Oh baby I'm sore...but SO networked.

So...it's been a crazy, hectic past few weeks and few days, specifically. Over at LEAP we had our annual dinner and board luncheon which was a great success; I'm an East Coast baby so it's always fascinating to see how well-organized the West Coast APIs are. It's exciting, gratifying, affirming. More importantly, it's pretty awesome to meet high-ranking (read: VISIBLE!) APIs in the corporate world. I think it's forced all of us LIAers to reconsider our life plans -not too difficult considering I haven't decided what I want to be when I grow up yet. From powerful government officials (John Chiang) to powerful corporate women (Susan Jin Davis -who I love and told her as much), it's been such an eye-opening experience. Pretty fantastic.

HOWEVER...I'm pretty sore from all the moving, running around, lifting, etc. Especially since API Equality - LA ALSO had its 5th-year anniversary LUAU this weekend (we won't get into the problematic cultural reappropriation bizniz that a 'luau' and hula dancers represent). I am now exhausted. And hungover. Which explains the somewhat rambling nature of this post.

But all in all, a fun, busy past few days/weeks.

And now, I need an:

It's just cressy!

So...things have been maddeningly hectic for the past several days. My work with API Equality has finally picked up! I've been conducting individual one-on-ones with our steering committee and committee chairs...listening to their stories and appreciating their respective positionalities have been incredibly affirming. We have quite a few 'straight' allies who are incredibly active in the organization and it's been one humbling experience after another to learn about them and their motivations for being so involved in the struggle for marriage equality. In many ways, they remind me of my little sister Liz...who's a rockstar in her own little way. Certainly an ally herself, she has interned with Equality Pennsylvania (marriage equality advocacy) as well as the Human Rights Campaign (big yellow equal sign -anyone who's seen my purple volvo knows all about that). Such a ferocious, sassy little girl -and one of my greatest inspirations. Such allies underscore the fact that marriage equality (despite being a misnomer) isn't so much a 'lesbian' or 'gay' issue, but rather an issue that points to and highlights the gross inequities (manifesting as discrimination) that continue to operate today in various forms for various communities. In light of the fucked-up Hawaii decision (homophobic governor vetoes civil union bill -that's right, CIVIL UNION bill), the distance that we'll need to traverse in order to break into the hearts and minds of those around us has been made abundantly clear. Lots of work still left to do.




So much for the rainbow state, eh?!

P.S. The prop 8 decision (Perry v. the terminator) should come down anytime now. We'll see what that does.

So....authentic cow, eh?

I feel the need to first explicate the whole random "why you calling yourself a cow" thing; it certainly wasn't a name I gave myself...I would have picked something a tad more classy like pulchritudinous possum, or gorgeous giraffe. Instead, the two slips of paper I pulled on that fateful afternoon had "authentic" and "cow." Hence, I am now forever assigned to that delicious moniker. Don't hate on my bovine splendor...you know you want it too. After all, happy cows come from california.

--

We finished up our LEAP 2010 Leadership in Action intern a couple of weeks ago...in lovely (also creepy) Lake Arrowhead. After a dizzying few hours of winding around windy roads, we got out of our gas-guzzlers to a gorgeous sight. Beautiful mountains, lots of green, some ducks, and some pizza. It was a great way to meet and greet the rest of the LIA cohort...some really great folks (with cooler animal names, whatever). Overall, it was some great bonding time with the crew -sharing stories, understanding positionalities, being inspired.

After all that, I started my official placement internship with API Equality - LA, an organization dedicated to fighting for marriage equality for Asian Pacific Islanders (and everyone else). Some really neat work...we recently hired a new ED so it'll be great to work with him (Jonipher Kwong) as he comes onboard. Haven't done too much work quite yet, but I'm sure things will pick up (in a big way) as the summer progresses.

KK, that's all for now...tata my lovelies.

Betito