Magnetic North is the hip hop duo known for moving your body as well as your synapses. Respected nation-wide for their soul scorching lyrics and innovative melodies, Direct & Theresa Vu have turned heads from rap superstar Nelly to renowned civil rights activist Yuri Kochiyama. They released their first album in March of 2006.

Jay Legaspi is a singer-songwriter from the suburbs of New Jersey. If there is anything Jay would like to say about his music, it's that he wants to do his best to reflect the way he grew up musically - reflecting his love of music from artists ranging from John Mayer to Aesop Rock. He also strives to write music for people to grow up to, hoping that people can listen to his music at a certain time of their life and relate to what he writes, but also know that life is more than just that breakup song, that song about independence, and that song about getting out of wherever it is they are at that point. He honestly hopes that you can see the transitions of where he is in his life in his music so that people can ride with him and vice versa, wherever their lives take them.

 

How is Asian American history (and HERstory) OURstory? What happens when you change your major from Civil Engineering to Creative Writing and Asian American Studies? Why must we break the silence when faced with injustice? These are some of the themes that author, community activist, and award-winning University of Michigan professor Emily P. Lawsin covers in her performances. Using vignettes, oral history, and spoken word poetry, Emily Lawsin takes audiences on a personal journey through Asian America. Laugh, learn, and cry as she shares her Filipino American family's world of struggle, resistance, and their crazy love of food.   

Emily P. Lawsin is a Lecturer II in Asian/Pacific Islander American Studies, American Culture, and Women’s Studies at the University of Michigan, and a 2009 Visiting Lecturer at Wellesley College. In 2008, she received the "Outstanding Faculty Award" from the UM APIA Heritage Month Committee and the United Asian American Organizations, a coalition of 35 APIA student groups. Originally from "SHE-attle," Washington, she was a co-founder of the Washington Asian and Pacific Islander Student Union (WA APSU), and is a Trustee of the Filipino American National Historical Society, co-founder of the Detroit Asian Youth Project, and co-author of Filipino Women in Detroit, 1945-1955.   A spoken word performance poet since 1990, she has appeared on radio and stage throughout the United States and Manila. http://www.emilylawsin.com