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Adulthood
17 years ago
Monday, June 14, 2010
Wednesday, June 2, 2010
For those of you who don't know, Dad has signed up for a facebook account, I found out when I logged into my email recently and found an email notifying me my father had "friend requested" me. Many children have been experiencing this phenomenon and faced with the tough "to friend or not to friend" decision. I've recently seen that the fastest growing demographic on facebook is actually people over 35. Well I have to admit the first thing that went through my head were thoughts of those weird parental postings that you always see and hear about on websites like myparentsjoinedfacebook.com, in fact the week after Dad joined facebook I got a newsletter email with this story; "My friend's mom was making some inappropriate comments on Facebook. It was well out of her character, so I thought maybe her account had been hacked. Turns out that her account wasn't hacked; it's just that she's under the impression that 'LOL' stands for 'Lots of Love,' and not 'Laughing out Loud' as the rest of the world knows it. It leads to posts like, "Sorry you lost your job :( LOL," or "Missing you, LOL." Then again, maybe at her core she actually does know that it means 'Laughing out Loud,' and this is her way of passive-aggressively telling the world that she's really a mean person at heart." This story reminded me of two things; first, a hilarious quote from the TV show modern family;"I'm the cool dad. That's my thang. I'm hip. I surf the Web. I text. LOL: laughing out loud. OMG: Oh my Gosh. WTF: Why the face?"
and second, that parents can bring a hysterical new twist to things that we as the younger generation should appreciate. I for one was getting sick of facebook (the privacy issues, the take this quiz to find out which twilight character you are, the mafia wars requests) and I think parents may just make it all fun (or funny) again.
For the record the only funny thing that has happened with Dad on facebook was my own doing, and I don't even know if he noticed. I had a party and I thought it would be funny to send him an invitation on facebook. I had asked someone else to make the event invitation on facebook and she thought it would be funny to classify it under erotic party. Well I didn't realize that until later, I thought my dad might not appreciate my friends' sense of humor and I promptly uninvited him (sorry Dad) even as I write this post I'm not sure he knows. So this may be how he finds out (I still invited him, just in person).So welcome to facebook Dad, and all you other parents and thanks for making it fun again.
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
My Work With Refugees
As some of you may know I have had a huge change in career this last year when I began working with refugees. This year (2010) the United States plans to accept 80,000 refugees from several countries around the world. As I work with these people that come in from several different countries I often begin to wonder what it must have been like for our ancestors who came from other countries many generations ago. I try to see through their eyes as they come to this great country.
What is a refugee?
Basically a refugee is a person who is forces to leave their country and seeks safety in another country. They are usually granted temporary protection in their country of first asylum. Many of them have no rights in these countries and are not permitted to work, but they simply live in refugee camps until they can live somewhere else. At that point they might come to the United States, Australia, Canada, or Western Europe where they can finally begin to live their lives.
Why should we take them here?
The Statue of Liberty, which traditionally greeted arriving immigrants to the United States stands as a symbol of freedom to the world. At the base of the statue these words can be found
"Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!
Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me,I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"
I would like to believe that the United States still operates on principles of freedom, and that the United States can be a beacon of freedom to the world, and an example of the great things that free people can accomplish.
Remember that 120 years ago there were people questioning whether our own ancestors should be allowed to come into the United States.
Where do the refugees come from?
Within the last 3 years the Phoenix area has been receiving refugees from the following places
Sudan
Burundi
Burma
Somalia
Eritrea
Burundi
Rwanda
Congo
Cuba
Ivory Coast
Liberia
Uzbekistan
Afghanistan
Bhutan
Iran
Iraq
I think that it is fascinating the journey that people take to come to the United States, and I think that it is important for us to recognize that they are part of our cities and communities. It is also important to know where they come from and why they are here. It certainly has made me grateful to live in a country where I have the freedoms that I do have.
I suggest that you watch these movies to find out some more. I hope you take the time to watch them. They are excellent movies.
Hotel Rwanda - This is a movie based on true events. It centers around Paul Rusesabagina, a hotel manager who housed over a thousand people during the massacre that occured in Rwanda in 1994.
God Grew Tired of Us - This documentary follows several Sudanese as they leave refugee camps in Kenya, and come to America. Many of them, for the first time, have to learn how to live with running water, indoor plumbing and electricity.
The Lost Boys of Sudan - This is another documentary that follows two Sudanese from Africa to the United States.
Saturday, January 23, 2010
New Year Resolution
I was going to be a better blogger than I have turned out to be. It’s supposed to be easy. I get on the internet and get too easily distracted reading what everyone else has to say! But I love knowing what’s going on in your lives, in your homes, and in your heads.
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