Who you are MATTERS

THE HIGHER PAY for TEACHERS PROJECT is a nonpartisan organization dedicated to raising awareness around the effect of our national policy of underpaying and under-valuing educators. We are committed to working with everyone in the country to ensure teaching becomes the prestigious, desirable, financially viable, and professionally exciting job we all know it needs to be. At our organization we are aiming to raise teachers’ pay. When teachers are not paid professionally, students suffer the consequences; the recommendation of The Higher Pay for Teachers Project is that stakeholders in each state press their leaders to explore options for raising teacher pay. We hope to meaningfully address the teacher pay gaps that too often keep talented teachers from working in our neediest schools and hard to staff subjects. While teachers are not primarily motivated by pay, we believe raising their salary is nonetheless critical to fostering an environment in which education is valu...

I went to the Coagula Curatorial art Gallery for the Real Abstraction Art show they had on display in the month of March.  Coagula Curatorial is a contemporary art gallery founded in April 2012 by Mat Gleason, Los Angeles art critic & curator. Coagula  is located in the historic Chung King Road of contemporary art galleries in Downtown L.A.'s Chinatown. I loved the location of this gallery. There were so many other little galleries and events going on that caught my attention. The place was LIVE and energetic. As an art major student, I go to a lot of galleries and events. This was one of my favorite shows not because of the art but because of the whole vibe and energy that was there that night. 

In this random blog post I will talk about my recent medical condition I had that made me end up in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU). About a week before spring break, I started coughing. I thought it was just a regular cough that would go away. But It was not. It was a very bad dry cough with zero mucus coming out. Gradually I started feeling shortness of breath and could not sleep at night. On March 16 I went to the student health center to see what is going on. Upon arrival at the health center, they took my vitals and my Oxygen saturation value was at 88%. Healthy individuals exhibit oxygen saturation values between 96% and 99%. They did a chest x-ray and gave me a Nebulizer breathing treatment which brought my oxygen saturation level up to 94%. I was sent me home with an antibiotic z-pack, steroids to open up my lungs and an inhaler. My physician at the health center asked me to go back for a follow up appointment on Monday March 18. I went home and the next two days my condition ...

In part I of Born On Third Base, Chuck Collins introduces himself as the great-grandson of the Chicago meatpacker Oscar Mayor. He says that he won the lottery at birth. He grew up in a wealthy and advantaged family with all the benefits that proffers: country club tennis lessons, internationals travel, elite private schools, access to quality healthy care and healthy environments, a debt-free college education, a trust fund. He claims he was clueless as to how advantaged he was. At the age of 26 he gave away his half a million trust fund because he believed that the inherited wealth interfered with him finding his own way. The decision to give away his trust fund enabled him to live his life more aligned to his values. He says that he does not regret this decision. In part one, Collins shares his own experience as an activist and campaigner on wealth inequality and climate change issues, and as someone born into privileged circumstances. Over time, he realizes the limits of fomenting...

I would like to make this world a better place by raising the pay for school teachers. American public school teachers make a median annual salary of just over $55,000. I think the teachers in America are under paid based on the true value what they do. If we want to attract and retain top talent in the teaching profession so that we can eventually build a better education system for all people, we need to raise the salary for teachers. I think that the teachers work really hard. They have extended working hours. Most full-time teachers don't end their jobs at the same time as the classes end. They stay longer and provide extra time to those needing help. After which they have to bring home tasks, check test papers and many more. While most of us enjoy our weekends, they can be doing extra jobs to compensate for the low salary from their teaching job and hence affect their quality of teaching. A public school teacher is an all around worker. They pay for educational stuff with pers...