Nov 20

WITLife – Episode #3

Career, Networking, Translating/Interpreting, WIT Life, Writers Comments Off on WITLife – Episode #3

WITLife is a series by Writer/Interpreter/Translator Stacy Smith (Kumamoto-ken, 2000-03).  She is currently traveling around the U.S. as a freelance interpreter for the U.S. State Department.

Hello from Seattle!  I intended to write from each of the cities during my travels, but somehow my busy schedule got the best of me.  I am now at the last stop on our tour of the States before returning home to NYC this weekend.

The last time I checked in I was in DC for the election, and after a brief stop in Kalamazoo, Michigan we made our way to Obama’s stomping grounds of Chicago.  Even though we couldn’t be in Grant Park for election night, it was cool to visit the spot where he had spoken a week later (courtesy of a tour from a friend who had been lucky enough to be there at the time!).

The next destination was Dallas, Texas, a nice switch to warm weather from the chilliness of the Windy City (whose name’s origin evidently comes from blowhard politicians and is not due to its famous gusts of wind.  Another fun fact: Chicago is Osaka’s sister city and there was a NYT article drawing comparisons between these two “Second Cities” in last week’s Travel Magazine: http://www.nytimes.com/indexes/2008/11/16/style/t/index.html#pageName=16osakaw.  This was another cool article about how Obama’s election is transforming Chicago’s image of itself: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/20/fashion/20chicago.html?ref=travel).

It was actually my second time in Dallas in three months thanks to working for IVLP, and I was happy to be back.  Our first night there we went to see a rodeo complete with cowboys riding broncos, calf roping and cowgirls galloping around barrels.  As I watched my awestruck visitor I thought to myself, “Yes, this too is America.”

Since one theme of her trip is Women and Work, we paid a visit to the Women’s Museum located at the Texas State Fairgrounds along with the Cotton Bowl.  This comprehensive museum of beautiful art deco design features a historical perspective of women and their cultural, political, scientific, etc. achievements.  It is the only one of its kind in the States and is absolutely amazing!  We were able to meet with the CEO Wanda Brice, an inspirational former entrepreneur who told us of her various personal struggles through the years such as lobbying for women’s rights all the way to Washington.

My participant enjoyed the museum itself, as well as the opportunity it provided to put together all the information she had been gathering during the trip.  We have met with a large variety of people and depending on who you talk to, here in America discrimination against women is either rampant or non-existent.  These conflicting opinions left her confused until she had a chance to get a sense of the history behind the progress women have made and to see how much change has taken place over the years for women to get to where they are now (as well as how they are still not where they want to be).  Although Japan lags behind America with regard to women’s rights, it inspired her that they too can implement change as long as they are willing to put in the effort and buckle down for the journey.  All you need is one person to make a difference, and with her open mind and desire to improve Japanese lifestyles for not just women but everyone, I think she is well on her way to bringing change to her country.

Speaking of change, I recently heard this quote from Jay Z while he was campaigning for Obama, which really affected me: “Rosa Parks sat so Martin Luther King could walk. Martin Luther King walked so Obama could run.  Obama’s running so we all can fly.”