Hang on, ’cause we’re doing this GENKI-style – with lot’s of flair, passion, and in some cases silliness – this 20+ member (don’t worry not all of us are coming), bad-ass sisterhood, will be featuring much of their ‘non-taiko’ talents – a rubber chicken? a goofy joke? feather boas? you just don’t know what we’re up to!

Join us as we feature the hidden talents of The Genki Spark!

www.TheGenkiSpark.org, www.facebook.com/thegenkispark

With the youngest members in their teens and the oldest in her 50′s this multigenerational performance troupe uses Japanese taiko drumming, spoken word, martial arts, dance, humor, and personal stories to build community, inspire creativity, and promote cultural pride to further a world where everyone is respected.

Founded in 2010 with fiscal sponsorship of ASPIRE (Asian Sisters Participating in Reaching Excellence) and a grant from the Boston Women’s Fund, The Genki Spark has made more than 80 appearances including performances, workshops, school assembly programs, and tv/radio interviews.

RSVP on facebook!

East Meets West Bookstore
www.facebook.com/bostonprogress
934 Massachusetts Ave, Cambridge, MA
Suggested minimum $3 donation :: All ages welcome

Zahra is an artist, an educator, an agitator. Originally from Lahore, Pakistan, she lived in Boston for many years and is now stationed between the two: in rural Connecticut with her parents. She cleans their garage, home-schools Zaynab (see below), travels and makes art that represents her life experiences and spiritual journey. She is irrationally in love with Boston Progress and is grateful to be coming back.

Zaynab is a precocious teenager, sufi, writer, diffuser of confusion, and Zahra’s best friend and relationship advisor. Having grown up in Lahore and Hartford, she is a very interesting mash of ghetto and third world. She likes naps and frozen yogurt. Her work is based on a deep sense of justice, love for people and the idea of home.

East Meets West Bookstore
www.facebook.com/bostonprogress
934 Massachusetts Ave, Cambridge, MA
Suggested minimum $3 donation :: All ages welcome

RSVP: https://www.facebook.com/events/278803602171293/

In honor of International Migrants Day on December 18, this month’s Lunch & Learn will be dedicated to a discussion of immigration and the global economy. We will talk about the reasons that drive people to leave their homelands to live and work elsewhere. We will examine how globalization has impacted working conditions in the US for both immigrants and Asian Americans who contribute to the global economy. And we will discuss how immigrants and citizens alike have fought for their labor rights.

This Lunch & Learn will be facilitated by our very own Monique Nguyen, Deputy Director and Organizer for MataHari: Eye of the Day, a Boston-based social justice organization that mobilizes, advocates and creates safe spaces for the historically marginalized, immigrants, communities of color, and allies.

We also encourage you all to participate in the Global Day of Action: http://www.bostonmayday.org/sn_display1.php?row_ID=136
After the discussion, Monique will lead us to a march and rally scheduled in Boston that afternoon!

See you there! Please bring friends and some food/drink to share.

East Meets Words is proud to present the incomparable Kelly Zen-Yie Tsai! You will not want to miss this event!

KELLY ZEN-YIE TSAI is a Chicago-born, Brooklyn-based, Chinese Taiwanese American spoken word artist who has performed at over 500 venues worldwide including three seasons on “Russell Simmons Presents HBO Def Poetry.” Winner of an Asian American Arts Alliance/NYFA Urban Artist Initiative NYC Award & an Asian Women’s Giving Circle Grant, she was profiled on Idealist in NYC’s Top 40 New Yorkers Who Make Positive Social Change, AngryAsianMan.com’s “30 Most Influential Asian Americans Under 30,” and HBO’s “East of Main Street: Asians Aloud.” She has shared stages with Mos Def, KRS-One, Sonia Sanchez, Talib Kweli, Erykah Badu, Amiri Baraka, Harry Belafonte, and many more. (www.yellowgurl.com, FB: Kelly Zen-Yie Tsai, Twitter: @yellowgurlpoet, Bandcamp: kellytsai.bandcamp.com)

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East Meets West Bookstore
www.facebook.com/emwbookstore
934 Massachusetts Ave, Cambridge, MA
Suggested minimum $3 donation :: All ages welcome

Get there early to sign up for the open mic, stay late for the dance party! Featuring Kongo (www.facebook.com/kongoDJ) on the 1s and 2s.

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Also, East Meets Words is delighted to debut the yummy treats of JUST EATS, a food project formed by GaBrilla and Maanav. The menu’s theme is “soup with a side, sweets, and some chai.”

Soups (served with vegan cornbread):
Coconut lentil soup
Black bean and yam soup

Sweets:
Pumpkin spice cake (slice)
Chocolate cupcakes

Chai:
Rooibos
Black tea

Ditch the coffee shop and join us at the bookstore!

Join us for open creation sundays at the bookstore!  For two sundays this month we are opening doors to the community to come into the bookstore to do…whatever!  If you’re a teacher, bring your papers to grade.  If you’re an artist, bring your medium to practice or create.  If you have “work work” to do, bring in your laptop to co-work!  There will be coffee and tea brewing all day, so bring your warm bodies and minds into the bookstore to create!

SPEAKING THE UNSPOKEN

Boston Korean Adoptees, Inc. is a non-profit organization with a focus on building a community of adult adoptees with a connection to Korea in the greater Boston and New England area.  BKA works to educate the larger community about the issues surrounding international and transracial adoption.  November is Adoption Awareness Month, and BKA is partnering with Boston Progress to raise awareness surrounding adoption from the perspectives of adult adoptees.

MEET THE FEATURED ARTISTS!

Susan Harris O’Connor is a graduate of the Boston University School of Social Work. She is currently employed as Director of Quality Assurance at Children’s Services of Roxbury. Ms. O’Connor is a transracial adoptee who has spoken out about adoption related issues since the early 90’s. She is known nationally and internationally for her narrative writing and presentations.

Christina Seong was born in Korea and moved to Washington as an infant, Christina has been in Washington the majority of her life. She’s a true Seattleite to the soul, enjoying the cold to the hot, even in the summer. Christina’s currently a graduate student at the University of Washington in Human Centered Design and Engineering (HCDE) concentrating in user-centered design.

Identifying as a Korean American Adoptee, she finds inspiration in her connection, or rather, her disconnect from Korea. Drawing from experiences to influence her work. Primarily, Christina concentrates on visual art and design, but writes poetry in her free time and enjoys performing when we can. She’s an artist, designer, poet, and craft enthusiast inspired by simplistic lines and vibrant colors.

JooYoung Choi is an acrylic painter from Somerville, Massachusetts. She was born in Seoul, South Korea and was raised in Concord, New Hampshire. Her work draws from her experience as a Korean adoptee and her reunion with her birth family. Childhood nostalgia, American animation, comic books, Korean imagery and fantasy inspire her work. Through the use of collage, a variety of faux textures, patterns and colors Choi weaves together a collection of work that explores identity, reality, parallel worlds, time travel, systemic oppression, and mystical landscapes.JooYoung met her birth father in 2007, she found her birthmother in 2008 family includes: her parents who still reside in Concord, New Hampshire, her older sister Kelly, her birth father, birth mother, her birth father’s wife, her sister Sooji, her step-sister Hiyana and her brothers Joo-Han and Soo-Han.In 2009, Korea completed an artist in residency at Ko-Root inSeoul Korea. Also, she created and donated baby portrait paintings to nine single mothers who live at Ae Ran Won, a home and support organization for Korean single mothers.

Lunch & Learn is a series of discussions and teach-ins aiming to spark conversation and shared knowledge amongst the community.

Upcoming topics include:

• API Political Activism: How Far We’ve Come and Where We Could Go Next
• U.S. Immigration: Its History and Current Debates
• “Ching Chong Ling Long Ting Tongs”: Representations of Asian Americans in Popular Media
• Alternative Economies and Sustainability
• and more…

Please bring some food (potluck/family style) to share and contribute your thoughts!

SUNDAY, NOV 6, 12-3PM is our launch!
“What is our community?”
The BPAC mission currently says that we are a community of API artists. What does “Asian and Pacific Islander American” mean? We will cover the particular political moments in which that term emerged, the community activism that launched the term into popular usage, and the histories of racialization and exclusion that the term has been combatting.

East Meets West Bookstore
934 Massachusetts Ave, Cambridge, MA
Suggested minimum $3 donation :: All ages welcome

ABOUT THE ARTISTS:

GaBrilla Ballard is a musician, writer and mama. She is the Founding director of The Urban Mamasong Project, a social enterprise that supports the creation of alternative profitable and sustainable platforms and networks for mothers of color. She writes about balancing motherhood, artistry, wellness and love at www.urbanmamasong.com

Maanav Thakore’s life work is devoted to facilitating (r)evolutionary spaces for individual and collective transformation. He has worked as an organizer, educator, coach, consultant and program director in group homes, schools, community organizations, social enterprises and national youth organizations. He believes that there is no collective transformation without individual transformation — change begins within. Maanav is a deejay, producer and multi-instrumentalist as well as a mindfulness practitioner, health coach, chef and father to two beautiful children. Maanav is also the co-founder of JustEats and part of the Everything Fresh! Collective.

East Meets Words Open Mic series
hosted by Boston Progress Arts Collective

EAST MEETS WORDS FEATURING BADI

Friday / September 9 / 8pm
East Meets West Bookstore
934 Massachusetts Ave, Cambridge, MA
Suggested minimum $3 donation :: All ages welcome

ABOUT THE ARTIST:

I am the light in the dark, A rebel for the people, takin back what’s rightfully ours…”

Badí (pronounced Bah-Dee) is stepping onto the stage and taking the mic to become the next prominent figure in hip-hop’s underground movement. Born to two talented musicians from diverse backgrounds he was immediately immersed in a sea of music from around the globe. With an early exposure to music including Jazz, Funk, and Soul, Badi’s appreciation expanded to Hip-Hop and R&B.

Badí released his debut album with Next Movement Records in the spring of 2008. “The Departure” is an exploration of Badi’s personal experiences, with lyrics which encompass his personal struggles, search for meaning, and spiritual development. The album, much like the name implies, is a departure from the normal rhetoric heard on the airwaves and is the beginning of a movement to create music which brings change. (http://badi.bandcamp.com/album/the-departure)

Badí currently resides in Brooklyn, New York where he is putting the finishing touches on his upcoming sophomore project.

With funky beats and tasty cuts by Kongo. Come early to sign up for the open mic!

RSVP on facebook!!!

East Meets Words 6th Anniversary from Boston Progress Arts Collective on Vimeo.

THANKS ANRONG!