Reflections from Citizen University 2017

In this blog, we'll collect our reflections from attending Citizen University 2017.

Each participant is asked to write at least one letter using the TIPS method and post it to this blog. The TIPS method asks us to compose a letter to a Thing, an Idea, a Person, or Self; it is a way to think about big concepts by starting out small.

Dear "Reframing"

Dear “reframing,”

This weekend wasn’t the first time I met you, but I still have trouble keeping you in mind. Kaz Brecher’s exercise on reframing was important and seems like it will be really helpful as I continue to try to help solve problems in my community, but it’s still difficult for me. Reframing by flipping what you see as a problem into an asset seems to me like it should be simple. Nonetheless, I have a lot of trouble with flipping my mindset all the way. In our group exercise on flipping mindsets, I continued to add caveats to my “positive” reframing. Clearly, this is not true reframing. Kaz defined reframing as overturning conventional wisdom to discover possibilities. Being able to use this tool properly seems like it could prompt a lot of positive thinking, as it approaches an issue with an asset-focused lens rather than a problem-focused one. While I’m still not great at reframing, practicing at Citizen University was really helpful, and I think this will ultimately be something I continue to need to work on for a long time until I naturally think more optimistically. It might be difficult, but I think it’ll be good for me and the communities I serve.

Thanks for reminding me that there’s always more to learn, reframing.

Letter to the Idea that One Vote Doesn't Matter

Letter to the Idea that One Vote Doesn't Matter

In the presidential election of 2016, the idea that one vote doesn't matter was born. People
were frustrated about both of the candidates, and they chose to not cast their votes during the election. Many people feel like they are not represented in the political process, and instead of choosing to fight back, they choose to sit back and just give in to the pressure of organizing and fighting for what they believe in.

But, one of the most important thing that I learned at Citizen University is that you are more powerful than you think. In this country, there are thousands of people whose life depends on the result of the election. In one of the breakout section that I attended, I learned about how important organization is and how powerful each ballot is. Eric Liu also talked about we are more powerful that we might think. Each person in this country has the power to change the future of the country. And those of us who are able to understand the news and think independently have the responsibility to expand our power by casting our ballot. In the world that we live in today, unlike energy, power is limitless. One of us gaining power doesn't mean that someone else is going to lose power. When each and every one of us expands our power, we increase the power that we have in this country as a whole.

When we think that we are not important, and our one vote doesn't matter, we need to think about the power that comes with being a citizen, and the implication from not exerting the right to vote. The country is stronger when its citizens participate in the democratic process.

So during the next election, I urge people to dismiss the notion that their vote doesn't matter. If people give in to their despair and ignorance and do not vote, it will weaken the democratic process. Also, it's an obligation for citizens to excessive their right. If citizens exercise their rights, they add power to themselves and therefore make the country stronger as a whole.

Dear Hospitality

Dear Hospitality,

You make me feel as if I were in my own home, relaxing in my pajamas, watching Netflix, with a hot cup off coffee. In your presence words flow thoughtlessly. It was really nice to have you at Citizen University this year. The conversations and discussions would not have been possible without your existence. I recognized how important you are Hospitality. People let their guard down around you and intimate idea are shared.

Hospitality, do you mind if I start using you to initiate my conversations?

Dear Self

Dear Self,

I had no idea what to expect from this experience but I knew it would be a good idea to check it out and see what there was to learn. I’ve been feeling ineffective and at a loss since the election - I was tired of seeing online petitions posted online and thinking it didn’t matter if I signed them or not. The sessions I chose were exactly the things I needed to motivate me to become more active again. I realized - as was repeated several times throughout the day and a half - that I am more powerful than I realize, as an individual, and that we are all more powerful together.

To my siblings

To my siblings,

I’m sorry. Those are words that I wish could come out of your mouth, but instead, I’ll let them flow out of mine. I’m sorry for being a hypocrite- for casting your ideas off just like the way you cast away my feelings. I’m sorry I let little things destroy my image of you; like a tea-bag in hot water, I let the small things that came out color, stain, and change you from something pristine, clear, and perfect to dark and unwelcoming. It was I that did not listen. It was I who lacked humility, who was impatient, and inhospitable. While I don't agree with what you say, that is no excuse for incivility. I know now that conversations are possible. I know that there are better ways to explain one’s side. The key is to ask more questions. I vow to do just that. As I write this letter to you asking for forgiveness for the lack of patience, humility, and hospitality that I gave you, I implore you to work to have these virtues when you converse with me. I will not go away. I will not be silent and I will not hide. I will continue to say what I feel the need to say, but I promise to listen without thinking of my next rebuttal. I promise to remember that your words don’t define all that you are- and to remind myself that the way you treat me and love me are more important and more deserving of attention.

Dear Future

Dear Future,

I was really worried about you after the “election heart attack” you suffered Nov last year. And now even it’s been almost half a year, you still seem so bleak and uncertain. Submerged in these emo feelings and darkness, I have been seeking even a sign of illumination that can help me believe in you again.

Citizen University event did shed some light and hope that I so desired. Even with all our legitimate worries and concerns, now is indeed the time for an opportunity to reborn and bring in new blood, new parties and new politics - ones our generation will help establish, lead and maintain to better serve you and long term goals for humanity. We used to be bold and curious during JFK period to explore the great potential of science and kindness between each of us whereas now we are living in a time of fear and narcissistic supreme. Yet we lived through this in the past like from Nixon era and we prevailed and carried on. And now more than ever we have people stand with us to fight for what’s right and just for you. I wish one day, our sons, daughters and decedents can live in a happier world we build and maintain for them. It is a time of change and we’ll do everything in our power to make you greater, brighter and happier.

All these leaders we met inspired us to take charge of our lives and politics to truly make it a world for us. We won’t concede but keep fighting until you become something we can all sing about and hopeful for like in Disney tales. For in the end, men are led by our dreams, when there’s a will, there’s a way. All of us together will prevail, after all, we already made so much progress in woman’s rights, equal rights, drug legalization, voting rights and so much more.

So please believe in us, and together we’ll make you great and show someone what truly it meant to make America great again, make humanity great again, and make love great again. Love wins, and it always will and we’ll paint you with a color of wind, hope and love for all!

Dear Self

Dear Self,

This time last year, the cherry blossoms were already long gone. The wind was warm and shorts weren’t a rare occurrence. Today, March 27th, the cherry blossoms are in full bloom. Late by a month, you have said. But by whose standards? The trees decide when they’re ready, and they will never apologize for us subjecting them to our temporalities. Their buds cannot be equated to a “day” of a “month.”

For which schedule do the cherry blossoms follow but their own? They bow not to the unfathomable propriety of the Julian calendar. And they are patient—not only for the day when the strength of the sun’s caresses dispel the cold, but also for the moment when their loving pollinators are also awake.

Like the cherry blossoms, dearest self, remember that nature never hurries. Just because it’s February doesn’t mean you have to open yourself to the world. Sometimes, it has to be a month “late.” Other times, there is no timeline at all. Follow the sun, dear self. Gather the strength and warmth that you need to demonstrate your true beauty, and don’t feel compelled to do anything until then. It is okay to retreat to the safety of your calyxes. However, remember that your destiny is and always has been to bloom. You were meant to inspire, to command attention, to shower the world with your loveliness—all by just being yourself.

And with giving of yourself to the world, you attract others to do the same: wanderers, observers, seekers, artists, community members, those who see beauty and love in all. Together, dear self, we will simply be. No rush.

 

Dear [Person-On-The-Other-Side]

Dear [Person-On-The-Other-Side] ,

I hope this finds you well—I really do. I know in the past I have been pretty harsh in my
judgement of you, and I can see now that that is unfair to you. This is one of my great moral
failings: to ascribe negative motives to people who hold opinions I disagree with, which is really just a way to dismiss your arguments without ever having to actually go through them. I don’t really know you—not yet—so it’s not fair to you to summarily dismiss you like that. Not only is it unfair to you, but it is not very productive to any future conversation we hope to have, so it’s doubly bad. So first, I wanted to say that I’m sorry about that. Please know that I am genuinely seeking to repent of this failing, and trying to engage in your actual argument rather than just preemptively ignoring you.

I wanted to write to you to hopefully set up a time for us to meet in person, to have a real
conversation. I know that we do not agree on very much—in fact, we agree on hardly anything. But I still think it is important that we talk. Even though we think we are very sophisticated and modern in the current age, with our internet, iPhones, and robot surgeons, we’re not so distant from our earliest ancestors who did not have all of this technology. Seeing each other face to face, listening to one another instead of reading text on a screen, and physically being able to shake hands remains a powerful pull on the imagination. Humans are social creatures, and no amount of technology could ever change that hardwired part of our brain. Moreover, when we meet in person we might find that there are some things that we actually have in common. A speaker at Citizen University remarked the partisan gulf between ordinary people may be much smaller than the gulf that exists in our elected representatives. Because of structural flaws in our republic, typically it is only the most strident members of both of our respective sides that get elected. Maybe in that respect our representatives aren’t very representative.

One thing that we might have in common is a belief that national politics as a whole is too
separated from the lives of ordinary folks. I do believe that politicians have their own interests that they pursue, as does everyone, and this self-interest can distort public policy. But since we can’t get away from having a government, and a representative government is still better than other forms of government, maybe we should rely less on our representatives to solve our problems for us and instead having more conversations on the local level to fix problems. I liked how one speaker put it: that self-government and democracy is not easy, but actually takes a lot of work.

We are going to have to be willing to speak to one another face to face, to sometimes be
uncomfortable, and really get to know each other and the effect of our policies if we are going to make policy choices that are truly just. This demands that we live and act together as if we are in a community—which is another ingrained human desire.

We can’t go into our conversation expecting to change the other person’s minds—if we do
so then we will not be actually listening to each other but just trying to hear enough words to
fashion a smart counter-argument. Probably afterwards we still won’t agree on things, and this won’t stop either of us from trying to see our particular vision realized. But at the very least we can get a better appreciation for one another, a better understanding of each of our “deep stories”,and a renewed realization that we are more than meets the eye. When we each can see each other as fully human, with our own dreams, hopes, and biases, hopefully that will translate to other people too, and we can see all people as fully human and treat them accordingly. My faith tells me to love my neighbor as myself—all of my neighbors, including you. I am also reminded of the story of Abraham in the Hebrew Bible: despite being the progenitor of three monotheistic faiths (Judaism, Christianity, and Islam) he never forcibly converts anyone in the region where he lives, nor prays for their destruction. He instead sought to be a blessing to everyone he met regardless of their faith, while also still being true to his own faith. Perhaps there is a lesson there on how to live in today’s age with many competing faiths, both spiritual and political.

How do we change the toxic political attitude of today? We must begin with ourselves—
where others lie, we will tell the truth; where others demonize, we will seek to understand; where others hate, we will love. I suppose meeting you in person and talking things out will be as good a place to start as any. It won’t change the world, but maybe it could help change us. Besides, as the Talmud says, every person is a universe, so maybe that is not so small as we think.

To Home

To home,

I sometimes feel like I never know who or where you are. What do you feel like? I know you lie where the ocean meets land. I have felt you before, that sweet need to belong. All of my “homes” began and ended with the ocean. With warm temperate climates and palm trees growing from the ground, making the sweetest fruit. But “Where are you from?” is now one of the most complicated questions someone can ask me. I think about my answer, sometimes lying, the real answer is so complicated and stressful to me. So I lie, to not explain myself, so as to not have to explain the roots of where I came from, where my bloodline started. Why my nationality does not match my place of birth. “Where are you from?”

My first home is where the hot sun beats down on my body. I am glad to have had the privilege to call you home for so many years of my life. To have my first breathe in a wonderful country full of rich culture and strong traditions. I’m glad for the delicious food and incomparable memories. From the birthdays to the weddings. You will always be my first, but I still feel distant from you, something isn’t right. I don’t feel bonded even though you were everything I knew for 18 years of my life. It never seemed like you were truly mine, even though my roots bonded me to you. Now I can’t come and go as I please. And that’s okay because you doesn’t feel familiar anymore. Maybe I think that you have changed, the lifestyle less inviting. But nothings different. I’ve changed.

I hope you aren’t mad at me, because I moved away. To a home that is much different than you are. She’s definitely rainier, colder and harsher. But she’s given me a different type of opportunity, she’s taught me how to empower myself. She has made me independent and grown. I start to call her my temporary home but I know not to get too comfortable. I will have to leave in a few years when this journey ends. Then what? Where is my new home?

You might become a stranger to me, but I know that I will find you again one day. You won’t just be a feeling, you will be a place. Hopefully a place where my toes can touch the sand again, where I can breathe a sigh of relief that finally I’ve stopped moving. I know wherever I chose to be, I will make it a part of my home. I will make a difference in my community and bridge inequalities when I see them. I don’t have to have a word to define what I imagine my home to feel like.

But maybe I’ll never know you again and that excites me too. I can leave a footprint on many different shores, swim in many oceans. Then maybe I won’t long to belong to just one place, family spread around the world across oceans. And perhaps then I’ll feel a sense of belonging again.

Looking forward to hearing from you soon,

Clarisse

“Hiraeth: (n.) a homesickness for a home to which you cannot return, a home which maybe never was; the nostalgia, the yearning, the grief for the lost places of your past.”

Dear Disability Rights Movement

Dear Disability Rights Movement,

I am truly sorry you were unable to make a presence at Citizen University this year. Your passion, dedication, and fight for justice was missed and could have been an excellent opportunity for growth and inclusion. However, you weren’t there. I am particularly sorry for this because it further perpetuates the message that people with disabilities are not meant to be a part of our society, or, of our lives. Lastly, I am sorry that when I asked why disability rights were not included or discussed to be a part of this years conference that I received a reply that this platform just didn’t fit into the schedule this year. Disability rights is not and has not been viewed as an important enough topic worthy of our time and interests.

I find it more and more interesting that people actively choose to ignore this social issue as if it doesn’t affect one in five people. And this makes me frustrated. No, it makes me angry. People with disabilities are continuously separated and segregated from the rest of society and works to reinforce the idea that people with disabilities are an “other’- a separate entity completely unrelated to the greater public and thus undeserving of advocacy or justice. I want to let you know that you are important. That, while many forces and institutions will continue to cast individuals with disabilities as outsiders, I will continue to keep fighting against and promoting the importance of supporting individuals with disabilities in our communities. This is not an isolated issue- this affects our parents, brothers, sisters, neighbors, teachers, academics, children and adults. People with disabilities are disproportionately represented in prisons. That people with disabilities are funneled into the School to Prison Pipeline because educators view students with disabilities as an inconvenience rather than a person wanting to learn and engage with their peers just as much as any other person in the class. People with disabilities are being paid below minimum wage, often at less than a dollar an hour, because these people are viewed as cheap avenues to receive labor rather than hard working individuals trying to independently support themselves.

I am sorry that you were not viewed as being worthy enough of a topic to discuss when exploring the importance of civic engagement and activism. However, I know that one day this will change. I know that you are important and I know that people with disabilities will continue to suffer and be ignored in our society if no action is taken. One day, it will not be my lone voice that  noticed your absence in groups. Instead, disability will be treated as an important issue worth spending time on because it is. I wish you the best in your fight for a fair and equitable society that equally benefits people with disabilities and I will be there with you every step of the way.

Dear History Textbooks

Dear history textbooks,

Do you realize how much power you have? Your words, stories, and photographs fall in the hands of millions and millions of students every single day. However, depending on the words you choose (or not choose), the stories you tell (or not tell), and the photographs you share (or not share), the understanding of America’s past and present changes. In America today, there is no common set of facts, which means we have not collectively come to a consensus of the truth. Even if we have the same fact, it is evident our reflections of facts don’t align. Truth is resistance when we seem to be living in a post-truth world. Understanding history holistically provides a foundation for understanding struggles, resistances, and contemporary fights for justice.

You have the power to teach about what being a citizen means.

You have the power to teach about our country’s deep scars through the context of race-relations that have shaped today’s social issues and divides.

You have the power to shift the focus of thinking about who is “racist”, to thinking about how people are impacted by racial institutional inequities over time.

You have the power to teach about our country’s leaders in a way that presents their achievements, but also exposes their blind spots and weaknesses.

You have the power to teach about how groups and individuals have fought and attained self-determination, and the importance of doing so today in a time when self-determination has been intentionally destructed.  

You have the power to teach about systemic failures that have resulted in vast racial disparities and how we need to not perpetuate them, but use that knowledge as a rationale for empowerment in communities of color.

You have the power to support students in understanding the growing diversity within our country, so they know that there are limitless possibilities in themselves and the many students sitting next to them throughout their education. And they know that each person sitting next to them - both in school and their future - is valued and worthy.

You have the power to break the growth of normalized hate and discrimination intoxicating the climate through teaching about radical self-love and integrity.

You have the power to teach that power is not a zero sum game, but that there is infinite power in the world and that we all can become powerful and successfully meet the demands we want for a better world.

High school history textbooks, you have fundamental powers in our education, and I hope that you take your role in shaping our understanding of our past and present seriously. The empowerment and potential for meaningful civic engagement of our youth leaders and our country’s future is in your hands.

Dear Michael Moore

Dear Michael Moore,

Your name sounds familiar. Are you a movie star? A radio talk-show host? A Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist? There are lots of the latter two here today. Well, you’re someone famous at the very least, right? You must be, for two of the speakers here at Citizen University to say your name without explaining its significance. I guess they assumed that I and the five-hundred and ninety-nine other people in the crowd knew who you are. Because you’re famous.

But the thing is, Michael Moore, I don’t know who you are. I’m about as familiar with your work as I am with “Between Two Ferns” (that Emmy award-winning interview with former U.S. president Barack Obama); gerrymandering; current U.S. president Trump’s Supreme Court pick; and the proper way to contact my congressman to express my concerns. Which is to say that I’m not familiar with your work at all. And perhaps more worryingly, I’m not familiar with the politics of my home country.

I think some subconscious recognition of that ignorance may be why I filled out an application in February to attend this year’s Citizen University. Maybe that’s why I dragged myself out of bed at 6:30 this overcast March morning (a Saturday! During Spring Break!) to bus down to the conference. Maybe that’s why I wrote down your name, along with “Greater Seattle Neighborhood Commission,” “Mobilization Lab,” “Color Lines,” “Fighter’s Table,” and many others in my notebook.

You probably don’t care that I wrote your name in neat, rounded letters or that I used a pen that produces smooth blue lines instead of the crummy, sputtering black tracks pens with oil-based ink leave. I don’t know that you’ll care, but I’m telling you anyway because I care. I want to be able to read what I wrote today – “Michael Moore,” “gerrymandering,” “that viral Tea Party ad Matt Kibbe mentioned”  – so that tomorrow, I can look it all up.

Tomorrow, Michael Moore, I’ll know who you are.

To My Beautiful Black People

To My beautiful black people,

I am sorry that you are constantly targeted and killed. I am sorry that no matter how young or old, you are still followed. The fact that you face police brutality is not a surprise to me yet I cry and I ache every time I see the unfair treatment of you. There are so many documentaries and poems in the world that showcase the unfair treatment of you, yet people don’t listen. There are enough statistics to show that you face discrimination and racism, yet people don’t care.

When I immigrate to America, my family and I were naïve. We were naïve because we believed in the American dream. We believed that if we worked hard, we would be successful. But what is success? We didn’t realize success meant living to see another day. We didn’t realize success meant working hard everyday to show the world that we matter, that we are human beings created in the image of God. “Slavery is gone, racism doesn’t exist,” they said. Is slavery really gone? How is slavery gone when there is mass incarceration of our people? How is slavery gone, when our people are stripped of their rights to vote? Our people fought hard to win us our basic civil and human rights, but do we really have rights?

Most of the things I heard at Citizen University, I have already heard. As a black person myself, I also get followed. I can’t go into a department store without employees tracking my steps. My intelligence is always being questioned. I can’t see people who look like me as I walk through the campus of the UW. Although I am working towards a degree, I don’t know if I can find a job because employers would rather hire white people. Again, I wasn’t surprised to hear from other black people that they also experience these discriminations. The systems are built to put us down, to dehumanize and degrade us. Yet we are more powerful than they think. We will show the world wrong because we are beautiful, smart, kind, and unique. We are more than the stereotypes the world assign us. We are human beings that deserve the world.

Remember to always love yourself and know that you are worthy.

Dear Knowing Oneself/Dear Loving Yourself Radically

Dear Knowing Oneself,

You say it is important to know oneself. To know who you are so much that you can make decisions and move forward; as if knowing could simply make things less confusing or create clarity for your life.

How does one know oneself?

At what point do you think you actually know who you are?

You are a simple phrase that is not meant to do more harm than good. You mean well and it seems simple to figure out. It seems like a realistic way to perceive your life and understand that life is a process it takes to know who you are.

But what if knowing who you truly are does not change anything? Or what if it changes your whole world? Is knowing oneself indicative of making progress and changes that are meaningful within society? Are you able to move forward and make decisions if you do not know who you are? Is this an essential part of achieving greater things in life?

What do you do when you can’t actually know everything about who you are?

Dear Loving Yourself Radically,

How?

Is this the way to begin knowing myself more?

You are very interesting, the thought of loving yourself no matter what any one else says. Encouraging me to be me and love myself for who I am in spite of everyone else. That reclaiming my own power in finding love for myself does not take away from anyone else. That loving myself can be it’s own form of resistance. By loving myself radically, I can add to the infinite amount of power that exists in our world and believe in who and what I am even if no one else will.

I would love to embody you and figure out what it means to do just that. To love myself radically is to forgive my own faults and things I cannot change in my life. To find acceptance in the life I have been given and to find a way to move past the hate that exists in this country. By loving myself I can begin to understand.

Can loving myself radically also be not knowing who I am?

Dear Other

Dear Other,

I’m writing to tell you about an idea I have. I don’t think it is a new idea. I’m sure the same good ideas are commonplace. It seems to me after hearing the pain of people today that good ideas aren’t enough. It also appears to me that regardless of people’s origins we all want the same thing. I suspect this is where you feel problems arise. What I mean by that is, well, that each person is a point in space, they have their own point of view, their own line of trajectory in life, they have different experiences come at them. People can have a lot in common and have different experiences for the same reasons, different results for the same experiences. What I was thinking was, how about an upgraded social system to prevent bigger problems? No, really, a better system where there is a greater safety net, a fund written into the budget every year regardless of who is in power, a fund that rises with the cost of living. It is the next required step towards national strengthening. How about removing the dominance and the split in governance through the acceptance of greater socialism? How about a multi-party system to uphold the diversity of public interests? How about an abundance of smaller groups to represent the reflexive, dynamic, ongoing variety of human points? Put all of that into one program that is made up of satellite public service offices. I’m not talking about the basic welfare program. I’m talking about an end to our slave-labor oriented “work ethic” system. The richest people in the world have never worked hard a day in their life. I know, just shake their hand.

    I realize how you might think, that socialism is unconstitutional, that everyone is in a different place. I hear a lot about hard work as a value, but I’ve never seen anyone get rich off of hard work, nor have I seen hard work prevent medical problems, nor have I seen hard work prevent a disaster, nor has hard work stopped injustice, inequality, wrongful accusation, or the fact of death. People need a safety net, people need tangible social security at all ages, and its time our system start providing greater support for people instead of a bare minimum or the more often zero. I know it’s a hard idea to accept, but its necessary if we are all to move forward.

    Did I tell you about the homeless here in the city? I’m sure I mentioned it before. It gets worse though. Homeless people are scattered down the west coast through three states. I saw them myself. They live in garbage, under highways, behind run-down buildings, sometimes going on for several blocks, and at times directly in the city center on the sidewalks. I didn’t know it was that extensive. They are all races, all ages, single people, and whole families. It scared me for my own life. After I had surgery and nearly died six years ago it was homeless people who took care of me and my small child when the local hospital put us out into a wetland where we then slept. Honestly why save my life for that? I’m certainly scared. I wasn’t scared previously. I’ve been working hard since I was a kid. I can barely survive. People complain about a welfare system, but nobody complains about corporate welfare or prisons as welfare.

    I was told by one of the social workers here on campus that people get into trouble as kids due to a bad home life then end up on drugs or worse, and then add to the homeless population. To put it lightly, I had a bad home life; in fact I am an orphan and everything bad happened to me because of it. I don’t know how I avoided getting into drugs. I remember thinking it was just plain stupid to do it, but maybe I had hidden strength, I don’t know. The point is I am not judging it. What if they had somewhere to go though? I can see you in my mind just shaking your head “no”. Some of those homeless are college students. I met one homeless person who was in a nursing program. She was married and had three kids. You probably will remind me of limited resources to build housing, but what if we took the steal and built real homes instead of using it for another oil pipeline. Nice quiet strong structurally sound buildings could help people too, but please no more skyscrapers. We could put all of the updated talent from campus to restructure society, all those great people in urban planning and environment could contribute. Even the political science people are getting in on the idea. I know about complexities, I could help problem solve. Let me ask you though, what if I had had somewhere to go instead of the street? I could have finished school when I was younger. I could have had a decent job all this time and had my own assets. I could have avoided homelessness if there had been a social welfare system to help me when I needed it. I could have avoided getting pregnant against my will. I could have preserved my health. That’s more a dream isn’t it? I had three jobs and it wasn’t enough. Some seem to just get whatever they want. I could have avoided domestic violence if there had been a better welfare system.

    Did you know that our current president has a similar personality as the man who destroyed my property and tried to kill me? The behavior is almost identical; some call it narcissism, some say that a narcissistic personality is a fancy term for domestic violence. That was property I suffered for and worked hard to obtain while tolerating sexual harassment, inferior pay, and poor working conditions right here in the homeland, and I didn’t even receive veteran’s status or benefits for the war I fought here. Yes, I got it all right here in the homeland; rape, homelessness, abuse, poverty, injustice, lousy wages when I got paid at all, and he didn’t pay me back for the damages…and I became homeless because the societal structure doesn’t honor my rights as a person. I know what you’re going to say, it’s a different subject, but is it? Are you thinking I changed the subject? I didn’t. Nobody asks to be born. I’m certainly not ecstatic about my existence.

    People are focused too on keeping resources from one another because we don’t have a better social system. I don’t believe in the conflict model system but apparently voting against it isn’t an option. My fear is increased poverty, more setbacks, and a bigger hole for you and me both. If I pursue independence I have to do it in a particular expected way. What liberty is that? I could try and find a husband, that might make it better, but men won’t date me because I have another man’s child, a man who left because the child was female and not male, but he came from a colonialist family, maybe that was why. Are you frowning at me now? I think it is because you are sick of hearing it or being confronted with it. Are you feeling weighed down as you read this? I know, there are all combinations of troubles out there. I’m telling you, I have part of a solution. Like I said, I avoided drugs and peer pressure, but when force is used I can’t always fight it off, but I want to have faith in people that they will let go of domination over others. Maybe you know too that we need to do this but you’re afraid you will have to give something up. That’s why I mentioned the satellites, that way there is distribution of responsibility.

    The welfare system today doesn’t provide the support to get people through all the way to the other side. Most can’t survive one bad luck event after the next. Problems compound just like interest and both last for years. The problems pile on top of one another until there is a pit you can never climb out of and the next thing you know, boom, your life is over and hopeless for the future because the problems are insurmountable, but you have the debt, or nothing, to pass on to your kids. There is no dignity in applying to receive a handful of cash once a month while getting letters from the government about what a looser you are for being on benefits in the first place, or hearing it in the news, TV, and social media how hated you are for it, or those constant state letter reminders of how soon they will kick you off. That’s without mentioning anything of the invasion of privacy and details the government requires about your personal life and bank information just to apply for it in the first place. We shouldn’t even need to notice it is this miserable. I’d much prefer to have the $60,000 plus income per year job than the $30 per month welfare anyday. The irony is that people with jobs are on the verge of homelessness too and they also live in poverty but they don’t receive welfare, but they could in a better social system.

    We’re lacking in widespread social support. Let people argue, let governance support the public, and that means all of the public, whether you like them or not. Nobody said you have to like everybody. Nobody said you have to hold their hand and do everything for them. You just have to care, that’s what they really want. People want to know that somebody or a group of some bodies cares about other people. This is where I have my “big” idea, how about multiple specialty NGO’s funded by the government budget indefinitely as a social welfare program. Maybe it should be called a social “betterment” fund instead, that’s more American sounding anyway, and people would probably like that better. The word “welfare” sounds too much like a Danish import for example, and people really want an American brand of social betterment. I think it’s a good idea. If multiple NGO’s had funding to support the public interest and provide alternating programs constantly, we could get more people off the streets, off drugs, in meaningful jobs, give them healthcare, let them have some fun and live a little, or whatever they need. That’s the idea, give people what they need, or at the very least help them get it. It appears, and I say appears because, as you know, I am a scientist and I prefer an in depth analysis before making a statement that, through these NGO voices today acting as specialized groups, they are better suited to serve the local public interest through national government financial support. The ACLU is in that theme, but they have a specific specialty, and we need more successful social specialties. The country is simply too large and too diverse to avoid a social betterment network any longer. In fact there should have been a social betterment program along with the writing of the constitution. People came here to escape government they didn’t like but now we have government we don’t like. I would rather know there aren’t people on the streets. I’d rather know that we don’t hate each other by practicing instead allowing each person to bring what they can to social contribution and participation within their ability, and still receive welfare if they need it. You could fund it with billionaire money. They made their fortunes on the backs of the public and are able to repay. They haven’t been accordingly taxed and they haven’t been accordingly regulated through a social betterment goals system.

    When I was a kid, one of the things we said was, “in a large group everybody will say the same thing, but get them alone and talk to them one on one and you find out how they really feel”. Do you think anyone is so hateful they truly do not care about what happens to other people? I don’t, I think people are busy with their lives and more independent groups funded by the government would help those people we can’t neglect our own families or our own health to see through the hard times. One day those people could be us and wouldn’t it be good to know someone is there to help? I know, I can hear you sighing at me already, but I’m talking about a social betterment system for everybody, not just homeless, but everybody getting what they need when they need it. Think about it, because, everybody on welfare is fairly close to being homeless, and many of those people are college students too, it’s not just the people you don’t like, it’s people like me, it’s people of all races and all ages.

Sincerely,

Your Other

Dear America

Dear America,

I came to you in 1997 because my birth parents did not want me. There was a dark and dismal future for me in China...if I even lived past 5. But in 1997, you opened your arms wide and made me feel like I could belong. I could have a bright, fulfilling, and gratifying future in your land. Growing up in your small town of St. John with loving parents, I did not know I was different. I did not know I was adopted, nor that I was Chinese. I went along with my Caucasian counterparts, just trying to do my best to fit in. A part of me always knew I was different, but I could never pinpoint what exactly made me so. That was until my fifth grade teacher pointed out to me that I was Chinese. Ah-ha, that’s what it was. From there on, I did everything in my power to fit in...sacrificing my own self to do so and not even caring that I did. You have given me an opportunity to attain higher education by attending a great university like UW. You have allowed me to transform and heal, inching me a step closer to the woman I want to be, to an identity that I feel comfortable embracing. There is so much that you have given me that I am eternally grateful for, but there still are dreams I wish you will realize.

Race has always been a heavily-discussed topic in America, but it has always been the topic of conversation between white Americans and black Americans. Sometimes we talk about Mexican Americans, but we hardly ever talk about Asian Americans...or Americans like me who still don’t understand their own identity. Even at Citizen University the state of Asian-Americans in the your land was not mentioned. I remember talking with my friends, and they told me, “You should be happy that America’s not talking about you.” Well, no, I’m not. Because if they’re not talking about me, then I’m not important. We’re not important enough to be discussed; we are the forgotten ones. The docile, quiet, and submissive ones. And it makes me uncomfortable to accept it.

So America, a lot has gone through my mind since we’ve put Donald Trump “in charge” (...is he actually in charge?). What do you want for your future, because I know what I want. I want to see an America in which not only women rise just as high as men, but we will no longer question their ascent or authority. I want to see an America in which we no longer dispute facts, because by definition they are indisputable, and we rid ourselves of post-truth politics. I want to see an America in which my race or ethnicity will not be the deciding factor on an application - either to drive up diversity efforts or to succumb to the stereotypes. Most importantly, I want to see an American in which people believe in the opportunities you provide. That we each fulfill our duties and participate as democratic citizens in this bold experiment of self-government, and that we do so with pride and love. Those are my dreams for you, but what are your dreams for yourself?

Dear Democracy

Dear Democracy,

As it stands, I’m not sure if I should refer to you as a thing or an idea, but I suppose that’s not important. Whether it’s true or not, the United States claims to be a meritocracy where hard work will inevitably lead to prosperity and happiness. While I whole-heartedly appreciate what you’ve done for this country, I’ve been meaning to ask you why this idea seems to pertain solely to individuals, and not to you. For the most part, it’s widely accepted that hard work pays off. But when did you convince us that you’re the best because you’re also the easiest?

As a country, you are our shining star. The United States claims to be the best country in the world, filled with opportunity and diversity. And we owe much of that claim to you. But when has anyone been the best at anything without challenging themselves? Why are you so afraid to admit that this is hard? The United States is attempting to do something incredible and we need you to step up. You were designed to represent the people, yet I’ve watched you get closer and closer to corporations, leaving those you claim to be your dearest friends in the dust.

Times change, which is one of the reasons we love you so much. You allow us the ability to get better and better. Just tell us the truth. People respond positively to humility. Tell us that this is hard, but that it will undoubtedly be worth it. Tell us that we need to speak up, work together, and listen to one another. Show us that you care. And don’t pretend that it will be easy. People love a challenge. It’s the only way to know you’re getting better.