Me n El morado in La Raíz!

September 25, 2023February 4, 2024Leave a comment

I have identified as an artist for years but I only really considered my writing as art. Not that I did much outside of writing, but I never really considered creating much else either.

Last year, I created my first cartonería paper sculpture — El morado, an alebrije — and now it’s been featured in a magazine! What! I’m a writer AND a visual artist!? What! I exercised my self-expression in another way! My art expands as I expand! What! I amaze myself. 🤯😇🤩😊

Thank you @elizabethjimenezmontelongo for sharing opportunities with me and giving me space to share my art with the community! 🙏🏽 Check out @laraizmagazine for more Chicanx artists! Plus, there’s an alebrije workshop this weekend if you want to make your own!! Happy Latinx Heritage Month ❤️‍🔥

your twenties – staged reading reflection

March 28, 2023February 4, 2024Leave a comment

“Flower bushes evening out.
Trees falling down.
What about the ocean.
The ocean overflowing. The ocean so vast. Barren. On its own.
The ocean does its own pushing.” 🌼🌳🌊

Most of my plays are personal, but there was something heightened about “your twenties.” It felt like my heart on my sleeve.

Workshopping it this winter with the perfect cast and director was a very humbling experience, exploring my writing style and important themes (friendship, mental health, adulting). During the audience talkback after the reading, I was comforted and pleased when folks shared that they related to all the characters. Mission accomplished. ✅

I know there’s still a road ahead for “your twenties” so I’ll keep working on it. Writing takes a lot of time, energy, and thought; writing emotionally-tied heartfilling stories means thinking really hard not just about the story you’re writing but also about how it ties to your day-to-day growing up. And the thinking doesn’t stop. It can be exhausting. So, it’s time to rest. 😌

Thanks to all who read the script and everyone who came out to watch the reading. 🌼🌳🌊

Neighborhood Theatre Project

August 31, 2022May 12, 2023Leave a comment

The last few months were a whirlwind but the Neighborhood Theatre Project is now a wrap 🦋

👏🏽 Congrats and thank you to the entire cast, crew, artists, community members, and organizers who touched this project. It truly was created with all our neighbors.

This project was/is all about illustrating our community’s realities over the last 2.5 years and coming together to discuss solutions, even if those solutions are simply listening to one another and giving each other space. We’ve basically been working on this project for over 9 months straight 😮‍💨 It’s exhausting but making this art to reflect our community—in partnership with community—is fulfilling. Thank you to @calartscouncil for believing in us and giving us our first big grant 🌷

Some participant quotes that were shared during our workshops/interviews that inspired me:
– Smiles, fake smiles Easier to understand
– Paper was my best friend, Turn it into another story
– Hard to know what the other person is trying to say or feeling
– Monetize hobby
– It’s nothing, just need an aspirin
– How we communicate the truth
– The doctors see you in a certain way
– Truthful to yourself

1 big grant project down, 1 more to go, and many more to apply for 👐🏽

Follow @more.mas.marami or check out my carrd in my bio for all the info on our theatre collective. Next show is Sept 16 – 24 in DTSJ 👀📔👭🏽🦭

AANHPI Heritage Month

May 27, 2022February 4, 2024Leave a comment

It’s Asian American, Native Hawaiian, & Pacific Islander Heritage Month 🌺 #AANHPI

While we were in Vancouver, Canada, Brandon and I visited the 🪷 Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Classical Chinese Garden. This was the first Ming Dynasty-style garden constructed outside of China in 1981. The garden is a product of community voices (residents, Chinatown merchants) advocating together to protest city plans of building a freeway in the area.

🎍 The gardens are meant to be a space where, even in the middle of a busy city, you can enter and be immersed in nature. They are ecosystems for plants and animals, designed thoughtfully in the Confucian, Daoist, and Buddhist philosophies.

🪟 The windows are called “leak” windows bc the intricate patterns reveal and conceal (or leak) different views, depending on where you look through it.

🪨 The stones in the floor came directly from river beds in China and the designs of the paths were designed with both floral, round shapes (symbolizing Yin) and geometric, square shapes (symbolizing Yang).

It was lovely to walk through the garden, step into this oasis, and learn about the history and symbolism. I am amazed at the determination the Vancouver Chinatown community had to protect their neighborhood from harmful development—and then they constructed a meaningful testament of culture. 👏🏽✊🏽

Every voice matters—and together, many voices have the power to make real, positive impact in this world.

🙇🏽‍♀️ In reflection of May also being Mental Health Awareness Month and the dozens of tragedies and challenges our country faces, we can continue to not only hope, but ➡️work⬅️ towards a more just world.

⚡️ Action, resilience, healing, and advocacy take many forms. Do what’s right for you.

Some orgs and people I appreciate for their important work in reporting, celebrating, representing, creating, sharing, curating, and teaching this month (and every month):

@aapiwomenlead
@everytown
@pslbayarea
@kqed
@bindlestiff_sf
@lead_filipino
@dearasianyouth
@kevinnadal
@entrepinayship
@gelainesantiago
@rosaliecchiang
@girlsthatinvest