Yet again I’ve found myself unable to post with much regularity, but I’m still emailing myself tidbits that I think are worthy of mention. There has been some interesting media work/commentary on immigration over the last few weeks, such as this onion video and a funny blog post about a newly released book (that is somewhat less funny). And there was lots of excitement this year surrounding the April 1st opening of the H-1B visa numbers; a good friend who is still in immigration law worked tremendously hard over the last couple weeks in order to ensure that all her applications were received by the USCIS on the first possible day. And don’t quote me on this, but I think she said that 130,000 applications were received (for the 65,000 or so slots) on the first two days? That’s intense.
In other news, I’ve been spending a good deal of time with a smart and savvy photographer, Ida. A fellow workaholic, full of energy, she’s got a ton of interesting projects in the works, from documenting fair trade cooperatives (coffee in Guatemala, tea in India) to punk rock shows. She’ll be taking the Human Rights and Media course with me this summer, in Brazil. We like her.
It’s been a bad couple weeks for immigration, between the publicity over the Canadian boy locked up, the New Bedford raid, and Operation ‘Return to Sender.’
But, as usual, Brazil can be trusted for good news. President Lula has suggested a “National Day Against Hypocrisy” in sex education. Amazing.
And on a more personal note, I’m in love with my new free trial of SpinVox.
Perhaps not everyone dislikes having to listen to voicemail as much as I do, but the fact that I can now receive my messages, transcribed, in my email (or, let’s not lie, on my blackBerry) in about a minute’s time is nothing short of brilliant. It’s starting to freak my friends/family out, but I’ve yet to customize my greeting ’cause I love the British lady’s voice. Hehe.
I’ve been reading the news a lot more over the last couple weeks, partly for work but also out of personal interest. I’ve signed for a slew of listservs and set up various RSS feeds, and I really enjoy feeling like I have a bit of a clue what’s going on in the world. A good deal of what I’m reading is used for job purposes, but there are things I’ve come across that I feel warrant discussion but for which I don’t have an appropriate venue – other than my blog.
So, here are a couple things I came across this week:
IMMIGRATION
There was an article in the New York Times today about various people who have come to the US on the guest worker program, but who have found that what was promised to them has not been delivered. Having been subjected to abusive conditions on top of a lack of work, they’re suing.
Last week, a group of Republicans at NYU staged a very distasteful game of “Catch the Illegal Immigrant,” amid protests.
HIV/AIDS
There was a lot of discussion this week about curing HIV with herbal remedies. I admittedly have some ideas about the functioning of the human body that many would consider overly new-age, but was still struck by the fact that, two days ago, Gambian President Yahya Jammeh went so far as to order a UN representative to leave the country for expressing disbelief of his claim of a cure.
And today, it was reported that clinical trials run in Zambia did not substantiate the assertion of an herbal cure, though research is ongoing.
HUMAN RIGHTS
HR is such a very big, all-encompassing term.
This week I encountered a couple things concerning LGBT rights that were particularly striking.
- First, a 72-year-old gay man was beaten to death this month in Michigan.
- Second, it seems Cuba is well ahead of US with respect to outlawing discrimination based on sexual orientation.
And finally, last week (on Presidents’ Day) was the 65th anniversary of the order that forced 110,00 Japanese Americans into ‘internment’ camps during WWII. I had the opportunity to write about that here.
Hope the news is more cheerful next week
that i’m going to Brazil over the summer, as I turned in the non-refundable deposit for the class today. I leave June 15, and will be there just over a month, both studying and traveling.
Here’s the link to last year’s program. It promises to be amazing.
And, my airfare-shopping obsession aside, I have to admit I’m ridiculously excited about having to get a visa for another country. I’ve traveled, but never outside of the 24 visa-waiver countries. And I’ve spent months of my life doing work-visa applications for other people…but now it’s my turn to go to a Consulate for myself. I think the fact that I’m thrilled about this makes me a geek.
