An e-Conversation about Gay Marriage

Last night, after our SFGMC concert in Santa Cruz, I got home, logged on to Facebook, and saw that a friend from high school posted a video about how Rick Warren supports Prop 8–with the following comment attached: “Another awesome video w/Rick Warren!

Disgusted, shocked, and fatigued from the concert,  I commented “This hate speech makes me sick.” This set off a flurry of comments from three other folks including, “D,” the one who originally posted the video. And after the jump, you’ll find the conversation.

But above and beyond that, no matter your religious background, your stance on gay marriage, or your stance on the definition of marriage, we cannot continue living in a society where gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered people–real people–are living in fear for their lives because messages of intolerance, which are masked by religion, continue being passed around. These messages get misconstrued and promote hate.

So I get it. Protect the word “marriage.” Let’s say you can have it. Now what? What are we doing as a state, as a society, as humans, as a nation to make sure that we are all being protected? That we all get the same rights, feel the same value, and get the same chance at love, family, and peace that is afforded to heterosexual people.

Well, I’ll tell you what’s been done: a whole lotta yelling, blaming, finger-pointing, and arguing. But at the end of the day, it’s people making one-on-one connections with each other that will be the difference. As Karla reminded me tonight (as she usually does when she brings me back to the ground), that was the failure of the No on 8 campaign. We invested a lot of our money on flashy ad campaigns, while the Yes on 8 folks took it to the streets, for real (as evidenced by my 30-minute argument on the streets of Hacienda Heights with a family of Yes on 8ers).

Let’s take it to the streets then. Like how SFGMC went to Modesto and is going to the Central Valley and Sacramento to promote peace and tolerance. You don’t have to be gay or agree with gay marriage to promote peace and tolerance.

I’ll end my diatribe with a snippet of how I ended my conversation with “D”:

“We are now on the brink of a huge social change movement, the likes of which our generation has never seen. Whether or not you agree with gay marriage, are your everyday actions furthering a nation and society that you aspire to have? Or are you just sticking with the way it’s been (and the “definition”) because that’s what you know and have known?

This is a challenge, not just for you, but for our entire generation.”

Hit the jump for the entire e-conversation.

Continue reading An e-Conversation about Gay Marriage

Join me on World AIDS Day for SFGMC’s 30th Anniversary Concert

Dear Friends,
I invite you to join me next Monday, Dec 1, as my chorus takes center-stage at Davies Symphony Hall in celebration of our thirtieth anniversary and to mark World AIDS Day.

San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus, the first of its kind, is setting a high-water mark for the gay choral movement, with award-winning Broadway composer, Steve Schalchlin‘s new work: New World Waking! Songs on the road to peace. In  addition to New World Waking, our second half will feature a tribute to those lost to the AIDS pandemic and will conclude with an upbeat selection of holiday music.

Here are sneak previews of the concert:

Our special guests for the momentous occasion include:

I cannot tell you how much heart and soul that we have poured into this event, and you really have to be there to experience the emotions from the sounds, music and words. When I first heard and sang some of the songs we will be performing, I literally cried, not out of sadness, but out of sheer joy and touching emotion. The works are beautiful, fun, emotive, and life-changing.

I honestly, hope you can join me on Dec 1 for this unique event. With all of the hatred in our world these days, especially against homosexuals as we saw with the passage of Prop 8, this concert is a spiritual reminder for our community that we can and will rise up. I guarantee you will be moved.

With love and light,
Rey

How to buy tickets
Tickets for the 30th Anniversary Concert start at $20 and are available from the community box office at the LGBT Community Center (1800 Market), by phone at (415) 865-2787, or online at www.sfgmc.org. A portion of all proceeds will assist HIV/AIDS charities Under One Roof, Meals of Marin, and the Positive ResourceCenter.

What if I can’t make it to this concert?
Let’s be real. What else are you doing on a random Monday night? Look at your schedule again… OK so you really can’t make it? Well luckily, we will still have our traditional holiday concerts on Dec 24. This concert will be shorter, and we will play only selections from New World Waking! and lots of holiday music.

We’ve also got three away shows that you can probably go to: Dec 6 in Modesto, Dec 13 in Santa Rosa, and Dec 20 in Santa Cruz. All of the away shows benefit local AIDS organizations.

Didn’t you audition for a solo?
I did, and try-outs were a really good experience. I was chosen to be the understudy for a phenomenal song called “Gabi’s Song (Will it Always be like this)” and might get the opportunity to sing it at one of the away shows. Obviously, I’ll keep you abreast in the event that I do get to sing it at some point.

About New World Waking
In thirteen emotional, genre-transcending songs, New World Waking! explores violence in our community and in the world and celebrates the individuals who stand up to it and change the world in the process. New World Waking! Two songs tell the true stories of ordinary mothers who fought against the homophobia their gay sons faced and both women will be in attendance on December 1st. McGuire explains: “The chorus was so moved by the stories that they clubbed together and have donated their own money and air miles to make this happen. This spiritual connection to the incredible music and the stories is something we invite you to share with us. New World Waking! tells us that, in the face of hatred and adversity, one person truly can make a difference.�

NYTimes Article: Surge in nonprofit courses at universities around the country

When do people know that they want to enter the nonprofit sector? Ask any sixth grader what he wants to be when he grows up, and he’ll tell you he wants to be a firefighter, doctor or lawyer. But he probably won’t say that he wants to be a program manager at a nonprofit organization.

It wasn’t until I got to college that I realized that my path was leading me towards the nonprofit sector–to the chagrin of my dad who wanted me to be in the business sector. Although I enjoyed business and love entrepreneurship, running Troy Camp for the kids of inner city Los Angeles was what really lit my fire. For the longest time I tried to deny that, but my path is clear, and has been for quite some time now–otherwise I wouldn’t be so happy at BUILD, now would I? And this is the very reason why we are starting Level 5 (www.levefive.org), so that young people who have heart and passion can also be equipped with the leadership and communications skills necessary to affect change in the nonprofit sector.

Amber was kind enough to send me this interesting article about how there has been a surge in nonprofit leadership and management courses at universities across the country. Read a few choice excerpts below, or check out the full article here:

KORBI ADAMS says she learned about nonprofit work from her high school clarinet teacher, who also directed her youth orchestra and would include Ms. Adams in her fund-raising activities.

“The community engagement stuff — it lit my fire,� said Ms. Adams, now 22. “I thought that was what I wanted to do: to combine arts and an outreach in nonprofit management.�

Ms. Adams decided to attend Arizona State University, where she majored in music and received a certificate for courses she took under the American Humanics program, which was founded in 1948 to encourage community work, including nonprofit administration, and is available at colleges around the country.

A 2008 graduate, she is now in what she calls her dream job, an education assistant at Childsplay, a nonprofit theater in Tempe, Ariz., where she works in arts education. “I’m learning how to very carefully mind the budget,� she said, noting that working with grant money requires carefully hewing to the bottom line.

The do-good desires of Ms. Adams and many members of her “Gen Y� cohort have sparked a surge in nonprofit management and leadership courses at colleges and universities, building on the example of the American Humanics certification program. More than 230 colleges and universities across the United States offer courses in those areas, up from 179 a decade ago, a 2007 study at Seton Hall University found.

Click here for the full article.

Launching a New Social Venture

My friends and I are on a mission to level the playing field in the leadership of the nonprofit sector, and we need your help.

THE PROBLEM
Over tea at a cafe, my friend Karla and I lamented the lack of development opportunities for young professionals of color in the nonprofit sector. We witnessed our friends leave nonprofit to pursue careers in the for-profit sector because of this very reason.

And then we saw the severe lack of leadership diversity in the nonprofit sector. Did you know that people of color lead just 16% of nonprofit organizations nationwide? Sixteen percent! We instinctively thought that in order for nonprofit organizations to level the playing field for their clients, they first need to level the playing field in the leadership of their organizations.

There is a large pool of talented and motivated young people of color that want to make a difference in their communities. But high barriers to entry such as noncompetitive wages, limited career advancement, and few professional development opportunities continue to deter young people of color from pursuing careers in nonprofit. This untapped talent pool holds the key to making a lasting impact in the diverse communities that nonprofits serve.

OUR SOLUTION
Because we are tired of waiting for change to happen, we are choosing instead to make change ourselves. Thus, we created the Level 5 Project to increase diversity in the nonprofit sector by developing and empowering a corps of young professionals from diverse backgrounds.
Our flagship project will be the Level 5 Fellowship, which will provide young professionals of color with challenging leadership training, including an intensive curriculum and dynamic hands-on mentoring. We will award up to six fellowships to motivated, driven students from diverse backgrounds to join the charter cohort by spring 2009.

We’re starting this social venture with optimism, and although we are starting relatively small, our sights are set on systematic sector-wide impact.

WHAT CAN YOU DO TO HELP? HELP US RECRUIT!
Do you work on a college campus in the Bay Area?
If you do, we’d love to set up info sessions and/or workshops to advertise our opportunity.

Do you know any awesome current college juniors? We are looking for current college students who represent diverse backgrounds and are passionate about a career in the nonprofit sector. Please pass on this email to your contacts.


WANT TO HELP IN OTHER WAYS?

As a small start-up social venture, we’re always looking for donations of expertise (PR,  finance, design, leadership), funding, and time (interested in volunteering or maybe being a mentor?). Let’s make this a community effort!

WANT TO APPLY TO THE LEVEL 5 FELLOWSHIP?
Check out the info sheet and application attached to this email or download them at joinus.levelfive.org. Applications are due on Dec 1, 2008!

Friends, we are on a mission, and you can read more about it at www.levelfive.org. Join our social change movement to empower next generation’s changemakers!

Thank you in advance for your support!
Rey

Rey Faustino
Level 5 Project   |   Empowering Next Generation’s Changemakers
415 704 4880   |   rey@levelfive.org   |   www.levelfive.org

Download the info sheet here.

Download the application here.

The State of the American Education System is a Disaster…

…and other lessons learned from the Kerner Forum.

I just got off the phone with Karla, and it is about 2:30 am her time in Washington, DC on a Monday night. I had to call her because I am/was so tense about the state of our education system. After spending last Friday at the Kerner Forum on Education and Opportunity at Stanford, I realized that there is still so much to be done for our nation’s children. I felt like my hands were strapped behind my back because of the sheer immensity and gravity of the situation in which we, as a country, have gotten ourselves.

And Karla, being the stabilizing force that she is, ensured me that slowly but surely all of the micro-level things we are doing as a community and as organizations working with youth, schools, and teachers, add up, and join the momentum that is gradually being built up on a macro level, where the policy shifts need to start happening.

But above and beyond that, I feel a personal responsibility and calling to do more. And part of my issue is that I am so impatient that I want to get things done now, make big changes now, and be where I need to be professionally and personally so that I can start affecting change now.

And of course Karla brought me back to reality, and to steal from our new favorite musical, In The Heights: Paciencia y Fe (Patience and Faith).

Let me just briefly show you some of  the information from the Kerner Forum that re-ignited some of my passionate fervor for educational equity.

The No Child Left Behind Act has failed

American educational disparities remain linked to funding disparities.  The wealthiest 10 percent of school districts in the U.S. spend nearly 10 times more than the poorest 10 percent.

In the U.S., the highest performing students from low income families now enroll in college at the same rate as the lowest performing students from high income families.  In other words, the smartest poor kids attend college at the same rate as the dumbest rich kids.

Kerner Forum on Education 1

Achievement Rates for “Minority Students�

  • The achievement gap has widened since 1990
  • Graduation rates for minorities have declined since 1995 and the gap has grown
  • Equity in college going has decreased since 1975

Progress since Brown v. Board of Education in 1954?
The desegregation movement is falling backwards. The peak of desegregation in schools happened in 1968 with about 47% of American schools being integrated. In the 2004, we are back down to pre-Brown v. Board of Education statistics with about 27% integration. What happened?

It’s so easy for us to think that race is not an issue any more, but when you look at schools these days, the wealthiest schools are where the high income White folks tend to flock to, while our low income urban schools continue to educate a majority of our Black and Latino kids.

I’m proud to say that I work with one of the most diverse schools in our nation, Menlo-Atherton High School (MAHS), but that is proving to be more of an outlier than the norm. And even within schools like MAHS, we can easily see what many of the Kerner Forum presenters called “Apartheid education,� where Whites and Asian-Americans are privy to special high-achieving tracks of education, like Advanced Placement classes, and Blacks and Latinos are relegated to remedial/intervention classes, even if they do not need to take them. Oh and I’ve seen this firsthand. I cannot tell you how many times it breaks my heart to see one of my students come in with her transcript showing me that she’s been “tracked� into business math or a second year of the same subject even if she doesn’t need it, only to find out later that it was a waste of time and won’t help her when she’s applying for college. And don’t even get me started on the students who are tracked into remedial English classes just because they speak a second language at home.

And yes, it hurts. I was one of those kids. I remember when they wouldn’t let me be part of the “Gifted, and Talented Education� (GATE) program at school because I had just moved to the country and couldn’t speak English as proficiently as a native speaker. Luckily, I was savvy enough to figure out the system, and I had the support from my parents and some special teachers to make sure that I was on the right path to college. But it’s so easy for a gifted and talented young person to fall through the cracks in today’s reality of Apartheid education. It’s segregation masked in progress.

It hurts, but it’s so validating for the work that we are doing.

Solution Space
If America’s number one route for “job training� is in our education system why do we put the least amount of resources into it? Our school system and infrastructure is based on antiquated industrial complex solutions. And the way we measure the success of our schools is boiled down to a numbers game: how many students graduate from high school?

Imagine if we held our schools to a higher expectation? What if we measured their success by how many students graduated from their school and went off to college? It seems like a minor shift, but it’s a reality that we cannot wait for others to create.
Kerner Forum 3

What we must do together as a nation

  • Pay off the educational debt: Fund schools equitably, ensure pre-school and health care for all, and provide access to higher education.
  • Invest in recruiting, retaining and distributing well-qualified teachers who can address diverse student needs.
  • Redesign schools to support authentic learning and strong relationships.
  • Create accountability system that use thoughtful assessments and are used for improvement rather than for punishment.

And according to Linda Darling-Hammond (pictured), co-director of Stanford’s Center for Opportunity Policy in Education, all of this could be done “for the cost of one week in Iraq.� While it can be easy to throw your hands up in typical 20th century-style apathy, as a nation, we cannot afford to ignore our educational crisis.

Can we act now to avoid an educational crisis akin to the $700 billion crisis in our financial sector?

Can we as adults advocate for our young generation who cannot vote?

Can our voices can get loud enough to be heard by superintendents, politicians, and policymakers?

Absolutely.

And in the meantime, let’s keep doing the good work we are doing because before you know it, the students who we were once supporting and encouraging through their algebra homework or presentation–be it Rosa, Freddy, Brianna or Vince–might be the ones standing by us as we fight for educational equity.

Continue reading The State of the American Education System is a Disaster…

Trendspotting: Philanthropic Weddings

I’m going to four weddings in the next nine weeks. As Karla told me, we are coming to that age when many of our friends from high school and college are getting hitched.

I’m really looking forward to Mike and Alex’s wedding this upcoming Sunday because 1) Alex is one of my best friends and we go all the way back to the elementary school days, and 2) they’re employing what I think is a pretty neat philanthropic idea at their wedding.

You know how at the end of weddings, they give out those (usually) tacky wedding favors? Generally it’s a piece of plastic crap that has the couple’s names and the date of the wedding on it. Or perhaps it’s a food-related favor like a bag of cookies or packaged cupcakes. Alex’s idea was rather than paying $3-4 per person for a random wedding favor, she would instead donate the cost of the favors per person to a nonprofit organization that she and Mike valued. She  asked me to help her choose a nonprofit organization or charity that aligned with their values, and after some research, I sent her a list of 17 recommendations, and my opinions of each. The list included some of my favorite orgs like College Summit, Ashoka, and Green for All.

She recently told me that she and Mike chose BUILD (I swear I didn’t twist her arm or anything) as the recipient for the donation, and each guest at the wedding will receive, in lieu of a wedding favor, a little piece of paper describing the organization.

In two weeks, I’m attending Erwin and Coy’s wedding–Erwin is my chorus brother and their wedding will be my first gay one (Go California!)–and they are also employing philanthropy at their wedding. On the back of their invitation, they’ve written:

Because we already have more things than we need, in lieu of gifts we ask for donations to help continue the right of GLBT folks to marry. We encourage gifts to Equality California at www.eqca.org/wedding.

It’s hard not to be cynical at weddings, but given that both of these weddings have the underlying theme of giving back, I think they might turn out to be fun after all.

Mentoring as a form of activism

The 60’s and 70’s were all about the protests and activism. It’s hard not to think of hippies and  sit-ins at UC Berkeley’s campus when you think of that era.

Our generation has been faced with redefining our own form of activism, and I think we have found it largely by giving back to our communities. It’s a key theme on Michelle Obama’s platform as she makes her case to be the next First Lady of the US. Check out this excerpt from her speech at the Democratic National Convention:

I stand here today at the crosscurrents of that history — knowing that my piece of the American dream is a blessing hard won by those who came before me. All of them driven by the same conviction that drove my dad to get up an hour early each day to painstakingly dress himself for work. The same conviction that drives the men and women I’ve met all across this country:

…The young people across America serving our communities — teaching children, cleaning up neighborhoods, caring for the least among us each and every day.

…All of us driven by a simple belief that the world as it is just won’t do — that we have an obligation to fight for the world as it should be.

…And in my own life, in my own small way, I’ve tried to give back to this country that has given me so much. That’s why I left a job at a law firm for a career in public service, working to empower young people to volunteer in their communities. Because I believe that each of us — no matter what our age or background or walk of life — each of us has something to contribute to the life of this nation.

More and more people in this day and age are giving back to their communities much like the Obamas did and have been doing. I was pleasantly surprised to hear that Michelle Obama was a Public Ally, which is an Americorps program that trains young up and coming leaders to lead and serve in the public sector with a year of service at a nonprofit organization along with professional development. BUILD has been working with Public Allies for years, and I’ve had the immense privilege to be working alongside amazing allies like Elizabeth, Quynh, Alison and Naomi.

But I think a trend that continues to rise among young professionals is that they want to do well and do good, and mentoring programs continue to be a popular option for people to give back without giving up their corporate jobs. This is the very reason why BUILD’s mentor program is such a success. Not only do our students get exposure to talented professionals, but our volunteers, in turn, also get their horizons expanded by working with our enthusiastic students. I’m not going to lie and say it isn’t a challenge, but seeing mentors really connect with their students is worth that challenge. It changes everyone’s lives; students benefit, and the mentors personally develop as well.

If you don’t already mentor youth, I encourage you to get out there and start affecting the lives of youth. If you’re interested in mentoring our youth at BUILD, check out our website. The BUILD mentor program is a school-year-long commitment from October-May, and our mentors work with our Oakland and Peninsula students in a variety of capacities: helping them write a business plan, guiding them through the business start-up process, and supporting them as they apply to colleges. Apply to be a mentor today as spots fill up fast!

Like Michelle said, “Each of us has something to contribute to the life of this nation.” By raising up and educating our youth, we take one small step to advance our country.

The Importance of Collaboration to Endure the Economic Downturn

I attended the first in a set of free quarterly workshops/discussions for non-profit organizations called “Power of Partnership,” co-presented by Craigslist Foundation, The Foundation Center, and Northern California Grantmakers. Tonight they had three panelists discussing the importance of collaboration between non-profits in the face of the state and nation’s budget crises.

A few highlights from the panelists:

Jacob Harold, Program Officer at the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation said some very insightful things about the current state of the nation and world in regards to philanthropy: Foundations, from the non-profit’s point of view, look like big entities that wield a lot of power. Jacob argued that they are bit players in the change game. He said that the Hewlett Foundation invests about $20 million per year to improve the California community college system, but the aggregate budget for the whole community college system is over $6 billion per year!

He also said several times that “the world is in flux,” and the basis of power is moving from organizations to networks that have the ability to mobilize quickly, accomplish their goal, and then disperse quickly. And despite the fact that the amount of money/funding is going down, social need is going up. How are these needs being met? With more efficient networks of people, and not clunky, bureaucratic organizations.

Sherry Simmons from the Northern California Community Loan Fund decrees that in order for organizations to successfully collaborate they need: 1) to have a clear goal, 2) to clarify the shared measures of success, and 3) to bring the right people together.

She also shared the story of how a coalition led by the Silicon Valley Council of Nonprofits worked together to fight proposed budget cuts in Santa Clara County–and they won by banding together, instead of getting picked off one-by-one.

Steve Fields from S.F. Human Services Network facetiously recounted former SF Mayor Willie Brown’s take on collaboration: “The definition of collaboration is what you think the other guy should be doing to further your agenda.” Obviously he disagrees, but it painted a picture of how government views collaboration with the non-profit sector (e.g. it doesn’t really exists).

Biggest Take-aways

  1. Collaboration is difficult because non-profits get really stuck in their own proprietary silos
  2. Multi-organization collaboration is a necessity, not just for funding, sharing resources, or sharing best practices, but more importantly for survival. As we face an economy and world in flux, more often than not, the non-profit sector is the first to lose funding. We must make it a priority to band together, realize that we are not competing with each other, and understanding that we are all providing unique services for the betterment of the entire community.

Who said anything worthwhile was easy? Are you currently collaborating in meaningful ways with other organizations?

Picturing Excess

It’s 3 am, and for some reason I cannot fall asleep. Well I suppose it has something to do with the month-long, action-packed, 8,000-mile, cross-country trip that I’m starting tomorrow… first to Sausalito for a BUILD work retreat.

As a parting gift, here’s a fascinating TED talk by artist Chris Jordan, who blends visual art with unimaginable statistics to uncover the excesses and truth in American culture.

1 million plastic cups are used on airline flights every 6 hours and virtually none of them are reused. What? Insane. I’ll definitely be using my travel mug on my flights.

Catch you all in July!

On Becoming A New American

My mom called me this weekend, and asked me if I had thought about my application for American citizenship yet. Honestly, I didn’t know and was caught off guard.

The rest of my family got their citizenship earlier this year after over a decade and a half of struggling through the outrageously complicated and inept American immigration system. I can’t believe it’s been about 18 years since I first arrived here in the States. Oh to go back to 1990. Disneyland, Southern California, Fourth Grade, being called “Oriental” and not understanding what that meant. Oh the innocence.

Eighteen years.

I’ve spent 13 of those 18 years in a state of limbo. For thirteen years I felt like neither a citizen of my own mother country (the Philippines) nor a citizen of my adopted country (the US). And through those years, I watched as Americans took that citizenship for granted every single day. Thomas Jefferson wrote, “The God who gave us life gave us liberty at the same time.” But can you imagine living in a state of being where that “liberty” could be taken away at a moment’s notice just because you weren’t born in a certain place? Can you imagine living in fear of having your life as you know it and liberty taken away by deportation?

It’s frightening.

During my senior year in college, INS (Immigration and Naturalization Services–now known as the Dept. of Homeland Security) threw away my application for residency because they thought it was a duplicate of my dad’s paperwork–he and I share the same first name. Prior to this unfortunate incident, I had no concept of our entire immigration process, and I think that was my parents’ call because they wanted to shield us from any unnecessary burden (I imagine it’s similar to not telling your kids about your financial situation so as not to worry them; and for that I thank my parents). Well, soon thereafter I was thrust into the entire immigration debacle because now that I didn’t have an application or any paperwork in process (it was sitting in some garbage bin at the INS office), I was technically not supposed to be in the United States. Here I was during my senior year in college trying to finish my classes after having been through a traumatic car accident months before, and I was meeting with lawyers, appearing in court, and being threatened with deportation. I don’t even know how I managed to finish out that school year.

But I thought about all of the Americans taking their citizenship for granted, and told myself that I would never settle and take things for granted like them. If I had to work twice as hard, ten times as hard, or even a hundred times harder, I would do it. After a half dozen court appearances (I will never forget that judge accusing me of lying on my college application about being an American citizen, and my parents and I literally running to USC’s admissions office between court sessions to get a copy of my application to see whether or not I did. Luckily, I left that question blank; I thank universities for admitting undocumented students and staying out of this country’s bullshit immigration policies), I proved to the judge that I was a real person (and not just a fake person trying to sneak into the country) and my residency was granted–a full year after my family’s was.

But words could not really convey what a nerve-wracking year that was. To have your life and liberty hanging on the very words of one judge is a torture I would not wish upon anyone. It was so nerve-wracking and disenchanting that as soon as I received my green card, all I wanted to do was leave the United States. So I left and went to Japan for a year.

And here I am now. Eighteen years since my arrival. Five years after receiving my residency. And I’m faced with another choice.

Do I want citizenship to this country? To the country that didn’t even believe I was a real person? To the country that wouldn’t give me financial aid for college? To the country filled with (and not dealing with) underlying race and class issues? To the country that educated me and gave me opportunities to grow and develop to be the man I am today?

I think a part of me hesitates because my lack of national identity has allowed me to identify as a citizen of the world–I like telling people that I’m NOT an American citizen. I like seeing the surprise and shock on their faces.

But I think I am ready now, and I want to be part of this mess that is America. I want to vote, and maybe I want to run for governor of California one day (I can’t run for president because you have to have been born in the States. Who came up with that silly rule?). I want to have an American passport so that I don’t have to apply for visas just to visit my relatives in Australia.

I want to be able to really bring America into my identity not because of convenience. Not because the rest of my family did it. Not because millions of people would kill for this spot. But because when I first came here, it wasn’t my choice. This time, it is my choice.

Come December 19, 2008, you will probably be looking at a brand new American.