MuDJoB01

MuDJoB #1: September - December 2009 http://mdjb66.ning.com Essays and Fiction by students for whom English is a Second Language

MuDJoB 66 is a social network on ning, started by Michael D. Brown with the assistance of Álvaro Zúñiga and Nicole Hirschi and Alisa Rynay-Haller

It is a site where students can post essays, stories, and other creative endeavors in English as their second language.

This first issue represents the best of those efforts during the period September-December 2009.

Math 55 at Harvard University Miguel Alvarez At ten o’clock in the morning the door with “Math 55” engraved in its wooden frame opens. A throng of the sharpest and most brilliant minds enter through the door. Ahh, fresh and eager minds waiting to be molded, crushed and reformed into the next Einstein or Euler. Some wear ragged clothing not caring much for the rules of social etiquette. Some are well dressed with a nice shirt and an elegant scarf.

Whispering and rubbing their eyes trying to scare away the sleep from their minds, the crowd of students slowly inhabits the classroom and settles into their seats.

The class begins right away as professor Graham rushes into the room; he too, is dressed in an informal manner. He carelessly throws his jacket on the chair that stands behind his wooden desk, and he speaks.

“I see many have ventured into the quest of conquering the monster of Math 55, this will quickly change. Many of you believe yourselves to be good at math; that will quickly change as well. With no more ado, let’s start, welcome to Math 55.”

Graham hastily gets to work, armed with a stick of chalk and a giant eraser, dividing the blackboard into four squares. He feverishly covers the fist square with hundreds of sketches full of esoteric symbols.

Math 55 is a two-semester long first-year undergraduate mathematics course at Harvard University.

The demanding course covers close to four years worth of mathematics classes in two semesters.

Students that endure the hardships of the most difficult freshman course in the country, face problems that take from 24 to 60 hours to complete.

Several well renowned engineers, mathematicians, and physicists have taken math 55. A famous example would be Bill Gates. Gates said the experience of taking a class "where everybody had an 800 on their SAT and 5 on their AP" taught him that there were people smarter than him.

Jack Jr. fires the first question: “Is the subspace clogged under this topology? Because if it is, we can conclude the lemma.” Jack Jr, son of a well known theoretical physicist that teaches physics at Columbia University, is wearing jeans and a casual white t-shirt. He is wearing stylish glasses from which we can conclude that he was one of those popular/smart guys in high school. In the shoe department he opts for Velcro Nike, a steady reminder that although Jack Jr. has probably memorized PI up to several dozen digits, he however, cannot tie his own shoe laces.

The class rambles on like this for two hours more. Most of the students that had entered the class have left already leaving a few engaged pupils to the mercy of Graham. Only the two front lines of desks are full now, and by the end of the semester, no more than ten out of the 100 who began the course, will have completed it. Finally, out of the ten that remain, less than five understand it. Welcome to Math 55 at Harvard!

The Spider LuisFer Corzo I was ready to go to school; I had already taken breakfast and now I was leaving my plate on the dish on the sink. That was the time when I saw it. I had seen it before, a year or two ago; I recognized it immediately.

It was Arachnophobia itself... A whole fear in only one spider. I remember the first time I saw the arachnid, I felt goosebumps running through my spine. I only imagined how awful it would be to fin that thing somewhere inside the house.

Anyway, I went to school, my day went through normally until that afternoon. I went to get a snack to my fridge. I took a Yakult I found, I closed the fridge door and when I turned around, there it was again. In the same place I had seen it that morning. It already had its huge spider-web, it had already a home of its own... Exactly where I could see it every single day.

With every day that passed, I get more and more worried about the spider. I was never arachnophobic, but there was something about this one... Maybe its size and shape (I found them too unusual), I still don't know, but it really took my sleep away.

Finally, after a week, I forgot about it but then, I went to the kitchen to get my daily unstressing snack.

Again, I checked the fridge to see if there was anything that was worthy. Again, I turned around after closing the fridge. Again, I saw the spider... Not. I was gone, <<where could it be?>>.

I looked for it in the entire house. Found nothing! I was desperate. I didn't know what to do; that night I didn't sleep at all.

When I went to school the next day, I was a flesh sackful of paranoia. I didn't even attend my classes so I could be aware of the spider, which I was completely sure had followed me to school.

I returned home. I was tired. I needed to do something, quickly! I had no other choice: I had to leave home to make a plan. Then, I felt dumb with what I thought; I'd call an exterminator! It was so simple.

I waited for the guy to get to my house. He arrived after an our, an complete hour of panic to me, even though there was some relief about the idea that I wouldn't be disturbed by the animal no more.

The exterminator told me I had to leave home for a day, so I stayed a a friend's house.

When I returned home the next day by the afternoon, I thought about the spider. I remember it actually lived outside the house! What if it had returned to its web so the exterminator's chemical stuff won't do no harm?

I entered to the house and went straight to my bedroom. Nothing there... For a moment I felt satisfied...

Until I checked the kitchen.

Exactly as I thought the spider was already there. I felt so... defeated by an animal. I was resigned: I'd have to live with the animal there. I decided to try.

I re-installated myself at home, watched some TV and sailed for a while in the huge seas of the internet.

In the evening, I felt hungry, so I decided it was time to make dinner.

I checked the fridge to see what dinner-material I had. Salami, ham, cheese, some vegetables... I decided to look in the cupboard, but when I turned around and saw through the window, I felt curious about the spider. Would it still be there?

NO WAY! It wasn't there anymore. Terror took me over once again. I wasn't hungry anymore. I just wanted that day to end, so I went to sleep.

I remember that night I dreamed about my life when I hadn't realized about the spider... I would say it was a really peaceful sleep. Until I felt the bite...

A Little History Lilia Lopéz de León During a rainy afternoon in the deep of the forest behind the wooden church, the little girl with a wet letter was sitting next to the gravestone.

The ink of the letter had disappeared, making it impossible to read the message.

Institute director Mrs. Marie had expelled her because she received a call telling her that her father had died in the war.

Sara was certain she had misinterpreted the call. She intended to expose her but was in vain.

The only thing she got was a letter from her father who had left her before he died.

She did not know what to do so she ran to the cemetery in search of answers. Suddenly in the letter began appearing numbers due to water.

The little girl was confused as she looked at the letter and saw the numbers.

She went to the bank and was told that there was a bank account number which her father had left her with a lot of money for all his life was insured.

The girl, surprised, received the money and eventually became the new director of the school where she had studied.

The Sunglasses Mirna A long time ago there was a poet who enjoyed writing his poems on the sidewalk; one day he found a pair of sunglasses in the street. The poet took the sunglasses from the street and he started wearing them, after that he began to feel that everything was perfect in his life and many ideas came into his brain, he started to imagine a lot of fabulous things and creative histories and ideas about colors, animals, love, life and humanity, Loris' best friend was worried about him, because he went to Loris' house and all the walls were painted with really strange but beautiful poems.

The sunglasses were on the floor, Florent tried them for a couple minutes and after that, both of them were writing amazing poems very easily and fast. They became famous poets because their poems were fantastic.

One day Loris was sitting on the sidewalk wearing the sunglasses and suddenly the sunglasses disappeared. He was really shocked because he thought that a big problem was coming.

He and Florent thought that without the sunglasses their poems were going to be terrible, so they quit and neither wrote.

Later Loris and Florent were walking near the circus and a peddler was selling the same pair of sunglasses for very big amount, they couldn't buy them, but after that they tried writing poems and they were very excited about the poems they were writing.

They had to admit that their ability to write wasn’t relative to the sunglasses. Talents and abilities are not related to something external but to our own capability, vocation and values.

A Little Moment Daniel Abad Escobar Palacios I have been married for 29 years with Martha, a beautiful woman who has loved me the same time.

Martha and I have had a good relationship, but there has been a problem among our lives. Martha cannot have children because she has a rare sickness; besides, she hasn’t received professional attention because we live in a seaport town. Fortunately, one day while I was fishing, I listened to a baby who was crying and I decided to save her. When Martha saw the baby, she turned so happy and embraced me; however, two years later we discovered that the baby was a little siren. Martha and I decided to take care of the little siren no matter if in the future she would have to go back to the sea; in this way, we had a little moment of happiness in our lives.

Chocolate!

Sandra Vázquez Díaz The origin of chocolate began when the Mayas and other Mesoamerican people drank this as their favorite drink.

This drink has been consumed for at least 3,100 years. But other cultures offered the cacao pods to the gods in rituals; also they made some human sacrifices with chocolate.

Has sline realized the bitter local chocolate; this product had became more practical because people made a mix with milk and it tasted better, and he became famous because of his invention. Currently we consume chocolate with milk and around two thirds of Americans prefer milk chocolate to dark and simple chocolate.

Chocolate has many benefits like: - Antioxidant of damaged cells; that are produced by the sun's ultraviolet rays - Quit stress - Prepare delicious drinks and foods - In humans and animals produces pleasure But it has bad points too, like: - Eating so much chocolate results in excessive calories intake.

- Bad cholesterol In my opinion, chocolate became an important eatable, and many people consume this delicious mixture of milk & chocolate!

The Mermaid Lilia Lopéz de León Marta was a girl who had a boyfriend, her boyfriend was a fisherman, and she was always swimming in the sea.

One night while she was walking on the beach, she heard a voice saying to her... martha ... martha.....

She continued walking and found a piece of a ship, the ship seemed old, and she kept walking.

She unexpectedly saw a woman who was swimming and she ran towards the woman. She unexpectedly fell asleep and when she got up she was a mermaid.

That day when she left the sea the little mermaid saw that her boyfriend had died at sea. and understood why there was a siren.

I Hate Everyone Luis Raquel Cal y Mayor Sayeg I just do. I do. There are no better words to express this feeling. It´s just true. I know it sounds a bit harsh, a little pathetic, somehow inexplicable. But it isn't. I just do. I hate them. I hate everyone. I can´t stand them; they're just there hanging out, talking about their stupid problems, thinking life is easy! It isn't! Life is not easy! How can they think that? How can they be so peaceful? So happy?.

I hate them, they don´t know what life is about, they just let others do their work; they don´t know that life has a cost. They're just there, I hate them! I just do! How could I not hate them if they're completely hateable, just standing there, seeing life pass, thinking it´s simple? It isn't! It isn't simple!

I hate them, I just do. Everyone. No one is exempted from my hatred, No one is! They're all the same! their simplicity, their commonness! It´s just unbearable, insufferable.

I hate everyone, I do. I just do

An Impossible Hope Natalia Culebro Robles Gull's Cove was lonely since 1874, because every man in that little town went on a long sea trip. What the women didn’t know was that during the trip a big storm broke up their ship and only a few survived. Martha was a woman who was waiting for her husband Eben who was one of the survivors.

Alisa was a mermaid who helped the men who survived get to their home, but especially helped Eben, and they fell in love. The years passed and Martha was still waiting for her “faithful" husband. In 1900 Martha died from a strange sickness and she never got to see Eben again.

Dangerous Words Grisselit@ Navarro The history takes place in a school where the students don't like to take classes. In the classroom the teacher began to the explain the new topic because the test would be on Monday. The students were angry for the concepts that she used. All day from morning, the students spent time cursing the class and the teacher; they wanted the teacher not to come to school the next day. The next day the teacher did not come, and at the beginning the students were happy. But afterwards, they learned that the teacher had had an accident. The students said, “If we hadn’t cursed the class, the teacher would be fine." They repented, so they went to the hospital to see the professor to apologize for the bad character of all.

The Mirror Mario Andrés López When I woke up I was lying on the sand and listening to the strangest noise ever. I walked to the sea following the noise, I started to swim until the sea covered me and I was able to see the origin of the noise, it was a mermaid’s singing. The mermaid came closer to me, but I had to emerge from the water and take a breath, I was surprised to see that the mermaid followed me and introduced herself, she said her name was Alisa and that she was there to help me remember what had happened.

Alisa started asking questions, but I didn't know the answer, I barely remembered my name but as I was telling her the situation I was having, something shiny emerged from the water, it was like a mirror and something started to play on it and I was watching things I didn't know.

The mirror played like a movie of a man that looked like me, from what I understood his name was Even and he was from a place called Gull’s Cove where he had a wife called Marta and a newborn baby. Suddenly, the image changed and the man was in the middle of a storm and he appeared in the exact same place where I was lying moments ago.

The mermaid told me that the guy from the mirror was me and that I was on an undiscovered island, I became really nervous because after Alisa told me all these things, she just disappeared. I went back to the beach and for almost 20 years I have been waiting for Alisa to come and help me find a way off this island. This is my last story I have run out of pens to write more. I hope someone finds me alive, and if not, I just want my wife and kid to know that I spent all my time on this island just thinking about them.

A Trip to the Caribbean Helen Corzo Last summer a painter with a bronze tone traveled on a cruise to the Caribbean to paint beautiful landscapes.

During his trip he saw a lovely couple with a nice background of the sea arriving in the Bahamas, and he started to translate what he was looking at.

He loved to paint seascapes. The trip was ideal for many paintings.

He was fascinated by the image of this painting and his main goal was to make some paintings with people in them.

After he finished his first painting, Marc was looking for a new image to paint on the cruise.

He felt inspired, in one day he painted three seascapes with people in them.

He felt it would be a good trip, because he had found some wonderful places like the beaches he visited in the trip.

Suddenly he met a beautiful girl on the cruise.

He thought that the girl was his muse for his the next paintings.

The girl would be a fleeting love embodied in the paintings, because both were from distant places.

He had found a reason that could tell a story with the paintings; Marc always remembered that summer in the Caribbean.

Reasons Why Plastic Surgery Shouldn't Be Disapproved Laura Ruiz What do you think of people that are getting plastic surgery? That he or she has no self-esteem at all?

That as we were born is how God meant us to be? Certainly, there has been a huge controversy, especially nowadays, about the reasons why people have plastic surgery done.

First of all, we need to define the concept of plastic surgery. Just because the name includes the word "plastic", people sometimes think that patients who have this surgery are fake or superficial, but actually the name isn't taken from the synthetic substance but from the Greek word plastikos, meaning “able to be molded or formed”.

Also, it’s important to identify that there are two types of plastic surgery: Reconstructive and cosmetic (or aesthetic). Reconstructive procedures are done in order to correct defects like birthmarks, deformities, broken bones, injuries, and rebuilding of parts of the body and therefore it improves the function of that part of the body. On the other hand, cosmetic procedures are meant to change a person’s part of the body that he or she is not satisfied with.

Some time ago, plastic surgery was merely a luxury, but now the number of people who have surgery done has increased greatly. Why is this “phenomenon” growing so rapidly? I think the answer is that as the techniques and technology improve, people are having more access to it, even though it is expensive, people don’t feel insecure of getting plastic surgery since there are plenty of people who have tried it and have gotten excellent results.

I absolutely agree with plastic surgery; I mean, why wouldn’t I? If people feel better, have more selfesteem and are happy with it, then go ahead. It’s not my right to judge these people who are free to do to their body whatever they want. I want to clarify that I myself wouldn’t get plastic surgery done (or that’s what I say now that I have no wrinkles yet). However, there are some people who state that plastic surgery is not necessary since beauty comes from the inside, and I say Come on! That’s not true.

Well I don’t mean to be superficial, but I’m just saying what the big majority of society thinks (that’s not what I think though). If a group of people see someone who is fat or ugly or whatever, that’s not accepted as beautiful in the eyes of society, then they will laugh at this person right? Everyone has done it. Everyone at least once has criticized someone because of their appearance. So don’t come trying to be “moral” and “right” saying that beauty comes from the inside, because even though it may be true, society itself makes these people want to become pretty.

Besides, if your argument is that “we should accept what God gave us” that is completely right. We should accept the ability that God gave us to create technology and use it to become more beautiful and to improve our appearances right?

Of course there’ll be some risks, like in every other kind of surgery, but as the song says “beauty has a price”… and in this case the price would be money, risks and pain… and the last one I’m not willing to accept >_<.

Remember that everyone has the right to do whatever they want to their bodies (while not affecting someone else of course) so we shouldn’t judge others.

Football Jaime RodrĂ­guez Mayorga American football, known in the United States and Canada simply as football, and often as gridiron or tackle football outside North America, is a competitive team sport known for combining strategy with physical play. The objective of the game is to score points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. The ball can be advanced by carrying it (a running play) or by throwing it to a teammate (a passing play). Points can be scored in a variety of ways, including carrying the ball over the opponent's goal line, catching a pass thrown over that goal line, kicking the ball through the goal posts at the opponent's end zone, or tackling an opposing ball carrier within his end zone. The winner is the team with the most points when the time expires.

American football is closely related to Canadian football, but with significant differences. Both sports originated from rugby football. The major forms of football in the United States are collegiate football and professional football. There have been numerous major professional football leagues in the U.S.; although the only one currently in existence is the National Football League (NFL).

The sport is also played outside the United States. National professional and collegiate leagues exist in United Kingdom, Germany, Italy, Switzerland, Finland, Sweden, Japan, Mexico, Israel, Spain, Austria, and several Pacific Island nations

Paradise Is Seven Stars Oscar Sarmiento López Walls covered with gold, lunchtime under the sea, your own Rolls Royce parked in the front door and to play tennis on a court fifty-five floors high; sounds like fantasy, but it is truth at the Burj Al Arab, the only seven stars hotel in the world. The goal of this essay is to find out why this hotel is ranked so high by comparing and contrasting it with the average five stars hotel.

To begin with, the similarities that Burj Al Arab shares with the average five stars hotel. In the first place, they present the same “basic” services. Both the Burj al Arab and the five stars hotel give their costumers a comfortable experience with soft beds, a bathroom in each room, elevators, room service, places to exercise, restaurants, etc. For example, at Caesar’s Palace in Las Vegas, there are 5 swimming pools and two gyms, the same case in the Burj al Arab. Also both, Caesar’s Palace & Burj al Arab have many restaurants with flavors from all around the world. Secondly, they are located in cities that are very visited by foreign people; they can be tourists or businessmen. There is the Burj al Arab in Dubai, a city that is growing and becoming richer because of the people that invest in United Arab Emirates.

Also, representing the side of the average five stars hotels, the Bellagio, which is also located in an important gambling and nightlife place that hence is touristic, Las Vegas. And last but not least, there is always no vacancy. Burj al Arab, because of its world-wide popularity is always full of people every day, likewise, The Mirage, another famous hotel in Las Vegas. Another reason is that these two hotels offer many other activities beside the ones that you can do in the city were they are located. For example, in The Mirage, there is a casino and many shows like “LOVE” a musical about the Beatles, likewise, the Burj al Arab gives to their guests the opportunity to go to its own water park, Wild Wadi.

On the other hand, the Burj al Arab, although it shares many characteristics with the five stars hotels, it has many unique features that make it different from any other lodging establishment. First of all, the size and location of the building. The Burj al Arab is the tallest hotel in the world, with the tallest lobby and the only hotel situated on its own artificial island. There are very large hotels like the MGM grand; however, they don’t have the same room that the Burj al Arab has. Secondly, all the luxury that Burj al Arab has in it; once the guests arrive in Dubai, they are received at the airport by the crew of the Burj al Arab and taken to the hotel in a Rolls Royce Phantom that belongs to the guest during their stay in the mentioned hotel. As a fact, there is no other hotel that gives this service to their customers. Another example of the luxury of the Burj al Arab are the walls of the lobby, some restaurants and suites are totally covered with gold. Finally, the food service. Surely, all the hotels have restaurants, but the ones in the Burj al Arab are unique because they have the best ranked chefs of the world. Also, they use some ingredients that are located only in the place where you are from, for example, Mexicans can ask for mole or Germans for Frankfurt sausage. Another example is that in the food you can find ingredients such as golden dust and slides of gold.

By comparing and contrasting the differences and similarities between the average five stars hotels and the Burj al Arab, the reason why the BAA is at the top of the list of the best hotels in the world is more than clear. Ranked with seven stars the Burj al Arab makes their guests have the best time of their life, mixing exquisite food, luxury and good service that no other hotel in the entire world can match.

8D José Guillermo Moguel Narcia During a warm and quiet night, they heard a chilling scream of a woman in a hospital with several comfortable rooms. The woman's pain was so strong, she kept screaming. You could see the woman in a bed full of blood; several doctors treated and supported her to survive. Doctors were concerned about whether a woman without high hopes of living could survive and were not hearing the screams.

Doctors quickly sought a solution so the woman could survive.

Quickly, in the warm night, a man came running, dropping everything he was doing across the street.

Once the man came into where the woman was, the woman stopped crying. The man began to mourn, and she shed one tear. They asked all doctors to leave the room where they were, because something unexpected was about to happen. They saw with great love and sighs that her son had been born after several attempts. They both were looking at him, and smiles and tears were shed. They said they were happy to have a child after two years of trying, and they were happiest family that ever existed.

The Hill of Thought Daniel Gutierrez Once upon a time, on a cold winter morning in the highlands of Chiapas, a young early riser went for a walk in the woods.

He had been doing so for many days; he went out to look for ideas on how to capture the love of a certain girl. Going through his usual route, he heard something calling from a site in the forest Suddenly, a reflection of his own conscience approached him trying to say something.

“Your actions have been taken too far, not only for her but also of your own limits. What are you doing?”

“I do not know, because I have tried being a good boy, being funny, outgoing and all, but what I've done has been for nothing.”

“Be yourself, authentic, witty, original, I do not know, but if you really want to conquer her, you have to give that extra.”

The boy was mulling over his words. On a rock, he thought, “I could do things from now on.”

Heading back to his house, he said to himself, “why not? If I'm brave enough to speak, I should ask her for a serious date.”

Planning, organizing, and having the courage to try it are different things. To do so, he not only had to overcome what others said. But also his own fear.

This is the time; I will never be the same nor have the same opportunity. So there is only everything to gain and nothing to lose.

The Time Francisco Javier Molina Mayorga It seems that time has no mercy. Always going forward without stopping, without waiting for anyone, no matter what happens, time is a lonely walker without past or future. Man is only a temporary actor, while time is the irreplaceable stage of the curious and wonderful play which we call life, however it is Man who performances it. Man exists, he can feel, he leaves his mark on his way, time being eternal cannot do this. Therefore it is worth living even thought we know the final destination of our history.

The Lenses Luis Antonio Hernadez Garcia There was once a vagabond who was very poor and all his life was spent looking for food in the trash cans. One night he was crossing a very dark street when he heard shouts and noises as if someone were hitting someone. He advanced to see more closely and saw two tall men with black suits. They had a scientist kidnapped, and were, asking him, â&#x20AC;&#x153;where did you leave them, what did you do with them?â&#x20AC;?

The scientist was saying that he would not say anything, and then they killed him and went away.

The vagabond started looking for his food and found a few lenses that seemed to be strange since it seemed that they were changing color. The vagabond gathered them and the following day he tried to sell them but he was not successful. It was one very sunny day and his eyes were hurting him, and then he remembered the lenses and he put them on- He was there when he started seeing strange things, saw a person knocked down, then, he took the lenses off and he saw that it had not happened. Not scared at all, he saved the lenses, 30 minutes later, a person was crossing the street and a car knocked the guy down.

The vagabond could not believe what he saw. He put the lenses on again and looked towards another part at the time when a person was entering the veterinary, and another one was going out with a dog.

On taking the lenses off, he did not see anybody, but after 30 minutes the person appeared and he entered the veterinary and another one went out with a dog.

The vagabond at the time knew that he could see the future, but just 30 minutes, and then he went to see the results of the lottery, put on the lenses and saw the numbers that worked out at the time. He bought a ticket, noted the numbers that he had seen and 30 minutes later the vagabond was rich.

The Day Everything Changed Its Course LuisFer Corzo It was a sunny Saturday in June when an average, very religious man called Steve Bai decided to take a walk in Central Park. He had left home at 9 am; his wife said he didn't appear until another Saturday in the month of July.

Same thing happened to Macy May. Neither Macy's boyfriend nor Steve's wife noticed anything strange about their respective loved ones. Not until today at 9 pm at Port Authority, NYC. There were lots of people waiting for the Ferry, buying tickets, leaving the station, etc. On a corner of the station was a man holding a bible telling everyone the end was near. On a public phone, there was a frantic woman trying to make a call, but she could not. Not from public phones, not from cell phones.

The woman got frantic and started hitting the phone and rudely taking other people's phones to see if she could make a call. She kept screaming "I need to call them. Somebody help me! Help yourselves!" as some cops came and took her to a police car.

All of the sudden, the sky started lighting up. Almost 50 UFOs were seen and stopped exactly above the station. Taking advantage of the distraction, the woman took a capsule out of her pocket: a cyanide capsule. The man just stared at the ships as he fell on his knees with his eyes drowned in tears; he kissed the bible and turned himself to fate.

It's been only 15 minutes since the UFOs' arrival. The station is full of corpses with grotesque holes instead of heads. Not a single person survived that terrible screech coming from the ships.

Time runs by... itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s been 15 years after the first invasion. Humans around the world fight against aliens while 150 states are already taken by them. As the creatures keep looking for survivors to exterminate, an important-looking extraterrestrial tells himself "Fools. Weren't two persons to give a warning in each city enough advantage?"...

No Way Fredy Ovando - I don't like it! You have to rewrite this thing if you want to make it interesting.

- But sir, this is the fifth version of the script I've done this week. You don’t like anything.

- You don't know nothing. I'm the boss, so you have to do what I'm asking you to do.

- OK, fine.

So that day began badly for Joe, a Paramount script writer. He had to type the same scene over again while making some interesting changes.

While he was walking, distracted on the street, he suddenly saw a girl who was making a phone call at a public phone on the other side of the street, she was a really cute girl and he couldn't take his eyes off of her. Then, the girl started crying, and banging the phone. Joe arrived with her and asked why she was angry. She told him that she was calling her boyfriend and then he heard a woman's voice saying “Honey, kiss me again”.

Joe invited her to eat something and to talk. She accepted. While they were walking and talking about Ferries (the girl's passion) and eating a sandwich on the street, a strange guy approached them and began talking about God and stuff. They were trying to ignore him, but the more they ignored him, the more he increased his voice level. So, Joe decided to run away with his female partner, but when they did so, the man with the Bible stayed on the corner of the street and began yelling something about God's punishment for humankind.

Later, Joe told the girl that he had to make a phone call. She stayed sitting in the chair where they had been the last hour. Then when he came back, the girl had gone. He looked for her almost everywhere, but nothing; he had lost her.

At night, when he came back home he was sad. That girl was just perfect for him, and he had lost her.

Suddenly he remembered the scene he had to rewrite for the next day. A brilliant idea came to his mind; he knew how to find this girl--by making a scene about that day.

Next morning Joe gave his boss his new scene: PORT AUTHORITY NYC 9 PM TODAY. THE WAITING AREA IS CROWDED WITH PEOPLE; SOME WAITING FOR THE NEXT FERRY THAT WILL TAKE THEM TO STATEN ISLAND A FEW MINUTES FAR AWAY FROM MANHATTAN, OTHERS LEAVING THE STATION OR RUSHING TO GET SOME TICKETS. ON A CORNER A MAN IS HOLDING A BIBLE AND IS PREACHING OUT TO THE PUBLIC WHO SEEM UNINTERESTED. A WOMAN IS TRYING TO USE A PUBLIC PHONE BUT THEN SHE STARTS TO BANG IT, ANNOYED AND ANGRY. THE BOAT ARRIVES AND ALL THE TRANSIT GETS ON. THEN SUDDENLY THE WOMAN STARTS SCREAMING OUT OF NOTHING, SHE SEEMS PERTURBED AND MESSY. POLICE OFFICERS IMMEDIATELY COME TO CHECK THE SITUATION AND ARREST HER WHILE THE MAN USING THE BIBLE STARTS TO YELL LOUDER. - It's just what I wanted. It's perfect. By the way, my daughter told me she met some “Joe“yesterday.

She also told me about the crazy Bible man.

Where to Go at Vacation Time Andrea Zenteno Giner Before going on vacation, everyone has to choose where to go. They can decide between going to a quiet place with natural settings, or going to the big city with noise and a lot of stores to shop in. These two have a lot of differences and it is very important to consider each.

Most people have the idea to go to a quiet place with natural location, because they consider that this experience is more about relaxation, enjoying the peace that a quiet place offers. Instead of going place to place, running on the street, hearing the sound of the cars passing by; they can be enjoying a quiet place, doing nothing and having whatever they like. At this quiet place they can do outside activities such as yoga, telexing time and some others. This will help them with their stress and some other issues they might have. At the end, they will be completely relaxed and able to start the day in a better way.

On the other side, they can choose going to big cities, it could be more adventure than the quiet place we talk about in the past paragraph. Going to big cities would be more adventure because they don’t have the quiet they may want, but it is more adventurous. The big cities offer them more activities that in their hometown, also offers new activities that may not have done them anytime of their life. This experience is very different from the quiet place but it offers them more activities that the other place.

For me, choosing between this two is very difficult, but at the same time it depend on my life mode and work. For example, if I’m all stress out because of my work or family issues y will pick a quiet place to relax and get my stress out. On the other side if I’m all adventure and exited I will choose the big city. I like been running from store to store, taking taxis to go in it and knowing the city and been al in movement. The big city will give me a great time that I will never forget. I enjoy different vacations, but it depends on the peace of my life to choose what type of vacation I would like to choose

Virtual Affair Rosario H I have fallen in love twice. The first time was in September when I met the girl I am now married to.

The second time was when I learned to chat through the Internet. I met “sexygirl43”, a girl from New York who was smart and beautiful. She was tall, blond and had blue eyes. She was wonderful, she was nice and funny, I fall in love with her. We haven’t had seen each other though, so we arranged a date.

My wife was supposed to go shopping with some friends the same day of the date. Everything was perfect; I was going to recognize her wearing a red sweater and a pink scarf, and she would identify me because of my green vest. We agreed to be there at 5 pm at “The Pub”. I arrived there 5 minutes late, I was nervous. I sat down near the bar and started scanning the place. She wasn’t there so I decided to take a drink. Suddenly I felt a hand in my back; I turned around to meet my wife. She was wearing a red sweater and a pink scarf. We both stared at each other. We didn’t know what to do. She asked me what was I doing there, and I answered “The same that you”. After minutes of silence she started to cry, she said she was sorry, that she thought that the guy she met at the Internet was funny and interesting.

She said that she wasn’t planning to cheat on him. I said I thought the same of the Internet-girl. I have fallen in love again with the same woman.

Living in Nowhere Town Enrique This is a story about a little girl who lives in “Nowhere Town” where strange things tend to happen. Liza is a girl that likes to play with her little toys every time she can, one day she was playing as usual when suddenly a little boy appeared and asked her to go with him. Liza knew that she wasn’t allowed to leave the house’s garden and that following a stranger was even a worse thing, but for some reason she felt safe with the boy and followed him.

- “Where is Liza?”

The mother asked, she was angry and very worried because of her missing daughter.

- “I’ve told her not to leave the house’s garden!”

She didn’t know that her girl would be gone for a while.

- “Keep Walking” The boy said, they were about to reach a place where the girl had never gone before and that surely would be impossible for her parents to find her, but she didn’t care about it because she was more interested in where the boy was leading her.

- “Here’s where I woke up this morning without knowing where I was and I need to find my parents before they get mad” said the boy to the girl when he saw the look on her face, “On purpose, my name is Richard, do you know where we are?”

- “She should be in here; I left her for 3 minutes! 3minutes! And now she’s gone! How do I know that she wasn’t kidnapped? I’ll have to call the police” - “Well, I know that we shouldn’t be in here, strange things happen” - “Like, which kind of strange things?”

- “My father doesn’t want to tell me, he says that it’s a story for grown-up people, but he warned me about coming to this place; he said that someone could appear and eat me” - “Well, I haven’t eaten you yet, have I? - “And don’t you remember where you came from? Where were you yesterday?

- “Hmm, I don’t know, I really can’t remember and so I can’t find my way home” - “Where did you wake up?”

What happened next is something that no kid should have to live through, ever until he or she has grown, what happens next is going to be a little disturbing for the reader but trust me when I say that it was even worse for the girl. After she asked the boy for the place where he woke up, he took her to such place and what she saw was horrifying, there was the boy covered by worms that were covering the fresh meat and blood that was coming out from his organs, she yelled as hard as her lungs allowed her and started to suffer a heart attack.

- “I heard something”, the police said, “I think it was a girl’s screaming, it came from that place, come on!”

During the girl’s last minutes, she noticed that the boy was missing and that she was entirely alone, she just closed her eyes while she was dealing with the pain of her attack.

- “CPR! Someone who knows how to do CPR! - “I know!”

- 1, 2, 3…

For 3 minutes they were practicing CPR on Liza until she was able to wake up, they never noticed about the rotten body near them, they were just able to take the girl to the hospital in order to check that she was actually fine.

What she never knew was that the boy had been trying for months to be noticed by someone because he had a car accident with his family and everybody was picked up except for him, the only thing they did for the boy was tag him as missing.

The saddest thing is that the heart attack caused some kind of amnesia in the girl, erasing every memory about what happened, and erasing the boy from the memory of anyone who may have known him.

THE END

The Town of the Magic Shoes Abraham Culebro Perez A long time ago in a little town near Salem City a young boy named Charles found a pair of shoes.

Charles looks the shoes carefully for some minutes before he put them on.

Charles felt something strange around his body, he didn´t know what happened but he felt a high power with himself. After that Charles ran to his house quickly and told his father what had happened. The boy showed the shoes. Son and father thought that the shoes were magic.The boy touched the shoes and examined carefully.

Charles decided to experiment with his new shoes, so he left his house and began to run on the grass.

Pretty soon, the boy was flying through the air. The father, scared, screamed: "Charles what's going on?" However, the boy was happy flying in the air.

After that the father spoke with his son and they decided to use the magical powers to help people.

Since that day the little town is known as: Charles town.

Here is a song I wrote some time ago...

Natalia Culebro Robles every day every night youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re in my mind all the time every song every movie reminds me of your cutie every smile every teardrop reminds me of the season u were everything I dream of so please take me back to the house in that little town where u hold my hand so tight and watch the stars upon the sky take me back to the time we have our very first kiss were the trees were moving across the wind it was raining so hard I didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t care cuz everything I need was you next to me every smile every laugh makes me happy every hug every kiss feels like flying! take me back to the house in that little town where u hold my hand so tight and watch the stars upon the sky take me back to the time we have our very first kiss were the trees were moving across the wind it was raining so hard I didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t care cuz everything I need was there next to me take me back to the house in that little town where I fell in love with you for the very first time

A Sad Love Letter Francisco Javier Molina Mayorga It's hard to say goodbye to someone who was part of my heart for a long time, I promised to be faithful to you at all times, but the love is so unpredictable. I write this to you because I do not have the courage to hurt your sweet heart, you have loved me unconditionally and I swear that during this time I also have done. I promised you too that I always would be honest to you and if someone else came to my heart you would know. I fear to say that this has happened. I met a girl by chatting about a week ago; I thought it was just an adventure, or just a platonic love, but no more than that. I was wrong, this week I fell in love with her and she fell in love with me. Believe me, this was not my decision, it just happened. I hope you can forgive me someday. I am really sorryâ&#x20AC;Ś

A Night of 1874 Frida Torres There he was, between those brave waves, which were shaking all his body; he was sure about something: this was the end. Eben could not felt anything at all; then a flashback came to his head: "Martha, his beautiful wife was showing him the dress she was wearing the day before". Eben felt he was crying, but there were no tears; he saw a lot of blood, but there was no pain, something was wrong.

He was in firm land a second later, could not believe he was safe, he tried to look around to search for anything that could help him, but it was impossible, something that was more powerful than him was there. A beautiful mermaid, the most gorgeous person ever; then she started singing and he could not resist; he got closer to her, a little bit more every second; but there was something really wrong with her she was not beautiful anymore, she wasâ&#x20AC;Ś He woke up with a frenetic breathing, he saw the sun was shining and illuminating the church of Gull's Cove.

Elephants Priscilla Soler Elephant trunks can get very heavy; it is not uncommon to see elephants resting them over a tusk! Also, elephants cry, play, have incredible memories, and laugh! Elephants are sensitive fellow animals where if a baby complains, the entire family will rumble and go over to touch and caress it, how nice right?

Elephants have greeting ceremonies when a friend that has been away for some time returns to the group. Elephants grieve at a loss of a stillborn baby, a family member, and in many cases other elephants. Elephants don't drink with their trunks, but use them as "tools" to drink with; this is accomplished by filling the trunk with water and then using it as a hose to pour it into the elephant's mouth. Interestingly, the Asian elephant is more closely related to the extinct mammoth than to the African elephant.

Walking in the Woods Carolina Heinz Albarán A long time ago in a small village situated in the top of the hills there was a middle-aged musician who found a harp while he was walking in the wood, his name was Peter. That morning the wind was blowing the leaves and the sunshine made his face warm. Major Andrew had an honorable attitude and when he knew about what happened he warned Peter he should consign the harp to the police until someone claimed it. The musician felt he was being accused so he tried to defend himself by handing the harp to the police. While the police were making an exhaustive search for the owner, Peter was hoping they didn´t find him because he wanted to keep the instrument. Peter returned to the wood to meditate about his actions, just before sunset he saw something in the way; it was the same harp he had found two weeks ago, and the one that supposed to be with the police. He thought it couldn’t be a coincidence he found the same instrument again in the same place. Peter took a few minutes to meditate on the situation in order to make the right decision. On a second thought he was considering it wasn´t a coincidence what had happened because he was a musician so he finally decided to keep the harp without saying anything to the Major. He believed that the instrument had a special purpose in his life. Peter was very pleased about his decision so he took the harp with him to his house. After some years he became the very best musician.

2012 Mayan Prediction...Doomsday? (Article) Robert Mtz Since the beginning of times the existence of living creatures is condemned to an end of time.

Cultures all along the earth had created their own prediction on how the world is going to end, and how the universe is going to meet its final destination. From the Big Bang to the Big Rip, or maybe the Big Crunch, in which the universe is going to collapse into itself, implode. ¿Do you know that in less than 500,000 years there's going to be a comet shower in our solar system? ¿Do you know than in a million years Andromeda galaxy is going to collapse with the Milky Way? These events are catalogued as Doomsday events.

A prediction made by the Mayan Long-Count Calendar establishes the end of times on December 21st, 2012.

Is this going to be true?

Doomsday events considered for happening are listed here: -A global pandemic.

-Geological event. (Super volcano, flood basalt) -Gamma ray burst from the sun.

-Reorientation on earth's axis of rotation.

-Increase in the sun's power.

-Impact event. (Comet, Asteroid) -Change in physical constants.

-Hyper cane -Climate change -Depletion of oil -Nuclear, biological war -Cybernetic revolt -Nanotechnology and the grey goo inundation.

There are more, but seeing the fragility of the world we can´t expect that the list contains at least a hundred of possibilities.

The earth sadly is going to end eventually, let's not hope our children don't have to suffer because of our actions.

"For every action, there’s an equal and opposite reaction"

Democracy Elena Democracy is a form of government in which power is held by the people and not just one person, under a free electoral system. And it means popular government. Indeed is against monarchy and oligarchy. When I heard the word democracy what first comes to my mind is the power that each person has to make or take a decision. In my opinion, democracy is formed for by the next top: Freedom, Equality, and representatively. Mexico is a democratic country; because the society has the power of give them opinion about the laws, norms, and reforms and especially on the politics, so the persons are who can change those decisions. Democracy is made by everybody because we all form the society and it´s better than the other ones because the decision are taken by the people and not just one person.

The Necklace Grisselit@ Navarro There once was a very shy young girl named Cris who was sad because she was lonely and had very bad luck in everything because she always thought negatively. One day her grandmother gave her a necklace before she died. Her grandmother told her that the necklace was magical and had an angel within it, to which Cris began to laugh.

Arriving home, Cris put the collar next to her bed and thought: "If I sold this necklace I could buy a dress that would make seem made me see more prettier and I would find a boyfriend" at that the collar began to move and started giving out a white smoke and at that moment an angel appeared, Cris was very scared but reacted calmly, the angel told her that she didn’t have to fear and he was there to grant three wishes. She smiled at this she could not believe it.

She told the angel that she wanted to be prettier, get lucky, have friends and a boyfriend, then the angel told her that she just needed to wear the necklace and begin to feel a change, after this the angel disappeared spraying her with magic dust. Cris was very confused by the situation and put on the necklace.

The next day she thought the necklace was magic and began to feel very good, she struggled to fix her hair, by wearing her best clothes, and trying to make friends at school which succeeded spectacularly.

Cris had all day the necklace and did not take it off for anything, felt nothing could go better, she felt sure of herself. At the end of the day the kid who liked her talked to her. Cris loved the necklace because she knew it was over with her bad luck, but when she got home she realized that she no longer was wearing, she had lost the necklace.

The next day, Cris thought nothing would ever be the same, but at the end of the day she realized that nothing had changed, that's when she understood that the change depended on her and suggested she think positive and try to have confidence herself. Cris had changed her life and was very happy because she realized that this angel was only the spirit of her grandmother who encouraged her to improve her life. Cris became sociable, positive, self-assured and got a boyfriend.

Crickets!

Fabián Solórzano Yesterday I was sleeping in my room as always, when I heard a weird sound, something like this “crii crii”, but the sound was so strong, I thought that was probably a big bug or something like that, and I decided find the bug.

A few meters from my bed, that bug was waiting to attack me.! , I could see, Its big eyes, giant legs, the ugly antennae harassing me, it was an immense horrible cricket.

I thought, “if I don’t make noise, I could catch it”, and then tried to use inverse psychology and tried to negotiate with the bug, but not, it was a bad idea, I could see how the bug laughed at me.

Then, I said: “come on man, it’s just a little defenseless bug”, and I tried throwing a rag to catch it and then release it. I was searching for some rag in my drawer but when I had found it, it was too late; five crickets were on my bed! I couldn’t believe it, that is so disgusting !.

In my despair, I thought to shout for my mom, (Ho yeah I know, it’s so embarrassing but I don’t know why I wrote that), but I did a better thing, I picked up my old skateboard and I ran so fast to my bed and smashed all the crickets.. yeah, you can imagine what happened then.

I had to sleep on the floor for that night...

The Beautiful Plant Lupita Fonseca One day at a summer camp a Boy Scout named John found a plant, the most beautiful plant that he had seen in his life. John approached the plant to appreciate its beauty. The plant had bright colors in shades of pink, red, blue and purple, the scout was amazed to see it. John took the flower and put it in his backpack and took it to his house where he placed it in his room.

The days passed and the plant was growing more and more each day, although over time the plant was most beautiful there was something in it that john did not like. One night John was doing his homework when he saw a mouse under his bed, John was ready to capture it, but a scream paralyzed him, John ran across his bed and saw only the plant but there was no mouse. The Boy Scout could not understand what had happened and tried to find some logical answer but there was no doubt the plant had swallowed the mouse. He must clear his mind and find a solution.

John researched about carnivorous plants and discovered that his plant only ate mice and did not represent a danger to his family. He ran to tell all to his mother and although she was not sure what her son said she tried to assimilate the situation to help her little boy scout. Since then the beautiful plant really helped the family to keep the house free of mice, it is also like the cat they never had and they do not have the expense of feeding one.

An Unnoticed Love Francisco Javier Molina Mayorga On July 19, the night was full of stars that created a nostalgic atmosphere in the hall of the senior party of the high school. All students, including my friends and I knew that this would be the last time enjoy with colleagues from the classroom.

I suddenly saw a young woman approached, looking really beautiful, like if a fairy godmother would have helped as Cinderella.

I had a huge surprise when I saw her face; she was Karen, my best friend from school. I was hypnotized by her beauty, she came to greet me as she did always, however I could not leave the charm of her eyes.

I could not believe that for three years I had not realized how beautiful she was. Her friends noticed how I saw her, and then Selene one of Karen´s friends whispered something in her ear. Karen looked over at me and when we found our eyes we blushed and smiled like never before.

The music begin, all my friends went to the dance floor, I invited Karen to dance and she accepted.

It was a strange felling, I had spent the last three years with her, but it was the first time which I felt nervous to take her hand, I could see that she was nervous too.

We danced all night; there was a full and then started the romantic music. Our eyes met again, her face was radiant with the moon and the brightness in her eyes made to my heart beat fast and . . . . she kissed me. Time stood still, our hearts beat to the slow rhythm of music, although I had already kissed many girls, this kiss was unique. Just one kiss was enough to realize that in three years since we were in love and since that night she is my beloved girlfriend.

Drunk driving

By Estefania Molina Nowdays accidents caused by drunk drivers are more often and the lack of education seems to be the cause of the accidents.

Since the XXI century young people star driving earlier and as they aren’t mature enough to take the responsibilities that driving involves, they drink and later crash. This doesn’t mean that young people are the only ones who crash when they are drunk, people from all ages do to but recently the number of crashes provoked by the young one has increased quicker than the middle and advanced age.

Even though advices have been given all over the world, young people still don’t get the damaged they may get to cause by driving when they are drunk. People need to understand that they don’t only put themselves in danger, but everyone around them. More and more people are killed in car accidents even when they haven’t drunk a drop of alcohol.

It is all about education and not only having knowledge of the consequences but having conscious. Stop waiting for something to happen.

They are many things you can do to prevent drunken driving accidents but the main advice is: If you drink, don’t drive!

Remember that it is not only you; there are many people around you who might get hurt all because you did not take the recommended advices.

Any place you are you can ask but a cab, take that in count.

My Beautiful Story (even if Mr. Michael doesn't think so) Priscilla Soler Early, on the sunny day after the wedding, John and Kate were already on their way to the airport, leaving lovely 5th. Avenue to their so wanted cruise trip over Mediterranean Sea and around. Kate was waiting for John at the snack store when suddenly she realized she had lost her wedding ring and she didn’t even notice. Kate started to feel very anxious and worried, it wasn’t just a ring, it was her wedding ring in her honeymoon, and please, it was a Tiffany’s. Her first thought was to go looking back to the bathroom, maybe she left it when she was washing her hands, or maybe in her pockets. She just started walking when the microphone voice started talking: -“Passengers with Barcelona destination are now boarding”-. “Jesus!”- she said in lower voice, she couldn’t lose the airplane, and when she looked back she saw John waving her to hurry up, her hands were shaking and she couldn’t possibly think of any excuse to tell John that the ring he had bought for her was now lost. When she finally arrived next to John her face was pale as a frozen sausage roll, her eyes inexpressive and her lips shaking. -My dear- John said, touching her forehead, “You look pale as a ghost, are you ok?” She didn’t know what to say, what a terrible person she could be to lose her wedding ring just the next day her husband gave it, how could any man would forget a women like this, John would be so angry at her, that she would ruin their vacations and feel guilty forever. “I’m fine, just feeling a little dizzy” Kate finally said, while walking all way down to their first seats on the plane. -I need to tell him-, Kate thought, she took his hand and while the plane was starting to rise, she said “Baby, I feel so bad and so, so sorry but you need to know something. I lost my ring and I have no idea where I could possibly left it, please forgive me” and tears started to fall all over her eyes. “Oh, honey. How could you manage to be so distractive? You gave me your ring this morning when we were taking our package because you said you would lost it in your way to the airport, so I have been keeping it in my pocket all day long”, he kissed her nose and let a small laugh out of his mouth, Kate smiled and laughed too, she know remembered everything, John took her hand and put the beautiful ring back to her owner.

What Experience in High School Was the Most Valuable?

Gerardo Sosa Cruz The high school is important stage in my life for does different activities, and has different experiences.

The most valuable experience in my high school was when I travel to San Luis Potosi to play soccer with the representative team of soccer, and was an excellent experience because I play against other states and play in different fields, for example, field natural or artificial.

Despite of all and although we lost the three games, It was fantastic because we gave all of us in the field and in my case I let blood in the field and was very funny as the trip was very long, tired and in the bus we realize games and paint our partners with markers.

The most difficult was the return trip because we was tired and we can’t sleep in the bus because was very uncomfortable and because in return my other partners they did our a hazing and they cut our hair.

Loneliness LuisFer Corzo Some people have different concepts of friendship: Some people consider their friend someone who gets drugs for them, someone who gets alcohol, someone who's always in trouble... Anyway, I think a friend is someone you can easily hang out with and you like to do so. Now, a best friend is someone you can trust, but you also help, which leads me to the next point: I think I'm very trustworthy since I'm a sensitive person, so if I were you and I (you) were my best friend, I'd tell my secrets or problems to me; not only to solve 'em, but just like to let me know.

I really enjoy when people trust me, because when people doesn’t, you might feel like your friends have a bad concept of you. This is the reason why I've been feeling a kind invisible and internal loneliness. I don't want to sound superb, but I've seen some people enjoy hanging' out with me, they appreciate my friendship, etc. Nevertheless, there are lots of thing about my friends I never know until I hear the rumors.

This makes me feel kind of bad because I feel like my friends don't trust me (I'd like to add that sometimes they tell me important things, but only sometimes, which makes me feel like a last resource); as if they just see me like it's good hanging' out with me, sharing some laughs, a little spontaneous chit chat, but they don't want to get deeper... As if they just wanted a little bit of my friendship, not all of it.

This makes me think a lot and among my thoughts there is a confirmation about the theory that humans ain't individual beings. They live in a society and seem incapable of living alone.

Everybody needs somebody else because we don't come to this world alone, so we get used to company. And when you get used to company, once you feel like leaning to the lonely side of life, you feel a little scared and sad.

So tell me, what's friendship to you? What do you feel when you hear something about your friends when they didn't told you a thing about it? Do you think somebody could live on his/her own with no friends?

Working Children Julio Salazar What do you feel when you stop on the red light of the traffic light and see a boy much younger than you, working as a Clown? do you feel anger? or perhaps you feel shame? or do you think it’s funny? I feel shame for the country and I’m angry. it’s really unfair that children have to work to pay the house bills or their school, especially because we live in a country where education is supposed to be free. going to school is the unique obligation of children's, they are not supposed to work to pay the house, or to pay education, because paying house's requirements is the job of the parents, and paying the school is also obligation of them, but if they can´t afford them, they can go to public schools and study for free. I think that it should be illegal to make children work, and they should punish hardly this situations, because it is called laboral exploitation, and as I said, children have to study, because if they start working from now, they will be ignorant for the rest of their lives and won't get anything better. we have to get together and fight for children’s rights and stop laboral exploitation and start changing the world!

Mr. Mean Frida Torres There are days that you are in a 'not working' mood. Do not deny it, everyone have had a moment like that at least once in their life. There are different factors that can make you being in this mood, like almost failing physics or taking a hard test. Anyway, there are always solutions to this kind of mood.

Today, I found a really simple solution: Laughing.

Ok, maybe it's not the best solution; but it really makes you forget about the bad things that happened to you, which made you being in that mood.

There are always good ways to laugh, but one of the best is getting in an argument with your English teacher and all your classmates; you may be like: what? But it's true. It's really funny to try to discuss in a foreign language, because 'only God knows why' but you can express yourself better. maybe because you know everyone is learning as you do, and if you have a mistake, it's normal.

The discussion can be about anything (like when you teacher doesn't like your ideas for vidio+, he just talks about other English-class students, he doesn't want to change the test day, he is mean, etc.) The reason doesn't matter a lot, what it really matters is the fact you are practicing your English; as if you were in a normal conversation. That's a win situation.

The point here is that even you have bad days or moods; there are always ways of solving them. You have to find the best way, and that's it. Never forget about the past, but never forget that you're living in the present... searching for a future.

-Frida Torres PS. No offenses :) I really enjoyed today's class.

A Unique Opportunity Called Life Francisco Javier Molina Mayorga Have you ever felt that your life goes unnoticed? You get to think like you and I exist billions of human beings who are born and die and be replaced by others in small time frames incomparable over time itself. Well let me tell you that you're right, if you look on that side you can see a cold world where we are like little ants making a lot. But what if I told you that you are unique? Certainly there are thousands, but no one can take your place. Did you know that your fingerprint is unique and nobody in the world has one like that? Now no longer be unique sounds so impossible does not it? Still, do not you find meaning to the beautiful gift we call life? So let me give you some reasons worth living. The human being has the tools to change the course of its existence; few members have been enough of this wonderful species for enormous changes in the world, good and bad changes, but changes nonetheless.

So if they have been able to trace, you can too. By the simple fact of living you are leaving a legacy in the context which you participate; your family, your friends, even your enemies have been affected by your existence, and then you're making your mark. You might be surprised that you can find sense to life with details as small. Rather than be depressed by thinking about the meaning of life, better enjoy every moment that it will never again, enjoying every second of a kiss with the person you love every second of a football game with friends, every second that that you are with your family, every second that you taste an apple, life is too short and you don`t know if today could be your last day, then live like it was the last time, we only have one chance to live, make the most.

My Clean Dream Daniel Abad Escobar Palacios A fiction story about a child who believed in his dream.

I was just a child when I had a dream which completely determined my thinking: I dreamed that I created a device which improved the environmental condition, and I shared it with all my friends.

I knew that to achieve my dream required a big personal effort, so I decided to make a personal honor code: “I will do everything to achieve my goal”. Several years later, I met a professor who was a guide for me at the University because he gave me new ideas to created a environmental device; besides, I used to discuss with him about what sources I would use to create a product which has a good quality for a long term.

One day, a large environmental company offered me a job, so I accepted it immediately; for that reason, I considered that I had to duplicate my effort to accelerate the creation of my environmental device.

Two years later, I made a performance where I showed my main result: an ecological cistern which turned the dirty water into purified; my invention was so useful that the company transferred it from local to national stores.

Afterwards, I added one more statement in my personal honor code: “I made use of different sources to reach my dream, but the most important source was that I firmly believed in what I dreamed.”

World´s hidden places…

Celestun is located in Yucatan, Mexico where you can find a very extensive and unexplored mangrove forest, now days some tourist visit and take boat trips to see the flamingoes on their natural habitat. You can appreciate them all trough the year, especially on winter.

The flamingo is one of the most graceful and spectacular birds but they depend on a very fragile ecosystem that is why Celestun it is known as a Special Biosphere Reserve since 1989, It is amazing to see the flamingoes fly but it is prohibited to disturb them, boat men actually keep their distance and turn off their boat´s motor while they pass close to them and visitors can take all the pictures they wish, after that they are taken through the mangrove forest which is as beautiful as all the variety of birds you can find . After all that you go into the famous “mangrove tunnel” and there are places to relax, have a snack and swim in the natural water of the lagoon. So here is another destiny to consider on your next holiday.

Mariela Gutierrez

Complicated Lives Carloman Escobar Gutierrez It all started 2 months ago in the Waldorf-Astoria hotel. As it is well known, every year Mr. and Mrs. Golden organize the Halloween ball-party of the year. Mrs. Sarah Golden was the host as always and again she impressed everybody with her wonderful costume. She was dressed as an Egyptian queen, with silk robes and a golden crown. Sarah Golden was a successful clothes designer. She was blonde, natural beautiful and fairly tall. She owned a company called Lavay. Her company had worked with other designers of Prada, Versace and Dolce and Gabbana, so she was known among celebrities. In the other hand, Mr. Robin Golden was the co-host and as usual he would joke about USA present situation. He was dresses as the phantom of the opera, with a long cape and a white half-mask. Robin Golden was a major businessman in Wall Street. He was the founder of an important online network which provided a significant importance to the city. Once again, the ball room of the Waldorf-Astoria was filled with the most popular music, the most incredible food and the most recognized people in New York City. It could only be described as the perfect night. Around midnight, Jack Thomson, a famous movie director, appeared in the party. Apparently he was so distracted that he forgot to greet Mrs. Golden. But Sarah knew exactly what had happened. Days before, Sarah´s friend, Valerie Thomson, had talked to her about her husband’s affair and how she had found out. Valerie was very upset and ashamed of what people would think. She was thinking about getting a divorce and going away from the city. Sarah supported Valerie in any decision she would make since that is what friends do. Obviously she had chosen to get divorce. And now, Valerie´s husband, Jack Thomson, was angry at Sarah for encouraging Valerie to split up. However, Sarah didn’t care of what he thought, for her he was nothing but a waste of time. Suddenly an earthquake stroked the hotel, paralyzing the party. The electric power was disrupted while the worst quake in history devastated New York City. For 3 entire minutes, the people didn’t know what to do. Some were screaming, some were crying and others were just quiet. Everyone in the party waited in the dark, hoping that the hotel wouldn´t collapsed. Slowly the earthquake began to stop and the chaos that had spread to the city return back to normal. At the moment the earthquake stopped, everyone evacuated the building and returned to their homes. The party was officially over. Mr. and Mrs. Golden were very disappointed, but they knew it wasn´t their fault. Destiny had made a call.

For Thanksgiving, everything in the city was back to how it was. Traffic was crazy as usual, stores were decorated for the holiday and people rushed to get to work. Mr. Golden was at his office, when he received a call. Jack Thomson wanted to meet him for lunch to discuss some important issues. He accepted the invitation and agreed to meet him in a restaurant in Time Square. Once lunch time arrived, Mr. Golden headed to the restaurant and wondered what Jack could want to discuss. It was surprise for him that Jack had called. They weren´t exactly best friends, but Robin felt that he was a good and honest person. At first Robin couldn´t believe the words that Jack was saying. To believe that your wife is cheating on you is something hard to swallow. Robin didn´t want to believe it, but Jack show him some photos that expose Sarah Golden having to what it seemed an affair with a strange man. Mr. Thomson told him how much he felt sorry for him. Robin was still in shock, until Jack left since lunch time had finished. Then Mr. Golden returned to his work, thinking of what would happen next. In the way he saw a man entering a church. He looked rather naïve, like it was his first day as a Catholic. His name was Leo Clarkson. He man was going to the church for one reason, the past. He regretted things he had made in the past. He was determined to do anything to change his ways. That’s why he wanted to become a priest, so he could help other people in trouble. From that moment on, his life would change forever. He would no longer be a bad person.

Days passed so quickly and in blink of an eye it was already Christmas Eve. All the relatives from Sarah and Robin were to arrive to the Christmas dinner in The Golden´s house. As Sarah was putting on her clothes, Robin appeared. He had an annoyed and at the same time worried expression. She had never seen him that way. He slowly told her that he wanted a divorce. Right until that day, Jack kept sending pictures and videos of Sarah´s affair. So Robin had finally decided to end up their marriage. Once Robin spilled the words, Sarah paralyzed with the word “divorce”. She was looking into his face for an expression that

showed that he was joking. Sadly that never happened. Sarah handled to ask why he wanted to that. He told her that it was because of the affair. Sarah couldn´t understand what he was talking about. Robin then walked out the room without saying anything more. Sarah´s perfect dinner was vanished and the only thing left was fear and doubt of the future. For the rest of the night, Sarah had to fake a smile and make everyone believe that everything was all right. Unfortunately, it wouldn´t be ok.

One day before New Year´s Eve, Sarah received a call. She was in her house, alone, since Robin had left.

She was very depressed and couldn´t stop thinking about what went wrong. The call was from Mr. Golden´s secretary. She wanted to meet her. She knew about her situation and wanted to help her. Sarah was confused for all the mystery, but she wanted to know what she knew.

In New Year´s Eve Sarah drove to the New York City Port, that´s where they agreed to met. Once Sarah entered, she recognized an old friend. He was Leo Clarkson. She had never seen him since their high school graduation. Leo also recognized her and he approached and hugged her. Leo told her about his new life style as a priest and how God had guided him through rough times. He also told her that he was preaching to people in the port for his training. Sarah was surprised to see how much he had changed. Then Sarah told him about her problem. He was very sorry for her and told her he would pray for her. They say goodbye and exchanged telephone numbers. Then Sarah started looking for Wendy Free, Mr. Golden´s secretary. Finally she found her and greeted her. They sat in the waiting area of the port and started talking. Wendy told Sarah that Jack Thomson was providing Mr. Golden with information. She told her that she peaked in one package and found some revealing photos showing her and a man kissing. Sarah then understood everything. She thanked Wendy for telling her that important information. As soon as Wendy left, Sarah walked right to the public telephone. She inserted some coins and dial Jack Thomson´s number. For her luck he answered. She nagged him for lying and demanded him to tell the truth. Jack told her that it was his revenge for making Valerie go away. Then he hung up. Sarah was so furious, so angry that she banged the phone repeatedly. It was 9 pm when the ferry arrived. Many people start getting inside the ship. Suddenly Sarah started screaming and cursing Jack. People were confused and scared of the crazy woman. The police arrived within minutes and arrested Sarah for making chaos. Leo Clarkson then arrived to the scene and start yelling to the cops that it was a mistake. The peace that once held in the port was now broken.

Since it was New Year´s Eve the cop let go Sarah and Leo with the condition to never disturb the order.

Sarah and Leo were embarrassed for behaving bad and they apologized to the authorities. It was already 11 pm when they were released. Sarah was sad because she had no one to celebrate with the New Year. Leo intuitively invited her to a nearby restaurant to have dinner. They spend the night talking about memories and in the end of the evening they started planning how to undo what Jack Thomson had done. The next day when Jack was in Robin Golden´s office (since they had become best friends) Sarah intervene and appear into their sight. They were surprised to see her. She then started telling how Jack had lie to Robin about her affair for revenge. Robin couldn´t believe it, it was his wife´s word against his best friend´s word. Robin was about to ask Sarah to leave, when Valerie Thomson, Wendy Free and Leo Clarkson step into the room.

Mr. Golden was even more surprise to see how the office started to fill with more people. Valerie explained how angry Jack was after their divorce and how hungry for revenge he was. Valerie also told that Jack was a whiz Photoshoping. Wendy then explained how happy Jack was after telling Robin about the affair. The truth was out and there was no way that Jack could stop it. Finally Robin was convinced and called security to take Jack away. Everything was back to the same and all the trouble that began in a cold night in the Waldorf-Astoria was over.

The end

Short Tale of an Average Afternoon LuisFer Corzo Steve woke up as he usually did: Sleepy, not willing to get outta bed. The thought of going to school made him even more drowsy. But that day was going to be different, because after school, he and his cousin Phil were going off to the comic store to get something to read.

Steve was planning to buy enough comics for the whole week. He was so excited he didn't ever imagine he would wake up as an average teenager, but was going to sleep as something else.

He attended all his classes and after school, he had to stay for physics tutoring. That was OK with him because he actually enjoyed being in the city (because he lived a little far from it) but he really wanted to get out to school. Yes indeed, he just loved loved comic books! After tutoring, he would wait for Phil's tennis class to finish.

Once Phil's class ended, they waited for his chauffeur to pick them up to get some of those cool colorful pieces of fiction.

So, they got to the store. Steve took advantage of the opportunity (he seldom went to the store) and he bought 5 comic books... 3 of them were Batman, the other two were Sin City. Phil, he just bought a Spawn special edition and an Avenger's number. After they geek-shopped, they went to a restaurant next to the comic book store to eat subs while the chauffeur got to where we were.

When the chauffeur was close to their location, at the last moment, an apparently doped hippie tried to sell them some hippie stuff... you know, like those San Cristobal-style dreads and bracelets.

"C'mon dudes, let out your inner hippie!", said the doped hippie.

"Sorry man, I have no money left", truth said within Steve's mouth.

"Or a bracelet, just a bracelet. C'mon, when you go backpacking, 'the gang' will help you out in case of trouble", the hippie insisted, getting scarily close to Steve.

Phil called the chauffeur to know where the hell he was.

"You dude, don't pretend not to be listening", the hippie told Phil as he slapped his arm.

Phil just kept talking with the chauffeur.

"All right, see ya", said the hippie as he hit Steve right in the diaphragm.

If Steve's reflexes hadn't made his abdomen's muscles to get contracted, air would have probably escaped from Steve's lungs.

"Hold this for a sec" Steve gave the bag with his comic books inside to Phil.

Steve sprinted towards the doped hippie, jumped and kicked him with both legs. When the hippie got to his feet again, he hit Steve with the tube where he held the bracelets, which crashed into Steve's left cheek causing the carton tube to bend.

"You goin' up with Hendrix!" Steve ripped the tube outta the hippie's hands and hit him in his stomach, which didn't damage too much, but hippie guy flinched exaggeratedly.

People stared, but no one did a thing about the little battle.

When the hippie bent, Phil jumped into the action by giving the hippies back an elbow attack. Then, he kicked him in the arm.

Steve was picking the hippie guy up, when he produced a knife and made a cut on his arm.

"How dare you, man?!" Steve picked the hippie guy up.

"What are you doing?" said Phil.

For a moment, Steve thought about throwing the guy to the street, but it would be extremist... So, he punched the doped hippie in the head. He flinched again, so Steve grabbed the knife from his hands and made a little slash in the hippie's hand.

After that, the chauffeur finally appeared, so Phil and Steve ran to the car and went home.

They woke up as average teenagers, but went to sleep like warriors...

Grindhouse Presentations LuisFer Corzo Hello, readers. For this time, I'll be using MuDJoB for academic purposes. Nevertheless, I picked an interesting topic so that I can keep offering good-quality posts.

Now, everybody (at least everybody I know) likes going to the movies. We just love going to see a good story. Also, some of us like horror movies. Everyone has its own concept of horror and mine's this one: a horror movie is not the one that scares you with stuff jumping out on extreme close-up with loud noises; a good horror movie is the one that makes you think, and sometimes doesn't let you go to sleep.

Of course, it can have lots of gore, why not?

Speaking of gory movies, my recent trauma are grindhouse movies. What are grindhouse movies you ask? Well, as far as my investigation went, it is basically a double feature showing gory horror movies.

This grindhouse thing gained popularity in the 70's. Of course, I haven't watched any of those old movies but I have watched the latest and-I think-only contemporary grindhouse production.

This grindhouse double feature was made by Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino, with other mini features (fake trailers) from Eli Roth, Rob Zombie, etc. I just loved the vintage and surrealistic touch!

By now, I will only tell you the names of the features: Planet Terror (by Rodriguez) and Death Proof (by Tarantino).

Needless to say, many grindhouse movies were very polemical, like for instance, Cannibal Holocaust, which was actually banned in 53 countries (actually helped the production's publicity campaign). And, as an interesting fact, the first version of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre was a grindhouse movie and it is said to be better than the new one because of its filming (said to be more credible).

So, if you like old-fashioned, action-packed, blood-splattered, brains-blowing horror movies, my recommendation for this Halloween is to go and get some grindhouse movie. Who's with me? (Aye!)

Potterian Generation Luis Raquel Cal y Mayor Sayeg Yes, I´m going to write about Harry Potter.

I´ve lost count of all the times I´ve written about this topic in particular, but seeing how much I enjoy doing it and that nobody´s stopping me, I´m going to do it again.

Harry Potter, a cultural phenomenon, a literary and theatrical movement that rocked our world at the beginning of our lives. Have you thought about any other phenomenon that has defined our generation so drastically? The truth is there isn´t.

There is no other phenomenon in its type, whether you like it or not, that affected our generation the way it did. The numbers speak for themselves: The Harry Potter books are considered nowadays the second best selling books after the bible, with more than 400 million copies sold. The HP brand is estimated in more than 15 billion dollars, critics and specialist still debate about how Harry Potter made children start in the reading habit, and the records go on and on.

And the truth is, that even though some of you may not have noticed it, I can assure you that if you look not very deeply into your personal library (most probably composed of not more than 5 books), you will find at least one of the Harry Potter books. It´s simple, Harry Potter affected our lives. We are the Potterian generation.

We started to read with potter, we knew magic from him. We all were very enthusiastic about the movies, the next gadget, the next spoiler and the next news about it. But now it seems that we´re forgetting. Harry Potter is actually losing his thing.

The Twilight saga, the end of the books releases, and many other circumstantial events have put Harry Potter out our minds for the moment. What will happen with the next two movies? Was it a good idea to split it in two?

What´s really happening is that the responsible need to be very careful about the next movement they make if they´re wishing to stick Harry Potter in our minds for the next years. Whether it was a good idea to split it or not, I don´t know. But the truth is that we´re going to have a lot more of this little wizard. In my opinion, the literary legacy of J.K. Rowling is still going to be studied for generations to come. The records still going to be discussed.

Let´s not forget that even though we may read other novels right now, Harry Potter taught us to read in the first place.

The Damned Book Rosario H Once upon a time in Mexico, Antonio stole a book. When he was at his house, he started reading the book. He felt dizzy and his body began to melt. He panicked and decided to call an ambulance. When he was about to reach for the phone, he decided to burn the book first. When he picked up the book he felt it was already burning. He took a minute to organize his thoughts. After analyzing the situation, he decided to drop the book into a pan of water, but when he tried to let go of the book, he couldn't.

Scared, he thought this might be a punishment for having stolen the book, but he wondered if he was going to have to hold onto the damned thing forever.

Bipolar Disorder José Enrique Ruíz Correa Well, as far as I know Bipolar Disorder is an illness that consists on radical changes of mood, passing from mania to depression in one second. Looking in the web I found that Bipolar Disorder, also known as manic-depressive illness, is a brain disorder that causes unusual shifts in mood, energy, activity levels, and the ability to carry out day-to-day tasks.

This illness can affect severely the relations of the persons because such changes of mood are not the normal ups and downs that people suffer finishing in damaged relationships, poor job or school performance, and even suicide.

People that suffer bipolar or maniac depressive illness experience unusual intense emotional states, called “mood episodes”. One is an overexcited state known as maniac episode and the other an extremely sad state known as depressive episode. A mixed state can occur also, it consists on having both, mania and depression state at the same time, mixed episodes are the most difficult to treat, because different types of medicines are necessary. Imagine having this changes of mood and don’t being able to control yourself. This disorder will affect seriously our lives.

We suffer some ups and downs and sometimes we feel exhausted because of how we feel, but having bipolar disorder is changing mood constantly and radically. Some people think that our mind is so powerful that it can trick us, suggesting our illness, acting against us, and then generating illness. If this is truth, people with Bipolar Disorder are constantly affecting their body because of the constant changes of mood.

Currently scientists and psychotherapists are trying to determine how bipolar disorder is caused.

Studies have determined that bipolar can run in families, so they think that Bipolar Disorder is genetic.

There are a lot of famous people that suffer this disease some actors are: Richard Dreyfuss, Carrie Fisher, Stephen Frey, Linda Hamilton, Vivian Leigh, Ben Stiller, and Jean Claude Van Damme. Ludwig van Beethoven and Robert Schumann are famous composers who suffered the highs and lows of bipolar disorder, taking advantage of this situation to compose. Hans Christian Anderson, Charles Dickens, William Faulkner, Ernest Hemingway, Edgar Allan Poe, Robert Louis Stevenson, Mark Twain, and Virginia Woolf are famous writers who had bipolar disorder. Vincent Van Gogh and Edvard Munch are famous artists who had bipolar disorder. Musicians Jimi Hendrix, Axl Rose, Courtney Love, Ozzy Osborne, Steven Page, Tom Scholz, Scott Weiland, and Jim Morrison lived with this condition.

Winston Churchill, Benjamin Franklin, and Alexander Hamilton are historic figures who are thought to have suffered from some form of bipolar disorder. This maybe is caused because many of those who suffer from Bipolar Disorder also have some other talents or gifts, having above average creativity is considered one; also maniac episodes lead to intense work, having more productivity.

So if we see this illness by the good side it can also have some pros, but it´s important that people understand in what Bipolar Disorder consists and to help people with this illness, because they can´t control their mind in some way, and to help making their life easier, because not all the people that suffer this disease have the talent this guys have, that help them live better through their life, releasing that changes of mood in their passions.

Angel of Hope.

Evan is an 8 years old boy that never knew his parents. He lives in a fireman station with his friend Pablo; they work in the street selling newspapers. However Evan knows that his parents didn't abandon him, as everyone says.

Lyla, the Evanâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s mother, thinks that his son is dead, but his father confesses her, that the boy is alive. She meets Evan in the street while he was selling and they become good friends. After a couple of months she discovers that Evan is his son; but he is captured, a woman leads him to an orphanage, so when Lyla, wants him, she cannot find him. Two months later, she finds him, and Evan goes to live with her. Finally, the family is together.

Twilight Bella is a common girl that has to go Forks a little town to life with her father, because she didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t feel good with her mother and new husband; he traveled a lot and her mom has to stay with her.

In forks she met an Edward Cullen, she discovered that he and his family are a vampires.

She in love with him, and the idea to be part of his figurative life.

They have to pass many probes together to defense their love. It wonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t be easy.

Lucy Diamonds Lucia Torija Last summer a brown-eyed young university student, Lucy Diamonds was at the airport, on the verge of going to Sicily.

She was wearing an exotic and colorful exclusive dress made by the greatest designer in México.

It was en relief, she was already on the airplane; she was mentally prepared for her business trip, and she also was expecting to taste Sicily a bit.

Then a handsome young man sat beside her, and saluted her with a smile and a "Ciao, come stai?”

She began to feel happier than usual and imaged that Paolo was her boyfriend.

She returned his smile and also told him she didn´t speak any Italian, but only Spanish and English.

At 10 she had the business meeting, so she ran up her belongings at the hotel, bathing and grooming.

She liked him very much; he seemed to be the perfect man, charismatic, funny, interesting and very honest; apart from that, she love the business.

Upon reaching the boardroom she began to make the structure and prepared her mind since she had arrived with 10 minutes to spare before the meeting.

She wanted to impress and convince all those present with the objective of doing business.

She was obviously a winner.

She was totally satisfied and happy for her great achievement...

The Virus Machine Amin Altamirano In the year 2439 in a little town of Germany, Jacob found a weird machine. He took the machine to his house, and began investigating about it. Suddenly, the man began having fever and shivering, he didn’t know why though; he realized that the machine was producing a virus, affecting him, and it was going to affect the entire human race. The man tried to destroy the machine by hitting it, but nothing happened. Jacob tried to avoid the problem traveling to Spain, but after a month, the news said that a new virus was affecting the entire world. Jacob decided to return to Germany to try to stop the machine, because maybe he was the only who knew about it. In his town, he saw that everybody had died. Jacob thought about what to do to stop the machine that was still producing the virus, because what seemed to be a little problem had become a world problem. Finally, Jacob remembered that there was no water in the place where he had found the machine, so he began planning a new strategy to stop the machine. The following day, Jacob went to his old house and began watering the machine, and he thought about what would have happened if he hadn’t turned on the machine. After that, Jacob realized that he had acquired superpowers, and that he had saved the world from possible extinction; now, he had the responsibility to fight against all enemies of the human race. Now, he was the only hope for them.

The Best Time of the Year Natalia Culebro Robles Christmas Christmas it's the time of the year when we get to celebrate All together. wherever we are we always find a way back, to get together and celebrate the time of the year when all our problems are gone. it's time to Light up the candles and let the magic begin.

Christmas is the time to give love and happiness to all around you. is to forget the hatred and bitterness we have in our hearts. children writing letters to Santa, waiting for the hearing of the bells.

It is the awakening in the morning with hopes of finding a gift under the tree and see the cookie crumbs around the plate.

It is remembering the magical and beautiful thing in life and enjoy this beautiful day with your family.

Christmas is the celebration when the Child Jesus brought love and happiness to the world.

It is the opportunity to amend old mistakes, reconciled to some friend or relative.

Sometimes life gets in the way we all forget to laugh The ups and downs come and go and we donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t know where weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re at But then the snow starts falling, Friends start calling Trees start glowing and you know the holidays have just arrived. it is a time when people tend to reflect, also because of the birth of Jesus the word peace infects our days with love for it grows so close as charity is heightened because it is a time in which actions are not as bad cavities. in this time of year all the hatred and bitterness disappears. is the season most expected in the year. this time of the year is the most beautiful, colorful and you see happiness all over the place.

Year after year There's peace and joy in our hearts Christmas are the memories that will last forever in our heart.

Illustration by Priscilla Soler