Since I had kind of turned in my biography a little late, I saw myself as not being seen in the best of light prior to the press conference, which is why it was imperative that I turned in the release forms on time. However, the universe that day seemed bent on keeping me from accomplishing my goal. It started out with the fact that I did not have paper for my printer (even though I later discovered the next day that I had actually a lot) so I figured I would arrive at this restaurant, where the event was held, a two hours early and find a place to print two pages.
As I arrived at the restaurant, I realized that I was smack dab in the middle of Chinatown. At this point my adventurer spirit took over, and I wandered the streets taking pictures and sort of looking for a place to print.
This is where the kickoff took place
I managed to find a printing store, but the owner just kicked me out, telling me he was too busy. My last hope that day was the library, but when I got there it was closed and was not opening till 1:30 pm, two hours after the kickoff would start. So yet again I was going to turn in something late.
The rest of the day went pretty well. Before the kickoff, when all the interns arrived, they gave us our business cards. Despite the fact that I have had business cards before,it did not make it any less exciting to be receiving this new set. It even had my Chinese name on it! We were shown how to hand off business cards (done with two hands and card facing towards the person) and receive them (two hands in receiving and making sure to read the card).
There were some VIPs at the event and I managed to talk to a few of them. The most memorable was definitely this man who was a Deputy Chief in the LAPD. At the end of the kickoff I managed to sneak in a word with the Deputy Chief and I found him to be very interesting. He mentioned how the Asian community perceives the LAPD differently from the other communities and that only four percent of the force was Asian, while the city was made up of 17 percent Asian. This got me excited, as I thought there might a be a problem that could use some investigating. Thoughts of going on ride alongs and interviewing officers filled my head as I thought about how I could do my internship research project on the relationship between the LAPD and Asian communities.
Interestingly, I met the photographer for the event, since he sat next to me at lunch and I think we started connecting over photography. I asked him what I should do in LA and he told me that every once in awhile when he has a whole day off and he goes on the subway and just rides the whole loop and takes pictures of people at every stop. This sounds like a great idea and I just might do it when I have the time. I added the photographer on facebook, after some minimal stalking (I did not even remember his name) and we have been talking ever since. He has amazing profile pictures by the way.
- muffinman
