Singer, songwriter explores diversity

Singer/songwriter Magdalen Hsu-Li grew up in Martinsville, Va., a small town where, she… Singer/songwriter Magdalen Hsu-Li grew up in Martinsville, Va., a small town where, she said, she was one of few Asians in the area and was subjected to lots of racism.

She said people used to ask her, “Why are your eyes so slanty?” and yelled out “Chink.”

She said she felt really out of place, and she hadn’t even come out as a bisexual yet.

“If you don’t fit in, you need to find the strength to survive,” Hsu-Li said.

“Take me. Take me honey, as I am,” she sang in one of her songs while playing the piano. She also played two guitars and a drum during other songs.

The Multicultural Committee organized Hsu-Li’s performance as part of Diversity Week. The week’s events were about 95-percent funded by Vice Provost for Undergraduate Studies and Dean of Students Jack Daniel, Multicultural Committee Chair Courtney Richardson said. As a Chinese-American bisexual, Hsu-Li was a prime candidate to represent diversity.

One song, in which she played the guitar, highlighted the division of people in the United States. “There’s not a lot of unity,” she sang. “I like the idea of striving for unity, but I also like to face reality, which is that we live in divided states.”

The song spoke of “invisible lines” and “the Divided States of America.”

The pending war on Iraq also emerged during Hsu-Li’s performance.

One hour after President Bush gave his speech Monday night, Hsu-Li, with percussionist Dale Fanning, dedicated a song to Bush. The song was titled “F— Bush.”

“You’ll always be Daddy’s bitch,” Hsu-Li sang as the audience laughed. The audience even took part in calling out “f— Bush” during the song when cued by Fanning.

Hsu-Li has been a peace activist for a long time, she said, “but nobody’s listening.” She said she plans to keep on trying, though. “Hopefully we can make it through together.”

“In the spirit of the world, I encourage you to try,” she sang. “In the spirit of the mind, I encourage you to open the shutters wide.”

“She was phenomenal,” Richardson said after her performance.

Richardson added that she was pleased that about 60 people came to see her, even though all of them couldn’t stay for the whole show. There were approximately 30 to 35 people who stayed from beginning to end, even after learning that the performance had been changed from 8:30 to 9 p.m.

Unfortunately, the performance’s location was also moved, Richardson said. Originally placed in the William Pitt Union’s Assembly Room, it was moved to the Ballroom, where the acoustics weren’t that great, she said. Instead, Pitt Program Council used the Assembly Room for its Movie Trivia event.

But Hsu-Li’s performance was still a great success, she added, saying, “It was questionable that we were going to have a lot of people [come] on a Monday.” Diversity week often “falls on deaf ears for whatever reason,” she said.

The week’s events might sometimes fall on deaf ears, but Hsu-Li’s music did not. After hearing singing, drums and loud applause, senior Stacy Murphy went to see what all the commotion was about. After learning that he had just arrived at the finale of Hsu-Li’s concert, Murphy was disappointed.

“I wish I would’ve been there,” he said. “I like diversity.”

Instead, he settled for signing up for e-mails from the Multicultural Committee and a free T-shirt, with this year’s logo: “There’s a nasty name for everyone.” The point of the T-shirt is to raise awareness about offensive labels common racial slurs that can be an obstacle to racial harmony. On the back are words that can be commonly used by people, but that are very offensive, ranging from “bitch” and “ho” to other specific offensive slurs, Richardson said.