Editor

Mark Dallas

Cover design

Regiane Viana de Lima

Layout

Mark Dallas

With article contributions by Aboutfi sh, Heloísa Campos, Carolina Pineda Uribe

Regiane Viana de Lima, Laura Plentz Bolognesi, Stephanie da Silva Ramalho,

Jaime Luis Sánchez Mata andMaria Carolina Ferreira da Silva

Images usedare either used with permission,

public domain or creative commons license

This year, English through Journalism

will be available* in odd-numbered

sessions (5, 7, 9, and 11).

*Subject to demand

Where the money went last time...

The March 2015 Journalism Class gave half the money ($112) away as a prize to a lucky Future Perfect prizewinner.

We gave $56 to Bob (above-centre) and donated $56 to the Alessia Bo! ini Cancer Fund.

If you have any ideas for content or charities for future issues of Future Perfect, or if you would like to advertise, contact us at futureperfect.editor@gmail.com

The money for this issue will be distributed in much the same way.

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The Picture Credits forthis issue

Picture credits for and links to photographs, graphs and

illustrations used in this issue can be seen at

j.mp/fp17credits

FUTURE PERFECT

ISSUE #17: MAY '15

Woman Power Worldwide

Heloísa Campos

Democracy versus Dictatorship

Regiane Viana de Lima

A Licence to Kill Black People

Aboutfi sh

How our Cultures Defi ne us

Stephanie Ramalho

Bullfi ghts: Tradition or Barbarity?

Carolina Pineda Uribe

Will 3D Printers Save Us?

Jaime Luis Sanchez Mata

Curb Your Criticism

Laura Plentz Bolognesi

Alcohol: The “Good Guys” Drug

Maria Carolina Ferreira Da Silva

Picture Credits

Where the money went last time

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6

10

16

18

23

26

30

36

37

Send comments to futureperfect.editor@gmail.com

2

By Heloísa Campos

The first definition of feminism in the dictionary is “the belief that men and women should have equal rights and opportunities.” The second is “organized activity in support of women's rights and interests.”

Women have been trying to win their independence for at least the past hundred years, since the First World War, when many women started to do "men's" jobs while they were fighting overseas.

Why did we grow up thinking that women had their realm of action limited to the home and family? Let's see how the feminist movements are in some countries.

India has a culture in which every family has a division

of power. The husband is viewed as the boss, while his wife and children are under his protection.

Women in India suff er from indignities such as child marriage, the practice of polygyny, the sale of girls for marriage purposes,

Woman Power Worldwide Feminist Protests in

Brazil and what it has to do with you

35

only to smoke in certain places, not bothering other people, and it also controls the sale of it.

With illegal drugs, the scenario is totally diff erent, cause the only thing governments can do is try to forbid its sale and use, which is not successful most of the time.

The idea people have in mind is that as soon as any kinds of drugs become legal, their use will increase and so will the problems related to them. But that is not necessarily truth. Legalization will, apart from bringing government access to the use and users, eliminate traffi c and make it possible for addicts (who want to change) to fi nd

help, be less concerned with society’s judging them, and know that they will be accepted back into their old social groups.

So many things have changed in the massive global culture in the past decades, that it makes hard to understand why people still have so much prejudice on a topic like drugs, which is right in front of us, aff ecting our daily lives. For this reason, it is necessary that people start thinking reasonably, considering all the subjects already cited and ending this close-minded thoughts that drugs are the most terrible thing in our society. After that, we might be able to treat the drug situation according to the reality of it.

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The government bans drugs like marijuana, ecstasy and cocaine in order to maintain order and peace among people , but it allows alcohol and tobacco, the irresponsible use of which will bring the same consequences. The truth is that in both cases, the use of drugs is a personal choice and responsibility.

Even though the majority of drugs are illegal, people can still fi nd and use them if they have the right connections. So the prohibition of most common drugs only creates an increase of criminality. If the situation were the opposite and people were able to get marijuana and cocaine legally and alcohol and tobacco only illegally, they would still be smoking cigare! es and drinking alcohol.

The drug problem is not only with personal use, but in its consequences for society, and the solution is not prohibition. With the legalization of alcohol came the possibility

of control, which is the government se! ing rules on its use for the purpose of avoiding problems in general. That is something that cannot happen whilst a drug is illegal and the user is seen as a criminal even though he did not cause any harm to anyone or damage any property. Also, it brought possibility to talk about this subject publicly and openly, even if just to inform people about the negative consequences of its use.

There was a time when alcohol became illegal, thanks to World War I, and exactly what we would expect happened. It was bootlegged and smuggled into the country until the government made it legal again.

After legalization, people continued to drink but now, in places where the law around it is strict, there is government control. The same happens with tobacco: the government can enforce laws that allows smokers

3

severe restrictions on widows, restricted access to education and restricting oneself to domestic and child-rearing functions. However, the feminist movement does exist in India, and there are many important personalities who have fought for women's rights.

Ramabai Ranade, Raja Ram Mohan Roy and Mohadas Karamchand Gandhiji were people who fought for women's rights in India.

Ramabai opened a school for women, Raja Ram Mohan Roy formed Atmiya Sabha, which tried to initiate social and religious reforms in society, including the right for widows to remarry, and the right for women to hold property. Mohandas Karamchand Gandhiji, the preeminent leader of the Indian independence movement in British-ruled India, believed that society could only progress when there was a mutually respectful partnership

4

between men and women, and he defi nitely discouraged the practice of making women subservient to men.

One of the most prominent women in the movement is Vandana Shiva, an ecofeminist whose work focuses on embracing not only the principles of feminism, but also ecology. According to Navdanya’s website navdanya.org, “She sees these two movements as interconnected and believes that the worldview that causes environmental degradation and injustice is the same worldview that causes a culture of male domination, exploitation, and inequality for women.

Diverse Women for Diversity is the gender programme of Navdanya, which works on local, national and global levels, echoes women's voices from the local and grassroots level to global fora and international negotiations. Its focus is biodiversity, food and water. It seeks to "strengthen

women's grassroots movements and provide women with a common international platform".

In Brazil, women are usually seen incorrectly as the weaker sex. During the military dictatorship (1964-1985), the Brazilian feminist movement grew because Brazil had a lot of protests with the objective of fi ghting against the military regime, and it provided an opportunity for the women who wanted to fi ght it.

The United Nations declared 1975 the International Year of Women, and feminist debates became more explicit. In the same year, two feminist magazines were created: Brasil Mulher (Brazil Women) and Nós Mulheres (We Women), followed by more in the following decade, many of whose articles were about combating violence against women. Bastardxs is a group based on the idea of freedom and equality between women, gays and lesbians. In one

33

people die every year from diseases caused by smoking.

Acknowledging that either alcohol, tobacco or any other kind of drugs cause damage to the user, there is no point in accepting one and prohibiting the other.

One of the drawbacks of this prohibition in the long term is that society’s view on an alcoholic is diff erent from the view on a drug user. The fi rst

is someone who is able to change, a victim of fortuity, a common person who made bad decisions, and this one is still part of the concept of society. But drug addicts are seen as dumb, criminals, young people who had no life perspective or who chose to destroy themselves.

This taboo around drugs is one of the reasons the use of it increases and the demand for help is so li! le.

32

is on the top of the list that analyses which drug is the worst. And in this list they are talking about accidents caused by irresponsible drinkers to premature deaths caused by overdose or health diseases.

The fact is, all drugs, whether legal or illegal, can be dangerous to health and society, and be addictive. Some drugs can have lethal

eff ects depending on the person who takes it. An illegal drug called ecstasy, for example, kills 60 people a year in the UK according to BBC news, but it is considered merely a party drug by many.

But excessive smoking and drinking can also kill you. Also in the UK, alcohol is said to cause more than 25,000 deaths a year, and 120,000

5

of their protests, a naked woman could be seen hanging from meat hooks, challenging the idea that women are merely pieces of meat. Some feminists use nudity as a form of protest, with ink or paint on their bodies, writing slogans such as, “My body, my rules”.

One thing that you might not know is that Brazil has a movement which started in Canada. Known as the Marcha das Vadias in Portuguese, the SlutWalkhas spread as far as Argentina, Mexico, the Netherlands, and the United States.

It started when a security offi cer in the University of Toronto suggested that women should avoid dressing like sluts, as advice for a safety measure to avoid rape. This caused a rebellion among Canadian women, so they took to the street to protest.

SlutWalk-inspired Brazilian actress Ana Rios organized Toplessaço in Rio de Janeiro.

Topless women went to the beach to protest against physical, symbolic, sexual and domestic violence against women.

These actions prove that women are not the weaker sex anymore (if they ever were) and emphasizes that freedom entails the right of women to dress and act freely, without a justifi cation for aggression Just because a girl is wearing a miniskirt doesn't mean that she is a “bad girl” or she wants a! ention from men. The truth is that she just wants to feel beautiful, to express herself, and be happy without men saying bad words while she is walking down the street, minding her own business.

6

By Regiane Viana de Lima

Dic·ta·tor·ship Government by a dictator. Synonyms: Absolute rule, undemocratic rule, despotism, tyranny, autocracy, autarchy, a u t h o r i t a r i a n i s m , totalitarianism, fascism.

When we talk about dictatorship, the fi rst thing that comes to mind is government control, repression and violation of citizens’ rights. Nowadays China, North Korea, Cuba, Russia and more than 43 countries are classifi ed as authoritarian regimes or dictatorships.

With simple research over the Internet, we can fi nd many horrifi c stories of dictatorship and dictators of the past and, unfortunately, the present.

But have you ever thought about dictatorship even in a “free and democratic” country? In which way a non-repressive country/government is repressing its population?

LIVING IN A DEMOCRACY (or what they told you)A system of government for the whole population or all the eligible members of a state, typically through elected representatives. A system of government in which every citizen in the country can vote to elect his/her government offi cials. A situation or system in which everyone is equal and has the right to vote, make decisions, etc. Synonyms: Representative government, elective government.

Democracy versus.DictatorshipWhy it`s less black & white and more 50 shades of grey

31

nowadays, and it never was and is not being of any help in their situation.

All around the world—except for a minority of countries such as India and many Muslim-majority ones—people are allowed to drink alcohol from a certain age, usually 18 or 19, and each country has its own rules on how it is made available. The same happens with tobacco.

In Ontario, for example, as soon as people turn 19, they are allowed to buy alcoholic beverages, but they are only sold in LCBO stores, (which are controlled by the provincial government) and clubs until 2 AM. Also, people are not allowed to drink on the street.

In Brazil, on the other hand, people are allowed to drink from 18 years old, and they can buy alcoholic beverages from any store or bar.

Anyhow, alcohol is seen by society as a common beverage, which everyone from a certain age is going to try and probably drink again in the future.

Many people are used to alcohol being a part of having a good time or even as an addiction. But when the subject turns to marijuana, for example, they are ready to judge and give negative opinions.

What many often don’t realise is that marijuana, ecstasy, LSD and others are kinds of drugs just as alcohol is, and the reasons people give for using it are often the same: to have an experience, entertain themselves, relieve stress, have more fun, and so on.

If the prohibition of other drugs was explained by their negative consequences, than it would still not explain the legalization of alcohol which has so many downsides, sometimes even worse than marijuana or even heroin and cocaine, for example.

There is a study pointing out that, if the disadvantages of alcohol to society are combined with the disadvantages to the drinker’s health, this drug

30

By Maria Carolina Ferreira Da Silva

Alcohol is legal even though its use often causes irreparable damage to people’s lives and to those close to them. Meanwhile, many other drugs are illegal and seen by governments and society as dangerous,

while in many cases, their use is not as harmful as alcohol.

However, many people still consider alcohol acceptable but any other drug a shame to society. The prejudice on drug users is very high, even

Alcohol: The “Good Guys” Drug

7

You are free to vote, you choose the destiny of your own country. You have rights, and you could fi ght for them if you felt that they are violated. You are also free to protest, to say something against the police or against the army. You are free!

On the other hand, in the majority of these so-called democracies we pay high taxes and do not see public services facing real progress, we have to work hard to provide our families

some dignity, because the government just cannot handle one more citizen. We vote, but in the end, when it’s time for something big, we are just ignored by them. Where are our opinions? Where is our power? If everyone is equal and has the same rights, why can we still hear the screams and shouts of the minorities?

Isn’t that ironic? We are still free, of course; however, we have to face several social and government problems

8

around us. We are free, of course; but, in many urban centres, we fear going out late at night.

Some people reading this may say that democracy is the power of the majority and that you have to accept that. But the defi nition of the regime is that everyone is equal and has the same right to make decisions, so you choose someone to represent you and perhaps your desires as a citizen have been forgo! en.

I am not saying that democracy is the same thing as dictatorship, but nonetheless, they have the same aspects. You are stuck in a situation that, maybe, would change in the next election, but perhaps is going to stay the same.

According to The Logic of Political Survival, by Bruce Bueno de Mesquita, Alastair Smith, Randolph M. Siverson and James D. Morrow, even countries with dictators are affi rming themselves as democratic countries. But

how can it be if there are only one or two parties to choose from? Aren’t these people trapped in non-democratic situations?

Actually, I’m not here in defense of anarchism or revolution. What I’m trying to say is that perhaps, what most nations are facing is not a democracy anymore. The word has lost its meaning, the principle. Democracy now is another kind of regime that should be reviewed and rethought.

When you take a closer look, you`ll fi nd that rather than democracy being the inverse of dictatorship, it is in fact a continuum ranging from having no say in ma! ers of government at one end to having the right to vote on all important decisions that aff ect us at the other.

The reality, however, is that most of us live in countries where the most we can hope for is to help choose which despot will replace the last.

It`s a relationship based on

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And what about making jokes about other religions? Is that ok for them? Do you know everything about your friends? Maybe they like to participate in sadomasochism, or they’re used to smoking weed. We just don’t know, but does it ma! er?

What does ma! er is that you have the opportunity to learn more about diff erent perspectives, or make new friends, but it will only happen if you are nice to the other person and show respect for their thoughts, even if you disagree with them.

28

But if you don’t let the other people express themselves and just keeping expressing your own opinions, you are not having a conversation, just a lecture in which you are the principal point. Or you let the other person speak, but it when is your time to express your points, you do so in an aggressive or disrespectful way, and what’s more, you do make jokes about his/her opinion. The other side of the conversation will feel discouraged to keep up the debate because you are not talking about the subject, you are just saying what you want, without consideration of the other’s opinion. You have the right of speech, but everyone else has the right to leave you talking alone. The other point that we have to understand in conversations is that that one side doesn’t have to win a debate. You put forward your thoughts for the other person think about and decide if yours will change or you’ll stay with your

original opinion. The other person doesn’t have to accept our point of view, but if everybody accepts the other’s opinion, it will not be a debate, nor will it be an increase of ideas, and everyone will lose. Our opinions and ideas certainly are the most important things that make us who we are, but each of us has our own personality. The diversity of human beings is what allows people to get a diff erent result from the same experience, and teach a diff erent way of seeing life. It’s ok to disagree about something, but it’s not ok to treat the person with judgment and disrespect. If you stop to think, you have a lot of friends that don’t share the same ideas as you on big issues, and is not because of this that you have to break your friendship. Do they agree with the death penalty and the legalization of drugs? Are they against the sex-ed curriculum in school?

9

a cycle of abuse, one we`re too familiar with and that we`re unlikely to break free from for the fear of what may await us in its place.

10

By Aboutfi sh

In 2012, a mixed-race neighbourhood watch volunteer fatally shot unarmed 18-year-old high school student Trayvon Benjamin Martin in Florida. Not guilty.

In 2014, a white police offi cer fatally shot unarmed 18-year-old Michael Brown in Missouri. Not prosecuted.

In 2015, the Baltimore Police used unnecessary force against 25-year-old Freddie Carlos Gray and caused his death. The people’s outrage erupted like a volcano and transformed peaceful protests into riots.

These victims are all African-A m e r i c a n — g e n e r a l l y speaking, black people.

Before I came to Canada, these were all “bad news” to me. My heart had empathy

and sadness for them, but they were not part of Taiwanese life.

Now they are some kind of “reality” because I lived with Aminata*, a lovely and smart black mother, in my fi rst homestay in Toronto for one month.

On the second weekend, Aminata took me to visit her father Martin*, and that day was exactly the 50th anniversary of the Selma to Montgomery Marches.

I had no idea about Selma until I heard them discuss it in Martin’s living room while President Obama was giving his speech for the 50th anniversary on the historic Selma Bridge.

It was a “Bloody Sunday” on which many black, unarmed protesters were killed and

A Licence to Kill Black People

27

the opportunity to keep our thoughts to ourselves. Why do we have to expose every single thing that we have in mind? Maybe we will just be seen as annoying. The second choice is to expose my opinion anyway, not caring about the way in which I will say it. Imagine I tell her, “Girl, your T-shirt is awful”. Some would say that I have the right to do this because I am dissing (disrespecting) the shirt and not the person. I don’t believe or agree with this. If your friend spent time and money buying that shirt, it means that she likes it, and furthermore, it is her taste in clothes. You will just hurt her feelings because it means that the thing that she chose and the things that she likes seem terrible to you, and everybody cares about the opinion of their friends. The last choice is to tell her that you don’t like the T-shirt because of point A, B or C, without being disrespectful to her. Maybe if you put this in a way, that will not

hurt her enough to realise your point of view and consider your opinion and maybe even decide to adopt it. So, what determines if a criticism will be constructive or destructive is the way it is given. We saw above the diff erence that the words we use could make to people that we care about. We have the power to approach our friends and also to create confl icts or upset them—it’s our choice. And what about the people with whom we aren’t familiar?

Life constantly puts a lot of diff erent people in our paths, people that we can learn from and also teach new things. But for those things to happen, people involved need to be open to a debate with respectful discussions and arguments. The most interesting thing when meeting a new person is hearing what the other has to say and to understand his/her point of view to your arguments and questions.

26

By Laura Plentz Bolognesi

I really don’t know if I’m the only one who feels a li! le intimidated with people’s reactions and ways of speaking in conversations. Many times I have lost my wish to speak because of the aggressive way of others or their wish to convince me that their ideas are totally right, disrespecting mine.

We live in a democratic society where everyone has the right to express their opinions. Ok, everybody

knows that, but how does

y o u r

opinion aff ect the other person? Are their thoughts based on facts, real issues, or just judgement? And furthermore, how do we share our points of view? Are we not hurting the feelings of another person that we care about? Did we even think about this when we said those things? Let’s put it into some

perspective. I have a friend that I care about a lot, and one day she appears with (what you

consider to be) a terrible T-shirt. There

are three options that I have. The fi rst one is to be quiet. In the beginning, I should think about how my opinion will aff ect her. The sentence “You should keep your mouth shut” is one that warns us not to lose

Curb Your Criticism

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11

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“You needn’t do anything wrong,” said Aminata, looking very concerned. “The police doubt you because of your colour. I told my son, ‘Don’t put your hands into your pants pocket’ if the police come to talk to you. Just show your hands.”

Aminata has two university degrees and has worked for the Ontario Government for 8 years, yet she can’t get the appropriate promotion and has to work under white managers who are only high school graduates. Another

injured by Alabama police in 1965. Their blood and eff ort pushed the Voting Rights Act fi ve months later, which allowed black people to vote in elections.

I’ve read some of the miserable black history of the United States and South Africa since 1992. It has never been so real to me until I saw the tears on Aminata’s face while she was talking about how much she has suff ered worrying about her son’s safety every day.

25

There is a loophole in the law: plastic guns with a tiny piece of metal are not banned. And printed metal guns can't be detected by metal detectors 10 years or older.

Spoons, forks and knives have been made by a 3D printer, too. It is a good way to save money, but many sorts of plastic are not safe if you are going to use those to eat. The worst eff ect of this practice, is poisoning or even death.

In case an accident happens, who is responsible, the company that produced the device, the consumer, or the manufacturer of the 3D printer?

Another huge issue is bioprinting ethics. In recent months, many experiments with cells have been developed, which could create a strong debate between scientists and the most conservative of religious people.

The stability of the pharmaceutical industry is

being threatened as well. With a 3D printer,patients could make their own medicines, and it could be a great threat against their health.

The invention of the 3D printer could change the world forever. Whether it improves our lives or not depends on the way we use this machine. It is essential that strong surveillance be carried out by countries’ governments to guarantee people's safety. Otherwise, we could end up printing more problems than lifestyle improvements.

SOURCES:“Materialise”, materialise.com/

cases/saving-a-newborn-with-the-

support-of-3d-printing

“3D print”, 3dprint.com/50693/

robert-downey-jr-iron-man-arm/

“Techrepublic”, techrepublic.

com/article/the-dark-side-of-3d-

printing-10-things-to-watch/

24

Despite the fact that many people have heard a lot of things about 3D printers, most of them wonder about how the machine works. Of course, it depends on the kind of 3D printer, but the basis is the same in all of them.

The fi rst step is to make a virtual design by creating a CAD (computer aided design) fi le. Another option is to use a 3D scanner in order to copy an existing object. Then the program turns the fi le into hundreds or thousands of horizontal layers.

The last step is to upload the fi le to the 3D printer, and it creates the object step by step. Plastic is the most common material currently being used. It is also possible to

use metals, but only a small percentage of printed objects have been made of metal. The material has to be introduced into the printer in the form of a long solid cable. Then the printer melts it in order to build the item layer by layer. To construct the shape and the details properly, a jet of water is precisely aimed at the object to transform the material back into a solid.

However, this technology has cons also. For instance, a 3D printer consumes about 50 to 100 times more electrical energy than injection molding to produce the same commodity.The machine emits air pollutants. The most common plastic used in 3D printers is ABS, which is not biodegradable. The unused or excess plastic of this byproduct usually ends up in the landfi ll.

The fact that people are able to print almost whatever they want at home—in their garage for example—could have similar eff ects to piracy in the music and movie markets.

13

white high school graduate got the promotion that she had waited for and worked for over several years.

“I’m tired of having to prove how capable I am,” said Aminata exhaustively. Furthermore, she has been subjected to racist and obscene comments by white males when she has been driving home from working a 12-hour night shift .

Sadly, her case is not uncommon although many governments have passed laws to punish racial discrimination.

I n s t i t u t i o n a l i z e d discrimination is still killing and hurting people of colour through the police, criminal justice systems, political, economic and educational institutions.

They are strongly combined and the police, along with criminal justice systems, are the most fatal.

I couldn’t hold back my tears when I saw the 76 faces of

Unarmed People of Color Killed by Police, 1999-2014 on Gawker.com. They were collected and tweeted as a series by the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund (LDF), just after the white NYPD offi cer killed Eric Garner by keeping his head held down and ignoring his “I can’t breathe” protestations, for which he would not be indicted.

What was Eric Garner doing? Selling illegal cigare! es. Should he have been sentenced to death for that? Although the whole arrest process was recorded by an onlooker with a mobile phone and the video was put on Youtube later, the grand jury still decided the police offi cer should face no charges over the death while the majority of the audience blamed the offi cer who overused his force so obviously.

The most sorrowful case was a 12-year-old boy, Tamir Rice, who was holding a BB gun for fun but died because of it on November 22, 2014.

14

The Cleveland police offi cer claimed the boy looked 20 and that they believed his gun was real. They claimed they asked him three times, “raise your hands” but that there was no response. However, a following video showed the police shot the boy down two seconds after they arrived in the park without any normal legal procedure or medical aid after shooting.

Cleveland authorities told the media they were sorry, but they hadn’t done anything wrong. Cleveland Police Patrolman’s Association President Steve Loomis even blamed the boy for being “in an adult body” and in the “wrong” situation.

In these 76 cases, hardly any police offi cers have been found guilty. Many went unpunished, even though black families lost their loved ones forever.

New York is just the tip of the iceberg. According to a US Department of Justice report regarding the criminal investigation into the

shooting death of Michael Brown by a Ferguson police offi cer on March 4, 2015, evidence shows a clear racial bias by the city's police.

For instance, African Americans make up 67% of the population in Ferguson, but they accounted for 93% of all arrests between 2012 and 2014. Black people also accounted for 85% of all drivers stopped by Ferguson police, and 90% of all citations issued. Judging by the Justice Review, the courts engage in racial bias. The judges hardly ever dismissed cases brought against black defendants (fewer than 68%).

The newest quarterly report entitled Death Row USA, released by LDF, reveals the total number of death row inmates to be 3,019 in the United States as of January 1, 2015. 42% of them are black although they account for only 12.2% of the whole. Why should we care if we are not black?Imagine that one of your relatives had been killed by police or racists.

23

Will 3D PrintersSave Us?

By Jaime Luis Sánchez Mata

The name of Alex's hero is Alberto Manero.

However, he is not the only hero in this story: the donor of the bionic arm was Robert Downey Jr., the famous actor who plays the title character in the movie Iron Man, both of which Alex is an unconditional fan. This is why receiving the bionic arm was even more special. Now Alex is able to give to his mother a full hug.

Our world is changing and 3D printers are a really good example. In New York Presbyterian/Morgan Stanley children's hospital, a doctor's team used a 3D printer to design a human plastic heart, in this case, for a baby. Doctors ordered to build a representation of the baby's heart to understand the small details of the defects captured in the medicalexamination.

A further phenomenon proving 3D printers are now a reality is the case of Alex, a seven-year-old child, who received a 3D-printed bionic Iron Man arm. Alex was born with a partially-developed right arm. The problem was that the surgery cost $40,000, and Alex's parents’ insurance didn't cover it, but a Central Florida student solved the issue by making a bionic arm using a 3D printer.

22

scene it is living sticks into its mind leaving the animal traumatized. In case the bull survives a bullfi ght, it would be psychologically damaged for the rest of its short life. Such is the torture that it is be! er for the bull to die.

It's hard to understand how some people could enjoy watching a suff ering bull fi ght for its life and then die in a horrible way. It seems that, after thousands of years shedding blood for no reason other than entertainment, and after all the research revealing the truth about such brutal acts, we haven’t made any progress. We don’t seem to be evolving but regressing.

Even now in the 21st century, instead of doing good, we remain the most violent, merciless and destructive species in the world, caring only about ourselves. Perhaps we are doomed to be trapped in our stupidity, destroying everything that crosses our path. But then maybe that is the real defi nition of humanity.

by a needle that was inserted into its genitals.

When they open the box, the bull probably thinks that its suff ering is over, but on the contrary, the tortured animal has to face its death after 20 minutes of degrading and brutal acts until it fi nally breathes for the last time.

Besides physical abuse is psychological damage. Science says that a traumatic events such as bullfi ghting can have negative eff ects on the bull’s brain. During the activity the bull feels pain and fear, therefore every

15

I care about all victims of racism because I have empathy. I care because I am a human who deeply believes all human beings deserve fundamental human rights, no ma! er who they are. And the truth is that if there is no justice, there will be no peace. If we want a peaceful world, we need to make an eff ort to help everyone look for justice.

Please don’t stay silent when you see something wrong. The force of public opinion can usually decrease institutionalized discrimination if we stay vigilant. Just as Emeli Sandé sang in Read All About It Part 3 at the London Olympics,

"You've got the words to change a nation, but you're biting your tongueYou've spent a lifetime stuck in silence, afraid you'll say something wrong......So put it in all of the papers, I'm not afraid. They can read all about it."

Yes we can save more innocent people before they

die. Yes we can make our world be! er. If only we stand by the suff erers’ side, support organizations who fi ght for human rights continuously and do action right away.

* To respect both my homestay

mother and her father’s privacy,

I borrowed the lead character's

names from Lawrence Hill's The

Book of Negroes and the fi rst

name of Dr King Jr.

Sources:

g a w k e r . c o m / u n a r m e d -p e o p l e - o f - c o l o r - k i l l e d - b y -police-1999-2014-1666672349

p o l i t i c o . c o m / m a g a z i n e /s t o r y / 2 0 1 5 / 0 2 / t a m i r - r i c e -cleveland-police-115401.html

e n . w i k i s o u r c e . o r g / w i k i /Department_of_Justice_Report_R e g a r d i n g _ t h e _ C r i m i n a l _I n v e s t i g a t i o n _ i n t o _ t h e _Shooting_Death_of_Michael_Brown_by_Ferguson,_Missouri_Police_Offi cer_Darren_Wilson

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By Stephanie Ramalho

In South America, it is very common for people greet with a kiss on the cheek, while doing this in Asia is considered an “invasion of space”. However, in Saudi Arabia, men usually kiss each other on the cheek, but most don’t have any kind of physical contact with women outside of their families. In Russia, women often walk arm in arm with their female friends.

A thumbs-up isn’t always friendly: in Iran and parts of Middle East, it means “up yours”. The “okay sign”, so common around the world, is very rude in Brazil and Turkey. You must watch your gestures and words all the time when you’re living abroad.

According to the website LiveScience, "Paying a! ention to customs and cultural

You are a new international student. You’ve just arrived in your homestay’s house and you’re meeting your host mother for the fi rst time. You go a step further to greet her with a kiss on the cheek, but unconsciously she lifts her hand to greet you by shaking hands. This was your fi rst culture shock.

The next day you are at school and you have a grammar question. Then you call your teacher over: “Teacher, come here,” you shout. Everybody looks at you surprised. Because your sentence sounds rude to them. So you start understanding that, in North America, students usually call their teachers by name or more formally, such as, “Mr. Dallas, could you come here, please?”

How our CulturesDefi ne us

21

others a cultural tradition, but many people around the world consider it a brutal activity, a barbarity that should be banned.

There are some disturbing scenes on social websites,

which show the bull is obviously hurt, blood streaming from its back, its eyes full of fear while the matador stabs it.

Unfortunately, the moment the bull faces its killer is not the beginning or even the end of its suff ering. There are

many atrocities visited upon the bull in order to weaken it for days leading up to its day in the ring.

It is tortured in a dark room and left without food or water, hit with a sack of wet

sand its ribs and kidneys. Vaseline is added into his eyes to cloud its vision. Co! on wool is stuck into its nostrils and throat to make it diffi cult to breathe. It is given laxatives. When you see the bull jumping, it’s not because it is furious. It’s because it’s reacting to the pain caused

20

the lungs? Was the aorta penetrated? Is the bull drowning in its own blood?Two horses enter the arena, and two triumphant men tie the bull to the horses, so they can drag it out of the colosseum, leaving smears of blood behind it.

And the spectacle is over and so the tension. Everyone is satisfi ed. But they don’t know what was going through the bull’s mind, and they don’t really care. You are just standing there, you are part of the audience. Maybe you enjoyed the spectacle, maybe you didn’t. But you may know that the way you feel about it doesn’t change the fact that the bull suff ered in an indescribable way, and its agony will be marked in the sand.

But now nothing ma! ers because all the suff ering is over. The animal that seemed so strong, beautiful, energetic and powerful is now transformed into a defeated, bloody being. Bullfi ghting traces its roots

to prehistoric sacrifi ce in Mesopotamia and the Mediterranean region, where bulls were a symbol of strength and power. The gods were reincarnated as bulls and so it was considered a sacred animal. The ancient Epic of Gilgamesh is the earliest record of bullfi ghting, involving a tyrannical king. The activity is also strongly linked to Ancient Rome, where young men would fi ght bulls in order to show their courage and strength. The tradition quickly began to assume the aspects of a spectacle, and then spread to Africa, Europe and Asia.

Years ago it was a spectacle that only the rich and noble could aff ord. Kings used to arrange bullfi ghts to entertain their guests or to commemorate important events. Today it is practiced in France, Portugal, Mexico, Colombia, Venezuela, Peru, Ecuador, and, with the most bullfi ghts in a year, Spain.

Nowadays some people consider it a sport, while

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diff erences can give someone outside that culture a be! er chance of assimilation or acceptance. Ignoring these can get an unsuspecting person into trouble. A cultural misunderstanding occurs when something (a word, gesture, object, social context, almost anything you can think of) has diff erent meanings in two cultures. Sometimes the misunderstandings get resolved, sometimes they lead nowhere, and sometimes they can escalate to anything from love to war."

We were all raised in diff erent countries, with diff erent families and diff erent customs built throughout history, and we call this culture. We understand culture to be the characteristics and knowledge of a particular group of people, defi ned by everything from language, religion, cuisine, social habits, music and arts.

All these topics are responsible for how people behave and what leads them to being who they are. Each culture causes us to express our ideas diff erently. Some

nations are very famous for being conservative and others less so. This is one way to diff erentiate one culture from another and aff ects the way a person communicates with his/her countrymen and others around the world.

Sometimes people are blind in their li! le world to the possibilities that are outside, and just by living together with another culture, they can fi nd out how deep these diff erences really are.

Sources:dhs.state.mn.us/main/groups/county_access/documents/pub/dhs16_168785.pdflivescience.com/21478-what-is-culture-defi nition-of-culture.htmlnature.berkeley.edu/ucce50/ag-labor/7article/article01.htmpsychologytoday.com/blog/looking-in-the-cultural-mirror/201005/cultural-misunderstandingssagepub.com/upm-data/30900_Chapter4.pdfetraining.communitydoor.org.au/mod/page/view.php?id=318

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The colosseum is full of expectant faces. The air of excitement around you is so tense, you could almost cut it with a sword. The arena below is still empty and clean—a sandy void. Suddenly, the doors are fl ung open; everybody awaits the thrill they’ve paid for, the spectacle has started.

A resplendent specimen of humanity, the matador (literally, ‘killer’ in Spanish) is wearing a distinctively ornate gold-embroidered silk jacket, skin-tight trousers and a bicorne hat. Riding a horse and carrying a large cape, he greets the ill-fated beast, passing close to it. Everybody starts screaming and applauding. The closer he gets to the bull, the less restrained the crowd becomes.

Then you see two people entering to the arena with lances in their hands and riding their horses. You are traveling through time, to an ancient age where people used fi ght with their horses, wearing ostentatious costumes and facing the enemy with lances. But this is the 21st century, and they are facing a bull that doesn’t want to fi ght . What is the logic of the whole thing?

What are the weapons for? They get close to the bull to stab it on its neck (the idea of this is to destroy or, at least, weak its muscles and reduce lateral and vertical head movements, so it´s more diffi cult for it to defend itself by a! acking the matador), once, twice or three times. Blood starts to stream out of its body, and you see people around you smiling and making

Bullfi ghts: Tradition or Barbarity?

By Carolina Pineda Uribe

191919191919191919

jokes about it. What an odd species we are.

The bull is weakened, it is in unbearable pain, and you sense that it is going to fall but it is strong and proud and it keeps fi ghting for its life. So it is time for the banderillas (‘fl ags’ in Spanish) to be inserted in the bull's shoulders (these fl ags are designed to dig deeper and deeper with every movement that presents a threat to the men).

After several humiliating acts for the bull, such as the game with the cape (the bull tries to a! ack the cape, and the matador shows his abilities to avoid its horns), the banderillas and lances (which obviously hurt and weaken the bull), it is time for the fi nal act, the decisive moment that everyone is excited about watching. The matador is really focused on what he is doing. His life depends on his movements, and he wants to show off as much as possible. Tension takes over everybody, including you. Without

thinking twice he takes his sword, in his eyes you can only see excitement, maybe even anger, and that look can almost scare you, he is probably thirsty of blood. The fact that he is capable of killing with such emotion, makes you shiver. You know death is coming, and it is just a ma! er of time to fi nish with all the cruelty or tradition, as you may think. You glance at the audience and everybody is thrilled, their eyes express emotion and tension. They can’t wait to see the end of the spectacle – when the bull breaths for its last time --. Everybody is quiet and then the matador stabs the animal in its neck. The bull can’t hold it anymore and it’s knees fl ake out. After a few seconds it falls on the sand, blood is streaming from its neck and mouth. When it is lying after being completely degraded, the crowd applauds, stands up and praises the “artist”, the matador.

Was the stab completely fatal? Did the sword enter