This is the end...

It's over.

Oficially over.

Now we just have to wait.

Reading Project - Presentation II

The last presentations have been really nice and interesting. Like the others, some caught attention, some... not really.

I must highlight the ones that interested me more because I have this thing that, when I get confused by some reason, I don't understand what is being said and even if I listen and listen, something is lost. And, being completely honest, some just didn't caught my attention by the way they were exposed. However, that is another question.

So, highliting. Until now (since I believe there is one missing and I skiped one, if I'm not mistaken) and excluding the ones I already mentioned: Sara's presentation about The Doors of Perception, Bernard0's about The Heart of Darkness, the War and Peace presentation by Joana and today's Alice in Wonderland, by Tiago.

Very briefly:

Firstly, I had already said that I was curious about Sara's presentation and book and now I'm even more curiose.

These are the kind of books I enjoy, the ones that make me think about something deeper and more than the actual story.

In these presentations, thet feature was by some means highlighted. Or, at least, these were the ones that by the story caught me more and, by coincidence, had this feature.

That's why I enjoyed Bernardo's presentation too.

Well, I must confess that Apocalypse Now is one of my favourite movies and knowing there was a book which inspired it it was a impossible for me not to be interested. Bernardo showed as how both relate, although I just think the plot was too much explored. I know it is a very rich story, but details can be spared. At least for me; I like to know a summary of the plot, so I can discover the rest by myself. Nevertheless, he could show us how rich that book is and compell us to read it.

In the same line appeared War and Peace and Alice in Wonderland.

Both are classics, real classics, that are known by everyone and worshiped arround the world. They showed us why.

War and Peace needs no more words, but my idea of Alice... was a story for children, like the one Disney shows us. Now, I see that there might me much more than that, and it pleases me. I am a fan of Alice... and never saw how much it had to say. Now I am starting to see with other eyes...

About the presentations, both were good and showed us the book and all it is about.

So, summing up: good presentations, good book, bad for my books-to-read list!

Texts and exams

It came and went, that horrible thing that every teacher just don't want to skip, not even once! And, in some cases, are the only evaluation we have! How fair is that, our mark depending on that day, that hour, that moment, and a whole term's work flying through the window.

I believe I already said I am not a true supporter of written tests; at least as a major factor while "grading" (does that verb exists? If it doesn't, I've just created a new one).

The thing is, it kind of feels good to look at the up right corner of the sheet and see a good mark! It seems that all the time spent studying for it, even doing it, paid of!

Just like the exams. Ours are aproaching, nearer and nearer everyday.

Truth is, exams are necessary, country wide! That is the only time when students are in an equal situation, but does that mean that we can not have bad moments?

Everything seems to be too relative, too uncertain, but even our future seems relative and uncertain and we are fighting for a future!

I was surprised to hear that some teachers are supposed to be in a room during the exam, all by themselves, staring at yesterday, in case of a student having a doubt. Then they have to call to the ministry, se what they say, and then take the student's doubt. There can not be even a book in the room to spend the time, not even a magazine! Only because the Ministry isso afraid that the teacher could give some sort of help to the students who, by the way, are also closed in a room wih two freaking teachers! How could we be helped? And - this one rocks - if a teacher has a child in that school, he's not allowed to be even near the facilities!

Get a grip! So many fears... for what? What are the odds of a teacher sending a message to a student with the answers to question 1.3, and the student be able o read it?

I have a theory: the ones that write the exams are completely isolated from the society during all year, after all this.

Have you ever noticed that the exams arrive at school in those bullet proof vehicles? Full of policemen and guns and anti-theft bombs? Well, the last one is a little bit overreaction, but you got the idea.

Are they afraid of their own corruption?

Reading Project - Presentation

So many books that caught my attention!... And others that didn't made that good impression...

The presentations have been, to say the least, interesting. Many of the presentations really made me curious about the books and plots, so I think I have to restructure my "Books To Read List".

I enjoyed specially Nuno and Pedro's presentations, maybe because those were the stories that made me more curious.

Of course I allready knew both books - Picture of Dorian Grey and A Single Man -, and probably that was the main reason why I was so focused on them, but nevertheless both presentations made me even more curious.

I was really curious (this words keeps popping up) about Sara's presentation yesterday and was a pitty that we didn't had the time to listen. This book is a classic for every The Doors fan, I never had the opportunity to read it and I wanted to know her opinion about it.

So, until now, I think we can say that has been a well developed project, with good presentations and surprises - I wasn't really expecting to be wanting to read such a sci-fi book like the one João Meira presented and, as the matter of fact, I am!

Now, I'm just expecting more...

The Biology of Belief - Response

As you can probably see, I made the corrections in the entry about the Time article. So, corrections made, I also saw the opinions posted on that same correction.

The thing is, I chose this article for a simple reason: how is it possible that something as faith can have anyhing to do with biology, with science? Faith is something abstract, not measured! You use much, not many, we can not study and know how much (see?) faith someone has!

Is this a valid reason? For me, it is.

I said it before, I am not a religious person, but I hate to be a person that relies exlusively on science and reason. It has to be more than that! I can not live my life thinking that everything is measured with numbers and scientifical discoveries, that all my feelings, all that happens it's just the result of pure biology!

So, yes, I mantain all I said in that entry: it is good to know that even science can prove that there is more than it, that yes, we can control what happens with us, even if just slightly; even if just in our head.

" Waltz With Bashir "

Honestly, I didn' liked it. Don't get me wrong, the story and all the moral were really good, but the movie itself... Naahh.

I think it was he type of animation, the way all the movie was organized and the sequence, even. It wasn't atractive to me and, if it weren't for the English class, I don't think I would see it by choice. At least after seeing some scenes.

I confess I was interested in the story when it began, but quickly I was divided between the good story and the bad movie. The interest was lost.
It was a little bit confusing, mixing the reality with the past and the story we don't know.

It must be said, though, that the final scenes were, yes, very well thought and good. Changing from animation to real motion when he found out the truth was genious, loving the movie or not.

That's the most important: figuring out the truth. The big question is, "Do we want to know the truth?". It could be more painful to know...

" How Faih Can Heal "

First task: pick an article, read it and comment it. Here it is the summary:



The Biology of Belief, by Jeffrey Kluger

The paritable lobe is the responsible for processing sensory input, the part of the brain that works when we pray or meditate.
Those prayers are mostly for health and we hope that those prayers can actually heal us.
New discoveries affirm that faith can bring health: believers can even live longer (two or three years), heal faster and control better their diseases. All because our body and brain are completely compatible.
While praying or meditating, our brain works in a specific way, mostly our paritable and frontal lobe, creating a sense of not knowing what it is being said by the person. For people who practice this sort of activities can trigger permanent changes in their brain, mainly concerning memory: those with 15 or more years of practice, memory improves a lot. Even during fasting, because of the privation of calories, our entire body suffers changes that give us full clarity, sense of peace, even if biologically harmful.
Prayer is, in fact, considered by believers intimately related to health. Since 2000, scientists and theologians have been studying these cases - there are more than 6000 studies published since that year. Actually, there were already theories in 1872, by Francis Galton.
Showing the possible connection between prayer and health, in 1988, a study by the cardiologist Randolph Byrd of San Francisco General Hospital shows that patients with heart conditions fared better when prayed for, but in 2005, a study in Harvard by cardiologist Herbert Benson showed the opposite: « complications occurred in 52% of heart-bypass patients who receive intercessory prayer and 51% of those who didn't ».
Some even believe that prayer works just like the placebo effect: believing in something triggers bodily changes - if you give someone a sugar pill, the pain may actually go away. Just as that, knowing that someone is praying for you will probably help you.
So, the belief in God should be even more powerful than the belief in a pill. To try to prove this theory, some began to study the health of churchgoers and some show that mortality can be related to our faith. That can be explained by the support people get from church and it followers or by the fact that religious people believe in a meaning of life.
The African-American churches have been connecting faith and health more than any other and, in the 1990's, was created the North Carolina Black Churches United for Better Health, an association with 50 churches, helping 2500 parishioners by preaching health in sermons or serving healthier foods at community events. Quickly it became a national organization with the collaboration of cancer associations, always trying to improve health and reduce obesity levels among people.
Now, many scientists and theologians are willing to create a system where medical and pastoral care are provided as one. However, hospitals are still reluctant to accept, though both doctors and patients don't mind having religious conversations but just don't know how the other would react.
Most specialist advice a dialogue centered in the patient and psychologist Jean Kristeller developed a guide based on this advice for doctors who want to discuss religious questions with cancer patients and 90% felt comfortable with that.
In New York City, there's an organization - the HealthCare Chaplaincy - of Christian, Jewish, Muslim and Zen Budhist board certified chaplains that gives a total package of treatment in more than a dozen hospitals and clinics. Their job is not only with believers, but with any others who want to talk.
This group is becoming national and breaking the barriers of the city. More and more, other alternatives are being searched, and what matters the most is their result.

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My faith is not religious or any of that sort. After growing up in a Christian environment by my own choice, I decided o leave that world when my critical sense increased.
Besides that, I think this article goes beyond religion and its effects. It's about what we believe - it could be magic, fate, whatever - and what effect that has in our lives and even body.
In an era of technology and science, it is difficult to believe in such thing, but at least ii is confortable knowing we can have some power.