POSTCARD: Whats Up?

Help Khmer Girls in Action reach 10,000 views by today as part...

Fri, 13 Apr 2012 12:57:00 -0700

Help Khmer Girls in Action reach 10,000 views by today as part of the 2012 API SUMMIT: iADVOCATE Call To Action Video Contest. The video with the most views wins an iPAD3.

Long Beach Arts Council Micro-Grant

Fri, 13 Apr 2012 12:54:00 -0700

So proud to announce that Trade and Row received a micro-grant from the Long Beach Arts Council in support of Postcards 2012!

"Hope in the 'Hood"

Mon, 09 Apr 2012 11:26:47 -0700

This piece highlights a student from Khmer Girls in Action. Keo’s story is truly inspiring. We look forward to learning more about KGA this weekend at Docs on the Block.

Growing up in Eastside Long Beach means you have to fight for your dreams and the most basic needs for living. Poverty wears different faces and the youth who survive the daily hustle know this. From over-crowded schools, unstable and poor housing conditions, not having enough food on the table or seeing their family less because a sibling gets caught up in a gang or their parents work longer hours in poorly lit sweatshops to compensate for their low-wage hourly labor.

Keo Ouk, a young Khmer woman, born and raised in the Eastside is one of many who know this story all too well. She joined Khmer Girls in Action, shortly after she lost her childhood friend in a random drive-by shooting. She was sitting next to him on the front porch when it happened. It took her two years to begin sharing this story. She recalls getting kicked out of an advanced learning program because her grades had dropped. She was only a freshman at the time.

“I joined KGA because it’s like a second home to me. My sister used to go there and my friends too”. One of the staff organizers, Sophya Chum, is also a close family friend, making it really easy for her to feel comfortable. It was also through KGA’s writing program called Tongues Afire that she was able to face and talk about her loss. She’s written several pieces including “The Stranger That Wears Your Skin” and “Super Womyn”. The first is about not being able to recognize her own brother once he joined a gang and the second is about her mom’s round-the-clock daily routine on her Singer sewing machine. “The program taught me how to write down my emotions and thoughts that give justice to what I’ve been through.”

Just a couple of months after she shared the story about losing her best friend, an even greater loss took place. Keo’s oldest sister was killed in a tragic hit-and-run accident just one week before her sister’s 26th birthday.

“How can I go through all of this and still be okay?” She was getting straight F’s during her junior year when grades for college admission matters most. KGA’s academic and personal support program called LIFE (Learning to Impact for Empowerment) worked one-on-one with her. Keo recognizes LIFE Coordinator, Ashley Uyeda, for stepping in to create structure and an academic to-do list for her. Ashley intervened by talking to her counselors and teachers. “ I was able to talk to my teachers and wasn’t intimidated by them after that. I’m usually scared to talk to adults with power.” At the end of the school year Keo’s GPA for her junior year was close to a 3.0. She flipped her F’s into an A, four B’s and two C’s.

“I’m still going to school and now I’m applying to college. I’ve seen a lot of people where I come from just give up and I’m glad I didn’t give up.” Keo is in the process of applying to college and is amazed that she has options and a door to a better future. She wants to work in a health related field—after all, the A she earned was in Biology.

Youth in Long Beach need more public resources and organizations like Khmer Girls in Action to help them understand the world in which they’ve inherited and be proactive in making individual and social change. Specifically for Khmer youth whose parents survived genocide in Cambodia, daily living means healing from that loss and then surviving high-rates of poverty.

KGA offers youth a framework they can use to see how their individual experiences are connected to a collective struggle in which political education is the key to empowerment, self-determination and justice for all people.

Brave New Voices

Mon, 09 Apr 2012 11:09:00 -0700

Hey guys! Our friends at ¡DUENDE! Long Beach will be performing at this years Brave New Voices, an annual gathering of poets from across the globe. Read more about the event here.

¡DUENDE! Long Beach is a grassroots community arts organization founded by women writers, artists, and performers in August 2011. The organization aims to provide inclusive programming, mentorship, and performance opportunities for youth in the Long Beach area. Their goal is to empower youth to be creative leaders for change in their communities. For more information, e-mail duende.longbeach@gmail.com or visit http://duendelongbeach.weebly.com.

Our friends at the YMCA recently completed their “A...

Mon, 02 Apr 2012 13:46:00 -0700

Our friends at the YMCA recently completed their “A Cambodia Journey Documentary.” The YMCA Cambodia Project is a cultural learning exchange for American Cambodians, led by khmer speaking guide. Take some time to watch their 40 minute documentary! Also, come out to the Art Theatre April 14 to check out some more work from YMCA youth!

Photo

Wed, 28 Mar 2012 21:50:40 -0700

"Time to plant trees, not trucks"

Tue, 27 Mar 2012 12:40:11 -0700

Caleb Walker of Long Beach Community Action Partnership (one of Postcard’s participating organizations!!) spoke last week in support of a resolution that would grant the city of Long Beach funding from the California Department of Transportation through their Transportation Planning Grant Program, a program in which Caltrans annually grants awards for the preparation of major transportation planning studies that “promote strong and healthy communities, economic growth, and enhanced mobility within cities.”

The city manager will apply for the grant by April 2 and the winner will be announced later this year. Read about how the grant could help improve the entire west Long Beach landscape here. You can also watch the video of the city council meeting here.

We love seeing young people do big things!

LasFotosProject.Org “Empowering Latina youth through...

Tue, 20 Mar 2012 10:42:00 -0700

LasFotosProject.Org

“Empowering Latina youth through photography”

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“My name is Sophia and I am a Girl Scout in Troop 3111. When I heard that Las Fotos Project was coming to our troop to teach us about photography, I was so excited that I was going to be able to use a 35 mm camera for the first time! They were so fun! This class has made me look at photography in a whole new way. Photography to me is a way of expressing your inner emotions, because you are able to take pictures of whatever makes you feel happy. :) My experience with Las Fotos Project is one I will never forget. I remember before this, I had never touched or used a 35 mm camera but was very eager to. Finally, when I did, I decided that I really wanted a 35 mm camera of my own! Thank you Las Fotos Project for everything you have taught me!”

Sophia Patino, age 13

Downey, CA, 90240

LaFotosProject.Org “Empowering Latina youth through...

Tue, 20 Mar 2012 10:29:00 -0700

LaFotosProject.Org

“Empowering Latina youth through photography”

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“Before Las Fotos Project I had never used a film camera before, only digital. This experience was really amazing I learned a lot of new things about photography and I really enjoyed doing this project. My favorite part about this experience was I was able to take the picture in a way that it could tell a story or it could get you thinking what does it really mean. All the pictures I took were not just pictures but a memory and a part of an experience I will never forget.”

- Jackie Arnesen, age 13

Montebello, CA, 90640

LasFotosProject.Org “Empowering Latina youth through...

Tue, 20 Mar 2012 10:22:00 -0700

LasFotosProject.Org

“Empowering Latina youth through photography”

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“You still have a lot of time to make yourself be what you want. There are still lots of good in the world. Tell Dally. I don’t think he knows. Your buddy, Johnny.”

-The Outsiders

- Jessica Peregrina, age 14

Montebello, CA, 90640

Las Fotos Project students are girls between the ages of 12-17,...

Tue, 20 Mar 2012 10:07:29 -0700

Las Fotos Project students are girls between the ages of 12-17, from low to middle-income households in high-Latino populated communities, who do not have access to photography equipment or art-based programs. Students are referred to Las Fotos Project by our partners, and identified by either having an interest in photography or likely benefiting from our workshops.

lasfotosproject.org

In this video we meet Jayne DeMakos, harpist and director of...

Mon, 20 Feb 2012 18:48:00 -0800

In this video we meet Jayne DeMakos, harpist and director of music at Hospicare and Palliative Care Services of Tompkins County. For over twenty five years, she has been using music to heal, inform, sustain and celebrate. Currently, Jayne is preparing to take her talents internationally. First to Costa Rica and ultimately to Tanzania and South Africa where she will offer bedside music to patients and have an intercultural dialogue around music as a complimentary medicine.

The potency of music as a healing tool is inspiring. It is also something everyone has experienced. What is your most profound experience with music?

Learn more about Jayne Demakos on her website, http://www.jaynedemakos.com/index.html

What’s up with dynamic cross-cultural conversation? Find...

Mon, 13 Feb 2012 16:49:00 -0800

What’s up with dynamic cross-cultural conversation?

Find out this Friday, February 17 at the Asia Pacific Museum’s Active Culture’s event featuring artist Richard Jackson and principal of the LA based Studio 0.10, USC School of Architecture Associate Professor Andrew Liang.

“The series pairs engaging speakers in a dynamic, conversational program. Each evening features two experts and two topics not necessarily sharing an obvious connection. Each speaker makes a short, 30 minute presentation on their area of expertise, and then shares the stage in an open session where they take questions and along with the audience explore the connections between their topics. The evening concludes with continued conversation over food and drink as the audience and presenters come together in an informal reception.”

Get more info here.

OC Weekly tells us whats up in an Orange County theatre (...and its not what you may think)

Mon, 13 Feb 2012 16:35:00 -0800

For most of us, the traditional Orange Countian is not difficult to imagine, think: beach blonde, bling-bearing a la Bravo’s Real Housewives. Though I will be the first to attest to the OC’s cultural diversity (see Santa Ana, Westminster, Anaheim), patrons of Costa Mesa’s South Coast Repertory tend to be of the whiter demographic. Thus, it would seem that this is not the place for African-American theatre. However, SCR’s current season of shows proves to us that great storytelling knows no racial demographic.

African-American Playwrite, Suzan-Lori Park’s Topdog/Underdog just completed its run at South Coast Repertory. Joel Beers’ OC Weekly review of the Pulitzer Prize winning play reminds us that “there’s reason to celebrate the theatre choosing to schedule a play that doesn’t fit seamlessly with its demographic. No, the characters, situation, language and -most obvious- color of the faces are… a world removed. Yet the power, potency and streetwise poetry of her play make it every bit as astonishing as any of the sublimely talented writers SCR has dutifully trotted out over the years.”

(Click here to read the entire OC Weekly review of Topdog/ Underdog)

Bravo to Park! The performance of her play in an unlikely community did not simply expose audiences to the tangible elements of African-American culture. Topdog/Underdog was able to establish a more profound empathy among two seemingly different groups through the relatability of its story, “one that ultimately reflects on the hopes, fears, aspirations and illusions of all Americans.”

South Coast Repertory will continue to bridge the demographic boundaries, August Wilson’s Jitney will open in May.