#may 23 2014

[smash-bros-4-pic-of-the-day]

May 23, 2014

“Pic of the day. Ike, the swordsman of magnificent strength, joins the battle!! Strike your foes down with his powerful smash attacks.”

“For this game, Ike’s design is based on the hero that appears in Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn. His sword deals heavy damage in Smash Bros., so this design suits him very will! Rest assured, he can use Aether as well.”

[arcie91]

So I don't normally talk about what happened on May 23, 2014 in Isla Vista, CA but watching this video brought it all back and I just feel the need to talk about it and vent. 

On that horrible day my little city of Isla Vista changed. My home that I had lived in for the past 5 years had been changed forever by one persons actions. Something so terrible happened that night at around 9 pm but what happened after that and how our city of Isla Vista stayed together was so beautiful. It's hard to live in such a social town and not have at least one degree of separation from one of the victims. Even though I didn't know any of them personally or could call them a friend I knew enough people who did. For months after I dealt with the horrific realization that it could have been me and it took me a very long time to stop thinking about that. I could go on for a while about all of the sad and terrifying feelings that I had after all that happened but I won’t I'd rather talk about the good and the amazing things that happened after. 

After this attack the Gauchos banned together like I had never seen before. The candle light vigil was a beautiful march of silence through the streets of our city with many mourning what had happened the night before. It was beautiful. One of the homeless men of our community was seen stopping traffic and telling them to go around and not disturb the mourning students. A small girl went up in front of a crowd of hundreds of people just to say that she loves this community as much as we do and that she was praying for each and every one of us. It was beautiful to see so many members of our community stepping out, not just students. The days that followed many different memorials were held to help students mourn. One that I think was especially special was the UCSB paddle out that occurred with everyone taking to the ocean to honor our fallen gauchos. I wish that I could have been there to witness that. I had left at that point to go home and be with my family. I was still really shaken by all that had happened and needed to see my family.

The thing that blew me away was even though I had gone back home to LA I still heard through facebook of an event for Gauchos where the alumni could mourn what had happened. I decided to go by myself and take some flowers. One for each person who had died. I was blown away by how many people were there. How many familiar faces. How many people that cared even though they no longer lived in the community. It was beautiful. I always called IV a community but never before had I witnessed how large of a community it really was, and it was beautiful. Words cannot express the love that I felt from friends and complete strangers. I will never forget what happened not only because of the tragedy that happened but because of the way that the UCSB community handled it. I had a stranger give me a hug just because she saw that I was walking alone and looked sad. It was a wonderful feeling to realize that so many people cared even if they didn’t know you personally.

I will never forget the 6 that died that day: George, James, David, Katie, Veronika, and Christopher. May they rest in peace. 

[pagesfromthemiddle]

Crunch Time Begins...

It’s only a few months until I am hoping to depart for Scotland! I am still searching for funds as I only have about a tenth of the funds needed (for the whole two-year trip), but I believe that God wants me in Scotland; I take comfort in knowing that if this trip is in His plan then He will provide. My search for a job continues: I’ve been turned down time after time, seemingly due to my degree making me “overqualified.” However, friends have been helpful in giving me advice for the job search. I’m optimistic and think this could be extremely helpful in doing my part to continue raising funds. I am so thankful to everyone who has both donated to and prayed for my trip; please keep doing so. The earth keeps spinning and I feel like I’m watching the clock run down, but I also know that God is bigger than all of this, He is faithful, and I believe that He will come through for me.

[northernlybird]

Last Friday saw two devastating attacks:

In California, the killing of six pople and in Connecticut, the death of a young junior in high school.

Both have the same reason: men who believe they are entitled to women and are then denied by women. 

[newliteraryaesthetic]

Isla Vista Shooting

I feel like I need to say something about this. 

The Isla Vista shooting occurred literally 30 minutes from where I live. I know kids that attend UCSB, including some former classmates of mine. As far as I know, they are all okay. This is a blessing.

Honestly, I can say that I believe that this was probably a lot of mental illness AND misogyny at work. I don't think that one, without the other, would have culminated in this.

Personally, I think that it's an insult to mental illness to say that mental illness is the only thing that caused the shooting, and ignorance to discount the clear misogynistic worldview that Rodger held. 

However, I don't think that it was only misogyny, either. True, a disrespect for women holds a powerful propensity towards violence; studies have shown that. But, it's still not the only thing that drives someone to murder 6 people. Obviously, mental illness coupled with an explosive catalyst such as misogyny would have disastrous results. 

The point I'd like to make is that I don't think that it's right for us to be blaming misogyny or mental illness alone. It's the combination of the two that caused this atrocity, and I hold the belief that we should focus more of our energy on sympathizing with the victims, and going out into the world and actively trying to prevent this stuff from happening.

A couple of ways we could do this:

- Continue educating people on what feminism really is. How it's about understanding and empowering women, how it's about people being treated with respect regardless of sex. (Note: no woman should have to have sex with a man just to prevent him from shooting up a place)

- Continue educating people about mental illness. Recognizing the signs in ourselves AND others, and how to effectively treat it.

- Regulate the internet. Most shooters have posted something or another about their intentions. Rodger posted Youtube videos; if you see, read, or hear someone talking about something harmful that they want to do, that seems a little too realistic, flag them or contact the site. Honestly, I'd rather be that jackass that flagged someone's content than have them actually carry out the threats/scenarios.

My love and prayers to those suffering from this tragedy.

[runbymachinesandclones]

Lanterns, Las Islas CU, Mexico City, May 2014