"I'm an immigrant to Heaven." - George Koo.

A little video I made on Animoto featuring this boy's dance that I photographed minutes after learning that my grandfather was dying. RIP, George Koo, we will meet again.

Thank you, Eddie Pages...

Eddie Pages & I representing "Workers" at our joint Birthday party last Friday.

My friendship with the Talented Eddie Pages began when I met him on the ANSWER bus to a GAZA protest in DC. Soon, we discovered that we were 5 days apart, born the same year, and both shared a common love for the visual arts, him with film and me with photography....And, lemme tell ya, when us Scorpio Metal Monkeys get together, you can expect all kinds of creative collaboration happening!

Our first collaboration was March 21st, when ANSWER organized their annual national March on the Pentagon against the occupation of Iraq, Afghanistan & Palestine. We dropped off mock coffins at war profiteers parking lots while laughing at the robocops who surrounded the front doors with their Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle outfits. The experience was militant, dramatic, loud, and visually stunning. I went down super early to organize and take photographs, and Eddie compiled my photos and made a video out of them to an MIA song. So here it is below....and thank you Eddie, you made my photos come out alive!!!

March 21st March on the Pentagon from Eddie Pages on Vimeo.

Today he sent me a link of my performance at last Saturday's Lyrical Revolt 13, and it was edited so beautifully. It's kinda weird seeing myself on video, but heh....here it is:

Vanissa W. Chan from Eddie Pages on Vimeo.

Thank you, Eddie. You're the BEST!!! One Love.

Me...On Stage!

Me performing my poem for the first time ever at the ANSWER Coalition's 13th Lyrical Revolt at the Rebel Arts Collective in the South Bronx. My buddy, the talented Eddie Pages, is next to me recording my performance.

Ever since my very first spoken word event at the Nuyorican Poets Cafe, a few years ago when I was very new to NYC, I desired to be on stage. I never thought I'd ever muster up the courage to do it, but things change :). I wrote a lot of poetry when I was in high school and throughout college, but never had the idea of reading it outloud..the concept was just foreign to me. Where I grew up, a poetry reading was very...hmm, bookish and bit boring! But here in the city, where a multitude of cultures collide and ways of expression intertwine,....a spoken word event is quite an event (ok, that was the understatement of the year...it's POWERFUL and ....awe-inspiring!!)!

When I asked my friend Jinnette (kickass activist/poet/superwoman) to go over my first poem with me, she encouraged me to perform at the 13th Lyrical Revolt...at first I was like, "HELL NO.." but the idea grew on me and I practiced for a few weeks. I was the second performer on stage, which I think worked out well because I had to take photos, and I would have been freaking out the whole time if I was going later. The experience was magical and indescribable. It felt liberating and it was so well received by the warm crowd which I really appreciate because the content of the poem was very personal and difficult for me to share.

Thank you to my friends for their genuine love, support, advice, feedback....and presence. I couldn't have done it without you! I'm grateful. X.

Thank you to Libor Koznar for the photos!
http://artandstruggle.com/

LYRICAL REVOLT 13...Success!!!!!

Baron of Red Clay.....tellin' it!!!!

Hasan Salaam & Rugged N Raw on stage.

The Lyrical Revolt 13 was amazing! I'm not yet finished with editing, so bear with me,...a week..a week and a half...but, I wanted to blog because I was soooo thrilled to get up on stage and recite my first poem in like ten years of not writing in prose, and the response, the love and support that I received afterwards was soooo perfect, I'm so grateful to have such wonderful friends. So..that's the reason for this post...just a big THANK YOU to my friends who helped me practice, encouraged me to go on stage, and convinced me to believe in myself - helped me not to shit in my pants, THANKS!!!!!

XO.

Not Just A Pretty Face...

I've recently been obsessing over beautiful, intelligent women who know their power, and have been fortunate enough in the last few years to really get to know some very respectable ladies :). My close friend, Christina Empress, is one of them. I met Christina through my friend Trevz, who publishes The New Pop, which is one of the dopest online magazines covering NYC artists (go check it out!!!!), who a few years ago, recruited Christina and I to be in a music video featuring NYC artists. The event brought many artists together, and when Christina and I met, it was love at first sight, lol. On the surface, you can see why - she's totally freaking gorgeous - but skin deep, she's even more awe-inspiring.

Christina has been DJing internationally for several years, and is currently working on the finalities of her solo album featuring her as the singer/songwriter, titled, "Disconnect" which will soon be released. I have been fortunate enough to hear a few songs and....my mind is blown. This girl is TALEN-TED!!!! She's going to go Platinum, I have no doubt. You can hear samples and get updates of this beautiful, intelligent, musical vixen at her website: http://www.christinaempress.com. She's in the middle of scheduling her tour dates and album release date, so stay tuned because her show is going to be off the hook!

Earlier this fall, I had the privilege of photographing her in a very intimate setting - her apartment! I enjoy shooting people in their environment because it reveals so much about their life, personality, and what inspires them. Enjoy the photos and check out her links...you don't want to be missin' out!

Become a fan of her's on Facebook: www.facebook.com/pages/Empress
Check out her new website: www.christinaempress.com
Listen to older songs: www.soundcloud.com/empress
Link to her old website: www.djempress.com

Lyrical Revolt XIII

Rebel Diaz performing at the Lyrical Revolt X.

Denice MsMisconception Frohman performing at Lyrical Revolt XII.

Abraham Velazquez of The Peace Poets, at the Lyrical Revolt X.



So it's that time again....The ANSWER Coalition's popular spoken word/hip hop event, the Lyrical Revolt (number 13) will be happening again this Saturday, at the Rebel Diaz Arts Collective located in the South Bronx. ANSWER stands for Act Now to Stop War & End Racism, and is a coalition of fantastic, compassionate, driven community activists. The event is a fundraiser for ANSWER which organizes these insanely huge and powerful national marches against war and racism, so if you come out, you'll be coming out for a very important cause. I'm super excited about this event..this will be my 4th Lyrical Revolt, and the 4th one I've photographed! Also, if I don't chicken out ..I'll be performing my first poem on stage EVER.....I'm a bit jittery when I think of it now, but I know a miracle will happen when I get up there and I won't be nervous at all! :)

Doors open at 8:00PM, show begins at 9:00PM...seriously, be there or be missin' out!!!

Location, location, location:

478 Austin Place, 2nd Flr.
South Bronx, NY 10455
by 149th and Bruckner
6 train to E. 149th St.
BX19 to 149th and Southern

Review the old Lyrical Revolts through my Flickr site:
LR X: http://www.flickr.com/photos/vanissa/sets/72157613501426095/
LR XI: http://www.flickr.com/photos/vanissa/sets/72157619288867194/
LR XII: http://www.flickr.com/photos/vanissa/sets/72157622026506911/

The Lid Popped Off....

..At work and I've decided to play hookie tomorrow. My first time this year.

I'm sick with some kind of bug, and I have too many fun, important plans to allow some kind of nasty bug to get in the way...so, I'm relaxing and working on a few photos.

I was able to work on a few concert photos of VERITAS, my friend Thai's band, that I photographed (and had a blast with) a few weeks ago. They're still doing their nationwide tour, so be sure to try and catch them in your area. You can check out their stuff at http://www.myspace.com/veritasband

Please see the added photos here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/vanissa/sets/72157622543085625/

My favorite shots are shots like this of them in the convenient stores:

Which I realized when I was with them that they must walk into so many convenient stores per day just to get their munchies fix and restroom breaks. They could do some sort of sociological study on their convenient store encounters. Somebody should tell them......They could start a convenient store blog. Or maybe I just need to go on tour with a band and document their adventures..aahhhh...did I ever mention that one of my favorite movies is Almost Famous?? :D

Happy entrails.

Yankees in the Streets.

On the night of November 5th, the Yankees won the World Series. On my block in Bay Ridge, things got a little exciting. Kids ran out of the bars and trashed the streets with rolls of toilet paper. The neighborhood came out of their living rooms and celebrated with the people in the streets. This was for sure a one of a kind, New York experience.

As a mobs of people exited the bars, people began filling the streets and blocking traffic. Not long after, several NYPD cruisers showed up. Cops began approaching the mob of people slowly, with their sticks out. As they walked slowly towards the crowd, the mobs on both sides of the streets and in the middle began calling out, "AAAAAASSSHOOOOOLLLLEEE, AAAAAASSSHOOOOOOLLLLEEE!!"

The Scene on the corner of 86th Street and 3rd Avenue.

I think there may have only been one arrest that night, but I'm not sure. I got a bit of the one I saw that happened right in front of me, but it was too dark to get it all.

Plain clothes cop in the Yankees shirt on the left picks a fight with a man (you can see his friend holding him back).

The plain clothes cop in motion, grabs the man, wrestles him to the ground and arrests him for no apparent reason.

Traffic gets more and more congested as cars slow down to see the crowd on 86th and 3rd, some encouraged to stand out of their cars to share their joy with the people on the streets.

Some low rider action to add to the festivities. :)

Last Year til 30.

On my birthday, I went around and photographed places and people I saw. Here are a things I found...



Visiting the delicious Christina Empress at Rebel, here with lighting guy, Scott.

Fishmarket, Chinatown.

Many street vendors, like this one, are family-run. This one is located on Canal and Mulberry, and sells yummy Chinese cakes that are a popular snack these days.

Ruby helping her father with the Chinese cakes business.

Chinatown, Manhattan.

This wonderful lady works at the street vendor right outside the Canal/Centre Street train station. They sell amazing fishball kebobs, chicken kebobs, flavorful fried chicken, noodles, and fried rice. $2.00 can get you a long way.

I had to stop this guy and take a picture of his shirt. Hehe.

Maggie, mother of Shawn, Shanna, and Symone, on ACE to Crown Heights.

A boy sleeps on his mother's warm lap.

! What?!

Jamilla El-Shafei, an amazing community activist, chose my photo of her to be her profile picture on Michael Moore's blog!

*sigh*

Maybe one day I'll get to meet him, he's very easily one of my biggest heroes.

Cheater (Re: Bloomberg.)

I took the union workers' Bloomberg flyers and threw them in the trash next to a pretty Naked juice bottle. And while in the grand scheme of things, I probably didn't do much, I was still able to demonstrate to the union workers that it doesn't take much to disobey orders and make a political statement at the same time.

Also, I was able to take this pretty picture of Bloomberg being in the trash. Immature, obnoxious, annoying? Yeah, maybe. But definitely conscious, which I think above all, is more important.



The image above demonstrate Bloomberg's sneaky tactics to hoard more votes (much like Obama's "working families" and Democrat options). When you have billions of dollars, you can do stuff like that. Thompson and Bloomberg's two name listings were to the farthest left, which, in this country, we read beginning at the left side, while socialist candidates were all to the far right. Perhaps this is the order of voting booths, to stick Democrats and Republicans first, but really? How fair is that? And of course, if you read my earlier post, Frances' name didn't even appear at some voting booths. Please, don't try to convince me that it was just an accident. They wouldn't have made that same mistake with Thompson or Bloomberg.

My vote for Frances!

Frances Villar came in with over 3,500 votes, which is the most any socialist mayoral candidate has gotten since the early 1980s. The work, outreach, political message was well worth it. The working class will awaken and when we become conscious, our movement will be unstoppable, because we are the nuts and bolts of this country. There's just too many of us, and too little of them.

Our bank accounts may have smaller numbers, but our shit doesn't stink any less than Bloomberg's (and with the way he is aging, I'm sure we eat more beautiful-er than him :) ). Our passion for life and living could never be outshined by dollar signs.

Congratulations to the PSL for a job well done, and I am honored to have been a volunteer in your movement.

A Democratic Right.

Frances Villar, 2009 NYC Mayoral Candidate, and the Party for Socialism & Liberation, standing in solidarity with LGBT peeps at this year's PRIDE Parade.

I was a bit behind on my emails, but today when I caught up I found this newsletter from the PSL, who has been working their tails off on Frances Villar's mayoral campaign. Apparently, she didn't show up on the ballot in a few spots.

Here's what the e-newsletter said:

"Don’t let them steal our vote!

Vote Frances Villar!
Socialism and Liberation

In a massive effort, tens of thousands of Frances Villar flyers demanding “Put Poor and Working People First!” are going out across the city. Volunteers across the poorest neighborhoods of the city are reporting a good response with people excited to vote for a candidate who will stand up to the city’s billionaires.

The Frances Villar for Mayor campaign has received several reports of going to the polls and receiving ballots that did not have Frances’s name! If you encounter any difficulty, please send a report with all details, including the polling place, to nyc@VotePSL.org or call 212-694-8762.

A voter from the Bronx reported, "It was around 7:50 am when I went to vote at the 143rd St Community Center and there was a "problem" with the polls: Frances's name wasn't there. After I protested about her name not being on the ballot, they told me, 'she probably didn't make it on.' I knew that was wrong and kept telling them that Frances is supposed to be on the ballot. Finally, they got out the paper ballots -- and her name was there."

“The attempt to try to silence the voice of poor and working people is a crime and a slap in the face of democracy,” charged PSL campaign co-coordinator Yenica Cortes. “We will challenge any attempt to commit fraud against us in the courts and in the streets.”

PSL volunteers collected 14,000 signatures in two weeks in July, more than twice the number required to get on the ballot. The France Villar campaign was the first independent candidate to file petitions, and is supposed to appear on Column F, immediately after the parties registered in New York State.

“The billionaires and ruling elite in this city might try to silence me, but it won’t work,” France Villar said. “This campaign is about fighting back.”

Call the New York City Board of Elections (212) 487-2170 and tell them that we will not allow this fraud to go unchallenged.

There is still time to vote! Don’t let them silence our voice!

Vote Frances Villar * Socialism and Liberation"

Regardless of whether or not you support the socialist cause is aside from the issue. This country is a Democratic Republic, meaning that it is run by a government that is for and by the people. If a legitimate mayoral candidate is shut out of the debates and not showing up on ballots, how can this country be called a democracy? The point is is that it is not. If you want to run as a politician, your bank account, race, class, and gender matter. Hence all the old rich, white men who run for office and win.

Last night I bumped into more Union workers (it was a wood-worker's union) who were handing out Bloomberg flyers even though they definitely did not support him. Again, I took their flyers for them and threw them in the trash. I'm seeing more and more of a "cool" callousness and carelessness in our community that is widespread and dangerous - if you are only concerned with your everyday life and not much outside that circle, what role will you play in society? Some people say, "Oh, I don't vote." Whether they realize it or not, their inaction becomes a part of a mass movement of inaction across the country. If we can only extend our consciousness to what is in our world and with only the people who we care about in it, and we don't recognize and respect the existence and quality of life of others, then who will stand up for us when a crisis reaches our front door?

I am proud that I pulled the lever for Frances. It feels good on my conscience that I voted for an alternative who will stand up to bankers and billionaires and represent the true working class of New York City. When people ask me why I voted for Frances, I know exactly what to tell them, and it won't be, "Oh well, I voted for the lesser of two evils."

Here are a few slideshows from the mayoral campaign:
Frances Villar for Mayor, at Grand Concourse, Bronx:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/vanissa/sets/72157619413761866/show

Frances Villar for Mayor, at Fulton Street Mall, Brooklyn:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/vanissa/sets/72157620805377370/show

Frances Villar for Mayor, at the PRIDE Parade, slideshow: http://www.flickr.com/photos/vanissa/sets/72157620677609581/show

RATS! The greater of the two evils won...

Well. Bloomberg won, which totally rains on my parade. I'm not sure why, because if Thompson would have won, it would have been the same thing. I'm sure mayoral control of the schools would continue.

I took a few photos from last night's flyering at Broadway Junction, but have not edited the photos yet.

So, until then I'm putting a cute picture up of Nico, my beloved German Shepherd/Doberman Pinscher mix. You can see the rest of his set here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/vanissa/sets/72157622689959652/

Marathons and Werewolves.

This will have to be a quick blog, although I hate to rush posts. I'm about to head out of work to volunteer flyering for PSL's Mayoral Candidate, Frances Villar @ Broadway Junction (find out more about her at http://www.votepsl.org). I'll be documenting that, so I'm looking forward to it.


This past weekend was filled with activities including Chicken Grinding, Werewolf scares, and documenting misled marathon runners.

I had the privilege of taking two of my students to the Halloween Parade in Greenwich Village. Unfortunately, it was a bit rained out, but the kids still had fun. I didn't take as many photos as I would have liked because I was supervising the whole time, but I did get a few of the kids documenting the parade themselves, which was great. I love watching kids with cameras -- getting them started early with visual expression is a goal of mine, which hopefully one day I will get to see the fruition of my efforts.

To protect their identities I'm only posting photos of the kids that have an unidentifiable quality to them.

Sunday morning while doing laundry I realized that the NYC marathon was happening right on my block, so I grabbed my camera and took a few shots. I got this one shot of an old man in a batman mask wearing a, "Barack Obama, President Forever," jersey. Must be inspired by, "Batman Forever," or something like that. Anyway, I know it's unpopular to dislike Barack, but I have more reasons than one to not be in his fan club. Not standing up for the Palestinian is enough reason for me to dislike a politician, but his stance on the escalating wars in the Middle East, Education, charter schools, and merit pay for teachers (and wanting us to work on Saturdays?!) is enough for me to use a photo of him for dart practice.

Enjoy.

J. utilizing her point-and-shoot as a video camera during the Halloween Parade so she can show her family back at home.

I. pretending his Coke bottle is the steer to his ship. Halloween, 2009.

I was jealous of this baby's costume.

Scary werewolf that almost made me scream. :-O

A somewhat daunting message...shouldn't it be a wonderful thing, rather than something threatening? Subway, Halloween, 2009.

Chick & pals!

Enthused Batman Barack-Lover.

Families sit at the sidelines on 4th Avenue and 86th Street in Bay Ridge to cheer on the marathon runners.