There is nothing like a good party to take note of a good beginning. And so it was Friday night 22 November that the staff and friends of The New Asia Media at Loyola Marymount University gathered in high spirits for the 2nd anniversary celebration of the launch of the international university website (technically, the first issue was November 11, 2011). The celebration featured VIPs from all over, including former Thailand Foreign Minister Kantathi Suph
amongkhan (now a visiting UCLA professor) and his elegant and cosmopolitan wife Nook; Dennis Sloan, LMU senior vice president; famed Political Science Prof. Jennifer Ramos; LMU Associate Dean Curtiss Rooks, Asia Media Senior Editor and Writing Instructor Ben Sullivan, well-known Los Angeles publicist G. Bruce Smith, and other notables.
The keynote address at the dinner was a talk on “My Trips to North Korea,” by His Excellency Kantathi Suphamongkhan; and a special award was presented to LMU’s Asian and Pacific Studies Director Robin Wang, for her acclaimed new book YINYANG, published by Cambridge University Press. The noted academic was presented with the ASIA MEDIA AUTHOR AWARD, a special plaque for the occasion.
The event was hosted by Asia Media co-managing editors Jeremiah Fajardo and Stephanie Garcia, both seniors; as well as founder Tom Plate, LMU’s Distinguished Scholar of Asian and Pacific Studies. Said Prof. Tom Plate: “This party is really in honor of the LMU undergraduates who volunteer their time and energy and have given their commitment to the creation and rooting of LMU’s first major international web magazine. They know that in these increasingly globalized times, no liberal arts education is complete without a significant measure of international study. So it is really these serious-minded and success-bound young adults whom we toast.”
The event was held in the glamorous MARILYN ROOM of the trendy cafe KILLER SHRIMP on the waterfront of Marina Del Rey, Los Angeles.