Lluvia

Escribir que soy una orquesta de gotas.

En el estacionamiento hay una sinfónica, debajo de un techo blanco, que toca.

Pasa un muchacho cargando su trombón mientras un gordo con paraguas se pregunta el sentido de su vida.

El primer violín está cansada.

Las cuerdas, la verdad, parecen estar húmedas.

La lluvia de anoche las tiene hinchadas, molestas.

Incómodas, para ser exacta.

Me gusta ser la lluvia y causar esta tragedia.

Son la sinfónica de quiénsabedónde

y se preparan para quiénsabequé

pero gracias a mi, el verdadero evento,

su fiesta suena a gloria.

Mirada 1

Si te dijera que te he mentido

cuando te dije que tus ojos y los míos son lo mismo

sería como si te hubiese dicho que ayer el reflejo de un charco me habló clarito

mencionó el tiempo que he perdido

y se quejó del viento.

No podría mentirle al rostro humilde de tu nombre

No he podido nunca dejar a un lado el deseo de la verdad que te habita,

la que te cubre.

Son las distancias las que me debilitan.

En aquella procuro y busco,

miro tantos relámpagos y siento tantas fuerzas ajenas.

En ellos me invoco pero no me encuentro.

Es sólo el asomar de tu alma en tu cara lo que crea,

sólo eso es reconocimiento y verdad,

lo demás se categoriza simple y sencilla mentira,

falacia de la realidad humana.

Pachamama 1

Si amarte fuese tarea fácil no habría porqué.

Amarte es un placer interminable

que se renueva con luces de amanecer

con recuerdos de antaño y con esperanza de que el cambio no sea tan drástico.

La Tierra nos respira,

nos advierte,

nos muestra a diestra y siniestra que si no cooperamos,

si no conectamos los puntos y las respuestas

vamos a sucumbir dentro de ella.

Seremos el repuesto del futuro.

El material orgánico del que surgirán otros seres aún más extraños.

Amarte es descomponerse,

triturarse en pedacitos de cariño, 

pasar por los procesos de ruptura, adaptación y pureza.

Como la composta, dejamos sólo los nutrientes,

nos convertimos en tierra fértil y florecemos.

Entrada

Some times it hits you
Like that... ¡paw!
Is not a silent feeling, is more like a grunt
A very deep one.

No reason.
Unknown reason.
It is the question that society puts
Or the one they thought us to always ask
Am I… happy? worth it? real?
Do I … know anything at all?
What is time for?

Lets just…
 just drink a coffee, find a star that stills shins lonely in the distance, and smile.

TOEFL Practice 5

Do you agree or disagree with the following statement? Parents are the best teachers. Use specific reasons and examples to support your answer. 300 words / 30 minutes

There is no doubt that the role of our parents is to guide us and teach us as much as they can. It is important to underline that children are learning everything from scratch and the first person they trust in the world is their parents. 

The teaching and learning processes within a family need to be present everyday in a conscious way. The adults need to take a stand and decide what they will teach and how they want their kids to learn it. Every single details count.

Parents are the best teachers because of two reasons. One, they are always there (or at least they are suppose to). Two, because the children trust them more than anybody else. For example, if a kid learns at their neighbor’s house that broccoli is not good for his health, and then goes and ask his father what is wrong with broccoli, the father will probably say that is good to eat broccoli and that some people doesn’t like it. This situation will satisfy the kid with new knowledge. If he trust his father he can take an experience from his life and turn it into a lesson that gives him understanding and knowledge.

Later in life, when we become young adults, the role of our parents as teachers becomes more difficult. As teenagers, usually we stop trusting in our parents, so we do not see them as role models or teachers anymore. In many cases, this happen because the answers that we have got from our parents are not good enough or they contradict our wishes. After this hard stage of our life, parents regain their place and they become wise teachers again, specially when the children, as adults, start to follow the parents steps and experiencing some of the same things. Like becoming a parent, for instance.

307 words / 16:20 

TOEFL Practice 4

I wanted to write about the Open Day at IICD that we had on Saturday. Then I thought it was better to tell you about my visit to the court at Berry Springs County and about Rev. Pinkney and our cooperation. I was also tempted to write about the morning course that I did about the work of JR and his project (www.insideoutproject.net).

This things are part of the daily life at this place, and of course for the ones here and for the others that have been in a community sharing, fighting and learning, this is common things. For other individuals who live in cities this can sound like a crazy schedule full of non-productive activities.

So... after some thinking I didn't get a real idea of what I want to share with you. I just feel like writing. That happen a lot when I listen to "The Album Leaf", when the stress is coming too high in my eyes.

I take super food for breakfast, may be is that.

Anyway, thanks to Laura and Rita who took the time to correct my spelling and grammar in the last practices.

I promise I will come with a nice idea for practicing later today. I must do it.

And I will write without the computer correcting my spelling.

Peace'

TOEFL Practice 3

Today my writing practice will be about the Showtime in Motown. This is a fundraising show that the Young Detroit Builders (YDB) organize every year. The show is a talent contest where the winner gets $1,000. YDB is a non profit organization that works with youth that has problems to get their GDE and that struggles with the daily life of Detroit. The participants of the YDB program come twice a year to share some days with us and get a international experience. Many of them have never been outside Detroit in their life, and coming all the way to Dowagiac is a big deal. Every year, as an exchange and also because we love Detroit art and culture, we go to Showtime in support.

This year the show was good but it was not as good as the past years. The performers were talented, no doubts, but the organization and the energy of the public was not very positive. It was visible that there where different kinds of problems with the show in particular but with the whole program as well. Nowadays, is not easy task to run a non-profit organization and to change the world with it. The world's power are getting better and better in stopping and discourage the work that we do in the non-profit sector. The reasons can seem obvious, they do not want us to change the world and create conscious human beings. They want matrix-type followers and not encourage rebellious youth, like the ones preparing themselves with the YDB. I hope they get over the crisis they are having now (if they are in crisis, I do not have a real idea, is just my perception), not just to have a great Showtime next year but also because their work is very important for the local communities and I really believe they are doing an amazing work.

On another matter, the journey to Detroit was good for the participants at IICD. For the August Team it was the first excursion they needed to organize. They had been here for two months but the February and May team were the ones in charge of organizing the common actions and trips to the lake. They did a good job, dividing everybody in the transport available and making sure we all had a good lunch bag with healthy food for the way back home. So thanks to them at 2:30, the 25 travelers were ready to go. After 3 hours we got there…

I love to drive everywhere, but in the US specially, and yesterday was even better because we had a almost full moon coming with us the whole way. I have to be honest, when you drive there is nothing better that good company, good music, good coffee and a full moon or a starry sky (of course a good car also helps).