Orientation and Interactions

Up in San Francisco, we got a chance to meet all of the NCI interns. There are a lot of colorful and positive characters within this community; I'm looking forward to getting to know them all better. We got to speak briefly on the first day and we all are probably going to share the same picture on our blogs. The San Jose group consists of only two members, the San Francisco branch has 7 members and LA has a massive group of twelve interns. It's a shame that San Jose interns won't get to work closely with the rest of the program, but it was wonderful to meet the whole community none the less.

One of the first workshops we took part in was a leadership identity exercise. Learning about what makes me a leader and what other people take from themselves into the leadership position opened my mind to other aspects of leadership that I hadn't thought about in the past. I know that it's a bit redundant, but one of the biggest take aways from this experience is how big this world. Despite that, we all somehow knew a mutual friend of another. There were a lot of other workshops and activities that all happened in a blur, but the main take away from the whole orientation experience is the depth and warmth from the Japanese American community. You can really see their passion for their home and the desire to make it a better place for the future. 

The few days of the actual internship have been mostly working with Duane Kubo. We've been discussing how the youth can get involved with the Japanese community and the ways we can push this community forwards in a positive direction. One of the projects we'll be focusing in on is video to shed light on and bring more character to the Issei Memorial Building. Not many people know much about it, but that doesn't mean that all of the huge contributions it has made to the community must go unnoticed. 

This is just a quick screenshot of a few of the things that the Issei Memorial Building (IMB) has been through since its creation. Alec and I are working to produce a piece that JACL and other groups may potentially hold in their arsenal to effectively get the Japantown culture out into the world on platforms that it hasn't been provided on before. So far one of the biggest aspects I've seen reaffirmed again and again is the positivity that comes from everyone in this community. It's been fun so far and I'm looking forward to the rest of the program.

-Iszac Gaton!