artsed4all Art & the Environment, Arts Education, Community, Family Art Workshop, Music, poetry, Technology, Visual Arts

We The Arts: Civic Season 2023

We The Arts: Civic Engagement Through Art is an ArtsEd4All project taking place from June 17 – July 4, 2023, in celebration of Civic Season 2023.

From Juneteenth to the 4th of July, we invite you to participate in the third annual #CivicSeason through self-guided public art visits in San Francisco, as well as in-person and online events that invite civic engagement through the arts. We’re teaming up with hundreds of history museums and sites across the country through @HistoryMadeByUs, in partnership with the next generation shaping our democracy to launch a new tradition that makes room for all of our stories – and write the next chapter together.

Read the Civic Season Report: The Art of Changemaking for more about ArtsEd4All’s participation in Civic Season 2022.

JUNETEENTH at Healdsburg Jazz

FREE – Saturday, JUNE 17, 2 pm – 8 pm Healdsburg Plaza, Corner of Healdsburg Avenue and Matheson Street, Healdsburg CA.

Healdsburg Jazz Festival kicks off its 25th Anniversary Season with Juneteenth. Enjoy free music and arts & crafts workshops!

Healdsburg Jazz is proud to present a diverse range of music, art, culture and education in honor of this holiday, free to the public in the Healdsburg Plaza. Our Juneteenth performances celebrate the wide range of Black music and art including gospel, early blues, New Orleans jazz, funk, R&B, spoken word, and straight ahead modern swing.

FREE JUNETEENTH Celebration in the Healdsburg Plaza with the Charles McPherson Quintet featuring Terell Stafford, Randy Porter, Akira Tana, and Marcus Shelby, vocalist Martin Luther The Real McCoy, The Robin Hodge Williams Gospel Choir, MJ’s Brass Boppers, Healdsburg Jazz Poet Laureate Enid Pickett and KCSM’s Greg Bridges.

Families and young people are invited to join ArtsEd4All in the plaza to learn more about Juneteenth. Fold a zine, make a flag, pinwheel, fan or decorate your own musical shaker at the art table. This year, the public is also invited to join teaching artist Amelie Anna Hinman for music workshops at 2:30 pm-3:00 pm and 4:30 pm-5:00 pm to play and learn about the origins of a variety of percussion instruments.

Imagining “TOMORROW” with DWeb Camp

The Internet Archive is an American digital library with a mission to provide Universal Access to All Knowledge. DWeb is a global network of builders and dreamers working to create a better, decentralized web. The goal of DWeb Camp is to create a collaborative space for people to connect, learn, share, and have fun as we work towards building a better, decentralized web.

Del Sol Quartet’s DWeb Camp 2022 performance inspired The DWeb is an Ensemble Piece” which uses music as a metaphor for cooperation.

At camp, Del Sol Quartet and composer Erika Oba conducted an open workshop demonstrating the give-and-take process that goes into creating and performing a new musical composition. Erika’s composition, “Behold the Sea,” is inspired by a story of friendship between two artists, Bill Zacha & Japanese artist Toshi Yoshida which resulted in a sister city relationship between Mendocino, California (USA) and Miasa, Nagano (Japan). Continuing the tradition, Erika and the Del Sol Quartet are using music to highlight the importance of building friendships and networks of community in order to protect the water and environment to help build a better world.

Composer Erika Oba invited DWeb campers to make music using stones in the dry bed of the Navarro River.

This plaque, dedicated in a community ceremony held on July 4th, 1982 reads, “The citizens of the sister cities of Mendocino, California and Miasa, Japan dedicate this plaque to the peaceful pursuits of the peoples of the Pacific Basin and to the protection of its environment that all living things there-in may exist in perpetual harmony.”

The Plastic Pollution Coalition’s Global Webinar dives deep into the challenges that plastic pollution poses to our oceans and our bodies.

Register for the global webinar: https://www.plasticpollutioncoalition.org/event/ppc-webinar-062223

FREE on ZOOM – Thursday, JUNE 22, 12-1 pm PT | 3-4 pm ET.

This year at DWeb Camp, we’re tuning into the Plastic Pollution Coalition’s global webinar, Plastic-Free Seas: Diving Into How Plastic Impacts Health, Climate, and Our Oceans, on Thursday, June 22, 12-1 pm PT | 3-4 pm ET. On June 22, we will dive deep into the challenges that plastic pollution poses to our oceans and our bodies, how polluted waters disrupt the “Blue Mind” mental health benefits we gain from access to healthy oceans and waterways, and how we may restore our planet as well as our own physical and mental well-being.

Joining the conversation will be “Her Deepness,” Sylvia Earle, President & Co-Chair of Mission Blue and National Geographic Explorer in Residence; Wallace J Nichols, Marine Biologist & Author of Blue Mind; and Imari Walker-Franklin, PhD, Research Chemist at RTI International & Author of Plastics. The panel will be moderated by Plastic Pollution Coalition CEO & Co-Founder Dianna Cohen.

“Tomorrow” is a LARP!

DWeb Camp is using imaginative live action role play to dream of a better internet.

Build new networks and find your flow in Nature.

FREE – Saturday, JUNE 24 (or anytime, anywhere, as you please)

Technologists at DWeb Camp are hosting a LARP Worldbuilding session, using play to imagine how the Internet of Tomorrow might be transformed for the better. A LARP is a a live-action role-playing game in which a group of people enacts a fictional scenario (such as a fantasy adventure) in real time typically under the guidance of a facilitator or organizer.

Here are some ways to play along and join in the DWeb Camp experiment.

UNPLUG– Take time out from the Internet and spend time recharging with a walk in nature.
– Reflect upon your relationship with technology. Make a list of the ways that technology has changed your your life – for better and for worse.
– What might be different? Are there aspects about your relationship with the Internet that you would like to change? “Think Different” was a slogan created for a 1997 ad campaign for Apple.
LEARN– What is the Decentralized Web?
– What are some important real world challenges that the DWeb aims to address?
– Read the DWeb Principles which define the values of a decentralized web based on enabling agency of all peoples and learn about the origins of DWeb Camp
ENGAGE– Design your DWeb Alter Ego (with or without technology!)

“A Place for Poetry” with The Last Hoisan Poets

Anytime, in-person or virtual, FREE exploration of San Francisco public art

Take a poetry tour of the public spaces at the de Young Museum in San Francisco with The Last Hoisan Poets.

Write a poem with The Last Hoisan Poets.

Poets Genny Lim, Nellie Wong, and Flo Oy Wong — trace their roots to China’s Hoisan villages. They conduct special poetry readings in English and Hoisan-wa (a.k.a. the Toisanese/Taishanese Chinese dialect), to pay homage to their mother language which is at risk of fading from collective memory.

A Place for Poetry is a collection of poems by The Last Hoisan Poets inspired by the de Young Museum’s art and architecture. “One Eye” is a community poem begun by The Last Hoisan Poets, inspired by the sculpture of Ruth Asawa. The Last Hoisan Poets welcome poet of all ages and abilities to write a cinquain of their own. Listen to Asawa’s Gift to San Francisco, an audio tour sharing stories from the Asawa family. Take an ASL Tour of the Asawa sculpture installation the de Young Museum docent Jim Brune.

“When you put a seed in the ground, it doesn’t stop growing after eight hours. It keeps going every minute that it’s in the earth. We, too, need to keep growing every moment of every day that we are on this earth.” — Ruth Asawa

The book Your Brain on Art by Ivy Ross and Susan Magsamen shares that “neuroarts” is the transdisciplinary study of how the arts and aesthetic experiences measurably change the body, brain, and behavior and how this knowledge is translated into specific practices that advance health and wellbeing. The Aesthetic Mindset Index is based on a research instrument called the Aesthetic Responsiveness Assessment or AReA,developed by Ed Vessel, cognitive neuroscientist and his colleagues at the Max Planck Institute for Empirical Aesthetics in Frankfurt, Germany. The authors invite you to take the short survey, and then take it again in a month or two after you’ve had time to go out in the world and build your aesthetic mindset.

San Francisco is home to one of the largest and most diverse public art collections in the country. All city residents, workers and visitors have access to world-class art in everyday settings. Here are additional resources that will introduce you to some of the most engaging public art that San Francisco has to offer.

This Civic Season, discover your story.

Join 400 cultural and civic institutions across the country for the third annual Civic Season, a new summer tradition for learning and action co-designed with Gen Z, the future inheritors of our democracy. Civic Season unites our oldest federal holiday with our newest, going beyond hot dogs and fireworks to invite meaningful reflection on our country’s past and our role in shaping its future.

artsed4all Arts Education, Community, Literary Arts, poetry, Visual Arts

Happy World Poetry Day 💗

The Last Hoisan Poets & Friends have been drawing inspiration from the de Young Museum, using poetry to reflect upon the sights and sounds of silence.

Read Poetry inspired by the de Young by the Last Hoisan Poets in the March 16, 2023 Stories article by the Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco.

In conjunction with the March 25th celebration of World Poetry Day with The Last Hoisan Poets & Friends at the de Young, poets of all ages and abilities are invited to write a short poem inspired by the work of two American artists – sculptor Ruth Asawa (1926-2013) and poet Adelaide Crapsey (1878-1915).

We welcome your participation!

Celebrate Women’s History Month 💗

Poetry in Motion: Participate in the creation of a community poem.

In 2005, artist Ruth Asawa donated 15 sculptures to the deYoung museum. 

>>> Listen to Asawa’s Gift to SF, de Young Museum, 2005 on the Ruth Asawa Public Art Tour (3:47)

>>> See the sculpture Installation at the de Young museum

Docent Jim Brune provides an ASL Tour of Ruth Asawa’s Sculpture Installation at the de Young museum (5:26)

Learn more about Ruth Asawa with the de Young museum on Google Arts & Culture.

Write a cinquain inspired by Ruth Asawa’s looped wire sculptures.  

Poet Adelaide Crapsey (1878-1915) is credited with invention of a new poetic form: the American cinquain. Her poems share a similarity with the Japanese tanka, another five-line form, in their focuses on imagery and the natural world. 

“… these poems grew—flowers of a battlefield of the spirit.”

— Verse, Adelaide Crapsey’s first book of poems which includes 28 cinquains, was published posthumously in 1915. 

An American cinquain has five lines and twenty-two-syllables.

Here is an example:

Amaze

by Adelaide Crapsey

I know

Not these my hands

And yet I think there was

A woman like me once had hands

Like these.

Use this form to write your own poem about Ruth Asawa’s art.

Line 1 has two syllables. ____________________________________________________________

Line 2 has four syllables.  ____________________________________________________________

Line 3 has six syllables.  ____________________________________________________________

Line 4 has eight syllables. ____________________________________________________________

Line 5 has two syllables. ____________________________________________________________

If you wish to share your cinquain, please email your contribution to andi@artsed4all.blog. We will loop these short poems together to create a collaborative community poem.

artsed4all Community, Dance, Literary Arts, Music, poetry, Visual Arts

“Generations of Power” United States of Asian America Festival 2022 Performing Arts Showcase

The Asian-Pacific Islander Cultural Center (APICC) proudly presents GENERATIONS OF POWER, a multi-disciplinary showcase featuring The Last Hoisan Poets & Del Sol Quartet (spoken word with live instrumentation), Autonomous Region (jazz fusion), First Voice (story theater), Asian American Dance Performances (contemporary dance), Leela Youth Dance Company (classical North Indian dance), and tashi tamate weiss (movement/ritual).

This FREE, ALL-AGES, OUTDOOR event is part of the 25th annual United States of Asian America Festival (USAAF): Generations of Power. We are proud to host this event at the historic Japantown Peace Plaza as a visual symbol of community resilience and resistance during this period of increased Anti-Asian sentiment.

MORE INFORMATION & FREE REGISTRATION on EVENTBRITE
artsed4all Art & the Environment, Arts Education, Community, Film, Media Arts, Music, Photography, poetry, Technology

Angel Island Insight #8: Megan & Chris Wong

ANGEL ISLAND IN SIGHT 2021 is a visual storytelling project focused on Angel Island — a collective portrait of Angel Island drawn from a multitude of views — near and far, past and present. Del Sol Performing Arts Organization’s ANGEL ISLAND INSIGHT explores the history of the Angel Island Immigration Station by offering a suite of virtual and in-person programs that examines the musicality of the disappearing Hoisan-wa dialect by The Last Hoisan Poets and The Del Sol Quartet. public engagement with Del Sol Quartet & Huang Ruo’s Angel Island – Oratorio for Voices and Strings.

MEGAN and CHRIS WONG’s grandfathers were held in the Angel Island Immigration Station barracks. In 1929, Edmund Fong (Gung Gung) arrived in the belly of his mother Wun Shee Fong, who was five months pregnant. Gew Thet Wong (Ye Ye) arrived on Angel Island in 1931.

In 2021, the siblings offer their behind-the-scenes portrait of Beloved Community for Angel Island Insight.

Angel Island Insight. Directed and Edited by Chris Wong. 2021.

This project was made possible with support from California Humanities, a non-profit partner of the National Endowment for the Humanities. Visit http://www.calhum.org

Any views, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this website do not necessarily represent those of California Humanities or the National Endowment for the Humanities.

ANGEL ISLAND: IN SIGHT 2021 at the Angel Island Immigration Station is made possible with support from North East Medical Services (NEMS). https://www.nems.org/

artsed4all Arts Education, Community, Media Arts, Music, Philanthropy, Photography, poetry, Technology, Visual Arts

Angel Island Insight #3: Lenore Chinn

ANGEL ISLAND IN SIGHT 2021 is a visual storytelling project focused on Angel Island — a collective portrait of Angel Island drawn from a multitude of views — near and far, past and present. Del Sol Performing Arts Organization’s ANGEL ISLAND INSIGHT explores the history of the Angel Island Immigration Station by offering a suite of virtual and in-person programs that examines the musicality of the disappearing Hoisan-wa dialect by The Last Hoisan Poets and The Del Sol Quartet. public engagement with Del Sol Quartet & Huang Ruo’s Angel Island – Oratorio for Voices and Strings.

Photo: Lenore Chinn. Angel Island Immigration Station Dedication Ceremony for The Immigrant Heritage Wall. July 23, 2011. 
Photo: Lenore Chinn. Angel Island Immigration Station Dedication Ceremony for The Immigrant Heritage Wall. July 23, 2011. 

“Quite a few years ago I was with Flo Oy Wong and family during a 2000 opening of her art exhibit, made in usa: Angel Island Shhh at the Angel Island Immigration Station.

I couldn’t find any image files from that far back. But today I came across a set I had taken years later on the occasion of a dedication there on July 23, 2011. Again, I was there with Flo and family and quite a few notables from our Chinese American community, like Buck Gee, Board President of AIISF, musician Frances Wong and photographer Frank Jang. Historian Judy Yung, who died last month, was in attendance.”

— Lenore Chinn, January 17, 2021

Lenore Chinn
by Mia Nakano, ©Visibility Project. https://www.visibilityproject.org/

LENORE CHINN

I am a San Francisco based artist who focuses on the depiction of a wide spectrum of people in all their diversity and color.

Portraiture is at the core of my visual art practice whether it is painting or photography – both are employed in my creative process.

A moment in time spontaneously captured by my digital bridge camera, transmitted to acrylic on canvas, conveyed in modern archival print or Shared on Facebook, these images document everyday life.

As a body of work they are visual narratives that constitute an art history largely hidden from the public’s perception of society and our particular collective experience.

My focus as a photographer is capturing images and documenting cultural landscapes from a painter’s point of view.

This project was made possible with support from California Humanities, a non-profit partner of the National Endowment for the Humanities. Visit http://www.calhum.org

Any views, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this website do not necessarily represent those of California Humanities or the National Endowment for the Humanities.

ANGEL ISLAND: IN SIGHT 2021 at the Angel Island Immigration Station is made possible with support from North East Medical Services (NEMS). https://www.nems.org/

artsed4all Arts Education, Community, Music, Philanthropy, Photography, poetry, Technology, Visual Arts

Angel Island Insight #1 : AIISF & Del Sol Quartet

ANGEL ISLAND IN SIGHT 2021 is a visual storytelling project focused on Angel Island — a collective portrait of Angel Island drawn from a multitude of views — near and far, past and present. Del Sol Performing Arts Organization’s ANGEL ISLAND INSIGHT explores the history of the Angel Island Immigration Station by offering a suite of virtual and in-person programs that examines the musicality of the disappearing Hoisan-wa dialect by The Last Hoisan Poets and The Del Sol Quartet. public engagement with Del Sol Quartet & Huang Ruo’s Angel Island – Oratorio for Voices and Strings.

“While there are inscriptions by immigrants from many different nations that can still be found on the walls of the detention barracks, it’s the 200+ poems left behind by Chinese detainees that helped to save the site’s buildings from being torn down and that secured the site’s status as both a California Historic Landmark and a National Historic Landmark. These poems give us a glimpse into the emotions and experiences of immigrants who were held in detention then.”

Edward Tepporn, Executive Director, Angel Island Immigration Station Foundation

Photo: Edward Tepporn. Angel Island Chinese Monument. July 20, 2019.

ANGEL ISLAND IMMIGRATION STATION FOUNDATION (AIISF) raises awareness of the experience of Immigration into America through the Pacific. AIISF collects and preserves the rich stories and personal journeys of thousands of immigrants and shares them with visitors and everyone living in America through education initiatives and public programs. The Angel Island Immigration Station reminds us of the complicated history of immigration in America. It serves as a symbol of our willingness to learn from our past to ensure that our nation keeps its promise of liberty and freedom.

Photo: Russell Nauman. Return to Angel Island – Calvin Ong (Ong Doon). June 26, 2021.

In 1937, ten-year-old Calvin Ong (Ong Doon) was detained on Angel Island by immigration officials on his way into the country. Eighty-four years later—on June 26, 2021—Calvin returned to the U.S. Immigration Station with his family. He briefly spoke about his time as a detainee, and a hospital patient, on Angel Island. 

In this photo, Calvin was looking out the window of the former immigration hospital when he noticed the hillside below. He could remember sitting on the hill and watching the ferry arrive with new immigrants each day. Later, we went outside so Calvin could look out over the water with his children and grandchildren.

— Russell Nauman, Operations Manager, Angel Island Immigration Station Foundation

THE DEL SOL QUARTET revels in the risk of constantly reimagining the string quartet, building community around art, artistic process, our environment and our culture. Supported by the nonprofit Del Sol Performing Arts Organization (DSPAO), the Del Sol Quartet shares living music with an ever-growing community of adventurous listeners.

Committed to advancing art’s place in society and providing access to a diverse range of audience, the Quartet focuses on commissioning and performing new works, forming unusual and provocative collaborations, and sharing its work globally through recording and education projects.

THE ANGEL ISLAND ORATORIO PROJECT fits squarely into Del Sol’s tradition of adventurous collaborations between artists and community organizations to create new work with a lasting place in the repertoire and to broaden audiences. These goals are integrally connected to shared experiences and socially-relevant themes. The oratorio provides a new way of examining immigration and the clash between governmental policies and national ideals — relevant both to our history and our current political climate. The work also reflects our individual values of what it means to be American, the stories of how we got here, and the history of our city and state.

Photo: Kathryn Bates, View on Island. 2021.
Photo: Edward Tepporn. Angel Island Immigration Station Barracks. July 20, 2019.
Photo: Kathryn Bates. View of Island. March 13, 2021.
Photo: Kathryn Bates. View from Island. March 13, 2021.
Photo: Edward Tepporn. Hope. Angel Island. June 16, 2019.

This project was made possible with support from California Humanities, a non-profit partner of the National Endowment for the Humanities. Visit http://www.calhum.org

Any views, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this website do not necessarily represent those of California Humanities or the National Endowment for the Humanities.

ANGEL ISLAND: IN SIGHT 2021 at the Angel Island Immigration Station is made possible with support from North East Medical Services (NEMS). https://www.nems.org/

artsed4all Arts Education, Community, Literary Arts, Music, Photography, poetry, Visual Arts

USAAF 2021: Angel Island Insight

Del Sol Performing Arts Organization’s ANGEL ISLAND INSIGHT explores the history of the Angel Island Immigration Station by offering a suite of virtual and in-person programs examining the musicality of the disappearing Hoisan-wa dialect by The Last Hoisan Poets and Del Sol Quartet.

These presentations expand public engagement with composer Huang Ruo’s Angel Island – Oratorio for Voices and Strings. World premiere performance with Del Sol Quartet and Volti, directed by Robert Geary on October 22 2021, 8pm at the Presidio Theatre in San Francisco, with performances on Angel Island on Saturday, October 23, 2021, pending safety restrictions.

“As an Asian American artist, this opportunity to showcase a history that has both a direct connection to my ethnicity as well as a global connection is incredibly empowering.”

– Charlton Lee, Del Sol’s founder & Artistic Director

Asian Pacific Islander Cultural Center’s United States of Asian American Festival 2021 presents ANGEL ISLAND INSIGHT with The Last Hoisan Poets & Del Sol Quartet

The Last Hoisan Poets & Del Sol Quartet

In a journey that flows from anger and sorrow, using gratitude as a way to find joy, this Zoom program weaves together their poetry with performances by the Del Sol Quartet, music by Asian-American composers Kui Dong, Theresa Wong, Jungyoon Wie, Huang Ruo, and a collaborative composition performed by The Last Hoisan Poets with the Del Sol Quartet. Artist Q&A moderated by Angel Island Immigration Station Foundation’s executive director Edward Tepporn.

Online program held via Zoom on Saturday, May 22, 2021, 2pm.

Three descendants of Angel Island immigrants, The Last Hoisan Poets – Genny Lim, Flo Oy Wong and Nellie Wong – use poetry to speak their individual truths and creatively reclaim the Hoisan-wa language and culture, with performances by the Del Sol Quartet, music by Asian-American composers.

Recording of 5/22/21 APIIC USAAF presents: ANGEL ISLAND INSIGHT with The Last Hoisan Poets and Del Sol Quartet

APICC USAAF 2021 Digital Program

Haw Meong Suey (Good Life’s Water)

This collaborative poem written by poets Nellie Wong, Flo Oy Wong, and Genny Lim, was performed with accompaniment by the Del Sol Quartet on Saturday May 22, 2021 for the United States of Asian America Festival 2021, presented by the Asian Pacific Islander Cultural Center. “Haw meong suey” is a Hoisan-wa phrase that translates as “good life’s water.” A person who has “haw meong suey” is a vessel of blessings.

For more information, please visit https://www.delsolquartet.com/angelislandinsight

This project was made possible with support from California Humanities, a non-profit partner of the National Endowment for the Humanities. Visit www.calhum.org

artsed4all Art & the Environment, Literary Arts, poetry, STEAM, Visual Arts

The Peach Tree

On Tuesday morning, artist/poet/educator Flo Oy Wong shared her photo of these gorgeous peaches ripening on a tree in school garden near her home. Sweet Dawn, Flo’s neighborhood walking partner, wanted to bring her friends to enjoy the vibrant school garden, home of milkweed plants and more.

“From my morning exploration at the school garden behind my house. The insects – wasps, bees, ladybugs, Monarchs (big ones) – were plentiful.”

insects
pollinate now
wasps lady bug bees buzz
on sunflowers milkweed grapevines
near by

FLO OY WONG
July 28, 2021

Two days later on Thursday morning, Flo and her neighborhood walking partners, Wonderful Wendy and Sweet Dawn were so sad. They discovered that the peach tree had been cut down. Flo wrote a poem, Robust Peaches 2, about the giving volunteer tree — now a memory shared by friends.

Flo Oy Wong reads her poem, “Robust Peaches 2”
Robust Peaches 2
Robust peaches, 
kissed by the sun,  
grow by a low concrete 
wall at the neighborhood 
school.

Robust peaches.

The peach tree’s inviting 
palette, a deep reddish hue 
with gold undertones, glow 
under azure sky.
Abundance of fruit weighs
heavily on limbs limping 
towards ground, enchanting
walkers who pass by. 

Robust peaches.

One day, workers tear down
the peach tree, a volunteer one.
No one planted it.
It just grew.
Soon, when children return,
masked or double-masked,
to start the new school year,
the peach tree, pregnant with
bounty, will no longer be there.

Robust peaches.

FLO OY WONG
July 29, 2021
Unidentified Artist An Immortal on a Cloud with a Pair of Peaches, 20th century China, Qing dynasty (1644–1911) Leaf from an album; ink on paper; H. 9 11/16 in. (24.6 cm); W. 12 in. (30.5 cm) The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Gift of Fritzi and Murray Sanders, 1984 (1984.492.1) http://www.metmuseum.org/Collections/search-the-collections/51866

THE PEACH (Prunus persica, Rosaceae) is a deciduous tree native to the region of Northwest China between the Tarim Basin and the north slopes of the Kunlun Mountains, where it was first domesticated and cultivated. It bears edible juicy fruits with various characteristics, most called peaches and others, nectarines.

The peach tree is widely thought to have origins in China, but its evolutionary history is largely unknown. The oldest evidence for the peach has been Chinese archaeological records dating to 8000–7000 BP.

Various American Indian tribes are credited with migrating the peach tree across the United States, taking seeds along with them and planting as they roved the country. Today, California produces 65 percent of the total US crop of peaches.

Peaches are not only a popular fruit, but also are symbolic in many cultural traditions, such as in art, paintings, and folk tales such as Peaches of Immortality.

The Peach Blossom Spring is a fable written by Chinese poet Tao Yuanming (365-427) in 421 CE about “the chance discovery of an ethereal utopia where people lead an ideal existence in harmony with nature, unaware of the outside world for centuries.” 

This stunning video is generated by a model which simulates complex interactions within the tree, including growth, carbon partitioning among organs and responses to environmental, management and genetic factors. The model presented here is of a peach tree but is not calibrated to a specific tree.  Developed by Mitch Allen, P. Prusinkiewicz and T. DeJong in partnership with The Virtual Tree. From the UC DAVIS Fruit & Nut Research & Information Center.

WikiHow: How to Start a Peach Tree from a Pit / How to Plant a Peach Tree

Peach (Prunus persica)

The Heirloom Project with Roots and Shoots was created by ArtsEd4All to encourage the harvesting and sharing of free seeds with friends. The project shares stories and free resources about seed saving, planting and other small acts of kindness that can be taken to help pollinators, people and the environment.

artsed4all Community, poetry

Two Poems, One Struggle

WORLD POETRY DAY celebrates one of humanity’s most treasured forms of cultural and linguistic expression and identity.

Practiced throughout history – in every culture and on every continent – poetry speaks to our common humanity and our shared values, transforming the simplest of poems into a powerful catalyst for dialogue and peace.

Yesterday, I received two poems, from two friends who struggled to find the words.

I share their poems today, in observance of WORLD POETRY DAY.

Pools of Red

Gunshots pierced the air,

then landed in bodies

of mostly Asian women

working at the spa.

One by one, the women

crashed.  

They screeched.

Crumpled to the floor,

which colored crimson. 

Moist fresh blood. 

Pools of red.

Creating shadows 

of death.

Bloody. 

No more plasma.

No more lifeblood.

To take a breath.

Killer shot them because

of his alleged sex addiction.

They were Asian women.

Targets in my homeland.

Open season it appears, 

to spit at, to harass, to tackle,

to attack.

I am Asian (american) woman.

FLO OY WONG

March 20, 2021

They’d Done Them Wrong

Six sisters linked not by birth, but death.

they were reared under the wrong signs

wrong place or time. Maybe that

the parents were at fault.

Of a skin color of the wrong choice.

Born with it. Some men didn’t care

why would they? Money

gave pleasure to their flesh.

No one wants to be down low

And miserable. I use to think

only women understand pain

like they each other could feel.

I shed a tear, and die inside.

Who dealt them the wrong deck of cards?

Money, skin, sin, and all those righteous themes.

All the wrong reasons for a killing spree.

VICTOR YAN

March 20, 2021

On the occasion of World Poetry Day 2021, Director-General AUDREY AZOULAY of UNESCO writes, “Poetry lies at the heart of who we are as women and men, living together today, drawing on the heritage of past generations, custodians of the world for our children and grandchildren.”

Deepest gratitude to Flo Oy Wong and Victor Yan for sharing their poetry and friendship.

Stop AAPI Hate

Our communities stand united against racism. Hate against Asian American Pacific Islander communities has risen during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Together, we can stop it.

In response to the alarming escalation in xenophobia and bigotry resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic, the Asian Pacific Planning and Policy Council (A3PCON), Chinese for Affirmative Action (CAA), and the Asian American Studies Department of San Francisco State University launched the Stop AAPI Hate reporting center on March 19, 2020. The center tracks and responds to incidents of hate, violence, harassment, discrimination, shunning, and child bullying against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders in the United States.

Encourage those who experience or witness acts of hate towards the Asian American and Pacific Islander communities to report an incident at our website. The reporting form is available in 11 languages. Reporting incidents helps us understand what is happening and guides us in developing policies to advocate for.

https://stopaapihate.org/actnow/

artsed4all Community, poetry

Slow Street Art

Over the years, the ArtsEd4All crew has enjoyed supporting Sunday Streets events. We really get excited about Poetry and All Things Slow, and are always happy to contribute some Cheap Art. Special thanks to Joanie Juster for the connection and to Alec Hawley for the invitation to participate in the Slow Street Art Hunt! The Slow Streets event is also fun lead in to Total SF Movie Night #8 – a virtual screening of Always Be My Maybe, so be sure to grab some popcorn-to-go to enjoy with the film at home.

Ride N’ Roll Slow Street Art Hunt

We are looking forward to the Ride N’ Roll Slow Street Art Hunt on Saturday, February 13 in the Richmond District. The event will start at 1 pm at Green Apple Books with poetry by Mark J. Mitchell and end with Norton the It’s It at the Balboa Theater at 3pm. Come out and support local businesses and participate in an art hunt highlighting artwork and poetry. You will have a great time, come rain or shine!

Slow Art Hunt: A4All Memory Cards

For the Slow Art Hunt, we have created a set of twelve cards that are inspired by the places in the Richmond District that we love.

Each ArtsEd4All notecard features art and poetry that is inspired by the Slow Streets Art movement in the Richmond District. The cards share stories and and things that we have learned as we have explored the neighborhood over the years.

We are really grateful that this event gave us an opportunity to reflect on the wonderful times spent in the Richmond District. We are excited to share some love for our favorite places — Argonne Community Garden, Balboa Theater, C: Landing Arts, California Academy of Sciences, De Young Museum, E.Y. Lee Kung Fu School, Four Star Theatre with pre-film dim sum and post-film noodle houses, Healing Arts Studio, Internet Archive, Japanese Tea Gardens, Land’s End, Mountain Lake, Ocean Beach, Presidio Middle School and the San Francisco Botanical Gardens.

Look on the back of each card for a QR code that launches to a poetry reading, a song or a film. Scan the QR code with a code reader app or use your iPhone camera to access this special content.

If you find one of our art memory cards inside a pre-stamped envelope on Slow Streets, we hope that you will enjoy the art, poems and our memories of good times in the Richmond District. When you are ready, please use the card to send love and poetry to a friend.

The ArtsEd4All crew of contributors to this project include Andi Wong, Flo Oy Wong, Janice Fong, Judy Toupin, Mara Grimes, Mary Ann Cruz, Norma Diana Rodriguez, Victor Yan, featuring audio contributions by the 4th grade poets at Diane Feinstein Elementary and the Del Sol String Quartet, Brenda Wong Aoki of First Voice, and Blake Ansari and the Open Library readers at the Internet Archive.

“If one is lucky, a solitary fantasy can transform one million realities.” — Maya Angelou

Since 2016, ArtsEd4All has organized an annual book drive for the Blake Mini Library in the Hamilton Families shelter. School children are invited to help fill the rainbow-colored shelves from MLK Day of Service through Valentine’s Day. With our first book drive, we started a tradition of writing and hiding “Notes of Encouragement.” Book donors and children were invited to contribute special surprise messages that were hidden inside the books to be discovered by a future reader. The reading and writing of these notes helped create a special bond between two people who might never ever meet — the donor and the recipient. Over the years, lovely notes of encouragement have been written at special author signings at Green Apple Books.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, space and capacity at the shelter is a concern, and school is not in session, so we will not be able to have the book drive as usual this year. Sharing these Memory Cards on Slow Streets helps us to hold onto this ritual of kindness in a time of change.

However, Hamilton Families confirmed that we can be a great help with a Spanish language children’s book drive for the shelter and Transitional Housing Program. Please get in touch, if you would like to recommend Spanish Language book titles or you are interested in purchasing a book.

Here’s a book that we’d really like to include in this year’s delivery:

Milo imagina el mundo
By MATT DE LA PEÑA
Illustrated by CHRISTIAN ROBINSON