Global Cultural Studies at Columbia University Presents: Margaret
Garner and the Daughters of Ishmael

Assia Djebar has long been fascinated with the figure of Fatima, the
Prophet Mohammed's daughter. In the opera "The Daughters of Ishmael in
Wind and Storm," she relies on Arab chronicles to dramatize Fatima's
role immediately after the Prophet's death. What would the future of
Islam have been if this spirited daughter could have inherited the
prophetship? We will couple extracts from Djebar's opera with extracts
from Toni Morrison's "Margaret Garner," also based on the historical
record, revisiting the events that inspired her 1987 Pulitzer
Prize-winning novel Beloved. Daring to imagine the past otherwise,
these two ambitious compositions place the lives of women at the
center stage of history. The performance will be accompanied by a
discussion with Djebar, Morrison, Leila Ahmed (Harvard Divinity
School), and Angela Davis (University of California, Santa Cruz),
opening questions of feminism, femininity, slavery, and Islam.

Please join us on March 28, at 8 PM, at Columbia's Miller Theatre.
Tickets will be available soon at the Miller Theater Box Office.
For more information, please contact Inr2101@columbia.edu.

Hey readers, so I know that we (David, I) haven't been great at updating you on events (heck, I can barely recall what day it is anymore). But please mind the calendar sidebar on our home page! It's been updated and there are a lot of interesting events posted, which you definitely want to check out. There is usually free food at these things too. Yayyy.

Interested in being a part of Asian Pacific American Awareness Month (APAAM)?

APAAM, held in April at Columbia, is an annual celebration which allows for members of diverse backgrounds to come together to learn, share, and grow with each other and the Columbia community as a whole. If you're interested in bringing notable Asian Americans to campus, collaborating with Asian interest groups and other groups on campus, bringing the APA community together, working with city organizations, planning great events that reflect the whole diversity of our community, and much, much more, please apply! For more information about APAAM, check out last year's website at http://www.cuapaam.com/

We are currently interviewing for the position of WEBMASTER/WEBMISTRESS

The APAAM webmaster will be in charge of maintaining and updating of the official APAAM website. Candidates should definitely be well versed in HTML and preferably also Flash and PHP. For those interested, the current site is located at
http://www.cuapaam.com/

TO APPLY:
Please email apaam2009@gmail.com with the following:
1) Name
2) School/Year
3) Phone Number
4) E-mail
5) Any prior experience working with student groups at Columbia (None required!)
6) A few sentences describing why you are interested in joining APAAM.

All applications will be due by 11:59PM on Tuesday, Feb 17th!

The American Red Cross in Greater New York is hosting its first ever benefit concert!!! Being held in the SECOND LARGEST auditorium in the city at Brooklyn Tech High School on Saturday, March 7th 6:00-9:00pm.

Admission:
Tickets are $10 (in advance) only because this is a charity event.
At the door $12

PERFORMING GROUPS:

AJ Rafael
Vocals, keys, ukulele, guitars, drums, and song writer. Music that touches your heart.
http://www.myspace.com/ajrafael
http://www.youtube.com/ilajil
#78 - Most Subscribed (All Time) - Musicians
#99 - Most Viewed (This Month) - Musicians

Jay Legaspi
Guitars, drums, singing. A sweet guy and "sensitive to a T and the rest of the alphabet"
http://www.myspace.com/JayLegaspi

Keating Underground
R&B, funk, blues and jazz

Ft. Mark "ong bak" Consolacion (bass guitar), Felipe "Maki" Cruz (lead guitar), Kevin "ka-i boy" Francisco (drums), Gemini "the gem" Quintos (vocals), Emil "sax" Tangco (saxophonist)

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Keating-Underground/6393196935

Magnetic North
Ft Derek Kan (aka Direct) and Theresa Vu (aka T-Minus, TVu)
Hip Hop/ Rap.

Debut Hit Album "Drift Away" OUT OF PRINT!
Produced by Sketchbook Media and Wong Fu Productions
New Album "Within the Rhythm"

Performed at International Secret Agents Concert 2008, hosted by Wong Fu Productions and Far East Movement.

Performed at Charity Cirque Masquerade, sponsored by Rival Entertainment.

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Magnetic-North/29777375832
http://www.myspace.com/magnetichiphop

Stone Forest Ensemble
Ft. Jie-Song (Emcee and Electric Violinist), Krussia Kalnev (Beatboxer), Varuni Tiruchelvam (Cellist), and Joshua Benson (multi-faceted percussionist)

Kollaboration Grand Champion as crowned in 2006

Jie-Song took 2nd place at Amateur Night at Legendary APOLLO THEATER of Harlem

http://www.myspace.com/sfenyc

*Pre-show from 6:30-7:00PM

DIRECTIONS: Take B, Q, R, M to DeKalb Ave (closest) OR N, 2, 3, 4, 5 to Atlantic- Pacific St
(Only one stop away from Manhattan)

For more information, visit the Facebook event.

Yay! This event isn't over like I thought it was! It's actually going to be this Friday 2/13, so, uh, mark your calendars, because you obviously want to beat Turk and J.D. as the hottest couple. Oh, and it's a game show that requires you to know "everything" about your significant other in order to win an iPod shuffle. Not a shot at commercializing love at all.

is an awesome quarter of spoken word group iLL-Literacy (you probably remember "Slip of the Tongue"), and he posted a response to Miley's chink-eye ordeal (if you want to see her lame public response, visit Perez):



Adriel, a word of advice: don't even try to tour with the Jonas Brothers; it's iLL-Literacy's reputation that'll be ruined, not those three stooges'.

What? How did you get an entire entry devoted to your event, Game of Love, on Bwog? Which member is connected to the Bwog staff that we don't know about? Could it be EC 1412's infamous Tony Gong (who's not really in AAA, but is peripherally connected)? Could it be a friend of USCC Rep Evan Omi? Mystery! Maybe I'm reading too far into this. After all, Bwog does take requests for special entries. That's how this damn thing got out, anyway. Also, oops, I think Game of Love is over. Way for me to be a prompt blogger.

Remember when ECAASU first came out with a blurb about this year's theme, and we at The Blaaag were a little "eh" about it, because it sounded too corporate, too similar to the Beijing Olympics in being overly wholesome and pleasant? Well, "Distinct Worlds, One Vision" is now the official theme, and they have really tweaked their mission statement:

Asian culture is strong. It is deeply rooted. It has not waivered for hundreds of thousands of years. There are a multitude of them, each with their own distinguishing characteristics that we should be proud of and embrace. Yes, even though it is our strength, it is also our weakness. We are so focused upon our distinct worlds that we fail to recognize that even within all of these distinguishing characteristics, there is one thing that we have in common.

Major props to whoever thought of making ECAASU "green", which is entirely new for an APA conference, but this mission statement still doesn't scream "forefront of the Asian-American movement" to me. Now that I'm working in a museum and understand corporate jargon over marketing and branding, I'd really love to know how much the sponsors--Coast Guard, McGraw Hill, State Farm, Verizon, KACF, and RUSA--had in crafting these words.

ECAASU, I still remember last year when you talked about the need to change ideas by working from the inside out, which was your reasoning for legitimating a Coast Guard sponsorship, but how much are you (and all APA conferences, which endlessly need money) compromising in the process?

In the end, readers, I still want you to go to ECAASU, because it's pretty fking important to immerse yourself and grab some awareness. Late registration ends on the 13th (a whopping $65). Go to the website and do something.