As the summer sun sets, senior year lies ahead...

Senior year starts in a week! It's been a hectic summer, and with 5 AP classes and Broadcast Journalism and Model UN and College Apps headed my way, I guess the chaos won't stop anytime soon.

Summer was fantastic. Spending a month at Oxford University studying Journalism and International Business was nothing but enriching and I'm so thankful for that learning experience. We produced a magazine called The Visitor in my Journo class and I learned a lot about Game Theory and decision-making in my Business class.

Journalism was truly remarkable. The people I was so blessed to work with, including my teacher, Paul, were so incredibly amazing. Staying up until 4:30 AM the night before print was exhausting, no doubt, but it was the best type of exhausting. It was hard work, but it was work that I loved to do.

During my month at Oxford I also got to tour the British Broadcasting Corporation, also known as the BBC. I got to see the BBC newsroom, live feed from the news desk as the anchors were reporting, and I even got to give anchoring a try at a mini-demo desk. I've done some anchoring before, but I was so nervous that my heart was racing and I messed up a bit! I've decided that I want to work for the BBC someday, and that might be ambitious and too "reach-for-the-stars" type of thing, but I love England and being a proper journalist at one of the best networks in the world would make me nothing but happy.

Robbi and I anchoring at the BBC

After my month at Oxford I got to spend a week in London, South of France, and Paris before heading home. I must say, London was my favorite out of all of them. It might be my favorite city of all!

The fact that I'm going to be graduating high school in a year makes me squirm. I just feel so old! I can't believe by this time next year, I'll be settled in at university. It's crazy how time flies...

...and I still haven't finished my summer homework. Oops!

PS: I promise that next post will be something political! Probably about Edward Snowden and Egypt! :)

Rights on Rights

You must have been living under a rock if you don't know what's been going on politically for the past 24 hours.

For those of you who DON'T know what's been happening, here's a Rapid-Fire Update for ya:

• Yesterday Morning: A vital part of the Voting Rights Act was struck down by the Supreme Court, freeing 9 states (mostly southern) to pass any voting laws sans federal approval (unlike before, when they did have to get federal approval).
• Yesterday Night: Texas State Senator Wendy Davis (D) was a straight-up badass, filibustering for 12-13 hours (in running shoes and a back brace no less) to kill a bill for abortion restrictions during a special session. There was a sh*t-ton of drama. Republicans (predominately male) were trying to illegally end the filibuster (they did end it because she went "off-topic") and tried to vote on it. Turns out, the vote was at 12:03 PM, and the vote was supposed to be made before midnight. So, it's dead, for now. Gov. Rick Perry (R-TX) called for another special session (in other words, buckle up).
• This Morning: DOMA = Dead. That's right, ladies and gents. Gay married couples now have the right to get the same federal benefits as straight married couples do AND California gay couples now can get married!

Alright, Rapid-Fire Update: over.

Let's get to the deets, shall we?

I know the Voting Rights Act is all about racial equality, but my question is how does one determine whether or not a voting process is racially discriminatory. I'm all for racial equality, but is there a standard for racial equality, or is the determination of discrimination all subjective? I guess you could say this is where it gets dicey. I still don't understand how in the world showing your ID is racially discriminatory. You can get IDs, it shouldn't be an issue. Passports, Driver's Licences, etc. Why is that racially discriminatory? It's only trying to prevent voter fraud! Unfortunately, I don't know as much on this issue as I'd like to, and I plan on digging up more info.

I'd also like to say that I LOVE YOU WENDY DAVIS. YOU GO GLEN COCO. Tumblr last night was on FIRE! It exploded to make wonderful, angry, feminist, politically-charged confetti. It was simply gorgeous, and I thought I'd share some:

[WARNING: There's foul language in the following images and I didn't censor it because it's completely necessary for this issue in my opinion.]

I've said this before: Separation of Church and State is so important, and my fellow Republicans are forgetting that COMPLETELY. I understand that the issue of the unborn baby is important, and I can completely see the legal concern for murder.  I still think Roe v. Wade is the best and closest compromise for the issue at hand. But the behavior displayed by the Republicans that night? Trying to illegally end the filibuster and simply not giving Davis the respect she deserves? That is completely inexcusable. Those who disrespected her that night ought to be ASHAMED. It makes me so angry that women still are not treated equally on a social and legal level. I'm utterly sick of this nonsense and America deserves better.

I take the same stance with gay marriage. Separation of Church and State, is that SO HARD to understand? What does it matter to you if two guys/girls get married? WHY DOES IT MATTER SO MUCH? STOP SHOVING YOUR RELIGIOUS MORALS DOWN UNWILLING THROATS! I repeat: WE ARE A SECULAR NATION. WE LEGALLY CANNOT DO ANYTHING LIKE DOMA. Oh, and for those dipwads who claim that 2 men/women would hurt society by raising a child that isn't a traditional family: Calm the hell down. I have friends who have been raised in gay/lesbian families and they are awesome. SO F YOU, and please consider the following image:

And some fantastic parting words, courtesy of Tumblr:

- Julia

PS: I'm headed to the UK this Saturday and going to be out of the US for a month-and-a-half. I'll try to write one more time before leaving, and I'll drop some pictures and short updates when I'm overseas. 

PSS: For those who actually read this and care, thank you so much for reading. I really appreciate your support! POLITICS ROCKS, AMIRIGHT? (well...sometimes)

Summertime, Sherlock, and the Stock Market

Hey everyone! Long time, no type... (I'm sorry. I blame finals.)

But it's a great time to give some RAPID-FIRE updates about my life and what's been goin' on. READY, SET, GO:

• I got accepted to a program to study Journalism and Business at Oxford University. I will be leaving for England in 8 days.
• I have joined the Sherlockian, Trekkie, Cumber-babe, and the Hiddles fandom. (If you don't know what that even is, GOOD. STAY IGNORANT. FANDOMS WILL RUIN YOUR LIFE.)
• Today was my last day of school... SUMMERRRRRR
• I think it's safe to say that I'm obsessed with anything British.
• I'm officially a senior now and I'm kinda flipping out about it.

Ok, Rapid-Fire Update is over. Now let's get down to the deets...

So, first topic: SUMMER! Yes, it's officially summertime. I will be in the UK (or the Cute-Accent Country) in approximately eight days. I'm going to be studying, staying at the dorms, and living the life of an Oxford student in just a few days! It's safe to say I'm stoked. I mean, great people have walked the halls and the paths that I will soon walk. W.H. Auden, Margret Thatcher, Tony Blair, James Cameron, Stephen Hawking, and tons more! GAH I'M EXCITED. (Don't worry guys, I'll post updates w/ pictures.)

Second, Sherlock. What can I say about BBC's Sherlock... I guess I can say that it's an amazing piece of art. It's absolutely gorgeous. I'm freaking obsessed. It's actually quite unhealthy. It's probably my favorite thing about my life right now.

Third, the Stock Market. (YUP! I'm going to do some actual reporting today...)

Today, the DOW Jones Industrial Average dropped 353.87 points. In one day. I know that in today's context, that doesn't sound like much. But on Black Thursday (the day that pretty much kicked off the Great Depression), the DOW dropped a little less than 300 points that day (in 1929 money). In the stock market crash in 1987, AKA Black Monday, the DOW dropped a little more than 500 points.

Well, clearly, we aren't in a Great Depression, but these numbers to me are really disturbing. Even though our economic system isn't on the super-über-brink, I think these numbers are show that our economic system is in a weak position. Weaker than we think it is. My opinion? If irresponsible economic policies continue, we will see a collapse. SOON. It's easy to get caught in a bubble of fiscal ignorance when you are a teen, but I think people my age really ought to pay more attention. In a few short years, we will be legal adults. So if the stock market collapses, we are the ones who will have to deal with it.

Alright. It's the first hours of summertime. 

How am I going to spend it?

Watching Sherlock on Netflix.

:)

- Julia

17: What I Know Thus Far

Today is May 30th. My lovely birthday, and also the birthday of the Brooklyn Bridge and Cee-Lo Green. Yesterday was JFK's b-day, tomorrow happens to be Brooke Shields' b-day too. (If only I looked like the 17-year-old version of her...)

Historically speaking and in the big picture, 17 doesn't sound like a lot. But I feel straight up old. In 3 years, I'll be TWENTY. To me, that's just weird.

Anyway, here's just a couple of life lessons I've learned in my short 17 years here on Planet Earth. Most likely you've experienced the same things I have... but whatevs.

• Work Ethic Matters...

My scholastic discipline started young... when I was four I was sitting in a desk with a full-on uniform on and writing sentences in little-kid cursive, (preschools in the Philippines are way different than in the US) and I was that total geek in elementary/middle school that did ALL my homework on Friday night. My mom would do multiplication drills with me every night, and the harder I worked, the more good results I would see. I learned that you can contribute to your successes immensely if you worked hard and didn't give up at the first sign of difficulty.

• ...but kinda-sorta-not-really

The bad part about starting my work ethic super young? I started developing a work-a-holic-control-freak-like view on life in general. It kind of hit me hard in high school when I realized that there are somethings in life that don't go your way - no matter how hard you work, no matter how many hours you put in, no matter how many cups of coffee you drank to get it done. I had to learn (primarily last year and this year) that life isn't always "fair." Just because I had worked my 100% didn't mean I was going to get News Director or a Producer spot for my schools news program. It was a very bitter pill for me to swallow, but lessoned learned.

• Surround Yourself With Good

Good people. Good teachers. Good-tasting food. Good-feeling activities. I learned that in life, there's no room for negative stuff or "energy-suckers" as my dad likes to call them. Everything in life should have a positive influence/benefit on you and your vibes. I can be really really pessimistic at times, so daily positive reminders and surrounding myself with things that make me happy has made life a bit more enjoyable. :)

• Passion and Learning

I really love learning stuff.  I love learning stuff I'm passionate about even more. So it's no surprise that I'm pretty much beyond stoked when I walk into a seminar at a journalism convention (NSPA/JEA BOSTON 2013 hell yeah). My point is that in life, I've learned that you need to learn A LOT. Be a sponge, absorb everything around you. Be an eternal student. Learning doesn't stop when you leave campus, it's everywhere. Learning things is how you find passion, and passion leads to more learning, and learning leads to more passion... etc.

• Confidence Comes From Within

Admittedly, this is something I really struggle with today. Confidence and self-esteem can't come from the outside. It can't come from other people, it can't come from awards or GPA, it can't come from pictures or the mirror or the scale. It has to come from the inside. Does it hurt to be flat out rejected? Yes. Does it suck that no one asked me to prom this year? Yes. Does it suck that I don't have a 4.0 GPA? Yeah. Does it really stink that I have epilepsy? YES. But I can't feel sorry for myself. I have to be totally ok with who I am and who I've become in order to make any progress for the future. I have to stand with my decisions and actions, and keep my chin up. This is hard for me, but it must be done.

I think my life has been pretty rad so far. Can't wait to see what comes next! :)

The Right, and the SUPER Right...

So, this happened on Twitter today...

Oy Vey...

This, unfortunately, is how A LOT of people see the GOP today. Islamophobes, homophobes, the Westboro-Baptist-Church-kind-of illogical, ideological, old white guys who have VERY backward ideas about US society and foreign policy. These are the kind of people who give the GOP a bad rap, and you know what? I'm sick and tired of it.

Our nation, the United States of America, was pretty much partly founded on the search for religious freedom. And while the Puritans and Pilgrims didn't practice tolerance, the Quakers in Philadelphia did. Colonial Philadelphia soon became known as the "Best Poor Man's Country." You know what that means? Brimming opportunity for ALL (including immigrants w/ different creeds) white (it was colonial times....) men. 

We are a SECULAR nation. I really do appreciate those who want to protect our country from Jihad-ists. I really do. But assuming that all Muslims are extremists? Assuming that non-extremists Muslims who don't take significant action to denounce extremism are "enabling" extremists? That's straight-up Islamophobia.

Not all Muslims are extremists! And clearly, not all extremists are Muslims.

I appreciate your voice and your opinion, but I would like to politely disagree with your aggressiveness against a certain religion you are generalizing into a LUMP. The Super Right, a slim minority (that means well), is now the publicized face of the GOP, giving the rest of us a BAD RAP TO PUT UP WITH 24/7. For Pete's Sake! Not all the GOP is the same.

Oh, and that "respect for both sides of the aisle" thing I was talking about? It goes both ways for Dems and Repubs.

LIBGINAS? Really? Last time I checked, respect was a two-way street... #NoHope

So, I guess I've seen the darker side of the Republican Party, and I've seen that both parties can be absolute, nonsensical nutheads...

Welcome to politics, I guess.

The F-Word: Feminism

This was posted at a high school after new dress code was enforced.
YOU GO GLEN COCO.

Anyone noticed the new spring of Feminism sweeping young women (and even some very brave and cool young men) across the nation? Thanks to tumblr and other social media sites, I think "feminism" and efforts against the rape culture have become "cool" again.

One problem. I'm a Conservative Republican.

A couple months ago, one of my friends in my English class said,

"Julia, I could totally imagine you being a feminist."

Automatically, I cringed. Physically cringed at the very word being uttered to describe ME. Born and raised Republican, I was taught that feminists = bad. When my friend said that, pictures of lesbians eating tofu and braiding their armpit hair flashed in my head. Naturally, I responded that I was sort-of-ish a feminist-ish. I immediately wanted to disassociate myself from that term.

But then, I kind of thought about it. I read articles regarding other public schools being super sexist regarding their dress code because they don't want it to be "distracting" to the boys in an educational environment. (I mean, you're not going to allow me to wear MY BELOVED LULULEMON PANTS?? How about NO.) I read things going on in the country, like girls getting raped while they were passed out drunk, and the boy's defense was that, "She didn't say no." Those same girls who got raped then were humiliated via the internet, and then some resorted to suicide.

It's NOT ok for schools to restrict girls from wearing shorts on a hot day just because it shows our legs, yoga pants just because it makes our butts look pretty great, or even v-necks just because it shows more of our chest area then crew necks do. It's NOT ok for girls to cater OUR clothing choices and OUR behavior to teenage boys who can't control themselves.

Here's a really nice alternative: Teach teen boys how to be men. Teach them how to respect a woman's body like it should be respected. Teach them to be mature. This is the future of the nation we are talking about, let's get serious about this issue.

Now, I'm not totally off the deep-end. I'm no Sandra Fluke. I don't think contraceptives are a government responsibility. But I do think that women should be equal to men in every legal and social regard. No double standards should be tolerated in this day in age.

I'm a girl who doesn't wear skirts or dresses often. I think that pants are extremely comfortable, and dresses are lovely for special occasions. I love primping pre-night out, but often times I'll throw my hair up in a pony tail and rush to my 7:00 AM class. Does that make me any less feminine? Any less desirable? No. That just makes me a modern woman.

So, I'm feminist-ish, and I guess I'm proud of it.

APs Everywhere

Advanced Placement Stress (oh APUSH...)

Dear Associated Press, YOU RULE.

May seems like a very AP-ish month, considering I had my AP US History test recently (I thought I did alright, for those who care) and the whole AP/Obama Administration scandal.

For those of you who don't really know what's up, Associated Press is currently under some serious crackdown or a "sweeping records seizure" from the Dept. of Justice, more specifically, 2-months worth of phone records from 20 phone lines in 4 different locations due to the reporting of super-sensitive material regarding a CIA mission in Yemen.

Apparently, the reporting of these deets and speaking to someone on the inside about the specifics (a leak) was a big national security threat. The CEO of AP, Gary Pruitt, went on Face the Nation and said that this action was unconstitutional, and sets a really dangerous precedent for the future of the press.

Mr. Pruitt, I whole-heartedly commend your strong stance on this issue. I think that's it definitely, utterly, completely, NOT OK for the government to do this. Freedom of speech is what we journalists pretty much live on, its our duty to the nation to report what's going on.

I thought that Sen. John Cornyn's (TX, R) remarks were smart and absolutely in the right. He stated that the government shouldn't get ticked off at the journalists (who are just doing their JOBS), but rather focus their energies on the leaks within government itself (where they actually have the power to do something). He also stated, "What confuses me is the focus on the press, who have a constitutional right here and we depend on the press to get to the bottom of so many issues that we, as individuals, cannot."

Bottom line is that this crap against the press it NOT OK. So, DOJ, please back off and watch what you do. I don't know if we've made it clear enough, but the journalists of this nation are NOT going to deal with your crud without a fight. Same with you ETS/College Board. If I don't get a good score... I will throw a hissy-fit. :)

-Julia