Immigration ala Lindy

My sister-in-law's social networking page had an interesting exchange on it. It educated me a little bit, and I really appreciated the attitude of the exchange. I thought I might share:

Initial Post:

"The Mexican population law, article 67 says: "Authorities, whether federal, state or municipal ... Are required to demand that foreigners prove their legal presence in the country, before attending to any issues.""

E:Hope you have your papers in hand next time you go to AZ. I figure everyone with brown hair and eyes better be prepared to be stopped for being brown. ;)

C:It's not about racial discrimination, it's about being a legal citizen. You wouldn't be stopped for how you look, you would only be stopped if you did something illegal (which if you get pulled over for no matter where you are you would be required to show some kind of documentation, ie: driver's license, etc).

N:It is so interesting being so close to the drama here in Az. I was talking to chad about it all and he informed me when he was in Brazil he had to keep his Passport and papers on him at all times. I just wish that it would stop being a political jumping board and for people to really look at the law and laws in other countries before they jump to the law being a race issue!

Ch:So, since my husband is German and looks exactly like everyone else in this country, does he still have to carry them around too? Or will he get stopped for looking...American? Stupid AZ

Poster: When [my husband] lived in Germany for two years, he had to have his papers on him at all times, and check in with each new city when he moved.

I'm an immigrant. I'd rather have to carry my documents with me all the time to prove that I'm allowed to be here, than to know that people aren't here legally.

I just think it's funny that Mexico's law (which is what was quoted above) is more strict than Arizona's.

Alana (me):Sad that your political statement went over everyone's head! I guess that's just a token that Americans need to be more educated on this than find red flags of discrimination everywhere.

Ch:I think, then, that they also need to be reminded that this country has long been a great melting pot. And having just gone through the green card process, I can completely understand why people would try to be here illegally. It's complicated and expensive for someone like my husband who is here through work and now marriage, and has been a taxpayer for 5 years and did everything correctly. Maybe there should be fewer laws excluding people, and more education to help them stay here legally.

Poster:You're right. I went through the process. It's by no means easy, or cheap, or fun, or fast for that matter. I moved to the U.S. in 1992. I had a green card for 12 years before I became a citizen in 2004. The process sucks. But that's how it works. Just like how it sucks to go to the DMV, or sometimes the post office. But that's your option if you want a driver's license or want to mail a letter.

I also learned a lot while I went through the citizenship process - like why it has to be so hard. They fingerprint you and do a background check so they know they're not letting some serial killer or bank robber into the country. They interview you to see if you speak a basic conversational amount of English. They test your basic knowledge of the country's history and government - so you are at least somewhat aware of what you're getting into.

What most people don't realize is that EVERY country has immigration laws and processes. It's not easy to become a citizen anywhere. It's not just the U.S. picking on people...even though I hated the year or more I spent completing the process, I at least see why they had to do it.

B: It IS funny. If you go anywhere else in the world, say, France...you have to have your paperwork or VISA. Mexicans, or Canadians, or whoever, are not exempt just because we're all neighbors. We ALL pay the price in the end.

And the comments continued. Not only was this a very respectful political exchange, but it reminds me that America is not the only one with immigration laws. Draw whatever conclusions about it that you must, but I've gotta say, this makes the people boycotting AZ sound a whole lot more unfounded.

I'm married, so this doesn't apply to me anymore, but I still found this video pretty dang funny!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CfBVVLFfbAo

I can't get the video to save onto my computer, but it's put together by a bunch of late 20 somethings in one of my old single's wards. Just so you know, the cultural joke is,
NCMO=Non-Commital Make Out.

Graceful Politics

I wrote to my political representatives this week. I felt like the American Deaf population needed some support in continuing funding for their telephone services. I drafted a letter stating what I felt like, how the current program was a good service to the people, and how if the funding cut by 50%, as was planned, all Deaf telephone interpretation services in the country would go bankrupt.

I said it nicely, with respect for how these people might be feeling that day, and signed it with my credentials as an educated and experienced person on this issue.


I’d like to contrast that respectful communication with a certain phrase that is circulating through popular political commentary: “trying to destroy our Country.” I recently made a comment on a friend’s networking website, and was responded to with the statement “People who are trying to destroy our country deserve to be spoken unkindly about.”

Really? Do you really believe that the people who are on the other side of the bi-partisan spectrum from you are actively trying to “destroy the country?” I hear this phrase repeated in spam emails and by political commentators. Do these people actually believe that when Nancy Pellosi wakes up in the morning, that she immediately begins crafting a plan for how she can nuke Texas? Or that our President is actively trying to introduce flesh-eating piranha into the sewer systems to attack us on the john?

To me it just sounds like an excuse to loose your temper or vilify someone else. And it sounds like its own brand of ignorance.

The people who we ask to make choices for the country are just like you and me. I submit that if you were in their position, you might be doing the same as them: trying to address the problems that you see in society. Our country is nothing if we do not stand together and support our leaders. I see it as the highest mark of maturity to stand up for the Presidency when your candidate lost. If you do not agree with the direction the country is taking, write letters RESPECTFULLY. Lobbying is not mudslinging. And spouting verbal sewage on your couch is not going to make our country a better place.

Guide to a Sober Las Vegas Vacation

During the cold February months when there was little to look forward to other than layers of long johns and bad traffic, Dale and I planned a little get away. Dale's graduation, and our First Anniversary gave a good excuse for us to have our first trip "just because we wanted to," and we planned and dreamed for months for our trip to Vegas!

Dale and I asked our good friends and neighbors, the Nowlings, to go with us, and booked rooms at the Sahara Hotel. Now, whenever I told people I was going to Las Vegas for the weekend, they gave me this look--like a disappointed (but lenient) parent, or a mischievous "I know what you're up to" teenager--and I was completely shocked each time they responded that way. Yes, there are plenty of intensely stupid things to do in that town, but there is more to do in a beautiful city than engage in illicit activities. In defense of that statement, I have assembled this itinerary and picture story of the clean--and mostly free--fun we had, and invite any others to do the same!

(Note: all * marked activities were FREE!!)

Roller Coasters at NYNY

M&M World *

MGM Lion Habitat *

Mandalay Bay Shark Reef and Aquarium

Cheesecake Factory

Landscape Art Galleries *

Bellagio Fountains *

Shopping at Caesar's Palace *

Performances at the top of the Circus Circus Tent *

A stop at the Picture Booth to collect a row of silly faces

Travel to the top of the Eiffel Tower replica (50% size) in Paris, Las Vegas

      --An example of the view from up top

Peruse the Bellagio Gardens *

Walk through the Venetian shops and outdoor fountains *

Hang out by the pool in the good weather *

A Las Vegas buffet at Texas Station

Walk through Downtown Las Vegas at Freemont Street *(getting a little bit of spirit from the local Gay Rights Demonstration)

 --Notice the show on the world's largest Movie Screen (very appropriately playing Queen in honor of the ensuing demonstration.)

Explore the Stratosphere* (we decided against going on the roller coasters on top because two of our party claimed a fear of heights)

Parouse the Luxor and take pictures next to the weird statues in front *

Watch the Mirage Volcano erupt *

And then go home.  Don't spend more than 3 days there if you don't have family in town.

What happened in April

This month started out with April Fool’s Day, and for the first time I realized how much I seriously dislike that particular holiday. Maybe I’m just the model April Fool, but I was just ticked that I couldn’t trust any of my friend’s announcements of boyfriends, engagements, and pregnancies—even when they are accompanied by ultrasound pictures in the email. Lame.

General Conference weekend was fun with Dale’s Mom—Wendy—in town. We watched from home, and weaved baskets out of recycled trash baskets. Dale got really into it. We dyed eggs for Easter with Sean and Emily (some of our closest neighbors) and played games making baskets where Dale and I shopped for each other on a $4 budget. Easter Sunday woke up to hidden candy in makeshift baskets out of purses and milk jugs—no I will not post the pictures, as I’m still shiny and frizzy in each one of them! :P We got together with Lindy, Shane, and Wendy (Dale’s family) for a traditional family dinner of ham and marshmallow fluff, and visited for the holiday evening.


My brother Jeremy announced that he’s publishing his dissertation (that took him the last half a dozen years, it seems), my brother Ian’s wife, Alex, gave birth to twins, and Jeremy turned 31 on the 12th. My sister Nanette is going to Ghana for a humanitarian trip, and my siblings and I got together through a 3 week long email conference to choose a middle name to give my mother for her birthday this month and finally pared it down to 5 names for her to choose from. Lots of fun guys! I really enjoyed it. Mom’s Birthday, Dale’s Finals, Dale’s graduation, Dale’s interviews.

We went out for dates at hole-in-the-wall Provo places, took walks, and went to some awesome jazz concerts on campus. Signed up for Summer and Fall graduate school classes, bought books, and apartment hunted in Salt Lake.


I was awarded an internship with a stipend for my MSW program starting in August. Big news for anyone trying to pay tuition. I’ll be at ARTEC with SLC Valley Mental Health, hopefully in their Substance Abuse Treatment Center.

Somewhere in there I’ve been experimenting with breakfast foods. I successfully made peach syrup out of canned peaches, did the 10-day process for Amish Friendship Bread, and unsuccessfully tried to make marmalade syrup by sending an orange through the food processor and simmering it down with sugar…

The month will finish off with a Graduation/Anniversary trip to Vegas this weekend! More info to come when we’ve gotten back!


P.S. Happy Birthday Ian!


Hurrah for spring!

My husband graduated college this weekend!!

And I’m SO excited for him. At first, you’re looking at it, and as finals are done, the graduation ceremony seems like an arbitrary day passing by—I mean, you don’t even get your diploma until weeks later—but the rite of passage has been completed, and now he will be a college graduate for the rest of his life. Dale’s parents came into town (great to see you guys!), and I took a day off work because there is NO way I am going in to work on the day my husband is graduating college. We heard the speakers, he wore the gown, we celebrated at Olive Garden for dinner, and then in true Dale celebration style, we watched movies and ate Doritos and iced cream until we crashed!

Great Weekend, Great Accomplishment, Great Husband.

Imagine your world without a car or phone

The basic needs of a surviving individual are food, shelter, and clothing. There are people all around us who are scraping by or struggling for this level of existence, but this post is not a bout for pity or guilt.


The next basic needs of a functioning individual are food, shelter, clothing, transportation, and communication. If you can manage these basic functioning needs, then you are seen as a successful person and can make it on your own.

Think about it. I, for one, feel a stab of emotion when thinking of what it might be like to live homeless, or on the street. I also can faintly imagine what it is like to be REALLY hungry, and exposed to the elements because I don’t have the proper clothing. But I don’t really think about my survival on the same level when I think of having a car and a phone.

I used to gripe about my teaching pool on my mission, how we couldn’t get people to meet their commitments because they just plain didn’t have resources to get to church. I remember glorying in one particular woman because she was a person we baptized with a job, a car, and a phone. She would therefore be able to be a strength to the ward.

I would gripe because their physical living circumstances were not my profession at that point. I was focusing on their spiritual functioning and hope.

I have since been involved with people’s physical needs, and attempting to promote their social functioning, not merely survival. When someone comes to my desk and has somewhere to live and can function within their food stamps grant, I think of them as pretty safe. They can use a family member or a neighbor to leave messages, and I can get them a bus pass. I have not yet met someone who didn’t have life-sustaining clothing, but I can get a woman 10 sets of work clothing per year if needed. If I ever get to that point, I’m sure I’ll find something.

But think about how hard that would be. You are in a place where you need state help, perhaps you have a child you’ve never needed to care for before, and this drastically changes your needs. Maybe your mother is now sick and someone needs to stay home and take care of her. Your phone has been cancelled and you can’t afford gas money for your car. You’re surviving through the grace of food stamps and a $400 monthly financial grant, but there are these letters that keep coming in the mail asking you to fill out papers and call in for interviews to clarify the last papers you filled out. If you don’t respond to any one of these within 10 days, your benefits will be closed.

Think about doing all of that and trying to get a job. First step: go to the library to use their computers (if you even have computer skills), and let’s say you get an interview! You need to take the bus 45 minutes and 3 connections to get there. More likely, this bus ride will be just to fill out an application because most people I see in this situation can’t navigate a keyboard, much less attach and email a functioning resume.

Next step, have a phone number for them to call you back on. …um. There is your neighbor who has agreed to let people call their phone to leave messages for you, but she’s not too prompt or organized with your calls, and you’re starting to feel like a pest.

You can imagine how difficult this becomes. Walking to fill out applications, waiting for phone calls, and still trying to find a way to pay the utilities each month.

Just think about how life would be without your car. Would you be able to get to work/the grocery store? Once you’d lost your job, how long would your savings hold out until you were on the other side of a desk like mine? Would you walk to every employment opportunity imaginable and take whatever you could? Imagine how your life would be different. And then once you’ve gotten that job, imagine living on $1000 per month—what one earns in a full-time minimum wage job after taxes. That translates into $12,000 per year. Imagine how you would ever get out of that.

All I’m saying is, be grateful for your phone and car.

A lack of child care is a whole different story.