Prof. Durán - Inglés

sábado, 22 de octubre de 2016

Portfolio Entry # 16 - Walls All Over the World

Walls all over the world

“I feel sick of this, so tired and bored. Just waiting for nothing, I wait, and wait, and wait and then… there´s nothing. I know there´s nothing at the end but I am still waiting”. Who says this is a young man, probably in his twenties, a man that we could see in any street in any neighborhood. He is probably coming from Syria or Afghanistan and is trying to reach Europe in order to escape from the horror of war and dictatorship. He stages protest over Macedonia border closure. For most European governments he becomes a persona non grata just because he is a migrant and eventually could become a refugee. The cordial response of the United Nations members to needy people was putting barbed wires along their borders and building high walls and fences.
According to experts, walls are not effective in stop people from crossing borders, although there are 65 walls either completed or under construction, around the world. They give a false sense of security although governments and politicians adore them. Psychologists call “wall disease” the disorders such as psychosis, schizophrenia, phobias, rage, dejection, alcoholism, tendency to suicide and other disorders directly associated to living near a wall such as Berlin´s one. They are the direct and visible results of a security system that has given ample evidence of inefficiency. Instead of security, walls have provided division of families, suffering and the emerging of illegal organizations that smuggle weapons, drugs and people.
On the whole, it does seem that walls are not the solution for avoiding migration. They are presented as innovative strategies but in fact are uncreative solutions for a growing problem. There is no evidence that wars, famine, poverty, political or religious persecution, natural disasters or armed conflicts will be solved in the medium term. So that, it is less probable that walls along borders will be torn down. That will not happen until all nations give a global solution to a global problem.

Source:

World of walls: How 65 countries have erected fences on their borders - four times as many as when the Berlin Wall was toppled - as governments try to hold back the tide of migrants. Simon Tomlinson (2015) Mail Online. Available at http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3205724/How-65-countries-erected-security-walls-borders.html [Accesed 22 October, 2016]
Macedonia closes its border "completely" to migrants. Colin Freeman. (2016). The Telegraph. Available at http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/macedonia/12188826/Macedonia-closes-its-border-completely-to-migrants.html. [Accesed 22 October, 2016]

Portfolio Entry # 15 - I Build Walls

I Build Walls (Poem)

The poem uses “walls” as a metaphor for someone hiding their feelings and thoughts from others and even from themselves.

We can build walls of different physical materials. However, we can build mental walls as a defense mechanism to protect ourselves from painful feelings, not to reveal our fears and because of being afraid of not fitting into society standards. That situation causes social isolation and we can find ourselves in a point of no return because it is arduous to demolish our own barriers.

Because of my personality, I have built several barriers. When I was young, I thought they would shield me from a threatening world. After years of retrospection, I realize that in fact I built a threatening world to justify the building of my mental fences. Nowadays, it is an issue that I am still trying to solve.

Even when I realize that building walls carries isolation and pain, there are times when I need to go to my mental refuge, a place I have always gone when I needed comfort and peace. When life becomes overwhelming, that walls give me a sense of safety and welfare. Besides, I realize that spending time with myself helps me to focus on my strengths and to pluck up courage to face real life problems.

sábado, 15 de octubre de 2016

Portfolio Entry # 14 - "Across the Great Divide"

"Across the Great Divide"

A title has the function of capturing readers attention and interest by giving them an idea of what the text purpose is. In this article, the title resorts to the reader´s historical knowledge about the German reunification. An astute reader may notice that the heading intentionally alludes to the Berlin Wall, the barrier that splitted Berlin from 1961 to 1989, erected by the communist German Democratic Republic in order to divide East Germany from West Germany both physically and simbollically. The wall is referred as ´the great divide´ because it was a boundary between two countries, but also between two contrasting political, economic, social and cultural viewpoints. Given that the article was written in 1999, ten years after the German reunification, the title “Across the great divide” invites readers to expect a portrayal of the situation at that time.

After ten years of Berlin Wall´s fall, there were still economic, political and social division within the Germany society. That is the panorama of Berlin depicted in the article. The first and second paragraphs describe the experiences of two citizens who were born and lived on each side of the former wall. Both agree on blaming the other person for their economic and labour problems. The third paragraph mentions that an attitudinal barrier replaces the physical wall. The fourth and fifth paragraphs deal with the little or almost no change in political behaviour of citizens from the East and West Berlin. The sixth paragraph states that the residents of the united city remain strangers and they would rather not change that situation. Disappointment over social security and living conditions are described in the seventh paragraph. The eighth passage has to do with the insecurity about how to live in a changing society. Social as well as economic differences still divide the two halves of the city, state the ninth and tenth paragraphs. The eleventh passage describes the nostalgia for the old way of life felt by eastern German people. That is seen as an ungrateful attitude by western German people, according to the description in the paragraph twelfth. The last extract –the conclusion- reveals that both eastern and western German people share similar values and expectations about the future.