Antonio Banderas

All the movies I have seen with Antonio in them are great! He is a great actor and has been in a ton of movies, a few documentaries, and even on a few commercials. An interesting fact about Antonio is that when he was 14 his dream was to become a professional soccer player, but he broke his foot and then his family realized he was exceptionally good at drama and art and that's what started his career! It's crazy to think just that one thing, breaking his foot, could have changed his whole life/career, and he could have possibly not have been an actor! That wouldn't be good though because he is awesome at what he does. :)

Sofia Vergara

Sofia Vergara was born in Barranquilla, Columbia on July 10th, 1972. She has 5 siblings along with a son. She has been married and divorced. She went to a private school for people speaking and learning Spanish/English. She then went on to study to become a dentist. Then Sofia was discovered by a photographer, while she was on the beach and this led to various jobs in modeling and television. At age 23, she became a famous runway model. From 1995 to 1998, she co-hosted a show, which gave her light in the United States. She has become a very famous actress. She has been in the following: Four Brothers, Modern Family, Tyler Perry, Cover Girl commercials and much more! She is also a very beautiful person inside and out! `

About a month ago I had a dream in spanish. It was the first time and it was interesting. I was at a restaurant and everyone only spoke spanish so

Carlos Santana

I was listening to my ipod a couple days ago and I heard the song Into The Night by Santana. I love the song and I knew he had the cool guitar solo in it. I knew he was Mexican American but I wanted to know more about him.

Carlos Santana was born July 20, 1947 in Autlan de Navarro, Mexico. His father was a professional violinist. His family moved to Tiajuana when he was eight. In the 1960's he moved to San Francisco. In 1966 he formed the Santana Blues Band which they eventually renamed Santana. He performed in Woodstock in 1969. He got a contract with Colombia RecordsHis first album went triple platinum and stayed on Billboards Top Ten for over two years. His next to albms were also successful.

Carlos Santana is a great guitarist and singer. He created amazing songs, and deserves to be as famous as he is.

"Carlos Santana Biography." Bio.com. A&E Networks Television. Web. 02 Mar. 2012.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/93/Carlos_Santana_2.jpg/220px-Carlos_Santana_2.jpg picture

Santana

Santana was a famous guitarist of the 60s all the way up until today. Carlos Santana is the lead man of a group named after himself called Santana. He was born in Mexico but has become a major icon in American music. Carlos graduated high school in 1965 but in only three years he had already signed onto Columbia Records. Since then he has accomplish much and has a lot to show for it. In 1998 he was admitted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. The street in Mexico where he grew up is now named after him. He song "Supernatural" spent twelve weeks on the billboard chart number number one. He has over forty years as a international touring artist. He has an album in the Rolling Stones top 150 albums of all time. He has all of this and he is still active today.

Personally I am not a huge fan of his work but I definitely respect his talent and even more so his impact on music today. He helped bring Rock and Roll from being a small genre to being brought into main stream music. He also helped develop the idea of using Rock and Roll tools such as a guitar into other genres and bringing other genres influences into Rock and Roll. With out his work we wouldn't see nearly as much cross genre influences and it wouldn't be nearly as common to hear a guitar in anything but Rock and Roll. For that alone I can hold him in high regard.

"Carlos Santana Biography." Santana. September, 2010. Web. March 2, 2012.

http://rokpool.com/files/artist/SantanaCarlos.jpg?1315319338

Texas Drug Wars

Last night on the Discovery channel I was watching Texas Drug Wars. On this show there is a team of dedicated FBI agents who go along the Rio Grade and hide in the brush. In this episode to kick things off there was a team of detectives who were getting into position in the brush to catch these young kids where were crossing over to the America border with bundles of drugs. First they spot the aliens and get into a hiding location were they can't be seen by the aliens or there spies. Then they call right away so when they see them to let them know so they have back up to rush in and get the drugs before they get away. Then once they aliens get on American soil they rush out to get them and the drugs, some of the time to aliens get away and cross back over the river to the Mexican boarder. In this instance they got the three bundles of drugs and the aliens escaped to the other side full of anger and rage, knowing this wasn't their last try! Then the next thing that happened they do random checks of people crossing the boarder, and this lady seemed to show tension, so they just stopped her for a routine check and they found thousands of dollars in cash and drugs! She was found guilty and went to jail for six months. They then caught a team of 21 latinos crossing the boarder for a chance of life. They were very nice and were not deported back to Mexico right away, they went to go get checked to see if they could become American Citizens. So not all the people that cross the boarder are bad and are just doing it for drugs and money, some really do need help and do really want a chance of a better life.

Mexican Americans

I was with some friends recently at Walmart in Dubuque where there happened to be a couple speaking spanish to each other. I wasn't sure of their nationality because not everyone dark who speaks Spanish is Mexican. I hardly caught up on what they were saying with the natural fluency of which they spoke. Then I started thinking about my history class. Lately we've been discussing a lot about illegal immigration. Apparently less than fifty percent of those who cross the Mexican-American border into the United States illegally are actually from Mexico. Most of them are legal and there are two main factors why they come here, push and pull factors. These are reasons that they decide to come here or leave their homeland. America is seen as a land of opportunity where anyone can achieve success and live a better life. Central and South America add up to the majority of illegal immigrants in the U.S. that get here by crossing the Mexico border. In class we talked about how people shouldn't discriminate Mexicans for being in our country. People see them as taking our jobs, yet we wouldn't work many of them anyway for the low pay that they accept. Some of us are ignorant and believe they shouldn't be able to speak Spanish in our country. I believe they should, secrets aren't wrong and that's just away to keep things personal, especially when talking in public. We speak English in foreign countries as if it's no big deal. I think things are good with the diversity in the world. There is no need for an international language with all of the translators out there. Everyone has their own beliefs and I just wanted to share some of mine. I don't think that all illegal immigrants should be lumped together as just Mexicans. There are too many Americans that are ignorant with their dislike toward them

The Ultimate Gift

Think back to the greatest gift that you ever received. How did you earn or receive it? Did you have to go somewhere to retrieve it or do something you didn't want to do in order to get it? Jason Stevens is to recieve a series of gifts, leading up to the "ultimate gift", from his grandfather, who has passed. He must work for them, but is reluctant to. One thing he must do is go to Ecuador, which is where his father died when he was young. He goes anyway and begins work at a library where there are few books and they are in Spanish. The library is also named in memory of his father. While Jason is in Ecuador, he learns to speak Spanish so that the books make sense and he is able to communicate with the people that surround him. The gift to come from that is the gift of learning. It tought him that he can do anything he sets his mind to. There is much Spanish spoken in that part of the movie, and to find out if Jason receives his ultimate gift, watch "The Ultimate Gift". You may also read the book that the movie is based off of.

http://i2.listal.com/image/47870/600full-the-ultimate-gift-poster.jpg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5S79hU1SrLI

Thinking Back to Mexico

I Haven't talked much in depth about the trip I took to Mexico with the Spanish group this summer. I think about this trip all of time. I seriously think that trip is what made me start to like Spanish. To be completely honest I didn't like Spanish at all the first two years. But this year is different I like and it seems easier for me to understand and break down the language. I can't even explain hoe much this trip changed my outlook on Spanish. The only thing that was hard and kind of a knock down when I was down there was when I couldn't really understand what people were saying when they spoke Spanish really fast I wish I was more advanced in the language that way that wouldn't be so difficult and I could comprehend more. I realized how how powerful being able to speak some Spanish was when me and a group of girl went over to a little shop to get our nails done and the lady that did our nails spoke very little English at all so I had to sit there and really think about what I knew in Spanish so I could say a sentence or two. When she understood them and responded I felt so good. I don't think I will ever forget that because when I get very frustrated with Spanish I think about that trip and how awesome and fun it was and that motivates me to do my best and try my hardest to achieve my academic goals
-Sabela

Diversity

It's actually kind of crazy, how much different we really are from people. From different cultures, languages, styles, and everything else!

I've worked at Casey's for about 5 months now and it is fun watching the different people come in. Some are tall, some have lower or high pitched voices. A few spanish speaking people come in everyone in a while and when they talk to me, I feel bad, because I ask them "what?" a thousand times! They just talk so fast and it's hard to understand them. But they are nice people they don't get frustrated with me at all, because I think they understand. :)