An Amazing Week(end)

I have had a great week or couple of weeks.

First of all, graduation is over, which means we have many Auggies off to the "real world"! Congratulations to everyone.

Okay, now I would like to go over my last week in order to demonstrate why it was such a great week/end.

Last weekend (April 23-25) was exceptional. I was at the DFL State Convention in Duluth, which was new to me. I learned a ton about how conventions work and how things are done. I also saw and heard all kinds of things about what was going on before Margaret Anderson-Kelliher was endorsed by the DFL after all other candidates dropped or conceded defeat. It was a total emotional process, but totally worth it.

Then on Sunday after coming back from that long weekend in Duluth, I was at the Honors Banquet. Bob Groven, Director of the program, had asked me if I was there and I had said yes. I knew I had to leave at some point before the banquet ended. I did enjoy a really good vegetarian meal with awesome friends and new people. Then I left for a presentation that I was going to help about immigration and students with an awesome lawyer.

When the lawyer and I were getting ready for the presentation at this church in the suburbs, I got a text saying: 'Juve you won the Hesser House Award...!' I was like...'I just left....' Anyhow, we had to go on with the presentation and in the middle of the presentation, we figured there was this person who disagreed much with me. I didn't have to answer much because the comments were not directed to me, but it was an uneasy moment for sure (in an unsafe way). The lawyer was great at keeping the cool and not letting emotions dominate the conversations. It was kind of scary really. But I think, as I continue to promote and talk about students, college access, and immigration, I will have these kind of encounters. And I need to know what to do.

Then finals week came. Since I could not do much over that weekend, I was planning in finishing this final project for a class all morning until class that Monday. Then everything went wrong. The next day things were not that great, but was able to at least finish the project I had to have done the day before. On Tuesday I received my award from Sunday, which was really cool: a beautiful glass with the inscription of the award name (the Garry Hesser House Award for Leadership in Service to the Community) and my name. I also saw the movie, 'Caw,' which I really liked and my friend really enjoyed it as well, so that was good. On Wednesday we had our last Privacy Taskforce meeting and we had our first senate meeting of our administration, which was really exciting!

Thursday I spent all day reading and watching videos of Martin Luther King Jr., which gave me the chills of course. Friday it was hang out day since most people were all done with classes and I really enjoyed it.

This last Saturday it was commencement and I really enjoyed it. Despite the meaningless speech Gov. Pawlenty gave, I thought everything else was done phenomenally. Everything went smoothly. Father Fernando was very inspirational. It was also great seeing people I knew walk and then be announced as official graduates of Augsburg.

After commencement I headed to an immigration rally in downtown Mpls. Thousands of people there and it was a great time. I did get really tired, which caused me to crash and sleep like 10 hrs for the first time in months!

Today I went to the May Day Parade/Festival for the first time, which was excellent. Then I had a great time biking around the lake and just laying there for a bit. It did get a bit cold, but it was still a beautiful time. Finally, I went to see friends who had graduated at their grad-party and that was good too.


Overall, it was a wonderful week really. I am looking forward to whatever is next.

Crime, Stereotypes and the complex world

My mom just called me to tell me that my brother and sister-in-law were mugged last night at gun-point while their children watched.

I was at work with TakeAction MN today talking with our reNEW MN Campaign about the DFL State Convention today and we also talked to the candidates about appointments and priorities to communities of color. For this reason I was not at the gathering my family had at the park. Supposedly my bother showed up and he did not look right. At the end he told my family about what happened.

This is what occurred: they were getting to their home and when they were taking the kids out of the car, two men approached them pointing at them with guns and asking for their wallets. Both my sister-in-law and brother gave them their purse and wallet respectively. My sister-in-law fainted and one of the kids got really scared. The police then showed up after my brother called to report the crime. The police took the testimonies of my family and then advice they go cancels their credit cards. By the time they got to do that, supposedly the cards had been already used. And at least one cell phone was taken, which was well used before it got canceled.

I bet this was such a scary moment for all of them -- nothing like this has ever happened to a member of my family and we had never known someone to have gone through this. At least one of the kids is very traumatized and has not been eating well.

Here I want to recognize that there is a lot of stereotypes many Latin@ immigrants (the community I am a part of) hold about different ethnic communities. Sometimes even academics, especially Chican@ ones, dismiss this fact and only focus in stereotypes whites hold (which is important, but very impartial). I grew up hearing that blacks are bad and lazy, whites are good, especially when they try to speak in Spanish, and other Latin@s are so so. Asians are short and have many kids and Native Americans live off the government because they get so much money for being Native, so they don't have to work. Ever.

Now, what is very interesting to me is to see the language being used to describe what happened. Apparently the two males who mugged my sibling and family were black. The first time I heard it, it made me really uncomfortable. I think it was because these two black males meet the stereotype many in my community hold. Granted, we don't interact much with other communities, so every interaction we have with a member of an "other" community is going to live a mark. Definitely this one will leave a huge mark in my family's experience and how they think of blacks now.

Now that I am in college, I live in a very different world than my family. I interact with people from many walks of life and that shapes the way I think about race/ethnicity. I think I was also uncomfortable when I first heard it was two black males who mugged my sibling and family because for sometime I have been trying to speak about race/ethnicity not being the cause to why people act a certain way and what happened last night seems to be working against that. There was anything I could say to explain that the two males did commit this crime, but it wasn't just because they were black. It now appears that the belief is that all blacks are criminals for being black and yesterday's occurrence only enforced that, unfortunately.

I am not trying to excuse these thugs to any degree, but race/ethnicity is only secondary to what happened. And it is tough to convey this message, I feel.

This world of crime and race/ethnicity is complex. And occurrences that "prove" stereotypes we hold only reinforce what many think to be true even if it is not.

I am glad my family is fine and I sure hope this episode does not tarnish their love for humanity, all humanity.

Valeria Silva, a National Dissapointment

It was today that I heard Arlington High School will be closed if the Budget by St. Paul Public Schools Superintendent, Valeria Silva, is approved. I sure hope it is not. While she cites budget issues forcing her to make these decisions, she has yet to explain how this draconian acts of hers will actually do any good. While it might be true that Arlington, which I attended as a high school student for four years, has not been able to meet federal test requirements, it is important that we understand what Arlington is [I cannot speak about other programs in the city because I do not know them].

Arlington has a long history of being innovative. Arlington is the newest high school in the district. Since its inception, Arlington has been a hub for immigrant students and their families, something very unique about this school. Its ELL program was one of the best in the nation (I can attest to that). It was the pilot school where Admission Possible, a program for low-income students preparing for college (and that I was a part of), took flight and now is all over the twin cities and in Milwaukee, WI, getting hundreds of students to college [I have my reservation about AP too]. Arlington, in 2007, was restructured and became a BioSMART school, providing high quality education to its students in certain areas.

Now that I gave a couple examples about the innovative Arlington, let me list why closing it is the wrong decision. First of all, Silva is not giving the bioSMART program play out its part. The program was implemented in the fall of 2007, after I graduated. Research shows that it takes about 7 years for a program to give results that are measurable. Hardly three years is not enough. Maybe Silva does not understand how research works. Even without research, the new Arlington structure under bioSMART is working and one can hear it from students and teachers. They are the experts, not Silva or the Principal.

Two, Silva keeps citing the stupid rhetoric that Arlington is not meeting Federal Testing Standards. No Child Left Behind is doing more harm than good, and we all knew this. Also, as it is my understanding that Silva worked in ELL programming, won't she then understand the challenges of having a diverse community when it comes to immigration and how long one has been here? An ELL student who has resided in the U.S. for one year is going to do worst than an African American student. This is simple to understand. It would make sense for Silva to move and shake the system and try to implement policies that address these kind of thing: language, cultural, and geographical differences. Putting a bandage on a bleeding wound will not stop the bleeding.

Three, Silva also keeps talking about the low-enrolling number of students projected for the future. While that is a real concern, Silva is ignoring that this is a national trend. However, Silva is also, wrongly, ignoring the fact that it is the immigrant community the only community growing in the state of MN, especially in the cities. It is ironic that Silva, an immigrant herself, would ignore her own community for solutions. But then again, I should not racialize or expect from someone who looks 'like me' to think like me.

Valeria Silva, here are some good things to actually do. If you want to reduce the budget problems, stop traveling to DC with your staff because that is where I met you personally. And I am sure some funding from your budget was spent there. What about cutting your pay? Some smart organizations pay their employees based on need. I am sure you do not need more than a hundred thousand dollars to live well in MN. Do this for everyone and you will see that the budget problems will be solved. Of course I cannot expect this -- too radical for you I am sure.

Here are some more easy-to-handle proposals. Arlington, with its history to well-serving immigrant students like myself, should become, once again, a hub for immigrant students and their families. Its ELL program should be revitalized, which will not only live up to its legacy to bring people from all over the world together but it will also attract many more students and increase the total number of matriculated students (in order to address the number question). Testing should be based on many aspects about students, and not just how they are done today. Making Arlington also a center where college students and high school students come together will also increase the number of student graduating. Arlington should continue its bioSMART program -- I wonder if you are planning in using the funding left over for something else...I hope not or I hope you can't.

When Silva was elected Superintendent, many of us who work around the education realm were looking up to her because she has been here for a long time and knew the district. However, from what I see, I really question if she really knows our district, if she knows anything about Arlington. Her actions are not addressing roots causes of what is going on -- poverty, language problems, immigration status of St. Paul Public School students, violence, etc -- and that is why I wonder what she is doing besides cutting and cutting. Our governor is no friend to education, would she challenge him? I doubt it. The problem really lies outside of these schools and programs, but Silva is ignoring much of that at this point and seems to have learned a lot from our current governor: just cut, no matter who is affected or no matter if people don't want you to this. I wish she would have learned form someone else...........

Silva has no heart and compassion, integral ingredients for making a great superintendent and integral to good policy making. She is playing politics as usual. Valeria Silva is a total disappointment thus far.

It's one of those days

Today I came back from spending the day with the family in St. Paul. It was a nice break, especially being around my siblings (who have way too much energy). I also got some homework done while there when everyone was sleeping.

Once on campus, when most things are shut down, I went to do some ol' homework at Murphy Park and then took a nice nap on the grass (hoping no one would come and molest me...). I brought some good food my mami made too, so ate some after homework and napping.

Then my awesome roommate came back - hadn't seen him for over a week!

I had to go back to do homework later, so I took my personal computer since the library was close and the Urness lab gets a little warm sometimes. Plus, I had written a few pages for my classes, so really it made sense I would use my computer - maybe continue writing.

I turn on my computer, and I find out it asks me to log in... bad sign.... Then when I log in, the screen is blank other than what is on my desktop... really a bad sign.... I knew I had left a couple of documents open before I left my computer last night. Then I remembered my sister had said something was going with it and I was like, 'Oh just hit 'ok'.' I did not pay attention.

So now I find out all the writing I did over the weekend is gone! And maybe now I should get to writing it, again (I'm a day behind homework now for the coming week....)

So yeah, it is one of those days when everything is going well, and then, something stupid happens. Maybe this time my writing is better now that I have been thinking a lot about it while I was writing it all. Blah blah bla I don't want to do it though................

Uphold the Veto of the Repealing of DREAM Act resolution

On Wednesday February 24, Arianna Genis, First Year President, and I,Incumbent Senator, brought Resolution 01 Regarding The Comprehensive Immigration Reform & DREAM Act (Development, Relief & Education for Alien Minors Act)
on behalf of the student organization Minnesota Students for Equal Rights.


On Wednesday March 24, Augsburg Day Student Government (ADSG) overwhelmingly voted in favor of the resolution. It was the first resolution brought up this school year.

These are some of the reasons we brought it up. One, our student group, Minnesota Students for Equal Rights, is dedicated to supporting comprehensive immigration reform and the DREAM Act. As students we are organizing at Augsburg to do what we can to correct the many issues with the current immigration system. Two, we are asking people to support our mission and we know that there are some groups that cannot take any direct action (i.e. make phone calls, emails, etc), and we thought it would be appropriate to ask Augsburg Day Students Government to support our missions as well. Three, as Augsburg students we have every right to ask ADSG for what we believe will help our cause. Four, we support Comprehensive Immigration Reform (CIR), which is why we have language around that, but mostly, we hope to at least pass the DREAM Act this year if CIR does not pass.

Sadly, on Wednesday March 3, a senator moved to repeal Resolution 01. Some of the reasons are such as that as that we have not defined what is the role of ADSG when it comes to "Federal Law." Another reason is that as ADSG we did not communicate with the Student Body about the resolution. And three, some of the 'conservative' or 'moderate conservative' senators' friend would not support passing this resolution.

Here is what I, Juve, have to say then. One, ADSG supports all student organizations some way or another, especially by providing them legitimacy as organizations and funding. Many of these organizations work around laws or legislation. If we were to limit ADSG to not work or make a statement about a 'Federal Law,'then many of this organizations will have to do something else. In reality, many of the things we do are related to Federal Law, so if we were to put the precedent that we do not get involved with Federal Law, we will be going towards a slippery slope and limit what our students are able to do with the support of ADSG.

Two, those of us who brought the resolution used the system in place to bring up a resolution: Bring it up one week, let senators speak with their constituents and/or ask questions about it, and then vote on it the following week, with the expectation that everyone voting is informed. So, to say that 'we' did not communicate with the student body might be true, but that is the senators' job. That is why they are elected: to represent their constituents. Apparently some senators did not do their job in seeking their constituents' opinion (or ask us questions about it) and now want to blame their lack of communication to the overwhelmingly-in-favor passage of the resolution. Not I fair call I believe.

Three, to have politicized the resolution by some of our conservative ADSG members was wrong and not called for. To say that immigration is a liberal thing is wrong. Or should I say that anti-immigration is conservative? That is wrong too. Our resolution was not liberal nor conservative. Our resolution is about human beings, about lives, about the well-being of our communities, about the well of our student population, about the well-being of our friends, about the well-being our families, about the well-being of our democracy; it is about the well-being of our nation.

My biggest problem with the repealing of the resolution is that why single out our resolution? Why not single out anything else we have done as ADSG before? If we wanted to be fair and repeal everything we have not communicated with the student body, we must then repeal everything we have done so far this school year. If we were to repeal every 'liberal' or 'conservative' thing we have done, we would have no record that we have done much as ADSG this year. I would very much like someone to move and do that.

I am really disappointed that this asking from Minnesota Students for Equal Rights was singled out. Why single out this act of solidarity? I really have a bad feeling about it to be honest. Overall, it was an inappropriate decision.

On Thursday March 4, Sam Smith, Augsburg Day Student Body President, moved to veto the repealing of Resolution 01. One, he said via email to ADSG, the repealing was "incredibly hasty and disrespectful to the authors of the resolution." We did what we were supposed to do in order to pass the resolution. Two, Sam continued, "recognize the role we play as representatives of the student body." As stated before, some senators failed at doing their job in representing their students, liberals, conservatives, independents, or just Auggies. "If we repeal this resolution, we set a very dangerous precedent on a very slippery slope, where from now on our decisions are constantly subject to criticism by a loud and intentionally inflammatory minority," Sam said in his email explaining the veto.

The day when we voted to pass the resolution, we had about a dozen students outside of ADSG show up to the meeting in support of the Resolution. It is time that we uphold what was done right and move away from trying to politicize and singling-out this one thing.

Take action to email your student senator or show up on Wednesday at 7:30pm in the Century Room in Christensen Center to show support for Resolution 01 Regarding The Comprehensive Immigration Reform & DREAM Act (Development, Relief & Education for Alien Minors Act)



Uphold the veto!

Here is info about the DREAM Act.

Brief explanation about DREAM Act:
The Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors (DREAM) Act is bipartisan legislation that addresses the situation faced by young people who were brought to the United States years ago as undocumented immigrant children, and who have since grown up here, stayed in school, and kept out of trouble.

Find more information here.

Suppression? Nope. It's Worst

I was reading the New York Times when I came across this article about a play regarding gays in the 50s in London. This reminded me of something I have been thinking about for a couple of years now, which I describe in a bit.

If you know anything about the Honors Program at Augsburg, you would know that students in the program are required to take certain interesting classes. One of those classes is this one called The Scholar Citizen, which was about pragmatism and the cultural genocide if it takes over (at least that's what I wrote about in my last paper for that class).

Now, during class, we read a biased book about Freud and Lewis, which talked about both men and their views about life, religion, love, etc. Along with the class, we had to take this Theatre Lab where students more or less came up with vignettes concerning the book about these two men. Well, Freud talked about suppression of feelings. And my group decided that we will go with that (vignette on suppression of feelings).

[vignette members]

So, in the vignette I was a gay brother of this dude with this friend and I had a girlfriend. And somehow at the end I came out because my character was suppressing his feelings of being gay. But, after reading this article, I realized what I had thought all along: the problem was not 'suppressing feelings'; the problem was society not allowing people to be who they are!

The whole idea of 'suppression' is nothing else than a sinister societal evil. And that was the big revelation of the day for me.

My take on the 2010 DFL Gubernatorial Cadidates

So, I have been involved in politics for sometime now. I am familiar with some of the contestants running for governor this year - DFL, GOP, Independent. But due to the fact that the issues I care most about are not welcome in the GOP - so I will not bother to cover those here. The only independent who showed good intentions towards immigrants was Peter Hutchinson in 2006. This year I predict, just as GOPers and Marty Seifert being the worst of all, the Independent candidates will go after immigrants, for example, as Pawlenty and even Hatch, DFL candidate, did in 2006. I do wish I am wrong about the Independent and that he (predicting it will be a white male this year again) does no go after immigrants.

As you might already know, I am working with TakeAction MN with their reNEW MN Campaign to elect a progressive governor this year. Through that I have gotten to know a lot about the candidates - three of which we have endorsed: R.T. Rybak, Margaret Anderson-Kelliher, & Paul Thissen.

With that said, here is my take on the candidates - all 10 of them (all white males, but two white females):


Steve Kelley - He is a professor at the U of M and at one point said he would have failed T-Paw in his economics class because T-Paw does not have the necessary background in economics (yet he runs the state....). He is the only candidate who has spoken to the interconnectedness of systems (edu, transportation, workforce, etc) and how they affect communities. He speaks from the heart, and I like that.
Susan Geartner - Oh Susan... I do not think she is getting anywhere this year. I notice she is not winning the DFL nomination, especially after saying in a forum that she will win the Independents, but never really talked about how she was to win the democrats. What I did like about her is that she called T-Paw and his policies racist during the kick-off of the reNEW MN Campaign at my beloved Arlington High School in St. Paul.
Mark Dayton - He's loud and has a lot of money. He does support an expansion to gambling, which is against state and tribal governments agreement from the 80s where the casino monopoly is governed by tribes and not state government - such expansion will take a away resources from tribes. And we all know we don't have the highest respect for tribes (historically). Dayton's stance on this should be abhorrent especially because tribes struggle more than cities economically. This is a no no. Tribes should not pay for the rest of the state - they have paid enough already.
John Marty - What is surprising here is that even though he is the most progressive candidate, he did not get the endorsement from this progressive organization (decisions made by members only). This is definitely a blow to his campaign. He lost the 3rd spot by 11 votes. Some had cited whether or not he was "electable" since he was so progressive - call this an irony.
Tom Bakk - very nice dude. Not getting far this time.
Margaret Anderson-Kelliher - Oh what to say about Margaret.... Well, I want to say I like her and that I support her. BUT at the same time, I just don't feel it for her. When she speaks she doesn't sound genuine; it almost feels like she is reading off a script every time she speaks. There is no real connection anymore. I did hear someone say she has been good with affordable housing, but at the same time, like she has done with other issues, I wonder if she will be willing to risk it for the right thing or if she would give up to not jeopardize her career. She did come 2nd yesterday with the precinct caucus.
Matt Entenza - Oh Entenza. Well first of all, he has some good record in working for people, but he has lost it for me. I was at this Latin@ Forum last year and how he started his introduction was how he has been singled out because his last name is "Hispanic." He even called himself "Mateo." Like everyone speaks Spanish. Who in the world would do that to try to "connect" to people? Only Matt Entenza. However, in reality, he came off very arrogantly, and even offensive. I am also surprised that Carlos Mariani and Kith Ellison are supporting this dude - it almost seems that their support is a loyalty vote and nothing else. Both men have been supported by Entenza some way or another, in their campaigns or nonprofit. I love Carlos, but I was disappointed in his decision to endorse this highly arrogant individual. Lets move on.
Tom Rukavina - He's so funny! But that's not going to get him elected of course. Maybe it can help him. He did make the best first ad for what seems to be a highly contested political season though. I really like how he speaks and how he connects to people at many levels. He has been always there for people of color, at least from my experience with him. He has also been willing to call on the governor, which is brave to do. More importantly, when he knows something is not going to pass in the legislature, he will do what he can to create compromises to pass something at least. The concern is whether or not he has the support this year, which is unfortunate.
R.T. Rybak - He is probably my favorite candidate, with some flaws of course. But he has really done a lot for all communities in Minneapolis. He also likes Augsburg a ton and has been present when we invite him. He also believes in the potential of all kids and supports rights for all people. He also passed the law in Minneapolis that separates local police from Immigration agents - which is not only a smart decision economically, but it is also important for the immigrant communities in Minneapolis. We need such a policy state-wide. He has also done much for education and small businesses. He was the one who got the most votes at the reNEW MN Campaign annual meeting and got more people to caucus for him than any other DFL candidate. He also has the blue catching eyes.
Paul Thissen - I think Paul is the only candidate who has so far spoken to my principles. That is, he says his campaign is about hope for the future. At one forum he talked about seeing the world like a child, which yeah it sounds naive and whatever, but he said that a child sees the world where success in life was based on the potential of people and not where people from from - so, under a child's views, before being corrupted by society, there is no discrimination of any sort, everyone has the same opportunities, everyone gets a fair advantage in life. I do not think he is going far this time, but hopefully one day he has a chance. Everyone likes his hair! Including me :)

Well, there you have it. While I still remain skeptic on some of the candidates described above, I do know candidates for the other major party do not represent my values whatsoever this time.

Cheers to an exciting political season this year! LOL