How CAN I help...

...How can I help the US/Mexico border?

My skills are in writing (be it poetry or prose or even my essay papers), music ('cello and guitar and a little singing), art, giving speeches with passion... But as a teenager I ame sorely limited in how I can use these skills to better the world. I've noticed that only the wisest of adults take us seriously *waves @ Kay* and even then, sometimes we are doubted and thus ignored simply because of our youth.

Why can we not too use our powers for good?
I say that we can raise awareness- it's the best way for all of our talents to be put to good use.

We could raise awareness in many ways, my favorite being in artwork. There's so much that can be said with some daubs of paint and an open mind. Even if we only add a little insight to the viewer, "one raindrop raises the sea," if you catch my drift...

leaving you with something to think about,
-music-fanatic

Stereotype & Various Aliases...

Stereotypes.



(AKA ignorance.)

(AKA racism.)

(AKA teasing.)

Stereotyping is simply not bothering to actually delve into a person's psyche and categorizing them off of their appearance, race, or things not under their control. It can also be hastily categorizing someone before you've gathered enough info to truly know who they are inside. A soul isn't visible, you know.

"Oh, it's just because he's Mexican."
"Stupid white trash."
"Girls can't do it."
"You metal-head."

Stereotypes can screw a person up. If enough people tell you that you are a certain thing, it can beat you down inside until even you believe it, much in the same way someone telling you a good thing can make you believe it.
Stereotypes are just a fancy way to say racist, or sexist.
Stereotypes hurt. Sure, in good company, it can be taken as a joke, but the fine line between joking and hurting isn't visible- you don't know you've crossed until you've caused harm.

It sucks.
It really, really sucks.

And now my rant is done.

~*~*~*~

I, by the way, hope you read this, -person-. You may learn a thing or two about how much you hurt people, might learn what you do wrong. Heck, even if you don't read this, I'll feel better after what you've done to me...

Borders

Why does the world have borders?

Is it like the lions in their grassy savanah, where territory is regularly marked and a breach of those lines by another of the same species is a direct challenge?

Is it linked to the reasons we lock our doors at night, a need to reassure ourselves that all we have worked to own, worked to build, worked to be is safe from prying hands?

Or maybe it's the resounding effects of the feudal system, where the common populace fled to their lord's keep in case of attack. Maybe the separation from fief to fief became so much more; maybe someone drew the distinction between each fief on a map and they got changed into borders.

Is it a result of man's want of control? Maybe one person wanted to run his little world a certian way, and a different person disagreed. If the first man just went off into his own country and did as he pleased, the other person should leave him alone, right?

Even in my own life, I get angered if people encroach upon my room- think of it as my country, as my little brother and sister pretend it is when we play Legos. If the ruler of LegoLand (Steven, lol, we actually DO call it that...) breaches my border (my room) without my explicit permission, I usually drag him out or scare him away (I can be very scary, you know...). It's MY place, my private space to be alone, to think, to dream.

Seems that borders are the best way for an untrusting society to find some semblance of comfort, a sense of a (maybe?) false security. Or maybe just to find some peace and quiet from the rest of the world.
I leave the judgement up to you- as far as I can see, borders work pretty darn well at the moment...

This... feeling...

I have this... feeling... that I was supposed to post something here for Kay...

OH YEEEEAAAAH- I remember now! *I was smart and e-mailed it to myself*

ON WEDNESDAY...
I was one of the few people to do my homework over the three-day weekend. Because I did it, I got to continue on with the (I think 8) other people who did it, too. We had to create and research a negative argument for our affirmative case. In class, Eden (my partner) and we basically did the entire thing except for evidence of the crazy long lines trying to get into the USA. Our paper...

~~~~~
1) Make the lines at the border even longer
Evidence:

2) Increase the number of people who attempt to cross illegally, therefore increases the number of people who end up dying in harsh conditions
Evidence: “More illegal immigrants die trying to reach US as extra patrols". Independent on Sunday, The. Sep 23, 2007. FindArticles.com. 14 Nov. 2007. http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4159/is_20070923/ai_n20521592
“The border: hundreds of immigrants die each year trying to make it into the United States from Mexico - Special Report". Current Events. Oct 24, 1997. FindArticles.com. 14 Nov. 2007. http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0EPF/is_n7_v97/ai_20035245
Luis Alberto Urrea, Across the Wire, “Prologue,” 1993
The horrors of crossing the border end in death for all but the lucky few. In the preface to Across the Wire, Urrea tells us the terrifyingly truthful tale of people who try to cross the border. People die every day out there, be it “accidents” or gang violence or the environment.

3) Insignificant- let Mexico deal with their own problems; we’ve got enough on our plate already
Evidence: < http://www.urban.org/publications/900565.html> article was written by Rudolph G. Penner, BCA's Washington Editor, and Senior Fellow at the Urban Institute, Washington D.C.
This article was published in the Bank Credit Analyst, November 2002, BCA Publications Ltd., Montreal, PQ, Canada.
With the future so uncertain, it is unsound to initiate negotiations with other countries. Let us fix the issues within our own country before we end up biting off more than you can chew.

4) The affirmative team shows a lack of evidence
Evidence: (hahaha… yeeeaaah… uhm… this is a subliminal message to FINISH THE PAAAAAPEEEEER, BRYANNA...)

5) Workability: how can we actually carry this plan out?
Evidence: How exactly will this system work? If people can get away with illegal immigration, how is this system going to catch tax-evaders?
<http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0070-3370%28197908%2916%3A3%3C417%3AWITANF%3E2.0.CO%3B2-Y&size=LARGE&origin=JSTOR-enlargePage> Illegal Immigration Proof: by David M. Heer{Demography, Vol. 16, No. 3 (Aug., 1979), pp. 417-423} (from Population Research Laboratory, University of Southern California) His abstract tells us how lots of people cross illegally.
~~~~~

Aargh. Still gotta find something for #1. Might do it in the morning, I feel like a I deserve a good shower after a double dose of flag football today...

I hate trying to research concepts and not straight information on the web all the while not being allowed to use Wikipedia, Kay. This whole project has been an "Aargh" for me, resulting in slamming my head on the table, procrastinating, or having my friend magically find the webpage I need while I take a bathroom break...
Grar.
But I won't give up, 'cuz (and this is my adaptation of something I heard once)...

There was once a king who had been torn up inside terribly by lies, by deciet. Unable to see an end to his torment, he called to his most trusted wiseman, the one who had raised him, the one who had stood by him through the kingdom's upheaval, the one who had been there the day the king had cast his own brother into exile for high treason. Raising his tearstained visage to the sage, the king commanded him, "Tell me something that will forever ring true."

The old man pondered the concept for a while, and asked for some time to think, which he was granted.

The wiseman, desperate to see his lord smile again, called forth a great council of every philosopher, every scholar, every historian in the kingdom to answer the desperate query. Chaos ensued the minute the meeting began, and the wiseman, having developed a headache, stepped outside for a moment's quiet.

He slumped against a wall, frustrated with his lack of solution. An ancient woman shuffled by, and, noticing his distress, asked what was amiss. "What's wrong, m'dearie?" The wiseman told the old maid his woes, and she chuckled, patting him on the arm. "Have no fear..."

"...In time, this too will pass," the proud wiseman declared to his king.

He was rewarded with the first smile the king had adorned in a great, long while. "Too true, too true..."

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOHHH I'm gonna present this tomorrow...

CRAP!!! *so totally remembered... ehehe...*

ACK! I TOTALLY SPACED ON THIS UNTIL LIKE... RIGHT NOW!
-calms down-
Sorry, Kay. Anyway...

New question: How do Mexico and the United States negatively affect each other? In my head, a whole host of negative effects spring from the fact that TJ is sort of a slum. Lots of poor people congregate on the border, trying to sneak in to America. A lot of crime is caused by it- remember the reading we had last week? It describes TJ as this terrible place- full of disease, of violence, of theft.
But I think that TJ is a slum just because it is next to the border (meaning the US hurts Mexico, too). The sorts of people who would be doing the things that make TJ bad just want in to the US- if we bordered, say, Africa, I believe some of the same things would be happening. It is caused by people wanting the good things we have here.
Lots of the crossers come over to use some of our amenities, such as the education, or the health care system. As in Breaking Through, some come over to actually get jobs. This can cause issues- the systems are paid for and ready to accomidate the tax payers, but if one doesn't live in the US and one takes advantage of these systems... problems arise.

A Change in Policy

http://www.usconstitution.net/consttop_lang.html
SO!
In Humanities, we are going to be debating on a policy that the USA currently has with Mexico that should be changed or a new policy that should be introduced.

I am of the persuasion that English should become the official language of the United States. Our homework was to post a link to a site that we can use to research further, and to be prepared to give a 1-2 minute speech about what the policy is currently.

I chose this site because it gives an objective viewpoint overall while presenting the different views on the subject. The site also links out to other sites that help explain the issue.

why do people immigrate?

Honestly, why?

I've been told it was for many reasons, be it fleeing famine (such as the Irish during their potato blight) or trying to "live the American dream." It could be like the case of Maya and Alejandro from the popular TV series Heroes- they need to seek medical attention.

It’s hard to look at this as an American, living in America, heck, never having been outside of the country except through my television set (thanks for another whopper of a question, Kay!). From what I hear, from what I see, from what I read, from what I know of the world, it’s pretty great over here.
Really great.
So great, people would be willing to give up their past lives, be willing to uproot from their birthplace, from the land of their fathers and their father’s fathers just to have a chance at all of this wonder, this opportunity, this freely-given potential.

It may be out on a tangent, but in most other countries, education is not provided for by the government. I wish I could say it breaks my heart to see some, if any, of my classmates not realize the chance they’ve been given and to take this “boring school thing” for granted, but all it does is irritate me.
The man who taught me how to play ‘cello used to get upset and lecture people who bummed about like that; called it the “American Brat Syndrome.” Boy, could he go at it, too- the worst part of it was the utter truth to it. How we’re lucky to be in America, and how the kids he once taught in Nepal (I believe he was in the Conservation Corps) had barely anything, how they ate up the chance to learn like it was ambrosia. All of it would have started, of course, when someone didn’t practice when they should have, or no one was bothering to take the instruments home…

A Little Difficult, Actually...

There's a giant fence in southern California, which makes up the US/Mexico border. Seriously. That thick black line on the maps isn't lying to you, my friends. The fence divides TJ (which I can see from my backyard) and California. I've never been to TJ- ever. Not even for a short jaunt. This makes it a bit difficult for me to do my humanities homework, "Why are things different when you cross the U.S.-Mexico border?"

I would think the first difference would be the language. The official language of the USA is English, while people in Mexico speak Spanish. Mexico was once a Spanish colony, while the US started out as an English colony, so the colonists each brought their own country's language with them.

Money would be different to, I suppose. The American government and the Mexican government are two separate entities; therefore they have different standards for currency than one another.

Culture can act as a wall, too. The culture of the US is different than that of Mexico, meaning that (overall) we eat different food, wear different clothes, tell different folktales, create different art, sing different songs. Culture is a huge makeup of any individual, and trying to understand someone else’s can cause a huge divide, be it from being incapable of seeing eye to eye or not believing it worth while to.

Dunno. I have heard of all sorts of differences from people in class who have been across the border, but I haven't, making this a little difficult, actually...

Tadaa!

Well...
I made a blog.
I'll add more later...