Issue 85 | how do we share our voice?
Dear Cosmos Community,
This week we welcome Speaker & Somatic Healing Facilitator Eunice KS as our Guest Editor! Eunice helps people liberate their voice through somatics, heart-led public speaking, and ancestral healing. We partner with practitioners committed to serving the Asian women community to help you find the care you deserve. If you’re a practitioner interested in reaching Asian women, email karen@jointhecosmos.com.
For so long, I felt like I couldn’t speak my truth, or express myself.
Growing up as the oldest daughter in a Korean American immigrant family, I was busy surviving and focusing on achieving “security” first. I felt muted and frustrated, and as I learned more about my family history, I realized that I was following a pattern of 5+ generations in my maternal lineage.
My mother’s wildest dream was to become an opera singer and share her voice with thousands of people in grand, golden opera theaters–-but she gave it all up when she was pregnant with me. My grandmother was born into a colonized Korea and was forced to give up her language and her name. She was 12 years old when the Korean War erupted. I understand, now, why they repressed their expression and their voice: to survive.
After many years of feeling blocked in my throat chakra, uncomfortable with public speaking, and suppressed in my expression, I started working with a public speaking coach. I joined trainings, courses, and programs to equip myself with the concrete tools to share my voice.
But it wasn’t until I also began (re)connecting with my great-grandmother spirit that my voice truly felt unblocked and free to fly. During an ancestral healing meditation, she kept telling me, “Go be free. Go be free. Go be free. For all of us who weren't able to, and for all the generations that will come after you.”
Me and my mom at my Dol Ceremony, a celebration of my first birthday.
For a long time, I doubted that I had any ancestors who were watching out for me; I had lost contact with my grandparents and my extended family after I immigrated to the US when I was 7. But as I continued to open myself up to receiving messages from my ancestors and embracing the gifts they passed down to me, I found myself beginning to embody the powerful, confident speaker that has always been within me.
Soul Speakers is the culmination of everything along my journey of public speaking, somatics, and ancestral healing that has helped me feel free to share my voice with the world. Soul Speakers is an 11-week group program experience for BIPOC and diaspora changemakers, healers, and artists who are ready to speak their truth more freely and fully with the world.
If you feel like you’re holding back your expression…and want to feel more confident in being visible and showing up unapologetically as yourself, you’re not alone. Let’s speak our truth together, in community. Spots are limited to create an intimate group experience, so if you’re interested, you’re invited to apply soon!
Eunice KS | @eunice.ks
P.S. Curious to learn more or have questions? You’re invited to connect with me on a free 30-min Clarity Call :)
COMING SOON…
GROUP HUG is a 12-week community care program by The Cosmos for Asian women, femmes & non-binary folks to grieve, heal, and build collective resilience. Through somatic + creative practices, community grief rituals, and storytelling sessions, you will learn self + community care skills, practice caring for your everyday mental health in these times of crisis, and form relationships that will hold you during and beyond the program.
This program is for Asian, Pacific Islander, South Asian, or mixed race women, femmes, and non-binary individuals who want to co-create a care-filled community that helps us face the pain and potential of the present moment together.
Program runs from March 28 - June 27, 2022
Live group sessions on Mondays 5-6:30pm PT / 8-9:30pm ET
Sign up below to join the waitlist, and you'll be the first to hear when it launches!
Community Classifieds
U.S. Senator Mazie Hirono, first Asian American woman and first woman senator from Hawaii
Karen here! I’m a baby advocate, very much figuring out the policy issues important to me personally, and what I have the energy to put my voice towards. A big part of that reflection process is getting more informed, and forgiving myself for what I don’t know.
I recognize now that our community’s awareness of advocacy is limited, and our disenfranchisement is historical. Advocacy — the power to use your voice for change in government and society — is a privilege for many folks in America, but I believe it should be available to everyone. My hope is to break barriers of access so that Asian Americans are aware of their power as individuals and as a community.
Michelle Wu, Mayor of Boston
I am grateful to now know Marissa Martin from The Advocacy Institute; we met in the How Asian Women Can Demand Policy Change workshop I hosted! With her expertise and support, I curated a list of resources and issues that affect Asian Americans — issues that could use your voice. These resources are not intended to be comprehensive; if you know of any others, please send them my way at karen@jointhecosmos.com and I’ll share in our next newsletter! I welcome corrections and updates as well :)
If you missed the workshop, here’s a link to the deck from the workshop — it’s focused on understanding the New York City policy world, but there are some universally applicable bits!
For New York folks who aren’t sure who their representatives are: Don’t feel bad!! I didn’t know until a few weeks ago. You can look it up easily here:
Once you identify issue(s) you care about, you can use your voice to demand attention and change from policymakers. Here’s a template (!) for writing short, sweet, will-take-just-5-minutes emails to your representatives:
Alright, on to updates on hot issues! I’ve curated these based on the priority issues that were surfaced in the workshop.
NEW YORK
Subway Platform Safety
The New York Times reports that the MTA will test platform doors at three stations: The No. 7 line platform at the Times Square station; the E line platform at the Sutphin Boulevard-Archer Avenue–JFK Airport station in Queens; and the Third Avenue station on the L line in Manhattan. This shift is largely attributed to public outcry over subway safety following the death of Michelle Go.
Public Safety
Queens-based New York State Assembly member Ron Kim is advocating for give groups that are targeted in hate crimes free taxi rides and walking buddies trained in martial arts. This is a state-based initiative, but one that you can mention in advocacy letters to city representatives as an example.
Report experiences of hate and bias via The Asian American Federation (AAF), one of the leading advocacy organizations in New York. Even anonymous reporting helps build the case for AAF to advocate for funding and policy measures that address anti-Asian hate.
Chinatown Jail
Welcome to Chinatown announced last week that Mayor Eric Adams would “sit down” with Chinatown City Council Member Christopher Marte to discuss the jail. There hasn’t been an update yet, but Welcome to Chinatown is urging folks to continue emailing the mayor’s office to urge stopping the build of the jail. I emailed three representatives last week using Welcome to Chinatown’s template, and though I didn’t get a reply, I was buoyed to see this development…
Asian American Education
New York State Senator John Liu introduced a bill requiring all public schools to provide instruction in Asian American history; this is a growing trend across the country!
CALIFORNIA
Stop AAPI Hate is advocating for three CA State Policy Recommendations:
The End Street Harassment Bill – addressing street harassment using a public health frame and public education approach based on the nature of gender-based bias and harm
The Public Transit Ridership Safety Bill – calls on the largest public transportation systems in California to address harassment at every stage of a passenger’s journey
The Expanding Civil Rights Protections at Businesses Bill – compels large retailers, supermarkets, and chain stores to take steps to increase worker safety, prevent customer-on-customer harassment and empower them to respond when harassment occurs
You can mention these initiatives as examples even if you aren’t in California. Concrete examples are always helpful for making the case with your local representatives.
U.S. Representative Ilhan Omar
With care,
Karen (@themokstories)