#KorematsuDay 2014 Across the Country

Look at all the events held on #KorematsuDay 2014 Across the Country. So proud to be a part!

Michigan Korematsu Program 2014

The Michigan Department of Civil Rights (MDCR) and the Michigan Asian Pacific American Affairs Commission (MAPAAC) are pleased to recognize national civil rights hero Fred Korematsu on Thursday, January 30, 2014, 12:30 p.m., at Huron High School, Ann Arbor, and to share with Huron students details of the World War II Japanese American internment experience and the landmark civil rights case Korematsu v. United States.

Korematsu Program 2014

Dr. Arthur Williams	Principal, Huron High School, Moderator
Matthew Wesaw	Director, Michigan Department of Civil Rights, presentation of the Governor’s Special Tribute, Fred Korematsu, A National Civil Rights Hero
Jamie Hsu, Ph.D.	Chair, Michigan Asian Pacific American Affairs Commission (MAPAAC)
Video documentary	“Of Civil Wrongs and Rights: The Fred Korematsu Story” (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SOGSnx2k7b8)
Ron Aramaki	Lecturer, A/PIA History and Law, University of Michigan and University of Michigan-Dearborn; activist in redress movement
Roland Hwang	Commissioner, MAPAAC; founding member American Citizens for Justice; Adjunct Instructor, A/PIA History and Law, University of Michigan and University of Michigan-Dearborn
Mary Kamidoi	Treasurer, Japanese American Citizens League-Detroit; Treasurer, American Citizens for Justice; former internee at Rohwer Internment Camp
Hao Hao	Student, Huron High School (with writer activist Frances Kai-Hwa Wang)
Questions, Discussion

• For more information about this landmark Supreme Court case, check out the Fred T. Korematsu Institute for Civil Rights and Education korematsuinstitute.org.
• More about Korematsu Day commemorations across the country at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dgtAIQZUB6g
• White House statement about Fred Korematsu: http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2011/02/01/honoring-fred-korematsu
• Japanese American Citizens League http://www.jacl.org
• Michigan Asian Pacific American Affairs Commission https://www.facebook.com/miapaac and http://www.michigan.gov/mdcr/0,1607,7-138-58275_54859---,00.html
• Michigan Department of Civil Rights www.michigan.gov/mdcr
• Further resources and follow-up media coverage will be aggregated at www.franceskaihwawang.com

Thanks to the Fred T. Korematsu Institute for Civil Rights and Education for providing teaching materials and curriculum resources to the students of Huron High School.

From the Michigan Department of Civil Rights on Korematsu

Official Media Advisory from the Michigan Department of Civil Rights on Korematsu:

Michigan Department of Civil Rights and the Michigan

Asian Pacific American Affairs Commission to

Recognize Fred Korematsu

At Huron High School on January 30, 2014

Lansing—The Michigan Department of Civil Rights and the Michigan Asian Pacific American Affairs Commission (MAPAAC) will recognize and honor Fred Korematsu on Thursday, January 30, 2014 at 12:30 pmat Huron High School, 2727 Fuller Road, Ann Arbor. 

Attendance at the event is by invitation only, however members of the news media are welcome to attend. 

Japanese American Fred Korematsu is an American civil liberties icon. Born on January 30, 1919, he courageously defied the US Government’s order to report to an assembly center after the bombing of Pearl Harbor. Korematsu was convicted for his refusal but appealed his case all the way to the US Supreme Court, which ruled against him in a 6-3 decision in 1944.

After World War II, Korematsu moved to Michigan. His conviction was formally vacated on November 10, 1983 by US District Judge Marilyn Hall Patel based upon information that the War Department misled the Supreme Court with false allegations of espionage and sabotage.

Fred Korematsu’s story is one of triumph over the civil wrongs committed against the Japanese American community following the bombing of Pearl Harbor. Mr. Korematsu was honored with the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Bill Clinton in 1998.

Michigan Department of Civil Rights Director Matt Wesaw will read a Certificate of Recognition signed by Governor Snyder at this event. A panel of speakers including MAPAAC Chair Dr. Jamie Hsu, Commissioner Roland Hwang, Mary Kamidoi, Ron Aramaki and Frances Kai-Hwa Wang will discuss the Japanese American internment experience, Korematsu v. United States, and the post-911 world.

To learn more about the Commission and the Department of Civil Rights, please visit www.michigan.gov/mdcr.

Karen Korematsu on Korematsu Day

From Karen Korematsu about Korematsu Day. Showing this to my students tomorrow.

The White House on Korematsu Day

More from the White House about Korematsu Day:

http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2011/02/01/honoring-fred-korematsu

A Discredited Supreme Court Ruling That Still, Technically, Stands - NYTimes.com

Korematsu v US has been vacated but not yet overruled. Could still happen again.

A Discredited Supreme Court Ruling That Still, Technically, Stands - NYTimes.com

Korematsu Day in Michigan this Thursday, January 30, 2014

The Michigan Department of Civil Rights (MDCR) and the Michigan Asian Pacific American Affairs Commission (MAPACC) will recognize Fred Korematsu on Thursday, January 30, 2014 at 12:30 p.m. at Huron High School, 2727 Fuller Road, Ann Arbor, MI 48105.

Japanese American Fred Korematsu is an American civil liberties icon. Born on January 30, 1919, he courageously defied the US Government’s order to report to an assembly center after the bombing of Pearl Harbor. Korematsu was convicted for his refusal but appealed his case all the way to the US Supreme Court, which ruled against him in a 6 to 3 decision in 1944.

After World War II, Korematsu moved to Michigan. Mr. Korematsu’s conviction was formally vacated on November 10, 1983 by US District Judge Marilyn Hall Patel based upon information that the War Department misled the Supreme Court with false allegations of espionage and sabotage.

Fred Korematsu’s story is one of triumph and correction over the civil wrongs against the Japanese American community. Mr. Korematsu was honored with the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Bill Clinton in 1998.

Michigan Department of Civil Rights Director Matt Wesaw will read the Certificate of Recognition signed by Governor Rick Snyder at this event. Speakers include Dr. Jamie Hsu, Michigan Asian Pacific American Affairs Commission Chair; Roland Hwang, founding member of American Citizens for Justice and secretary of the Michigan Asian Pacific American Affairs Commission; Mary Kamidoi, former internee at the Rohwer internment camp in Arkansas and officer at Japanese American Citizens League; Ron Aramaki, Redress activist and lecturer for Asian Pacific Islander American history and law at the University of Michigan; and Hao Hao, a student at Huron High School on behalf of Frances Kai-Hwa Wang, activist writer and lecturer for Asian Pacific Islander American civil rights activism and media at the University of Michigan.

All the World History and US History classes will be in attendance to hear a panel discussion about the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II, how Fred Korematsu and others in the Japanese American community challenged this grave injustice, and how this case continues to affect them today and in the future, especially after 9/11. The students will also watch this video documentary, "On Civil Rights and Wrongs: The Fred Korematsu Story."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SOGSnx2k7b8

This event is not open to the public, but is open to media with credentials.

For more information about this event, contact Roland Hwang or email miapacommission@gmail.com.

For more information about the case, check out the Fred T. Korematsu Institute for Civil Rights and Education korematsuinstitute.org. More about Korematsu Day commemorations across the country at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dgtAIQZUB6g

To learn more about the Michigan Asian Pacific American Affairs Commission and the Michigan Department of Civil Rights, please visit www.michigan.gov/mdcr. 

18.3 - Winter 2013 | Ricepaper Magazine

Excited to be invited to be a part of Ricepaper Magazine's next issue on Hyphens. Until then, here's their most recent edition, just out. 18.3 - Winter 2013 | Ricepaper Magazine

The Ha (Breath) of Writing Workshop

From Halau I Ka Pono, the Hula School of Chicago:

Frances Kai-Hwa Wang Join Frances Kai-Hwa Wang, a Michigan and Hawaii-based  writer, for a day-long writing workshop on Saturday, February 22, 2014 from 9 am - 4:30 pm at 38 Lake Street in Oak Park, IL. This workshop is excellent for beginners wanting to try their hand at writing or people who have been writing in secret journals for years and want to now begin a memoir for their families.  Rather than waiting for the day when everything is perfect and finished, this writing workshop begins one day, one word, one breath at a time. Learn simple but powerful methods to get the ideas out of your head, onto the page and aligned with your heart. Then put it on your "ha," your breath, to make it real in this world. There will be fun writing exercises, tips and tricks including creating a space for writing, writing every day, reading aloud, training your mind to see detail, taking chances with emotion, writing from the heart, cultivating consistency and playing with humor and flourishes. June Tanoue will intersperse meditation and gentle hula movements during the day. Frances Kai-Hwa Wang is a second-generation Chinese American from California who now divides her time between Michigan and the Big Island of Hawai'i. She has worked in philosophy, anthropology, international development, nonprofits, small business start-ups, and ethnic new media. She team-teaches courses on civil rights activism, media and the law in Asian/Pacific Islander American Studies at the University of Michigan and University of Michigan Dearborn. She is a contributor for New America Media, Chicago is the World, Pacific Citizen, InCultureParent.com, and HuffPostLive. She has published two chapbooks of prose poetry, Imaginary Affairs-Postcards from an Imagined Life and Where the Lava Meets the Sea-Asian Pacific American Postcards from Hawai'i.  She has been included in several anthologies and art exhibitions, and has a multimedia artwork with Jyoti Omi Chowdhury entitled "Dreams of the Diaspora" in a Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center, Indian American Heritage Project online and traveling art exhibition. June Kaililani Ryushin Tanoue June Kaililani Ryushin Tanoue is a fourth-generation Japanese American from Hawaii who now lives in Chicago, IL. She has an MPH in Nutrition from the University of Hawaii.  She is a Kumu Hula (master teacher of Hula) and an ordained Zen priest and Dharma Holder in the White Plum Lineage.  She has taught hula for 10 years in Chicago and 7 years in New York City.  She founded Halau i Ka Pono - The Hula School of Chicago in 2009. Save 20% on Early Bird Rates before 2/7/14.  Register Today! Halau i Ka Pono performing at Millenium Park's   Family Fun Festival 2013 Where the Lava Meets the Sea  Friday, February 21st 7 - 8:30 pm 38 Lake St. Oak Park, IL  Join Frances Kai-Hwa Wang in a prose poetry reading on Friday night, February 21st.  A masterful storyteller, Frances will bring you straight to the heart of the natural wonders and culture, and colorful characters that captivate and move us all.  The dancers of Halau i Ka Pono honor Pele, the Volcano Goddess in chants and dances.  Free for workshop participants. Save 50% on Early Bird Rates before 2/7/14 Register Here ..

myemail.constantcontact.com/The-Ha--Breath--of-Writing-Workshop.html?soid=1103899376875&aid=EXl7OFkGRPk

Images and Perceptions Diversity Conference

I've just been invited to speak at 11th Annual Images and Perceptions Diversity Conference April 10, 2014, Dearborn, Michigan.

Images and Perceptions Diversity Conference

H1B Visa Art Exhibition at Twelve Gates Arts

So honored to be a part of the Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Indian American Heritage Project H1B Visa Art Exhibition. Check out some of the amazing artworks now on exhibit at Twelve Gates Arts in Philadelphia. Click on link for whole exhibit: TWELVE GATES ARTS

Juhi Bharat
My H4 Saga 2013
Stretched canvas, Acrylics, India Ink, Charcoal 

Girija Kaimal
B-eing H1 2013
Mixed Media, including H1B visas, paintings, frames, hooks and wire 

Veru Narula
Dialing a Digital Devotion 2013
Oil on circuit board, canvas, layered with glass-beaded embroidery 

TWELVE GATES ARTS

Pictures from Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center Indian American Heritage Project H1B visa art exhibition opening at Twelve Gates Arts

So powerful to hear all the artists' stories of immigration, visas, family, work at Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center Indian American Heritage Project H1B visa art exhibition opening at Twelve Gates Arts.


Honored to be a part of the opening Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center Indian American Heritage Project H1B Visa art exhibition at Twelve Gates Arts in Philadelphia with Jyoti Omi Chowdhury and curator Masum Momaya with "Dreams of the Diaspora." Coming online soon...


Jyoti Omi Chowdhury and Frances Kai-Hwa Wang, "Dreams of the Diaspora," multimedia installation of photography, prose poetry, spoken word, soundscape, tabla. Also with Jean Piguet and Lauren Peng.

Sewing the last chapbook, "Dreams of the Diaspora"

Sewing the last chapbook and heading over to Laura Beyer Wax Wing Press for final trim

Kartika Review and "Grandfather Walking,"

So pleased to receive my Kartika Review in the mail today, so beautifully wrapped, with "Grandfather Walking," photograph by Jyoti Omi Chowdhury. Thanks to editor Jennifer Derilo!

And now we fold and bind these "Dreams of the Diaspora"

Straight from the printers. And now we fold and bind these "Dreams of the Diaspora" chapbooks.

first printer proof "Dreams of the Diaspora" chapbook

first printer proof "Dreams of the Diaspora" chapbook w/ Jyoti Omi Chowdhury

What people are saying about "Dreams of the Diaspora" chapbook

What people are saying about "Dreams of the Diaspora" chapbook

The speaker in these poems was born “in the slipstream of the diaspora” and even while using humor, the desires explored here feel elemental and slightly dangerous, like touching the blue tongue of a flame at its hottest point. Born of the latent desire of a lover in the absence of a beloved, Frances Kai-Hwa Wang’s poems are compelling testimonials to living and loving in the 21st century while inhabiting a body of color.
—Ravi Shankar, founder of Drunken Boat and author/editor of eight books/chapbooks of poetry, including W.W. Norton's Language for a New Century

“Where are you from? No, where are you really from?” This pertinent question is at the heart of this multi-form exploration of diasporic experiences in Dreams of the Diaspora by Frances Kai-Hwa Wang, where she weaves together themes of lostness, desire, search, self knowledge, history and heartache with eloquence and elegance, and does so with an honesty that is as hard-hitting as it is moving. We hurtle along with her words and the stories that the remarkable accompanying photographs by Jyoti Omi Chowdhury tell, and we begin to reexamine in new ways our own experiences of diaspora with its complex interconnected and disconnected worlds.
—Zilka Joseph, author of Lands I Live In and What Dread

What is so appealing about Frances Kai-Hwa Wang's writing is the smooth blend of the sensory and sensual with a sharp social and cultural critique, the personal and familial with the historical antecedents of communities in which she has her origins. Her awareness of Asian-American issues burns like a steady flame and flares up or simmers as the occasion demands. Her erotic longings are spiced with a dash of humor. She is open to experiment in multimedia formats and content. This is an activist’s collection bristling with literary energy.
—Saleem Peeradina, author of Slow Dance

I feel at home when reading Dreams of the Diaspora. Home is where my nostalgic and hopeful heart belongs. Omi and Frances describe their homes beautifully.
—Lac Su, author of the memoir I Love Yous Are for White People


Dreams of the Diaspora began as a multimedia conversation of photographs, prose poetry, spoken word, and soundscape, in which two voices—an Asian American child of immigrants and an Asian immigrant—explore their very different experiences of both America and the diaspora. Both voices ache with alienation as they wander the globe, yearning for both the future and the past, independence and belonging. As Frances Kai-Hwa Wang and Jyoti Omi Chowdhury explore their mutual fascination with landscape, light, space, identity, and the human spirit, this has become a conversation about identity, stereotypes, courage, risk, and who we can become in the space of the beloved.

Proofing new chapbook, "Dreams of the Diaspora," today

Proofing new chapbook, "Dreams of the Diaspora," with Jyoti Omi Chowdhury today. Thanks everyone for all your help!

Smithsonian Indian American Heritage Project H1B Art Exhibition at Twelve Gates Arts Press Release

Press Release from Twelve Gates Arts, twelvegatesart.org:

H1B
January 18 - February 28, 2014
Philadelphia, PA

Twelve Gates Arts is pleased to present H1B, the latest exhibition from
curator Masum Momaya of the Smithsonian Indian American Heritage
Project. The result of a national call for art submissions, H1B includes
pieces in various media including film. Early in 2013, while completing
the exhibition Beyond Bollywood: Indian Americans Shape Nation for
the Smithsonian Institution, Momaya noticed a gap. She wanted to
share the experiences of South Asians living and working in the United
States on a temporary work visa – the H1B. But, rather than just
analysis, prose and policy debate, how could this be represented
visually?

In line with Twelve Gates Arts’ mission of showcasing South Asian arts
bound by the sensibilities of a transnational identity and promoting
projects crossing cultural and geographical boundaries, the works in
this exhibition explore the trajectories, technicalities and tumultuous
emotions of immigrants living and working here on H1B and H4 visas.
Each work is poignantly personal and, at the same time, speaks
broadly to the experience of immigrants everywhere in the world who
leave their homelands to work, build lives and pursue dreams. The
works, and the statements and biographies that accompany them,
humanize global patterns and remind us that immigration debates are
ultimately about people.

H1B’s sister exhibition, Beyond Bollywood: Indian Americans Shape the
Nation, chronicles the cultural, political and professional contributions
of Indian immigrants and Indian Americans to shaping American
history; that show will be on view from February 27, 2014 - February
2015 at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History.

Juhi Bharat was born in India in 1980. She currently resides in New
Jersey on an H4 Visa. Juhi has a background in fine arts and previous
work experience in several print media publications in the U.S. and
India. She recently graduated with an associate’s degree in 3D
Animation.

Jyoti Omi Chowdhury was born in Dhaka, Bangladesh. He eventually
wound his way to Harvard, where he began to research and write on
genocide, gender equity, war theory, and liberalism and found an
outlet in photography. He has had solo shows in Ann Arbor, Boston,
and Berlin; and his work has been featured in galleries in Chicago,
Indianapolis, Prague, Munich, and Abu Dhabi.

Neha Dadbhawala is a painter who experiments with colors and
different mediums; doing so while keeping the integrity of the
fundamental forms of traditional Indian art alive, is the main objective
of her work. Neha’s work fuses old techniques with a modernistic
approach. She has done solo exhibitions in San Francisco and San
Jose, California and has shown her work at the India Art Summit.

Meghna Damani is a Mumbai-born artist, filmmaker and activist. She
migrated to the US in 2002, leaving behind a successful modeling and
advertising career. Inspired by her own struggle on a dependent
spouse visa that denied her work authorization, she has also built a
social media campaign and grassroots movement to lobby for relevant
policy change. Meghna is founder of Treasure Tower Films, a
multi-media company whose mission is to make films that celebrate
human potential.

Aishwariya Ganapathiraju holds a Master of Arts in Comparative
Literature and Cultural Studies from the University of Arkansas,
Fayetteville. She is academically and artistically interested in identity
creation and manifestation in a changing global world. Primarily a
wordsmith, this is her first foray into visual art.

Girija Kaimal was born and raised in India and began her professional
career as a textile designer. She is also an art therapist, an education
researcher, a professor, a wife, and, a mother. Art for her is a chronicle
of places she has been to, people she has met, things she has seen,
and, what they have meant to her.

Lilaben Leher was born and raised in Chicago. She currently lives in
the Chicago area with her two children, husband and mother-in-law.
Her art has been mainly focused in the commercial realm, and she
teaches traditional & digital drawing courses at the college level.

Veru Narula is a visual artist focused on globally conscious paintings
and the intersection between the representational, digital and
traditional oil media. He learned painting as an adolescent from both
his parents and later studied at Columbia University and the School of
Visual Arts. His work has been shown in exhibitions at many cultural
institutions, including the Queens Museum of Art, the Hammond
Museum, Exit Art, Santa Monica Art Studios, Tarnish & Gold Gallery, the
Elizabeth Arts Foundation, and James Cohen Galley.

Arjun Rihan is an animator and filmmaker based in Oakland,
California. He was born and raised in Pune, India and moved to
Singapore at the age of sixteen to attend high school. He moved to
the United States for college, and he is currently employed as a
Camera & Staging Artist at Pixar Animation Studies. Arjun is on his
third H1B visa. His work has been exhibited at festivals and venues
around the world, including the San Francisco international Film
Festival, Annecy International Animated Film Festival, and the Centre
Pompidou, Paris.

Ela Shah was born in Bombay, India. She earned a bachelor’s degree
in Psychology and a Diploma in Fine Arts from India, as well as a
master’s degree in Sculpture from Montclair State University. Her work
has been exhibited in the Museum of Modern Arts in New Delhi,
Queens Museum of Art in New York, William Benton Museum in
Connecticut and other museums around the country.

Venus Sanghvi was born in Mumbai, India and comes from a Hindu
Jain family. She earned her MFA from Academy of Art University in San
Francisco. Recently, her work was including in a museum quality
coffee table book; her painting was also featured on a billboard in an
“Art Takes Time Square” competition. She has participated in
numerous shows in India and the United States.

Frances Kai-Hwa Wang is a second-generation Chinese American from
California who has lived in Nepal, China, and Taiwan, and now divides
her time between Michigan and the Big Island of Hawai‘i. Trained in
academic philosophy, she has worked in international development,
nonprofit administration, small business start-ups, and ethnic new
media. She teaches at the University of Michigan and is the author of
Imaginary Affairs—Postcards from an Imagined Life and Where the
Lava Meets the Sea—Asian Pacific American Postcards from Hawaii.

Masum Momaya has been Curator of the Indian American Heritage
Project at the Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center since 2012.
Prior to joining the Smithsonian, Dr. Momaya was a curator at the
International Museum of Women and engaged in curatorial work for the
for the Indo-American Heritage Museum. She holds a PhD in Human
Development and a master’s degree in Education from Harvard
University, a bachelor’s degree in Public Policy and Feminist Studies
from Stanford University, and she pursued advanced studies in the
University of Oxford’s Development Studies Program.

H1B will run from January 18th through February 28th, 2014. Gallery
hours are Wed - Sat: 11-5 and by appointment. For additional
information please contact Aisha Zia Khan at 215.253.8578 or by
email: info@twelvegatesarts.org

Zilka Joseph at Bookbound Thursday January 9

So pleased to be a part of Bookbound's Open Mic & Share Series featuring Zilka Joseph today, Thursday, January 9, 2014. Thanks, Bookbound, for carrying my two chapbooks, Imaginary Affairs and Where the Lava Meets the Sea.

This month we are featuring Zilka Joseph, whose books include What Dread and Lands I Live In. She has won several prizes including a Hopwood award and the Elsie Choy Lee Scholarship from the Center for Education of Women. The event starts with an open mic session (contact info@bookboundbookstore.com to participate). Signing.

Update: Photos from Bookbound!

 

Smithsonian Indian American Heritage Project H1B Art Exhibit at Twelve Gates Arts Jan 18-Feb 28 in Philadelphia

Very excited to be a part of the Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center Indian American Heritage Project H1B Art Exhibit (part of at Twelve Gates Arts Jan 18-Feb 28 in Philadelphia with Jyoti Omi Chowdhury and our multimedia art installation, "Dreams of the Diaspora" (available online soon).  Opening reception and Panel Discussion with curator Masum Momaya and artists January 18, 3:30 PM.

More info at http://twelvegatesarts.org/

Updated Additional Link: http://www.smithsonianapa.org/beyondbollywood/project/h1b/ 

“Dreams of the Diaspora,” is a multimedia conversation of photographs, prose poetry, spoken word, and soundscape, in which two voices—an Asian American child of immigrants and an Asian immigrant—explore their very different experiences of both America and the diaspora. The child of immigrants knows how difficult it is to grow up as a minority in America and longs for the certainty of home and culture that the immigrant carries but takes for granted, while the immigrant knows how tenuous his stay in America is and envies the certainty of home and place that the American-born has but does not appreciate. Both voices ache with alienation as they wander the globe, yearning for both the future and the past, independence and belonging. Together, they discover connection and identity and courage in each other. The events following 9/11, including racial profiling at airports and the uncertainty surrounding the H1-B visa, form the turning point of the piece, when the two voices stop arguing about their differences and begin walking together instead.

Despite very different backgrounds and different artistic visions, as Omi and I continue to explore our mutual fascination with landscape, light, space, identity, and the human spirit, we keep finding connections between our work, and our projects keep circling back to each other. We are currently putting together a chapbook to continue this conversation about identity, stereotypes, courage, risk, and who we can become in the space of the beloved.

The Ha (Breath) of Writing Workshop, Chicago

Join Frances Kai-Hwa Wang and June Tanoue for The Ha (Breath) of Writing Workshop.

You'll learn simple but powerful methods to get ideas out of your head, onto the page, and aligned with your heart. Then put it on your "ha" your breath, to make it real in this world. Short writing exercises, tips and tricks including creating a space for writing, writing every day, reading aloud, training your mind to see detail, taking chances with emotion, writing from the heart, cultivating consistency, and having fun with humor and flourishes.

Meditation and gentle Hulamovement will be incorporated in the workshop.

Friday, February 21st
7 - 8:30 pm
Frances Kai-Hwa Wang reading and Halau i Ka Pono Hula Performance

Saturday, Feb. 22nd
9 am - 4:30 pm
The Ha (Breath) of Writing Workshop

Sunday, Feb 23, 9-11 am
Sunday Morning Zen talk about writing, creativity, and the spiritual life

Early Bird
Registration Discounts

Frances Kai-Hwa Wang is a Michigan and Hawaii-based writer and speaker who has written three collections of prose poetry and short short stories across the varied landscapes of Asian Pacific America, wrestling with ache and desire, identity and belonging, and searching for the ever fragile moment. Her writings about Hawaii have been described as, "The pain and longing of life on the continent meets the wondrous, dynamic world of Hawaii's Puna Coast." A masterful storyteller, she brings you straight to the heart of the natural wonders, cultures, and colorful characters that captivate and move us all.

38 Lake Street
Oak Park, IL 60302

Drunken Boat 18

Hey, look, the new Drunken Boat is out! (Thx Ravi Shankar for the sneak peek earlier)
drunkenboat.com

Tiger Mom: Some races are just better | New York Post

oh geez, and now she's back with even more racist troll baiting. has it only been three years? can somebody please tell her that she may be raking in the speakers' fees, but the rest of us have to deal with the real-world repercussions of her ish?

(and changing the title of the article is not enough)

Tiger Mom: Some races are just better | New York Post

A Year in Review: The Top 10 Most Racist/Privileged Things White Feminists Did in 2013 | The Colored Fountain

Oh, it's been a long year. But good food for thought for all of us about what it means to be a good ally.

A Year in Review: The Top 10 Most Racist/Privileged Things White Feminists Did in 2013 | The Colored Fountain

5 Storytelling Lessons You Can Learn From the Films of 2013 | LitReactor

Tell me a story.

5 Storytelling Lessons You Can Learn From the Films of 2013 | LitReactor

Chinese Languages Classes - Washtenaw Community College Division of Economic & Community Development

Come study Chinese language and culture with me at Washtenaw Community College (WCC)! Classes start this Wednesday! Still some spaces left! Sign up now (or they may cancel the class)!

Best part about taking Chinese 1 now is that you can also take the following Chinese 2 class immediately following!

Prepare for your business or vacation trip now!

Chinese 1  CHN 4000  Start 01/08/14  Mandatory Fees: $10.00  Rm. TBD 10 sessions  Wed  Tuition: $189.00  Location: Main Campus   Instructor: Wang
Chinese 2  CHN 4005  Start 03/12/14  Mandatory Fees: $0.00  Rm. LA 163 10 sessions  Wed  Tuition: $189.00  Location: Liberal Arts & Sciences Bldg   Instructor: Wang

Languages Classes - Washtenaw Community College Division of Economic & Community Development

Bride And Prejudice No Life Without Wife HD

Starting the new year right with Aishwarya Rai: