Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez

[Toni]

Oh I don’t agree! I think that the socialist democrats are trying to pull the rest of the democrats further left. Or left. Those terrible leftist democrats are somewhat to the right of the Republican Party of the70’s—except for on social issues—for the most part.

Whether they notice or care that they are actually screwing over the Democratic Party because they lack the guts toform their own party is a different question.

Form their own party? That would only be practical in a proportional-representation system. With first-past-the-post and single-member districts, the most practical route is to work within one of the existing parties. Brand New Congress tried all three options in 2018: 28 Democrats, 1 Republican, and 1 Independent. For 2020, BNC has 33 Democrats and only Democrats.

In proportional representation, each party gets to send members to a legislature in proportion to how many votes it got. This allows for more than two parties, and many legislatures with PR have more than two parties in them. In fact, if the US had proportional representation, I suspect that both major parties would split in several parties.

I don’t have a lot of respect for Bernie. I see promise in AOC and I like and admire her ability to get her message out there and to get people to pay attention. I think she’ll do much better than Bernie.

Bernie Sanders has the right idea on a lot of issues, but he does not seem to have been very effective in Congress. AOC seems to have done better.

Eh, there's the Green Party which is pretty moribund on many fronts. Given the Greenies I know IRL, it simply can't require that much energy or organizational skills to form a party. Sorry: Lots of snark. I've done my share of voting 3rd party though. I'd respect Sanders a lot more if he either worked within the Democratic Party to pull them left or formed his own party, rather than dipping a toe in when it serves him. I think that's a huge character flaw with Bernie: everything is only valuable as it serves him.

Sanders is hardly alone in having the right idea on a lot or most issues--and I think you are right: he hasn't been very effective in Congress. He's much more effective as a gadfly and (unintentional) disrupter. AOC has a lot more promise. She does have youth and enthusiasm on her side but also charm and I think not only the ability but also the desire to work with others and to learn from others as well as teach. Bernie just wants to pontificate. Blech. And I'm on board with much of what he says. What good is the best machine in the world if your racecar driver has two left feet and can't take a curve?

 

[lpetrich]

(Me on doing readability tests on archives of tweets...)

But they're each short, I doubt a reading level analysis will give good data.

Individually, yes, but I was thinking collectively. Mash them into one long text, then analyze them.

Three NHI Alumni to run for Congress in 2018 - NHI Magazine - 2017 Jun 26

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who participated in the 2005 National LDZ and the 2006 New York CWS, is running in New York’s 14th District, which includes the Bronx and Queens. As a writer and educator, she has remained involved with NHI as an educational director at CWS programs, a contributor to past NHI Magazine print editions, and as a consultant to NHI founder and President Ernesto Nieto.

Students from four nations converge on Cabrini for Northeast CWS - NHI Magazine - 2017 Jul 29 - what AOC took time out from her Congressional campaign to participate in. The article shows a picture of her with some of her possible students there.

The 2017 edition of the Northeast CWS (Collegiate World Series), at Cabrini University, brought nearly 150 students from across the U.S., as well as Mexico, the Dominican Republic, Panama, and Puerto Rico. Twice as many young women as young men participated in the event, which provides students the chance to learn about the college admissions process as well as inquiry-based learning.

 Inquiry-based learning

Inquiry-based learning (also enquiry-based learning in British English)[1] is a form of active learning that starts by posing questions, problems or scenarios. It contrasts with traditional education, which generally relies on the teacher presenting facts and his or her knowledge about the subject. Inquiry-based learning is often assisted by a facilitator rather than a lecturer. Inquirers will identify and research issues and questions to develop knowledge or solutions. Inquiry-based learning includes problem-based learning, and is generally used in small scale investigations and projects, as well as research.[2] The inquiry-based instruction is principally very closely related to the development and practice of thinking and problem solving skills.[3]

From that article, four levels of inquiry learning:

1. Confirmation Inquiry: The teacher has taught a particular science theme or topic. The teacher then develops questions and a procedure that guides students through an activity where the results are already known. This method is great to reinforce concepts taught and to introduce students into learning to follow procedures, collect and record data correctly and to confirm and deepen understandings.
2. Structured Inquiry: The teacher provides the initial question and an outline of the procedure. Students are to formulate explanations of their findings through evaluating and analyzing the data that they collect.
3. Guided Inquiry: The teacher provides only the research question for the students. The students are responsible for designing and following their own procedures to test that question and then communicate their results and findings.
4. Open/True Inquiry: Students formulate their own research question(s), design and follow through with a developed procedure, and communicate their findings and results. This type of inquiry is often seen in science fair contexts where students drive their own investigative questions.

Doing science projects qualifies as level-4 inquiry learning.

 

[lpetrich]

Eh, there's the Green Party which is pretty moribund on many fronts. Given the Greenies I know IRL, it simply can't require that much energy or organizational skills to form a party. ...

It's also not going to go anywhere as a separate party unless we have some more multiparty-friendly system of elections. What the Green Party should be doing is acting like some "Herbal Tea Party", like Brand New Congress, the Justice Democrats, and other such organizations, running candidates in the Democratic Party. Candidates that are willing to challenge incumbents in primaries.

That's how AOC got into office.

AOC has a lot more promise. She does have youth and enthusiasm on her side but also charm and I think not only the ability but also the desire to work with others and to learn from others as well as teach.

Also to do the work of Congress, to be a workhorse member instead of a show-horse member. Seems like Bernie Sanders is much more of a show horse than a workhorse.

 

[Loren Pechtel]

(Me on doing readability tests on archives of tweets...)

Individually, yes, but I was thinking collectively. Mash them into one long text, then analyze them.

I don't think that would work. You're going to write at a lower level given the nature of the medium--a tweet simply doesn't have the space for anything involved.

What we need is His Flatulence talking with people (say, a cabinet meeting) rather than addressing the masses. I doubt there are transcripts available, though.

 

[ZiprHead]

(Me on doing readability tests on archives of tweets...)

Individually, yes, but I was thinking collectively. Mash them into one long text, then analyze them.

I don't think that would work. You're going to write at a lower level given the nature of the medium--a tweet simply doesn't have the space for anything involved.

What we need is His Flatulence talking with people (say, a cabinet meeting) rather than addressing the masses. I doubt there are transcripts available, though.

So you're basically saying Trump fans are morons he talks down to. Interesting. How does how know so well how to talk to these people?

Personally, I think you've got it backwards. It's the smart people he doesn't know how to talk to. How many ex-cabinet members have said words to the effect that he's a moron? More than I can't count on my hand, I'll bet.

 

[lpetrich]

About inquiry-based learning, one should start at the lower levels and go up to level 3, with only the more advanced students continuing to level 4.

NHI's Julio Cotto featured on MSNBC's Headliners - NHI Magazine - 2019 Apr 1

Last night, NHI Senior Vice President Julio Cotto was part of an MSNBC Headliners feature on Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, NHI’s 2017 Person of the Year. The interview covered Ocasio-Cortez’s time as a high school student attending NHI programs; Cotto’s interview, part of a segment that also features photos and videos from the program she attended, is viewable here.

“It’s immersing students into pretending to be leaders,” Cotto explained in the interview, “so her practice in that art started very early.” The segment’s narrator goes on to explain the basics of the eight-day Lorenzo de Zavala Youth Legislative Session (or LDZ), before Cotto recalled, “She will tell you, she ran for every position, she lost at everything, but by the end of the week, her peers had selected her as the Most Promising Female of that delegation, because they saw that never-quit attitude.”

'Headliners: Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez' Early Interest in Policy -- also includes some video of her presenting her nematode antioxidant high-school science project.

I've captured a copy using a video capturing app -- it captures whatever is on the screen. Now I have to find a video editor that does cropping -- iMovie won't do it.

 

[Toni]

About inquiry-based learning, one should start at the lower levels and go up to level 3, with only the more advanced students continuing to level 4.

NHI's Julio Cotto featured on MSNBC's Headliners - NHI Magazine - 2019 Apr 1

Last night, NHI Senior Vice President Julio Cotto was part of an MSNBC Headliners feature on Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, NHI’s 2017 Person of the Year. The interview covered Ocasio-Cortez’s time as a high school student attending NHI programs; Cotto’s interview, part of a segment that also features photos and videos from the program she attended, is viewable here.

“It’s immersing students into pretending to be leaders,” Cotto explained in the interview, “so her practice in that art started very early.” The segment’s narrator goes on to explain the basics of the eight-day Lorenzo de Zavala Youth Legislative Session (or LDZ), before Cotto recalled, “She will tell you, she ran for every position, she lost at everything, but by the end of the week, her peers had selected her as the Most Promising Female of that delegation, because they saw that never-quit attitude.”

'Headliners: Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez' Early Interest in Policy -- also includes some video of her presenting her nematode antioxidant high-school science project.

I've captured a copy using a video capturing app -- it captures whatever is on the screen. Now I have to find a video editor that does cropping -- iMovie won't do it.

Heh. I think that Trump is a moron who talks down to his base. They aren’t all morons but a lot are poorly educated and a lot feel seriously ignored and then there are those who will latch onto anybody they think can claim to be pro life —and still cage children who are brown.

 

[lpetrich]

Some AOC-haters believe that AOC is an actress who is fronting for some shadowy cabal of manipulators. Among these supposed manipulators is a certain  Zack Exley, someone who has long been involved in political campaigning.

• 1969 - Born
• 1999 - Created controversial satire site GWBush.com
• 2000 - Created a site that helped people organize protests of Presidential-election irregularities
• 2003 - Organizing Director at MoveOn.org when it tried to prevent the Iraq War
• 2004 - Worked on John Kerry's campaign
• 2005 - Worked on UK Labour Party's campaign
• 2007 - 2008 - Created blog "Revolution in Jesusland" about getting secular progressives and evangelicals together
• 2010 - 2013 - Wikimedia Foundation (Chief Community Officer, then C Revenue O), continued consulting until 2017
• 2015 - 2016 - Campaigned for Bernie Sanders
• 2016 Apr - cofounded Brand New Congress with Saikat Chakrabarti, Alexandra Rojas, and Corbin Trent
• 2017 Jan 23 - cofounded Justice Democrats with Saikat Chakrabarti, Kyle Kulinski, and Cenk Uygur

Zack Exley - Generous Christianity - a progressive Xian channel at Patheos.

Zack Exley on Christianity and Empire | Zack Exley - 2014 Mar 31
He described how he had a religious wife who dragged him into her church, and how he eventually went along. He then compares his activism to the early Xian church. That was his only blog entry there.

 

[angelo]

WEB EXTRA One on one interview with Rep Ocasio Cortez 1080 x 1920 - YouTube - when she was in Las Vegas. An English-language one. She also did a Spanish-language one with a different interviewer that day.

She said that the House was doing its job in impeaching Trump, even if the Senate won't follow through with it. She calls her time in office "overwhelming", and she then described the firsts of her fellow new Congresspeople in the last election, like AOC being the youngest woman ever elected to the House. She beat Elise Stefanik, who in turn beat Elizabeth Holtzman. It's the 3rd impeachment of a president, it's been "tumultuous" but also "exciting", and "there is a lot of opportunity in this moment to really come together as a country."

Bernie Sanders isn't just running for himself, he's been running for the sake of a big movement, hoping to bring it into the White House. As to the Green New Deal, she states that it has three main principles:

1. Reducing carbon emissions drastically
2. Putting large numbers of people to work
3. Focusing on vulnerable communities

The cost of not doing anything will be much greater than the cost of doing something, she says.

Then how the southwestern states will become more prominent and Hispanic voters in them.

What a ingenious, magical woman this AOC is! Uttering the complete opposite of what would happen should these leftists loonies ever get the chance to implement policies that's straight out of a lunatic asylum's
forum of patients as a GND!

 

[lpetrich]

Heh. I think that Trump is a moron who talks down to his base. They aren’t all morons but a lot are poorly educated and a lot feel seriously ignored and then there are those who will latch onto anybody they think can claim to be pro life —and still cage children who are brown.

Comparing him now to him a few decades ago, some people claim that he has mentally deteriorated, that the earlier Trump was more articulate. Omarosa M-N has claimed that, for instance.


From the first few months of AOC's campaign:

The brewing intra-left fight about Democrats’ big congressional deal, explained - Vox
2017 Sep 7

Already, some Democratic 2018 left-wing primary challengers sense an opening. Alexandria Ocasio, who is launching a long-shot bid to unseat Democratic Caucus Chair Joe Crowley (D-NY), told Vox the deal gave up on DREAMers too easily.

“They just rolled over,” Ocasio said. “Democrats had an incredible opportunity to fight for Latino communities, but they didn’t take it.”

The Most Powerful Democrat In Queens Must Finally Compete | The Village Voice - a big article on Joe Crowley.

In 1998, his predecessor Tom Manton waited until shortly before the primaries before he retired, something unusual among retiring politicians. They usually advertise their intentions well in advance. A committee in the Queens Democratic Party had to pick his soccessor, and guess who controlled that committee? Tom Manton.

Politicians in Queens were aghast.

“Had I known about the meeting, I would have put my name in,” a Queens city councilman named Walter McCaffrey complained to the New York Times. “Having been one of the people who helped elect Tom, and having been his chief of staff, it is a disappointment.”

Manton didn’t care.

...
“What Joe Crowley represents is the floodgate between Wall Street and the United States government. He’s the clearing house, he takes millions and millions of dollars in funding from them,” Ocasio-Cortez told the Voice. “We see how he’s come to power locally — it’s totally undemocratic, machine-run, dynastic. He’s trying to spread this same model on the federal level.”

...
She learned quickly that people usually didn’t even contemplate running against Crowley, let alone start an actual campaign.

“A lot of progressive groups are coming out of the woodwork. They’ve been trying to find a challenger to Crowley for years,” Ocasio-Cortez said. “It’s literally political suicide for anyone with a semblance of a political career.”

The article then described JC as an Establishment Democrat, one who took a lot of big money, and one who supported Barack Obama's agenda.

 

[Toni]

Comparing him now to him a few decades ago, some people claim that he has mentally deteriorated, that the earlier Trump was more articulate. Omarosa M-N has claimed that, for instance.

I've written that on these pages, more than once. Personally, I've never had any use at all for Trump and always thought him an egotistical moronic blowhard but a couple of years ago, I was listening to a radio program where they played clips of him speaking 20 years ago or more and the difference was extreme. His mental capacity has clearly diminished a great deal. I am still shocked that it was not widely noticed and reported on during the 2016 campaign.

 

[lpetrich]

More from the Village Voice on Joe Crowley:

The day-to-day operations of the Queens party have remained in the hands of a trio of Crowley- and Manton-aligned lawyers for three decades.

These men — Gerard Sweeney, Michael Reich, and Frank Bolz — have a law firm that has earned millions in Surrogate’s Court, where the estates of people who die without wills are processed, and from representing banks foreclosing on people’s homes. The judicial system in Queens is effectively under Crowley’s control, since no one becomes a judge or receives a court appointment without staying in the county organization’s good graces. A scandal cloud now looms: Scott Kaufman, Crowley’s campaign treasurer, is facing a state probe for possible violations of court rules regarding lucrative appointments he received.

It was the profit Sweeney, Reich, and Bolz made off the foreclosure crisis that particularly galled Ocasio-Cortez, who lost her father to cancer at a young age. “My mom was running a single-parent household,” she said. “She was cleaning homes, driving buses, and in the wake of the financial crisis and losing my father, we were on the brink of losing our home to foreclosure.”

Her father died without a will, which led to a lot of legal wrangling and a lot of enrichment of lawyers.

From NHI to Congress: Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez - NHI Magazine
2017 Jul 1 -- early in her campaign. Why she ran:

There would be no big money or backroom deals involved – it would be an all-grassroots effort to move the nation forward. It felt like exactly what the country needed and the right thing to do.

I remember her once saying that if someone offered her big money in support of her platform, she would refuse it. She then described how she is rooted in the community that she wants to represent, and how JC was essentially an absentee moneybags.

What did you learn about NHI that you’re taking to this race?

NHI has helped me a great deal in framing how I think about service and leadership. Money, power, and status are all short term means. Legacy is your end. Impact is your goal. Values are the most important compass of all.

My experiences as an Educational Director and organizing through NHI has also shaped much of how we’re building our campaign for NY-14. It’s important to me that we focus on an asset point of view: emphasizing our progress, championing the positive, and celebrating people’s contributions – no matter how large or small. Everyone matters and has something valuable to offer. We also aren’t afraid to ask tough questions, demand more from each other, and push to achieve more. That DNA is magnetic and much more inspiring than the desperate fear and negativity that has traditionally run so many other political campaigns.

With that sort of experience, AOC is a lot more than a bartender. That may explain why she has done so well in Congress so far.

 

[lpetrich]

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez: Transforming the DNA of Congressional Battles - NHI Magazine
2018 May 31

A lot of other campaigns hire professional organizers to knock on doors for you, but we’ve done the exact opposite. We go into communities and we train people ourselves in how to organize and then let them do it and organize their own communities on their own blocks. Doing that, on many other different levels and working with people to build those skills so that they can use them in their own communities, has been really game-changing for us. A lot of that is not being scared to take policy views that no one else has ever taken before. To me that’s a post-partisan, or even a non-partisan, point of view. We’re just trying to experiment with new ideas, and while I may be running as a Democrat in New York, I really do believe some of these ideas are something everybody can get behind. We’re smashing that idea that you have to be on one side or the other, or you have to be on one team or the other.

So it's a way of learning about the people that one is campaigning for -- meeting them directly and asking them about their concerns.

New York Has Voting Laws That Are Just as Bad as Many Red States – Mother Jones - from 2017 Oct 9. The laws have been improved since then, to allow for early voting and other such improvements.

Let Us Now Praise the Radical Women of New York | The Village Voice - AOC has had predecessors, like Emma Goldman and Shirley Chisholm

Progressive Alexandria Ocasio Cortez Is Primarying Corporate Democrat In New York - YouTube - 2017 Jun 2. AOC's campaign had an early success: JC decided to support Medicare for All. She was "Alexandria Ocasio" in some early campaign posters.

 

[Loren Pechtel]

(Me on doing readability tests on archives of tweets...)

Individually, yes, but I was thinking collectively. Mash them into one long text, then analyze them.

I don't think that would work. You're going to write at a lower level given the nature of the medium--a tweet simply doesn't have the space for anything involved.

What we need is His Flatulence talking with people (say, a cabinet meeting) rather than addressing the masses. I doubt there are transcripts available, though.

So you're basically saying Trump fans are morons he talks down to. Interesting. How does how know so well how to talk to these people?

Speechwriters!

Personally, I think you've got it backwards. It's the smart people he doesn't know how to talk to. How many ex-cabinet members have said words to the effect that he's a moron? More than I can't count on my hand, I'll bet.

I am not saying he's not a moron. I'm saying that you can't use the content of his speeches to determine this because they're targeted at his base--idiots.

The issue was determining his level by looking at the structure of his speaking/writing. Note that this has nothing to do with whether what he says makes sense. My understanding is that Microsoft Word has such a function in it--it's purely a syntax analyzer and can't tell crackpottery from Einstein.

Determining that he's an idiot (personally, I lean more towards dementia) by other means isn't relevant to this.

 

[angelo]

Who exactly are socialists such as AOC talking to if not their base? Aren't most politicians of any persuasion speaking to their base?

 

[Toni]

So you're basically saying Trump fans are morons he talks down to. Interesting. How does how know so well how to talk to these people?

Speechwriters!

Oh, I don't think so. It's pretty rare for him to be able to stay on message for an entire minute of a speech. When he does, he actually sounds not stupid. Still wrong, largely but not actually stupid. On the rare occasions that happens, I figure they convinced him to take his meds that day.

The reason I think that is when he is clearly off script at rallies, etc. Anytime he must speak extemporaneously, his diminished mental capacity is extremely obvious.

Personally, I think you've got it backwards. It's the smart people he doesn't know how to talk to. How many ex-cabinet members have said words to the effect that he's a moron? More than I can't count on my hand, I'll bet.

I am not saying he's not a moron. I'm saying that you can't use the content of his speeches to determine this because they're targeted at his base--idiots.

Eh, none of his speeches aim at the rafters, that's for sure. But he so rarely sticks to the script, whether that is because of his ego or because he cannot read well enough, or because he simply cannot follow the written word and translate it into speech, I have no idea.

I know that during Mork and Mindy, writers gave up trying to keep Robin Williams on script because they knew he would just rift anyway----and that whatever came out of his mouth was funnier than what they would write.

I think that POTUS staff has a similar situation with Trump: they know he's not going to stay on script, hope he'll hit one or two talking points and not dribble on his chin or piss through his depends. The only thing is that what comes out of his mouth is not gold. And fairly often, those 'fans' behind him clapping on camera and cheering are clapping and cheering on command by someone off camera--because that's what they were hired to do. At least, that's how it appears to me. The 'enthusiasm' lingers enough that even I catch it.

The issue was determining his level by looking at the structure of his speaking/writing. Note that this has nothing to do with whether what he says makes sense. My understanding is that Microsoft Word has such a function in it--it's purely a syntax analyzer and can't tell crackpottery from Einstein.

That would be an explanation for why he scored as high as 4th grade level...

Determining that he's an idiot (personally, I lean more towards dementia) by other means isn't relevant to this.

Determining that he's an idiot only involves listening to him speak. I've thought he had dementia since the debates but I've never thought he was particularly well informed or intelligent. He's always sounded very self important and self serving and has never been capable, as far as I can tell, of putting anyone's interests above his own. Or even seeing them.

 

[lpetrich]

Who exactly are socialists such as AOC talking to if not their base? Aren't most politicians of any persuasion speaking to their base?

In this interview, AOC explains what she means by "socialism":
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Might Just Be the Future of the Democratic Party | Vogue

Her interviewer asked "What drew you to Democratic Socialists of America? What about socialism appeals to you?"

She started with

It was a lot more about action than about words or descriptions or -isms, because for me, it wasn’t just like I read a book one day and said, “Oh, okay, I’m a Democratic Socialist now.”

She then described how in her activism, she kept running into the DSA in event after event. Like a Hurricane Maria vigil, Black Lives Matter rallies, etc.

When we talk about the word socialism, I think what it really means is just democratic participation in our economic dignity, and our economic, social, and racial dignity. It is about direct representation and people actually having power and stake over their economic and social wellness, at the end of the day. To me, what socialism means is to guarantee a basic level of dignity.

Like where every child can have a dignified education, everyone can have the medicines that they need to live, that everyone's civil rights are respected. Also recognizing that race and class issues are often intertwined.

 

[angelo]

What about equality and reward for effort for all? Kicked by the wayside I presume!

 

[lpetrich]

What about equality and reward for effort for all? Kicked by the wayside I presume!

Like what? AOC has her own personal definition of "socialism", it seems.

Dick Jackman, though an AOC-hater, has accumulated a gold mine of AOC-related stuff. What is remarkable is how innocuous much of it seems. She seems like a fairly normal young woman, though one who sometimes shows unusual intellectual depth.
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on Twitter: "Exercise: write a bio/wiki intro for yourself 15 years from now. Do it several times and include all possibilities (astronaut, kids, etc)." / Twitter
11:19 PM · Jun 20, 2011

Mexican Judge on Twitter: "I’m crying in my car listening to the wailing children begging for their mommies and daddies. This state sanctioned child abuse has to stop now" / Twitter

MARIA TERESA KUMAR on Twitter: "We have to stop it. Join us in #Tornillo, TX, June 24th at 9am. Ground zero of kids internment tents. #Brownout #SomosMas [url]https://t.co/PdgGVKQyMJ RT - gente...we need the network. https://t.co/iU7DmNXGgD" / Twitter[/url]
AOC went there, and some people made some pictures and video of her there.

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on Twitter: "As an Educational Director w/ @nhi_news, I worked with 1000s of kids of all statuses: US citizens, residents, DREAMers, undocumented youth.
They came to us from fruit farms and street blocks. Some came from privilege, too.
They were all incredibly gifted. I’m going for them. /1 https://t.co/UdfBptTXJJ" / Twitter

As an Educational Director w/ @nhi_news, I worked with 1000s of kids of all statuses: US citizens, residents, DREAMers, undocumented youth.

They came to us from fruit farms and street blocks. Some came from privilege, too.

They were all incredibly gifted. I’m going for them. /1

Many of the young people I worked with came from El Paso and other border cities like McAllen and Laredo.

I remember their stories of home: making shopping trips across the US-MEX border to get treats and head back before dinner.

The border was a casual fact of life. /2

We conveniently forget that large, massive swaths of the United States used to be Mexico.

Latinx people are baked into the land of the Americas and the United States.

We are a product of indigenous peoples, who have been displaced and fleeing violence for most modern history.

I say this with hopes that some may include in their perspective on immigration the long history and context of migration in the Americas.

It’s a bit rambling, but I think all the time about how those kids + their families were from All. Over. The place. Because it’s normal.

She may have been working with the cream of the crop of Hispanic kids, like what she herself once was.

 

[lpetrich]

It's remarkable what AOC has done in the past, what a history she has had. With such a history of performance and leadership, all that it took was finding a good gig.

Weekend Event Recap: #BULEADS | Her Campus - an event at Boston University at September 23, 2013 at 1:45pm

The next speaker, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, graduated from BU’s College of Arts and Sciences just two years ago. Since graduation, Ocasio-Cortez has founded her own publishing enterprise and serves to better the generation to come at Sunshine Bronx Business Incubator. She presented a stellar speech that exposed the problems with the current education system in urban communities.

This was the NHI's Lorenzo de Zavala (LDZ) mock-parliament event of 2011-2012(?)
NHI News on Twitter: "The Honorable Governor Rachel Basoco from Houston adjourns the #2011nyldz http://t.co/nN00TNNd" / Twitter
6:51 AM · Jul 11, 2012
AOC is in the picture on the left

#2011nyldz does not have much, but #2012nyldz has more - also some #2012nyldz in Instagram

Arianna Yarritu on Twitter: "“@nhi_news: The Honorable Sophia Arena #2012nyldz Speaker [url]http://t.co/ZZelhCvh” look it's my dot!!" / Twitter[/url]
7:43 AM · Jul 11, 2012
AOC is in the picture on the left

NHI News on Twitter: "#2012nyldz featuring top candidates from the Bronx, Philly, Houston, and Round Rock (Greater Austin) http://t.co/KHzXDpMW" / Twitter
12:54 PM · Jul 10, 2012
AOC is in the picture to the left of the podium


Arianna Yarritu on Twitter: "When I met Alexandria six years ago at NYLDZ I wanted to be just like her and I think a lot of us are feeling that way tonight. What an inspiration and a call to action her campaign has been. @Ocasio2018 https://t.co/x9FT0WwTy7" / Twitter
9:32 PM · Jun 26, 2018