Students for Fair Consideration

“I believe everything happens for a reason. People change so you can learn to let go, things go wrong so you can learn to appreciate them when they’re right, you believe less so you learn to trust no one but yourself, and sometimes good things fall apart so better things can fall together.” -Marilyn Monroe

I have been really reflective these days about life. What I have been through. What all of us have been through. I look back to what I had back in Brazil, what I left behind, what I have sacrificed, the decision that my parents made to move their kids to another country. I remember crying as I left, as I arrived, every single night for the first months in the U.S.. I remember feeling that it was the worse decision ever to move to another country. [...]

“You don’t have enough documentation, please come back tomorrow.” I began to panic as he spoke to me with coldhearted voice. I had no choice but to leave because I didn’t have any proof of documentation. At that moment, I just wanted to cry and give up. I was tired of everything—I was tired of humiliation, I was tired of unfairness, I was tired of extra hard work, and I was tired of my status that hinders my hope. Slowly and effortlessly, I crawled outside of the exit room. I was standing alone in unfamiliar place, center of  Seattle.

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On September 10^th, 2009, 9:00AM, I arrived to Seattle Airport. This was my second time coming to Seattle Airport. On my first trip, I was staying at the Seattle Hotel with my mom for shopping, eating, and touring the site of down town Seattle. I had fun at the Seattle until I had to go to DMV. At very next day, my mom filed out all the applications and turn in documentation, hoping that I will qualify for taking a driver license test in Washington. Fortunately enough, I was qualified for the test but I wasn’t prepared to take a test on that day. So I had no choice but to come back. So after six months later, I finally came back to Seattle to take a test.

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Hi everyone!
I’m sorry I was not able to log in before. I am ready to share with you all my plans about the AB540 Project. So, as I mentioned in the boot camp my goal is to help ab540 students get to college. As we all know, money is a big issue and this is why Im focusing in the financial obstacle that we often have to face! My plan is to inform students about their opportunities as ab540 and to actually help them through the process of applying to scholarships. This week I met with the ESL director from Berkeley High School and we already finalized the date of the first scholarship workshop for students which will be next Friday. I have a lot of support and really hope that these students will be able to apply for many scholarships that will help them pay for college. The next step is to make a flyer and give it to all teachers and counselors from Berkeley High to inform as many students as we can! So, now I’ll work on that because next week everything needs to be ready for the first scholarship workshop!!! Yey!!!!
Im also working very close with RISE as the Outreach committee Representative and the goal is to collaborate and get things done together!
I hope you are all doing great and good luck with all your projects!!!

Cherishing and preserving oral history from our elders has been a topic that I have always wanted to get more involved with, especially with the community being directly involved and oral history immortalized. At the International Institute of the Bay Area (IIBA), my job consisted of compiling stories and answers to a series of questions designed to assess the needs and wants of immigrant women who were domestic violence or crime survivors. This was done so that IIBA could provide legal services to immigrants and learn how to improve their services for that specific immigrant population. IIBA’s goals through this survey were to outreach and create awareness of the services they provide in a more effective way so that immigrants can safely remove themselves from abusive/criminal situations and be able to thrive.

As a Mexican immigrant myself, this project is close to my heart because my own mother went through domestic violence abuse and was given help through organizations such as IIBA. Despite the abuse that my mother went through, she was able to live life with my father for 32 years and sought comfort in passing on her childhood memories to me and to my other siblings even though they lack an element of an ethnicity beyond that of Mexican descent that is blurred before my parent’s generation. It has been difficult to trace back my ancestry and the traditions that have existed before my parents’ lifetimes, which has left me with an insatiable thirst to learn everything I can from other family members although this has not been a success since most live in farms far away in México and obviously I cannot return due to my immigration status.

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The name is Linda, daughter of native parents, with a strong Mexican Heritage but forever loyal to this nation that has deprived me of many rights  like financial aid but, has also offered me incredible opportunities such as an education. I am just like every student; I laugh, I fear, I eat, I study,  but apart from that I am a an undocumented student at cal. But not just any student, I am that type of student who never gives up, who despite the obstacles, the struggles, the oppression, still fights until the end.  I never give in and never get frustrated or lose hope…I am a sparkle, always trusting that everything will be fine even though it might not be.

Today, after a long day of classes and three meeting to attend (last one ending a couple minutes ago) I come to my room excited to read for my chicano studies class.  I do not mind spending most of my time in school and in meetings  because its what brings more joy to my life.  It makes me happy and it determines who I am, it shows my dedication to the undocumented students in the community and it also demonstrates my desires to make life a little bit easier for the future undocumented college students.

Until next time,

Linda.

Crossposted from The Sanctuary

It is sad that most of our social networks and media blitzes are about how disrespectful Joe Wilson was rather than how centrist and inappropriate Barack Obama is with his assertion that all human beings don’t deserve equal access to health care. He has to repeat himself while using the hateful discourse of ‘illegal.’ That’s just low.

I wish Joe Wilson was right and Obama was lying about the fact that undocumented immigrants would not be covered. But Obama is a liar. Just not in the way that Joe Wilson meant it. Once upon a time, he used to be a proponent of single-payer health care — “Everybody in, nobody out.” And now that seems to be out the window. Sorry ‘illegals’ and everyone else who can’t provide proper documentation. And this list also includes citizens:

I am effectively an “illegal immigrant,” since I do not have gov’t papers. Yes, this is because I am trans and a woman. (via @nueva_voz)

I am also who Obama called an ‘illegal’ today. But my family is here legally. Denying me access to health care, would put my health care needs squarely on their shoulders. How is that any change from the status quo?

All this makes me think that if the President had pursued immigration reform before health care, we probably wouldn’t be seeing this hateful fear-mongering heckling. Yet, President Obama has continued to pursue the same failed immigration enforcement policies of the Bush-era like 287g that is ripping apart communities of color.

Anything less than single-payer universal health care is a dismal failure when it comes to providing everyone with equal access to health care. Anything without a public option is not close to tolerable. I wish people were as outraged at Obama’s centrist and hateful otherization of human beings as they are at Joe Wilson being an idiot.

Hi everyone!
I am very excited because I have some good news to share with you!
I have recently form a group of students and achieved one of my goals.
Even though it is a long term goal, I am confident that this will turn out
to be very important and will impact many undocumented students.
The name is C.A.M.B.I.O (Change in Academic Mentorship Believing In Opportunity).
As of now, I have just a few people that have supported me, however, I am
really happpy and motivated! :]

We are often required (by schools) to complete a testimony of our lives in a form of a personal statement. For some, this becomes an advantage as they are able to write about the numerous barriers that have molded their very own personality. Put simply, “how [our] world has shaped [our] dreams and aspirations” (UC Application Question) is a key inquiry in getting to know the face behind the applicant.

The only problem is that as an undocumented student we are still troubled by the legality of our biggest barrier, being “illegal”. When writing this portion of the application we ask ourselves if the very fact that it is “illegal” to be in this country makes it “illegal” to write it out on the application. Well, hopefully this helps…

Being that I am thinking of pursuing a graduate school route, I wanted to know if my most significant struggle was even legal to mention. I contacted Dr. Patrick Jennings (chair of the Sociology Department @ CSU Eastbay) and asked him if I had to worry about exposing such volatile information.

Here is his response:
“We would not voluntarily open a student’s file to anyone outside of the department. Members of the faculty and the staff have access to graduate student records. However, if a file was subpoenaed we would probably be completed to turn it over.”

Of course, this answer might not be able to be generalized to all personal statements, but it is a start! Best tactic to follow, contact the department chair!

Hi everyone. This is Christabelle.  As of now, I am currently helping out with a charity walk event called Guluwalks that a club from my school called Invisible Children will be hosting in Merced.  The event will be in Merced and it will be on a Saturday, October 24th, 2009.  The event mainly consists of a walk around a park and it will be for about 3 miles.  Anyone and everyone is welcome to come and support the event.  The purpose of this Guluwalks is to raise money for the children in northern Uganda in Africa in order to build a Cultural Centre for the purpose of bringing the community together.  It is also to raise awareness about what is happening to the children of nothern Uganda. I will be at the event to help out with the fundraising committee and if you would like to come or have questions just contact me at cnaw@ucmerced.edu or call me at (415)518-8749.  If you would like to sponsor us for this event please do so here. This is the first Guluwalks in Merced and I hope it will improve the quality of life for the children of Uganda. To learn more about the children of Uganda and the Invisible Children Organization, click here or to sign up for the event go to guluwalk.com. Thank you.
Yours,
Christabelle

Since the end of boot camp I  have been trying to brainstorm ideas for what I would like to put together for the program. I have never been the creative one in the family, so let me tell you: my little notepad stayed blank no matter how much I thought of things. I’d wake up… nothing. I’d eat breakfast… nothing. Made my bed… nothing. Ran errands…nothing! Meanwhile, Ms. Karen is already planning out the details of her event and, again, I have nothing.

I have been tutoring elementary kids at my local library for the past three weeks. I love it. If I could tell you about each of the kids you would probably understand why. I love the way you have to make everything a game so they will do it, their curiosity, the way they point out the obvious and notice absolutely everything, the way they try to trick you, the random funny things they say. But surprisingly, I have found it almost natural to work with them  because my mind, like theirs, engages when things are visual, simple, and entertaining.

A couple of nights ago, I opened my notepad again, stared at the blank page and wrote: PLAY. simple. visual. entertaining. A play about undocumented students…