Marilla Li

From AAA Wiki

Marilla is in the Class of 2010 at Barnard College, majoring in Anthropology.

Why Marilla joined joined AAA?
During freshman year, mostly due to happenstance, I attended an AAA info session in Lerner Cinema and watched the film, "Asian American Identity - Unraveling Asian America", directed by then CC/SEAS Vice-Chair Calvin Sun. Though I couldn't articulate this at the time, watching that film illuminated the fact that I had no existing consciousness of the struggles and obstacles that face Asian Americans everyday, nor did I have any concrete understanding of how I fit into that cultural, social, and political dynamic. Half out of guilt and half out of a desire to challenge and reform my own knowledge, I applied to be a part of AAA. I was looking for: 1) a means to raise consciousness, and 2) I felt equipped with a unique set of skills and interests that could be useful to the organization. During the interview, I spouted a lot of nonsense about Asian Americans in the media and the things that can be done to heighten awareness of society's failings or successes. This landed me a joint position as OCM and Webmaster, which eventually (somehow) put me in a position as Political Chair in the '07-'08 year.

In addition to asking why former members joined AAA, it's important to ask why they think that AAA is important or worth the commitment. This is productive to ask because many people's reasons or expectations for joining an organization are not necessarily congruent with their later opinions of that organization. For example, I joined AAA primarily expecting to gain logistical skills. While this did happen, I ended up valuing the individuals whom I befriended and the political awareness I cultivated even more. So while I cared initially about learning logistics through AAA, I continue to care about it because of its ability to foster great friendships, awareness, and dialogue. Allowing former members to discuss their long-term commitments to AAA often unveils a varied past that is helpful to current board members. So while asking former members about their initial encounters with AAA is helpful, also asking about their long-term experiences adds contextualization, historicity and richness to understanding the group.

Other positions:
(On-campus)

• Liga Filipina - OCM, Barrio participant ('06-'08)
• APAAM - Webmaster ('06-'07), Co-Arts Chair ('08-'09)
• NYCAASC - Volunteer, Co-Director ('06-'08)
• Well-Woman - Peer Health Educator ('07-present)
• Barnard Career Development - Peer Intern ('07-present)

(Off-campus)

• Ruby Pictures, Inc. - Production Intern ('08)
• American Museum of Natural History - Public Programs / Film Festival Intern (present)

Personal interests: Exploring NYC, filmmaking, blog -writing and -reading, film festivals, restaurant hunting, movie and concert hopping

Positions

2006-2007: Organizational Committee Member and Webmaster
2007-2008: Political Chair
2008-2010: Senior Adviser

2006-2007: Co-Producer and Co-Supervisor, "Asian American Beauty: A Discourse on Body Image"
2007-Present: Co-Founder and Blogger, "The Blaaag"