#5 - Lunar New Year Festival

February 14th, 2010 was the actual Lunar New Year day in Asia. However, due to scheduling conflicts, the Korean Student Association, Chinese Culture Club and Vietnamese Student Association celebrated the Lunar New Year Festival on February 25th, 2010. We usually hold it in the Fiesta Room, however, there were more than 200 people that attended last year, so we decided to hold it in Laurie Auditorium. Lunar New Year basically refers to the beginning of the year in several calendars which is usually based on the Lunar Calendar. A Lunar Calendar is a calendar that is based on cycles of the moon phase. Every culture celebrates the Lunar New Year in different ways, but one common thing is that we all celebrate with our families and have a very traditional meal. At Trinity, we hold performances that depict traditional dances as well as modern dances and after the performance we provide a wide variety of food from different cultures. This year, we had the Lion Dance from San Antonio Community come and perform as well as the Japanese Association from San Antonio perform their dances. One of our goals (as being the President of Korean Student Association) was to spread the word to the Korean San Antonio Community. There were about 300 people who attended the festival, and it was a great success. Many students as well as faculty members complimented the performances as well as the food that we served following the show. I think Lunar New Year is a great way for non-Asian students to gain knowledge about one of the very special days in Asia and how we celebrate them.

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#4 - Photo Crystal Engraving

Photo crystal engraving at http://www.ucrystal.com: Photo crystal engraving is explained step-by-step in this video clip. First, raw crystals prior to photo crystal engraving are shown. Then a photo crystal engraving machine is used to demonstrate how the photo crystal engraving process is carried out. Examples of 3D laser engraved photo crystal and 2D laser engraved photo crystals are displayed with fine details. The 3D photo crystal engraving is also known as 3D subsurface photo crystal engraving, 3D portrait etching, 3D photo etched crystal processing, and 3D photo inner engraver. The engraved photo crystals are great for gifts, awards, trophies, and plaques. They are suitable for occasions such as birthdays, graduation, wedding, anniversaries, corporate awards, etc.

On February 17th, 2010, Tiger Council hosted an event which was by far the coolest event held on Trinity campus (at least in my opinion). It was advertised all over campus 2 weeks in advance and so many students were looking forward to this event, namely, 3D Crystal Engraving. Basically, the process works like this: you get your photo taken, and they put a crystal block in this really cool machine and it starts engraving the photo in the crystal block within 5 minutes. The final version looks really cool since it is 3D and every way you rotate it, you can see yourself (as can be seen above the YouTube video)! The one major factor that attracted students the most was that it was FREE (not technically "free" since we do pay student activity fee, but still, we didn't have to pay extra). However, there were a limited number of crystal blocks so not everyone could get one. The event was held from 10a.m. to 4p.m. but there were fewer than 100 crystal blocks. I went around 2 in the afternoon and they only had about 10 left, but I was standing 6th in line, so luckily, I had a chance to get my photo engraved in a crystal and I love it. Since the event turned out to be so successful and many students did not have a chance to get one, I think Tiger Council should host this event every year. What could be cooler than having your photo engraved in a crystal? It is awesome!

#3 - Chocolate Festival

February 12th was Trinity's Annual Chocolate Festival. It is an event that is held every year in which different organizations participate in either an activity booth or bake-off booth. An activity booth is where an organization prepares an activity for students to participate in. It can either be a game or making/decorating your own chocolate (as can be seen in the third picture above). A bake-off booth is where an organization makes a type of chocolate cake or any form of chocolate and the designated judges pick the best made chocolate and the winning team gets a prize. There were about 25 organizations that participated in Chocolate Festival this year and it turned out really well. Our organization, Phi Alpha Delta Law Fraternity participated as an activity booth and we had Flip-Cup (using Chocolate milk instead of alcoholic beverages) as our activity (as can be seen in the first picture above). For those of you who don't know how to play Flip-Cup, here are the rules: Two teams of an equal number of players stand on opposite sides of a table, facing one another. In front of each team member is a Solo cup filled with a set amount of Chocolate milk. At the start, the first member of each team drinks their Chocolate milk. When finished, the cup is placed face up at the edge of the table, and the player who drank it attemps to flip the cup by using just one hand, by flicking or lifting the bottom until it flips and lands face down on the table, sittin on its mouth. Only after the first teammate is done flipping successfully can the next person proceed. Whichever team finishes drinking and flipping all its cups first wins. It didn't turn out to be as successful since the chocolate milk was too dense and people have already had enough chocolate by the time they came to play flip-cup. Therefore, our booth turned out to serve free chocolate milk for those who were thirsty. Interestingly, all the chocolate milk was gone within 10 minutes since we started serving chocolate milk as a beverage. Other organizations had fun activities such as trying to eat a donut tied up in a string only using their mouth. The best part was that Aramark provided a CHOCOLATE FOUNTAIN with strawberries and marshmallows on the side (as can be seen in the second picture above). They also provided a long chocolate buffet line which was filled with all different types of chocolate chips, cookies and deserts. It was just amazing. I think Chocolate Festival is one of the best events held at Trinity since anyone can eat as much chocolate as they want and for FREE!

#2 - N*gger Wetb*ck Ch*nk Race Play

Scene from the show "N*GGER WETB*CK CH*NK" now touring nationally. A Los Angeles Times "Critic's Choice." Stars Allan Axibal, Rafael Agustin, and Miles Gregley. Liesel Reinhart and Steven T. Seagle co-wrote and directed. Produced by Speak Theater Arts. www.NWCLive.com for more info.

This is a play that has been shown at Trinity for the second time (first time in 2008). I remember my friends telling me that I had missed out on one of the amazing plays, so I was really excited that they were performing again this year. The title of the play, which contains words that many of us probably have heard of before is packed with the history of racial discrimination. The play began with a group chant in which the three actors called themselves using the words of the title of the play. It was really shocking but at the same time grabbed my full attention since these words are socially “banned” from using these days, but they were using it so freely and loudly. It is basically a skit about playing their race card in certain situations. They share stories in a humorous tone, which at that time, I’m pretty sure wasn’t funny at all for them. The three men tour around Universities to invoke laughter as well as to educate students that we are of the same race – the HUMAN RACE. They make it clear that this play is not to make white students feel guilty. It is purely about getting the message that, “There is only one race – the HUMAN RACE” across. One interesting aspect of this play is that all the stories they share are autobiographical. Some of them seem too ridiculous to be real, but they make it clear that they are all true memories. During Q/A time, one student asked about how they met, and they said they actually met at a community college in LA, and then went to UCLA to join the theatre program. Another student asked about how they came up with the title, and one of the actors said that their purpose was to create a dialogue using these words and to educate people on stereotypes. He said they thought about having ‘the minority friends’ as the title, but no one would want to see it. After all, the title is certainly attention-grabbing. Being an Asian, I honestly thought it was very funny and worth watching. I highly recommend the play for those students who have never seen it play before.

#1 - TigerFest

One of my favorite events at Trinity is the Tiger Fest. It is hosted by the T.I.G.E.R Council and is somewhat like a formal dance party. It is themed differently every year, and the theme for last year was “Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous”. A few students dressed up as celebrities, but many just put on their fancy dresses or suits. There are usually about 400~500 students attending the Tiger Fest, but over 600 people attended last year. One of the main reasons why this is one of my favorite events hosted at Trinity is because we get a chance to dress formal. Although girls don’t show up wearing their prom dresses (since this event is more like a cocktail party), it is amazing to see how colorful the stage can be with hundreds of girls wearing all different kinds of dresses. Plus, there aren’t that many events at Trinity that give students the opportunity to dress up as in Tiger Fest. The event is hosted only once every year usually in late October, but last year’s Tiger Fest was so successful that T.I.G.E.R Council is planning another one for the Spring semester sometime in late March or early April. I am not quite sure what the theme would be for this one, but I am really looking forward to another fantastic and exciting Tiger Fest.