Cholo, Frida Kahlo’s Fan

As I was saying Cholo was a very especial dog, and developed some artistic knowledge and taste concerning Mexican painters like Tamayo, Juan Alcázar or our neighbors in the Barrio de la Conchita in Coyoacán, Rina Lazo and Arturo García Bustos, but his very favorite painter was Frida Kahlo.
Very often we would walk from La Conchita to El Carmen where the Casa Azul, former Frida Kahlo’s and Diego Rivera’s home, on London Street. He would wait for me very patiently outside the Museum, once I got out he would listen with much interest everything about Frida and needed very few seconds to look at the painter’s works, whether in books or postcards, he liked them so much very often he would try to lick them up, but soon enough learned not to do it.
Noticing how hard it was for him to learn and appreciate the arts as a treat I would take him to the Jardin Frida Kahlo, on the corner of Pacífico and Fernandez Leal, back in our Barrio de la Conhita.

Cholo was, indeed, an artist.

JDownloader for Linux

Hi everyone. Remembering the Process Analysis we made for class. I have the Idea to write one here at the blog, and this is special for people who likes to download a lot of files like videos, music, books and things like that from the service of Rapidshare or Megaupload. I´m talking of JDownloader now avaiable for Ubuntu or Linux.

JDownloader is a Free software for Downloads, writed in JAVA, that allows you to automatically download divided files from websites like Rapidshare, Megaupload or You tube. The links of de file especified by the user are separated in packages for it individual download. Also your .RAR files are automatically extracted after downloading(this finction is optional).

So now if you are interested to get this software for Linux you only have to do these easy steps:

- You have to write this command on your Terminal. You can find the Terminal in: Aplicaciones/Accesorios/Terminal.

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:jd-team/jdownloader && sudo aptitude update && sudo aptitude install jdownloader

-After that you only have to write your passsword and let it work. You will have it instaled on aplicaciones/internet/jdownloader.

And that´s all. JDownloader is a great software and you will able to download files in a easy and fast way. There is also a version Avaible for WINDOWS if you want it just go to: http://www.jdownloader.com/ and you´ll find it.

If you have problems with the software you can ask me, writing a comment on the blog.

Cholo

When Miss Shelley -our English teacher- told us to write about our pets I remembered my Cholo and experienced -again- all the emotions that he made us feel from the first day we adopted him as a member of our family, not just any member but the loveliest, littlest one, not in body size for we had Marissa already, a Siamese cat, who very soon adopted the role of an older sister and cornered him around to show him who was boss.
It was both nice and odd watching Cholo and Marissa playing or sleeping together, although this wasn’t such good thing for Cholo, for he never understood the old saying “fighting like dogs and cats” and went through life trying to make friends with cats, which got him some nasty scratches and scars over the years, Cholo was a lover, not a fighter.
I guess he considered all cats to be Marissa’s relatives or friends for he got so happy whenever he saw one, he wanted to go and play with it. Just like many exceptional beings Cholo was a pacifist, very much ahead of his time!



Here is a portrait of Cholo and Marissa , painted by famous avant garde artist Héctor Falcón.

Relaxed sunday

Hi guys:
Did you watch the anything wedding parties? I did and it is very fun, also like very much the expression “ten cents short of a dollar” , and wondered how much money per session the public throws to this musicians; it also amazes me how “ten cents short of a dollar” is so alike to our own expression “… missing a screw” , both meaning somebody is not so well up there… Anyway, let me tell you that I am having a nice, relaxed Sunday because I got the approval on my last report to CIEES, concerning the degree on the Special Education program at one Normal school we went to visit and evaluated in Torreón, Coahuila. Special Education means that the Normal is preparing teachers for children with special needs like language problems, deafness, blindness, asperger, autism and so on.
Let’s talk about a process. The CIEES (Comités interinstitucionales para la Educ Superior) evaluation process starts when the institution wants to be evaluated in order to get a diagnostics on a.) the quality of its educational programs (degrees) and b) the public funds to improve them.
Once we get the self evaluation document from the Normal or University, a multidisciplinary team travels to visit the school, once there, we interview in 90 minutes sessions each, the educational program’s (degree) participants: students, teachers, coordinator (s), school authorities, graduates and employers. We ask specific questions to all of them, concerning the institutional frame, (Does the school have an internal organization? Its estructure? Future changes? Are its laws and regulations understandable and known by the school ‘s community? Do they know and understand the program’ s mission and vision: what to do and how to do it?)
This process goes on and on, asking students, teachers, coordinator (s), school authorities, graduates and employers about what they know and think that would help to improve the educational program, this may include increasing the quantity or quality of teachers, management personnel and even the school’s services, such as library, cafeteria, transportation, scholarship programs and so on.
For this purpose we visit classrooms, laboratories, offices, library, recreational areas, bathrooms, we check such things as IT labs and how many computers do they have, the computer programs they use, if the school has a web page, facilities for persons with special needs, security features and drills, and, and, and. … Our report has 62 “indicadores” under 10 very specifics aspects of an educational institution. When finished, the report´s length is something between 28 to 36 pages, including the recommendations, specific things that have to be done and how to them to improve that specific educational program (degree).
Once I have come back from Coahuila or Nuevo León or Yucatán or Zacatecas and start writing my report, I can’t help but thinking that I might be “ten cents short of a dollar” doing this job, but the feeling of doing something (even if it is so little) to improve Mexico’s educational system its really great!

Ticket in Tatts

Hi everyone! I hope you enjoyed today's class. Here's the video of the song we listened to today. It's not the most amazing quality but it shows the people throwing coins at the band. Weddings Parties Anything disbanded a number of years ago, but have come together again at different times. They really were very good live ...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LTrUGM8f6E4&feature=related

I wasn't able to upload the video to the blog, but this link should take you to the video.

Remember: your homework is to take the "Main topic" of "University" and come up with a more limited topic (it could be anything from the state of the cafeterias, or the benefits of the Bicipuma service, to the importance of public universities in Mexico) and your point of view about the topic you chose. Create a "thesis statement" by putting the two parts together.

See you tomorrow! :D

What do you think about St. Valentine´s day?

I invite you to read the next page,especially  if you don't know the history of St. Valentine´s Day... and tell us what do you think!

http://www.history.com/topics/valentines-day

Have a good day!

Alene Grace

Hi everyone: how was your week end ? Mine was fun because monday morning I stayed in bed until 9 , reading A friend of Kafka, by Isaac Bashevis Singer, a jewish author that writes on life most amazing experiences, both great and horrible, also misterious. I have read most of his work, mostly big fat novels that are very interesting, a real portrait on how first and second world wars affected and changed central Europe, their societies and minorities. Singer won the Nobel Price, not just because most of his work was written in Yiddish but because of the depth, contadictory caracters of his short stories and novels, the stories twists, sometimes very dramatic, often humoristic. There is magic in the way Singer reinterprets ancient myths in contemporary history. His literature has a scent of spiritualism that has to do a lot with human nature in a not religious way. Perhaps some of you have seen a movie called "Enemies, a love story", well, this title says it all. If you ever find his works read them, you will enjoy and suffer them intensely. See you all tomorrow, maysa