Nourishing Our Collective Garden: Seeds for a New World

July 2021 Copyright APIENC & All Individual Contributors apienc.org This zine is licensed under Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0. You may copy, share, and reproduce this zine in its entirety with proper attribution, as long as it is not remixed or transformed.

TABLE OF CONTENTS 1."Nourishing Our Collective Garden: Seeds for a New World" cover page ~ Jenica Rose Garcia 2. Table of Contents 1/2 3. Table of Contents 2/2 4. Purpose - meesh cabal, Joyce Yin, Akshayta Natarajan, & Paige Chung

5. Planting Seeds + Prepping the Soil - Shreya Basu 6. Section Questions 7. "Radical Greeting" - Nuriel Cahigas 8. "Surrounded by Love (haiku)" - Jenica Rose Garcia 9. "Interwoven"- Joyce Yin 10. "Calling all Silent Minorities" - June Jordan, submitted by Vivian Huang 11. "Big Head" - Vivian Huang 12. "Content sheep & warm sun for our community" - mei 13. Watering, Cultivating, & Nourishing our Plants Shreya Basu 14. Section Questions 15. "Prelude to a Revolution" - sammie ablaza wills 16. "Dragonfruit Abundance" - Vincent Zabala 17. "An Ode to Aunty Haunani" 18. "Sowing the seeds of greatness & excellence" - Dr. 'Epeli Hau'ofa 19. "Change with us" - Em 20. "Fear of Approval" -Sajneel Naicker 20. "Running out of Ambition" - Sajneel Naicker 21. "Reincarnation" - Sajneel Naicker NOURISHING OUR COLLECTIVE GARDEN | 2

TABLE OF CONTENTS 22. "What do you want to offer the LEX 2021 community during this harvest?" - Jessica Mitchell 23. "Community Succulent" - Nuriel Cahigas 24. "Relationship Boundaries" - Yindi Pei 25. Pinakbet Recipe- Junior Claros 26. Suman Malagkit Recipe - Amanda Altobano 27. Suman Malagkit Recipe (Contin.) - Amanda Altobano 28. "grown seeds" - jen gaudite bittick 29. "We are Worthy" - Vivian Huang 30. "Seedlings" - cmw 31. Nourish, Sowing Seeds, Offerings - Nuriel Cahigas 32. Thank You!!!!

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PURPOSE WRITTEN BY MEESH CABAL, JOYCE YIN, AKSHAYA NATARANJAN, & PAIGE CHUNG

This year, 2021, APIENC's Leadership Exchange (LEX) created a collective Zine! Our annual LEX is a 6-session training series that weaves trans and queer Asian and Pacific Islander histories with organizing and leadership development practices. We work to create a learning experience centered in community building, our histories, and practical skills for organizing.

The theme for our zine is “Nourishing Our Collective Garden: Growing our Movement.” We hope cultivating this zine together is an opportunity to reflect, pause, dream, and care for ourselves and each other through our words, art, and whatever we wish to express. With so much heaviness and violence that has happened this past year in our communities, imagine this zine a collective breath in and out - to take in & release.

As queer and trans APIs, our stories often aren’t told, shared, or documented in mainstream narratives. This zine is an opportunity to share our own stories / perspectives, and to fight back against narratives that tell us that our stories don’t matter.

This collective zine is intended for our dreams to be held with care and protection. Caring for ourselves and each other is a necessary foundation to building sustainable and joyful movements. Audre Lorde said, "Caring for myself is not self-indulgence, it is self-preservation, and that is an act of political warfare.” We are communities in process, so we invite our messiness, mistakes, and growing pains to be part of our healing and story sharing. We must honor our values and we must create art that is true to our authentic selves.

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Calling on All Silent Minorities

by June Jordan HEY C’MON COME OUT WHEREVER YOU ARE WE NEED TO HAVE THIS MEETING AT THIS TREE AIN’T EVEN BEEN PLANTED YET (The Essential June Jordan, ed. Jan Heller Levi and Christoph Keller, Copper Canyon Press, 2021)

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relationship boundaries

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Recipe for Pinakbet (Filipino vegetable stew, Mom’s recipe, Ilocano style) Ingredients: 12 okras, can cut off tops if prefer 1 bittermelon, cut in slices (optional if you find the flavor of bittermelon is too strong) 4 Filipino or Japanese eggplants, sliced into half-moons 1 bunch of string beans (sitaw), cut into finger-length size 3 medium tomatoes, chopped 3 pieces of thinly sliced ginger 1 cup squash (kalabasa), peeled & cubed 3 cloves of garlic, minced 6 pieces of shrimp (optional, can also replace with vegetarian protein) Crushed chicharron for topping (optional) 4 tablespoon bagoong or salted fish sauce (can adjust based on how salty you want it) 1 cup of water (enough to cook veggies but not make it too soupy) Steps: In a medium or large pot, add ingredients in this order: okra, bittermelon (optional), eggplant, string beans, ginger, squash, garlic, shrimp (optional), tomatoes, bagoong/salted fish, water Cover pot and shake pot to distribute ingredients Put on high heat until it starts to boil (about 5 mins) Lower to medium heat, keep covered, and simmer until vegetables and shrimp are cooked (about 15-20 mins) Top with crushed chicharron (optional)

Enjoy! 😊

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Suman Malagkit Recipe A warm, comforting and cozy sweet sticky rice cake treat wrapped in banana leaves that nourishes the soul (and tummy!)

Note: recipe instructions are referred and described based from Lalaine Manalo of Kawaling Pinoy!

Ingredients: 1 can coconut milk (13.5 ounces) 1 cup sugar 1 teaspoon salt 3 cups of glutinous/sweet rice Bundle of banana leaves (used to wrap the sticky rice) Instructions: 1. In a bowl, soak your rice overnight (or minimum of 1 hour) with cold water. After soaking, drain the water from the bowl.

2. Prepare your banana leaves and make sure they are around 10 x 10-inch squares in size in order to wrap the rice. If banana leaves are frozen, make sure to defrost banana leaves before wrapping.

3. In a pot, combine coconut milk, sugar and salt and let it simmer on the stove and stir until sugar and salt are dissolved. Then add your rice and continue to stir to disperse the rice around the pot.

4. Over medium heat, cook the rice and stir occasionally to prevent sticking and burning, do this until liquid in the pot is absorbed and rice is half-done.

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5. Remove the pot from heat and allow rice to cool slightly.

Scoop about 2 to 3 spoonfuls of rice onto the middle of a banana leaf and shape the rice into a log/rectangular shape.

Leave about at least 1 inch on the sides in order to roll the banana leaves tightly around the rice, and fold both edges of the leaf to seal and secure.

6. Now arrange the Suman (the sweet sticky rice now wrapped in banana leaf) in a new pot with the folded side down. Add enough water in the pot to cover about 1-inch. Place a new layer of banana leaves over to cover the Suman and a plate on top to weigh them down. Cover pot with lid.

7. Over medium heat cook/steam the suman for about 45 minutes to 1 hour or until rice is fully cooked. With tongs, carefully remove suman from water and allow it to cool.

8. To serve, peel leaves, eat and share with loved ones! Also great with a sprinkle of sugar or fruit such as mangos. Or store the suman in the refrigerator and reheat for another time or on the go! Can be stored in the fridge for 3 to 5 days <3

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Seedlings Flowers grow in the creases in my palms where tears gather in handfuls and seep through the gaps between my fingers like memories of what could have been.

I cover my face because I can't bear for anyone else to see the shadows flickering across the mountains in my eyes and the slight twitch in my brow when I breathe too deeply and try to hide the fact that I choke on air.

I know that there are seedlings planted on the soles of my feet and I am learning how to keep them alive and walk at the same time, but can you imagine how many lives it takes to teach yourself how to float in air?

And sometimes, I find myself so empty that even when I finally figure out how to keep my legs suspended long enough for miracles to happen, they don't.

And I think it's because I don't have enough in me to keep myself alive and at the same time to keep what's growing inside of me alive.

So tell me that love is a fertilizer Tell me that love is enough to nurture the things growing inside all of us.

— cmw

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REFLECTIONS as we close this zine, what's in your head? your heart? your hands?

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APPRECIATIONS & GRATITUDE LEX 2021 Cohort We want to extend gratitude to all those who made this zine possible. Thank you so much to all of the LEX 2021 participants for bringing your heart, energy, and engagement to our training this year. Thank you to the ancestors and elders who have guided us to this moment.

Thank you to the readers & and to YOU! LEX 2021 Facilitators Cam Wu, Clara Qin, Em, Gem Datuin, Isabella Ruston, Jasmin, Joyce Yin, Paige Chung, Ralph Leano Atanacio, Sammie Ablaza Wills, Yuan Wang LEX 2021 Zine Team Shreya Basu, Jessica Mitchell, Akshaya Natarajan, Meesh Cabal, Joyce Yin, Ralph Leano Atanacio, Sammie Ablaza Wills and Paige Chung Printing Kubo

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