crying, laughing, molding, crowding

today, i cried in 2 of 3 classes.


race/ethnicity: we watched an intense video about the realities of racism. i cried as a mexican latino man grew angry at his exclusion of being an american. in spanish, america is the whole north and south american continents. then, in the u.s., he is told he is actually not american. it's a smack in the face. it is stealing what is his to have. or the black man who got so angry from being asked again and again to explain this problem of racism to white people and then being told, "why don't you deal with it?" racism is not caused by the minority. it is caused by the majority. it is our problem to deal with. and there were many other moments. i am just sad, so sad and sorry... i wanted to curl in my bed and never come out because i do not want my whiteness to ruin anymore lives.


human behavior in the social environment: this week and next week we are talking about a cognitive disorder that is very close to home.


luckily, in my spanish class i laughed a lot (which is normal). our profesora has so many endearing and hilarious mannerisms. we also talked about hambre (hungry) and how close it is to hombre (man). then one of my classmates jokingly said she had a "hombre hambre" (hungry man) at home. the profesora got the joke but told us to be careful using that because the connotation is not that that man is hungry for food... LOL!


update on mold:
i am learning a lot about tenants rights. for example:
- if your bldg mgr isn't fixing something, you can give a 14-day notice for them to fix it. then if they don't, you fix it yourself and deduct that from the rent.

- likewise, you can give a 14-day notice that you are simply deducting from the rent the cost of "mold".

- if you break your lease due to mold, you have to be able to prove that it is uninhabitable by humans. otherwise, you could get sued for the remainder of your lease.


listening to songs from the "wicked" soundtrack instantly bring joy in a crowded bus situation (well... to me at least). the cta has cut down on buses running times (i.e. they run less frequently, some buses have been eliminated and they don't run as long). this results in some very crowded bus rides... which wouldn't be as much of a problem if i didn't have an american definition of personal space.


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