Meet SEARAC's Fall Interns: Jintana Lityouvong, UW

Hello! I'm Jintana Lityouvong and I'm an incoming junior at the University of Washington in Seattle where I plan on majoring in English. I am the daughter of Laotian refugees who came to the United States in hopes of a better life for our family.

Growing up, my parents made Amy Chua look like a kitten. My destiny in life was sealed before I was even born when my parents decided to name me Jintana after a famous Lao doctor, in hopes that I will one day become a successful Laotian American woman in the medical field. As strict as they were, I knew they were only tough because they loved me. And I wanted to fulfill my filial piety and make them proud.

It was tough as a young girl, but I found refuge in teen magazines from a neighbor. I spent lazy days sifting through the pages of YM and Seventeen, reading fun blurbs, taking quizzes to find my character analysis, and staring at all the Caucasian models that looked nothing like me. For years, I questioned why I never saw a representation of myself in magazines, newspapers or television shows. And as much as it angered me, my parents told me that media was not an industry where “people like us” flourished.

Being a Tiger Cub for my Tiger Parents, Laos New Year 1994

When I entered college as a freshman, I finally had freedom to choose the classes and extracurriculars that I wanted. I joined the campus newspaper in hopes to test out whether or not my parents have been right about Asian Americans not flourishing in media. I worked my way up and found writing to be an enjoyable outlet.

And then I took Introduction to Asian American Studies, which was like opening Pandora's box for me. The course opened my eyes to the injustices and inequalities that minorities still face to this day. It motivated me to get involved with volunteering around Seattle’s Asian Pacific American (APA) community. Eventually, to the dismay of my parents, my ambitions for these activities skyrocketed immediately.

In 2010, I started to write for the International Examiner, a nonprofit newspaper in Seattle for the APA community. At the time, there was some controversy going on in the Seattle area over a shooting between a Laotian American and Caucasian man. I was hurt by comments on news articles online that degraded Southeast Asians and stereotyped them all as thugs. I pitched an article idea to my editor about gang violence, lack of community support and lack of cultural competence in schools for Southeast Asian American youth. I figured, “if I don’t write about this, who else is going to?” I thought the same thing in articles I wrote about the model minority myth, glass ceilings, APA women in education, and more.

After being able to write, do research and become immersed in different articles and APA issues, I found it hugely satisfying and rewarding to reach out to the community in a way I loved.

This fall, I moved from Washington to Washington for an internship with the Southeast Asian Resource Action Center where I will be helping with communications and development. I hope I can expand my interests for writing, learning and activism to a larger scope and different community.