Monthly Archive

I thought I would start up on posting links here - I don’t remember why I stopped - maybe because it seems like a cop-out-post. Still, with the primary elections in the air and my increased commitment to educating myself about politics and that ever-so-talked-about-real-world, I thought I would share some articles that I find worth reading. The titles speak for themselves today:

“After College Ends, So Does Activism” by Adam Doster

“Why Clinton Trumps Obama and Will Continue to Trump Him” by Earl Ofari Hutchinson

“Interview with Chris Rabb: Founder of Afro-Netizen.com” from Mother Jones

A note - I still haven’t developed a full opinion on who I am supporting from the Democratic candidates, though I’m pretty sure my heart is with Obama. When I figure it out for sure, I’ll do one of two things: write about it, or tell everyone to mind their own business.

It’s 2007 and I’m an adult that is not only exploring the possibilities of public policy, but is also continuing to ask myself what it means to be a progressive and socially-conscious individual; so it’s no surprise that I’ve spent the summer slowly trying to peek my head into the world of politics. By this I mean, keeping up with debates, reading publications such as Mother Jones, and wikipedia-ing as much as I can about free trade and straw polls, school vouchers and civil unions. Educating myself about politics, as it turns out, is tricky. I tried watching the news on television and couldn’t seem to do it - my brain spends so much time teasing out the imperialist and Euro-centric agenda of broadcasts that I can’t seem to concentrate on names and events. I started listening to podcasts - that was helpful, because now I have access to BBC broadcasts and NPR broadcasts whenever I want, for free. And I’m still developing a bookmarked folder of politics publications.

When Bush was elected in 2004 for a second term, I was still an underclassman in college. I teared up and hibernated for the weekend at the thought of the POTUS remaining the same, and therefore, U.S. foreign policy and agendas staying the same. Now as the next election rolls around, I find myself wanting to really look at the media coverage and debates surrounding the candidates - probably because there have only been two families in office for the majority of my life. That scares me.

Over the summer, I’ve been working as a research assistant and have had the chance to read a substantial amount of feminist theory and literary theory related to American Studies. This is a field I was never particularly interested in - but after 10 weeks of reading hundreds of essays and writing hundreds of abstracts, I’ve realized more than a few interesting things.

The thing I want to share here is this: While I have tried to acknowledge my citizenship privilege in my day to day life (these privileges include being able to travel abroad without complications, applying for scholarships and financial aid, etc.), I still have an us-vs.-them mentality when it comes to the decisions made by Congress, the House of Representatives and Mr. POTUS himself. In college, there are always general comments made about the government: “Look what they’re doing, they’ve started this war, they’ve continued the war, they’re trying to ’save’ oppressed people abroad, they’re not helping public education” and on and on. When do I begin to really own up to the reality that as a citizen, and as someone born and raised in the United States, I’m carrying the burden of my country’s actions and decisions on my shoulders as well.

When we talk about institutional vs. individual racism, we learn to rethink the mentality of “Oh, I’m not racist. Other people are racist” - we learn instead, to think about whiteness and white privilege and about what it means to be benefiting from an institution that helps certain people over others.

There is a parallel here and it is the fact that it’s easy to get caught up in claiming that as a progressive liberal, as a Democrat, as someone who didn’t vote for the individuals who are appointed to govern the nation, that there is no blood on our hands. It’s easy to just feel sorry or guilty about it and then move on - because we can move on, because we can put everything on conservatives or the GOP (My reference to political parties should not suggest that our beliefs also fall along a similar binary - I merely mentioned the Dem. Party and GOP because they are labels that often get used in the us-vs.-them debate).

I guess what I’m saying is that for those of us who are not already, for those of us who are U.S. citizens and have citizenship privilege, we are responsible and all need to continue engaging ourselves in issues of national and local and foreign policy; we need to read feminist and antiracist materials that look critically at nationalism and imperialism and colonialism and globalization and the War on Terror; we need to get past feeling sorry and guilty and, as Audre Lorde urges so well, do our work.

I might try to rewrite this post soon - these are thoughts that have been swimming around me since 2001 and it’s the first time I’ve tried to ‘pen’ them down.

In the last month, I have:

1. figured out that I don’t want to get my phd in English. Right now at least. I don’t want to be a professor and pursue a life in academia - not because I think I couldn’t do it, but because right now I feel there are other things I could do that I might love just as much; not because I think it would be too hard, but because there are certain sacrifices I don’t feel I would be willing to make. There are other careers, other jobs, other opportunities, that I want to pursue. Getting a master’s in Public Policy, for instance..

2. Found that public policy is something I could really enjoy. I still have yet to figure out in what capacity - but in the last three years I’ve done a lot of student organizing and mentoring and managerial work and I’ve come to realize that I really enjoy those things. I really love writing and editing and researching - so maybe my road to finding a working life that I would enjoy means finding internships for publications I admire, programs I encourage, organizations that need help. Then in the future, maybe I will go to graduate school. I’m ready to find work opportunities that work for me.

3. Realized that I don’t want to study abroad after I graduate. It isn’t for me. I feel fine about that. There is other work that I want to do that I feel more excited about.

4. had to come to terms with the fact that every time something wonderful like this comes along (nominate someone you know!), there is going to be something horrible and offensive like this that more people know about - for every semi-forward step that is taken by large companies to attempt to do some good and allow the public easy access to “social change,” there is something that makes me want to vomit because it is too ironic and too unbelievable and appropriating.

5. Had to accept that the blog posts are just going to be slow from now on. There are times I want to write, but I am too tired, times I want to yell and scream but too flustered to type. Some of the reasons are excuses and some of the reasons are just things that happen in life that force you to re prioritize sleep and well-being and academics over writing. Rest assured the posts will continue, and rest assured they are going to get back into commentary about the elections and the United States and about the news and the media.