4A - The Michigan Daily - Wednesday, November 21, 2001 OP/ED able ircb aIju aig 420 MAYNARD STREET ANN ARBOR, MI 48109 daily.letters@umich.edu EDITED AND MANAGED BY STUDENTS AT THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN SINCE 1890 GEOFFREY GAGNON Editor in Chief MICHAEL GRASS NICHOLAS WOOMER Editorial Page Editors Unless otherwise noted, unsigned editorials reflect the opinion of the majority of the Daily's editorial board. All other articles, letters and cartoons do not necessarily reflect the opinion of The Michigan Daily. NOTABLE QUOTABLE My first thought was, how patriotic! My second was, how much more patriotic it would be to trade in the gas guzzling leviathan for something that sips, rather than chugs, at the gas pump." - Ariana Hffington, on seeing a fleet ofSUVslying American flags during rush hour, in a Nov. 14 column for Salon.com. CA{ d hR' fl. . ~ .. _ Ait W kurTitoi+..C*t .0 t'. t s. ) F XL1J1W)iOThIHG PAY! cof&4OOMO Seeking a more 'cultural' cultural definition MANISH RAIJI NoTHING CATCHY 0 he first Indian American Students Association Cultural Show I attended was five years ago, as a junior in high school. The memory that has stayed with me was of one particular skit: Two Indian mothers sitting together, one speaking proudly of her son. "He's so smart, I'm so proud of him, he wants to be a doctor." And in the background arrives the son, drunk in his Ann Arbor apartment, unseen by his mother and her friend. In his hand is a bottle, tucked in a brown paper bag. He takes a long drink and says sarcastically, "You should be so proud of me. I really want to be a doctor." There was silence in the audience. Absolute silence - and in that silence, a strong point about Indian-American culture was made. I was in high school at the time, so I have no knowledge of the backlash that the organizers felt. But the backlash must have been there, because IASA has since shied away from real issues involving the balance between the Indian and American facets of Indian-Americans. Arriving on campus, the Indian-American freshman faces a dilemma. Balancing Indian and American culture is relatively easy at home; his home life is largely an exercise in Indian culture, while outside he is immersed in America. Losing track of his Indian heritage is impossible because the Indian community is so much a part of his life. But once at college, that ease disappears. America is still there, just as it always has been, but India is left at home. IASA seems like the obvious way to fill that void - freshmen flock to it like flies to flypaper. Before they know it, they're entrenched in an organization that fails on so many levels to truly represent Indian-American culture. In the subse- quent IASA cultural shows that I have seen, the focal point has been jokes involving our parents' accents. Those sorts of jokes were funny when we were 12, but they're pathetic when we're 21. There has been substantive criticism of IASA among Indian-Americans on this campus. Gautam Setty, a hometown friend of mine, pointed out that so many students, immersed in Indian culture while at home, have largely shirked IASA while at school. Why we have done this can be answered in one of two ways: Either we aren't interested enough to actively pursue our culture, or else we have found that IASA presents a skewed vision of our culture. * I tend to agree with the latter answer. In 1990, IASA leadership decided that the inclusion of Hinduism in IASA events alienated Indians of other religious faiths. Instead of expanding its cultural focus to include other religions, IASA decided to become secular. Divorcing religion from Indian culture is impossible - much of the culture of India is decidedly wrapped up in reli- gion. IASA shouldn't be an organization that considers Hinduism to be the defining part of Indian culture, but it should also not pretend that religion isn't an integral part of the culture. The decision to push religion out of IASA was more damaging because of the precedent that it set for successive leaders. In essence, it was made clear that IASA was more interested in becoming a large organization, even at the expense of Indian culture. IASA's history has been one of backing off of important issues in order to remain popular. At that, they have succeeded. Setty pointed out that "(IASA) got to such a size that they think if you're not in IASA, you're not Indian." This raises another interesting point about IASA: A lot of people criticize it for being a sort of clique - excluding IASA members from the larger Indian-American community, while secluding the Indian-American community from the larger University community. Doing so seg- regates Indian-Americans while further polariz- ing the Indian-American community. IASA faces an interesting challenge - most of us are first- or second-generation Indians, so it is our opportunity to define Indian-American culture. By presenting a strictly secular version of India and mixing it with American hip-hop, IASA is creating a bizarre cultural definition which isn't ours. IASA shouldn't be "more Indi- an" or "more American," they should only be more honest about their goals. I spoke with Sumanth Padmanabh, the chair of the IASA board, who admitted that much of what IASA does is social - providing a forum for people to meet one another. He also provided a very compelling defense of this practice, point- ing out that, for all the criticism IASA receives about its lack of culture, very few of its members actually participate in cultural events. If IASA hosts a forum on some aspect of Indian-Ameri- can culture and only 20 people come, than IASA is not doing what its group members want. Essentially, Padmanabh feels that the first answer regarding the apathy of Indian-Ameri- cans toward IASA is the relevant one; people aren't willing to actively pursue their Indian cul- ture. Perhaps the balance lies between what I believe (that IASA is doing a poor job of repre- senting us) and what he believes (that we aren't interested enough in our culture). In that case, it is the job of those Indian-Americans who dislike IASA's definition of Indian-American culture to take leadership and change its direction. The cultural show this year seems to hint at just such a change. I unfortunately missed the show this year, but I have heard from Indian and American students alike that it was a step away from the accent jokes of years past and toward a stronger,statement of our culture. I regret that I couldn't attend the show this year - it appears as if, just as I had given up hope for IASA, they proved me wrong. If all that I have heard about the show is true, than I applaud those involved in setting the tone for the night. I sincerely hope that younger IASA members continue to push IASA in more cultural directions so that our generation's contribution to Indian-American definition isn't the joke that it is today. Padmanabh left me with an interesting thought. "People don't care about their culture until they think they're losing it." Perhaps this year's cultural show is an indication that Indi- an-Americans on campus are becoming acutely aware of the fact that complacency about IASA is making us lose our culture. 0 Manish Rayji can be reached via e-mail atmrayi@umich.edu. V LETTERS TO THE EDITOR - From the Daily's most faithful reader, alumnus Jesse Jannetta 10/18/01 10/29/01 To THE DAILY: Lyle Henretty's "Less Than Zero" column ("Movies that I hate should not be made," 10/18/01) ... is another example of the unsatisfy- ing and self-indulgent "venting bile" school of criticism often found in the Daily Arts section. ... It's not particularly illuminating to read that "Dirty Dancing" is "the cinematic equivalent of slicing off your nipple and pouring folic acid into the wound," or that "The Postman was worse then that time I had shingles." ... 10/19/01 To THE DAILY: When I pressed "Send" to deliver my letter to you yesterday about Lyle Henretty's column, a message ... popped up on my computer monitor. The gray and blue box was titled "Mood Warn- ing!" and it informed me that: "Your message ... is likely to offend the average reader. ..." The box also featured an icon consisting of two red chilis, apparently representing the hot, spicy, controversial language of my message. Is this true, or is my e-mail program being impertinent? Is my letter offensive to the average reader? ... Seek out some average people, I'd recommend ten or so ... and show it to them.... I think at least six out of ten would have to be offended to justify the use of "likely." 10/25/01 To THE DAILY: ... Inspired by David Horn's column ("Nine things to be happy about," 10/25/01) ... I present to you fourteen things that make me happy. The Notorious BIG: My favorite rapper, all-time. He was so good. ... Said the line, "I drop unexpectedly like birdshit." ... Drinking: Man, I love to drink. I really feel that in the realm of recreational narcotics, alco- To THE DAILY: Sometimes reading the letters to the editor causes me some concern about the rigorousness with which our University- community is think- ing about the current war/crisis/police action/glo- rious tax-cutting opportunity. Today you printed two letters side by side that caused me to think, "Oh Lord" ("U.S. foreign interests concentrate on American capitalism," "War punishes many for actions of a few"). Thus it is that I am reduced once again to registering my objections to various lines of reasoning employed by people published on your editorial page.... 11/01/01 To THE DAILY: When I read your "Sibling Rivalry Gets Nasty" spread on today's sports page, my heart sank. Don't you realize that this sort of ugly sec- tarian dissension is exactly what Osama bin Laden wants? ... Michigan and Michigan State students need to put aside the differences that might nor- mally cause us to loathe one another ... Once we have engaged in this exercise in mutual understanding, we can support our respective teams in their common goal: defeating international terrorism. 11/02/01 To THE DAILY: Man, Americans dress like dirtballs.... Rebecca Isenberg reminded me of this with her column ... "You know my steez" (11/02/01). I recently lived for two years in Armenia. In that country, like many in the world, people gen- erally do not go anywhere ... without dressing in ... rather formal clothing. ... Maybe the sorority girls ... are trying to dress like actual Greeks. 1 sedative. If this were the case, they could be dressed up in human clothing (which would have to actually be specially tailored monkey clothing modeled after human clothing, other- wise someone would surely notice how bizarrely the human clothing would fit the monkeys) ... But ... the fact remains that few things arecuter than our simian cousins dressed in our own clothing. Anyone who has seen a reasonable amount of movies or television knows this. Yes, surely the cuteness of the lab monkey substitutes would be noticed and much remarked upon, sub- stantially changing the tenor of the meeting.... 11/13/0 1 To THE DAILY: Twice each year the student body ... must endure the deluge of vapidity associated with the MSA elections. The Daily had a fine idea in rec- ommending that this exercise occur only once a year ("They're losers," 11/13/01). In addition to that, it would be nice to see the parties running candidates for office try to inject a little more gravity into the races. ... After all ... the biggest waste associated with MSA are the elections themselves. 11/16/01 To THE DAILY: I'm not surprised that the Daily found Brit- ney Spears' new album unworthy of a listen ... Now, let there be no mistake: Britney Spears' songs are crap. However, only when I lived abroad did I realize one of the amazing things about this country: We take crap to another level. I believe that American crap is better than other countries' crap.... Don't listen to the haters, Britney. Keep that glorious crap coming. 11/19/0 1 Tn ' v nzj hAn t a. _