Promoting LGBT Dating Violence

Are you f-ing serious??

Thank you South Carolina.

No wonder you were the first state to secede from the union.

UC's Fees Increase 9.3%

So when my older brother and sister went to college, my parents paid for their tuition without applying for financial aid.

Granted they could only apply to/attend local schools (UCSD and SDSU) and were required to live at home . . that was a big chunk of change. When my brother started going to college, my parents had to resort to paying Malisa's tuition in multiple payments rather than just putting down the $4,000 (or so) in one payment.

When I went to college, seeing that I was the rebellious and said: f-you-i'm-applying-to-5-UCs-and-hauling-my-ass-500-miles-away-to-Berkeley . . all these payments were on me. Also, by my senior year in high school . . my parents were both unemployed due to some layoffs and I knew even if I stayed in San Diego . . I wouldn't even want to ask for the same sweet deal as my siblings anyway.

So BOO HOO. I left college with $20K in loans. Ironically, this is MORE than what my private school educated friends in DC left school with. Which brings to mind, if I left a public school with that much debt, how much debt would future UC alums be leaving with?

Cuts to Abstinence Only Education!

So while our favorite almost first daughter parades around America promoting teenage sexual abstinence, the Obama administration is finally having some sense and cutting the budget of the stupid abstinence only education.

The only budget cuts to any education program.

YAY!

So going back to Bristol, I wonder how her child is going to feel to grow up knowing that her mom went on a national campaign to talk about how he/she was a big mistake.

It makes me sad to think that instead of shaming young mothers (aka: herself), scaring young women in general, and sentencing her child to growing up unwanted . . she could have used her experience to empower young mothers.

Reminds me of other conservative folks I know.

Community Service, Service, and Activism

from an email.

I think often times . . activists try to stay away from "service" or "community service" because we emphasize the fact that we work in and WITH the community.

I admit, I do this also. No, what I do is NOT community service. It's activism. Community service is what I did to rack up hours and put on my college application . . not what I did in college or what I do now. What I did in college and what I do now . . I do with a purpose. Community service also has a purpose, just not rooted in the same social justice purpose that I've developed over the years...

However, I think shifting our perspective might help. While most forms of service is not considered activism (ie: a bunch of bougie kids going into a low income community and picking up trash and painting some of the buildings), it can be argued that most forms of activism is a form of service (ie: organizing a low income community to pick up trash and paint their OWN buildings).

Only an incredibly (dare I say) arrogant "activist" will go and say, NO, I'm an ACTIVIST . . I don't do SERVICE. We are community organizers not community SERVICE people.

Now, if we look at it this way . . not all organizing is service either right? While I know a lot of folks may say they organize the community, what are the outcomes?

The outcomes are the service.

You can organize a community . . but if there are no actions or results, what is the service?

While most forms of service could be done by a bunch of bougie white people who don't come from the community, the reason why we consider it activism is because we come FROM the community and we work WITH the community to make these things happen.

On the other hand, we can definitely have activism without service as well. If we just sat around and talked about stupid admissions policies, talked about SI being inaccessible to students in the central valley, talked about how high school students should apply to scholarships, or just talked to middle school students about taking the right courses in high school . . then that's just activism without service.

Therefore, it's important for "activists" to not just sit around and think critically about issues . . or talk the talk about social justice . . we gotta make sure we walk the walk and actually act on some of these issues and figure out some solutions.

Where Did I REALLY Come From?

Yet another reason why my parents should have thought about resettling in Australia instead of the United States.

Now this is what I call being a multi-ethnic nation-state!

The Goonies

On Friday after the May day rally, Doua convinced me to go up to Rosslyn to meet up with her, Minh, Helly, and Yimeen for a movie in the park.

Apparently, every Friday during the summer time, Rosslyn screens movies in this really cute park.

Anyway, the movie that they were playing was The Goonies. Doua was shocked that Minh and I both have never seen it . . I suppose a testament to our age.

While I have never seen it, I did tell Doua, "umm . . but I've heard a lot of punk rock songs about it . . "

Which is true.

After watching the movie, so many song make so much more sense to me now.

Passport DC

Yesterday, I went out to Passport DC with Josh, Ann, his friend Kevin, and Sarah Jo.

I've heard great things about it . . but wasn't exactly planning on going because the whole "cultural tourism" thing sounds a little weird to me. Anyway, I went mainly to be able to hang out with Ann, the wife of my DVRP language partner.

While I was a little hesitant, I'm really glad I went both because I got to hang out with some really cool people AND the events weren't as anthropological as they could have been.

I really enjoyed the Embassies of Malaysia, Serbia, Iraq, and Nepal.

It was weird to feel like a speed traveler, trying to hit up as many "countries" and collect as many different passport stamps as possible again.

It made me miss REAL traveling. I guess it also didn't help that I was hanging out with a bunch of peace corp folks . . which BTW made me really rethink doing peace corp one day again.

Because the Thai Embassy was open the latest (till 8pm while all the others closed at 4pm), we went there last.

While all the other embassies gave away free food, the Thai Embasy was selling things like no other. They were even selling these paintings. I managed to snap a picture of this one titled "Tai Leu," which I think is supposed to be of a Lue woman.

It would be accurate . . except I don't remember my relatives ever wearing shirts that emphasized our boobs that much before in my life.

Cost of Trying to be Healthy

I've just recently started my free one week trial at Washington Sports Club and I think I've fallen in love.

So I've noticed that while some of my friends, (aka Van and Danny) have lost weight after moving to the east coast, I on the other hand have definitely not.

Well, maybe I have . . but it definitely has to do with the eroding of my muscle that I built up during high school and was never really kept up when I went to college.

Anyway, so I knew I needed to "get back in shape" -- whatever that means anyway.

So I went around search for gyms in DC. We don't have a 24 hour fitness or a Ballys or whatever so I was pretty much just asking folks around. Results gym near my work is $80 a month. YMCA near my work is $70 a month. Washington Sports Club near my house is $60 a month. Fitness First near Downtown and Arlington is $30 a month.

great. GREAT.

Seriously?! It was like $10 a SEMESTER for the gym at Cal and then free my last year in college.

AHH, I hate not being a student anymore.

Anyway, I've fallen in love with the bougie WSC and might just shelve out the $60 a month. I guess I feel it's worth it because I've become somewhat of an addict again though.