Tam

Later today, Tam will be laid to rest in her home, California and although i can't physically be there, my heart is with her. This week i have been thinking of the conversations that we had in the past.

Last year in while in DC we were walking out of the train station when she rushed up to me and said... 'I was thinking of a video library for DREAM Act videos we have done, I'm taking a class right now where they are teaching us about that." She was always so curious, she listened, she looked at you in the eyes.. although she had a quietness about her, she always intrigued me because i knew that she had a lot more going on in her mind. Tam was always working in her mind, she was able to take advantage of everything she had learned to apply it to DREAM one way or the other. I had never met a more resourceful person until i met her. One time she told me about how she had been able to get some documentary done with a regular digital camera.She was also able to find the best deals buying DVD tapes, she is the one who told me where to find them.

I keep trying to hold on to these brief moments we had together. I really looked up to her. Someone in her memorial at UCLA said that we don't really like to say that a person is better than others, but Tam was better in so many ways, she was.

There are a lot of people out there who will miss her, she had closer friends than i was to her, but i always admired her work from far away, she had a different way of looking at the world; she wasn't afraid of anything. Her passion for life, music and adventure was reflected in her work. I will regret not going to the sxsw festival with her in Austin this year. I will regret not making a bigger effort in going this year. Last time i saw her she told me that the only cool thing in TX that she knew about was this festival in Austin. She then signed my copy of underground undergrads which says: 'See ya in sxsw'. We didn't make it this year, but i will go next year in her memory.

I wish i had spent more time with you Tam, but we will meet again. I will try to capture more work with my camera. You live with every DREAMer. And don't worry even if things get a bit too heavy we'll all float on all right, i knew you liked that song.

Please take a minute to sign her petition to grant Tam citizenship