Benito Vergara Jr talks about Daly City with the New York Times

Benito Vergara Jr reads from Pinoy Capital
Originally uploaded by OBermeo

The New York Times
A Finger on the Pulse in Daly City
By Susan Sward
Published: May 28, 2010

Benito Vergara, a Philippine-born Web editor for a financial services company, is the author of “Pinoy Capital: The Filipino Nation in Daly City." A former assistant professor of Asian-American Studies at San Francisco State University, Mr. Vergara, 39, lives in the East Bay. In the mid-1990s he lived in Daly City for a year and a half, working on his Ph.D. thesis in anthropology. (His words have been edited and condensed.)

Complete article is at the New York Times.

06/05/2010: PAWA at Eth-Noh-Tec (poster)

06/05/2010: PAWA @ Eth-Noh-Tec (San Francisco)

Hi all, Please help spread the word!

June 5: Salon! You’re On! Season Finale
Posted on May 28th, 2010

Eth-Noh-Tec in collaboration with Philippine American Writers and Artists present: Salon! You’re On!

Saturday, June 5, 2010 at 7:00pm

Featuring:

Sean San Jose (playwright)
Co-founder of Campo Santo and Program Director of Theater at Intersection for the Arts, with Ricky Saenz (actor)

Aileen Ibardaloza (poet)
Author of “Traje de Boda” (Meritage Press, St. Helena and San Francisco, 2010) Other work appears in Our Own Voice Literary Ezine, Mannerborn, and Litter Magazine.

Al Manalo (comedian/actor)
No, not a synchronized swimmer, not just a Tagalog-to-English soap opera dubmaster. But, yes! A Pinoy comedian.

Kulintronica/Ron Quesada (musician)
A fusion of traditional kulintang and electronic music by a mixed-heritage Filipino-American obsessed with crossing musical borders.

Nara Denning (filmmaker)
Influenced by German Expressionism and early Surrealists, Nara breathes new life into video “cinepoém,” fusing poetry and motion picture into the future.

Location:
Eth-Noh-Tec Studio
977 South Van Ness Ave
between 20th and 21st Street
close to 24th Street BART Station
San Francisco

Admission:
$5-$15 sliding scale

http://www.ethnohtec.org/2010/05/28/june-5-salon-youre-on/

Process Profile: R.A. Villanueva Discusses “In Memory of Xiong Huang”

From the Lantern Review blog:

R.A. Villanueva lives in Brooklyn. Recent writing has appeared or is forthcoming in journals such as Indiana Review, Virginia Quarterly Review, AGNI, McSweeney’s Internet Tendency, DIAGRAM, The Literary Review, and The Collagist. A Kundiman fellow, he is currently a Language Lecturer at New York University.

In our Process Profiles series, young contemporary Asian American poets discuss their craft, focusing on their process for a single poem from inception to publication. Here, R.A. Villanueva discusses his poem “In Memory of Xiong Huang,” which first appeared in the Winter 2009 Issue of Virginia Quarterly Review.

Read more.

Review: Oliver de la Paz's 'Requiem for the Orchard [Lantern Review]

From Lantern Review:

Oliver de la Paz’s third collection, Requiem for the Orchard, is a poignant reminder of both our inability to escape our pasts and our ability to re-write our histories through what we choose to remember. The pieces in this collection are interconnected by the speaker, a young man reflecting on his disenchanted youth. Part meditation on the ways our experiences inform who we are today, part meditation on the ways we cannot shed those experiences despite our efforts, the collection centers around the speaker’s youth spent in a small Oregonian town where he worked a summer job in the orchards.

Read more.

05/27/2010 - 06/30/2010: FACTSHEET at the Asian Resource Gallery (Oakland)

Artists from the Philippines and the Bay Area Come Together in Exhibit that Tackles State-Sponsored Human Rights Violations

Traveling Exhibit of Political Posters Makes Its Second U.S. Stop in Oakland

Contact:

T. J. Basa, San Francisco Committee for Human Rights in the Philippines (SF-CHRP)

sfchrp@yahoo. com

OAKLAND, CA -- Beginning May 20th, 2010, at the Asian Resource Gallery in Chinatown, East Bay audiences will get their chance to view over 30 posters created by activists from the Philippines and the United States in a traveling exhibit entitled FACT SHEET: Activism is NOT a Crime. The show draws inspiration from the one-sheet fliers circulated by human rights agencies whenever breaches of fundamental civil liberties occur.

In the Philippines, supposedly "Asia's first democracy," reports of these occurrences are altogether too common. In a country where the great majority of the population is in poverty, while a handful of elites control the resources, having viewpoints that differ politically from those of the ruling class can be tantamount to bloody murder.

Since President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo took office in 2001, there have been 1,190 known cases of extra-judicial killings and enforced disappearances, without counting cases of arbitrary detention and torture; a number even higher than during the time of former dictator Ferdinand Marcos. The targets of these attacks are members of progressive partylists, church leaders, students, journalists, pro-people lawyers, and civilians from all sectors. Eyewitnesses and fact-finding missions, including delegations from the United Nations and Amnesty International, have all pointed to the Armed Forces of the Philippines as the culprit behind these atrocities.

These systematic acts of oppression carried out by a government against its own citizens are the primary subject matters dealt with in FACT SHEET.

Con Cabrera and Lian Ladia are the co-curators of FACT SHEET. Ladia is a Filipino-American member of the Bay Area art collective Kwatro Kantos, while Cabrera is a member of the Philippine-based artist-activist alliance known as Artists' ARREST (Artists' Response to the Call for Social Change and Transformation) .

"Art serves as a creative way of information dissemination regarding human rights violations in the country," says Cabrera. "It does not only educate the audience, but more importantly the artists who make them. It makes the art community more involved in fighting these violations, and at the same time influences their works to be more socially relevant."

Since its launch on December 10th, a date that has gained observance as International Human Rights Day, FACT SHEET has reached audiences in the Philippines in university campuses and in guerilla set-ups during mass demonstrations. The show made its U.S. premiere last February at the historic International Hotel of San Francisco (now Manilatown Center).

According to Cabrera, FACT SHEET is "the artist community's response to the alarming increase and intensity of human right violations under the Arroyo administration." The recent election, which was once again marred by widespread violence, intimidation, vote-buying, and voter disenfranchisement, did not find President Arroyo stepping down from power, but rather seeking to extend it in Congress.

FACT SHEET will run at the Asian Resource Gallery from May 20 to June 30, 2010. Gallery hours are Mondays through Fridays, from 9:00 AM to 6:00 PM.

An opening reception will be held on Thursday, May 27th, featuring speakers from the recent People's International Observers Mission (PIOM) and performances by Yaminah Lunar, The Kasamas, and AYPAL dance crew. The event is free to the public, with doors opening at 6:00 PM.

FACT SHEET in Oakland is co-sponsored by Anakbayan-East Bay, Asian Resource Center, BAYAN-USA, Filipino Advocates for Justice, and San Francisco Committee for Human Rights in the Philippines.

"Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented." - Elie Wiesel

###

FACT SHEET: Activism is NOT a Crime
May 20 -- June 30, 2010

Recci Bacolor, Zeus Bascon, TJ Basa, Angelica Cabande, Mica Cabildo, Con Cabrera, Bjorn Calleja, Rustum Casia, Karl Frederick M. Castro, Marika B. Constantino, Richelle de Cruz, Leonilo Doloricon, Maximo Fajardo Jr., Dex Fernandez, England Hidalgo, Lian Ladia, Maan de Loyola, Mike Luat, RJ Mabilin, Marcius Noceda, J. Pacena II, Bean Rabino, Pau Reyes, Carlo Ricafort, Mark Salvatus, Vicente Silarde, AJ Tolentino, Jason Valenzuela, Wesley Valenzuela, Elaine Villasper, Mel Vera Cruz, Ray Zapanta

Opening Reception May 27, 6 PM
Live performances and report back from People's International Observers Mission

Asian Resource Gallery
310 Eighth Street/Harrison
Oakland Chinatown
OPEN M - F, 9 AM - 6 PM

06/03/2010: 'THE BAKLA SHOW 2010' at Bindlestiff Studio! (San Francisco)

Time: June 3, 2010 from 6pm to 7pm
Location: The Thick House
Organized By: Allan S. Manalo

Event Description:
Bindlestiff Studio presents the return of THE BAKLA SHOW 2010
Myths retold, Realities unfold... A theatrical exploration of Filipino Queer identities inspired by traditional myths, legend, and folktales.

WHEN: June 3rd - June 12th
Thursdays thru Saturdays at 8pm

WHERE: Thick House
1695 18th Street @Arkansas
San Francisco, CA

TIX: $10 Advance at http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/111608
$15 - $20 sliding scale at the door

Bindlestiff Studio proudly presents the return of the very popular BAKLA SHOW opening on Thursday, June 3 and running through Saturday, June 12, 8pm each Thursday, Friday, and Saturday evening at the Thick House, 1695-18th Street in San Francisco Potrero Hill District. Tickets are $10 in advance and can be purchased at http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/111608. Tickets will be available at the door on the night of each performance for $15 - $20 sliding scale.

BAKLA Show (Bakla is the Filipino word for "gay")is a groundbreaking production that exclusively explores the extraordinary experience of individuals who reflect the distinct influence of being Filipino American and Queer. This year's show returns with an intensity to examine their queer identities through the genre of Filipino myths, legends, and folktales. Join Bindlestiff Studio, in time for SF Pride, as they uncover the awkward, painful and joyful realities of being BAKLA.

See more details and RSVP on Bindlestiff Studio:
http://bindlestiff.ning.com/events/event/show?id=2340457%3AEvent%3A5287&xgi=2eISQinM3TXHZJ&xg_source=msg_invite_event

Grace Talusan's Essay on Filipino Novels: The Loneliest Thing on Earth

The publication of Miguel Syjuco’s novel, Ilustrado, which won the Man Asian Literary Prize while still in manuscript, prompts a Filipino American author to consider the fate of Filipino writing in the American literary world.
**
If you’re only reading this review to find out whether Miguel Syjuco’s novel, Ilustrado, is worth your time, here’s the short answer: Yes. If you enjoy a good murder mystery, or a multigenerational family saga, or a love story, or a hero’s journey in search of something lost, or an inside look at how the elite of a former U.S. colony live—or even if you like texts conducive to lit-crit discussions of the metanarrative, the postmodern, the postcolonial, or the political—you will find many things to admire in Syjuco’s debut.

When was the last time you read a novel by a Filipino about any aspect of a Filipino experience? Have you ever wondered about this former colony, the stories its people might tell?

If you’ve never read a novel about the Philippines, then read Ilustrado. If you’re dismayed at how few books are written and published by Filipinos, then buy twenty copies.

Read more.

06/18/2010: World Premire of "Universal Filipino" (Bronx)

http://kilusan1898.blogspot.com/

World Premiere of a Hip Hop Theater Joint, “UNIVERSAL FILIPINO,” Written and Performed by Kilusan Bautista.

June 18th & 20th, 2010 @ Rebel Diaz Arts Collective, 478 Austin Place, 2nd fl. Bronx, NY 10455. Ritual begin at 8pm, doors open at 7:30 - $10; Free for youth!

On June 18th & 20th, 2010, at the Rebel Diaz Arts Collective, Bronx, NY, you are cordially invited to experience excerpts of a Hip Hop Theater Joint entitled, “UNIVERSAL FILIPINO”. Written and performed by Kilusan Bautista, a Bay Area, CA raised and New York City based performance artist. Movement Direction by Cornelia McPherson; Sound Design by DJ Soulcrates and a special visual arts exhibition by Bianca Monet aka Araya.

“UNIVERSAL FILIPINO” cultivates the artistic aesthetics of Hip Hop Theater, Spoken Word Poetry, Emceeing and Interpretive Movement to offer a creative and cutting edge presentation. There is a battle underway deep within our minds and souls. “UNIVERSAL FILIPINO” is a new solo Hip Hop Theater production that brings to life the internal battles for Americanized children of immigrant parents. During his youth, Kilusan is haunted by a historic hater who wishes to destroy his self-esteem by influencing him into a helpless, violent and psychologically troubled state of existence. Malakas is an ancestral guardian spirit who exists to guide Kilusan in remembering his true self worth and connection to his people. It is now up to Kilusan to make the right choices as a youth of color in urban, working class America. Shall he fall victim to the statistics of growing up in a “high risk” environment, polluted with drugs, violence and crime? Or shall Kilusan find his Destiny and live a life that possesses knowledge of self?

Set within the 1980’s and 1990’s, Bay Area, CA, “UNIVERSAL FILIPINO” will take audiences on a journey of struggle and redemption. The challenge for youth of color in America is not just black and white. The stories for Americanized, so called “2nd generation”, children of immigrant parents are continuing to surface as a reminder of the need to balance, validate and make sense of all the cultural world’s represented in one’s identity. Are you ready to experience a thought provoking, ‘Edu-tainment’ reality that brings you closer to the universal family living room?

Jeremy Tagle Bautista aka KILUSAN received his Bachelor of Arts degree in American Studies from the University of California at Santa Cruz in 2002. He has toured nationally with artist collectives such as 8th Wonder, Colored Ink and as a solo performance artist. For over 3 years, Jeremy taught Hip Hop Theater classes with Destiny Arts Center in Oakland and at the Walden House, a Young Women’s Foster Care Facility in San Francisco. He represents a national violence prevention organization known as the United Playaz, where Jeremy uses arts education and community organizing to support disenfranchised communities. He currently teaches a Pre-GED class for young adults with the Brooklyn Public Library to improve literacy skills in New York City.

For more information please call 347/499-0554 or email: kilusan1898@yahoo.com

06/12/2010: Brillante Mendoza's Kinatay at YBCA (San Francisco)

Hardcore Manila: Kinatay

By Brillante Mendoza

Sat, Jun 12, 7:30 pm
Sun, Jun 13, 4:30 pm

Brillante Mendoza is the most sophisticated, fearless Filipino filmmaker working today. Kinatay, for which he won the Best Director award at the 2009 Cannes Film Festival, is a harrowing journey into the heart of darkness (take heed: sensitive viewers should go nowhere near this film). It traces a 24-hour odyssey in the life of a trainee policeman, from his wedding to an endless night out with corrupt colleagues and a junkie prostitute. With a nerve-shredding pace and gritty, verite-style photography, Kinatay is an unforgettable denunciation of societal and political corruption in Manila. (2009, 100 min, 35mm)

Read more.

Poetry In History: Writing About the I-Hotel

From the Lantern Review blog:

In 1977, San Francisco’s Manilatown community suffered a huge blow with the final eviction of the mostly Filipino American residents of the International Hotel (or I-Hotel).  This followed on almost a decade’s worth of protest and community struggle in the hopes that the building, which had housed many Filipino immigrants throughout the years, would not become yet another victim of the city’s gentrification projects.   For years after the final residents were removed, the building — and later, the site — stood empty, the hole a yawning reminder of what had been lost.  One of the major voices speaking out against the fall of Hotel belonged to the poet, musician, and activist Al Robles. The I-Hotel was a recurring theme that wove throughout his work and took on breath, shape, and life through his poetry.  Robles’ nephew wrote the following on the recent anniversary of his death:

“In the I-Hotel he [Robles] traveled up the stairs and the doors opened to those small rooms; the smell of rice and adobo and fish was there; the face of the manong was there—he knew the face—it was the face of his father and mother and ninong and ninang. He sat across from the manongs and in their faces he saw the motherland, in their hearts and minds he journeyed and tasted what he described the “thick adobo tales of their lives”. Those elderly men were alive and in Uncle Al’s poetry they became young again.” (Tony Robles, “Still Hanging onto the Carabao’s Tail”)

Read more.

05/05/2010 - 07/09/2010: Lost in Manila Photography Exhibit

"Lost In Manila" May 5 - July 9, 2010

In celebration of Asian Pacific American Heritage Month, local artist Geri Zarate will present a photographic exhibition "Lost in Manila", at the East Bay Municipal Utility District (EBMUD) Gallery in Oakland. In more than 20 large scale photographs, Ms. Zarate shares impressions of her experience as a 'Balikbayan' - a Filipina who came back to her birthplace to reconnect with a culture that she believed would be familiar. Living in Manila for 6 months in 2008, everything she saw was new. Although Geri felt like a foreigner in her homeland, the experience of "going home" deepened her understanding of what it means to be an immigrant.

By boldly combining saturated color with a sense of motion, Ms. Zarate creates images that express the oppressive heat, congestion, and sensory overload. But in many of the urban scenes, beauty is found amidst chaos. Through Geri's lens the viewer may gain her insight that, "sometimes you need to get lost to discover something new."

Ms. Zarate found that she learned the most about contemporary culture while using public transit in the big city. "With Manila having a population of 12 million people, it was overwhelming getting around, especially when everything was unfamiliar", she noted. "Density made the biggest impression and I either had to accept it or be frustrated." Despite the challenges of getting around, Geri never felt so alive as she did while getting lost in Manila. Her resilient Filipino spirit is evidenced in this vibrant photographic series.

Ebmud Gallery
375 11th St., Oakland, CA, 94607
(510) 287-0138

EBMUD GALLERY HOURS: Mon - Fri 8am - 4:30pm

Interview: Ninotchka Rosca at Maisonneuve

As the founder of GABRIELA Network (GabNet), a Filipino solidarity and women's empowerment group in the United States, Ninotchka Rosca has been at the forefront of advocating for women's rights in the age of globalization. She is the author of 11 books and has won numerous awards, including the American Book Award for excellence in literature.

Recently, while around 50,000 people marched in Los Angeles against Arizona’s new discriminatory immigration laws, Rosca was in Montreal to speak at a conference organized by the Kapit Bisig Centre, Quebec’s member organization of the National Alliance of Philippine Women in Canada. The theme of the conference was "Counterspin"—looking back on the past quarter century in North American activism among Filipino migrants and trying to learn new lessons. Both GabNet and the first Philippine Women’s Centre in Canada were founded in 1989.

Rosca sat down with me after her presentation to talk about immigration myths and policies, the unhappy marriage of literature and activism and her reflections on twenty-five years of community organizing among Philippine women in North America.

Read more.

Report Back: Rashaan Alexis Meneses on EATING OUR WORDS: WRITINGS ABOUT FOOD & FAMILY

During a delicious procession of food and drink on Sunday, May 16, at the Asian Culinary Forum’s 201o Symposium, “Filipino Foods: Flavor + Innovation,” culinary enthusiasts also savored sumptuous tales and brilliant poetry by writers Barbara Jane Reyes, Aileen Suzara, Aimee Suzara, Lizelle Festejo, Yael Villafranca, Lisa Suguitan Melnick, and your Salonniere.

Read more.

Call for Submissions: First Peoples, Plural.

Drunken Boat is now accepting submissions for its “First Peoples, Plural” folio, to debut in issue #13 this winter. We will be considering poetry, fiction, creative non-fiction, essays, visual art, sound art, video art, and web art by indigenous people worldwide. Our goal is to present a wide scope of work from a wide scope of people. Works might explore native identity and aesthetic (and their evolution), family, spirituality, sexuality, passing, othering, exoticism, and the media. Deadline: October 15th, 2010. Read more.

05/29/2010: Going Beyond Asian/American Tropes: A Reading of Poetry and Fiction (San Francisco)

A Literary Reading at the 21st Annual American Literature Association Conference, featuring

Yunte Huang, University of California, Santa Barbara
Viet Thanh Nguyen, University of Southern California
Lee Herrick, Fresno City College
Barbara Jane Reyes, University of San Francisco

Moderated by Nicky Schildkraut, University of Southern California

Time: May 29, 2010 from 11am to 12:30pm
Location: Hyatt Regency San Francisco
Street: 5 Embarcadero Center
City/Town: San Francisco
Organized By: The Circle for Asian American Literary Studies

http://www.calstatela.edu/academic/english/ala2/american_literature_association_2010.htm

05/27/2010: Comic Books Extravaganza at Pegasus Books (Berkeley)

Graphic Novel and Comic Book Extravaganza!
Start: 27 May 2010 - 7:30pm

Join us for a reading and slide show presentation from seven extraordinary Bay Area graphic novelists and comic artists. We will welcome Trevor Alixopulos, Rina Ayuyang, Ben Catmull, Josh Frankel, Renee French, Lark Pien and Joey Sayers for an unforgettable evening.

Location:
Pegasus Books Downtown
2349 Shattuck Avenue
Berkeley, California 94704

05/29/2010: Kundiman West: Love & Liberation (Berkeley)

KUNDIMAN WEST

invites you to

LOVE & LIBERATION!
KUNDIMAN READING & CHAPBOOK RELEASE PARTY
Celebrating Asian American Poetry!

Featuring:
SUMMI KAIPA and INDIVISIBLE: An Anthology of Contemporary South Asian American Poetry
JAI ARUN RAVINE and IS THIS JANUARY
MARGARET RHEE
YAEL VILLAFRANCA
TIMOTHY YU

SATURDAY, MAY 29
8:00 - 10:00 PM
UC BERKELEY CAMPUS
BARBARA CHRISTIAN ROOM, 554 BARROWS HALL, 5TH FLOOR

$3 - 10 suggested donation -- to benefit Kundiman (no one turned away for lack of funds).

+ SPICY BOOK RAFFLE!
Win a copy of "Here is a Pen: An Anthology of West Coast Kundiman Poets," Joseph O. Legaspi's "Imago" or Eileen Tabios' "The Thorn Rosary"!

About Our Featured Readers:
Summi Kaipa and Indivisible: An Anthology of Contemporary South Asian American Poetry (www.indivisibleanthology.com or www.uapress.com)

Jai Arun Ravine is a poet who works in dance, film and other visual and performance-related mediums. Jai's first chapbook, IS THIS JANUARY, has just been released from Corollary Press, thanks to Sueyeun Juliette Lee. Kundiman has empowered Jai to create a space inclusive of Thai American poetics and trans-masculinity. Jai hopes to return to Thailand in the next couple of years to write the experiences of trans-masculine-identified Thais and Thai Americans. http://jaiarunravine.wordpress.com/

Margaret Rhee is a poet, media artist and interdisciplinary scholar. She co-edited the chapbook 'Here is a Pen: An Anthology of West Coast Kundiman Poets' and has published poems in 'Back Room Live' and the 'Berkeley Poetry Review.' She attended the inaugural Kundiman poetry retreat and fell in love with poetry & there there.

Yael Villafranca is a poet. She is a Kundiman fellow, an organizer with Babae San Francisco/GABRIELA-USA and a student at the University of San Francisco. She has work appearing in Bindlestiff Studio's upcoming Bakla Show 2010, running the first two weekends of June at the Thick House in San Francisco. You can find more information at https://sites.google.com/site/thebaklashow2010/

Timothy Yu is the author of the poetry collection Journey to the West, winner of the Vincent Chin Memorial Chapbook Prize from Kundiman. His critical book, Race and the Avant-Garde: Experimental and Asian American Poetry since 1965, has been published by Stanford University Press. He teaches English and Asian American studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and he will be making his third trip to the Kundiman retreat this summer.

About Kundiman: Kundiman is an organization dedicated to the creation, cultivation and promotion of Asian American poetry by creating an affirming and rigorous space where Asian American poets can explore, through art, the unique challenges that face the new and ever changing diaspora. In order to help mentor the next generation of Asian-American poets, Kundiman sponsors an annual Poetry Retreat for emerging Asian American poets. http://www.kundiman.org/

Kulayan: A Kularts Pilipino Visual Arts Program

KULAYAN
A Kularts Visual Arts Program
Open Art Studio Sessions
May-June Schedule (May 21, June 4, June 18)
5-8PM

Filipino Community Center
4681 Mission St (@ Persia) SF CA 94112
Instructors:
James gaNyan Garcia
Christopher De Leon

"The whole world as we see it comes to us through the realm of color."

In partnership with the Filipino Commuity Center, the Kulayan visual arts program provides art workshops aimed at, but not limited to Pilipino and Pilipino-Americans. The curriculum will explore issues of identity, the role of art in activism and community, and learning the skills to create successful art works individually, and in a group. Worksop sessions will include a survey of Pilipino Art History and Contemporary Art, and also an in-depth exploration of Pilipino myths and legends. Bring your ideas, supplies, and creativity and our incredible team of visual artists will guide you through personal and group projects.

Projects will include:
- Mural Making
- Silk Screening
- Work with Pencil, Acrylics, Watercolors, and Aerosol Paint
- Live Model Painting
- Curatorial Studies
- Art History

Participants' art work will be displayed at the Filipino Community Center, at FCC's Monthly In Progress Open Mic Sessions at Cafe Mama on Mission St., and at the Bayanihan Community Center!

Join Our Facebook Page!

Read more.

05/27/2010: Kularts underCOVER - Pinay Edition!

If you were at our Kularts underCOVER concert last month, you'll remember an awesome jam session led by Kulintronica's Ron Quesada - featuring the sweet vocals of Caroline Calderon and the flamingo-smashing energy of The Electrosonic Chamber!

This month, our series continues with a line-up of incredibly talented Filipina American vocalists and musicians - from virtuoso guitar to classic 80s and 90s cover jams to a flirtatious brand of R&B Pop/Soul, these powerful pinays will leave you wanting more!

Kularts UnderCOVER: The Pinay Edition!
Thursday, May 27 8PM
Bayanihan Community Center
1010 Mission St. SF CA 94103
Admission: $12 General, $10 Advance
https://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/112853

Kularts presents an evening of originals and cover tunes by some of the Bay Area's hottest Filipina American vocalists and musicians! Exploring our 'pilipino-ness' through the subtle and not so-subtle interpretation of cover tunes, this music series celebrates a very Pilipino experience.

Featuring:
Theresa Calpotura
Stephanie Sampang
Tonilyn A. Sideco

Hosted by Aisha Heredia of Sanguine Soul Radio!
Curated by Ron Quesada and Dianne Que

Theresa Calpotura has performed in numerous venues throughout the US and the Philippines. She has won a number of awards from associations such as the National Foundation for the Advancement of the Arts and the American String Teachers Association, and received scholarships from the Oberlin Conservatory and the Yale School of Music. Ms. Calpotura studied with the renowned guitar pedagogue Scott Cmiel of the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, and graduated from the Oberlin Conservatory where she studied with versatile guitarist/composer Stephen Aron. She then continued at the Yale School of Music with creative guitarist/composer Benjamin Verdery. Ms. Calpotura has given masterclasses in the US and in the Philippines and is currently on faculty at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music Preparatory Division. In addition to her solo work, Ms. Calpotura founded the groundbreaking cello-guitar duo Ethos with cellist Susan Millar.

She recently released her debut CD project, Kanta Filipina (VGO Recordings VG1018). The 12 original, arranged and transcribed works for solo guitar were all created for her by Filipino-American composer Bayani Mendoza de Leon. All of the works convey a uniquely Filipino spirit that Ms. Calpotura hopes to continue to look for and express in her music.

Born and bred in the Bay Area, Stephanie Sampang began singing at family parties at a young age and has loved every minute of it. Her love for theater and song was cemented while working with Kularts, Intersection for the Arts, and as an active participant in numerous cultural productions at UC Berkeley. She was the UC Berkeley Pilipino American Alliance Co-Cultural Chairperson for 2003-04 and currently lead female vocal for the Tenderonies - a live 80's and 90's cover band that included members from the all male group Legaci - who currently tour with tween pop sensation Justin Bieber. She is very excited and honored to be performing with fellow Pinay artists and wants to congratulate Kularts for an amazing 25 years!

Tonilyn A. Sideco is a heartworker, singer, songwriter, filmmaker, performing artist and native San Franciscan. Dedicated to inspiring systemic social change, Toni enjoys breaking people out of their idleness through music, theater, and filmmaking with the Queer Women of Color Media Arts Project and Shifting Narratives. She shared her queer pilipin@ pride playing the role of Cee in "Translations," a play that debuted at the 2009 National Queer Arts Festival. Recently, he has performed her original songs at Come Together (a benefit for hate crime survivor, Richmond Jane Doe), Snappy Hour (Mama Calizo's Voice Factory's one-month residency at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts), BLISS Weekend (a national annual gathering of women of color and their allies in Palm Springs), and at Alive n Kickin (a FUNKraiser for Bindlestiff Studio, S.F.).

Tonilyn's sound is R&B Pop/Soul, heavily influenced by church hymns, Motown, pop power-divas, and musical theater. Expect lyrics that are honest, flirtatious, and a little bit romantic. Whether singing a love ballad or shaking what her mama gave her, Toni's voice will leave you swooning. Check her out in Left of Oz, a full-length Broadway style musical comedy playing at Ashby Stage, Berkeley July 2-18th.

EMCEE: Aisha Heredia stands on the backs of her foremothers. Self-taught community artivist, who also studied the political economy of the Philippines while at UC Berkeley, Aisha's passions made perfect sense for collaborating with Diana Diroy for their 2009 documentary Kababaihan. Aisha created a series of pose to record the journey - work featured in the Fight, No Flight!, the July-September 2009 Manilatown Heritage Foundation exhibit. Enraptured with music and how it connects beyond generations, color lines and time, Aigha is also a founding co-host for the show Sanguine Soul on Pirate Cat Radio. For more info check out: www.sanguinesoul.com and www.kababaihandoc.wordpress.com.

See this Show for Free!
Kularts is always looking for volunteers to help us with our events and productions - from set-up and box office reception to ushering and stage management! Not only do volunteers get to see shows for free, but they also get the hands-on, behind-the-scenes scoop into the world of non-profit arts presentation. To volunteer, please contact Kularts Program Manager, Dianne Que at program@kularts.org right away.

Patrick Rosal: The TNB Self-Interview

Patrick Rosal interviews Patrick Rosal at The Nervous Breakdown:

What is the night sky?
A jug to pour blue Kool-Aid into.

What is the horizon?
Trickster bird’s home between sea and sky. Target for singing.

Describe a kitchen scene from your childhood.
It was barely big enough for the five of us to sit around or for my father, my two brothers and me to sit, and my mother to stand at the sink or stove. When she did sit, we sometimes called out “Ipis!” and in one swift move she’d slide a slipper off her foot and bash the roach riding the yellow wall over her shoulder. My father says I talked too much at dinner.

Read more.

Reality of the exquisite in Marjorie Evasco’s ‘Skin of Water’

The Philippine Daily Inquirer (inquirer.net) has an excellent write-up on poet Marjorie Evasco:

Reality of the exquisite in Marjorie Evasco’s ‘Skin of Water’
By Myrna Peña-Reyes

An excerpt:

Evasco is never trapped in conventional realities, for she recognizes how human existence is deeply complicated and how surfaces hide essences. Her poems, attempts to gain knowledge, to make sense of life’s enigmatic workings, are complex but accessible.

She always locates the poem for the reader first, provides him or her with points of reference in a familiar physical reality, an occasion or event, before reaching for the metaphorical. The reader can follow what’s happening in the poem.

Spinning off timeless and universal truths, her insights, striking and powerful in the originality of their expression, reveal their varied concerns: the role and uses of memory; the poet’s ars poetica; reflections on relationships, love, death, loss; metaphysical concerns, social concerns; as well as poems of song-like magic and pure beauty (e.g., “Is It the Kingfisher,” or the achingly erotic “Elemental”).

But the insight or “enlightenment” arrived at is not always easy to paraphrase. The insight is suggested or evoked more than precisely articulated.

Read more.

05/28/2010: Lending Library Group Show at Adobe Books Backroom Gallery (San Francisco)

Lending Library is a group exhibition curated by Dena Beard featuring tools, materials, and resources from artists Amy Franceschini, Colter Jacobsen, Kevin Killian, Tom Marioni, Emily Prince, Stephanie Syjuco, and Christine Wong Yap.

Exhibition dates: May 28, 2010 - July 2, 2010

Opening reception: Friday, May 28, 2010, 7-9pm

Adobe Books Backroom Gallery
3166 16th Street, San Francisco

We browse the bookshelves of the Lending Library as cross-sections of artists’ studios or as a medium for us to consider how we navigate and reclaim information in our own research practice. Experiencing the scribbled margins of a Xeroxed essay alongside modified found photographs changes their context, allowing for more dynamic images and learned connections to arise. Although the originals cannot be borrowed, scans of the artists’ materials will be available to takeaway and appropriate. Nestled in the back of Adobe Books this, the second iteration of Lending Library, develops some of the ideas brought forward with Oakland artists last February at the Royal NoneSuch Gallery. As such, Lending Library joins the landscape of open-source, browser-friendly experiences available in the Bay Area, expanding the idea of how an exhibition, or a library, can respond to a personal, anarchic search for knowledge.

05/25/2010: Oliver de la Paz at Open Books: A Poetry Emporium (Seattle)

From International Examiner:

Poet and Professor at Western University in Bellingham, Oliver De La Paz reads from his new book entitled “Requiem For The Orchard” (University of Akron Press) at Open Books: A Poetry Emporium on May 25 at 7:30 p.m. with fellow poet Allen Braden. 2414 N. 45^th St. (206) 633-0811 or store@openpoetrybooks.com De La Paz was a recent recipient of a Camano Island residency sponsored by Artist Trust and the Hafer Family Foundation. His book was the winner of the 2009 Akron Poetry Prize as selected by Martin Espada.

05/21/2010: Launch party for 580 Split, Issue 12

580 Split, Issue 12
Originally uploaded by OBermeo

OAKLAND, CA — 580 Split, the literary journal of Mills College’s Graduate English Department, presents an evening of poetry, prose, and music to celebrate the release of Issue 12. The event will take place on Friday, May 21, from 5:30 to 8 p.m., at the Layover bar in downtown Oakland (1517 Franklin Street). It will be free and open to the public.

Among the many talented Bay area poets and writers featured in this year’s issue of the journal, who will be sharing some of their most recent work at the launch party, are Chinaka Hodge, Josh Healey, Aimee Suzara, Oscar Bermeo, Sonya Shah, Amir Rabiyah, and Janine Mogannam.

There will be an informal reception following the reading, with DJ Diet spinning a soulful assortment of music old and new, as well as an opportunity to be among the first to purchase the print edition. The print edition will also be available for purchase online after the event.

We hope to see you there…

05/22/2010: MC Foley & Traci Kato-Kiriyama Book Launch at Oasis for Girls (San Francisco)

Bindlestiff Studio in collaboration with Oasis For Girls present the Northern California Launch of two books.

The ICE HOTEL by MC Foley

AND Traci Kato-Kiriyama reading from her new book of poetry signaling

WHEN: Saturday, May 22 at 4pm
WHERE: Oasis For Girls, 245-11th Street near Howard
ADMISSION: This event is FREE

Bindlestiff Studio in collaboration with Oasis For Girls will be presenting the Northern California book launch of The ICE HOTEL, a new novel by writer and performance artist MC Foley. Joining her will be multi-disciplinary performing artist and writer Traci-Kato Kiriyama who will be reading from her new collection of poetry entitled SIGNALING. This event is free and will be taking place at the Oasis For Girls office, 245-11th Street near Howard St. in San Francisco's SOMA district.

05/15/2010: Filipino American Jazz at the 6th Annual Asian Heritage Street Celebration

The largest gathering of Asian Pacific Americans in the nation is back and bigger than ever. New features include a Mah Jong section, more arts and crafts selection and shopping incentives, wine, Filipino American Jazz, and a balut eating contest.

The fair also features Asian American artists, DJs, martial arts, today’s Asian pop culture, j-cars, a Muay Thai kickboxing ring, scrumptious food, AHSC Best Dance Crew contest, children’s area, cultural procession, anime, free hepatitis B screenings and more!

Live performances from: Far*East Movement, Kat O1O (Crown City Rockers), Gen Taiko, Native Elements, Kazha, Animemyu “Sailor Moon”, akai SKY, Chung Ngai Dance Troupe, Counterparts, Planet Infinity’s More Than Medals Tae Kwan Do, Chardi Jawani Stanford Bhangra, Mike Nice, Tone Def, JayPlus, Keith O, “The SF Pinoy Jazz Revue” – featuring Little Brown Brother, Bo Razon, Jonathan Bautista, Myrna Del Rio, and Anna Maria Flechero.

The 6th annual Asian Heritage Street Celebration will be held Saturday, May 15, 2010 in San Francisco, in front of the Asian Art Museum, leading up to the Little Saigon District. The event is free and open to the public. Take BART to the Civic Center Station. 

The festival is presented by California Pacific Medical Center and Subaru.

What:  Sixth Annual Asian Heritage Street Celebration
When:   Saturday, May 15, 2010 11 a.m. – 6 p.m.
Where:   Civic Center/Little Saigon District Larkin and McAllister Streets, San Francisco, CA
Info:  http://www.asianfairsf.com

[Via http://www.sfpinoyjazzfest.com]

Call for Submissions: RACE in Fashion

From the Asia Writes blog:

Colour of Beauty | Call for Submission | Race in Fashion

When all of us at Schema Magazine first heard about Work for All, the National Film Board's (NFB) initiative to raise awareness of racism in the workplace, it was an instantaneous love at first sight! We were was thrilled to jump on board and support NFB.

To make this partnership ever so memorable, Schema Magazine is partnering with the Museum of Vancouver's (MOV) upcoming fashion exhibit, Fox, Fluevog & Friends, and NFB's Work for All film series, to launch a community event and screening for Colour of Beauty, a short film about the lack of visibility diversity and minority representation in the fashion industry. This event takes place at 7pm on May 16th at the Museum of Vancouver (more info).

With modeling agencies pining over models like Naomi Campbell, who is considered as the epitome of a "white model dipped in chocolate," it stands to reason that there a serious lack of diversity within fashion. But we're dying to hear what you think.

Have you or someone you know struggled to be a model, agent or designer because of ethnicity or race? How does the fashion industry or advertising shape mainstream attitudes around the "colour of beauty?"

Send us your stories, perspectives, experiences and thoughts about how race plays a role in fashion, beauty and identity. All submissions will get published on SchemaMag.ca, and the top three submissions will be showcased on NFB's website and read at the panel discussion on May 16th.

This is an opportunity for everyone involved in the fashion industry, both producers and consumers, to participate in a rare and exciting discussion featuring a panel of industry professionals, artists and policymakers.

SUBMISSIONS ARE DUE FRIDAY MAY 14, 2010. More information about the upcoming event will be released shortly.

(More information HERE.)

05/19/2010: Faster Pussycat Presents: Halal Pork and Friends (New York)

 From the Asia Writes blog:

Faster Pussycat
Date &time: May 19, 2010 - 7:00pm

Wednesday, May 19
at HAPPY ENDING
302 Broome Street
8pm (doors at 7)

FASTER PUSSYCAT PRESENTS:
Halal Pork & Friends

From surreal anarchist poetry to urban Sufi myths, four UpSet authors read works that have blurred boundaries, broken taboos, and constructed bridges on unstable foundations for the sake of literary luminescence: Cihan Kaan, Nicholas Powers, Matthew Rotando, and Denise Galang.

The Faster Pussycat Reading Series
Faster Pussycat is a renegade, lithe, and loose reading and performance series curated by the Feminist Press. We bring together writers from divergent backgrounds who share an activist spirit. Poets, punks, weirdos, and milquetoasts celebrate new works in all genres.

Read more.

Oakland Word Summer-Urban Poetry: Found in the Everyday

Oakland Word Summer—Urban Poetry: Found in the Everyday with Oscar Bermeo

This poetry workshop is for beginning and advanced writers seeking to expand the definition of urban poetry.

The class will focus on incorporating routine speech from common urban environments and transforming pedestrian situations into powerful personal narratives that define and document our history with city. We will create persona poems, craft narratives of place, and remix poetic verse with found language.

Students will use poems to map out and define their place in city. They will develop poems from both the insider and observer perspective to see where these viewpoints intersect and depart. Students will study and emulate poems of place that incorporate elements of codeswitching between English and Spanish (and other languages), oral tradition and written text by such authors as Willie Perdomo, Barbara Jane Reyes, Frances Chung, Patricia Smith and others.

Oakland Public Library (Chavez Branch)
3301 E 12th St (near Fruitvale BART)
5 Saturdays, 1-2:30 pm
June 12, 19, 26 and July 3, 10

FREE
Wheelchair Accessible

To register, email your name, email address, phone number and workshop title to theoaklandword@gmail.com by June 4.

About Oscar Bermeo
Born in Ecuador and raised in the Bronx, Oscar Bermeo is the author of the self-published poetry chapbooks Anywhere Avenue, Palimpsest and Heaven Below. He has been a featured writer at a variety of institutions including the Nuyorican Poets Cafe, Intersection for the Arts, Kearny Street Workshop, Bronx Academy of Letters, Rikers Island Penitentiary, San Quentin Prison, the Loft Literary Center, Sacramento Poetry Center, UC Berkeley, UNC-Chapel Hill, NYU and many others. Oscar is a BRIO (Bronx Recognizes Its Own), CantoMundo, IWL (Intergenerational Writers Lab) and VONA (Voices of Our Nations Arts Foundation) poetry fellow. He makes his home in Oakland, with his wife, poeta Barbara Jane Reyes. For more information, please visit: www.oscarbermeo.com.



http://www.oaklandword.org

Call for Submissions: Smithsonian Donald W. Reynolds Center for American Art and Portraiture American Art and Portraiture

Smithsonian Donald W. Reynolds Center for American Art and Portraiture American Art and Portraiture (www.npg.si.edu)

Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Program (www.apa.si.edu)

--- Open Call to Asian Pacific American Artists Who Work with Portraiture ---

The Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery and the Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Program are partnering to create an exhibition of work for NPG's --Portraiture Now|| series featuring contemporary artists exploring issues of cultural hybridity and Asian American identity through the art of portraiture.

We invite you to submit information about your work for the NPG's curators to evaluate before they make their final decisions about artists to include in the exhibition. The exhibition will be on view at the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C. from August 12, 2011 through October 14, 2012.

How to submit and what to submit:

Send a link to your website and/or concise information about yourself and no more than 2 jpeg images of your recent portrait work (Jpegs should be no larger than 250 KB each) to NPGPaintingandSculpture@si.edu.

Please be sure to identify the medium, date and dimensions of your portraits. The curators will contact you if they need more information.

We are interested in all visual arts media, including painting, photography, prints, drawings, sculpture, installation art, animation and other time-based media, etc. but the artist's body of work must be focused on the portrait or self-portrait--a likeness or conceptual project that references an individual or group.

Please send images of recent (2005 - 2010) work.

Deadline: Information will be accepted until June 4, 2010. Artists who are chosen for consideration for the exhibition will be notified by July 31, 2010.

Call for Submissions: music/beatboxers/spoken word

From Matt Abaya:

Greetings,

I am currently working on the annual Asian Pacific Heritage Month Radio Special on KPFA "THE INDO~PACIFIC EDGE". We are looking for audio submission from musicians, bands, beatboxers, vocalists, and percussionists to air prerecoreded or live. Please contact me or email: RootsKPFA@yahoo.com for more info.

If you also know anyone who would like to participate, please forward this invitation.

Thanks,
[HazMadt]
www.idontcarefilms.com

"THE INDO~PACIFIC EDGE": Touching Africa, Asia, the Islands, & the Turtle Island", on SUNDAY, MAY 30th, 2010, from 6:30-10pm on KPFA.

It will be a MUSIC~based show, with Public Affairs drop-ins, Spoken Word, PSA's, Giveaways, & more. We are also testing the waters to see if we can assemble a LIVE STUDIO BAND, including BEATBOXERS, PERCUSSIONISTS, and SINGERS. We are AUDITIONING potential Studio Band members by way of mp3 & CD DEMO submissions.

If you are interested in sending Demos, MUSIC & SPOKEN WORD submissions, Non~profit & cultural PSA's (Announcements), CD, DVD, Book, or other Promo Giveaways or folks who just want to help in any way to contact us via our Facebook Group "KPFA API RADIO SPECIALS" or via email: RootsKPFA@yahoo. com

Daghang Salamat/Many Thanks!

*peace*

Elsewhere in Blog-World

From Rebecca Mabanglo-Mayor: When I was working on the first draft of my novel Maganda's Comb (in progress), I tried to find pre-Hispanic folktales from the Philippines to include. The foundation of the story is structured as an urban fantasy - a story told in a modern setting but intersecting with characters and beliefs from another place and time. I quickly found that it's not very easy to find good documentation on Filipino myths, but did find a few titles on Project Gutenberg. Since the books were out of copyright, I downloaded the PDFs and even printed off a copy for myself at home. The pages worked well enough, but they were cumbersome to store and heaven help me if I ever dropped the manuscript and scattered pages in the process. I had a hard time absorbing and sorting through the data on the pages, something that frustrated me until I realized it was because the pages weren't bound. Somehow my mind translates bound things differently than loose leaf.

From Ricco Villanueva Siasocco: I worry about media representations of Manny Pacquiao. Forget the ignorant, racist comments of Adam Corrolla. I worry about the coverage of Pacquaio that promotes the idea of the savage; the subtle, perhaps unnoticed ways he is represented as the “little brown brother”–a pejorative concept introduced more than a century ago, during the Philippine-American War. The culture of forgetting seeks to characterize and categorize non-white people. Presenting Pacquaio as eccentric (a karaoke singer! a boxer! a religious zealot from the Philippines! and a man who runs for Senate?) serves to exoticize his image in Western media. How can we view a man with this kind of wacky, far-flung, misguided, ambition as an equal?

From Ninotchka Rosca: Like Kafka’s “The Hunger Artist,” I find daily food a bore, so when three friends offered a bet of dinner each at restaurants of my choice on whether Manny Villar, Philippine presidential candidate, would win, I immediately accepted, having in mind three places with top chefs I could never afford. They thought he was going to win; I thought NOT. This was the month Villar was neck-to-neck with the eventual winner, Noynoy Aquino, and for a while there, I wondered if I would have to sell Guapo, the house ewok, to cover my bets – or maybe hand him over to the chefs.

From Alleluia Panis: a few years ago i was a  guest artist speaker for a class at stanford.. i spoke   on the  role of  indigenous spiritual practice  in  the development of my work… a dancer shared this  experience….while visiting New Orleans, she was drawn by the infectious rhythm of the drummers in Congo Square…. she  joined the dancing crowd… and pretty soon she was ecstatically swept up into the middle dancing  vigorously with a throng of people ..… then…next thing she knew she was flat on her back on the ground, sweating profusely   looking up at strangers’ faces … she seemed to have fainted or lost consciousness .. they told her she  went into a trance and was taken by the spirit….

From Niki Escobar: I first read this poem in his book Rose. I don’t like to explain my paintings to death, but I will say that the lines I chose to use (painted in white on the first panel) can be seen as violent. The images in this Pilipina’s hair are of ships. The first three sailing down her hair are images of galleons. I found these when searching for “columbus” and “magellan”. The final three represent the evolution of travel technology and colonization. Sexual violence is a recurring theme when it comes to war and occupation– no matter the century. Women’s bodies are seen as conquests, used for cruel recreation, political strategy, torture, and “comfort.”

Articles on Miguel Syjuco [Filamako.com, Wall Street Journal, Inquirer, NY Times]

From filamako.com: Do you have any advice for Filipinos who aspire to be writers? I don’t like to give advice, though I am always grateful to listen to it from others. So I’ll just tell you what has worked for me in terms of writing. I don’t believe in waiting for inspiration; I believe in hard work and putting in the hours, months, the years until you finally finish the book you want to write. Treat your writing like a job and you’ll increase your chances at success. It’s like that old adage that god helps those who help themselves. I also don’t think we should be too precious about the words we collect on the page; aside from reading, the most important thing is revision. This is advice I’ve heard from so many other writers, and I’ve found it works for me. For Filipinos specifically, I think it’s important to not only study our own culture and history, but also to learn from the cultures and histories of the rest of the world. The Filipino experience, after all, is global. So it is romantic, but artificial to overlook that.  Ultimately, I think my best advice is to be wary of following other people’s advice. [Read more]

From Wall Street Journal: Few Filipino novelists have developed an international following (Jessica Hagedorn, author of "Dogeaters," a gritty portrait of a handful of characters under Ferdinand Marcos's rule, ranks among the most well known in the U.S.), and the literary scene there is anemic compared with the country's vibrant film industry. But in the last few years, Filipino authors have started to gain international recognition. Many Filipino novelists write in English—a legacy of the long American presence there. Several have been boosted by the Man Asian prize, which was first awarded in 2007. Filipino authors accounted for five of the 24 finalists on the 2009 long list, following India as the most represented country, and Manila native Eric Gamalinda was short-listed last year for his novel "The Descartes of the Highlands." [Read more]

Benjamin Pimentel's "What Noynoy Aquino can learn from Miguel Syjuco," at Inquirer.net: May has turned out to be an exciting month for Philippine politics and literature. And it’s largely due to two sons of the elite who took on two distinct paths. One embraced tradition, running for president as the revered scion of one of the country’s richest and prominent families. The other essentially rejected it, by taking the more offbeat, riskier route of an aspiring artist. One of the hot new novels this year is Miguel Syjuco’s Ilustrado, which won the prestigious Man Asian Literary Prize two years ago. An intriguing aspect of Syjuco’s incredible rise on the world literary scene is his own personal journey. For had he not decided to defy his family’s desire for him to follow the established, and safer, path for any son of a Pinoy elite clan—dad was a member of Arroyo’s cabinet, and mom is a member of Congress—Syjuco may have ended up being part of the ongoing circus right now. [Read more] 

"An Expatriate Filipino Writes of a Parallel Life" in the New York Times: Sipping tea amid the wood paneling of the Hong Kong Foreign Correspondents Club — in a camel blazer with matching red pocket square and red cuff links — he looked the part of a gentleman from a good Philippine family. Mr. Syjuco, who once held entry-level jobs at The New Yorker and other magazines before deciding to devote himself full time to writing, is clearly from the educated upper classes that he skewers in his book. “My family, my friends, my colleagues — we are the elites,” he said. “We are a wealthy, beautiful country, and we’ve screwed it up so badly. The majority of wealth is controlled by a minority. And we don’t know when enough is enough. The elite don’t want one mansion; they want three.” Like his fictional counterpart in the book, Mr. Syjuco came from a political family but declined to enter the business himself. [Read more]

We All Belong to a Love Song Called Kundiman

From the Delirious Hem blog:

Where do you draw your poetic lineages from the poetries of Asian American female or gender-non-conforming poets? How do you (do you) intersect with feminist poetics? Other communities of women? Transgendered/gender-variant communities? Racialized communities? Tactics and tricks, fragments and fears, languages and loves? How does Kundiman contain these desires or break out of them? What is your Kundiman (love song)? What is your horror? What is your broken record? How do you participate? Resist? Do you feel conflicted about your relationship to these?

Read more.

Regie Cabico speaks on Poets & Writers funding

Pioneering Fil-Am spoken word artist Regie Cabico speaks on the support he's received from Poets & Writers to help fund his own poetic career and curatorial projects both in New York City and throughout the nation.

Cabico: "For myself, I've been able to go to any hospital or youth center and bring what I do and allowed me to share my work... It makes me a better poet, it keeps me humble, keeps me inspired and I also wouldn't be able to go to Whole Foods without the check."

It's real talk from a poet thinking outside the community box. More information about Poets & Writers Funding is here.

The Hidden Dream: The Filipino Experience with America from Bataan Death March to the 21st Century [filamako.com]

From filamako.com:

The Hidden Dream: The Filipino Experience with America from Bataan Death March to the 21st Century is a 60 minute documentary portrays the little known history of America’s second largest immigrant group since 1990 … Filipinos.  The documentary features survivors of the infamous Bataan Death March and the equally brutal Japanese prisoner of war camps share their memories of courage, torture and death.

They speak with outrage of the Rescission Act of 1946 which denied them the benefits and recognition deserved as being part of the United States Army. Impassioned protests and political speeches eventually enabled the Rescission Act to itself be rescinded in 2008.  The veterans, many of whom are in their 80’s and 90’s are dying at an alarming rate with many of their claims not yet realized.

This documentary produced & directed by Sheila Duenas Imme and Jon Imme aims to tackle issues that Filipinos face of being sworn in as US citizens and at the same time trying to maintain their Filipino identity. These issues are a big impact on first generation Filipino-American youths and Filipinos like myself who grew up in America who were often confused or frustrated on what it means to be both a Filipino and an American.

In a recent article from the Asian Journal, The Hidden Dream: The Filipino Experience with America from the Bataan Death March to the 21st Century will premiere on PBS-KCET Los Angeles on May 13, Thursday from 9pm to 10pm; and on PBS-KQED World – San Francisco on the following dates:

Sunday, May 16 at 7pm, Monday, May 17 at 1am and Sunday, May 23 at 12am.

For more on this Fil-Am documentary go to liliesandravens.org and for a preview of the trailer click here.

Jennifer de Guzman at Publishers Weekly: Life in Comics

An excerpt:

I spent a pleasant afternoon reading thirty-three stories by children from the ages of eight to twelve in the lovely children's section of the library, and I learned a few things in the process:

• The concept of the "graphic novel" may not be entirely understood. Quite a few of the stories were illustrated prose stories. I debated suggesting these be disqualified, but it turns out I'm not entirely heartless.
• Gender takes hold early. With a few exceptions, the stories by boys featured people being shot, punched, sliced with swords, or blown up. Many of the girls stories featured shopping, fairies, or make-overs—and quite a few were obviously influenced by shoujo manga. The boys' comics versus girls' comics dichotomy starts early.

Read more.

Review of Stephanie Syjuco Exhibit: Beg/Borrow/Steal

From artpractical.com

Beg/Borrow/Steal
Stephanie Syjuco
Apr 10 - May 15
Catharine Clark Gallery
Review by Elyse Mallouk

“Beg/Borrow/Steal,” presented in the Viewing Room at Catharine Clark Gallery, is intended to be an introduction to San Francisco based artist Stephanie Syjuco’s work. The show is not a cohesive presentation of a single project, but rather functions as a kind of six-year micro-retrospective without a unifying narrative. The show is composed of pieces pulled from varied bodies of Syjuco’s work, tied together only by a common strategy―information deliberately withheld.

Italian philosopher Paolo Virno asserts that “There are things which only exist inside relationships,” in the common space between you and me.[1] This indeterminate space cannot be known or contained and remain common, Virno believes; rather, it can only be struggled with and contested. If it is named, it is co-opted. Syjuco’s work questions the social and economic relationships that run through and beneath a capitalist system by pursuing the formal limits of communication and exchange within the gallery. Her work intentionally withholds the information that might spell out or fix the common space between us.

Read more.

Lyrical Empire: Hip Hop in Metro Manila [filamako.com]

Lyrical Empire: Hip Hop in Metro Manila trailer from Mark V on Vimeo.

From filamako.com:

Lyrical Empire: Hip Hop in Metro Manila was one of the films to be featured in the Los Angeles Pacific Film Festival this year. Director Mark Villegas wants audiences to take a glimpse into the lives of hip hop artists from Metro Manila, in a country where hip hop culture is under constant scrutiny from a skeptical public. As a Filipino-American, I already know how influential Filipinos are in the hip hop scene in the states with Apl.de.ap and Chad Hugo from N.E.R.D. to name a few. After viewing this preview of Lyrical Empire: Hip Hop in Metro Manila, it got me interested in how much this genre has influenced the youth in the Philippines and how others view this hop hop scene in the PI. I envy Fil-Ams in California who can easily attend all these events dedicated to Filipino culture and AAPI. Hopefully screenings of Lyrical Empire: Hip Hop in Metro Manila will be available in the Midwest and East Coast.

05/09/2010: Maganda Magazine Reception (Berkeley)

Hello to our beautiful community of contributors:

This is a last reminder about {m}aganda magazine's LAUNCH RECEPTION for our 23rd issue-- TODAY!

If you're able, please come out today to celebrate with us!

Maganda Magazine is proud to present our this year's magazine themed "Resilience"

Please come to our launch reception where there will be sweets galore.

We will be having a program of performances that will feature our contributors and an open mic so YOU can shine.

When: May 9, 2010
Where: Stephen's Room (2nd floor of MLK)
Time: 1:00pm
Attire: Semi formal encouraged (cocktail) It's a celebration =D

Thank you, and we hope to see you there!

05/16/2010: Eating Our Words: Writings About Food and Family (San Francisco)

Filipino Flavors: Tradition + Innovation

Literary Reading

EATING OUR WORDS: WRITINGS ABOUT FOOD & FAMILY

Sun May 16 | 1:00–2:30 pm, with light refreshments

Local writers share their poems, fiction and essays about two of the most important facets of life: our families and our food. Barbara Jane Reyes, Rashaan Alexis Meneses, Aileen Suzara, Aimee Suzara, Lizelle Festejo, Yael Villafranca and Lisa Suguitan Melnick read from their books and works-in-progress. Oscar Bermeo emcees.

$5 general admission, $3 students. Ticket sales end May 12! [BUY TICKETS]

Location: The International Culinary School at The Art Institute of California-San Francisco

1170 Market Street, San Francisco, CA

Join the Asian Culinary Forum in the heart of San Francisco for an exciting, weekend-long celebration of the foods of the Philippines. Information on other weekend events here:

http://www.asianculinaryforum.org

LIZELLE FESTEJO is the Assistant Director/Program Manager and Job Readiness Instructor at The Bread Project, a culinary and commercial baking job training program based in the East Bay. She was an organizer of Filipino American Coalition for Environmental Solidarity's (FACES) first Kain'Na Cooking School fundraiser and also a 2008 Fellow for Robert Mondavi Winery's Taste3. Lizelle consults for the San Francisco International Chocolate Salon organized by Tastetv.com. As a writer and community worker, her passion is fueled by bringing communities and families together through the multi-faceted and inter-generational powers of cooking, eating and food itself.

LISA SUGUITAN MELNICK’s daily life is a colorful melange of multi-cultural experience. Yes, she eats adobo with chopsticks, serves miso soup alongside pancit, and adds a touch of shoyu to the vinegar sauce for lumpia. Lisa's work has appeared in Latin Beat Magazine, Philippine News, CATESOL (California Teachers of Speakers of Other Languages), The Advocate, and Filipinas Magazine. A third-generation Filipina/Latina American, she is currently working on Ima Ni Soledad, a memoir of vignettes which present Filipino-American experience in contexts that highlight the reverence for family and generosity of spirit. Lisa shares her life with partner of 27 years, Mark, their son Ryan Akira, and Miss Jazz, a doberman mix diva dog.

RASHAAN ALEXIS MENESES, born and raised in the seismically diverse and fractured landscape of California, earned her MFA from Saint Mary’s College of California’s Creative Writing Program. She was named a 2005-2006 Jacob K. Javits Fellow and awarded the Sor Juana Ines de La Cruz Scholarship for Excellence in Fiction. She received her B.A. in English with a specialization in Fiction, Creative Writing from the University of California, Los Angeles. Recently, A Room of Her Own Foundation named her a Finalist for The 2009 Gift of Freedom Award and her latest short story, “Here in the States” is included in the anthology, Growing Up Filipino II: More Stories for Young Adults.

BARBARA JANE REYES was born in Manila, Philippines, and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area. She received her B.A. in Ethnic Studies from the University of California, Berkeley and her M.F.A. at San Francisco State University. She is the author of Gravities of Center (Arkipelago Books, 2003) and Poeta en San Francisco (Tinfish Press, 2005), which received the James Laughlin Award of the Academy of American Poets. Her third book, entitled Diwata, will be released by BOA Editions, Ltd. in September, 2010. Her poetry, essays, and reviews have appeared in Latino Poetry Review, New American Writing, North American Review, Notre Dame Review, and XCP: Cross Cultural Poetics. She has taught Creative Writing at Mills College, and Philippine Studies at University of San Francisco. She lives with her husband, poet Oscar Bermeo, in Oakland.

AILEEN SUZARA is a second generation Pinay raised in California and Hawai'i who began exploring the kitchen at childhood. Her passion for social justice led her to the Filipino/American Coalition for Environmental Solidarity and positions as an environmental educator. Aileen now brings that commitment towards sustaining the recipes and rituals of Filipino foodways. Her words appear in Earth Island Journal, The Colors of Nature, Growing Up Filipino, and others. Aileen received a BA from Mount Holyoke College and recently graduated as a Natural Chef from Bauman College.

AIMEE SUZARA completed her M.F.A. at Mills College in 2005 and has been sharing poetic and multidisciplinary work since 1999. Her play, Pagbabalik (Return) in 2007 was selected for several festivals and granted the Zellerbach Community Arts Fund in 2006-7. Her poetry collection, the space between, was published by Finishing Line Press in 2008, and her writing appears in several journals and anthologies, including Check the Rhyme, An Anthology of Female Poets and Emcees (Lit Noire Press), 580 Split (forthcoming issue) and Walang Hiya/No Shame (forthcoming anthology). Currently, she is collaborating on text-dance works with two companies: Amara Tabor-Smith’s Deep Waters Dance Theater for “Our Daily Bread”; and choreographer Frances Sedayao, Aimee Espiritu and Michael Torres for “A History of the Body,” to be hosted by the Oakland Asian Cultural Center. A passionate advocate for arts and literacy, she teaches English at community colleges and leads workshops on poetry and performance.

YAEL VILLAFRANCA is a Kundiman fellow, an organizer with Babae San Francisco/GABRIELA-USA, and a student at the University of San Francisco. She gets emotional when she eats.

OSCAR BERMEO is the author of the poetry chapbooks Anywhere Avenue, Palimpsest and Heaven Below. Born in Ecuador and raised in the Bronx, he now makes his home in Oakland with his wife, poeta Barbara Jane Reyes. Oscar was the founding curator/host of the Acentos Bronx Poetry Showcase, and a founding curator/host of the synonymUS Collaborative Open Mic at the Nuyorican Poets Cafe. Oscar has been a featured writer at a variety of venues and institutions including the Bowery Poetry Club, Intersection for the Arts, Kearny Street Workshop, Bronx Academy of Letters, Rikers Island Penitentiary, San Quentin Prison, the Loft Literary Center, Sacramento Poetry Center, UC Berkeley, Columbia University, UNC Chapel Hill, NYU and many others.

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05/27/2010: Oakland ACC Presents LGBT APIA LITERARY Night

For IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 27, 2010

OACC Presents Asian Pacific American (APA) Heritage Festival 2010
LGBT APIA Literary Night
May 27, 7:00 pm at the OACC

LGBT APIA Literary NighT featuring Aimee Suzara, Joël Barraquiel Tan, and Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha

OACC is proud to present an evening of readings reflecting on the Asian Pacific Islander American queer experience. Featured writers are Aimee Suzara, Joel Tan, and Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha will read, discuss, and react to each other’s work in an energetic dialogue of prose, poetry, memoir, and erotica from their work on Thursday, May 27 at 7:00 pm. The evening starts with contributions from students who have come up through the Oakland Word program—Vanessa Huang, Jennifer Ling, Lai-San Seto and Jenny Yap.

Aimee Suzara is the founder and lead artist of the Pagbabalik (Return) Project and is a Filipino-American writer, cultural worker and educator who has been writing and performing in the San Francisco (SF) Bay Area since 1999. Suzara’s mission is to create, and help others create, art that builds community, fosters healing, and provokes important questions through spoken word, theater and movement. She also collaborates with Amara Tabor-Smith’s Deep Waters Dance Theater and was a member of Kreatibo, a queer Pin@y arts collective. Suzara’s poetry collection, the space between, was published by Finishing Line Press; her poems have been published in anthologies such as Walang Hiya (Without Shame): literature taking risks towards liberatory practice (Arkipelago Books 2009), and she has been invited as a featured poet and arts educator at schools, universities and arts venues nationally. Suzara has a Mills College M.F.A. and teaches English at Bay Area colleges.

Recently named as one of OUT Magazine's People of the Year, Joël Barraquiel Tan is also the Director of Community Engagement at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco, CA. His publications include El Canto de Animal (Noice Press, 2006) and Monster-Poems (Noice Press, 2002). Tan has been nominated for Lambda Literary Award, Best Anthology, 1998 and his work is widely taught in the field of culture and sexuality studies. Tan received his M.F.A. in Creative Writing and Literature from Antioch University in 2004, and his B.A. in Ethnic Studies at University of California, Berkeley in 2002. Tan is also the Founding Board President of the Center for Disease Control and Association of Schools of Public Health’s Institute of HIV Prevention Leadership Alumni Association (2002-2003) and a co-founder of Los Angeles' Asian Pacific AIDS Intervention Team.

Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha is a Worcester-raised, Toronto-matured, Oakland-based queer Sri Lankan writer, performer and teacher. She is the 2009-10 Artist in Residence and part-time professor at UC Berkeley’s June Jordan’s Poetry for the People and the co-founder and co-artistic director of Mangos With Chili, North America’s only touring cabaret of queer and trans people of color performing artists. She is a 2009 commissioned performer with Sins Invalid, the national performance organization of queer people with disabilities and chronic illnesses. Her one woman show, Grown Woman Show, has toured nationally, including performances at the National Queer Arts Festival, Swarthmore College, Yale University, Reed College and McGill University. The author of Consensual Genocide, her writing has appeared in the anthologies Yes Means Yes, Visible: A Femmethology, Homelands, Colonize This, We Don’t Need Another Wave, Bitchfest, Without a Net, Dangerous Families, Brazen Femme, Femme and A Girl’s Guide to Taking Over The World. She holds an MFA in Creative Writing from Mills College, focusing on creative nonfiction and community-based teaching by writers of color.

Admission is based on sliding scale donations—no one turned away for lack of funds.

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The Oakland Asian Cultural Center’s (OACC) annual Asian Pacific American (APA) Heritage Festival 2010 features a full and diverse program of events to celebrate Asian and Pacific American culture and traditions from May 19 to June 5. APA Heritage Festival 2010 includes culinary workshops, a film screening, a literary night, and jazz performances by various Asian American artists. All events are OACC-produced and will be held at the Oakland Asian Cultural Center, 388 9th St, Ste 290 in Oakland. Many events are free but for those where tickets are required, tickets can be purchased at TBA. For more information on any of the events listed below, call 510-637-0455.

Review: Peter Bacho, 'Leaving Yesler' at Foreword Reviews

From Foreword Reviews:

Leaving Yesler
Author: Peter Bacho
Publisher: Pleasure Boat Studio
ISBN: 9781929355570

Leaving Yesler encounters seventeen year-old Bobby Vincente in the wake of his older brother's military death. Faced with the challenge of caring for his aging father this young man from urban Seattle's housing projects is forced to take control of his life and identity as he traverses a period of life-altering change marked by new interests new challenges and ultimately new life.

Author Peter Bacho a two-time winner of the American Book Award explores themes of belief/disbelief arrival/departure and love/violence through which he achieves a portrait of embodied strength in his protagonist. Bobby is sensitive faithful and determined not to be defined or limited by anyone other than himself. This struggle takes him to the boxing ring where his physicality is awakened and to community college where he studies in hopes of passing the GED and avoiding the draft. Out of Bobby's sexual and emotional growth emerges a great capacity for forgiveness a penchant for cooking and a deep commitment to family.

Read more.

Elsewhere in Blog-World

From Ricco Villanueva Siasocco's Burroughs Adding Machine: We know that our American slave history included the horrendous abuse and rape of slaves; the possibility of white and black Americans being related today is not a surprise. In [Spike] Lee’s ancestry, we learn that his great-great-great grandmother, Mathilde, was a mulatto in the 1860′s. Mathilde worked in the plantation house of her slaveowners as a cook. As a mulatto, history indicates that Lee’s slave ancestor may have been the daughter of the white slaveowner.

From Butch Dalisay's Pinoy Penman: I'VE BEEN promising to share what our fellows presented to us in last month’s UP National Writers Workshop in Baguio, so here, finally, is a sampler of excerpts from some of the fellows’ poetics—in plainer words, why they write what they write. I think the range of voices and concerns represented here is reassuring—from the challenge of revisiting history and the mythic past to the delights and rigors of a new formalism. The future of Philippine literature is in good hands.

From Rachelle Cruz's blog: #24 – First Pair / When she slipped us on, / we cracked small beige smiles. / Straightened our knobby backs / into slender heels, bit the ground. / Claimed our spot nearest the closet / door where her perfume sang with / her husband’s worn dress shirts / crumpled in a corner, cooling.

From Rona Fernandez's Writing Down the Path:  And then, I thought, let me write about this. Because writing is the one thing I can do when I’m feeling lonely that sometimes—not always—but sometimes, makes me feel a little less so. Which is ironic, because writing is a very lonely act. I think that’s why when we get together with each other—especially when we find a group of writers we like and vibe with—it’s like we can’t get enough of each other.

05/18/2010: Michelle Cruz Skinner @ KOBO at Higo (Seattle)

From International Examiner:

Michelle Cruz Skinner, a Filipino American writer from Hawai’i reads from her new book of short stories entitled “In The Company of Strangers” (Bamboo Ridge Press) on Tuesday, May 18 at 7 p.m. Author R. Zamora Linmark describes the book as “deceptively simple stories about Filipinos tongue-tied and alienated in the motherland, or scattered across the map of heartaches and homesickness in the company of strangers called countrymen, family, lovers.” Hawai’i has a rich literary scene of its’ own and Bamboo Ridge is in the middle of it supporting local writers with workshops, readings and publications. Don’t miss this rare opportunity to see and hear Michelle Cruz Skinner read from her new book. Free & open to the public with a reception to follow after the reading. KOBO at Higo at 602-608 South Jackson. Call (206) 381-3000 or visit http://www.koboseattle.com.

Reviews in Galatea Resurrects

From Eileen Tabios:

This new issue of Galatea Resurrects includes

Marianne Villanueva reviewing Jon Pineda's THE TRANSLATOR'S DIARY

Jeff Harrison engaging with Jean Vengua's PRAU

my engagements with Barbara Jane Reyes' EASTER SUNDAY, Sasha Pimentel Chacon's INSIDES SHE SWALLOWED and Reme Grefalda's novel/verse THE OTHER BLUEBOOK: ON THE HIGH SEAS OF DISCOVERY

Would love to see more Filipino titles reviewed; available review copies at http://grarchives.blogspot.com For those of you still hanging on to your review copies, next review submission deadline is Nov. 1, 2010.

Read the current issue here.

Review: Miguel Syjuco's 'Ilustrado' (Washington Post)

Book review: 'Ilustrado' by Miguel Syjuco, reviewed by Michael Dirda

By Michael Dirda
Thursday, May 6, 2010; C03

ILUSTRADO
By Miguel Syjuco
Farrar Straus Giroux. 306 pp. $26
 
Miguel Syjuco's wildly entertaining "Ilustrado" was the recipient of the 2008 Man Asia Literary Prize. Such awards, as readers know, all too often go to earnest, high-minded, politically correct and rather dull books. In this case, I picture the judges, weary from perusing massive laser-printed works of heart-sinking merit, suddenly rejoicing at the discovery of a manuscript as engaging as this one, absolutely assured in its tone, literary sophistication and satirical humor.

"Ilustrado" is a term used to describe the well-to-do intelligentsia of the Philippines. At the heart of the novel are two strangely similar examples of this class, writers living in New York as voluntary exiles from their wealthy and influential families in Manila. The first is the internationally famous man of letters Crispin Salvador, till recently a teacher at Columbia. Over the course of his life, Salvador has been the author of hard-hitting reportage, every sort of literary fiction, children's fantasy novels, James Bond-like thrillers, steamy romances and a scathing memoir. Passages from his various books are quoted throughout "Ilustrado," along with exchanges from his notable interview in the Paris Review.

Read more.

Call for Submissions: The 11th Annual DC APA Film Festival

From the Hyphen magazine blog: The D.C. APA Film will hold its 11th Annual Film Festival from October 7 - 16 in downtown Washington D.C. Last year's 10th anniversary festival was a huge success for APA film, with sold out screenings and workshops. Since 2000, DC APA Film has had more than 20,000 in attendance during our 10-day festival. The DC APA Film Fest will accept submissions of all types of films, including Narrative, Documentary, Animation, Music Video and Experimental. More info and guidelines here. Deadline: Saturday, May 8.

Call for Submissions: Voices of the Asian American Experience

From the Asia Writes blog:

Dr. Emily Moberg Robinson, an adjunct professor of Asian American history/studies at UC Santa Cruz, is co-editing a book called Voices of the Asian American Experience. It is a collection of primary sources, excerpted to 2-3 pages (max ~1500 words), with brief introductions for each, and organized mainly by ethnicity. It will be published by ABC-CLIO in 2011.

She is looking for pieces illustrating different facets of Asian America, from as many different perspectives as possible. Everything from articles to personal essays to blog posts to interviews to poetry can be included. She's interested in reflections on race, gender, ethnicity, immigration, religion, sexuality, generational differences, assimilation and Americanization, national and trans-national identity, etc.

For more information and to submit a piece, email Emily at emobergrobinson@gmail.com.

Deadline: July 31st