Fiction as History Essay Example for Free

Fiction as History Essay He was known as â€Å"Gabo† to the people living in Colombia and to those who knew him by his reputation. He was not only a short-story writer, a novelist and a screenwriter by profession for he was also a journalist—these were only among the many things which gave him the honor as among the famous writers of Latin America and one of the most significant 20th century authors. At the age of 65, Gabriel Garcia Marquez was given the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1982: the product of the combination of an early life largely influenced by his grandfather and a life lived through the ways and means of journalism after quitting law school (Williams, p. 135). Gabo is considered to be a pioneering author in the Latin American â€Å"Boom† during the 1960s, stemming from the fame he achieved through his masterpiece One Hundred Years of Solitude and his indispensable presence and role in Latin American literature (Maurya, p. 54). One Hundred Years of Solitude has been significantly understood by critics and literary scholars as a history of Gabo’s rendition of the circumstances during the strike that happened back in 1928 in Colombia (Posada-Carbo, p. 401). That magnus opus of Gabo is said to scrutinize the Colombian regime’s repressive nature as well as the strike itself which claimed the lives of many workers. Throughout the course of his career, the literary style known as â€Å"magical realism† has been largely attributed to Gabo as he was the one who popularized the literary technique of using magical events and elements so as to give real experiences the fitting explanations (Hinds and Raymond, p. 897). Gabo is also said to have been an influential writer not only for his fellow Latin Americans but also for fresh authors and budding writers from other nations. For Gabo, reality is a very significant theme and ingredient in his writings, especially evident in his works â€Å"In Evil Hour,† â€Å"Big Mama’s Funeral† and â€Å"Nobody Writes to the Colonel† (Aizenberg, p. 1239). These three works of Gabo reflect the kind of Columbian society where he lived inasmuch as they also reflect the reality of life in the nation. The theme of reality is the foundation for the rational structure of the books of Gabo, although European readers may tend to be less aware of the reality that Gabo wants to send across and tend to be more inclined to interpret his works as testimonies to his magical realist craft. The first few years in the career of Gabo Marquez saw a struggling journalist in him. He was literally a travelling journalist simply because he was always on the move, transferring from town to town across Latin America and Europe. At one point, he worked for El Espectador back in 1955 as a correspondent reporting from Rome and Paris. Although the newspaper was shut down by the dictator Rojas Pinilla which took away his position as a journalist, Gabo nevertheless was able to pick up on where he was left and continued his writing career in Mexico City. In the City, he did not only work as a journalist; he also worked as a screen writer and as a publicist before moving back to Barcelona during the 1970s. Although Gabo was a well-travelled writer, it can be said that he never fails to at least think about his hometown and reflect it on what he has written. Evidence to this is his constant use of the town â€Å"Macondo† in his many stories which reminds the readers of the town of Aracataca where Gabo was born and lived his childhood days (Molen, p. 4). This was true right from the time when Gabo began writing to the time when he was able to considerably attain success in the literary limelight. Nonetheless, the time when Gabo began writing was a significant event for the literary scene in Hispanic American societies because the literature in those regions was characterized either by realist-modernist or super-regionalism during the middle part of the twentieth century. Those were the times when Latin American writers were busy either writing as a modernist or as a realist—both having the tendencies to categorize themselves as ‘regional’ writers or writers who either depict or mask reality in their respective places. Maurya Vibha further suggests that there is an apparent â€Å"absent history in the Third World conditions of Latin America† and a â€Å"link between postcolonial fiction and a desire to think historically† in the works of Gabo (p. 54). If Vibha is indeed right, then there is strong reason to believe that what Gabo did in his works is to provide that link and, in the end, to capture the significance of those ‘third world conditions’ into a piece of literature which depicts the stark reality in Latin American societies. Apparently, the works of Gabo, if not the course of his life, present the struggles faced by Latin Americans in their own territory as well as in others. In effect, it can be said that Gabo’s ‘magical realism’ is indeed a combination of the depiction of the social realities that the author saw in his lifetime and of the literary magic that he used in depicting those realities. Although European readers may get the impression that the literature of Gabo is ‘magic’ in itself, it should not be the case that the substance of his works be confined to that magic alone for it transcends the barriers of that magic by portraying reality at its highs and lows. Works Cited Aizenberg, Edna. Historical Subversion and Violence of Representation in Garcia Marquez and Ouologuem. PMLA 107. 5 (1992): 1239. Hinds, Elizabeth Jane, and Raymond Leslie Williams. Interview with Gabriel Garcia Marquez. PMLA 104. 5 (1989): 897. Maurya, Vibha. Gabriel Garcia Marquez. Social Scientist 11.1 (1983): 54. Molen, Patricia Hart. Potency Vs Incontinence In The Autumn of the Patriarch Of Gabriel Garcia Marquezpotency Vs Incontinence In The Autumn of the Patriarch Of Gabriel Garcia Marquez. Rocky Mountain Review of Language and Literature 33. 1 (1979): 4. Posada-Carbo, Eduardo. Fiction as History: The Bananeras and Gabriel Garcia Marquezs One Hundred Years of Solitude. Journal of Latin American Studies 30. 2 (1998): 401. Williams, Raymond Leslie. The Visual Arts, the Poetization of Space and Writing: An Interview with Gabriel Garcia Marquez. PMLA 104. 2 (1989): 135.

Stocking the Online Community :: Internet Web Cyberspace Essays

Stocking the Online Community I must have a net worth of one million dollars by the time I'm forty. Sounds like a plan to me. Retirement, living the good life. My plan would be to go to school full?time, quit the job, and move into the country. (Not necessarily in that order) The Ad's I see have to be working for someone. The internet and stock trading were meant for each other. More and more people are getting on the band wagon so get on early. "But these hot High?tech stocks and you can't miss," followed by, "The next five winning I.P.O.'s free, just log onto www...." Sure there is some risk involved but people are making a ton of money and I want my share. Show me where to buy. I have some cash put aside I can risk it, I'm young. I can go online find a couple reputable communities, put out the feelers and take the plunge. The help will be free, I'll just give them my email address and they can send me junk mail. It's not hard to delete it. I will have to do some research to find someone to purchase stocks thro ugh that does not charge too much. In addition, I'll need a source for researching which stocks to buy. One or two emergent stocks, buy and sell at the right time and I'm on my way to early retirement. The operation I buy the stocks from will need to have a low price for trades and a low starting balance. It must be quick and easy to trade stocks and I will need quick confirmation to know how much money I've made. Not through the web but in a magazine article I found a rating of six online trading companies they are Scottrade, E?Trade, Suretrade, Smith Barney, Charles Schwab and DLJ Direct. The two most important things to me are the cost of a trade and the amount and quality of access to research. Scottrade has the lowest trade price of $5.95 and Smith Barney with the highest at $24.95. The research is especially good with Smith Barney and Charles Schwab slightly below in quality is Suretrade. Another thing I learned is that most of these companies require a minimum balance to start, E?Trade wants $1000 while Smith Barney starts with $2000. While Suretrade requires no minimum and Scottrade requires only $200. Stocking the Online Community :: Internet Web Cyberspace Essays Stocking the Online Community I must have a net worth of one million dollars by the time I'm forty. Sounds like a plan to me. Retirement, living the good life. My plan would be to go to school full?time, quit the job, and move into the country. (Not necessarily in that order) The Ad's I see have to be working for someone. The internet and stock trading were meant for each other. More and more people are getting on the band wagon so get on early. "But these hot High?tech stocks and you can't miss," followed by, "The next five winning I.P.O.'s free, just log onto www...." Sure there is some risk involved but people are making a ton of money and I want my share. Show me where to buy. I have some cash put aside I can risk it, I'm young. I can go online find a couple reputable communities, put out the feelers and take the plunge. The help will be free, I'll just give them my email address and they can send me junk mail. It's not hard to delete it. I will have to do some research to find someone to purchase stocks thro ugh that does not charge too much. In addition, I'll need a source for researching which stocks to buy. One or two emergent stocks, buy and sell at the right time and I'm on my way to early retirement. The operation I buy the stocks from will need to have a low price for trades and a low starting balance. It must be quick and easy to trade stocks and I will need quick confirmation to know how much money I've made. Not through the web but in a magazine article I found a rating of six online trading companies they are Scottrade, E?Trade, Suretrade, Smith Barney, Charles Schwab and DLJ Direct. The two most important things to me are the cost of a trade and the amount and quality of access to research. Scottrade has the lowest trade price of $5.95 and Smith Barney with the highest at $24.95. The research is especially good with Smith Barney and Charles Schwab slightly below in quality is Suretrade. Another thing I learned is that most of these companies require a minimum balance to start, E?Trade wants $1000 while Smith Barney starts with $2000. While Suretrade requires no minimum and Scottrade requires only $200.

The Teacher as a Hero

The teacher as a hero LESSONS PLANNED from the teacher's pen (The Philippine Star) Updated October 01, 2009 T here are heroes and heroes, national and local. Some of them are born, others are made. Many are still living while many others have long been gone. It is to the latter that monuments and museums were built to keep alive their memory in our hearts and mind. Public buildings, parks and plazas, streets and a few provinces have been named after them. Important dates and events are usually marked red in the calendar to remind us of their birth or death anniversary. During the celebration of these events, program speakers take turns extolling to high heavens whatever good they had done for the country. Sad enough the hero who is apparently taken for granted and therefore unsung is the poor teacher. Not having a pedigreed name, she has no influence, no power. She is regarded as belonging to the marginalized sector of society. Tactless people look down on her with contempt saying, â€Å"She’s only a teacher. † After all, unlike OFWs, teachers do not contribute to the national economy. What many do not seem to realize is that a teacher is truly a hero in her own way. For a teacher is not only about her lesson plans, her teaching methods, strategies and techniques. A teacher is also about her personal character, her values and her attitude. And more importantly a teacher is also about her missionary work which entails a great deal of sacrifice on her part and her family. Indeed, the pro-bono services that she renders involve numerous risks to life and limb. We have heard of teachers who were kidnapped for ransom, forced into marriage under pain of bodily harm, physically abused and the unfortunate, even beheaded. I remember a male teacher who reprimanded a student for provoking trouble in class. That afternoon the huffy father with fire in his eyes sought the teacher in school and mercilessly hacked him to death. I had a relative who was summoned to the Comelec office in Manila and made to explain her inadvertence to affix her signature on a pair of election forms. The financially distressed teacher was forced to take a long-term loan which she used to pay for her transportation fare, board and lodging while in Manila. In the meantime her family had to be sparing and frugal in order to tide them over until such period that the loan was fully paid. While other government employees are off after five, the teacher spends long hours of work at home writing lesson plans, checking test papers or preparing visual aids and similar teaching devices. Compared to those who work in the comfort of their office, thousands of our teachers go on long hours of journey to their far-flung stations over hill and dale, many times in harsh weather condition. It is no wonder that many of these teachers become decrepit long before their age or they get pitifully sick before retirement from the service. And yet their take-home pay is a mere pittance. Any increase in their starvation salary comes far apart and in trickles because this is dependent upon the members of Congress who remember the teachers only on election time. Come May of next year teachers will again be called upon to man the electoral ramparts of our democracy. They will be there to help safeguard the sanctity of the ballot, armed only with the nobility and integrity of their profession. Whatever people say to the contrary, the teacher as a hero is ready to lay down her life for the sake of country sans a loud flourish of trumpets. I salute our teachers as heroes, living or dead! ANTONIO A. MORAN of Camalig, Albay is a retired general education supervisor of the Department of Education.

History and Purpose of the Commonwealth of Nations

As the British Empire began its process of decolonization and the creation of independent states from former British colonies, there arose a need for an organization of countries formerly part of the Empire. In 1884, Lord Rosebery, a British politician, described the changing British Empire as a Commonwealth of Nations. Thus, in 1931, the British Commonwealth of Nations was founded under the Statute of Westminster with five initial members - the United Kingdom, Canada, the Irish Free State, Newfoundland, and the Union of South Africa. (Ireland permanently left the Commonwealth in 1949, Newfoundland became part of Canada in 1949, and South Africa left in 1961 due to apartheid but rejoined in 1994 as the Republic of South Africa). Commonwealth of Nations Rebrand In 1946, the word British was dropped and the organization became known as simply the Commonwealth of Nations. Australia and New Zealand adopted the Statute in 1942 and 1947, respectively. With Indias independence in 1947, the new country desired to become a Republic and to not utilize the monarchy as their head of state. The London Declaration of 1949 modified the requirement that members must view the monarchy as their head of state to require that countries recognize the monarchy as simply the leader of the Commonwealth. With this adjustment, additional countries joined the Commonwealth as they gained independence from the United Kingdom so today there are fifty-four member countries. Of the fifty-four, thirty-three are republics (such as India), five have their own monarchies (such as Brunei Darussalam), and sixteen are a constitutional monarchy with the sovereign of the United Kingdom as their head of state (such as Canada and Australia). Although membership requires having been a former dependency of the United Kingdom or a dependency of a dependency, former Portuguese colony Mozambique became a member 1995 under special circumstances due to Mozambiques willingness to support the Commonwealths fight against apartheid in South Africa. Policies The Secretary-General is elected by the Heads of Government of the membership and can serve two four-year terms. The position of Secretary-General was established in 1965. The Commonwealth Secretariat has its headquarters in London and is composed of 320 staff members from the member countries. The Commonwealth maintains its own flag. The purpose of the voluntary Commonwealth is for international cooperation and to advance economics, social development, and human rights in member countries. Decisions of the various Commonwealth councils are non-binding. The Commonwealth of Nations supports the Commonwealth Games, which is a sporting event held every four years for member countries. A Commonwealth Day is celebrated on the second Monday in March. Each year carries a different theme but each country can celebrate the day as they choose. The population of the 54 member states exceeds two billion, about 30% of the world population (India is responsible for a majority of the Commonwealths population).