Urban Peacock Newsletter - February 7, 2003

Hope you all are finding life is unfolding in a good way despite the fury of our external environment. It's good to have you as part of our Urban Peacock Community :)

In this Newsletter you'll find:

(1)--So how did the play go? Latest news about 'Triptych' - sold out performances :)
(2)--Cultural Art Events - Kavita will be at 2 poetry readings this month; cool photography exhibit by a modest artist from Chinatown who studied with Ansel Adams
(3)--Urban Peacock Friends in the News - Award winning Filmmakers
-Dorothy Fadiman's world premiere of "BREAKING the SILENCE: Lifting the Stigma of HIV/AIDS in Ethiopia"
-Greg Pak and his "Robot Stories" at San Jose Cinequest and SFAAFF's closing night
(4)--South Asian Poetry Anthology - Call for Entries - March 15 deadline
(5)--A tribute to Astronaut Kalpana Chawla - an inspirational story
(6)--Urban Peacock Overview - we're totally global :)
(7)--Contributing to UrbanPeacock.com

(1) ------------------ THE PLAY -------------------

Well, there's so much to share about the experience of being part of Summi Kaipa's play 'Triptych: Three Stories of Desi Women' that I've created a section on UrbanPeacock.com to accommodate the latest news on this production. Overall, it was a wonderful experience in shared creativity with a really wonderful group of warm hearted people. We have some photos up, and a lot more coming, including writings and reviews later in the month, so do check back in a few weeks :)

http://www.urbanpeacock.com/art/pastevents_triptych_photos.html

"It was a striking performance. Portraying a practiced and
successful executive facing an abyss of despair over her life's
choices, Kavita spoke, moved, lived and breathed a tortured
and wasted life as though it were her very own. The most
stunning thing in the program notes was their mention that
this was Kavita's debut stage performance; if they hadn't
called it out, you'd never have known."

--Mark Jackman , Jan. 25, 2003
( Former Princeton Editor and Silicon Valley Inventor-Artist )

(2) -------------- FEBRUARY EVENTS -------------

Here are some highlights of upcoming events we find to be interesting and enjoyable :)

Do check our site as we are continually updating our selections so that you have at least a week or more notice :) Things have been a bit slow (due to my work on design projects right now), but soon we'll be back with more international listings, so keep checking whenever you have a spare moment :) I hope to see you all at some of the events, if not now, sometime in the future :)

___________________
SATURDAY, Feb. 8, 2003 @ 8:00pm (Open mic sign-up at 7:30pm)

If you are in the Berkeley area and feel like getting a dose of some poetry/ stories /prose /spoken word from the hearts of asian americans, come on by at 8:00pm :) I'll be reading some of my prose at MANGO MIC: an Asian American Open Mic.

PUSOD (center for culture, ecology & bayan)
1808 Fifth St, Berkeley
8:00pm - 11:00pm
All ages, donations requested

FEATURED ARTIST: Ishle Yi Park is a Korean American poet who has been published in over 20 anthologies, most recently Best American Poetry of 2003. She was a featured poet on Russell Simmon's Def Poetry Jam. Her website is www.ishle.com.

___________________
SATURDAY, Feb. 22, 2003 @ 7:30pm (open mic)
If you are in Oakland and want to hear/share some of your spoken word, stories, dance, performance, jokes, or anything else you can think of, then come on by to the newest South Asian place for self expression - LOAD SHEDDING.

If you plan on sharing your work, please contact (loadshedding2002@yahoo.com)

I'll be reading some of my poetry here too, so do stop by to say hi if you have a chance :)

Grand Lake Neighborhood Center
530 Lake Park Avenue
Oakland, CA
7:30pm
$5 suggested donation

___________________
MONDAY, Feb. 24, 2003 @ 7:00pm
So, if you aren't free any of the above times, and you have a fondness of really cool live music and art created by area artists, consider coming out to SF's Red Devil Lounge for some music, films, art and beer :)
Viv and a Movie, that's the name of this wonderful venue. It's become one of my favorites, as I love the band 'Viv'. Their music reminds me of the sort of sophisticated yet raw experimentation a lot of folks at RISD used to partake in. These guys are cool, so come on out, kick back and enjoy the arts in your own neighborhood :) They are also always looking for more artists to share their art :)

Red Devil Lounge
1695 PolkStreet @ the corner of Clay
San Francisco, CA
http://www.vivandamovie.com/
http://www.reddevillounge.com/

____________________
CURRENT PHOTOGRAPHY EXHIBIT (Now through May 31, 2003)
BENJAMEN CHINN: AT HOME IN SAN FRANCISCO - An exhibit going back into time. The images reveal to us the everyday realities of San Francisco's Chinatown seen by one of it's own residents. The subtle nuances of life are captured poetically by this modest and talented Chinese American photographer, who once studied with such greats as Ansel Adams, Imogen Cunningham, and Minor White in the 1940's.

CHSA Museum (formerly the YWCA)
965 Clay St. SF. (415) 391-1188
Parking available at Portsmouth Square garage on Clay/Kearny St.

http://www.sfgate.com
http://www.chsa.org/collections/rotating/benjamenchinn.htm

(3) ---------- URBAN PEACOCK FRIENDS ----------
_____________________
Sunday, February 23, 2003 @ 7:00pm (Reception starts at 4:30pm)
World Premiere Double Feature of "BREAKING the SILENCE: Lifting the Stigma of HIV/AIDS in Ethiopia" (25 minutes) and "MOMENT by MOMENT: The Healing Journey of Molly Hale" (56 minutes). These films are created by the talented team at Concentric Media and award winning filmmaker Dorothy Fadiman.

The historic FOX THEATRE
2215 Broadway
Redwood City, CA
SCHEDULE for the EVENING
Reception 4:30 - 6:00 pm
Doors open for the screening at 6:15 pm
Curtain at 7:00 pm

http://www.concentric.org/premiere

_____________________
Sunday, February 16, 2003 @ 7:00pm (Reception starts at 4:30pm)
Fellow NYU classmate, and award winning filmmaker Greg Pak's "Robot Stories" screens this month in the Director's View Independent competition of the Director's View Film Festival in Stamford, CT (just 45 minutes from NYC via MetroNorth).

Sunday, Feb. 16 @ 2:55 pm
Crown Majestic Theater
118 Summer Street
Stamford, CT
http://thedirectorsview.com/IndependentHome.htm

This film will also be screening in the Bay area at Cinequest:
Sunday, March 2, 2003 @7:00 pm
Camera 1
366 South First Street
San Jose, CA
Details about this film and future screenings:
http://www.robotstories.net

(4) -------- POETRY : CALL FOR ENTRIES ---------
Creative Arts Books announces "Writing the Lines of Our Hands", an anthology aiming to capture the diversity of aesthetic expressions, forms and content currently being explored by South Asian poets in America. Submission deadline: March 15, 2003

http://www.writingthelines.com/anthology/submissions.html

(5) ---------- INSPIRATIONAL STORY --------------
A Tribute to Astronaut Kalpana Chawla and the Entire Crew of Shuttle STS-107

http://www.urbanpeacock.com/about_us/editors_space_02_01_03.html

(6) -------- URBAN PEACOCK OVERVIEW ----------
In the midst of all else that takes up time in our lives, it's nice to just kick back and relax with family and friends, sharing time and little moments in life. Here, I've been focusing most of my time on design projects with an occasional departure into the realm of the creative arts to satisfy my heart :) UrbanPeacock.com also is going through some conceptual and structural upgrades, so that we may better serve you in regards to bringing you the latest news about the warmth and universal understanding art can bring to our lives. Look out for some wonderful additions including thoughtful stories from our members around the world and their adventures later in 2003 :) 

We are proud to share our joy, that Urban Peacock members are now actively corresponding with us from England, France, Germany, Belgium, Switzerland, India, Malaysia, Japan, Taiwan, and Australia. In 3 years we've gone from a little website focusing on arts events in the Bay area to the budding of our dream of a virtual united nations of creativity, bringing us together from across the oceans :) Urban Peacock actually started up in 1993, but we went online in 2000.

We've only just begun, there is so much more we are aiming towards doing, but it's a start and with continued perseverance and luck, we hope to continue our journey into virtual creativity and explorations and building creative friendships :)) Thank you for your contributions and for being part of this Peacock community :)

(7) --------------- CONTRIBUTING ----------------
If you know of a cultural/ artistic/ innovative event which furthers a sense of universal community through a celebration of the arts in your area and you'd like to get more people aware of it, please send me an email at least 1 week in advance (the earlier, the better). I'll do my best to get your listing up online to share with others.

We particularly are interested in events that highlight our individual heritage (no matter what your ancestry or where in the world you call home). We at Urban Peacock believe that our humanity is the unifying force that creates community, and an understanding of our cultural experiences can enrich our mutual understanding of each other and our journey here.

To learn more about our Urban Peacock philosophy, please visit:

http://www.urbanpeacock.com/about_us/editors_note_philosophy.html

Now it is time to do some more real life work :)
Wishing you all much joy in the coming weeks.
Peace, warmth and creativity to you all :)
Kavita :)

Kavita, Editor-in-Chief, February 7, 2003

---------------------------------------------------------

Since 2000, when we started our online presence, the nature of our content has evolved in some wonderful ways. We are now in the process of updating our User Interface Design system to account for the growth and also to add more resources that would be of interest to our Peacock Community. The new design shall continue to evolve throughout 2003. It is our 10 year anniversary. Urban Peacock was started in late 1993 when I was a graduate student in the Film program at NYU. More about this story at a future writing session :)

Since the community aspect of this site is a pet project, time is often the deciding factor in how often we are able to update our content. Sometimes we update the site everyday, other times it may be a week in-between, so check back often to catch the latest. We have creative and thoughtful individuals from across the globe that visit us regularly. In our own small way we are building our dream of a virtual United Nations, defining ourselves through the universal nature of creativity.

If you have an event that you feel should be included and is not, please email us (kavita@urbanpeacock.com) or just drop us a line to let us know what you think of the site and any suggestions. We welcome your insights in building this Peacock community. Thanks for visiting. We hope you've enjoyed your visit.