This is really good information, though I think the tone is really cynical (especially #1). Perhaps I’m just one of the lucky ones in a small intermediary organization with decent pay (though I know I could be making more at a hospital or for-profit entity) & pretty good benefits…
Happy Mother’s Day to my awesome Mom that I love very much!
Small glimpse into my office space. My Mom bought me a succulent over the weekend :)
18mr:
Asian American Pacific Islander Heritage Month: 2013 is the 250 year anniversary of Filipinos living in North America.
The village of Saint Malo, Louisiana (pictured) was settled in 1763 by Filipino sailors who deserted Spanish trading ships. It was one of several Filipino communities that existed on the Gulf Coast in the early years of the United States. Saint Malo was destroyed in the 1915 New Orleans hurricane.
Louisiana Filipino Americans served under Andrew Jackson during the Battle of New Orleans (1815) when 1500 American troops defended the city from a British force of 8000.
18mr:
Asian/American Labor Leaders for May Day: Larry Itliong (1913-1977)
Larry Itliong was the president of the Agricultural Workers Organizing Committee and led the 1965 grape strike. Later, he would go on to serve as an assistant director of the United Farm Workers under Cesar Chavez, and was instrumental to organizing Filipino American farmworkers.
This early wave of modern Filipino immigrants were known as manongs and often lived in segregated “Little Manilas” and were offered poor wages for very hard work. After the manongs voted to strike, Itliong approached Cesar Chavez, asking the National Farm Workers Association members not to cross their strike lines. Chavez and the NFWA agreed, forging an alliance that would lead to the United Farm Workers’ formation in 1966.
Itliong was born Oct. 25, 1913, immigrated to the U.S. from the Philippines in 1929. He passed away at the age of 63 in 1977.
Read a great profile of Itliong’s son, and his work to have his father remembered in the New York Times.
Filipino Hall photo from the Walter P. Reuther Library’s digital archive.
Isang Bagsak
white privilege radically changes the appearance of Tsarnaev bros
This is how brofiling actually works in real life. The Week Magazine ran with this image as their cover sketch.
Just so it is said, clearly and unambiguously: the Tsarnaev brothers are white guys. They are white. The FBI’s own wanted poster for Dzhokhar Tsarnaev lists his race as “white”, but you would never know it from the cover image on The Week.
Hold up the cover to someone else, and ask them how many white people they can see on the cover. Chances are they will identify Gabby Giffords on the top left and the image of the Boston policemen (all white men) on the top right, but how about those two guys in the center? Nope, not a chance that anyone would say these caricatures look white.
Why? Because in addition to being white they are also “Muslim”, which is the current dehumanizing “Other” that whiteness has constructed as a sanctioned target for violence in US popular culture.
This is how white privilege works in media representations and everyday life: when the criminal suspects are demonstrably white men, seize upon any aspect of difference and magnify it such that they become Othered, non-white, and menacing. If it is too hard to do so, simply dismiss them as aberrations and isolated cases of insanity. This is also how white culture, specifically the process of whiteness in conjunction with white privilege, portrays several non-white identities, including those that are now considered white but at one time were decidedly not so. For example, see here for how the Irish were depicted as violent apes or lazy drunks in the late 1800s to early 1900s.
- I’m not sure if it’s the stress of work & commuting, but I’ve been easily annoyed lately (more than usual). I think I need to make a conscious effort to find balance & peace in my life.
- Related: Sometimes my passion for social justice issues takes a toll on my sanity. I can get super riled up over a particular issue that I feel consumed, angry, and bothered (see: Angry Asian Man). One of my best friends, Betty (who is even more passionate about these issues), always tells me that taking a “break” every once in a while is necessary. I should probably stop checking Twitter, social justice-based blogs/sites, and news sites as the first thing I do in the morning & the last thing I do at night.
- Higher education is so important and is a huge component to shaping an individual’s worldview and critical thinking skills. If you have the means/opportunity to pursue higher education, do not take that for granted!!!
I’m starting my 4th week at my new job, so I think it’s time to give a little update.
So far, I really like my job. I’ve been wanting a policy job where I actually learn about legislation and advocate for the public good, so I think the position I have now is an ideal position for me to get the experience I’ve been seeking. One of the many challenging aspects of working with public policy is that everything is fast-paced and can change from the beginning of the workday until the end. My job specifically deals with Health Policy, advocating on behalf of children. Our country is in a very unique place when it comes to public health, especially with the Affordable Care Act set to begin at the beginning of 2014. I’m constantly reading, researching, and writing. It honestly feels like homework sometimes, but I’m getting paid to do it. Speaking of pay, I got my first paycheck & to be honest, my first thought was “where’s the rest of it?” haha. Okay, my pay isn’t bad and I know I’m blessed to even have a job to begin with. The commute between Hollywood & Santa Monica is really bad. Getting home in less than an hour is considered a “really good commute” for me…and it’s only ~12 miles. But again, at least I have a job and especially in the field I intend on pursuing a career in.
I’m still trying to transition and get used to working from an office from 9-6. I used to be able to see Norman pretty much anytime I wanted to, but now it has become more difficult. I now have two jobs, while Norman has 3. We are lucky if we get to see each other once or twice a week, even just for a couple hours. It’s hard (for me, at least), but I always keep reminding myself that we’re both trying to pursue our individual dreams and aspirations of working in public policy/nonprofit administration and the film industry.
Anyway, I just spent all this time writing about work. I should probably take advantage of feeling very awake at 9PM and do something fun and exciting…but I’ll probably just watch Netflix :)
