Brandi S.

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"Separation of Church and State in US Politics."

Jacksonville, FL, USA
female, age 33
single
Speaks: Chinese - Mandarin, Russian, some Spanish, English/American
Joined Jun 27, 2008

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Jun 27, 2008

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AFL-CIO, Amnesty International, GLBT Rights, Green Party, Habitat for Humanity, Jane Goodall Institute: Race for the Primates, Moveon.org, NARAL Pro-Choice America, National Geographic, Oxfam, Pagans, Planned Parenthood, Susan G. Komen Foundation, The Nature Conservancy (TNC)

Hometown	Jacksonville, FL
Homepage
Birthday	Sept 15, 1976
Languages	Chinese - Mandarin, Russian, some Spanish, English/American
About Me	The best way to describe me sociopolitically is as a feminist - this doesn't mean that I'm only interested in women's issues. I am interested in all forms of civil rights issues, human rights issues, environmental issues, LGBT issues, immigrants' rights issues, health issues, and more. I was a serious activist as an undergraduate and decided I liked it so much I wanted to get paid for it, so I did a dual degree Masters program in Social Work Policy and Administration and Public Administration and Policy, in which I spent a great deal of time observing Florida's legislative processes and then working for non-profit organizations including an HIV/AIDS organization, two domestic violence organizations, and a Chinese women's organization. I'm currently returning back to my original love, though, anthropology. I enjoy learning about different cultures and different people, and I love learning new languages too, so I'm doing my PhD in Social Anthropology in the UK at the moment, studying the connections between personal and local identities and local heritage tourism. In my spare time, I try to convince people - mostly my relatives - that the best ways to reduce abortion rates are increased access to birth control and comprehensive, medically accurate sex education, and that evolutionary theory is a much more reasonable, provable, and rational explanation for the existence of the modern human species than creationism or so-called "intelligent design", and it also happens to be the basis of just about everything else we know about biology, genetics, and medicine today.
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Lifestyle
Pets	1 cat who currently lives with my mother
Activist Aspirations	Casual
Political Leaning	Very Liberal
Religions	Pagan
Eating Habits	trying to keep it somewhat healthy!
Wild Fact About Me	When I marched in Tallahassee in protest of then-Governor Bush's One Florida anti-affirmative action policy, I ended up marching just behind and beside some of the original Tuskegee Airmen most of the way to the state Capitol building.
My Philosophy	People living in poverty who vote Republican for religious reasons and then wonder why they aren't eligible for public benefits to help pay for their kids' daycare or health care expenses, and why their neighborhoods are too dangerous for kids to go outside and play in, need to learn that Republican officials are the ones voting AGAINST those very things that will help the most toward eliminating poverty and making our neighborhoods safe again. A little bit of common sense and reason goes a long way.
What Gives Me Hope	The fact that Bush can't be re-elected again.
If I were Mayor, I'd make the world a better place by	Expand health care and access to public benefits for people living in poverty.
What/who changed my life and why	I grew up in poverty, surrounded by violence, intolerance, and bigotry. Ever since then, I've worked against all of those things in both my personal and professional lives.
What Bugs Me	intolerance, injustice, ignorance, George Bush, abusive people
Passions	languages, peace, other cultures, nature, making a difference, genealogy, books
Inspirations
What Scares Me	Religious Extremism, George W. Bush, current USA administration
Favorites
Role Models	My grandmother
Quotation	When fascism comes to America, it will be wrapped in the flag and carrying a cross. - Sinclair Lewis
Interests	herbs, aromatherapy, crystals, crafts, Genealogy/Family History, Travel/Adventure, Linguistics/Language, archaeology, Anthropology
Books	Guy Gavriel Kay, Katharine Kerr, Terry Pratchett's Discworld novels, Sheri S. Tepper, Lois Duncan, John Jakes, Harry Potter Series, Jean M. Auel, Tanya Huff
Music	Peter Paul and Mary, The Who, Queen, Bruce Springsteen, Neil Diamond, Skott Freedman, Enter the Haggis, Emerald Rose, Brobdingnagian Bards, Loreena McKinnett, Jill Sobule, Sarah McLachlan, Erasure, Indigo Girls
Movies	Planet of the Apes (1968), Fried Green Tomatoes, Bend it Like Beckham, Better Than Chocolate, The 10th Kingdom, Ever After, The Howling V, The Howling III, Stephen King's The Stand, Eating Out 2, Eating Out, The Best Years of Our Lives, V and V the Final Battle
TV Shows	Xena Warrior Princess, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Sports Night, Ugly Betty, MAS*H, The Big Bang Theory, Flash Gordon, Pushing Daisies, House MD, Scrubs, Heroes, Torchwood, Doctor Who, Ashes to Ashes, Life on Mars, Lost, Stargate: Atlantis, Stargate: SG-1, Alien Nation
Favorite Foods	Dark Chocolate, American Food, Southern Food, Italian, Japanese Hibachi/Teppanyaki Grill, Chinese
Favorite Places	Novodevichii Monastyr' in Moscow Russia, Florida Beaches, Forests, Dragon*Con in Atlanta, Florida Everglades, Miami, Los Angeles, Dublin, Tintagel, San Francisco
Can't Live Without	soda, nature, books, tv
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