Hello Out There

Here it goes, the first entry of my blog documenting my time on the Richard U. Light Fellowship, which I will be spending in Harbin, China and Taipei, Taiwan. Please excuse this first post, I’ve never blogged before and it’s going to take some time to get the hang of this. I cannot thank everyone who works with the fellowship enough for this opportunity. Believe it or not, this fellowship was the reason I applied to Yale. So this certainly marks a milestone in my college career.
But my fortune in receiving the Light Fellowship is by no means my doing. It is a testament to everyone who has supported me—family and friends—but, most importantly, my teachers and my parents. Zhou Laoshi in high school; Shen Laoshi, Liu Laoshi, Li Laoshi, Mr. Bissell, and everyone else at SYA China; and Su Laoshi at Yale; I thank you for your instruction and guidance. I’d also like to thank both sets of parents—my host parents (and brother) in China, as well as my real parents in Los Angeles, who have both been immeasurably helpful and supportive.

What a family. This is a few years old now.
(Kobe doesn't rock #8 anymore...)
My brother is 19 days older than me, and is
finishing his freshman year in college.

I’d like to start this blog in earnest by commenting on the purpose of the Light Fellowship. Loosely quoted from the website (whatever that means): the Light Fellowship was established to allow students to gain foreign language ability and immerse themselves abroad in order to bring fresh perspectives and keener insights to their studies and eventual leadership roles. This fits perfectly with President Levin’s view for students who are internationally experienced and able to interrelate between cultures. Coincidentally, they're also both known for their dashingly good looks.

The man, the legend, himself, Dr. Light

Another President is also keenly aware of this. On my way home from visiting my grandparents in Pittsburgh, I got stuck in JFK because of flight delays, but was lucky enough to catch Obama’s commencement speech at Notre Dame. Like Light, Obama realizes that the modern world presents interconnected problems more complex than ever before. “No one person, or religion, or nation can meet these challenges alone. Our very survival has never required greater cooperation and greater understanding among all people from all places than at this moment in history.”

Link to the speech on Youtube:

It’s not just about understanding and tolerance, or globalization, however, it’s about acceptance. I finally got to finish Life of Pi, and a few other books I’ve started a number of times and never finished, during my mom’s movie shoot. It wasn’t very glamorous, but it was great to finally see my mom make a film, because it’s become a pretty big part of her life. This is her third one that she’s written and produced. Management consultant by day and screen-writer by night. Pretty amazing stuff. I was helping out with odd jobs and transportation and had a lot of time to kill waiting to pick stuff up, so finally got to finish the book.


Pi, the main character, is a young Indian boy curious beyond his years and his small provincial town of Pondicherry. Over the course of his childhood, his wide-eyed wanderings lead him to become not only Hindu, but Muslim and Christian as well. He sees no conflict between the three religions, but accepts them as one idea.

“Whereas before the road, the sea, the trees, the air, the sun all spoke differently to me, now they spoke one language of unity. Three took account of road, which was aware of air, which was mindful of sea, which shared things with sun. Every element lived in harmonious relation with its neighbour, and all was kith and kin. I knelt a mortal; I rose an immortal. I felt like the centre of a small circle coinciding with the centre of a much larger one. Atman met Allah.”

I was struck by his realization of spiritual interrelatedness—not quite unity—yet distinctiveness in the scene, just as he does in himself. Especially in that last sentence. Atman and Allah meet, but don’t become one. There is power in the ability to navigate that tenuous balance, and I feel like that’s what the Light Fellowship is allowing us to try and do. Hopefully that’s what I’ll be able to do as well.