning trip to Guanajuato, Mexico was one where I connected information to experience to gain true wisdom and knowledge about the people, culture, and world view of Mexico. When I began the class portion of this experience, I was unsure of how the background information on the history of Mexico we were required to read would influence my service-learning experience in Guanajuato. What I expected of the trip was assisting in and teaching some English to a class of preschoolers-all other experiences would be extraneous and `touristy.' I poured over the readings and classroom information anyway, assuming that even if it would not be useful on this service-learning trip, it was interesting information that I could apply to my Spanish major. I quickly found out once in Guanajuato that the information learned in class would apply in nearly every way to my experience, and the synthesis of it with my experiences would change my opinion of the volunteer work I was doing, throw off my understanding of myself and my goals, make me reevaluate the motives of my future students and my country, and develop a greater understanding of the Mexican perspective.
I think the point at which everything I learned in the course previous to my time in Guanajuato formed from information into knowledge and paved that road for all the rest of my experiences there was during a meeting with some Mexican University of Guanajuato students. One student, who I later came to know as Adán, during our conversation asked our group why we study Spanish. After a few of us gave answers listing our hope to forge friendships with Mexican immigrants in the US or to be able travel in Latin and South America, we were blown away by the answer that Adán believed was the real reason in all of us-to come into their country to dominate and take over. First of all, this blew my mind! I had never thought of that as a motive for learning Spanish, but apparently this Mexican student believed it was Americans' number one reason! After first being appalled at his stereotypes of Americans, I realized that I wanted to uncover the reasons behind this strong and real belief and to change his mind about all Americans being this way.
A few of the girls in our group and I started a small conversation with Adán and two of his friends.
Most of the readings in the class focused on civically engaged activity that helped me to reflect on my personal and other people efforts to bring changes in society and the world. Through class readings I learned on what people are doing, and why are they doing certain activities or action in the society. The readings assisted me to reflect more on my journey about the past and the future. I reflected on the 11 years I lived in Brazil as a volunteer missionary, giving service to the marginalized. I testified the unjust system that hinders the poor and favor the rich or people of power. Some of the readings like
As if there weren’t enough problems for scientists trying to save the Great Lakes Eco System. Many non-native species have entered the eco system and many of them are harmful. Every species in itself has played a role in the eco system. These non-native species make it increasingly difficult for the Great Lakes Eco System to be regulated.
Most importantly, I wanted to understand why people are so dedicated to their heritage even though they are apart of the United States culture. Even though this does not personally impact me, I have known other people who can relate to this first-hand so I wanted to become more aware, as well as, connect with what they go through and feel. During my reading 3 placement at Morse Elementary School in Poughkeepsie, I worked with two boys who were Mexican and fluently spoke both languages. When both students presented a poster about themselves, they described many aspects of their Mexican culture and when asked to identity themselves, they said they were “Mexican.” After reading the article and having this first-hand experience, this allowed me to understand what Casares is describing. This is another reason why I selected this reading because I wanted to see the connection and if there were any similarities or
I had learned lots of new things this year and especially this semester in U.S. History Since 1877. This history course required all students to complete twenty hours of service learning or to write a term paper. After considering the two options, I decided to give the service learning a chance because I thought it would be an interesting experience. There were a variety of projects to choose from, but I felt that the Sustainability Project was the right fit for me.
Growing up in a Mexican-American family can be very fun and crazy. Having two different perspectives on two different cultures almost daily really shapes you to become a certain way as you grow up, which is what happened to me. Ever since I was about three months old I have been taking trips to my parents home town for a month time each time we have gone. Practically growing up in both Mexico and the United States for six years has really helped me understand my cultural background and the different parts of my whole culture, such as the food, heritage, language and culture.
While learning English at an institute in Austin, the school proposed a field trip to San Antonio to visit the Mission San Jose and go to the River Walk. Although I had no idea what the missions were, thought it would be an interesting experience. As soon as we arrived to the mission, I realized San Antonio, Texas had such a rich and relevant history, and that I was located in a place that numerous of important historical events had happen on. They gave us a tour of the special museum and explained to us what the tools displayed on the museum were used for, and later on, took us to the church and walked us though the entire property. Perhaps it is difficult to believe, but I felt extremely interested in something I had never heard before. Therefore, when I was assigned a paper about a place in Texas, the first place it came to mind was the Mission San Jose, so I decided to go again to refresh my mind after having learned a great deal about the missions in Texas, the purposes of it as well as the results.
Growing up as a Mexican-American, I was exposed to a completely different range of foods, people, and customs. My household was largely filled with images of Jesus Christ, the Virgin Mary, and other numerous saints. These images as well as a number of different candles and incenses demonstrated my cultures’ strong belief in the Catholic faith. Even the food had a distinctive Mexican taste as the flavors combined with the spiciness of peppers produced an overall mouthwatering meal. Spanish was regularly spoken at home in everyday conversations with family and friends. It was not until I started kindergarten and – to a lesser extent, preschool – that I became fully fluent in the English language. However, I began to acquire English long before by watching educational television shows such as Caillou, Dragon Tales, and Clifford the Big Read Dog. I developed a routine pattern of religiously watching these educational shows where the main characters became like close friends constantly teaching me new things and show...
My family’s Mexican traditions and life experiences played a great role in shaping my individual beliefs and values. I learned to embrace important values, roles, and norms from the Mexican culture. However, the experiences I have encountered throughout my life have influenced my interactions with others, life’s point of view, and the development of having my own sense of reasoning that differs from my family beliefs and values.
Helps agencies and organizations to the advancement of control and elimination of TB at local, state, and territorial levels.
The Gaia Hypothesis is a metaphor in itself that helps describe the planet as a living organism; a metaphor for the Earth as seen as a single physiological system. Lovelock describes the planetary ecosystem as alive because it behaves like a living organism by regulating its temperature and chemistry at a constant state favorable for life to develop.
Although there have been some experiment that disprove nicotines adverse effects, most studies point to nicotine as a very toxic agent. Nicotine is not essential to tobacco products. It is a naturally occurring slightly basic alkaloid with a pyridine and a pyrrolidine ring. It is estimated that the average smoker inhales with each puff, a dose of nicotine equivalent to .1mg nicotine given intravenously. Nicotines pKa is 9. Its half-life is two hours. Nicotine is converted to its metabolites by the P450 enzyme system and by aldehyde oxidases. Nicotine and its metabolites, such as cotinine, Nnitrosomornicotinine (NNN), and 4-(methylnitrosamino)-1-(3-pyridyl)1-butanone (NNK) are toxic to humans. As is shown in P4, many people in the United States smoke. The average mg of nicotine per cigarette has declined in the United States in the1980...
Mycobacterium tuberculosis has been present in the human population for thousands of years; fragments of the spinal column from Egyptian mummies from 2400 BCE show definite pathological signs of tubercular decay. Called "consumption," tuberculosis was recognized as the leading cause of mortality by 1650. Using a new staining technique, Robert Koch identified the bacterium responsible for causing consumption in 1882. While scientists finally had a target for fighting the disease, they did not have the means to treat patients; the spread of infection was controlled only by attempting to isolate patients. At the turn of the twentieth century, more than 80% of the population in the United States was infected before age 20, and tuberculosis was still the leading cause of death. The production of antibiotics in the 1940’s allowed physicians to begin effectively treating patients, leading to huge drops in the death rate of the disease. Tuberculosis is still a major cause of mortality in young adults worldwide, but is less of a problem in developed countries.
These experiences have helped me to see and embrace the differences of others. My Hispanic culture has allowed me to become a collectivist, family oriented individual. I put others first and care about what will benefit the majority. My previous volunteer experiences within my community has also shaped my choices. I participated in Flip for Autism, a gymnastics event for those with physical and intellectual disabilities. This event opened my eyes to the many great accomplishments and limitlessness of those with disabilities and furthermore confirmed my professional
Tuberculosis (TB) is an ancient disease, with evidence found in human remains dating back over 9000 years, to the Neolithic era. 1 It was identified and described by Hippocrates as early as 460BC, and continued to be documented in such places as ancient Rome, Egypt, India and China. 2 3 4 5
The bottom line is that the drug nicotine can be very harmful to one’s health. This has been a wide range fact for quite some time. The health risks of smoking are displayed through advertisement’s daily. Despite scientific value related to smoking, the risks and dangers are too strong to make a valid argument in favor of smoking.