4/5/19 Gangster of Love and 100 Days Action

Tonight, we talk with renown author and playwright, Jessica Hagedorn, who is mounting a world premiere of “The Gangster of Love”. This interview is done by superfan and local artist, Cece Carpio.

Jessica Hagedorn performing at the 1993 Asian American Jazz Festival. Photo by Bob Hsiang.

Download the audio here

We also talk with members of 100 Days Action. Following the 2016 presidential election, this Bay Area artist collective organized cultural responses that stand against bigotry, xenophobia, racism, and more. We’ll hear about their latest project.

And our friends at Eastwind Books, have launched a book club! We’ll talk with Eastwind staffer Erika Pallasigue and book club moderator Lawrence Wang about this program and the first book discussed, The Three-Body Problem by Chinese science fiction author Liu Cixin.
—————————
While Jessica Hagedorn is a New York resident, her creative juices blossomed here in San Francisco, thanks to Filipino poets she met and the long-standing arts organization, Kearny Street Workshop. San Francisco hosts Jessica’s latest work, the world premiere of The Gangster of Love. The play opens on April 18 and runs until May 6 at the Magic Theater at Fort Mason. I’ve known that visual artist and Pinay immigrant Cece Carpio has been heavily influenced by Jessica’s work so I thought she would be the perfect person to conduct the interview.

100 Days Action is a Bay Area artist collective that uses art, activism, and social engagement to build community. They collaborate with local and national artists on exhibitions, performances, protests, and group actions that stand against bigotry, xenophobia, racism, sexism, and the destruction of our environment. In studio, we have conceptual Ken Lo and new media artist, composer and a performer Surabhi Saraf. Also joining us is one of their social media artists in residency, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto is an artist, curator and performer of drag by the name Faluda Islam.

Open since 1982, Eastwind Books is the go-to place for Asian American publications and literary community. But running a brick and mortar store is not easy in the days of Amazon and rising Bay Area rents. To fill us in on Eastwind’s strategy to meet the needs of the Asian American literary community, we have in studio with us Erika Pallasigue, bookstore manager, performer, and chef. And to talk about a new book club at Eastwind, we have book club moderator, Lawrence Wang, an avid reader and member of THREE book clubs.

11/9/17

Tonight, we chat in studio with community leader Alvina Wong, about a coalition working to prevent the Oakland A’s from building a new ballpark next to Oakland Chinatown. And we hear from the survivors of the Gwangju Uprising and how this movement changed the course of Korean history in a piece by APEX producer Marie Choi. Peppered throughout the show, we hear from Tony Robles, an SF native and housing activist, who shares poems from his new book, Fingerprints of a Hunger Strike.

Alvina Wong from APEN and the Stay the Right Way coalition speak out against the proposed Oakland A’s stadium in Chinatown.

Joining us in studio is Oakland Organizing Director Alvina Wong from Asian Pacific Environmental Network, who is working to stop the proposed development of a new Oakland A’s stadium near Oakland Chinatown and Laney College. Alvina and the Stay the Right Way coalition organized and delivered a petition with 1,700 signatures opposing the development.

We also play Marie Choi’s powerful piece about the Gwangju Uprising, a pro-democracy uprising against the U.S. imposed military dictatorship in South Korea. This piece was produced by Marie Choi for Making Contact.

And we have poetry by Tony Robles. In 2016, a group of five San Francisco activists held a hunger strike to protest the racist killings committed by SFPD earlier that year. The 16-day strike inspired poet and housing activist Tony Robles to write “Fingerprints of a Hunger Strike.” Fingerprints is a collection of poems about displacement, police brutality, and resistance in the city that he loves.

Community Calendar

November 10th – The Center for Political Education, Women Cross DMZ, HOBAK, and Catalyst Project are hosting a panel on Averting US War on North Korea: What Progressive Must Know and Do. It’ll be 7-9PM at First Congregational Church of Oakland.

November 18th – Greg Watanabe will be telling the story of Gordon Hirabayashi and his impact on civil rights through a dramatic concert reading of “Hold These Truths” by playwright Jeanne Sakata. Tickets are available at fortmason.org and proceeds will go to San Francisco JACL’s Arts and Activism program.

5/4/17 Immigration and Activism

Download the show here

Tonight on Apex Express Mother/Daughter hosts Miko Lee and Ayame Keane-Lee spoke to Yvette Felarca from By Any Means Necessary about taking direct action out into the streets and stopping the Trump ICE raids.  More information about an upcoming immigration forum is listed in the calendar below.

We spoke to Michelle Lee,  curator of Shifting Movements, Art inspired by Yuri Kochiyama, which opens with a big celebration tonight at SOMARTS Cultural Center and runs through May 25. Shifting Movements is part of the 20th Annual United States of Asian America Festival. Some of the art pieces are shown above, but go check it out in person to see how amazing the work is.

Mari Nakagawa interviewed punk band Aye Nako who hits the Bay Area tonight and tomorrow night.

Poet Yujane Chan came into the studio and performed her erasure poem derived from her formal immigration papers. Ayame, also a youth poet, chatted with Yujane about her inspiration and process. Yujane performed this as part of Youth Speaks Teen Poetry Slam in April.

Miko spoke with award winning filmmaker Felicia Lowe’s about her latest work Chinese Couplets which is her personal tale about the Chinese Exclusion Act. They also discussed the big Rally for Inclusion that is happening this Saturday in Portsmouth Square Chinatown to acknowledge the 135th anniversary of the Chinese Exclusion Act. Find out more about the Rally and how to take action page here.

Community Calendar

May 4 -June 11, United States of Asian America, various locations

May 4 Aye Nako at the Luckyduck Bicycle Cafe located at 302 12th Street in Oakland.

May 5 Aye Nako at the STUD located at 399 9th St in San Francisco.

May 4-25, 2017  Shifting Movements: Art inspired by the life of Yuri Kochiyama

Venue: SOMArts Cultural Center, Main Gallery, 934 Brannan Street, San Francisco. Exhibition Dates:  Tuesday through Friday from 12-7pm, and Saturdays from 12-5pm.  Closing Reception: Thursday, May 25, 2016. 6-9pm.

May 6, 2017 noon Rally for Inclusion, Portsmouth Square, Chinatown

May 6, 2017:  Asian Pacific Heritage Festival, Asian American Alliance of Marin

May 9, 2017  Immigration Forum and Community Meeting, Bay Any Means Necessary 6-8pm, Manzanita Recreation Center, 2701 22nd Ave., Oakland, CA 94606

May 16 Asian American Bar Association presents – Lessons from Mass Incarceration

 

 

2/16/17 Executive Order 9066

Photo by J.K. Yamamoto/Rafu Shimpo

To download the episode, click here.

Tonight, we reflect on the 75th anniversary of Executive Order 9066. Issued by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, this order forcibly removed 110,000 people of Japanese descent from the west coast to inland detention centers.

2/11/16 Brown Is the New White, Zika Virus and Reproductive Rights, Match4Lara

Tune into APEX Express on Thursday, February 11 at 7 p.m., when we talk with Steve Phillips, author of Brown is the New White, about how people of color in the United States are a progressive majority.

Download the audio by clicking here.

Then, we discuss the Zika Virus. The World Health Organization has issued warnings across Asia and the Americas. We look at how governments in Latin America are responding to the epidemic by issuing recommendations for women not to be pregnant. What could this mean for women globally? How do reproductive rights and access to birth control fit into the epidemic?

Finally, we are in conversation with Sujitpan Lamsam and Carol Gillespie, organizers from the Match4Lara campaign about the challenge of finding donors for multiracial people in need of bone marrow transplants.

Sujitpan Lamsam, Lara Casalotti’s aunt

Asian American Donor Program Executive Director Carol Gillespie

We also have tickets to give away to Dr. Israel performing tomorrow night at Dub Mission. Listen to APEX Express.

10/23/14 Poet Koon Woon; The NYC People’s Climate March

This week, we bring you two dynamic segments:

First, Tara Dorabji hosts a live interview with poet Koon Woon who will be honored at the American Book Award ceremony this Sunday in San Francisco. Koon Woon is a poet who has struggled with schizophrenia and survived homelessness, crediting poetry to keeping him afloat. His whose most recent book of poetry Water Chasing Water won the PEN poetry prize and the American Book Award.

Then, we bring you coverage of the historic People’s Climate March, which happened in New York City last month. 400,000 people came from around the country and around the world to take to the streets while the UN held a special climate summit. Frontline communities led the march under the banner “Frontlines of the Crisis, Forefront of Change“. We bring you different sounds, including fiery chants, touching testimonies on the mic, and exclusive interviews from the streets. Thanks to Danny Kim with WBAI Asia Pacific Forum and guest contributor Diana Cabcabin for their contributions to this week’s segment.

With host Ellen Choy.

Don’t miss it!

Poet Koon Woon

People’s Climate March (photo credit: Megan Zapanta / Our Power Campaign)

People’s Climate March (photo credit: Farhad Ebrahimi / Our Power Campaign)

5/15/2014 – Asian American Writers and VONA

Download the full show.

Tune into APEX Express on KPFA (94.1 or www.kpfa.org) on May 15 at 7pm, as we bring you an Asian and Pacific Islander view from the bay and around the world.

KPFA is in fund drive and we will be asking you to support our programming tonight. We’ll be in conversation with contributors of the new anthology Dismantle—writing from the Voices of Our Nation (VONA) workshop. The VONA workshop was founded by and for writers of color—it was conceived of as a revolution. Through anthologies like Dismantle, writers of color are starting to fill in America’s white washed history.

We’ll be in conversation with two VONA contributors: David Mura and Sasha Hom.

Sasha Hom was adopted from Korea by Chinese American Oakland-Cali natives and grew up in Berkeley. She is a writer-performer-mother of three. Her work is in numerous anthologies including Dismantle.

VONA board Member David Mura is the author of memoirs including Turning Japanese,  poetry volumes and the novel Famous Suicides of the Japanese Empire. David Mura is faculty at Stonecoast MFA program

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hosted by Tara Dorabji

2/6/14 Salaam Love Anthology (Winter Fund Drive!)

Download the full show here.

Tonight we’ll be looking at Islamophobia in America — from vandalism of a Sacramento mosque to a recent federal court decision that finds “no-fly lists” are creating second class citizens. We’ll also speak with an editor and contributor of Salaam Love, a new anthology of Muslim American Men on love, sex and intimacy. And it’s winter fund drive! So we’ll be asking for your support by calling in during the APEX hour to donate to KPFA. As an all listener-sponsored radio station, we count on you to help us keep our community voices on air!

Call in number is 1-800-HEY-KPFA

COMMUNITY CALENDAR:

• Saturday, February 8th
  Lunar New Year at OACC!
  @ Oakland Asian Cultural Center in Oakland Chinatown above the Asian Library
  Featuring traditional dances, drumming, live music, and much much more.
  You can visit oacc.cc for more info.

• Saturday, February 8th
  Kommunity Kulintang presented by the Manilatown Heritage Foundation
  A monthly drop-in interactive workshop
  from 2-4pm
  @ I-Hotel Manilatown Center (868 Kearny Street @ Jackson, San Francisco)
  Suggested Donation: $12 ($7 under 18 and over 60 years of age), includes Merienda
  50% of the workshop proceeds will be donated to the I-Hotel Manilatown Center
  Each month a short performance will lead to a new educational interactive aspect of pre-colonial Southern Philippine culture followed by a community jam session.

• Sunday, February 9th
  Eastwind Books is hosting Deng Ming Dao and a reading of his book “The Lunar Tao.”
  3:00 – 5:00 pm
  @ Eastwind Books in Berkeley (2066 University Ave in Berkeley)
  Unlike any other book, “The Lunar Tao” gives readers a new way to explore Taoism and shows readers a way to include the tenets of Taoism into daily life.
  The event will include qigong demonstrations.
  More info online is at asiabookcenter.com

1/30/14 Culturally Relevant Children’s Literature!

Click here to download this episode.

As promised, here is the listing of books recommended on this week’s show!:

The books featured on the show were:

• Lakas and the Manilatown Fish (and the sequel Lakas and the Makibaka Hotel) by Tony Robles
• Beautiful Eyes by Gayle Romasanta

And the other books mentioned on the show – either by Eastwind Books or by callers who called in – are:

• Cora Cooks Pancit | by Dorina Gillmore, illustrated by Kristi Valiant
• Ganesha’s Sweet Tooth | by Sanjay Patel and Emily Haynes
• Emperor and the Kite | by Jane Yolen
• Sora and the Cloud | by Felicia Hoshino
• Oh Oh Baby Boy | by Janine Macbeth
• The Mountains of Tibet | by Mordicai Gerstein
• Kamishibai Man | by Allen Say
• A is for Activist | written and illustrated by Innosanto Nagara
• The Five Chinese Brothers | by Claire Huchet Bishop
• The Year of the Horse (from Tales from the Chinese Zodiac) | by Oliver Chin
• And Another World is Possible Book Collective (who has a collection of books!)

We’re calling all book lovers and families to join us in exploring the history of Multicultural Children’s Literature, with an eye toward Asian/Pacific Islander Stories! In studio we have an exciting group of guests to talk about the power of culturally relevant narratives and positive portrayals of communities of color:

Lakas and the Manilatown Fish by Tony Robles

Beautiful Eyes by Gayle Romasanta

Eastwind Books in Berkeley

• Special readings by two award-winning children’s books: Tony Robles, Author of Lakas and the Manilatown Fish, and Gayle Romasanta, Author of Beautiful Eyes
• An interview with Kassie Pham and Kristine Aquino, staff at one of the oldest independent Bookstores in the nation focused on Asian and Asian American Literature – Eastwind Books in Berkeley. With the transformation of the publishing industry as a whole, are multicultural publishers on the decline?
• And we invite you, our listeners at home to call in with your recommendations for the best Asian and Pacific Islander children’s literature. Is there a book that you have read to your children, or a book that stands out to you in your own life that was read to you at an early age?

Here are links to more information:

• Eastwind Books
• Beautiful Eyes
• Lakas and the Manilatown Fish
• Cooperative Children’s Book Center
• Asian Pacific American Librarian Award Winners

COMMUNITY CALENDAR:

• Saturday, February 8th
  Lunar New Year at OACC!
  @ Oakland Asian Cultural Center in Oakland Chinatown above the Asian Library
  Featuring traditional dances, drumming, live music, and much much more.
  You can visit oacc.cc for more info.

• Sunday, February 9th
  Eastwind Books is hosting Deng Ming Dao and a reading of his book “The Lunar Tao.”
  3:00 – 5:00 pm
  @ Eastwind Books in Berkeley (2066 University Ave in Berkeley)
  Unlike any other book, “The Lunar Tao” gives readers a new way to explore Taoism and shows readers a way to include the tenets of Taoism into daily life.
  The event will include qigong demonstrations.
  More info online is at asiabookcenter.com

5/9/13 Youth voices, “Growing Up Asian in America,” Rod Daus-Magbual and PEP.

[audio http://archives.kpfa.org/data/20130509-Thu1900.mp3]

To download this episode, click here.

On this weeks show:

It’s the KPFA 2013 Spring Fund Drive, so for the hour consider contributing to truly independent media by calling 1-800-439-5732 or 510-848-5732, or online at kpfa.org.

As a thank you gift for becoming a member of KPFA (amount TBD), you’ll be receiving Thanks and Have Fun Running the Country: Kids’ Letters to President Obama.

Winners of Asian Pacific Fund’s writing contest, “Growing Up Asian in America.” (L to R, back row: Divya Prakash, Nikhita Gopisetty, Joshua Ko, Kavya Padmanbhan, Alex Yang, Jasjit Mundh. L to R, front row: Amelia Ny, Emily Yang, Elisabeth Kam.)

This week we hear some amazing youth voices and from youth educators.

We’ll be sharing with you some of the winning essays from the Asian Pacific Fund’s Growing Up Asian in America essay contest.

Pin@y Educational Partnerships (PEP) at ISEED (Institute for Sustainable Economic, Educational, and Environmental Design)

Rod Daus-Magbual, Ph.D., Associate Director of Curriculum at PEP

In the studio, Rod Daus-Magbual, Associate Director of Curriculum at Pin@y Educational Partnerships (PEP) in the studio with us, and for the hour, we’ll be discussing youth and education:  From the work that PEP does to inspire their students, and be inspired by them, to more ethnic studies courses in high schools, to building the next generation of teachers–the terrain is vast and there’s a lot to cover.

COMMUNITY CALENDAR

• On Friday and Saturday, May 10 and 11, Queer Rebels present SPIRIT: A Century of Queer Asian Activism. From the Asian avant-garde to 1960’s activists, Angel Island poets to Slam champions, the Queer Asian Diaspora comes alive through performance, films, and a panel discussion in this three-part extravaganza. https://www.facebook.com/events/187766414706008/

• On Saturday, May 11 A History of the Body, a new play by Aimee Suzara. A History of the Body brings together text, dance, and visual projections that explore themes of decolonization, and beauty when three Filipina women meet in a beauty salon. For tickets: http://www.eventbrite.com/event/5679044174/efblike

• The Crumbles, an indie rock slice-of life feature and winner of the Audience Award for Best Narrative Feature at the 2012 San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival (now CAAM Fest), screens at the Roxie Theatre on Saturday at multiple times. The cast and crew will be in attendance. https://www.facebook.com/events/448017581948589/

• Have you wondered what we do to bring you our show every week? Well on Saturday, May 11 at noon at the KPFA studio, APEX Express and the Unpaid Staff Organization of KPFA present Behind the Curtain: How Great Radio is Made. Learn how we produce our weekly magazine-style show and find out how you can join the APEX Express collective. https://www.facebook.com/events/166744520155666/