I Come From Foreign

Today, immigrants all over the United States are marching for “immigrant rights.”

Now I don’t play to know too much about this topic. I’ve always been here as a legal permanent resident and a green card pretty much entitles you to all the rights of a citizen besides voting and obtaining a U.S. passport.

So my first thought when hearing about May Day was: Who are these immigrants?

• Are they people like me, here legally, and just feel like they’re being mistreated?
• Are they mad because they’re trying to bring their families to the U.S. and can’t?
• Or are they foreigners here illegally who feel like they’re being mistreated and don’t see why they shouldn’t have the rights of U.S. citizens?

My second question, which followed directly from the first, was: What are immigrant rights?

If you’re illegal, is it the right…

• To attend school?
• To be treated in an emergency room?
• To obtain a driver’s license?
• To work legally or for a fair wage?
• To obtain citizenship?

If you’re legal, are you protesting against…

• Racial profiling?
• Discrimination?
• Something else?

Well, it seems like it’s a bit of this and a bit of that and there are at least some people fighting for every one of the above somewhere.

As an immigrant in the U.S., I guess I’ve been living a bit of a charmed life.

I’ve never felt discriminated against as such. I don’t think being Chinese-Trinidadian has ever been held against me. I’ve certainly never been raided by ICE. Sure, people don’t look at me as an “American,” but like I’ve said before, Americans don’t seem to think anyone who isn’t white or black is “American” regardless of their immigration status. I mean, think of what the term “All-American” stands represents. Not me. And it won’t represent my potential, future U.S.-born kids either. No law is going to change that, I feel.

I’ve met so many people with the skills, talent, and motivation that America needs to thrive and grow and they fought (and are fighting) so hard to stay in this country and contribute. Let me tell you, it’s a real crap shoot. I’ve met so many people with the skills, talent, and motivation that America needs to thrive and grow who eventually gave up and moved back home because they just couldn’t find a legal way to stay.

Probably the biggest argument against illegal immigrants is the economic strain they put on the U.S.–their children take up seats in public classrooms, they use emergency rooms as primary care facilities, they take away jobs from legal citizens.

Ok. I get that.

But here’s my thing. The U.S. kind of has its hands tied when it comes to the illegal immigrants, who number around 12 million or so, that are already in the country. They’re not leaving on their own. Kicking them out one by one is an effort in futility that will probably cost more money than the “strain” they’re putting on the economy. Why not just make them citizens, collect their damn taxes, and call it george?

No one wants to reward bad behavior (i.e. illegally entering the country) but I’m not talking principles here. I’m talking economics.

If they’re already here…

If they’re already using our resources…

If they’re not paying for them through taxes…

If sending them back home is not a viable option…

If you can make them law-abiding tax-paying citizens, thereby reducing the strain on the economy…

Well then, why not?

Again, I’m no immigration expert and I’m no economist and I know it’s not the solution to everything, but doesn’t it at least kind of make sense?

More than coming up with solutions, I’m really just asking questions here. Feel free to discuss amongst yourselves.

MARK RONSON!!!!!

Coach-HELL-YEH!! Well let me tell you. I was like country come to town yesterday at Coachella.

LOVED IT!

It was such an awesome set-up and so well done. Five stages, light shows, out-there (in a good way) art installations, billowing tents, and everything all pretty and designy-looking. SO PRETTY. There was this whole area of jewel-toned tents made of a parachute-like material and I swear it was an Aladdin-themed Bouncy Castle for adults.

I tried to play it cool (like I play everything, natch) but I just haven’t been exposed enough. I can’t lie. I was just so happy to be there that honestly it didn’t even matter at first if I actually got to see anybody play. I was just in it and content. For once I was in it! Oh I mean I know it’s a big hipster scene and I forgot to wear my leather headband so maybe I wasn’t as cool as some of the other people there but I wasn’t playin’ my outsider crap for once and it was good.

Anyway, I didn’t get to see everybody or as much of the people I wanted to (them’s the breaks) but here’s who I did get to check out:

• Boys Noise: Man, the music was just calling us! We were watching MGMT but it was waaay too crowded and it’s just not cool to be so close to people when it’s 100 degrees out (human smells no good) so we followed the beat to Boys Noise and they rocked it out. Don’t know much about electronic music (not my favourite) but they knew how to pump up the crowd and put on a good show. Well done.
• Hot Chip: More electronic music. I was pleasantly surprised at how melodic they were though. Definitely good party tunes.
• Craftwork Kraftwerk: Apparently, they’re gods. You can definitely hear their influence in Daft Punk but their pace is slower and maybe a little bit more reflective? German? I’m no expert but that’s my two cents. Two thumbs up.
• Mark Ronson: Definitely my highlight of the night! One of the reasons is that we were so close to the stage so the vibes were strong and he was just rockin’ it out. (Did you see the kick-ass pic from the bf above? INSANE! He’s a cutie, right?) The first song he played was Toxic and then RhymeFest joined him on stage and he really got me jumpin up and down and whoopin and yelling. Unfortunately, someone else we really wanted to see was on at the exact same time so we only got to hear wo songs before we moved on to…
• MIA: Man, I wished we had been there earlier (although I don’t think I would have given up seeing Mark Ronson). Her tent was soooo crowded that honestly it was a little hard to get the full power of the music but from the looks of the crowd she did it up right.
• Portishead: So many people seem to worship this group and I never really got it. I mean, all I knew really was that one song from like 10 years ago that went big (Nobody loves me) so i was really curious to take a good listen and see what the fuss was about. OMG Beth Gibbons has the most hauntingly beautiful voice I have heard in a long time. She is mesmerisingly good. I want to be her.
• Prince: The headliner! This was another bit of disappointment as we left about two songs into the set to beat the crowds. Hey when you’ve been sitting in the sun for 8 hours and have to drive 2 more to get home sometimes you have to make sacrifices. It is what it is. I can’t say too much since I really didn’t get to hear enough but I’m sure he rocked it out good and hard.

So all in all it was an amazing first outdoor concert/ music festival experience. I absolutely cannot wait for next year. Maybe I’ll get lucky and they’ll have a reggae-type artist on the line-up.

Oh!!! And lest I forget, celebrities for DAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAYS. I didn’t take pictures of any of them. I’m too much of a coward to try to sneak shots and way too cool (ha ha) to actually acknowledge them by asking to take their pictures.

Seriously, though, it was a lot of fun checking up on D-Listed and Perez today so I could be like: I saw her! I saw him! For those of you who care, here’s who crossed my path:

• Kelly Osbourne (really pretty, actually)
• Dita Von Teese (petite, looks like 12)
• Brody Jenner (douchie but cute)
• Nicole Richie (a bone twig)
• Joel Madden
• Rachel Hunter (not bad for an old chick, says the bf)
• THE HOFFFFF
  (suuuuuuuuper tall)
• Melanie Griffith
• Dude from Flight of the Conchords (complete with tourist-esque bermuda shorts, v-neck t, and straw hat)
• Machel? I could have sworn I saw him… anybody knows if he was there?

Update: Best Week Ever thinks I’m awesome

You guys, I’m bursting with national pride right now. Now I’m always up to pointing out whenever a Trini breaks through the rank and file to make it big. But this time it’s super big.

Davan Maharaj named managing editor of the L.A. Times

(read it here)

Of course, this is close to my heart. I had dreams of such a title back in undergrad days as reporter, assistant news editor, news editor, and managing editor of the Miami Hurricane. Too bad I burned out senior year and decided that I was anti-newspaper journalism.

Yeah, that was around the time I got called out ON MY BIRTHDAY AND WE WERE UNDER HURRICANE WARNING to cover the death of a freshman and interview his family.

Or maybe it was 9/11 when everyone was freaking out and I had to be the insensitive nosy reporter going up to everyone and their mother asking, “How does this make you feel?”

Or maybe it was after I started getting harassing phone calls because we published a story on some dumb frat boys who did something (surprise!) really dumb…

But mostly it was because I just knew I couldn’t keep up that kind of daily pace and make a living out of invading other people’s lives. Academia turned out to be more my thang.

Nonetheless, I will always have the utmost admiration for the journalists out there who have the balls to investigate the big stories and get doors slammed in their faces and fight for the truth.

I believe in the ideals. The reality was just not for me.

Anyway.

So now that I hear a fellow Trini has been named managing editor of one of the most prominent regional newspapers in the country, my cup runneth over with kudos and good will.

Congrats Davan! I can only imagine the blood, sweat, and tears (and talent) it took to get this far.

Maybe I can hit you up for a job someday. We Trinis hadda stick together, right?

Here’s an excerpt from the article announcing the news, showing the Davan’s impressive work trajectory:

Maharaj, 45, has worked as a reporter for The Times in Orange County, Los Angeles and East Africa. His six-part series “Living on Pennies,” in collaboration with Times photographer Francine Orr, won the 2005 Ernie Pyle Award for Human Interest Writing and inspired readers to donate tens of thousands of dollars to aid agencies working in Africa.

Another Maharaj story, an investigative report about a Leisure World attorney who inherited millions of dollars in stock, land and other “gifts” from his clients, led to changes in California probate law.

Maharaj has been an assistant foreign editor and, in Business, served as a deputy editor before assuming leadership of the department last year.

During Maharaj’s tenure, the Business section revamped its coverage to give greater emphasis to consumer issues. It also redesigned its Sunday section to focus on personal finances.

A native of Trinidad, Maharaj holds a political science degree from the University of Tennessee and a master’s degree in law from Yale University.

“Anyone who has worked closely with Davan knows him as a passionate advocate for good stories, and for the people who work hard to produce them,” Stanton said in his memo.

I don’t really buy into the it’s hip to be green movement.

I just didn’t grow up that way.

I mean don’t get me wrong, we didn’t waste. And if living in foreign has taught me anything, it is that America at its core is a wasteful society of disposable one-off things.

So in Trinidad, I grew up green in my own way: eating leftovers, getting things repaired instead of buying new ones, never throwing anything away. EVER. Hey, you never know…

My parents have storerooms of ‘you never know’ type junk. Actually, I think my parents JUST replaced the tv we bought when I was about 8 for a new model LAST YEAR.

Where I’m from, being wasteful is very much frowned upon.

Waste not, want not, and all.

Now that’s my idea of green livin’.

But being green in the U.S. is a different story it seems.

I feel like so much of it is just hype, a passing trend, and I’m pretty sure if I dug deeper into the whole thing (but I’m too lazy–if I wasn’t I’d recycle, no) I’d find that a lot of these so-called green companies are just as bad for the environment as the traditional ones.

I’m editing a book on social enterprise right now that introduced me to the concept of Cause Marketing–basically, aligning your company with a “cause” so as to engender good will and increase sales.

It’s bunch of BS, really. (see big bad Walmart goes green while dicking employees out of health insurance*)

Go read consumerist.com. They out these so-called socially responsible companies on a daily basis.

Anyway, whatever. No more rant.

It’s Earth Day, apparently.

(for realz, check it out)

And while I’m not “green” per se, I am anti-waste.

So what have I done for the earth lately?

Well, I shredded about a month’s worth of junk mail this morning and I kind of felt bad.

I thought that for the most part I had eliminated my paper trail and transitioned to online statements, etc, but some companies haven’t really gotten the message.

Especially, BofA who sends me my bank statement IN BRAILLE every month. Whut?!

So… here’s my teeny eensy way of “making a difference” and “saving myself the trouble of shredding crap.”

I’m actually going to make the effort to call these companies [I hate phones so this is a really big thing you guys] who aren’t listening to me and demand they stop wasting paper and sending me useless junk. And I shall keep on demanding until they listen.

Hey, it’s something. Everything counts right? I, too, can make a difference.

Oh, and here’s an anti-junk mail petition you can sign. Off you go.

Join me and the anti-waste movement! What are you not wasting today?

*After the overwhelming public outcry Walmart dropped the suit against its brain-damaged employee but that’s not the point. Dude, what were they thinking?