My first day at university My first day at university was long time ago, because I studied another career before (anthropology). I don’t remember exactly what happened that day, but I remember the first time that I met my friends. They were Felipe and Cesar and I still hold this friendship alive. We met in this very same place (facso) and we spoke a lot about literature, especially I remember Felipe and Cesar talking about Tolkien and Lovecraft. I must say that the first class was a mess, I felt very disappointed because I thought that the teacher was a kind of “chanta” who spoke a lot about trivial things. I guess the first class that I enjoyed was Introduction to Archaeology with a teacher who passed away a couple of years ago. This teacher was very skilled in Marxist theory so, to a youngster like me, was very interesting to learn about this philosophy with him. I guess the first day at university was plenty of emotions and expectations but, at the end, it was just listen the welcome of the teachers that boringly introduced their programs. Always is the same, first days of classes are wasted days. Better to spend time at home with a good book.

My dear friend Felipe is owner of a book store. He sells all kind of books but, mostly, he sells books about science fiction, detectives, terror and budism (!). I met this nice guy when I was younger, he was among my first friends in the university. He loves to talk about literature. In fact, he studied literature in the University of Chile before started his studies in anthropology where I met him. There are several things that we have in common, but I think that three are among we enjoy most: horror movies, philosophy and martial arts. I use to visit him almost once or twice a month in his bookstore, but also we go to the cinema (with his girlfriend that is also my friend), we go to drink coffee in Providencia y Bellas Artes and, sometimes, we spent time out of Santiago for the weekend. He is a good hearted person and most of the people love him because he is absolutely nice and kind. He is tall and big (a little bit fat), and it’s almost impossible to defeat him in martial arts. He loves Metal Rock bands and went to the last Iron Maiden concert in Chile.

Independence Day Celebration Today, I must talk about a Fiestas Patrias Holidays that I remember. I must say that I don’t enjoy this kind of celebration; actually I don’t like it at all. But, anyway, I will speak of a special one. It was several years ago, when with a couple of friends we went to Lo Gallardo, a locality near the city of San Antonio in the coast side. We were anthropology students at that time and we went for make an ethnographic work. A Classmate from Switzerland came with us and it was the first time she met the National Day Party. The work was to see how the people of that place celebrate these days and, of course, we participated with them in order to get first hand information of everything that happened. Everything was going on very nicely, we spoke with the people, we shared the food and drinks with them, even we went to see the rodeo and engaged with the people in all kind of activities but, when the night arrived, and most of the people got drunk (including several of us) the things went to a bad end. The local guys didn’t show respect for our foreign friend and we were not willing to accept this behavior. So, little by little the words were going higher and we were almost started a big fight in the fonda (like in a spaghetti western style). Fortunately (for us I guess) our friend decided to go running suddenly, so we left the fonda in the right time before them got aware of our flee. Now is funny to remember this incident, but at that time it was near to be a disastrous ethnographic work.

The case of Julian Assange is a political persecution arranged by the powerful and corrupt people of this western world, why? Because he revealed several secrets of the powerful ones, specially issues regarding the imperialistic practices of USA. The United States government has been trying to catch Assange because he filtered information regarding the Invasion of Iraq and the war in Afghanistan. The worst of this situation is that public people in USA and other countries like Canada have declared that Assange should be killed (!)In which kind of world are we living? It’s unacceptable that any politician or person in this world openly (or even secretly) ask for execution of a journalist who strives for the freedom of expression. Now the charges against him are for rape and sexual harassment, but these charges have not been proved. The real threat, I think, is this: if he leaves UK, he probably will be killed. Now he is asylee in the Ecuador Embassy in UK, and fortunately protected by the government of Rafael Correa. It’s astonishing that in the country where the Magna Carta Libertatum was created (England) and the Habeas Corpus guaranteed, the freedom of a single person can be so openly threatened. Freedom and safety for Assange, now.

Santiago, in fact, seems to be Chile, although it’s not. Every important and necessary thing is here. If you need a good physician, good level of education or even a book, you should come to Santiago. As a matter of fact, we can say that this city concentrates the political and economic power of the entire country, such a mess! I think this issue must change and, indeed, it’s changing. For instance, in the academic field we see some advances. Two examples can be shown: the CESC (Scientific Studies Center) in the city of Valdivia and the Center of Complex Systems in Valparaíso. These two centers reflect the effort of some people to spread the benefits of science and knowledge out of the center but, what about the rest of the social and cultural life? We can say also, that the distribution of benefits and welfare decreases from the center to the aim cities, then to the smaller towns and so on and so forth. And, being francs, Santiago isn’t so good and comfortable as other cities so, why we cannot look for other places to live?

Hi This year (2012) began differently from other years in several ways to me. First of all, in the month of february, I lost my grandmother and this fact was a big schock because I loved her a lot as she was like my second mother. She was very ill, so her death it wasn’t a surprise, but even so it’s really hard to face the fact that she will never be with us again. So, this summer got a bitter taste and it wil be a sad season to remember in the next future. Secondly, from the month of march, I started a new job in the atacama region (nothern Chile). The job requires to stay out of santiago every fisrt 10 days of each month. In the beginning I guess that I would be able to manage my studies and the work but, after the second month, it was clear that it won’t be so easy because I couldn’t attend most of the courses. Actually, I have no choice, I must work to pay my expenditures and studies.