1/31/13 The Do-It-Youself Show

We Make from Tinkering Monkey on Vimeo.

Download the audio here.

As technology develops and brings us virtual worlds, Instagram photography, and mass production, what has happened to the makers of our world? The crafts people who use their hands to make unique and personalized items? Tonight we bring you three pieces featuring Asian Americans who are part of a growing DIY, or do-it-yourself, culture.

• First, an interview with Paula Chang and Mike Cheung, the couple behind Tinkering Monkey, a practical woodworking shop in Oakland.
• Then, we visit a winter craft make-a-thon organized by Liberating Ourselves 
  Locally, a people of color – led makerspace in Oakland.
• Jean Chen joins us in studio to talk about BubbleFarm Soap Company, a small business she runs with her husband Chris.
• And if you’d like to become a radio maker, check out the KPFA Apprenticeship program.

Community Calendar

Bubble Farm Soap Co. will be at Oaklandish’s downtown store on Saturday from 12-3 p.m.

This Saturday is the KaHulaHou 2013, at the scenic Craneway Pavilion on the waterfront at Point Richmond. If you weren’t lucky enough to win tickets, General admission tickets are $25, with ringside seating available for $65. Doors open at 3pm for shopping, food, music and jamming, and the main show starts at 7pm.

Also at 924 Gilman, the punk club opens itself up to an evening of conscious hip-hop featuring Srilankan American performer Ras Ceylon! We’ve had him on our show before. Pretty sure this is an all-ages show. It starts at 7 p.m.

And on Monday, our friends at Chinese for Affirmative Action open up their membership meeting to address just immigration. A panel of experts discuss the common sense approaches that can uphold our nation’s values and move us forward together. Panelists include Henry Der Senior Program Officer at Four Freedoms Fund; Bill Ong Hing Professor of Law, University of San Francisco; Francisco Ugarte, Senior Immigration Attorney, Dolores Street Community Services; and Cecillia Wang, Director of Immigrants’ Rights Project, American Civil Liberties Union. It’s Free for members; $25 suggested donation for non-members. A reception starts at 5:30 with the panel at 6:30 at City College Chinatown/North Beach Campus 808 Kearny Street, 4th Floor, San Francisco