Genie (Secret of the Wild Child)

Something unexpected happened the afternoon of November 4th, 1970 in  Los Angeles, CA. Child welfare authorities had found out about the case of Genie. A 13 year old feral child who had been extricated by one of them after being locked to a potty-chair in her room. This monstrosity of a case took place in Arcadia, CA.  The girl had been kept in isolation and fed like a prisoner for 13 years. Her cruel and psychologically unstable father committed suicide when he found out the authorities were trying to catch up with him. Conversely, Genie's mother claimed she too had been a victim of her husband's mistreat. After her discovery, Genie was taken to a children´s hospital. She could not develop human speech due to her parents extreme abuse. She was rehabilitated little by little. Genie started to explore the world´s nature with some help. To instance some experiences: On different occasions, she was taken to field trips to the zoo, the amusement park, among others.  However, researchers and psychologist saw her more as a subject in language acquisition than a patient later on. Genie had been taken from different foster homes to hospitals for several years. Even though she was helped, she was also abused by strict psychologists. For instance. she even was admonished for puking on one occasion. Nonetheless, most of her dedicated foster parents and educator managed to make her develop a wide English vocabulary. There was one problem though. She struggled constructing structured sentences. Genie really could not develop the ability to arrange sentences accurately. Ergo, she was taught sign language by sending her to an institute for the deaf. A form of communication which she came to excel at. As I mentioned before, it is not that someone had extended Genies foster parents millions of dollars for rehabilitating her. Be that as it may, these people did know it was going to be extremely expensive to do so. After several years, Genie was taken back with her mother. Notwithstanding, she could not tolerate it. Ergo, she moved to an adult foster home. Anyhow, even before Genie had been found, theories of language acquisition were being developed. From 1960 onwards two successful linguists had something to say. On one hand logician and linguist Noam Chomsky, said that we all are born with the principles of language. They are in our genes. On the other hand, neuropsychologist and linguist Eric Lenneberg, argued that even though we indeed were born with language principles, there was a deadline for applying them (Critical period hypothesis). Therefore, trying to learn an oral language by puberty seemed impossible. Finally, there was a case similar to Genie´s. Victor of Aveyron was found in 1800 at age 12 in the woods of Southern France. He was taken up by a young physician and could never develop oral language proficiently either. One interesting characteristic of these cases I wild like to bring up: Both Victor and her counterpart were accustomed to exposure and cold. Further, they were also thought to be mentally retarded from birth. Although, some experts disproved these claims.

1980 USA Hockey Team Story

We all know about the rivalry between the USA and Russia. Besides, in 1980, almost a decade after the Marshall plan (Cold War), the situation between them was still rough. These two powerhouses had been deeply at loggerheads over the implementation of their political systems in Western Europe. Not many contretemps that would detriment their relationship took place. Besides the invasion of Afghanistan by the Soviets in 1979 that is. Anyhow, I would like to get to the crux of this writing now. Hockey has always been big not only in Europe, but also in North America. Let us say that during that time the rivalry between the bullies of the Americas and Europe, was transferred into the pitch. The Soviets had the best team on earth. Whereas the Americans had just gathered a bunch of strong-willed college boys to form their national team. What was the reason for these teams to train so hard even before 1980?. The winter Olympics' were about to start. The American had to work really hard to bolster their reputations. On the other hand, the year of the Olympics, the Soviets had just won a world cup. They seemed unbeatable. No defense was good enough to guard against their attacks. Further, The Soviets´ relationship with their coach was not so good.  Therefore, these guys got cocky. The Americans had been progressing little by little. Their coach had chosen the best college hockey players he could find. They even managed to win the Pre-Olympic tournament. Notwithstanding, their toughest challenge was yet to come. Three days before the winter Olympics, the US and Russia played an exhibitions game. The Soviets crushed the Americans by 10 to 3 that day. Ergo they became even cockier. The Americans did not try to overcompensate for anything. They just kept training hard. The big day finally came. These two teams got matched in the semi-finals. The Americans had a Herculean task to achieve. After the Russians got ahead at the beginning of the first period, they just waited for it to finish. However, The American evened the score by the end of it. The Russian coach was so mad that he switched the best goalie in the world for the second period. The American pulled off the unthinkable. They got to beat the Soviets 4 to 3 by scoring at the last minute. Since the game was not broadcasted live, American office workers filed in trying to get home and watch the game at night. Whereas, the Russians found out about the score the next Saturday morning. By the way, this game was known such as ¨The miracle on ice¨. Due to the fact that the underdogs (US team), were able to outsmart and beat the big bullies (Russian team). Nonetheless, there was one more game to be played. The Americans had to face Finland in the final. Only one team was going to be able to sashay out of the field  (Madison Square Garden)  with the gold medal. The Finns took the lead by 2 to 1. That is why during the intermission, the American coach told his team as follows. " If you lose this game, you will take that failure to your grave" Motivated by their coach's words the underdog team went on to score two more times and take the gold medal...

What Makes a Great Tenor?

What makes a great tenor?, is it a lot of hard work?, is it pure talent?. I will be talking a little bit about this topic in the following writing:

You see, I had already been talking about singing, since I am taking a short course. It seems I am pretty excited about it. They say that if you can sing classical music, then you can sing anything. Even though I have problems trying to sing with my diaphragm, I am hanging in there. Unfortunately the lack of interest in art from third world countries for art, makes it difficult for youngsters to pursue a music career. Not exactly do music classes have to be orchestrated here for instance. It is not forbidden. There is even a conservatory. What I meant was that it was harder for people interested in arts to succeed in Latin America. However, there are exceptions to the rule. For instance, the so talented tenor ¨Juan Diego Flores¨ is originally from Peru. Despite the fact that he had to move to Europe to actually have a full time job good enough for him as a tenor, he never lost momentum. He occasionally comes back to Peru to help cement the voice not only as an instrument to entertain masses, but as a means to educate and change the mainstream of most people here. Not an easy thing to do though. Being able to visit schools and tell children they should appreciate art just for the sake of it, would not do the trick. For children to get a penchant towards classical music, they have to be introduced to it through a meaningful and fun process. That is why Flores, among other brilliant tenors have helped build music schools in countries such as this. Nonetheless, the lack of aid from the government makes it difficult to continue helping, Anyhow, being able to sing in seamless flows from one note to the other may seem hard, though it can be achieved with practice. It seems one of the few good things the Spaniards brought in when they annexed Peru was in fact classical music. Not wanting to amplify this point further, I will carry on. Despite the nettlesome challenges that may come up, works towards the  evolution of classical music in Latin America cannot stop. In order for operas to be marketed to mass entertainment here once again, seems an impossible task. Lots of ignorant folks would have to be educated. Further, the media alongside the minister of education would need to work together to promote culture among the population. The immense energy, liveliness, etc, spangled in the eyes of artists such as Flores, and Bocelli, can only be understood by people who understand culture. To answer the question I raised earlier I would say as follows: I believe what makes a great tenor is a combination of hard work and talent. Finally, you may not be able to breeze through a career in music. Be that as it may, it is totally worth it to set off in that journey.

John Dewey Experience and Education: a brief summary