Into West Coast

If something is certain is that I really like to travel. The thing that I most enjoy of travelling is to know people in strange places and learning about these places trough the conversation with people. I enjoy to soak up of their cultures and compares with our culture.

I don’t know too many countries as a globetrotter should do it, but I wish to travel across many places in the globe. Because of that I would like to go to an uncountable number of places.

However, one of these places is the United States, particularly the state of California. I would like to stay there because I love music, and I grew up listening many rock bands formed right there. These bands constantly mention to Los Angeles like a magic place in where the present atmosphere leads them to create music with a special character or nature. Principally, this nature refer to the complex formed by the beach ambient, a reference to a city of Angels as a big and crazy city which includes some related conflicts, and a multicultural place where a lot of artistic expressions gains sense.  

I like to meeting interesting people there, and to move around cultural places there. I like to go to some rock shows and another kind of arts too.

And something that interests me a lot is to work there and travelling into other states of that country. It would be an important experience that I wish to achieve.  

Christmas in sight

The Christmas spirit is everywhere today.  Because of that is appropriate to talk about this important holiday which drives the people crazy and what we think about this particular festivity.

Christmas have a religious origin based in a catholic motive, which is related to the birth of Jesus Christ, the human incarnation of god to this religion. This celebration has a cultural side which has been transmitted to millions of people in the world, principally in occidental cultures where this festivity is a central civil holiday in the year schedule.

 The religious initial motive was turning to a commercial custom trough the expansion of the gift giving tradition. In Modern times this feast includes some particular customs like sharing whit family around a special meal, a decoration of houses and Christmas’s trees, the Christmas cards exchange, and the myth of Santa Claus (“Viejito Pascuero” in our country).

In my opinion the creation of Santa Claus figure symbolizes all the commercialization spirit which has contaminated the initial sense of the festivity. When I was a kid this feast was important to me because I was nervous about this character (Santa) and If he brings to me or not the gift that I have asked to him.

However since I am not a catholic believer and when I discover the truth of Santa’s myth I see this festivity as an exclusive commercial date which the companies desperately expects.  The people get mad in the street and in commercial centers as if it was the only sense of the feast. I really dislike this and I expect that in a future this situation make a U turn.

There is a mix of believers and not-believers in my family and that makes the feast fine. We usually stay together whit my parents and grandparents and we share a meal. Is a moment to share in family and at twelve o clock of 25^th we start to exchange some gifts.

An english summer

If one thing is certain nowadays is that to have regular classes in a regular vacation time –such as the period covered between December and March- is very weird. Moreover, this weird term presents to me in a crucial moment of the degree as sociologist. At this moment I am finishing my professional practice as sociologist at Peñalolén town council working in a crime prevention project which has involved much of my capacities. Otherwise, at this particular moment in university and life to take this IV English course have been to me some strange because is the only unresolved subject that I have and is not a central matter in the curriculum. So, this fact makes me think “I am going to university only for this?, what a slack student! ”

However, I perceive this summer period coursing english classes as an opportunity to improves the english level and hope exercising the language with entertaining activities.

Photography

I am not a specialist in photography but I can to point out that sometimes I feel an attraction to ‘the art’ of take photos. Depending on the case I enjoy to seeing photos too, but it’s very difficult to me to say: “that is my favorite picture” or “I really love the work of this photographer”.

In my room I have a collage that I made in a long afternoon of looking trough in familiar photo albums. In that albums I found very olds images that are surprising to me in which I appears in my grandmother one’s arms when I was a baby, for example.

Moreover, I really like pictures taken in soccer matches and rock concerts. Photos that include rock stars in normal situations like playing guitar at home, or recording a song in studio are interest to me. Besides those kinds of photos, in the sports case I like pictures that depict some cultural expressions like soccer ‘barra bravas’ in Latin America, in which it shows supporter’s manifestations in his neighborhoods, and also his flags or canticles.  

In connection with the above, a photo that I have recorded on mind is that was taken while the planes smashing the World Trade Center in New York on September 11^th of 2001. The photography capacity to catch a historical moment trough the capture of and objective in the photo that depicts what these moments was lived by the persons who’s lived the “terroristic attack” as it was called.

That kind of photos are taken by common people as well as professionals but the talent is the same, essentially in order to a faithful representation of a historical moment.  

Pedophilia In The Church

Certainly this topic involves a difficult in the moment that we want to express an opinion.  The pedophilia in the church currently has taken headlines on Chilean press because of the called ‘Karadima case’.

The ethic debate was opened by that case because were the most painful situation about sexual abuse that Catholic Church has must to face up as institution.

Is most difficult even to set an opinion about if molester cases are an exception or not. To me, molester cases are an exception which must to be raised and analyzed deeply. Catholic Church should to learn about that and must to ask herself about her mission in the world.

I neither believe in the Catholic God nor her doctrine, and I think persons can commit mistakes. Every human act occurs because of something. The deviation could obey to a mental disorder, to a weak concept about human relationships.

We can see, according to some approaches that the term ‘pedophilia’ has a range of definitions though the International Classification of Diseases defines pedophilia as a disorder of adult behavior in which there is a sexual for children of pre-pubertal or early pubertal age.

In that sense, I don’t want to justify the attitude but I think that molesters shouldn’t be consider like persons who acts in absolutely emptiness but some conditions operates as decisive factors to motivates these kind of behavior or disorder.   

We as a society should be on quest of that factors and we should to repudiate this kind of irregular practices on though social institutions. Pedophilia is finally a crime but solution is not the jail only.

Free Time

Currently free time to me is a double-edge sword. I tell that because I am in 6^th grade of my sociology degree, and I don’t have unresolved subjects, except this English course. So, on my schedule free days are predominant.

However, this free time has to be organized by me in accordance to make progress with my thesis. This is an obligation to me, but at the same time the responsibility to assign hours to work is only mine. Because of that, free time has converted to me in a difficult more than a facility.

Besides of preceding I still have developing some activities of my interest, consisted in play music, playing soccer, or to go to cinema with my girlfriend. The first one of those activities is which spend majority of my time. I take drums classes with a teacher, and currently I’m drummer in two bands. Therefore I have to rehearse with these bands at least twice a week.

Sometimes I also read some novels or literary work which distracts me from my academic work.

In this way danger of a double-edge sword like that requires too much organization and a far less of time waste.   

Music beats me

Title above doesn’t exaggerate anything. Music can beats me because I ever feel music should be my principal activity in my life, not sociology. Music makes me feels really good, hearing it or playing it.

So, since I was child music were present in my life. My older brothers introduced rock music to myself. Could it say that I  grow up in a rock ambient and that was good luck.

As a result of that, I was developing a sensible ear and a specifically inclination to play music that I liked. I play drums because my brother did it, and he had a drum in my grandmother’s house.

A lot of musicians commoved to me, from different styles, rhythms, and techniques. In my early years as drummer when I played with my brother, I usually play Red Hot Chili Peppers songs, the most important band of my life.

Over time I have expanded to music styles which put more attention in lyrics, process coincident with a personal quest for meaning in the music, looking for a message in music. Therefore, I started to hear punk, folk, psychedelic, classic rock, and also hip-hop music. Bands as the clash, sex pistols, the who, the beatles, the rolling stones are amazing to me. In chile I like bands as fiskales ad hok, conspirazion, salvaje decibel, chinoy, the ganjas, aguaturbia, los prisioneros, los tres, los tetas, etc.

I think music is not understandable within a culture connection, or a historical link. And also over time I learned that music can convey sense both by lyrics and trough itself. I recommend always pay attention to each kind of music that appears on our ways.

Blogger experience begins

I’m Diego Mora, a 6^th grade sociology student (little behind, you can see). At this opportunity I would like to welcome to my blog “off the beat”. The title has a music connotation, specifically in relation with drums studies. How you could to imagine I’m a music lover and a amateur drum player.

So, in this, my first experience being a blogger I expect to learn a lot writing in English, and also to share opinions between mates and teacher. The blogger experience is just begins…