What was your childhood like?
I was definitely a rowdy kid. Definitely class clown, but I toned it down when I hit high school. Me and my sister would always be fighting. My younger brother would be 21 now. He passed away when I was six -- I think that kind of changed my childhood, because he drowned and I was the one who found him. I think I had a really early introduction to death. It never really bubbled up until high school, and then it really hit me, about losing him. But besides that, I think I had a normal childhood. My grandparents owned a farm, so we would play there on weekends. And they sold their fruit at a farmer's market in town, and I helped them. That was kind of my introduction to math. I remember having to be their accountant at, like, age eight. It was fun.
Do you think you had a more difficult childhood, growing up? Or just different?
I think I never noticed how different I was growing up until I came here because most people went through similar experiences back at home. I came from a really close community; we're pretty much all Mormon and Polynesian. Being that we all kind of look like each other and kind of have the same shared experiences and beliefs, I think it made my childhood a lot more fun than it could have turned out to be, if that makes sense. And then I came here and realized that I'm kind of at the bottom of the totem pole in terms of class [laughs], and that I dealt with a lot more things as a child. I kind of started to unpack that when I came here.
What do you mean by unpack?
I think the things that happened to me as a child, I took them as something that most people went through. It was not until I came here that I would drop some of the things that I experienced, and then other people would say "Wow, that's really intense." And thinking back, yeah, it is intense, but I wasn't socialized to think that. I was kind of taught that whatever is thrown at you is just thrown at you, and you just deal with it. And I was wary about sharing my story because I didn't want the sympathy, or to be the charity case poster child. I know people at home who have gone through similar or worse things, so I don't see myself as someone tragically more different than others. I think that I just got dealt some bad cards in my life, and I managed to play with what I had.
How do these experiences affect your interests on campus?
The reason I came to Dartmouth is because I wanted a place that was big enough that I could hide in the back but small enough that if I wanted to, I could step out. Freshman year I just wanted to blend in, find a group of friends, be involved in something that was extremely different. So for me, the first year was all about Sheba. And then after that I realized that when I got here, I got put in a lot of boxes.
Like what?
Because I'm so ethnically ambiguous, people were trying to figure out where to place me: Am I bi-racial? Filipino? What am I? And I think I started becoming an advocate because I was forced to play the role of the minority, when back at home I was part of the majority. So a lot of the issues I'm involved with deal with under-represented groups. I never really noticed my background until I came here, which is why I'm much more passionate about fighting for my causes -- you know, class issues or race issues. Because I feel like those issues tend to be more prevalent here, being so far away from home and really being a minority.
So how do you classify yourself?
Uh, multiracial. I mean, I'm part Chinese, part German, part Samoan, part Tongan.
Can you tell me a little more about your family?
My mom had me when she was in high school. I think it's because she was so young that we're really close. Like, one of the Christmas presents I bought her that I was the most proud of was a Tupac CD, and she loved it. I never really had a father figure until she got married when I was six to my step-dad, who is the only father figure I've ever known. I first met my biological father when I was in fifth grade, and the second time was my high school graduation -- pretty minimal contact. But it's something that I've learned to deal with.
Does she influence you a lot?
I think she influenced how far I pushed myself. For example, during times when we had financial troubles, she would not let me work at all. And I was 16, 17 -- I could definitely get a job. Everyone else in our community, their kids were working. But she said, "I want you to concentrate on school." So while I'm studying at the library, she's working two jobs. And whatever I wanted to do academically, she'd find the money. I was an exchange student in high school -- I went to the Japan in summer. My mom was very worried about cutting the umbilical cord and letting me go, but she knew it would be a huge advantage for me. So to raise money, she'd sell plate lunches, we'd have car washes.
You and your family?
Yeah. And it kind of shows who was there to support me because all together we would have a barbecue, and all my aunties and uncles and cousins would be fundraising for me to go to Yale one summer or Georgetown another summer. So I think with all the effort she put in, it'd kind of be a slap to her face not to push myself as far as I can go. And I think maybe part of the reason why I push myself is that I kind of feel guilty that she had me when she was a senior in high school, right before graduation. I feel like after that she was so limited that she couldn't do anything else.
I think my family did a good job of showing me that what we had was all we needed and that we would be happy with it. And I was like, cool, I'm totally fine with doing things that I did. And it was just an everyday thing, like, 'this is how my life is.' That was the only life I ever realized. And then on top of that, I was naive in terms of not fully realizing how different I was from others and how important class distinctions were to society.
[Looking at Ian's computer desktop] You named your hard drive Yeni?
Some of my family members couldn't pronounce my name because it's an English name, so they would always call me Ia [ee-yah], which in Samoan means bed sheet .Or they would call me Iyeni, so my cousins would tease me and call me Yeni, so that's my nickname now. I like Yeni, too, because it shows my culture -- my family couldn't pronounce my name. My middle name is my grandfather's name, which is in Samoan. I was always curious as to why my aunts and uncles don't call me that instead.
Do people call you Yeni here?
Some do.
Any last thoughts?
No, that was a very reflective session.
Is that good?
Yeah! It felt like you were my psychiatrist. Do you have anything else you meant to ask?
No, but we didn't even talk about what you do on campus!
Yeah. Which is good because I think most people know me as the things I do on campus. As the guy with the hat, shoes and who dances. I'm the Sheba guy. Or to freshmen, I'm the H Croo guy. But that's cool.
