Guns -N- Roses: Use your Illusion II

Karel F. Suarez
Composition #8
Draft #3
December 08, 2009

Guns -N- Roses: Use your Illusion II

Guns and Roses is a heavy metal band formed in Los Angeles, California, who created its name by combining the last names of Axl Rose and Tracii Guns, in 1985. Initially the group was formed by Axl Rose (vocalist), Izzy Stradlin (rhythm guitar), Tracii Guns (lead guitar), Ole Beich (bass), and Rob Gardner (drums). A short time later, Ole, Tracii, and Rob were replaced by Duff Mckagan (bass), Slash (lead guitar), and Steven Adler (drums). Currently the only one who stayed in the group is Axl Rose and all the band members are new. Guns and Roses have six albums, Use Your Illusion II is the fourth album recorded with Geffen Records, which was released in conjunction with the Use Your Illusion Tour in September 1991, and has sold 25 million copies worldwide.

Use Your Illusion II represents a change in the style of music that Guns and Roses played because without abandoning the heavy metal flavor, they incorporated elements of blues, classical music, and country. In addition, Guns and Roses incorporated in this album a cover of Bob Dylan’s song, Knocking on Heaven’s Door, and one track, 14 Years, sung by Izzy Stradlin. This album has fourteen songs (Civil war, 14 years, Yesterdays, Knocking on Heaven’s door, Get in the Ring, Shotgun Blues, Breakdown, Pretty Tied Up, Locomotive, So Fine, Estranged, You Could Be Mine, Don’t Cry, My World) with more political content and less reference drug use than their previous work.

Use Your Illusion II ’s first song is, Civil War, which is a protest song about war. This song has great lyrics, which talk about the dark side of war and the damage it inflicts on society. It also shows us Guns and Roses’ feelings about war, which are shown in the following quote, “My hands are tied for all I've seen has changed my mind, but still the wars go on as the years go by with no love of God or human rights.” They feel helpless because they can’t do anything about the violence. 14 years is the second song on the album. It is about Axl and Izzy’s friendship because they had known each other for 14 years. This song talks about the difficult times in Axl and Izzy’s realtionship. Yesterdays is the third song in the album, this song is about not paying attention to the past. Knocking on Heaven’s door describes the feelings and impressions of a person who is dying.

Use Your Illusion II ’s middle songs are, Get in the Ring which has more bad words than the others songs. This song is about the band wanting to be left alone and how the media writes lies about their lives. Shotgun Blues has a fast paced rock beat. It is about how you eventually pay for everything you do in life. Breakdown was one of the most complicated songs to record because the guitar, drum, and piano parts were hard to synchronize. The song talks about the difficult times in life when a person feels everything is against them. Pretty Tied Up begins with an Indian sound and incorporates the classic rock sounds. This song was inspired by a dominatrix and her client. Locomotive is another song from the album that has an intent to showcase the funk-metal style, the title of this album was obtained from a line in this song. This song talks about the struggles of a relationship and how a man loves a woman but, at the same time, wants to stay away. So Fine was written as a tribute to Johnny Thunders, a punk rock musician. The song talks about the story of a man where everything is wrong in his life, but he was madly in love with a woman who he wanted to give a star to every night.

Use Your Illusion II ’s lasts songs are, Estranged, which is the longest song. It has many verses, and no set chorus. It has distinguished guitar and piano solos. This song talks about losing a loved one and how you are never ready for that time. “I’ll never find anyone to replace you. Guess I'll have to make it [through], this time. Oh this time without you.” You Could Be Mine, is the theme of Terminator 2: Judgment Day. This song talks about a relationship that has gone wrong. I like this song because from the begining you can feel that your adrenaline is going up. Don’t Cry is the thirteenth song in this album. It is the second version of this song, the lyrics are different from the first version and the melody is slightly different too. This song talks about how a person must have hope despite their problems in their life. My World is the fourteenth and final song on the album. It is the shortest song on the album and is a mix of rap and rock. This song was an Axl Rose solo and most of the members did not even know it existed. “You want a step into my world. It's a sociopsychotic state of bliss. You've been delayed in the real world. How many times have you hit and missed? You cat-scan shows disfiguration. I want laugh myself to death with a misfired synapse with a bent configuration. I'll hold the line while you gasp for breath. You want to talk to me so talk to me. You want to talk to me you can't talk to me. You don't understand your sex. You haven’t been mindf…. yet Let's do it.” This song talks about Axl Rose’s world, how he thinks and what he thinks of other people. I don’t like this song because I don’t undertand the lyrics and I can’t find a meaning.

It is difficult to say which songs of this album are the best because personally, I like all of the songs with the exception of the last one, My World. This album would have deserved five stars if it had not included the last song, which changes the style of the album a little bit, and in my opinion does not have lyrics that inspire or make sense. I would recomend this albun to everyone who enjoys good Heavy Metal with great rhythm and lyrics.

Censorship

Karel F. Suarez
Composition #7
Draft #3
December 07, 2009.

Censorship

The First Amendment of the United States Constitution guarantees freedom of speech, press, and religion, if it does not cause “immediate lawless behavior.” This freedom is often forgotten and the government tries to step on the rights of ordinary people by the censorship of their work. This was the case of Chris Ofili a painter and Ozzy Osbourne, a singer. Similarly many countries of South America have the same freedom of expression, but in Chile the government violated the rights of “Los Prisioneros” a rock band, and as a result the group split up. Chris Ofili, Ozzy Osbourne, and “Los Prisioneros” were the victims of censorship, but “Los Prisioneros” never recovered.

In 1999, the Brooklyn Museum of Art had an exhibition with a controversial painting. Chris Ofili, a young English painter who had African roots, made a painting called The Holy Virgin Marry, using elephant excrement and obscene pictures cut from adult magazines. Mayor Guiliani and some Catholics were offended by the painting. They believed it was disrespectful for Catholics and The Virgin Marry. Guiliani threatened the Brooklyn Museum of Art that he would take away public funding if they kept the picture in the exhibition. The Brooklyn Museum Art wanted to challenge him by keeping the painting in the show. The censorship wasn’t successful because it was against the First Amendment. Joan Bertin, the head of the National Coalition Against Censorship, supported the Brooklyn Museum Art. She thought that the community had the right to make the decision about what they wanted to see or not. The government is not allowed to take away financial support just because it was offensive for some of them. I don’t agree with censorship in this case because I believe that the BMA had the right to make all kind of exhibitions and the community can choose if they want to go or not.

Another example of censorship is the case that the McCollums brought against Ozzy Osbourne with the purpose of punishing him. In October, 1984 the McCollum’s son, John, killed himself with a handgun. The McCollums blamed Ozzy Osbourne’s song Suicide Solution for his death. They sued Osbourne and CBS Records in a California civil court, alleging that their son was having problems with alcohol and depression, and he was vulnerable “to being influenced by Ozzy Osbourne’s music”, which had violent content and influenced persons to injure themselves. The California civil court dropped the case, citing the First Amendment. Consequently the McCollums took their case to the California Court of Appeals, but the result was the same. The court said that people should understand that music is a kind of expression and not like a command to do something, even though the music may say that killing yourself is an option. Singers are protected by their constitutional right of freedom of expression. I don’t agree with the kind of music that Osbourne writes; that’s why I don’t listen him, but I don’t think that his music should be censored. Everybody has the right to choose what they want to listen to and Ozzy has the rights to sing what ever he wants.

Finally, another example of censorship is from the Chilean rock band “Los Prisioneros,” formed in San Miguel, Santiago, Chile in 1982. During that time Chile was under a military regime impose by Augusto Pinochet, who ruled from 1973 to 1990. “Los Prisioneros” began as a local band with protest songs, and in 1985 they signed with EMI group (Electric & Musical Industries Ltd.) In 1987 the Chilean group recorded their third album “La Cultura de la Basura” (Trash Culture), which reached mainstream popularity in South America, Central America, the US, Canada, and Europe. “La Cultura de la Basura” was strongly opposed by the military regime in Chile because of the social content of the songs. “Los Prisioneros” were banned on television and radio. Their gigs in all the cities of Chile were canceled by the military and this resulted in major economic losses for the group. They toured around South America, promoting their message against the military regime of Pinochet and this caused them to be expelled from Chile. In 1991 when Augusto Pinochet’s dictatorship ended, Chile became a democratic country and “Los Prisioneros” returned to Chile for the first democratic Viña del Mar festival. They had the support of all the public, but the band did not feel the same and they decided to split up. I believe that “Los Prisioneros” was one of the best rock bands in the history of Chile, but the censorship that the Pinochet military regime imposed on them caused them to end their artistic career. This was tragic because they had so much potential in the music world.

Despite the freedom of the expression that US and many countries in South America have, you can still see that it is common for a government to try to censor the things that they do not see as proper. This was the case of Chris Ofili, Ozzy Osbourne, and “Los Prisioneros”.

Letter to the Mayor of New York City

Karel F. Suarez
Composition #6
Draft #3
December 07, 2009.

Letter to the Mayor of New York City

Dear Mayor Bloomberg:

I heard that you have received money and you have to think about the best way to use it. Two ideas are on the table, one is to improve the schools or the other is to improve a neighborhood. I believe that improving the schools is the best option because it will increase jobs, improve classrooms, and create new art programs.

By improving schools you can provide an opportunity for construction workers to find a job. In order to remodel schools it is important to hire painters, carpenters, and electricians. Currently the unemployment rate is very high. Hiring people to remodel the schools is going to lower unemployment which is also beneficial for the City. Secondly, it is also important to hire nurses because they can help if an accident happens. Sometimes students injure themselves while playing and sometimes they feel sick. Hiring nurses in schools not only will give students the attention they need, but will also the number of unemployment nurses are going to decrease. Finally, hiring a counselor would be helpful for the students. If the students have personal problems and they need to talk with someone, they can find help with the counselor. By hiring different workers you could improve the economy and also the schools.

In order to improve the classrooms three things are important. First of all, you could buy new computers and printers for the Computer Lab because ninety percent of the computers have the letters on the keys erased, the monitors have broken on and off buttons, and the laboratory does not have a printer. Secondly, classrooms don’t have a television and DVD player, which are important because teachers could use it in order to make the class more interesting and less monotonous. Finally, new desks are necessary too because many of the desks are missing the writing platform and students have to go to look for other desks in other classrooms. Students waste time and bother other teachers when they do this. Improving a classroom is important because students stay in the classroom seven hours per day and it is important that they have all the tools that they need to learn better.

In order to improve schools it is important to think about art classes such as music, dance, and painting. First of all, you could buy new musical instruments for the music class. Currently schools have a music program but they don’t have enough instruments and the students feel limited because they have to wait until somebody finishes to use the instrument. Sometimes the class ends and many students did not have the opportunity to play. By buying new instruments you would encourage students to develop their music abilities and give them the opportunity to train their talent. Secondly, hiring an art teacher is important because many schools don’t have an art program. Students who are interested in painting are going to have the opportunity to join this class and improve their talent and maybe in the future they could go to higher education and be successful in this area. Finally, schools need supplies for the dancing class. Floor mats and stretching poles are necessary for warm-up exercises so that the students will not injure themselves. Mirrors are also important because students have to see what they are doing and where they need to improve. Art classes are important to help the students develop their abilities in these fields.

Improving schools is the best option because you are going to be able to create new art programs, improve classrooms with new technology and desks, and help the unemployment rate by hiring different workers. This decision is also going to be important because people will remember this when the time to vote arrives.

Sincerely,

Karel F. Suarez.

Rob Flemming

Karel F. Suarez
Composition #4
Draft #3
November 27, 2009.

Rob Flemming

Rob Flemming is the protagonist of Nick Hornby’s bestseller, High Fidelity. Rob is a peculiar person, who sometimes doesn’t know what he wants or what he feels. He is the owner of a record store, and his life is ruled by music. He regrets not finishing school, and that causes his insecurity. He never had a good relationship with his parents, friends or girlfriends because he never put effort into those relationships. Throughout the book we learn about Rob’s relationship with his parents, Rob’s feelings of frustration about quitting school, and Rob’s love life.

Nick Hornby shows us that Rob’s relationship with his parents was never Rob’s priority. First of all, the reader can understand from chapter eleven that Rob’s relationship with his parents is not close, and he doesn’t know his parents at all. When Rob went to his parents’ house, he was expecting to find his boring and predictable parents, but what he found was the opposite - new and interesting parents. They were having fun with neighbors, going to the movies, and also had bought a VCR. In fact Rob was surprised because everything changed. From this, we could infer that he never made the effort to know his parents and to become close to them. Another example of Rob’s relationship with his parents that the author of High Fidelity shows us is in chapter 25. When Laura’s father dies, Rob started to think about how he would feel if his parents died. And what Rob thought is that he will, “hardly feel a thing,” because he has grown distant to his parents. This tells the readers that Rob doesn’t have a close relationship with his parent because he wanted it that way. Finally, we learn about Rob’s relationship with his parents from Rob’s mom’s call in chapter two. In this call they talk about Rob’s love life and how she is worried about his relationships which are like a vicious circle because he meets a girl, they move in together, and she leaves him. After they spoke, Rob said, “Anything bad that has happened to me in the last couple of decades has ended up like this, with mom visible or audibly upset.” Rob felt that his mother never supported him and she never was an understanding mother, however his mother was worried about him and she was only trying to help him. Rob never made the effort to get to know his parents or to have a close relationship with them.

Another part of Rob that Nick Hornby shows us, is Rob’s feelings of frustration about quitting school. Nick Hornby introduces this idea to us for the first time in the chapter where Rob talked about Charlie Nicholson. In this chapter Rob quit school because Charlie broke up with him. After that, not only did he make the decision to open a record store, but he also wasn’t happy with that decision because he was frustrated and he felt that he would be there for all his life. We can see this in page 26 where Rob said, “I am stuck in this pose, this shop-managing pose, forever, because of a few short weeks in 1979 when I went a bit [crazy] for a while.” From this we could infer that Rob is not happy with the decisions that he made. In chapter 21 we could see another example of Rob’s frustration about quitting school. When Rob went to Charlie’s house he envied all of Charlie’s friends because they had better clothes than him, they lived in a better neighborhood, and they had a profession. Rob said “ I want their opinions, I want their money, I want their clothes, I want their ability to talk about dogs’ names without any hint of embarrassment. I want to go back to 1979 and start all over again.” And he also said “The difference between these people and me is that they finished college and I didn’t.” Rob felt that they had all those things because they finished school and he did not have those things because he did not have a profession. This quote makes the readers think that Rob feels regrets for quitting school and he is frustrated because of that.

Also, we saw that Rob’s love life never was the best. First of all, Rob’s first girlfriend, Alison Ashworth, replaced Rob with another person from the same neighborhood, Kevin Bannister, but in a humiliating way. When Rob went to the park to meet with Alison, he saw that she was kissing Kevin. Rob felt angry and he didn’t know what to do, how to act, or where to go. He almost cried. That was the first time that someone had broken his heart and the first time that he had experimented rejection because Alison not only hooked up with Rob without his consent, but she also left Rob without letting him know. Secondly, Charlie Nicholson was Rob’s fourth girlfriend. She was beautiful, exotic, and dramatic, which made Rob feel intimidated and insecure. After two years of being together regardless of the effort that he put into the relationship, Charlie replaced Rob with a classmate from her design program named Marco. Rob was depressed and without thinking, he quit school and this caused him to feel more insecure about himself than before. Finally, Rob’s last girlfriend was Laura. They met when Rob was working as a D.J. in Groucho Club. After some time they moved in together. The relationship was stable at the beginning, but later on, the relationship became monotonous and boring. Rob cheated on Laura when she was pregnant, and Laura consequently decided to have an abortion. Laura replaced Rob with Ian, the neighbor from upstairs. Rob was unsure of how he was feeling. He had mixed emotions about his break up, he felt freedom from not being with Laura, but at the same time missed her. He was trying to pretend that the break up did not affect him but it did affect him. Rob’s romantic relationships were always bad and they always ended up with Rob being cheated on and abandoned.

Rob Flemming was a person full of insecurities. He always had bad relationships with his parents and girlfriends. Even though he was an adult he still had to grow up.

Letter to the Mayor of New York City

Karel Suarez
Composition # 3 Draft #3
November 04, 2009

Letter to the Mayor of New York City

Dear Mayor Bloomberg:

Did you know that the municipal shelter system is currently running out of beds for homeless single men and women? This year the number of homeless people increased eleven percent in relation to the previous years. I understand that you have received a large piece of land and that you are looking for the best way to use the spot. I believe that building a shelter is the best way to give the spot a good use because it will increase jobs, improve homeless people’s education, and you could provide basic necessities for homeless people.

Building a homeless shelter is good for New York City because it will increase jobs. First of all, a homeless shelter can provide an opportunity for construction workers. In order to build the shelter we will need to hire different workers. We need carpenters, engineers, plumbers, electricians and painters. Currently the unemployment rate is very high. Hiring people to build the shelter is going to lower unemployment. Secondly, there are some homeless who need help from social workers. After finishing school, social workers will have a chance to find employment working in the shelter. Finally, building a homeless shelter will help to give a chance for doctors and nurses to work. Homeless people need medical attention, so doctors and nurses can get jobs. Building a homeless shelter is going to provide jobs to many different kinds of workers.

Building a homeless shelter could be helpful for homeless people’s education. To begin with, it is an incontrovertible fact that twenty percent of homeless people are illiterate in New York City. Sometimes homeless people are reluctant to learn how to read and write, but they need to be taught how to do this because it is going to give them a better chance to get a job. The homeless people could access those skills in shelters through study programs like reading groups. This is going to be beneficial to the city because homeless people could get better jobs. Additionally, a homeless shelter could encourage homeless people to improve their job skills. They could learn manual labor like carpentry or sewing and start their own business and earn some money. Finally, building a homeless shelter could be helpful to homeless because homeless could get a financial education. Homeless people sometimes feel that the financial system defeated them, in the shelter they could learn how to manage their money and this way they could be able to save money and make good investments.

Finally, if you build a shelter you could take care of homeless people’s basic necessities. Shelters provide food for homeless. Many times homeless do not have anything to eat and they do not have good nutrition. If you build a shelter they could have food like meat, fruits, and vegetables for free and they would get the required amount of calories, proteins, vitamins, and minerals per day. Shelters also provide clothes. Homeless people do not have a lot of clothes to change every day, that is why most of the time they are dirty and odorous. Many people who need more space in their closet and don’t need extra clothes are able to free up space by giving to shelters, so that the shelter can give homeless clean clothes that are suitable to the climate of the season. Also, with the shelter you could lessen the number of homeless people that are sleeping on the streets. Many shelters that currently exist do not have enough space for everyone who wants to sleep there, that is why they have to sleep on the streets. If you build a new homeless shelter, homeless people could have a comfortable place to pass the night.

For all the points I mentioned above, I believe, that building a shelter would be the best option. I think it would help many people and will also help society by reducing problems that could eventually appear. Also, building a homeless shelter is something that people will consider when they are voting in the elections.

Sincerely.

Karel Suarez.

My Biography

Karel F. Suarez
Composition # 2 Draft #3
November 04, 2009.

My Biography

My name is Karel Fabiola Suarez De Ugarte. I am the only daughter of Sylvia Margarita Alcira De Ugarte Lazcano. I was born in Cochabamba Bolivia on May 24, 1982. Cochabamba is the heart of Bolivia. It is Bolivia's third largest city. It is located in a valley surrounded by the Andes mountain range. The climate is considered the most comfortable in all of Bolivia, with warm and sunny days and cool nights. Cochabamba has many places to get to know. One of these places is the “El Cristo de la Concordia” statue. It is the world's tallest statue of Christ. It surpasses the more famous statue in Rio de Janeiro by a few meters. The statue towers over Cochabamba, with its outstretched arms in a welcoming embrace and is located at the top of the huge San Pedro hill, which overlooks Cochabamba about 265 meters above the city.

The name of the neighborhood where I grew up is called Cala – Cala. Cala – Cala is one of the oldest neighborhoods in Cochabamba. It is a residential area. The avenues have gardens running through the middle of them acting as islands separating one direction of traffic from the other. Each garden has palm trees and flowers. Each avenue is connected to another avenue by plazas. The majority of the plazas have fountains that have their own unique design. They are surrounded by trees and flowers that make my neighborhood a beautiful place. The streets are never crowded and life is peaceful because you do not hear a lot of noise from cars or people. The houses are big and beautiful; each house has a different shape and color depending on the owners taste, this makes the neighborhood less monotonous. Generally all houses have a front garden and backyard that is surrounded by high walls, which give you privacy. There are private guards on some streets that protect the homes from thieves because they are always on the lookout to see who they will rob next.

My family lived in that neighborhood all their lives. My family is big. My grandparents had five children, one son and four daughters. My mom is the second of the daughters. I am the first granddaughter and the oldest niece. I have eleven cousins. Despite the fact that everyone works in my family, we see each other a lot during the week. We have the tradition of eating lunch together and spending Sundays together; this tradition keeps us together. The same tradition is kept on birthdays, holidays such as Christmas, New years, Mother’s day, or Father’s day. We always celebrate holidays together. For example, in birthdays, the celebration starts from the morning. Everyone meets at my grandparents’ home to eat breakfast together, and for lunch my grandmother prepares the favorite dish of the birthday person and makes the cake. We spend the whole afternoon together talking, listening to music, or watching movies.

I went to a private school named Maryknoll. It is a Catholic school near my house. The teachers were extremely strict. They did not allow the students to talk in class. If we broke the rules we would get punished. They would punished us by making us sweep the school floors. They would also make us leave the class and stand in the middle of school for one hour until the next class started, so that everyone in the school saw that we misbehaved. Despite the rigid rules, I liked my school because the teachers taught me values and good study habits. But when I was in tenth grade, I decided to change to Issac Attie school because Maryknoll did not have a senior trip. The tradition of schools in my country is to make a graduation trip in the last year of school so that everyone will have something to remember with other classmates. At this school, I attended eleven and twelve grade. For my senior trip I went to Mexico. I had the opportunity to visit the Federal District, Acapulco, Taxco, and Cuernavaca. It was an unforgettable trip because it was the first time I saw the ocean and I had a lot of fun with my classmates playing with waves on the beach. I enjoyed the view of the pyramids of Mexico, of the exotic food, the hotel in Acapulco, and of my trips to Cuernava.

When I finished high school, I started to study medicine in San Simon University (the public university in Cochabamba.) San Simon is known in all of South America because it has the best medical school. For this reason I had classmates from other countries near Bolivia. I had the opportunity to travel with my friends from Peru to Cusco, a beautiful city with a lot of history. I studied at San Simon for four years. After wards I went to a private university named Universidad Central, and I studied Physical Therapy and Kinesiology for five years. In 2006 I finished my studies and started to work.

In my free time I worked as volunteer in Viedma Hospital (the public hospital in Cochabamba) with an organization called “Movimiento Sonrisa” which has a figurative meaning; working for a smile. We had many volunteers working in each section in the hospital. I was in charge of the burned children section, and I had five people working with me. Everyday we went to the hospital to help the children to eat, to play with them, and to teach them to read and write because many of them had to be in the hospital many years and they could not go to school.

We also worked by organizing events to raise money to pay for hospital bills, medicine, and medical exams for patients in the hospital who could not pay. In 2002 I traveled to Ornskoldsvik, Sweden with my organization as an exchange student. This was posible thanks to people who found out about our organization and funded us. We were invited by the government to stay for three months. During our stay we were able to meet with many people and organizations to tell them what we did as volunteers. By doing this we were able to get grants to construct a shelter for family members of the patient. Seventy percent of the children in the hospital came from distant villages and that is why it was difficult for their parents to visit them every day. Many parents decided to abandon them and many decided to stay with them at the hospital during their entire stay there. The parents generally slept outside in the gardens because they did not have money to pay for a hotel. The “Movimiento Sonrisa” shelter’s objective is to give parents a comfortable and safe place where they could stay while their children were in the hospital.

In 2003 I met my husband. He is from the United States of America. I met him when he was in vacation in Cochabamba. At the end of the year we traveled together to Asuncion, Paraguay and Brazil to see the Iguazu waterfalls. We were engaged for four years. During that time we traveled to many places within my country because he was interested to travel around Bolivia. In August 2007 I got married. In 2008 my husband had to go back to the U.S. to finish school; this is why I came to the U.S. I arrived in March 2009 and started to study English in LaGuardia Community College and in June, I entered the CLIP program where I am currently studying because I want to improve my English in order to validate the physical therapy and kinesiology title I already have.

The Most Influential People in My Life

Karel F. Suarez
Composition #1 Draft #3
November 04, 2009.

The Most Influential People in My Life

Many times a lot of people have something to teach and something to say to you. Even if you do not want to hear it, people always have something to say. I learned to listen to what people told me and to choose between good and bad advice. While growing up, I collected all of the teachings and advice I heard. I believe that the best things people learn almost always come from the important people in that person’s life.

My mother is one of the people that influenced my life. One way, that she became influential was by always setting a good example to follow. My mom was nineteen years old when I was born. When I was still a baby, my mom got divorced, this is why she assumed the double role: one of father and the other of mother. In Bolivia, generally when a couple has a baby, the mother stays the first years with the baby and the dad is the one who works to satisfy the economic necessities of the family; however this was not the case in my experience. My mom worked as the general manager of a phone company in Bolivia, and one of her major responsibilities was to supervise different sites. She had to travel for three month periods, two times a year to different cities of my country. It was very hard for my mom because I was still a baby and she had to leave me with my grandparents. My mom’s experience influenced me by teaching me that if for some reason of life, I would be in the same position as my mom when she had me, I would be able to succeed alone like she did, no matter what. The second way that my mother was influential in my life was by always giving me the best advice. My mom always told me that I have to treat people the same way that I wanted to be treated. Following that advice was very useful to me. When I was in college I had a classmate from Chile who was not good in anatomy and she always asked me to help her with her dissections. Despite the fact that I did not have free time, I would help her because one day I would need someone’s help and I would like to find it. When we finished the year she passed the class and as a thank you she took me to Chile and paid for all my expenses. I felt happy for her success with her grades, and grateful for the opportunity that she gave me to visit Chile.

My grandfather is the second influential person in my life. He taught me that there are three important things in life. The first important thing is God. When I was child, my grandfather always took a verse from the Bible and made it interesting by reciting it like a story. After that, he would explain the meaning to me if I did not understand. He took me to the church every Sunday. Sometimes I did not want to listen or go to church because I thought it was boring, but now I know there is a supreme being watching me that guides, supports, and protects me. This knowledge influences my personality and my behavior because I am fearful of God and I try to be a correct person. The second important thing that he taught me was the meaning of family. He always put an emphasis that everyone should be together at lunch time, church, and holidays because it was important to share time together. Thanks to the emphasis my grandfather put on being together my family is close-knit and we can find support on one another. The third thing he taught me was the importance of respecting and being proud of my country. My grandfather traveled once a month to different provinces of my city. When he arrived from his trips he would tell me about the places he saw, all full of history and scenery with different climates and nature. Everything he taught me about the country helped me see the marvelous things that Bolivia has to offer and makes me feel proud of being Bolivian.

Finally, but still very important, my uncle was another influential person in my life. He taught me that you had to be perseverant in order to reach your objectives. When my uncle was studying in the university, there were many political problems in the country between the president and the militaries, the militaries took control and enforced martial law. For that reason the university had to close. The government started to go after the political leaders of the university. My uncle was the president of the student association of the university and that is why they went after him. He had to spend almost one year in hiding by traveling from city to city. Despite the hard times, he continued to fight. My uncle organized secret meetings from the government and motivated people to fight for the cause of reopening the university. After a year, his struggle gave fruits and he achieved his objective because the university reopened. He continued his studies and finished his career in architecture. The second thing that I learned through his example was honesty. He taught me that it is good to be honest. In 1992, my uncle was elected prefect of my city. Many people took advantage of high political positions to become rich. But despite the many bribes offers given to my uncle, he never accepted them because he did not want to tarnish his name. Thanks to his correct form of acting when he was prefect, my city remembers him in a caring way and it is said that in his term as prefect there was no corruption. All these things make my uncle a person that I admire and through his life experiences I have learned the importance of being honest in the way I act, loyal, and perseverant.

The best things I have ever learned came from the important people in my life. There were times when I would have rather not listened to what people had to say to me, but now I am grateful and I realize that all were important.