Saturday, November 3rd

The Day's Events...


8am to 4pm: Empower Change UCLA Youth Summit held by the American Democracy Institute

Oof, I don't remember the last time I had to wake up so early for anything.. So I met up with E3: Ecology, Economy, Equity at 8am so we could meet up beforehand and sign in/choose a workshop to attend. The opening featured Gene Nichol, the president of the College of William & Mary, who was a truly gifted orator. Many references to statistical data on disadvantaged American youth, our Constitution of the U.S. and Declaration of Independence, and the standing of our nation as a whole. Afterwards, I dropped in for BruinLife workshop, half of which I had to skip... sorry.. and then went to the workshop - Entrepreneurial Leadership. This was very abstract and mostly involved the speakers, Jonathan Greenblatt (founder of Ethos Water and former VP of Starbucks) and Nancy Marmolejo (founder of Comadre Coaching and Viva Visability), talking about how to implement plan into action. They gave advice on how to follow your passions and learn your strengths and weaknesses in order to produce social change through a business. Erp, so i was really sleepy and fell asleep in every section of the conference... BUT! I got to see the special speaker, former U.S. President Bill Clinton, in Royce Hall after! He did a good job of empowering the attendees (UCLA students, faculty?, guests). Friendly demeanor and gentle southern accent. Mm.


5pm to 1030pm: Sigur Ros Acoustic Set and Heima Screening

Went an hr in advance to line up for bracelets. Limited to the first 1000 students. Then went to eat at Rieber (first full meal the whole day.. ahoom) and went back around 740pm. Super sleuthed around and found a row of back bleacher seats! Woo! Seated five girls. First was the acoustic set of three songs. Jonsi's voice is so ethereal, yet strong... Mesmerizing music, Sigur Ros. Then came the screening of their movie, Heima, about the concerts they held in small towns in their homeland, Iceland. Preconceptions/notions of Iceland: folk-sy, "Old World", traditional, musically inclined, Bjork (lol). Each concert was unique in its location - one was in an old fishing ship that had been abandoned and out of commission for two years and another was outdoors without electrical means. There were different light effects and backdrops that reflected the mood of the song played. Still photography mixed in, reverse filming of waterfalls and bodies of water, endless stretches of highway in an organic and natural setting. Iceland's geography is stunning, so pristine. Here is the trailer:
Afterwards there was a q+a session with the band. The Icelandic accent is so quaint and sweet.
Music. Sound. Singing.
Connection, stirring and vibrating of the heart strings. Tingles all over the body, an immense dousing and permeating all throughout.
The Icelandic people, to me, seem to be so tied to their homeland. Identity, comfort, home. The culture that implants and fosters such musical inclinations. Patterns of sound and voice, ties to the natural, the original state. State of being. In one scene, a member of Sigur Ros is seen on a hill of jagged circular shards of rock. Tapping them with his hammer, he releases the individual tones and notes of the stones. The four men are later seen standing side by side 'playing' these shales. A sound, not foreign, but unprocessed. rooted. Later, a native man is portrayed cutting rhubarb stalks, stalks over one hundred years old. Put in place and allowed to spread to natural boundaries by his great-grandfather. These segmented rhubarb stalks are made into instruments, arranged by the unique tones resonating in their hollows.
The concerts put on by Sigur Ros were a way of giving back to their fellow persons. Persons of all ages, childrens to grandparents, whole extended families, arrived.
- Ties to culture, language, people, land. Expressed and explored through values, morals, actions, mannerisms, and modes of thought. These ties, is this rooted sense of being a common trait shared by all citizens of all nations? And to what extent? As for me, I feel that as an American, I do not have this traditional history to look back upon. This land is a conquered one, a people of peoples, a hybrid culture. My parents come from Korea, and brought with them their past, but did not directly instill it or integrate it into their parenting. From this, I am allowed to be unanchored to a natural identity, and instead adopt and view other cultures without bias or attachment. I can be an identity of identities and a person of persons. To always learn and reflect. Apply and consider. I appreciate.

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. Songs for download on the Sigur Ros website: http://www.sigur-ros.co.uk/media/
. Code for $5 off a pair of Tom's Shoes on the website: http://www.tomsshoes.com/ ADI
- "For every pair purchased, TOMS will give a pair to a child without shoes!" This year, they are going to Africa to give an estimated 50,000 pairs.

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eep must catch up on sleep...