Category: Multicultural

Digital Award

Posted on by Sylvia Wong Lewis

AVA Digital Awards Announce 2013 Winners

Narrative Network wins AVA Digital Gold Award from among 2000 global entrants

My Hakka Chinese family from Caribbean pose in Los Angeles on way back to Harlem.

New York, NY (February 1, 2013) Narrative Network and LS3 Studios are winners of the AVA Digital-Gold Awards, for co-producing documentary trailer “From Shanghai to Harlem,” in the category of Creativity Video Production/Editing, it was announced on February 1, 2013. AVA recognizes outstanding achievement by creative professionals involved in the concept, direction, design and production of media that is part of the evolution of digital communication. Work ranges from audio and video productions to websites and social media sites that present interactive components such as video, animation, blogs, and podcasts to other user-generated digital communication.

There were 2,000 entries from throughout the United States, Canada and several other countries in the 2013 competition. Entrants included digital professionals from audio, video and film production companies; web developers; advertising agencies; PR firms; corporate and government communication departments; and independent creative professionals such as designers, producers, directors, editors and shooters.

AVA Digital Awards is sponsored and judged by the Association of Marketing and Communication Professionals (AMCP). The international organization consists of several thousand production, marketing, communication, advertising, public relations, and free-lance professionals. AMCP administers recognition programs; provides judges and rewards outstanding achievement and service to the profession. As part of its mission, AMCP fosters and supports the efforts of creative professionals who contribute their unique talents to public service and charitable organizations.

Judges are industry professionals who look for companies and individuals whose talent exceeds a high standard of excellence and whose work serves as a benchmark for the industry.

Winners, who will receive certificates and inscribed statuettes, were selected from over 200 categories in Audio, Video, and Web-based production. A list of Platinum and Gold Winners can be found on the AVA Digital Awards website at www.avaawards.com

Chinese New Year’s Greetings!

Posted on by Sylvia Wong Lewis

In honor of my Chinese ancestors, Gong Xi Fai Cai!, from my family to yours. Wishing you a prosperous Year of the Water Snake!

My Chinese ancestors come from Trinidad and Guyana. Many people ask me: “How did the Chinese land in the West Indies?” The short answer is: Slavery. But the full answer is more complicated than that. The Chinese in the Caribbean had to do with indentured workers, migration and immigration. Then their story gets more complicated!

Here is an excerpt from Indentured Labor, Caribbean Sugar-Chinese and Indian Migrants to the British West Indies, 1838-1918, by Walton Look Lai, page 87-88.

“Life and Labor on the Plantations: The Chinese”: When the Cantonese region began to show increased emigration activity in the years following the first so-called Opium Wars (1839-42), Western importers began to pay active attention to the prospect of recruiting cheap labor from this source. A British parliamentary committee had tried to revive the issue of Chinese immigration to the West Indies as early as 1811, but there was no follow-up. In 1843, licenses for the importation of 2,850 Chinese were actually granted (six for British Guiana and 2,150 immigrants, one for Trinidad for 300, and one for Jamaica for 400). But the projects were never undertaken because at this point the importers were expected to bear the financial risks themselves, and their agents in the East could not get many Chinese to migrate to the West Indies voluntary.”

But eventually, many Chinese indentured workers did arrive in the Caribbean islands to replace the formerly enslaved Africans and native Caribbeans. According to many oral history documents recently translated, many of those early Chinese migrant workers were given false papers, some were forced onto ships and treated as bad or worst than the African slaves. My family stories are still being discovered through genealogy and research. The search continues. Stay tuned!

Sylvia Wong Smith Lewis in canal village in Shanghai, China.

 

 

Paulina Joy (maternal great grandmother); Emily Looney, maternal grand aunt (grandmother Violet’s sister); Pauline Chan Keong (my mother’s baby sister). Photo taken in China on way back to Los Angeles.

 

My mother Carmen, grandmother Violet, Uncle Owen, grand Aunt Emily, Sakaye, Japanese ‘cousin’ who was adopted by my family while her family was sent to internment camp. Photo taken in Los Angeles, CA.

 

 

 

My Brooklyn Chinese New Year’s

Posted on by Sylvia Wong Lewis
Children dancing at Chinese New Year’s banquet hosted by Marty Markowitz, Brooklyn Borough President.

I celebrated Chinese New Years in Brooklyn again this year. Hosted by Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz, over 400 turned out for his annual Chinese New Year Banquet to benefit the Camp Brooklyn Fund. This year it was held at the New Spring Garden, an A-rated restaurant in Sunset Park on February 7.

Marty Markowitz, Brooklyn Borough President opens Chinese New Year’s program.

Brooklyn’s Chinatown, located in the Sunset Park section, is the fastest growing Chinese community in the country, already surpassing Flushing, according to US Census reports. Marty Markowitz gave a rousing New Year’s greeting and saluted the achievements of this Chinese community for creating one of NYC’s best school districts and successful business districts. He also gave a special greeting and congratulations to Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce’s new Chair, Denise Arbesu, whose husband recently rolled off as outgoing Chairman. There were many officials, dignitaries, business leaders and sponsors in the room.

Brooklyn Chinese New Year’s banquet table setting at New Spring Garden.

The program opened with children performing wonderful dances. The traditional dragon and its masked sidekick made its way around the huge dining room to drum beats and tambourines. Patrons excitedly “fed” the dragon’s mouth with red envelopes containing money for the Camp Brooklyn Fund.

 

Feeding the dragon at Chinese New Year’s banquet in Brooklyn’s Chinatown.

This was definitely an event that I should have worn my stretchy pants. We ate so much that I forgot to take photos of the food. But here’s the Menu: Appetizers: Steamed Shrimp Dumplings, Traditional Pork Dumplings; and Crispy Vegetable Spring Rolls. Soup: Marty’s favorite Velvet Chicken corn Soup with Homemade Fried Noodle. Entrees: Jumbo Shrimp with Honey, Walnuts and Sauce; Special New Year’s Grouper with Vegetables; Sizzling Beef over Bok Choy; Sweet and sour Spare ribs; New Spring Garden Sesame Chicken; Crowd Favorite Vegetable Fried Rice; Chicken Chow Fun Marty-Style; Sautéed String Beans in Garlic Sauce. Desserts: Fresh Sliced Oranges; Chinese Fortune Cookies. Beverages included White and Red wines and Tsingtao Beer.

 

The honorees were: Kenneth D. Daly, President of National Grid; Deon Livingston, Vice President & General Manager of WBLS & WLIB-FM; Michael “Buzzy” O’Keefe, Restaurateur Extraordinaire; and Yvonne Riley-Tepie, Vice President, US Field Marketing, TD Bank.

 

This year, we celebrate the Year of the Water Snake. Unlike Western culture, the snake symbolizes positive attributes in Chinese culture. The Snake is the intuitive, introspective, refined, cool and collected animal in the Chinese horoscope. They are attractive people who are graceful, exciting and dark all at the same time. They can become quite possessive when they set their minds on achieving the interest of a partner, according to some Chinese horoscope guides.

 

This is your year if you were born in: 1917, 1929, 1941, 1953, 1965, 1977, 1989, 2001, and 2013. Some famous Snake people include: Oprah Winfrey, John F. Kennedy, Abraham Lincoln, Martin Luther King, Jr., Pablo Picasso, Bob Dylan, James Joyce, Martha Stewart, Kanye West, Pierce Brosnan, Charlie Sheen, Courtney Love, Howard Stern, and Edgar Allan Poe, according to LA Examiner.

 

Dragon and masked sidekick winds their way around 400 diners at Brooklyn Chinese New Year’s banquet.

Celebration: If you feel like braving the cold weather, come out to celebrate Chinese New Years in Brooklyn’s Chinatown on Sunday, February 10. As usual, the Brooklyn Chinese American Association (BCA), a community service organization founded in 1987, organized this year’s festivities.

Schedule: 10 am-Noon performances by and for children, speeches, followed by firecrackers. Noon-1pm Parade from 50th to 60th streets. Visitors should go to 50th street and 8th avenue in Sunset Park area.

Directions: Take MTA, D train to 50th street, walk up hill four long blocks to 8th avenue. Make a day of it or go anytime. After the parade, explore the local area for New York’s best Chinese food and terrific local shopping.

Gong Xi Fai Cai, from my family to yours. Wishing you a prosperous Year of the Water Snake!

MLK Day

Posted on by Sylvia Wong Lewis
Celebrate National Day of Service in honor of Martin Luther King Jr.

MLK Day  or Martin Luther King Day is more than just a day. First Lady Michelle Obama wants us to take part in the National Day of Service in honor of Martin Luther King on Saturday, January 19, 2013.

“Four years ago, during his first inauguration, Barack and I were thrilled when thousands of Americans from every corner of the country took part in the National Day of Service honoring Martin Luther King, Jr. We were so excited because we knew that the celebrations weren’t just about a new president, but about everything that we can accomplish together. And that starts with service,” said First Lady Michelle Obama.

 “Everybody can be great because anybody can serve. You don’t have to have a college degree to serve. You don’t have to make your subject and verb agree to serve. You only need a heart full of grace, a soul generated by love.”—Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

The First Family is asking us to find an activity to serve others in our communities. Let’s get busy! There are seven ways to get involved: health, education, community resilience, economic development, veterans and military families, faith-based work, and environment.

Go to: http://action.2013pic.org/Pledge-to-Serve.

PS: When you click on the site and commit to serve, you will be automatically entered for a chance to attend President Obama’s Inauguration on January 21, 2013, flight and hotel expenses covered!

Sisters on a Mickalene Thomas art field trip

Posted on by Sylvia Wong Lewis
Sleep: Deur Femmes Noires, 2012, Rhinestones, acrylic, oil, enamel on wood panel, Mickalene Thomas.

Brooklyn artist Mickalene Thomas depicts black female beauty and sexual identity with images of power and femininity in a 1970’s setting.  Known for her rhinestone encrusted works, Thomas takes cues from Romare Bearden, Gustave Courbert, Edouard Manet and others with her portraiture, landscapes, still lifes, installations, and female nudes.

I experienced her first solo New York show recently at the Brooklyn Museum. “Mickalene Thomas: Origins of the Universe” was dazzling and huge. As you moved deeper into the exhibit you could hear Nina Simone and Prince among 25 others on a soundtrack. It was such fun to enjoy this show with a group of Black women! Mind you, this all-Black women’s group was serendipitous. We actually met on a ‘field trip’ as part of our digital networking group.

Rhinestones, acrylics, oil, enamel on wood panel by Mickalene Thomas at Brooklyn Museum.

The 90 featured works on display included an entrance mural on the ground floor and the fourth floor’s Contemporary Art Gallery where a film about her mother and installations of furnished domestic interiors were explored.

Mickalene’s Mom: The film about Mickalene’s mother, Sandra Bush, a former fashion model, was very emotional. Thomas’ mother has been her muse for many years— since the artist’s days as a BFA student at Pratt Institute and an MFA student at Yale.  Dressed in her Sunday best, glorious make-up with deep plum lipstick, Mama Bush, as she is known, was rail thin (compared to earlier art works that featured her) with perfect posture. Her jaundiced eyes looked directly at you with optimism as she prepared for her last dialysis treatment. Mickalene, who is married to artist Carmen McLeod, engaged her mother in a deeply personal conversation about dying, her past drug use, and rocky relationship with her husband.

Soul on Ice: The museum’s fourth floor gallery, including two venues with a connecting hallway, was decked out with many large and small paintings. A lady wearing a blue veiled hat is seen as a photo on one wall and as a painting on another (in photo after below). One of several staged apartments featured books like Soul on Ice and Roots (below photo), a record player playing a real record, 8-track tape deck playing real music, mixed-matched furnishings, and old-timey wood wall paneling. We loved those apartments. What a fun and original show! The exhibit runs through January 20.

staged interior, art installation, Mickalene Thomas

What did the sisters say about Mickalene’s art?
“I thought Mickalene Thomas’ work was amazing. I am a huge fan. Thomas’ work celebrates my seventies childhood.  It also reminded me of the beautiful images of Black women I saw growing up, reading Essence magazine and watching my mother and her friends who wore Afros and 70s clothing. The patchwork quilt technique that Thomas used celebrates my grandmother’s quilting and reminded me of my own artwork. I love collage and quilts,” said Ananda Leeke, Digital Sisterhood Network founder, who organized our diverse women’s group.

“Thomas’ work was soul food for my creative spirit. I also enjoyed watching the film about her ill mother. It helped me appreciate her work even more. The installation art was incredible too. I loved seeing the living rooms and hearing Diana Ross on the record player. It brought me back to my childhood,” said Ananda.

Qusuquzah, une tres belle negresse #2, mixed media by Mickalene Thomas

What else did the sisters say?

One sister remarked about the show’s “edge and attitude.” Another pointed out Black women’s “luscious sensuality.”

 “These women are familiar to me. It’s great to see art where we can see our identity reflected.”

“Look at that sister’s gaze and her skin, so brown and firm.”

“Oh, wait. Is that a gigantic brown-skin “x#&!x#*&c” with rhinestones all around it?”  asked another, referring to a glittering dark-skinned female genitalia  encrusted in Rhinestones inside a large painting.

One of the women in the group lectured about the use of sparkles, rhinestones and glitter as affirming a poor person’s bold statement about being “rich in spirit.”

There was a genuine consensus among us about soul glitter and quilting too.  “That’s our tradition. We will put glitter on everything to dress it up. We take scraps to create beautiful quilts. We invented re-purposing! There is a dignity and beauty in those kinds of efforts. Look at the mix-matching wall paper and floor tiles—that’s part of our culture to make something from nothing…to make us feel beautiful and rich,” said another.

Another person remarked about the historical distance Black women’s imagery had moved “from slavery to this high-level artful, multi-dimensional, powerful and stylized place.”

The playlist to accompany the exhibit includes 27 songs ranging from Nina Simone’s “Go the Hell,” Man Man’s “English Bwudd” to Prince’s “Kiss,” was created by Thomas. Check it out.

Art admirers at Mickalene Thomas exhibit at Brooklyn Museum through Jan. 20.