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    JB MDL celebrates Asian-Pacific Heritage Month with tradition and cuisine

    Asian-Pacific heritage celebration at JB MDL

    Photo By Sgt. 1st Class Lasima Packett | Audience participation gets the crowd going while service members learn traditional...... read more read more

    JOINT BASE MCGUIRE-DIX-LAKEHURST, NJ, UNITED STATES

    05.13.2013

    Story by Pvt. Kathrin Forbes 

    120th Public Affairs Detachment

    JOINT BASE MCGUIRE-DIX-LAKEHURST, N.J. - Bright leis of pink, yellow, green and blue draped the necks of service members attending the Asian-American and Pacific Islander Heritage Celebration at Tommy B’s Community Center.

    Soldiers and airmen replaced their uniform blouses for a more celebratory Hawaiian shirt to honor the occasion May 13. With island music and spicy scents, participants converged on a buffet of Asian and Pacific cuisine and cultural experiences.

    The designation of May as Asian-American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month was signed into law in 1992. May was initially chosen to honor two significant Asian-American events – the first Japanese immigrants to the United States, who came May 7, 1843, and the completion of the transcontinental railroad May 10, 1869, which was mainly built by Chinese immigrants.

    “We remember Asian-Americans and Pacific Islanders who have made our country bigger and brighter again and again from native Hawaiians to the generations of striving immigrants who shaped our history – reaching and sweating and scraping to give their children something more,” said President Barack Obama, in a proclamation April 30, 2013. “Their story is the American story, and this month, we honor them all.”

    Here at JBMDL, the 174th Infantry Brigade Equal Opportunity Committee puts forth a monthly effort to celebrate different cultures and ethnicities. This month the 2nd Battalion, 309th Regiment hosted the Asian-American and Pacific Islander Heritage Celebration.

    “Everything is voluntary,” said Sgt. 1st Class Nelson E. Chanquin, operations noncommissioned officer for the 2-309th, and NCO of the celebration. “People donate food. The units donate food. The dancers are actually some of the family members and soldiers who are on base. It’s a collaboration.”

    He added that through food, music, videos, speeches and dances the hosts provided a variety of ways for the soldiers to experience the varied customs and cultures represented. These ethnicities represented included Indian, Japanese, Samoan, Tahitian, New Zealand, Hawaiian and Korean.

    Chanquin’s favorite part is the cuisine. It’s the part that brings people together – to break a piece of bread and have a good time, he said. The hope is that everyone tastes something different, something they haven’t tried before.

    Sgt. 1st Class Ronald Nalley from Headquarters and Headquarters Detachment, 174th Infantry Brigade, contributed food to the event. His authentic Hawaiian custard cake, Thai red curry beef and cucumber kimchi are staples in the cultures where he lived. His kids, who are half Vietnamese, made spring rolls for the event.

    “The food was excellent,” Nalley said. “I tried to get stuff that I don’t normally have – some variations of heat, which was good.”

    In addition he said his children love to cook, and so does he. He’s been to Vietnam and Thailand, and he was stationed in Korea three times. So, he was familiar with most of the food at the event and he approved of it.

    After lunch, the crowd was treated to a show of authentic cultural dancing. The main soloist, Nadine Forsgren, has danced since she was 8 years old.

    The variations she displayed included Tahitian dance, a dance from the Cook Islands, Poi (a dance from New Zealand), Samoan dance and the Hula. All of the dances tell a story, she said.

    With Hawaiians and Samoans the story is told with the hands. The Tahitian dance uses the hips to tell the story.

    “It’s all different,” Forsgren said. “But they all tell basically the same story.”

    Each time Forsgren takes the stage the audience is mesmerized by the way she sways and shakes her hips to the rhythmic music. Her hands and arms form shapes that tell an ancient tale, wordless and beautiful.

    Dance, however, wasn’t just for viewing.

    By the end of the program audience participation was required for the final hula. Soon the easy spirit and smile of the dancers encouraged several soldiers and airmen to join them up front. Forsgren and her family members quickly taught several service members how to sway their own hips to the festive island music.

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    NEWS INFO

    Date Taken: 05.13.2013
    Date Posted: 05.15.2013 15:22
    Story ID: 106953
    Location: JOINT BASE MCGUIRE-DIX-LAKEHURST, NJ, US

    Web Views: 219
    Downloads: 0

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