Heritage meets higher ed meets humor
By Torleif Sorenson
During the month of April, Metropolitan State University is celebrating Asian American Heritage Month, an outgrowth of the strong Hmong population in the Twin Cities over the past two decades.
Although you can take in a dose of serious history, the scheduled events also include a comedy show, a panel discussion on adoption and self-identity and a hands-on course in Japanese floral arrangements. The events highlight some expected trends in the Asian-based student population, and some unexpected trends, too.
Incomplete statistics, by choice
The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. said in his famous and memorable “I Have a Dream” speech on Aug. 28, 1963:
“I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.”
For quite a few students at Metropolitan State, while they are interested and involved in their own cultural identity, they feel that state and federal governments (and in some cases, sociologists) have no business collecting personal information about their ethnic identity. And while this may frustrate people who are interested in the statistics, Metropolitan State (and the entire MnSCU system) follows the current laws that allow students and applicants to ‘opt-out’ of self-identifying with a particular ethnic group. Metropolitan State Admissions Specialist Wai Yang correctly points out that this can also be for reasons other than statistical ‘prying.’ Mr. Yang notes that students whose ancestry comes from more than one ethnic category are not given the opportunity to identify as such because of the way the data collection is designed.
That said, the number of students who do self-identify as Asian has grown from 436 in fall term 2004 to 623 in fall term of 2008. As a percentage of the overall student population, this represents an increase of only 0.9 percent in the last four years, but the numbers are clearly increasing.
Mary Xiong is the current president of Metropolitan State’s Asian Student Organization (ASO), and she explains that historically, within the Hmong culture, women were generally discouraged (but not prohibited) from attending college. What is clearly happening now is that increasing numbers of women are attending colleges and universities not just here in Minnesota, but also in Thailand —a noteworthy shift in some worldwide Hmong cultural norms.
But what Xiong finds especially striking is an increasing presence at Metropolitan State of older Hmong men who are now students. Clearly the Hmong and other Asian cultures have resulted in higher numbers of high school students attending college as a logical result of strong parental involvement and guidance. But with the presence now of older and retired Hmong men in classrooms at Metropolitan State, a newer and much appreciated facet of the Hmong culture is taking shape around us.
Lives transformed
An old saying, especially true today, says that “people who fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it.” And while everyone should remember the genocide of Jewish in Nazi Germany in the 1930s until 1945, many people don’t think about (or even know of) how peace protestors influenced the US government’s decision to abandon innocent people in Southeast Asia following the conclusion of the Vietnam conflict in 1975. What resulted was another horrific ethnic genocide, committed by Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge.
One person who knows all too well is Metropolitan State’s Asian American student coordinator, Peou Pin-Mene. She and photographer Kumiko Borman will, through stories and photographs, illustrate the toll wrought by socialism and totalitarianism on people, their economic well-being and their cultures. Pin-Mene and Borman will offer this presentation twice on Thursday, April 2 on the St. Paul campus library’s third floor, free of charge.
One week ater, during the dinner hour on April 9, two Metropolitan State students will be among the panelists for a discussion on international adoption and the effects on an adoptee’s personal and cultural identity. And in the newly-renamed Gordon Parks Gallery at the Metropolitan State library on April 16, Saib Kuv (Watch Me) will open—a nice opportunity for younger people to learn storytelling and art through the use of digital media. This show will be on display at the Gordon Parks Gallery through July 24.
Flowers, food, and comedy
You don’t have to be a gardener to enjoy learning about ikebana, a Japanese artistic discipline involving floral arrangements that deserves wider attention here in the United States. You need only bring a pair of garden scissors to this Friday, April 17 event at 1:00 p.m. in New Main.
You may also want to bring a digital camera because your floral arrangements will be displayed at the Asian American Dinner on Friday evening in New Main’s Great Hall. Minnesota State Senator Mee Moua will give a short keynote address and will very likely talk about the transformation of Hmong women in the United States and how she herself balances the traditional expectations of a Hmong woman with her duties and work as a state legislator. Her address will be book-ended by colorful Cambodian dancing from a local troupe called “Aspara,” also known as “Khmer.”
Please RSVP to cultural.events@metrostate.edu by April 14 to secure your place at this dinner—seating is limited. Admission at the door is $10.
Eliot Chang is a nationally-known comedian who has appeared on Comedy Central’s Premium Blend, on MTV, and even on Law & Order: SVU. Due to Chang’s increasing popularity and demand, Metropolitan State has tried for more than a year to entice him to come to St. Paul for a performance. This year, the ASO succeeded in their efforts, but the reward will be yours. Eliot Chang will perform in Founders Hall Auditorium on Saturday evening, May 2, at 7 p.m. As Mary Xiong notes, the performance is free, but that means that you should be there early; a full house is expected. For more information on the ASO, see their Web site: http://aso.metrostate.edu.