Terribly sorry this post is so late. I didn't remember we had a blog due until after midnight this... morning, so I decided that I'd wait and do this later after I'd gotten some sleep and was capable of forming coherent sentences.
Anyway: I am currently in 9th Grade and attending Anderson High School in Austin, TX. Maybe it only seems like this because it's the only high school I've ever gone to, but I think that Anderson is a fairly average school. Maybe a little better than average. It isn't in a really wealthy area, but it isn't in a "poor" area either. It seems to be a pretty good school when it comes to academics and the fine arts. I don't know about athletics, though. I only ever go to the football games (and only because of marching band), and the football team is pretty bad.
I guess I haven't mentioned it before, but I'm in marching band. I play the trumpet, which doesn't match my personality at all, but whatever. I'm not great at it, but I'm not bad either. Marching band is really fun, even if it IS ridiculously time-consuming. Yesterday was the first Saturday in three weeks that we hadn't had marching contest, and we have UIL on Monday.
I'm not really in any clubs at Anderson (actually, I'm supposed to be in German club, but I don't go to any of the meetings), but I thought I'd mention one of them anyway: the Gay-Straight Alliance. I think it's great that we have that, and I'd join it if they didn't meet on Wednesdays. You see, that's when German club meetings are, and I'm supposed to be going to those, so I don't want to join another club that meets on Wednesdays. For the record, I'm straight, but I fully support gay rights. If you disagree with me, please argue with me. That should be fun.
Sunday, October 19, 2008
Saturday, October 4, 2008
Illegal Immigration
In the U.S., there are a lot of illegal immigrants, mainly from Mexico. This is especially true in Texas (where I live) because it shares a long border with Mexico. A lot of people around here get really worked up about illegal immigration. Many of them claim that Mexicans are taking jobs that should belong to Americans. Some people even think we should build a 50-foot concrete wall all along the U.S.-Mexico border.
Personally, I don't buy a lot of that. Maybe I'm wrong, but I think that most of the jobs that illegal immigrants have in the U.S. are jobs that Americans don't want to do (maybe they think they're too good to do them?). That's why those jobs are available here (yes, I said available. I don't think that any jobs are being "stolen"). That's what attracts these people. Regarding the idea of building a giant wall along our border: the cost of that would be enormous, and I think most people realize that. We can't afford it. I think the fence that we have along most of the border is sufficient. I also think it might be bad for our country's relationship with Mexico and other countries. It's not like we're building a wall/fence along the U.S.-Canada border. Obviously, we're having problems with illegal immigrants from Mexico and not from Canada, but I still think some people might get the wrong message and think we're racist or something. I know that sounds a little crazy, but I'm just exploring all the possibilities.
What really bugs me is that all this hype about illegal immigrants from Mexico has given Mexicans that are here legally a bad reputation. Whenever a lot of people around here see a Mexican person, they automatically assume that they're an illegal immigrant. In addition, everyone is freaking out because (oh, horrors!) people want to sing the national anthem in Spanish. I'm sure I'm going to have a lot of people yell at me for this (for my whole post, actually), but I really don't see the problem with that. Isn't America supposed to be this wonderful "melting pot" of a bunch of different cultures? Why is it such a big deal if we don't speak English all the time? I agree, people should learn English so that they can read govenment documents and all that good stuff, but I actually think it's pretty awesome that the national anthem is being sung in another language!
All right, that's all I have to say about that. For now. You may now begin accusing me of being un-American or whatever you want.
Update: After thinking about this a bit more, I have actually come to the conclusion that I FULLY SUPPORT illegal immigration. Not with drug dealers and the like, but we really do need the illegal workers that we get from Mexico. Without them, our economy would be in even worse shape than it is right now. That would be pretty bad...
Personally, I don't buy a lot of that. Maybe I'm wrong, but I think that most of the jobs that illegal immigrants have in the U.S. are jobs that Americans don't want to do (maybe they think they're too good to do them?). That's why those jobs are available here (yes, I said available. I don't think that any jobs are being "stolen"). That's what attracts these people. Regarding the idea of building a giant wall along our border: the cost of that would be enormous, and I think most people realize that. We can't afford it. I think the fence that we have along most of the border is sufficient. I also think it might be bad for our country's relationship with Mexico and other countries. It's not like we're building a wall/fence along the U.S.-Canada border. Obviously, we're having problems with illegal immigrants from Mexico and not from Canada, but I still think some people might get the wrong message and think we're racist or something. I know that sounds a little crazy, but I'm just exploring all the possibilities.
What really bugs me is that all this hype about illegal immigrants from Mexico has given Mexicans that are here legally a bad reputation. Whenever a lot of people around here see a Mexican person, they automatically assume that they're an illegal immigrant. In addition, everyone is freaking out because (oh, horrors!) people want to sing the national anthem in Spanish. I'm sure I'm going to have a lot of people yell at me for this (for my whole post, actually), but I really don't see the problem with that. Isn't America supposed to be this wonderful "melting pot" of a bunch of different cultures? Why is it such a big deal if we don't speak English all the time? I agree, people should learn English so that they can read govenment documents and all that good stuff, but I actually think it's pretty awesome that the national anthem is being sung in another language!
All right, that's all I have to say about that. For now. You may now begin accusing me of being un-American or whatever you want.
Update: After thinking about this a bit more, I have actually come to the conclusion that I FULLY SUPPORT illegal immigration. Not with drug dealers and the like, but we really do need the illegal workers that we get from Mexico. Without them, our economy would be in even worse shape than it is right now. That would be pretty bad...
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