| Friday, September 08, 2006 |
| i heart oppression |
i've been posting enuf crap about beaches and all that when at most that makes up one or two days a week so i figured i'd clue u into the other 5 when i'm on campus. Welll for starters, I'm here for a minimum of 2 years to get my masters in social work currently with a concentration working with children and families. Half of my education is in the classroom (two weeks in) and the other half is out in the field (I start next week). But yeah, of all my classes, one of my favs right now has to be social welfare policy which looks at American social welfare and policy making from a historical and a current perspective. It's my fave right now cause it's picking up where sociology left me: Reinforcing just how our world is so utterly twisted.
When money is diverted from lifesupport programs to keep the poor alive to fund new business ventures that will only benefit the well-to-do whites... When the world once again discovers that (surprise surprise) poverty does exist by watching news reports of Blacks trying to find shelter and food from the devastation that was Hurricane Katrina and having the federal government offer empty promises of aid that have yet come to fruition... when the cash needed to help Katrina victims is given right back to the rich through ridigurous tax deductions... when we look at our welfare system that punishes single moms thru the means of humiliation and degradation yet holds a blind eye to deadbeat dads who don't pay child support... when these and countless other atrocities continue to occur undetected or unpoliced and have been happening since day one... then i realize why I'm in this field. That's because I know about how twisted the world we live in is and I'm blessed (cursed) with the obligation to be an advocate of change (or status quo keeping if i don't check myself). Makes you wanna stand up and club a baby seal or better yet, your congressman.
But at the same time, and here's where I get hypocritical, this system that we live by, based on inequality, is the very system of privilege that i have used and abused to get me here up to my ivory tower where i can now post this rant. It's like I'm trying to bite the hand that's feeding me. My family has benefited from "the system" and I now live on their benefits that they have given to me. I am by no means an innocent bystander. In fact, I reinforce my own "privilege" everytime I open my mouth or type text onto the web (no not everybody has internet or a mouthpiece to speak their mind).
Room is open for comments but keep in mind that this isn't so much a thought out essay as it is me reminiscing about my social deflowering and upchucking these details to you kind folk.
Keep your eyes and ears open to what's going on around you. From Wu Tang tracks to CNN. It's all there laid out in full.
But yeah, sides from that, school is good. Opinions are diverse. People nice. Fitting in ok sides from everybody pointing out that I "talk funny". Learning O Canada in French in an attempt to avoid being assimilated. That and trying to retain my "eh" and for the hell of fulfilling Canadian stereotypes, might as well start saying "oot and aboot" (out and about) |
posted by DarrenGene @ 6:13 AM  |
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| 4 Comments: |
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i never knew the passion u had for this field till the trip. u smart man darrengene.
u HAVE to be political in this world. u can't sit back and let things go on around u with indifference. thats an injustice in itself.
go make a difference, i still think u should do the political thing man. but if u do i'll blow the whistle on u when u driving the lexus SUV.
oh, in the TO star there was this woman running for mayor of TO opting herself and encouraging all the other TO counsilors to waive the 9% increase in their yearly salary...its a start
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darren! oh my goodness i didn't you were gone until a week ago cos i was gone the whole summer! congrats for getting into masters and glad you're loving what you're doing!
- becca
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geez, i wonder what it feels like to be studying/living on an island dominated by asians and pacific islanders. oh snap, you must be experiencing what white boys experience every day!
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i read this post when u originally posted it but decided against commenting since i had nothing smart to say. as it is, it's probably too late anyway but i thought you should know that i understand completely how you feel.
for the same reasons, i entered into IDS (international development) and teaching. i see and study the many structural inequalitites that exist in our world, and it's really disheartening. the only solution really is jesus.
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i never knew the passion u had for this field till the trip. u smart man darrengene.
u HAVE to be political in this world. u can't sit back and let things go on around u with indifference. thats an injustice in itself.
go make a difference, i still think u should do the political thing man. but if u do i'll blow the whistle on u when u driving the lexus SUV.
oh, in the TO star there was this woman running for mayor of TO opting herself and encouraging all the other TO counsilors to waive the 9% increase in their yearly salary...its a start