Mes petits enfants

Matias fait aujourd'hui 17 ans. Bon anniversaire mon petit!
Martin a 12 ans.
Mamam

Mes petits enfants

Matias fait aujourd'hui 17 ans. Bon anniversaire mon petit!
Martin a 12 ans.
Maman

Ecological networks

My interests:

There is little research that crosses beyond field-oriented and individual angles, but there is a growing understanding of the need to bridge different disciplines to model the real world. In fact, the characteristics of individual habitats for specific target species of birds, vertebrates or many tree species have been broadly studied by ecologists, and foresters, but little research look for models that explain socio-cultural aspects interconnected with ecological systems. Consequently, it is necessary the development of models on real world life that include human needs related to the use and enjoyment of natural landscapes. From the urban ecology point of view, the rapid change in land use from agricultural/forested to residential/commercial set negative effects on the environment. Air pollution, greater impervious areas, the increase in surface temperature, and the detriment and fragmentation of open green areas set an alarm about the limits of natural resources (Weiland 2002).
How could we assess the detriment of open green spaces? Scientists worldwide agree that models are the most efficient way to understand ecological and human processes. However, for the management of natural resources governments, communities, and planners need suitable predictions on landscape transformation that reflects landscape changes in a long term (Volk 2002; Raterman 2005).

Reading Mies, women in gender analysis:

Mies argues that under the new IDL, is crucial the accomplishment of low cost production to transform raw materials in mass consumer goods to be sold in industrialized countries. The accumulation of capital in industrialized countries was historically possible because of the permanent search for new markets especially in the industrialized countries with high acquisition power. Second and most important contribution to accumulation of capital was the critical manipulation of the International Division of Labour (IDL) that reach one way or the other the necessary cheap labour and consequently contributed to low down the production cost. For instance, the consequences of new IDL supported computer ‘revolution is supported by Asian women who are paid with exceedingly low wages in electronics, textiles, garments and toys industries. Goods produced at remarkably low costs are sold in industrialized countries, they become mass consumer goods. Particularly women have a decisive role also in mass production and consumption.

The city and its interfaces

“The changing scene at the edge and the placelessness
that goes along with it has become a battle ground between efforts
to preserve rural land and the relentless forces of urbanization.”
(Hough, M. 1990. Out of Place: Restoring identity to the regional landscape. p.88)

The city and its interfaces: Designing a waterfront in St. Augustine Beach: A systematic Study for Recovering the Cultural and Natural Landscape of a Place”

New technologies in communication and greater opportunities in mass transportation cause the fast growth of the urban population. A large amount of people moves from rural to urban areas for searching new jobs that bring opportunities for employment. The increase in urban population cause land use change that affects the life in cities by degrading the natural landscape.
Land use change modifies forest, soil, water, and vegetation, but also modifies the intimate relationship between people and the natural landscape. Many times, the damage of those resources is irreversible, and generates dramatic changes in the natural landscape and unique places are missing. Moreover, this process causes the fragmentation of the relationship between urban population and natural landscape.

A natural landscape is composed by forest and water systems, but it is also defined by the specific characteristics of soil and climate. The transformations in the landscape by human interventions define the cultural landscape. This process is based on the particular human appropriation of the land. The natural landscape receives a spatial function and it is transformed by new land uses. The raise of urban public areas is a need within these transformations to assure the quality of life of the community. Moreover, urban open spaces with extensively natural areas guarantee the health of the community and it is critical in the development of social ties.
Despite the intense discussion that landscape architects and scientist’s worldwide hold about social and environmental aspects in urban environments the existing waterfronts and re-developments at the water’s edge failed to preserve and promote the unique natural environment of a place. Indeed, it failed to reconnect communities with the natural landscape and contribute to social fragmentation.

This research analyzes the components of the natural regional landscape in a section of beachfront in St. Augustine Beach, Florida that suffered beach erosion and development pressures due to land use change. I propose an alternative to costly dredging and beach reclamation that includes a series of tools, interventions, and landscape modifications of this threatened site. I used GIS and remote sensing to analyze the composition of the natural landscape and to understand the phenology of the place.

Finally, this research proposes a holistic design to test ideas and arguments by giving an alternative for the ‘hibridization’ of the landscape with in depth analysis of the natural landscape towards the preservation of its key components. This research also analyzes the significance to preserve the natural and cultural landscape in order to promote a sustainable economic development.

Spanish, my mother tongue at the International Language Day

• 
  Even though my mother tongue is Spanish, when I do my readings I keep my mind and annotations in English. My method for doing a comprehensive reading is to use a marker for highlighting the most important ideas, and a pencil to underline secondary ideas. I also add some bars at the side of some paragraphs that are explanatory ideas of those secondary ideas even with the pencil or the marker in dependence of there is an idea referred to the main or the secondary idea.
  
  In fact, I work with three levels of information:
  
  Main ideas - highlighter
  Secondary ideas - pencil
  Explanatory ideas - (bars beside paragraphs – pencil or highlighter)
  
  Although, as I explained above, I keep my mind in English by doing my readings, when I write a critique or I have to do an analysis of the readings, I use my own language. Indeed, I prepare an outline in Spanish to help me to make sense of what I read. In addition, based on the Spanish outline, I will be back to the English language to write my topic sentences and organize my paper.
  
  In synthesis what I found is: my creativity and expression is based on my knowledge and confidence on my own mother tongue language which is Spanish. Then, I am able to follow my argumentation and writing papers in English. I feel confidence in my thinking process when I test my thoughts and understanding in Spanish. Spanish, my mother tongue is also the language that I use to express my feelings. Even though my kids speak English and French, we always speak in Spanish at home. Spanish is my langue for loving expressions.

"Te quiero Martin, te quiero Matias, Mamam"

What a winter!

I love to spend time by reading in my garden!


Winter brings nice opportunities for reflexion and family gathering. I love to spend time outdoors by reading and watching the snow falling.

This is my second winter in Blacksburg and I love it.

I also play with my little boy Martin. He likes to clean in order to play and he doesn't loose any opportunity to drop me a snow ball!

February 12th, 2006

"No te salves" de Mario Benedetti

No te salves

No te quedes inmóvil al borde del camino,
no congeles el júbilo no quieras con desgana,
no te salves ahora ni nunca no te salves no te llenes de calma,
no reserves del mundo sólo un rincón tranquilo,
no dejes caer los párpados pesados como juicios,
no te quedes sin labios, no te duermas sin sueño,
no te pienses sin sangre no te juzgues sin tiempo,
pero si pese a todo no puedes evitarlo,

y congelas el júbilo,
y quieres con desgana y te salvas ahora,
y te llenas de calma y reservas del mundo sólo un rincón tranquilo,
y dejas caer los párpados pesados como juicios,
y te secas sin labios y te duermes sin sueño,
y te piensas sin sangre y te juzgas sin tiempo,
y te quedas inmóvil al borde del camino,
y te salvas,
entonces,
no te quedes conmigo.

Bridges

Building a bridge with the future of a global community

Years ago, at a silent library of my southern country, that persistent dream came and came again. I used to dream about a feasible utopian Earth where peace and freedom become/were true, and my children and the children of my children could live without the fear of war or hunger. Nevertheless, some shadows also came to cloud my dream. The increasing number of Earth’s population, the challenges of food and water supply, the death of many species, the image of a polluted river with a dark sky, and the violence of the death of many of ours came also to my mind. During those days, economic and social conflicts surrounded my student life and hard times obscured the 1970s. I was positioned among walls of loneliness and isolation with surest feelings that no path to my feasible utopia could be found in that situation. A friend encouraged me to apply for a graduate degree in the United States. The idea sounded exciting but at the same time unfeasible. However, in 2003, I was accepted. I packed my dream gently and I came to America. I promised me to be an actor of my dream, a friendly voice for all of us, by looking for the role that I could play in that future. At that moment, I realized that it was not to be easy, but I neither expected that. I was willing to build a bridge that opens a channel of communication between my people and the global community. That mission would start in this country and never before could I imagine how deep that new life would impact in my future.

First, I started by revisiting the place of the books and the written knowledge, the place which several times shielded my soul. In fact, the first step started in the library. When I saw those books, piled in perfect rows from top to bottom, colorful, with attractive covers, tears came out of my eyes. Thousands and thousands books were offered to my joy to open a door for the discovery. Librarians were extraordinarily kind people who share their passion for reading and their ability to search upon their life every topic that I wanted to know as it was the last battle to be contested. They conducted me through the knowledge achieved for other scientists around the world. The word was written in English, a place that Latin played once in the human history. I reached the names of those who were going to share the idea of the utopian Earth. Their words were there waiting for me. At that moment, I began to approach and to be part of the scientific community.

Second, I met faculty, the guardians of the knowledge who began the oral transmission. With a big smile and informal attire, they instructed me about the power of words. They guided me throughout a culture and its code. Professors showed me the silent sound of the signs, they trained me in a new gymnastic of ideas because they knew the rules of the knowledge’s game. They also discussed with me new lines of thoughts and scientific methods for creating a meaningful tree of ideas. By challenging my mind with different patterns to look at problems, they facilitated the search for answers. Overall, professors revealed for me the code and allowed the understanding of two cultures. They generously shared their experiences and helped me to assemble a solid structure by asking the correct questions to identify my goals in a simple and clear manner. They gave me the gift of the script of signs which encouraged me to walk along an exciting path of knowledge.

Although, two challenges already faced me, a third challenge was waiting for me: a country and the American people. Although I was immersed in studies, I wondered how the student’s community was and how were the people from the small town around campus. One day a mail brought me the opportunity. A professor needed help for planting trees in a neighbor town and I offered me as a volunteer. Students and community freely got together to help. Later on time, I learned that volunteering is one of the pillars of this society gained at an early age. People meet to rebuild a village after a natural disaster or to help in a fundraising for a little child who wants to play in the town soccer’s team. That is unique. More than a few times, I could know this solidarity in my own. Many times I failed, my life was a chaos and I considered to quit. But with the consistent perseverance, many faces with no names were there with encouraging voices that brought again the hope and the optimism.
Finally, this is not the end; this is the beginning to me and many others. This is the moment to awake my dream and allow it to flight. I want to announce everybody: the bridge is done and the moment is now with the people who came before and others that will come. This is the trip of my return and your encounter, with the strong belief that my land is yours and my mountains, my oceans and my forests are also yours. The same sky covers our homes and the laugh of my son is flamboyant as the laugh of yours. Our presences bring the opportunity for building our community, the global community. Our happiness and our desires are not so different. We can find together solutions for our common seas, migrant birds, air and forests. Together we will plant the seed for the new global community, with your knowledge and our, by sharing publications, by meeting in international congresses, by bringing to the table common issues for final agreements. Come to position yourself in the new order and celebrate with me the dream of the feasible utopia. My bridge has the power of love. It was build with tears of happiness and human compassion. I am sure, we are going to face more challenges but it is the price for peace and freedom to everybody. A change has to be done. We have a same need of surviving. Nobody will do it alone. We live together in a small planet, a dot among the immensity of the sky . The bridge is the beginning for a future full of promises and one day free women and men from everywhere will cross, with fear, with respect, and with absolute conviction.

Many times

Many times, when days are not full of sunshine, life is there for me throughout you two.
Your laughs, your jokes, your music, your silences, your agreements and disagreements. I appreciate this time with you.

Thank you, me simpatizan,
Mamam

Seminario Montevideo

La ciudad y sus bordes: “Diseño del borde de agua de St. Augustine Beach: Un estudio sistemático para la reconstrucción del paisaje cultural y geográfico.”
El rápido crecimiento de la población urbana extiende la ciudad degradando los recursos naturales y sociales. Nuevas tecnologías en transporte y comunicación están a disposición de la mayoría de la población. La ciudad recibe grupos humanos cada vez mayores que se movilizan buscando fuentes de trabajo y una mejor calidad de vida. Los proyectos de desarrollo urbano en aras de encontrar soluciones a las funciones de comercio, habitación, salud, educación y recreación entre otras, modifican recursos tales como vegetación, suelo y agua, y sobretodo, fragmentan la íntima relación de la gente con su paisaje cultural y geográfico. El espacio público urbano fragmentado y sometido a una multifuncionalidad abrumadora, pierde su característica simbólica y no cumple con la función esencial de ser el lugar común de la expresión y el encuentro, bases de la construcción de la identidad social. Muchas veces, el daño que ocasiona adaptar la geografía para cumplir estas nuevas formas y funciones de la ciudad se hace irreversible y provoca cambios dramáticos, perdiéndose las relaciones únicas entre la gente y su paisaje. Tuan en 1974 y 1982; Castells en 1997, ya investigan el rol fundamental del paisaje en la construcción de la identidad social. De allí la importancia de aunar esfuerzos para asegurar la continuidad y la salud del suelo, el aire, el agua y la vegetación que forman el paisaje natural de un lugar. A pesar de la intensa discusión de los investigadores de la ciudad sobre el tema, las respuestas de un diseño coherente que de solución a la fragmentación del paisaje cultural y geográfico no ha sido planteada. Por este motivo, el deterioro de los bordes de agua urbanos donde en una franja de 100 Km. habita la mitad de la población del planeta es una oportunidad para el encuentro y brinda el escenario adecuado para la expresión del paisaje natural. La recuperación de los bordes de agua por su proximidad con las áreas más pobladas de la ciudad y por ser zonas generalmente abastecidas con todos los servicios urbanos es un gran laboratorio del espacio público. Este trabajo es una propuesta de diseño e investigación de las nuevas funciones del espacio urbano y para ello se ha seleccionado un sector de playa en St. Augustine Beach (Florida, USA), que ha sufrido fuertes presiones debidas al desarrollo turístico que se agrava con permanentes condiciones de erosión de playas. Asimismo, es una alternativa integral para la preservación del paisaje natural como manera de aminorar los costos de relleno y reconstrucción mecánica de la costa del estado de Florida, que mas allá de ser una inversión económica de gran envergadura, no contempla la sustentabilidad del área y afecta la fauna y flora nativa. Se ha utilizado sistemas SIG y fotografía satelital para comprender las redes naturales que generan el paisaje de St. Augustine Beach. Estas herramientas permiten analizar como esta zona ha sido afectada por el plan de recuperación mecánica de playas. Además, se han utilizado estadísticas sociales y económicas del Municipio de St. Johns para observar las causas de los procesos migratorios en el área. Esta propuesta analiza las relaciones entre los elementos: suelo, agua, vegetación y clima que posibilitan la generación de un bosque y fauna particular paisaje único para la vida de los habitantes de St. Augustine Beach. Finalmente, en palabras de Bessous, este estudio sistemático intenta un “inflexus” para contribuir con los investigadores urbanos y con la comunidad y pone a disposición las herramientas tecnológicas para una nueva lectura educativa de los componentes y las mecánicas de formación y preservación del paisaje cultural y geográfico.