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Kavad: Kundiman Mother Tongues

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Video by Jess X Chen

We do not enter this life as tabulae rasae; we are born with the ability to recognize our mother's voice. In utero we begin to hear the sounds basic to language.  As we grow, we internalize the rules and structures that turn sound into meaning. Mothers give us our means of discerning language; language gives us our means of knowing our world. Past documents and images can salvage only so much of this past.  To capture our mothers' narratives we must incorporate the ephemerality of memory through speech.  We must begin with her own words.  

Mother Tongues recovers diasporic narratives by chronicling the lives and experiences of mothers across three Asian American generations. Interviews, poetry and performances combine to form an archive that documents the triumphs and challenges of building lives in America.

 

Click here to access multimedia content, interview excerpts and poetry.

The Honey Badgers Don't Give a B**k Tour

The Honey Badgers Don't Give a B**k Tour

Four Asian-American Poets. Six Cities. One car.

One tour. 

Embracing fearlessness, tenacity, and entrepreneurship – all tenets of the totem animal, the toothsome beast that launched a media frenzy – poets Michelle Chan Brown,Cathy Linh Che, Eugenia Leigh and Sally Wen Mao speed through the Mid-Atlantic/South/Midwest to read from acclaimed first books. From Vietnam to Belgrade, pop culture to nature, interrogations of the body and yes, the soul, by turns brash, baroque, lush and lissome, these four exemplify the ferocity of the new American poetics.

Poetry is Dangerous.

www.honeybadgersdontgiveabooktour.tumblr.com

 

B**K TOUR DATES

Monday, July 14, 2014 | NEW YORK, NY
Honey Badgers Don’t Give A B**k Tour launch party @ LouderARTS

  • Bar 13 | 35 E. 13th Street, NY, NY 10003
  • 7:30PM (sign up for open mic at 7:00PM)
  • Cover: $6 / $5 (with student ID)


Tuesday, July 15, 2014 | PHILADELPHIA, PA*
(Invitation only; email us to inquire about address + available seats)
Ayat, hosted by Patrick Rosal

  • Also featuring Yolanda Wisher
  • Ayat Arts | Trenton Ave., Philadelphia, PA 19125
  • 6:30PM


Wednesday, July 16, 2014 | TBA
Email honeybadgersbooktour@gmail.com if you want to book us for this date.


Thursday, July 17, 2014 | SWEET BRIAR, VA*
Young Writers Workshop Reading | Visiting Writers Week

  • University of Virginia
  • 7:00PM
  • Additional details to come
     

Friday, July 18, 2014 | SWEET BRIAR, VA*
Young Writers Workshop Lab

  • University of Virginia
  • 1:00PM
  • Additional details to come
     

Saturday, July 19, 2014 | PITTSBURGH, PA
Assemble Gallery Reading

  • Assemble | 5125 Penn Ave., Pittsburgh, PA 15224
  • 7:00PM


Sunday, July 20, 2014 | TBA
Email honeybadgersbooktour@gmail.com if you want to book us for this date.


Monday, July 21, 2014 | BALTIMORE, MD*
Enoch Pratt Free Library Reading + Q&A

  • Pratt Library | 400 Cathedral Street, Baltimore, MD 21201
  • Central Library, Poe Room
  • 6:30PM - 8:00PM


Tuesday, July 22, 2014 | NEW YORK, NY
Word for Word Reading Series @ Bryant Park

  • Also featuring Patrick Rosal
  • Bryant Park Reading Room | 42nd Street side of park, between back of NYPL & Sixth Ave; look for burgundy & white umbrellas
  • 7:00P - 8:30PM


Wednesday, July 23, 2014 | CAMBRIDGE, MA*
East Meets West Bookstore Reading + Open Mic

  • EMW | 934 Massachusetts Ave., Cambridge, MA 02139
  • 7:00PM - 9:00PM


Thursday, July 24, 2014 | TBA
Email honeybadgersbooktour@gmail.com if you want to book us for this date.


Friday, July 25, 2014 | WASHINGTON, D.C.
BloomBars Reading

  • BloomBars | 3222 11th Street, NW, Washington, DC 20001
  • 8:00PM


Saturday, July 26, 2014 | WASHINGTON, D.C. 
Petworth Citizen Reading

  • Petworth Citizen | 829 Upshur St. NW, Washington, DC 20001
  • 7:00PM


Fri/Sat, August 1-2, 2014 | NASHVILLE, TN*
Linebreaks Literary Reading Series

  • Global Education Center | 4822 Charlotte Ave, Nashville, TN 37209
  • Additional details to come


Sunday, August 3, 2014 | LEXINGTON, KY*

  • Morris Book Shop Reading, hosted by Iris Law
  • Morris Book Shop | 882 E. High Street, Lexington, KY 40502
  • 2:00PM
  • Free



*not available:
Michelle Chan Brown (7/15, 17, 21, 23)
Sally Wen Mao (7/26)
Eugenia Leigh (8/1, 2, 3)