Failure

By my standards I am failure. Simple as that. Yes I graduated top 3% of my high school class. With multiple awards. If time transgress as it should I will graduate with a BSE Mechanical Engineering degree from ASU. Yet, I still feel like a failure. Maybe its because I expect the best and when I don't accomplish it kills me.

To my DREAMers

The deadline to pass the DREAM Act is on January 5th. Harry Reid is
the majority leader in the senate, hence, it is up to him to bring the
DREAM Act for a vote. His numbers are; 775-686-5750, 202-224-3542,
775-882-REID (7343), 702-388-5020. For all of us, the DREAM Act is
ultimately, the only solution to our situation. We can go on
pretending we are normal college students, normal people, and that
education will set us free. Reality is knocking, and its ready to kick
you in the face. WE are your typical student, not we will never be. I
know all of us are afraid. Just by the look at our faces, by the way
we communicate. We have an opportunity to be a part of something
grand, bigger than our miserable little lives.

January 5th will come, the decision of our lives will be there. We
have to choose, either to wait or we act. We maybe be young foolish
adults, with no rational sense. See, but that's what makes us great,
our fearless nature to take up obstacles without hesitation, without
the thought of failure creeping up on us. Once, we ADF scholars
graduate then what? Go back to Mexico? Take a low paying job? Not
exercise our diploma that we spent countless hours to achieve? Our
parents left our home countries for a reason; violence, drugs,
poverty, you name it. What return to that unknown land with a degree
in your hand, and you think you will succeed. America is our home. So
lets fight for the DREAM Act, call all four of Senator's Harry Reid's
offices everyday until October 6th.

For if you are looking for a person to blame for your misfortunes, you
only need to look in a mirror. I know why we choose to be anonymous.
We are afraid. When we referred to DREAMers we say, them or they,
instead of I and me. Time does not wait for you to decide, it will
come, whether you are a part of the struggle or not. It will come,
don't be fooled. If the DREAM Act passes, or if it dies like it has in
the past, the sun will still rise.

Ask yourself what type of person am I; the person who will take a
stand, fight for my dreams upon insurmountable odds, and in all
likelihood failure, or the person who will sit. The things that matter
in life, take sacrifice, courage, tienes que ser atrevido. I know you
will most likely ignore this email, and it doesn't matter to me, fight
for yourself, don't fight for anyone else, fight for yourself. The
DREAM Act struggle is an opportunity to test your character.

PS. No one is that busy no take 30 minutes of your day to make four
calls, so stop lying. Either accept the truth or stop crying!!!!!!!!!

I am Chicano

I am Joaquín, lost in a world of confusion, 
caught up in the whirl of a gringo society, 
confused by the rules, scorned by attitudes, 
suppressed by manipulation, and destroyed by modern society.

These words are engraved in my skull, not through historical text, but through experience. One needs not to look into the historical textbooks for slavery, for oppression, for systematic inferiority of people; one only needs to observe the world around us. Slavery has adapted to the 21^st century. No longer are blacks exploited in the fields of Virginia, no longer are blacks hung from light posts, but the brown skin people in the Fresno Strawberry fields are still there, working under inhuman conditions. 

I am lost torn between the atrocious events of the past perpetuated on my people, the slaughter of my kin, the exploitation of my fathers, mothers, brothers and the realization that I love America. I am a new breed of people, I am Chicano. Chicano entitles a person of moral conscious as well as a human being who is willing to forgive the past. We as Mechistas need to move the nation in the right direction, instead of blaming the decedents of the Anglo for past events we need to unite the people. We Chicanos bleed, cry, love the same way as Blacks, as Asians as Anglos, we are all part of the human race.

What exactly means to be Chicano? Is it a nationality, cultural, or ethnicity issue? I know some generalize Mexican-Americans as Chicanos, while others derive the word for Mechica ancestry, to me the word goes beyond any cultural, it’s so much greater than just a nation or an ethnicity. Chicano is an idea of person who fights against injustices where ever they may arrive, morally. Not by the code implemented by the mainstream media, but by his/her values, a Chicano is not willing, nor should he compromise his pledge to the world.

We live in tumultuous times, where morality, justice, fairness, courage are taken as words, but to a Chicano they are perspectives. We act on our convictions; we face the challenge straight on using or mind and bodies in unity. A Chicano loves mother Earth, for she has given us life, given us the ability to love, given us the ability to think, she has provide the tools to mold the world as he see fit. A Chicano must always remember his past, but live with no anger, guilt, or reproaches for the past, we must live here and now. The past can’t be change. The Future is on our hands. Chicanos unite as one, for a long and arduous battle for justice awaits us.  

October 4, 2010

“History will be kind to me, for I intend to write it.”  I am a history geek. I love knowledge, it is an intrinsic good. The future will never be, the present is instantaneous, and the past is gone.  I don’t understand the physical laws governing time, not do I pretend to, but I wish to endeavor myself in the near future. I once heard that time is simultaneously, the future is already written, that as we see past events, we are reliving them, and that the future is just for our conscious self to experience. Similar to observing the stars, we see them as they were hundreds of millions of years ago, but to us they seem to at a present time.

                If time is simultaneous then how can we alter our future, if it has already happened? Are we powerless in an internal struggle between nature and deity, or the concept is just beyond our understanding? I choose none. I believe that we are the master of our own domain. We choose how we wish to live, we are free. Being free implies responsibility, responsibility leads to morality, and when morals are in action then we can love without any regret.

                This brings me to the DREAM Act, and its current situation. We dreamers are in limbo, between reality and dreams. As of now, we are a political afterthought. After, screaming so loudly, we have nothing to say, we as silent as the darkness October night. All we have is our pride intact. We left it all out for the Defense Authorization Bill Cloture vote. The sleepless nights, the tireless hours of work, all for nothing, all those planning to be left in the same place where we were a year ago?

                Barak Obama isn’t considering the DREAM Act as top priority for the lame duck session, the latest news from the white house. I still never then Presidential hopeful Barak Obama promising DREAM nation the passage of said bill in his first 100 days.

So what now? A slight possibility still exists in the lame duck session.  Three democratic senate seats will change the political landscape, this upcoming midterm election. The truth is the DREAM Act depends on public opinion; we don’t have the financial means to back up us, nor the political muscle to pass a bill. The passage of the DREAM Act rests on the will of the people, as the founders intended. “The people should not be afraid of their governments, the government should be afraid of its people,” V for Vendetta.

                This is the difference between the DREAM Act and other legislation; the dream as some now refer to it, is as pure as it can be in Washington politics. It’s a noble cause, a bill based in fairness, emphasizes in justice. What is for fair than to allow a human being to prove himself, to pursue his dreams? What is more just than to enable a human being to be free? We dreamers are not free; we are chained down by a 9 digit number, by a society that sympathizes with us, yet have no knowledge of our struggle. Ignore our plight for freedom. Yes, we are fighting for freedom in the 21^st century in the United States of America, as insane as it sounds.

                We dreamers are a prideful bunch. We don’t succumb to the opposition tactics; we are moral beings (as for the dreamers I know). Pride is essential to one’s understanding self worth. We are humble, we are not modest, or shy, or timid for that matter. We are courageous beings who will not give up. We have and will continue to stand after we are thrown to the ground, now we have to get up one more time.

Why DREAMers should enlist in the military?

Is serving one’s country is honorable? The answer is an emphatic yes, it not only of merit value. Then why does the pentagon release reports saying that it needs more recruits, "If we needed to expand the pool of eligible youth, the dream initiative would be one of several ways to do it," spokeswoman Eileen Lainez said in an e-mail.. Why does the military service have a bad connotation in the mainstream media? Personally, I believe serving one’s country is a responsibility and a duty. Here in the United States I am free and that freedom has a price; I am more than willing to repay that debt. I know full well war has casualties and I may, suffer physically, emotionally, psychologically, and even die; but hey life is tough all around, “It rains of the just and the unjust alike.” 

That’s the reason for ADAC’s (Arizona Dream Act Coalition) efforts to communicate with the Republican party lately. It goes beyond the need for Congressional votes, we are all Americans, we are all human, and we all believe in the American Values. WE believe man is born free with inalienable rights, life, liberty and the ability to pursuit happiness. Reconsider the phrase the “pursuit of HAPPINESS,” by impeding a person right to pursuit one’s goals and desires you are taking away the basic human rights guaranteed by the Declaration of Independence.  

How can a moral, just, and rational person say that dreamers don’t deserve a right to prove their worth. By worth I mean our right to be legal Americans. The DREAM Act has two paths education and military service, both are noble and consider by the American public; yet the DREAM Act fails time and time again. Why? I don’t know, I don’t wish to endeavor in the past, I believe we must provide solutions to problems, instead of rekindling old passions.

In a FIRSTFOCUS report 60% of likely republican voters for the 2010 midterms support the DREAM Act, while in a Rasmussen Poll it states that 78% of Americans support undocumented students legalizing through military service. Therefore, if a country is ever to reach greatness the will of the people must be met on continuous basis, as a result if the requirement for me to consider a United States citizen is to serve in our armed forces, I take the challenge with honor, dignity, respect, and above all else willing. What type of person would be if I were to defer.

September 27th, 2010 10:40pm

Extremely tired, need sleep. Woke up to the laughter of children, so innocent, full of joy, yet so wise to the ways of humans. Natalie (youngest niece) is a clever child knows how to get what she wants. At a very at very young age has mastered the art of persuasion. Makes me wonder if intelligence is inherited passed down from generation to generation, random effect with no causation, or developed through grueling work, most likely a combination.

                The DREAM Act is consuming my life. Wake up first thought the dream, bored during the importance of ethics in engineering lecture. What must I do to make this DREAM of mine a reality? I have been advocating for the DREAM Act for about a year and half, yet I am exhausted. The movement is addicting; the highs when a new senator co-sponsors, the lows when you realize what they have said all along “you are a lonely pawn, replaceable, in a much larger game.”

                True I am a pawn, but a pawn with an individualist mind. I am me, and only me. I am free to choose, free to decide the course of my life, though with limitation. One could say “I have limited freedom, nevertheless it is still liberty.” Then, again freedom as I know it is the ability to act, and to think without any physical or psychological impediment. Mental barriers are tougher to endure, for the mind controls all. The reality one lives is the image projected by the mind.  Yet in the overall sense there is an ultimate reality, but to whom does this vision belong, can it be own? It is an entity, or a brute fact of nature, similar to gravity?

                By my prognostics I am not completely free, in the land of the free. Hence, can anyone really be free? Free to express one’s sorrows, joys, anger, disappointments, disgusts, scorn, or will? As I understand the significance of the DREAM Act more, and more I have come to the realization, that no-one is truly free , in the physical sense. This is a birth right we surrender for our safety, but for metaphysical certitude, we must be free. Freedom must exist in one’s mind. If the mind controls all, then, we must be individuals, be unique, be free from oppression, hate, fear, free to love, free to loathe, free to dream.

                All we have is our thoughts, our vision, our dreams of a world where one will listen, LISTEN with as much effort as one does to speak. A world were passion, liberty, and valor will be more than theoretical definitions written down by great thinkers, but actions.  This is the spirit of the DREAM Act as I have perceived it. No one intended to be, no-one intended to create a movement, to begin the renaissance of the 21^st generation. Like the civil rights movement and the Chicano movement of the 1950-1960’s, dream generation is compromised of undocumented youth, residents, citizens, men, gays, lesbian, Christian, Muslims, Asian, Latinos, but above all else we are human beings.

              

  We are human beings, strong intelligent individuals with a vision of greatness, with skills and knowledge to achieve that vision. The vision of ending man’s dependence on fossil fuels, to end man’s hunger, a vision where morality will be the center of man’s mind, instead of power (money for our practical purposes). DREAM generation goes beyond the dream legislation, beyond the power old mighty dollar; it is an idea of hope.

                Hope is what OBAMA promised. Hope is what he inspired, hope is was the center of the Obama political machine, hope moves worlds, hope allows us to believe in that the improbable is possible, hope is vital to man essence. Obama created an atmosphere of hope, a can do attitude, with purist simplicity that we were all too eager to believe unquestionably.  Hope cannot be created merely by external factors (forces), it must have an internal seed, needing nutrients to flourish. As a result, hope cannot cease to exist, it merely hides under all the chaos, to be unleashed again. What Obama meant to the nation in 2008, the DREAM Act means to all of us who believe with a childlike euphoria in justice fairness, and above all else freedom. 

Time is up

 Unless you are deaf, blind, and stupid you have heard about SB 1070 law in Arizona. Probably you heard of people calling the law unconstitutional, un-American. Many cities, towns, and people are outrage and rightfully so. You have heard of millions calling for border security or immigration reform. The sad truth is that we have run out of time for Comprehensive Immigration Reform. Border Security will not solve the issue.

What we need is sensible actions from our politicians to fix America's broken immigration system. What we need is the DREAM Act. For too long have these kids been told no. You guys need to wait, get in back of the line. They are told you guys are illegals get out of the country. What makes them under serving or in other words illegals?

What is it to follow their parents guidance or was it succeeding and embracing a country that wasn't doesn't want them here.  For too long have talented youth who solemly wish to contribute to America have been told no. Now is the time free the DREAM Act.