A few events to hit in the next few weeks…

Brownstar @ Loyola University
Friday, April 9, 2010

“Formed in 2007, Brownstar is a two-man spoken-word duo bursting forth from the pens and dreams of emcee-poet-performers Pushkar North Star Sharma and Sathya South Star Sridharan. Grown in the Heartland of America but Flavored with the Masala of the Motherland, Brownstar shouts what often goes unheard, giving BROWN a voice and song—presenting a fresh perspective and exploring the contradictions, complexities, and epiphanies of South-Asian identities.”

Raspberry Magic film @ Gene Siskel Film Center
Thursday, April 15, 2010

Directed by Leena Pendharkar, Raspberry Magic “is a coming-of-age story about an 11-year-old girl who believes she must win the science fair in order to bring her father back after he runs out on the family.” It will be the closing night film of the 15th annual Asian American Showcase.

Kalyani Devaki Menon @ DePaul University
Friday, April 16, 2010

Menon, a professor of religious studies at Syracuse University, discusses her book Everyday Nationalism: Women of the Hindu Right in India as part of DePaul’s Women’s and Gender Studies program’s brown bag lunch series. Also appearing are Kathleen McInerney, St. Xavier University; John Duffy, National Louis University; and Morgan Halstead. Ph.D Candidate, to present “Visibility Matters: LGBTQ issues in Illinois Higher Education.” 12-1:30pm at Levan Room 301. Contact the dept. for more info.

Sarwat Rumi @ Columbia College Chicago
Saturday, April 17, 2010

SAPAC favorite Sarwat Rumi performs her moving poetry at Gender Fusions 6: Our Temple of Transgressions, Columbia’s annual “queer spectacle.” Sure to be a blast.

Vidur Kapur, Shazia Mirza, Dan Nainan @ IIT
Sunday, April 18, 2010

Three up-and-coming desi comedians take the stage at the Illinois Institute of Technology for a benefit for the Indo-American Heritage Museum.

Jasbir Puar @ Northwestern University ADDED 4/20
Wednesday, April 21, 2010

Puar, a professor of Women’s and Gender Studies and Geography at Rutgers, will discuss her book Terrorist Assemblages: Homonationalism in Queer Times (2007) at Northwestern’s Evanston campus.

Amartya Sen @ Chicago Council on Global Affairs
Wednesday, April 21, 2010

Amartya Sen, Nobel Laureate and professor of economics and philosophy at Harvard University, addresses the topic “International Law and Justice: Folly or Fair Play?”

Amartya Sen @ Northwestern University
Thursday, April 22, 2010

Prof. Sen speaks for free at Northwestern’s Evanston campus.

Susan Koshy @ DePaul University ADDED 4/21
Friday, April 23, 2010

Koshy, a professor of English and Asian American Studies at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, will discuss “Asian American Studies in the Wake of Globalization.” “She will address changes in the field of Asian American Studies since its emergence in the 1970s, examine newer paradigms for organizing Asian American Studies in recent years, and consider the specific challenges for setting up Ethnic Studies programs in the Midwest.”

Anoushka Shankar @ Prairie Center for the Arts
Saturday, April 24, 2010

Sitar player and composer (and daughter of Ravi, sister of Norah) Anoushka Shankar performs at Schaumburg’s arts center.

Mira Nair @ Columbia College Chicago
Wednesday, April 28, 2010

Filmmaker Mira Nair (Salaam Bombay!, Monsoon Wedding, Amelia) gives a free public talk at Columbia College. Reservations recommended–this event was previously listed as sold out, but it looks like tickets are available again online.

Minal Hajratwala @ Women & Children First ADDED 4/22
Wednesday, April 28, 2010

In her 2010 Lambda Literary Award finalist debut, Leaving India: My Family’s Journey from Five Villages to Five Continents, San Francisco-based queer writer and activist Minal Hajratwala mixes history, memoir and reportage, tracing her family’s history from the beginning of the twentieth century and across five continents. Delving into the relationships between the personal choices and historical forces (colonialism, apartheid, Gandhi’s Salt March, American immigration policy) that shaped her family’s experiences, she brings to light the epic story of the Indian diaspora. Minal is another SAPAC favorite and has spoken at 2 of the 3 Kriti Festivals held here in Chicago.

………..

And one that’s far off, but for which you’ll want to buy your tickets now:

Aziz Ansari and Russell Peters @ Just for Laughs Festival
June 17 & 19, 2010

The second Just for Laughs Chicago festival features two of the biggest desi comics around, Aziz Ansari (Thursday, June 17, 7pm and 9:30pm, at the Vic) and Russell Peters (Saturday, June 19, 8pm, at the Rosemont Theatre). Aziz’s last Chicago show at DePaul was all-new material and generally hi-larious, plus he’ll be hot off his gig hosting the MTV Movie Awards and will hopefully have some juicy celebrity dish to share.

Last weekend was, like, the best ever. Thanks to quick-thinking SAPAC friends, a few of us got tickets to see the one and only Aziz Ansari. He performed in Chicago on Saturday, February 27, for a DePaul University show. It was a surreal experience to be surrounded by college students and watch him live with a full house. If you missed his recent Comedy Central special, “Intimate Moments for a Sensual Evening,” you can rent or buy it. They may re-air it too.

Although I was wearing my bling, hoping the fake crystals would catch his eye, I don’t think he noticed me in the center section, last row of the Mezzanine level. I was too lazy and hungry to stalk him afterward, or before at the airport/hotel/street, so our destined meeting was postponed.  This may not seem like a big deal for kids these days, but when I was in college, we didn’t have no South Asian comedians performing to sold out crowds. Aziz is my hero.

Dan Levy opened for Aziz. I enjoyed Dan’s trash talking about Canada and his tale of receiving hate mail from vampire fans due to a moment of mistaken identity (he shares the same name with a Canadian MTV VJ). There are reviews out there from other college comedy shows with Aziz and Dan, done in a Top 10 list style.  But I thought of doing my review in a Top 10 style BEFORE I even found those other ones. So, here’s my original review idea: since Aziz likes Top 10 lists, I’ll do one for his show.

Top 10 jokes/parts I loved from Aziz’s comedy show at DePaul (not the best list):

10.  R. Kelly. He felt compelled to talk about R. Kelly since he was in Chicago. We appreciated it. RAAAAAAAANDY loves R. Kelly.

9.  Rudeness. He doesn’t like rude people. Especially on airplanes with puppies who are mean to old people. They deserve to have their puppies killed. I totally agree.

8. He wore a suit. This is not a joke, but is good for taking up space at number 8. I like that he wore a suit. It was hot, and professional.

7.  Texting and pizza. Something about him ordering a pizza, girl not responding in time to his text invite for a pizza party, and how she missed out on a totally awesome pizza party. Keyword for me in this joke was pizza. I love pizza parties.

6.  Darwish. One of my two favorite cousins of somebody else (in this case, Aziz Ansari). I follow him on Twitter.* Darwish is known for his musical insights, specifically in hip hop, which led to his “battle” with Kanye.

5.  Harris. The other one of my two favorite cousins of somebody else. I also follow him on Twitter.* Harris is known for his insights into being awesome (because, like me, he loves Jack Bauer), and his expertise on Cinnabons. Loved Aziz’s impression of Harris eating Cinnabons.

4. RAAAAAANDY made an appearance, along with his crazy dance moves. I love those dance moves. Out. Of. Control. Check out the new single from his upcoming mixtape, “AAAAAAAANGRY.”

3. Racist/Rude Eastern European customs agent in Toronto. Aziz did a spot-on accent and shared how he explained to her what “shooting movie” really meant.

2.  Racist Star Wars fan. Is this an oxymoron or too good to be true? Great joke–don’t want to ruin it for you here. You will have to go to an Aziz show to hear it!

1.  Looking up random things on the Internet. Talked about how he spends a lot of time searching online for random information that takes precedence over doing work. Sound familiar? One of his favorite things to read are Top 10 lists. Doesn’t matter the topic. Like a 21-page Top 10 list about the most popular racial slurs for practically every ethnic group. One of his favorites was “apple.” No, Aziz is not a racist! Of course, Aziz made it clear before joking about slurs that he’s not racist, and this is part of a joke. I couldn’t find a 21-page list, but here’s one. Enjoy.

*As of March 3, 2010, Harris has about 2,000 more followers than Darwish. Harris’s first tweet was “eating macaroni.”  Heavy stuff. They are in a battle of wills for total domination on Twitter. Follow Harris or Darwish or both.

DePaul University’s student Activities Board is bringing comic Aziz Ansari to its downtown Merle Reskin Theatre this Saturday, Feb. 27. Tickets are only $5, but they’re sold out. Time to start bribing that distant cousin who’s a freshman at DePaul.

A few SAPAC members will be there–leave us a comment if you will be, too!

As if we needed to post it, catch Ansari in action on NBC’s “Parks and Recreation” (probably NSFW):