NAACP at Bergen Community College

Posted on January 10, 2012 by admin

I am a Bergen Community College student who is re-starting the NAACP Chapter at my college. It has been inactive for about 15 years and I need 25 due paying members to get it re-started. As I’ve been speaking with students about joining I am finding out that a lot of young people don’t know about the NAACP at all. The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People is a 102 year old social justice membership group. The NAACP’s mission is to ensure the, “political, educational, social, and economic equality of rights of all persons and to eliminate race-based discrimination.” There are many students of color at Bergen, and I know that many of us struggle with financial and other issues. We should have the backing of this organization to ease our path through life.

The cost is low and the benefits are great!

If you are a BCC student and want to join or get involved email me at ivan@weiboyz.com so we can make arrangements to meet and get you signed up. Or you may visit the Social Justice at BCC page.The annual membership is $10-30, but if that’s a hardship let me know – I may be able to help. When you join bring ideas the group can work on – the more ideas the more productive we can be.

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To Sell or Not To Sell is the Question

Posted on September 21, 2011 by admin

What you are about to read and hopefully get kick out of is an email posting my mother wrote that was suppose to get rid of my old futon bed frame…

As you will see 1 way worked much better then the other! Unfortunately, the contraption is STILL in our living room taking up a ton of space – hopefully I won’t have to see it much longer.

As for now I will leave you to read the emails from my mother – they are quite funny; I couldn’t stop laughing. Hopefully you think the same and if not I will try to make you laugh over time once you get to know me and learn about my sense of humor.

“Anyone feel like laughing at me today? Take a look at these two Freecycle ads. The bottom one I wrote two weeks ago and it netted no responses. It’s completely insane, which is probably why. The top ad, which I wrote tonight, someone responded to a few minutes after it posted. It seems to be all in the packaging, people . .

Anonymous

This got me a request for our “chair” on Freecycle within 15 minutes.

Subject: O Fair Lawn: futon chair – frame only

Hi People,

I have here a nice looking wooden chair frame. A single-sized futon cushion gets draped over it, but you’ll need to supply that. It’s oak veneer, pretty looking.

Please include phone number with response.

Best,
Anonymous
~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This got us no responses at all. It reads almost like a parody of an ad, like someone was trying to figure out how to make the give-away item as unappealing as possible to make sure no one would ask for it. I wrote both of these ads, more’s the pity.

Subject: O Fair Lawn Wood futon frame

(Please read carefully before requesting this item)

We have a wooden futon frame which is single size and converts from a chair to a bed. As a chair, it’s got all of its wooden pieces, but as a bed it needs a bit of work: one of the legs that holds up the extension that makes the foot of the frame is missing (we’ve been using a milk crate in place of the leg); the other leg is cracked in one spot and is in need of a good glueing.

Why the frame works better as a chair, is that the extension that
creates the foot of the bed, retracts into the “seat” when the frame is folded into chair shape.

The frame is a medium brown color and is disassembled for your
transportation convenience, but it looks like you’ll still need at
least a small SUV – or a hatchback – to fit this into a vehicle.

There is no futon (the “cushion”, or mattress) with this frame. You just get the frame.

If you’re interested please send your phone number and approximate
pick-up date/time.

Thank you!
Anonymous”

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My 1st Plant

Posted on August 20, 2011 by admin

Use to have only 9 leaves now it's a small bush. I LOVE this plant! It bloomed all summer - with GORGEOUS read flowers. It's 4 years old and I hope it stays around for a long time! It got me interested in Farming/Agriculture.

I took Horticulture at Fair Lawn High in my senior year back in 2009. I was basically forced into the class – I was completely against taking the course. It was only in it’s second year in progress and I wasn’t sure if it was the class for me. I didn’t have much say in the matter because my mother and guidance councilor put me in the class and by the time I found out I was in the class it was to late to take name off the roster. I’m glad I didn’t get my way in the end because if I did I may not have realized or found my love for plants and gardening. Taking the horticulture class with Ms. Meneghin showed me my love and passion for plants and nature and seeing things grow.

I new before I took that class that I wanted to work out of doors in nature but I didn’t think about being a farmer. It was in the back of my mind to be one but I didn’t think I could do it because I have never grown things, been on a farm or even touched a garden. When it came to plants I was pretty much a city boy – a New Yorker one to be exact. I was involved with 4H at that point and I met many cool people at the national events that I went too. The more events I went too the more interesting people I met; some of them were farmers and the more I heard about their fun family farm stories the more I dreamed about being a farmer. This dream has became reality since I took that horticulture class. It all started with me being given one plant to take care of, which was a red flowering geranium. The geranium is still alive to this date and looks great!

That plant started it all for me. I am now studying at Bergen Community College to be a farmer and will soon be on my way to Rutgers to finish my learning. I seem to have a green thumb for keeping plants alive and productive and having them do what they are meant to do. I still really don’t know what I am doing – there is a lot to learn for someone who has no real life experience on a farm. But I am getting practice with my new garden plot and I am getting a lot of production out of it and hope to continue having success.

I have even had success keep plants alive in my own house which is hard because we don’t have much space for keeping plants. My favorite plant – to date – is my geranium. It just keeps growing and flowering. I love it and every time it grows I fall more in love with it and plants in general. The only bad thing is that my geranium keeps needed to be transplanted . . . soon it will need to be put in a large planter outside of my house because if the pots get much larger I can’t keep it in my house. That’s how great it’s doing :-) . I hope when I own my farm I will continue to have great success with my plants and feed many people in the world.

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My Weekend Adventures

Posted on August 16, 2011 by admin

The start of my 2009 November was very interesting. Halloween isn’t in November but it did start my awesome 2009 November weekend. I hung out with my buddies, got loads of candy, performed at an Obama/Corzine Rally in Newark, NJ and then walked around Newark for a bit and ordered my first Dinner for my brother and I.

Yes, I have ordered food for myself before but not for another person and not at a Brazilian Restaurant where I didn’t understand the menu 100 percent. I understood some of it because I’ve been to Brazilian Restaurants before and Portuguese is a bit like Spanish and my Spanish isn’t that horrible – thankfully, but it does need a lot of practice. My mother knew about the restaurant, Nova Cosa, because she has eaten there before.

After looking at the menu for awhile I didn’t see what I was gonna order, my mom mentioned Chicken and Fries that was suppose to cost $10-12, but my brother and I didn’t see anything that was that price or Chicken and Fries. So I asked the waitress, “How much does a plate of Chicken and Rice cost?”

She said, “A small plate is $8 and it comes with chicken, fries and rice. Or you can get your own chicken, rice and other food then weight it.” For those who don’t know, that means get what you want and then pay by the pound.

My brother and I looked at each other and decided that we’ll get the $8 plate. It sounded really good and we were hungry. We were at the Obama/Corzine Rally since 10 am and it was now around 5 in the evening. I told her we’d get the plate. She asked, “You want two small plates? That come with 4 chicken legs, fries and rice and beans.”

“We’ll try one small plate for now” I responded. When the food came I said to my brother, “This is a small plate?! That’s a lot of food.” It was 4 very nice chicken legs and a nice portion of fries and rice and beans. Before we ate I ordered us a can of Coke.

We demolished the food and were satisfied. The entire meal and the can of Coke cost us only $10. Two adults ate for $5! And we got to see President Obama and walk around Newark – which we love, so does my mother. In all that was a great weekend. Free candy, hanging out with friends, meeting new people, hearing and SEEING President Obama speak and then ALMOST shaking his hand. Even though I didn’t shake his hand I had a nice weekend. Shaking his hand would’ve only ADDED to the AWESOMENESS of the weekend.

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Performing at Obama/Corzine Rally

Posted on August 15, 2011 by admin

My brother and I are part of a Chinese Lion Dance Troupe and we perform all over the Metro-Tri State area and at different venues and events. Some of the performances we’ve done have been really exciting and interesting, but NONE of them compared to what we did on November 1, 2009. We got to perform at the Obama/Corzine Rally that was in Newark at the Prudencial Center, that’s right where the Devils play (if you follow hockey or are a Devils fan).

It was great to perform at an event that Obama himself was at. Our troupe as well as other performers where at the rally. I wanted to watch some of them but couldn’t because all the performers where backstage and couldn’t watch. In the end it was all worth it because after everyone performed we, the performers, got to go back on the stage and hear all the speeches and see the speakers up close.

We were about 15 feet away from the podium – that’s right 15 feet! Some people where closer because they were right up against the barriers, but I thought 15 feet was fine. I got to hear the mayor of Newark speak, Mayor Cory Booker, Corzine and last but not least President Obama! All the speakers where good and I love hearing Mayor Cory Booker speak, he’s great. I’ve been fortunate enough to hear him speak a few times. As for President Obama I just love the guy and I LOVE hearing him speak. Seeing him – was TOTALLY AWESOME! I’ve alway wanted to see him in person ever since he ran for President. I was fortunate enough to get this opportunity as well as perform for him. He’s a brilliant and elegant speaker and a pleasure to hear – even better in person. And I was so close, it was a GREAT experience.

After he finished his speech I tried to get him to sign a poster for me but the Secret Service said to all who were trying to see Obama and get something signed, “If you give him a pen he won’t sign it. If he wants to sign something he’ll take out his own pen.”

When I heard this I was like, “DARN IT! OK! Then I’ll try to shake his hand.” He came by and I was SO close to shaking his hand, but other people beat me to it. It didn’t help that I was being squished by like 50 people. Hey at least I can say, “I got to perform at an Obama/Corzine Rally then be 15 feet away from him and almost shake his hand.”

Not many people get to see presidents speak, especially while they’re in office. My brother and I are fortunate enough to have been able to see Obama speak and be THAT close – 15 feet away – it was AWESOME! I’m so glad I went, even though we had to wait forever outside before we were allowed into the Prudential Center and go backstage. It was all worth the wait though. One more thing I liked to see was all the safety pre-cautions they were taking for Obama’s safety. It was great to see that – it made me feel that he was safe. Which is good because he is the man we need for change. I think he’s doing a great job under the circumstances.

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Halloween

Posted on August 15, 2011 by admin

A friend of mine and I decided to go Trick-or-Treating, or TOT as we’ve been calling it. Except people don’t know how cool TOTing is and they make fun of us for saying it. We are trying to make that word known around the world! Then everyone will all TOTing instead of Trick-or-Treating, which is getting old and boring.

Last Halloween it was just going to be the two of us because I didn’t feel like getting a group of kids together to go TOTing instead of the usual – which we usually do every year prior. But my buddy then invited a mutual friend and my brother decided to tag along with us instead of going with his friends. Then two of my neighbors, who are sisters came to my door and asked if I wanted to got TOTing with them, I said I was going with my people. One of the sister and her friends didn’t want to go with her sisters big group – they wanted to go separately. I invited the sister and her small group of friends; which turned out to be 4 people!

So our group of 2 became 8 without me doing anything. As the night went on we met up with more people. It was a ton of fun to have a big group of people going TOTing, except it’s very hard to get candy from people when there are about 10 kids.

But we managed it and we all got loads of candy! It helps a lot when people leave bowls out. Being teenagers We help ourselves into taking more then 1, you all know that feeling; the bowl is just there, it is late – no one is going come out to go TOTing anymore. Your saying, “It’d be a shame if nobody took the candy that they bought. I’ll help them out!” Before you know it the bowl is empty. I go through that thinking a lot and that ALWAYS happens.

I say, “The candy made me do it!”

The bright side to taking all that candy is that I don’t like candy as much and I just go TOTing to chill with my friends, not so much for the candy anymore. Because candy is very bad for you but hanging out with friends is fun and We are keeping the spirit of TOTing alive, since it seems less and less kids go out on Halloween. Maybe We’ll fix that trend and get more people out this Halloween. Just remember to always be safe!

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One Bag At a Time

Posted on August 15, 2011 by admin

People are always saying that there is too much garbage and trash on the roads, in the park, sidewalks, etc. Some act on this and get friends together to do a town, or area, cleanup in and if they can’t get a few people together, really dedicated people do the cleanup alone. I am in that boat – well, bike – at the moment. The reason I can’t say in the same boat is because I’m a biker.

Recently, I started biking around with a garbage bag because I am tired of seeing all this trash in the world. It’s pretty clear that people aren’t doing much about it, so as a concerned, sustainable, citizen, I have started a new initiative – to collect as much trash as I can every day – and I hope that it will be followed by many others.

The change from trasher to picker-upper may take awhile. After all, it has taken me two years just to get more people to follow my example and bike to college. When I started at Bergen Community there were only a handful of bikers, now there are 12-14. I hope that the trash collection idea doesn’t take as long to catch on. People don’t seem to know that street and path litter ends up flowing directly into natural bodies of water and polluting a resource we all need. If every person in the world picked up one trash bag of garbage every week, a ton of garbage would be taken out of the streets and put where it belongs – in landfills or recycling centers.

I’ve been picking up trash for about two weeks now and have filled up 5 bags with garbage. They are only shopping bags, but it is that much more garbage off our streets. I can’t pick up every piece of garbage I see, but when I am biking slow, am waiting for a light or a break in the traffic, and when I’m not in a rush, it’s easy and painless to make this little contribution to my world’s well being. For example, if I am at a light waiting for it to change and I spot litter on the road or sidewalk, I just go over and pick it up. On my way to the library this morning, I picked up garbage that had collected on top of a storm drain in the street, and then half a block later I saw a ton on someone’s yard and picked that up too.

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I Bike to College in New Jersey

Posted on October 23, 2009 by admin

Blog Action Day ’09 to help combat global warming was a few days ago. I couldn’t join in on 10/15 but here’s my answer to the challenge question – what I do to protect the environment.

I recycle, reuse and my family freecycles and exchanges household goods and clothing with other families. I’ve also walked or biked to school since 4th grade – now I’m a freshman at Bergen Community College and still a proud biker.

There’s a bike path I take most of the way to school but I still have to travel 1/4 mile on a nasty road with no shoulder or bike path (Paramus Road). Luckily the county bike path lets me avoid Century Road, which is possibly the worst death trap for bikers and walkers in this area. At night the bike path is closed so I have to get a ride home. I guess the parks people think nobody needs to walk or bike after dark.

It’s funny how I take 15 minutes to bike to school while people who live in my town drive and it takes them about 40 minutes in the morning because the traffic’s so backed up. When they complain I say, “Hey, you should bike. You’ll get here faster, it’s better for the environment and you get exercise,” and they give me a funny little grin. They’d like to tell me I’m stupid but on the other hand, it’s hard to make fun of me when I’m right.

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Bring Back Pockets Back in Style

Posted on October 15, 2009 by admin

I’ve been told by many people that I do some strange or weird things, which is ridiculous because I don’t do THAT many weird things. Any who, one of these people happen to be my mother. The latest “weird thing” she believes I’ve started to do is put my hands in my rear pockets. I started doing this about three weeks ago.

Every time I do it Mom says, “You’re weird.” Or, “Jorge you’re SO retarded.” She likes to change it up. You know, saying the same thing all the time can get boring.

So, today I said, “I’m bringing back pockets back in style!” I put my hands in my back pockets and asked Mom why she thought they (back pockets) were invented.

She said, “So people could put things in them.”

“That’s ridiculous!” I responded. Then people would sit on the stuff in their pockets.” She had to agree with me. Who wouldn’t – this is common sense. Anyway, putting your hands in your rear pockets is fun. And for another thing, it’s a conversion starter. ”How?” you ask. What a GREAT question.

It works like this: you put both your hands in your rear pockets and make waving motions, like you were saying hi to someone except at butt level, and behind you, using very small circles  (you can’t move your hands too much when they’re in your pockets). People around you will be like, “Oh wow! That guy (or girl) farted!”

This is your cue to turn around and say, “No I didn’t!”

When people want to know, “So why you were waving your hands?” you tell them, “I just read this guy’s blog post and decided it’d be cool to help bring back pockets in style for something useful, just like he’s been trying to do for the past three weeks.” (See how this also turns into a way you can help me promote my blog?) The conversation has been started. To keep it going you keep talking to these people. If you want to talk to them, that is – you don’t have to. Just don’t say I didn’t say you can talk to them.

People don’t seem to know any more what back pockets were really made for, so please help me spread the word. Thank you for reading along, and I hope that you use your back pockets in good health. Always.

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