APIQWTC's 2009 Lunar New Year Banquet

The APIQWTC 22nd annual banquet committee has done a fabulous job in making this event a huge success. It was held on April 4th at Legendary Palace in Oakland. The food was delicious and the performance was super entertaining. Helen Zia was the this year's Phoenix Award Honoree. Other than meeting old friends, speed dating was fun to make new ones. The banquet mug was also a winner...

More Info

Upcoming Events:

• APIQWTC Dragonfruit takes on
  Paddle for Life Jack London Square
  
  7am, Saturday, June 6
  
  Jack London Square
  end of Broadway
  Oakland, CA
  
  Congrats to Dragonfruit for winning the 1st place!!! Yeah!!!
  
  Here it is.. another year! :-)
  
  Time to stretch out the back and prepare to paddle for your life! Be prepared to get wet, but it's really fun to peddle with your APIQWTC sisters. Here's your chance to EARN your Dragonfruit tshirt!
  
  The Races will be held June 6 (Saturday) in OAKLAND.
  Three practices in May - check our evite for dates.
  
  For more information, please check our evite:
   http://www.evite.com/app/publicUrl/ZRNXNSSLZUDGQTXLWKXK/dragonfruit09
  
  We have a bunch of long-sleeve shirts from last year. Participant waivers for Berkeley practice sites and race day event to follow via email in late April. Bring your checkbook or cash $35
  
  If you want to remind yourselves how to paddle, feel free to attend one of the free practices at BAD (www.bayareadragons.org) or Dragonmax (www.dragonmax.org)
  
  Let me know if you're interested and available. This is an APIQWTC sponsored event; feel free to bring your friends. If necessary, priority for the race event will be given to people who have attended more practices. Deb, phone: 510-336-1415/510 332-5617 cell.
  
   
• 5th Annual Queer Women of Color Film Festival
  Presented by QUEER WOMEN OF COLOR MEDIA ARTS PROJECT
   
  
  
  June 12, 13, 14
  Brava Theater
  2789 24th St, San Francisco
  
  FREE!
  Pre-Screening Receptions
  Followed by Q&A with Filmmakers
  
  Festival Focus: 
  QUEER WOMEN OF COLOR & IMMIGRATION
  
  Friday, June 12 - 7:30pm  FREE!
  Opening Night Screening: MULTIPLE BORDERS
  
  Saturday, June 13 - 2:00pm  FREE!
  Film & Panel Discussion: COMMUNITY CONVENING
  
  Saturday, June 13 - 7:00pm  FREE!
  Centerpiece Screening: QUEERLY IRREVERENT (Suggestive Content)
  
  Sunday, June 14 - 2:00pm  FREE!
  Afternoon Screening: CrazySexyLife
  
  Sunday, June 14 - 6:00pm  FREE!
  Closing Night Screening: ARTISTIC JUSTICE
  Live performance by Las Krudas Cubensi
  
  QWOCMAP's 5th Anniversary Film Festival showcases 28 world-premieres in 4 screening programs about feisty and fantastic voyages, from dyke couples navigating desire, to communities crossing divisive barbwire and chain-link, to the riveting routes of sex toys, you’ll be spellbound to saunter through your own saucy sojourns.
  
  PARTIES --
  
  OPENING NIGHT PARTY
  Fri, June 12 -10:00pm, $5-$20
  BOLLYHOOD CAFÉ, 3372 19th St @ Mission, SF
  
  AFTER PARTY FUNDRAISER
  Sat, June 13 - 10:00pm, $15
  THE VIBE LOUNGE
  Live performance by Las Krudas Cubensi
  2272 Telegraph Ave @ West Grand, Oakland
  
  CLOSING NIGHT PARTY
  Sun, June 14 - 9:00pm, $5-$20
  THE MONKEY CLUB, 2730 21st St @ Bryant, SF
  
  www.qwocmap.org  ::::  festival@qwocmap.org   ::::  4 1 5 . 7 5 2 . 0 8 6 8
  
  
   
• APIQWTC Softball Team
  
  A SOFTBALL TEAM OF OUR OWN...
  
  We are trying to get a team together for the women's league in Oakland.
  Pure fun and play in the summertime!
  
  The deets:  Teams typically play on Monday nights at 6:45, 7:55, or 9:05 mainly at a park near Redwood Park, Oakland. Season starts June 22nd and is roughly 10 games long plus playoffs.
  
  Because APIQWTC is subsidizing the team, the cost is now only $50 per player for the entire season.
  
  Please let us know asap if you are interested and which category you fit in:
  
  1) Gamers: who want to play every game.
  
  2) Subs: who want to play a couple of games to half a season.
  
  Also let us know your level of experience. Depending on response cost may go down per person. Deadline for rosters are June 17, so lemme know!
  
  See you on the field.
  
  If you're interested in playing ball with us, use this URL (sorry!)
  
  http://www.evite.com/app/publicUrl/MJUIANKHCSGJLKWTMHQA/softball
  
   
• San Francisco Dyke March / Pride Parade
  
  
  
  Come march with APIQWTC in the Dyke March and SF parade on June 27 & 28. Check back for more details.
  

  June 27 Dyke March
  As our tradition, APIQWTC will be grouping ourselves at around 6pm on the steps of Mission High School on 18th and Delores Streets in San Francisco. Come and enjoy tens of thousands of other women as we take over the streets of San Francisco baring whatever it is we wish to bare (it is the Dyke March after all)
  
  June 28 LGBT Pride Parade
  Parade kicks off at 10:30 a.m. at Market St. & Beale in Downtown San Francisco.

  The 2009 SF Pride Parade will feature a Stonewall/Gay Liberation Front 40th Anniversary contingent leading the parade off after Dykes on Bikes. We will be marching with the API contingent and Helen Zia is going to be this year's Community Grand Marshall! This is our chance, as API LGBT folks and allies, to increase our visibility and show our communities that we support marriage equality. Please come and join us!

  Time:	Meet at 10:00am, March at 10:30am (or, jump in as we march down Market St)
  Meeting location:	Beale St. between Mission & Howard (Assembly Area K)
  Contingent Number:	108

  For general info about SF Pride Parade, please visit website at www.sfpride.org
  
  We always need volunteer to help out for the march or parade, please contact us at info@apiqwtc.org.
  
  
  
   

• Lavender Event's Annual Rafting Trip
  
  WHITE WATER RAFTING
  Getaway Weekend July 10-12
  
  Lavender Events has partnered with North America's only lesbian-owned rafting company, Mariah Wilderness Expeditions, to offer the LGBT community an exclusive weekend just a few short hours from the Bay Area.
  
  Come join us for a fun and memorable rafting adventure while having the opportunity to spend some quality time with your friends or get to know new ones!
  
  Friday, we start off our adventure with a meet and greet with drinks and snacks to nibble as you get to know your new camping and boat mates.
  
  Saturday, there will be more entertainment in the evening, including sampling some local wine and beer.
  
  Adventure Cost
  
  The beginner American South Fork trip is $330. We also have limited space on the intermediate South/Middle Fork Combo trip at $355.
  
  Price includes 2 days rafting, 2 nights camping, 5 meals, a welcoming social mixer Friday night, and 7% river use fees.
  
  For fore info:
  www.lavenderevents.com/rafting 
  email@lavenderevents.com 
  (408) 394 - 4297
  
   
• "When Dreams Are Interrupted..."
  Presented by Purple Moon Dance Project and Jill Togawa
  
  October 9, 10, and 11 ~ 2:00 PM
  Stuart Street, Berkeley
  
  
  
  When Dreams Are Interrupted... invites us to witness the profound imprint of the forced removal and mass evacuation of the Berkeley Japanese community  in 1942.  The site-specific works weaves personal stories, dance, visual art and live music. Collaborators are choreographer Jill Togawa, visual artist Ellen Bepp, musicians Claudia Cuentas and Laura Inserra, and dancers Michelle Fletcher, Ruth Ichinaga, Arisika Razak and Sharon Sato.
  
  Look forward to seeing you there!
  project@purplemoondance.org
  
   

Goodbye Young Song & Wan Chen

This year began with sorrow... APIQWTC community has recently lost two very wonderful friends of ours, Young Song and Wan Chen... We will miss them dearly.

     
         Young Song                Wan Chen

CALL FOR APPLICATIONS

APIQWTC SCHOLARSHIP

DEADLINE: May 30, 2009

APIQWTC (Asian Pacific Islander Queer Women and Transgender Community) is a non-profit consortium of more than fifteen organizations in the San Francisco Bay Area providing support and community for nearly 500 queer Asian and Pacific Islander individuals. The APIQWTC Scholarship supports queer API women and transgender people in their pursuit of technical/professional training or higher education. The scholarship hopes to recognize those who are active in the community and encourage future leaders.  

APIQWTC will be awarding scholarships of $400 to two Asian/Pacific Islander lesbian, bisexual, or queer women or transgender individuals pursuing technical/professional training or an undergraduate/graduate degree. High school seniors pursuing further education or training in fall 2009 are also eligible to apply. Applicants should demonstrate academic commitment as well as community involvement.

Please submit a cover letter, resume or c.v., a two-page, double-spaced personal statement, an official transcript, and two letters of recommendation.

The personal statement should address community involvement and future goals. How has your cultural heritage, sexual orientation, and/or gender identity influenced your life and any activities in which you have been involved? Discuss any relevant experiences up to the present and how you see yourself involved in the community in the future, either through your career or otherwise. Letters of reference should come from an instructor, employer, academic counselor, coach, community leader, or any other individual not related to you who is familiar with your personal, academic, or leadership qualities. Please submit statements and resumes/c.v.’s electronically no later than 7pm May 30, 2009. Letters and transcripts must be postmarked by May 30, 2009.

Send statement and resume/CV as electronic attachments to: amysueyoshi@yahoo.com 

Send letters and transcripts to:
Amy Sueyoshi, 1879 41^st Avenue, San Francisco, CA  94122

Feel free to direct any questions to Amy Sueyoshi at amysueyoshi@yahoo.com.

The selection committee reserves the right to not award the scholarships if an appropriate applicant can not be identified.

Last Year's APIQWTC scholarship announcement

Please join the APIQWTC scholarship committee in congratulating Ching-In Chen as one of the two recipients of this year’s award. Both individuals distinguished themselves in their community activism and academic achievement among a very competitive pool of applicants.

Ching-In Chen
Poet and community activist Ching-In Chen is currently a MFA student in creative writing at UC Riverside. She has worked as Director of Programs for the Asian American Resource Workshop as well as an Employment Advocate for Chinese for Affirmative Action. She has planned actions, campaigns, fundraisers, and community events for grassroots organizations and campaigns such as the Stop Chinatown Evictions Coalition with Chin Jurn Wor Ping (CJWP) and Freedom Uprising on both the East and West Coasts. Recently, Chen has focused her energy on sustaining queer and trans communities of color: touring with Mangos with Chili, a performance group of queer and trans artists of color; assisting in the formation of Ya Basta! Collective, a grassroots collective committed to building the creative and imaginative capacity of girls and women of color and non-gender conforming people of color through the creation of an anthology focusing on gender, militarism and war; and co-editing a zine on partner abuse with special emphasis on queer and trans activist communities of color. Chen sees writing as a tool to inspire marginalized communities and encourage individuals to “thrive rather than just survive.” Moreover, Chen has over 20 works of prose and poetry in publications such as Iron Horse Literary Review, Hyphen, and Poemeleon. Since 2002 she has additionally been rewarded with close to twenty writing honors with organizations such as the Paden Institute, Voices of Our Nation Arts Foundation, and the APAture Arts Festival. Look for her forthcoming book, a novel in verse, titled The Heart’s Traffic by Red Hen Press.

Congratulations again to Ching-In Chen. We wish you the very best in your future endeavors !!! :-)

Last updated at June 9, 2009