Reflection: PELA’s Our Fight to Stay

On March 30, 2012 USC’s Partnership for an Equitable Los Angeles hosted a community poetry night at the Mercado la Paloma that forWord had the pleasure of performing at.  The night was filled with issues concerning gentrification, displacement, power and autonomy for vulnerable communities, empowering the voiceless, organizing and social justice.  The two major issues PELA highlighted that night was the Walmart trying to move into Chinatown and Trayvon Martin.  Two issues yall should educate yourselves on if you don’t already know.

Mark and I were the only two available to make this event. We performed our Asian American group piece (AAGP), which is usually done by all four of us, Mark performed “Struggle”, and I performed “Take Back the Night”.  Not going to lie… it was very strange doing AAGP without Eddy and Stephanie but as Mark AS Barney would say, “challenge accepted”.  It definitely sounded different (maybe because we are used to hearing it a certain way) but we tried something new and got our message across.

It was a poetry night so it was mostly poets but there were a few musicians as well and all contributed to the amazing vibe that night.  It was great to share the stage with some familiar faces like Cara and Sandy of common ground, traci of Tuesday Night Project Tuesday Night Project, and Damon Turner aka Real8.

Thank you to Cecilia for the invite and the rest of the PELA crew for putting together the show and creating space for the community to come together and educate each other.

-sd

[ Posted on 4.19.12 / 1 note ]
Tags:   #PELA    #usc    #poetry    #chinatownla    #trayvon martin    #community

commongroundoc: TOMORROW, innovative and energetic spoken word collective ForWord will take the [common ground] stage as part of our March 1st “MERGING MICS” collaboration show with Tuesday Night Project— rumor has it, they’ll be performing some new work. The four-member crew took some time to share about the importance of art+community in their lives: Eddy: I love Hip Hop. With that being said, I’ve experienced art playing a significant role in my community. I grew up amongst those who used pencils, microphones, sidewalks, cardboards, aerosol cans, city walls, vinyl records, and mixers to get through the day. Honestly, I was never a master of the four elements, but a sheet of paper and a sharpened pencil went a long way. When I stepped into the open mic scene, I was exposed to not only emcees, but singers, musicians, and poets who all valued the freedom of self-expression. While some nailed high notes and others jammed on guitars, it was through spoken word poetry where I found myself and was able to meet so many good folks during high school, college, and still now. In this community, art is more than a role for me, for us. It is the reason to live. This community I live in and love so much is art expressed. Susan: I think art has been a really effective way to communicate within the community, especially for those who are not comfortable articulating in plain language their feelings and concerns. I feel really lucky to have spaces like TNP and cg— spaces for people to gather, share stories and ideas, connect, and grow together.  When they can come together in spaces like TNP and cg and one can feel a part of that, it just feels like you’re a part of something bigger, working toward something bigger than yourself and that’s kind of nice to think about. Stephanie: The best, and perhaps most convenient, aspect of art is that it’s accessible to everyone. By accessible, I mean it can be enjoyed both as a spectator and a participant. Even further, it is emotionally appealing to the masses and, with respect to the APIA community, has been a vessel for increasing our visibility in the mainstream. The more Asian faces I see on the screen, the more I remember and am self-affirmed: we exist! Mark: Art offers a new avenue to express yourself.  There are times when pictures, photographs, dance, paintings/murals, music, and poetry/spoken word hold the attention of an audience longer than a regular conversation.  We can utilize that time to talk about politics, world issues, life or whatever else.  In the APIA community, and any community for that matter, art is utilized as a way to bring issues that are affecting us into the forefront of the mainstream conversation. Our “MERGING MICS” show is tomorrow! Bring a friend or ten, and RSVP here. See you soon! Photo: ForWord on stage at our June 2011 show. Credit: Scott Chan YES! We will be here tomorrow! See YOU there? Please? =).

commongroundoc:

TOMORROW, innovative and energetic spoken word collective ForWord will take the [common ground] stage as part of our March 1st “MERGING MICS” collaboration show with Tuesday Night Project— rumor has it, they’ll be performing some new work. The four-member crew took some time to share about the importance of art+community in their lives:

Eddy:

I love Hip Hop. With that being said, I’ve experienced art playing a significant role in my community. I grew up amongst those who used pencils, microphones, sidewalks, cardboards, aerosol cans, city walls, vinyl records, and mixers to get through the day. Honestly, I was never a master of the four elements, but a sheet of paper and a sharpened pencil went a long way. When I stepped into the open mic scene, I was exposed to not only emcees, but singers, musicians, and poets who all valued the freedom of self-expression. While some nailed high notes and others jammed on guitars, it was through spoken word poetry where I found myself and was able to meet so many good folks during high school, college, and still now. In this community, art is more than a role for me, for us. It is the reason to live. This community I live in and love so much is art expressed.

Susan:

I think art has been a really effective way to communicate within the community, especially for those who are not comfortable articulating in plain language their feelings and concerns. I feel really lucky to have spaces like TNP and cg— spaces for people to gather, share stories and ideas, connect, and grow together.  When they can come together in spaces like TNP and cg and one can feel a part of that, it just feels like you’re a part of something bigger, working toward something bigger than yourself and that’s kind of nice to think about.

Stephanie:

The best, and perhaps most convenient, aspect of art is that it’s accessible to everyone. By accessible, I mean it can be enjoyed both as a spectator and a participant. Even further, it is emotionally appealing to the masses and, with respect to the APIA community, has been a vessel for increasing our visibility in the mainstream. The more Asian faces I see on the screen, the more I remember and am self-affirmed: we exist!

Mark:

Art offers a new avenue to express yourself.  There are times when pictures, photographs, dance, paintings/murals, music, and poetry/spoken word hold the attention of an audience longer than a regular conversation.  We can utilize that time to talk about politics, world issues, life or whatever else.  In the APIA community, and any community for that matter, art is utilized as a way to bring issues that are affecting us into the forefront of the mainstream conversation.

Our “MERGING MICS” show is tomorrow! Bring a friend or ten, and RSVP here. See you soon!

Photo: ForWord on stage at our June 2011 show. Credit: Scott Chan

YES! We will be here tomorrow! See YOU there? Please? =).

[ Posted on 2.29.12 / 8 notes ]
Tags:   #common ground    #art    #community    #tuesday night project    #feature    #open mic    #orange county    #santa ana    #forword    #forword news    #forword collective    #forword feature