The World is More Than I Know

On the 2nd of April, I, along with the rest of the Global Scholars, heard from Vanessa Hua, author of A River of Stars , Deceit and Other Possibilities , and  You Don't Look Like Your Picture. After having read A River of Stars  (courtesy of Ms. Diederich), I was excited to get to hear from its author. Ms. Hua became interested in storytelling (pertaining specifically to Asian-American stories), after hearing one particular story that intrigued her: the story of Azia Kim, a teenaged Asian-American woman from Orange County who, instead of admitting to her self-described "tiger-parents" that she didn't get in to Stanford, pretended to attend the school (even going so far as to live on campus) for an entire semester. In this story, Ms. Hua saw a universal Asian-American experience: wanting to live up to parents' wishes, be it for the knowledge one has of their parents' sacrifices, or for the cultural and familial structures which place undue stress on adolescent ...

On the 8th of April, both during my International Relations class (and then later during Community Time in the library), I had the distinct pleasure of hearing from Miry Whitehill, founder of Miry's List. Miry's List, which Ms. Whitehill unofficially started back in 2016, is a self-described community of volunteers across the Southern California region, which helps newly arrived refugees more comfortably adjust to their new lives in the U.S. While the Community Time meeting with Ms. Whitehill was more of a lecture, our IR class time was spent dialoguing with her directly, and the information that she shared was almost entirely new to me. To start off the conversation, Miry suggested that we go around the room and each name one thing that makes us feel at home. After the exercise, she expertly related the comforts of a refugee with the everyday comforts of an American teenager; everyone just wants to feel safe, and at home. (Throughout the time we spent with Miry, it was obviou...