Since I've graduated, and teased out all the possible careers, I've attended a bunch of academic conferences in topics I thought I'd be interested in. I went to one about California Studies. One about the history of the Pacific Rim. One about the re-addition of streetcars in downtown LA. And today, one on Critical Social Neuroscience.
Can you just feel the jumps in career-making in that?
I don't really go to talk to anyone, to network or whatever, I go there for taking things in and mainly observing how academics talk. All conferences have had very interesting bits to me, and I got a bunch of notes from each of them that I never bother looking at ever again. Obviously, these conferences are stock full of older folks, professors, elders, usually a good blend of males and females of all races and ethnicities.
However, there was something a bit agitating in the Los Angeles streetcar workshop and the Critical Social Neuroscience workshop.
In their final panels of 8 people or more, each conference bragged a panel of "experts."
Take a wild guess who they are? As in, guess what demographic they represent.
Suspense killing you?
Middle-aged. White. Males. All of them.
No, I'm not here to bash on white folks or to bash on the groups of experts, or to bash whatever they've accomplished as individuals. Matter of fact, most experts do say lots of interesting things, which is why I probably go to a conference in the first place.
I'm here to bash the reasons, the root causes for that regularity. Root causes being exclusionary policies and actions from years of district redlining to job discrimination, at a job where you might not "fit".
What I am agitated about is not these experts themselves, but just the regularity to all this. The regularity, the pattern that middle-aged white males are the experts. The normality that middle-aged white males are the experts. The people assumed to know things the best. The people who are chosen to represent what we should listen to. The people who can ultimately influence decisions in stuff as wide as media perception to public policy-making. Ultimately the people who are seen as rational, logical thinkers. Ultimately, the people who in large numbers are perceived as qualified and skilled. Ultimately, the people who are perceived as the "normal" of society to whom we should all adapt. Ultimately, the people who "fit" in anywhere.
I can't really verbalize how badly I want to disrupt that regularity. By having more of us up there.
This doesn't mean that I sit thru each of these conferences looking at these experts agonizing over the paucity of people of color. I notice it, but it doesn't ever distract me from the content of what's said.
However, when this dynamic really hits me is when I'm actually at home out of that academic space and plugged into my everyday reality.
Virtually everyone else that surrounds me does not look or talk like those academics or experts. I don't know many folks in my circle with anything higher than an M.A. (which would be Chiars!). The generation ahead of us brought us here which is cool, but it's not like they were able to make friends with lawyers, doctors, bankers, professors, and have those friends hire us once we got out of college or serve as a reference. Historic Filpinotown, Panorama City, South LA, East LA. North, East, South, I'm rolling around in dirt brown country with a few sprinkles of hipster. Every weekend when I play basketball in Eagle Rock, it's brown kids around my age whose places of origin were colonized by Spain either from the Philippines or Central America. We are barely effin' employed as bank tellers, video poker players, lowly lab assistants, high school tutors, teachers at nonprofits, and or going back to school and whatnot. Eh, I guess It's cool, for now.
Good to be here and all, but later we need to be there as well.
Thursday
Research on Pinays
Hello everyone! This is Chiara again. I'm starting to build on my dissertation topic and it looks like I'm headed towards studying the vocational choice of 1.5- and 2nd-generation female Filipino American college students. I'm in the very early stages of my research and am wondering if any of the current UCLA undergrads can suggest a student org meeting, a class, or any event I can sit in on and do a preliminary observation. I've contacted the Pinays coordinator of Samahang and she's informed me of the collective taking place on Feb. 17. I'm looking to conduct an observation sooner than 2/17, and I'm unsure of when the various Filipino orgs meet now that I'm no longer on campus. It doesn't have to be a formal meeting; an Asian Am class would do. In any case, I'd appreciate any leads you have of events &/or classes. I can be reached at chiara.paz@gmail.com. Thank you!
Wednesday
Focus Group @ El Camino Community College: Inviting all alumni
Hey everybody, I'm glad to see so many people contribute to the blog site and I just wanted to let everybody know that PTSP will be holding a focus group/open discussion forum at El Camino Community College on March 4 from 5-7. It will be held at the student services center, Room 106-Counseling Division Conference Room. Basically, it will just give us a chance to have transfers speak out their concerns about transferring to a four-year university. PTSP members will share their experiences on what's it like to be in a University. I want to extend the event to all the alumnis so that they can share their post grad experience as well. Let me know if you can come out and support. O, and there will be free food (hopefully Filipino food!)
Tuesday
SPEAR Post-Graduate Workshop
To All PTSP Alums,
SPEAR is hosting a Post-Graduate Workshop on Thursday February 12. We are looking for Alumni who are interested in giving advice to students on post-grad options. PTSP Alumni can help in two ways:
1) SPEAR is looking for alumni to come and speak at the workshop, held on Thursday, February 12. More specifically, we are looking for at least one alum who have experience under the following fields: nursing, public health, teaching, engineering, pre-health, law, graphics/art design, public policy, entertainment, music, economic/finances/accounting/business, Asian-American related fields. If you are interested in helping us out, you can contact me at education@samahang.org.
2) Here's the link to a PostGrad survey. SPEAR is trying to gauge where Alum from various years are, and how they can help prepare today's undergraduates for a more secure future, esp. with the economic crisis. If you have a few minutes, please fill it out. It's fun!
Thank you.
Mike de Vera,
Academics Coordinator, PTSP
Sunday
My Story
Hello PTPS'ers. I think it's about time I contributed to this blog, so here's my story.
My name is Angeline and I was a Bayanihan intern in 07, Chair in 07-08, and the current Alumni Advisor. I transferred to UCLA in 06 from Ventura College. Before that I went to NYU for a year. So I've experienced my fair share of schools. From out of state private schools, to community colleges, to a UC. I even spent a semester abroad, but that's another story. I guess my point is out of all the schools I attended UCLA was the one where I felt most at home. Which is kind of odd since I never wanted to go to UCLA while I was in high school and I actually hated it there my first few weeks. But that all changed when I got more involved.
So my first two years of college, I focused on academics because somewhere along the way I decided that my goal was to graduate with honors. Also, during my freshman year I was still adjusting to living in New York and I figured I would have the next three years to get involved. But the summer after my first year my plans changed (long story short NYU does not give out sufficient financial aid and paying 50,000+ for three years was not an option for my family) and I went to community college. I took about 7 classes a semester at VC to make sure I could transfer in a year and I got involved as a tutor, but that was the extent of my community college experience.
Anyway, I was hoping to transfer to Berkley because I never pictured myself at UCLA. But since I didn't get in, UCLA it was. I didn't enjoy it very much at first, so I got involved to get my mind off of things and of course to build my resume. I started with BruinCorps, then Unicef, and then thanks to my cousin who also transferred to UCLA a few years back PTSP ( he suggested it because he wished he would have joined while he was there). I did a lot my first year at UCLA and PTSP was kind of in the back drop until we started prepping for SEND and until my SPEAR counselor started encouraging me to consider a leadership position. So in prepping for SEND I realized that PTSP was something I wanted to continue to be involved in and with the encouragement from my fellow interns I ran for Chair.
My last year at UCLA was crazy. I spent the first quarter living a care free life abroad and the last two worrying about keeping PTSP alive and my grades up (graduating with latin honors . Luckily, I had a very supportive board who put up with my craziness and we made it through. My best memories of college have been with PTSP and even though I can't express in words what PTSP has meant to me, I know everyone who is involved with this blog knows how important PTSP is for whatever reason.
So that's my story of how I came to be involved with PTSP.
That came out longer than I expected, and I didn't even talk about what I did with PTSP. But I can tell you what PTSP did for me. The leadership experience I gained in PTSP helped me get accepted into Teach For America, an organization that puts people passionate about equity in education in the classroom. So I am currently a Kindergarten teacher in Oakland. It wasn't the grade level I originally wanted, but I am happy with it. Although I don't plan to be a K teacher forever, it's something very rewarding for the time being. I am also in school working on my credentials and a master's in Education. My plan is to continue teaching for a few more years and go back and get another masters (maybe even a PhD) and become a community college professor, but in my experience plans change and that's okay with me.
I don't know how often I will be writing on this blog (I find it very stressful to think of something to write worthy enough for my peers to read) but know you can contact me anytime and if you ever find yourself in Oakland, don't be a stranger!
~angeline
My name is Angeline and I was a Bayanihan intern in 07, Chair in 07-08, and the current Alumni Advisor. I transferred to UCLA in 06 from Ventura College. Before that I went to NYU for a year. So I've experienced my fair share of schools. From out of state private schools, to community colleges, to a UC. I even spent a semester abroad, but that's another story. I guess my point is out of all the schools I attended UCLA was the one where I felt most at home. Which is kind of odd since I never wanted to go to UCLA while I was in high school and I actually hated it there my first few weeks. But that all changed when I got more involved.
So my first two years of college, I focused on academics because somewhere along the way I decided that my goal was to graduate with honors. Also, during my freshman year I was still adjusting to living in New York and I figured I would have the next three years to get involved. But the summer after my first year my plans changed (long story short NYU does not give out sufficient financial aid and paying 50,000+ for three years was not an option for my family) and I went to community college. I took about 7 classes a semester at VC to make sure I could transfer in a year and I got involved as a tutor, but that was the extent of my community college experience.
Anyway, I was hoping to transfer to Berkley because I never pictured myself at UCLA. But since I didn't get in, UCLA it was. I didn't enjoy it very much at first, so I got involved to get my mind off of things and of course to build my resume. I started with BruinCorps, then Unicef, and then thanks to my cousin who also transferred to UCLA a few years back PTSP ( he suggested it because he wished he would have joined while he was there). I did a lot my first year at UCLA and PTSP was kind of in the back drop until we started prepping for SEND and until my SPEAR counselor started encouraging me to consider a leadership position. So in prepping for SEND I realized that PTSP was something I wanted to continue to be involved in and with the encouragement from my fellow interns I ran for Chair.
My last year at UCLA was crazy. I spent the first quarter living a care free life abroad and the last two worrying about keeping PTSP alive and my grades up (graduating with latin honors . Luckily, I had a very supportive board who put up with my craziness and we made it through. My best memories of college have been with PTSP and even though I can't express in words what PTSP has meant to me, I know everyone who is involved with this blog knows how important PTSP is for whatever reason.
So that's my story of how I came to be involved with PTSP.
That came out longer than I expected, and I didn't even talk about what I did with PTSP. But I can tell you what PTSP did for me. The leadership experience I gained in PTSP helped me get accepted into Teach For America, an organization that puts people passionate about equity in education in the classroom. So I am currently a Kindergarten teacher in Oakland. It wasn't the grade level I originally wanted, but I am happy with it. Although I don't plan to be a K teacher forever, it's something very rewarding for the time being. I am also in school working on my credentials and a master's in Education. My plan is to continue teaching for a few more years and go back and get another masters (maybe even a PhD) and become a community college professor, but in my experience plans change and that's okay with me.
I don't know how often I will be writing on this blog (I find it very stressful to think of something to write worthy enough for my peers to read) but know you can contact me anytime and if you ever find yourself in Oakland, don't be a stranger!
~angeline
Saturday
Swimming the Unemployment Pool
The unemployment pool is getting to be as full as the one used for swimming in Sherman Oaks recreation center on a July day. I was rubbing elbows, bashing teeth in, Didier Drogba kicking people, but I've finally climbed out, kind of.
Unemployment in LA County was measured at 9.9% for December.
9.3% in the state of California.
Officially the highest in 15 years.
This means that a sizable amount of folks lack legal money-making activites.
If it weren't for the social safety net called my parents, I could've tipped the balance to a full 10% and filed for unemployment, but I wouldn't do that to you guys.
The news of sky-rocketing unemployment is doubly bad for young folks. This fact documented by the NY Times. It probably has to do with the fact that not a lot of people trust us. They think were lazy and pampered. So goes the story of every generation, ever.
And the news gets even worse still for males of color.
But wait, wait, not yet finished. Los Angeles County is expecting to lose 144,000 jobs in 2009, according to a forecast from the US Conference of Mayors.
Three Strikes, and were out!
I'm really really really grateful for all that volunteering experience for the job I have now, though. With PTSP. Post-PTSP with the various community organizations in LA. I'm greatful that I even had the opportunity, and the space to do that. One of my UC-Santa Cruz friends, a guy trying to make his dent in the world of journalism, once told me that the way to get in where there wasn't a job was to volunteer. Work for free. Intern. I think it sort of paid off for me, as I end up knowing all the people in and around the organization.
I don't know how that applies across various fields, but it's stuck with me. I think it sorta works. It was a point reinforced by Will Smith's last great movie about pursuing happyness; a man on the streets and his will to survive interning at a brokerage firm's stipend, and eventually making good on it. You know, so many times, it seemed like it happened too fast. He might have changed his passion for glory in 6 months, but it didn't seem like he ever gave up on his dreams of the past. The logic behind volunteering and working your way into a job seems to be built on the premise of becoming familiar with your employer's working culture.
Seems that ultimately what prospective employers want to know is that you "fit" into your job. This idea syncs nicely with that old maxim, "it's not what you know, it's who you know." Most propsective employers have told me many times that while they were impressed by my resume, my cover letter, they ultimately did not hire me because I did not "fit."
When you volunteer (which is just ONE avenue to getting a job besides just basic, good ole-fashioned networking and schmoozing over cocktails) you possibly take away concerns of that "fit." You could show your dedication, your work ethic. As a volunteer immersed into their culture, MAYBE you won't require much orientation or training. But as a rule of thumb, I doubt there are many employers who want to invest their time and money in someone who seems like an outsider and/or is "new", especially in my field.
So, with the job market not in the favor of people of color and young people, where exactly do you go nowadays to get a job?
Film industry which was considered recession-proof has been cutting back, Microsoft laid off a bunch of people, and even super-successful companies like Sony and Google have even lost money. Even college-educated Chinese folks feel the pinch.
Despite virtually everyone having lost something, there has been growth elsewhere.
Those industries growing? Prisons and the military of course! The institutions that thrive upon providing illusions of all kinds, including that of security.
Prisons will eventually cost more than education.
Awesome pay if you work within the prison system!
They seem to cost a lot for no real societally-beneficial reason, other than the fact that people make a lot of money from it.
Military getting more applications than usual.
Trading your body for knowledge.
If the military nor the corrections system interests you, like just about every other Filipino you know here in the United States, you could do nursing and head into the health care industry. That's one thing that seems to be recession-durable. One of my friends who got a Sociology degree at UC-Riverside is now on track to become a nurse. She's enrolled at Los Angeles City College. One of my b-ball friends who was going to be an electrical engineer decided to switch course and become an Licensed Vocational Nurse (LVN).
However, that's not all necessarily us.
I think most of us in PTSP, the Pilipino organization community, and UCLA generally really love what we do and what we study, which tends to be "impractical", "humanistic", "activist", social sciences stuff (or maybe that's just me), and we tend to follow just that. The job market tends not to smile down on those kind of activities.
I had thought that teaching would be a stable job. However, education across the board K-16 has been ravaged with LAUSD was on the verge of laying-off 2,300 teachers. Teachers! The people actually in the classroom dealing with boogery, smelly little kids. One of my cuzzos, an LAUSD teacher in Watts, says that the lay-offs would have been based on seniority, meaning that the younger folks would've ate the dust on this.
I've done the temp thing, which ranged from attending TV tapings in Studio City to scanning documents all the live long day. I would've loved to have kept on scanning documents for as long as I could to break out of my debts. Unfortunately, my main supervisor, who was kind of an idiot and smelled like she had 15 years of peanut-butter jelly sandwiches stapled to her ass, didn't seem to like me and launched me on my merry way.
There might be some hope within the green jobs industry. Obama's got the green thing going for him and is part of his proposed stimulus. All kinds of job-training and education should be in it. Apparently, 57,000 jobs can be created in National Parks alone. Interesting also is the fact that becoming an urban planner is a great practical job idea. I actually was on track to do that, but obviously I'm not a fan of practicality or stable jobs, so I've decided that I'm going to follow my nose to some kind of professorship or something.
In the meanwhile, it's writing grants, marketing, and doing numerous gigs.
Like the gig below:
Here is one opportunity from the US government that I myself will be taking. And it seems to pay decently.
Yeah, we all need a little paper to survive. The pool is crowded, folks might be drowning. It'd be cool if other PTSPers and other folks within the UCLA community would toss out some of those lifesavers around and yanked others out.
For added inspiration and to close this post out, ladies and gentlemen, Vlade Divac.
Unemployment in LA County was measured at 9.9% for December.
The state Employment Development Department today reported that the December jobless rate was up almost a full percentage point from 8.4% in November. It stood at 5.9% a year earlier.
The rate for Los Angeles County, which like the state number is seasonally adjusted, was 9.9% for December, up from a revised 8.9% for November.
9.3% in the state of California.
Officially the highest in 15 years.
This means that a sizable amount of folks lack legal money-making activites.
If it weren't for the social safety net called my parents, I could've tipped the balance to a full 10% and filed for unemployment, but I wouldn't do that to you guys.
The news of sky-rocketing unemployment is doubly bad for young folks. This fact documented by the NY Times. It probably has to do with the fact that not a lot of people trust us. They think were lazy and pampered. So goes the story of every generation, ever.
And the news gets even worse still for males of color.
But it has also taken its hardest toll on racial minorities. Among men age 25 to 34 — the youngest group in which virtually all have completed their education — there were 1.6 percent fewer jobs for whites, 2.1 percent fewer for Hispanics, and 6.2 percent fewer for blacks.
But wait, wait, not yet finished. Los Angeles County is expecting to lose 144,000 jobs in 2009, according to a forecast from the US Conference of Mayors.
Three Strikes, and were out!
I'm really really really grateful for all that volunteering experience for the job I have now, though. With PTSP. Post-PTSP with the various community organizations in LA. I'm greatful that I even had the opportunity, and the space to do that. One of my UC-Santa Cruz friends, a guy trying to make his dent in the world of journalism, once told me that the way to get in where there wasn't a job was to volunteer. Work for free. Intern. I think it sort of paid off for me, as I end up knowing all the people in and around the organization.
I don't know how that applies across various fields, but it's stuck with me. I think it sorta works. It was a point reinforced by Will Smith's last great movie about pursuing happyness; a man on the streets and his will to survive interning at a brokerage firm's stipend, and eventually making good on it. You know, so many times, it seemed like it happened too fast. He might have changed his passion for glory in 6 months, but it didn't seem like he ever gave up on his dreams of the past. The logic behind volunteering and working your way into a job seems to be built on the premise of becoming familiar with your employer's working culture.
Seems that ultimately what prospective employers want to know is that you "fit" into your job. This idea syncs nicely with that old maxim, "it's not what you know, it's who you know." Most propsective employers have told me many times that while they were impressed by my resume, my cover letter, they ultimately did not hire me because I did not "fit."
When you volunteer (which is just ONE avenue to getting a job besides just basic, good ole-fashioned networking and schmoozing over cocktails) you possibly take away concerns of that "fit." You could show your dedication, your work ethic. As a volunteer immersed into their culture, MAYBE you won't require much orientation or training. But as a rule of thumb, I doubt there are many employers who want to invest their time and money in someone who seems like an outsider and/or is "new", especially in my field.
So, with the job market not in the favor of people of color and young people, where exactly do you go nowadays to get a job?
Film industry which was considered recession-proof has been cutting back, Microsoft laid off a bunch of people, and even super-successful companies like Sony and Google have even lost money. Even college-educated Chinese folks feel the pinch.
Despite virtually everyone having lost something, there has been growth elsewhere.
Those industries growing? Prisons and the military of course! The institutions that thrive upon providing illusions of all kinds, including that of security.
Prisons will eventually cost more than education.
The prison population has grown by 8% since 2003, to more than 173,000. But the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation’s budget has exploded, increasing 79% to $8.5 billion, and is expected to top $10 billion next year.
The report concluded that substance abuse treatment programs, which have cost taxpayers more than $1 billion since 1989, have had no effect on keeping people off drugs so that they don’t end up back in prison.
The average monthly salary of corrections officers has increased 57% during the current decade, to $4,959 a month, according to the department.
Sillen, for his part, has raised salaries for doctors, nurses, dietitians and X-ray technicians to fill long-standing vacancies and recruit more skilled employees. Prison pharmacists, for instance, who had earned less than half the salaries they could get outside the system, have received 64% raises to as much as $123,936 a year.
There is little sign that the growth in the prisons budget will abate any time soon. Prison healthcare spending alone has increased 263% since 2000, to $2.1 billion a year,
Awesome pay if you work within the prison system!
They seem to cost a lot for no real societally-beneficial reason, other than the fact that people make a lot of money from it.
Military getting more applications than usual.
Another lure is the new G. I. Bill, which will significantly expand education benefits. Beginning this August, service members who spend at least three years on active duty can attend any public college at government expense or apply the payment toward tuition at a private university. No data exist yet, but there has traditionally been a strong link between increased education benefits and new enlistments.
Trading your body for knowledge.
If the military nor the corrections system interests you, like just about every other Filipino you know here in the United States, you could do nursing and head into the health care industry. That's one thing that seems to be recession-durable. One of my friends who got a Sociology degree at UC-Riverside is now on track to become a nurse. She's enrolled at Los Angeles City College. One of my b-ball friends who was going to be an electrical engineer decided to switch course and become an Licensed Vocational Nurse (LVN).
However, that's not all necessarily us.
I think most of us in PTSP, the Pilipino organization community, and UCLA generally really love what we do and what we study, which tends to be "impractical", "humanistic", "activist", social sciences stuff (or maybe that's just me), and we tend to follow just that. The job market tends not to smile down on those kind of activities.
I had thought that teaching would be a stable job. However, education across the board K-16 has been ravaged with LAUSD was on the verge of laying-off 2,300 teachers. Teachers! The people actually in the classroom dealing with boogery, smelly little kids. One of my cuzzos, an LAUSD teacher in Watts, says that the lay-offs would have been based on seniority, meaning that the younger folks would've ate the dust on this.
I've done the temp thing, which ranged from attending TV tapings in Studio City to scanning documents all the live long day. I would've loved to have kept on scanning documents for as long as I could to break out of my debts. Unfortunately, my main supervisor, who was kind of an idiot and smelled like she had 15 years of peanut-butter jelly sandwiches stapled to her ass, didn't seem to like me and launched me on my merry way.
There might be some hope within the green jobs industry. Obama's got the green thing going for him and is part of his proposed stimulus. All kinds of job-training and education should be in it. Apparently, 57,000 jobs can be created in National Parks alone. Interesting also is the fact that becoming an urban planner is a great practical job idea. I actually was on track to do that, but obviously I'm not a fan of practicality or stable jobs, so I've decided that I'm going to follow my nose to some kind of professorship or something.
In the meanwhile, it's writing grants, marketing, and doing numerous gigs.
Like the gig below:
Here is one opportunity from the US government that I myself will be taking. And it seems to pay decently.
The Bureau has set up a great website detailing the recruitment effort for Census enumerators. The Census enumerators are meant to go out into their communities and confirm the addresses of almost everyone. The pay is quite good and varies by the geographic location. Here in the San Francisco Bay Area the pay starts at $22.00 an hour.
Yeah, we all need a little paper to survive. The pool is crowded, folks might be drowning. It'd be cool if other PTSPers and other folks within the UCLA community would toss out some of those lifesavers around and yanked others out.
For added inspiration and to close this post out, ladies and gentlemen, Vlade Divac.
Thursday
Help Support my Lil Sister, a PTSP-bred Designer
My lil sister is a 3rd year environmental engineering student at UC-Riverside. When I was with PTSP, I made her the unofficial designer of all things Bayanihan.
She pimped out our logo.
and
our myspace.
and
She also busted the numerous iterations of SENT and SEND Flyers.
She inherited the part of my dad that does graphic arts.
Now she's on to big things. Her high school uses a design she originally made for T-Shirts in their centennial commemoration journals. She won a Chris Brown CD Cover Design contest. Her stuff is on his myspace.
And now, she just entered a UNESCO design competition. The task was to create a poster for International Mother Language Day on February 21st centered in Paris, France.
This is what she came up with.
I wrote the description.
This poster represents a visual interpretation of the quote "A different language is a different vision of life" described by linguists Benjamin Lee Whorf and Edward Sapir, anthropologist Franz Boas, and most popularly attributed to Italian movie director Federico Fellini. The iris represents a satellite view of planet Earth and is looking towards the background. In the background, the quote is translated into various languages spanning the global community: English, Spanish, Arabic, Chinese, French, Filipino, Italian, Japanese, Swahili, Portuguese, Greek, Russian, Romanian, and Inuit. These languages represent only a portion of the planet which reflects accordingly back on the iris; the iris contains only a partial view of planet Earth. As captured by Linguist K. David Harrison in his work "When Languages Die," "language disappearance is an erosion or extinction of ideas, of ways of knowing and ways of talking about the world and human experience." Acquisition of multiple languages enables an individual to "see the world through another's eyes." The individual is allowed a new in-"sight", a new thought, a new idea into the human condition. Without having this list of languages to look at, the iris would be staring at an empty background.
She's facing a field of 1133 other entries. If you want to help us win, you'll have to do this:
1) Go to this website.
2) Sign up (name and email)
3) Sift thru a dastardly amount of entries (1133) that are brought up in random order, paying attention when you finally do see the poster above and clicking the Green Vote button
Don't expect anyone to sit and do this because that took way too much time even for me, but just saying, just in case.
She pimped out our logo.
and
our myspace.
and
She also busted the numerous iterations of SENT and SEND Flyers.
She inherited the part of my dad that does graphic arts.
Now she's on to big things. Her high school uses a design she originally made for T-Shirts in their centennial commemoration journals. She won a Chris Brown CD Cover Design contest. Her stuff is on his myspace.
And now, she just entered a UNESCO design competition. The task was to create a poster for International Mother Language Day on February 21st centered in Paris, France.
This is what she came up with.
I wrote the description.
This poster represents a visual interpretation of the quote "A different language is a different vision of life" described by linguists Benjamin Lee Whorf and Edward Sapir, anthropologist Franz Boas, and most popularly attributed to Italian movie director Federico Fellini. The iris represents a satellite view of planet Earth and is looking towards the background. In the background, the quote is translated into various languages spanning the global community: English, Spanish, Arabic, Chinese, French, Filipino, Italian, Japanese, Swahili, Portuguese, Greek, Russian, Romanian, and Inuit. These languages represent only a portion of the planet which reflects accordingly back on the iris; the iris contains only a partial view of planet Earth. As captured by Linguist K. David Harrison in his work "When Languages Die," "language disappearance is an erosion or extinction of ideas, of ways of knowing and ways of talking about the world and human experience." Acquisition of multiple languages enables an individual to "see the world through another's eyes." The individual is allowed a new in-"sight", a new thought, a new idea into the human condition. Without having this list of languages to look at, the iris would be staring at an empty background.
She's facing a field of 1133 other entries. If you want to help us win, you'll have to do this:
1) Go to this website.
2) Sign up (name and email)
3) Sift thru a dastardly amount of entries (1133) that are brought up in random order, paying attention when you finally do see the poster above and clicking the Green Vote button
Don't expect anyone to sit and do this because that took way too much time even for me, but just saying, just in case.
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