The end

The experience of writing on this blog was great. I really enjoyed reflecting around the subjects that the teacher gave us. My favorite topics were: feminism, crisis in JGM and movies. I enjoyed a lot writing these texts. Posting on the blog meant a moment of relaxation.

My writing skills in English have been developed in terms of gramar a lot. I have learned to create more complex sentences and to express my ideas better.

In the future, what I learned in this subject will help me a lot since I may have to develop journalistic texts in English. It would be very interesting to do that.

I would like to write about culture. Especially literature, film and photography. Also on social subjects. I intend to improve my English in the future, as it is difficult for me to speak in this language.

To finish this last post I would like to thank the teacher for his willingness to resolve doubts.

Crisis at JGM.

Studying at JGM has both positive and negative things.

One of the negative aspects is the lack of spaces to share with our classmates. The dining rooms are very small and the gardens are less and less due to the constructions that there are currently. This is mainly generated by the increase in enrollments in recent years. I think this is very bad because sometimes too many people enter into careers that do not have much field. This is the case of Journalism. A few years ago, only 30 people were on the run. There are 120 today and it continues to grow.

Another problem that exists in JGM is the lack of tools to study. For example, in this semester I had the subject of photojournalism and the university did not have enough cameras for everyone. When I studied Cinema and TV the situation was even worse, since for that career many tools are needed.

 One of the positive aspects is the diversity of organizations and persons that exist in JGM. There are organizations of all kinds: political, others that care for animals, etc. It is very entertaining.

In general my experience in JGM has been very good, I have only had practical difficulties.

Advanced Reporting

My favorite subject this semester is Advanced Reporting. It is a practical subjet of writing. At the beginning of the subject we reviewed the format of the information note, then we learned to write interviews and now we will start writing chronicles.

I chose this subject for the teacher. She is Alejandra Carmona, a journalist from the newspaper El Mostrador. She is dedicated to the political area and I really like her work. She has also written in Paula Magazine. She is very talented and also a very good teacher. She teaches us very well the contents.

My favorite aspect of this subject is the texts we have to read. We have read very good interviews. An example of this is "The deputy who emerged from the cold," is an interview with Gabriel Boric. I am currently reading The Voices of Chernobyl by Svetlana Aleksievich. It is a wonderful and very sad book. The stories are awesome.

Another thing I liked about the subject was interviewing Arelis Uribe. She is a journalist and author of the book Quiltras. This book is a compilation of stories whose protagonists are only women. Meeting this writer was a very inspiring experience and a very fun time. 

The only thing I would change about this subject would be the schedule. I would like it to be at the beginning of the week to be able to face it with more energy.

Faride Zerán

A journalist that I admire a lot is Faride Zerán, she was my ethics teacher and journalistic treatments in the first semester of the career.

Faride is a journalist from the University of Chile. She was born in Puerto Natales in 1949. After the military coup she was exiled in Argentina and Venezuela. 

She was assistant director of Pluma y pincel, worked in the newspaper La Época and in the magazine Análisis. She was a literary critic on the television show El show de los libros and she was also a member of the Televisión Nacional de Chile (TVN).

She was director of the Institute of Communication and Image between 2003 and 2010. Later in 2014 she was appointed Vice-rector of Extension and Communications of the University of Chile.

Faride won the National Journalism Award in 2007 and the Amanda Labarca Award in the year 2014. Her most important book is La Guerrilla Literaria.

I admire Faride profoundly since she was dedicated to the cultural area of ​​journalism which is an area that interests me a lot. She has many knowledge in this field, especially in literature. I also highly value her critical view of journalism. She is a great woman and a great journalist from who I learned a lot. 

About Feminism

I met feminism theoretically when I started attending the University in 2014. I learned feminist theory thanks to the debates that were given and thanks to my colleagues. At that time, feminism was not as widespread as it is today in Chile.

But I believe that my feminist formation began in my childhood when my mother told me that I had to study so that nobody would keep me economically. And also grew up with models of strong women: my mom, my grandmother and my sister. Although when I was a girl I did not have the concept of feminism in my head, if I had those ideas.

Now I consider myself feminist and it is a struggle that I take day by day. It has greatly affected my conception of seeing the world. I am able to perceive the sexist behaviors of people and the confrontation. Understanding feminism made me position myself in the world.

Movies and TV series

My favorite movie is Dancing in the Dark. It is a musical that is directed by Lars von Trier and starred by one of my favorite singers: Björk. The plot is very crude and the first time I saw her I felt a lot of anguish. I love the script, the performances and the songs.

Another film that I really like is A long way home (Lion). It premiered last year and was nominated for several Oscars. It's probably the most beautiful film I've ever seen in my life. It is about a child who was lost in India and was adopted by an Australian family. Years later he meets with his mother and sister in India, thanks to Google Earth. It is beautiful.

One series that I love is The Crown. It is about the life of Queen Elizabeth II since she was crowned. The production is amazing, the story is very exciting and the actors incredible. I recommend it. You can find it on Netflix.

My favorite picture

This is my favorite picture. In it I appear when I was a girl of four years. That day I had gone to Farellones to collect blackberries with my family. I think my mom took it.

It is my favorite photo because these family walks are one of my best memories of childhood. Something funny is that I could never gather berries, because I ate them to barely get them out of the bushes.

We went a large group to the plot of my uncle Pacho and we collected blackberries during the morning. Then we would eat roast beef. It was really very entertaining.

The last time we went, my family was attacked by a lot of bees. To me luckily nothing happened to me. It was tragic and comical at the same time.

We did not go back because of the fear we felt, but now the memory has become one of the best family anecdotes.

My favorite technological

My favorite technological object is my computer. I have it since 2013. My dad gave it to me when I finished school to use it for the university.

I use my computer to write homework for university, which is a lot since I study Journalism. I also use it to have fun . I download and watch movies and use social networks. I also download music.

I do not use my computer everyday. I usually take it only when I have to do homework for university. The technological object that I occupy daily is my smartphone.

I like it because it allows me to do various things simultaneously and it is very useful. On the other hand, I like it a lot since it serves me to store files.

Life without my computer would be practically impossible, since it is a tool that I need for my career.

Why did I choose this career?

When I was a girl I wanted to study literature because I loved reading and writing poetry. 
But I grew up, I realized that I had an interest in all the arts, especially in the cinema.

When I finished high school, I was undecided between studying Cinema and TV or Journalism. Finally I decided to study Cine, since I was very interested in that area.

I was in the career for three semesters, but then I realized that I did not want to make fiction films, but wanted to write about them. What interested me most of the career was the documentary area.

Then I started to study journalism, since I would like to write about culture, but I also feel interest in the political and scientific area.

I would like to work in the culture section of a writing medium or in a cultural corporation. At the moment I am very happy with this career. 

My life story

                                                                                                                                       

Valentina del Pilar Ortiz Herrera born in Santiago on October 11th 1995. Her parents are Bruna and Roberto and her brothers are Roberto, Angel and Paula. She studied her primary and secondary school in Lo Barnechea, at San Rafael School.

After the school, she studied Cinema and TV in the University of Chile during three semesters. But now she studies Journalism in the same institution. She would like to be a culture or science journalist.

Valentina´s hobbies are: watching movies, especially Chilean documentaries; read Russian and Japanese literature, and listen to live music. Her favorite band is The Beatles. Also she likes going out for walks with her friends, her mother and her dog.

The last time that I did something new

The Saturday was the last time that I did something new. I helped to cook the grilled meat in a party. I don’t know how to do it but the end of the party every congratulated me. Although I had improvised. It was very fun and I liked and I would do it again.

When I returned to my house I told to my mom what I had cooked and she asked to me to prepare grilled meat at home.

My expectation with English III class

I hope to learn to speak in English in this class and also I hope to learn grammar English.  This is importartant to me because I study journalism and sometime I will inform in this language. Also I expect have fun in this class.

What I most hope is to lose the fear of speaking English.