Though I didn't write as consistently on here as I would have liked, I would like to dispense a few thoughts to you readers now that my term is over. I do apologize for my lack of presence. It was a crazier summer than I expected, but that happens.

Anyway, good luck to you all in all your endeavors. These are my closing thoughts...

Just some advise from a not-so-sage source:

1. Smile...

Barack Obama came on Saturday for the usual presidential campaign fundraiser. While everything was the same as any other politician, Barack stood out to me. I've heard about him, read about him, and still I wasn't convinced. I expected to hear the same ol' lines that all politicians give you. In the last year or so, I've been lucky and blessed with the opportunity to hear many of them speak in person. For many cynics, that's no big deal. For me, it is wonderful, not because of who they are and because of their celebrity status. It is wonderful because it demonstrates how they do want to get to know their constituents. I am a girl born and raised in a South American country. I grew up feeling small in comparison to the world and the big, glamorous world of Hollywood. These events help bring down their stardom status in my mind because I get to see them, and I get to judge...

A Haitian woman was brutally robbed and beaten mid-July in Florida. Things unimagineable were done to her and her son. Things that continue to surprise me for I do not think they are common thoughts on the mind of an average individual... let alone 10 mid-teenage boys. ...

I have lived a sheltered life. I realize this. Even so, I have always been a scaredy cat. I'm always afraid. My biggest fear when was I little was of being kidnapped. I had heard the story of the neighbors across the street that had been robbed, violently. It was rare in that area, but it happened. And I was often scared. I remember I didn't like weekends because they were spent at home, and I felt safer in school.

Sadly, though, my fears weren't entirely unfounded. I lived in an entirely different country on the South side of the World, but the same things happened there as they do here. And it makes me wonder how we are supposed to live and lead safe lives. I now have that false sense of security that many gain as teenagers and young adults. But the scared child is still in there, deep down...

Am I right to be so afraid? What are we really capable of? How can we deal with this kind of scenario?

I got my usual email from Amnesty International tonight. They always spark thoughts and feelings. I need to share this one.

These emails are asking members to sign up to host movie-watch parties. A new film titled This is My Home shares the struggle of so many of the displaced public housing residents of the post-Katrina New Orleans.

I got to go to New Orleans in November for the Amnesty Southern Regional Conference and took part with the gawking solidarity tour. It was uncomfortable for more reasons than one. So much of New Orleans is a ghost town...

When I first heard about this new system, my first concern or question was, "well, wait... what about the people working those jobs? What will they do?"

The response I always get is that those are unpleasant and unwanted jobs anyway. Sure, that's true, but they had the jobs, didn't they? They obviously needed the job? Have those workers be relocated to other jobs? Or were they merely fired for not being needed anymore?

...

"Our greatest glory consists not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall." ~ Confucius

A good friend sent me this quote as a reflection today. Most of us have heard it before. It's related to my life so many times... But tonight, I thought of it in another context.

We are a country of great things and people and moments. We like to shine and outdo ourselves and others. We succeed, and this has created the illusion that we never fail...                                                                

I've been in the Harry Potter craze for a few years now, and these last few weeks especially. After finally reading books five and six, I understand why the craziness and drive to read and reread all the books.

Unfortunately for many of us in the Harry Potter world, we find many people poking fun at us and wondering why we're ok with being into such a craze. Well, I have various responses to that comment...

Ate Evelina Galang is a English-Creative Writing Professor at the University of Miami. I've been lucky to have met her when she was supporting the workers striking for a living wage last Spring of '06.

Today and this Spring of '07 she spearheaded at our campus and in Miami in general this amazing campaign for a simple to request. For the Japanese government to acknowledge the events of World War II and apologize to the Laban Comfort Women for the abuse committed to them by the Japanese Imperial Army.

Finally, this week, this campaign in seeing a victory.

Read more, see how you can help... We can help justice and fairness by the simple act of requesting acknowledgment and an apology.

At lunch the other day, a good friend mentioned this song and said that she finds it to be a perfect depiction of our modern-day youth culture.

I argued that I did not see that at all.

So what's the verdict?

Are we really just waiting?

When talking to my professor and good friend, I got to thinking about tradition today. He had been listening on NPR about summer camps and how the tradition aspect is part of their appeal. One camper was quoted saying, "if it changed, I wouldn't want to come back".

What does that say about our culture? What is so crucial about tradition? It was once new, wasn't it?...