Do you ever wonder who the people at NAKASEC and our affiliate centers, KRC and KRCC, are? Not just the staff, but the community members, volunteers, interns and board members? Well they are the ones who keep us grounded, help drive our campaigns and keep us motivated. You may have seen our seniors on the State Capitol fighting against budget cuts, our young people dancing, singing and shouting out for youth rights or our children playing poongmul (Korean drums) at rallies and marches.
Well, in order for you to get to know us better, we are rolling out our #meetNAKASEC Fridays where we will profile one person within our network. We hope you enjoy!
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Q: What’s your name?
A: “David K Song.” I like to use my middle name to differentiate myself from the million other David Songs out there. Not that it makes much of a difference; it actually seems to create more problems. People omit my middle initial all the time. Verbally introducing myself with that extra letter sounds kind of pretentious sometimes and collection agencies still call me up looking for these other, less responsible Davids who carry a lot of delinquent debt.
Q: Where are you from?
A: I was born in Flushing but raised in the Inland Empire. Now I live in Los Angeles and I cant imagine being anywhere else.
Q: Are you affiliated with NAKASEC, KRC and/or KRCC?
A: I pop into KRC from time to time.
Q: How did you get to first know NAKASEC, KRC and/or KRCC?
A: Years ago I was actually once KRCs Development Director. It was my first serious job out of college. I was riding high on that wave of youthful idealism and wanted to do some work in the community, either for Korean Americans or the Asian American community at large.
Q: What was one of the first actions or campaigns you remember being involved in?
A: One of the more memorable actions was Immigrant Day in Sacramento. We took a bus up there with other folks from the community, did a few rounds of legislative visits and then afterward I somehow ended up at the speakers podium during the rally.
Q: What hope do you see for the Korean American community?
A: I would definitely like to see more progressive political engagement from younger Korean Americans, especially in these uncertain times. We need to continue to educate ourselves and get involved. At the very least, develop some political consciousness.
Q: What is your most memorable moment with NAKASEC, KRC and/or KRCC?
A: On the my first day of work at KRC, I was supposed to learn about grantwriting. As soon as I walked in I was handed an old grant app for some federal government funding. It was a monstrous bastard of a binder with colored tabs and a lot of tables and figures and I knew many trees had been sacrificed to birth this thing, and I was just thinking, ‘damn.’
Q: If you could trade places with any other person for a week, famous or not famous, living or dead, real or fictional, with whom would it be and why?
A: I’m not sure I’d want to do that. I get paranoid about those kinds of things. Plus, I dont think I could handle the inevitable disappointment if the person I trade places with, the one that I had held in such high regard, turned out to be either boring or a total douchebag.
Q: What is your comfort food and why?
A: Wild turkey is pretty comforting, and it gives you a full-flavored kick in the mouth with a nice spicy finish.
Meet other folks at KRC, KRCC and NAKASEC!
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show details 2:35 AM (7 hours ago)
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