Marriott Strike!

With this segment, we take you to the picket line at the Westin St. Francis. UNITE HERE Marriott workers at eight tourist destinations across the country have gone on strike. Labor contracts have expired and workers feel that Marriott has not made adequate attempts to address their concerns about livable income, safe work conditions, and job security. Robynn Takayama talks with two Asian American who have worked at the St. Francis for over 26 years each. Learn more at OneJob.org

Special thanks to Lawrence Liu for his financial expertise.

5/31/18: Storytellers Shaking Things Up

To end out the month of May PowerLeeGirls Miko Lee and Jalena Keane-Lee speak with storytellers who are making waves. We speak with An Excess Male Author Maggie Shen King. And hear from two of the culinary activists behind the Rooted Recipes Project. We talk with Heather White whose poignant documentary Complicit focuses on migrant electronic factory workers in China.

Calendar

Rooted Recipes at the United State of Asian America Festival 

Complicit San Francisco Documentary Film Festival
Roxie Tue June 5, 7:15pm • New People Cinema Sat June 9, 7pm

Eastwind Books upcoming events:

June 2nd, Saturday 6pm @ Oakland Asian Cultural Center Facebuddha: Transcendence in the Age of Social Networks Book Talk and Panel with Ravi Chandra

June 23, Saturday 1pm @ Oakland Asian Cultural Center Hawker Fare: Stories & Recipes from a Refugee Chef’s Isan Thai & Lao Roots Book Talk with Chef James Syhabout

​July 22, Sunday 3pm @ OACC Panel Presentation: Chinese Exclusion Laws and Being Muslim American in Post 9/11; Author Beth Lew-Williams, The Chinese Must Go: Violence, Exclusion, and the Making of the Alien in America ; Author Sylvia Chan-Malik, Being Muslim: A Cultural History of Women of Color in American Islam With Moderator Michael Chang, Lecturer Comparative Ethnic Studies, J.D. UCLA, Ph.D. Ethnic Studies, U.C. Berkeley

​July 28, Saturday 7pm @ OACC Book Talk with Vanessa Garcia, author of See You at the 7: Stories From the Bay Area’s Last Original Mile House

1/4/18 Collage of Voices

From Late Night with Joe Cascasan.

Tonight, we kick off the new year with voices from APEX contributors and our larger community. Charged with the request to share audio clips that inspired them through the last year, we hear from APEX contributors Lindsay Oda, Geraldine Ah-Sue, Nonogirl, and the Power Lee Women (Miko, Jalena, and Ayame). We also have a contribution from APEX’s co-founder Renee Geesler. And our community contributed including Oliver Saria from Bindlestiff Studio and Rachel Lastimosa with SOMA Pilipinas.

The audio contributions include music, poetry, inspirational speeches and interviews that cover labor, colonization, sovereignty and immigration. We hope this inspires you into the new year.

10/12/17 Rohingya, Welga, and APAture

Tonight, we rebroadcast Salima Hamarani’s segment on the Rohingya refugee crisis and find inspiration in the arts.


Click here to download the audio

We visit Bindlestiff Studio to learn about Welga, their latest production that weaves labor rights, educational rights, and family into a coming of age story set in SOMA Pilipinas.

Welga playwright Conrad Panganiban and labor activst Daz Lamparas.

And we talk with artists participating in Kearny Street Workshop’s annual showcase of Asian Pacific American artists, APAture. Interviews include Focus Artist Award recipient, Kristina Wong; visual artist Selena Ching; featured literary artist Vanessa Hua, author of Deceit and Other Possibilities; and featured book artist Innosanto Nagara, author of the popular children’s book, A is for Activist.

Books illustrated by APAture featured artist Innosanto Nagara.

Community Calendar

Welga continues through October 21 at Bindlestiff Studio.

Kearny Street Workshop is also participating in at Lit Crawl at Five and Diamond in San Francisco featuring alumni from their three month summer program for writers of color.

Also on Saturday, El Rio hosts a punk and hip hop benefit for Migrante SoMa/TL- San Francisco, a grassroots community organization that advocates and organizes Filipino migrants and workers in San Francisco and the Bay Area.

APAture programs continue this week with the Book Arts Showcase featuring Innosanto Nagara on Sunday, October 15 at Arc Gallery and Studios in San Francisco. And save the date for the Performing Arts showcase on Saturday, October 21 at the Asian Art Museum featuring Zulfikar Ali Bhutto.

 

Apex Express with Dolores Huerta & Peter Bratt

“I learned to use chopsticks when I was seven,” says our guest Dolores Huerta about growing up in diverse Stockton, California. Join us on Apex Express to hear Host Miko Lee and guest contributor Jalena Keane-Lee interview the legendary activist Dolores Huerta and filmmaker Peter Bratt all about the new documentary “Dolores“.

Dolores shares her experiences with intersectionality and community development. She talks about the Dolores Huerta Foundation which trains community activists and her struggle with making the film that features much of her personal life including interviews with many of her 11 children.

Peter Bratt talks about adding the human side to Dolores Huerta’s remarkable life. The film, produced by musician Carlos Santana, has been having sold out screenings throughout the Bay Area.

 

 

 

 

4/27/17 Bay Area May Day

Terry Valen and crew out at last year’s May Day

Li-Sha Chen, Li-Ya Peng, and Alice Wu with AIWA

Diep Tran with Good Girl Dinette. Photo by KCET Departures.

Download the audio by clicking here

Tonight, we celebrate May Day, or International Worker’s Day!

• We hear from Terry Valen and Lyle Prijoles with Filipino Community Center as well as Irma Shauf-Bajar with GABRIELA USA. They all make connections between immigrant rights and worker rights here in the U.S. and globally.
• We speak with two home care workers from Asian Immigrant Women Advocates who share the unique challenges they face as immigrant domestic workers.
• Diep Tran, head chef and owner of L.A. restaurant Good Girl Dinette tells us how “cheap eats” lists celebrate inexpensive immigrant foods at the expense of immigrant labor.
• And we talk with Zuha Khan who curated an amazing line-up of performers at El Rio this Saturday as a fundraiser for Bay Area Solidarity Summer.

1/12/17 Prepping for #J20 and #CareNotChaos

APSC’s Re-Entry Training Cohort

Nurse Gina Macalino at Vacaville Bernie Sanders Rally

Jobs with Justice Fighting for $15

Click here to download the audio

Tonight on APEX Express we talk with two members of Asian Prisoner Support Committee about their focus for this year. We hear from healthcare workers at Kaiser and San Francisco General about Saturday’s national day of action that Bernie Sanders is calling “Our First Stand: Save Health Care.” And we talk with Kung Feng at Jobs With Justice about their Dump Trump protest at Justin Herman Plaza on Friday, January 20th at 8 a.m.

The Asian Prisoner Support Committee works with Asian and Pacific Islander prisoners to educate the broader community about the growing number of Asian and Pacific Islanders in the United States being imprisoned, detained, and deported. Joining us tonight are Ke Lam and Harrison Seuga. Harrison is the re-entry director at APSC and Ke is the re-entry coordinator.

Also joining us are Gina Macalino, a member of National Nurses United, and Arnel Roca, a member of SEIU 1021, who are gearing up for January 15 when nurses and community members rally at SF City Hall to send the message that everyone deserves healthcare.

Lastly, we hear from Kung Feng, lead organizer at Jobs with Justice about their victories in 2016 and their rally on January 20th to Dump Trump!

10/13/16 Labor Strikes in S. Korea, Network on Religion and Justice, and Illustoria

Members of NRJ participating in the Digital Storytelling Project

Download the audio by clicking here

Tonight on APEX Express:

• We learn about the public sector strikes in South Korea that  at its peak, had 65,000 people walking off the job at the same time.
• We celebrate the 10 year anniversary of the Network on Religion and Justice for Asian and Pacific Islander Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer People. Their celebration is on Saturday, November 5 from 5-7 p.m. at the Donaldina Cameron House in San Francisco
• And Guest Contributor Melissa Hung talks with Joanne Chan, the editor of a new magazine called Illustoria. With a focus on storytelling, the magazine targets children 6 to 12 and their grownups.

Photo by Melissa Kaseman

Community Calendar

Tonight is the opening night of Bindlestiff Studio’s Stories High! This culmination of their annual page to stage workshop series features six one-act plays about bike lane politics, popping the question, and urban legends. Performed at the country’s longest running, Filipino American performing art space, you don’t want to miss these performances by, for, and about our communities. Stories High runs for three weeks, so get your tickets now.

On Sunday, the Amandla Collective at KPFA hosts 24 hours of interviews, music, features, speeches, documentaries and more, celebrating the legacy and 50th anniversary of the black panther party for self defense, it’s relevance and necessity then and now. The Amandla Collective is comprised of Black programmers and engineers at KPFA who produce African Diaspora–Black–African-American content/shows. Make sure you tune in! 

Also on Sunday, October 16, reigning Miss GAPA 2016, Juicy Liu hosts Community Connections: The Bow Tie Party. This celebration honors the Gay Asian Pacific Alliance (GAPA) Foundation scholarship and grant recipients from across the country continue GAPA’s mission to empower the Asian & Pacific Islander LGBTQ community. Hosted by  Bayanihan Community Center

10/22/15 Feminist Films at this year’s 3rdi South Asian Film Fest; Tribute to Larry Itliong

On tonight’s show, find out about the feminist films screening at this year’s 3rdi South Asian Film Festival kickstarting in San Francisco tonight through Sunday October 25th. Pakistani Canadian Fawzia Mirza talks about her queer performance, Me, My Mom and Sharmila and her short films; local film maker Nyna Caputi discusses her film Petals in the Dust focusing on the pervasive issue of female infanticide in India and in the South Asian diaspora. Plus Sara Bronco and Frank Sterling pay a melodious tribute to farm workers through spotlighting the legendary Filipino labor organizer Larry Itliong. Plus community calendar. Hosted and Produced by Preeti Mangala Shekar

Petals in the Dust Poster

Fawzia Mirza

Legendary farm worker organizer Larry Itliong

2/26/15 Art, Film, and Hiking

Awkwafina performs at CAAMfest Directions in Sound

Artwork by Ka Yan Cheung

MANGO hikers walk through China Basin

Download the audio by clicking here.
This week, we cover a unique collaboration between Kearny Street Workshop and the Chinese Progressive Association featuring artist Ka Yan Cheung who tells stories through “sequential art” otherwise known as comics. We talk with Festival Director Masashi Niwano about this year’s CAAMfest, the Center for Asian American Media’s annual storytelling extravaganza. And we take you on a MANGO hike, a monthly hike organized by the Manilatown Heritage Foundation in the spirit of fitness and fellowship. Robynn Takayama and Vida Kuang host the show.