I go to an office downtown. I have my very own cubicle, with my very own computer, phone, voicemail, and filing cabinet, which means I don't have to lug a binder full of paperwork back and forth every day. It is next to a window. On Monday I will bring some pictures/flowers/knick-knacks to give the space a personal touch. Every morning there is coffee and tea, and the kitchenette is quite clean. Not only is there a microwave and refrigerator, but a toaster and tea kettle. I have already moved in my coffee creamer, and will likely bring tea and snacks to keep at my desk. The faucet has a Brita filter, which people actually change as needed. People do their dishes with the clean sponge wand and ever-present dish soap. There are no bed bugs. The bathroom light turns on every time, and there is always soap. I don't have to take anyone's food order, or for that matter do anything for anyone but my five superiors (for the record, this is why I'm in social policy and not clinical work). I run in the morning, come home at night and do whatever I want, and spend the weekends snuggling with my kittens.
Though many people find it oppressive, I think I could get used to office life.
Saturday, June 11, 2011
Sunday, June 5, 2011
Please, please get this already.
I realize that most of the people who read this will probably already agree with me, and that posting it here will really not do much good, and that I have a history of ranting blogs, but I need to get it out.
"Immigrants need to learn English. They chose to come here and if they want to fit in and be successful, they need to learn our ways. I shouldn't have to learn Spanish for them, but if I moved to another country I'd be respectful enough to learn that language".
America does not have an official language. Got it? None. Not English, nothing. In that sense, language is like a free market: languages enter in and out of popularity along with the amount of people who use it. English seems to be the most dominating language, so we consider it the norm. But when a new player comes in, ie the Spanish-speaking population, the increasing presence and use of that language is not an unfair accommodation to foreigners which shoves aside American rights, it is simply the free market of language adapting to the abundance of a new population. They've made a new norm. Considering that this is a free country with no single ethnic or racial history, leaving the growing Hispanic population with every right to language domination (though I highly doubt that is their goal, but that's another argument), if you don't like it you had best find a country that actually has a right to claim language preference and see what it's like to get by there.
The end.
"Immigrants need to learn English. They chose to come here and if they want to fit in and be successful, they need to learn our ways. I shouldn't have to learn Spanish for them, but if I moved to another country I'd be respectful enough to learn that language".
America does not have an official language. Got it? None. Not English, nothing. In that sense, language is like a free market: languages enter in and out of popularity along with the amount of people who use it. English seems to be the most dominating language, so we consider it the norm. But when a new player comes in, ie the Spanish-speaking population, the increasing presence and use of that language is not an unfair accommodation to foreigners which shoves aside American rights, it is simply the free market of language adapting to the abundance of a new population. They've made a new norm. Considering that this is a free country with no single ethnic or racial history, leaving the growing Hispanic population with every right to language domination (though I highly doubt that is their goal, but that's another argument), if you don't like it you had best find a country that actually has a right to claim language preference and see what it's like to get by there.
The end.
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