Well, my fellow YP4 fellows, I've been doing a lot of experience/searching/thinking about which types of activism I am best suited for.

Now Accepting Applications for Movement Activist Apprenticeship Program 2009!

Now Accepting Applications for MAAP 2009!

I just attended the Grassroots Media Justice Tour in Denton, Texas, the last stop on this nationwide tour. This exciting event showcased the following speakers:

> May of 2008
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> New Statement from Assata!!
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> First of all, let me say thank you, to the many people who
> have helped me to celebrate my 60th birthday. Thank you for
> your beautiful birthday cards and for your warm and eloquent
> messages. Thank you for your activism, your radiant energy
> and most of all for your love. I am sincerely grateful for

In the midst of continuing in my involvement with the YP4 blog team and addressing an array of issues from race and gender in the 2008 presidential elections to access to healthcare, I realized that I left out one important piece to any project: the beginning.

Yesterday, I began my fellowship placement with the Bridges to Health Program of the Greenlining Institute (www.greenlining.org) in Berkeley, CA. Greenlining is "a multi-ethnic advocacy, research, leadership development, and public policy organization whose ultimate goal is to increase the role that low-income and minority Californians play in the civic arena in order to create equitable policies and improve quality of life for all communities." My initial project focuses on telemedicine as it pertains to medically underserved populations. In addition to being part of YP4's Leadership Academy, the people at Greenlining have been generous enough to include me in their own Fellowship Academy.

I've been fortunate enough to join some of the YP4 staff here at the Netroots Nation Conference in Austin, Texas. One of the goals I shared with other YP4 attendees was connecting with other leaders in the progressive movement who have used the blogsphere as a means of pushing our respective social concerns, particularly racial/gender/economic justice. While my main passion lies in healthcare reform and inequalities in health, based on my personal experience and academic/civil work, I recognize the need to learn about other areas, including the environment, workers' rights, access to affordable higher education, and how they affect our nation's health.

Yesterday, I had the insightful opportunity of attending the annual Campus Progress National Conference in Washington, DC. Similar to YP4, Campus Progress recognizes, challenges, and celebrates the young progressives to bring out positive social change.

I've attended my share of "progressive" conferences. The night before, I usually think about what kind of people might I expect to be participating in this year's conference. Questions like, how do the conference planner select this year's participants, or what are the participants' respective experiences and interests with regards to the progressive movement, usually come to mind.

Growing up as Catholic, I understood that the Church was not one to endorse candidates, but was rather, issue-based. While mainstream media portrayed the Church as ultra-conservative and seemingly detached from social realities, I knew it be otherwise. Religious leaders from Archbishop Romero, who connoted the term, "liberation theology," God's preference for the poor, to more familiar names including Nelson Mandela, Martin Luther King, Jr., and Mother Teresa, and the basis of my faith, Jesus, all worked tirelessly to turn the world on its head, taking the risk to challenge the status quo as a means of improving the lives of marginalized groups.

After coming home late with my mom from the a San Francisco precinct, I immediately went online to see the results of the last of the Democratic primaries. Yes, I will confess to breaking out in a happy dance with my mom as we witnessed history in the making. Not solely because the first African-American was selected as the presidential nominee for a major party in our lifetime (though it should be acknowledged that Obama is half Kenyan, half Caucasian); but, what he said, and what he has said throughout his campaign, as well as the public's response to his words.