February 3, 1999
For our first meeting, we separated into different groups based on our ethnicity. When we finally settled down in our groups, I was surprised that there were only two Japanese Americans. I never thought about how the floor could be so different. I always pictured our group as this one big entity of Asian people and I never really put our nationality into perspective. Therefore, I had mixed feelings when we were grouped up the way we were.
In a way, I was happy that there weren’t that many Japanese Americans because I could feel privileged that I am different from all other Asian people on this floor. I would be the representative of my culture and I can share the knowledge that I have acquired over the years about my culture. However, I kind of felt awkward since I never felt so isolated before since I joined this program.
When the different groups started to talk about their family background and their childhood, I didn’t feel so isolated anymore. That is because their lives, especially the people that actually grew up in California, were very much similar to my life. The stories that they told was something that I could relate to. It was almost as if they lived my life. I was comforted by the fact that I wasn’t the only one who had to struggle with my identity and my culture. I was kind of glad that I was in this type of situation because I was exposed to a lot of different cultures and I was able to expand on my knowledge about them. Without that knowledge, I don’t think that I would be as open-minded about many cultures if I grew up in a monoculture society. That’s what makes APATH so unique. We are all unique and special. That’s the way it should be.