Transactional letter

Dear Sir or Madam:

I'm writing about an article I've seen in your newspaper. It is the one about the demonstation this last weekend. I'm a member and representative of the group 'Together as one" that was protesting, and, what is on the article is not quite how the facts developed.

First, it is true that we were protesting against the building of the by-pass because it will lead to the destruction of the "Hendersonia occulta" or more commonly known as the cherrystone drop snail -which is at risk-, but it will also lead to the destruction of hundreds of trees. Both are perfectly thoughtful reasons.

Second, there were over 2000 people -not just 200 as the article says- and we were all sitting quietly. Some people brought their own signs, but it all happened in a orderered peaceful way. It was a silent demonstration.

And lastly, there is a mayor mistake in saying that all of the 'troublemakers' were youngsters from other parts of the country. Nearly all of the people in the demostration were locals from all the ages that came to support us.

So, In order to get a realistic idea of what the demonstration was -since the spokesman for Oldbury's council did not give consistent information-, what I recommend, is to send a reporter to Oldbury to have a conversation with me -the representative of the group- and some locals, so we can construct the article from the experiences of people that witnessed the facts as they were and not just mere opinions.

Yours Sincerely,


Nelson Retamal
TAO Representative

What can YOU do to help in the fight against the crime?

Hi, I'm gary the anti-crime cougar. Would you like to help me, your mom and daddy to to keep the bad guys away?


Right on! Let's get started



Firearms are Dangerous:

Most of people think that having a gun gives them security, and I bet you find them quite cool, don't ya? Well, that's not quite right. If a person ever gets into your house, a gun won't help, it can be used against you. Having guns at home could be dangerous, not only for you, but also for your family and friends. Guns can hurt, and more important, they can KILL.

Still not convinced? that's probably because in "Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2" you die, but you can always start all over again. Or Bruce Willis in most of his action movies, he barely gets hurt, no bullet touches him. Good guys never get shot. Awesome! aint it? Well, that's not how things in real life work. If you get a bullet, you can get hurt or even die. That can happen to you or one of your loved ones, just because of a silly game. We don't want any of these terrible things to happen, so here are some tips:

If you ever see a gun...

1- Stop!

2- Don't touchy

3- Step away

4- Tell an adult

If you follow these steps, you'll be protecting yourself and other people around.

Here are some examples of times you might see a gun:

Your friend shows you his dad's gun




You see a gun in someone's backpack at school



You find a gun in the park by your house

Hey juanito:

It's been a while since the last time we saw each other, it was for someone's birthday, I think.How have you been doing? How is everybody? Is everything working well? I hope so.

I was near to your place the other day, I was going to pay you a visit, but I was with my girlfriend and she was sleepy, she just wanted to go home, so I had to leave quickly. I was wondering if we could hang out one of these days.

Do you remember when we used to play football at the park? Man, those where good times. Now I can't even watch football. I can't watch tv anymore, my work is eating all of my time. That's sad, you try to enjoy as you still young! without any concerns. Have you been to the park recently? it remains the same, but it's a little messed up. Some benches are destroyed or tagged up with graffitis.

What happened to children? it used to be full of them, playing and yelling and jumping around. Now it's dead, the only people you see are the ones that clean the park and some skater wannabees, they're around you're age. But they're not talented at all, they spend all day trying to pull out some tricks, doing that flipping sound which is annoying. We should definitely kick 'em out, what do you say? We could go to the park sometime for the old times, and have an Ice cream, have a walk, have a word.

I look forward for a reply, I'm eager about hanging out with you. And you know that I AM.

I hope you're alright, take care!

see ya.

Transactional Letter

Mrs. Helen Ryan:

I'm certainly excited about the prize and it just came in the right moment. I really deserve some vacations, after a year of hard work at school.

Since I work at a public school, I can only travel on july. Because this is the month when the first term ends and I got one week to finish up all the marks, then I have three weeks off. So it would be splendid if I can travel on july 7th. About the acommodation, I'd prefer the log cabins rather than being outdoor, because I don't think I could stand one night in the wilderness, my skin is very sensitive to mosquito's bites.

Of the activities that you have in the camp, I choose Painting and Photography. I'm not good at painting, but I want to try it out, perhaps I'll learn one thing or two. But I'm quite good at photography, It will be a great opportunity to take beautiful pictures of nature.

I'd like to know how is the weather going to be like, to know what type of clothes to pack. Also, Is there any shop? I would like to buy some souvenirs and some other things, just in case.
I would be grateful if you can send me an email with everything I need to know by the next week, so I can be prepared.

Regards,

Nelson Retamal

Red crystals

It was a night of June, when the only way to escape the ruthless cold of winter is to stay at home. Although, it's not only the cold this people, in their cozy and warm beds, escape from. There are some other things at night that are even more ruthless or unexpected. At night, when twisted things happen, just few souls remain: They are Crime scene investigators.

Living in the city

Living in a city is surely exciting. All live and full of colors and neon lights. There are lots of things to see and a lot of things to do. City's life can't be better.

Picture by Nelson Figueredo

Contrarily from the countryside, in the city there is a lot of entertainment. You can go out clubbing, or you can go to the cinema, you can rent some dvd's and watch them at home. You can even stay at home and download the same movie!.

But it's not all about entertainment, it's also important how you get to it. The public transportation service works almost all day, so does the subway. You can reach almost any place you want at almost anytime.

Do you feel like hungry? "The fast food saves us enough time to squeeze lunch in exactly when we want it." After a long day of work or school the last thing you want to do is to cook. You don't want to waste time on that. Time that you could spend on shopping! you can get yourself some new clothes or a new watch so check what time it is with more style. You can buy even more DVDs to watch! Shopping is fun!

In the city everything is at hand, you can get whatever you want, whenever you want it. Perhaps, that's why we -people living in the city- are so stressed out and sick. We get whatever we want, whenever we want it. So when we don't get what we want, when we want it, we get upset. We have become so used to 'instantaneousness' that everything becomes disposable, even relationships. We treat people like objects, that's to say we relate to people in the way that they can be useful for us, what they can do for us rather than the affection that we could have for the person. Say "bye bye, I don't need you anymore" in just one click.

This instantaneousness, this necessity for things and for getting these things right away, is making us all sick and increasingly less human.

Survey

Regarding to your family relationships, please answer the next questions:

- Since Families' structure have become very diverse, nowadays. Do you think it is important to preserve the traditional structure, or is not an important matter?

- In what type of family have you been raised?

- Is there any person in your family that you can look up to? Who? Why?

- Do you have any brothers? If you do, How is the relationship? Do you get on well with each other?

- Do you usually have arguments with a member of your family?

- What do you usually argue about?

- Do you try to solve the problem, or you try to stay away?

- Have you ever fell out with any of your family members?

- Is there any moment of the day that you can spend time with your family?

- Do you enjoy spending time with your family?




Now, If you feel like you would like to learn about families diversity, check this article: http://sixthsense.osfc.ac.uk/sociology/research/family_diversity.asp
There are also test at the bottom that you can do to test your understanding of family diversity.