So I listened to my heart and this is what happened!

On International Women's Day this year, I finally made a resolution to utilise my newly learnt skill ( I had a year's training in podcasting and podcast production ) and put it into good use. So I worked on the project, solo for now, and I honestly do hope that I'll be able to sustain and grow this into a non-profit organisation of its own to be handed down for generations to come.

Back in 2005, I had an idea to create an audio book, a collection of poetry readings by women. It was to be named rooms... and if you can imagine a live set, think Rent the Musical, an apartment block with windows facing the audience, and through each window, there sits a woman reading her poetry. And the lighting magic shines in from one window to another. Gosh! Could this really come alive one day as a live production? One day.

I listened to my heart and just went for it. I just feel this is a project that is true, that needs to be done, and I'm pouring myself into it. Plus, in these pandemic times, while holed in an apartment, these things seem possible. My list of interview subjects is growing. I have 99 seasons to produce, one season for one amazing woman with stories to share. I am the 100th, and I started with myself! I recorded my own poetry, and I recorded conversations with mum. I've just released Season Two: Dr. Ann Lee, an award-winning playwright and researcher who's of mixed parentage; her mother is Hakka-Chinese and her father is from Manchester. We recorded the interview in a studio in Sydney, via Zoom.

I just went all in with my heart and still am in awe at myself that it's done! Seriously! I can only hope and work hard to improve, I promise you I'll be doing that. Feel free to drop your comments below if you have any questions and if you'd like to cheer me on, click through to the official website and find out how you can support this project. I hope you'll enjoy this season with Ann Lee. Thank YOU!

Listen by Heart Podcast

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THE MAGPIES by Denis Glover, read by Jasmine Low

The Magpies is one of the most well-known poems, depicting the everlasting and unchanging Magpie call (nature) as life happens (passage of time). It was written in only six stanzas by New Zealand poet, printer, publisher, satirist, sailor and boxer Denis Glover (1912-1980). And here's the most famous, benign line that seems so simple and yet time withstanding: -- "And Quardle oodle ardle wardle doodle/The magpies said," -- The Australian Magpie (Gymnorhina tibicen) is a black and white chesty bird native to Australia and New Guinea. Famous for their vocalisations that mimic the environment, Jasmine was targeted three consecutive times and was 'swooped' on her head while walking past a street in Zetland, NSW. When she recorded this from her mother's balcony in Sydney, there was surely a commotion, magpies were congregating from one tree then to another. What a loud and busy affair it was! The Magpies is read by Jasmine Low as a tribute to the nation, Australia, one of the luckiest countries in the world, her second home. She is neither native to the other land she calls home, Malaysia, but that is still her Motherland. The land where her mother and her mother's mother were born, bred and lived. They were the Nanyang Chinese who immigrated at the turn of the 20th century in search of a new home. As a fourth generation Malaysian Chinese now living in Australia, IDENTITY has been a lifelong quest. No land welcomes her home except in the quiet of her heart. Even there, appears a conflict of duality where an all-serving filial piety native meets a braver Mulan-like idealistic artist. Who wins? Not her but the Magpie will keep its calling true. Official podcast website: https://listenbyheartpodcast.wordpres... Also streaming on Apple Podcasts | Spotify | wherever you get your podcasts. Search for "Listen by Heart: Voices from the Women of the South China Seas" published by GoJasmineLow. Read the full poem: https://www.dpmms.cam.ac.uk/~tf/poem1... Listen to a Paul Kelly version of this as a song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6-Xja... Experiential journeys begin at www.jasminelow.com

Earth Day 2021 in the new normal, heat waves and an Oxford guy named Dave Bayley

Parking this just because this version by Dave Bayley is so good. British Oxford band makes beautiful music and a pretty sick website too! Check it out: https://opensource.glassanimals.com/

(Don't stop, baby, you can go on through

(Don't want, baby, think about you) (You know that I'm never gonna lose) Road shimmer Wiggling the vision Heat heat waves I'm swimming in a mirror Road shimmer Wiggling the vision Heat heat waves I'm swimming in a Sometimes, all I think about is you Late nights in the middle of June Heat waves been faking me out Can't make you happier now Sometimes, all I think about is you Late nights in the middle of June Heat waves been faking me out Can't make you happier now Usually I put Something on TV So we never think About you and me But today I see Our reflections Clearly in Hollywood Laying on the screen You just need a better life than this You need something I can never give Fake water all across the road It's gone now the night has come but Sometimes, all I think about is you Late nights in the middle of June Heat waves been faking me out Can't make you happier now You can't fight it You can't breathe You say something so loving but Now I've got to let you go You'll be better off in someone new I don't wanna be alone You know it hurts me too You look so broken when you cry One more and then I'll say goodbye Sometimes, all I think about is you Late nights in the middle of June Heat waves been faking me out Can't make you happier now Sometimes, all I think about is you Late nights in the middle of June Heat waves been faking me out Can't make you happier now I just wonder what you're dreaming of When you sleep and smile so comfortable I just wish that I could give you that That look that's perfectly unsad Sometimes, all I think about is you Late nights in the middle of June Heat waves been faking me out Heat waves been faking me out Sometimes, all I think about is you Late nights in the middle of June Heat waves been faking me out Can't make you happier now Sometimes, all I think about is you Late nights in the middle of June Heat waves been faking me out Can't make you happier now Road shimmer Wiggling the vision Heat heat waves I'm swimming in a mirror Road shimmer Wiggling the vision Heat heat waves I'm swimming in a mirror #GlassAnimals​ #Heat​ Waves #DREAMLAND

LISTEN BY HEART: Stories from the women of the South China Seas

Celebrating International Women's Day 2021 with WORD action! #ChoosetoChallenge #IWD2021 #IWDPoetry

Open call to women of Southeast Asian heritage to submit poetry & short stories to be featured in a podcast. 

From 2003-2012, I was actively writing, performing spoken word poetry and organising poetry & music gigs in the Kuala Lumpur circuit. Together with Jerome Kugan, Sabahan singer songwriter and then editor of a lifestyle magazine KLUE, we formed Wayang Kata in collaboration with the British Council Malaysia and Apples & Snakes UK to showcase performance poetry. Those were great days of unraveling stories from so many interesting layers of society and cultures. 

girlgungho · Jasmine Low does "Spoken Word"

I had an idea back in 2006-2007 to collect and curate stories in the form of poetry, song and short stories for an audio book titled ROOMS. I recorded two original performance poetry pieces I wrote - one was performed at The Actors' Studio Bangsar and the other was a gig - you're listening to a younger me. I collected a few recordings from women writers and poets, but never published it. That idea never left me, it was always there, just waiting for the right time and I think this year may be the right time to bring it alive. 

So in conjunction with International Women's Day this year and their tagline #ChoosetoChallenge for spoken word poets, this one's for all of you ladies! Read more on IWD 2021...

And who has inspired all of this, I suspect? A young lady by the name of Amanda Gorman at the inauguration of Joe Biden as President & Kamala Harris as Vice President of the United States of America.

So here goes... This is an open call to women of Southeast Asian heritage, no matter where you're living now. I'd love to hear your stories and if you'd like to be featured on my podcast, LISTEN BY HEART: Voices of the women of the South China Seas, drop me a email at jasminelow@jasminelow.com.  It's my hope and desire to turn this project into an open source archive for women of Southeast Asian heritage to share their stories.

I will get the ball rolling with my own stories, readings of poems and interviews with mum in the first season of the podcast. It'll be an ongoing work-in-progress and you can listen to it here: listenbyheart.webprojx.com.

Thank you and please subscribe to the podcast for updates.