Because of Mentalities

      Liza Donnelly is a cartoonist and she explain in her speech that humor is a very good thing to change things. Her idea is to make change mentalities on which we base from our birth. For her, it's important to make understand to people and to make them realize the stupidity of the rules of the life because of the society which we live for a long time and something without realizing it. In fact, it's ludicrous to base these rules of life about the sex : because you are a boy or because you are a girl. Thus, to try change it, Liza found a solution : The Humor. To change certain prejudices. The central idea of this speech is the important and the strength of the relation and the union : woman and humor.

      I agree with her way of makes, indeed it's easier to pass on a message by a cartoon and what's more a funny cartoon. It's the way we live and habits which make that : we buy rather a fire truck for a boy and a baby doll for a girl. 

Children have a lot of imagination so if we let them play alone without guiding theirs games, it's possible that a girl plays with a car or that a boy dresses up as princess. Liza understood it, and drawing humor, her message is too powerful for people, particularly for women. Thanks to Liza's sketch, people can see these rules but these rules attributed to persons according to their sex exist since generations, so I think that even by funny drawings, it not going to change. For a long time, it's like that and I think it's difficult to lose habits.

      About the humor according to the culture, I think it's also depends on each. In certain cultures, there are importances, and conservatives values which there isn't in the others cultures. I think that the humor depends above all of the mentality of the person, of the family.

A funny love-charm !

    I watched the video and it pleaseed me, it's funny ! The love-charm about this story is :

" If you use a picture of your loved one as the wallpaper on your cell phone and no one finds out about it for 3 weeks, you'll attain your love! "

When I watched this video I remembered my first years to the secondary school, when I was 11 years old. Now, I am going to tell you my history :




    When I arrived at the secondary school, at the beginning I knew nobody in my new class and I was shy. I had a best friend but we weren't in the same secondary school. I was in the private school and she was in the State school. We were neighbors so I saw her every evening, after the school, to tell her my stories and because I missed her a lot. Together, we did many things, for an example we did Halloween every year until 14 years old. I liked telling her my stories and listening to hers stories but my favorite stories were love stories ! One day, I found a cute boy in my class so I talk to her about him. I didn't dare to speak with him because I didn't know what he felt and because I were too shy !
    Little by little, he noticed that I looked him in class and one day we became friends. He had found me a nickname but not very kind ! I didn't still know what he felt. One day, my best friend give me good advice and she explained me a love-charm :

" If I wanted that a boy loves me, I had to write his name and his first name on a scrap of paper and then I had to burn it completely, if his name and his first name remained written on ashes it meant that he would love me. "

    Now, I find this love-charm was very silly ! But, when I was young I believed it very strong and I did it several times with my best friend for the others boys. 

      I think when we are young, it's reassuring to make this king of things and because we are fools we believe in many things. I think it's a mixture of superstitions and the need to believe in something but for me, we do this for fun. 

 

For my English friends

    Hey guys !                            




   How are you ? I arrived two days ago at home and I am sorry if I can't to write you earlier because I know that you wait my letter ! I made very good trip and when I came home my family wait me to hear my sophisticated English. I miss you so much ! ! Since I come back I have to get used to the way of French life again because England is a very different country.


   I thank you for teaching me to speak better English, my mother thinks that I have the English accent ! 

Thank you for discovering me the marvels of London as Big Ben, it's different to see it for real and not in photos. What I liked the most, were the English Guards, theirs uniforms and their stillness, I don't know how they do this ! I also liked the famous English Bus because we haven't it in France.  
My favorite monument was the Westminster palace, towers are higher what I thought !    
The last day was my favorite, this shopping day was so funny and so expensive for me ! My favorite streets were the Oxford Street and the Carnaby Street. Do you remember my favorite store ?   MARKS & SPENCER

   I thank you so much for your welcome and your company, I wasn't bored with you and I hope to see you very quickly ! ! If you want this summer you can come home, I invite you and I 'll show the marvels of France. By that time, we can continue to write.

       I wait your answer ! 
       Bye for now ! 

An unusual painting

      I am going to tell you Doug Landis' story. Doug has never had a passion for the drawing but after his accident his life changed. He loved working with his hands, especially in wood an metal but now because of his accident he can't do it any more. His accident left him quadriplegic, paralyzed from the neck down. Doug wanted to do anything more after his accident, he stayed at home in front of the television so his brother challenged him to draw putting a pencil in his mouth. At the beginning Doug drew only forms or lines and he improved details, little by little. He spent a lot of time to arrive at this result. His accident highlighted his talent. He is a self-taught artist.

When he draws he has only the pencil in his teeth, it's his neck which does all of the work. To finish a drawing he spent from 40 to 400 hours and more, depending the size of the image and the amount of details. At the beginning, for many years, he abused his neck by working too many hours, (sometimes 6 and 8 hours), without taking a break, so during years he began having some problems by controlling his pens.
He earned a M.F.A in Motion Graphics at California Institute of the Arts in Valencia, California, the school founded by Walt Disney.

He draws particularly endangered animals.
To create larger images and to do the animals justice, he began to draw on images upside down. To draw is a means for Doug to release himself, to be able to do something alone without help what he can never do for others things in his life because of his creeping paralysis.




      I think it's important to interest in a creative activity because thanks that, we can feel release, we can make something which looks like us, which belongs us and which remembers us whom we are and what we are capable.

My favorite place

I know very well Grenoble because I live in this city since I was born so I can give you very good advices. I am going to talk you about my favorite place. It's not in the center of Grenoble but it's at the gateway to the city : "le petit train de la Mure". I took this train when I was 14 years old and I think it's an interesting discovery.


"Le petit train de la Mure", it's an electric train goes along the massif of the Oisans and overhangs the Lake of Monteynard. The way of the train is quite close to the mountain and along there are numerous engineering works. There are 18 tunnels and 12 viaducts which take passengers at 560 feet. Passengers settle down in the woods armchairs of the train and they contemplate lakes, meadows, smalls valleys.
The railway was created to go down the coal of the Tray Matheysin towards Grenoble. It was built on July 24th, 1888 and its running started in 1892. Its construction lasted 6 years. The train also transported materials for the coalmine, sometimes workers and also travelers, until 1950.
Since 1997, the small train was transformed into a small tourist train, and a year there are approximately 80 000 visitors.
The route begins at Saint Georges de Commiers' station (at 316 feet), up to at la Mure's station (at 882 feet). The route lasts approximately 1 hour and 40.
"Le petit train de la Mure" is opened from May to September.
Round-trip's rates : for adults 18.50€ and for children 9€.

What you can see on the way :

• The Lake of Monteynard at 500 feet. This lake was created because of EDF dam in 1962 in the Valley of Drac. Next to the lake there is the "Sénépy" , 1 769 feet. On the lake you can play many sports activities.

•   On the viaduct of Rivoire, you can see the Vercors and the Mont Aiguille      (2 086 feet).

• The two parallels viaducts of Loulla. 

• At 1 270 feet, there is one of seven marvels of Dauphiné, "La Pierre Percée", there is a legend around this stone because the hole created by the erosion represents a devil. 

•  The viaduct of Vaux, at 55 feet above the river.  

And many others things ...
The best places to observe the Lake and the dam, on the train, are on the right !  

 

It's my cat when she was 2 months.

My Presentation

My name is Maïlys Fort, I am 20 years old, and I study LLCE Italian, Language, Literature and Civilization at Stendhal. It's my second year. I like very much what I chose because I learn more and more things about my origins, the History, the politic, various tongues between the South and the North and in particularly the way of life at the South of Italy which I don't know because I come from the North of Italy. This second year is more difficult than the first year because news disciplines, as phonetic, are more complicated.
About my family, I live in Grenoble with my family in a flat for twenty years. I have got a sister, she is 18 years old and she studies accounts. My mother is an accounting and my father is a technician. I have got a cat, her name is Nala. When I adopted her, she was 2 months, she was beautiful ! My mother is French and my father is Italian so my father's family lives in Italy and my mother's family lives in Grenoble. I am going to see my father's family every holiday.
I speak Italian for 15 years, for I was very younger as my sister. One year, I went in Italy during 4 months, from June to September to make the most of family, of the country, and to work my tongue's accent, vocabulary, and the pronunciation. When I came back in France I mixed up the two tongues ! =)
About me, I would like to become an Italian teacher because it's important, for me, to share my culture, my origins and my tongue at children who want know this. I hope that I am going to manage to do. I like animals, in particularly cats, I like all of tongues, I think every tongue has its beauty, I enjoy go out with my friends to the cinema, to the shopping... and I really like sport, athletics, swimming. I also enjoy very much to cook all of thing, but I prefer to cook the Italian's food, my favorite food are lasagne.


I hope that now you know me a little more.