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Is there something greater out there calling your name? Do you want to find your purpose in this world? Do you want to be free and live on your own rules? Well if you said yes to any of these questions I have just the book for you, it's called Into the Wild. It’s about a young man that went by the name of Alex Supertramp, he abandoned his entire life to go live on the land, he made lifelong friendships, found inner peace, and traveled all over the country. He was a normal guy like you and me, doing what he was supposed to do but there was something in him that yearned for nature, isolation, and to live.  For two years he went whichever direction life took him, Northern California, South Dakota, Mexico, Arizona, Alaska. He went from job to job, home to home, town to town, person to person, he experienced more than most do in their entire lives. If you have a heart that beats for adventure this book will speak to you, it will change the way you see life and inspire you to go find your inner self, travel, and live a life worth remembering.

Into the Wild

This book has really inspired me. One of my close friends, Dani Johnson, also read Into the Wild and it effected her in the same way that it effected me from what I read on her blog. We both want to be as adventurous, brave, and carefree as Chris was and we both want to travel, Chris did exactly what we both have wanted to do. I have wanted to travel and live kind of like Chris McCandless for a while, but because of this fun thing called anxiety, I could never imagine doing half of the things that he did. Now that I have read this book it has kind of changed my perspective. I have now seen one person, although he died, who traveled and went with whatever life threw at him and lived a life that he enjoyed. I feel like he was really happy with what he was doing and I hope to one day feel the same about my life.

142 City Bus Location

Four things that this book has taught me:
1. To come prepared. I want to live carefree like Chris, but I also want to survive.
2. To move around and as Chris said " revolutionize your life and move into an entirely new realm of experience." He told his 81 year old friend Ron Franz to "Just get out and do  it. You will be very, very glad that you did." I hope that I can take his advice and live a
life like his.
3. Human relationships are not the only thing that can cause joy in my life. I do not need anyone else to bring me joy, there are many other things that can do that for me. Nature is one of those things.
4. Happiness is out there for me. One of my favorite quotes from the book, one that has really effected me is when Chris said to Ron in a letter, "My point is that you do not need me or anyone else around to bring this new kind of light in your life. It is simply waiting out there for you to grasp it, and all you have to do is reach for it." I have had issues with happiness in my life and this quote is really comforting to me, because happiness is waiting for me, I just have to try for it.

This is just an awesome picture of Chris.

Although I have not finished this book I have really enjoyed it, I think about it a lot, and it has changed a lot of how I am thinking about my future and what I want. I would recommend this book to anyone over the age of 12.

Also, there is this super cool Chris McCandless blog thing that I have been reading. Here is the link: Chris McCandless Blog

We all leave our mark

I feel like there are a lot of kids in my grade that are like Chris McCandless, they want to leave everything they know behind and begin a life that rings true to them. They want to go where life takes them and experience as much as they can. The thing about most of those people is that they are ready to drop everyone, become completely independent, and leave their known world. They feel like the people they leave behind won’t care, or won’t matter, there will be no attachments for them. They need to realize that every interaction humans have with each other leaves an imprint, a ten minute conversation can be enough for someone to remember you for the rest of their life. Part of living and experiencing life is the people. Those who travel will meet so many people in their lives, tell so many different stories, listen to so many different stories. They will swap pieces of themselves with other people just through a few words. Humans can’t just disappear, no matter what we will always leave our mark.

There were many lives that Chris McCandless changed. Ron Franz, an old man who housed Chris for a little bit, wanted to adopt him. Wayne Westerberg, a man who Chris worked for, says that his life was changed by Alex and that he still thinks about him often.   He was just some kid from El Segundo, California that decided to leave behind his life and live one that quenched his thirst for something more. He went on his own terms and lived life however it was calling him. I don’t think that Chris had any intention of leaving such a lasting impression on all of those peoples lives, yet he did. His death resonated throughout many people and haunted them. They remembered him and cared about him, they created bonds with him, even if they were just one way. It was something that was just happened as a result of his interaction with other human beings. I feel like this can be applicable to anyone, no matter how socially impaired or how free and independent they are.

No one in this world will go without that one person that cares about them. Chris McCandless is a perfect example of that, once he left his family and lived a life where no one really knew him, a life where he didn’t stay around long enough to get too connected, he still got connected. He came into so many peoples lives and so many people came into his, he left marks on other peoples lives and they left marks on his. Once two humans interact on the level that Chris did with most people I feel like they have given a tiny piece of themselves to each other, a piece that will stay with that other person forever. Human beings are meant to interact, they are meant to become connected. We can’t be a lone tree, we are all trees whose roots are intertwined, but strong. We may seem like we stand alone but there are still those roots, keeping us standing,it’s how we have adapted, it’s how we survive.

An Extraordinary Life.

I want to live an adventurous life. After high school or college I want to just leave. Take the things I need and go to different places all around the country and world. I want to see as much of this big rock as I can. I will leave behind friends and family and make new friends and find more to be in my family, I will find out what it is like to fully live. Which is why I connect with Chris McCandless so much, or Alex Supertramp, as he called himself.  He completely reinvented himself and just went where his heart desired, which is something that I really admire.

Chris by the bus he lives in in Alaska

I would like to be a lot like Chris except for a few things. He completely stopped all communication with his family, I wouldn't talk to mine much, but I wouldn't just disappear and not tell them anything. He went all by himself, I might want to go by myself for a little but I wouldn't be able to handle it, I would need someone I know with me, like a boyfriend or just a good friend. He also did not plan very well for many things, most of the time he turned out fine, but I just wouldn't be able to risk that. But he was brave, adventurous, curious, and he just took the world in. Being laid back isn't like me. I have serious anxiety so I may not be able to be completely like Chris but I want to be more like him.  I want to take in everything as I go, meet thousands of new people, make hundreds of new friends, and be able to do what I want. 

Chris listened to his heart I guess you could say. He found out what he wanted to do and he did it. He made his way across the border of Mexico in a small boat, he traveled all up and down the west coast, walking and getting rides from strangers, going wherever he decided to go, and he did whatever he wanted to do. He didn't seem afraid at all, it just seemed like he just took whatever life threw at him. 

I'm not quite sure where he is, but its a cool picture.

He turned his completely average life into something that I find extraordinary, which is another reason that I can connect to him. I have lived an average life, I go to school everyday, live in a nice house, have a loving and supportive family but now I'm ready for something else. A major reason for that is that I have struggled with depression for 4 years and I didn't feel much, I was sick of life and wanted out. Now that I remember what it's like to feel again, and am okay with being alive, I want to live. I want to meet all kinds of people from places all around the world, I want to see all of the places around the world, I want to hear others stories and maybe become a part of some of theirs. I just don't want to live an average life, I want to go out and life a life that I will not regret. I don't feel like Chris regretted his decisions, I feel like he was glad that he did what he did, he knew that things couldn't be changed, and once again, just took in life as it came at him.

Check out how my parents moved to PC YO!!

Illegal Immigration Commercial

This commercial is about how horrible illegal immigrants are, and that we US citizens need to elect officials that will say NO to illegal immigration and will try to make our border between Mexico and the US more secure. The commercial says that it's unbelievable that illegal immigrants are protesting in our country, that illegal immigrants are filling up our jails, hospitals and schools which is "costly", and that Mexicans  are singing the national anthem in spanish which is "priceless." While the man was voicing that it had pictures on the screen with the words 15,000,000 illegal aliens. It is trying to make the American citizens angry because the government cares more about pandering the illegal immigrants, who can't even vote, while ignoring YOU the LEGAL, TAX PAYING, AMERICAN CITIZEN. It ends with telling the watchers to make sure that the elected officials wanted more secure borders and said NO to amnesty.

This commercial was treating the immigrants as if they were not human beings, as if they were weeds invading the most beautiful garden in the world. In reality they are just a different type of flower, one we are not used to. Tying this back to my first post, the one about Democrats and Republicans I feel that Republicans probably made that video, seeing as they are more save the US than save the people. At first I didn't believe it was real but I clicked on the web sight and you can donate to the cause to say no to amnesty and to help secure our borders.

When Reyna came to the US there were people, even other Latino people that called her a "wetback." A wetback is a Mexican living in the US without official authorization. I think that most of those people had parents, or other family members that were illegal immigrants, they even might have been too. People get selfish once they are in the US, they don't want any other people who "don't belong" coming into their country. I think that the people who support these kind of commercials would be a danger to people crossing the border, the people who see them could get violent, or they could just call border control and get them out, but seeing how strict they are about it I wouldn't be surprised if they got angry.

I personally am okay with people coming into the US, they want and sometimes need to have a better life so that they can survive and their family can survive. Had Reyna not made it across the border I probably wouldn't be writing this right now. The US needs to take the things that we have and use them to help others, not only ourselves. Reyna used what this country had and she turned out just as good, if not better than most Americans. Just because they speak a different language,  have a different skin color, or from a different country doesn't mean that the people crossing the border aren't humans.

Link to the video: Illegal Immigrant Commercial

Family and Immigration

Herrison Chicas talks about how his parents are forcibly taken away from him and deported back to El Salvador. He says how he wasn't always an orphan, always struggling with redefining family, and that there wasn't a time when he was constantly having to try to figure who he is and who he's not and where he belongs. He talks about how much his parents cared, and that he has few memories of them because he has ben without them for so long. His parents were taken away because of the USA PATRIOT Act of 2001, which was basically terrorist control. The immigration officers that took his father away mistook him as a terrorist, so they took him away, and later that week they took his mother too, even though they were El Salvador citizens with their American green cards.

He expresses what it was like to always feel like the odd one out, always standing out in a crowd but not in a good way. He knows what it's like to not be able to see his parents, to have to make an international call just to talk to them, that every digital hug and I love you just wasn't the same.  He also talks about how 5000 children have lost their parents due to deportation and 15000 more face similar threats in the next five years. That we are all seeds that have gone in different directions but rooted in the same tree, and we are all part of the same race, the human race. He ends it with saying how everyone has a family to get home to and he wishes that he still had his too.

Reyna struggles with many of the things that Herrison struggled with as well, they both have been orphaned due to their parents being in other countries. The major difference is that Reyna's parents chose to leave them, but Herrison's were forced out of the country. Even though they have drastically different equations they still had the same result, no parents. They both had to live with family members, hold onto the few memories they had of their parents from a young age, only get to talk to or see their parents when they can write a letter, send a picture, call, and in Herrison's case Skype.

They both struggled with the meaning of family      and what it's like to be an orphan. Herrison
describes what the outcast is like of being an orphan, "I spent the rest of my life like a hijab in rural North Carolina, like chopsticks in an American restaurant, like a sore thumb in a room of middle fingers all staring at me." They both know what it's like to be alone, to not have your parents and have no choice in whether or not they leave you or stay, to not fit in no matter what, because without your parents you can never be as things once were when you had them. They know how immigration can destroy families.

Link to the TEDx Talk: Family and Immigration

Danger of Crossing the Border

Recently there has been a large number of unaccompanied minors crossing the border between Mexico and the US from Central America. The US Customs and Border Control Commissioner discussed the Dangers Awareness Campaign, a Spanish language outreach effort to community groups, the media, parents and relatives in the US and Central America to save and protect the lives of migrant children attempting to cross the border.

The children are especially easy prey for coyotes and transnational criminal organizations and they can be subjected to robbery, violence, sexual assault, sex trafficking, or forced labor. The natural elements such as harsh terrain and unmerciful weather conditions are also causing more amounts of danger. So far this year the US Border Patrol has identified more than 220 deaths along the border, including 34 water-related deaths, all due to the weather. The campaign will be broadcasted in Spanish and will be raising awareness of the dangers of crossing the border, it will be shown to metropolitan areas with high concentrations of Central Americans.

Reyna was put in danger while she crossed the border. She crossed with her dad, Mago, and Carlos, the first two times they failed to cross was because of her. She was little so she got exhausted, had a toothache, got a fever, and got too hot, the conditions weren't meant for a girl her age to be running that much and that far. The second time she found a dead body, at the time though she didn't grasp how much danger she was in and how life threatening it was for her. The final time when they crossed a helicopter flew up, had they not hidden well they could have been shot. They faced many risks that Reyna just couldn't recognize at the time.

Reyna, unlike many children today, was lucky though. She had a father to cross with her so she wasn't just a little girl running. When she got too tired her father could carry her, he would help her hide quickly when they needed to, and he could give her advice and tell her what to do. Most children crossing the border illegally don't have that much help, they have to rely on what they have been told and on the other children that they are crossing with. Most children don't cross completely alone, they almost always have a sibling or some other child running across with them. Even though Reyna had help she was still in an immense amount of danger, such as the children are now.

Link to article: CBP Commissioner Discusses Dangers of Crossing US Border, Awareness Campaign

Green Cards

Our country gives out 140,000 employment based green cards each year,  giving illegal immigrants safe harbor and work permits, and also makes it so that they cannot be deported. President Obama would like to raise the amount of employment based green cards given out each year to help business and ultimately our economy.

There are two proposals that could raise the amount of green cards given out each year. The first one is that spouses of workers don't get counted under the 140,000 green cards, which they are now, they predict that doing this could almost double the amount of available green cards. The second proposal would be to take back the unused green cards from previous years, which could produce 200,000 more green cards. This could also result in more legitimate companies that pay taxes and follow the law, the immigrants would become documented and they would have a more stable source of income. They could also get the benefits that come with many jobs such as health insurance.

In The Distance Between Us Mago, Carlos, Reyna, Betty, Leonardo, and their parents all get green cards. After they got them they didn't have to worry about being deported, they weren't breaking the law anymore, and they could actually help the country that gave them so much. Although they didn't use the benefits that came with some jobs it still made living in the US much safer and gave them many more opportunities.  Because of Reyna's green card she got an education, she wrote books, and she got to live a good life. It gave each of them a fighting chance to have a better life. Although they didn't take all of the opportunities that they could have, their lives turned out so much better than it would have in Mexico, they had a much greater chance of achieving greatness.  Once they began to build a life in the US being deported back to Mexico would have ruined that new life, and been a waste of desperately needed money.

Link to article: Obama Weighing Business-Friendly Immigration Actions

Democrats vs Republicans: Immigration

This youtube video shows the views that Democrats and Republicans have on immigration, mostly about children coming in seeking refuge. The Democrats take up the more humane side, reminding everyone that the children coming in are just like the children we have here, they are human beings that deserve just as much love and respect as anyone else, we need to show them more compassion, and not treat them like pests invading our home.

The Republicans are going more along with the approach that they are pests invading our home, literally. The children coming in have faced severe poverty and they don't have money for doctors or the vaccines and medical help needed, so they come in with lice, scabies, and chicken pox, passing those on to the children in the US that they go to school with. The Republicans also worry about the gangs coming in that can be very dangerous, but they are are also bringing drugs in with them. It would seem that the Republicans worry more about the diseases that the children are bringing in than the children themselves. They are taking more of a selfish view on how it will effect their children, the kids that they know, than the refugees coming into our country.

In The Distance Between Us Mago, Carlos, and Reyna all had problems with lice while in Iguala, but their father made sure that before they came to the US that they didn't have lice. Most children can't afford to get rid of the lice, besides, that is also the least of their worries, seeing as they face starvation, poverty, and even homelessness everyday. It costs a lot of money for them to illegally get through the border, I would think that they would save their money for that than worrying about lice. But these issues haven't only just started with the refugees and illegal immigrants coming through. The Republicans need to remember that we were immigrants to this country, bringing along a legion of illnesses that killed quite a few more people than what the immigrants coming in now are bringing, we wiped out entire tribes of Native Americans with the diseases we brought in. What these children are bringing in are easily fixed and hardly fatal.

The Republicans selfish approach to the immigration issue is holding back so many children with great potential. Had Reyna not come to the US because she had lice, and wasn't healthy when she came, she wouldn't have written books that entire schools would one day read. She wouldn't have shaped lives and given some insight to immigration and given us an understanding of what it is really like in poverty stricken places. Coming to America can save children's lives, futures, and future generations to come. We need to look at the big picture, what we can do to help those less fortunate, how they will help our economy, and how we are saving children's lives. Not whether or not we will be getting lice from these children.