March 2012
1 post
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February 2012
6 posts
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Space and Vocabulary
posted by Molly
Speaking on setting up ground rules for productive conversations, someone recently commented “Yes, but coming from the UK, we use different words for all this. I just want to make sure that when I say something, it means the right thing.”
What’s the old joke — England and the US, two countries separated by one language?
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Did GPS Change Your Life?
posted by Molly
When I was pre-smart phone, I would look up directions, write down landmarks, then watch the street signs go by to make sure I was headed in the right direction. I was usually nervous, lost, or both.
In my smart phone era, I don’t look out the bus window going to strange places. I check my maps app to make sure my little blue dot is moving towards the destination on the...
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Casting Call for The Peel Pages Kickstarter Flick
Peel Pages is now casting for our first promotional video for use on our Kickstarter fundraising page. You might be wondering… casting? We’re aiming for something a bit more interesting than the cut-and-dry infomercial, so the idea is to nest that very useful information within some creative flare. Say, with the feel of a short entitled An Afternoon at Tea. As for atmosphere, think...
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January 2012
11 posts
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Context Matters... →
posted by Molly
…or weather doesn’t. The “wimpy Seattle snowstorm” meant that it took me 30 hours to get to Dallas (thirty two if you count hours spent getting to and from airports). But I do love some regional bickering.
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was your new year resolution to write more?
posted by Hatty
Stolen from a cool website I stumbled upon a few weeks ago, below is a writing prompt I found totally fascinating — and led me to spend an hour and half scratching away on my notepad at a Philz Coffee on San Jose last Monday.
Try it. It’s good for your soul.
My location #7 was a playground at my elementary school back in Korea.
Very quickly, write down a list of...
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The Decline of Chinatown →
posted by Anthony
As an inhabitant of the city that claims North America’s largest Chinatown, I’m not exactly sure how to feel about this. Let’s be honest, Chinatowns are characteristically overcrowded, noisy and run a’muck with all sorts of unsavory smells. They are an odd mix of the non-homogenized immigrant types who actually live there and the out-of-town tourists who...
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We Would Like to Remind You
posted by Molly
We would like to remind you that the deadline to submit to the print edition of the “Space and Place” issue is January 23, 2012. That’s less than a week away. The submission that the editorial staff has been reading through look fantastic, and we’re looking forward to reading yours too!
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posted by Hatty
I have the privilege of meeting...
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Occupy: Space
posted by Molly
This post has nothing to do with the Occupy movement. Moving on with my life and yours, there are ways in which we literally occupy space. How much do we literally take up? How much space does our presence take up?
As artists, our art occupies, or takes up a certain amount of space— the shape of the stage affects how the dramatic piece can be performed; the size of a...
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a streetwalker
posted by Hatty
One day in April of last year, when I first moved out of Berkeley, I sat by Peet’s Coffee on Lakeshore Avenue after the spring rain came. I journaled about how much it mattered to care for places you live in. It mattered to get to know the neighbors and to bake cookies for their children. It mattered to walk around your house and apartment once in awhile. I believed –...
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Becoming Not Home
posted by Molly
The opposite of a place becoming home is a place becoming not-home. You know, when you finally move out of your parents’ house, and visits become visits, not home comings. When you return to a city you once lived in and the restaurants no longer seem familiar. When you grab coffee with an old friend and you sit in an awkward silence that you’ve never felt before.
...
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December 2011
9 posts
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HAPPY NEW YEAR
…from the staff of Peel Pages.
Thank you for all your support and we’ll see you in 2012!
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“In some way, all art is political, even if it claims not to be. Contemporary art...”
–
posted by Hatty
Stolen from the December 2011 brochure of Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, “The Politics of Art.”
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Call for Submissions -- April Print Issue
Humanity cannot help but be contoured by where and how it finds itself. How do our surroundings and attendant circumstances exert influence in our shaping as individuals? Collectively as a society? There are ways too, in which we reciprocate this pattern by turning the tables back on our milieu to define it. We pin sentiments of all kinds to the places of our abode and the spaces through which we...
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Home(lands)
posted by Molly
My powers of circular reasoning are excellent, and they have led me to this stunning conclusion: Home is where you feel at home.
Home is where you can set down our burdens and be at peace. It is a place, a person, or a language that speaks to your heart. Maybe it is a watch given to you by your in-laws that says, “Yes. This is you family now.” It is a special way of...
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the flow from the heart
posted by Hatty
A big shout out to our friends from the ReWrite!
Come to “Nam-Jai”, the 2nd showcase of the up-and-coming Asian Pacific Islander spoken word artists and poets in San Francisco Bay Area this Friday, December 16. It’s going to be another awesome time of sharing stories, writing together, and making music.
Doors open at 6 p.m. at 518 Valencia St, San Francisco....
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Constant coincidence
posted by Molly
We as human beings are surrounded by a constant flow of information pouring through all of our senses. In order to not be overwhelmed by the amount of information available, we filter. If you’ve ever been to a huge electronics store, you know what I mean. The store can set up a wall full of TVs, all playing different channels. You can see them all, in a physical sense, but...
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Want to get away?
posted by Hatty
Today, right after a meeting that didn’t go as well as I had hoped, I slowly sat back down in front of my work computer, hoping to distract myself from the frustrating reality that is work. My somewhat defeated mental state had less to do with a case of the Mondays and more to do with the thought that maybe, even after a million Mondays spent here, I wouldn’t have...
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Have you heard of seasteading? →
posted by Molly
I think of place and I think of land — cities, states, countries, and the belonging that goes with them. We wear fitted hats with our area codes, talk about East Coast/West Coast culture, and define rights according to citizenship.
That may be why it’s so strange to wrap my head around Blueseed. They’re a start up that’s hoping to allow people to do...
November 2011
10 posts
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Product warning →
posted by Molly
So far, Amazon has left up the “reviews” of pepper spray posted in the wake of the UC Davis incident, where police pepper sprayed a line of peacefully protesting students. Guerrilla comedy or pointed social commentary? Why choose?
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"Essentials of Life" by They Shoot Film: A Photo... →
posted by Hatty
We are what we eat. I am going to think about that — even more than I normally do as a wannabe vegetarian — come this holiday season.
posted by Molly
I’ve got a little something...
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Watchposted by Hatty
Porta Potties aren’t exactly what comes to mind when I think about art, design or culture making. But this past week, I had a chance to participate in a town hall meeting on the exciting possibilities of public toilets re-imagined for 50 or so blocks of San Francisco grittiness also known as the Tenderloin. And to my surprise, the brief presentation by this hip (and hipster...
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Virtuous Analog
posted by Anthony
In a culture where instant gratification has become the norm, it is a relief to see that some things have yet to succumb to the impetuous razing of technology. This is for the better. Analog delights like vinyl music and film photography will never grow to obsolescence — unless we want them to. But why would we? Why should we ever forfeit the more tasteful, more romantic...
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You Should be Excited
posted by Molly
Word on the street is that the first issue of Peel Pages had gone to the layout team. And that means the print date is just around the corner. And that is a reason to get excited!
If you’re in the Bay area, start looking for printed copies in December. If you’re not local, or don’t want to take any chances, email us at peelpages<at>gmail<dot>com,...
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Occupy: thoughts on the whirlwinds of last week
posted by Hatty
November 2, 2011. I find myself at the General Strike in Downtown Oakland. I don’t care what you’ve heard from anyone else. This city hasn’t seen such a peaceful and powerful gathering of people, from all walks of life, with a common passion for justice.
How the hell did I get into this beautiful mess?
We all have stories of how one deceptively tiny decision...
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“Fine art photographer, Brooke Shaden, is talented beyond her years and calls her...”
– http://laughingsquid.com/photographer-brooke-shaden-captures-the-ethereal-world/
posted by Anthony
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“Art is the ultimate way to combat the machine because it reflects imagination...”
– http://www.lataco.com/taco/global-uprising-interview-with-mear-one
posted by Hatty
October 2011
11 posts
2 tags
Das Racist, Dude! →
posted by Molly
Just click the link above and go read the cover story about them from Spin Magazine this month. It’s not too long and highly entertaining.
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'Wallflower', A Reflection
posted by Anthony
Art forms involving live performers upon stage are presented with a layer of intimacy less readily perceivable elsewhere. Each performance, regardless of how well practiced or how long the show is billed to run, is the product of unique circumstance. Personal situations, mood transience, time of day, day of week indubitably hold sway over the actor, singer or dancer, no matter...
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I am a Tree
posted by Molly
In my last professional incarnation, when I was working as a high school educator, I had an activity that I liked to do. I would start by asking one of the young people “XX, who are you?” They would answer, and then ask someone else in the group “XX, who are you?” And so on. The only catch was that categories could not be repeated, so if one person said...
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there and back again
posted by Hatty
So much of my story, of who I am, is about a search for home. I think about it a lot actually: this idea of place and displacement, of journey and destination.
Came across this journal entry dated March 8, 2011. Life has changed greatly again since seven months ago, but the words still ring true to me today:
I wonder if I can find it now, my New York University...
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Thoughts on Purpose
posted by Molly
Have you checked out our Mission Statement? No need to click or feel guilty, I’m posting it here:
We are a group of writers and artists committed to seeing the revelatory and transformative power of the arts and how it advances society. We believe that every facet of art has the potential to form, shape, (re)define and move our culture for the better. Just as a banana...
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Urban Dwell
posted by Anthony
There is something about being an urban dweller that sensitizes me to pause and take in any serenity that might chance to interrupt the din of horns, fumes of exhaust, unnerving pace of public transportation and the late-night drunken-bitching of bar-goers who’ve had one drink too many. Such serenity can be found in a simple thing. In fact, the most simple of objects can...
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Writer's Block, part deux
posted by Molly
Among those of us who consider ourselves writers, or would if we wrote more and did something with the things that we write, this is a common truth: that we think about what to write more than we actually write. Sometimes a gestation period is necessary for our ideas to form. But more often than not, it means that we’re not writing as much as we can.
We at Peel Pages...
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writer's block
posted by Hatty
I haven’t considered myself a writer long enough to name what I think I’m going through right now. When you know you must write and feel like you have so much to say, and you sit down to do just that, and you get… nothing. Or worse, you get something, and it’s shit.
Political commentaries I’ve read incessantly in the justification of educating myself...
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More Good Things to Come
posted by Molly
First of all, the staff of Peel Pages would like to thank you, our readers, for reading. The submissions for our first print issue are in, and we couldn’t be more excited. We love the submission we received and can’t wait for the print issue to come out.
And, until then, keep checking out the blog for regular updates!
August 2011
1 post
3 tags
Recapping: The APIA Spoken Word and Poetry Summit...
by Molly Higgins
Imagine the fantasy camp of your dreams, then combine it with your ideal family reunion. That’s a little bit of what the APIA Spoken Word and Poetry Summit felt like. Something like 100 Asian American poets, singers, rappers, and actors converged in Minneapolis, MN the first weekend on August to share our stories with each other.
On the last day, Dennis Kim sent a video that...
July 2011
2 posts
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Q&A with Matt Blesse
Edited by Molly Higgins and Hatty Lee / Photograph by Astra Kim
Hatty Lee got a chance to chat with poet Matt Blesse over the phone about his work with the API spoken word artists collective ReWrite. For the full story, click here.
Hatty: How did you get involved in the ReWrite and the APIA Spoken Word Poetry Summit? What drew you in? What was your motivation to be a part of these?
Matt: The...