Tag: Hapa Cup of Sugar

I staged my play and now I’m a third of the way done with the school year: a fall quarter recap

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Holy cow. My first quarter of my last year of college is over. Holy cow.

It’s weird saying those types of things now. Like, it’s my last year of college. I was here last year… and the year before that… and the year before that. Three years ago, I finished my first quarter of my first year in college. TIME. TIME is a strange phenomenon. I never thought I’d actually ever get to this point, but here we are. About 7 months away from graduation.

…

But I’m going to try to not think about that. For now.

For now, I will be content. Content and happy and pleased and relieved with what the past 10 weeks have given me. From moving into a new apartment to taking a Communications class I didn’t need to take to finishing my play to staging my play to rallying for social and racial justice to taking naps – it was a jammed quarter to say the least. That’s the way I like it. Or maybe I’ve just trained myself to like it after three years of busying myself. Or maybe I’m in denial.

Whatever way you spin it, I’m not sure I’ve been more grateful in my entire four years at SCU. Or maybe even my life. Never have I been so grateful, reflective, and proud. It’s one thing to write something and it’s one thing for people to read it and it’s a completely other thing for people to see it and connect with it. Some people might not understand this, but – writers are really self-conscious. We write what’s in our heads… and then get really nervous when people read it or hear it and it’s like the be all end all. That’s what it feels like for me.

Hapa Cup of Sugar was a piece of me. And I have the honor and privilege to share that with hundreds (hundreds) of people. I still can’t believe it. It’s so hard to put my thoughts and feelings about the entire project into words. (I’ll have to because I’ve got about three final reports to do on it, oh geez.)
Aside from that lil thing, this quarter treated me just about the same as any other quarter. I took a class in the COMM department called Media and Social Movements. We learned about the Anti-Nike campaign, the revolution in Egypt, and consumer citizenship. It was nice to take a class purely because I was interested in it. My favorite class this quarter.

I also got heated about student apathy and diversity at SCU, but that seems like a norm now. Which is awful. We’re working on it. By “we,” I mean a small group of students. Sigh.

That’s pretty much it for a recap of the quarter. I’ll write a 2016 goals (fears??) post soon, too.
In the meantime, I hope you also reflect on your quarter. I hope it treated you well – or that you dominated finals, at least!

Staging Hapa

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I want to share a quick update about a big project I have embarked on.

Last school year, I wrote a play, Hapa Cup of Sugar. Hapa follows 22-year-old fresh-out-of-college Leila. Leila works in her parents’ laundromat with her younger sister and brother. She moves through the world as a hapa, someone who is bi-racial. As she learns how others perceive her, Leila tries to figure out what happens next in her life.

I had the privilege of putting on a staged reading of Hapa through SCU’s “New Playwrights’ Festival.” It was an awesome experience working with a director and a cast! I loved seeing my words come to life right before my eyes (it was super surreal).

That was just the first part, though.

Now, I have been privileged to receive the Hackworth Grant from my school’s ethics center to stage my play for real. That means with a cast, with a set, with costumes, with lights… in front of my classmates and peers! THIS IS HUGE!

The whole reason I started even thinking about writing this play back in Spring 2014 was to tell a story about someone who was different and to tell that story to my school. I feel so blessed to have been given this opportunity, to share my words with the SCU community.

But I also feel empowered and responsible. The point of my project Staging Hapa Cup of Sugar is to combat racism. It’s to tell a story about a girl who has not only graduated college, but who was also the first to graduate from college in her family, who grew up bi-racial in the Bay Area and was thrown into a school populated primarily by white people, who takes care of her siblings in a low-income home. I believe that this story needs to be shared with the community in order to create more understanding of race and diversity at SCU.

For those of you that know me, you know that I have been heavily involved with the Multicultural Center at school. I spent my first year at SCU on the Japanese Student Association board (I am not Japanese, just curious about the culture!) and I dedicated the past two years on MCC Staff. As a senior, I will continue to dedicate my time to diversity and inclusion through Staging Hapa.

Part of Staging Hapa is producing the play and another part is socially engaging with SCU students. We are starting a dialogue around diversity on social media, tabling in front of Benson, and conducting a talk-back discussion after the performances. Stay tuned for more information!

You will definitely see more of Staging Hapa without a doubt! Check us out on social media starting next week and check out the play on November 18 and 19 in the Fess Parker Studio.

TLDR; I wrote a play and now it’s really happening!!! Thanks for reading! Ask for details!