1/2/14 Korean Railway Workers Strike + APEX’s Best of 2013

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Happy 2014! To bring in the new year, we have a great show lined up tonight:

Members of the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions and the striking Korail labor union members stage a demonstration march in central Seoul (photo credit: Korea Joongang Daily)

• We start with an update from the Korean Railway Workers strike in Korea.  On Monday, the Korean Railway Workers Union ended the longest strike in the history of Korea Railroad, or KORAIL.  The 22-day strike is just the latest chapter in a decade-long fight between the South Korean government, which has been looking for ways to privatize the rail system, and the workers who keep the railway running. APEX Contributor Marie Choi brings us an interview with Wol-San Liem, Director of International Affairs for the Korean Federation of Public Services and Transportation Workers Union to hear what’s happening on the ground.
• And for the second half of our show, we want to bring you the APEX Best of 2013!  Since it’s the beginning of the new year, we chose a few of our most exciting pieces from the past year to re-play tonight:  (1) Robynn Takayama’s conversation with Amita Swadhin and Preeti Mangala Shekar in response to the gang rape in Delhi and violence against women in India, (2) RJ Lozada’s interviews with API community members struggling with mental health issues, and (3) Robynn Takayama aka Nonogirl’s interview with members of the Asian Prisoner Support Committee about the dehumanizing conditions in California state prisons including the inhumane solitary confinement units.

Don’t miss it!

COMMUNITY CALENDAR

Saturday, January 11, 2014
Bela Alma Dance Collective Presents UniverSoul
8 PM – 11 PM
Doors open at 7:30 PM. Performances start at 8 PM.

UniverSoul is a cross-cultural benefit (intimate/informal) show for the survivors of Typhoon Haiyan. Featuring a collective of San Francisco Bay Area performing artists. Hosted by the Bela Alma Dance Collective (Christine Joy Ferrer and Desiree Dela Pena), in collaboration with Sons of Cayuga, Audio Pharmacy and Taskforce Haiyan. Sponsored by Startistic Expressions.

Proceeds and donations from this event will be gifted to Operation Air Drop and NAFCON USA. An extra donation box will be at the door for those who’d like to give more.

Suggested donation $10-$30/person sliding scale.
Limited number of tickets available. 60 person capacity, standing room only.
Advanced tickets: $8 minimum/ticket on Brown Paper Tickets.
Get Tickets! www.brownpapertickets.com/event/535224

More info: belaalmadance.com

10/31/2013 – 3rd i Film Festival

The Revolutionary Optimists via thirdi.org.

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Tonight’s show spotlights the annual Thirdi South Asian film festival, this year celebrating 100 years of Indian cinema and women filmmakers. Tune in and find out about this year’s films centred around gender and sexuality and a country spotlight on Pakistan. Community calendar, news updates and more.

12/15/11 Reproductive Rights and Sex Selection with Dr. Sujatha Jesudason, Leche author, R. Zamora Linmark, and Ukulenny!

Workers are seen taking down an anti-abortion billboard at the corner of Watts Street and 6th Avenue in Manhattan, Thursday, February 24, 2011. (Photo by Robert Mecea)

This week, APEX contributor Preeti Shekar brings you a talk from Dr. Sujatha Jesudason from Generations Ahead, who discusses the changing terrain of reproductive rights by addressing the evolved anti-choice movement that targets minorities in the United States, and more states adopting anti-abortion legislation.

!!TICKET GIVEAWAY!! CALL IN WHILE WE’RE ON AIR to win a PAIR of tickets to the BEATROCK 2nd Anniversary Party happening SATURDAY, December 17th at the Workspace Limited Art Studio at 2150 Folsom Street in San Francisco. 

Here’s a track from Prometheus Brown and Bambu to entice you:

APEX contributor Nonogirl brings us an interview with author R. Zamora Linmark where they discuss Linmark’s latest work Leche.

In Leche, Linmark revisits Vince from Rolling the R’s, yet the book carries it’s own identity from Rolling the R’s. In this work, Leche is as much postcard, as it is theatre, as it is satire, as it is historical fiction.

To help host R.J. Lozada, is APEX regular, Ukulenny!!! So tune in, we’ll have a good time.

COMMUNITY CALENDAR

• Spirituality and Mental Health: Spirituality and Its Role in the Asian American Communities

  Friday, December 16, 2011

  Societies and cultures throughout the world have traditional practices and beliefs  surrounding health and wellness. Come join Cambodian Community Development Inc. explore the role of spirituality and complementary and alternative medicine.  Hear from local Cambodian community members, traditional healers, and experts on the health benefits of acupuncture, mindful yoga, qigong, and meditation, and its role in Cambodian American and wider Asian American communities. For more information on the event please contact members of the Conference Planning Steering Committee: Talaya Sin, 510.725.8545, tsin@ccdinc.org, Rona Yee, ryee@ccdinc.org

• The ReWrite presents: ‘Nam-Jai’ Spoken Word Showcase Friday, December 16, 2011 6:00 PM – 9:00 PM  The ReWrite presents: “Nam-Jai”, a showcase featuring API spoken word artists and poets. There will also be an open mic and an informal writing circle for us to write together and perform pieces at the open mic (if willing). Bring your notebook!
  This will take place at 518 Valencia Street, San Francisco, CA 94110.
  $5-20 dollars donation, no one turned away for the lack of funds.
  The ReWrite will be donating a portion of the proceeds to Nam-jai for Thailand, whose efforts and gifts are directed to the people of Thailand who have suffered from the devastating flood waters for the past two months.
• A Very Special Holiday Go!Ohana
  Friday, December 16
  7:30pm
  La Pena Cultural Center
  3105 Shattuck Ave., Berkeley
  $15 at the door
  $10 students
  (Online Presale discount coming soon!) Celebrate the holidays with some of the most talented Pan-Asian Hip Hop artists in the community as we take a look back on another great year of music, art, culture, and family. Every year at the Holiday Go!Ohana show there are special giveaways, holiday songs, big surprises, and always lots and lots of Santa hats 🙂 So come gather around the fire with your OHANA…FEATURING:::::|||| TAIYO NA & DEREK KAN of MAGNETIC NORTH ||||::::::::|||| THE HOME:WORD HOUSE BAND ||||::::::::|||| KIWI & BANDÛNG ’55 ||||::::::::|||| CYNTHIA LIN & THE BLUE MOON ALL STARS ||||::::::::|||| SAM KANG ||||::::

10/6/2011 Filipino American Jazz, API film previews, and the Korea-US Free Trade Agreement

Tonight on Apex Express, we bring you the sweet sounds of Annie Brazil, Lena Sunday, Ann Marie Santos, and the S.F. Pinoy Jazz Quartet. They are performing at the Fourth Annual San Francisco Filipino American Jazz Festival this Sunday at Yoshi’s. We also have four pairs of tickets to see these amazing performers, so tune in!

[audio http://archives.kpfa.org/data/20111006-Thu1900.mp3]

Apex contributor Marie Choi interviews Oscar Peñaranda, Associate Director of the San Francisco Filipino American Jazz Festival on the rich history of jazz in Filipino communities, hidden histories, and the connections between jazz and politics.

Also, Apex contributor DJ Bruddah K brings us a preview of API films screening at the Mill Valley Film Festival.

And finally, as the Korea-U.S. Free Trade Agreement heads to congress this week, we bring you an encore of Preeti Mangala Shekar’s interview with Christine Ahn, executive director with the Korea Policy Institute.

4/8/10 Art in Storefronts Chinatown and Women Making Airwaves for Peace in Mysore, India

Listen:

Luis Cancel, the director of cultural affairs at the San Francisco Arts Commission, and Abby Chen, program director at the Chinese Culture Center join us to discuss the soon-to-be-launched “Art in Storefronts” program in Chinatown. This program will bring art installations to vacant storefronts and started last year in four neighborhoods around San Francisco: Central Market, the Tenderloin, Bayview, and the Mission districts.

Also, we speak with Preeti Mangala Shekar from Apex Express about her experience and reflections on a recent community radio camp held in Mysore, India. This camp was a training forum for women in community radio in various countries in Asia-Pacific including Nepal, Sri Lanka, Fiji, India, Bangladesh, Afghanistan and Pakistan.