10 Questions for Miss Minnesota USA 2012

LLOTP was able to catch up with Miss Minnesota USA 2012, Nitaya Panemalaythong, and ask her a few questions on being the first Asian American Miss Minnesota USA, her favorite Lao dish, and her super powers (if she were to possess any).

With school, work, and family on your busy schedule, how do you manage a typical day?
I’m not sure!  It’s definitely hard trying to juggle everything but I have an amazing older sister who helps me out a lot so I don’t think I can get through my day without her sometimes.  Oh and of course, I don’t get much sleep!

What is the newest book we’d find on your bookshelf?
I’ve been so busy with everything that I haven’t read an entire book or bought a new one besides my texts books from school in a LONG time!  I’ve heard “Hunger Games” is good though so maybe I’ll have to find time to pick that one up.

If you were allowed one favorite Lao dish, what would it be?
Yikes!  Only one?!  That’s a tough one.  I would say it would have to be pun!*

What would people be surprised to know about you?
I love alternative rock music and my favorite band is Evanescence.  Amy Lee is an amazing singer/songwriter and I hope I get to meet her one day!

If you could be a superhero, what powers would you have? Why?
Hmm…  Is there a superhero out there that has the ability to read people’s minds?  Or am I just thinking about Edward from Twilight?  Wait!  There’s Professor Charles Xavier from X-Men.  It would be cool to be able to move things with your mind, too!  : )

Now that you are Miss Minnesota USA, you are no doubt a role model to many young women. We’re interested to know how you might connect specifically with young Lao women in the US and abroad?
I try my best to respond to messages that people send me on Facebook, Twitter (if I can learn how to use it) and my Miss Minnesota USA email so I think I am able to connect with them that way.  If I haven’t yet, please bear with me!  Otherwise, I think I would definitely like to make appearances at conventions or festivals if I’m invited and meet these beautiful young women in person.  Just remember though, beauty truly does come from within.

Beauty pageants have become more diverse with more women of color deciding to participate. How does it feel to be the first Asian American to be crowned Miss Minnesota USA?
I definitely feel honored and blessed to not only win the title but also, I guess, make history!  I think it’s still surreal to me so it really hasn’t fully sunk in yet.  Maybe it will when the Miss USA competition gets closer?

If there is only one Lao word you want America to learn from you, what would it be?
“Sabaidee”!

Minnesota is home to the third largest Lao community in the US. How do you intend to connect with the community and share your experience of being Lao American in the Midwest?
I would like to attend the Lao New Year festival that Minneapolis will have and start there.  However, word spreads fast within the Lao community so I think it has already gone beyond the Midwest.  I’ve gotten so many wonderful comments and numerous congratulations from so many people from all over the US and all over the world on Facebook and on my Miss Minnesota USA email.  So through technology (can’t really live without it these days!) and appearances I hope to share my experience with those who are interested from all over the world and hopefully be a role model for not only the Lao community and young ladies but really for anyone who has a dream of wanting to achieve whatever it is they set their mind to.

What’s the best advice you’ve gotten in the last year?
The best advice that I’ve gotten (from my sister) is to be true to myself and what I believe in.  And, to also listen and follow my own instincts when there are too many people giving you advice and are sometimes unintentionally leading you astray.

There you have it folks, Miss Minnesota USA 2012—Nitaya Panemalaythong. Let’s look forward to her participation in the Miss USA competition this summer. We will be rooting for her all the way! Stay updated and “like” her facebook page or follow her on Twitter.

~LLOTP

*Note: Pun is a type of lettuce wrap, usually with a choice of meat or fish, with noodles, garnishing, and a dipping sauce.

***For a full local coverage story on Miss Minnesota, read Star Tribune’s “A Quest Fit for a Queen” here: http://www.startribune.com/lifestyle/style/138609309.html***

(Not) Teaching Lao-Speaking Students

In the ‘80s, Lao immigrant students filled classrooms in the American school systems, particularly in California, Texas, and Minnesota—the three states with the highest populations of Lao Americans. Now that I’m working in education and am studying education, I am wondering how schools prepared to teach the Lao students whose language, culture, family economics, and life experiences differed from that of classroom teachers. I will draw from my own experiences with schooling within the Minneapolis  Public Schools, existing work on Lao students, and arguments for a more culturally responsive instruction.

My experiences with education, in retrospect, are somewhat disturbing. I can list instances of deficit-thinking, segregation, and silencing. It seemed that all the students who were identified as Lao or as other Southeast Asian immigrants, were placed into ESL to bring us up to speed on our English. We were told that because we didn’t know English (or at least my peers) we were inadequate, and so we must learn English. Part of the day was spent with other non-English speaking students, usually in a large converted utility closet, learning about consonants, vowels, and the magic “E.” We were told not to speak Lao, and if we did we were punished by having to write out “I will only speak English in class” ten times. Not only did we pledge allegiance to the flag, we also learned about and participated in US holidays like Valentine’s Day, Easter, Christmas. On Presidents’ Day we learned of the great George Washington and Abraham Lincoln. Overall, I learned a lot about the US. My 5th grade teacher, Mrs. Murphy, once asked me what the capital of my country was, naturally and excitedly I answered Washington, D.C. She insisted that my capital was “Vee-en-tee-an” and that I came from Laos. That year I also learned was that I was not a part of the US even though I was born in Minnesota and called the US home.

I understand that teachers do the best they can and that they are pressured to do everything with very little resources. But, if the teachers would have just peeled away the deficit way of thinking about me and learned about who I was, either through talking with me or having conversations with members of my community, it might have lessened the blow to my negative schooling experiences. I recently came across a handbook with trivial information about Lao-speaking students that was developed by a team of people from the community, Handbook for Teaching Lao-Speak Students. I think this would have been a great resource for teachers to learn about their students, and also to include some of their experiences into the classroom lessons. As part of the lesson plans, teachers could have these students do presentations on what they knew or talk about who they were. Other studies surfacing, for example by Malaphone Phommasa, are on the socialization of Lao students and their major and career choices or the work by Monica Thammarath and Bouy Te on the strategies of working with SE Asian American  students within the changing climate of the American school system. Nonetheless, the gap between when the Handbook was put together and the work conducted by Phommasa , Thammarath and Te suggests that a lot of work remains to be done.

Students don’t leave any part of themselves at the door when they go into a classroom, which is why I think it is incumbent upon educators to consider a culturally responsive way of teaching that includes their students’ linguistic, cultural, socio-economic, and lived realities. Culturally responsive teaching gets at the heart of who the student is and allows for her to blossom, so to speak, rather than shut her down and fragment her by what standards the school has set forth. Those of us who made it through the ‘80s and continue to be life-long learners have resilience, but it is hard to chip away 30-year-old layers of negative schooling that are cemented into our educational system. A culturally responsive teacher would have never allowed for me to be separated and learn ESL because she’d speak to me and know that having me integrated with other students would allow for me to learn and use English naturally; she would have never silenced me from speaking Lao; she would have never assumed that my capital was Vientiane; most of all, she would have empowered and made me proud to be Lao. These were things I was never taught in school.

I am proud to be Lao. And I am proud that I am an agent for transformative change in this complex system of education, whose rudiments are to prepare students for the “real” world. But first, in order for that to happen, we need to know the real world and the people living in it. ~DANNY (Picture: My kindergarten class. I am in the back row, third from the left.)

Lao Baby Sale Haiku

An investigation is underway suggesting Lao babies have become the latest commodity in human trafficking, an issue that concerns many Lao Minnesotans.  They’ve been sold to falang for as much as $5,000.  A retired justice ministry figure was involved and if convicted could face up to 3 to 5 years in prison. So, this week, Little Laos on the Prairie responds with: Lao Baby Sale Haiku. As always, we welcome  your responses and comments!

Why Lao babies’ souls?
Seek better ways to buy “love,”
“Entitled” falang.

Biking in the Midwest and along the Mekong

As Spring approaches and the rays are heating up the trails, I was thinking of the excitement of getting my bike tuned and reconnecting with our parks and lakes again. I was also thinking about how many Lao folks I actually see biking here in the Midwest versus the locals who ride them everywhere for work, school, and leisure in Laos.  Then I’m hit with the fact of how much I miss biking along the khem khong (Mekong River side) and with the open air across vast miles of rice fields and trees in the countryside of my parent’s village.

With the exception of Vientiane capital bombarded now with tuk-tuks, latest cars, and mopeds filling it’s newly paved streets, the rest of the locals, schoolchildren, and novices still bike to get from A to B.  Here in the land of 10,000 lakes, our abundance of road and off-road trails have ranked Minneapolis as one of the biggest bike cities in the nation. And it makes sense. There’s always been a sense of harmony with mother nature here and Minnesotans are proud of it. Then again, there are definitely similarities and differences in bike usage and appreciation between the prairie to Laos, and for many major reasons:

Similarities

1. Spring, Summer, and Fall bring out the most colorful trails in Minnesota’s parks and lakes. Year round in Laos, especially after monsoon season, brings out the most beautiful untouched scenery you can grasp.

2. Minnesotans and Lao appreciate their green landscapes and rivers that make biking not only accessible but more enjoyable to get around.

3. Minnesotans  and Lao find it extremely easy and cheap to bike around town. Nice Ride Bikes for rent in MN: $5/day (not including trip fees). Bikes for rent in Laos: less than $1/day…much more bang for your buck, of course.

Differences

1. Minnesotans have designated trails and policies that restrict when and where you can bike. The Lao will bike anytime and anywhere they can literally plow their bikes through.

2. Minnesotans almost always have their safety gear on: helmets, knee pads, biking shoes on full alert. For the Lao, having shoes on and a working bike is all you need.

3. Minnesotans bike shorter distances to get from A to B or longer on paved paths for leisurely treks. For the Lao, if you’re not in the city, then you could be biking for quite a few miles in the countryside to get from A to B.

4. Minnesotans have the snazziest locks for their fancy bikes that will most likely get stolen if not secured. For the Lao, you can bring it in or leave it parked outside the local food stand and be completely safe, because unless it’s unlocked BMW, the locals won’t desire it.

To get a taste of how biking feels like in Laos, our blogger friend Robert Isenberg, posted a video clip of his adventure in Vientiane, Laos. Check it out: http://www.sandiegoreader.com/news/2012/feb/01/travel-biking-laos/

So with the mass wave of automobiles and mopeds filling the Vientiane capital, biking will at least still resonate with the locals and the countryside folks who still find biking useful. And hopefully, the Lao here in Minnesota can reconnect with what once was a daily habit of their lives back in Laos.

How about it? Get your bike tuned and let’s ride together!

-CPP