Life Lessons from Car Salesmen

October 7, 2013

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For the past 5 Months, I worked at a car dealership, not as a dealer, but doing research. A very enlightening time for me, socially and even, emotionally.  I never imagined myself ever working at one because I was never a car person and didn’t think I ever fit in “with the guys.” I guess […]

It Could Work With Him vs. He Blows: A Case Study in How Identification with a Character Affects Perception

May 20, 2013

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[Edited the title and clarity on 12/2/2020] I am struck by how it appears that people who identify with someone can look at an individual as “a work in progress” with “unlimited potential.”  What that someone is (or appears to be) at the moment is merely ‘temporary’ on their way to ‘something great.’ People you […]

Meeting and Working with Marin Yann on his Memoir, The Last One

March 22, 2013

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I edited all the contents and copy of this book.  A portion of my Saturdays 2012 and 2013 had been dedicated to the Starbucks in Signal Hill, Cyclo Noodles, Hometown Buffet, and the Dragon Club in Long Beach.  Mostly there by my side was the River Woman.  Always there was Marin Yann, author of the […]

Posted in: The Last One

Complexity: The Cure to Curbing Prejudices, Stereotypes, Biases

February 13, 2013

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[Edited title and content 12/3/2020] I was watching the Chris Dorner situation just like anyone in the LA area.  My main medium of communication during the day is not necessarily e-mail, Facebook, Twitter, or the telephone, but rather a sports message board community. So I took my thoughts there with the hope of seeing something […]

Posted in: How To, Race

Double-Taking on Religion, Tradition, and Being Filipino-American on Christmas

December 26, 2011

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[Edited for clarity 12/3/2020] The night before Christmas, Mikey had a bit to drink. A normally calculated, reserved, controlled individual, Mikey was raw, uncalculated, and uncontrolled.  He was adding the b word and the n word to everything he said.  He was play-punching 13-year old cousins.  He was making impressions. One of the impressions was […]

Being a Young Ethnic Male in Los Angeles Academic Conferences, Public Lectures, and Public Basketball Courts

May 28, 2010

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In my quest to determine my career path, I’ve observed around 60-70 lectures, conferences, symposiums in the past four years all across LA spanning a wide variety of topics. Topics of these lectures, conferences, and symposia have ranged from the possibility of opening a street car on Broadway in Los Angeles to 3-day conferences on […]

Posted in: Filipino-Americans, Race

This Is How We Learn

December 13, 2023

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Whether it is a different language, Algebra, a topic in science, processes at work, the keys to learning something are this: For example, in my work, I was trying to understand whether or not someone would be disqualified from eligibility for government benefits.  I asked my boss about that someone’s situation. This someone was used […]

Posted in: Uncategorized

How I Passed a Smog Test with My 2011 Honda CRV

December 9, 2023

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Not a car person. At all. I just barely discovered how to pop the hood in the CRV. Really. Kind of. I just didn’t know where it was in my CRV. In California, a smog test is required for select vehicles in order to pass vehicle registration. A month ago, I failed a smog test […]

Posted in: How To

Thoughts: Interpretive Communities, Spaces of Vulnerability, Archiving, Memory Studies

March 16, 2022

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Just thinking about interpretive communities, spaces of vulnerability, archiving and organization, and my old interest in memory. Not sure if they’re connected or not, but that’s what’s occupying my mind. “Interpretive communities” because of how people, particularly on social media, tend to voice their opinions on topics based on how they’ve read or heard it […]

UCLA Football 2020: Somehow Managing to Enrage Me even as a Fair Weather Fan

December 22, 2020

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I only really watched the UCLA-USC game this year as I have been the last few years when I learn that the team isn’t worth getting too emotionally invested in. I was impressed with Dorian Thompson-Robinson in a way that I had never been as he had thrown mostly completions. That was fun, until the […]

Posted in: UCLA

The Surgeon’s Cut: Reactions and Takeaways

December 20, 2020

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Reaction: Watched all of the first two episodes on Netflix about the stories of the surgeons Kypros Nicolaides, a pioneering fetal surgeon in England, and Dr. Alfredo Quinones-Hinojosa, a neurosurgeon in Jacksonville, Florida, parts of the third (Dr. Nancy Ascher, a surgeon specializing in liver surgery) and fourth (Dr. Devi Shetty, a heart surgeon). Was […]

Posted in: Inspiration, TV Shows

Returning to School at Southern California School District: Not Even Entertaining the Idea

December 1, 2020

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Source: My significant other is a teacher and I don’t want her being a guinea pig. One of my sons is a student and I don’t want him being a guinea pig. I am quite glad that she’s not teaching at Orange County, even though I myself, had actually worked in an office cubicle for […]

The Gradual Rise of Filipino/Filipino American Athletes

August 16, 2015

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One of the pastimes of my childhood in the 1990s America was figuring out who in pop culture was related to, talked about, or was Filipino. Being an early consumer of ESPN and Sportscenter, I would always be on the lookout for that Filipino and/or Asian athlete. Barely on the radar of movies or TV […]

Posted in: Filipino-Americans, Race