Civil Liberties United is a new anthology of 100 writers and artists of color and white allies, who celebrate the rich variety that truly makes America great. The recent rise of reactionary and repressive forces reminds us that civil liberties are important to everyone—-not just those who are targeted at a particular time. When we remain silent, we may be next.
Purchase book at Pease Press.
The vitality of the San Francisco Bay Area arises from its cultural diversity. People of color now comprise 60% of the population, yet writers and artists of color remain under- represented and underpublished.
Our reality-based perspectives are essential in an increasingly screen-based and polarized society. Many of the book’s contributors actively working towards sustainable change as working artists, organizers, educators, healers and historians. We draw inspiration from our roots in Native America, Africa, Asia, Latin America, the Middle East, and Europe.
Now more than ever, we need to reach within ourselves and reach out to others. Democracy cannot be taken for granted. In a time of division, we are moving forward together to create the society we want to see.
Contributors include: Kim Shuck, Avotcja, Tongo Eisen-Martin, Josiah Luis Alderete, Dee Allen, Tommi Avicola Mecca, Sandra Bass, Dan Brady, Francée Covington, Celeste Chan, James Cagney, Rafael Jesús Gonzáles, Lisa “Tiny” Gray-Garcia, E. K. Keith, Tehmina Khan, Eddie Jen, Kevin Madrigal, Desi Mundo, Ann Muto, Jon Osato, Susan Praver-Pérez, Queennandi X, Thomas Robert Simpson, Sriram Shamasunder, Norma Smith, Kimi Sugioka, Mel Waters, and many others.
Ravi Chandra’s contribution to this anthology is an autobiographical excerpt from Facebuddha: Transcendence in the Age of Social Networks, detailing his childhood in the South and Midwest and his identity development as a person of color and Asian American.
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36 Views of SF: 1. Prelude – Lovesick
36 Views of SF: 2. Beginning Poems
36 Views of SF: 3. Mission Shoe Repair
36 Views of SF: 4. Typical Old Guy
36 Views of SF: 5. America strikes a pose
36 Views of SF: 6. Food Hall, Valencia and 16th
36 Views of SF: 7. Haight Street Buzz
36 Views of SF: 8. San Francisco, taken to the cleaners
36 Views of SF: 9. Specialist or Generalist?
36 Views of SF: 10. deathbed boner
36 Views of SF: 11. Who’s Writing our Movie?
36 Views of SF: 12. Remembrance of Pride’s Past
36 Views of SF: 13. Red Thread
36 Views of SF: 14. Golden Gate
36 Views of SF: 15. Significantly Fucked
36 Views of SF: 16. Minolta Mind, Kodak Kiss
36 Views of SF: 17. Borderline
36 Views of SF: 19. i’ll see you underground
36 Views of SF: 20. The Ring Cycle
36 Views of SF: 21. A Place and Time for Everything
36 Views of SF: 22. what to do, what to do
36 Views of SF: 23. go gentler on our shamisen strings
36 Views of SF: 25. The Wound Comes to Life
36 Views of SF: 26. To the Mamas and the Sistas
36 Views of SF: 27. Poem about the Moon
36 Views of SF: 28. Enough is Enough
36 Views of SF: 29. Interdependence Day Workout
36 Views of SF: 30. America in Crisis, America in Transition
36 Views of SF: 31. first memories
36 Views of SF: 32. small plates
36 Views of SF: 33. the stream
36 Views of SF: 34. The Great Vehicle
36 Views of SF: 35. the bandaged place
36 Views of SF: 36. We come from the Belly of Earth!
36 Views of SF: 36+1. Apocalips
36 Views of San Francisco: 36+2. Masterpiece Theater
36 Views of San Francisco: 36+3. Is there another option?
36 Views of SF 36+4: Three for the road
36 Views of San Francisco: 36+5. belonging
36 Views of San Francisco: 36+6. angry wounds
36 Views of San Francisco: 36+7. The Storm
36 Views of San Francisco: 36+8. Her Name is Han
36 Views of San Francisco: 36+9. Pro-lost, pro-found
36 Views of San Francisco: 36+10. Vision Field
36 Views of San Francisco: 36+11. San Francisco, Eternal City
36 Views of San Francisco: 36+12. Awake
36 Views of SF: 36+13. Summer of Verklemption, Summer of Redemption
36 Views of SF: 36+14. Tanabata Ache, Tanabata Joy
36 Views of SF: 36+15. safety soul
36 Views of SF: 36+16. Love Psalm, Love Palms
36 Views of SF: 36+17. American Son: A Chautauqua in Five Acts
36 Views of SF: 36+18. San Francisco, San Francisco
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Guns Are Not Our God! The NRA Is Not Our Church!
e-Book only 99 cents!
Guns Are Not Our God! The NRA Is Not Our Church! was published in the wake of the Parkland, Florida shootings, in support of #MarchForOurLives and #NationalSchoolWalkout. We are in crisis over guns in the United States. We’ve had the logic of statistics, the emotions of seeing innocents die, the public health rationales of experts – but nothing has yet swayed the outcome of the gun debate. This is because the gun identity is embedded into the psyche of American culture. Nothing less than a transformation of national character will save lives. Guns Are Not Our God! The NRA Is Not Our Church! explores all facets of this debate, delving into the psychological and public health research on guns, and providing a profound analysis and rallying cry. This slim volume is sure to inspire debate and action on this pressing issue of our time.
Purchase book!!
Amazon Kindle and paperback
iBooks
Barnes and Noble Nook and paperback
Kobo
Indiebound
Check out these related media appearances:
For the People with Don Lacy on KPOO
15 minutes on gun psychology at the 4:45 pm mark (sorry, you can’t fast forward! Enjoy the music and other guests!)
live broadcast on May 31, 2022, after Buffalo and Uvalde
CultureChat Podcast with Mimi Chan
About gun culture, mental health and identity for Asian Americans (1st half on Asian Am mental health, 2nd half on gun culture)
broadcast February 12, 2019
NBC Asian Pacific America with Robert Handa
Broadcast July 3, 2018
On Guns Are Not Our God! The NRA Is Not Our Church!
Dr. Ravi Chandra’s approach — scholarly, deeply researched, thoughtful, passionate (and compassionate!) — is excellent. He raises all the right issues in a clear and intelligent manner. The endnotes provide valuable ways to continue reading on this subject. Well worth it!
Howard B.
Amazon Customer
Facebuddha: Transcendence in the Age of Social Networks
Facebuddha: Transcendence in the Age of Social Networks is a rich modern memoir of relationship online and off, a state-of-the-art exploration of psychological research about social media, and an engaging introduction to Buddhism. (Facebuddha has its own website! Check it out!)
Winner of the 2017 Nautilus Silver Award for Religion/Spirituality of Eastern Thought. (Thich Nhat Hanh won the Gold, so I can’t reaallllly complain!)
Purchase book!!
Amazon Kindle ebook and Hardcover
iBooks
Nook
Kobo
Barnes and Noble Hardcover
IndieBound
SAMPLE CHAPTER: Hanoi Rooftop, featuring Nguyen Qui Duc
On Guns Are Not Our God! The NRA Is Not Our Church!
Dr. Ravi Chandra’s approach — scholarly, deeply researched, thoughtful, passionate (and compassionate!) — is excellent. He raises all the right issues in a clear and intelligent manner. The endnotes provide valuable ways to continue reading on this subject. Well worth it!
Howard B.
Amazon Customer
My contribution is here: Back When the World Was Real-Standing Strong
Asian American Anger – It’s A Thing! #DVChallenge
Asian American Anger! It’s A Thing! was published in 2014 following the Isla Vista massacre. Covering the difficult issues of domestic violence and Asian American male and female anger and relationship, this book is a timely understanding of human psychology and culture. The lead essay on male anger has been called “jarring”, “breathtaking,” and “important”.
Ebook available for free download
Amazon Kindle
iBooks
Asian American Anger PDF
mobi and epub editions available for free download on my old website.
Paperback available at
CreateSpace (preferred)
Amazon
On Guns Are Not Our God! The NRA Is Not Our Church!
Dr. Ravi Chandra’s approach — scholarly, deeply researched, thoughtful, passionate (and compassionate!) — is excellent. He raises all the right issues in a clear and intelligent manner. The endnotes provide valuable ways to continue reading on this subject. Well worth it!
Howard B.
Amazon Customer
Buy on
CreateSpace (preferred) or
Amazon Kindle and Paperback
Winner, Honorable Mention for Poetry, 2012 San Francisco Book Festival. Psychiatrist and writer Ravi Chandra delivers poems honed on the spoken-word circuit and softer meditations on spirituality, life, medicine and technology. iPads, Buddhas, and Facebook all point the way to enlightenment, or at least provide for some decent companionship along the way. Also included are poems from the collaborative performance Fox and Jewel, a work in support of Japantown, San Francisco in the face of redevelopment.
Whether the fox peeks out or speaks out, any lover of poetry is sure to be delighted, surprised, and provoked by this appealing debut volume of verse. Humor and gravitas abound and reveal a world “rich with tones / plied with tendencies / wrapped in layers.”
Buddhism, war and peace, echoes of 9/11 and the Cambodian genocide are wayfarers here, traveling on metrical feet. The poet takes them to heart, and looks for a way to heal.
Writers Digest Self Publishing Competition had this to say:
“A Fox Peeks Out by Ravi Chandra is a clever collection of poems that works. Integrating elements of common life, current technology, and an impressive understanding of each, I loved these lines. The slam poetry is especially effective, with lines such as‘Transmitters stream lines through space and sky
send our avatars zenlike to altars named Zenith
where the lines you speak dance life in my soul
and the mind becomes fluid where lines cannot.’Well done. I hope Ravi Chandra seeks out publication through a poetry press in the future. I’d love to see a book of his slam.”Poet Yuri Kageyama says:
A lot of poetry, probably including much of my own, is destructive, addressing inner turmoils to give them a form of expression as literature than other equally tempting but less acceptable, perhaps even criminal, outlets. Such is the madness of the world around us, the abuse that we take and the psychosis we battle by the day. Ravi Chandra’s poetry is the voice of calm, the antidote of therapy, the ointment of peace. Perhaps it is because he is a medical doctor and psychiatrist that he seeks to heal not only internal wounds but almost the entire world around us with his debut poetry book ‘a fox peeks out _ poems.’ (San Francisco: Pacific Heart Books, 2011) He juxtaposes the technology of the Internet with the tradition of Asian religions in the same poetic breath that is our American experience.Other types of slam poetry may be identified with street violence and the defiance of oppression. Chandra’s slam poetry is more like the chamomile tea you sip before bedtime.His works read almost like a prayer, asking God to keep us safe through another day:
‘Heart like earth
Mind like sky
No walls, no weapons, no war’The power to soothe and unify through the word involves a risky balance to keep between artistry and platitude. Chandra pulls it off with the intelligence of a scholar, the insight of a master and, most important, the benevolence of a saint.”‘Mountains do get built from earthquakes,
great masses of earth pushing into each other,
Pushing the ground up,’he writes in ‘subprime tsunamis.’‘Greed must be contained by wisdom.
Compassion must be the greatest power.
Only so, can the waters purify.
Only so, can earthquakes
give ascent,
instead of annihilation.'”
Indivisible: An Anthology of Contemporary South Asian American Poetry
Edited by Neelanjana Banerjee, Summi Kaipa, and Pireeni Sundaralingam
University of Arkansas Press
Available at:
Amazon
Barnes and Noble
iBooks
IndieBound
YouTube videos from our launch on April 5, 2010, coinciding with the launch of the iPad.
[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pHjImObX6us[/embedyt]
[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3bXkHSj1ixI[/embedyt] ]]>