Two Feet In | Writing and the Institution

A version of this is published in the current issue of the LSCS Advocate . Part 2 is here. Our Undocumented Students and the Union’s Responsibilities Politics exists because those who have no right to be counted as speaking beings make themselves of some account. (Jacques Rancière) On 5 September 2017, Attorney General Jefferson Beauregard Sessions III announced that DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals) will be rescinded in six months. We’re going to address this issue to clarify what DACA is (and what it isn’t), why this should matter to us as members of a labor union, and what we can do. In his announcement , Sessions repeated multiple specious claims and “alternative facts” about DACA, migrants, jobs, and public safety: Sessions repeatedly uses the terminology “illegal aliens,” which, although we may hear it frequently, is not a legal term in the Immigration and Nationality Act, and it conflates the act of crossing the border illegally with an ongoing le...

Thursday, 31 August, Starbucks. Home power is off and I needed to get out of the house and hear peoples’ voices and the sounds of the store machines, the aroma of hot coffee. The store wifi is off right now and that’s fine. I don’t need to be connected all the time. Multiple emails from the LSCS chancellor and NH president. They’re very assertive and reserved at the same time. Kingwood is a mess and I have to be grateful that, this time, NH has been a source of strength, providing shelters for nearly 200 residents. (c) Houston Chronicle, 2017 Of course, I’m concerned with the students. I know some live in Greenspoint with its regular flooding events. I’m hearing from former students that some of East Aldine has avoided massive flooding, while West Aldine has its regular high water. Much of Spring has avoided flooding. But I expect about half of my students to miss first week because of multiple disruptions, including transportation loss, displacement, other family priori...