Improving my faculty facilities

My faculty is not precisely characterized by its modernity; it’s actually a rather traditional building. It doesn’t have lots of facilities, and there are not many things that can be changed without damaging its structure. Until today, the construction of new Presidentes Building is a very polemic topic, though it’s been already two years since it was built. However, I think there are necessities every student has in a faculty and that can’t be ignored with the pretext of the building’s integrity. On the other hand, there are changes that would be superfluous, destructive and very unpopular — for example, the front of the faculty can’t be touched, and there is no reason to do so. But it's no less true that all of the old classrooms —or at least, most of them— are lacking comfort, and there are even some chairs impossible to use. We deserve more facilities in the classrooms, and it’s not fair to see how all the money we pay is invested in other faculties. That’s why I think old classrooms must be repaired, showing consideration to their traditional design though: it’s a fact that a high-tech digital desk would look inappropriate over our old wooden floor. It’s also true that more comfortable classrooms would benefit both students and teachers: we wouldn’t be absent to class that frequently, and teachers wouldn’t have to bear the guilt of having us tied to those painful chairs. As further improvements, it’d be pretty nice to modernize the bathrooms. I’m not asking for multimedia speaking toilets; it’s just I don’t think that having some gel to wash our hands is a luxury impossible to afford, is it??

My pet

There are lots of animal species in my home —including humans, dogs and insects— but the only being which I’m responsible for is my old, big cat. She’s been my pet since eight years ago, when I found her under our car —far from the wheels, luckily— and immediately brought her home. The months passed by and the cat didn’t have a name yet, we just continued calling her “gata”. Finally my brother forced us to put a name to her, and he decided that she should be called “Chimultrufia”. I don’t really know where did that horrible name come from, but all of us ended up calling her “Chimu” (she does have facebook by the way!). She's got bigger and bigger with the years, and now she’s a formidable grey ball, with white boots and big yellow eyes.
I don’t know why do we have pets, but I must confess that Chimu is a source of distress to me. I get relaxed every time I see her sleeping — over my bed, over the car, over the keyboard, etc. And I also love to watch the elegance of her moves: I believe that cats are the most fascinating creatures, since they can move in such impossible ways. I’m pretty sure that people who love pets are healthier and might even live more years than people who don’t. That’s because love and respect for living beings —in general terms— are necessary conditions for a worthy life.
P.D.: She's a poser, as you can see in the picture...

Summarizing a Guardian article related to my career

Patricia Hewitt is a former Health Secretary in the UK. Her son, Nicholas Birtles, was charged with possession of cocaine on September 21st. The situation was obviously too ironic and the English newspaper “The Sun” couldn’t let it pass and titled its edition with the headline “Hewitt’s son in coke bust”. Hewitt felt that the publication was unfair and disproportionate, because it wouldn’t have been in the front-page of The Sun if it hadn’t been about the son of two public figures, she as a former Health Secretary and her husband as a judge. So she decided to complain with the Press Complaints Commission (PCC), arguing that The Sun’s editorial line was unequal and the publication invaded her son’s privacy. The PCC said: no, it didn’t. Crimes are not private issues but public offenses, and, by the way, Hewitt’s son is an adult. And there were no valid objections against the importance that the newspaper gave to the whole thing: it can decide where to put the article, whether on the front or at the back, and the public condition of Hewitt was enough reason to justify The Sun’s headline. Hewitt argued that she didn’t work on drugs matters during her charge as Health Secretary, but well, I think that there is no newspaper that can resist publishing a title like “Health Secretary’s son is in love with unhealthy, hard drugs”. Being a public figure involves some risks.

The article's link: http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2009/nov/27/pcc-patricia-hewitt-the-sun

About the (in)famous statue of JPII in Bellavista

I must confess that I was kind of excited about having a new monument near to our university. Now, I keep the same feeling for the modernization of the park, but I’m definitely against the construction of the statue. Apart from the fact that the monument demonstrates a terrible lack of proportions, I also agree with the position that calls to recover public spaces from ideological and religious influences. Furthermore, we shall reckon that Bellavista is a neighborhood characterized for the plurality of its people, which lead us to conclude that the statue will be seen most of the time by people who have nothing to do with John Paul II and his legacy. So, why not building the thing over a more appropriate place, such as hills with saints’ names —which we have lots of— or beside a luxurious church —of which we have not few—? Why do tolerant people from Bellavista have to pay their tolerance by seeing every day a giant monument paying tribute not only to the Pope but also to the bad taste of our authorities? And why didn’t the mayor ask neighbors for their opinion? The project, sponsored by University of San Sebastián, will surely cost a lot of money. If I were the mayor, I wouldn’t have accepted such a project without ensuring that it will bring important advantages to the community. Until this time, no one has been able to show the whole benefits of the project clearly, and probably no one will ever do so.

Transantiago: before and after

I think the new public transport system has demonstrated to be more efficient than the former one along the past three years. Pre-Transantiago buses were terribly uncomfortable and didn't have regular stops - drivers could take and drop passengers wherever they wanted, with the only guide of their economic interests. That's the reason why students were often displaced from the transport system: they were not rentable passengers from the driver's mean point of view. But, as everybody knows, Transantiago was not a pleasant experience when it started. I remember when I first took a Transantiago bus. It was a free ride, but hanging from the last door... and it was the same over the next months. With time it started to get better, though. Some days I even could travel sit. And the advantages of the new system finally began to appear: it was cheaper, friendlier with environment and faster in some cases. Now, Transantiago works quite properly, but I'd suggest a few changes which may help to its future development. For example, it would be nice if there were more buses out in the night - it's not very nice to wait forty five minutes for a bus at four in the morning, and finally missing it just because the driver was not willing to stop. A useful transport policy to increase security on the streets would be to maintain a decent amount of buses all night long, apart from having the subway opened from, let’s say, five in the morning. It would be a solution not only for night clubs customers, but for some early rised workers too.