Finally arrived!! Blood, sweat & tears for 4 years. I guess it’s time to spend monies on a nice glass diploma case to make this piece of paper look expensive & important :)
“ Sometimes a breakdown can be the beginning of a kind of breakthrough, a way of living in advance through a trauma that prepares you for a future of radical transformation. ”
“ We know what we want to do, but are afraid of hurting those around us by abandoning everything in order to pursue our dream. We do not realize that love is just a further impetus, not something that will prevent us from going forward. We do not realize that those who genuinely wish us well want us to be happy and are prepared to accompany us on that journey. ”
the forward in The Alchemist. amazing
must remind myself of this the next time i worry i’ll hurt loved ones in pursuit of my personal goals.
Spring 2007, Other Voices SLC Course @ UC Berkeley
This is what I found as I scuffled through the bags/boxes of junk I have. I knew it was worth keeping :] & that it would be a great piece of empowerment to see my own growth, being able to look back at things I’ve done/learned throughout my life definitely helps to keep me going towards the future.
A movie about the Oakland A’s! Damn i miss the “Big 3”, the 20 game win streak, passionate players who loved the game & a team that played with a lot of heart.
“Use your VOICE and to not predetermine what that means, meaning, don’t believe that using your voice is to become a poet or to become a filmmaker or to become an actor or to become a politician but to rather begin using your voice everyday, at school at home at work to learn how to navigate your relationships with people by expressing who you really are & letting those who want to accept you & letting those who don’t want to accept you, go their way BUT continue using your voice and finding where it best fits…”
A couple of nights ago I was watching tv with my parents. There was a segment about the Mexican-U.S. border and “illegal” immigrants. Cameras were following the border patrol officers as they came face to face with these “illegal” immigrants. There were many of them, some with children trying to cross over, in hopes to provide for their families. I sat there watching not saying a word, curious to see what my parents’ reaction were…
Mom: “What are the officers doing?”
Dad: “They are trying to keep those people out of this country, they are not allowed to be here because they do not have a green card/citizenship.”
Mom: “Well how can they ever get one if they aren’t allowed to come into the states?
“Why are the officers so cruel? They are making the journey more difficult than it needs to be for the immigrants.”
“The officers are putting more fear into them and in a time like this, it can cause them to fall/drown. I sympathize with them, I fear for their lives.”
“This reminds me of having to flee Laos. Leaving everything behind, crossing the Mekong river & fearing for my life the entire time.”
“Why are they trying to keep them from coming here, they are trying to come here for a better life like we did.”
Living in Oakland, my parents have had many bad experiences with other racial/ethnic groups. So they do have prejudice thoughts/stereotype other communities of color. My mom doesn’t understand the whole idea of people of color being forced to live in ghettos & are often pinned against one another when it comes to resources. However, even with the racial tensions/ethnic funk that people of color have with one another, being able to relate to the oppression that we all face, race/ethnicity no longer matters, we are able to see one another as humans who are suffering.
I never really take the time to talk to my mom about politics because I didn’t think she would be interested and most of the time its hard because of the language barrier. The Personal is Political is definitely embodied by my mom and our family’s history and struggles as Southeast Asian refugees. They often do not get the opportunity to voice their opinions about political issues but I know they care and have a lot to say. You don’t have to understand the government system in the U.S. to know that it’s fucked up.
The parallels that my mom drew from her refugee experience & that of the immigrants’ experience crossing the Mexico-U.S. border gave me a lot of hope. Hope that we can really build a multicultural movement for social justice but it starts with us understanding our humanity for one another. We must recognize our differences but we need to build on our similar struggles for justice.
