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awong_smack
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Name: Alan
Country: United States
State: California
Metro: Los Angeles
Birthday: 5/8/1981
Gender: Male
Interests: SOCIAL WORK, professional wrestling, sports, movies, hanging out with friends, traveling, NewSong, and of course USC
Expertise: Social Work - My calling and my passion.
WWE - I have been a hardcore wrestling fan since I was eight years old.
Sports - I am a sports nut, more like a geek. But that's okay. I am passionate about the LA Lakers, LA Dodgers, LA Kings, and I can't forget about my beloved USC Trojans.
NewSong - I love this church. I've been calling it home since 2000.
Occupation: USC MSW Grad Student
Industry: Social Work
Message: message meEmail: email me
AIM:  awong smack
Member Since:
4/16/2003
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| Woohoo! Barack Obama is the Democratic Presidential Candidate!!! Here's the video of his victory speech!
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| LAST Thursday: I finished finals and celebrated my birthday!Hello to my loyal xanga readers,
This is a late entry but last Thursday (May 8), I finished my finals and celebrated my 27th birthday. The school year has been a wild but fun rollercoaster year. Though I did not win the president position, I'm know that I am going to enjoy my final school year. As I am now 27, I reflect on the past year I think about how much I have grown as a social worker and as a leader in this profession. I think about how I have become more assertive as an individual and how much I hold more strongly the beliefs that I hold. As I look forward to my 27th year, I think about May 2009 where I will be graduating with my MSW degree. This upcoming year, I will take one step closer to my calling in life by entering my final year of graduate school. Here are some pictures from the past week:
Me and the birthday crew at Dave 'N Busters. We were also celebrating the end of finals, an engagement, and a farewell to a faculty member.
Here is the engagement we celebrated. And NO the girl with the stick is not the fiance (the fiance had to work). The girl with the stick is just pretending to be the fiance. Anyway, I'll stop there before you all get the wrong idea.
Me and Brent. Brent was my seminar teacher, faculty liaison, and academic advisor. He also is a mentor and a friend to me. I can't say enough about how much his encouragement has meant to me and my journey through grad school. I am truly going to miss him.
On Saturday night, I got to hang out with more of my friends at the Minx in Glendale. Though, we were celebrating another friend's birthday; it was still good times with good friends. If some of were wondering why have so many school friends that are girls, it's because our program is comprised of 90% women. The social work profession is extremely dominated by women. Hmmm, I think I chose the right profession.
This past Tuesday, the graduates celebrated Grad Night on this phat yacht.
This is me before entering the yacht. Yes even though I'm not graduating this year, I was still able to party with them on the yacht.
Me and the few men in the MSW program. See, I have made some guy friends in the program also.
Me and the other two who are not graduating but were able to attend Grad Night. We can't wait til our Grad Night next year. Class of 2009, here we come!
Ever since I finished finals, it's been all end of the year partying. What can I say, we all deserve it for working our butts off for the entire school year. When you're in grad school, you gotta work hard and play hard.
As for the summer, I don't know what I'm doing. Being the spontaneous person that I am, I do not have any summer plans. So if any of y'all are free, holla at me. I do know that by the end of this month, I will be moving back home with my parents in Arcadia so I can be closer to the main USC campus, where I will be finishing up my last school year. For those that I haven't touched base with in a while, I'm sorry. School has been hectic and I hope we can still keep in touch.
Now for a random transition. Since I am endorsing and supporting Barack Obama for President, I am soooooo excited to hear the news that John Edwards is endorsing Obama. That should definitely seal up the Democratic race if it is not over yet. And though I must confess that I am an idiot for voting for George Bush, back then I have to admit that I was very ignorant about politics and did not really think about what my beliefs are. Ever since I started the MSW program, my political views have changed. And so now I endorse Obama because he supports many changes that I believe in: universal healthcare and sending the troops back home. I also believe that he is a voice for the voiceless who believes our tax dollars need to be spent on programs for affordable housing to house the 37 million Americans living in poverty and NOT on weapons of mass destruction for a war that does not need to be fought. So I say Obama for President. It is about "change we can believe in"
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| I am running for President!So during this school year, I have been involved with the Student Organization. I am one of the OC Representatives for Student Org., which means that I am the student leader for the OC Campus. What I really appreciate USC's MSW program is that the students take ownership of their education. Students have a voice to make changes in the program, the curriculum, and anything else that matters to them. We are people of different ethnicity, socioeconomic status, and interests and we all come together for one common purpose: social work. We embrace diversity and acknowledge the uniqueness that each one of us brings to the program. Because of my desire to help my peers get the best out of their graduate experience, I have decided to run for the position of Student Org. President. I hope to get this position because it gives me more opportunities to advocate on student's behalf. We sacrifice so much to pursue our graduate endeavors: time, energy, money, and for some of us we lose connection with our friends outside of school.
To end this weblog, I live you with a very inspiring video from who I believe is our next U.S. President.
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| Lobby Days 2008
As I stated in my previous entry, I had the privilege to travel up to
the State Capitol on March 9-10 for Lobby Days 2008. It was an awesome
experience as I got to see how policy and legislation affects my profession and the clients I serve.
Future Governor of California?
I be representin' USC at the State Capitol.
My attempt at meeting the Governator.
This is as far as I got.
Time for some karate kid action.
It's Lobbying Time!
 
This is one of the bills we lobbied for:
1) State title protection - Currently there are employees who are given
the title "social worker" without any formal training or education in
social work. This bill if signed into law would only allow those with
a bachelor's, master's, or doctorate degree in social work to hold
positions titled "social worker." This is a bill that not only
protects our profession, but the clients we serve. It is only right
that a client is receiving services from a social worker with the
training and education of a social work degree.
Another thing we fought against was the Governor's proposed budget cuts on foster youth services and community mental health services:
2) Fight Against Proposed Budget Cuts - Now, this is close to my
heart as I have worked for and currently work for clients receiving
these services. Although there is a recession going on and the state
must be careful with their budget, I believe that it is a MAJOR tragedy
to decide to cut funding for direct services to a most vulnerable
population. Foster youth already come from a history of abuse and
neglect and these budget cuts would decrease the support for them to
little or none. As for the cuts to mental health, what the Governor
does not realize that community mental health services have become a
necessity since they help mentally ill clients in their recovery
process and assimilate back into society. I understand that budget
cuts are inevitable but it is an injustice that there are cuts proposed
at the expense of the vulnerable and oppressed of this state.
Here are other pictures of the rally:
  
The signs that look uniform and professionally done are USC's sign. We stood right in front of the State Capitol and chanted for what we lobbied for. This was one of our chants: "Hey hey, ho ho, budget cuts have got to go!"
And of course, we worked hard and we also partied hard:
I was the opening karaoke act.
 
These are our professors and head administrators of our school. It's awesome to see that though they are true professionals, they also know how to party hard. It's awesome to go to a school where even the faculty will party hard!
 
The above two pictures are my peers from the OC campus. I have developed good friendships with them and they have become a family to me.
This is my 2nd year in a row going to Lobby Days and it was again awesome! I really experience the power of social workers and advocating on behalf for the people I serve. I strive to be a voice for the voiceless!
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