Tuesday, June 28, 2022

Today! Book Talk & Signing in Chelsea at Serendipity Books | Events 18213

Today! Chelsea friends! Book reading and signing Tues 6/28 7pm EDT in person at Serendipity Books, Chelsea, MI "You Cannot Resist Me When My Hair Is in Braids," Wayne State University Press, Free but registration advised. 

Monday, June 27, 2022

Serendipity Books | Events 18213

Chelsea friends! Book reading and signing Tues 6/28 7pm EDT in person at Serendipity Books, Chelsea, MI "You Cannot Resist Me When My Hair Is in Braids," Wayne State University Press, Registration advised. 

Sunday, June 26, 2022

Friday, June 24, 2022

Frances Kai-Hwa Wang Talks Divorce, Banana Covers, More in New Book | Hour Detroit

omg this incredible review in Hour Magazine!
When you pick up Frances Kai-Hwa Wang’s new book, You Cannot Resist Me When My Hair Is in Braids, published by Wayne State University Press, you have to let go of the reflexive, all-too-human impulse to pinpoint its genre. Is it a collection of prose poems with photos? A kind of experimental memoir? A collection of short, lyrical essays? 

I confess, I spent no small amount of time ruminating on these questions while reading the first half of Braids, since I would obviously need to describe it in a review. But here’s the thing: Once I let go of trying to figure out what Braids was, exactly — and instead got into the practice of approaching each short piece with an open mind and a curiosity about where Wang might take me next — I unlocked its power.
Frances Kai-hwa Wang Talks Divorce, Banana Covers, More in New Book

Thursday, June 23, 2022

"Who Killed Vincent Chin" Screening + Panel Discussion Registration, Thu, Jun 23, 2022 at 7:00 PM | Eventbrite

Ann Arbor friends! 

Free showing of Academy Award winning documentary film, "Who Killed Vincent Chin?" at Michigan Theater, Thursday June 23 7pm, followed by an all-Ann Arborite panel discussion with Chien-An Yuan, IS/LAND; Dim Mang, Rising Voices; Manan Desai, Univ of Michigan Dept of American Culture Program in Asian/Pacific Islander American Studies, and me. 

And out in the lobby: Kizuna Tree is an interactive installation/performance collaboration between Detroit Public Television, WDET, Rising Voices, and IS/LAND Asian American Arts Collaborative. Comprised of an Ikebana Tree designed by Celeste Shimoura Goedert of Rising Voices, sound recordings from the collaborative series ‘Kizuna Stories’ from DPTV and WDET by Zosette Guir and Dorothy Hernandez, and dance by AAPI Performance Collaborative IS/LAND, Kizuna Tree is an exploration of communal healing for AAPI peoples, across generations, communities, and ethnicities, connected through words, visuals, and movement. The restorative and healing properties through this physical movement and storytelling offers the audience an experiential exploration of the interactive connections between the dancers with each other, the audience, and the tree itself.

I will also be performing my poem, "Finding home between the Vincent Chin case and COVID-19," and "Ypsilanti 1982" by Bryan Thao Worra, and excerpt from "Latin for New World Order" by Ravi Shankar." These poems will be published in my upcoming book, "Beyond Vincent Chin: Legacies in Action and Art, Wayne State Press, 2024. Thanks CultureVerse and The New Foundry for supporting this project, along with Knight Arts Challenge Detroit, CultureSource, Ann Arbor Area Foundation, Michigan Humanties, and friends who have contributed essays and poems. 

Thank you to our Sponsors; CultureVerse & The New Foundry.

"Who Killed Vincent Chin" Screening + Panel Discussion Registration, Thu, Jun 23, 2022 at 7:00 PM | Eventbrite

Details
Screening of the film "Who Killed Vincent Chin" and panel discussion

About this event
In 1982, a 27-year-old Chinese American named Vincent Chin was beaten to death with a baseball bat by two auto workers who blamed the Japanese for the U.S. auto industry’s troubles. The men were fined $3,000 and never spent a day in jail. Such a light sentence for such a brutal killing brought Asian Americans together across ethnic lines to form multiethnic and multiracial alliances, to organize for civil rights, advocating for change.

As the fortieth anniversary of Chin’s death, this story that is so Michigan and so important to the Asian American community is still poorly known. However, in today’s political landscape which is increasingly racist, sexist, violent, and exacerbated by COVID19-inspired anti-Asian American sentiment—it is not enough to know about this one case of injustice, but to harness that outrage and use it for good today.

Join us for a special anniversary screening of the Oscar nominated 1987 documentary produced and directed by Christine Choy and Renee Tajima-Pena.

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SCHEDULE

7:00pm Welcome

7:15-8:45pm Screening

8:45-9:30pm Panel Discussion + Q&A

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TICKETS + DONATIONS

This event is free and open to the public. Registration and masks are encouraged. Seating is in the main theater and should allow for social distancing.

A $10 donation is recommended and will support:

A book anthology of Asian American activists and artists about how this case has inspired them and connects to contemporary issues. It will be published by Wayne State University Press with a foreword written by Asian American civil rights icon Helen Zia. By: Frances Kai-Hwa Wang;

as well as Stop AAPI Hate Organization The coalition (AAPI Equity Alliance (AAPI Equity), Chinese for Affirmative Action (CAA), and the Asian American Studies Department of San Francisco State University) tracks and responds to incidents of hate, violence, harassment, discrimination, shunning, and child bullying against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders in the United States. Their mission is to advance equity, justice and power by dismantling systemic racism and building a multiracial movement to end anti-Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) hate.

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PANEL DISCUSSION

Moderator:

Manan Desai is the author of The United States of India: Anticolonial Literature & Transnational Refraction (2020), published by Temple University Press as part of the Asian American History and Culture Series. His essays have been published in Comparative Literature, the Journal of Popular Culture, and the forthcoming volume of Asian American Literature in Transition. He has served on the Board of Directors for the South Asian American Digital Archive (saada.org). He is currently the director of the University of Michigan Program in Asian/Pacific Islander American (A/PIA) Studies in the Department of American Culture.

Panelist:

1. Ayesha Ghazi Edwin has dedicated her career to helping to mobilize and fight for the rights of the Asian American community. She previously served as the Executive Director of American Citizens for Justice, worked for APIAVote-Michigan, and currently serves as the Governor Whitmer appointed Chair of the Michigan Asian Pacific American Affairs Commission. Ayesha is an award-winning social justice activist, having previously worked in health equity, labor rights, for immigration reform and for voting rights. Ayesha’s family is of Indian descent, and she grew up in Ann Arbor after immigrating here from London at the age of 3. Currently Ayesha serves as the Deputy Director of Detroit Disability Power, is an award-winning lecturer at the University of Michigan School of Social Work, an appointed Ann Arbor Human Rights Commissioner, and a current candidate for Ann Arbor City Council, Ward 3.

2. Frances Kai-Hwa Wang is a poet, artist, essayist, and activist focused on issues of Asian America, race, justice, and the arts. Her writing has appeared at PBS NewsHour, NBCAsianAmerica, PRI GlobalNation, Cha Asian Literary Journal, Kartika Review, Drunken Boat. She teaches Asian/Pacific Islander American Studies at University of Michigan and creative writing at Washtenaw Community College. She was formerly Executive Director of American Citizens for Justice and Asian Pacific American Chamber of Commerce. She co-created a multimedia artwork for Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center. She is a 2019 Knight Arts Challenge Detroit artist creating an anthology of essays and a digital arts archive about Vincent Chin. Her book of poetry, “You Cannot Resist Me When My Hair Is in Braids,” is just out at Wayne State University Press. Franceskaihwawang.com @fkwang

3. Chien-An Yuan is an interdisciplinary artist, designer, and educator based in Ann Arbor, MI. Yuan runs 1473, a record label specializing in improvisation, electronics, and collaboration. He is also a founding member of IS/LAND, a performance collaborative comprised of AAPI movers, artists, and collaborators. His work has been featured in The New Yorker, Chicago Tribune, Chicago Reader, NewCity, Salon, ArtSlant, Huffington Post, and WNYC. Past performances and exhibitions include Detroit Institute of Arts, The Contemporary Arts Center Cincinnati, School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Gene Siskel Film Center, Museum of Chinese in America NYC, Syrup Loft, Zhou B Arts Center, Asian American Cultural Center of University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Hyde Park Art Center, and Gallery 312.

4. Dim Mang (they/she) is a Community Organizer with Rising Voices, an Asian American non-profit committed to building power with Asian Americans in Michigan. Dim was born in Mandalay, Burma to two Tedim Chin parents, and they immigrated to the US with their family in 2005. She was raised in a working-class family in Tulsa, Oklahoma and went to college at the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor, majoring in History and Political Science. Outside of her day job, Dim is an At-Large Vice President of APALA (Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance), and helps run a mutual aid network and fundraiser to aid anti-coup protesters in her home country, Burma. They are fluent in English and Tedim Chin, and hope to relearn Burmese. Dim currently lives with her partner and their two cats on the traditional lands of the Anishinaabe, Potawatomi, Fox, and Peoria. They hope to one day help co-create a Burmese community center in Tulsa, Oklahoma, where her immediate and extended family still live. They hope to organize for collective liberation for the rest of their life.

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And out in the lobby:

Kizuna Tree art installation (w/o dancers)

Kizuna Tree is an interactive installation/performance collaboration between Detroit Public Television, WDET, Rising Voices, and IS/LAND Asian American Arts Collaborative. Comprised of an Ikebana Tree designed by Celeste Shimoura Goedert of Rising Voices, sound recordings from the collaborative series ‘Kizuna Stories’ from DPTV and WDET by Zosette Guir and Dorothy Hernandez, and dance by AAPI Performance Collaborative IS/LAND, Kizuna Tree is an exploration of communal healing for AAPI peoples, across generations, communities, and ethnicities, connected through words, visuals, and movement. The restorative and healing properties through this physical movement and storytelling offers the audience an experiential exploration of the interactive connections between the dancers with each other, the audience, and the tree itself.

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Thank you to our Sponsors; CultureVerse & The New Foundry.

https://cultureverse.org/events/who-killed-vincent-chin
https://www.facebook.com/events/michigan-theater/who-killed-vincent-chin-free-screening/5485867901458527/
https://annarborobserver.com/mc-events/who-killed-vincent-chin-michigan-theater/
https://secure.michtheater.org/websales/pages/info.aspx?evtinfo=737870~c76be4f4-22b5-4bed-a89c-7def863b8c53&epguid=83683564-3500-4e9a-8221-b074c769a042&

JustUs for Vincent Twitter Spaces Convo w The Emancipator

 

Great Twitter Spaces Convo to accompany the 5 essay/poem series for The Emancipator (Boston Globe) I curated for the 40th commemoration of the death of Vincent Chin this week. With authors May-lee Chai, Curtis Chin, Bryan Thao Worra, and hosts Deborah Douglas and Amber Payne. Thanks again for this beautiful artwork by Isip Xin. The Emancipator is a collaboration with The Boston Globe and Boston University's Center for Antiracist Research reframing the conversation on racial justice and equity.


Here's the whole series: This week, Asian American writers pay tribute to Vincent Chin on the 40th anniversary of his death (with audio recordings and beautiful artwork by Isip Xin)

Frances Kai-Hwa Wang 6/20: JustUs for Vincent: Finding Home Between the Vincent Chin Case and COVID-19 - The Emancipator





Tuesday, June 21, 2022

40 years after Vincent Chin’s death, activists work to keep legacy from fading | PBS NewsHour

My article for PBS NewsHour
“We’re seeing history repeat itself. From the Chinese Exclusion Act to the Great Replacement Theory, the blaming of Asians and marginalized communities for various social, structural, and systemic issues is not new. Nor is the violence that is emboldened by these claims,” Koelzer said. “Real solutions include addressing the root causes of violence: Access to vital resources; stopping hate speech, especially by people in power; data collection with language access and disaggregation for our diverse communities; and taking action on immigration.”

Monday, June 20, 2022

JustUs for Vincent: Finding Home Between the Vincent Chin Case and COVID-19 - The Emancipator


So proud to be able to curate this 5 essay/poem series for The Emancipator (Boston Globe) for the 40th commemoration of the death of Vincent Chin this week. Check out the beautiful artwork by Isip Xin and the audio recordings! Big thanks to editors Deborah Douglas and Amber Payne for giving us this opportunity. The Emancipator is a collaboration with The Boston Globe and Boston University's Center for Antiracist Research reframing the conversation on racial justice and equity.

This week, Asian American writers pay tribute to Vincent Chin on the 40th anniversary of his death:

JustUs for Vincent: Finding Home Between the Vincent Chin Case and COVID-19 - The Emancipator 
with series introduction, poem, and audio recording

Saturday, June 18, 2022

Performance ACJ Vincent Chin 40th year Commemoration June 16-19, 2022

 

ACJ Vincent Chin 40th year Commemoration Events June 16-19, 2022

I'll be performing at Vincent Chin 40th year Commemoration Arts Performance . I'll be performing poems from my new book, "You Cannot Resist Me When My Hair Is in Braids," Wayne State University Press, 2022. And I will also be performing my poem, "Finding home between the Vincent Chin case and COVID-19," and "Ypsilanti 1982" by Bryan Thao Worra, and excerpt from "Latin for New World Order" by Ravi Shankar," which will be published in my upcoming book, "Beyond Vincent Chin: Legacies in Action and Art, Wayne State Press, 2024. Thanks to Knight Arts Challenge Detroit, CultureSource, Ann Arbor Area Foundation, Michigan Humanties, and friends who have contributed essays and poems to this next book project.

Sat., June 18, 2022, 7-9:30 pm EDT, Detroit  https://www.vincentchin.org/schedule


Vincent Chin 40th Remembrance and Rededication
DAY 3: Join Asian American artists and activists for an evening of performance embodying the collaboration, healing, and spirit of unity necessary to push our communities forward. Through song, poetry and movement, these artists affirm our vow to future generations.

Learn more about the artists and register at VincentChin.org/schedule

Performers include:
Frances Kai-Hwa Wang
Joo Won Park & the Electronic Music Ensemble of Wayne State (EMEWS)
Joori Jung
Nobuko Miyamoto with Derek Nakamoto, Juan Perez, Asiyah Ayubbi

Wednesday, June 15, 2022

Tonight! Reading at Emil & Tamiko's Father's Day Month Gathering | Facebook

Tonight!  Excited to celebrate Father's Day with my good friends Emil and Tamiko
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 15, 2022 AT 8:30 PM – 9:30 PM EDT/ 5:30 pm PDT/ 2:30 pm HST
I'll be reading selections from my new book (towards the end of the hour), "You Cannot Resist Me When My Hair Is in Braids, Wayne State University Press Made in Michigan Series

Please join us as we honor, remember, process, sort through, and share our memories of our fathers and father figures in our lives, and those who have been absent and/or less than loving/ideal.
Storytellers, visual artists, poets, essayists, singers, songwriters, and creators of all kinds will have 3-5 minutes to share their creativity at this gathering.
We hope to see you there!
Emil & Tamiko

Emil Guillermo is a journalist, award-winning essayist, broadcaster, and performer. He's done his one-man shows on Asian American Filipino History at theater festivals around the country. He is the host of The PETA Podcast, and Emil Amok's Takeout. His weekly column is at AALDEF.org/blog and at amok.com. He was the first Asian American male to host a national news show (NPR's "All Things Considered," in 1989).

Tamiko Wong was born and raised in San Francisco with roots in Japantown and Chinatown. Her work has been included in the Lunchbox Moments Zine, Standing Strong! Fillmore and Japantown anthology, on Pacific Time, and in AsianWeek. She writes poetry, memoir, and is a singer-songwriter. Tamiko has also produced podcasts and zines.

Emil & Tamiko's Father's Day Month Gathering | Facebook

Sunday, June 12, 2022

Today Sunday June 12! Book Talk, signing, and reception Ypsilanti District Library

Ypsilanti District Library Reading, book signing, and Reception

Sun., June 12, 2022, 2pm EDT in person
Whittaker Community Room, 5577 Whittaker Road, Ypsilanti, MI, 48197
Book sales by Black Stone Bookstore and Cultural Center

Thanks Ypsilanti District Library, Black Stone Bookstore, and Mrs. Omer Jean Winborn


Book talk featuring Frances Kai-Hwa Wang:
You Cannot Resist Me When My Hair Is in Braids
Sunday, June 12, 2022, 2:00pm - 4:00pm
Ypsilanti District Library, Whittaker Community Room
Author Frances Kai-Hwa Wang reads from her new book You Cannot Resist Me When My Hair Is In Braids.

In the aftermath of a messy divorce, Frances Kai-Hwa Wang writes in the hope of beginning to build a new life with four children, bossy aunties, unreliable suitors, and an uncertain political landscape. The lyric essays in You Cannot Resist Me When My Hair Is in Braids deftly navigate the space between cultures and reflect on lessons learned from both Asian American elders and young multiracial children, punctuated by moments rich with cultural and linguistic nuance. Within these lyric essays, some of which are accompanied by artwork and art installations, Wang finds the courage and hope to speak out for herself and for an entire generation of Asian American women. You Cannot Resist Me When My Hair Is in Braids features a clear and powerful voice that brings all people together in these political and pandemic times. 

Black Stone Bookstore and Cultural Center will have copies of You Cannot Resist Me When My Hair Is in Braids available for purchase after her talk; light refreshments will also be served.

Saturday, June 11, 2022

Poetry Reading Sat., June 18, 7pm, Detroit Film Theatre


Vincent Chin 40th Remembrance and Rededication
DAY 3: Join Asian American artists and activists for an evening of performance embodying the collaboration, healing, and spirit of unity necessary to push our communities forward. Through song, poetry and movement, these artists affirm our vow to future generations.

Learn more about the artists and register at VincentChin.org/schedule

Performers include:
Frances Kai-Hwa Wang
Joo Won Park & the Electronic Music Ensemble of Wayne State (EMEWS)
Joori Jung
Nobuko Miyamoto with Derek Nakamoto, Juan Perez, Asiyah Ayubbi

Friday, June 10, 2022

Book talk Sun 6/12 2pm Ypsilanti District Library

This weekend! Sun June 12 2-4 pm EDT in person! Book talk, signing, plus reception ft Frances Kai-Hwa Wang "You Cannot Resist Me When My Hair Is in Braids," Ypsilanti District Library, 5577 Whittaker Road, Ypsilanti 48197. Books will be available for sale by Black Stone Books and Cultural Center.


Thursday, June 9, 2022

Reading Emil & Tamiko's Father's Day Month Gathering | Facebook

Excited to celebrate Father's Day with my good friends Emil and Tamiko
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 15, 2022 AT 8:30 PM – 9:30 PM EDT/ 5:30 pm PDT/ 2:30 pm HST
I'll be reading selections from my new book (towards the end of the hour), "You Cannot Resist Me When My Hair Is in Braids, Wayne State University Press Made in Michigan Series

Please join us as we honor, remember, process, sort through, and share our memories of our fathers and father figures in our lives, and those who have been absent and/or less than loving/ideal.
Storytellers, visual artists, poets, essayists, singers, songwriters, and creators of all kinds will have 3-5 minutes to share their creativity at this gathering.
We hope to see you there!
Emil & Tamiko

Emil Guillermo is a journalist, award-winning essayist, broadcaster, and performer. He's done his one-man shows on Asian American Filipino History at theater festivals around the country. He is the host of The PETA Podcast, and Emil Amok's Takeout. His weekly column is at AALDEF.org/blog and at amok.com. He was the first Asian American male to host a national news show (NPR's "All Things Considered," in 1989).

Tamiko Wong was born and raised in San Francisco with roots in Japantown and Chinatown. Her work has been included in the Lunchbox Moments Zine, Standing Strong! Fillmore and Japantown anthology, on Pacific Time, and in AsianWeek. She writes poetry, memoir, and is a singer-songwriter. Tamiko has also produced podcasts and zines.

Emil & Tamiko's Father's Day Month Gathering | Facebook

Saturday, June 4, 2022

Today at WCC: Op-Ed and Opinion Essay Writing and Publishing classes

Starting today at Washtenaw Community College

Intro to Op-Ed and Opinion Essay Writing
2 Sats., June 4-11, 2022, 10am-12pm EDT, Washtenaw Community College, Zoom

ABCs of Publishing
2 Sats., June 4-11, 2022, 1pm-3pm EDT, Washtenaw Community College, Zoom

Friday, June 3, 2022

1990 Institute Newsletter Vol 2 Issue 11, June 3, 2022 asks What will we do for all those little children in Uvalde?

My latest essay for 1990 Institute Vol 2 Issue 11, June 3, 2022 asks What will we do for all those little children in Uvalde?
 "As an essayist, I have written about mass shootings, racially-motivated shootings, school and church shootings, police violence, worrying about my children and elders, and the senseless loss of innocent lives so many times, as recently as two weeks ago. But this time, words falter. I feel all written out." including data from AAPI-Data​
1990 Institute Newsletter

Thursday, June 2, 2022