The Palm Trees are Crooked Here

It seems in the first half of the book that this is not just Chuck's personal testimony- in fact, he makes it clear this is not a memoir titled "Ode to Collins"- it is about the bigger picture. He gave us a glimpse into his life not to pat himself on the back but to share how much these stories impacted him and how he was able to have a mutual relationship of growth with others. While helping those in need financially Chuck was granted knowledge that no ivy league institution could possibly provide. He speaks more politically in the last chapters about economic inequalities. Chuck Collins has a fluent unity in expressing the voices and experiences of people in a very understandable way. He not only shares the "why" but gives progress to the "well, how do we fix it". He tackles of issues with the segregation of classes in society without pointing the finger and blaming.  He challenges the idea of deservedness- in which some argue the statisti...

Upon picking this book up and having no prior knowledge on Chuck Collins, I assumed it was about baseball. Blonde moment- clearly it's not. The writer starts out by sharing he is technically part of the one percent of the wealth in America. This makes me instantly skeptical of everything that he says (having experienced unflattering interactions with those of privilege). Yet, for a rich white guy from Michigan, you could tell he had somewhat of a different mindset from most. He was given an inheritance and he just decided to give it away to charity. He was seen as idealistic from his parents, but along with giving away his money he was doing it for the experience. He wanted to understand what it felt like to live without a safety net. While working with a mobile home park after giving away the money, his house ironically burns down. He received an immediate response from the mobile home owners of food, love, and commitment (with a few shovels) and he felt like ...

As I wrap up my first semester at a university- thousands of miles away from the place that captured 21 years of my life- I reflect on the progress, and setbacks, that I have made. In the 2 years I anticipated this move, I set myself up to the best of my ability when time moved slower than I wanted it so I became discouraged. I slipped up on my perfect routine. I just caught myself in a web of depressed uncertainty. Looking back I should have cherished the quality time I had with my family instead of wishing I was somewhere else. At first, those two years felt like forever. But once California became my reality, time started moving very quickly- suddenly I had little to no time to spend with my loved ones. Suddenly I had to compute how to pack up my whole world and move it somewhere else. I embraced this change with excitement and a little worry as well (okay- more than a little...). For the longest time I received a lot of pushback from even the most supportive ones- Are you su...

Valuing diversity recognizes differences between people and acknowledges that these differences are a valued asset. Multicultural education is an important component of valuing diversity. It respects diversity while teaching all children and youth to become effective and participating members of a democracy. The education system in America needs to be reconstructed to teach more of an understanding of other cultures and their influence in the creation of this country. However, because of all the political pushback on education reform I believe we won’t see the steps needed to start a wave of change implemented until many years from now. Until then, we must learn from our history and teach future generations of the views and heritage outside of theirs, in this we can eliminate the gaps and build a more harmonious, equal society. We can help eliminate prejudice and learned bias from planting a seed in the youth. I propose a summer camp in which students can come together from al...