As mentioned before, this past weekend I was invited to speak at the South Asian Alliance Network conference at the University of Michigan. The conference organizers, in what MUST have been a drug-induced haze, asked me to give the kickoff address for the day. The speaker’s packet that I was sent contained a brief note about what the kickoff speech should include. Here is an excerpt:
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Attendees of my workshop (a.k.a victims) |
This is a brief overview of what we would like you to discuss in your kickoff address. Please use your own expertise and background when creating this speech. The goal of this speech is to excite the participants for the upcoming day; the points that follow are simply ideas that are intended to guide your thought process.
- An anecdote to energize/excite participants for the day ahead
Inspirational quote/saying
Whoa! As you can imagine I was nervous as all hell. I haven’t had to inspire or excite people since…well, ever I guess. The speech went alright however, and I did not trip getting on OR off the stage. I was then going to Live Blog the conference for the consumption of SM readers, but it was so damn engrossing that I kept my laptop in its case, and decided to selfishly attend the workshops instead. My workshop was titled “Get up, get out, and get moving”:
Authors, comedians, lyricists, poets, painters, and sculptors – the list goes on – are all part of the process to develop society. This workshop explores how these individuals find the inspiration to carry out such enormous tasks and whether these professions well-suited to activism. Learn from the very real stories of these accomplished individuals who have a dynamic role in society.
Obviously I fell into “the list goes on” category 
. It was a good workshop. I miss being an undergrad. These attendees were all smart as hell and a lot more engaged than I remember being. I think I have come to see the University of Michigan as a Utopian bubble where anything is possible, especially if you are a member of the South Asian community. I am going to make a bold (albeit biased) prediction that 20 years from now there will be many South Asian alumni from Michigan that are running this country. To give you an idea of how special this conference was, there was EVEN Ohio State representation.
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Me and co-speaker Preacher Moss |
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I kneel in to listen to a small-group discussion |
During the conference I met and got to know a great many of the other invited speakers. Some of them we have blogged about on SM before. They included author Mary Anne Mohanraj, MC Chee Malabar, and Ghopal Khanna, the keynote speaker. In fact, the interaction between Malabar and Khanna was an interesting plot line followed by many during the weekend. Malabar is an amazingly talented lyricist and performer from NY whose lyrics are of the liberal persuasion. One of his songs was titled “FourTwo More Years.” This was of course a reference to Bush’s remaining time in office. Khanna on the other hand is the former budget manager of the Executive Office of the President. During Malabar’s performance at the dinner formal, all eyes were on him and Khanna. To his credit, Khanna went over and expressed his sincere, and well-deserved appreciation of Malabar’s skills at the end of the performance. He then kicked it with the rest of the speakers and conference coordinators until 4a.m. at the Pizza House in Ann Arbor. It was actually kind of nice to see, and added to the overall warm fuzzies that seemed to be felt by everyone present. Another great workshop was the one run by Naheem Mohaiemen of Disappeared in America. He spoke both of radical Islam and about his new documentary highlighting the persecution of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community in Bangladesh (I had never heard of them and suddenly want to know a lot more). It was the discussion the followed his presentation that inspired my post earlier this week.
The true highlight of the conference was the SAAN board and their excellent coordination. Seriously. There aren’t a finer group of students around. I was thankful to be even considered as a speaker let alone invited.
OSU has been represented at SAAN since ’04, and it is no coincidence it’s been special since then (j/k). UMich’s south asian students and the central planning team’s execution of the event amazed me the year i went, so i’m not surprised at all by your experience.
Congratulations, Abhi! Sounds like an inspirational conference- definitely post more about this if possible. Your political aspirations are just a stone’s throw away. 😉 I’d like to see/hear your speech, too. If you have it, please post a link.
abhi,
this all sounds to me a groupie fest. oh well !!!
even @ agu meetings, i hardly ever pay attention to talks, seriously. i am more interested in planning my social calender for the day.
hope you did something similar.
Dude, you’re supposed to go the Moon first, THEN become an inspirational speaker. 😉
Good choice ont their parts though.
yeah abhi 🙂
Hey Abhi —
Uhh, let’s take another look at the scoreboard. 😉
had to get the dig in on the buckeyes didn’t you? Good little Wolverine, you may have Cottage Inn now 🙂
wow, the warm fuzzies continue. i was really glad that you could make it, even if you didn‘t turn out to be oriya!
Hey Abhi, looking good man! And congrats on getting that paper published too!
So, Senate run after you return from the moon? 🙂
Ya Abhi. Sanjay is right. Let us focus on one thing at a time. Is it going to be Moon and Mars and beyond….? Or is it going to be mundane earthly issues like you have been discussing lately regards to religion? Biologically – They tell me – we are basically same for last 3 Million years. Although “some” minds have evolved and think at higher plains….most of us are still engrossed in trivial things. I wonder if concept of “GOD” existed – say 10,000 years ago? Razib – enlighten me on this – Anyways congratulations and hope you had good time at U of M….Love…Dad
As a proud UM alumni and one of the first graduates of their South Asian Studies MA program, I am thrilled to see that the university’s South Asian community is as active as ever.
And by the way, sometimes the Wolverines have to allow a Buckeye win just to keep the competition going:-)
Thanks for the shout-out. Yes, Michigan was/is amazing. Go Blue!
And by the way, sometimes the Wolverines have to allow a Buckeye win just to keep the competition going:-)
Arnt the Buckeyes 4-1 against Michigan under Tressel? Sounds to me like the Buckeyes have a firm upper hand now.
Congrats Abhi! Sounds like an awesome conference.
FYI, the Ahmadiyya community is indeed persecuted in Bangladesh and Pakistan (there are fairly sizeable populations in the US and England) but not because they are somehow liberal or permissive (as the Sufis are). Rather, they are, if you can believe it, even more repressive of women and illiberal than traditional Islam but view their founder as a prophet. Hence the source of their friction with mainstream Islam.
Damn straight OSU has the upper hand! haha… but football aside, I must say that UofM definitely did an amazing job with the SAAN Conference. All of the OSU students had a great time (although we did suffer moments of deep panic every time someone new found out we were from OSU).
There were some very thought-provoking workshops in addition to the ones that Abhi mentioned, including a fascinating talk about culture appropriation and the use of South Asian “symbols” in mainstream American products (i.e. Madonna and her OM phase).
Thanks to Abhi for a great kick-off speech and workshop — we’re all lookin’ to get up and get movin’ now! 😉
sidenote… bz, my sister went from OSU to SAAN in ’04. small world.
I was at the SAAN Conference–just to add a few more details to the MC Chee – Gopal Khanna encounter:
For his performance at the banquet, Chee had everyone get up out of their chairs and gather around the dance floor. Mr. Khanna was in the middle and seemed relatively neutral throughout, though he clapped when Chee had everyone clapping. When Chee did his Two More Years bit and another anti-Bush number, you could see the eyes of the Central Planning Team (CPT) get bigger.
Mr. Khanna was sitting next to me at dinner, so after the performance, back at our table, he sat right down and said, “He’s great performer, very talented.” Just then, Shailesh, a member of the CPT, came over and said something neutral to gauge the reaction of a former member of Bush’s cabinet. Mr. Khanna again said it was a great performance. Then he went over to congratulate Chee.
I told Shailesh it was a great photo-op, so he darted off with a camera. Chee and Mr. Khanna were standing together for the photo when Chee put his arm around him and offered his hand. So who’s the real politician here?
On the dance floor later, Mr. Khanna made a great entrance, removed his jacket and handed it off to someone in the crowd and took a lovely lady for a spin. He bears a strong resemblance to Anupam Kher, so in that moment, he looked like every Punjabi father of the bride you have ever seen in any Bollywood movie. He’s a gracious and dear fellow.
rukku, if i’m not mistaken i took a hindi class with your sisters and maybe you. glad to hear OSU people are still going to SAAN. small world indeed.