You all know that I have a propensity to obsess over things. LOST. Tina Fey. Quesadillas from the Fort Greene Flea Market.

Well, last Friday evening, I think I crossed the line from obsessive to restraining order territory when I spent nearly two hours googling and reading about Cory Booker, the cerebral yet pragmatic Mayor of Newark.

This is a man who was educated at Stanford, Oxford, and Yale Law School, could have had any cushy private sector job in America, yet decided to run for City Council of Newark, an embodiment of America’s most critical urban maladies. Not only that, but he lived at Brick Towers for eight years and advocated for tenants’ rights in Newark’s most notorious housing project (many of you may be familiar with it because Red Man shouts out Brick City in his tracks).

Then in 2002, he ran for Mayor against incumbent Sharp James, who accused Booker for being a carpet bagger and not being “black enough” to understand the residents of Newark. Booker lost that election by a narrow margin but successfully ran again in 2006 to become Mayor of Newark. He’s gone on to make sweeping changes in crime reduction, prison reform, and job growth. Mayor Booker does not just talk the talk but he walks the walk. Literally. He would patrol the streets with police chiefs in Newark’s crime plagued neighborhoods in the middle of the night.

Um, Mayor Booker, if you ever feel like you are being followed by a short Asian girl with glasses, that’s because…you are.

Okay, so why am I obsessing over a Mayor of a city that I don’t even live in or have never even visited?

Because Newark is a symbol of struggle. You can replace Newark with the abortion movement or women’s rights or environmental reform. It represents what can happen when we allow these struggles to fester.  And Cory Booker embodies the passion and endurance it requires to overcome this struggle and bring reform.

I watched an interview with him where he mentions a Martin Luther King Jr quote: “Change does not roll in on the wheels of inevitability, but comes through continuous struggle.”

As soon as I heard that, I nearly choked on my kimchee fried rice.

As many of you regular readers may know, I’ve been struggling to get my U.S. green card. Despite the fact that I have lived here for nearly 28 years, was educated here, and now work here, I have to endure the byzantine immigration process just because my parents made a wrong turn twenty years ago.

Yesterday, I spoke with a pro bono lawyer for immigrant advocacy and he also told me that my only option would be to wait 5-7 years for my parents to sponsor a green card or get married and not wait for one. And that’s about as easy as it sounds. Every women’s magazine in America practically tells us that women over 28 are more likely to get struck by lightening than get married.

Anyway, when the lawyer told me this,I broke down. I mean, why weren’t there other, untraditional paths to take? Why was I being placed in the same line as people who just got to this country? And what was more concerning was that the lawyer told me that this was not a unique case. There are many people who are in the same situation who can’t get out.

And then I remembered Mayor Booker’s words. And I realized that instead of asking, “WHY me?” I should be asking “WHAT can I do and HOW will I do it?”

Now, if I were really truly emblematic of Mayor Booker’s character, then I would probably get a law degree and advocate for my own citizenship while concurrently rehabilitating abused pit bulls from Michael Vick and building a homeless shelter and an all girl’s elementary school for math and science.

But I do not possess such stamina.

So now instead of prostrating on my couch and numbing myself with endless hours of tv, I ask: What Would Cory Booker Do?

And my answer is usually: Well, for starters, he would not be watching Jon and Kate Plus Eight while crying in a tub of icecream.

Or maybe he does. Jon and Kate is a very good show!

Initially, I wanted to volunteer for an immigration reform or advocacy group but many of these groups focus on navigating the current immigration system instead of proposing changes.

I think I want to start my own group. I know it’s crazy. Immigration is not an urgent issue during a time of economic uncertainty. In fact, many Americans, democrats and republicans alike, tend to promote protectionist policies during a bad economy, leaving immigrants to struggle on their own.

But yesterday, I kept asking, why me? Why do I even want to become a citizen? I have a good job that sponsors my visa. There’s no likelihood that I would ever get deported. But when the lawyer told me the news, my first thought was, I’d rather die than wait 7 more years. Yes, I know that’s dramatic but I felt like screaming, Give me citizenship or give me death!

I think your true character is revealed during times of great struggle. I think there’s a reason that god has presented this obstacle. Am I just going to wait 7 years and wait for the inevitable change to occur? Or will I be the vehicle for it?

So I figured out the answer to WHY.

I just have to figure out the WHAT and HOW.