On Friday afternoon, there was an author’s alumni conversation that featured 2003 Paul & Daisy Soros Fellow Kao Kalia Yang and 2007 Paul & Daisy Soros Fellow Meera Deo, which was moderated by 2011 Paul & Daisy Soros Fellow Cesar Francia. Cesar spoke to Kalia and Meera about their recent books and how they, as authors, connect to their New American experiences.
Speaking on the power of the individual, Meera discussed how she made change when she was a law school student. She reminded the Fellows, “The reason your institutions exist is because of you. You may not feel like you have a lot of power as a student. But the school cannot exist without you and your dedication.”
Meera is the author of Unequal Profession: Race and Gender in Legal Academia (Stanford University Press, 2019), a professor at Thomas Jefferson School of Law, and the Director of the Law School Survey of Student Engagement (LSSSE). Focusing on the personal and professional experiences of law school faculty who are women of color, Meera used her background in sociology and law to investigate how race and gender impact individuals, schools, and law school education.
Kalia is an award-winning Minnesota-based author who is most well-known for The Latehomecomer: A Hmong Family Memoir (Coffee House Press, 2008), which is a National Endowment for the Arts Big Read title, The Song Poet (Metropolitan Books, 2016), and a children’s book, A Map Into The World (Carolrhoda Books, 2019). She co-edited a collection of writings in 2019 titled What God is Honored Here?: Writings on Miscarriage and Infant Loss by and For Indigenous Women and Women of Color (University of MN Press).
Kalia encouraged Fellows to not over-think sharing their writing. “It is the best procrastination tool known to writers, to think about the responses to our probable work,” Kalia said. “My father taught me from an early age ‘don’t talk too much about your work; so much good art has died in talk.’”
As always, a highlight of the Fall Conference for the new Fellows was the cocktail reception in their honor hosted by Daisy Soros at her home. This year, 2019 Fellows Hilda Huang and Agata Sorotokin performed on the piano. Hilda is a piano performance master’s student at Yale University and Agata is a piano performance and composition master’s student at Stonybrook University. While the 2019 Fellows enjoyed the reception and dinner with the Fellowship’s Trustees and special guests, the 2018 Fellows had time to re-connect over dinner with Meero Deo and Kao Kalia Yang.
Following the reception at Daisy Soros’s home, the Fellowship program and the alumni association, the PDSFA, co-hosted a party featuring Tuelo, a singer-songwriter from South Africa who is based in New York City. Tuelo shared stories about growing up on a farm, her own family’s migration story, her first experiences in the United States in Connecticut, and her deep love for her mother.
On Saturday, Fellows gathered as classes for two discussions moderated by older Fellows. The 2019 Fellows had a conversation entitled, “What’s Not on My Resume?” that was moderated by 2002 Paul & Daisy Soros Fellow Irina Linetskaya and the 2018 Fellows had a conversation entitled, “What’s on Mind?” that was moderated by 2009 Paul & Daisy Soros Fellow Marianna Ofosu. In both settings, Fellows were encouraged to share with one another about their lives and the stories that have shaped them.
Following meaningful Saturday morning conversations, the Fellows spread out across Manhattan on several guided tours. Tours included visits to the Met Breuer, Cooper Hewitt Smithsonian Design Museum, Central Park, Chinatown and the Museum of Chinese in America, the Tenement Museum & Lower East Side, and a walking tour of social justice in Greenwich Village.
On Saturday night, all 60 of the 2018 and 2019 Fellows came together for a big dinner in Manhattan followed by a viewing of Oklahoma! on Broadway.
