A terrorist attack. Maintenan, on est tous Paris.

A TERRORIST ATTACK. MAINTENANT, ON EST TOUS PARIS.

Last Friday, 13^th November France suffered one of the worst episodes of the 21st century. I didn’t write about this before, because the event was too recent and I wanted to see what was going to happen next, the reaction of France, how much this has affected us, and obviously how this was going to affect Spain, because I remind you that Granada is one of the most menaced cities by these fanatical terrorists, because they still think that the south Spain is Al-Andalus, as it was called when they invaded the Iberian peninsula in 711 AD, and they still think that is part of their “empire”.

First of all, I’m going to talk a bit about the incident. It began in the northern suburb, Saint-Denis, on the night of 13th November 2015. The attackers killed 130 people, including 89 at the Bataclan theatre, where they took hostages. In total 368 people were injured. Afterwards, three suicide bombers struck near the Stade de France in Saint-Denis, followed by suicide bombings and mass shootings at cafés, restaurants and a music venue in Paris. The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) claimed responsibility for the attacks, saying it was in retaliation for the French airstrikes on ISIL targets in Syria and Iraq. The President of France, François Hollande, said the attacks were planned in Syria, organised in Belgium, and perpetrated with French complicity.

In response, a state of emergency was declared, and temporary border checks were introduced. On 15^th November, France launched the biggest air raid, striking ISIL targets in Al-Raqqah. On 18^th November, the suspected lead operative of the attacks, Abdelhamid Abaaoud, was killed in a police raid in Saint-Denis, along with at least two other people.

 
France had been on high alert since the January 2015 attacks in Paris that killed 17 people, including civilians and police officers. The November attacks have been the deadliest on France since World War II, and the deadliest in the European Union since the Madrid train bombings in 2004. 

But, why hasn’t Europe reacted now to this problem and not before? That’s because things only affect us when they are near us. There have been many attacks in other countries like Tunisia, Kuwait…, but it’s now when Europe is doing something against these terrorists. People think that this could be the beginning of the 3rd World War with a new type of fighting in which there won’t be a war between two factions, instead of that, we will have attacks like this one in Paris, where we could see that the terrorist hadn’t fear to die and kill themselves with bombs. 

And regarding the response of France, I reckon that it’s not the best way to solve this problem, because I think that they are killing too many civil people that maybe couldn’t have escaped from these places, even if now there isn’t another solution, because they are recruiting more and more children so that they can train them to do this type of things, which is inhuman. 

I only hope that this war will finish as soon as possible, so that these episodes won’t happen again in France, in Tunisia and in any part of the world. Even if experts say that it will take several years. Nevertheless, I only want our governments to stay together against these terrorists and not be hypocrites just putting a French flag in their Facebook profiles, because I didn’t see anybody with other flags when the terrorists attacked other countries, and please don’t say hypocrites to the people that observe a minute of silence, because nobody has observed a minute of silence in other terrorist attacks.

Living in the countryside or in a city?

Living in the countryside or in a city?

Nowadays there are a lot of ways of living, you have the possibility to live in a flat or in a house, but there are many different options like living in a boat, in a tree house or even in a cave. However, the most commonly forms are in a flat or in a house. But, is it better to live in a small flat in the city centre or in a little house in the countryside?

On the hand, it’s obvious that living in the countryside is healthier than living in a city, as you always breathe fresh air and you can do many activities outside. Moreover, it’s more relaxing because it’s not as stressful as a busy city.

On the other hand, in the day to day life it’s better to live in a city because now nearly everything is in the city. Therefore, if you live in the countryside you will have to take a car to go to places, polluting more than we should.

All in all, I reckon that it’s better to live in the countryside, if we want a healthy life. In my case I have a little house in the mountains and I like going trekking in summer, especially because of its pure air.

In what ways can ideas of greatness in the The Great Gatsby be linked to the American Dream of 1920s?

In what ways can ideas of greatness in the The Great Gatsby be linked to the American Dream of 1920s?

The Great Gatsby represents the American Dream in so many ways. After the war American, who had fought, became intensely disillusioned, because of the brutal carnage they had faced. Gatsby was one of them, he represents the cosmopolitanism and cynism that resulted from the war.

Gatsby represents the irresponsibility and the greed of decadent parties every Saturday night where social climbers and ambitious speculators evidence that greedy scramble for wealth. Moreover, The Great Gatsby shows us that marrying someone rich or doing illegal business finally helps fulfil the American Dream. This also shows us that is those years love didn’t exist at all, because people married for money.

To sum up, the American Dream was discovery, individualism and the pursuit of happiness, and also to finally form a family which Gatsby never achieved.

With the collaboration of María Elena Peinado.

Is it better to have older or younger parents?

Is it better to have older or younger parents?

It’s a well-known fact that your family, especially your parents are one of the biggest influences in your life, they take care of your education, your health. Therefore, how old should parents be? Is it better to have younger or older parents?

On the one hand, if you have younger parents, they will probably understand you better when you are in a bad mood, because for them it’s a recent past. Moreover, they will maybe do more physical activities with you, because of their age and that’s a good point in parent and son relationship.

On the other hand, if you’ve older parents, they will certainly have more experience of life than younger parents and they will help you more if they are retired. Even though, they won’t probably be fit to play with you, because of their age, now there are many kinds of sports that can be done alone with professional trainers.

As far as I know, now parents have their children at an older age than several years before, because now they need more money to support them. However, I don’t see the problem of being younger parents, because I reckon that all parents want the best for their children.

Back to the future and its predictions

BACK TO THE FUTURE AND ITS PREDICTIONS.

21st October 2015 was the date that Emmet Brown programmed the futurist amazing car for Marty McFly to go to the future in 26th October 1985, hoping to arrive in a very futuristic future they didn't know anything about. However, they were not totally wrong because this year in August, one of the inventions that “Back to the future” predicted has become true. The invention of the first hoverboard called Hendo is pretty amazing. But, my question is: can films like “Back to the future” of Robert Zemeckis or books like “De la Terre à la Lune Trajet direct en 97 heures” of Jules Verne predict our future like they did?

On the one hand, most science fiction films have been created to predict what our future will be like. They have done it, following evidences and leading them to the end to make their own future. There are some that predict a good future, and others that don’t. Nowadays, most of them talk about a near future in which robots will be in charge of most tasks we have to do, but we also have fear they may take over the control of the power or important things that control our lives.

On the other hand, futuristic movies are always searching a big audience and they sometimes make some foolish predictions that are impossible to achieve. Most of them talk about aliens and universal crazy wars, it’s true that there could be life in other planets, but I don’t reckon that this type of life will exist one day.

To sum up, science fiction films can predict our future, but I think it is us that make the important decisions about our future: polluting - planting new trees, taking a car - taking a bike. Therefore, I recommend you all to make good decisions that will help us our planet in the future and that will make our lives better, as life is too short.