The second of a three-part series, War Affects explores the impact of war on the local community, specifically veterans, their families and artists. This event features performances by Anita Esguerra, Laila Farah, Anna West and Leonardo Guevara Navarro. Each performer will explore how issues of war have inflected their work and the subjects they choose. A discussion follows the performance.
Laila Farah is an assistant professor in Women's studies at De Paul University and a performance poet. Farah will perform from her piece "Living in a Hyphen-Nation." Dr. Farah has been performing this piece around the country. She has performed it recently in responce to September 11th and the events following, particularly those pertaining to Moslems, Arabs, Moslem-Americans and Arab-Americans. Poets Anna West and Leonardo Guevara Navarro will perform together. West is a graduate of Columbia College Chicago, where she recieved her B.A. in creative writing. Her most recent work includes a series of translations of Cuban poetry, Vida en communion (Letras Cubanas, 2001) and Piramidal (Extramuros, 2003). Anida Yeou Esguerra seeks an artistic, spiritual and political exploration of her identity as a non hypehnated Cambodian Muslim American woman. Esguerra has performed across North America with I Was Born With Two Tounges, The Yellow Technicolor Tour, and Mango Tribe. At the heart of her work as a visual artist, writer, performer and motivator is the lesson: No one else can tell her story. Every one has a story to tell and everyone's story is worth telling. This program is made possible in part by a grant from the Illinios Humanities Council.