Arts and Culture

What Asian American Oscar Victories Mean for All of Us

After the Oscars, when Asian Americans were everywhere on the winners list, from actors, writers, directors, but also makeup artists, and not just in “Everything Everywhere All at Once,” but also in movies like “The Whale,” I turn to the Oakland playwright Ishmael Reed who must be wondering will Asian Americans now go for the Whiteness Prize?

Published

3 months ago

March 16, 2023

Oakland Post

Michelle Yeoh is the first Asian actress to win an Academy Award.

By Emil Guillermo

(I consider Asian American to be a generic term, indicating people of Asian descent either living or working not necessarily indicative of their citizenship status.)

I’m in New York as an actor in “The Conductor,” the latest Reed production now off-Broadway (get your in-person or live-streamed tickets here: https://theaterforthenewcity.net/shows/the-conductor-2023/).

I play a brown-skinned Tucker Carlson-type on a faux Fox, and very conservative news network.

That’s how good an actor I am!

As an Asian American sometime-actor, I’m gratified to see Asian American creatives take their historic star turn at the Oscars. Asians have won the Academy Award for best supporting actor before, but never has there been a best actor/actress winner until the Malaysia-born, Hollywood-based Michelle Yeoh last weekend.

There’s something about being a “first.” A “never before.”

But what’s next?

And that’s where Reed’s play got me thinking.

In Reed’s “The Conductor,” Blacks start a new underground railroad to help Indian Americans — not American Indians, but those from the continent of India — escape a wave of xenophobia that is forcing them to flee to Canada.

The main character, columnist Warren Chipp is Reed’s alter ego. When a conservative Indian seeks refuge and asks Chipp why the liberal Chipp is being so nice to him, Chipp reveals his grasp of irony.

“Minorities make alliances with us (Blacks) until their admission to the white club is accepted. This happened to the Jews, the Japanese, the Irish, the Italians and now you guys (Asian Indians).”

It’s just one of the provocative asides in the play, but the historical examples are there.

Says Chipp/Reed: “These groups come running to us when the white man decides to sic mobs on them because of some geopolitical conflict or culture war. Begging us to hide them and save them. And then, when they get an ‘all-clear’ sign, they return to auditioning for whiteness again. Lining up and trampling over each other, asking white people to ‘choose me!’ Some of them even change their names to go Anglo.”

Reed says it’s the root of “Afro-Pessimism.”

What’s that?

It’s a term by Frank Wilderson, as Reed explains, that means Blacks can’t depend upon Blacks’ “junior allies.” Wilderson calls B.S. on intersectionality and says that Blacks “must go it alone.”

After rehearsals and the first four performances, the passages from the play haunt me.

Especially last Sunday. When the Asian Americans were preparing for their Oscar turn, I was off-Broadway living Reed’s play.

Is the Model Minority now back to auditioning for whiteness again?

I hope not. I get what Reed’s saying in his play. But I see the Oscar victory as a win for not just Asian Americans but all BIPOC communities in all their unique narratives.

AAPI stories have a kind of heat now. An independent film about a family with a laundromat dealing with the IRS and the multiverse where people have hotdogs as fingers puts us in a whole new ballgame.

We aren’t so weird after all. We’re of immigrant descent, sure. We’re different, yes. But we’re of the modern world and our stories deal in universal truths.

People flocked to “Everything Everywhere All at Once,” which gave it some cache as an indie project that was making money. Not like “Top Gun” money, but enough to satisfy Hollywood accountants. Once it caught the attention of the Academy looking for diversity, the film was simply recognized for its off-beat ingenuity and its creative weirdness.

I was having lunch in New York’s Chinatown with a lawyer friend of mine, a Chinese American immigrant and also a triple Harvard (College, Law School, and MBA) graduate. My friend surprised me when he said he couldn’t understand the hype about “Everything, Everywhere…”

He called it unwatchable. He liked the movie “Tar.”

I told him maybe it was generational. Just goes to show you that not everyone, not even Asian Americans are on board with “Everything, Everywhere…”

But the huge victory on Sunday makes the film like a Golden Spike in Hollywood. The track is finally connected and open for AAPI creatives bound for glory.

“Everything, Everywhere…” has put everyone in the equation on notice. We have stories to tell that sell, and that people want to see.

Stories that win Oscars.

I see the phenomenon as a rising Asian American film lifts all boats. And with AAPI at just over 6% of the population, I don’t buy the “Afro-Pessimism” idea in his play.

We can’t go it alone. We don’t have the numbers. We need each other.

Like anything worthwhile, it’s going to have to be done together.

Emil Guillermo is a journalist and commentator. See his vlog on www.amok.com And see “The Conductor” in person or live-streamed tickets here: https://theaterforthenewcity.net/shows/the-conductor-2023/

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Activism

Emil Guillermo: ‘Strong Like Bamboo’ Stories of AAPI Resilience at Oakland Asian Cultural Center

The name from the project came from the husband and partner of Nancy Wang, a psychotherapist as well as an ASIA member and a founder of Eth-Noh-TEC, Robert Kukuchi-Yngoho, who came up with ‘Strong Like Bamboo.’ “There’s an ancient anecdote that a single bamboo piece can be bent and eventually broken,” said Kukuchi-Yngoho. “But when you put together many bamboos, they are strong like iron. As Asian Americans that’s who we are as a community.”

Published

2 weeks ago

May 27, 2023

Oakland Post

Oakland Asian Cultural Center, 388 9th St, Oakland, CA 94607

By Emil Guillermo

During the pandemic, I was in a group of Asian American storytellers based in the Bay Area on a weekly Zoom call when six Korean American women were killed in what has come to be known as the Atlanta Spa killings in March of 2021.

From that point on, the storytellers of Asian American Storytellers in Action (ASIA) realized we all had stories of discrimination and hate worth sharing.

The group’s discussion through the pandemic has resulted in “Strong Like Bamboo: Stories of Resilience for Healing in the Era of Anti-AAPI Violence,” a community event Sunday May 28 at the Oakland Asian Cultural Center from 2:00 p.m.-5:00 p.m.

“I asked myself ‘how do we heal?’ How do we respond to the crises we’re going through,” said Nancy Wang, a psychotherapist as well as an ASIA member and a founder of Eth-Noh-TEC, a storytelling theater based in San Francisco.

“I thought it would be great to gather to hear other people’s stories about discrimination they have experienced but came through it somehow as an inspiration for others to also find solace and support and strength in dealing with what’s going on.

“We all need to know we’re not alone,” she added. “That we have each other and we have allies.”

The name from the project came from Nancy’s husband and partner Robert Kukuchi-Yngoho, who came up with “Strong Like Bamboo.”

“There’s an ancient anecdote that a single bamboo piece can be bent and eventually broken,” said Kukuchi-Yngoho. “But when you put together many bamboos, they are strong like iron. As Asian Americans that’s who we are as a community.”

The free, three-hour event will feature storytelling from six professional storytellers (including yours truly) and others from the national AAPI community like Alton Takiyama Chung from Portland, Ore., MJ Kang from Los Angeles, and Linda Yemoto from the Bay Area.

Afterward, Russell Jeong, professor of Ethnic Studies at San Francisco State, will lead a group discussion of the stories. Jeong is also the co-founder of #StopAAPIHate which recorded more than 14,000 instances of self-reported hate transgressions during the pandemic.

Some say it was the remarks of former President Donald Trump scapegoating Asians for the spread of the virus that led to the violent reaction toward AAPI.

The audience will then break into groups where people can share their stories.

The afternoon will also include two short movies on the Asian American experience. The event closes with a reflective song by Kukuchi-Yngoho, and a number by a well-known group of rappers made up of senior women known as the Follies.

I look forward to sharing my stories and hope to see you all at the free event.

JOIN IN PERSON:
Date: Sunday May 28th, 2022
Time: 2:00-5:00 pm PDT
Where: Oakland Asian Cultural Center, 388 9th St, Oakland, CA 94607
Register to attend this Free live, in-person event: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/strong-like-bamboo-tickets-509561551317
*Recording of the live event will be made available for those unable to attend.

– or –

JOIN ON ZOOM:
This event will be livestreamed on Zoom and recorded, same date and time!
To register for the live virtual event on Zoom, please visit:
https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZwpceyrpjIoHtGozoJo7reCVDGg2PRXkGKi#/registration
*Our Zoom links have not worked in past emails, so let us know if our long link doesn’t work.

If you have any questions, please reach out to contact@ethnohtec.org.

The program is funded in part by the California Arts Council.

Art

Artist Highlight: TJ Walkup “Iconoclast, Cartoon Illustrator, Filmmaker”

Born in 1970 in Napa, California, TJ has studied and practices in multiple creative and technical disciplines, MIDI and Sound Design, Stagecraft, Art and Graphic Arts in LA, Napa, Central Coast and San Francisco. TJ is a solo artist and a contributor and collaborator in various forms from art shows, published in activist rags advocating for homeless with Street Spirit, Street Sheet and Homeless in the Homeland.

Published

1 month ago

April 27, 2023

Oakland Post

Today TJ and his wife Christina own and operate a small production company Omnific Pictures. He is actively illustrating zines, books and re- imagining classic literature as graphic novels, and makes experimental music under a secret moniker in the top 10 of the genre for 8 years.

TJ recalls “I had a one-man painting show at the last club with a cabaret license in SF and Edward Snowden was in attendance”. Locally TJ produced the Punk and Edge Arts Festival “Mocktoberfest,” the first of its kind in Vallejo.

Children received instruments and lessons free of charge in their chosen genre. This was in partnership with the Mira Theater and included 2 stages at the Empress and Mira theaters with 13 bands as well as a showing of “Afropunk” and an art show. Former museum director Jim Kern’s set list sheets from “The Cramps” appeared in the art show as well as an “Otaku Patrol Group” Cyberpunk leather jacket as artifact displays.

Klaus Flouride of the Dead Kennedy’s was in attendance and a presenter through Schroom Custom Guitarworks, Consumer music and Ernie Ball were sponsors.

Today TJ and his wife Christina own and operate a small production company Omnific Pictures.

He is actively illustrating zines, books and re- imagining classic literature as graphic novels, and makes experimental music under a secret moniker in the top 10 of the genre for 8 years.

This Artist Highlight was brought to you by the Vallejo Commission on Culture and the Arts.

Arts and Culture

Vallejo Juneteenth Invites Auditions for Individual and Group Performers

Aspiring singers, dancers, musicians, orators, and other types of performers are invited to audition for Vallejo’s Juneteenth Festival & Parade onstage entertainment. Auditions will be held virtually, and applicants must send a video of the selection they would perform if chosen for the entertainment lineup. The Juneteenth event will be held Saturday, June 17 from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. at Martin Luther King, Jr. Park downtown behind City Hall at Mare Island Way and Capitol Street. The celebration will also feature a parade through downtown Vallejo.

Published

2 months ago

April 21, 2023

Oakland Post

Event planners are also seeking merchandise and food vendors, and exhibitors, in addition to corporate, business, and community sponsors. The online application is available at www.vallejojuneteenth.com. The application deadline is April 30.

Festival seeks to showcase local, homegrown talent

Vallejo, Calif. | Aspiring singers, dancers, musicians, orators, and other types of performers are invited to audition for Vallejo’s Juneteenth Festival & Parade onstage entertainment. Auditions will be held virtually, and applicants must send a video of the selection they would perform if chosen for the entertainment lineup. The Juneteenth event will be held Saturday, June 17 from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. at Martin Luther King, Jr. Park downtown behind City Hall at Mare Island Way and Capitol Street. The celebration will also feature a parade through downtown Vallejo.

“We’re looking for people of all ages with exceptional talent but have not performed professionally,” said Gwendolyn White, president of the African American Family Reunion Committee which organizes the Juneteenth festival. “There are a lot of local residents who are singing or playing music in their church choir and gatherings with family and friends or doing solo or choreographed dance routines and other types of performing. We’d like to give them some exposure in front a large, live audience which could help jumpstart a career in the industry.”

Anyone interested in submitting an audition video should send an online link to their performance to aafrc@vallejojuneteenth.com by May 5 and include their contact information. Performances should be no longer than 10 minutes and must be appropriate for all audiences.

Juneteenth became a federal holiday in 2021 which is recognized on June 19 to commemorate the emancipation of enslaved people in the United States. It was on that date in 1865 in Galveston, Texas, when enslaved people were declared free in the aftermath of the Civil War under the terms of the 1862 Emancipation Proclamation.

Event planners are also seeking merchandise and food vendors, and exhibitors, in addition to corporate, business, and community sponsors. The online application is available at www.vallejojuneteenth.com. The application deadline is April 30. Anyone interested in participating in the parade should submit the application on the website by June 2. Information is available at aafrc@vallejojuneteenth.com.