Hunger and Homelessness

The School of Americas protest was the same week as the hunger and homelessness week; I am glad because they tied in together, but I was sad that I was not able to be on campus for the hunger and homelessness week. Because the United States support war, the government is not able to feed every citizen, such as the people who go to bed hungry or help fund money to those who cannot afford a living space. For the price of one missile, a school full of hungry children could eat lunch every day for 5 years. Instead of focussing on something that just brings out world down, why not try to use that money on something useful? I am thankful for the soldiers who go out to fight for our country, but if it was up to me, there would not be wars because in my eyes war does not solve anything. The government should be using that money to better our country rather than using it to destroy other countries. 1.37 billion people live on less than $1.25 a day, and 2.56 billion live on less than $2 a day. Moreover, 5.05 billion people, more than 80 percent of the world's population, live on less than $10 a day. The number of chronically hungry people worldwide grows by an average of four million people per year. Yet people think it is better to support a war and not focus on what is happening in our country? It is mostly the 1% of the population that do not want to make a change because they are comfortable where they are and do not want to give up some of the money they make. Lately to me it seems like almost every issue we have in our country relates back to the 99% versus the 1%. Instead of trying to solve other countries problems, or causing problems in other countries, the government should look at the United States to see what things need to change in this country in order to make it a safer, and better environment for those who live here rather than funding a school that does not help those people who are homeless or do not have enough money to eat and survive. The School of the Americas protest showed me that the school is not beneficial to the American citizens, and gives Americans a bad name because the school trains soldiers to go into Latin American countries to kill innocent people, and CEOs of big companies, as well as workers. The protest links to hunger and homelessness week as well because when the American soldiers invade and kill innocent people it causes those who lost their spouse, or parent to be homeless and hungry since they do not have their source of money. I am glad I went to the protest because I had no clue that this was happening in the United States; the protest was very informative, and I learned a lot, which has caused me to want to be more involved with shutting down the School of the Americas. 

Christ the Light Cathedral

I really liked Christ the Light Cathedral; it was such a beautiful cathedral. Three Catholic theological beliefs illustrated in the architecture of the Christ the Light Cathedral are the shape of the Cathedral, the water fall going into the Mausoleum, and the alter in the Mausoleum. Christ the Light Cathedral’s shape symbolizes a womb. The Cathedral is very open and round; it symbolizes the peoples’ growth as a person and how worshipping and going to church develops people. The shape also could represent Noah’s arch upside down because the walls are all wood and in the shape of a boat. The ceiling is open and does not have wood over it because it represents “the heavens being able to gaze upon the earth and the earth to gaze up the heaven”. The ceiling also is pointed but rounded which symbolizes growth and prayers to go up to the heavens but also back down to the people in church. Also as you enter the Mausoleum there is a hallway that goes downward as if you were going underneath the earth.While walking into the Mausoleum there is a picture of Jesus and bath of water, an in front the Mausoleum there are waterfalls on the walls, these symbolize rebirth and purity. The water is a symbol of resurrecting the people who have past away and been buried in the Mausoleum. The water in the Cathedral is played throughout the whole Cathedral, because there is a bath of water right as soon as you walk into the Cathedral, which purifies and resurrect people who enter the Cathedral. In the Mausoleum there is an alter that is right below the alter upstairs, the ceiling is a little see-through; this represents that people whether they are deceased or alive are all one. Even though the people are deceased they share the same world we live in. The alter downstairs in the Mausoleum is also the original alter from the Cathedral.

SOA Protest

The SOA Protest was very educational. I learned so much by going, and felt a part of an important event. It was not exactly what I expected, but was one of the greatest times of my life. I was able to speak out for what I believe in with people who believe the same thing. The SOA Protest shows people and younger generations that there does not need to be harm or war in order to stand up. Although the School of the Americas is still open, the crowd and fight against it is becoming bigger and stronger. I would recommend it to everyone to attend it at least once. It is definitely a wonderful experience.

Killer Coke

I was very surprise by the amount of companies Coca- Cola owns; I did not know they own half the companies they do. The workshop was not very informative but it mostly focused on how many campuses have coke related products. I want to be apart of this campaign because it is very interesting to hear such negative comments about a product that almost everyone I know drinks. This company has abused its power and have cheated workers and the governments in Mexico out of hundreds of millions of dollars. In Mexico they made a fake level of employment so that the Mexican workers would not get a high wage but rather get a small amount of pay for all the hard work they do. Coca-Cola also deplete and pollute water resources in Asia, Africa, Latin America, and other countries, which leaves them with no drinking water. They also discriminate against race in the United States. Coca-Cola is monopolistic and practice fraudulent business practices. They also benefit from hazardous in El Salvador and avoid tax in Mexico, the Philippines and the United States. I would like to stop the company from gaining even more money, because it is an example of the 99% and the 1%.

SOA Vigil

The SOA Vigil was such a moving experience; it was so sad to hear all the names of the people who were murdered by the SOA graduates. It was amazing to see all the crosses of the people and the age range of the people who died. A touching story is a woman said she could hear her children crying for her as the SOA graduates where killing her children; she was hiding in a bush and said she could not help them because she had to survive so she could tell people the truth about what happened. At the SOA protest a few years ago she stood on stage as they read the names of people who were killed in the massacre in her town; as they read the names she would say "that was my neighbor, that was my child, that was my husband". This story was really touching because here we are teaching people how to kill other people so that they can overtake dictatorships and further corrupt the world, while people in Latin American countries are fighting for their lives and losing their loved ones. I was surprised by the amount of police officers that were at the vigil; I did not expect there to be so many officers or helicopters. There was a tape playing over and over again stating if you cross the fence you will be arrested and put into jail. What I didn't understand was they do not want their land to be damaged but yet they will go into people's countries, towns and homes and damage it and murder them, that just did not make sense to me. It boggled my mind because it does not amend to the moral theory of treat others how you want to be treated. How could these people think it ok to kill innocent people and assassin dictators in Latin American countries?

We are the 99%

Lately a lot of people have been occupying Wall Street, because most of the money in the world in within the 1% of the population. People are having to chose between paying their rent or buying food; that is just ridiculous to me. People should not have to chose between two things everyone should have; how do they expect people to fend for their families and support them when they aren't given an opportunity to? Our government has became so corrupt over the years and it seems like everyone is just worrying about themselves rather than how their actions could affect someone else. The police officers turned a nonviolent protest into a violent one. I was so surprised when I saw the police officer at UC Davis pepper spray the students. As a child growing up in the United States we learn that we have the freedom to speech and express what we believe in, but in reality we do not because if we did those students that were nonviolently taking a stand in what they believe in would not have been pepper sprayed and citizens in Oakland would be able to protest without getting tear gassed. People should get paid a reasonable amount of money for the time they put into their work, not a wage that would barely support their lives. It seems that people do not make enough to have an opportunity to make it higher into their positions or to even have a job. So many companies are cutting back on their amount of employees, how do they think the people without jobs are suppose to live and support others? We live in a sad, sad world...

16th Street Baptist Church

The Baptist Church in Alabama is a symbolic and historical church. The church was used as a meeting place for civil rights activists; that is often where meetings would be held. On September 15, 1963 a group of people bombed the church and killed 4 girls. It only cause exterior damage to the church; people from Wales helped with the finances and building that wall back to how it was.

The only stained glass that was not shattered by the bomb was the picture of Jesus, but it was damaged; Jesus' face was knock out. That was amazing to me because only the middle of the glass broke but the rest of the window was fine. The people from Wales wanted to donate a window to the church. The window is of a black man with

one hand pushing away and the other open. This symbolizes him pushing away oppression and asking for forgiveness. People often mistake it as a black Jesus but it is just an ordinary man from the time period of the civil rights movement.