UNOBIO

whats the deal with all this folk

so i tried uploading “skinny love” by bon iver but its an mp4 and tumblr only takes mp3s. i then tried uploading a video i took of the foofighters playing everlong but the file was too big. whatever.

my sister got us into the white house for the 4th (us being myself, jervis, lucerito and trevor) and we watched a couple concerts on the south lawn of the white house. michelle branch, jimmy fallon and the foofighters. bizarre combination yes but it worked and the foofighters rocked. the crescendo to everlong came just as the fireworks started going off behind the stage on the mall. the crowd got really into it. free dove ice cream bars and an open bar too. fun all around.

as for the folk. a friend of mine introduced me to a bunch of new music including the dodos, the avett brothers, the extraordinaires and bon iver among others, all worth checking out. but the song “skinny love” has pretty much been on repeat since i first heard it. and so it is posted below in “video” form for you to enjoy as well. i noted in an earlier post a band i found at artomatic-fuzzy baby. now i bring you typefighter another myspace folk gem. they’ll be here in dc for a couple weeks so i hope to check them out. after that they head to texas. listen to “worth the weight.” the folk continued when trevor and i went to a show at the black cat that featured the bowerbirds opened by vandaveer and megafaun. i’d upload a song, but it too is in mp4. in my opinion megafaun stole the show. you can read a good if excessively flowery retelling of the event here.

uno

p.s. tumblr came up in red on the tumblr spell check. shameful.

texas shame

i love the union. but i love texas more. and if it came to in a scrap, i’d be on the lone star side. sometimes, though, texas can be a pretty nasty place.

i’m not quite sure how to respond to the comments on the site above. the arguments for and against immigration are long and complex, particularly when you start talking about the impact on the economy. based on my limited understanding of both immigration and the u.s. economy, it seems that immigration has historically fueled growth. the argument that immigration reform would decrease the number of undocumented workers thus forcing more people to pay income tax and preventing companies from hiring workers under the table so that wages will be pushed up seems rather weak to me. it seems too easily countered by calls for greater border security and stopping the problem before it starts.

at its core, however, i don’t think the dream act is an immigration issue or an economic issue. its a human rights issue. it is absurd to take people from their homes and send them to place they have never known.

in response to the comment by “mominator”: Ms. Reyes knew she was illegal, yet tried to stay here, knowing the penalties. At the age of 8, her options were limited. At the age of 18, she could have returned home and applied to come to the US the right way. Ms. Reyes still has that option. unfortunately many of the students affected by the dream act did not learn about their status until late in life. many did not have the knowledge or resources to fix the problem if they knew there was one. on top of this, some are slapped with a 10 year penalty for their reentry.

in some cases, like that of walter lara, they speak english more fluently than their native language. josh bernstein, my supervisor and author of the original dream act, has been on a team helping walter to avoid his july 6 deportation. i’ve been playing a small role, creating material to give to congressmen in hopes of getting a private bill.

what is certainly necessary is a little dose of compassion. the commenters on the chron represent what i despise about my state. i don’t know what it is that blinds people from the suffering of others or robs them of the ability to empathize or infects them with hate. hopefully when the dream act passes people will see the issue for what it is.

either way, i love where i am from and will be returning to texas one day. i take some comfort that south texas, my blueberry in a tomato soup, is a little different from the rest. viva la republica del rio grande.

uno