Bad, Bad Leroy Brown

I just heard this song on the radio yesterday.

Bad, Bad Leroy Brown by Jim Croce.

Ooops

Rima Fakih was not the first Arab American Miss USA.

The first was Julie Hayek, who won in 1983.

First Second Arab-American Miss USA

"Rima Fakih, of Lebanese descent, went into the pageant as Miss Michigan. She is thought to be the first Arab American and Muslim to become Miss USA..."

Read story

Long hair gets Mesquite prekindergartner in trouble

Four-year-old Taylor Pugh, in prekindergarten at Floyd Elementary School, likes his hair long - just below his ears and along his collar in the back. He likes it longer in front. That length is outside the school district's dress code so the boy has been having lessons alone in the library. And his mother says the district has said he will be kicked out of school completely on Tuesday...

Full story

It's not even very long! Makes me want to move there and let my sons hair grow longer than that.

Movie, and musings on Immigration Issues

I saw a movie today, called The Visitor.

A widowed college professor travels to New York City to attend a conference and finds a young couple, who turn out to be illegal immigrants, living in his apartment

The movie starts out kind of boring. A professor is living his boring, milktoast life. Then he has to go to NYC (New York City aka The City) to present a paper. He really doesn't want to go there. His life seems to be in a rut he's used to. When he gets to his apartment in NYC, he surprises a couple that is living in his apartment. Someone who had the key rented it to them. Even though he's educated, he doesn't seem to have been around people of other cultures much.

They are trying to find another place, but he ends up letting them stay because they can't find one. He learns the drums, and gets to know the couple as people, until they have immigration problems. I won't give away any more, for anyone who wants to watch the movie.

This movie makes you think about the United State's Immigration policies. Yes, someone who overstays their welcome, or comes here illegally, has broken the law. But should they be treated as criminals? The conservatives want them deported, "go back where you came from". How do they think we all got here? Our ancestors were immigrants too! We don't know if they came here legally or illegally.

From my personal experience with immigrants, they are just trying to make a better life for themselves and their families. They are not taking jobs away from Americans. Most of the time they are doing the jobs that Americans don't want to do. Even those that come here who were doctors in their country oftentimes have to work jobs such as cab drivers for years until they can get certified. How many doctors in the US would work a job like that for years? Not very many!

I know, a country has to have laws. But trying to balance laws and treating people as human beings is a hard thing to do. We have to remember that they are PEOPLE with FEELINGS. Not just "illegal immigrants". Do you think they like to come to a country and be treated as criminals? That's not my idea of a good time. I saw poverty when I lived in Jordan, and there are a lot of countries that make the people in Jordan look rich.

I don't have an answer or a way to magically fix the problem. But if we speak up, we can have a say in how people from other countries are treated. We elect the politicians, after all!

A.

Interesting movies I've seen recently

Ya I like blockbusters and big name movies, but I also like to watch foreign movies and other movies that make you think.

Arranged

Centers on the friendship between an Orthodox Jewish woman and a Muslim woman who meet as first-year teachers at a public school in Brooklyn. Over the course of the year they learn they share much in common - not least of which is that they are both going through the process of arranged marriages.

I really liked this movie. It wasn't a big budget film or anything, and I didn't know any of the actors in it. But the friendship between the women seemed genuine, and it showed some clashes (not fights) between each of them in the other's culture. It was loosely based on the experience of the executive producer of the movie.

Paradise Now

The story places two close friends, Palestinians Said and Khaled, recruited by an extremist group to perpetrate a terrorist attack in Tel-Aviv, blowing up themselves. However, things go wrong and both friends must separate in the border. One of them, maintaining in his purpose of carry the attack to the end, and the other will have his doubts about it

This film was in Arabic with English subtitles. It is a very sensitive subject. I don't agree with suicide bombers at all. But this movie wasn't about someone doing something and getting glory or going to heaven for it. It showed how these 2 men felt knowing what they were going to do. They would never see their families again. It made me wonder if people who do the bombings have reservations or ever change their minds.