Change

Tonight was mind-boggling and history making.

At the beginning of this elections process, I wanted Hillary. I liked Hillary and I have no reason not to like her now. I didn't know about Obama, I didn't know his history, his politics, or anything else for that matter. And then he took this country by a storm. I am a fairly firm democrat, but I hung back, I waited. I wanted to see what Obama and McCain both had to say.

Four years ago, I liked McCain. He was a maverick in a great many ways and I respected his history in both the military and in politics. It was in this election that he erred. He pandered to the religious right, he picked a joke of a VP candidate, and he became mean. So then I had to take a harder look at Obama. I still don't think he has the experience, but I do think Biden does. There were also quite a few of his policies I do like. I'll not discuss them overly much here as now we'll wait and see what happens.

What is interesting is being in this city and with people who care. For the elections that I've been able to vote in, I honestly haven't much cared. Of course, I exercised my right to vote, but the results? I could wait to read them the next morning. I sat with a group of people tonight and we discussed politics, we laughed, we ate, we drank, and we watched. Hours flew by because the company good and the race was better. I enjoyed watching with this group of people and don't think I could have ever imagined sitting on a couch watching election results when I have a 20 page paper to complete, readings for class, and a weekly write-up.

That being said, I am now home and watching a different race. The race of the propositions in California. I stayed a California voter for a few reasons, the main one being that I knew I would need to make my vote count and it would count in California. There are two propositions that I am passionate about and continue to watch, in some amount of fear, and think about why they matter.

First there is Proposition 8. Proposition 8 would create a constitutional amendment that makes marriage only between a man and a woman. I've had many a discussion about this particular proposition. I am a firm believer in equality, therefore I voted NO. We may never reach complete equality, but that should not stop us from trying. Let me list out some of the Yes arguments and why I disagree with them.
*Protectmarriage.com tries to say that Prop 8 does not discriminate against gays, "it simply restores the meaning of marriage". I would have to thoroughly disagree. Of course it discriminates against homosexual people. It makes them not equal. It puts them into a lower class of their own. You can sit there and blabber about civil union all day long, but it is NOT the same.
*Protectmarriage.com tries to say that Prop 8 will require teachers to explicitely teach that marriage is between x and x and y and y. This is not so. If marriage is taught in the classroom, then it can simply be taught as, "Well, marriage is when two people fall in love and choose to make it permanent".
*Protectmarriage.com tries to say that Prop 8 does not interfere with "gays living the lifestyle they choose". Well, yes, it does. If they want to get married and have that outwardly sign of commitment, then they aren't able to do so under this proposition.
*A family member (whom I once thought was socially liberal and found out otherwise with this proposition) mentioned that the state shouldn't be up in our private business. Well, then, why would you be voting yes on a constitutional amendment which would keep the state all up in our private business?
*Another family member (rather religious) mentioned that Christians love the sinner, but hate the sin. Well, instead of tramping on their parade, why not create equality? The Bible can say all day long that laying with a man is wrong, but not everybody follows this religion. Not only that, but... what about creating a different option? One that works for both this and the previous argument. What if you vote NO on this proposition and then create another one? One that says all unions are civil unions and the word "marriage" has no place in the constitution, period, as it is a construction of religion and religion has no place in politics.

I'm sitting here now, 33% of precints have reported in and the Yes vote is up by 53% to 47%. Most counties are voting Yes. They are voting for discrimination and prejudice. It blows me away that we've just elected a Black president and this is the result of proposition 8 so far? There is a reason why it is called Proposition Ha8te. Regardless of your reasoning, this country was built for the purposes of equality, granted, that didn't always happen. But since the inception of this country, change and the striving for equality has occurred. I can no longer consider California a democratic state if it votes Yes on this prop. We used to be at the forefront of change and now? We're simply mediocre. If prop 8 passes, I'll be ashamed of the state and of its constituents.

And then there's prop 4. Which essentially states that legal guardians are to be notified 48 hours in advance of a minor's abortion. This is another hot button topic for me. I'm not going to get into the why's and how's and my decision to be pro-choice, but I'm upset about a few things. In a discussion about this topic with a young, Christian, white male, it really hit home for me what neo-conservatism is, what religion to the point of prejudice and alientation is and I just was blown away. I asked him what would happen should he have a daughter, what would happen if she were raped, got pregnant, but couldn't stand the thought of bearing the child? Because it is a child made of hate and not of love? He responded that if his daughter really didn't want the child, then she would have to have it, but give it up for adoption.

I was frankly horrified. And upset. I cried over this fictitious girl, knowing that there are a great many like her out there (having been a crisis counselor, I've talked to my share). These young ladies feel alienated from their families, feel like they have nowhere to go, and the consequences to such despair can be drastic.

I took a step back for a moment and thought of my own parents, not of my extended family as I'm not entirely certain how supportive any of them would be in certain situations, but my parents. I've never had to come to them with a situation like this, but I can think of a young girl who wants an abortion, but feels alienated. I can think of my own self in context of having my hearing impairment, having a disability. Never have my parents said I was an abomination, never have my parents implied that I'm being punished (or in the case of abortion, are a sinner for considering it), never have my parents done anything but encourage me to make the best decisions I possibly can with the most information at my fingertips. I realized again tonight how lucky I am to have such an open and inviting parental unit, one that may have their prejudices, but don't let them affect their relationships with each other, friends, and most of all, me.

I hope that any family members that I have, any friends that I have, know that I would try to be open, that I will listen to what you have to say and then discuss options. I'm not going to push anything on anybody, nor would I encourage abortion--it's a huge and incredibly emotional decision that I wouldn't wish on anybody, but the option is there. I would hope that they'd realize I will always love them, that I won't turn them away.

As I sit here, No on Prop 4 is ahead in the reporting and I hope it stays that way.

I realize this is a more serious blog than one I have written, but I'm angry. I'm angry that people think it is okay to allow religion to rule politics, I'm angry that people think it is okay to not allow equality, I'm angry that people think it is okay to deny love to someone because they are different than you or offer a different opinion.

I hope in the coming years we do see change. That we see change that allows for all people to have the opportunity to be of the same status.

Change can happen and I believe it started tonight.

Delinquent

I have been one!

It has been a month since I've updated. A looooooong month.

There has been a good amount of adjusting necessary to learn how to budget my time for school, work, and a modicum of a social life. I'm still trying to find the right amounts of time for what needs to get done without getting too insanely stressed out.

Classes are still going well enough. I've been re-evaluating the life path a bit and am continuing to leave my options open to see where the wind will blow me next. So far though, I am liking the learning process and I am happy to be here.

That being said, I am really liking the East Coast. Granted, I have yet to live through a winter, but the general atmosphere is one that I'm quite pleased with. I will probably be moving again in June though as the rent is just obnoxious and I have really no safety with my loan monies, which I would like to have. So, time will tell whether the move will happen to Virginia or to Maryland. I'm currently leaning toward Maryland to be with near two of my new bestests, Lauren and Megan - but we still have a few months and life to go, so we'll see what actually ends up happening.

Off to dinner with other friends... will try to not be such a delinquent next time.

Or maybe I will...

Double Dose

And I have two classes to write about this evening.

My second class last week went insanely well. As I noted, it was my fem theory class. There's a couple of folks in the class that I really enjoy and I love the professor. She's really enthusiastic, helpful and just generally full of knowledge and support. She'll push us, but you'll want to do well only because she's just that good. I really think she'll be able to help me hammer out the theory portion of my thesis, as well as advise me on how to go about getting a thesis advisor.

It really got me jazzed up for the remainder of this semester and all the fun I'll be having.

And then there were three. This evening was my third class. Technically first if you're looking at it from a week to week point of view. It's my research methods class. First of all, qualitative not quantitative. For those of you who might wonder what the difference is - it means I don't have to do math - which is good. Me trying to do math at this point in my life would be just the biggest joke. But I was still concerned that this would be my hardest and most boring class. It turns out, it just might not be. And not only that, but it will provide me my research proposal toward my thesis.

Follow me?! Three classes and two of them will provide me huge portions of my thesis. Already!!!

Which is great as the other night I was speaking to one of the second years and she mentioned that if I should want to go onto a PhD, I should aim to be published by mid year next year. This will certainly immeasurably help in that goal.

Overall, there will, of course, be some downs this year, but right this second... things are going great. I couldn't ask for more from my classes or professors.

And now for the big news.

I am...

so excited for the Cal-MD game this weekend!!! I'll be going to the pre-tailgate party thrown at UCDC by the DC Cal Alum to start the weekend off right. Just to share the pure insanity that is me when it comes to Cal, and Cal football, I have a date that night. I told him either he comes with me or we'll have to reschedule. He chose to come. Aaaahhh, I do so love converting folks into Bear fans. Then Saturday will be gameday, which, of course, I am going to. I talked June into coming with me, so that will be incredibly exciting to say the least. June is a gal who lives in my building who also grew up in LA and also went to Cal. Talk about a small world!

I'll keep you updated on the weekend when the time comes.

Until then...

GO BEARS!!!

Class?! Finally!

Last night was the first night of classes of the Fall 2008 semester. It was my Women and the Law class.

To start: yesterday was spent a bit nervous. I was wondering why I would leave a up and coming career to come back to school... regardless of the fact that PR was simply not something I wanted to spend the remainder of my life doing. This is a lot of money, a big move and for... a Masters in a subject I've never even taken a class in.

But... of to class I went. And really enjoyed it. We had reading due (yes, for the first class), so I did my reading out of a very large book. I wander down the stairs, into a room (not classroom per se) and we end up with only five students in class. Excellent!!! At Cal, we had discussion sections upward of 40 people. Finally, an opportunity to engage in intellectual discourse surrounding a text.

Tonight is class #2. It's my Fem Theory class. So if my next blog involves man-hating, man-bashing dialogue, don't be overly surprised.

Cal Bears Football

I had a glorious evening last night. I joined up with the Cal Alum at the Sign of the Whale in DC - rather close to where I live.

Why would I do this you ask?

To watch our first football game of the season of course!

They were loud, obnoxious and seriously fun. The bar was PACKED with Cal fans and that just made it incredible. It was like being back in Memorial Stadium... but not.

We sang Cal songs (I need to brush up - how could I forget the drinking song?! Maybe I wasn't drunk enough... Mom will be happy about that...), ate wings, drank beer and delighted in a Bear win over the Michigan State Spartans.

I even met up with somebody I haven't seen in years! He and I kept looking at each other, wondering, knowing we somehow know each other, but... so we started chatting and realized we were in CalSERVE together (party/activist group on campus). So we're going to go ahead and be nutty together at games as we're both rather effusive people.

Upshot is: viewing parties are going to be awesome and I think this joining of the Cal Alum will work out quite well.

GO BEARS!!!

One week...

Until the impending doom of school.

I'm kidding! I am looking forward to it immensely. I've been dragging my feet a bit since my mother left a week and a half ago, being a lazy bum and getting very little done. I finally got off my rear-end, am at Starbucks (gee, how things change...) and taking a break from, gasp, working!

My apartment is actually set up! Well, ok, I'll tell the truth. MOSTLY set-up (my mother is going to cry when she reads that line). I'm still finishing up little things, like getting out my change of address cards, which, of course, take up the entire floor of my living room... or should they not? ;)

In the next few weeks, things I need to remember to get. Real spoons. This might seem odd, but all of my spoons are MASSIVE. It's rather difficult to eat cereal and yogurt with oversized spoons, so I am rather looking forward to having a normal sized utensil. Blank cd's to save work on - new computer means I'd like to not plug up the hard drive too soon. I'm sure there were a couple of other things - but I've promptly forgotten, me being me.

My first half day alone after taking mom to the airport brought a wonderful experience... I had food poisoning. Welcome to DC! Two days later, I proceed to trip up a set of marble stairs. My left knee now looks like somebody took a bat to it. Clearly, I am proceeding with my usual grace and elegance.

I'm starting to meet people, make friends, do things. Since I've been here, I've been to an O's game (Orioles... Major League Baseball...), been to Wolftrap (an outdoor music venue) where I saw a compilation of performers singing music off the Beatles Sgt. Pepper album and found the DSW! Was I ever excited to find that! Of course, that was at the end of a rather uneventful date and, clearly, the highlight of the evening (not that it wouldn't be the highlight any other time of course).

All in all, things are rolling along and any concerns any of us may have had, are going to waste (luckily!)

Now back to work, study for my personal training exam (I'm not sure I'll be ready by Friday... whoops) and hanging out in my lovely little apartment that is MOSTLY picked up.

And yes, I've been a delinquent working out too. Maybe it's time to stop being a delinquent. Yes, mom, that includes erasing that MOSTLY and saying my apartment is as neat as a whistle.

Until we meet again through the wonderful world of on-line blogging,

Keep the peace.

Moving Day and On

Talk about the pain in the ass of the century. The stuff was heavy, dad and I both managed to drop stuff on us and talk about missing Mikey and Dan both. They would have been insanely helpful.

I may be going into Women's Studies, but now I realize the use of men - grunt work.

Since moving day, the apartment has been mostly put together. We've made more trips to Target, Bed, Bath & Beyond and Best Buy than I really want to remember. Once everybody's gone and I'm able to just settle, I'm sure I'll get a much better sense of how I feel about this whole situation. Until then though, it's all rather discombobulated and confusing.

I will say that I feel like a human being again. I got my hair done, got my nails back on and talk about the wonders of these two small acts. Everything is just a little bit better now.

Today is a day for buying a new camera (again), doing some work (under deadline), studying and getting things ready to send out. Mom wants to see Mama Mia, so that will be on tap for today as well.

This week will be spent starting to get into the swing of things, mom will be here until Thursday, so my actual routine will start next week.

Until then... I'll be back when there's more to report and when I can figure out how to add pics to share.