|
| Where's "Illegal Immigrant" Waldo?"Immigration" Game at NYU Crosses Line, Students Say
Immigrant Game at N.Y.U Draws Protesters
I don't believe it. I am deeply offended by this. I cannot even imagine how the thousands of illegal immigrants in New York must feel about this "game." Did these students ever stop to think who serves them coffee in the morning? Who clears the garbage from the streets they walk everyday? These are HUMAN BEINGS, with feelings and families and dignity, not some sort of faceless "curse" to this country. That students who are part of one of the finer schools in the United States, and living in the supposedly "melting pot" city of New York could organize something like this makes me sick. What is the point of that expensive education if you cannot see this as racist and offensive? Sarah Chambers, the president of te NYU College Republicans, says that this game is "not a racist event, first and foremost" She justifies this point by saying that there are also Caucasian illegal immigrants. Sure, I agree. There are illegal immigrants from all walks of life. But, gun to your head, Sarah Chambers, who do you picture when I say "illegal immgrant" to you? Is it a European person? Or is the person, say, Mexican? Racism and illegal immigration are indelibly linked, and have been throughout the history of the United States. Let's think about the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, or the Immigration Act of 1924 that placed hefty restrictions on immigration from certain countries.
She admits that this activity is politically incorrect, but that it is all in the name of sparking attention and debate. Please. The game consists of some student sporting an "illegal immigrant" marker skulking around Washington Square Park while other students who have signed up to be "INS agents" look for him/her. It's hide-and-seek, it's a Where's Waldo? game, it is not the precursor to a meaningful conversation. You cannot condense such a complex issue, and a personal issue for many in the city, into a childish game and call it provocative. I am sorry, but the only thing your "game" has provoked is anger, disappointment and pity.
Let me end this rant by simply saying that I recognize the problems that unchecked immigration can produce. I also do not think that someone who has come here illegally should be allowed to jump the proverbial "line," and get ahead of someone who has been waiting patiently. However, I do understand and greatly empathize with the reasons they have for risking everything to sneak into this country. If you have ever dreamt of something better, of taking fate into your own hands and not accepting the lot you have, then you should understand why so many try to come here illegally. Please don't let their voices go unheard, and please do not dehumanzie them into a faceless, nameless scourge that you must wipe out. If you cannot find it in your heart to afford them basic human rights and common decency, then at the very least please do not make them a subject of your misunderstood, infantile games. This has made you all look like privileged asses, and has made a mockery of the issue at hand.
| | |
| Happy 2007I had a great New Year's.
Ben and I were both sick-so you must wonder how it could possibly be great.
Well, first, we decided to skip out on a party we were invited to in Queens because we didn't want to be stuck in traffic for four hours, and stayed home while our housemates left for Queens, grumbling.
We got champagne, and junk food, and I made a huge pot of chili, which we ate while completely stoned off our asses and watched Kung Pao, greatest movie ever made. (i.e. ridiculous)
We counted down with a very slurred Dick Clark (heard he had a big stroke, ouch) and then proceeded to play Wii Sports until the wee hours of the morning. It was chill, more chill than any of my New Year's Eve past, but at the same time, exactly what I needed.
On New Year's Day, the shower (and the house) was warmer than it's EVER been, which I consider a good omen for 2007. Nevermind that it was back to its usual craptacular state today. And we just stayed in, and bummed out, and ate McDonalds.
Today, I am officially back on my diet, and officially looking for a new apartment. For those of you not in the know-we are getting kicked out of our place, because our landlord is selling the house. We have sort of strange lease, so this makes it OK for him to do so, but makes us all want to kill him and dump him before he can dump us. The housing market is terrible right now, so he probably won't sell for awhile, but we're keeping our eyes peeled for good opportunities.
Also, the great time we had to ourselves in the house, sans housemates, makes me really think it's time for Ben and I to get our own place.
New Year's Resolutions:
1) Lose Weight and Be Healthier
2) Kick Ass at My Job
3) Get New Place with Ben
4) Save Money for A Vacation. To Amsterdam.
the last one might be a bit of a reach, what with the whole "get a new place" sucking away our money, but we'll see.
| | |
| 'Tis the Season of Giving...and Getting, Apparently.Don't get me wrong, this is not goign to be some rant-y and rave-y post about the materialistic nature of our society, and how this nature rears it's ugly head right around the holidays. I know we're a damn stuff-grubbing culture, and most of the time, I'm a pretty happy participant. I'm not ashamed of the fact that I've been salivating over some black motorcycle boots and that I will probably go purchase them today, on payday, along with another pair of choice shoes because the store is doing a "buy one, get the 2nd half off " deal.
But I was home on Tuesday, in a particularly grumpy mood because my cranky office manager was a being an incredible piss-ant at work, and decided the best solution would be to settle into our newly-gotten, free massage chair with some bagel chips, my newest copy of Allure and the sound of the TV in the background. Well, I ended up paying much more attention to the program on TV, a sappy "Christmas for underprivileged kids"-type program that is completely geared towards making people like me cry.
Synopsis: Four girls who had lost their parents in a car accident, taken in by their aunt and uncle--their charming and considerate boy-cousin wrote in to ABC Family's "Santa" and asked him to give the four girls a great Christmas. The girls spend the day making their own custom dolls with Sarah Chalke of Scrubs fame, eating fancy doll tea-party food on fancy china. The boy, rewarded for his compassion, spends the day playing soccer with the LA Galaxy team and Wilmer Valderrama. The whole family gets a renewable gift card from 7-11 that allows them $1711 every month for groceries and slurpees. Brian McKnight sings. Everyone is smiling, and they all thank God at the dinner table, praying over glasses of neon-colored soda.
Ada, of course, weeps. I can't imagine losing my parents at such a young age. And to see companies like 7-11 and ABC Family come together to help make these kids' lives a little brighter, even if just for a day, and make the parents' grocery woes a little lighter, even if just 7-11 style, was really quite uplifting. There were other children's stories too, and they were all amazingly touching.
The program finishes, and I turn my attention back to my magazine, which has flipped itself open to an article proclaiming the unfairness of how some women can get the presents they want, and some women are doomed to a lifetime of IOU coupons for massages or oil changes, books on gardening, and socks. "How to Get What YOU Want" the article proclaims. Apparently, all women want these days are Van Cleef and Arpels diamond baguettes, minks, $300 perfumes from exclusive ateliers in France and boxes upon boxes of Agent Provocateur lingerie. And Allure's top-secret, savvy way of getting it ALL? Why, get your trusty salesperson at your trusty Bergdorf Goodman's/Tiffany's/ insert-fancy-overpriced-store-here to recommend it ever-so-slyly to the man in your life. If you want the $4000 pearl choker, get them to push the $6000 emerald drop earrings, or the $100000 diamond-encrusted breastplate. Or, use sex as your weapon. Say "Honey, remember how you wanted to do it with me in a fur coat? Well I found the perfect $44,000 Gucci mink to do it in." You'll get it, next-day delivered to your office desk from your horndog-boyfriend.
I'm actually disgusted by this article. I mean, I know Allure is a fashion magazine, and a woman's magazine--and by that token should not be credited with any interesting, avant-garde articles at all. Which, is not true. There are many women's magazines (and I have championed their case to many women who consider themselves too much of a feminist to read Cosmopolitan) that publish thought-provoking, and I might go as far as to say, significant, articles. On abortion, on female writers, artists, and philanthropists, on current events, on scientific breakthroughs. They publish great essays by women. On childhood memories, on dating, on motherhood, on sickness. Sure, their 101 "new" sex positions are regurgitations of last year's positions, but really, does anyone have the time and tenacity to try "The Whirly Downwards and Sideways Dog?" Sure, they publish fluff aricles on the best mascaras, but you know, when you're in Sephora and spoiled for choice, it helps to know that the Bobbi Brown mascara "lifts and separates, without giving you the unnatural look of a frightened Japanese doll."
Granted, I don't pay these magazines a whole lot of heed. They're my relaxation go-to reads, my airplane-reads, my frivolity. But regardless, there is absolutely no excuse for an article like the one I read. It does men, and women, a grave injustice.
| | |
| Old FriendsWhen it's been awhile since you've seen one of your oldest friends, there is always that niggling worry that you will have both changed too much to reall get along.
Not so for me, thank god.
Vash was in town last night, and it was going to be the only time I could spend with her, as I'm jetting off to good ol' Massachusetts for Thanksgiving soon, and she was obliged to go up to Boston today to visit someone else.
It was just amazing. It was almost as if we hadn't spent a year not seeing each other, and 4 years before that just seeing each other occasionally. We chatted over sushi, and caught up on everything that was happening in our lives, and I just felt that even though we live in different parts of the world, and have completely different lives, we still see eye-to-eye on so many of the same things. Like how it's just really important to enjoy the good things in life after a long day at work, and that even if you are rolling in the dough, it's useless if you don't have the time to spend that money. And how surprisingly, we both just really appreciate the domestic stability we have.
And of course, the fun! Victoria's Secret, candy shopping, playing with the cats, and fun that shall not be mentioned here for fear that government operatives are reading my stupid little blog.
It was so wonderful to see you, Vash :)
Perhaps we'll meet again next year-in London.
| | |
|
