My jet
streaked through the skies of Salt Lake City, Utah.
My destination? The
National JACL Youth Conference at the University of Utah June
4th! 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 442nd,
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.
