Thursday, May 6, 2010
Saturday, May 1, 2010
Christina Joymon ( Mappilassery ) - A multitalented Indian - American Youth
Christina was born and raised in the United States. Her bi-cultural upbringing and interests give her a unique ability to teach Indian dance in a language that anyone can understand. She has over 20 years of performing, teaching, and choreography experience across the USA, Europe, and Asia. She has performed on Broadway in New York City and is the reigning Miss Asia America NE, after having won several pageants. In addition, Christina is an actress and starred as one of the lead roles in the first Telugu movie filmed in the United States, "Atu America, Itu India," as well as having performed in numerous dance dramas. Along side these endeavors, Christina has also gained extensive expertise in judging various dance competitions and beauty pageants not only on the East Coast but across the country as well as being an event program coordinator.
Christina's love of dance drew her into sharing her love with others. She began her first dance school, with the immense support of the late Mr. Varghese Chandy, in June 2004, in association with the Kerala Cultural Forum of NJ. In February 2007, with the encouragement of Mrs. Viji Kurian, Christina began teaching at St. Mary's Orthodox Church of Rockland, NY where she was welcomed and loved.
In addition to her love for the arts, Christina has a Bachelors of Science in Computer Engineering from Drexel University and a Masters of Science in Systems Engineering from Stevens Institute of Technology. In college, she was the first Asian AND woman to become President of her University’s Engineering Society (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers). For the past 6 years, she has been working for BAE Systems in NJ. Christina has published technical papers which she co-authored with Harvard University Professors and has won the Chairman’s Gold Award for Innovation, where she was ranked #1 out of 95,000 people. She rose through the ranks at BAE Systems to become the youngest Senior Engineer ever within the company and more recently was promoted to the position of Program Manager where she currently manages a $16M government defense program. She is a true role model for this and future generations.
Christina is a long-time resident of the Tri-State area. She is the eldest child of Thomas and Annamma John Mappilassary and is the sister of Christopher John. Christina and her husband, Dr. Jess Joymon, live in Riverdale, New Jersey.
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
Thursday, March 25, 2010
Sunday, March 21, 2010
Wednesday, March 17, 2010
Deepika The Great Singer from India
Miss Deepika.T hails from a family musicians and music lovers. She started learning music from the tender age of 8. She started her training initially in Carnatic music and light music from her mother Radha. Later she switched over to Hindustani style of singing and started training under the able guidance of Archana Belgundi.Presently pursuing carnatic style of classical music(Vidwat) from Venkata Raghavan a disciple of Balmurlikrishna.She also sings Kannada Bhavageet,Bhaktigeet,Marathi Bhavgeet,mahabharat kavya(completed major gamaka exams)English pop songs, Hindi Films songs.
Deepika has taken training for Kannada light music under her Mother Radha.
Deepika has completed her engineering in Electronics and communication and working as a Software Engineer with IBM,India.
SOME FEATHERS IN DEEPIKA’S CAP:
1) Won national Level Prizes for carnatic Classical and light music organized by Bharat Vikas parishat in Indore and Bsnl in Ahemdabad.
2) Recieved many scholarships from Karnataka Government and BSNL.
3) Won Silver Medal for Riffle Shooting Competition held at New Dehli , NCC, Basic leader ship Camp
3) VTU UNIVERSITY BLUE for art and culture
4) Performed in Radio and Doordarshan.
5) Given Vocals to the Pakistani Gazal album Named "FARAZ" released in Pakistan.And Tanha Tanha released in India by Rajasri music,Distributed by Sony BMG.
6) Guest Vocalist for Talvin Singh.
7) Guest Vocalist for a Swedish composer,Album will release with Itunes in Switzerland.
8) Given vocals to a bengali album.
9) Recording for Kannada Films.
10) Performed at Various Corporate Shows Organized by Infosys,Sony,Bangalore
11) Performed at various platforms in India and abroad,Recent performance was in Colombo, Sri Lanka
12) Nominated for Young achiever award by Rotary Midtown and Brigade Group,Bangalore.
FARAZ - Album
Interview Link :
http://www.okiedoks.com/celebrityinterviewsinternationalwomensdayguestsingervocalist211.aspx
Youtube Link : www.youtube.com/deepspreety
Ananad Jon's Letter From Jail
This is a letter from jail by Anand Jon to writer Sharon Waxman.
The 34-year-old fashion designer faces sex charges based on complaints in three states from 28 models, some in their midteens. Accusations from 20 of these women have resulted in 59 criminal counts that could go to trial as soon as the end of August in Department 102 of Los Angeles Superior Court. They include charges of forcible rape, sexual penetration by a foreign object, sexual exploitation of a child, sexual battery, and forcible oral copulation.
Whatever the outcome of this trial, Jon will face still more charges in New York and Texas. In a telephone interview with Waxman, he has said he is “100 percent innocent.” His letter has been edited for length and clarity.
I have not seen the sky in months – six, maybe seven. Kind of easy to lose track of time and yet be unbearably aware of its existence. I am awakened at around 5:30 a.m. usually and on court days (once or twice a month so far) about 4:30 a.m. and then remain in shackles while being “sergeant-escorted” to a tiny moving metal vertical coffin in a van and transported underground to the downtown court.
The time in front of the judge is the only time I am not in shackles and handcuffed. The wait in the holding tanks, usually 3 feet by 7 feet high, is among those disorienting experiences that are carved into your sensory memory, some days as long as 18 hours, surrounded in filth of both indefinable and unidentifiable sources.
Welcome to the strangest episode of my blessed life as I near one year in L.A. County jail.
There is a possibility I may not survive this ordeal. I realized this most blatantly while in a holding tank at court, the only place where you actually “interact” with another inmate with only steel bars separating you. “I’m glad we got to chat, Don Juan, ’cause based on what that detective said about you on TV, I was going to cut you,” grinned the inmate. Any doubts I had about him joking evaporated as he pulled out a homemade “shank” (jail term for “mini-knife”), which he had somehow snuck past two strip searches while being handcuffed.
The threats against me escalated over the first five months, and it got so bad that my food was being kicked around and there were all-night howling sessions and hurling sessions of substances with such aggression that it is better not discussed. One deputy demanded why I eat kosher and how it meant to him that a rabbi spit into the food as a blessing. When I was arrested, the detective’s severe racial and anti-Semitic comments echoed – the prejudice, the bigotry gave me a taste of what my ancestors endured.
Before I was moved to total solitary confinement, I was on a “high profile” row and was constantly made fun of due to my total ignorance of “crime as a culture.” A local drug pusher to the clubs who, being familiar with my case, commented, “I can see why they hate you…It’s your image and attitude. You come off as the perfect party guy, and these chicks, even if they don’t get to make it big, at least expect guys to pay for them to get high, party, and get laid, and that’s what they expect. And what do they actually get? A workaholic into passion and meditation who avoids substances and wakes up at 6:30 in the morning.”
Yoga, meditation, and the love of my family and God have sustained me as I grapple with blankets that have blood stains dried in tie-dyed patterns and battle nocturnal visits from entities that include, but are not limited to, rodents and insects (that I have not even seen in the jungles of India!). How much of it is my imagination? I’m not really sure. But the whole thing feels like a Stephen King novel turned into a movie directed by M. Night Shyamalan.
A fair trial is a wonderful concept but more of a satire in my case, based on how this has been manipulated and has been anything but fair. No one besides the parties involved (traditionally “two”) knows IF intimacy/sex even happened or much less if it was consensual or not. Wouldn’t one call 911? Get a rape kit or at least STD testing? Would anyone continue to follow, travel, live with someone who allegedly assaulted them?
How can one defend himself without access to his last eight years of life, witnesses, records, paperwork? And how is one supposed to possibly fund all of this without being able to work? The few hours that one can get a private investigator at $125/hr inside to meet, how effective can that be? All the while both hands of mine chained down to the table so I can’t even flip a page or write notes!
More ironic is the fact that none other than the very chaperone who was there to protect me, today she and her daughter are among the leaders of the pack.
A “fair trial” seems more like a “fairy tale” when ALL the exculpatory evidence has been kept hidden from the grand jury by the prosecution. When you find out about witnesses being coaxed by the detectives. Conveniently the texts and all traces of favorable evidence have “disappeared” from the cell phones and computers seized.
I realize that this is the test. While some get a trial of fire, some inherit an inferno, and all one can choose is how we face these adversities. Either we do so in despair or in dignity. A hundred lies cannot change the truth.
I do know that there is a purpose to all of this and it is beyond my own exoneration. God clearly had bigger plans for me than just influencing the hemlines, and though I can and will win this ordeal, I may not survive it, and this makes me concerned about the pain my loved ones will go through.
It is a fascinating concept that I think more about them than myself. My pencil (I only get two per week) is running out of lead, so I also learn patience. Maybe that’s what it’s all about – taming the ego and revealing love.
Love and Light,
Anand Jon
Sunday, March 14, 2010
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
