When Salinger met Maynard.

It was April 23, 1972 and a young girl named Joyce Maynard was publishing an essay in the prestigious magazine ‘The New York Times’, titled “An Eighteen year old looks back on life”.
Meanwhile, in Cornish, New Hampshire, J.D Salinger,  as usual, was at his home reading his correspondence. His Newspapers, fan letters, bills, and magazines formed a tiny mountain on the bureau. On top of that mountain, full of the most informal literature, there was the article. A very shy Joyce Maynard was on the cover, and immediately he felt curious about what an eighteen year old girl had to say about life.

“This is actually interesting”, he said to himself. He took a piece of paper and started to write a letter where he told her that she was a very good writer, but also, that she had to be careful with fame and publicity, because they could really ruin a writer’s life. Before saying goodbye he added, “Your ego is your worst enemy”.

When Maynard received the letter she could not believe it, although she was the only one in her class that had not read before Salinger’s famous novel “The Catcher In The Rye”. But the fact that one of the greatest writers of the 20Th century was sending her a letter and congratulating her because of something she had written, really impressed her. She wrote him back. He answered. And after twenty five letters she was dropping out of Yale university to live with him.

For almost a year, to Joyce, her life was that house. Every morning she would sit in the same sofa to watch J.D religiously write several novels that he would never publish in his life. He once said in an interview that for him there was a marvelous peace in not publishing ... he liked to write. He loved to write. That everything he ever wrote was just for himself and for his own pleasure.

At first things were perfect, they had each other and that was all that mattered. But after ten months, defects began to show, and they didn’t seem so perfect anymore. However, Joyce was still in a bubble full of idealizations. But J. D wasn’t so naive (after all, he was 53 at the time). Until one day, walking on the beach, he said to her that their relationship was over, and still looking at the Atlantic, he added the last words he ever said to her: “Go home, take your stuff out of the house before I return. And you know what? I'm sorry I noticed you. You do not even know how to write”. So, alone and sad, she took off, and never came back.
From its beginning things were not right. She abandoned lots of things for him, and in return he felt enormously let down by her. Anyone who dares to write about them knows that this is not a happy love story.

Making the world a better place.

Anne Rice once said “Give me a man or woman who has read a thousand books and you give me an interesting companion. Give me a man or woman who has read perhaps three and you give me a dangerous enemy indeed”. Reading books is a very important part of the human development, despite that is not really a priority for the 21st century’s society.
It’s stated that the reading levels that we can reach can importantly determine the quality of our lives. The same can happen with an entire country of readers. Life in Chile can be much better.
That is why, I propose as my social project to create a book club, where anyone can join and be a member. Every person in this club can learn from others, and thus, improve their writing, reading and critical skills.

I have always believed that the world would be a better place if only we, as members of the society, could dedicate at least a moment of our day to enjoy and absorb all the good things that only a book can bring us.
I remember when I was 14 years old I went with my teacher and my classmates to a low-income school to help children in their study habits, as their SIMCE test was approaching, and I noticed how big their problems were. Their ability to understand what they were reading was very low and it was affecting the way they were learning the language and also, mathematics. Poor reading comprehension was affecting all areas of their potential learning. Probably, that was the moment when I realised that something needed to change.

Currently, I’m studying pedagogy and it’s giving me the tools I’m going to need to teach. I see it as something I’m going to need in the future. Also, I have been using Internet platforms, checking blogs that have been created by other teachers to share knowledge. My present is my investment. All I get now is to be given away in the future to others who need more.

I want to specially focus on kids and teenagers, that is the range of age where we must create the foundations of how they are going to be in the future, and of course, give them the autonomous decision to continue learning for themselves and not because is an obligation. My plan is, to start by little. First, the literary club, then go forward and transform it into something bigger.
As I said before, in five years I’m going to be an English teacher, and I firmly believe that this is going to be a true ally in my proposal. Children and young students must create the habit if they want to be better as a person and as a future worker of our society.
So, in my plan to take things a bit forward I pretend to take advantage of the tools that I have and bring together my English classes and reading: 15 minutes of reading texts in English and quizzes, so I can know what they actually learned. Tasks like this create communication and dialogue, the students will share ideas and opinions about the words they have been reading.  Little by little those tiny texts will become books, and eventually those students will be able to recommend by themselves their favourite books to the others.
More than 80% of Chileans between 16 and 65 years old has the minimum reading level compared with the rest of the world. This has a solution, but it’s up to us to create the awareness that something as simple as a book can open endless doors to a better life.

A music column.

1991 was witness of an album that you can love or hate. It has been twenty years since the release of My Bloody Valentine’s masterpiece ‘Loveless’. This record has been named one of the greatest creations of the 90’s by several music magazines, and rightly, the mixture of sounds that this album gives us is a strange experience, yet at the same time, beautiful. Songs like “sometimes” and “to here knows when” are a clear demonstration of my previous statement.
The other day, I was asked the question that every music lover wants to hear: “What are your favourite albums?” ‘Loveless’ was obviously one on my choices. But enough about me.
This was the second (and sadly, the last) album released by Kevin Shields, Colm Ó Cíosóig, Bilinda Butcher and Debbie Googe as a group. According to their own members, it took two whole years to record, and several record companies to accept the vision and the creative temperament that Kevin Shields had. In an interview he stated: “I have been listening the same things for years, the bands do not dare to be different. It’s like they don’t care anymore.  That is why I have made this record”.
When the album came out the world was ruled by grunge and that horrible music specially made for you to dance. Only a few selected members of the world wide audience knew about the “shoegaze”, where noisy guitars and shoe-gazers musicians were masters of the use of effect pedals and musical distortion. That was the musical scene where My Bloody Valentine was born and raised. That was its maternal nest, its home.
Although, the band is no longer together, you can tell the legacy of this album with famous bands like M83, Wild Nothing, Deerhunter, and The Pains of Being Pure at Heart. 'Loveless' is truly a masterpiece.

ch ch ch changes.

When we got this assignment I immediately thought about that David Bowie song, “Changes”. God, this has been a nice change.

It was my first day at The University and I was already comparing it with High school. Let’s say that those weren’t my best years... but I’m not going to lie, school is much more easier than University.

Back in those days, I was able to do what ever I wanted in my free time, now my schedule is pretty much like this: Go to the university, get in the class, an hour later the class is over, then I go to the library, study, read,  go to class again, and the same thing every day. Maybe this is going to sound strange, but I kind of like it. Really. I love being active all day, and definitely I did not have that on high school.

Now, I even act in a more “socially way”. I’m very shy and insecure, so you can imagine that I’m not the best at making friends. But here, people are more interesting and friendlier. I don’t have that urgent of being alone like in my high school days, where I didn’t feel like the most sociable classmate. At least, now I have a few good friends that really make me want to be nicer with them.

Finally, I think the most important thing about being in the university is that I’m doing what I really like, and studying something that interests me. That is the best part of all this, certainly I’m enjoying a lot more the fact that I have to study (Almost) 24/7 (not really, that would be too much, isn’t it?)

What Would I like to be able to do?

The main concern in my life right now is the future. What would I like to become? What am I going to do tomorrow? My thoughts are always in the essential question of every young student: What would I like to be able to do?
Is inevitable to think about my career. I really would like to be able to become an excellent teacher. And obviously, to be able to Speak English very fluently. I love languages, especially Spanish, so that is why after I graduate, I really would like to study to be an Spanish teacher as well.

Also, there is one thing in the world that I adore the most: Literature. It makes my day so much better, and definitely I love to read books. But there is always someone who knows more about it than me. That's where I start to have this urge to know more and more about writers, and mainly, to be able to perceive a good book from a bad one.

There always will be a lot of things that we would like to be able to do in life. In my case, I want  to get new skills and improve what I already know. I think It can make us a lot more complete as human beings.

Expectations

It always happen, does it? When we start something new we have expectations versus the reality.

Now, I realize that not always we reach the great expectations right away. The reality is telling me right now that I have to work harder if I want to finish this first semester in good terms, academically. 

I have to study everyday.  So, I'm planning my own schedule. I have enough time in the evenings to read and review what I have learned in the week. 

Practise more. That is, I think, the most important thing. Especially the speaking part. Not only because is the big important part of the grades, is because is the principal way to comunicate with other people.

Also, I would like to make the social environment much more easy to handle. I have made very good friends, but is human to always want  more.

I hope that my new study methods would lead to my expectations and wishes for this first semester.

Easter Holidays.

All around the world we celebrate The Easter Holidays to remember the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. My family and I are catholic so we respect everything about what this religious holiday means. 

The weather right now is very weird. One day rains, and the next is beatifully sunny. So, I think, I'll stay at home reading and listening to music.

Probably, this Friday and Saturday we are going to stay at home. We normally  watch movies and eat sea foods for lunch.  On sunday, my aunt comes and hide easter eggs. Everybody in my family participates, no exceptions. In that way is very fun, because we can spend quality time together. 

Dear Mariel:

My friend, How are you? You asked me in your previous letter what I think about my first month at the University. Well, it's been very good. Everyday I wake up at 7 a.m, I have breakfast and feed my dog. Then, I walk to the bus station while I'm listening to music. I like going to classes so far, I've got very nice classmates and excellent teachers.
Good luck in everything.

                                    Love, Maca.