I'm sitting here watching CNN with Larry King interview Stevie Wonder about Barack Obama and I had to blog about this interview because I didn't want to forget it. This interview was special because Stevie Wonder displayed great optimism and the lines that struck:

Wonder: Because, you see, let me tell you why -- first of all, you know, I see the world very optimistically. And I think that I see the better of people than the worst and I think that I have confidence far more in America than those who don't. We have to move forward in order to be a great country.And I have always said throughout my career and, you know, throughout the last few years of my working on the road and stuff, I've been saying, we must become a united people of the United States. And I just believe that, and I know without question that President- elect Barack Obama is a man who has that kind of spirit -- reminiscent there of King and Kennedy, and the best of some of the greater leaders in our country.

His optimism was so pure, something that wasn't forced or superficial. I have heard that it will take more than Obama's two terms of presidency to erase what Bush has done to our country. Nevertheless, Wonder's conviction to the future of the United States was so different and insightful. I admire his view and how he can see such beauty in this world where it seems like everything is going wrong. And, it reminds me how our reality could be so misconstrued that we fail to see its inner beauty.

Here is a clip from youtube of Def Poetry Jam that my good friend showed me. It ties well into the theme of this whole blog.

www.youtube.com/watch

It is amazing!!!

That is all.

Today, there was a sign of hope. We had two speakers who came to my peace or war class to talk about their dedication to activism and I soaked all in. Out of the two, I found Carl Davidson, who I think once headed the Student for Democratic Society, was  the most insightful to listen to. Basically, he took us on a descriptive journey through his most profound moments in his life. He described his experiences in the most profound and effective way, I have ever heard. He would say: " image: one of two white men at a  cotton plantation church filled with black farmers standing in front of Stokely Carmichael preaching about grassroots movements." " Image: black students being sprayed with fire hoses" He said that he sympathized because he thought of his black friends.
He would go on to say: " image: Vietnam anti-war movement where GI's threw medals out."  and so forth. It was as if I was taken through a history book. And Carl was from one of the most blue-collar working states in the nation and how he got where he was he basically stated that " I'm not a special person, I only put my mind to it." And here, Carl has worked for the progressives for Obama working to change voters mind and challenge their prejudices for a better America. He went to Pennsylvania during the election and sat down and spoke to a lot of steel miners and changed about 45% of the vote by tacking Hillary Clinton's defeat speech with her picture and distributing them out to the women, then comparing Mccain's voting record to that of Obama and see which miner's would prefer. Of course, Obama had the most pro-labor record of the senate and mccain had the most anti-labor record. If people still disagreed then that would mean only one thing: Obama was black.

But, that is the beauty of it. That Obama is elected and he is a black president. One barrier has been broken, and that SHOULD allow us to move further. And it gives me a little hope that there are people like Carl Davidson and Lesly Kagan who can recognize their privileges are willing to help for change, because who else could have changed these miners' mind other than Carl Davidson. Similiar race and background, today, still transcends all. Hopefully that will change. 

They both recognized the need for a better integration of race, gender, and immigration into social movements. They didn't say much as to how because I think that is what we as the next generation need to start doing, especially with Barack Obama as the president-elect.

Just thought I would share.

I think institutionalized racism is probably one of the worst kinds there are. It is so instilled that it makes it so much harder to change no matter how hard you try, no matter how angry it makes you, institutionalized racism has history, tradition, and has much more of an impact.

Recently, my school's administration has canceled a very important class called "History and Development of Racism" without any substantial reasons. It has a long waiting list and has been said to drastically students lives. The administration has said that it has canceled it for a variety of reasons, including that they want to file the class under the African Diaspora studies. First, the department titled African Diaspora studies is already a problem, but to have a class under it titled History and Development of Racism already says what the administration believes in. The class has been taught by a white male professor for 28 years and for the administration to cancel it next semester just for re-evaluation or what not, is basically an blatant act of institutionalized racism. This is not the first time. The administration has canceled Asian studies classes before and just recently changed its history core to allow students to fulfill their history requirement with classes that aren't Anglo-centric. The students here are outraged and have written letters, protested and what not. But, no matter how much changes, there is always another way for an institution to take you back further, despite so much you have tried to change or already did. This makes me mad.

You feel so marginalized in an environment such as this. How do you escape? Where everyday you walk to class in a room full of 20 or so students and you are the only person of color talking about race, immigration, and gender. What do you do?

The answer I thought was to have more facilitation of discussion and to HAVE more classes like History and Development of Racism.

" Are we shy? Are we setting new ground? Are we different?"- priscilla ahn

During the questioning period on Thursday's panel, Kirstie posed an interesting question for Katy Hong. It was around the lines of " There are so many non-profit organizations, how do you choose just one? " Katy briefly answered that immigration  was just something she had an attachment to, she didn't really pick, it just picked her.

I think it was a really good advice and good point of view to have. There's so many out there that you feel the need to do everything and care about everything that each organization fights and stands for. There's just no enough hours in the day to do everything you want, everything you want to learn about this world, this nation, even this city.

hey every little effort counts.I'll try to keep that in mind. =) 

okay, I'm using my co-workers' computer, but its all in Japanese. I'm just doing everything by memory. oh yeah, and good news for JANM... George Takei, from Star Wars went on Wanna Bet, a new game show on ABC, and won over $100,000 for the museum. Crazy huh?

Yesterday, we had a gentrification panel where prominent members of each different asian enclave came to talk to us about their community work and what they see as problems or challenges that they face in their respective communities. The panel basically gave us a run-down on the problems that each enclave faces today. They answered questions such as: What the new demographic is? How that is affecting the current residents? What does the future look like? And what are the conflicting opinions on the matter?

It was nice to see a broad spectrum of each ethnic enclave represented. We are assigned to each individual enclave and so focused on our specific ones that its interesting to hear what Thai town, for instance, is going through. And, you know what? Everyone has the same overarching themes. Shocking, I know! This after thought brings me to the subject of my previous post. How do we bring about what we want to accomplish with a system that runs on greed and money? ignorance and stubbornness? Upper versus low? Old versus young?

Where's the chance for harmony? Where is the margin where we can live in cohesiveness?
 
Apparently, there is none , if the problem of gentrification is rapidly worsening. I get the idea that there is a real sense of urgency and immediate action.

Then, there is always a sense of hopelessness that I always feel when problems of our society arise in conversation or lectures. One problem leads to another problem and discussion just doesn't end. THere have been countless times where conversation could go on and on and never end. There is no simple solution. It takes almost close to a miracle to solve them, I believe. These problems have been grounded in things that simply cannot be changed. One problem such as the change of ownership of one building leads to forced relocation of people from one area to another. Sometimes, people can't just pick up their things and go. We seem to  underestimate so much. We underestimate the humanity of people; we lose the sense of care for others and get wrapped up into our own worlds and our own desires. I admit, I am one.

 I walk past at least two homeless people every single day. Where is the care for them? The problem is so blatant that its right in front of our eyes? 

 Maybe I'm just giving up too easily. But, this feeling of loss of hope seems so present and common.

There's so much unanswered questions and so few answers.











On a brighter note: =) P.S Thanks again everyone for the awesome birthday!! I really appreciate it! =)  nessa, do you think you can e-mail me the pictures you took yesterday? Thanks!!

The theme of change has been reoccurring throughout this year, not only with the presidential election, but also  recently with the Gala dinner for LEAP and at JANM. On Saturday, I went to one of the volunteer committee meeting and it was all about keeping up with the times. Most of the volunteers at JANM are the elderly and are not familiar with technology, specifically the internet. And, so they were really intrigued with the content on the website, like the articles online, etc. They were so happy that their heritage and part of their identity could be captured with this unfamiliar medium of communication they did not grow up with. I just sat there and found it to be heart-warming that they liked to be up to date with the times. They knew the internet is a powerful tool today and wanted to be included.

change is so simple to say, but so much harder to accomplish. We like to be comfortable. We like to be in control of our settings and our own ways.


This reminds me of a song I listened to during a meeting at school...

"Change" by Tracy Chapman.

If you knew that you would die today,
Saw the face of god and love,
Would you change?
Would you change?

If you knew that love can break your heart
When you're down so low you cannot fall
Would you change?
Would you change?

How bad, how good does it need to get?
How many losses? How much regret?
What chain reaction would cause an effect?
Makes you turn around,
Makes you try to explain,
Makes you forgive and forget,
Makes you change?
Makes you change?

If you knew that you would be alone,
Knowing right, being wrong,
Would you change?
Would you change?

If you knew that you would find a truth
That brings up pain that can't be soothed
Would you change?
Would you change?

How bad, how good does it need to get?
How many losses? How much regret?
What chain reaction would cause an effect?
Makes you turn around,
Makes you try to explain,
Makes you forgive and forget,
Makes you change?
Makes you change?

Are you so upright you can't be bent?
If it comes to blows are you so sure you won't be crawling?
If not for the good, why risk falling?
Why risk falling?

If everything you think you know,
Makes your life unbearable,
Would you change?
Would you change?

If you'd broken every rule and vow,
And hard times come to bring you down,
Would you change?
Would you change?

If you knew that you would die today,
If you saw the face of God and love,
Would you change?
Would you change?
Would you change?
Would you change?

If you saw the face of God and love
If you saw the face of God and love
Would you change?
Would you change?

A picture of the entrance of Chung King Road.  I took this picture really randomly and I think it came out a lot better than I expected. With the street cars in the background against the nice blue sky, it reminds me of East meets West. And my mom wearing the green shirt, standing on the street corner,  an immigrant from Taiwan to America is standing right in the middle- looking lost- a conflict most Asian-Americans, I feel, are nowadays. We are confused as to where we trace our identity to. I know, I recently and still a bit confused.

Another thing, this picture says to me how important it is to revitalize Chinatown, but also how important it is to deal with the progress of the modern age. For instance, in particular, chinatown has been hit hard with increasing rents and the influx of art galleries. Is there really a one solution to the problem of the art galleries? I think not. There has to be a good understanding of both sides to the problem. It can be stated as simple as that, but as a on-looker looking inside to the problem, what can we do? Is there anything that we can do to help facilitate this problem? I was thinking about this as I was busy writing notes during the interview mainly conducted by Fatima. As a person who has gone to the suburbs of Monterey Park, San Gabriel Valley, and Arcadia for Chinese food, I am a bit confused as to how this can be solved. Its true that people like my parents don't go to Chinatown anymore as we used to very frequently for dimsum at Empress Pavilion. I don't know why we stopped, but we just prefer to go do Arcadia for restaurants like Simbale- who serve Taiwanese dishes that my parents have grown up with. Maybe because driving to Arcadia is easier to drive to, more advertisements, more selection of restaurants, rather than the same types seen on Broadway that Ming, a restaurant owner of New Dragon Seafood, told us about. Or maybe it even is the language difference. My parents, especially my mom who doesn't speak english that well, feel its more comfortable to speak in her natural dialect- taiwanese. I would. I have felt countless times how language can be such a barrier.

When I saw this sight, I was delighted. In the middle of the courtyard, on Sunday, around 4:30pm, it was the most random time you could think of visiting Chinatown. Yet, these old men were playing mahjong( I think). But, it was as though they convene every weekend to relive their good old days. It just makes such a big statement how culture can be easily forgotten.  Who does this anymore? Especially in America? The only place I saw this was in Taiwan was last summer and that was a rare sight too.  I just wanted to run over there and take lots of pictures, but I thought I would be intruding.

Basically, a hidden treasure tucked away so that no one could see its history. It has a very deep history that is written in Lisa See's book "On Gold Mountain". I should try to get a copy and read it, for research, and for my own knowledge. 53 years. Wow....too many years to count on my fingers. never have I seen so many delicate, intricate, items. I also have pictures of some of them, but as Fatima can attest to my forgetfulness, I forgot my memory card at the leap office.


and LEAP Interns hard at work at Fong's art store.

Well,  for friday was the Mike Shinoda opening at JANM. ABout 800 people in total came. 250 VIPS, and the rest hard core fanatics of Mike Shinoda. I had the chance to have one to one time with Mike Shinoda, but he was busy on the phone. I was dragged into, well not dragged but by chance I was the only intern they could find at the time, where he was in the museum to help him sign posters of his art work. He was really nice and thanked us for helping him.

Fatima and I went to Chinatown to interview restaurants/store owners for the LEAP project and it was unexpected in a bad and good way. The restaurants that we initially were recommended didn't really work out for us. We first called a couple of restaurants and a lot of the restaurant owners weren't in at the time. I think Wednesday is a standard day to take off. But, besides that, it wasn't that the restaurant owners were absent that deterred me quite a bit from the task, but  it was the fact that most of the store owners spoke Cantonese. Even though, most of the store owners can understand Mandarin, there still is a distinct difference. The atmosphere is different, I can't really explain it. But, it is different than if I were to go to Arcadia, for example. There still is a barrier even though I can speak a little Mandarin. I tried talking to my father about it, and he agrees that in order for people to be more receptive to us, we would probably have to be able to speak Cantonese. Language is extremely important and while reading Christable and Kirstie's adventure, I think language fluency is crucial toward success.

Today's experience sort of was a reality check. I mean, Fatima and I were completely aware of the situation even from people who have been working there for such a long time. Its going to be a lot harder then I realized. But, on Sunday, we will go again and follow up one our leads. Good news, we did find one, K.G Louie- an art store, who was willing to talk to us and has been in business for 70 years. We're going to go back and take some awesome pictures.

And, I had an opportunity to have a sneak peek of the Mike Shinoda exhibit, and it's pretty good. I recommend it.

   I really liked Vanna's presentation about presentation skills. Being videotaped was a bit intimidating, but I learned so much about how important it is to utilize body language and movement to communicate effectively to the audience. There a lot of things I want to try out when I do have to speak in front of the audience, and I think it will help me tremendously such as refraining from upspeak and learning to talk in a deeper tone of voice, and  " I CAN!"
    Last weekend, JANM had just finished their national conference where Japanese Americans from around the nation gather in Denver to speak about their experiences, e.g. internment camps as a child, being in the 442nd division in WWII and receiving the medal of honor. There were many photos about the people who my supervisor met and there were all interesting. It just makes me realize how there are so many different stories that need to be heard and documented or else our own history will be forgotten.

The staff members are just coming back so I haven't really had anything much to do. But, I'm going to upload the pictures from the conference onto the website so that it could be shared with the community.

Anyway, the first day at CBO was really fun. One of the volunteers' husband, Marty,  goes on a fishing trip a few times during the summer. And the irony, is that Marty doesn't like to eat fish. So, every time he goes fishing he donates the fish to the volunteers at the museum. So the sashimi lunch happens around 4-5 times the summer. oishii desu ne!!

gotta have shoyu and wasabi

we also had a farewell party for one of the museum staff members. So it was a full day.

Today, I got a chance for a private tour of the museum lead of one of the senior docents, Mas Matsumoto. He was a child living in an internment camp, which I found really interesting because he told me a lot of stories behind the pictures and things you wouldn't normally learn from walking around the museum alone. He was really knowledgeable and so easy to talk to. I learned more about the history of Asian-American immigration to the United States and the hardships they had to endure. It was a great learning and informative experience. And Mas Matsumoto's father and brother is in one of the pictures displayed in the museum.