And just like that it's over! =)

well it finally has come to an end..thank god! :) lol

I have enjoyed having you all in my classes and being able share our thoughts with just about anything. I know at first we were all questioning just what exactly we were going to be doing in this particular class but now i can say, for most of us, that it was a roller coaster ride that we enjoyed. I understand now what Professor G wanted us to take out of this, and i can say i have done just that. I've learned to look outside the box and analyze more things than i did before. I've become more aware of what social justice is and how i can do things on my own to start a movement and promote change. This class has taught me to express myself in ways that i usually don't do. Overall this class was out of the ordinary but that's what we need every once in a while. I think we all can come out of this with ideas of what we can do next to make a difference in people's lives and just having a different outlook about everything in general.

From reading each others blogs, listening to presentations, and personal experiences about inequality we've all learned more about each other than we probably wouldn't have in any other class.

So good luck with wrapping up the semester and until i see y'all in the fall, I hope y'all have a great summer!

Des :)

Group Presentations

This week has been full of interesting presentations dealing with issues affecting our community. It has brought a lot of awareness not only to me but to the rest of the class. Every group so far presented a lot of interesting facts and statistics dealing with their particular issue. It has affected me in a way that i want to participate with every issue that i have seen so far.

Project H had a lot to say. I didn't realize the statistics dealing with homelessness around the Austin area. It was also tough hearing the stories as to why many of them were currently homeless and dealing with the issues they faced on the streets. It got me thinking about the women. What happens when they're on their period? Or how do they protect themselves on the streets from the aggressive men It was scary thinking about what these women face. I knew that if i was in that position I wouldn't know what to do or who could help me. I became thankful for everything i am blessed to have and the people i have in my life that if i were to be put in that position that i would have somewhere to live. After listening to their presentation i felt myself wanting to not only help the women but the other homeless people that occupy Austin. I would love to work with them in the future.

After Work Activism is a group that basically puts everyone's desires to help the community together on a website that puts out awareness to the public so they can become apart of it too. I found their presentation very entertaining and quite shocking after watching the videos that they posted. I couldn't believe some of the things i heard about the education system from some of the people running for representation. I'm glad i know that information now and my vote will not be for them. This group is like a melting pot of ideas that every group can present their information and action plans that they want to pursue. It gives everybody the perfect opportunity to get the word out and they did a great job with this.

Executive Orders was also another interesting presentation. Ok I'm not going to lie i have no idea what an executive idea and if i wanted to know i would just search online for it. But after the presentation i found that it's not as easy as i thought. You would think that you can find EVERYTHING on good but obviously that is not the case. I found their interviews funny and interesting to hear what other people had to say about the issue. Overall they had a great presentation.

Educational Disparities was my group. We found that the community does play a role in the outcome of the student's education. Comparing a very poor area that contained Reagan High school to the wealthy area of Bowie High school just showed you the obvious differences. It was shocking to find out that the teachers at Reagan were using history textbooks that were outdated by 6 years. yeah i said it, 6 years!!!! can you believe that? the only reason for that is because they don't have the finances and resources for new material. Now at Bowie that was not the case. Of course they had the newest edition of books and many other services that prepared them for college. I mean Reagan had prep programs for college but kids there really didnt take it serious as the kids at Bowie did. It just shows you how the education system is now a days. Hopefully we can change that one day and we plan too. Me and Caty plan to go all out with the program Suena. Hopefully it proves to be a great success!


Overall these past couple of presentations have been full of information leaving with you the potential to help out the community and make a difference. I cant wait to hear what the other groups have to say!

ageism and adultism.

Both ageism and adultism are a form of oppression.  

Adultism is the oppression of young people by adults and elders. 

Ageism is the oppression of elders by youth and adults.

I had no idea that these two terms existed before this class. It was as though it was considered normal. I mean i was always told to respect your elders and such but i never knew that there were terms out there for this such thing.

Personally, i catch my self at times stereotyping and oppressing the older people. You know there's always that slow older woman at the light that is taking her sweet time turning when you're in a hurry to get somewhere. We've all had that moment. Maybe myself having more than others :) haha. There are some older people that are capable of accomplishing many things just as they did when they were younger but there are also some that you know don't need to be doing the things they're trying to do.

On the other hand older people tend to have that mentality that young people of today aren't capable of accomplishing many things. I've experienced it a couple of times because of my age. I guess they would feel more secure if someone of older age is more capable and they might think that they are more knowledgeable as well.

All in all everybody just needs to give everyone a chance. Don't assume things. Just see how it plays out and go from there. Who knows one day when were in that position we might feel the same way about young people and young people might feel the same way about us "older people."


To lighten up the mood, my friend posted this video on facebook to cheer up our day. I thought it was hilarious. so enjoy!

ableism.

Ableism or disability oppression is the term used to describe the all-encompassing system of discrimination and exclusion of people who live with development, medical, neurological, physical, and psychological disabilities.

Many who have been considered disabled have faced many challenges throughout their daily lives for somewhat years and many of those have faced discrimination. So much to the point where they just can't live with it any more and decide to end their lives.

When i was in late middle school early high school my great-grandma became really sick and would have to go to dialysis almost every week i think. I didn't think anything of it because well she was getting old and i kinda just knew, well maybe this is what happens. I would go with my grandma sometimes to pick her up and this one time i went i will never forget. Supposedly one of the nurses wasn't watching her right and she began to pick at where the needle was and she began to bleed. The other patients next to her began to call for the nurses but after a couple of minutes had gone by and the nurses finally said something. My grandma was furious because no one was watching her and then the nurses tried to blame it on my great-grandma! All hell broke loose after that! My grandma let everyone nurse in that building have a piece of her mind and all i could think about is why wouldn't you be watching? why wouldn't have more consideration for the patients that have to come here? I remember talking to my great-grandma once we got home and she told me that she was just tired and wanted to leave. Oh and the nurse that tended to ignore her got fired so we were happy about that.

I couldn't believe that that had happened. I didn't understand. I guess now that i think about it she was just feeling as though she couldn't take the dialysis anymore. Facing the discrimination at the doctor just made it worse. My great-grandma ended up going there for a another year i think and we would have a nurse come to my grandma's house to just check on her and stuff. Then when i was a sophomore she passed. She passed at my grandma's house and i believe she was at peace. At peace from not having to go to the doctor and dealing with her pain. It was a sad couple of months, especially going to my grandma's house and not expecting to see my great-grandma there. It effected everybody but we all knew she was at peace and that's all we could ask for.

I guess people who are considered disabled due to any reason go through a lot and we as their family and friends just have to be there for them in any way possible, even if they don't want comfort at the time. Trying not to make them feel as though they are considered disabled will also go along well in their daily life struggles.

what do you consider yourself?

Today's class discussion was on transgender. In the world we live in today this topic is very uncertain on just exactly what this means. To many people this means that you're just ignorant of what god made you. You're either gay or lesbian. You're confused as to what gender you are meant to be. You feel as though you were born in the wrong body and nobody knows what you're going through. All in all transgender people will face problems to the extreme that most of us will not even come close too and as human beings we need to respect them as such.

Transgender: Identified with a gender other than the biological one.

You are classified as to what gender you are when you're in the womb. From then on society plays off of that and accommodates everything to your specific gender. For example, when your parents find out you're either a girl or boy everything becomes either pink or blue, sport themes or princesses, dresses or pants, and so on. So what happens when your parents tell you you're a boy when inside you feel like a girl? In your mind everything tells you that you were meant to be a girl but you were born in a boys body? You won't understand what that feels like unless that personally happens to you. I can just imagine the pain and ridicule you will face. I feel for the people that are in this confused process but i also applaud the people that take action in order to fulfill their needs as to what gender they feel that they truly are.

There is so much discrimination and hate towards these groups of people. So much that many are forced to quit their jobs, not able to find jobs, unable to compete in pageants, sports, and many are killed because of what they consider themselves as. Many are stared upon by others who are trying to figure out just exactly what they "are". Many don't know whether or not they should call them a "he" or "she." Many are just confused.

So what do we do? We, as human beings, need to consider their feelings and problems that they're facing. We need to respect their choice and decision as to what they need to do for themselves to feel complete as a person. We need to understand that what they're going through is something that you will never know and you need to respect that. DON'T JUDGE A BOOK BY ITS COVER!

Below is a 3 part serious done by Barbara Walters that looks into the lives of 3 children who are 6, 10, and 16 years old who are facing transgender issues.

Hope you enjoyed my post! I leave you with your thoughts!

sexism.

obviously this topic well talked about and well know throughout the world. it has been around for ages and sadly is apart of our society. it has affected many lives and changed peoples perspectives on certain things. its like with this we wouldn't be able to declare who we are as a person.

sexism can affect many people. mainly women because we are the victims of it. as soon as the doctor tells our mothers, "its a girl" we are instantly labeled with well as being a girl. certain restrictions and expectations that we need to live up to as women. we cant do certain things because were girls and we don't want to get hurt because its a boys sport or game. were to weak to lift things that boys are strong enough to lift. when we grow up it all becomes more real. were not good enough to get paid just as much as men. we don't get many jobs that we deserve because its best suited if a man takes the job. we are seen as only house wives that take care of the children and the household. and even seen as not smart enough to run this country. sometimes daily stereotypes affect us on being women.

today i worked the texas relays, which was my first time ever attending and let me just say it was quite interesting ;) haha, anyway i was recording times and this older guy was taking measurements and i would write them down. simple job. then the next shift a women was taking the measurements and a thought came to my mind, "ahh i hope she knows what she's doing. i rather have that guy doing it because i'm pretty sure he knows what he's doing." with that i realized what i was doing. i was already assuming that this women wasn't capable of doing a good job just as the man had done. i assumed that the man would do a better job than this woman becuase well, it's what society shows and tells us. it automatically makes you think that a man would be capable of performing this job better than this woman. i felt bad because i didn't even give this woman a chance to show me that she can do this job just as well as that man.

turns out she knew what she was doing. actually more accurate than that man. i was like, ahhh your stupid for thinking she wasn't going to be able to handle it. when she flipped it on me and did a great job. situations like this happen on a daily basis and it just shows you society views on sexism.

i personally will no longer conform to this sexism society. i think i'm capable of accomplishing things just as men can. just because i'm a woman doesn't mean anything. just the fact that i'm smarter :D but like i was saying with more and more people taking on this sexism world we live in, one day it will change and WE will be on top. starting with ruling this country. yea thats right i said it. one day there will be a woman living in that white house and she will NOT be the first lady.

colbert report,

       the case on trayvon martin has skyrocketed across the nation. alot of people are speaking up about it and has brought alot of attention to this issue.
       i ran across this video on facebook about the case. of course its the Colbert Report but it sort of gives a humor side to whats going on and how ridiculous this case is.
       so check it out!  

http://www.colbertnation.com/the-colbert-report-videos/411137/march-26-2012/the-word---dressed-to-kill?redirect=true

thanks!





     

gender roles.

re-cap of this week. we went to this lecture on the achievement gap. i thought points of the lecture were interesting but i was expecting more out of it i guess. i wanted to hear what the possible solutions were to solve this but all we were left with was..what do you think? reallllyyyyy. i wasted an hour and a half to hear you ask me what do i think!??? come onnnn...

back to reality. this week were talking about gender roles. whats more to say about that. this society has that set in stone. men know where they stand and women know where they stand. but there are people that choose to defy those roles and do what they choose.

now a days people do what they want regadless of how society used to be. back then who stayed at home and watched the kids? the woman did. who went to work and supplied for the family? the man did. now in some cases you see the man at home with the kids while the woman goes to work. or both the man and woman go to work. since the times are changing so are the people.

personally, i challenge those typical gender roles. i want to a bread winner for my family just as much as my husband will be. i want to be a part of my kids life just as much as any other parent would want to be. i plan to take on all the roles that i possibly can. just because i'm a woman doesn't mean that my path is already paved for me. i will pave my own path.

i'm sure there are many others out there like me. and i'm not saying that those who chose to stay home are bad in any way, i respect that. its just something i wouldnt consider myself doing. well not in the early part of my life at least.

G.O.S.P.E.L

I ran across this video on Facebook. Seeing as though our discussion on Wednesday was about religion I thought this would tie in with that.

i thought it was interesting. i leave you with your thoughts!

#Kony2012

This class is about social justice. Well what I'm about to show is amongst those lines. I came across this video yesterday and I couldn't believe how fast it spread. I'm pretty sure you've heard of this already but if you haven't check it out!!

I first came across the film "invisible children" in high school. I couldn't believe that this guy hadn't been caught yet. So this movement means alot to many people across the world. yes that's right i said the world. It has caught the attention of many and I would love to be apart of it. Me and family and friends are already talking about buying a kit :) and painting the town red with these posters on 4/20. As a social worker this is something that I would love to get my hands on. Maybe many more of you too as well.

I hoped you enjoyed this video and this post!

Have a great spring break! :)

religion

this is another touchy subject. i feel like everyone has their point of views and beliefs as to what religion means to them. personally i don't know where I stand. I mean i believe in god and Jesus and I do believe in what's right and what's wrong. but as far as these certain type of "guidelines" that you have to live and how the churches represent themselves is something that i really don't like.

i was born into a catholic family, just as my parents and grandparents were. but as i was growing up my family's religious views have changed. i am the only one out of my siblings to be baptized by the catholic church. from then on we really didn't practice our Catholicism.Then when i was in elementary school my uncle, my mom's brother, was in a really bad car wreck along with some of my cousins and things changed from there. my uncle started going to a christian church and he liked it. he began to bring us around and for a while me and my family were a part of this christian church. then we started getting these bad vibes as to why we lived the way we lived and were sort of questioned as to our commitment with the church. it just made me, including my family, really uncomfortable so we left. we still attend services here and there but just to hear my uncle speak and that's about it.

i feel like when I'm ready to commit my life to this "religion" than i will. i don't want to do it because i feel like i have too. like i said before i believe in god and jesus. i turn to them just like any other person when i am in need and it gives me a sense of comfort and thats all i need in life at times. i dont need a church telling me what i should and shouldn't do. i rather do it on my own knowing that i can fulfill the same needs just as everyone else.

so i leave you with this verse,

"God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble." (Psalm 46:1)

=)

wow.

This week has been interesting. coming into this class you never know what you might learn. before class on Monday i used Wal-Mart almost all the time. "Oh i ran out of so and so lets make a trip to Wal-Mart," "Oh i wonder if they've gotten any thing new for the Cowboys," "hey it's 3am on a friday night and we dont have anything to do, lets go mess around in Wal-Mart." simple things like that always make for an adventure at Wal-Mart.

Coming from a small town compared to Austin, Wal-Mart is where you go if you need ANYTHING! Whether it's cheap on school supplies, clothes, food, and even a 30 pack of budlight. yeah don't ask me how i know that :) haha. But anyway Wal-Mart is always there if you need anything. after watching that film on how much of a scam Wal-Mart truly is, i don't know if I can shop there again.

well, you already know what Wal-Mart truly is. i want to know how come i didn't know about this before. i'm still in shock that this is actually happening. with some publicity as to how the corporation is really treating its employees, you would think that it would keep people from trying to get a job there or even the ones that are currently employed there want to quit.? but obviously that isn't the case because there are still just as many employees as there are Wal-Marts across the world.

what really got me is that were paying people across the world to make the things that go in our stores and what do they get in return? about 20 cents an hour. they work almost all day, 7 days out of the week, and to be making that little amount. are you kidding me!!!! not to mention they lie about the reality of these conditions and it works. you would think someone would want to speak up about it but i don't know if that's happened or would.

another thing, the Walton's make all this money from their millions of stores throughout the world and they continue to be greedy. by not sharing their money with charities that really need the money or even their hard workers that are making this much money for them, do not distribute the wealth as they should. greedy people with power these days.


this film has put a lot things into perspective for me. to know that as wealthy as they are, they don't care. as long as they continue to make money they will always have the upper hand. one day this industry will come falling down and i wonder who will be there for them in the end.

To all the hard working employees who continue to work for this bullshit of a corporation, you deserve the utmost respect.

follow up.

so lately in class we've been on the discussion of racism. which is a touchy subject in general. so we had this guest speaker on monday that recalled her experiences from her hometown of Mart, TX. Hearing what she had to put things into a different perspective seeing as though it was her point of view. I never knew that Mart was that bad until hearing her speak and professor G's experiences as well. i'm from waco, tx which is about 20 min away and to be honest, never really heard anything bad about it. all i knew about mart was that it had a good football team and that were many african american people there. and the only reason i knew that was because how the media (the news stations) portrayed it to be. so to hear what was really going was a shocker. but i mean there all places like that all over america so it to me just seemed as another city that was overturn by racism.

then came the discussion after our guest speaker was done. alot of issues were brought up. it was made out be that certain people were being singled out, because of their skin color and experiences, which made people uncomfortable including myself. i was thinking to myself, "did she really just ask her that?" but in return we got to hear what their reactions were to certain questions and it opened my eyes to realize that it was true and why it was. someone said "why did it take a white women to have to go back to that city to try and make things better?" which was exactly true. why did it? why did it take a white women to come to that city to make a change? that got me thinking. you would think someone of your own race would want to go back a make a difference and show them whats going on. but then again maybe they felt so much resentment towards the city and those people of the city that they wanted nothing to do with them anymore. which is understandable. but in general it just makes you think..

racism will always be alive in this country. it's just up to those who will chose to make a difference. 

do you have what it takes to change?.

after watching the documentary on gangs I felt that there needs to be more people out there like Victor Rios. yes we all get caught up in difficult situations but when is enough, enough? what does it take for you to realize that the lifestyle your living isn't the right one. seeing how he changed his life completely around is just a great example of what you, as a human being is really capable of. you have the power and ability to change any aspect of your life and for you to have the strength to do that is remarkable. trying to get out of the gang scene can be very hard. i know most of yall know that in order to get out can be quite dreadful. dying is a strong possibility to try and escape that lifestyle. but if you have that urge and determination in you to leave, then you will. nothing will seem difficult to you once you escape.

victor rios is a true example of bravery and determination in order to re-grasp his life again. he should be a great influence on many other young men that are in his situation. he gives them the opportunity to want to leave that lifestyle and for some young men, thats all they need. hope is what we all need. hope for peace. hope for life. and just hope for change. after hearing victor's story we can all breathe a sigh of relief. that change is possible.

what do you know about black history month?

Ok I know i just blogged by as soon as i got off of here I came across this really interesting video on Facebook from one of my friends. yea Facebook i know..

the title of the clip is, "what do you know about black history month?"

After seeing this clip i was like, wow. They really think like that? They all came up with the same African American Icons too. I just thought it was interesting seeing as though it's not only Black History month but how it tied in with what we discussed in class. The "stereotypes" of the African Americans when it comes to many things. When Diane told us about her cousin getting 10-25 years in jail for murdering someone that broke into their house, who was going to kill them too seeing as though the intruder had a gun too. Then when professor G told the story of her brother in law committing the same charge but got away with it because both her brother in law and the intruder were African American. Whereas in Diane's case, her cousin was African American and the intruder was white. Now you tell me something isn't right! 

Also, when asked in the clip, "how do you celebrate how do you celebrate black history month?" some replied with things like, "i listen to jay-z," and "we like to eat fried chicken and grape-juice." really!?? That just leads me to think. "well damn what do they think about Mexicans?" 

like we said in class, it's not everybody as a whole. just the selected few i guess you could say.. stereotypes are very common and with everything being said and being done just makes the society we live in even more unjust and ignorant..

Guest Speaker

Today we had a guest speaker, Diane, who at first was kind of hard for me to focus on because..well lets just say she was "out there." not in a bad way but just kind of crazy. haha. but other than that she was actually on point with a lot of things. She started off with an exercise in which you determined if the level of seriousness of the social issue was strongly agreed with or strongly disagreed with. the issues varied from poverty, weath, cancer, sexual priority, and mentally disabled issues. I strongly agree with mental issues being a very serious social issue. Not only because "society" is somewhat fearful of these mentally disabled people but because these mentally disabled people are far worse than we think.

About 40% of the inmates in the Austin prisons are mentally disabled. Now just think how many are throughout America! The percentages are outstanding actually. Most of the mentally disabled people are either homeless or just completely unaware of their mental state which can cause them to commit crimes. When those crimes are committed they automatically get thrown in jail and then that's it. Help usually doesn't get provided for them until after they've been in the system for a couple of days; some even more than that. With them being in the prison system their mental state gets worse and then they get sent to a mental hospital and when the doctors feel as though they are capable of taking care of themselves they are released...back into the prison systems! Now that's just going to  keep repeating the cycle over and over again. With that being said, I went to this mental heath in the criminal justice systems in the career center today and the social workers talked about how they give these people different options when dealing with criminal offenses. Basically they provide services dealing with anything they need to try and better the mentally disabled criminals from becoming worse in jail, post-jail, and possibly re-entering the jail system. I think that what they are doing is incredible. To offer these mentally disabled criminals help and provide them services that they need only gives them the hope of getting out of jail, never going back, and the ability to live a normal life.

Overall Diane's lecture was interesting and i took in a lot of what she said.

Music is a form of expression..

    First off I LOVE MUSIC and the different ways that it can be portrayed. "The Mixtape of the Revolution" caught my attention because it had a different side to the typical "rap" scene and it was very interesting to read and see how it related to so many issues we've discussed in class.


     Why has rap, an American music that in its early global spread was associated with thuggery and violence, come to be so highly influential in these regions? Rappers are like journalists. They speak about what's going on in the world but they do it in a way that they love. By using music as an expression they talk about things to try and get their own message and interpretation across. Rapping doesn't only consist of "violence & thuggery," it's about talking about what past experiences happened in your life that you want other people to know. It's about speaking on the issues that are happening in the present and are not only affecting you, but everyone else. Rappers feel like by expressing it through music they can convey their message and their intake on it. Just like the rappers in Egypt, and I'm pretty sure everywhere else, they are trying to get their message out by making music so that it can appeal to others and hope that they understand what's going on and make their own interpretations on things. On the other hand, speaking your mind about certain issues and basically anything else comes with the negative comments and concerns from people.

For example, when Katrina hit in August of 2005, many people of New Orleans were left helpless. Of course there was "help" trying to be made available for those people by doing things such as donating money, volunteering with the Red Cross, and providing as much as they could. With that being said many people out there, including the people of New Orleans, felt as though there was more that could've been done and that it was not being done due to their skin color and where they were from. Rapper Lil Wayne is from New Orleans and was personally hit by this tragedy and to express how he felt the situation was being handled he made a song called "Georgia Bush." It was targeted towards George Bush and how he felt that the President of the United States was overlooking the trouble in the city of New Orleans and that more could've been done. "This song is dedicated to the one wit the suit, Thick white skin and his eyes bright blue.." -first verse of the song. 

 I found that giving Katrina as an example of how rappers express their intake on issues that are taking place, would be great seeing as though we are planning to talk about the incident where there was a "Katrina" before Katrina. Lil Wayne is not the only rapper out there that talks about issues like these through music, as you have read the article it's happening in places like Senegal and Tunis. Rapping is just another form of expression and I feel that no matter what you say or how you say it, someone out there is going to have some negativity towards it.

&& at times I thought I had it hard..

After listening to Dr. Aguilar speak to the class I felt blessed to have the life I have. Hearing him talk about his lifestyle and how it was hard to manage being a full time student and have a full time job, made me realize that I'm lucky to not be in that situation. He mentioned that him being a first time generation student made him feel as though he wasn't fully accepted back at home because no one could relate to what he was going through. Yet at the same time he felt that he couldn't relate to the lifestyle of being in college because everybody he knew had a general idea of what to expect, but with him he didn't know what was going on. So he was like in the middle of both worlds, you could say. The reason i say that "i thought i had it hard" is because I feel like that at times but i have my family's support and even though I am a first generation college student in my immediate family, I do have a cousin that graduated from UT and her husband as well. They've been giving me advice since i first started and without their help I wouldn't have known what to do. So I'm blessed to have had the lifestyle I had and not to have grown up the way he did and to have the family and friend support. I found what Dr. Aguilar said to be very enjoyable and I can honestly say that I took in everything he said and hope to apply it in the future.

“We know what we are, but not what we may be" -William Shakespeare

       In Wednesdays class the topic of discussion was can whites or other dominant groups be oppressed? That question alone lead to a very heated conversation so much to the point to where I was hesitant to speak up because I didn't know if what I wanted to say would be okay in the moment or even taken the right way. I say that because most people think that in order to be oppressed you have to be a member of a minority group. Seeing as though I'm Mexican American (which automatically makes me a minority) made me wonder, so would other dominant groups include, Mexican Americans to Mexicans? Meaning that WE (Mexican Americans) are the dominant group to the Mexicans (who are from Mexico). If that's the case then yes I do feel as though the dominant group could be oppressed.     
       At first I didn't have a full understanding on what the term "oppress" meant. "Oppress, to cause (someone) to feel distressed, anxious, or uncomfortable." With that, to me being a Mexican American who was born in the United States along with my parents and grandparents I know people who would consider me being born here to "have more opportunities" than themselves. For example, my boyfriend's parents were born in Mexico and came to America after his older sister was born to do what any other parent would do, make a better life for their kids. They felt that coming to America would set up a wonderful and very opportunistic life for her and future kids, and it turned out that it very well did. Sometimes when me and him talk the subject of his parents coming over to America comes up. Seeing as though my parents were BORN here in America some might think that it gives them an advantage because they grew up speaking English, their school systems were more developed than in Mexico, they were given the opportunity to go to college and do something with their lives, and basically they were more well off from the start. There are many people out there that think that since we (Mexican Americans) were born in America they already have a full advantage to try and make something of themselves. Whereas, Mexicans (those who came from Mexico) are struggling to do the same thing as Mexican Americans.
       So yes, the dominant group can be oppressed. Just because I'm a Mexican American born in America doesn't change the fact that my family and many more families out there struggle just as hard. We're already labeled as minorities, so being the dominant group to Mexicans does make me feel oppressed at times because here we are the dominant group to them but yet at the same time struggling with the same things as them and puts me in a difficult and uncomfortable position.
      That's just how I feel on the subject. I may not have addressed the question right or might have just mumbled over my words or whatever, but If I didn't then hopefully you have a well enough understanding on what I was trying to say.

"justice as fairness"

Blogging is supposed to be about being yourself and telling how you feel about anything that is going on in your life at the moment, so that's how I'm going to start this first post in this class. By seeing how many articles I had to read, I had a tough time trying to sit down and get a well enough understanding on what was going on. After reading for awhile, I had a different perspective. Most of what i got was that we have this concept on social justice to help every single person to try and have the same opportunities like everyone else and basically have the same basic bill of rights in this country. when in reality it is not really the truth. It's very obvious that our society is far from fulfilling our duty of serving every individual. With that being said it is not that hard to see that many people are being treated very unfairly due to their background and current situations.With the limited resource that we are faced with in this country it causes a roadblock in our career paths to try and better our many communities and certain individuals that really need help. There are certain groups and organizations that suffer the most because they are the ones that need more help than others but yet there are other groups that receive that needed help before them. So you could say that there will be always someone in need at the end of the day.

ahhha! I knew one day I would join the blogging world!

So this is the first time I've ever tried blogging. I have no idea what I'm doing and how this works. I keep asking myself, is this how you're supposed to do it? I guess ill find out..