I think that just like there is bridges that can be crossed and connections that can be made by there being a universal language there is also things that can be accomplished by using and knowing other languages if a region loses a language a piece of their culture dies with it and with that a pieace of there history and if we can't call on the history of ourselves as a species we've lost something integral to being human.

Chris Maness' first blog entry

This semester i hope to pass with a high A, and considering Ive technically taken four years of spanish i think i can manage it. Im always professional in the school enviroment  and personally i hope to be repectful because i sometimes come off a bit disruptive but nine out of ten times im not doin it on purpose, and theres not really anything i want you to know because you already kno me.

single story

               When it comes to stereotyping I beleive it is something that people do without realizing it and it is something that quickly leads to a close minded existance. I beleive in order to broaden one's horizons you have to keep an open mind to other cultures and traditions. When someone understands something they are more likely to accept it, but when you choose not to be knowledgable about things(a person, a culture) is when stereotypes are born.

travel

http://www.comevisitspain.com/  I would get a room at Hotel Villa Magna and i would indulge in the many activities that they provide to their guest such as visiting the pool and spa and the restraunt that is in the lobby of the hotel. I would go to a number of diffrent restraunts such as Cherry and Spott. I would also take the time to visit the esteemed museums that are all over the city both historical and art. i would stay for about a week and return with as much Jamon as I could carry

Article

           The mayor in juarez mexco which is the city that houses one of the biggest drug cartels in the world has been commenting on the situation concerning the violent gangs. He says that he doesn't beleive his city to be dangerous and he lives there happily with his wife and two children. He says "this is not one of the most dangerous cities in the world this is not Iraq, this is not Iran." In my opinion the comparison cannot even be made Iraq is a warzone and juarez is just a simple city, but is is ravaged by drugs and violence it is just as bad but in a tottally diffrent way than places such as Iraq and Iran.

        In this semester of spanish two I hope to accomplish quite a few things first and foremost learning to speak spanish better. Another one of the things that i want to do is to make new friends and have a good time in the class. I want to be able to conjugate vebs correctly and kno enough vocabulary to be able to hold a conersation.

internal problems

              I recently read an article that described the horrific gang violence that is taking place between the local and federal Goverment in Mexico. The drug cartels claim the violence with pride using it as a message to say "don't mess with us or we will kill you", and to be honest they are fairly honest in this claim,because they will kill you. That is why you must go on the defensive, when we invade a country we don't wait for a drive or more a group of police to me gunned down before we act, we identify the target and send a preemptive strike in an attempt to curve the violence. In the article the mexican official asked for outside help to sovle the problem but i dont see the point in it, if they don't start to solve it them selves they are a country not a child to be coddled The article stated that 5 senior police offciers were arrested due to an internal investigation; in my personal opinion which I'm sure many others share with me no peace will be reached in mexico until its law enforcement agencies can actually enforce the law. It isnt all there fault though in order for any goverment system to work the people have to be behind it and a lot of them need to grow a pair.