I tapped some wireless outside my hotel. I got so many stories when I foreal return to the bloggy world, Dec. 30th. Until then, countdown to a NEW DECADE. Get ready for the heeeeeat!
BE A HOMIE & TELL A HOMIE!
RIOT IN THE SKY
Bloggery of an artist: I don't always know what I'm doing, but WATCH ME DO IT.
Hello world,
I’m signing off the technoworld for a week because I’m going to the BAHAMAS!! While the snow piles up in Boston, I’ll be getting my tan on at the beach and scoping out some Bahama booty, HOLLA! So no posts from me until DECEMBER 30th! By which time I’ll most likely have lots of stories about ignorant, self-entitled tourists, appropriation of indigenous lifestyles and the dilemma between cultural commodification & economic rise via tourism. Damn, I hadn’t even boarded the plane yet and I’m bugging out. Okay, I’ll put my blind shades on now 
I’m not going to KOKOMO, but the Muppets mention the BAHAMAS in this song:
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qReKppA71DE&hl=en_US&fs=1&]
Watch this chef try to cook Big Bird for dinner! Fuck a pot. We’d have to cook him in a GEYSER!
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z2C4yRG-r-0&hl=en_US&fs=1&]
Happy holidays everyone!!
I’m sick. Hella hard to breathe through inflamed nostrils right now. I’ve been editing poems and doing layout designs all freaking day on the computer (CHAPBOOK IS COMING!), it feels like my eyeballs are about to bleed. This is not good. I’m too tired to post. So check out this commercial by Fisher Price. Shit is beyond hilarious. There are many things wrong with this though. How many can you count? It will still have you rolling by the end:
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KMSpHb1WKrE&hl=en_US&fs=1&]
Vibrator gloves for kids? YAAAAAAAAAA BOYYYYY!
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cRdxXPV9GNQ&hl=en_US&fs=1&]
Yes, I saw the movie BEFORE YOU and Yes, you should be jealous. I don’t want to be a jerk and say too much before the public premiere so I’ll just say it was a little something like
Apocalypto|Mel Gibson x Pocahontas x Bush’s War x Fern Gully x Back-to-the-future-fast-forward x Your Moms x Buuuuck Yea!
My Thursday post is coming early because I’m so amped off this shit. My blogdawg Mikey just dropped his new site tonight!!! DON’T SLEEP.
This dude is a design magician. He is an illustrator, web designer/flash programmer extraordinaire. And I mean this with absolutely NO HOMIE BIAS. (I know I’ve said that before…but damn, I can’t help it if my friends are dope).
Click here for WWW.STUDENT17.COM
Congratulations dawgy.
As an artist and a blogger, it’s my commitment to be as real with y’all as possible. If I’m going to share myself with the world, I want to take the risk in being honest and vulnerable. I believe in being present in real time–this includes exploring new ideas and asking you all the same questions I ask myself, because I don’t have all the answers and I won’t act like I do. My past few posts have been questioning a lot about sexuality, feminism and the male gaze. The following piece is inspired by my continuous thought process. Peep my blog tomorrow for a fresh feature in “Essays on the Good, the Bad and the Ugly” sharing with you my new findings.
Disclaimer: The following piece is not meant to be a personal attack or insult to anyone. Rather, it is all centered on my own internal explorations. For the record, thank you to YONE & Hypebeast.com for giving me an opportunity to work with dope talent. Holla.
I don’t give a fuck about a hypebeast blog
Yea I made that shit, it was nuttin’ at all
These good looking genes? Thank you mom and pop
Anyone can do it, just take off your top
But I kept mine on, thank you very much
Reject the request of a photo buff
Strip everything keep the self respect
Strip everything and how much is left?
I don’t give a fuck about a hypebeast blog
Yea I made that shit, it was nuttin’ at all
I gota save my shit, this ain’t a bargain call
Too much diamonds on the market make the value fall
Camera’s loaded now, who’s running the show?
Run through the film until the end of the roll
Work your best pose but you still won’t know
By the end of the shoot, you can look the hoe
That’s the given role, pre-designated
Enter head in thinking I could change it
Ain’t so easy as my analyticals made it
I got two hands but the camera ain’t in it
If a picture is worth a thousand words
Who does the talking, who’s side comes first?
Who does the walking, the tripod or purse?
They say sex sells, a gift or a curse?
Looking sexy for the camera ain’t my best talent
Lying low on a couch ain’t really a challenge
I do it easily, but it ain’t my best side
I’d rather show the world what I have inside.
Believe me when I tell you it was nuttin’ at all
You can be better than a hypebeast blog
Make your own name not another blank broad
Baby be your own boss ’til you’re calling the shots.
Peace.
Another title for the Readership’s Hit List:
Thanks to Susan, who put Mikey on this book, who then put me on this book. I haven’t even picked it up yet and I’m already excited for the ride. Let’s read and ride together 
Mistletoe upgrade. I think everybody was trying to get laid this night.
The picture above is from an event this past Friday night at my job. Evergreen fresh.
I am very Sunday Buzzed out. Call me tired. This week, my blogdawg mikey & i decided to REBUILD my entire flash website. We’re keeping the same layout, so it won’t look drastically different to the viewer, but definitely polished and refreshed. It’s mostly the backdoor that we’re reconstructing. I’m excited to drop this in January.
I know the “Say WORD” blog category to the right is looking skimp, but know that I HAVE been on the writing grind. I decided to save them for now so people have something new to look forward to when I release my first chapbook in January!
The YONE photo shoot was Saturday and overall–good experience. More like social networking experiment. Dope relationship building. I’ll have more thoughts and photos to share later on in the week. In a nutshell, I can say that even if you enter the situation with a particular mindset, it’s interesting how the camera can frame you–lit AND FIGURATIVELY. haaa!
Example. Check these 3 photos our friend was snapping away while we were chilling at Goodlife Bar.
Exhibit A:
The DJ was from LA. Fun and laughs. YEE!
Exhibit B:
Later on, Charly wanted to work the camera with her unzipped corset. She’s grown and can absolutely do her own thing. So I stepped out of the shot. I only enter here to help her ZIP UP her corset because she needs two hands to hold up her boobies.
Exhibit C:
I was laughing about what people around us must’ve been thinking. Now look how scandalous we look in the shot. Oh, the power of shutter speed.
Alright, now call my “friend” with the point & shoot camera the internationally renowned photographer, Mr. YONE himself, RE-ORDER the photos to imply a different narrative, throw it on the Hypebeast blog with a title, “girls girls girls everyday” and bada-bing–you GOT A STORY for the family dinners this holiday season.
YONE is still my homie. That dude is madd ill and I respect him as an artist. In a sexist and sex-crazed world where women are easily objectified, I wonder if there’s a legitimate way for women to embrace their natural bodies in front of the camera without inevitably being casted as the object of sexual voyeurism. If yes, how? If no, do we hide? If so, are we living as reactionary? I’m still searching and exploring answers. It’s a matter of considering the future while living in the moment. I know I will always enter every situation with a critical eye and a critical assessment. Every experience can change, shift or affirm my views. In this case–Affirmative.
Dang y’all, I was partying so hard last night I didn’t get to blog!! My bad. Check out my girl Charly & YONE’s crew below:
Charly Beast, YONE, Yoko (wife/manager), Takayo (Translator), ME (Behind the camera)
Anyways, YONE asked me to come in and do a photo shoot. I know what you’re thinking. I was thinking the same. I was standing in the middle of his exhibition where my eyes were met with sexy half naked girls from all angles. Peep HERE. I felt pressure to be like them, but I was determined to be different as well. I said “Yes”. I decided a long time ago that I’m too young to pass up opportunities. Risks are good. They can bring great things. And if they don’t kill you, it’s a lesson learned.
I CAN DO SEXY. That shit is easy (wear less talk less). But do I want to? It’s not a matter of how comfortable or not I am with my body. Because I am very comfortable in my body (that’s what HE said, haaaaa!). For me, it’s understanding how I want to challenge stereotypical portrayal of women while still embracing my sexuality. It’s the balance between rejecting the norm but accepting where you may fit in there. There is more than one way to be SEXY. Mainstream media teaches young girls that being sexy and desirable means stripping down. That Tila Tequila claim to fame approach is wearing me out.
Then Takayo (Yone’s translator) told me something so inspiring, revealing and affirming. Here’s our convo:
Me: What should I bring/wear tomorrow?
Takayo: ANYYYTHING! Wear whatever you want.
Me: Is there anything that YONE doesn’t like?
Takayo: No, he just wants you to be creative.
Me: Does he expect me to get NAKED!
Takayo: (Eyes wide) NOOOOO! He’s never asked any of the girls to do that.
Me: (Eyes wide) REALLY?
Takayo: Yea! Those girls are just really comfortable doing that.
Me: (Eyes wide with an eyebrow scrunch) Hm…
Takayo: But yea! A lot of girls in Japan don’t know how to be creative or express themselves. You can wear NICE clothes! Have fun! Whatever!
Me: Hell yea!
My case: when put in front of a camera, every girl thinks that getting naked and looking raunchy is what they are SUPPOSE to do. They fulfill the role they’ve always seen and been taught growing up by media. They believe it will make them desirable, that it will please the client and the viewer. They believe they’re doing their “job” as “women” in society. And the scary part is, they probably don’t even realize it.
So let’s see how sexed up I can get for the camera tonight. At the end of the day though, all social conditioning and shit aside, a woman can do whatever the fuck she wants. It sucks that the framework of a world we live in will cast and judge her. Maybe I’m just making excuses right now. Or maybe I just need to stop looking for reasons to explain myself.
There was a time when I said, “I will NEVER get Twitter. FUCK THAT SHIT.”
Damn, times change and another reason why “Never say never” is the truest form of contradiction.
I’ve always been a little scared of technology and the WWW. I’ve been called a “cave woman” before. I felt that rapid technological advancements:
1) warped social evolution to go backwards (less talking, more typing..byebye touchy feely face).
2) dramatically developed a strange 6th human sense: HUNGER for FAME (Vanity strikes the YouTube revolution…the self-telecast, self-made, self-proclaimed celebrity.)
3) resulted in the subconscious surrender of human privacy.
All this was scary to me and I didn’t want to be part of it. I don’t always like talking about myself, I just want the product to speak for itself. On top of everything, if any of you caught “My Very Honest Post”, you’d know that I was victim to a very serious, schizophrenic and delusional stalker (literally). I still am, because that MFer never got put away. So I take privacy, trust and personal space are all very seriously. For a good chunk of time, I was in hiding–from the stalker, from everyone around me, from my family, from the world, from myself. I won’t divulge too much because I know the stalker is reading. But anyways, back to technology and the voluntary surrender of privacy, people are starting to give up their personal information, then their photos, NOW, even all their THOUGHTS. It was disturbing to me. We used to complain about the Patriot Act and the U.S. government fucking with all our privacy rights; now, the government doesn’t even have to try to be all up in our business. We willingly give it up without knowing how much of ourselves we are exposing.
I STILL am a very private and reserved person. To be an artist, I need to put myself and my work out there if I want to reach as many people as possible. It’s a twisted dilemma. As I come out of “my cave” and away from “hiding”, I’m learning how to trust the world again. I absolutely DO want to be connected with the world. That’s the beautiful thing about technology. I’m understanding how to function in my role as a grounded human being in this technologically advancing world. I just don’t want to lose myself in the digital vortex.
So “Follow Me” but not really… twitter.com/ThisFirstLady
It’s true. I GOT A YASUMASA YONEHARA ORIGINAL!! Check here:
This is my homie Square. He’s one of the illest artists around. And I mean that with absolutely no homie bias. NONE!! He’s one of Boston’s best–ASK SOMEBODY!
Anyways, in this photo we were chilling at some Puma x DJ Hero shindig last night (DJ Hero puts me to sleep). The photo is taken by world renowned Japanese photographer, Yasumasa Yonehara a.k.a. YONE! He’s in town from Tokyo for his art show this Friday (Ask somebody!). YONE takes super sexy photos of hot girls. His philosophy is MAKE LOVE NOT WAR. Literally. Before you judge the raunchiness, take a moment to think about Japan’s terribly suppressed sex culture (they got blow up sex doll shops, pay-by-the-hour…..). What does the term “American/Imperialist Aggression” mean in the context of war? When someone becomes “sexually frustrated”, what happens? They BLOW UP! All puns intended, yadidameeeean! I’m still processing my feelings on it. Judge for yourself: Yasumasa Yonehara
The photo above was taken with the camera below. FUJI INSTAX! CALLING ALL SANTAS, hollaaaa:
Over the weekend, I was a guest speaker for the Asian American Resource Workshop’s (AARW) panel about youth organizing, community activism and efforts in social change (Yes, you see a lot of my paintings and poems but sometimes the most important work goes unseen–which is the case for many of my community organizer homies). Anyways, I talked about my involvement as a youth organizer in high school and political education being a catalyst for my journey to the west coast, reaping up bundles of knowledge in ethnic studies, racial theories, community building, grassroots organizing and all that good stuff. They asked me the following question, to which I was stumped. I stumbled in the moment and gave a shitty, unfulfilled answer. I said something cliche like the red or blue pill in the Matrix. Lame. Now, I wish to redeem myself and say what I really meant to say:
Question: What is your motivation for continuing activism and pushing for social change?
My motivation is knowing that I will die. The way everybody will die, unless they create a pill for immortality. I don’t know when I’ll die, which is why time can’t be wasted. I ask myself, “If you only have ONE life to live, what do you want to do with it?” 50 cent says Get Rich or Die Tryin’, it sends the message that the ultimate goal in life is to become filthy rich, but how fulfilling is that? You can’t take all the money, cars, clothes and expensive shit you bought with you when you die. I think about how fucked up the world can be these days–madd corruption, poverty, bank conspiracies, institutionalized racism and the list goes on. It really makes me sad. Even after I die, my kids and their kids will still have to live in this world. So if I had one life to live, it would be to do everything I can to leave this world a better place than when I first entered. I want my kids and their kids and other kids to live in a better world than what I lived in. Whether it is through creating art to inspire new generations, publishing research on social theories, implementing just policies within institutions or more, I want to live a purposeful life and make a lasting impact on the world. It is definitely a more difficult route, to accept the burden of social responsibility. But after a consciousness is cracked open, it’s hard to be happy with just material things anymore. It doesn’t even matter if no one remembers me. There are a lot of social justice fighters throughout history whose names we will never know–martyrs like Malcolm or Martin are great figures, but they didn’t do it all on their own. Remembrance or not, the world will never be the same.
For more information about AARW and how to get involved, click the image below:
AARW Mission
The mission of the Asian American Resource Workshop is to work for the empowerment of the Asian Pacific American community to achieve its full participation in U.S. society.
We are a member-based organization that seeks to document the diverse Asian Pacific American histories, experiences, and social conditions. Our resources and activities are used to respond to current Asian Pacific American issues and to promote Asian Pacific American identity.
I went to the Harvard Bookstore’s bi-annual warehouse sale this weekend. HELLA cheap ass books for a buck and up! I love books. It’s like cracking open a treasure chest of knowledge. Become RICH through reading. Knowledge is power y’all, and the key to mental, spiritual and physical liberation. YEEEEAA. Check out these titles I copped:
Always on a mission to expand my consciousness and understand our universe.
I want to know how to make the magic happen.
I can’t believe someone beat me to putting two of my favorite things together: dinosaurs AND poems? Word.
This is Maurice Sendak’s first pop-up book. I collect pop-up books! They are the shit. Paper mechanics are geniuses.
Honestly, these pop-ups look way better in real life.
Another pop-up book. This one had cool tab pullies and secret flaps. Damn.
I wish I could fly like these birds. But I still stay fly like these birds. Haaaa!
Alright y’all. It’s the Sunday Buzz. But sometimes some people don’t feel like reading. Kind of like the way some people don’t feel like writing (ahem). So I just spent the last 2 hours setting up a NEW PAGE tab called, “Living Stroke RECAP”. Since I try to post pretty frequently and some folks may not check in frequently enough, they miss out on some bomb ass bloggyblog posts by yours truly–especially the ones that feature recent artwork. So in celebration of the end of a decade (and the beginning of a new one), I compiled all my artwork from Summer 2009 to now into one page. I was on some serious grind this season y’all!! And the fun just don’t stop. Check the new page tab above. Enjoy.
Oh yea, here is a painting I completed this summer but never officially unveiled. Say hello to my buddy Swizzy:
Portrait of HOT SWAT | Spray paint on Canvas
P.S. I’ll be working on archiving all these paintings on my official flashy flash website with the rest of my artwork. Home base, baby. Holla.
That I wouldn’t join the thousands of ruthless indulgers in sex-crazed America to throw in their two cents about Tiger Woods’ private affairs. I’m in no position to dissect Tigers’ marriage issues, but at the very least, I can say sumthin’ about the wild reactions that have since ensued.
Everybody wants a piece of Tiger. Whether what Tiger did was right or wrong, Tiger Woods is known for being an amazing GOLFER, not an amazing husband. I’m in no way condoning or excusing him, I’m just saying, you can be the best golfer in the world and still be a dirtbag. There’s no stated correlation between athletic ability and marital morals. Even though I believe what he did is fucked up, I still believe in the right to privacy.
Tiger Woods getting caught cheating affected people in 3 different ways:
1) He lost fans.
2) He gained fans.
3) Did not matter.
Some (heterosexual) women are thinking, “Ugh. MEN. Typical.” Another reason why we can’t trust them. Even nice guys are dogs.
Some women are thinking, “Damn, Tiger. Can I holla?”
Some (heterosexual) men are thinking, “Damn, Tiger ruined it for the male species. He just made it harder for the rest of us to get with women (such as the ones quoted above).”
Some guys are thinking, “Damn, Tiger. Elin is HOT! You idiot.”
Amidst all the reactions, there is one common factor: DISAPPOINTMENT. For me, the most disappointing thing about the disappointment expressed is hearing about how many men are NOT disappointed in the fact that Tiger CHEATED, they are disappointed in the fact that Tiger GOT CAUGHT.
“Tiger got CAUGHT. And THAT’s where he fucked up.”
WTF?
This implies that it is acceptable for men to cheat on their wives as long as they don’t get caught. I’m not judging polygamy. If people want to have multiple partners, they should join a polygamous society and/or NOT get married. But in the context of American society, a sexist culture promotes the narrow view of manhood as being misogynist, macho and dominant. We raise boys to believe that being men means it’s acceptable to devalue women. Preserving the male ego means exerting dominance over women. Many men would argue that this is inherent and part of biology. I won’t go into arguing the entire sociological standpoint of how people are conditioned to play out gender roles, but I think we could agree that babies are innocent. Everybody is born into this world with a clean slate of mannerisms and behavioral habits. Those things are taught and learned, not inherent. SpikeTV is an example of the macho teacher. As a woman in this society, I think men forget how their words and actions can make a women feel devalued, disposable and disrespected. Some men think women like it. Maybe some women “do”. Or maybe that is also part of the female gender role conditioning to accept objectification because that understanding is correlated with male dominance and desirability. Like many things, it’s a vicious cycle. But if the root of our problems are socially constructed, then we can most definitely do some social reconstructioning. Holla.
Good news! Jacqueline Nguyen:
1) We reppin’ the same last name of the greatest Dynasty to ever reign.
2) Nominated by (first black President) BARACK OBAMA!
3) Went to my alma mater, UCLA!!
PEEP THE ARTICLE:
Senate Confirms Nation’s First Vietnamese American Woman to Serve on the Federal Bench
This is tight. Jacqueline Nguyen is the first Vietnamese American Woman to serve on the Federal Bench. She was born in South Vietnam (1965) and moved to the U.S. when she was 10 years old after the Vietnam War. She went from war refugee to U.S. Federal Bench–all in one lifetime!! Damn, extraordinary people like her give folks no excuse to not hustle for a dream. She got that Refugee State of Mind. Many privileged (& spoiled) Americans inherit a legacy of advantages. She inherited nothing. And what she accomplished by climbing the ranks of American society in less than a lifetime is a testament to the possibilities of hard work, determination and perseverance. The value and hustle of immigrant and refugee communities are too often undermined in this country. Oftentimes language and cultural barriers hinder such communities from fully having a voice to defend and represent themselves. Mainstream society casts immigrants and refugees as perpetual foreigners, second class citizens and a waste of space. But damn, haters bedda watch out!! Wanted or not, we are most definitely a rising class. And I don’t mean that in a “Let’s take over everything!!” kind of way. But rather, let’s transform this country and shift the paradigm kind of way. For a bedda day. And days. First class all day everyday please and thank you!!
Speaking of Vietnamese people, my parents had a huge dinner party last night with some OG Vietnamese homies. (There was lobster! I was having a fucking blast with them claws.). My dad’s long lost brother showed up for the first time in YEARS and now has a wife and two kids (long story, another blog post). All the OG’s kept telling me I need to step up my game and be MARRIED by 25!! I told them that fellas need to step up THEIR game. HELLO. They kept asking me, “How come you don’t have a boyfriend yet?”
I told them,
“Two words: TIGER. WOODS.”
or as the people like to say, CHEETAH WOODS. haaaa!
Check out these sexy light shows I recorded for y’all while I was in New York City. They hella put me in the holiday groove!! And a smitten mooood, yadidamean!!
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kjqs7qLE5pE&hl=en&fs=1]
(Above) Please ignore the annoying background voices. I don’t know them.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uz1T8dferbU&hl=en&fs=1]
I recommend having some background music off your iTunes because this video does not come with music.
I’m excited to unveil a new, never before seen painting. This is also the last painting I’ll be releasing for 2009. Enjoy!
Figure 8’s & Elephants
a.k.a. Balance & Babar
Acrylic on Canvas | 36 x 36 inches | Summer 2009
(Click for enlarged image)
Synopsis: This piece was inspired by many things, but mostly the pursuit of balance and my love for elephants. In a technical sense, I wanted to challenge myself to practice the principle of patience by creating a piece that required precision and meticulous design. Patience is one of my greatest weaknesses–thus, through painting and the creative process I strive to improve my overall virtues. While the overall design is tight, I stayed loose with the brushwork.
The pursuit of balance and my love for elephants both fall under the umbrella of Buddhism. While I have many goals in life, my ultimate goal is to achieve balance. I strive for balance in my life everyday. Balance is a constant battle for me because I’m always trying to do everything at once. Trying to achieve balance between my painting and my writing, production and promotion, family and friends, work and pleasure, activism and art, scholastic research and creative explorations, everything. One of my greatest realizations in the pursuit of balance is understanding that balance can be achieved in the long term–not everything needs to be immediate. Sometimes, I get so caught up in the present moment by doing everything at the same time, that I fall completely out of balance. I’ve realized that you don’t have to prove yourself all at once. I have the rest of my life to do all the things I want to do, and with time and patience, I can do them all to ultimately live a life of balance.
Elephants are fucking awesome for many reasons. They are highly revered creatures in Southeast Asian culture and Buddhism (holla). They are communal animals who ride and die together, not like the individualistic culture capitalist America cultivates. I’ve always been intrigued by elephants because they are gargantuan as shit! They can crush your puny existence. But they don’t, because they are very peaceful animals. Even in their colossal mass, elephants can walk as light as a feather, while still moving the earth with every step. And that’s exactly what I want to do. I want to move the world. With peace, not with force. I love elephants. And that’s why I got a tattoo of one.
THESE PEOPLE CHANGED MY LIFE. They are also three of the most nationally acclaimed spoken word poets in America, from HBO Def Poetry to your HOMES! Now, they are all going on tour together. Oh, the damage!!
Giles Li: My poetry sensei. He was the very first person to put me on to the world of spoken word poetry.
I remember before I met Giles, I was mad. He was the new mentor and coordinator for a Youth Program I was doing and I was mad he was replacing Sophia Kim, a woman I wanted to work with. I didn’t really want to meet him. The only Giles I knew at the time was the weird librarian from Buffy the Vampire Slayer–so I had a double negative pre-impression of him. All my prejudgments were quickly proved wrong. When I finally got to know Giles, I remember thinking how calm he was ALL THE TIME. His expressions were hard to read. But I finally realized that fiery passion doesn’t always have to brew in a volcanic vault. You don’t have to prove yourself in every moment. Watching Giles perform was my first spoken word show. He was so funny, witty and passionately expressive in a way I had never seen before. That’s when I started to realize words & performance to be a catalyst for exploring other parts of you. I love Giles’ poetry because it crushes the cliche, it is brutally honest without brashness and it is always a step ahead of my thoughts.
Bao Phi: My Vietnamese sensei. He showed me that Vietnamese people can write poetry, too. Holla.
I met Bao through Giles. I already wrote about HOW FREAKIN’ AWESOME Bao is in an earlier post and to keep things fair, you can check it out HERE.
Kelly Zen-Yie Tsai: Warrior of words. She brings the fire and the wind all in one breath.
I also met Kelly through Giles. She was a guest performer at a youth leadership conference I organized in high school. I remember thinking how bad she was with that tattoo but also how fierce she was with her voice. I think she’s one of the best spoken word poets out there not only in performance and content, but also in soul and purpose. She is one of the few artists I’ve met that understands the need to forward an art form rather just exploit the art form for personal gain. There aren’t very many empowering role models of Asian American women out there, especially in the mainstream. Unless you want to count Tila Tequila as an “empowering” role model because she uses fake boobs and sex to snatch fame (the pain she did to our last name!!). But anyways, in 2006 I opened for Kelly at a Locus Arts show in San Francisco. She told me she liked my poems and that meant the world to me.
It’s a blog eat blog world, dawgy.
GET WITH ME
Hardwood Hustle
Hard Knock Bidnas. Holla.
BLOGDAWGS!
Download my FREE Chapbook!
23 Original Poems | Click to download
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THE NEW NEW
- Back Back to Cali Cali
- Cop “diamonds & pearls” NOW!
- I’m leaving Artists For Humanity
- Bloggyblog Hiatus
- Bumpin’ clockwork: The Roots & Eminem
- New Student17.com LAUNCH!!
- Who is Agent Orange??
- Unheard voices in the oil spill: the Vietnamese community
- Pineapple Demo
- Facebook detox & P. Diddy talk
- Magnetic North & Taiyo Na collabo album!
- Willard Wigan–micro sculptor, big fucking deal!
- Adventures in Los Angeles pt. 2
- Adventures in Los Angeles pt. 1
- Revolution running in my ears
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What is the REFUGEE STATE OF MIND?
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