Melissa Polinar!!

My new Pinay Sheeerrooooo!!! Peep the sister sing it!!

I Wish...

I think my most selfish of wishes would be for me to be able to read and sing...all the time...in the sun. Just a thought as I lesson plan on this rainy day in Cambridge.

Full Plate

Maybe there is a deeper meaning to the first part of my last name -Full. Maybe I was predestined to always accept so much extra responsibility that my plate would always be overflowing.

As a child, I had the tendency to have eyes bigger than my stomach. I would fill my plate because the food was just so good, then I'd have to eat it all, even if I was full.

Then, in college, I was so overloaded with extracurricular activities that I jeopardized my grades. I think I thought I was getting paid to be a student activist...yeah right.

Now, though I have learned and matured so much, I look at my plate and realize that it's overflowing. I thought I had it under control, but by the looks of the past two weeks there is food hanging off my dang plate.

Don't worry, folks, we are going to fix it. The first step is accepting your addiction, right?

I'm on my way!

Victory will be mine. hahaha.

Fire

I have an exciting update!! I can't reveal all info until it's sure, but I had to share that my blood is on fire!! A lifelong dream of mine is at my fingertips!! Whaaaaaat??!?!?!

There Goes the Neighborhood!

Lol! I was dying when I saw this picture on Angry Asian Man, of a Berenstain Bears book from back in the day called, "New Neighbors." Yellow Peril, indeed!! The other, exoticism, and tolerance all in one "First Time Books!"

I'm remember reading Berenstain Bears books but definitely don't remember this one. I wonder how I would have reacted as a child. Would I have identified with the Pandas? Would I have even noticed?

Who knows? I definitely notice now, though!

Hank Willis Thomas

Okay, okay, last blog of the day. I have to grade and plan a stupid meeting, but I was catching up on Riot in the Sky and read Sahra's entry on Hank Willis Thomas. He is ill. You have to check out his galleries called Branded and Unbranded. Great ideas and beautiful work!

Here's a taste of Branded:

Trail of Dreams

A few days ago, I attended a talk by Linda Darling Hammond, a well known educator who spoke about the changes that need to be made in education. During the question and answer period, Linda mentioned that we haven't been marching enough to make change.

While this may be true, these four young people are literally marching to D.C. to make a statement about the options and opportunities for undocumented students. They're called the Dreamwalkers. Check out this video about them (Warning: it might make you cry):

P.S.-Much more to come on the Linda Darling Hammond talks. I have to organize my copious notes.

Jose James

Is my new boo. lol. How can you not love his music?!

Made for Love, yes!

Little Bird -beauty!!

New Amerykah: Part II

I'm looking forward to hearing the tracks on the second part of New Amerykah which is being released this coming week.

Got this track of Strawberry Incense from the Black Phoenix.

Also, how can you not love the cover art?!

Home, Sweet Home

It never fails. Every time I drive into New York, whether it's on 684, the Sawmill River Parkway, or the Hutch, I feel so at home when I cross that border into New York. I know it sounds dramatic, but anytime I get close to home, I am immediately filled with a feeling of peace, even amidst the craziness and business of New York.

Damn, I love this place.

Sniff, sniff

Spring smells sooooo good!

This picture is courtesy of my sister, Juni. She took it in front of our house.

(Granted, they are from the summer, but this is what spring will bring!)

Don't Ever Forget

We need you.

Life is precious.

You are a necessary force to the world.

Without your energy, lights would be permanently extinguished.

Don't every forget,

We need you.

I love you.

Dizzy

Can I just say that watching tv makes me extremely dizzy? The girls and I were watching Project Runway and What Not to Wear today and all the sounds and images were too much for me too process. It was like being in the nosebleeds at a Celtics game -way too much going on. OMG.

Baha by Bren Bataclan

This evening I was able to attend an art exhibit at UMASS Boston called Baha by Bren Bataclan. Bren is a local Filipino American artist who created Project Smile and also runs a Filipino American book club in the area.

The focus of Baha is The Filipino floods of 2009 also known as Ondoy. His work is simple and almost childlike but I was overcome by the images and representation of Filipinos in the floods. Though his paintings are simply caricatures of Filipinos, they still made me feel at home. The familiarity of the sari sari store; Tawag - calling home from the states; Pinoys asking and helping; made me miss my family and brought a piece of my country to Boston.

Tawag

Milagro

Dasal

If you're in the area, check out the exhibit at the Harbor Gallery at UMASS Boston through April 2.

Human Seeing vs. God's Seeing

"Human seeing often destroys the mystery of the other. God's seeing creates it." -Monsignor Romano Guardini

Riot in the Sky's Oberlin Unveiling

Peep game!!

Sister Sahra just unveiled her newest work, The Oberlin Project at Oberlin this past weekend. It's a dedication to Asian America! Her work made one young woman cry! Sahra has been grinding, and though I have missed this sister's flyness and energy, the work is AMAZING!!!

Welcome back to the world, my love! haha.

Speechless

Speechlessness is a rare occasion for me.

Pam, Stephanie, and I just watched Avatar and I came out of that movie feeling straight offended.

You should have seen our dejected walk back to our apartment...sad.

The Product of Learning

This entry is probably closer to the reason why I started this blog at all.

As some of you know, I teach a participatory action research course for seniors. My students choose an individual or group research topic about a social issue affecting youth in Boston today. Once students have chosen their topics, they are required to do a five day research internship with an organization in Boston that addresses students' research interests. After their field research is done, they must come back, compute their data and write a pretty hefty research paper based on their findings.

Many of my students have chosen topics that hit extremely close to home: the impact of drugs and alcohol on teens, the impacts of alcoholism in a family, domestic violence, issues of self esteem, sex education, health, nutrition, the role of fathers, emotional and social support for students, education, the list goes on and on. In meeting with my students, I have come face to face with the reminder that I really want my students to do quality learning around the topic that they are interested with in conjunction with producing a banging paper.
Because internships will be happening this upcoming week, I have been going over research skills with my students, such as interviewing, surveying, field notes/observations, focus groups, and observations. While students have been preparing these tools, I have had the opportunity to speak with them more individually about their research interests.

While speaking to a particular student about her interest in the impact of alcoholism on the family, we were struggling to come up with whether she should stick with that issue because we were having a hard time finding her an internship that would fit the topic perfectly. As I looked at her face, full of concern, I felt that I really wanted her to be able to study that topic, even if she wasn't going to be able to get an internship that matched her topic perfectly. I wanted her to be able to know more about the situation that was/is affecting her life now.

My co-teacher and I face immense pressure to produce high quality papers that look a certain way and there are certainly moments when I'm swept away with the current of making sure each student produces this paper. In that short discussion with my student, I saw a flicker of desperation in her eyes and I recognized how important it was to her to be able to do this work. I began thinking about how she could do the research and still learn even if it didn't look like everybody else's project.

As I thought more about the conversation I had with her, I thought about each one of my students and what I want them to get out of the project. Of course I want them to acquire research skills through this project, but that's not all I want for them. The most important goal that I can't forget is that they understand themselves in the world by doing research around their respective issues. In addition to a strong sense of self, I hope that my students will have a better understanding of justice and the way systems operate so that they can develop healthy habits for working and negotiating successfully in the world. I hope our time together will get them closer to where they need to be.

Rev & Rebuild

About a month ago, Ambrose and I organized a potluck at the crib to raise money for Partners in Health in Haiti. We were able to raise $400 because of the generosity of our guests. Shortly thereafter, one of our friends said that her company would match our donation up to $1000. When I shared this information, we decided we would try to raise the full $1000.

This weekend, Frantz, Breezy, and I hosted Rev & Rebuild,

a spoken word event to raise money for Partners in Health in Haiti. We chose the title Rev & Rebuild because Rev means Dream in Haitian Creole and while we want to be able to dream big for the country, we also want our dreams to be followed by real, actual rebuilding.

Boston Progress was kind enough to let us use their space, we had amazing local artists perform their work, and we had beautiful guests. We have to send HUGE thank you's to the following performers who helped make this happen:

Camille

Ani

Monsurat

Mallory

Eric

Pushkar

• Lizzie, and
• Frantz (can he thank himself?)

Because of the collective love, we were able to raise over $600 from the small event! We will be making that $2000 donation, thank you very much.

Here are some photos from both the potluck and Rev & Rebuild (courtesy of Julio!):

Potluck Love

Potluck Organizers

Rev & Rebuild Crowd

Rev & Rebuild Organizers

Salamat, fam!

Soul Fire

Don't you know your sisters always come through for you? Even from far away, they come along and plop some sweet reminder of your humanity into your lap just when you need it. Sister Cristina is in Mexico right now with the family and hit me with some Soul Fire:

by standing on her own

a woman finds happiness

by standing on her own

a woman finds freedom

by standing on her own

she goes beyond the world

by standing on her own

she finds the end of the way

mastery always comes naturally

to the woman who is wise and loves herself

the woman who knows the truth

is never unhappy in the world

i sit in my own radiance and i have no fear

- ashtavakra gita, an ancient sanskrit sacred text

It's funny, because last night I had a dream about one of my students and in the dream, I asked her if she was dating x. When I saw her after school today, I told her about my dream. When she heard, she immediately put her head in her hands and proceeded to tell me about all the drama that had been going on with her and x. From there, two other students got involved in the discussion and we talked about the need to develop self and the ability to be with happy with one's self, especially before entering into any type of relationship.

The students seemed open to having more regular discussions about these issues. I should set something up because if they're open, that means they want it, they want to know and learn about how to be themselves and how and when to be with someone.

There's always something to work with.

Thank goodness.