Check Box: White, Black, Other.

Just last week, many cities around the U.S. held immigration rallies in light of the worldwide celebration of International Laborer's Day on May 1st. Being a big city as it is, Chicago had its own immigration rally. I arrived in the downtown area at around 2 PM, where I was greeted with thousands of individuals--men, women, children--of all colours, but mostly Latino/a descent. They were rallying for equal rights and citizenship rights of illegal immigrants. Illegal immigration is quite a heated topic in today's political discourse and many people who do not deal with the hardships that illegal immigrants do often times find themselves torn between what is right and what is wrong.

As I stand on the elevated concrete platform, looking down at the thousands of faces marching for the same cause--equality, I realized how unified people are, when it comes in time of distress, or empowerment. The many faces I saw in the sea of people belonged to individuals who were not white or black, but more so those labeled "other" by American society. Latinos, Asians, Asian-Indians dominated the rally. We were unified together to send the message across to the people of the U.S. that the "other" has a voice; not the invisible group getting by in society.


I walked towards the pavement and ran into a group of people I knew. CMAA, an organization which I volunteer for had a few people show up as they marched with an organization called YAWP (Young Asians with Power), CAI (Cambodian Association of Illinois), and another Asian-American group. I joined in with these people marching for, truly what I believed in. Watching these people march for justice is one thing. You get tingles down your spine and goosebumps on your arm, but the feeling of marching goes beyond that. It is very empowering as I join others of different backgrounds speak up of issues we agree on.

I often wonder though, those big cats in those giant buildings, in their white collared shirts, looking down at this site, what do they think of all this? Poor illegal immigrants calling for citizenship. People of colour speaking up against an intangible empire. What are going through the minds of these big cats that do not have to worry about such inequities? Are they inspired by all this? Do they agree with what is going on? Such a thought reflects the divide we have in this country. The individuals I joined in with marched for hours, let their voices be heard, and really advocated equality for those less fortunate in society. But at the same time, are the people they are speaking to listening? Are we going to resolve anything? We'll just wait and see.

Hac.

the windy city.

Before returning back to Chicago, I expected to be greeted with gushing winds and below zero weather. But upon my return, the climate really seemed to be effected by global warming, or as the right wing folks call it, climate change. This global warming weather went on like this for a couple of weeks and we all really started believing that there has been damage done to the ozone. But thank whatever higher being you may believe in, Chicago is as cold as it was last year. A little late, but here nonetheless.

Besides the bitter cold weather in Chicago, I am adjusting back to the life here. Although I do still miss Viet Nam, the life of a giant city is starting to come back to me. Riding on the "L", walking through the streets with towering buildings hovering above, and just the diversity are all great things about Chicago. I would have to say though, the Vietnamese restaurants are not that good. I enjoyed a Saturday by myself walking around downtown and visiting the Loyola University Museum of Art. The exhibit was on the Dali Lama and Peace--how the Dali Lama and his word is transformed into art, reflecting peace. It was free for college students who possessed an id. Luckily for me, I keep my id warm and snug in my wallet.

Prior, and after to this visit to the museum, I was able to catch up with some old friends and also some new friends from Viet Nam, here in the windy city. I went to dinner with an old childhood friend at this Persian restaurant. The food was delicious, but the portions were too big to finish. That should not really be a complaint though. It was good to see old faces and share my stories from Viet Nam with her and to find out that she is in fact going to Viet Nam this summer for two months. As for new faces, two friends who also studied in Viet Nam stopped in the windy city this week. Peggy, who was in the CET program, and I made a trip to argyle, Chicago's version of Cali's Little Saigon. I am sure the food does not compare, but hey, it triggered a few memories of Viet Nam. We also visited the Adler Planetarium (pictured to the left is me in a Galileo type study environment). I also met my friend Kara downtown. We went for a sip of St. Pauli Girl Beer at some bar underneath the brown line stop of Washington/Wells. Lucky her, she gets to finish up the 2nd part of the year in Sai Gon. It is odd to see these faces half way across the world. The last time I saw them was in Viet Nam, and to see them in my neck of the woods is somewhat strange. But nonetheless, refreshing.

The past two years living in Chicago, I somewhat took for granted all the cultural events happening each night in the city. These next five months though, I hope to take advantage of such a wide range of cultural events. I really only have a short time left in this city. St. Paul awaits me in June, and hopefully Budapest in the fall. Not until next January will I be back to the windy city. After visiting all the places I have gone to this past year and a half, I would have to place Chicago still as one of the top cities on my favourites list.

Hac.