Joan Brady and her thrillers.

For this blog I want to write about someone who I admire a lot, she is not very famous because she is a contemporary writer but i love the way she write. She has an amazing style in her writing.Im talking about JOAN BRADY, she was born in California in 1939, she is the first woman and so far the only American, to win Britain's prestigious Whitbread Book of the year award. Her parent were both writers and her brother too, but the curious thing about Joan is that she was very bad at school and she couldn't read until she was 8th; the only thing she was good it was Ballet, Joan used to dance with San Francisco Ballet and New York city Ballet.

Joan initiated wrinting after she had an enounter with a man that months later she will be married, the writer Dexter Masters, then they had a son named Alexander. Her first novel came out after she was 35 years, it was an autobiography called The unmaking of a dancer, even she write with a complex structure, people can understand what is she writing about. After this, her husband got sick so, she spend ten years writing another novel because she put only emphasis in him, so, she finally put it aside when Dexter's health failed, her principle issue in that moment was him and she accompanied him until his dead. After this, she spend another year writing it and renamed it Theory of war, which won the whitbread prize.

Then she wrote two more novels Death comes for peter pan which caused a lot of controversy, and the violent thriller Bleedout.

She started having nerve problems when a local industry began pollating the air of her house; a few moths later he finished her second thriller Venom.

She haven't published more books after this Venom, but she is thinking in start writing again a new thriller to complete the trilogy.

Juan Luis Guerra, The Master.

Every culture has someone who represents the country, the traditions and the rights through the music. Dominican Republic is one of these that i mentioned before, im talking about Jual Luis Guerra, our pride, and as well known as the master of the lyrics in Latin America. He is one of the most internationally recognized Dominican artist in decades past. His pop style of Merengue and Bolero and afro-pop latin fusion have garnered him considerable success outside the Dominican Republic.

He does not limit himself to one style of music instead he incorporates diverse rhythms like merengue, bachata, bolero, baladas, salsa, rock and roll and gospel. He studied philosophy and literature going then to Berklee College of music; he graduated from college in 1982 with a diploma in jazz composition. After his return to Dominican Republic, he released his first album with a group, they were known as Juan Luis Guerra and the 440.

After the second album, the band garnered some fame in the country and were nominated to attend the festival OTI (Organitazion of Iberoamerican Television). The next album in 1989 brought them international fame, Ojala que llueva cafe. In 1990 they released their next album bachata Rosa which became a major hit and earned him his first Grammy Awards.

With thirteen CD released, Juan Luis Guerra became a controversial figure. In 2007 he was honored at the Latin Grammy Awards with 5 awards; in 2008, 6 awards in Los Premios Casandra the most important award event in Dominican Republic. Also in this year he was the Billboard latin awards big winner with 7 nominations and 3 awards.

Juan Luis Guerra, our pride and best representation, his music is spread around the world and no matter what, he is going to keep his love for our country, and no matter how famous he became, he will be forever a good man and someone who sings for his culture.

Joaquin Balaguer, Writer, President and a little more.

Joaquin Balaguer was born in Villa Bisono, Navarrete Dominican Republic, in 1906; from a very early age Joaquin felt atracted to literature, componsing verses that were published in local magazines even he was very young. He became involved in politics due to the American military occupation in 1916 to 1924. Durong the dictatorship of Rafael Leonidas Trujillo, Balaguer gained recognition both as a writer and as politician, his particular fields of literature was about history and international affairs and he wrote a number of books of this topics. He was a prolific author he wrote very importante books for contemporary Dominican literature, the most famous of which is his only narrative novel called Los carpitenros (The Carpenters). He also wrote poetry and many songs. The most controversial of his works was Memorias de un cortesano, in which Balaraguer shielded by his political power admitted knowing the truth about the misterious death of the revolutionary journalist Orlando Martinez, who wrote a lot of critical articles about the bad government of Balaguer. He left a blank page in the middle of the book: "to be filledn at the time of his dead. The mystery was never solved and he took to his grave.

Joaquin Balaguer explored several branches of literature, as a thorough researcher, he published many biographical books still used as reference, along with compilations and analysis of Dominican folk poets. Was a poet, an enssayist (in which genre he was considered the best, an speech writer and with his only work, a novelist.

He died 14th of July in 2002.

Joaquin Balaguer was one of the most important characters of the Domincican Republic, and example for to many writers and and icon for those who want to be. He was consedered the best president of my country and even though he was critized for a lot of journalists, people loved him. During his government were built monuments and homes for poor people.

Dominicans still talk about him, still love him and remember him as an incredible man. He will live forever in the history of a country that he love more than his own life.

We are all dominicans, however, we are differents.

In the world, not only in my country, we can notice that every person is different, we have different personalities, different ways of thinking and different characteristics. Define a whole culture for one person is not the correct way to know about it, about its people, about its traditions and history.

The truth is, that since I got here i became the ambassador of Dominican Republic which means that every single thing i do or say is going to tell others how dominicans are like, which is not totally fair in my opinion because even though we are from the same country and we have been raised with certain similar values and traditions we are all different one from the other because every person is unique.

According to Dictionarie.com, culture can be define as the sum total of ways of living, built up by a group of human beings and transmitted from one gerenation to another. I think that concept can be taken to have an idea of what culture is, "literally". The best way to know about a culture is live with it and feel it in your heart like your own.

I'm in another country, to far away from mine, and i want to show who i am, who we are, but not trough my actions or sayings, i want to show the dominican culture, trough my feelings and the way how i express my love for another culture to which i never belonged to.

A tradition that brings happiness

My country is Dominican Republic an Island in the middle of the carebbean, famous for its traditions and its nature. But what is the most characteristic thing of this beautiful place?, that thing that makes us happy and forget our sadness, im talking about the Merengue, a dance that we created and is sprend in the world. Its name is spanish taked form the spanish name of the meringue a dessert made with whipped eggs whites and sugar. This style was created by Nico Lora in 1920s. After its creation in the Dominican Republic was promoted by the dictator Rafael Trujillo and became the country's national music and dance style.

Then in the United States was popularized by Angel Viloria and his band Conjunto Tipico Cibaeno; it was that the Trujillo era the song Compadre Pedro Juan became and international hit.

Internationally merengue singers include: Juan Luis Guerra, Eddy Herrera, Los toros Band, Milly Quezada, Sergio Vargas, etc.

Juan Luis Guerra the most popular, every year win grammys for his compositions, and its a pride for us.

The traditional instrumentation include a diatonic accordion, two side drum called tambora, and a guira.

This music represents Dominican Republic, as well known as the most popular music genre in Latin America.

Icons

Every country has his heroes, all my life i have been hearing about the independece battles of America; now i can talk about their heroes, that character who fight for the freedom of their countries. United States of America, here was born George Washington in 1732, he was the comander of the continental Army in the America revolurtionary war and served as the first president of the USA; in 1778 George Washington marked July 4 with a double ration of rum for his soldiers.

Another hero is Juan Pablo Duarte, was born in Dominican Republic in 1813. We were dominated by the Haitians for 22 years, he got tired of that and decided to fight with them for our freedom; he created an asosiation called La Trinitaria, through this, he could create a plan for the battle, and with his best friends Francisco del Rosario Sanchez and Ramon Mella, and other soldiers, in 1844 he made us free.

George Washington and Juan Pablo Duarte were two men who fight for their country and its independence against our invasors.

Olemiss New life!

Since i got here to Olemiss the fisrt thing i could notice was that people love sports. They go crazy with this, i have always known that they are very dedicated to this but i never thought it was like that. Every time there is sports games they get together in restaurants, in the Grove, and at any stadium to enjoy and to share time with their families and friends. Fall is the season in which there are a lot of sport games and other kind of activities in which you can gather with your friends and have fun while you watch a game.

Another thing that impressed me is the environment because of the amount of green areas you can find here. In my country i cant find this things so i really now appreciate the meaning of the nature. I love animals and i have had the opportunity to admire all kind of wild animals that a hadnt seen before. I feel comfortable in this place because i can breathe pure air and appreciate what i cant find in a big city.