NCORE Daily Outline

Hey so I am back from the National Conference on Race and Ethnicity. It was even more fantastic and wonderful than I imagined. I wish I could sit and type all about it right now but I have an interview tomorrow so I need to turn in. before I do though, I will give a teaser to what I will write by giving an outline of each day

Monday

• Arrived with Mom
• Went to the Bay area
• Went to the mall
• went to dinner at Fillippi's

Tuesday

• Got to Conference hotel
• Went to Race and Class seminar
• ISCORE peeps arrived
• Went to the Tim Wise speech
• Dinner at Student Scholar Ceremony
  

Wednesday

• Keynote Speaker: Cornell West
  
• Anti Semitism and Anti Israeli seminar
• Native Californian welcome

Thursday:

• (crazy) Keynote Speaker on Militarism and Tourism in the Pacific Islands
• Art and Race seminar
• Breakdown and Phone Call
• Pacific Islanders and their Place in Higher Ed
• Little Italy: Party Bus and Spaghetteria

Friday:

• Keynote Speaker: Ron His Horse is Thunger
• Model Minority Seminar
• Hip-hop: Is Everybody Stupid seminar
• San Diego Tour
• Going Green
• Group Discussion
• Gaslamp District: Thai food and Gherardelli's
• Incident

Saturday

• There's Race in My Movie seminar
• Hmong rapper seminar
• Keynote Speaker Pedro N's on the post civil rights era
• Group discussion (encounters in San Diego
• Trip to Old Town
• Night chat
  

Love & Basketball: A Reflection

So I watched most of Love & Basketball for the first time in about 5 years. Usually I watch only my favorite scenes, like the first scene when they were kids and then when Sidney was in Spain. However I had forgotten most of the sequence of events (but not the plot).

So I watched it, remembering that when I was younger I had loved this movie. However, watching it with my 19 year old mind was a different ball game (haha Im punny)

First off, Mr. Quinton was a jerk hands down. I understand that the audience is supposed to think that in the beginning, but, he is supposed to be redeemed somehow. I didnt feel that way though. Some things that I was irritated about were
*Why the heck is it ok for Q to go on, have a life, and eventually a fiancee, and Sidney is left pinning away for him while not dating, not going out, and even losing her love for basketball? I didnt see Q as heartbroken at all. Mostly I wondered if he even cared because he sure had a funny way of showing it.
*I think Sidney should have had a little more pride than to go after a guy she KNEW was a ladies man. I know they grew up together and that she knew him better than anyone. So my point is that she KNEW just what kind of dog that he was. He had very little respect for any girl he took home and she was eventually treated just the same in the end. I have no idea why she let it go since if that is the way he treated the rest, why the heck would he treat her any different. people like to tell me love but look what he did to her later. and she STILL was going after him. it was totally ok with her the constant disrespect and objectifying way he was treating her.

I felt that Sidney was treated like she was disposable, someone that Q could hook up with when he wanted then shoved to the side when he got all angsty because it didnt matter how he treated her, she would always love and come back to him. i dont feel he deserved and loyalty that he wouldnt show himself.

now i know the arguments that will surface. how it is because she loved him that she could stand the abuse and that it only took him to realize it to be good again. but im not sure if so called "love" is worth the dehuman way that Sidney was treated.

And what about the flight attendant (Tyra Banks)? is she not important just because she isnt the protagonist of the movie. She probably had feelings for Q, obviously enough that she wanted to marry him. And it was completely ok that he just went off with Sidney and broke every promise he made to her. and if he did that so easily to her than who knows what he would do once Sidney and he were married.

in the end the thing that kept me watching was the music

the song "You Made A Fool Of Me" by Me'Shell Ndegeocello was the summation of this movie (and a awesome song anyways!)

Blogspot Decision

So. I love to rant. In the stage of personal development that I am currently in (ugh fancy-talk) I think it is probably a good idea to write some of this stuff down for later reference. However I hate writing in diaries. I also do a lot of blogging on facebook but sometimes i feel like the people who I want to see my blog are the people who will actually hear what I am saying, even if they dont agree with it. the responses tha I get from people who I dont want to response usually consist of assuming I am some white-people hating revolutionist. the second description I consider a compliment but as for the first, i dont hate anyone (Christian principles and all that.)

so yeah

anyway here is my first blog.