Lavender Phoenix Dragon Fruit Project Oral History Collection
Title
Lavender Phoenix Dragon Fruit Project Oral History Collection
Description
The Dragon Fruit Project (DFP) was an oral history project initiated by Lavender Phoenix (then API Equality Northern California) and Dr. Amy Sueyoshi in 2007 and closed in 2021. This collection consists of interviews collected during the Dragon Fruit Project with LGBTQ Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders in the San Francisco Bay Area. In 2015, the Dragon Fruit Project worked with Storycorps to continue conducting interviews. The Dragon Fruit Project closed their work in 2021 and partnered with the UC Berkeley Ethnic Studies Library to preserve and make the Dragon Fruit Project oral histories accessible. These intergenerational and diverse oral histories provide first-hand accounts of life, love, diaspora, and resistance from the 1960s through the 2010s.
Creator
Publisher
Rights
This material is copyrighted and is made accessible for purposes of education and research. For more information, or if you are a creator/contributor and would like to request any changes, please contact the Asian American Studies Librarian at the Ethnic Studies Library.
Relation
For more information, visit the Dragon Fruit Project Museum.
Provenance
Collection donated to the UC Berkeley Ethnic Studies Library in 2022.
Collection Items
Devesh Khatu, 2015, Lavender Phoenix Dragon Fruit Project Oral History Collection
Devesh reflects on his involvement in the early days of Trikone and his work with other organizations like GAPA and API Wellness Center. He talks about being South Asian within the larger AAPI umbrella as well as shares some of his experiences in…
Trinity Ordoña, 2016, Lavender Phoenix Dragon Fruit Project Oral History Collection
In this interview, Trinity reflects on her time organizing with various movements, being out and doing work with the Lesbian of Color Conference, APIQWTC, and API Family Pride.
Vince Cristostomo, 2016, Lavender Phoenix Dragon Fruit Project Oral History Collection
Vince shares with MLin what it was like to get involved in the GAPA Community HIV Project (GCHP), lessons he's learned through community organizing and activism, and the people who have influenced him along the way.
Poonam Kapoor, 2016, Lavender Phoenix Dragon Fruit Project Oral History Collection
In this interview, Poonam talks about growing up in Houston, Texas, finding information in the library, and eventually moving to San Francisco and finding out about Trikone. She talks about being part of the Red Envelope Giving Circle and her plans…
Geena Dabadghav, 2016, Lavender Phoenix Dragon Fruit Project Oral History Collection
Geena shares about being born and raised in Jamaica, moving to Chicago when she was young, and then eventually coming to California. She reflects on finding out about Trikone from Urvashi Vaid and visiting the Billy DeFrank LGBTQ+ Community Center,…
Steve Lew, Prescott Chow, and Kenji Oshima, 2016, Lavender Phoenix Dragon Fruit Project Oral History Collection
In this interview, Steve, Prescott, and Kenji discuss their work at GAPA Community HIV Project (GCHP) and the Living Well Project. They reflect on how they connected in the late 1980s, fax machines, and the parallels they see in today's movements for…
Cianna Stewart and Cesar Cadabes, 2016, Lavender Phoenix Dragon Fruit Project Oral History Collection
Cianna and Cesar reflect on their work together at GAPA Community HIV Project (GCHP), Living Well Project, and the API Wellness Center in the early to mid-90s. They talk about finding joy amidst tragedy and pain and the lessons they learned from each…
Ghee Phua, 2016, Lavender Phoenix Dragon Fruit Project Oral History Collection
Rachel interviews her friend Ghee about his life coming to San Francisco from Singapore and how he discovered his identity as a gay leatherman. He shares about becoming HIV-positive, navigating illness and immigration, and his practice as an artist…
Alan Quismorio, 2016, Lavender Phoenix Dragon Fruit Project Oral History Collection
In this interview, Alan shares about being the cultural chair of the Gay Asian Pacific Alliance (GAPA) and creating community through theater and the performing arts at spaces like Bindlestiff Studio and the Asian American Theater Company.
Rafael Chang, 2016, Lavender Phoenix Dragon Fruit Project Oral History Collection
Rafael was born in Honduras and moved to San Francisco from Florida. In this interview, he reflects on the origins of the GAPA Community HIV Project (GCHP) in the mid-1980s and it evolved over the years. He shares his journey from struggling to find…