College students and grads face tough challenges with health care

Amber Singam, 30, and her husband, Shankar, 34, are ready to start a family. They have waited for years, so when Singam graduated from Cal State Fullerton (CSUF) with her master’s degree in May, everything seemed ready for a new addition to their family. All she needed was insurance coverage.

Back in August, Singam applied for private health insurance. She filed the paperwork, gave her medical history and any medical procedures she had undergone, but two months later she still hadn’t received an answer. Singam called the insurance company and discovered that she had been denied coverage.

A letter from the insurance company arrived the next day, stating she was denied based on her “high risk for HPV,” or human papillomavirus. For years, Singam had abnormal PAP smear tests, a routine gynecological exam of cells scraped from the cervix to detect cancerous or pre-cancerous conditions. She underwent a procedure four years ago to remove the abnormal cervical cells.

Since the procedure, Singam has received normal results from her PAP tests and has maintained a healthy lifestyle, so when she was denied insurance, it came as a surprise.

Singam is one of the 21 percent of Americans who apply for insurance and are denied health care coverage based on what the insurance industry considers as “pre-existing conditions,” an issue that has come under fire in the recent health care reform introduced by President Obama.

As talks of improving health care focus on seniors and children, much of the debate has neglected the burgeoning population of college-aged students and recent graduates who may not be able to afford private insurance or seek jobs that offer health benefits in this recession.

The number of Americans insured through employers is 164 million, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF). However, with the economic recession and the new batches of graduates joining the work force every semester, looking for employers that offer health benefits are harder to find.

Though Singam was hired as a part-time instructor at a community college in September, her health benefits will not begin until next fall. She faces eleven months without health insurance coverage, but said she is willing to pay for private insurance, especially with their plans to have a baby.

“I can afford to pay for private insurance, but I can’t afford to give birth without insurance,” Singam said. “I am also not able to afford pre-natal care prior.”

Resources and services narrow when students graduate and lose the student status many insurance companies require. But currently enrolled students traverse an equally overwhelming path. They often rely on student clinics or government and public health programs.

College students who have medical conditions that require treatment, like Patrick Cruz, a 23-year-old living in Alameda, may not have the money for private health care.

Diagnosed with psoriasis - a non-contagious autoimmune disease that appears on the skin as raised patches or lesions - Cruz has been fighting for insurance to get treatment.

He was a working student, employed at a local Starbucks, and attending Alameda Community College when he was diagnosed last October. At that time, Cruz was insured by his employer and was able to get some treatment. But he lost coverage when he wasn’t able to meet the quarterly 240-work hour requirement to continue receiving health benefits.

“I was missing a lot of hours because there would be days…when I didn’t feel well,” Cruz said. “I had to quit because [the lesions] were all over my face, too.”

In December, he applied for Medi-Cal, but would not be seen by a specialist until February. By that time, his condition worsened and his plans of applying to the Respiratory Therapy program in a nearby college were put on hold.

Unemployed and short on money, Cruz and his family decided to go to the Philippines where his medicine and treatment would be cheaper. He returned to Alameda three months later with his skin partially cleared.

But flying back and forth to the Philippines isn’t much of an option.

“I can’t keep getting a quick fix. I need something that’ll last longer,” he said. “My condition gets so dependent on medications.”
Though he has received treatment on and off in the past year, his condition hasn’t improved. Regardless, he remains positive and hopeful that Medi-Cal will help him get the treatment he needs when he finally sees a dermatologist at the end of this month.

Until he gets private insurance, he relies on Medi-Cal and other low-cost options.

Knowing what’s out there

Many alumni associations offer discounted health insurance for association members and some grads may qualify for public programs for low-income individuals and families.

Most colleges and universities also include health fees in registration and tuition fees for enrolled students. This gives students access to the on-campus health clinics which usually offer basic medical tests and procedures for free or for a small fee.

Roughly 55,000 student appointments are scheduled per year at CSUF, said Mary Becerra, the director of health education and promotion at the Student Health and Counseling Center on campus. The health clinic is a full-functioning medical clinic, able to perform many basic lab tests and examinations, provide affordable medications through its own pharmacy, offer reproductive health services, and family planning services.

CSUF has an enrollment of 37,000 students and the school’s clinic is the most highly utilized student clinic in the entire CSU system, according to Becerra. Most students come during the high-stress times in their semesters - midterms and final examinations. With the flu season, the student clinic has also seen many upper respiratory issues.

About 70 percent of the students the clinic surveyed said they have some type of insurance, while the remaining 30 percent are the ones that are seen regularly - students who have limited or no access to any type of health care, Becerra said.

Though the student clinic offers a wide range of services, it is still limited. It is not equipped to handle medical emergencies and other serious conditions.

It is the emergencies - a broken arm or a chronic condition - that put students in financial troubles. This is where insurance becomes indispensable - for the “what-ifs.”

Becerra also noted that the University of California requires all students to have insurance coverage - either from a private provider or through the university. But based on tightening budgets of the CSU system and the recent tuition fee increase, it may be tougher to require insurance coverage for all students.

“Mandatory insurance may be out of the question,” she said.

Health care reform in the works

On February 4, President Obama spoke at the joint session of Congress and emphasized the need for a comprehensive health care reform. This speech marked the beginning of the heated debate about the condition of the nation’s health care system. Touted to be the biggest health care reform in decades, the reform aims to extend coverage to more Americans and control the sky-rocketing costs of health care.

About 46 million non-elderly Americans are uninsured, the KFF reports. This could be because of many reasons including unemployment, not meeting employer’s qualifications for insurance coverage or denied health insurance. Some college-aged students fall under these categories who, either willingly or not, forgo insurance coverage.

Recently, the House of Representatives passed an expansive health care bill that would guarantee medical coverage to 96 percent of Americans. The bill would place a tax surcharge on wealthier Americans as well as new taxes on individual and family plans whose values exceed the set amount, according to CNN. The plan would cost under $1 trillion in ten years.

Last week, the Senate Finance Committee introduced a health care reform bill that will cover 30 million Americans and would cost $849 billion over the next ten years. It is aimed to cut costs to individuals, companies and the government and increase efficiency.

Both bills include a public option plan, but with varying provisions and conditions. The House bill requires individuals to buy insurance, with steep penalties for not complying, which could reach up to 2.5 percent of the individual’s income. The Senate bill is a bit more forgiving with fines that could reach up to $750 for not having coverage.

Though both houses have different bills in the works, both agree on broad changes including cutting down costs and preventing insurance companies from denying coverage based on past medical histories.

The Senate bill moves to the floor after Thanksgiving recess for a full debate by lawmakers, giving them an opportunity to introduce amendments to the bill. A long process awaits and a final version of the two bills would have to be approved before the president can sign it into law.

Working with what they have

Currently, CSUF offers insurance coverage for purchase through Anthem Blue Cross. The student insurance offers low-cost group insurance coverage to uninsured students and their dependents on either an annual or semester basis.

Nathan Fletcher, 32 and his daughter have been insured through CSUF’s student insurance for two semesters now. Previously employed by a furniture store in Lake Forest, Fletcher was let go in February because of the recession and was concurrently attending college to fill pre-requisites for the credential program.

When he lost his job, he immediately signed up for health insurance through the university. It cost him $2,000 for health coverage. The fees include $1,100 to cover his daughter and another $1,000 for himself under the Domestic Student insurance plan.

Though he receives financial aid and works part-time as an Instructional Aide, Fletcher admitted that paying the fees at the beginning of every semester is stressful.

“I have no choice. If I have to be prepared [for next semester's payment], I will be,” he said. “It’s expensive to purchase, but the alternative is unfeasible.”

Despite the price, it is still cheaper than private insurance premiums and the school’s insurance gives him sufficient coverage for the price he’s paying, Fletcher said.

Fletcher is one of the lucky ones able to navigate the options available to him and could afford coverage. Also, since the insurance on campus is a group insurance, whoever enrolls will get covered regardless of past medical history.

But depending on the students’ age, status and dependents, premiums range from $500 to over $2,000. All the fees are payable on the day the student signs up for insurance.

Students who don’t have the money risk having no coverage and sometimes utilize the student clinic. Others see the fees and say no altogether, despite the ample coverage and low deductibles of student insurance. Some students just don’t know where to begin.

Most students who have no access to insurance would have to figure it out for themselves, said Joe Vargas, whose Populations in Multicultural Health class at CSUF studies the disparities in access to health care for different groups.

Many undergraduate students are covered through their parents and guardians’ health insurance but some, who are no longer eligible because of insurance requirements, are left with a difficult decision.

“Students today would have to learn how to maneuver the system,” Vargas said.

He noted that students with families, such as expecting mothers, face an even harder challenge.

“It must be challenging to balance pre-natal care, school, jobs and many other things,” he said.

The battle of costs and available resources forces many college students to gamble with their health. Many of them would have to rely on faith. Faith that their immune systems don’t fail and faith that nothing happens to them until they get a job with health benefits, or until the promise of a comprehensive health care reform becomes a reality.

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Francesca Gacho holds a B.A. in English from Cal State Fullerton. She is an intern at Minority Dreams Magazine, where she hopes to spread her journalistic wings, explore and hone her writing ability, and gain insight into the myriad of issues in today’s soundbite-focused world. Her writing interests include human interest pieces that delve into culture, arts, current events, and community service.

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This article was republished at New America Media on Nov. 26.

How U.S. foreign policy may have led to Ft. Hood incident

States don’t just exist - they actively exist. It is as difficult for a state to gain sovereignty and existence as it is to sustain them. And how states sustain both tells us a lot about their sense of national security. National security with regards to terrorism breaks down into two types: domestic and international. The former being terrorism perpetrated by American citizens on U.S. soil and the latter being foreign threats faced by the U.S. either on its own soil or abroad.

With all the focus on international terrorism since 2001, it may seem as though American sovereignty and existence are contingent upon the elimination of imminent, foreign threats. But according to FBI reports between 2002 and 2005, twenty-three of the twenty-four recorded terrorist incidents against the United States were domestic. Minus one white supremacist firebombing of a synagogue, the other twenty-three domestic attacks were carried out by extremist environmental and animal rights group.

The sole international terrorist incident involved an Egyptian national killing two at Los Angeles Airport.

Before the pro-war advocates tell you there was only one such international incident because of Bush’s decision to wage wars against Islamic fundamentalism, also know that between 1980 and 2000, 250 of the 335 suspected terrorist acts against the United States were domestic. It appears that the same animal-loving, tree-hugging, white-supremacist type individuals of today have been targeting the wellbeing of the United States longer than Osama himself. And as a result, American national security may be ruling out the probability that it faces a great danger from members of its own state than it does from pro-bin Laden fanatics hiding in the caves of north-western Pakistan.

With two abysmal wars waging onwards in Iraq and Afghanistan, many are asking the same sorts of questions. Namely, is America really that much safer than it was just before the 9/11 attacks? Is it as unsafe now as it was prior to 2001?

Since 2001, national security measures of the United States have focused on preventing imminent threats from abroad. These measures have narrowed their focus on Islamic groups and individuals – making the assumption that because 9/11 was perpetrated by Muslims, the biggest threat to US national security must continue to come from the Islamic world. Additional assumptions must also exclude the probability that increased terrorist activity from Islamic communities were reactionary to pre-emptive American action. After all, if such wasn’t excluded, one could argue that the United States was engaging in terrorism and facing the opposition out of defense.

There is no doubt that the Untied States has provoked a great deal of social and ethno-religious unrest throughout the Islamic world in recent years. Also given the unique and heterogeneous nature of the American citizenry, these measures have adversely affected many Muslim-American communities. Is it possible for such a state as the U.S. to pursue national security interests, aimed at guarding the wellbeing of the state and its people, such that their very nature ends up marginalizing American citizens it seeks to protect?

Aside from the Americans who raid fur factories and bomb industrial ones (in the name of foxes and Mother Earth) it should become apparent that improper national security measures will also lead to reactionary situations. This is where the international and domestic terrorist threats merge into one major concern. I find this to be the prominent issue surrounding the recent Ft. Hood massacre in Texas. Unlike Lierbman’s anxiousness to investigate where Hasan’s assessment went wrong, I wonder where the U.S. went wrong on a very different level.

By preemptively engaging in two massive wars against Islamic states and developing rather discriminatory legislation aimed at marginalizing individuals of Arab and Muslim descent (see: The Patriot Act), the U.S. created a situation in which its own unregulated paranoia is prompting development of imminent threats against it. In a sense, it is contributing to its own difficulty in maintaining its sovereignty and survival.

Had Hasan not been subject to the discrimination and marginalization that he was, would he have snapped? Had the US not pursued a unilateral mission against the Islamic world, would our troops be as keen on weeding out their fellow Muslim soldiers?

It appears that the majority of attacks have always been domestic, but now we’re importing reasons for our own citizens to pursue them even more.

Every quarter counts in the drive to help homeless veterans.

Grant Deering and his Human Services group, Troops United, want your quarters.

On a cool November day, six or seven multicolored coin canisters are neatly placed in a tight row across a table along the Titan Walk at Cal State Fullerton. Students pass by during the midday rush and avoid eye contact. Caralie Kennedy, a member of Troops United, politely asks passersby to donate what they can. A few students stop by the table, fiddle around their pockets or wallets, and drop a quarter or two. But many say “No” or “I don’t carry change.” To which Kennedy replies with a smile, “That’s okay. We’ll be here tomorrow and next week!”

No donation is too small for Troops United and their fund raising event, “Quartering Our Troops”—a nod to the Quartering Acts in North American colonies that required colonial assemblies to provide food and shelter to troops deployed within each colonies’ borders.

As a class project for a Human Services course, Deering and Kennedy, along with four other Human Services students, are raising funds to benefit the largely unnoticed homeless veteran population.

This awareness, however, did not come too swiftly to Deering and his group mates. Assigned to set up a service to aid the “Troops & Veteran” community, Deering and his group had a little trouble getting started. Luckily, he picked up a local newspaper and read a front page story about David Michael Whittaker, who was once a homeless veteran and his 80-foot American flag that flew high and proud in Newport Beach. Though bound to a wheelchair, Whittaker travels to different states to bring awareness of the homeless veterans’ struggles. Deering e-mailed the story to his group and they all quickly rallied behind the cause.

After searching for organizations that support homeless veterans, Troops United came across New Directions Inc., a non-profit and community-based organization that provides comprehensive services for veterans in need including vocational training, housing assistance and substance abuse rehabilitation, as well as transitional workshops to help veterans rejoin the community. New Directions also has 156 beds in its Regional Opportunity Center in Los Angeles, where veterans get housing assistance as they get back on their feet.

With current reports putting homeless veterans at 23 percent of the national homeless population, organizations like New Directions will likely see more veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan.

Although the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs aids an estimated 100,000 homeless veterans, roughly 160,000 veterans still do not receive ample assistance, if at all. Many are male adults, though females account for 4 percent, and come from poor communities. Shelters and transitional home organizations across the country have attempted to bridge this gap, but constant community support and outreach are needed to make such organizations effective and successful.

So far, “Quartering Our Troops” is getting a positive response from students on the CSUF campus and online.

Members of the group use social networking sites and modest advertising to raise awareness and so far, it’s working. The key to their positive following? Connectedness and shared experiences.

“I wouldn’t be surprised if they [the students] know someone in the military,” Deering said.

Numerous students have come up to their donation table with stories of who they know in the armed services. And this is why, with only three days of fundraising, the group has already raised approximately $500. If every student at Cal State Fullerton donated a quarter to help homeless veterans—and the campus currently has 35,000 students attending—Troops United would be able to raise over $8,000 in donations.

They hope to help fund transitional workshops, purchase computers and new software to help with job searches and training. Their efforts continue on campus this week, but the work does not stop there.

“We are going to direct our efforts toward military bases and see what kind of support we will get there,” Deering said.

Though their Human Services class ends in December and their fundraising ends early next month, Deering has hopes that this will not be the end of Troops United’s mission.

“I hope the next group of students coming in the class will pick this up and continue the fundraising,” he said.

It is a humble effort to involve the community, help give veterans access to services, and give back to our nation’s heroes—one quarter at a time.

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To contact Grant Deering of Troops United, e-mail him at futuredocgrant@hotmail.com
For more information on New Directions, Inc. and how you can help, visit www.newdirectionsinc.org

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Francesca Gacho holds a B.A. in English from Cal State Fullerton. She is an intern at Minority Dreams Magazine, where she hopes to spread her journalistic wings, explore and hone her writing ability, and gain insight into the myriad of issues in today’s soundbite-focused world. Her writing interests include human interest pieces that delve into culture, arts, current events, and community service.

Remembering Veterans’ Day

As flags fly half-mast around the nation, we celebrate Veterans’ Day, or what was initially called, Armistice Day—the day that marks the signing of the ceasefire agreement to end the First World War. Signed on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month, it has come to symbolize peace between warring nations and to commemorate the fallen. But what has been traditionally, and in spirit, a day of remembrance seems to have passed unnoticed for some people. Outside of a few moments of silence by Congress or the President’s remarks from the White House lawn, for many people, Veterans’ Day has served as a day-off, a break from work or school, getting paid time-and-a-half (if you’re lucky), or perhaps even an opportune time to take advantage of several Veterans’ Day sales. What has started as a day to celebrate peace has become synonymous with flag-laden advertisements for 40% off on widescreen TV’s.

But in light of the recent Fort Hood shooting in Texas, Veterans’ Day this year takes a different tone. Though already a day for commemorating and honoring the servicemen and women of the Armed Forces, it is a somber reminder of the sacrifices given to our country. And this year, Veterans’ Day takes on a mix of tragedy, painful acceptance and reverence for the great sacrifices given.

Twelve soldiers and one Army retiree died in a shooting rampage in the Soldier Readiness Center at Fort Hood military base in Texas, where soldiers are processed for deployment. Much of the shock surrounding the horrific incident is from hearing that “one of our own” is the alleged shooter, that this could happen in a military base—the towering symbol of safety, security, and order. Speculations about the gunman’s motives continue to be debated, but there is no explanation clear enough or comprehensive enough to assuage the loss of friends, families, and colleagues. And this loss has and continues to affect many more families of soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Though we have been embroiled in two wars for years, these wars seem to escape the daily minutiae of American lives. For many, life goes on as usual, punctuated by news marquees of casualty reports on television. What escapes most of us is that soldiers from combat return from deployment every day and rejoin mainstream society as students, co-workers, family, and community members, often with trepidation. Many come home from combat bearing the burdens of war and of life-changing experiences only so few can understand. These are the untold and unrecognized obstacles our veterans face. It is unfortunate that it had to take a tragedy to bring our attention once again to the realities of war time. Though the 13 casualties did not fall by the hands of a foreign enemy, such violence would not be foreign to a war zone. Just like the soldiers who died in combat, they leave families behind to piece together what has happened, to pick up and carry on with their lives, cherishing and honoring loved ones. We tend to think of war as a feat we fight and win, but not always as something we suffer. What the incident at Fort Hood has painfully given us is a chance to look at the tolls of war so close to home.

President Obama, in his speech at the Fort Hood memorial service, described November 11 as a “chance to pause and to pay tribute—for students to learn the struggles that preceded them …. for citizens to reflect upon the sacrifices that have been made in pursuit of a more perfect union.” November 11 passes as a somber day of remembrance for all the fallen, civilian and military, but today, we should also take time to remember the loss and sorrow we suffer from our ongoing wars and what has been given to fight them. Maybe this way we will carry with us those who have sacrificed much for the good of many, remember those who have returned to us, and truly see the meaning of this day beyond elegant speeches, moments of silence, and discounted widescreen TV’s.

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Francesca Gacho holds a B.A. in English from Cal State Fullerton. She is an intern at Minority Dreams Magazine, where she hopes to spread her journalistic wings, explore and hone her writing ability, and gain insight into the myriad of issues in today’s soundbite-focused world. Her writing interests include human interest pieces that delve into culture, arts, current events, and community service.

What Does Fort Hood Mean for American Muslims?

By all accounts, on November 5, Army psychiatrist Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan shot and killed 12 soldiers and 1 civilian at the Fort Hood Army base where he was stationed.

While investigators and reporters try to piece together the events and what prompted them, one fundamental aspect of the rampage is not in doubt: the alleged attacker was Muslim.

Writing shortly after the incident, the perceptive young American Muslim writer Wajahat Ali understandably cautioned against leaping to conclusions: “A cousin of Hasan, interviewed by reporters, has suggested an alternative motivation, not necessarily influenced by religious conviction. ‘He was mortified by the idea of having to deploy,’ said Nader Hasan. ‘He had people telling him on a daily basis the horrors they saw over there [in Iraq and Afghanistan],’” he wrote.

But in the face of additional evidence that emerged today, it is not reasonable or logical to pretend that some great wall separated Hasan’s own sense of Muslim identity from his motive. Witnesses report that he shouted “God is Great!” ahead of his rampage; family indicated that he was deeply upset over discrimination he said was visited upon him for being Muslim; and he openly expressed his hostility to the occupation of Iraq and Afghanistan by describing it as a “war against Islam.”

Of course, we do not yet know precisely what combination of factors led to the attack, and with more than 20,000 Muslims actively serving in the U.S. military, it would be absurd to mistake one man’s warped and skewed understanding of Islam and graft it onto every other Muslim.

But the scale and nature of this incident raises a number of uncomfortable questions about what usually goes unseen and remains unsaid outside of military circles.

A psychiatrist, Hasan heard the stories of soldiers returning from combat: did these accounts of killing, abuse and other horrors fuel his anger at American policy as the date of his own deployment to Afghanistan neared? What kind of harassment was Hasan subjected to on base for his Muslim identity? How widespread is enmity toward Muslims and Islam among the very soldiers who Gen. McChrystal is sending to fight alongside Muslims against Islamist extremists?

There are also other, equally pressing questions that directly affect young Muslims, such as me, who call this country our own. People will invariably ask why and whether Muslims are in the military–or perhaps even in the country at all–and what sort of measures will be taken to “monitor” this minority.

The Council of American Islamic Relations released a statement condemning the attack, labeling it “heinous” and contrary to Muslim principles. An assault upon one’s own unarmed and unsuspecting comrades is unquestionably cowardly and immoral, but I suspect that no number of official statements will stave off questions of Muslim “loyalty” to the state or disrupt the almost magnetic attraction between conservatives and anti-Islamic rhetoric.

The greatest and most pressing questions of all, however, are whether incidents like this one mark a growing trend of radicalization, isolation, or anger among Muslims in the U.S.–and if so, why. A few years ago, it was commonplace to observe that Islamist terrorists were foreign-trained and foreign-born, but the Fort Hood attack was at least the fourth this year involving American-raised or American-born Muslims.

The status and station of American Muslims — who by and large have enjoyed prosperity and contribute to the country as doctors, scientists, and translators–is a living rejoinder to fantastic rhetoric about a clash of civilizations or religions. But it is not a relationship that can be taken for granted or neglected by either side.

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This article originally appeared on WireTap.

Levesque-Alam writes about America and Islam at his website, Crossing the Crescent, and for WireTap, where he is also the immigration blogger.

Walking away from the world of money

One day you loose your job and your last hundred dollar bill breaks into two 20’s and a 10. Then your money crumbles into the last dimes that send you off the cliff.

Watching myself slip into poverty feels like following the lethal injection as it disappears into the skin. Poverty is its own society and system and if you don’t know the system as you leave the world of money, you’re so lost, you suffocate.

Everything is complicated and uphill now. If I get work today, how would I afford the gas to get there? How would I survive for two weeks or a month as I waited for my pay?

What amazes me is how much money, change, how many extra rooms, couches, cars and jobs people have. But so few help and even fewer do anything of substance.

Even when someone does help, there is an amount of guilt mixed with resentment within me. I need a job so that I can create free will for myself.

Even my relative who is letting me sleep here wants me to move already. It has been a month and she wants to get her second bedroom back and maybe turn it into an office for her pyramid scheme business.

So, do I look for a job or a place to live?

I have no place or rights at the restaurants or the movie theaters either. I have no reason to go into almost every populated place I find. Tomorrow, for just one day, imagine a world like that.

The world sees the beating heart of a poor man as an unfortunate continuation. If things get worse and my clothes get dirty, finding even a bathroom will become a moment of guilt that I will have to pursue.

You sometimes feel that you have slipped into a place somewhere between a dog and a man. And so you wait patiently for a world that is so bothered by your existence that it finally calls you to your bowl. But you will eat knowing it is only because you barked, whimpered and gave the world your guiltiest eyes.

I have heard people say that the homeless or the poor deserve these circumstances, are lazy or want them. But I am here because someone hired me and then did not pay. Then another job was starting but it did not. I would bet most of us are here because of something similar.

It is believed that 1 out of 10 people in this country, very soon, will be unemployed.

Of the nearly 10 percent unemployed now, many will slip forever away from their productive lives. Many will silently slip through the cracks of the richest country in the world.

The goal is to not be one of them.

Happy 1st Birthday Minority Dreams

As part of Minority Dreams’ first birthday celebration, we’ve rounded up some of our favorite articles written within the last year. Read, comment and enjoy!

Media focus on piracy seen as hypocritical
Soon after Somali pirates boarded an American ship with top security clearance and seized the captain, a disturbing pattern of incitement and a lack of objectivity kidnapped the American media.

By Abrahim Appel

http://minoritydreams.com/2009/04/12/media-focus-on-piracy-seen-as-hypocritical/

US immigration policy more complex than white and blue

Obama’s administration is working towards legalizing the status of currently-unauthorized immigrants in the United States. These immigrants are not white-collar workers; they are a majority blue-collar workers. This means the jobs they presently work are low-skill and low-paying.

By Maha Kamal:

http://minoritydreams.com/2009/04/18/us-immigration-policy-more-complex-than-white-and-blue/

Anamika Recovery Center Offers Hope to Community

The last thing Subodh Karmarkar remembers was feeling like he was falling off the edge of the earth. He woke up two days later in a hospital bed with an IV needle buried in his arm and his parents’ worried faces hovering above. His first thought was to bolt from the room.

By Jennifer Karmarkar:

http://minoritydreams.com/2009/01/30/anamika-recovery-center-offers-hope-to-community/

All Roads and Rails Lead to KL

Seven different hands, of different shades and different sizes gripped the grimy silver pole of the morning commuter, and Khalisah’s hand was lost in the middle. Bodies pressed against each other with every jostle of the train, and Nour struggled to pull her own hand out of the awkward position it was in – squashed between a pole and another woman’s stomach. (…) We looked at the clocks on our cell phones: only half an hour to go.

By Nour Merza:

http://minoritydreams.com/2009/07/08/all-roads-and-rails-lead-to-kl/

Election ‘08: The Undocumented Vote

Among concerned citizens whose voices will be heard Tuesday in one of the most anticipated Presidential Elections, there are an estimated 11.1 million unauthorized immigrants in the U.S. watching from the sidelines. Some are just as anxious.

By Urmi Rahman:

http://minoritydreams.com/2008/11/03/election-08-the-undocumented-vote/

BTV: Lack of Sharia Compliant Financial Aid Leaves Many Muslim Students Frustrated
Ask any grad student how they are paying for tuition, and most of them will tell you they have some type of student loan. While this is not a problem for most students, it’s one of the biggest struggles some Muslim students face in their lifetime.

By Maheen Siddiqi:

http://minoritydreams.com/2009/05/17/btv-lack-of-sharia-compliant-financial-aid-leaves-many-muslim-students-frustrated/

Being Asian in the gulf Middle East
When I was 8 years old I watched my mom get pushed into a kitchen at an Arab wedding and ordered to serve drinks to the guests. The mother of the bride didn’t realize that my mom was a guest. She was, in fact, personally invited by the bride (a former student of my mom’s), who wanted her favorite teacher to be there on her special day. The reason my mom’s sequined scarf and make-up went ignored is because my mom is Malaysian.

By Khalisah Stevens:

http://minoritydreams.com/2009/07/26/being-asian-in-the-gulf-middle-east/

Feeding the homeless, one lunch at a time.

Despite the current recession, the United States continues to be one of the most economically prosperous nations in the world. However, the U.S. has one of the highest poverty rates among industrialized countries according to HungerReport.org. For a country that has so much food that its citizens are plagued with an epidemic of obesity, we have an alarming number of Americans that die from hunger each day, many of them are children. All it takes is a drive down to L.A.’s skid row— the area that contains one of the largest stable populations of homeless persons in the United States—to see that hunger is very much a reality in our cities. Locally, in Orange County, one of the most affluent districts in the world, over 456,000 people are at-risk of going hungry sometime every month.

Although there are many coordinated efforts in place by local governments to help end hunger, it falls short of the needs of many people. It takes the help of everyday people to help these government and private shelters make ends meet. These shelters rely on food and monetary donations to provide food to the homeless population. It is with the help of ordinary people that some of the less fortunate have a chance of survival. These people are a ray of hope amongst the darkness of hunger and poverty.

One such person is Zahra Billoo, a recent law school graduate who has spearheaded her own initiative to tackle hunger. Her project is called Operation: Brown Paper Bag, which aims to organize and distribute brown paper bag meals to as many homeless people as they can. I had the pleasure of interviewing Zahra about her project, and she was kind enough to take out some time from saving the world to share with me the details of how her inspiring operation works. Below is a transcript of our conversation.

Q: How did this “operation” get started? What was your motivation? Where did the idea come from?
A: There were about 4 of us, all of us were friends from Cal State Long Beach who went to a homeless feeding event in Pasadena during thanksgiving, last November. There are always events for the homeless on holidays but never in between holidays. There’s clearly a need and there aren’t enough channels so we decided that we would come up with our own event and there’s enough time and money amongst volunteers to get it done. All of the big events have feeding, but not on a random Saturday’s or weekdays. So we pulled it together.

Q: Was this your first time doing this?
A: Our first time was in December of 2008, the third one was this June, and they are done quarterly. We get together at one persons house and then distribute them [the meals] at shelters. We’ve been to between 5 and 16 different shelters. We’ve made over 2,500 lunches distributed thus far.

Q: Where did this event take place? Why did you choose this location?
A: We did Google searches to see what shelters were nearby, and then we went to the recommended searches.

Q: How many people volunteered?
A: Alhumdolillah we’ve had over 25 – 30 each time we’ve done this.

Q: What types of meals did you serve?
A: Usually it is PB&Jelly sandwiches, a boxed juice drink, chips, cookies and fruit snacks.

Q: How much does this event end up costing?
A: Each lunch ranges from a one dollar to $1.50. A basic lunch is a dollar at most, if we add in produce it adds on about an extra 30 cents an item because fresh produce is expensive. Our total cost per event is approximately between $1100.00 and $1300.00 dollars.

Q: You were also in law school while you were coordinating these events, which is very time consuming, how did you come up with the time to put this all together?
A: Just working with great people, its been surprising how helpful people have been. Sending out a few emails and working through Facebook is how we raise the money, and then we just have good coordination, and then we do all our shopping at Costco, so its fairly doable. If there’s a will there’s a way.

Q: That is very inspiring. Is there anything else that you’d like to add?
A: I started doing this in San Francisco in September on my own. People in san Diego and in the Inland Empire have inquired about how to start their own. It’s not easy but it’s very doable. In San Francisco we gave out about 300 lunches a month. Even a few lunches helps the hungry. Even one lunch is one less hungry person.

A lot of people spend a lot of time thinking through details and complications and that slows us down. I would recommend someone just move forward, there is nothing to lose.
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If you would like to help Operation: Brown Paper Bag, or would like more information about them, you can contact them at their email address at brownbagbunch@gmail.com. Or you can follow them on Twitter at http://twitter.com/BrownBagBunch.

Living on a dime

Sometimes ‘living on a dime’ is just an expression we use. For some it refers to cutting back on expenses or maybe even dipping into a savings or credit account to make ends meet. But for some people, in some places, this expression literally is a style of living.

The world is divided into three parts: First World countries, Second World countries and Third World countries. Poverty rates differ drastically between each division due to many, often overlapping, political, social, strategic, cultural and economic situations. Many in the Third World deal with very high poverty rates, where people have to scratch through their daily lives and find ways to feed and bathe their children, to put them to sleep in a safe place and find clothes for them to wear. But “need is the mother of all inventions”, and many people use their ingenuity to do some or all of that daily.

Palestine is not much different from any other Third World country. It also suffers from poverty, and has witnessed a huge increase in poverty rates over the last eight years. The Gaza Strip is a small part of Palestine that extends along the coast of the Mediterranean Sea. It is densely populated and suffers from very high rates of poverty and unemployment.

The Gaza Strip has three main commercial ports that allow goods, materials, medical aid, building tools, food to enter. Unfortunately, they stay closed most of the time because of the political situation that we suffer from which leaves all Gazans living on a dime whether we chose it or not.

No electricity, no fuel, no food, no water, no medicine and no life is our daily life here in Gaza; but life cannot stop; it just has to go on and Gazans make sure that happens. Of course, these band-aids have their advantages and disadvantages. Take fuel for instance. Gazans came up with a fuel formula that the world was not aware of before by mixing cooking oil with gasoline. The fuel they came up with can make cars run perfectly.

Advantages: it is very cheap as people turn to falafel shops and restaurants to take huge tanks of used cooking oil for half a dollar each.

Disadvantages: it pollutes the air with huge amounts of smoke and damages the car’s engine if used over the long run.

The fuel formula has been used to develop other products too. Gazans invented cooking tools and ovens that work using the same formula.

Advantages: the oven is very powerful and takes no time to cook, plus the formula is very cheap.

Disadvantages: It produces very high heat and can be dangerous to start and operate.

Using the same formula you can also have a light bulb which is very useful due to the constant electricity outages and a heating system that comes handy in winter.

Advantages: cheap sources of light and heat.

Disadvantages: It produces polluted smoke and can be dangerous to operate and start.

Small (but effective) electric cooking tools:
Cooking tools that depend on electricity to produce a huge amount of heat in no time using iron as the main component in manufacturing them.

Advantages: cooks in no time, very small and doesn’t take any space and very cheap (very affordable).

Disadvantages: the electricity is out most of the time, which makes the electric tools useless, very dangerous and contains naked wires.

Living tents: it’s not an invention but they coped with living in tents like living in houses due to the demolish of their own homes.

Advantages: better than living in the street, a place to live and sleep in and without monthly rent payments.

Disadvantages: It doesn’t protect from the rain, can burn while cooking, very hot in the morning and cold in the night, strained dogs can bite through it and hurt the whole family, and doesn’t apply as a healthy living place.

Gazans live on scratch literally, they use wood and flammable materials to make fire, tents to live in, any edible things for food, public or nearby faucets for water or children’s bathing and dish washing, the beach to bathe their children and wash their clothes and dishes, sleep on the floor, and any kind of cloth to sew and stitch for their children to wear.

“Living on a dime” has a whole new sensation here in the Gaza strip that you have to come, see, feel and experience yourself.

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About the writer: Omar is a 22-year-old journalist living in Gaza – Palestine.

Nobel’s Will vs. Obama’s Will

The Cuban dissidents and Fidel Castro finally agree on something: Obama deserved to win the Nobel Peace Prize.

In a rather controversial decision last week, the Norwegian Nobel Committee handed U.S. President Barack Obama the world-renowned prize for what they saw as extraordinary efforts in diplomacy and nuclear disarmament.

The Committee wasn’t mistaken in what it saw. But the question remains – was what it saw worthy of such a prestigious acknowledgment?

Let’s take a moment first to understand what the Nobel prize is and what it stands for. For starters – who is Alfred Nobel? One of the more amusing conversations I had over this news included a comment from a man who argued that Obama deserved the prize because no one knew who the other candidates were. Aside from the fact that this shouldn’t be viewed as a popularity contest, I’m quite certain that no one actually knows who Alfred Nobel (the man after whom these awards take their name) is, either.

Nobel came from a Swedish family known for its technical genius and contributed a great deal to science and technology during the 19th century. To flavor his artistic side, Nobel was also a polyglot, a dramatist and a poet. According to the Nobel Foundation, “he was also very interested in social and peace-related issues, and held views that were considered radical during his time”.

This man was so busy during his lifetime that he had to take out a personals ad in the newspaper to try and find a wife. The closest match, Austrian Countess Bertha Kinsky, decided not to marry him but the two remained life-long friends. She was a critic of the arms race at the time and wrote a book (Lay Down Your Arms) about the issue. Nobel was so touched that he awarded her a sort of “peace prize” in his will, alongside other individuals and organizations he deemed worthy of his wealth.

So what does the award stand for? Alfred’s will itself, on the subject of peace, states the following about awarding the Nobel Peace Prize: “the most or the best work for fraternity among nations, for the abolition or reduction of standing armies and for the promotion of peace congresses.”

Countess Bertha Kinsky and President Barack Obama do share much of a common vision – an end to an arms race. But for one thing, the former was an author on the subject matter, not a head of state. She also had no idea that two world wars and the development of nuclear weapons would throw her reality on the matter into complete disarray. For her time period, her thinking was very new and very radical. And what about Obama?

For starters, he had no romantic interest in Alfred.

Secondly, he has yet to achieve an abolition or reduction of his standing armies. It’s a known fact, unlike the times during the 19th century, that the arms race is very real and very concerning. Taking over as Commander-in-Chief, increasing troops in Afghanistan and having barely started to show signs of reducing American military presence anywhere still stand in sharp contrast to Nobel’s vision of a peaceful world. He continues to allow funding of billions to the Israel Defense Forces, one of the world’s other strongest standing armies. As the United Nations continues to condemn Israel for grave and serious crimes against humanity during last year’s Gaza siege, Obama remains silent and flimsy. Illegal settlements continue to flourish. The Department of Homeland Security and John Ashcroft still roam free.

A Commander-in-Chief awarded for lack of elimination of the world’s largest military presence? Alfred must be rolling in his grave.

To be fair, Obama has worked towards undoing a lot of Bush’s eight-year mess in a very short period of time. Steps towards closing Guantanamo, granting Iraq greater autonomy, releasing classified information on prisons to the American Red Cross, opening up dialogue with a previously-shunned Syria – to name a few- are very admirable moves.

Many argue in Obama’s defense, citing that he has achieved a great deal as a black man in the United States. He is the first black president, after all. But the question is – what does this have to do with “fraternity among nations”, “abolition or reduction of standing armies” or “promotion of peace congress”? Desmond Tutu and Nelson Mandela, for example, took their work beyond their state borders and made racism an issue the entire international community could not ignore. Their work prompted an international camaraderie during the early 1990s that the world so badly missed during the Cold War.

Nelson Mandela’s already “been there” and “done that.” And rightfully stands as a Nobel Laureate for such achievements. Obama follows in his footsteps, and carries with him a very different set of goals. This isn’t a fight against the Ku Klux Klan for him – this is a fight for increased multi-lateralism and idealism with the rest of the world. And what stands in his way is a bloated, American military presence that’s time again violated the sovereignty of other nations.

In the span of ten very short months, Obama has pledged to decrease such presence and increase diplomacy. But what he pledges to do is a very different matter than what’s been actualized into visible progress. Everyone wants world peace and an end to world hunger, conflict and poverty. Should we all get a piece of Nobel’s funds for our thinking? The Committee can’t award the prize, first, and hope that the recipient will earn it, later.

The Committee also made its mistake not in considering him as a candidate, but considering him too soon. It would have come with better agreement had the world experienced the fruits of his labor and not the harmonious ring of his speeches.

But he can’t be blamed personally for any of this. He didn’t award himself. In fact, the prize may have raised the stakes to make his job even harder.

And for those other potential candidates, like Sima Samar and Hu Jia, well, it looks like they’ll just have to wait another year.

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This article also appears here.

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