Profile Story Process Memo

Interviewing Sandy Tsuneyoshi, the director of OSU's Intercultural Student Services, for my profile story was a lot of fun. I actually know her from working with the Hui-o-Hawaii club that she advises, so it made my meeting with her a lot more comfortable. I learned a lot about her that I never expected. Sitting in her cluttered office that was decorated from floor to ceiling with Asian and Polynesian artwork and purple (her favorite color) flowers and things, I learned that she worked with war veterans in Hawaii and Samoa, adopted a child from Samoa, won a law case that she filed for discrimination against minority students, and fought against various injustices that dealt with racial discrimination.

In 1997, she filed a law suit against the directors of a medical institution for discharging her early because of her race. Apparently, a doctor would not treat her because she was Japanese-American. In 2000, she was awarded $250,000 when the judge ruled in her favor. Tsuneyoshi said she was excited to spend some of the money on her dream car-- a purple van.

She also helped several OSU students fight against racial discrimination. One year, Hawaii students, who were on their way to their first frat party, were cut off and shoved by some Caucasian boys. Tsuneyoshi said the Hawaiian boys tried to walk around the other boys, but the other group got in their faces. When police came, the police only asked the Caucasian boys what happened and arrested the Hawaiian boys without hearing their side of the story. The policemen were white and supposedly affiliated with the Caucasian group's fraternity. Tsuneyoshi did everything she could to help the Hawaiian boys when she found out, She made calls, spoke to police authorities, and had them come clean of their wrong doings.

She said there were three occurrences that made her want to help minority people when she came to work at OSU in 1994. All three coincidentally took place at Chinese restaurants. The first incident happened when Tsuneyoshi went to have dinner at a Chinese restaurant with some co-workers. While they were walking in the restaurant's parking lot, a car pulled by, and passengers shouted nasty racial remarks at Tsuneyoshi and her co-workers while pulling at their faces to make slanted eyes.

The second occurrence happened when she was eating at a Chinese restaurant with her ex-husband and baby. Her baby, named Sascha, was about six months old sitting in a highchair not making any sound. Then a customer in the restaurant passed by their table on the way to the bathroom and asked Sascha to wave at him. Tsuneyoshi said the guy was saying, "Wave at me, Wave at me," but Sascha just innocently looked at him without moving. Then the guy shouts, "What a stupid baby," and walks away. Tsuneyoshi couldn't believe the guy said that about an infant, especially a stranger's infant. She felt that he was personally attacking them because of their race. He probably would not have done that if Tsuneyoshi's family was white.

The third incident took place at another Chinese restaurant when someone eating at a table near Tsunyoshi's family started speaking loudly to his group about his feelings toward Asians. Tsuneyoshi said that he was bashing Asians in a voice loud enough for Tsuneyoshi's table to hear.

"Yeah, you know those Asians... They're so this and that," Tsuneyoshi mimicked the man, scrunching up her face. She knew he was doing it intentionally, just because Tsuneyoshi's family was there.

Luckily, Tsuneyoshi came to Oregon State because she helped give students and other members of OSU's minority community a voice. Tsuneyoshi said that people, especially Asian-Pacific Americans, have a hard time speaking up when they come to a new environment in which they are the minority. A lot of Caucasians are taught to be very assertive in the workplace and school. When they do something great, they are the first ones to take the credit, but when they make a mistake, they have an easier time pointing the finger at someone else. Tsuneyoshi said that Asians are the opposite. They tend to be more modest and don't say anything when someone praises their work, but they are the first to admit that they are wrong. In their culture they are taught to be more passive as a sign of respect.

"When Asians talk, they will go around and around and around," Tsuneyoshi said, while drawing circles in the air with her index finger. "It takes them a longer time to get to the point."

Tsuneyoshi said that she wants to help the Asian-Pacific people here learn to speak up and stand up for themselves. She wants them to attain the assertive skills that they need in the workplace, so they can be successful.

It is also a good thing that Tsuneyoshi came to OSU because she helped provide a "home away from home" for students from Hawaii. I focused my profile story on this aspect of Tsuneyoshi's life because it is something really beautiful and special to see. When Hawaii students come to OSU, they enter a world completely different from their hometowns. They are not used to the weather conditions, the change of seasons, the food, language, or being the minority. Coming from small islands in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, they are simply not used to the mainland. Back home, Hawaii students have their large families with them. Everyone is really welcoming, and there is a real sense of what Hawaiians call the "aloha spirit."

Tsuneyoshi tries to share that aloha spirit with everyone at OSU. She's always smiling and welcoming others. She always tries to be there for someone whenever they need help. I think her PhD in psychology helps with that.

"I always feel like I can go to her for anything," said Maleah Harris, an administrative supporter that Tsuneyoshi hired. "She's very understanding. She would do anything to help others."

All of the Hawaii students call her "Aunty." There's a real feeling of ‘ohana, or family. In Hawaii, students address their elders as "aunty" and "uncle".

Tsuneyoshi said that one of her co-workers once came up to her and told her, "I just realized that all these kids are not your relatives." Tsuneyoshi laughed, and said that now she has other students, such as the African-Americans and Mexicans, calling her that too.

It was really nice to listen to Tsuneyoshi talk about her life. I feel like I have a much deeper respect for her.

Some of the challenges during the reporting part of this story was trying to interview Tsuneyoshi while she kept getting important phone calls, writing notes fast enough to keep up with her speech, and interrupting her to ask questions. During the interview, we kept having to stop because Tsuneyoshi had to answer important business calls. I would actually have to step out of her office while she took them, and then try to regroup after the call was done. I had to remind Tsuneyoshi a couple of times about where she last left off in the interview. Another difficult part of the interview was taking notes because she naturally speaks really fast. It's hard to slow her down. When I asked her one question, she went on and on, talking about so many interesting subjects. It was hard for me to stop her and ask questions about something she said.

However, there were a few things that went quite well during the reporting part of the assignment. Luckily, it was quite easy to schedule an appointment with the super busy lady. She happened to be free on Friday during the time that I had a break between 2-4 pm. I also had her phone number and e-mail address if I need to ask her anything else. We were also very comfortable with each other during the interview. I got a lot of information from her, and we only felt the need to stop because we were running out of time. Students and her secretary were also very willing to say nice things about her.

Challenges that I faced during the writing portion included going through all of my notes, focusing on only one topic, and choosing how to address Tsuneyoshi in my paper. Tsuneyoshi had so much fascinating things to say that I had a lot of really great points in my notes that I couldn't use. She spoke about Hawaii students, lawsuits, samoa, helping veterans in the Big Island, Hawaiian and Asian culture, and more. It was difficult to sort through all of the good information and focus on one thing. I also had a lot of great quotes that I recorded with the help of a tape recorder, but I couldn't use a lot of them because they had to do with the other subjects that she spoke about. I felt really bad about not including the other interesting information about her. I also wanted to address Tsuneyoshi as Aunty Sandy throughout the paper because it would have given it a more authentic feel. I originally wrote things like, “These Hawaiian boys were all excited to go to this frat party for the first time,” explained Aunty Sandy, “Then, on their way there they passed by another group of boys who cut them off and shoved them.” I actually really liked saying Aunty Sandy, instead of Tsuneyoshi, in the paper because the paper had a more family, aloha-spirited feel to it. However, I knew that writing "Tsuneyoshi" was a lot more professional.

One thing that went well during the writing section was that I was able to include a lot about Tsuneyoshi's background while still being able to stay focused on Tsuneyoshi's caring spirit. I was also able to explain her fight against racial discrimination quite well. The fact that I did some research on Asian-Pacific Americans also helped me write a convincing report about the struggles of A/PA people in college environments.

I had a great time learning about Tsuneyoshi. I think my feedback for this story should be based on the way that I captured her caring spirit and explained her work against racial discrimination. I would also like to know if my story had a good order to it. I hope my choice about using "Tsuneyoshi" instead of "Aunty Sandy" was wise, and my research about A/PAs in college was useful.