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Outdoor Journalist Education Foundation of America scholarship winners are, from left, Anustha Agrawal, Kristy Fike and Serena Juchnowski. (Submitted Photo/John K. Flores)

Diversity of cultures collide at SEOPA Conference

Indore, a city in the State of Madhya Pradesh in Central India, is a long way from Oxford, Mississippi. In fact, some 8,431 miles away, according to Google Maps.
Oxford happened to be the host city of the 2019 Southeastern Outdoor Press Association’s Annual Conference in late October. And, one of the recipients of the Lindsay Sale-Tinney Award and the Toyota “Let’s Go Places” Awards from the Outdoor Journalist Education Foundation of America happened to be from Indore.
Anushtha Agrawal, 23, grew up in Central India preparing for engineering in the 11th and 12th grades. She later realized that she liked meeting and talking to people and was very much interested in communication, so she began exploring a media career.
Agrawal did copy writing, started learning French, took a photography course, all of which lead to her ultimately earning a Bachelor of Science Degree in Electronic Media. However, it didn’t quench her thirst and passion to learn more.
By the fifth semester of her undergraduate program, she knew she wanted to pursue a Master’s degree in the arts of some sorts. Additionally, Agrawal wanted to see how the educational system worked outside of her country.
As a result, Agrawal, who tells everyone just to call her “Anu,” is enrolled in the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at the City University of New York or CUNY.
It was by happenstance, while at CUNY, Agrawal read a newsletter that listed some scholarship opportunities. One being an organization (SEOPA), who offered outdoor communication scholarships.
Not knowing or realizing the outdoor communication scholarship was hunting and shooting centered, Agrawal, who is vegetarian and someone who follows her cultural Hindu traditions, applied online and completed the required essay. Moreover, much of her experience of U.S. culture was framed in the lifestyle of New Yorkers and not those of the Deep-South.
Agrawal, who considers herself to be open-minded, said, “I just applied without expecting anything — without knowing about fishing and hunting, and I knew nothing about the South, obviously. I just saw it in Clint Eastwood movies. That’s how it was, but I never visited the South.
“I was very nervous, honestly,” Agrawal continued, “because I come from an environment which is very protective and never thought about guns or pistols. We see them in action Bollywood movies — you know — they are using guns, like you don’t even feel somethings happening when they use it.”
One of the activities SEOPA members participate in during the annual conference is a “shooting day,” where corporate sponsors will demonstrate the latest firearms or perhaps ammunition. This year’s conference showcased Sig Sauer’s M17 9mm military sidearm and the P320 M17 commercial version, along with Winchester Active Duty ammunition.
Additionally, members also were introduced to Mossberg’s MC1sc 9mm subcompact pistol, which is built for concealment and weighs only 22 ounces when loaded. And finally, Winchester provided plenty of 12 gauge shot shells for attendees to participate in as many rounds of five-stand as their shoulders could take.
All of the shooting activities took place and were showcased at the state-of-the-art McIvor Shooting Facility at Charles Ray Nix Wildlife Management Area in Sardis, Mississippi.
When Agrawal was in the 10th grade, she notes she fired a rifle for the first time at a military summer camp in India. The conditions of the program were far more formal than the SEOPA shooting day activities, where under close supervision students were guided and taught by their instructors to shoot from sitting and prone positions on the floor.
“This was more straight forward and don’t be worried about it,” Agrawal said. “So, I was very nervous when I saw the pistols, because I just saw them in movies and never talked about it. I don’t come from that background. But, I just did it because I always feel bad if I didn’t do something when I had the chance. I was very nervous, but at the same time the other side of me empowers and overshadows my nervousness.”
When it came to shooting a shotgun during five-stand clay target activities, Agrawal was again apprehensive and initially handed the firearm she was provided back to one of the range supervisors, not wanting to participate.
“I took it and then gave it back,” Agrawal said. “But, again felt like if I go back home, not doing it, I feel like I’ll have a regret that I didn’t even try it. And, then when I did it — it was really fun.”
During the four-day conference, Agrawal also observed and drew critical distinctions between cultural norms here in the United States by talking to people she has met over time in both New York and now the Deep South.
She points out after living in one state how it was easy to generalize the entire United States as being culturally like New York, for example. However, much like her own country India, Agrawal learned there are regional differences state to state in the United States, both urban and rural. She found southerners polite and warm. What’s more, the people behave much like those back home in Indore.
Agrawal, being a vegetarian, drew no conclusions other than to have an open-mind when it came to animal rights after talking with those in the organization who explained the purposes of hunting to her.
“I like learning about things, so I don’t have a feeling about it yet,” Agrawal said. “I like listening, so I’m not on the side of animal rights activists — like what I see in the news. But, when I came here, I talked to other people I met and traveled with and they gave me a different perspective. Because they lived in forestry areas and for some it’s a survival instinct when possibly crops go bad — you have to do it. For someone it’s easy to say, ‘Oh this deer is so cute,’ but maybe for someone that lives and deals with that problem, it means something different.”
Citing a great divide between north and south and noting the central part of the country back home in India being very different, Agrawal feels she still needs to explore and try to understand what she likes and doesn’t like about the United States. Also, she’s trying to learn how states function.
From traditions and culture where shooting and hunting occurs, Agrawal says she still is trying to digest what’s she’s learned so far. For someone with such a different background growing up, a conference such as SEOPA can throw a lot at an individual in four short days.
What’s the one take away Agrawal felt she got from winning a scholarship to attend the 2019 SEOPA conference?
“I don’t come from a hunting region with firearms — it’s very easy for me to maybe judge or something,” Agrawal said. “But I didn’t do that because I met people who gave me these reasonable arguments who showed me why they do it, because there is a reason behind it. So, I think this caused me to be more open-minded about the whole concept of being in the United States.”
EDITOR’S NOTE: Flores is The Daily Review’s Outdoor Writer.

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