Throughout our lives we have always had the stereotypical male and female expectations. Growing up I have always been told not to cry and to tough it out. In a way I am glad that I was told to be like this, but it still falls under how our young minds are influenced by what our parents tell us. There is a video going around on the Internet right now of a father in his car with his two kids. His young boy is holding a Barbie doll and could not be more excited to have his new toy. The father goes on about how he will not judge his kids’ interests and will allow them to be whoever they want to be. Paul Theroux’s ‘Being a Man’ talks about the exact opposite of this man with how the youth is subverted into the masculine ideal. Men have to be strong, proper, and to “Be a man.” He also says how there a femininity ideal. Females are told to be lady-like, kind, and to need a man. Both of these have to do with our minds being influenced at a young age.  This is not having complete control over our identity. Although you do not completely understand choosing your own identity at a very young age, it is up to the parents how their child is allowed to act. If parents do not allow their boy to play with Barbie dolls and instead make him play with super hero action figures, they are not allowing him to be himself. It would be the same situation if a girl wanted to wear a Spiderman costume for Halloween instead of a Disney Princess but the parents would not let her, the parents are not allowing the girl to be herself. Although the images of men and women are changing in today’s world, we are still not able to get away from the norms of society and the judgment that comes when the norms are challenged.

Write a thesis statement and the outline for an essay

i)                    Even after all the advances in marketing and technology, it hasn’t been enough to improve actual football from the old one.

ii)                  Actual Football is more expensive

Players get payed millions.

Clubs pay millions for players

Tickets for Matches can cost up to a hundred

iii)                Sponsors and companies pay for being allover stadiums and in club’s jerseys

Clubs make their own marketing campaigns to sell products more than even make their teams better

Competitions also give money to clubs

Clubs now go to look for foreign players, which gives less opportunities to those on the places where the clubs belong

iv)                Actual Football is not the same spectacle anymore

Players get into fight with each other

They dive to get the referees mistaken

Small kids follow the example of professionals

There is not as much respect as there used to be before

v)                  Because of how expensive is it, not accessible for all and how marketing has transformed the way to watch football, old football remains better in many ways than actual football.

CONTRAST/COMPARATIVE PARAGRAPH

 Nowadays, people discuss whether actual football has evolved from old football. People might think that with all the advances in technology and marketing, might have improved it to a better place, but it hasn’t.

On one hand, old football used to be cheaper than actual football, and it’s true that before TV wasn’t able to retransmit matches, but at the present days because of marketing campaigns even to watch football through TV you have to pay, so now it’s not accessible anymore. To get to a stadium you had to pay very little or even don’t pay for it. In a normal match today, you have to pay normally more than 50 Euro, and not even for the best places. In some matches the resold tickets can reach even thousand Euros!

On the other hand, the spectacle the viewers are having is not the same anymore. Clubs pay millions for their players, they are now some kind of superstars which fans can’t even reach anymore. Players are not close to people, they are exclusive, and that is reflected on the pitch. Players dive pretending to get faulted while in old times players gave their best to keep on going no matter the obstacles. And if they got kicked, instead of making the scene against the rival, they shook each other’s hands and played on.

So after making it an exclusive and expensive sport to watch, not for everyone, and make the quality of the spectacle decrease, definitely old football is better than the actual one.

WRITE A COMPLETE ESSAY

Phones. They used to be bigger and only made for calling someone, and in terms of texting they used to take forever to send them. Now they are called electronic devices, and they are tactile, they use internet, and because of how easy and cheap is text messaging at the present time, it had turned calling someone the secondary way of communicating by phone. Now you can be text messaging with someone all day long wherever they are at cero cost. That is such a useful thing. There isn’t doubt that it keeps us now all in touch with each other. The problem comes when there is time with a conversation face to face with your friends, family members or other people.

 Just because there is three points of view doesn’t mean that only one of them is right. The use of electronic devices have become something essential. Having a phone nowadays is like an extra wallet. You can check your email, buy online, text, play games, go over your social networks… And in some cases that makes an addiction. I know about many people (Including me) that take their phone out to check the time, and they end up in Facebook or Twitter, and when they put the phone back in the pocket they realized that they don’t know the time.

Something similar occurs in conversations. That obsession to check your phone has become something that interrupts conversations. The same thing that happens when you try to check the time, takes place when you are with someone, and you don’t know what to talk about. It looks as if the phone was like an excuse to avoid conversation. Sometimes people take out their phone because they are used to it, and even if they don’t have any notifications they just take it out to scroll down their Twitter timeline. That makes cuts in the conversations, and it doesn’t seem very smart, that’s why people wonder if it’s making us stupid.

There is no doubt that people able to maintain a conversation without having to reach out to their phone is synonym of “higher education”. It’s very ridiculous to meet with someone to remain sitting, be talking to someone else and not paying attention. But having conversation, using phones to make it more fun and more enjoyable for everyone is a symptom of educated people able to use their education to enjoy life. If a conversation is boring why should you keep paying attention to it? Try to make it amusing. For instance, taking a picture or watching a video about something from the past can perfectly be part of a conversation, so don’t let your phone use you, use your phone to enjoy with others.

INTRODUCTION AND CONCLUSION OF AN ESSAY

Nowadays in society, the identity of a person is considered very important, and people get judged for how they behave and what they say in social media for instance. For me, identity is the amount features, and aspects that define the behavior of a person. Sometimes I see how other’s opinions can change a person behavior, for instance in social media where people have to watch out for what they say. “Sometimes is better to have an unknown identity better than a wrong one”. This is a statement from Luis Gabriel Carrillo Navas, which reflects this change of behavior in some people according to what others think about them. This got me thinking if we are fully in charge of our identity?

Even Scarlett Johansson could look terrible when she wakes up in the morning. Even Brad Pitt has bad days. Even Jesus had enemies, imagine me. My point is; some people have more control over their identity, some other people might have less. But it is always affected by social looks and judgement. People will never be fully in charge of their identity. And, Incomprehensibly, it’s our own fault.

DESCRIBE YOUR FAVOURITE PLACE

Tomorrowland is an EDM music festival which takes place every year at the end of July, in Belgium. Apart from the music, I like it because of the people from all over the world that meet within it. It lasts for a few days, and the world-known Djs, fireworks and spectacle that meets there is, make that festival be one of the best experiences in the world. Even more if you go with someone special for you.

DESCRIBE SOMEONE

My friend Sara! She’s a very smart, pretty and good-looking girl. She’s got dark hair. She is very outgoing, and about the same height as me. She’s from Madrid, and one of my best friends back there. Every time I go with her I find something new, and last time I was with her, she made me meet the most incredible person I’ve ever met. 

We all know what takes place in the 31rst of October night. It's the most terrifying night of the year, Halloween, a Celtic party which takes place in English countries as Canada, USA, Ireland or United Kingdom, and, to a lesser extent, in other places as Spain or Latin America.  The day is associated with the orange, black and purple colours, and it's linked to symbols as “jack-o'-lantern” which is a carved pumpkin where the top of it is cleared away as a lid, and then the pulp is removed; over its surface, a monster face is carved. During the night, a candle is placed inside of it to create a terrifying effect.

It is also common costumes parties, haunted houses, bonfires, histories, horror movies, and the very famous "Trick-or-treat". It is an activity where the children go from house to house asking for treats such as candy with the phrase "Trick-or-treat" (Where the owner of the house is threated with a joke in case candy is not provided).

But there are many more curiosities about this celebration that many people don't know: For instance, the word “Halloween” is a contraction from "All Hallows Eve", apparently, because this English ghoulish and humorous celebration is related to a solemn, and considered as strict adherence by the Catholic church: the 1rst of November.

As I said before Halloween has Celtic origin, 3000 years ago. The Celtic villages in Ireland, Wales, Scotland and North of France, celebrated the Samhain (which means "the end of the summer") and which took place at the end of October and beginning of November. A rite in the end of the harvest was celebrated and the beginning of the winter. The druids believed that night 31rst of October as the one where the limit between the world of the dead and the living world disappeared, and the witches had more vitality. They even thought that the ghosts of dead people came to the living world to bring people to their world. That's why in the Samhain night, the druids prepared bonfires and spells to chase bad spirits, and people leaved candy and food in the door of their houses, with the superstition that the deceased, will go away and leave them alone.                    When the Christianity arrived at the Celtic villages, the Samhain tradition doesn't disappears, but it changed in spite of the effort of the Catholic Church for eliminate pagan superstitions which could draw with the Satanism or adoration to the devil. In the Gregorian calendar, the 1rst of November became all Saints day, and Samhain, became the “All Hallows Eve”, currently “Halloween”.

As expected, this curious celebration has had a very strong impact in the cinema industry. We can find from the most terrifying movies: such as "Halloween", "I know what you did last summer", "Saw" or "Scream" sagas, to more sympathetic films as my favourite director Tim Burton: "The nightmare before Christmas", "Frankenweenie", "Corpse Bride", "Edward Scissorhands", "Sweeney Todd" or "Sleepy Hollow".

Voodoo consists of various African magical beliefs and rites that have become mixed with Catholic elements. It is commonly associated with witchcraft, with people dancing and singing anthems in strange languages and animals and human sacrifices. But what do we really know about it? Is it a practice as dark and macabre as it looks? Voodoo isn’t an old religion at all but a mix of different African and Christianity beliefs. It was created in America because of slave trade (who didn’t leave their beliefs and customs) in the New World, most of them from Africa. In Benin’s Fon language, voodoo means “spirit,” an invisible mysterious force that can intervene in human affairs. Voodoo is as interesting as complicated and its influence has propitiated the appearance of other beliefs like Santeria.

All in all voodoo is an ecstatic religion where spirits are invoked and come alive through you. Voodoo took place in Haiti, from where it was spread to New Orleans in the wake of the Haitian slave revolt (1791-1804). The refugee fled to Louisiana where slaves had previously worked under such repressive and inhuman circumstances. However, oppression reduced somewhat with American rule, following the Louisiana Purchase of 1803, and with the influx of thousands of voodoo practitioners New Orleans began to “hear the beat of the drum”.

Although it isn’t the most famous symbol, I find it a really interesting and exciting symbol.

It’s about The Guy Fawkes Mask, designed by David Lloyd.

It symbolizes the human figure of Guido Fawkes. This man was a revolutionary English catholic, who dug his own grave trying to blow up the Westminster Palace, better known as the Gunpowder Plot. He and his mates wanted to murder king James I and his family, with the aim of finishing with the religious persecutions. Fawkes had the mission of detonating all the explosives hidden on a rented undercroft beneath the House of Lords. But he was discovered guarding the explosives and he was detained the 5th of November of 1605.  Over the next few days, he was questioned and tortured, and he refused to reveal his partners in crime’s identity. Finally, he was executed. Since that, every 5th of November, it is celebrated the Bonfire Night.

Alan Moore wrote “V for Vendetta” in the 80s, and its film adaptation (with Natalie Portman and Hugo Weaving) in 2005, made the Guy Fawkes Mask super famous, as a symbol of revolution and manifestation all over the world, as it can be perceived in the hacktivist band “Anonymous”.

I have no doubts about my mum is the person I admit the most, not only in my family, but in the entire world. I’m so thankful for the education my parents gave me, but the love I feel with my mum is indescribable.  She was able to start a family full of support and love, a stable and loving home. I consider her my favourite person ever because she possesses many qualities such as a youthful appearance, a good sense of humour, a brilliant intelligence… she also has a vivid imagination, she is a very outgoing person. And what I love the most is that she is always keen on listening and giving advices.

In addition she is the one I most look like: I have the same jaw line, cheeks, sleek hair as my mum.  We both are medium height. But is it true that my sister takes after me nowadays! She is seven years younger than me, and I often think she is keen on following my footsteps. She is usually named “mini-Paula”. I have looked after her since she was born and I always put her first.

To sum up I can say that my mum and sister are the persons I die for. I can’t imagine living without them.

The History of the Liberty statue has its beginning in 1865, when Edouard de Laboulaye raised with the idea of a monument for the United States. It was 10 years later when, at first Frederic Auguste Bartholdi was told to design a sculpture, which would commemorate the centennial of the American Declaration of Independence. The statue would be named “Liberty Enlightening World”. French took place in the idea of building the monument, so it made both countries get into a better relationship. It was assigned for American people to build the pedestal of it, and French people to build the statue itself an assembly it in the United States.

But there were huge funds problems, and the process was developing very slowly, so Emma Lazarus wrote the sonnet “The New Colossus” for art and literary people to help with it, and it was worth it. The process began to go on faster. Meanwhile, France assigned Alexandre Gustave Eiffel, the designer of the Eiffel Tower to build that massive statue. Architect Richard Morris Hunt designed the Statue granite pedestal.

The statue was divided in between 350 individual pieces and it took four months to place them all on top of the pedestal. The construction of it finished in July 1884, and arrived at New York Harbor in June 1885. The Statue was finally inaugurated on October 28^th 1886, and it is situated on the Liberty Island close to New York City, but what nobody knows is that the statue actually belongs to New Jersey State, not to New York although it is also really close to. You can only get there by taking a boat from the Liberty Harbor.

Since then it has been a symbol of inspiration for all the immigrants that arrived nearby. Its own name says it gave inspiration of “Liberty” to people who sailed passed on their way to America, The Land of Freedom.

The Oscars, also called “The Academy Award” are awarded for excellence cinematic achievements. It’s the oldest entertainment awards ceremony; they were first celebrated on May 16, in 1929, and they were first televised in 1953 and nowadays it is seen in more than 200 counties all over the world. A small statuette is given to the winners. Its official name is “Academy Award of Merit”, nicknamed Oscar. Some of the Award categories are: Best Picture, Best actress, Best director, Best Visual effects… etc.

For instance, the most awarded films ever are: Titanic (1997), Ben-Hur (1959), and The Lord of The Rings (2003), all of them with 11 statuettes each. These awards don’t have a specific date, but they tend to be celebrated in late February or early March, always around six weeks after the announcement of the nominees for the Oscar. This Academy Awards are the only ones televised live in the United States, and last year more than 40 million Americans watched the show live.

In 2001, the ceremony of the Oscars was moved to Hollywood, to the Kodak Theatre, were it is still celebrated.

The ceremony, outside from the importance of the awards themselves, is a place where fashion takes place, and all big fashion brands fight for dressing the superstars that turn to the event. It’s typical in men to wear black suit with black tie. But women are the ones that bring the most visual impact with extravagant dresses by some of the most luxury fashion brands.

We all know how different past times are from present times. But it is argued which one is better. It is true that many things had changed when we talk about education, and teaching has become totally bearable compared with other times.

Nursery schools taught basic skills through processes such as painting, counting, crafting… while today infant teachers use electronic devices. So, it can be seen that in the past, children were more hard-working and they were given sound knowledge about basic things of life. As there were not facilities we can enjoy today, children years ago spent long hours doing their exercises, and we cannot imagine how gratifying must be to obtain a degree (or make a success) in those times.

It is thankful to study for a degree without making the effort people in the past had to. Although it is not easy at all to pass all exams, we have to think about the poor help which was offered to students time ago.

To find an employment has never been an easy task. As nowadays more people can get and education, a grade… without working as hard as in past times, it is easier to have a good standard of living than before. Although we sometimes want to throw up our studies, we must be grateful. Many old people would envy our situation.