After the exhausting trip back and forth to Poughkeepsie, I spent a few hours at home Friday morning, then had to jump on a flight to DC because the University of Maryland beckoned. Riding the DC Metro reminded me of my youth (relatively), when I spent two years living in the nation’s capital. I have very fond memories of DC because it really helped me develop as a writer, and I was also welcomed into the U Street spoken word scene, which was especially great because I lived just blocks away from there. So word to DC. I miss it.

But not enough to move back…

Anyway, I arrived at Maryland and chilled out in Dharma Naik’s office with Bobby, the lead student organizer. For some reason the office was incredibly hot. I didn’t bring a change of clothes because I was only in town for like 14 hours, so I was worried about sweating through my clothes. I undid some buttons, but quickly rethought my strategy and simply moved myself into the hallway. There I got to hang out with my old buddy Neel Saxena - who eats Chinese food with Marion Barry! - and Parag Khandhar, who is now teaching at UMCP.

Also in the house was Gem Daus - who helped Neel and I establish the scientific theorem that all API men can perform a standing long jump of exactly 71 inches - and Garret Lum, who is the asshole in the picture to the left.

Anyway, the room was interesting, with a ceiling entirely made of glass. I know the administration was trying to send a message to us. Oh Asian Pacific American Heritage Month? Give ‘em the room with the glass ceiling! Damn you!

Four students kicked it off: Heather, Malcolm, Kenton, and Nikki. I couldn’t help but think of Prince’s song “Darling Nikki,” which I would have mentioned to Nikki if it hadn’t been completely inappropriate. You know, given the fact that it’s the song that was so raunchy it is directly responsible for those “Explicit Lyrics” stickers on cassettes and CDs. (Back when cassettes and CDs still existed…)

When I see old friends, I start to act, well, old. I start making jokes that you can only understand if you’re like 25+, and you’d only think are funny if you were born in the 70s. For example: whenever I see a group of handsome Asian men, it reminds me of the Basco brothers…but when I mentioned that to the crowd of college students, it was pretty clear none of them knew who the Basco brothers were. That’s a shame. I should have scolded them harder.

But we had fun. Got a chance to hang out afterward at some place where I ate an entire half chicken. I think there were fries involved too. I spoke to a small and awkward (Kumudha’s assessment, not mine) group of students about activism. When Dharma had said I could talk to them about campus organizing, I kinda laughed it off because I was thinking, no students want to talk about organizing on Friday night! But I guess I’m an idiot. Kudos Maryland students, you’re much more committed to the cause than I was in college.

So that night I hung out with my boys from back in the day. We played Commodore 64 and my man Coy dropped me off at the airport at 3AM to catch the first flight back home.