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What comes to your mind first when you hear the word women? Most people in the old times would mostly say housewives, procreation objects or just simply decoration. Now that we are in different times and people know that women are not too different from men and we have had more rights than before. Yet, we still live in a very sexist world. To justify this point of you, it is necessary to consider how the world perceives women and how women perceive themselves.

In terms of woman's rights backgound, in the early years of the 20th century, women rights were vulnerable. Men could hurt and rape their wives with no fear of being imprisoned and the right of women to prosecute their husbands for assault was denied. Women could not work or study and were often seen as a fragile cleaning and house object only. There can be much more examples about this inequality happening at that times. There were even many protests about it and women started to fight for their rights until they could accomplish it. Nowadays, we are often still seen as weak by some people but not as much as before. I believe, women have shown their real power and had fought for what was theirs the whole time. Now, women have so much more rights since they can study and work hard to achieve their dreams.

It is also important to consider how women perceived themselves on those old times. As a result of being treated so poorly and unfairly women started to get used to it and bow their heads and saw men as the key to power and control. They also started to accept that women could not do the same things as men. By that time, women preferred to ignore the situation for a long until they realized that they could protest and fight about it. They opened their eyes and started looking at the world with a different perception, not to mention the distinct discernment of themselves. They rose their self esteem and respect started to show. Now we are aware that we also have the power to do anything we propose.

Lastly, my thoughts about this topic are that women in the old days had situations to fight for and therefore confronted and earned their respect and power. But nowadays I believe that women are domining substantial advantage on this. They started by encountering for equality but nowadays they are asking for more than equality and honestly it is not quite fair for men.  In conclusion, this is the reason I am in favor of women fighting for their rights but do not consider myself feminist.

Natalia Cuervo

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Culture can be expressed in many ways, with things such as art, dance, cooking, rituals, and others. Traditionally, the word "art" primarily encompasses the major arts, for instance, canvas painting, sculpture, and architecture. Although, the street art is considered as a form of culture expression. It is highly underrated and highly criticized by society.

Before anything else, graffiti or street art is known, is an art form that is created in urban public spaces, it is characterized because it is almost always done without asking for an authorization. Its origin dates back to the epigraphs that were left on the walls made by artists or even normal people since the times of the Roman Empire, especially those that are satirical or critical.

Secondly, there are countless murals and street art expressions, some critically acclaimed, others not widely accepted and totally refuted by society. These last generally, do not have a meaning and are usually forms of vandalism or of raising one's voice against something and someone. However, most of the murals around the world are made by very talented artists who want to give a message with their art or simply want to leave something beautiful and representative of their culture, such as works on religion, folklore, food, fashion or music.

To conclude, I think that the murals and street art which are made with dedication and that give the people a message are a form of art and cultural expression, despite all the critics and issues that had been generating in general all the graffiti and murals.

To conclude, I think that there will always be graffiti with vandalism and illegal meaning. That's why most of the time murals and street art are frowned upon by society and are not appreciated as a true expression of culture and art. But despite this, murals with a valuable, artistic meaning and that truly express the essence of something, can be considered as part of art and as part of culture and its expression. In fact, it seems to me that going around your city to see the different painted murals around, is like going to a large  urban art gallery.

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POLITICIANS AND THEIR OBSESSION FOR POWER

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POLITICIANS AND THEIR OBSESSION FOR POWER

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The control of the world and countries has been a main goal throughout human history, which has caused people to forget all their values and morals just for the sake of power, controlling and having the most. I consider this is a concerning issue which can lead us to our destruction and needs to be changed. It is my intention to examine this issue in terms of the obsession for power in leaders and how they will do everything to get to that position.

While there exists democracies and known morals, I believe that in many cases they are not followed by presidents or politicians. The problem comes when this is not seen, but it is covered by promising lies and that even if people are the ones choosing their leader, they are not accomplishing the things they promise, breaking the liberty of deciding who will be the president, which does not follow what people thought they chose.

It is also important to consider this issue regarding as to why politicians lie to people, whereas they could just make promises they can and will actually make, transforming our world into a sincerer one, they, on the contrary, lie to people, who put their hopes on their leaders continuing with this cycle of corruption.

Now, from the perspective of a politician who is looking forward to gain the power, whereas they are in an important position, we have to know that they are humans too, just as everyone; they feel, they are not perfect, they are fragile, they will not always make the best decisions, and more importantly, they are ambitious. Ambition is a feeling we all feel to an extent, and it is what drives people to have the leadership, clouding their head, morals, values, empathy and making everything that it is to get to that position, even if it means not telling the truth. All of these things together, brings them the feeling of control, of wanting more, the knowledge that they can be the best of all drives them crazy, and that can also be something good, wanting to have a better country, for example, but as I said, this could also turn into an egocentric desire.

All things considered, we cannot expect leaders to make the best decisions, however, in the position that they are, the least they could do is tell the truth, choosing the most beneficiary decision for their people, being honest with them, so that we can actually put our trust on them, without being scared that they might throw it away and put their own desires over everything.

Alexandra Mejia

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Urban art is often reported as vandalism or as an expression of rebellion. Personally, I think this is a double-standard situation. To understand this point of view, it is necessary to consider what art is as well as what the damage to public is and private property.

In terms of art, I believe it is the expression of feelings, opinions, stamens, that in a way or another can influence others perspectives. Movies, for example, are the most common way of entertainment to represent minorities or social problems, and have an indirect duty to educate and show that everyone is equal despite their colour, hair, sexuality, etc. Likewise, urban artists should be allowed to express themselves without unacceptable behaviour such as destroying others properties or disrespecting other opinions, art, situations.

It is also important to consider the issue that can come with urban art. Damage to public and private property. Whereas certain stories may expose unacceptable behaviour, for example, the damage to Transmilenio in Bogotá, others could say, it is part of a revolution of the society. Articles concerning the damage of different places, even though they are important to show that there is always a dark side of every movement, for instance, overshadow the marvellous work of the urban artists to express their revolution and message in peace.

All things considered, I believe that urban art should be free if this benefits a rightful movement, the society and if it does not destroy other’s things. Otherwise, I think it is unfair to dismiss every urban expression for the sake of a few. I certainly would not like my own house to be painted without my permission unless it is my own pair of wings.

Ma. Alejandra Severiche

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For a few years now, a way of art expression called the graffiti had became really popular, specially around young people, however most of these artworks do not take place in an art gallery or an art studio, they take place on the streets. This young artists paint murals about different subjects, since the art expression itself to politics and social dilemas. This is the main reason why some people consider street art as a way of vandalism, where the main argument is that graffitis damage the cites and in some countries is illegal because it is damage to private property and public assets . Personally, I consider that street art is not a way of vandalism, whereas in some cases graffitis can be consider vandalism and an act of disrespect. To explain the main reasons for my opinion, I will explore this issue deeper.

Most of these artists try to make an statement with their artworks, finding in art a way to deal and expose different problematics. This whole community usually is harassed by violence and economic difficulties due to their origin places, and with the street art; they try to hold on to hope and make peace instead of war. Whereas, some people in the name of art make some graffitis that turn out to be offensive, damage the cities and therefore the reputation of the community. In my point of view; vandalism taggers should not be associated with the other artists, the ones who want a better world and found in art a way to help the cause, the people I am referring are willing to damage properties, ruin the name of something or someone and ever hurt the others only to create chaos and disaster. For example in Bogota there are some murals that illustrate different topics, while they are others that are only there with the purpose of damaging places and disrespect the city.

It is also important to consider this issue with regard to public and private assets. I mentioned before that graffitis are a different way of doing art, which purposes a setting that uses the city as a stage, whereas every city has some rules in regard to many installations. For example, some determine that is not allowed to make murals in historical monuments or government buildings, while there are some places arranged for this type of art.

Not following those rules and recommendations and doing murals in forbidden places will be considered as vandalism and an act of disrespect with the city and citizens. I believe that the artists have to follow this statement, because although they are trying to do the right thing with expressing themselves and raise their voices though those artworks, that cannot lose respect for the place and the community that opened their doors to art. Doing such a thing would definitely be considered vandalism and betrayal.

To sum up, is important to learn to separate these two sides and therefore not to generalize to an entire community that fights against adversity every day only because of the actions of others. Street art brings light to the lives of many, helps people to make an statement, however this always should be with respect and love first. Artists are citizens too, this means that have a duty with their birth, home and work place, and this duty is to protect it, to take care of it and help with their art to make it beautiful, not to hurt it.

Street art is not vandalism, is a way of doing art like many others, is a way of proposing peace instead of war, while missing that same rule it is.

Stephany Díaz

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Humanity has been struggling with mental health issues such as depression or anxiety for years. From my point of view, these problems should be taken with a major awareness in society since a lot of people do not take it with relevance or just do not pay the enough attention to the topic. To explain the reasons for my opinion, I will explore the viewpoint of an adult and a teenager.

From the perspective of an adult, I believe that a big part of them tend to compare their problems when they were young with the issues teenagers have now, since they were raised in a completely different way due to the times. Sometimes, they forget that now the troubles are more distinct than 30 years ago, and they think that maybe the solutions for their past difficulties would be the same as modern ones. They put this mindset to their young relatives, for example, telling boys should not cry or that girls must be submissive, not knowing that this can encourage more problems for their children.

Another important angle on this issue is that teenagers are more propense to suffer from mental health difficulties because of multiple reasons, for instance, social media. We forget that most lives we watch on Instagram are probably not totally real. People just tend to post this prototype of "perfect life" and put really high standards on others, causing a negative effect on most young people. Another one can be the intern problems that they could have, such as the pressure family puts on them, or even themselves. Also, there is a really common thought that seeking help with professional assistance is bad and humiliating. At the end, teenagers end drowning all alone in their own demons.

To sum up, mental health issues are still a giant problem society still needs to deal with. We need to quit the high standards and the toxic old mindset. Whereas, people should not be afraid to try to help themselves and look for a relief. Since we are in the suicidal prevention month, we should promote this topic and help the ones that might need it. You never know what a person  can be passing through, so if you have the opportunity to provide aid to a friend, try to do it!

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 IMMIGRANTS IN COLOMBIA, SHOULD THIS BE A PROBLEM?

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 IMMIGRANTS IN COLOMBIA, SHOULD THIS BE A PROBLEM?

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We currently live in a society where we are constantly connected, either by the media or by the ease with which we are able to travel to different places. Due to inequality, violence, corruption, war, lack of resources and opportunities, many people of different places have decided to leave their countries, some of them by the legal way and some others had to leave their countries of origin by the illegal way looking for better things for them. But then, where is the real problem?

Because lots of immigrants arrive with no money and some others with no experience, it makes it harder for them to look for a job and to get hired, leaving them homeless or in a very hard situation. For people who arrive in an illegal way, who is not documented are more likely to go to jail and get exiled. Also, sometimes the government does not treat foreign people properly, making this a problem.

In the past few years, due to the situation in Venezuela with their president and the government, plenty of Venezuelan people decided to immigrate to Colombia, some of them able to start a new life with better opportunities, but unfortunately others not, making a lot of people homeless, also, because of the economic situation in Colombia, the poverty rate in Colombia increased, making the situation worst.

As you may know, currently, Afghanistan is going through a tough situation because of the Taliban and what is going on with human rights, more specifically women rights. Colombian president Ivan Duque decided to help the Afghan people, providing them the possibility to stay in the country. But, is this a good idea? How convenient is this?

To sum up, following to what has been said about the situation in Colombia about the immigrants, according to my way of thinking, Colombia should, first of all, try to fix the poverty situation, avoiding unemployment, offering people more opportunities, giving them the chance to study, and so forth. Also, Colombia should figure out the way it receives and takes care of refugee, being conscious about how much resources and opportunities they can offer, so according to that; they can receive refugees in better conditions. Whereas, taking into consideration the currently situation, do you consider it is convenient for Afghan people to come to Colombia? Do you think we should pay more attention to this problem?

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Art can be an important signature for many cultures, which means that, through different art expressions, people can represent many traditional aspects and history of the places they are from. To my way of thinking, culture and history, which include aspects such as traditions and religion, are an essential part of creating society and community around the world. Therefore, I reckon in my judgement that it is relevant for every person to know and respect all cultures and it is a historical journey. Different artistic expressions can represent in certain ways this cultural legacy, frequently street art and graffiti are most found with this purpose. Now, it is my intention to examine this situation in terms of people who judge street art and reject this type of artistic expression without knowing the intentions behind it, and people who support artists that recognise and transmit culture through their work.

While certain people like street art and graffiti, many others focus on judging, criticizing and rejecting this art. This group of people consider street art as vandalism and they insist on ignoring the meaning of what is drawn in the different buildings around a city. There are certain situations in which may be unacceptable content, whereas there are many others that intent to express culture, emotion or simply stories that interest the citizens, and it is a fact that people who reject this art are not willing to accept and explore this intentions.

Now, in terms of street art as a fascinating way of expressing culture, I believe it is an incredible opportunity for people to get involved in their cultural and social context. This kind of artwork generates, among other things, history and memory, and this opens the way to empathy between people from the same culture or even between different cultures. Mostly, artists such as Banksy or ROA, have the intention to transmit messages with their work and they invite people to get involved in the situation of society and the different countries around the world.

All in all, expressing history and culture through art, specifically street art, it is an amazing way to involve people in being aware of social an cultural contexts. As for me, being conscious about the historical, cultural and social context of the different countries around the world, it is part of generating a more empathetic society with the intention of producing a sense of respect to the person outside their own culture or cultural context. This art invites people to be empathetic with the other, to be aware of the reality of different cultures and to learn to be open minded and an understanding person who accept people no matter what they think, what they believe or where they come from.

Laura Barrero

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Capitalism the most stable economic system 

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Capitalism the most stable economic system 

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Have you thought about the controversial world of political views? Since always we have tried to find a solution for all the problems that have emerged over the years. Based on this issue, I will be defending my position on why I consider that the capitalist system is more effective when it comes to organizing a society. This will be explained through two main arguments. On the one hand, the capitalist system allows an active and direct participation of citizens in the development and dynamization of the economy.  On the second hand, the tendency to totalitarism is the trigger that leads to the failure of communist governments. Therefore I will be stating my opinion towards the well-known rivalry between the political ideologies that have shaped our society into a vicious cycle of dissatisfaction, disagreement and even worst

Understanding capitalism as a system that prioritizes private property being the main source for capital production for wealth generation. I reckon that giving people the opportunity to work for their own benefit and in an independent way gives people the motivation to contribute voluntarily to the economic upgrowth making it constant and dynamic. Additionally, the distribution of economic powers and wealth, that capitalism offers makes people feel free in a certain way while still making part of a unique economic system. For example, the United States has always worked under a capitalist way of government; and it has let them to be one the greatest economic influencers in the world nowadays.

On the contrary, there is evidence that shows how the communist system has failed throughout history for example, Venezuela has been suffering under a dictatorship for many years now by the fact that the government decided to turn their capitalism system into a communist one that clearly did not work for the benefit of the society. Communism is supposed to ensure equality of conditions for everyone whereas the real purpose of those who hold the power is to have total control over all aspects of their country making it more likely to provoke rebellion against the state weakening it to its failure.

To sum up I have showed why I consider capitalism is the most stable economic system, since over the years the capitalism has offered several chances for economic growth. Having said this economic system has worked very well always but there are going to be things to improve and this is not the exception,  and more if the generations are changing and with that the way the people perceive the world.

By: Sofia Carvajal

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Violence and war have always been present in human history. The World Wars and all the numerous civil wars around everyone, let us know that we cannot live without violence. While all of this has brought to many people the message of peace, rejection of war. In my view, war should never be a solution. Whereas, there is a remote temptation to destroy everything you do not consider right.

Messages of peace in the ’60s. In our history, 1960 was a century full of innovations, the moon landing, the first woman orbiting the earth, the many protests over the racism brought to humanity new knowlege. Whereas, there was a war going on,and the hippie movement was born. Personally, I rekon that the Hippie movement has been one of the greatest ideologies around the world, the fact that everyone was trying to spread love and peace meant everything in a time of war.

To make contrast, as I said before there has always been a temptation to destroy the others differences, for example, in the Holocaust most people were suffering and they were from small communities. The Nazis were trying to enforce their ideology, indeed. However, years have passed through and now we are all the same, our generation believes that differences are something to celebrate and the Hippie movement has overcome nowadays. While, I still consider that even if we celebrate our differences, there are still wars going on, and violence had not been vanished from our streets.

To sum up, as a supposedly developed society we should learn to tolerate others differences and to learn how to debate without the need of violence. Dialogues and agreements should always the best solution. As new generations we should teach other peace, dialogues and love so we can all live decent world.

By: Alejandra Rincon

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Woman empowerment is being more accepted by society nowadays, taking advantage of how accepting we are starting to be. Personally, I think that it is very important to acknowledge women and start breaking the stereotypes that come from old times, where society was concerningly close-minded. To justify this point of view, it is necessary to take a look at how women were treated over the years until today.

From the viewpoint of a teenager, we see that women are being treated fairly and the gender discrimination has fairly decreased, however, if we have as a reference the first decades from the 20th century, we can see that women were treated as mere objects, as if they did not have the capacity to do the same things as men. This prejudice towards women had as a consequence women being unable to vote, work and being forced to stay at home to raise the children and fully dedicate to domestic chores.

In terms of the present time, we can see that most countries women have taken over the issue, nontheless, there is still some discrimination left; one clear example is that women do not earn the same salary as men when working at an office, and also companies prefer to hire men than women even if the woman has more working experience or more titles. Some other examples are more noticeable in Asian countries. For instance, in South Korea; young girls are taught to use makeup, otherwise, they are considered lazy people who do not care about their looks or being presentable. On the other hand, in Japan, they still make women stay at home raising the children and managing the money in the house whereas the husband works all day long.

In conclusion, I think humanity has a long way to go until we fully realize and accept that women are as capable as men and even more, and we should keep fighting for gender equality in every single aspect, we should never feel ashamed or embarrassed of our gender and just because a society that has the patriarchy marked ever since the start of existance does not mean that it will be like that forever.

Sara Abadía

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THE EFFECTS OF MODERNIZATION IN OUR CULTURE 

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THE EFFECTS OF MODERNIZATION IN OUR CULTURE 

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During the colonization, the native indigenous communities were largely exterminated and mistreated by the colonizing groups. In the case of Latin America, when the Spaniards arrived in these lands, in addition to mistreating the natives, they stole them and took away all valuable material objects, such as gold. In addition to this, many communities were expelled from their territories due to the economic benefit that could be obtained from the natural resources that constituted the places where they lived. Based on this, during this essay, the historical oppression that indigenous communities have experienced since colonization will be discussed together with the little visibility that this great problem has in modern society, and on the other hand, the interests of the great companies in these territories rich in diversity for the production of industrial products.

In the first place, it is important to have in mind that since the colonization, the indigenous communities were the most affected. In Latin America, for example, the Spanish took advantage of the condition of the indigenous people to steal their goods and to take advantage of their natural resources. Centuries later, due to industrialization, while large companies and multinationals became interested in the production of products from these resources, indigenous communities began to be unjustly expelled from their territories, which has left them in poverty and helpless.

On the other side, due to the accelerated modernization of the world and the era of industrialization, natural resources began to be used on a large scale for commercial production. For this reason, many companies entered to this industry and began to generate a lot of money, which made the governments very interested and benefited in these. For this reason, whereas companies became richer, and governments created laws that supported them, minorities were affected and ignored.

All things considered, it is important to understand that as a modern society we have forgotten the indigenous communities that make up our history and our past. This is why we have to care about these minorities that represent us, and we must take care of our natural resources so that they are not exploited by companies that only have economic interests and that do not care about our culture or the care of the environment.

By: Alejandra Machado

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Artistry has always been in the spotlight of critics among people whether it is a positive or negative opinion, mostly when it comes to street art: this without a doubt has mostly depend on the perspective of different generations. However, one thing is for sure and it is that people can definitely give a message and express their opinions through this type of art. Still, many people (especially elders) do not support completely this way of expressing disagreement or social issues and so this leads to the question, does street art really help society to be aware of these crises and does this implies that this type of art should be present in cities?

It is well known how society has been dealing with multiple problems throughout the years: economic problems, environmental issues, among others. Therefore, people decide to deal with these situations in many different ways, especially younger people who, for example, decide to use their creative skills and abilities to describe all these problematics that are tough when it comes to finding a solution. This is why art itself has been some peoples answer to the reality that we face every day, because of the direct message that this transmits.

In addition to this, street art is an example of it, due to the fact that it is a common visual art that many anonymous people practice. For example, the unknown street artist who created the mural, Nobody likes me located in Stanley Park, Vancouver: which depicts a boy who is sad and dissatisfied with the fact that he has zero likes, mentions and followers on his Instagram account (which portrays one of the main aspects that may be controversial nowadays: social media, being a tool that both edifice and destroys our social interactions). This is the second most famous mural in the world, proving how people acknowledge how they definitely can relate to these insecurities and boundaries that are given by society.

On the other hand, even thought most people see this visual art from a good perspective, there are many as well who disagree on continuing to show it in the city’s streets. It is mostly known how adults and elders cannot understand the main point of street art, calling it instead an act of vandalism. Many affirm it is disrespectful towards citizens and the architectural work itself not only by painting, but by giving very explicit messages as well.

To sum up, street art has helped a lot of people when it comes to expressing ideas and opinions without using violence to portray them nor hiding the reality that we all live in our daily basis. This has also permitted to demonstrate people’s creativity and artistic talent publicly, which helps give others a motivation to join the message and the artistic filled. Nevertheless, people should be conscious about the messages that their artistic work is giving to others: using these pieces for good and positive for society, not signs of hatred instead. Certainly, we can only respect each other’s  opinions about this topic, always looking for the best way to improve our social interactions.

By: Mapaz Jiménez