I'm a Grownup Now Manifesto

We all know school time is fun but at the same time is brutal. Teenagers can be ruthless but we as human beings we want to risk and create a new experiences. High school for everyone is the new step to take but as soon as we are on it, we just want to go back a little. I am now a senior, from Colegio Panamericano, located in Bucaramanga, Colombia. Yes, it's COLOMBIA NOT COLUMBIA!! I am 17 years old and I am about to graduate. I am here to share with you most of my life experiences during my school years. My most awkward period was during middle school, I am not gonna lie. I had braces, didn't know how to manage my crazy hair and was a chubby girl. Everyone in my middle school seemed light years ahead of me in life experience but I think I didn't care a lot. I had friends but as we all know, in that time, all of our classmates were our friends. But before of that of course there was preschool. Oh my god, I look at pictures of me when I was about 4 and I cant believe it, I entered my school all nice and clean, and as soon as my mom pick me up, I was all dirty, my hair wasn't even in those cute braids they made for me in the morning, I was a total disaster, believe me. Like all the little kids, they don't know anything, but with time everything is changing. I can remember that I always wanted to travel to the other side of the world, that was kind of like my dream when I was 4 and also my goal was becoming a math teacher. Now, my dream became a reality and about the teaching, I'm not sure if I want to keep doing that. I had never be the type of person that is shy or the ones that are scare of taking new challenges (maybe that's why I wanted to teach), of course all of them are difficult because they first are taken as obstacles but later they become a life lesson. Learning how to walk and how to eat correctly, are the first ones, but as we grow up, we start to learn that those were the easiest ones in our life and that there are a lot more to learn each day.

By high school, I had gotten rid of my braces and starting to leave my ugly duckling phase. Becoming mildly attractive proved advantageous. Boys started to look at me in a different way and of course later I didn't have problems to find my real friends. As I continued through high school my insecurities started to leave. I was growing a tougher exterior and interior. Later my motivations to start growing and being a real girl appear. I started from my outside that is kind of the easy part, but at the same time I was working on my inside. My goals were set, each class that I went in my past high school years help me to change my point of view of the world. Help me to be more organize, to be respectful and the most important to be myself. My fears of adaptation were going apart, and start letting the ones that help me, coming inside. Talking in front of my classmates really change me and participating in class was essential, each day I was loosing my fear of making mistakes because actually that was one of my biggest fears. Learning how to talk, read and write in English totally made my head turn like a 100 degrees and now learning German is turning 90 degrees more.

The new cycle I'm about to begin is the most exciting for me. I am about to begin a new journey, and starting to go to the real world by myself. The time when my parents needed to take me to each place I wanted, to buy me everything I needed and most of the cases the things I wanted, is about to be gone.

I am going to start my new adventure in Germany, for 6 months. My motivation to apply to the exchange program was my brother. He had the chance to make this experience but to a different place and he told me that it was an incredible time for him. With that, my personal goal was totally established; while I am living there, I'm not only going to meet new people or a new culture, I am going to focus to learn to solve my problems by myself and to gain independence but the most important part I'm going to have the perfect time to learn more about me, to find myself alone and be grateful one more time for what I've become and for what I have now.

After that, I planned to keep learning in University, become a professional in Business and to own a company to help others and not only to produce. Later to be an example woman for my kids and have the happy family everyone wants. My kids generation maybe would be totally different as mine but like my family with me I am going to do with them, I am going to keep some of the customs from our old members. I am going to teach them, that the most valuable things in life are love and family.

I think life is a perfect science, as math, it has a different ways to get to the answer but it has only one answer. All of us are getting to the same point; we live to die but to be remembered. As all of the people that had come into my life planted a seed I'm starting to plant for others the same seed that help me be the women I am right now.

These are my lessons, my plans and my dreams. It's going to take time but i will be patient. Every day i will keep doing my best to reach the ones for my future and to learn from my past. All of this would be thanks to God that is there for me and for us every day. So let's see what happen later, and i am ready to take the big steps to shape my life.

This quote really inspires me for every cycle I finished and for the ones that are coming:

"You have brains in your head.

You have feet in your shoes.

You can steer yourself in any direction you choose.

You’re on your own.

And you know what you know.

You are the guy who’ll decide where to go."
 -Dr. Seuss

Works cited:  "Dr. Seuss Quotes." BrainyQuote. Xplore, n.d. Web. 04 May 2014. <http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/d/dr_seuss.html>.

Light Bulb Cospiracy

The film "Light Bulb Conspiracy"  starts out by telling us what planned obsolesense is . In the film planned obsoloecense is defined as  a method to produce a product in a way that its meant to be disposed of after a certain period of time. This is very important because in an age of decadence consumers have a desire to own something a little sooner.The film discusses the birth of planned obsolesesense  which started with an idea that a man called Brook  Stemens had.  His ideals were adapted in the 1950's.

This film also discusses the light bulb conspiracy  which had its roots in germany when a business cartel was established in Germany. The purpose of this cartel was to establish policys that would  make light bulbs only functional for 1000 hours. In the end controling the market through planned obsoloecense. Another important thing mentioned in the film is the abuse developed countrys use  with third world countrys. The thing that he developed countrys do is throw waste in third wolrd countrys . This waste is s tragic result from planned obsolesense.

Four Horsemen

The collapse of the American Empire is the main topic of this film. To understand it, the film present many ideas from different people living the same system that we have created. This system is conformed by human beings that are inconsistent and paradoxical. They are people that hope peace but they keep doing things to destroy each other. They have chosen a system that doesn't benefit anyone and later they will have to pay a price for that. Americans are now in a world of obsessions, that led them start out searching because they don't feel enough with what they have.


This world that americans began to create has brought several problems that most of them are because the reason why the strongest empire is collapsing. The first and and in my opinion most important is the wealth that is being reflected in all the most of actions in a daily life in different ways.  For example banking systems are one struggle that still there in the US, because private banks create money out of nothing. This system is called as FIAT since 1971 and since then it make money growth. FIAT is a latin word and it means let it be so. This system that supposedly is make to benefit the country, brings the separation of it and this is when you start looking that the difference between rich and poor gets bigger. Problems like poverty, hunger and malnutrition start going up while all this systems that they created appear. The founder of Schumacher College, Satish Kumar said: "With all the industrialization we have not yet manage to solve the problem of poverty." I totally agree with him because instead of looking for what is missing to make an equal country, they start to take several problems that affect a lot of people, like for example malnutrition and obesity.

This system later could maybe affect my life because Colombia is in contact with the US and all the economy, for example the TLC. Our country would not be affected as much as their country but yes in some way. They should start looking for a solution and to have more integrity to solve the problems that they are not contemplating because of creating other things.

Colombian Monetary System

This system is defined as the set of measures or laws in a country governing the manufacture and circulation of money. The Colombian monetary system is constructed according to the Colombian constitution but is controlled by the central bank or Bank of The Republic. This Central Bank is in charge of several things like: issuing cash, control the amount of money and supervise the banking system. Even though the Constitution is related with this system it gives autonomy to the Bank of The Republic and that leads to the bank not being part of any of the  branches of government. In other words this autonomy is the ability  the bank is given for free analysis of money and to design and apply the policy without interrupting other parts of the government bodies.

Unlike the USA, Colombia´s inflation is more regulated. Inflation can be defined as a sustained increased in the general price level of good and services in an economy. This can be showed with the statistics that presented El Blog Salmón, that says: ¨During 7 years, it increased from 1,000 pesos to 2,000 pesos.¨ The central bank has the obligation to ensure that there is too much money, of any kind, not to fuel inflation because with too much liquidity compared to the needs of the real and financial market would cause the increase of the prices. This would take to having more demand products and services than the regular ones.


MLA Citation:
"Análisis Del Sistema Monetario En Colombia." SlideShare. Inocencio Melendez Julio, 09 Mar. 2013. Web. 04 Apr. 2014.
"Economía Y Empresas. ¿Cómo Funciona El Sistema Monetario?" El Blog Salmón. N.p., n.d. Web. 04 Apr. 2014.

Fractional Reserve Banking System

The fractional reserve banking system is presented in all the process of the creation of money. The FED, produced a document that is called Modern Money Mechanics, where its purpose is to describe the money creation. According to the film, Zeitgeist Addendum, and what i understood, there are multiple steps to create the money that we spend every day. The first step is when the government give bonds to the Federal Reserve (FED), so they can start to create what is called money, so they can give it back to the government. The next step is after the money is with the government again, they give it to a bank and in that process occurs the legalization of the money. The final step is when people start borrowing money from the banks.

That last step is considered as a debt, so money eventually means a debt. It can be explained as LOAN DEMAND+RESERVE=NEW MONEY CREATED. But the value that is given to this new money was given by the money that already exist. This leads to inflation, that is when the general prices goes up and the dollar value goes down. Inflation is a tax for for the people. There is a 96% of devaluation in 94 years. Finally, with all this data i think that this reserve system, was a temporary solution to prevent recession but in another part a new solution that developed a stable economy that shows us how much people depend on how this system goes.

Source:
"ZEITGEIST: ADDENDUM | 2008 (HD)." YouTube. N.p., 28 Dec. 2012. Web. 03 Apr. 2014. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HbvCxMfcKv4>.

NATO suspends 'all military ties' with Russia

This report, is about the decision that was taken on Tuesday by the military alliance's foreign ministers in Brussels. NATO has said that it will suspend "all practical civilian and military cooperation"with Russia because of Moscow's occupation and the "illegal" annexation of Ukraine's Crimea region. Nato and Ukraine announced in a joint statement after their ministers met that they would intensify cooperation and promote defense reforms in Ukraine. Also, they are looking at options including situation permanent military bases in the Baltic states to reassure members in Eastern Europe. The actions of Russia in Ukraine have caused concern in multiple countries that were part of the Soviet Union during the Cold War.

Earlier, he had denied reports that Russia was pulling its forces back from its border with Ukraine. But, Moscow is believed to have thousands troops on Ukraine's eastern borden in recent days. The foreign ministers from the 28 member NATO bloc made an agreement. As a conclusion they agreed to suspend NATO cooperation with Russia but in the dialogue the NATO-Russia Council could continue, as necessary to allow them to exchange views. They finally said that they will review the NATO relations with Russia in the next meeting that will be in June.



MLA Citation
"NATO Suspends 'all Military Ties' with Russia." Aljazeera. Aljazeera, 01 Apr. 2014. Web. 01 Apr. 2014. <http://www.aljazeera.com/news/europe/2014/04/sign-russian-pullback-from-ukraine-201441132730915798.html>.

Food, Inc.

This documentary film that we watched in class the last few days, shows us the corporate farming in the United States in 3 ways. First that it produces food that is unhealthy, second that is environmentally harmful and third that is an abuse of animals and employees. This film relates to issues of race and economic hitman because in all of them exist power. There are two ways of power: Economic and legal power. Both of them are demonstrated in the film when they show as food labeling regulations of the companies.

Race and economics are two issues that are totally connected here. There are several profits to look at like: factory farms where chicken grow too fast to walk properly, cows eat feed pumped with toxic chemicals, and illegal immigrants risk life and limb to bring these products to market at an affordable cost. All of this are significantly important for the production of a product according to what Food Inc is presenting to us. What i want to say is that this relation that is growing and growing every day more, should stop because is not the best way to produce something cheaper and its making a harm into peoples life. The change can still be made for the benefit of all the people. This benefit that I'm talking about is the availability of natural things for people with less money and so that everyone can eat healthily.


MLA Citation

"Food, Inc." PBS. PBS, n.d. Web. 31 Mar. 2014. <http://www.pbs.org/pov/foodinc/>.