"Holding Hands:" My Piece for 1,000 Words, an Eyes on Bangladesh Event

Hey all! Remember when I said I was doing a reading? Well, the reading happened last Saturday and it was amazing. I was so honored to be amongst such passionate folks -- writers, listeners, and organizers -- that cared about disrupting stereotypic narratives of Bengali life and art. It was also amazing to be in the physical space where the photographs were being displayed; I lingered much longer than just the reading, talking to people and taking in all the amazing photographs.

It was a lot of work to write this new response piece to their work, mostly because I wanted to respect representations of people that I do not share experiences with, even if my work fiction. But in the end, I had a deadline and I had to take the plunge. For any friends and fans who couldn't make it to the reading, here is a recording of "Holding Hands," my piece in response to Taslima Akhter's photos of Bangladeshi garment workers and the Rana Plaza factory collapse. Recording credit goes to Kyla Cheung. Text below the jump, including a more formal introduction than the one that was read in the recording. I appreciate all of your thoughts over Twitter or email.

This piece will also appear in The Margins, a magazine published by Asian American Writer's Workshop.
 

Reading at the Eyes on Bangladesh Exhibit!

Calling all New Yorkers: I'm excited to announce that this Saturday at 6pm I will be reading as part of the Eyes on Bangladesh photography exhibit! The exhibit is showcasing the work of Bengali photographers who show a different side of Bangladesh not often seen in the West, and wants to begin a dialogue between first and second generation Bangladeshis.

I will be reading a piece written in response to one of the amazing photographers being shown, specifically the powerful Taslima Akhter, a labor rights activist who is most famously known for her work documenting the Rana factory collapse and the Tazreen factory fire. I am honored to be reading a piece inspired by her work and cannot wait to see what the other creators have to share as well!

Doors open at 5:30pm, so come early and I hope to see you there! Also, check out the rest of their programming over on the Eyes on Bangladesh website.

Visual: Rickshaw Art in Dhaka

Bounty

When the food is in the oven, I start taking random pictures.

Here's to a bountiful, relaxing Sunday.

A Feast for the Eyes: Cooking Photographs

This week, I want to give a shout-out to Smitten Kitchen, Joy the Baker, and The Pioneer Woman for being amazing cooking blogs that have provided me with recipes to cook with and the inclination to photograph everything (especially when it comes out deliciously). Take a gander at what I've been making since Christmas Eve.

Here's a list of all the foods I've made/improv'ed in the past few weeks:

Hummus | Pita | Mushroom artichoke pasta | Artichoke olive crostini (mine came out blegh, but yours might be better) | Chicken tikka masala | Cheese grits | Strawberry yogurt parfaits | Pumpkin oatmeal (in our rice cooker!) | Homemade Poptarts | Veggie stew clearinghouse (for all those random leftover veggies) | Spinach artichoke dip | Shrimp and pasta in cream sauce | Chicken and noodles (almost a soup, but the noodles soaked up all the broth - still tasty, though!) | Pesto goat cheese pizza | Cornbread | Black bean barley soup

...stay tuned for more.

DC in Photographs

Armed with a cell phone camera and my wits about me this weekend, here are some of the sights I took in whilst making my way through DC. The President (this time of the United States) makes a guest appearance in these shots - though I do wish I had a better zoom on my camera to see him closer!

Tar sands protest when I first came into town.

Beautiful Malcolm X Park.

Statue of Jeanne d'Arc, in the correct French!

Ben's Chili Bowl, an awesome panda, and my friend Catskill.

The Supreme Court.

Washington's place in the WWII memorial.

Lincoln.

MLK.

The President boarding Marine 1 - he looks tiny, but mighty!

 

 

After our White House tour.

 

Miniature Bus reunion with Leah! 

On Location: Slutwalk NYC

This weekend, I attended SlutWalk NYC. Now, despite my misgivings on the idea of reclaiming the word "slut" (see some great articles on this topic such as this one), I felt like the first message of the SlutWalk was an admirable one: no one should be made to feel they called for sexual violation/violence due to their clothes.

The march was an amazing spectacle - tons of people (including 6+ of our fabulous Well Women) marching through the streets near Union Square shouting chants such as "Yes means yes, no means no!" and "Rape is a felony, even for NYPD!" for all to hear. It was great to feel the vibrant energy of the moment; there were people in all sorts of dress, from conservative to casual to sexy, with as many amazing signs as there were hands. And what was amazing to me is that it felt so... right. So uniting to have the crowd actually take an interest in this issue, not just a few isolated folks.

I will be writing more on the march in the coming week, but for now I'll just let the photos speak for themselves (you can also see all bajillion pictures by liking The Cowation on Facebook!):

CED Round-Up: Summer Writing Camp

This week was all about writing and on-site photography. This week I began writing a novel for Camp National Novel Writing Month, the summer version of November's amazing race to 50,000 words. It is totally nerve-wracking, but what makes it even scarier is that Camp NaNoWriMo goes on for two months! That means that I'll be writing 100,000 words over the course of two months, and I hope to do it all for the same story, so that in and of itself is absolutely terrifying. But I really want to top myself out this summer, so I am going for it. As a result, however, I have suspended work on my serial fiction The Observer until further notice. In the meantime, enjoy the miniature updates about my novel coming at you in the CED posts!
On the other side of things, I got to attend some stellar events this week - namely, Seattle Zombie Walk and the 4th of July at Gasworks Park! Pictures abound.

This is my poor attempt at being a menacing zombie for Seattle Zombie Walk.

Like The Cowation on Facebook to see more of the pics!

CED Round-Up: Seattle Pride Parade!

This week was event-filled and awesome, so a lot of the work I was doing happened outside - particularly at the Seattle Pride Parade, in which I fanatically snapped pictures of everything from the Washington Bus Summer Fellows to the amazing outfits that people adorned. Check it out after the jump - and yes, there will be dancing.

 

Like The Cowation on Facebook to see more of the pics!

CED Round-Up: Visual Learners Unite!

This week's round-up is a bit late because I just arrived back from a retreat with the Washington Bus, but it is here nonetheless! I did some exploration this week by way of photography and, when indoors, did some writing and drawing on my Wacom tablet. I will learn you yet, Wacom!

Check out some more of the Creative Everyday series, or some more of my photography, writing, and knitting.

CED Round-Up: Bones, Cyborgs and Flowers

This week, I introduced a new artistic medium and harkened back to the old as well. Below, you'll find examples of my coding efforts, my writing, drawing in two ways, and my severe need to move my hands while watching TV. Enjoy!

A Hike is Not Just a Hike

I'm back! Taking a week away has cleared my head a bit and allowed me to do some much-needed research and have some much-needed life experiences. Awesome posts to come, but let's begin with a story for now: last week, I went hiking at Wallace Falls, so today I present you with a few photographs and a free-writing exercise about it. Enjoy!

Caught My Eye: Safe & Sexy Photography Project

The Safe and Sexy Photography Project is a website that features women in two outfits: their "sexiest" and their "safest," as chosen by the participants. The website also features captions that have the stories of why these women chose their outfits - I think it's really interesting to look at them first without reading and try to guess, then read and figure out which is which!

This project really speaks to the idea of different personal styles and beliefs about fashion. What someone might call safe, I might call sexy and what someone might call sexy, I would say is safe. Similarly, the women on this website are a range of ages; there are some older women that have more radical (at least in my opinion) sexy outfits than I myself would wear! Basically, I think this project opens the doors to looking at personal fashion choices and what they mean for the individual, rather than what the media feeds us in terms of "safe" and "sexy" labels.

 I do not own any of these images - they are the property of Sarah Hughes, the photographer.

Absorb some more media with the on-going Caught My Eye series.

DIY Interlude: Process (Part IV)

Alright, we're back on track. This post is all about the concept art that will go into the final collage edits - I chose to work it out in Photoshop beforehand rather than draw and erase over and over (I'm much better at vectoring than using hand-eye coordination!).

I used two reference pictures for this one, both taken during my high school years. One is of me attempting to eat a balloon and the other is of a friend of mine jumping through the air.

DIY Interlude: Collage Process (Part II)

Here we are, back for part two! This post is in the form of a photographic narrative, so every chunk of text is accompanied by a colorful and enlightening photograph. Read on and enjoy!

Taking Lower Manhattan by Cell Phone Camera

I have been meaning to post these pictures for a while now, but then I went on spring break and gradually forgot. So now, for this installment of Breaking New Work, is a series of cell phone camera pictures from my lower Manhattan escapades.

Display advertising the play The Rover.

There are trees in there!

Hedge maze.

 

 

Statues! And the one on the right is *gasp* a Chinese man!

Intricate wall mural.

DIY Interlude: La Photographie? Pas Moi!

I think that a lot of people find photography intimidating or feel that they don't have a good enough camera/supplies. Well, I'm here to tell you it's all in your head (as does this blog, this blog, and even this blog).
As point-and-shoot cameras are becoming more and more sophisticated, they can be used in a variety of ways to produce great creative shots. I'm not going to tell you that they are the exact same as the DSLRs out there, but if you can manipulate your camera settings and learn on the fly, you can use your point and shoot just as creatively! Also, if you're worried about megapixels, I'll let you in on a little secret: my point and shoot has more megapixels than my DSLR! Kooky, right?
Anyway, I think there are many blogs that can tell you how to do photography tips and tricks, so I am just going to outline some of the things I find really helpful to improve your skills:

1. Make a goal and stick to it!
   - My goal for all of September through December was to take 1 photograph of what I wore per day at minimum. Were all those photographs good? No. Did they help me learn how to position things and work with inadequate lighting/color issues? Yes!
2. Explore your surroundings.
   - Whether that means that you are hitting the pavement in suburban Bellevue or are strutting your stuff on the streets of Dhaka, Bangladesh, you should definitely have your camera on you at all times.
3. Take pictures of small things first.
   - This teaches you how to make a composition and work with limited space and lighting.
4. Look back at your old photographs and look for patterns.
   - If you see that most of your shots are landscapes (like mine were when I started out), start thinking of ways to branch out. My outfits photography session was very much about being able to capture people, and it involved my most reliable subject: me!
5. Engage with the photography community.
   - This is where DeviantArt, Photojojo, and other photography websites come in - through seeing how other people do their work, you can learn more about how to do your own!

I can come up with many many more tips, but I think that those are the top five for me. Check out some of my photography or shoot me an email if you want a little bit more.

Project x Project: Headwrap Complete

Victory in the face of finals!
I have completed the knit headband (one of my two secret projects, in case you were keeping score), and it's glory is featured above!
Having other projects like that one really keeps me sane in the face of other more overwhelming tasks, like art projects and essays. I am occasionally asked why I like to be crafty and make things with my hands, and I think that this is the true reason. It is something that I can do with my body rather than my mind, and it helps me de-stress in a lot of ways. Although sometimes it can be a little stressful - as when I am folding 20 zines in the computer lab and checking how much time I have left until class - at least it is something that I enjoy doing and something that rewards me at its completion.
Have a happy Tuesday, everyone!

Check out some other creative projects and knitting that I've pursued.

The Relaxation Manifesto

Something that I have to remind myself of every day I take off: the meaning of relaxation is to not to think about its end.

This vacation has been about that principle in a lot of ways - staying in the present and enjoying the minutes, forgetting (or at least being ok with the idea that) you are skipping work in favor of having fun, mind melding with the random people you meet and not questioning it.
I must admit, this vacation has been a ride of emotions for me. I have felt at times thankful, lonely, annoyed, ludicrously happy, tired, regretful about work, reflective and truly sad. If this weekend was a microcosm for my life, then it did a pretty good job in representation.
As I sit down trying to finish NaNo and thinking about my priorities for tomorrow's work catch-up day, I wonder about why I am so focused on the past and the future. The feeling that I last posted about in The Real Thanksgiving is something that I wish I could commit to, but it has been the hardest struggle just to achieve it for a couple of hours. I am always thinking about the moment that it will pass or change.

Anyway, perhaps the solution is not to dwell on those subjects for the time being. Switching mindsets, here is a list of some of the truly amazing things I did in this short weekend:

1. Finished my alien color scarf (pictured above)
2. Met up with friends from Seattle who go to East Coast schools (and made a new friend out of one of their roommates!)
3. Explored Manhattan at night and walked for hours and hours on end
4. Followed the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade from 66th to 34th street on foot
5. Bought fancy fancy yarn for two upcoming projects (not telling what they are till they're finished!)
6. Ate Thanksgiving dinner twice: once alone at a great restaurant and the second time with fabulous friends from pre-college!
7. Made goat cheese mashed potatoes and pumpkin cream pie (so bomb!)
8. Walked the Brooklyn Bridge from end to end in the nighttime (by the way, whose idea was it to have see-through wooden slats on the Brooklyn Bridge walking path?)
9. Talked philosophy and other hardcore subjects late into the night with AU friend affectionately known as Catskill
10. Spent time eating excellent Bengali food with my friend in Queens

Thank you everyone who made this weekend special and great.

Want to see what else I've been knitting?

Images of New York

(This is my New York)

New York is a 5 dogs in the morning city. There is an occasional cat and maybe a rat running around in the subway. Pigeons are my mortal enemy and should be avoided.

New York is a city where pedestrians can attack cars right back. As I passed by, a woman smacked the side of a delivery truck, shouting "I was right f***ing here!" in reference to her position in the street.

New York is a city where geriatrics and children on scooters pass on the street without looking at each other. Or caring.

New York is a small shop front next to a multinational corporation.

New York is a bunch of women fighting back against street harassment (Hollaback!).

New York is a place where you make loose connections - kind of like Facebook - but can also find your true soulmates - like Match.com.

New York is a gathering place for ideas, cultures, people you love and hate, uncommon experiences, and the types of education you only get by being in the big city. But it can't provide me with a decent uptown pho restaurant.

New York is a big dirty city, that I both love and hate. It is a place where I live and where I go to school, but I may not stay in forever. It is an experience that passes in just the way I need it to - slow enough to savor, but fast enough to fade into a sweet memory.

I have a project for my next zine gestating in my head, and it might involve just this topic - if you want to start giving me ideas about what New York is for you, please let me know! I may be doing a formal call for submissions sometime in the future...

(And so is this.)