The opening retreat in Lake Arrowhead last week was one of the best I've been to in my college career. After hosting two retreats in the area before, I was familiar that this wasn't the type of "roughing it" we deem the wilderness, so it wasn't this aspect that struck me the most. Rather it was the closest experience I've had to the seclusion, closeness, empowerment, and warm fuzzy feelings associated with "retreating," and I'd like to thank all my fellow sexy interns, and our kind facilitators, (and chauffers, cooks, maids, etc.), Reimar and Linda for the kind welcome.
You know how sometimes you meet people and you really just don't know what to say? Or maybe there's that one socially awkward person in the group? It was surprisingly not a real problem for any of us interns when we arrived bright and early to the light smog in Little Tokyo on Monday. I myself was still a bit groggy from the 1hr 30 min commute on the I-5 from Orange County (rawr LA traffic!) But right when we all reached for the Spam Musubis on the table, it was like we were childhood buddies, grubbing on the very same goodness that seemed to summarize our love for food and our identities as Asians and hyphenated Americans.
My favorite part of retreat was probably listening to everyone's stories. We're a talkative bunch, its true. But aside from the discussions about food, movies, and YouTube videos, we've come to make our greatest connections through the experiences we relay to each other and the commonalities we pull from those conversations. Everyone's diverse experiences of college organizing, working for community empowerment and social justice, and also our personal struggles that have humanized and humbled us. It's reminded me why I do the work that I do, and why I should continue doing the work I do.
Definitely looking forward to working more with this team, and also taking advantage of the curriculum and workshops LEAP has to offer.
Cheers to the community!
You know how sometimes you meet people and you really just don't know what to say? Or maybe there's that one socially awkward person in the group? It was surprisingly not a real problem for any of us interns when we arrived bright and early to the light smog in Little Tokyo on Monday. I myself was still a bit groggy from the 1hr 30 min commute on the I-5 from Orange County (rawr LA traffic!) But right when we all reached for the Spam Musubis on the table, it was like we were childhood buddies, grubbing on the very same goodness that seemed to summarize our love for food and our identities as Asians and hyphenated Americans.
My favorite part of retreat was probably listening to everyone's stories. We're a talkative bunch, its true. But aside from the discussions about food, movies, and YouTube videos, we've come to make our greatest connections through the experiences we relay to each other and the commonalities we pull from those conversations. Everyone's diverse experiences of college organizing, working for community empowerment and social justice, and also our personal struggles that have humanized and humbled us. It's reminded me why I do the work that I do, and why I should continue doing the work I do.
Definitely looking forward to working more with this team, and also taking advantage of the curriculum and workshops LEAP has to offer.
Cheers to the community!
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