8/20/14

Final reflection!

Obama decides to try bypass congress

As I have already posted, the GOP and Obama are at a standstill, so Obama is really taking matters into his own hands by using his executive powers to do as much as possible without having to go through congress. One of the things he has been doing is giving visas to immigrants, especially the minors from Central America who are fleeing from violence. This is an important step in solving the immigration problem in North America; however I feel that this is a highly impermanent solution and more steps need to be taken.

The major connection I feel between this article and The Distance Between Us is a less direct one than other connections I have been reviewing. In this book, when Reyna, her siblings, and her dad went across the border and were stopped they were just thrown back, and allowed to pretty much try again. Now there are far more migrants, so they are not simply thrown back, and the border is far harder to cross. We need to fix the issue of undocumented immigration and lower the number of undocumented immigrants crossing the border, be it by making immigration easier, or making illegal immigration harder if not both.

Immigration has gone up and down in the United States. I had learned about the different periods and which people migrated when in history class, but I didn't get personal stories of migrants until this time. I believe that even after the Mexico / Central America migration ends, more migrants will come from new places. Immigrants will always be on the rise going from one place to another as the socioeconomics of the world changes. The United Sates needs long term solutions not only for the rising numbers of unaccompanied minors currently entering the US, but also for future migrants. Doing this will require both political parties to cooperate.

link

Reflection #4

My families immigration

My great-grandmother came to America when she was around 20 years old. She left Latvia during the time of World War One. She was nearly killed multiple times, and she claimed it was a miracle that she saw her 90th birthday. Her uncle Isaac who had already made it to America, and had made quite a bit of money, helped her family make the journey to America. Even if she had survived World War One in Europe, she being Jewish, would almost certainly have died in World War Two. She was lucky to survive, and I wouldn't be alive if she hadn't made it to America.

Like my family, Reyna Grande came to America to escape something, in her case extreme poverty. When her dad came and got her, she was quite diseased, and could have died before adulthood if she didn't get proper care. Not only would she possibly be dead, but she would definitely not have been as successful as she is today. Her success is in part thanks to the education she was able to get in college in America. Her dad pushed her to graduate, and she is now a successful author. Her life would be so different if she had not immigrated, just as I would not have existed if my grandmother had not come to America.

I knew that my family immigrated to the United States, but doing this project made me do some research and I learned a lot about my family's history that I never even would have known. I even read my great-grandmother's book I Refuse to Die, which I used as this reflections artifact. I did not realize why or when my family left Latvia, and I am glad that I now know. Almost everyone in a the United States is a descendant of a immigrant, and people should try to learn about their family history.

Reflection #3

Nepalese immigrants risk everything for a better life.

Nepal's economy is in a very bad shape. It has been having many problems, mainly economic ones, ever since the 10 year Maoist insurgency. The war ended in 2006, but the after affects of the war are still being seen. The government still is unable to draft a functioning constitution. Nepal has many parts of its economy shrinking, but it's population is still growing. This is causing as many as one fourth of the people at any given time to be working out side of Nepal. Many people go to South Korea, Kuwait, Malaysia, Qatar and Saudi Arabia. They perform backbreaking physical labor, and in Qatar, there was evidence of Nepalese people being used as slaves! Some return to their country with HIV, presumable from sex trafficking; others return home dead, as many as five a day will arrive in boxes, often covered in shrink-wrap. This is the sad reality of how far people will go to escape poverty.

In The Distance Between Us, Reyna Grande's family went to "el otro lado" which means the other side. The other side is a term people in the small town of Iguala, Guerrero use for the United States. Reyna's dad and Reyna's mom both left for el otro lado when she was 2 and 4 respectively. The United States of America is a far nicer place then say Malaysia, and the leaving of their family didn't kill anyone; however, it did completely destroy the family. The parents got a divorce, the children had a hard childhood and had to be very self-reliant while being abused. Mago, the oldest daughter went slightly crazy, even feeding innocent children poop simply because they had a mother. In both Mexico and Nepal, people will go to great lengths to fight poverty.

I did not know that immigration was a problem in other countries. I knew that eastern Europeans were migrating into North Western Europe and other immigration existed, but besides that I was not very educated about immigration problems outside of North America. This book showed me that immigration is a bigger issue than I previously thought, and this article showed me how wide-spread this is. I honestly think that America has a low immigration problem compared to other countries. These issues need to be solved in more than just one country.

Link

8/19/14

About on line PE, and a reading reflection for school

School Reflection

Today I read an article about Jose Antonio Vargas, an undocumented man from the Philippines. After his parents split due to his dad's wandering eye making him unable to find work, his grandparents Lolo and Lola (who lived in the United States) started sending money to Jose's mom. Soon, His grandparents get a fake passport and a coyote for Jose to come to America with. He has many challenges in life, such as learning English and all of our idioms. He hears a lot of negative stereotypes about illegal immigrants and sets off to prove them wrong by contributing to society. Still, as he grows into adulthood, his fear of being found out increases, and he never dates or goes on trips (including an all expense free trip to Switzerland). He finally gets fed up and posts his story in the New York times.

Reyna and Jose both came (or were brought) to the United States for opportunities. They also have goals of proving some form of worth to someone. For Reyna, it was proving her worth to her dad, and for Jose, it was proving he was a good part of society to the United State's government. Both people also made some form of a documentary to share their stories.

Up to a few years ago, I didn't realize the struggles undocumented immigrants face, even after coming to America. I knew that they could be deported, but I had no idea that they couldn't get a driver's license. I learned about these problems in both The Distance Between Us and the article I just read. Both of these documents shed light on how hard it is to be an immigrant in the United States of America. I think the government needs to legalize and or deport more people. The more documented immigrants the better.

Source

PE

need to work will fill you in later... or never woops

Reflection #2

Obama and the GOP on immigration

The Salt Lake Tribune had an interesting article about the recent politics of immigration in the United States of America. According to the article, there has been a bit of a standstill with laws being passed. Both the republicans and the democrats agree that there is an issue with the 50,000 children coming in from South and Central America; however, neither party is working together. The GOP changes the subject or shoots down Obama's plans, and the few laws they have proposed have been vetoed by Obama, leaving many of these kids in a state of limbo, neither being given amnesty, nor being deported.

In The Distance Between Us, when Reyna and her siblings come to "el otro lado," (what people where Reyna grew up call the United States), they were with their parents; however, Reyna and her siblings had been without parents for over 5 years. She was with her grandma, but her "abuela" neglected her and so she, like the 50,000 unaccompanied immigrants had to be highly responsible and almost take care of herself. Again, even though there are parallels, the Central American children have differences to Reyna and her siblings, but even with these differences both groups of kids need help. The GOP should work with Obama and Obama should work with the GOP to help these kids out as their safety is more important than petty political rivalries.

Before I read The Distance Between Us, I didn't really understand why someone would want to desperately come to America. Although I was not completely against immigration, after reading it, and doing some of my own research, I now realize why someone would migrate from place to place. I now think that almost all of these children should stay in the United States for at least until the conflict in their countries clears up. I do not understand why people keep arguing about this; these are children, and we need to take action immediately.

link

8/6/14

So I already failed...

Whoops, not posting daily...

Sorry about this, but I have a short update, 1) my sisters wedding is comming up so I will be busy, 2) I have to post some school reflections here so be ready and 3) I will still try to post daily, sorry this was short

Daniel

8/4/14

Sometimes in life you have to stop and enjoy the stupid things.

Watching pewdiepie play (and then playing it myself) the funny game soccer physics reminded of how much I love stupid / useless websites.

I love things that are useless/stupid but still entertaining. Today I will set up a list of my favorite ridiculous websites in these categories: games, funny things, and just plain WHAT IN THE WORLD.

I hope you enjoy.

Games
sugar toast.com's lawnmower madness. You have to play it. You can feel the time get sucked into a vortex of stupidity
Funny things
Riddily Diddly .com/ i cri ery tym plz lik 1f u cri 2. It is beautiful
WHAT IN THE WORLD
Are you ghost? is your extoplasm ruining your game? are you having trouble finding sexy ghost ladies / dudes? Then I have the solution to your problem: http://www.ghostsingles.com/ This really exists!!!

Also, I would like all 0 of you to know that I love you, like a fat lady loves apples, .com

PS

This is my blog post for august 3, 2014 even though I put it up on the 4th (also I am sorry this is short)

8/2/14

Sorry I haven't Posted

I was gone

Although I could have posted for the last week and a half, (I was a little lazy) I have been away. I also should have posted once before I left, and although I love posting, as a terribly disorganized person it is kind of hard for me to remember to post, so I dearly apologize to all zero of the people who read my blog. As a kind of apology, and to make it easier to remember, I will post every day.

I will post about my trip once me and my trip mates have shared all of the pictures I want / need. This sort of is an excuse but no one took initiative for two weeks, so I had to make a drop box, even though I have the crappiest photos of anyone (I had a bad camera with barely any zoom and I am plane bad at taking pictures).

Any way, I should have the pictures in a maximum a week. I will porbably post again today, but I need to do online P.E. so have a awesome day, and I again I am sorry.

-Daniel