| LIVING MEMORY / LIVING ABSENCE - showtime!!! |
[17 Oct 2005|01:59am] |
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MONTHS OF WORK AND THIS IS THE WEEK I GET TO SHARE IT WITH FRIENDS, FAM, AND COMPLETE STRANGERS!
"Without a doubt, Anida Yoeu Esguerra has one of the sharpest tongues in America.
Her spoken word performances have been known to make audiences cry,
cheer and think - all in one breath"- PoliticalCircus.com
Asian Improv aRts Midwest
presents
Living Memory/Living Absence
October 20-22, 2005
Thursday, Friday and Saturday, 8pm
Admission $12; $10 students
LINKS HALL
3435 N. Sheffield,
Chicago, IL 60657
Tel 773.281.0824
Performed, Written & Created by Anida Yoeu Esguerra
Movement Director: Nicole LeGette
Video Artist: Masahiro Sugano
Musician: Amy Homma
Dramaturg: Robert Karimi
Living Memory/Living Absence marks the return of Cambodian American artist, Anida Yoeu Esguerra, to her birth country after 25 years of absence. The multimedia work traces Esguerra’s poetic fears of returning to a country she never knew; the incredible joy she felt immersed in ancient Cambodian traditions; and the irreversible legacy of a genocide that lingered in the streets and countryside like stretched shadows without owners. In Living Memory/Living Absence Esguerra performs poetry with movement inspired by Butoh set against a video backdrop of the sites and sounds of her memories of Cambodia. Esguerra reveals a journey through a landscape of fragmented old memories, an open ache for Home, and the junction of ancient cultures and modern curiosities. Living Memory/Living Absence is presented as part of the 10th Annual Chicago Asian American Jazz Festival. A musical performance by taiko/shamisen (Japanese lute) artist Amy Homma will open each show.
Anida Yoeu Esguerra seeks an artistic, spiritual and political exploration of her identity as a non hyphenated Cambodian Muslim American woman. Esguerra uses an interdisciplinary approach to creating art which mixes the visual, spoken and written into performed explorations of hybrid identities. She is interested in using performance work as a means to transform losses into conversations about healing and understanding. Esguerra is a founding member of the critically acclaimed groupsI Was Born With Two Tongues and Mango Tribe. She is a participant in Dance Theater Workshop's Mekong Project Artist Residency program in Thailand and Cambodia. Esguerra tours extensively in North America with recent international performances in Delhi, Ho Chi Minh City, Phnom Penh and Chiang Mai. Esguerra is a co-editor of Screaming Monkeys: Critiques of Asian American Images (Coffee House Press, 2003), an anthology that won ForeWord Magazine's Gold Book of the Year Award. Esguerra has been recognized by PoliticalCircus.com as one of the 30 most influential Asian Pacific Americans 30 years of age or younger. She is a recipient of Insight Arts’ Creative Movements Festival Award for Spoken Word/Poetry that honors individuals, collectives, and organizations whose cultural and intellectual work has contributed to the development of dialogue concerning social justice and human rights. She aches for home, a good pair of ass-kicking shoes, and poetry by Audre Lorde. She is proud to call Chicago home but knows the journey never really ends for the refugee.
For more info please visit atomicshogun.com
**
RESERVE TIX IN ADVANCE
also because of limited seating – Links Hall is advising that people RESERVE TICKETS IN ADVANCE. You can do that by calling LInks Hall (773) 281-0824. Tickets are then paid for at the door – cash or checks. no credit cards. Its general admission so you’ll want to be there early for the better seats.
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| phoenix on the cusp of virgo rising |
[11 Sep 2005|11:03pm] |
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Green Day says it best: "Summer has come and passed / The innocent can never last / wake me up when september ends"
tonite's entry is in memory of 9/11, katrina survivors, iraq and less we forget the losses & devastation in afghanistan.
as part of my own september rebirth i've moved to a new screen name. you can find me on livejournal/my space/AIM /flickr as![[info]](http://stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) atomicshogun and you can also stop by my brand spanking new website
check it out. stay for awhile. dig deep. enjoy. i'm awake and ready.
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| 3:30am |
[09 Sep 2005|03:31am] |
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mood |
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 contemplative |
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3:30am and i can't sleep. i think it's the coffee combined with a gazillion other thoughts bursting from my forehead. so you know what's on right now. some movie called "stardom" on late nite hbo about a girl hockey player who becomes the "next it" girl 'cuz some local photog snapped a picture of her that landed in the "right hands." of course she's still a piece of coal with "diamond" potentials. yet i'm captivated. whadafuck.
so i've been thinking about spirituality a lot... and progress and indigenous practices and ancestors and rituals and white clam sauce and the hot new christian dior boots and the possession of emily rose and orchids and the hottest parts of a flame and why the hell 80s fashion is back and why sulu bothers me when i'm working and when will i be debt free and how could i be thinking of me! me! me! with all that catastrophic bureaucratic bullshit that's killing people down south and blah blah blah. will our lives ever be storm free. god really sucks sometimes.
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| reality check |
[06 Sep 2005|02:03pm] |
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wow. having tv changes everything. i need my pop culture. reality tv is my drug of choice. so far i watched "battle of the reality stars" and the search for the next "inxs" lead singer and bits of the real world-austin and the "gossip" about the inferno special episode. don't worry i didn't get a season pass on tivo for it. i watch based on the "whatever is on" policy. i'ml not sure why i'm "quotationing" everything. so "random". yuck i just sneezed over my laptop screen. gross. tmi. wiping now.
anyone watch the new battlestar galactica? i fraggin' love that show.
so what the frack is going on with the world?
other than the new orleans catastrophe - america is truly fucked up. check out the following newsbits:
1.) After two days of criticism, Pat Robertson finally apologized for his "Fatwa" on President Hugo Chavez - yeah he openly urged the US to assassinate Chavez
2.) sons of veterans and "history buffs" gather in the backwoods of virginia to re-enact the "Vietnam War"-- apparently there are signs on dirt roads that read "To the Nam"
3.) americans love to romanticize their wars - look at the new Times Square -- "sailor/nurse kiss" sculpture -- what da hell! that nurse was a stranger the sailor grabbed - isn't that sexual assault?
4.) oh yeah and kids are still dying in Iraq.
what da frack! Oh America!
gotta go catch up on my soaps.
ha ha.
punjoke of the day: what large meal did pat robertson order for lunch?
answer: a HUGO 700 club sandwich!
ok...a bit weak.
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| ANIDA ON STAGE BY HERSELF! |
[31 Aug 2005|04:23pm] |
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so...it’s finally happening – i will be premiering my first solo show
of new work. it’s a workshop presentation of a multimedia/interdisciplinary
piece about cambodia/butterflies/loss/rebirth. many of you know that i’ve been
moving in new directions with my work – everything that i am as an
artist/activist/woman/poet/traveler/dreamer has lead me to this nexus...
so please save these dates and come to atleast one of these nights –
Thurs Oct 20, Fri Oct 21, or Sat Oct 22 in CHICAGO!!!!!
mark your calendars and tell others.
i thank you in advance for yr endless support and encouragement.
if you want to visit or roadtrip out - come this weekend - i'd love to have
my extended family present for this world debut.
i believe there's a racial justice conference
as well that weekend.
For more info about Anida Yoeu Esguerra
please visit atomicshogun.com
**********************************************************************
Asian Improv aRts Midwest
presents
“Living Memory/Living Absence”
October 20-22, 2005
Thursday, Friday and Saturday, 8pm
Admission $12; $10 students
LINKS HALL
3435 N. Sheffield,
Chicago, IL 60657
Tel 773.281.0824
Performed, Written & Created by Anida Yoeu Esguerra
Dramaturg & Director: Robert Karimi
Movement Director: Nicole LeGette
Video Artist: Masahiro Sugano
Musician: Amy Homma
Living Memory/Living Absence marks the return of Cambodian American
artist Anida Yoeu Esguerra to her birth country after 25 years of absence.
The multimedia work traces her poetic fears of returning to a country
she never knew. Esguerra performs poetry with movement inspired
by Butoh set against a video backdrop of the sites and sounds of her
memories of Cambodia. Presented as part of the 10th Annual Chicago
Asian American Jazz Festival, the evening includes an opening
musical performance by Amy Homma.
"Without a doubt, Anida Yoeu Esguerra has one of the sharpest tongues in America.
Her spoken word performances have been known to make audiences cry,
cheer and think - all in one breath"- PoliticalCircus.com
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| homie toy omens |
[30 Aug 2005|04:32pm] |
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mood |
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accomplished |
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okay so the other day robert and i took our friend shawn to the good ol' chicago establishment of "Hubs" for late nite greek food. bad idea since shawn gobbled down kilos of sloppy gyros - he apparently paid the price later that night several times in the washroom. yeah we say washroom here in the midwest. and we say pop and suckas (for lollipop) too. i ordered baklava and hot tea. and then i decide to put 50 cents into the "homie" toys gumball machine thinking - hey this will be a great little gift for mars. i'll mail it to him with a sweet letter. the machine spitted out a little rubbery toy resembling a brown woman pushing a baby carriage of twins! yikes!!!!! vanessa thinks the woman is god and the 2 kids are me and mars. i did say that if i had babies i'd like twins so that i can get the birthing process over in one 9 month cycle. mars says twins run in his family. no one's pregnant people. so no rumors.
punjoke of the day: what did my latino friend wear so that i could track him down easily?
*
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answer: a homie device!!!!!!!
ha ha ha ha.
waka waka waka.
so ya think i'm oh so political!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
laugh people. i'm back.
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| i'm back like the poltergeist girl |
[29 Aug 2005|04:40pm] |
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amused |
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there's something about the creeping of autumn that makes me want to journal more.
yep. i'm back on livejournal. i promise to write more, tell more lies/stories,
and spill all my secrets. stalkers beware. husband be weary. youths be warned.
the eclectic kaos group debuted last night at Single File Festival in chicago.
ekg is the new performance group/experiment i'm starting with karimi. so there
was 1 asian in the audience which leads me to believe that i didn't do a good job
promoting this to my community or no one cared to come. that's okay the house
was still half filled and probably the biggest audience they had. single file is
poorly publicized. their biggest act had like 20 people total in the audience.
regardless i feel great!!!!! the show went really well. improving the whole act
was fun. this whole idea about tapping into the moment and just being present
is what performance should be about. the audience raved about it and couldn't
tell that shit was done last minute. we ate pizza and drank afterwards.
my tolerance is increasing but i'm still allergic to alcohol. boo!!!!
check out pictures and details at eclectickaos.com
i'm going to keep on playing. so i heard the new "emily rose" movie is real freaky.
i aint going to see that shit. i only had the guts to see the exorcist 2 years ago.
ghosts and spirits and creepy shit freak me out.
happy 64th birthday karimi!!!! virgos are nervous wads of energy
but sagittarius...we're da shit!!!
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| wow - HONOLULU here i come |
[03 May 2005|05:37pm] |
American Cities That Best Fit You:
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65% Honolulu |
60% Atlanta |
55% Los Angeles |
55% Seattle |
50% Chicago |
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| random thoughts |
[03 May 2005|05:20pm] |
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this is a good week. no client headaches. no stress from anthropological institutions. no friends deported or defecting. just cold chicago weather, half price sangria drinks and good ol' chill time. too many friends to reconnect with. i missed my best friends bday celebration and my cousin's MS walk-a-thon. my parents have returned from thailand without my grandmother. my aunt says grandma is happier over there with her brothers and sisters of whom she hasn't seen since the khmer rouge ordeal. grandma is ready to die and be buried near her parents grave. i was lucky enough to see their graves near Haroon Mosque in Bangkok. they are greatly respected in their village. grandma doesn't want anymore operations or western medicine. she wants her last wish to be honored. to live the rest of her life in peace amongst practicing muslims. legacy seems to be a good word for this month. i hope i will be able to see her one last time in November when i return to southeast asia. hold on grandma. just one last time.
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| more leavings |
[27 Apr 2005|05:26pm] |
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whoah. day 2 on lj. day 2 in new england. shit is just crazy when i'm traveling.
they say it rains when the earth is ready to purge itself of sadness or loss.
so last nite i went to see a spectacular dance production of classical khmer dance. the whole dance is just stunning - from the shimmering costumes which people are sewn into the floor to ceiling dragon banners to the live orchestra to the graceful meticulous moves -- the whole show was captivating and made me so proud of cambodia and its future.
usually dances like this were never shown outside of the royal courts let alone to commoners. much of cambodian dance is performed sacred ritual in which the dancers serve as a means for the divine to speak to kings and vice versa. cambodian dancers become the bridge between earth and heaven. it's deep y'all. i thoroughly enjoyed it. it's headed to berkeley next. i was so proud to have known the choreographer who gave awesome detailed answers to some very dumb "white" people kind of questions. i was a little nervous when i first scoped the audience cuz they were old old white people down to the ushers...but in true p.o.c time ---they brown folks came late. old khmer people with walkers and respirators plus all sorts of shorties came through and packed the house. it was a beautiful experience.
i drove up with thea and julie, got to meet thea for the first time. he's a cool kid. much more reserved than i expected. maybe it was a bit awkward for him since we only know each other through letters. then i met up with our old buddy darren with the deep voice who talks about random shit all the time. it was a blast to have experienced the show with them and to introduce them to some of the people i knew in cambodia. atleast thea feels a little more comfortable knowing there will be people who will help him should he be deported.
so i haven't gotten to the dramatic shit yet. last night i hung out with darren, abelle (one of the khmer dancers i knew), and sal (their production manager). darren and i actually brought back food for the troupe as we heard many hadn't eaten. we brought back doughnuts, coffee, gyros, and middle eastern wraps. i had to break down and eat some chicken cuz i was so hungry and we just didn't have time to look for veggie stuff. i did say that i wasn't gonna be vigilant about going veggie. so we brought food back to their hotel lobby and ended up eating and chatting with them til past midnight. we noticed one strange incident where one of the dancers had brought down her big luggage and wanted to leave it in the lobby. we told her it wasn't a good idea and that no one was going to watch it for her. it would've been safer to keep it in her room. we thought it was strange cuz we weren't leaving on the tour bus until 11am but maybe she liked to do things way in advance. none of us knew it was sign.
so the next morning i'm suppose to hop on the bus with the dance troupe, hitching a ride back to boston. i get a call in the morning from Fred, their tour manager, who is an incredible big-hearted white man who speaks fluent khmer better than me! he tells me that the bus is not leaving til late afternoon because four of the dancers left in the middle of the night and no one knows where they are, except that they have defected. it was confirmed by one other dancer that these four had planned this as one of them told her just before leaving in the night. the whole morale of the ensemble sunk. so many people were crying and the choreographer is devastated. they had trained months for this show. there was only 1 show left. and the 4 who left have jeopardized future tours by cambodians and other "foreign" artists. this tour had 30 people - including dancers, musicians, singers and behind the scenes people. the US govt was already hesitant to issue travel visas for this kind of tour precisely because other cambodian dancers had defected a few years ago. i cried with them. it's all so sad and disappointing especially after seeing such resilience and hope on stage.
i remember thinking right after the show - more people should see this show and i hope the whole world gets a chance to see the richness of cambodian culture.
i was happy to have had the chance to spend more time with my friends. i was deeply sad to leave them all. i cried again. the leaving is never easy. the bus dropped us all off at logan airport. the rest of the troupe is headed to the bay for their final performance in berkeley. just do a google search for berkeley plus "seasons of migration" if you're interested in the show. i believe they're performing on April 29th. i will reunite with my cambodian friends in november when i return.
it's still raining.
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| Btown |
[26 Apr 2005|04:48pm] |
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holy cow!!! it's been nearly 1 year since my last confession...i mean lj entry. i'm in Boston en route to Providence. chillin' in the AARW office with Ching-In. oh yeah...nothing like the american chinatowns. it's noisy in this hood with all the construction people helping to gentrify the neighborhood. The Big Dig seems to be everywhere you look in boston. i just met up with Giles and Jane from Boston progress for lunch. nothing like vietnamese pho. my vegie pho wasn't so tasty though --- it's just not the same without the meat. yep -- i'm a fishatarian now -- i think officially it's called pescetarian (sp?). people who eat seafood but are pretty much vegetarian. i'm 7 months strong -- okay i cheat here and there. you can't refuse thai style fried dried beef or beef eggrolls or lumpia....it aint meat, it's KULTURE!!!! everyone i've met so far from the BP crew are oozing with excitement and great energy to host the summit. i think it's gonna be well worth it for everyone. i'm hoping to come with the khmer youths i'm currently working with. they'd get so much out of connected with other youths. maybe i can come with old yawpers and my youths from "performing legacy." we'll have to fundraise like hell...so if you want to donate, drop me a line.
tonite i meet up with some cambodian dancers i met during the mekong project in cambodia. it's gonna be a good reunion. i also get to meet Thea Som who is recently out of detention but still in the middle of the deportation process. thanks to all who wrote in regarding his case! i know the power of the people helped to get him out even if it's temporary.
okay...i'm off to providence to watch classical cambodian dance told through a new storyline.
paz!
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| the neigborhood is changing |
[08 Oct 2004|01:09pm] |
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i know 2 entries from me! it's crazy.
yesterday mars and i attended an awesome roundtable discussion
with members of Universes and a variety of artists from different neighborhoods.
it seems that everyone is fighting gentrification.
**
the neighborhood is changing
I am standing outside my building,
security deposit in hand,
waiting for my new landlord.
with the rent raised,
my apartment unaffordable
the neighborhood must be changing.
as I stand near the curb, I notice
a man swallowed by his clothes
walking the sunken pace
of a worn 70-year-old.
like an overbite,
his wrinkle-free suit
leaves only the tips
of his polished
shoes and fingers
to hang loose.
his dark blue suit
uncuffs
to reveal a stomach
sucked under an
overly pleated waistline,
notched beneath black leather.
the man dresses
with a destination
in mind.
he holds a slip of paper
I watch his eyes rove,
lost and confused.
his face paces between
paper and building,
building and paper,
between where I stand, and
where he is headed.
he paces closer to me,
speaks with the volume
of cigarette cartons
and asks if I could point
in the direction
towards the address
scribbled on his scrap.
I glance at the numbers
and confirm yes,
just a block north.
I walk him over.
we stand above a makeshift
sidewalk boarded with plywood.
no house. no building.
we double check.
against adjacent buildings.
correct address.
we had arrived at a sizeable lot
where an orange metal crane perches.
a bold gravemarker announces,
“the arrival of four luxury
condominium units starting
at $289,000.”
I read the sign as a eulogy:
the neighborhood is changing.
I give the old man my condolences.
I watch his face slouch furrows
and his back bend into a frown as
he thins into the distance.
As he walks away I remembered,
just a week before, a house lived there.
the house had become
a home for transient cats.
it disheveled over the years
into a lone bluish-grey home,
with a grass skirt that reached our shins
and windows dressed with boards.
but at some point the house was a home.
the home kept more than
two-stories of wood and concrete.
the home spanned more than
two-city lots of life.
A house is a home is people is stories
Today, a man came looking for the residents of a home.
Today, a man dressed in stories wanted to visit a home.
Today, I escorted a man to a fresh grave.
He was not dressed purposely for a funeral.
I wonder whom he was trying to visit.
will he find a forwarding address?
Has the house been waiting for his visit?
for how long? did it run out of patience?
out of time? out of options?
I wonder how often this happens.
which neighborhood is next?
as the old man leaves, my new landlord arrives.
he asks me, why I was moving out of such a nice area.
I said the neighborhood is changing.
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| ranting down the house |
[08 Oct 2004|12:40pm] |
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today my annoyance meter is high.
am annoyed with a group of fruits.
highly visible fruits. i know this fragmented journal
screams in code. or maybe not. my friend tells me its a viscious
cycle i'm caught up in and i need to let go. remind myself
that the hair has been cut. the fruit peeled. that perhaps i should
replant seeds somewhere else. allow the fruit to rot or grow
in its own way. i need a good game of texas hold 'em.
annoyance #1. people who pretend to be friendly to you for
the sake of social circumstances
annoyance #2. thoughtless people. inconsiderate.
annoyance #3. performers who don't seem to come out and
support other performers but expect that their shit be supported.
yeah yeah - i know we're all busy trying to balance shit as far
as our personal lives and work and art and activism - but when
there are performers from out-of-town coming thru and they're being
hosted by the organization that has supported yr work - YOU BETTER
COME OUT. they're aren't too many people doing the kind of work we're
doing and its important to sometimes set yr shit asida for the sake of supporting
others.
annoyance #4. people who back out from non-paying "community" gigs
quite easily but they'd never consider backing out of non-paying gig
annoyance #5. overly riped squishy bananas with the black freckles
annoyance #6. garbage that stinks up the whole house
annoyance #7. bad haircuts
annoyance #8. understanding the ego.
annoyance #9. what's so great about a collective when so few people share the labor.
annoyance #10. getting overly annoyed.
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| who-stone |
[27 Sep 2004|04:43pm] |
oh yeah....mango tribed rocked the stage at diverseworks! i'd say it was definitely one of our best sets ever. it was high energy and houston just gave us a lot of love. they worked the hell out of us but it was all love!!!! i swear we've never been hyped so much. it was kind of freaky at times because when others create a hyped up myth about you -- you just don't know if it's humanly possible to achieve other people's expectations. BUT WE DID!!!!! AND IT FEELS DAMN GOOD TO DO SO. sorry...it's a vain ego-boosting moment but shit...we deserve it. we worked 12 hour days and longer since our arrival on Wednesday evening! and the pay isn't all that -cuz ya know you never get paid for all the sweat that went into creating the work before the actual performance. the puppet piece i initiated had its stressful moments but in the end it lived and survived!!!! we got a standing O and the audience got involved in chanting the puppet of power down to a dismembered torso. V did a great job breathing life into the torso. L had a great hand in playing Kerry's left arm of power and me --as Bush's right arm of power, Marian and Jen were great dancers doing all kinds of mechanical moves! it was craaazy i tell ya!!!!!!!!!! the puppet piece is still evolving.
it was also great to meet up with the MAN-goes!!!!! it so good to have allies. thanks for smoking good time: bao, giles, geo, daren, stephen, asia!
'til next time...don't play texas hold em without me bastards!!!!!! i'ma take yr money and yr walnut shrimps! yeeeeahh!
oh and i met my pun dobbleganger --- whose name is ----ANITA! weird hah.....!!!!!! long live puns!!!!!
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| 911 weekend |
[13 Sep 2004|11:44pm] |
i feel like this past weekend has been about reclaiming 9/11 to be an enjoyable ordinary kind of day - not something that's overly saturated with media orchestrated emotions.
the weekend started off with mars/adriel and myself catching the last showing of Takashi Shimizu's "Ju-on" (The Grudge). i didn't exactly get the movie but i don't think that was the point 'cuz i was creeped the phuck out - i think i even screamed at certain parts and definitely squeezed the hell out of marlon's hand/arm/shoulders. this movie has creepy music, the creepiest asian boy with the biggest eyes and an even creepier crawly woman spirit with of course the classic "disheveled" hairdo. it's formulaic but the director knows what's he's doing.
we spent 9/11 driving to minneapolis to catch dennis kim and doug kearney feature at the Loft. we ended up filling up on FREEDOM (gas) and passing by loads of oversized american flags at half mast along Wisconsin countrysides which were clearly marked "Bush/Cheney country". coppers everywhere. there's nothing more dangerous than the combination of cops and flags out at the same time.
doug and dennis were amazing!!!! the opening features were all remarkable and reflected a wide range of styles and content. it's refreshing to experience the honesty of spoken word. minneapolis is quite a hot spot for the arts. the hmong kids kept it real. i am reinspired by spoken word again. thank you bao for curated one of the best shows i've been to in years!!!!!!
ended saturday evening into sunday morning with a full game of texas hold 'em. i was in full vengeance mode determined to win my money back from those damn minnesotan thugs who took it from me the week before. i went all in with pocket aces - head to head with tuyet's roommate manny - with a pair of 8s already on the table. i thought manny was bluffing and couldn't believe he was holding another pair of 8s. yeah...i lost. to a 4-of-a-kind hand. it wasn't meant to be. the house always wins. damn manny and tuyet - they split the pot. mars hung on as long as he could. the game didn't end til like 5am. it was craaaazzzy. the losers lounge ended up watching videos of john leguizamo and chris rock or else reading about Mace's comback in vibe mag.
oh here's tuyet on his little bike. he had me laughing until he stole my money that bastard! oh and tuyet likes to muscle people out once he wins a big hand. vietnamese people are thugs that way. do not get into wars or bar brawls or poker games with any of them. i prefer to make fun of most of them thru puns!
Q: did you know that Adobe makes a special Vietnamese version of their design programs?
A: of course they did, it's called PHOtoshop!!!!!
waka waka waka. ha ha ha.
Q: what did I write in Bao and Tuyet's yearbooks? (hint: you may insert any vietnamese name in this punjoke)
A: K.I.T., stay cool, Friends PHO-ever!
yeah baby...big pun is back. PUNida in da house!!!!
okay...i have one whole page up for my website as i promised that world domination begins on 9/11. so you can check it out at atomic shogun
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| talking to strangers |
[09 Sep 2004|12:34pm] |
I got an invite to be part of this mini-conference called "talk to strangers" put on by The Public Square in chicago, but i can't make it since i won't be in town. i found some the words in their invite to be profound and relevant to what i'm thinking about.
so i'm cutting and pasting it to share with all of you.
your vote doesn't end on election day. challenge your own
personal safe space. what we do matters.
***
TALK TO STRANGERS.
What do we mean? In this critical election year there is much talk about individuals, political parties and the single solitary act of casting one's ballot on Election Day. All of this is important but what comes after Election Day in November? Whatever the outcome, we all still face fundamental questions about what kind of society we want to live in, how we want resources to be allocated, what values do we value, and how do we live together, not just peacefully but equitably, even when we don't always agree. In essence, how do we create a deeper more participatory democracy?
We feel a vital public sphere is key. The open exchange of ideas, including dissenting ideas, is key. An independent and non-commercial media is key. The content of what we say in such arenas is important, but defending the space is critical. Without public forums, in cyberspace or over the airwaves, it matters less what we have to say, because no one is listening. A second critical component of open discourse is the need to not just talk to oneself, or preach to the choir, but to really engage people who disagree -- not just friends, but strangers.
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| post holiday drama |
[07 Sep 2004|03:42pm] |
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mood |
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contemplative |
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when poets who are lovers fight
when poets who are lovers fight,
they relinquish their tongues for silence.
words served valiantly,
but have since taken its furlough.
the silence left lingers in our air
with raging intensity and unflinching
stubbornness.
the silence left refuses to be still
it conspires with our home for our attention,
where the common needs poetic noticing
the emptied bed lures with unmade sheets
while the bedroom door requires shutting.
the walled corridor gawks at us with framed art,
wooden floors sweep with reminders,
the garbage dumps its stink on us,
piles of sprawled clothes pick on us
desiring only a clean wash,
houseplants thirst for water,
shoe heaps demand orderly rows,
water in the toilet bowl whirls for a flush,
the television turns tricks for attention,
the coffee table brews
a messy surface slewed with trashy magazines,
dirty dishes starve for suds,
our lonely plush couch anticipates any company,
the spines on some books suspiciously edge out
further than others,
precious curiosities, placed on the mantle, plea for a peek.
even the fireplace burns to be lit despite
the boiling summer heat,
the two rope woven dining room chairs,
pulled out during our fight,
seats still warmly dipped with our impressions,
command us to push them back in place!
our home knows when we fight.
every object demands our attention
every corner mocks us with purpose
the stillness
screams with responsibilities
the silence
occupies us with busyness,
distracts us from each other,
in the ruins left from
an argument without words.
they only delay the inevitable.
our home knows when silence succumbs.
it is the clearing of a soft muscled-throat,
the magnetic attraction between flesh,
affectionate arms stretching open,
lips ripening with readiness.
only the sound of apologies
become the acceptable surrender
in a battle that broods for too
much of our time
using the worst weapon
poets, lovers
have against each other,
our silence.
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