Spent a month in the province of Iloilo in the Philippines (loved ones/family live there). It was the 2nd time last year I was able to travel to the PI, luckily for me. The 2nd time around I really lived there like a local resident. Traveled via jeepneys, hung out at the SM City & Atrium malls nearby, and bonded with family. Though it was still tropical, it was cold because the typhoon winds were bringing in cool sea air (very windy!) Not like I only discovered this time around, but us Americans really don't realize how good we've got it - modern amenities, modern plumbing, choices in what we buy. As most Filipinos know, there isn't warm running water in the Philippines, unless you live at an upscale hotel or live in Baguio. I became an expert at the tabo (taking a shower by ladling water from a giant pail with a tiny bucket), and near the end, the mosquitoes weren't biting me as much because my "foreign delicacy blood" wasn't as "foreign" to them anymore. On the way to the market, city plaza, or wherever, it was quite obvious that most Pinoys & Pinays in Iloilo City weren't very well off in the least - squatters populate the city. But when you go outside the city, to barangays like Santa Barbara & Maasin, you see the beauty of the vast acreage of farms. The sugar cane farm that's run in my family for generations still covers a large expanse, and I was able to take home some moscovado, organic brown sugar.

More stories to come in the next issue. Right now I'm working on getting a better full time job to help on zine printing expenses. Once I do, I'll be able to give you a better time frame when Bamboo Girl will be published this year.

Happy Year of the Monkey!



Workshop Performances of “The Creation Myth Project”
DON’T MISS MANGO TRIBE IN NYC THIS TIME AROUND !!!!!!!!!

Saturday, January 31, 2004 at 7:30pm
Sunday, February 1, 2004 at 2pm
Tickets: $5 Youth and $7 Adult

Abrons Art Center
Experimental Theater
466 Grand Street
New York, NY 10002

this is a work-in-progress. this is a workshop performance.
we don’t have an official title yet so we’re simply calling it...
“THE CREATION MYTH PROJECT”

Presented by Abrons Arts Center Theater (Henry Street Settlement)
Conceived, written and performed by Mango Tribe


THE CREATION MYTH PROJECT:

From January 23rd to February 2nd (2004), Mango Tribe will participate in a residency at Henry Street Settlement’s Abrons Arts Center to conceive our own creation myth. The focus of the residency will be to develop further Mango Tribe’s process of cross-city, multi-media collaboration. Asian American Women artists residing in Minneapolis, Chicago and New York will gather to create tales that “lead us on magical journeys folding time and truths...do not separate the past, present or future... tell our stories beyond the parameters of where we've been placed–for we are all our ancestors and children to be...we pass herstories in dreams, breath and desire...write stories in bones, blood and muscle... stories and herstories that survive as words are lost in burning libraries and colonized tongues... we have existed before...never leaving this place...only transcending/forming shape/space...” A performance of our work-in-progress will be open to the public on Saturday January 31 (7:30pm) and Sunday February 1, 204 (2pm).

For more info about mango tribe visit www.mangotribe.com

CAST & CREW :
Co-directors: Marian Yalini Thambynayagam and Kai-Ti Kao
Co-producers: Anida Yoeu Esguerra & Sarwat Rumi
Stage Manager: Vivienne Tan
Assistant Stage Manager: Jill Aguado
Production Assistant: Amy Paul
Project Advisor: Emily Chang

Performers/writers:
Lani Montreal, Anida Yoeu Esguerra, Sarwat Rumi, Vanessa DeGuia, Kelly Tsai,
Sharmili Majmudar, Marian Yalini Thambynayagam, Jennifer Cendaña Armas, Kai-Ti Kao,
Pradeepa Jeevamanoharan, Annelize Machado, Juliana Pegues

About Mango Tribe:
Mango Tribe is an Asian/Pacific Islander American (APIA) women's interdisciplinary performance group founded on the belief that collective creation can be the most powerful form of art. Mango Tribe promotes multi-arts collaboration and encourages artistic activism through theater and education. It is a multiethnic, multilingual, and multidisciplinary ensemble currently comprised of APIA women from Chicago, New York City, and Minneapolis.


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Jon Sims Center for the Arts and SFinX* proudly
present:

KREATIBO

Including performances by queer pin@y artists:
Maiana Minahal,
Lolan Sevilla,
Cynthia Blancaflor,
Morningstar Vancil,
Tina Bartolome, and
Nedjula Baguio

Last year you saw them at the Bindlestiff Studio, or
maybe even in the Philippines--- or if you were shut
out of their sold-out shows, come see them explore the
full spectrum of expressions of gender, sexuality,
cultural identity and collective memory in this night
of creative resistance and restoration:

February 7, 2004, 8:00 pm
at the Jon Sims Center for the Arts
1519 Mission St. @ 11th St. / Van Ness, SF
$7 - $12 s.s. no one turned away
For reservations / wheelchair access call 415-554-0402
Remember to bring $$ for refreshments

* SFinX: San Francisco in Exile Live at the JSC
This event will be digitally audio recorded for the
SFinX web-based queer artists' archive. SFinX is
dedicated to the documentation and dissemination of
SFs queer performing arts scene through digital media.
More info www.SFinX.org - www.jonsimsctr.org