Diversity Highlighted: The Advocate
In less than thirty seconds I had pulled her up on my iphone through Google and found her book and liked her on Facebook. I finished watching the segment that night and decided her book would be my solution to fulfill my New Year’s resolution which was to read a book. I made up my mind and the book would be Redefining Realness authored by Janet Mock.
I rushed to Barnes and Nobles book store the next day and purchased the book and began reading it that night. I stayed up until 1:30am reading the book for the following four nights. I couldn’t put it down. There was multiple reason of why I was into the book. I advocate for trans rights, I love the Hawaiian culture (which she is half Hawaiian), it was very educational and inspiring to name a few of those reasons. At the time I was the current President of Allies, Los Medanos College’s LGBT & Allies organization and a senator on LMCAS: Los Medanos Associated Students. After receiving information through FB that Janet was visiting the SF LGBT Community Center for a reading and book signing event, I tried to get a group of students to go to see her with me. Needless to say, I ended up going myself because other students did not have the resources and finances to meet me in the city. This got my creative and strategic mind working and I came up with this idea that maybe I could bring Janet Mock to LMC! Then I thought to myself, “no, this would be too difficult, too expensive, and too ambitious.” Here is the thing, when my mind whispers this to me, then I know I must make it happen. The idea was born!
First, I reached out to Janet via FB, and I have to say that the power of social media is amazing. I personal messaged her letter explaining the aforementioned and she responded right away with her agent information. The rest is history. I became the Chair of the Janet Mock Committee and contracts were signed between LMCAS and Mock her. The date was set: September 13, 2014. We decided to have an Elevating Diversity Conference with sexual and gender identify as the main focus. The planning committee planned the event over the summer and I focused on the moderated discussion that would happen between her and me for one hour at the end of the conference.
The day feels like a big blur to me because I was the leader and the time went by extremely fast to me. I did not sleep for three days leading up to September 13. I was experiencing panic attacks and my level of fear of failure was at a level I had never experienced before! I was terrified. I was terrified because I did not want the first ever student lead conference to be a big embarrassment for myself, our college, or Janet Mock herself. I remember the night before, insomnia taking hold and my mind worrying about everything, thinking about what I will do if no one shows up. I am glad to report that the motto, “if you build it, the people will come” worked in my favor for this event or perhaps it was the execution of planning that yielded success. Either way, I was happy that the event was deemed a success.
I was able to spend a lot of time with Janet over the two days she was here. The first day I picked her up at the airport and spend quality time with her and she was amazing. This put me at ease, being she a celebrity and all, to overcome me being “star struck.” I still had, like I always do, anxiety because I had to moderate a one hour discussion with Janet in front of a crowd and the executives of the school.
It would be a lie if I told you that I wasn’t nervous. I was so nervous that I didn’t remember the answers she was giving on the spot; rather, I was in my head thinking of the next question to ask. I had to do a lot of preparing for this because there are high expectations of what is appropriate to ask and what is not appropriate to ask a trans person during an interview. You see, Morgan came under fire by Janet and the trans community because he sensationalized the fact that she “used to be a boy, and now is a girl.” There is a label for this line of rapid fire questioning called “trans 101.” Therefore, I had to ensure I stayed clear of these questions. Thankfully I did, and it meant a lot to me to get a txt from Janet that congratulated me on how the conversation went “swimmingly.” I really enjoyed how Janet answered my question, “Do you think it would have been different if you spent your teenage/young adult life in Oakland versus Honolulu?” She talked about exactly what I hoped she would: acceptance of “mahu” in Hawaiian culture, and how “there would be no me without Hawaii.” It was the highlight of my night. I also enjoyed the question and answer session and it was great that many of my LGBT class mates “stepped up” and asked questions!
That night I was invited to have dinner with Janet Mock. Not only did I follow through on my New Year’s Resolution, organize and plan the first ever student lead conference at LMC, I was able to make a dream come true for not only myself but many students as well: meet Janet Mock. Dinner that night was so surreal to me because Janet shared some great feedback with me and she continues to be a huge inspiration to me. It amazes me, still to this day, that a NY Times Best Selling Author, who happens to a trans women of color from Hawaii, went from being an image on my television to sitting on stage with me! How does that happen? Well, it did and I could not have done it alone and I am so thankful for all of the support and determination from everyone.
