Green Cards and Poverty

Every now and then, I have a freak out about income inequality and poverty in the United States.  Today, my freak out was brought upon by the loss of my green card.  The green card gives me the right to leave and return to America, gain residency, obtain employment and attend school.  I am aware that the ownership of one of these flimsy, plastic cards gives me many privileges but today I am exasperated about it.

I misplaced my card, which you think would be like losing any other ID card (or even a passport).  You would think that I could send in a form to renew the card, probably dial a telephone to report it lost/stolen and then move on with my life. Well, unfortunately to renew the card costs over $400 dollars, and the form to report the card missing or stolen is the same form that requires that you send money to get a new green card.

Now, I am fortunate in many, many ways.  However, I don't have an extra $400 dollars laying around that I can throw at the government to replace my card.  This month I have to renew my car tabs ($75.00), get an oil change ($40 - unless I find someone to do it for me), get an emissions test, pay my car insurance ($500 - luckily already paid), get my car a tune-up (because I think something is wrong with my car).  I have spent almost the whole summer saving up for my semester in Chicago so that I am not dead broke the whole time I am there...and now I have to spend a good chunk of my savings on replacing a plastic card.  How frustrating.

Yet again, I want to reiterate how lucky I am to be fortunate enough to own a car, and have a green card.  However, there are many people within America who are not as fortunate as I am, and it doesn't come from a lack of drive to succeed.  I was thinking today about how a trip to the hospital emergency room can run upwards of $1000, and people who most often have trouble paying for their medical treatments are also poor.  While someone who is wealthier, and can afford insurance (and has it available for cheaper through their jobs) can walk in and pay a small copay, and the great health insurance they have can cover most of the bill.  In this type of situation, the poor always lose.

So, in honor of those frustrated (and affected) by income inequality in America, here's a few good links:
It's the Inequality, Stupid - a set of graphs from the lovely people at Mother Jones magazine
"Shadowy Lines That Still Divide" - an introduction to the Class Matters series from the New York Times
Homepage for the Class Matters Series - New York Times
Class Matters: Where Do You Fit In? - An Interactive Graph on Class
Highlights from Census Data about Poverty in the U.S.
State/County Maps of Percentage of People in Poverty

As you can see, three of those links come from the Class Matters series from the New York Times.  I was fortunately first exposed to this in class by Professor McGowan when we purchased the book version of the series for a unit on class in contemporary America.  It's a great book that everyone should read.  Since I know that people are lazy, and probably won't look up the book, here's a link : Class Matters on Amazon.com

Now, I think I can sleep well.  Good night!
p.s. Vancouver was awesome, a post to come tomorrow about how I had such a great time! :)

  

Vancouver, Fiscal Responsibility and Van

Today, I am heading to Vancouver with Audrey!  We are taking the road trip up to the "True North, strong and free" to visit Andie after she wraps from her latest film project.  Most likely, we will spend the weekend barhopping and enjoying the lovely streets of Vancouver.  The photograph above is from the America side of the Canada-US border in Blaine, Washington.  It's a HUGE sculpture that was commissioned by the government and resembles the billboards that are also in the area.  When you're waiting to cross back into America at some angles the sculpture captures the beauty of Boundary Bay. If you're curious at how beautiful Boundary Bay is, here's an example:

Photograph found on Flickr - "Boundary Bay" by Kristen Wegener

I am really excited to be in Canada, because the three of us are going to have so much fun.  Audrey and I are going to have a few "free" hours before Andie has the ability to leave her film production stuff, so I am thinking that we might do a few really fun things.

First off, we are going to do some shopping (after a pre-shopping cocktail, of course).  The prices in Canada are by no means cheaper, but as all ladies can attest shopping in a different city is really fun because the merchandise can be really different!  Wish me luck on finding some new stuff to wear! I think also, I am going to see if Audrey wants to go on a tour of the Granville Island Brewery.  Tours happen three times daily, it costs $9.75 and you get three delicious samples!

If it's nice out, I kind of want to head down to Stanley Park and check out the Totem Poles and sit in the sunshine.  Maybe we'll have a dinner picnic! Here's another picture I found on Flickr of Stanley Park by David Chung:

I am really excited to see what this weekend brings!  I am really excited to have some time with two of my best friends in the world. :)

In other news, here is an infographic that popped up on my Facebook news feed today, which compares the government spending between the Bush administration and the Obama administration.  Essentially, this graph blows the fallacy out of the water that Republicans are "fiscally responsible" and "run the government like a business."

One last thing to add to this ridiculously long blog post: Van Morrison's "Sweet Thing"

"This Is Where I Leave You" by Jonathan Tropper

A few weeks ago, I was skyping with Patty and she told me that I should really look up this book that she just read.  She said that she really liked it, and thought that maybe Hannah (we were also skyping with her) and I would really enjoy it.  Well, she was right.

The book, written by Jonathan Tropper is hilraious and also has some of the most realistic, and funny characters that I have read in a long time.  The book centers around the story of Judd Foxman, a man who has discovered that his wife has been having a year-long affair with his boss.  This life-changing moment results in Judd becoming jobless, living in a stingy basement, all while simultaneously hating his life. When his father dies, the family returns to their childhood home to sit Shiva which is a Jewish mourning tradition where the family must stay put in their house for seven days while the rest of the community comforts them with food and abundant visits. The kicker, Judd's dad was an atheist.

The book takes place during those seven days, while Judd is attempting to deal with the shambles that have been left behind from his former life. The book is very easy to read while also being well written (a combination that is hard to find these days).  I really enjoyed this book, and if anyone is compelled to pick up this book...I'm sure you will enjoy it too! :)

I wish I could ignore John Boehner

Here are two reasons that I wish I could ignore John Boehner:

1. YOU ARE A PART OF "WASHINGTON", you're in the House for Christ's sake. Not only are you a representative for the House, you are the Speaker of the House! Funny how a man who talks so much crap on the people in Washington who are supposedly responsible for this political clusterfuck (which to him apparently is obviously not the Republican party), gave his speech at the Capitol.
2. He only talks about politics in a way in which is similar to pop-psychology.  Quit using cliche phrases, and learn how to speak in public (perhaps take a cue from President Obama).

In other news, Oslo has had an awful terrorist attack, famine is being declared in Somalia (and a severe food shortage is happening elsewhere in Africa), and Amy Winehouse is dead.

The only thing that has made me happy today (other than a lovely weekend in Portland with Jenna and Hannah) is this version of Queen's "Somebody to Love" in which George Michael is singing lead for Queen.  This was for Freddie Mercury's tribute concert at Wembly Stadium in London.  Here it is:

Christopher Walken Reads "Three Little Piggies"

In light of this awesome video of Christopher Walken reading "Three Little Piggies," I am going to write about my night yesterday.  So, every year my ex-boss (who is wonderful and great!) has a camp for the kids that used to go to the daycare when I worked there regularly, and this year she asked me to work the last day of camp this week which was a sleepover at Camp Long. We had SO much fun, and it was so nice to see all of the kids again.

Other than that, I am enjoying the rainy in July weather that Seattle has provided recently, and am using it to my full advantage to catch up on laundry. :)

Crafty Sunday

Hey! For the very, very few readers out there - I would like to report that tomorrow, I am going to spend all day crafting. Today, I spent the whole day reorganizing, cleaning and rearranging my room. It took a lot of energy, but I have really enjoyed the subtle changes to my room!

Earlier tonight, I spent the night looking for posters online. This sounds a lot easier than it really was. It was initially so frustrating that I even made a facebook status about it, which reads: "Purchasing nice posters for the walls in my room is harder than you'd think. I don't want a Keep Calm and Carry On poster, nor do I want a poster with two half naked women kissing, and again I don't want the rules to beer pong on my wall. Is there some kind of something that is better than that? Oh, and I forgot. I don't want a life size poster of Justin Beiber either."  I think you understand my problem.  Well, a friend of mine commented on it and made me aware that I can turn pictures of mine into posters if I'm not digging what the online poster retailer is offering.  So, now I need to take a pretty picture.  

After searching for posters for what seemed like an eternity, I thought that maybe I could head over to Pintrest and check out what's going on there to see if there was anything pretty and cheap I could put on my walls.  Even though I didn't see anything, there were these super cute stackable DIY bracelets that also looked super easy to make.  Downstairs in my basement, I have some jewelry making supplies - so I might check that out tomorrow as well.

I hope everyone else (or the one and a half people who read this) have a good Sunday!

Michael Jackson and Mr. T

I was talking to a friend of mine the other day about situations in which a person's true character is shown.  I decided that there are three times when a person's true nature is ultimately revealed : when they are with their mother, when they are sick and when they have a crappy or rude server at a restaurant.

In another lifetime

...this would have been my theme song. :)