MY LIFE

My name is Valerie Camacho , I was born in Barranquilla , January 13 of 2001 at 10:30 am. I am a Capricorn I don't really believe in the horoscope , but I read it sometimes. I am studying in the Lyndon B. Johnson School , have been studying in that same school for almost all my life , exactly fourteen years , from stem to now that I am in senior year , I have a lot of great memories from the school that I am going to miss dearly , like all the events , some teachers that were really great to my and obviously all my friends. I hope to be a veterinarian one day and at the same time have a business degree so that I can expand my mom's legacy , her business that she built from the ground and I want to expand it , and make it all better . If being a veterinarian does not work out ,  I hope that I can study in the area of medicine and business or if not just business. I like dancing , shopping , love being with animals , I love fashion and a lot of more stuff . I don't like ignorant people , I don't like posh people . I really love traveling , I kind of do it a lot since I have a amazing aunt , that gifted me the pleasure of traveling , but one things that I am really staring to not like is the plane ride , I really don't like those . I really like traveling on cars or buses. I think that it gives you a totally different perspective and helps you appreciate the city or country you rein even more. I am on my senior year and I am really excited to close these school chapter and start a new even more mature one and hopefully I will succeed.

GENDER DISCRIMINATION AT WORK

In today’s essay , I am going to explain and talk about gender discrimination at work places , but I am going to center specifically in discrimination against women at work places and why some jobs or companies reject them. Before getting in deep into this topic we have to define what is a women , and also explain since when this discrimination has been happening , and also explain some terms or concepts that are very important when talking about this , and also Explain a little bit of why some men think that they are better than women or why they feel like they can do more things that women can. And that is a lie , cause we as humans beings have the same capacities , no matter the gender.

Now what is a woman? 

A woman is a female human being. That is what is stabled by the dictionary , and as we can see nowhere in that definition says “ female human being with less capacity or with lower intellectual” because that is not true , we have the same capacity that a man has , and we also have and deserve the same rights and respect that a man has. Because being a woman does not mean you are less than anyone. What is machismo? Machismo is the strong or aggressive masculine pride. And lastly but not less important when talking about this topic is sexism. What is Sexism? Sexism is the prejudice, stereotyping, or discrimination, typically against women, on the basis of sex. Now why are all these concepts important? Because they are basically the main problem when talking about discrimination against women in any type of field , not just working field , all the other fields that we in these world are surrounded by enter in these discrimination too. 

Let’s go back a little bit. All these started a very long time ago when civilization was just starting. Since the start women where always the lower class , they where there just to take care of the children , the men and to reproduce , and as bad as that sounds is the truth of before. As the years went by women started getting tired of how badly and lowly they were treated and they started fighting for their rights and to be treated correctly. The truth is that things did change a lot since the beginnings of civilization , because now men and people in general notice the importance of women , and they notice all the hard work that we as women pull through in a daily basis. And I am not a feminist , because i do thing that we all deserve the same rights no matter the gender , but i do think that women are pretty important in these world.

In work places or fields where women discrimination is mostly present are science , technology , mathematics , engineering , politics and places like the army or the country’s national police.

Why these happens mostly in these areas? because people in enterprises or companies see women lowly , they see us as if we are not enough and that is one of the majors problems.

There are very big problems for women when looking for a job or even when they already have a job. These problems are: 

For a women it will be so much harder get a job in a company , than it is for a men. These happens when a woman and a man get a job interview in the same company , but the woman has so much more good qualities than the man , sometime it won’t matter and they will give the job to the man , just because of the gender.

A woman will earn much less than a man. Even when the woman and the man , both have the same charge and work in the same company and area , the man will earn sometimes a little bit more or a lot more. But it will always be more for the men kind.

A woman will never be promoted as easily as a man , and all because of the gender,

Women don’t get second chances sometimes. In occasions a woman screw ups once and she is already out and just because the gender , even though a man has already made a lot more of mistakes.

Women don’t get credit when is due. Sometimes a woman is the mastermind behind a great hit , but the one getting the credit is the man , not the woman and all because the gender.

These and a lot more problems women faced , and just because of the gender. I am thankful to say that in these century we live in these problems have been reduced, and women are getting the respects and rights they deserve. But at the same time these problem is not fully eradicated just yet. And the only way of having these problem out is by having all the people in the world see the right that we as women deserve. And just women , all of us  have the same rights and deserve the same respect.

SOCIAL , ECONOMICAL AND POLITICAL SITUATION IN SOUTH AMERICAN COUNTRIES

In this essay I am going to explain the social , economical and political situations , as you read in the tittle, of three specific countries of South America. But before going deep into these countries I am going to clarified some points of the continents it self and the division that exist inside of the continent South America.

When we talk about South America we are talking about the fourth largest continents of the earth after Asia , Africa and North America. South America is found in the western hemisphere. Most of the continent is in the southern hemisphere, although some parts of the northern part of the continent fall in the northern hemisphere. South America is a subcontinent of the Americas. South America as a continent is almost two times bigger as Europe by land area  , and is marginally larger than Russia. The countries that conformed South America are Venezuela , Guyana , French Guiana , Suriname , Brazil , Ecuador , Colombia , Panama , Argentina , Paraguay , Uruguay , Peru , Bolivia and Chile. Most people when are talking about South America the normal most of the times they mention Brazil , Argentina and Colombia , some people talk about these countries in representation of South America because they are the most populated countries. But I am not going to specify on those three because most people will, and when we talk of South America we are not just talking about three countries , we are talking about fourteen whole , beautiful countries and all beautiful and unique in there own way , so is good that if we are from any of these countries , we are informed of all these important aspects , but not just of our own country , we should at least have the minimum knowledge about all the countries in our continent. That is why in these essay I am going to inform the social , economical and social aspects of the countries that we know the less. These countries are Suriname , Guyana and Bolivia .

First I am going to start with the country of Bolivia since is the most populated out of the three. The politics of Bolivia takes place in a framework of a presidential representative democratic republic, whereby the president is head of state, head of government and head of a diverse multi-party system. Executive power is exercised by the government. Legislative power is vested in both the government and the two chambers of parliament. Both the Judiciary and the electoral branch are independent of the executive and the legislature. Socially speaking Bolivia is a indigenous country with very old and traditional beliefs. The economy of Bolivia is the 95th largest economy in the world in nominal terms and the 87th economy in terms of purchasing power parity. It is classified by the World Bank to be a lower middle income country. With a Human Development Index of 0.675. Bolivia has the second largest reserves of natural gas in the continent. And Bolivia is also one of the world’s largest producers of coca.

 Now the second country out of the three most populated is Guyana . Guyana is the only English speaking country is South America with it’s capital Georgetown. When we talk about politics Guayana is a parliamentary-style democracy with a constitution, a National Assembly, a multiparty system, elections, a president chosen by the majority party, a minority leader, and a judicial system based on common law. Despite its democratic institutions, independent Guyana has seen more than two decades of one-party rule and strongman politics, perpetuated by manipulation, racially based voting patterns, and a disenfranchisement of the Guyanese people. Socially speaking Guyana is a country full of tension between the two ethnical groups that share the country which are the africans , since most of guyanese people is descendent of African slaves , and Indians. Economically Guyana is a country full of resources , is a country covered in tropical rainforest , and have rich reserves of bauxite, gold and timber they struggle a lot with the poverty of the country and they do not know how to manage there economy correctly.

Last but not least is Suriname. Politically speaking Suriname take place in a framework of a parliamentary representative democratic republic, whereby the president of Suriname is the head of state and head of government, and of a pluriform multi-party system. Executive power is exercised by the government. The executive power is dependent on the parliament. Legislative power is vested in both the government and the National Assembly. The judiciary is independent of the executive and the legislature , most political parties are ethnically based. Socially speaking Most of its people are descended from African slaves and Indian and Javanese indentured laborers brought over by the Dutch to work in agriculture. They have a traditional culture , and still follow there roots. Economically is dominated by the mining industry, with exports of oil and gold , it has a vulnerable economy and gold, oil and agriculture are key economic sectors. Bauxite mining has gone into decline. Efforts have been made to diversify the economy.

To conclude my idea and my essay , when I choose these three countries is to notice and see how bad we are sanding not just as individual countries but as a whole continent. It is really hard to say how these countries will be a few years from now , a year from now , or even maybe tomorrow , because they all have a lost of problems and they have been living with these problems since forever and is really hard to see if all these aspects , but the most two important being the political and economical one , will change for real or will they just apparently change , but they are in the same situation.

VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN AND CHILDREN

In the world we live in , we all have the same rights. It does not matter if we are woman , man or just a little kid , because we all are humans beings , we all deserve the same respect and tolerance. When someone thinks that just because he is a man has the right to hurt , insult , violate or overstep a woman or a little kid , he is completely wrong. 

Violence is the use of physical force to injure people or property. Violence is nothing new , is something that has been in the world for a really long time. A long time ago violence against women and children existed because of how the society , ideas or even religion  of that community , city or country were established , because before the normal idea of a happy home was a house full of children or with at least one cild , a mom that did all the work around the house while taking care of the children , and a dad that worked and had to be treated like a king , because everything that the masculine older figure of the house wanted he would have and whatever rule he would state in the house was meant to be followed and just because he was the man and because that was how the society of that time worked or that was what the religion that they followed stated. In that time the man violating , punishing , harassing the woman or the kids because they did something that he did not like , or they did not listen to him was so normal , for the society at that time it was completely normal , for them that was a happy home. Now in the present that that we live in things do not work like that anymore , and we can say that how things changed in a way is a very good thing , because now a woman is not forced to be the ¨maid¨ of the family , now women have a lot of more freedom , but is a shame that the violence did not changed one bit. Even in this century that we live in violence is a really big thing that keeps happening , and sadly it seems like is not going to stop anytime soon. Violence in a family keeps happening , women being harassed , insulted , violated still happens . Kidnapping , punching , harassing insulting a little kid still happens and those are the bad things that people that thankfully do not go through that violence don’t really think about . But we all even if we are being harassed or are being harassed have to think about. We as people have to think of the way that violence is affecting your family and the people around them , because violence does not affects jus directly it affects also indirectly. Violence just not causes bruises on the skin , it cause mental illness , insecurities , traumas and so many more bad thing to the person especially if it is a family. Imagine the trauma and all the insecurities that a little kid will grow with , watching their mother being beaten every single night , by a drunken man or a man that has a mental illness and is not aware of his own acts , because is really sad to say that sometimes the person doing the beatings , the harassing is not aware of what he is doing , or that person grew up watching that and thing that violence is the answer to everything , that is why even though I am one hundred percent against violence and I think that if someone is going through something bad or is being harassed has to speak out and ask for help , but not just for them but also for the person that is harassing , because if the person harassing is not a drunk , messed up person , then he could possibly have a mental illness or traumas and also need help.

At the end of the day I think that violence is something that shouldn’t exist because we all are human being , we all deserve to be happy , we deserve a peaceful life without any fears. In the end it doesn’t matter if we are a woman , man or a little kid we deserve to be respected , tolerated and understand. Violence is not the answer and is wrong in all ways shapes and forms.

THE PROCESS OF DEMOCRATIC ELECTIONS

Colombia is a third world democratic country and a state with decentralized government , this means that all eligible citizens , over the age of 18 , have the right to participate either directly or indirectly in a decision that affects all the citizens of the country. The Colombian political system is based on the political constitution of 1991. 

The Colombian constitution states that the country is a social state , a unitary and decentralized republic with partial autonomy of regional authorities that are based on participative and pluralist democracy. The Colombian government has three branches executive , legislative and judicial. The leader of these political order is the president , the government consists of 13 ministers . Each department has it’s own governor. The government has members of the conservative party , liberal party and any other political party that is functioning in that moment. The Congress of Colombia is composed of the Senate and The House of Representatives that consist of eight standing committees. The House of Representatives has one hundred sixty two members and the Senate has one hundred two members. All the members of these political orders are chosen by the people , the citizens of the country with a political election. A political election is the formal process of accepting or rejecting a political proposition by voting. The election process in Colombia to choose a president is held every four years , same as the congressional election that happen two or three month prior the presidential elections. In order to vote you have to be eighteen or older , before you had to register yourself at the municipal level , and the would choose where do you have to vote , depending on your identification number , now is way easier because people can choose a please near by them , register and vote in that place they chose. Voting is an obligation as a citizen but a lot of people chose not to vote , some because they do not like the candidates , and others because they simply do not care , but even if they do not like the candidates or do not care , they should go and vote blank , because that way you are doing the right thing and obeying to your obligation as a citizen , because even Colombian citizens that are not living in Colombia haver there own registry in which ever country they are living and vote. I think that the key to voting is having your own personal opinion of each candidate , and chose whoever you like best and think would do right to your own country. 

This year political election for presidency were , in my opinion totally not right and they were not fair , is not possible that a place where you are voting for something as important as is choosing a new president , choosing the faith of your country , deciding how your life is going to change and what improvements or how many bad things is a person about to do with your country , runs out of voting cards for one very important candidate , and there are just voting cards for the other candidate that the majority of Colombian citizens do not want or like , that is not righting that is just an act of corruption , imagine how the people feel because they haven’t even stared with there ruling , but are already making public acts of corruption , that is simply not right. Electing some to rule your country should be something that you do on your own, it should be something honest , it should not be something corrupt , you should chose someone , because you would like that person as your ruler not because your vote has been bought. You should do what is better for you and the destiny of your country.

HOW CHRISTMAS MUST BE CELEBRATED

 In this essay I am explaining how Christmas should be celebrated , this topic is connected to the essay before , because of the general topic that is Christmas. But in this one I am going to share my point of view and what I think is the point of view of other people on how Christmas should be celebrated , either in a religious way or a social way.

As stated in the essay before , Christmas is a annual commemoration of the birth of Jesus Christ , that is observed most commonly the 25th of December. For many people Christmas starts from the 24th or 25th until New Years ,  for me is not that way , I personally think that Christmas is a full month , that starts from the 30th of November to the 31st of December and for some other people it ends in January. I think that Christmas does not have a exact way of being celebrated , because for everyone Christmas is not the same , there are people that think that Christmas has to be solemnly religious , for others is just a social celebration , for others is a mixture of both and some do not even celebrated because they simply do not believe in it. For those people that celebrate Christmas in just a religious way , they stick to the traditional christmas days , they accomplish the advent period correctly by actually doing it , they only celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ and nothing else , they may do the 24th feast but without any gifts to share , just them honoring the birth of Jesus Christ , and going to church .  For the one that think that Christmas is just a time to celebrate , they simply leave religion aside and bring the party , drinks and gatherings up front , that sometimes they do not even care that we are celebrating the birth of Jesus that they jump straight to the carnival season , that comes in February  . For the ones that do a mixture of them both , they accomplish the traditional religious process of Christmas , and pray in church , but they twist it all adding new ideas to make a even better Christmas , like doing novenas , singing Christmas carols , doing small gatherings with families to remember of the great year that has gone bye , and the 24th they do the big feast with all the family , just enjoying each other presence laughing , listing to music and eating. For does how do not share the same religion they have their own tradition that may be similar to Christmas , and for the people that simply do not believe is another normal month , where they can do whatever they want and party. 

I think that one of the most important factors is how at the end we all are more united because , those special gatherings and new traditions , even decorating a house bring all of us together.

At the end of the day it does not matter how you celebrated Christmas , the important thing about this month , aside the birth of Jesus , is how families reunite and have a great time together , they catch up , they travel , they share the memories of things that had happen to them , and all with joy and love. In my personal opinion , I think that there is nothing wrong finding a balance between religious and social way of celebrating Christmas, In my house we celebrate Christmas combining those two factor , and we all have a very great time fill with joy and love.

CHRISTMAS COMMERCIAL DATE OR RELIGIOUS PRACTICE

In this essay I am going to talk about how some people actually see Christmas today , and give my personal opinion on how I see it .  To do this I am going to start with the definition of Christmas and the religious process that comes along with it.

Christmas is a annual commemorating the brith of Jesus Christ , observed most commonly on December 25th as a religious and cultural celebration among billions of people around the world , because there is a lot of people that share a different religion and do not celebrate Christmas , or people that simply does not believe in it. Christmas is a sacred religious holiday that has become in a worldwide cultural and commercial phenomenon. During the month of December before the actual birth of Jesus Christ we prepare with the advent period , that begins near the 30th of November. Now in this present time Christmas in my personal opinion has been a lot more commercialize than before , some people actually forget the meaning of Christmas or even what we celebrate in this time of the year. A lot of people now invented ideas that have been incorporated into Christmas , like the new year resolution , which is some new goals that people create for themselves and that the majority of time the never accomplish, the mistletoe right above your doorstep , in Colombia the day of las velitas that is supposed to be the day where Virgin Mary pass through our houses and leaves a great , sinless , joyful spirit , but many people has taken that day to light up wildfire and people actually gets hurt , the large feast , the present we are supposed to give, Santa Claus and the holly wreaths. Now some people decorate their houses with religious symbols that they do not even know what they mean. But in another hand all these new inventions like Santa Claus , the big 24th feast , the velitas day and religious symbols helps bring family together ,  because the family all reunites to celebrate these days , to have fun , and to remember memories of the year that has gone and create new one of the year that is coming , all the religious symbols and even Santa help us to teach the children the true meaning of christmas. So it is not a bad thing to add a few non religious ideas to the Christmas holiday , because the meaning will never be lost and commercialization will always be a thing , it will always exist because people need money to actually live and Christmas is not the only holiday with a meaning that has been commercialize.

To conclude this essay , my personal opinion is that Christmas is a combination of a cultural and commercialize date and a very big and important religious and sacred occasion. I think that is not bad for Christmas to be these way because the true meaning of Christmas is not lost and all these new ideas and additions to these holiday helps bring a lot of families together , after all Christmas is the most special and beautiful holiday of the year.