Day 387, April 8, 2021

Learning to Listen

Tonight's soundtrack: Coreyah

I wonder if we all have something that accesses something deeper within, that subconscious level when one closes one's eyes and waits to see what will emerge. It is sometimes about patience more than inspiration. Imagine if we were all so equipped to capture those creative moments when something special happened. I often feel this way when watching performances captured on YouTube. There is such amazing things happening all the time. How lucky we are to witness such things. 

I once saw Medea performed by a Korean ensemble at La Mama Experimental Theater in New York. That experience made me feel as if creative possibilities had been peeled from their moorings. It is marvelous to walk away from an experience like that and feel like you might just be a changed person. 

I have been lucky to have grown up in a musician's household. All my life I have been surrounded by models of people who are trying to express themselves through different mediums, and I have always been part of audiences where I was learning how to listen. I didn't really recognize these things when I was growing up, but it is obvious to me now that I was learning these things all along. I had parents who took me to museums, who prioritized bringing beautiful things into the house. So, closing one's eyes and waiting to see what comes out seems as natural as anything. 

That is more my adaptation of learned inheritances. 
It is how I am moved.

Each day I start my morning

waiting to see what flows from 

the tip of my pen.

Always, the ink.

This morning I dreamed a page

into existence

and for a moment I could smell the smoke,

the danger.

Every day is frightening

with its possibility,

with what might be missing.

I am so happy to live in a time

when I can bear witness to the amazing 

capacities of humanity in its infinite variety.

It is also frightening to see how truly incredible

other people's imagination is.

Tonight's video is really marvelous. They take what I've had as a seed of an idea in my head for years (gayageum is a saved category on my eBay search list), and blow it up into an almost Parliament/Funkadelic scale. How fantastic.

It almost makes me cry to see Koreans making music like this.

I hope to someday

create something

worthy of my dreams.

Take care and stay safe,

Leo

Trees embracing.

From Our Friends:

From the "Showing Up with Asian and Asian American Folks" UMass Community Discussion:

Get Involved

To stay updated on upcoming events and be part of our continued conversation, please complete this form to indicate your level of interest: 

 

Attend a free remote Bystander Intervention Training and/or Conflict De-escalation Training from iHollaback.

 

See or experience an act of racial bias? Report it to the Office of Equity and Inclusion and/or to StopAAPIHate, a nonprofit social organization that tracks incidents of discrimination, hate and xenophobia against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders (AAPI) in the United States.

 

The Asian and Asian American Studies Certificate program maintains an up-to-date events calendar detailing activities happening at UMass and the Five Colleges.

Sign-up to receive the weekly CMASS newsletter which will keep you updated on events happening in all of our campus cultural centers.

 

Asian Americans Advancing Justice is a national organization advancing the human and civil rights of Asians and Asian Americans.

 

The AAPI Alliance of Western Massachusetts is a new organization of people in Western Massachusetts working to advance racial equity in the Pioneer valley. 

 

Get Educated

UMass and the other area colleges offer a number of classes that will allow you to expand your understanding of our rich and diverse Asian community.

 

Read any of these books exploring what it means to be an Asian American.  

 

Celebrate

Read books that celebrate Asian and Asian American culture.

 

Support your local Asian and Asian American-owned businesses, which have been disproportionately impacted by the pandemic.

 

Take care of yourself

These are difficult and disheartening times. Make sure to rest when you can.

 

Register for a series of therapist-led Healing Circles, designed to address anti-Asian racism that has grown since the start of the Coronavirus pandemic. 

 

The Center for Counseling and Psychological Health offers individual and group counseling as well as workshops to manage stress and maintain your well-being.  Need help now? There is always someone available at 413-545-2337.

From the Asian and Asian American Studies Certificate Program:

The Student Advisory Board of the Asian & Asian American Studies Certificate Program at UMass Amherst is excited to announce UMass Amherst’s 3rd Annual Asian American Film Festival‼️🎬 This year we are bringing the Film Festival to your home for our 2-Day Virtual Event.

The theme for this year is “Beauty as Work,” which builds off of Professor Miliann Kang’s WGSS course with that title. We are showcasing “Nailed It,” a documentary by Adele Pham that uncovers the real history of the Vietnamese nail salon, and “Finding the Fierce Gaysian Within”—a film created by Candace H. Nguyen documenting their journey discovering themselves as a queer Vietnamese individual. Join us after the film screenings for a Q&A with the filmmakers.

📆Sat. April 10 and Sun. April 11, 2021
⏰ 7-8:30 PM each day
🔗 Register in advance for this meeting:

https://umass-amherst.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJYoc-qhpzgiE9GLpjgPoluXhhEEYvSUt6qq 

After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.