Another pic of Otto
Otto was howling this morning and woke me up at 6:30AM! But on the other hand...he's pretty cute.
New Member to the Chan Family
I'd like to introduce the newest member of the Chan family...Otto! Otto is a 10-week old, male German Shepherd.
SHOWTIME 2009
Helped take pictures last night (with spiffy camera and borrowed flash) at SHOWTIME 2009, the big fundraiser event for the Asian American Drug and Abuse Program (AADAP). The event was great, and it was encouraging to see the community out in support for the good work that AADAP does. Props to Paulina for organizing this whole thing while keeping her cool. (the event made me wonder how cool/uncool I was when I helped produce Chinese American Culture Night at UCLA)
The night consisted of performances by Tatum Jones, 18 Mighty Mountain Warriors, and Quest Crew, and was hosted by Frank Buckley (who was quite funny of a MC). More pictures at my flickr account.
Here are a few pictures from the night:
Special cake made by an emerging cake artist in LA. Looked good but I didn't get to taste! I honestly thought it wasn't meant to be eaten, like on those television cake competition shows. She also made a special Quest Crew cake too (it got cut off from this picture but it's in the Flickr set)
Quest Crew met up with the youth. When they arrived, the youth (who were going to perform their own dance routine later in the night) went bonkers. Lots of autographs and smiley faces. The funny moment was when this one kid kept asking different Quest Crew members to sign his chest. Yeah... haha
So I learned a few things about photography at Showtime.
- Buy an extra camera battery in case your battery dies near the end of the event.
- Get schooled in how to take better action pictures.
- Get schooled in how to take better night pictures (ie the picture above)
This was a good opportunity to learn and hopefully be more kickass at the next event.
By the way: it was a bit cool because they gave the photographers (and the other volunteers) little spiffy placards with our names on it. I think some people thought I was with an actual media source so they'd pose for pictures =)
Rough
Check out this article that was written about some of the work the nonprofit I'm at, is doing. Reading the comments leaves me feeling angry. Why are there such ignorant people out there? I'm down with arguing sensibly, when people try to make valid arguments. But honestly...why do some many forums and youtube comments end up being ignorance country?
I was talking about this with a coworker today, and she was saying how this is thanks to the ease of the internet. Feelings and thoughts people usually would have held in before, are all let out because the internet protects your identity. For all I know, these comments could be from my one white neighbor who tells my dad (who he considers white-washed enough to be cool) that the "fucking Asians are taking over".
Here are some of the comments to the article:
"Just what we need, more Asians who can't drive too good; and more businesses with chicken scratch writing."
"Many of these foiks overpopulate their own countries to the point of no return and then want to come here with the same baby factory mentality. Filipinoes come to mind!!!"
"Great more Asians!!!! Have you seen San Gabriel? It's crazy with all those Chinese signs that I can't understand, I feel I'm in a different country! I wouldn't be surprise to see the street names in Chinese as well!"
"The IRS should audit every asian tax return and put tax cheats in jail. They cheat on DMV exams and then they think they are clever but then they cannot drive. I would go more into it but then I would look like a bigot."
"Look at all the Illegal Aliens wanting AMNESTY! Don't worry Illegals and Absconders, we're gonna find you and deport you! Might as well leave voluntarily..."
It's hard to stay calm after reading these types of comments. I think usually people would say "rise above" that type of shit. When I think more deeply on it, I think it's quite the opposite. I think it's get to that level, and try to understand why these people think this way, and how can you actually do something about it. It's too easy to just "rise above" it. That just translates to "ignore" it. How does that help if we don't find ways to converse with these people who could always be opposed to us. I'm going to challenge myself to work hard to converse with those who don't already agree with me. What's the point of always being in an environment where everyone agrees with you?
Flash?
Been trying to perfect using the flash add-on for my digital SLR. Here's Tim looking...sexy...?
JACL Project Community: Culmination
Project Community! was an awesome program put on by the JACL this summer. I'm very proud of all the folks who worked on this. It was stunning to be in the audience, listening to high school students talk about the need for immigration reform, or the need to stay politically active. Awesome.
Looking forward to seeing these youngin's in the community soon.
Here are some pics from the event.
Immigration Reform Press Conference
Joey Quenga (Exec Director of Guam Communications Network) and John Delloro (National President at Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance)
Helped Connie at the press conference on calling for immigration reform. Lots of community leaders came out to speak on immigration reform in the perspective of their communities; it was nice to see a unified voice. Of all the pictures taken, I like this one. There's just something with the energy of John, the message on the sign, and the calm demeanor of Joey that makes me nod my head.
A bit tired to go in to it right now, but am making this post because I recalled I had forgotten to post up pics. The rest of the pictures are HERE at my flickr account. Haven't had a chance to delete extras, so there's a lot of similar pics (sorry!)
