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From: http://exsanguinatrix.livejournal.com

Student pours cold water on Chile school reform

SANTIAGO (Reuters) - A student poured cold water on Chile's unpopular education reform on Monday -- literally.

The 14-year-old schoolgirl threw a pitcher of cold water in Education Minister Monica Jimenez's face at an event to discuss reform of a sector that students and teachers complain is underfunded and neglects the poor.

"They could have thrown a pitcher, a glass pitcher and I could be in hospital now," Jimenez told reporters. "I particularly blame the teachers union. ... If they are inciting acts of violence, they should answer for what happened today."

Monday's meeting was part of a government effort to calm tensions after sometimes violent student marches in recent weeks to protest an education reform bill they say does not address the shortcomings of an existing dictatorship-era law.

President Michelle Bachelet was dumbfounded.

"What seems incomprehensible to me is that those who have the duty and responsibility to impart values and principles in classrooms every day could endorse an attitude that goes against the values and principles I'd like a child of mine to adopt," Bachelet told reporters.

source: http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080714/od_uk_nm/oukoe_uk_chile_politics_dousing;_ylt=Ap3aGBirqjP6jZPsMFWfDibtiBIF




Yes. Yes, this is brimming with logic. The same kind of logic, in fact, that the school system and educational policies of this country have. Two peas in a pod, Chile and the Philippines.

"What seems incomprehensible to me is that those who have the duty and responsibility to impart values and principles in classrooms every day--" HOLD UP. You mean values like justice, and upholding basic rights? Seems like your teachers did a damn good job teaching that 14-year old kid. What kind of values did you want your child to adopt, by the way? Elitism, denying people the right to education on the basis of their financial status? That the opportunity to better ones' social standing, raise the quality of their existence through knowledge is only given to those who can pay for it? This is incomprehensible to you?

A pitcher of water to the face is nothing -- nothing. You'll suffer an hour or so being wet, and maybe a week of indignity. Nothing compared to so many you'll be dooming to a life of ignominy.

Give that kid a standing ovation. Only 14 years old and wiser than so many morons posing as adults.

Agree with this post? Fucking join the July 18 nationwide walkout! Let's take this to the streets.

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Another article: http://www.lfs.ph/2008/07/13/nationwide-student-walkouts-vs-oil-price-hikes-today-july-10-bigger-walkouts-set-on-july-18/

Why Walk Out?

Pooled editorial by the College Editors Guild of the Philippines

As others have done before us, the youth is once again called upon to leave our mark in history's pages.

This July, we are walking out in outrage over unending and unjust price hikes. Oil prices have risen 18 times this year, and more weekly spates of increases are set to burden our countrymen for as long as this government refuses to impose and implement regulative policies to cushion the blows of soaring oil prices. Prices of food, electricity and other basic commodities likewise continue to be padded up by economic policies such as the Value Added Tax (VAT) and other burdensome taxes.

We are walking out of this administration's continuous extravagance amid scarcity and national disasters. The lavishness of Arroyo's most recent junket to the United States is a disgraceful excess in a time when the country is beset with economic hardship.

We are walking out of this administration's false promises of education reforms. We have had enough of this administration's deceitful ways. Instead of allotting more for the education budget, it thrusts school administrations towards further commercialization at the expense of students, even as President Arroyo announced a tuition hike moratorium for the present academic year.

We are walking out of this farce of a democracy. Years have passed and we are still counting the days when we see Karen Empeno, Sherlyn Cadapan and Jonas Burgos re-united with their families and friends. We condemn the unresolved and incessant extra-judicial killings of journalists, activists and civil libertarians that continue with impunity.

We are walking out of attacks on press freedom and freedom of speech and expression. We view the Philippines' election to the vice president post of the United Nations Human Rights Council as a sham and an insult to all victims of human rights violations, political repression and the Filipino public in general.

We are walking out of President Arroyo's unprecedented lust for power. We cannot muster tolerance for her continued stay until 2010.

In a time of great deceit, we choose to walkout for honor. In a time of lavish spending, we choose to walkout for austerity. In a time of apathy, we choose to walkout for social significance. In a time when the state's abandonment of the people's welfare is at its peak, the youth choose to stand steadfast against this administration's continuous neglect. In a time of greed for power, we choose to walkout for our democratic rights.

We are walking out for accountability in government and meaningful social change. Seven years of deceit, corruption, tyranny and social injustice has weighed its toll on the youth and the people. Enough is enough.

For the youth, walking out would mean entering the bigger picture and assuming our historical and significant role in society. We are asked at this point in time, 'Why walk out?' To which we reply, 'Why not?'

Um. Yes. Mostly an I'm alive post.

During the time that I have been away, I have:

• Gone back to class for Spring 2008


• Started a second job


• Gone on a blind date


• Learned to sightread a bit


• Gone on Spring Break, which was mostly Catching Up Week, didn't even get to do that


• Made an effort to keep socially aware

Yeah, that's about all. Boring, I know. Details, maybe, when, if I have the time.

I do love every one of you, and have been reading, if not replying to your entries, but life beckons.

After quite a long time, I found myself logging onto Yahoo Messenger. I was immediately accosted by three people. Two of them asked for love advice, and the other started telling me the latest gossip.

Oh Philippines, I miss you so so much.

I realize there's too much negativity in here, so I'm not going to talk about it. Besides, I feel better now and there's no use dragging my mood down.

Well, suffice it to say that I have definitely learned my lesson and would not make the mistake of buying a new car ever again. Unless I start earning more than $100000 a year. Meanwhile, the less I spend on that car the better. I swear, I know it's tempting, but a new car isn't worth the financial and emotional burdens. Get a pre-owned car. Use the savings on something worthwhile. I know I wish I did.

It was after my painfully short kendo match. I went outside and purchased a donut. An old man asked if he could share a table with me. He was about 60 years old and in one hand he held a styrofoam cup filled with black coffee and in another a cigarette, half of it already smoked. Immediately I knew he was a Sensei, though I've never seen him before.

"You shouldn't eat that," he told me a few seconds later. He spoke clearly, all traces of a Japanese accent gone from his voice.

"Once in a while," I replied, munching on the chocolatey pastry. It was a lie, of course. I stuff myself with junkfood constantly. But one must defer to wisdom.

"Never," he admonished.

I had to stop myself from making a quip about his zen habit of smoking. One must defer to wisdom. And common sense. "Girl dies in kendo accident" does not a good headline make. 

 

 

 

If you're wondering why I'm so self-righteous about the whole smoking thing, it's because I haven't touched a stick in months.

 

The sprinklers dutifully spouted water on the trees while the sky, closer to the earth these past few days, openly wept.

This is a response to the nanoljers Word of the Week prompt. WOTW is rejection.


Excuses


“Sorry about that.”

“It’s okay—” I started to say, but he had already hung up.

I stood there, cellphone in hand, in front of the full length mirror.

I took a deep breath, closed my eyes and opened them again. My reflection stared back at me dejectedly, disappointment etched all over its face.

It wasn’t his fault. Traffic happens to everybody.

He couldn’t have been lying, with the amount of details he told me. A Porsche had been smashed on the side of the freeway leading out of the airport. Everyone in Los Angeles must have been on that freeway at that particular time. Cars were at a standstill for hours. Hours, he told me.

He could have been lying, with the amount of details he told me. He had just picked up a friend who spent a month in Japan. Said friend doesn’t ever want to eat sushi again.

Absently, I pulled on the skirt of my new dress. It would have made the browns of my eyes stand out.

Maybe next time, he had said. But this was the second time already.

It wasn’t a rejection. But it was as good as one.

My iGoogle page literary quote for the day:

"I have always imagined that Paradise will be a kind of library." -Jorge Luis Borges

The Kindle. A bookworm's wetdream.

I waaaaaaant one. T_T

In more sobering news, Heath Ledger's dead (the whole net's been abuzz since yesterday, so I thought I might as well). I loved him in A Knight's Tale and who can forget 10 Things I Hate About You?

I speculate, though, that more people would watch the Batman movie because of this.

It is pretty tragic. What a way to be reminded of man's mortality.

What I've noticed is that I don't really know how to end stories satisfactorily.

Even though I think I've found myself a theme by being away from home, my problem is that I don't know what my point is. What do I really want to convey?

Even in the stories I've written years ago, I find myself feeling oddly dissatisfied about how they end. It's as if they yearn to be something more, but I, losing steam, can only go so far as a lackluster ending, or in one case, an anticlimactic one.

It's as if that in freeing myself from the tyranny of a story having to have a distinct moral, of it having to be uplifting, as someone irritatingly mentioned in one occasion, I'm left with nothing but possibilities that eventually deteriorate into drivel.

It scares me that despite all these untapped inspiration, I really have nothing to say.

It used to be that I knew how exactly the story would end. But I guess even I get tired of my own ambiguity.

I need to hire myself a critic.

My laptop is showing signs of old age. Yesterday it went kaput. Hence me scampering to back up my files.

Also, yesterday, I got highlights for my hair. Probably a mistake, but. I was bored. I should have gotten red highlights. Instead I'm stuck with light brown. Oh wellz. It'll fade, my hair will grow longer...

Pictures? Nope, no pictures coz I didn't even fix my hair today, just let it dry and be itself.

They arrested the car vandal last Monday night. Apparently, someone saw him hitting a Mustang with a chair and so called the police. The police were there when I got home from work. It's apparent from the damage that this is the same guy who dented my car and others', too. This guy lives in Apartment 203 and apparently is known to be somewhat unstable. Most of the people made police reports to get their insurance companies to pay for the damage caused, since this psycho is too poor to even be sued for property damage.

I'm still deciding whether to add my own report, as this won't even help me in any way. It would just cause my insurance premium to rise. True, I have a dent in my car, but I think I can make do without the vanity for a little bit. I need money right now more than I need a beautiful car. But. It's so troublesome. I would sue the manager if they didn't have that stupid sign of them not being liable for any damage in the parking lot.

I mean, here you are, minding your own business, paying good money for safe shelter, and paying good money for your car, and along comes a psycho to make it complicated for you. WTF.

Hay, putang ina talagang buhay dito. Absurd.

Bad News:

I have a 2-inch dent on the passenger door of my car. Apparently, mine wasn't the only car that got vandalised two nights ago in the apartment parking lot. The car next to me had its right backlight smashed, with the shards still on the ground, and one other guy has already complained to management. I'm still waiting if the security cameras got anything, meanwhile I avoid looking at the passenger door.

And not even a year since my last accident.

Neutral News:

I've already told my mom that in the event that I don't get into UC Berkeley or any of the schools I applied for (but I really just want to go to Berkeley), I'll be going home. I have to explore transfer options to the University of the Philippines, *possibly* Ateneo de Manila. [EDIT] On second thought, I don't want to go to Ateneo.[/EDIT]

Weird. Now I don't know whether to hope Berkeley accepts me or not.

Good News:

I used the $100 AMEX gift card I got from the employers last Christmas to buy myself Absolute Sandman Vol.2, Stardust and Murder Mysteries. Common denominator?

I'm steps closer to completing my Neil Gaiman collection. Now, if only the man can stop being so prolific so as to buy me time. Just kidding.

Read on a license plate frame on my way back to work from lunch:

"I'm so horney [sic], the crack of dawn ain't safe."

Go figure.

Laptop suddenly decided to do strange things with the external monitor. Couldn't get a display in the laptop monitor, had to hook it up to the TV to get anything and even then wouldn't display anything in the right resolution.

Had to chat with two HP technicians. The first one managed to at least put the display back on my laptop screen, but took it away from the external monitor. The second one concluded that I needed to reinstall my video card, and me, being tired, thanked the technician kindly and decided to follow his instructions the next day (today) when I get home.

That meant having to watch Dragonzakura in my laptop screen, instead of on the HDTV.

And I finally filled up my iPod. And I thought it would never happen. Decisions, decisions. I don't need them. Why do I have to decide what goes on my iPod and what doesn't? Don't really have money for a new iPod, either. Oh wells.

It's still more than 12 hours off, but HAPPY NEW YEAR!!! Here's hoping that everyone accomplish all their goals and have all their realistic dreams come true in 2008!

And mainly just for fun:

( What I'm looking forward to in 2008 ) ( Resolutions! )

Challenge here.

Basically, I'm to write a 100-word drabble on my default user pic. I know it's supposed to be funny, but... here's what I came up with. Humorous version might follow. Might not.

( To the drabble! )

Finally!

After, what, a year?

I finally have Absolute Sandman Volume 1.

I have no idea how I'll make it fit into the shelf. And I am absolutely loving the dilemma.