壁咚影院

On Sept. 29, 2022, California Gov. Gavin Newsom聽signed Assembly Bill 2596 into law, recognizing Lunar聽New Year as an official state holiday. Although students聽and teachers in Palo Alto Unified School District (壁咚影院)聽have not been affected by the bill, its passage鈥攁nd its聽juxtaposition with several mass shootings on Lunar New聽Year鈥攈as sparked discussion around representation in聽Gunn鈥檚 Asian American community.

Celebrated in Asian countries such as China, Korea聽and Vietnam, Lunar New Year marks the beginning of the聽lunar calendar and comprises a plethora of traditions and聽staple foods that vary across cultures. Still, the emphasis聽of the holiday鈥攔eunion with family and friends鈥攔emains聽constant. According to a press release from Newsom, the聽classification of Lunar New Year as a state holiday serves聽to honor Asian American contributions and to encourage聽all Californians to participate in the holiday.

The bill鈥檚 passage has been primarily symbolic, given聽that it is not an official state holiday at the city, county聽and district levels. According to the district, if 壁咚影院聽does choose to recognize it as a school holiday, alterations聽would only be made beginning in the 2024-2025 school聽year. Moreover, teachers have a required number of work聽days as per the Collective Bargaining Units, and removing聽a day for Lunar New Year would entail adding another聽day elsewhere in the school calendar. This in turn would聽require negotiations between staff and teacher unions. Yet聽the proposal of such a policy is popular among students鈥攊n a self-selected survey sent out to Gunn students by聽The Oracle from Jan. 27 to Feb. 3 with 215 self-selected聽responses, 82.3% of students felt that students and staff聽should get a day off for Lunar New Year.

According to math teacher Danning Siu, the fact that the bill does not change policy at the district level reduces its impact on students and teachers. 鈥淧eople who paid attention to that news were only people who were聽affected by it, so if the school doesn鈥檛 do anything about聽it, and the district doesn鈥檛 do anything about it, then it鈥檚聽meaningless,鈥� she said. 鈥淎s students and teachers, we only聽remember the holidays that we actually get days off for.鈥�

Still, others鈥攊ncluding education specialist Timothy聽Young鈥攆ind some merit in its designation as a state聽holiday, noting that it fosters a sense of inclusion. 鈥淲hen聽I was growing up, you had your holidays, but they鈥檙e like,聽鈥楾hese are American holidays, and then these are the other聽holidays,鈥欌�� he said. 鈥淗aving Lunar New Year here in the聽States is an interesting feeling.鈥�

Similarly, Chinese teacher Yanan Vrudny believes that聽the passage of the bill represents a symbolic step forward聽for Asian Americans celebrating the holiday. 鈥淚鈥檓 happy聽that all the people who have this festival in their culture聽finally get recognized by our community, society and聽government,鈥� she said.

The change in holiday status came on the heels of a聽surge in violence committed against Asians during the聽pandemic鈥攙iolence that has yet to cease, as is evident聽from the spate of shootings in California on and around聽Lunar New Year. On Jan. 21, 11 people were killed following聽holiday festivities at Monterey Park. On Jan. 23, seven聽lost their lives at Half Moon Bay. In both shootings, the victims were primarily Asian. Both perpetrators were聽Asian as well.

In the face of such violence on a holiday meant to be聽filled with joy, some students at Gunn have grappled with聽the gap between their expectations and reality. Such was聽the case with junior John Lee, who moved to Gunn from聽Seoul, South Korea, halfway through last semester. 鈥淚聽felt really bad because I felt like the United States was聽changing a bit,鈥� he said. 鈥淭here are still lots of crimes and聽harassment based on race.鈥�

According to Lee, the best way to combat these hate聽crimes is through education. 鈥淚t could be better if we聽gathered around all together to share more culture about聽Asia,鈥� he said.

Vrudny believes that with this approach, Gunn can聽spread its culture of celebrating diversity. 鈥淪ome people聽don鈥檛 get exposed to different cultures and they don鈥檛聽think the way that we think at Gunn,鈥� she said. 鈥淚 hope to聽build this positive energy and pass it on to more people聽so that they are more loving and caring and supportive聽to each other.鈥�