Goodbye!

Well, this is the end of the road for this blog. I'm surprised it survived the initial cut of blogs, but I do appreciate the gesture. I wish I could have done more for this blog, but compared with the first version of it, I think I did alright. Some of my blogs were off-topic, some were decent, some were cookie-cutter like, but all were written from the top of my head and are how I feel. When I look back on this blog, I am pleased with what I wrote and the people I had the pleasure of coming into contact with - even if it was only through the internet. This blog was meant to be fun and engage people in conversation, but in no way could this blog be a place for employers to look for employees or be a blog like Brandi Grissom's, Gustavo Reveles' or any of the sports blogs - those are good blogs done by good journalists.

I do, however, regret that I wasn't able to give my all to this blog like I usually like to do, but getting two extra letters added on the end of my name (MD) is quite a challenge. I simply did not have the time I imagined I would, and for that, I'm sorry. I hope you all enjoyed my blog for what it was and for what it wasn't. I love El Paso and I cannot wait to go back, I hope I conveyed that feeling in my blog. Family,friends, good people and a city where I feel comfortable wherever I go, that’s my home - that's El Paso.

Sure things are far from perfect in a variety of ways, ranging from employment, mass transit, city and county politicians and Juarez's fight and America's drug use casting a dark shadow over El Paso hides the gem of a city that El Paso could be. Some have said that El Paso is simply an anomaly and will never rise again, maybe that is true but not everything is written in stone. Planning for projects that seem out of the question now but that can possibly be realized later (mass-transit, infrastructure, education, etc), curb spending over time, no more pay raises for elected officials who haven't done squat and maybe having the voting power and the will to elect politicians regardless of party affiliation who realize they are under the watchful eye of citizens - maybe then change will come. It’s hard to predict anything, especially when saying that a great city like ours will not rise again. Overnight success fades away fast, but when success comes from being prepared and demanding a higher level of excellence, change can endure. I have faith that El Paso can do it.

I had a good time writing this blog and am thankful for you even reading this. Thanks to all my friends who read this blog (UTMB, UT Houston and my Ysleta Indians), to Jay Koester for giving me this opportunity, Carlos for helping me out, to the readers that kept me on point (Hellraizer, El Chuco, Thats what she said, Shocked... But not in awe, wth) and thanks to my family for being my family.

My blog should be down by the end of the week, so if you don't get a chance to leave a comment or even if you do, I can be reached at marriaga3@gmail.com. They might bring this blog back, they might not, but either way, it was a pleasure.

See you in Houston, El Paso or somewhere in between,

Michael Arriaga

UTEP Grad '07

Ysleta High School'03

"Once an Indian, always an Indian"

Comments

[84 Miner]

Congratulations and good luck, you are truly one of our success stories, local boy goes on to bigger and better things without forgetting his roots, you are an inspiration. Take care!

[Jay Koester]

Thanks, Michael. I appreciate your efforts for this blog.

And glad to learn (if a bit late) that you are an Ysleta Indian ... I married into the Ysleta Indian family myself, so consider me an in-law.

Good luck and talk to you down the road.

[El Chuco]

You are kidding me Mike? I am proposing I take this blog over. I will send you a personal email so you can tell me what needs to take place to make it happen.

[yvjdel]

All the best to you Mike! Keep up the good work!! I know you will make El Paso and your family proud. You already have!

[Carlos Hernandez]

Raise the bar, UTEP

UTEP should definately raise the bar before it swings around and knocks them in the head.

There is NO EXCUSE for remedial classes at a University that wants to compete for big state dollars and a Tier-One status. Let EPCC deal with that.

Providing seminars to teach students how to properly eat in public is horrific. Providing instruction on personal hygiene and birth control is outrageous. Don't laugh, this used to be mentioned at the "Cultural Adjustment" link off of the Office of International Programs web page. It is still covered during their orientation "seminars".

Take your remedials and socializaton at EPCC then transfer in.

Having said that, there are human qualities that go along with pre-college academic achievement; focus, concentration, maturity, and hard work. These are actually more important than the 'old' IQ score. Some, if not all, of the aforementioned qualities should be nutured or at least enforced by families/parents.

As I look around UTEP, I see some hardworking and dedicated students; I salute them. They are excelling in an environment where 97% of all applicants are accepted.

I also see undergraduates who pay graduate students to write papers for them because they cannot write the language required for the assignment; if UTEP has these remedial classes, doesn't this indicate that they are failing?

I see class rooms that are disrupted by cell phones going off.

I see graduate students who cannot effectively communicate with an english speaker.

I see fogged up cars surrounded by beer bottles in the UTEP parking deck at night. Administrators sympathetically say that those students don't have anywhere to go because they live at home. The police just cruise on by....

I see graduates who have to come back to get a graduate degree, because their skills are so shoddy at the undergraduate level that they lose job after job and have no other choice.

I see teaching graduates dropping out of the educational system within 5 years because they can't cut it in the real classroom.

I see good, qualified graduate students transfer OUT of UTEP because they are either not being challenged by the departments or they don't want their degree to be associated with the name UTEP. I have yet to see UTEP's "transfer out" statistics, but I can easily find their "transfer in" stats.

I also see an administration whose knees shake when it is time to push for higher enrollment in order to get more state funds. For those of you who don't know, this is every other year just before the legislature starts up, so watch your mailbox and popup ads in the electronic version of the El Paso Times.

I see an administration who refuses to look beyond the regional 'bubble' for students. Administration has repeatedly killed efforts to market beyond the El Paso region, essentially killing UTEP's ability to compete across the state. (we are talking academics here, not athletics)

NM State started an out-of-state recruiting effort and their enrollment DRAMATICALLY increased, even with out-of-state rates. I bet they also improved competition between their own students.

For the students: The "I have to work", "I am poor", and "I am a minority" excuses just don't cut it anymore. Take example from our President and get to work. It may take you more than 4 years, but there is no shame in that.

For the adminstration: A state university should not be a "no child left behind" program. A university's purpose is to provide higher education for those who are fully ready for a skill set to last them throughout their lives, not a 'fix' for the local school system.

UTEP is an amazing place, but it has a long way to go before it should be considered deserving for "Tier-One" state dollars.