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/