Back On The Road

SASC SI 2009 was truly inspiring. Despite "shit happening," I thought it went pretty well. The cohort of mentees this year was a unique one. SASC is truly a family. As each year passes, my age hits me more. I can't say the realization of age is only apparent in family, but I can say that perhaps in my mind, I associate the two things together most of the time. I think about it more whenever I am in my own family or at home.

The theme this year was "Re-Mapping Our Geography", which is a little different from past years' as it focuses on drawing, and redrawing your understanding of yourself. How did you become you in the first place? Where did you come from? How did you get there? Why are you here? Where are you on the map? Where are people like you on the map? Is the current master map inclusive of your own history, your stories, your belonging, your home? With this theme, there is a huge emphasis on belonging, space, travel, and advancement. Instead of using roots all the time, we played with maps and geography. If you think about it, geography is a huge part of our lives. It's not just limited to pin pointing where you are on the map or spinning the globe to check out where is where. You have the power to change what has already been set. Things always change. Do you want to change with it? Or do you want to ignite the changing?

I'm back on the road, and I'm moving forward. I'm in control of my direction. Even if I have no direction, I am still in control of myself. I am free to encounter whatever will appear in my lifemap. My past will be my compass. My present will be where I stand. My future will be where I go. I'm back and there is no stopping me from moving on, going to anywhere I want to go, and being where I want to be.

Dancing to Dream

Dancing is an alternative reality for me. We use language everyday to communicate to each other, to get to each others' truths. Sometimes, I would slip on my syllables, pronunciations, and tones (especially for Vietnamese). Sometimes, I would judge people's character based on their speech; questions from intellectual capacity to race, ethnicity. Some might view race, ethnicity are linked to intellect, linguistic capacity in an English-speaking-dominant locale. Language can go with or against me. Dancing for me breaks those confined ways of thinking and judging.

SASCerade last night was really fun. I enjoyed the pre-party we had at Connie's where a lot of people were freestyling: Dancing with words. Not only is freestyling a funny ass thing to do with your friends, it's a great way to display whatever is on your mind, what you are learning whether in or out of class, humorizing topics or issues--a form of humanization of speech, experiences, thoughts. Everybody has a story to tell.

The same with dancing physically. It helps us humanize our existence through the movement of our bodies. Although many people might disagree, bumpin' and grindin' falls within my interpretation of dance and what it represents. It may be "sexual", but it's still part of our humanity, existence, being.

SASCerade's turn-out was huge! I am so glad that a lot of people came to help fund SI. "Dance up on each other to help fund the empowerment of youth!" haha. So much irony. But it's necessary. We gotta hustle forreal!