You make me complete / You make me completely miserable...

The boo's are audible...


In other news, Texas was declared for Obama.
The superdelegate count is evening out, with only a 32-vote difference between Clinton and Obama (Clinton still has the lead there).

And Easter candy is on MAD sale at Target. So, make sure to hit it up!

I think I'm turning Japanese / I really think so...

Granted, not the most political of posts (I have some thoughts floating around in my head, so they're coming), but definitely interesting.

http://supacat.livejournal.com/111072.html

I believe that it speaks to more than just Japanese cultural differences-- I think it's true for Koreans as well, but then again, I might be confusing my Korean roots for my Japanese-laden childhood.

Either ways, I think it explains a lot.

(as for the song lyrics, I think the song is hilarious, but simultaneously horrifying. Does this make me a bad person?)

... I don't even know where to begin with this one ...

I don't even know where to start with this one. Granted, I understand there are people who would not warm up to the ideas surrounding race that Barack Obama spoke of, but... seriously? Pat Buchanan's ultimate question is, "Where's the gratitude?"

(?!?!?!)

If anyone ever needed an example of implicit racism... well, here folks, HERE IT IS.

For your reading (dis)pleasure:

PJB: A Brief for Whitey
By Patrick J. Buchanan

How would he pull it off? I wondered.

How would Barack explain to his press groupies why he sat silent in a pew for 20 years as the Rev. Jeremiah Wright delivered racist rants against white America for our maligning of Fidel and Gadhafi, and inventing AIDS to infect and kill black people?

How would he justify not walking out as Wright spewed his venom about “the U.S. of K.K.K. America,” and howled, “God damn America!”

My hunch was right. Barack would turn the tables.

Yes, Barack agreed, Wright’s statements were “controversial,” and “divisive,” and “racially charged,” reflecting a “distorted view of America.”

But we must understand the man in full and the black experience out of which the Rev. Wright came: 350 years of slavery and segregation.

Barack then listed black grievances and informed us what white America must do to close the racial divide and heal the country.

The “white community,” said Barack, must start “acknowledging that what ails the African-American community does not just exist in the minds of black people; that the legacy of discrimination — and current incidents of discrimination, while less overt than in the past — are real and must be addressed. Not just with words, but with deeds … .”

And what deeds must we perform to heal ourselves and our country?

The “white community” must invest more money in black schools and communities, enforce civil rights laws, ensure fairness in the criminal justice system and provide this generation of blacks with “ladders of opportunity” that were “unavailable” to Barack’s and the Rev. Wright’s generations.

What is wrong with Barack’s prognosis and Barack’s cure?

Only this. It is the same old con, the same old shakedown that black hustlers have been running since the Kerner Commission blamed the riots in Harlem, Watts, Newark, Detroit and a hundred other cities on, as Nixon put it, “everybody but the rioters themselves.”

Was “white racism” really responsible for those black men looting auto dealerships and liquor stories, and burning down their own communities, as Otto Kerner said — that liberal icon until the feds put him away for bribery.

Barack says we need to have a conversation about race in America.

Fair enough. But this time, it has to be a two-way conversation. White America needs to be heard from, not just lectured to.

This time, the Silent Majority needs to have its convictions, grievances and demands heard. And among them are these:

First, America has been the best country on earth for black folks. It was here that 600,000 black people, brought from Africa in slave ships, grew into a community of 40 million, were introduced to Christian salvation, and reached the greatest levels of freedom and prosperity blacks have ever known.

Wright ought to go down on his knees and thank God he is an American.

Second, no people anywhere has done more to lift up blacks than white Americans. Untold trillions have been spent since the ’60s on welfare, food stamps, rent supplements, Section 8 housing, Pell grants, student loans, legal services, Medicaid, Earned Income Tax Credits and poverty programs designed to bring the African-American community into the mainstream. Governments, businesses and colleges have engaged in discrimination against white folks — with affirmative action, contract set-asides and quotas — to advance black applicants over white applicants.

Churches, foundations, civic groups, schools and individuals all over America have donated time and money to support soup kitchens, adult education, day care, retirement and nursing homes for blacks.

We hear the grievances. Where is the gratitude?

Barack talks about new “ladders of opportunity” for blacks.

Let him go to Altoona and Johnstown, and ask the white kids in Catholic schools how many were visited lately by Ivy League recruiters handing out scholarships for “deserving” white kids.
Is white America really responsible for the fact that the crime and incarceration rates for African-Americans are seven times those of white America? Is it really white America’s fault that illegitimacy in the African-American community has hit 70 percent and the black dropout rate from high schools in some cities has reached 50 percent?

Is that the fault of white America or, first and foremost, a failure of the black community itself?
As for racism, its ugliest manifestation is in interracial crime, and especially interracial crimes of violence. Is Barack Obama aware that while white criminals choose black victims 3 percent of the time, black criminals choose white victims 45 percent of the time?

Is Barack aware that black-on-white rapes are 100 times more common than the reverse, that black-on-white robberies were 139 times as common in the first three years of this decade as the reverse?

We have all heard ad nauseam from the Rev. Al about Tawana Brawley, the Duke rape case and Jena. And all turned out to be hoaxes. But about the epidemic of black assaults on whites that are real, we hear nothing.

Sorry, Barack, some of us have heard it all before, about 40 years and 40 trillion tax dollars ago.

Don't speak / I know what you're thinking

Speak
Faiz Ahmed Faiz

Speak – your lips are free
Speak – your tongue is still yours.
This magnificent body
Is still yours
Speak – your life is still yours.
Look inside the smithy –
Leaping flames, red-hot iron.
Padlocks open wide
Their jaws.
Chains disintegrate.
Speak – there is little time
But little though it is
It is enough.
Time enough
Before the body perishes –
Before the tongue atrophies.
Speak – truth still lives.
Say what you have
To say.

Lisa, you're teeth are big and green / Lisa, you smell like gasoline

What a morning...

It began with some good advice from my mother:
Just brush aside all those little annoyances and stresses and have a wonderful day!

And then about fifteen different annoyances as I tried to get to work...
For example, leaving my phone in my room (after having spoken to my mom) and realizing this about a 1/3 of the way to work and having to turn around to get it.
Then getting to work and realizing that I left my phone in my car while I was getting coffee across the street.
Then spilling a bit of coffee on my pants (because you know... I'm a big klutz).

I'm waiting to fall on my face this morning or something, because it just feels like one of those days...

But, other than that, it's been a lot of happy birthday text messages, so who can complain?

And adhering to my mom's advice, I'm just letting all the little hiccups this morning just fall to the wayside.

Here's to a better year. It's been a rough start, but you know what? 23 years ago, I wasn't even breathing on my own until this point, so I'm going to disqualify all of the bad things that have happened thus far and start anew.
Happier thoughts.
Happier outcomes.
Happier everything.

Don't stop believin' / Hold on to the feelin'

Last night went a little bit like this:

Calm.
PANIC!
More PANIC!
Drink.
Drink.
Drink.
Drink.
PANIC!
Drink.
Drink.
DANNNNNNCE!
Drink and DANNNNNNNCE!
Pass out.

Thanks friends for making it a night that I can't remember.
I basically have the greatest friends in the world. One flew out to see me from DC. Three drove in from San Diego. Others stood in line FOREVER to get into the club. One helped me secure the club for cheap, cheap, cheap. Others held my hand when I started to panic. Others made sure I got my money back at the end of the night. Others showed up, even though it isn't their scene. Others shifted work schedules to make it on time.

Yup. Best friends a girl could have. And they're MINE. ALL MINE.

I wish I could remember more of the night, but I guess it was funner for everyone that I didn't.

Yay birthdays.

But since I came here / felt the joy and the fear / find myself making every possible mistake

I've done it.
I've faced my fear (well, one of many).

I will be waking up extra early tomorrow to print out my application, resume, and work sample and mail it off to one job announcement (before heading into a Critical Race Studies symposium) and I've just emailed off another cover letter and resume to another job announcement.

If you don't know, this process has been absolutely frightening. Something about having to actually advocate for myself and overcome my weird lack-of-self-confidence... it's tough. I'm constantly on the phone with friends (or pestering my roommate) to keep me on track and not let myself fall into that rabbit hole (you know, where you keep falling... and falling... only to come out a little dusty, chasing after a white rabbit that represents your hopes and future... dramatic enough for you?).


But I did it!
and you know what? YES I CAN (get a job)!

//

And for the wonky ones:
a map

Haven't felt like this, my dear / Since I can't remember when / Its been a long, long time

Another week, another placement.

This time, it's the with Community Redevelopment Agency of Los Angeles and can I say I think I'm in love?

Being the planning nerd (as well as a chronic lover of Los Angeles) I am, I was heartbroken when I didn't get the CRA placement during the government rotation. However, our love prevailed and I was united with the CRA for my individual project and can I say it's magical.

Reasons Why I Love the CRA:
1. The Central Office is in the Banco Popular Building. In the heart of the Old Bank District in downtown LA, it's a beautiful old building. And it's next to amazing cafes and restaurants where I actually go out and eat during my lunch hour! (For those of you who don't know, I rarely take lunch hours because I hate eating by myself.)
2. Materials produced by the CRA are aesthetically well-designed. I mean, color combinations, layouts, everything. Even the budget looks incredible. THE BUDGET.
3. The bathroom actually smells good. I don't know exactly what it smells like, but something about it... you walk in and you're actually pleasantly surprised!
4. I'm surrounded by incredibly competent people, who are dedicated to their work, and the work environment is extremely diverse.
5. The CEO is amazing. I love her. I totally have a crush on her. I want to BE her. She's this very fierce, very intelligent, woman who can command a room with a seriousness and a lightness all at the same time. When she came on board as the CEO, the first thing she did was go and meet all the staff to understand the work that they are doing and build their buy-in to the decision making process. She seems very community-oriented and I truly believe in the direction she is taking the CRA and redevelopment in general for the city of Los Angeles.

Yeah, you can say that I'm a fan.

I'm actually looking forward to the 100 hour board meeting tomorrow morning. Can you believe it?
I told her this afternoon that I actually look forward to getting up and doing the drive to come to work. Haha. Yeah, I know, I'm a total nerd, but you know what? I accept it. For once, I'm in a place where my GIS-loving-appreciation-for-data-in-pretty-form is an asset, rather than a reason to tease me (okay, that still happens, but I know it's out of love).

Being in downtown again just revitalized my love for this city and reminded me all the great things that can happen here.
Oh LA, I knew we couldn't be apart for too long...

//

And to share: a little local story... My friend. He may not look it, but he's actually pretty cool :)