y jet streaked through the skies of Salt Lake City, Utah. My destination? The National JACL Youth Conference at the University of Utah June 4^th! After I registered, I pulled all of my luggage to the dorm room I was staying in and eagerly checked the schedule for what was to happen next. A welcome social! Pizza, soda, and cookies in one of the conference rooms. I quickly spotted a few of the people I’ve met over the years at previous JACL events and sat with them. They introduced me to more people, and before I knew it, it was time to head to the next event: a Living Voices show.

The Living Voices presentation was one of my favorite events of the conference. Patty Pomplun, a Korean American, performed a piece called Within the Silence. She gave a monologue while a slideshow of pictures and video clips played on a huge screen next to her. The monologue covered many aspects of Japanese American internment—the evacuation, the 442^nd, the no-no boys, the life after camp. After her presentation, she led a discussion about Within the Silence and how Japanese American internment is relevant to life today. I was very impressed with her discussion and her performance.

After Patty Pomplun, new friends, old friends, and I all gathered in a side room and decided to take pictures of each other. We stacked garbage cans on top of each other, set a camera on top, climbed up on a tall ledge, and were entertained into the wee hours of the morning.

The next morning, after a breakfast of sausage, hash browns, and root beer, I headed to the opening speaker for the conference: Steve Nakajo. After Steve Nakajo, it was off to my first workshops. I had signed up for “Asian American Beauty”. There were six other workshops offered for the first session: Asian Americans in Business, the History of Japanese Americans, the College Experience, Changing Asian American Identity, Asian Americans in Politics, Asian American Community on Campus. I enjoyed my workshops. Four panelists—a judge for various Asian American beauty pageants, a successful businesswoman, a Planned Parenthood employee, and Miss Filipino America—spoke about their experiences in Asian American beauty and their thoughts on how Asian Americans fit into America’s concept of beauty.

After my first workshop, I attended the mentorship luncheon. I sat with a music and dance writer for a Salt Lake City newspaper. It was fun hearing about what the musicians he had met were really like.

Lunch ended, and I went to my second workshop: Taiko. Again, there were six other workshops offered: Tai Chi/Yoga, Obon Dancing, Asian American Cooking Made Easy, Calligraphy, APAs in Entertainment, and Karate. Taiko was fun, even though I was horrible at it. We all stretched and then practiced yelling. A short piece was taught to the group, and we tried playing it together. Then, everyone took a turn at “freestyling” on the drums. I was slightly embarrassed because I have no rhythm, strength, coordination, or musical inclination at all, but it was still fun.

When the Taiko workshop was through, I had an hour or so to get ready for the dinner and dance. I went back to my dorm room and took a quick nap before dressing. The Vision Award Dinner was held at the Rice-Eccles Stadium, which had been built earlier for the Olympics. The view was beautiful, especially since we were on the top floor and we could see fireworks and the city lights through the full-length windows. Mike Honda was the keynote speaker, and he spoke about the future of youth in JACL. Following the dinner was a dance. Everyone was dancing, even Floyd Mori, past National JACL president. It was quite a sight to see!

I returned to my dorm a little after midnight and changed into comfortable clothes before heading out to meet my friends. We played Catchphrase, Mafia, and cards in one of the dorm rooms all night.

The next morning was the last event of the conference. Gil Asakawa was the closing speaker. He is the author of Being Japanese American, and spoke about that. He held the audience’s interest thoroughly, even though none of us had gotten much sleep the night before!

Finally, my three-day National JACL Youth Conference adventure was over. I had made many new friends, and I had many new ideas introduced to me for further pondering. It was a worthwhile experience, and hopefully next time even more Florin JACL youth members will have the chance to participate! Thank you, Florin JACL, for an educational, motivating, and networking weekend.