Blog Journey

As part of the INGL 3135 class with the Profesor Cynthia Pittmann we were to create a blog. In this blog we would complete at least 15 entries that would be base on the reflection of different subjects, which include  the reflection on the readings of Down on the Island, A Small Place, reflections on the movies Running Brave and A Room with a View, and the conferences of The Influence of English Culture and English Student Conference. Each entry was to be of more than 500 words and were to be unique with pictures, hyperlinks and references that would support what was being said. The main topics from which we were to part from were identity, Puerto Rico, our concentration, and othering.

Contrary to the journal, the blog entries were to be more sophisticated, with a topic and much longer. The rules applied for the journal did not apply, so spelling errors, grammatical and syntactical errors were not permitted. The hyperlinks gave us the advantage of adding layer and layers, adding information and content essential to understand in completion the background of the text written. If you noticed I was able to add a tab with extra videos and quotes that may  in some way compliment the principal entries.

At the beginning of the project I wasn't enthusiatic about exposing personal information and thoughts on the web. As a matter of fact, I don't participate in any social network/page because I just don't like to publish anything about myself. This might be due to the fact that I believe that many things get wrongly interpreted and some people don't know how to use the information on the web.So yes, at the beginning I was a little skeptical about the whole project. As the semester went by, little by little I forgot about the idea a started writing, thinking as if the blog was a "web journal", which it practically is, and more or less convincing myself that no one would read it. I have to admit that some days it was difficult to write and had zero inspiration. I mean for some who does not write on a daily basis, to have written 15 blogs of around 500 words and some of more that 700 words, it is a challenge to write all that and for it to make any sense. Fortunately, even though it was a challenge I was able to complete it and feel pretty nice of the job I've done.

The first entry was a little too extensive compare to the rest, but must be because one know with certainty one life, obviously. As the entries went on, the writing more or less repeated itself yet expressing another meaning. Through this project I was able to forget one of my fears and that it for other to ready what I write, and worst to be exposed for whomever wants to enter the blog and read it. And for this I must acknowledge the blog.

I leave you with this...

Project Management

As a student of the University of Puerto Rico Business School, I'm interested in everything that has to do with businesses, organizing, planning, and directing. Ever since high school that passion grew more and more, to the point that I decided to start preparing that path for a career in Business Administration. Unfortunately, the general program on business administration would not be the BEST choice. It's better to concentrate on a subject and later, as people say, go where the wind takes you. So now the 'lucky' concentration to have me is Operation Management, which deals with the supply chain of a company and the general and basic processes that must be taken care of in a company in order for to function correctly. Many times these basic concepts are taken for granted and in the past years the companies has acknowledged the importance of the position.

This semester I attended a conference directed by Carlos Corrada on Project Management. Carlos Corrada is a PMP, which stands for Project ManagementProfessional. He specializes in application development.

Let’s first define what Project Management is according to dictionary.comhttp://dictionary.reference.com/:

"The process of planning, organizing, staffing, directing and controlling the production of a system.”

As he begin to explain basic information, and I say basic because like any other career it is impossible to explain in detail the complete essence of it in less than 2 hours, he started describing the most important factors in project Management: communication and concentration on staff needed. Having in mind that project management deals with the production of something, may it be an event, a product, an application, etc. etc. therefore most part of the project assigned will be planning (have in mind that planning is basically intangible).  Communication is key to maintain everything on the right and same track.  Together you have concentration on the staff needed. You see this from two points. First it is necessary to have the right amount of personnel needed, if you have too many you’ll be losing money and if you have scarce then you won’t be able or have trouble completing the tasks on time.

 

Triple constraint: cost, time, quality.

There is a triple constraint: cost, time, and scope/quality. These three factors are the base of a project that will define if it excel or not. Affecting one will affect another factor. For example, if you want to reduce the cost, quality will be affected (and not for the best). If you want to increase quality, time and cost will be affected and so on.

The steps in organizing a project consist of the following:

1-     The Start- This step consists of the first meeting with the customer. The questions: Purpose of the project? What are the requirements? What are the limitations? What is the problem to solve? How much money?, among others are answered. During this step it is important to ask which ever question, no matter how dumb you think it is, in other to make less errors during the going of the project

2-     Process- This step focuses on the planning of the project. Setting deadlines and goals, the documentation of everything, the budget, identifying the risks.

3-     Implementation- Here the plan is implemented and acted upon in the best and easiest possible way. Monitoring and control are extremely important in order to maintain the course to the quality expected and the meet the deadlines established.  It’s never wrong to give more information than what the customer asks and continue to communicate and document everything.

4-     Closing- Here the acceptance of the completion of the project is expected. A detailed and descriptive final Report is due. Also it is important to find the errors made during the process so that for the next time/ project you won’t make them again.

 

*Even though it is not necessary to be certified in as a PMP, it certainly helps and give back up in the resume. The most important thing is to acquire experience in the area you want to work on. This will give you the necessary skill, to later with time, sign a project on your own. If you want more information on the Project Management you can visit Project Management Institute.

Presentation

“There are always three speeches, for every one you actually gave. The one you practiced, the one you gave, and the one you wish you gave.”

 Dale Carnegie

As I searched through the web I found this phrase. This phrase can be interpreted in different ways. First you can see it as if the speech you practiced was without any errors, the speech you gave was more or less complete and the speech you wish you gave is the one were it was perfect, without any errors, with the perfect visuals that grab the attention of the audience and done in the perfect timing with all the necessary information said. But how about seeing the phrase from another perspective like the speech you practiced full of errors, the speech you gave in the best possible way , and the speech you wish you could have done as an impossible and unattainable goal. Don't get me wrong, with this I mean that the last speech, the one you wish to have given should be our goal but understanding that there is always a space to improve. Through this goal, goal that should always be improving, we allows ourselves to be creative and to achieve something even greater.

  

Last week as part of our INGL 3135 course we were to participate in the English Conference and give our group presentations at a designated time and panel. The theme was about the perceptions outsiders have of Puerto Rico and Puerto Ricans. Our conclusion was...

• We can say that PR is, with the exception of a very general scenario, is not known around the world by its true characteristics and its essence.
• Puerto Rico is a rich island, not only in resources but in people and culture. We have intriguing historical infrastructure, beaches and landmarks that can be enjoyed in a wonderful weather. As people, we are respectful, lovable and proud of PR everywhere we go. We have beautiful, strong and working women.  Our Rum excels in the Rum Industry and is known worldwide.
• Perception of outsiders- Puerto Rico has excellent beaches and weather. Puerto Ricans have a very strong character which can be defined with certain traits such as passion, proudness, care, explosiveness, defensive and happy.

The second part of the assignment was to write about the experience in the panel. So here it goes. As we presented our finding in the classroom to the professor and the other classmates I felt a sense of uncertainty and nervousness. These feeling maintained present through the whole presentation. On the contrary when we presented in the amphitheater the nervousness took peek at the beginning of the panel, before we presented and when the other groups were presenting. Once we were on the stage were the presentation was going to be given, all those feelings disappear and a sense of control took over. This feeling was because I felt prepared and knew the information I was going to present.

Women in Poetry

In the panel Women in Poetry given by three students of an advanced English class in the English student conference they discussed how women were portrayed in poems written years ago, but may still be applied today. The poems taken as reference were "Rape"by Adrienne Rich, "Mirror"by Sylvia Plath, and "The Nymphs Reply to the Shepperd" by Sir Walter Raleigh.

The first poem discussed "Rape" by Adrianne Rich was written in 1972 describes the helplessness a woman feels toward the person that raped her. Rape is not an action based just upon lust nor sex, it is much more profound. It acts upon the feeling of power. It is a desire to demonstrate power, is about shaming and destroying another person for the only reason to show power. In the poem we see how the woman struggles with the fact that she is the victim and is paying for a crime that she did not commit. As she was left to confess was the rapist, in this case a cop with need to show power, did to her as he rides around the town in his horse, without no one knowing what he had done.  She is left with a sense on incomplete due to the fact that the courts will not act upon the rapist.

The second poem "Mirror"by Sylvia Plath the narrator is a mirror in a women bedroom. It talks about itself as on who tells the truth and is objective. Even though it says that the women needs  it and that it won't go one day without her going to see it and that in some days she prefers to go under the effects of the moon or a candlelight the truths is that the mirror also needs the women. This is so because as the day passes and the mirror is left to reflect a blank and steady space such as a wall, it has nothing to describe nor analyze. Once the woman passes besides it , it is able to describe and analyze and give meaning to the world.

  

The last poem "The Nymphs Reply to the Shepperd"by Sir Walter Raleigh is obviously a response to something preciously written, The Passionate Shepherd to his Love by Christopher Marlowe. Raleigh argues that time does pass and thats why we should meditate on the consequences before acting on impulse.

Don't Think. FEEL

These past few months for the INGL 3135 class we were supposed to write in a journal at least 40 entries for 40 different days for 10 minutes. After the first 30 days another task was added, to write at the beginning of the entry a compass that was to show, in a range of numbers from 1-3 being the strongest,  how strong were the spiritual, mental, physical and emotional sentiments.   This new task was to last for the rest of the entries made. The main focus of the project was to see how my writing and thought change and evolve through a short period of time.

To start and use of guidelines the professor wrote on the board five (5) different key notes, called "anti-rules", which are the following: (Natalie Goldberg)


"Anti-Rules":

1- Don't Crossover
2- Don't worry about spelling , punctuation, grammar, etc

3- Don't think, don't get logical
4-Go for the jugular
5-Keep your hand moving




When one first see these guideline one could think that the professor just made my life easier, but the contrary. It actually was very difficult to follow the guidelines. First, it was instinct to crossover and it was more difficult not to crossover. In every single entry I crossed over and int he reflection had to state it to try to remember for the next time.  Once O thought about the guidelines to try to follow them i violated the "anti-rule" number 3, I was thinking on what to do.  "Anti-rule" #3 was also difficult to follow because, how could I not think? I didn't understand how could a person write for 10 consecutive minutes without thinking at all; I mean I still think its impossible because unconsciously our mind is thinking how to move the hand so that it can write. Yet at the end of the project I was able to dig deep in my thoughts and came up with some promising ideas.  Obviously as the time passed and wrote more and more entries I forgot about the "anti-rules".

As of March 20, 2015 I had written 41 entries in the journal; five per week. Many of the first entries written started off thinking and analyzing the "anti-rules" established for the project. I noticed that my writing changed depending on the place I wrote. For example, when I wrote in the classroom my thoughts focused on the tasks I had to do during the day and week.  When I wrote at home the entries were much more interrupted and shorter than the rest of the entries. The thoughts ended abruptly and many themes were written about. This was due to the noises and things I was dividing my attention with; example my dog, mom asking me to do favors, etc. 

Mila, my pet

Toward the end of the entries I was able to focus on what I was writing and many ideas came to mind and I just wrote them and everything that came to mind. I noticed that I'm really observant and like to have everything planned out; most of my time is thinking about the things I have to do and the best way to do them.This journey was interesting  because it helped me organize my thoughts and to focus on one task at a time and by doing so I would be able to excel and not get overwhelmed.

"Down on the island" Helping

Helping. How can we define this concept? Helping, according to dictionary.com, is to give or provide what is necessary to accomplish a taskor satisfy a need; contribute  strength or means to; render assistance to;cooperate effectively with; aid; assist. This concept is what everyone should aim to. Yet to what extend should we help? In what scenarios should we help? Is it right to help no matter the cause? These are all questions that from a young age we are taught in much disguised matters and scenarios. As Puerto Ricans we are taught to help others, which is good, but to what extent or cost? When it comes to the phrase “hazme un favorsito" we are open to the idea of doing the favor, having in mind a future situation where we are the ones that need a favor.  For example, when we first take an exam the teacher gives out the instructions which would consist of "stay focus on your paper", "don't let anyone see your paper", etc. etc. And we do it as told by the teacher. As the years pass the habit becomes more flexible. Our eyes start turning to other papers, later we start talking, and we exchange answers and even rely on others to get a good grade in the test. Our excuse is the concept of helping. "Oh teacher, I was helping him." Is this a problem or is it actually "helping"?

 

 In the chapter "Helping" in Down on the island, Jim Cooper explains the different situation he had when he was teaching English in PR. He describe how copying was encouraged by the public education system and the society. Yet he was not able to understand why this was until he learns about the culture and the traditions of the people in PR.

With the US invasion the presence of capitalism was little by little taking its place in PR. It took some time, time that I believe is still present and going, for the Puerto Ricans to get used or to put in practice the capitalist principles.  As part of a capitalist society we are encourage to be competitive. We seek or best interest and not necessarily what benefits the whole. We maximize our gains and we strive to be the best in everything. So what could be best, helping or being self-centered and selfish?  The answer is depending on the situation. Not necessarily just because in a situation one is not helpful means one is being selfish.

How do I define helping? Key words are cooperate and contribute to what is best not only for one being but for everyone. This concept of taking into account the well-being of everyone and everything is known as ethics. By enforcing you would be considered (under a capitalist view) being in the equivalent point where your maximization will be the same and your contribution to society.