tell me the truth..

1) I'm the oldest child in my family
2) Surfing one afternoon, I got pulled out too far and had to be rescued by other surfers, twice
3) I love watching soap operas
4) I play video games every night before bed
5) As a child, I lived a block away from an active volcano .. it erupted
6) I broke my arm snowboarding

a tribe called quest...

In 1985, Rappers Q-Tip, Jarobi White, Ali Shaheed Muhammad, and DJ Phife Dawg got together to form A Tribe Called Quest, arguably the greatest hip hop group to date. I first heard their music blaring out of my older brother’s bedroom when I was in elementary school and I’ve been a fan ever since… I seriously listen to their music almost everyday. Q-Tip’s distinctive voice and the group’s mellow yet intelligent flows seem to always put me in a good mood. Earlier this year I caught wind of a tour the group was going to be on and I had to be there. I couldn’t pass up on the chance to see them perform live. Rock the Bells 2010 was the tour and for the Los Angeles show, there were 20,000 people in attendance. A friend of mine came along, even though he didn’t know too much about them and together, we managed to get about rows away from the front of the stage. Once their set started and the first beat dropped, the whole crowd, me included, went nuts. Getting to see them live lets me cross one thing off my bucket list. During their performance, Q-Tip came off the stage and walked through the crowd. He was no more than two feet away from me. That experience further solidified them as the greatest rap group of all time… at least to me!

Electirc Relaxation

Q-Tip & Phife Dawg @ Rock The Bells

bilingual learning...

I would like to chime in on the issue of bilingual learning. Although I don’t have anything against it, but I do think that there have to be major changes made before being integrated into our school systems. As an immigrant of the United States, I was evaluated upon enrollment of elementary school for possibly having to participate in a program similar to this. But because my native language is Tagalog and not Spanish, had I not passed, I would’ve been placed in a class with students that have learning disabilities. When I was in the Philippines, I went to school on a military base and was taught in English so I had no problem. Unfortunately, not all immigrant children get that opportunity and do end up in classes with students with disabilities. In my opinion, placing perfectly capable students in remedial classes could stunt their learning. This could also discourage students and give them the impression that they also have learning disabilities rather than a language barrier. The fact that a student isn’t fluent in English is not a mental disability! I’ve also heard of situations where students get held back a grade because of the language issue. Since then, I’ve always had a negative outlook on the bilingual learning programs at schools. I just think that if Spanish speaking students are going to be taken into consideration, so should every other bilingual student. Also, I’ve sat in on a few of those bilingual learning classrooms and have noticed that it’s far from bilingual. It’s more like a Spanish speaking classroom sprinkled with a bit of English. How are students in this program supposed to eventually transition to regular classes if they are enabled to stick to their native tongue? So, I’m all the best interest of students but it should be for all students, and done right.

modern family..

More than 50% of marriages end in divorce. With that said, the idea of a traditional family is becoming less and less visible in today's society. There are many single parents out there, but many of them marry one another and form fused families. I remember when I was younger, I had friends who's parents were divorced who seemed to be embarrassed to admit disclose so. Back then, divorce was still pretty taboo. I never really understood  why. I never really saw what the big deal was. I've been exposed to a lot of different types of families growing up and have come to realize that having both biological parents around your whole life doesn't guarantee that you'll grow up 'right'. I don't even think it's necessary to even have both parents,especially if a parent causes more damage than does good. I'm not encourage single parenthood or or divorce, I just think that people need to let go of the idea of the 'perfect' family and be open and accepting of people around them.