Michelle Kwan spoke at Global Diaspora Forum

[ice coverage]

Michelle Kwan spoke at Global Diaspora Forum

Mathman had mentioned the event in the "Figure skating needs CPR" thread http://www.goldenskate.com/forum/sh...ting-needs-CPR&p=740602&viewfull=1#post740602.

All-American: representative or typical of the United States and its ideals.

Use in sentence: All-American figure skater Michelle Kwan, now U.S. State Department Senior Diplomacy Advisor, is scheduled to participate in the Secretary's 2013 Global Diaspora Forum on May 13-14. "The 2013 Global Diaspora Forum is the world’s largest gathering of diasporans and aims to recognize, celebrate, and inspire the work of American diaspora communities to contribute to sustainable development and diplomatic relations with their countries of origin."

http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2013/05/209252.htm

Links for anyone who is interested in what Kwan and others said at the forum, which had nearly six hundred attendees from over one hundred countries :

~ http://www.teamusa.org/News/2013/May/20/Olympians-Use-Sports-To-Make-A-Difference.aspx

~ 2013 Global Diaspora Forum: Michelle Kwan, Meb Keflezighi, James Ihedigbo, Christine Brennan (39:25 video)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aAJs86CjWMU

~ 2013 Global Diaspora Forum: Q&A Michelle Kwan, Meb Keflezighi, James Ihedigbo, Christine Brennan (9:48 video)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lMy-DuPVazo

(Disclaimer: I have not watched the two videos.)​

 

[Mathman]

Thank you for posting this, golden411. This annual conference is a big deal State department affair to discuss ways that ethnic Americans can use their heritage to further economic, political, and cultural ties with other parts of the world.

If anyone is interested mainly in Michelle's comments, that viewer can skip to the 20 minute mark of the first video. But the introductory remarks of the moderator at the very beginning really tell the story. This conference usually features speakers on international economic development and boring stuff like that. The moderator says that in his remarks at a previous conference he threw out a line about soccer, and how as a child he was involved in international situations where no one could speak the others's language. "We communicated with our feet." He said that he got so much feedback from that remark that the organizers decided to include a sports panel in subsequent conferences. According to the first link:

For the first time since the U.S. Department of State has held a Global Diaspora Forum in Washington, D.C., sports were a part of the overall discussion. Based on the response from the panel today, which featured Kwan, Ihedigbo and U.S. Olympic marathoner Meb Keflezighi, there’s a good chance sports will remain on the docket.

Organizers of the two-day event, which was held Monday and Tuesday, said they were amazed by the response of the crowd after the sports panel. Many of the invited guests, who came from such far-away places as Cameroon and Somalia, swarmed the athletes after their hour-long discussion. There were other speakers who had backgrounds in economics, energy and engineering, but Kwan, Ihedigbo and Keflezighi were the stars.

 

[Mathman]

One question that the sports panel moderator (Christine Brennan ) asked that I wish the panelists, including Michelle, had spoken more directly to was this. Does it help generate good will for the United States around the world when the American flag is raised on the Olympic podium and the American athlete is African? Or Chinese. Or Middle Eastern or Hispanic.

The three panelists, Michelle, distance runner Meb Keflezighi )Eritrea), and James Ihedigbo of the Baltimore Ravens (Nigeria) responded by talking mainly about how much pride they felt in being part of team USA and representing the United States.

 

[fairly4]

saw some of it. It was enlightening

 

[Mathman]

OK, I can't help myself. Now she's in Slovakia to promote some kind of Work/Travel abroad program. She also appeared at the opening of a new sports and skating club there. Here she is flipping hamburgers with U.S. ambassador to Slovakia, Theodore Sedgwick. (By the expression on Michelle's face I think she burned hers. )

I am assuming that "Velvyslanec Sedgwick spolu so slavnou americkou krasokorculiarkou Michelle Kwan dnes grilovali hot-dogy a hamburgre" means something like "Ambassador Sedgwck and renowned American figure skater Michelle Kwan serve up hot dogs and hamburgers."

A big thanks to poster "Teach" on the MK Forum.

https://fbcdn-sphotos-d-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash3/922830_580770955290336_1903620805_n.jpg

 

[heyang]

OK, I can't help myself. Now she's in Slovakia to promote some kind of Work/Travel abroad program. She also appeared at the opening of a new sports and skating club there. Here she is flipping hamburgers with U.S. ambassador to Slovakia, Theodore Sedgwick. (By the expression on Michelle's face I think she burned hers. )

I was thinking that she flipped a burger and accidentally launched it at someone in the audience!

 

[Olympia]

This is so cool!

I've been impressed with Meb K. since learning about him from the Olympics. The most interesting point he makes is that he has many siblings, and though he's famous for sports, his siblings have all done impressive things such as becoming engineers. That must be some motivated family. And the fact that they come from one of the poorest and least technologically advanced countries in the world shows that no ethnic group or region of the world holds the patent on achievement. I find that incredibly heartening.

Michelle looks wonderful. She's becoming more and more relaxed and confident on camera. She's really using her powers for good!