The world is a big place, and everywhere is different. At a young age I would watch movies and get an idealized perspective on the big city dreams of character’s who’s melodramas would play out in front of me, and couldn’t help but fall in love with the places that I was taken to.

London was one of these places, and like myself I think a lot of people see the movie version of London, and cant wait to grab their passport and show up on the sidewalk of history to see everything they can.

The problem with just assuming places are magical is that they let you down most of the time. London is advertised as the historical, and vibrant British community where you can see where some of the great people in history were inspired.

While in reality London is that, however it is a hustling city of people living their everyday busy lives.

 

London History with a laugh:

There are a lot of reasons that people visit London, the one that I hear most is the history. Growing up in America there has always been a connection with what was once our country across the pond.

The comparison in the oldest building in the east coast of the states to London is hard to grasp. So wanting to see the historical life of England, seems shattering when we realize that like everywhere else, London is a place like any other. London is a place that history lives and yet people have to live modern lives in. In the process pieces of this history are covered up by the evolution of the city.

Movies like Sherlock Holmes allowed us to see the true impact of how old the world of London actually is. Such as Buckingham Palace, Baker Street 221 B legendary home, and the London Bridge being built. In the modern comedic action drama, we see what life was like in the late 1800’s.

We follow Robert Downey Jr. as he represents the British investigator that everyone know.s He makes us laugh and fall in love with a man who is ahead of his time, and shows us some of the most iconic places in London, even those being built at the time. Of course everything changes in 100 years, but when you see these places, the illusion of the beautiful structures seem to be shattered by the modern world.

Such as apple stores, or street lamps, and lets not forget the tourist. The never-ending amount of people holding up there selfie sticks and walking in front of you trying to make their way to be ahead of everyone else, to get their picture in front of the Tower Bridge.

 

 

We don’t all grow up:

The first Bridget Jones movie came out in 2001, and showed us that even adults don’t always have it put together. Starring the quirky Renee Zellweger, we follow the 30-year-old modern women living in London, showing us the worst parts of trying to find love.

The movie took off, as the comedy and Pride and Prejudice paradigm made people fall in love. The sequels allowed us to grow up with Bridget as she continued not to grow up and run around London.

One of my favorite parts of the movie was imagining a life in London. Walking past the Tower Bridge on your way to work, buying groceries at the Borough Market, and taking advantage of everything London has to offer.

The famous Borough Market was an exciting place to see. The small shops offering samples, and the smells of everything from cheese to bread, fresh fruit and meat. The entire market over crowded with tourist and the locals makes a stream of the directions you can go, as you try to find what you smell, and then try to make your purchases.

Although there is a charm of the old-fashioned market, it isn’t hard to find the Jones legendary apartment above The Globe, as it is directly beside the market, along with a train bridge making the building look overshadowed.

The problem with finding Bridgets world was not that it was false, but more of it being a false illusion making us think living our lives in the expensive central location is possible. When in reality, your paying £10 for a slice of cheese.

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The Magic Behind London:

There aren’t many Millennial’s that I know that haven’t at least heard about who Harry Potter is and J.K Rowling’s magical world that was just beyond the everyday lives people live.

Threw out the 10 years the movies were made the creators make sure to include the London charm that is one of the thing we love about Rowling’s work. From destroying the Millennial Bridge, and living in Surrey, one of the most memorable places we see was Kings Cross.

Kings Cross Station is an example of how she made something that was apart of everyday life into a magical universe. And as any kid I couldn’t wait until I went to the station in London, to see the beautiful station that I saw in the films. This is another example of how Hollywood changed and glamorized its version of Kings Cross.

I was shattered when I made my up to the station, first thing I noticed is that the building that is shown as Kings Cross is actually St Pancras Station, and the connection of the two is by the underground line below our feet.

The glamorous historical building with the clock tower that we flying around in the second movie, is for show. In reality Kings Cross only steps away is a pale white building that is being completely overshadowed by St. Pancras beautiful exterior.

As people rush by finding their train to far away destinations, you can see exactly where they go. With no pillars to run through, or trains on both sides, the trains and station are arranged more like the underground.

A shop for tourist to visit Harry and his friends gives you the option to take a photo going to Platform 9 ¾. Meaning in the public area you are holding on to a trolley nailed to a wall, and holding up a line of dozens of tourists.

 

Overall as you get to wander around London, and see each piece that you think that you know so well, there is a combination of awe and a sense of disappointment as things are never what we expect.

The best way to go about seeing iconic London is to expect to be surprised, because London is not what people build up. The hustling busy multicultural city is not what you expect, or what we were shown. It is beautiful in its unique way.

Are you ever scared of persecution being an illegal citizen in the United States?

“I don’t want to say yes because, I don’t want to be thinking about that all the time. I want to live my life here, I want to be as free, I want as much of a normal life as possible, so I don’t think about that a lot. But it is in the back of my mind all the time. I mean I could get deported, so yeah I am afraid just a little bit.”

Where and when were you born?

“I was born in Chihuahua Mexico, December 1993.”

 

How many years have you been in the United States?

“I’ve been hear more than 13 years now, it will be 14 years in October.”

 

What were you told when you first moved to America by your parents?

“They just told me that we were moving to the U.S. just to have like a better life. To find better jobs so they could take care of us, so we could learn new things, learn a new language and all that stuff. So we could improve our life quality basically.”

 

When was the first time you remember being treated differently because of your race?

“Well I remember being in my elementary school, back in Arizona, I moved to Arizona, and I didn’t know English.

I was 9 years old, so I was in 5th grade when I moved here and I didn’t know English and I felt really, well I felt different first of all, but I felt really frustrated at the fact that I couldn’t understand people, what they were saying.

Like Teachers, I had my home room teacher, and she was white, so I couldn’t understand her, she was really nice, but I just couldn’t understand what she was saying.

Whenever I had tests or you know just assignments, homework I didn’t know what they were saying. I remember on the tests just guessing, like oh I’m going to do A right here, I’m going to do B right here, because I had no idea what they were saying. So I would just guess. You know I felt different, I felt… It was bad; it was really frustrating at first.”

 

What is the worst thing someone has said to you?

“It had to be very recently when by accident my Facebook account was hacked and supposedly I started liking all of these extreme conservative sites all these pro Donald Trump pages, and I was invited or I requested to be in a very conservative group.

Which I joined and when I realized that I unliked and unfollowed all the pages, but I stayed on one page to see what they were saying, because it’s not like people just say stuff like that, mean stuff all the time.

So I just stayed to see what they would say what they would talk about. And one time they were just being really mean because they would always say hateful stuff towards liberals, Barrack Obama, you know just people in general, people who are not white.

I told them what I just told you, that I was hacked, that I do not support Donald Trump, that I do not support their view’s. They told me to go back to where I came from, they were calling me names, they were calling me really mean words.

I’m like, I’m not even insulting you. I think I started the post with, I don’t want to insult you, or something because that was not my intention. But they were being really really mean, and I don’t think I deserve that. But that is how some people are I guess.”

 

What is it like knowing there are people like that around you?

“Its pretty sad because I mean you would think that we have moved on from the hatred, from you know slavery days. Back in the day and all that stuff, but we haven’t.

“People still have that mentality, people still think a race is superior to another race, people think that there superior to somebody because they have fair skin and the other person doesn’t.”

It’s really sad and at times it makes me angry because there not, were all created equal were all equal and I get frustrated.

Any effort, in my part of explaining to them is going to be worthless, because that is just how their brain works, how their mindset is. It’s sad and frustrating mostly.”

 

Being undocumented what is your greatest fear?

“The whole purpose like I said previously, of coming to the U.S. was to have a better life, and even though yes there is a lot of mean people here, there is mean people everywhere.

So I think I am, in a way living the American Dream and because I do not have a legal status in the country, I could get deported. That’s pretty serious to me.

I do have my parent’s, who are in Mexico right now, so it’s not like I don’t have anyone to go to in Mexico.

People have it worse, people do have their entire family over here, that were brought as children 1 2 3 years old and they don’t know anybody. And they are being deported.

That’s worse so I don’t have it as bad as other people but the simple fact that I am living my life here and to get deported, its pretty sad, its fearful.”

 

You said the American Dream, describe the American Dream.

“To me the America Dream is simply having a good quality life, and being able to improve or being able to just do what you want to do and not being afraid of just being… of human right just being taken away from you.

I’ve been here 13 years, I’ve been in the United States more than I have been outside of the country. So the American dream for me is I’m going to school, I’m going to a University, so it is simply to get a degree, get a job, you know just live my life. Being able to improve my life.”

As a student and a participating member of society in the U.S how does it feel when someone behaves as if you are not?

“I try not to let those people get to me because those are really ignorant statements. Like I said on the Facebook group, that I am still in I think, they said really hateful stuff, they still are.

I am just like wow this is crazy, and I try to not let it get to me, its sad to see there are people like that, its sad to see that people are very close minded. You know there is so much out there to learn from other people, that’s one of the magical things of being alive, at this time.

Because you get to meet so many different people, you get to learn so many different things, cultures and everything and if you don’t do that then you’re not growing, and that’s not cool.”

 

If you could say anything without fear of reaction what would you want to say to?

“I did say something to them. The post, the comment that I posted, even though they were just saying stuff back to me. But I am not going to just be insulted by people.

I would probably tell them that what they are saying are really stupid and ignorant comments, that they have to learn from other people, you know that they are very close-minded and that’s not a good thing.

That they have to realize that, we are all going through a struggle, and maybe our struggle is worse than there’s and they need to realize how lucky they are. Just learn from one another. Just learn not to be so hateful.”

 

Why did you speak up in a public forum that was obviously very prejudice?

“I spoke up when I did, because I just got tired. It wasn’t just what you see on Facebook regularly, there’s always conservative people talking, and liberal people talking. I mean it is just completely hateful stuff.

When there is a picture of the Obama’s, and thier like ‘oh they should be dead’. Stuff like that is just extreme. I don’t remember what the post was that I commented on, but I remember thinking ‘oh I need to say something.’

That was the first post after months of being on the group; I just couldn’t take it anymore. And also I feel like, because they’re so close-minded, they don’t even know the other side. I think that’s one of the reason I posted it because I wanted to show them the other side.”

“I wanted to show them what other people think, show them what they don’t know and what they don’t see.”

 

What do you want the younger generation of dreamers to know as they face the same persecution?

“That they are not alone, that there are people before them like me, that have been through this, who have felt the disapproval, hatred maybe, indifference and we still kept going we are all part of society.

Just go for it, they need to do what they love to do, they need to go to school have a job they need to not let it stop them, because they are capable of so much good stuff. And they have to go for it, and were here for them to.”

 

Why do you keep fighting instead of going home?

“First of all I’m a fighter, I want to stay here. I don’t see my life over there in Mexico, even though I love, I love my home country. I see my life in the United States. Even though with all this hatred, there are still a lot more possibilities here then over there I think. I’m staying here because I want to have a better life, and I want to be here.”

 “I get to decide where I want to be, and I want to be here.”

 

What is it like knowing that the person that is supposed to represent America is actively saying and doing things that are racist?

“Donald Trump is not fit to be the president of the United States. Period. There is no way that a president should be acting the way that he is acting or even a presidential candidate when he was one.

To be saying all the hateful stuff toward people. That is not right, it is not right at all. I think it is really sad because we are going back, we are not moving forward, were going way back in society.

And its frustrating because he was elected, there are people who think like him, there are people that believe what he said about the Mexicans that are coming are rapist, and drug dealers, and just criminals and people believe him.

Because of him America is just a joke to other countries, which is not cool. Because we are so much more than Donald Trumps image.”

 

What is your biggest fear in today’s society?

“My biggest fear, for things to start going back to the way things were decades ago. We need to be moving forward not moving back, we need to be accepting of other cultures. We need to be more accepting of people fleeing other countries because of terrorist.

We need to be more open about other people’s lives, and there struggles and everything they’re going through, its sad to see that there so many hateful people out there.”

 “We need to be moving forward and I hope it happens. I hope that it will be just 4 bad years, then we continue with our lives.”

 

Do you think where you live have an impact on the way you are treated?

“I feel like it would be different living in another place, but I’m not sure how because I’ve lived in Texas the last 10 years almost, so I don’t know how it is to live in a liberal place, so I can’t compare because I don’t know.

But it’s not like I’m not living a normal life, but also you do see what people are doing in Texas and I’m like wow I live here, its sad to see that stuff.”

 

In 20 years what do you hope to see change in the U.S/World?

“In 20 Years I hope we are more accepting of people, I hope we are more open-minded, just overall as a society, I hope we realize that, no body is superior or inferior, that we are just different.”

“Your not better than me, you’re not worse than me, you just different than me and I feel like some people really have to understand that. So in 20 years I hope that the next generations become more open-minded.”

“Which I do think that my generation and the next generation are more open-minded so that’s a good thing, so I hope it continues that way.”

toOver the last two months is seems that the U.S has fallen into a stream of chaos consisting of Trump signing executive orders, and causing protests of the people fighting against these actions, and for their rights.

The Fear of losing American Rights

Even though Trump has not broken records of the amount of executive orders or presidential memos signed, he has had more resistance for his actions as people continue to fight for the freedom of choice.

The fear of having a dictator rather than a president, and losing rights has caused people to fight back. In only a few months Tump has signed 12 executive orders, and 12 presidential memos.

What is an Executive Order and Presidential Memo?

panda pic.twitter.com/IKCcfbvEKo

— Trump Draws (@TrumpDraws) February 21, 2017

By definition an executive order is  presidential policy directive that implements or interprets a federal statute, a constitutional provision, or a treaty. While a presidential memoranda is a type of executive action issued by the President of the United States to manage and govern the actions, practices, and policies of the various departments and agencies found under the executive branch of the United States government.

In reality a presidential memoranda is less regulated, and not required to be public executive order. Memos also don’t have as many regulations and orders, such as the president isn’t required to explain why his memo is constitutional as an executive order. Meaning the more official sounding executive order shouldn’t attract more attention because memos can cause just as much harm or good when signed.

The most obvious and most rejected orders that Trump has tried to pass was his defunding of Planned Parenthood and The Muslim Ban and most recently the revoking of Transgender Bathrooms.

Women’s Right to choose:

 Photo provided by wired.com.

The Women’s March was said  to be the largest in history. Women protested against the defunding of Planned Parenthood which was under the reinstatement of The Mexico City” Policy.

Planned Parenthood has never been about purely abortion, it allows women the security of choice. “Today, Planned Parenthood is a trusted health care provider, an informed educator, a passionate advocate, and a global partner helping similar organizations around the world. Planned Parenthood delivers vital reproductive health care, sex education, and information to millions of women, men, and young people”

While the defunding takes away not only the education that was provided by this organization but also the safety of a this practice, from people that may have nowhere to turn.

Immigration Policy:

The day the travel ban was signed, caused immediate reaction for border control as airports were flooded with people that were no longer allowed to enter the country.

Protests and lawful actions were taken and showed that the people of the United States have power, and are not required to sit and watch while Trump dictates the next four years. A unanimous vote of judges that blocked the Executive Order banning people coming from the seven majority muslim countries from entering the U.S.

These judges justified their decision by addressing the unconstitutional nature of the order, as freedom of religion is something the Nation was built on and clearly in the constitution. While the Muslim Ban and the Immigration Policy are different they go hand in hand. Trump signed to actively seek out criminal offender that may be undocumented and arrest and deport them.

As the criminal aspect of the order was not what concerned most citizens it’s the blowback and fear that they will actively seek out non offenders. Such as the Dreamers, which is a group of the younger generation brought into the States as young children who were given rights to work, etc.

Photo Provided by Occupy.com

Transgender Equality:

On February 22, Trump revoked the guidelines Obama had put in place to protect the transgender community in public schools to have access to the bathroom they identified with.

An action that shocked many as President Trump never expressed interest in revoking the order. In fact in November expressed he wouldn’t care if Caitlyn Jenner, the most famous transgender celebrity today,  used either bathroom in Trump Tower.  

If @Caitlyn_Jenner walked into Trump Tower, what bathroom would @RealDonaldTrump suggest she use? #TrumpTODAY https://t.co/E6jLyif6ls

— TODAY (@TODAYshow) April 21, 2016

Published on The Today’s Show, and retweet by Vox.

His action has caused protest as the Transgender community stood outside the White House to protest, and show they will not give up on their right of choice.

President Donald Trump’s first weeks in office have caused uproar in the US, after he passed an executive order on January 27, banning seven majority-Muslim countries from entering the U.S. for 90 days. Citizens from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen were refused to enter the country at border patrol.

After the order was signed there was confusion, protests, and several lawsuits against the order. But it was Judge James Robart in Seattle lawsuit that has blocked the ban.

Judge Michelle T. Friedland, who was appointed by former President Barack Obama, Judge William C. Canby Jr, an appointee of former President Jimmy Carter, and Judge Richard R. Clifton, an appointee of former President George W. Bush, the three judges appointed to listen to the case.

The judges heard oral arguments from both sides on Tuesday evening and the ruling was issues on Thursday.

“This decision will have a lot more public credibility because it is unanimous, and I think it complicates the Trump administration’s attempt, if they choose to make it, to disparage this decision as a political act,” said Jeffrey Toobin an American lawyer, author, and legal analyst for CNN and The New Yorker.

The unanimous ruling allows people with visas and refugees who were also affected by the ban may continue to enter the U.S. The appeals court said that the government provided not proof of terror threats to justify the ban.

However, this ruling will not affect executive order of having only 50,000 refugees from being admitted in the year, which is less than half the amount under Obamas order. The judges said, “On the one hand, the public has a powerful interest in national security and in the ability of an elected president to enact policies. And on the other, the public also has an interest in free flow of travel, in avoiding separation of families, and in freedom from discrimination.”

At the moment, it is unclear if Trump will be taking action with the Supreme court, however Trump tweeted, “SEE YOU IN COURT THE SECURTIY OF OUT NATION IS AT SAKE!”

The order that was passed only blocked people coming into the U.S. and refugees, but also students that were coming to the U.S to study, or coming home from holiday. Causing confusion amongst these students who believe the law would protect them. Making Muslim students feel rejected by our country.