Voices from the Edge: Music and Stories from the Margins

`"Voices from the Edge" - Stories and Music of Advocacy

Dear Friend,

Thank you for your your participation in this event, even if you could not make it out. Sometimes, I feel my life is fragmented because my work, advocacy, bicycle, special needs, neighbors, music and ethnic communities mostly meet in separate spaces. Yet, each of these spaces overlaps in beauty, values, and vision. So this party was an expression of that imagination, joining the communities I belong to, and bringing solidarity to voices from the edge.

I appreciate the trust you gave me...especially after reading the evite. What I mean is, you might have been thought "hmmm, speakers that will cover xenophobia, sexual assault, and ethnic community displacement...what kind of birthday party is this?" I took a risk, that by telling these stories from those with vulnerability, imagination, resolve and heart, that we could have even more to celebrate, in spite of the "PG" themes!

I gave the party to respond to all the "unplugging" and shame brought to ethnic and marginalized communities. The autistic community is just one example of a community that the admin was going to shame through a registry; to me, this harkens back to a time when Chinese were excluded and had to carry around internal possports, else face deportation. Even music and the arts are being supressed. So for my party, I imagined integrating as many of these elements I had access to, food, drinks, music, and voices from the edge, trusting this'll be a gift for all of us.

Toisan (but really Hoisan)

I wore my "Toisan" T-shirt for many reasons. Pronounced with an "H" in the native tongue, my ancestors represented the majority of Chinese immigrants, so much so, that if you did not speak Hoisanese in the days before immigration opened up in 1965, you didn't work. (In U.S. immigration, Hoisan people preceded Cantonese and Mandarin speakers)

My great, great grandfather first came over to work on the Transcontinental Railroad. With eventual Chinese exclusion in the States, my ancestral people fought for the very things being threatened today, like birthright citizenship, like free, appropriate education for ALL students, regardess of ethnicity, neurodiversity, etc. Without Hoisan people advocating for education, my autistic son would not have received a free, appropriate education.

I had the honor of contributing to a book on Chinatown written by award winning author Kathy Chin Leong (next to me). See this link if you're interested in this story.

Kathy offers this summary of the party:

I was more than intrigued when I got the invitation to come to Steve’s party with an actual theme of “ Giving Voice to the Voiceless.” Hmmm… what did that mean? Well, the night we came was a night I'll remember the rest of my life. I stepped into the party space and sensed electricity.

Trays of food were being set up as the band was warming up. Somewhere in the crowd was Steve, fully masked. But when he addressed the guests, off came his mask, and I immediately recognized his Cheshire Cat smile, with joy unspeakable.

One at a time, reps from their various concerns came to the stage: a victim of sexual abuse, an independent filmmaker, special needs worker, and more. Each spoke with such candor and earnestness you could hear a feather drop.

Throughout the evening my 35-year-old daughter Gwen who works for United Way chatted with others in the non-profit sector.

Dinner and birthday dessert followed so quickly. At the end of the evening I grabbed Steve and thanked him. “Great party, Steve. It is so YOU!" Knowing his heart to unify folks from all walks of life, this party echoed everything he is about.

A Poem of Vision and Blessing

I commissioned a poem to be written for the party. An excerpt was sent via the Evite. Following is the poem in its entirety, scribed by the author herself, Pie Martinez, co-director of Westmont, SF's Urban program.

Westmont College is a partner with my non-profit and I met Pie in that context. I saw in her an artisan soul questing to tie the nature of our own distinctive physicalities, shared material contexts, and faith. She's also a writing instructor. See here.

Go to the second of four pages: Stories and Donation Links

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