In 2006, the University of Califor-nia, Los Angeles’ Asian Pacifi c Coali-tion (APC) began the “Count Me In” campaign after an attack from a student newspaper blaming Asian Americans/Pacifi c Islanders (AA/PI) for the low-ered admittance of African/Black and Chicano/Latino students. In an eff ort to dispel the misconception, APC launched a series of workshops at UCLA to edu-cate its student body about the “Model Minority Myth,” which stereotypes AA/PIs as the “example” of ethnic suc-cess. Th e workshops also educated stu-dents about the under representation of

SNAP!SNAP! Published quarterly by the Asian American/Pacifi c Islander Resource Center, UC Santa Cruz Winter 2008Vol. 9 No. 2

In this Issue...

> SNAP FEATURED - Carry the Tiger to the Mountain Interview pgs. 4-5

> UCDC Program Refl ection pg. 6> Faculty Spotlight: Rodney Ogawa pg. 7

Sharp New Alternative Perspective

You Can “Count Me In!”UC Students push for addition of Asian American ethnic categoriesBy Kia Vue

Protestor for the Count Me In Campaign

South/South-east Asians and Pacifi c Island-ers in higher e d u c a t i o n .

Soon after the forum, APC realized that the problem was larger than the UCLA commu-nity and needed to be addressed by the Univer-sity of Califor-nia itself, thus beginning the year-long UC-wide campaign. Th e “Count Me In” campaign demands that

Pacifi c Islanders have their own racial category separate from Asian American on the UC ap-plication. Th rough the separation of these two categories, the University of California will be recognizing Pa-cifi c Islanders for their historical and cultural diff erences as well as address-ing their low retention and admittance rates. Further more, the “Count Me In” campaign insisted that 10 new ethnic groups be added to the Asian American category on the UC application. Th ese include: Th ai, Bangladeshi, Hmong, Laotian, Cambodian, Malaysian, Paki-stani, Indonesian, Taiwanese, and Sri

Lankan. Th ese 10 groups were chosen based on the last U.S. Census which determined them to be the next most populous Asian ethnic groups. Th e fi -nal demand of the “Count Me In” cam-paign asked for fi nancial support from the University of California to support outreach and retention programs target-ing underrepresented AA/PI groups.

Currently, the University of Califor-nia only collects data from the following AA/PI groups: Chinese, Japanese, Ko-rean, Filipino, Vietnamese, East Indian/Pakistani, Pacifi c Islander, and Other Asian. Th ese categories are the only groups available for students to iden-tify themselves on the UC application.

Th ough AA/PIs make up 40% of the UC Berkley undergraduate popula-tion, this statistic is very deceiving be-cause “other Asian” groups such as Sri Lankan, Khmer, and Hmong are highly underrepresented. Further more, Pacifi c Islanders are greatly marginalized and often go unrecognized under the cur-rent UC system. At UC Santa Cruz, there is an estimated 20 Hmong stu-dents, 12 Mien students, and 12 Pacifi c Islanders according to statistics from the Hmong Student Association (HSA). When these three groups are combined, they make up less than one percent of the UCSC undergraduate population.

Th e “Count Me In” Campaign was spearheaded by UCLA and UC Berkley, in collaboration with all eight of the other UC campuses. Together, they organized workshops, rallies, trips

Continued on page 3

Since the early 1980s, the Hmong people of Laos have fl ed to Th ailand in search of refuge from persecution. Th is is due to the United States’ covert op-eration known as the “Secret War” of 1961 to 1973 in Laos. Th is war was an eff ort by the U.S. government to stop the spread of Communism further into Southeast Asia during the Vietnam War using the Hmong in Laos as sol-diers. When the U.S. pulled out of the Secret War in 1973, only the Hmong’s military offi cials and their families were fl own to America. “Two years after the U.S. had fl ed the country and left the Hmong soldiers to their fate, a com-munist newspaper declared the Party would hunt down the ‘American col-laborators’ and their families ‘to the last root.” (TIME Magazine, April 2003).

Two years ago, 28 female Hmong Lao refugee youths and one adult, living in a Th ai refugee settlement, attended a nearby missionary’s Christmas choir outside of their camp’s borders. Despite strict Th ai regulations forbidding refu-gees to leave the camp, the refugee chil-dren attended the choir. While returning to the camp, the adul woman and minors were detained by police. Th eir parents never saw them again. Rebecca Sommer, from the NGO Society for Th reatened Peoples International, explained how a Th ai chief police offi cer kept charging the Hmong parents “release fees” in or-der to release the children, but they had no means by which to pay these charges.

On December 3, 2005, the 28 Hmong children were deported from Th ailand back to Laos without the con-sent or knowledge of their parents. Th e Laotian government claimed they never received them from the Th ai government. As time passed, the Hmong in Laos and Lao police reported to U.S. Hmong Lao networks that the minors were being transported from prison to prison, tor-tured, raped, and some had already died.

“Despite persistent requests to Laos, made by governments, UN agen-

cies and NGOs to locate and return the children,” the Laotian govern-ment fi rmly denied having custody of the girls (Rebecca Sommers, Hun-tington News, 2007). It was not until March 2007 that the Laotian Deputy Prime Minister, Th ongloun Sisoulith, publicly announced that 21 of the girls had been found and returned to their parents. However, it was all a lie.

Out of fear that the girls would speak out on what they had endured in the past 15 months, imprisonment continued. Th e Laotian Government denied them access to leave the coun-try, and kept the girls under heavy sur-veillance. Fearing they would be killed once media attention was diverted, a female refugee fl ed Laos and entered Th ailand, while others fearing death for trying to escape, endured torture in captivity. To this day, many refugees are still held captive. In late 2007, Hmong runaways were fi nally interviewed by an independent media source. Th e girls claimed to have been raped, beaten, starved, and interrogated. Some of the girls died of starvation and abuse.

Today, the Hmong are classifi ed as terrorists due to the Patriot Act, which classifi es anyone who is trained in Guerilla warfare as terrorists. “Th e U.S. State Department is in a form of

SNAP!WINTER 2008 2

A Secret War Still Under FireHmong refugees stand against the walls of fear and injustice

News and Events

By Kia Vue

denial, and act as if the situation does not exist, while the UN seems to be-lieve that the Hmong are insurgents,” said Ruhi Hamid, a free-lance journal-ist and fi lmmaker for BBC. ”If these people are insurgents, I cannot imagine how: Th ey barely have weapons, they have no clothes, they have no food, they have nothing, and the children -- they know nothing but suff ering. Th is is a human crisis --which must be resolved.” (Hamid, Huntington News 2007).

Topmost: Hmong refugees still in hiding from injustice and cruel punishment.

Above: Hmong refugee camp in Th ailand.

The Seedy Underbelly of Political InterestCalifornia Primary and the Asian American Bloc Vote

News and Events

By Liberty MatiasPresidential contenders take

copious note: Asian Americans vote mostly Democratic, but exit poll-ing done by a leading Asian advo-cacy group shows their allegiances do vary somewhat by ethnic lines, writes USA TODAY White House/Politics editor, Catalina Camia. In other words, there are a myriad of cultural and ethnic factors that re-fl ect Asian American political opin-ions. Ideally, one would assume that Asian American voters who took to the ballot box on Super Tuesday in-cluded those factors in their decisions.

In an eff ort to increase Asian Amer-icans voter participation, an initiative called 80-20 (est. 1999) initatied by Bay Area Asian American Political Action Committees (PAC) came to surface as a national, nonpartisan, committee. Dedi-cated to winning equal opportunity and justice for all Asian Americans through a SWING bloc vote, the initative directs 80% of our community’s votes and mon-ey to the presidential candidate endorsed by the community who better represents the interests of all Asian Americans.

However, this is politics and poli-tics is heavily concentrated in interests. Ultimately there is a signifi cant num-ber of Asian American political action committees that explicitly support a candidate to their liking, in an eff ort to garner support for the overall com-munity. In California, a majority of the San Francisco Bay Area Asian Ameri-can Political Action Committees have stood behind Democrat, Senator Hil-lary Rodham Clinton. Th e 80-20 PAC in particular, urged thousands of voters in its affi liated organizations to pick Clinton in the February 5th Primary. Th eir money and time defi nitely paid off , as Senator Clinton took California in a whopping 42.4% victory, with over 1,805,692 votes statewide (http://vote.ss.ca.gov/Returns/pres/dem/59.htm).

Although Senator Obama (D-IL) won more states overall, Senator Clinton

won states with higher delegate counts, which gives her leverage for the up-coming November election. California is especially important as its delegates make up a huge portion of the elector-ate at the National Party Conventions.

Unfortunately, although Senator Obama’s campaign message has been about change and hope all along, Asian American PACs beg to diff er. Th e re-sistance exercised by Obama’s camp showed that the candidate had no ur-gent consideration to work alongside the group. Joel Wong, an 80-20 board member said he understands Obama’s hesitation to sign anything that could be construed to involve racial quotas, even though previous candidates no longer in the race, provided unequivo-cal support for such measures. Although agreements were not reached, both Pres-idential candidates aggressively con-tinue on the race for the White House, hoarding as many delegates as they can.

As Senator Clinton continues to sweep up votes across America, there is one thing that’s for certain in Califor-nia, the Asian American vote has been decided. 80-20 though has received criticism from outside organizations due to its full support for Hillary Clin-ton, an initiative that can be construed opposite to the non-partisan. Further-more, the fundamental questions still stands as we enter into a post-primary presidential election: Is unifying an ethnic vote easier said than done?

SNAP!WINTER 2008 3

to various conferences across the state, and sent 2,000 petition post cards to the Offi ce of the President demand-ing recognition of more AA/PI ethnic groups on the UC application in order to disaggregate the AA/PI umbrella. In recognizing more AA/PI ethnic groups, the University of California is ac-knowledging that the “Model Minority Myth” has long overshadowed South/Southeast Asians and Pacifi c Islanders.

Less than a year since the cam-paign began, Judy Sakaki, the current UC Vice President of Student Aff airs, announced on November 16, 2007 that the demands for the changes on the UC application would be implemented starting Fall 2008. Th e new applica-tion would include the 10 new Asian American groups along with a new Pa-cifi c Islander category including: Native Hawaiian, Guamanian/Chamorro, Sa-moan, Tongan, Fijian, and other Pacifi c Islander. Th is campaign has now opened the door for new campaigns and more student collaboration across campuses. Although the third demand for fi nancial support for outreach and retention pro-grams was not addressed, this is still a victory for all AA/PIs across California.

Count Me In continued...

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FEBRUARY 19, 2008

SNAP!: How did you get involved with Carry the Tiger to the Mountain?

Wan-Yin Tang: I had been thinking about proposing a work for Barnstorm. (I knew that I wanted to do something that responded to some kind of work that responds to something like op-pression.) I read this play a few years ago because I was looking for plays to direct for Rainbow Th eatre… and it was too long to do for Rainbow. I had heard about Vincent Chin during my fi rst year here (at UCSC) and I didn’t know that there was a play. I read the play and it just reminded me so much of my experiences and my family’s es-pecially. Th at’s how I felt when I was learning about the trials and the murder; I felt that it was really important to put on a theatrical work about this event.

SNAP!: Do you feel that Vincent Chin was killed, not just because he was mis-taken for a Japanese man, but because this was a purely racist act against Asians? (But for any other underlying reasons?)

WYT: So many of the events were shaped by social/cultural/political fac-tors and seem to be completely out-side the event, but defi nitely have a lot to do with the shaping of the events. With the federal trial, they were trying to say that it was a hate crime because there was racism involved, and that rac-ism stemmed from economic factors. It seems in theory that it would have nothing to do with that one small thing, but when you think about racism, where does it come from? Of course it comes

SNAP!WINTER 2008 4

Carry the Tiger to the MountainCarry yourself to catch UCSC Barnstorm’s student production of defi ning Asian American history

SNAP Feature

By Th eresa Chan

from history, it come from the politics going on around you, it comes from eco-nomic factors. And so, I’m thinking, “Is this still going on right now? Maybe not this kind of violence, but there are inci-dents of violence, there are incidents of discrimination, of oppression, that does come from racism, not just to Asian Americans and the Asian American community but to all kinds of groups.

SNAP!: Th e fi rst impression of this play is that it has more of an East Asian background rather than an Asian American one. How does the title tie into the actual story?

WYT: Tai chi is in the play throughout as a running motif that ties the entire play together. Lily [Vincent’s mother, played by UCSC alumna, Wendy Fong] is seen doing it throughout, but she had never taught Vincent any Tai Chi. She had felt after her son’s death, that maybe if she had taught him how to do tai chi or

its philosophies, perhaps, he would have been able avoid to everything. Maybe, he would have been able to defend himself if he had known tai chi or could have avoided the whole situation entirely, may-be he would still be alive. It seems as if it would have an East Asian background, but this is entirely an Asian American themed play with Asian American issues.

SNAP!: From looking at the script, I notice that East meets West in a way that perhaps many Asian Ameri-can/Pacifi c Islanders (AA/PIs) might be familiar with, such as growing up multi-culturally, dealing with family, assimilating into American culture and stereotypes that are placed on AA/PIs.

WYT: Th ere are a number of people who were involved and a number of groups who protested. One woman who had protested said, “When you think of Asians or when you think about Asian Americans, they think about people who

Carry the Tiger to the Mountain, a play written by Cherylene Lee, is one of three plays that UC Santa Cruz’s Barnstorm Th eatre will be putting on this winter. Th is play depicts the real-life events that led up to the hate crime against Vincent Chin (played by fi rst year, Tadao Koyama), a Chinese American man murdered in 1982 by two Cauca-sian men in Detroit. Th e play displays the eff ects the case had

Above: Justin West, Wendy Fong, Jeremy Hel-geson, and Casey Hackenmeyer. Right: Casey

Hackenmeyer, Tadao Koyama and Nick Chan

Continued on page 5

on his family and the Asian American community. Carry the Tiger’s director is Wan-Yin Tang, a fi fth year from Merrill College, double majoring in theatre arts and anthropology.

SNAP! sat down with Wan-Yin to discuss her interests in directing this particular play, her own take on the events sur-rounding the story, the diffi culties in putting on this produc-tion, and the way she would like Carry the Tiger to be perceived.

SNAP!WINTER 2008 7

Professor Rodney Ogawa has been the Chair of the Education Depart-ment and a professor at the University of California, Santa Cruz for six years. He enjoys working at UCSC because the university looks at educational policy and how schools adapt to it; his main focus is on how teaching is af-fected by the organization of schools.

Prof. Ogawa is a third generation (also known as sansei) Japanese Ameri-can who grew up in Pasadena, CA. He was born in a Japanese hospital outside of Little Tokyo in Los Angeles, after his family came back from the internment camps during World War II. Prof. Oga-wa has a history of working with Asian American/Pacifi c Islander issues and supporting the continuation of resources for the university and the community.

He started his undergraduate edu-cation at the University of California, Los Angeles. During his years at UCLA, he was active in the process to start the Asian American Studies Center and attended one of the very fi rst courses off ered in Asian American Stud-ies. Since the Asian American Studies program was new, Prof. Ogawa took the op-portunity to be a teach-ing assistant for Profes-sor Ronald Takaki. All of this occurred during the Asian American Move-ment which was “an exciting time to be able to participate in,” according to Prof. Ogawa.

After earning his undergraduate degree, he decided to pursue his teach-ing credential and go into education. He was inspired by one of the Asian American Studies’ principles, which was to open doors of the university to minorities so their histories and expe-riences will be in the curriculum and pedagogy of the institution. He con-tinued his studies at Occidental Col-lege earning his Masters Degree and

Faculty Spotlight: Rodney OgawaA lifelong advocate for Asian American Studies

Faculty Spotlight

By Jennie TakagawaTeaching Credential. After completing his Teaching Credential and Masters Degree, Prof. Ogawa went back to his alma mater high school and taught his own Asian American studies course. He went on to become the Administrator of Desegregation in the city of Pasadena.

After working in the community on Asian American/Pacifi c Islander (AA/PI) issues and teaching others, he felt it was time to learn more and continue his education. Prof. Ogawa left California and went to Ohio State University; he believed attending school there would give him a broader sense of the United States. After living in Cali-fornia his entire life and being used to its diversity, Ohio was a much diff erent environment than what he was used to. Refl ecting on his time there, he told of his experience of the lack of Asian American culture around him. “Th ere was a Chinese restaurant that had been there for years. After ordering my food, they gave me bread and butter before the meal,” he laughs, recalling how weird it

was for him. It wasn’t until there was a Honda factory near his

university when a Japanese restaurant opened up to feed its workers. “It was my only access to any-thing Japanese,” he said.

He enjoyed his years at Ohio State

University, and after graduating he returned to

California to attend Stanford University where he received his Post-

doctoral Fellowship in Organization Studies. After Stanford, he became an Assistant Professor at the University of Utah to help start an Asian Ameri-can Studies program. After working a few years in Utah he worked at the University of California, Riverside until he eventually came to UCSC.

When asked how he sees UCSC in comparison to other institutions,

Prof. Ogawa said he doesn’t see UCSC as having a strong diverse background. For the future of the campus, he would like to see an Asian American Studies program developed as well as a stron-ger connection between the university and the AA/PI community. Th e reason he became involved in sponsoring the Asian American/Pacifi c Islander Re-source Center’s academic internship program at UCSC is because of his ex-perience at the Asian American Stud-ies Center at UCLA. Th e center there provided support and helped make him who is he today. Professor Ogawa says he wants to do anything he can do to contribute to the AA/PI community. Moreover, Professor Ogawa has a long history of being a pioneer and active member of the Asian American move-ment. When asked who he looks up to, Professor Ogawa said that he saw Mar-tin Luther King, Jr. as a hero for paving the way, but also noted his admiration for his own peers. He said his college years, “were a very unusual time. It was so new, there was so much energy, a lot of our own people became our own heroes. ”

Prof. Ogawa teaches two class-es in the academic year. In Fall 2008, he will teach Educational Reform, an upper division undergraduate course.

“It was so new, there was

so much energy, a lot of our own peo-

ple became our own heroes..”

Professor Rodney Ogawa

SNAP!WINTER 2008 5

The Case of Vincent Chin

SNAP Feature

On June 19th, 1982, Vincent Chin, a Chinese American working in Detroit, Michigan, was murdered by two white men named, Ronald Ebens, and Mi-chael Nitz. The two men started an ar-gument with Chin at a strip club where Chin was celebrating his bachelor party. They accused him of making them lose their jobs. This argument was related to the U.S. auto industry losing employees due to the Japanese economy and their rise in International Trade. After both parties were thrown out of the club, Ebens and Nitz searched the neighbor-hood for Chin. They finally tracked him down at a McDonalds restaurant and approached him in the parking lot. Nitz held Chin while Ebens beat him several times with a baseball bat. Two off-duty police officers saw the entire incident and took the men in. Chin was rushed to the hospital and fell into a coma and died four days later. Ebens and Nitz got an extremely lenient punishment with State Criminal Charges, which con-sisted of a conviction of manslaughter turning into second-degree murder. After the plea bargain, Ebens and Nitz only had to pay three thousand dollars, while receiving three years of probation.

The Asian American community was outraged, and went after the two

A look into Carry the Tiger to the Mountain’s historical backgrounds and lasting effectsBy Jeffrey Fong

are quiet that don’t want to rock the boat.” They were protesting to say, “We’re

not going to do that, we’re not like that, we’re going to stand up for this, we’re go-ing to say something about it, we’re going to be vocal, we are going to protest, we are going to try to get this injustice solved or over-turned.” Politicization of our iden-tity is possibly not that emphasized in our generation. This is another theme in the play that I felt was really important to highlight for the production here.

SNAP!: Have there been any difficul-ties with getting the play off the ground?

WYT: At first, I thought it would be hard to get actors to come out to audition. When general auditions are announced, it tends to be hard to get actors of color to come and audition. I was afraid that we would have a hard time getting Asian-American actors to come out either because they didn’t know much about general auditions or because they don’t know whether they are ready or want to be apart of the show. Luckily, we had a good turn out and now have a great cast.

SNAP!: What is the mood or what should the audience take away after watching it?

WYT: I would want them to become more aware of this case and the events that happened and surrounded the outcome. I would hope that people would think about this so that history won’t keep repeating itself and that this was a pivotal moment for Asian Americans and Asian American history.

Carry the Tiger to the Mountain will run from Thursday, February 28, through Sun-day, March 2, 2008, at 8:00 p.m. at the Barnstorm Theatre. All UCSC undergrad-uates are free for admission, $3 for gradu-ate students and $5 for general admission.

Carry the Tiger interview continued...

men for Federal Civil Rights Charges. Ebens was found guilty, but the court overturned the ruling due to technicali-ties. After this ruling, there was a retrial due to the previous case receiving wide-spread publicity, and this time, the jury cleared Ebens of all charges. Follow-ing this ruling, there was a Civil Suit where Nitz was ordered to pay $50,000 over 10 years, and Ebens, $1.5 million.

Asian Americans should note this historic incident due to the severity of a hate crime and injustice of an individual within the Asian American community. The case projected Asian Americans as underprivileged citizens with rights that did not seem to parallel with white citi-zens. Even though Chin was Chinese and not Japanese, it still didn’t make a

difference to Ebens’ ignorance, an ig-norance that a lot of people still have.

Renee Tajima-Peña and Chris-tine Choy’s 1989 Academy Award Nominated Documentary, Who Killed Vincent Chin? recounts what happened with Vincent Chin, and gives us a visual look at what had been done. APISA will be screen-ing this film in the late winter quarter.

Here at our campus, ignorance of race and gender can be encountered and dealt with. Whether it’s with friends or with strangers, ignorant comments or conceptions about race and gender cannot be tolerated. The most grave of incidents are driven through ignorance and stereotyping, which easily leads to darker things. Watching the film is def-initely worthwhile and allows for one to see the ignorance and injustice, which led to the death of an innocent man, an event that can sadly be repeated.

Vincent Chin’s death was horrible and unjust, but it brought about a com-munity of Asian Americans, its allies, civil rights movements, and stories to be told, like Who Killed Vincent Chin? We have gained quite a lot from Chin, and hopefully this film will connect with more people, diminish ignorance, and spread the word of Vincent’s tragic death.

Vincent Chin

regarding various internship placements, I decided to intern at NBC Studios for a show called, Meet the Press with Tim Russert. As an intern in Washington at the Meet the Press offi ce, I assisted with research for show content, helped plan a 60th anniversary event, assisted producers, accompanied reporters in covering political speeches/events, and wrote a couple pieces for NBC’s cable affi liate, MSNBC. Knowing very well that my experience lay in community organizing, advocacy work, and public policy, I accepted the network position.

Moreover, I ventured into the world of broadcast journalism with little to no expectations, in hopes of learning as much as I could without being jaded by outside opinions of the media/press. I certainly learned a lot of insightful things about the career, while also meeting very important people along the way, which I later learned is an integral part as one advances in this line of work. I was also eager to get the ball rolling once I learned of the position because of the fact that so many things were going on politically on the national and international level.

I was insipired by Washington D.C. being the hub for the media elite’s docu-mentation of the world’s news. Whether it is a new legislation, policy reform, or the presidential election, I soon real-ized how rewarding a job in the news media was, especially for a politics geek like me! In the classroom, I would study and learn all these concepts, and then in Washington, I would go out in the real world and see how it all fi ts together. If there’s one universal thing that is charac-teristic of journalists from all mediums, it is the inherent passion to always be up to snuff with what’s going on, and in turn regurgitating the news in a fair and honest way to the public. Th e latter does not always occur in the manner intended, but that’s the reason why there are thou-sands of correspondents, editors, broad-casters, producers, cameraman, etc. who

Internship Experiences

SNAP!WINTER 2008 6

Th e college experience, at its best, is not a mad dash for the fi nish line, but rather an opportunity to experi-ence diff erent learning environments. You can imagine how pleased I was to fi nd out about the UCDC program through a number of professors, advi-sors, and peers. Th e program consists of undergraduates doing a semester/quar-ter-long internship inside the Capital Beltway, while also enrolled in research seminars and elective courses. Students are housed at the University of Califor-nia Center, located in the northwest area of Washington, D.C., approximately 11 blocks from the White House! In ad-dition, students have the convenience of accessible classrooms and conference rooms for events and lectures in the same building. After hearing about the many exciting aspects of the program I immediately wanted to jump on board.

Not only was this my fi rst “domesti-cated” education abroad program, but it was also my fi rst trip to the East Coast. As soon as I received notice of my ac-ceptance to the program for the Fall of 2007, I called everyone in my immediate family to spread the news. I was headed to the hub of political action and change. As a second generation Filipina-Amer-ican raised by migrant parents, I rarely had the opportunity to travel leisurely, especially to places like New York, Phil-adelphia, Boston, etc. Due to fi nancial struggles, I would often face a variety of challenges with regard to school and resources. I faintly remember being told that I could not go on a historic eighth grade East Coast fi eld trip, because we needed to pay for my brother’s college tuition and still put food on the table.

Feeling left behind from all my friends felt devastating for me. I knew from that day on, I had to work hard for the things I wanted and prove to my-self and to others that honing in on such opportunities required not only money, alone but also can be obtained through

Inside the Beltway and Beyond!Intern Liberty Matias refl ects on her work and experiences in the UCDC Program.By Liberty Matias

merit and a strong work ethic, particu-larly in academics. Seven years later, the desire to explore opportunities on the East Coast still lingered in my mind.

After a long consultation with my father about my interests and past expe-riences, I realized that I wanted to en-ter a diff erent arena and learn diff erent skills in an eff ort to narrow down my ultimate career goals after college. Ini-tially, I lined up a couple interviews with non-profi t organizations and congres-sional offi ces, one of them being Con-gresswoman Doris Matsu’s offi ce. She governs the district of my home town, Sacramento. With a little nudge from my father, I investigated more oppor-tunities, concluding that an internship in a news media-related environment would be a valuable way to consolidate my interests in political research and mass media. Th rough much delibera-tion with family members and friends

Continued on page 8

Topmost: Liberty Matias between Wash-ington Monument and Jeff erson Memorial Above: Liberty posing with executive pro-

ducer of “Meet the Press,” Michelle Jaconi

Jeff rey Fong transferred to UCSC as a junior, and is now a senior in the Film and Digital Media ma-jor. He is affi liated with Cowell College. He is half Chinese, half Italian, and grew up in Sacramento. He enjoys playing on the UCSC tennis team, especially after they won the NCAA championship last year. Th is is Jeff rey’s fi rst quarter with AA/PIRC and hopes to connect more with the Asian American/Pacifi c Islander community at UCSC. If Jeff rey’s life was a movie, the genre would be a fantasy, since his mind is like a projector, playing through the surreal stories he writes about every day.

SNAP!WINTER 2008 8

Winter Staff Spotlight

Heritage MonthPlanning Committee

Help to…> Represent the diverse Asian American/Pacifi c Islander community.> Combine our roots with our identities of today.

If you have any ideas or want to join the planning committee, contact: Kia Vue at kvue@ucsc.edu or

call (831) 459-5349.

Get involved in: > Creating events > Organizing events > Publicizing > Designing logos and themes

Asian American/Pacifi c IslanderYEAR END CEREMONY

Planning Committee

Come help plan this annual event celebrating the achievements in the AA/PI community!

Join a committee in entertainment, food, programming, publicity, and more!

Interested? Contact: Jon HonEmail: yearend.2008@gmail.com

or call (831) 459-5349

NEEDS YOU!

Jeffrey Fong, Intern

toil in the care and feeding of the press. Nonetheless, my experience in working for a reputable show, at the center of a fast-paced tour of duty at Meet the Press was eye opening and unforgettable. Th e one thing that undergirds Washington’s overall existence is the clear and obvi-ous face that it is a government and me-dia town. With that in mind, I discov-ered that there’s no better place to be!

I honestly look back at UCDC as

a keystone experience of my college ca-reer. For most of the students I met at UCDC and myself, it was the most dif-fi cult thing I’ve ever done in my entire undergraduate career. Th e setting was totally diff erent and required diff erent skills to achieve. Some skills include: navigating a bureaucracy to secure a coveted assignment, competing in a cut-throat media environment to ensure ex-posure to the most prominent tasks and

important people, or even writing a ma-jor research paper. In addition to all of those things, I successfully held down a 9 to 5 job. One wise note that prospective UCDC participants should consider is that; on campus it’s possible to pull a se-ries of all-nighters and still fi nish strong at the end of the quarter, but in DC it’s another story when you have to be at work at 9am in the morning, ready for a full day’s work in our nation’s capitol.

Inside the Beltway continued...

Nirav Raj “Monty” Prasad is a fourth year, Double Major in Business and Math. Mon-ty is affi liated with Merrill College. Th is Winter, he plans to dedicate his time and ef-forts to AA/PIRC and feels confi dent, enthusiastic, and ready to handle new chal-lenges. If Monty’s life was portrayed as a movie, the genre would be Disney because he believes that dreams do come true and fi rmly believes that some of his dreams have come true too.

Nirav Raj Prasad, Intern

Elisa Torate is a fi rst-year, undeclared major, affi liated with College Nine. She is a fi rst generation Fil-ipina-American. She was born in Manila, Philippines, and moved to the United States with her family when she was only a year old. Th is is Elisa’s fi rst quarter as an AA/PIRC intern, and she is excited about the new opportunities ahead. She hopes to gain more leadership and speaking skills, and become more involved in the AA/PI community. If Elisa’s life were a movie genre, Elisa would categorize her life as an adventure because her family loves to travel, giving her the opportunity to visit a new place each year.

Elisa Torate, Intern

Meet AA/PIRCʼs New Winter Quarter Interns! We asked each new intern: “If your life were a movie, what genre do you feel it would be?

25 APISA Film Screening:“Who Killed Vincent Chin”6:00pm @ Kresge Town Hall

Events Calendar

SNAP!WINTER 2008 9

January16 AA/PI Leadership Mixer

5:30-7:30pm @ ERC’s Lounge 28 Internship for Diversity in Nonprofi t and Community Development12:00-1:30pm @ Bay Tree Amah Matsun Conference Room A

23 AA/PI Community Reception 5:30-7:30pm @ ERC’s Lounge 31 QQPoC Winter Reception

7:00-9:00pm @ Student Union

14 Judy Yung Book Talk12:00-2:00pm @ Bay Tree Cervantes and Velasquez Conference Room D

15 QQPoC Fridays12:00-2:00pm @ ERC’s Lounge

February

March

21 William Poy Lee Book Talk4:00-6:00pm @ Women’s Center

23 Multicultural Career Conference11:00am-5:00pm @ Stevenson College Events Center

7 Crossing the LineReception w/Director Dr. Darby Li Po Price5:30-6:45 pm @ Merrill Baobab Lounge

Film Screening w/Director7:00-9:00pm @ Merrill Cultural Center

12 Public Allies Workshop4:00-6:00pm @ Bay Tree Muwekma Ohlone Conference Room C

13 INROADS12:00-2:00pm @ Bay Tree Cervantes and Velasquez Conference Room D

11 AA/PI Women’s Discussion Event6:00-7:30pm @ ERC’s Lounge5 AA/PI Men’s Discussion Event

6:00-7:30pm @ ERC’s Lounge

6 APISA Community Gathering7:00pm @ Redwood Lounge 14 QQPoC Friday Lunch for Staff /Faculty

12:00-1:30pm @ ERC’s Lounge

Asian American/Pacifi c Islander Resource CenterUniversity of California, Santa Cruz339 Bay Tree Building1156 High StreetSanta Cruz, CA 95064Phone: (831) 459-5349Fax: (831) 459-2469www2.ucsc.edu/aapirc

SNAP! Staff

visit www2.ucsc.edu/aapircfor questions and info, e-mail: aapirc@ucsc.edu

AdvisorCopy EditorLayout EditorProductionsContributors

Nancy I. KimRenald TamseRobert ImadaRenald TamseTh eresa ChanJeff rey FongLiberty MatiasNirav Raj PrasadJennie TakagawaElisa TorateKia Vue

AA/PIRCLocated on Th ird Floor of Bay Tree Building

MapAA/PIRCLocated on Th ird Floor of Bay Tree Building