Introspection

My name is Lianed Pérez Mercado, I was born on December 17, 1993 in San Juan Puerto Rico. My parents named my after themselves combining both of their names, Lillian and Edwin. I am the youngest of two children, my older brother Edwin was born exactly one year before me on December 17, 1992. From an early age I have been fascinated by the human body and how it works. The human body is an exceptional machine with diverse systems producing a whole that could never be artificially reproduced. I remember playing operation but not on the game board like any other kid, I used to play it on my self lay down on my bed and pretended I was practicing an operation on myself. this dream, this goal have made me who I am today. I consider myself a focused person up to now i have been able to accomplish my goals through life. At this moment I’m currently finishing my fourth year on the University of Puerto Rico Rio Piedras campus ready for graduation and start med school next August. 

From kinder trough eighth grade I studied in a small school named Cristo Rey. In this school I made my first group of friends a lot of which I’m still in contact with and some still being good friends. Since I was little I was a very social person, was close to my friends, and tried to be friendly with everyone so that I could make more friends. After my graduation from Cristo Rey on the eighth grade I started to study in San Antonio which was a much bigger school than the one I was coming from but still a place to make new friends and even maybe some love, yes that’s the place where I met who today is my boyfriend, but that’s another story that might even fit inside a whole book. my next step after school was the University of Puerto Rico where I’m currently finishing my bachelor degree on Biology. The years here have been a lot more difficult than school but I managed to keep my head up and finish my goal. I consider myself a persevering person and capable of doing everything I propose to myself, I have demonstrate it during my life and right now I’m only a few steps to reach my biggest goal in life. 

One of my favorite hobbies that I started practicing when I was little was the art of mosaic which is now a way to relax myself and use it a therapy when I’m feeling stressed out. Traveling is a passion for me I love to learn about new cultures and see new places. One of my favorite countries is Canada the first time I went there I fell in love with the whole country. The people treat you so nice is almost incredible, people seem happy with their country and you can feel how proud they are of their culture. In the same way I enjoy seeing other people proud of their culture I love to see people enjoy my country. The love for my tiny island is even bigger than itself every time I have the opportunity with my friends and my boyfriend I just jump into car and go discover new places around the island. Is amazing how every time I go out I’m able to discover a new place, a new beach, a new restaurant or a new spot to hang out with my friends. At the end of the day I’m just the same as any other person trying to do the best for me and the people around me, the only difference is that I’m the best on everything I really want to do.

English: The high speed traveler

There are about 7,000 to 8,000 different languages on the planet earth, some countries are owners of up to 700 different human languages and dialects. The origin of language dates as far as 0.2 million years ago. The skill of social learning gave the human race advantages over other species of animals to acquire a method of communication. Social learning is the idea of being able to learn from your own mistakes and from other individuals and applicate the learning to yourself. For examples primates use the same system for they’re survival skills every single time. Human race on the other hand decided to take another path on the evolutionary line, human race decided to live in a cooperative society where we share our ideas to seek advantages and better ourself in our life styles. The result of this social skill of learning is language itself, being able to communicate is the result of what society is now. Language can travel all around the world same as it con stick only to one region or in other cases it could get to the point of extinction. The spread of language depends of the importance of the language at the moment and the needs of people. For the last couple generations capitalism has rule the world with the United Sates being the face of it so guess which is the official language of trade world wide…? English that’s right the world market moves only around one language and that is english, but is not the only dominant language in the world, actually Spanish is the most spoken language in the world followed by English and Mandarin. The spread of a language depends on the needs of the people.

On 1814 Malta officially bacame part of the British Empire as part of the of the Treaty of Paris. Because of it’s location Malta became the headquarters of the British fleet and was used as a shipping way station. For around 150 years the island of Malta was under the domain of Great Britain. Malta contracted the status of commonwealth being an “independent country” but still under the governance of Queen Elizabeth II. 88% of the population of Malta speaks English today. The fact that the island was under the control and influence of the British developed the perfect scenario to lear the language because as stated before the needs of the people will dictate the language spoken. In this case the island of Malta was under the control of the British Empire for over 150 years and that made it necessary to learn the language and use it as their own. The island stalls maintain their original language but the need for commerce and trade made it necessary to learn the English from the British. 

Similar to the island of Malta we have the situation of our beloved Puerto Rico. Since July 25 1898 under the Treaty of Paris, just like Malta, our beautiful island was ceded to the United States. As a result of being a territory of the United State our culture curved out to be more closer to the U.S. culture. Schools started to teach english as the official language at first but after July 25, 1952 Puerto Rico adopted the position of a commonwealth and began to take it’s own decisions as a free state. Although spanish is the official language of the island the influence of the United States made of Puerto Rico a territory with similar cultural and economic activities to them. As the years pass the younger generations become more closer to the states culture and language adopting english as their own on daily used vocabulary with words such as “parking”, “popcorn”, and other derived terms.

Running Brave

The great white nation is composed by a 66% white people, 13% African American, 4% Asian, 2% of other races, and only 1% is compromised by the original inhabitants of the land. First of all I don’t know what could possibly be the great deal about being so proud of nation that they think is the white paradise when almost half the people living on the territory are not consider pure american for them.The labor force in the United States is looking better for the hispanic group with a 69% of participation versus white with only a 66% of participation. These numbers could be a little “tricky” because yes there’s a bigger white community in the United States but yet the number of people willing to do something better for themselves is higher by the percent in the hispanic group meaning that people not consider “american”, even though we live in the same continent, America, and some of us are even born citizens of the United States, are actually working harder in the country than those who call themselves the people who founded the country. About 12,000 years ago, maybe before, the land of what is now United States was populated by its original inhabitants and it wasn’t until the European explorations after 1492 that they were disturbed by the white people. The native american were settled for thousands of years in the land in peace but they were forced to move and settled reservations to the west side of the land as the europeans were conquering from the east founding a new country and trying to get over the Mississippi river. In American history books, the Indian Wars have often been treated as a relatively minor part of the military history of the United States and were long treated from the point of view of Americans.

In the movie Running Brave, Billy Mills, who I would call a dreamer is the author of one of the greatest upsets ever seen in sports history. As a distance runner, Billy Mills sprinted from third place to the front taking the gold medal in the 10,000 meter race at the 1964 Tokyo Olympics. Mills still holds the record for being the only american able to recover like that on an olympic race. Billy Mills went out of the reservation to Kansas University on the early stages of a rising capitalist white culture. Throughout history the people from the United States have demonstrate a lack of tolerance for what they consider foreigners. In this case the indian boy, Billy Mills, represents a threat for the whole team and teammates feel that he is trying to take over the school. Same stupid mentality happens with black people by that time who were not even able to attend school because they used to think they were not good enough for school. Another example is the latino community in the movie the roommate ask him if if he was a puertorrican or “something like that” hoping that he wasn’t. Clearly there is a racist tendency with non white people all over history and the native american group has been a target for hundreds of years  now. Billy Mills and his family felt like they couldn't fit in the world because they were not good enough for it or at least thats how they made him feel. On the olympic games he wasn’t on of the favorites even with the history he had running for collage, only one person was able to recognize his talent and that was the coach who went all the way to Japan to see him race.

After all these years people in the United states keep being racist and scare of other people to reach high into the states. One of the latest examples of it is the winning ticket of the Powerball Lottery in Puerto Rico. All over the social media people were writing racist comments about our island and our people because they don't see us as part of the states but sadly for all of them in the case of puertorrican we were born US citizens and in the case of natives americans that was their land for thousands of years. People in the United States need to learn that they are the foreigners on their own country and that they don’t need to share space with anyone is actually the native group who is being force to share their land.

The world through my eyes

I define myself as a scientific person and I see the world through the eyes of a scientist. As a biology student I’ve learn to see the world from a different perspective than yours probably. When I take a walk into the grocery store I’m looking for food that hasn’t been under certain procedures approved by regulating agencies but that I’m aware that could dangerous if I consume them. For example something so simple as turkey ham for your morning sandwich is a big deal for me. In my house I brought to the attention of my family the risk of consuming some kind of foods such as ham because of the preservatives they need for keeping the product fresh, instead of buying that ham I go with an alternate source such as fresh cut leg ham . I know it might be more expensive but at the end is better than getting sick. Also as a scientific person maybe where you see a handshake between friends all my mind is telling me is how many bacterias I can be exchanging with the other person. As a scientific I see the world more smaller and more complex than the rest of us does.