11.26.2009

Feliz día de Acción de Gracias

Here is an email from my Spanish host mom. I wanted to share it because she's so sweet - she emailed me on a holiday she doesn't even celebrate because it's one that means a lot to me and my family.

Feliz día de Acción de Gracias., En estas fechas tan familiares me acuerdo mucho de mi hija americana. Un fuerte abrazo y recuerdos a todos los tuyos. Que disfrutes este día y seas muy feliz en todo lo que emprendas. Con muchísimo cariño. Tu madre española.


11.25.2009

California Love?

Not too surprisingly, UC students have been protesting the 32% tuition hike UC Regents approved last week with huge demonstrations involving drums and chants about injustice. It's a tough situation undoubtedly: students who are barely scraping together the money for tuition in addition to all of the other college expenses could be overburdened by the increase, while the state of California is floudering financially and slashing spending anywhere possible, including of course, higher education.

A study my sister worked on is cited this article from UC Davis' The Aggie saying that, "Nearly 90 percent of Californians are "very concerned" or "somewhat concerned" about student fee hikes." Yet, 56% said they would not be willing to pay higher taxes to deal with the state budget problems. So who do they want to pay for it?


Personally, I agree with this view of the situation outlined by Ian Ayres for the Freakonomics Blog - the people who should pay for it are the ones who have the money. If you can afford the higher tuition, you'll pay it and if you can't then you'll get help. The UCs are high caliber schools that still are not that expensive, relative to private institutions. The wealthier students will pay the tuition, the poorer students will get financial aid and the ones in the middle? That's where I think the burden will be placed and where some kind of assistance is needed... manna from heaven sounds like a good plan.

11.14.2009

BeyonceBeyonceBeyonce

amazing video. I can't get enough.

Twitter is only good for finding food

So Twitter is really only good for finding food, right? Scream sorbet is my favorite to follow. They seriously have amazing sorbet that doesn't use any dairy. The best part of their sorbet though is that it actually tastes exactly like whatever they claim it to be. Hard to explain, just try it. I'm in LA right now where the Kimchi taco truck tweets their location and then everyone swarms. I want to try them while I'm here, but I don't want to have to drive really far. Maybe they will be around the corner this afternoon or something.

What else is Twitter good for? Please, tell me if you know.