lunch with kamran today. we met after some 20-25 years. went to business school together and then worked at ICI in the same management batch. reconnected in ny a long time ago and finally met again in long island. so many wonderful memories:)
spent the day w our daughter in manhattan
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themeatballshop #italianfood #hudsonriverpark #manhattan #newyorkcity #lovenewyork #gratitude
finally, burgers and masala fries at @bkjani in brooklyn – it lived up to its reputation.
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burgertime #spicyfries #bkjani #brooklyn #foodforfoodies
just me and my best friend on labor day weekend. so we went to coney island:)
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coneyisland #brooklyn #newyork #weekendfun
I read Claudia Rankine’s ‘Citizen: An American Lyric’ in 2015 I think (it came out in the fall of 2014) and started thinking about a film that would use micro-aggressions to approach the broader subject of racism in America. I remember this conversation with friends in 2016 where I was able to articulate some of the ideas swirling around in my head. Rajesh and I started to shoot in 2017. I’ve always wanted this project to be bigger than the film, discussing some of those ideas with Luticha in particular. Now that I’m transcribing the interviews we shot 2-3 years ago, there’s such resonance with what’s happening right now. I hope to share with our community soon:)
A Black man died of asphyxiation earlier this year after Rochester police officers trying to take him into protective custody pinned him to the ground while restraining him.
The incident occurred in March — two months before George Floyd’s very similar death in Minneapolis touched off nationwide protests — yet it didn’t become public until now.
The curtain was lifted on the death of 41-year-old Daniel T. Prude at a late-morning news conference Wednesday at which Prude’s family and local activists called his death a murder and demanded that the officers involved be fired and charged in his homicide.’
instead of being accountable, the rochester police decided to arrest activists asking for justice today. more here.
Transcribing interviews for my new doc ‘The Injured Body’
Tonya Noel Stevens, co-founder of Flower City Noire Collective and Director of Cause and Effect Greenspace, talks about processing racist micro-aggressions:
That’s really something I’ve been working on, like not harboring those feelings or the negative things people give me, and it’s not even just microaggressions, it’s any negative energies fed my way. If it’s not something that I can process and turn into light, and that I could share back with that person… then you can keep it, it’s all yours, and I try not to take it in.
Because then I end up with it… And I’m really about taking ownership – ownership of one’s body, and what’s mine and what’s not mine. When you hit me with that negative energy and add those negative vibes, and then that negative talk, that’s not mine, none of that is my language, none of that is how I’m moving in the world. So you just have to keep that. And I’m good for saying I don’t accept that. You keep it, I’m just not even gonna take that in, because when I do, then I have to find space for it.
So gardening is a big thing for me. And that’s really what I try to harness and tell people like, we’re in a garden, this is your place to bury all that, put it into an affirmation and put it into a seed, put it into the ground and like let it grow into something else because if not, it’s still growing inside of you.
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microaggressions #racism #LGBTQrights #womenofcolor #film #documentary #theinjuredbody #neelumfilms #rochesterny #urbangarden #communitygarden #eatwhatyougrow #microaggressionsareracism #microaggressionsarereal
I wasn’t even aware of the American Indian Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) and their problematic big-money politics here in the US. Pls sign this petition by the Alliance for a Secular and Democratic South Asia, which ‘denounces the impending display of economic and political power designed to belittle the people of Kashmir and India’s religious minorities by the Hindutva forces in the US’:
While the world grapples with the COVID-19 pandemic, the BJP-led government is forging ahead with its dangerous agenda of destroying the syncretic culture of India and compromising the Indian Constitution itself.
An outlandish celebration of the groundbreaking ceremony for the construction of Ram Janmabhoomi temple will be on display all day on August 5th in Times Square, NYC, with much extravagance and pomp and show. This temple was built on top of the Babri Mosque, destroyed by Hindutva-nationalist mobs in 1992. Thousands, mostly Muslims, were killed in consequent riots.
A section of the Indian diaspora who are transfixed by the BJP-led government have paid huge amounts of money to project the phrase “Jai Shri Ram” in both Hindi and English, portraits and videos of the Hindu deity Ram, 3D portraits of the temple’s design and architecture as well as pictures of Modi laying the foundation stone on several of the iconic Times Square LED screens. This exhortation of a mythical past is a diversion from the real economic and social marginalization of the vast majority of Indian people. The crass spectacle of Hindutva ideology also coincides – deliberately, no doubt – with the first anniversary of the abrogation of the constitutional guarantees of Kashmir’s special status.
More here.
it’s cloudy today with brief, super light showers. still hot and humid. we decided to explore blydenburgh county park where there is water, trails, and also camp grounds
#blydenburghcountypark #longisland #newyork #hotsummer #walkinthewoods
in new york looking for an apartment for my daughter and her friend. love this.
it was hard not to be with my #rochester fam today. i know the cops used tear gas and rubber bullets and i hope that everyone is ok. i was in nyc to pack up my daughter’s dorm room and was surprised by the heavy police presence on park ave south. i followed the faraway sounds of a crowd and discovered a massive protest at union square. people were out there raising their voices and expressing their rage. but police cars were everywhere – controlling, terrorizing. cops were standing in lines, chopping up the flow of the protest. there was a helicopter overhead creating a sense of danger and confusion with its constant, overwhelming noise. we had to bring our kids home but for a little while i felt at home here in #nyc. this is an uprising.
wish i could be there. solidarity!
Saturday, May 30, 2020 at 1 PM – 4 PM
Manhattan Square Park Ice Rink
353 Court St, Rochester, New York 14607
today lily pond park near #nesconset – a place full of birdsong and fairy tales. lilypondpark #longisland #suffolkcounty #newyork #ny
Asian Americans is a sweeping 5-part historical series chronicling two centuries of evolving contributions and challenges experienced by Asian Americans in the United States. The series explores bold, new perspectives that recalibrate the way we look at those experiences, and reveals the vital role of Asian Americans in shaping American history and identity.’ [from Vivek Maddala who composed the music score for this series]
Episodes 1 & 2 premiered yesterday on PBS (broadcast and streaming), and Episodes 3, 4, & 5 premiere tonight (May 12) at 8 PM.
I was honored to be one of the local Asian Americans asked to share their stories and perspectives, as part of the collaboration between APAA (Asian/Pacific Islander/American Association of Greater Rochester) and WXXI. Thank you Mimi and Lily Lee for your continuing work in our community.
You can watch the spots, including my own, below. My only gripe is that, in my intro, I mentioned how I come from the Global South/colonized world and how that impacts my identity and work, which was edited out. But the rest is still here:)
Watch at this link.
