Making Big Decisions

I register for classes for next semester on Tuesday. I can't believe how quickly the day has come! These are the last classes I will be taking at UNC as an undergraduate student. It is so scary!

This is the last opportunity for me to take the classes I've been hoping to take for years, or the classes I feel may help guide my future. Crazy. Three of the classes are classes I have to take for my Public Relations major, including Mass Communication Ethics, PR Campaigns, and an elective in journalism. Then I will either be taking one or two classes in the School of Social Work, and potentially a spanish class, depending on what classes I do/don't get into.

Currently, my perspective on next year is still pretty fuzzy. However it seems my first big decision is whether or not I want to stay in the US, or go abroad for all or part of the year. And it seems one minute I am certain I want to skip the country to go on an exotic adventure, and the next minutes I am sure I want to stick around and learn some marketable skills. I don't know. Hopefully I'll wake up one day and will just know.

I have officially registered for Bike and Build for the summer. I will be biking from the Outer Banks in North Carolina all the way to San Diego, California in about 2 and a half months. Along the way I will be helping build homes and give presentations on affordable housing. If you want to donate to my ride you can visit my sponsor page and donate there. I will be starting up some campaigns and fund raising activities in the coming months while I train, so spread the word once those start rolling! You will be able to follow my ride at my bike and build blog. However, I haven't really done much with that yet. I will keep you updated once I get it up and running too.

This past weekend I participated in the APPLES trip in Lumberton, NC. Though the trip was about Environmental Justice, I feel I learned much more about community action, and the power of the people in small communities. Robeson County NC is one of the poorest areas of North Carolina. Nearly a third of all children under 18 are living in poverty. The unemployment rate is very high due to the loss of manufacturing jobs in the local community. The area is very diverse, with both large native american and african american populations. And the poverty rate crosses all racial lines.

However I also saw a resiliency and passion in many of the community leaders, who have all perservered and seen many positive changes over the years. Even through the risk of life and livlihood, they have stood by each other and fought for justice in all realms- social, economic, environmental- we learned how they are all interconnected. Mac, the executive director of the the Center for Community Action, said even some of his co-leaders and friends were murdered in the 80's for the equality work they were advocating.

The Center for Community Action (CCA) is a private, non-profit, community-based organization that utilizes the strategies of grassrootes empowerment, racial inclusion, and multi-sector collaboration as the foundation for its work in sustainable development and social justice. Some of the components it includes are River Way (where we stayed), which is a 4-acre adventure and education center on the banks of the Lumber River in Lumberton. It provides educational and adventure experiences for youth and adults from throughout the region,state and nation. There is also the Women’s Economic Equity Project – a career pathways project that organizes unemployed and underemployed women and sector leaders in the fields of health and education to assist women in acquiring jobs in these growth sectors and in advancing their careers in order to meet basic living income standards.

I'll hopefully keep in touch with Mac via e-mail because he seems like a pretty great guy. Well, I gotta run to class! Be in touch again soon. Hope you are all well!

Hitting the Middle

So this week marks the final week of my first round of midterms. I have my last one this Thursday, in PR Writing. I feel like I've been running around like a mad woman the last few weeks trying to finish a ton of projects, papers, and studying. But, i haven't totally burned out like I probably would have a year ago, thanks to some built in chill times and the healing powers of Guitar Hero for our wii video game system. Yes, I'm turning into a pretty bad ass drummer if i do say so myself. As long as all i have to do is follow small colored circles, that is.

However, I'll admit that I am starting to feel that mid-semester slump where it seems like the work is never going to end! Luckily, I think the next few weekends will help keep my spirits up and offer a bit of a break from the tiring Senior Year schedule. I am extremely excited that I will be visiting two of my best friends- Aisan and Sara- this weekend in Michigan. I only get to see them a few times during the school year, so I am looking forward to catching up and having an enjoyable (though possibly very cold) weekend with them.

I have been working this week on my application for Bike and Build, a program that I hope to be a participant of this summer. I also turned in my reflections this week on Outward Bound to the Carolina Center for Public Service, which is who gave me my scholarship. I was glad to be able to share my experiences and my gratitude with Elaine, one of the directors at the center. I look forward to being a part of selecting the next participants for my scholarship and especially the one in honor Eve Carson, which I recieved. I feel a great responsibility to pass on the "essence" of the scholarship, as Elaine described, and I look forward to doing my best to do just that.

We have our first Students of AMF support group meeting tonight, which I expect will go well. We are having all participants bring in pictures of their loved ones to act as visual aids when they share their stories.

Sadly, Helping Horse has been rained out 2 of the last 3 Mondays, so not much news has come from there.

I have been working on another paper this week on how Arabs are portrayed in the media. This time my group and I are discussing popular American films such as "You Don't mess with the Zohan," an Adam Sandler movie, and "Hidalgo," a Viggo Mortensen drama. The paper has given me the opportunity to explore some comical/ridiculous/interesting portrayals of Arabs and Arab Americans.

Another paper I am researching right now is on the welfare programs of California. So far, my paper is primarily a description and evaluation of CalWORKS, which provides temporary financial assistance and employment focused services to families with minor children who have income and property below State maximum limits for their family size. I feel like I am still learning a lot in my poverty and development class, and hope to get some time to share more about what I am learning in another blog post sometime soon.

Next week is Fall Break, so I will have even more time off! I will be participating in a service trip (focused on environmental issues), which we will spend in the Pembroke area of North Carolina. I'll have to let you all know how that goes when I get back. The weekend after Fall Break is Halloween weekend. My roommates and I are thinking of having a Halloween Party/Gathering at our house since many of our friends from other schools may be visiting. November will hopefully bring about another week at Comfort Zone Camp, a camping weekend with friends, and of course, Thanksgiving!


Okay, until next time. I will leave you with this comic, thanks to Moazzum and www.garfieldminusgarfield.net

Diversity and Communication: Blog Assignment 2

Earlier this year, a prominent Latino religious leader proposed a boycott of the 2010 Census as a way for undocumented immigrants to bring their voices to bear on the immigration debate.

The boycott, pushed by the Rev. Miguel Ángel Rivera of the National Coalition of Latino Clergy and Christian Leaders, now seems to be gaining momentum in some Latino communities, as well as a higher profile in the ethnic media.

To read the rest of the article, visit this link

http://news.newamericamedia.org/news/view_article.html?article_id=902f0d8f4b79a80569beaa7a69404b38

Should undocumented immigrants participate in the 2010 census? Why or why not?

Yes, I believe undocumented immigrants should participate in the 2010 census.

I understand the frustration many immigrants are feeling about immigration reform and the delayed agenda from the Obama administration. I am frustrated too, because this debate has come to a stand still, and has left so many stranded without avenues to success. As Ron, Cait, and I discussed in our BlogTalk radio presentation, legal means of gaining rights for undocumented immigrants is of course preferred, but action has to be taken now because this issue is only growing.

However, I do not believe a boycott of the 2010 census is the best way to achieve the goals that leaders like Rev. Miguel Ángel Rivera hope for. I agree with Jorge-Mario Cabrera of the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles, who says, "It's a well-intentioned strategy, but it's the wrong answer and it will have negative consequences."

The aftermath of such a boycott would be chaotic and costly. The attention drawn from the effort would be lost once again as important leaders try to sort out the mess. And the federal funds that are so precious and few, would once again be spent on tasks other than solving the issue at hand. There are more effective methods for bringing attention to the debate on immigrantion reform. And in order for policy makers and important players to put these other methods into action, correct and thorough infomation will be needed. This information could come from the 2010 census.

"We support the 2010 Census unconditionally because we believe it is the best and safest way to learn the real size of the Brazilian community," said many Brazilian media sources. I believe the same should be true for all immigrant populations.