Adventure Time with KC

I was away from my internship for a few days to visit my godfamily in Virginia Beach. I call them my godfamily because that is one conventional way to explain our relationships. I actually know them through the Fresh Air Fund, which I wrote about in my college essay. Anyway, one of my "god"sisters and her family live in Virginia Beach. I took a few days to hang out with them and my godmom. The two young boys are fun to hang out with, they have such interesting personalities, and they loved the beach! They showed me all their favorite shows and favorite restaurants and hung out with me in the water! I learned a lot and processed a lot of things I've been thinking about the past few weeks and months. It was a great few days to recharge and spend time with loved ones. After a long and uncomfortable bus ride back to NYC, I went back to work the next day. Someone from the Red Umbrella Project came in and talked about the U.S.'s history of oppressing Asians and Asian...

On Friday, a couple of people from CAAAV and I volunteered as security marshals for the Trans Day of Action. I had never done security stuff before, especially not for a big rally that deals with actual police. I was pretty nervous to do the security training before heading out to the action. The training helped give me an idea of what it will be like, but the rest is still rather unclear. It sounded like it won't cause too much trouble though, so I remained optimistic and headed out to the event. It was a great sunny Friday and people were gathering on the pier for the rally, to volunteer, or just tanning on the lawn in general. As security marshal, I got a free t-shirt to wear. I was so excited to DIY design my free tshirt with the scissors they provided. I missed getting free t-shirts at Rice all the time and being able to let my creative juices flow! People complimented my t-shirt afterwards, and it made me feel great. We had further security training, after which we bega...

Things are moving along! We are getting closer one step at a time to the beginning of AYA's summer program. On Saturday, Sunday, and Tuesday, I helped with the interviews to find a great bunch of youth for the summer. There was a learning curve and we improved along the way. Interviews are always so exciting. I'm irrationally excited about group interviews because it feels great to hold so much power in my hands and to make people do whatever you want. I am really proud of the three interviewers who are current youths in AYA. They are confident, helpful, team players through and through and very thoughtful about what they value. They are fair in their judgments and opinions after every round of interview, and they are delightful to work with. We basically spent all of Saturday and Sunday doing interviews. The interviewees are very unique and had great things to share. Their personalities are probably somewhat less apparent due to the time constraints and the nerve-wrecking ...

It’s been a week since I first started at CAAAV! I feel like I’m slowing getting the hang of things as days go by. On Friday I went to Vladeck public housing nearby Chinatown to gauge the amount of Asian American tenants there and John and I sure learned a lot. Social conditions there go beyond just housing, but also how the Asian tenants are organized. Apparently there are social workers that work with Asian tenants there, and they can be a great influence or a nuisance. For the most part, I have been working on AYA (Asian Youth in Action) stuff, including helping with planning the summer schedule, developing curriculum for the various political education workshops, and more pressingly, working with youth leaders on the group interview structure for this summer’s AYA youth. The interviews are tomorrow and Sunday, and I am super excited. I enjoyed working with the three girls who came in for long hours to work out how they want the group interview to go. I think it is incredible that...

Today was my first day at CAAAV! I arrived on time at 10:30am for the intern orientation, despite the fact that it was raining pretty hard this morning. Vivian, the project manager, and Anj, the lead organizer, led the orientation for me and John, and the other intern, Jeff, sat in since he started at CAAAV a few months ago already. The work environment is very casual and caring. I really like that when we introduce ourselves, we have to say not only our name but also our preferred gender pronouns. A lot of groups fight for social justice but neglect justice and sensitivity for those who do not fit in conventional gender identities. So it made me feel comfortable knowing that I am interning at an organization that truly seeks to make space for everyone regardless of race, class, gender, or sexuality. Besides introductions to all the staff and learning about the office space and logistics, we also had to talk about what we want out of this internship, what we bring to it, and what...