Alcoholic society

Wine (and alcohol in general) has been a big part of many cultures starting as far back as Egyptian civilization.  How is it perceived here in Spain?  What are your thoughts and feelings about wine?  Do you enjoy it?  When?  How often?  How is wine perceived in the U.S.?

http://theconversation.com/wine-drinking-in-america-today-35104

Is Spain an alcoholic society?

https://elpais.com/elpais/2015/10/12/inenglish/1444646611_588822.html

Do you splurge on the good stuff?  This might make you think twice before doing so:

Los Romanos

Hoy hablaremos de los "Romanos" y de como han influido también en la cultura española. 

The gun issue

The gun issue is a divisive one in the U.S. often described as a political third rail. In the wake of the Parkland, Florida mass shooting the issue has come to the forefront yet again.

I'd like to hear your opinions on this issue, although I bet we'll all be uniformly in agreement.  How can the U.S. solve this problem?

These articles and videos try to explain why this is a uniquely American problem:

https://www.bloomberg.com/quicktake/americans-and-their-guns

https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2018/2/21/17028930/gun-violence-us-statistics-charts

Have you heard of the NRA?  Here are some members explaining their point of view on the issue.  I found this video to be enlightening if not frustrating.

Femmes françaises célèbres

Comme je l'ai dit à la fin de notre dernière rencontre, j'aimerais que nos deux prochaines séances soient consacrées à vos présentations de femmes françaises célèbres. S'il vous plaît répondez à ce message avec la femme que vous voudriez présenter afin que je sache qui veut faire qui.

Pour ceux qui ne savent pas qui choisir, voici une liste de possibilités :

- Jeanne d'Arc

- Simone Veil

- Ségolène Royal 

- Marie Curie

- Claudie Haigneré

- George Sand

- Colette 

- Marguerite Yourcenar

- Simone de Beauvoir 

- Florence Arthaud

- Jeanie Longo

- Florence Aubenas 

- Édith Piaf

- Laure Manaudou

- Camille Claudel

- Christine Lagarde 

- Louise Weiss

- Lucie Aubrac

- Surya Bonaly

- Laura Flessel

- Anna Gavalda

Sábado día 24 de febrero de 2018

Majorité Opprimée, un film d'Eléonore Pourriat

Pour demain je vous propose de visionner ce court-métrage : 

Fraternities and sororities from American universities

Many of you may be familiar with fraternities and sororities from American universities.  You may have seen them in films such as Animal House or Old School depicted as fun clubs where students join so that they can party.  But there is a dark side that you may not be aware of.  Hazing: https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2017/11/a-death-at-penn-state/540657/



This is more widespread than you may think. Even at my university we had an incident recently: http://www.cnn.com/2017/12/20/us/fsu-fraternity-pledge-death-grand-jury/index.html 

I'd like to hear about what you knew about frats and sororities and your thoughts on them after reading the articles.  Is this a tradition at Spanish universities too?