N.E.W.S. THE UOiSA MAGAZINE
Spring 2015 Issue
UOiSA 2014-2015 Members Sandra Benny
Ina Song Marketing
Daphne Ho Caitlin Sherman
Program Arrada Duangdao Gary Gao Ben Leamon Alex Hardin Gwyn Snider Tara Travisano
Fundraising Gideon Hong Jia Chen Maria Pervova Ian Stoll
Courtney Theim Srushti Kamat Ellie Keeton Zaky Ramadhan Iris Tian Sam Vitello
Joe Zhao Taylor Davis Ellen Hovde Amy Li Alana McKenzie Fatoumata Traore Shuo Xu Rimi Yoneya
Alana McKenzie, Ellen Hovede, Shuo Xu, Joe Zhao Shuo Xu, Zaky Ramadhan Iris Tian 2 | UOiSA 2014 - 2015
04-11
iWeek & iNight - Let’s go some where! 12-13
Indian Night 14
Coffee Hour Interview 15
Next iSA president introduction
Spring Issue | 3
BRACE! M E , E C N E EXPERI EXPLORE, FLOWER GIVEAWAY
MONDAY: To kick-off International Week, ISA gave away free roses and candy in the EMU Amphitheatre.
4 | UOiSA 2014 - 2015
& SUSHI WORKSHOP
In the afternoon, we held a Sushi workshop that was a huge hit!
TUESDAY:
CRAFT CENTER, HULA DANCE, & AFRICAN DANCE
block printing session in the Mills.
Spring Issue | 5
ISA hosted a hula-dancing lesson.
Big thank you to Elizabeth from K.Aire who led the Hula lesson!
6 | UOiSA 2014 - 2015
BASKETBALL GAME
WEDNESDAY:
& MOVIE NIGHT
A basketball-shooting contest went down at the Oldtown court where people made three’s and dunked the ball. Also, participants played a friendly 5-5 game! It was very exciting and fun! After an exhausting day playing basketball, ISA hosted a movie night in the Mills where we watched Big Hero 6 and ate lots of pizza and other goodies.
Spring Issue | 7
THURSDAY:
Thank you to UO VSA who helped teach us how to make spring rolls. Our spring roll workshop was a big success and
In the afternoon, ISA hosted a Ping-Pong tournament with the help of the UO Table Tennis Club. Thanks to all the 2x2 Ping-Pong teams who participated! 8 | UOiSA 2014 - 2015
SPRING ROLL WORKSHOP & PING PONG
FRIDAY:
SOCCER GAME & INTERNATIONAL FAIR
For the last day of I-Week, we hosted a World Cup Soccer game was a blast!
Fair and Games. This took place instead of our regular coffee hour and more up booths and brought cultural games
Spring Issue | 9
SATURDAY: INTERNATIONAL NIGHT We wrapped up I-Week with a night celebrating food and music from all around the world: International Night! The evening began with crafts and activities. The Emerald Photobooth provided a photo shoot and guests had the opportunity to get a henna tattoo, make a Venetian mask, and write about their travels or hometowns and pin it to our travel board map. Dinner was a delicious assortment of some of the best international food. The meal began with an eggplant dish from China, cheese Fatayer, and Tabbouleh followed by daal curry, rice and naan, tamales, and jajangmyeon (a Chinese/ Korean noodle dish) which could be washed down with Thai iced tea and/or Horchata. To top it off dessert was tiramisu and cinnamon-sugar-coated churros. Our show opened with the UO Wushu Club and took us on a cultural journey around the world from China, to India with a traditional solo dance by Namratha Somayajula, and to South America with a local salsa dance troupe the Salseros. We were also honored by appearances from KP performing the Tinikling stick dance, the UO Improv Group, K.Aire, the Saman dance from Indonesia, tap dancing, the Lotus Dance by VSA, and an international fashion show presented by members of the International Cultural Service Program. At the end of the night everyone returned home with pictures and crafts feeling full of great food and memories.
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WHAT DOES
MEAN TO YOU?
ISA is Family ff i D g n i c HAPPINESS! Embra Belgium Waffle s d n e i r F s Dearest Intergalactic Space Anonymous s d n e i r F Awesome, Wonderful , d o o F Fun, L erences
ManyFaces! Community & Solidarity
A Forever Friendship
! Free food @ Means a lot t for lo a s k ! ys n ida a Fr h on T 4:00 vents Internally Suspicious
Antics
ISA helps connect every culture around the world
ove an d Peac e e all the nice ional t a n r e t in r fo ducks
A WELCOMING COMMUNITY! Spring Issue | 11
UO StUdentS Of the IndIan SUbcO Article by Namratha Somayajula
Sunday, April 19, 2015–EUGENE, OR– Universi-
ty of Oregon Students of the Indian Subcontinent hosted their annual culture night, Ustav, that each year brings together a variety of cultures from across the Indian subcontinent. A word derived from Sanskrit, Utsav means “celebration”– one of the primary goals of UO SIS, in putting on Utsav each year, is to celebrate the immense diversity and the beauty of the arts and histories of South Asia. Each time, dancers and singers with talents from across the region come to the stage of the EMU Ball-
This year, performers in Utsav represented many different parts of India, and came from the U of O, from around Eugene, and even from Portland. Performers from Nartana School of Dance, a school of Kuchipudi dance in Portland, Oregon, gracefully opened the show with a number of Kuchipudi dance items. Kuchipudi is a classical dance form from Andhra Pradesh in South-Central
12 | UOiSA 2014 - 2015
India, and the dancers of Nartana School of Dance skill-
A talented group of women from Eugene performed a vibrant traditional folk dance from Rajasthan, adorned in blue and red traditional dresses, a headdress, and colorful bangles. Communities throughout Rajasthan perform folk dances in the deserts and villages across the state for many occasions, and the performers at Utsav successfully brought the joy and spirit of the dance to the Ballroom stage. Towards the end of the show, Eugene high school student Sukriti Agarwal transported the audience to the southern tips of India when she performed a beautiful Bharatanatyam dance piece. Bharatanatyam is an ancient classical dance form from Tamil Nadu, India. Similar in some ways to Kuchipudi, Bharatanatyam dance also is
OntInent preSentS UtSaV, 2015 Photos by Natsumi Seki/Emerald
usually accompanied by Carnatic music, and combines
songs–Manwa Laage and Dola Re Dola, the second being her childhood favorite–and blew the audience away with
word Bharatanatyam is itself a combination of four Sanskrit words that describe the art form’s main components:
Incorporating these elements seamlessly, Sukriti performed her piece to the melody of Sanskrit chants, which were dedicated to Hindu Goddess Lakshmi and which
Naman Jain, a student at the University of Oregon, took to the stage with boundless energy and a clear passion for his art. He sang an upbeat and melodious amalaudience the whole time. His performance complemented this year’s theme for Utsav–Bollywood 90’s Flashback– as did the impressive contemporary solo dance performed by Sagarika, who is also a young Eugene community member. She performed to a medley of two different
Also sprinkled throughout the night were a variety of performances of Bhangra–a folk dance of the northern Punjab region of India–including those by Eugene Bhangra and lastly, by the U of O Bhangra team, who closed the show with a grand impact as they do each year. UO Students of the Indian Subcontinent would like to thank the University of Oregon’s Department of International Studies, the Mills International Center, and made this year’s Utsav possible. They would also like to thank Taste of India, an Indian restaurant in Eugene, for catering delicious food during the evening. The members of SIS look forward to seeing the Eugene and U of O
Spring Issue | 13
Coffee Hour Interview Name: Zhenpeng Zou or (Frank) Year in School: Grad Student Major: Economics Hometown: Qingdao, China iSA: What do you like about the University of Oregon? Zhenpeng: I love football and I love going to games
like the University’s economics program too. iSA: What are your hobbies? Zhenpeng: I like playing tennis and listening to all types of different music. I like watching sketch comedies also. iSA: What is your favorite college memory so far? Zhenpeng: years ago), I followed the Ducks to the Rose Bowl and got to watch Mariota and the ducks win another Rose fans.
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iSA: What is your hopes for the future? Zhenpeng: I hope to get a research job in the United States. iSA: If you could go anywhere in the world, where would you go? Zhenpeng: I would go to Italy because I love the culture there and the food is delicious. iSA: What are three words to describe yourself? Zhenpeng: Laid back, nerdy, open-minded iSA: Are you going to I-Night? What event are you most excited to attend? Zhenpeng: going to I-Night because I enjoyed watching all the different cultural acts. I also went to the sushi workshop and I watched the movie Big Hero 6.
iSA‘s new president of 2015-2016
Mission statements Keep ISA Traditions Keep all of the traditional ISA events, like coffee hour, week and night, Halloween and winter dance, and the end of the year BBQ. I will continue to make these events successful and add on to make them bigger and better. 2. Cooperate with other students group -Isa participate more other student groups’ events, and help other student groups marketing their events. -Invite more student groups to ISA events, and help them promote their groups and events. -Come up new events cooperate with other students groups. 3. Set up international students fit in program -Come up new events help international students adapt to college life in America, And events Building up bridge between international and American students such as international job fair. Isa group Ducks football game, etc 1.
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