POP!!! POP!!! THERE GOES THE SOUND OF MY GLOCK!!!!

POP!!! POP!!! THERE GOES THE SOUND OF MY 9MM SHOTS....
AS WE PERFORMED ON OUR FINAL/ KINDA FINAL... BUT NOT REALLY.
AS USUAL I WAS KEEPIN IT HOOD WITH MY GANGSTA RAP AND MY FLAGRANT DISREGARD FOR SAFETY. IT WAS A SMOGGY FRIDAY NIGHT AND I PACKED UP MY GANGSTA ESSENTIALS ASIAN STYLE THAT IS. ( POCKET PROTECTOR, SCIENTIFIC CALCULATOR, CHAPSTICK, EVEN GANGSTAS GET CHAPPED LIPS, YOU KNOW REAL NI**A SHIT...) I GOT INTO MY LEXUS GS 300 AND PROCEEDED TO TAKE A RIDE TO SCHOOL ( ONE HAND ON STEERING WHEEL, GOT THAT GANGSTA LEAN GOING ON, SHIT.......)
SO A PLAYA WAS 39 MINS AND 24 SECONDS LATE FOR REHERSALS ( THATS HOW I ROLL SON!!!!) AND I WAS LIKE, " A YO!!!!! WHERE THE SHORTIES AT??!!!!!! ILL HOOK IT UP WITH SOME BACKSTAGE JUPAC PASSES!!!" AND AS USUAL THE HOOD RATS CAME FLOCKING.... BUT THATS THE LIFE OF A CERTIFIED G.
OH YEA BACK TO THE PERFORMANCE...... THE GROUPS WERE PUTTING IT DOWN BLAH, BLAH, BLAH, THE SPOKEN WORDS WERE OK, BLAH BLAH BLAH.
SHIIIIEEEEET. JUPAC WOULD HAVE SMASHED THAT BY THE WAY
IRENE WAS ILL WITH IT SOOO THAT SHIT WAS REAL HOOOOD.
SO I GOT ALOT OUT OF IT
JEFFREY AKA LEVEL 30 MAD HOODRAT SLAYER JUPAC SHAKUR
SIGNING OUT PEACEEE!!!

CHECK OUT MY FREESTYLE YO!!!!GEEEEYYYAHH! PREPARE FOR TAKE OFF BITCHES!!!!!!

FIRST OFF I WOULD LIKE TO SAY TO ALL THE ASIAN AMERICAN STUDIES MAJORS GEEEEEYYYYYAAAHH!!!!!! SKEET SKEET SKEET! IM OUTTA HERE U SILLY SALAMI EAT BASTARDS. I JUST FINISHED MY POWERPOINT ON ASIAN AMERICANS IN THE MARINE CORPS AGES 20-29. SHIT WAS ILLER THAN AN AID PATIENT SON!!!! JUST KIDDING. SIKE!
I WOULD HAVE RATHER BEEN AT THE DENTIST TO BE HONEST. THE CHICKS WERE DIGGING MY SWAG LOLOLOL. YEA IN THE MIDDLE OF MY PRESENTATION I BUSTED A FREESTYLE, WOULD U LIKE A SAMPLE YO? " A JOSH DROP ME A MUTHAFUCKING BEAT!!"
A YO!! A YO!!
IM THAT SICK PLAYA FROM MIXED PERSUASIAN ! YOU SO BLACK YOU LOOK LIKE A SUNBURNTN HATIAN!
BREAD AND BUTTERS PSSSSH! U LOOK LIKE YOU LIKE IT IN THE BUTT! LIKE THAT GUY FROM NSYNC WHO WAS ADDICTED TO ANIMAL SMUTT!
I THINK HIS NAME WAS LANCE, HOW THE HELL YOU GONNA BE A WHITEBOY AND THINK YOU CAN DANCE????!!!
YOU LOOK THIRSTY, HOW ABOUT A HANSEN?! BITCH HOW U THINK YOU GANGSTA WHEN I HEARD U BUMPIN HAN-SON?????!!!!!!!!!!
I HEAR YER CORNY ASS LISTEN TO LIVE 105!!! BITCH!!! ILL BATTLE RAP YER MOM AFTER SHE TAKES A DICK DIVE!!!!!!!!!!!!
PEACE!!! IM OUT FOR DUECE ZERO NINE!!!!!

JEFFREY AKA "JUPAC" SPITTIN HOT FIRE ON THE MIC

Filipina American Poet: Luisa A. Igloria

Luisa A. Igloria is a Filipina American poet and author of various award-winning collections. Originally from Baguio, Luisa A. Igloria is now with the faculty of the English Department and the Institute for the Study of Minority Issues at the Old Dominion University in Norfolk Virginia.

She received her undergraduate degree from the University of the Philippines, Baguio in 1980 (B.A. Humanities - Cum Laude - major in Comparative Literature, minor in English, cognate in Philosophy), and the M.A. in Literature at Ateneo de Manila University at Manila, Philippines in 1988 as a Robert Southwell Fellow. She received a Ph.D. in English/Creative Writing at the University of Illinois at Chicago in July 1995, where she was a Fulbright Fellow.

While in Chicago, Igloria was an active member of PINTIG, a Filipino-American cultural and theatre group. She was a member of PINTIG's cultural and education committee and co-wrote some scenes for Chris Millado's stage play, Scenes from an Unfinished Country: 1905-1995. She was a Visiting Humanities Scholar in 1996 at the Center for Philippine Studies at the University of Hawaii at Manoa. She also taught briefly at De La Salle University where she became the Graduate Programs Coordinator and Senior Associate for Poetry at the Bienvenido N. Santos Creative Writing Center at De La Salle University.

She has published five books under the pseudonym Maria Luisa A. Carino, and received eleven Palanca Awards since 1984, including its prestigious Hall of Fame distinction. She has been a recipient of numerous grants and honors, among others the 1998 George Kent Prize for Poetry (donated by the poet Gwendolyn Brooks) and the 1998 Illinois Arts Council Award.

Regarding History
by Luisa Igloria

A pair of trees on one side of the walk, leaning
now into the wind in a stance we’d call involuntary—
I can see them from the kitchen window, as I take meat
out of the oven and hold my palms above the crust, darkened
with burnt sugar. Nailed with cloves, small earth of flesh
still smoldering from its furnace. In truth I want to take it
into the garden and bury it in soil. There are times
I grow weary of coaxing music from silence, silence
from the circularity of logic, logic from the artifact.
Then, the possibilities of sunlight are less attractive
than baying at the moon. I want to take your face
in my hands, grow sweet from what it tells, tend
how it leans and turns, trellis or vine of morning-glory.
I wish for limbs pared to muscle, to climb away from
chance and all its missed appointments, its half-drunk
cups of coffee. Tell me what I’ll find, in this
early period at the beginning of a century.
Tell me what I’ll find, stumbling into a boat
and pushing off into the year’s last dark hours.

-Donna ;]

AA Poet Jessica Hagedorn

Jessica Hagedorn is a poet, playwright, storyteller, and musician. Born to a Scots-Irish-French-Filipino mother and a Spanish-Chinese-Filipino, she was born and raised in Manila, Philippines. In 1963, she moved to San Francisco to learn at the American Conservatory Theater training program. She eventually moved to New York to pursue other opportunities in playwriting and music.

One poem that caught my eye was published in her book Danger and Beauty. It was published in 2002, but it has a collection of poems that date back to the late 1960s. In particular her poem Sorcery caught my eye (and I don’t know why).

Sorcery

there are some people I know
whose beauty
is a crime.
who make you so crazy
you don't know
whether to throw yourself
at them
or kill them.
which makes
for permanent madness.
which could be
bad for you.
you better be on the lookout
for such circumstances.

stay away
from the night.
they most likely lurk
in the corners of the room
where they think
they being inconspicuous
but they so beautiful
an aura
gives them away.

stay away
form the day.
they most likely
be walking
down the street
when you least
expect it
trying to look
ordinary
but they so fine
they break your heart
by making you dream
of other possibilities.

stay away
from crazy music.
they most likely
be creating it
cuz
when you're that beautiful
you can't help
putting it out there.
everyone knows
how dangerous
that can get.

stay away
from magic shows.
especially those
involving words
words are very
tricky things.
everyone knows
words
the most common
instruments of
illusion.

they most likely
be saying them.
breathing poems
so rhythmic
you can't help
but dance.

and once
you start dancing
to words
you might never
stop.


I am far from a literary critic/interpreter, but I managed to get a feeling that she was questioning contemporary views of the times. In the first stanza, she goes on to say that there is a certain beauty that is on the border of brilliance and despair. I believe that has something to do with the way beauty has traditionally been seen. Particularly, many try to envision the western concepts that are commonly associated with beauty. In this poem, however, she speaks about a different type of beauty. One that does not fall under the same accepted standards. Those who see it for the first time are wary of the looks, but there an alluring aura around it.

As we stare longer, we begin to accept this other standard. Conformists on the other hand tell us to heed their warnings. They say that what we see is a mere illusion. They believe that we have become disenfranchised. The more we believe in our own idea, the further from their reality we get. Eventually, we fall into a sort of slipstream. In a sense, we liberate ourselves from traditional levels of thinking. Once we find our own truth, we pursue it harder, faster. Eventually it comes to a point were we no longer look back at the ideas that we were taught to accept. Instead we get caught up in our own realm; a realm where we set the rules and create our own reality.

ASIAN AMERICAN poet

novelist, poet
Born: 1956
Birthplace: Liaoning Province, China

From the age of 14 until he was 20, Jin served in the People's Liberation Army in China.

THE poems on this page were written in English by a young Chinese poet and scholar, Xuefei Jin, whose pen name is Ha Jin. He was born in Liaoling province of Manchuria in 1956, entered the Chinese People’s Liberation Army at fourteen, served somewhat more than five years as a soldier (his father was at the time a soldier) and then three years as a telegraphist for the Harbin Railroad Company. In 1978 he entered Heilongjiang University and is continuing his studies at present at Brandeis. The poems he has written since he began his studies in America deal mainly with the experience of persons in China during the Cultural Revolution– "experience," as he writes, "not strictly personal, although in most cases . . . stimulated by memory of hard facts which cannot be worn away by time."

In Ha Jin’s poems we overhear the people of China–one at a time–speak to one another in the infinite particularity of his concern or her concern and in the deep solitude of a vast nation–the People’s Republic–which constitutes a fate no one can understand or change. Nonetheless, as Ha Jin says, they are "not merely victims of history. They are also the makers of history. Without them the history of contemporary China would remain a blank page." We hear in these poems the living and the dead–vulnerable, passionate, rational, unforgiving, heartbroken, relentless, gay–speaking of the interests which constitute their humanity in an uncanny language in which English is carried up into a region of pure human authenticity–the language of no nation but the nation of the person who speaks willingly or unwillingly the truth. In the introduction to his manuscript, from which these poems are drawn, Ha Jin remarks: "If not every one of these people, who were never perfect, is worthy of our love, at least their fate deserves our attention and our memory. They should talk and be talked about.



An Older Scholar’s Advice

After you get your master’s degree
you will have to work hard for some years
to be promoted to a lectureship. Then you can relax.
Don’t think that if you go on working in that way
you can get your professorship. First,
you must have enough teaching experience.
In my school, only after having taught for 24 years
will you be qualified for consideration
as an associate professor. Second,
you must publish enough papers.
it is not hard to write them but it is not easy
to publish them. In fact, you can publish anything
if you have connections. My colleagues told me that
publication is also an important field of study.
Well, if you "study" it thoroughly
you may be able to get your papers out,
but you will have to pay a lot for it.

For me the most practical thing to do now
is not to worry about my professorship.
So many lecturers are not qualified for it
until they are qualified for retirement
or for death. I just ignore it for the time being.
In the morning I practice Tai Chi.
In the evening I watch TV and go to bed early.
I have quit smoking but drink two cups of wine
every day. Wine can warm your blood.
Don’t indulge yourself in sex.
It will weaken your young kidneys.
As long as you are in good health,
as long as you live longer than others,
eventually you will get your professorship.

You can wait for that.






Jeffrey aka Jupac

Iron Chef

We all agreed to meet at a specific time and place after school, being my house. Kim and Donna bought the ingredients and we started cooking the food immediately. geeyyyyyah!
thats how we roll!!!! Spring roll that is !!!!!
During the Iron chef midterm Mixed Persuasion made Vietnamese fusion dishes that were a blend of American and Vietnamese. It was both tasty and cool to look at lol. We made Spring Rolls with a zesty Peanut and oil+ vinegar dip that was delicious. We also made a shrimp salad that had many American flavors it was derived from. We cooked the seasoning with butter and Shrimp sauce. The preparation was awesome due to the fact it was a group effort. After the cooking we took a short break by knocking back a few drinks. geeeeeyyyaahhhhh. After that short break i took a few more breaks and knocked back a few more.GEYYYYAAAH!
Jeffrey jupac

The Fashion show was an educational experience to say the least. Our outfit was a traditional Vietnamese dress with a beautiful look and appeal. Me [jeff] Julie, and Donna bought the materials on Irving St at an Asian fabric store. The group came over to my house to complete the design and overallit was pretty good,
I hope that we can win or kinda win that would be pretty swell
so yea thats great man shhheeeyyyyyyaahhhhhh

lissen up. lissen up
man, yus musta bin pissin up
I'm the baddest rapper in this game
My lines make others go insane
They so fine
they must be mine

all you punkass wannabe rappers
wit all your fake bling bling
wacked little lines
neva seen the streets or anyfing

Shorties, youd ben beten by cops
crushed like a petal
Give me the props
or feel my metal

Yus thinks you know it all, yu lazy n fat
Keep messin' wit me 'n feel my spiked bat

( Yeah! I now know how to use google! Yeah! No offense intended + not aimed at anybody, just playin' although I'm no PLaya! )

POP goes the weasel

So today I was filled with an overcoming sense of self-determination. I was determined to blog about the POP performance since I haven’t blogged in a while. I’ve been pretty busy working on other group projects. So anyways the day started out just like every other Friday. Wake up at 7, get to work by 8:40, and stay there till 4. Unluckily for me, I forgot to bring an extra pair of clothes and shoes. It sucked walking around in work shoes for 15 hours. I managed to get to the theater by 5 PM, and I saw that the class had already started rehearsing. During the rehearsal, I was entrenched with the perception that the groups were not ready. Going into the break, I was expecting the worst but hoping for the best.

The actual performances started a bit later than planned (7:20ish). The first classes variety show was pretty good. The one film that pretty much stole the show was entitled Identity. By 8:10 PM, the initial excitement for the shows began to die down. It was further complicated by the mounds of people stacking up in the back and the lack of air conditioning. When the second class performed, it was fairly obvious that the heat was beginning to bother a lot of people. Many of their skits and featured a couple of good one liners but nothing much else to rave about. Three fourths through their performance, our class was pulled out of the auditorium and we moved towards the back of the stage.

Nearly everyone was hit with initial jitters. I could recall the dance group frantically trying to get in as much practice as they could. Additionally, Ben was running around everywhere trying to locate Irene. As the second class finished their performance, everyone in our class was psyching themselves up for the performance. As we crowded the back hallway, we suddenly hear Irene and Ben give an unexpected lyrical performance. Looking at each other in confusion and awe, the rhythm and rhyme expelled from Irene and Ben were uplifting and encouraging to our own psyche. After they finished, we did our routines with little hitch. Overall, I think we managed to pull out a pretty good job despite the minimal practice we had. Our biggest shortcoming was setting up the stage and transitioning between scenes. Although we had the biggest class, our play/skit was the shortest. By 10:30 it was all over, and we let out a collected sigh of relief and joy. After a couple weeks of worrying, it was finally over in a flash.