time come and gone...
upcoming guest spots _ pal/estine fundraisers _ writing _ life updates
Hey friends,
It’s been a minute. So much change, so much pain, so much growth, so much emotion, so much grief, so much, so much, so much… and so much to be grateful for.
I’ve been in a pressurization these past few months, I haven’t emerged as a diamond quite yet, and I don’t know if I ever will. Realizing that I don’t want to be anything but the original, carbon—elemental and crystalized, the foundational forms of life.
Over these past few months, I have celebrated birthdays, foraged seaweed, been in plant ceremony, built relations within new communities, started reading for joy again, writing, closing out things I never had the time or energy to do while in New York. All these things being possible through the acts of exchange and care.
Feeling the sun out in Cali, has been keeping my afloat amongst all the anger, sadness, rage, frustration, confusion happening in the world. Feeling like, the weight of my choices and how I contribute to the genocidal exploitation machine, are clearer—the culmination of all the knowledge, spiritually, politically, through my craft and studies, have brought me here.
Honestly, it’s beed hard after the move. I’ve had some struggles with big expenses, building a new tattoo clientele in a slow creative/work climate, figuring how the f to get an acupuncture license out here, filing out paperwork, after paperwork, after paperwork… to get my adult life together. Looking back, I never realized how much NYC was extracting from me.
My life has been so full in just these past three months, in a way, that I did not have in New York. In a way, where I feel seen, reflected, and held—where I can speak with others and feel like we meet each other. I’m not consumed by anxiety, isolation, and stress, and I did make choices back then that made my world so overwhelming, that all I could do is burnout in the freeze. My body is recovering, my heart is healing, and my mind is finding stillness in the chaos.
FROM THE RIVER TO THE SEA:
For May 4th, @hibrfalastin (on instagram), organized a worldwide tattoo fundraising event for their homelands. All donations are going to HIBR and receipts will be sent via email to all people who donate! Here is the flash I am still offering: PALESTINE HIBR TATTOO FUNDRAISER (click for more details):
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Here are some tattoos that have already been done for the fundraiser, more in the books, coming soon:
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Thank you everyone who’s gotten tattooed so far!
IG STORY: Ways to educate/help Falastin, Congo, Sudan
GUEST SPOTS:
Planning to guest in Seattle and New York (will give dates in a later post), but looking for folx to confirm before making moves. Would love to get an idea of how many bookings I’ll have to decide how long I should stay!
SEATTLE (Duwamish Territory): AUGUST 19-23, 2024
If you want to keep working on a continuing piece, please email me! (jesstfang@gmail.com)
Please mention in the subject: SEATTLE :)
If you wanna start a new one, please fill out my form and we’ll setup a consult (mugen's tattoo booking form)
NEW YORK (Lenape Land): TBD (Possibly October/November)
If you want to keep working on a continuing piece, please email me! (jesstfang@gmail.com)
Please mention in the subject: NYC :)
If you wanna start a new one, please fill out my form and we’ll setup a consult (mugen's tattoo booking form)
TATTOO WORK:
Even though it’s been slow to book out here, I’ve been blessed to work with some amazing people already. Continuously grateful I get to tattoo more black work and work that blends tattooing and acupuncture, as I go through the bureaucracy of getting my acupuncture license in California :P
Here’s Anni and her tattoo, an incredibly kind, hilarious, intelligibly talented Philippinx PhD linguist, community organizer, and educator:
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Over these next few months, I’ll be drawing up some flash and concept pieces. Looking forward to doing/sharing more tattoo acupuncture/blackwork with everyone soon!
LIFE UPDATES/SHARES:
One of the highlights of being here so far, is seeing Ocean Vuong in conversation, in the flesh. The first day, I was one of the first to arrive, hesitant to be the first behind the sign that said, “Line for Ocean Vuong,” I sat on the oversized stairs with my computer, writing for the AAPI Intergenerational Writer’s Group, led by Genny Lim. Patiently excited, I waited for three hours, until dear Sapho met me, Sarah and Sam later buying us bubble tea :)
The line was longer than the block, never seeing it with my own eyes, people said it wrapped around the corner, people hoping to get in.
Second day, my partner and I arrived later than I did the first day, and I knew a lot of people who couldn’t make it yesterday, got there early af. We ended up being the very last four to receive a ticket to get in.
BAMPFA | Ocean Vuong in Conversation with Cathy Park Hong
BAMPFA | Ocean Vuong: Poetry Reading
After witnessing Ocean speak, I was emboldened by his words, and began to write. In preparation to do my first public reading of my own work at Clarion Performing Arts Center in San Francisco, Chinatown with others from Genny’s writing group, and for the Asian Diasporic Anthology submission.
Feeling a lot of gratitude to be guided into stepping back into writing has been incredibly vulnerable. I’ve been wanting to write a letter to my mom, as many authors have affectionately done, to express things I can’t without this medium—to heal through the grief that devoured me with such insatiability, that I had become a banshee—lurking in song, lamenting what was no more, what I had lost.
Being out here, has gifted me with the spaciousness, slowly dissolving the static of my time away from where I lived for the past 15 years.
Thank you everyone, thank you APICC, thank you Genny, thank you Clarion—thank you Ocean, for being a North Star.
“Writing is an apprenticeship of care.”
-Ocean Vương
Appreciate y’all for reading through and for your patience in posting. Lots of things to tend to since being out here. Please keep a lookout on my instagram stories/links in bio for more ways to uplift, support, and offer mutual aid to global causes.
Much love,
mugen