UCLA Feb. 1 Performance

We are preparing for a one night performance in Los Angeles at UCLA, thanks to the hard work put in by student organizer Leslie Chanthaphasouk of L.A.O. Laotian American Organization at the university. REFUGEE NATION will share a 60 minute performance and Q&A Monday night February 1, 2010 on campus at Ackerman Grand Ballroom in the Student Union at 7pm. This is monumental for many reasons being one of the first theatrical presentations on the Lao experience and presented by the first Lao student organization at UCLA. We are sooooo excited to play again in Los Angeles and looking forward to showing it to our home town friends and supporters.

EVENT INFORMATION:
REFUGEE NATION
Location: Ackerman Grand Ballroom, UCLA
Date: Monday, February 1, 2010
Time: 7:30pm (Doors open at 7pm)
Admission: The event is open and free to the public.

Parking:
Ackerman Grand Ballroom is conveniently located next to UCLA Parking Lot 9 & 6. All day parking permits may be purchased at the parking kiosk on Westwood Blvd. & Strathmore for $10. Pay by space parking is also available in Lot 6 at the same daily rate. Go to UCLA Map for details.

For more information please contact Leslie at laoatucla@gmail.com

Spreading Wings in San Francisco

The great visit to the Bay Area to participate in the 1st Annual banquet for the Center for Lao Studies could not be any better. We had a wonderful time seeing old friends and family and meeting new people. The long drive to share a little piece of Refugee Nation was very worthwhile. We impressed so many people who attended the event from collegiate academics as well as community members that they want more. So look for us to return to the Bay Area in some form or another at the local universities or a Northern California town. The crowd of about 200 or more filled the Women's Building in the Mission District of San Francisco and we had a very successful event to help celebrate, fundraise and dine with CLS supporters. Following are just some highlights:

Day 1.
Driving up along the scenic route of the 101 and PCH from Los Angeles to San Francisco we stopped at several places. One of which is the sand dunes of California at the seaward edge of Santa Maria in a town called Guadalupe. It was one of the locations where Pirates of the Caribbean 3 was filmed.


Day 2.
Our home away from home when we visit the East Bay we stay at Lao central a.k.a. Phoumy and Toni's house in Richmond. They are such wonderful people and pillars of the community. We got to meet an addition to the family: Suriya our first 5 month old Refugee Nation baby modeling the Lao'd and Proud onesie. She is incredibly cute not to mention very amicable with strangers.


Day 3.
Our NEW home away from home is the Center for Lao Studies Headquarters a.k.a. Vinya and Thang's new house in S. San Francisco where the action took place preparing for the CLS event. We were lucky enough to witness the transformation and transition from non-furnished to fully furnished home.


Day 4.
Took a walk to Oyster Point and practice my crane technique to focus before the show. Balance Ova-san...balance...

Day 5.
The 1st Annual Center for Lao Studies Banquet:Spreading Wings brought many people from all over Northern California from San Jose, Sacramento and the Central Valley.


Day 6.
Saying good-bye to NoCal friends and driving home after a long, successful and eventful night. Clouds hover in the sky along I-5 in the Central Valley. We were happy, content and filled with good spirit after such an incredible journey.

San Francisco Events

Leilani and I have been invited to perform excerpts of Refugee Nation alongside other incredible Lao talent at the Center for Lao Studies' First Annual Banquet:Spreading Wings The fundraiser on September 12, 2009 will highlight two programs of CLS. First is the completion of the Study Abroad in Laos pilot program otherwise known as SAIL, and secondly the launch of the Lao Oral History Archive or LOHA for short. Center for Lao Studies came about three years ago beginning at a conference at the University of Illinois, Dekalb. Without it Refugee Nation and Legacies of War and many other Lao-American organizations, individuals and academics would not have met. Leilani and I will share the stage with songstress Ketsana, dance troups Lao Seri Nattasin, and pageant winner Ms. Asian America Amy Chanthaphavong. So please join us.



I've also been asked to emcee the celebration of Southeast Asian Resource Action Center 30th year in existence. SEARAC serves the interest of Cambodian, Laotian and Vietnamese Americans through leadership development, capacity building, and community empowerment. Beyond the Mekong will be held on September 26, 2009. It will be quite an honor for me to participate because thirty years ago marks my arrival as a refugee into the United States.

Hope to see some of you readers at either of these events in Northern California.
For more information please click on the links in the blog. Huk peng everyone.

Inner Strength

I'm a pretty open person. I have a giving and kind personality. I'm also a very grounded person...at least right now at this stage of my life. With that said...I am glad for those traits because a few weeks ago I was attacked by a friend. Well, I thought the person was a friend and it really made me sad. Especially, especially because well...the person is Lao. We are a part of the same group of people within the community and in all my years that I have known this person, I always thought...I know them. We are family. Together as 1.5 generation Lao-Americans we've created this "family" and what unifies us is the yearning to grasp our lost history. The yearning to find fulfillment alongside fellows who understand the experiences we've gone through AND are going! Well, unfortunately a different side of the person came out and it really was ugly. This person has a PERSONAL PROBLEM with ME; accusing me of self promotion, egotism and thievery. Riddled with F-bombs and cuss words and filled with emotion this person attacked the work I do, my commitment to the community, and my determination to succeed in a complex industry. My initial response was "You gotta be joking me?!" but after rereading the email I realized the seriousness of this person's emotions. I was flabbergasted. Not only because it was a surprise to know that this person felt this way but also because the person had the audacity to share their thoughts publicly with others on the list! Knowing full well the email was and should have been simply directed at me. So...what did I do? THANK YOU TRAITS! I could have easily flamed the fire and responded back with defensive and accusatory thoughts of my own. But instead...I took a moment to contemplate my response, to which I simply reached out to this person and asked them to consider a dialogue and discussion with me, wherever and whenever. So far...I've not heard a reply.

So...I asked myself WHY? Why in the world? In 5 years after hanging out, sharing stories, eating meals, taking road trips, making new friends, TOGETHER. Where in the world was this litany of pain coming from? Knowing this person and after reading the email again I had an inkling. The hurt was due to the economic hardship, the lack of opportunity and a deep emotional depression. It's a sad state of affairs. I know...I've been in the same boat. I still am. Life is what you make of it. I want you to know that I am here for you when you are ready to connect with me. You've got my info.

Why is it that the LAO community, OUR community, MY community finds it such a challenge to unite and support one another as one solid unit. Well circumstances like these, that's why! The crabs in a bucket mentality, that's why! Jealousy and Envy, that's why! Ego, that's why! We've got to stop this cycle of bashing and beating down on each other. It does us no good as a community. It is better to support, praise, validate, recognize, help one another to move forward and get to the next level. We've got to EDUCATE each other. Young and old. Friends and foe. Mistrust in the community is such a big problem, especially for the generation that has seen the ugliness of humanity in war. Our parents, our grandparents who have a very powerful voice have lost it to fear. Who can you trust? You can't even trust your own family! Well, it's time for us to shift our paradigm. Shift our perspective and be open to dialogue and discussion. Be open to help improve each others lives by coming together and building a new link of trust. We've got too. We need too. United we stand, divided we fall. Lao'd and Proud.

Khmer Konnection

It's been a long time since I've written on this blog. Mostly, it's because I have been on break and yes, I agree it has been quite long. In our daily grind to live as artists we've had to buckle down and confront the economic difficulties but we've managed to keep going, re-focus and find abundance in activity. I've been teaching acting classes and TeAda is preparing for the next season. Refugee Nation went on break for a while and we are gearing up again to make it better and tour more cities. San Diego was quite a treat...both in experiencing the struggles and also the impactful return from the Lao community. Now, we look at the present moment and plan forward.

I must remind myself how important our work is...AGAIN. I keep saying that because there are moments when Leilani and I ask ourselves "WHY?" Why do we do this? Pay is horrible. Touring is disorienting. Creating is painful. The answer comes down to our love for performance, our need to share our stories, our value to educate others through theater.

I was just at a birthday party in Upland, CA. A friend of mine by the name of David Prak. He just turned mid-forties, small in stature, passionately loyal and has an amazing spirit. He's also got a great laugh. I met him on Pirates of the Caribbean. Well, Prak is a Cambodian American actor who just recently returned to Cambodia and built a house for his parents. Now, I've never had a chance to sit and discuss with him about his experience from Cambodia to the United States...but I would guess it probably would be intriguing. Nonetheless, my Lao buddy Litdet and I are driving all the way from West Los Angeles to Upland to show up for Prak's birthday party. We roll up and the party is a good mix of folks but made up primarily of Khmer. Sitting at the dining table as we enter his suburban 4 bedroom home in Upland next to Rancho Cucamonga, are lovely ladies hanging. So Litdet and I join the table with food on our plates and we start to meet and greet. Come to find out this ladies are dancers with the Khmer Arts Academy in Long Beach. In our conversation I realized how we knew little of each other but because of our experiences as refugee-Americans we bonded in no time. One thing I discovered was how even Khmer folks didn't know much about Laos and I guess vice-versa. Yet, we experienced the same experience. I was blown away that one party-goer said that there wasn't a war in Laos!? Are you kidding me?! So I had to edu-ma-cate him with a little knowledge from our show Refugee Nation about how Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, France and US were connected in that War. It was just amazing to be able to educate. Deepen each other through important discussions about our histories, our experiences and our connections. What a small world it was to be in a room with the managing director, Serey Tep, of Khmer Arts Academy...who of course knew Prum Ok, an incredible Khmer young dancer an acquaintance of ours, currently attending UCLA World Arts and Culture. But the connections. The importance of our stories. The importance to speak about our experiences. We were all high on great conversation about Southeast Asia. Khmer, Lao, Lao, Khmer. Seeking pride in ourselves and wanting better for our communities and wondering what happened? What happened to our people? We even jokingly went through a little recap of the history of the Southeast Asia about French colonialism, Indo-Chine, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia and we all agreed that it's time for payback. Let's kick Frenchies ass for making a hell-hole in Southeast Asia. At that moment, Quang, a Vietnamese friend of Prak walks in and lo and behold our triangle is complete. We had the Khmer, Lao, Vietnamese brotherhood gathered together in one place in Upland, USA. All victims of French colonial stupidity. And who of course should Quang bring with him...a Frenchie by the name of Stephano! History repeats itself?! NO. Not that night. We had a blast just enjoying our conversation and ignored the Frenchie! Humph...take that you disgusting bastards.