update on life...

So I am currently in LA for the summer doing an internship (thank God/Bathala its paid!) and I have less than a week left in LA! Then I will be heading back up to the Bay for my 2nd and FINAL year as a MA student in Asian American Studies at SF State—wooo almost there. For those curious on my research, my thesis is on 1st generation Filipina single mothers in urban cities (SF/LA) and their everyday agency and practice of resilience. So if y’all know of folks, holla at me. =]

Life so far has been…hmmmm well, continuously in motion in making my own path to where I want to be in life in general. With its ups and downs and joys and tears…post-UCLA life has definitely been a challenging yet growing experience.

Through it all, I feel good and since UCLA and my time with SPEAR (a peer counseling job I had as an undergrad that focused on retention issues of Pin@y students at UCLA) I have been growing, healing, progressing, loving, confident, and compassionate in mind, body, and soul. Healthy mind, body, and soul =]

Hmmm…future aspirations, well haha this has definitely been on my mind (and just because you’re a graduate student does NOT mean you have everything figured out!…trust, talk to me more about this if you want). I love my program at SFSU don’t get me wrong. I am learning so much about our community: its history, issues, and its possibilities through many theoretical frameworks and I feel that the academic and intellectual growth that I have gone through this past year has provided me with more of a critical lens that I feel I will always take with me where ever I go. BUT…with all that said, where do I go from here? What is my application and practice?

So three Options (which does means I don’t have to stick to one…but I am talking in terms of what should i possibly prioritize to work towards)

1) Pursue a Ph.D. in Sociology or Cultural Anthropolgy…and continue research interests on agency and interpersonal interactions (with of course a race, gender, and queer twist to things..because duhh its me!).

2) Pursue a MSW to become a clinical social worker…I seriously think with my work from SPEAR and since I loved and miss this experience I feel that I now understand that one of my strengths is having to facilitate social justice and empowerment on the interpersonal level.

3) Just take a plunge and work somewhere! This internship that I have with LEAP (Leadership Education for Asian Pacifics) in LA. I feel very confident in my skill sets and my experience that I can find myself doing many things from non-profit to corporate (which I am beginning to understand and unlearn my undergraduate understandings of the corporate world….huzzahhh my politics are changing! ;])

All in all, I am sure I’ll figure it all out. Just gotta make shit happen yah know?…hmmm random note, or maybe not, I am really on the verge of getting into bartending. I think I am going to take classes once I get resettled back into the Bay this coming semester. Hayyy Lemme make yo dranks!

Ok…so I am done…

I leave y'all with this video...=]