With our elections done, we're proud to introduce the first elected NorCal UVSA Executive Board. Once we transition completely to the new term with a new Intercollegiate Council, we'll decide on the inauguration date, just a formality for the time being. http://www.norcaluvsa.org/elections

Perhaps in the future UVSA will host a banquet immediately following elections, and we've already generated ideas in doing Internet broadcasting to make it more accessible to VSA members. Why? Tam Phan, the new President Elect, and I share similar sentiments: with the stagnant economy, rising gas prices and worldwide food price inflation, the threat to the unity of Vietnamese youths across our region, and even across the continent and globe, is under attack. We created the Economy Commission with the hopes of filling it with the brightest minds to help us think about reducing overall costs (e.g. encourage use of mass transportation; teleconferencing every other meeting), generating wealth for self-sustainability, and promoting the idea of every affiliate VSA having its own signature event to reduce redundant expenses (e.g. we only need one school to host a winter formal), while replicating simple events to reduce travel (e.g. every campus should do a bone marrow drive, not just one campus). "We're going GREEN!" Tam exclaims. I still argue with him whether people will use that extra money to cover expenses related to the VSA life, or simply go shopping at Union Square in San Francisco for a sale at Macy's. http://eco.norcaluvsa.org

We'll see how green we can be when we take off for "NorCal is Hella Camping" at Sequoia National Park this weekend and reconnect with nature and each other. Registrations are closing tonight, so if you haven't already done so, sign up! Huy Tran, an Executive Committee member, just sweats of excitement for this event. He'll be doing more sweating with the hiking in the sunny weather this weekend projected to hit triple-digits. I tell my friends, prior to the UVSA Olympics, we were forecasted to have thunderstorms. We held an emergency meeting 2 nights prior trying to decide to whether to postpone or continue. In the end we said, screw it, if our parents could survive the swells of the open sea [through the boatpeople experience], we can survive a little rain! As for this event, everyone should be sure to bring plenty of water though, so we can all laugh in the face of hot weather! "This is Sparta!" http://rec.norcaluvsa.org/camping/

This Thursday we'll be meeting with some student delegates from Vietnam, as they are coming to America to learn about the American experience. I don't think dialogue with them hurts, but I know from experience that there was a time when performers from Vietnam were protested (UCLA, 1998). How have political views changed, if at all? What would our elders say if they know we consorted with youths from Vietnam? (Does Romeo & Juliet ring a bell?) And the generation gap is an ever pressing issue, one we have gained little momentum in this past year. The gap became evident when we never received an invitation to the inaugural ceremony for the Little Saigon banners that will go up in San Jose: the community probably doesn't know we exist. Well, it's not their fault, as we should be more proactive in reaching out to them as well. Cong Nguyen, the EVP Elect, will be making efforts in this area for the new term starting July 1.

As for the uNAVSA Conference in Portland this year, the bus is filling up fast. We're down to 15 seats, and it looks like there is going to be a dance group from NorCal who could take up those seats if people don't register soon! Tam and Cong are working on a NorCal video for the Conference. I've just been invited to do a workshop on Design + Technology, while Tam is still fleshing out ideas for a Managing Your Resources workshop, though that's still tentative. Oi, Design + Technology is such a broad category; I have to narrow it down into something that is discussable, otherwise it'll turn into a presentation with a lot of theory and very little concrete examples. Hmm, or maybe it's better to find another guest speaker who has more experience than I do. http://www.norcaluvsa.org/unavsa/

And on a parting note, a parting video. The bittersweetness of having raised UVSA through its cycle of growth and decline, when UVSA was down to just Huy and myself (even to the point where we didn't know of each other's existence, but self-identified in the same organization) to having a real VSA council and a real election (and to finally stop using the "interim" label). When I created the video, I wanted to show stuff from the past year, but also connect it to the origins of UVSA. And so I chose a quotation from a letter our first interim President Michelle Phuong Tu wrote to her staff in July 2004. It took six years dear, but we finally did it! Sorry if I'm feeling so emo, but it really is a painful kind of happiness. Whether we can call ourselves "a family" as envisioned by Phuong is a test for the succeeding leaders to answer. http://media.norcaluvsa.org/hype