Ha HA!

Now I can comment! Hooray for Charles! The blog rises from the ashes.

Quick spring break recap: I went to Southern California with a Stanford student-led program to explore issues faced by the Cambodian immigrant community in Long Beach. A FASCINATING experience. We (about a dozen of us) had studied Cambodian history and current political/socioeconomic issues all through winter quarter, but it was something else again to go down to Long Beach and spend all week talking to people who survived the 1970s Khmer Rouge and are now setting up local grassroots organizations to bind the immigrant population together and help them get their problems addressed. I felt a little bit Cambodian coming back. I guess you don't always realize it, but there are highly-concentrated, tightly-knit immigrant communities scattered all over this country with their own strong and distinctive cultures. It's incredible to get a glimpse into one of them.

In the final weekend of Spring Break, I met up with Henrik and Isaac in San Francisco (see pictures below). Isaac was performing at an arts extravaganza; they stopped me at the door because it was a 21-and-over show, but Isaac came outside and pulled strings until they let me in. Isaac was amazing, of course, his poetry prevailing over the noisy and distracting atmosphere. Then we all went over to Berkeley and stayed up until 2 AM talking in fine TASP fashion. Yay reunions!

My family's moving to Jacksonville, Florida at the end of the summer. That's not too far from Ridley's stomping grounds, I believe. Perhaps a Northern-Florida-centered TASP reunion is somewhere in the works . . .

Also, my sister Ruth got a TASP interview last month! Decisions come out in the first week of May, so we're all getting antsy. !!! Speaking of Ruth, she alerted me to the existence of an interesting musicking website: www.bandtoband.com. Fun for math and music people alike.

A quick top 5 (evidence of my recent Motown addiction) before I hit the sack:
5. Superstition - Stevie Wonder
4. Looking for the Right Guy - Kim Weston
3. Papa Was a Rolling Stone - Undisputed Truth
2. You Met Your Match - Stevie Wonder
1. Satisfied Feelin' - Marvin Gaye and Kim Weston

Groetjes,
Sam