Kalpen Modi At Your Service

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Kal Penn and Obama.jpgKal Penn e-mailed me this week. That’s right. THE Kal Penn. When I went to check my personal gmail account two days ago there was an e-mail from “Kalpen S. Modi” sitting in my inbox. I gotta admit. I got slightly Desi girl giddy.

Dear Friend [he called me friend!],

Last month, President Obama unveiled United We Serve, an extended call to service challenging all Americans to help lay a new foundation for growth in this country by engaging in sustained, meaningful community service.

To encourage participation in service this summer and beyond, the Serve.gov website features a volunteer matching platform called All For Good that allows people to search for volunteer opportunities based on location and interests … The Administration is seeking to further engage the Asian American and Pacific Islander community and amplify outreach efforts in the cause of volunteerism.

Kalpen Modi, Associate Director, White House Office of Public Engagement

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p> I shortened the letter a bit, and as you may have guessed, it was a mass e-mail Kalpen sent. Not a personal one to me. All the same, the e-mail basically told me two things.

  1. Kalpen Modi is now officially working in the White House.
  2. Kalpen Modi might actually be doing some real work for the AAPI community. How could I tell? On Thursday’s conference call presenting the campaign to community leaders, Modi hosted it. Quite professionally. And nary a pot reference. Kidding aside, the Serve.gov site is incredibly “web 2.0 innovative”, and with this economic crisis at the worst, it’s refreshing to see community service has not seen a similar downturn. The conference call suggested that community folks use the site to recruit volunteers, promote service related projects, and to blog service stories.

I know there is a lot of hesitancy and publicity around Kalpen’s role in the White House. He is an actor that was after all hired ahead of many community organizers already well established in the AAPI community. As a community organizer myself, I’m personally curious to see how this will play out and the sticking factor to his work after the celebrity fades. But his move this week of incorporating the United We Serve campaign with the AAPI community was a big first step in the right direction.

In the meantime, I’ll be following his twitter updates, and will be asking D.C. Mutineers to keep an eye out for Modi on the buses.

And, hey, Kalpen? Friend? How about a one-on-one interview with the AAPI (sub-ethnic South Asian American) blog Sepia Mutiny? Think about it. I’ll be waiting for your e-mail.

This entry was posted in Humor, Musings, Politics by Taz. Bookmark the permalink.

About Taz

Taz is an activist, organizer and writer based in California. She is the founder of South Asian American Voting Youth (SAAVY), curates MutinousMindState.tumblr.com and blogs at TazzyStar.blogspot.com. Follow her at twitter.com/tazzystar

43 thoughts on “Kalpen Modi At Your Service”

  1. I was Kal Pennsylvania’s friend on facebook, along with 10,000 other. I asked him some questions via ‘private message’ but he ignored me so I removed that douchebag.

    He was alright in Namesake and the Harold Kumar movies. Is Sean Penn his white brother or something? Maybe Sean can teach him how to act.

  4. Being an actor is probably a very useful talent when you work as a public relations lackey for the government. Though it helps to be a good one…

  5. Despite Van Wilder: Rise of Taj (I really don’t know how he finished filming that whole movie with a straight face or without crying – guess the paycheck helped), I do believe Mr. Modi has a lot of potential and I hope he returns to acting one day. In interviews he comes across as pretty genuine and laid back – what a great opportunity / dream to be working with the White House and under a man like Mr. Obama.

    As long as there is no Taj sequel, he will do very well. And Service is a great and important thing which I hope the cynical, apathetic peoples will take on.

  7. Being an actor is probably a very useful talent when you work as a public relations lackey for the government. Though it helps to be a good one…

    I disagree. The data indictates its better to be a mediocre one.

  8. I have developed a huge respect for Mr. Modi. To put a fairly successful (and quite possibly very lucrative) acting career at its prime on hold to do something he truly believes in, is really very commendable. Quite unlike the other one. Paging Dr. Gupta anyone?

  9. This is great.. during campaigning time he came to my college to speak.. it was a great. Lots of respect for Mr. Modi

  10. “fairly successful (and quite possibly very lucrative) acting career at its prime”

    Ummm hardly.

  16. amar1, but – I should have said in my previous comment – props for remembering it. Didn’t mean to be all jerky and nitpicky; apologies. Man you took me straight back to 1997 there. These days I could totally imagine “Lowered Expectations” as a viral YouTube series.

  17. My guess is Kalpen lasts about a year in this job before going back to being a crappy D-list actor.

  18. I like Barack Obama..I am reading his book about his father..Kal Penn seems to have become the desi face of American Media

  19. Listen to Obama’s defense of Bush-era torturers, his continued pressure to declare the independent TARP watchdog under his control, and his more expansive program of indefinite detention for the PREVENTION of future crimes. I don’t know how anyone with a brain, Kalpen and us included, can still support this dude.

  21. -Promoting volunteerism has strengths, but can undermine labor rights, which is not surprising coming from the Obama Administration, despite some other strengths. Anyway, even if a very experienced community organiser – and even one that didn’t engage directly on a holistic level witht he community and its indiividuals- were not to be chosen, at minimum, the countless groups around – whether trade unions or South Asian or Asian American – Pacific Islander – might be consulted for a needs assessment and a more targeted programme to direct resources effectively,.

    That’s why I’m skeptical that this is the best approach to things, from the three line exerpt I have read 🙂

    However, I am glad that people in the mainstream are taking more intrest in social justice issues – even if primarily through lip service – than they were before. It potentially helps broaden the space for talking about them.

    I do agree with ray’s policy critiques though 🙂

  22. And, hey, Kalpen? Friend? How about a one-on-one interview with the AAPI (sub-ethnic South Asian American) blog Sepia Mutiny? Think about it. I’ll be waiting for your e-mail.

    Is that what we’re callign dates now? ‘one-on-one interview’? 🙂

  23. “the Asian American and Pacific Islander community”

    When do we Indians get our own community? I’m tired of being lumped in with Samoans, Koreans, and eastern Russia (not that I have anything against said groups)? I remember filling out those little circles on standardized tests back in the 90’s, dreaming of the day when I’d get my own ethnic subgroup.

  24. When do we Indians get our own community? I’m tired of being lumped in with Samoans, Koreans, and eastern Russia (not that I have anything against said groups)? I remember filling out those little circles on standardized tests back in the 90’s, dreaming of the day when I’d get my own ethnic subgroup.

    You got it – Its “Desi”

  25. I won’t be satisfied until I can check Lingayath Gowda, though I’ll settle for Leyden Gouda.

  26. I won’t be satisfied until I can check Lingayath Gowda

    Don’t you mean Linganath?

  27. “dreaming of the day when I’d get my own ethnic subgroup.”

    I’m still waiting for the “Croatian” bubble… so sick of filling in the “white but nonhispanic” button in… 😉

    I mean, those forms have race and ethnicity ALL confused… we have “white” which is technically a race, then there is hispanic.. which is an ethnic group encompassing all sorts of races, then we have African-American, South Asian, etc which are all regional categories. Can’t they just pick one thing and stick with it? (of course, it is awfully hard to define race, since it is social constructed)… maybe regional categories (i.e. where do you people come from) would be the most clear… of course, lots of people would have to check a million different boxes… it would certainly make for some interesting statistics on people though.

    Anyways, as always, I am off topic.

  28. Don’t you mean Linganath?

    nevermind. i’ll just check the “other” box and write in “manju, the one and only”

  32. What kind of name is Kal Penn? Why couldn’t he pick something decent – like Bobby?

  38. I’m very impressed with him – he did a ton during the campaign and came to IU in Bloomington several times over the course of the primaries and general campaign. I think it’s great that he sees what a historic moment it is and that he’s taking a little time out from his acting career.

  40. This is a good one from the nytimes article:

    “He’s probably the only guy in the Office of Public Engagement,” Mr. Axelrod said, “who has a publicist.”

    (good for him–and probably for the country)

  41. Kal Penn = brown noser. Although sticking it up BO behind, its probably even browner.

  42. Kal Penn = brown noser. Although sticking it up BO behind, its probably even browner.

    beats teabagging