REDESIGN August 31, 2009
Posted by Adrien in news, reflections.add a comment
Jenna Rink, editor extraordinaire for Poise magazine.
If you have experience in publication, or if you ever saw 13 going 30, you will understand the gravity of this word. Redesign entails the overhaul and replacement of an existing set of guiding principles in favor of an entirely new style, aesthetic, form, and content.
My life since graduation has been undergoing redesign. This process is ongoing and it may not ever end. As a part of that process, this blog has been its own exploration — a way for me to explore how to blog and what to blog about. As my ideas and life choices crystalize, this blog needs to move out of beta.
drepoetic is going under redesign.
This means drepoetic as you know it is coming to an end.
The rare of you who noticed the absence of posts this summer may have wondered what was boiling in Adrien’s wondermind. Or more probably you didn’t. Nevertheless, there have indeed been some strange potions brewing!
In accordance with recent re-imaginings of my own life, I am re-orienting my web musings towards synchronicity with my passions.
What the hell does that mean? It means some things shiny and new will arise from the ashes of drepoetic!
It means … new blogs! Gasp!
Stay tuned as further developments are revealed.
May Day Rundown May 1, 2009
Posted by Adrien in news, the rundown.Tags: Arlen Specter, ASian Americans, Committee of 100, International Workers Day, Matthew Shephard Act, May Day, San Jose, swine flu, UC, University of California
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via Racewire
Happy May Day, a.k.a. International Workers Day!
May Day is a day of labor action in the U.S. and kos has a neat history of how the holiday came about today. Check out these perspectives on today’s rallies, immigration issues, and photos of happenings all across the country.
On a related note, unfortunately miseducated right-wing pundits are blaming the swine flu on immigrants, calling it the ‘Mexican Flu’.A deeper analysis that involves a look at reality suggests that we should call this infirmity the NAFTA Flu.
The Committee of 100 released a report titled Still the Other? The results of its surveys that showed that average Americans still think Asian Americans are not that American.
Oh and by the way, in case you have any doubts, recent changes in UC admissions policies would directly reduce the number of Asian Americans admitted to UCs. I guess that’s a Take that you smarty Asians from the unanimous vote by the UC Regents.
The House passed the Matthew Shephard Act, to include gender and sexuality under hate-crimes protection law, despite some ignorant statements by one legislator suggesting Matthew Shephard’s death was not a hate crime.
With this sudden rush of civil rights being granted to more people, and the switch of Senator Arlen Spector to the Democratic party, maybe the old anti-equality party is one step short of becoming fossil fuel.
In local news, my home town, San Jose just hit the million people mark! This just after I find out that San Jose has a more than two hundred year-old Chinatown, recently dug up from the ground. Unfortunately these two cool hits don’t knock down the sad news that my high school district has the second widest ethnicity-based achievement gap in the state.
The Rundown – April 24, 2009 April 23, 2009
Posted by Adrien in news.Tags: affirmative action, Angie Zapata, Earth Day, gay marriage, Jaheem Herrera, Jerry Brown, Obama, Proposition 209, Shirley Tan
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A day late, but Happy Earth Day nonetheless!
You can appreciate your home planet through some of the breathtaking images in the Boston Globe’s Big Picture collections. For celebration in the Bay, check out the Berkeley Earth Day extravaganza happening this Saturday.
Here are a couple words buzzing through my interweb wires this week: (more…)
Breaking: Gay marriage a-comin whether you like it or not! April 7, 2009
Posted by Adrien in news.Tags: gay marriage, Iowa, Vermont
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Map via NPR
Last Friday the supreme court of the great state of Iowa nullified the state ban on Gay Marriage becoming the third state to allow gay marriage after Massachusetts and Connecticut. Way to go Iowa holdin it down in the heartland!
As of today, Vermont becomes the fourth state to legalize gay marriage and the first to do so by a vote of the legislature. After Governor Jim Douglas vetoed the original legislation legalizing gay marriage, the house and senate acquired enough votes to override the veto, amounting to a legislative OH NO YOU DI-INT! That’s right Vermont, that’s how you do it.
C’mon California pick up the pace!
Please Help: The 6th Annual Kundiman Asian American Poetry Retreat March 23, 2009
Posted by Adrien in news.Tags: Asian American poetry, Asian poetry, Kundiman
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From Sarah Gambito of Kundiman:
As you (may) know, Kundiman is playing an important role in the literary world of the U.S. By initiating a summer retreat for Asian American poets five years ago, it has opened doors of opportunity that were previously closed to young poets of the Asian diaspora. Through intensive workshops with renowned poets and the enthusiastic support from staff and peers, the amount and excellence of their output is phenomenal.
Kundiman Fellows have published poems in The Virginia Quarterly Review, The Colorado Review, Pleiades, Black Warrior Review and Crab Orchard Review. They are attending MFA and doctoral programs at The Iowa Writers’ Workshop, New York University, Stanford University, The University of Houston, and The University of California, Berkeley. Three Kundiman fellows have gone on to publish full-length collections of poetry.
What you may not know is how important this program has been in the development of lives of the poets themselves. I’d like to share quotes from just two of the Fellows and I invite you to read the testimonies of others on our website www.kundiman.org. (more…)
Santa Clara County WTF March 18, 2009
Posted by Adrien in news.Tags: anti-gay, gay, hate crimes, San Jose, Santa Clara county
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I grew up in San Jose, the silicon-lined heart of Santa Clara County. The South Bay is well-known for many some maybe one or two things, which involve either Vietnamese Pho, a shopping mall, or some tech company, it’s hard to remember. Well now Santa Clara County can add this cheery bit to its extensive list of memorables:
This is atypical for the rest of California. But wow. Really Santa Clara County? It pretty much sucks to know that this is the place where I go home every few weekends.
Richard Aoki March 16, 2009
Posted by Adrien in news.Tags: Asian American, Black Panthers, Richard Aoki
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November 20, 1938 – March 15, 2009
Rest in Power.
(Trailer for Richard Aoki, a documentary that premiered in 2008)
dre poetic Now under Creative Commons license March 9, 2009
Posted by Adrien in news.Tags: Creative Commons, publication, publishing
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I was talking to a friend recently about how she has always been a little wary about posting her work online, even on her personal blog, especially for fear of plagiarism or distribution beyond her knowledge.
Today I generated a license for this website pretty quickly through Creative Commons, today’s leading non-profit provider of creative licensing.
Creative Commons provides various creative copyright licenses for free that can be modified based on your own preferences for how your work should be attributed, remixed, and/or shared.
Visit the Creative Commons website for more info about how to retain your creative rights in this 21st Century fast-paced self-publishing world.
My President, the smart mouth February 10, 2009
Posted by Adrien in news.Tags: Obama, President, stimulus
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My man.
[image Xinhua/Zhang Yan, Xinhua News]
I love this guy. I need his straight talk like I need fresh air every morning.
At his first primetime press conference last night:
It’s a little hard for me to take criticism from folks about this recovery package after they presided over a doubling of the national debt … I’m not sure they have a lot of credibility when it comes to fiscal responsibility.
From Politico February 6:
What do you think a stimulus is? It’s spending — that’s the whole point! Seriously.
From CNN February 6:
“Don’t come to the table with the same tired arguments and worn ideas that helped to create this crisis,” the president said at the House Democrats’ annual retreat in Williamsburg.
“We’re not going to get relief by turning back to the very same policies that, for the last eight years, doubled the national debt and threw our economy into a tailspin,” he said. “We can’t embrace the losing formula that says only tax cuts will work for every problem we face, that ignores critical challenges like our addiction to foreign oil, or the soaring cost of health care, or failing schools and crumbling bridges and roads and levees.”
“I don’t care whether you’re driving a hybrid or an SUV — if you’re headed for a cliff, you’ve got to change direction.”
The Rundown January 16, 2009
Posted by Adrien in news, the rundown.Tags: Clinton, economy, immigration, Mehserle, Oakland, Obama, Oscar Grant, Proposition 8, sex traficking
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Happy weekend everyone. Here’s the Rundown for this week:
- Ex-BART police officer Johannes Mehserle was charged with murder yesterday and plead not guilty to the killing of Oscar Grant.
- The strong argument against Proposition 8 going to court (via MoJo Blog): This makes sense. “The long arc of history bends towards progress,” a friend told me. The nexus I suppose is the patience we have to wait for history or to make it.
- And then today, the NAACP joins the round-up of civil rights organizations filing amicus curae briefs against Proposition 8. (via Racewire)
- A new kind of Madame Secretary: This week, Senator Hillary Clinton speaks on issues of slavery and human sex trafficking: “I want to pledge to you that as secretary of state I view these issues as central to our foreign policy, not as adjunct or auxiliary or in any way lesser than all of the other issues that we have to confront.”
- Immigration Reform Debate Must Regain a Moral Compass (via Racewire): The last time the U.S. underwent comprehensive immigration reform was 1965. We are currently operating under a more than forty-year old system. Professor Victoria Robinson told my Ethnic Studies class a year ago that the next U.S. President will most surely enact comprehensive immigration reform. The issue may have faded in the last few months in the wake of elections, but it is a deep thunder pulsing in the veins of American life that will not be ignored. Here Roberto Lovato writes for New American Media on the paradigm shift needed for comprehensive immigration reform to reflect American realities.
- Silver Lining of the Economic Downturn: Courtney on Femenisting offers gratitudes for the blessings-in-disguise this tight-pocket economy grants us. I personally offer a thank you to the downturn for sharpening my resourcefulness and offering me the opportunity to practice creative consumption.
- Finally, check out the New York Times Magazine special photo-feature on Obama’s People. Get to know the new cabinet a little. I want this fierce woman’s job:
Desiree Rogers, White House Social Secretary
