Tampa Time

I'm in the the beautiful city of Tampa, and I just wanted to share some photos really quickly, before I go to bed. Tomorrow I'm off to the beach. Long live Florida beaches.

First off, we have the reason for the gathering. Young Terin Barbas graduated from Notre Dame. This beautiful young lass will be attending Florida State Law. We might have been classmates had Tallahassee not been void of anything useful for Monica.

Here is a handsome threesome. Mr. Atom, of course, making an appearance. Mr. Chris Sullivan is in the mix here, too. I think we make quite a fine Mexican flag together. If not, maybe Italian is more your tastes.

Here we have the freaky deaky Dutch gal, Kara Stajlan (is that right?), and a slim Joe Romano. Joe is taking over Tampa, which apparently is his way of escaping it, and Kara will get an M.D. at Jorgetown.

And this is the group. Nice.

I like my peoples in Tampa.

Sweet NFL Map

Just thought this was cool

I'm up

I am well. Life is good. Work is busy. Sun is nice. Memorial Day Weekend in Florida happening soon. Roommates are cool. I like hamburgers.

Now, just a quick note on what's going on in immigration in America. First off, my Peruvian and French/Irish friends, did you know that there are signs like this in border cities like San Diego, CA?

A funnier version of that sign, courtesy of Carlos Mencia, a comedian:
(note the preggers and the man's sombrero :)


And a not so funny version:

I get so frustrated with hearing the immigration reform be called amnesty. Amnesty is a clean slate. It's mean forgiven and forgotten. What is being suggested by Congress is not amnesty. Years of the suffering the all the problems that come with illegal status, the thousands of dollars lost to coyotes, crappy bosses, and corrupt landlords--from which there is very little protection, but no one seeks it for fear of being discovered and deported--all of this has ruled out amnesty. Some people act like the 12 million or so worker who are illegal in this country are all criminals. Like they had a choice to come illegally. A real choice. It's not a choice when you need the money to pay for your family's food, education, chance at life; when your parents are sick; etc.

If anything, the reform Congress is talking about screws over people who have had years of waiting for their family member to do the process the correct way (that's right, it could take 5-15 year for your mom to get your dad hear legally; if that's not a family, I don't know what is). Also, they are talking about helping workers, which is great, but it doesn't help them all. Look up articles on domestic workers, for example, and the little protections they get from abuse.

This is not an easy mess to fix, and no one seems to agree on how it can be fixed. I guess my point is that something needs to be done, and this is something. Not everything that needs to be done, but something. And, just like everything else in life, it has NOT come free.

Crist is the Man!

I really like this new Governor. He's my kind of Republican. I love moderates!

Everglades plan draws praise

By ASSOCIATED PRESS


Published May 9, 2007

TALLAHASSEE - Environmentalists are hailing a bill to expand Everglades cleanup by extending the effort to the northern reaches of the ecosystem, where the water gets polluted in the first place.

A bill lawmakers sent last week to Gov. Charlie Crist doubles the amount of money going into Everglades cleanup, up to $200-million from the $100-million the program has received yearly since state and federal officials pledged in 2000 to try to reverse decades of pollution-caused problems.

With matching money from local governments and state funding for related projects, the total spending will be close to $500-million, said Sen. Burt Saunders, R-Naples, who led the effort in the Senate.
...

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I'm Alive

Ok, it's been a while, and I can't write much now. I just wanted to express my aliveness and my desire to write about:

• How cool my bro is (very).
• The silent retreat I did (nice).
• Mónica being done with work next week (relaxing).
• Summer plans (hotness).
• NYU (red delicious).

But not right now. Peace.

It is finished

Wow! I am going to law school next year. Man, it was tough. Ok, let's do the long and short of it. I applied to FSU, USC, Pepperdine, U Chicago, Loyola Chicago, Northwestern, Northeastern, Boston College, Boston U, NYU, Fordham, UPenn, and Rutgers-Camden. I never heard from BU nor UPenn (weird!). U Chicago waitlisted me. The rest accepted me.

Quickly, as shown by my previous message, it became the battle of two schools: Loyola Chicago and NYU. And deciding b/n the two was maybe the most difficulty and draining thing I have ever done (side note: I really think that this statement is true, which says a lot about the tough times in my life. I'm a lucky kid).

One the one hand, Loyola is a great Jesuit school, filled with a tradition of social justice, spirituality, and a high percentage of law students that go into public interest. But the kicker is this. They offered me full tuition, and I was the inaugural recipient of the award. What a gift!

On the other hand, NYU is the fourth ranked law school in the most recent US News and World Report rankings, has a serious interest in public interest (though it is most definitely populated by people who will most likely work for big time firms for big time money), and offered me $15,000 a year (tuition is $39k).

The debates in my head were almost a grueling with the debate I had with my dad. That was terrible. In the end, I am going to NYU. I am very VERY excited about going there, but I still feel very sad about turning down such an amazing gift. They give 3 full tuition scholarships, all in honor of different contributers to LUC. I felt blessed to have that distinction given to me.

In the end two things struck me and lead me to choose NYU over LUC (many of the other considerations made the schools pretty evenly matched). One, I don't think that not wanting to turn down a scholarship is not reason enough to choose one school over another. And, more importantly, New York offered me family. My cousins live in Queens. Monica's family lives in Philly and has family in NYC.

Man, that was hard to do. I need to recoup so I can truly be psyched about going to NYU. The Big Apple. Gotham City. Sweet.

Where I've been...

Below is where I've been in the USA. Some were day trips, but I count them b/c I did significant things there. Like I never spent the night in Kentucky, but I did bail someone out of jail. I never slept in Wyoming, but I did walk around Yellowstone National Park there. I never slept in South Carolina, but I did skim-board at Myrtle Beach.

And these are the countries I've been to in the world. There might be some more in Central America, but I was too young to remember much of it. Also, I have been to an island owned by Colombia, but that is nothing like the rest of the country, so I didn't mark it. I am painfully aware of how red the west and how gray the east is. I would love to check out Africa, especially surfing on the souther coast and partying all over the rest of it. I'd love to go to the Holy Land. I'd love to rock out India with my boy Pushkar. I'd love to have a cabana on the beach in Thailand, surf again in Australia, and then sing very bad karaoke in Japan before visiting Criollo in China. Maybe one day.


Shout-out to Isabel for this idea. I met your Marista friend, Carmen, at NYU. She's very nice.

Do your own maps, thanks to douweosinga (what does that mean?).

Welcome Chorizo!

Our good friend, Chorizo (number 5) made his professional debut at the Milwaukee Brewers game yesterday. He made a cameo last year, but the club violated mascot rules, so they needed to wait until now to bring him on for good. He joins Polish and Italian sausages, hot dogs, and I think a bratwurst, but don't quote me on that.

My boss, who was at opening day, told me that when they introduced our good friend Chorizo, some people cheered, but others booed. Obviously, Chorizo is not Spainish but Mexican. He's got a sombrero, for crying out loud! So do the people who booed just dislike spicy sausage? I'm guessing they don't like Hispanic immigrants. To all of those people, you frustrate me. You're missing out on how yummy chorizo can be.

Bush Admin and Greenhouse Gases

Justices Rule Against White House on Emissions

By DAVID STOUT
Published: April 2, 2007

WASHINGTON, April 2 — The Supreme Court ruled today, in what amounts to a rebuke of the Bush administration, that the Environmental Protection Agency has the authority to regulate carbon dioxide from automobile emissions, and that it has shirked its duty in not doing so.

...

Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. dissented, along with Justices Antonin Scalia, Clarence Thomas and Samuel A. Alito Jr. The chief justice said his dissent “involves no judgment on whether global warming exists, what causes it, or the extent of the problem.” Rather, he wrote, the kind of dispute in this case is better resolved by Congress and the executive branch rather than the courts.

I think that the dissenters have a point in that Congress is the place to make the rules and do clarification on Acts. Then again, the point of having a Checks and Balances system is to make sure the other branches are doing their jobs right. (Well, it's much more complicated than that, but I think the majority ruling is still in the spirit of the checks.)

Machu Pichu is Cool

If that doesn't look mystical, I don't know what does. An interesting fact I learned about the Inca's while in Peru is that they built these terraced lawns, not only for practicality's sake--living in the mountains makes flat space otherwise hard to find--but also to make the Machu Pichu golf course the most difficult, where even the emperor (called the Inca) might have a tough time sinking in the par fours....Ok, the golf course thing was a big lie, but the terraces are cool, no? And the dark, cloudy, rainy day made it look all the more mystical. Turns out Machu Pichu was the land for the elites, like astrologers, doctors, priests, and vestal virgins.

Machu Pichu also had some llamas rolling around there. Before this picture was taken, these Argentine chicas were taking a picture of one of their friends near the llamas, when one (not pictured) went running down the ancient gutter tot he right of the picture, straight at her. She freaked out, and SNAP; her friends took a picture of her terrified face while a llama ran past.


Atom and I also tried some Guinea Pig, or cuy. Not the most delicious thing on the menu. The alpaca was better. But all in all, not that bad. I think if it had a better sauce/seasoning it would have been better. And they say you're supposed to eat everything except for the bones. Gross. The leg I had still had some hairs sticking out of the skin, so I ripped that 'ish off before I munched on the little bit of meat left behind. One of my fake uncles, Tio Ivan, was sitting in front of Atom and left the able. Couldn't stand the look of the cuy. Can't say I blame him.



On a completely separate note, I'm off to NYU for an interview. I'm a finalist for the Root-Tilden-Kern Scholarship Program, which gives money to kids to are cool (like me) and will  commit to working in Public Interest Law for some years after law school. I talked to one of this past year's scholars, and she humbled me...aka made me nervous. I realize they must like something about me, but her experiences and qualifications made what I have done seem juvenile in the sense that she has lived more life and done more things and my adult life is just starting. She has shown years of dedication and service as a professional, while I am finishing my first year out of college. Still, I know and am proud of what I have done in the past, I have a strong sense of what I want to accomplish in the future, and (as I keep reminding myself) I was picked from a pretty large applicant pool to be a finalist. So wish me luck. New York, here I come....Friday.

Peace.

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To Peru and Back

My boy, Atom, has some pictures of this momentous trip. Alas, I do not. But it was wonderful to see my bro and spend time with my family. Here's the neighborhood in which my bro and his community work at. This dog isn't theirs, but the community, Family of Jesus Healer (FJH) has four of their own with the men and a few more protecting the women. My bro was in charge of training a few of them, which gave him a pretty wicked scar when the trainee fought back.

 

Below here is a picture of my bro and FJH. Notice how green the grass is, and compare it to the dusty, dirty, cactusy picture above. They are neighbors. It shows how fertile the land is, but how dry it is. The grass is green (or exists at all) only if you have water to keep it growing. The community takes care of their land to make it a haven for themselves, those they help, and because they can. They have dug a well somewhere in the back, so they have the access to water that some of their constituents don't have. In the picture is (from the far left to far right) Tio Jose, Orlando (Hno. Jose Maria), Hno. Pio, Hno. Karol, Tia Fatima, and my pop's left side.



This last picture is of my boy Atom and me, on our way from Lima to Cusco, right before we hit up Machu Pichu. Little did we know that what Cusco held in store for us was my vomiting and Atom wanting to.



All in all, a good trip. Glory to God.

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Mathew Celebrity Look-Alikes

Mathew Dutra's celebrity look-alike collage from MyHeritage.com. Get one for yourself.



I love having fun with my roommates!

Let's Continue the Love

Well, you can obviously tell my fascination and excitement with what Alyse is doing, so here is a picture from her group, the Center for Development in Central America. Click on the picture to link to their current Newsletter.

New Friend

Hey, I'm really excited that I discovered a friend's blog. Alyse Rothrock (or something of that nature) is in mi patria, Nicaragua, saving the world. Read about it by following the link to the right or clicking on her name. Coolio!

So the decisionmaking begins

Ok, so as of now, all schools outside of Chicago, New York, and Philadelphia are not options. I doubt that will change, but only time will tell. The new developments are that both Loyola Chicago and NYU have invited me to interview for scholarships. Loyola has already offered me a pretty large chunk of money, so this could bring the total close to a full tuition. NYU is just offering me now, but there are 3 scholarships I'm applying for, and they all can be up to full tuition. They come with a catch, that I have to work in Public Interest law for so many years. I don't think it's such a big deal b/c I was planning on it anyways, but being forced and doing it how you want are two different things. So it seems that this month is being dominated by these two schools....and the tremendous amount of work I have.....and not going to the gym for this or for that (mostly staying late a work). You know, I get here at 7:30am. Yesterday I left at 6:30pm. Before that 5:30. Today, who knows. I just want to take a nap.

vs.