waitlist agony

The last week I swear has been the longest of my life in recent years. May 15th, this past monday was the day that med school applicants holding multiple spots have to choose just one school, opening spots for those on the waitlists. Well, likely story that the 2 schools I am waitlisted at have not yet started pulling anyone from the waitlist yet!!!! Making me nuts! In other stories, a friend of mine told me UA had 50 spots on their waitlist and they are already up to #35!! And it has only been 5 days! Kind of funny how all of the people they admitted are going somewhere else... maybe they need to re-think their admissions process?? wouldn't it be hilarious if they didn't have enough people to fill their class and they had to start calling people they rejected???? ohhhhh man they deserve what they get when they turn down good applicants like myself and others...
Please let me survive this summer! I am so anxious to start making plans for where I am going! and that's not possible right now, which is practically torture for a control freak like me. I know the decision is not up to me, but... I can still be annoyed, right?

k

bleed american

Hoy es "Un dia sin inmigrantes."

Anyone notice anything different? Yeah, me neither. Somehow the efforts of immigrants to make their presence known always falls through in this state. Or maybe it's because my life/job doesn't directly involve immigrants whose jobs are often limited certain industries... I do not go to a meat packing plant or mcdonalds on a regular basis and have not had landscaping done lately. Yeah, I might be stereotyping there, but as my roommate often says... "stereotypes are for a reason." and yeah, they are.

While every plot of land in the world once belonged to someone else, it is important to note that all of what is now Arizona, Utah, California, Nevada and parts of New Mexico, Colorado and Wyoming, not long ago (mid-19th century) belonged to Mexico-- Aztlan, as it is now called.
I was shocked that I never learned about this history until I was a senior at ASU and we were discussing it in my History of Spanish-American Civilization class. It was evident that the U.S. used blackmail to get Mexico to pay 15 million for all of this land during the Mexican-American War. This is the truth, not an interpretation of truth (although I suppose one could argue all things are an interpretation of truth). The interesting thing being that this is something never taught in public school about history and the relationship between the U.S. and Mexico. Yes, this was a "treaty" but not so much in the sense that both parties benefited from it.

Frankly, I think if more people knew about the history they would be less bigoted and more accepting... maybe that's wishful thinking, who knows.

I don' t think there is anything wrong with Mexican immigrants having the opportunity to become citizens of the U.S., but NOT by default. As far as I am concerned, the only "default" for citizenship is birth in that country... not just because you've been somewhere for X number of years. The whole year=specific benefit of citizenship system is pretty dumb. Basically it tells people, if you can live here long enough hiding while using public services paid for by the tax dollars of legal citizens of this country (whether immigrants or natives), then you can stay here.

Our country was founded by immigrants, we CANNOT simply say "now we don't want to accept them anymore." Right now the U.S. admits more legal immigrants per year than any other country in the world (and we do not have the largest population in the world). What we CAN say today is "we want to impose different restrictions on immigration based on the vote of congress who represents our citizens." What the heck is wrong with that? It is not a BAD THING to make it hard to immigrate to this country?-- if anyone has been to Australia or New Zealand, you know that it takes months just to get a travel visa! They are careful about who they let in to their country, and it doesn't seem they have as many problems with terrorism, and no, their country is not homogenous like you might assume. I met citizens of every color and religion when I was there. It is still a "melting pot" of people bringing numerous traditions and cultures together to make new ones.

I have plenty of friends who are legal immigrants from Mexico and latin america as well as ther countries (Canada, England, Italy...) and they all seem to agree that there is absolutely nothing wrong with immigration, as long as it is done legally so that they become a law-abiding, tax-paying citizens. I think that English should be the official language of our country. It does not restrict those that still wish to communicate in Spanish, French, German, sign language, swahili or reverse pig latin in their private lives! If we are going to form a more permanent identity as a nation we have to start figuring out these things.

This country may offer freedom, but it is certainly not free to live here, and it why should it be? What is your freedom worth?

k