APASA Spotlight: Josh Lu

Why did you apply to APASA?

Those involved in APASA had an indescribable passion for APA initiatives, issues that inspired me to seek opportunities to become involved in Asian-American organizations on campus. APASA's focus on community-building and closeness immediately attracted me (plus, they gave free stuff at their welcome events ahaaha). Thus, the passionate community APASA fosters perfectly fulfilled both my desire to investigate my own APA identity while actively voicing APA issues on campus.

Favorite APASA memory so far:

When interns randomly crashed Justin's apartment on a weeknight and had "wholesome" conversations until 2 am.

A significant cultural milestone for you:

Asian American political participation galvanized by the lawsuit against Harvard University regarding discrimination by race in college admissions because, as a child, my parents would always complain about discrimination and policies negatively affecting Asian-Americans, but that was the extent of their participation in the political sphere -- they would complain that "Asians are too quiet" when it came to political advocacy, but leave voting to others as they felt their vote "didn't matter." Today, to see such large-scale mobilization in the APA community has only opened doors for Asian-American representation in other social spheres, especially in media this past year.

What does being APA mean to you?

Oftentimes, when argued as either Asian or American, I often feel discordant, unable to decipher exactly "how Asian" or "how American" I claim to be. Though ethnically (and genetically) Asian, when visiting "fully Asian" relatives or interacting with "fully Asian" establishments, I feel like a fraud, alienated by my rudimentary Chinese or even the way I dress. Likewise, "fully American" goes against my very appearance and culture instilled by my parents. Thus, we opt for a percentage, like a heterogeneous matcha latte, 40% tea and 60% almond milk (for us lactose-sensitive souls). Yet, when blended together, the beverage becomes something entirely different -- it would just be pure, grassy matcha espresso without milk and just bland milk without the vibrant green of matcha.

Thus, I would describe the APA identity as fluid, a borrowing of both Asian values and American practices that blend to create a new culture. Like a traditional Chinese dinner on Thanksgiving. Or ramen burgers (suspect, at best). However, even given the richness of having two cultures to draw from, we often feel that a choice must be made, whether pressured to satisfy a societal stereotype or by conflicting cultural values of independence. It's this dissonance we struggle to placate, to answer social constructs that continually aim to categorize, to distill a multifaceted, complex experience into a distinct, unsophisticated categories.

So, what's APA? It's neither Asian. Nor American.

Just Asian-American.

If you could plan any event at USC, what would it be?

Perhaps my favorite memory of Taiwan was writing on, lighting, and releasing paper lanterns on Shifen (Pingxi) during Taiwan's Lantern festival, and seeing all the colorful lanterns float and slowly disappear over the river. Thus, I would plan a paper lantern festival, complete with Taiwanese-inspired street vendors and stands, arranged in a serpentine manner as seen in old street markets (such as Jiufen).

What is your long-term goal for APASA? 

Though APASA primarily focuses on representation within USC's campus, I would like to establish a greater presence to our surrounding community through organizing more community events and advocacy campaigns that would both develop APASA as a broad-reaching community organization and foster awareness and (hopefully) engagement of global Asian issues on USC's campus.

Thank you Josh!