Unhappy with tiny living space in NYC?

Sometimes people take things for granted and forget to see how lucky they are with things/people they already own/relate to. Having a big house or apartment may seem like a status symbol and a sure way to happy daily living. But I know of a lot of people with huge properties who are totally miserable. Take a look at these pictures by photographer Michael Wolf and you will complain less about the dingy apartments you have in NYC. (it is never big enough, you know). He took 100 pictures of 10x10 foot apartments in a housing complex in Hong Kong with the residents and all their belongings. The variety of faces and layouts are fascinating. It's also kinda fun to peer into these characters' living space and try to imagine their stories. Also see if you can score a few decorating ideas.....

My trip to San Francisco

This is the pic I snapped as we were approching SFO. The colorful fields below are so fascinating to look at from above. I'm not sure what they are, but prob they are some sort of chemicals released by algae? The airport in the background is probably San Jose Int'l. I love SF and I think SF'ciscans are so lucky. The city and (the guys) are beautiful and you can access outdoor activities within 1-2 hours easily. The politics and way of life are progressive. It is also somewhat cheaper than Manhattan in a lot of ways. However I still love the energy that NYC has though. 

Barbarian invasion of NYC

In case you haven't heard, there was a gay bashing incident in NYC East Village this past weekend. The victim happens to be Kevin Aviance, a drag artist/performer whom I once met in person and in fact was quite a nice individual. This incident really disturbs me. In a city where tolerance is supposed to be expected and crime stats are improving, this kind of thing still occurs. The attackers are a bunch of 16-20 year-olds. Regardless of the outcome of the trial, I would never feel safe again. Kevin suffered a broken jaw but was already released from the hospital. I wish him a speedy recovery....

Immigration-are you in or are you out? or "who got here first?"

One of the most perplexing issues any country has to face is the issue of immigration. As in anything else, there are always 2 polar opposite sides of the issues. A common ground or reasonable peaceful compromise, which should be attempted, is hardly ever successful. Other than 2 types of immigration: legal and illegal, there are also so many aspects and levels of this complicated problem (national or patriotic, cultural/ethnic, economic, environmental, criminal, among others). The boundaries we have for each country are physical but I think the "nationality" concept is somewhat arbitrary. (even the physical boundaries of land can sometimes be disputed and lead to endless fights and violence, eg. the Palestine). Are we supposed to claim our citizenship based on birthrights or how much we contribute to the country we live in? We hear of stories of people getting citizenship by marrying into it (real or not.) There are people who are born here, carry a US passport but spend most or all of their lives elsewhere and have practically no connection to this country, economically, politically, emotionally or otherwise.

The ongoing immigration issue in the US has really become a hot debate and intensely emotional thing for a lot of people. There are also many facts (and factoids or outright lies) about the problems that people simple choose to forget/believe or be ignorant about. I am no expert in legal or security matter, but I do feel that this problem can spiral out of control and make or break the way we live. Do I support or oppose immigration? I generally support it but honestly cannot answer the question as I think it is impossible to come up with a "right" answer. At the least the process should be legal. But then again to what degree and by what legal definitions? How can we ensure that limited national resources, taxation and labor conditions are manged fairly.  And more importantly how do we implement the restrictions or enforce the law?  Xenophobia, often based on ignorance, should be eradicated.

The benefits of allowing or restricting immigrants, quoted in the ongoing discussions, are often based on self-interest with not much regards of other issues. So what are we supposed to do as a conscientious member of our society? I came across this article which talks about this organization. The DASA seems to have a rather "conservative" tone to me but it presents many statistics and discussions I myself have never given much thought to before. (how truthful the presented figures are, I don't know.) Interestingly the leader of this group is a woman who is a naturalized US citizen and might probably now have a difficult time qualifying for the status had she had to go through the naturalization process she did years ago.  Is it ok for any group of native citizens to impose restrictions of incoming immigrant, merely on the basis of "I got here before you, therefore this land belongs to me!"?  In the USA, the often used vitriol, "go back to where you came from", is intrinsically invalid and rather stupid.  If we consider our available documented history, then almost everyone in the US should leave and only a few remaining Native American people were allowed to remain.

Maybe John Lennon had the right idea: "Imagine there's no countries...imagine all the people living life in peace."