The Turbanator

JJ Singh Kapur

JJ Kapur was twelve years old when the unexpected happened. His family was worshipping at their Sikh temple in West Des Moines, Iowa, when a group of news reporters interrupted their service. His congregation received news that a Sikh temple in Oak Creek, Wisconsin, had just become the site of a mass shooting by a white neo-Nazi gunman. The shooting happened in a small, Midwestern town only three hundred miles away. JJ remembers thinking, “It could have been us.”

This turning point became the beginning of JJ’s interfaith work in Iowa. In high school, JJ started a youth organization called “The Turbanators,” which was focused on “turban-ating” the negative stigma surrounding Sikhism in Iowa through awareness building and community service. In 2017, JJ became the first turbaned Sikh to win the most prestigious high school speech and debate competition in the U.S. After graduating in 2022 from Stanford University with a Bachelor of Arts with Honors in Theater and Performance Studies, JJ returned to his hometown of Des Moines as an AmeriCorps Lead for America Fellow, where he is currently serving with CultureALL to help Iowans build bridges with their diverse neighbors by cultivating a human library across his home state called “Open Book”

Your Wedding Day Is All About You and It’s Also Really Not About You

Trevy Augustin

Trevy Augustin is a proud Micronesian-American millennial, whose professional and personal life revolves around navigating difference and dialogue. With degrees in political science and social work and a love for geography and history, Trevy humbly approaches cultural differences and encourages conversations that explore who we are and how we can, and should, co-exist. As a Micronesian-American who was born in Guam and has lived in different places like Yokosuka, Japan, Chicago, St. Louis, New Hampshire, and now Iowa, Trevy’s lived experiences and interactions with people of diverse backgrounds has grown her love for life-long learning and community building.

“Individualist and collectivist cultures differ greatly and affect how individuals view their relationships with one another and their families. I had to embrace both individualist and collectivist cultures when wedding planning. It could be challenging and frustrating for both bride and groom, but it was a culturally rich and humbling experience for both of us. This light-hearted recollection of a chaotic, yet loving, time offers readers perspective and thought-provoking reflection about family, culture, and wedding planning.”