In February 2015 I performed in Expressing Motherhood– an amazing stage show where people tell personal stories about motherhood. While backstage I asked my castmates a question:
What is foreplay to you?
I have no idea why I asked this question. It must’ve seemed hella creepy since I was a stranger to most of them. But anyway… here are their answers: Continue Reading…
I loved being a stay-at-home mom. For years. The nursing, the middle-of-the-day cuddles, how the smallest activities turned into big, big adventures. And then one day I didn’t love it so much anymore. In fact, I found myself very depressed. My life was completely out of whack. Continue Reading…
OK you guys. This might be my favorite DIY project ever. It’s personal. And it’s weird. And I’m a little giddy about it. Excuse me while I go giggle behind my delicate Asian hand. 😉 It’s called Correcting Yellowface.
A few weeks ago, in a fit of frustration over the history of Hollywood whitewashing, I felt an urge to do something. I started taking pictures of myself. Not just random pictures. I took pictures of myself as Asian characters who were played by white women in film. And it felt sooooo good.
It’s true! Someone- who’s probably since been fired- let ME poke around the rooms of The White House! I read the spines of the books on the shelves, stirred my coffee with a silver spoon, and sat just feet away from First Lady Michelle Obama as she spoke about one of our nation’s biggest problems: childhood obesity. I returned to LA giddy but informed, ready to report on the accomplishments of the Let’s Move initiatives and armed with tools to continue the work.
But before I get into all of that, first things first: Continue Reading…
Hi Homies!
Here’s a video I made about last year’s yarn bomb in honor of National Women’s History Month– The Village Green Yarnbomb. For more info you can read this post here or this one here. Stay tuned for the The Monument Yarnbomb coming (weather permitting) Tuesday, March 8th 2016! Be sure to click through this video and subscribe to my YouTube channel for fun and informative DIY videos!
Yarnbomb 2015 was a huge success. And by success I mean we honored women in history, the community enjoyed two weeks of eye-candy and when it was over, women living in shelters got some really pretty blankets for their beds. Also I did not fall out of a tree and die. See? Success.
At the crack of dawn on March 3rd, I headed to the Village Green with a few volunteers and did this crazy thing. Read all about why I did this crazy thing here. Check out the newspaper stories about the crazy thing I did here. For pics of the installation of the crazy thing keep scrolling… Continue Reading…
It started with one tree. I would just yarn bomb one tree. Just the trunk, in fact. While crocheting and listening to Aretha Franklin on Pandora, I decided to name that piece Aretha. As my plan evolved, I decided to also yarn bomb two more big trees and stuck with A for the first letter. Those became Amelia Earhart and Anna May Wong. (My sister-in-law knitted Amelia- one of the only knit pieces in the project.)
But then I just kept on going. I decided to also cover the smaller pear trees, the benches and the lampposts. To keep track of my work I continued to name each piece after a notable woman. And it became a way to honor women for National Women’s History Month, while creating yarn pieces that could become blankets for women living in shelters.
If I’ve learned anything in this process, it’s that there are many, many great women who have made history, many who are currently making history, and not nearly enough crap to cover in yarn. Continue Reading…
As a busy mom to little ones, I’ve been missing the days when I wasn’t responsible for anyone or anything. I’ve wanted to rebel. Spray painting graffiti feels a little too illegal, but covering a local park in soft, non-permanent yarn? THAT will be the perfect act of delinquency to satisfy my rebel heart.
I’ll do it guerrilla style. Don’t ask for permission, just ask for forgiveness, right?
But wait. What if I’m ostracized from my tony community for being too crafty? What if I get arrested? If I’m going to take that kind of risk, this yarn bomb has to be FOR something…
So when the yarn bomb is over, the yarn pieces will be re-fashioned into blankets and my kids and I are donating them to homeless women and children. The yarn will serve multiple purposes: entertaining the community and helping the poverty-stricken. And my kids will have first-hand experience using art to make a difference in people’s lives. Win all around. Continue Reading…
So I had this idea to work a shift in a diner to see if being a mom had made me a better waitress. It was supposed to be a fun, lighthearted post – but it took a little turn. Check out my piece on Huffington Post to read how everything changes when you have kids. Including the way we handle sexual harassment.
I was dancing on a bar with my sister and her friends when I leaned down to speak to a St. Maarten local. “How do you say ‘bachelorette party’ in French?” I yelled. The DJ was blasting dance beats and the bartenders were doing body shots with customers. Waves crashed in the darkness behind us. The tall, Caribbean man turned to me, the whites of his eyes ominous in the moonlight.“L’enterrement de vie de jeune fille,” he said. I shuddered.
Funeral of the Life of the Young Maiden.
I immediately sobered up. We’d been drinking Bahama Mamas from penis straws, dancing on tables and somewhere in this bar, one of us was wearing a giant inflatable johnson and inviting fellow bar mates to play a ring toss game. Continue Reading…
