The important things in the bicentennial year

Speak about the Chilean bicentenary remit us necessarily at the concept of “nation” and “nationalism” and it do us to think about his meaning. This topic remember me a Lord Byron’s phrase “Who don’t love his country can’t love nothing” and unfortunately many people believe this, they think that we would be proud of all things that our country only for this, because is OUR Chile. The bicentenary was the perfect occasion for remember all this old ideas about the nationalism…
For to celebrate the Chilean Bicentenary the government to organize many and differents activities, some really brainless, but we can’t to deny that they did some effort for to commemorate this important national celebration. One of the most famous activity and maybe the best example of the things that the people, in general, think about our country in the bicentennial year, was the “Bicentenary Capsule”. If we think in the objects that the people choose for to keep in this capsule because they consider it importants and representatives of our identity, we can know how the Chileans view to Chile in this year.
One of the “Bicentenary objects” that there is in the famous capsule is a security camera, is this something representative of the society in the bicentennial year? Maybe yes, but this would be really sad… Well, this capsule contain other 135 objects that supposedly are representative of our identity in this moment, like: a key, a kettle, books of History, jerseys of the sport teams, a toy of Juan Carlos Bodoque, a Bip card, a colaless, prosthesis of silicone, a pendrive, a vuvuzela, etc. Is it Chile now? Is a 3D glasses representatives of our identity? Or is it the song “Arriva la vida” of the Croni-k?
The Chile of the bicentennial year is the same Chile of the centennial year and probably the same that will be in many year more because I think that never we can to think in something like a common identity or in our nation, and the best example is the “Bicentenary capsule”, it have many differents things that represent many singulars and specials way of to think in the same thing: Chile. And I think that it is great! I detest the old discourses about nationalism and patriotism based in empty ideas…

Countess Catula

Is difficult to choose my favorite or the best classmate’s blogs because I like many and different things of each one… I adore the background of the Camila’s blog (Ilovelovercraft), the pictures of Emilio, the name of the Lucy’s blog “Lucy in the sky II” and the last post about Felipe Avello of the Diego’s blog. But if I have to choose only on, I give the prize for the best blog to Catalina’s blog “catinglish”, I like her blog because we like similar things and I enjoy her posts. I think that she write with a little of humor and too is obviously that she really love the things about she write, like Nicanor Parra or Bukowski. Other good thing about this blog is that all post has a clear organization, because in the case of the writers for example, she to get the biography of the person mixed up with her commentaries and with some text of the writers. My favorite post was the last, when we wrote about the big Chilean and she chose to Nicanor Parra, I liked this post because he is one of my favorite Chilean writers and “The imaginary men”, the poem that Catalina enclosed in the end of her post, is my preferred too and it is really representative of the Nicanor Parra style.

The blog in general is great, but maybe Catalina could be done to improve her writing, because sometimes she write really fast and she isn’t very careful with the words that she use. ..

PD: I like too the image of the Conde Patula that she have in her profile! So I chose the same picture like the most representative of this blog…

My "big Chilean"...

If I ask you for the “big Chileans” is probably that you think in Pablo Neruda, Violeta Parra, Bernardo O’Higgins or other famous persons that maybe have many merit for to be remember, but today I choose to write about other person that I think, to do a beautiful job and too is a “big Chilean”, his name is Domingo Pontigo. Mr. Domingo is a popular poet from San Pedro, a rural sector in Melipilla, usually in this time; you can see him in his plot harvesting strawberries like the majority of his neighbors, but in the night or in his free time he write verses. Actually, he is the most prolific poet and one of the best popular singings.
In the tradition orals circle he is really famous and he have many years experience in this field, he wrote books in verses about the History of Chile and other things, and every years he go to the meetings of popular music, he give many interview in the newspaper and in the TV and do workshop of popular poesy for the children’s of rural places of the central zone, because he always say that for he is important to work for to keep the traditional expressions. This week he received a prize for the “Alive Human Treasure”, from the government.
I choose to write about him like a “big Chilean” because I think that he and his work are really examples, but no only for the “rescue of our traditions”, other than for the dedication and his way of life, that I think, are conditions for to be a “big” person more than wars and international prizes…