TAF NIGHT 2011 WHAT WHAT

TAF 2011::THE ONES finished strong with an exciting evening of song, dance, and even some spoken word. It was a hot night on stage in Cordier as the Juniors, JH, and Youth Programs brought it in full force. We in tafLabs, with our own media “performances”, are gonna keep it up and bring you some more goodies to keep you company as you deal with the taf blues. We’ll start off with something any of you campers might be able to download onto your iPods for the ride or flight home, .mp3s of Alison Yeh’s cover of “Secrets” by One Republic and Melody Chen’s cover of Adele’s “Rolling in the Deep”.

ENJOY! More to come soon 🙂

Alison Yeh – Secrets
Melody Chen – Rolling in the Deep


TAF 2011: Daily Recap – Tuesday

TAF is so much fun. Like, totally the greatest time EVAR. But something that makes TAF more than just a fun summer camp is the incredible opportunity for personal growth, oftentimes through speaker sessions. This year at TAF we are blessed with three fantastic program speakers. Elizabeth Wang (Juniors), Tim Huang (Junior High), and Chris Regas (Youth) will all be leading sessions on this year’s theme of Leadership, and what it truly means to be a positive and influential leader. Hooray for sending your children to a learning camp! (Psst parents, tell your friends!)


TAF 2011: Daily Recap – Sunday

TAF is and has been a lot of many thing to many people. For most of us, the community and camaraderie is what brings us back to be surrounded by friends that have become family. And that is why, at the start of every year, it just feels like we’re coming home. So here is our simple Daily Recap for Sunday, July 31st, the first day of TAF 2011.

We’re looking forward to another wonderful week, with over two hundred returning and brand new campers and staff in the Juniors, Junior High, Youth, and tafLabs programs. Enjoy, and stay tuned for more content throughout the week!


TAF Awareness Week Kicks Off!

Can you believe it? Only 5 more weeks till TAF 2011 begins! Join us on spreading the word on TAF this year with our TAF Awareness Facebook campaign!

Copy and paste this message:

Help spread the word about TAF whether you’re a camper or alumni! Download and upload the photo above as your own profile picture, then copy/paste this caption to tell everyone at least 3 TAF memories you’ll never forget. Read about mine below and find more ways to share the tafLove at http://tafworld.org/share!

For us at the tafBlog, our 3 favorite tafBlog related memories are:

1. Our very first post back in July of 2009!
2. This amazing photo of Melody before we launched the TAF2010 Photogallery.
3. Ming Bieber. ‘Nuff said.

SEE YOU ALL Y’ALL CAMPERS AND STAFF IN 5 WEEKS!


TAF 2011!

Greetings TAFers far and wide! TAF 2011: “THE ONES” is less than 3 months away and we can’t wait to come together from all corners of the nation for a week of awesome and this year’s theme of Servant Leadership! Online registration is coming soon to www.tafworld.org – please check the site in the next couple of weeks and remind your friends and family to register!

REMINDER: If you are interested in being “THE ONES” to serve TAF as a Juniors counselor, JH counselor, Youth advisor, or Youth coordinator, please be sure to apply by May 15th at http://bit.ly/tafstaffapp2011 — TAF happens only because YOU decide to serve and make this year a memorable one full of fun, togetherness, exploration, and growth!

If you have any thoughts, suggestions, or questions to pose to the TAF program directors, please reach out to the following people:
– Juniors: Emmeline Kuo & Sherry Lin (juniors@tafworld.org)
– Junior High: Michelle Hsu & Young Lee (juniorhigh@tafworld.org)
– Youth: Alex Yang & Ming Young (youth@tafworld.org)
– tafLabs: Jon Lee & Kevin Yau (labs@tafworld.org)

Any other general thoughts/concerns can be addressed to karen.lin@tafworld.org. See you at TAF 2011!!


TAF Real World – Week #37 of 51

Clear eyes. Full hearts. Can’t lose!

This is the pre-game chant Coach Taylor uses to fire up his football team on the TV show Friday Night Lights. I am a huge fan of this show, which began airing its final season on NBC last Friday (watch the season opener here on Hulu!). I’ve already had the luxury of watching the final season on DirectTV, so I’m turning my tafBlog post into my FNL farewell homage.

To those who don’t know, FNL is not about football, but rather, it’s about the universal themes of everyday life, told through the lens of the local high school team. The players and coaches are the center of the small West Texas town’s interest, and the fans live and die with each pass and tackle made by their boys. And through this game of football every Friday night, they create an incredibly strong sense of community. But not everything is perfect for the players of course. Aside from carrying the hopes of a whole town, there are relationships, family issues, recruiters and boosters, and racial and class differences that everyone has to deal with (which from an audience perspective, makes it an incredibly rich viewing experience). But through it all, Coach Taylor guides these young men.

His lessons aren’t out of the ordinary, work hard, give everything 110%, care about your teammates, etc. But one moment in the FNL pilot shows us another side to Coach Taylor. He says,

We are all vulnerable, and we will all, at some point in our lives fall. We will all fall. We must carry this in our hearts that what we have is special. That it can be taken from us, and when it is taken from us, we will be tested. We will be tested to our very souls…it is this pain, that allows us to look inside ourselves.

Whether we’re star football players or the audience watching at home, we are not invincible. And when trials come, and they will, we can and need to count on those around us, our teammates, our friends, our family, to lift us up, and to use the adversity to look deep within and challenge ourselves to come out the other side a better person. This lesson resonates throughout the show. Characters will grow and change, but they’ll always grow or change for something better, and they will do it with the support of loved ones. It’s a simple lesson, but because it is so well told, the message is perhaps clearer. And maybe this is what the show means with its signature chant. Clear eyes (knowing yourself) and full hearts (surrounded by loved ones) simply cannot lose in life.

Storytelling like this and the lessons it can impart are what drew me into my current career in film production. Through my work, I hope to have a helping hand in creating meaningful media, and thus, how I hope to Love Out Loud. I’ve had the good fortune to work on Formosa Betrayed and the Write in Taiwanese Census PSA among other things so far in my career. Perhaps I’ll start developing a show about the lives of teens at a summer camp in Indiana and the incredible bonds they form once they leave…

But regardless, Slideshow this year is gonna be epiicccccccc!

– Jon Lee


TAF 2011: WE GOT THE LEADER FEVER!!!

Editors Note: ***APRIL FOOLS!*** — The real TAF 2011 theme name coming soon 🙂

Ladies and gentlemen, we’re excited to introduce to you your TAF 2011 theme! Leader Fever won out over other strong contestants after weeks of deliberation from TAF Board Members and Program Directors. TAF Marketing Director Andrea Hong said, “We want to capitalize on what is hip and in, and what’s better than playing off the phenomenon that follows The Biebs right now?” Moreover, ED Karen Lin agreed that not only is the theme name timely in the pop culture world, but, “it also carries a deeper meaning because it builds a passion for servant leadership.” Youth Program Director Alex Yang responded glowingly with ” >: ) “.

Other potential theme names included Our World 2.0.11, Somebody to Lead, The Ones, and Eeniee Meenie Leadie. It wasn’t until Juniors PD Sherry Lin noticed the trend that JH PD Michelle Hsu proposed Servant Biebership or Jarrell & Justin, the latter which morphed into Leader Fever. However, the name did not come without any debate. Labs PDs Kevin Yau & Jon Lee refused to comment, mumbling about “young kids these days”, and when Juniors PD Emmeline Kuo declared that she’d never vote for Leader Fever, JH PD Young Lee quickly retorted, “NEVER SAY NEVER”, a quote from the Mr. Bieber’s critically acclaimed documentary, Never Say Never.

Tell us what YOU think! Only four more months till TAF2011!

******

TAF2011:Leader Fever begins July 31st through August 7th. Stay tuned to www.tafworld.org for more updates. Staff Applications available on the website!

Photo credit: 1. Anna Wu Photography 2. Justin Bieber


TAF Real World – Week #22 of 51

Happy New Bunny Year!

Yes, it is the year of the bunny. That means it shall be a fantastic year. How do I know this? Because I was born on a bunny year. According to the Chinese zodiac, I am a red fire bunny. Yeah you better watch out… We’re super cute 🙂

2011 being a bunny year also means that I’m turning 24 in 2 months. What have I accomplished since then? Well, I just finished college, started a wedding videography company with Kev and Anna called Seaglass Cinema (video later), and I have fully completed my transformation into a woman. That’s right. I think I’m fat, I want plastic surgery, and sometimes I just go crazy.

Joking aside, 2011 will be a super great year for TAF as well. From a tafLabs perspective, 2011 marks the advent of new photovideo equipment, cinematography experience, and new food recipes for tafé. But most of all, I’m itching to see what kind of camp TAF will become after a whole year of loving out loud.

Things I look forward to in 2011:
TAF
Bones
The Closer (Mary McDonnell from Battlestar Galactica)
Grey’s Anatomy
Hawaii Five-O (Grace Park from Battlestar Galactica)
CSI (Katie Sackhoff from Battlestar Galactica)
NCIS
SVU
Unemployment.

Also, enjoy our first ever Seaglass Cinema video! Our very own Nick Huang from Juniors (which is Kelly Huang’s brother if you didn’t know because I didn’t know and it was a huge revelation to me) was married last September in Indianapolis. Take care and happy new bunny year!

Erin & Nick | 09.18.10 from Seaglass Cinema on Vimeo.

-Steve W.


HAPPY HOLIDAYS TAFers! WOOSHA!

Seasons greetings to all, and may your holidays be spent with your family and the friends that have become like family. The tafBlog happily gifts this most excellent minute-long video clip of WOOSHA from TAF2010, aka the amaZOMG family group game. For the TAF alum who don’t know what WOOSHA is, think of it as Big Booty multiplied by 20 with a square root of awesome.

WOOSHAAAAA!