August 2024 News:

Thank you, Flo Oy Wong of Asian American Women Artists Association https://www.aawaa.net/, for sharing wonderful news:

Cynthia Tom https://www.aplaceofherown.org/ receives  a 2024 WOMAN WARRIOR Award from Pacific Asian American Woman Bay Area Coalition.

Hearty congratulations to Cynthia Tom and all the award recipients.

Ceremony to be held on September 22, 2024 at Hotel Kabuki – JDV by Hyatt,  1625 Post Street San Francisco, CA 94115

Tickets:  https://www.eventbrite.com/e/2024-woman-warrior-awards-tickets-949421303677

Pacific Asian American Woman Bay Area Coalition says:

“Join us as we honor six local Asian Pacific Islander women for their lasting contributions to the API community and notable career achievements. First bestowed in 1983, PAAWBAC is excited to carry on this tradition of recognizing accomplished API women as modern-day Woman Warriors — talented and courageous — as they distinguish themselves in their respective fields, while giving back to others.”

https://www.paawbac.org/woman-warriors-main

Cynthia_Tom_photo_by Teresa_Jade_LeYung_2019_Paris,_FRANCE img_8187

Artist Cynthia Tom says:

“My paintings are a form of visual meditations for me and I hope they can do the same for you.

“Each piece is created intuitively. It begins with a spark of an idea and allowed to evolve in its own time, even the title comes to me when its ready. Every work of art has a story to tell.

“Created with intentions for healing, wonder and resilience, I hope to spark for your imagination for a life filled with confidence, calm, delight, and fortitude.”

https://www.cynthiatom.com/

Cynthia_Tom_photo_by_Teresa_Jade_LeYung_2019_Paris,_FRANCE img_7702

Cynthia Tom is:

Cultural Surrealist | Visual Artist |Speaker and Cultural Community and Women focused Curator | Founding Director of A PLACE of HER OWN and Flying Lessons: Inquire Within workshops and lectures | Board President Emeritus – Asian American Women Artists Association

Cynthia_Tom_photo_by_Teresa_Jade_LeYung_2019_Paris,_FRANCE img_8679

A PLACE OF HER OWN™  https://www.aplaceofherown.org/

A PLACE OF HER OWN™ (PLACE) empowers community through its women. We provide trauma-informed art-based tools and thought processes, including a culturally conscious community to foster confidence, leadership, and compassion. We address generational trauma, colonization, and cultural conditioning, while promoting social justice and self-agency. Through workshops, exhibitions and presentations, we provide visibility and creative sanctuary, inviting women to define their aspirations and self-worth through intuitive art, celebrating their authentic selves.

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I thank Linda A. Harris and Tom Swan for encouraging me to see Cynthia Tom’s installation in the autumn of 2016. I thank Sue R. for giving me a ride to meet:

Tales of human trafficking from A Chinese American family’s perspective

I thank Margie Yee Webb for giving me a ride to pick up my first purchase of a Cynthia Tom painting.

I thank Sue R. for encouraging me to enroll in Cynthia’s 2018 A PLACE OF HER OWN™

Cynthia Tom with one section of her triptych 'Accepting The I Am' , Teresa_Jade_LeYung,_Margie_Yee_Webb_2017-11-18 img_4683

Renowned artist/cultural curator Cynthia Tom says: “To imagine a place of your own, for a woman, is an act of rebellion. Whether its physical or a state of mind, this concept drives self-care and love. This exhibition, the culminating phase of a 6-month healing program, is Intended to inspire, excite and ignite. It combines visual storytelling with mixed media and found objects, and insists upon new ways to re-imagine your place in the world.”

I thank Elisa Sasa Southard for helping me craft my artist statement in April 2018 when we were in Paris, FRANCE.

I thank everyone who were/are connected and supported/support and cheered/cheer for Cynthia Tom and A PLACE OF HER OWN™

Teresa_Jade_LeYung,_Cynthia_Tom,_Olga_Malyj_2019_Paris 030b

I thank Cynthia Tom who inspired me to join Asian American Women Artists Association https://www.aawaa.net/ in San Francisco, California, USA

I thank Cynthia Tom who led me to Dr. Amy Grace Lam https://www.vibrationalenergywellness.com/  and   https://www.amygracelam.com/

I thank Dr. Lam who led me to Dr. Jae Reed https://azureskychiro.com/  and   https://azureskychiro.com/meet-the-team/#jae-reed

Linda,_Cynthia,_Sasa Southard__Paris_2019.04.24_photo_by_Teresa_Jade_LeYung IMG_0753

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Here are links to a few of my blog posts that honor Cynthia Tom and everyone involved with A PLACE OF HER OWN™:

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https://lovemadeofheart.com/blog/teresa-jade-leyung-celebrates-everyone-connected-to-artist-curator-educator-cynthia-tom-and-a-place-of-her-own/

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https://lovemadeofheart.com/blog/theme-consultant-and-writing-coach-teresa-jade-leyung-supports-artists-who-face-hungry-ghosts/

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https://lovemadeofheart.com/blog/cynthia-tom-to-teach-artmaking-to-access-your-identity-at-chinese-historical-society-of-america/

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https://lovemadeofheart.com/blog/story-theme-consultant-teresa-leyung-ryan-living-beauty-full-life-as-teresa-jade-leyung/

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Thank you for reading my blog post:

“Celebrating Artist, Curator, Activist, Teacher CYNTHIA  TOM and Everyone Connected to Cynthia’s A Place Of Her Own™”

Cynthia_Tom_photo_by_Teresa_Jade_LeYung_2019_Paris,_FRANCE img_7919__

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I wish Cynthia Tom and everyone – peace, vibrant health and happiness always!!!

Teresa Jade LeYung with her art "My Four Desks" photo by artist Irene Wibawa

Sincerely,

Teresa Jade LeYung

Wake-Up America!  Part II

Healing Racism

by Dr. Kim McMillon, Professor & Author

https://www.narrativepathsjournal.com/guest-column-wake-up-america-part-ii-healing-racism-by-dr-kim-mcmillon-professor-author/

Dr. Kim McMillon, author, historian, activist, over twenty years of experience producing theatre

The Conversation 

1. How do you become an ally to those experiencing racial oppression?
2.  The public has not protested the atrocities that have been taking place in our country, but yet during a pandemic, people are taking to the streets to protest the death of George Floyd, why?
3.   How do you believe we can change the world for the better?
4.   As a poet, how would you like to be remembered?
5.   What line or stanza of poetry best describes you?

***

Author Teresa Jade LeYung says:  The tagline in Dr. Kim McMillon’s poetathon is: “If not NOW, WHEN?” I believe that that mantra plus the ability to document incidents with our personal electronic devices (especially cellphones) plus the speed in which to broadcast content through social media add up to a World Town Crier galvanizing people to protest the murders of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, and other victims. Here we are, fighting a global enemy named Coronavirus – people old and young risking their lives to save lives – folks making sacrifices by staying home to reduce the spread of infection – friends and neighbors sharing resources . . . yet, all the while, the hideous monster named racial injustice looms across our past and present. What can I do after protesters have gone home? How do I confront apathy and denial? I pledge to get more training from www.ihollaback.org: “We’re on a mission to end harassment—in all its forms.”  The folks at Hollaback! (in 16 countries) have developed new programs, including “Bystander Intervention to Stop Police-Sponsored Violence and Anti-Black Racist Harassment” and “Stand Up Against Street Harassment.” I pledge to not wait to read voting material right before elections but to routinely visit websites of my legislators to communicate to them what laws I want changed, so that I stand with fellow Americans to fully exercise our rights to “Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” http://www.archives.gov/founding-docs/declaration

***

Author Teresa Jade LeYung says:  How can we change the world for the better?  While I have no answers, questions weigh on me as a U.S. citizen.

• Education – “Why do zip codes influence how much money a child receives in public schools?  Do ballot measures show this inequality?” https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/tale-two-zip-codes-covid-19-exposes-deep-disparities-u-n1227646
  
• ***
• When the media brag about lowest unemployment rate, I want to know: “How many of these jobs actually pay a living wage?” “Who are selling and buying ‘cheap labor’ and where are the human beings toiling?”https://livingwage.mit.edu/articles  and https://livingwage.mit.edu/articles/61-new-living-wage-data-for-now-available-on-the-tool and https://www.worldhunger.org/  and  https://www.worldhunger.org/hunger-news/united-states/
• ***
• When groups blame immigrants and migrant workers (all tax payers by the way) for “taking away” jobs, I ask  “Why are we denying the fact that U.S. companies send millions of jobs overseas?”  and “What happened to the companies who had urged us to be patriotic by buying products made in the U.S.A.?”  https://www.thebalance.com/how-outsourcing-jobs-affects-the-u-s-economy-3306279
• ***
• Why are we afraid to look at “ugly”?
• Abject Poverty https://www.un.org/en/sections/issues-depth/poverty/
• ***
• Hate and Bigotry https://www.splcenter.org/what-we-do
• ***
• Modern day Slavery also known as Human Trafficking https://www.acf.hhs.gov/otip/partnerships/look-beneath-the-surface
• ***

Do we have a chance of becoming our better selves? Yes! We can wake up! Perhaps if we continue asking lawmakers these and other questions, our united voices shall change the world for the better.

https://www.ihollaback.org  Hollaback!  in 20 cities globally!

***

https://www.standup-international.com/fr/fr  Agissons ensemble contre le harcèlement de rue.

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 https://www.standagainsthatred.org/   Stand Against Hate

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https://www.asianpacificpolicyandplanningcouncil.org/stop-aapi-hate/  Stop AAPI Hate

I wish you and everyone around you safety, kindness, excellent health, clear water, blue sky, delicious foods, and sweet laughter!

Bonne journée!

Sincerely,

author Teresa Jade LeYung, mask by Emily O, July 2020 COVID-19 pandemic

Author and Theme Consultant Teresa Jade LeYung

“To help prevent spread of COVID-19, I wear face-covering AND keep at least 6-foot distance with people who don’t live with me.  No blaming No shaming; I protect myself and everyone else.”

Teresa Jade LeYung, American naturalized citizen of Chinese ancestry, is a manuscript-theme consultant, author of Love Made Of Heart (archived at the San Francisco History Center), Build Your Writer’s Platform & Fanbase In 22 Days, and Talking To My Dead Mom monologues, and, advocate for public libraries and public schools. Teresa speaks out and offers resources through her Blog: http://lovemadeofheart.com/blog/

Sunday, June 21, 2020, 2:00pm-4:30pm PST

via ZOOM and via FACEBOOK LIVE!

KIM MCMILLON’s

“WAKE-UP AMERICA!” Part 1

POETATHON

Line-Up of POETS on June 21, 2020, 2:00pm-4:30pm PST

Kim McMillon

John Curl

Rafael J. Gonzalez

Peggy Morrison

Raymond Nat Turner

Zigi Lowenberg

Wanda Sabir

Jose Hector Cadena

Eugene Redmond

Iris De Anda

Sonia Gutierrez

Genny Lim

Avotcja

Kathryn Takara

Kim McMillon, Ph.D. World Cultures emphasis on Black Arts Movement and African American Literature; President of the UC Merced African Diaspora Student Association

 https://us02web.zoom.us/j/85183847427

Meeting ID: 851 8384 7427

OR
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Meeting ID: 851 8384 7427

On June 21, 2020, 2:00pm-4:30pm PST, I, Teresa Jade LeYung, shall be in the audience listening to Kim McMillon, Ph.D. and her fellow poets.

author Teresa Jade LeYung, mask by Emily O, June 2020 COVID-19 pandemic