When I think Valentines Day I think Massacre

February 14, 1929 seven gangsters lost their lives across the street from my favorite Italian restaurant in Chicago. I eat at Chicago Pizza and Oven Grinder every time I’m in the city and every time I’m there I can’t help thinking about the massacre.

Instead of receiving chocolate hearts from a loved one their hearts were pumped full of lead. The brutality of the event, in many ways speaks to the brutality of the holiday.

Valentines Day can either make or break a relationship and to some that’s worse than death. Many people put a lot of merit in this day. We hold high expectations so when our significant other falls short it’s more than devastating.

It’s expected that both members of the relationships exchange gifts. We purchase cards, chocolate, jewelry, teddy bears and/or flowers to show our undying devotion. The relationship is likely to die if one member fails to meet the others expectations.

Falling short on Valentines Day can be horrendous but nothing is worse than being single on the day of gushing, choking love. There are websites dedicated to hating this holiday all in the name of singledom.

Some singles mope and feel bad for themselves. “When will I have someone to love?” they may cry. Other singles relish in their freedom and frankly don’t give a damn! And my favorite kind of singles are the ones that go prowling Valentines night determined to find a good time – with other singles of course.

Why do we get all hung up on this hallmark holiday carnage? We don’t need a day set aside that forces us to pay homage to our relationships. I don’t need a damn card from my boyfriend on Feb. 14 to know he cares for me.

This holiday is a gimmick, just another day for us consumers to consume – all in the name of love. Valentines Day is basically THE day for flower companies and cards sales are only higher at Christmas. V-Day conjures up approximately $14 billion annually, according to history.com.

This holiday is all about pillaging our pockets and making us feel bad. If you don’t buy something for your partner you are a bad partner and you’re lacking if you don’t have a partner to buy for.

When you think about it, it’s almost insulting. It insults couples by suggesting they need a day to remind them to love and it all but slaps singles in the face by telling them they should have someone that loves them. Why do we put up with this?

We need to stand up and shout, “No more!” No more chocolate shaped hearts, teddy bear grams, flowers and no more restaurant reservations. We must stop listening to corporate signals of what to buy, when to buy it and who to buy it for. Most of us are smart enough to figure it out.

Besides that we need to do these things for one another on a daily basis, not just once a year because we feel obligated.

With that said, if the boyfriend I mentioned earlier doesn’t produce something on V-Day he better not come home.

A New Dawn of American Leadership is at Hand

My street erupted with shouts and car after car passed with horns blaring. Two of my neighbors were running up and down the street with their children in their arms.

“Obama won! Yes we can! Obama is OUR president!” they shouted.

I couldn’t breathe, yet I as crying. I have never had or seen such a reaction in my life. We did it. Not only did America elect the first black president, but we elected the best choice by a landslide.

“America tonight has lived up to its promises,” said Daily Show host John Stewart.

When I heard the "Sen. Barack Obama is the next president of the United States," I felt like the air had been knocked out of me and I was a little bit dizzy.

During the last week I kept telling myself, “Wait ’til this is all over and you will feel silly.” And I do. I feel silly because I actually believed McCain might be right when he said election night would be a late one. I had thought, “Maybe he is the Comeback Kid,” and maybe I will be disappointed for the third election of my voting life.

But today my friends, I am happy to announce my fears were for naught. America has pulled together and is moving forward. America has spoken and we said “349-Obama, 162-McCain!”

As I watched Sen. John McCain give his concession speech, I saw the McCain of 2000. It was the man I might have voted for if he had won the nomination eight years ago. Back then I felt he was honest and I liked what he said. However, the McCain I had come to know in 2000 is vastly different from the one who chose Gov. Sarah Palin as a running mate.

His concession speech was graceful and uplifting. He spoke of his love for this country and praised Obama for inspiring hope in so many Americans. “I urge all Americans who supported me to join me in not just congratulating him, but offering our next president our goodwill and earnest effort to find ways to come together,” he told his supporters.

What impressed me most about McCain’s speech was his sober calmness and acceptance. He was sincere, gracious and the most honest he has been in since he started this campaign.

President-elect Obama’s acceptance speech was icing on the victory cake. He spoke of a united America, one that works together to achieve greatness, “block-by-block, brick-by-brick, calloused hand-by-calloused hand.”

“This is your victory,” he said.

A friend had told me once while watching Obama’s speech at the 2004 Democratic National Convention that someday Obama will be president. I remember telling him it would be great but do you really think that's possible. All he said was “Watch.”

This same friend now lives in Chicago and was at Grant Park for the massive 125,000 people gathering to celebrate the historic outcome and to hear Obama.

He said being there felt like nothing he’d experience before. There was an overwhelming feeling of joy and hope.

Watching the reactions across the country, I could see the joy and hope he was talking about in everyone’s faces. I could hear it in the shouts coming from the streets and I could feel it in my heart.

Barack Obama is the next president of the United States of America. He is my president.

Election 2008 Comes to an End

Tomorrow is the day many has dubbed as the most important election of our lives. In one day it will be all over, the arguments with who to vote for and what propositions should pass or fail will all be over. But how many of us will be happy?

The first time I voted for a president was in the fall of 2000. I remember being extremely excited and a little nervous when I walked into the polling place at the elementary school. I had been waiting to vote since I was 10 years old. I remember laying on my grandmother's floor watching the 1992 election coverage, mad about not being old enough to vote. All I could concentrate on were the percentages. I chanted, "Come on Clinton," in my head over and over again.

I don't remember why I wanted Clinton to win exactly, but I do remember a couple of years later when my mom took us all out to a nice dinner with her tax return we all credited it to the president.

I walked into the polling place alone, armed with knowledge of every thing on the ballot. I am old enough to vote, I am old enough to make a choice and I am old enough to make a difference, I told myself.

Later that night I sat with my mouth wide open staring at the T.V.

WHAT!? Bush won, no Gore won! No Bush. NO!

We all know what happened in the following weeks and I didn't think I could have been more disappointed -- then there was 2004.

Tomorrow I hope the person I vote for will win, not because I voted for him, but because Barack Obama is the best hope this country has.

I cannot imagine the direction this country will be taken in if John McCain wins. We have watched him change his persona for this election. We are witnesses to his terrible choice of a running mate, Sarah Palin. I cannot imagine what it would be like with an elected VP who does not understand what her job is.

Every time I hear someone say Palin out trumps Obama in executive experience I laugh. "She's in charge of thousands of employees, and all Obama has done is organize a community," McCain supporters shout.

Obama went out into communities and made a difference. He organized a better way of life for people who need help. How can that be scoffed at?

Obama says he is running for president not for himself but for us, the people. I believe him. I believe him when he says we can change the way we do things. We can make education and health care priorities.

He talks of ensuring education to all Americans who truly step up and serve this country. I believe him.

The polls have favored Obama and it seem almost impossible for him to lose. Yet I cannot help feeling that creeping fear that soon I will carry three election scars not two. It's hard to relax when there is so much at stake and so much that can go wrong.

The outcome of Proposition 8 is another election fear harbored deep inside me. California must not pass an unconstitutional law into our state constitution.

However, being a victim in the 2000 election has not stopped me from believing in this country. Every voting day I take my election scars and head for the polls because that is the day I have my say.

Seymour Hersh Tells All at CSULB

Award winning journalist, Seymour Hersh, spoke at Cal State Long Beach as apart of the Distinguished Speaker Series, today.

The winner of a Pulitzer Prize and several George Polk awards, Hersh is widely known for his investigative reporting dating back to the 1970s. Recently he has spoken out against the Bush administration and reported the abuses of Abu Ghraib.

Hersh showered the audience with his thoughts on the current Bush administration, the debates, but mostly spoke of the “casual stuff that passes” in war, emphasizing the horrific nature of combat on all sides.

The telling of two war stories cemented gruesome images of the horrors that walk with war. He described the Vietnam My Lai massacre, explaining in detail the brutal execution of a little Vietnamese boy and essentially compared it to the torture of Abu Ghraib.

His point, war changes people and it should never be thought of as a heroic act, suggesting the offenders in his ‘war stories’ are victims too.



Not a Bush fan, Hersh urged the next president to open up dialogue with countries that surround Iraq, by involving them we can relief our presence and our troops. Just leaving, he said, might be a bad idea. “What is the mental status of children [in Iraq] who were 3 when war broke out? What do they think now?” he asked.

One of Hersh’s themes was the idea of “words are just words.” He connected this idea with President Bush’s statement, “we don’t do torture.” Words are just words if they don’t mean anything, he reiterated.

Seymour Hersh is a regular contributor to the New Yorker and his current book, Chain in Command, further explores his original Abu Ghraib investigation.

Parking Wars Continue and Students are Losing

This week I was lucky enough to park free of charge and close to campus. Today I tried my luck on the same dead end road next to Hill Middle School, and what I saw made my stomach hurt, a sign reading, "NO STUDENT PARKING."

The sign has been there a day and even a middle school employee who noticed the sign, commented on its unnecessary presence, she doesn't park there.

Luckily I have a back up street to cruise to that I found the first week of school. I thought I found a secret private parking street just for me, but as parking misery continues, my street has filled up, and today I parked in one of the last spots.

It is only a matter of time before one of the enemy signs appears on this street marking another battleground of defeat for students who drive to campus.

Why can't we park there? The street is next to a middle school and there are no houses on that street. The school has it's own parking so who the hell else needs to park there? Thirteen-year-olds?

After the first day folly of the CSULB marina shuttle I have not utilized it again. The three hours spent trying to park that day has left its mark. For those of us who commute to campus the thought of parking off campus, waiting for the shuttle, and then clown carring it back to campus is not appealing. Especially after combating freeway congestion, bothering with the shuttle is a no go.

It's amazing to me that we can put people on the moon yet we cannot figure out a solution to campus parking problems across the nation.

Come on community, give us students a break. We are people and these streets are public! At least let us park there until our problem-solving new parking structure is built.

Yes, we are getting a new structure soon, and then our problems will be over.

But is this new structure really going transport students into a parking utopia?

Every year there are more students on campus and they all need a place to park. Fall of 2006, CSULB recorded the second highest enrollment in the CSU system, according to the December 2007 CSULB master plan. We may just find ourselves in the same situation, same problem at a bigger scale.

It's ok community, don't worry about us students, we are only your future doctors, teachers, scientists, bankers, leaders and politicians.

This country's half-assed attempt to give its citizens an education is just going to produce half-assed professionals who will then in turn serve a half-assed community.

Come on nation, let's pull it together and find the other half of our ass.