My Love/Hate with Technology

I am not sure how this happened but somewhere last year between fall and winter, my Yellow Rage email stopped being able to send emails. Sure I can still receive them, especially the ones asking me if I would like an endless supply of viagra or if I really am gonna make the jump to penile enlargement. Yes, those seem to make it through all the time, but pertinent emails about the next performance itineraries and fans thanking me for inspiration and asking for my input on poems they've written? Well they make it, but just mixed in the spam.

Annoying. Yes. Even Michelle doesn't write to that account, because I'll just end up having to forward it to another account and replying back to her there. What's worse is that the spams start sounding like real people's emails, subjects written in lower case, friendly messages that are also vague enough for you to wonder what it's really about. Yeah those emails end up being about lonely people who are online right now and would like to chat with you. Ughhh...



So because I can't respond to people in the manner in which I'd like, I am taking this time out to apologize to those whose emails haven't gotten lost in the Land of Spam and Non-Sending Emails. K, here goes:

-To Richard who was the only male to attend our workshop at the MAASU retreat, I'd like to thankyou for being brave and staying with the workshop amongst all that estrogen. Your poem was really good, but I'd like to hear it live. If you ever perform it, send it our way.

- To Trixie, I think Michelle has emailed you already, but thank you anyway for your email. Im sorry you didn't get a chance to take part of our workshop, but hopefully we'll see you soon in Illinois.

-To Steve the good-feeling Korean, thank you for taking the time to write me (though I have a suspicion you also wrote Michelle too). I'm glad that you got something out of poetry pieces. We hope you use it to make change for the better. Not everybody will agree with you, and not everybody will understand even if you try to explain.

-To Chanmany, thank you again for the kind words, I hope you enjoy the CD as much as I did making it. Its funny that you mention you dont know anybody like us doing anything political or activist in nature. Have you heard of I.C.E. Open Mic (in St. Paul?), and Equilibrium in Minneapolis? The I.C.E. (Innovative Community Elevation) is an Open Mic organized, support and particpated by mostly predominantly South East Asian Youth, and The Equilibrium series at The Loft in Minneapolis which showcases spoken word artists from around the nation. I had a blast in Minnesota and seeing all the kids out there, especially the Lao students being out and doing their thing made me so happy and so proud. If we're ever back in Minneapolis, please come and see me and we'll chat.



For the past half of the year, I've been writing an interview column called Catz Out The Bag for two.one.five magazine, interviewing various people in their different forums. Some people are famous, some peple are popular, and some people are questionable. Some of my favorites includes Wes Anderson, Adrian Tomine, Fresh MeltWater, Lin Yee Yuan, and Hasnaa At-Tauhidi. I haven't done any Spoken Word artists yet, but I am going to be interviewing my dear friend and accomplished writer Ed Lin. Ed just came out with a book This Is A Bust, which I am slowly getting to read amongst all the other nonsense that is my life. Here he is promoting his book:



Ed also informed me about Bryan Thao Worra's book On The Other Side Of The Eye. I met Brian when we were in Minnesota, and since he was of Laotian descent like me, we hit it off. That was of course until we both learned that we both had been using the term "Laos in The House" and disagreed about who coined and popularized the term first. I think Brian may have been first to say it, but I think I got the kids into it more, so I'm voting for myself. All in all, please check out Brian's book.



I would also like to say that my camera's screen has been broken but some unseen force. One minute it was working fine and I placed it in my bag, the next it just went black. It definitely works because you can still see some image, but in a dark place you'd think the darn thing wasn't on. And that is my excuse for no pictures.

Hope all is well with everybody and Happy New Year!