V3 Conference, Pit Stop at Home, Then DNC

I’m in the eye of the storm. No, not Tropical Storm Isaac. What I mean is this is smack in the middle of the weeks of busyness that I knew was coming for months. Last weekend, I was in LA meeting the Asian American hive mind at the V3 Conference for online media.

I’ll be home for exactly one week, before jetting off to cover the Democratic National Convention for BlogHer. But it’ll be one heck of a week, as I’m planning and organizing for my trip– while also covering the home base for the Republican National Convention. Plus, it’s only the second full week of school so there’s still some kinks to be worked out of our family routines. And did I mention the kids stayed home sick yesterday?

But first, a quick catch up on the V3 Conference.

I’ve been waiting for this event for over a year, since I heard about it’s predecessor, the Banana 2 blogging conference, which took place on a weekend when our family already had vacation plans. This year, I cleared my calendar and signed up as soon as I heard about the revamped conference, which was now organized by the LA chapter of the Asian American Journalists Association. While I enjoy going to many types of professional events, V3 was different in its depth of conversations about topics specific to Asian Americans in the online space.

 

Everything about the event — including the venues of the Japanese American National Museum and Pacific Asia Museum — supported advocacy and creativity within Asian America. The panel discussions hit on topics I’ve been chomping at the bit to discuss: Asianspotting in the Mainstream Media, Journalism v. Blogging, Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders in Politics.  Add in a little late night ramen, and the plush — yet surprisingly reasonable — Miyako Hotel, and it was a great weekend.

Also, mixed-race Asians were highly represented at the conference. LA news anchors David Ono and Frank Buckley engaged in a little handsome hapa rivalry from the podium. And I finally got to meet my fellow Hapa Mamas Betty Ming Liu and Frances Kai-Hwa Wang in person. If I had only remembered to get a picture of us all together!

Now… if I can only get through the next few days… and on to Charlotte!