"Greyfriars Bobby"

The story begins in 1850, when John Gray and his family arrived to Edinburgh. John was a gardener, but he could not get a job, so he joined to the Edinburgh Police Force as a night watchman with his dog called Bobby, in this way he was never alone. With the passing of the time, John and Bobby became in a popular team of working. Through thick and thin, they always were together everywhere. They were the best friends of the world. 

 But one day John got ill of tuberculosis, a disease that can be cured, but he couldn't endure, causing his death on the 15th February 1858. Bobby didn't understand the situation, so when the people carried the coffin to the "Greyfriars Cemetery", the dog accompanied its owner, as it always did, and also listened all the ceremony until the burial. Bobby decided continue faithfull to its master, and remained in his grave despite to the inclemency the weather. Nobody could get it out of the cemetery.  

Bobby’s fame spread throughout Edinburgh. The people would gather waiting for the one o'clock gun that would signal the appearance of Bobby leaving the grave for its midday meal, where its owner taught it. In 1867 Sir William Chambers (The Lord Provost of Edinburgh) decided to pay Bobby's licence (to save it from the dog pound) and presented him with a collar with a brass inscription "Greyfriars Bobby from the Lord Provost 1867 licensed".  

After fourteen years (in 1872) Bobby died in the tomb of its friend John. 

In my opinion this is the best proof of love and loyalty. I don't understand when the people say "the animals don’t feel anything". Sometimes animals have more feelings than the humans.  

By: Bastian Campos.

Chavs, the controversial stereotype.

We have all heard of the word “Flaite” and its meaning. Low socioeconomic background, obnoxious personality, sports clothing and accessories, peculiar slang and loud music are some characteristics that come to mind. You may not know, but similar stereotypes can be found in countries all around the world and England is no exception.

The English equivalent of the Chilean “Flaite” is known as “Chav”. Also, many adaptations have derived from it, like “chavdom” and “chavtastic”. Unlike here in Chile, the use of this word is highly controversial and has acquired another connotation.

Initially, the word was defined by the Oxford dictionary as “Young lower-class person typified by brash and loutish behavior and the wearing of (real or imitation) designer clothes”. Then, some years after its introduction, media and middle-class people started lightly using it to describe all working class and poor people. Quickly, this term began to be used in every-day conversation with an air of superiority and a bit of despise.

Now, the word is being used by a great part of the population as a cheap and acceptable way to passively insult the lower class and to strengthen class segregation. Imagine if a new word with the same meaning and connotation as the N-word started to be used in the United States with social acceptance. The only affected would be the people insulted and they would be unable to do anything to fight back.

Of course, there are some who refuse to accept this word and there are others who deem its use as harmless. Finally, it is down to each person to decide.

What if something like this were to happen with our precious word “Flaite”. Would you stop using it or would you see no problem with it?

Latin American people in the USA

The Latin American population has grown through the last century; according to the US Census Bureau in 2013 they represent approximately 16% of the United States total population. They’re the second largest ethnic group in USA and when I was doing my research about them I learnt some interesting facts.  

Most of the USA citizens tend to have some misconceptions about Latinos, they tend to believe that all of them are Mexican, undocumented immigrants and they all speak Spanish. Well, we know that’s not true. Latinos are the people who came from Latin America and that includes Brazilian people who speaks Portuguese. And besides, they’re not all immigrants. Some of them have been there since 1848 when “the border crossed them”, as they like to say.  

Latin Americans have left their mark in the USA through different aspects. One of them has been music. Did you know that Salsa was created in the USA? Well, I didn’t. It was conceived in the mid-60s by Latin American immigrants in New York. They used it to express their identity and though life as latinos. After a warm reception by the audience, the musical genre travelled to Miami to keep on growing.

Some famous Latin American people who have made it in the USA are Benicio del Toro, Carlos Santana, Carolina Herrera, Salma Hayek, Celia Cruz, Gloria Stefan and many others.

By 2060 the Latino population is expected to constitute 31% of the US population. Would you like to be a part of it?

Loch Ness Monster

When everyone always talk about Scotland (at least in my case) think in the whiskey, which by the way was not invented in Scotland, but in China, is in the enigmatic, mysterious, mythological, Loch Ness monster, which the neighbors affectionately nicknamed "Nessie".


The rumors of an alleged large animal or monster that dwells in the lake have circulated for centuries from 1,500 years ago, although the accuracy, credibility and veracity of such stories has always been questioned (blame the whiskey again).

The earliest record of this beast from the year 565 in which St. Columba (a missionary monk Galicia), came to town telling his great work, had saved an innocent maiden from the clutches of a fierce sea monster, but nobody believed, apparently because they had once gone to town saying he had killed a wild one cry, so his word was not very credible.

Over the years the sightings were growing, and thus tourism to the area, and that ultimately led to the arrival of the "Nessie hunters" deranged people with little monster with one goal, to prove their existence, in his time they came to pay thousands of euros for a simple photo of Nessie.

It is not known for sure if Nessie really exist, but whether or not it has attracted a number of tourists eager to spend their money on nonsense from the souvenir shop, and has given some identity to Scotland, but do not really needs, but thanks to Nessie Scotland is a little known worldwide

                  

                                      Scotland:  Blackening of the bride!

Hi and welcome…..All we know that the marriage is one of the most beautiful moments in our life but you should think it twice if you want to married in Scotland.

“The blackening of the bride” has become in a dirty tradition but only in the Scottish land (including the islands, Aberdeenshire, Angus and Fife).It happens normally the day before a wedding, when the bride and now the groom (it was only the woman in medieval times) are captured for close friends who express their sweet love to the couple cover them with different substances such as eggs, soot, treacle, milk, dead fish, flour and feathers. After the blackening the almost wife and husband will have to parade through the streets or village for everyone to see their disgusting aspect or maybe they are tethered to a tree.

The history about this strange custom is unclear, some people connect it with Celtic practices but “The blackening” was part of a ceremony in Hebridean culture to celebrate the formal engagement, afterward the father gives official permission for his daughter to marry.   

The belief is that the ritual drives away evil spirits and bring good luck or maybe if they can handle this kind of situations, they can do anything including marriage. In short, “blackening the bride” is a way to prepare them for the humiliation, shame and the problems they’ll come across during their time together.

Personally, I like this ceremony because is different, funny and it shows another face than the traditional Scottish wedding with bagpipes and kilt.

Do you like this idea or is it too much?

From Leaflets to Confetti

From Anti-Gay leaflets to confetti for homosexual weddings.

Ireland is a very conservative country due to the role played by the religion, Roman Catholic and Protestant, but still it has been show that it is a country with a tolerant and without discrimination culture that accepts differences.

An important event was the approval of the adoption of the couples gay. The Irish authorities explained that the most important thing in this matter is that parents take care of the kids independent if are a man and a woman, two men or two women.

The next May 22^nd in Ireland held a referendum to approve or not equal marriage. And to encourage people to vote Yes, a Paper Company in Dublin became a campaign supporting the gay community and at the same time the fight against homophobia.

His opponents have made a fervent, ridiculous and violent campaign for the referendum, distributing leaflets and flyers in which even stated that homosexuals should get cancer.

And in response the company “Daintree Paper” has decided to recycle a lot of anti-gay leaflets and turn them into confetti for homosexual weddings. The company asked if they received hate messages, send them by mail, and everything raised will go to pro-LGBT institutions.

By: Carla Nicole Hidalgo

Stereotypes of England

What do you think when you hear the word "England"?

"Clock, punctuality. Tea time at the afternoon... Fancy clothes and the Beatles" -My mom, 6 minutes ago.

These are the most common answers that people give when they talk about England in a superficial way; tea, music, a Jurassic queen, etc. Maybe we say these things without the intention of classifying, and many people (including my mom) don't know it, but these are STEREOTYPES.

A stereotype, according to the great Cambridge Dictionary, is "a fixed idea that people have about what someone or something is like, especially an idea that is wrong", and there are many stereotypes about England that are surprisingly incorrect. So, in my try to show the world the truth about England, here I have some facts about the "bad known English".

1: They have bad teeth -FALSE

C'mon, of course the English brush their teeth. It is true that England produces high amounts of sugar, but English people really get mad when somebody says that they have caries so, don't do that!

 

2: They drink tea all day -FALSE

This is the most common stereotype, and actually I thought it was true, but English people usually drink tea only for breakfast. The "tea at the afternoon" has been replaced by coffee.

 

 3: They all have pale skin -FALSE

With high rates of immigration, especially from India, Pakistan and recently from Spain and Italy because of the economic crisis, it is just an illusion to believe that all the English people have white skin. I know that the country is specially rainy and cloudy and maybe people think that England doesn't see the sun too much, but the truth is that this is a community of mixed skins.

What about you? Did you knew about this stereotypes? 

By Catalina Soto

.

The Latin-American living the American Dream.

Why Latin-American people want to live in the United State of America? The most part of them think that, they can have more opportunities in all aspect, having a good job, a better place to live, and they can give a good education to their children, the people think that they can live the American dream.

Sometimes this dream can be true, but the thing is, that all of these expectation are not easy to achieve, because USA don’t give all of these chances to anybody in an easy way just for realize these dreams, they put trouble in many aspect, one of these problem is the Visa, that allows you to live in the country, if you don’t have the permission to live in the United State, you lose the chance to have a new life.

If you can come in and be available to have a stable life, is because somehow in the USA are more opportunities, the American have a good economy and great education. If you have the chance to live there take it, and live the American dream, but a part of that is not good make a perception that isn’t totally true about a country, you have to take other possibilities, USA isn’t the solution for all your problems in life just because they promise you equality of opportunity and freedom, that doesn’t mean is the best country in the word, all countries have their weaknesses.

Apart of that, for the immigrants, the Statue of Liberty represent the American Dream, because for many people means freedom from tyranny and oppression, in 1886 the people of France give this big statue to the United States, for commemorate the Declaration of Independence of USA and celebrate a centennial of friendship between the two nations. Also this statue have a deep meaning because is a woman who brings light to the people and a tablet that represents the rights.

By: Tamara Fuentes Paredes

Native Americans in the USA

As I was researching about the USA I came across some information regarding Native American´s. Of course I had heard about them but never really looked into their lifestyle or how the non-natives treated them.

Native Americans are mainly constituted by different tribes and ethnic groups and they´ve been in America since before conquerors came and named it. In fact, when Europeans decided they wanted this land for their own was the time in which conflict began between the so called “Old World” and “New World”. For centuries Native Americans were forced to abandon their beliefs and traditions in order to “fit in” with the rest of the country and the tribes who refused to do so were given a small amount of land in which they could live in, these are called reservations. Most natives who live there have a difficult life; there is a high rate of poverty, alcohol abuse, heart disease, suicide and joblessness among other issues. It´s said that the quality of life in the reservations is comparable to that of a developing world, which is strange considering they are part of one of the top countries in the world.

Taking all of the above into consideration, is it okay for some people to force their beliefs on others just because they think of themselves as superiors? Why can´t we accept others who are different from us? And is it necessary to exclude them and make it even more difficult for them to have a normal life? These are some of the questions that I thought of while writting this blog and maybe they could help others to reflect about the topic.

Picture 1: Native Americans vs. white settlers

Picture 2: Native Americans being pushed out of their lands

By: Rocío Loredo H.