Week 3

LOVE IN THE TIME OF CHOLERA:

This movie is based off the novel by the great Colombian Author and Nobel prize winner in Literature, Gabriel Garcia Marquez. It was released in 1985, and the movie was filmed in 2007. It is set in a Caribbean city, in the early part of the 20th century. The main plot, in my very short summary, the movie is about, what some might call obsession, others might call love, of the male character Florentino for Fermina. She feels that by 21 she should be married, which is common practice in Colombia, all of my female cousins were married there by the age of 20. She meets a Doctor, and decides he is the one that can take care of her, he can support her. Over a long period of time, meeting women, hooking up, but being pushed away again and again, he still feels as strong for her as he had when he had first met her. After years of being apart, only being able to communicate through letters,being rejected, he finally gets to meet her one last time. They are much older, but it seems there bond is much stronger at that age, both realizing what they had wanted all of there lives. The movie isn't too long, I was able to get it on my Netflix account fairly quick, I would not have necessarily chosen this, but it was good, the story was good.

This story transcends borders, because love transcends borders. People can understand and relate to wanting to love someone, something, but being rejected. It doesn't have to be over long periods of time, we've all had our hearts broken at least once, wanted someone that we just couldn't have. But with this, Florentino never gave up. His entire life was spent loving her from a far, sending letters, waiting for the moment to show her that he is the one. Paulo Freire never gave up on people, the sugarcane workers, they were poor, they were under his status in society, he could have given up on them. He taught them to read and write, he inspired people all over the globe. This is somewhat dealing with what is going on, when a situation seems impossible, there is always a way to rise above it. Paulo did not give up on his people, and Florentino did not give up on his love.




10 Student Ideas from week 2:

1. Tarissa: Wrote that he was a theorist of pedagogy, which is the practice of helping students to achieve critical consciousness. It was developed by Friere himself.

2. Marylou: stated in 1962 Friere, when he was the head of a literacy program, taught 300 sugarcane workers to read and write in only 45 days. This gave these people the right to vote because law in Brazil says if you cannot read or write you can't vote. In my opinion this has to be something that all nations do, probably does happen. People not being informed, there is always the possibility of corruption. This lets them have a bigger say, and I like the fact that he helped the less fortunate.

3. Danelle: Wrote that he "formed his beliefs from the classical views of Plato, but also modern Marxist ideas as well as anti colonist thinkers. Freire studied Law at a University, but focused his attention on philosophy, more specifically phenomenology, and the psychology of language".
He had a wide variety of influences, and this is what led to his views and his studies on people.

4. Nicole: Said that Freire’s educational model more closely resembled a democracy, as opposed to a dictatorship, where children were “active learners”. He always wanted what was best for the learner, and he thought that both the teacher and learner were learning from each other.

5. Rachel Hansen: Told us that he experienced a time of poverty himself during the Great Depression, Freire developed a concern for the poor, and was motivated to work to improve their prospects through education. He knew what it was like to be poor, and so he wanted to help as many as possible avoid that fate.

6. Katherine: Stated Freire was against the “banking concept of education” where a student is forced to receive, memorize, and repeat what they learn. This is how, for me, how I learn somethings even today. If I want to get better at free throws in basketball, though he was against this banking, I would learn how to do it, memorize my patterns of success, and repeat. Easy as that.

7. Chris Wagner: Had a very great line when I read his; "I believe that anyone could be the next Einstein, Alexander the Great, or Barack Obama. Genetically, some family lines are predisposed to brilliant off-spring and some of those do rise to the top of society, but sometimes a little extra background radiation at conception, pure determination, and a good teacher can do more than just a bank account with a few extra zeroes". I have to agree fully with his statement, different factors do come into play for sure, socio-economic status, your development, many other factors.

8. Hilary: Said that "From Freire's efforts Brazil approved the creation of cultural circles across the country, but they were soon after dismissed and Freire was imprisoned for 70 days". He was considered great from the people, but it just goes to show how some in power wouldn't want more and more voices to be able to speak up.

9. Aloma: Pointed out what one of the workers told Freire when spoken with: "You talk from a background of food, comfort, and rest. The reality is that we have one room, no food, and have to make love in front of the children." I couldn't imagine what these people were going through, what that feeling would be like. My family is from South America, I have family very close to where Freire taught the workers.

10. Marissa: Said one of the most important things was how Freire lived, very simple. This was so important, because, if your trying to do something, you have to be able to relate it to something, as do the people, if they are living in huts, and he is living in a mansion, that is not necessarily going to be a good comparison for those workers.