Why Donald Trump?

     I think the scary thing about the upcoming presidential elections is how unclear it is to many people. I think it's reasonable, considering the stereotype that most (all?) politicians do the damnedest thing: make promises they don't (or can't?) keep. The strangest thing is when a politician comes up for re-election. You would think the performance evaluation is easy: did they do what they said they were going to? If not, are they making progress I am happy with? Lastly - who could I replace them with?
     With regards to the president, I was told he was going to lock Hillary up. Well... that hasn't happened. I was also under the impression that he was going to build a wall and have Mexico pay for it. Still waiting on that as well...
     I don't want to be such a Debbie Downer, so let's look at some of those good things that have happened in the past few years. The unemployment rate is super low and the economy is crushing it. I feel like, but am not sure, that this is "just some line." As in, something that people say because it's true and everyone is supposed to think it is a good thing. As someone who thinks that there are many jobs that only exist because they are (currently) cheaper than automation, though, the unemployment rate doesn't really mean much to me. In 2019 I think it's a damn shame that, for example, cashiers, servers, and janitors are a thing. You're telling me we can't, in order, craft our orders, pick up our food, and pick up after ourselves? I'm not denying reality - I know people (especially when we get in big groups) are just... messy. We aren't very good at picking up after ourselves. And if you've ever needed any proof... just survey the scene after any concert, festival, or large group event. It's basically always a disgusting mess. So I'm not going to treat the fact that everyone has a job like it's some momentous achievement. The number of people that have jobs is, to me, a dumbass way to measure a country. Why isn't it assumed that everyone should have a job? It's like counting the number of high school graduates. Really? You couldn't get over this extremely low bar constructed by society? Well... bravo (not really).
     As for the economy? Well, it's largely a function of time. As in, progress is inevitable, so whether under one president or another, the economy will (generally) go up. Let's say you disagree and that the president holds quite a bit of sway over the economy. I will concede that point. My follow up is - who does a booming economy serve? Leveraging the stock market is a distinctly privileged activity. Apparently, ~38 million people in America are poor. Are their investments gaining steam? Also, does it even matter considering any amount invested is bound to be negligible? Let's say one were to sock away $100/month (& considering Market Watch says that 44 percent of Americans have expenses exceeding income, this may be a generous figure). Over the course of 30 years, assuming a 7% annual growth, you'll have a nest egg around $116,000. Which isn't gonna last for very long. So we have this instrument (the economy/stock market) that doesn't serve those who need it the most (the poor) and really just helps those who are ahead (the wealthy) to stay that way (by getting even richer). So...remind me why I should care about "the economy," please?
     This is even before we think about the economy and how much it contributes to the fact that we are laying waste to the environment. There are billions in goods that are made in sweatshops in foreign countries that just end up in landfills - why the hell would we be happy about that? It's a cost against the planet and humanity that the rest of us have to pay without even benefiting from. What on earth??
     The crazy thing is I haven't even mentioned the president himself, in terms of character/behavior. I'm just looking at promises made (and broken) as well as why his "wins" don't even count for much (with me, at least). So for those who love the man and ask others to pray for him and CONSTANTLY FEEL THE NEED to connect him to President Obama (who I literally have not mentioned until now and am DEFINITELY not a fan of his policies) - my only question is: why?

Backwards Planning Society

     One of the ways teachers figure out what and/or how to teach is called backward planning or backward design. The gist is to set a goal first - graph quadratic functions, explain 3 or more causes that led to the fall of Rome, you get the gist. That way, you can structure the lesson more intentionally (by leaving out details that might be considered minor or making a checklist of the things you need to include). I used to adhere to this practice a lot more than I currently do (shoutout to my former roommates for being willing to get together to figure out a curriculum on the weekends), but I still recognize its importance and practical use outside of teaching. In today's case, I will lay out my vision for American society. After all, if change is inevitable, don't we owe it to democracy to choose the future we want to build? (Yes - the answer is definitely yes)
     I don't intend for this post to be political - I think too many folks identify too strongly with one party or the other, so I just plan on writing out ideas. If you can't get behind the ideas, you may be some or all of these:

1. Too cynical/pessimistic
2. Uninformed or misinformed
3. Not very imaginative

     With those in hand, here are some things I envision for The Greatest Country in the World and why I believe in them: 

• Everyone gets to see the doctor when they need to
•  Need doesn't mean the ER - I'd much rather we offer health services at the preventive stage because an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure (which, in theory, might reduce healthcare expenditures by 93.75% [16 oz = 1lb so 1/16 is 6.25%], lol)
•  Reduce the work week to 30 hours/week
• The 40-hour work week has been in place since 1940. You mean to tell me after damn near 80 years of technological improvements we haven't improved efficiency by 25%? We definitely have, but the labor movement hasn't caught up to taking advantage of that improved efficiency by calling for less hours.
•  Those who don't work (for whatever reason) should still be entitled to: basic lodging and sustenance 
• No one likes a freeloader, but y'know what? I'd rather society churn out a small number of freeloaders (and take care of those who can't work) than to turn the misguided, desperate, or just plain bored into criminals (because newsflash: that's what's happening!!).
• Basic lodging can be defined as high density housing with communal spaces (think dorm accommodations with double/triple occupancy per room, several rooms per hall, and shared common spaces)
• The IRS is fully funded and offers better service (as in, actually telling us how much we owe instead of making us pay to figure it out. How tf that makes sense to anybody is honestly beyond me)
•  How the hell can we (the royal we) pay for things if we: 
• 1) have to PAY someone else just to find out how much we owe, 
• 2) don't go after cases of tax fraud, and 
• 3) don't sufficiently inform the populace
• The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is fully funded 
• How the hell can we protect ourselves against financial shenanigans? Most of us don't have the resources to pursue any type of legal protection on an individual basis. The solution? We pool resources to create an entity (with teeth) that clamps down on shady financial practices 
• Essentially, this would be a transparent version of the Better Business Bureau that has the ability to (meaningfully) punish
• The military isn't overfunded
• It's 2019 and the Military Industrial Complex is a thing. It's an engine of death, profiteering, and environmental collapse. I believe in funding the military - I just think our view has been skewed by decades of overspending and fearmongering. I relate it to being morbidly obese for a few decades - just because you got used to it doesn't make it healthy.
• Profits for certain industries are capped (potentially even eliminated?)
• Take insurance, for example. The idea behind an insurance company is simple: everyone has accidents, and it would suck for dumb luck to ruin your life. The solution? Well if everyone pools their money together, they can look out for each other and mitigate that. Sounds simple and benign enough: a communal pot that prevents financial ruin for any one member of society. The issue? Well, when you scale up to have millions of customers, this simple plan requires administrators and other paper pushers - inspectors, adjusters, etc. etc. So not only do you need enough money to cover all the accidents, but then you gotta account for funding all the people required to make the thing go - that's fine, they're doing work for the group at large, they should make enough to get by, right? Well... I would argue $40 million across 5 people is a tad overboard. I mean, I view companies the same way I view machines - if you build it well, it sustains itself (or at least endures for a long time). You're asking me to believe that these big wigs are providing $40 million+ in value (because it doesn't make sense to pay someone more than they are worth) and that no one else could run it for cheaper. Which, I hate to say, I just don't believe ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ . This is where you can chime in and enlighten me on the value of executives, I guess.

      These ideas are just part of my vision for American society. I underestimated just how much I had to say, but I definitely put out some ideas I think are really important - I've got plenty more, I'll just add them in another post. In any case, I know I might come across as entirely too optimistic, but I'd like to challenge that - could you at least entertain the notion that things in the country are in desperate need of revamping/advancing?

(Academic) Responsibility of Immigrants' Children

     I started writing this 6 months ago like this:

     "I had a meeting with a student & her mom today (May 6, 2019) and want to write about it while the meeting's fresh in my head. The part that sticks out to me is near the end of our meeting, when the mom asks why her daughter is bad at math. She goes on to add that she has paid for Kumon from 2nd-8th grade, and now is paying for a tutor at $30/hr for a couple hours a week.
    
     It got me thinking"
... and then I never finished writing :(.

     Anyway, what's driving me to come back to this topic is a meeting I had with someone's dad yesterday (Nov 18, '19). He came in maybe 20-30 minutes after school and asked why his son was doing so poorly. His POV can be summed up as: where I come from, teens are either working full-time or working on top of getting their education. My kid just has to focus on school - I cook for him, I make sure he has nice things - so why isn't he doing well?
     In hindsight, I guess I could have posited that there's a line between spoiling and providing for a child, but at the time, I just felt one part awkward and four parts terrible. Here's the stereotypical immigrant parent - left their home country for a better life, working hard at a (likely crummy) job for their kid to have better opportunities. & he came, in part, griping about how easy his kid has it. A kid who, at least on the surface, doesn't appreciate the sacrifice (at least, not enough to tangibly do anything about it).
     So my deal is...what is the responsibility of the kid in this situation? Nobody asks to be born, and we certainly don't get our choice of parents. But is it too much to ask of a kid to respect the sacrifice of their parents and ...get a high school diploma, maybe a degree? Especially when, at the end of the day, those things benefit the child more than they benefit the parents.
     Obviously I feel some type of way about it, considering my siblings and I all got degrees. Am I speaking from a place of privilege? I don't think so... how much privilege did we have, compared to our fellow children of immigrants? A stable home situation, sure, but plenty of (failing) kids have that. Our parents didn't have the cultural/institutional knowledge to help much when it came to college. Definitely no or not much extra money to speak of. So what's the deal...?
     I don't want to come off as morally superior or anything like that - I'll be the first to tell you my work ethic is sketchy. At the end of the day, though, I still took care of business in school. & the weird thing is - while I definitely remember my parents reminding me of things I grew up with here that they didn't have - I don't actually remember thinking "I need to succeed to make my parents proud," or "My parents didn't leave Vietnam just so I could be a screw-up," or anything like that. In fact, I feel incredibly selfish when I think about my higher education and even my profession - I didn't keep my parents in mind when I picked what I wanted to study or what I wanted to do. I just thought of myself - the major I found interesting, the grades I considered acceptable, and the job I wanted to do for the rest of my life.
     After the conversation we shared, I felt a sense of profound empathy for the dad. Not as a parent that ever had to sacrifice (obviously), but as a son that saw his own dad in this conversation. & for my student, I just felt conflicted, mostly. I don't want to be accusatory, but I do wonder what the deal is with kids when they don't hold up their end of the deal, as it were. I also find it hard to relate - I might be lazy, but I've always achieved according to the standards I've had for myself. It just makes me wonder... how the heck could these kids have such low standards for themselves?
     So, what's this all come down to? Is it on parents for not being harder on their kids? When do kids reach the point where they own their educational experience? How many years will it take before I craft a satisfying answer to this question?? How responsible am I in getting kids to see the sacrifices their parents make?!? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Perception vs. Reality part 3 (servers)

     & finally, the last occupation I wanted to write about - servers. I feel like they garner a lot of sympathy, and it's not necessarily unwarranted. How could they not, when the federal government only mandates that tipped employees make $2.13/hour? For the scope of this post, though, I'll keep things local.
     So, in our great big state, the minimum wage for servers is not lower. That is, whatever everybody else's minimum wage is, that's what servers get (at the bottom end). So - throughout California, servers must be paid at least $12/hour. In San Jose, Milpitas, & Santa Clara? That jumps to a sweet $15. So we're talking a base salary of $30k/year ($15/hr x 40 hours/week x 50 weeks/year). This is where things get fuzzy, so I welcome input so I can modify this post with more accurate numbers.
     Despite my best Googling efforts, I couldn't find how much an average meal in the Bay Area costs. So, I'll spitball and you'll just bear with me (go ahead and call me out if anything seems wildly off). Considering an average party of 4 (I rounded up from 3.7 and also have no clue how outdated that source is), let's do a brief rundown:

• An entree per person at... $15/each, sounds about right for casual eateries (probably a typical spot that's 2 $$ on Yelp). That's $60.
• A shared app for $12 puts us at $72.
• & let's say just half the group grabs a beer or drink for another... $18, to make the numbers easy. We are looking at a tab of $90.
• After tax (9.25% in San Jose), that's $98.33.

     Now, how much do people tip? According to Zagat, the national average is 18.1%. I'm trying to keep figures local, but this data isn't specific enough (not really sure why they include coffee shops). So let's just go with 18%. On a bill of $98.33, that works out to $17.70. Let's take some other considerations into account:

• I usually allot an hour for a meal from the time I sit down to the time I leave. Hour and a half isn't unheard of but definitely longer than my usual experience.
• Servers usually serve multiple parties at a time.

     At the lower end, assuming a server only works one table per hour (which sounds like an impossibly conservative [low] number), that's a $15 base rate + $17.70, or $32.70 per hour. At 40 hours a week and 50 weeks a year, that works out to .............. $65,400. Which, honestly, is way more than I expected.
     Let me bring up a few counters:

• A party can take longer than an hour
• Restaurants experience downtime

     To which I say:

• There's a reason I use averages
• I only assumed one table per server per hour

      So... yeah. Obviously those are just a couple numbers I hacked together, so there's plenty of wiggle room. But just going off of ballpark figures, it's hard to say servers are having a tough time, at least in CA. & yeah, not all servers are full-time, but guess what? That just sounds like the same issue with teachers. They might not work year-round, but when they do, the pay ain't bad.
     To wrap up the series - I do NOT hate on any of the particular occupations I wrote on. I just feel they get an unwarranted amount of sympathy from society at large. I DO support raising minimum wage (I am a firm believer that a rising tide lifts all boats), and that coincides with my belief that everyone in America should get paid more (so I am also a fan of a "Freedom Dividend," as championed by Andrew Yang).

Bible Quotes to Inform Christian Politics

     I came across this collection of bible quotes that I thought could really inform Christian voters on the ways they should be voting (if they're concerned about those corny things like, y'know, loving your neighbor and eternal life in heaven, or whatever). These quotes are pertinent for me because there are times my dad will defend policies that I find absolutely abhorrent. When I ask him if he is being a good Catholic, he says something along the lines of separating religion and politics. To which I say... if you can't walk the walk (live out the teachings of the Bible), then don't talk the talk (preach). In any case, here you go:

Leviticus 25:35 If any of your people become poor and unable to support themselves among you, help them as you would a foreigner or stranger, so they may continue to live among you.
Proverbs 11:24 One gives freely, yet grows all the richer; another withholds what he should give, and only suffers want.
Proverbs 13:11 Dishonest money dwindles away, but whoever gathers money little by little makes it grow.
Proverbs 15:27 Whoever is greedy for unjust gain troubles his own household, but he who hates bribes will live.
Proverbs 17:5 He who mocks the poor taunts his Maker; He who rejoices at misfortune will not go unpunished
Proverbs 22:22-23 Do not exploit the poor because they are poor, or crush the needy in court, for the Lord will plead their case, and exact life for life.
Proverbs 22:16 Whoever oppresses the poor for his own gain and whoever gives to the rich, both come to poverty.
Proverbs 22:26–27 Do not be one of those who shakes hands in a pledge, one of those who is surety for debts; if you have nothing with which to pay, why should he take away your bed from under you?
Proverbs 28:25-28 A greedy man stirs up strife, but the one who trusts in the Lord will be enriched. Whoever trusts in his own mind is a fool, but he who walks in wisdom will be delivered. Whoever gives to the poor will not want, but he who hides his eyes will get many a curse.
Proverbs 29:7 A righteous man knows the rights of the poor; a wicked man does not understand such knowledge.
Psalm 62:10 Put no trust in extortion; set no vain hopes on robbery; if riches increase, set not your heart on them.
Psalm 82:3-4 Give justice to the weak and the fatherless; maintain the right of the poor and afflicted. Rescue the weak and the needy; deliver them from the hand of the wicked.
Isaiah 1:17 Learn to do good; seek justice, fight oppression; bring justice to the fatherless, plead the widow's cause.
Isaiah 10:1-2 Woe to those who make unjust laws, to those who issue oppressive decrees, to deprive the poor of their rights and withhold justice from the oppressed of my people, making widows their prey and robbing the fatherless.
Isaiah 56:11 The dogs have a mighty appetite; they never have enough. But they are shepherds who have no understanding; they have all turned to their own way, each to his own gain, one and all.
Isaiah 58: 6-7 Is this not a better fast, to loose the chains of injustice and untie the burden, to free the oppressed and break every yoke? Or to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter—to clothe the naked, and not to turn your eyes away from your brother?
Isaiah 58:10 If you break the yoke of oppression, end the finger-pointing and malicious talk, and work to feed the hungry and fight for the oppressed, your light will rise in the darkness; your night will be like the midday sun.
Ezekiel 16:49 Now this was the sin of your sister Sodom: She and her daughters were arrogant, overfed and apathetic; they did not help the poor and needy.
Ecclesiastes 5:10-14 Whoever loves money never has enough; whoever loves wealth is never satisfied with their income. This too is meaningless. As riches increase, so do those who covet them. Of what benefit are they to the owners except to feast their eyes on them?
Zechariah 7:9-11 This is what the Lord Almighty said: ‘Administer true justice; show mercy and compassion to one another. Do not oppress the widow or the fatherless, the foreigner or the poor. Do not plot evil against each other.’
Jeremiah 22:3 Thus says the Lord: Do justice and righteousness, and deliver from the hand of the oppressor him who has been robbed. Do no wrong or violence to the resident alien, the fatherless, and the widow, nor shed innocent blood here.
Jeremiah 22:13 Woe to him who builds his house without righteousness, and his upper rooms without justice, who makes his neighbor work for nothing and refuses to pay his wages.
Malachi 3:5-6 "I will be quick to denounce sorcerers, adulterers, and perjurers, and those who defraud laborers of their wages, who oppress the widows and the fatherless, and deprive the foreigners among you of justice, but do not fear me,” says the Lord Almighty.
Amos 2: 6-7 “For three sins of Israel, even for four, I will not relent. They sell the innocent for silver, and the needy for a pair of sandals. They trample on the heads of the poor as on the dust of the ground and deny justice to the oppressed.”
Matthew 5:42 “Give to him who asks you, and from him who wants to borrow from you do not turn away.”
Matthew 6:24 “No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.”
Matthew 13:22 “As for what was sown among thorns, this is the one who hears the word, but the cares of the world and the lure of riches choke the word, and it yields nothing.”
Matthew 19:21 “If you want to be perfect, go and sell your belongings and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven.”
Mark 8:36 “What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul?”
Luke 3:11 “Anyone who has two shirts should share with the one who has none, and anyone who has food should do the same.”
Luke 4:18 “The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has chosen me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and restore sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”
Luke 12:15 Then he said to them, “Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; a man's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.”
Luke 12:48 “To whom much is given, much will be expected; and from whom much has been entrusted, much more will be asked.”
Acts 8:20 May your money perish with you, because you thought you could buy the gift of God with money!
Acts 20:35 “In all I did, I showed you that by this kind of hard work we must help the weak, remembering the words of Lord Jesus himself: ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’”
1 Timothy 6:17-19 Command those who are currently rich not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is fleeting, but in God, who richly provides for us. Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, to be generous and willing to share. In this way they will save up treasure for the coming age, so that they may have life that is truly life.
1 Timothy 6:9 But those who desire wealth fall into temptation, into a snare, into many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction.
Philippians 2:3-4 Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, value others above yourself in humility, looking out not for just yourselves, but each of you for the good of others.
2 Corinthians 8:13-15 Our desire is not that others might be relieved while you work hard, but that there might be equality. At this time your plenty will supply what they need, so that in turn their plenty will supply what you need. The goal is equality, as it is written: “The one who gathered much did not have too much, and the one who gathered little did not have too little.”
James 2:14-17 What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save them? Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to them, “Go in peace, keep warm and well-fed,” but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.
James 5:4-6 Look! The wages you failed to pay the workers who mowed your fields are crying out against you. The cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord Almighty. You have lived on earth in luxury and self-indulgence. You have fattened yourselves in the day of slaughter. You have condemned and murdered the innocent one, who was not opposing you.
1 John 3:17-18 If anyone has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need but has no pity on them, how can the love of God be in that person? Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth.
Matthew 25:42-45 'For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you have me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I was sick and in prison you did not look after me.' They also will answer, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?'
He will reply, 'Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.'
John 13:35 By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.
     To cover some of these in a smaller set of more easily digestible bullet points:

• Help those who are poor and/or unable to support themselves
• Do not oppress each other (y'know, like voting against each others' civil rights, or something like that)
• We should be happier to give than to take (this one's tough for me because I want us to give with autonomy, not for the labor force to give up any/all leverage to employers)
• Don't be greedy (again, a tough one for me. I don't want people to be greedy, but in a democratic society that also includes checking others' insatiable greed - y'know, like folks pulling in billions a year [hate to say it, but most folks barely have a concept of how much a billion of anything is])
• There should be equity to the point where those at the top don't have too much (like, say, a megayacht that pollutes the ocean) while those at the bottom don't have too little (I would say lacking adequate healthcare, housing, and food qualify you as having too little)
• Faith without action is worthless (so NO, running your trap about being a good Christian or person does NOT count for anything!!

     So, there you go. If you wanna be a good Christian, uphold some of these beliefs. There's no 2 ways about it ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Perception vs. Reality part 2 (police officers)

     Last I wrote, it was to defend the financial viability of the teaching profession. Do I still think teachers are underpaid? Yes. That's because I think most folks in the labor force are underpaid, though. We can't simultaneously be one of the wealthiest nations on Earth and have the housing crisis that we have without extreme inequality. What's that look like? People not being able to afford housing, families, and daycare, to start. & before you start - I am not even so liberal as to believe that people deserve all of these things as a right (in a better world, I might). However, it is my fundamental belief that people who work full-time should get to do those things, no question. & if you don't agree with that, then I have no issue saying you're part of the problem. That's a whole other post in itself, though, so let me loop back to this entry: the (myth?) of police officers being endangered on a daily or even regular basis.
     First, a few numbers: 30% of American adults have a gun. I'm sure there's quite a bit of regional and racial variance. In Rhode Island, the gun ownership rate is 5.8%. In Alaska, the rate soars to 61.7%. In California, we sit at 19.8%.
     Well, as I continued research, I found a page that was much more informative and relevant. I planned on compiling numbers and putting together some reasonable scenarios, but even that would have been guesswork on my part. Without further ado: the official data for assaults on law enforcement officers in California. I know clicking links is a hassle, so I'll def. run down some numbers from that page. Let's start at a serious bottom line - how many officers do you think were killed in the line of duty in California in 2018? The CA pop is ~39.5 million, and there are about 78,500 sworn officers (as in, that doesn't count civilian staff).

Waiting for a guess.
Waiting for a guess.
Still waiting for a guess.

     That's right, you guessed it - in 2018, a whopping 7 officers were killed in the line of duty. To add to that stat a little more - 3 of those 7 were accidental. 4 deaths of 78500 officers returns a .005% likelihood of death. As a comparison, you are MORE likely to flip heads with a coin 14 times in a row than an officer in California is to die on the job. If that doesn't impress you, you have a poor understanding of probability.
     You might be wondering - well, that's just deaths. Surely officers encounter danger otherwise? Before I talk about those stats - I want to underscore the fact that if you do something and are endangered .005% of the time, it is incredibly safe. You might not like that number because you're used to planes, trains, and other vehicles having a much higher threshold of safety, but in the historical scheme of things? It's incredibly safe to be an officer in California. Now, on to these other stats.
     In 2018, there were 11,148 assaults on officers. Eye-popping number, right? Well, let's pump the brakes. 9175 (82.3%) of those assaults involved hands, fists, and/or feet. So... I'm gonna go ahead and file none or very close to none of those as life-threatening, because you can damn well believe that someone would be riddled with a dozen or more bullets before they managed to kill an officer without a weapon. And please - if you pull up one counterexample where a cop is threatened, you are still ignoring the other 9174 cases. It's just a fundamental misunderstanding of numbers if you think that case matters to my overall argument.
     How about the other 1,973 assaults? 279 (2.5%) of them involved a firearm and 200 (1.8%) of them involved a knife. 1494 (13.4%) of them involved some "other" dangerous weapon. The word "involved" is tricky, because I'm willing to bet these stats are inflated by assaults that don't include the use of said weapon but merely possession. I wish I could have these stats boiled down more simply: # of assaults where officers were stabbed, shot, or bludgeoned. Why? Well, I just wouldn't want the numbers to include instances where cops are bruised or scratched up because... I don't really consider that dangerous. If you do count those instances, you have to admit that you are seriously lowering the bar for officer endangerment. It's also sad because we are at such a low number of "dangerous" incidents that you have to split hairs between what a reasonable person would consider dangerous compared to someone who is pro- or anti-cop (who are vested in inflating or deflating those numbers, respectively).
     So, there you have it. By the numbers, officers in California are not regularly putting their lives on the line. & if you really, for some strange reason are so vested in believing that throwing on a uniform to enforce the law makes you a goddamn hero - I have another number to soothe you. I don't know about the rest of the state, but officers in SJPD are well-compensated. If you don't click the link, it just shows that 19 of the top 20 highest-paid employees of the City of San Jose are all cops - and none of them took home a dime less than $300,000 (in 2017, at least). So you can rest easy knowing that those who patrol our streets are paid quite handsomely.

Perception Vs. Reality part 1 (teachers)

     I'm in summer mode and just felt like addressing some issues that I feel like could use correcting in society. This post isn't centered on a particular theme besides "These are things I think people misunderstand and I would like to shed some light on them."
     The items I'll be writing about are drawn from my experiences in San Jose/the Bay Area/California - they may or may not apply to positions out of state, region, or even city - but I'm willing to bet there's some (or considerable) overlap across these lines. Things I want to write about are:

• The feasibility of teaching as a profession
• The dangers of policing
• The economic status of servers (specifically them and not other restaurant staff)

     After spelling out the things I wanted to write about, I realized there is a common theme, and that is: people can be very vocal in tooting their own horn to create sympathy. Additionally (or alternatively?), they do not speak out against misconceptions that benefit them.

How do I mean? In brief, and respectively, a few commonly held ideas:

• Teachers are wildly underpaid
• Police officers put their lives on the line every day
• Servers don't make enough to get by

     Well, this post wouldn't be a thing if I agreed with those things, right? Right. In short, I think each of those points is, by & large, wrong. AS A REMINDER, I am painting in broad strokes - as in these ideas will not hold for every person out there, but that they apply more often than not (& hate to say it, but most of us are statistically NOT the exception so... keep that in mind).
     Although I'm not qualified in the sense of having a high-level overview of teacher pay throughout the state, I do have the power of Google at hand (here's the query, if you're interested: "district name salary schedule," e.g. "east side union high school district salary schedule" or "san jose unified salary schedule"). The salary schedule shows you how much teachers get paid according to their experience and education level and works for every local district I've tried. So, what kind of numbers am I working with? First of all, assume an 8-hour workday like everyone else. Assuming 5 periods of teaching (which is the norm) and 45 min to an hour for break and lunch combined - that's about 6 hours of work. Add on 2 hours for lesson prep, grading, and other responsibilities - boom, you've got your 8-hour workday. So how much do teachers get paid? Well, in ESUHSD, starting salary is 60k. For 182 days of work, that works out to 1456 hours worked, and.... how many dollars per hour? Do NOT calculate - just guess.

Seriously.
Guess.
Just do it.

     Works out to slightly over $41/hour not to mention some of the best benefits in the state (relative to other districts). At that hourly rate, and for some other job (depending on time off), that works out to anywhere from 75k/year (6 weeks off) to 82k/year (2 weeks off). Not bad, right? & that's just to start! If you get your Master's ASAP (which I really should have done if I wasn't busy taking my sweet time), the pay bumps get pretty sweet. I'm not at the top bracket of the pay scale and my pay is set to be ~$51/hour this year, give or take.
     Don't get me wrong - I still feel underpaid because I can't move out on my own without absolutely hamstringing my budget or living with more roommates than I think a contributing member of society should have to live with. That's besides the point, though - then we're getting into how I feel about society overall and how screwed we let ourselves get. To stay on topic, I maintain that teachers are not wildly underpaid relative to other professions (define "wildly" as you please). & there's something else I haven't even gotten to.
     Notice - I haven't even mentioned the breaks. The glorious, glorious breaks! To make a long story short, I feel like I work 75% of the time for 80% of the pay. I know that's not the truth of it (especially when compared to the engineers, financiers, and other white collar workers of Silicon Valley), but compared to ... everyone else? It's mandatory work-life balance, with an option to work OT if you're a go-getter (summer school, coaching, subbing for other classes). If that's not a hell of a trade-off, I don't know what is ¯\_(ツ)_/¯.
     Now my friends might not have summer off for us to enjoy together, but that's a workplace issue that y'all need to figure out - other folks in different countries don't let themselves get absolutely shafted when it comes to taking leave. Guess it's an American thing to be proud of letting your employer bone you? You can come at me and say anything you want about being entitled - and all I really have to say is, you're going to bat for a lower quality of life. In 2019, with the absolute laundry list of tech advancements since the Industrial Revolution (or how about just the past 3 decades?)?! I'm sorry, but if you want a hard life for yourself for the sake of a hard life, your vision is just too small for humanity. I see a world where challenge is self-directed, not society-inflicted.
     It may sound naive of me to say that, but take an honest look around - in a world where we can produce as much as we produce, and waste as much as we waste, do you really think the shackles that prevent us from living our best lives are not imposed on us by society (vs. natural resources and technological limitations)?
     That ended up being a lot longer than I expected, so I guess this will turn into a series. Thanks for reading!

Banff

Trip details

• Duration: 7/13/19-7/19/19 (originally planned for the 20th, but we returned a day early to make it in time for Toan's wedding)
• Flight: United (~3 hours, each way), $394 for the both of us
• Accommodation: Room 224 @ the Red Carpet Inn, in a King-sized (?) bed

 I will do this write-up in 2 formats: a brief overview of daily activities, then a more thorough look at trip highlights.

Day 1 (Saturday):

• Dad drives us to SFO at 5:30AM. We take off at ~745 and get to Calgary around noon. 
• Head out to Banff and get there around 6 or 7?
• Park it, check in, and grab dinner at The Bison

Day 2 (Sunday):

• Our first day of activity - Aylmer lookout (14+ miles) at Lake Minnewanka, starting at ~7AM. 
• We do 10 miles, but don't complete
• Lunch
• Hot tub
• Dinner at Chaya

Day 3 (Monday):

• Canoeing at Emerald Lake
• Lake Louise
• Hiked to Lake Agnes up to the tea house. Continued on to Little Beehive, then returned to our car.
• Dinner at Earl's happy hour

Day 4 (Tuesday):

• Aylmer lookout (Take 2) 
• Started the hike at ~11, didn't finish 'til ~6. 
• So freakin' pooped, we just got dinner then passed out.
• Dinner at The Balkan + pasta from Ticino and pizza from Bear Street Tavern (terrible, btw)

Day 5 (Wednesday):

• Via Ferrata 
• Lunch at Eddie Burger
• Midsommar
• Booked a photog
• Dinner at Sushi House

Day 6 (Thursday):

• Moraine Lake - Larch Valley to Sentinel Pass
• Consolation Lakes 
• Lunch at Park Distillery
• Photo shoot
• Dinner at Earl's (again)

Day 7 (Friday):

• Time to go home :(

Day 1 (Saturday):

• Dad drives us to SFO at 5:30AM. We grab breakfast at the SF Giants Clubhouse using our Priority Passes - we both order the same big breakfast burrito. We take off at ~745 and get to Calgary around noon. Have lunch at Alumni - we share the hot chicken sandwich, taco salad, charred broccoli, and the parmesan fries. It was a lot, but what can I say? We're on vacation ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
• Walk about the city some (the downtown area is so picturesque), hit up the mall (with a freakin' awesome garden at the top floor), then head out to Banff.
• Park it, check in, and dinner at the Bison (I get the steak with chimichurri, Daisy gets some kind of fish with pasta, and we share the elk poutine [which was actually gnocchi, oddly enough]). The "poutine" may have been my fav dish of the trip - it was mad delicious and I ate it before I was getting sick of American/bar food.

Day 2 (Sunday):

• Our first trail was to Aylmer lookout at Lake Minnewanka, starting at ~7AM. We wanted to get our biggest hike out of the way and spend the rest of the week cruising on smaller ones.
• After 5 miles (and an additional 45 min of waiting for another group to show), we turn around after the scariest warning sign of bears - it's an area where people have been attacked before, so they require hiking with bear spray (which we had) and in a group of 4 (we were only 2). The walk back is disappointing, but when we get back to the trailhead, we see a goat standing (quite majestically) atop a rock at one end of the bridge.
• The goat ends up crossing the bridge to reach her kid - all of us make way so the goat can cross, and she passes close enough where we could reach out and give her a pet (but we don't).
•  Also spent 15-20 minutes hanging out on the lakeshore, skipping rocks and just enjoying the setting.
• Lunch was at Indian Curry House (the lamb madras was alright, but the garlic naan was particularly choice) & dinner was at Chaya - I got the Tan Tan ramen and Daisy got the katsu curry with an extra serving of katsu. Surprisingly, one of the best ramens I've had. The katsu curry was delicious as well. 
• Afterwards, we strolled along the main strip and came across a BeaverTails. They sell dessert that's basically a fried slab of dough slathered with your choice of toppings. It smelled like sweet heaven, so we made a stop and bought one that had Nutella and banana. It tasted as delicious as it smelled - a killer dessert, for sure. 

Day 3 (Monday):

• Some context: we started our previous hike at 7AM and when we were waiting for some company for us to continue the hike with, we did not see another group until we were well on our way back to the car.
• We assumed that people in the area just got a late start, so we left to Lake Louise at about 9AM, which was about 45 minutes away from our hotel. Unfortunately, it was stupid packed. We wasted 15-20 min driving up to (then immediately out of) the parking lot
• So, we drove another 15-20 min to Emerald Lake and spent ~2 hours canoeing. Before we left, we grabbed some parm fries that would've been killer if they were hotter :( . But they were well-seasoned with a ton of cheese so that was nice.
• By the time we got back to Lake Louise, people were starting to leave and parking spots were slowly opening up. We were fortunate to get one and not just be sent back out of the lot.
• At Lake Louise, we took a few photos before starting our hike. At the end of our initial trail, there was a tea house where we ended up sharing a pot of tea and a serving of an apple crumble. It was cool because chipmunks were getting all up in the mix scrounging around for scraps. They were super adorable and not shy at all.
• We continued on to Little Beehive trail, took in some more amazing views, then returned to our car.
• We grab dinner at Earl's happy hour - from what I can work out, it's a Canadian Yard House with a better happy hour. We get the dynamite roll, buffalo cauliflower, Santa Fe chicken salad, and their crispy ribs. The crispy ribs were like salt and pepper style, but lemon pepper flavor. Definitely my favorite item of the meal.
• After dinner, we talk about our plans: to sleep in and do one or 2 short hikes tomorrow, and to give Aylmer Lookout another try on Thursday morning. We would go later and hope to run into another group that we could tag along with.

Day 4 (Tuesday):

• After sleeping in 'til 9 or so, Daisy says we probably have to give the hike a try today because there was snow in the forecast on Tuesday. We hop out of bed, get dressed, pack up, and head out. 
• At the trailhead, we see.... a bunch of older folks (8-10), some of whom were reading the warning sign and clearly not moving on. There was only one other couple that looked like they might have been heading out the same way - we approached them, and after some chit chat, they decided to join us (they weren't planning on hiking much that day, apparently). Jess & Blake from Ohio - I couldn't be more grateful for anyone else on our entire trip. They made it possible for us to hit the trail comfortably and to completion, even though the whole trip took us about 7 hours. The longest hike I've ever been on, with the most gratifying view of the trip. Through the sprinkles and more serious rain, the mosquitoes, the bear taking a deuce in the woods ~25-30 feet away, I enjoyed it all.
• We got back and shared a lamb skewer at the Balkan. Then, we grabbed a pasta dish from Ticino on our way back to the hotel. Lastly, we grabbed the Hawaiian pizza from Bear Street Tavern - I'm not sure there was any meal more disappointing. This spot had 4 stars on Yelp and came recommended to us by a number of people on the trip. The crust was legit frozen-pizza quality, toppings were scarce, and it was just a disappointment overall. We crushed the whole thing 'cause that's what you do when you skipped the rest of the day's meals and went hiking for 7 hours. But sheesh that awful meal capped an otherwise terrific day.

Day 5 (Wednesday):

• We had signed up to do a Via Ferrata route at 8:30 on Mt. Norquay (which, surprisingly, is pronounced phonetically lol). We hopped on a free shuttle, got there, and spent the next 4 hours in a group of 8 climbing up to a particular viewpoint then back down. They offered 2 longer routes of 5 and 6 hours - I'm glad we didn't pick those because I felt like we had to travel slowly to accommodate the entire group, which would have been annoying if we had to do that for longer than we did. Awesome experience climbing up and around a mountain.
• We grabbed lunch at Eddie Burger - another highly recommended spot. I thought it was alright, but the burger was def overcooked :/. 
• We went to the theater to see Midsommar - it was about as weird/creepy as the trailer made it out to be. Daisy went shopping for a lil bit since we set up a photo shoot for the next day. I browsed the bookstore for awhile. I don't think either of us was particularly hungry, but neither of us wanted to head back to the hotel only to go back out later, so we headed to dinner. 
• Dinner at Sushi House was great. I am definitely surprised that we enjoyed the 2 Asian spots the most - I think we both thought that such a touristy town would have terrible Asian food (and indeed, the Vietnamese and Chinese spots were both rated at 1-2 stars). It was a small restaurant and there were just 3 people running the show, just like at Chaya. It was a sushi-train style restaurant, and the chef was just working to perfection, pumping out really good sushi and managing everyone's requests.

Day 6 (Thursday):

• We are going to see Moraine Lake. Unfortunately, it shares the same area as Lake Louise - i.e. it's gonna be similarly packed out. We leave at 5AM to get to the lake at 6. By the time we get there, the parking lot's still got spots (fortunately). We get started on the Larch Valley Trail to make it to Sentinel Pass.
• It sprinkles on our way up, then it starts to rain. We hike for an hour or so when... it starts snowing. Hard (to us, at least). We turn around and make our way back down, and hit up another trail.
• The 2nd trail we go on is to see, appropriately enough, Consolation Lakes. It's a nice hike, not very crowded, and just absolutely beautiful at the end. We clambered over a good deal of rocks to get closer to the water.
• We hang out for a good while at the lakes, then head back.
• We head back for lunch, which ended up being a cod chowder at Park Distillery, along with a brisket sandwich and the rotisserie chicken. 
• We chill out for a few hours, killing some time before heading back to Moraine Lake for our photoshoot. 
• It was supposed to be for an hour, but ended up taking 2. The weather was freezing, and we spent a lot of time putting on and taking off extra layers. Our photographer was very chatty, which helped to loosen us up. For something that we booked last minute and for our first photo shoot, I had a load of fun, freezing weather notwithstanding.

Day 7 (Friday):

• Time to go home :(
• I hate it when a vacation ends. We grab another Beavertail in Banff (potentially my favorite item to eat all trip) and do some last minute gift-shopping, then head back to Calgary (bout an hour and a half from Banff).
• We grab lunch at Charcut which was just alright. Grab some final snacks at the local Shoppers (which is like... Walgreens or Rite-Aid) before heading to the airport.

Money/Budgeting/Spending in Your Late 20's

     First off, it's crazy to say that I'm in my late 20's. Second, I'm writing this to share perspective for anyone who hasn't taken the time to think about how they spend their money. Particularly for folks in their 20's, as it's probably best to get your financial house in order as soon as you can. I'll start out with some hard numbers:
     My salary this year is 57k, give or take. Because of taxes, union dues, and pension contributions, I take home something around 33-35k (the reason that's a range is because I had to pay more in taxes than usual and that's throwing off my calculations a bit). For the rest of the post, I'll work with 33k. Monthly, that works out to about $2,750.
     Before I dish out numbers - I'd like to acknowledge my priorities. They are, in order from greatest to least: paying for the necessities (shelter + food, car costs), saving for a home/the future in general, and travel. You'll notice that eating/drinking out does not show up on this list of priorities. You'll see it in my budget, but I would say eating/drinking out is extremely low for me. The primary purpose when I do is socialization - with Daisy, family, friends. It happens regularly (as in every weekend) without fail, but is NOT a priority. I spend on it anyways. All that to say: whatever you spend on, you should be cool with. Without further ado, here are the categories (accompanied by a number and a % of my 2,750)

     Rent (18%): 500 (remaining: 2,250)
     Gas/insurance (8%): 220 (2030)
     Food (7.27%): 200 (1830)
     Travel (16.36%): 450 (1380)
     Eating/drinking out (7.27%): 200 (1180)
     Misc (3.63%): 100 (1080)
     Retirement (7.27%): 200 (880)
     House/the future (32%): 880 (0)

     A few notes:

• I paid rent from Aug 2017-June 2018, when I started my Master's program. My parents gave me a 1-year pass and my rent payments turned into school payments.
• The number for travel is kinda high and has actually been recently downsized and reallocated to "the future." I just left it at that because it was like that for awhile and $5400 over a year's worth of travel isn't too much considering how flights, accommodations, and eating out adds up. Additionally, I'd much rather travel in my youth. 
• Retirement is probably not a category that I will continue to contribute to after this year, for a couple reasons: 1) banking on collecting that sweet pension when I retire & 2) a dollar now is worth much more when I am saving for school/a home than when I am retired. I'll have made it by then, and if I haven't then my life will be more miserable than some money could offset. 
• You might be of the opinion that my numbers for travel and eating out are high relative to my income (650/2760, or ~23.64%). I see where you're coming from because 23% is a significant share. Let's look at the numbers, though:
• At $880/month, it'd take ~19 years to save up for a $200k down payment.
• Yes, I know you can put less than 20% down
• But I'm already poor - what do I look like paying for PMI? It's a penalty for not having more money saved up. Nothx.
• Yes, I know you can find a home for less than a million dollars
• In what part of San Jose, in what condition, & in 20 years? If it'll take me nearly 2 decades to save up for a down payment - at that rate, I'm way past the point of a starter home. Even assuming minimal (as in, unrealistically minimal) appreciation, a 3br/2ba house would be past the million mark. So if anything, $200k is a conservative estimate (as in lower, not politically conservative).
• Well now - how 'bout I completely reallocate that 650? That brings it up to 1530/month
• At that rate, it would take just under 11 years to save $200k.

     So... yeah. As much as I would love to own a home, and as high as it is on my list, it's not THAT high. It's not "give up travel for 11 years" high. It's not "don't go out for 11 years" high. My quality of life would take such a nose dive for so long that it's just not worth it to me.

& now, to address some holes in my presentation:

• That 880 figure will not be a constant - it'll grow as my income grows (if you're wondering, it'll take me another 5-6 years to hit 6 figures). 
• I'm not paying for a home myself (well... I hope not)
• I can make more money throughout the year 

     However, I wrote it the way I did to show how difficult it can be for someone to buy a home. I'm not sure how accurate this is, but if 40% of Americans can't cover a $400 expense, then my savings of $880/month is a significant amount (Bay Area cost of living notwithstanding). In the face of saving for a home in San Jose, though - $880/month is just a drop in the bucket. So... it's crazy depressing and I definitely envy my peers with more buying capability, but them's the breaks ¯\_(ツ)_/¯. Happy saving/spending - thanks for reading!

   

Personal Finance & Democracy

     A couple things really boggle my mind: 1) for whatever reason (being bad at basic math, lack of planning, an outsized desire to keep up with the Joneses, who honestly knows ¯\_(ツ)_/¯), Americans are terrible at personal finance. This leads to my second point: we propagate a culture of not discussing money because people don't want to discuss something they are not good at or they are embarrassed at how little they know/understand - in other words, ACTIVELY promoting ignorance. Unfortunately, this ignorance of finance is also linked (in my opinion) to a general ignorance of government and democracy.
     You know the saying - knowledge is power. & as pressing as income inequality is, I think that actually just stems from another, more impactful circumstance of American life - knowledge inequality. You know who is financially illiterate? The average Joe. According to the St. Louis Fed, 57% of respondents couldn't answer 3 basic q's. If you check out that link and think those 3 questions don't accurately gauge financial literacy, then here are some more disturbing stats - 43% of Americans can't cover a $400 emergency, 38% of US households have CC debt to the tune of $16,000 at 16.75 APR (a terrible rate), and 56% of American adults have little or no retirement savings (33% have nothing saved + 23% have <$10,000 saved).
     You know who is financially literate (& just so happens to benefit from the general population's ignorance)? People who set interest rates, CEO's, landlords, the whole financial sector (obviously), among others - basically, anyone who runs anything has to be financially literate. Don't get me wrong - I'm not so paranoid as to think that there's a conspiracy of elite plotting how to keep the general populace in the dark. I think the sad truth is that we've buried our heads so far in the sand that there doesn't need to be.
     This circumstance - a minority of people who know how money works in the short & long-term compared to a majority who do not - creates other outcomes. A poor understanding of money leads to a poor understanding of government - from implementation (because policies require $$$ to enact, but people have no money sense) to elections (because more $$$ leads to higher chances of election, even though people think they are voting on ideas [while they are actually voting based on ads + exposure/propaganda]). Finally, a poor understanding of government leads to support of poor policies, officials, and institutions.
     With all that being said - what's there to do? Well, ignorance is combated with education. Here is a great start. You could also search "personal finance." If you're opposed to learning by reading - go the social route! Talk to your parents, your friends, your coworkers - anybody, really*. At this age, there's no good excuse not to learn about how money works. Your housing, your diet, your health, transportation, and everything in between - they all revolve around money. & for crap's sake - you need to abandon the notion that talking about money is a bad thing. Don't forget - knowledge is power. & don't let anyone tell you otherwise!

*Full disclosure: I am a (pretty?) open book when it comes to money talks. Salary, budget, savings, retirement - you name it, I'll talk about it. I'm sure if you reach out to those you are close with, they'll display a similar willingness to discuss.

On America's Lack of a Team Mindset

     Americans love team sports (and sports in general). We consume them year-round in many forms, across many venues, and across so many demographics. Young or old, minority or not, the great majority of us take in sports in some form or other. MLB, NFL, NBA, NHL - is there even a calendar day in the year you can't catch at least one of the major sports (I honestly don't know)? Yet, for all our love of team sports, why do so many of us have such a poor concept of what it's like to be part of a team?
     If you play, observe, or are familiar with team sports in a general capacity (one group of people tries beating another group of people in a contest), you're familiar with the idea that a team is only as good as its weakest player. If you're a basketball person, it might look like attacking the same, slow-footed player on the other team. If you're a football fan, it's spamming plays to continuously target one particularly (relatively) bad opponent that you know you can catch in a bad position. Games, series, and most certainly championships (Patriots attacking Goff in 2019) have been won/lost (Cavs decimating Curry in 2017) by attacking particular players. Those are just 2 famous examples, but I had to bring them up because I feel like a lot of people don't understand the concept, or they understand the concept in the context of sports but don't go on to extend that understanding to society/politics.
     So what's the tie to society? Well there are many, really. Here are the first 3 things that come to mind, and they are relevant to everybody:

• Education
• Health
• Wealth

     As it pertains to education: a country is only as educated as its least educated member. Say what you want about college, but it offers the opportunity for you to learn just about anything you are interested in. This isn't to divide those who attended college and those who did not. I am just saying that the opportunity to learn is a great thing. & although plenty of my learning came from reading, a fair amount took place through discussion. Lastly, even aside from the formal education, there are the opportunities to meaningfully interact with people from a much wider range of backgrounds that is just harder to get outside of that space.
     As it pertains to health: a country is only as healthy as its least healthy member. There's just too many ways to consider this one. Nutritional health. Mental health. Physical health. There's so many ways we're lacking. It's depressing to speak on it too much, so I'll just drop one tidbit: in the country with the largest economy in the world, about 13% of households experienced food insecurity in 2015 (according to the USDA). This impacted millions of children, so... yeah. We can't even reliably feed our kids. If that doesn't say anything to you about the state of our country, I don't know what to tell you.
     As it pertains to wealth: a country is only as wealthy as its poorest members. This one is just laughably obvious to me. There are those who would have you believe that, since there are so many billionaires in our borders, that somehow benefits the rest of the country. Do y'all think that living in the same country as billionaires is of any comfort to those without water, medical access, or a roof over their heads? Lack of education and propaganda got people so good that they feel privileged just to grace the same soil as the super wealthy. Let me spell it out for you: just because Jeffrey Epstein is so rich and connected that he can abuse kids and get off with nary a slap on the wrist, that puts ABSOLUTELY NO MONEY in your pockets to help you pursuit happiness or fulfill your potential.
     & if you think that anybody who is in dire straits "deserves it" - I can't deny that some certainly do. But I will remind you that bad things happen to good people - and if you're so devoid of empathy, compassion, and/or understanding that you don't see fit to pick up those who have only fallen due to poor luck, I sincerely hope that you'll eventually come to a better understanding of the world.

How to: Engage With a Racist/Misogynist/Homophobe

     Something I've noticed with the polarizing effect of the Presidency and politics is a prevalence of people disconnecting from others when there are disagreements. Things like "If you think x is okay, I don't wanna be friends" - you know what I'm referring to. Instances of this that I've seen on my feed or heard about in person have gone like this:

• "I don't have the energy to educate you about insert topic here, bye Felicia"
• "Since the election, people have really shown their true colors and made it easy to unfriend/unfollow"
• "We found out Bob doesn't like lesbians, so we don't hang out with him anymore."

     I don't really get that, though. If you react in any of those ways, you recognize that there is something you want to change. Whether it's because of your tiredness or frustration, you just give up. So you've turned any possibility of change to 0%. 

     Not only that, but I think there's a serious lack of perspective when you want to quit. You gotta remember - first impressions and long-held beliefs are tough nuts to crack, and nearly impossible if you engage in some form of argument. I'm pretty certain hostility and confrontation causes us to hold even tighter onto our beliefs. So what's the appropriate way to engage?

     Sounds boring, but I think the answer is pretty simple. Eat, drink, shoot the breeze. Be open and understanding. Listen to another perspective. Over time, they'll come around - but not without nudging. Quitting on someone, though*? That's definitely not the way - you've either robbed someone of your perspective or successfully gave that person reason to dismiss your position.

     If you think it is an unwarranted burden** that you must be the one to explain, or coax, or whatever - I hate to say it, but you could be complicit in the perpetuation of whatever issue it is you want to support. In the words of Dr. King, only love can drive out hate. Not shouting down ignorant folks, or pushing them away. Love.

If you don't think this is a very good idea, I think this (short) article would be a great read for you: Guy befriends and converts 200+ Klansmen

*Don't get me wrong - I know there are plenty of folks who are absolutely intractable. You can sort out the people to invest your time in, I'm sure.

**Also, burdensome as it may feel, we are always representative of the groups we are a part of. You might not like it, but it's a fact that you have contributed, in ways big and small, to thousands of others' ideas of what it's like to be you, whether you're gay/straight, yellow/white/black/brown, etc. etc. So wear it proudly and represent your groups well. 

The Wall

     With the government shutdown about to hit the 3-week mark & with no end in sight (combined with the fact that I haven't written in awhile), I thought I'd write some about it. I think most folks get the gist of it, but I'll go over the main points anyways:

• While campaigning for the presidency, one of Donald Trump's main selling points was to build a wall along the country's southern border. (Speaking of main selling points, whatever happened to "Lock her up"?) Anyways, not only would this wall prevent all sorts of bad characters from making their way in, but Mexico would pay for it! Not 10%, or 20%, or even 50%. They would pay for all of it.
• Almost 2 years from his inauguration, the wall hasn't been built (and Hillary hasn't been locked up either, now that I think about it ... hmmm.) and Mexico won't pay for it. Since Mexico won't pay for the wall, but we need to have a wall, then we will pay for the wall. Every single dollar of the $5,700,000,000 that he is requesting. & if you're the type to believe in government inefficiency/cronyism, then you just know that price tag does not match what could eventually be spent on it (God forbid).

     While most of the country sits around wondering when the government will get it together and resume business (without paying for said wall), there are still plenty (as in millions) of Americans who clamor for the wall. In fact, there are over 3 million signatures collected here "LETTING POLITICIANS KNOW YOU WANT THE WALL." So, y'know, there's that. Oh, & about 335,000 people willing to shell out, on average, $60 (collectively, they've raised $20,000,000. Just $5,680,000000 to go!) to fund the wall. What I don't understand about these people (and everyone else who is supportive of taxpayer money going to the wall) is why they aren't upset that the President pulled one over on them? Like if someone offered to take me out to dinner and then left me with the check, I'd be pretty annoyed. Assuming a casual dinner for 2 amounts to $50, then you'd just have to scale up by 114,000,000 to match what President Trump is doing to the American people for his wall! 

     I know there are other perspectives to approach this from. Ethical, political, humanitarian, racial, whatever. But on a personal level, doesn't it bother you that the person you voted for and trust is taking you for a ride? Or maybe you're just not the type to, I don't know, have the self-respect to hold someone else accountable? Ah well, we just gotta deal for... 2 more years, maybe 6 ¯\_(ツ)_/¯.