Their insight and honesty is refreshing.
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I'm still not going to eat there.

I wandered over to the financial district to hear a free piano/cello performance by some Julliard students and meandered by Zuccotti Park.  It's barricaded off with security stationed every 20 feet. They haven't had a chance to update this sign yet to include "NO OCCUPYING."

One of the things that I appreciate about Ann Arbor is that you can actually find affordable parking.  Given the square-footage of Ann Arbor, there's a surprising number public parking garages scattered in all the convenient places.

In an attempt to broaden our minds, one of Ann Arbor's parking garages has this sign next to the the elevator. This is classic Ann Arbor: well-intentioned ignorance. Every time I walk by, I picture some person designing the sign and proudly patting their own back for being so "ethnic" and "cultural."

I don't understand this sign.  Why can Mayan get away with not being qualified as "Ancient" but the Chinese numbers, all of which are still in modern usage, require "Ancient."

Clearly, this sign has been noticed by other people as well. As a helpful scribbler attempted to point out: Hindu is not actually a language.

Every year the University of Michigan awards the Wallenberg Medal in honor of Raoul Wallenberg. This year's recipient is Aung San Suu Kyi, the nobel peace prize laureate famous for her non-violent work for democracy in Burma.  Each medalist is invited to give a lecture and last night, for the first time, it was held via video chat as Suu Kyi feared that if she left Burma, she would be prevented from returning.

While her lecture catalyzed a whole cascade of thought, it was her re-endorsement of non-violent protest that really gripped me.  It's not that I've ever engaged in any sort of violent revolution or activism.  But my understanding of the purpose of non-violent movements has always stemmed from the idea that the revolution ought to live the ideal it espouses.  A revolution born in violence would be an empty one.  However, as the years have gone by, I do have to admit that there have been moments when I've wondered if taking arms is sometimes necessary.  Are our non-violent actions simply naive expenditures of energy?

However, Suu Kyi reframes non-violence in more than idealist terms. She agrees that non-violence is a longer path that is more difficult.  Ultimately, however, it's to everyone's benefit in the long run because the less wounds that are created, the less healing that has to be done and sooner one can return to harmony among dissenting opinions.  Her's is a pragmatic argument to avoid the vicious cycle of violence that so many conflicts get locked into.

Though I aspire to be the person who can be motivated solely by ideals, I continue to fall prey to moments of hatred, frustration, and helplessness. Because though I do believe that activists are always partly motivated by justice, at the end of the day it's our own well being that ultimately controls behavior.  There is no better example of this than the Occupy Wall Street movement.  But now, in those moments of weakness, that Suu Kyi's argument for non-violence still resonates and that excites me.

Today I told my attending not to expect me at work tomorrow. The GOP presidential hopeful debates are tonight and they are expected to discuss immigration.  In anticipation, NPR had people who vote conservatively call in and state their own opinions.  The things that they said... I'm going to kill myself. So, sorry, I can't come to work tomorrow, because I will be dead.

However, some things that I just have to say:

1) Regarding Taxes: "Illegal immigrants" almost always PAY taxes. Many folks have some sort of "fake" paperwork in order to get jobs so they pay taxes when it comes out of their paychecks. Many still file income tax. They still pay rent, part of which, goes towards property taxes.  And they certainly buy things which means, unless they live in Deleware, they pay sales tax. So, please... no more of this "I'm a tax paying citizen and illegal immigrants are just getting a free ride off of me."

2) Regarding Cheap Labor: Because immigrants all of kinds (not just illegal) provide the US economy with a cheap work force, many businesses, especially small businesses and chambers of commerce are aligned with their historical opponents, labor organizations, on the immigration issue.  There are even reports from Alabama and Arizona of employers being unable to find enough workers because the new immigration laws have frightened potential workers and nobody else is interested in those jobs.

a) These days all I hear about is how bad the economy is and how difficult it is to find a job. It's true and I agree that poor regulation of financial corporations has played a huge role in this. However, white people of America -- STOP BEING SO LAZY. When you need a job, you get whatever you can -- even if it's picking fruit, cleaning bathrooms, or cleaning up after other white (or *gasp* non-white), rich people.

That being said...

b) Business people of America, the reason why other Americans do not want to do those crappy jobs is because you don't even pay a living wage. It's only folks who have the threat of immigration laws and/or systemic racism hanging over their heads that put up with it because they are afraid to advocate for themselves.  Folks who have white privilege and secure status in the US won't put up with that shit. So the answer is not to continue to pray on vulnerable populations, but just pay a goddamn wage that's fair. Then you'll find workers. And if services and products cost more because the workers make more? The rest of us will suck it up and pay, because that's how much it should have cost in the first place. (I don't know why chocolate and coffee are the only two industries where "fair trade" seems to be important to consumers. It should all be fair trade.)

ok, exit soapbox.

In Michigan the health epidemic seems to be overweight, middle-aged folks with hypertension, high cholesterol, and diabetes.  In the Asian Health center that I'm currently rotating in, I actually see very few obese patients. However, there has been a rash of little, old Chinese ladies with a one inch strip of numbness on the insides of their ankles.

I've been attempting to come up with a more clever and inclusive name for my LGBT medical student group. In the process I have learned an important part of LGBT group naming history:

Em: the name at einstein is GAAE. It's pronounced "gaaaaaaaay" and stands for gays and allies at einstein.
Jess: hmmm
Em: though apparently the one before it was worse
Jess: how could it possibly be worse?
Em: it was called eaglebut.
Em: like EGBLT - einstein GBLT

Today's emotional roller coaster:

Bittersweet Victory -- Today I purchased 400 tampons because they were $1.50 off. That shit is expensive and it's not like you're not going to use it up.  I cannot think of a similar expense that men have.

Shock and Dismay!! Upon texting my girlfriend about this $50 investment in our future, I was dismayed to discover that "tampon" is not in the T9 dictionary!  Apparently it is in the same class of other naughty words such as "fuck."

Relief... Quickly I investigated and at least "viagra" is also not in T9.

Inquiring Minds Want to Know: Further investigation has revealed that T9 does have: "menstrual," "erection," and "condom."  Additionally, no one will be shocked that I have also confirmed that "policeman" is in T9 but "policewoman" is not.

Despite Ann Arbor's status as the midwest's oasis of diversity and LGBT acceptance, it was still quite an adjustment from the San Francisco Bay Area.  When I first moved here, I was first astounded and then traumatized at how white the town seemed to be.  After a few months I was finally able to recover and acclimate to my new surroundings. Then it started snowing - a lot.  And one morning, as I was scraping the ice off my windshield with a credit card (it had failed to occur to me to purchase a scraper until it was obviously too late), my only thought was, "THIS PLACE IS LIKE ONE GODDAMN WHITE ONSLAUGHT AFTER ANOTHER."

My grandparents moved back to Taiwan a couple of years ago. Realizing that my grandfather was almost 100 years old, I was anxious that I might never see them again. Fortunately, I was able to arrange a trip recently and they even got to meet my girlfriend (white girl from Texas).  After having been several years since I had seen my grandmother, this is how she greeted me:

"Oh, good! You haven't gotten fat!.....Wow, your friend is tall!"