As promised, this post will be about the Thymos Book Project, which is Thymos’s 2009 activism “event.”
Last year, we had the Frank Chin Event, and the year before that, we had the Vincent Chin Event, which we co-sponsored with Asian Pacific Americans for Progress. This year is especially interesting to me because it’s the first time we’re asking people to do something rather than watch or listen to something. This year’s efforts truly bring the Asian American active to Asian American activism.
In short, it’s an oral history project where we’re encouraging Asian Americans to submit their stories and creative output for publication in an anthology. Check the guidelines here. The first draft of my submission (first submission, anyway) is done. We’re keeping it fairly open-ended; you can submit essays, poetry, or even artwork. The only real guidelines are length–can’t be more than 20 pages double spaced and typed in 12 point–and identity–the writer must identify himself or herself as Asian American, must be engaged in some form of activism or civic engagment, and must have some affiliation with Oregon.
I’m excited because I believe this project will help us to better understand ourselves. Because we’re purposely targeting the activists, I think it’ll be a lot better than some prior attempts at Asian American oral history; we’re hoping this means that our writers will be engaged and experienced. If you know anyone who fits the criteria and has a message to share, please have them contact Larry or Val, our two editors. See the submission guidelines here.
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Regarding that Oregon affiliation thing, are we going to play loose with that requirement? Suppose someone has uh, a famous Asian American blogger/friend in Oregon. Would that count as an affiliation?
If we don’t get enough submissions, I was thinking we could explicitly expand it to at least the Pacific NW, as a contingency. The more submissions, the greater chance of getting higher quality work.
From the meeting/voting/discussion last week, I think people have to have at least been to Oregon, even if just passing through. “How did you get here?” as a question of physical location is a pretty good place to start. We may have to coax submissions out of people, but I’m sure we can get there–there are just too many stories in this town! We’ve got the highest percentage of adoptees, plus all the SE Asian stories, plus so many of those Japanese American families that were interned. Look at all the people who have been successful in business, politics, etc.
We’ve got the numbers here. We’d have the numbers even if we limited it to just Beaverton (although people might get tired of hearing stories about engineers. I know I would.) It’s just a matter of getting our people to “break the silence.”