Aldo Cosio's Journal

My LIFE and ME

My Journal

Aldo Cosio

Module 6

This is an index

Module 3

Module 5

Module 2

Module 4

Module 1

Module 1

Now, I’m going to talk to you all a little bit about my “private life”. I have a wonderful and amazing girlfriend, she is the best person I have ever met in my whole life. I love her so much, and I’m very thankful that she is in my life. I met her last semester when I went to live in Berlin, and now she lives in Mexico City, and we have a distance relationship. Many people say we are not gonna work, but sincerely I don't know that, something I know and can do is to always enjoy what life gives to us, so I’m very grateful for having her in my life. I like better to hear others than talk about myself, I said that I talk a lot, and it is true, but I talk about my surroundings and not too much about me.

Hi, my name is Aldo Cosio. I am 17 years old, and I live in Monterey, Mexico. I have a big brother who is six years older than me. I also have two dogs named Chuli and Casper. I’m a very charismatic person. I love to talk and to be optimistic. I value a lot to be with my family, with my friends. The only sport I like to see is basketball, for me is the most entertaining one. I enjoy watching and going to comedy shows, especially with my brother. Naturally, when I introduce myself just say my name, and I like to be sympathetic to all. I love to talk so for me, it is not a problem to maintain a conversation, and I think people see me as a trustworthy person. I love to always smile and be happy. I don't like that friends and in general, people see me without respect, because I think I always treat everyone with a big respect.

Myself:

Here is a picture of my mask of the activity Venetian Carnaval:

Module 2

The Iceberg Analogy is a helpful tool for understanding culture as, similar to an iceberg, much of culture is hidden under the surface. In the surface, we see visible aspects like traditions, arts, and language, but below, often unseen characteristics such as beliefs, values, and worldviews that heavily influence how a culture operates.Fundamental belief systems (such as "la Santa Muerte" in Mexico and other Latin American nations), morals, perspectives on authority (corruption), perceptions of time and space, and notions of identity or family are examples of hidden cultural elements that are more challenging to identify. Even though these characteristics are not readily apparent, they are extremely important in determining behavior.

One of Mexico's most traditional clothes.

It refers to all the values, customs, behaviors, history and beliefs that characterize a group or society. It includes examples like language, traditional food, clothing, as well as social rules and norms.

What is culture?

Cultural appropriation is the use of components of another culture irresponsibly and hurtfully, whereby elements are adopted in ways that denigrate or decontextualize them. If you are going to represent another culture with food, traditional clothes, music, or something else, always do it with respect, in my opinion we don't need to be like "oh if you use Mexican clothes, and you are not Mexican that is disrespectful", I think that if a foreign person wears the clothes or eats what represents my country I would feel very thankful.

Cultural appropriation

Your understanding of culture has a big impact on how you understand social trends and cultural expressions. Understanding the underlying meanings of cultural behaviors might help you avoid misinterpreting them in light of your own cultural framework. Gaining a better comprehension enables you to identify prejudice, respect cultural variety, and react to opposing viewpoints with empathy.

knowledge of culture

The Mayan calendar is made up of three systems: the Tzolk'in, a 260-day ritual calendar; the Haab', a 365-day solar calendar; and the Long Count, which tracks longer periods of time. The Tzoclk'in and Haab' calendars work together in a 52-year cycle called the Calendar Round. This was a present of my brother who lived one year in Merida, Yucatan.

cultural artifact

Module 3

Cultural imperialism impacts constantly my day-to-day life, primarily because of the constant exposure that we have to global media, new technologies, and culture. Here in Mexico, we constantly see all the U.S. lives, so in my country we have a constant and big presence of their entertainment, food, and stereotypes. The problem is that this shapes our lifestyle choices, preferences, and our way to communicate, like the Spanglish.

cultural imperialism

The strongest one definitely is the U.S.A., their culture and stereotypes influences and affects all of us in many aspects of our lives. Since I was a baby I had seen always these influences, when I was a kid we could see the colloquial named "pacas de ropa" that were brought from there, when I was a little bit younger and nowadays also we see a lot of candies, chips, and all food that is imported from there. So yes, since forever we have this presence, and for all the economic classes.

stronger influence of another culture

I’m fortunate to have been exposed to many, different cultures, and their perspectives, all through my whole life. This understanding of the social phenomena gives me the opportunity to see issues through multiple lenses. We need to start learning the importance of our own community versus the individualistic focus that have in other ones. We need to start improving ourselves by being more happy, grateful, and empathic with our surroundings, then after we start doing this, we can seek to improve the others understandings. Furthermore, we need to contribute to create better and more inclusive societies, people that cares about the past, present and future.

interpretation, knowledge, and understanding of social phenomena

CLick here to see the video!

Symbol video

Module 4

Ver el arte de otras partes del mundo nos ayuda a recordar que no estamos solos y a que tenemos que saber y entender la diversidad. Tener recuerdos en tu casa es excelente porque beneficias a la idea de que todos somos iguales y pisamos las mismas tierras.

El arte para apreciar otras culturas en casa

Para mí escuchar la palabra “hogar” significa mucho más que una casa o residencia, para mí un hogar se basa en a quien consideras que pertenece ahí, ya que es un lugar seguro, de calidez, alegría y paz. Por al menos yo, cuando digo hogar, me refiero a las personas del lugar, personas que me quieren como soy y que me brindan mucha comodidad.

"HOGAR"

Hay que aprender a ser inclusivos con nuestro alrededor y aprender a convivir con las diferencias. Tratar de siempre apoyar a las nuevas personas. Involucrándose a las actividades cotidianas de la comunidad.

Desarrollo de sentido de pertenencia en los recién llegados

Tenemos que primero aceptar a los demás y tratar de incluirlos a nuestra comunidad y enseñarles nuestras reglas y costumbres. Debemos de entender a todos y tratarnos por igual, todos somos uno.

Integración de recién llegados en las sociedades

Module 5

What is my relationship with the environment?I constantly feel that I'm not too loyal to it, as it is to me. I think it gives us many things that in many cases we don't even notice, that's why I think we have wars and these nonunderstandable fights that last years and even decades. I feel that I need to be more grateful for what I have and learn that we have many things that makes us be good with all. We need to accept us, and how others think about us and about themselves.Do I feel I am part of nature or is it something outside me?I think is something inside me that believes in the idea that we all come from a common ancestor and that we are part of nature too as other species, but me Aldo, I don't really like to be in nature, and with this I need to say that I have been raised my whole life in a city, that means that I don't like insects, farm oddors, and not having what I consider "my essentials", I mean Internet, transport, cellphones, videogames, etc.I think that I need to have an equilibrium between tecnologie and nature.

Environment and Cultural Expressions

Where does that belief come from? (previous slide) My family, my religion, my political views?As I said, I think it is because of how I was raised, my parents and my brother also don't like a lot living and sharing with nature. I think that is the reason, why I haven't learned to love nature.What is the relationship between my culture and nature?Very related because we as Mexicans had been living, sharing, and trading with our own nature. Our ancestors used plants as medicines and food. But unfortunately I think that nowadays we don't have nature too involved in our lives as we have it many years ago. Now we care more in cars rather that the tree that we have in front of our house. A true I need to said is that I have learned to notice this things thanks to my dad, he has always reached me that.

Environment and Cultural Expressions

After studying all the cultural expressions and the intangible cultural heritage and the environment: Which cultural practice can you implement or continue to do in order to create a more sustainable world?First of all, enjoying more nature and combining it more to my life, Im not saying to my daily life because I think that right now for me it is impossible, but I can add more plans like in my weekend related to nature, like going to a hiking, camping, kayaks, etc. I need to start changing little aspects of my life, so then I can start seeking for more, bigger, and better things.

Environment and Cultural Expressions

Module 6

Thanks to art we can show better the message by making a clear drawing or picture of the problem. With art, it is easier to we reach the youths. Sometimes reading we don't understand 100% the message, it could be because of how the author write it, sometimes they understand it by themselves but we as the readers don't, another one could be also because of a language barrier that makes to us difficult to understand it, or to catch the message.

After

ART AND FREEDOM

In the skies, the smoke is rising,Oceans choke on plastic cries,The earth is warming, can't you see?We’re fighting for our destiny.With every tree that falls in vain,We’re losing more than just our rain.Stand up, rise up, let your voice be loud,Together we can turn the tide, make our planet proud!

After

CLIMATE CHANGE

How can art be used to transform society into a more aware one?We can communicate easier the meanings and messages by capturing them by art, using this way is better because this can reach to everyone, no matter if it exists a language barrier, a different interpretation by the author, or a bad understanding by the reader. Thanks to art we can see directly the problems talked, and that its why it is a great key for solving not only climate change, but also another problems.

After

ART AND FREEDOM

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gallery

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