Beauté superficielle... article by Julie B.

What does nail polish mean to you? Silly make up, bird-brained bitchy bimbos, useless vanity? It's superficial, but, as bizarre as it may seem, nail polish has a real and interesting history…

The history of nail polish starts 3000 years before J.-C. During the Ming dynasty, the Chinese made their own nail polish with egg-white, beeswax, gum and gelatin. This blend gives pink and red shades to nails.

Egyptian queens and Inca women made nail polish from various plants and henna which colours nails orange-brown.

Nail polish as we know it, chemical nail lacquer, appeared in the United-States in 1930. Liberated from household chores, women wanted to take better care of themselves. Nail polish became a real fashion accessory: women chose their clothes, eye shadow and lipstick to match the colour of their nail polish.

Wearing nail polish has a psychological impact on women (and on men). In my view, nail polish is an essential element in everyday life. In fact, when I'm demoralized or when I’m fed with working, I admire my yellow, blue or green nails and suddenly I feel better. Nail polish is a sign of feminity but above all, of sensuality. And I, personally, love feeling totally out of fashion!

I don’t exactly know why nail polish allows me to feel good… I can just say that, wherever you are and whatever you are doing, it’s really pleasant to see colours on your nails! You probably think I'm silly, but that's what I believe.

Toys for adults... by Camille L.

Toys for adults are called cars. This category has countless cult masterpieces: racers that make the pulse beat faster, old-timers that make nostalgic hearts leap for joy, and those that convey the absolute feeling of born-to-be-wild.

There’s a good reason why fast wheels are popular characters in films; just flip through the film archive in your mind. There is hardly a blockbuster without a car chase in which the protagonist risks his or her life. And in films, just like in reality, couples in love prefer to ride in an open sports car through the sun of the South...

Tell me which car you drive and I’ll tell you who you are!

Box turtle

For a turtle, her carapace is her home, her only home. When she is afraid, she enters into her carapace to protect herself against different dangers. Do you know what a turtle carapace is made of ? Her carapace is made of bone and cartilage. Often it is rigid but sometimes it can be soft.

Human beings also have a carapace, a psychological one... For us, it is a wall that protects us against society, feelings, and painful relationships… Some people have a strong carapace, but they are often alone, they end up hating life !

Sometimes some people want to destroy their protective layer, but they can’t do it alone. So they ask for help from a psychologist because they are not strong enough to do so alone.

Human beings can’t live alone ! We need to share our lives, our worries, with other people, to have relationships. Sometimes you need to be alone, but feeling lonely is terrible.

So, stop being a turtle!

Article by Angélique B.

Baby boxes...

http://www.radio.cz/en/section/curraffrs/first-baby-placed-in-pragues-baby-box

Je m’appelle Kamila Mardi, je suis née ce matin et je suis déjà toute seule dans la vie. Je pleure – je voudrais une dose, une petite dose d’héroïne, ou, au moins, du valium, si vous n’avez pas une dose, une petite dose, pour moi. Je suis effrayée. Il est une heure, sept minutes et quinze secondes.
Je ne connais plus ma mère, ma mémoire, ma petite mémoire, des petits enfants comme moi, me trahit. Je suis toute seule dans ma vie. Normalement, les petits enfants, ont une poussette, un chaperon, une couverture, une peluche, et une mère, ou un père, ou les deux.
Je n’ai jamais vu mon père. Mais je sais qu’il a beaucoup de doses, des petites doses, héroïne, meth, cocaïne, pervitin, n’importe quoi, pour moi.
Ma mère m’a accouché dans une vieille gare, et elle m’a laissé là, une petite fille, moi, un bébé, un petit espoir. Elle n’a pas crié pendant la délivrance, car je suis petite, une petite fille, même pas trois kilos, avec de petits cheveux blonds, comme ma mère, mais propres ; et avec des yeux verts, comme elle, mais joyeux. Il est une heure, sept minutes et quarante secondes.
Elle est revenue une heure plus tard, avec des larmes aux yeux, comme moi, et on a pleuré, et elle m’a chanté une chanson, et c’est le deuxième et dernière don qu’elle ma donné, le premier, c’était la vie.
Et elle m’a mis dans une boite, chaude, et confortable, et elle ne m’a pas donné de nom, je me suis donné un nom, parce que aujourd’hui, c’est le jour de sainte Kamila, et aujourd’hui, c’est mardi. Il est une heure, huit minutes et vingt secondes.
Et elle est partie, aucun bisou, aucun mot, et je suis toute seule, et j’entends une alarme, et je veux une dose, une petite dose, pour moi. Et je suis dans la boite, et je ne sais pas bouger, et je ne sais pas parler, et je vois une infirmière, et pour la première fois, je vois un sourire.
Article by Tereza Stopkova

Be a man!

In today's society it is not easy for men to integrate both “male” and “female” qualities. We meet men who are either “strong” (but also tough, rigid, insensitive and sometimes violent) or men who are gentle, nice, but not very virile. The hard man is a man who was not given the right or not learned to be more feminine, kind, carefree, happy and sensitive…

A classroom survey showed that for girls, a man must be strong, virile, and powerful. Men are supposed to be less sensitive than women. Indeed, men generally do not manage to express their feelings easily; to cry is shameful because it is a sign of weakness.

In some primitive societies the man's place is well defined: he is the leader, and women are supposed to submit. But we live in a modern society and we want to know what it means to “be a man”.

A man must protect his family, not show any weakness, he has to be self-reliant and courageous. But society has evolved and a man today needs to be himself, and to be able to express his feelings. Today's man wants to be able to cry in public, to dance, even to go shopping! Today's man wants to be himself and not what we want him to be.

Intellectuals, philosophers, journalists, indeed everyone has contributed to the debate around the place of women in society, and the result is that women today have a better status. But who is talking about the role of men in today’s society?

Article by Antoine R.

Globalization, who needs it?!

Globalization is a process of growing interdependence between countries; it is an increase in and a speeding-up of the exchanges between countries of people, goods, services, finance and information. Globalization is largely due to the revolution in communications technology: we can now talk to anyone, anywhere, and Internet allows us to know what is happening in the world in real time. It is a process that affects everyone, both in the rich countries, mostly in the North, and the poor countries, mostly in the South. The controversial issue is: does globalization contribute to or in fact hinder the development of all the world’s countries?

The free-market thesis is that globalization reduces inequalities within and between countries; it increases wealth for all. The World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, is an annual meeting of leading entrepreneurs and financiers; it defends this idea that globalization strengthens links between countries. Exchanges are not only between the wealthy Triad members but also with and within regional organizations like ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations).

Anti-globalization activists seek an alternative to “laissez-faire” economics which, for them, is the cause of the inequalities in the world. They organize social forums every year, following the example of the one in Porto Alegre in Brazil. Free trade has not, according to them, helped the poorest countries; they are unable to compete on a globalized market in which rich countries’ agriculture is subsidized. Small producers in poor countries have been run out of business. Globalization, in which tax barriers have been lifted, has just made the rich countries richer at the expense of the poorer ones.

In my view, to renounce globalization would be to halt development; it represents hope and opportunity for most countries. However, it is largely an uncontrolled process dominated by the powerful nations. The solution to the excesses of globalization would be to give more power to regulatory bodies like the World Trade Organization.

Article by Julie Laveyssière

And now for the bright ES pupils (click here)!