Warning: this is going to sound like a xanga post, but i’m compelled to post it anyway. haha.

saturday gb meeting where I got inspired again. “never underestimate what Kappas can do” “have faith”

saturday night mission trip to vegas by 5AM next day

sunday brunch and shopping, clubbing at the crackspot club, XS. I love my kappa sisters + Remyfam and our “24 quotes.” :)

monday kappa picture craziness, back to home sweet home, hanging out with homegirls, didnt go to sleep because i watched misfits all night and into the LATE AFTERNOON OF TUESDAY THANKSARIELLEANDKATIEIHATEYOUNOTREALLYLOVEMISFITS

Tuesday, went to disneyland with sister, then salsa clubbing for the first time. TOO MUCH FUN. I think I found the hobby I want to incorporate into my life consistently next quarter. :D

Total hours of sleep since Friday night (not incl. nap time in the car): 14 hours, time to sleep the most glorious sleep I’ve ever had. GOOD NIGHT TUMBLR! HOPE EVERYBODY ELSE IS HAVING A GREAT SPRING BREAK :D

Through my involvement with the Community Programs Office through the SPACE project, the campaign for the diversity requirement has become increasingly significant for me. I am thankful to be a part of a strong community, Samahang Pilipino and the Community Programs Office, that supports as well as understands the need for  relevant education. This community is not only full of passionate individuals driven for social change, but also compassionate people with a deep love for the community. This was evident both in preparation and during the actual execution of the Ethnic Studies Symposium.  This quarter was truly instrumental in my own personal growth and development in my understanding and appreciation of what it means to be part of the greater community of people of underrepresented communities and communities of color. This class as a whole was an empowering, uplifting space, and the Ethnic Studies Symposium was the crowning event.
    My first exposure to the diversity requirement was through the diversity rally that occurred last year. I remember the rallying cries of the students and one of the speakers, the late Professor John Deloro. I remember the call for simple understanding of other communities in order to stop perpetuating the discrimination and hate towards people who are different from you. It resonated with me as it did for many because of the intense climate on campus last year. Last year was a difficult year for me, as I’m sure it was for the majority of our community. Each year is hard for students in terms of the pervasive issues that effect us as students. Unfortunately, budget cuts are not new. Stories of racism and hate crimes are not new. However, last year was particularly painful. It was the year in which I participated in more rallies than I ever had. It was the year I first considered myself truly passionately and deeply involved with the political climate on campus. The year before I had only gained a superficial understanding of what it meant to be an activist. That year I had it branded inside of me when I was tased during the Budget Cuts Rally on November 19. I know I wasn’t directly meant to be tased. I know it was only because I was linking arms with my friend who was an African American male,  that I experienced that sharp pain in my arm that at once struck me with confusion and disbelief. There is nothing that can refute my understanding that it was a real act of racism. No one can convince me that it wasn’t because he was black that he got tased. That was the moment when the word oppression in terms of privilege and violence towards any attempt to change it was as real as it can get. 
    That event comes to my mind vividly now as I reflect upon the Ethnic Studies Symposium because the skit I helped create along with Tlaloc Vasquez and Haidar Anwar ignited those feelings that rose up from that event. The skit was more powerful than we could have ever hoped. Even as we were planning it and practicing it, it didn’t quite hit home until we did it on stage. Tequila Sunrise and other ignorant, blatantly racist mockeries of ethnic groups feigning as parties, African American males being victims of police brutality, Muslim women having their Hijabs ripped off, queer couples having to hide their sexuality lest they be attacked, violence of all kinds towards women, and the misunderstanding, fear, and isolation undocumented immigrants have to face—these are all realities that are heartbreaking and uncomfortable. The song choice of Creep by Radiohead for the whole skit was instantaneous. As soon as the idea occurred, it struck us how perfect it was to depict the alienation and rawness of these realities. The words, “What the hell am I doing here? I don’t belong here,”  continue to resonate.
    It is because too many people don’t feel like they belong in the larger society or at institutions like UCLA that it is important to have the diversity requirement. Although the diversity requirement is definitely not the end all solution and it hurts the campaign to claim it as such, the diversity requirement can help. And any form of help is worth advocating for. At the very least, it can make an individual feel a little more like they actually belong somewhere, and in reality that is worth so much. Every person and their experience is special. To not acknowledge or validate the histories and experiences of entire communities is a travesty. To institutionalize an understanding of diversity is to honor those diverse histories and experiences. The diversity requirement is important because it is a concrete and effective way to legitimize discussions of race, religion, gender, and sexuality that too often get ignored.

As much as I don’t like you, I still do.

Straight up frustrated and angry with the fact that financial literacy is something so hard to attain. I’m also frustrated with the lack of resources to address this issue. Financial literacy is a privilege and is not accessible to people who come from lower socioeconomic status or immigrant communities. Whenever I want to sit down and write a blog, I get overwhelmed by just my feelings and thoughts about it. But I’ll at least post this. There needs to be some change.

If you have financial literacy or come from a family background that has the social capital that can help facilitate financial literacy, then check that privilege. Because for all the people who are struggling financially right now, it is a painful subject one that is rarely talked about. I personally feel lost, confused, and like I said angry and frustrated. I’m tired of not talking about it. So I’m going to reach out. Samahang Pilipino has their financial campaign right now. I wish I was following it more closely. I feel humbled to admit that even though financial literacy was a campaign, and it’s an issue that not only personally affects me very much, but my community, I didn’t actively try to learn what it was about or get involved. I challenge anybody who reads this to do so.

    At the turn of the 20th century, Mark Twain said, “I never let my schooling get in the way of my education.” The real irony is how true this statement is to this day, a century later, when people believe we are at the greatest point of advancement in our history. The question is, whose history? From a glance at history textbooks from elementary onto high school, the winners wrote the books. When brown kids are told that Columbus discovered America and when black kids are told that slavery happened a long time ago, but it’s better now because we have a black president, it is clear that there has been a grave mis-education of people of color. As Murase said, “Third World people have been portrayed as faceless, dumb creatures upon which some external actor (white man) had done something to them, rather than actors and doers in and of themselves who have played vital roles in shaping the course of American history” (206). In Carter Godson Woodsen’s Miseducation of the Negro, he proclaimed history as a weapon, and indeed it can most certainly do damage to young minds. In his own, Miseducation of the Filipino, Renato Constantino said, “The most effective means of subjugating a people is to capture their minds.” The effects of colonialism and imperialism have unjustly taken a true nationalist identity from developing countries all over the world. In developing countries everywhere, people are still told about the American Dream. In Philippine textbooks, the United States is portrayed as a hero who saved them from the tyranny of Spain. However the truth is that United States had and still have pure economic and political interests in its persistent influence on the Philippines from the beginning of its interests in the archipelago in 1898. Mark Twain himself also wrote against American involvement in the Philippines, “I cannot for the life of me comprehend how we got into that mess.” Once again, a century later, we still have it messed up.
    Most educational reformists believe that the schools are failing our children. The reality is that they’re not. They’re doing exactly what they’re designed to do (Morrell, 2).  Our educational system is not so much the problem as the society is. Our schools reflect a society that is systemically designed to maintain class privilege. This is evident in the fact that “failing” schools are predominantly people of color and the Master Plan of Education that only serves as a pipeline system of who has privilege and who does not. Only once we fix the system of social and economical inequality that is perpetuated by capitalist interests, can our schools reflect a society that is just and equitable. Dismantling the system starts with a true education, not the schooling that we have been given. From the mis-education of people of color, it is quite evident how effective an educational system can be at socializing people to believe what they are told. We must take ownership of our own education and pursue truth. As Andre Lourde says, “So it is better to speak remember we were never meant to survive.” We were never meant to survive, so now it is more important than ever that we live.