hey my people my people :) gettin' it in where it's fittin' this week -- just got back from back-to-back performances at indiefeed.com's nyc showcase at the bowery poetry club (much love to mongo!) and the we got issues! celebration gala at the theater at st. peter's (much love to all the WGI! crew old and new) -- just chillaxing with some eats and good company at the crib before i take off for waterton, ny tomorrow for a show at jefferson community college.  feeling positive, awake, and over-full :)
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for the weekly rewind -- hosting and performing for last week's gala for asian american arts alliance was not only fabulous, shiny, and fun, but a wonderfully intimate and personally inspiring event (much love to lillian, nico, and the whole staff as asian american arts alliance) -- everyone on the mic was so heartfelt in terms of their own paths to success in film, fashion, television, and visual art.  it takes a lot of believers along the way in any one person's career (which i can definitely attest too) and that strong sense that what you will become is something that may not be quite possible yet -- but you will be a part of the catalyzing force that changes the whole game up and makes the formerly impossible possible -- congrats again to suchin, tomie, joe, maulik, and alice and everyone who came out to support our successes as asian pacific islander americans in arts and entertainment -- the change isn't coming, why...it's already here and happening right now.

here's a pic from the night snapped by phil nee:

(From left to right: Alan Okada, Tomie Arai, Kelly Zen-Yie Tsai, Alice Wu, SuChin Pak, Lily Lu, Judah Friedlander, Jeannie Park, Maulik Pancholy)

got the chance to check out nomadic massive at the college music journal (cmj) festival happening in nyc this weekend, which was no less than heart-thumping ground-shaking urban tribes ripping everything in their paths and exploding with goodness in no less than ten multilingual, multi-instrumental voices -- so if you get the chance to check 'em out loud -- most definitely do not miss these folks that are chartering that territory of where transnational hip hop is right now.

(catching the theme this week?  ha!)

performed at the domestic violence prevention summit hosted by kevin powell and april silver/akila worksongs this weekend -- which got my head moving in about a skillion directions like why are there so few services for men in general, and even moreso for straight men, who are survivors of rape, incest, and abuse?  even if those services do or did exist -- they wouldn't be able to just graft the kind of services that women receive at domestic violence counseling services and shelters right?  there would be a whole different range of issues/kinds of counseling perhaps that male survivors would be dealing with. 

i worked as a domestic violence counselor in college, and it's true that sometimes people who work in domestic violence counseling are not only survivors but currently in abusive relationships (my old co-worker/mentor was nearly killed by her partner during the time she worked at the shelter).  when is there ever a dialogue between people who are actively abusers (and feel justified in it) and people who work within domestic violence prevention -- besides on "jerry springer" -- so a lot of good work being done and a lot more to do -- true. 

saw "paranormal activity" this weekend, which i gots to say i was less than excited by the actual film (although in some ways it was a wonderfully simple and focused story, just a handful of characters, one location, one storyline) --  for one thing, why do people in scary movies always fuck around with things that they are told distinctly NOT to fuck around?  but i do think that it's an exciting moment in film in general, since the studios are getting hip to the fact that everything is changing in terms of how movies can and should be marketed and distributed -- and that internet buzz and personal testimony is as effective if not more effective in terms of getting people in the theaters than advertising dollars -- which i hope shifts the focus more towards we get the kind of arts and entertainment that we WANT so long as we spread the good word ourselves -- sounds good to me, yeah huh :) -- for the grassroots diy movement that dreamworks very likely bit the marketing and distribution concept from, check out this youtube video case study on "four-eyed monsters" if ya' don't know about it already --  

getting long again this week -- but congrats to all the new grads of the we got issues! leadership institute :) and whhhhhhaaaaaa the event at the bowery for indiefeed was incredible some of spoken word/performance poetry's best and brightest masters of the form, the true diehards were in the house.  it felt so good to be in that electric room of people who've dedicated so much time, passion, and meticulous attention to the craft of spoken word -- folks like mike mcgee, helena d. lewis, mahogany browne, christin o'keefe aptowicz, emily kagan trenchard, gary mex glazner, and the founder of indiefeed mongo (and that was just in the last hour of the three hour spoken word/performance poetry bonanza) -- the true impulse.  a night that illustrates the unique sophistication, impact, and  fire of spoken word/performance poetry that just isn't captured by ANYTHING ELSE.

we are poets, indeed.

blessings and thanks for hanging wit' me :)
kells