Thursday, May 10, 2012

9 ASL Poems for RIT Root Event



I will perform my 10 poems, all translated into ASL (American Sign Language) along my recorded voice in electronic music software on May 12th at 7 PM for RIT Root, an event for RIT student government, WITR (college radio), NTID Student Congress, and etc. My particular poetry performance is made possible by RIT's OUTspoken, an LGBT student organization. Some of my poems will have only my voice in the software, others will have my original composed electronic music. Some of the music are part of the poems and some are just looped background soundscapes. For example, my science fiction-themed poem titled "Cyborg Drag Queen" have several looped sci. fi. sound effects while my recorded voice speaks the lines. I will translate all of the poems into ASL on stage with dance, body language, facial expressions, mime, and acting. The event will take place outside on RIT campus. 


The 10 poems are:


"Howl" (cover poem by Allen Ginsberg), "Joey", Arthur Rimbaud", "After Breathing Glass", "A Lady In A Blue Dress", "Youthful Queen", "Cyborg Drag Queen", "The Village", and "Night Life".

Saturday, May 5, 2012

Two Videos of ASL Poetry Performances at U of Rochester

Two videos showing my ASL poetry performance along my original composed electronic music are posted on YouTube. I presented my performance for University of Rochester's HeArt of Disorder exhibit and show on May 26th. The first was "An Amazon" which is about domestic violence and it includes a video that I made of a woman's face going through changes from abuse to healing. The second was "The Blues" with only electronic music without video and it's about going through melancholy and getting rid of it. HeArt of Disorder at University of Rochester was an educational event about anxiety, depression, and etc. 

Click on this YouTube site address in order to watch "The Blues":

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ihGmRQ8kbH4

Click on another YouTube site address to watch "An Amazon":

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oAPHmBUvxx8

Wednesday, April 25, 2012





My four ASL poems titled, "An Amazon", "All Is A Swirl Of Love (String Theory and Bjork)", "Blues", and "Beautiful Days" will be shown at University of Rochester for their Explore the heART of Disorder event. I will translate those original poems into American Sign Language along my original composed electronic music. Two of the poems will have 
videos that I made from scratch, projected behind me, during my performance. 


Here are the 4 poems that I will perform at U of R.



“All Is a Swirl Of Love (String Theory and Bjork)”

Photons dance through
Space and Time
In pure abstractions.
Invisible energies
Jazz up everywhere
In micro size,
In macro size.
All is a swirl of love.

Just close your eyes and believe.
They are our seas.
They hug us in beams.
Keep us warm and deep,
Always ever changing.
Dimensions morph in and out.
All is a swirl of love.

Touch anything and you will know.
Search inside and you will know.
Vibrating strings are in you.
Stretch from you up to the sky.
Enclose you and the whole time.
Blanket us all into one.
All is a swirl of love.

There is no need to hate or kill.
We are entwined
In micro size,
In macro size.
All connected
By unseen strings
That hold us
Like knots and ropes.
All is a swirl of love.


"Beautiful Days"

Sun rising.
Sun descending.
Winds dance cool and calm.
Clouds and starlights spangle across the skyway.

No fear.
No tears.
Walk through fresh air.
Cheer among friends and workers on jubilant landscapes.

Smooth journeys.
Cool atmospheres.
These are beautiful days.

Vast space.
Vast maze.
Explore ethereal roads of miracles.
Taste the colors of life through an open ocean.

Moon shining.
Moon dimming.
Snow or rain fall rough or kind.
Whirls of change cascade through days and nights.

Groomed paths.
Pools of sighs.
These are beautiful days.


"Blues"

Jailed blues moan beneath my ribcage.
Jam the guitar into the rhythm of the blues.
Join the grooves of melancholy through blue pine trees.
Blue-tinted moonlight bathes me into bluish chill.
A dark blue sea is the loss of pride.

Blow the blue silk smoke over my hair.
Drain some blue dyes out of my heart.
Shed some blue tears into the river.
Dissipate them all into thin air.



"An Amazon"


A steel-hearted gentleman
Grew purple and blue flowers
On her sweet, delicate face.

Her eyes coagulated
Into glass-stones.
Icicles hung from her eyelids.
Crimson cracks split her lips.

Bitter ruby wines dripped
Down into her throat.
Burning coals inflamed her flesh.
Fire flickered wild in her mind.

She slowly walked into a sanctuary
Where water fountains stood.
Poured some water on her face.
Nourished her broken bones.
Mended her broken heart.

The flowers turned into silky pink
On her sweet, healing face.
Her eyes turned gold,
Bright with majestic strength.

She approaches him as an Amazon,
Carrying a steel-laden shield.
She says, "I shall remember.
Your heart was never golden.
You led me into the dark.
Don't forget me!
You sucked my very blood!
You took all the joy from me.
Now I want it back!"







I will also perform up to 2 poems, spoken words and sign language simultaneously, at Bug Jar this Saturday night for the Occupy movements. I will perform a poem that have always been in my head and memorized called "Do Bongo. If time allows, I would perform "Fragile Earth". This is for support toward the Occupation movements and the fight against the 1% greed problems that are going on in this country.

Here are two poems for this event:

"Do Bongo"

Do bongo, do bongo, do bongo, do bongo!
Do bongo, do bongo, do bongo, do bongo!

Racial discriminations are not allowed in here! 
Racial discriminations are not allowed in here! 

Do bongo, do bongo, do bongo, do bongo!
Do bongo, do bongo, do bongo, do bongo!

This ancient drum beat came from the land of Africa!
This ancient drum beat came from the land of Africa!

Do bongo, do bongo, do bongo, do bongo!
Do bongo, do bongo, do bongo, do bongo!

The 1% greed is not allowed in here!
The 1% greed is not allowed in here!

Do bongo, do bongo, do bongo, do bongo!
Do bongo, do bongo, do bongo, do bongo!

This 99% came from the Occupy Wall Street!
This 99% came from the Occupy Wall Street!

Do bongo, do bongo, do bongo, do bongo!
Do bongo, do bongo, do bongo, do bongo!

Love, peace, and harmony!
Love, peace, and harmony!
Love, peace, and harmony!



“Fragile Earth”

As an alien in a cocoon,
I can see below.
They intermingle like discordant debris,
The thousands of emptied cotton gins.

Down below, they are playing with fire,
Abnormal with sheer insanity.
Blood and pleasures abused,
They turn grass blades into weeds.
Abandoning love,
They rip their hides
As vicious as ludicrous vampires.

They rape water lilies and water
Into rusted-brown oil.
Zeus’s lightning zaps and cuts
Them into broken parts.
They turn their Earth into a shape of the heart
With fragile fractures.





Sunday, April 8, 2012

Gay-Themed Artwork for ColorFest 2012








My 7 gay-themed artwork were displayed at NTID's Dyer Arts Center for ColorFest 2012. ColorFest 2012 is a special glbt deaf/hard of hearing students pride event that happens every year. I submitted my artwork and they approved to have my work exhibited during their ColorFest 2012 celebration. I felt a sense of honor and support to the students by providing my visual arts that reflect gay pride, respect, spirit, sexuality, and politics.

I also performed 2 ASL poems with original composed electronic music for them in the Robert F. Panara Theatre at NTID (National Technical Institute for the Deaf). I presented "After Breaking Glass" and "Nightlife". My performance of these two work turned out a great success on stage. Received positive raves from the students.

Here are two poems in written English that I performed.



“After Breathing Glass”


Blueness is a loss in the sea,

Floating upside-down in my dream.

I’m glass-fractured, can’t get what I see.

Smell the crisped, cold ice from the sea.

Hear myself moan and groan.

Maybe I would scream.


I see the flesh on his chest so warm

But it’s far in the distance from me.

I gaze, yet my desire can’t be born.

I want to find some relief.


Little people below don’t seem to care.

Chaos churns without air.

Yet hope allows my eyes to stare

At the warm flesh that is almost bare.


I shout to him, “Come please! Come to me!

Come pull me out of this sea!

Hold me so I can become free!

Give me your breath for me to breathe!”


"Nightlife"


Radiating rainbow halo hovered above DJ Jon Herbert's head.

Supersonic speeding electronic tunes bombarded our blood and bones in the crowd, captivating our overnight dreams,

ever lasting, ever amazed.


My inner spirit shimmered like a light that stays on through the night.

Moved my whole prudent presence, surrounded by the beauty of gay men and free-spirited people,

ever connected, ever new.


Pushed and pulled myself until all spun up through the glittery nightlife.

Friends and strangers wriggled and writhed beneath the majestic magical lights,

all bathed in brilliant rainbow hues,

ever energetic, ever bright.


Wondered all will I still dance when I become an old man?

Dreamed upon Andy Warhol whirling wildly among the dancing crowds at nightclubs,

an old man that didn't rock on the chair.

I shall sizzle and sashay with pride as long as I can in the rainbow lights,

ever blissful, ever sustained.


Dance through nightlife.

Dance through nightlife.

Saturday, March 10, 2012

3 More Logos for Friends of the Public Market




I submitted one logo design to Friends of the Public Market for the contest, yet they e-mailed back and asked me to submit 3 more, for they decided to ask artists to submit 4 logos instead of 1. Henceforth, I created 3 more logos. Here they are. I already submitted these 3 new logos to them. If an artist gets chosen, he/she would get $200.00 and their work would be on market bags, t-shirts, posters, and etc. I shall cross my fingers to get chosen for one of my 4 logos.

3 Sci. Fi. Ilustrations


I have been working on creating 3 science fiction-themed illustrations for the Ron L. Hubbard Writers and Illustrators of the Future contest due by March 31st. It took a whole month to complete this project. The mediums are color pencils on color papers. The contest asks for 3 themes of science fiction or fantasy. I created a robot theme, an alien theme, and virtual reality theme. If an artist gets chosen, she/he would get $1,000.00 and have networking opportunities. I shall cross my fingers and see if I win. Even if I don't win, that may not end just that. What may happen is to get networking to happen for my work through this contest.

Though, the image of my work isn't the best one. They will have to be scanned in order to look really good before submitting them. Other than that, enjoy the images of my 3 work.

SIGG Bottle Design w/ Cats


I have been working on creating a design on a bottle for a bottle company SIGG. They posted on Talenthouse.com to have artists join and compete for a best design. If chosen, an artist wins $1,000.00 and gets good networking opportunities. Henceforth, I came up with using images of cats. It's my hope that the popularity of cats due to their cuteness and being part of the society in families and etc. could entice the jurists or voters in Talenthouse.com to choose my design. Though, this task took a long time. I had to find many photos of cats on the Internet. Though, to avoid copyrights issues, the changes of the images has to be at least 25% or more. Therefore, those cats are not exactly the way they looked originally from the Internet. I copied/pasted the cats and used high contrast and darkness/brightness in PhotoShop to create silhouettes of the cats and reduce their sizes. For the face of the cat on front, I used special affects under Filter to create "Poster Edge" and "Cut Out" that changed the cat's face from original to artists' work, more cubic and torn edges on its face. The same went to the cat paw on the back of the bottle. I also added a white spot on the cat's eye to create a light spot and added a green on the eye as well to show this cat as having a green eye. I painted in white on the paw's toes. I just used "Bucket" tool to fill the whole background in green to match the cat's green eye. This is pretty much completed, but the only thing I need to do is to fix some tiny cats that are more grey and needs to get down to complete black. Shall cross my fingers to win or get at least a networking opportunity.