Zohra Saed

2011: A Year of Collaborations & Community Building

zohrasaed — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 03:37:23 +0000

Writers are for the most part lone wolfs, notorious for hibernating in order to release the “jinns” inside them via writing. However, this year, I found myself more than ever involved in collaborations that expanded my community of Asian American and Central Asian American authors, performers and intellectuals. Since I was bedazzled by the Hipstamatic App on my iPhone, I fortunately documented these moments of collaborations, both formal and informal (almost always informal with a generous dosage of laughter). I am blessed and honored to be part of this community.

Here is my tribute to a growing community:

The inimitable Cihan Kaan, author of Halal Pork & Other Stories whose book happily almost sold out 9 months after release (UpSet Press: Spring 2011)

Amir Parsa, genius poet, and Robert Booras, editor of UpSet Press drawing up a contract for 2013 and beyond with a cool $20 on the table.

Purvi Shah, director of KAVAD programs, Kundiman. Fearless leader of the Together We Are New York, a Post 9/11 Community Voices and Poetry Series.

These photos are a series of collaborative meetings poets: Hossannah Asuncion, Tamiko Beyer, Marlon Esguerra, April Naoko Heck, Eugenia Leigh, Bushra Rehman, Zohra Saed, Purvi Shah, and R.A. Villanueva had while putting together the Together We Are New York performance in NYC.

April Naoko Heck, poet/beauty/blogger

Tamiko Beyer, poet with the most joyous laughter, Together We Are New York (Kundiman)

Bushra Rehman, comedian meets poet meets novelist, Together We Are New York (Kundiman)

Marlon Esguerra, poet extraordinare, listening and editing the voices for Together We Are New York (Kundiman)

Hossannah Asuncion, poet and human vitamin C, bringing the good cheer at a Together We Are New York meeting.

R.A. Villanueva and Tamiko Beyer in the midst of editing at Together We Are New York meeting (Fast editing creates visual blurs -- aka Poets at Work defy still photos).

Eugenia Leigh, pushcart winner for her poetry! Here gathering the yellow candles we decorated the stage with at Fordham University.

Dad was my collaborator for the show -- his story became woven in with the interviews from the Asian American community.

My perspective... don

Nisa, the young future scientist interviewed by Tamiko Beyer. Tamiko

Sahar Muradi, poet/actress/co-editor, during a session to organize the first Afghan American artists and writers commemoration of the 10 years of war in Afghanistan.

Wazhmah Osman, Filmmaker/Scholar/Activist, at organization meeting for Afghan Americans Ten Years Later event.

Afghan American Artists and Writers Association (AAAWA) L-R: Sahar Muradi, moi, Naheed Elyasi, and Najila Naderi. The organization is now growing with members and events.

Bushra Aryan, PhD in Education, writes excellent probing work on Afghan American women in higher education.

Shehnaz Khan, community activist and author of

Veil matches iPhone. Madonna meets Hijabi Fashionista.

Shehnaz Khan, truly rocking that veil!

Winter Wonderland with Najila Naderi, Afghan American fiction writer.

Here is my pictorial formula to further increase my writing productivity 2012:

Some people see Jesus shapes on frosted windows -- I see the Buddha of Bamiyan on a tree in Midwood, Brooklyn.

Ezra Pound

My Turbano Totem: Found in a Chinatown Souvenir Shop on Doyer Street.

A Smiley Zohra

Wish me luck for the New Year! And thank you for all of your support! Happy writing, performing, creating and reading to you as well!

Infinite Incompleteness (Among Afghans & Afghan Americans)

zohrasaed — Sat, 17 Dec 2011 09:02:35 +0000

On November 8th, Wazhmah Osman and I were the two Afghans in the audience of this wonderful play: “Infinite Incompleteness”

Hadi Marifat, writes, “The voices are now raised, but is anybody ready to listen?” in one of his papers on the Theater of Justice that his NGO The Afghanistan Human Rights and Democracy Organization (AHRDO) has implemented as a tool for change in Afghanistan. This play was most certainly an important performance of multiple voices, both the voices of the actors on stage, sometimes overlapping and at other times solitary heartbroken, or angry and seeking justice, and the text that was on display (translations in English of the performance, which was a layer of Dari and Pashto).

Hadi Marifat, Director of AHRDO

Infinite Completeness was an interweaving of multiple life history accounts of the 30+ years of war in Afghanistan. The repetitive acts of building/destroying, burying/excavating, collecting/scattering, and counting endlessly spoke profoundly the story of Afghanistan and the effects of decades of war.

Zahra Hosseini, actor and activist.

Prayer, Thoughtfulness, and Behind Both a Map of Afghanistan

Sayed Mohammad Javid, actor and activist.

Zaman Khoshnam, actor and activist was the Pashto voice in this.

And here is a lovely photo of the Afghan performers and us two Afghan Americans (Wazhmah Osman 3rd person from Left) after the show:

Post Show

I was fortunate to spend 11.11.11 with this group at Le Pain Quoditien in SoHo talking about the possible connections between our gang, Afghan American Artists and Writers Association (AAAWA) and AHRDO. Let’s keep our fingers crescented about any future collaborations. It was a great honor to meet them and to speak with them (and they were extremely patient with my Dari/English with some occasional Uzbek terms popping in like an uninvited guest into my sentences).

Z Cubed: Zahra and Zaman on stage with Zohra taking photo...

Autumn in Brooklyn

zohrasaed — Fri, 25 Nov 2011 08:58:48 +0000

Hipstamatic photos from my iPhone in homage of autumn, my favorite month in NYC:

Manhattan Bridge

Manhattan Bridge, a glimpse of laundry

Commuter Pigeon on Q line

Commuter Pigeon realizing she has wings...

Autumn is always Conference Season

Daddy jan making turshi (pickles) to mark the beginning of autumn.

Autumn is a pile of stringbeans (from Ginger restaurant)

Autumn is leafless tree with apples still clinging on.

Howl Festival Photos

zohrasaed — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 07:32:02 +0000

Thanks to David Henderson and Chris Brandt for a lovely and meaningful event on a warm Sunday afternoon in October for the Howl Festival:

Sara Goudarzi

The lovely poet, Sara Goudarzi. Everyone came out with these fantastic glowing faces as if illuminated features were quite average things for poets and musicians these days.

Sahar Muradi

Poet and actress, Sahar Muradi in her fantastic shoes.

Yusuf Misdaq

Yusuf not only read his poetry but also performed on the harmonium!

David Henderson

David doing his magic on stage.

The Mast

The afternoon closed with the angelic voice of Haale, lead singer of The Mast.

Howl Festival: Poets for Renewable Energy & Peace 10/23 @1pm Theater 80

zohrasaed — Sat, 22 Oct 2011 06:58:05 +0000

Poets for Renewable Energy and Peace (PREP) at Howl Festival (NYC)

When: Sunday, October 23

Time: 1-4pm

Where: Theater 80 on 80 St. Marks Place (East 8th St. & 1st Avenue) in Manhattan.

Who: Sahar Muradi, Zohra Saed, Anne Waldman, The Mast (featuring Haale Gafori and Matt Kilmer), Sara Goudarzi, Bob Rosenthal, Papoleto Melendez, Yusuf Misdaq, Tahani Salah, Jackie Sheeler, Chris Brandt, David Henderson, Eliot Katz, and surprise special guests.

About: The event is being organized in conjunction with the Howl Festival, which is putting on a series of October events at Theater 80 to raise money for the Howl HELP Fund, which will provide emergency assistance to help community artists with emergency healthcare, housing, and social service needs.

A few photos from Oct. 7th: Afghan Americans 10 Years Later

zohrasaed — Sun, 16 Oct 2011 07:47:30 +0000

There is so much to say about the event on Oct. 7th — a reunion of artist friends, a meeting of new friends, and a commemoration. Yellow candles lit the Mandragoras Gallery where Afghan Americans and an Afghan Brit came together to share the process of art-making and self-making during these years of war in Afghanistan, life post-9/11 for Afghans in the diaspora.

The evening was presented in three rooms.

Room 1: Video Art by Mariam Ghani, Gazelle Samizay and Yusuf Misdaq on loop. Then a screening of Wazhmah Osman’s Postcards from Tora Bora, which also features clips from super 8 family films from Afghanistan in the 1960s and 70s. It was priceless.

Wazhmah Osman's Postcards from Tora Bora

The gallery:

Naheed Elyasi setting up the delicious spread for the evening.

Mandragoras Gallery

Readings:

Niro Sherzad warms up the stage and continued to steal the show!

Najila Naderi reads excerpts from her powerful short story.

Yusuf Misdaq performs his dynamic poetry. (In Afghan chapan (robe) with a Colorado T-shirt)

Helena Zewari discusses the aesthetics & politics of Afghan diaspora art-making/self-making.

Room 3: Zakarya Sherzad (on Cello) performs with Sinan (on Oud) as a video art piece juxtaposing the mountains of Afghanistan and the catastrophe of the World Trade Centers in his haunting and powerful poetry on being split yet connected by the catastrophes of both places.

Sinan and Zakarya

Audience listening... Sahar by the window in red dress.

Sahar Muradi’s performance of Questions & Answers that Afghan Americans deal with:

(Right) Sahar: "Then you must speak Pashtu?" (Left) Guest: "I don't even know what that means."

Thank you for the 150 friends and family who came to the event!

The Future (Rocked)

zohrasaed — Fri, 07 Oct 2011 02:54:32 +0000

Found Spot: 4th Ave Park Slope (June, 2011)

Afghan Americans 10 Years Later: 10/7/11 @7pm

zohrasaed — Mon, 03 Oct 2011 09:21:13 +0000

9/28 @ 7pm Together We Are New York (sneak peek)

zohrasaed — Wed, 28 Sep 2011 05:39:02 +0000

Our encore show of Together We Are New York (FREE and open to the public) is Wednesday evening, Sept. 28 at the Blue Gem Room at the Paul Robeson Theater in Fort Greene, Brooklyn. Join us for a polyphonic performance of poems mixed with audio excerpts of interviews with Asian American community members: together we will reflect on 9/11 and the decade since and share laughter, sorrows, insights, and a way forward! Would love your presence and feedback!

Special Encore Performance & Dialogue: Wednesday, September 28, 2011, 7-9 p.m.

Blue Gem Room at Paul Robeson Theater

54 Greene Ave., 1st Floor (Please note: this is NOT the 40 Greene Ave. Robeson Theater space but a space slightly further down Greene and up the stairs at 54 Greene Ave.)

Brooklyn, NY (Fort Greene)

SUBWAYS (nearest stations):

A & C train “Lafayette station” then walk 2 blocks on Greene Ave to the Paul Robeson Theater

G train “Fulton Street station” or “Clinton-Washington station”

2, 3, 4, 5, B, D, N, Q, R – “Pacific – Atlantic station”

From the Atlantic Avenue stations, walk over to the Williamsburg Bank building and then walk along Hanson Place to Fulton, and directly across Fulton is Greene Ave.

Featured poets include Hossannah Asuncion, Tamiko Beyer, Marlon Esguerra, April Heck, Eugenia Leigh, Bushra Rehman, Zohra Saed, Purvi Shah, and R.A. Villanueva

http://www.kundiman.org/kavad/

(from Purvi Shah)

Some photos from the prep for the show in Brooklyn:

Tamiko Beyer reading her poem during rehearsal

Sound clip announcement -- my dad's voice is weaved in

Tamiko Beyer's poem for Nisa

During Rehearsals (note no chairs set up yet -- we are waiting for you!)

David Meltzer in the Classroom

zohrasaed — Tue, 27 Sep 2011 02:07:53 +0000

Last week, poet David Meltzer and his wife Julie came to visit. What’s cooler than a poet visiting to talk about the “Beat” movement in American poetry? Coming in a shirt that says “DownBeat”!

I’ve been reading Beat Thing and will post up some audio clips from the talk (depending on how fancy I can get with this Garage Band!)

It was a transformative experience! And hearing about Kerouac behind “Kerouac” was rewarding in itself… more soon on this talk.

(L-R) Professor Extraordinaire Ammiel Alcalay, Julie and David Meltzer