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Reflection by KokHeong McNaughton I have been attending APIC Annual Meetings since the beginning: the first one, two years ago, in Berkeley, CA, and last year in Boston, MA. This year, many of the people who were at the first meeting but didn't show up at the second meeting, were there again. So far, we have met West Coast, East Coast and West Coast. It really brings home to me the importance of a UU Conference Center in the middle of the continent somewhere. UUA, are you listening? It was good to see the number attending increasing every year: 17 the first year, about 25 (not including those who came only to the Sticky Rice workshop) last year, and now almost 30 adults (not including 7 children and 2 babies). Hopefully, next year in Atlanta, we'll have more people as the location will afford travel from both coasts. Next year, I plan to bring my husband Mike! It was meaningful for all present to have Jennifer Ryu light a candle in memory of Christopher Wong and to kept it burning at each of our gatherings throughout our meeting. The stories we shared this weekend will be carried in my heart as I continue to draw sustenance from them. They will form the seeds of future articles for the On Diversity column, both in my church's in my district's newsletters. Coming from New Mexico, how wonderful it was to be able to sample so many different ethnic foods! We ate out everyday and had Indian vegetarian foods for lunch brought in on Saturday. I can't remember the last time I ate fish eggs encased in the egg sac! This was the first time we had a children's program and a white-ally caucus running simultaneously during the program part of the conference. Karen Eng led the new, yet-unreleased curriculum "Multiracil Family Resource Guide" which uses segments of the The Way Home video produced by World Trust Organization based in Oakland, CA. Some of us spent Saturday night watching the entire video instead of going to the Chinese New Year parade in San Francisco. A stroke of genius on the planning committee was to put the business meeting last on Sunday afternoon so that those who are not particularly interested in this portion of the conference could leave early. A lot of good ideas came out of the business meeting for various future activities, including organizing regional meetings, a newsletter, redoing the brochure, GA planning, fund-raising and publicity. It was a good and productive weekend and
a good way to network, reconnect and strengthen our APIC community. |