Honoring our Past, Present, and Future

In honor of May being Asian Heritage Month, I thought I would share one way in which The Genki Spark honors our heritages.  For those of you that missed our Making Women’s History Event back in March, or you were so inspired and excited about it and can’t wait until next year’s event…here’s an “encore” of one of our new pieces debuted that weekend, “Honoring Past, Present, and Future.”

Below you will find the speaking parts of the piece and a video of our performance.  We at The Genki Spark honor and celebrate those that came before us as we continue their work for a happier, healthier, genki-er world.  We are excited for our future and the future we are creating for those yet to come.

Peace,

Trisha

PAST

Today we reflect on the experiences of our ancestors. As immigrants and minorities, the generations before us faced many challenges. Their stories of sacrifice and struggle include:

1. Having to change their names because they were “too hard to pronounce.”
2. Being forced to “speak good English,” abandoning the languages their families had spoken for generations.
3. Being denied jobs or access to education.
4. Working endlessly under exploitative conditions, building railroads, cleaning houses, picking crops.
5. Forfeiting their professions or dreams in order to provide a better life for their families.
6. Facing the burden of proving loyalty to a country that was at war with the homeland of their ancestors.
7. Being expected to keep quiet and endure indignities because they were women.
8. Being harassed or beaten for their skin color, race, religion, who they fell in love with.

Despite all this, the generations before us not only endured, they excelled. Their pride, strength, and courage enabled them to continue despite a society that tried to keep them down. They demonstrated resistance through organizing or simply trying their best to persevere day after day. Let’s honor the legacies of the men and especially the women who continue to inspire us.

Future

Today we envision the future.  The future we want to leave for our children, grandchildren and generations to come.  A future that honors those who have come before us.

What is this future we see?

A future that is just, equitable; where there is equal pay for equal work regardless of gender, race or religion.

A future that provides places where each of us can flourish, celebrating our unique strengths and talents; including opportunity for any girl who dreams of being president to do so!

A future where the media portrays women & girls for their strengths, skill and ability, not their hairstyles, bodies or sexuality.

A future where we fight through numbness and dumbing down to act with courage and conviction.

A future where women and girls leave competition and judgment aside to fully support each other.

A future where in the presence of strong women and girls men and boys find their strength and compassion

A future where we ALL listen to the needs and experiences of one another to empower healing, liberation, and positive change.

A future where each of us contributes to a healthy, sustainable planet,

A future where we live lives of hope, love and peace.

How can we create this future and carry on the legacy that has been given to us?  What can we do to create this future?

PRESENT

Today, we are in the present. The history of our past and the progression of our future, meets today, right now. Because we are interconnected.

This is our time. What are we going to do now?

The efforts of our past have contributed to progress. Today we still take on challenges including inequity, discrimination, and other forms of injustice. Every moment is an opportunity for positive change. Everything we do, what we say, every interaction, is important because what we put into the world, is a ripple effect that leads to what will come.

Because we are interconnected.

What are the choices you’re making now? When you do something or say something, are you thinking about the impact? How it might make the other person feel? How it might impact our communities? How it impacts the world? What we put out, even the little moments, matter.

What we do now is going to not only impact us, but will be what we pass on to our children, and our children’s children, which will continue to be passed on to future generations.

We invite you to join us, in spreading respect and peace in the world, with fierceness, so that our positive vibrations will spread and heal our communities and world.

We are interconnected.

Join us in making positive change, NOW.

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In the spirit of planning an Asian Womens’ Leadership conference, Women MBA conference, as well as a Breakfast event celebrating women in leadership in Boston, *and* Karen’s (The Genki Spark’s Founder and Artistic Director) encouragement…a simple experience on how every little bit counts…

I received an email last week from one of my Genki sisters to sign a Change.com petition about the band: Day Above Ground and their recent release: Asian Girlz.  Some of you may already be familiar with the song (check out RockGenius link for lyrics), so I’m not going to re-hash the inappropriate lyrics and subjugation of women portrayed in the video (although, to be fair, I am not saying they are the only band who subjugates women..,) I will share that I was disappointed to see an Asian actress in the video.

*It should be noted that the actress, Levy Tran, has apologized for her participation and calls the band “Sweet boys, [who are] not at all racist”.  (Well, thanks Levy, for that vote of confidence and clearing the air on that… )

Having said all that, it’s taken me a few days to gather my thoughts about the situation and at first I really just felt angry that someone thought it would OK to write such a loaded song even “just for satire” as the band has said in interviews.  My second thought was: I’m sufficiently annoyed, now, how do I *stop* this song from being played?”  In addition to signing the Change.org petition, there was a call from several blogs to let the House of Blues know how we feel — simple enough.  I found the FB page for the House of Blues in LA and posted:

Hi – I’d like to urge you to cancel the scheduled show of Day Above Ground on August 10.  I am deeply offended and outraged at the blatant racism, sexism, and subjugation of women in their lyrics.  I would never patronize a venue that chooses to allow them to perform.  Thanks for your consideration.  

Simple enough right?  To be honest, I didn’t really expect much from this little FB post (but rather, far more from to the Change.org petition put together by AF3IRM – Association of Filipinas, Feminists Fighting Imperialism, Re-feudalization and Marginalization).

To my surprise, the House of Blues actually responded and indicated that they are changing the line up and Day Above Ground will not be playing after all!

House of Blues Sunset Strip – Thank you for your feedback. The August 10, 2013 Kelly McGarry Presents line-up has changed. Please always check http://www.houseofblues.com for the latest band line-ups.

It’s not an apology, but it’s change.

On a related, but slight tangent, one of my friends from the Netherlands commented on our new postcards with: “Wow Jen!  Celebrity!” and while it was a sweet thought, my comment back was something to the extent of “Celebrity?  probably not, but inspiration?  I can only hope….”

So I hope that this helps or affects some one to make a difference because YOU MATTER.

Here’s the link to the Change.org petition, resulting in the bank removing their video and (obscenely) offensive lyrics!

(Please note, the lyrics are listed and contain vulgarity!)

~Jenny

Seeking Asian Female: New Film about ‘Yellow Fever’

‘Yellow fever?’ Eww. Yuck. It’s happened countless times in the past. Men of all shades, stare a little too long – maybe nod and smile a goofy smile … then begin to try to communicate non-verbally at first … then try to say something as if I was mentally slow … ‘Hell–low … you? (point to me) from here? (point to ground) you from USA (start to speak louder)’

At this point, I roll my eyes – ugh not again. Yes, I speak English. Yes, I was born here. Yes, I’m my family roots are in Asia. No I’m not really interested in hearing about your trip to Asia or the fact that you love Asian things.  It’s not so odd that people are curious and want to connect and want to know information about each other but it’s completely odd when this is the very first thing that comes out of a strangers mouth.

Seeking Asian Female — a new documentary by Debbie Lum looks pretty interesting.

seeking asian female

a personal documentary by Debbie Lum / USA / 82 minutes / in English & Mandarin with English subtitles

Synoposis

seeking asian female is an eccentric modern love story about Steven and Sandy—an aging white man with “yellow fever” who is obsessed with marrying any Asian woman, and the young Chinese bride he finds online. Debbie, a Chinese American filmmaker, documents and narrates with skepticism and humor, from the early stages of Steven’s search, through the moment Sandy steps foot in America for the first time, to a year into their precarious union. Global migration, Sino-American relations and the perennial battle of the sexes, weigh in on the fate of their marriage in this intensely captivating personal documentary.

Too bad I missed the screening in Salem but it also premieres on PBS’ Independent Lens on May 6, 2013 at 10pm ET. Looks like it’s worth checking out! http://snapjudgment.org/seeking-asian-female

Karen

Generosity …. Tragedy…. How Does One Embrace it all?

I’ve been busy running Project Bethlehem at Lazarus House Ministries in Lawrence, MA www.lazarushouse.org . This program serves 400 plus families in one of the poorest cities in MA by providing them Christmas gifts.  Generous, caring donors from the area “adopt” these families, shop for them according to their Wish List and deliver wrapped gifts.  We notify the families and they come to pick up the gifts.

In the midst of greeting our generous donors at the door, moving tons (literally) of packages and sending recipients off with huge smiles and grateful hearts, we learned of the tragedy in Newtown, CT:  18 children between the ages of 5 and 10 and 9 adults dead in an elementary school shooting. The 20 year old gunman killed his mother, went on this rampage, then killed himself.

I am baffled by what the human heart and mind is capable of:  selfless generosity of literally hundreds of people who have responded with deep caring to the needs of families who are poor and the brutal killing of innocent children and adults by a single young man.  I’m struggling to make sense of the extreme counterpoints these events reflect, a difficult task.

Why do these extremes exist?  Why do so many people live without heat or in hotels because they lost their homes or struggle to provide for their children? Why are there homeless children-going to school with no coats, living in cars or couch surfing, or if they are lucky live in a shelter?  Why do 4 million children work in sweatshops in India till they grow up or die? Why do men kill their classmates, kill their coworkers, kill innocent children or kill the “enemy?”

Why do people buy gifts for a family they will never know? Engage their friends, family and coworkers to do the same? Take time to provide a special something for a child who will never know them? What motivates a young child to raise thousands of dollars for a cause? Why do people work tirelessly to make the world a better place for their neighbors or for people they’ll never meet?

How can we care so deeply that it hurts and not care at all about the impact we have on others?

It is in the human heart to love deeply. It is also in the human heart to kill. We don’t have to physically kill, we can kill our own or another’s spirit with a glare, meanness, a dismissal.  So, as we approach the darkest days of the year here in the Northern hemisphere and the beginning of the slow return to light may we use the upcoming Holidays as a time to ponder what motivates us, what we are capable of and take honest stock of all of it – the good, the bad, the ugly, the sublime.

And perhaps, as we shed light on our inner motivations and inventory all that lives in us we will give another human being the courage to do the same.  And maybe, just maybe, our collective action to be honest about what lives in our hearts will pour compassion into a world in dire need of it right now.

I wish you the peace that emanates from being in integrity with who you truly are.

Monique

Questions to Ponder:

How do you experience love? What action do you take from love?

How do you experience hatred, anger, fear? What actions do you take from these emotions?

What if you saw that negative feelings are distortions of love? How would you treat yourself or others differently?