American Culture Final Thoughts

My Neophyte Impression about American Culture

The American culture promotes personal responsibility,

 the dignity of work, the value of education,

the merit of service, devotion to a purpose greater than self,

and at the foundation, the pre-eminence of family.

Mitt Romney

          This semester in my Portfolio class, I had opportunity as a student to know about different topics of the American Culture. In first place, we talked about American Labor Movement. I knew the story of immigrant women at Triangle Factory Fire, and their struggle to be recognized as legal workers. As a result, today women in American have a better place in this society. Secondly, it was very impressive for me to participate in a political debate between candidater for the Presidency of the United States. I don't like political issues but I actually enjoyed to listen to different positions. However, the best topic, in my opinion, was about American Art. Undoubtedly, Art us the highest expression of Culture and Humanity for a people. Art even is the fruit of exchanges between cultures and thoughts. None of artistic manifestation must be despised.

          Finally, I must say that if I want to learn a lenguage, particularly English, I will need to know the American Culture too. All lenguage grow up through it, and with it, according to the respective culture. For instance, it is not enough to learn words and expressions.We need to aprehend the culture, too. As one well-known American cultural anthropologist, Margaret Mead, said, "If we are to achieve a richer culture, rich in contrasting values, we must recognize the whole gamut of human potentialities, and so weave a less arbitrary social fabric, one in which each diverse human gift will find a fitting place."

American Culture Class: My 3 Heroes

Who Are Heroes Actually?

 

'A hero is an ordinary individual

who finds the strength to persevere

and endure in spite of overwhelming obstacles.'

Christopher Reeve

 

Who are heroes in the world? That is my question today. Maybe, they are those who teach us how to live wisely. For example, in Colombia we have three different heroes: a)women head of household, b)parents in the lowest socio-economic strata, and c)poor old people. It’s important, for instance, to consider what they have in common and what not.

 

 

 

First, if we consider women head of household, we can say they are leader people, demanding and sufferer because they claim benefits for their children.  For its part, parents are responsible and they always work very hard because they worry wheter they can feed their children tomorrow. Lastly, we need to consider older people, who are often forgotten and they survive the loss of their money.

 

However, in general, those persons have principally the following positive quality: teaching us how to live with the silence.  While old people teach us how to live from silence, women teach us how must not remain silent and demand our human rights in our own courts.

 

Finally, and perhaps most importantly, the actors are important for they teach and help us to build our lives to undertand, as the old saying goes, 'living is more than not being dead'. This is true because it must be understood to live as a human being requires minimun and comfortable conditions.

Portfolio08

Supertribute to one ordinary man

 

“How Superheroes Make Money:

- Spider-Man knits sweaters.

- Superman screw the lids on pickle jars.

- Iron Man, as you would suspect, just irons.”

Jim Benton

 

When I think about superheroes I perceive two signs, one good and one bad. The good sign is about your ability for recognizing as a human being that one ordinary man can make an extraordinary difference. On the other hand, the bad one is the need we have to be safe only if we use masks. So, we use many masks throughout our lives.

However, in our current culture we are accepting, especially after September 11, there are people who sacrifice their lives to help others every day.

 

So our mission, as superheroes, ought to be to provoke an awakening of the public which would move to go beyond our own interests. In this way, if each of us gives his or her best I believe that we can make the difference. However, we need to take off in public our masks firstly. This is something that we do just when we are alone.

Finally, this is the only way to exercise our superpowers into the everyday existence; which we inculcate in children, but we forget it always.