Why the "birther" phenomenon is racism.

I know you just rolled your eyes, and thought, "Everyone is a little bit racist. I do not want to listen to Alexis tell me why this is racism just because the president is black, because black people can be racist too."

Individual racism is not the issue that I am talking about. I think everyone should take the time to realize their biases and work to see people as people (No, I am not saying be "colorblind" that in itself is racism. People are proud of their heritages, and it is okay to see that. This is all another topic for another time, so moving on....) The point is I am NOT talking about individual racism.

First a lesson in White Privilege, (here is wiki's explanation) and Institutional Racism.

WHITE PRIVILEGE:

What is the white privilege? It is that the "white" culture is seen as the norm. If it is normal to be white then you have power of invisibility. That is not to say no one notices you, but more no one notices your race. Everything you do and succeed at is attributed to you personally, and everything you fail at is attributed to you personally.

Here are a few examples:

• When you are asked to describe yourself do you ever say "I am white."? Or is that not something that you feel identifies you because you do not understand that there is a white culture. When people ask who I am. I am always a Latina. It defines me, and I am proud of it, but it marks me as different from the "normal" culture. 

• When you get a job no one is going to say it is because the company had to meet their "quota." It is going to be because you were qualified, and the best fit.  Like the countless people that say, "Obama only won because he was black, and had the black vote." 

• It is the fact that donkey-punchers (the tea-party) could march around the capital with guns, and no one care. If any minority group did that they would automatically be seen as a threat, but the tea-party was seen as patriotic. How wonderful! 

• A personal example of "white" being seen as "right": When I was younger and someone would ask about my heritage (this happened more often than you think). I would say, "I am Mexican," and 90%(Remember I grew up in South Weber, Ut) of the time this person would respond back and say, "Cool! I am American." I would then say, "I am American too!"I was completely shocked that this person thought I was Mexican while they were American. We were all American, but my ancestry came from Mexico (Utah, Texas, Colorado, California, Arizona.... ya know, Mexico!), and theirs came from somewhere in Europe. They some how thought they were more American than me because my skin was brown, and my last name was Lopez. That was because an American to them was a white, middle class, christian..... person **cough, man, cough**(let's not kid ourselves). 

INSTITUTIONAL RACISM:

This goes hand in hand with white privilege....

Examples:

• It is the simple fact that Black and Latino males are 2-3 times more likely to have their cars stopped and searched, but white men are 4 times as likely to have the "stuff" in their car. 

• There was a study where job applicants with "white-sounding" names were 50% more likely to get called back than job applicants with "black-sounding" names. Even though everything else on the resume was the exact same. 

• White males with a high school diploma just as likely as black and latino males with a college degree to have a job. 

I will not drag on for too long, about the definitions. I am sure you get it.

I am hoping you can connect the dots, and see why all this birther stuff was really racism, but if not I am going to tell you why, so don't worry.

We have a black president whose name is Barack Hussein Obama, and black is not perceived as American, or successful, and his name does not sound "American" **cough, white, cough**.  So how would a political foe get others to fear him? Easy, all they have to do is use what is already engrained into people's minds, and enhance this fear. Ask yourself, why no other president was harassed and asked to show his birth certificate countless times. Ask yourself why a president would continue to be harassed  even after he did show it. If you don't see white privilege, and institutional racism as the answers then please explain it to me, because it is all I can see.

I apologize that this is a rambled mess of thoughts, but I am frustrated right now, and it is hard to gather all my thoughts. This has bugged me for a long time, and I think I am about to explode.

A book review that quickly became a self-evaluation.

A little bit of a backstory: I have been reading Dan Brown's Lost Symbol, and I want to kill myself. I do not know why I thought picking up a Dan Brown novel was a good idea. Can I even call it a novel? I guess it technically is, but a more appropriate term for it is garbage. I hate his writing style, and the "voice" of his book. If I ever saw him I would call him a pretentious douche, and explain to him that I don't need his characters thoughts in italics especially since most of those thoughts I can assume. Every time I see those italics, I want to scream, "Dan Brown you aren't a genius, and I am not THAT stupid."   He is now second, behind Stephenie Meyer, on the list of authors I want to punch in the face. Thinking about how much I hate this book made me want to write a blog, on an actual novel. I will give you one guess...

East of Eden 

John Steinbeck

If you haven't read it, read it,

and if you have read it, read it again, 

and again, and again, and .... 

A quick review: East of Eden is another book by John Steinbeck about the Salinas Valley, but quite possibly the most important one. As the title suggests it has a Biblical theme, but the overall theme is the battle between good and evil. It takes the Biblical story of Cain and Abel, and portrays it in two different sets of brothers, but unlike the Biblical story it shows you the effect on the other characters, and you get to know the "Cain and Abel" characters much better.  My personal favorite parts of the story are when Lee, Samuel, and Adam are discussing the story of Cain and Abel, and when they come back to it years later. It is beautiful, and brings up the most important lesson of the book, that evil can be overcome because "thou mayest."

The other day I was thinking about that discussion, and something besides the lesson of being able to conquer evil stood out to me. It was a few of Lee's other comments that stood out, and his process in understanding those 16 verses in Genesis.

In their first discussion Lee is interested in, yet confused by the story of Cain and Abel. He tries to understand, but still one part doesn't make sense to him, so he studies it. He looks at different translations, and eventually goes to his family association in San Fran where he asks 4 sages, and they ponder on it for years, hire a rabbi, and learn Hebrew. They are very engulfed in their Chinese tradition, but are still curious about these verses.  When they feel good and ready they translate those 16 verses word for word.

Lee is explaining this process during their second discussion and Samuel asks, "Do you then not think this is a divine book written by the inky finger of God?" and he responds, "I think the mind that could think this story was a curiously divine mind. We have had a few such minds in China too."

Lee then explains to Adam and Samuel what they found, and at the end of his explanation and his praises of these verses, Adam asks "Do you mean these Chinese men believe the Old Testament?" Lee responds, "These old men believe a true story, and they know a true story when they hear it. They are critics of truth. They know that these sixteen verses are a history of humankind in any age or culture or race...." He then goes on to say one of the greatest quotes in East of Eden, "... And I feel that I am a man. And I feel that man is a very important thing--- maybe more important than a star. This is not theology.  I have no bent toward gods. But I have a new love for that glittering instrument, the human soul. It is a lovely and unique thing in the universe. It is always attacked and never destroyed---- because 'Thou mayest.'"

I love that Lee, a man who has recently found himself becoming more engulfed in the Chinese tradition, and the Sages can look at something that doesn't come from their history, and see truth in it. I love that Lee praises the individual human, and sees the beauty in them. I want to be like Lee in these aspects. I want to be able to look at different cultures/beliefs and see the beauty in them instead of just what I perceive to be "wrong."

Isn't that what we should all strive for? I look at different cultures, and see this same lesson. Some of them show it better than others....

• In India the word, "Namaste" is used as a common greeting. This means, "The divinity in me respects the divinity in you." How beautiful that they use this word that represents seeing people in such a light. 
• Christ taught that the second greatest commandment is to love your neighbor as yourself. 
• Confucius said "Never impose on others what you would not choose for yourself." 
• The Qur'an says, "The most righteous of men is the one who is glad that men should have what is pleasing to himself, and who dislikes for them what is for him disagreeable." 

It is "The Golden Rule" and is literally in every belief or culture. It is a truth that has lived on in every way of life, so it must be extremely important, if not the most important truth. 

All this thinking has led me to analyze my life to see if I am applying this to it, or not. I am going to work much harder, and maybe I should start by saying, "Dan Brown and Stephenie Meyer, I may not enjoy your writing, but many other people do, and I am glad that you are helping people learn to love to read because that is important." 

Side note: The blogger clothing challenge will start the first week of May. Unless somehow "No" starts winning on the poll. 

Dan^2 Clothing Challenge

In my Honeymoon & Wedding post, I listed some of the discoveries of married life. One was that Dan and I have so many matching clothes that we could probably wear the exact same or very similar thing for at least a month. That got me curious about how long we could actually go, and maybe it got you a little curious also. I posted a poll question in the right side of this blog, and am curious as to if you would like "A Convenient Truth" to participate in a Dan^2 matching challenge. If you want our daily matching to be documented and blogged then vote for it, and if you would absolutely hate seeing that then vote the other way. Thanks!

Softball Shirts!

The little boy!

When Chaz and I met. 

We decided we must have this puppy!

Dan playing with Chaz in my parents backyard. 

At Dan's SLC apartment

Playing with Noah

He wanted to become a true aggie

as big of a basketball fan as anyone

Saddest day of his male life. 

trying to be trendy

all dressed up 

the first time he ever jumped on the bed. 

Christmas sweater. 

Sleeping cutie. 

Being bored with his mama in Denver. 

Unemployment, Chaz, Blogs, Sweatpants, and The View.

I love Denver, but boy am I bored.

I need a job ASAP. Sad thing is that would require me to stop being lazy and start applying/looking. My goal is to get started this weekend. Right now, I am adjusting to married life aka procrastinating. Thinking of the process of finding and landing a job isn't too appealing, but a job is appealing, so I guess I will have to suck it up. I'll let you know when that sucking up actually happens.

Chaz is boring! He sleeps all day long. Okay, so it is probably ME that is boring, and we don't have a yard for him to run in, but seriously he needs to keep me entertained during the day.  He is either sleeping on the couch or in the bed. Ridiculous! Yes, I am secretly jealous.

What do I do with my boring life? I wake up at 7(I am crazy),  stay in my sweatpants all day, read countless blogs, and watch The View (I missed it today, and it made my whole day a little bit worse).  Am I cooking  dinner, so Dan has a warm meal to come home to after a long hard day at work? No way!  I would trade him places any day, so instead I let him cook the dinner.

That is my blog for today. I will just add that I hate Utah, and am glad I left. I hope that bugged people even more. I think I will just end every blog the same way from now on, and here is that ending....

Happily not in Utah.
Alexis

PS If I ever start a blog dedicated to Dan and I's married life (.005% chance of this happening) then that will be the name.

Utah! What a great place to NOT be!

It has been a little over two weeks since I moved out of Utah, and I couldn't be happier. Do I miss some people? Yes, but I would rather be missing those people then in that state, and this is all coming from a Mormon. Utah has 5 things better than any other place in the world... Drew, Koa, Noah, Buggy, and Isaiah, and they will make it so I go visit (and the rest of my family and friends too ;)).

Here are the top ten reasons why I am glad to have finally ditched the Beehive state.

10- Movies! I will no longer have to wait an extra month to see movies like Milk (this came out in theaters in Logan one week before it came out on dvd, and I am being 100% honest), or be completely censored from movies like The Kids are Alright, and Rabbit Hole (I don't understand this one, but whatever).  I will also no longer have to worry about seeing these movies within the week because that is about how long their theater life lasts. Shake your head at these R rated movies all you want, but at least they teach you something about history, or the lives of people with different cultures.

9- The news is dedicated to only two universities. I am so happy to no longer be hearing about the one true school every second of the day.

8- While I have not yet completely acquainted myself with the Colorado legislator, I know they are not going to be nearly as ridiculous as Utah. There are too many crazy laws to post, but I will link you to the most recent one. Yeah, they are talking about repealing this, but you do realize it is the same people that passed it that are now doing that. They got caught doing something shady, and are now pretending like they didn't realize it was shady. Very strange!  Luckily, from Denver I can just laugh about this.

7- Glenn Beck and Sarah Palin supporters. There are much less here, need I say more?

6- Sports! There are actually more professional teams than just basketball out here. That makes me so incredibly happy. Pro Sports go year round in Denver! I hate all their teams, but at least I can watch live games, and I will be able to cheer against them very loudly. Here's to a summer filled with baseball (Dan will love that)!

5-  Weather. It snowed yesterday in Utah. It was 70 degrees here, but it might have snowed in the mountains (exactly where snow belongs).

4- Pyramid Schemes/ Summer Sales, this topic is worthy of a whole blog.

3- The homophobia. I don't think this is something that I should get into, but people aren't that good at loving others especially if those others love someone with the same privates as them.

2- Mexicans, and by Mexicans I mean everyone hating Mexicans. I don't know why people think it is funny to say, "but are you legal?" after I say, "I am Mexican." It isn't funny. It is rude, and incredibly racist. I could say so much more, but I might get very ornery, and both Chaz and Dan would hate that.

1- The culture! Pretty much 2-10 combined with an extra dose of judgementalness (not a word, but I am pulling a Colbert). People tend to put themselves on a pedal-stool if they fit into a certain mold, and forget that we are all equals, no matter what you believe.

I promise you that I don't miss Utah. A select few people, but no not Utah.

PS I have so much time on my hand that I might be blogging daily until I find a job.

Wedding and Honeymoon

I HATE that I am doing this, but here is an update Blog written by Alexis, but I will write for Dan too. Do NOT get used to this! 


Dan and I were married on March 5 in Logan.  I am guessing that if you did not know that, then you do not read this blog, but maybe I have some random readers. We are very grateful for everyone that took the time to make the trip to Logan. Also a special shout out to my sisters Alicia and Melissa who helped so much getting the reception together. Especially Alicia she spent the last 5 months sending me pictures and looking stuff up to fit the the very vague description of what I said I liked Here are a couple of our Bride and Groom pictures taken by our great photographer, Heather Mickey. 

Love this! Love Logan!

Possibly one of my favs! I bet Whitney Kap is enjoying this pic also. 

Love all the boys in these pictures.
I miss my little nephews. All are shown is this pic minus Drew Brew. 

We went on a Mediterranean Cruise for our honeymoon, but before that we moved all my stuff out to Denver, and also moved the most important thing in our lives to Denver too, Chaz! Now onto some honeymoon pictures...

Vatican

Colosseum ( My fav) 

Colosseum 

Dan posing at the Colesseum

Posing on our ride in Palermo 

Flamingos in Cagliari 

Caves of Drach in Palma De Mallorca

Touching the Mediterranean 

Fortress in Barcelona

FCB

Principality of Monaco

In this picture you can see the Principality of Monaco, France, and Italy... oh and Dan! 

Principality

Dan with Big Ben

Me with Big Ben. 

That is a glimpse at our honeymoon. It was wonderful! Now, I am sure everyone is wondering how married life is going for us, so here are some of the changes slash thoughts of the newlyweds. 


- Dan & Alexis have so many matching clothes. They could probably wear the exact same shirt  or a very similar shirt everyday for at least a  month. Kinda weird, but mostly due to Utah State. 
- Chaz is happy he gets to hang out inside again. He also loves that he can once again get on the furniture, but he misses Dice :(. 
- The thing Alexis hated the most about every month is now the thing she counts down to. 
- Dan officially loves Europe, and keeps talking about moving there. 
- We have too much stuff, but not enough at the same time. 
- Alexis likes doing laundry but hates cooking. Dan likes cooking but hates doing laundry. We are the perfect match! 
- We want visitors but for now you will be stuck sleeping on a futon.
- Denver is ten thousand times better than all of Utah. 
- Dan and Alexis use a whole lot less minutes now. 
- Planning what two people are going to eat every day is not fun because we both weren't good at feeding ourselves in the first place. 
- Dan is happy that Alexis is early to bed and to rise, but she keeps reminding him that it will change quickly once she gets back to Mountain time. 


Welp that is all for now. If you want to stay posted then you should probably call one of us because Alexis does not like writing blogs like this.