Merry Christmas!

I think now is a good time to reflect on 2010, it has been another interesting year with much going on near the end. I finally got a job this past semester starting in August and I will be leaving that position for another next semester. To make a long story short i was unhappy with my RA position and will now be a lab assistant in Glenn Hall at CSU Chico. Less strenuous and I will actually be happy there. 


Christmas was a great this year because my grandma joined us at home. She hasn't been back to California in over 10 years. That's before 9/11 and she got here in perfect shape. I look forward to our time together. 


Another semester has gone down at Chico. I have three left. WOW. Time has flown. I have to apply for graduation, I can't believe that. I have met another great group of friends at UV. International students are a bunch of fun to hang out with. Some left already to go back home but the time we had this semester was truly wonderful, I can't wait to go visit them when I can. 


I'll make another post soon listing some new year plans but other than that I will be eating seafood tonight. Happy hot pot.  


Merry Christmas y'all.

-Quincy

Tim Wise at Chico

Listening to Tim Wise really helped me realize the position and current state of the United States, and the conditioning we as a society have gone through. You could hear a pin drop as he spoke with such conviction and emotion. At one point, they brought out extra chairs because there were so many people. I’m glad I got there early. The first story he told us was when he just graduated and had no money, but needed a place to stay in New Orleans while he worked. His plan was to try and live with, and I quote,  “9 other roommates” to save money. This is something I can relate to because I live with 3 other guys and we share the kitchen, which if I didn’t periodically mention would never be cleaned. My roommates won’t clean up after themselves and I often put it off because it isn’t my job as I’m not the one who created the mess. However, Mr. Wise tells us eventually it doesn’t matter who creates the mess because the eventual horrible wasteland becomes too much to bear for anybody and it must be dealt with. So, in essence, ignoring the fact will only make things worse.

One of the reasons why we don’t do enough about inequality or social injustices because it’s not our fault, it has been ingrained in our society for a long time that a person or group have gotten to where they are because of their own accord and not because of how society has been created. Tim made sure we realized that the problems that are currently affecting our society and country weren’t created by us, but still have an impact on how we live our lives today. The social injustices in our country are breaking down the lives of the minorities in our society and communities we live in. His speech is coupled with very simple humor that makes it very easy to understand what he is saying. People at the end asked what we could do now and he said that 1) we can identify that we all wear a different lens and to realize that 2) the fact is that we need more collaborative effort to try and change the system of natural cyclical prejudice, bias, racism, and inequality in America. He talks about the white folks that created the social safety nets that saved them back in the day but as soon as Latin and black families began to use these same safety nets, they change their attitudes towards these nets and vilify the newcomers with darker skin and different cultures. The reality is that those benefits were created to help white people in the first place.

The main point that Tim wanted to get across to us is that there is this myth that people get where they are by themselves because that is what our educators have told us, the government has repeated and parents have possibly reinforced. The idea is that if you work hard and do the right things you will earn a living wage, but as Tim pointed out, that is not necessarily true. If you look at the larger picture, you can see that some people, mainly white-males, have been privileged through life and they might not recognize that they were picked for a job or school because of other people’s biases towards the minorities of this country. One of Tim’s examples for this is as follows: you have two resumes in hand and you have to choose one for the position. In one hand you have a white male college graduate that has more experience and so forth, and in the other you have a Latino Male's resume that might look less comparable to the other. Now to say that the white Male's resume is better because he went to a good college would at first seem totally reasonable, but this would be ignoring certain factors. You have to consider how the white male got to where he is today. Is it because he worked harder and is smarter than the Latino male, or is it because he was privileged into his current status? It’s like giving somebody a head start and logically seeing the person who started ahead finishing first. The other person might actually be going faster, but having started behind has to work even harder to catch up. If they had been given the same opportunities, they could be at the same spot in the race, or even ahead.

-Quincy

Not Hearing those that disagree with you? O__o

Issue: Dissent


I had a lecture couple weeks ago about not listening to those who disagree with you and it really got my attention and I made sure I was going to post about it so here it goes. 


     I find it that people are really good at hearing what they want to hear and disregarding the rest. I'm not sure as to what or why the brain does this. Is it natural? I mean can we be self aware of it and maybe change, I believe we can, if we try. How hard would it be to TRY and listen to those who disagree with you? Why is listening so hard? It seems to me that people have a radar and some peeps have a very large radar and they will catch almost everything that comes up on it while others radar are quite limited and they don't catch as much. I'm not saying that the ones with larger radars are smarter because I have no evidence for that, but I can say that you can build your radar. 


      You can start with relevancy, we pick up things that are relevant to us. However you want to do that; read more, watch less, become religious. I don't know, I leave that up to you, but I urge you, no, challenge you to become more relevant. Yes. making yourself listen more I think makes you relevant, not only to yourself but others as well because after you have actually listened to a person instead of trying to think of some awesome rebuttal you can really formulate a real answer and maybe realize you both were talking about the same point and argued over nothing, and which in my opinion is the biggest waste of time. So next time you and a friend or foe get into a discussion or argument test yourself and see if you are actually listening or half-assing it. One point I forgot to mention is that listening and understanding have zero to do with actually agreeing with someone. 


Keeping it short and simple don't want to lose those short attention spans :) 


Music: Calvin Harris I'm Not Alone DEADMAU5 REMIX
Mood: Good and Happy. 


-Quincy

Si se peudes!

Yes we can,

This semester has been flying. And I have been trying to keep up with it. School is tuff, I thought my schedule was going to benefit me, but I look back and I don't think it was the best choice. 4 classes before noon? seriously Steven what were you thinking. The RA job is also as demanding as school. Keeping track of 33 residents and making sure they are all good. That can be stressful sometimes. Getting late night calls for lock-outs and what-not. ugh.

With November brings days light savings time yet I will be on duty at 2, which is actually 3 soo. yeah. not to happy about that. Were supposed to get an extra hour of sleep not stay awake an extra hour. wtf!

Currently working on my board for November and listening to Bob Marley.  Good Stuff.

Peace out

-Quincy

To Residents of Buildings 17-19

Steven here.

This is my personal blog where I like to talk about random stuff about myself. I will start writing to you through this blog. I'm not going to force you to follow me but if you want you can. I will be putting up events, programs, and anything else I find interesting and may concern you guys. I think it will be a fun semester and I look forward to getting to know all of you.

If you haven't taken that survey, here it is again, please take it if you haven't yet.

Please let me know what you think. Leave questions, comments, or anything else.
If you don't feel comfortable leaving a comment please email me at spatterson8@mail.csuchico.edu
or just come by my room. Apt #343 Building 19.
Also if you would like to call me my number is (530) 519-6307

You can find me on the internet below \/\/

Facebook. if you're interested.
Twitter. If you're really interested.
LinkedIn for business connections.
Tumblr for randomness.
Youtube My channel.



Yes, I know I spend way too much time on the internet. ;)

MUse Concert!!!!

Tuesday September 28, 2010. Muse will be playing with Passion Pit at the Sacramento Arco Arena and I will be there with two other friends!! So excited. I started listening to Muse when I was about 14. I have almost all their Albums. My absolute favorite is Absolution. Truly epic music. So yeah just wanted to let you all know. I will be posting up pictures from that concert so stayed tuned. Here's a taste of what they sound like LIVE!!!! Take care. 




-Quincy


ps. I bought tickets to the annual Bridge School Benefit The Line up is gonna be 


awesome!!! I'll talk more about that laters. 

New Job

Wow has the last 3 weeks gone by super fast. Well in that time, I've got a job, made new friends, moved to a new room, completed 3 weeks of school, and have started many projects. I am the new RA (Resident Adviser) at University Village. I also work 8 hours at the mail room and also will be TA for Tom Wilder in his BSIS 301 course 3 hours a week. So yeah gonna be super busy exactly the way I like it. So I have my housing paid for and will be making a little bit of money, woot! Things are looking bright. Have a great week y'all.

-Quincy