common ground uc san diego cross-cultural center volume 13, issue 1 fall 2008
live...reflect...create...
Welcome Home
Building P.L.A.C.E.S for Community Edwina Welch
Cross-Cultural Center Director As I sit at my desk to write this piece I am suddenly nostalgic about our many years in building 510 and our transition year in the old financial aid space. Many wonderful memories swirl through my mind. Conversations in the lobby, the great community art, all the left over snacks, and just getting to know individuals through laughter and tears. Sitting at my desk in the Price Center in our permanent location I wonder how new memories will be made. Working with staff, interns and the community at the Center we tried to be vigilant and explicit to create a homey atmosphere. Everything from the colors on the wall, the art, the pillows and candy we hope make the space a place that says “I am welcome, I am home.” Yet there is more to do. What I learned from being in building 510 and our year in building 201 is that people are the center, people are the space. It’s been so fun and heartening to hear conversations in the lobby, to see people sleeping on the couches, and to have fun conversations by the microwave. We are slowly but surely building a new place of community, by community, and for community. We need your thoughts, energy, concerns, and ideas. What’s working great? What needs to be changed? How might we better meet your needs and needs for people yet to come to UCSD? It’s been a long three year journey to this starting place of community … so for everyone, welcome home, can’t wait to connect again.
anyeong, i’m john im and i am the new newsletter and marketing intern for the ucsd crosscultural center. i would like to welcome you to the first issue of our newsletter. the words that are printed on these pages hold the love that we as staff and interns would like to share with you. there is power in the words that we write, and it is my hope that we can recognize and respect the words of our past, present, and future. join us in bridging the past and present with the ucsd cross-cultural center newsletter. akways remember to live...reflect...create...
Table of Contents Staff Bios - page 2 Life... - page 5 Reflect... - page 8.5 Intern Bios - page 6 Create... - page 11
Violeta Gonzalez
Cross-Cultural Center Assistant Director
The CCC is a second home for me. When I get to my home in North Park there is a sense of safety and comfort. The moment I walk through the doors of the CCC that same feeling I get from being at my home returns. When I am away from the Cross due to mishaps in my life, I always feel that my life is normal again when I return. For me this is the perfect place to work, live, love, and laugh. I enjoy moments of growth, enlightenment, connections, and play. I want to share this feeling with everyone. Being in the new space and also central to campus, I hope people will find a second home too. Already I am meeting lots of people on their way to the kitchen as they are drawn to my purplely office and the no longer so secret box of candy goodies. I am the home of snacks and very comfy chairs. My life outside of the CCC is so alive. Being a San Diego native I am able to hang out with my close yet small circle of friends from high school and college. I enjoy frequent gatherings with over 100 family members (Sicilian and Mexican equals delicious food and cultural traditions). I am a mother of two fuzzy lop ear potty trained spoiled free-range rabbits. They wouldn’t even know what to do in the foreign place outside my front door. I have unlimited rentals (with no late fees- Awesome!) to Hollywood Video- horror, sci-fi, and comedy. I am constantly reorganizing and redecorating my little dollhouse (Craftmen-style cottage). I love attending community events, having picnics at the park, and enjoying all-day long beach laziness. During the winter some of my favorite moments are when I am snuggled up on my couch watching a good movie while my rabbits hang out and jump around. Life is good!
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Nancy Magpusao
Cross-Cultural Center Educational Programs
Who is Nancy? Let me give you a glimpse of who I am, through my own reflections of those around me. While having a conversation with a mindfulness practitioner, the topic of my children came up. “They’re mirrors of you,” he said. I thought about that and considered my two kids, now ages 4 and 6, contemplating aspects of their temperament and personality. They’re both introspective, internal processors – that’s a tendency of mine. My girl is full of fire, adventurous, at times sassy, more stubborn than her older brother and slower to come around in admitting faults or instigating verbal battles with him. Ask my partner, and he’ll tell you our daughter shares her mom’s stubbornness in home life and in my philosophical views. My girl will tell you straight up if she doesn’t like something or someone. My boy is like calm waters, tentative about adventures, observant, concerned for others’ feelings, one who does introspection and is finding his voice. They do represent aspects of me, some at different points and mental places in my life. My relationship with them gives me a sense of my own values – who I am. I thought about my own mom and dad. My mom, one of the most generous persons I know, was schooled in life and one who didn’t complete college; while she instilled the value of education in me and was engaged in my early schooling, supported me through college, we part ways in our view of politics and historical narratives. I learned some 30-plus years later from my dad that he was alone as a top Pilipino engineer while serving in the military, a time when “colored” segregation was policy and practice and when Pilipinos in the military were heavily relegated to confined assignments. He served in one of the forgotten wars of this country, the Korean War, in our American military. His own father was a sakada, a migrant worker doing physically strenuous farm labor. For the longest time, my dad would only say in a pained voice, that my grandfather had “a hard life.” One of his early childhood memories was hiding out with his dad in the jungles of his provincial home in the Philippines during the World Wars. Why am I sharing this? I believe my own sense of voice, agency, values and identity stems from my interpretation and lenses of these stories - ours, hers, his - that impact me emotionally, intellectually. My mom believes in the benevolence of immigration and colonization, and I understand the workings and constructions of colonization as a tool of dominance and exploitation through language, education, appearance, class. She would say my views are “resistant.” I understand her and that idea. At the same time, I feel empowered to spread consciousness from a place of compassion and love and to unearth those stories that get buried or distorted – hey, just like I’m doing now. The Cross-Cultural Center, for me, represents multiple expressions of love of social justice, access, and equities; exchanges of ideas, triumphs, frustrations, affirmations. It is where I benefit from learning stories and telling them – everyday happenings. I draw strength from a knowing of myself and from this constant flow of discovering myself through my conversations, observations, and relationships with peeps, everyday. This is a sampling of who I am: grateful, sassy, compassionate, resistant, observant, Pinay, mother, partner, mentor, knower, learner.
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Edwina Welch
Cross-Cultural Center Director
Hello community by now I think people know a little about me so what to add…. I am the youngest of six siblings. I grew up in Northern California (yay-No-Cal). I am an avid reader, usually reading two to three books at a time (something spiritual, contemporary issues, and a guilty pleasure SciFi/ Fantasy). My favorite word is “Namaste” which loosely translates into “I see myself in you.” I love to chat so I invite people to strike up conversations with me even if I look like I am moving too fast. Come by and say hello.
Lea Burgess-Carland
Cross-Cultural Center Operations & Special Projects
When I was an undergraduate I collected postcards. My whole wall in my little studio apartment was covered with them, like some kind of confused wallpaper. When I moved to California from Kansas I decided that the postcards were one thing that did not have to make the trip across the country. I only kept one, shown in the photo, which I put next to my desk at work at every job I’ve had. I look over at that postcard at least several times a day for inspiration. Some days I feel exhausted. I get tired of working full time and attending grad school full time in the evenings. I get tired of never seeing my family (my wife, Beth, and our two dogs Lola and Pixie). I think, “Why am I going to grad school for nonprofit management? So I can be broke my whole life?” But then I’ll look over at that postcard and remember. It takes guts to follow your dreams. It takes courage to work for your vision of the future, even if others think that vision is silly, or misinformed, or a waste of time. Let the others be a caterpillar, I want to be a butterfly. Some days I feel incredibly alone. I feel alone trying to spread love in a world that is so full of hate and fear. I feel alone knowing that so many people voted to take away my right to be married to the woman I love because of that hate and fear. I feel alone speaking out against war, oppression, intolerance and violence because I turn on the TV or switch on the computer and those things are being spoon-fed to us in full color and surround sound. But then I look over and remember – even if I do feel alone, I am not alone. I am a butterfly, and there are thousands of butterflies spreading their wings all over the world. There are many fluttering around the Cross-Cultural Center. Some just coming out of their cocoons and some with strong experienced wings. And I have hope.
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live...
with peace.love,joy always.
Tea Time with Tim Timothy Mok Let’s set the stage. Chilly autumn winds shift bare branches of what used to be canopies of luscious green leaves. The ones that still cling will eventually be swept and carried away. Many people go on with their busy lives, rushing from one place to another, studying for midterms, and meeting what may seem like never ending amounts of deadlines, never stopping to think what one component of life they are missing. This one important facet has often been belittled, but its effect is one that can change the world. The journey to finding this is one of great feat, though once found, it alters reality. Impossibilities become possible. It may come in many colors, shapes, and sizes, but its power is not determined by who or what. Rather, it just is.
(REPPIN BAY AREAAAA), and loves all things cute. Her favorite animals are bunnies. She loves APSA (Asian PacificIslander Student Alliance). This intense lady described that she’s looking for a Competitive Love. She explains that she doesn’t like to give all her attention to someone if that person would always, easily do the same. “I like to fight for their attention, therefore when I finally gain it, I know that I deserve it,” she excitedly exclaims as she sips cautiously. What would one in this type of love have to do to gain that attention? Mindy effervescently replies that she likes to play little games to keep it interesting and to keep them on their toes. By games, she means being a little sarcastic, playful, and ultimately staying light-hearted. With this type, they’re constantly keeping each other passionately entertained. Mindy further explains that it might be nice to have that significant other to spoil her every now and then, but through this type of love, tangible items aren’t necessary because anything they do is a gift that keeps her surprised. Mindy’s advice to the many lonely tapioca balls that are waiting to be tossed in the right cup of milk tea through this type of love is… “Hi, I’m Mindy, call me! Just kidding! Just take things and run with it. Your opportunities are endless, so don’t feel like you should be someone you’re not. Let your personality shine and if it doesn’t work, then just walk away because it isn’t always worth it. But when you do find that special someone, you know they’d appreciate you, but it’s just the beginning!” As she finishes up the last sip of her tea, she pulls out a set of Mahjong tiles from under the couch. “Now this is my kind of game.”
You must be thinking that I’m a lunatic to have such thoughts, and that I’m just fathoming random nonsensical jibberish. But what if I was to tell you that everyone has this within themselves, that you carry this power inside you? You may still look at me awkwardly, but begin to notice that I am right. To describe this littleone-that-stops-all-time-and-space in a single word, if I absolutely have to… I guess I can encompass it into four letters. Love. As stated before, love comes in many different forms, yet most of us do not fully explore the types that we carry. What do I mean? Well, what kind of love are you looking for? Living up to being a Biology major, I ran around library walk to observe (not stalk, mind you) different couples and their behaviors. The one type I eventually came across is a very interesting one. Mindy Tran is a second year psychology major Sixth College student. She comes from Hayward, California
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Carmela Capinpin
Diversity Peer Educator I always carry white out tape with me.
ROLL
John Im
Newsletter and Marketing I talk to my plants as if they were my pets. Yea, I know I’m crazy.
Lorena Ruiz
Art and Resources I have a mischievious laugh.
Denise Manjarrez
Diversity Peer Educator I love to drink chocolate milk with ice.
Mary Kong
Programming Coordinator My most productive hours of the day are in the wee early morning hours (before the sun even wakes up!) to do my work. 6
Mireya Morales
Diversity Peer Educator My nickname on the rugby team is “HYPHY” and most of my teammates don’t even know my real name! My family calls me “MONICA” and my friends back home know me as “YEYA.”
Mayra Sifuentes
CALL
Programming Coordinator Whenever I go to a restaurant, I find hair in my food.
Timothy Mok
Affiliates Liason I drink tea at least once a day.
Janice Sapigao
Joy de la Cruz Art and Activism I collect earrings! It’s a cheap hobby and I have over 100 pairs.
Paola Rodelas
Diversity Peer Educator I really enjoy awkward social situations. For example, I enjoy being in an elevator with strangers and making them feel awkward, either by calling someone solely for the purposes of starting an uncomfortable conversation or just simply talking to the strangers. 7
reflect...
Ways to Speak Up Against Oppression…
on the life you love.
Mireya Morales Have you ever been in a situation where you or someone else was the target of racist, sexist, homophobic or other types of discriminating jokes? Here are some simple tips to keep in mind next time one comes up: • Do not laugh. Silence is very powerful. It will leave the speaker thinking about what he/she said.
Dialogue, Share, Empower
• Break down the joke by saying, “I don’t get it…” and ask the person to explain themselves. (This will probably catch the person off guard and leave them silenced.)
Mayra Sifuentes PINAY Speaks is a place where self-identified females can come together and dialogue about important issues that are affecting their lives. Many of these young women strive to help their communities and become better leaders in what they do.
• Pull them off to the side afterwards and let them know how you felt about the joke. • Walk away.
I was invited to my first PINAY Speaks by a fellow intern and was really interested because I wanted to experience a dialogue rooted in truth. I wanted to hear others and also be heard. The dialogues differ each week; some are self-reflecting while others include art and crafts activities. It is up to the participants to make the group, and the dialogues, what they want it to be.
Calendar of Events December 1 - World AIDS Day Festival December 4 - Art of Democracy Exhibit January 10 - CCC Affiliates Retreat January 26 - “Walk the Line” Workshop March 7,8 - Pinay Conference
PINAY Speaks has created a comfortable space because it is open to all women who want to attend. These are women who care about what is going on in the community. They are conscious, aware, and always seek to help others. One of the most inspirational dialogues I attended was when we were given the statement “I am…” This allowed everyone to reflect and write about who they are and what defined them.
for a complete listing visit ccc.ucsd.edu
come exhibit your social justice artwork at the ccc artspace. contact us at cccenter @ucsd.edu
These dialogues are always filled with positivity and address ways we can channel our negative energy in a way that it doesn’t take a toll on us or others. These dialogues inspire me everyday to do my best. Through these dialogues I have been able to reflect on my individual growth as a student activist at UCSD. After my first visit to PINAY Speaks, I felt inspired and have continued attending every week. PINAY Speaks is held every Monday at 4:00pm in the Cross-Cultural Center. Please consider coming to one of these dialogues in order to learn something about someone else, meet new people, and meet other empowering women activists on campus.
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Reflections on the San Diego Asian Film Festival Janice Sapigao
This past October marked the 9th Annual San Diego Asian Film Festival (SDAFF), which was co-sponsored by the UCSD Cross-Cultural Center. SDAFF is a nonprofit organization dedicated to upholding and sharing the diverse legacy of Asian Pacific Islanders through the media arts.
complicated notions of love and simultaneously re-defined it.
My time at the festival represents a mixed bag of roles - as a moviegoer, as a volunteer, as a reporter and as a student. My first contact with the festival this year was at a mandatory volunteer meeting on the Tuesday night before the festival began. After enjoying the single film I saw at last year’s festival and after feeling a need to get more involved with community work, I decided to volunteer this time around. The process was simple and I recommend that more students act as volunteers for these community-based events. SDAFF refers to their volunteers as the backbone of the entire festival. This year’s festival featured a “Shorts Program” which consisted of several short films organized under a general theme. I attended the “Manila and Beyond” shorts program, which was truly heartfelt and representative of a diverse range of Pilipina/o and Pilipina/o American experiences. Ranging from stories about Little Manila (Little Manila, 2006) in Stockton, CA to one about a little girl’s voyage to the United States to be with her mother who was a mail-order bride (An Immigrant Girl’s Journey, 2008), these films presented realities that underline a sadness in Pilipina/o history. Although the shorts were intended for a primarily Pilipina/o audience, the pain captured moments that definitely resonated cross-culturally. Each short was salient; there are many talented filmmakers who were able to convey a strong sense of their passions. The rest of the program included the films Giving Care (2007), Celebration (2008) and Legend (2008).
I also attended the Around the World shorts program, which is a “revealing collection of stories traversing across time and space.” Standouts from this program included the film The Women’s Kingdom (2006) and The State of Sunshine (2007). Both films were adept at conveying emotional and political messages to the viewers. The shorts showed that imagined borders often do not keep culture within their boundaries; there are ways for it to travel and connect across cultures, countries and mediums. The rest of the program included the following films: A Drop of Life (2007) and Residue (2008). I am also a member of Kamalayan Kollective, a political Pilipina/o American student organization, that sponsored the movie House of Sharing (2008), which is about 8 Korean comfort women who survived sexual slavery, torture and exploitation by the Japanese Imperial Army. This film was preceded by a short graphic film called Wianbu (comfort woman) that explored what these women had to endure. The House of Sharing portrays the conflict, indignation and strength of women standing up (and protesting at the Japanese embassy every Wednesday) against being written and ignored out of Japanese history. This injustice is still going on. Please visit http://www. nanum.org/eng/index.html for more information on the House of Sharing. Overall, it was a pleasure to be a student volunteer at this year’s SDAFF. It’s never too late to get involved with any community work! I made a lot of great friends, enjoyed independent films and always left with some serious food for thought. Please see http://www.sdaff.org for more information.
Later that evening, an event called “Blowfish: An Intersection of Sights and Sounds” was full of Asian American hip-hop with performances by DJ Icey Ice, Far East Movement and Blue Scholars that really had the crowd hooked on every lyric and beat. It was beautiful to see a venue filled with faces for which this festival was intended to represent. Other films that I saw include The World Unseen (2008), a story that takes place during South African Apartheid in the 1950s. The story is about a romance between two women who are very much attracted to each other, against the backdrop of a racially segregated society that lawfully only accepts heteronormative love. I enjoyed this film, as it
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Beyond the “Anti-Racism Workshop” Paola Rodelas Since I started my internship at the Cross-Cultural Center as a Diversity Peer Educator, I am often asked by friends and acquaintances what I do here. “Oh, I facilitate workshops on diversity and social justice.” What immediately comes to mind are the boring, HR-required workshops infamously depicted in shows like The Office— workshops people reluctantly have to do, only to hear the same trite messages (“We’re all so different yet so similar!”) I will admit that I didn’t completely know what to expect, considering I’ve never attending a CCC workshop before my internship. I knew I’d be facilitating workshops on diversity and social justice, I just had no idea what that entailed.
on how to apply this to your everyday experience. In the last workshop we held, we had our participants read out offensive scenarios that could very well happen to them (we wrote the scenarios based on our own experiences or the experiences of someone we know). We asked them what they would do in such a scenario (i.e. your friend uses racial slurs or tells racist jokes about his/her own ethnicity). We then added on to what they said with suggestions of our own. Our suggestions aren’t simply taken from manuals and textbooks; rather, we draw them from our own experiences. Finally, it’s not just a one-way street in which information passes from us interns to the workshop participants. I’ve actually learned a lot from our participants and our workshops, and I’m sure I’ll learn more as the school year goes on. The biggest thing I’ve learned so far is dealing with offensive statements with questions. Just simply ask that person, “Can you explain to me why that’s funny?” or “What does that term mean?” is oftentimes enough to get that person to think over the meanings behind their statement.
CCC After doing several workshops since the school year has started, I’ve discovered that they are hardly boring. Au contraire, each workshop has been about an hour of laughter, dialogue, and getting to know other UCSD students. They don’t simply consist of four interns telling you what diversity is as you battle the urge to fall asleep. We encourage the workshop participants to do most of the talking and come to their own conclusions.
We also don’t repeat empty, overused catchphrases. While we do promote messages of diversity, social justice, leadership, and empowerment, we also provide suggestions
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Please feel free to set up a workshop with us! The workshops are never the same, for we have different ones to fit everyone’s individual needs. Find out more about our workshops, and how to schedule one, at http://ccc.ucsd. edu/Trainings.asp
create...
Bordertown: Connection of Mind and Body
beauty and love everywhere.
Denise “Chicanota” Manjarrez
Seeking Words to Love Mary Kong
A bordertown is usually thought of as a town alongside two countries, two nations, two worlds, etc. Yet today the concept and realilty of a bordertown is a coming together of cultures, languages, historias. Los Angeles is a bordertown. It’s my bordertown. Even though it’s not as fixed as its brother San Diego Its what I hear Its who I see Its what I live Where multiple identities, backgrounds, experiences, languages are the norm Streets of LA trick your mind. The people of LA trick your mind Its smells, noises, sights make your thoughts reminisce on distant lands. Walking down East L.A. is having ones body in one place and ones mind in another. Body in the U.S., mind in Mexico Los Angeles… Compton… home Las streets, the gente. All my examples of what it feels like to be in two places Feel part of different cultures, different spaces LA is a bordertown LA is my bordertown.
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ucsd cross-cultural center business hours: M-Th 8-9 F 8-5 9500 gilman drive. 0052 la jolla, ca 92093-0053 return service requested
cccenter@ucsd.edu (858) 534-9689 ccc.ucsd.edu
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