October 9, 2024 • 51 mins
Madeline Do is a recent UC Davis graduate & Taiko player from Sacramento. She describes her musical & cultural taiko experience, youth community/arts organizing, & youth voters particiiption in activism. Hear how taiko music can be a powerful form of protest. The significance of voting felt by many Gen Zers in the 2024 election, multiple concerns college students face, & her many examples of volunteering to raise awareness & compassion for an array of local & national concerns deeply impress.
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It's Your Voice is broadcast live Wednesdays at 8PM ET Music on W4CY Radio (www.w4cy.com) part of Talk 4 Radio (www.talk4radio.com) on the Talk 4 Media Network (www.talk4media.com). It's Your Voice is viewed on Talk 4 TV (www.talk4tv.com).
It's Your Voice Podcast is also available on Talk 4 Media (www.talk4media.com), Talk 4 Podcasting (www.talk4podcasting.com), iHeartRadio, Amazon Music, Pandora, Spotify, Audible, and over 100 other podcast outlets.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
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Speaker 2 (00:27):
Let's getic, Let's speak show.
Speaker 1 (00:35):
In lottic, Let's breech in Lott's.
Speaker 3 (00:45):
Lot, Let's breech Lot.
Speaker 4 (00:49):
Let's a lot of.
Speaker 5 (00:57):
Hello, and welcome to It's Your the show that hosts
enriching conversations in diversity. My name is Bihia Yaxon. I'm
a diversity educator, a core aliment coach, which means I
train organizations and identifying patterns of bias so that they
can cultivate far more inclusive ones, which is another part
(01:21):
of the training which creates greater belonging and happiness, more
happiness for more people. If you're interested in checking out
some samples, of my training options which are tailored. You
can go to my website which is Know what you
Want Coaching dot WordPress dot com. And thank you Kenneth
(01:45):
Arnold for being our asl interpreter. It's great having you here.
So today we have Madeline Doe will be our guest,
and the title of this show is a gen Zer's
View on voting. I want to dedicate the next four
shows on voting. We were coming up. I know some
people have already voted. Welcome Madeline. I'm so happy that
(02:09):
you're here, and I know you can't represent an entire generation,
but I really appreciate that you're willing to speak from
your own experience and I want to share that Madeline
is a recent graduate of UC Davis and a tycho player,
(02:33):
which I'd love to hear about. And she's from Sacramento
and she'll talk about her musical background, taycho experience, youth
community organizing and the arts, and youth voters.
Speaker 2 (02:45):
So welcome, Hi, good evening everyone, Thanks for having me.
Speaker 5 (02:53):
It's my pleasure. And I should thank Gregory Watta, who
has been on their show before. Giving is an amazing
history of tycho drumming and he knows so much about
Japanese American history. Just really educational and informative. And I
would love to hear from you before we move on
(03:17):
to hear about your organizing work. And you've been quite
involved with several different organizations to keep you know, solidarity
and keep people thinking about other people in such a
mindful way. Can you tell us about, like, for people
who didn't get to listen to Gregory's show, can you
tell us a little bit like tycho drumming, like where
(03:39):
it came from and then how you got involved in
your experience with it.
Speaker 6 (03:45):
Yeah, definitely, it's a topic and an art form that's
very dear to my heart. Gregory Watt is actually one
of my mentors from UC Davis, the Tycho group there.
But yeah, to start off us for very brief history
and my sort of introduction into taycho, so tycho in
(04:08):
Japanese translates to fat drum. So it's a traditionally a
Japanese art that makes use of drums that are made
out of a hollowed out tree and skin from like
the leather of cows that are stretched over these these
(04:29):
hollowed out trees to create like a barrel looking shape.
So yeah, originally from Japan and then fast forward, skipping
a lot of history, but from its appearance to the
United States mostly came from the esta the first generation
Japanese Americans and their experiences. I guess with that, Oh
(04:59):
my goodness, I'm blanking out. Forgive me, I'm a bit nervous,
but yeah, I think a lot of the Yeah, the
history of Tycho in the United States can really be
traced back to those first generation workers, both agricultural and whatnot.
Speaker 2 (05:17):
Again, and then.
Speaker 6 (05:20):
With the incarceration of the Japanese Americans and World War Two,
you get sort of the second generation Japanese Americans. Then
you say, those who are in the camps, and then
when the war was over, you have the sons, say
the third generation Japanese Americans kind of taking up Tycho as.
Speaker 2 (05:46):
A way to connect back to.
Speaker 6 (05:48):
Their heritage and their cultural history and to bring sort
of this understanding to the Asian American identity that sense.
But yeah, there's there's so much that we can talk
about regarding Taicho and Japanese American history and that correlation.
(06:11):
So please, I recommend you do that if you have interest.
But for me, I guess going to my personal background
I'm not Japanese American. I'm actually Filipino Vietnamese American. My
mom is from Sabu, Philippines immigrated here and my father
(06:32):
is from Bianshan, Laos ethnically Vietnamese. So we have a
lot of family displaced during the Vietnam War, and so
that led to my father and his family being born
and raised in Laos and so kind of taking the
Southeast Asian Asian identity.
Speaker 2 (06:57):
Throughout my childhood and as I grew up, I got involved.
Speaker 6 (07:02):
With different musical instruments, so other than tycho, tycho was
not my first instrument, but first started with trumpet. I
played trumpet in elementary school, euphonium, trombone, marching band, all
of that. So a lot of Western centric instruments, yeah,
(07:24):
in Western modes of learning how to play those instruments.
Speaker 2 (07:27):
So that was my that's part of I consider that
part of my tycho background.
Speaker 6 (07:33):
Because when I introduce E Davis, I wanted to join
a group, a musical ensemble that would allow me to
be physical, that would allow me to grow as a musician,
and would allow me to build community, find friends through
the art form whatever I chose, and I found that
tycho really represented that the physicality of Tyco. I feel
(07:56):
like it might be a bit sound, a bit cliche,
but it kind of it. How do you say this,
like it's the heartbeat. It really feels like your heartbeat. Yeah,
I think it's a common experience that others may have
as well. But yeah, I fell in love with Tycho
(08:18):
mostly for those first reasons, and then kind of as
I grew into that into my role as a member
of the group Bakohatsu tycoed on at UC Davis.
Speaker 2 (08:29):
That was the group I started playing with, kind.
Speaker 6 (08:32):
Of finding political identity as well. Is that how Tycho
kind of speaks to Asian American identity and political consciousness.
Speaker 2 (08:42):
So that's.
Speaker 6 (08:44):
Part of the motivating reason why I'm continuing. But it's, yeah,
something that I discovered through my time there.
Speaker 2 (08:53):
Did I answer every Yeah? Oh no, that's so good.
Speaker 5 (08:58):
It's so interesting. Okay, there's so many different parts about
that I want to go back to. Like one, I
know when we take a break in about twenty minutes,
we'll be able to watch for those people who are
watching today a video and for people who can hear,
(09:18):
they'll be listening to the music. Perhaps we'll see how
physical it is That's one thing. Every time I see
a Tycho part, I cannot like, Wow, they must work
out at a gym and do pilates every day. I
cannot believe the core strength, not just your arms and
your legs, but like I yell, is so strong. This
(09:42):
DaMina is incredible. So I have you know sure when
you say the physicality of Tycho drumming, it means much
more to you than just me as a witness. But
I mean it's just you know, not the only one
you know noticing and commenting on it when we watch
you all play, it's just remarkable. And I don't know
(10:04):
if you want to say more about the physicality part
before I ask you a couple And that's.
Speaker 6 (10:08):
That's the beauty of it, even as a witness, even
as someone just watching feeling kind of apart from it,
Like you're not one with the music, you are part
of that. So you're part of that energy that's that's
being given and being shared amongst each other. So yeah,
and then the physicality is just like one aspect of it.
I think to some others, there's the spirituality.
Speaker 5 (10:31):
That goes with it.
Speaker 6 (10:32):
I head space that you get into as well. But yeah,
from a physical perspective. I can't say that we do
a lot of workouts outside our practice time.
Speaker 2 (10:42):
We've been trying to.
Speaker 5 (10:44):
You don't need to, You clearly don't need to.
Speaker 2 (10:49):
But yeah, that's definitely one one part of it that's.
Speaker 6 (10:54):
Feels a bit like release and connection. Just doing something
difficult together that's physical.
Speaker 5 (11:02):
Yeah, that is very very bonding. And not to mention
the difficult theme learning the music and all the different
patterns that the songs that you you know, alternate and integrate.
So I just would love to hear more about and
I know when we talk about the different youth organization
(11:24):
and taicho, the political consciousness of it, say more about
that please.
Speaker 2 (11:33):
Yeah, okay.
Speaker 6 (11:34):
So this goes back to kind of the nineteen so
nineteen fifties in Japan post war movement. So the Allied
forces occupying Japan during that time.
Speaker 2 (11:48):
So there's this wave of.
Speaker 6 (11:53):
Wanting to connect to being Japanese again or a way
like splitting away from the West. That's this kind of
cultural thing that's going on post war Japan at the moment.
Speaker 2 (12:07):
And so out of that comes the new style of
kumi taiko or ensemble drumming.
Speaker 6 (12:18):
That is mostly played here in now in the States,
and so that can be contributed within the United States.
The birth or the popular popularization of that is to
San Francisco Tayco Dojo Quinata Tycho from the Los Angeles
Buddhist Temple, Sanshian Buddhist Temple in Los Angeles, and then
(12:42):
San Jose Tycho, all founded around the same time the
late sixties early seventies, and so particularly with San Jose
Tycho's birth, I think or the two founders of or
(13:02):
one of the founders of Santa s Tycho, Roy Hibayashi
and then the former artistic director PJ. Here At Bayashi.
Those two were are sanse or Japanese Americans, active Japanese
Americans who participated in a lot of the Third World
(13:24):
movement going on college campuses during that time in the
United States. And so out of that when you have
also like the identity, like Asian American identity kind of
coming out of that as well, you also have these
youth activists who are also tycho players or started a
tycho group who are also leaning into the identity as
(13:47):
Asian Americans. So I think for me, learning about that
history and then also taking like Asian American studies classes
that you see Davis and whatnot. I think it connected
and it clicked for me in a way that that
felt personal.
Speaker 2 (14:03):
I think when.
Speaker 6 (14:05):
You read a lot about history, it feels very disconnected
from from yourself. And so when I learned about all
of that, but through playing tycho, through being in a
typo group, I think that really grounded me in that. Yeah,
So that was the grounding moment for me, probably in
(14:28):
my second year of university.
Speaker 2 (14:33):
So yeah. And then from there like learning more.
Speaker 6 (14:38):
How taych and then participating in a lot more events
that that had Tycho there that I played at too.
Speaker 5 (14:47):
So okay, that that's fascinating and it's connecting to college
campuses participating in the tycho. I mean when you were
describing an event to me the other day when we spoke,
it was just it's just fascinating to think about music
(15:12):
as the form of protest. So can you just kind
of describe that kind of experience and if you want
to say the particulars, feel free to say. You know,
this is like at least the issues and the and
who you were, who you were standing in solidarity with,
who the ensemble was supporting, and what you did to
(15:37):
take political action to draw attention to the to an issue.
Speaker 2 (15:42):
Yeah, that I would be happy to speak about that.
Speaker 6 (15:46):
So I guess at e Z Davis University of California, Davis,
the Tyco group there tycled on was where when I
first learned how to play Tycho.
Speaker 2 (15:56):
And so.
Speaker 6 (15:59):
One of my first performances with that specific group was
that it's Sudu for Solidarity protests at the at the
United California Capital in Sacramento, downtown Sacramento. And so that
was organized by t Sudu for Solidarity, which is a
Japanese American social justice group working to end detention sites
(16:22):
and kind of support frontline immigrant and refugee communities, those
who are mainly being targeted by like racist, in humane
immigration policies. And so one of my first performances, so
not even protests, that was my first protest as well,
but my first performance was for this group to protest
(16:47):
the deportation of a man named Lamb Homely who was
originally from dynam.
Speaker 2 (16:54):
That has a life here in the United States.
Speaker 6 (16:56):
And I think, yeah, that was one kind of action
that we did, kind of going back to the history
of the Japanese Americans and those with Japanese ancestry in
the West Coast being forced into these sort of prison
camps essentially in the spirit of that being in solidarity
(17:22):
with those who have been detained.
Speaker 2 (17:26):
Yes, and so that was one of.
Speaker 6 (17:29):
The most powerful feelings I've got while playing tyco was
for events like that, like how can music bring a
community together in solidarity.
Speaker 2 (17:41):
To support for each other.
Speaker 6 (17:47):
At UC Davis as well, there are a lot of
other things that bacalhaps tyckles On has been involved in
that I wasn't even a part of before. So even
before I became a student, I feel very proud to
say that that group has contributed.
Speaker 2 (18:06):
In other ways than what I've listed.
Speaker 6 (18:09):
At UC Davis there was also the UAW strikes where
a lot of the tas and teachers there we're striking
for fair wages and fair treatment from the UC system,
and so we our group had performed at maybe two
or three of those.
Speaker 2 (18:31):
Rallies.
Speaker 6 (18:33):
In particular, I suppose I have to typo don as
an entity of the university does not get any support
from the university where they're called a club, but they
don't receive any monetary or space support from the university.
Speaker 2 (18:50):
So I think in that sort of we stand with
you as a group that it's been used for its.
Speaker 6 (19:03):
Kind of diversity, So oh, you see Davis is diverse.
Speaker 2 (19:07):
And then there's a photo of us. But what this
is like more of a give.
Speaker 6 (19:14):
Situation other than like a give and take, so kind
of resonating with those striking and in that way. And also, yeah,
our fellow UC Davis students. Another example of or another
political sort of rally we've been a part of, or
(19:38):
I've personally been a part of, has been the Palestinian
Encampment a UC Davis that was going on around last year.
Speaker 2 (19:48):
We were called on two.
Speaker 6 (19:52):
To give a short performance, so there was no expectation
of us to speak or anything, but as artists and
as people who have ancestors who have suffered in that
way or similarly, I felt like it was important for
(20:13):
us to kind of speak as to why we were there,
like why do we show up to these kinds of events,
Like why does how does a Japanese American, Asian American
art or drumming group what does that have to do
with the issues that are at hand?
Speaker 2 (20:32):
And a lot of it has to do with for
me personally not speaking on behalf of the.
Speaker 6 (20:39):
Group, but unity creating unity and creating awareness.
Speaker 2 (20:42):
Ticho is allowed.
Speaker 6 (20:43):
Tycho speaks to a lot of people just through its sound,
and so just being there is an act of support
and protest for the Palestinian encampments specifically, more so referring
to kind of anti genocide, opposition to Israel governmental policy
and their treatment of Palestinians and not being anti Semitic.
Speaker 2 (21:08):
In that state. Yeah, criticizing the state, not the people
for being for Jewish. But yeah, even at these.
Speaker 6 (21:17):
Encampments, or at these encampments, if folks are unaware of,
there was a lot of art and a lot of
bringing together events that could help educate, events that would
mhm that brought people together rather than I think push
people away. And so having us there as kind of
(21:38):
an art form that brings people together I think was
powerful for me in that regard.
Speaker 2 (21:44):
Yeah, that's kind of like a summary of.
Speaker 6 (21:47):
How Tycho specifically in this case was used, Yeah, as
a way to be in solidarity with others that you.
Speaker 5 (21:57):
See doing a Yeah, thank you. I really appreciate your words,
like creating unity and using art and music to unify people,
all people and all people who are against genocide. And
I also really appreciate your separating the state and government
from the people. That's another plenty. So many Jewish people
(22:22):
and who are also pro Palestinian who are also critical
of the state, and who knows that's a different thing
from anti semitism, because we certainly certainly don't want to
support anti semitism. And how powerful. I love the way
you spelled out, you know, art creating unity. I'm thinking
(22:47):
that time is flying, It's already time for a break,
so this is perfect. If anyone's listening or watching, we
have a six minute video that our engineer Rebel, will
play for us now and thank you so much. Be
right back.
Speaker 4 (24:00):
Six so so so.
Speaker 5 (24:42):
So s.
Speaker 4 (25:05):
S S.
Speaker 3 (26:52):
Say, yeah, so.
Speaker 4 (27:20):
Stops.
Speaker 2 (29:22):
I'm so curious before.
Speaker 5 (29:24):
We talk about voting, I'm how long does it take
to learn a song like that? There's so much involved,
like choreography and like literally jumping in the air and
arms in the air with sticks even when you're not
drumming and shouting out phrases or words. How long would
it take to learn all of that?
Speaker 2 (29:44):
Hmm.
Speaker 6 (29:45):
So I'll preface that was saying that that was the
koyas On Spirit of Children tycho group based out of
the northern California koyas On Temple that's in Sacramento, downtown Sacramento.
And so.
Speaker 2 (29:59):
What's great about that group.
Speaker 6 (30:03):
That I've joined after graduating is that it's a range
of ages. So you have like kind of college graduates
around that age twenties or so my age.
Speaker 2 (30:14):
There, you have little kids, some of them aren't there,
but there.
Speaker 6 (30:19):
It goes as the only as like five years old,
and then you have eighteen year olds.
Speaker 2 (30:23):
Yeah, so as well as those who.
Speaker 6 (30:26):
Are a bit older in age, like fifties sixties playing
tycho with us. So I cannot really say how long
it takes to learn the whole piece. I would say
like over a few months usually is how it goes
to not tire out the brain and to not tire
(30:49):
out the people playing as well. But we actually learned
tycho but orally, so there's no sheet music or anything
like in Western percussion or anything. So when you say
don't don't don't, that would equate to playing one, two,
three and work. So in that, yeah, that's how we
(31:11):
kind of learn, and we teach the kind of phrases
that you heard a shouting out and stuff are not
exactly mandatory, so it's kind of like what you're feeling
in the moment. Sometimes it's usually to like give energy
to each other, give energy to the audience. Sometimes it's
to count, like oh, let's let's shout on this fourth
phrase or like this fourth count so that we know
(31:32):
when to come in or something.
Speaker 5 (31:34):
Yeah.
Speaker 6 (31:35):
Yeah, So some of it is or a lot of
it is improvisation. A lot of the solos that you
just saw or essentially all improvised.
Speaker 5 (31:44):
I think, yeah, that's awesome that the excitement and the
enthusiasm and just wanting to holler out and sing out Wow,
that's amazing. If anybody didn't get to see the visuals,
you can find it archived on YouTube talk for TV
talk for media. Go check it out. I'm really worth it.
(32:06):
So let's turn more specifically to voting. And I'm assuming
you know what kind of On some shows I've asked
guests like what kind of America do you want?
Speaker 4 (32:19):
Like?
Speaker 5 (32:19):
And are you whichever guess I'm speaking to, are you
looking at what options like each of the candidates has
to offer, Like what if voting for les's Democratic or Republican?
(32:41):
The current Republican, which is not standard Republican. I will
say the conservative standard culty Republican that we used to
know currently. So I usually start by saying, what kind
of America do you want? And how much have you
looked into like as a gen Zer, how much of
(33:03):
you looked into voting? How important is voting? I mean,
given that you have this political consciousness and you participated
in raising awareness and standing in solidarity with people from
different parts of the world, I know you care, You
care about society, care about people, and you agreed to
talk about voting, which means that must matter to you.
So you can just start where you want and then
(33:25):
I'll just, you know, go from asking you about how
you feel about voting and like you do you feel
like many of your peers are also saying, yeah, we
have to vote? Or are you running to people in
gen z who are disinterested or not paying attention. They'll
(33:45):
start with you, yeah, okay, with me.
Speaker 2 (33:50):
Regarding what I want America to look like.
Speaker 6 (33:56):
I think I've come into consciousness political consciousness, but just
consciousness in general of like how what is the world
around me? And like what is capitalism? And those kind
of questions have come to me like it's it wasn't
(34:17):
it was?
Speaker 2 (34:17):
Posts?
Speaker 6 (34:18):
So I was born in two thousand and two, so
after nine to eleven, during a lot of wars in
the Middle East, like war on oil and stuff like that,
but not really being aware of things, like things weren't
really clicking, Like how does this matter to me?
Speaker 2 (34:34):
I think, And so my earliest memories, I guess of.
Speaker 6 (34:40):
America as itself, I feel very neutral stance, like I
don't like, I don't know my country is fine. I
suppose I don't really know what can make it better.
And I think that's a lot of people what people
might be feeling now. Perhaps I think though as I've
gotten older, like understanding the need for tolerance, like being
(35:04):
able to tolerate each other in different views that people
might have that like non violent views, like views that
don't harm a group or an individual, and being able
to have dialogue about that. I think I've learned and
I want that for us as Americans, to be able
(35:27):
to be in conversation with one another, something that I
can't do all the time. I'm working on it myself,
but I think that's part of the America that I
want for me. I find a lot of my connection
and calling through art, and so how like I mentioned,
(35:48):
art creates unity, and so being a part of projects
that have kind of contributed to that sort of ideal
and hopefully realistic goal of being able to understand each other,
being able to dance and have shared joy with one another,
(36:10):
being able to share each other's pain. I think that's
something that I would I would like to see as
in America that's as divided as it is today.
Speaker 5 (36:23):
Yeah, that's beautiful, being able to again have conversations as
much as possible. It's not always easy. Using art as unity,
which you do so well and something that you turn
to and you can do as a musician and an artist,
(36:46):
and being able to, like I love the image of
dance together, share joy together, and that you also added
share pain together. That's the kind of America you want.
Speaker 2 (36:57):
Yeah, I think as views and actions may get more extreme,
like being.
Speaker 6 (37:05):
Able to connect with each other as human beings, I
think is important. Yeah, I mean human beings and the
environment as much as how are we how do we
exist together both with nature and with ourselves? Yeah.
Speaker 2 (37:24):
So I was an environmental science major at UC Davis.
Speaker 6 (37:27):
So I was taught a lot about like the theoretical
applications of what we can do, like climate science and
research and all of that, and so while I enjoyed it,
I think a lot of the dialogue comes from like
people who are not necessarily in those fields either, like
(37:49):
people who may not know as much but want to
know more.
Speaker 2 (37:52):
Yeah, so.
Speaker 4 (37:57):
Yeah, thank you?
Speaker 5 (37:58):
And did you do you to spend? Like I'm just
trying to think back, what if someone asked me this
when I graduated from college, Like do you have a
sense of I mean, I don't even know how big
your graduating class was. Mine was pretty small, you know,
But I'm wondering, like, can you say, like give us
(38:18):
snapshots of what people your age are thinking and what
you heard on campus and post graduation about voting in
this election when people are so divided and some people
are just tuning out, but some people are really getting
into it and making calls and campaigning and working. Would
you say you saw and hear from your peers.
Speaker 2 (38:45):
I see a lot of action. I think you see.
Speaker 6 (38:50):
Davis specifically is more of like liberal in terms of
political thought, and so from my peers, I consider myself
kind of on the like, oh, I don't campaign as much,
and so there are people who do way more than me.
And then people who were around me who like to
think about this and have dialogue about it, but may
(39:11):
not really know like what is the next step really.
So I think most of my peers who are gen
Z have leaned towards that we need to take action.
And I think that's what's interesting about like the university campus,
is that you have a whole bunch of young intellectuals
(39:32):
who want to do something with what they've learned, whether
that be protesting or going out and make it like
legislative change and whatnot. So I think a lot of
what I see is a lot of action on my
peers parts and my generation. To be honest, yeah, I would.
Speaker 5 (39:54):
Say that, Okay, a lot of so not giving up.
There's there's a been I know, there's been so much
doubt put out there and misinformation about our system. But
you're saying what you see here is people like not
giving up, but wanting to use it, wanting to take
(40:15):
action even if I mean if I think part of
for me, part of being American is to constantly want
to approve, improve upon it and make it grow and
make it get better and keep working towards a more
perfect union. But so that spirit, it sounds like you're
seeing that might be different description words, but you see
(40:36):
people saying not giving up, like I'm going to maybe
influence policy or.
Speaker 6 (40:42):
Yeah, yeah, as exactly as you put in word, did
it very well, Thank you so much.
Speaker 2 (40:51):
That's what it is. That, yeah, that is what I'm seeing.
Speaker 6 (40:53):
And then it's kind of interesting to reconcile that with
a lot of what you learn, especially as an environmental
ste it is a science student is a depressing things
about the environment, and then the policy is being enacted
to that don't really help the environment. And that's just
one scenario. But then to have what you learn in
(41:14):
class kind of depressing and then having kind of the
opposite like seeing the opposite reaction of your peers, like
your peers, my peers wanting to essentially like kind of
cliche like make the world a better place and kind
of whatever capacity they can, not just environmental science students,
but I think a lot of the people who I've
(41:36):
met through UC Davis and even like when I studied abroad.
I studied abroad in Japan for a little bit as
part of UC Davis, like the UC program, Like even
seeing that there, it's like, oh, okay, so young people
around the world hopefully like we.
Speaker 2 (41:56):
Together can make change in that way that that was
just uplifting in that.
Speaker 5 (42:00):
Way that is very uplifting, and that's very encouraging too.
And I know that so many young people were like, yeah,
there's there's that, yeah, climate change challenge and and uh,
you know, we still haven't seem to gotten a way
(42:26):
to take away the powerful control that in ora or
gun lobbying has, Like we still have so much work
to do to make real practical laws that helped to
help prevent gun violence from one thing. And I know
there are a lot of advocates in your generation who
(42:48):
are really dedicating time to that. It's just so inspiring
because in the in the claimate and climate change and
then somethingdy interested in political change, whether it's working on
what are we going to do about the electoral college
or can we take at least this amount of money
(43:09):
out of you know, campaigning and finances. That there's so
many people in your generation who are like, are super inspiring,
And I'm glad you were. You were surrounded by it
and are part of keeping you know, keeping help alive,
not giving up and just like using the education and
(43:31):
the drive and not everybody has to go to college
or be formally educated. And there's so many people who
have the passion and the drive to make positive change,
whether or not they choose to or have access to
right a college degree. But I just give lots of
credit and I know I have I have come from
a big family, and there's more than one generation in
(43:54):
my sibling family, and I am one of them. From
the from the Boomer generation was apologizing to Gen Z
generation like I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry. So we
didn't mean to do this. There were a lot of
a lot of us boomers were trying to be activists
and trying to make good changes then and we and
(44:16):
hopefully we did have some positive fluence. But you know,
I hope you're not overwhelmed by what's left, clean up
here and.
Speaker 2 (44:25):
And more.
Speaker 6 (44:29):
Yeah, I will say when it comes to like candidates,
like vetting candidates, like for voting and stuff.
Speaker 2 (44:34):
I voted in the twenty twenty election, and then I voted,
I voted by mail, which is more convenient for me.
But I think, just.
Speaker 6 (44:47):
Like, how where do you put how do you put
your trust into someone? I guess as as in America,
I think that is that's been coming up a lot.
I think in voting dialogue with me and my years,
like stuck between kind of a rock and a hard place,
and like how do you build a candidate or find
(45:08):
a candidate that really represents like that can really make
the change that you want to happen.
Speaker 2 (45:13):
So a lot of it feels out of our control,
not going to why m I think just yeah, like.
Speaker 5 (45:24):
That's really well put. Yeah, I think that's I feel
like that's true for everyone I know, Like no one's perfect,
and I know the phrase the lesser of two evils
comes up for people. Oh there's some beautiful photographs.
Speaker 7 (45:40):
Of you.
Speaker 5 (45:43):
Has fun. Wow, that's that's lovely. I don't know if
you want to say anything about those. We have it
like four minutes left. You do you want to comment
on the photos before I say more about voting.
Speaker 6 (45:57):
Well, I guess real quick. Those photos are of me
playing Tycho. That was why I included them, and one
of them is from the two of them are from
the Davis Chrey Bossom Festival, which is founded by Gregory
wat started in twenty sixteen as a way to kind
of bring unity Asian American share, Asian American joy and
(46:19):
the arts.
Speaker 2 (46:20):
So that's just a quick little thing there.
Speaker 5 (46:23):
Yeah, well, thank you.
Speaker 6 (46:24):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (46:24):
The Cherry Blossom Festival that's every May right in Davis,
every April in Davis, every April. Okay, I'm sorry, I'm
associating with cherry blossoms. Yeah, bloom me. Yeah, that's a
beautiful event. If you're anywhere near northern California, find Cherry
Blossom Festival and Davis. It's usually at sud Work Brewery,
(46:49):
which is I have a bias towards because my nephews
has a lot to do with the community oriented events.
They're very, very generous. So given that we have a
couple more minutes, I wondered, like, if you have this
(47:11):
a platform to speak to people in your generation and
we're coming with this election, I know some people feel
like there's a lot at stake. There's a big difference
in this particular time. We don't usually have this wide
gap if you vote left or right. Nobody's perfect. There's
you know, definitely, it's rare. I can't even think of
a person who thinks I agree with every single issue
(47:34):
if I'm good to vote for. But do you have
any words of encouragement for whether they're from Gen Z
or any generation, anybody listening who you have a thought
that might encourage people to really think about it, think
about voting rather than walk away from this opportunity that honestly, worldwide,
(47:55):
it's really rare, it's really really rare to have some voice.
Speaker 2 (48:03):
Yeah.
Speaker 6 (48:03):
I think just broadly, like as a diverse people, as Americans,
like our right like as Americans is to have policies
that kind of represent and protect like that diversity that
is like us and our thoughts, and so I think
voting is definitely one way to go about it to
(48:24):
ensure that you do have those rights and you do
have like people looking out for Oh, I don't know
if that might be a stretch people looking out for
you go in the.
Speaker 2 (48:34):
Government, but.
Speaker 6 (48:36):
Yeah, things things that can yeah, yes, build towards hopefully
what you want in the future.
Speaker 5 (48:46):
Yeah, things that can build towards what you want in
the future hopefully. Yeah.
Speaker 6 (48:53):
Yeah.
Speaker 7 (48:53):
My advice is, I do feel like there are some
government programs that are really important, like healthcare, like America
give care, but healthcare, it's pretty clear who you should
vote for.
Speaker 5 (49:04):
Education, education, reproductive rights, which is far far far more
than we understood. Help you know, pro choice is so
much truly a health issue which our whole country is
getting a greater education about voting itself, protecting voting, protecting
(49:30):
people who come here from other countries, who have helped
build up this country, who keep this country going. Anyway,
I'm throwing in my biases. I agree, so oh my gosh,
thank you so much. We just I'll just wrap up
by thanking you so much, Madeline though, and thanks for
(49:50):
your beautiful music and art and helping create unity for
more people through music and art. Thank you for to
our ASL interpreter Kenneth Arnold, who's just always so positive
and teaching me things every week. Thank you to our
engineer Rebel, who's always on top of everything we need.
And to our producer Dean Ki Piper. And to the
(50:12):
viewers and listeners, thank you so much. Please tell people
about it's your voice. The next three shows. We have
three more Wednesdays before voting November fifth in the United
States of America, and we have more to think about
and talk about listening. For anybody who's on the edge
or disillusioned, keep tuning in and thank you all. We'll
(50:33):
see you next Wednesday a pm Eastern Time on Talk
for TV and W four c Y dot com and
maybe we all have enriching conversations in diversity this week.
Speaker 3 (50:44):
Let's meet, let's be shown, let's get all.
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The topics and opinions express in the following show are
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Those of W four c Y Radio. It's employees are affiliates.
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Speaker 2 (00:27):
Let's getic, Let's speak show.
Speaker 1 (00:35):
In lottic, Let's breech in Lott's.
Speaker 3 (00:45):
Lot, Let's breech Lot.
Speaker 4 (00:49):
Let's a lot of.
Speaker 5 (00:57):
Hello, and welcome to It's Your the show that hosts
enriching conversations in diversity. My name is Bihia Yaxon. I'm
a diversity educator, a core aliment coach, which means I
train organizations and identifying patterns of bias so that they
can cultivate far more inclusive ones, which is another part
(01:21):
of the training which creates greater belonging and happiness, more
happiness for more people. If you're interested in checking out
some samples, of my training options which are tailored. You
can go to my website which is Know what you
Want Coaching dot WordPress dot com. And thank you Kenneth
(01:45):
Arnold for being our asl interpreter. It's great having you here.
So today we have Madeline Doe will be our guest,
and the title of this show is a gen Zer's
View on voting. I want to dedicate the next four
shows on voting. We were coming up. I know some
people have already voted. Welcome Madeline. I'm so happy that
(02:09):
you're here, and I know you can't represent an entire generation,
but I really appreciate that you're willing to speak from
your own experience and I want to share that Madeline
is a recent graduate of UC Davis and a tycho player,
(02:33):
which I'd love to hear about. And she's from Sacramento
and she'll talk about her musical background, taycho experience, youth
community organizing and the arts, and youth voters.
Speaker 2 (02:45):
So welcome, Hi, good evening everyone, Thanks for having me.
Speaker 5 (02:53):
It's my pleasure. And I should thank Gregory Watta, who
has been on their show before. Giving is an amazing
history of tycho drumming and he knows so much about
Japanese American history. Just really educational and informative. And I
would love to hear from you before we move on
(03:17):
to hear about your organizing work. And you've been quite
involved with several different organizations to keep you know, solidarity
and keep people thinking about other people in such a
mindful way. Can you tell us about, like, for people
who didn't get to listen to Gregory's show, can you
tell us a little bit like tycho drumming, like where
(03:39):
it came from and then how you got involved in
your experience with it.
Speaker 6 (03:45):
Yeah, definitely, it's a topic and an art form that's
very dear to my heart. Gregory Watt is actually one
of my mentors from UC Davis, the Tycho group there.
But yeah, to start off us for very brief history
and my sort of introduction into taycho, so tycho in
(04:08):
Japanese translates to fat drum. So it's a traditionally a
Japanese art that makes use of drums that are made
out of a hollowed out tree and skin from like
the leather of cows that are stretched over these these
(04:29):
hollowed out trees to create like a barrel looking shape.
So yeah, originally from Japan and then fast forward, skipping
a lot of history, but from its appearance to the
United States mostly came from the esta the first generation
Japanese Americans and their experiences. I guess with that, Oh
(04:59):
my goodness, I'm blanking out. Forgive me, I'm a bit nervous,
but yeah, I think a lot of the Yeah, the
history of Tycho in the United States can really be
traced back to those first generation workers, both agricultural and whatnot.
Speaker 2 (05:17):
Again, and then.
Speaker 6 (05:20):
With the incarceration of the Japanese Americans and World War Two,
you get sort of the second generation Japanese Americans. Then
you say, those who are in the camps, and then
when the war was over, you have the sons, say
the third generation Japanese Americans kind of taking up Tycho as.
Speaker 2 (05:46):
A way to connect back to.
Speaker 6 (05:48):
Their heritage and their cultural history and to bring sort
of this understanding to the Asian American identity that sense.
But yeah, there's there's so much that we can talk
about regarding Taicho and Japanese American history and that correlation.
(06:11):
So please, I recommend you do that if you have interest.
But for me, I guess going to my personal background
I'm not Japanese American. I'm actually Filipino Vietnamese American. My
mom is from Sabu, Philippines immigrated here and my father
(06:32):
is from Bianshan, Laos ethnically Vietnamese. So we have a
lot of family displaced during the Vietnam War, and so
that led to my father and his family being born
and raised in Laos and so kind of taking the
Southeast Asian Asian identity.
Speaker 2 (06:57):
Throughout my childhood and as I grew up, I got involved.
Speaker 6 (07:02):
With different musical instruments, so other than tycho, tycho was
not my first instrument, but first started with trumpet. I
played trumpet in elementary school, euphonium, trombone, marching band, all
of that. So a lot of Western centric instruments, yeah,
(07:24):
in Western modes of learning how to play those instruments.
Speaker 2 (07:27):
So that was my that's part of I consider that
part of my tycho background.
Speaker 6 (07:33):
Because when I introduce E Davis, I wanted to join
a group, a musical ensemble that would allow me to
be physical, that would allow me to grow as a musician,
and would allow me to build community, find friends through
the art form whatever I chose, and I found that
tycho really represented that the physicality of Tyco. I feel
(07:56):
like it might be a bit sound, a bit cliche,
but it kind of it. How do you say this,
like it's the heartbeat. It really feels like your heartbeat. Yeah,
I think it's a common experience that others may have
as well. But yeah, I fell in love with Tycho
(08:18):
mostly for those first reasons, and then kind of as
I grew into that into my role as a member
of the group Bakohatsu tycoed on at UC Davis.
Speaker 2 (08:29):
That was the group I started playing with, kind.
Speaker 6 (08:32):
Of finding political identity as well. Is that how Tycho
kind of speaks to Asian American identity and political consciousness.
Speaker 2 (08:42):
So that's.
Speaker 6 (08:44):
Part of the motivating reason why I'm continuing. But it's, yeah,
something that I discovered through my time there.
Speaker 2 (08:53):
Did I answer every Yeah? Oh no, that's so good.
Speaker 5 (08:58):
It's so interesting. Okay, there's so many different parts about
that I want to go back to. Like one, I
know when we take a break in about twenty minutes,
we'll be able to watch for those people who are
watching today a video and for people who can hear,
(09:18):
they'll be listening to the music. Perhaps we'll see how
physical it is That's one thing. Every time I see
a Tycho part, I cannot like, Wow, they must work
out at a gym and do pilates every day. I
cannot believe the core strength, not just your arms and
your legs, but like I yell, is so strong. This
(09:42):
DaMina is incredible. So I have you know sure when
you say the physicality of Tycho drumming, it means much
more to you than just me as a witness. But
I mean it's just you know, not the only one
you know noticing and commenting on it when we watch
you all play, it's just remarkable. And I don't know
(10:04):
if you want to say more about the physicality part
before I ask you a couple And that's.
Speaker 6 (10:08):
That's the beauty of it, even as a witness, even
as someone just watching feeling kind of apart from it,
Like you're not one with the music, you are part
of that. So you're part of that energy that's that's
being given and being shared amongst each other. So yeah,
and then the physicality is just like one aspect of it.
I think to some others, there's the spirituality.
Speaker 5 (10:31):
That goes with it.
Speaker 6 (10:32):
I head space that you get into as well. But yeah,
from a physical perspective. I can't say that we do
a lot of workouts outside our practice time.
Speaker 2 (10:42):
We've been trying to.
Speaker 5 (10:44):
You don't need to, You clearly don't need to.
Speaker 2 (10:49):
But yeah, that's definitely one one part of it that's.
Speaker 6 (10:54):
Feels a bit like release and connection. Just doing something
difficult together that's physical.
Speaker 5 (11:02):
Yeah, that is very very bonding. And not to mention
the difficult theme learning the music and all the different
patterns that the songs that you you know, alternate and integrate.
So I just would love to hear more about and
I know when we talk about the different youth organization
(11:24):
and taicho, the political consciousness of it, say more about
that please.
Speaker 2 (11:33):
Yeah, okay.
Speaker 6 (11:34):
So this goes back to kind of the nineteen so
nineteen fifties in Japan post war movement. So the Allied
forces occupying Japan during that time.
Speaker 2 (11:48):
So there's this wave of.
Speaker 6 (11:53):
Wanting to connect to being Japanese again or a way
like splitting away from the West. That's this kind of
cultural thing that's going on post war Japan at the moment.
Speaker 2 (12:07):
And so out of that comes the new style of
kumi taiko or ensemble drumming.
Speaker 6 (12:18):
That is mostly played here in now in the States,
and so that can be contributed within the United States.
The birth or the popular popularization of that is to
San Francisco Tayco Dojo Quinata Tycho from the Los Angeles
Buddhist Temple, Sanshian Buddhist Temple in Los Angeles, and then
(12:42):
San Jose Tycho, all founded around the same time the
late sixties early seventies, and so particularly with San Jose
Tycho's birth, I think or the two founders of or
(13:02):
one of the founders of Santa s Tycho, Roy Hibayashi
and then the former artistic director PJ. Here At Bayashi.
Those two were are sanse or Japanese Americans, active Japanese
Americans who participated in a lot of the Third World
(13:24):
movement going on college campuses during that time in the
United States. And so out of that when you have
also like the identity, like Asian American identity kind of
coming out of that as well, you also have these
youth activists who are also tycho players or started a
tycho group who are also leaning into the identity as
(13:47):
Asian Americans. So I think for me, learning about that
history and then also taking like Asian American studies classes
that you see Davis and whatnot. I think it connected
and it clicked for me in a way that that
felt personal.
Speaker 2 (14:03):
I think when.
Speaker 6 (14:05):
You read a lot about history, it feels very disconnected
from from yourself. And so when I learned about all
of that, but through playing tycho, through being in a
typo group, I think that really grounded me in that. Yeah,
So that was the grounding moment for me, probably in
(14:28):
my second year of university.
Speaker 2 (14:33):
So yeah. And then from there like learning more.
Speaker 6 (14:38):
How taych and then participating in a lot more events
that that had Tycho there that I played at too.
Speaker 5 (14:47):
So okay, that that's fascinating and it's connecting to college
campuses participating in the tycho. I mean when you were
describing an event to me the other day when we spoke,
it was just it's just fascinating to think about music
(15:12):
as the form of protest. So can you just kind
of describe that kind of experience and if you want
to say the particulars, feel free to say. You know,
this is like at least the issues and the and
who you were, who you were standing in solidarity with,
who the ensemble was supporting, and what you did to
(15:37):
take political action to draw attention to the to an issue.
Speaker 2 (15:42):
Yeah, that I would be happy to speak about that.
Speaker 6 (15:46):
So I guess at e Z Davis University of California, Davis,
the Tyco group there tycled on was where when I
first learned how to play Tycho.
Speaker 2 (15:56):
And so.
Speaker 6 (15:59):
One of my first performances with that specific group was
that it's Sudu for Solidarity protests at the at the
United California Capital in Sacramento, downtown Sacramento. And so that
was organized by t Sudu for Solidarity, which is a
Japanese American social justice group working to end detention sites
(16:22):
and kind of support frontline immigrant and refugee communities, those
who are mainly being targeted by like racist, in humane
immigration policies. And so one of my first performances, so
not even protests, that was my first protest as well,
but my first performance was for this group to protest
(16:47):
the deportation of a man named Lamb Homely who was
originally from dynam.
Speaker 2 (16:54):
That has a life here in the United States.
Speaker 6 (16:56):
And I think, yeah, that was one kind of action
that we did, kind of going back to the history
of the Japanese Americans and those with Japanese ancestry in
the West Coast being forced into these sort of prison
camps essentially in the spirit of that being in solidarity
(17:22):
with those who have been detained.
Speaker 2 (17:26):
Yes, and so that was one of.
Speaker 6 (17:29):
The most powerful feelings I've got while playing tyco was
for events like that, like how can music bring a
community together in solidarity.
Speaker 2 (17:41):
To support for each other.
Speaker 6 (17:47):
At UC Davis as well, there are a lot of
other things that bacalhaps tyckles On has been involved in
that I wasn't even a part of before. So even
before I became a student, I feel very proud to
say that that group has contributed.
Speaker 2 (18:06):
In other ways than what I've listed.
Speaker 6 (18:09):
At UC Davis there was also the UAW strikes where
a lot of the tas and teachers there we're striking
for fair wages and fair treatment from the UC system,
and so we our group had performed at maybe two
or three of those.
Speaker 2 (18:31):
Rallies.
Speaker 6 (18:33):
In particular, I suppose I have to typo don as
an entity of the university does not get any support
from the university where they're called a club, but they
don't receive any monetary or space support from the university.
Speaker 2 (18:50):
So I think in that sort of we stand with
you as a group that it's been used for its.
Speaker 6 (19:03):
Kind of diversity, So oh, you see Davis is diverse.
Speaker 2 (19:07):
And then there's a photo of us. But what this
is like more of a give.
Speaker 6 (19:14):
Situation other than like a give and take, so kind
of resonating with those striking and in that way. And also, yeah,
our fellow UC Davis students. Another example of or another
political sort of rally we've been a part of, or
(19:38):
I've personally been a part of, has been the Palestinian
Encampment a UC Davis that was going on around last year.
Speaker 2 (19:48):
We were called on two.
Speaker 6 (19:52):
To give a short performance, so there was no expectation
of us to speak or anything, but as artists and
as people who have ancestors who have suffered in that
way or similarly, I felt like it was important for
(20:13):
us to kind of speak as to why we were there,
like why do we show up to these kinds of events,
Like why does how does a Japanese American, Asian American
art or drumming group what does that have to do
with the issues that are at hand?
Speaker 2 (20:32):
And a lot of it has to do with for
me personally not speaking on behalf of the.
Speaker 6 (20:39):
Group, but unity creating unity and creating awareness.
Speaker 2 (20:42):
Ticho is allowed.
Speaker 6 (20:43):
Tycho speaks to a lot of people just through its sound,
and so just being there is an act of support
and protest for the Palestinian encampments specifically, more so referring
to kind of anti genocide, opposition to Israel governmental policy
and their treatment of Palestinians and not being anti Semitic.
Speaker 2 (21:08):
In that state. Yeah, criticizing the state, not the people
for being for Jewish. But yeah, even at these.
Speaker 6 (21:17):
Encampments, or at these encampments, if folks are unaware of,
there was a lot of art and a lot of
bringing together events that could help educate, events that would
mhm that brought people together rather than I think push
people away. And so having us there as kind of
(21:38):
an art form that brings people together I think was
powerful for me in that regard.
Speaker 2 (21:44):
Yeah, that's kind of like a summary of.
Speaker 6 (21:47):
How Tycho specifically in this case was used, Yeah, as
a way to be in solidarity with others that you.
Speaker 5 (21:57):
See doing a Yeah, thank you. I really appreciate your words,
like creating unity and using art and music to unify people,
all people and all people who are against genocide. And
I also really appreciate your separating the state and government
from the people. That's another plenty. So many Jewish people
(22:22):
and who are also pro Palestinian who are also critical
of the state, and who knows that's a different thing
from anti semitism, because we certainly certainly don't want to
support anti semitism. And how powerful. I love the way
you spelled out, you know, art creating unity. I'm thinking
(22:47):
that time is flying, It's already time for a break,
so this is perfect. If anyone's listening or watching, we
have a six minute video that our engineer Rebel, will
play for us now and thank you so much. Be
right back.
Speaker 4 (24:00):
Six so so so.
Speaker 5 (24:42):
So s.
Speaker 4 (25:05):
S S.
Speaker 3 (26:52):
Say, yeah, so.
Speaker 4 (27:20):
Stops.
Speaker 2 (29:22):
I'm so curious before.
Speaker 5 (29:24):
We talk about voting, I'm how long does it take
to learn a song like that? There's so much involved,
like choreography and like literally jumping in the air and
arms in the air with sticks even when you're not
drumming and shouting out phrases or words. How long would
it take to learn all of that?
Speaker 2 (29:44):
Hmm.
Speaker 6 (29:45):
So I'll preface that was saying that that was the
koyas On Spirit of Children tycho group based out of
the northern California koyas On Temple that's in Sacramento, downtown Sacramento.
And so.
Speaker 2 (29:59):
What's great about that group.
Speaker 6 (30:03):
That I've joined after graduating is that it's a range
of ages. So you have like kind of college graduates
around that age twenties or so my age.
Speaker 2 (30:14):
There, you have little kids, some of them aren't there,
but there.
Speaker 6 (30:19):
It goes as the only as like five years old,
and then you have eighteen year olds.
Speaker 2 (30:23):
Yeah, so as well as those who.
Speaker 6 (30:26):
Are a bit older in age, like fifties sixties playing
tycho with us. So I cannot really say how long
it takes to learn the whole piece. I would say
like over a few months usually is how it goes
to not tire out the brain and to not tire
(30:49):
out the people playing as well. But we actually learned
tycho but orally, so there's no sheet music or anything
like in Western percussion or anything. So when you say
don't don't don't, that would equate to playing one, two,
three and work. So in that, yeah, that's how we
(31:11):
kind of learn, and we teach the kind of phrases
that you heard a shouting out and stuff are not
exactly mandatory, so it's kind of like what you're feeling
in the moment. Sometimes it's usually to like give energy
to each other, give energy to the audience. Sometimes it's
to count, like oh, let's let's shout on this fourth
phrase or like this fourth count so that we know
(31:32):
when to come in or something.
Speaker 5 (31:34):
Yeah.
Speaker 6 (31:35):
Yeah, So some of it is or a lot of
it is improvisation. A lot of the solos that you
just saw or essentially all improvised.
Speaker 5 (31:44):
I think, yeah, that's awesome that the excitement and the
enthusiasm and just wanting to holler out and sing out Wow,
that's amazing. If anybody didn't get to see the visuals,
you can find it archived on YouTube talk for TV
talk for media. Go check it out. I'm really worth it.
(32:06):
So let's turn more specifically to voting. And I'm assuming
you know what kind of On some shows I've asked
guests like what kind of America do you want?
Speaker 4 (32:19):
Like?
Speaker 5 (32:19):
And are you whichever guess I'm speaking to, are you
looking at what options like each of the candidates has
to offer, Like what if voting for les's Democratic or Republican?
(32:41):
The current Republican, which is not standard Republican. I will
say the conservative standard culty Republican that we used to
know currently. So I usually start by saying, what kind
of America do you want? And how much have you
looked into like as a gen Zer, how much of
(33:03):
you looked into voting? How important is voting? I mean,
given that you have this political consciousness and you participated
in raising awareness and standing in solidarity with people from
different parts of the world, I know you care, You
care about society, care about people, and you agreed to
talk about voting, which means that must matter to you.
So you can just start where you want and then
(33:25):
I'll just, you know, go from asking you about how
you feel about voting and like you do you feel
like many of your peers are also saying, yeah, we
have to vote? Or are you running to people in
gen z who are disinterested or not paying attention. They'll
(33:45):
start with you, yeah, okay, with me.
Speaker 2 (33:50):
Regarding what I want America to look like.
Speaker 6 (33:56):
I think I've come into consciousness political consciousness, but just
consciousness in general of like how what is the world
around me? And like what is capitalism? And those kind
of questions have come to me like it's it wasn't
(34:17):
it was?
Speaker 2 (34:17):
Posts?
Speaker 6 (34:18):
So I was born in two thousand and two, so
after nine to eleven, during a lot of wars in
the Middle East, like war on oil and stuff like that,
but not really being aware of things, like things weren't
really clicking, Like how does this matter to me?
Speaker 2 (34:34):
I think, And so my earliest memories, I guess of.
Speaker 6 (34:40):
America as itself, I feel very neutral stance, like I
don't like, I don't know my country is fine. I
suppose I don't really know what can make it better.
And I think that's a lot of people what people
might be feeling now. Perhaps I think though as I've
gotten older, like understanding the need for tolerance, like being
(35:04):
able to tolerate each other in different views that people
might have that like non violent views, like views that
don't harm a group or an individual, and being able
to have dialogue about that. I think I've learned and
I want that for us as Americans, to be able
(35:27):
to be in conversation with one another, something that I
can't do all the time. I'm working on it myself,
but I think that's part of the America that I
want for me. I find a lot of my connection
and calling through art, and so how like I mentioned,
(35:48):
art creates unity, and so being a part of projects
that have kind of contributed to that sort of ideal
and hopefully realistic goal of being able to understand each other,
being able to dance and have shared joy with one another,
(36:10):
being able to share each other's pain. I think that's
something that I would I would like to see as
in America that's as divided as it is today.
Speaker 5 (36:23):
Yeah, that's beautiful, being able to again have conversations as
much as possible. It's not always easy. Using art as unity,
which you do so well and something that you turn
to and you can do as a musician and an artist,
(36:46):
and being able to, like I love the image of
dance together, share joy together, and that you also added
share pain together. That's the kind of America you want.
Speaker 2 (36:57):
Yeah, I think as views and actions may get more extreme,
like being.
Speaker 6 (37:05):
Able to connect with each other as human beings, I
think is important. Yeah, I mean human beings and the
environment as much as how are we how do we
exist together both with nature and with ourselves? Yeah.
Speaker 2 (37:24):
So I was an environmental science major at UC Davis.
Speaker 6 (37:27):
So I was taught a lot about like the theoretical
applications of what we can do, like climate science and
research and all of that, and so while I enjoyed it,
I think a lot of the dialogue comes from like
people who are not necessarily in those fields either, like
(37:49):
people who may not know as much but want to
know more.
Speaker 2 (37:52):
Yeah, so.
Speaker 4 (37:57):
Yeah, thank you?
Speaker 5 (37:58):
And did you do you to spend? Like I'm just
trying to think back, what if someone asked me this
when I graduated from college, Like do you have a
sense of I mean, I don't even know how big
your graduating class was. Mine was pretty small, you know,
But I'm wondering, like, can you say, like give us
(38:18):
snapshots of what people your age are thinking and what
you heard on campus and post graduation about voting in
this election when people are so divided and some people
are just tuning out, but some people are really getting
into it and making calls and campaigning and working. Would
you say you saw and hear from your peers.
Speaker 2 (38:45):
I see a lot of action. I think you see.
Speaker 6 (38:50):
Davis specifically is more of like liberal in terms of
political thought, and so from my peers, I consider myself
kind of on the like, oh, I don't campaign as much,
and so there are people who do way more than me.
And then people who were around me who like to
think about this and have dialogue about it, but may
(39:11):
not really know like what is the next step really.
So I think most of my peers who are gen
Z have leaned towards that we need to take action.
And I think that's what's interesting about like the university campus,
is that you have a whole bunch of young intellectuals
(39:32):
who want to do something with what they've learned, whether
that be protesting or going out and make it like
legislative change and whatnot. So I think a lot of
what I see is a lot of action on my
peers parts and my generation. To be honest, yeah, I would.
Speaker 5 (39:54):
Say that, Okay, a lot of so not giving up.
There's there's a been I know, there's been so much
doubt put out there and misinformation about our system. But
you're saying what you see here is people like not
giving up, but wanting to use it, wanting to take
(40:15):
action even if I mean if I think part of
for me, part of being American is to constantly want
to approve, improve upon it and make it grow and
make it get better and keep working towards a more
perfect union. But so that spirit, it sounds like you're
seeing that might be different description words, but you see
(40:36):
people saying not giving up, like I'm going to maybe
influence policy or.
Speaker 6 (40:42):
Yeah, yeah, as exactly as you put in word, did
it very well, Thank you so much.
Speaker 2 (40:51):
That's what it is. That, yeah, that is what I'm seeing.
Speaker 6 (40:53):
And then it's kind of interesting to reconcile that with
a lot of what you learn, especially as an environmental
ste it is a science student is a depressing things
about the environment, and then the policy is being enacted
to that don't really help the environment. And that's just
one scenario. But then to have what you learn in
(41:14):
class kind of depressing and then having kind of the
opposite like seeing the opposite reaction of your peers, like
your peers, my peers wanting to essentially like kind of
cliche like make the world a better place and kind
of whatever capacity they can, not just environmental science students,
but I think a lot of the people who I've
(41:36):
met through UC Davis and even like when I studied abroad.
I studied abroad in Japan for a little bit as
part of UC Davis, like the UC program, Like even
seeing that there, it's like, oh, okay, so young people
around the world hopefully like we.
Speaker 2 (41:56):
Together can make change in that way that that was
just uplifting in that.
Speaker 5 (42:00):
Way that is very uplifting, and that's very encouraging too.
And I know that so many young people were like, yeah,
there's there's that, yeah, climate change challenge and and uh,
you know, we still haven't seem to gotten a way
(42:26):
to take away the powerful control that in ora or
gun lobbying has, Like we still have so much work
to do to make real practical laws that helped to
help prevent gun violence from one thing. And I know
there are a lot of advocates in your generation who
(42:48):
are really dedicating time to that. It's just so inspiring
because in the in the claimate and climate change and
then somethingdy interested in political change, whether it's working on
what are we going to do about the electoral college
or can we take at least this amount of money
(43:09):
out of you know, campaigning and finances. That there's so
many people in your generation who are like, are super inspiring,
And I'm glad you were. You were surrounded by it
and are part of keeping you know, keeping help alive,
not giving up and just like using the education and
(43:31):
the drive and not everybody has to go to college
or be formally educated. And there's so many people who
have the passion and the drive to make positive change,
whether or not they choose to or have access to
right a college degree. But I just give lots of
credit and I know I have I have come from
a big family, and there's more than one generation in
(43:54):
my sibling family, and I am one of them. From
the from the Boomer generation was apologizing to Gen Z
generation like I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry. So we
didn't mean to do this. There were a lot of
a lot of us boomers were trying to be activists
and trying to make good changes then and we and
(44:16):
hopefully we did have some positive fluence. But you know,
I hope you're not overwhelmed by what's left, clean up
here and.
Speaker 2 (44:25):
And more.
Speaker 6 (44:29):
Yeah, I will say when it comes to like candidates,
like vetting candidates, like for voting and stuff.
Speaker 2 (44:34):
I voted in the twenty twenty election, and then I voted,
I voted by mail, which is more convenient for me.
But I think, just.
Speaker 6 (44:47):
Like, how where do you put how do you put
your trust into someone? I guess as as in America,
I think that is that's been coming up a lot.
I think in voting dialogue with me and my years,
like stuck between kind of a rock and a hard place,
and like how do you build a candidate or find
(45:08):
a candidate that really represents like that can really make
the change that you want to happen.
Speaker 2 (45:13):
So a lot of it feels out of our control,
not going to why m I think just yeah, like.
Speaker 5 (45:24):
That's really well put. Yeah, I think that's I feel
like that's true for everyone I know, Like no one's perfect,
and I know the phrase the lesser of two evils
comes up for people. Oh there's some beautiful photographs.
Speaker 7 (45:40):
Of you.
Speaker 5 (45:43):
Has fun. Wow, that's that's lovely. I don't know if
you want to say anything about those. We have it
like four minutes left. You do you want to comment
on the photos before I say more about voting.
Speaker 6 (45:57):
Well, I guess real quick. Those photos are of me
playing Tycho. That was why I included them, and one
of them is from the two of them are from
the Davis Chrey Bossom Festival, which is founded by Gregory
wat started in twenty sixteen as a way to kind
of bring unity Asian American share, Asian American joy and
(46:19):
the arts.
Speaker 2 (46:20):
So that's just a quick little thing there.
Speaker 5 (46:23):
Yeah, well, thank you.
Speaker 6 (46:24):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (46:24):
The Cherry Blossom Festival that's every May right in Davis,
every April in Davis, every April. Okay, I'm sorry, I'm
associating with cherry blossoms. Yeah, bloom me. Yeah, that's a
beautiful event. If you're anywhere near northern California, find Cherry
Blossom Festival and Davis. It's usually at sud Work Brewery,
(46:49):
which is I have a bias towards because my nephews
has a lot to do with the community oriented events.
They're very, very generous. So given that we have a
couple more minutes, I wondered, like, if you have this
(47:11):
a platform to speak to people in your generation and
we're coming with this election, I know some people feel
like there's a lot at stake. There's a big difference
in this particular time. We don't usually have this wide
gap if you vote left or right. Nobody's perfect. There's
you know, definitely, it's rare. I can't even think of
a person who thinks I agree with every single issue
(47:34):
if I'm good to vote for. But do you have
any words of encouragement for whether they're from Gen Z
or any generation, anybody listening who you have a thought
that might encourage people to really think about it, think
about voting rather than walk away from this opportunity that honestly, worldwide,
(47:55):
it's really rare, it's really really rare to have some voice.
Speaker 2 (48:03):
Yeah.
Speaker 6 (48:03):
I think just broadly, like as a diverse people, as Americans,
like our right like as Americans is to have policies
that kind of represent and protect like that diversity that
is like us and our thoughts, and so I think
voting is definitely one way to go about it to
(48:24):
ensure that you do have those rights and you do
have like people looking out for Oh, I don't know
if that might be a stretch people looking out for
you go in the.
Speaker 2 (48:34):
Government, but.
Speaker 6 (48:36):
Yeah, things things that can yeah, yes, build towards hopefully
what you want in the future.
Speaker 5 (48:46):
Yeah, things that can build towards what you want in
the future hopefully. Yeah.
Speaker 6 (48:53):
Yeah.
Speaker 7 (48:53):
My advice is, I do feel like there are some
government programs that are really important, like healthcare, like America
give care, but healthcare, it's pretty clear who you should
vote for.
Speaker 5 (49:04):
Education, education, reproductive rights, which is far far far more
than we understood. Help you know, pro choice is so
much truly a health issue which our whole country is
getting a greater education about voting itself, protecting voting, protecting
(49:30):
people who come here from other countries, who have helped
build up this country, who keep this country going. Anyway,
I'm throwing in my biases. I agree, so oh my gosh,
thank you so much. We just I'll just wrap up
by thanking you so much, Madeline though, and thanks for
(49:50):
your beautiful music and art and helping create unity for
more people through music and art. Thank you for to
our ASL interpreter Kenneth Arnold, who's just always so positive
and teaching me things every week. Thank you to our
engineer Rebel, who's always on top of everything we need.
And to our producer Dean Ki Piper. And to the
(50:12):
viewers and listeners, thank you so much. Please tell people
about it's your voice. The next three shows. We have
three more Wednesdays before voting November fifth in the United
States of America, and we have more to think about
and talk about listening. For anybody who's on the edge
or disillusioned, keep tuning in and thank you all. We'll
(50:33):
see you next Wednesday a pm Eastern Time on Talk
for TV and W four c Y dot com and
maybe we all have enriching conversations in diversity this week.
Speaker 3 (50:44):
Let's meet, let's be shown, let's get all.
Speaker 6 (51:02):
A logic gallet swich is largic gallet switch off h
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