A good subject

A good subject.

If I'm honest this semester I don't have enjoyed any subject, but I think that the most interesting subject is "Teoría Sociológica VI" and the teacher is Rodrigo Baño. This subject is interesting because is about the sociological perspectives of Chile and the relationship that it has with the history of the country particularly in the second half of the 20th century.

In my opinion this subject helps us in the way that we can understand a lot of things of this century by the knowledge of the born of the neoliberal system in Chile which was imposed by the military dictatorship and institutionalized with 1980's constitution. The teacher is very expressive to talk us about the protest and social complain in the 1970's decade, he said that at that moment the people has a very clear political thinking and it was reduced at only two big categories: Left or Right. Rodrigo Baño says that by now nothing of that is still happening, in fact people looks at you a little strange if you ask to them "Do you like the "Unidad popular"?" because by today the society is very depoliticized.

I've learned a lot of the Unidad Popular and the government of Salvador Allende (I love him in secret) so I can use some of the features of his political perspective to compare and make a critic analysis of the actual government. 

My postgraduate??

My postgraduate??

Well, it seems that all the topics of the blog post are related to our career or something about work ... and I think why does the lady ask us only difficult things? Hahaha. I say this kind of crazy things because I have no idea if I really want to do a postgraduate in the near future.  Anyway, I guess that we have to talk about of this kind of things because we'll use the English language to our future jobs. So let's get started to talk about of my possible choose to do a postgraduate in an ideal future.

As I said in another post I'm very interested in the drug addiction of marginal population.  The focus of this problem is, in my opinion, related to structural causes which emerge, in the case of Chile, of the neoliberal system. But this is not the only cause of this phenomenon, there are many psychological and social variables involved.

So, considering this I would like to do a postgraduate in the Technological metropolitan university (UTEM) in the way of the social work, because this university has a very critical vision of this discipline as well includes a political perspective to broach the social problems.

I' m interested in take subjects related to community psychology and historical perspectives of the poorness and marginality, and I thing that best way to this is in-person class.

A job?

A job?

Do you want a true answer? Well I don’t want to work hahaaha, but don’t think that I’m a lazy person or a slack I have a good argument to say that I don’t want to work without being a slack. I always thought that when you are working for someone else you are giving your “work force” and doing this your boss is winning a lot of money and you receive a miserable percentage, and all the people say to you that work is a honest way to live and I think … Bullshit!! That is exploitation! Is slavery!

But…I think that if you are doing something that you really love and not for the need of money you are not a slave. So that is a real job and is a real passion, so if you ask me about that I will say that in the near future I’ll be working in a rehabilitation center for people poor people with drug addiction. As a sociologist my work in one of this center is related to find a social cause to this kind of addictions and try to find a viable way to apply a methodology useful to solve this problem.

I love the theoretical work related to this topic but I also love working in the territory so it’s mixture between outdoors/indoors because both things are complementary. I expect in the future to travel to Argentina, because there is a very interesting sociological focus about the drug addiction and that would be very important for my studies because I’m seriously thinking about to do a magister of social work related to drugs and marginality.

If we are talking about the salary in this kind of jobs I’ will be honest: It’s not good. But if you don’t have extravagant pleasures or expensive likes it’s ok!! I never had a luxury life so I’m not interested in the money, I prefer to be happy doing something that full my heart!!

My favorite Book of All Time

Fahrenheit 451

Well, as you can guess by the picture, my favorite book is Fahrenheit 451 written by Ray Bradbury in the year of 1953. It's a special book for me because it was a gift of my first girlfriend when I was 15 years old and for any reason that I  still don't know  the book is very meaningful to me, even after the realationship with this girl broken up, I think (but I'm not sure at all) it's because the plot of the book is very similar to my personal analysis of the modern society.

In this book Ray Bradbury tells the story of a distopic society in which the fireman don't put out the fires, in fact, they have the "mission" of burn all the books of the city, because all the knowledge saved in the books is prohibited by the government. The central history is about one of this fireman  called Guy Montag and a girl called Clarisse. I don't want to make a spoiler because I seriously recommend this book, so I'm only going to say is that Clarisse starts to speak with Guy Montag and makes him think about his happiness doing his "job".

I think that this book is fantastic because it has a lot of the actual society in the way that we are basically controlled by the technology and many other ways of entertainment are considered borimg, critic capacity of the society is every day more poor, so is easy to control it. 

One quote of this book that I consider is fantastic because it reminds me the burn of the books in the military dictatorship of Chile (1973-1989) is:

"Burn it all, absolutely all. The fire is clean and brilliant"

I really hope that it never happens (again)...

Who really has inspired me?

Well, is difficult to me to speak about a teacher who really inspired me, because I’m not sure about it. For example at school, all teachers wanted to that students learn all the subjects quickly as possible even if you don’t really learn the topic, so is difficult to find a mentor in that conditions. In the university it was a little different, because the teachers are very interested in the topics of the subjects and they really have passion his theoretical interpretation but I still feel a distance between teacher and student, so I can’t find inspiration in a relationship so impersonal.

So I started to think that I have no inspiration at all, but after a moment of reflection I can rescue some features of some teachers that I had along my life and I can say that I finally found a really inspiration. First of all I have to mention my first kung fu teacher Osvaldo Lizama, because he taught me that I have to resist anything I mean the pain and the adversities, and it’s important to me because he inspired me to have a strong will. Considering this, I can say that at the University, in spite of the impersonality, María Emilia Tijoux really inspired me to continue my career and she achieved this with her class about the Frankfurt School and the  critical theory. She doesn’t know but thanks to that I’m still at the university and I love my thesis topic and also she is my guide teacher!

Now tell me, Who really inspired you??

China, my frustrated dream.

China, my frustrated dream.

Well, if I have a lot of money, I would like to travel China. I’ve been training martial arts for three years, so I think that is time to master my skills in another country and China is a good place to do it, but is very expensive. However if I win the lottery, I will travel tomorrow!

China is an Asian country, it’s the third largest country in the world and also is the most populated, with a population of around 1.404 billion of people. Actually is one of the most advanced countries in the way of the technology and it’s considered a very important world power.

My dream is to train shaolin kung fu with the monks at the temple, but is very difficult that they accept me as a disciple because I’m not Chinese. However I will very happy to visit the town of Foshan, that is a very important city to martial arts because here was born Ip Man who was the master of Bruce Lee, who is my principal mentor. I would like to stay in this country as long as is possible, to train hard and get the teacher degree in Jeet Kune Do.

And finally I also like to visit this country by its gastronomy, I’m so curious to eat the real Chinese food, I mean the Peking duck, the fried rice, and some extravagant things like candied insects hahahaa.

Now tell me about which country would you like to visit!!

My Blog Experience

To be honest I really liked this experience. I think it's a good way to put our skills into practice to express ourselves. Thanks to this I have known some interesting things from my classmates, as well as sharing some ideas and experiences of myself.

While it has been somewhat tedious to be constantly publishing things, I can rescue that I have learned several new words, as well as I have learned new ways to apply English in the academic area. Now I can read sociological articles without any problem and also my writing skills have increased considerably.

In my personal experience I always had facilities to learn English, but for things of life I stopped practicing and using it when I entered the university, I know it sounds very contradictory, but my interests were other and the use of English did not contribute to me nothing for then.

Today, already beginning to write my thesis I realized the real importance of learning this language, because it opens a window to an endless amount of new information. I am aware that language creates realities and that English is the language of the empire, but what is the best way to defeat your enemy? Yes, precisely learning how to speak and how you think, maybe in the future I will publish some criticism of the empire and the hegemonic use of English and naturally it must be published in my language and in English so that everyone can read it

Chinese Food

My favorite food

Without a doubt, my favorite food is Chinese - Cantonese food. I do not mean the food that is really served in China, but the Chilean interpretation of that cuisine.

What I like most are its strong and lasting flavors on the palate, as well as the constant mixture between meats and vegetables, rice or noodles. Which makes it very versatile, nutritious and tasty at the same time.

In fact I like this type of food so much, so I have dedicated several years of my life in learning to cook it equally, or even better, than a restaurant. I have always liked to cook, so I have carefully separated each technique for each flavor, as well as the sauces and condiments that give it that characteristic flavor.

Since I learned how to prepare these dishes, I must admit that I have become a very demanding consumer, because if the noodles are not in place, if the meat was not properly cooked or the vegetables are not indicated, I will notice of it immediately.

As well as, I can easily tell if the food has monosodium glucamate or as they call it "ajinomoto". This dressing is a flavor enhancer, it also tends to raise the blood pressure of those who consume it and studies have shown that it can cause cancer. This condiment has a characteristic flavor, so it is easy to notice when meals bring it, and it usually betrays chefs who do not know how to obtain the true flavor of traditional ingredients.

My thesis

Consumption of cocaine base paste in marginal sectors of

Santiago de Chile

This semester has been really important for me, because I started working on my thesis. I want to investigate academically the consumption of cocaine base paste in marginal sectors of Santiago de Chile.

Cocaine base paste (PBC) is a drug that is obtained from the waste of cocaine production, is very similar to crack and is often mixed with other substances such as sodium bicarbonate, paint residues, flour, etc. in order to maximize profits by selling this.

For the components of the drug and its effects, it is very addictive, it is also very cheap, so it is usually used in very poor places. It is a drug that destroys families and the quality of life of those who consume it.

As a sociological thesis, my work seeks to reconstruct the path of life of those who consume the substance to know at what point in their life the addiction began. I seek to identify emotional, psychological, historical elements, etc. that may be related to the phenomenon.

Obtaining this information could be of great help to know the solution of the problem and start treating it from the public health attacking its roots. However, I believe that beyond the factors involved, there is a profound alienation caused by capitalism, but I must verify this with real facts, which I hope to approach soon.

Scielo my favorite platform

Well, I find it difficult to choose just one website, because I always look for more than one page. Although if I had to stay with one would undoubtedly be Scielo. On this page it is possible to find a wide range of studies related to the social sciences, especially for sociology as well as publications of associated journals. You can find studies of several of the world and therefore different ways of approaching a phenomenon.

I remember that in my first year of university, one of the most rigorous teachers recommended this platform to us. Since then I always use it to nourish my research theoretically and methodologically, because it offers quite complete materials.

It is very useful since it has the facility to extract the quote from the article in APA format automatically. However, the platform is somewhat gray and monotonous, and it seems to be restrictive on those who can publish.

Anyway, the platform has a certain prestige among professors and academics, so using it has saved my skin on more than one occasion hahaha.

Punks days

This photo is from a few years ago, when I wandered the streets looking for some abstraction maybe happiness in the stupor of the substances or company in my own emptiness. That day was very crazy, because at that time there was a lot of violence in our environment. Our plan was to go to a party, however when we take the bus we were threatened with death by the "flaytes del colo" only because of our clothing, we had no choice but to flee because they were many. 

Then we spent several hours in a square where suddenly a concert began which ended in torrential rain in the middle of summer.

We ended up all wet and never got to the party, we stayed at a friend's house and the next day we got lost on the way back home, because the bus went around very strange until the end of the trip in "Vespucio norte" where no bus wanted to take us for our clothes and moikanos.

I always reflect of those days and I belive that is our song:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hGnIlQpNagc

My favorite Writter of all time

Well, as you can guess by the picture my favorite writter is Franz Kafka. He was born in 1883 in the Austria - Hungary and died in 1924 in Austria. Perhaps the most famous of his writings is "The Metamorphosis", however it is possible to highlight others such as "The process", "The trees", "The way home", "The castle", among many others. In the literary style of kafka it is possible to find elements of existentialism as well as expressionism, as well as a strong critical content as well as psychological analysis (at least from my point of view).

This author is particularly relevant to me because of the theoretical relationship that can be made with the Frankfurt school, based on the critical reading of his texts. So you can make, for example, an analogy between becoming an insect and the alienation that the capitalist system provokes on the human being.

As a curious fact, Kafka always preferred the vegetarian and naturist diet, so he used to drink a lot of unpasteurized milk. However today it is believed that this consumption of milk without pasturizing was what produced the tuberculosis that would end his life in 1924. It is currently considered that Kafka may have had the syndrome of "schizoid personality disorder", which eventually could influence your particular way of reading.

My favorite Series

Well, to tell you the truth, it's hard to choose a favorite series. I have always thought that all of them are the product of capitalism to maintain the domination of the masses, so I rarely use my time to watch series. However, there is a series that I can catalog as my favorite. It's old, but I do not care. As you can imagine, my favorite series is LOST. The plot revolves around a group of people traveling together in a plane, which crashes on a mysterious island, where the stories of passengers before the trip are intertwined with the strange events that occur on the island. I love it because there is always a mysterious atmosphere among the characters. I currently see it online from my notebook, and sometimes I see it from the television. I think that's also available in netflix, but I do not have netflix, so I do not care.

Now I have to leave you because I'm in a marathon of my favorite series, and I'm wasting precious time writing this, bye!

PS: Just kidding, I really want you to tell me something about your favorite series too.

Me and My PC

My favorite technological device is without a doubt the notebook. From my perspective it is much more useful than the cell phone because it has many more functions besides social networks. I usually use it to listen to music, edit projects, play video games, download and use programs, learn new songs for guitar and many other things. If I have a good internet connection I can see all the movies I want, as well as documentary series, etc. It is my main work tool in college and I really do not know what I would do without it. Also I can always find out about concerts, parties, boxing matches, etc. It is particularly useful for me because in it I can store a large number of photos, sociological works, musical arrangements and an infinity of things, part of me is stored inside the hard disk. Here some photos that I found in My pc

Sociology, really my decision?

There are two ways to tell this story, which one do you want to read? The true or the false? Well, the false would be something like "Oh, yes, my dream since childhood was to study sociology, and I love my career and my university".


However, this publication is about the real story, so let's go there. I always wanted to study medicine, I had very good grades and a passion for biology, then I grew up and knew the world of drugs and alcohol, so I started to have another perspective of reality and questioned many things. I also had a very bad experience in a hospital, so I discarded the idea of ​​studying medicine and that's how the sociology came to me.


My parents always told me I would be a drunken drifter if I studied sociology ... But after four years of study, I finally realized that I was in the right place, I have a great thesis topic and every day I get up passionately this !





And what about you?

This is my Life

This is my Life

My name is Isaac and I´m a sociology student. I have lived all my life in La Cisterna. I was born on October 23th, 1997 and I’m 21 years old. My home is far from the university so my day starts very early. I hate get up early, but I don´t have another option. My favorite part of the day is when I train Martial Arts, I´ve been training Taekwondo since I was 18 years old. Another of my favorite activities is spent time with my family; I love to visit my grandmother, sister and my cousins, because in my home I live only with my two parents.  Sometimes I go partying, but most of the times I prefer to stay at home and watch movies, maybe it’s could be bored but I enjoy it!

Now, tell me something interesting about yourself!!