From my articles at UCLA

 

	ALGUNOS EXTRACTOS DE MIS ARTICULOS EN UCLA
	SOME EXTRACTS FROM MY ARTICLES AT UCLA
ddrrrease1	BE YOURSELF, NO MATTERS WHERE YOU ARE (about individuality)
	It’s easy to be influenced and persuaded by others or by our own fears. I think that a person (as individual) who loves their own shadow is able to be generous with others. When someone is being happy given to others, their feel big and better.   We growth in comunity. Our experience is always sharing so people who are around us are part of the circunstances. For me, individualism is to be awake and to look for what you can offer to the world every day.
2	A SPACE FOR OPPORTUNITIES (about opportunities)
	It takes time to changed things from the past. However there are people who don’t recognize the necesity of invest in education or common global issues from schools.   Times continues and you cannot be stuck. “(…) He had a plan and he allowed himself making mistakes.” It is good not to limit the new generations. In my point of view: nice roots, nice results.   It there always be circunstances. You can see it as a wall or as a challengue. Life consist of taking actions which you can traduce in opportunities. Opportunity means that you have space to express yourself, where there is no judges for your values, sexuality or religión. To give you the opportunity of practising your values is an opportunity by itself.   Since I was a child, I heard “the one who leaves is the one who loses”. Maybe this is a necesary condition to have an oportunity: to stay alive, to feel alive y be aware of what that means every day.   Motivation and opportunity has a relation. Opportunity is where we are. Open your eyes and you will see in front of you the options available to you or what you have to do to improve them.
3	A RESPECT FOR YOURSELF (about equality and diversity)
	“Love is respecting the priorities of the other from freedom” I wrote to my mum some years ago.   (…) It is perceived that women must be very educated and delicate. In some way, women have had to persuade and use the feminine role that society has given them without asking for it. (…) She is paving the way for diversity. People who support others to achieve their dreams encourage them to “Hold on your dreams”. It's something to work on every day.   I think (…) we have come to play. Each of us has a role on the team and that during the game faith is important. A person retires to the bench when he is tired or the coach forces him to take a seat. You are first player.   The daily fight to combat racism and inequality generates, in addition to obstacles, confusion. That's why it's important to have close support figures.   The stress levels to which the body is subjected in the fight for survival within spaces of inequality are an example of how, no matter how much diversity is respected, the starting point will never be the same.   I observe how there are colleagues who face the same daily challenges than me and how it depends on each one's background .   I believe that equality and diversity cannot be based on a series of generic phrases learned to avoid the suffering of others. I believe that the problems go beyond a greeting, they are problems that require taking action and generating uncomfortable debates , but this requires thinking collectively and leaving individualism. There is no need to know the person's name to serve them.   We all need a room to lock ourselves in, to dream and to be. Not just Virginia Woolf.
4	THE SUN RISES IN THE EAST (about the ability to star over)
	There are many people who help us and others who put obstacles in our way every day. Whether we know their stories or not, they are.   Routine and order are necessary even when you are starting over. I think the biggest difficulty to starting over is expectations. Having expectations makes us put up obstacles.   If someone reach their goal, what happens later? You have to start over. It’s that we do every day. It doesn’t matter how old you are or what disabilities or difficulties you have. The sun rises for everyone in the east.   Where are you going to go next? You are free to go or stay. It takes time to assimilate the talent of others and oneself. Later, you have to know what to do with it. Starting over requires your own knowledge. In Japan its called IKIGAI. "Just take it easy" and nobody will "drives you crazy".
5	A CULTURE THAT EXPANDS (about American cultura expectations)
	There's no one thing in particular that surprised me more than another. It's the small details that make culture expand or shorten.   I like to remind myself that my experience is mostly in an educational environment with a group of students who have agreed on specific minimum values ​​and standards of conduct. So, the interaction with local people is not as daily as it would be in another setting. UCLA is a special spot.   If I lived in L.A, it would really be the lack of close contact that I would miss from my country. The closeness that, generally, is not found in the skyscrapers of the big cities.

Los comentarios y líneas anteriores son fruto de algunos de los essay realizados semanalmente para la clase 190, Royce Hall del Professor Tor Negrete. 

Escritas por Carmen De la Rubia, UCLA '24