The Rum Diary: Final Book Reflection

Born in Louisville, Kentucky on July 18, 1937, Hunter S. Thompson is best known for authoring Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, and is credited with creating "Gonzo journalism," a highly personal style of reporting where a writer becomes so involved in the story that they become central figures in their piece. His hard-driving lifestyle, which included the steady use of illicit drugs and firearms, made Thompson a counterculture icon perpetually popular with college students. After several bouts of poor health, Thompson died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound in 2005.

Begun in 1959 by a twenty-two-year-old Hunter S. Thompson, The Rum Diaryis a brilliantly tangled love story of jealousy, treachery, and violent alcoholic lust in the Caribbean boomtown that was San Juan, Puerto Rico, in the late 1950s. The narrator, freelance journalist Paul Kemp, irresistibly drawn to a sexy, mysterious woman, is soon thrust into a world where corruption and get-rich-quick schemes rule and anything (including murder) is permissible. Exuberant and mad, youthful and energetic, this dazzling comedic romp provides a fictional excursion as riveting and outrageous as Thompson’s Fear and Loathing books.

Throughout the novel, the narrative follows Kemp and two of his coworkers, Yeamon and Sala, at the Daily News, as they run into a few mishaps here and there, including a bike being dismantled by Puerto Ricans and Kemp's friends winding up in jail. The novel mostly follows Kemp going from story to story in San Juan, mingling with women on occasion, and exploring the early days of hedonism while trying to maintain his job at the crumbling paper. The novel isn't the most lively of Thompson's, but it illustrates the kind of lifestyle Kemp leads, with a kind of moral sensibility but a passive view through most of what happens.

The Rum Diary is in many ways a glimpse--as good as we can get--to a young Hunter Thompson, and his days living in San Juan, starting out as a journalist. The story is something of a fictional account, sure, but he really did base Yeamon and Sala off of his two real-life friends of the time, and he really did work at a paper there. I'm not sure how much of the novel's events can be considered true, but the novel never quite reaches the caliber of craziness that Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas displayed. The novel feels much more realistic and sober, albeit drunkenly mellow.

Blog Reflection

Because of the simplicity of creating a blog, many people have found a new presence on the Web. Instead of writing confidential entries in a book that no one is supposed to see, people now can share their personal feelings and experiences with thousands of people around the world (Tech Terms, 2014). In our Literature class we had the opportunity to create our own blog at the Blogger Website were we could share our thoughts and some assignments of the class. The blog would be more of a “inter” journey, which means that it would be more of an external journey, in contrast with the journal, which was an “intra” journey, which was more of an internal journey.

 

How to create a blog in Blogger

I had already done a blog in the website, which I was familiarized with the tools and features of it. For this semester the technical elements of creating the blog weren’t a big problem for me as for was the content of it. I love my personal life, for it’s a bit difficult for me to express myself in such public way. The entries I liked the most were not exactly about me, for example, the entry “My Reflection on Dr. Riess' "Supernovae Reveal An Accelerating Universe". In this entry I added a lot of links and photos and talked about the themes learned in class, which it was easy for me because I didn't have to talk about myself. In contrast with the entry "My Story", I did have to talk about me, my life and the different roles I play in it. At first, it was difficult writing the reflections that had to do with me, but then I realized when I was in process of creating them, they helped me be more open about myself and be clear of who I am and what I want to be in life. Overall, the blog helped me be more conscious of my grammar and spelling of words too.

Group Reflection: Fortunate Travelers

There are many occasions when you will be asked to work with other students on your course: tutorials and seminars rely on group discussion whilst group projects involve students working together to complete a piece of assessed work (University of Leicester, 2009).

As for my Journey in Literature class, I was assigned to a group for the whole semester. The integrates of my group are Valeria Muñoz, Alessandra Torres, Antonio Quiñones, Hector Padilla and Manuel Blanco, and we named our group FORTUNATE TRAVELERS. Each and one of us analyzed the jobs that we had to fill and decided what was best for us. As for me, I decided to be a note taker because I am good at keeping records and writing everything down. Also, for this position I had to document and organize every paper and written work in a group portfolio. After everyone decided on his or her jobs, we each wrote a statement, which establishes that we are going to be graded on our performance of the task.

For me, the most difficult group assignment of the class was the fist one, “Perceptions of Puerto Rico”. I always thought that because we didn’t really know each other, the integration of the group was slow at first. As time passed, and we communicated more, we felt comfortable expressing our opinions and thoughts and became a better group. I think the best group assignment we had was the analysis of the North Africa section of “Memories, Dreams, Reflections” by C. Jung. We really put effort on it and conducted a great oral presentation.

Some humor, please!

As for my daily life, I take advantage of working in teams and being part of group projects like these because it helps me integrate to other scenarios. For instance, in my workplace and other social encounters, I can be confident as I already experienced this type of meetings. In this group I learned to cooperate, listen to others and have union thoughts. These characteristics help me be a better employee, for example, because they help me understand my coworkers and create a sense of union between us, as to the goals and objectives we want to achieve for the company.

Let's Visit Culebra!

Welcome to the best place to have a summer feeling in Christmas time! If you want to find some of the best beaches in the world, come join me to CULEBRA. It’s really close to my home, located 20 miles (32 km) east of Puerto Rico and 15 miles (24km) west of Saint Thomas. If you're staying in Fajardo, all you have to do is take the ferry. It's is about 45 minutes away ride to get there.

Flamenco Beach

For those who love history they should know that with the outbreak of WWII in 1939, the Culebra Archipelago became the primary gunnery and bombing practice site for the U.S. Navy. The military stopped using Culebra as a bombing range in 1975. However, the destruction to the reefs and the psyches of the inhabitants will take decades to heal. Rusting tanks on Flamenco beach bear witness. Or maybe even play with them as me and my friends did.

The people of Culebra represent a fascinating cultural and racial mix. I met some residents on the bus on my way to Flamenco Beach (Which is the most beautiful beach I have ever been to!) and although I’m Puerto Rican, they treated me like an outsider. I may add that they made me feel out-grouped, a person who is visiting but not welcomed but still I had a lot of fun and respected them and their home.


So let me give you guys some advice. First of all, pack your sunblock! As the sand is white, the sun is really attracted to it and you will get burned. Pack your snorkel gear! They’re a lot of interesting things to see underwater. Huge rocks just a short swim offshore is the best place to start. Pack snacks! Although there are kiosks around, sometimes they are closed, so there isn't much to eat where the beach is. When I went, only one kiosk was open. They are not influenced by the American culture as for us, with a lot of fast food places and department stores. Because of this detail I went with a stereotyped vision that they would be really reserved or, just not civilized. Guess we really don’t need to have all those things to live well.

Another thing I forgot to mention is that when you are waiting for departure via ferry, you have to be at the port in Fajardo really early so you don't miss your spot. In my case, I went at 5am and watch the sunrise! Some of the restaurants you can find in Culebra will be in this link: Eating in Culebra. If your the adventurous type, you would love to find some activities to do in this site: Activities in Culebra. 

5am at the Fajardo Port

So these are the things I can say and I learned,  but in the video below you can see what I am talking about…see for yourself!

Reflection on Dr. Riess' "Supernovae Reveal An Accelerating Universe"

"Universe looks static…but it’s not".

And this was the beginning of the conference “Supernovae Reveal An Accelerating Universe” by the Dr. Adam Riess. 

The Universe expands after the Big Bang and this could be measured. He starts explaining the ways of measuring how far away the Universe is. How? Well, there are two ways:

1. IN EARTH:

Parallax                                              Lighthouses

Fog Horns (as sound)                               Objects of known size

2. IN SPACE:

Telescope and what nature provides.

Oh, but wait. “What nature provides”… this is interesting. It’s curious how even scientists have thoughts and perceptions of what’s supposed to be known, but than again have to understand their external journey as it causes the realization of other realities. Scientists who depend on what they already know -taught by others in a pragmatic education, if I may say- have to confront their external journey, in this case what the “nature provides”, while it gives them other explanations refuting the already known. This got me thinking that everyone everywhere is in a constant interaction with his or her internal and external journey. NO ONE is excluded.

As the conference continues, he explains Einstein’s theory of the “Expanding Universe”. It is said that Einstein developed his theory of gravity in the General Theory of Relativity. He thought he ran into the same problem that Newton did: his equations said that the universe should be either expanding or collapsing, yet he assumed that the universe was static. His original solution contained a constant term, called the cosmological constant, which cancelled the effects of gravity on very large scales, and led to a static universe. After Hubble discovered that the universe was expanding, Einstein called the cosmological constant his "greatest blunder".

Einstein's Theory of the Universe

And why is the Universe accelerating now? There are three possible reasons stated by Dr. Riess:

1. Vacuum Energy; cosmological constant
2. Dynamical Dark Energy
3. Modified gravity (Einstein was wrong)

See, again this is what I meant about the pragmatic education, there are things taught and then untaught. Now all these scientists that have this known perception of the Universe are wrong because what they thought they knew isn't really how it goes. I can imagine all of them in a constant fight with their minds not believing what their external journey is providing them. Maybe as a scientist they are used to this type of changes in their perspectives, but imagine a person who is not used to change and is told that the Universe is, I don’t know, non-existent. It would be really difficult to believe and acknowledge how that is possible if all our lives we have heard and been taught that the Universe does exist and we are part of it. There would be a real big fight between what you think, that is your internal journey, and what’s being discovered in our external journey. Although we really do not know much WHY the existence of the Universe, what is really known is WHAT the Universe is made of -planets %5, stars 5%, gas 4%, dark matter 25% and dark energy 70%-. 

So finally, why should we study Dark Energy? Dr. Riess states, “It would study the fate of the Universe”. So the battle between the internal and external journey continues...(For more information on Dr. Riess, click here).

Movie: The Rum Diary

The movie “The Rum Diary” is based on a novel written by Hunter S. Thompson in the early 1960s. After he had discovered booze, but before he had stumbled across drugs, the author got an unknown start in journalism. He moved to San Juan, Puerto Rico, seeking a job on the San Juan Star, where he was turned down.

In the movie, the main character, Paul Kemp, applies for a reporting job at the Star in Puerto Rico and lands it. It doesn't appear to be the kind of paper that attracted the ambitious in those days, but he needed it. During the entire movie, Kemp is in constant search of his voice in the world and we can see how his perspective living in Puerto Rico changes due to some external journey experiences. For example, in the interview with the editor, Lotterman says “This is America” and Kemp responds, “This is Puerto Rico”. This shows us that Kemp really did new his place and were he stands. The location theme is based mainly in San Juan; which in those days appear to have been an active little metropolis. The location, I might say, was very well presented in the movie and brings out the real feeling of what Puerto Rico was back then. For example, the chicken fights and the different neighborhoods.                                                                                                              
Opening Scene

Down on the Island by Jim Cooper: Teaching English and Helping

As Dr. Elaine Miller says, “Down on the island is the best introduction to rural Puerto Rico- as it was and, in parts, still is-”. In the year 1951, Jim Cooper got a teaching position at a small university in Mayagüez, Puerto Rico. Because of the difference in cultures and customs between his Puerto Rican students and him as an American, this would be a challenging task. Jim Cooper explains his journey and shows us how life really is -from his perspective-, being a teacher in a foreign university.

I noted that the author’s placement in the narrative is to describe his life as a young continental English teacher. As he describes himself “I was the only young continental English teacher who returned that year”. During the entire chapters he describes his life as the only continental trying to face reality, as he had to become an important part of the faculty with responsibilities which he had no idea of how to achieve them. Meanwhile, Cooper has a gazing direction that is to criticize the people in the faculty who are really not helpful bringing the English teaching to Puerto Rico. For example, when he says, “he was one of the many continentals then on the island who didn't believe Puerto Ricans were capable of learning anything anyway”. Here we can see, that though Cooper is a continental and he might be including himself, this is the way he gazes that some people in the faculty were not supportive at all.