Cortese Bus Trip

I attended the Cortese bus trip yesterday which took students, parents, teachers, and anyone else who'd like to come, on a bus to Sacramento in order to meet senators and assemblymen and talk to them about the budget cuts that are affecting the schools.

The trip was...eh.
There were somethings that happened on the trip that were...whoa... both in a good way and a bad way.

The Good Whoa:
I met a lady named Sandra Clifford. She flies planes. She's amazing. She teaches others how to fly, she flies corporate, and she is a huge feminist. She is president of Women in Aviation and advocates for the CSU's. She is an amazing woman and she seriously impacted me so much. She definitely speaks her mind and she definitely has a lot of common sense. She believes in this generation and the skills we have with communication and group thinking. I can go on and on about her but I believe that would be considered rambling. Bottom line, she's my hero.

The Bad Whoa:
I was sitting on the bus and talking to Sandra. It gets a tid bit quiet and then I start to hear Board Member Frank Biehl talk about the iMatter protest. He starts criticizing myself and telling those around him how I needed to "grow up and stop thinking 'I' and think 'we' instead". He also said this generation was very adamant on self interest. He criticized Scott Herhold for writing the SJ Mercury article and focusing on the repercussions of the protest rather than the purpose of it. He then criticizes me by saying that he invited me and I didn't come-although I was sitting right in front of him.

He talked for a good 10 minutes and I just sat quietly in front of him while he complained and criticized. Sandra, seeing that I was remaining quiet, felt that Biehl was entirely wrong and she needed to speak up. She turned around and told Biehl she disagreed with him. She told him that this generation is all about "WE". This generation thinks about others and is able to network better than any other generation could have. She said the kids in this generation are used to change and have implemented more change than any other generation.

She and Biehl continued to argue. Biehl still didn't know I was sitting right in front of him. Sandra, fed up with Biehl's attitude, said, "I hope you happen to know that Jennifer Phan is sitting right in front of you." Biehl leans over the aisle and talks to me. He says irrelevant things that just prove to me that he is as low as many others.

This makes me think...adults are always criticizing teens for gossiping and talking smack about others. They always say we hide behind the computer screen, play video games, and facebook all day. But in reality, they are the ones that are talking about us. They are the ones that are talking about us when we're not there. They are the ones that are hiding behind their desks at work, complaining about others. I don't understand. How do they expect us to follow in their footsteps if they're the ones making the mistakes? It confuses me and I am utterly insulted.