"If poor people behaved rationally," says Lawrence Mead, a professor of political science at New York Universtiy, "they would seldom be poor for long in the first place." Many social scientists today appear to hold this point of view and argue that the largest portion of the suffering poor people undergo has to blamed upon their own "behaviors," a word they tend to pluralize.

My lola can't speak English, so I go with her to welfare, even when I was young. I always felt like crying when I saw the way she's treated. "Fill this application! Hurry up! Sit down! It's not your turn!" This is not the way that people should be treated. It's not even the way you talk to dogs because you wouldn't bark at dogs. I heard this lady say to another lady, to a social worker, or a supervisor, "Why are they here if they don't speak the language? Why don't they go back to where they're from?"

But it isn't only language, because no one talks that way to a rich lady who does not speak English. Sometimes these women come from Italy or Argentina or from Spain. They go in the stores in their beautiful clothes. They're treated like celebrities. It isn't the language. It's skin color and it's being poor. This is something more than disrespect. It's as if they wish that you did not exist so that they would not have to be bothered.

Fifty-million dollars anywhere in the world is a lot of money. In some underdeveloped countries, it's an almost undheard-of amount, especially if it's being spent by one person for the benefit of others. I figure that one can build a good school for $50 million. Maybe one day. If I don't ever find the love of my life and have children, maybe I can help bring up other peoples' children with the help of a school. I want people to trust me to bring up their children and I'll promise that I'll never let them down.

Of the three times that I've watched Terry Stokes do his hypnotist show, I've been able to get his attention enough to get onstage and go through his pre-screening hypnotism. Of the three times, I've stayed on stage only once. Tonight however, at the California State Fair, I may have been chosen without me even realizing. Ultimately, I stepped down, not knowing that I may have been given a card. However, upon looking at a video that a friend of mine took on her digital camera, she told me that she thinks I was given a card. Oh, if I missed an opportunity, I could kick myself. It's better to be prepared, and not have an opportunity, than to have an opportunity and not be prepared.

My knowledge of the complexities of education funding is the basis for my opposition to Proposition 87 on the November ballot.

When California voters passed Proposition 98 in 1988 guaranteeing a minimum funding level for K-12 schools and community colleges, it was also their intent to ensure that schools share in any increase in new state revenues.

But at a time when school funding in California remains below the national average, Proposition 87 is now the third measure in recent years instituting a new tax for non-eduation purposes and written with a specific exemption from Proposition 98's constitutional funding guarantee. The impact is not insignificant; Proposition 87 alone could deny K-12 up to $1.9 billion over ten years. This disturbing trend, regardless of the programs funded by these measures, will erode Proposition 98's base funding over time and I believe could encourage even more initiatives that deny our schools their fair share of new tax revenues.

Please take a close look at the issues involved, and the specific language of the measure. I ask you to join me and vote No on Proposition 87 - because of the negative impact on school funding and because it was written to specifically deny the intent of California voters in passing Proposition 98.

Sometimes, in our personal day-to-day struggles, we may think, “What difference can one person make?” Let me tell you what I think it is. Because in my life, I have been told it many times, by people from all over the world. The difference one person can make is the difference they can make to one other person, and then one other, and then one other. It’s the inspiration, the spark, the light to move just one person. And where there is light, there is no darkness. It’s the difference we all can make.

Questions and no answers. My mind is full of questions to which I have no answers. Hopefully I will one day learn the answers through either someone teaching them to me or by figuring them out myself.

It's been hectic week thus far. I had two interviews on Monday, and the results were mixed. In preparing for the interviews, I researched the units and the companies, so that I could demonstrate that I was motivated enough to know something about them. Of course I dressed up, and I also looked online to anticipate different questions. There are many tips that I have come across. It's a wonder why more of us don't take advantage of the work that others have done to make it easier. Or when we do, it's already too late to really implement those tips.

Why do we constantly want to repeat the mistakes of others? We don't learn from the mistakes of others. Rather, we ask our parents, teachers, and mentors to allow us to learn from our own mistakes, even if they have been committed by others in the past. Is it a matter of history repeating itself? Or is that a product of our lack of respect for history, personal and global?

I'm not asking that we dwell on our past. That would do us little good to only look at our past. We have to balance ourselves though. Maybe, if we could look a little more often to our past with an analytical eye, rather than focus only on the present and the future, the world would become a better place.

Murphy's Law - Whatever can go wrong, will go wrong.

Finagle's corollary to Murphy's Law - Anything that can go wrong, will—at the worst possible moment

Apparently, my cousin, who turns 17 on August 15, has ran away and wants to live with her boyfriend and their baby. Now that my uncle and my cousin's mom have tracked her down, her mom refuses to give her and the baby their clothes. I asked my cousin's parents where their priorities were, hoping to hear that they want to support their child. Instead, I hear that they are the parents and need to control her life. Does it get more backwards and dysfunctional? It's wild because one week after I observed and experienced an environment where students could be open and honest, in my own extended family exists an environment of complete oppression.

It just supports that even with all the workshops that we do for the students, empowering them, we need to reach out to the parents, to break some of the disempowering dynamics that occur within families. We could be so much more effective that way. It would bridge the generation gaps and assist in our progressing forward as families.

Fortunately, I know someone that has come up with a plan. Hopefully our community can implement it. If I can be part of that. Excellent.

My lola is a woman of small stature. She's 4'7" tall, 68 pounds. Despite her small physique, she's a woman of tremendous proportion when it comes to struggle and inspiration. When I talk to her, I ask her how her life has been. I ask her to tell me what she can remember from her life and she always teaches me something new. At 87 years of age, she still has much to teach. At 27 years of age, I still have much to learn from her. One thing that she mentioned to me was that the same individual that foretold that I would pass away at 25 also predicted that she would live to be 100. The feat is surely possible. The reality is, however, that I do not know if she can make it that long. On the other hand, however, the human spirit often transcends what any of us can ever predict.

We the people are amazing, only to be realized if we allow ourselves to amaze.

Yesterday, I earned my motorcycle learner's permit and today I went and looked at motorcycles. I've decided to purchase a 2000 Honda Shadow VLX 600cc. It's a good ride height for me, which is cool, because I'm short. I thought that I'd have a hard time finding a bike that was a good height for me, because I always had a difficult time finding bicycles. To find a motorcycle just got my spirits up. With the learner's permit, I can ride a motorcycle, but not on the freeway and not at night. The result is that I will be able to practice before I get to the class. The guy that I plan to buy the motorcycle from is from my work, and so he's going to let me take the motorcycle and pay it off in monthly installments, all $1,500 of it. He also recommended that I practice in a parking lot, where there won't be a lot of traffic around me.

When I get it, I'm going to call it Charles, as in Charles Bronson, from the Death Wish movies. This motorcycle - it's my Death Wish.

Some people have alleged that I am going through a mid-life crisis at 27. Maybe it's true. My life certainly hasn't been that of a typical 27-year-old. The fact that I took care of my mom on her death bed and am taking care of my lola in the twilight of her life make my life quite atypical. Not that I would wish it on anybody else. It wouldn't be right.