‘Taste of Asia’ comes to county fairgrounds
■This year’s Asian Celebration will feature a performance of
Taek Gyeon, a Korean martial art, by Kyung-Hwa Jung
By Lindsay Bucnele
Oregon Daily Emerald
A Korean national treasure will
perform the dying art of TaekGyeon
at this year’s Asian Celebration.
Also known as “Intangible Living
Asset #76,” Kyung-Hwa Jung has
worked to keep Taek Gyeon alive
and is being featured in the celebra
tion, hosted by the Eugene-Spring
field Asian Council.
“He started as a dedicated student
and reached National Living Trea
sure status in the 1980s,” said Tim
Greathouse, who owns and operates
Eugene HMD Academy, a Eugene
martial arts school. “He’s carrying
on the past and the future by keep
ing this art alive.”
Each year, celebration organizers
pick a certain group or culture to be
the focus of the celebration. This
year’s chosen culture is Korea, and
the celebration will include a spot
light on a Korean dancing group from
Tacoma, Wash., called “MorningGlo
ry” and the performance of Jung.
For the past 16 years, the Eugene
Springfield Asian Council has been
bringing an array of Asian entertain
ment, food, and culture to Eugene in
the form of the Asian Celebration.
This year’s celebration, “A Taste
of Asia,” will fill the Eugene Con
vention Center/Fairgrounds Satur
day and Sunday with entertainment
from every Asian culture.
“There’s nothing like this celebra
tion in the state,” said Carrie Mat
sushita, the marketing and public
relations manager for the city of Eu
gene. “It’s non-stop entertainment
for two days.”
Brent Tokita, president of the Eu
gene-Springfield Asian Council,
said the celebration combines per
formances and exhibits, including
musicians, dancers, martial artists,
an Asian market and an Asian food
court.
“We draw in everyone with this
celebration,” Tokita said. “It in
cludes all the different Asian
groups.”
Asian groups range from the Ori
ent to the Middle East, Tokita said.
Tony Lum, co-chair of the cele
bration and the chairman of enter
tainment, said he tries to find an ar
ray of diverse groups that like to
“show off.”
“We devised this celebration so
that the people involved are allowed
to express their culture through art
forms and food,” Lum said.
Every one of the estimated 500
people who perform at the event is a
volunteer, and is someone who un
derstands his or her culture and
roots, Lum said.
There will be two main stages this
year, one designated as the main
performance stage and the other for
martial arts performances. One
smaller stage will be located in the
courtyard and will feature soloists
and small craft demonstrations.
Many martial art forms will be
seen on the separate martial arts
stage at the Asian Celebration. Jung
will also be performing on the main
stage, even though his performance
is technically a martial art.
Taek Gyeon is a martial art form
that is thought to be the precursor to
tae kwon do. Jung is the most recent
in a line of three Grand Masters who
have kept Taek Gyeon alive.
Greathouse visited Jung last sum
mer and helped to bring him to Eu
gene for the celebration.
“When the Japanese occupied
Korea in 1910, they attempted to
eliminate all Korean culture, in
cluding the martial arts practiced
there,” Greathouse said. “Just a few
Grand Masters continued teaching
the martial arts underground.”
The council has worked to keep
politics out of the celebration, some
thing Lum said is hard to do when
martial arts are involved.
“Since there is such a long history
of Asian countries fighting each oth
er, we’ve asked for the martial arts
demonstrations to be expressed
more as an art form rather than com
batant,” Lum said.
That’s why Jung’s performance is
so important to the celebration,
Lum said.
“The Grand Master’s performance
is of the purest form,” Lum said.
The Asian/Pacific American Stu
dent Union at the University is help
ing the American Red Cross bring in
bone marrow transplant candidates
at the celebration, is selling drinks to
raise money, and has asked television
anchors Christine Chang of local net
work KEZI and Nina Liu of local net
work KMTR to take part in a cooking
demonstration.
Kim Nakayama, who does com
munity outreach with APASU, said
the Red Cross is looking for bone mar
row from minority groups, particu
larly Asians, to meet the needs of
those who need stem cell transplants.
“Bone marrow candidates need
more Asian donors,” Nakayama
said. “Asians carry similar traits, in
cluding bone marrow, which makes
it easier to make matches. ”
Cocaine
continued from page 1
come down. “It’s not a good feeling
when [the cocaine] wears off,”
Smith said, explaining that coming
down from a cocaine high can be a
physically painful, depressing
process. “Your body is really
heavy,” she said. “It feels like ce
ment is filling up your body. You
can’t pick yourself up. I think that’s
how people get addicted: They take
more to feel better. ”
Smith also pointed out that the
people she knows who use cocaine
are not “typical” drug abusers. They
are the children of people who find
themselves at the high end of the in
come bracket.
“They were the athletes and the
country club kids,” she said. “The
image goes along with the drug. It’s
high maintenance; models use it.
Other drugs don’t have that. Like,
heroin is a dirty drug. ”
Sophomore journalism major
Will Charters has tried cocaine sev
eral times. He explained that he
tends to have strong opinions, and
that he had just seen the movie
“Traffic,” which made him think
more about the social issues sur
rounding cocaine.
“I have a twisted logic because I
decided to try cocaine just because
it was a drug I hadn’t tried,” he said.
“But I think most people try it be
cause of the image. When people
think of heroin, they think of nee
dles and stealing and people falling
over and twitching on their backs.
Someone on coke is not going to
stare at a lava lamp. They won’t be
standing in a corner tripping out.”
Instead, Charters said, “They will
be talking and socializing with
everybody else at the party. ”
Charters thinks that the drug ecsta
sy is a natural gateway to cocaine.
“The effects are similar,” he said.
“I think ecstasy is the most danger
ous drug out there because people
don’t think it’s dangerous. There
were all these articles about it in
Time and Newsweek that were not
entirely negative. It got all this me
dia attention; kids started doing it
more. Why not try cocaine?
“It’s like the media jumps on new
designer drugs: ‘What’s the new
thing that’s killing our kids?’ Co
caine has fallen out of media atten
tion,” he said.
But according to Charters, lack of
media attention does not signify a
decrease in drug use.
“Cocaine is still out there,” he
said.
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