Some of our DIY collaborations for the wedding included the following:

Save-The-Date flat cards and envelopes designed by Billy and me on Adobe Fireworks/Illustrator and printed on Gocco. The return address was printed on the envelope flap and the barn illustration on the card was repeated on the upper left corner of the envelope. Cardstock and envelopes supply from Paper Source. Fellow crafty-lawyer-bride Jess at Fig and Plum recounts the pros and cons, do’s and don’ts of committing to Gocco craft for one’s wedding here at her blog.

Out-of-Town bags for our travelling guests. However, since all but a few were out-of-towners, we made extras for the locals as well! The bags had a wedding logo co-opted from the Made-In- China novelty item, Fortune Teller Miracle Fish. In place of “Fortune Teller” and “Miracle Fish”, Billy re-designed it with our names and wedding date on Illustrator. The logos were done using inkjet iron-in transfer paper. In each bag, we included a few helpful items (tissue, sunscreen, water), local goodies (cookies from Cowboy Cookie N’ Grub of San Luis Obispo) and a zine called “Debbie & Billy’s Guide To The Coast”.

Fan-style wedding programs. This had been a conundrum for me years ago when a friend asked me how to make these for her wedding. I had a grommet punch that I kept for fabric uses that would fix an eyelet or grommet in place, but I didn’t know how to create the mechanics of movable paper that was bound by a metal eyelet. Flash forward a few years, a landslide of scrapbooking enthusiasm, stores and tools are now readily accessible. I was looking into the products at Eyelet Outlet, and learned that the trick to making paper held by an eyelet move is to also use an eyelet washer. The scrapbooking world also revealed more efficient ways to affix eyelets beyond eyelet setters and hammers, like the Crop-A-Dile I used to bind the leaves to form the fan. The scrapbooking world has a thing for aquatic reptiles, it seems, because another tool I used to create the fan programs was a corner rounder made by the company Paper Gator.

Our wedding was held at an apple farm. To go with the country orchard theme, instead of numbered table cards, the guests’ names were printed on reproductions of vintage fruit crate labels and each table was assigned a fruit crate label instead of a number. While often no longer copyrighted, it seems (from my brief internet research) that fruit crate labels are highly collectible and borrowing (ahem) the images are hard to come by. Luckily, we found a Dover publication that contained a whole book of full-color crate labels and–biggest score of all–came with a CD of the crate labels as TIFF files! We resized them to uniformly fit on a square card and, at the reception, they were waiting on a clothesline and small clothespins for the guests.

We wanted to share in our word-loving and game-playing and decorated the wedding cake with Scrabble tiles that spelled out “Debbie Loves Billy”. Turns out there are only two B’s in each game set, so we had to borrow from two sets!

Finally, guest favors included a CD in a chipboard sleeve printed on Gocco and packages of red Swedish Fish, both containing the Fortune Teller Miracle Fish novelty.

We’re not sure just what’s next, whether another zine, silkscreen t-shirts or more Gocco prints, but we’re excited that it will be something we do together.

Philippine American Writers and Artists, Inc. Literary Reading with

Randall Mann, Kristin Naca, and Debbie Yee

Saturday July 11, 2009
2:00 -4:30 pm
Latino Hispanic Community Meeting Room B

Randall Mann is the author of two collections of poetry, BREAKFAST WITH THOM GUNN (University of Chicago 2009) and COMPLAINT IN THE GARDEN (Zoo/Orchises 2004), winner of the 2003 Kenyon Review Prize; and co-author of the textbook WRITING POEMS, Seventh Edition (Pearson Longman 2007). He works as an editor and lives in San Francisco.

Kristin Naca’s poems have been published in Indiana Review, Prairie Schooner and Octopus Magazine. She recently graduated with a PhD from University of Nebraska, and MFA from Pitt. Her book Bird Eating Bird was selected by Yusef Komunyakaa, for the mtvU National Poetry Series Prize. It will appear with Harper Perennial in September.

Debbie Yee is a trusts and estates attorney and Kundiman fellow. Debbie’s poems have appeared or are forthcoming in 32 Poems, OCHO, Fence and The Best American Poetry 2009. Debbie blogs irregularly at www.debbieyee.com.

All programs at the library are free.

San Francisco Public Library
100 Larkin Street (@ Grove)
sfpl.org

The program is free. Please bring lawn chairs or blankets for festival seating at the Immigration Station. Refreshments are available at the Angel Island Café.  More details and ferry service to and from Angel Island is here.

I’ll be reading, as well as Genny Lim and (YEAH!) poets from Kearny Street Workshop’s P-Cubed, The Postcard Poetry Project: A Literary and Visual Exchange between Kearny Street Workshop and the Asian American Writers’ Workshop will also read original works.

The KSW poets include Thy Tran, who writes literary nonfiction about food, the rituals of the kitchen, and how eating and cooking both connect and separate communities around the world; Cathlin Goulding, a fourth generation Japanese American, whose essays and short stories recently appeared in I Saw My Ex at a Party (Kearny Street Press); Lisa Leong, a graduate of UCLA in art history and Asian American studies and writer for Asia Pacific Arts; Khoi Nguyen, the editor and founder of Gender on Our Minds; and Truc Nguyen, a 1.5 generation Vietnamese American queer activist and social justice organizer.

Several Bay Area leaders and scholars will read Angel Island poems, including Assemblymember Paul Fong (D- Cupertino), Supervisor David Chiu, Supervisor Carmen Chu, Supervisor Eric Mar, Marin Community Foundation President Dr. Tom Peters, California State Parks Marin District Superintendent Danita Rodriguez, scholar Maria Sakovich and others.

In celebration of Asian Pacific American Heritage month, the Angel Island Immigration Station Foundation and the Angel Island State Park will hold a poetry reading at the historic U.S. Immigration Station, Angel Island on Sunday, May 17 from 1 p.m. to 2 p.m. The Immigration Station was the point of entry for over one million immigrants from over 80 nations between 1910 and 1940. This “Ellis Island of the West” is known for the Chinese poems and other inscriptions written and carved on the barracks walls. Immigrants spent weeks and months undergoing interrogations to verify their legal right to enter the United States.

Playwright/Poet Genny Lim, author of the award-winning play Paper Angels and several collections of poetry, Winter Place, Child of War, and ISLAND: Poetry and History of Chinese Immigrants on Angel Island 1910-1940, will recite a few of the poems written by immigrants at the Detention Barracks, known in Chinese as “the wooden house” as well as new poems from her book, Pilgrimage. In 2007, she performed in Sarajevo, Bosnia-Herzegovina and in 2005 at the World Poetry Festival in Caracas, Venezuela.

Poets from Kearny Street Workshop’s P-Cubed, The Postcard Poetry Project: A Literary and Visual Exchange between Kearny Street Workshop and the Asian American Writers’ Workshop will also read original works. Debbie Yee leads KSW’s Postcard Poetry workshop. She is an attorney, poet and arts and crafts enthusiast. A Kundiman fellow, Debbie’s poems have appeared in 32 Poems and Barn Owl Review, among others. Her work will be featured in Best American Poetry 2009.

The KSW poets include Thy Tran, who writes literary nonfiction about food, the rituals of the kitchen, and how eating and cooking both connect and separate communities around the world; Cathlin Goulding, a fourth generation Japanese American, whose essays and short stories recently appeared in I Saw My Ex at a Party (Kearny Street Press); Lisa Leong, a graduate of UCLA in art history and Asian American studies and writer for Asia Pacific Arts; Khoi Nguyen, the editor and founder of Gender on Our Minds; and Truc Nguyen, a 1.5 generation Vietnamese American queer activist and social justice organizer.

Several Bay Area leaders and scholars will read Angel Island poems. Assemblymember Paul Fong (D- Cupertino) was elected in 2008 and serves as Chair of the Elections and Redistricting Committee. Assemblymember Fong was a political science professor at Evergreen Valley College and a longtime activist and leader in the South Bay Asian Pacific American community. He is an Angel Island descendant. Supervisor David Chiu was elected in November 2008 to represent San Francisco’s District 3, which includes North Beach, Chinatown, Russian Hill, Union Square, Polk Street, and the Financial District. He is also the President of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors. Supervisor Carmen Chu was appointed to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors in 2007 and elected to represent District Four (Sunset and Parkside) in 2008. Prior to joining the Board of Supervisors, she directed the Mayor’s Office of Public Policy and Finance. Supervisor Eric Mar was elected in November 2008 to represent District One, which includes the Richmond District of San Francisco. Eric taught Asian American studies at San Francisco State University from 1992 to 2008.

Marin Community Foundation President Dr. Tom Peters, California State Parks Marin District Superintendent Danita Rodriguez, scholar Maria Sakovich and others will read poems written by Angel Island immigrants.

The program is free. Please bring lawn chairs or blankets for festival seating at the Immigration Station. Refreshments are available at the Angel Island Café.

Free, self-guided tours of the Detention Barracks and the new interpretive panels on Immigration Station grounds are available before and after the poetry reading program. Visitors are encouraged to read aloud the hundreds of poems carved onto the walls. English translations will be available.

Ferry service to Angel Island is available from San Francisco on the Blue and Gold Fleet, which departs from Pier 41 at 9:45 a.m., 11:45 a.m. and 1:50 p.m. Round-trip tickets are $15.00/adult and $8.50/children. Return service to San Francisco is at 2:55 p.m. and 4:15 pm.

To reach Angel Island from Tiburon, take the Tiburon ferry at 10 a.m., 11 a.m. 12 p.m., and 1 p.m. The roundtrip fee is $13.50/adult and $ 11.50/children. Return service to Tiburon is at 3:20 p.m., 4:20 p.m. and 5:20 p.m.

For more information about the program, call 415 262-4429. For more information about the U.S. Immigration Station at Angel Island State Park, call 415 435-5537.

Cheers to Muses: A Reading Sponsored by the Asian American Women Artists Association

In conjunction with the de Young’s Artist in Residence: A Place of Your Own, members of AAWAA will read poetry and prose, including work from the anthology, Cheers to Muses, Contemporary Works by Asian American Women. This diverse collection comprises a compelling part of today’s literary voices.

Sunday, January 25, 1 – 4 pm, including a book signing

Koret Auditorium, de Young, 50 Hagiwara Tea Garden Drive,
Golden Gate Park, San Francisco

Admission into the Koret Auditorium is free

Related Exhibitions: Asian/American/Modern Art: Shifting Currents, 1900–1970

Writers

Grace Ilagan Angel
Olivia Boler
Clara Hsu
Michelle Meeseon Koehn
Anh-Hoa Thi Nguyen
Grace Tzeng
Maw Shein Win
Nellie Wong
Debbie Yee

Bios

Grace Ilagan Angel is a painter, poet, mother of two girls, successful event planner and a breast cancer survivor. She is currently working on her latest collection of poetry entitled,  “Dreams from the Orchard.”

Olivia Boler is the author of a novel, Year of the Smoke Girl. She has written for a variety of publications including the America 24/7 photojournalism book series, the San Francisco Chronicle, and Marin Magazine.

Clara Hsu’s ensemble Lunation combines poetry with musical instruments. She is the keeper of the Poetry Hotel and organizes free social activities for the San Francisco poet community.

Anh-Hoa Thi Nguyen holds an MFA in Creative Writing from Mills College and her work has been published in journals and anthologies. She has performed at numerous venues in the Bay Area including Kearny Street
Workshop’s APAture 8 & 9, San Francisco’s Litcrawl and Writers with Drinks.

Grace Tzeng was previously a preschool teacher, but now is re-pursuing a writing career.  She has written for In the Classroom (educational topics) for AsianWeek and the former Millbrae/San Bruno Sun and San Mateo Weekly.

Maw Shein Win’s work has appeared in 2River, No Tell Motel, Big Bridge, Babel Fruit, Moria, and other journals. She was an Artist in Residence at Headlands Center for the Arts and has an upcoming residency at Can Serrat.

Nellie Wong is the author of three books of poetry. She’s in the film, “Mitsuye & Nellie Asian American Poets,” and has poems engraved on public sites.

Debbie Yee is a trusts and estates attorney and poet.  A Kundiman fellow, Debbie’s poems have appeared in 32 Poems, Barn Owl Review and MiPOesias, among others.

In conjunction with the de Young’s Artist in Residence: A Place of Your Own, members of AAWAA (www.aawaa.net) will read poetry and prose, including work from the anthology, Cheers to Muses, Contemporary Works by Asian American Women. This diverse collection comprises a compelling part of today’s literary voices.

Sunday, January 25, 1 – 4 pm, including a book signing

Koret Auditorium, de Young, 50 Hagiwara Tea Garden Drive,
Golden Gate Park, San Francisco

Admission into the Koret Auditorium is free
www.famsf.org/deyoung/

Related Exhibitions: Asian/American/Modern Art: Shifting Currents, 1900–1970

Writers

Grace Ilagan Angel
Olivia Boler
Clara Hsu
Michelle Meeseon Koehn
Anh-Hoa Thi Nguyen
Grace Tzeng
Maw Shein Win
Nellie Wong
Debbie Yee

Bios

Grace Ilagan Angel is a painter, poet, mother of two girls, successful event planner and a breast cancer survivor. She is currently working on her latest collection of poetry entitled,  “Dreams from the Orchard.”

Olivia Boler is the author of a novel, Year of the Smoke Girl. She has written for a variety of publications including the America 24/7 photojournalism book series, the San Francisco Chronicle, and Marin Magazine.

Clara Hsu’s ensemble Lunation combines poetry with musical instruments. She is the keeper of the Poetry Hotel and organizes free social activities for the San Francisco poet community.

Anh-Hoa Thi Nguyen holds an MFA in Creative Writing from Mills College and her work has been published in journals and anthologies. She has performed at numerous venues in the Bay Area including Kearny Street
Workshop’s APAture 8 & 9, San Francisco’s Litcrawl and Writers with Drinks.

Grace Tzeng was previously a preschool teacher, but now is re-pursuing a writing career.  She has written for In the Classroom (educational topics) for AsianWeek and the former Millbrae/San Bruno Sun and San Mateo Weekly.

Maw Shein Win’s work has appeared in 2River, No Tell Motel, Big Bridge, Babel Fruit, Moria, and other journals. She was an Artist in Residence at Headlands Center for the Arts and has an upcoming residency at Can Serrat.

Nellie Wong is the author of three books of poetry. She’s in the film, “Mitsuye & Nellie Asian American Poets,” and has poems engraved on public sites.

Debbie Yee is a trusts and estates attorney and poet.  A Kundiman fellow, Debbie’s poems have appeared in 32 Poems, Barn Owl Review and MiPOesias, among others.

P3: The Postcard Poetry Project with Debbie Yee and Bushra Rehman

A Literary and Visual Exchange between Kearny Street Workshop and the Asian American Writers’ Workshop (NYC)

Mondays, Feb 2 – Mar 23, 7-9pm

One night in San Francisco, outside of Kearny Street Workshop, two artists mourned the loss of letter writing as an art form. The discussion moved to postcards, the most naked of epistles, on whose limited surface words are shared with the understanding that they will be read not only by the intended, but perhaps by every hand the postcard passes through. For this reason, the artwork is often coded, an image that only the intended can decipher.

Inspired by Kundiman*, these two artists decided to create P-Cubed, The Postcard Poetry Project: A Literary and Visual Exchange between Kearny Street Workshop and the Asian American Writers’ Workshop, two of the oldest Asian American arts organizations in the country. In P-Cubed, writers and artists in San Francisco and New York City will have the chance to create original works of postcard art and poetry and then exchange them with pen pals on the opposite coast. Students will explore various literary, art and print techniques with the goal of producing eight or more postcard poems during the course. The workshop will culminate in a public reading on both coasts and a publication consisting of the poet-artists’ portfolio of work.

This program is supported by Poets & Writers, Inc. through a grant it has received from The James Irvine Foundation.

* Kundiman is an organization devoted to Asian American poetry.

Debbie Yee is a trusts and estates attorney, poet, avid supporter of the nonprofit literary and arts community, arts enthusiast and crafts explorer. In 2007 she was a selected Kundiman fellow and member of the 4th annual Intergenerational Writers Lab. Debbie’s poems appear or are forthcoming in anthologies and literary reviews, including Bateau, 32 Poems, MiPOesias, Barn Owl Review and Cheers to Muses: Contemporary Works by Asian American Women. She is working on a manuscript for a first book. She is a graduate of U.C. Berkeley and U.C. Berkeley School of Law, Boalt Hall. A native of Sacramento, California, she now calls San Francisco home. Debbie will teach the class in San Francisco.

Bushra Rehman’s mother says Bushra was born in an ambulance flying through the streets of Brooklyn. Her father is not so sure, but it would explain a few things. Bushra is a vagabond poet who traveled for years with nothing more than a greyhound ticket and a book bag full of poems. Now, she performs her work regularly around the country and was recently invited to represent NYC at the House of World Cultures Festival in Berlin. She’s co-editor of Colonize This! Young Women of Color on Today’s Feminism, an anthology that is taught in women’s studies and ethnic studies classes around the country. Her work has appeared in numerous journals, and she’s been featured in The New York Times, India Currents, NY Newsday, on BBC Radio 4, KPFA, and the Brain Lehrer Show. She was recently a resident at the Headlands Center for the Arts where she finally finished the novel she’s been working on for the last seven years. Bushra will lead the class in New York.

Registration fee is $225. To register by check, please send check or money order to: Kearny Street Workshop, 180 Capp Street #5, San Francisco, CA 94110. Please include your full name and contact info. Or go to Kearny Street Workshop to register online.

A Literary and Visual Exchange between Kearny Street Workshop and the Asian American Writers’ Workshop (NYC)

Mondays, Feb 9 – Mar 30, 7-9pm

One night in San Francisco, outside of Kearny Street Workshop, two artists mourned the loss of letter writing as an art form. The discussion moved to postcards, the most naked of epistles, on whose limited surface words are shared with the understanding that they will be read not only by the intended, but perhaps by every hand the postcard passes through. For this reason, the artwork is often coded, an image that only the intended can decipher.

Inspired by Kundiman*, these two artists decided to create P-Cubed, The Postcard Poetry Project: A Literary and Visual Exchange between Kearny Street Workshop and the Asian American Writers’ Workshop, two of the oldest Asian American arts organizations in the country. In P-Cubed, writers and artists in San Francisco and New York City will have the chance to create original works of postcard art and poetry and then exchange them with pen pals on the opposite coast. Students will explore various literary, art and print techniques with the goal of producing eight or more postcard poems during the course. The workshop will culminate in a public reading on both coasts and a publication consisting of the poet-artists’ portfolio of work.

This program is supported by Poets & Writers, Inc. through a grant it has received from The James Irvine Foundation.

* Kundiman is an organization devoted to Asian American poetry. They had done a similar project among their poets.

Debbie Yee is a trusts and estates attorney, poet, avid supporter of the nonprofit literary and arts community, arts enthusiast and crafts explorer. In 2007 she was a selected Kundiman fellow and member of the 4th annual Intergenerational Writers Lab. Debbie’s poems appear or are forthcoming in anthologies and literary reviews, including Bateau, 32 Poems, MiPOesias, Barn Owl Review and Cheers to Muses: Contemporary Works by Asian American Women. She is working on a manuscript for a first book. She is a graduate of U.C. Berkeley and U.C. Berkeley School of Law, Boalt Hall. A native of Sacramento, California, she now calls San Francisco home. Debbie will teach the class in San Francisco.