World reknowned muralist, Juana Alicia, and award-winning poet-playwright, Genny Lim, collaborated on this Mural, Not in My Name, in the hope a permanent Cease Fire will end the genocide in Gaza.
The artists are seeking a site in San Francisco Bay Area to mount the mural and funds to cover costs. Please contact Genny Lim on this website if you can provide sponsorship or assistance.
5p @citylightsbooks in the alley @vesuviobarsf
w/ @sfflorycanto hosted by @soledadconcarne + @spell_dust
6p at Golden Sardine upstairs in the Poetry Loft
w/ Genny Lim, Alie Jones, & Antony Fangary
hosted by @scottmbird22
7p at Maccharini Gallery hosted by Jessica Loos
(long friend of the deen @luxinteriordecoratorrrrr will be reading)
9p Coit Tower Poetry Club
reads Jack Spicer on the back lawn
For more, visit the Golden Sardine.
These poems were written ten years before Oct. 7, 2023 when the Hamas attacks on Israel triggered a retaliatory siege and genocide of Palestinians in Gaza.
I wrote the poems at the peak of Palestinian resistance, when peaceful demonstrations were violently met with sniper fire, tear gas and arrests by the IDF. Palestinian children were shot and killed or arrested for throwing stones at IDF and, often, storm troopers barged into Palestinian homes in the middle of the night and dragged family members out to prison, where they were interrogated and often beaten and issued long sentences without legal counsel.
These poems attempt to bear witness to the suffering and pain of the Palestinian people under Occupation.
— GENNY LIM
Includes “Gaza” which was used on “In Your Ear”, Apex Express and Raza Chronicles on KPFA.
Produced by Freedom Archives, 2013.
Authors: Genny Lim, Hafez Modirzadeh • Year: 2013 • Call Number: CD 931 • Format: CD • Producers: Greg Landau, Claude Marks • Collection: Compact discs representing digitized copies of analog tapes
“We the People solemnly swear to Manifest our Common Destiny as a diverse and multicultural global humanity with respect and recognition of the freedom, equality and sovereignty of all nations and peoples on our blessed planet earth, in opposition to the destructive and unsustainable path of war, extraction, over-consumption and imperialism, on which the colonial forefathers have set us on and which continues to harm all life forms on this planet, from the greatest to smallest each and every day.”
— GENNY LIM
Poetry ReadingLed by Clarion Alley Mural Project, Manifest Differently is a new project developed and directed by Kim Shuck and Megan Wilson.
Over the next year, 2023/24, we’ll be working together with 38 diverse, multigenerational visual/media artists and poets to interrogate the history of Manifest Destiny and its legacies of inherited and perpetuated violence, trauma, and addiction, and the outgrowth of resistance and resilience – giving fire to movements for social/ culture change.
The project is supported by independent curator Trisha Lagaso Goldberg, California historian Barbara Berglund Sokolov, humanities advisors Mary Jean Robertson, Kyoko Sato, Fuifuilupe Niumeitolu, Anita Chang, and David A. M. Goldberg.
This event is free, but advance reservations are required.
Click HERE to reserve your spot!
For more information, visit the East Hawai’i Cultural Center website https://ehcc.org/
GenRyu Arts and the Merchants of the Japan Center Malls present Japan Week. This summer cultural festival returns in its 11th year celebrating the culture of Japan and Japantown. Throughout the first week of July, there will be events, workshops and performances by master artists, musicians and cultural bearers.
At the end of the week, the cultural festival culminates in Japan Day. Join the celebration of Japanese cultural arts at this free event on three stages at the Peace Plaza stage, Japan Center East Mall (2nd floor), and Studio Gen (East Mall, Suite 505)! Hear the exhilarating sound of taiko drums and see colorful Japanese dancers with live musicians. Watch karate, Okinawan music, and dance. Besides the exciting performances, there will be demonstrations of Origami paper folding, Washi Ningyo paper dolls, Shodo calligraphy. Bring your friends and family. No tickets needed.
Gen Taiko and Odori School
International Karate League
Sakura Ren
The Imperceptible Nature (collaboration Genny Lim, Nozawa MatsuQ, Melody Takata, Benita Ushikubo and International Karate League)
Northern California Okinawa Kenjin Kai
Gintenkai National Project
12:00pm – 1:00pm Washi Ningyo Japanese Paper Dolls
1:30pm – 2:30pm Origami Japanese Paper Folding
3:00pm – 4:00pm Shodo Japanese Calligraphy
12:30pm – 1:00pm Gidayu Shamisen Traditional Japanese Joruri Narrative Music
2:30pm – 3:00pm Ozashiki Shamisen Traditional Japanese Chamber Music
This new writing workshop conducted by Genny Lim brings together young and mature writers from across the AAPI/BIPOC/LBGTQ diaspora. Their fresh, powerful voices celebrate and reclaim their identities from the destructive narrative of the white lens. From writing prompts designed to penetrate layers of the subconscious and memories hidden or suppressed as the result of generational trauma and racism, their stories unravel the broken histories, the pain and their personal journeys to reconciliation and healing.
PARTICIPATING ARTISTS
Danni Tsuboi, Chrysalis Hyon, Sapho Flor, Sally Chang, Tasha Essen, Vickie Chang, Angela Bau, Tiff Lin, LiZhen Wang, Melanie Gin, Rich Pauloo, Samina Jain, John Lee
Diaspora Writing Workshop Reading is co-presented by the Asian Pacific Islander Cultural Center, as part of the 26th United States of Asian America Festival (USAAF). For the full calendar of events: https://tinyurl.com/usaaf2023.
#USAAF2023 #ReimaginingHorizons #APAHeritageMonth #AAPI #AsianAmerican #BIPOC
APICC is proud to present this live-streamed reading by artists, educators, veteran activists and writers of all levels from the AAPI community. They will share their stories and poems written in the course of a memoir writing workshop conducted by poet-playwright, Genny Lim.
The on-going, online workshops have met every week throughout the pandemic, providing a safe haven for building community through shared writing that excavates the truths buried by historic racism and deep, generational trauma.
These memoir pieces were written in response to weekly writing prompts provided by Genny Lim. The writers are proud to share their new work.
Leon Sun, Leslie Yee Murata, Casimiro Tolentino, Susan Hayase, Grace Morizawa, Lynn Huang, Carole Chinn-Morales, Lisa Oyama, and Noah Kawaguchi
Susan Hayase is a long-time activist in the San Jose Japanese American community. She played taiko from 1980 to 1990 with San Jose Taiko, and was involved in the grassroots movement for redress/reparations. She is a co-founder of San Jose Nikkei Resisters, a multi-generational community organization in San Jose Japantown.
Lynn Huang is a dancer, aspiring writer, and GYROTONIC(R) trainer. Originally from New York City, she currently dances with Lenora Lee Dance and is also a 2023 AsianImprovArts fellow.
Carole Chinn-Morales: Carole Chinn-Morales was born and raised in San Francisco’s Chinatown. Carole came to writing late in life, after retirement from teaching at City College of San Francisco. She is thrilled to belong to Genny’s writing group, grateful for the chance to explore, listen to writers with diverse voices, and to discover her own.
Noah Kawaguchi is a musician and writer from Ohio. He plays the shakuhachi and often creates work that reflects his perspective as a mixed shin-nisei Japanese American from the Midwest.
Lisa Oyama enjoys gardening, Japanese flower arranging, volunteering with various API organizations, and dancing when nobody is watching. She lives in the Bay Area with her husband and dog, but will always be a Gardena girl at heart.
Leon Sun is a San Francisco based visual artist whose work was embedded in the social activism of the 1970s to the 1990s. He currently works mainly in silkscreen printing, inspired by the spirituality of Asian and indigenous cultures. Sun writes from his memories of growing up in Shanghai, Hong Kong and as an immigrant in America. He is also trying his hand at poetry and enjoys writing haiku.
Casimiro U. Tolentino is a retired Judge and practiced as a civil rights attorney. He has taught AAPI history classes and enjoys reading, photography and continuing writing about AAPI history and issues.
Grace Morizawa is a former elementary school teacher in Oakland and a former San Pablo principal. She is the education coordinator for the National Japanese American Historical Society, writing and teaching about Japanese American incarceration during World War II. After decades of teaching and dabbling in writing, Genny Lim’s class opened the door to add her voice to the increasing scene of Asian American stories.
Leslie Yee-Murata
Writer
Artist
Healer
Lover of Learning the Mysteries of Inner and Outer Space
Each year, the United States of Asian American Festival (USAAF) presents up to 20 different programs reflecting the artistic accomplishments and cultural diversity of San Francisco’s Pacific Islander and Asian American communities. USAAF showcases artists representing a diverse range of ethnic and cultural groups and aims to heighten the visibility of Asian and Pacific Islander (API) artists working in all disciplines – theater, music, dance, film, literature, visual arts, and more! Our goal is to nurture and empower these groups to be self-sufficient while providing the support they need to grow.
This year’s USAAF is funded by the San Francisco Arts Commission, San Francisco Grants for the Arts, California Arts Council, Zellerbach Family Foundation and startsmall.
3rd Saturday Poetry in Chinatown is a monthly reading series. It is curated by poet Greg Pond. In this series, each reading will have two featured poets. There will be an open mic before and after each feature. In this inaugural reading we’re honored to present poet, playwright and performer Genny Lim, and San Francisco Poet Laureate Tongo Eisen-Martin. Sign up to read at the open mic at 1 pm. We will accommodate as many participants as we can.
Genny Lim is a recipient of the PEN Oakland Reginald Lockett and Berkeley Poetry Festival Lifetime Achievement Awards. She was San Francisco Jazz Poet Laureate (2016-2018). Her award-winning play Paper Angels has been produced throughout the U.S., in Canada and China. She is author of five poetry collections, Winter Place, Child of War, Paper Gods and Rebels, KRA!, La Morte Del Tempo, and co-author of Island: Poetry and History of Chinese Immigrants on Angel Island, winner of the American Book Award. Lim has collaborated with numerous jazz musicians, including Max Roach, Jon Jang, Francis Wong, Marcus Shelby and Del Sol String Quartet.
Tongo Eisen-Martin is a San Francisco native. He graduated from Columbia University and taught at its Institute for Research in African-American Studies. He created the 2012 curriculum We Charge Genocide Again. Tongo has also taught at detention centers, including San Quentin and Rikers Island. He is the co-founder of Black Freighter Press.
Honors and awards
Eisen-Martin’s 2017 book Heaven Is All Goodbyes, published by City Lights, won a PEN Oakland Award, the 2018 American Book Award, 2018 California Book Award, and 2018 National California Booksellers Association Poetry Book of the Year. His 2020 title, Blood on the Fog, published by City Lights was named a Best Poetry Book of 2021 by Elisa Gabbert of the New York Times